USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Oxford > History of the town of Oxford, Connecticut > Part 7
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And the present towns poor & other debts burthens & debts of sd town shall be apportioned to sd Derby & Oxford according to the agreement entered into by a committee appointed on the part of sd Derby & on the part of sd Oxford dated the 9th & 23d of April 1798 & accepted by sd town of Derby ( Then follows details of tax matters)
And the first meeting of sd town of Oxford shall be held at the meeting house in Oxford on the third tuesday of November 1798 for the purpose of appointing town officers which meeting shall be warned by a warrant signed by Thomas Clarke Esqr of sd Oxford a Justice of the peace for sd county or in case of his de- cease by John Riggs Esqr of sd Oxford a Justice of the peace for sd County - and sd warrant shall be posted on the public sign post in sd Oxford at least five days before sd meeting; and sd John Riggs Esq shall be moderator of sd meeting or on case of his de- cease or absence Thomas Clarke Esq. and sd town shall then & there proceed to appoint a town clerk & other town officers for sd town who shall continue in office until the annual town meeting for the year 1799.
And it is further resolved that sd town of Oxford be and the same is hereby annexed the county of Newhaven & shall be & re- main within & part thereof."
"a true copy of record examined by Samuel Wyllys Secretary
Hosea Dutton, Register
Compared with the Secretary's copy and found true."
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FIRST MEETING OF THE TOWN OF OXFORD
At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Oxford pursuant to the order of the honble Genrl Assembly on the 3d tuesday of November A.D. 1798 at the meeting hous of sd town
John Riggs Esqr moderator Mr. Ebenezer Wooster was chosen Town Clerk John Riggs Esqr Town Treasurer
Capt Ebenezer Riggs, John Riggs Esqr Messrs
David Tomlinson Charle Bunnel & Caleb Cande Selectmen
Messrs Nathanel Pangman, Nathan Buckingham Jr. & Charles Bunnel were chosen Constables and sworn.
Mr. Charles Bunnel appointed collector of the state tax.
Messrs Gideon Cande, Abijah Chatfield & Elihu Bates were chosen Grand Jurors & sworn.
Messrs John Bunnel, Eleazer Twichel, Benjn Loveland & Chester Smith were chosen tithing men & sworn
Messrs John Towner & Caleb Cande were chosen fence viewers
Messrs Danl Cande Justus Cande Abel Wheeler and Silas Hawkins were chosen listers & sworn, likewise Asahel Hyde and Philo Holbrook.
Messrs Asahel Hyde Benj Loveland
Danel Cande
David Smith Jr. Naboth Osborn Job Cande Sworn
Elijah Harger Sworn
Moses Cande
Hose Dutton
Joel Buckingham
Wm Church
John Hawkins
John Fairchild
Abel Waters
Philo Bucher Sworn
Josiah Washband Jr. Sworn Samel Bartis
Isaac Riggs Nathanel Johnson Sworn
and Joseph Lines sworn were chosen surveyors of highways. Mr. Sherman Hatch chosen leather sealer & sworn.
Noted that the meeting be adjourned to Jan. 7th 1799 at the meeting house.
Attest, Ebenr Wooster, town clerk.
By 1800 the population of Oxford totaled 1410 persons, and the grand list for 1795 included 232 persons, so that the average family contained about 6 persons. The men having holdings of over 100 Lbs. at that time were:
Thomas Osborn £133 9s 9d
John Wooster & Son £133 5s 6d
Ebenezer Wooster £ 119 5s
Thomas Clark £ 116
David Tomlinson £ 114 12s Ebenezer Johnson, Jr. £ 111 18s 9d
John Riggs £197 6s
Isaac Nichols £ 104 15s
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At this time, notification, (or warnings as they were called) of town meetings were made by affixing the notice to "The oak tree by the meeting house; the white oak tree on Chestnut Hill at the corner of Squire Clarke's; the mill at Quaker's Farm; and the corner of the garden by Charles Johnson".) In 1800 the town meeting voted to change the place in Quaker's Farm, from the mill to Squire Tomlinson's Shop. This apparently did not take place for sometime, for in 1844 the town voted to remove it from the mill to a place near the church in Quaker Farms.
The first men to take the oath as Freemen after the incorporation of the town did so April 8, 1799, were:
Joel Buckingham, Chester Smith, Ebenezer Twichell, Roger Perkins, Joel Perry, Anson Smith, Jared Beardsley, John Bunnell, Caleb Tomlinson, John D. Wooster, Moses Sanford, Truman Bunnell, Cyrus Candee, John Fairchild, Elijah Treatt, and David Bunnell.
The oath was administered by Thomas Clarke, Esqr
The first men selected to represent the new town in the General Assembly were:
Thomas Clark, Esqr at Town Meeting April 8, 1799
John Riggs, Esqr
11 Sep. 16, 1799
Capt. Ebenezer Riggs
Apr. 7, 1800
The second town clerk, Hosea Dutton was chosen Apr. 7, 1800, and the first "perambulation", since incorporation, was made between Oxford and Southbury.
CHAPTER 11
THE TOWN GREENS
At the present time (1958) there are two Town Greens, the one on the eastern side of the Southbury Road (Route 67) being known as the "Upper Green", and the one on the western side of Route 67 being called the "Lower Green".
The Upper Green starts at Academy St. and runs south in front of the houses which face on the Green, to Lounsbury Road. The Lower Green starts at Governor's Hill Road and runs south between Route 67 and Little River to the site of St. Peter's Church (on the west side of Route 67)
But originally the two Greens were not separated by the Southbury Road. The late Mr. R. I. Sanford is said to have stated that the Oxford-Southbury Turnpike did not follow the course of the present Route 67 through Oxford Center, but somewhere near Hogs Back it turned west and circled around the Center to Dr. Dutton's house on what is now known as Lounsbury Road; thence east, downhill along Lounsbury Road to the retaining wall in front of the houses on the east side of the green. Then north along the wall to Academy St., then east on the latter to Riggs St., then south on Riggs St. - a circuitous route which will be described more fully under "Turnpikes", but one which left the two Greens undivided.
In Judge Wilcoxson's 1876 Centennial address, he says "The public green of the central part is made up of what is called "Meeting House acre land" given by a Mr. Chatfield for a site for a meeting house, and of land thrown out by proprietors along down on the easterly side till it ends upon the turnpike road. This constitutes what is called the Upper Green."
This Upper Green apparently dates back to the very early years of Oxford, but its exact date is not on record.
Of the "Lower Green", Judge Wilcoxson gives the following account, -
"The lower Green is proprietors' land and laid by the proprietors' committee for a public common and a military parade ground. Esq. Chas Bunnell told me what I am about to state. The commit- tee came along as was expected, on their way above to lay out land. As they were passing, he (Bunnell) spoke with them of the land now constituting the Green and requested them to lay out for public use. They replied that they would consider the matter. As
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Oxford Center from the South, about 1900.
-------- -
1
I
The Upper Green, Looking South at Academy Road, About 1900.
HOTEL
-
-
-
------
--
------
--
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T
The Upper Green in 1900, Looking North from the South end.
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EE
The Little River and the Lower Green, Looking North towards the Bridge on Governor's Hill Rd., about 1900.
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Oxford Center and the Greens, about 1900.
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they returned he was stationed to hear their reply to his request. They said they so laid out the land as he requested."
"The land was in a forbidding state, being a thickly grown bramble. The people turned out under the lead of a committee, to wit; Capt. John Davis, Lieut. Samuel Andrew Buckingham, and Ensign Ebenezer Fairchild. I was informed by Lieut. (after- wards Capt.) Buckingham that the whole public common, both upper and lower was laid out and improved under the lead of the same committee".
Judge Wilcoxson unfortunately does not give the date when Chas. Bunnell made his suggestion to the committee about the Lower Green. Oxford was incorporated as a Town in 1798, presumably the Upper Green was laid out about that time, or even before.
Ebenezer Fairchild died in 1804, so the Lower Green must have been laid out by the committee before that year, and it seems likely that it was done in 1798, the year of incorporation.
Judge Wilcoxson seems to intimate, (though he does not say so) that Squire Chas. Bunnell gave the land for the Lower Green.
CHAPTER 12 ROADS AND TURNPIKES
ROADS
For the settlers to take up their abode in Oxford, it is obvious that some means of communication must have been set up between them and their old home in Derby, starting out with foot trails, then bridle paths, developing later to cart tracks and finally to roads or "high- ways".
"There were three principal ways to go from Derby to Water- bury in those old times. One way was on the east side of the Naugatuck River, on Skokorat, then up over Beacon Hill to Salem etc.
"A second way was along the banks of the Naugatuck River, crossing the stream sixteen times. A third way was over Great Hill, Rocku's Hill ( Rockhouse Hill), Quaker Farms etc. The lat- ter, the Rock House Hill and Five Mile Hill-Quaker Farms Road was first known as "the Woodbury Path" and was laid out as early as Feb. 28, 1676, when it is recorded that "at a meeting of the Committee appointed by the General Court May 13, 1675 to state a place for a ferry (across the Housatonic River at Derby ) and a highway from it to Woodbury, they decided to have the highway run from the ferry "upwards towards Woodbury, to the upper end of the old field and then up to the hollow at the upper end of that field to the highway that is now used towards Woodbury."
Other records indicate that the highway referred to was that over Great Hill, Rockhouse Hill, and Five Mile Hill, and through Quaker Farms.
It apparently was not until 1783 that the road along the eastern shore of the Housatonic River was built, when in that year Capt. Zachariah Hawkins was appointed to oversee and make a new highway there from Woodbury to Derby. The part of this highway north of Stevenson Dam was flooded by the building of that dam and the forma- tion of Lake Zoar and has not yet been replaced.
An early map of Connecticut (that made by the famous engraver A. Doolittle of New Haven), published in 1792 shows the road on the east side of the Naugatuck River over Skokorat to which we have just referred, and also Capt. Hawkins road along the Housatonic River.
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It shows also a road following the course of the Little River, from about Seymour to a point just south of Oxford Center where it diverges east from Little River and passes east of the Center. The scale of the map is so small that it is difficult to determine the exact location of this road, but, when plotted on a modern road map, it seems either to follow Chestnut Tree Hill Road, (including the southern portion now known as Wire Hill Road), or possibly Rimmon Hill Road from Seymour.
Strangely enough, the Doolittle map does not show the Rock House Hill, Five Mile Hill, Quaker Farms Road.
With the production of more farm products than the settler's own families could consume, there came a demand for better roads from the interior to the various seaports where these products could be loaded aboard ships bound for New York, Boston, and other coastal ports, and also for the West Indies.
The first roads were mere swaths, cut through the forest, and while fairly wide, no attempt was made to remove tree stumps or boulders, the road, so-called, being pretty much like the modern "right-of-way" of an Electric Company for its power lines.
They were not smooth enough for a horse to travel at any pace faster than a walk, and even at that rate there was always danger of his breaking his leg in a pot hole. The only vehicle that could use it was a two-wheeled slow paced ox-cart.
So the demand increased for better, smoother roads, but very much like our present-day people, the people of 1795 objected to paying taxes to finance the cost of such roads, which involved the removal of tree stumps and boulders and a bed of broken stone, topped with gravel. So they turned to the device of the formation of private com- panies who would build, or improve the roads with their own funds and get their pay for so doing by levying tolls on the users of the roads at rates authorized by the State. Such toll roads had been in use for many years in England, and were known as "turnpike roads", because the toll-gate consisted of four slender poles about ten feet long sharpened at their outer ends and turning, like a gate, around a center post. These long poles were termed "pikes", probably after the old weapon of defense consisting of such a pole tipped with a steel point. A row of "pike men" formed the famous means of defense against cavalry charges, used by Cromwell's "Ironsides". And in fact, steel tipped pike poles were in common use in early New England for erect- ing frames of houses and churches. And in our own time, they con- tinued to be used for erecting telephone and power-line poles until quite recently.
All the early deeds speak of these toll roads as "turnpike roads", and not just "turnpikes" or "pikes", but popularly the road itself soon became known by the shortened form.
Speaking of the improvement of the roads which occurred towards
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the end of the 18th century, Albert Gallatin, at that time Secretary of the Treasury, reported in 1808 that "a great number of artificial roads have been completed in the eastern and middle States. The labor be- stowed on the least expensive species consists in shortening the dis- tance, diminishing the ascent of hills, removing rocks, leveling, raising and giving a proper shape to the bed of the roads, draining them by ditches, and erecting bridges over the intervening streams."
The people of Oxford, Southbury, and Derby turned early to the building of a turnpike road connecting these places, forming in 1795 the "Oxford Turnpike Company." This was the first turnpike corpora- tion formed in Connecticut, although the turnpike era in New England had begun in 1792 when the first toll road was established between New London and Norwich (The Mohegan Road), but this undertaking was under the charge of Commissioners, and not of an incorporated com- pany.
The building of a turnpike by a corporation was not entirely popu- lar, as "the companies assumed that they were not bound to build any- thing but a road, and that the towns through which the turnpikes were projected were obliged to purchase the land needed for a new road, or for alterations to the old, and to build all necessary bridges."
The act of the General Assembly is dated May 2, 1795, and reads as follows:
"At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut holden at Hartford on the second Thursday of May 1795. Upon the Petition of John Bulford and his associates showing this assembly that there is necessity of immediately repairing the great road lead- ing from Southbury to Derby and New Haven through the parish of Oxford, praying for liberty to erect a turnpike on said roads and to collect a toll from Travellers to be applied to it for the keeping sd road in repair and to reimburse those who shall repair sd road the sums by them advanced with an interest thereon as per Peti- tion on file, -
"Resolved by this Assembly that the sd John Bulford and his associates are hereby constituted by the name of Oxford Turnpike Co. And be it further resolved that as soon as said society shall have fully repaired sd road from the home lately owned by Ebenezer Brownson in Southbury to John Woos- ter's in Derby or expended thereon in repairs the sum of £700 Lawful money and obtained a certificate thereof from the county court of New Haven County, the sd proprietors shall be and they are hereby authorized to erect and establish a Turnpike on sd road in the most convenient place, at which Turnpike the pro- prietors shall be and they are hereby authorized to collect the following tolls, viz
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cents.
Every travelling or pleasure four wheeled and
draft horses 25
*Chase (sic) chair or sulkey - 12 1/2
Loaded cart or loaded waggon 12 1/2
Empty Do Empty Do- 6 1/4
Empty cart
6 1/4
Single Horse cart
6 1/4
Horses, cattle and mules in droves -
3
Pleasure Travelling sleighs
6 1/4
Loaded Do
6 1/4
Empty Do
4
Loaded sleds
8
Empty Do
6 1/4
Man and Horse
4
Sheep and hogs
1/2
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Provided nevertheless that Persons travelling on the Lord's day and other public days to attend Publick worship, persons travel- ling to attend Town and Society Meetings, Persons attending Funerals and Farmers in the neighborhood of sd Turnpike pass- ing through the same to attend their farming business shall not be liable to the payment of said Toll And whenever or as soon as the aforesaid tolls shall reimburse to the proprietors- the sums by them advanced together with interest at Twelve Pr Centum per annum, then the said road shall be and remin discharged from sd tolls."
The Oxford Turnpike seems to have followed generally the main course of the present Route 67 to a point somewhere near Hogs Back Road in Oxford. Here it made a curious detour west around the Town Greens, turning abruptly west to a road near the old Town Poor Farm. It then turned south on this road to Lounsbury (formerly Dutton) Road, then east on Lounsbury Road to and across Route 67 to the east side of the Town Green. At this point the road turned north, skirting the east edge of the Green, to Academy Road, then east on the latter to Back St. (the present Riggs St) and south on Back St. to Route 67. There was a little inn on the west side of Back St., the foundations of which are still discernible, at which it is said a toll-gate was located. At some later date, the toll-gate was moved to Route 67 just south of the Cen- ter, its position being shown on the 1868 map of Oxford.
This detour of course gave the effect of preserving the Town Green as one undivided tract, instead of being split as at present by Route 67.
South of Oxford the Turnpike seems to have followed Route 67 to some point where it turned northeast to Pines Bridge and united with
*Meaning thereby, a chaise
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the Naugatuck and New Haven Turnpike on Beacon Brook. At what exact point it turned east from the Little River (Route 67) is uncer- tain. But some light is thrown on the matter by the action of the town of Derby when the turnpike from New Haven to Derby Landing was completed. Derby wished to have this turnpike extended to Oxford, so that traffic would flow down to Derby from Oxford and by the new Derby Pike to New Haven instead of turning east, north of Chusetown (Seymour). The town of Derby failed, however, to obtain the coopera- tion of Oxford and December 1804, Derby decided to proceed alone and voted "to lay out a road from Shrub Oak, so-called, to Derby Nar- rows." The report of the selectmen, in laying out this road was ac- cepted Apr. 18, 1805 and a vote passed to make the road".
This would indicate that the Oxford Turnpike turned off Route 67 at "Shrub Oak". The latter was the name given at an early date to that part of Seymour lying west of the Naugatuck River at the Falls. Its center was at the crossing of Church and West Streets, and Church St. was part of the old Rimmon Hill Road. From the foregoing, it would seem quite probable that the Oxford turnpike turned east from Route 67 at and over Rimmon Hill Road in the outskirts of "Chusetown" in- stead of at Chestnut Tree Hill Road.
OTHER TURNPIKES IN OXFORD
The "Pines Bridge Turnpike Co." was incorporated in 1824 and operated from Waterbury more or less along Chestnut Tree Hill Road as far as the old "Water Company's Road", then south on the latter to Pine's Bridge Road where it joined the Oxford Turnpike on its way to the Naugatuck-New Haven Turnpike. It ceased operation in 1836.
The "Ousatonic Turnpike Co." was incorporated in 1798, and ran along the eastern bank of the Housatonic River from New Milford through Oxford at the Town's western line to Derby. This may possi- bly be the road that Oxford voted on Apr. 3, 1800 appointing "Messrs Caleb· Candee, Charles Bunnel and Isaac Nichols a committee to meet the committee appointed by the County Court upon the petition of Elihu Sanford and others for a turnpike road". This, however, is uncertain.
In October, 1813, the portion between Southbury and New Milford was discontinued as a turnpike. Twenty-one years later, namely in May 1834, the northerly half of the Ousatonic Company's road was given to a new corporation known as the "River Turnpike Company", the division being made at Zoar Bridge in Oxford. But by 1842, the road had gotten into bad repair and the charters of both the River Company and the Ousatonic Company were repealed and the road given to the public.
Instead of charging tolls, another way of financing the construction of highways was by lottery, such a scheme having been resorted to in
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1782, in connection with the road from Derby to Woodbury, north along the Housatonic River (Route 34) to Squantuck, then east to Rock House Hill (Route 188). The following account of it is given by W. C. Sharpe in his "History of Seymour".
"A lottery was established in 1782 by authority of the town of Derby to defray the expense of a highway from Derby to Woodbury, by the Housetunnock river and Wesquantuck or Rock House Hill Purchase, the cost not to exceed 500 pounds. Capt. Thomas Clark and Daniel Holbrook were to petition the General Assembly for its consent and approval. John Humphrey and Lieut. Riggs were ap- pointed to lay out the road."
As the road up Rock House Hill through Quaker Farms was much older, it seems fair to assume that the cost of 500 pounds was to cover only the road from Derby to the junction of Squantuck Road and Rock House Hill Road at the present traffic circle.
The first recorded action by the town for care and improvement of its roads, appears to be the following:
On Oct. 5, 1801 it was voted to divide the township into 3 dis- tricts for the purpose of repairing the highways, the first to con- tain all the inhabitants east of the residents on Chestnut Hill road; the 2d from thence to a line betwixt Lyman Nichols and Roger Perkins and to run eastward of Danl Mallory's; the 3d to contain all westward of said line.
It was also voted that a tax of one cent on a dollar be laid payable in work at 50 cents per day and for three-cattle team 50 cts. Further action on roads was taken by the town of Oxford, Sep 7, 1834 when it voted that the several collectors of Highway Tax to be called upon to collect ------ to lay a tax of one cent on the dollar ----- to be expended on the several roads or public highways in the town.
The first recorded action on Hogs Back Road was taken May 4, 1853 when Town Meeting voted that the Selectmen examine and make such appropriation as they may deem proper on the road running from the Turnpike to Quaker Farms by the house of David J. McEwen.
Plank Roads
The difficulty in keeping the surface of the gravel roads of the turn- pikes, led later in some instances to the use of planks as a surface. One of these was the Oxford-Southbury pike, the "Woodbury and Sey- mour Plank Road Company" being incorporated in 1852.
"Plank roads were nearly all cases of single track, laid on the right side of the road as one faced the large town to which it led. Longitudinal trenches were dug in which sills consisting of three
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HARTFORD
LITCHFIELD
FARMINGTON
NEWMILFORD
WOODBURY
WATERBURY
MIDDLETOWN
NAUGATUCK
1798
SOUTHENKY
SSTR
BEACON
1795
OXFORD
SEYMOUR
NEW TOWN
-
N
DERBY
1798
HaveN
W
E
GUILFORD
MILEORO
BRIOCHEFORT
Turnpikes in Vicinity of Oxford, Conn.
HOUSTONKE RIVER
NAUCATICRY RIVER
BJS 1791
1801
MONROE
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inch plank, four and eight inches wide were placed, and on them were laid the planks, three inches thick and eight feet long, at right angles to the direction of the road. The sills were set slightly below the surface of the ground and the planks were pounded down to rest upon them by means of a large wooden mal- let. After the planks were laid, the earth was packed against their ends and soundly tamped into place. The portion of the highway not occupied by the plank road was usually maintained as a common dirt road and was known as the "turn off", because light loads had to leave the planks and follow it when passing a team proceeding the other way. In order that a wagon might re- gain the plank surface without its wheels sliding along the edges, the planks were staggered, that is, one half of them had their ends in a line straight with each other, while the other half were alternately advanced to a line six inches further out. Over the completed planking, a layer of sand was spread, which preserved the road by reducing the cutting by the calks of the horse shoes."
Among the first stockholders of the Woodbury-Seymour Plank Road Co. were Lewis B. Candee, Norman Parker, Charles B. Phelps, Reuben H. Hotchkiss, Lewis Judd, and William Gaylord.
The Company's accounts contain the following items:
Aug. 3, 1859 Paid Perry's bill, Planks 480
Aug. 31, 1859 Paid Benham's bill, Planks $3.23
Aug. 31, 1878 Paid Benj. Nichols for Plank $67.22
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