USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the colony of New Haven to its absorption into Connecticut > Part 11
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the colony of New Haven to its absorption into Connecticut > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
David Atwater, a younger brother of Joshua Atwater, had a lot adjoining that of Mr. Caffinch, but never . lived on it. He seems to have become a proprietor at a late date, and to have received his whole allotment, with the exception of this town-lot, in the third divis- ion. It is conjectured, that, before he became a pro- prietor at New Haven, he may have had some thought of joining the Kentish colony at Guilford. His resi- dence in New Haven was at his farm between East Rock and Quinnipiac River, where his neighbors were Capt. Turner, Richard Mansfield, and William Potter. His town-lot had been previously assigned to John
----
145
THE PERSONNEL OF THE PLANTATION.
Pocock, who became one of the first planters of Mil- ford. Mr. Atwater died in 1692, having outlived most of the first planters.
Two lots, extending from Mr. Atwater's to the cor- ner of College and Elm Streets, were reserved for non- residents named respectively Dearmer and Lucas.
On Elm Street, between Mr. Lucas's corner and the corner of Elm and York Streets, lived Andrew Low, widow Williams, Robert Hill, and William Thorpe.
On York Street, between Mr. Thorpe's corner and Mr. Tench's corner, was a lot belonging to Jeremiah Dixon, one of the seven men chosen for foundation work. He early removed from the plantation ; and, as he was unmarried, there was probably no house upon his lot.
The only remaining square of the eight which sur- rounded the market-place was occupied on Elm Street by the lots of two non-residents, Mr. Marshall and Mrs. Eldred, and by the lot of Francis Brewster. Mr. Mar- shall has already been mentioned in connection with Richard Mansfield, who was his representative and agent. Mrs. Eldred was apparently a widow in Lon- don, and perhaps the mother of a Mr. Eldred with whom some of the colonists had commercial corre- spondence. As the name occurs on the parish-register of St. Stephen's, it may be that the family had been parishioners of Mr. Davenport.in Coleman Street.
Francis Brewster was from London, and one of the company which came with Davenport. He does not appear to have been a freeman. Mr. Brewster having been lost in Lamberton's ship, and his widow having
146
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COLONY.
married Mr. Pell and removed to New Jersey, the house and home-lot were sold to Mr. Goodenhouse, a Dutchman, who had married the widow of Capt. Turner.
Mark Pearce, whose lot was on College Street north of Brewster's corner, had lived at Cambridge, Mass., and removed to New Haven as late as 1642. At a general court held Feb. 24, 1643, "Mr. Pearce desired the plantation to take notice, that if any will send their children to him he will instruct them in writing or arithmetic." This was several years before Mr. Cheever removed, so that Mr. Pearce's school, if his offer was accepted, must have been additional to that of Cheever.
Jarvis Boykin, a carpenter by trade, was the next proprietor on College Street. He came from the town of Charing in Kent, and had resided two or three years in Charlestown, Mass., before he joined the company · which settled at Quinnipiac.
Benjamin Ling occupied the corner of College and Grove Streets. He had removed from Charlestown, Mass., and was present at the formation of the funda- mental agreement in 1639. He died in 1673, com- mending his wife to the care of James Davids, who for some years had been an inmate of his house. Mr. Davids married the widow, who, dying not long after the marriage, left the . homestead to him. It was known to some of the inhabitants of New Haven that James Davids was an alias for John Dixwell, and that this man was one of the regicide judges. Marrying a second wife, he became the father of a family, and resided here many years, not only unbetrayed, but
L
THE PERSONNEL OF THE PLANTATION. 147
much revered and beloved. Here he died in old age; and his grave on the green is marked, not only by the rude stone bearing his initials which his contempora- ries placed there, but by a marble monument erected in later times.
On Grove Street, next east from Mr. Ling's corner, was the lot of Robert Newman. In his barn was held the meeting of planters at which the fundamental agreement was adopted, Mr. Newman himself being the secretary of the meeting. He was elected ruling elder of the church, and continued in that office till his return to England. The latest mention of him as a resident of New Haven is on the eighth day of Octo- ber, 1649.
On the east side of Elder Newman's lot was the lot of William Andrews, a member of the church and of the court from the first. He was a carpenter by trade, but found time to keep "an ordinary" or house of entertainment for strangers.
John Cooper lived at the corner of Grove and Church Streets. He was present at the adoption of the fundamental agreement, and became a freeman in October, 1645, his name being the last but one on the list made by Secretary Fugill. "John Cooper took oath to be faithful to the trust committed to him in view- ing fences and pounding cattle, according to the court's order, without partiality or respect of persons." In the execution of this trust, he was to inspect all the fences within the two miles "once every week if no extraordi- nary providence hinder."
Sergeant Richard Beckley, whose lot lay between that of Mr. Cooper and that of Mr. Marshall, was pres-
7
148
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COLONY.
ent when the fundamental agreement was adopted, and, as his military title implies, was a member of the court.
Having now surveyed the eight squares which lay around the market-place, let us proceed to the two suburbs, and first to that which lay between the two creeks.
.
Sergeant Samuel Whitehead lived at the corner of George and Meadow Streets. Previous to his residence in New Haven, he had spent some years in Massachu- setts and at Hartford. By the marriage of his grand- daughter his homestead passed into the family of Hub- bard, and so continued for nearly two centuries.
John Clark, who lived on Meadow Street next south of Mr. Whitehead, was interpreter when the Montowese Indians sold their land to the English. He had lived about four years in Massachusetts before he came to Quinnipiac with its first planters.
Of Luke Atkinson, the next proprietor on Meadow Street, little is known but that he dared to quarrel with Mr. Davenport, and, being charged with slander, was fined forty pounds. He removed from New Haven in 1656.
Edward Banister died in 1649, and his lot passed into other hands. Another lot which lay between State Street and the East Creek was granted to his widow by the town, on which she built a house.
John Moss, though by no means a wealthy man, gave his son Joseph a liberal education, and had the pleasure of seeing him settled in the ministry at Derby. In his old age John Moss removed to Wallingford, where he died in 1707, aged one hundred and three years.
.
149
1
THE PERSONNEL OF THE PLANTATION.
John Charles, a brother-in-law of John Moss, had lived some years in Massachusetts. He was a sea- faring man, and removed first to Branford and after- ward to Saybrook.
Richard Beach removed to New London.
Arthur Halbidge came from England to Boston in 1635. He died in 1648.
William Peck crossed the Atlantic with Davenport and Eaton. He is said to have been a merchant in London; but the tradition is not easily reconciled with his estimate of his estate, which he put into the list at twelve pounds. Though not wealthy, he was much respected in the plantation, as appears from his election as a deacon of the church.
Timothy Ford, whose lot was at the corner of Mead- ow and Water Streets, had lived in Massachusetts.
Peter Brown, at a court holden Feb. 5, 1638, 40, was "licensed to bake to sell, so long as he gives no offence in it justly." He afterward removed to Stamford.
Daniel Paul, whose lot was at the corner of Water and State Streets, soon disappeared from the planta- tion ; and his lot came into the possession of William Westerhouse, a Dutch merchant. July 3, 1655, John Thompson "bought, at an outcry, the house and lot, and lands which belong to it, which was Mr. Westerhouse's, for £40.05, which was thus sold by order of the court." About a month afterward the purchaser sold to John Hodson "the house he bought of the court, which was Mr. Westerhouse's, and the land which belongs to it, and Mr. Hodson is to pay the court for it, £40.05."
John Livermore, who lived on State Street, next north of Goodman Paul's corner, came to Massachu-
-
W
150
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COLONY.
setts from Ipswich, England, in 1634. He signed the fundamental agreement after it had been copied into the record-book.
Henry Rutherford died in 1668 : his widow married William Leete, Governor of the Colony of New Haven and afterwards Governor of the Colony of Connecticut.
Thomas Trowbridge was from Taunton or its vicinity, in the county of Somerset. He was a merchant, trad- ing to Barbadoes.
The lots of widow Potter and John Potter passed at an early date into the possession of Allen Ball, though there is no record of the transfer.
Passing now to the suburb on the west side of West Creek, we find, on the corner made by the streets now named Hill Street and Congress Avenue, the lot of William Ives. He died in 1648, leaving a wife and four children. William Basset married the widow ; and the family continued to reside in the house till it was sold, in 1652, to the widow of Anthony Thompson.
The next lot fronting on Hill Street was assigned to George Smith, who in 1655 sold his house and home- lot to Timothy Ford. He describes the premises as lying between the house that was Matthew Canfield's and that which was William Ives's.
The lot thus described as having belonged to Mat- thew Canfield must have been, if the order of the sched- ule is to be followed, the property of widow Sherman before Matthew Canfield acquired it. "An inventory and will of old father Sherman was delivered into the court " in May, 1641, and soon afterward the name of (Campfield) Canfield first appears.
الحال
-
.
151
THE PERSONNEL OF THE PLANTATION.
These three are all of the lots in the suburb on the west side of the West Creek that can be located. The other proprietors in this suburb were Matthew Moul- throp, Anthony Thompson, John Reeder, Robert Cogs- well, Matthias Hitchcock, Francis Hall, Richard Os- borne, William Potter, James Clark, Edward Patteson, and Andrew Hull.
As the schedule assigns nothing to Matthew Moul- throp, it is doubtful whether he ever acquired a complete title to a lot in this quarter.
Anthony Thompson died about ten years after the first settlement of the town. His widow married Nich- olas Camp of Milford. As one of his two brothers was childless, and the other had only daughters, he is proba- bly the ancestor of all, or nearly all, in New Haven who bear the name of Thompson.I
The name of John Reeder is not found in any record later than the schedule of 1641. The name of Robert Cogswell disappears about the same time. At that early day alienations were not always recorded; and, unless it has escaped a very close scrutiny, there is no record of the sale of their lots by these two proprie- tors.
The names of Matthias Hitchcock, Francis Hall, and Richard Osborne follow next in the schedule. They all remained long in the town, and probably died here. " Matthias Hitchcock passeth over to John Wakefield his house and home-lot on the other side of the West
' There was another Thompson at Fairfield, contemporary with An- thony of New Haven. Possibly, from that source or some other, Thomp- sons may have removed to New Haven, and become undistinguishably mixed with the descendants of Anthony.
-
152
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COLONY.
Creek," Feb. 6, 1655. Richard Osborne was a tanner by trade, and the coincidence of name and occupa- tion suggests that he was a brother of Thomas Os- borne.
William Potter removed from his town-lot, if he ever built a house on it, to his farm on the west side of Quinnipiac River. After having been for many years a church-member, he was accused of bestiality, and upon his own confession was condemned to death and exe- cuted.
James Clark removed to the north part of the town, and afterward to Stratford.
The name of Edward Patteson does not occur after 1646.
Andrew Hull died in 1643, and his widow became. the wife of Richard Beach.
Besides the home-lots assigned to proprietors, thirty- two "small lots" had been freely given to as many householders, before the second division of out-lands was made. The records furnish a list of these house- holders having no right of commonage, in the order in which they were drawn by lot for the choice of the out-lands allowed them in the second division. Seven of them dwelt on "the bank-side," that is, on East Water Street and east of the four proprietors whose land extended from Union Street to Chestnut Street ; the other twenty-five had their homes between George Street and the West Creek. The seven on the bank- side were William Russell, Francis Brown, Thomas Morris, Nathaniel Merriman, Robert Pigg, Thomas Beamont, and William Gibbons.
153
THE PERSONNEL OF THE PLANTATION.
The whole catalogue reads thus, viz., -
I. Stephen Metcalf.
2. Adam Nicolls.
3. Nathaniel Merriman.
4. John Thompson.
5. Brother Kimberly's brother.
6. John Nash.
John Hall. William Russell.
7. Mrs. Swinerton.
8. Goodman Davis.
Christopher Todd.
Thomas Munson.
Benjamin Wilmot.
Thomas Morris.
John Walker.
Goodman Peck.
Benjamin Pauling.
Another lot.
A brickmaker.
Goodman Hames.
Obadiah Barnes.
Goodman Dayton.
Elizabeth, the washer.
Goodman Pigg.
William Gibbons.
9. Richard Newman. Thomas Mitchel.
17. Francis Brown. George Larrymore. Thomas Beamont. Thomas Leaver. John Vincent.
In estimating the population of New Haven at this period, one must take into account not only proprietors and householders, but indentured and hired servants. The records show that both these classes were numer- ous. The families of the proprietors contained four hundred and twenty souls, counting only their wives and children with themselves. Deducting those who never left England, and those who removed to Milford, and adding the families to which lots had been freely given, we have by equal ratio a population of about four hun- dred and sixty. But the houses of the Milford people were not all empty. Some of them were hired and occupied by persons who did not care to become pro- prictors. The number of dependents of one kind and another attached to all these families must have nearly
I54
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COLONY.
equalled, and perhaps it exceeded, the census returned by the proprietors. Gov. Eaton returns only six ; but his family is said to have contained thirty persons. In no other family was there so large a proportion of servants ; but there was scarcely a householder whose family was limited to himself, his wife, and his children. Artisans and farmers had young men and boys in their employ, and maid-servants were to be found in almost every household.
If on the basis of these facts we estimate the whole number of souls in the plantation at eight hundred, con- firmation of such an estimate is found in the military census, which after the elders, deacons, magistrates, deputies, physicians, military officers of a higher grade than sergeants, the schoolmaster, the miller, and mas- ters of vessels carrying more than fifteen tons were exempted, provided thirty-one watches, each consisting of seven men, out of the male population between six- teen and sixty years of age. If there were two hun- dred and seventeen men liable to this duty, and thirty more who were exempt, the entire population could not have been much less than eight hundred.1
" The Dutch authorities at New Amsterdam reported to their supe- riors in Holland that Rodenbergh, or New Haven, contained, eleven years after it was founded, about 1,340 families. But, though affirmed of New Haven town, it must have been, I think, their informant's estimate of the population of the colony.
1
Hanyayon
Jannes Hime
Thomas Need
Robert Denisom
sachariah Whitman Thernas Vielch Thomas Wheeler
M. Edmund Japp
Scorge Clank Jr. Jchav Burwell Hervry Botsford John Smith John Rogers Philip Hatoy
Thomas Baker
Thomas Jord
Képhani Freeman En Fletcher
Willam Rater
Richard Hatt
John Smith
John Baldwin Frances Bolt
Thomas Barry
William Broek
.
Edward Maney John June
Prudder
Vathu Briscoe
William East.
Educ Riggs
Thomas Lawrence.
: anulnew Bertou · Scaplante fera
Thomas Lawrence
And. Martha Beard
Sco Hubbard soider
Jasper Swan
John Stream
Richard Bolden Buya min Jenn Jamu & Gooloy John Pocock.
William Rough
Jonny Franchill
Prisen
Aath. Baldurn James Budden John Sherman
Thomas Buckingham
Thomas Tapping
Micah Fanskind John Wirdseu
Roger Farrell
Nicholas barnb
John Fowler Joseph Baldwin.
Wil William Fowler
Thomas Sanford
Thomas Jibbals
Timothy Balduin alegränder Bozan
MILFORD IN 1646.
ERHONEY. 1880.
CHAPTER IX.
MILFORD. - GUILFORD. - SOUTHOLD. - STAMFORD.
B ENJAMIN FENN, Thomas Buckingham, Thomas Welch, Richard Miles, Henry Stonhill, William Fowler, Peter Prudden, James Prudden, Edmund Tapp, Timothy Baldwin, Richard Platt, and Zachariah Whit- man were mentioned in the last chapter as having re- moved to Milford. Other persons from New Haven who engaged with them in commencing a new planta- tion were John Pocock, Thomas Tibbals, John Fowler, Richard Baldwin, Nathanael Baldwin, Joseph Baldwin, and John Baldwin. The four last named were perhaps sons of the widow Baldwin, who was one of the pro- prietors in the Herefordshire quarter at New Haven. To these was added a company from Wethersfield, who, with perhaps a few from other places, increased the number of planters commencing the settlement at Milford to fifty-four.
Before their removal to Milford, a church had been organized by them at New Haven on the twenty-second day of August, 1639, the day when the New Haven church was constituted, or, as Mather reports it, one day later. The same method of organization was adopted by the people who were to remove to Milford as by their brethren who were to remain at New Haven.
155
1
156
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COLONY.
They chose seven men for the foundation, and these admitted others. The names of the seven were Peter Prudden, William Fowler, Edmund Tapp, Zachariah Whitman, John Astwood, Thomas Buckingham, and Thomas Welch. Six of them had been resident at New Haven ; and one, viz., John Astwood, had resided at Wethersfield.
The town records begin with a list of forty-four per- sons "allowed to be free planters, having for the pres- ent, liberty to act in the choice of public officers for carrying on of public affairs in this plantation." The list was prepared in accordance with an order passed at the first general court of the planters held in Mil- ford on the 20th of November, 1639, at which it was "voted and agreed that the power of electing officers and persons to divide the land into lots, to take order for the timber, and to manage the common interests of the plantation, should be in the church only, and that the persons so chosen should be only from among themselves."
At the same court other orders were passed, as fol- lows : viz., -
That they would guide themselves in all their do- ings by the written word of God, till such time as a body of laws should be established ;
That five men should be chosen for judges in all civil affairs, to try all causes between man and man, and as a court to punish any offence and misdemeanor ;
That the persons invested with the magistracy should have power to call a general court whenever they might see cause, or the public good require ;
That they should hold particular courts once in six
MILFORD, GUILFORD, SOUTHOLD, STAMFORD. 157
weeks, wherein should be tried such causes as might be brought before them, they to examine witnesses upon oath as need should require ;
That, according to the sum of money which each . person paid toward the public charges, in such propor- tion should he receive or be repaid in lands, and that all planters who might their share equally for
That the town seal M and F joined thus :
come after should pay some other public use ; should be the letters
The court then proceeded to choose for judges, Wil- liam Fowler, Edmund Tapp, Zachariah Whitman, John Astwood, and Richard Miles, to continue in office till the next court of election, to be holden the first week in October.
It appears from this action taken at their first general court, that the planters of Milford, like those of New Haven, allowed the right of suffrage to church-mem- bers only, and that forty-four of them out of fifty-four were at first possessed of this qualification. This was a much larger proportion than at New Haven, where a great majority of the planters not possessing this qualification, though "having a purpose, resolution, and desire that they may be admitted into church-fellow- ship according to Christ as soon as God shall fit them thereunto," voluntarily deprived themselves of the right of suffrage till they should become thus qualified. One might easily believe that Milford, where so great a majority of the planters were church-members, would adhere to the rule once established, longer than New Haven; but in truth Milford within three years, and perhaps in much less time, admitted six of the ten who
158
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COLONY.
had been excluded, to be free burgesses while they were not church-members. On second thought one will con- clude that the smallness of the minority was in itself a reason why the rule was changed. Perhaps, when four of the ten had become members of the church and of the court, the absurdity of apprehending any evil from the admission of the remaining six to equal political rights was an irresistible appeal to the majority to change the rule. There may have been less objec- tion to the change for the reason that the rule was not, as at New Haven, a fundamental law, but subject to repeal by a majority of votes, like the common orders of the court. Indeed, the heading of the list of the forty-four reads as if there were some doubt at the time whether the exclusion of the ten would be permanent. It is a list of persons "having for the present, liberty to act in the choice of public officers."
At the second general court, held March 9, 1640, " it was agreed between William Fowler and the brethren (the five judges ), that he should build a mill, and have her going by the last of September, when the town were to take it off his hands, if they saw proper, for one hundred and eighty pounds ; or else the brethren were to appoint what toll he should take." "It was (says Lambert ) the first mill erected in New Haven colony." The high estimation in which it was held by the planters is evident from the fact that when it had been injured by a freshet, they voted in a general court held in December, 1645, that all the town should help Mr. Fowler repair the mill, and he was to call for them, each man a day, till he should have gone through the town, whenever he needed help. " If he went not
-----
MILFORD, GUILFORD, SOUTHOLD, STAMFORD. 159
through the town in one year, the same liberty was granted till he had gone through."
Until this time the plantation had been called by its Indian name of Wepowaug ; but at a general court held Nov. 24, 1640, "with common consent and gen- eral vote of the freemen, the plantation was named Milford." The letters in the town seal indicate, how- ever, that the name of Milford had been chosen at an earlier date, and that this formal action was taken for the purpose of superseding the Indian name.
A record of home-lots was made in 1646, from which a map of the town-plot can be drawn, showing the names of all who were proprietors at that time, and the relative position of their dwellings ; for as every planter was required to erect a good house within three years, or forfeit his lot, it may be presumed that nearly all to whom home-lots were recorded in 1646 had complied with this condition. The number of proprietors had by this time increased to sixty-six. The map opposite page 155 was enlarged from Lambert's History of the Colony of New Haven. It exhibits the line of pali- sades which enclosed the whole settlement, and the arrangement of the home-lots on both sides of Mill River and of West End Brook. A footway across the field,'such as is often seen in England, led from the West End to the meeting-house, "the stiles to be maintained by brother Nicholas Camp at the West End and by brother Thomas Baker at the meeting- house (for the outside stiles) ; and for the inner fences, each man shall maintain his stile in the most con- venient place ; and the passage over Little Dreadful Swamp in John Fletcher's lot, shall be by a long log hewed on the upper side."
2
160
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COLONY.
In the allotment of out-lands, a course was taken similar to that taken at New Haven. "In the first division abroad" a tract lying south of the town and east of Mill River was assigned to the planters whose home-lots fronted on that river, and was called East- field. Another tract west of the same river was al- lotted to the planter's whose houses fronted on West End Brook, and was called Westfield. Each of these fields, or quarters as they would have been called in New Haven, being subdivided among the proprietors according to the estates they had respectively reported for taxation, was enclosed with a fence, to the expense of which cach proprietor contributed in proportion to the number of his acres. Meadow-land was also allot- ted to each planter in proportion to his estate. Sev- eral divisions of upland subsequently made, were con- ducted according to the same rule.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.