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 15
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* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 7, P. 554.
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February 18, 1725, showing he had reserved certain part of his land for himself and his children, near his wigwam or dwelling-house, praying the Assembly to appoint a committee to visit and set off to him his lawful rights. Chicken's case was referred to the October Court .*
Although New Fairfield had been granted to several of the inhabi- tants of Fairfield in 1710, the Indian wars near the frontiers of the colony, and the objection on the part of some of the owners to its settlement, had prevented any substantial growth of the place. But at this time John Edwards and Gideon Allyn of Fairfield, in behalf of themselves and other proprietors, presented a memorial to the Assembly for a further confirmation of these lands to them. This memorial was also referred to the October session.t
Frequent burglaries and thefts having been committed, an act was passed that any person found guilty of stealing money, goods or chat- tels to the value of twenty shillings should forfeit to the owners treble their value and be punished by whipping " not exceeding ten stripes." Any person found guilty of breaking into a dwelling-house or shop where goods were sold, or should rob any person, for the first offence, " should be branded in the forehead with the letter B, & have one of his ears nailed to a post & cut off, & also be whipped on the naked body fifteen stripes "; and for the second offence, " should not only be branded with the letter B, but have his other ear cut off & be whipped twenty-five stripes." For a third offence he was to suffer death. +
Stringent laws were passed in regard to the sale of wine and liquor. A tax of sixpence on every gallon of rum and wine imported into the colony was levied on all retailers and tavern keepers. Less than a quar- ter of a cask of twenty gallons was not to be sold to anyone, " except retailers and tavern keepers." No retailer was allowed to sell less than a quart of strong liquor, or allow any sold by him to be drunk in his house. Each town was to nominate at the annual town meetings such tavern keepers as they deemed suitable to be retailers, and to appoint a commissioner of excise to collect the excise due from "all retailers of strong drink." Retailers were to be licensed under bonds. Any evasion of these laws was to be punished by a heavy fine. The names of all licensed tavern keepers and retailers were to be posted on their doors. Masters of vessels importing strong liquors into the colony were to pay
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 7, P. 557 + Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 7, P. 559. # Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 7, p. 561.
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a duty of sixteen pence per gallon, except rum from the West Indies con signed to some person or persons in the colony, when the captam was to pay eight pence per gallon. A tax of twelve pence per gallon was levied on all rum distilled in the colony."
At the October session of the General Assembly, Mr. Samuel Sher- wood was commissioned lieutenant and Mr. Benjamin Kumbey ensign of the west parish or Green's Farms train-band.
A stringent law was passed imposing a heavy fine upon officers who even for a day's absence neglected attending and regularly training and preparing the troops and foot companies for active service.
The list of taxable estates at Fairfield were valued at 238, 288 8.s. 6d.
1736. At the meeting of the General Assembly at Hartford, May 13th. Judge John Burr was chosen an Assistant, and Mr. Ebenezer Silli- man and Mr. Andrew Burr representatives from Fairfield. Judge John Burr was chosen Judge of the Fairfield County Courts and also Judge of Probate for the District Court. Andrew Burr was appointed Justice of the Peace for the county.
On account of great loss and inconvenience from mischievous persons breaking the bills of credit into halves and quarters so as not to render counterfeiting easily discovered, a stringent law was passed forbidding such injury to the bills, and forbidding the colony treasurer from paying out any such broken bills.
Postmen were granted sixpence per mile.
Mr. Ebenezer Silliman was appointed County Surveyor for Fairfield.
At the meeting of the General Assembly in New Haven, October 14th, a law was passed by which widows and women innocently divorced were, upon the death of their husbands, allowed one-third of their es- tates, made returnable to the Judge of Probate of the towns in which they lived.
An important, an exciting event (in the history of our town) took place at this time in regard to the settlement of New Fairfield. The proprietors of the tract of land which had been granted to them by the General Assembly in 1707. namely. " Capt. Nathan Gold, Mr. Peter Burr. Capt. John Wakeman, John Edwards, Jonathan Sturges, John Barlow. Gideon Allin. Samuel Wilson. Samuel Jinings. Moses Dimon & Joseph Wakeman, all inhabitants of Fairfield," petitioned for a patent for said lands. This patent was granted, "provided the persons mentioned in
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 7. p. 501.
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such grant, their associates, heirs & assigns, shall settle on said lands so many good inhabitants as will make up in the whole fifty families within three years next coming."*
Here again we find a remote parish springing out of the old Prime Society of Fairfield, and the sons and daughters of our forefathers busy with preparations for new homes among the Indians.
Measures were renewed to christianize the Indians throughout the colony, they having at this time expressed a desire to be instructed in the Christian faith. The following Thanksgiving Day was appointed to collect a contribution in all the parishes in the colony for this object. Mr. Andrew Burr was one of the committee to receive said contributions for Fairfield.
The money which had been appropriated from the sale of the Western Lands for the encouragement and support of good schools of the colony had in some instances been used for the support of the established min- isters, of which the Assembly approved, and "released the said school money to the support of the ministry as aforesaid; any former act of this Assembly to the contrary notwithstanding."
The first meeting-house at Green's Farms proved at this date too small for the congregation, and the usual arguments and quarrels arose about the precise place for locating a second house of worship; and as they could not come to an agreement in the matter, some of the more energetic members of the parish applied to the legislature, "praying to have a committee appointed to ascertain a place for erecting a meeting- house in said society."
Mr. John Thomson, Samuel Comstock, & John Bartlet were appointed a committee for this purpose. They at once proceeded to Green's Farms, & before the session of the Assembly closed reported that they had, "agreeable to their instructions, repaired to said society & ascertained the place to be about four rods & five feet south-westerly from the south-west corner of the school house in said society standing on the west side of Muddy creek, so called; there to the southeast corner of said house." It was therefore resolved by the Assembly "that the above described place shall be the place for said society to erect their meeting-house upon, & they are hereby ordered to proceed to erect & build said house upon the same."t
1737. Judge John Burr was again elected an Assistant of the General Assembly, holden at Hartford, May 12th, and Captain Andrew Burr and Mr. Ebenezer Silliman representatives for Fairfield. Judge John Burr
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 8, p. 62. + Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 8, pp. 124, 142.
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was also appointed Judge for the County and for the District Probelle Court of Fairfield. Edward Lewis was made surveyor of the county
Owing to a scarcity of grain, no flour or grain was allowed to be taken out of the colony before the month of June, under a penalty of fifty pounds.
Messrs. Samuel Hanford, Ebenezer Silliman and Seth Samuel Burr, the committee appointed to examine into the land claim of the Indian Sagamore Chicken, which he had reserved to himself and his beurs oul of land sold to Captain Samuel Couch, having made a favorable report of Chicken's claim, they were appointed to proceed to lay om his land and report to the October session of the Assembly.
The proprietors of New Fairfield were granted town privileges, and to exercise all the voting powers and privileges as proprietors of com mon and undivided lands under the laws of the colony. t
Mr. Benjamin Gilbert was commissioned lieutenant of the train band of Greenfield.
An act was passed dividing the sale and settlement of the townships in the Western Lands:
" That all the townships on both sides of the Ousatonnick river, be dispose of & settled, & that each town on the east side of said river shall be divided into nity three rights (exclusive of the lands granted to the College. & all former grants of this Curt that are surveyed & recorded in the public records of this Colony & are lying in etter of said towns of which fifty three rights, one shall be for the use of the ministry. Er ver, that shall be settled in the town according to the constitution & order of the churches established by the laws of this government regulating ecclesiastical affairs, & one for the first gospel minister settled as aforesaid, & one right for the support of the school in such town ; & the same rule shall be attended in every one of sanl townships, being five i menber . & the remaining fifty in said towns, shall be sold at a public vendue to the highest bid lers, being of his Majestie's subjects, inhabitants of this Colony, that will settle & inhibit at least three years in such towns, & to no other persons. Further, the two townships on the west side of the Ousatonnick river shall be divided, the north west townships into twenty five rights, & the south west into fifty three rights, & that the same reserves lo. made in either of them for the ministry, ministers, & school lands, as are resolved mto five townships abovesaid .- Any person qualified to purchase an interest in these lands. was required within three years to build & finish an house of eighteen feet square & seven feet stud, & to subdue & fence at least six acres of land in such town where he is a settler or hath a fixed agent. under forfeiture of his purchase. These towns were to be auctioned at the Court Houses of each county town.
The middle town, afterwards called Cornwall, bounded west on Ousat ommck river, was ordered to be sold at the court house in Fairheld on the first Tuesday in February next at one of the clock afternoon, & continue by adjournment until the whole be - ld .--
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. VIII., p. 94.
+ Col. Rec. C'onn., Vol. S, p. 104.
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John Burr Esqr, Edmund Lewis Esqr, & Mr. Ebenezer Silliman, or any two of them, were appointed a committee to sell the rights, take bonds, give deeds, with defeazances, in manner & form as hereafter in this act shall be directed." *
It was about the year 1739 that the Rev. Joseph Webb, Jr., son of the Rev. Joseph Webb of Fairfield, was dismissed from the Presbyterian church of Newark and New Jersey and returned to Fairfield. There had arisen a controversy in his parish in respect to the form of adminis- tering the Communion. Some of the leading characters in the church declared themselves in favor of the Church of England. A trivial charge was also brought against Colonel Josiah Ogden,t who was repeatedly tried by the Presbytery, with a solemnity far beyond its importance, and always came off triumphant. Mr. John Dickinson of New Jersey was called in to preach upon the occasion and to assist in settling the con- troversies then in dispute. One point of discussion was the propriety of dismissing the congregation and administering the Sacrament in a pri- vate manner. In some way the Rev. John Beach of the Church of Eng- land, of Newtown and Reading. Conn., was drawn into a lengthy con- troversy with Mr. Jonathan Dickinson, " until," the Rev. Dr. Alexander Mac Whorter says, " all parties were weary of reading the pamphlets."
In the heat of this controversy many persons became dissatisfied with Mr. Webb, and the major part of his congregation applied to the Pres- bytery for his dismission. "One hundred pounds was offered him, with security for an arrears of salary: which proposal he accepted, & was accordingly dismissed." The Rev. Dr. MacWhorter states in his Cen- tury Sermon, "the worst thing that could be said against him, in the times of party spirit & tumult, was that he was too peaceable & too good." " In less than two years after his dismissal this worthy & good
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. S, p. 134.
+ Col. Josiah Ogden's wheat had been cut down, and was likely all to be lost by long con- tinned rains. A certain Sabbath presenting him with very fine weather, he was induced to draw the grain into his barn on that day, believing it to be a case of necessity, and that he was justified in so doing. The Church thought differently, and tried and censured him. The matter was brought before the Presbytery, and Colonel Ogden was acquitted. But the breach was tco wide to be healed thus. Colonel Ogden and some other persons withdrew and were the first materials of which the first Church of England in this town was formed. After this separation, the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, of Elizabethtown, was called in by the Presbyterians to preach a sermon against the points advocated by the Episcopal Church. This sermon was preached June 2, 1736, and called forth an answer from the Rev. John Beach, Episcopal minister of Newtown, in Connec- tient .- Rev. Dr. A. Mac Whorter's Century Sermon preached in ISor on the settlement of New- ark, N. J.
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man came to an untimely end. He & his son were both drowned in crossing Sea-brook ferry on the Connecticut river."
Immediately after the dismissal of Mr. Webb the Pre-bytetatt of Newark, November 6th, appointed a committee to invite the Rev. Aaron Burr of Fairfield to preach as a candidate among them. He accepted their invitation, and gave such general satisfaction that he received a unanimous call January 10, 1737, to preach one year in that church. At the expiration of that time he was ordained their pastor by the Precht tery of New Jersey. Thus Fairfield furnished Newark, New Jersey, will! three ministers in succession-namely, the Rev. Samuel Wakeman, Wie Rev. Joseph Webb and the Rev. Aaron Burr. A Mr. Jabez Wakeman was the fourth minister of Newark, probably a son or grandson of the Rev. Samuel Wakeman of Fairfield. He lived but three years after bentg called to Newark, and died in 1704. aged twenty-six years.
In the old Parish Record at Fairfield is the following entry :
" Baptized March 1716 Aaron son of Mr. Daniel Burr of upper medoss Forly evincing a strong love for study and literature, he was encouraged by his parents te called! those tastes. After a liberal education, he was sent to Yale College, and at the expiration of four years graduated with the highest honors of his class His proficiency ne Grek and Latin was the result, after receiving his first degree of his heng thede a res flest graduate of the Berkeley Scholarship Fund. He chose the ministry above the flyer pour fessions, and was licensed as a candidate September, 1736. His erst parish was at Gramy field. Mass. After spending a short time at Greenfield, he removed to Hanover. News Jersey. It was from Hanover that he was called to Newark Soon after setting Newark he opened a Latin school which in the course of time gained a high reput fine
In 1746 the College of New Jersey was instituted, and the Rey Jonathan Dasor om was chosen the first President : but to the great grief and distress of its founder- In dad the next year. In their dilemma the students were removed from I babethtowe to Newark and placed under the care of Mr. Burr. The literary talent, learning. at I pahud spirit of Mr. Burr far exceeded the most sanguine expectations of Its fre . ty Belcher in September, 1747. granted a new charter and named the college Nasse Wol. in honor of the Prince of Orange. On the oth of November, 1718. Mr Air'in Birr hea chosen the President. For eight years he presided over the college with unworrying al. and from a feeble condition he raised it to one of " illustrious fame "
When it was decided that the seat of the college should be at Princetys the title found the people of Newark unwilling to part with their pastor " whether the pastoral relation between a minister and people could be dissivol. Ii than the relation between husband and wife." The trustees pleaded strongly me one di and the people on the other. After a great deal of dierssion the lng aflarge ment at argumentum ad hominem was adopted ; and Mr Burr was allowed to resign his pungent charge at Newark.
"After much said about the utility, importance & necessity of his removal, tw tom of argumentum hominem was stated by the trustees to the committee of the cungrogaland All covenants must be entered into by two parties, - a & mutually unding, & cad file
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ought to enjoy equal rights & privileges in the continuance or dissolution of them. This the committee readily granted. Then the trustees proceeded to lay down their proposition ; that whenever a people were dissatisfied with their minister, they sucd for his dismission and obtained it, however much the minister was opposed to it. After stating serious instances in other places, they brought the argument home to their own bosoms, saying : Did you not dismiss Mr Abraham Pierson, Mr. Pruden, Mr Bowers & Mr. Webb ;- all the ministers you ever had except two? And were not the most of them utterly opposed to a dismission? Were they ever charged either with heresy in doctrine, or immorality in practice? Did they not plead before you their long & faithful services, you depriving them of their bread & their living, & of their incapacity at their time of life, to enter into other business? Did you, in these instances, suppose the agreement between a pastor & congregation bore any similitude to the marriage covenant? The committee were satisfied; & the candid & judicious part of the congregation agreed that Mr. Burr should be dismissed."*
1738. The General Assembly met at Hartford on the IIth of May, when Judge Burr was again chosen an Assistant, Mr. Ebenezer Silliman and Captain Andrew Burr representatives. Judge John Burr was also chosen Judge of the County and Probate Courts, and Samuel Couch and John Read Justices of the Peace for Fairfield County.
Mr. Elnathan Peet was commissioned lieutenant, Mr. Daniel Brins- mead cornet player and Mr. William Patterson quartermaster of the Fair- field County troops.
Captain Andrew Burr was appointed with Theophilus Nichols to meet the Commissioners of the Province of New York and Rhode Island at Norwich, to make a reply to letters from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, and to make a report to them of the laws which governed the colony, and what kind of money was used.
On account of the low circumstances of the Presbyterian parish of Reading, in Fairfield, the Court remitted their county taxes for four years.
At the October session of the General Assembly, held at New Haven, Mr. Seth Samuel Burr was commissioned captain, Mr. Samuel Squire lieutenant, and Mr. Nathaniel Silliman ensign of the first train-band of Fairfield. The usual fall nominations for the spring election were made.
Each of the seven new townships of the Western Lands were granted full town and parish privileges, and the several committees appointed to sell them were ordered to deliver all the bonds by them taken for the
* On the 29th of June, 1752, President Aaron Burr was married to Miss Esther Edwards, daughter of Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Stockbridge, Mass. On the 3d of May following a daughter was born who received the name of Sarah, and on the 6th of February, 1756, was born in his uncle's, Isaac Burr's, house at Fairfield, Aaron Burr who afterwards became a noted actor in the history of our country.
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payment thereof to the treasurer of the colony, taking his receipts for the same, which receipts were to be delivered to the Secretary of the colony .*
The clergy and members of the Church of England throughout the colony felt very keenly the injustice of not being allowed any benefit whatever from the sale of the new townships, and in consequence the clergy sent the following account to the Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Their letter is dated March 29, 1739. 111 which they set forth :
"That the several methods of the legislature & of the members of the Pre Isterian & Congregational churches to elude any attempt made by the Churchmen to oleen ilor rights: among which they refer to certain funds in each town to be let out to be for raising the salaries of the ministers without any tax upon the people; the le of patli land to each parish except the Church of England; the sale of seven new townopp of common lands belonging to the Colony; the money appropriated either to schools of to what they call the established ministry of the government at the election of the several towns (as will appear by the printed acts for this purpose ; ) so that according to their sense of the law, we of the Church of England are excluded from any benen of thit sace. They also appropriate the loan of their last commission of £50,000 bills of credit to that purpose."
Six hundred and thirty males of the Church of England above the age of sixteen appealed to the General Assembly for their proportions in these interests, which was not granted; consequently, the clergy of the colony applied to the mother country for redress. Their appeal was signed by the Reverends Samuel Seabury, Ebenezer Punderson, John Arnold, Samuel Johnson. J. Whitmore, Henry Caner and John Beach. t
The first Church of England at Fairfield proved at this date " much too little " for the congregation, and measures were taken to erect a new church of larger dimensions. The following vote is recorded in our town records :
" July 27, 1738: Put to vote whether the town will give liberty to the members of the Church of England to erect a house for public worship on the highway near the pli field-gate, provided Moses Ward of Fairfield release his interest & claim to the proprieters of the said town which he hath to the land granted formerly by said town to Jar b Jey. lying on the meeting-house green; & passed in the affirmative Put to vote whet er the members for erecting the above said Church shall extend the same thirty eight foot north westerly from Jonathan Sturge's stone fence & no further ; & passed in the affirmative
Put to vote whether Thomas Hill, Samuel Rowland, & Thaddeus Burr shall be a con- mittee for the measuring out the place for the erecting said Church, according to the
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. VIII, pp. 169-171.
t Bishops Hawkes and Perry's Ilist. Protestant Episcopal Church in the U S. A., p. 1fm).
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aforesaid vote, any two of them to have the power of the whole ;- passed in the affirma- tive." *
It is very apparent from the terms of this grant of land that our Puritan ancestors were vigorously opposed to a Church of England being erected on the meeting-house green. In the progress of Christian good- will, however, it is a somewhat singular fact that St. Paul's Episcopal Church at the present time stands upon the meeting-house green, facing the Congregational meeting-house in undisturbed quietude from any out- side influences.
The old field gate referred to in this vote separates the road from Sasco Hill to Fairfield, and lies next to the vacant lot adjoining the late Henry Rowland's estate, on which lot, until burned by the British in 1779, the new church stood. This church when completed was fifty-five feet in length, thirty-five feet in breadth and twenty feet in height, with a handsome steeple and spire of one hundred feet and a good bell of five hundred weight.
The Rev. Mr. Cornwall, in his Historical Discourse on The One Hun- dred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, which he preached at Trinity Church, South- port, August 10, 1851, states :
" The parish of Fairfield had outstripped in some respects the old parish of Stratford, & taken the position of the leading parish in this Colony :- from original papers in the office of the Secretary of State, that of six hundred & thirty-six heads of families, men & women, whose signatures were attached to a petition then presented to the Colonial Assembly from nine parishes under the care of seven missionaries, one hundred & twenty four, about one fifth of the whole were under the care of Mr. Caner in Fairfield & Nor- walk; & of these eighty-two, or more than one-eighth of the whole belonged to Fairfield- & ninety-two were under the care of Mr. Beach, missionary of Newtown & Reading."
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