USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Harwinton > The history of Harwinton, Connecticut > Part 9
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Under the ministrations of the fifth pastor of said Church, there was through the year 1835 an obvious increase of the spirit of prayer; and in the winter and spring ensuing many persons, most of them in the flower of life, were the subjects of unusual religious impressions. In 1836, thirty-six persons united them- selves to the Church; at other times, during his ministry, twen. ty-three.t Some twenty-five persons, who afterwards entered
*MS. of Dr. Pierce.
+Church Records, Book III.
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its membership, stated that their new hopes and new life began in the period embraced by his pastorate here.
By him were baptized in Harwinton six individuals of adult age, and forty-four children .*
While Mr. Bentley was pastor of the same Church, "a work of divine grace made its appearance in the winter of 1840, char- acterized by deep and thorough convictions. The number added to the Church [was] forty. Again, [there was] a powerful work of grace, reaching almost all classes, [attended with] pungent convictions and in many instances speedy conversions, in the winter of 1842-3."+ The number of persons, by profession admitted to the Church, in 1843, was fifty-three .* There oc- curred another religious "revival in the winter of 1846 and 7, more limited."+ In 1847 were, by profession, admitted to the Church eighteen persons .*
In 1851, under Mr. Jones' pastorate, there were received to the Congregational Church ninety-six persons,* ninety-four at one time .¿ Mr. Jones states: "These were not, however, near all who hopefully embraced Christ under my ministry among that people [, viz., in Harwinton]. There were some forty per- sons, the most of whom were young, who, I felt, needed trial and training, before they took upon them the obligations of the Church. There were persons from Plymouth Congregation, some from Northfield, Wolcottville and Burlington, who came to our meetings and were, it was hoped, savingly benefitted."}
In respect to most of the seasons thus briefly sketched, in which religious truth was here accompanied with manifestations of unwonted power, may be said what the third Congregational pastor, writing in 1807, affirmed in respect to two of them: " The effect of those revivals was conspicuous, especially in the harmony and peace which pervaded the [Congregational] society, and in an uncommon degree of brotherly affection cementing the members of the Church." Regarding all of the scenes that, since he thus spoke, himself and pastors succeeding him here
*Church Records, Book III.
+MS. of Mr. Bentley.
MS. of Mr. Jones.
-
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have with the same Church been delighted to behold, with how much energy might be repeated and with how much feeling might be heard another expression which, at the time specified, he in view of similar ones made : "I hope it will not appear ar- rogant to say, surely the members of this Church, together with their pastor and the society, ought humbly and affectionately to acknowledge, that they have very abundant reason for the live- liest exercise of gratitude and praise; and forever to bless the LORD of hosts for such wonderful and repeated tokens of his mercy; and continually to sing, Alleluia."*
*Account, &c., 1807. See herein, at page 79, Note (+).
APPENDIX.
NOTE A., PAGE 10.
Importance of a New England Town.
" To commemorate the birth-day and perpetuate the annals of a retired New England town, may seem to some a trifling affair. But there is nothing dearer, to a man of sensibility, than his home ... Here is the only true source of patriotism ; and the man who loves not to indulge in recollections of the home of his youth, is constituted of such materials as traitors are made of.
But a New England town, when philosophically considered, is of more importance than at first may be supposed. It is not a mere corpo- ration, but is a little commonwealth of itself. Our towns are pure de- mocracies. Here alone [,as politically regarded, ] the people deliberate, decide, and act, without the intervention of a second power ; and their most important interests are here consulted and regulated by themselves. The chief objects of taxation are entrusted to the towns. The great and absorbing interests of learning and religion are within their jurisdiction, in their capacities of school and ecclesiastical societies.
In town meetings, these primary assemblies of the people, our youth and young men are instructed in the first elements of political science ; not by study alone, but by actual observation and participation. Here have been the nurseries of our statesmen, and here, too, the quiet du- ties and submission of the citizen are first learned. I am persuaded, that without these rudimental institutions of civil liberty, New England could never have furnished her bright example in the struggle [of our nation] for independence ; nor could we have so successfully carried out the dangerous experiment of a people governed by themselves."-Hon. Samuel Church's Centennial Address at Salisbury, ( Ct.,) 20 Oct., 1841.
As more than sustaining those views of the late Chief Justice Church, himself an Episcopalian, may be cited from The Congregationalist, Bos- ton, May 18, 1860, thus :
" THE CHURCHES' QUARREL ESPOUSED."-This ancient volume by John Wise, first [re-] issued in 1772, is soon to be published by the Congregational Board of Publication. Rev. Joseph S. Clark, D. D., in his "Historical Sketch of the Con- gregational Churches of Mass," speaks as follows of the work:
Some of the most glittering sentences in the immortal Declaration of American Independence are almost literal quotations from this essay of John Wise. And it is a significant fact, that in 1772, only four years before that declaration was made, a large edition of both these tracts was published by subscription in one duo- decimo volume. The suspicion which this fact alone suggests, that it was used as a political text-book in the great struggle for freedom then opening in earnest, is fully confirmed by the list of subscribers' names printed at the end, with the num- ber of copies annexed. Distinguished laymen in all parts of New England, who were soon to be heralded to the world as heroes in that struggle, are on that list
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for six, twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six, and two of them for a hundred copies each ! Should the time ever come for the people of this republic to renew that struggle, or the Congregational churches to re-assert their ancient rights, another edition of this rare old book would be called for.
The primary New England Towns originated as adjuncts and out- growths of the distinctive New England, viz., Congregational, Churches. In both institutions, the methods of organization and administration are radically the same. As, therefore, the Congregational Church system is, what the best-informed 'dissenters' from it admit, a revival of that which obtained among the primitive Christians, the typical form of which was the synagogue; New Englanders, with such of their countrymen as have the like immunities, are under indebtedness to an ancient "peculiar people " who have for ages been greatly despised. Americans can be just to all men; and it is the part of magnanimity to acknowledge that, in the respects and to the degree above indicated, our freedom as well as "salvation is of the Jews."?
Some fifteen years ago the writer of this Note saw a prize Essay on the benefits attending on and resulting from the Town Organization. It was published near 1840. Abridged, it would be a valuable 'Tract for the Times.' Perhaps a patriot American could not easily render to his country a greater service than to place some appropriate treatise on that subject in the hands of the young men, especially of the young voters, in our land.
'The origin of society' so learnedly or, rather, so dogmatically-igno- rantly written and talked about, lies too near home for a philosophist to see, viz., in the natural aggregation of families. The history of Europe to some extent, the history of the United States more clearly, shows that the best political confederation results from the organic and organ ific aggregation of Towns.
NOTE B., PAGE 11. Population of Harwinton.
The number of inhabitants in Harwinton was in
1736, .
100,*
1800,. . 1481,
1737,
161,*
1810,.
1718,
1756,
250,+
1820, 1500
1774,
1015,1
1830,.
1516,
1782,
1215,8
1840, 1201,
1790,
1367,
1850, .
1175.|
*See, herein above, page 28.
+Since 1740, there had been little immigration. Some persons had even thus early left Harwinton, to found other Towns; and some, as see (, on page 110,) Note O, were absent in the Colonial military service.
#'Colored persons, 3.'
§' Colored persons, 5.'
"The population, in 1756, of Litchfield County was 11,827; of Connecticut, 129,- 994: in 1744, of Litchfield County, 27,285; of Connecticut, 197,856: in 1840, of Litchfield County, 40,448; of Connecticut, 309,978: in 1850, of Litchfield County, 45,253; of Connecticut, 370,792.
13
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NOTE C., PAGE 14, 20. Purchase of Land from Indians.
No man who is intelligent will deny, and no one who is humane but will regret, that our national government has, not always indeed, yet in many instances, pursued a policy, in respect to lands owned by 'native tribes,' akin to that which Ahab adopted in respect to Naboth's vine- yard. It must also be acknowledged, that too many persons are inclined to feel and to act toward the American Indians, as the ancient Israelites did towards the people of Canaan. Until a divine right, explicitly set forth in a divine command to that effect, can be produced, the work of fraudulently disinheriting these Indians, and of extirpating them either with or without removal from their possessions, ought to be abandoned. So much of that work has been already done, as may well awaken fear in the mind of any individual who remembers, that the just God will never forget the weak who are wronged and oppressed.
Still, the talk which is sometimes heard from New Englanders, as in- volving accusations that like wrongs were committed against Indians here by the earliest English settlers in New England, is worse than an affectation of that sentimentality for which it seems intended to pass. Coming from such persons who either know, or have certainly had suf- ficient opportunity to know, what were the facts in this case, such talk is as odious, without being as excusable, as is mere blattering ignorance. It falls little short of being a gratuitous slander thrown by degenerate men on their own parentage, the courage to do which they could not muster up-were that parentage still alive. Apart from the wrong of this matter, it is mortifying to be obliged to hear the prattle of persons, "neither understanding what they say, nor knowing whereof they af- firm."
Facts, relative to the purchase of the territory of New England from its Indian possessors, may be found in a large part of our New England Histories. The earliest records of our oldest New England Towns are of deeds, duly given, conveying the land within the bounds of such Towns, for due considerations received by the Indians formerly owning it. One of the eminent lawyers of Massachusetts, who had been most conversant with contested land claims, has stated that he was never en- gaged in such a case, in which the title was not ultimately traced up to an 'Indian deed.' In instances where, as at Salem, Ms., the Indians had nearly or quite left a territory before the English colonists came to it ; Indians who afterwards appeared, claiming the territory, received satis- faction. Those who wish to examine this matter, should consult the archives of the oldest New England States and Towns, with the state- ments of the earliest New England historians. How fairly bought and how fully paid for by the English settlers was the land of these eastern States, is not a thing hard to be learned.
As to this locality, these things appear. Sequassen, * who was Sachem
*So, DeForest. Goodwin, in his Descendants of Thomas Olcott, Appendix, writes the name Sunckquasson.
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of what now is Hartford, sold to the English settlers there not only that place but, with that, "the whole region westward, including the territo- ries of the Tunxis as far as the country of the Mohawks." The deed of this sale seems to have been lost, but the fact of this sale is acknowl- edged in a renewal deed, given in 1670, by which the Indians, succes- sors of Sequassen, confirm his conveyance of Suckiage, alias Hartford, to the English settlers. The Hartford people, who, in 1640, four years after that sale, settled Farmington, then Tunxis, re-purchased that part of the territory. These same people, in 1650, made another agree- ment, concerning land, with the Tunxis Indians, agents for whom were "Pethus the sachem or gentleman " of Tunxis, and Ahamo, another of those Indians' principal men ; Seqnassen's authority being at that time of no consequence, as he was in exile. In 1657, some of the Farming- ton settlers procured of the same Tunxis tribe coparcenary rights and title to Mattatuc. In 1714 (, or 1718), the heirs of those grantees re- ceived from the successors of those grantors a confirmatory deed, con- veying the absolute rights and title to those grantees. Within that tract, as by the known locality of "y" hill " appears, is included Litchfield, partly ; Harwinton, wholly. If the Pootatuck Indians had ever any claim or ownership in this territory, they had parted with such; since, as is stated,* "the names of their chiefs are appended to deeds of sale [of lands] extending from Pequonnuck in Bridgeport, on the south, to Goshen and Torrington, on the north." It appears from this recital, that whatever rights the Indians had to this part of Connecticut soil they conveyed away by many repeated sales. Their rights to it, it should also be said, seem to have been only such as attach to a mere hunting ground. The Pootatucks a small tribe at Woodbury excepted, no In- dians lived permanently in any part of what is now Litchfield county, until towards the middle part of the seventeenth century. Then, or at about that period, various clans had emigrated into its northwestern por- tion. Previously to that time, Indians were here as occasional sojourn- ers, not as stated residents.
The Indian conveyance of the territory comprising part of Waterbury (, Plymouth), with this township and in part that of Litchfield, will be found in Farmington Records. This territory, as has before (, pp. 16-21.) been mentioned, had been, formally at least, given, in 1686, to the Towns of Hartford and Windsor. The interest which the Farmington people had by that conveyance acquired, or the claim which they had founded upon that conveyance, they gave up to those Towns, and they received from the Colony therefor one sixth part of the township of Litchfield.t One deed " copied from the Farmington record," Dr. Bronson, in his His- tory of Waterbury, gives as follows (, together with facsimiles of the marks of the grantors, which are here omited) :
This Witnesseth that Wee Kepaquamp and Querrimus and Mataueage have sould to William Lewis and Samuell Steele of ffarmington A psell or A trackt of Land
*History of Woodbury.
+History of Litchfield, and History of Waterbury.
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called matetacoke that is to Say the hill from whence John Standley and John Andrews: brought the black lead and all the Land within eight: mylle: of that hill: on every side: to dig : and carry away what they will and To build on yt for ye Vse of them that Labor there: and not otherwise To improve: ye Land In wit- nes whereof wee: have hereunto set our: hands: and those: Indians above men- tioned must free the purchasers from all Claymes: by any other Indyans: Witnes John Steel
febuary: ye 8th 1657
WILLIAM LEWIS SAMUEL STEELE
The marke ) of Kepaquamp :
The mark
of Querrimus
The mark of ( ) Mataneage
After copying the above-quoted instrument into his History of the Town of Litchfield, Connecticut, George C. Woodruff, Esq., says: " Precisely where the hill referred to in this deed was situated, I have been unable to discover, but from the subsequent claims of the grantees, from tradition, and from the deed itself, it would seem that it was in the southern part of Harwinton, and embraced that Town and also some portion of Plymouth (then [called] Matatuck or Waterbury) and Litch- field. This purchase was made by the grantees in behalf of themselves and [of] a company composed of certain other inhabitants of Farming- ton." Dr. Bronson says : "It doubtless proved valueless for the pur- poses for which it was obtained, as we hear nothing further concerning the black lead."*
The later deed, conveying to Farmington people the whole Indian title to the "trackt," bears date, Dr. Bronson affirms, " the 11th day of August, 1718." The essential part of it, as given by Mr. Woodruff, is as follows :
... Allso ye sd Pethuzso, and Toxcronuck with ye Rest of the Indians subscri- bing do hereby for our selves and our heir executes couenant promise, grant and agree, to and with ye sd John Stanly Steel and Lewis in manner and form as fol- loweth, that ye sd Keepaquam, Querimus and Mattaneage at ye time of ye enseal- ing of ye conuayance above expressed, they were ye true and lawfull owners of ye Land contained jn ye Premises and stood seized of the whole tract of land con- tained in ye book of Records in ye premises : after ye meathod that other Jndians useed to do, jn theyer own right; yet for a further sattisfaction of ye heirs of Capt. Lewis, Steel, and Stanly we haue giuen this Instrument to Left Stanly and William Lewis, son of Capt Lewis, and Ebenezer Steele to be A further confirmation to them and ye ancient Purchasers forever. Now this Jndenture wittnesseth for a further confirmation to them ye sd Stanly, Lewis and Steel, that we ye sd Petliuzso and Toxcronuck with ye rest of us ye subscribers do grant Release and Quitt any claime to ye aboue sd Tract or Percell of Land and do hereby assigne, enfeoffe, Rat- tefie and Confirm unto the aforesd Willm Lewis Sarjt Ebenezer Steel and Left John Stanly theyer ancient Purchasers and theyer heirs forever, all ye forementioned premises that is to say the hill from whence John Stanly and John Andrus brought ye blacklead and all ye Land within eight mile of ye hill on euery side, with all ye timber trees, woods brooks rivers, mines, minerals thereupon, and hereby sur- render and Quitt our claime to ye same for them to have and to hold Possess and enjoy and their heirs forever, and do hereby warrant maintain, and defend ye sd Pur- chasers theyer heirs and assigns jn ye Quiet and Peaceable Possession, and enjoy- ment thereof as above described, against our selves our heirs executrs adminirs and assigns and and all and euery other pr son or pr sons lawfully claiming Right Title Jntrest therein from by, or under us.
*It was traditionally transmuted into block lead ; as see (, hereinafter,) Note U.
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Jn wittness whereof we ye said Petthuzso Toxcronuck Awowas, with ye Rest haue to this Jndenture Put our hands, and seales, this elcuenth of August in ye year of or Lord one thousand and seven hundred and fourteen : 1714
Signed sealed and delivered in ye presence of us, John Thomson, Hez. Hooker
Petthuzso: his mark
Toxcrunuck : his
ffarmington September ye eleuenth day, Anno qe Dom. 1714, Petthuzso, and Tox- cronuck, ffarmington Jndians, and subscribers to this aboue written Instrument came pr sonally before me and acknowledged ye same to be theyer own willing and free act and deed, JOHN HOOKER, Justic.
Wittnesses to Taphow and his squa sign- ing sealing and de- livering Tho's Lee, Hez. Hooker
Young Taphow his mark.
Young Tapho w Squa
Witnesses to Awo- was signing seal- ing & delivering. Timothy Portter, Awowas his mark Josiah Hart. 1 Petasas granchild her mark.
ffarmington Octobr ye 12th, Anno Domi: 1714: Taphow ye younger and his squa ; allso Wowowis all ffarmington Jndians came pr sonally before me, and acknowl- . edged this aboue written Instrument-which they have signed and sealed to be thyer own willing free act and deed.
JOHN HOOKER, Justic
NOTE D., PAGE 14. Connecticut Laws.
The so called 'Blue Laws' of Connecticut form the staple topic, and that a very stale one, of her revilers. If she had actually been in the shameful or shameless condition which such persons, too often her own sons, represent her to have come into by making and enforcing those asserted 'laws,' did it not become these persons rather to throw a man- tle over her, than, by talking with pleasure about her being in such a plight, to 'foam out their own shame?' Those so called 'laws,' however, were not so much enacted by a Connecticut Legislature as invented by a renegade maligner of the position and measures which, eighty years ago, Connecticut chose to take regarding the revolutionary war, to all which his instincts and objects made him averse. Any one who desires to see what is revealed by an examination of Dr. Samuel Peters, and of his accusations of Connecticut, as respects those asserted 'laws,' will find his work thoroughly dissected and its author morally gibbeted in James Luce Kingsley, LL.D.'s Historical Address, delivered at the Bi- centennial Anniversary of the settlement of New Haven.
Connecticut has never claimed perfection. Her legislators have not been faultless. Her laws bear, what their authors did, the marks of some human imperfections. Let as much be made of this fact as truth will justify and as circumstances may render needful, but not more than that. Having read carefully the ancient laws of Connecticut, the writer,
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not by birth to Connecticut belonging, might with some confidence pre- sent his own views regarding the general character of said laws. He might, in preference to intimating any judgment of his own touching the matter, cite, respecting it, the deliberately formed and publicly ex- pressed sentiments of speakers and writers, as well out of Connecticut as in it, who are in every respect and to the fullest extent competent to pronounce in this regard. But there is a way more decisive of the ques- tion, than the delivering or the quoting of opinions. Let one who wish- es to know what the laws of Connecticut have been in former times, just find what her people have been. Let him read, as to their character the whole State through, Hollister's History of Connecticut, and, as to their character in Litchfield County, Bushnell's 'Sermon ' delivered at the Litchfield Jubilee in 1851. Indeed, for learning this, he need not wait till he has read any thing. A candid man can satisfactorily deter- mine what the former generations were, by seeing what the present gen- eration is. Are a people such as in general those now in Connecticut are, the descendants of men who, as a body, were such as making or submitting to the asserted 'Blue Laws' would show them to have been ?. As a general fact, a whole people are never better than their laws are; often, they are worse. If the present people of Connecticut are what they are admitted to be, the laws which their fathers had, and their fathers themselves in helping by means of their laws to make these peo- ple what they are, deserve high commendation.
NOTE E., PAGE 15. Early Evil-Doers of New England.
" No colony ever emigrated into a wilderness without soon drawing into their neighborhood, if not into their number, those whose congenial habitation is on the borders between a civilized and a savage communi- ty. Our fathers were by no means exempt from this universal bane of new settlements." "Even of the one hundred and one who first arrived in Cape Cod Harbor, there were evidently several, besides children, who made no pretensions to personal godliness ... several in the capacity of ser- vants. Two of these soon engaged in fighting a duel, and were sen- tenced by the whole company "to have their hands and feet tied togeth- er, and so remain twenty-four hours without meat or drink." ' The Planters of Massachusetts and those of Connecticut and of New Haven, equally with the Pilgrims of Plymouth, have, as thus inevitably connect- ed with what are in these days expressively termed ' border ruffians,' received an immoderate apportionment of obloquy.] "When they ban- ished such pests from their domain, they were complained of as intole- rant, and if they suffered them to remain, they were represented as con- niving at their iniquities. Very often do their descendants, at this day, represent them as guilty of the very acts of the hangers-on, against whom they contended with all their might, and then with the same breath condemn them as bitter persecutors for expelling such gross of- fenders as they were able to banish from their community. These cul- prits, like others in all ages and countries, went off complaining loudly
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of infringement of their liberties ; [and] now, with unaccountable gusto, multitudes swallow their complaints, and are far more sure that they judge right than are those best acquainted with the whole history of their case."-C. [Joseph S. Clark, D.D. ? ], in The Congregationalist, Boston, September 10, 1858.
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