The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 4

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1038

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1" Serrantx "-hired laborers, brought over to help build their houses, probably those owing a term of service for their passage From England.

2 He evidently did " withstand them " on Plymouth Meadow, for the Windsor Land Records show that none of that meadow was set out to Windsor men until after the 43g acres of it reserved by Plymouth, 15 May, 1637, had been surveyed and the bounds set. Three years later Windsor had set out the lots north and south of the Plymouth reser- vation, and the adjoining lots were bounded by the P. lot, though none of the deeds were recorded until 1640, at which time the P. Jot was owned by Matthew Allyn. Neither was the land " on the hill " set out previous to May 15, 1637, for the Plymouth ('o. were to have an acre there "to build on," opposite the meadow lot, which was afterwards occupied by Matthew Allyn. The home lots of Henry Wolcott, Sr. and Jr., and several others on the Island street, bounded east by Plymouth Meadow, prov- ing that they were set out later than May 15, 1637. Most of the Wolcott quota of meadow land lay in the Great Meadow; if not already assigned to them, they should have had it near them in P. Meadow.

$ That is, prevent their taking up the Great Meadow, for there is no evidence that " the Massachusetts men " proposed to take Plymouth Meadow and disposses those already settled there under an Indian title, and the added right of possession.

4 Who were these twelve men ? The Massachusetts men, with whom Brewster had to do, all settled in the " Three Towns." These twelve men, "and the others." whom he entertained and furnished with guides and eanoes, were evidently pioneers; and, if the Watertown people had already formed a settlement at Wethersfield. ax per tradition (Trumbull's Hist. Conn., 49), they had no occasion to ask Brewster for guides, etc., but should have gone directly to their own settlement. In such a case, there would have been but two parties-the Newtown and Dorchester - seeking places. The Dorchester people, as is evident from Brewster's letter, were at Windsor at the date of his writing -and they, as " he learned from their servants," had "a great mind to the place we are upon." "that last bought " ( ¿. e., the Great Meadow). And, from Sir Richard Saltonstall's letter written on receipt of Stiles' report of the opposition he met from Ludlow, it appears that the Dorchester men had an exploring expedition "up above the Falls " (Agawam ?), and that. upon the return of this party. with an un- satisfactory report, they had entered upon the Great Meadow and apportioned it in lots to themselves, where the pioneers of "the Lords' & Gentlemen's party " had "proposed to begin work." It seems pretty evident that the Watertown pioneers were included with these Massachusetts men - if not, how shall we account For the omission of any mention in Brewster's letter, of their having settled Wethersfield the year before. if such settlement had actually been made?

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

and charge I shall be further at I know not, for they are coming dayley, and I expect these back again from below, whither they are gone to view ye countrie. All which trouble and charge we undergoe for their occasion, may give us just cause (in ye judgmente of all wise & understanding men) to hold and keep that we are settled upon. Thus with my duty remembered, &c.,

I rest.

Yours to be commanded, JOHNNATHA BREWSTER. 1 " Matinnuck, July 6. 1635.

From this letter, it is evident that the Plymouth people supposed they had formed a settlement on the Connectient at Matianuek (now Windsor), and Brewster claims in this letter that they have " just occa- sion (in the judgment of all wise understanding men ), to hold and keep that we have settled upon," and Bradford says (p. 313), that "they [the Plymouth people ] were the first English that both discovered that place and built in the same, though they [we] were little better than thrust out of it afterwards." And (p. 340) in reply to the argument of the Dorchester people, that they " found the place so free that they might. with God's good leave, take and use it [the Great Meadow ] without just offense to any man, it being the Lord's waste, and for the present alto- gether void of inhabitants that indeed minded the employment thereof to the right ends for which it was created, Gen. i. 28," and, furthermore, that it was land " upon which God, by his providence, east us, and as we conceive in a fair way of providence tendered it to us, as a meete place to receive our body [company ] now upon removal [i. e., about to remove],"-the Plymouth people very pertinently replied : " We shall not need to answer all the passages of your larg [e] letter, &c. But, wher [e] as you say, ' God in his providence east you &e.,' we told you before, and (upon this occasion ) must now tell yon still, that our minde's otherwise, and yt you cast rather a partial, if not a covetous eye, npon that weh is your neighbor's, and not yours ; and in so doing, your way could not be faire unto it. Looke yt yon ahuse not God's providence in such allegations." And, again, " That if was y" Lord's wast [e], it was themselves [ourselves, the Plymouth men] that found it so, and not them [of Dorchester] : and [they, the Plymouth people] have since bought it [i. e., the " last hought" -the Great Meadow] of ye right owners, and mantained a chargeable possession upon it all this while, as themselves

' Eldest son of Elder Brewster of Plymouth, came in the Fortune, 162], removed to Duxbury in 1622, where he became a prominent man. He afterwards moved 10 New London, Conn., where he died.

· attanucke, Mettomeng, or Mattamang, which last spelling probably best represents the sound of the Indian name of what is now Windsor. The spelling. Matiannek, is considered by Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull to have came from the Dutch, who were not able to give that softer sound, "eaug," but made it "ock," or "uck." Mr. Truni- bull's opinion seems to bring the word Mattancang more in consonance with our few recognized Indian words such as Pyquag, Qualiag, etc.

DORCHESTER AND OTHER MASSACHUSETTS IMMIGRATIONS.

[the Dorchester people] could not but know. And because of present engagements and other hindrances which lay at present upon them [us]. must it therefore be lawful for them [of D.] to goe and take it from them [ns]. It was well known that they [we] are upon a barren place 1 [Plymouth ], where we were by necessity east, and neither they or theirs [we or ours ] could long continue upon the same, and why should they [of Dorchester] (because they were more ready and able at present) goe and deprive them [us] of that which we had with charge and hazard provided and intended to remove to as soon as we could and were able?"

When this controversy, relative to the occupation of the Great Meadow, began. the Dorchester men had not their families here; and, if not, then surely the Plymouth men had as good a claim to be con- sidered as pioneers for their own on-coming families, as the pioneers of the "Three Towns" had, besides the added claim of two years' possession. The settlement of the Massachusetts people dates from the arrival of the first comers, as does that of the "Landing of the Pilgrims" from the arrival of the first boat's company at Plymouth Rock. Historians gave the arrival of the Plymouth Company's party at Windsor, 1633, as the date of the first English occupation of Connecti- ent, until the discovery on the Colonial Records, half a century ago, of a record of the General Court, fifteen years after the settlement of the Three Towns, wherein, in an order relative to " the most ancient town," is interlined (in parenthesis). "wch for the river is determined by the Court to hee Wethersfield." ? This was an order in reference to town- bounds, and evidently when the oldest town was " admitted to be Woth- orsfield," the Court, possibly influenced by their former and still remem- bered prejudices against the Plymouth Colony, intended altogether to ignore that colony's settlement at Windsor in 1633.

The Plymouth people never abandoned their claims, nor were they,

1 " Having had formerly converse and familiarity with the Dutch (as before men- tioned) they. seeing us seated here in a barren quarter, told us of a river called by them the Fresh River, but now known by the name of Connecticut, which they commended unto us as a fine place both for a plantation and trade. We now began to send that way to discover the same and trade with the natives. We found it to be a tine place, but had no great store of trade."- Bradford's Journal, 311.

2 In Col. Rec. i. 53, section " Bounds of Townes and Particular Lands," it is ordered that the towns shall attend to the setting of their respective bounds, and that each year three persons shall be appointed by the selectmen of each town, who shall with per- sons similarly appointed "renew their markes." " the most Auncient Towne (ich for the River is determined by the Courte to be Wethersfield), to give notice of the time and place of meeting for this perambulation." The italicized and bracketed sentence above is an interlineation in the original record of the General Court, and is said to be in the handwriting of Capt. Culick, who ceased to be Secretary in 1659.

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

like the Dutch at Hartford. driven out. The Dorchester people admitted their claims, and afterwards bought and paid for the land which they had from them. The land which the Plymouth people occupied was never sold to Windsor, but continued in their ocenpation three years longer, and it was only by an order of court' (1640), two years after Mr. Matthew Allyn bought it, that the Plymouth House and lot was do- «lared to be within the jurisdiction of the orders of Windsor.

A few days after the date of Brewster's letter, another party appeared upon the scene, armed with a Patent claiming that both Plym- onth and Dorchester must give way to them ; and in subsequent negotia- tions, that either of " the Three Towns" must give place to the Lords and Gentlemen, who had sent Mr. Francis Stiles and a company of twenty men, to inclose lands and build dwellings for them ; but they promised to pay for any improvement which might have been made at such place as they chose to locate on. The Dorchester party, however, ignored the claims of the Lords and Gentlemen, as represented by Mr. Stiles, and commeneed building their houses (cellars) on the brow of the Meadow-hill, north of the Rivulet, and appropriating the Great Meadow adjoining, allowing the Stiles party only a small portion at its upper end, where Mr. Francis Stiles built " on the brow of the hill, on the site of the Chief Justice Ellsworth place.

And now, from this point southerly to the Little River, all along the brow of the meadow hill -the "Sandy Bank."3 as it was then

Conn. Col. Rec., i. 53: Whereas, by an order, the seventh of December last [1638]. the difference between Mr. Allyn and Windsor concerning land purchased of Plymouth. was, by consent, referred to Mr. Haynes, Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Hopkins, and Mr. Phelps. to end the same, and what is agreed on by them is to be pickled unto on both sides; ar- cording to which order and reference, we who are mentioned in the said order, have seriously weighed all such arguments as have been tendered unto us on both sides, and we cannot see but Mr. Allyn ought to be subject for the said land and purchase, to the lars and orders and jurisdiction of this commonwealth [the italics are ours - J. H. I.], and, by a necessary consequence, subject to that Plantation of Windsor therein the said land liex, and to all such reasonable and lawful orders as are agreed there for the public good of the same, und in equal proportion to bear his share in all rates there, so as while he and his successors live elsewhere [Mr. Allyn had not then removed from Hartford] then he, or they, are to pay only according to his proportion of land there, and profits and bene- fits thence arising, and such stock as is resident or usually employed in & thereupon. And our judgment for the present is that the said Allyn nor his successors should not be rated in any other place for that land and estate he hath there as aforesaid. It is in- tended that Mr. Allyn have notice given him, in convenient time, of all such orders as do or may concern him, and that the orders be such as lay within his compass and power to accomplish and perform in a reasonable way.

Dated the 4th of Jany. 1639-40. and subscribed by

Jo. HAYNES. Ro. LUDLOW, ED. HOPKINS. WILL. PHELPS.

2 Lateliford's Notex.

3 This Sandy Bank must not be confounded with Sandy Hill, which is a rise of ground about a mile west of the river.

DORCHESTER AND OTHER MASSACHUSETTS IM MIGRATIONS.

called -the sound of the axe, the saw, and the hammer was daily heard, as these pioneers ( both of Dorchester and of the Patentees) he- stirred themselves in the preparation of dwelling-places for the families which were soon to follow. " Dwelling-places " merely, these were -only intended for temporary use, until more substantial ones could be pro- vided,-" dug-outs," in fact, such as are to be seen at the present day, in newly-settled parts of the West. Their construction is thus described : " Beginning a few feet below the brow of the hill, they excavated a space the size of the proposed house, throwing up the earth at the sides and west end. On the embankment thus made, they laid a plate, on which they rested the foot of the rafters. Where stone was convenient, a wall was laid under the plate, but as stone was searce here, they must have dispensed with it. Instead of shingle, the roof was thatched with a coarse wild-grass. The east end was probably made from plank, hewn or sawn by hand : the floors and ceilings were probably made from . elove' boards, i. e., boards eloven or split from short logs and hewn into shape. Only the east end and roof of these structures appeared above ground." 1

In the spring of 1636 ( April 15-25), after the return to Windsor of those Dorchester men, who were driven back to Massachusetts the previous winter, for want of adequate provision (as we shall see further on), we find Jonathan Brewster, the agent of the Plymouth Company, still at Wind- sor, as also his father, Elder William Brewster. The Plymouth people laid no claim to the present territory of South Windsor, and the two Brew- sters and Edward Pattison, one of the Stiles party, signed ( as disinter- ested witnesses ) the Indian deed given, April 15, 1636, to the " Dorches- ter plantation."

During that spring Governor Winthrop, Jr., who had been appoint- ed by the Lords and Gentlemen Gov. of Conn., (though never acknowl- edged as such by the "Three Towns") went up from Saybrook to ar- range the difficulties existing between their pioneers under Stiles and the Dorchester people .- Saltonstall's Letter. Gov. Winthrop, Sen., wrote his son, June 10, 1636, ( Life & Letters, 156,) that Lord Say had written

1 J. IT. Hayden's Address at Quarter Millenial of Windsor Church. He also says: " In 1636 we find settlers on the south side of the Little River, and, so far as we know. their houses were situated on the brow of a hill like those on Sandy Bank. Several houses were built along the brow of the first rise from the meadow, where the road now runs at and south of the David Rowland place, which " houses were drowned very deep " in the flood of 1639. They then removed to the higher ground cast of the present Broad Street, on the west side of the railroad. When H. S. Hayden built his barn a few years ago, he dug up some of the remains of one of these houses. The Loomis place, on the Island, still shows the place where that first house was built. Houses in several other places in Windsor were built on the brow of the hill."

VOL. 1-5

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

him "wherein he expresseth much satisfaction in your proceedings, but saith withal that those up the river have carved largely for themselves." While there he seems to have consulted Brewster, to get his help, and the authority of which Plymonth held under their Indian deed, that Stiles might set his " twenty " servants at work hay making on the "Great Meadow."- Winslow to Winthrop, Jr., Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vi. 163.

"NEW PLYMOUTH. 220 4th Mo. [.June 22, 1636.]

" I perceive by a letter from Mr. Brewster [was Jonathan called Mr. ? ] of a motion of yours to him to procure hay for an hundred beasts. We had a purpose to have sent. some cattle thither, but are so discouraged by him [Brewster] through the injurious dealing of his intruding neighbors [of Dorchester, who had taken up the Great Meadow ]. as we fear there will not be long living for man or beast. But if you please to make use of our right, my brother shall set your servants to work in our name, and by our order, and afford them whatever personal help shall be thought meet to the utmost of our power."

After two years' strife with the Dorchester men, the Plymouth Company consented to sell, and the Dorchester people to buy, fifteen- sixteenths of all the territory which Plymouth had purchased of the Indians (except the head of Hartford Meadow). The remaining one-six- teenth, remaining intact in the hands of Plymouth, never became a part of the common lands for Windsor to dispose of. The Windsor Land Records, fol. i, 227, preserve the following deed :

" An agreement made between Mr. Prince for and on behalfe of New Plimonth in America and ye inhabitants of Windsor on the River of Connecticott in ye sayd America, ye 15th day of May, 1637."

Imprimis, On consideration of £37, 10x. 0, to be payd about 3 months hence, ye said Mr. Prince doth sell unto ye inhabitants of Windsor all that land, meadow and up- land, from a marked tree a quarter of a mile above Mr. Stiles [on the] North], [to] Se great swamp next ye bounds of Hartford, fon the] South,2 for length. And in breadth in the country toward Poquonnack as far as Zequasson and Nattawanute, two Sachems hatlı or had their proprietys [properties] all which hath been purchased of ye said Zequassen and Nattawanut, for a valuable consideration, ye particulars whereof do appear in a Note now produced, by ye sayd Mr. Prince, allways excepted & reserved to ye House of ye sayd New Plimouth, 43 acres of meado and 3 quarters, and in upland on ye other side of ye swamp. next their meado, 40 acres. Fidilicit, [viz] 40 rods in

' The Indian deed of the land north of this line, "about the time of the Pequot War," but recorded later (Town Rec.), is bounded south by New Brook, an artificial channel eut across the upper end of "Sequestered Meadow," abont three-quarters of a mile north of Mr. Stiles's house, and about one-quarter of a mile North of William Hayden's lot, which he bought of Stiles.

9 An artificial channel was also cut across the upper end of Hartford Meadow, at a later date, which drained the swamp there ; but the swamp still exists to some extent at the lower end. The south line of the Plymouth purchase from the Indians, ran due west from opposite the mouth of the Podunk River, including say 25 to 100 acres of Hartford Meadow, which, Bradford tells us, was " reserved for them of Newtown. " and that boundry line between Hartford and Windsor still runs from near Wilson's Station, along the west line of the Great Swamp (that was) near the present railroad, to about opposite the Podunk River.

PLYMOUTH COMPANY SELLS OUT TO DORCHESTER SETTLERS.

breadth, and in length 160 rods into ye country for the present, and afterwards as other lotts are layd out, they are to have their proportion within their bounds aforesayd [the area covered by this deed]. There is likewise excepted 70 rods in breadth towards ye sayd bounds of ye sayd Hartford in an Indifferent [average ?] place, to be agreed upon and to goe in length to ye ends of ye bounds aforesayd [i. e. "as far as Sequassen and Nattawanute had propriety "].

In witness whereof, the parties abovesaid, have set their hands and scales ye day and year above written."

Signed, sealed and delivered, In presence of

JOSIAS WINSLOW. ROGER LUDLOW. THOS. MARSHFIELD WILLIAM PHELPS

The mark of WM. BUTLER JOHN WHITFIELD

The above deed or instrument is a true copy of the original, being compared there- with, Apl. 7. 1673 per us.

JOHN TALCOTT,

JOHN ALLYN, Sec'y Asst.

The signature of Prince was not copied into the record-book, and the deed itself was not recorded earlier than 1652, at which time Matthew Grant succeeded Mr. Bray Rossitter, the first recorder (who had removed to Guilford). Grant was at Windsor during the first summer, and was familiar with the controversy between the Plymouth and Dorchester parties from its beginning; was a surveyor, and set out the first lots in the Great Meadow and adjoining the upland, in Sep- tember 1635,1 and the following testimony which he has volunteered is a valuable contribution to the history of the case :

"This bargain as aboue exprest and was written and assigned I can cer[tainly tes-] tify does not mention or speak to every particular of ye bargain as it was issued with Mr. Prince before it was put in writing ; this should have been ye frame of it. Dor- chester men that came from ye Mass. Bay up here to Connecticutt to settle in ye place now called Windsor : Plymouth men challenged propriety here, by a purchase of ye land from ye Indians, whereupon in the latter end of ye 35 year [Feby 24th, 1635/6] some of our Principal men, meeting some of ye Plymouth men in Dorchester,2 labored to Drive a bargain with them to buye out their [claim], which they challenged by pur- chas, and came to Terms, & then May 37 as is above exprest, then our company being generally together [at Windsor] (that intended to settle here) Mr. Prince being come up

Private Controversies, State Library, p. 188.

2 Early in the winter of 1635-6, a large part of those who had come to Windsor were obliged to return, for want of provisions. Winthrop tells us that a party of 13 men went back by land, one of whom fell through the ice, in crossing some stream, and was drowned. The main body went down the river, hoping to find the vessel, or vessels, with provisions, but, fortunately, found another, frozen in twenty miles from the river's mouth, in which they took shelter. A rain storm immediately after set in, which re- leased the vessel, and, Winthrop says, " they came to Massachusetts in five days, which was a great mercy of God, for otherwise they had all perished, as some did." Salton stall's letter to Governor Winthrop speaks of Mr. Ludlow being here with the pioneer party of 1635. when the Stiles party arrived at Windsor : and Matthew Grant speaks of being here in September of that year. They, the men who had returned to Dor- chester from Connecticut, were doubtless parties to the interview at Dorchester here referred to.

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

here in ye behalf of ye Plymouth men that were partners in their purchas, issued ve bargain with us.1 We were to pay them £37. 108. for whole purchas which Mr. Prince presented to us in writing, only they Reserved ye 16 part off for themselves,? & their 16 part in meadow land came by measuring of ye meado to 43 acres 3 quarters, 3 which was bounded out to Mr. Prince, he being present, by myself appointed by our Company, in Plymouth Meadow, so called by that account. Their 16 part in upland they took up near ye bounds of Hartford 70 rods in bredth by ye River 4 & so to con- tinew to ye end of yr bounds. They were also to have one acre to build on, upon the Ilill 5 against [adjoining] their meadow. Also Mr. Prince said he had purchased Se

) Winthrop's Journal. i. 181, refers to this meeting of Plymouth and Dorchester men, under date of 24 Feb .. 1635 [1636]. " Mr. Winslow, of the Plymouth Company came to treat with those of Dorchester about their land in Connectient, which they had taken from them " Jat that time, the Dorchester people had not gone on the Plymouth Meadow and upland (the Island) adjoining]. Winslow wanted them to give " $100 and one-six - teenth of the land, but they break off. But divers of them [ who had been to Connecti- (ut ?] resolved to quit the place, if they could not agree with those of Plymouth." Grant says of the negotiations at Dorchester, that they " came to terms," which coukl only mean such an understanding as enabled those who had proposed to " quit the place." to return, for Grant, immediately after, tells us of the bargain being consum- mated the next year in Windsor, "our company being generally here:" and Bradford (341) says. " We thought it better to let them have it, on as good terms as we conhl get. so we fell to treaty. The first thing (because they had made so many and long disputes about it) we would have them grant, was, that we had a right to it, else we would never treat about it, the which, being acknowledged and yielded unto by them, this was the conclusion we came unto in the end, after much ado. That we should retain our house and have the sixteenth part of all we had bought of the Indians [and the head of the Hartford Meadow | and the others [Dorchester] should have all the rest of the land, leaving such a moiety [an amount about equal to Plymouth Meadow ?] to those of New- town [ Hartford] as we reserved for them. This sixteenth part was to be taken in two places, one towards the House [meadow], the other, [upland] towards Newtown's pro- portion: also, they were to pay in proportion [15, 16] what had been disbursed to the Indians for the purchase. Thus was the controverses ended, but the unkindness not so soon forgotten. They of Newtown [ Hartford] dealt more fairly, desiring only what they [of Dorchester] could conveniently spare from a competency reserved for a plantation for themselves, which made them [the Plymouth people] the more careful to procure a moiety for them [of Newtown] in this agreement and distribution." Truly an honor- able testimony.

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The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 4

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company Number of Pages: 1038

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1038