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 22
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The triple alliance of England, Holland and Sweden (January 13, 1668) had never been pleasing to the king of England. Through the influence of his sister, the Duchess of Orleans, he had most disgracefully entered into a secret treaty at Dover on the 22d of May, 1670, to make a public profession of the Roman Catholic religion, and to join the French king in a war against Holland. This declaration of war was not made, however, until the 17th of March, 1672.
The English colonies in the West Indies and America were grievously distressed by the announcement of this unjust war, which had been antici- pated for some time. The General Assembly at once proceeded to place the militia and troopers in the towns, in readiness for active service. Major Gold was made commander-in-chief of the forces of Fairfield county, with Captain William Curtis of Stratford "his second ;" and with Mr. Thomas Fitch of Norwalk, he was ordered to raise a sufficient body of troopers in Fairfield and its vicinity for the war, which should number forty-four.
For months the colonies were in constant expectation of the arrival of a Dutch fleet, and the greatest excitement prevailed. Intelligence had been received of a desperate engagement on the 28th of May, between the Dutch fleet and the combined English and French fleet in Southwold bay, off the coast of Suffolk; and of the victories of the French king in Hol- land. This news filled them with gloomy apprehensions of an approach- ing war nearer home. At the meeting of the October Assembly, William Hill and John Banks were each granted one hundred and fifty acres of land for a farm. A printed copy of the laws of the colony was accepted by the Assembly, and an order issued that they should be published with- out delay ; and that every family in the colony should purchase a copy, to be paid for in silver or wheat to the constables. The price of a book in
* Col. Rec. Conn., II., 559.
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silver was 12d., or a peck and a half of wheat, or in peas at three shillings a bushel. The estates at Fairfield this year were valued at £10,209. A tax of a penny farthing on the pound was levied for the expenses of the colony. The last Thursday in October was appointed a day of thanksgiv- ing for the blessings of peace, health and prosperity, and specially for a bountiful supply of fruit.
In December an acre of land was voted to any honest blacksmith, who would settle in the town. Richard Burgis of Boston was invited to fill the place. In January, Richard Ogden was granted liberty to erect a new mill on Mill river, near the old mill site. Mill-hill was voted to remain a common forever. On the 30th of April, Jehu Burr, Sergeant John Banks, and Sergeant Nathaniel Seely, were appointed to examine the lands of Wyantenuck or New Milford, and to report to the town if it was a suita- ble place for a plantation. At the May court of election Major Gold was elected an assistant of the General Assembly, John Burr and John Banks . deputies, and Jehu Burr and William Hill commissioners for Fairfield. Jehu Burr with Captain William Curtis of Stratford, was appointed to lay out to Henry Wakeley, of Fairfield, eight acres of land granted him in 1669. A committee was also appointed to lay out the land granted William Hill, John Banks, and John Wheeler. John Banks was made one of a com- mittee to examine the lands of Potatuck or Newtown, with a view of beginning a plantation there.
The Rev. Samuel Wakeman and Jehu Burr were each granted two hundred acres of land .* The published Connecticut laws were brought into the Assembly, and after accepting the same maritime laws used by Massachusetts, it was ordered that the seal of the colony should be affixed in the beginning of every volume. This book was printed early in the year, and was entitled,
" The Book of the General Laws, for the People within the Jurisdiction of Connecticut, lately revised, & with some Emendations & Additions, Established & Published by the Authority of the General Court of Connecticut in Oct. 1672. Romans 13. 1, 2. Let every soul be subject to the Higher Powers ; for there is no Power but of God, the Powers that be are Ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God : & they that resist, shall receive to themselves Damnation.
Cambridge : Printed by Samuel Green, 1673."
The Preface is headed "To our Beloved Brethren & Neighbors, the Inhabitants of the Colony of Connecticut, The General Court of that Colony, with Grace & Peace from our Lord Jesus." It recognizes the
# Col. Rec. Conn., II., 200.
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necessity of establishing wholesome laws for the regulation of each body politic, " mainly in obedience unto Jehovah, the Great Law-giver: who hath been pleased to set down a Divine Platform, not only for the moral, but also for Judicial laws suitable for the people of Israel " ... " & also in Conformity to the manifest pleasure of our Sovereign Lord the King in his Majestie's Gracious Charter ... notwithstanding the exceeding great difficulty of the Work, Looking up to God for wisdom & strength to engage in the solemn service " "that pure religion & undefiled before God, according to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, may be main- tained among us, which was the end of the first planters, who settled the Foundations, & ought to be the endeavours of those that shall succeed, to Uphold & Encourage unto all Generations." It concluded with the words of the Apostle, " I Peter 2. 13, 17. Submit yourselves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, &c .; Love the Brotherhood, Fear God, Honor the King."
The book is a thin folio volume of 71 pages besides the preface, with a table of blank leaves at the end, upon which laws enacted after its pub- lication were written until 1699, when the leaves were filled up. A few only of these books are now extant, and are great curiosities .* The last Wednesday of May was appointed a day of public fasting and prayer in all the churches. Great alarm prevailed at this time throughout the country. Colonel Francis Lovelace, who had succeeded Colonel Nichols at New York, and who had been occupied during the winter assisting Governor Winthrop in establishing an overland mail to Boston, reported to Winthrop that forty well equipped Dutch men-of-war had sailed from Holland for the West Indies. "It is high time," he wrote, "that we buckle on our arms." In the month of March, while Lovelace was on a visit to the manor of Thomas Pell, at Pellham, to consult with him about the new postal route, he was hastily summoned home, on account of an ap- pearance of the supposed Dutch fleet off Sandy Hook. He returned to the city without delay, and garrisoned the fort with recruits; but, as the alarm proved false, in May he disbanded all but about eighty of the garrison.
Desiring to confer further with Governor Winthrop in reference to the new postal route, he set out on the 20th of July for Hartford. Only a few days elapsed, when the dreaded Dutch fleet was discovered off Sandy Hook. Captain John Manning, who had been left in command of the
* Trumbull's Hist. of Conn., I., 338. Col. Rec. of Conn., II., Note 15, p. 567.
The laws of the New Haven colony were published in England in 1655. In June, 1656, five hundred copies were divided among the several towns of that jurisdiction. They received the Connecticut laws published in 1673, and declared them to be the " Laws of the Land."
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fort, sent post haste for the governor to return ; but the warning, this time, came too late for the inactive Lovelace to render any effectual pre- paration of defense.
On the morning of the 6th of August a sloop arrived at Fairfield, having on board eleven Englishmen, who reported that they had taken the sloop from a Dutch fleet under the command of Admirals Evertsen and Binckes. Some of them were taken before Major Gold, and testified that the sloop had been captured by the Dutch the Saturday previous, and that, while at anchor on the Sabbath, they had ventured on board, and finding only two Englishmen in charge, " they forthwith brought her away." *
On the 8th, two men from Stamford appeared at Fairfield with four seamen, who had escaped from the Dutch fleet. One of them, who was a corporal, reported that on Monday (the 29th) the Dutch fleet appeared off Sandy Hook, and on Tuesday came to anchor under Staten Island. On Wednesday they sailed up into the Hudson river and anchored before the fort, but that an attack was not made for the space of half an hour, when the fleet discharged their broadsides into the fort, killing some and wound- ing others; that the fort returned fire; but as Captain Manning saw it was impossible to withstand such an attack, the flag of the fort was taken down, although eight hundred recruits were at that moment landing on the river's bank, in the rear of the Governor's orchard ; } that the enemy entered an open gate of the fort, while the besieged soldiers marched out of another gate with their arms and their colors flying, and laid them down. They were then commanded to return into the fort, and committed to prison in the church, and afterwards sent on board the ships. He further stated that he saw Governor Lovelace and Justice Cornwall on Long Island with Captain Nichols. He reported but seven ships in the Dutch fleet, " three Amsterdam men & four Zealanders." The rest of the vessels were prizes taken in the West Indies and at Virginia. He thought they numbered about sixteen hundred men. The boatswain of one of Mr. Mullin's ships which had been captured, stated that they were taken on the last day of July by two pinnaces, having on board about forty men ; and that he was detained on board the admiral's ship twenty- four hours, to give an account of what was in the ship : and soon after got on shore above two islands in the East River, called the Twin Brothers, immediately south of Westchester. He further reported that the Dutch intended to go up to Fort Albany with a small frigate and two pinnaces- and about two hundred men.
" Doct. Hist. New York, Vol. III., p. 200.
+ At the present day in the rear of Trinity Church on Broadway.
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Two Virginians who came in the fleet to New York, from which they made their escape, reported that when the English vessels guarding the entrance to the bay saw the Dutch fleet approaching, they supposed them to be English vessels coming to convey them home; but being so unex- pectedly surprised several of them were captured, eight were burned, and the rest escaped into the creeks and by places. He said that Captain Samuel Davis, the captain of a sloop which had been taken at Virginia, was examined by one of the Dutch generals, and told that if he would state the truth about the condition of affairs at New York, he would give him his cargo again. The said sloop-master replied, that in three hours Governor Lovelace could raise five hundred men and one hundred and fifty pieces of ordnance, mounted and fit for service on the walls of the fort. Then said the Dutch general, " I will give you your sloop & cargo & never see them." Davis then told him that he thought there might be about sixty or eighty men in the fort ; and that in three or four days, they might raise thirty or thirty-six pieces of ordnance upon the walls, and that a shot or two would shake them off their carriages. "Then all the cry was for New York, to which place they came." He also stated that the captain stood on the deck and saw about six hundred recruits land back of the Governor's orchard ; and that out of the six hundred there were not more than four hundred guns, some being armed with pistols, some with swords, and others with half pikes. He said that the fleet were not privateers, but commissioned by the States General to prey upon the English and French merchantmen, and that they had brought one hun- dred Frenchmen off from Surinam and burned the place.
Another of the four reported that on the 2d of August, about one o'clock, he saw one of the Dutch generals go to Long Island with his Orange flag and trumpet to Governor Lovelace; and that the governor and Captain Nichols were conducted (not through the town) but straight into the castle. He further stated that John Selleck, of Stamford, while on his way to Long Island in a small catch, was captured.
Soon after, one Mr. Gibs, who was in Fort James during the engage- ment, appeared before Major Gold and reported the full particulars of the taking of the fort. " Major Gold dispatched Captain John Selleckt of Stamford, who had made his escape from the Dutch, to Governor Win- throp, with a letter containing the above affidavits. He also added that Selleck would tell him the full particulars of the engagement at New York, as he had learned them from Mr. Gibs. He also notified him that
* Doct. Hist. New York, Vol. III., p. 200.
t A rich and enterprising captain of a ship sailing to England .- Savage's Gen. Dictionary.
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the Dutch had summoned the towns on the west end of Long Island to surrender in two days, and those on the east end in three days; and that if they did not submit, they would be reduced " by prevailing power." *
Fort James had indeed fallen into the hands of the Dutch on the 30th of July. Its name was changed to that of Fort William Hendrick in honor of the Prince of Orange. The province was again named the New Netherlands ; but changed in a few days to New Orange. Anthony Colve was made a temporary governor, and left with two ships of war for pro- tection. Evertsen sailed with a part of the fleet for the West Indies, and Binckes with the other ships returned to Holland. The towns on Long Island, and in Delaware and New Jersey were immediately claimed and brought under the Dutch jurisdiction.
An extraordinary session of the General Assembly was summoned at Hartford on the 7th of August, to take speedy measures for the safety and defense of the colony. A committee consisting of the governor, deputy-governor and several assistants, was appointed to commission military officers for pressing men, horses, vessels, arms, and all other neces- saries of defense; and to manage and dispose of the militia. Five hun- dred dragoons were ordered to be raised without delay, and fitted for ser- vice ; out of which, one hundred and twenty were to be raised in Fairfield county. The military officers in each plantation were ordered to summon out the militia, and fit them for active service to move in an hour's warning. +
Major Gold was again made commander-in-chief of the troops and militia in Fairfield county, Thomas Fitch of Norwalk, captain, Jehu Burr, lieutenant, and Mathew Sherwood of Fairfield, ensign, for the troop- ers of the county. A committee was appointed to carry a letter from the governor and Assembly to the commander-in-chief at the Manhadoes, "to receive their answer & to learn what their intentions are." Neither Major Gold nor deputies Jehu Burr and John Banks were present at this Assembly. The inhabitants no doubt were almost as panic stricken as they were in 1653, when the formidable fleet which cast anchor in Black Rock channel gave them reason to anticipate a like visitation. With fair winds the Dutch vessels could reach Fairfield in the course of twelve hours.
The Assembly met again on the IIth of August. The grand com- mittee on war ordered the constables in each town to assist the chief com- manders of the train-bands to choose suitable persons to fill the ranks of the troopers and military companies. The sergeants and inferior officers
* Doct. Hist. New York, Vol. III., p. 203. + Col. Rec. Conn. II., 203-206.
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were appointed by the county majors. The proportion of dragoons to be raised in the county were : " from Fairfield, thirty-eight ; Stratford, thirty- three; Stamford, twenty-four ; Greenwich, eight ; and Norwalk, seventeen." Rye, being near the enemy, was excused. The following orders were also issued : that each dragoon should be fitted out with a sword and belt, a serviceable musket or carbine, shot-pouch, one pound of powder, three pounds of bullets or pistol bullets, a half pike, and a horse to expedite their march. Every place assaulted was given liberty to call in assistance from the other surrounding towns and counties, for whom they were to provide quarters. The clerks were to send a copy of these instructions to each town in their respective counties. The committee agreed to meet every day when the sun was about two hours high, until further orders were given .*
At the sitting of the General Assembly on the 9th of October, John Banks was the sole representative present from Fairfield. The constables in each town were ordered to publish or read aloud before the townsmen, the newly published Book of Laws, any time before the last of December, and from the date of this reading they were to be in full force and virtue. The first Wednesday in November was appointed a public thanksgiving throughout the colony. The churches were also recommended to set apart a day of fasting and prayer in the winter season, that they might " earnestly implore the Lord to maintain his own cause & the interests of his people throughout the world in general, and particularly our own country:"
The governor and those of the assistants present were authorized to prepare a letter for Governor Colve, which John Banks, of Fairfield, was appointed to carry. The letter contained a remonstrance against the Dutch interfering with the government of the English plantations on Long Island, and stated that if they continued to molest his Majesty's towns, the English would rise, " & deal, not with the poor peasants of these towns, but with the Dutch head quarters." The letter closed as fol- lows: " Mr. John Banks is our messenger by whom we send these, who can further inform you how tender we are of effusion of Christian blood, yet cannot but resent with great indignation, if any malicious oppression shall be forced upon our dear neighbors, his Majestie's good subjects."
No sooner did John Banks present this letter, than he was put under restraint by Governor Colve for fifteen days. Upon his return he repre- sented Governor Colve to be a passionate man of insolent spirit, who was very unpopular among the people and soldiers ; and that he was expecting
* Col. Rec. Conn., II., 207, 208.
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the arrival of forces from Holland, with which he threatened not only to subdue all the towns on Long Island, " but that he might have Hartford before long."
Meanwhile the townsmen of Fairfield continued their work of attend- ing to the necessary improvements of the town. On the 22d of October it was voted, that a fence should be built on the Sound from Mill river to Paul's neck. This fence was soon after erected, and inclosed the farmers' lands on the beach from Mckenzie's point, all the way around Pine creek and the great meadow before the town, to the hassocks on the east of Paul's neck. A highway lay between this fence and the beach, shaded on both sides by tall beech trees .*
Another committee was also appointed to settle the bounds of the horse pasture at Maxumux among its several owners. The General Assembly met again at Hartford on the 26th of November. Major Nathan Gold appeared before the council on war, and informed them that "news had been received at Fairfield, by a post from Rye, that five vessels, supposed to be the Snow & four catches taken as prizes, had passed by Rye on their way westward." At this announcement, war was imme- diately proclaimed against the Dutch. A messenger was sent to Massa- chusetts to counsel with them about assisting to carry on the war. A county muster-master was appointed to examine the common stock of ammunition in the towns, as well as the arms and military equipments of the militia once a year. He was also to give notice to the commander- in-chief of their condition, and at his convenience to assemble the troopers and footmen before him, for an inspection of their arms, etc, For his ser- vices he was to be paid six shillings eight pence per day. If any one was found unable to supply himself with arms, the town in which he lived was to furnish him until he was able to repay the obligation. Lieutenant Richard Olmstead was appointed muster-master for Fairfield county, Major John Talcott was appointed commander-in-chief of the military forces to be sent against New York, Major Robert Treat of Milford, second commander, and Captain William Curtis of Stratford, captain of the Fairfield county forces. Mr. Thomas Trowbridge of New Haven was made commissary of the expedition. The public rate was raised to two pence half-penny on the pound, on all ratable estates in the colony, to assist in defraying the expenses of the war. The towns on Long Island had already been furnished with men and arms for their protection, the Dutch governor having threatened them "with destruction by fire &
* Testimony of Captain Ephraim Burr, of Fairfield, 1882. A considerable extent of this high- way still exists.
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sword," unless they would submit and swear allegiance to the States Gen- eral. Several attempts were made by the Dutch to reduce them, but they were driven off with the assistance of the Connecticut reinforcements. Winter set in with serious apprehensions on the part of both the English and Dutch of early hostilities in the spring.
The townsmen of Fairfield met on the 3d of February, and voted that a highway two rods wide should be laid out at Greenlea, between the Fair- field and Stratford bounds, to run from below the widow Wheeler's house next to the sea. On the 25th of February, Thomas Staples and Josiah Harvey were appointed to measure and build fences in the middle field. The vigilance exercised at Fairfield, and the excitement consequent upon preparing an army to march against the Dutch, with constant alarms of an invasion by sea and by land, made the winter one of the most trying that the inhabitants had ever experienced. They had in reality far more to dread from a general rise among the Indians than from a Dutch invasion. The greatest possible activity had been exercised in equipping a body of efficient troopers and footmen. The whole army in the colony amounted to more than two thousand men, one quarter of which were well mounted dragoons. With the opening of spring, however, their anxieties and fears were relieved by the glad news, that on the 9th of February peace had been once more established between England and Holland. By this treaty all things were restored as they were before the war .*
At the assembling of the May court of election, notice of the peace between England and Holland was formally announced. Samuel Martin and Jonathan Sellick were sent as messengers to New York with a copy of the king's proclamation and the articles of peace.
Governor Winthrop was re-elected and William Leet made deputy- governor. Major Gold was elected an assistant of the General Assembly at the May election; Jehu and John Burr, deputies, and William Hill and Mr. Burr commissioners for Fairfield. Sergeant Nathaniel Seely was appointed in the place of William Hill to lay out the disputed bounds of Norwalk. A person, called a hayward, was ordered to be appointed in each town, to guard the hedges and fences ; to protect horses, cattle and sheep, and to impound stray cattle. An officer was also appointed in each town to examine merchantable corn, grain, and pork sold by the pound. The clerks of the train-bands were freed from watching and warding. The
* The treaty was brought about by the commons, who on the 7th of February, 1674, maintained that any standing force, other than the militia " was grievous to the nation ; " in consequence of which the king concluded a separate treaty with the Dutch (Feb. 4, 1674), but still kept up his connection with the king of France .- Hume.
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Rev. Eliphalet Jones was requested "to take the paynes to dispence the word of God to the people of Rye, once a fortnight on the Lord's Day until October." The last Wednesday in June was appointed a day of public thanksgiving. In October Daniel Burr was made one of a committee to audit the accounts of the treasurer of the colony. For his efficient services during the past year, Major Gold was granted a remittance of his taxes to the colony. The next general training days were appointed first at New Haven, second at New London, and third at Fairfield. It was also ordered that each county train-band should be considered the oldest com- pany, and lead in their regiments, unless the major had a particular com- pany, in which case his company was given the privilege of leading at all general musters.
From the beginning of the settlement of Connecticut, great attention had been paid to the establishment of schools in every town in the colony. The General Court granted Fairfield at this time, two hundred acres of land for a grammar school, "to be improved in the best way, for the benefit of such a school & to no other use or end whatever."* This order was carried out by the townsmen in the divisions of lands from time to time. The effort made in 1670 to pay the Rev. Samuel Wakeman's salary by a voluntary contribution, proved an unpleasant matter to him. Min- isters ruled in those days, and their maintenance was a matter of honest debt to them, and not a deed of generosity on the part of the people. The orthodox way of regularly taxing the whole town, no matter how much any one inhabitant might differ from the established church of the colony, was the lawful mode of paying this debt, which Mr. Wakeman resolved should be carried out. He had no idea of permitting the king's ACT OF UNIFORMITY, or the TEST ACT passed in 1673 + to creep in by allowing his salary to be raised by voluntary contribution.
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