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 17
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Fairfield, as well as all the other towns in the colony, was greatly exercised by the complaints of the New Haven colony, and by the dissatisfaction Governor Stuyvesant exhibited about the encroachments Connecticut had made within their territories, in receiving their towns into the jurisdiction ; and in the face of opposition, appointing constables to maintain the laws of the colony. Many individuals were glad to be included within the limits of the new charter ; but others protested against the measures adopted, to oblige them to submit to the authorities of Con-
necticut. At the annual meeting of the commissioners of the united colonies in September, it was decided that New Haven had always been and was still a distinct colony. Governor Stuyvesant appeared in person, and maintained his right of jurisdiction over the towns west of Stamford and on Long Island, included within the limits of the new patent, accord- ing to the articles of agreement in 1650. All the united colonies, except Plymouth, were affected by the claims of Connecticut, and therefore mutually opposed the course the colony had pursued. The commission- ers, therefore, decided that the articles of agreement between Governor
* Col. Rec. Conn., I., 403.
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Stuyvesant was still binding, " & that they would not countenance any violation of them." Massachusetts interfered in behalf of the towns on Long Island, and advised that Connecticut should apply to their General Court for an amicable settlement of the troubles in question. Upon his return to the Manhadoes, Governor Stuyvesant found the towns on Long Island in a state of revolt. One Sergeant Hubbard was actively engaged in obtaining signatures to a petition to the General Assembly of Connec- ticut, in which document is the following passage : " As we are already, according to our best information, under the scurts of your pattent, so you would be pleased to cast over us the scurts of your government's pro- tection."*
The General Assembly of Connecticut paid no attention whatever to any of these proceedings, but continued to exercise their authority under the charter. A committee was appointed to meet with a committee from New Haven, to discuss the matter and to satisfy all grievances. Agents were dispatched to Governor Stuyvesant, with instructions that Con- necticut would " forbear to put forth any authority over the English plantations on the westerly end of Long Island, provided the Dutch forbear to exercise any coercive power towards them.": The freemen of New Haven resolved not to hold further parley with Connecticut; but appointed a day of fasting and prayer "to supplicate divine mercy for the afflicted people of God universally, & especially for themselves, that they might be directed to the proper means of obtaining an established & per- manent enjoyment of their rights & privileges."
An important town meeting was held at Fairfield, February 15th. Lieutenant Gold was chosen moderator. It was first voted : "yt whoso- ever for ye future is disorderly in ye town-meetings, by speaking without leave or will not be silent according to law & order of the moderator, he . shall forfeit to the town treasury 3ª for every default, to be added to the town rate. The moderator is to discern who is delinquent on the prem- ises." It was then ordered, that for the ensuing year all officers chosen for the town should "have full power to order the prudentials of the town," except in grants of lands, applications for which were to be sent in to the town meeting. Two town meetings yearly were appointed, " one on the 15. of February, & another on the 15. of August." . If the above dates fell on the Sabbath, the Monday following was to be the town meeting day. If occasion required, as many town meetings could be called between these intervals as might be necessary. It was also voted " that what the townsmen shall do in any of ye meetings shall be binding
* Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's History of New York City.
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upon ye inhabitants, provided it was published on a Lecture day, or by a writing nailed to ye meeting-house door."
All staves for making hogsheads and barrels, were to be held in common in the undivided lands, "unless a quantity had been gathered together in one place." The following day, it was voted that the East Farmers should meet together, " & settle their home-lot fences in general & in particular, & if they did not meet & agree, the townsmen would take a speedy course to settle it."
As several persons had " been entertained in Fairfield without leave of the townsmen, contrary to an express law of the colony, the marshal was ordered immediately to give warning to all such persons entertaining strangers, that their guests should leave within 24 hours after such notice; & they were to give no further entertainment to such persons, under a penalty of the said law exacted on them, as well for the present as for the time to come." Two shillings and six pence was granted for every wolf killed within the town bounds, provided the heads were first exhibited to the town treasurer.
John Banks and Henry Jackson were appointed to run the town bounds between Stratford and Norwalk. Ezekiel Sandford was “granted the use of ten acres of land at Uncoway neck, to erect a tan-yard upon for three years." At a meeting of the General Assembly in March, Mr. Thomas Pell, of Fairfield, was authorized " to buy all the lands of the Indian proprietors between West Chester & the Hudson River (that makes Manhadoes an Island), & lay it to West Chester, provided that it be not purchased by any before, nor in their possession." "Thomas Pell was the second English purchaser of land within the boundaries of the present West- chester County : the tract which he bought of the Indians included the spot where Ann Hutchinson & her family sought a last refuge from Puri- tan persecution, & became the victim of indiscriminate savage ferocity."*
This purchase was made about 1661, and undoubtedly with a view to the approaching claims of the Duke of York to the province of New Amsterdam. By virtue of the authority he now received, " Mr. Pell bought of the Indians all the country lying between Westchester & the North River, including Spuyten-Duyvil Creek, which the Dutch had pur- chased fifteen years before."
About the same time Charles II. granted his brother, the Duke of York and Albany, a large portion of Maine, and " all the territories, islands, rivers, &c., from the west side of the Connecticut River to the east side of the Delaware Bay." "This grant included Martha's Vineyard, Nan-
* Bryant's Hist. of the United States, Vol. II., p. 245.
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tucket, all Long Island, & the whole of the territory of the New Nether- lands." In one sense this was pleasing news to the New England colonies, but in another it was a subject of great uneasiness. The approach of the long-dreaded English governor, and almost paramount to this, the introduc- tion of Episcopacy, seemed near at hand. This intelligence was brought to America by Captain John Scott, of Long Island. He had been a warm agitator in annexing the English colonies on Long Island to Connecticut. " He had served in the army of Charles I., & his father had spent his for- tune, & at last his life in the service of that unhappy king." Scott, there- fore, felt that he had a just claim on the new king's favor. He visited England and procured a commission from the committee of foreign plantations with George Baxter and John Maverick, of Boston, to examine into the titles of the English and Dutch claims. The towns on the west end of the Island, which had been placed by the agreement between Con- necticut and Governor Stuyvesant in a neutral position, welcomed Scott's return, and chose him their president until the Duke of York should arrive and establish a new government.
The wildest disorder followed on Long Island and at the Manhadoes. President Scott proceeded to raise an army to reduce the Dutch ; but by a happy stroke of policy, Governor Stuyvesant arranged with him that the English towns should place themselves under any government they chose, and that the other Dutch possessions should continue in the old order of government for one year, or at least until the Dutch and English bound- aries were settled by reference to England. Scott assumed a high-handed course in the Connecticut and New Haven towns on the Sound, stirring up a seditious spirit towards the colonial government. A proclamation was issued by the General Assembly of Connecticut for his arrest, on the charges of "speaking against the king ; seditious carriage ; encouraging the nations in hostilities ; usurping the authority of the king; threatening his Majestie's subjects with hanging & banishment ; profaning the Sabbath ; purjury & violation of his solemn oath; treachery to the Connecticut Colony; calumniating one of the commissioners, & usurping authority upon pretense of a commission." Therefore every civil officer within the plantations of New Haven, Milford, Brandford, Stratford and Fairfield was ordered, in his Majesty's name, to arrest President Scott, and carry him peaceably to Hartford. This proclamation was signed, " God save the King ! "
Scott was accordingly arrested and imprisoned at Hartford, and all his estate was confiscated for the time being. He, however, made his escape soon after. The towns Connecticut claimed on Long Island, were
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instructed to obey " the orders of the officers placed over them by the Assembly." A public fast was appointed throughout the colony, " to seek God that he would be pleased to smile upon us, & succeed the labors & endeavors of his people, in the occasions of the ensuing yeare, that health may be continued among us, that peace & truth may be established among ourselves, & throughout his Majesties dominions." At the election in May, Lieutenant Gold was chosen an assistant; Thomas Pell and John Banks, deputies, and Jehu Burr, a commissioner for Fairfield .* Long Island was pronounced under the charter as one of the islands belonging to Connecticut. A committee was appointed to "go to Long Island & settle the English plantations under the control of the colony ; & in case of crimes of a capital nature, they were authorized 'to carry them' to the Courts of Fairfield or Hartford." John Burr, jr., of Fairfield, was made a freeman ; and Lieutenant Gold was ordered to administer the freeman's oath to him.
On the 23d of July, there arrived at Boston a fleet of four ships, having on board about " four hundred & fifty well trained soldiers," under the com- mand of Colonel Richard Nichols, for the reduction of the Dutch. Colonel Nichols was also commissioned by the king, with George Cartwright, Esq., Sir Robert Carr, and Samuel Maverick, Esq., to visit the New England colonies " to hear & determine all controversies between them, & settle the country in peace."+ Governor Winthrop, with several gentlemen of the Connecticut Assembly and colony, were notified to join Colonel Nichols at the west end of Long Island. Governor Stuyvesant was overwhelmed with his unfortunate situation. He was on a visit to Fort Orange (August 6), where he had gone to settle troubles which had arisen with the Indians on the north, when he received news that the fleet had not only arrived at Boston, but was on its way to the Manhadoes. The factious state of the inhabitants of the towns under his control, made him almost helpless to contend against so formidable an attack. With his usual courage, however, he. prepared to make every possible resistance. A tradition exists that he went to Hartford to negotiate a neutrality with Connec- ticut ; and that while there he received news of the arrival of the Duke of York's fleet, "which caused him to return home without a moment's delay." Upon his arrival he found the fleet in the bay, and being sum- moned to surrender the fort and city, he drew up a long statement of the rights of the Dutch, in which he refused to believe that the king would ever have taken such measures against him, if he had understood the
* Col. Rec. Conn., I., 425, 426.
+ Trumbull's Hist. Conn., I., 278.
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justice of his claims. The brave old governor concluded his letter by refusing to surrender the fort or the city, " nor fear any evil but such as God, in his providence, should inflict upon him."
Governor Winthrop, who had joined the fleet with a reinforcement of Connecticut volunteers at the point designated, was sent under a flag of truce with a letter to the infuriated Stuyvesant, offering most liberal terms, and everything to remain as it was, save that the colony would from hence- forth be under the jurisdiction of England. Stuyvesant refused to show the letter to the burgomaster, and in his wrath tore it in pieces. It was gathered up, however, and put together, so that its contents could be read and copied. Still, with but about one hundred soldiers, Stuyvesant refused listen to the advice of his counselors or to surrender the city. The Con- necticut forces and a company of cavalry, with the troops of two of the ships, were ordered to prepare to make an attack upon the rear, while the soldiers of the two other ships were to sail up before, and bombard the city. Upon seeing the ships' guns covering the city, Stuyvesant " stood on the walls of the fort by the side of a gun, the gunner ready with his lighted match." Being counseled not to be the first to shed blood, by Dominie Magapolensis and his son, he left the fort, followed by its garri- son, to resist the landing of the enemy's troops. He wrote again to Colonel Nichols demanding a neutral agreement, to which he received a reply that the attack would be made the next day, " & he would be a bold man who would come on board, unless the white flag was hung out from the fort." The panic-stricken burgomasters signed a petition, urging that the city should be surrendered. Even Stuyvesant's sons' names were among the petitioners. Still the old soldier could not yet surrender the city he loved so well, or strip himself of the dignity of his character and of his office. The next day, however, the 18th of September, Stuyvesant and his force marched out of Fort Amsterdam, and went on board ships lying in the East River, bound for Holland. At the same time Colonel Nichols with "six columns of English soldiers filed through the streets of the city." The English flag was hoisted over the fort, the gates, and other principal buildings of the city. Colonel Nichols was proclaimed governor by the burgomasters. New Amsterdam was named New York, and Fort Amster- dam Fort James. A few days later Fort Orange or Urania surrendered, and was named Fort Albany in honor of the Duke of York's second title. On the Ist of October the Dutch possessions in Delaware were surren- dered to Sir Robert Carr .*
These active measures spread general alarm in the New England col-
* Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's Hist. of New York, Vol. I., 209-217.
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onies, especially in Massachusetts and New Haven. Connecticut had little to fear, save a general sense of disquietude about her newly acquired charter privileges, and the effort of William and Anne, the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton, who had petitioned the king to restore to them the territory in New England granted to their father, the Marquis of Hamilton, in 1635, which petition the king had referred to Colonel Nichols and the other commissioners with him. Massachusetts demurred in July to Colonel Nichols's demand for assistance to reduce the Dutch ; but Connec- ticut yielded without hesitation, and sent her quota, of which Fairfield bore her proportion. No sooner had the fleet left Boston for New Amsterdam, than the General Court of Massachusetts sent Mr. Whiting of New Haven home, to advise that colony to join with Connecticut in accepting and maintaining their chartered rights, as a matter of duty not only to them- selves, but to all the New England colonies. Accordingly, on the IIth of August, Governor Leete of New Haven convened a General Court to weigh the matter; and after a lengthy debate it was decided to yield to the claims of Connecticut, until the meeting of the commissioners, which was near at hand.
The commissioners of the united colonies met at Hartford on the Ist of September, and strongly recommended the union of the two colonies, which, they declared, involved the interest and welfare of the other col- onies, and that resistance to the king's charter would be disastrous to the liberties of the people in all the colonies, especially to Connecticut. They recommended if New Haven became incorporated with Connecticut as one colony, that they should be allowed to send two commissioners to the annual meetings, " & that the determination of any four of the six should be equally binding on the confederates, as the conclusion of six out of eight had been before. It was proposed that the meeting which of course had been at New Haven should be at Hartford." It was also proposed that the meeting of the commissioners should from henceforth be triennial .*
The General Assembly recommended the churches throughout the colony to consider if it was not their duty to entertain all persons who were of an honest and godly conversation, having a competent knowledge of Christianity, to be allowed by an explicit covenant to join with them in church fellowship, that they might have their children baptized; "and that all the children of the church be accepted & counted real members of the church, with due care & watchfulness over them, & that upon their being grown up, they should be examined before the officers of the
* Trumbull's Hist. of Conn., I., 270.
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churches, before they should be admitted to the Lord's supper." * This advice was very pleasing to those who had complained most bitterly of having been deprived of their liberties as freemen. A copy of this recom- mendation was ordered to be sent to all the ministers in the colony.
The people of New Haven received this advice with great opposition. They declared that " to stand as God had kept them, was their best way," consequently no vote for a union could be obtained. The Rev. Mr. Daven- port and Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Brandford, were strongly opposed to the union on account of the liberality of the civil franchise of Connec- ticut ; for they held to the opinion that none should be freemen but com- municants of the Congregational persuasion. The danger of the magis- trates losing their offices was also a strong point of opposition ; and still another strong point was the mortification of yielding to Connecticut, after having so long been a distinct colony. At this important crisis the General Assembly of Connecticut met on the 13th of October, and with grave apprehensions decided to pay every respect to the Duke of York's commissioners. It was ordered that Colonel Nichols and the rest of the commissioners be sent five hundred bushels of corn, as a present from Con- necticut. Lieutenant Gold, of Fairfield, with three other gentlemen, were appointed " to accompany Governor Winthrop to New York, to congratu- late his Majestie's Honourable Commissioners ; & if a fitting opportunity offered, to settle the bounds between the Duke's patent & that of Con- necticut." A committee was appointed to settle the bounds between the colony and Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to the limits of their respective charters. Another committee was appointed to visit the towns belonging to the New Haven Colony, and in the name of the king require the inhabitants " to submit to his Majestie's gracious grant to the colony," and to receive their answer. The Assembly invested Governor Leete and the magistrates of New Haven with authority to assist in governing the plantations of that colony, according to the laws of Con- necticut, or with as many of their own laws as were not contrary to the charter.
The list of estates presented to the Assembly from Fairfield at this time, was valued at £11,746, IIS.
Fairfield was called upon this year to mourn the loss of her first min- ister, the Rev. John Jones. Amid the many trials attending a settlement in a new country, he had faithfully served his people for twenty years, and had walked among them as a father, during those days of alternate sun- shine and gloom. Mention has already been made of his longing to return
* Conn. Col. Rec., I., 438.
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to his friends in Massachusetts, and of his final decision to remain in Fair- field. A more particular mention however is due to his memory. In Edward Johnson's history of New England, or Wonder Working Provi- dence of Zion's Saviour, Mr. Jones is represented to have been a " Valiant Leader of Christ's Souldiers, a holy man of God." As a tribute of his respect and admiration for him, Mr. Johnson left the following sonnet :
" In Desart's depths where Wolves & Beares abide, There Jones sits down a wary watch to keepe O'er Christ's deare flock, who now are wandered wide ; But not from him, whose eyes ne're close in sleep. Surely it suits thy melancholly minde Thus solitary for to spend thy dayes, Much more thy soule in Christ Content doth finde, To work for Him, who thee to joy will raise. Leading thy son to Land, yet more remote, To feed his flock upon the Western Waist : Exhort him then Christ's kingdome to promote ; That he with thee of lasting joyes may taste."
The ministry of Mr. Jones proved most acceptable to his congregation. With the tide of emigration from Europe and from all parts of the country, his church rapidly increased in numbers. He, with his children, became sharers with the planters of Uncoway in the several divisions of lands, which the town, from time to time, apportioned among the inhabitants. Even after his death, his widow and children continued to receive their shares of dividend lands. There is no doubt but that Mr. Jones was buried in the cemetery lying on the south side of Concord street and in the rear of the land which surrounded his house .* This cemetery is mentioned in
* There has existed a great deal of doubt among many about this cemetery having been the oldest in the town. The following entry, however, which is found among the town votes, proves conclusively that it was the first burial-place of Fairfield : "March 10, 1682, John Bulkley sub- mits to maintain under view, ye line of fence from ye south-east end of Mr. Jehu Burr's fence, till they meet with John Bulkley's side fence-this until he runs a strait range from Mr. Burr's rear to ye 'burying hill'." Mr. John Bulkley was a grandson of the Rev. Mr. Jones. In 1673 several of the heirs of Mr. Jones sold their interests in his estate to the said John Bulkley, at which time he became the possessor of all the land, with the exception of that occupied by Mrs. Jones near Edward's pond. Another conclusive proof that this is the oldest burial place in the town, is the record of thirty acres of land granted to Roger Ludlow in 1653 in the great meadow (the home- meadow, or the meadow before the town), " bounded north west with the swamp land & the bury- ing-place, north east with the land of Francis Purdie, on the south east with the sea beach & swamp land, & south west with the land of Nathaniel Baldwin." This boundary places the first grave-yard north-west of the sea beach, and but a short distance from it ; while the boundary of John Bulkley's land places it north-east of Mr. Jehu Burr's fence and his own land ; thus locating it precisely where it has ever since remained.
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the town records as " BURIAL-HILL." The stone which marked his grave, like those of many others, has crumbled away, or been covered with the deposits of time .*
Jehu Burr, Robert Turney, John Knowles, Joseph Lockwood, Robert Beacham, Simon Crouch, John Barlow, sr., John Barlow, jr., James Evarts, Peter Coly, Thomas Sherwood, William Hayden, John Gruman, Francis Bradley, John Hoit, Stephen Sherwood, Nathaniel Burr, Richard Lyon, Samuel Wakeman, Thomas Bennet, Thomas Wilson, James Beers, John Odell, Richard Hubbell, all of Fairfield, were accepted this year as freemen ; and Lieutenant Gold and Assistant Samuel Sherman, of Stratford, were appointed to administer the freeman's oath to them. Two pence farthing to the pound was levied upon all the towns to defray the colony expenses.
A day of general thanksgiving was ordered throughout the colony. In November, Lieutenant Gold accompanied Governor Winslow and the other members of the committee appointed to wait on Colonel Nichols, to New York. After full explanations were made in behalf of the claims of Connecticut, the royal commissioners settled the boundary line between New York and Connecticut as follows :
" That the southern bounds of his Majesty's colony of Connecticut, is the sea ; & that Long Island is to be under the government of his royal highness, the duke of York, as is expressed by plain words in the said patents respectively. We also order & declare, that the creek or river called Mamaronock, which is reputed to be about twelve miles to the east of West Chester, & a line drawn from the east point or side, where the fresh water falls into the salt, at high water mark, north-north-west, to the line of Massachusetts, be the western bounds of the said colony of Connecticut ; & the plantations lying westward of that creek, & line so drawn, to be under his royal highness's government ; & all plan- tations lying eastward of that creek & line, to be under the government of Connecticut." }
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