USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Hamden > The history of Hamden, Connecticut, 1786-1936 > Part 7
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The Colonial Period
estate, stock, soldiers in the Continental Army, town · poor, bridges and other burdens, etc., be equitably divided."
On April 12, Bazel Munson of Mount Carmel and Jonathan Dayton of North Haven, as agents for the two parishes, reported the New Haven vote for the sepa- ration "under certain conditions." They asked that the new town be called Mount Haven, and that they receive a proportionate share of "town stores, Continental men and all other profits in which they have been mutually interested heretofore." This request was denied by the General Assembly. A New Haven town meeting, held on December 17, 1781, appointed a new committee on the division, still planning North Haven and Mount Carmel to be one town. On January 16, 1782, the Mount Carmel Society voted for the united town, on condition that three fifths of the town meetings be held at North Haven and the other two fifths at Mount Carmel.
New Haven was incorporated as a town in 1784, with Roger Sherman its first mayor. A year later a petition to the General Assembly was entered for a separate town of Hamden, separate also from North Haven. The petition, signed by Theophilus Goodyear and John Hubbard, and dated April 18, 1785, called attention to the differences of interest between farmers and the com- mercial class within New Haven,
that many of your Memorialists are very remotely situated from the Place where the business of said Town of New Haven is usually transacted, and of course but few of them can have any part in the di- rections thereof, that they are universally farmers, habituated to a very different Mode of living, thinking of management of Business from the Governing num-
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bers generally present at the town meetings in said town they being of the trading Interest, Whose Plans and Ideas are generally so totally diverse from those of your Memorialists that this circumstance is often the source of uneasiness and jealousy and consequent Discord.
The grand list was stated to be about £11,000.
Although the General Assembly did not grant the petition, a New Haven town meeting on March 28 had already voted favorably ("by almost unanimous vote") for a town to be formed of Mount Carmel Par- ish joined with the boundaries of the Seventeenth Com- pany of the Second Regiment, "they taking their part and proportion of the benefits and burdens of the Town according to their list."
Another petition to the General Assembly was made in 1786. The differences in viewpoint between the farmers and the merchants were again emphasized, yet not in a spirit of jealousy.
These disadvantages they (the petitioners) do not men- tion under any idea of criminating the citizens of New Haven, whose friendly good intentions they fully con- fide in, or of charging the occasion of them to their accounts. Your Petitioners consider their own pros- perity as most intimately connected with that of the city of New Haven, and would have been reluctant to a separation from them did not such a measure coincide with the wishes of the city and the pleasure of the rest of the Town, which pleasure has been repeat- edly manifested by their votes.
This time the petitioners were not disappointed, and Hamden was constituted a separate town in May, 1786.
,
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The Colonial Period
Before the actual incorporation of the new town, local men of prominence consulted on the choice of a name. Amasa Bradley, one of the Bradley family which had been influential in Mount Carmel since 1729, and who served as a selectman of Hamden seven times be- tween 1796 and 181 I, is credited with having proposed the name of Hamden. He suggested the name of John Hampden, the Puritan patriot of Oliver Cromwell's time (who, despite the difference in spelling, pro- nounced the name with the p silent). William Bradley, Amasa's earliest ancestor in America, had served in the army of Cromwell, and the name of John Hampden meant much to the Bradley family. Though he had been dead for 143 years, killed in battle in the revolu- tion under Charles I, Hampden's qualities of character and achievement had been so well remembered in this Puritan colony as to make his name appropriate for a new town. Besides, he had been one of the twelve men to whom, in 1635, the Saybrook grant had been made.
John Hampden was born in Buckinghamshire, Eng- land, in 1594. His father died when he was a child, and he became owner of a good estate. He was edu- cated at Oxford, and served as member of Parliament from 1621 until his death in 1643.
Of him his biographer Lord Nugent has said: "The celebrated Puritan leader is an almost solitary instance of a great man who neither sought nor shunned great- ness, who found glory only because glory lay in the plain path of duty. ... Public service, perilous, ardu- ous, delicate was required; and to every service the intellect and the courage of this wonderful man were found fully equal. He became a debater of the first
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order, a most dextrous manager of the House of Com- mons, a negotiator, a soldier."
David Hume, the English historian, said: "John Hampden acquired by his spirit and courage universal popularity throughout the nation, and has merited great renown with posterity for the bold stand which he made in defense of the laws and liberties of his country."
He refused to pay the ship money tax (the small amount of 20 s. in his case) because the principle in- volved was so vitally important. His prosecution became the greatest controversy ever held between the people and the Crown. Although seven of the twelve judges sided against him, nevertheless the connection between the rights of property and the parliamentary system became, through this action, firmly established in the minds of all the people. They honored Hamp- den as a popular patriot, largely because of his public- spirited stand in refusing to pay the ship money tax, but also because they recognized the other qualities of greatness in his character-his modesty, his dislike of pretense, his brave contempt for danger. He was an eloquent speaker, even-tempered, always courteous and well-mannered.
Of the period after the trial, Thomas Macaulay said:
The person of Hampden was now scarcely safe. He knew that the eye of a tyrant (Charles I) was upon him. He was determined to leave England. Beyond the Atlantic a few of the persecuted Puritans had formed in the wilderness of Connecticut a settlement which has since become a prosperous commonwealth, and which, in spite of the lapse of time and of the change of government, still retains something of the character given to it by its first founders. Lord Saye and Lord Brooke were the original projectors of the
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The Colonial Period.
scheme of emigration. Hampden had been early con- sulted respecting it. He was now, it appears, desirous to withdraw himself beyond the reach of oppressors who were bent on punishing his manful resistance to their tyranny. He was accompanied by his kinsman Oliver Cromwell, over whom he possessed great in- fluence; they took passage on a vessel and were actually on board, when an order of council prohibited the sailing.
Though John Hampden was prevented from coming to Connecticut, both his influence and his name were fit- tingly planted here; and the founders of the town may have idealistically believed that those qualities which made the man great could, when possessed by the town, bring it distinction through practice of the same virtues.
Part II New Roots In Old Soil
PART II NEW ROOTS IN OLD SOIL
THE NEW GOVERNMENT
TĮ O sum up the important features of the Act of Incorporation of the town of Hamden, its boundaries were to be those of the Parish of Mount Carmel plus the area outlined as that of the Seventeenth Military Company, Second Regi- ment of the State Militia, lying between Mount Carmel Parish and the city of New Haven. The newly formed town was given the liberty to elect or appoint the new town officers, levy taxes and collect them, and transact all business proper to a town. With a committee of three chosen to decide just and reasonable proportions, the townspeople were to receive their part of New Haven town stock; to pay their part of New Haven's debts already incurred, in proportion to their tax list; to take over the charge and support of their part of the town poor; to bear their share of the support of bridges and highways used by both towns; and to pay taxes already laid in New Haven, with the "overplus" being paid back to them. They were also to have a represen- tative in the General Assembly of the State.
The typical way of Yankee dickering finds the town fathers agreeing to the continued use by New Haven of stone from East and West Rocks, in return for Ham- den's continued privilege of catching fish, clams, and oysters from the seashore.
Five days' written notice of the first town meeting was given by signs posted, one on the central signpost
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The History of Hamden
and the other at Heil Peck's house, which was at the southeast corner of what is now Whitney and Tuttle Avenues, and later known as the Hezekiah Brockett place. The "admitted inhabitants" were summoned to meet at I P.M. on the third Thursday in June, 1786, for the purpose of electing officers who should serve until December.
The Mount Carmel meetinghouse was designated as the place of meeting in true New England tradition; and it was entirely appropriate that it should be held there, not only from the practical fact that it was per- haps the only auditorium large enough for such a gath- ering, but in theory too, it was proper to believe that from the meetinghouse would emanate the kind of hon- esty that was the same for pious, personal, and political life. The clergy, who so frequently spoke from the pulpit on political issues of the day, may oft-times have been mistaken in their views, but they were never wrong in believing that political action should be in accord with the basic laws of God.
The call was signed by Simeon Bristol, who was named as moderator of the meeting. It is interesting to speculate on the sort of man that Simeon Bristol must have been-surely a man of commanding presence, a leader who had gained the respect and confidence of his neighbors, outstanding for firmness and judgment; for he was chosen to direct the first faltering steps of the new government. He was forty-seven years of age, with a wife and six children. Records also show him to have been a slave owner.
The first town meeting was duly held, and Simeon Bristol was elected town clerk (a position which he held for fifteen years), as well as one of the five selectmen,
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the others being John Hubbard, Asa Goodyear, Samuel Dickerman, and Moses Gilbert. His son, George Augustus Bristol, was chosen one of two constables. There were ten highway surveyors-among them Sam- uel Dorman, Caleb Doolittle, and Hezekiah Bassett; and Jonathan Dickerman and Stephen Ford were made fence viewers. "Listers" (probably registrars of voters or census takers), chosen from the various parts of the town, were Samuel Bellamy, Jonathan Ives, Jr., Ben- jamin Gaylord, Jr., Stephen Goodyear, Job Todd, Sam- uel Humiston, Benjamin Woodin, and Joel Goodyear.
There were four grand jurors; and among the four tithingmen was Sackett Gilbert, a Sackett descendant; five "key-keepers" were probably pound keepers. On the committee to divide responsibilities with New Ha- ven, were Simeon Bristol, John Hubbard, Theophilus Goodyear, Isaac Dickerman, and Elisha Booth. The town government, like that of New Haven, theoreti- cally was split up among a group of committees, but in practice the authority was vested preponderantly in the selectmen, who were represented on most of the com- mittees.
The date for annual town meetings was set for the second Monday of December in each year, and notices were to be posted on the town signpost, at the two tav- erns in Mount Carmel, and also at the public house on the road in the Plains.
Hamden had become the 167th town in Connecticut, the state which led the nation in its practice of govern- ment by the people. It was now one of the Connecticut family of little indestructible republics, which, however much they might be subject to the control of the Gen- eral Assembly, yet had large powers of local control.
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When Governor Henry Harrison spoke in Hamden one hundred years later, he said:
Are all of you aware, do you fully understand what a peculiar organization is the organization of a town in the State of Connecticut? By the act of the General Assembly which made you a town, you were made in your municipal capacity, a little indestructible republic having great powers of local government which can never be taken away from you. There is no state and no country in this world where the principle of Home Rule or the principle of government by the people, is so radically carried out and so thoroughly protected by the Constitutional defenses as it is in this town of Hamden, and in every other town in the State of Connecticut.
You do not hold your rights, your most important ones, at the pleasure of the General Assembly, at the pleasure of the State government, or of any other power on earth. Your right to representation in the General Assembly cannot be taken away from you by any power; your right to your town meeting cannot be taken from you; your right to elect your own select- men, your town clerk, your grand jurors, your officers, your constable, your justice of the peace; these rights are yours so long as the Constitution of the state re- mains as it is. The existence of this town cannot be destroyed. The General Assembly cannot abolish the town of Hamden, or annex it to any other town.
Simeon E. Baldwin, a later governor of Connecticut, also spoke on this anniversary program, and he said in part:
Local self-government is the right of every consid- erable body of men living together, to tax themselves and to regulate as they best please, the general order of their lives and their relations to each other.
Hamden left New Haven in 1786 because her in- habitants thought they were better able to manage their local affairs themselves, than if they had the interfer-
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New Roots in Old Soil
ence of voters on the edge of Branford. That they were right, your prosperity and our prosperity in New Haven alike testify. There can be no effectual govern- ment by town meeting unless it is held within easy dis- tance of every voter. And this lesson the older towns of Connecticut learned early. It has made Connecticut the land of steady habits and strong local attachments.
We love the town we live in, and it is a sentiment always to be encouraged. We love our town as we love our state, our native land, each loved and all loved because they make us as free as we are strong; because they make it possible for a people to grow great with- out ceasing to be able to govern themselves.
And so, Hamden's first town meeting had been the gathering together of the inhabitants, where every man was his neighbor's equal-free to stand up unafraid to express his opinions. It is the truest sort of democracy, not available elsewhere in the life of the community- certainly not in social or religious circles. Town meet- ing is truly the "sovereign people," for it is the only form of government in which the prime unit acts in its own behalf. The citizen does not delegate his power to a representative when he rises in town meeting and says, "I want a new road"-he is speaking for himself, and he is not paid to do it. He acts only when there is some- thing important to be decided. In such a system every citizen must be politically responsible, whereas in rep- resentative government, like the Federal system, a citizen considers his responsibility ended when he casts a ballot for someone to represent him.
It is in line with New England character that a man wants to make his own decisions, and not to be told how to do it. If a matter is presented to a town meeting, and seems to be entirely agreeable to everyone present, it
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The History of Hamden
would nevertheless be emphatically rejected if the suggestion were to be made that a neighboring town had been satisfied with it. Someone would surely rise and say, "They aren't telling us how to run our busi- ness."
A special Hamden town meeting was held on No- vember 16, 1786, at which the only business was to name George Augustus Bristol tax collector, and the selectmen were empowered to divide the town into highway districts.
The first annual meeting was adjourned from Decem- ber II to December 18, at twelve o'clock. Selectmen chosen at this time were John Hubbard, Samuel Dick- erman, Moses Gilbert, Theophilus Goodyear, and Abraham Alling; and Jesse Goodyear was elected treas- urer. The first tax rate laid in Hamden was 4 d. on the pound, and John Hubbard, the collector, was paid £Io sterling from the town treasury for his services. This tax yielded £173, 13 s., 6 d.
In 1790, the rate being one penny halfpenny, the in- come from taxes dropped to £67, 4 s., 6 d. President Ezra Stiles of Yale, writing in his diary in 1791, said: "Lodged at Squire Munson's in Carmel. He is £1 50 in the list, pays £12 or £15 tax per annum. Highest in the List in Carmel." President Stiles, who, during his incumbency at Yale from 1777 to 1796 was re- nowned as the best scholar of his time in New Eng- land; was the son of Dr. Isaac Stiles, the pastor of the North Haven Church for thirty-six years .* President Stiles visited Hamden often, not only in his capacity as a leading divine but to visit his mother, who lived after
* Dr. Isaac Stiles's 36-year pastorate was succeeded in 1760 by Dr. Benjamin Trumbull.
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her husband's death with her daughters, Mrs. Bazel Munson and Mrs. Lemuel Bradley, both of Mount Carmel.
The town of New Haven had been all too well aware of the burden and expense of roads and bridges, and largely for that reason was willing to permit the formation of the surrounding towns. As soon as 1787 Hamden was quite cognizant of this burden, and voted that "taking into consideration the number and extent of the bridges within Hamden, and the numerous roads, length and extreme badness thereof," if they took care of only those within their own bounds it would be their full responsibility, and that they would take no further burden of any that used to lie upon New Haven before their separation, unless the General Assembly "affixed it" upon them.
And once more, too, they were Yankees willing to make a deal, when they voted to pay "all arrearages of State taxes due from the poor inhabitants thereof previous to separation from New Haven, which have not been abated nor can be collected," provided that the towns of New Haven, East Haven, and North Haven would do the same for their respective inhabi- tants.
When the Constitutional Convention met at Phila- delphia in June, 1787, the stamp of Connecticut was placed forever upon the governmental framework of the United States. Roger Sherman proposed the plan which was accepted with regard to representation in the lower legislative branch based upon the population of the several states; but his further suggestion, still based on the Connecticut model-that every state, however small, should have a vote in the Upper House-was
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rejected. But further debate often brought "the Con- necticut Plan" to the attention of the delegates. The committee, formed of one delegate from each state, which at last adopted this "Plan," had, it is true, only one member from Connecticut, but two other members -Ingersoll of Pennsylvania and Baldwin of Georgia- were natives of Connecticut, and were familiar with the successful 150 years in which Connecticut government had been in practice.
A town meeting was held in Hamden on the second Monday in November, 1787, following a recommenda- tion from the General Assembly, for the purpose of choosing a delegate to the State Convention in Hartford which was to pass upon the adoption or rejection of the proposed Federal Constitution. Hamden voted em- phatically against it-5 yeas and 73 nays-and appoint- ed Theophilus Goodyear as the Convention delegate.
Speculation as to why Hamden so strongly opposed the Constitution in spite of the fact that, as a state, Connecticut was one of the first to approve it, may lead to the thought that economic reasons were heavily involved-that farmers were in general at that time a disgruntled group, and Hamden was an agricultural town. Those who favored the Constitution were the merchants, manufacturers, private creditors, and hold- ers of public securities; and opposition to it was chiefly from farmers everywhere.
The popular belief that every man voted and that the majority ruled, in this period, was not true. There was a distinct difference between an elector of Hamden and a freeman, who was an elector of the state. An "admitted inhabitant" was a householder who owned property and was a godly man, who took oath that he
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was neither Jew, Quaker, nor atheist; and when ad- mitted by majority vote of those properly qualified in town meeting, he could take part in local affairs, join in the election of local officials, and vote for deputies to the General Court.
A "freeman" was an admitted inhabitant who had been chosen either by the General Court or by a magis- trate authorized to make freemen. He was considered by such to be capable of taking part in the affairs of the Colony and later, of the state. He was eligible to elec- tion as a deputy or he could be a magistrate, and he could vote for the higher officials.
The admitted inhabitants ran local town affairs but the freemen-probably less than a third of the admitted inhabitants-controlled the higher government of col- ony and then state.
Dr. Henry Bronson, in his Chapters on the Early Government of Connecticut, said:
The freemen of Connecticut under the Constitution were a kind of popular aristocracy, holding a midway station between the plebian and patrician classes. Sup- ported seemingly by both, they became the trusted pillars of the Commonwealth. Evidently they were not numerous. . . The facts indicate that only a small proportion, certainly a minority of those of 21 years and over were freemen; doubtless because they did not desire the honors if they must also bear the burdens.
The wording of Hamden records in regard to the admission of freemen varied in different years, but they appear to have been "admitted to be freemen of the town of Hamden" upon certificate from the selectmen. On September 19, 1786, the following persons were "admitted to be freemen of this Corporation": Joseph
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Pardy, Levi Bradley, Asa Goodyear, Jr., and Medad Alling.
The first volume of the Hamden town records con- tains, besides the accounts of the town meetings, the lists of elected officers and the votes on town affairs, many pages devoted to the admission of freemen, births, marriages, and deaths, notices relating to cattle which had been impounded as strays, and the brands by which their owners identified them, and regulations as to geese and animals on the roads and the commons.
The first land record, dated July, 1786, is of the con- veyance of five rods of land from Anthony Thomson, Jr., to Joel Goodyear, witnessed by Samuel Atwater and Simeon Bristol, the latter of whom was justice of the peace as well as recording clerk.
In regard to the "charge and support of the poor" which the town had agreed to assume, great pains were taken to "warn out" of its borders all persons without visible means of support who might, if they stayed, become town responsibilities. Those who unquestion- ably were entitled to the town's keep were "set up to public vendue"* and auctioned off to the highest bid- der, who must give bond that he would not abuse those in his care; or they were placed in suitable homes under supervision of the selectmen. In January, 1795, a town meeting voted to ask the New Haven County Court of Common Pleas to call together the authorities of the several towns in the county to consider building a county workhouse. In the following September, Simeon Bris- tol, Isaac Dickerman, and Caleb Alling were named to confer with the selectmen and report to the annual town meeting on a plan "for the more easy and comfortable
* Outcry.
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support of the poor of this town." This was a period when the condition of those who were unfortunate enough to be town charges anywhere was shockingly bad.
The New Haven Work House bylaws of 1792 pro- vided that any assistant or justice of the peace resident within the town might send to the workhouse, for not more than three months,
rogues, disorderly persons, all runaway stubborn ser- vants and children, common drunkards, common night walkers, pilferers, all persons who neglect their call- ings, misspend earnings and do not provide for their families, and all persons under distraction, unfit to be at large, and not cared for by their friends or rela- tives.
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