USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Oxford > History of the town of Oxford, Connecticut > Part 2
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The Hertfordshire group had come to Boston in 1637. Now, assum- ing that the average age of the persons comprising that group was around 30 years, then by 1675, when the Paugaset settlement took the name of Derby, their average age would probably have increased to 65. Therefor, the men who beginning in 1680 came to settle in Oxford, had probably been born in this country. As they grew up, many of them found that land was taken around the older part of Derby, and so they went further inland for new land, and thus settled Oxford gradu- ally without receiving any great augmentation by immigration from England.
The earliest record of a settlement in the Oxford district appears to be that of Ensign Samuel Riggs, to whom a Derby town meeting held January 14, 1678 granted liberty to take up twenty acres of land at or near Rock Rimmon, in what is now Seymour on the west side of the Naugatuck River. During that year, Major Ebenezer Johnson, Jeremiah Johnson and a few others also purchased small tracts of land at Rock Rimmon, near what is now called "Pine's Bridge". As evidence that there was a number of settlers in Oxford before 1680, this notation is given in the record, that in that year "it had become necessary to establish town bounds of Derby (in the northern part of
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Oxford) and Waterbury (then known as Mattatuck)". This would not seem to have been necessary if there had been only an occasional set- tler in Oxford at that time. Other settlers coming to Oxford in 1683 included Abel Gunn who on April 30th of that year was granted ten acres of land "up the Little River above Naugatuck Falls on the west side of the Naugatuck River, and Joseph Hawley who sent word June 4th, 1683 that he would come up to lay out his land at Quakers' Farm on the next day. A description of a layout made March 27, 1688 of 170 acres for Lieut. Johnson states that it was at the place commonly known as the Quakers' Farm. On April 24th, 1699, Samuel Riggs' land was laid out on Five Mile Hill and the description refers to lands of John Hulls and John Tibbals on the south and to that of Widow Denman, showing that persons already owned property there.
In 1711, John Chatfield had his division in the swamp upon the Five Mile Brook, on the north side of the Woodbury path ( Route 188). In the same year, John Tibbals had land on the west branch of the Five Mile Brook, on the east side of Woodbury Road. North of him was Samuel Riggs and John Hull. In 1711 also John Hull had land in Quakers' Farm Purchase on the east side of the country road, not far from Quakers' Farm, on the east side of Woodbury Road, and south Samuel Riggs" So it is evident that by 1711, quite a little settlement had sprung up on Five Mile Hill, not far from the Quakers' Farm. In 1711 also, John Pringle had land on Goodhill "west of Eight Mile Brook, east of Samuel Nichols' land". On the other side of town, on December 9, 1700, John Twichel had his pasture laid out in the rocks above David Meadow, so called.
All of these settlements above recorded, appear to refute that state- ment made in the "History of the Old Town of Derby", that "the first permanent settlers at Quaker's Farm was some time after 1707". Sharpe takes notice of this statement in his "Oxford Sketches Part 2," and says it was an error, and that "it is evident that the twenty miles between Derby and Mattatuck which includes Oxford was considerably taken up by settlers". In 1711 a committee was formed to lay out the lots on the Quaker's Farm Purchase.
In 1722, Abraham Wooster purchased lands at Quaker's Farm and "erected a mansion house, and also had a saw mill, and soon after, the Griffin, Perry, Hawkins, Hyde, and Nichols families settled here." While these men were taking up their lives in Oxford, one action was taken by the General Court of Connecticut, this was that it changed its name in 1698 to The General Assembly and divided into the Upper House and Lower House (now the Senate and House of Representa- tives).
Another interesting event was that on April 5, 1700, Derby agreed to send to Woodbury and Waterbury men to run the perambulation be- tween "them and us". This appears to be the first recorded use of the word "perambulation" for the viewing and checking the town bounds,
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and we note that the word is still in use for the periodical check. A list of Freemen in Derby about 1708 follows; "a list of the names of the freemen in Derby viz; they that have taken the freeman's oath:
maj. Ebenezer Johnson
Josiah bolding
Mr Joseph Moss
Deacon Abel Holbrook
ensin Samuel Riggs
Deacon Isak nickols
Mr william Tombleson
Joh theobals
Lef; Thomas Woster
John daves
Ens: Joseph hulls
John chatfield
William washbon
Stephen person sen
daved wooster Johnson
Joseph Hawkings
henery wooster
John Pringle timothy wooster
Ebenezer harger
Efraim Smith
Samuell nicols
mr John Durand
Samuell brinsmade
John Riggs
John nathan lum
Samuell bowers
francis french
Edward Riggs Jeams hard
Jeremiah Johnson
Of the above, the following names appear in records of the Oxford district: Moss, Riggs, Tomlinson, Wooster, Washbon, Harger, Smith, French, Nichols, Theobals (Tibbals), Chatfield, Hawkins, Lum, Hard (Hurd)
CHAPTER 3
THE INDIANS AND DEEDS THEY GAVE
During the early years of the settling of Derby and Oxford, Connec- ticut, while it had no actual Indian warfare, nevertheless stood continu- ally in more or less fear of it, by incursions from the north.
In 1689, William and Mary came to the throne of England, and war was declared with France, and the French governor in Canada urged the Indians to hostilities. The Governor of New York appealed to Connecticut for assistance to protect his northern borders from in- vasion, and Connecticut sent a company of soldiers to Albany. Later, another detachment was sent to aid the Massachusetts settlers upon the Connecticut River. Connecticut supplied men and ammunitions liberally for an unsuccessful expedition against Montreal.
"In 1693, another Connecticut company was placed at the dis - posal of the Governor of New York, and in 1694, a tax of one penny on a pound was levied for the defense of Albany. The war was very burdensome for Connecticut, mainly to defend the borders of her sister colonies, her expenditures for that purpose amounting to about one tenth of her grand list."
Then in 1702, there came the war between England and France, known as the Queen Anne's War and in this country the French and Indians attacked the settlements in Western Massachusetts and in 1703 occurred the infamous Deerfield massacre. These events must have been uncomfortably close to the settlements in western Connecticut.
But in Derby and in Oxford itself, the white settlers had no trouble with the Indians, who do not seem to have been a warlike tribe. They were known as the "Paugasucks" or "Paugusetts", the tribe being a large one, occupying a considerable territory on both sides of the Housatonic River, extending from Oyster River, which separates Orange from Milford, all the way to Fairfield. On the west side of the Housatonic River, the Paugasucks claimed all the territory now com- prised in the towns of Stratford, Bridgeport, Trumbull, Huntington, and Monroe. On the east of the Housatonic they claimed as far north as Beacon Hill Brook, which overlapped the hunting grounds of the Tunxis, as the Indians of Farmington were known.
One of the chief seats of the Paugasucks was at the "Great Neck" between the Housatonic and the Naugatuck Rivers in the vicinity of what later became known as "Baldwin's Corners". There was a large
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open field at this place, frequently referred to as "Indian Field". The proprietorship of the land around Derby seems to have been divided between the Pootatucks and the Paugasucks, the lands of the Pootatucks extending on the west and south of the Housatonic and those of the Paugasucks east and north of that river. Nevertheless, they signed deeds interchangeably.
Derby early established the practice of purchasing land from the Indians, who seemed to have been willing to sell, and even urged the white man to buy. The latter had goods that the Indians desired, and which could be bought for cash only, but in making the transaction, the Indian thought apparently that the transfer of ownership would not pre- vent him from continuing to hunt and fish on that land. When the white man began to build walls and fences, and to bar the Indian from his former haunts, he felt defrauded, but it was then too late. From 1665 onward, the Paugasuck Indians sold lands, piece by piece, to the Derby people, until the town bounds reached Waterbury and Woodbury on the north, some time prior to 1680. The deeds from the Indians often overlapped, and apparently several pieces of land were sold to the town three or four times. Some twenty-five or more deeds are re- corded with one hundred or more different Indian names attached thereto, the last deed being given in 1711. As usual among Indians, the tribes were headed by a "sachem", who generally had one or more assistant chiefs under him. There were termed "sagamores". In the "History of the Indians of Connecticut", the autographs of some Indians are given, which are reproduced in the illustration herewith, #8 Ansantoway, #9 Towtanemo:
Those who signed these deeds:
For the Paugasucks:
Ansantaway, Towtanemo, Ockenuck, Atterose, Ahuntaway, Nanawaug, Cockapatona
For the Pootatucks:
Chushumack
In the Oxford district, land was obtained by the Town of Derby in a surprisingly short time. There were five principal deeds from the Indians for land in the bounds of what later became Oxford. These purchases were:
1. Wesquantuck (now shortened to Squantuck)
2. Rockhouse Hill
3. Camp's Mortgage
4. The Quaker's Farm purchase
5. The North purchase
These deeds and others are signed chiefly by members of the Paugaset tribe, with a few signatures of Pootatuck Indians. It is here well to note that what we now call the Housatonic River was known variously as the Ousatonic, the Great River, the Stratford River, and
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Indian Autographs.
1, UNCAS. 2, OWENECO. 3, ATTAWANHOOD. 4, MAJOR BEN UNCAS. 5, MAMOHET, (son of Oweneco.) 6, MAHACHEMO. 7, MOMAUGUIN. 8, ANSANTAWAE. 9, TONTONIMO, (of Milford.) 10, SHAUMPISHUH. 11, MONTOWESE. 12, ACKENACH. 13, PETHUS. 14, AHAMO. 15, NASSAHEGON. 16, CASSASINAMON. 17, HERMONGARRET. 18, WERAUMAUG. 19. CATOONAR.
Indian Autographs
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occasionally as the Pootatuck River. The Naugatuck River was called the Paugasuck.
The town bought land as fast as it could pay, in fact, in one case, that of the "Camp's Mortgage Purchase", it was faster than the town could pay; it had to borrow the money from a merchant, Nicholas Camp of Milford, to pay the Indians and it gave Camp a mortgage as security. It was paid off after a number of years, at the rate of four pounds a year. But the tract of land continued to be known as "Camp's Mort- gage". A deed recorded in the Derby Record Book, dated March 5, 1701 appears to apply to this tract .* 1 Another deed recorded by Abel Gunn in his book, dated March 15, 1710 covers a tract of land in the northern part of Oxford, on the so-called Twelve Mile Hill. Gunn says it contained one hundred acres "bounded north on the bounds of Waterbury and on all other sides with our own Indian land". * 2
A deed dated August 6, 1687 recorded by Abel Gunn in his book describes a tract of land on Rockhouse Hill. See appendix, "Tract A."
A second deed dated August 15, 1698 (eleven years after the deed mentioned above), gives title to a tract of land "called Wesquantuck and Rockhouse Hill" lying between Four Mile Brook and Five Mile Brook and between the Great River and Woodbury Road. See Appendix, Tract B.
It is interesting to note that one of the witnesses to this deed was John James, the first Derby school teacher.
THE QUAKERS FARM PURCHASE
Oxford is divided roughly, east and west by the ridge that separates the valleys of the Housatonic and the Little Rivers. The northern part of the section west of this ridge is now known as "Quaker Farms", and it extends from Rockhouse Hill to the Southbury Line. But the old records all speak of it as either "Quakers' Farm", "the Quaker's Farm", or the "Quakers Farm purchase". Why it was called "the Quaker's farm" is unknown. If there was a Quaker who owned a farm in this district, there seems to be no record of who he was or where he came from. The name "Quaker's Farm" first appears on record in 1683 when Mr. Joseph Hawley of Stratford proposed "to have his grant in Derby laid at Quaker's Farm". In extent, it was 150 acres it being on record in 1691 that Ebenezer Johnson deeded to John Butler, Yeoman, then resident of Stratford", a tract of land commonly called Quaker's Farm, being one hundred fifty acres". Sharpe says "A well preserved document found at Quaker Farms some years ago gave a description of a layout of 170 acres at Quaker's Farm for
*1 Appendix, Tract C
*2 Appendix, Tract D
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Lieut. Johnson, made March 27, 1688 and refers to the "common road" through "the place commonly called the Quaker's Farm". Rockey re- cords "That in 1692, Ebenezer Johnson deeded his land in Quakers' Farm to Dr. John Butler of Stratford who occupied it several years later, and was probably the first permanent white settler. It is said that his house stood about 40 rods south of the old Quakers' Farm burial ground on the west side of the brook (Seven Mile Brook) and under the hill". The location is on the road now known as the Captain Wooster road and there is still the bridge over the brook and a small hillock to mark the site, a short distance beyond the old Wooster house now occupied (1958) by Mrs. Elsie Stanton.
The Quaker's Farm was therefore a relatively small tract and not to be confused with the very large tract known as the "Quakers' Farm Purchase". Sharpe says that the latter "extended easterly to the Naugatuck River and beyond, and therefore included not only a large proportion of the southern part of Oxford, but a considerable part also of what is now Seymour, the Indian Deeds overlapping one another."
The tract, "the Quakers' Farm Purchase" was bought from the Indians and its purchase seems to have been financed by a group of men known as "The Proprietors of the Quakers' Farm Purchase", each proprietor holding varying amounts as his share, depending on the amount of his subscription. This parnership or joint venture may have been formed as early as 1689, as Sharpe says there is a record of "a vote that Capt. Ebenezer Johnson have liberty to take up land in Quakers Farm Purchase, land not previously laid out, he to take up said land according to his list that was when ye land was pitched upon, viz, 1689 & upon ye foregoing termes have ye like priviledge with his neighbors there"
Sharpe, in his "Oxford Sketches" says "The list of names of pro- prietors in March, 1727-8 is here given as the best available record of the heads of families here at that time. Here followeth a list of names which is ye augmented list which is the rule for dividing the lands in Quakers' Farm Purchace that are yet undivided". Sharpe in his "Seymour and Vicinity" says "A list of proprieters was made out in 1717, but some additions were made as late as 1727. The numbers were drawn by lot and each proprietor made his choice of location in the order indicated by the numbers, but to equalize the matter it was voted that when a second allotment should be made, the choice should be in the reverse order". In the list from "Oxford Sketches", the cash value of each proprietor's holding is given, and in the list from "Sey- mour Past and Present", the number drawn by lot is given. Hence, to simplify matters, we have consolidated the two lists into one, giving both the cash value and the lot number.
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List of Proprietors in 1727-8
Name
Lot Number £
S
d
Ens Sam Basset
12
28
George Black
10
21
Samll Bowers
32
76
12
Samll Brinsmade
57
22
10
Abram Canfield
25
23
John Chatfield
6
113
John Munson
52
18
Ens Nikols
35
90
Joseph Nikols
5
32
Abraham Person
48
72
7
Steaphen Peirson Junr
2
76
10
Steaphen Peirson Snr
56
78
Mr. Pinto
18
29
John Pringle
33
32
John Pringle (jr)
39
85
10
Ebin Riggs
8
102
Edward Riggs
1
69
Lt John Riggs
42
240
18
John Davis
34
70
4
Micah Denman
19 + 64
74
Mr John Durand
59
87
12
Francis French
22
135
Abel Gunn
36
157
17
6
Capt. Samll Gunn
28
Ebin Harger
38
135
10
Jabiz Harger
47
23
Joseph Hawkins
16
201
15
Jonathan Hill
46
21
Deacon Abel Holbrook
61
129
7
6
John Hull
26
103
3
Capt Joseph Hull Jnr
40
366
5
James Humphres
15
25
Coll:Ebenezer Johnson
54
219
1
9
Ebenezer Johnson
21
72
16
Jeremiah Johnson
44
159
John Johnson
60
49
10
Joseph Johnson
37
42
Peter Johnson
11
123
Jonathan Lumm
41
70
4
Samll Moss
14
43
William Moss
50
147
15
Mr. Moss
58
Ens Sam Riggs
49
88
10
16
Name
Lot Number 3
S
d
Andrew Smith
30
132
6
Ephraim Smith
9
36
John Smith Jr.
27
20
John Smith Snr
29
98
10
Joseph Smith
53
46
10
Benj. Stiles
23
26
5
John Tibbals
7
123
2
6
Abraham Tomlinson
13
Isaac Tomlinson
43
192
John Tomlinson
31
76
10
Samll Tomlinson
63
49
5
6
William Tomlinson
51
58
10
John Towner
17
48
John Twitchel
24
78
Samll Washbon
3
74
2
William Washbon
45
117
John Weede
55
82
2
Selvester Wooster
4
39
Thos Wooster
20
175
10
Timothy Wooster (Snr)
62
117
5285
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The larger holdings and the equivalent in dollars are given.
Holdings of £100 or more.
Capt. Joseph Hull Jr.
£366
=
$1220.
Lt. John Riggs
240
798.
Col. Ebenezer Johnson
210
698.
Joseph Hawkins
201
668.
Isaac Tomlinson
192
638.
Thos Wooster
175
583.
Jeremiah Johnson
159
528.
Capt. Saml Gunn
157
523.
Wm Moss
147
488.
Francis French
135
448.
Ebin Harger
135
448.
Andrew Smith
132
438.
Deacon Abel Holbrook
129
429.
Peter Johnson
123
408.
John Tibbals
123
408.
Wm Washbon
117
389.
Timothy Wooster
117
389.
John Chatfield
110
365.
John Hull
103
342.
Eben Riggs
102
339.
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(In New England, six shillings were accounted a dollar; twenty shill- ings to the pound. )
Whether all the subscribers actually took up land of the value opposite his name is uncertain, and they may have merely participated in the profits of each sale in proportion to the amount of money they sub- scribed. The Proprietors continued to issue deeds for many years, even as late as 1802, giving a deed January 22nd of that year to James Perry. An interesting feature of the deeds issued by the Proprietors is that many, perhaps all, are not in reality deeds, but are instead 999 year leases. No record has been found as to why this is so.
The wide extent of Quakers Farm Purchase is shown by the two deeds in possession of the writers. The one is a Quit Claim deed, dated April 11, 1792, from Joel Chatfield to the Proprietors of the Quakers' Farm Purchase for a piece of property at or near Bladen's Brook which flows into the Naugatuck River (on the east side thereof) just above the center of Seymour. It is described as "at a place called the northern end of the Bear Hills, bounded, "south by the country road from Woodbury to New Haven a little east of my dwelling house, to the north side of Ditch that brings the water from Bladen's Brook to my mills"
The other deed is for a piece of property on "Hull's Hill" at the extreme northwestern part of Oxford. It is dated April 7th, 1795, and is from "a committee of the Proprietors of the common and undivided Land in sd Derby, Called Quakers' farm purchase to John Basset Junr. for two pieces of land. The first is described as bounded:
West on land of Nathan Buckingham Southerly on land of sd John Bassett, Junr Eastwardly on land of Stephen Curtis, and highway, And northerly on highway."
The second piece of land is described as "lying at the south end of Phinecock (or Shinecock), so called, being bounded:
Southerly on the Highway by the River Eastwardly on land of John Basset Northerly on land of Eliakin Beardslee
And Westwardly on land of John Twitchel
Signed, John Riggs, junr Daniel Perkins"
The wide extent of the Quakers' Farm Purchase is recognized by Sharpe in his "Seymour Past and Present" where he says: (in Sey- mour) "the hill bounded northerly by Bladen's Brook, southerly by Pearl Street and westerly by Main Street was known two centuries ago as Indian Hill, and the next hill south reaching from Pearl Street nearly a mile Southward was known as Success Hill. Strange as it
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may seem, these hills were included in the Quaker Farms Purchase which extended from the Milford boundary line on the east and West- ward to the Housatonic River."
KETTLETOWN AND THE WOODBURY "FIFTH" INDIAN PURCHASE
Cothren's "History of Ancient Woodbury" contains a map of the various purchases of land made by Woodbury from the Indians, and shows a tract which he numbers "5" and speaks of it as the "Fifth Purchase". It contained a triangular portion of Oxford the boundaries of which are on the east, Eight Mile Brook, on the west, the Housatonic River, and on the north, the straight line running from the Housatonic River to Eight Mile Brook in a generally northeast direction, and coin- ciding with a portion of Maple Tree Hill Road. Cothren speaks of this tract No. 5 as having been purchased from the Indians for the con- sideration of a brass kettle, and it received from this circumstance, the name of Kettletown. He says that it was purchased "at a very early period", but goes on to say, "On the 16th of April, 1679, this tract was again sold by the Indians together with Quakers Farms, in Derby, east of the Eight Mile Brook, to Ebenezer Johnson of Derby and his associates." As Woodbury was only settled in 1673, it would seem that the town had claim to this piece of land for six years only, inasmuch as Ebenezer Johnson and his associates were all Derbymen. Apparently this was a case of the overlapping of Indian deeds, which was not unusual.
The order of the General Assembly of May 7, 1741, creating the parish of Oxford, gives the northwestern boundary as following Eight Mile Brook southward "until it comes to the dividing line between the twon of Woodbury and Derby, thence westerly along that line unto the great river." This is the same as the line splitting Woodbury's No. 5 purchase, and indicates that for some time prior to 1741, it was the acknowledged boundary between Woodbury and Derby.
CHAPTER 4
THE NEW PARISH OF OXFORD
Thus the Oxford district got settled as a collection of farms, all looking for governmental and ecclesiastical organization to the Town of Derby. They trudged down to the Derby Meeting House, about nine miles away each Sunday, and bore their dead there for burial. For some sixty years they put up with these conditions but finally brought about the forming of a new parish, Oxford. The going to meeting so far away, each Sabbath Day, and staying there for two services, one in the morning, and the other in the afternoon was so difficult that it is small wonder that a demand arose among the people living in the Oxford district to be "set off" as a separate parish, and in 1740 such a petition was presented to the General Assembly. It should be noted that the petition had been presented by three groups of people:
1) those dwelling in the "northwest part of Derby" (seemingly Oxford Center, from the names)
2) those from "the southwest part of Waterbury Woods" in the old society of Waterbury.
3) those from Southbury
Strangely enough there was no representation from Five Mile Hill or Quaker's Farm, although the bounds for the new parish laid down in the petition included most of those districts.
The first petition for the setting apart of Oxford as a separate parish was made to the General Assembly in May, 1740, and on the 7th of May 1741, the petition was granted in the following words:
"Whereas upon the memorial of Timothy Worster, John Twichel and John Towner Esq, dwelling in the northwest part of the township of Derby, Isaac Trowbridge, John Weed, Jonas Weed, Thomas and Joseph Osborn dwelling in the southwest part of Waterbury woods, in the old society in said Waterbury and Isaac Knowles, Joseph Towner, Eliphalet Bristol, John Tift and Aaron Bristol, dwelling in the southeast part of the township of Woodberry woods in the parish of Southbury, moving to the General Assembly holden at Hartford, May, anno Dom. 1740, that they might become one en- tire, ecclesiastical society, and praying for a committee &c; the said General Assembly did appoint a committee, who accord- ingly making their report to the General Assembly at New Haven in October last, and the same not being accepted; and the said
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General Assembly in October last appointing another committee, Colo. Benjamin Hall, Capt. Isaac Dickerman and Capt. John Fowler to view and report &c .: And whereas the said last men- tioned committee have to this Assembly made their report that according to the direction of said Assembly they have repaired to the abovesaid places, &c. and find and are of opinion, that it is necessary and best that the said inhabitants be made a distinct separate ecclesiastical society, and that their bounds and limits be as followeth:
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