USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 16
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In the year 1642 the boundary line between the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut was run by order of the General Court of Mas- sachusetts Bay. Through some error the surveyors struck the Con- necticut River several miles too far south, so that all the territory now included in Enfield fell within the limits of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Though Connecticut never admitted the accuracy of this survey, and even protested against it, vet the matter was suffered to remain unsettled for many years. In 1648 the General Court of Massa- chusetts ordered that all the land on the east side of the Connecticut River, from the town of Springfield down to the warehouse, which they had formerly built, and twenty poles below the warehouse, should belong to the town of Springfield. As a consequence, nearly a cell-
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
tury of the history of Enfield belongs to Massachusetts rather than to Connecticut.
For thirty years Springfield did nothing toward occupying its newly acquired territory. Finally, in August, 1679, a committee, consisting of John Pynchon, Samuel Marshfield, Thomas Stebbins, Sr., Jonathan Burt, and Benjamin Parsons, was appointed to grant out the land against the falls at or about Freshwater Brook " unto persons there to inhabit, and to order and act all matters so as that the place may be- come a town of itself." This committee held its first meeting Dec. 31, 1679, at which a plan for granting out the lands was agreed upon.
ENFIELD FALLS, - DAM OF THE CONNECTICUT RIVER COMPANY.
All proprietors were required to settle and erect buildings within three years, and to remain seven years before they could dispose of their allotments or hold two home-lots. The grants were to be of four sorts. The first sort was to contain thirty acres of field land and a home-lot ; the second, forty acres and a home-lot ; the third and fourth, fifty and sixty acres respectively, with home-lots. Highways were to be laid through these lots if needed, and all trees standing in the streets were to be left for shade and ornament.
At a meeting of the committee in March, 1680, " it was considered about making a purchase of the lands from the Indians." Major Pynchon was directed to effect this purchase, and £30 was allowed as the price. To refund this amount to the committee, each propric- tor was to be charged threepence for every acre received by him. The purchase was effected for £25 instead of £30, and a deed was afterward given by Totaps,1 alias Nottattuck, the Indian chief who owned the land. This deed conveyed "all that tract of land on
1 These Indian names are copied from the deed as recorded at Enfield.
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ENFIELD.
the east side of Connecticut River which is against the falls, from Asnuntuck, alias Freshwater River, on the north, down southward along by Connecticut River side, about three or four miles, to the brook below the heap of stones, which brook is called by the Indians Pog- gotossur, and by the English Saltonstall's Brook, and so from the mouth of said Saltonstall's alias Poggotossur to run from the great river Connecticut directly east, eight full and complete miles to the mountains."
That part of Enfield which lies north of Freshwater River had pre- viously been purchased of another tribe of Indians and conveyed to William Pynchon by a deed given in 1678; so that all the territory of Enfield was obtained from the Indians by honorable purchase, and is covered by duly recorded deeds. The inhabitants of Enfield never had any serious difficulty with the Indians. Everything favored harmony. King Philip's War had just closed when the first attempt at a settle- ment was made, so that general peace with the Indians prevailed. The Indians did not live within the territory, and for the land they received what they considered a just equivalent. For these reasons the early settlers of Enfield escaped those hardships and sufferings which came upon the first settlers of many of the towns in Con- nectient.
Previous to the appointment of the committee for Freshwater a few individuals had received grants of land near Freshwater River from the town of Springfield ; but these grants were never occupied. The appointment of that committee may be taken, therefore, as the first effectual attempt to plant a settlement within the present limits of Enfield. In the autumn of the same year John and Robert Pease are said to have gone to Freshwater and "to have spent the following winter there, living in an excavation in the side of a hill, about forty rods from where the first meeting-house stood." The truth of this old and com- mon tradition there is some reason to doubt, for at the first meeting of the committee for Enfield, Dec. 31, 1679, several grants of land were made, but none to the Peases. Their allotment was not made until July 23, 1680, and after the committee had held several meetings. If they spent a winter here in making preparations for the coming of their families, it was probably the winter of 1680-1681. In the season of 1681 John Pease and his two sons, John and Robert, probably came with their John Deage families and settled upon their allot- ments, about one mile south of Fresh- water River. They were the first settlers of Enfield. In recognition of this fact the committee records, Dec. 16, 1681, that the lots of John Pease and his sons were made "two or three rods wider than others."
The lots upon the main street were fast taken up, for " the planters came on with numbers and strength." During the year about twenty- five families from Salem and vicinity followed the Peases, though some of them remained for only a short time. These first inhabitants were men of the Puritan mould, who brought with them their strict habits and fixed ideas, in accordance with which they laid the foundations of the new plantation, and established its institutions, and infused into its life a vigor that has not yet been quenched. In April, 1683, the number of inhabitants was such that a movement was made toward the
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
organization of the settlement into a distinct town. This movement being seconded by Springfield, a petition was drawn up and presented to the General Court of Massachusetts at its session May 16, 1683, praying for permission to become " a distinct society." To this petition the General Court gave a favorable answer, and ordered that "the town be called Enfield," 1 and that the committee who had had charge of granting out the lands " be empowered to manage all the affairs of the township till this Court take further order."
Because of this arrangement little was gained by the proprietors. The boundaries of the plantation were more definitely fixed, but the people still had no voice in the administration of affairs. A committee living in another town, ten miles away, was still the source of all authority. Matters could not long remain in this condition, however, and as a partial remedy for the difficulty the committee called together the proprietors July 15, 1683, for the purpose of electing a constable. John Pease, Jr., was elected, and so had the honor of being the first office-holder within the town. At the same meeting the following peculiar arrangement was devised for filling the office thereafter : " The old constable whose office expires shall at a public meeting nomi- nate three such men of the inhabitants as he shall judge meet to suc- ceed him, which three shall be put to the vote at that meeting, and that man of them who hath the greatest number of votes of the inhabitants present shall be constable." Still further to satisfy the wishes and convenience of the inhabitants, the committee in the following February appointed John Pease, Sr .. Isaac Meacham, Jr., and Isaac Morgan, " to officiate as selectmen, and to manage and carry on the prudential affairs of the place so far as they are capable of, who are to act for the welfare of the place according to their best judgment or as we shall order and direct them." This board of selectmen was authorized to call meetings of the inhabitants when necessary, to prepare matters for the action of the committee, and was specially directed to take care of the widows and their children, so that " charge might not unnecessarily arise upon the place."
This action of the committee was highly acceptable to the people, and paved the way for the conferring of larger political privileges upon them. Questions that concerned the welfare of the town were often referred to the inhabitants for decision. They were also permitted to express to the committee their wishes upon matters of public policy, and soon were allowed to nominate the board of selectmen. With this condition of things there seems to have been general satisfaction.
In 1684 the charter of Massachusetts was revoked by James II., and soon after the General Court was dissolved. The committee, however, were permitted to continue their work till Andros assumed authority as Governor of all New England. Then, because of his " not allowing of committees, the said committee for Enfield, who were firstly authorized by the General Court of the Massachusetts, forbore or declined, and acted nothing after March 15, 1687."
. 1 The reason for this name is doubtful. Trumbull says the town was named for a town in England. As none of the early settlers appear to have come from that place, there seems to be little ground for this theory. A more reasonable conjecture is that the name was a con- traction of Endfield, as we know Suffield was of Southfield. The territory was the end of the grant to Springfield, on the east side of the river.
143
ENFIELD.
The town immediately assumed the direction of its own affairs, and so, strangely enough, first obtained its rights as an organized town during that period when the most arbitrary power was exercised throughout all New England. During this time, on the 21st of May, 1688, the first town-meeting for independent action was held. With the fall of James the government of Andros went down. The General Court of Massachusetts at once assembled, and restored to power the committee for Enfield, which met June 27, 1689, and proceeded in the places and trust according to former usage.
The committee remained in power three years after restoration, but never fully recovered their influence. The inhabitants took the lead in nearly every movement, and looked to the committee only to sanc- tion their acts. The last meeting of the committee was held March 16, 1692. Before the close of the year " the committee, being for the most part dead, only Major Pynchon and Jonathan Burt remaining, deliv- ered up to the town their book of records and left their work."
No essential change in the conduct of affairs was made upon the retirement of the committee. The town continued to admit new inhabi- tants upon the conditions which the committee had fixed, laid out new roads as they were needed, and attended to the improvement of the lands already granted. This last matter required frequent attention, as the grantees of lots often failed to build and settle according to agreement. So serious had the case become, even before the committee laid down their work, that " the place was oppressed for want of inhabi- tants." The solution of the difficulty was found in the forfeiture of several grants and the allotment of the same to others, who were willing to become inhabitants and to improve the land. The increase of popu- lation led to the settlement of other parts of the township. About 1692 the land in the south part of the town began to be taken up. In 1706 a settlement was made in the east part of the town (now Somers) by families from the Centre. About the year 1713 settlements were made in those parts of the plantation now known as Scitico and Wallop. By the year 1720, only forty years after John Pease and his two sons reached Freshwater, the whole township was thinly settled.
The settlement of the lands upon the southern border of the town occasioned a long and bitter controversy. The location of the dividing line between the two colonies had never been satisfactorily fixed. Massachusetts asserted the correctness of the survey of 1642, while Connecticut claimed that that line was too far south. Each colony fixed the limits of its border towns according to its own idea of the correctness of the Woodward and Saffery survey. As a result, a strip of land nearly two miles in width was claimed by both Windsor and Enfield. Numerous lawsuits and several arrests resulted from this con- troversy. At every town-meeting for many years the subject was dis- cussed and committees appointed "to meet similar committees from Windsor to fix the bounds between the two towns." Failing to settle the difficulty between themselves, the towns appealed to the legislative bodies of their respective colonies for protection. The two governments had already had the matter under consideration for a long time, but were no nearer a satisfactory settlement than the towns themselves. Massachusetts insisted upon the survey of 1642; Connecticut demanded a new survey according to the provisions of the charters of the two
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
colonies. In 1713, after twenty years of controversy, the matter was settled by compromise. It was agreed that each colony should retain jurisdiction over the towns it had settled, and that for the determination of the boundary between the towns the line should be run due west from the Woodward and Saffery station, and " as many acres as should appear to be gained by one colony from the other should be conveyed out of other unimproved land as a satisfaction or equivalent." It was found
Conecticut River
DuckFort
Harford
Landing place
00 4ld.52mi
Meadows
7.11
Hills 0
Hills
Fery place and bounds
Pine
0 The Falls
Hills. plains
Thisle Swamps.
High hills
Oronoco
Springfield
· Pine
plains
High Hills
FROM THE WOODWARD AND SAFFERY MAP OF 1642.1
that Massachusetts had encroached upon Connecticut to the extent of 105,793 acres, of which 7,259 acres lay in the disputed tract between Windsor and the towns of Suffield and Enfield. Windsor surrendered her claim to this tract, and as an equivalent for her loss received the same number of acres in unoccupied lands elsewhere.
During this struggle the general affairs of the town were not neg- lected, and the population steadily increased. To deepen the interest of the inhabitants in all public affairs, it was voted in 1694 "that persons neglecting or refusing to attend town-meeting shall be fined five shillings a day for such neglect or refusal." In 1701 the qualifications for voting in town-meeting were prescribed. All persons holding houses and land
1 Contrary to modern order, this map is drawn with the south at the top.
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ENFIELD.
of their own in town were allowed the privilege. Enfield seems to have been without any representation in the General Court until 1705. In that year it was " Voted, To empower Joseph Parsons, Esq., of Spring- field, to represent us in a general court at Boston." This office Mr. Parsons accepted. After this, however, the town was represented only irregularly until its annexation to Connecticut.
The spirit of the town in its early history was hardly so liberal as it has become since, for in 1722 it was "Voted, That no person in the town shall give nor sell any land to any stranger or foreigner, without having first obtained liberty from the town, or selectmen for the time being, for the same, on penalty of paying £20 into the town treasury, for the use of the town, for every breach of this act." By 1721 the number of inhabitants in the eastern part of the town had so increased that special religious and political privileges were demanded by them. In response to this demand another precinct was established, known as the East Precinct. But this did not long satisfy the people of the new settlement. They were so far removed from the Centre, where church and school were located, and where all business must be transacted, that great inconvenience was caused. In 1733 the question of dividing the town was submitted to the people ; but they were not yet willing to surrender so important a part of their territory and so large a pro- portion of their population. The following year, however, the mat- ter was brought up again in town-meeting and the division assented to. By this act nearly one half of the territory of the township was given up.
Meantime the people were becoming restive under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. The greater liberty which the people of Connecticut enjoyed under their charter was very attractive, and the fact that a proper location of the boundary line between Massachusetts and Con- necticut would put Enfield under the government of the latter, made the hardships of royal authority in the former province seem all the more severe. In March, 1716, hardly three years after the boundary dispute was settled by the joint commission, it was voted in town-meet- ing " to make a trial to be joined to Connecticut." Nothing, however, resulted except the deepening of the desire in the hearts of the people to secure their charter rights. After eight years another fruitless effort was made. The difficulties in the way were so many and so great that the desired end was to be gained only by the most determined and persistent endeavor. In 1740 the people again roused themselves to action, but only to be again defeated. They waited un- Same Dwight til 1747, in which year the step was taken which finally led to the correction of this wrong of a century. Captain Samuel Dwight was appointed a committee, to join with committees from Woodstock, Somers, and Suffield, to make application to the legis- lative bodies of Massachusetts and Connecticut to be set off from the former province and allowed to belong to the colony of Connecticut. By this committee a memorial was preferred to the Assemblies of both colonies, representing that these towns were situated within the bounds of the royal charter of Connecticut, and that without their consent
VOL. II .- 10.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
they had been put under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts ; for these reasons they prayed that a committee be appointed by both Assemblies to consider the matter and furnish relief.
To this petition the General Court of Connecticut gave a favorable response at its session in May, 1747, and appointed Jonathan Trumbull, John Bulkley, Benjamin Hall, and Roger Wolcott, commissioners "to meet and confer with such gentlemen as may be appointed by the prov- ince of Massachusetts Bay." But Massachusetts declined to take any action. Therefore, in October, 1747, the four towns repeated their griev- ances to the General Assembly of Connecticut, and prayed that it would acknowledge them to be in the colony and " allow them the liber- ties and privileges thereof." For two years the General Assembly of Connecticut endeavored to reach an amicable settlement of the case ; but it was in vain. Massachusetts insisted upon the boundary as fixed in 1713. Impatient at the delay, and more strongly determined than ever to gain their end, the agents of the aggrieved towns, in May, 1749, renewed their complaint to the Connecticut General Assem- bly, and, to meet the objections urged by Massachusetts, represented that the government of Connecticut had received no equivalent for the jurisdiction over these towns, and that the agreement had never been fully completed, and was never established by the royal confirmation. By this reasoning the Assembly professed to be convinced, and there- upon " Resolved, That as it doth not appear that ever the said agreement hath, so it never ought to receive the royal confirmation, and that as the governments could not give up, exchange, or alter their jurisdiction, so the agreement, so far as it respects jurisdiction, is void. And there- upon this Assembly do declare that all the said inhabitants which live south of the line fixed by the Massachusetts charter are within and have right to the privileges of this government, the aforesaid agreement notwithstanding.'
The Assembly, apprehensive of further difficulty with Massachusetts, appointed a committee to join with commissioners from that province to fix the boundary line, and in case of failure to establish the line ac- cording to the royal charters. The governor was directed to prepare the case and send it to the agent of the colony in London, who should petition his Majesty to appoint commissioners to run and ascertain the divisional line. No agreement was reached by the two governments, and the case was carried to London for settlement. After two years of controversy the claims of Connecticut were allowed, and the rights of the inhabitants of Enfield secured. At last the question which had disturbed the peace of the town almost from its organization was per- manently decided. The town, however, had not waited for his Majesty's decision, but had entered upon the enjoyment of its rights. In October, 1749, the representatives of Enfield, Captain Ephraim Pease and Cap- tain Elijah Williams, took their places in the General Assembly of Connecticut, and there the town has been represented annually to the present time.
In this long and unfortunate controversy the people of Enfield were moved by no base motive. By charter right the territory belonged to Connecticut, and had been unjustly taken from her. To the original Woodward and Saffery survey Connecticut never formally assented. The compromise of 1713, to which Connecticut was forced by other
147
ENFIELD.
difficulties which demanded all her energy, seems never to have been approved by the town. The greater freedom which Connecticut offered, and the fact that the convenience of the inhabitants was better served in Connecticut than in Massachusetts, seem to have furnished the rea- sons for the action that was taken. Therefore, while all the measures that were adopted to secure the desired end may not be justified, and sufficient regard for the agreement of 1713 may not have been shown, it is clearly without reason to impugn the motives of the people.
The population of Enfield at the time of this union with Connecti- cut was about one thousand, and was steadily increasing. The taxable list was not far from £15,000. The town was therefore of considera- ble importance. While the people were thus earnestly engaged in securing their rights, they were not negligent of their duty toward the larger interests of the colonies. When the expedition was undertaken against Louisburg, in 1745, Enfield generously contributed to the suc- cess of the undertaking by sending a large band of young men, of whom nineteen were lost through the hardships that followed the re- duction of that stronghold. In the French and Indian war that broke out in 1754, which laid great burdens upon the colonies, Enfield again sacrificed several of her sons, besides furnishing money as required.
As the War of the Revolution drew near, the spirit of the people rose in loyalty to colonial interests and hatred of British oppression. In the intense feeling against the Boston Port Bill they shared largely. A meeting of the inhabitants was held, July 11, 1774, for the purpose of protesting against this obnoxious aet. After setting forth the griev- ances of the people in the strongest language, they passed the following resolutions : -
" Resolved unanimously, that a firm and inviolable union of the colonies is absolutely necessary for the defence and support of our civil rights, without which all our efforts will be likely to prove abortive. That to facilitate such union it is our earnest desire that the commissioners of the several governments meet, in a general convention, at such place as shall be thought most conven- ient, as soon as the circumstances of distance and communication of intelli- gence will possibly admit. That the most effectual measure to defeat the machi- nations of the enemies of his Majesty's government and the liberties of America is to break off all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, until these oppres- sive acts are repealed."
After adopting these resolutions a committee was appointed to con- fer with committees from other towns respecting the best measures to be adopted in the crisis, and to receive and forward contributions "for the relief of those persons in the towns of Boston, Charlestown, etc., who are distressed by the unhappy consequences of the Boston Port Bill." The patriotism which prompted these acts was no ephemeral senti- ment, but an abiding conviction of the justice of the colonial cause, and a determination to push the questions at issue to a just settlement. Therefore when the storm broke the people of Enfield did not waver ; the report of the battle of Lexington reached the place while they were gathered in the meeting-house at their regular Thursday week-day lecture. Captain Thomas Abbe hastily procured a drum, and with it marched around the meeting-house, drumming furiously.
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