USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > The history of Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, from the settlement of the town in 1639 to 1818. Vol. I > Part 11
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 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
63
DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT
1649]
the sins of those who had resolved upon his death. The council of general officers in November voted that the king should be " proceeded against in the way of justice." Foremost among these was General Edmund Ludlow, a cousin of Roger Ludlow. Cromwell took possession of the Par- liament and established the Rump, as it was called. The king was accused of treason, and a High Court of Justice appointed to try him. He was brought before this tribunal, and impeached "as a tyrant, traitor, mur- derer, & a public and implacable enemy of the commonwealth." The unhappy king sustained the majesty and dignity of his position. "He never forgot his part either as a prince or a man." On Saturday, the 27th of January, 1649, judgment was pronounced upon him. Only two days were allowed between his sentence and execution. On the afternoon of January 30 he was led to the block. As the executioner severed his head from his body, " a deep groan burst from the multitude." His son, Prince Charles, was proclaimed his successor on the IIth of February following ; but to all intents Cromwell was the ruling spirit of this unhappy period.
The death of Charles I. was received by all the American colonies, except those of New England, with deep sorrow; with the latter it was looked upon as the overthrow of English church and state, and the es- tablishment of a new government based upon republican principles, and the establishment of the tenets of the Independents. They, however, did not enjoy their full anticipation of peace, either civil or religious. " The rights of freemen" became the one all-absorbing topic of the day, and dissatisfaction and gloom followed quickly upon the news of the unsettled state of affairs in the mother country.
CHAPTER II
1650-1660
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
Original plats of Fairfield and Pequonnock .- Planters and heads of families .- Assistant and deputies of 1650 .- General laws .- Election sermons .- Ludlow a commissioner .- Witchcraft .- Trial and execution of Goodwife Knap .- War between England and Holland -Trouble with Indians .- Dutch vessel seized .- Supposed plot of the Dutch and Indians .- Fears of a general massacre .- Preparations for war .- England sends arms and ammunition .- Ludlow chief mili- tary officer .- Pirates .- Commissioners at Boston .- Agents sent to England for assistance .- Preparations at New Amsterdam .- Severity of colonial laws .- Invitation to Charles II. to come to America .- Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of England .- John Underhill. - Two Dutch war vessels enter Black Rock harbor .- Death of Governor Haynes .- A Fast .- Fairfield declares war against the Dutch .- Ludlow leaves the country .- His detention by New Haven .- Sails for Virginia .- English fleet arrive at Boston .- Peace proclaimed between England and Holland. -War declared against the Indians .- Six men to join the army from Fairfield .- General training day .- List of estates .- General Thanksgiving .- Major Willard's course .- Pequots awarded land. - Care of arms and ammunition .- Trouble with the Indians .- Pits for wolves. -Military laws for Indians .- Games .- Lotteries .- Town limits extended .- Efforts to pacify Indians .- General Fast .- Great mortality .- Probate Judges .- Colony tax .- Custom-house duties .- Temperance laws .- Commissioners .- Law for magistrates .- Thanksgiving.
HAVING traced the principal events of the first decade of the settle- ment of Fairfield, the opening of the year 1650 introduces us to the early land records of the town. Whatever of value was contained in the first thirteen pages of "Letter A of Town Deeds" has been lost; but the following pages afford clues of the original plats of Fairfield and Pequon- nock, which the diagrams represent between 1648 and 1654, with the names of the settlers who occupied them during the period.
The movement of the Bankside farmers resulted in the sale of their home-lots in Fairfield. This is recorded on the thirteenth page of Letter A of Town Deeds, where we learn that John Banks, who had previously lived cast of Hide's pond, and sold his house and home-lot to Humphrey. Hide, on the 12th of May, 1650, purchased Daniel Frost's house and home- lot, consisting of three and three-fourths acres. On the 4th of March, 1650, Simon Hoyt, of Stamford, who had been granted a home-lot west of Hide's Pond, between John Thompson's and George Goodwin's, purchased John Green's house and home-lot. The sale of Thomas Newton's, on the Ludlow and Newton squares, are not recorded until 1653, at which time
65
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
1650]
GEO. GOODWIN
SIMON HØYT
V. THOMPSON
.H. HICE
JOHN BANKS
BARLOW'S PLAIN
Hides Pond
FROST AVE.
WINDSOR ST.
JOHN GREY
R. WESTCOAT
OVOHN NICHOLS
DANIEL FROST
FRANCIS PUROIE
MWm. FROST
ROD'T HAWKINS
THO'S NEWTON
G JOHN BARLOW
ROGER LUDLOW
PASTURE LOT
WINDSOR FIELD
OLDFIELD GATK
FATE BURN
SQUARE
WHIPPING
NEWroh
SQUARE
MAS. JARAN WILSON
OBEDIAH GILBERT
JOHN BURR
VONN BURR
z
PARSONAGE LANO
THỔ'S NEWTON
RICH9 PERRY
EDMUND HARVEYS
O ORCHESTER
PETER JOHNSON
Pine Creek
PANZ BULKLEY
Wm. BATEMAN
Wm. HILL .Sr.
THO'S BULKLEY
CEO. SQUIRE
BURIAL
THO'S JONES
Wm. HILL Sr.
Wm. HILL Je.
;Pond
THE GREAT MEADOW BEFORE THE TOWN
GATE
N .. R. LUDLOW
GATE
SAL
ME
FOND
PAUL'S NECK
SEELEY'S PT.
GREEN MEETING O HOUSE
S T.
LUDLOW
SQUARE
S T
LUDLOW AVE.
POST 9
GREEN FOWARDA POND
......
SAM'L MOREHOUSE
0
REV. J. JONES
lu
CONCOR
R. LUDLOW'S
COURT & SCHOOL HOUSE 3
K. PINKNEY
FROST SQUARE
V. FOSTER
THO'S STAPLES
HENRY
WHELPLEY
JOHN
GREEN
THỔ'S BARLOW
CONCORD FIELD
LEWIS LOT
ROST TURNEY
SASQUA NECK
HILL
MILL OLD MILL HILL
HILL AVE
WOLVES SWAMP
THE FAIRFIELD PLAT BETWEEN 1648 AND 1057.
they were sold by Alexander Bryan, a lawyer and real estate agent, of Milford. The same year the one on the Ludlow square was purchased of Bryan by Andrew Ward (who had previously purchased John Thompson's home-lot, west of Hide's Pond), while his place on the Newton square was occupied by Nathan Gold, who removed from Milford in 1649, and first occupied John Foster's lot in the Frost square. Gold's purchase of this place was not recorded until the 5th of December 1653, he having previ- ously sold it to Thomas Sherwood. Soon after purchasing Thomas Newton's lot, Nathan Gold purchased the lot next above it first granted to Richard Perry in 1649, and he sold the Newton lot to Dr. Thomas Pell. Henry Gray left the Frost homestead, the use of which, by William Frost's will, was given to him and his wife during their lives, and entailed to their son, Jacob Gray, and he also became one of the Bankside farmers.
The house and home-lot of John Gray, who appears to have settled at Newtown, Long Island, was purchased by Bryan and sold on the 18th of March, 1649, to Henry Rowland. Richard Westcoat, who had owned the house and home-lot between John Gray's and John Nichol's, died soon after he settled at Fairfield. His widow married Nathaniel Baldwin, of
5
FAIRFIELD WOODS
THE ROCKS
1
UNCOWAY' CREEN
LANE
66
HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1650
WILLIAM ODELL 2'/2 ACRES.
RICHARD BOOTS 2/2 ACRES.
BENJAMIN
TURNEY
2/2 ACRES.
GEORGE STARKEY
2/2 ACRES.
THOMAS WHEELER JR. 2/2 ACRES.
EPHRIAM WHEELER
3 ACRES.
JAMES BENNET .
2/2 ACRES
THOMAS WHEELER SR.
2 /2 ACRES.
JAMES EVERTS
2'/2 AGRES
*JOSEPH MIDDLEBROOK
2/2 ACRES.
PETER JOHNSON
2/2 AGRES.
MILITARY GREEN.
TRUCK LANE.
PASTURE.
THE PEQUONNOCK PLAT.
Milford. Baldwin removed to Fairfield, and by virtue of this marriage occupied the dwelling and lands of Westcoat. The widow of William Hill, sr., whose husband had first been granted a home-lot on the north- east side of Dorchester street, is recorded in 1649 as living on the north- west corner of Newton square.# It was not an unusual thing for the planters to receive grants of home-lots, and also hold others purchased or exchanged.
The Purdy lot was sold to Moses Dimond May 2, 1670, at which time John Purdy, son of Francis Purdy, deceased, lived at Eastchester. The Frost lot was owned by Jacob Gray until 1886, when it was purchased by the Rev. Samuel Wakeman for his son Samuel, and deeded to him the 6th of November of that year.
Henry Whelpley sold his lot to Alexander Bryan, who resold it to Alexander Knowles 17th January, 1653. February 9, 1653, Dr. Thomas Pell purchased Nathan Gold's house and home-lot next the parsonage land. December 8, 1653, Nathan Gold purchased Richard Perry's home-lot, which was afterwards sold to Dr. William Ward. The Lewis lot was granted by the town to William Hill, sr., February 13, 1670. Jehu Burr, jr.'s, land is not recorded until 1670. After his father's death he purchased of his brother, John Burr, the home-lot on the west, next to Obediah Gilbert's, and John Burr purchased the Pinkney lot
* The author was under the impression that the Probate and Town Records of Fairfield, as many writers have hitherto stated, were carried away by Roger Ludlow, and destroyed when Gen- eral Tryon sacked and burned the town in 1779. Both these statements are without foundation. The vaults of the town-house contain many volumes and files of rich historic lore, dating from 1648 to the present time.
67
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
1650 ]
opposite John Gray's. The Hoyt lot was sold to Andrew Ward, then to Edward Adams, next to William Hayden, and in 1666 to Francis Bradly.
The Pequonnock plat represents occupants, as follows. January 21, 1649, Ephraim Wheeler granted from the town one home-lot, consisting of three acres, more or less, bounded north-west with the high-way, north-east with land of Thomas Wheeler, jr., south-east with the land of James Bennet, and south-west with the highway. In January, 1649, James Bennet granted from the town a home-lot, consisting of 2} acres, more or less, bounded north-west with the land of Ephraim Wheeler, north-east with the land of Thomas Wheeler, jr., south-east with the land of Thomas Wheeler, sr. In Janu- ary, 1649, Thomas Wheeler, jr., granted from the town one home-lot, 2} acres, more or less, bounded north-east with Thomas Wheeler, jr., north-west with the land of James Bennet, south-east with the land of John Evarts, and south-west with the highway. January 8, 1649, Joseph Middlebrook granted from the town one home-lot, consisting of 2} acres, more or less, bounded north-west with the land of John Evarts, north-east with Benjamin Turney and George Starkey, south-east with Peter Johnson, and south-west with the highway. December 3, 1653. Formerly granted to Richard Roots one home-lot, 2} acres, bounded south-west with Henry Jackson, south-east with Robert Turney, north- east with William Odell, north-west with the highway.
Richard Roots died before 1653. Michael Fry married his widow, and settled upon his home-lot. Henry Jackson purchased Thomas Wheeler, jr.'s, home-lot, who at or before 1653 had built a house at Greenlca. George Starkey was probably the same person who died in London in September, 1665, where he practiced medicine during the terrible plague which prevailed in that city.
Among the other early Pequonnock settlers was Samuel Gregory, who lived near the foot of Golden-hill, near the street which crosses the hill to Stratford. A few rods east of the military park were some three acres of peat swamp land, which was used as fuel. A stone quarry lay but a few rods north-east of this peat land ; and about a mile to the north was still another quarry. West of the military green was the first burial ground of Pequonnock; but it does not appear that it was used for this purpose until . me years after the settlement, when by a vote of the town the Pequonnock planters were granted a burial place. In addition to the above mentioned names the following list gives the heads of other families living in Fairfield between 1639 and 1650:
John Cable. George Hull.
John Tompkins.
John Chapman. James Beers.
Cornelius Hull.
John Thompson.
Stephen Hedge.
Charles Tainter.
Widow Rachel Brundish.
Timothy Hoard.
Thomas Demond, or Dimond. Richard Knowles.
Thomas Dickerson. Richard Lyon.
Thomas Dunn.
Robert Lockwood.
Antony Wilson.
Samuel Drake. Thomas Mayocke.
George Goodwin. Nehemiah Olmstead.
Mrs. Jane Stalion (Sterling). Thomas Sherwington.
Robert Wolly.
John Whitlock.
68
HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1650
There were probably others, but those only have been given which could be obtained with certainty. The list of land-holders between 1650 and 1700 who did not share in the land dividends of the town, were as follows :
Samuel Allin.
Thomas Disborow.
Dongal Mac Kensey. Antony Nouguier.
Gideon Allen.
John Down.
Moses Demont, or Dimond.
Nehemiah Omstead.
John Allyn.
Thomas Baxter.
Jonathan Fanton.
John Plastead.
Robert Bisbum.
Luke Guire, or Weire.
John Platt.
Thomas Bedient.
Christopher Godfree.
John Palmer.
John Beardsley. Philip Galpin.
Joseph Phippen.
Thomas Barnum.
William Hayden.
Samuel Robinson.
Richard Burgis.
John Herdman.
John Read.
Joseph Bastard, or Barstow. Thomas Hurlburt.
Elisha Risden.
John Crow.
Esborn Wakeman.
John Ufford.
William Cross.
Elnathan Handford.
John Sorserer.
Robert Churchill.
Joseph James.
Samuel Summers.
Henry Castle.
Samuel Judson.
Samuel Smedley.
John Crump.
Henry Lyon.
Samuel Sherman.
John Campbell.
Walter Lancaster.
John Thorp.
Henry Crane.
Robert Lord.
John Winters.
John Edwards.
Lewis Phillips.
Thomas Williams.
John Eggleston.
John Mills.
Nathaniel White.
Albert Dennie.
Thomas Merwin.
Richard Vowles, or Fowles.
John Davis.
Peter Mayoke.
Philip Vicars.
Elias Doughty.
John Mahew.
Thomas Yeow.
John Darling.
The soldiers engaged in the Pequot war of 1637 and 1638, who settled at Fairfield, were :
Roger Ludlow.
William Hayden.
Dr. Thomas Pell. *
Thomas Lyon. +
Thomas Basset. John Wood.
James Eggleston.
Samuel Gregory.
Richard Osborn.
Nehemiah Omstead.
* Dr. Thomas Pell was the surgeon from the fort at Saybrook, who accompanied the first expedi- tion against the Pequot forts on the Thames and the Mystic rivers. He afterwards purchased the estate at Westchester, which had belonged to the unfortunate Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, and which was named Pellham-ham signifying home or house. Thirty years later Jacob Leisler, acting Governor of New York, purchased New Rochelle of Dr. Pell. He was "formerly Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Charles I." He married the widow of Francis Brewster, of New Haven, before he settled at Fairfield. He is described as having been a rank royalist. . His land at Fair- field was willed to his nephew, John Pell, of London, son of the Rev. Dr. John Pell of that city, who came to this country, and was, by a record in the Fairfield probate office, acknowledged a lawful heir ; but he does not appear to have settled in the town .- Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's Hist. New York, I., 171. Savage's Genealogical Dictionary. Fairfield Probate Records.
t There were possibly others, but as there exists no regular list of the Pequot soldiers, it is diffi- cult to obtain their names.
69
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
1650]
The dividend land-holders will be given in the years in which the dividends were made. All persons who had been made freemen, and con- tributed towards the purchase of Indian lands, were allowed to be dividend holders. The purchase of a large tract of land did not result in its full division at any one time ; but as many acres were staked out from time to time, as the planters found themselves capable of improving. These divi- dends were made by lotteries, each head of a family, his wife and children drawing as many acres, half acres, quarter acres and roods, as fell to his or their proportion, at their town and county rates.
At the general court of election in May, Ludlow was chosen one of the magistrates of the colony, and George Hull and Thomas Sherwood deputies .* A grant was made of "6s. 8d. to the common soldiers, & IOS. a piece to the sergeants for the loss of time they sustained in their late expedition against the Indians." Foreigners were forbidden to retail goods in the jurisdiction of Connecticut for the space of one year, and the planters were ordered not to purchase their goods during that time. This was no doubt intended to affect the thrift of the Dutch commerce, as well as to prevent the sale from the French and Dutch of arms and ammuni- tion to the Indians. The petition of the Bankside farmers was also taken into consideration, and the following grant awarded them :
" This Court, considering the return of Daniel Titterton & John Hurd, about a par- cel of land lying near the town of Fairfield, according to their order from the General Court of Election, in May 1649, do grant unto the said town of Fairfield the said parcell of land to Saugatuck river: provided the said Saugatuck doe not extend two miles from the bounds of the said Fairfield." +
This did not give satisfaction to the Bankside planters, who had hoped to extend their claim to the Saugatuck river, which formed the east limit of Ludlow's purchase of the Norwalk Indians in 1640, and which he afterwards sold to the Norwalk planters. The Bankside farmers claimed that the lands east of the Saugatuck had no lawful owners. On the other hand the Norwalk planters used the same argument, and in the month of June, made an application to the General Court for the rights of a planta- tion, and were granted liberty to extend their boundaries to the west bounds of Fairfield. The provision made by the court, that the west limits of the Bankside lands should not extend more than two miles west of the Fairfield bounds, ran short of the Saugatuck river, leaving a valuable tract for the Norwalk planters to claim without delay ; hence a bone of contention arose between the two plantations, which was not settled for
* Col. Rec. Conn., I., 207. + Col. Rec. Conn., I., 208.
70
HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1651
several years. They believed themselves secure, however, in the lands they had cultivated, which included within their limits not only some of the richest farming lands in that region, but Frost point, Farmer's or Sherwood's island, Compo point, Turkey, Clapboard, Wakeman and Benja- min's hills, commanded some of the finest views on the Sound.
Thomas Newton, who had given offense to the town authorities, in 1650 sold out his right in these lands, which in 1657 were purchased by Robert Beacham (or Beuchamp) of Norwalk. From time to time they were joined by a few other planters, among whom were Giles Smith, Simon Couch, Henry Plaistead, Joseph Lockwood, Robert Rumsie, Robert Meaker and Thomas Barnum. The Bankside farmers appear to have lived in a luxurious manner for those days. Some of them owned slaves, and with the cheap hire of Indian labor, they reaped large and valuable crops. The inventories of their estates exhibit an accumulation of handsome fortunes. In the month of November the General Court ordered that " as Fairfield had not rendered a just & perfect list of the estates of her inhabitants, according to the order of the Court, that the sd. town should pay twenty nobles as a fine for their neglect & contempt thereof; & that they should pay rate for the present year" according to the estates they had formerly given.
It is noticeable that this court was ordered to adjourn to the second lecture day in March next " after the sermon," which shows that a sermon was preached by some invited minister at the adjournment, and not, as in after years, at the opening of the court. At the assembling of the court of election in May, Ludlow was chosen one of the magistrates, and George Hull and Andrew Ward deputies. Ludlow was also chosen one of the commissioners of the united colonies.
The fine of John Banks, Edward Adams, Phillip Pinkney, John Hoit and George Godding or Goodwin of Fairfield, who had been fined twenty shillings apiece for assisting Thomas Newton in escaping from justice to the Dutch, was remitted ; but Thomas Staples, who appears to have been the leading party in Newton's escape, did not fare as well, his fine of forty shillings being remitted to twenty shillings. The commissioners of Fairfield and Stratford, who had not previously been called upon to attend the yearly meeting of the commissioners of the river towns, were now ordered to meet annually with them at Hartford, two days before the sitting of the General Court in September, and bring with them a list of the persons and the estates of their towns, that they might be examined and per- fected before being presented to the General Court. The fine of twenty nobles against Fairfield was remitted. Thomas Thornton " affirmed
71
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
1651]
before the court, that it was reported there had been a hundred beavers killed in Fairfield within the past year." It was about this time that the communities of Stratford, Fairfield and the neighboring towns were seized with the mania of witchcraft. They were thrown into an alarming state of excitement when the General Court ordered Governor John Haynes, deputy-governor Edward Hopkins, and John Collick to go soon to Strat- ford to attend the trial of one Goody Basset, who had been accused of being a witch.
The belief in this singular delusion, which prevailed not only in Eng- land but throughout all Europe, had its day in New England. The Bay State suffered far more than Connecticut from its unhappy results. The second law of the code of capital laws established by the General Court of Connecticut December, 1642, required, " If any man or woman be a witch (that is) hath or consulted with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death." * To harbor or to converse with a witch, was therefore not only a sin, but an offense in the eye of the law. To rid the community of persons who were believed to hold conversation with familiar spirits, and to be under the direct influence of the devil, was regarded a righteous act, according to the law of Moses. To cast out an unclean spirit after the example of our Savior, by fasting, prayer and supplication, does not appear to have been supposed a possibility. The trial of Goody Basset, which took place at Stratford at the appointed time, ended with a sen- tence of the court that she should be hanged as a witch. Before her execution she was heard to say, "there was another witch in Fairfield that held her head full high."
Shortly after this, a poor, simple-minded woman living in Fairfield, by the name of Knap, was suspected of witchcraft. She was tried, con- demned and sentenced to be hanged.t The execution took place in Try's field, which is described in the will of Henry Jackson of Pequonnock, as lying northwest of the Indian field. At the assembling of the General Court on the IIth of September at Hartford, a grand list of the inhabit- ants and estates of the towns in the Connecticut colony was presented. The deputies of Fairfield offered a list of names and estates, the sum total of which amounted to £8,895 3s. The previous poll-tax of 2s. 6d. was reduced "to 18 pence, to be paid one third in wheat, one third in peas, & one third in good wampum or Indian." On the 6th of October, Andrew Ward and George Hull of Fairfield, and William Beardsley of Stratford, were propounded for assistants to join with the magistrates for the execu-
* Ex. 22, 18. Lev. 20, 27. Deut. 18, 10, II.
+ New Haven Col. Rec., 1, 84-88.
72
HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1652
tion of justice at the seaside. It was also ordered that Norwalk should send one inhabitant to Ludlow, to receive the oath of a constable.
Fairfield and the English settlements on the Sound were greatly dis- turbed at this time by the troubles which existed between England and Holland. On the 9th of October, 1651, England framed the famous act of navigation, by which all nations were prohibited from importing into her ports any goods, except in English vessels or in the vessels of the country where the goods were produced. This law seriously affected the Dutch shipping interests, as they had largely subsisted upon the income derived from being the general carriers and factors of Europe. Hostilities at once opened between Holland and England, and extended to the colonies in America. The colonies of Connecticut and New Haven, which had previously suffered from the Dutch, had reason to be seriously alarmed at the course which the Dutch governor of New Netherlands at once assumed. Great fears were also entertained of a general uprising of the Indians throughout the country .* The third Wednesday in October was appointed " as a day of. fasting & humiliation concerning the affairs of our native country, & the prevalence of a grievous disease among the colonists of Massachusetts."
At the court of election in May, 1652, Ludlow was chosen an assistant, and Andrew Ward and William Hill deputies for Fairfield. Ludlow was soon after appointed a commissioner of the united colonies for 1653. It was ordered at the same time, that the particular courts should be held two days, instead of one day before the assembling of the two General Courts, in May and September. The case of John Cable and others of Fairfield, who had seized a Dutch vessel on the coast, was brought before the court. After weighing the matter, the court decided, " that consider- ing the grounds of the seizure of the vessel of Oulsterman at Fairfield, & the parties on both sides having submitted themselves to the judgment of the Court, they do order, that upon the said Dutchman's paying the said seizors the sum of five pounds & all their reasonable costs, his vessel & goods should be delivered up to him." At the same time the court ordered that the fort at Saybrook should immediately be put in a state of defense. Fairfield and Stratford were given authority to elect assistant judges, to aid the magistrates of the said plantations in holding a court within their jurisdictions for the year ensuing. Ludlow was again chosen
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.