USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > The history of Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, from the settlement of the town in 1639 to 1818, Vol. II > Part 14
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The interest which Dr. Johnson had taken in Yale College when a tutor had never abated. Both he and Mr. Caner of Fairfield paid fre-
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quent visits to New Haven, that the students from the Church of Eng land families in Connecticut might enjoy the privileges of her services; and thus be sustained in that liberality of Christian training which must ever be made the basis of every flourishing institution of education.
It was through the influence of Dr. Johnson that Dean Berkeley be- came interested in Vale College. Ile was pleased with the efforts which some of the trustees were making to promote the prosperity of that in stitution. Before leaving for England he distributed the valuable library he had brought with him to this country among his clerical friends, and made a donation of all his own works to the library of the college .*
Two years after he returned to England, and " assisted by several gentlemen who had been liberal subscribers to his own intended college," he sent to the library of Yale College nearly a thousand volumes, valued at about five hundred pounds. This donation was afterwards pronounced by President Clapp to be " the finest collection of books which had then ever been brought at one time to America."
At the same time, in order to encourage classical learning. Dean Berkeley sent to Dr. Johnson a deed, by which a farm which he had pur- chased at Rhode Island might be conveyed to the trustees of the college. the net income of which was "to be appropriated to the three best scholars in Greek & Latin, who shall reside in New Haven at least nine months in a year in each of the three years between the first & second degrees; the candidate annually sustaining a public examination in the presence of the senior Episcopal missionary in the Colony."
In after years Bishop Berkeley enjoyed the satisfaction of hearing from Dr. Johnson of the benefit derived by the students from his effort to create " a laudable ambition to excel in a knowledge of the classics."
Many years have passed since the noble Bishop was defeated in his plans for establishing an Episcopal college in America, but within the present century Trinity College of Hartford has become a flourishing institution, and our late honored and revered Bishop Williams of Con- necticut, with the helpful donations of liberal friends, erected a pros- perous Divinity School at Middletown, called the Berkeley Divinity School. It is thus :
" The memory of the just, Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust."
Many of the sons of Fairfield have enjoyed the benefit of Bishop * Beardsley's Hist. of the Church in Connecticut.
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Berkeley's liberality to Yale College. From the Berkeley Divinity School her sons have gone out into the world to proclaim the glad tidings of the Gospel of Peace. Some have accomplished their work, and been gathered home to the Mansions of Rest, but their names have become home names in the family of the Church Militant at Fairfield.
From a letter written by the Rev. Mr. Caner to the Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts we learn that a spirit of good-will was gaining ground among our ancestors. The following extract is taken from his letter to the Secretary, dated,
" Fairfield Sep. 8. 1733: The spirit & temper of the people so hot against us, very much abates ; & they begin to treat us in a more friendly manner than they were wont. This good disposition, by God's assistance, I hope to cultivate & improve to beneficial effects." He reported that there were at that time seventy-eight communicants in his Church; "& that the state of the Church in general is indeed much more promising than in any time past."
A controversy which had been carried on for some years in the colony in regard to certain lands lying in the western part of Connecticut, called " The Western Lands," was settled about this time. It appears that during the usurpation of Governor Andrus, in order to save these lands from the grasp and disposal of the obnoxious governor, the General Assembly, on the 16th of January, 1686, hastily and without due delibera- tion attempted to secure them to the colony, by making the following transfer, until the time of danger should be passed :
" This Court grants to the plantations of Hartford & Windsor those lands on the north of Woodbury & Mattatuck, & on the west of Farmington & Simsbury, to the Massa- chusetts line north; to run west to Housatonick, or Stratford river; provided it be not, or part of it, formerly granted to any particular person to make a plantation or village."
No legal consideration was purchased or given, nor any deed or patent granted for these lands-in a word, they were simply placed under the protection of Hartford and Windsor for the Governor and Company until the time of trouble should be passed.
But when the Governor and Company afterwards claimed these lands as their own, there arose serious troubles in the colony, especially at Hartford, where a riot was set on foot on account of the imprisonment of certain refractory claimants, who had persisted in locating and vending the lands against the express orders of the legislature. Owing to great difficulty in suppressing the rioters, and a feeling of general dissatisfac- tion on the part of the claimants, as well as those who had been induced
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to make purchases of certain parcels of these lands, the General As sembly in 1726:
Resolved that the lands in controversy, should be divided between the colony & the towns of Hartford & Windsor; that the Colony should have the we tern part, & Hart- ford & Windsor the eastern division. The towns of Litchfield & cortam lands which the towns of Hartford & Windsor had conveyed away to Benjamin Fairweather, & to the town of New Milford should not be included in the division. On the 22. of May 1720 the Governor & Company gave a patent of one half of this land to the Colony, and the re maining half, "bounded on the north on the line of Massachusetts; wert, partly on the lands belonging to the Governor & Company, & partly in the town of Litchheld, south partly on the town of Waterbury, & partly on the town of Farmington; cast, partly on the town of Farmington & partly on the town of Simsbury, & partly on land belonging to the Governor & Company," was divided between Windsor & Hartford, a partition of which was made by a deed between Hartford & Windsor Feb. 11, 1732.
In May of 1731 a map, drawn by Mr. Thomas Kimberly, of the lands which the Governor and Company had relinquished to the colony, was laid before the General Assembly by the committee appointed to draw up an opinion and make a report thereof to the Assembly.
They reported :
"That having considered the same, we are of opinion, that it may be best and most proper for this Assembly to appoint some meet person to lay out five towns in the said lands, on the eastward of the Ousatunnick river; four of which towns we think may be accommodated northward of Litchfield, & a line drawn from Litchfield northwest corner to the Ousatunnuck; & one town between Litchfield & the Ousatunnuck river; & that the persons appointed to this service make report of their doings herein to this Assembly in October next, with their opinion of the goodness or barrenness of the lands in each of the said townships, but if the service cannot be done by them so as to make their report to the Assembly in October next, that then they make their report to the Assembly at their session in May next; & that upon the making their report, the Assembly then proceed to dispose of & settle said lands, in such manner & method as they in their great wisdom shall think best. All which we humbly submit to the consideration of the Assembly.
Committee
Roger Wolcot Edmund Lewis
John Marsh Thomas Huntington
John Riggs Samuel Willard Ebenezer Silhman."
In Oct. 1733 " Upon the memorial of the Rev. Mr. Samuel Andrew, Eliphalet Adams. Elisha Williams, Trustees of Yale College : This Assembly do grant and order, that in each of the five new townships lately laid out east of Ousatunnuck river, there shall be land out, in one entire piece, three hundred acres of land, to be laid out at a distance from the several town platts; which tract of land, containing in the whole fifteen hundred acres, shall, when laid out, be, by a patent under the seal of this Colony, granted & con- firmed to the trustees of said college, to have & to hold to them & their successors,
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trustees of the said college, for the only & sole use, benefit & behoof of said school, for- ever, & to no other use."
In May, 1733, the committee appointed to make a report of what they thought proper should be done with the several townships laid out in the western lands made the following return to the General Assembly :
"First, That an act be made and passed at this Assembly, granting all the monies which shall be raised by the sale of the seven towns, lately laid out in the western lands, to the towns of this Colony that are now settled, to be divided to them in proportion according to the list of their polls & rateable estate in the year last past, & to be secured & forever improved for the use of the schools kept in said towns according to law."
In order to sell & settle these lands, a committee was ordered to be chosen in each county in the Colony, "who should enter the names of the persons who shall desire to be purchasers of the new townships & settle the same under such regulations as the Assembly shall order, with the sum that each person should offer to pay for a share in any one of the said townships. These townships were divided into fifty shares each, besides three other shares which were set apart, one for the first minister that should be settled there, to be conveyed to him in fee ; one to be sequestered for the use of the established churches of the Colony, & one for the use of the school or schools in those towns forever.
The committee for the county of Hartford was appointed to take subscriptions for the township number I, "being the north eastern town & the north most township on the west side Ousatonic; and the committee of the county of New Haven shall take the sub- scription for the township no. 2, being the southeast town, and the southern town on the west side said river ; the committee of the county of New London shall take the sub- scription for the township no. 3 being the northwest town; the committee of the county of Fairfield shall take the subscription for the township no 4, being the middle town bounded west by Ousatunnuck river; & the committee for the county of Windham shall take the subscriptions for the township no. 5, being the lower or southern town, & is bounded westerly by the Ousatunnuck river, which subscriptions, taken by the committees as aforesaid, shall be transmitted to the General Assembly at their session in October next."
Mr. Andrew Burr and Mr. Samuel Burr were made a committee to take the subscriptions of the County of Fairfield.
At the same time an act was passed for the encouragement and bet- ter support of schools in the several towns and parishes in the colony, that the money arising from the sale of these lands should be used for the support of said schools, " (viz .: ) those schools that ought to be kept in those towns that are now settled, & that did make & complete lists of their polls & rateable estate in the last year past."*
At the meeting of the General Assembly at Hartford, May 10, 1733, Major John Burr was elected an Assistant, and Captain Samuel Couch and Captain Andrew Burr representatives from Fairfield. Major Burr was appointed Judge of the County and Probate Courts of Fairfield, and one of the treasury auditors.
Mr. Moses Dimon, Jr., was commissioned captain, Mr. Samuel Wake-
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 7, pp. 44, 100, 109, 341, 343, 361, 362, 386, 445, 457, and 412.
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man lieutenant and Mr. Samuel Lyon ensign of the Greenfield parish train-band.
Lieutenant Andrew Burr was commissioned captain, Mr. Samuel Rowland lieutenant and Mr. John Dimon ensign of the second train band of the town of Fairfield.
A law was passed at this time to preserve the forests and young tim ber lands. It had for years been a practice in the towns to burn in the spring the wild growth of vines and shrubs on the commons and road sides, which sometimes extended into the forests, causing great loss and damage. It was, therefore, made a law " that no person after the roth of August should set fire on any lands or commons in the colony," under a heavy penalty.
An issue of five thousand pounds of bills of credit, which had been made in the month of February, was now ordered to be stamped on the large and small plates. And another issue be made of twenty thousand pounds on new plates, which should be denominated and in number as the former plates, but with suitable distinctions .*
In order to meet these several issues of bills of credit, taxes were levied from time to time on the inhabitants of the towns.
The Assembly met at New Haven, October 11th. Judge John Burr. Captain Andrew Burr and Lieutenant Samuel Burr were present irom Fairfield.
Mr. James Judson was commissioned captain, Mr. Moses Ward lieu- tenant, Mr. Elnathan Peet cornet player, and Mr. Daniel Brinsmand quartermaster of the Fairfield County troops. Mr. Simon Couch was commissioned ensign of the Green's Farms train-band.
The taxable estates of Fairfield were valued at E34,802 105. 111.
1734. The General Assembly met at Hartford, May 7th, when Major John Burr was elected an Assistant, and Lieutenant Samuel Burr and Mr. Ebenezer Silliman representatives from Fairfield. Major John Burr was made Judge of the County Court of Fairfield. Lieutenant John Burr was commissioned captain. Mr. Ephraim Hubbell lieutenant. and Mr David Sherman ensign of the Stratfield train-band.
An effort having been made to raise silk in the colony, to encourage which the Assembly enacted a law :
"That a premium should be paid of one shilling six pence for every our ce of gond sewing silk; for every pair of silk stockings weighing four ounce,, & so pro rata seven
* Col. Rec. Conn .. 7. 1726-1735, P. 460.
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shillings & six pence; for every yard of silk stuff one shilling, & for every yard whereof the warp is all silk two shillings & three pence; for every yard of silk half a yard wide, weighing less than one ounce three shillings & nine pence; for every yard weighing one ounce & less than two ounces six shillings; for every yard weighing two ounces or more nine shillings; all to be well wrought. Which premium shall be paid on an order obtained of the county court of the public treasury, & to be given to the person that wove the silk & showed that it had been made from the growth & product of silk worms, bred & nourished in the colony. This act was to continue for ten years." *
An act was also passed to encourage raising flax for making canvas or duck and fine linen :
"A premium of four pence a pound was offered for good hemp raised in the colony ; twenty shillings for every bolt or piece of good canvas or duck of thirty-six yards in length thirty inches wide, weighing not less than forty-five pounds; for every yard of fine linen cloth, well spun, woven & one yard wide, & made of yarn that is eight run to the pound, two shillings a yard & so pro rata for wider or narrower."
Persons who made duck or fine linen were to receive a premium only when they took it to an Assistant and one Justice of the Peace, in the county in which they lived, and showed that the hemp was grown and spun within the county. This act was to continue in force for five years. t
There was an effort on the part of a few persons to raise silk and weave it in the colony, but it did not prove successful, except in the way of sewing silk. But the art of linen weaving had for some years been followed, until it became the pride and ambition of every housekeeper and her daughters to spin and weave linen for sheets, table covers, towels and wearing apparel. Some became such adepts in the art as to produce figures, # plaids and spots in their towels and table covers. A house- keeper with a well-filled linen closet of her own weaving, was considered rich, and she exhibited her stock with the greatest degree of pride.
Home-made blankets and woollen by the yard, called home-spun, was woven for stockings and wearing apparel, dyed in red, blue and yellow colors. One of the most picturesque and graceful pictures of those days was to see a matron or young girl standing with her carded wool in one hand while turning her spinning-wheel with her other, as she spun it into yarn. With what dexterity and deftness they wove it from their home- looms into cloth! What a picture she presented in the evening at home, or at a neighboring gathering, with her knitting-needles, as she knit
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 7, p. 494. + Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 7, p. 512.
# The author of this history presented to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C., in 1895 a fine linen towel spun and woven by her grandmother, Elizabeth Jennings Hubbell, in 1821.
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stockings for her family! Oye mothers of those days, what blessed memories you recall, as all your hours of industry rise up m benediction upon your children's children !
The Assembly met at New Haven, October roth, when Judge John Burr. Captain Samuel Couch and Mr. Ebenezer Silliman were present from Fairfield, when but little of interest to Fairfield took place.
The taxable estates of Fairfield were valued at £35.582 19s. 4l.
The Green's Farms Parish Records afford us an idea of how our ancestors were summoned to worship on the Lord's day. " Dec. 23. 1731 It is ordered that John Blackman shall beat the drum on Ciapboard Hill. & sweep the meeting-house, & have fifty shillings for so doing."
There is an old tradition that the very earliest custom of calling the people to church was by beating narrow strips of board together on the summit of some prominent or central hill in each parish; and that this early practice gave rise to the name of clapboard hill. There are no less than three hills named in this way in the town-one at Fairfieldl. one at Stratfield and one at Green's Farms. There may have been others in the northern villages of the town. Drums took the place of the clap boards until such times as the several parishes were able to provide their meeting-houses with a bell.
In May the General Assembly passed a law giving liberty to the in habitants of the towns which had obtained permission to worship for certain months in the year separate from the established churches of the colony, to lay taxes upon the members of the societies to which they belonged for the support of their churches, according to the vote of the majority of the members of said societies. They were also allowed to choose a clerk to enter their votes, and a committee of three or more discreet and able men to conduct the prudential affairs of their societies.
About this time a most alarming and terrible throat epidemic. called the throat distemper, prevailed in the Colony of Connecticut. Dr. Trum- bull states that it was attended " with sudden & extraordinary mortality. In several towns almost all the children were swept away. In some in- stances large families consisting of eight & nine children were made en- tirely desolate. The parents in a short time attended them all to the grave, & had neither son nor daughter left. The country was filled with mourners & bitter affliction."
Dr. Trumbull also states that there existed a sad want of interest in
* Col. Rec. of Conn., Vol. 7. p. 493.
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the cause of vital Christianity, An apathy, such as neither earnest preach- ing or sudden and alarming deaths could rouse, settled over the churches. The form of religion was kept up, but even professing Christians were cold and lukewarm. Worldliness prevailed; family worship was neg- lected, and the Lord's day sadly profaned. " The young people made the evenings after the Lord's day, & after lectures, the time for their mirth & company-keeping. Taverns were haunted, intemperance & other vices increased, & the spirit of God appeared to be awfully withdrawn." Many of the clergy preached " a cold, unprincipled & lifeless morality ; for when the doctrines of original sin, of regeneration, justification by faith alone, & the other peculiar doctrines were preached, & distinctions made be- tween the morality of Christians originating in evangelical principles, faith & love, & the morality of heathens, the people were offended, & became violent opposers."*
A very important step was taken during this year in regard to the sale of the parsonage lands lying in the town of Fairfield. In February of the previous year it had been voted at a town meeting " that the par- sonage lands should be disposed of for the use of the ministry," but a large majority voted against it.
At the same time it was voted: "that all the town lands, belonging to the parsonage & ministry, should be appropriated to the support of every ordained minister in the Presbyterian or Congregational religion, in proportion according to the list of estates in every parish in the orig- inal bounds of the town of Fairfield, made in the year 1732, & sold in October last to ye General Assembly; only ye west parish & Greenfield Parish to put both their lists together, & divide equally to the support of their ministry. Samuel Couch, Thomas Hill, John Burr, Andrew Burr, Peter Burr, Samuel Wakeman & Benjamin Gilbert were ap- pointed a committee to sell the parsonage land for the use aforesaid."
This subject was again brought before the town this year when the question was raised :
" As to whether the town do allow & confirm the doings of the committee as men- tioned in said agreement or covenanted in all the parts thereof, & order the same to be renewed. A vote was passed in the affirmative." It was also, "voted that the parsonage lands should be sold by the committee at a public auction, at such time & places as the committee shall appoint exempting ye lot by ye school house." +
* Trumbull's Hist. Conn., Vol. 2, p. 137.
+ Fairfield Town Votes. It appears that three acres of this parsonage land, lying on the northeast side of the meeting-house green, was sold to the Rev. Noah Hobart for the sum of £300.
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The division and sale of these parsonage lands caused no small amount of contention among our ancestors. The members of the Church of England were still regarded as dissenters, and, therefore, were allowed no right or share in their sale; and in this respect they deemed them selves unjustly treated. They were allowed to realize the precise dif ference between living in England under the control and discipline of church and state, and that of living in New England under the same cir cumstances. However, they were genuine sons and daughters of the mother country, with all her resolution, gril, perseverance and mettle; and what they could not cure they, in true John Bull style, made up their minds to endure-abiding their time until lawful rights and liberty of conscience to all classes should prevail.
1735. The General Assembly met at Hartford, May 8th, when Major John Burr was elected an Assistant, and Captains Samuel and Andrew Burr were chosen deputies from Fairfield. Mr. Simon Couch was com- missioned captain and Mr. Samuel Sherwood ensign of the Green's Farms train-band.
An act was passed directing how the taxes for supporting ministers should be collected, by which the officers of each society " allowed by the Assembly " should annually levy proper taxes upon the parishes for the support of their ministers: and said officers were to receive from an Assistant or Justice of the Peace of the town in which he lived, for at writ to levy and collect such taxes. No minister was to be kept out of his salary longer than two months after his year had expired. when, m such a case, the sheriffs or constables were to levy on the estates of the delinquents, and "pay the same unto such minister." The neglect of this duty subjected the officers to a fine of five pounds from the County Court, " without appeal or review in such cases."* Non-residents own ing improved real estate were also subject to this tax.
Upon the memorial of Chicken, an Indian sagamore living between Fairfield, Danbury, Ridgefield and Newtown, at a place called Lone town, exhibited a deed of land he had sold to Captain Samne! Couch,
He soon after built a parsonage on the site of the late residence of Miss Flex Hull The remainder of his purchase was laid out in building lots, upon one of which His nejdes. 1 som Hobart, erected a house in 1765, of which event a centennial anniversary was celebrated NIM15 by Mrs. Justin Hobart and her family. This house is at present occupied by Miss Hangi Heart. a daughter of Mrs. Justin Hobart. The middle lot was built upon by Isane Tucher 1 1200, 300 afterwards became the residence of the late Edmund Hobart, Esq.
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