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 14
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
The commissioners met this year at Hartford and resolved upon a war with Ninigret. Forty horsemen and two hundred footmen were ordered to be immediately equipped for the several colonies. A part of this force was to be dispatched without delay to the Niantic country, and the remainder were to be held in readiness to march upon notice. At a meeting of the General Court of Connecticut on the 3d of October, it was ordered, that the division of men to be pressed out of cach town, to go upon the expedition to Narragansett, should be carried out according to the conclusion of the commissioners. Forty-five men were to be chosen
.
* Bryant's Hist. United States, II., 149.
+ Trumbull's Hist. Conn. I., 228-230.
91
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
[654]
out of the towns, six of whom were to be drafted from Fairfield. The first company was to consist of twenty-four, and the second of twenty-one men. Committees from each town were chosen to impress men into the service of the expedition. Andrew Ward and Alexander Knowles were appointed a committee for Fairfield. The New Haven colony agreed to send thirty- one men to join the Connecticut forces ; and Lieutenant Robert Seely, with a detachment of men, supplies and ammunition, was ordered to join Major Mason at Saybrook. Massachusetts was to raise forty horsemen and one hundred and fifty-three footmen. The companies were ordered to be upon the march by the following Wednesday to join the Massachusetts forces " on the 13th at Thomas Stanton's."
A special effort was made this year to convert the Indians, as well as to prevent the growing evil of intemperance among them. In order to be provided with a suitable interpreter, the General Court invited Thomas Minor, of Pequot, to send his son, John Minor, to Hartford, where the court would provide for his maintenance and schooling, to the end that he might act as an interpreter to the ministers and judges in the several towns. The names of John Minor and John Sherwood are to be found attached to the Indian deeds of Fairfield, as interpreters between the townsmen and the Indians in the final purchase of Indian lands. A day of public fasting and prayer was appointed throughout the jurisdiction of Connecticut "to seek the presence & blessing of the Lord " upon the expedition to the Nehantics.
Major Mason was granted power to call the train bands together from the several towns once in two years, as a general training-day, on the first or second week in September. At a General Court held at Hartford on the 14th of September, the returns of taxable persons and property at Fairfield were as follows : Persons, 74; estates, £8,634. A day was appointed to be set apart about the Ist of November as a general thanksgiving. The mes- sengers dispatched by the commissioners to Ninigret demanding his pres- ence at Hartford, and that he should bring with him the tribute he had pledged to the Pequots under his protection, returned without having re- ceived any satisfaction whatever from him. Ninigret refused to go or send to Hartford, or to make peace with Uncas and the Long Island Indians. He said he did not owe the Pequots any tribute, and desired "that the English should let him alone," and allow him to fight out his own quarrel with the Long Island Indians, with which he did not see that the commis- sioners had anything whatever to do. Upon receiving this answer, the com- missioners ordered the troops to march without delay into the Nehantic country, and oblige Ninigret and his allies to accept terms of peace. They
92
HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1655
nominated Major Gibson, Major Denison and Captain Atherton to the chief command, leaving it to the General Court of Massachusetts to appoint which of the three should be most acceptable to them. They declined all three, and appointed Major Willard to that office.
The forces were immediately placed under Willard's command, and proceeded directly to Ninigret's quarters; but found that he and his men had fled into a swamp about fourteen or fifteen miles distant, leaving their wigwams and corn without protection. Major Willard did not make an attempt to pursue him, or to molest his quarters. The Pequots, num- bering about one hundred, followed his troops back to Hartford, and placed themselves under the protection of the English. The commis- sioners were greatly disappointed and displeased with the inactivity of Major Willard, who, they said, had lost a golden opportunity to humble the pride of Ninigret. He gave very unsatisfactory reasons for his course, but it was appareht that Massachusetts, being desirous of avoiding an open war, had secretly instructed him not to provoke hostilities.
After Major Willard returned to Hartford, Ninigret became more haughty than ever. He pursued his resentment against Uncas and the Long Island Indians; and both the English and Indians on the Island were in constant fear of a general massacre. In their dilemma an appeal for assistance was made to the commissioners, who ordered that a vessel should cruise between Neanticut and Long Island to watch Ninigret. Captain John Youngs was appointed to command the vessel, and to call for as many men as he required from the fort at Saybrook. He was instructed that in case Ninigret attempted to cross the Sound, to seize and stave his canoes, and to destroy his men in their design. Supplies of ammunition were sent to the Montauket sachem to be used only to defend himself against Ninigret. South and East Hampton, with the towns adjacent, were provided with ammunition and provisions by Connecticut and New Haven. Massachusetts remained neutral, leaving Connecticut and New Haven to protect their own interests. At the May election Andrew Ward and William Hill were chosen deputies to the General Court from Fairfield. "Governor Thomas Wells, Deputy Governor John Webster & Mr. Clark were desired to go down to the sea-side to keep court at Fairfield or Stamford."
The town of Norwalk was granted all the lands which it had purchased of the Indians, " not of right belonging to the plantation of Fairfield." Between the intervals of the General Courts, the magistrates were given authority to appoint a public day of fasting and thanksgiving as they judged meet. It was ordered, with the approbation of the deputies from
.
93
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
1656]
the sea-side, viz .: Fairfield, Stratford and Norwalk, that the expense of the courts, except in cases of a breach of the capital laws, should be borne by the towns in which the courts were held ; and in cases of capital offenses, one half was to be paid by the towns and the other half by the colony. An amicable meeting of the commissioners took place in September at Plymouth. At a General Court held at Hartford on the 4th of October, " The Commissioners of Stratford & Fairfield were fined 408 a piece, for neglecting an order to meet & perfect the list of freeholders & the value of their property." Other towns were fined in like manner. The last
Wednesday in October was appointed "to be solemnly observed as a day of public thanksgiving to the Lord (for renewed mercies) by all the planta- tions in Connecticut." A tax of a penny on a pound was ordered to be levied in all the plantations, to defray the debts of the colony ; to be paid, three-fourths in wheat and peas, and one-fourth in Indian corn or meal.
In the month of April there assembled at Fairfield, all the chief sachems of the Indians living in the town and its vicinity. Although they had made sale of their lands to the town through Roger Ludlow in 1639 and 1640, they could not fully realize that they had no further claim to the use of these lands, save the reservations set apart to them ; consequently from time to time they had laid claim to a considerable portion of the town. In imagination, a picture of the sachems of Pequonnock and Un- coway may be drawn, dressed in their wild costumes with feathers and beads, and an occasional one clad in an Englisman's coat or small-clothes, assembled with the magistrates and leading planters of Fairfield, under the grand old oak at Pequonnock, which stood until 1884 as a relic of the past, in defiance of time and the storms of more than two centuries. Under this tree, tradition states, that the red sons of the forest gathered to deed by twig and turf their first sale of lands to the English. And here perhaps they again assembled, or it may have been on the Meeting-house Green, on the 20th of March, to renew the sale of their lands to the English. After debating the limits of their reservations, and the bounds of the English lands, and again in return receiving supplies of English cloth, pots, kettles, looking-glasses, scissors, knives, hatchets, hoes and spades, they affixed their quaint signatures to the following deed.
DEED OF PEQNONNOCK & UNCOWAY.
Whereas there have been several Indians who have made claime to much of ye land yt ye Town of Fairfield have & doe possess, ye Town of Fairfield having taken ye matter into consideration, ordered & appointed Alexandre Knowles, Henry Jackson, Francis Purdy, with several others, should treat with Poquanuck Indians concerning, & upon ye treaty with those Indians, whose names are underwritten in ye behalf of all ye Poquan-
94
HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1656
uck Indians, they have agreed as followeth : First, they owne ye land yt ye Town is built upon, from ye Creeke yt ye Tide-mill of Fairfield, South Westward is called Sasqua which they owne, have been purchased from ye Indians, & is now ye Englishe's Land : Secondly, ye sd. Indians have acknowledged, consented to & granted yt all that tract of land which they call Unceway (which is from the above sd. Creek Eastward unto ye bounds between Fairfield & Stratford) from ye sea, to run into ye Country seven or eight Miles : for ye future it shall bee ye land & propriety of ye Inhabitants of ye Town of Fairfield : Giveing & granting to ye sd. Town of Fairfield all ye above sd. tract of Land called Unce- way with all ye Creekes, Rivers, Ponds, Woods & privileges thereto belonging or apper- taining to bee to ye sd. Fairfield, ye Inhabitants thereof & to their heirs forever, quietly to enjoy & possesse it : & they doe promise & engage yt neither they nor their heirs, nor any other Indians shall for ye future molest or trouble ye sd. English in ye quiet pos- session of ye sd. land: Only it is to bee noted yt ye feild which ye Indians now possesse, called ye Indian feild, which is a small neck of land or ye other side of ye Creek, is excepted, ye Indians still keeping their propriety in that small neck or feild : ye Indians are to have ye priviledge of killing deer within ye above sd. tract of land : only they are not to set any traps within ye sd. tract of land : In witness of all which ye sd. Indians have here- unto set to their hands this 20th March, 1656.
Whereas ye above sd. Land is granted to ye town of Fairfield by ye sd. Indians, we also manifest or respects unto them, yt wee doe engage upon sufficient warning, to cart them their stuffe for them to erect & build a fort, & upon this consideration ye sd. Indians have acknowledged ye above grant.
Umpeter Nosset, X his mark. Nimrod, or Pocunnoe, X his mark. Matamuck, X his mark. Authonyes, alias Lotashau, X his mark. Washau, X his mark.
Signed & delivered in presence & witnesses of us, Alexander Knowles. Nathan Gold:
Thomas Pell. Henry Jackson.
George Hull.
This is a true copy according to the original, compared by me & recorded this 25. February, 1685.
NATHAN GOLD, Recorder .*
This deed embraced all the lands lying west of the Stratford bounds, near the Pequonnock river, to the Sasco river, which runs between the Sasqua or Sasco fields and Frost point ; and north seven or eight miles into the country. At the May election Andrew Ward and George Hull were chosen deputies to the General Court ; Ensign Nathan Gold was
* Book A, Town Deeds, p. 437.
It has been thought by some that Old Fort was situated on or near the Pequonnock River ; but as that part of Pequonnock belonged to Stratford, the above deed of the purchase of that part of Pequonnock west of Mutton lane and Golden-hill, with the testimony of William Wheeler's journal, who received his information from his grandfather, locates this fort on the creek running out of Black Rock harbor.
a f F C
95
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
1656]
appointed by the General Court to be an assistant of the particular court for the town of Fairfield. The assistants and clerks of the train bands of Fairfield and the neighboring towns were given authority " to examine & censure all defects of arms ;" " upon training days, both in coming late or otherwise, & to excuse or punish for the same." The Indians throughout Connecticut gave a great deal of trouble this year. Uncas, while a firm friend to the English, was mischievous, and with his natural savage love of war, had haughtily made attacks upon the tribes in his vicinity. He chal- lenged the Narragansetts to fight with him, and finally joined with Ninigret and his allies. He so endangered his life by these rash acts, that the General Court was obliged to send a force to protect him from the fury of the Narragansetts. In retaliation the Narragansetts plundered the houses of the English.
The commissioners with great trouble managed to keep the peace, by obliging Uncas to make restitution to the Indians he had wronged, for his haughty and unwarranted behavior, prohibiting him from making war without their consent. Major Mason was sent with a detachment of troops to Long Island to establish peace between the Indians and the English. Fairfield and the towns adjacent were constantly alarmed by the piratical excursions both of the white and Indian marauders. To encourage digging pits into which the prowling wolves might fall unawares at night, in October "a law was enacted " by the General Court that if either an Englishman or Indian should molest or take wolves from one of these pits, whereby they would defraud any lawful owner of the pits of a reward from the town in which he lived, they should " pay to the owner of the pit Ios, or be whipped on their naked bodies, not exceeding six stripes." A famous place for making these pits was at Pequonnock, on a neck of land lying south-east of Golden-hill, near Greenlea or Seaside park, which received the name of " Wolves' pit plain." The court ordered that each town should carefully place upon record for the benefit of their posterity, " the most memorable passages of God's providence in settling and hitherto continuing his people in this country." Committees for this purpose were appointed for the river towns. Thomas Pell and Andrew Ward were appointed for Fairfield and the seaside.
The commissioners met this year at Plymouth. A letter was read from Governor Stuyvesant, informing them of his joy at the happy peace estab- lished between the Dutch and English " in these remote parts of the earth." After expressing a warm desire for a nearer alliance between the two nations, he concluded his epistle by stating "that he had received a ratifi- cation of the agreement made at Hartford in 1650, under the seal of the
96
HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1657
High & Mighty States of the United Belgick provinces ; & desired that time & place might be appointed for delivering & interchanging the ratifications." The commissioners returned no very favorable reply to the Dutch governor, nor did they express any great desire for a nearer alliance. A list of the persons and estates in the colony was presented to this court. The number of freeholders at Fairfield is left a blank, but the sum total of the value of the estates was £10,553, 4s. The freemen of the town at this time numbered about one hundred. A tax of three farthings on the pound was levied on the towns, to be paid by virtue of the treasurer's warrants to the constable, half in wheat and half in peas. A day of general thanksgiving " for the occurrences of many mercies the year past," was appointed in the latter part of October.
At a General Court held on the 26th of February, a committee was appointed to join with the magistrates "to give the best & safest advice to the Indians."
A tax of a penny on the pound was levied on the towns to defray the expenses of the colony. The court required that all who desired to be made freemen should receive a certificate signed by the major part of the deputies in each town " of their peaceable & honest conversation." Only those whom the General Court approved were to be made free.
The subject of games was brought before the court at this time. "Cards, dice, tables or any other games, wherein that grate & solemn ordinance of a Lott " (lottery) were forbidden, under a penalty of 20s. apiece for cvery such offense. Every head of a family who indulged in or allowed such games in his house, was fined 20s. a game ; one third part to be paid to the informer, and the remainder to the public treasury. Lotteries were frequently resorted to in colonial days, especially in the divisions of lands and sales of lands for public and benevolent purposes. But, " games of money or estate by games, be the games what they will," were regarded " a sinful violation of the laws of honesty & industry, which God has given us. . . ' Public lotteries were approved when the people were oppressed with taxes and debt, and were called parliamentary lotteries. Private lot- teries were denounced, being designed merely for private ends and advan- tages, and therefore sinful and dangerous, " and a cheat upon the public."
Nathan Gold was nominated to be made a magistrate or one of the- judges of the General Court. Since Ludlow left Fairfield an apathy had crept over the town, such as is experienced when a great man, who has been a leader in a community, has been removed ; and for the first few years there appeared to be no one to take his place. Meanwhile Nathan Gold had gradually won the confidence of the people. He had
-
97
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
1658]
been the town clerk, a judge of the sea-side courts, had proved an efficient captain in the train band ; and had gradually become known to the outside public. From this time he became the leading spirit of the town. He was made an assistant of the General Court at the May election, and at the same time was appointed lieutenant of the militia of Fairfield.
Michael Try and John Wheeler were elected deputies from Fairfield, and Nehemiah Olmstead and Robert Lockwood were made sergeants of the town militia. A law was passed that no leather should be sold without first having been sealed or labeled in the town where it was tanned, under a penalty of a jury trial and fine; and, if found defective, the sealer was given power to fine or seize it. Raw hides were not allowed to be sold out of the colony under a forfeiture of the hide. Goodman Graves and Goodman Fairchild were appointed leather sealers for Fairfield. Authority was given to the assistants either at Fairfield, Stratford, or Norwalk, to extend the limits of those towns. The value of the estates given into the court in October from Fairfield, amounted to £11,410, IS.
At the annual meeting of the commissioners of the united colonies in September, messengers were dispatched to the Narragansetts, Nehan- tics, and Mohegans, to inform them that if they would desist from fighting against each other and in the English plantations, they would settle their quarrel peaceably for them, and without partiality. They reminded them of the past league between them and the English ; and that they had agreed to bring before the commissioners their grievances, to be settled without going to war. In spite of all that had been done for the Indians on Long Island, the Montaukets had turned their weapons of war against the English in the settlements on the Island. Major Mason was sent with a body of men to inquire into the trouble which had arisen, and to demand satisfaction of their sachem, according to the articles of agreement he had made with the English.
At a General Court held at Hartford March 16th, the first cavalry force, consisting of thirty horsemen, was established in Connecticut .* Robert Beachem (Beuchamp), formerly of Norwalk, was given liberty to settle at Bankside. Alexander Knowles, of Fairfield, was nominated to be made a magistrate of the General Court. At the May election Alexander Knowles was made an assistant of the General Court. John Wheeler and Cornelius Hull were chosen deputies. All sea-faring men were for the
* Col. Rec. Conn. I., 309 The New Haven colony on the 16th of May following ordered that New Haven, Milford, Stamford, Guilford, and Branford should be provided with sixteen horses, and all other necessaries towards raising a small troop for the service of the country .- New Haven Col. Rec. II., 173.
7
98
HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1658
future freed from training. The time and place of the general training day of the militia was, by an order of the court, left to Major Mason to appoint. The three particular training days usually held in the latter part of the year in the plantations before the general training day, were merged into a grand muster, which was to last two days .* Wednesday, the 8th of September, was appointed a day of solemn prayer and fasting in all the towns, " to implore the favor of God towards his people, in regard of the intemperate season, thin harvest, sore visitation by sickness in several plantations ; & the sad prolonged differences yt yet remain unreconciled in churches & plantations & that God would succeed such means as are appointed to be attended for the healing of the foresaid differences."
Great sickness and mortality had prevailed during the spring and sum- mer of this year throughout New England. Religious controversies ran high. The Indians continued their war, which the commissioners failed in their utmost endeavors to prevent. "The crops were light, & it was a year of perplexity & sorrow." Upon the motion of Mr. Andrew Ward in regard to the estates of deceased persons, the court appointed him, with William Hill of Fairfield, to assist Mr. John Wells and Judge Camfield in proving wills, appointing administrators, taking inventories, and distributing the estates of persons who died intestate.
The valuation of the list of estates at Fairfield this year amounted to £10,509, 13s. A rate of a penny on the pound was levied on all the estates in the colony, for public expenses. In case of a sudden attack by the Indians or other enemy upon any town in the colony, the chief military officers were given authority to order out the militia of their own or any of the neighboring towns, if occasion should so require. The first Wednesday in November was appointed " a public thanksgiving day for England's great victories & preservation ; & for the mercies of God to us in our continued peace, & the abatement of the sore sickness" in the New England plantations.
The following movement this year by the General Court is of interest :
"The Court approves the pious care of the Town of Fairfield in procuring help for Mr. Joanes by his own consent thereto, as far as appears by a paper presented by their Deputies to this Court, to order, that according to their desires the foresaid paper be kept among the Court papers, & desire the town not anyways thereupon to deprive their Reverend ancient Pastor, Mr. Joanes, in sickness or health of his comfortable maintenance."
The army of Cromwell had conquered England, Ireland and Scotland. The famous battle of the Dunes had been fought on the 4th of June, before Dunkirk, where the Spaniards were totally routed, and Dunkirk given up to
* Col. Rec. Conn. I., 315.
99
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
1659]
Cromwell. On the 3d of September the English army gained the victories of Dunbar and Worcester. On the same day, which was his birthday, died Oliver Cromwell in the 60th year of his age. He had ruled England for nine years under the title of the Lord Protector. In his dying moments he appointed his weak and inefficient son Richard to succeed him, who was immediately declared the new protector.
The sale of liquor to the Indians this year was left to the discretion of the magistrates of the towns. A law was passed, that for the future the names of persons to be made free should be presented to the General Court, and that none should be made freemen until they had attained the age of twenty-one, and owned thirty pounds of personal estate, or had been in office in the colony, and were men of an honest and peaceable con- versation. All such names were to be presented at the October term of court, "to prevent tumult & trouble at the General Election." Duties were laid upon wines or liquor brought into the colony at the rate of 20s. for a butt of wine, and five shillings for every anchor of liquor. Custom- house officers were ordered to be chosen in the several towns, to record the receipt of customs. William Hill was appointed to this duty at Fairfield. All private persons were forbidden to sell liquor under a fine.
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.