USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement to the present time > Part 6
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
The following winter was one of great scarcity.
71
1638.]
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
The fields had been much neglected, in consequence of the absence of the men during the war; and clothes as well as food were at high prices. The court contracted with Mr. Pynchcon to buy 500 bushels of corn of the Indians, and forbade others to purchase of them at the time, lest the price should be raised. A committee was appointed to bring a vessel load from Narraganset: but the winter was remarkably cold, and the price rose to twelve shillings a bushel. In the midst of the dis- tress, a committee was sent about eighty miles up the river, to Pocomtock (now Deerfield in Massa- chusetts), and the people had the pleasure of seeing, in the spring, fifty canoes come down at a time, laden with corn, to Windsor and Hartford, which they received with lively gratitude to God.
The court felt it necessary to pay their war debt. and provide for the complete arming of all the men in the colony, and laid the first tax, which amounted to 550 pounds.
On the 8th of March Captain John Mason was appointed major-general of the militia of Connecti- cut. The military staff was delivered to him by Mr. Hooker ; and doubtless, as Trumbull remarks, "it was performed with that propriety and dignity which were peculiar to himself, and best adapted to the occasion." The general was directed to in- struct the soldiers in each town in discipline ten times a year, and was paid £40 annually. Laws were passed the same year for the protection of the Indians in all their rights, and for the preser- vation of peace.
1
72
SETTLEMENT OF NEW-HAVEN.
[1638.
CHAPTER VIII.
Mr. Davenport and his Company arrive at Boston from England. -They are urged to settle in Massachusetts .- A Committee of their number visit Winnipiack .- The Settlement of New- Haven begun there in 1638 .- The "Plantation Covenant" formed .--- Purchases of Land by the new Colony .- The Char- acter and Objects of the Founders .- Planting of Milford, Guilford, Fairfield, and Stratford.
NEW. HAVEN, the most beautiful city in Connecti- cut, and probably in America, distinguished above others in the state by the number of its inhabi- tants and as the seat of Yale College, was first settled in 1638. The settlers were a band of pious Englishmen, consisting in part of the Rev. Mr. Davenport and his congregation, and including a number of men of wealth, in which respect they differed from the colonies which had preceded them.
Mr. Davenport had arrived in Boston the pre- ceding year, in company with Mr. Samuel Eaton, Theophilus Eaton, Esq., Edward Hopkins, Esq., Mr. Thomas Gregson, and a considerable number of persons besides, who had left England to escape persecution, and to take up their abode in America. Mr. Davenport had been distinguished in England as a minister of great learning and piety. Messrs. Eaton and Hopkins had been successful merchants in London, and the former had resided three years in India, where he held the office of deputy-gov- ernor. Great exertions were made in Massachu- setts to induce this wealthy company to remain in
73
163S.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
that colony. The people of Cambridge proposed to relinquish to them their whole town, and the General Court to give them any place which they ' might select : but they preferred to penetrate far- ther into the interior of the country. Having heard favourable reports of the land west of Connecticut River, made by persons who had traversed it in pursuit of the Pequods, Messrs. Davenport, Eaton, and Hopkins requested their friends in Connecticut to purchase for them, of the native proprietors, all the land to Hudson River ; and this object was partly accomplished by the next autumn, when Mr. Eaton went to explore the country with some of his party.
That highly respectable company appear to have had several reasons for not remaining in Massa- chusetts. Mr. Davenport held the opinion that no reformation in the church had ever been carried farther than where it was left by those who intro. duced it ; and he probably thought that the system adopted in the new colonies was defective in some points not likely to be improved. He was a de- cided opponent of Antinomian doctrines, which at that time had progressed in Boston. Besides, he and his associates were apprehensive that the king would soon send out a governor-general of New- England, to whose authority they did not wish to be subject. Fully resolved on making a new set- tlement at a distance from the others, in the au- tumn of 1637 Mr. Davenport, with several of his friends, visited the shore of Long Island Sound, with the commercial and other advantages of which they were much pleased. They selected the place call- ed Quinnepiack by the Indians, and by the Dutch Roeabert ; and, having built a hut there, a few of G
----
74
SETTLEMENT OF NEW-HAVEN.
[1638.
their number spent the winter in it. This was the first habitation known to have been ever erected there, and, indeed, on any part of the Connecticut coast west of Saybrook fort. The settlement of New-Haven, however, did not really begin until the following year.
On the 30th of March, 1638, Messrs. Daven- port, Prudden, and Theophilus and Samuel Eaton sailed from Boston with their companions. They reached Quinnepiack in about two weeks. On the 18th of April they spent their first Sabbath there, and in a truly Christian manner, viz., in the worship of God, and the strict observance of his holy day. The people assembled in the shade of a large oak- tree, at the place where George-street now crosses College-street ; and Mr. Davenport preached an ap- propriate sermon from the 6th chapter of Matthew, Ist verse : " Take heed that ye do not your alms be- fore men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven."
Shortly afterward, a day of fasting and prayer was observed; and at the close of it they formed what they called a " Plantation Covenant," in which they solemnly bound themselves, " That, as in mat- ters that concern the gathering and ordering of a church, so also in all public offices which concern civil order, as choice of magistrates and officers, making and repealing laws, dividing allotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature, they would, all of them, be ordered by the rules which the Scripture held forth to them." This was in- tended to be their rule until they should form a more intimate mutual acquaintance, and then they designed to covenant together as Christians.
75
1638.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
The colonists at Quinnepiack applied themselves with the utmost diligence to the labours necessa- ry in their new condition ; and these were, unhap- pily, greatly increased by a remarkably backward spring. The corn rotted in the ground, so that they found it necessary to replant two or three times ; and, as the same cause affected the other colonies, great apprehensions of a dearth were en- tertained in all except that of Quinnepiack, which was probably supplied by its wealthy founders.
A remarkable earthquake occurred on the 1st of June in that year, which caused much conster- ' nation throughout New-England. The first shock was felt between three and four o'clock in the af- ternoon, and was accompanied with a sound like that of continued thunder, or the rolling of wheels on a pavement. It lasted four minutes ; and the motion of the earth, which was from west to cast, threw down many chimneys, and vessels from shelves, and made a commotion in the waters along the coasts. Repeated shocks were felt during twenty days. At the time of the first shock the weather was clear, and the wind from the west.
The first purchase of land at Quinnepiack was made on the 24th of November, 1638, of Momau- quin, the sachem of that region. He and his peo- ple had been driven away by the Mohawks and Pequods, and their numbers had been reduced to forty men : but, under the protection of the Eng- lish, they had returned ; and, in gratitude, their sa- chems gave to Messrs. Eaton, Davenport, and oth- ers, their heirs and assigns for ever, "the land, rivers, ponds, and trees, with all the liberties and appurtenances belonging to the same." He cov-
76
PLAN OF NEW-HAVEN.
[1638.
cnanted also that the Indians should keep true faith with the English in all things ; and, on their part, the English promised to protect them, and to give them a sufficient supply of land on the east side of the harbour, and a number of articles as a present. This agreement was signed ; and the interpreter, Thomas Stanton, declared, in the presence of God, that he had faithfully performed his duty as inter- preter.
Another purchase was made of Montowese, son of the great sachem of Mattabeseck, including ten miles north and south, and thirteen east and west : that is, the old towns of New. Haven, Branford, and Wallingford, and most of what now forms East- Haven, Woodbridge, Cheshire, Hamden, and North- Haven, besides those just mentioned.
The founders of New-Haven displayed much taste and judgment in laying out their town; and the inhabitants at the present day enjoy the bene- fit of their forethought, while every visiter to that beautiful city admires the regularity of its streets, and the conveniences which they afford, as well as the beauty of the fine open square which was re- served in the centre for a walk and public buildings. Around it were formed eight squares of equal size, with broad streets between them. These have been divided by narrower streets ; and, as they have now long since been occupied with buildings, many new squares have been added, some of them lying ob- liquely to the first.
.
77
1639.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
CHAPTER IX.
The Constitution of Connecticut Colony, formed January 14th, 1639 .- The Condition of the Towns which required it .- The Preamble and Provisions .- The Constitution of New Haven, formed June 4th, 1639 .- Settlement of Guilford, Stratford, and Saybrook.
THE towns on Connecticut River had thus far lived in much harmony and sympathy, under gov- ernments connected only. by choice. They never, until 1639, formed an express constitution for a permanent union. It was planned and adopted in a perfectly democratic manner : for the people proceeded on the simple and equalizing principles of a Christian church, as they regarded it, and from the pure source of the Gospel did they design should flow their civil system, as well as their ecclesiasti- cal and social state.
The first Constitution of Connecticut was formed in Hartford, after mature deliberation, at a meeting of the free planters of all the towns, who assembled on the 14th of January of that year. The pream- ble states, in substance, that they formed one pub- lic state or commonwealth for the establishment of order and government, and that they confeder- ated, for themselves and their successors, to main- tain the liberty and purity of the Gospel, and the discipline of the churches according to its institu- tion. The constitution provided for two General Courts or Assemblies annually, on the second G 2
78 FIRST CONNECTICUT CONSTITUTION. [1639.
Thursdays of April and September; elections to be held at the former for at least six magistrates and all other public officers, by the freemen, by bal- lot ; and for choosing a governor for a year, or un- til another be chosen, to be bound by an oath to ex- ecute the laws, and to be guided by the Scriptures in cases for which no law existed. It declared all to be freemen who had been received as members of towns, and taken the oath of fidelity to the com- monwealth. The governor was required to be a member of a regular church, and to have been a magistrate ; and he could not be elected more than once in two years. To be a candidate for a ma- gistrate, a man was required to be a freeman, and to be nominated by the freemen or the General Court. The Assembly in September was to meet only for the enactment of laws. Three deputies were to be sent by each of the three oldest towns, and as many by the others as the Assembly should determine; and the deputies were to exercise all . the powers of their respective towns. In case the governor should refuse to call an Assembly, it might be called by the constables on a vote of the freemen, choose a moderator, and proceed with full power. The adjournment of an Assembly could not take place without a majority of votes of members ; and a tax could be laid only by a committee formed of an equal number of repre- sentatives from all the towns. The governor had a casting vote.
It is worthy of attention, that a constitution showing so much sagacity, foresight, devotion to the public good, and the happiness of posterity, and founded on principles so thoroughly democratic,
79
1639.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
was made more than two hundred years ago, at a time when the rights of man were so imperfectly understood and so generally denied in other parts of the world. There are but few constitutions in existence even at the present period, in which the principles of equal rights are as distinctly avowed and as carefully protected : while, in most of the countries of Europe, the most intelligent men.at this day deny the reasonableness or the possibility of sustaining a community on such a foundation.
The first Assembly under the constitution met at Hartford in April, 1639, and consisted of the following deputies : Messrs. John Steele, Spencer, John Pratt, Edward Stebbins, Gaylord, Henry Wol- cott, Stoughton, Ford, Rayner, Boosy, George Hub- bard, and Richard Crab, by whom John Haynes was chosen governor, Mr. Ludlow deputy-govern- or, and Mr. Wells treasurer. . The magistrates were Messrs. Ludlow, George Wyllys, Edward Hopkins (who had become a resident of Hartford), Thomas Wells, John Webster, and William Phelps.
The first law passed was entitled the Bill of Rights ; and it ordained that, " unless by virtue of an express law of the colony sufficiently published, or, in defect of such law, by some plain rule of God's word, in which the whole court shall concur, no man shall lose life or good name, be arrested, restrained, banished, dismembered, or in any way punished, deprived of wife, children, or property, under colour of authority."
A noble testimony was also given, by the pas- sage of another law, to the truly republican char- acter of the people : it being ordained that all per- sons in the colony, whether inhabitants or not,
80
CONSTITUTION OF NEW-HAVEN.
[1639.
should enjoy the same law and justice without partiality or delay.
At the new colony of Quinnepiack, or New-Ha- ven, a constitution was formed a short time after- ward. Having postponed it until the second year, the free planters assembled in a large barn, and lis- tened to a sermon from Mr. Davenport on Proverbs, ch. ix., v. 1 : " Wisdom has builded her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars." He taught that a church should rest on seven pillars. The colony had been recently joined by more emigrants, chiefly other members of Messrs. Davenport's and Eaton's company (from Kent and Surrey, near London), and Mr. Whitfield and members of his congrega- tion. Among them were William Leet, Esq., Messrs. Samuel Desborough, Robert Kitchel, and William Chittenden.
Mr. Davenport, after a solemn invocation of the Divine Majesty, proceeded to represent to the plant- ers that they had met to consult respecting the set- tling of civil government according to the will of God, and for the nomination of persons who, by universal consent, were in all respects the best qualified for the foundation work of a church. He enlarged on the great importance of the trans- actions before them, and desired that no man would give his voice in any matter until he fully under. stood it; and that all would act without respect to any man, but give their vote in the fear of God. Several questions were then proposed by Mr. Dav- enport, which having been considered, six resolu- tions were passed, declaring "that the Scriptures hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and gov- ernment of all men, in all duties which they are to
81
1639.]
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
perform to God and men, as well in families and commonwealth as in matters of church ;" that the Scriptures should be their guide in all matters of church and state; that all who desired to become free planters had settled there with a wish to be church members, and felt " bound to establish such civil order as might best conduce to the securing of the purity and peace of the ordinance to them- selves and their posterity according to God ;" that only church members should be free burgesses and choose magistrates ; and that twelve men should be chosen and tried, who might choose seven to begin the church. It was then agreed that every person to be received as a free planter should sign those articles. After a term of trial, Theophilus Eaton, and Messrs. Davenport, Newman, Gilbert, Fugill, Punderson, and Dixon were chosen the seven pillars of the church.
This constitution was formed with the same great leading objects as those of Connecticut, Massachu- setts, and Plymouth : to establish government on the principles of Christianity, by which the people should be secured to the latest generations in the enjoyment of equal liberty and justice. The found. ers believed that the source of excellence of char- acter was true piety ; that the best friends of man were the servants of God ; and that those who did not profess to regard the Bible as his word, nor to make it their rule of conduct, were not most likely to understand the public interests, to appreciate and faithfully to consult them. We, at the pres- ent day, differ from them entirely in the opinion that a religious test is the safest ; and, in a larger population than they had to provide for, they would
82
CHARACTER OF THE FOUNDERS.
[1639.
doubtless have found many difficulties in conduct- ing public affairs which they did not find among a few men, well known to each other, who had sep- arated themselves from their country to enjoy in a wilderness their similar principles. We must, however, all unite in respecting the purity of their intentions and the exalted nature of their objects ; for it is impossible for any men to adopt more phil- anthropic, noble, and sacred motives than theirs. We should remember, also, that they had derived their political principles from their religious ones, and had not much reason to expect that other men, at that time, would imbibe them from any other source. In our day, millions of men who do not profess re- ligion, both in this country and in other parts of the world, are advocates of freedom and equal laws, be- cause they have witnessed their good influence un- der the operation of such institutions as were es- tablished by the founders of New-England. In 1639, such men were generally opposed to such institutions, which it was thought could not safely be trusted in their hands. The love of power was not the predominant motive with the legislators of New-England. Like Washington, they preferred the commonwealth to self-aggrandizement, and felt a high delight, as well as a solemn impression of duty, in keeping the political atmosphere free from every taint and impurity.
Roger Williams felt compelled to exclude the friends of Rome from political power in Rhode Island, as the supposed enemies of New-England principles. Penn could not find higher principles than these, either for political institutions or in in-
83
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
1639.]
tercourse with the Indians, though in some points he was more faithful in applying the latter.
Those pure and sincere men, the founders of Connecticut, denied the divine right of kings, and had been led, by their observations, experience, and reflections in England, to the conclusion, that man is too frail in judgment and virtuc to be safely trusted with the uncontrolled government of others. Many melancholy evidences of this had been pre- sented in English history. The whole fabric of government in Europe, too, they saw to be built on principles destructive of the equality taught in the Scriptures. That book opposes no established po- litical system, but inculcates respect and obedience to all. They thought, however, that, for laying the foundation of a new government, they could find in it nothing like a plan, except in the constitution of a church, and no principles but the simple ones of equal rights and equal duties. These they adopt- ed; and in the application of them to a system, they proceeded with a degree of honesty, solemnity, and caution which should be imitated by their success- ors. If we or any other people can determine how to proceed with greater wisdom, happy will it be ; and if we are always guided by objects as no- ble and motives as pure, we may think we have done our duty.
In the same year (1639), settlements were com- menced at Wopowage (now Milford) and Menun- katuck (now Guilford), and the government of each was formed on the plan of New-Haven. The seven pillars in Milford were the Rev. Mr. Prudden, Will- iam Fowler, Edmund Tapp, Zechariah Whitman, Robert Treat, Alexander Bryan, and John Ast-
84
SETTLEMENT OF FAIRFIELD.
[1639.
wood. Those of Guilford were Henry Whitfield, Robert Kitchel, William Leet, Samuel Desborough, William Chittenden, John Bishop, and John Caf- finge. These men formed courts, and were to be guided by the Scriptures until a written code should be drawn up. The lands in those towns and in New-Haven were purchased by their principal men, and held in trust for the people, who, after contributing to pay the expenses of surveying, &c., drew lots proportioned to their contributions.
Milford (including a part of Derby) was bought from the Indians, and settled by men chiefly from Wethersfield. They purchased also a large tract on the west side of Stratford River. The Indians were numerous, and the planters palisaded the town plat, nearly a mile in circuit. The Guilford In- dians soon moved away, as that was agreed in the sale of the town. The settlers were farmers from Surrey and Kent in England, and chose Menunka- tuck because the soil on the great meadow on the shore of the Sound resembled that they had left. This had been kept cleared by the Indians, and the heaps of shells which they had thrown up increased its fertility.
Sasco or Fairfield was also purchased, and set. tled by Mr. Ludlow and eight or ten families. He had seen the land while engaged in the war. A company of settlers soon after came from Water. town, and another from Concord. The town was formed under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. Cu- pheag and Pughquonnuck (now Stratford) were settled by Mr. Fairchild from England, John and William Curtis and Samuel Hawley from Roxbury, and Joseph Judson and Timothy Wilcoxson from
85
.
1639.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
Concord. Others joined them ; and Mr. Adam Blackman, an Episcopal minister from Leicester and Derbyshire in England, was their first pastor. It is said that he brought several of his congrega- tion with him. The whole township was not pur- chased until 1672, and then several reserved tracts were excepted.
At Saybrook preparations had been early made for some gentlemen of wealth and distinguished families, among whom was Oliver Cromwell, after- ward Lord Protector of England : but the war and the state of the country had prevented, and left it as it was, with only twenty men, and the soldiers in the fort. About midsummer arrived Mr. George Fenwick, with his pious and amiable wife, Lady Arabella Fenwick, who left the highest refinements of England for our then wild country, and whose monument is now the only remaining memorial of the position of the fortification in which it is said to have been placed. Mr. Fenwick had come to take possession of a large tract of land on the river for the patentees, and to commence a large town, which he laid out, and named Saybrook, after two of them : Lord Say-and-Seal and Lord Brook.
Mr. Thomas Peters was the first minister ; and the principal men were Captain Gardiner, Thomas Leflingwell, Thomas Tracy, Captain John Mason, and Messrs. Huntington, Baldwin, Raynolds, Back- us, Bliss, Waterman, Hide, Post, and Swift. We learn from tradition that Mr. Fenwick expected Saybrook Point to become a large commercial city ; and that the regularity of its streets and fields, and the public purposes assigned to several squares, are all traceable to his plan. Saybrook
H
86
DIFFICULTY WITH THE PEQUODS. [1639.
then embraced part of Lyme, and extended north eight miles, and west to Kenilworth, which is now called Killingworth.
CHAPTER X.
Difficulties of Connecticut with Sowheag, sachem of Middle- town .- Pequods driven from their old Planting Grounds by Captain Mason .- Trouble with the Dutch .- Incorporation of Towns. - Execution of a Pequod Sachem at New-Haven - Treatment of the Indians .- Purchases of Land for new Towns.
Bur, while so many were employed in the more pleasing occupations of peace, the conduct of some of the Indians had nearly led Connecticut into an- other war. It was discovered that Sowheag, the powerful sachem, the remains of whose fort are still to be seen at the entrance of the straits at Middletown, had played the traitor the preceding year : for, with some of the Indians of Wethers- field, he had aided the Pequods in the murders they had committed there; and he had treated with contempt those who demanded the criminals. Mr. Stone and Mr. Goodwin were sent by the court to persuade him : but, as they failed, and he continued to ill treat the colonists, the court agreed to send 100 men to take the offenders. The New- Haven council, however, prevailed on them not to take so hasty a step; and thus, by their humane advice, no doubt saved much bloodshed.
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.