The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 5

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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2 Thus, not making themselves equal partners with the Dorchester people, as they had proposed in 1633, but still partners, and retaining their settlement.

3 .131+1%, a total of 700 acres of meadow; Plymouth Meadow, about 7 acres; Great Meadow, about 550: Sequestered Meadow, about 75 acres.

' Prince's deed says, " in an indifferent [average] place." Below the head of Hart- ford Meadow. Windsor bounded east on that meadow: above on the Connecticut River. there was only a narrow strip of meadow extending along the Connecticut River, from the head of Hartford Meadow to the Plymouth Meadow.

5 This building lot is not included in Prince's deed, which deed, as Matthew Grant says, "does not mention or speak to crery particular of the bargain -as it was issued with Mr. Prince, before it was put in writing "-so, he gives the Windsor men's version of it, which is, in no particular, less favorable to Plymouth. This provision was made, because it was discovered that the meadow was liable to be inundated by floods; as tradition says, " the Indians had warned them." But, probably, they had had no personal experience of floods up to this time. for Mr. Ludlow and several others of the Dorchester settlers made the same mistake, in settling along the Island road be-

PLYMOUTH COMPANY SELLS OUT TO DORCHESTER SETTLERS.

land that lies on ye East side of ye [ Great] river that lies between Scantuck and Nam- erick 1 & that we [they] should have in lieu of 40 rods in bredth in upland behind the swamp against their meadow and to run in length 160 rod [west] from the swamp, to be 40 acres, & afterwards to have their proportion within their bounds [the terri- tory covered by the deed]. according to a 40 acre man,3 in the common.

This 1 witness, MATTHEW GRANT.

Soon after the sale of the fifteen-sixteenths of the Plymouth lands to the Dorchester people, in May, 1637, the Pequot War broke ont, and "Arramemet and the Indians cohabiting with him," removed from the head of the Hartford Meadow, where he was living the year before (as we know from the points given in the boundings of the land now included in South Windsor, in deed of 15 Apl., 1636, "on the South with the brooke or riverett called Potoweke [Podunk] over against the now dwelling-house of Arramamet, or thereabout, near the upper end of New- town Meadow " ) and sat down on Plymouth Meadow, where they raised their corn in the summer of 1637, under the protection of the guns of the

tween Mr. Warham's (the David Rowland place of to-day) and the Island, and opposite their meadow lots, which lay at the south end of the Great Meadow. For, the freshet of the spring of 1638-9, which was "greater than any the Indians had ever known before " (and probably equal to that of 1854), "drowned many houses very deep " (old C'h. Rec.), and their occupants, like drowned-ont rats, made new burrows on the higher ground at the west end of their lots, near the east side of present Broad Street.

1 The following is all we have of record evidence concerning this purchase made by the Plyniouth people: " Coggerynosett [son of Sheat, sachem of Poquonock] testifies that the land on the east side of the Great River between Scantuck and Namerick. was Nassacowen's, and Nassacowen was so taken in love with the coming of the English, that he gave it to them for some small matter; but he knows of none but the meadow," that is, did not extend far back from the river. The Indian deed between Scantie and Podunk extended cast " one day's walk."

2 This swamp lay between the "acre on the hill" (on the Island) and the upland west of it, and the forty acre lot of upland still further west "against [i. e., in a line with] their meadow and the acre on the hill."

3 . 40-arre man "-a share of the remaining commons, or undivided lands, equal to that share of a man who was entitled to forty acres of meadow. We have, possibly. an exact data for estimating what constituted a " 40-aere man." in the suit brought before the court, more than thirty years later, by the heirs of Mr. Thomas Newbury. Mr. Newbury had come on to Windsor and prepared a house for his family, and returning to Dorchester in the summer of 1636, he died there. His family, however, removed to Windsor, and land was set out directly to each of his children; but, in 1669, they made a " claim for the ancient grant of land to their father, Thomas Newbury, which would have fell to him in meadow by the estate of his which was brought up hither [from Dorchester], which, by account of 5700 and his person would have come to 76 acres [ 9700-20 acres? person 6?] and he had but 40 acres in meadow, and it was granted to him [while he was yet] in Dorchester, that what was his part above 10 acres, he should have it made in a farm, in outland. The court granted 200 aeres in west bounds of Windsor."- Pricate Controversies. State library, i. 111.

The Plymouth people's claim as " a 40-acre man," was purchased by Mr. Matthew Allyn of Hartford, and, in 1654, he claimed that his share of the upland was 360 acres, which was granted to him - 80 acres at Pipe-Stave Swamp, and 250 towards the west bounds of the towns. - Land Rec., 11., i. 134.

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

Plymouth men. It is also evident that Sequassen' and his people fled to the same protection during the Pequot War, while the Dorchester people remained within their Palisades, a mile away. It should be remembered that these were the friendly Indians who invited the whites to come here, to save them from their enemies, the Pequots; and in the next spring ( 1638) we have the first exercise of the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts people over the Plymouth settlement, in an order of court, relative to these Indians.

" Vppon the complainte of Aramamett and the Indians cohabiting with him, about Leiftenant Holmes denying the planting of the olde ground planted last yeere about Plymouth house. It was ordered that they should plante the oldle ground they planted the last year only, and they are to set their Wigwams in the olde ground 2 [head of Hart ford Meadow ] and not withoute."- Col. Ree., i. 16.

It is evident that the Plymouth people, from the first, were reluctant to yield their lamls on the Connecticut, or their jurisdiction over it ; and the Massachusetts men (for reasons shown hereafter), were equally re-

1 Sequassen testifies in court [1640], that he " never sold any ground to the Dutch, neither was at any time conquered by the Pequots nor paid any tribuit to them. And when he sometymes lined at Mattanag [Matianuck -- Windsor] and hard by their friends that build here, that he and his men came and fought with them " [against the Pequots]. Vol. Rer., i. 56.

2 " The old ground " was the place where the wigwams of this tribe were set when the Plymouth people came in 1633. I find no evidence of Indians being at, or about, Plymouth Meadow, except on this particular occasion for one summer - possibly for two. Bradford's account (p. 4). of the kindly assistance rendered them during that fatal winter, would lead one to think the Indians were close by rather than two miles away; but there is no brook in Plymouth Meadow to which they could "crawl out on all fours to get a little water," though there is one at the place where Arame- mett's " now dwelling-house" stood in 1636, a place where many Indian relies have been and still are found. The Rev. Frederick Chapman of Windsor, born about 1760. once told me that, when a boy be lived in the south part of Windsor, and, at the house of one of the neighbors to which he was accustomed to go, to play with the boys, he saw an old Indian woman, who was supported by the town, and who was the last of the tribe which Formerly lived along " by the brook over towards the river," near Wilson's Station. In the Dutch account of their discovery of the Connecticut River, 1614, up which they proceeded to the foot of the falls (Warehouse Point), they say that in lati- tudo 11º 48' (about the latitude of Wilson's Station) they came to the country of the Nawaas, "where the natives plant maize, and in the year 1614 they had a village resembling a fort, for protection against their enemies." (Mem. Hist. Hartford Co., i. 111.) } should have little doubt that this was the tribe of which this old woman was the last representative; but lton. 3. Hammond Trumbull, a much better authority on Connecticut Indian matters, thinks that the Nawans were on the east side of the Con- necticut River, though the Podunks lived at some distance from it. It is safe to claim, I think, that the tribe located near Wilson's Station, under sovereignty of Aramamett in 1636, and at Plymouth Meadow in 1637 and '38, and which were by the court ordered back " to their former habitation", (Col. Ree., i. 16), were the Indians at whose solicita tion the Plymouth people came here; and that it was this tribe which almost entirely perished of the small pox, in the winter of 1633-4.

PLYMOUTH COMPANY SELLS OUT TO DORCHESTER SETTLERS.

Inetant to have the Plymouth men share it with them.1 Lieut. Holmes had charge of the Plymouth interests at the time this order of the court regarding the Indians was issued ; and we find later on, that he was clothed with a power of attorney to enter upon and hold all their pos- sessions on the Connecticut, " or otherwise sell and dispose of to our ad- vantage and profit. as shall seem good to our Attorney." This document is dated five months after the sale to the Plymouth people and seven months before the sale of the Plymouth house and lands to Mr. Matt. Allyn. The document proves that the Plymouth set- tlement here employed cattle and servants, and were as well equipped for farming as the Dorchester settlers ; and. whether they were counted " as a single family " ( Bradford. 338). as the Dorchester people wished. or as an independent settlement (as Matthew Allen claimed). they were settlers, occupying the same house as they did in 1633. Holmes' power of Attorney ( First Mss. Vol., Col. Ree., See. State's Office. 423-4) reads as follows :

" Power of Atty to William Holmes to sell Plymouth possessions on Connecticut River, Oct. 10, 1637.

" Be it known to all men by these presents, that we. Wm. Bradford, Thomas Prince, William Brewster, Miles Standish, John Alden, and John Howland, of New Plymouth, in New England, Gents., have made, ordained, constituted, deputed, and signed and ap- pointed for ourselves and partners, and every of us respectively, our heirs, executors and administrators, and every of them, our well-beloved in Christ, Wm. Holmes, of New Plymouth, aforesaid, Gent .. our very true and lawful attorney, for us and in our names to enter and seize all those our lands, messanges, tenements, and herediterments whatsoever situate. lying and being upon the River of Connecticut, and commonly called and known by the name of Windsor and Hartford,? or either of the precincts

1 " The greatest difference fell between them of Dorchester plantation and those fof Plymouth] here, for they [of Dorchester] set their minds on that place which they [we] had not only purchased of the Indians, but where they [we] bad built, intending only (if they could not remove them [us] ) that they [we] should have but a small moiety left to the house as a singh family, whose doings were considered very injurious to attempt not only to intrude themselves into the rights and possessions of others, but in effect to thrust them [us] out of all." - Bradford, 338.

The Plymouth people claimed, and evidently believed, that they had made a bond fide settlement in Windsor before the coming of the Dorchester men. And this claim the Dorchester people admitted after their return to Dorchester in the winter of 1635 6 (see Note 1, p. 36), when " divers of them resolved to quit the place [Windsor] if they could not agree with those of Plymouth."- Winthrop, i. 181.

" We have seen, that, when Plymouth sold to Windsor, May, 1637. they excepted so much of their land as lay at the head of Newtown [Hartford] Meadow (Bradford, 341). " leaving such a moiety to those of Newtown as we reserved for them." This they still held five months later (at the date of the instrument). The boundary line between Windsor and Hartford to-day is at the head of the Hartford Meadow next the river. though Windsor extends considerably farther south on the west side " of the great swamp. next the bounds of Hartford " (the swamp made along the west side of the meadow by the brook which now runs to the river by an artificial channel, and drains the Great Swamp). The River Towns of Connecticut, 1889, pp. 19, 20, leads us to infer that the first settlers of Hartford settled on this reserved land ; but they did not, for the upland

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

thereof, and after such entry and seizure to take possession thereof for us and to our use to keep and hold, and also our servants, goods, and chattels then to take, keep, and hold or otherwise dispose of to our advantage and profit, as shall seem good to our attorney, giving and by these presents granting unto our said Attorney, jointly and severally for us and every of us, our full power, right, interest, and lawful author- ity to grant, bargain, alien, and assign all those the said lands, messages, tenements, and herediterments, and all and singular the said premises, as fully, largely. amply, and absolutely, and to as full effect and purpose as we or any of us might do, if we were personally present, and also giving and granting unto our said attorney by these presents, our full power and authority likewise to bargain and sell, or other- wise to dispose of our servants,1 goods, or cattle,? there to our best advantage and

adjoining was sold to the Windsor people two years later, and on Porter's Map of Hart- ford, 1640, the nearest Hartford settler is located two miles away. In Oct .. 1637. Ply- month gave power of attorney to Holmes to sell this meadow; and if the Hartford people had gone on the land before buying Plymouth title to it, they would have com- mitted the same offense the Windsor people had in appropriating the Great Meadow, and Bradford would hardly have said that " they of Newtown dealt more fairly " with ns.

1 Servants were employed whose services had been secured for a given time before they left England, frequently for a specified time, to the party who paid their outfit and passage to New England. Their services were transferable. These servants of the Plymouth House were here now more than four years from the first settlement, and must have been employed in cultivating the land and caring for the cattle, -as we can think of no other employment for thetu.

John Dumbleton was a servant of Mr. Wm. Whiting of Hartford. He tells us in an affidavit, made in 1684, that he worked for his " master " on the Ludlow lot in Wind- sor, "as a servant," until his seven years' term of service expired in 1644 ; then he cul- tivated the land " to halves " for four years; "and after I paid $20 a year." He appears to have been but nineteen years old when his service began. These servants were sometimes sent over as an investment or business venture, by parties in England. Letelford's Notex (p. 372), gives the " accounting " of Barnabas Davis, an agent sent over by Mr. Woodcock, to look after his investments in Windsor, and elsewhere, in which appears the following : " Touching the two servants, they cost. between us, [22 10x. I had for one of them, from Mr. Long, an honse vahied at $20. The other servant, being married, having a wife and three children, hath been a burden to me and no profit, so I am to allow Mr. Woodcock half the value of the house aforesaid. $10."

Prince's Chronology says. " The company, who came to Salem with Gov. Endicott. 1629, brought 180 servants at an expense of $16 10x, each ( $3.000). The fatality was so great the first year and provisions so scarce, that the servants that survived were given their liberty that they mnight shift for themselves."-Trumbull's Hist. Coun., i. 9. Of the 27 deaths among the Windsor people before May 10, 1638-8, right were servants,- Old Ch. Rer.

2 ('uttle, in this connection, suggests farming and not simply trade with the Indians; and it is probable that these cattle remained on the Plymouth lot after it became the farm of Mr. Matt. Allyn of Hartford, for we find, the next summer (1639), that certain persons in Windsor bring an "action of trespass " against him for nearly an aere and a half of corn destroyed "through defect in his fence" (Col. Rec., i. 28), and we find, the next February. 1639-40, " the execution [for $5] was served by the Court officer, and goods or cattle soll for the performance of the same, and the remainder [ £4 6x. ] offered by said officer to Mr. Allyn, which he refused " (Col. Ree., i. 43). Under date of June 15. 1610 (6)/ Ree .. i. 53) we have a report of the committee appointed by the Court to settle " the difference between Mr. Allen and Windsor, concerning land purchased of Plymouth " (see note 1 to page 32, auto). As we have seen, the Plymouth sale of the head of Hartford Meadow carried its jurisdiction with it, and now Mr. AAllyn was ap-

LOCATION OF THE PLYMOUTH COMPANY'S HOUSE.

profit as fully and effectually as we ourselves may, or might do if we were present in our own persons and had done the same ourselves, and whatever our said attorney shall do or cause to be done lawfully in and about the premises or any part thereof, we, the said William Bradford, Edward Winslow, Thos. Prince, William Brewster, Miles Stand- ish, John Alden, and John lowland for ourselves and partners, promise to allow, con- firm, ratify, and establish by these presents, and thereunto bind ourselves, executors, administrators and every of them by these presents.

" In witness whereof, we have tiereunto set our hands and seals this twentieth day of October in the 13th year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles, by the Grace of God. of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland King, Anno Dom. 1637.

" Sealed and delivered in presence of JOHN WINSLOW NATHAN SOUTHER JONATHAN BREWSTER

WILLIAM BRADFORD

EDWARD WINSLOW

THOS. PRINCE

WILLIAM BREWSTER

JOHN ALDEN JOHN IlOWLAND."

Then follows (p. 424-5, Col. Rec.) record of the deed given "by virtue of [the] letter of attorney," to " Matthew Allyn of Hartford, upon the river Connecticut."

" The house belonging to Plymouth aforesaid, situate within the limits of Windsor upon said river Connecticut, with all the meadow privileges 1 belonging to the said plantation of Plymouth in the place aforesaid in as ample and full manner as the planta- tion at present enjoyeth 2 of the same or of right ought to do. The particulars of this land now bargained and sold and expressed in an agreement between the plantation of New Plymouth and the inhabitants of Windsor, under the hands of some of the inhabit- ants aforesaid, dated the 15th day of May, 1637.

"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 34 day of May, 1638.

" WILLIAM HOLMES."

The Plymouth Company's house, above referred to, and sometimes called " the Trading (or Trucking) House," stood on the forty-three and three-quarters aeres of meadow " reserved to the house of the said New Plymouth." This reserved meadow was about the middle (north and south) of Plymouth Meadow, extending from the river on the east, to " the Hill" on the west. It stood on the highest part of the meadow which lies nearest the river. At the time of the " Great flood " of 1639, which was " higher than had ever been known by the Indians," when several houses, including Mr. Endlow's, on the Island road, " were drowned very deep," the highest part of Plymouth Meadow was undoubt- edly flooded. Mr. Allyn, probably, built " on the Hill" before he came to Windsor to live, and it is almost certain that, when he did build

parently claiming that the land was still under Plymouth jurisdiction; or. perhaps, that his deed from Plymouth carried the jurisdiction to himself, as did the sale of the head of Hartford Meadow to the town of Hartford.

1 See pp. 34. 35. 37. 39.

2 Mr. Allyn appears to have assumed that as Windsor did not buy this territory of Plymouth, it was not under Windsor jurisdiction, but a little town organization, cast- ing a unanimous vote.

VOL. I .- 6

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

there, he utilized the material of the Trading House in the construction of his new house. For, in those days, there were no saw mills at which to get out lumber, nor even for thirty years after had they superseded hand-sawing in Windsor.1

The tradition that some of the material of the old house which was taken down from the " aero on the hill," about sixty years ago, was pre- pared in England, refers undoubtedly to material brought by Captain Holmes, in 1633, of which Bradford says (303) : " But they having made a small frame of a house, and having a great new bark, they stowed their frame in their hold, and boards to cover and finish it. having nails and all other provisions for their proper use." Bradford does not say that it was prepared at Plymouth -though that is the natural conclusion - but, as it was seven years before there was a saw- mill in that colony, and the facilities for doing the work were so much better in England than in Plymouth, there is some plausibility in the tradition.

There are three individuals living (1890) who remember the old house (probably the third Plymouth-Allen House), when occupied by tenants, and who wandered through its rooms after it became tenant- less. These are, Miss Mary Halsey and Mr. Asa Moffit of Windsor, and Gen. F. Ellsworth Mather of New York city. Though their impressions are not so well defined as to furnish as full a description as we should like to have, this much seems pretty clear : In outward appearance it much resembled other old houses that have passed away since the beginning of this century. Its front presented two stories, the rear roof ("lean-to") sloping down to cover at the caves but one story; the front door was in the middle of the house, the stairway had two " great stairs" where it turned at right angles, landing the passenger in the little hall above facing the window directly over the front door. Back of the stairway, and of the same width as the front hall, was the huge chimney with three fireplaces on the lower floor, and one each in the

? " The first saw-mill in the [Plymouth] Colony was erected in Scituate [half-way to Boston] in 1640."- Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth, 148. "Clove " (clap-boards) were split out and hewn into form. As late as 1669, we find on Windsor Land Records, " The Townsmen agreed with Benjamin Griswohl to get some good timber fallen and cloven into bolts [short logs] and brought home by the latter end of the week following for the use of the meeting house, and Samuel Grant is to cleave [split] them when brought home; and fit them, and nail them about the meeting-house." Sawn boards and plank were made at a saw-pit, one man standing on the log above, the other man in the pit beneath, their combined strength driving the saw; which, later on, was driven by water-power. In 1665, the Windsor Records tells ns of this, among other items of ex- pense for work on the meeting-house. "for other work done, as carting of timber out of the woods, and from the pit to the meeting-honse," showing that, thirty years after the settlement on Plymouth Meadow, saw-mills had not supplanted hand-sawing in Windsor.

THE OCCUPATION BY THE CONNECTICUT PATENTEES.

two chambers above. The summer-beam and joists which supported the floor of the second story were planed and without lath and plaster. The sides of the room were wainscoted about three feet up from the floor, and plastered above. There was, in one of the front chamber rooms, a table too large to be taken through the doors, which had been placed there when the house was built. There is, of course, a tradition that the table came from England. It is now on the lower floor of the Connectient Historical Society's rooms at Hartford, a dona- tion from the late Henry Halsey, Esq., of Windsor, who also took the front door step (with its traditional " came from England "), and placed it where it still lies, at the front gate of his late residence.

III. THE OCCUPATION BY THE LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, PATENTEES OF CONNECTICUT.

Reference has been made (pp. 33 and 34) to the patentees of Con- necticut. These were Lords Say and Seal, Lord Brook, Sir Richard Saltonstall, and others, to whom, in 1631, the Plymouth Council in England (chartered in 1620, " for the planting, ruling, and governing of New England in America") had granted a patent of Connecticut, in- cluding all the land from the sea, 120 miles into the country, and from Narragansett River (in Rhode Island) on the east, to the South Sea [Pacific] on the west," and which patent was duly confirmed by the King. The indefinite nature of this grant, however, was such that it must in- evitably have invited misunderstanding and contest-as it eventually did.

The first assertion of the claims of the Connecticut Patentees, was the appearance, in Windsor, a few days after the coming of the Dorches- ter pioneers, of the so-called " Stiles party." [This was a company of some twenty men, under the superintendence of Mr. Francis Stiles, who had been sent out from England largely at the private expense of Sir Richard Saltonstall, one of the Connecticut Patentees, to prepare grounds and erect houses for himself and certain others of the patentees. Arriv- ing in the bay, June 16th,' Stiles remained there ten days and then sailed for Windsor, the point designated in his instructions. Here he landed his party, and was about commencing his preparations when interrupted by the return of the Dorchester exploring party from up the river (see p. 29).

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The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 5

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