USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > Reports and papers. Fairfield County Historical Society, Bridgeport, Conn. 1882-1896-97 > Part 9
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Capt. John Sherwood's residence was located about one-half a mile north of the site of the Stratfield Baptist meeting-house, on the old road leading to Easton, which was the regular and only traveled road on that line, until about 1833. When the
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Easton turnpike road was constructed, an easier route was selected. Instead of rising the steep hill at the meeting-house, it turned a few rods westerly-thence northerly, parallel with the old road, and meeting it again about a mile distant from the point of divergence. It was a substantial house of the ancient stereotyped pattern. It was spoken of by Rev. A. N. Benedict, in 1875, as being used as a tenement. During the past season it has been moved aside for use as a store-house or barn, and a modern dwelling erected on its site. Capt. Sher- wood and his wife were members of the Church of Christ in Stratfield of the standing order prior to 1751. He was evi- dently an energetic leading man and stood well with his breth- ren. In 1744, '45 and '46 he was on the Society's Committee for the "Management of the Prudentials of the Society." In 1747, '48 and '49, he was on special committees to treat with several successive candidates for the then vacant pulpit. On several committees he was the first named, and thus probably the chairman. After the settlement of Mr. Hall in 1749 his name disappeared. He was no doubt a man of strong convic- tion and faithful thereto while a member of the "Standing Order," as well as after he became a Baptist. His new depar- ture, religiously, was recognized and respected. He was a powerful man, physically, as appears from his encounter with the Indian athlete on the Stratfield Training ground as has been several times related. The story is as follows:
"On a certain training day, among the spectators present was a party of Indians who had been behaving insolently, and one of them, a burly, athletic fellow, finally challenged the whites to choose their best man, and he would defeat him in a wrestling match. No one appeared ready to meet the chal- lenge of the Indian, whose muscular frame plainly showed him to be a formidable antagonist, although all felt it important, for the moral effect, that some one should do it. After some deliberation it was decided that Capt. John Sherwood was the only man able to vanquish him, but doubts were expressed whether he would be willing to engage in a wrestling match now that he had become so active in religious matters. A deputation came to him as he was drilling his men upon the
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. parade ground, and after hearing their story he briefly an- swered that his present duty was to drill his company, but that afterward he would attend to the matter. When the parade was over and he had laid aside his regimentals, he approached the Indian champion, who was naked to his waist and shining with grease. This was decidedly to the advantage of the native, since it gave his antagonist a small chance to grasp the well oiled skin, while his opponent, dressed in ordinary clothing, presented a fair opportunity for the grasp of the savage. Capt. Sherwood advanced without any skirmishing, and laying his hand upon the shoulder of the Indian, found himself able to get a good grip on the skin and flesh, then ex- erting his great strength, at once laid his antagonist flat upon his back, not caring to soften the violence of the fall, to-the. utter astonishment of the Indian's allies. The victory was complete, confessed, and the natives withdrew quietly and never repeated the challenge."
He served the church about ten years from 1757. He was about forty-three years of age when ordained. He traveled much and ministered in different towns in this county and and laid good foundations. His labors were mostly at his own charges, as his salary (if any) was very meagre. He conducted his farming as before his ordination. About 1767 his wife died, which proved a great affliction to him-his own health failed and he after this performed little active service. He died September 17, 1779, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
Time fails to follow the details of the church history. That has been well done by Rev. A. N. Benedict, the pastor from 1865 to 1878, from whose record and from the records of the Stratfield Society this paper is mostly compiled.
The following is a list of the ministerial successors of Elder Sherwood :
Elder Sherwood's successors have been Rev. Benjamin Coles, 1767 to 1774; Rev. John Whitman, 1779; Rev. Seth Higby, 1781 to 1794; Rev. Stephen Royce, 1794 to 1802; Rev. Asahel Morse, 1802 to 1812; Rev. Daniel Willman, 1812 to. 1816; Rev. Matthew Polly, 1816 to 1817; Rev. Daniel Wildman, 1817
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to 1822; Rev. Asa Bronson, 1822 to 1829; Rev. Elisha Cush- man, 1829 to 1831; Rev. James H. Linsley, 1831 to 1836; Rev. Enoch E. Chase, 1836 to 1839; Rev. John Scott, 1842 to 1847; Mr. A. E. Clark, 1848 to 1849; Rev. Hamilton Ellis, 1850 to 1851: Rev. N. D. Benedict, 1851 to 1860; Rev. Joseph Babbage, 1860 to 1865; Rev. A. N. Benedict, 1865 to 1878.
After the reading of President Lacey's valuable paper, the box containing the skeletons and parts of skeletons found at Seaside Park was opened and examined by all present. The peculiarities of the formation of some of the skulls were pointed out and commented upon, and comparisons made with the skull of a white man which was brought for that purpose by the Secretary, Dr. Wordin. It was generally admitted that the crania presented peculiarities which were entirely in one direction, and were too strongly marked and frequent to be the result of accident. The resemblance of one of the skulls to the celebrated Naenderthall skull of Europe, one of the few human remains ever found in the old bone caves, is very remarkable and surprising, and seems to indicate differences from the modern red Indian which unquestionably separate them from that race. The paper read by the Rev. Samuel Orcutt showed the strong points of resemblance between these skulls and those found in the mounds and tumuli of the West, and the points of difference between them and the more modern Indian remains. He eited passages from Prof. Fos- ter's recent work which showed the resemblance very strongly, and while not undertaking to settle the question at all, raised the reasonable presumption that these remains were not those of ordinary Indians, and that through the points of resem- blance cited they might be those of the older race, the Mound Builders.
THE PAPER READ BY REV. SAMUEL ORCUTT.
In the month of October, 1885, while some workmen were engaged in extending Waldemere avenue westward from Iran- istan avenue in Seaside Park, at Bridgeport, Conn., some human bones were dug up, but before any special notice was taken of them they were broken into many pieces. The atten-
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tion of Mr. S. M. Cate, Jr., the contractor, being called to them he directed that they be laid aside carefully, and notified the Historical Society, and they were secured for its archives. Upon this discovery, and the peculiar shape of the skull bones found, much care was taken in regard to any future discov- eries; and the Hon. P. T. Barnum, one of the Park Commis- sioners, and who had previously owned the ground, directed that any further relics should be sent directly to the Historical Society. A few days later two more skeletons were found, and parts of one of them were delivered by Mr. Cate to the Society. Among these bones was the skull, nearly complete, although fractured and a small portion gone, the upper and lower jaw bones with nearly full sets of teeth well preserved; the bones of the legs and several of the spinal column. The entire skeleton might have been preserved had the importance of the matter been known to the workmen.
The earth where these remains were found was composed of strata of dark loam, then yellow loam, beneath which was fine clay, then a peculilary clean gravel about a foot deep, and finally sca-washed sand, fine and as dry as though water had never reached it. The location is about twenty rods from the water of the Long Island Sound, and is part of an elevation of land that formed a conspicuous part of the Pequonnoek, or open fields when the whites first came to the place. It is just two hundred and four years since the last deed of this Pequon- nock land-except Golden Hill reservation, was given; and just about two hundred and thirty years since the first tract of land was laid out in Stratford township to Thomas Wheeler at the southern extremity of what is now Seaside Park, adjoin- ing the old boundary line between Stratford and Fairfield. The land where Mr. P. T. Barnum's residence stands, includ- ing that where the skeletons were found, came into the hands of the Fairfield Wheelers, about two hundred and thirty-five or forty years ago, and there are no evidences that any Indians have occupied that land since the agreement of the Pequon- nock tribe with the government of Connectient in 1638. If these are the remains of the bodies of Pequonnock Indians they must have been laid there more than two hundred and
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fifty years ago, for this land was among the very first propor- tioned out to the first settlers in Fairfield immediately after the year 1644, for cultivation.
The different places where these bones have been found, thus far, indicate the burial of about thirty persons; five or six of them were found in near proximity, and apparently were not buried in a sitting position. No shells or implements were found with these remains.
The principal question concerning these relies is as to what race of beings they belong ; which question was raised upon the first sight of them by Mr. Cate and others, in consequence of the apparent lowness of the forehead, or almost the want of any forehead, such as is usually seen, especially among the Indians.
This question taken in connection with other recent discov- eries within the town of Stratford, will merit and probably receive a more thorough investigation than can be given in a hurried paper on such an occasion. Hence all that can be said at present is to compare these crania with such scientific re- search as the publications at hand will furnish.
The following extracts from the "Pre-Historic Races of the United States of America, by John W. Foster, L.L. D.," pub- lished in 1881, give very important light on this subject. Dr. Foster is the "Author of the Physical Geography of the Mis- sissippi Valley," joint of Foster & Whitney's report of the "Geology of the Lake Superior Region: late President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; Pres- ident of the Chicago Academy of Science; and Member of other learned Societies." Dr. Foster's delineations of the crania of the mound-builders are almost a perfect representa- tion of the skulls from Seaside Park. In Chapter VIII, page 275, he describes these "Crania," and from this description the following extracts are taken :
" While the individual variations in the crania of a particu- lar race are so great as to present intermediate gradations all the way from one extreme to another, thus forming a connect- ing link between widely separated races, yet. in a large asseni-
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blage of skulls derived from a particular race, there is a general conformation, a predominant type, which appears to have been as far back as human records extend; to have been unaffected by food, climate, or personal pursuits; and which has been regarded among the surest guides in tracing national affinities. Hitherto our knowledge of the mound-builders' crania has been extremely scant -- restricted to less than a dozen speci- mens-which, if authentic, clearly indicate for the most part the Indian type. The results of my observations have led me to infer that the mound-builders' crania were characterized by a general conformation of parts, which clearly separated them from the existing races of men, and particularly from the In- dians of North America."
Dr. Foster then describes the skulls from three localities; the first from the region of Chicago, and says: "Dr. Thomp- son, now deceased, but whose memory will be honored by every cultivator of science in this country, was first attracted to one of these groups of mounds by observing circular tren- ches investing knolls two and one-half feet above the surround- ing plain, which led him to believe that they were artificial, and, under his direction, Mr. Charles Hennicott, assisted by Dr. Durham, entered upon their exploration. There were portions of eleven skeletons found in the first group, but they were so far decayed that only one skull and three frontal bones sufficiently well preserved to admit of measurement and com- parison, were obtained.
The other group of mounds, situated near Haas's Park, yieldled human remains which evidently belonged to two dis- tinet epochs. In them were found well marked Indian skulls, in a condition slightly changed, and two skulls, evidently be- longing to half-breeds, thus showing that np to a compara- tively recent time, these mounds had been used as places of sepulture by different raees. In addition to these evidences of recent entombment were found, far gone in decomposition, quite a number of crania, presenting features which readily distinguished them from those of the Indian and half-breed. These relics have a high value, as without doubt they are authentic skulls of the mound-builders." Dr. Foster notices
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six characteristics in which these skulls differ from those of Europeans, each of which most strikingly apply to the skulls of Seaside Park, and then remarks, "Many of these charac- teristies, which are not conspicuous in a well developed Euro- pean skull, indicate an approach toward the lower animals of the anthropoid type; but still, between the lowest of the one and the highest of the other, there is a broad chasm which cannot be spanned by intermediate graduation."
The "Hennieott Mound" yiekled three frontal bones-the only part of the skeleton capable of preservation-which were also indicative of a low type. In two instances there was a narrowing in the temporal region: the plates were extraordi- narily thick; the superciliary ridges were massive, standing out like ropes; the orbital processes were profoundly notched; and the frontal bone was mueh prolonged towards the caronal suture.
The Haas's Park Mounds yielded two erania which were too imperfeet to give all the salient points. One is repre- sented by a part of the frontal and parietal bone, and is char- aeterized by an almost entire absence of a forehead. The nasal bones are prolonged from the point of union with the frontal bones, like the beak of a bird or the superior yaw of a gar-pike. The bony plates are of ahnost pasteboard thinness; the orbital rings are sharp and delicate; the sutures are im- perfectly joined; and there is absence of frontal sinuses, which are supposed to be formed only after puberty, so that the skull evidently belonged to a young person.
"This is, undoubtedly, the most remarkable skull hitherto observed, affording the nearest approximation to the anthro- poid forms."
CLASSIFICATION OF SKULLS.
"In the classification of skulls, comprehending the relation of breadth to length, those which are less than seventy-three to one hundred are called longer Dolorocephalic ; those whose proportions are less than seventy-four and seventy-nine to one hundred are medium, or Orthocephalic; and those whose pro- portions reach eighty and eighty-nine to one hundred are Bracycephalic. The mound-builders' skulls which I have ex-
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amined, differ on the one hand, from the Indian type, which is Brarycephalic, and from the Teutonic, on the other, which is Dolococephalic. They are intermediate, or Orthocephalic."
After giving samples of the three elasses of skulls, Dr. Fos- ter remarks: "From these examples of a want of conformity in craniologieal development, apart from other evidences, I think we are justified in drawing the conclusion that the mound-builders were not the ancestors of the American In- dians."
"The question arises, whether this singular conformation of skulls is congenial, or the result of artificial pressure. We know that the Flatheads and Chenooks of the Columbia River indulge in this usage at the present day, and there is reason to believe that other tribes did formerly. But, with regard to the mound-builders' skulls, it may be said that, while the volume of the brain is small, the brain-case is as symmetrical as that of the European. Where artificial pressure is re- sorted to, as pointed out by Morton, the brain in volume is not diminished, but is extraordinarily developed in those parts of the case where the pressure is not applied, and hence we have the most grotesque distortions. The course of every bandage is marked by a corresponding cavity in the bony structure."
So far then as a comparison ean be made, the skulls from Seaside Park conform much more elosely to Dr. Foster's de- seription of the erania of the mound-builders, than to those of the North American Indians. In the case of the two skulls preserved in the most complete, the symmetry of the brain case is most remarkable, except in one the whole of the top, frontal part of the head is pressed over to the left side as if a heavy blow had been struck under the left ear, or some great pressure had been applied near the top of the right temple. From the end of the chin bone to the crown the line is long. while on an upright line at right angles with this, the depth is short. Dr. Foster says: "The frontal bone is of great strength and slopes backward, encroaching on the peritetals, and giving origin to a low forchead."
One of these skulls where broken on the top of the head on
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the frontal bone, where it is smooth on both sides, measures fully five-sixteenths of an inch in thickness.
As to the character of the three elasses of crania Dr. Foster remarks: "We place the seat of the intellectual faculties in the anterior lobe; of the propensities which links us to the brute, in the middle lobe; and of those which appertain to the social affections, in the posterior lobe. The predominance of any one of these divisions in a people would stamp them as either eminently intellectual, or eminently cruel, or emi- nently social. The mound-builders, assuming the skulls to be typical, were doubtless neither eminent for great virtues nor great vices, but were a mild, inoffensive race, who would fall an easy pray to a crafty and cruel foe."
In this paper no attempt is made to classify these crania, or to decide the race to which they belong, but to call atten- tion to their peculiarities as being in form and measurement strikingly in favor of the mound-builders.
MEMBERS
. OF THE
FAIRFIELD COUNTY IHISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Rowland B. Lacey, Bridgeport, - Original Member.
Nathaniel E. Wordin, M. D., Bridgeport, -
William H. Noble, Bridgeport, -
66
George C. Waldo, Bridgeport. -
William B. Hineks, Bridgeport,
Louis N. Middlebrook, Bridgeport,
"
*Aaron B. Hull, Danbury, - - Elected Feb. 18, 1881.
Joseph N. Ireland, Bridgeport, Richard C. Ambler, Bridgeport,
..
William T. Minor, Stamford, 66 Mar. "
Lemuel Sanford, Redding, -
James L. Gould, Bridgeport, - James W. Beardsley, Bridgeport, -
66 66
*Henry MI. Hoyt, Bridgeport, Charles Burr Todd, Redding, - Henry G. Scofield, Bridgeport,
66 ..
May 6,
James Ryder, Danbury, - .. .. .. ..
Elias S. Hawley, Buffalo, N. Y., Curtis Thompson, Bridgeport, William A. Beers, Fairfield, - Sept. 2.
June 3, Ang. 5,
Eaton W. Maxey, D. D., Troy, K. Y,
..
6.
Oct. 14,
Nov. 11, "
66
4
66 Feb. 10, "
- Elected Mar. 10, 1882.
..
· Deceased
·
66
6. 66
* William Shelton, D. D., Buffalo, N. Y., - Rev. George S. Burroughs, New Britain, A Homer Byington, Norwalk, - Winthrop H. Perry, Norwalk, - Walter Hubbell, New York City, -
66
David B. Lockwood, Bridgeport, - *Stiles M. Middlebrook, Bridgeport, - Frederick Bronson, Greenfield Hill, - O. P. Dexter, New York City, -
-
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David H. Miller, Georgetown, - Horace L. Fairchild, Trumbull, Samuel M. Main, New York City, Nathan M. Belden. Wilton, - *Barzillai B. Kellogg, Brookfield, - J. M. Bailey, Danbury, .
- Elected April 21,1882.
66 66
6. 66
John W. Bacon, Danbury,
John D. Candee, Bridgeport,
John L. Morehouse, Fairfield, -
66
66
66
Warren B. Nichols, West Stratford, - Samuel Garlick, M. D., Bridgeport, - Eugene Morehouse, Stratford, -
William S. Bouton. South Norwalk, 66 Sept. 8, "
Plumb N. Fairchild, Trumbull,
66
Jan. 12, 1883. Mar. 9, "
Morris B. Beardsley, Bridgeport, - Thomas Calef, Bridgeport,
*Eli T. Hoyt, Danbury,
66
April 5, " June 9, " .. .. ..
Oliver B. Jennings, Fairfield, Frederick S. Wildman, Danbury, Rev. Samnel Orcutt, Bridgeport,
Feb. 8, 1884.
May 9, "
July 11, "
Thomas B. Fairchild, Stratford, Edward F. Meeker, Bridgeport, Albert Relyea, Norwalk. Conn., William L. Sherwood, Newark. N. J., Rev. G. H. Nichols, Hoosie Falls, N. Y.,
.. Ang. 8, " Sept. 12, " Feb. 13, 1885.
Phineas T. Barnum, Bridgeport,
.. ..
Mar. " . April 10,
Nathaniel Wheeler, Bridgeport,
Arthur E. Meaker, Bethlehem, Pa., Nathan B. Wells, Stratford,
B. W. Maples,' Westport,
Albert S. Comstock, New Canaan, Samuel Carter, New York City,
" May 13, " June 26, July 10, "
*Amos S. Treat, Bridgeport,
Silas Burton, Bridgeport,
.. .. ..
Ebenezer S. Phillips, Bridgeport, -
Charles H. Carter, New Canaan,
Ang. 14, " Oct. 0, "
· Deceased.
1
.. .. ..
Robert W. Curtis, Stratford,
66
66 May 12, "
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In Alemoriam.
[From THE BRIDGEPORT STANDARD of Saturday, April 4, 1885.] MAJOR HENRY M. HOYT.
Major Henry MI. Hoyt, a veteran of the late war, died at his residence, No. 433 State street, about nine o'clock Thursday evening, in his fifty-first year. He had for several months been suffering with a heart disease which was, without doubt, the cause of his recent relinquishment of journalistic work. Until a few minutes before his death lie was in good spirits and conversing with his wife and daughter. When the war broke out, Mr. Hoyt joined the First Regiment C. V., and was present at the battle of Bull Run. Returning at the end of three months he raised a company which was attached to the Eighth Regiment C. V., and with it he remained in service till mustered out at the elose of the war. At one time he was commander of the regiment. Deceased was a member of Elias Howe, Jr., Post, G. A. R., of the Army and Navy Club of Con- nectient, President of the Eighth Regiment Association, com- mander of Uniformed Degree Camp, No. 6, I. O. O. F., be- longed to Arcanum Lodge, Stratfield Encampment, No. 23, Mithra Lodge, K. of P., the Seaside Club, and Grand Army of the Potomac. Mr. Hoyt learned the printer's trade of Pome- roy & Morse, and he was at different times connected with the Farmer and STANDARD of this city, the Courant of Hart- ford, and the Monroe Publishing Company, New York. At one time he edited The School Visitor. In 1874 he. estab- lished the Morning News. It lived one month. Five years later it was revived, and has since been continued with vary- ing success.
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[From THE BRIDGEPORT STANDARD of Thursday, October 11, 1883.] REV. DR. WILLIAM SHELTON.
At an early hour this morning, in what to many of our older residents is known as "The Old Parsonage," the venerable William Shelton, D. D., Rector Emeritus of St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, N. Y., quietly passed from the scenes of earth, having attained the good old age of more than four score and five years. . The son of the Rev. Philo Shelton, the first rector of St. John's Church in this city and the first clergyman Episco- pally ordained in this country, he worthily followed in the footsteps of his reverend parent. He was graduated at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York city in 1823. In the same year he was admitted to the deaconate by Bishop Brownell of this diocese, and in 1825-re- ceived priest's orders at his hands. After a brief service in this State he was elected rector of St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, N. Y., in 1829, and continued in the active duties of that im- portant station for fifty years. With a sturdiness of character which was most marked, he united a tenderness of heart which greatly endeared him to those who were intimately acquainted with him, and in the great city with whose interests he has been so long identified none was more thoroughly honored and respected. His remains will be taken thither for inter- ment, and the funeral services will be held in the church in which for so many years he ministered to one of the largest and most influential congregations in that city.
[From THE BRIDGEPORT STANDARD of Friday, March 30, 1883.]
STILES M. MIDDLEBROOK.
The community was very much surprised last evening to learn of the sudden death of Stiles MI. Middlebrook, Esq., which occurred at his residence, 210 Washington avenue, at about half-past six P. M. He was taken suddenly ill while on his way to the evening prayer-meeting on Wednesday last, and yesterday called in his physician. His trouble proved to be an obstruction in the blood passages of the heart, no relief
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