USA > Connecticut > Tercentenary pamphlet series, v. 1 Connecticut and the British Government > Part 29
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For the "first division abroad," as it was called, the planters chose two large tracts, called Eastfield and Westfield, lying southeast and southwest, respectively, of the homelots. So far as possible each man received land in the field nearer his homelot. Each tract was sub- divided into tiers or "shots" within which the individual lots were laid out. As a further means of insuring fair treatment no one got all his land in a single piece but had it split up into two or more separate lots. Soon after this first distribution, a second installment of land was par- celled out to the planters. Part of this "second division at home" was located in the same regions, while the rest was laid out in the "Mill Neck" or "Captain's Neck" to
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the south of the homelots and in the section to the north and east of the palisade.
At about the same time that these grants of arable up- land were made, a division of meadow took place. Some of this meadow was marshy land near the streams of the town, but most of it lay along the edges of the harbor and in a large tract south of Westfield, called the "Great Meadow." Useless for the planting of corn or grain, such land was highly prized for its natural crop of salty hay. The owners of meadow never fenced their strips but simply marked the individual boundaries with mere- stones, after the fashion of the English manors from which many of the settlers of New England came. High tides on the Sound and spring floods along the streams made such boundary marks very insecure. Once the town had to name a committee to redetermine the boundaries of one meadow. It is said that when the electric railway company wanted some years ago to get a right of way through the Great Meadow it met with much difficulty in locating the claims of individual owners. One family found that it had been cutting hay for years from a strip five-eighths of a mile from the place where the original grant was located.
By 1643, when the town was four years old, the first stages of settlement were passed. Not only were church and local government firmly rooted, but enough land had been granted out in houselots, upland, and meadow, to take care of the immediate needs of the inhabitants. Without either interference or help from outside, the little community had succeeded in establishing a sepa- rate existence in the wilderness.
But throughout New England people were beginning to realize the need for closer ties between the various settlements, large and small. In May, 1643, Massachu-
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setts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, to- gether with several towns which had developed from New Haven, formed a four-cornered league or confedera- tion. In the autumn the United Colonies gave the New Haven Jurisdiction permission to annex Milford. The town was willing enough, for the advantages of joining the larger, stronger group outweighed those of complete independence. But an obstacle arose. Apparently four of the ten original settlers who were not church-members had since been admitted to the church. And, with sur- prising broadmindedness, the town had given the six remaining "ungodly" ones similar full privileges in civil affairs. Such liberalism shocked the strict Puritans of New Haven. They could not have their political system so contaminated, for they believed firmly that only church-members were fit to share in the government of the Puritan state. But Milford loyally refused to dis- qualify her six freemen as the price of union. Finally, a compromise was reached, allowing the six to act in all purely local affairs and to vote for deputies to the General Court at New Haven, but forbidding them to vote for magistrates or to hold office "for the Combination." Milford further agreed to admit only church-members as freemen in the future. Under this arrangement her depu- ties took their seats at the next General Court on Oc- tober 27, 1643. The town had voluntarily surrendered its independence.
In this political affiliation Milford passed the next twenty-one years. The combination was logical and necessary. Such tiny settlements as those around New Haven could hardly hope to exist indefinitely without some form of mutual support. Eventually even this or- ganization proved too weak to stand alone. In 1664 the towns of the New Haven Jurisdiction were absorbed by
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the larger colony of Connecticut. In making their reluc- tant surrender they abandoned the absolute union of church and state. While their Puritan theology remained untouched, the theocratic nature of their government was modified. Hereafter, property rather than church- membership was the basis of their political organization.
Even if Milford lost its independence in 1643, its town meeting kept almost complete control over local affairs, especially in relation to the granting of land. During the next forty-five years many newcomers arrived and the sons of the first planters came of age. The increase of population together with the steady clamor of the plant- ers for greater acreage, made necessary five more general divisions by action of the town. The cry for land, land, and still more land, is a constant refrain in American history. Land-hunger brought many of the first settlers to these shores. Land-hunger drove thousands upon thousands of pioneers ever westward until, nearly three centuries later, they had wiped the frontier from the map. The early history of Milford is almost a summary of the continent's story. The planters never seemed satisfied. "If the town has some land," their records seem to say, "then cut it up at once. If no good land is left, then get more from the Indians and let us have it. No matter if this land is far from our homes; we will put up with that inconvenience or move to the new land itself. In any case, we must have more land!"
The first of these five divisions was voted in 1646. The land distributed lay to the west, north, and northeast of the homelots. Since some of the lots lay far from the center, the town voted that those whose land was two miles out should be freed from the usual taxes upon it. For the first time the distance of the farmers' lots from their homes was a noticeable problem. Coincident with
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this distribution was the division of the remaining meadow-lands, including all the low, marshy bottoms then within the town. The planters voted the next dis- tribution in 1657. Since good land within easy reach of the homelots was now scarce, they bought for {25 all the land the Indians had left from the East River to the Oyster River (the present eastern boundary of the town) except twenty acres at the point.' The planters of the east side took their grants in this purchase; those of the west side in the plains toward the Housatonic. This di- vision followed the usual "rule of persons and estates," revised to include such children as had been born since the last division. For twenty years the triple formula adopted at the first settlement had remained the basis of distribution in the town.
When the next allotments were made the town voted to change its system. The size of a planter's estate now became the only factor normally considered in determin- ing his share. In the two "half divisions" voted in 1675 and 1678 all planters were divided into three classes. Those whose taxable estates amounted to less than £50 received ten acres, those with estates between £50 and £100 had fifteen acres, and those with estates above £100 got twenty acres in each of these divisions. By vote the minister and the ruling elder had places in the highest class. Part of the lands granted lay near the Stratford ferry at the Housatonic River; the rest was scattered through what was then the northern part of the town. Many of the lots were extremely long and narrow; strips half a mile but only 250 feet wide were common. Such proportions would seem awkward and inconvenient to
I The town bought this small tract, the last which the Indians held within what were then the bounds of Milford, a year later for six coats, two blankets, and two pairs of breeches, and then sold it "by an outcry" for £21 6s. to Thomas Welch after whom the point has ever since been called.
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the modern farmer. Yet this method permitted all men in a given area to hold much the same kind of land, so that the seventeenth-century Puritan's love of equality was satisfied.
The clamor for more land continued. But not enough good land, either near at hand or far away, was left in the town for division on such a grand scale as the planters soon demanded. Until this time the northern boundary of Milford was the path from New Haven to Derby. But already Milford had agreed with these towns upon its future lateral boundaries, extending them with shrewd foresight almost indefinitely up into the country. To satisfy the expansionists it was only necessary to bargain with the Indians within these potential boundaries. After some negotiations, the town bought in 1685 a tract running from Derby Path about six miles north to Blad- den's Brook, a small stream flowing westward into the Naugatuck River approximately thirteen miles from Long Island Sound. The eastern and western boundaries, already agreed upon with New Haven and Derby, were not quite a mile and a half apart. Two years later, in 1687, the town voted to divide this land. While the allot- ments were again apportioned according to the relative size of planters' holdings, each man got half an acre for every pound in his taxable estate. Discrimination in favor of wealthier owners thus became more marked. The lots were much larger than before and a few men received as much as 200 acres apiece. The town specially recognized eleven individuals by adding for the purposes of this division £18 to the value of their estates. At the same time appeared a significant new departure. The planters formally voted to exclude eleven rate-payers from any share in the division on the ground that, as recent arrivals, they were not entitled to benefit from
IO
the purchase. A feeling of separation was developing be- tween the families of the original proprietors and later settlers who had not shared in the difficulties, the risks, and the expenses of the first planting. This feeling was to grow with the years and was at last to result in a complete break between the two groups and in the removal of land questions from the control of the town meeting.
The division of 1687 was, in fact, the last general di- vision voted in town meeting,2 and so marked the end of a period in Milford's development. Since its founding, the town had made altogether seven divisions of upland and two of meadow in addition to the original distribu- tion of homelots. Laid out according to the wishes of the majority, these divisions had one by one increased the planters' estates and had steadily expanded the culti- vated area of the town. As a result of this "installment plan" each planter owned several plots in widely sepa- rated parts of town. The landed estate of Deacon Richard Platt, an original settler, was typical. After the division of 1687 it consisted of one homelot, four strips of meadow, and nine pieces of upland-one farm in fourteen parts, with seven miles between the extreme northern and southern tracts.3 How a modern farmer would rail at such a system! But there were compensating advantages. By getting his ground in such installments the planter could develop his holdings progressively. He need not pay taxes on any land much in advance of his capacity to cultivate it profitably. And when he and his neighbors were ready for more land they could easily agree to distribute it at once. Furthermore, the planter could be sure that among
2 It is true that a town meeting on February 17, 1709, voted "to divide the lands at Bladden's Brook." But there is no further reference to such a divi- sion in the records. This area is indicated on Map 2 by the blank space just below the Two Bit purchase.
3 See Map I. The blackened portions form the Platt Estate.
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MAP I
DERBY
24-
W.
NEW
S
€
HAVEN
STRATFORD
B
Scale of Rode
LAND DISTRIBUTION IN MILFORD, CONN., 1639-1700
- Fenced Land-Homelots and Upland.
...... Unfenced Land-Meadow and Swamp.
A. Common and Undivided Land.
B. Sequestered for Special Purposes: church, ferry, common pasture, etc.
C. Grant to Indians in 1680.
Platt Estate.
his scattered tracts some pieces, at least, were as good and as well situated as those of his fellow-townsmen. The system would hardly do in the twentieth century, but it clearly suited the needs of seventeenth-century New England.
Besides such general divisions Milford made a great many isolated grants to deserving individuals. Some were houselots given to newcomers. Under certain safe- guards and restrictions intended to prevent the settle- ment of undesirables, an immigrant might buy land from an inhabitant. But usually the prospective settler applied directly to the town meeting for a grant. If he was deemed a worthy and desirable addition to the communi- ty, he was then given-never sold-a small homelot. To insure his good faith the town required him to build upon his lot within two years or forfeit the grant. There is plenty of evidence to show that this requirement was strictly enforced. The same arrangement applied to young bridegrooms of the town and to servants who had completed their terms of indenture. New householders seldom received arable or pasture land along with their houselots, and such grants, when made, were relatively small. Usually the new planter had to wait until the next general division and then receive a share on the same basis as all others. But at least he had a homelot and a start. By thrift and industry he might in time succeed in building up his estate to a level with all but the most wealthy of the first settlers.
Some of the individual grants were designed to en- courage the planting of special crops. The raising of hops, for example, greatly interested Milford as it did other Puritan towns. Their malt and hops, when not used at home, were shipped to Philadelphia, where the Quakers established a reputation throughout the colonial world
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for their beer and ale. But long before the founding of Pennsylvania, home-brewing had become an art in New England. Milford made a few small grants of land for hop-gardens very early. But these were quite outclassed when the town voted in 1648 that Sergeant Camp, a merchant and farmer, might take for a hop-yard as much land as he should want adjoining the Housatonic River. He actually laid out forty-five acres there and for many years that whole region was known as the Hop-Garden. Milford also became interested in tobacco culture. The large island off the harbor, first called Milford Island, belonged to a local merchant, Richard Bryan. In 1656 he asked the town's permission to sell it to an out-of- town tobacco planter, Charles Deal, from whom it de- rives its present name of Charles Island. The town voted that Deal might buy the island providing he should use the building on it only as a tobacco house, not living there except in the growing season, and providing fur- ther that he should not "contrary to any order either Sell or truck with either Indians English or dutch nor Suffer any disorderly Resort or meetings of Seamen or others there." Thus did Milford countenance and even promote the production of beer and tobacco during the first generation of New England Puritanism.
Milford did not overlook industrial workers in its distribution of land. On the contrary, it distinctly en- couraged artisans to come and follow their trades to the mutual advantage of themselves and the community. Many a time the town offered a small lot as an induce- ment to an out-of-town tanner, weaver, glover, cooper, smith, fuller, tailor, or shoemaker. In fact the frequency of these grants suggests that the bait was often held out in vain. Other towns were keen rivals and often succeeded in outbidding Milford for the services of some desirable
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craftsman. But by far the largest, as well as the most important, grant for industrial purposes was that to William Fowler, one of the first settlers, for a gristmill. At the second town meeting after the migration terms were agreed upon for this undertaking, so important to the life of an agricultural community. Fowler was to build the mill and mill-house, provide all the labor and materials, and have it going in time for the first harvest. The town agreed either to take it off his hands for £180 or to set a fair rate for the grinding of corn. Though Fowler kept the mill the town always regarded it as a community affair. When freshets injured the machinery in 1645 he was authorized to call upon each inhabitant for one day's labor to help in the repairs. The town also gave him ten acres of land free from rates and, when he got a second pair of stones from England at his own ex- pense, made him a further grant. Other mills, for sawing wood as well as for grinding grain, were erected by au- thority of the town, but Fowler's mill was the busiest in the community. It remained in active use until late in the last century as a small but interesting example of an early American public utility. The name chosen for the town was both appropriate and prophetic.
Grants of land for commercial purposes also played an important part in the town's economic life. As early as 1650 the General Court allowed two planters, Alexander Bryan and William East, a piece of land on which to build a warehouse, sixty feet by twenty. Other similar grants followed. Adjacent to his warehouse Bryan built a wharf which he gave to the town in 1653. This wharf, the first of a series maintained by the town during the succeeding centuries, was for a long period the center of a flourishing commercial activity.
The water-borne trade of the town, while relatively
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small, was still large enough to carry the name of Milford even beyond the shores of New England. In 1680, the governor of Connecticut reported to the Lords of Trade in England that Milford had a "pretty good tide harbor" into which vessels of thirty or forty tons might come. Among the towns of the colony at that time only New London and New Haven exceeded Milford in tonnage of vessels registered. It then boasted as its merchant fleet one pink of eighty tons, one ketch of fifty tons, and one bark of twelve tons. Scattered entries in the records illus- trate its commercial activities. The chief trade was with New York and Boston, to which provisions were shipped for re-export and from which English manufactures were brought back. The sloop Sea Flower, for example, once carried to Boston a cargo of malt and cider, besides ten bushels of wheat and fourteen of Indian corn which the captain was to exchange for "one Gun Suitable to Train with & a Cross Cut Saw not the Larger but middle Size and the Remainder in money." The Bryan wharf became a usual terminal for New York vessels carrying travellers to or from the towns along the Connecticut River and for many years the correspondence between colonial officials of Connecticut and New York was regularly entrusted to Milford merchants to be forwarded to its destination. Barrel staves, pipe staves, flour, and biscuit went out to the West Indies; back came molasses, rum, a few Spanish pieces-of-eight or Dutch guilders, and now and then a case or two of smallpox. In Virginia, Barbados, and Surinam the Milford vessels were known. But most of the records of this trade are gone. Only a few receipts and invoices turn up here and there, mere straws in them- selves, perhaps, yet enough to show the direction of the winds that were blowing Milford's ships about the colonial world.
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A glance at the map will show that during the seven- teenth century a good deal of the town's land was never distributed to individual planters. Some of it had been set apart at one time or another for a special purpose. Several plots, especially a large section of the Great Meadow known as "the Elder's Meadow," were assigned to the support of the church. Two large tracts, one south- west and the other northeast of the homelots, were desig- nated as common pastures for the planters' livestock. In 1674 the town set apart forty acres near the end of the Stratford highway, along the Housatonic River, as a subsidy for a ferryman. Lands were to be found in nearly every part of the town devoted to special purposes. They were officially known as the "Sequestered Oyster Neck and Ferry Lands." Intending them for the good of the community as a whole, the planters took measures to insure that they would never be used for the special benefit of late-comers or others not recognized as planters and proprietors. The town voted in 1688 that the Se- questered Lands should be measured and proportioned to every planter according to the list of 1686-that is, on the same basis as was used in the last general division of common land. The planters were not to occupy their allotments separately until the proprietors as a group should agree. But these lands were to pass out of the control of the town meeting and into that of the group of proprietors. Thus the town created a quasi-corporate body-the first of its kind in Milford-which held meet- ings, elected its moderator and clerk, and transacted business for 120 years.
Most of the land which remained undistributed during the seventeenth century lay outside the tracts officially sequestered for special purposes. It was simply land which for one reason or another had not been included
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in any of the general divisions or special grants. Such areas were known as the "common and undivided lands." At first each planter was free to use them in any way he could, to cut timber there, to pasture animals, or to get building-stones or any other useful article which he might find. Planters abused this privilege, however, and restrictions followed. By 1696 the scarcity of wood be- came so serious that the town prohibited everyone from getting timber from the common land "for the building of any sort of Boats or Vessels fit to go to Sea in" without the consent of the town or of the selectmen. The activi- ties of the sawmills were curtailed at the same time. As yet, however, the planters took no steps to remove the control of the common land-as distinguished from the Sequestered Lands-from the jurisdiction of the town meeting. Such action was postponed until the second decade of the eighteenth century.
Meanwhile, two new proprietary bodies appeared. The desire to expand still persisted and led to further Indian purchases in 1701 and 1703. The first of these embraced the land directly north of the town limits and extended from Bladden's Brook about three miles north to Lebanon Brook between the Derby and New Haven lines. The second purchase carried the boundary of the town a mile and three-eighths further north to Beacon Hill Brook, which became the dividing line between Milford and Waterbury. This was the final purchase to be incorporated into Milford. Thus at its greatest extent the town embraced a tract of peculiar shape. Hemmed in by Long Island Sound at the south, it extended twenty miles north into the country.4 Over six miles broad at the base, it narrowed gradually to the north, and its upper ten miles were only a mile and three- 4 These boundaries are indicated on Map 2.
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MAP 2
PROSPECT
NAUGATUCK
CHESHIRE
:
1
BEACON
BETHANY
FALLS.
(2)
HAMDEN
U
SEY MA
WOODBRIDGE
ANSONIA
D
E R
B
Y
NEW HAVEN
HUNTINGTON
AF
WEST
HAVEN
STRATFORD
6
MILES
GROWTH OF COMMUNITIES FORMED OUT OF PARTS OF MILFORD TERRITORY
Boundary of Milford at its greatest extent, 1703-1784.
I. One Bit Purchase. Divided in 1769.
2. Two Bit Purchase. Divided in 1728.
3. Northrup's Farms, nucleus of Woodbridge.
4. Bryan's Farms, nucleus of Orange.
5. Wheeler's Farms.
6. Merwin's Farms ) Nucleus of the
7. Burwell's Farms § Borough of Woodmont.
OXFORD
eighths wide. The decision to make these purchases was reached in town meeting and agents of the town con- ducted the negotiations, yet the transactions differed radically from all earlier ones in Milford. The purchase price was raised in both cases by voluntary subscriptions from individuals in the town; each share was of a specified amount without relation to the subscriber's ratable estate; and the land bought was always regulated in meetings of the shareholders or proprietors and never in town meeting. The two tracts were called the "Two Bit Purchase" and the "One Bit Purchase," respectively, from the price paid for a single share.5 To the first trans- action 195 inhabitants subscribed, while 178 persons took shares in the second tract. Thus before 1710 three distinct bodies of proprietors existed in Milford, con- trolling respectively the Sequestered Lands, the "Two Bit Purchase", and the "One Bit Purchase."
At the same time the movement to distinguish the proprietors of the common and undivided lands and the inhabitants of the town in general was growing. The descendants of the original planters more and more re- sented the thought that newcomers might reap where they had not sown. Recent arrivals, on the other hand, objected quite naturally to exclusion from lands which seemed to belong to the whole town. The contest in Milford was only part of a general struggle which was going on throughout New England. Everywhere the issue was being joined between those who represented the older and now more aristocratic sections of society and the newer, more plebian inhabitants. So far as the Mil- ford records go, the dispute was largely a silent one. But
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