USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 37
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In February, 1671, the inhabitants of Wethersfield voted that "the land next Farmington bounds," one mile in breadth, and extending from Hartford to Middletown, should be divided to all the " household- ers of the town that lived on the west side of the river." There must have been seventy-six households west of the river at this time, for - the tract was divided into seventy-six shares or "lots," each twenty- six rods wide and containing fifty-two acres, for which the house- holders drew lots. The tract contained 3,952 acres, and was called the West Division. The lots were described by numbers, beginning at the north end.
In 1686 the town authorized the lay-out of a highway twelve rods wide at the front or east end of these lots, from Hartford line south- ward. This is now one of the main highways of the town ; but though still wide, its width has materially diminished in the two centuries since. In the same year the town granted to the Rev. John Woodbridge two hundred acres of land, which was laid out west on this highway, north on the Hartford line for eight-score rods or half a mile, east and south on the common, and extending south two hundred and ten rods. The extra ten rods were probably for a highway. This grant undoubtedly extended south to the highway now running east from the North school-house.
There was another general division of common land authorized by the town in February, 1694. In October following a committee was appointed to make the division. In April, 1695, it reported a division of five different tiers of lots. The third tier ran east from the Wood- bridge grant, abutting north on the Hartford line and south on what is now called Jordan Lane, which then extended west of Cedar Moun- tain in what was as nearly a straight line as the topographical character of the mountain would permit. The lots ran north and south one hundred rods across the tier, and being of shorter length than was usual, were called " short lots." There were but nine of these lots in all, numbered 79 to 87 inclusive, extending from Ensign Stedman's on the east to the Woodbridge grant on the west. Land was left for a highway south of them. The first, second, and fifth tiers were in Weth- ersfield, in that part now constituting Rocky Hill. The fourth tier of lots was wholly in Newington, called the East Tier, and ran parallel to the West Division, and half a mile cast ; being separated from it by a strip of common land called the Half-mile Common. It was a half-mile wide, and extended from the highway south of the " short lots " to the New Haven road as its southern terminus, or about four miles. It contained thirty-nine lots, beginning at the north end with lot 88, and ending with lot 126 at the south. The lots of this second division were all apportioned according to the lists of the proprietors as taken in October, 1693, because a purchase of land had been made from the Indians and paid for by a special tax laid upon the list.
The building of a saw-mill at the foot of the lake had been anthor- ized as early as Oct. 25, 1677, and lots of twenty acres each, in the
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immediate vicinity, "about Pipe-Stave Swamp," were granted by the town to Emanuel Buck, John Riley, Samuel Boardman, and Joseph Riley, on condition that they build a saw-mill, " to be up and fit to work " by the last of September, 1678. It is mentioned as in existence in the spring of 1680. This lake was in the half-mile common, as were these lots, which were called saw-mill lots. In subsequent transfers of these and other lots they are often described in the deeds as situated in Cowplain, which was the designation given to this part of the town for many years before it was called Newington. A third general division of all the common lands of the town was authorized at a meeting of the proprietors, held Feb. 20, 1752, to be apportioned according to the list made up after August 20 preceding. The grant of lots for the building of the first saw-mill, as detailed, probably followed not long after the first settlement of Newington. Settlers were attracted by the lake and its mill privilege, and the well-watered valley abounding in heavy timber ; while abundant grazing is suggested by the name Cowplain. Pipe- staves had been obtained there long enough for the locality to be named Pipe-stave Swamp in the vote of the town in 1677. The tradition is that five persons - three by the name of Andrus, and the others Slead and Hunn - were the first settlers of Newington. The records show that Joseph Andrus drew lot 145 in the division of land laid out according to the list of 1693, so that he was settled there and had property in the list prior to that date. He came from Farmington, where he was born May 26, 1651, the son of John Andrus, one of the first settlers of that town. He married in 1677, and died April 27, 1706. As he was not one of those who drew lots in the division of 1671, he could not then have been a householder in the town. He bought one of the saw-mill lots, March 31, 1684, and afterward made many other purchases, and became a large landholder. He is said to have located near the centre, and to have built a house that was for- tified, a few rods south of the meeting-house, to which the first settlers retired with their families every night and slept on their arms; but the Indians in the neighborhood were friendly, and never attacked them. He left a son, Dr. Joseph Andrus, born in 1678, who was prominent in church and society affairs, and was said to have been "a shrewd, observing man, who had a very retentive memory." He died Jan. 18, 1756. He left a son, Joshua, afterward a deacon of the church. He lived on the spot where the Kappell family now reside. The two other settlers by the name of Andrus were said to have been nephews of Joseph, and to have settled in the south part of the parish ; they were probably the brothers Daniel and John Andrus, who were the sous of Daniel Andrus of Farmington, a brother of Joseph.
John Slead, or Sled, bought a fifty-two-acre lot (No. 22) in the West Division, Dec. 16, 1681, and half of the next lot south, Nov. 10, 1694. He is said to have built his house near the site of the old academy, about half a mile west of the house of Joseph Andrus. His name appears in the town but not in the society records.
Samuel Hunn bought the ninety-first lot in the division of 1693, containing twenty-five and a half acres, Aug. 14, 1695, and two years later he bought the third, fourth, and sixth lots in the West Division. His name appears prominently in the town and society records. He is said to have located in the north part of the place. He died, Nov. 1, 1738,
VOL. II. - 21.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
aged sixty-seven, according to the inscription on his gravestone in the Newington cemetery, which has the following lines : ---
" The flefh & bones of Samuel Hunn Lie underneath this Tomb Oh, lett them reft in Quietnefs, Untill the day of Doome."
None of these settlers except the first drew lots in either of the two West Divisions. There was another settler in the extreme south part of the place who was undoubtedly the first in point of time, and pre-eminent in the extent of his land. Sergeant Richard Beckley received a grant from the General Court, Oct. 8, 1668, of three hundred acres lying on both sides of Mattabesett River to run up from New Haven path. This grant was confirmed by the town at a meeting held Feb. 23, 1670-71, in which it is described as obtained by him "by purchase of Turramuggus, Indian, with the consent of the court and town . . . whereon his house- ing and barn standeth," so that at this date he had a house and barn in Newington. This confirmation of his grant from Turramuggus is, however, stipulated to be on the condition that he give up all right or lot in the West Division, which was separated from his land only by a highway. The tradition is that he married a daughter of Turramuggus. As the latter was a successor of the sachem Sowheag, and one of his heirs, and had the disposal of so much land, an alliance with the royal line of native chiefs may not have been disadvantageous, and may account for this grant and for his location near the home of the chief.1 Other Beckleys in process of time settled around him, until the name of Beckley Quarter was acquired by the locality. He appears to have been one of the first settlers of New Haven, and one of the pillars of Mr. Davenport's church. The records of that colony show that he resided there from 1639 to 1659. In 1646 he and "sister Beckley," who was probably his wife, were " seated " in Mr. Davenport's church in the second seat, indicating his prominence. He is stated to have married for his second wife a daughter of John Deming, of Wethers- field. In 1662 he was appointed a constable in Wethersfield, so that his removal from New Haven to Wethersfield was between 1659 and 1662. He died Aug. 5, 1690. As the land in Newington was highly productive, the pioneer settlers were soon joined by others, and in a few years this small beginning grew into a considerable and prosperous settlement.
By the year 1708 the settlement had so increased that the inhabi- tants petitioned the town of Wethersfield to be a distinct parish. In a town-meeting held Dec. 18, 1710, the petition was so far granted as to give the petitioners liberty " jointly and publicly to gather in the public worship of God amongst themselves for four months of the year yearly, that is to say, December, January, February, and March." Another
1 In an Indian deed of the town lands of Wethersfield, given Dec. 25, 1671, to confirm the ancient grant of Sowheag, the grantors as recorded are described as "Turramuggus, Sepan- namaw, squaw, daughter to Sowheag, Speunno, Nabowhee, Weesumpshee, Waphank, true heirs of and rightful successors to the aforesaid Sowheag " (Town Votes, ii. 202). In another Indian deed, given Feb. 10, 1672, Turramuggus is described as " the sachem," and among the signers are himself, his daughter, and Kesoso, the "sachem's squaw" (Town Votes, ii. 252). In both deeds he signs first, as the prominent personage, and in the latter deed his mark is followed by that of his wife, and then by his daughter's.
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petition was presented to a meeting held Dec. 24, 1712, alleging the difficulty " in the best season of the year" of attending public worship in Wethersfield, and the capacity of the petitioners "in a tolerable manner " of maintaining a minister " with the ordinances of the gos- pel," and expressing their earnest desire of being a distinct parish. This petition was signed by thirty persons, who probably represented that number of families residing in the West Divisions. The action of the town was now favorable, and the petitioners were granted the privi- lege of being " a distinct parish by themselves for the carrying on the worship of God amongst themselves," and a committee was appointed to " look out a convenient place on the commons between the two last divisions whereon the west farmers shall erect their meeting-house." This committee reported at a town-meeting held March 23, 1713, that the meeting-house should, when erected, " stand on that piece of cleared land adjacent to the house of Joseph Hurlbut and John Griswold, west- erly, about the middle of said land, on the west side of a small black oak tree." This report was accepted. In May, 1713, a committee of the west proprietors petitioned the General Court, then in session at Hartford, to confirm the grant. The Beckleys, however objected to being included in the new society, because they were "twice so near " to the meeting-house in the Great Swamp Society as to the place selected by the committee for the meeting-house of the new society. Their opposition was unavailing. The Assembly granted the charter " according to the grant of the town of Wethersfield," with parish limits " two miles and fifty rods in width from Farmington township castward, bounded on the North by Hartford, and on the South by Middletown."
The parish as thus incorporated contained two settlements, one of about twenty-three families in the vicinity of the selected site for the meeting-house, north of the geographical centre, and called in the language of that day the " Upper Houses," and the other of seven or eight families near the southern extremity and called the "Lower Houses." The latter immediately took measures to sever their en- forced union with the " Upper Inhabitants," and effect a junction with the Great Swamp Society. As an equivalent for their secession they proposed the annexation to the new parish of some of the proprietors of lands in Farmington in the division of land abutting upon Wethers- field. These proprietors were nearer the chosen site of the meeting- house in Newington than to that in the Great Swamp Society, and were found to be willing to make the exchange. For the encourage- ment of this exchange the " Lower Inhabitants " executed a bond dated May 13, 1715, for the payment to their " neighbors in said Western Society " of £50 to help build the new meeting-house, and lodged it on file in the office of the colonial secretary at Hartford, where it is still to be seen. A petition was presented to the General Court at its session in May, 1715, to legalize the exchange. This body appointed a committee to " go upon the place " and effect a settlement if possible, consider the subject of the exchange, fix a site for the meeting-house if necessary, and report at the next October session of the Assembly. The committee reported in favor of the exchange, and fixed the site of the meeting-house on the commons " near Dr. Joseph Andrus's house," which was the site previously selected by the town committee.
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The Assembly accepted the report and passed an act to carry it into effect. Thus Stanley Quarter, as the annexed portion of Farming- ton was called, became a part of the parish of Newington ; and it so continued till 1754, when the parish of New Britain was incorporated, covering this territory, and Beckley Quarter was confirmed to the society of Kensington, and afterward became incorporated with the town of Berlin. In the year 1716 the new society began to keep a record of its meetings, and from that time to the present this record is nearly unbroken. The society immediately began the erection of its meeting-house. In 1720 they made choice of the Rev. Elisha Williams as their minister. In 1721 the society was legally christened Newing- ton by the General Assembly, in honor, it is said, of the residence of Dr. Watts, near London, England, on the Surrey side of the Thames. The church was duly organized at a fast held Oct. 3, 1722, and Mr. Williams was ordained Oct. 17, 1722.
In 1871 the inhabitants of Newington were found by a special cen- sus to number eight hundred and thirty-seven. A considerable part of them presented a petition to the General Assembly of that year for incorporation as a town, partly for the same reasons that had actuated their fathers in 1712 in their earnest desire to be a distinct and inde- pendent parish, - the inconvenience and difficulty of travelling to Wethersfield over Cedar Mountain and several ranges of hills and intervening valleys, and the conviction that they could better manage their own affairs if they had a free and independent local self-govern- ment, than as an outlying and dependent fraction of Wethersfield. The petition met with some local opposition in Newington, but none from their tramontane brethren. The citizens of Newington nomi- nated a candidate for the legislature who favored the new town. His name was put on the tickets of both political parties, and he was elected on that issne almost unanimously. The act of incorporation was passed by the legislature without an opposing vote, and was approved by Governor Jewell, July 10, 1871. The boundaries of the town were a little more extensive as originally incorporated than those already mentioned, but were the following year made to conform to their present limits. During the few years of its existence the town has increased in numbers and prosperity much more rapidly than ever before in the same length of time. By the census of 1880 its popula- tion was 934, an increase of over eleven per cent in nine years. It has built a town-hall, and substantial improvements have been made in roads and bridges. It has no debt, and its taxes have been usually about seven mills on the dollar. No liquor is licensed to be sold within its borders. No saloon has ever spread its baleful influence. It sends one representative yearly to the legislature, and has elected thirteen in all. Newington is the youngest of the twenty-nine towns forming the sisterhood of Hartford County, and her history as such is yet to be achieved.
Three religious denominations have had houses of worship in the town, -- the Congregational, Episcopal, and Methodist, -the first of which was the sole church organization until near the close of the last century. The establishment of the Ecclesiastical Society connected
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NEWINGTON.
with this church has already been related. There are no records of the church known to exist, separate from the society records, prior to 1747. Its first minister was the Rev. Elisha Williams, whose life may be briefly outlined as follows. He was the son of the Rev. William Williams of Hatfield, Mass., where he was born Aug. 24, 1694. He
Elisha Williams Wotherf-may 28 .1752
entered the Sophomore Class at Harvard College in 1708, and grad- uated in 1711. The year following he taught the grammar school at Hadley, Mass. He married Eunice, daughter of Thomas Chester, of Wethersfield, Feb. 23, 1714-15. He then took up his residence in Wethersfield, where the records show he owned Indian slaves. He represented the town in the colonial legislature in October, 1717 ; May, 1718; May and October, 1719; and May, 1720. He was clerk of the house at all of these sessions but that of May, 1719, when he was audi- tor of public accounts. He acted as tutor of Yale students at Wethers- field from 1716 to 1718. In 1720 he had a severe fit of sickness, when he became " sanctified," to use the language of President Stiles. He was chosen the minister of the parish at about twenty-six years of age, at a society meeting held Aug. 5, 1720. A settlement of £170 was voted, and a salary of £50 a year. IIc doubtless continued to preach until the formal organization of the church in 1722. In the fall of 1725 he was chosen rector of Yale College. Negotiations be- tween the church and college were had as to the sum which should be awarded the former for their charges in settling him. On the 4th of May, 1726, £200 16s. were awarded, and his connection with the society was dissolved. He was installed as rector in September, 1726, and filled the position for thirteen years, - till Oct. 21, 1739, when he resigned on account of ill health. He then returned to Wethersfield, and was again a representative in May, 1740, and was Speaker of the House. He continued to be a deputy from Wethersfield and Speaker of the House for several sessions. He was judge of the Superior Court in 1740, and for some years thereafter. In March, 1745, he was ap- pointed chaplain to the State forces sent in April in the expedition against Cape Breton, and witnessed the capture of Louisburg. In May, 1746, he was again a deputy in the Assembly. That session voted to send an expedition to Canada, and Mr. Williams was appointed its colonel. The regiment did not go, but expenses were incurred, and he was sent as special agent to Great Britain to negotiate for their pay- ment by the home government. While there his wife died, May 31, 1750; and the next year, Jan. 27, 1751, he married Elizabeth Scott, the hymnist, only daughter of the Rev. Thomas Scott, of Norwich, England. (The Hon. Thomas Scott Williams, late Chief Justice of Connecticut, and a relative of the rector, was named after this father-
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
death, July 24, 1755. His career shows him to have been a man of law, legislation, diplomacy, and military affairs. John Deming was remarkable versatility of talent, and prominent in theology, education, in-law.) After his return from abroad he lived in Wethersfield till his
Nove J-23-1726. 0
Then Received of the Darth of Newsington the Sum of one hundred and Seventy five pound, Mony, by the two of their om Hofen to Receive and Dispose of Luid many Mimly Decon What ly Cop John Camps oh, og Jo Linh Hurboul
with many became due to me the Subscritor of virtue of a voor paper by Juin parish Sepotete the Fin1 7725. Sinon Buku.
unturned In the above Receipt Orpromil and oblige myself to Return units- Tai Detble for the work of the ministry using them Simon Banku
The fume Subjunker
Whittlesey was chosen in April, 1726, and officiated until his removal 1722; and he continued to officiate till his death, May 1, 1761. Jabez the first deacon of the church, appointed at its organization, Oct. 3,
to Bethlem in 1745.
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NEWINGTON.
The Rev. Simon Backus was ordained the second minister of the church Jan. 25, 1727. He was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Huntington) Backus, of Norwich, where he was born Feb. 11, 1701. He graduated at Yale College in 1724. He had a settlement of £175, and a salary of £70, to rise to £90. He was married, Oct. 1, 1729, to Eunice Edwards, daughter of the Rev. Timothy Edwards, of East Windsor. He preached in Newington till he was appointed chap- lain to the Connecticut forces that garrisoned Louisburg after its cap- ture. Ile probably was the immediate successor of Rector Williams in that position. He died at his post March 15, 1746, leaving his widow, with seven children, in such straitened circumstances that upon her memorial the Assembly granted her £300 in old-tenor bills. Her brother, the famous Jonathan Edwards, was one of the fourteen stu- dents of Yale at Wethersfield in 1716, and afterward occasionally preached in Newington.
The third minister was the Rev. Joshua Belden, the son of Silas and Abigail (Robbins) Belden, of Wethersfield, born July 19, 1724. He graduated at Yale in 1743, and began to preach in Newington, May 10, 1747, and was ordained the 11th of November following. He discharged the Joy Rua active duties of pastor for fifty-six years, -- until Nov. 6, 1803. He died July 23, 1813. He was thrice married. He admitted to the communion of the church 169 members, and to the half-way covenant, 159 persons ; but this practice was discontinued in 1775 as unauthorized by Scripture. The baptisms were 622; marriages, 336; and deaths, 443. Deacons were chosen as follows : Josiah Willard was appointed the third deacon in 1745, and so continued until his death, March 9, 1757. Joshua An- drus, 1757 ; died April 25, 1786. John Camp, July 2, 1761; died July 27, 1782. Elisha Stoddard, Ang. 14, 1782 ; died July 2, 1790. Charles Churchill, Ang. 31, 1786 ; died Oct. 29, 1802. James Wells, Ang. 5, 1790; resigned Oct. 29, 1818. Daniel Willard, Feb. 24, 1803; died Jan. 16, 1817.
Deacon Charles Churchill, who was at one time captain of the local military company, built, about 1754, in the south part of the town, what is now known as the old Churchill house. It was then considered one of the finest residences hereabouts. Besides seven open fireplaces, it contains four great ovens, one of which is large enough to roast an entire ox ; and it is the tradition that Captain Churchill once entertained Washington and Lafayette there, and that all four ovens were in full blast at the same time. One of its chambers is said to have been papered with the depreciated currency received by Captain Churchill for supplies which he furnished to the army.
In 1797, after a controversy of nearly eighteen years over the site, the erection of a new meeting-house was begun a few rods northwest of the first one. It was practically finished the next year. It has been much modernized by frequent repairs, and is now a very pleasant house of worship. During the Revolutionary War Mr. Belden took the patri- otic side, and a sermon of his, preached June 30, 1776, is full of vigor- ous exhortation to his people to both pray and fight in defence of their country ; and they responded by sending one hundred men into the war, - one fifth part of the population of the parish, equivalent to
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
TIIE CHURCHILL HOUSE.
all its fighting men. The church numbered fifty-one members at Mr. Belden's resignation.
The fourth minister, the Rev. Joab Brace, D.D., was the son of Zenas and Mary (Skinner) Brace, of West Hartford, born June 13, 1781. He graduated at Yale in 1804; preached his first sermon at I am very kindly & affectionately grace Newington Oct. 7,1804; and was ordained Jan. 16, 1805. He married, Jan. 21,1805, Lucy Col- lins, of West Hartford. He continued the active duties of pastor for just fifty years, preaching his farewell sermon Jan. 16, 1855, which was printed by the society. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred in 1854 by Williams College. He died, April 20, 1861, in Pittsfield, Mass., at the residence of his son-in-law, the Rev. Dr. John Todd. He was a man of towering and commanding figure, with piercing black eyes and sonorous voice. In his later days he was most dignified and venerable in his appearance. During his ministry the admissions were 321 ; baptisms, 401 ; marriages, 257 ; and deaths, 453 ; and at its close the church numbered 170 members. The follow- ing deacons were chosen: Levi Deming, Oct. 29, 1818; died Jan. 1, 1847. Origen Wells, Oct. 29, 1818; resigned Nov. 29, 1847. Jedediah Deming, July 1, 1847 ; died May 4, 1868. Jeremiah Seymour, Nov. 29, 1847 ; died April 1, 1867.
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