USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The history of Waterbury, Connecticut; the original township embracing present Watertown and Plymouth, and parts of Oxford, Wolcott, Middlebury, Prospect and Naugatuck. With an appendix of biography, genealogy and statistics > Part 20
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of land on Buckshill, which he exchanged, Feb. 21, 1703-4, with Benjamin War- ner for a house and four acres of land, the land in two pieces, one situated on the east, the other on the west side of Cook street. The house was on the west side. Here he resided till he had secured his £40 right, which was granted " March 18, 1701," and then removed to Woodbury. In April, 1714, the follow- ing vote was passed in town meeting :
"The town to encourage Dr. Ephraim Warner to come and live with us grant him the use of the school land for three years (only one half the lot in Hancox's Meadow is exempted this year,) he to maintain the fence."
The town also voted him ten acres in the sequester, on the condition that he re- mained four years. It seems he had been practicing medicine in Woodbury, where his brother Ebenezer was engaged in the same calling, and the Waterbury people wanted his services. He may have served them as physician before his removal, but there is no sufficient evidence of this. IIe is never called Doctor on the record till Dee. 1706, and then it is not clear whether he was in Waterbury or Wood- bury. After this date, his name is not mentioned till the town vote soliciting his return. He did return and became "physician " or "practitioner " (as he is called in deeds) of the town, Dr. Porter being surgeon, or more properly "bonesetter." Ile appears to have settled on Buckshill, as did several of his sons, to whom he gave houses and lands. In Aug. 1733, he conveyed to his " beloved son Ebene- zer " half his dwelling-house, (" the north end,") and twenty acres of land on the east side the highway, opposite his (the father's) dwelling-house, and half the barn ; also, " the smith's shop and the tools for smith work," he to pay his broth- er Ephraim £20 in labor in twelve months. In April, 1738, he had removed down nto the village, and occupied the northwest corner of Cook and Grove streets , which he had previously owned. At this date, for £120 which "he would bestow" on his son Ephraim " as his part or portion," he deeded to him the place, described as three acres and a half, with all the buildings and improvements, north and east on highways, south on Thomas Bronson, west on Samuel Scott, the grantor re- serving the use of one half the property during his life and during the life of his wife. Afterwards, Jan. 1742-3, he quit-claimed to Ephraim, then of Farmington, the whole property.
Dr. Warner, after his return to Waterbury, became one of the " notabilities" of the town. His name is often met with on the record. IIe bought and sold rea ] estate to a large extent, and was engaged in "public business. He was towns- man, school committee, town collector, deputy to the General Court in May, 1717, May, 1719, !May and Oct. 1720, and May, 1722, and moderator of town meeting in 1730. As early as 1722, he was chosen captain of the train band, and was the second who was thus distinguished in the town .- Benjamin Warner, eldest son of Dr. Ephraim, (b. Sept. 30, 1698,) was accepted as a £40 proprietor, Dec. 23, 1715. He died in April, 1772. He lived on Buckshill, (where his father gave him a house and lands, ) and was a physician. He was called " Doctor Ben," to distinguish him from his father .- John Warner, second son of Dr. Ephraim, was b. June 24, 1700. The proprietors granted him half a bachelor lot, which was the fourth propriety lot, Nov. 28, 1722, William Scott hav ing the other half. In Dec. 1724, his father, with whom he then lived, gave him twenty acres of land and a house on Buckshill, valuing them to him "at £60 money." He afterwards removed to Northbury, and was the third deaeon in the Northbury church, appointed in 1746. He d. Sept. 7, 1794.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
3. Robert ; settled in Woodbury, and died in 1759.
4. Ebenezer. He settled in Woodbury, became a physician, and died in 1769. Col. Seth Warner of the Revolution was his grandson. (Cothren.)
5. Lydia ; bap. March 13, 1680-81, and m. Samuel Bronson. Her father in his will gave to her his "beds and bedding, furniture, and household stuff."
6. Thomas ; baptized May 6, 1683. He must have died before his father.
(WID.) DANIEL WARNER.
It has already been stated that Daniel Warner, one of the original petitioners and first subscribers, died in Farmington, late in 1679 ; and that the committee bestowed his propriety of £60 and his allotments on the widow and her children, advis- ing her to erect a dwelling-house "with all possible speed." She followed the advice, and is supposed to have lived on the north side of West Main street, next east of Thomas Judd, Sen., on a lot of two acres which, in April, 1693, stood in the name of her son, Daniel Warner, and which was sold by him, at that date, to the said Judd, butted north and south on high- way, east on Obadiah Richards.
I know not who were the children of Daniel Warner of Far- mington, except that one was
Daniel. He settled in Waterbury, and came into the possession of the family right in the undivided lands. His first recorded grant of land was in Jan. 1689-90, about the period probably of his majority. In exchange for the family home- stead, he received of Judd, about the time of his marriage, three acres at Stanley's Timber, so called, on the north side of the Farmington road, half a mile or more . from the meeting-house. Here he built a house and lived. The lot, with two acres which had been added to it, was recorded in June, 1703, as five acres, more or less, with a dwelling-house, east on Ensign Stanley, west on Abraham Andruss, decd., north and south on highways. In June, 1705, Warner conveyed his house and lot to John Warner, son of Thomas, receiving in exchange lands at Judd's Meadow. Soon afterwards, he removed into the south part of the town, settling on or near Fulling-Mill Brook, sometimes called Daniel Warner's Brook. There he is known to have had a house in Aug. 1708. He was once or twice fence viewer, but held no important public office. His first wife, Mary Andruss, died April 10, 1709. He d. Sept. 13, 1713, being the last victim of the great sickness of that and the previous year. His widow, Mary, who was a daughter of Thomas Richason, was living in 1730. His sons, Samuel, Ebenezer and Abraham, settled at Judd's Meadow.
THOMAS WARNER.
He was probably younger than his brother John, Sen., of Waterbury and Daniel of Farmington. He was not a first subscriber, but probably took his deceased father's propriety
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and allotments. He did not take effectual measures to secure his rights till after the forfeiture of Feb. 1682-3.
Thomas Warner was a subscriber to Mr. Peck's settlement. He held some unimportant town offices-was hayward, chim- ney viewer, surveyor. His house was on the eastern side of Bank street, where the Baptist Church now stands. The com- mittee voted in Nov. 1679, that his " siller " [cellar] might stand "without molestation according to an agreement made with Left. Samuel Steel." His lot contained, March 21, 1698-9, two acres and three quarters, and was bounded north on John Hopkins' house lot, east (before the above date) on John Rich- ards' house lot, " south on a lot which formerly belonged to the parsonage," west on highway. He conveyed the place, at the above date, to John Richards, and received in exchange a house and three acres of land on the southwest side of the " mill path," where he afterwards lived.
Thomas Warner m. Elizabeth -, and d. Nov. 24, 1714. His son Benjamin of New Haven, was administrator on his estate. The "heighrs" made an agreement with him, by which he was to take care of the widow, "providing for her a comfortable place to live in, and meat, drink, lodging, appa- rel, physic and nescessaries suitable, as long as she lives." As a compensation, they quit-claimed to him, the said Benjamin, all their interest in the estate of the deceased.
Children :
1. Elizabeth ; m. Samuel Chatterton.
2. Benjamin. The first time his name is met with on the record is in 1698 ? He was accepted as the owner of a bachelor right about 1700. His father gave him a part of his home lot on the mill path, July 10, 1702. Soon after, when he could do it without jeoparding his £40 right, and when true men were most need- ed, he removed to New Haven. There he had a daughter, Desire, born Aug. 23, 1704, and afterwards, Benjamin and Joseph. He is called Sen. on the list of pro- prietors, to distinguish him from Benjamin, the son of Ephraim Warner, who is termed Jr .- (The third child born before 1680 I have been unable to find.)
4. John ; b. March 6, 1680-81, in Waterbury, as were the subsequent children. He was admitted as a £40 proprietor Dec. 23, 1701, and purchased, June, 1705, Dan- iel Warner's house and lot of five acres on the Farmington road. He was called tailor, that being his trade, to distinguish him from the other John Warners-John the son of John and John the son of Ephraim. Sept. 30, 1713, he deeded the land "with the fencing and building and fruit trees," which he bought of Daniel Warner, to Ebenezer Bronson for £11, and the same day left the town. The lot was afterwards called, after him, the " tailor lot." For some reason, he was
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
considered as having forfeited his bachelor lot. He appears to have returned to Waterbury at a later day, and to have been an inhabitant in 1734-5.
5. Mary ; b. Dec. 9, 1682, and d. June 7, 1705.
6. Martha ; b. April 1, 1684, and m. John Andruss, son of Abraham, Sen.
7. Thomas ; b. Oct. 28, 1687, m. Abagail Barnes, and lived in Farmington.
8. Samuel ; b. " March 16, 1690 ;" received a bachelor lot March 10, 1712, and was fence viewer and hayward in 1714. He lived at Judd's Meadow, and died about 1741.
9. Margaret ; b. " March 16, 1693," and m. Ebenezer Richason, son of Thomas.
JOHN WELTON.
The family tradition is that he was originally from Saybrook. He was an early, but not a first settler of Farmington. He was one of the eighty-four proprietors of that town in 1672, and a signer of the articles in 1674. He had fence in all the allotments except the first, and was probably in Matta- tuck as early as 1679. I do not learn that he was backward in complying with the conditions to which he had subscribed. Though not perhaps a leading man, he may have been a val- uable one notwithstanding. At any rate, he did not run away when he found that difficulty and danger were to be en- countered. He was one of the twenty-five that pledged them- selves to pay Mr. Peck's salary. At one time (in 1691) he got upon the road of military distinction, but some how ended where he began, with the rank of corporal. He was select- man in 1708, and town constable for eight years between 1698 and 1714.
John Welton lived on the south side of West Main street, near where Mrs. Giles Ives' house stands. His house lot con- tained two acres, and was bounded, in 1687, east on Thomas Judd, Jr., west on Abraham Andruss, Sen.," north and south on highway. In his old age, by deed dated March 2, 1726, he conveyed to his eldest son John and to John's youngest son Oliver, (the latter to be "the proper heir," at the decease of his father,) his house and home lot, and his "three acer lot lying within the meadow fence," (next east of the old burying yard,) and another lot over the river, on condition that he the said John should take care of the father (then living with the son) and provide for him during his natural life.
* A record, made in June, 1703, when there had been changes of ownership, bounds the lot east on Robert Scott, and west on Thomas Judd, Jr.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
John Welton's wife's name was Mary. They had six child- ren before they left Farmington ; or at any rate, the first one born in Waterbury is called the seventh. He died June 18, 1726, and his wife, Mary, Oct. 18, 1716. His son George was administrator .- Estate £136, 14s.
Children :- (I am unable to find but five of the six born be- fore the father came to Waterbury.)
1. Abigail; m. about 1691, Cornelius Bronson of Woodbury. She was living a widow in 1742.
2. Mary; m. Aug. 17, 1692, John Richards.
3. Elizabeth ; m. Thomas Griffin, and d. about the time of her father.
4. John; m. " March 13, 1706," Sarah, d. of Ezekiel Buck, Jr. of Wethersfield, and d. April 3, 1738. His widow d. Sept. 5, 1751. He had a grant of a house lot from the proprietors as early as Jan. 1692-3, he to build and remain six years in the town. He had probably then just completed his twenty-first year. After- wards, (in 1707-8,) he was made a £40 proprietor. He was a weaver by trade ; surveyor in 1709 ; grave digger in 1726, 1727 and 1729, and wrote by proxy. Ile lived with his father, and probably improved the homestead after the death of the latter.
5. Stephen ; m. March 4, 1701-2, Mary, d. of Joseph Gaylord, and Jan. 28, 1712-13, Joanna Wetmore of Simsbury. He died March 13, 1713. He was ad- mitted a bachelor proprietor in due course, (March 26, 1699 ;) was chimney view- er in 1700, and collector of town and ministerial rates several times. His trade was that of a weaver. In Sept. 1701, he bought of Ephraim Warner a house and lot on the corner of Grove and Willow streets, (marked Francis H. Pratt.) After- wards, he resided on the corner of East and North Main streets, in a house he bought Feb. 2, 1703-4, of his father Gaylord.
7. Richard ; b. " March, 1680," (reputed the first male child of European pa- rents born in Waterbury,) and d. in 1755. His wife was Mary, d. of Stephen Up- son. He received bachelor accommodations in May, 1699 ; was (apparently) a builder by trade, a townsman in 1723, and a sergeant of militia. He first bought the house and a lot of three acres on the corner of Grove and Willow streets of his brother Stephen, for which he gave "a horse and a young stear and a parcel of timber," the date of the purchase being Aug. 1, 1703. He afterwards, in 1711, " in consideration of a two year old heffer " conveyed the land (nothing is said of a house) to John Scovill. Before this, or in 1708, he bought the house of Jo- seph Gaylord, Jr., on Buckshill, to which place he removed.
8. Hannah ; b. April 1, 1683, and m. Thomas Squire, Jr. She was living in 1742.
9. Thomas; b. Feb. 4, 1684-5; m. March 9, 1714, Hannah, d. of Josiah Alford, and d. April 19, 1717. He had two sons, both of whom d. young, and his estate was distributed in 1730 to his brothers and sisters. He received a bachelor lot in 1705-6.
10. George ; b. Feb. 3, 1686-7, m. Elizabeth -, and d. Jan. 7, 1773 .- Estate £311, 5s. When he was sixteen years of age, his father bound him, for two years, to his brother Stephen to learn the weaver's trade. When the two years were com-
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
pleted, Stephen was to give him " a loom and all things or geers suitable for worck- ing one sort of plain worck." George was the fifth of his father's sons who re- ceived bachelor privileges, he being accepted Jan. 1705-6. When his right was secured, he removed to Stratford, where he was residing in 1715. He returned to Waterbury before Dec. 1721, and afterwards lived near Scott's Mountain, (northeastern part of Watertown.)
11. Else ; b. Aug. 1690 ; m. - Griffin and lived in Simsbury in 1733.
CHAPTER XIII.
ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS : MR. PECK'S MINISTRY.
Ir is well understood that New England was settled by Con- gregationalists from Old England, who desired to get quit of a church establishment which they did not approve, and to set up religious worship and a church government which should accord with their peculiar views. By settling in this far distant country they hoped to escape the persecutions which non-conformity had brought upon them at home. They loved civil liberty, but chiefly as a means of securing freedom for themselves in the church. They sought to establish a govern- inent and a religion based on the Bible, and which should be administered, even in matters of detail, according to the Di- vine will.
The colonists of Connecticut took good care to provide for the interests of religion. They were not slow in granting material aid. The committee for the settlement of Mattatuck, in accordance with a provision in the original articles, reserved three proprieties of £150 each, for public and pious uses. These were the three "great lots " mentioned in the early records. It was designed the minister should have one of them, "the mayger part of the inhabitants " to determine which. His was a larger interest than was allowed to any other individual. It was larger because the minister was a
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
more dignified and important personage than any other. The propriety was entitled, from the first, to all the divisions and privileges of the other proprieties.
Besides the provision which has been mentioned, the committee, Nov. 27, 1679,
Determined that the hous lott of two acres lying att the east end of the town, abuttting northwardly on thomas warners hous lott and a peee of meadow and swamp containing abought fifteen Aers by estimation lying upon Steels brooke abutting vpon the north on Edman [Edmund] Scoote Jun' on Thomas Judd Junor on the east and on a hill south and west-And a peice of land: containing by estimation thre aers lying in the pasture land comanly so called: Shall be and remain for the occupation and improvement of the minister of the sd towne for euer without any altaration or disposall vse or improuement what soe euer.
The house lot in the preceding extract was on the east side of Bank street, a little south of the present Baptist Church. It was called the " parsonage," and was exchanged, without any right, by the town, Dec. 30, 1679, with Stephen Upson, (it was afterwards recorded as belonging to said Upson,) for a lot of two acres, lying further to the east and south, and in the rear of Upson's house lot. This rear lot was afterwards sequestered by special act of the town, as follows :
April: 10: 1699 ye town by uoat did sequester yt lot at ye east end of thomas worner Stephen ubson and richard porters hous lots to be and remain to ye pasnag.
The lot of " three acres in the pasture land," afterwards called " the little pasture, " was the late " parsonage lot," lying between Willow street and the old "Long Cove," through which the Hartford and Fishkill Railroad was laid out.
The first settlers of Waterbury were, in a majority of instances, members of Mr. Samuel Hooker's church and society of Farmington. In removing, they deprived them- selves, for the most part, of the ministrations of the Gospel. As they were a "go-to-meeting " people, they felt this to be a sore deprivation. They not only had no regular preaching, but they had nobody to officiate at the burial of their dead, or to perform the ceremony of baptism. For many years they had to go to Farmington, twenty miles, to get their children baptized. They doubtless had occasional preaching. As they had a minister's house already built at the time Mr. Peck was invited to settle, they probably had a minister
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
residing with them a part of the time. But they needed an ordained pastor of their own, and at the earliest moment, when their circumstances would allow it, they took steps to procure one. They gave a "call " to Mr. Jeremiah Peck of Green- wich, as follows :
Att a meeting of the propriators of watterbury march the eighteen: 1689: [1690, N. S.] they did unanemussly : desir : mr Jerimy peecke sent of grinage : to setle with them in the woreke of the minestry : Att the same meeting for the incoragmente of mr pecke aboue said: the propriators gaue him the houss built for the minester : with the hom lote : att his first entarans ther : with his famely :
Att the same meeting the aboue said propriators of waterbury granted : mr Jeremy peek : of grinag : the other alotments : or seuerall deuisions : belonging to the minesters lote so called : prouided : he cohabit with them four yeres : : and if the prouidens of god : so dispos that he shod dye befor the four yers be out itt shall fall to his heirs.
At the same meeting the proprietors Granted to Caleb and Jeremiah Peek the two House Lotts Laid out to the great Lotts one buting westerly on Abraham Andruss his home Lott the other on ben Jones his home Lott and one of the Great Lotts of Medow with the Severall Divisions of upland npon Condition they build Each of them A tenentable house that Is to Say a house upon Each home Lott and dwell with ym four years.
In order to provide for Mr. Peck's support, the proprietors entered into the following agreement. It bears no date, but is recorded in connection with the votes which gave the call, &c. It was probably signed at the same time, or soon after the votes were passed. There is evidence of this, (were any needed,) to be gathered from the names appended to it.
In Considaration of settling the reuarant : Mr Jerimy pecke in the worcke of the menestry : amongst vs : in watterbury : we whos names: are vnder writen : doe ingage : to pay to the aforsaid : mr Jerimy pecke acording to our yerly grand leuy ecth: of us: our proportions of sixty: pounds by the yere: to be payed fifty: pounds in prouition pay : and ten pounds in wood and thus to doe yerly
Robert porter : John brownson
John newill
Thomus Judd sen
Samuel hickox Abraham andrews sen
John standly
Obadiah richards Daniell warner:
John wilton sen pilip Judd
beniamin barns
Edman seoote sen Abram Andrews Thomus richardson
Isaac brownson
Thomus Judd Ju
Timothy standly
Joseph gayler
Thomus warner :
John hopkins :
Daniel porter :
Edman scoot Ju
steuen vpson
Thomus newell
Mr. Peck accepted the invitation extended to him. He pro- bably began to preach, regularly, for the Waterbury people,
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
as early as the summer of 1689, and removed into the town with his family, in the beginning of the following year. But his formal settlement was delayed for some time.
There was a law in existence, at this date, which declared "that no person, within this colony, shall in any wise imbody themselves into church estate, without consent of the general court, and approbation of neighboring elders." In obedience to this requirement, the following petition was drawn up and presented :
To the honored General Court our humble salutations presented : wishing all happiness may attend ye : we at least some of the Inhabitants of Waterbury being by the goodness of God, inclined and desirous to promoue [promote ] the concerns of the Kingdom of Christ in this place by coming into church order : do find: which we well approue of: that it hath been ordered by the honoured General Court : that no persons within this Colony shall in any wise imbody: themselues into church estate without the consent of the General Court and appro- bation of the neighbour churches, wee humbly request the consent of the honoured General Court now assembling : that we may as God shall giue us Cause and asssist- ance proceed to the gathering of a Congregationall Church in this place, and for the approbation of neighbour Churches we desire it and intend to seek it. So being unwilling too long to prevent your Honors from other emergent occasions. we in breuity subscribe ourselves in all duty your humble Seruants in the name and behalf of the rest of our Brethren.
From Waterbury. 91. May. 12.
JEREMIAH PECK ISAAC BROUNSOAN
The preceding document may be found in the first volume of Ecclesiastical Records, at Hartford. It is in Mr. Peck's hand writing, except the name of Isaac Bronson. It is written in a neat, almost elegant, hand. I have given, in another place, fac similes of the signatures with the date. The Court's action on the petition may be seen as follows:
May 1691. Mr. Peck and Isaac Brunson in the behalfe of the people of Water- bury petitioning this court [&c. ] - - This Court doe freely Grant them their request, and shall freely encourage them in their beginnings and desire the Lord to give them good success therein they proceeding according to call therein.
It was a practice among the early Congregationalists of Connecticut, when a church was to be "gathered," to select from among the brethren seven persons (males) who were term- ed the seven pillars. These chose their officers, including the pastor, who was usually one of their number. After the church was organized, other members were admitted by vote who
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
took part in the proceedings. The Waterbury church is un- derstood to have been formed after this method with seven male members, who were the pillars ;" but Dr. Trumbull states, in his History of Connecticut, that the method in ques- tion was peculiar to the churches of New Haven, Milford and Guilford ; " the churches in the other towns being gathered, by subscribing similar confessions of faith, and covenanting together in the same solemn manner, upon days of fasting and prayer. Neighboring Elders and churches were present on those occasions, assisted in the public solemnities, and gave their consent."
At what precise time the church of Waterbury was organ- ized, I have been unable to ascertain. Dr. Trumbull says, " August 26th, 1669," and Mr. Farmer, in his Genealogical Register, gives this as the date of Mr. Peck's ordination. Probably Mr. Farmer copies from Trumbull. I once supposed that " 1669 " was a misprint for 1689, and that the last was the true time of Mr. Peck's settlement. Others have enter- tained a similar opinion. This, however, cannot be the proper explanation. Some of the Waterbury people were admitted members of the Farmington church as late as March, 1690-91, and their children were baptized there down to April, 1691. Indeed, Mr. Peck and "the brethren," as we have already seen, did not get permission of the General Court to " embody themselves " till the May Session, 1691. In all probability the installation, or ordination, took place soon after, possibly " August 26th," as in Trumbull. I say installation, or ordination, for it is not quite certain that Mr. Peck had been previously ordained, though he was then nearly seventy years of age. It has been supposed that he was an ordained minister while in Greenwich, and as strong circumstantial evidence that he was so, the recorded fact is adduced that he was complained of about the time of his removal to Waterbury, by some of the people, in a formal manner, because of his " refusing to bap- tize their children."+ If he had no authority to baptize, no- body could have complained of him for refusing, &c. And
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