USA > Connecticut > New London County > Stonington > History of the town of Stonington, county of New London, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1649 to 1900 with a genealogical register of stonington families > Part 13
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 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
119
BRIDGES AND FERRIES.
it at their own expense. This state of things continued until 1734, when at the October session of the General Assembly, and after a protracted discussion of the subject-matter, the following preamble and act was passed :
"Whereas this Assembly did at their session at New Haven, in October, 1720, order the sum of ten pounds to be paid out of the public treasury of this Colony toward repairing the half of the bridge between the towns of Ston- ington and Westerly, and the remainder of the charge thereof to be paid by the town of Stonington, and that the Selectmen of said town should take effectual care that said half part of said bridge should be always maintained and kept in good repair by said town of Stonington until this Assembly should order otherwise. And whereas the said selectmen of Stonington have been very negligent in said affair, for want of some suitable provision in said act to enforce it, notwithstanding the little charge they are at to maintain any other bridges on the country roads. Be it therefore enacted by the Gov- ernor, Council, and Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same. That in case the said town of Stonington shall not meet and complete the one half of said bridge within nine months next after, any one of their selectmen being duly certified of the readiness of the Gov- ernment of Rhode Island, or town of Westerly, to join with them in said affair, then the treasurer of this Colony upon due certification thereof shall immediately send forth his warrant directed to the Constable of said Ston- ington, requiring him to levy and collect of the inhabitants of said Stonington the sum of three hundred pounds, which sum so collected shall be paid to said treasurer by said Constable of Stonington within three months after his re- ceiving said warrant, in order to be improved to the use aforesaid, and in case the said town of Stonington shall not maintain and keep in due repair according to the aforesaid act, the one half of said bridge, after it is thus erected, they shall forfeit the sum of fifty shillings per week, to be collected in manner aforesaid, and it is further enacted that a copy of this act be forth- witth transmittted to the Governor of Rhode Island."
This act of the General Assembly of Connecticut settled the matter.
MYSTIC BRIDGE .- During the early settlement of the towns of Stonington and Groton, Mystic River was crossed by ferry- boats from Elm Grove Cemetery, in Stonington, to the Burrows' Half-way House, in Groton. Later, and down to the present century, the crossing was by ferry-boats from Packer's village, in Groton, over the river to Pistol Point, in Stonington. At the General Assembly of 1819 the Mystic Bridge Company was chartered as follows :
"Resolved by this Assembly, That George Haley, Nathaniel Clift, Jeremiah Haley, Ebenezer Denison, Manasseh Miner, William Stanton, Ambrose D. Grant, Jeremiah Holmes, and such others as may be associated with them, be
120
HISTORY OF STONINGTON.
and they are hereby incorporated and made a body politic, by the name of 'Mystic Bridge Company,' and by that name may sue and be sued; that said company shall have a clerk, who shall record all votes and by-laws of said company, and be sworn to a faithful discharge of his duty, and who shall be appointed by the president and directors of said company; that the said company shall choose a president and two directors, who, or a major part of them, shall manage all the concerns of said company. The stockholders of said company shall hold their first meeting on the second Monday of July next, at the dwelling-house of Ebenezer Denison, in said Stonington; and said meeting shall be warned by the petitioners before named, by publishing notice thereof in the Connecticut Gazette, printed in New London, two weeks successively before said second Monday of July; and when met, the said com- pany shall choose the aforesaid officers, who shall continue in office until others are chosen in their place and accept their appointment, and said com- pany, when so as aforesaid formed, shall immediately raise sufficient money to erect a bridge across said river at the place already designated by the committee who have reported thereon; and when the commissioners on said bridge shall have accepted the same, they shall give the company a certificate of the same, adjust the accounts and all the expenses incurred relative to said bridge, and give them a certificate of the amount due said company; and said company shall continue to keep up and maintain said bridge in good repair; and to reimburse them their expenses, with ten per cent, interest on the sums extended in erecting said bridge, shall have right and they are hereby authorized and empowered to erect a gate on or near said bridge, at which gate said company shall have right to collect for crossing said bridge the following toll, viz .:
cts. m.
"For each coach or hack, or other four-wheeled carriage, drawn by two
horses abreast.
Each additional draft horse. 3
25
0
Each chaise, sulkey or other wheeled carriage drawn by one horse 12 5 Additional draft horse. 3 0
Each wagon drawn by two horses, loaded.
5 empty 6 Each light wagon drawn by one horse, with two persons or less S 0 Additional horse. 3 0
12
2
Each loaded cart or wagon drawn by four beasts. 12 5 empty .€ 6 2
2 0 .Additional draft beast, each
5 Man or horse
0
Draft horse 3
0
Neat Cattle
2 0
2 0 Mules
1 0 Sheep or swine, each
€
Foot person 2
"Resolved, however, and it is hereby resolved, that the aforesaid rates of toll shall not be collected from persons traveling to attend public worship, funerals, or town, society or freemen's meeting, and returning therefrom;
121
BRIDGES AND FERRIES.
officers and soldiers going to or returning from military duty; persons going to or returning from mill for the use of their families; all of which persons shall be exempted from paying toll, as aforesaid.
"Bonds shall be given to the Treasurer of this State to his acceptance on or before the last day of August next, in the penal sum of five thousand dol- lars, conditioned that said bridge shall be built by said company to the ac- ceptance of said commissioners by the first Monday of September next, and in default of such bond this grant shall be void.
"The stock of said company shall consist of fifty shares, which shall be transferable on the books of said company, and each member of said company, present at any legal meeting thereof, shall have power to give one vote for each share standing in the name of such member, and the said stockholders, at any legal meeting, shall have power to direct, by major vote, the amount to be paid from time to time on the shares of said capital stock; provided, that this act may be altered, revoked, or amended at any time hereafter at the pleasure of the General Assembly.
"The road on the west side of Mystic River, leading from the Mystic bridge to. the old road, as laid and reported by the committee to this Assembly at the last session, remain as laid by said committee till it comes six rods on the land of Ambrose H. Grant, and be thence discontinued; that the former com- mittee, viz .: Moses Warren, William Randall, and John O. Miner, be re- appointed to lay a road from the place last mentioned, where said road is discontinued, to the village at Parker's Ferry, four rods wide, and assess the damages to the owners of the land over which the road may pass, and report to this or some future Assembly."
The bridge was erected under the charter, and maintained by the company as a toll-bridge down to 1854 when the towns of Stonington and Groton, at town meetings legally warned and held for that purpose, voted to buy the bridge and franchises of the company for eight thousand dollars, two thousand dollars in addition having been subscribed by the citizens of the villages of Mystic Bridge and Mystic River. Deacon B. F. Langworthy and Capt. John Holdridge, the representatives of the town of Stonington for that year, were charged with the management of the matter before the Legislature in connection with the represen- tatives of the town of Groton. During the session of the General Assembly for 1854 the following enabling act was passed, "au- thorizing the Mystic Bridge Company to sell their bridge :"
"Resolved, That the towns of Stonington and Groton be, and they hereby are authorized to purchase of the Mystic Bridge Company their bridge and draw- bridge over the Mystic River, between said towns, at the price of eight thou- sand dollars; and in case said bridge shall be so purchased, the president of said company shall lodge a certificate to that effect in the office of the Sec- retary of State. And from and after the time said purchase shall be made,
122
HISTORY OF STONINGTON.
said bridge shall be and remain a public bridge, free for public travel, and shall be forever supported, and maintained by said towns of Stonington and Groton together, with the draw therein, at their joint expense; and said draw shall always be maintained at not less than its present width, and the same facilities shall be afforded for the navigation of said river through said draw at the like joint expense of said towns as are now furnished by said bridge company.
"And after said purchase shall be perfected, and said certificate lodged on file as aforesaid, the said bridge company shall be discharged from all liability for or on account of said bridge, and deprived of all right to collect toll for the passage of the same."
At a town-meeting legally warned and held in Stonington on the 7th day of August, 1854, it was voted that Asa Fish and Richard A. Wheeler be a committee to join with the selectmen or committee of the town of Groton, appointed for the purpose of receiving the transfer of the Mystic Bridge and all of its appurtenances from the Mystic Bridge Company to the towns of Groton and Stonington, in pursuance of a special act of the Leg- islature for that purpose, and in accordance with the vote of this town, passed May 12, 1854; also that they pay to the said com- pany the sum of four thousand dollars, with interest from the Ist day of April, 1854, deducting the net tolls for the same time, and that the selectmen are to draw their orders on the town treasurer for the necessary amount to liquidate and pay the liability of the town of Stonington for the purchase of said bridge, and to employ a suitable person in connection with the town of Groton to tend the draw in said bridge and care generally for the same.
During the years 1734 and 1735 the said Pawcatuck bridge was widened and substantially rebuilt by the colony of Rhode Island and the town of Stonington, which stood for a good many years. About ninety-five years ago the Stonington approach was raised and one of the sluices removed, shortening the wood-work some twenty-five feet. With repairs of timber and plank, the bridge so remained until 1873, when it was widened and sidewalks appended and in that condition remained until 1886, when the old wooden bridge was removed, and an iron bridge substituted in its place with protected sidewalks on each side thereof.
SHIP BUILDING.
The first ship-builders in this region were Thomas Wells and George Denison, Jr. They resided in what is now Westerly, though at the time claimed as a part of the present town of Stonington. Joseph, the son of Thomas Wells, was also a ship- builder. On the 3d day of January, 1680, Joseph Wells signed a contract to finish up a vessel then on the stocks at Paw- catuck. On the 20th of May, 1680, he signed another con- tract for the building of a vessel, wherein he describes himself as of Mystic, Conn. He married Hannah Reynolds, of Stonington (Mystic), Dec. 28, 1681, and settled in Groton, where he died Oct. 26, 1711. Joseph Wells, soon after his location at Mystic, built a ship for Amos Richardson, of Stonington, which ended in litigation. To what extent ship-building was carried on in Stonington from the days of Joseph Wells down to the Revolution it is now impossible to tell, for no known record thereof exists.
Several small craft were built at Stonington, Long Point, and on the Mystic River before and during the war of the Revolu- tion, but their owners and tonnage is not certainly known. Before the Revolution the accumulated wealth of the inhabitants was largely invested in commerce, building most of their vessels. Long before the Revolution, Col. Joseph Pendleton, of Westerly, built a brig on the west bank of the river below Pawcatuck bridge, which was launched and floated down the river with much difficulty. She was sent to New York under command of his son, Capt. Joseph Pendleton, and was loaded with a cargo for the West Indies, which was carried in safety. After discharg- ing and reloading with molasses, etc., she started on the home voyage, after which nothing was heard of the vessel or crew. The General Assembly of Rhode Island, in consideration of his heavy loss and other misfortunes equally as great, gave him a lottery grant of a tract of land, on part of which is now located
124
HISTORY OF STONINGTON.
Avondale village. This land waslaid out in one hundred and twenty-six house-lots, and put up in a lottery, each successful ticket-holder drawing a house-lot. The grant was dated Feb. 27, 1750, and was executed by Isaac Sheffield and Elias Thomp- son, aided by W. Babcock as surveyor. Near the old Tristam Dickens house, on the west bank of Pawcatuck River, opposite said village, there was built in 1823 the schooner Julia Ann, 60 tons, Capt. Nathan Barber .
The following vessels were built by Mr. George Sheffield, of Pawcatuck :
1818, sloop Connecticut, 50 tons; Capt. Stephens.
1823, brig Rimack, 175 tons; Capt. Basset.
1824, brig Pomona, 225 tons; Capt. Newton.
1825, schooner Phoenix, 150 tons; Capt. Spicer.
1826, schooner William, 175 tons; Capt. Peleg Wilbur.
1829, brig Christopher Burdick, 165 tons; Capt. Burdick .. He built two vessels at Stonington Borough.
1821, ship Stonington, 250 tons; Capt. Hull.
1822, brig Pomona, 175 tons; Capt. Barnes.
George Sheffield & Sons built the following vessels : 1830, sloop Caspian, 50 tons; Capt. William C. Pendleton.
1832, sloop New York, 60 tons; Capt. Wilcox.
1833, sloop Pioneer, 75 tons; Capt. Wilbur. 1838, sloop George Eldredge, 75 tons; Capt. Eldredge.
1839, brig George Moon, 250 tons; Capt. Moon. 1840, brig Edward, 275 tons; Capt. Magna. 1842, sloop Pawcatuck, 30 tons; Capt. Ethan Pendleton.
1843, ship Ann Welsh, 450 tons; Capt. Dunham.
1844, sloop China, 40 tons; Capt. Ethan Pendleton.
1845, three-masted schooner Arispa, 100 tons; Capt. Gates. H. & F. Sheffield built the following vessels : 1847, schooner Phoenix, 80 tons; Capt. James R. Dickens.
1849, schooner Frances, 130 tons; Capt. Hawley.
1850, Water Lily, 75 tons ; Capt. J. A. Robinson. 1851, schooner Nebraska, 200 tons; Capt. Blake.
1852, brig Escambra, 250 tons; Capt. Magna.
1852, steamer Tiger Lily, 100 tons; Capt. J. A. Robinson. 1853, schooner Hannah Martin, 230 tons; Capt. Morgan. 1854, schooner Sarah Starr, 250 tons; Capt. Bunnell.
1856, sloop Tristam Dickens, 70 tons; Capt. J. R. Dickens.
125
SHIP BUILDING.
1
1856, schooner George Sheffield, 260 tons; Capt. Stiles. The following vessels were built by Mr. John Brown. 1821, sloop Flying Fish, 30 tons; Capt. Brown.
1822, sloop Franklin, 30 tons; Capt. E. Brown. 1825, sloop Fame, 46 tons; Capt. E. Brown.
All three built where C. Maxon & Co.'s carpenter-shop is how located.
1830, schooner Fox, 60 tons; Capt. Elias Brown; built where C. Maxon & Co.'s barn is now located.
1832, sloop John Brown, 50 tons ; built for a Mr. John Brown, of Fall River, Mass., on the lot formerly occupied by Hall & Dickinson as a lumber-yard.
1832, schoooner Flash, 75 tons; Capt. Elias Brown, built at the same place as the above.
There was framed in the yard in the rear of the late Jesse Breed, West Broad street, a small sloop named Willie Sheffield, between 20 and 30 tons, which was conveyed to the river and launched in April, 1867, commanded by Capt. N. M. Card.
In 1867, June 12th, there was launched near the residence of Timothy Gavitt the sloop Glide, 24 tons; Capt. Gavitt.
There were built west of C. Maxon & Co.'s barn, West street, and launched sideways, the following :
1855, schooner Niantic, 80 tons; Capt. George P. Barber.
1865, schooner Josephine, 50 tons; Capt. Charles A. Maxon.
There were built on the lot formerly occupied by Hall & Dickinson as a lumber-yard, Mechanic street, by Stephen L. Dickerson, for Oliver D. Wells, the following vessels :
1842, schooner Urbana, 137 tons; Capt. Small.
1843, schooner Tallahassee, 120 tons; Capt. Oliver Gavitt.
1842, ship Wabash, 500 tons; Capt. Charles T. Stanton. This vessel was built near "Cuff's house," below Pawcatuck Rock.
Christopher Leeds built several small vessels at Old Mystic after the close of the last war with England, viz .: Brig Hersilia, schooner - -, and others. He built two small steamboats for Silas E. Burrows, viz .: Cadet and New London.
Messrs. Greenmans commenced ship-building at the head of Mystic in 1827, where they built a number of small vessels, mostly smacks and sloops. When they moved down to their present location, in 1838, then called Adam Point, they com-
126
HISTORY OF STONINGTON.
menced building fishing vessels, schooners, and brigs for South- ern coasting trade. As business increased, the demand came for larger vessels, and they built a number of ships for European trade, and finally, when the California trade opened, they built several large ships for that and other trades, building for one house in New York fifteen large ships, averaging about 1,500 tons each. They have also built quite a number of screw- steamers and side-wheel steamboats, three-masted schooners, yachts, pilot-boats, and in fact, all kinds and descriptions of vessels, both sail and steam, as many as one hundred and twenty- five in all.
The following is an incomplete list :
Ship Silas Greenman, for Everett & Brown.
Ship William Rathbone, for Everett & Brown.
Ship John Baseon.
Ship E. C. Scranton, for Everett & Brown.
Ship Caroline Tucker, 1853.
David Crocket, 1853.
Ship Belle Wood, 1854.
Ship Leah, 1856.
Ship Atmosphere, 1858.
Ship Prima Donna, 1858.
Bark Texana, built in 1859.
Screw-steamer New London, built in 1859.
Bark Lucy E. Ashby, built in 1859. Bark Heiress, built in 1860.
Brig Belle of the Bay, built in 1860.
Bark Diadem, built in 1861.
Screw-steamer Blackstone, built in 1861.
Screw-steamer Thames, built in 1861. Screw-steamer Oriole, built in 1861-62. Side-wheel steamer San Juan, built in 1862.
Screw-steamer Delaware, built in 1862.
Side-wheel steamer Escort, built in 1862.
Ship Favorite, built in 1862.
Screw-steamer Constitution, built in 1862-63.
Screw-steamer Weybossett, built in 1863.
Side-wheel steamer Rafael , built in 1863.
Screw-steamer Montauk, 1863.
Side-wheel steamer Ann Maria, built in 1863-64.
Screw-steamer Idaho, built 1864.
Side-wheel steamer W. W. Coit, built in 1864.
Side-wheel steamer Fountain, built in 1864.
Side-wheel steamer City Point, built in 1864.
Steam-tug George, built 1864.
Brig William Edwards, built in 1865.
Brig Amanda Guion, built in 1865.
Ship Cold Stream, built in 1866.
Bark Cremona, built 1867.
Ship Frolic, built 1868-69.
Schooner G. P. Pomeroy, three-mast- ed, built in 1872.
Three-masted schooner Nellie Lam- per, built in 1873.
Two steam-lighters, built 1874.
Schooner William H. Hopkins, three- masted, built in 1876.
Side-wheel steamer G. R. Kelsey,. and others.
127
SHIP BUILDING.
Vessels built by Charles Mallory, Esq., at Mystic :
STEAMERS.
Launched. Ton.
Launched. Ton.
Penguin
1859
400
Ella, side-wheel
1864 246
Varuna 1860
Ariadne
1864
792
Owasco, U. S. gov't.
1861
575
Euterpe
1864
824
Falcon
1861
875
Loyalist
1864
335
Eagle 1861
198
Twilight.
1865
644
Haze. 1861
210
Thorne.
1861
210
Varuna
1869
670
Stars and Stripes. 1861
410
8 Spanish gunboats
1869
173
Union 1862
1100
Bolivia. 1869
509
Oreole 1862
1056
City of Galveston 1870
1110
August Dinsmore 1862
727
City of Austin. 1871
1492
Mary Sanford. 1862
721
Carondelet 1873
1461
Governor Buckingham
1863
912
Aurora .1874
869
Yazoo. 1863
1285
Sisson
1875
94
Varuna.
1863
1007
Aeronau
1875
94
Victor
1863
1340
Gerett Polhimus 1875
78
General Sedgwick 1864
817
Telegram
1876
45
Atlanta 1864
1054
CLIPPER-SHIPS.
Launched. Ton.
Launched. Ton.
Eliza Mallory. 1851
647
Constitution
1857
500
Alboni.
1852
916
Twilight (1)
1857
1482
Pampero 1853
1376
Haze.
1859
800
Hound. 1853
714
Twilight (2).
1866
1303
Elizabeth F. Willets 1854
825
Part of his whaling fleet.
BARKS.
Launched. Ton.
Launched. Ton.
Ann
1854
700
Tycoon
1860
735
Frances.
1855
600
Galveston
1866
622
Lapwing.
1859
590
SCHOONERS.
Eliza A. Potter
1857 247
1054
Samuel Willets 1854
1300
Annie M. Smull. 1869
Mary L. Sutton 1855
1448
A. J. Ingersoll. 1865
803
128
HISTORY OF STONINGTON.
Vessels built by Irons & Grinnell, Mystic Bridge, in and after 1840:
Tonnage.
Tonnage.
Brig Almeda 250
Andrew Jackson, clipper-ship .... 1500
Ship Harriet Hoxie. 700
Racer, ship. 800
Ship Charles Mallory 800
4 brigs, East, West, North and South 400
Ship Asa Fish 400
Cavalo, bark. 300
6 schooners, names and tonnage not preserved.
Electric, clipper-ship 1200
Harvey Burtch, ship
1500
Ship Montauk. 400
Mr. Dexter Irons died in 1858, and a firm of Hill & Grinnell was established, who carried on the business.
Vessels built by Hill & Grinnell at Mystic :
Built. 1864
Tonnage.
Steamer Linda
Relief.
1865
300
Bark Mary E. Packer
1866
800
" Moro Castle
1868
450
Five Spanish gunboats.
1868
200 (each.)
. Schooner Nellie M. Rogers
1870
50
Raven's Wing.
1870
230
Pilot-boat Eclipse, schooner
1870
70
Ferry-boat Union
1872
125
Sloop-smack Florida.
1873
60
Bark George Moon.
1874
1000
Vessels by Mason C. Hill :
Built.
Tonnage.
.Steamer
Gipsey.
1876
70 (about.)
Annie L. Wilcox.
1877
130
G. S. Allen.
1877
130
Manhanset.
1879
128
450
Aquidnic
1865
350
VESSELS BUILT AT STONINGTON BOROUGH-Peleg Brown and Elisha Denison were in their day engaged in ship-building and in the West India trade, but the names and tonnage of the ves- sels built and employed by them has not been preserved. Mr. Brown, in his will, dated in 1796, provides for finishing a vessel on the stocks in which he was interested. In 1811, Capt. Nehemiah Palmer and Mr. Morrill built the ship "Volunteer," which was sold in New York. The ship "Cotton Planter" was built by Mr. Giles R. Hallam, which was also sold in New York. Ship "Hydaspy" was built in 1822 by Capt. Edmund Fanning. He also built the ship "Almyra," which was sold in New York. The schooner "George" was built by William Miller. Gen.
129
SHIP BUILDING.
William Williams built ships "General Williams," "Robert Brown," and "Pomona." Brig "Seraph," "Othello," and "Bo- gatar" were built by Captain Edmund Fanning. The brigs "Bunker Hill" and "Dandy" were built by Mr. William A. Fan- ning. The following vessels were built by various parties, viz. : Ships "Charles Phelps" and "Glen," brigs "James," "Lawrence," and "Tampico," schooners "Joseph Warren," "J. C. Waldron," "Breakwater," "Pacific," "Defence," "Hancox," "James I. Day," and "Williams." Sloops "Hero," "James Monroe," "Paulino," and "Deacon Fellows." The ship "Betsey Williams" was built by Charles P. Williams in 1846. Schooners "Juliet" (yacht), by N. B. Palmer ; "White Wing" (yacht), by C. P. Williams ; "Josephine," "America," 60 tons, "Madgie," 112 tons, "Palmer," 194 tons, "Madgie," 164 tons (yachts), by R. F. Loper; "Nora" (yacht), by N. B. Palmer ; and "Juliet" (yacht), by N. B. Palmer (2). There were built at Quiambaug, by Jesse Wilcox, sloops "Hattie," "Inthia," and several others.
Before the Revolution, and when the West India trade was so profitable, vessels of all sorts and descriptions were pressed into the business. Vessels from fifteen tons and upwards were used, and some of them were framed and set up in the woods where the timber grew, and then taken down, carried to some suitable place on the shore, completed, and launched. Four such vessels were framed in the woods of Deacon Joseph Denison, and two in the woods of Mr. Jonathan Wheeler, besides others in different parts of the town. The "Royal Limb," a famous canoe, was made from the limb of a tree so large that a barrel of molasses could be easily rolled on the inside from one end to the other. The butt of the tree from which the limb was taken was forty- eight feet in circumference. The heart rotted out in its old age, leaving an aperture in the south side, and before it fell a score of sheep could easily find shelter from the weather in the cavity of the tree.
COMMERCE.
The license granted by the General Court of Connecticut in 1650 to Thomas Stanton for the exclusive trade of Pawcatuck River for three years laid the foundation of the commercial relations of this town with the West Indies. Parties in New London became interested with Thomas Stanton & Sons, and carried on a successful trade with the Indians and the West Indies, principally with Barbadoes. Trade was carried on with Boston and the Plymouth Colony to a considerable extent. Thomas Hewitt, of Hingham, came into Mystic River with his vessel in 1656 and bought up the surplus produce of the planters in that region. He subsequently married Hannah, daughter of Walter Palmer, in 1659, bought and built him a house on the grounds of the Elm Grove Cemetery and continued his coasting trade, and left for the West Indies in 1661 and was never again heard of, vessel or crew. The Messrs. Stanton continued and increased their fur trade, and in order to reap all of its advantages Daniel Stanton, one of the firm, went and resided at Barbadoes, where he remained until his death. Edward Denison, son of the ship builder, George Denison of Westerly, removed to Ston- ington and built the house lately occupied by the town clerk's office at the Road, in 1714, where he remained until 1752, when he built the first house in Stonington Borough, and that year built the first wharf of the place, and he and his son, John Den- ison, continued their West India trade, in which they had previously been engaged at Pawtucket. Samuel Stanton soon sold out his real estate at Pawcatuck, and with his son Nathan came over to the borough and built the Polly Breed house, and engaged in the West India trade, which was followed by Capt. Ebenezer Stanton, son of Nathan Stanton.
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.