USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Redding > The history of Redding, Conn., from its first settlement to the present time : with notes on the Adams, Banks Stow families > Part 2
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
time to time, and at all times hereafter shall be got- ten, had or otherwise obtained ; in lieu of all rents, services, duties and demands whatsoever according to charter. In witness whereof, we the s'd Governor and Company have caused the Seal of the s'd Colony to be hereunto affixed, the fourteenth day of May, Anno George, Magna Brittanniæ &c. Annoque Do- mini 1723.
G. SALTONSTALL, Governor.
" By order of the Governor, HEZEKIAH WYLLYS, Secretary."
Subsequently Captain Couch purchased of the In- dians a tract of land lying in Lonetown, contiguous to the estate of Mr. John Read, and which a few years later he sold to that gentleman. The deed was given by Chickens, and some of its provisions caused considerable trouble to the colonists in later years. This deed is as follows :
"Know all men whom it may concern that I Chicken an Indian Saggamore living between Fair- field, Danbury, Ridgefield and Newtown, at a place called Lonetown in the county of Fairfield in the Colony of Connecticut, in New England, for and in consideration of twelve pounds, six shillings, al- ready paid unto me by Samuel Couch of Fairfield, husbandman, have given, granted, bargained, sold, confirmed, and firmly made over unto said Samuel Couch, his heirs and assigns forever, all the lands, lying, being and situate between the aforesaid towns of Danbury, Fairfield, Newtown, and Ridgefield, except what has been by letters patent from the Governor and Company of this Colony of Connecti- cut made over unto any person or persons or for any particular or public use. To have and to hold
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
unto the said Samuel Couch, and to his heirs and assigns forever the aforesaid granted and described lands or unpatented premises, with all the privi- leges and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or any manner of way appertaining, affirming myself to be the true owner, and sole proprietor of said land and have just, firm, and only right to dispose of the same. Reserving in the whole of the same, liberty for myself and my heirs to hunt, fish and foul upon the land and in the waters, and further reserving for myself, my children, and grand children and their posterity the use of so much land by my present dwelling house or wigwam as the General Assembly of the Colony by themselves or a Committee indifferently appointed shall judge necessary for my or their personal improvement, that is to say my Children, children's children and posterity, furthermore I the said Chickens do covenant, promise, and agree, to and with the said Samuel Couch, that I the said Chickens, my heirs, executors, and administrators, the said de- scribed lands and bargained premises, unto the said . Samuel Couch his heirs etc. against the claims and demands of all manner of persons whatever, to war- rant and forever by these presents defend. In con- firmation of the above premises I the said Chickens set to my hand and seal this 18th day of February Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and twenty four five Annoque Regis. etc."
his
CHICKENS, X Saggamore.
mark
But the proprietors of Redding could not long rest satisfied with the sale that had placed in the hands of two men nearly all the unoccupied lands lying in the " peculiar," and in 1725 made a second and, so far as appears, unsuccessful attempt to reverse the for-
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
mer decision of the Court. This attempt took the shape of a petition, and was as follows :
" To the Honorable the General Court to be holden at Hartford on the Second Thursday of May, 1725.
THE EARNEST PRAYER
Of the inhabitants, and of those that have farms in a certain tract of land lying between Fairfield and Danbury, Newtown and Richfield, with whom the Proprietory of a certain division of Land in Fairfield importunately joins-
"WHEREAS the Honorable General Assembly of this Colony hath in several of their Sessions, been pleased out of their great goodness & generosity to give unto some of your humble Petitioners & to others of them to sell certain Parcells of Land between the aforesaid towns & many of your Petitioners that they might get a comfortable maintenance & thereby be better able to serve their country have removed from their former habitations with great families of Children unto sd Land where we by ye blessing of God on our Industry have (passed) through (the) many difficulties that generally attend such new & Wooden Habitations and have now yet to go through, which are by us insuperable-but reflecting upon your Honor's accustomed Goodness, ready protec- tion, and willing encouragement towards all such that have been under ye like circumstances as we now are, makes us far from despairing of Living like rational Creatures and Christians in a very few years, and under our present Circumstances we have often the neighboring Ministers preaching ye word of God to us, and when your Honors shall be pleased to grant this our earnest & necessary request our number of Inhabitants will immediately be greatly renewed & we soon able to obtain a Minister & give him an honorable support-and that is to grant the vacant land that lies in slips and pieces between ye Land already given and sold to your
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
Petitioners to lye for a perpetual Comon for ye good of ye Parish : otherwise your poor Petitioners living at a great distance from any place where the public worship of God is attended, must be obliged and their Posterity after them to be soon as the Hathen are-without the outward and ordinary means of Sal- vation, the Thought of which makes us now most importunately address your Honors with this our Request making no doubt but yt ye desire your Honors have & the great care you have always taken to promote & encourage Religion-will also now be moved to grant your poor Petitioners their Request, it being no more than your Honors have often done even unto every new Plantation, many of which are not nor never will be comparable unto this. Your Honors, granting us this our Request, and it will be as we humbly conceive the most profitable way for ye good of this Colony to dispose of ye land for a perpetual comon, for ye good of a Parish than any other way whatsoever : for a flourishing and large Parish such as we are assured this will make will soon pay more into ye Public Treasury than the whole of the Land would do if it were now to be sold : and not only so, but your poor Petitioners & their Posterity preserved from Heathenism & Infidel- ity : for if your Honors should not grant the Land for a common for the good of a Parish your poor Petitioners-the most of us at least, must be shut within the compass of our own land, & cant pos- sibly get off unless we trespass, or gain the shift yt the birds of the air have, neither to market nor meet- ing & we & our Posterity forever unable to have a settled Minister & your Honors may easily conceive how greatly disadvantageous to our Temporal In- terest, which is so great an act of cruelty and hard- ship that never yet was experienced from your Hon- or's & your Petitioners humbly beg they may not : but yt they may be sharers with their neighbors in your Honor's thoughtful care and regard for them -- " And if your Honors in their Prudence and Wis-
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
dom shall think it best to sell the aforesaid Land your Petitioners humbly beg they may have the first offer of it, who are always ready to give as much as any shall or will let it lye for a perpetual Common, & your humble Petitioners beg and most earnestly desire the Land may not be sold from their doors or confirmed to any yt pretend they have bought it : for whatever pretended sale there has been made thereof already we humbly conceive that it was not with the proper Power & Legality that it ought to be confirmed : and as for its being purchased of the Indian (who both English and In- dian acknowledge has a good Indian title to it viz. Chicken, is by what we can learn by the Indian him- self & ye circumstances of, a sligh peice of policy & we fear Deceit, ye latter of which the Indian con- stantly affirms it to be, for his design as he saith, and being well acquainted with him, living many of us near him have great reason to believe him, was to sell but a small Quantity, about two or three hundred acres, but in ye deed ye whole of the land is compre. hended, which when the Indian heard of it he was greatly enraged, and your Petitioners humbly beg yt such a sale may not be confirmed, lest it prove greatly disadvantageous to this Colony & cause much bloodshed, as instances of ye like nature have in all Probability in our neighboring Provinces-
" Your Petitioners most earnestly & heartily beg that your Honors would think on them & grant them their request, & your Petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray-
JOHN READ,
WILL'M HILL,
THOMAS WILLIAMS, DAN'LL CROFOOT,
STEPHEN MOREHOUSE,
EBENEZER HULL,
BENJAMIN HAMBLETON,
ASA HALL,
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,
JOSEPH MEEKER,
MOSES KNAPP,
DAN'L LYON,
NATHAN LYON, THOMAS HILL,
BENAJAHI HALL,
GEORGE HULL.
" And we, ye Proprietors of a certain Division of
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
Land in Fairfield called ye Longlots most heartily join with your Honor's above Petitioners in their needful Request to you, & as we your humble pe- titioners being well acquainted with the circumstances of them-they being our Children Friends & Neigh- bors & concerned greatly for their welfare do ear- nestly beg that your Honors would consider how melancholy a thing it is, that these poor people should live destitute of the means of grace for want only of your small encouragement which to give them would not only be most certainly very pleasing to Almighty God but would likewise enrich this Colony if a large & Rich Parish will any ways contribute thereto, & as your Petitioners Land runs to & ad- joyns to ye aforesaid Vacant Land, We for the good of a Parish, thereby to advantage your above poor Petitioners are willing & very ready to give in Two miles of our land adjoining to the afores'd Vacant Land to be within the Parish ; & are assured if your Honors would grant the afores'd Land to be for a Comon there soon would be a Flourishing Parish ; & being so well acquainted with the Circum- stances of the above Petitioners that we cant but earnestly & Pathetically entreat your Honors to grant their Request.
" & your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever Pray :"
MOSES DIMON,
JOSEPH WILSON,
JOHN HIDE,
JOHN WHEELER,
THO. HILL,
JOHN STURGES,
CORNELIUS HULL,
JOSEPH WHEELER,
ELIZABETH BURR,
THOMAS SANFORD.
JONA STURGIS,
JOHN MOREHOUSE,
JOHN SMITH,
JOSEPH ROWLAND,
THAD'S BURR,
WILLIAM HILL,
ANDREW BURR,
NATHAN GOLD,
SAMUEL WAKEMAN,
JOHN GOLD,
SAMUEL SQUIRES,
ROBERT SILLIMAN,
EZEKIEL SANFORD,
DANIEL MOREHOUSE.
ROBERT TURNEY, JR.,
3
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
The settlement of Georgetown seems to have been begun at about the same time as the other portions of the town, though the present village has had but a short existence.
The first settlers in that section seem to have been Benjamin and Isaac Rumsey, one of whom lived in a house that stood in the old orchard east of Aaron Osborne's, and the other near the site of the present homestead of Mr. S. M. Main. As early as 1721 Robert Rumsey, of Fairfield, bought of John Apple- gate a large tract of land located in what is now the village of Georgetown. In 1724 he willed this land to his three sons, Benjamin, Isaac, and Robert. Ben- jamin and Isaac were actual settlers on this tract, and the former's estate was inventoried and dis- tributed in 1744.
The earliest settlers located their houses on the three fertile ridges that now form the most strik- ing as well as beautiful features of our landscape. The valleys were avoided, as being literally in the shadow of death from the miasms which they en- gendered ; the hills, according to the early writers, were open, dry, and fertile, 'and, being compara- tively healthful, were in almost all cases selected as sites for the infant settlements. At that day they were covered, like the valleys, with continuous for- ests of oak, chestnut, hickory, and other native woods, from which every autumn the Indians re- moved the underbrush by burning, so that they as- sumed the appearance of natural parks : Indian paths wound through the forest, often selected with so much engineering skill as to be followed later by the highways of the settlers. There were "long-
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
drawn aisles and fretted vaults" in these verdant temples, nooks of outlook, and open, sunny glades, which were covered with tufts of long coarse grass ; groves of chestnut and hickory afforded shelter to whole colonies of squirrels-black, gray, and red. Other game was abundant. Deer, wild turkeys. water fowl, quail, partridges, an occasional bear, and, in the autumn, immense flocks of wild pigeons dark- ened the air with their numbers. Panthers were seen rarely ; wolves were abundant, and the otter and beaver fished and builded in the rivers. Both tradition and the written accounts agree in ascribing to the rivers an abundance of fish : Little River is especially mentioned as being the favorite home of the trout, and tradition asserts that scarcely four generations ago they were so abundant in that stream that the Indian boys would scoop them up in the shallows with their hands.
According to tradition, the three first houses in the town were built nearly at the same time. One was in Boston district, where Mr. Noah Lee's house now stands, the second in the centre, on the site of Captain Davis's present residence, and the third in Lonetown, built by Mr. John Read, and which occupied the site of Mr. Aaron Treadwell's present residence. It is re- lated of the lady of the house in the Boston district, that, becoming frightened one day at the conduct of a party of Indians who entered her house bearing an animal unmentionable to ears polite, which they ordered her to cook, she seized her babe, and fled with it two miles through the forest path to her nearest neighbor at the Centre, arriving there safe- ly, though breathless and exhausted. It is fair to assume, however, that erelong neighbors were
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
nearer. Settlers began to flock in from Stratford, Fairfield, and Norwalk ; several families moved here from Ridgefield and Danbury, and the settlement began to assume quite the appearance of a popu- lous community. It is not, however, until 1723 that we get any authentic record of the names of the in- habitants or of their entire number. In that year a petition was presented to the General Court praying that the settlement might be constituted a parish ; and which bears the signatures of twenty-five of the planters or settlers of Redding. This invaluable paper has been preserved in the State Archives at Hartford, and is as follows :
"May 9th, 1723. At a General Court in Hartford.
" To the Hon'ble the Gov'nr, Assistants and Dep- uties in Gen'll Court Assembled.
" To this Hon'ble Court yr hon'rs most humble pet'rs hereunto subscribing, settlers and well wishers to the settlement of a plantation between Fairfield and Danbury, Humbly Shew, That there is a Tract of land lying between Fairfield and Danbury, Ridge- field and Newtown and without all ye claims of the largest pretenders of those towns, containing about two miles wide, north and south, and six miles long East and West, mostly laid out in particular farms, so that when the farms that casually interfere on others are made up, there will not be one hundred acres of any value left in the whole.
" On these farms are one half dozen housen set up, and many more going to be set up, and therefore we humbly conceive it is of great necessity for ye use of them, that are come and coming, and for ye incour- agement of others to come, to take some prudent care for the establishment of Divine service in that place. That forasmuch as the distance from this land to Fairfield church measures about fourteen miles or better, that is the part on which will cer-
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
tainly be most of the inlargement made, and on that side the bounds of those lands uncertain ; for the grant of 12 miles from the sea given to Fairfield, as far as we can learn has never yet been measured, as it ought long since to have been done. Your hon'rs pet'rs therefore humbly pray that a Com'tee may be appointed to measure out the twelve miles granted to Fairfield from the -- and put the vacant land, if any shall then appear into the hands of a Com'tee of ye Court to be dealt out to such as will settle on and improve the same, at such price as will bear ye charge of ye Com'tee therein, first laying out a farm of 200 acres for ye ministry, 200 for a school, and as much for the first minister that shall settle there, and annex the whole to the town of Fairfield. Set- tling the bounds of the parish to comprehend so much of the west end of ye long lots of Fairfield as may make it near square at ye discretion of ye Com`tee upon ye view of it when ye proprietors of the long lots shall settle their end they may pay their dues there (if they will not be so good as to fling up the west end to a public use, which would doubtless be their private advantage also.
" Yr hon'rs most humble pet'rs,
NATHAN PICKET, THOMAS WILLIAMS,
GERSHOM MOREHOUSE,
ASA HALL,
JOHN HALL,
JOSHUA HULL,
FRANCIS HALL,
DAVID CROFUT,
ROBERT CHAUNCEY,
JNO. READ,
WOLCOTT CHAUNCEY,
ISAIAH HULL,
DANIEL *
MOSES KNAPP,
WILLIAM HILL, JR.,
BENJAMIN STURGES.
PHILLIP JUDD,
SAM'L HALL,
NATHAN ADAMS,
JOHN READ, 2d,
STEPHEN MOREHOUSE,
BURGESS HALL,
BENJAMIN FAYERWEATHER,
ISAAC HALL.
THOMAS BAILEY,''
* Illegible.
HISTORY OF REDDING.
Fairfield, as was to be expected, opposed the petition, and her potent influence defeated the meas- ure, and although it was agitated year by year, it was not until 1729 that the petitioners effected their object, and the little settlement blossomed into the dignity of a parish.
The action of the General Court constituting it a Parish is thus recorded in the Colonial Records, vol. vii. pp. 231-2 :
" Upon the memorial of John Read, in behalf of himself and the rest of the inhabitants of Lonetown, Chestnutt Ridge, and the peculiar between Fairfield and Danbury, shewing to this Assembly, the great, difficulty they labor under in attending on the publick worship of God, and the forwardness of the town of Fairfield to encourage them to set up the publick worship of God among themselves, by conceding that two miles of the rear end of their long lots be added to them, in order to the making them a par- ish, and praying this Assembly that they may be allowed to be a society for the worship of God, with the privileges usually granted to such societies or parishes, and that said society or parish may com- prize those lands that lie encirculed betwixt the town- ships of Fairfield, Danbury, Newtown and Ridge- field, together with the aforesaid two miles of Fair- field long lots ; and that they may have remitted to them their country rate during the pleasure of this Assembly ; and that all the lands aforesaid may be taxed by the order of said Assembly, and that said parish may be annexed to Fairfield, and that it be named Redding. This Assembly grants that the said Lonetown, Chestnutt Ridge and the peculiar thereof, be a society or parish by themselves, and to · have all the privileges usually granted to societies or parishes, and that said society or parish shall com- prize all those lands that lie encirculed betwixt the
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
townships of Fairfield, Danbury, Newtown, and Ridgefield, together with two miles of the rear end of Fairfield long lots. Furthermore this Assembly doth remit to them their country rate for four years, excluding those only who decline to joyn with them for what is prayed for, of being released of country tax ; and that all the laid out, unimproved lands within the limits of said parish be taxed at six shillings a hundred acres per year for four years, and that the money raised thereby be improved for the defraying the ministerial charges among them in that place ; and that said parish be named Red- ding."
CHAPTER II.
REDDING AS A PARISH.
THE parish history of Redding covers a space of thirty-eight years, and |for this period the only materials we have for our history-except a few en- tries in the records of the colony-are found in the record book of the First Church and Society. These records seem to have been kept with the most piti- less brevity ; only the barest details were set down, and if one desires more than the dry facts of this era, he must draw on his imagination for material. During this period events happened of the greatest moment to the colony. Three of the terrible French and Indian wars occurred, to which Redding contrib- uted her full share of men and money, although Fairfield received the credit. Then there were con- stant alarms of Indians on the border-there were
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IHISTORY OF REDDING.
hunting and exploring parties into the wilderness, under the guidance of the friendly Indians, and the usual incidents of pioneer life ; all of which would have been vastly entertaining to the men of to-day, and which a hundred years ago might have been taken down from the lips of the actors themselves, but which has passed away with them forever. Things spoken vanish, while things written remain, and the unfriendliness to the pen, of the early set- tlers, has entailed a sad loss upon their descendants. It is evident, however, that this was the busiest pe- riod in the history of the town. The men were abroad in the clearings from morn till night, felling the trees, burning, ploughing, sowing, and reaping, or building churches, school-houses, mills, high- ways, and bridges. The women remained in the rude cottages, preparing the simple food, carding and spinning wool, weaving it into cloth, fashioning the homely garments of linsey-woolsey and home- spun, and rearing their large families of rosy, health- ful children. This is the picture in the barest out- line ; the imagination of the reader will fill it out at pleasure : but, as before said, for our details- acknowledged facts-we must turn to the quaint and musty records of the Society.
The first Society meeting was held June 5th, 1729 -less than a month after the parish was organized. A fuller account of this meeting will be found in the history of the First Church and Society. The three first committee-men of the parish, elected at this meeting, were John Read, George Hull, and Lemuel Sanford. At this time, too, the " places for setting up warnings for Society meetings" were de-
HISTORY OF REDDING.
termined on as follows : "In the lane by Ebenezer Hull, and a Chestnut tree by Mr. John Reads, and a post set up by Moses Knaps :" These were the first sign-posts in the town. Ebenezer Hull's house I am unable to locate. Mr. John Read's house has al- ready been located. Mr. Knap lived probably where James Kerwick now lives.
The next February a parish rate or tax of 2d. 2 far. on the pound was laid, and John Hull was ap- pointed the first tax-collector ; he received for gath - ering the rate fourteen shillings. The next year, February 23d, 1730-1, the rate had risen to 9d. on the pound, and John Read appears as collector. The next year, 1732, the first " pound" was built by Mr. John Read, near his house, and at a Society meeting held January 25th, 1732, he was appointed " key-keeper." May 8th, 1732, they petitioned the General Court to have their north-west corner bounds settled, Captain Couch bearing the charges. The same meeting they voted " that there shall be but one sign-post in this society," and voted that this sign-post should be by the meeting-house, which had been built the preceding year on the com- mon. Mr. Hun, the first minister, was settled early in 1733, and the rates that year rose to the high fig- ure of one shilling on the pound. A very important entry appears on the records of a meeting held Octo- ber 17th, 1734, wherein Stephen Burr and Thomas Williams were appointed a committee to the County Court to desire the court to choose a committee to lay out the county road from Chestnut Ridge to Fairfield town. This road was probably the first ever laid out through the town, and passed through
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
Lonetown, the Centre, and Sanford town, and thence nearly direct to Fairfield.
December 10th, 1735 .- Stephen Burr was appointed a committee to go to the County Court, and desire them to send a committee to lay out necessary high- ways in that part of the parish above the long lots.
January 26th, 1737 .- " Joseph Sanford and Samuel Sanford were appointed a committee to take charge of the parsonage money belonging to said parish, giving a receipt to said parish, and to let the same at their discretion, and to the best advantage, taking double security in land, and not to let less than fifty pounds to one man, and for no longer time than five years, and said committee shall be accountable to the parish committee for the interest of said money, and also at the period of abovesaid term of five years, for the principal."
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