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 6
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
the Indian tribes of Western Connecticut. Even in times of peace, they were accustomed to make their annual visits to the sea-side for purposes of fishing-subsisting, on their excursions, by plundering their weaker brethren along the route. With the fearful cry-" We are come, we are come, to suck your blood !" they rushed on from one hamlet or encampment to another, spreading terror before them, and leaving little but desolation behind them. When they made their appearance, the Connecticut Indians would raise the cry from hill to hill -" The Mohawks ! the Mohawks !" and fly to some place of refuge, without attempting any defense. Sometimes they were pursued to the very threshold of their wigwams, and slain in the presence of their families. It is stated that in these and other cases of sudden alarm, all the tribes on the Housatonic, and between the Housatonic and the Naugatuck, could com- municate with each other, from the Sound two hundred miles northward, in a few hours, by cries and rude telegraphic signals from a chain of " Guarding Heights" which they had estab- lished. One of these "Heights" was Mount Tom in Litchfield .* As the Bantam fishing-grounds were nearly in a direct line from the Mohawk country to the Sound at Milford, (which was long their favorite place of resort,) they would naturally enough pass this way. On the borders of our Great Lake they would encounter not only the native clans of the vicinity, but . others who had come hither to fish and hunt. If there were warriors enough on the ground to make a stand against the intruding Mohawks, a fierce and bloody conflict would ensue. That such battles have been fought on the now quiet rural shores of our beautiful lake, and for a mile or two northward, is clearly indicated by the stone arrow-heads which are scattered in such profusion in the soil. It is true, they are found in other parts of the township, but nowhere in such abundance as in the locality described. The writer remembers, as one of the pastimes of his childhood, following in the furrow be- hind the plowman, on the West Plain, for the express purpose of picking up these interesting memorials of a by-gone race- then, of course, regarded simply as playthings. These arrow-
*Cothren's Hist. of Ancient Woodbury, p. 87.
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INDIAN RELICS.
heads are of various shapes and sizes, and are made of different kinds of flint-black, white, red, and yellow ; showing them to have been manufactured by different and probably distant tribes. Divers other Indian relics have, in years past, been found in Litchfield, but, by reason of the want of some conven- ient place of deposit, they have generally been scattered and lost. Some of these, according to the accounts we have received, were of curious and skillful workmanship. Since the organ- ization of "The Litchfield County Historical and Antiquarian Society," in 1856, quite a variety of stone hatchets, pestles, arrows, pipes, chisels and dishes, have found their way into its cabinet. ' In the autumn of 1834, a piece of " aboriginal sculp- ture" was found in this town, which is thus noticed by the Enquirer of October 2d, of that year :- " A discovery of a sin- gular CARVED STONE IMAGE, or BUST, representing the head, neck and breast of a human figure, was made a few days since on the Bantam River, about forty or fifty rods above the mill-dam, half a mile east of this village. Some boys happened to dis- cover near the banks, the head of the figure projecting above the ground, which so excited their curiosity that they imme- diately dug it out and conveyed it to the mill, where it is for the present deposited. The image, which is apparently that of a female, is carved from a rough block of the common gran- ite, some part of which is considerably decayed and crumbly, yet must have required more patient and persevering labor than generally belongs to the character of the natives; and though in point of skill and taste, it falls something short of Grecian perfection, it is certainly 'pretty well for an Indian.' For what purpose it was intended-whether as an idol for worship, or the attempt of some fond admirer to preserve and immortalize the lovely features of his dusky fair one, or whether it was merely a contrivance of some long-sighted wag of old to set us Yankees a-guessing, or even whether it is one hundred or five hundred years old-all is unrevealed ; though no doubt some tale is hanging thereby, if we could only find it out. All our American antiquities have this interesting pe- culiarity, that we know nothing of their history. We have not even the twilight of fabulous story to relieve our curiosity.
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
The Past is hidden in deeper obscurity than the Future." This curious relic is now preserved in the cabinet of Yale College.
Presuming our historians are correct in the opinion that the Pootatuck Tribe was spread over the present townships of Woodbury, Bethlem, Litchfield, New Milford and Washington, whatever relates to them can hardly prove uninteresting to my readers.
It has been asserted that the Pootatucks sometimes offered human sacrifices to appease or propitiate their gods. In proof of this, President Stiles in his "Itinerary" preserves an ac- count of a great powowing, which took place at a village of this tribe, about the year 1720. Mr. De Forest gives the sub- stance of Dr. Stiles' account, as follows: The scene was wit- nessed by a Mrs. Bennett, then a little girl; and after her death, was related by one of her children to the President. The ceremonies lasted three days, and were attended by five or six hundred Indians, many of whom came from distant towns, as Hartford and Farmington. While the Indians, exci- ted by their wild rites and dark superstitions, were standing in a dense mass, a little girl, gaily dressed and ornamented, was led in among them by two squaws, her mother and aunt. As she entered the crowd, the Indians set up their " high pow- wows," howling, yelling, throwing themselves into strange postures, and making hideous grimaces. Many white people stood around gazing at the scene ; but such was the excited state of the savages, that, although they feared for the child's safety, none of them dared to interfere, or to enter the crowd. After a while the two squaws emerged alone from the press, stripped of all their ornaments, and walked away, shedding tears and uttering mournful cries. The informant, deeply in- terested in the fate of one so near her own age, ran up to the two women, and asked them what they had done with the lit- tle girl. They would not tell her, and only replied that they should never see .that little girl again. The other Indians also remained silent on the subject ; but Mrs. Bennet believed, and she said that all the English then present believed, that the In- dians had sacrificed her, and that they did at other times offer human sacrifices.
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MR. BOARDMAN'S LONG PRAYER.
The Sachem whose residence and private domains were nearest to Litchfield, and with whom the early settlers of the town were most intimate, was Weroamaug, or Raumaug. His reservation in the parish of New Preston was adjacent to the reservation of the Bantam Indians, over whom his jurisdic- tion extended. He was a true friend of the whites, and in his last years professed to have become a convert to Christianity. The Rev. Daniel Boardman, who was ordained as the minister at New Milford, in 1716, became much interested in him. In a letter to a friend, he calls him " that distinguished sachem, whose great abilities and eminent virtues, joined with his ex- tensive dominion, rendered him the most potent prince of that or any other day in this colony ; and his name ought to be remembered by the faithful historian, as much as that of any crowned head since his was laid in the dust." During Rau- maug's last illness, Mr. Boardman constantly attended him- and endeavored to confirm his mind in the vital truths of the Christian faith. It was a sad place for the dying chieftain ; for a majority of his people, and even his wife, were bitter op- ponents of the white man's religion, and used all their influ- ence against it. One day when the good pastor was standing by the sachem's bedside, the latter asked him to pray, to which he assented. It happened that there was a sick child in the village, and a powow was in attendance, who had undertaken to cure it with his superstitious rites. As soon as the clergy- man commenced his prayer, Raumaug's wife sent for the medicine-man and ordered him to commence his exercises at the door of the lodge. The powow at once set up a hideous shouting and howling, and Mr. Boardman prayed louder, so that the sick man might hear him above the uproar. Each raised his voice louder and louder as he went on, while the In- dians gathered around, solicitous for the success of their pro- phet. The powow was determined to tire out the minister- and he, on the other hand, was quite as fully resolved not to be put to silence in the discharge of his duty by the blind wor- shiper of Satan. The invincible minister afterward gave it as his belief that he prayed full three hours, before he was per- mitted to come off conqueror. The powow having completely
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
exhausted himself with his efforts, gave one unearthly yell, and then, taking to his heels, never stopped till he was cooling himself up to his neck in the Housatonic. Raumaug died about the year 1735-or, some fifteen years after the first set- tlement of Litchfield.
In consequence of the frequent alarms on account of the Indians, the settlement of the town was greatly retarded. Other Memorials, of a later date than those given in the chap- ter preceding this, complain of the difficulties which the set- tlers still encountered, and ask for legislative interference in their behalf. Indeed, for more than thirty years after the Garrisons were erected, they were resorted to with more or less frequency, by individuals and families, on account of ap- prehended danger. One of these Garrisons stood near the present residence of Mr. Holmes O. Morse, on Chestnut Hill, and was remembered by Mr. Elisha Mason, who died in this village no longer ago than May 1st, 1858. Another stood one mile west of the Court House, on the north side of West-street, opposite the homestead of Mr. Benjamin Kilbourn. Some of the remains of the last-mentioned fort were recently discovered.
Good penmanship and correct orthography were not univer- sal accomplishments, even among Town Clerks, a century and a quarter since. As a general thing, in copying from records or files, I have not attempted to follow either the spelling or the punctuation of the original documents. In these respects the records are sometimes as quaint and peculiar as were the language and manners of the people themselves in a former age. Here is a specimen or two : " Voted that ye owners of shoolers sent to school for time to come shal find fire wood for ye schooll ;" " Voted to ajurn this meeting to to morah Sun half an hour High at Night." These are by no means the worst cases to be found. A few other town votes are here correctly rendered, as curiosities in their way : Voted to ap- point Lieut. Buel and Samuel Orton " to assist the Clerk in perusing the town votes and to conclude what shall be trans- cribed into the town book, and what not :" " Voted that sheep shall be free commoners ;" " Voted that a Basin for Baptism be procured, and that the money be drawn out of the Town
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DEATH OF JOHN BUEL AND JOHN MARSH.
Treasury to pay for the same ;" Voted liberty to the Rev. Timothy Collins "to erect a Blacksmith's Shop joining to his fence the backside of the meeting-house ;" Sergt. John Bird was " chosen Quorister to tune the Psalm in the public wor- ship." . Many other transactions of the town, equally primitive . in their character, might be given-but these are sufficient to indicate the great change that a century has wrought in the nature of much of the business done at our town meetings.
It is a sad commentary on the frail tenure of human life, that, in every new settlement, no sooner have the pioneers erected their huts and commenced clearing up their lands, than it becomes necessary to provide a resting-place for the dead. The Burying Ground west of our village was set apart for that purpose by the first settlers of the place, and for many years was the only cemetery within the limits of the township. In this humble and now almost forsaken enclosure, rest side by side, sometimes in undistinguished graves, legislators, judges, mechanics, farmers, congressmen, paupers, merchants, maidens -parents and children-the lovely, the loving, and the beloved -pastor and people-the village patriarch and the infant of yesterday - pioneers, statesmen, peasants, officers, soldiers, slaves-the red warrior of the forest, and the beautiful-browed daughter of his Saxon successor-lawyers, and juries, and cli- ents, and criminals-awaiting in hope or fear their final sum- mons and destiny. Sweet be their slumbers, and glorious their awakening !
At the close of the first thirty years after the settlement of the town commenced, a large proportion of its founders had exchanged a life of labor and weariness for the repose of the grave. Generally, they reached a good old age, and, by the gradual decay of nature, passed gently and almost impercepti- bly down the valley of years. Among these, were the two most conspicuous and useful men among the original propri- etors of the township-JOHN MARSH and JOHN BUEL. A brief outline of the history of these men, will close this chapter.
JOHN MARSH had long been a prominent citizen of Hart- ford before he interested himself in the Western Lands; and from the time when he came out to "view the new plantation,"
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
in May, 1715, till about the year 1738, his name was intimate- ly associated with the history of Litchfield. I need not reca- pitulate the many ways and times in which he was called upon by his fellow-citizens to serve them in public employments, as detailed on the preceding pages. He served this town in the various offices within her gift during the entire period of his residence here. While an inhabitant of Hartford, his na- tive town, he was often a Representative in the Legislature, a Justice of the Peace, an Associate Judge of the County Court, and a member of the Council of War. He returned to Hart- ford in his old age, and died there. His remains lie interred in the old Burying Ground back of the Center Church. His children remained in this town, and his descendants here and elsewhere are very numerous.
JOHN BUEL was about fifty years of age when he became a resident of this town, and had previously filled the office of Deacon of the Church in Lebanon. That portion of our histo- ry which has already been given, affords a sufficient guarantee of the estimation in which he was held by his fellow-citizens. He was repeatedly elected to almost every office within their gift, besides being appointed on nearly all the most important committees. As a Deacon in the Church, Captain of the Militia, Selectman, Treasurer, Representative and Justice of the Peace, he discharged his duties efficiently and faithfully. A brief anecdote (as given by the Rev. Mr. Powers, in his Cen- tennial Address at Goshen,) will serve to illustrate the bevo- lence of his character : In the winter of 1740-'41, a man came from Cornwall to purchase some grain for himself and family, who were in great need, and was directed to Deacon Buel. The stranger soon called, and made known his errand. The Deacon asked him if he had the money to pay for the grain. He answered affirmatively. "Well," said the Deacon, "I can show you where you can procure it." Going with the strag- ger to the door, he pointed out a certain house to him, saying, " There lives a man who will let you have grain for your money. I have some to spare, but I must keep it for those who have no money." Deacon Buel departed this life, April 6th, 1746, aged 75 years. His wife survived him twenty-two
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CHARACTER OF OUR PEOPLE.
years. Both were interred in the West Burying Ground. The inscription on the tomb-stone of the latter is as follows : " Here lies the body of Mrs. Mary, wife of Dea. John Buel, Esq. She died November 4, 1768, aged 90-having had 13 Children, 101 Grand-Children, 247 Great-Grand-Children, and 49 Great-Great-Grand-Children ; total 410. Three hundred and thirty-six survived her." The name of Buel has always been prominent in our local history.
Litchfield was peculiarly fortunate in the character of its early settlers. The proprietors seemed to know, instinctively, that the location of their settlement-so remote from all the elder towns of the colony, and apparently beyond the influen- ces of civilization and religion-would naturally invite to its seclusion and consequent freedom from restraint, the vicious, the abandoned, and the fugitive from justice. Consequently, the utmost care was taken that none but persons of good char- acter should settle among them. Mr. Woodruff says-" If a stranger made a purchase in the plantation, a proviso was sometimes inserted in the deed, that the Inhabitants should accept of the purchaser, and that he should ' run the risk of trouble from the Grand Committee.' " We have seen on an- other page the vote of the town on this subject. It is with pleasure, that a Son of Litchfield is able to say that the peo- ple of the town have ever borne and still bear the reputation of being distinguished for intelligence and virtue.
CHAPTER V.
EVENTS PRECEDING THE REVOLUTION.
THE first French War began in 1744, and closed with the signing of the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle, October 4, 1748. At this period, Litchfield was in a condition too weak and ex- posed to be expected to lend any efficient aid in such a contest. Indeed, it is not known that her soldiery were in any instance called upon to march any considerable distance from her own frontiers. Our records give no indication of any unusual ex- citement-the seat of the war being, in this instance, so far dis- tant, that our people seem scarcely to have been conscious of its existence. The voters assembled in town meeting, went through with the ordinary routine of business, and adjourned, without intimating that the town or the colony was in any way interested in the fierce conflict that was then being waged between England and France.
Mr. Cothren informs us that in May, 1748, the inhabitants of Woodbury appointed Col. William Preston an Agent to pre- fer a Memorial to the General Assembly for the organization of a new county to be called the County of Woodbury, to embrace the towns of Woodbury, Waterbury, New Milford, Litchfield and New Fairfield, and as many of the northern towns as might choose to join them-with Woodbury for the county seat. The result need not be told.
At the October Session of the Legislature, A. D. 1751, the County of Litchfield was organized, and embraced seventeen towns, viz., Litchfield, Woodbury, New Milford, New Hart- ford, Harwinton, Barkhamsted, Colebrook, Canaan, Goshen, Cornwall, Hartland, Kent, Norfolk, Salisbury, Sharon, Tor- rington and Winchester. For some time much difference of opinion prevailed as to the location of the shire town. Litch-
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FIRST COUNTY OFFICERS.
field, Goshen, Canaan and Cornwall, urged their respective claims with much zeal; but the most formidable contest was between Litchfield and Goshen. The latter was supposed to occupy the geographical center of the proposed county, and many persons had settled there in expectation that the seat of justice would be established in that town, among whom was Oliver Wolcott, afterwards Governor. To the sore disappoint- ment of many of the contestants, Litchfield was ultimately named as the county seat in the act incorporating the new county. This was a most important event in the history of the town ; and from this time onward, for several years, it rapidly improved in its appearance as well as in the number and char. acter of its inhabitants. By a census taken in 1756, it was ascertained that its population was 1366. Oliver Wolcott was appointed first High Sheriff, and immediately thereupon took up his residence in this village. John Catlin, of Litchfield, was appointed County Treasurer ; Isaac Baldwin, of Litchfield County Clerk ; William Preston, of Woodbury, Chief Judge ; Thomas Chipman, of Salisbury, Samuel Canfield, of New Milford, John Williams, of Sharon, and Ebenezer Marsh, of Litchfield, Associate Judges; and Samuel Pettibone, of Go- shen, King's Attorney.
Even after this county was thus formed, and its officers ap- pointed, the town of Woodbury continued to manifest her dissatisfaction in various ways and at all reasonable times. Instead of being made the central and shire town of the new county, she was left quite in one corner. She first petitioned the Legislature, (in May and again in October, 1752,) to be re-annexed to the county of Fairfield. Twenty years later, an effort was again made to persuade the General Assembly to organize a county to be called Woodbury. On this occasion the town of Woodbury laid a rate of a penny and a half on the pound, in addition to the regular tax, to be applied toward erecting the county buildings; and, further, she generously offered the use of her Town Hall for a COURT HOUSE! The reader will not need to be informed, that these as well as more recent attempts to destroy the ancient landmarks of the Coun_ ty of Litchfield, have proved unsuccessful.
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
At a town meeting, held in December, 1753, liberty was voted to Isaac Hosford and others " to erect a house for their convenience on Sabbath Days, east of the meeting-house." In January 1759, liberty was granted to Mr. John Farnham to " set up a Sabbath-Day House in the highway a little north of the School House." Capt. Edward Phelps erected a similar house in the middle of East-street nearly opposite the present church-edifice of the First Congregational Society ; and still another was remembered by the late Mr. Elisha Mason, which stood on or near the spot now occupied by the dwelling-house of Dr. Lewis in East-street. As they were among the " insti- tutions" of the Olden Time, and are quite unknown in our day, a brief reference to their design in connection with one of the simple customs of our ancestors, can hardly require an apology. They were built by, and for the accommodation of, persons residing at a distance from church-their object being, to furnish the owners and their families, together with such friends as they might choose to invite, with a warm retreat, in winter, during the intermission between the forenoon and af- ternoon services on the Sabbath. We must bear in mind that in those days a stove, or any other means of warming a church, had never been seriously thought of. These houses generally consisted of two rooms, each about twelve feet square, with a chimney between them and a fire-place in each room ; and in such cases were erected at the expense of two or more families. Dry fuel was kept in each room ready for kindling a fire. If the cold was extreme, the " hired man" or one of the sons might be sent forward in advance of the family, to get the room well warmed before their arrival. The family, after filling the ample saddlebags with refreshments, including a bottle of beer or cider, took an early start for the sanctuary. Calling first at their Sabbath-Day House, they deposited their luncheon, and having warmed themselves, and covered up the glowing embers, they were ready at the appointed moment to take their seats in the house of worship, there to shiver in the cold during the morning service. At noon, they returned to their room, with perhaps a few friends. The fire was re-kindled, the saddlebags were brought forth, and their contents placed
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THE ACADIANS.
upon a prophet's table, of which all partook. The frugal repast being ended, thanks were returned. The patriarch of the household then drew from his pocket the notes he had taken of the morning sermon, which were fully reviewed-all enjoy- ing the utmost freedom in their remarks. Sometimes a well chosen chapter, or a page from some favorite author, was read, and the noon-service was not unfrequently closed with a prayer. All then returned to the house of God. Before starting for home at the close of the afternoon service, they once more repaired to their Sabbath House, gathered up the saddlebags, wrapped themselves thoroughly up, saw that the fire was left safe, and in due time all were snugly scated in the sleigh, and bound homeward.
By the Treaty of Utrecht that part of the old French domin_ ion called Acadia, or Nova Scotia, was ceded to Great Britain. In 1749, three thousand seven hundred and sixty English ad- venturers, under the Hon. Edward Cornwallis, sailed for that country, and settled on the coast at a place which they named Halifax, in honor of the Earl of Halifax, one of the Lords of Trade and Plantations. During the following year, the French Governor of Canada sent an army of Frenchmen and Indians to reduce Nova Scotia. The expedition was successful-and Acadia was once more a French province. The French neu- trals (many of whom had been driven off, or had been so per- secuted that they were virtually compelled to leave,) now joyfully returned to their old homes, by special invitation of the government.
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