USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the colony of New Haven to its absorption into Connecticut > Part 16
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the colony of New Haven to its absorption into Connecticut > Part 16
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they applying themselves thereto shall receive from the treasurer after the rate of ten shillings a thousand." At first a considerable bounty was offered for heads of foxes and wolves ; but in 1645, "the court, being in- formed that no man attends this service as his employ- ment and business, but improves opportunity as he finds it occasionally, ordered that the treasurer hence- forward pay only two pounds of powder and four pounds of bullets or shot, or the value thereof, for every wolf's head, and one shilling for every old fox's head, and six- pence for every young one, to such of this plantation as within New Haven limits kill and so bring them."
The great variety of useful arts practised in New Haven obviated, in some degree, the inconvenience which the smaller plantations in the neighborhood must otherwise have experienced. Few instances occur in the history of colonization, where within ten years from the commencement there was such fulness of equipment for producing at home the requirements of civilized life, as at New Haven. The records do not enable us to make a complete list of its artisans, or of the crafts at which they wrought, and the writer has never made a systematic attempt to collect the names of such trades as are incidentally mentioned; but these are some which he has remembered, or with but little search has collected : viz., sawyers, carpenters, ship- carpenters, joiners, thatchers, chimney-sweepers, brick- makers, bricklayers, plasterers, tanners, shoemakers, sad- dlers, weavers, tailors, hatters, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, cutlers, nailers, millers, bakers, coopers, and potters. Of these handicrafts some are so nearly related that a work-
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man easily passed from one to another. Accordingly we find the same person appearing as a carpenter, a ship- carpenter, and a joiner ; and his neighbor described at one time as a shoemaker, and at another as a tanner. So that, with more than the usual variety of a new settlement, there was something of the versatility com- monly developed by emigration.
We have already had occasion to speak of the now obsolete handicraft by which logs were sawn into the boards and planks necessary for the buildings and palings of the planters. It may seem to us a slow process ; but, as sawmills had not at that time been introduced into the mother-country, it did not seem so to them. "The first recorded attempt to establish a sawmill in Great Britain was made near London, in 1663, by a Dutchman, in whose native country they had long been in use ; but the enterprise was abandoned on account of the opposition of hand-sawyers." I A tree having been felled and cross-cut, one of the logs was rolled upon a frame over a pit. Then, the master- workman or " top-man" standing above to guide the work, and the "pit-man" or assistant standing beneath, they pulled the saw up and down, - briskly if at work by the piece, patiently if by the day. The maximum price of sawing by the hundred, as determined by the General Court in 1640, being four and sixpence for boards, five shillings for planks, and five and sixpence for slit work, and the wages of the two men who wrought at a saw-pit amounting, according to the same tariff, to four and sixpence for a day's work, we may conclude that at least one hundred feet of lumber was produced per day by each pair of workmen.
' Appleton's New American Cyclopædia, art. "Saw."
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The trade of carpentery had many followers in a place where dwellings were to be erected within a short period for more than a hundred families. William Andrews appears to have stood at the head of this guild. He contracted in 1639 to build the meeting-house, but let out some parts of the work to Thomas Munson and Jarvis Boykin, who, with the consent of Andrews, transferred some part of their contract to Thomas Saul and William Gibbons. The two carpenters last named did not fulfil their engagement "to make the roof of the tower and turret tight, to keep out wet," and were probably absent, at least temporarily, when the defect was discovered ; for a question arose between Andrews and the two who had contracted with him, which party should make the work good. "Because there was a defect of testimony on all sides, the Court advised them to consult together, and do it amongst them, so as the meeting-house may be kept dry without delay." The name of Thomas Saul does not appear after this transaction, but William Gibbons was some years later a resident of the town. The meeting-house needing further repairs a few years afterward, a large committee of carpenters was ap- pointed to "consider whether the house may stay safely another year without repairs ; if not, then how 'it may be best done for most safety to the town, and least charge ; also, whether the tower and turret may . safely stand, and will not in a short time decay the house; and, if taken down, then what will be the charge of that, and to make the roof tight and comely again." The committee consisted of William Andrews, Thomas Munson, Jarvis Boykin, John Bassett, Robert
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Bassett, George Larrymore, Jonathan Marsh, and Thomas Morris. These were, doubtless, master-work- men, having under them journeymen and apprentices. The last named wrought as a ship-carpenter, but his appointment on this committee indicates that he did not confine himself to ship-building.
Some of the ship-carpenters in the plantation, besides Morris, were James Russell, William Russell, George Ward, Lawrence Ward, and Daniel Paul. The build- ing of a ship of large size brought in workmen from other colonies. It is impossible to determine conclu- sively whether the New Haven artisans were responsi- ble for the fatal crankness which Winthrop attributes to the vessel in which so many of their townsmen lost their lives in 1646. Rev. James Pierpont, in his letter to Mather, testifies that she was built in Rhode Island, and nothing appears to invalidate his testimony. The only occasion for doubt is found in the improbability that the feoffees would purchase rather than build ; but perhaps the business required a ship sooner than one could be produced in a port where nothing larger than a shallop or a pinnace had ever been launched. If Pierpont was correct in his apprehension that she came from Rhode Island, the first large ship was built at New Haven immediately after the Rhode Island vessel sailed, and by the same "ship-fellowship " to which that vessel belonged. In August, 1646, one of the feoffees desired the justice of the court about some nails that a workman had stolen from the ship. In October "it was propounded that help might be afforded to launch the ship, for Goodman Paul informed the governor that the keel would rot if it were not launched before winter.
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Brother Leeke had liberty to draw wine for them that work at the ship." In the following January there was a lawsuit in which the plaintiff, accounting for the fact that Sergt. Jeffrey did not go as master of a shallop on "a voyage to Guilford, Saybrook, and back to New Haven," affirmed that " Mr. Crane, Mr. Wake- man, and Mr. Atwater, intrusted as feoffees for the building of a ship at New Haven, desired Sergeant Jef- frey might be spared to go to the Massachusetts about rigging and other occasions concerning the said ship."
In 1648 another vessel was built at New Haven, and the interest felt in it was so general that one can hardly believe it was the adventure of an individual ; though there is no definite information that it belonged to the ship-fellowship whose feoffees had purchased a vessel in Rhode Island, and in 1646 were building one at New Haven.
The production of leather and the manufacture of shoes increased so rapidly, that, within nine years after · the commencement of the plantation at New Haven, shoes were made for exportation. At first the tanners spoiled many hides through ignorance, as they alleged, of the tan of the country ; but, even after they had pro- fessedly acquired skill in the use of the native bark, poor leather was sometimes produced. There was a lawsuit in 1647, in which John Meigs, a shoemaker, sued Henry Gregory of the same trade for damage suffered from the unworkmanlike manner in which thirteen dozen pairs of shoes had been made. It ap- pears that Meigs furnished the leather and the thread, and carried them to Gregory "ready cut out," agreeing
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to pay him one shilling per pair for making them. Abun- dant testimony was borne by persons who had bought some of the shoes, that they were worthless, coming to pieces in a few days. But some testifying that the leather tore, and others that the seams ripped, the · Court referred the matter to a committee of shoemakers and tanners, who reported as follows : -
" We apprehend this : that the leather is very bad, not tanned, nor fit to be sold for serviceable leather ; but it wrongs the coun- try, nor can a man make good work of a great deal of it. And we find the workmanship bad also : First, there is not sufficient stuff put in the thread, and instead of hemp it is flax, and the stitches are too long, and the threads not drawn home, and there wants wax on the thread, and the awl is too big for the thread. We ordinarily put in seven threads, and here is but five; so that, ac- cording to our best light, we lay the cause both upon the work- manship and the badness of the leather.
" Goodman Gregory, upon this testimony, seemed to be con- vinced that he had not done his part, but then laid the fault on Goodman Meigs, that he was the more slight in it through his encouragement, who said to him, 'Flap them up: they are to go far enough.' In this statement he was confirmed by two witnesses, who had heard Meigs say to him, 'Flap them up together: they are to go far enough.'"
Goodman Meigs being called to propound his dam- age, instanced five particulars : Ist, damage to his name; 2d, damage to Mr. Evance, to whom he had en- gaged himself to supply him with these goods for exportation to the value of thirty pounds sterling ; 3d, damage in having his wares turned back upon his hands, Mr. Evance having refused to accept them ; 4th, hinderance in his trade, people having on account of these shoes shunned to buy any wares of him; 5th, money paid several men for satisfaction.
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"The plaintiff and defendant professing, upon the Court's de- mand, that they had no more to say, and the Court considering the case as it had been presented, debated, and proved, found them both faulty. Goodman Gregory had transgressed rules of right- eousness, both in reference to the country and to Goodman Meigs, though his fault to Goodman Meigs is the more excusable because of that encouragement Goodman Meigs gave him to be slight in his workmanship; though he should not have taken any encour- agement to do evil, and should have complained to some magis- trate, and not have wrought such leather in such a manner into shoes, by which the country, or whosoever wears them, must be deceived. But the greater fault and guilt lies upon John Meigs for putting such untanned, horny, unserviceable leather into shoes, and for encouraging Goodman Gregory to slight workmanship . upon a motive that the shoes were to go far enough, as if rules of righteousness reached not other places and countries.
"The Court proceeded to sentence, and ordered Goodman Meigs to pay ten pounds as a fine to the jurisdiction, with satisfaction to every particular person, as damage shall be required and proved. And further, the Court ordered that none of the faulty shoes be carried out of the jurisdiction to deceive men, the shoes deserving rather to be burnt than sold, if there had been a law to that pur- pose ; yet in the jurisdiction they may be sold, but then only as deceitful ware, and the buyer may know them to be such. They or- dered also Goodman Gregory, for his slight. faulty workmanship and fellowship in the deceit, to pay five pounds as a fine to the juris- diction, and to pay the charges of the court, and that he require nothing of Goodman Meigs for his loss of time in this work, whether it were more or less ; and the court thought themselves called speedily and seriously to consider how these deceits may be for time to come prevented or duly punished."
If the contemporary records. of the jurisdiction were extant, we should probably find some legislation prompted by this case. Allusion to such legislation is made on the town-records a little later, when sealers of leather were appointed, and sworn "to discharge the
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trust committed to them in sealing leather according to the Jurisdiction General Court's order." It was at the same time ordered that calf-skins, deer-skins, and goat-skins which are fully tanned should be sealed, and shoemakers were allowed to use them for upper leather ; but, as such shoes were inferior to those made of neat's leather, "the court ordered that every shoemaker in this town, mark all those shoes he makes of neat's leather, before he sell them, with a N, - upon the lap withinside, below the place where they be tied." "It was propounded to the shoemakers, that, seeing hides are now near as cheap as ordinarily they are in Eng- land, shoes might be sold more reasonable than they have been ; and the shoemakers promised they would consider of it."
We have already seen that biscuit was shipped to Virginia and the West Indies. But, according to English usage, bread was made in the shop of the baker for families in the town. It was of three grades : the white loaf, the wheaten loaf, and the household loaf. "Every person within this jurisdiction, who shall bake bread for sale, shall have a distinct mark for his bread, and keep the true assizes hereafter ex- pressed and appointed." Then follows the assize fix- ing the weight of a penny white loaf, a penny wheaten loaf, and a penny household loaf respectively, when the bushel of wheat is at three shillings, and dimin- ishing the weight of the loaf as the price of wheat increases. When a bushel of wheat cost three shil- lings, which seems to have been regarded as a mini- mum price, the weight of the penny white loaf was to be
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eleven and a quarter ounces ; the weight of the penny wheaten loaf, seventeen and a quarter ounces ; and the weight of the penny household loaf, twenty-three ounces. When wheat was at six shillings and sixpence per bushel, which is the highest price named in the tariff, the penny white loaf must weigh six ounces, the penny wheat loaf nine and a half ounces, and the penny household loaf twelve and a quarter ounces.
The inspector, having been sworn to the faithful dis- charge of his office, "is hereby authorized to enter into any house, either with the constable or marshal, or without, where he understands that any bread is baked for sale, and to weigh such bread as often as he secth cause ; and, after one notice or warning, to seize all such bread as he findeth defective in weight, or not marked according to this order. And all such forfeit- ures shall be divided, one third to the officer for his care and pains, and the rest to the poor of the place."
Iron-works were projected as early as 1665. John Winthrop, jun., interested in mining, and Stephen Good- year, interested in every enterprise which promised to be advantageous to New Haven, united in setting up a bloomery and forge, at the outlet of Saltonstall Lake. The people of New Haven favored the undertaking by contributing labor in building a dam, and by conceding the privilege of cutting on the common land all the wood needed for making charcoal. They hoped that the works would bring trade, and that Winthrop would fix his residence in New Haven. The ore was transported from North Haven, partly by boats down the Quinni- piac and up Farm River, and partly by carts. After
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two or three years, Goodyear having died, and Winthrop having ceased to think of New Haven as a place of residence, the works were leased to Capt. Clark and Mr. Payne of Boston. Iron continued to be made for some years, but the institution did not fulfil the hopes of its projectors, or of the public.
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CHAPTER XII.
RELIGION AND MORALS.
T 'WO classes of writers differing widely in their feel- ings towards the Puritan emigrants who came to New England resemble each other in manifesting a sin- gular ignorance. The planters of New England never were advocates of religious liberty ; and there is equal sciolism in eulogizing them as such, and in criticising them for inconsistency with their professions when they expelled from their territory those who publicly dis- sented from their religious opinions and from their forms of worship. If the Puritans had been in power in Eng- land, they would have suppressed the ritualism of Laud as heartily as Laud punished non-conformity. Over- powered in England, they came to America to find freedom to worship according to their own consciences, and not to establish religious liberty for all men of every creed. The restrictions which had been placed upon them, and the sufferings to which they had been subjected in their native land, instead of leading them to be tolerant of other forms of Christianity, served rather to render them more earnest to secure to them- selves, and to those who should be like-minded, the territory to which they had emigrated, and upon which they were to expend their labors and their estates.
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They saw no other way of securing the end for which they had exiled themselves, than that of exclusiveness and intolerance.
In accordance with such convictions and feelings, the planters of the New Haven Colony not only estab- lished, in the several plantations, churches such as they approved, but took care that no other than "ap- proved churches" should be gathered, and that, if they should find it impossible to prevent the formation of other churches, the members of them should have no political power. It was ordered :-
"That all the people of God within this jurisdiction, who are not in a church way, being orthodox in judgment, and not scandal- ous in life, shall have full liberty to gather themselves into a church estate, provided they do it in a Christian way, with due observation of the rules of Christ, revealed in his Word: provided also, that this Court doth not, nor hereafter will, approve of any such com- pany of persons, as shall join in any pretended way of church- fellowship, unless they shall first, in due season, acquaint both the magistrates and the elders of the churches within this colony, where and when they intend to join, and have their approbation therein. Nor shall any person, being a member of any church which shall be gathered without such notice given and approbation had, or who is not a member of some church in New England approved by the magistrates and churches of this colony, be admitted to the freedom of this jurisdiction."
It is not sufficient to say, that, according to the theory and practice of the New Haven Colony, the approved churches were established by law; but, since the seven men who were chosen to be the foundation work covenanted together as a church before they organized themselves as a civil court, it would be more accurate to say that the civil authority was instituted
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by the church, than that the church was established by the state. This method of organization was undoubt- edly designed to secure "the purity and peace of the ordinances to themselves and their posterity ; " that is, to exclude, as far as they could, all other forms of Christianity. Such was their design, whatever may be the verdict of the present age respecting the breadth of their scope, or the equilibrium of their justice. It is easy to see that such a foundation could not, and ought not to, endure through all the changes of opinion introduced by their posterity and by later emigrants. It is not easy to show that it was either unrighteous or impolitic as a temporary arrangement designed to secure to exiles from their native land the peaceable enjoyment of that "purity of the ordinances " for which they had left their homes, and in regard to which they were all of one mind.
The " approved churches " were of the Congregational order, in distinction from Independency on the one hand and from diocesan or presbyterial combination on the other. Some of the planters were High Church Sepa- ratists, regarding it as wrong to be in fellowship with the Church of England. Those who were more liberal had lost all desire for Episcopacy, if for no other reason because it was for them impracticable. To organize congregations, and place them under the government of the English hierarchy, would have been a surrender of themselves to the yoke. they had slipped from. However they differed one from another in their theories of the church, the people of New England had, before the settlement of New Haven, with one ac- cord, practically renounced Episcopacy. The planters of
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Salem seem to have had no plan for their ecclesiastical organization till the time for action was close at hand. The adoption of Congregationalism was a surprise, at least to some of them. A few expressed their dis- sent by worshipping apart from the majority, and ac- cording to the forms prescribed by act of Parliament. After the violent suppression of this schism, there was no attempt among the Puritans of New England to organize congregations in connection with the Church of England. Some of them, when they returned to the mother country, showed by their adhesion to the national church that they had not been Congrega- tionalists through conviction that Episcopacy was un- lawful. Others, on their return home, conscientiously dissented from the established religion, and cast in their lot with the Separatists, however feeble and despised.
Presbyterianism was but little known to most of the planters of New Haven ; and what Davenport had learned of it by his experience in Holland had led him to dislike a classis almost as much as à bishop.
Adopting Congregationalism, the people of the New Haven Colony, like their brethren throughout New England, intended by it something as different from Independency as from Presbyterianism or Episcopacy. Their views and feelings may perhaps be illustrated by a quotation from one of themselves better than in any other way. John Wakeman, who resided at New Haven, on a lot at the corner of Chapel and York Streets va- cated by the removal to Milford of the widow Baldwin to whom it was originally allotted, was for some years the treasurer of the jurisdiction, the representative of the plantation in the Colonial Court, and a deacon of the
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church. Drawing near to the end of life, he felt him- self called to profess his belief, not only in the facts which underlie Christianity, but in that theory of the Christian church which prevailed in New England. In his last will and testament he writes, -
" I, John Wakeman of New Haven, being weak in body, but of sound understanding and memory, in expectation of my great change, do make this my last will and testament. First, I com- mend my soul into the hands of my Lord Jesus Christ, my Re- deemer, trusting to be saved by his merits and intercession. and my body to be buried at the discretion of my executors and friends, in hope of a joyful resurrection; testifying my thankfulness to God for the free manifestation of his grace to me in Christ. and for the liberty and fellowship vouchsafed me with his people in his ordinances in a Congregational way, which I take to be the way of Christ, orderly walked in according to his rules; but I do testify against absolute independency of churches, and perfection of any in light or actings, and against compulsion of conscience to concur with the church without inward satisfaction to conscience, and per- secuting such as dissent upon this ground, which I take to be an abuse of the power given for edification by Christ, who is (the) only lord of the conscience."
This profession of Mr. Wakeman agrees, for sub- stance, with the doctrine concerning Congregational- ism taught by the elders of the churches, and received by the people. Even that part of it which relates to freedom of conscience, and the abuse of power in per- secuting, fairly represents the public sentiment of the colony, so far as erroneous thinking, apart from the promulgation of error, is concerned; for, while banish- ing or otherwise maltreating those who dissented from the majority, the law-makers were careful to declare that the offenders were not punished for wrong think-
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ing, but for "broaching, publishing, and maintaining " their erroneous sentiments. The law against heresy reads, -
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