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 32
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By an old colonial law, men were sometimes sold into slavery for crime. Samuel Lanson was arraigned before the Court of Assistants in Hartford, May 10, 1670, and convicted of notorious stealing and " breaking up and robbing of Weth- ersfield and Branford mill several times," and living in a " renegade manner in the wilderness." He was fined £20 and ordered to be sent to the Barbadoes and sold as a servant for four years. Under a similar law, Joseph Lewis of Water- bury, a town pauper, was tried before Thomas Clark, Esq., May 12, 1756, on complaint of Oliver Terrell, for stealing forty shil- lings "proclamation money," and condemned to pay "six pounds proclamation money [three times the amount stolen] with costs of suit, and also a fine of ten shillings, lawful mon- ey, to the town treasurer, and be whipped on ye naked body ten stripes-costs taxed at £1-3-3."-He was whipped accord- ing to the judgment of the court, and bound out to the plain- tiff, as a servant, till the above said sum should be paid.
By an early statute of the Colony, " all single persons [they were not favorites of our Puritan ancestors, and were watched with great jealousy] who lived an idle and riotous life," might be bound out to service. By a law passed in 1725, and which was in existence till after the Revolution, any "delinquent," in the sense of this statute, might be disposed of, or bound out to service, or in other words sold, by order of any court, assistant or justice of the peace, for so long a time as was necessary to pay the costs of prosecution.
In the volume of statutes which was published immediately after the Revolutionary war, there was an act which declared
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that no negro or mulatto child, born in this State after March 1, 1784, should be held in servitude any longer than till he or she should arrive at the age of twenty-five years. In the same act, there were restraints put upon slaves similar to those we find at the South at the present day. Any Negro, Mulatto or Indian servant found wandering beyond the bounds of the town to which he belonged, without a ticket or pass from a justice of the peace or the owner, might be seized by anybody as a run-a-way. If a slave was caught out at night, after nine o'clock in the evening, without an order from his master, any person might apprehend and bring him (or her) before a justice, who might sentence him (or her) to be pub- liely whipped on the naked body. Without such order, the ferryman who passed a slave over his ferry, or the tradesman who bargained with him, was liable to a fine. So was the taverner who " entertained " him, or permitted him to be in his house, after nine o'clock at night. Free negroes traveling without a pass might be arrested.
In 1848, the Legislature enacted, for the first time, that no person should be held in slavery in this State.
Individually, our Puritan ancestors were very much such men as we are-little better, no worse. There were among them men eminent for virtue, knowledge and patriotism ; while there was about the ordinary proportion, found in the farming communities, of the worthless and the vile. A very slight inspection of the records of the criminal courts, will dissipate the dreams of those who contend that our great grandsires were perfect beings. They were bred in a rigorous age, and were exposed to peculiar hardships, dangers and temptations. These gave origin to peculiar moral characteristics-to virtues and to vices which were a little different from those of other ages and communities. But, on the whole, they, like us, were average men. We have more science, a more widely diffused literature ; better roads and bulkier ships ; but our men are like their men-shoots from the same stock. Undistinguish- ing eulogy cannot properly be applied to any of the genera- tions of New England ; nor will truth justify indiscriminate censure. Saints and sinners, wise men and foolish, have been (and will continue to be) found, in fair proportion, among all.
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We do rightly in judging leniently of the weaknesses, and mistakes and even the guilt of our fathers. We make allow- ance for their circumstances, the state of their civilization, the age in which they lived, the modes of thinking which prevail- ed at the time, their education, even their temptations and prejudices, and the entire group of influences which contrib- uted to mould opinions. Were men equally tolerant and charitable towards their contemporaries, much of the wrangling which at times makes earth a pandemonium would be avoided. Were men to think more of their own infirmities and guilt and less of their neighbors, they would illustrate a practical, instead of a speculative and professed Christianity.
After the close of the war with the eastern Indians in 1725, New England was at peace at home and abroad till the break- ing out of the Spanish war (in which France soon joined) in 1739. In the expedition against Cape Breton in 1745, which resulted in the capture of Louisburg, in which Connecticut had engaged nearly one thousand men, Waterbury appears to have been represented, but I know not how numerously. Capt. Samuel Hickox was chosen by the Assembly a captain of one of the companies for this service. Whether he joined the ex- pedition does not appear. Samuel Thomas, one of the early settlers of Westbury, died at Cape Breton, Jan. 29, 1745-6, probably in garrison.
Soon after the close of the Spanish and French war, or in 1749, Waterbury was visited by a malignant and fatal disease. It took the form of a low, nervous fever, and is said to have run its course in nine days. If the sick person survived the ninth day, recovery was expected. It spread into all parts of the town and was very fatal in Woodbury, as mentioned by Mr. Cothren. It commenced in June and continued till the following January. The most fatal months were August and September. In these two months, there were thirty-eight deaths, besides two, at least, not recorded. In the whole course of the epidemic, there were sixty-four deaths that are recorded, about twenty of them heads of families. In addi- tion to these, Mr. Richardson, in his "Historical Sketch of Watertown," gives the names of ten persons, making seventy-
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four in all that are known. It is said there were thirty deaths in Northbury, some of them doubtless not recorded. In such times of terror, all business is carelessly done. There were probably not fewer than ninety deaths, in the whole, which, out of a population of 1500, would be in the proportion of one in sixteen and two thirds, or six per cent., a greater propor- tional mortality than has since occurred in the same length of time. In many instances, entire families were prostrated by the disease. In two of the three parishes, scarcely ten houses escaped. In several families, three died in each ; and in one, that of John Barnes, four, all under nineteen years of age. Once in this sickness, there were six graves open in the old burying ground, at the same time. Often there was difficulty in procuring medicine, and sometimes the people had to go as far as Norwich for it. On one occasion, Mr. Leavenworth, the minister, performed the journey *- in those days, no small undertaking. From the middle of harvesting time till the last of September, nearly all the inhabitants that were in health were constantly employed in watching the sick and burying the dead. The crops were neglected, and despair settled upon the countenance of all. The grass upon the meadows dried as it stood. A part of it only was mowed, and that which was gathered, on account of its having been secured out of season, was nearly worthless. Not more than half the usual acres of the winter grains were sown, and these were so imperfectly till- ed, and the seed was put into the ground so late, that a famine was apprehended. Under these circumstances of discourage- ment, a memorial, signed by the inhabitants and dated Oct. 10th, 1749, was forwarded to the Assembly. They spoke of having " been visited by remarkable and sore sickness," and then re- counted their griefs and misfortunes. They prayed for the abate- ment of their " country tax " for the year, on the list of 1748. Their request was granted, but they were not permitted to draw their school money for the then current year.
In 1755, the "French Neutrals," or Acadians, (the old inhabitants of Nova Scotia,) because they refused to take up arms against France and in favor of their new masters, the
* Bennet Bronson's MSS.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
English, were driven from their homes and country, to the number of seven thousand, and distributed among the American colonies, from New Hampshire to Georgia. Four hundred were sent into Connecticut, and apportioned among the different towns according to their respective lists. Six were received by Waterbury and nine by Woodbury.
In 1756, a formal declaration of war was made by England against France, but hostilities had been carried on between the two nations for some time previous. This was an eventful war for the American Colonies, and Waterbury was well rep- resented in it. Capt. Eldad Lewis with his company from Waterbury marched to the scene of danger in the " Fort Wil- liam Henry alarm," in 1757. His company consisted of
Lieut. John Sutliff, Ens. Gideon Hotchkiss,
Joseph Warner,
Jonathan Garnsey, Simeon Beebe,
Serg. Stephen Welton, Daniel Porter, (clerk,)
Jesse Alcock,
Samuel Richards,
Thomas Richards, Stephen Matthews,
Abraham Richards,
Nathaniel Edwards,
Nathaniel Foot,
Samuel Lewis,
Samuel Judd, Joel Frost, Reuben Blakeslee,
Solomon Barrit,
Thomas Cole, Asher Blakeslee,
Eliakim Welton,
Thomas Williams,
Ambrose Field,
Hezekiah Brown,
W. Scott,
Benjamin Cook,
Shadrack Benham,
William Judd,
Benjamin Barnes.
Daniel Barnes,
Charles Warner,
Oliver Terrell,
Thomas Hickox,
Capt. Lewis appears, afterwards, to have been at Lake George. Lieut. Gideon Hotchkiss and Enos Ford and, proba- ably, his entire company, were with him. Some of the other officers and soldiers who were engaged in the old French war were, Lient. Gershom Fulford, Lieut. Timothy Clark, Lieut. Joel Clark, Ensign Daniel Potter, Lieut. Samuel Judd, Lieut. Oliver Welton, Rev. Mark Leavenworth, chaplain, Israel Cal- kins, James Brown, James Baldwin, Jesse Baldwin, Phineas Castle, Daniel Webb, Samuel Fenn, Abner Munson, Thomas Porter, Stephen Bronson. Daniel Porter, Jr., was surgeon's mate.
When, in August, 1757, Fort William Henry, situated at the head of Lake George, and commanded by Col. Monroe, was besieged by a French and Indian force under Montcalm, the English general, Webb, was lying with an army of four thousand men at Fort Edward, fourteen miles distant. In-
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
stead of marching to the relief of Col. Monroe and thus saving the fort, Webb wrote him a letter advising his capitulation. The messenger and letter were intercepted by the Indian al- lies of Montcalm. The latter, thinking Webb's communica- tion would promote his own interests, forwarded it, at once, to the commander of the fort. A capitulation soon followed.
Now the messenger who bore the letter of Gen. Webb seems to have been Israel Calkins of Waterbury, (above named.) He remained in the hands of the Indians after the fort was sur- rendered, and was by them taken to Canada. Here he was "redeemed by a French gentleman," sent to France a prisoner of war, and finally in a cartel-ship to England to be exehang- ed. He landed in Boston Oct. 6, 1758, and immediately peti- tioned the Legislature for "an allowance of wages during his captivity," and also a gratuity in consideration of the " severe calamaties " he had suffered, " more than words can express or imagination paint." He speaks of his property having been dissipated during his absence, and of the extreme destitution of himself and family. He "implores the pity and compassion of the Honorable Assembly," &c. His prayer was heard and £30 granted him .-- (State Papers, War, Vol. VII.) He re- sided in that part of the town which is now called Naugatuck, and was living in 1782.
The seven years war ended in 1763 and "gloriously " for the British Empire in America. The conquest of Canada and its cession to England secured the New England colonies from fur- ther hostile incursions from the North. But with peace came the troubles with the mother country. The British min istry undertook to carry out their plan of subduing the colo- nies-of making them more dependent on the crown and Par- liament. It was deemed necessary that the royal government should be carried on without the assistance, and in spite of the resistance, of turbulent colonial assemblies. It was elaim- ed that the king and Parliament in political and civil matters, and the bishops in ecclesiastical affairs, were supreme in all cases whatsoever. There could, properly, be no state without a king, or church without a bishop. What were considered to be inherent rights and chartered privileges were not to stand in the way of the proposed changes. To carry out the plans
HISTORY OF WATERETZE.
of the ministry. i: was decided that a standing army should be mataimed in the colonies at their own expense. A system of carsten was devised, and the celebrated stamp ac: passed im 1764. In passing it. Parliament meant to affirm and estab- Tish a right. An immediate revenue was a secondary object. The colonists resisted this act. chiefly on account of the princi- ple is involved. They saw im it a purpose to enslave them; or at least, to curtail their liberties. They claimed the exclusive privilege of levying, collecting and appropriating their own taxes. They insisted that taxation and representation should go together, and that as they had no voice in Parliament. the lat- ter could not rightfully, impose on them taxes. The revo-
Iucnmary storm was already gathering and men's minds were s med with profound em ... Those who believed in the validity of Presbyterian erdination and the independence cî the American churches-wid abborred prelacy almost as moch as they did the pope-were quick to see the religious bearings of the questions of the day. They felt that such a measure as the stamp act must be resisted, in the beginning. as a dangerous encroachmez: on their just rights, and which. if mot opposed successfully would end in the loss of their most cherished institutions. political and religious. The Church-of- England-men beld different views and had different sympathies. They looked upon theirs as the only true church, and Congre- gationalism as a heresy which had ruled too long in this coun- try. They favored the views and hoped for the triumph of the British government. The Rev. John Beach, in Oct. 1:05. wrote to his friends in England, saying that he could not " dis- cover in any of the church people the least inclimation to seli- tion and rebellion against their mother country, on account of the stamp duty." The Rev. Mr. Scovill of Waterbury, in a letter dated Oct. 8, 1707, wrote as follows :
The church people = my cure appear to have a serious sense of religion, and s heamy love and afettion se om excellent comes with makes them great!y Lament the depi ruhthe condition of the church in these parts, for want of resident Lashope in ordain, porem and confirm those of our Own communion * They
* Up to tinn time and == 1'54, the Episcopal clergy of this country vert obliged to go to Enfund for celimation They had ling pleaded for a tisoup of their own ao care then this
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
who live in England where the church is rather triumphant, can have but a faint idea of its truly militant state here in New England, where the dissenters take oc- casion to insult and revile us, even for want of that discipline which they so un- justly and clamorously oppose. Though they would be thought the greatest friends of liberty, yet, I doubt not, they would think it a great degree of oppres- sion, and even persecution, to be obliged themselves to go 3,000 miles for what they judged essential to the perfection of their church ; and I trust in God, we are as conscientious in the profession of the truth, and adherence to the most pure and primitive church in the world, as they can be in their errors. They have plentifully reproached us with the hated name of Jacobites, persons disaffected to the present royal family, of blessed memory ; but when the Stamp Act brought our loyalty to the test, I thank God the scale turned greatly in our favour. While we sensibly feel all these great disadvantages, it fills us with real grief and con- cern to find the venerable society declining to open any more missions in New England. They, under God, by their generous bounty and pious liberality, have been the nursing fathers and chief supporters of the languishing church in this land, for which unspeakable favour our warmest sentiments of gratitude and duty will always attend them ; and we most humbly and earnestly beg the continuance of their patronage and kind assistance, so long as our circumstances continue upon all accounts so truly pitiable .*
CHAPTER XXI.
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.
THE patriots of Waterbury took an early and decided stand against the designs of the mother country. Their own history had not tended to soften their prejudices against the English church. The two parties were more evenly balanced than in most other towns. The Churchmen were in a minority, but they were still numerous ; sufficiently so to excite the jealousy and even the fears of the majority. When, at one time, they obtained the ascendency in society meeting, in Northbury, the manner they conducted themselves had not inspired conti-
* Hawkins' Missions, p. 89S.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
dence in their moderation. Religious denominations in pow- er are not wont to treat the opposition with peculiar leniency. Such is the transcendent importance of religious truth, and such the wickedness of unbelief or a contrary belief, that men are apt to think any means justifiable which tend to spread the one or suppress the other. The Congregationalists cannot plead guiltless of the charge of attempting, when in authority, to " crush out " " dissent" by the exercise of power.
When at last the war of the Revolution broke out, in 1775, the Churchmen of Waterbury, of Connecticut and of New England were seen ranged upon the side of the parent coun- try and against the rebel colonists. They were Royalists or Tories. They had reasons, satisfactory to themselves, for their opinions and conduct. They wished the success of the British government, because on that success depended their hopes of worldly distinction and religious privilege. On that, they supposed, they must rely for the permanent ascendency of the Episcopal church in America-its doctrines, its faith and its worship. To England they were bound by the strong- est ties. From that country their parish clergymen had from the first received a great part of their support. They owed it a debt of gratitude, which, if they could not repay, they were unwilling to forget. They had always been the weaker party, had been ridiculed in their weakness and sometimes been " voted" out of their just rights. Their feelings had not been conciliated and they had come to hate the Whigs most hearti- ly. They now hoped their wrongs would be redressed. They thought, with some show of reason, that resistance would be in vain and that the rebels would soon be compelled to re- turn to duty. It is impossible, thought they, for the American Revolutionists, without money or discipline, ill furnished with arms and not perfectly united among themselves, to resist for a long time the whole force of the British empire. And there were others-wise men-that entertained the same views. The eventual triumph of the American cause, at least as to time and manner, must be attributed mainly to the blunders of the British ministry. Had the event turned out differently, the course of the colonists would have been considered rash. The truth is, though each party was determined on its course,
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
neither expected, for a long time, to come to blows. So im- perfectly did they understand each other.
So great was the alienation of feeling between the rival re- ligious sects in Waterbury, that parents could not always agree to send their children to the same school. To carry out this feeling, two districts were sometimes made within the same territorial limits. In 1775, a vote was passed dividing the school district on the Farmington and Wallingford road into two, one for the "Presbyterians" and one for "the Church of England." At one period, when thick gloom had settled over the prospects of the colonists and the English or church party felt almost sure of a speedy triumph, some of the more enthusiastic of the latter met together and determin- ed in what manner the farms of their opponents should be divided among themselves, after the subjugation of the country .*
In Westbury, as well as in the old society, excitement ran high. The windows of the Episcopal church were demolished. The principal members were not allowed to attend public worship, but were confined to their farms. " A Presbyterian deacon" said, publicly, "that if the colonies carried their point, there would not be a church [English] in the New En- gland states."+ In Northbury, the Churchmen were numer- ous, every one of whom was a Tory, while all the Congrega- tionalists were Wliigs. Capt. Amos Bronson, an Episcopa- lian, commanded a militia company there, the members of which were about equally divided between the two parties. His commission was taken from him; but, being a moderate Tory, he was reelected. A commission was of course refused him.±
Several influential Churchmen, early in the progress of the war, renounced the royal party and joined the Whigs. Among these were Capt. John Welton of the old society and Capt. Amos Bronson of Northbury. A certain pamphlet written by Dr. Franklin contributed materially to this result ; while the superciliousness of the British officials, and the bar-
* MSS. of Bennet Bronson.
+ MSS. of the Rev. Chauncey Prindle, published in the Chronicle of the Church, July 26, 1830. # A manuscript letter from his son, Mr. Noah M. Bronson, Medina, Ohio.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
barous mode in which their government carried on the war, were not without influence.
The Episcopal clergy of Connecticut and of New England took the lead in opposition to the war. They kept up a cor- respondence with the society at home, (of which they were beneficiaries,) in which they expressed their views freely of the merits of the controversy, and gave information of the state of the country. The loyalty of their own church is a subject for frequent comment and congratulation. Dr. Richard Mansfield of Derby wrote, in Dec. 1775, that he had preach- ed and taught quiet subjection to the king and parent state, and that he was well assured that the clergy in general of the church of the Colony of Connecticut had done the same. Of the one hundred and thirty families under his charge, one hundred and ten, he continued, " are firm and steadfast friends to government and detest and abhor the present and unnatu- ral rebellion, and all those measures which led to it." Far- ther on, he remarked, "the worthy Mr. Scovill [of Waterbury] and the venerable Mr. Beach [of Newtown] have had still better success, scarcely a single person being found of their congregations but what hath persevered steadfastly in his duty and loyalty."*
The Rev. Mr. Inglis, in Oct. 1776, wrote to the society in England as follows :
I have the pleasure to assure you that all the society's missionaries, without ex- cepting one, in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and, so far as I can learn, in the other New England colonies, have proved themselves faithful, loyal servants in these trying times ; and have to the utmost of their power opposed the spirit of dis- affection and rebellion which has involved this continent in the greatest calamities. I must add, that all the other clergy of our church in the above colonies, though not in the society's service, have observed the same line of conduct .- [Hawkins' Missions. ]
[At the North, the laymen of the Episcopal faith were commonly, like their rec. tors, Loyalists; but at the South it was different, and many of the most distin guished Whigs of that section were zealous friends of the established church .- Sabine's Loyalists, p. 51.
Tory physicians were more common than Tory barristers, or even clergymen, and were treated with more indulgence than other Tories .- Ibid, p. 58.]
In consequence of the course taken by the Episcopal cler-
* Hawkins' Missions.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
gy, their open opposition to the war and their secret correspond- ence with the enemy, they were watched with jealousy and sometimes treated with the greatest severity. They would not pray for the continental Congress after independence was de- clared, but insisted on using the liturgy as it was, and praying for the king and royal family. At this, the Whigs were wroth and would allow no services in the English churches. Mr. Inglis wrote in Oct. 1776, that "to officiate publicly and not pray for the king and royal family, according to the litur- gy, was against their duty and oath ; and yet to use the pray- ers for the king and royal family would have drawn inevita- ble destruction on them. The only course which they could pursue, to avoid both evils, was to suspend the public exer- cises. This was accordingly done." Mr. Beach of Connecti- cut, alone, the writer goes on to state, continued to officiate after independence was declared, he affirming " that he would do lis duty, preach and pray for the king, till the rebels eut out his tongue !" Mr. Inglis farther complained that the cler- gy were everywhere threatened and reviled and imprisoned on slight pretenses-" some were pulled out of the reading desk because they prayed for the king, and that before inde- pendence was declared"-"others have been warned to ap- pear at militia musters with their arms, have been fined for not appearing and then threatened with imprisonment for not paying their fines."*
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