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 20
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The first dwellings of our New England ancestors were built of logs, and were nothing more than log-cabins. Plastered walls were not common, and even among the rich, hangings were used to keep out the cold. The poorer classes had floors of clay, and holes in the roofs instead of chimneys, for the escape of smoke. Oiled paper served for window-glass. The few who possessed glass windows, protected them with great care. Stone houses were occasionally built in a very rude and primitive manner. As the settlements increased, and saw-mills were erected, frame houses appeared, of which some relics are still to be seen at Fairfield. The frames of these houses were of oak timbers, from twelve to eighteen inches in
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diameter. The rafters were but a little smaller, across which " ribs " were laid at regular distances. Over these, shingles of cedar were fastened with large wrought-iron nails. Oak clapboards, smoothed with a shaving-knife, and lapping over each other, covered the sides of the building. Oaken planks covered the floors. The rooms on the first floor were not more than seven feet in height, and about six and a half on the second floor. The beams, with the planks of the second floor, formed the ceilings of the first story. Panes of diamond shape, set in two leaden frames fastened to the sides of the house, and opening from the centre outward, were the style of windows used. The outer doors were made of double oaken planks, fastened together with large iron nails or spikes, in the angles of diamonds. For a long time the outer doors were secured by heavy bars of wood, and afterwards with large iron hinges and latches. The latter were made fast with an oaken plug of wood, which hung in the day time from a string attached to the latch. When in use the latch was down. The expression " the latch is always up for you " was a frequent mode of wel- come. At a later date enormous locks and keys, with brass or iron door- knockers came into use.
Besides the kitchen and bed-room adjoining it, there were but seldom more than two rooms on the first floor. In the course of time, among the rich, the fire-places in the best parlor and the sitting-room were bordered with earthen and China tiles, painted in various designs of birds, and mytho- logical figures, or with men, women, and children, dressed in the fashions of those days. Highly polished andirons, and brass fenders were used in these fire-places. On the mantel-piece above, were silver, glass, or brass candlesticks, with dipped candles of home-make, and also small trays for the snuffers. Over the mantel was usually a closet in the bricks. The most wonderful part of one of these dwellings was the chimney, built in the centre of the house upon a stone foundation of twelve feet square. The fire-place in the kitchen extended across the full length of the chimney. The hearth consisted of one or more large flat stones, fitted into the floor, and extending well out into the room. From heavy iron sockets, fastened on the right side against the back of the chimney, swept a long iron crane. From this hung iron trammels, each with rows of holes one above the other, into which hooks were fitted, by means of which the pots and kettles used in cooking could be raised or lowered over the fire. On the right side, and opening into the chimney, was built a huge brick oven used for baking purposes. Near the front of the fire-place, on each side of the jambs, were seats of brick, on which a person could sit with ease, and on a cold winter's day with comfort. It was not an unusual thing in the early part of winter
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to see hams and pieces of bacon suspended from a long pole, fastened at a sufficient height up the chimney to smoke and yet not to cook them .*
The manner of building a fire in these chimneys was one of the scientific arts of the time. First a huge green log of oak or hickory, full six or seven feet long, was brought in, and placed against the back of the chimney. This was called the back-log. On the top of this was laid another log, not quite as large however, called the back-stick. The ponderous iron andirons, surmounted with Turks-heads, were then placed against the back-log. Well towards the front of the andirons was laid another round, knotty stick of medium size, called the fore-stick, between which, and the back log, chips, dry pine, and split wood were curiously filled in. Then a tin tinder-box was brought into use, which resembled a tin pint-cup with a lid, on the top of which was a candle-socket. There was an inner lid which covered the tow, or tinder, and upon which, when not in use, a piece of rough steel and a flint stone were kept. The only matches known in those days were of home manufacture, and consisted of pine splints tipped with roll brimstone. It happened occasionally that a housekeeper neglected to keep her tinder-box well filled, and her matches prepared when her only resort to kindle a fire was to borrow a shovelful of burning coals from the nearest neighbor, who not unfrequently lived two miles distant. A fire was kindled by striking the flint stone against the rough steel; the tinder caught fire from the sparks, from which the brimstone splints were lighted, and immediately applied to the pine wood in the fire-place, when with one loud roar, quite equal to artillery, the blaz- ing wood leaped up the great throat of the chimney in streams of flaming
* One of these enormous chimneys, on either side of which are seats in the jambs, is still to be seen in the old Hubbell mansion at Greenfield hill. The crane, now quite two hundred years old, with the iron trammels and hooks, swings in the chimney. A long kitchen extends across the entire back of the house, taking in the lean-to and the old fashioned pantries. The floors and doors throughout the house are of oak. High carved mahogany chairs grace the parlor. On the old-fashioned square table are books of great age, and beside them Miss Priscilla Hubbell's beau- tiful toilet-case of cut-glass bottles, which her lover brought her all the way from Europe almost a hun- dred years ago, before he went away to sea for the last time and was lost. China and cut glass, pewter platters and table vessels, quite as old as the house, decorate the table. Home-spun table linen, marked 1700, exhibits the taste, as well as the skill and industry of this family in colonial times. In one of the bed-rooms is an ingrain carpet, which was one of the first of its kind brought to this country. High-post bedsteads, and the warming-pan have been permitted to survive the mania of the early part of the present century, when so much that was venerable and valuable was cast aside or destroyed. The well-curb, the long hickory sweep, the iron chain, and the old oaken bucket, which yields the spring water in such purity and sweetness as no other human invention has ever rivaled, are still to be seen under the shade of the old maples, elms and button balls of two hundred years or more.
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fire. The sap which oozed from the ends of the green wood sent out a most delicate and pleasant odor through the room, all aglow with cheerful light.
" And for the winter's fireside meet, Between the andirons' straddling feet, The mug of cider simmered slow, The apples sputtered in a row, And close at hand, the basket stood With nuts from brown October's wood."
If the green wood at any time defied the strong draft of the chimney, a pair of hand bellows, which usually hung by the side of the fire-place, was brought into use.
The food of our ancestors, for the first fifty years or more, consisted mostly of wild game, bear's flesh, venison, swine and poultry. Cattle and sheep were not often killed until the herds became numerous. Even milk at first was used almost by drops, lest the supply of cream for butter and cheese should fall short in the winter. The chief viands at breakfast were wheaten, Indian, and corn breads, Johnny-cakes, apple-pie, cheese, gin- gerbread and doughnuts, with some substantial dish of meat, game, fish or pork. Hasty-pudding and milk, bean-porridge soup, flavored with salt pork, and home-made beer, took the place of coffee and tea. Tea was but little known among our ancestors until about 1750, and coffee not until 1770. And tea even then, the English found to their cost, we could afford to do without. The price of tea in 1745 was from one pound eight shillings, to one pound ten shillings per pound. In the course of time, when the apple and peach orchards were of yielding age, cider, with apple and peach brandy came into common use. The orchards were kept with great care, and a keeper was appointed by the town to nurse and attend to them. But while our forefathers indulged in the use of home-made brandy, they did so with judgment. The disgrace of being intoxicated cost too much in those days to be frequently indulged in, as will be shown hereafter. There is no doubt but that some of them were occasionally imprudent and took a little too much, but what they drank was free from adulteration. They knew nothing of the vile concoctions of the modern day which fire the brain with madness, and incite deeds of horror almost without par- allel in the world's history.
The dinner hour was at noon, and was called the hour of " nooning." The first course for many years was a large Indian-meal pudding, with an appropriate sauce. An old gentleman living at Southport relates the story of a farmer at Greenfield Hill, who was so mean as not to be willing that
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his slaves should eat freely of turkey and goose on a Thanksgiving-Day, and gave out word that the one who ate the most liberally of pudding should have the most turkey and goose. Not seeing the trap set for them, the poor things ate so much pudding that they had no appetite left for anything else, over which some of them cried with vexation. Boiled pork accompanied with vegetables, boiled, baked and roast beef, venison, and poultry, were among the principal dishes at dinner. Roast meats and poultry were cooked before the fire in a tin oven with an open front, some- times called a Dutch oven. Turkeys and geese were often roasted before the fire, and were suspended by a long string from the ceiling, and turned frequently by some person stationed to attend to them.
An amusing story is told of a little colored boy who, upon seeing the string break on a Thanksgiving Day, ran into the parlor, crying out, " O, Massa ! please come, de Thanksgiving has tumbled into de fire and dirtied hiself all ober ! "
Succotash was an Indian dish which the English soon learned the art of preparing. Baked beans, boiled and baked Indian pudding, samp and hominy were every-day dishes. Fish was eaten on Saturday, but never on Friday.
The tea consisted of cold meats, delicious corn and rye bread, and plain cakes. The latter were baked in an iron covered vessel called a spider, set upon a bed of coals, and with coals heaped on the lid. Raised cake, or loaf-cake filled with plums, in the course of time, became a favor- ite cake at weddings, and was far more delicious than the unwholesome black fruit-cake that of late years has taken its place. Hartford loaf-cake and election-cake no modern housekeeper could surpass.
The principal table utensils were made of pewter, which came in sets of platters, plates, spoons, and tea dishes. The platters and plates some- times were ornamented with the family coat of arms. These pewter sets were kept well polished and shone like silver. Some of the rich had spoons, flagons, beakers, and cups of silver. But as a general thing such table ware was not very abundant.
The labor of making a general division of the lands embraced within the town limits, continued to be carried forward with great energy. From the west slope of Golden-hill almost to the Saugatuck river, the dwellings of its inhabitants dotted the valley and hills along the Sound. English grass covered the cultivated meadows; and wheat, corn, barley, rye and oats abounded in rich profusion. Herds of sheep, horses and cattle were plentiful. In addition to a large tract of land already granted to the Rev. Samuel Wakeman, near the Saugatuck river, the town ordered five
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acres at the pines, between Pine creek and the beach, and eighteen at Round-hill to be laid out to him.
Richard Ogden purchased the mill he had erected on Mill river from the town, February 15th. A fence was ordered to be made across the great meadow from Paul's neck to Pine creek, to close it in from the beach, at the expense of the town.
The members of Christ's Church in Fairfield entertained a strong desire at this time, that Eliphalet, son of the Rev. John Jones, should settle among them. In the month of March, by a vote of the freemen of the town, he was invited to become an assistant of the Rev. Mr. Wake- man, with a salary of forty pounds annually and eight or ten acres of land on the east side of Uncoway river, provided he accepted the call, and remained among them. Whether on account of a proposal that his salary should be paid out of the town rate for the minister's support, by which the Rev. Samuel Wakeman would fall short forty pounds of his salary, or a preference for some other place, Mr. Jones did not accept the call ; but in 1672, at which time he was preaching at Greenwich, he was invited by the town of Stamford to become a minister in that place, "if he removed from Greenwich." He soon after accepted the call.
Meanwhile trouble arose about the salary of the Rev. Mr. Wakeman. The parsonage, which had been promised him at the time he became the minister of Fairfield, had been completed, and he was allowed to occupy it provided he kept it in repair. On the 22d of the following month a vote was passed at a town meeting :
"Whereas by an order bearing date Jan. 30. 1668 there was an hundred pounds a year, with the use of the swamps & parsonage land granted unto the ministry, the town upon good reasons moving them thereto, repeal the said order, & in lieu thereof, they do grant unto Mr. Wakeman the use of the swamps & parsonage lands, until the town shall otherwise order ; & also towards his maintenance the present year, they will pay to raise his maintenance by a voluntary contribution."
At the same time, Mr. Wakeman was voted a meet proportion of the dividend lands of the town. None of these proposals, however, appear to have satisfied Mr. Wakeman, who, no doubt, according to the usages of those days, did not feel that he could afford to give up the regular tax laid upon the church and town for the maintenance of its minister. He there- fore remonstrated against the vote to pay his salary by a voluntary contri- bution, and appealed his case to the General Court, which granted him two hundred acres of land, "to be taken up where it may not prejudice former grants to any plantation or particular person."
At the May court of election, Major Gold was made an assistant of
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the General Assembly ; John and Jehu Burr deputies; and Jehu Burr and William Hill commissioners for Fairfield .* Richard Osborn, Isaac Hall, Isaac Wheeler, Samuel Treadwell, Samuel Hall, Joseph Whelpley and Samuel Smith were nominated to be made freemen. The increasing number of freemen and the inconvenience of so large a body attending the annual court of election at Hartford, led to the passage of an act, that the freemen throughout the jurisdiction of Connecticut might "appear in person or send proxies " to consummate the election of the governor, deputy-governor, assistants and other public officers under the charter. That fraud by proxies might be prevented, it was enacted that "a copy of the names of those persons who should be nominated in October for the May election should be sent to each town, & published by the con- stables to the freemen." The constables were ordered to summon the freemen to meet annually on the last Tuesday in April, and first to read to them the freeman's oath and the penalty of disorderly voting. They were then to be presented with the nominees of the General Assembly of October, out of which number each person was to give the constable of his town "the name of him whom he would have for governor, fairly written upon a piece of paper." The constables with the commissioners or one of the deputies of the town were ordered to receive these papers, and in the presence of the freemen put them up in pieces of paper, and seal them up, and write upon the outside of the paper the name of the town and these words, "The vote of the Governor." The deputy- governor, treasurer and secretary, deputies and other officers were to be elected in the same way. The constables or deputies were then ordered to deliver the sealed votes, with the names of all the voters at the annual election at Hartford, to which they were to make oath. Such names as the freemen wished to be presented for nomination, were likewise to be writ- ten on slips of paper, and sealed before being presented to the Assembly.
Major Gold, Jehu Burr, and John Burr, were granted liberty to pur- chase Wyantenuck and the lands adjacent for a plantation. Nathan Gold, Jehu Burr, and William Hill, of Fairfield, Thomas Fairchild, of Stratford, and Thomas Fitch, of Norwalk, were appointed a committee "for the well ordering of the same, & also to entertain the inhabitants." Any of the honest inhabitants of the colony were invited "to be entertained there till the place was filled." If the place was not planted in four years, it was to return to the town.+
* Col. Rec. Conn., II., 126, 127, 13I.
+ This grant comprised the present township of New Milford, together with the adjoining townships on the south-west .- Col. Rec. Conn., II., 128.
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Major Gold was instructed to administer the oath of a commissioner to Mr. John Holly, sr., of Stamford, after he had taken the freeman's oath. The names nominated for freemen from Fairfield in October were accepted, and they were ordered to take the freeman's oath before the magistrates of the town. Those who took the freeman's oath at this time were Rev. Eliphalet Jones, Josiah Harvey, Richard Lyon, John Andrews, Francis Bradley, John Tompkins, and Joseph Middlebrook. At a town meeting, held September 10, an agreement was made with the Indians for six miles of land lying north of the original purchase, for £30, to be paid in truckling or trading cloth, at Ios. a yard. Mr. Jehu Burr was appointed to provide the cloth, and the town engaged to pay him for it in winter wheat at 5s. per bushel, or Indian corn at 2s. per bushel, at or before the last of Jan- uary. A tax was laid upon the town in specie to pay for the purchase of this cloth.
It was also ordered that the land should be cleared, and that stones be gathered in heaps upon the commons. At a town meeting, held Septem- ber 28th, Richard Hubbell was appointed to buy about thirty yards of truckling cloth to pay the Indians; and if he failed, Daniel Burr and John Banks were to make the purchase. Major Gold and Jehu Burr were appointed two of a committee by the General Assembly in October, "to agree with some meet person, to keep the ferry between Stratford & Milford for twenty-one years." Jehu Burr was made one of a committee to appraise the lands " belonging to the several plantations in the colony," and make a report to the Assembly. The valuation of the list of personal estates at Fairfield this year was £10,201, 3d. A purchase of lands made by Thomas Hopewell, of an Aspetuck Indian, was referred to the county court of Fairfield.
Every male in the plantations "from fourteen years old & upward, except assistants, commissioners, or ministers of the gospel," was ordered to work one day annually, in June, in cutting down and clearing under- wood, " that so there may be pasture, under a penalty of five shillings." If the officers of the town neglected to appoint a day for this work, a fine of five pounds was imposed upon them. The standard brass weights and measures having been procured from England, each county was ordered to furnish itself with a necessary set of each kind, as approved and tried by the colony standards at Hartford. Before the expiration of nine months each town was ordered to be furnished with a suitable set of the same ; and those of each particular person were to be tested by the town standard within ten months, under a penalty of 5s. for every breach of this law. George Graves and Sergeant Joseph Nash were appointed to
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seal with the colony stamp the county measures. Captain Nathan Gold was made one of a committee to examine the lands at the " farr Mill River," which some of the inhabitants of Stratford had petitioned, through Assistant Sherman, should be granted for a plantation. It was ordered that the governor, deputy-governor, and assistants should be chosen out of those nominated by the October court to stand for election in May, any order to the contrary notwithstanding. In compliance with this order, the Assembly proceeded to nominate the officers for the spring election. William Hill, of Fairfield, was nominated for an assistant judge of the General Court. The county court of Fairfield was recommended to take an effectual course to settle an able orthodox minister in the town of Rye, and to order a competent salary for his maintenance, "with coer- cion of payment, according to law, if any were opposed to this order." The well affected of the said town " to a settlement of such a mercy among them," were referred to the county court at Fairfield.
The third Wednesday in November was appointed a general thanks- giving in all the towns in the colony to praise God " for the continuation of the Gospel of Peace; so good a measure of health; the removal of sickness from some of the plantations ; for a blessing upon their labors & upon the fruits of the earth ; & for the peace of the country." Richard Osborn, Isaac Hall, Isaac Wheeler, Samuel Treadwell, Samuel Hall, Jo- seph Whelpley, and Samuel Smith were accepted as freemen of Fairfield. The following document gives an interesting idea of the fencing of the large lots of the Bankside farmers.
" Dec 28th Whereas att ye Last town meeting Mr Gold and Willm Hill were ap- pointed to Settle ye fence pertaining to ye home-Lots att Maxumux, ye Settlement yr -of, wth ye Consent of Jnº Green Robt. Beachem, Jos. Lockwood, Simon Couch & Jnº An- drus are as followeth.
I. It is agreed yt Each of ye four great Lots Shall fence both ye Ends of yer Lots and one Side, being y East Side of yr Lots.
2. It is agreed yt ye Side on ye out Side of Andrews Lot, Shall be fenced in Comon, by ye proprietors of yce four Lots Equally dividid, which doth amount to Eighteen Rods and half to a Lot, Jos. Lockwood to begin on ye Lower End, and So each Lot to fence it Suc- cessively.
3. We find & it is so to Stand yt Andrews Successors are to do Jnº Green's Share of fence, in ye Said Comon fence, and ye Said Jnº is to maintain twenty rods of ye di- viding line of fence between him and Couch and Andrews, att ye front End of ye Line, this is in lieu of wt is done for him in y Comon Line of fence.
4. Simon Couch is to maintain all Robt. Beachem's Share of Common fence, and in lieu yer of, Jnº Green is to maintain Eighteen rods and half of fence in ye dividing fence between Couch and him, next to wt he now maintains ; and for Satisfaction to Jnº Green for ye fence, he doth maintain for Couch, ye Said Robt. is to make and main-
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tain Eighteen rods and half of fence upon ye dividing line, between him and Jnº Green att ye Rear end of ye line. Jnº Andrews must make and maintain all ye fence between him and Jnº Green as far as his Land goes, and ye Said Andrews proportion of Comon fence for his land is agreed to be three rods, wch is to be made in ye line between Couch and him .*
At a town meeting held on the 14th of January, it was voted that there should be a division of the greater part of the undivided lands to the owners of estates, according to the list as it then stood. A new rule for division was adopted. Each master of a family was granted "thirty pounds, a wife ten pounds, & a child ten pounds, to be added to the list of estates ; " and each individual was to receive his dividend according to the total sum of his estate. The happy man who was father of a large family, gained his acres in proportion to each youthful head. William Hill was authorized to draw up a list for the division of lands. A tax was ordered to be forthwith levied on all the inhabitants of the town, who had a right to share in the land dividends, to pay the Indians.} If any failed to pay their rate according to this order, their lands and goods were sub- ject to a fine. Obediah Gilbert was appointed receiver of the peas, corn, etc., to be sent in, for which he was to be paid three half pence per bushel, for his trouble. The west farmers were to deliver their rates by the 16th of February, and the east farmers on the 17th. The receiver was to pay in to the town, as much as he received by the first of June.
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