USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement of the colony to the adoption of the present constitution, vol. I > Part 9
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
* Lambert's Hist., New Haven Colony, 85. t Lambert. # Ib. 90.
102
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
sachem, Ansantawae, the land in the centre of the township was purchased by these pioneers. This was a numerous and powerful tribe, and occupied a region extending some sixteen or eighteen miles along the coast, and reaching at least twelve miles into the interior .* My limits forbid that I should at present do more than make this brief allusion to the heroic little commonwealth at Milford.
The first settlers at Guilford were a large proportion of them gentlemen. The rest were known as yeomen. Both gentlemen and yeomen were almost all planters. There were so few mechanics among them that they could scarcely find carpenters to build their houses ; not a blacksmith was to be found among them, and it was with difficulty that they finally procured one. The early citizens of Guilford, almost with- out exception, emigrated from Surry and Kent. Mr. Henry Whitfield, their clergyman, was of an old English family, and had preached with eminent success at Oakley in Surry. He was a friend of Mr. Fenwick of Saybrook. An intimacy also existed between him and Desborough. Desborough was the first magistrate of Guilford. Indeed, he appears to have been born to good fortune. Some more minute account of him may not only interest the reader, but serve to correct some errors into which several of our antiquaries have fallen, who appear to have mistaken him for John, his elder brother, who was a brother-in-law of Cromwell, and a major-general. Samuel Desborough was the third surviving son of James Desborough, Esquire, and was born at Ellisley, on the third of November, 1619. After his return to England in 1650 he was immediately sent to Scotland to enter upon the dis- charge of some public trust under the government, at the instance of his brother John, and of Oliver Cromwell, who was then a general in the army. He was soon after chosen a member of Parliament to represent the city of Edinburgh. On the 4th of May 1655, at a council held at Whitehall, Oliver Cromwell, then Lord Protector, appointed him one of the nine counselors for the kingdom of Scotland. In 1656
* Deforest, 50.
103
DESBOROUGH.
he was elected a member of parliament for the sheriffdom of Midlothian. He manifested such singular ability in the discharge of these several official functions, and became such a favorite of the Protector, that on the 16th of September, 1657, was made keeper of the great seal of Scotland. He continued lord chancellor of Scotland during the remainder of Cromwell's life, and during the brief reign of his son Richard, and after the restoration, when the royal proclam- ation made at Breda, reached him, he thankfully availed him- self of the clemency so graciously tendered him, and signed his submission to king Charles II. on the 21st of May, 1660.
He was ever after treated by the king with kindness and delicacy. None of his ample estate resulting from a lucra- tive office was confiscated. He retired to his seat at Els- worth where he continued to reside in a munificent and hospitable manner until his death, which happened on the 10th of December, 1690. On the south side of the com- munion rails in the chancel of the venerable old church at Elsworth is a black marble slab with a simple inscription commemorative of the virtues of Samuel Desborough, lord chancellor of Scotland. On the north side of the commu- nion rails in the same chancel is a corresponding memorial informing the reader that Rose Pennyer, the wife, who was proud to share his noonday honors and his later fortunes, is resting by his side.
There are still extant a portrait of Lord Desborough, and an excellent miniature. The latter is by Cooper. Both repre- sent him in middle life. The face is oval, with whiskers, a small lock extending beneath the lower lip. The features are very handsome and engaging; the eye bright and piercing; and the whole countenance, expressive of that good sense, discrim- inating judgment, moral courage, and quick zeal tempered by discretion and experience that constituted the best traits of his marked and commanding character .* Such was Des- borough, magistrate of Guilford. In naming the princi- pal gentlemen of Guilford, we should not forget to speak
* Noble's " House of Cromwell," vol. ii. pp. 295, 296.
104
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
in this place of William Leete, Esq. He emigrated from Cambridge, where he was for some time register of the Bish- op's Court. He had been bred to the law in England. When Desborough left the peaceful magistracy at Guilford to mingle in the stormy civil wars that convulsed England, Leete be- came his successor. He played an important part in the his- tory of the colony at a later day-so we leave him for the present. John Cafinge, also, was one of the first planters of Guilford. The town was at first independent of New Haven colony, and had its own constitution and code of laws for several years.
The year 1639 was fruitful in the birth of new plantations, and Connecticut did her part toward peopling what might then with propriety be called "the west." The reader will remember that Ludlow, the great lawyer and statesman of the colony, had accompanied as a counselor the little army that followed the remnant of the Pequots to Sasco swamp, where they made their last unavailing stand against the allied powers of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Ludlow, who was not only a good lawyer and an enthusiastic lover of lib- erty, but a man whose love of adventure fitted him for pio- neer life and whose exuberant imagination asked for ampler room in which to expand itself, fixed his sagacious eye on the rich plains of Un-quo-wa, (Fairfield,) and saw at a glance their natural advantages. Indeed, he saw every thing at a glance. His mind intuitively recognized the relations of things the most abstract as well as those connected with the common affairs of life. He had that gift of insight and love of moral beauty that forms a principal element in the mind of a great poet like Milton. His views upon govern- ment more nearly resemble Milton's than those of any other writer upon constitutional liberty of the seventeenth century. Ludlow, such as I have represented him, could not long re- main without the excitement of another removal, and selected Fairfield as his point of destination. He was an inhabitant of Windsor, and took with him eight or ten families, his neighbors and admirers. This handful of adventurers was
105
STRATFORD SETTLED.
[1639.]
soon joined by a party from Watertown, Massachusetts, and not long after another accession was made to its numbers from Concord. Under the auspices of Ludlow, the planta- tion soon grew into a large town, and became, as it has ever since remained, a part of Connecticut. The township was honorably purchased of the Indians.
Within the range of the same year, those parts of Stratford called Cupheag and Pughquonnuck were purchased, and set- tlements commenced there under the superintendence of Mr. Fairchild, who was the first magistrate of the town. John and William Curtis and Samuel Hawley came from Rox- bury, Massachusetts, and Joseph Judson was from Concord. These were the earliest planters and principal gentlemen of Stratford. Afterwards, a few heads of families arrived from Boston, and Samuel Wells from Wethersfield with three sons. The first clergyman of Stratford was Mr. Adam Blackman, who had preached with eminent success, first at Leicester and then in Derbyshire, England. He was a gen- tleman of such pleasant manners and so many winning traits of character, that many of his parishioners followed him to America. He had been a clergyman of the church of Eng- land. "Entreat us not to leave thee," said his weeping flock, as they gathered about him, "for whither thou goest we will go, thy people shall be our people, and thy God our God." This beautiful town bordering on the Housatonic river and Long Island sound, and commanding a pleasant view of each, has been the scene of many stirring adventures and thrilling incidents, and is hallowed as the residence of men whose names are " of the treasures" not only of the State but of the nation. It is too early in the order of events to mention them.
CHAPTER VI.
COLONEL FENWICK ESTABLISHES A GOVERNMENT AT SAYBROOK.
WHILE the people of Connecticut and New Haven were thus enlarging their boundaries, there sprang up at the mouth of Connecticut river a new commonwealth, independent of them both; indeed, with rights paramount to theirs, even to the very soil that they occupied, had its proprietors chosen to assert them-for those proprietors, the Lord Say and Seal, the Lord Brooke, and others, it will be remembered, had a paper title to a vast region, embracing much more than the territory now called Connecticut. This new commonwealth was established by Colonel George Fenwick, who, with his wife, sometimes known as Lady Fenwick and sometimes as the Lady Alice Boteler, together with the other members of his household, arrived about midsummer of the year 1639 .* Col- onel Fenwick had in his charge two ships, and was accom- panied by several gentlemen of high respectability, who, with their attendants, aided in laying the foundations of Say- brook-for so they named the settlement in honor of two of its principal patrons and proprietors. Colonel Fenwick was one of the original patentees, and acted in their behalf. There had been a garrison kept up at the fort since its first erection by Mr. Winthrop, in 1635,t but no civil government was or- ganized until the arrival of Colonel Fenwick and his com- pany. Among the first proprietors of this town were Captain John Mason, Thomas Tracy, Lyon Gardiner, who was the commander of the fort, and Thomas Leffingwell. The Rev. Thomas Peters was the first clergyman there. Upon its early records, also, appear the names of Huntington, Baldwin, Backus, Hyde, Bliss, Whittlesey, Waterman, and Dudley. Houses had been built under the superintendence of Win- throp for gentlemen of quality in connection with the fort,
* Trumbull, i. 110. t Savage's Winthrop, i. 207, 208.
107
WETHERSFIELD AND MIDDLETOWN.
[1639.]
so that Colonel Fenwick experienced less of hardship and privation in carrying out his enterprise than was usual with the founders of new settlements. Saybrook, as I have said, owed no allegiance to Connecticut. She had her own inde- pendent government, which was administered by Colonel Fenwick until the year 1644, when it fell into the hands of Connecticut.
In the meantime, the citizens of Wethersfield had become involved in a quarrel with Sowheag, the great sachem of Mattabesett, (Middletown,) that threatened the colony with another Indian war. Sowheag was originally not only the proprietor of the present towns of Middletown and Chatham, but his jurisdiction extended into Pyquag, (Wethersfield.)* The inhabitants of Wethersfield-who had never forgotten the murders committed by the Indians in the spring of 1637, and the theft and abduction of the two maidens, of whose fate they were so long kept in doubt-had at last found out that the Pyquag Indians, under their old chief Sowheag, had aided the Pequots in perpetrating those outrages. This was the original cause of the quarrel. Sowheag protected the guilty Indians, and carried himself haughtily towards the planters of Wethersfield, who complained of his conduct, and insisted that he should give up the murderers. The court decided, after giving all the matters in dispute a grave hearing, that the Wethersfield people had been the aggressors, and there- fore that they should forgive Sowheag, and continue on terms of friendship with him. Mr. Samuel Stone and Mr. Good- win were appointed a committee to bring about a reconcilia- tion. But these discreet gentlemen could effect nothing. The planters were willing to listen to fair terms ; but Sowheag not only refused to deliver up the murderers to justice, but also added new insults and injuries to the old. In this state of affairs, the court determined to send one hundred men to Mattabesett to take the murderers by force, and dispatched a messenger to New Haven to inform the authorities there of the proposed expedition. This project did not receive any
* Rev. Dr. Field's Centennial Address at Middletown.
108
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
countenance at New Haven .* The governor and his coun- cil agreed to the proposition, that the delinquents ought to be punished, but did not like that mode of doing it. They dreaded, they said, to be involved in an Indian war. They had hitherto kept aloof from all troubles with the Indians, and meant to do so as long as they could. They regarded war as a horrible calamity. Connecticut followed the advice of New Haven, and wisely abandoned the enterprise.
War, however, was resolved on in another quarter. The Pequots had agreed, at the close of the campaign that resulted in the overthrow of their tribe and the partition of the wretched remnant that survived among the three rival chiefs who were eager for the spoils, that they would never again organize themselves as a distinct people, would never resort to their old haunts, rebuild their wigwams, range the hunting grounds, or plant the fields that had been taken from them. This agreement they had violated by taking possession of Pawca- tuck, a part of the prohibited country, erecting some huts there, and planting some fields with corn. The court there- fore sent Mason with forty Englishmen, with instructions to "drive them off, burn their wigwams, and bring away their corn."t Uncas, with one hundred Indians and twenty ca- noes, went with the English leader. On his arrival at Paw- catuck, Mason fell in with three Pequots, and sent them for- ward to inform their friends of his coming, and to advise them to leave the place peaceably. Whether the couriers did their errand is doubtful, for when Mason had landed his men and surrounded the little village, the Indians were so taken by surprise that they had no time to carry off their treasures or their corn. They fled in hot haste, leaving their old men to the mercy of their enemies, who did them no harm. Uncas had a little skirmish with about fifty of the warriors, that re- sulted in the injury of neither party, but served to amuse the English who stood still and witnessed it. Seven persons
* See J. H. Trumbull's Colonial Records, i. 31, 32.
t For some particulars of the doings of the court at this time, and the causes that led to this second expedition against the Pequots, see J. H. Trumbull, i. 31, 32.
109
SECOND EXPEDITION AGAINST THE PEQUOTS.
[1639.]
were taken, whose lives were spared at the intercession of a Narragansett sachem. Mason and his men spent the night on board their vessel that was anchored in the little creek. As soon as it was light, they were surprised to see on the shore not far off about three hundred armed Indians. The soldiers were ordered under arms. The sight of the English- men so terrified the Indians, that some of them fled, and others hid themselves behind the rocks and trees. In a minute not an Indian was to be seen. Mason now called to them. "I desire to speak to you," said he, in a loud voice. In an instant numbers of them rose up and timidly showed themselves. Mason proceeded to say, that the Pequots had broken their covenant. He was interrupted by the Indians, who replied with much energy, "The Pequots are good men, and we will fight for them, and protect them." "It is not far to the head of the creek," resumed Mason ; "I will meet you there, and we will try what we can do at fighting." " We will not fight with Englishmen for they are spirits; but we will fight with Uncas," replied the sons of the forest.
The Indians were near by the whole day, while the Eng- lish were destroying the wigwams and carrying on board the rich harvest of corn that they found there, but they did not dare to interpose. The corn, kettles, trays, mats, wampum, and other treasures, filled the vessel and fifty canoes. Thirty of these canoes were taken from the Indians .*
In August of this year, the first steps were taken toward "a general confederation of the colonies for mutual offense and defense." The General Court of Connecticut appointed the deputy governor, Roger Ludlow, Mr. Thomas Wells, and Mr. Hooker, a committee to repair to Saybrook and consult with Colonel Fenwick on this important matter.t Colonel Fenwick "was in favor of a union of all the New England colonies." This proposed union was to guard the English settlements against the Dutch at New Netherlands, (New York,) who were rapidly increasing in wealth and numbers, and whose new governor, William Kieft, had forbidden the
* See Mason's History ; also Trumbull, i. 113. + Colonial Records.
110
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
English to carry on their trade at "Good Hope," and had made a solemn protest against the occupation of Quinni- piack by the English. This proposal, to organize a general confederation, was the first breaking up of the fallow ground wherein to sow the seeds of that great confederation of the thirteen colonies, which, more than a century and a quarter later, gave such a fatal blow to the British dominion upon this continent, and laid the foundations of an empire that will soon have no boundaries more circumscribed than the polar ice of the Arctic on the north, and upon the east, south, and west, the tides of those oceans, gulfs, and seas, that in their ceaseless ebb and flow so fitly represent the inexhaustible energies of the greatest republic of the world.
This year, also, on the 10th of October, the General Court incorporated all the towns in the commonwealth, and author- ized them to manage their own internal affairs .* This amounted to little more than a recognition of rights previ- ously existing, but was highly important, as it defined the limits of the local jurisdictions by instituting a local tribunal in each town. This tribunal consisted of a body of men not less than three nor more than seven-one of whom was to be called a moderator. They were called " principal men," and were to be chosen by the votes of the respective towns. A majority of these "principal men," including the moderator, who was only to have a casting vote, was to constitute a municipal court in each town. This court brought justice home to the door of every man in the colony. It had juris- diction of all matters of trespass or debt where the matter in demand did not exceed forty shillings. It held its stated sessions once every two months.
At this session, our admirable system of recording all con- veyances of land was instituted. "The towns," say the court, "shall each of them provide a ledger book with an index or alphabet unto the same; also shall choose one who shall be a town clerk or register, who shall, before the Gen- eral Court in April, next, record every man's house and land
* J. H. Trumbull, i. 36, 37.
111
PROBATE REGULATIONS.
[1639.]
already granted." It is made the duty of the owners of lands, under heavy penalties, to present to the town clerk a descrip- tion of their real estate for record. "The like to be done for all land hereafter granted and measured to any ; and all bar- gains or mortgages of lands whatsoever shall be accounted as of no value until they be recorded."
This excellent safeguard against fraudulent conveyances has with some modifications continued to exist in Connecticut from that day to the present. It is one of those monuments of legislative wisdom erected by our fathers, of which there are so many still standing. A legal provision, in order to endure the test of time, must embody a principle and teach some great moral lesson. It must be a commentary at once upon the necessities that compel man to conform to the rules of civil society, based as they are upon eternal justice and equity, while it is no less a commentary upon that corrupt heart and those unruly passions that are perpetually inciting him to violate those rules.
At this session, also, the dead were remembered as well as the living; and provision was made for taking an inventory of the estate of deceased persons, carrying into effect their wills either written or nuncupative, if they left any; or, if they died intestate, to see that a proper administration was had of their effects, and an equitable distribution made to the heirs. Wills and all proceedings in the settlement of estates were to be recorded. If no kindred of the deceased could be found having inheritable blood, then his estate was to escheat to the commonwealth, care being taken to register a perfect inventory of his property, so that if legal representatives should ever appear, they might receive what justly belonged to them.
I merely allude to these great landmarks of our jurispru- dence as historical facts, that will be treated of at length elsewhere.
It proved to be no easy matter for the colonies of Connec- ticut and New Haven to get the Indian title to their lands. There were so many original elements among the different
112
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
Indian tribes, that in some instances it became necessary, for the sake of peace, to purchase the lands several times over. The colony of Connecticut bought of Uncas the whole Mo- hegan country, and was obliged to pay for it many times in the troubles and quarrels that were thrown upon them by their connection with that restless chief. The inhabitants of the towns, too, were obliged, when they made their settle- ments, to pay Uncas for the same land.
In 1640, the commonwealth bought Waranoke, (Westfield,) and began a settlement there. The same year, Roger Ludlow purchased of the Indians that part of Norwalk that lies between the Saugatuck and Norwalk rivers. Cap- tain Patrick bought the central part of the town, and a few hardy men with their families soon removed thither. The western part of the town was not purchased until 1651 .*
Greenwich was bought about the same time in behalf of the colony of New Haven. But through the address of the indefatigable governor of New Netherlands, the inhabitants were induced to put themselves under his protection-who with much solemnity proceeded to incorporate the new town.t If his Dutch excellency was guilty of any treachery, as the New England writers of that day charged upon him, he was well requited for it. The Indians drove off the plan- ters of Greenwich. Indeed, no settlement could ever thrive there until Connecticut procured her charter and took the plantation under her protecting wing.
Connecticut further extended her limits by making a pur- chase of a large tract of land upon Long Island. This terri- tory extended from the eastern boundary of Oyster Bay to the western line of Holmes' Bay. It was a large and valuable tract, embracing the whole northern portion of the island be- tween the limits above described. The eager planters has- tened to occupy it.
New Haven was not to be outstripped by her older sister in this work of planting new towns. Some of her most en-
* History of Norwalk.
t De Vries, 152; Brodhead, i. 294, 296 ; Trumbull, i. 118.
113
WETHERSFIELD.
terprising planters were therefore not long in securing the title to Rippowams, which they bought honorably of two principal chiefs, Ponus and Toquanske. This grant con- tained the entire town of Stamford. Richard Denton was their first minister. New Haven also took a still more ad- venturous flight when, soon after, she sent men under Cap- tain Turner to buy lands on both sides of Delaware Bay, and followed up the negotiation by sending fifty families to take immediate possession .* New Haven further prosecuted the work of colonization by obtaining a deed from the Corchaug Indians of the eastern extremity of Long Island. The In- dian name of the place was Yennicock, which the English changed to that of Southold. This plantation was com- menced under the direction of the Rev. John Youngs of Hingham, in Norfolk, who arrived in New Haven that sum- mer with his parishioners, and, after reorganizing his church after the plan of that colony, soon set sail for Long Island, and commenced a settlement. Some of the leading planters were William Wells, Jeremiah Vaile, and Matthias Corwin.
Of all the towns belonging to Connecticut, Wethersfield seems from the first to have been most involved in difficul- ties, civil and ecclesiastical. The settlement had been com- menced by a high-spirited and very excitable people, impatient of control, delighting in the most daring enterprises, and stim- ulated rather than alarmed at the dangers that beset them. Did the Pequots make a fierce incursion into the settlement, murder and scalp a part of their freeholders, and carry off their fair maidens? So far from striking terror into the hearts of those who remained, it only stirred them up to a resistance so determined and obstinate, not only against the Pequots, but against the chief upon the Connecticut river, who was thought to have harbored the delinquents, that the authority of the General Court commanding them to forgive the suspected sachem and take him into their confidence, availed so little, that, but for the timely interposition of New Haven the colony would have again been involved in war.
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.