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 6
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* So named from John Edwards, who purchased the Rev. John Jones' house and home-lot of Thomas Bennet, December 23, 1686. A, Town Deeds, p. 51.
+ Lecchford's Plain Dealing, p. 101. Record of Jacob Gray's land, Fairfield, A, Town Deeds. Will of William Frost, Conn. Col. Rec., Vol. 1, p. 465.
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1640
There appears to be every reason to believe that John and Thomas Barlow settled at Uncoway about this time, or very soon after, which seems to be fully substantiated by a record of 1653, that the land of Thomas Morehouse, "some times," or for some time previous, had been owned by John Barlow ; which must have been purchased by him at an early date, else some reference would have been made to its first owner. Daniel Frost had married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Barlow; it is therefore a natural conclusion. that these families, so closely allied by inter- marriage, should have journeyed to Uncoway together. Thomas Barlow, who was probably nearly related to John Barlow, took up five acres on the north-west corner of the Frost square, in the rear of the school and church land, next adjoining William Frost's and John Foster's land on the east. Abraham Frost also accompanied his father William Frost to Unco- way. The latter in his will mentions having purchased for this son the house and home lot of John Strickland of Wethersfield, who tarried but a short time at Fairfield, as soon after he is found at Long Island .*
These few families were the first settlers of Uncoway, and to them be- long the honor of breaking the soil of the fair fields and meadows of the town, and erecting the first dwellings and the first town and school-house. They were a small community, closely allied by ties of kinship and friend- ship. The hours were all too short for the labor necessary to accomplish building their dwellings and outhouses for their cattle, before the winter closed in upon them. The terror which some of them had endured from the Indians in the river settlements, and the miseries of a famine no longer har- assed them. Here the Indians were peaceably disposed, so that they slept in peace and rose in the morning refreshed for the labor of the day, while their hearts were made brave to endure the approaching winter months, with the wealth which the rich meadows, the fine forests, and the rivers and Sound promised them when spring opened.
In 1640, early in January, Governor Ludlow again made his way through the wilderness to Hartford, in order to be present at the assem- bling of the General Court, held on the sixteenth. At the opening of the court the governor informed those present "that the occasion of calling them together at that time was the importunity of their neighbors at Weathersfield, who desired to have some answer concerning Uncoa: & thereupon he related that himself with Mr. Wells, according to the order of the Court, went thither & took a view of what had been done by Mr. Ludlow there; & upon due consideration of the same, they had thought
* A, Fairfield Town Deeds, Thomas Barlow's land, p. 59 ; Savage's Gen. Dic. ; Thomson's History Long Island.
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1640]
fit, upon Mr. Ludlow's " assenting to the terms propounded by them, to confirm the same.
It appears that a division had occurred among the members of the Wethersfield church, which led to a number leaving that plantation and joining others. Those who first settled Stamford were from Wethers- field, and the Stricklands of Fairfield were also from that town. At a session of the General Court held on the 20th of February, " Mr Deputy, (which title was frequently given to the deputy-governor of the colony) was entreated to consider of some order concerning an inquiry into the death of any that happen either accidently or by violence, & for disposing the estate of Persons that die intestate; & for ye power of the magis- trate in inflicting corporal punishment, & present it to the next Court : & also what course may be best taken with any that shall buy or pos- sess lands within the jurisdiction of Connecticut, that the public good might be promoted." *
On the 26th of February Ludlow entered into a treaty with Mame- chimoh, the chief sachem of Norwake (Norwalk), of whom he purchased all the lands lying " between the Saugatuck & Norwalk rivers to the middle of s'd rivers, & from the sea a day's walk into the country." Thus an- other plantation was secured to the jurisdiction of Connecticut. Again, on the 5th of March, Ludlow was present as one of the judges of a par- ticular court held at Hartford. Ludlow also purchased a tract of land of the Indians at Lewisboro (lower Salem), Westchester county, New York, 16th of February, 1640. Captain Daniel Patrick purchased the central portion of that town on the 20th of April, 1640. A few planters appear to have settled there at this early date, but no formal settlement was made until 1651, at which date the western part of the town was purchased. Greenwich was also settled about the same time, but revolt- ing to the Dutch, it was not regained until the charter of Connecticut was granted in 1652, when it became a part of the jurisdiction of Con- necticut.
The spring opened with joyous promises to the planters. The winter had passed without disquietude from the Indians, or loss of numbers among themselves. The plow opened the rich meadows for the recep- tion of English grass seed, barley, oats, wheat and the Indian corn of the natives, as well as for vegetable seed, fruit stones and trees imported from
* This land was individually purchased by Roger Ludlow "in consideration of eight fathom of wampum, sixe coates, tenn hatchets, tenn hoes, tenn knives, tenn sissors, tenn Jewse harpes, tenn fathom tobackoe, three kittles of sixe hands about, & tenn looking-glasses."-Hall's Hist of Norwalk, p 30.
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1640
England. Ludlow was absent from the court of election held at Hart- ford on the 9th of April, at which time Edward Hopkins, Esq. was chosen governor and John Haynes deputy-governor. Ludlow was re-elected one of the magistrates, or assistant judges of the particular court. Governor Hopkins was instructed to give him the oath for the place of magistracy. This office, which he had held the year previous, gave him the power of enforcing the laws of the colony, administering justice and arbitrating all controversies in the town in which he resided. He was therefore the first judge of Fairfield. It was also ordered that "Mr Haynes, Mr Ludlow, and Mr Wells should settle the bounds between Pequannock and Unco- waye, on or before the 24. of June, according to their former commission ; & that they should tender the Oath of Fidelity to the inhabitants of the said towns, & make such free as they should approve." *
There is no record of any settlement at Pequonnock at that time, but from the earliest extant boundaries of lands in 1650, occasional reference is made to home-lots having been previously owned by Nicholas Knell- afterwards of Stratford-John Evarts and others. There is ground to believe that before the emigration from Concord in 1644, a few persons had settled on the King's Highway, near the green adjoining the old Pe- quonnock burying ground. Ludlow being the chief magistrate, and hav- ing laid out the first four squares at Uncoway as the centre of the town, it was natural that the most of those who came carly should settle near by for mutual protection in case of an attack from the natives.
About this time the Indians began to be troublesome throughout the colony. The General Court therefore passed a law that if the watchmen of the towns should discover any Indians within the bounds of their plan- tations, or if found by the ward appointed for the day breaking open any house, or attempting the life of any person, it should be lawful for him to shoot them. Thomas Stanton, the interpreter between the Pequot In-
* THE OATH OF A FREEMAN. [Col. Rec. of Conn.]
"I, A. B being by the Prvidence of God an Inhabitant wthin the Jurisdiction of Conecte- cott, doe acknowledge myselfe to be subiecte to the Government thereof, and doe sweare by the great and fearefull name of the ever-liveing God, to be true and faythfull vnto the same, and doc submitt boath my p'son and estate thereunto, according to all the holsome lawes and orders that there are, or hereafter shall be there made, and established by lawful authority, and that I will neither plott nor practice any evell agt the same, nor consent to any that shall so doe, but will tymely discover the same to lawfull authority there established : and that I will, as I am in duty bownd, mayntayne the honner of the same and of the lawfull magestratts thereof, prmoting the publike good of yt, whilst I shall soe continue an Inhabitant there ; and whensoeur I shall giue my voate or suffrage touching any matter wch conserns this Comon welth being cauled thereunto, will give yt as in my conscience I shall judge, may conduce to the best good of the same, without respect of p'sons or favor of any man. Soe help me God in or Lord Jesus Christe."
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DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT
1640]
dians and the English troops at Pequot swamp in 1637, was appointed to give notice of this order to all the Indian chiefs.
" No suitable place having been prepared for persons guilty of misde- meanor or crime, the court ordered that a house of correction should be built at Hartford." As Fairfield and Stratford were so far distant from Hartford as to make it inconvenient, in suits of appeal from the town court to the particular and General Court, Mr. William Hopkins, of Stratford, was appointed to join Ludlow in holding a particular court in each place. Ludlow was also appointed to collect tribute from the Indians. Every owner of appropriated grounds was required "to bound each particular parcell with sufficient mere-stones to preserve and keep them."
From the early records of Fairfield it is shown that the home-lots on the east side of Meeting-house green, for some years had no other separation than stones set in the ground at convenient distances. For want of any town records of those early days, imagination can only sup- ply the history of the first year of the planters of Uncoway. Without doubt each man accomplished a daily round of hard manual labor. With the help of their own servants and the Indians, considerable progress must have been made in raising a supply of staple products for the necessities of the winter; and their horses, cattle and sheep were made healthy with sweet English grass, oats and hay. Probably the first town and school- house was built this year, which also served as a place of worship until the planters were able to erect a meeting-house. It stood a little north- west of the present Congregational church, facing towards the north-east. It evidently contained two or more rooms, and was used as a town and school-house until 1693, when it was given by the town to the Rev. Joseph Webb for a parsonage .*
Among those who joined the plantation during the year, was Henry Gray of Boston, the brother of John Gray, who soon after May, 1639, married Lydia, another daughter of William Frost. He appears to have lived with his father-in-law, who in his will, left him and his son, Jacob Gray, the Frost homestead. For want of data, it is not possible to give the precise time when all the carly settlers came to Fairfield and Pequon- nock, before or after 1644. In several instances, besides those already mentioned, this can be done; but the record of lands in 1650 supplies most, if not all the names of those who settled in the town previous to that date, and will be given hereafter.
* See gift of town or school-house to Rev. Mr. Webb, Letter B. Town Votes, p. 107. This property afterwards came into the possession of Eunice Dennie, wife of Thaddeus Burr, who deeded it to the Congregational parish, by which it was sold to private individuals.
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
[1641
A great scarcity of money among the planters of Connecticut became a serious matter of legislative action at the assembling of the General Court, held at Hartford on the 7th of February. All available coins of the different nationalities which had been brought to America, had been used. Indian wampum, wampumpeag, or peag, which was made of the end of a periwinkle shell and the back part of a clam shell, was at first received in trafficking with the Indians, and for a time was used as money even among the planters. The beads were small and of white, black and purple, about a quarter of an inch in length, and in diameter less than a pipe-stem, drilled lengthwise, and strung upon a thread. The white beads were rated at half the value of the black or violet. At one time a fathom, or string of wampum consisted of 360 beads, and was valued at 60 pence, 6 white beads one penny, 360 black beads 120 pence, and three black beads one penny. Their value, however, varied from time to time.
The General Court, taking into consideration the great expense to which the colonists had been subjected in sending abroad for necessary articles of food and clothing, " & not knowing how the commonwealth could be long supported unless some staple commodities should be raised in order to defray their debts," passed the following acts :
That all possible encouragement might be given for the full employ- ment of men and cattle for the improvement of land, so that English grain could be raised by the planters themselves, by all disposed to im- prove their estates in husbandry, the court granted " one hundred acres of plowing ground & twenty acres of meadow, provided twenty acres were improved the first, & eighty the second year," which resolution was to take effect immediately. A committee was appointed to set forth the form and order, as to the manner in which each man's proportion should be laid out, with a competent quantity of upland ; to the owner of each team a competent lot for a workman "to manage the business & carry on the work;" and-to admit inhabitants to new plantations, and set out their bounds. All persons who gave in their names to the committee for this undertaking, were to have their divisions set out to them in regular order, next after the committee had made choice for themselves. If any person undertaking a hundred acres or less, should neglect or fail to be able to carry out the terms specified, the court reserved the power to dis- possess him of the grant, paying him a reasonable satisfaction for what improvements he had made. The court also reserved the power to refuse such applicants as they deemed unfit for the undertaking. All stock removed from one place to another was taxed in the place from whence it came, and the tax paid towards making roads, or other public im-
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1641]
DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT
provements, until the new plantation should be capable of maintaining itself.
Governor Hopkins, having fitted out a vessel to be sent for a cargo of cotton to the Bermuda Islands, the General Court ordered that each plan- tation should receive its proportion according to its means of payment, to be made in English corn or pipe-staves, in which Fairfield shared. For preserving timber for pipe-staves, a law was passed that no timber should be felled within the bounds of the plantations, nor any pipe-staves sold out of the plantations, without the consent of the court, nor transported into foreign ports, until they were inspected and approved by a committee appointed by the court as to due proportion and size. A committee was also appointed to consider the best way to improve land, and to provide suitable fencing for the protection of growing crops; and also to keep herds of cattle in the most economical manner. The skins and felts of cows and goats were ordered to be carefully preserved, and dressed for home use and for the market, under a penalty such as the court should approve. "That they might in time have a supply of linen among them- selves," it was made a law, that every particular family in the colony should procure and plant, within a year, at least, one spoonful of English hemp-seed, in some fruitful soil, at least a foot distant betwixt every seed ; the seed of the same to be carefully husbanded for another year : and that every family should raise at least half a pound of flax or hemp. It was also ordered that every family possessing a team, even if not more than three draft cattle, should sow the second year, at least one rood of hemp or flax ; and every person who kept cattle, whether cows, heifers or steers, should sow ten perches, and tend and husband the same, or undergo the censure of the court. All country taxes were ordered to be paid in merchantable Indian corn, at three shillings a bushel.
The debts of the plantations, either by labor of man, or cattle, or con- tract for commodities, were ordered to be paid in Indian corn at three shillings and four pence a bushel. Wampum, which since 1638 had been rated at six a penny was now raised, " to four a penny, & two-pence to be paid in the shilling." These laws, which were established for the growth and prosperity of the plantations of the colony, were the small - beginnings of the fortunes of the carly settlers of Connecticut. They had spent what money they brought with them; and with manly energy they went about making new fortunes in a New World, by the literal sweat of their brows. It was made a crime, punishable by law, to waste even the smallest and most insignificant article which might be utilized by each individual family ; thus establishing the prosperity of the united
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD
commonwealth. This healthful care in the day of small things was the beginning of the success of the Connecticut planters, which their descend- ants have inherited. It always provided them with coffers well filled for every emergency, both at home and abroad. It made the thrifty New Englander respected in all lands; and has won for New England the reputation of being the back-bone and sinew of the American people.
We also gather from the first of these resolutions, the manner in which landed estates were acquired by the planters, and the time when the first general laying out of the farming lands at Fairfield began. Its fair fields and rich meadows, under the passage of this law, must have attracted many to join the settlement. Another committee was this year appointed to visit Pequonnock "to settle the bounds between them & the Planta- tions on both sides of them, & to hear & determine the difference be- tween the inhabitants of Stratford among themselves."
It appears that Stratford claimed a certain number of acres on the west side of the Pequonnock river, so that between that plantation and Fairfield, the Pequonnock settlement was kept in a state of unrest sev- eral years. Ludlow was also required to exact of the Fairfield Indians the tribute yet unpaid and due, by articles formerly agreed upon. At the same time the deputies from the several towns were freed from watching, warding and training, until after the General Court terms ended.
That economy might be still better practiced, the General Court saw fit to legislate at this time on the subject of dress. The frequent arrival of vessels from England laden with such necessaries as the colonists re- quired, also brought over all kinds of fabrics for wearing apparel. The profit derived by the planters from exporting building materials, Indian corn, furs, medicinal plants, and dyeing woods, furnished them not only with means of exchange for their necessities, but also afforded them an op- portunity to indulge in pretty costumes. This evil the forefathers of New England endeavored to curtail as best they could from time to time. The magistrates of Connecticut found no little trouble in subduing the natural inclination of both men and women in their love of dress, which appears to have been regarded " as a sore and besetting sin;" therefore, at the assembling of the General Court at Hartford, on the 9th of April, the following act was passed : "Notwithstanding the late order, concerning the restraint of excess in apparel, yet divers persons of several ranks are observed to exceed therein : It is therefore ordered that the Constables of every town within these liberties, shall observe & take notice of any
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1641]
particular person or persons within their several limits, & all such as they judge to exceed their condition & rank therein, they shall present & warn to appear at the Particular Court; as also the said Constables are to present to the s'd Court, all such persons who sell their commod- ities at excessive rates." *
"Our meaner sort that metamorphos'd are, With women's hair, in gold & garments gay, Whose wages large our Commonwealth's work mar, Their pride they shall with moderation lay : Cast off their cloathes, that men may know their rank, And women that with outward deckings frank." -Johnson's Wonder Working Providence.
At the same time, in order to increase the interest of home-made linen in every family, all persons possessing more than one spoonful of hemp seed, were required to sell it to such of their neighbors as were not pro- vided with the seed, or else plant as many spoonfuls themselves as they had applicants for. Again on the 7th of June, the officers of the General Court met at Hartford, to take into consideration an excess in wages among all sorts of artificers and workmen. " It was hoped that men would be a law unto themselves ; " but, finding to the contrary, the following act was passed : "That able carpenters, plowrights, wheel-rights, masons, joiners, smiths & coopers, shall not receive above twenty pence a day for a days work, from the 10. of March, to the II. of October; nor above 18. pence a day for the other part of the year. They were to work" eleven hours in the summer time, besides that spent in eating or sleeping, and ten hours in the winter. Mowers, in time of mowing, were not to receive " above twenty pence for a day's work." Artificers or handicraft men and chief laborers, were restricted to eighteen pence for the first half year as above, and not more than fourteen pence a day for the other part of the year. "Sawyers for slit-work," or three-inch plank, were not to exceed above three shillings six pence a day for boards by the hundred : also that all boards should not be sold for more than five shillings six pence a hundred.
The hire of " four of the best sort of oxen or horses with the tacklin," was not to exceed four shillings ten pence a day from the 11th of March, to the IIth of October, for eight hours' labor, except they were employed in breaking up upland ground, for which work four shillings ten pence was allowed, even if they worked but six hours. For the same teams they
* Col. Rec. Conn., 1, 6.
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[1641
allowed four shillings a day from the 11th of October, to the 11th of March, at six hours' labor. If any person either directly, or indirectly gave or took larger wages than this law allowed, they were to abide the censure of the court.
In order to promote the interests of exporting timber, for discharging debts or necessary provisions in exchange for cotton, sugar, molasses, spices and rum from the South and the Bermudas, on the 10th of September the General Court revoked the former order in regard to pipe-staves, and passed the following resolution, viz .: "that the size of pipe-staves should be four feet, four inches in length, half an inch at least in thickness, beside the sap." If under four inches in breadth, they were to pass for half staves, and none were to be accepted under three inches in breadth. An order was given that every town should appoint one experienced man who should be sworn to the service to inspect the staves, and that cach parcel approved by him should be sealed. All such parcels approved and sealed, were made merchantable at five pounds per thousand. With vast acres of fine timber, and with one of the finest harbors on the coast, the planters of Fairfield, found an abundant source of wealth at hand. Black Rock became, and was for many years called, the sea-port harbor of Fairfield. The family of Grays appear to have been London merchants, and engaged in the New England shipping business with the Ludlow family. There is every reason therefore to believe that vessels were at an early date laden from Black Rock for England, Virginia and the West Indies. Among the first sea captains were Thomas Newton and John Cable.
Again another committee from Milford was appointed to settle the bounds between Pequonnock and Uncoway. In order to promote truth- fulness, the want of which appears to have given some trouble in the colony, the court passed the following law: "For preventing the fowl and gross sin of lying," when any person or persons were found guilty of that vice, the particular court was given power "to censure such parties, either by fine or bodily correction, according to their judgment and the nature of the fault."
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