USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 49
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It will be observed that this description does not define the western limits of the plantation ; but we have evidence that these were stated in the original purchase from the Indians, which seems to have been made orally, and without any instrument in writing. For on the 16th of June, 1665, an affidavit was made by George Hubbard, one of the survey- ors above mentioned, that "Upon his certaine knowledge, by the advice of the Court, Wethersfield men gave so much unto Sowheag as was to his sattisfaction for all their plantations, lyeing on both sides of the Great River, wth the Islands, viz. : six miles in bredth on both sides the River, and six miles deep from the River westward, and three miles deep from the River eastward."
The General Court, Dec. 1, 1645, in fixing the eastern bounds of Tunxis (Farmington), provided that they should adjoin the western bounds of the river plantations, " which are to be five miles on this side the Great River." This was inconsistent with the earlier understand- ing, that the western bounds should be six miles west of the river ; but all parties concerned thereafter treated the earlier as the correct and actual limits.
The township was now bounded by Hartford, north ; the " wilder- ness " three miles east of the river, east : Mattabesett, afterward Middletown, south; and Tunxis, thereafter to be known as Farm- ington, west. The territory embraced, including the river, about fifty-eight square miles. The first enlargement of the township, or indeed change of any kind as to area, was made by the General Court in May, 1670, when a strip twenty rods wide was added to the eastern frontier, to compensate for a highway of six rods wide ordered to be laid out where the main thoroughfare through the length of Glastonbury now is.
It has already been mentioned that no deed was preserved of the original purchase from Sowheag, or, as the General Court sometimes called him, Sequin. To complete the record-title, Sowheag having died in the mean time, Wethersfield obtained, Dec. 1, 1671, a deed of confirmation for the township. We may remark that the first deed, or treaty, seems to have been prepared by William Goodwin, of Hart- ford, in 1639; at least he was " desired " by the General Court in April of that year to " finish the treaty of the towne of Wethersfield with Sequin, concerning the land beyond the River."
The new treaty recites the fact of a former grant from Sowheag, " Sachem, or cheife Governor of the Indians the natives and former inhabitants of Puckquiog, now called Wethersfield." It says that it was for a good and valuable consideration, or sum of money, paid to
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WETHERSFIELD.
Sowheag; that it was made to " the English ; " that the bounds included all the lands in Wethersfield limits : -
" Six milles in leanth by the Great River side, on the west side of the Great River which is called Conecticot River, from the tree marked N. F., the boun- dary tree betwene Weathersfield and Hartford, north; to the tree W. M., soe marked, the boundary tree betwene Weathersfield and Middletowne, south ; the Great River, east ; and the wholle length to runn six large milles into the Wil- derness, west, in bredth, where Weathersfield and Farmingtowne bounds mett ; and six milles in length by the River side, on the east side of the said Conecticot River, from Pewter Pot brook north, to the bounds betwene Wethersfield and Middletown south ; the said Great River west ; the wholle leanth to run three large milles into the Wilderness." 1
In this confirmatory deed a " gratuity," being " twelve yards of trading-cloth," is given to the grantors. The names of the grantors are: Turramuggus (son of Sowheag?), Sepannamaw ("squaw," daugh- ter of Sowheag), Spuno (or Speunno), Nobawhee (or Nabowhee), Weesumpshie, and Waphanke, "heirs and successors of Sowheag." Turramuggus was probably at this time the head of the Wongunks, some of whom were living at Mattabesett, and a few in the south part of Wethersfield, but mostly in what is now Chatham and South Glas- tonbury. His name was sometimes written Caturmuggus in the Weth- ersfield records. The Indian name of Marlborough is also said to have been Turramuggus. In a deed of four hundred acres of land, lying in what is now Eastbury, to Samuel Boardman and Thomas Edwards, in February, 1673, Turramuggus is called the sachem. The deed is also signed by Keseso (his " squaw "), Weesumpshi, Nobbwit, Monogin, and Keecommush (males) ; by Turramuggus's daughter (name not given) ; and by Keecommush's squaw, whose name is not given.2
In October, 1672, an addition of some thirty square miles was made, by authority of the General Court, by extension of the town limits five miles farther eastward. This was taken out of wild lands of the colony. On the 10th of October, 1673, Wethersfield voted that the tract in question " shall be purchased of the Indians, for the use of the inhabitants of said town," and their heirs. The amount of the consideration is not stated in the deed, and the writer has found no mention of the sum anywhere. But an addition which he has made of the taxes laid, in order to pay for it (the individual tax being torn off and lost in a few instances), shows it to have been very nearly, if not exactly, twenty-four pounds in money. The signers of the deed were Tarramuggus, Masecup, Wesumpshye, One Peny (Wumpene ?), Ne- saheeg, Seocutt, and Pewampskin ; assuming the orthography of these names to be as in the recorded copy.
On the 17th of February, 1685-6, a patent for all the territory then embraced in Wethersfield was granted by the " Governor (Robert Treat) and Company " to "Captain Samuel Wolcott, Captain John Chester, Lieutenant James Treat, Mr. Samuel Wolcott, Mr. John Dem- ing, Sr., Mr. Robert Welles, Mr. John Robbins, Mr. John Hollister, and Richard Smith," and to "the rest of the said present proprietors of the towneship of Wethersfield," and their heirs.
1 Wethersfield Land Records, vol. ii. p. 202.
2 Ibid., pp. 202, 252.
428
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
In October, 1693, Wethersfield's territory was reduced considerably more than one half, all on the east side of the river - more than fifty square miles - being taken to make the new township of Glastonbury. By the completion of its first meeting-house, in the month above stated, that section became entitled to its separate political existence ; and thereby was formed the first town in the colony made by division of another town. By this apportionment of territory the Island, which probably contained about two hundred acres, seems to have been con- ceded to Wethersfield by mutual consent; for its owners, both before and after the setting off of Glastonbury, were placed in the tax-lists as land-owners on the west side of the river. Thus matters remained until 1767, when the river had so far deviated from its ancient course that Glastonbury's area had been very much augmented, at the expense of Wethersfield. In these circumstances the latter town, through Colonel John Chester, petitioned the General Assembly to readjust its east line. That body, in 1770, by a committee, after re-establishing that part of the north line between the N. F. tree and the ancient mouth of Pewter Pot Brook by monuments of stone, fixed the new east line as follows : " A line drawn from the ancient Pewter Pot brook's mouth, running S. 19º E., to the north end of a fence called Josiah Benton's fence, on Wright's Island; being near the middle of the bed where the River formerly run ; and thence S. 1º W., to the Great River, at the south end of said Island; and the said River to be the S. bounds of Wethersfield, which line, from said Pewter Pot brook's mouth to the south end of said Island, crosseth the Great River aforesaid twice ; and keeps in the bed of said River as the same ran."
In 1792 James Wright's portion of Wright's Island tract - much the larger part of the whole - was annexed to Glastonbury. It was on the then east side of the river.
Wethersfield's arca was next diminished in May, 1785, by the formation of the township of Berlin. To this member of the sister- hood of towns, formed from Farmington, Middletown, and Wethers- field, the latter contributed a nearly square section out of its southwest corner, containing about three square miles.
By the formation of Rocky Hill township in 1843, some twelve or thirteen square miles of land were taken from Wethersfield. This was a section across the south end, and constituted mainly of the old par- ish of Stepney. In 1870 the river, as between Glastonbury and Weth- ersfield, was by the legislature made the boundary line.
One more township, the outgrowth of old Wethersfield, remains to be recorded. This was by the incorporation of Newington in 1871 and 1872. By this legislation something more, probably, than twelve square miles of land were taken off from the west side of the mother township.
There yet remains in Wethersfield a tract, triangular in shape, of about one hundred and twenty acres, on the east side of the river. This is bounded by the river west, East Hartford northeast, and Glastonbury south.
There has never been a topographical survey of the township wor- thy of the name; and the writer dares not undertake to give positive
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WETHERSFIELD.
information under this head, excepting upon a few points and in a gen- eral way. It is known that when the settlement of the township was begun, the river first entered its northern border some forty or fifty rods cast of the main road between Hartford and Wethersfield ; thence it flowed southerly until it reached the bank or bluff whereon the State prison now stands. Thence it curved quite sharply to the northeast; and on the south shore of this bend were the public landings, the Com- mon being adjacent thereto. Continuing in a northeasterly course, the river recrossed the north line at a point not far from two hundred rods east of the main road in question. This reach in the river was sometimes called the Harbor. A few rods north of the jurisdiction line the river made another turn, until it for the third time crossed the town line, flowing nearly south. The bend formed by this turn was sometimes called the Gulf. This crossing was not far from a mile and a half east of said main road, and the land on both sides the river at this point was known to the aborigines as Hoccanum. Thence the river flowed nearly due south, something more than a mile probably, when the stream divided very nearly equally, forming the island called by the Indians Manhannock, of about two hundred acres, with the channel navigable on each side of it. Thus it passed Naubuck, received the contributions of Roaring Brook, -the latter fed by Sturgeon Brook, - and passed Nayaug (South Glastonbury) on its left, and Rocky Hill on its right, - substantially as at present, but a few rods more to the west in the bend above Rocky Hill Ferry than now.
What caused the great changes (apparent at a glance upon the map) which have been wrought in the river's course since then it is not easy to say. At the turn mentioned as being in the vicinity of the present site of the prison, the stream encountered the bed of red sand- stone shale underlying the mellow soil there, and now known as The Rocks ; and this obstruction was potent to hinder it from cutting across southeasterly. The other bends have simply "worked down stream," as is the rule in soft alluvium.
But whatever the cause, the fact is that the Cove in Wethersfield occupies one portion of the old river-bed ; Keney's Cove, in Glaston- bury, occupies another portion of the same bed ; Pewter Pot Brook flows into Keney's Cove, and not into the river, as formerly ; the Island has disappeared ; Sturgeon Brook flows directly into the river, and no longer into Roaring Brook. More than this ; an island of about nine acres, at Pennywise, - crossed by the north line of the town, and once known as Long, Cole's, or Standish's Island, - is now a knoll in Hart- ford south meadow.
The principal watercourse west of the river was that known as Piper's River,-being the south branch of Hartford's present Park River, - whose water-shed includes a considerable part of the site of the city of New Britain. Goffe's (sometimes called Beaver and Mill) Brook, was mainly a surface-water stream, having its principal source in Deming's meadows. Tributary to this are Collier Brook, - whose water-shed is mostly Hog meadows, -a stream (nameless to the writer) joining Goffe's Brook from the south a few rods west of Goffe's Bridge, and Tando's Brook, formerly known as Beaver and later as Wadham's Brook. This latter has much less volume than for- merly, when what is now known as Folly Brook flowed through it.
430
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
The Folly was formed in 1726, by making a cut-off to intercept the outflow of a great basin sometimes called the Great Swamp. This basin extends from above Park Street, in Hartford, on the north, to the Collier Road (north of Griswoldville), in Wethersfield, on the south. The cut-off was but a few rods in length, and conveyed the water across the main road between the two towns into the Cove; the little channel in time became a ravine, requiring an expensive bridge to cross it, - hence the name Folly. But in reality its value as a great drainer of lands far exceeds the additional cost of bridges on its account.
The Mattabesett traversed the southwest corner of the old town- ship, and turned the mills at Beckley Quarter; but this part of that stream, with its fertile meadows, is now in Berlin. The list of water- courses on the west side of the river closes with Hog Brook, a few rods below Rocky Hill landing, and Dividend Brook, which drove the Rev. Gershom Bulkeley's " corne mill,"-the last-named stream entering the river a few rods north of the boundary line between Rocky Hill and Cromwell.
No measurements of altitudes of ridges or peaks are known to have been taken. In the old township the highest points were on the east side of the river. On the west side the supremacy lies between the summit, in the rear of Shipman's hotel, Rocky Hill, and Cedar Hill, or' Mountain, as it is sometimes called. Both these eminences are of trap-rock formation, and probably neither is over three hundred feet high.
The ridge which includes Cedar Hill is close to the dividing line between Wethersfield and Newington. About a mile and a half east of this is a lower ridge of trap-rock, known as the Nott's Hill ridge. This is a continuation, southerly, of the ridge at Hartford Rocky Hill, whence Hartford obtains its supply of stone for macadamizing its streets. The western slope of this, like that of Cedar Hill, is precipi- tous, and strewn with loose fragments of the rock of which it is com- posed. This ridge offers an instance of rock of igneous origin overlying stratified rock of more recent formation.
At the southeast shore of the Cove the red sandstone shale crops out, forming The Rocks at that point. Here is a good field for the study of ichnology. It has been explored by some geologists, - notably the two Hitchcocks, father and son, - and primeval footprints taken thence enrich the cabinets of Amherst and perhaps other colleges.
Among the specimens of rocks collected by Professor Shepard, in 1837, in Wethersfield, the following may be mentioned : mica-slate, red-marl slate, bituminous slate, greenstone trap, and datholite. The list might be extended, were the recent rock-cuttings for railways to be examined.
Want of space prevents any account of zoological and botanical fea- tures. Few of the native mammals remain. The raccoon has prob- ably become extinct within the last ten years. During that period one has been found on Cedar Mountain. On the other hand, the woodchuck seems to be more common than ever before. It is probably fifty years since the otter became extinct here. Until within the last three or four years there has existed an extensive heronry, or colony of night-herons (Nyctiardea), believed to be the only one in the State. But the cutting away of the trees of Fearful Swamp has made such havoc
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WETHERSFIELD.
with their abodes, that now no trace of these showy birds remains excepting the ruins of their abandoned nests.
Wethersfield has become almost denuded of its old forests. There is evidence, indeed, that some species had become extinct before the settle- ment of the town. Trunks and roots of what appear to have been the white cedar (Cupressus thyoides) work upward through the soil of the swale along the east side of the plain east of Broad Street : but it is not known that this tree has existed liere since the advent of white people, and these relics appear to have been submerged for ages. The moon-weed, or thorn-apple (Datura Stramonium), which is now quite rarely found, was in 1724 so common as to be a nuisance ; and a by- law of the town was then passed requiring its annual destruction for the term of four years then next ensuing.
When the original settlers of Wethersfield arrived, not only Pyquang, but a very much larger section, which included it, was under the dominion of Sowheag. He has been called the sachem, or chief, of the Wongunks. This tribe was in possession of a domain whose bounds were not precisely defined. The " Wongum " region included a con- siderable part of what is now Chatham and South Glastonbury, taking its name from the great bend in the river at Middletown. But mem- bers of the tribe in question inhabited the Mattabesett region, which included the southwestern part of Wethersfield; and there seems to have been a sub-tribe, or clan, known as the Mattabesetts.
It has been assumed, perhaps correctly, that Sowheag was living at Pyquang when the white settlers first planted it. De Forest, in his " History of the Indians of Connecticut," assumes this from an expres- sion of the General Court, in April, 1638, which mentions " Soheage, an Indian, the sachem of Pyquaagg; " but it is not certain that this reference is to his place of residence at all. He was sachem of Matta- besett at the same time. The writer's belief is that Sowheag lived not at Pyquaug, but in that section of Mattabesett then within Wethersfield limits ; to wit, in or near what is now Beckley Quarter, in the great curve of the Mattabesett River. A tract of three hundred acres at this point was bought by Sergeant Richard Beckley from Turramuggus (successor of Sowheag) in 1670; and this is the only instance, so far as the writer knows, where land within Wethersfield bounds, and on the west side of the river, was sold by Indians to an individual. There is a plain of several square miles in area lying partly in Rocky Hill and partly in Cromwell (formerly Wethersfield and Middletown), known as Bishop's Plain. In old records of lands it was usually called Beset's Plain ; and in one instance which the writer has seen it was called Amobeset, a name still remembered in that vicinity. It may be that here, or on the Beckley purchase above mentioned, was the part of the township reserved for the Indians in the original agreement of the planters with Sowheag ; and it may be remarked that this ruler, who is sometimes called Sequin, is, wherever his title is given, called " Sachem of Mattabeseck." It was at " Mattabeseck," said the General Court in August, 1639, that he harbored the " guilty persons," members of his tribe, and called down upon him the wrath of that body. But that Indians either dwelt at or frequented Pyquang is equally evident. Their remains have sometimes been found on the plot which
432
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
the settlers selected for their burying-ground. Their implements of stone are often turned up by the plough. In the south part of Weth- ersfield, in the vicinity of the grist-mill, many arrow-heads of flint are found, and some of quartz. They are of at least half a dozen different patterns. Hatchets or tomahawks of greenstone trap are not rare among the relics of the stone age of this vicinity. Sowheag's demise was prior to 1664; probably some years before. His successor seems to have been Turramuggus ; but he left other children, among whom was Sepanamaw (" squaw") ; and in the deed of 1671 to Wethersfield, Speunno, Nabowhee, Weesumpshie, and Waphanke are called his " heirs." A sister of his was mother of Mantowese, and it was in her right that the latter, in 1638, conveyed a part of the Quinnipiac region to New Haven settlers. The mark of Turramug- gus was a hatchet ; that of Mantowese was a drawn bow and arrow. This was also the mark of Tur- ramuggus in at least one instance.
From such sources as are at present accessible we may infer that Sowheag, as early as 1638, was living at Mattabesett, - perhaps in the Wethersfield section traversed by that river ; that he at last lived at Newfield, in Middletown, where he died before 1664; that his succes- sor was Turramuggus, who died before 1705, on the reservation in Middletown ; that most of the Wongunks withdrew to the reserva- tion in Wongum (now in Chatham) of three hundred acres, set apart for the heirs of Sowheag in 1673; and that the remnant of the tribe became extinet soon after 1774, the number of survivors at Wongum being then less than forty.
Turramuggus was succeeded by his son, Peetoosoh. who was sa- chem in December, 1706, and then living at Wongum. When he died is not known, nor whether he left lineal descendants. His successor and the last of the dynasty was Cushoy, who died before 1765; at which time his widow, Tike, was still living, but aged and feeble.
In January, 1672-3, and in February of the same year two deeds were executed by Turramuggus and his kinsmen, of four hundred acres of land " neer or in Ashowaset, or Paquanauge, or Mawnantuck," now Eastbury, to Samuel Boardman and Thomas Edwards, jointly, both of Wethersfield. This, it is believed, completes the list of lands in ancient Wethersfield purchased directly from the Indians ; though perhaps Rechaun's grant to Robert Boltwood of lands near Nipsic Pond in 1665 should be included.
In January, 1658-9, there was living at Wethersfield one Seanan, a sachem, " kinsman of Uncas, the sachem of the Mohicans." Such he calls himself, or is called, in a deed of his interest in Nequiauke (in East Haddam) to Richard Lord. The record shows that "Jowsuah, Seanah's daughter," was a witness to the deed of Turramuggus and others to Wethersfield people in December, 1671. It is probable that Seanah and Seanan are variations of the name of the same person. The writer's belief is that Seanan lived at Nayang, now South Glastonbury. When Glastonbury became a township, in 1693, it is probable that that section contained nearly all the Indians remaining in Wethersfield. Indeed, there probably had been an influx of eastern Indians into that region after the Narragansett campaign of 1676. In
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WETHERSFIELD.
the month of February, 1676, Mr. John Hollister, son of Lieutenant John, then deceased, invited the Wongum Indians to assist him in build- ing a " fort " at Nayaug, where he was then living ; and it is supposed that they, being in fear of the Narragansetts, aided in the construction of a defensive work on Red Hill, and this became the seat of what were thereafter called the Red Hill Indians.
Aboriginal names of places, especially on the east side of the river, are still preserved in sufficient numbers to serve as mementos of the Red men. Some of these names are herewith given, with the significa- tions of such of them as have been defined by Dr. J. H. Trumbull in his " Indian Names in Connecticut." On the west side were Pyquaug (Pauqui-auke), " clear land ; " Mattabeset (Massabeset), partly in Wethersfield, "great brook ;" Amobeset, not defined ; Hoccanum (on both sides of the river), "a hook ;" Manhannock (in the river), " Island place." On the east side were Naubuc (Nabuck in Samuel Gardner's deed of October, 1667, the earliest date I find it mentioned), " flooded lands ;" Nayaug (sometimes written Noyake), the " point," or " corner ;" Wassuc (Assawassuc, Ashowaset), " between the brooks; " Nipsie (Nipsuc), the " pool place ; " Minnechaug, " huckleberry hill;" Wongum (Wongunk), partly in Wethersfield, at the "bend ; " Scau- kum (part only), not defined ; Meshomasic (sometimes Somersic), not defined ; Kongscut (corrupted to Skunkscut), " at the hill ;" Pontoo- suc, the " falls on the brook ; " Sechenayaug, not defined ; Pegansic, or Pahegansuc, not defined ; Mabautauantucksuck, " outlet," etc. (of a pond ?) ; Amannantocksuck, the "lookout" place, at the " brook " (Roaring Brook ?) ; Mawnantuck, the "lookout " place. To these, the writer suggests the following additions : Poke Hill, at the Folly Bridge ; poke being perhaps a corruption of pauqui, as in the name Poquonnoc, meaning "bare," or " clear." The name "Poke Hill " dates back to the first settlement of the town. Pewter Pot (brook), probably a corruption of Pootapaug or Pautipaug ; a name which in some places has been applied to a section of " boggy meadow " land, and which correctly describes a part of the region traversed by this stream.
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