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 13
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while walking with him, he told him that he had heard he had been active in drawing men together against the commonwealth where he lived ; and that he said he would be a " reformer not only of commonwealths, but of churches also." Basset did not deny this charge, but replied, " indeed this is the thing that troubles me, that we have not our vote in our jurisdiction as others have, & instanced the Connecticut jurisdiction." He showed great contrition before the court, and acknowledged that he had been engaged with John Youngs, one Captain Eaton, Jeremiah Jaggers and Wil- liam Newman and old Newman, at Stamford, in raising volunteers to make war upon the Dutch ; and also of receiving and concealing a seditious let- ter against the commonwealth of New Haven, to overthrow the colonial government both of church and state. It was proved that he and his companions had set out with a view of visiting all the towns west of New Haven, to arouse a seditious spirit among the people, which they had carried out, until they were on their way from Norwalk to Fairfield, when they were arrested by two commissioners from New Haven, and tempo- rarily lodged in the Fairfield jail. He was ordered to give up the seditious papers which he and John Chapman had used along the coast ; and until such papers were found, he was to be put in irons. He pleaded guilty of all the charges brought against him, but upon exhibiting a penitent spirit, and taking the oath of allegiance to the New Haven colony, he was allowed to return to Stamford .*
The trial of Baxter and those engaged with him continued until the latter part of March, when it was again decided that he should " be sent to Connecticut, to see what they would do with him." The others were heavily fined and bound under large bonds for their future loyalty to the government of New England.
At the assembling of the General Court of Connecticut at Hartford on the 6th of March, Thomas Baxter was fined seventy pounds, to be paid to the colony treasury, and that he should give bonds of two hundred pounds, at the hand of some good and satisfactory security, for his good behavior for one year. He was also ordered to pay Mr. Mayhew, the owner of the Dutch vessel which he had taken, the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds. +
Captain John Underhill's seizure and sale of Fort Good Hope was not
* New Haven Col. Rec., 2, 48-57. Basset owned a home-lot in Fairfield in 1653. Baxter also pretended to live in Fairfield in 1654. His wife Bridget was divorced from him by an order of the General Court of Connecticut in 1662. John Chapman had lived in the New Haven colony, was in Fairfield in 1647, and soon after removed to Stamford.
+ Col. Rec. Conn., I, 253.
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recognized by the court, which decided " that in consideration of the order sent over by authority from the Parliament of England, for all due encour- agement & assistance against their enemies the Dutch," that the Dutch house Good Hope and lands should be claimed by the English until a trial could be had. Meanwhile all improvement of those lands was prohib- ited without the consent of the court.
At this alarming period in the history of New England, the sale of liquor among the Indians had become a dangerous source of evil ; in con- sequence of which at the sitting of this court, a stringent law was passed against the sale of wine or liquor to the Indians, under a penalty of " five pounds for every pint sold, & forty shillings for the least quantity." It was ordered: " All Barbadoes liquor, commonly called ' Ruin Kill Devill' or the like," if landed in any place in the Connecticut jurisdiction, should be forfeited to the commonwealth, " two thirds part to be paid into the public treasury, & one third to the party who seized the liquor." A duty of "ten shillings was levied upon every anchor of liquor, forty shillings upon a butt of wine, twenty shillings upon a hogshead of wine, ten shillings upon a cask, whether they were full or noe." No person was allowed to retail liquor without a license from the General Court, under a penalty of twenty shillings. The insurrection instigated by Baxter, Youngs, Basset and their companions against the Dutch and the colony of New Haven, brought about the necessity of strong legislative action in Connecticut, and specially in New Haven, where every effort was made to prevent a civil war at home. The appearance of two Dutch men-of-war at the entrance of Black Rock harbor, led those of calm judgment and thoughtful consideration, to think the advice of the elders of the Bay, not altogether unreasonable. Nevertheless the Connecticut magistrates resolved to root out the Dutch within the jurisdiction. It is shown in the above account that during the fiery ordeal through which Fairfield passed, neither her chief officers nor citizens gave any countenance whatever to the pro- ceedings of Baxter, Youngs, or Basset.
The course pursued by Ludlow in preparing troops for the defense of the town, was in every way in accordance with the office which had been assigned him by the General Court of Connecticut. In the month of April, 1653, he had, with Mr. Cullick, been given power to impress men in the river towns for the protection of the Saybrook fort and river inhabi- tants. On the 18th of June following, with Mr. Cullick, he was " invested with full power to agitate such occasions as concerned the United Colo- nies, according to their former commission." While attending the meeting of the commissioners in May, the General Court voted " that there should
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be no change made in the military officers at Stratford, during his absence," thus giving him power to appoint officers by the sea-side. On the 27th of July he was appointed with Governor Haynes to treat with Governor Eaton and the New Haven magistrates, about purchasing and fitting out a man-of-war to cruise up and down the Sound, to protect the English settlements on the Long Island and the Connecticut coast, and also to treat with the English and the friendly Indians of Long Island in making preparations, should war be declared. Therefore when an armed vessel from the Manhadoes appeared in the harbor of his own town, Ludlow not only acted under the power of his commission, but with the judgment and necessary precaution due to the citizens of Fairfield. By a vote of the freemen of Fairfield he was made commander-in-chief of the militia of the town, which was a legal action according to a law of the colony that each town should choose its own officers; but they had no legal authority to declare war without the sanction of the commissioners of the united colonies, which both Connecticut and New Haven declared had been dissolved by Massachusetts. With one hundred armed men from the Manhadoes lying off their harbor, the townsmen of Fairfield would have been arrant cowards if they had not declared war against the Dutch, and gone out to defend their homes and firesides, in case of an attack from the ships, which their formidable appearance in the harbor gave occasion to expect at any moment.
If the chief townsmen of Fairfield in 1779 had been as active as they were in 1654, Fairfield would never have passed through the ordeal of fire and devastation at the hands of the British by Tryon and his troops. The state legislature of Connecticut has never appeared to take into considera- tion the danger to which the towns within her jurisdiction bordering upon Long Island Sound have been exposed. It is a noticeable fact, however, that on the 14th of April, 1653, Ludlow was appointed with Mr. Cullick to take all prompt and necessary measures for the defense of Saybrook and the river settlements. The General Court of Connecticut, even at this critical moment, went so far as to order the seizure of the Dutch fort Good Hope and lands at Hartford, while Fairfield, left to protect herself, even as in 1779, for want of necessary legislative action, was made a conspicuous mark for any foreign enemy to plunder and destroy.
There is no doubt that the course pursued by the General Court and commissioners of Massachusetts, and a marked caution at this time in the policy of the General Courts of Connecticut and New Haven, by which Ludlow found himself and his townsmen left exposed to the mercy of the Dutch and Indians, were the leading causes which led to his removal from
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New England .* Added to these, he must have been overwhelmed with astonishment and disgust, when a disgraceful suit for slander was brought against him by Thomas Staples, of Fairfield, by which an attempt was made to fasten upon him a prevalent report, which almost every leading man and woman in the town of Fairfield had in vain endeavored to prove by the witch Knap, viz. : that Mrs. Thomas Staples was a witch. He gathered affidavits from a large majority of the citizens of Fairfield, which he left in the hands of his attorney, Alexander Bryan, of Milford, clearly setting forth the injustice of the charges brought against him.t There exists no authority whatever for the statement advanced by some writers, that Ludlow conceived that the just reprimand of Baxter, who at best was but a piratical character, of Basset and Youngs who were proven leaders of a band of outlaws, was aimed as a reproof to him. He contin- ued to occupy his place as one of the magistrates of the General Court until April, and was present on the 6th of March, 1654, when, " some emi- nent removals from the colony," were mentioned among the causes for ap- pointing a day of special fasting and prayer, which undoubtedly referred to him.
He was no longer a young man. For twenty-four years he had given the prime of his life in an active and Herculean service in building up a republic in New England. With an Englishman's pride and ambition, he hoped to extend the possessions of his native country throughout America. The Dutch, in his estimation, were but mere intruders between the New England and Virginia colonies. An imminent war with them, a threat- ened civil war in the New Haven colony, the prospect of a rise among the Indians, which he could plainly see must sooner or later be inevitable, and the increasing political and ecclesiastical troubles of the New England colonies, no doubt led him to desire a safer and a happier home for him- self and his family. He therefore resolved to return to England. Before taking leave of his friends in America, he made preparations to visit his brother, George Ludlow, who owned a large plantation at Yorktown, in Virginia. It would scarcely be expected that Ludlow would be a favorite with the New Haven colonists. From the date of his settlement at Unco- way to the present period of his life in New England, he had been strongly opposed to New Haven being a separate colony. He chartered a ship carrying ten guns, of one Captain John Manning of Milford, to convey him with his family and effects to Virginia. It was found, however, that Cap- tain Manning had been engaged during the winter in trading between
* Life of Roger Ludlow in New England. Appendix No. I.
+ See Suit of Thomas Staples against Roger Ludlow. Appendix No. II.
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the planters of Virginia and the Dutch of New Amsterdam, which was strictly prohibited by the Connecticut and New Haven colonies; and, as Milford belonged to the New Haven colony, both he and his vessel were seized by the authorities of that jurisdiction.
Ludlow laid before Governor Eaton the great inconvenience and dam- age which the staying of the ship would be to him ; and demanded a writ- ten statement of the grounds of its detention. The governor furnished the reasons, when Ludlow laid claim to the vessel as his own, probably because he considered it such after he had hired it for his own private use. But upon being reminded he had previously stated that he hired it, and " that men need not hire that which is their own," it was at length agreed that he should leave one hundred pounds of his estate in the hands of Alexander Bryan of Milford, as security that Manning would present him- self "to the authorities in England, before the 20. of October, to answer the charges made against him; & to abide their censure -" provided that upon receiving notice from thence of the decision they would be satisfied to release the securities furnished. In the mean time Ludlow required papers to the effect that Captain Manning and his vessel might be at his service " in all ways allowed by the state of England." But before he and Manning had left New Haven, it was discovered that Manning's seamen " had struck against orders & with a high hand & threatening speeches" had carried away his vessel. They were pursued by a shallop containing thirteen armed men sent out from Milford. Ludlow and Cap- tain Manning were immediately sent for, and informed of this offense. Upon Ludlow's being asked if he would give the security which he had promised, he declined to do so, because the vessel had left Milford. In the mean time the vessel was so hotly pursued by the shallop, that her men escaped in a skiff, leaving her adrift, taking with them the captain's trunk, books and writings. The forsaken vessel, with a considerable expense and hazard, was recovered and brought back to Milford, when " Ludlow again tendered the former securities;" but having refused it, while the vessel was in the hands of Manning's men, a trial of the case was ordered before the General Court of New Haven. Manning was charged with having ordered his men out of the harbor of Milford, to await his overtaking them, which he denied. He was fined, however, the sum of twenty shillings, for telling "two lyes," made to bear all the expenses of the trial at New Haven and at Milford, and sent to England to be pun- ished for trading with the Dutch. The Milford men who recovered his vessel were granted twenty shillings apiece, and their court fees. Man- ning's vessel, which was pronounced a prize, was ordered to be sold at
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Milford on the following Tuesday, " at three o'clock in the afternoon, by an inch of the candle."
Soon after, the 26th of April, Ludlow took leave of his friends in Con- necticut, and sailed for Virginia. It must have been with a keen pang of sorrow that he bade adieu to Fairfield, which he had watched with the pride of a father in its growth out of a wilderness into a beautiful town. Had he remained in Connecticut his talents would undoubtedly have won for him a higher position than he had previously occupied. But his work in New England had been accomplished. It was a noble work, which more than two centuries after he left the country, stands out as a colossal monument to his genius and to his memory. His dwelling, home-lot and pasture lot were left with William Hill for sale, and were purchased by Nathan Gold on the 18th May, 1654 .*
In the latter part of the winter or early spring of 1654, Ludlow paid a visit to the Rev. John Davenport, of New Haven ; and one evening, while in conversation with him and Mrs. Davenport, he was led to relate the circumstances connected with the trial and execution of the witch Knapp at Fairfield, and her vindictive effort, even in her last moments, to fasten upon Mrs. Thomas Staples the stigma of being a witch. He also spoke of the course pursued by Mrs. Staples before the execution and afterwards in examining the body of good-wife Knapp for the marks of a witch, de- claring before several women standing by, " that if the marks upon the body were those of a witch she was one herself, for she had the same marks." He requested that what he had related might be regarded as confidential, as he did not wish the story to be circulated from him ; that others who had overheard the declaration of the witch, either had or would
* Record of Roger Ludlow's grant of home-lot, etc., from the Town, 4 Feb., 1653. A, Town Deeds, p. 86 .- Sale to Alexander Bryant, 10 May, 1654. A, Town Deeds, p. 57 .- Sale to Nathan Gold, I., II May, 1654. A, Town Deeds, p. 52 .- Willed to Nathan Gold, II., March 1, 1693, Prob. Rec., Vol. 1689-1701 .- Willed to Nathan Gold, III., April 29, 1724, Prob. Rec., Vol. 1716- 1735 .- Willed to grandson Jabez Hubbell, legal representative of Martha Gold Hubbell, Sept. 28, 1761, Prob. Rec., Vol. 1754-1764 .- Willed by Jabez Hubbell to his son James and his wife Roda, Jan. 3, 1798, Prob. Rec., Vol. 1799-1818. Jabez Hubbell died in 1817. His son James died at Hartford, 1810. The heirs of Jabez Hubbell and Roda, his wife, namely, Emily Bulkley, David Mallory, Jabez A. West, Hannah West, Caroline Gilbert, Simon H. Mallory, George, Elizabeth, and Jeremiah Mallory, on the 2 April, 1835, had this homestead distributed to them. Prob. Rec., Vol. 1827-1835, p. 695 .- The Hubbell heirs sold it to Obediah Jones in 1835. Town Deeds, Vol. 44, pages 546, 458, 700, 297, etc .- O. W. Jones sold it to John Thompson, Town Records, Vol. 47. John Thompson re-sold it to O. W. Jones, 22 Feb., 1850. Vol. 48, p. 512 .- O. W. Jones deeded it to Sarah J. Haines, March, 1851. Town Deeds, Vol. 49 .- Charles N. Butt and Sarah J. Butt, J. H. Knox and Augusta Knox, the heirs of Sarah J. Haines, deeded it to Elizabeth A. Talbot, May 7, 1853. Town Deeds, Vol. 50, pp. 724-725 .- George A. Talbot and the heirs of Elizabeth A. Talbot deeded it to Oliver O. Jennings, 29 April, 1880, Vol. 61, pp. 729, 730.
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soon spread it abroad. Soon after Thomas Staples instituted a suit against Mr. Ludlow for defaming his wife's character ; to which he gave no attention, except to leave an overwhelming amount of evidence in the hands of his attorney, Alexander Bryan of Milford, which clearly proved that he was not responsible for what the witch Knapp and Mrs. Staples herself had declared to be true. Mrs. Staples was evidently one of those sharp, shrewd women, who are not to be silenced in their professed opinions by any one. Her outspoken opinion against one of the principal laws of the colony, was enough of itself in those days to condemn her as a witch. She had also had a quarrel with Ludlow, who had charged her with telling falsehoods, or in plainer words, of telling a series of lies. People used plain, ungarnished language in those days, and a lie was a lie, white or black. Altogether, Mrs. Staples felt herself to be an exceedingly conspic- uous person at that time, and consequently made herself such. She had no idea of being made either to suffer punishment as a witch or to believe in witchcraft. In the estimation of the public, particularly among the best people of the town, there was an uneasy suspicion that perhaps she was a witch. Therefore, in order to clear her from the charge, and the danger of being hanged, her husband resolved to make a scape-goat of Ludlow, by bringing an action of slander against him, thereby making him suffer for the witch Knapp's accusation and of public opinion, as well as for charging his wife in the meeting-house with having " gone on in a tract of lying." The suit took place in New Haven on the 29th of May, 1654, a month after Ludlow left for Virginia, and, as will be seen hereafter, he was fined several pounds and costs of the court.
For the first time in almost twenty years the name of Roger Ludlow disappears from the list of magistrates, chosen at the General Court of election held on the 18th of May. Andrew Ward and William Hill were again elected deputies from Fairfield. George Hull and Alexander Knowles were chosen assistants to the magistrates sent by the General Court to execute justice in the sea-side towns ; "to marry persons ; & to press horses for the public welfare." The assistants at Fairfield and the adjacent towns, were given liberty to examine the causes of disquietude among them ; and either to send the delinquents to Hartford for trial, or to send for some of the magistrates of the General Court to hold a court in their respective towns. Mr. Wells, Mr. Webster, and Mr. Clark were appointed to carry out this order if necessity required. An amendment to the constitution was made, by which, in the absence of the governor and deputy-governor, the major part of the magistrates were given power to assemble a court, and choose a moderator from among themselves, which
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court should be deemed a court " as legal to all intents & purposes " as if the governor and deputy-governor were present.
Early in June Major Sedgwick and Captain Leveret arrived at Boston with a fleet of three or four ships, and a land force, bringing with them a commission from Cromwell to unite the four New England colonies in a war against the Dutch. They called for an immediate meeting of the commissioners, to consult with them about the designed expedition. Connecticut responded by sending Major John Mason and Mr. Cullick, with " instructions to engage any number of men, not exceeding two hundred; but rather than the expedition should fail, four or five hundred." This help would be granted, even in case Massachusetts should refuse to join with them. New Haven sent her commissioners, with instructions to engage all the men and provisions they could spare, " & to pledge assistants though no other except Connecticut should join with them." The General Court of Massachusetts did not agree to raise men them- selves, but granted Major Sedgwick and Captain Leveret liberty to raise five hundred men. This number was reduced to three hundred by the commissioners, who also agreed that Connecticut should furnish two hundred, and New Haven one hundred and thirty-three, to join with two hundred from the ships, making in all a force of eight hundred and thirty- three men. Active measures were at once set on foot towards making an immediate attack upon the Dutch.
Fairfield and the towns adjacent were all bustle and activity with preparations for both an offensive and defensive war. In the mean time the Dutch had used all possible influence to induce Governor Stuyvesant to make peace with the English. They even called a meeting of delegates from their towns, who refused to be compelled to pay taxes " to provide against their own ruin & destruction," and, "therefore," they said, " we will not pay any more taxes." The news of the arrival of the English ships, and of an immediate attack within their own borders, caused a state of great consternation. Old men, women and children, with goods and valuables, were removed to safer quarters. Governor Stuyvesant was urged by many of the leading citizens of New Amsterdam "to surrender the city without bloodshed ; " but the sturdy old governor disdained the idea, and vented his wrath upon all such intruders. In the midst of the great excitement which prevailed, news that peace had been declared between England and Holland was wafted across the Atlantic. This was glad news to the English colonists, who were saved from a most unhappy war ; and especially to the Dutch settlers, who manifested their great joy in public and social festivities, by ringing of bells and booming of cannons.
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Governor Stuyvesant appointed a day of general thanksgiving throughout the Dutch domains in America. In his proclamation he thus expressed his gratitude : " Praise the Lord O England's Jerusalem ; & Nether- land's Sion. Praise the Lord! He both secured your gates, & blessed your possessions with peace, even here, where the threatened torch of war was lighted; where waves reached our lips, & subsided only through the power of the Almighty." *
The commander-in-chief of the English fleet, no doubt by orders from Cromwell, at once turned his attention towards dispossessing the French ยท along the coast between Penobscot and St. John. Meanwhile trouble had arisen between Ninigret and the Mohegans and the Long Island Indians. Ninigret had hired the Mohawks, Pocomstocks and Wampanoags, after- wards called Philip's Indians, to destroy both the Mohegans and the Long Island Indians. Overshadowed with the dread of annihilation, the Long Island Indians, who had suffered greatly at the hands of Ninigret, placed themselves under the protection of Connecticut. This combina- tion of the Indians was a serious cause of danger to the peace of the English settlements. The course pursued by Massachusetts in breaking the articles of confederation, resulted in so much feeling in the other colo- nies, that a meeting of the commissioners was not expected to take place in the fall. Massachusetts represented that the articles of agreement needed amendment, and proposed a meeting for that purpose, which was declined by the other colonies, on the ground that the articles were perfectly clear and explicit, and therefore needed no amendment. When it was discovered, however, that Ninigret had excited a general war among the Indian tribes in New England, Massachusetts expressed a willingness to renew her covenant with the other colonies, acceding to the original articles of combination, and sent commissioners to attend their annual meeting in September. +
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