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 5
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CHAPTER IV.
MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS.
THE preceding Memorials and Resolves so vividly portray the hardships and dangers here experienced by our ancestors, in their efforts to subdue the wilderness and render it a fitting abode for civilized men, that any extended comments would be quite superfluous. Indeed, little can be known of their histo- ry during the period of which we have written, except what is gleaned from these plaintive yet manly expositions of their cir- cumstances and feelings. It is difficult for us-surrounded as we are with the blessings of Peace and Plenty-to realize that our predecessors amid these very scenes, were thus exposed to the combined evils of war and famine-bringing their food through the woods a distance of twenty miles; tilling their fields only when protected by an armed guard; men, women and children, from time to time flying in alarm to the garrisons for safety ; and the whole adult male population of the town compelled, in turn, to keep public watch and ward through a succession of years ; at the same time, clearing off the forests, hunting wild beasts, and fighting the common enemy! Is it not a matter of surprise as well as of gratitude, that during the entire continuance of the war on our frontiers, but one inhab- itant of Litchfield fell a victim to savage violence ?
The reader will have noted the interesting fact, that Roger Wolcott (afterwards Governor) was, even at this early period, actively engaged in devising measures for the protection and defense of this town-little imagining, probably, that here his descendants were destined to find homes so cherished, and to act so distinguished a part, during the succeeding century.
In a preceding chapter we have seen that the territory now embraced within the limits of this township, was covered by
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
the Charter granted by Charles II. of England, in 1662, to the Governor and Company of the Colony of Connecticut; that in 1687, the colonial government conveyed it to the towns of Hartford and Windsor ; that in 1716, committees appointed by these towns, purchased of the Indians all their right and inter- est therein ; that in 1719, committees of these towns sold and conveyed these lands to John Marsh, John Buel, and their associates, in fee, for what was considered a fair equivolent. These latter gentlemen became the first individual owners of the specific tracts which were from time to time surveyed and laid out to them.
It would seem that for some years after the settlement of the township, Hartford and Windsor continued to exercise a kind of guardianship over the affairs of Litchfield. Thus, in Feb- ruary, 1722-'3, Messrs. Hosford and Buel were appointed to treat with the committees of these towns concerning the non- resident proprietors of Litchfield. At a town meeting held on the 1st of April, 1724, it was " voted that the committees of Hartford and Windsor choose inhabitants ;" and in case these committees should select for residents any whom the authorities of this town should regard as " not wholesome," it was provided that the character of the new-comers should be judged by indifferent men, and if by them declared to be good inhabitants, then the cost was to be paid by Litchfield-other- wise, the cost was to be paid by the committees referred to.
Even during the prevalence of the Indian wars, though much of their time was necessarily engrossed in providing for the means of subsistence and defense, our fathers were not unmindful of the ordinary duties pertaining to them as public- spirited citizens. Divers matters of a miscellaneous character came up for consideration in their town meetings, some of which will be noted in this chapter.
The lowlands, south-west of the village-bordering upon Bantam River, the Little Pond, and Bantam Lake-are known on our early records as "Bantam Swamp, or the Flooded Lands." They cover about six hundred acres ; and, having been nearly free from timber and brush at the time of the first settlement, they were regarded as very valuable on account of
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BANTAM SWAMP.
the grass. In the original allotment of lands to the first pro prietors, each Right entitled the owner to four acres of meadow in this swamp. After all had thus received equal shares, a subsequent division of the balance was made.
As early as April 5, 1725, Lieut. John Buel and Nathaniel Hosford were " appointed to state the bounds of the Flooded Lands, in order to laying out the same ; and if said Hosford and Buel cannot agree, then Joseph Kilbourn to be the third man to help in said work." At the same meeting, it was voted " that the clerk record no land laid out upon the Little Plain, until the difference concerning the same be issued." In order to understand the purport of the last record, it should be stated that a controversy had sprung up between Joseph Bird and Nathaniel Hosford, on one side, and the remaining proprietors on the other side-as to whether the "Little Plain" was a part of Bantam Swamp and ought to be laid out as such. The dis- pute waxed warm; and it was at last determined to appoint two arbitrators from out of town, who should have power to select a third. The gentlemen agreed upon by the contending parties, were, Capt. Joseph Hawley and Mr. Samuel Root, both of Farmington, who made choice of Ensign Nathaniel Wads- worth, also of Farmington, to assist them in the arbitration. They made the following Report-
"WE, the subscribers, having heard the pleas of both parties, and considered them with the records, concerning the land in controversy, are of opinion and do give it as our judgment, that the land called the Little Plain is no part of Bantam Swamp, nor ought to be laid out in lieu thereof ; and that it is free to be laid out to make up the addi- tion to the ten acre lots.
The charge of the arbitration is seventeen shillings ; and we order that Lieut. Buel and John Bird pay the said charge-to Capt. Haw- ley seven shillings, to Ensign Wadsworth four shillings, and to Samuel Root six shillings. JOSEPH HAWLEY,
NATH'L WADSWORTH.
Farmington, Feb. 25, 1725-'6. SAMUEL ROOT."
At a town meeting held, Dec. 21, 1725, (Mr. John Buel, Moderator,) Messrs. Jacob Griswold, Benjamin Webster and John Marsh, were appointed a committee to survey Bantam Swamp. In November, 1726, a tax of ten shillings on cach Right was laid, to be expended by a committee in "lowering
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
the natural ponds for the draining of the swamp;" and Messrs. John Buel, James Church and Joseph Bird, were appointed said committee. The object intended, however, appears not to have been accomplished ; for in March, 1731, and again in January, 1732, it was voted to make application to the Governor and Council for the same purpose. On the 30th of April, 1733, a vote was passed " to offer unto the Governor and Council Capt. Joseph Minor and Capt. William Preston, of Woodbury, and Dea. Nathaniel Baldwin, of Litchfield, as a committee for the proprietors of Bantam Swamp, in order to commissionate them to drain said Swamp," &c. Many years afterwards, by blasting away the rocks and erecting a dam on the outlet of Bantam Lake, the swamp was partially drained ; but even now, during freshets or long rains, they are frequently overflowed.
As was the case with the settlers of the New England towns generally, the founders of Litchfield regarded the subject of education as a matter of primary importance. As stated else- where, one sixtieth part of the township (about seven hundred acres,) was originally set apart for the support of schools. In December, 1725, eight pounds were appropriated from the town treasury " for hiring school-masters and school-dames" to in- struct the children in reading and writing for the year next ensuing ; and a like sum was ordered to be raised by a tax upon the parents or guardians of the children, to be gathered by the town collector. Messrs. Marsh, Buel, Hosford and Goodrich, were chosen a school committee. Two years later, ten pounds were paid out of the public treasury for the same object, with the proviso that four pounds of this sum should be given for the support of a writing school, and the balance " for teaching of children by school dames"-from which we are to infer that the female teachers did not give instruction in wri- ting. The first reference made by the records relative to building a school house, is contained in the doings of a town meeting held Dec. 23,1731-(Mr. Joseph Kilbourn, Moderator) -which is as follows : "Voted to build a school house in ye center of ye town, on ye Meeting-House Green ; and Joseph Kilbourn, Jr., Ebenezer Marsh and John Gay, were chosen a committee to carry on said work." At the same time it was
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SCHOOL LANDS.
voted to build the school house twenty feet square. The school committee were authorized to hire a school-master and set up a school during the succeeding fall and winter.
Messrs. Jacob Griswold and Benjamin Gibbs were appointed in December, 1727, to run the lines and set up monuments " between the School Lots and Pine Island."
The question as to how the School Lands should be disposed of to the best advantage, appears to have been very difficult to settle. On the 12th of March, 1729, it was voted to sell them for one thousand pounds ; and Messrs. Marsh and Bird were designated to manage the sale. Some one, doubtless, called in question the right of the town to make such a sale ; as, a week later, the inhabitants, in general town meeting convened, ap- pointed Mr. Marsh their Agent to apply to the General Assem- bly " for liberty to make sale of the school lands in itchfield." The application was unsuccessful ; but the people soon found a way to evade the letter of the law. On the 29th of Novem- ber, 1729, it was " voted that the School Right in Litchfield should be leased out for the maintenance of a school in said Litchfield for nine hundred and ninety-nine years ensuing." Messrs. Marsh, Buel, Hosford and Bird, were appointed a com- mittee to lease the lands accordingly. As if apprehensive that even this lease might ultimately expire and thus give their descendants unnecessary trouble, with a far-reaching glance into futurity, they proceeded to bind their successors "in ye recognisance of ten thousand pounds lawful money, to give a new lease of said Right at the end of said term of nine hun- dred and ninety-nine years, if there shall be occasion" !
In pursuance of these votes, the committee appointed for that purpose, on the 15th of April, 1730, leased to sundry in- dividuals the School Right for the time designated; the grantee paying twenty-seven pounds annually for eight years, for the support of the School; and the ninth year, paying to the selectmen four hundred and fifty pounds, to be forever kept for the support of a School in Litchfield. To the lease was an- nexed the following
" POSTSCRIPT .- Before signing and sealing, the above-men- tioned signers and sealers agreed, that whoever occupies and
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
improves all the above land or lands, or any part of them, shall pay all rates or taxes that shall arise upon them or any part of them, during the whole term of the lease."
In the year 1767, it was " voted to divide the money for which the School Right was sold, between the old Society, the South Farms Society, and the Church of England, in proportion to the list of each part."
The subject of " seating the meeting-house," often came up for action in town meeting, and produced not a little commo- tion. In some of the old towns whence the Litchfield settlers came, the following order was observed in this matter, viz .: 1. Long public service. 2. Dignity of descent. 3. Rank in the Grand List. 4. Age. 5. Piety, &c. This order was in good degree discarded by our early Litchfield ancestors. Va- rious methods were tried by them, but generally without any very satisfactory result. In December, 1735, the town appoint- ed as a committee for this work, the following persons, viz., Sergt. Culver, Joseph Kilbourn, Jr., Ebenezer Marsh, John Gay and Supply Strong. At the same time this committee were thus instructed to act, to wit : " Every man's list for four years past shall be added together, and every man's age be reckoned at twenty shillings per year, to be added to his list ; and for them that have not four lists, they shall be seated by the last list, or according to the discretion of the committee."
The committee proceeded according to these instructions, but the result did not suit. Their doings were ordered to be set aside; a new committee was appointed, with no other in- structions than to act in accordance with their best judgment in the premises. Their action, for a wonder, was silently ac- quiesced in on this occasion.
In December, 1726, it was ordered that the people should be notified of the occurrence of each Town Meeting, " by a note set up on the sign-post and on the grist-mill door, seven days before the meeting ; and said note shall specify the time and place and affairs of the meeting ; and the Grand Meeting shall be on the 2d Tuesday in December annually." At a later date, notices of town meetings were directed to be " posted on all the grist-mill doors, and on the school-house door in South Farms."
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MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.
In May, 1728, it was voted to petition the General Assembly for a tax upon all the undivided land in the town not already put in the list, of five shillings per hundred acres, each year for the space of four years. The prayer of the petitioners was read- ily granted, and in the following December, Messrs. Marsh and Buel were appointed to lay the tax " according to the grant made by the Assembly."
Our boundary lines have not unfrequently called for the action of the town. Naugatuck river on the east, and the Shepaug (in part) on the west, are " natural boundaries " which could not easily be mistaken. The north and south bounds, however, were for a long time not very clearly defined. In the words of the Patent, the town was bounded "north by the wilderness," and south by Woodbury and Waterbury, with no other visible bounds than marked trees and heaps of stones. In the Patent previously granted to Woodbury, that town is described as being " bounded north by the commons," It is fair to presume, that when the trees and stone-heaps disap- peared, some doubts might arise as to the precise locality of the lines described.
It appears by the public records that -as early as 1727, the accounts of Messrs. Joseph Bird, James Kilbourn and John Bird were adjusted " for meeting the Woodbury men, in order to perambulate." A year later, Messrs. Nathaniel Hosford and John Bird were chosen agents " to act in the controversy between Litchfield and Woodbury." In 1731, the gentlemen last named were re-appointed on a committee for a like pur- pose-or, as the record has it, " to enquire and make search what light can be had concerning our line against Woodbury." Subsequently, during the same year, it was voted in town meeting to " take some method to settle our south-west bounds according to our Grand Deed and Grant." At the same meet- ing, Messrs. Hosford and Bird were chosen " to carry on said affair, and trying to agree, and to agree, with Woodbury ; and if they don't agree with them, to go to the General Court next, and endeavor to get a Patent according to our Deed and Grant." A tax of three shillings was laid on each undivided Right, to defray the expenses. Some eleven years after, (in
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
May, 1742,) the records inform us that this tax of three shill- ings on a Right had proved insufficient for the purpose intended, and a further tax of one shilling and six-pence on each Right then undivided, was laid for the furtherance of the same object. How the controversy with Woodbury was finally settled, does not appear. The only alteration of any consequence, ever made in our limits as originally defined, was in this south-west cor- ner of the town. Litchfield, at this point, formerly ran down some distance below the junction of the Bantam with the She- paug, embracing the beautiful valley south of Mount Tom, then and still known as " Davies' Hollow." Upon the incorpora_ tion of the town of Washington, in 1779, (which had previously been a part of Ancient Woodbury,) the Litchfield line was so altered as to run across the top of Mount Tom, thus ceding Davies' Hollow, and the lands adjacent, to Washington. Litchfield, in town meeting assembled, at first resolved to op- pose this summary method of robbing her of a portion of her original domain, and appointed the Hon. Andrew Adams an Agent to appear before the General Assembly in her behalf. It was subsequently voted not to oppose the project ; and, in stead, Colonel Adams was appointed to present a Petition to the Legislature that the town of Washington be cited to " reg- ulate the line of the town." The line was soon after amicably agreed upon, and has not since been a subject of contention.
In December, 1753, Capt. Stoddard and Supply Strong were appointed a committee to "measure from the crotch of the Shepaug river to the north-west corner of the town, with Mr. Roger Sherman, County Surveyor."
There seems also to have been some uncertainty and dispute respecting our northern boundary, though the matter never . assumed a serious aspect. At a town meeting in February, 1745-'6, Messrs. John Buel, Joseph Bird and Supply Strong, were appointed a committee " to settle the line between Litch- field and Goshen and Torrington." In May, 1754, Messrs. Ebenezer Marsh and Benjamin Webster " were appointed Agents to represent the town with respect to the north line, before the General Assembly at Hartford ;" and in February, 1755, Captain Moses Stoddard and Messrs. Supply Strong and
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WILD BEASTS.
Jonathan Kilbourn, were appointed " to go with the Surveyor of the County to the North Line of Litchfield."
The colonial files contain a statement in the hand-writing of the famous Roger Sherman, and bearing his signature, giving a minute account of the running of the north line of Litchfield, by him, as County Surveyor, in 1754 ; also several affidavits on the same subject from Edward Phelps, Moses Stoddard, Jonathan Kilbourn, Supply Strong, Ebenezer Buel, Thomas Catlin, John Bird, and others. As the bounds, however, were subsequently fully established in accordance with the claims of this town, and have not been a matter of controversy for the last eighty years, the publication of the evidence adduced can answer no good purpose.
The boundaries of South Farms were established and defined in 1767 ; those of Northfield in 1794; and those of Milton in 1795-at the time of the organization of these parishes.
It is an interesting fact, and one not generally known, that the town of Goshen was organized at the house of Dea. John Buel in West-street, in this village, which stood on the site now owned and occupied by Mr. Thomas Leverett Saltonstall. On the 27th of September, 1738, the proprietors of Goshen (ori_ ginally called New Bantam,) met at the place designated, and elected Dea. Buel Moderator, and Capt. Joseph Bird, Clerk. They then adjourned to meet at the same place at 8 o'clock the next morning, when the organization of the town was completed. Dating from this day, the centennial anniver- sary of Goshen was celebrated on the 28th of September, 1838 -on which occasion an interesting historical discourse was de- livered by the Rev. Grant Powers. Several of the original proprietors of Goshen were residents of Litchfield.
Mr. Morris remarks-" Many years after the settlement of this town, deer, bears, and wild-turkeys, were numerous. Deer and bears were taken by hunters between the years 1760 and 1770, and turkeys at a later period. Wild-cats occasion- ally visit us, and destroy sheep and lambs. ' A small tract near the north-east part of the town, is rough and ledgy, and affords them a refuge from hunters and their dogs. Considerable mischief was done by them in the winter of 1811-'12."
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
Mr. Gibbs, the historian of the Administrations of Washing- ton and Adams, (vol. i. p. 9,) writing of the boyhood of the younger Wolcott, (1765-'78,) draws the following picture of this town as it was seventy and eighty years ago :- " At a pe- riod much later than this, Litchfield was on the outskirts of New England civilization, and presented a very different aspect from its now venerable quiet. The pickets which guarded its first dwellings were not yet decayed. The Indian yet wandered through its broad streets, and hunters as wild as our present borderers, chased the deer and the panther on the shores of the lake. The manners of its inhabitants were as simple and prim -. itive as those of their fathers a century back, in the older set- tlements on the Connecticut. Traveling was entirely on horseback, except in winter, and but a casual intercourse was carried on with the distant towns. Occasionally, and more frequently as they became more interesting, tidings reached them from Boston, and even from the old world."
There are persons yet living, who remember when bears and wolves were hunted in " Blue Swamp," and deer and wild- turkeys were frequently seen within two miles of the Court House ;* when Indians, in companies of twenty or thirty, were accustomed to make their annual visits to this town, encamp- ing on Pine Island or along the lake-shore-the men employ- ing themselves in hunting and fishing, while the squaws made and peddled baskets and brooms. Foxes, minks, muskrats, rabbits, woodchucks and raccoons, are now frequently trapped within the limits of this township. Snipes, quails, partridges and wild-ducks, frequent our woods or lakes ; while our waters abound in trout, suckers, eels, perch, roach, and pike or pick- erel. The pickerel, however, is not a native. In April, 1779, the town voted, " on request of Capt. John Marsh, that he might have the exclusive Pickerel Fishing in the Loon [or Cranberry] Pond, for the space of twenty years, provided he shall at his own expense procure Pickerel to breed and propa-
*Capt. Salmon Buel, (now in his 92d year,) has seen wild deer in the swamp between his present residence and the village. Mr. Amos Benton informs we that in 1774, (he then being a small child,) a bear passed but a few rods from him, while he was playing by the brook near his present residence. The alarm was given, and his father and some of the neighbors started in pursuit-but did not succeed in killing him.
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THE BANTAM INDIANS.
gate therein, in a reasonable time." It seems, however, that no advantage was taken of this privilege ; but in the winter of 1809, twenty-eight pickerel were brought from a pond in South- wick, Massachusetts, and put into Cranberry Pond. Their progeny has greatly increased, so that they are caught in abun- dance in the several lakes of the township. In Bantam Lake they often grow to a large size-sometimes weighing five and a half and even six pounds. They are familiarly termed by our fishermen, " Bantam Shad," and find a ready market in the village, as well as afford congenial sport to amateur anglers from city and country. By-Laws have from time to time been passed by the town for the protection of our " fisheries," by probibiting the drawing of seines and nets, which have had a good effect.
Of the Indians who inhabited this township previous to its settlement by the whites, comparatively little can now be gleaned. President Stiles, in his "Itinerary," tells us the Bantam Indians were on terms of allegiance with the Scata- cooks, the Pootatucks, and Weatogues. Mr. Cothren suppo- ses they were but a clan of the Pootatuck or Woodbury tribe. This seems not improbable, as the aboriginal names signed to the purchase-deed of Litchfield, (dated at Woodbury, March 2d, 1715-'16,) are all mentioned in the list of sachems, saga- mores and principal men of that tribe. Some of them doubt- less belonged in Bantam, and were familiar with the bounds of the territory disposed of. The fact, too, that a " reservation" was required for the hunting houses of the clan, favors such a supposition. Chusquenoag and Weroamaug (or Raumaug) whose names stand first on the deed-one as a grantor and the other as a witness-were Sachems of the Wyantenucks, who were the nearest neighbors of the Bantams on the west and, (according to the same authority,) constituted another clan of the Pootatucks.
We have seen how much trouble was occasioned to the early settlers by the savages. It is by no means certain, however, that the murderers of Harris or the capturers of Griswold be. longed to the Bantam clan. The Mohawks-a fierce, warlike, roving tribe-were a terror not only to the whites but to all
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