USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > Sketches and chronicles of the town of Litchfield, Connecticut : historical, biographical, and statistical : together with a complete official register of the town > Part 2
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In 1718, a Company was organized for the settlement of Ban- tam. The township, which contained about 44,800 acres, was divided into sixty rights or shares-three of which were reser- ved for pious uses, viz., one share to the first minister and his heirs forever ; one, for the use of the first minister and his suc- cessors in the pastoral office ; and one, for the support of Schools. Purchasers having been found for the remaining fifty-seven rights, deeds of conveyance were made by the Com- mittees, confirming the entire plantation to the new proprie- tors. These deeds are dated, April 29, 1719-fifty-five of which are recorded on the Litchfield Land Records. The con-
23
ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS OF THE TOWN.
sideration for forty-eight shares, was £229 10 0, in bills of credit ; for seven shares, the sum of £31 4 0 was paid. Mr. John Marsh purchased the two remaining shares, but the price paid therefor does not appear. The average cost of the land to the first purchasers, did not exceed one penny and three farthings per acre.
The subjoined list contains the names of all the " original proprietors" of the township :
John Marsh,* (2 Rights,) from Hartford. John Stoddard,*
Wethersfield.
Samuel Sedgwick, Jr,
Ezekiel Buck,*
Nathaniel Goodwin,
Jacob Griswold,*
Timothy Seymour,
John Buel,* (2 Rights,)
Lebanon.
Paul Peck, Jr.,*
Edward Culver,
Joseph Mason,*
Hezekiah Culver,*
Nathaniel Messe. ger,
Thomas Lee,*
Benjamin Webster,*
66
Eleazer Strong,*
Joshua Garrett,*
66
Supply Strong,*
Samuel Forward,
Windsor.
Caleb Chapel, (2 Rights,)
Thomas Griswold, Jr.,
Thomas Treadway,*
Jacob Gibbs,*
John Caulkins,
Joseph Birge,*
Ezekiel Sanford, (2 Rights,)
Stratford.
Benjamin Hosford,*
Nathan Mitchell,*
"
John Hart,
Farmington.
Thomas Pier,*
Timothy Stanley,
John Mann,
John Bird,*
Joseph Peet,
66
Joseph Bird,*
Samuel Somers,
Samuel Lewis,
Nath'l Smith,* (2 Rights,) Taunton, Ms. John Collins,
Samuel Root,
Ephraim French,
66
Nathaniel Winchell,
Josiah Walker,*
Woodbury.
Hezekiah Winchell,
Samuel Orton,*
Joseph Gillett,*
Joseph Waller,*
Jonathan Buck,
Colchester. New Milford.
Isaac Judson,
William Goodrich, Jr .*.
Wethersfield.
Those proprietors whose names are here designated by a star (*) became settlers in the town. The Rights of a few others were settled upon by the sons of the first purchasers ; others sold out their interest to persons who became permanent residents ; while a few forfeited their shares by neglecting to comply with the terms of the purchase.
The title thus acquired was soon after confirmed by the fol- lowing Act of the Legislature :
" AT a General Assembly holden at Hartford, May, A. D. 1719 :
UPON the Petition of Lieut. JOHN MARSH, of Hartford, and Deacon JOHN BUEL, of Lebanon, with many others, praying liberty, under Committees appointed by the Towns of Hartford and Windsor, to settle a Town westward of Farmington, at a place called BANTAM.
This Assembly do grant liberty and full power, unto the said John
66
Ebenezer Woodruff,
24
HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
Marsh and John Buel and partners settlers, being in the whole fifty- seven in number, to settle a town at said Bantam : the said town to be divided into sixty Rights, three whereof to be improved for pious uses in said town. And the other fifty-seven shall, as soon as may conveniently be, settled upon by the undertakers, or, upon their fail- ure, by others that may be admitted. . Said town to be in length, east and west, eight miles, three-quarters and twenty-eight rods, and in breadth seven miles and an half-being bounded eastward by Matta- tuck River, westward the bigger part upon the most western branch of the Shepaug River and partly upon the wilderness, north upon the wilderness, and south by Waterbury bounds and a west line from Waterbury corner unto Shepaug River ; said town to be known by the name of LITCHFIELD, and to have the following figure for a a brand for their horse hind, viz. 9. And the same powers and priv- ileges that other towns in this Colony do enjoy, are hereby granted to said town."
As this chapter may be regarded simply as an introduction to the subject-matter of the volume, a brief reference to the origin and meaning of the names by which this locality was and is known, will not be out of place here.
The earliest designation applied to this particular portion of the Western Lands, was Bantam-and the name is still borne by our principal Lake and one of our largest Rivers. His- torians have generally concurred in calling this the Indian or Aboriginal name of the place. There appears to be good rea- son, however, to doubt the correctness of such a conclusion. Impressed with the belief that the word had a trans-Atlantic origin, I have occasionally asked the opinion of such friends as I knew to be familiar with the construction of languages, and likely to be much better informed on the subject than myself. In November, 1856, the Hon. Charles W. Bradley, LL. D., formerly Secretary of State, and now an American Consul in China, thus responded to my enquiry and suggestion :
"As to the name " Bantam," I fully agree with you that it hath a very un-Indian look and sound, nor have I ever regarded it as belong- ing to any of our native dialects. I have no idea how it got there. The only place of that name, within my ken, is near my late residence (Singapore,) where, in the Island of Java, is a town, once the capital of a District of the same designation, containing 3,428 square miles. Bantam is in lat. 6° S. long. 106° 13' E-forty-seven miles W. from Batavia."
Prof. W. G. Peck, of Columbia College, New York, in Oc- tober last, wrote :
25
BANTAM-LITCHFIELD.
" You will remember our conversation about the word Bantam, and that I took the ground that it was not of Indian origin. In looking over an old History of Java, the other day, I came across the fact that an expedition was fitted out in 1601, consisting of four ships belonging to the then newly-formed "East India Company ;" and that the expe- dition sailed under Captain Lancaster in 1602, touching first at Acheen and then at Bantam in Java. Captain Lancaster, during the latter year, brought home a letter from the " King of Bantam " to Queen Elizabeth. From all this, you will see that the Java Bantam was in existence and had a king, eighteen years before the landing of the Pilgrims-and I don't know how much earlier. Bantam was occupi- ed by the Dutch in the sixteenth century, and was a place of much consequence. In the Portuguese writings of Jono de Barras, (Lisbon 1777,) the place is called " Bintam or Bantam." I am unable to as- certain whether the word is Dutch or Javanese ; at any rate, it is quite clear that the name is not of Connecticut origin."
The English and Danes had factories at Bantam previous to 1682, at which date they were taken by the Dutch. . The har- bor was long a favorite rendezvous for British shipping in the East. Of course the name was a familiar one in the English colonies at the time of the exploration of these Western Lands. Why it was transferred to this locality, must remain a matter of conjecture ; perhaps it was because, like the Bantam of the old world, this was a wild and almost unknown region, inhab- ited by a race of barbarians ; perhaps, as has been suggested by a distinguished antiquarian scholar, the name may have first been given by the settlers on the Connecticut to an Indian sachem residing in this vicinity, and, at a subsequent date, the country may have been named from him. At all events, it appears to have been the first designation by which this township was ever known to the Anglo-Saxon race; and as such, is worthy of being retained and cherished.
The Town, as we have seen, was first called LITCHFIELD in the act of incorporation, passed during the May Session, 1719, and was so named from the ancient city of LICHFIELD, Staf- fordshire, England-the t being added, probably by the legis- lative clerk, and has ever since been retained. It was with a sort of hallowed, home-sick feeling, that, in July 1855, the author of this volume (then on his way from London to North Wales,) made a brief stop at this famous ecclesiastieal empori- um. Long before reaching the Lichfield Station, the spires of the noble Cathedral attracted the attention and elicited the 4
26
HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
remarks of the numerous strangers on the train. It is hardly to be presumed that this place received the name it bears, on account of any supposed resemblance of its location to that of the city whence its name is derived. The English Lichfield, it is true, stands upon elevated ground, and is surrounded by rural beauties which are rarely surpassed even in the British Islands ; but the city cannot be said to stand on a hill, and the face of the surrounding country is materially different from the scenes upon which we are accustomed to look. With the same broad meadows, pastures and cultivated fields, inter- spersed with patches of wood-land, they lack the lake, and forest, and mountain scenery, which forms a principal attrac- tion of our landscapes. Lichfield is said to have been erected into a bishopric as early as A. D. 656-the first bishop bearing the name of Diuma. The first cathedral was completed about the year 700, in the time of Bishop Hedda. The founder of the present edifice is stated to have been Roger de Clinton, who came to the see in 1138 ; though, from the style of archi- itecture, it is believed that much of the building was erected during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. At the com- mencement of the civil wars, the Close of Lichfield was forti- fied by the royalists, and the command entrusted to Lord Ches- terfield. In March, 1643, the garrison was attacked by the parliamentary forces under Lord Brooke, one of the Patentees of Connecticut, who is said to have made a vow that if he should succeed he would level the cathedral with the ground. A day or two after, however, his lordship was shot dead, as he walked along the street below, by a gentleman stationed on the great tower of the church. The garrison soon surrendered to the puritan army, who, if we are to believe Dugdale, de- molished all the monuments, pulled down the curious carved work, battered in the costly windows, destroyed the records, stabled their horses in the aisles, and " every day hunted a cat throughout the church, delighting themselves in the echo from the goodly vaulted roof." These were strange pastimes, surely, for puritan soldiers ; but doubtless the picture was somewhat overdrawn by the royal historian. The garrison was again captured by the royalists, and re-captured by the puri-
27
ETYMOLOGY OF LITCHFIELD.
tans. The cathedral suffered greatly from these successive sieges. It was estimated that not less than two thousand can- non-balls and fifteen hundred hand-grenades had been dischar- ged against it. It was completely renovated by Bishop Hacket during the reign of Charles II. The city contains several churches, schools, and charitable institutions, and, in 1841, had a population of 14,754. Its streets are narrow, but well paved and well lighted ; many of the buildings are handsome, and its general appearance is much above the average of Eng- lish towns of its size. Its municipal officers are, a mayor, re- corder, five aldermen, and eighteen Councilors. It is entitled to two members of parliament. In this place were born Gar- rick, Johnson, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, and other emi- nent characters.
As to the etymology of the word Lichfield, or Litchfield, Gorton in his " Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland," (London, 1833, vol. ii, p. 564,) says-" Various derivations have been proposed of the name of this place; but it has generally been .deduced from the term, Lich-field, signi- fying the Field of the Dead-thus denominated, according to some ecclesiastical historians, on account of the great number of Christians having suffered martyrdom here during the Dio- clesian persecution in the beginning of the fourth century." In confirmation of this derivation, it may be added, that a field in the neighborhood, bearing the name of Christian Field, is still pointed out as the place where a thousand Christians were slaughtered at one time. This definition also corresponds with that given by the great lexicographer, Dr. Johnson, who was a native of Lichfield. In Saxon times, this town formed a portion of the extensive and powerful kingdom of Mercia, which was christianized upon its conquest by Oswy, King of Northumberland.
Our Litchfield (Connecticut) was the first place on this continent to bear the name. There are now seven other Litch- fields in the United States, (all spelt with the t,) viz., one in each of the following States-Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. These towns, with perhaps a single exception, were settled by Connec- ticut people. In Ohio, there is a post office named Bantam.
CHAPTER II.
INCIDENTS OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT.
THE settlement of Litchfield was commenced by Capt. Ja- cob Griswold, from Windsor, Ezekiel Buck, from Wethersfield, and John Peck, from Hartford, all of whom removed their families into the township during the summer of 1720. In the course of this and the following year, several other families -chiefly from Hartford, Lebanon, Wethersfield and Windsor- erected log houses on their home-lots, and moved into them.
The record of what appears to have been the first Town Meeting, is without date. Dea. John Buel and Nathaniel Smith were appointed a Committee to hire a minister, and " to make and gather a rate, to pay him for his services amongst us." This Committee employed Mr. TIMOTHY COLLINS, of Guilford, a young licentiate who had graduated at Yale Col- lege in 1718. At the next Meeting, held November 6, 1721, it was voted, " that. Mr. Collins be forthwith called to a settle- ment in this place in the work of the ministry ;" and it was stip- ulated that he should receive fifty-seven pounds per year for four years-and thereafter, as follows, viz., " the fifth year, sixty pounds; the sixth year, seventy pounds ; the seventh year, eighty pounds-and so to continue at eighty pounds per year" so long as he should remain in the pastoral office in this town. It was also agreed to pay him one hundred pounds pre- vious to the 1st day of July, 1722, and to furnish him with fire-wood. Mr. Collins accepted the terms proposed, in a let- ter bearing date, "Litchfield, Dec. 12, 1721," and immediate- ly entered upon his labors-though he was not ordained until the 19th of June, 1723 .* In addition to his salary, as above
*Messrs. Nathaniel Smith, Eleazer Strong and Samuel Culver, were appointed a com mittee " to provide accommodations, at the town's cost, for the Elders and Messengers that shall be in attendance."
29
FIRST TOWN OFFICERS.
stated, Mr. Collins received in fee one-sixtieth part of all the lands of the township, together with the use for life of another sixtieth part.
The first meeting of the Inhabitants for the choice of Town Oficers, was held Dec. 12, 1721, and resulted as follows :
JOHN MARSH, Town Clerk.
JOHN BUEL,
NATHANIEL HOSFORD,
Selectmen.
JOHN MARSH,
WILLIAM GOODRICH, Constable and Collector.
BENJAMIN GIBBS and THOMAS LEE, Surveyors.
ELEAZER STRONG and SAMUEL ROOT, Fence Viewers.
DANIEL CULVER, Hayward.
JOSEPH BIRD, Collector of Minister's Rate.
The only person "admitted an inhabitant " at this meeting, was Mr. JOSEPH KILBOURN, from Wethersfield, who had recent- ly purchased one-thirtieth part of the township-being the original Rights of Messrs, Mann and Peet.
On the 6th of February, 1721-'2, Messrs. Buel and Marsh were voted " the use of the stream of Bantam River and thirty acres of land," on condition that they would erect a Grist Mill and keep the same in order ; and Messrs. Jacob Griswold, William Goodrich and Benjamin Gibbs were designated to lay out the land for their usc.
On the 8th of the ensuing May, Messrs. Buel, Marsh, Smith and Hosford, were appointed a Committee, and fully empow- ered by the town, to negotiate a settlement of the boundary line between Litchfield and Waterbury, with a Committee appoint- ed by the proprietors of the latter town. At the same time, Messrs. Buel and Marsh were directed to petition the General Assembly, on the town's behalf, " for liberty to set up a church and society in Litchfield."
It had been one of the conditions of the several deeds of con- veyance to the original proprietors, that the grantees or their sons should build a tenantable house on each home-lot, or division, not less than sixteen feet square, and personally in- habit the same by the last day of May, 1721, and for three years ensuing ; and no one was permitted " to leave or dispose
30
HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
of his share for five years thereafter, without the consent of the first planters." This was a wise provision, growing out of the dependent and exposed condition of a settlement in the wilder- ness. Not only was each individual purchaser expected to encourage the settlement by his personal presence and labors, but his assistance in planning and executing the various pro- jects designed for the promotion of the public welfare, was deemed indispensable. His proprietorship in these " western lands " was no sinecure, resorted to for purposes of specula- tion. He must bear his full share of the burthens and per- ils incident to the life of a pioneer. For divers reasons, sever- al of the first purchasers, as has been intimated, failed to comply with these terms. On the 8th of June, 1722, in gen- eral Town Meeting, it was voted that the following persons had " forfeited their Rights to Lands in Litchfield by not per- forming what they were obliged to in the articles of the settle- ment mentioned in the Grand Deed," viz., Timothy Seymour, Timothy Stanley, Isaac Judson, Jacob Gibbs, John Stoddard, Nathaniel Smith, Paul Peck, John Hart, Philip Bump, Na- thaniel Woodruff, Thomas Griswold, John Baldwin and one of Ezekiel Sandford's Rights. Messrs. John Buel, Nathaniel Smith and John Marsh, were appointed a Committee to nego- tiate with the above-named individuals, with power to " prose- cute the forfeiture to effect" in case the claimants should neg- lect or refuse to agree to the terms which might be offered them. Probably a compromise was effected with most of the delin- quents. Some of them became active and useful men in the town.
In October of this year, the freemen, by a formal vote, ex- pressed their desire to be annexed to Hartford County. They also voted that the tax for the support of the minister and for building the meeting-house, should be laid "one half on the Rights, and the other on heads and stock."
The second annual Town Meeting was held, December 17, 1722. The following Town Officers for the year ensuing were chosen :
[NATHANIEL HOSFORD, Moderator.]
JOHN MARSH, Town Clerk.
31
THE FIRST MEETING-HOUSE.
NATHANIEL HOSFORD,
JOHN STODDARD, Selectmen.
JOSEPH KILBOURN,
JACOB GRISWOLD, Constable.
ELEAZER STRONG, Grand Juror.
JOHN BALDWIN and JOSEPH BIRGE, Fence Viewers.
NEHEMIAH ALLEN and THOMAS LEE, Listers.
JOSEPH HARRIS, Collector.
NATHAN MITCHELL, Leather Sealer.
At an adjourned meeting held on the 26th of December, it was ordered that the "town stock of powder and lead should be procured by a rate raised upon the Rights." A tax of one hundred and sixty pounds was laid towards building the meet- ing-house : and a subsequent vote provided for the raising of forty-three pounds more to be applied to the same object, and for the maintenance of the ministry. Messrs. Kilbourn, Stod- dard, Hosford and Marsh, were appointed a Committee " to manage the affair of building the meeting-honse." The erec- tion of a place of public worship appears to have been regarded by the town as the one great work to be accomplished. The votes in reference to it are frequent. One of them, passed April 19, 1723, describes the dimensions and style of the edi- fice as follows : It shall be " 45 feet in length, 25 feet in breadth and 20 feet between joints; to be shingled and clapboarded, the lower floor laid, the seats and pulpit made, the walls sealed up the girts, all the windows made and glazed ; the house well underpined, with all needful doors ; all said work to be well and sufficiently done, according to the discretion of the com mittee appointed for the work ; all of which work is to be fin- ished within the space of three years ensuing the date hereof."* The location of the building is described as "northward of William Goodrich's, towards Mr. Collins's house"-or about midway between the present Mansion House corner and the Luke Lewis house.
In the earliest records, our present North street was called
* It is not improbable that the edifice was so far completed within the time specified as to be used for public worship ; but as late as Dec. 24, 1731, we find an appropria- tion of £25 " towards finishing the meeting-house," and a committee was at the saine time appointed to attend to the work. Dec. 27. it was voted " to get a cushion or pillow for the pulpit, to be made with plush, and stufft."
32
HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
Town street, and was laid out twelve rods wide; that now called South street, was laid out eight rods wide, and was named Town Hill street; Gallows Lane was twenty-eight rods wide, and was called Middle street ; the present East and West streets were twenty rods wide, and called Meeting House street -the first meeting-house standing in the center ; the street running south from the present residence of Colonel Odell's, was then called South Griswold street, and was four rods wide ; that running north from Dr. Eliada Osborn's, was called North Griswold street, and was eight rods wide ; Prospect street was called North street, and was originally twenty rods wide, but soon reduced to seventeen.
The subject of Highways was also one of special importance, and engrossed much of the attention of the inhabitants in their Town Meetings. On the 26th of December, 1722, it was voted to lay out a highway from Bantam River to the Chestnut Hill home-lots, "in the range where the foot-path now is," as the record expresses it. On the following day, it was voted " to lay out a highway from John Marsh's home-lot [on Chestnut Hill,] to the south bounds ; and the highway by Mr. Collins's house, to be continued to the north bounds ; and the highway running east, to be extended to the east bounds; and west, or south-west, from Thomas Pier's, according to the best skill of the Committee ; and the highway running north from Pier's, to be continued to the north bounds."
The proprietor of each Right was entitled, as a part of his division of lands, to a Home Lot of fifteen acres in the "town plat" or village. The choice of the Home Lots was decided by chance. The first choice fell to Nathaniel Winchell, who selected the lot on the south corner of South-street and Gal- lows Lane. John Marsh drew the second choice, and, singu- larly enough to us, selected the lot at the southern extremity of the village, bordering on Bantam River-on which the dwelling-house of Mrs. Frederick Prescott now stands. Tim- othy Seymour drew the third choice, and fixed the location of his lot on the north side of West-street, where Mr. Lyman J. Smith now lives. Numbers four, five and six, (drawn by Messrs. John Bird, Samuel Orton and Samuel Forward,) selec-
33
THE HOME-LOTS.
ted lots on the east side of South-street, adjoining each other, and lying immediately north of the lot of John Marsh on Ban- tam River. The Mansion House corner was selected by Wil- liam Goodrich, who drew number twenty ; Nathaniel Smith drew the twenty-fifth choice, and selected the Oliver Goodwin corner ; the thirty-third choice fell to Samuel Lewis, who se- lected the County House corner, which he soon after transfer- red to Joseph Kilbourn, the purchaser of his Right. For his first " twenty acre division," Mr. Kilbourn selected the lot on the north corner of North and Prospect streets, now occupied in part by Dr. Richards' " Elm Park Collegiate Institute." The north-east corner of North and East streets, together with the lot adjoining on the north, was laid out to the Rev. Mr. Collins ; the next lot north was for the benefit of Mr. Collins and his successors in the ministry ; adjoining which, still fur- ther north, was the home-lot laid out on the School Right. The fifty-seventh (or last) choice was drawn by Ezekiel San- ford, who chose the lot in South-street now owned and occupied by A. C. Smith, Esq .- one of the most eligible sites in the village.
It is probable that the work of laying out these Home Lots was commenced in 1720, and that the first settlers, in compli- ance with the stipulation contained in their several deeds, erected tenements thereon. In May, 1722, Messrs. Hezekiah Culver and Thomas Lee were appointed to complete the work ; but it would seem that they failed to attend to the business, for, in the following December, Messrs. John Stoddard, John Bird and Jacob Griswold, were appointed on a Committee for the same purpose. More than two-thirds of the Home Lots were located within our present borough limits ; the remainder, far- ther west on West street and South Griswold street, and south- east on Chestnut Hill.
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