USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Derby > The history of the old town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880. With biographies and genealogies > Part 15
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8 Hist. Col. 199.
71
FIRST PURCHASE AT RIMMON.
the father, "Gideon Mauwehu, lived in the vicinity of Derby." Very likely, for he was probably the son of Chusumack the Pootatuck chief or sachem, who removed from where the village of Shelton now stands, opposite Birmingham, to Pootatuck at the mouth of Pomperang.
It will be observed that the deed says, " the fishing place at Naugatuck," naming the place rather than the river. This agrees with tradition, which reports that the place was first named Naugatuck, and afterwards that name was given to the river, in the place of the name Paugassett. In one early deed, the stream is spoken of, as the " river that cometh down from Nau- gatuck."
Land having been purchased of the Indians9 in the vicinity of Rock Rimmon, lying on both sides of the Naugatuck, the town granted to Ebenezer Johnson "the upper plain land against Rock Rimmon, and that it shall lie for division land ; and the town grant the said Ebenezer to take in another man with him." The other man was Jeremiah Johnson, the father or grandfather of Bennajah, and the town afterwards confirmed a grant to him in that place "at the lower plain." Samuel Riggs, John Tib balls and Daniel Collins received also a division each at this same time and at the same place. These were the first owners of land in the vicinity of what is now Seymour village, on the east side of the Naugatuck river. This was in February, 1678-9. Soon after this the town granted Ebenezer Johnson one hundred and fifty acres of the land he had purchased at this place in con- sideration of the money he paid to the Indians for this land, and he delivered the deed to the town.
Further progress was made in 1679, in the settlement of in- habitants and perfecting the methods of town work. They seem to have become alarmed as to the supply of timber and made
9" This indenture made this 19th of Feb. 1678, witnesseth We . . with approba- tion of Okenuck sagamore, have sold to Ebenezer Johnson three small parcels of land, bounded on the northwest with Rock Rimmon, and on the east with Lebanon, and on the south with a small brook and Naugatuck river, and on the west with an hill on the west side of Naugatuck river so as to take in the little plain ; for seven pounds in hand received.
Ahuntaway, his mark. Chetrenasut, his mark. Jack, his mark."
72
HISTORY OF DERBY.
this rule or law : "No man or men shall have any liberty to make any clapboards, or shingles, or pipe-staves, or any coopers' timber, to transport out of the place, upon the penalty of forfeit- ing all his or their timber, or the value thereof to the town treasury."
This is as strange as the laying out the land for the six men as ordered by the court committee. They began at Paul's plains, laying a highway by the side of the river, and then meas- ured to each, three acres as nearly as might be, making up de- ficiencies and deducting surplus, elsewhere. These men were Isaac Nichols, Samuel Brinsmade, John Pringle, William Tom- linson, John Hubbell and Samuel Nichols. The Ferry man received his at the same time, or a little after. At East Hill, each received four acres ; at Bare plains one acre each; at Hasaca meadow two acres each ; in the Indian field eight acres each, and four acres each adjoining, for a home lot; and on Woodbury road, another amount each. Then swamps and other items, to make fifty acres each. Men receiving grants of land this year and the next, were Hope Washborn, William Wash- born, John Davis, John Johnson, John Beach, John Pringle, Jonas Lumm, Joseph Guernsey. Hope Washborn's home lot was located joining Henry Williams (the ferryman) in 1685.
Exchanges of property were common as indicated in the fol- lowing sale : " Feb. 1I, 1679, Daniel Collins sells to Abel Hol- brook, his house that now stands on the said Collins pasture ; it is 27 feet long, 18 1-2 feet wide & the pasture 6 acres : provided the said Holbrook Rende and bring to the house clapboards enough to clapboard the roof sides & ends of the said house; & also the sª Holbrook is to dwell and attend the order of the town his full time upon the said lands 'as he was engaged upon his own."
Abel Holbrook sold his house at the same time to Daniel Collins, with a house 22 feet by 18 feet.
The number of town officers was small at first, but in after years became very large.
Officers for 1678: Ebenezer Johnson, constable ; Ebenezer Johnson, Samuel Riggs, Wm. Tomlinson, townsmen ; Francis French, Ephraim Smith, fence viewers ; Abel Gunn, surveyor ; Wm. Tomlinson, surveyor for the Neck ; Ebenezer Johnson, to
73
NEW RULE TO SETTLERS.
keep ordinary [tavern] ; which was the first in the town so far as noticed.
In 1683, George Beaman was chosen grave digger, the first so elected so far as has been seen ; and was to receive two shil- lings for a child's grave, and two shillings and sixpence for an adult's grave.
In 1679, and thereafter, they had two committees for fence viewers, one on the east side, and the other on the west side of Naugatuck river, who were to view the fences once a month, beginning the first day of March. George Beaman was ap- pointed town marshal, to warn the voters to town meetings, and those who did not reach the place within half an hour, after being warned, were fined sixpence, while those who did not come, were fined one shilling. Two or three years later the fine was more than doubled upon failure to reach the place of the meeting within an hour after being warned.
In this year the town changed its rule of accepting settlers, and voted "that hereafter persons taking up land (granted by the town), shall pay the purchase price," whether they should reside on it or not. The former method was to give the land, a four-acre home lot, ten acres upland, and four to six acres of swamp to make meadow, to the man who should build a house and fence his home lot, and reside four years, meeting other town claims of taxes ; under which arrangement they sometimes stayed but part of the time, and left without ceremony. John Hubbell proposed to leave after staying three years, and applied to the town for liberty so to do, but they required him to pay fifteen pounds money to the town, upon which his land and im- provements should be his, the same as though he had remained his four years. A lot was granted on the east part of Sentinel hill to John Tibballs ; he left it after a year or two, and settled on Great Neck; the house became the property of the town upon its being deserted, and the town gave it to four others in succession, who afterwards settled in other parts of the town.
Two votes were necessary to constitute a man an inhabitant of the town and a voter. The one was to accept him as an in- habitant, the other to grant him the usual allowance of land, which being worth the ten pounds money necessary to become · a voter, qualified him for that freedom and endowment, upon
IO·
74
HISTORY OF DERBY.
his taking the oath. If he had taken the oath in another town it was not required again.
Tradition says that one man moved into the town and resided some time, a year or more, and the town ordered him out, and sent men who took him and his goods and set him out, because he was an infidel. Nothing was alleged against his character as a citizen or neighbor, save the one thing, an infidel, and what- ever that meant is unexplained, but it is quite certain from his- tory that the word was used in those days to mean those who believed in the Bible, but not in the interpretation commonly given to that book. What foundation there was for such a tra- dition may be judged from the record of that faithful town clerk, Abel Gunn : " Aug. 21, 1682. The town does not acknowledge William Corsell to be an inhabitant at Derby, and do desire the townsmen to warn the said Corsell out of the town forthwith."
It is very evident that this action of the town never originated from the Sermon on the Mount, nor did the fathers pretend that it did. They lived under Moses's law, in religious things, and not that of the man of Calvary.
CHAPTER III.
A MILL, A MEETING-HOUSE, AND WAR.
1681-1700.
HE history of Derby might very properly be considered in three periods, characterized by the different pursuits of the inhabitants during those periods. The first was purely agricultural, the second commercial, and the third or present, manufacturing. Each period has developed its master spirits, most of whom, having fulfilled their destiny, have left lasting impressions for the benefit of coming generations.
In this age of civilization, when the people are borne from village and town to and from the great centers of business with the speed of lightning, when the waters swarm with the whiten- ing sails of commerce, when cities are rising by magic, factory upon factories springing up like mushrooms along the rivers to increase our products, followed by neat little cottages, beautiful country seats, and costly mansions, occupied by a population happy and resplendent in the accumulated wealth of the dead and the living, they can know but little of the trials and impedi- ments that stood in the way of our ancestors, when they first pressed their footsteps into the untrodden wilderness, and for many years thereafter. When the white settler first reposed on Riggs hill, all that his eye rested upon was wild, coy, and un- cultivated wilderness, seemingly as from the first dawn of crea- tion. The forest, dense with the oak, the chestnut, the pine, the hemlock, the walnut, the cedar and the elm, all growing in luxuriant majesty, obscured from human eye the rising and set- ting sun, while it sheltered and protected the deer, the wolf, the bear, the catamount and other wild animals in great variety, from the hunter's long and weary pursuit. The Indian, content with his cherished games, still roamed at times over his ancient hunting grounds, while his mate prepared for him his feast of fish and fowl and moose, governed by no rule save the pangs of hunger.
76
HISTORY OF DERBY.
Thus began the first period, the settlers, after clearing a few spots must have obtained their food, clothing, tools, necessaries of life, and few comforts, almost exclusively from the soil, pre- paring them for use mostly with their own hands, for it is true that the first period passed under the reign of slavery, wherein much of the heavy toil was borne by servants, for there was scarcely a family during the first seventy-five years but that had its slave or slaves. Their luxuries, unlike those of sickly and modern refinement, consisted in a self-sustaining independency, and though rude and simple, they aided in the development of strong physical and mental energies. Their first mechanic was the carpenter, then the blacksmith, the tanner and the shoe- maker. The grist mill, where the miller refused toll for grind- ing, was a public institution, established like the school and the church by the legal authorities of the settlement. The prices of all produce were fixed by the same legal authority, and to refuse a bushel of corn for a debt at the lawful price, would be the same as to refuse at the present day, a gold dollar for one hundred cents. Their roads or cart paths, led first to the mill, then to the church, before any outside market was contemplated. Their buildings were erected without square and compass, or the use of the saw mill. The clapboards for their houses were rived and shaved in the same manner as shingles. The ax performed wonders in those days as well as the jack knife, while heads and hands became self-reliant, ingenious, and skilled in use ; and the proverbial remark of the latter instrument is no more celebrated than was the realization of it in those days. Not only a wooden clock could the English Yankee make, but a great number of still more useful things, where every man and woman was skilled in guessing the time in the day or night, without clock or sun- shine. During the first thirty years the settlers of Derby lived in isolated families, mostly, in small houses, some of which were really huts ; one new house being sold by the town authorities for thirty shillings after the builder had vacated it and left the town. In their occasional journeys to Milford or New Haven, with neither roads nor wagons, they more frequently went on foot, sometimes on horseback or in a cart. Imagine what was once reality, a mother with her little son walking to Milford and back on Sun- day to hear the gospel preached. So it was, and so they thought
77
LOCATION OF THE FIRST MILL.
it wise to cultivate the heart and religious thought, without the present dash and extravagances of that which is only life for the present world.
THE FIRST MILL.
The inhabitants of Derby having toiled patiently twenty- seven years in securing a town settlement, passing through many difficulties, and one Indian war season, and having at- tained public notice as a people, and some reliability as to prop- erty, proposed to make some improvements as to comforts, and voted : "At a town meeting Aug. 29, 1681, to encourage such a man as will build a sufficient mill for the town of Derby, by giving him twenty pounds and build a dam, provided it shall be in such a place as a committee shall agree upon with the man.
" For making the dam the town do engage to attend the call of the committee, giving a days warning, at all such times as the committee appoints till the dam be finished ; and that the town will give accommodations to the mill which shall remain forever to the mill; and the town grants to the. mill twenty acres of land that lieth on the brook adjoining, and ten acres of pasture. It is further agreed that the charge of building the mill dam shall be paid by a town rate."
The work of building such a mill for the thirty-five tax payers in the town, at the time, was really great, and occupied some years before it was completed. Dr. John Hull was the man who undertook the work. He had built the parsonage in 1673, for which work there had not been a full settlement until 1682, when a committee was appointed to "recon" with him in that matter.
In 1684, he was made one of the town committee to attend to the completion of the mill, with power to call out men as he might need them to work on the mill.
This mill was located on Beaver brook, half a mile east of the Congregational Church at Ansonia, and remained there proba- bly some thirty or forty years, when a new one was built on the Old river a little above the New Haven road across the valley.
Several pieces of land were granted which determine the loca- tion of this mill, although in the town record it is not said where it should be set up, except that it says on the brook, making it
78
HISTORY OF DERBY.
sure that the mill was not on the river. In 1683, the town granted "Thomas Wooster for a pasture that land that lieth north of the little brook above the Trangram, bounded with Plum meadow west, the common north, Jabez Harger's pasture east, brook north." Plum meadow was the low land where the south part of Ansonia now stands, or back of it adjoining the hill. In laying Jabez Harger's pasture the Trangram is also mentioned, and called then, and in several other places, John Hull's Trangram.
The John Hull, Junior's homestead was at the north end of this Plum meadow upon the hill east. Tradition tells us that the people of Old Town used to call the part of the community where John Hull lived the North End; that meant the north end of the village settlement. After the mill was located there it became more thickly settled, but the name North End still survives. In 1696, after Dr. John Hull had been in Walling- ford eight years, the town passed a vote of complaint that John Hull had not fulfilled his agreement about the mill, upon which he made over the mill property, a gift, to his son John ; and at the same time deeded him and his brother Joseph the other lands and houses he owned in the town, principally on Riggs hill, east of the Riggs farm, and Joseph Hull, the first, remained on this farm some years after it was given to him.
THE FIRST MEETING-HOUSE IN DERBY.
The location of a meeting-house was a difficult task very often in the towns of Connecticut, and was more frequently done by a committee from the General Court, but Derby men deter- mined to practice the rights of freemen and settle this question upon that ground ; for on Nov. 22, 1680, they passed a vote that "all the inhabitants of the town (i. e. voters) should have liberty to put in their votes, where the meeting house should stand," thus deciding to be governed by the majority. At this time there was no ecclesiastical organization in the town, aside from the town. A church had been organized, but whether its mem- bership consisted of the free voters of the town or otherwise, there is nothing to show; it would have been very natural to pattern after Milford, but there is no certainty, and then society
79
FIRST MEETING-HOUSE.
was undergoing a change after the uniting of the New Haven and Connecticut Colonies.
After the above vote, the question was tried, and those in fa- vor of " setting the meeting house upon the hill above Ephraim Smith's " (afterwards called Squabble hole,) were Mr. Bow- ers, Edward Wooster, Joseph Hawkins, William Tomlinson, Samuel Riggs, Ephraim Smith, Abel Gunn, Francis French, Samuel Nichols, Thomas Wooster, John Beach,-eleven.
Those against were: Jeremiah Johnson, Philip Denman, Stephen Pierson, John Tibballs,-four.
C.T. Beardsley Ji: del.
THE FIRST MEETING-HOUSE IN DERBY, ERECTED IN 1682.
Those absent were: John Hulls, Jabez Harger, George Bea- man, David Wooster, Ebenezer Johnson, Abel Holbrook, Isaac Nichols, Samuel Brinsmade, Jonathan Nichols, Jonas Tomlin- son,-ten.
Having done this they took a recess one year to consider the subject, and were probably the more inclined to this policy since there was so much difference of opinion as to the location.
"Nov. 22, 1681. The town have voted to build a meeting house twenty-eight feet long and twenty feet wide, . . this winter; that is to
80
HISTORY OF DERBY.
say, to fall and square the timber and get the shingles and clapboards by the last of March next and cart them to the place, where it is agreed to be set ; and also the said house is to be ten feet between joints.
"Further, For the carrying on the building of the said house the town have chosen a committee which shall have full power to call out the inhabitants as they see cause, and when they please ; the committee is Sargent Hulls, Joseph Hawkins, Abel Gunn and Philip Denman.
" Further it is agreed that the charge and cost of building the afore- said house shall be done according to every man's estate in the list. In case any man neglect or refuse to work when he is called, he shall pay two shillings and sixpence to the work, having had two days warn- ing, those that work when called to have two shillings and six pence per day.
"Dec. 14, 1681 they have agreed to build and frame the said house, and raise it, and make the window frames ; viz : six windows, two on the front side, one on each end and two on the pulpit side ; all the window frames to be transume frames, leaving three lights in each tier, a set and a half in length in the lower length, and a set in the upper tier.
"Further, Whereas the former vote respecting the place where the meeting house should stand, seemed to be difficult with some, the town have voted the second time that the place near the tree where the town met and sat down shall be the place where the meeting house shall stand, without any more trouble."
This plan as to the meeting-house seems to have been car- ried into effect and the work accomplished as rapidly as could be, under the circumstances that then surrounded them. John Hull was the head man of the committee and was probably the leader in all the work. When built it must have had the appear- ance of a low barn but for the windows and the door, but it was the best they could do, and that may be better than their de- scendants do, even with their very fine and costly meeting- houses.
As it was voted to collect the money by tax for the mill and the meeting-house, a new list was made this year of land and personal estates, and was placed on record among the land records. One leaf containing about half of the account of per- sonal property has been torn from its place in the book and cannot be found. All the land that was taxable at that time is, probably, given ; the land owned in the unbroken forests was not taxable.
81
KEEPING SHEEP.
When the work had progressed one year, and finding nearly the amount of the tax to be raised, the town sent Abel Gunn to the General Court to obtain release from country tax, which the Court granted for two years.
It will be seen that in the lists recorded, there are no sheep ; the reason was that the General Court in 1666, "freed all the sheep in the Colony from the list of estates whereby rates are made, until the Court see cause to alter it." And in the follow- ing October, "The Court proposed that some method be de- vised by each town to burn or subdue the undergrowth in the woods near the settlements to provide pasture for cattle and sheep."
In October, 1670, "the Court, for the encouragement of rais- ing sheep, &c.," ordered that every male person in the several plantations, from fourteen years old and upward "that is not a public officer, viz. : an assistant, commissioner, or minister of the gospel," should work one day in the year, sometime in June, yearly, in cutting down and clearing the underwood, so there might be pasture. The selectmen of each town were to have charge of this matter, and see that the work was done or heavy fines collected. In 1673, the Court made further provision con- cerning the raising of sheep, declaring that "whereas the in- crease of flocks is found very advantageous to this Colony, and as experience doth show that the breed of sheep is much de- cayed by reason of neglect of breeding, and suitable care for the flock, that it is ordered by the Court that two or three meet persons in each plantation shall be appointed to take care that suitable care should be instituted in regard to the care and breeding of sheep." These men, called sheep masters, were ap- pointed regularly for many years. It was also ordered, at the same time, "that no sheep should be kept on the commons ex- cept in flocks, except where the flock was less in number than one hundred, to prevent the sheep either doing or receiving harm."
In the year 1703, this method was in full operation, as is evi- dent from the record : "Voted by the proprietors of sheep that they will hire a shepherd for the year, from the first of April ; and William Tomlinson, senr., Stephen Pierson, senr., and Sargt. Thomas Wooster be sheep masters, to have power to hire a
II
82
HISTORY OF DERBY.
shepherd ; besides that any of our neighboring towns have lib- erty to send as many sheep as the sheep masters shall see cause to admit."
Many cattle and sheep were sent from Milford, Stratford and New Haven to be pastured at Derby.
But little did the people of Derby think that just one hun- dred years from this time, the first grand impulse should be given to the proper care and breeding of sheep in America, by a son of its own soil ; that a flock of one hundred selected sheep, from the best flocks in Europe, should cross the ocean in one vessel and land at Derby. That honor was to fall on Derby, by its enterprising and noble General Humphreys.
THE LIST OF DERBY LAND BY ITSELF, PRIZED IN 1681.
Sargent [E.] Wooster's land prized.
s. d.
14 acres of meadow, £14 0 0 the said Hulls, £12 0 0
6 acres long lot, 6 O 0
Io acres in the Fishing place, 7 o O
4 acres waste land in Fishing place, 0
4
O
4 acres pasture, I
0 O
I{ acres home lot, I IO
6 acres pasture at home lot, O
6 O 3 acres plow : I James medow, I IO O
4 acres two-mile island, 4
0 O 2 acres mowing, I James “ I
O O
I{ acres plow land Zacha Ib., I IO
34 10 0
William Tomlinson's land, 1681.
s. d.
I} acres home lot,
£1 10 0
4 acres of meadow, £4 0 0
2 acres of meadow,
2 O O
3 acres plow land in meadow,
IO O
3 acres home lot, 3 O
O
6 acres plow land Setinel hill, 3
O
O
3 acres Cankrod, 3 0 0
3 acres plow land at plains, 3 O
o
2} acres meadow, 2 10 0
9 acres pasture, O
0
2} plow 1 in meadow, I 5 O
8 acres at Rimon, 4 0 0
2 acres Sent. hill, I
0 0
20 IO O
IO 5 0
Ephram Smith land, 1681.
s. d.
s. d.
4 acres meadow,
£4 0 0
13 acres of land, £10
4 acres mowing land,
3 0 ( O
9 acres more, 4 0 I
7₺ acres plow land,
5 IO O
I Rimmon, 0 15 0
14 15 I
-
28 0 O
Sargt Saml Riggs's land prized, 1681.
s. d.
Sar. Hull's land prized, 1681.
12 acres in the corner next s. d.
13 acres in the nook next the river, plow land and meadow, O
9
0
7 acres at Trangam, 3 10 0
7₺ in Indian field, 5 12 0
7 2 0
Francis French land, 1681.
s. d.
2} acres home lot, £2 10 0
Widow Harger (Jabez) land, 1681.
12 10 0
83
ASSESSOR'S LIST.
Samuel Nichols land, 1681.
s. d.
I acre home lot,
£1 0 0
7₺ acre in Indian field, 5 12 O
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