The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. II, Part 83

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1012

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. II > Part 83

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

At the next meeting of the General Court, however, on the 8th of May, it was unanimously agreed that the Governor and Assistants sluntld all be newly chosen every year; and the former Governor and Assistants were re-chosen, Mr. Ludlow among the rest. He was now pacified; was chosen again the next year, and, in 1634, had become such a favorite with the people that they elected him Deputy- Governor in place of Thomas Dudley, who was promoted to the chief magistracy. In the course of this year he was an overseer of the works on Castle Island, consist- ing of two platforms and one small fortification; and one of the commissioners, or auditors, to adjust Gov. Winthrop's accounts of receipts and disbursements during his administration. In 1635 there came a political change in Massachusetts, not unlike those which now and then occur in our day. [Ludlow had evidently as- pired to the governorship for the ensuing year - an office which his ambition, as well as his merits, led him to expect - and when, by the popular vote, May 6, 1635,] John Haynes, afterwards of Conn., was elected Governor, and Richard Bel- lingham Deputy-Governor -and himself entirely left out of the magistracy-[great was his disappointment]. For this change, so far as Mr. Ludlow was concerned, Gov. Winthrop assigned two reasons: first, because the people would exercise their sovereign power; and secondly, because he had been somewhat captions in protest- ing against the proceedings of the delegates, who had agreed upon the candidates before they came to the meeting; that is, in modern phraseology, had " caucused." which, as Ludlow declared in a moment of outspoken indignation, would render the election void. [While some were actuated by jealousy of his rising influence in the colony; and some took this means of showing their displeasure at his interfer- ence with what they considered their chartered rights in the exercise of the fran- chise, there were others, undoubtedly, among the wiser heads, who saw plainly that he was not, as yet, suthiciently democratic in his views to take the helm of gov-

VOL. II .- 58

458

GENEALOGIES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

ermnent, and (what was more of an objection in their minds), that his church views were far more liberal than their own. It must be remembered that the Ludlow family, which had for many years held an influential place in the British Parlia- ment, had ever been strong upholders of the liberties of the people against kingly usurpation; and, as a family, they were High Churchmen. Ludlow himself was a strong Puritan, but the Connecticut Constitution of 1638/9, which he framed, in which the civil franchise was not based upon church membership, evidences the liberality of his views. Nor was he the only one of his Massachusetts associates who were growing restive, from one cause or another, under the "hard and fast " lines of eeclesiastical domination which prevailed in that colony. llis friend, Capt, Israel Stonghton, bad been prohibited from holding office in the colony for three years, because he had asserted, in the heat of debate, before the General Conrt upon the question of settling a colony upon the Connectient, "that the Assistants were no Magistrates." Gov. Winthrop had been deposed from office and subjected to the humiliation of a financial investigation; John Endicott was under censure of the Court for the too free use of his sword upon the English flag; Roger Williams was under the ban of church discipline which soon after bounced him from the colony; other Assistants had been set aside and their places filled by others not mentioned in the Charter; while many influential and thoughtful citizens were strenuously insisting upon their right to be freemen, irrespective of church connection. ]

[Ludlow promptly decided to turn his back upon the scene of his fallen hopes; at his request he was relieved from the charge of the Castle Island fortifications; but, at the same time, the Council, sensible of his merits and willing, perhaps, to " let him down easy," appointed him with Govs. Winthrop and Dudley, Mr. John Humphrey and Thomas Beccher, on a Committee on Military Affairs, with very extraordinary powers.

Meanwhile, though he had previously opposed the idea of emigration to Con- nectient, Andlow now turned all his thoughts and efforts that way. The Salton- stall movement towards Connecticut was already disturbing to the Massachusetts colony; and the new influence which the emigration scheme now received from Ludlow's influence so alarmed the colonial officials that they appointed a Fast, Is Sept., 1634; but it was of no avail - emigration had already commenced -and the consent reluctantly wrung from the Mass. General Court, May 6, 1635, was a futile yielding to a pressure which could not be withstood.]

But a few weeks after his defeat in the election, Roger Ludlow, authorized by the Bay Company, who still recognized his abilities, was on his way across the wil- derness as one of a " commission to govern the people of Connecticut for the space of a year now next coming," and became one of the most inthential men in the en- hryo colony of Windsor. [It has generally been supposed that he was one of the tirst emigration with Warlenn and Church, in July, 1635, but he must have been in Windsor at even an earlier date, since Saltonstall's agent, Bartholomew Greene, writing to his patron about the disputes at W. with the Dorchester people, lays the blame of Saltonstall's defeat upon Roger Ludlow, as being " the only man of Dor- chester that set down there " (i. .. , the only man of influence then present at Wind sor at the time of the trouble). And it seems very probable that Ludlow's restless and forceful nature would have made him the arunt courierat Windsor of his friends and fellow-settlers who were toiling along through the woods from Massachusetts. ] Still, he was not forgotten in Massachusetts, nor were his merits undervalued. More than six months after his departure his name was inserted in the Commission for Connecticut, placing him at the head of the magistraey constituted by that in- strument. He attended nearly or gnite all the meetings of the Commissioners held after the arrival of the emigrants in Connecticut, and participated largely in their proceedings [This commission was issued to Roger Ludlow, Wm Pynchcon, Mr. Steele, and others, to govern the people of Connecticut "in a judicial way ", and

459

MR. ROGER LUDLOW.

practically, being thus tirst named in the instrument, he was the first Governor of Connecticut, for, on the 26th of April, 1636, he, with Mr. Steele, Mr. Phelps, Mr. Westwood, and Mr. Warde, opened at Hartford the first court ever held in the new colony, Mr. Pyncheon, Swane, and Smith, appointed to assist, not being present. The second session of this court was held ith June at Dorchester (Windsor). In the gradual organization of this court, Ludlow instituted trials before jurors; took great pains to keep the settlements free from adventurers; and to conserve the family re- lations in the commonwealth on the basis of Christian morality. Persons could only join the colony by vote of the inhabitants, etc., but church membership was not made a sine qua non to citizenship. It is evident that the lesson of political experi- ence had not been lost upon him, and that " the very discipline which had so an- gered and humiliated him had enlarged his views and prepared him for a more lib- oral and enlightened mode of the building up of a republican form of government. From this time he became the leader of Connecticut Jurisprudence." From this time, also, it is easy to see that the drift of his thoughts and intentions, as well as of those who had sustained him in his original scheme for an emigration to the Con- necticut Valley, was plainly and determinedly towards the establishment there of a separate and independent colony. The population of the three river towns at this date. independently of Winthrop's twenty men at Saybrook Fort, was about 890, includ- ing 250 adult men; and the exigencies which were forced upon them were such as to compel a severance from the allegiance to Mass., to which their original commis. sion held them. One of these exigencies was the Pequot War of 1632; and here Lud- low's courage is shown by his prompt acceptance of the responsibility of ordering war against the savage foe, a step which proved to be the salvation of all the Eng- lish colonies. ] He did not at first go out with the expedition under Capt. Mason, his presence being deemed necessary at home. About a week after its departure he wrote to his friend Pynchcon at Agawam, detained by a similar necessity, a letter which will be found on page 68, Vol. 1. But this was too inactive a position to be long maintained by a man of Ludlow's temperament, and the next we hear of him he is in pursuit (the second expedition under Mason) of the routed Pequots through Menimketuck and Quinnipiac to Sasco (Sasquig), since called the "Pequot Swamp." where he witnessed their annihilation. [The country which he thus passed through was to him a new and pleasing one. Its tine scenery, as well as its maritime ad- vantages, made an ineffaceable impression upon his mind; and, upon his return to Hartford, his energies were employed in legislating for the benefit of the colony. establishing peace with the River ludians, and supplying the people against the wants of the coming winter. He was appointed one of a committee to send a ves- sel to Mass, for corn and other supplies; and also with Mr. George Hull, Windsor, to trafhe with the Indians for beaver in behalf of the inhabitants of that town. During the long and tedious winter following the Pequot War he and his associates prepared a form of government for the colony which should constitute it "a public State of Commonwealth." In this he had the opportunity of displaying his abili- ties ås a lawyer and statesman, and also of triumphing over his Massachusetts one- mies, by opening a wide and conciliatory policy and allowing the franchise to rest, not on church membership, but good moral character This instrument is the first example in history of a written constitution - a distinct organic law, constituting a government and defining its powers, In it, Ludlow considers the concrete and the abstract at once, and prepared a system such as alone could be placed in the hands of frail men to protect them against their worst enemies-their own lawless passions. It was Milton's prophetic utterances of republican government and liberty put into actual practice. Of it Palfrey says: " The whole Constitution was that of an inde- pendent State. It continued in force, with very little alteration, for 180 years, se- enring throughout that period a degree of social order and happiness such as is rarely the fruit of civil institutions " ; and " the instrument, drawn with great care

460

GENEALOGIES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

and knowledge, seems to bear the marks of the statesman-like mind of Haynes and the lawyer-like mind of Ludlow." That Ludlow sought the advice and approval of llaynes is probable, but the document bears intrinsic evidence of a legal skill and phraseology which, when compared with Ludlow's Code of 1619, seems 10 prove that, whosesorver's advice he had, no other hand but his drew the first Con- stitution of Conn. ]

On the re-organization of the government in 1637, Ludlow was re-elected a mag istrate, and reflected in 1638, and at the first general meeting of the freemen under the new Constitution which he had framed 11th Apl., 1639, he was elected Deputy. Governor of the Commonwealth, being the first who ever held that office in Conce- tient [an election which, despite the honor conferred upon him, must have been dis- appointing to Mr. Ludlow, though it could scarcely have been wholly unexpected. Haynes had come to Hartford late in the previous spring; had been a very popular Governor in Mass., and his coming hither was considered a great accession to the infant colony. If, as is probable, on account of the dignity attached to his former office, his name was placed before Ludlow's in the order of the List of Magistrates, at the assembling of the General Court, in the following November, then Ludlow undoubtedly had a timely warning that Haynes would be elected Governor. What- ever disappointment he may have felt, he kept his own counsel; he had no reason to doubt that the election was the result of an honest vote, nor does it seem to have disturbed his personal relations with Governor Haynes. ]

Being absent the next year, Mr. Haynes was placed in that office, and Mr. Lud- low, notwithstanding his absence, was chosen to be one of the magistrates, the vath of office to be taken on his return. In 1611 he was again re-elected to the same oflice in his absence. The next year, 1642, being present, he was restored to the office of Deputy-Governor: from 16-13 to 1653, inclusive, with the exception of 1648. when he was Deputy-Governor, he sustained, by annual re-elections, the office of magistrate. In 1648-1651, and 53, he was one of the Commissioners from Conner. tient to the United Colonies.

In February. 1640, he was desired by the General Court to take into considera- tion the following subjects, viz. : Sudden deaths, occurring accidentally or by vio- lence; the disposition of the estates of persons dying intestate; the purchase and possession of lands, and the power of the magistrate in the infliction of corporeal punishment, and to present to the next Court a draft of such laws relative to those subjects as would best promote public good. It does not appear that he made any report to the next court, probably because his time was otherwise employed. Ile may have thought, also, that his commission was too restricted to answer the object in view. The business remained in this state until April, 1646, when the General Court desired him to draw up "a body of Laws for the government of this commonwealth, and to present them to the next General Conrt." While thus employed he was to be allowed, at the public charge, the services of a man for his own occasions. In May, 1647, it was found that, for reasons which do not appear, he had not perfected the task assigned to him. To encourage him, therefore, the Court provided that, besides the hire of a man, he should be "further considered for his pains." In the spring of 1650 the first code of laws, since known as Ludtenir's Code, or the Code of 1650, was completed and entered upon the public records. This is the foundation of the written laws of Connecticut, and was published at Cambridge in 1672 .*

* * so reliable a historian as Dr. Palfrey * sees the statestavlike mind of Haynes ' as well as ' the lawyer- like band of Ludlowe ' in this document. Without admitting or disputing that, as Palfrey infers. Haynes helped to round out this great work, we may venture the remark that in rearing a great structure the builder may avail himself of the strongest material withont detracting from his own skill or future renown of the edifice. We may also add that by Palfrey's own showing Ludlow was hardly the man to call in the aid of 20 formidable a rival as Haynes The worthy doctor also hints that the work was largely added to from the

461

MR. ROGER LUDLOW.

[But, to return. This second disappointment which he had received in his gubernatorial aspirations probably had some influence in disposing his mind towards another change of residence, and we find him, in the summer of 1639. prospecting and purchasing lands in that fertile country along the Long Island Sound; the fine scenery, broad meadows, and seaport advantages had so favorably impressed him during the Pequot campaign of 1637. In granting his petition for leave to settle there the General Court indicated Pequonnock as the most desirable point for the purpose; but he finally settled at Uncoway (present Fairfield), for which the Court afterwards censured him " for undue haste in taking up." In his defense he said : " The hand of the Lord was upon him in taking away some of his cattle, which prevented him from selling some, and, being under apprehension that others intended to take up said place, which might be prejudicial to this Common wealth, he adventured to drive his cattle thither."- Col. Rec. In this case, as at Windsor, Mr. Ludlow was not the man to allow himself "to be left out in the cold." The Court, perhaps, not unnaturally, suspected him of an intention to form another colony south of the New Haven Colony. They fined him $50, reprimanded hin, and soon after authorized the establishing of another town. ] It was Mr. Ludlow's destiny, notwithstanding his high position and eminent services, to encounter some of the troubles incident to public life. In September, 1639, while he was Deputy Governor, the General Court fined him five shillings for absence. It seems that this was occasioned by his going to " Poquonnack and the parts thereabout " (now Bridgeport and Fairfield), and driving his eattle thither to make provision for them there. By way of explanation and apology, he made a report of his proceedings to the General Court in October following; but that body, thinking that his occu pation of that country might interfere with their designs respecting the plantation there, declared his proceedings unwarrantable and his conduct without exense. The absence complained of was evidently not the sole ground of dissatisfaction. Hle had evidently, however, got his heart fixed on a future home at that place. It is not improbable, also, that he faneied he should there find a larger field for his talents, and a better chance to realize those ambitions aspirations which he cherished.

W'e next find him at Fairfield, but the precise time of his removal is unknown. It was, however, about 1640, so that his residence at Windsor was only of about five years continuance. It is evident that he had not removed in 1639. [ Windsor Rec. are singularly deficient in any details such as we would like to have, by which we van tix cither the exact time or the points of his residence here. His residence al W. was on the upland road to Hartford, about three-fourths of a mile below the Farmington River, and was a "stone house." Ile owned considerable land, both in W. (see pp. 161, 546, Vol. I), and on the east side of the Great River near Scantic. which he sold, 20 Mch., 1642, to Mr. William Whiting of Hartford, for the sum of £500, and which lands afterwards became the subject of a somewhat noted lawsuit for recovery of the same, between the heirs of Mr. Whiting and those of John Bissell, to whom he had sold the same]. In 16.11 he purchased of the Indians of Norwalk certain lands in that town conveyed to him in a deed, the record of which is entitled, "A Copy of a Deed of Sale made by Norwalk Indians unto Mr. Roger Ludlow of Fairfield, 26 February, 1640"; that is, 1641. This affords pre- sumptive, though not conclusive, evidence that he was then a resident of Fair field. At any rate, the record of the General Court shows very satisfactorily that in April, 1643. he had become settled at that place. There he remained until the spring of 1651, when he removed with his family to Virginia. [" The

Massachusetts laws,' which we do not deny; but the addition was made in 1650, and Ludlow's Constitution was finished in 1642. We submit that the code, notwithstanding its subsequent additions, was as much the work of Roger Ludlow as the United States Constitution is the work of its recognized anthors. The General l'ourt, sitting in February, 1651, 'ordered compensation for his great pains in drawing ont and transcribing. concluding, and establishing the same in May last." It was, moreover, by general consent called . Ludlowe's Code.' Article by Win. A. Beers in Mag. of American History, Vol. VIII. Pt. 1, p. 264

462

GENEALOGIES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

herculean work accomplished by bandlow at Fairfield." says the historian of that town, "ever vigilant, zealous, and unwearying for her weal, gives him the well merited title of . The Father of Fairfield.' Here he was thrice chosen Deputy- Governor and several times a Commissioner to the United Colonies of New England, in great emergencies; he was annually chosen one of the Magistrates of the Fair- field Colony: was first judge of the highest court of Fairfield, and its first military commander, and the first lawyer in the State."} The reasons which led to his sud- den and voluntary exile to Virginia are as follows: In that year (1654), the Colony was alarmed by fears of Dutch and Indian hostilities, and Stamford and Fairfield. then frontier towns, were thrown into an agony of apprehension. Believing that the Dutch were the instigators of the Indian attacks from which they suffered, they urged "in a spirit of self-protection and not of sedition," the subjugation of the New Netherlands as the only avenue to permanent peace. But, though the agents of Cromwell, who was then on the eve of a war with Holland, also urged on the colonists to this course, Massachusetts and Connecticut (following her example). declined their official sanction. Entreating the New Haven Colony for troops and assistance, they were refused, and, losing all patience, Fairfield and Stamford re- solved to raise troops independently of the colony, and to defend their own borders and carry on the war themselves. Roger Ludlow was appointed commander-in- chief. In all this there seems to have been no thought of sedition, but only the impulsive action of a town, who, foreseeing their own imminent peril and hopeless of receiving the needed aid from a source whence they had a right to expect it, re- solved to arm in their own defence. The government of Connecticut, however, did not look at it in that light, but. treating it as a matter of insubordination, if not of open revolt, proceeded to deal with the principal movers in the affair as " foment- ers of insurrection."

Indlow, although not openly dealt with, had been foremost among those who were for prosecuting the war against the Dutch. [lle no doubt thought this a golden opportunity to bring the troublesome Dutchmen of New Amsterdam under the control of the New England Colonies. The United Colonies only the previous year, in 1653. had applied to Cromwell for "help, shipping, and forces" to prose cute war against the Dutch, which supplies were daily looked for from England, and certainly no more favorable opportunity could have been offered for such a design, while England and Holland were at war.] He had also seriously compro- mised himself by his hasty and unadvised acceptance of the Fairtiell forces, with- ont legal appointment [ but his sanction to the declaration of war against the Dutch by the people of Fairfield. he doubtless believed to be one of military necessity; neither did he, nor the Fairfield men, countenance the seditions acts of certain New laven men at this juncture, but he promptly advised the New Haven authorities of the step which Fairfield had taken, and called upon them for aid. It can hardly be doubted, also, that the old jealousy against him was strongly stirred at this time. especially in the New Haven Colony, lest his ambition might tempt him to estab. lish another colony which should be more particularly under control of the mother country, and perhaps more in sympathy with the views of reformers in the Church of England. From this moment he became the victim of animadversion and perse. cution, especially at New Haven, where it was charged against him that he was an enemy to the Commonwealth. The fact that his family in England, while opposed to the arbitrary course of Charles 1, were not friendly to Cromwell, may also have tended to draw suspicion upon him. | He felt that he had, without any moral guilt, incurred the displeasure of the colony, and that unless he should make some humili. ating concessions, his behavior would not be likely to escape public censure. It was quite evident that his popularity had reached its meridian. Proud and sensitive to a high degree, he brooded over the change that had taken place in his prospects, as well for promotion as for usefulness, [Dr. Eliot (Biog. Dict.) says "he gave so

MR. ROGER LUDLOW.

much offense as to make it best for him to leave the country The least he could expect was to lose his offices "]; and at last came to the conclusion, not without many keen regrets, to leave the colony, where he had held so conspicuous a place for nineteen eventful years. [The sudden coolness of the New Haven Magistrates who, more zealously than any other colony, had advocated a war upon the Dutch. and had even denounced Mass. on having broken the articles of confederation, in not prosecuting such a war; the suit brought against him by Thos. Staples for re- porting, while with the Rev. Mr. Davenport of N. H., the story that Mrs. Staples was suspected of witchcraft, thus making him responsible for the declarations of the Witch Knap and a majority of the men and women of Fairfield, and for which he was fined 925 (Ver Haren Col. Ree., ii, IT); and last, but not least, the action of the New Haven Colony in confiscating the vessel at Milford, which he had engaged to carry his effects and family to Virginia,* must have filled his last days in New England with humiliation and almost a sense of degradation. ] That he did not re move before the 13th of April, 1654 (MS. of Dr. E. Hall of Norwich, Conn .; Hollis ter says 26 Apl., 1654: see, also, Trumbull's Com., i, 225), is evident from an assign- ment executed by him, on that day, to the inhabitants of Norwalk, of his interest in that plantation. This assignment was undoubtedly made in contemplation of his removal, as it appears that within a fortnight afterwards he was actually ship ping his family and etlects. [He went to Virginia to pay a farewell visit to his brother George, at Yorktown - possibly, also, to seek a chance for sailing to Eng- lund, and soon after left this country and settled (1655) at Dublin, Ireland, in the practice of his profession. After Cromwell's death he removed to Hollyhead, an island in Co. Anglesea. North Wales, a parliamentary town of considerable impor- tance, and the nearest British seaport to Dublin, for his name was even then an offence in the King's ears. ]

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. II, Part 83

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company Number of Pages: 1012

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1012