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 28
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Abraham Wooster,
£76
Stephen Warner,
£66 Charles Warner,
£47
Stephen Hopkins,
111 Isaac Scott,
44 Enoch Scott,
41
Israel Terrel,
11 John Hopkins,
144 Thomas Porter, Jr., 34
38
Lt. John Lewis,
161 Amos Osborn,
74 Aaron Terrell, 16 Benjamin Tinker,
29
Samuel Lewis,
119 Israel Calkins,
3 Stephen Hopkins, Jr.,
91
Samuel Porter,
65 Gideon Hickox,
158 Ebenezer Judd,
26
Isaac Judd,
56 William Hoadley,
118 Simeon Beebe,
28
Gideon Scott,
40 Samuel Hoadley,
21 John Terrell,
48
Moses Terrell
52 Benjamin Prichard,
13 Isaac Spencer,
79
George Scott,
25 Elnathan Prichard,
29
Dan. Williams,
45 Joseph Sperry,
31 No. 36.
£2,226, 15s.
Oliver Terrell,
51 Samuel Scott,
90
Capt. G[ideon] Hotchkiss, 174 Ira Beebe,
279
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
terbury resolved to oppose the application ; but, at the same time, chose a committee to confer with the memorialists and "hear their propositions," &c. The committee were Messrs. Joseph Hopkins, Noah Baldwin and John Kingsbury. The society was finally incorporated, with town privileges, in 1807.
So far as ascertained, the first settler within the limits of pre- sent Wolcott was John Alcock of New Haven. He bought, March 31, 1731, of Josiah Rogers of Branford, for £82, 117} acres of land on Spindle Hill, described as in the northeast quarter near Ash Swamp or Potuckco's Ring, (in the north- west part of the present town of Wolcott,) on which he settled with a young family in the same year. He was admitted as an inhabitant, Dec. 13, 1731. In subsequent years, he added largely to his landed estate. After Alcock, Isaac Hopkins, (tanner,) Thomas Welton, Eliakim Welton, Roger Prichard, Jo- seph Beach, Eldad Mix, Shadrick Benham, Abiel Roberts and others became settlers.
In Oct. 1760, certain individuals living in the contiguous territory of Waterbury, Farmington and "Southington long lots, on the Mountain," numbering twenty-eight, petitioned the Assembly to make them a distinct society. They stated that they occupied a tract of land five miles square, were £2,000 in the list and lived an inconvenient distance from places of public worship. The western inhabitants were peti- tioners at the same session, also asking parish privileges. Waterbury first society remonstrated. They said that the eastern memorialists (belonging to their society) numbered seventeen and stood £811, 14s. in the list-that there were twenty-five of the western memorialists (embraced in the first society) who were £1,360, 13s. in the list-and that there were thirty-four taxpayers having an united list of £2,220, not em- braced in either of the proposed parishes, who lived three, four or six miles southwardly from the meeting house, and who were as well entitled to society privileges as the signers of either of the memorials.
The remonstrants farther declared that the land out of the center, for two or three miles each way, was broken and bar- ren, so that, though the town had been settled for nearly one
280
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
hundred years, the number of those bearing lists living within two and a half miles of the meeting house, exclusive of Epis- copalians, was but sixty-six, with an aggregate list of £3,669, 7s. 4d. These were the facts, they continued; and if the prayers of the memorialists are granted and two new societies made, a third would be asked for, embracing the southern in- habitants, and could not with justice be refused. If the three sections were taken off, they contended, they would be "strip- ped of almost all the inhabitants but those that live within about a quarter of a mile of the meeting house." Such action, "they were of the mind, must lay the foundation for the ruin of the society, since the lines [spoken of ] comprehend about all the feasible land on each side."
The petition was rejected, as was another with forty-three signers, in May, 1762.
In Oct. 1762, the eastern people, numbering thirty-eight, renewed their petition, and the committee of the old society again remonstrated. The latter represented that the memorial- ists living in Waterbury numbered twenty-one with an united list of £998-that the west line of the proposed parish came within two miles of the meeting house, " and it might almost as well come quite to it as it includes all the inhabitants that way except two or three families"-that "there were two distant parts more (besides the memorialists) in this society,. at as great a distance as they and each of them bigger in num- ber and list (viz.) at South Farms numbering forty eight and £2,407 in list, and at West Farms twenty three, and £1,418 in list." The remonstrants continued :
So there are three several parts under just the same need, and so the whole so- ciety with £8,000 list wants to be divided into four different societies. [ * * ] If these distant parts are exempted from taxes, the Old Spot would have fifty sey- en bearing lists and £3,139 in list.
The tenor of the memorial leads to distraction and not edification, [ *
] and the granting of it would be as the letting forth of waters that will soon over" whelm us in ruin [ * * ]. Very sorry our brethren should oblige us so of- ten to trouble the Hon. Assembly with repeated accounts of our situation and leanness, especially in such times as these we live in.
We [the committee] being concerned in making and collecting rates, have enough to do to keep from starving out the gospel, by collecting the moderate sums granted, which is a very difficult spot of work in instances not a few, unless we would drag men to jayl, or destrain from them by force what we are sensible they know not how to do without.
281
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Notwithstanding the cogency of this reasoning, the people of Farmingbury (so called) were allowed to hire preaching five months in the year and to set up a school, and in the mean- time to be exempt from other society and school taxes. But the line established as the western limit of the winter parish was not satisfactory to the first society. Their committee complained that it came within two miles of the meeting house and extended " south as far as a dne east line." They prayed (May, 1763) that the act granting winter privileges might be annulled, or a committee sent to view the eireum- stances, &c. A committee was appointed and continued till May, 1763, when they made a report and recommended that the limits of the winter parish should be contracted, the south end of the western line being made to run farther east. The Farmingbury people, by a committee, resisted this movement. They complained that the Assembly's committee went beyond instructions, and prayed that the existing line might be con- firmed, or that they might be incorporated into a distinct soci- cty, the expense to be paid by the old society. Sixteen of the inhabitants, however, to be included in the new parish re- monstrated against such incorporation. The result was, the Assembly approved the report of their last committee, and denied the adverse petition.
In the spring of 1767, thirty-one petitioners of the winter parish requested society privileges, and asked that the limits of the society might be extended into New Cambridge, (since Bristol.) They said they numbered seventy-one families, and had a list of £3,872, 8s. (The list of the old society was then, exclusive of Churchmen and Baptists, £9,854, 11s. 3d.) The petition was denied, as was a new one in Oet. 1768, with fifty- two signers.
In the spring of 1770, another petition was presented, bear- ing forty-nine names, praying that they, the memorialists, might be made a distinct society. The subject was continued to the Oct. session, and a committee appointed to view the circumstances. They reported that they "found within the limits described about ninety persons that bare lists and about sixty eight families, exclusive of the Church of England, and the sum total of their lists to be about £3,900." The report
282
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
was accepted and a society incorporated, Nov. 1770, by the name of Farmingbury. A year afterwards, the parish asked for a land tax of 3d. an aere for four years. The request was granted.
In December, 1787, the inhabitants of Farmingbury pre- sented a memorial, in town meeting, giving reasons why they should be incorporated into a distinet town, and asking the consent of the meeting. A committee was appointed to take the matter into consideration and hear the proposals that might be made "concerning public moneys, bridges and town's poor," &c., and report make. Josiah Bronson, Stephen Ives, Aaron Benedict, Ezra Bronson, Jolin Welton and Sani- nel Lewis were the committee. "It is rather a doubt in our minds," they reported, " of the expediency of granting them their request, on any consideration whatever, but more espe- cially upon the offers and proposals in several articles by them " made.
Oct. 8, 1792, Farmingbury applied to the Legislature for the desired act of incorporation. The town voted, that if the memorialists would within eight days give up all right to the ministerial and school moneys, pay twenty pounds in consid- eration of being released from supporting the great bridge on the Woodbury road, bind themselves to take care of their proportion, according to the grand list, of the town poor, and to pay their share of the town debts, then, in that case, the town would not oppose the object of the memorial.
In the spring of 1796, Farmingbury was made a distinct town by the name of Wolcott, and Waterbury " appointed a committee to settle and adjust all matters and concerns be- tween " the two towns.
283
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MR. LEAVENWORTHI'S MINISTRY : THIE THIRD MEETING HOUSE.
TILL 1738, when Westbury was incorporated, all ecclesias- tical matters, at present considered as belonging to the society, were managed by the town. At this period, however, it be- came necessary that these matters should be under the exclu- sive direction of the different societies. As there are now no known records of the first society of Waterbury bearing an earlier date than 1806, and no church records anterior to 1795, additional difficulties are thrown in the way of writing a con- nected ecclesiastical history. The society's records were in ex- istence a few years ago, and possibly may again turn up, on removing the forgotten rubbish from somebody's garret. The facts which will be given have been gleaned, in part, from some brief notes taken from the lost records some thirty years ago, by the late Bennet Bronson.
The first meeting of the first society of Waterbury appears to have been held Nov. 16, 1738, at which time, John Soutlı- mayd, Jr. was chosen clerk. Not long after Mr. Southmayd's release from his ministerial charge, a Mr. Buckingham was invited to become the minister, but he refused. In June, 1739, a " call " was made out for the Rev. Mark Leavenworth, a graduate of Yale College, in 1737, a native of Stratford, with an offer of £500 settlement and £150 salary. He was ordain- ed in March, 1740. Towards his "settlement," several per- sons gave by deed certian tracts of land. Thus, Dec. 1, 1739, Moses Blakeslee, " of New Haven," (then about to remove to Waterbury,) gave ten acres in the undivided lands ; Jeremiah Peck ten acres ; Isaac Bronson seven acres and a half ; Stephen Hopkins seven and a half acres; Stephen Upson, Thomas Clark, John Bronson, Thomas Bronson and John Judd, each five acres ; all " for the use of the ministry in said society in settlement." Soon afterwards, Thomas Judd deeded seven
284
IHISTORY OF WATERBURY.
acres, John Southmayd ten acres and Samuel Scott three acres, in the undivided lands, and Joseph Lewis five acres in " the sequester," all for the same object.
In 1747, Mr. Leavenworth refused that part of his salary which was levied upon the Church-of-England inhabitants." In 1748, his salary was increased to £290; in 1749, to £350; in 1750, to £400, "old tenor," a committee at the same time be- ing appointed to inspect and graduate the rates, and to make the salary equivalent to £150 at the time Mr. Leavenworth was settled, which action, the record says, was satisfactory to Mr. L. In 1752, his salary was still further increased to £450, and in 1753 to £500. These regular augmentations of salary were designed as a compensation for the progressive deprecia- tion of the currency, occasioned by the repeated issues of bills of credit, or notes of circulation, to be redeemed at a future period by the colonial government. These issues were com- menced in 1709, but owing to their moderate amount, the con- sequences were not serious for many years. Though Dr. Trum- bull thinks otherwise, the currency must have been a good deal depreciated in 1739. But this had taken place so gradu- ally, that the effect had hardly been noticed. In this year, the Spanish war broke out, and to defray the heavy expenses, a large issue of new bills was made. To keep up their value, they were made a legal tender. As a consequence, the old bills, called "old tenor bills," which had been and continued to be the standard of value in business transac- tions, rapidly depreciated, or, what amounts to the same thing, all other commodities quickly appreciated. The " new tenor bills " do not appear to have been employed inordinary trans- actions, and the legal tender-provision, by reason of com- plaints made to the English government, was soon repealed. Additions continued to be made to a miserable paper currency, and prices rose to an unprecedented extent. A bushel of wheat which, in 1733, was in Waterbury worth Ss., and in 1740 10s., had, in 1752, risen to £1, 15s., and in 1753, to £1, 18s.
* It will be remembered that ministerial taxes levied upon Churchmen were by the statute to be paid over to their own clergyman when they had one; but at this time I believe they were destitute of a minister in Waterbury. Consequently, the taxes, which were gathered from all alike, belonged by law to Mr. Leavenworth.
2S5
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Rye was charged in 1733 at 6s., in 1744 at 18s., in 1750, at £1, in 1755 at £1, Ss. The labor of a man, in 1753, per day, commanded £1, 2s. In all cases, old tenor currency is intend- ed. When the price of an article was to be paid in specie, or its equivalent, it was customary to bargain for "lawful money." About 1756, the paper currency system exploded, and the people returned to the specie standard. In that year, wheat was sold for 5s., rye for 2s. 6d., and a man's day's work for 2s., bearing one eighth or one tenth part only of the nominal valne they had previously done .* These enormous fluctuations were, of course, productive of the most serious mischief.
In 1755, Mr. Leavenworth's salary was £65 " proclamation money," or its equivalent in old tenor ; in 1759, £54 ; in 1761, £65; in 1762, £82 ; in 1781, £55, but on account of the bur- dens of the society and the public taxes, Mr. L. agreed to accept £45. In 1782, the salary was £65 and £10 in wood; in 1791, £70, but Mr. L. gave the society £5 of it.
In 1792, in consequence of Mr. Leavenworth's increasing infirmities, the society appointed a committee to confer with him concerning the settlement of a colleague. An arrange- ment was made, and in March of the following year a vote was passed to give him, as a consideration, £80 money, twenty cords of wood and the use of the parsonage lot.
Mr. Leavenworth died Aug. 20, 1797, aged 86, in the 5Sth year of his ministry. A few months before his death he offi- ciated in public, and a year before, as I gather from the MSS. of Dr. Trumbull, preached seven sabbaths.
After Mr. Leavenworth received an invitation to settle in Waterbury, and before his ordination, he purchased of Dea. Thomas Judd the Serg. Hickox place, then containing five and three quarter acres, for which he agreed to pay £250. C. B. Merriman's dwelling stands a little farther south, but most- ly on the same foundation as the old house.
Mr. Leavenworth's ministry in Waterbury commenced at a
* The people of Northbury, in voting Mr. Todd's salary, sometimes tried to fix the value of the currency as compared with silver or lawful money, though generally they did not make suf- ficient allowance for depreciation. Thus, in 1751, sixty shillings, in 1752, sixty-eight shillings, and in 1754, seventy-two shillings, were considered as equivalent to one ounce of silver. (The U. S. mint price of silver of standard purity is $1.21 per ounce, Troy.) In 1755, twelve shil- lings, old tenor, were to be paid for 1 shilling lawful money.
286
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
critical period. Until a short time previous, the general inter- ests, secular and religious, were conducted in a spirit of peace and harmony. Now, however, various causes coneurred to de- stroy this concord. Westbury was incorporated in 1738 and Northbury in 1739. From the moment these societies were or- ganized, separate and indeed opposing interests sprung up. The town foresaw the difficulties and for a time opposed the division ; but at last yielded to the necessity and propriety of the thing. After the separation, the different societies regarded their spe- cial interests chiefly. They even went so far as to nominate, in their meetings, town officers, which were recommended to the town voters on election days. These attempts, on the part of the different societies, to forestall action in matters belong- ing exclusively to the town, at last became so annoying as to call forth a rebuke. The town voted, Dec. 12, 1748, that the nominations "brought in by Westbury and Northbury " were "not to be regarded ; it being the proper work of this day to nominate and choose officers as the law directs."
Other difficulties grew out of the public funds. The first, or old society, claimed all the ministerial property, thus leav- ing the people of Westbury and Northbury withont re- sources from this quarter, (though they or their fathers may have contributed to the original fund.) The latter were of course dissatisfied with this state of things. They also saw troubles in the future concerning the school moneys. They looked forward to the time when their parishes should be made separate towns. Then, the old town would assert her exclusive right to the school property. The discussions connected with these exciting topies, as might be expected, were not always conducted in the best temper. Much bad feeling was engen- dered.
In 1740, that wonderful man Whitfield appeared in New England, and preached with amazing power in several places in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. All classes caught the enthusiasm, and New England was in a blaze of ex- citement. A Revival such as modern times had not before wit- nessed was the consequence. With the intensity of feeling, there was the usual mixture of bad passions. Great diversity of sentiment and angry controversy followed. Strange opin-
287
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
ions and irregular and disorderly practices sprung up. Minis- ters forsook their pulpits and became itinerants, and lay preachers with more zeal than knowledge were common. All took sides. Those who favored the new doctrines and practices were called New Lights, while those who chose to adhere to the good old ways of their fathers, discountenan- cing innovation, were denominated Old Lights. The clergy were divided ; " while the magistrates and principal gentle- men of the commonwealth" were on the side of the Old Oppressive laws were enacted and ecclesiastical dis- Lights.
cipline attempted, but all in vain. The excitement extended to Waterbury, and Mr. Leavenworth, a young man of warm impulses, sympathized with the New Lights, while Mr. South- mayd, more distrustful of appearances, sided with the Old Lights. Some of the meetings of the New Lights were ex- tremely boisterous and disorderly, so that, on one occasion, John Southmayd, Jr., a constable of the town, felt himself justified in appearing in their midst and commanding the peace of the commonwealth." . The consequence of all this was much exasperation of feeling mixed up with religious zeal. Mr. Leavenworth's ardor led him into difficulty. He, together with the Rev. Mr. Humphreys of Derby and the Rev. Mr. Todd of Northbury, had assisted in the ordination of Mr. Jonathan Lee of Salisbury, who was suspected of the New Light heresy. They were all brought before the Association, and suspended from all "associational communion."+
Owing to the general phrenzy which had taken hold of the people, the churches were convulsed and many of them rent into fragments. The old society of Waterbury suffered great- ly. Many, annoyed and disgusted with what they saw, turned Churchmen. Among them was constable Southmayd, the son of the former minister. He was one of the subscribers, in 1742, to the fund for building the new Episcopal church. Soon, however, he returned to the society he had left.
Other causes, having their origin in religious differences, eon- spired to destroy the good feeling which had previously prevail- ed. The Church of England claimed to be the established reli-
* B. Brunson's Manuscripts.
+ Trumbull, II, p. 196.
288
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
gion of the Colony, and the Congregationalists every where were declared dissenters. Our fathers were provoked and alarmed by this (as they deemed it) extraordinary arrogance. They had crossed the ocean and subdued the wilderness ; endured hardships and encountered dangers that they might find an asylum for their religion, where they might worship God ac- cording to their consciences. Now they saw with sorrow that they were not safe in their retreat. The same dread pow- er from which they had fled still threatened them. Episcopa- cy was spreading in different quarters. Several years before, Rector Culter of Yale College and other clergymen in the neighborhood forsook their charges and went to England to receive Episcopal ordination, no other being considered valid. They returned to this country as missionaries in the service of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. This was a powerful society in England, with ample funds. New England was an important field of its operations, and the religious disorders of the country favored its action. Nearly all the Episcopal clergy were in its pay. The Congregational- ists of Waterbury observed with apprehension the movement making among themselves in favor of Church-of-Englandism. So great were their fears from this quarter, that they re- quired their new minister, Mr. Leavenworth, to give a bond for £500 to be paid to the society, "if he should within twenty years from that time [Nov. 21st, 1739] become a Churchman, or by immorality or heresy render himself unfit for a gospel minister, to be decided by a council." The course of their enemies in opposing the payment of the £100 voted to Mr. Southmayd, and their conduct in Northbury, showed organi- zation and determination, and proved that their fears were semething more than an apparition. Thus the elements of agitation and conflict were at work in all directions. For a long time, those of opposite religious views could not agree to differ. The doctrine of toleration in matters of religious opinion had not then been learned. It was new to the world. No living examples existed by which its real nature and practi- cal workings could be studied. All sought religions liberty for themselves, but nobody thought of conceding it to others. At last all yielded to its advantages and its necessity, and peace
Seth Thomas
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
returned. In 1748-9, Mr. Leavenworth was released from his £500 bond.
Mr. Leavenworth was the chaplain of the second regiment (Col. Whiting's) in the campaign of 1760, in the old French war. The following is his bill for services, to the colonial government :
To my service from 24 March to Novr is 33 weeks 1 day at £99, 8s. 7d. To my expense and carrying my baggage from home and one man and two horses, 2, 14s. 7d.
To my expenses returning home from Schenectady, being able to travel but slowly, a man and two horses, 3, 13s. 6d.
£105, 16s. 8d.
MARK LEAVENWORTH.
Mr. Leavenworth had the reputation of being what is called a " plain preacher," not having always the fear of his people before his eyes. He doubtless thought that it did good to stir them up, sometimes roughly. He had among his hearers a person of some standing, who had the infirmity of sleeping (and probably snoring) in meeting. Thinking perhaps to eure the man's weakness, he on one occasion stopped suddenly in his discourse, and addressing himself to the sleeper, said- " Wake up ! wake up!"-The response quickly followed-" I am not asleep any more than you, Parson Leavenworth; so please mind your own business." Of course, a great commo- tion followed. Some were indignant, others amused. Two days after, or on the 10th day of June, 1760, the delinquent, Samuel Root, was arraigned, on a grand jury complaint, before Thomas Clark, for " profaning the sabbath, or Lord's day, by rude talking in time of public worship, to the disturbance of both minister and congregation, contrary to law." The cul- prit confessed that he did talk, &c., and pleaded in justifi- cation, " that he had told Mr. Leavenworth that if ever he spoke to him in partienlar in time of worship to wake up, he would tell him that it was none of his business." The Court looked upon the plea as insufficient, and ordered the guilty party to pay a fine of " five shillings money and costs of court taxed at £0-4-02, and stand committed till he comply," &c.
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