USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, Volume I > Part 14
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+ Another form of Hatchetowsuck ; see pp. 34, 35.
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MASSACHUSETTS BAY'S PLANTATION IN CONNECTICUT.
running back more than a generation, and one is not surprised when, after an all-day session of Indian special pleading, the verdict was-that the Indians should be left to fight it out among them- selves on the other side of the river, but no Englishman's house, per- son or property was to be injured. In the beginning of 1658, thirty- seven men were formed into a cavalry company, under the name of " Troopers." They made choice of their own officers, and the court confirmed them. The officers commissioned were a captain, lieutenant, "cornet, three corporals"-one of whom was Nicholas Olmsted, one of the five men who ordered Waterbury's first steps in town ways-and a quartermaster. This company of troopers was formed from the men of the three original towns. It was in March, 1657, in the very last days of the year, that the order was issued forbidding any persons to "embody themselves into church estate without consent of the General Court and approba- tion of the neighbor churches." There was a provision in this law, out of which grew in later years, within the townships, the winter privileges, and the church societies, which in turn re- solved themselves into towns again. The provision was that the order should not "take place upon such as were hindred by any just impediments [such as our Naugatuck river] on the Sabbath day from the publicke assemblies by weather or water, and the like."
In 1658 the court was more tried with the "differences " that had broken out in the churches at Hartford, and in other towns, than with the Indians themselves, and sternly ordered an "utter cessa- tion of all further prsecution " by the church at Hartford towards the withdrawers from them until the court decided the differences between them. The court could not, or would not, arbitrate these matters. It was greatly buffeted with ecclesiastical "strikes," and sent the matter, as they did Miantonomo, up to "The Bay," or rather, sent for the "Bay" elders to come across country to Hart- ford.
No less than seventy men were made free before the Court of Election in May, and the great number caused tumult and trouble, so that thereafter freemen were admitted at the October court ; and here we meet for the first time with the " squire," so familiar to our ears a score of years ago, and now well nigh obsolete. The new recorder, Mr. Daniel Clark, makes use of it as a prefix to the name of Mr. Winthrop.
The Farmington Indians were entertaining strange Indians at this time-contrary to their agreement with the English, "when they sat down " there-and carrying on hostilities, thereby endangering
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
life by bullets shot into the town, and Thomas Judd, the father of the five young men of that name who came to Waterbury as pro- prietors, was on the committee to inform the Indians that they were required "to provide another place for their habitation and desert the place wherein they were then garrisoned." In this year, 1658, " the season was intemperate, the harvest thin, and there was a sore visitation, by sickness in several plantations," and Governor Edward Hopkins died. The act against the Quakers did not long survive on Connecticut soil. It was modified in such manner that if one was "found fomenting his wicked Tenets and was legally convicted to be disturbing the public peace," that Quaker was to be "dealt with" by "fine, or banishment, or corporal pun- ishment."
One of the most weighty matters coming before the law-givers again and again and continually, related to the selling of spirit- ous liquors. Laws were enacted regulating; laws prohibiting; laws repealing laws; but the question did not seem answerable to law. At last they tried the experiment of permitting Indians to have cider, provided it should be "drank " before the eyes of the seller thereof, in order to prevent excess, but this liberty was soon with- drawn, and no man might even give any Indian cider. The first intimation of negro slavery is met with in the law of 1660, that neither Indian nor "negar" servants should be required to train, watch, or ward in the colony. The laws of this year were especially clear and practical. No person might be admitted an inhabitant of a town unless he was known to be of an honest con- versation and was accepted by the major part of the town. A sec- ond small troop of horse, of eighteen men, was permitted to be gath- ered out of Fairfield, Stratford and Norwalk. No inhabitant could sell his house and lands without offering them first for sale to the town in which they were situated. The above was one of the laws which was cited as being contrary to English law, when, at a later period, the charter was in peril. No man or woman could live more than two years in Connecticut, if he or she had wife or hus- band "in foreign parts." Every town in the colony was ordered to send forth its Indians a quarter of a mile away from the town. The law forbidding to sell fire-arms to Indians was still unrepealed; nevertheless, the Indians possessed guns, for, at this time, laws were made regulating their fire-arms, as, that Englishmen might seize any guns brought in by them, to be redeemed by the Indians on payment of six shillings each; and a little later, in 1661, they had free liberty to carry them through towns, if not above ten men were in company.
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MASSACHUSETTS BAY'S PLANTATION IN CONNECTICUT.
It was at this time that the order went forth causing sales, grants, bargains, and mortgages of lands to be in writing and placed upon record, duly witnessed by one witness and the recorder.
The Indian name of the Housatonic river was merged into the Stratford river in 1660, for Dr. Bray Rossiter-who had been at Hartford in attendance upon "John Talcott in his sickness "-had applied to the court to sanction his purchase of lands at "Paugusset, on Stratford River." His request was granted; he was given per- mission to buy another hundred acres, and Connecticut colony accepted the lands thus acquired under its government. Hunting- ton, Long Island, also was received to its "power and protection."
In 1661, the Colony was very active and deeply absorbed in car- rying out the desire of its corporate heart-to obtain from King Charles II. the long desired charter. Everything was made ready for that event. The financial part of the business enterprise was secured. It was five hundred pounds. An address to the King was made ready by Governor Winthrop, and a petition prepared by a committee, and, with the money, the address, and the petition, and a long and minutely worded letter of instructions in the premises, the Governor set forth on a voyage to England, at once momentous in its hopes and results to the Colony.
In his address Governor Winthrop assures King Charles that the "Fathers of the Colony had very pious and public ends in view, when they transported themselves, with their wives and children, unto this western world "-even the "propagation of the blessed Gosple of the Lord Jesus amongst the Heathen," as well as "the farther extent and honor of the British Monarchy." He then reminds him of the full and free consent that his father, Charles I., gave, together with his gracious " L's Pattents," to them of Massachusetts Bay, and later explains how Connecticut came to be settled, and that the lands were purchased of " Indian sachems," kindly explaining to the King the fact that Indian sachems were "Heathen Princes," and then adds that when the sad and unhappy times of troubles and wars began in England, his subjects on the Connecticut River could only "bewaile wth sighes and mournful teares." Then, writing for the people, he declares that they "have ever since hid themselves behind the mountains, in that desolate desert [the Connecticut Val- ley !] as a people forsaken, choosing rather to sit solitary and wait only upon the Divine Providence for protection [that is, without a charter] than to apply themselves to the changes of powers [the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell], assuring his majesty that his subjects had kept their hearts, as well as their stations, free from all illegal engagements, and entire to the interests of their 8
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King." Presently, he implores favor and gracious protection, and asks his acceptance of the colony, reminding the king that it is " his own Colony, a little branch of his mighty Empire," and explains many things that his poor pilgrims have done for the glory of Eng- land. The address makes most humble apology for the colonists, in that they had "publickly and solemnly proclaimed and declared for his majesty in Connecticut, before a form and express order for such testimony of allegiance had arrived by the ships from England," and closes with the hope that his majesty will be pleased to excuse the poverty that has nothing to present the King of England from the wilderness, but hearts and loyal affections. It ends with the most profound professions of loyalty and submission and devout suppli- cations to "His Eternal Majesty, the King of Heaven and Earth," to pour down temporal and spiritual blessings upon the "Royal Throne" of Charles II. This address, written by Governor Win- throp, was placed in the hands of a committee which was empow- ered to "compile or methodize the Instrument." Hence, the very remarkable production. However, it accomplished its purpose, and the charter was received at Hartford, with honest acclamation of joy, and "publiquely read in audience of ye Freemen, and declared to belong to them and their successors " on the 9th of October, 1662. It had been duly signed and sealed on April 23rd; had been pub- licly exhibited in Boston in September, and was delivered in Hart- ford for safe keeping, into the hands of Mr. Willys, Captain John Talcott, of Waterbury interest, and Lieutenant John Allyn, persons chosen for that office by the freemen. A "Charter Keeper's Oath " was administered to the three men, and the wheels of government were once more adjusted by the General Assembly of assistants and deputies who "established all officers in the Colony, both civil and military, in their respective places and power."
A new era, bright with satisfied longings, and brilliant with hope had dawned. It is at this date that we bid farewell to the General Court and advance under the order of the General Assembly, which frequently steps back into the old ways, and calls itself always the Court, and frequently the General Court, but its marching orders are with few exceptions under General Assembly.
It is quite impossible fully to appreciate the situation of the colonists either before or after the charter was obtained. Hitherto every step had been taken with secret distrust and often with per- ceptible hesitation, but always in the hope that Mr. Fenwick would be able to transfer to them whatever jurisdiction he either held or might be supposed to hold by virtue of patent, at the time when he sold to them the fort. But now all was changed ! Everything was
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MASSACHUSETTS BAY'S PLANTATION IN CONNECTICUT.
tinged with hope, and the chartered colony was afloat on the sea of success. It grew in a day, in a manner that must have filled the river people with becoming pride; the doubting towns came hurry- ing up to Hartford for shelter under charter; for the Englishman respects law and reverences the law-giver. It was on the first day after the charter was proclaimed that the Hartford Train Band was given precedence over all other military organizations, a precedence that it has never wholly lost. Southold, Stamford, Greenwich, and even Guilford, through a portion of its inhabitants, came under jurisdiction. The court declared its claim, under patent, to all of Long Island, received West Chester as a "member of its corpora- tion," and conferred plantation rights upon "Homonoscetts," or Killingworth, as it could maintain thirty families. The General Assembly was busy with new enactments fitting the new environ- ment, casting off laws that the colony had outgrown, and removing restraints no longer desirable.
When, in 1664, New Haven colony submitted to the inevitable, and came, in her own proud way, to the point of yielding up her colonial rights, the heart of Connecticut throbbed with fullness of satisfaction, and the married life of the colonies has been, from that time to this, not free from troubles, but, on the whole, an estate for the better for both parties. New Haven gave up her colonial name and her individuality, but never relinquished her influence and her formative power. Two years later, in 1666, the counties of Hartford, New Haven, New London and Fairfield were formed. Waterbury, naturally, took her place, when she came into being, within Hart- ford county, for, while its eastern and western bounds were not given, its north bound was that of Windsor and Farmington; its south, the "South end of ye bounds of Thirty Miles Island," now Haddam. County courts were also appointed for each county, to be held twice in the year.
CHAPTER VIII.
WAS THE DISCOVERY OF MATTATUCK DUE TO THE SEARCH FOR METALS? MINING RIGHTS OF 1657 IN THE VALLEY OF THE MATTATUCK RIVER-POSSIBLE MINING INDUSTRIES INTERRUPTED BY INDIAN TROUBLES AT FARMINGTON-WATERBURY'S MINE OF 1735-REST- LESSNESS OF SETTLERS AT FARMINGTON AND ELSEWHERE-LANDS AT BRISTOL GRANTED IN 1663-THE FIRST STEP TOWARD WATER- BURY IN 1670-DEACON STEPHEN HEART'S FARM IN MATTATUCK BEFORE IT BECAME A PLANTATION-THREE MEN OF FARMINGTON
VIEW MATTATUCK-TWENTY-SIX MEN PETITION THE GENERAL COURT FOR A PLANTATION-COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO VIEW THE LANDS-ITS RETURN TO THE COURT-THE GENERAL COURT APPOINTS A COMMITTEE TO REGULATE AND ORDER A PLANTA- TION AT MATTATUCK.
I T will probably never be possible for any investigator to deter- mine what Englishman first beheld the lands on which we dwell in Waterbury, or to declare the purpose that led him into the valley through which ran the Mattatuck river. Historians have hitherto accorded to the territory no charms beyond those known to the hunter; and it has been thought that even the Indians held the region in avoidance, except for its animal life, down to the time when it was solicited of the General Assembly for a plantation by certain men of Farmington; but there are indi- cations that Indians dwelt here, and it is known that land was laid out here before the establishment of the plantation.
That the Waterbury of to-day owes its eminence among manu- facturing towns to the working of metals, no man may deny. That the discovery of Mattatuck may be attributed to the search for its supposed metallic treasures, is quite within the bounds of proba- bility. Indeed, we have facts recorded which in the line of evidence indicate that energetic search for metals was made here at least seventeen years before the region was selected for a planta- tion. The Winthrop name of two centuries and more ago stood for so much in the way of endeavor and enterprise, that no one can be very much surprised to hear it connected with even the discovery of Waterbury. On the 13th of May, 1651, John Winthrop, Jr., was living at Pequot (New London). From that place he sent a letter to the General Court on a subject that was of special interest to himself. In this letter Mr. Winthrop wrote :
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CONNECTICUT'S PLANTATION AT MATTATUCK.
There hath been earnest motions to me from some well-willers to the com- mon good, to make some search and trial for metals in this country, and there is hope that there might be a stock gathered for that purpose, if there were encour- agements from the several jurisdictions. I have therefore made bold to propound the enclosed grant to yourself and the court; professing this, that I neither know nor have heard of any mines or metals within this jurisdiction, for I have not yet made any search, but only propound it for encouragement to any that will be adventurers and join in the undertaking of such a design.
Mr. Winthrop then cites "The Bay " as an example, giving Lynn and "Nuberry" as two places where he knows that lead has been found ; " but," he adds,
That at Lynn, being challenged by the Towne, and so neare the Iron worke that takes up all the wood, that it cannott bee wrought there; and the Towne hath beene at charge for the finding of the veine, but it cannot bee found, and so they are discouraged; for it was onely loose peeces that were found. I doe not much desire to have anything put in about gold and silver, yet, if it be put in, it may incourage some.
The action of the court on the receipt of the letter quoted from, follows :
Whereas, in this rocky country, amongst these mountains and stony hills, there are probabilities of mines of metals and minerals, the discovery whereof may be for the great benefit of the country, in raising a staple commodity, and whereas, John Wenthrop, Esq., doth intend to be at charge and adventure for the search and discovery of such mines and minerals-for the encouragement whereof, and of any that shall adventure with the said John Wenthrop, Esq., in the said business, It is therefore ordered by this court, that if the said John Wenthrop, Esq., shall discover, set upon and maintain, or cause to be found, discovered, set upon and maintained such mines of lead, copper or tin, or any minerals, as antimony vitriall, black lead, alum, stone-salt, salt springs or any other the like, within this jurisdic- tion, and shall set up any work for the digging, washing, melting, or any other operation about the said mines or minerals as the nature thereof requireth, that then, the said John Wenthrop, Esq., his heirs, associates, partners, or assignes, shall enjoy forever the said mines, with the lands, wood, timber and waters within two or three miles of the said mine, for the necessary carrying on of the works and maintaining of workmen and provision of coals for the same; provided it be not within the bounds of any Town already, or any particular persons propriety, nor in or bordering upon any place that shall or may by the court be judged fit to make a plantation of.
Within six years from the date of John Winthrop's letter, John Standley and John Andrews, two men of Farmington, who later cast their lot with the men of Waterbury, had penetrated the wil- derness to the west of their township, and from a hill had carried with them to Farmington a mineral substance which was believed to be black lead. The record, as we have it, is very incomplete. We are not told that John Standley and John Andrews were pros- pecting for metals under the incitement of Winthrop's and the
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
court's encouragement, but we may suggest the probability of it. We are not even told that they discovered the hill containing it, but simply that they brought the "lead " from a certain hill. Whether they were the discoverers of it or not, the fact that the hill with its " black lead " was discovered, evidently aroused the Farmingtonians of 1657 to action. Two of their number, William Lewis and Samuel Steele in that year obtained from three Indians of Farmington (whose names upon the Farmington record of the transaction- which appears to be the original deed-are written Keoaga[m?] Queromus and Mataneg, or as ordinarily rendered in copies of the same, Kepaquamp, Querrimus and Mataneage), "a tract of land called Matetacoke, that is to say, the hill from whence John Stand- ley and John Andrews brought the black lead." By this decd the Indians did not convey their title to the lands. They simply con- ferred mining rights in a great circle of land whose diameter was sixteen miles, with the hill as its central point. By this grant, or lease, they had permission "to dig and carry away " to any extent desired ; they could also "build on the land for the use of the laborers, but not otherwise improve it."
Whatever plans may have been made to develop this mine, they were doubtless held in abeyance, for it was at this time, in 1657, that the "horrible murder," already referred to, took place in Farm- ington, that so greatly alarmed the inhabitants .* From this time onward, the Farmington Indians were restless, and being required by the inhabitants to leave their homes and move on, we can understand why the "black lead " was left in its native hill. Where this hill was, and is, remains to this day a secret. That it was within the bounds of Mattatuck plantation might be inferred from the name. It has been considered by historians safe to place it in Harwinton. The mention of the fact that Waterbury's bounds with Farmington, and with Hartford even, were nearly half a cen- tury in getting established, suggests the possibility that in the beginning the hill was where its name indicates, and near the north line of the Waterbury township of 1686. The Rev. E. B. Hillard in
* In 1840, Rev. Noah Porter, in his historical address, delivered on the two-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Farmington, tells us that it was the house of John Hart that was destroyed by fire, and that in the same year Mr. Scott was cruelly murdered. Mr. Julius Gay gives the date of the burning of John Hart's house as December 15, 1666. The Mr. Scott referred to was perhaps Joseph, the son of Edmund Scott of Waterbury, but his death occurred nearly, if not quite fifty years later. August 18, 1657, the Indians belong- ing to Tunksis Sepus, being treated with about the damage done by fire, occasioned by Mesupeno, they obliged themselves to pay unto the General Court in October, for the term of seven years, the full sum of eighty fathom of wampum. * * * Four Indians signed this agreement in the name and with the consent of the rest. Col. Rec. of Conn., Vol. I, p. 303. The Indians did not make prompt payment, and in May, 1660, the Court appointed a committee " to take in the consideration of the loss of Lt. Lewis and Francis Browne, and according as they judge requisite to make distribution to both parties of that which the Indians have engaged to pay yearly to make up their loss by fire until the whole sum be paid in by the Indians."
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his "Sketches of the History of Plymouth," 1882, has ventured to place it a little north of the Harwinton line, on the east side of the highway running past the house of Arthur Cleveland, and as lying about half a mile back of the above house. He tells us that "marks of rock-blasting are still apparent, which could have been only for mining purposes."
We find, in Waterbury Town Records, of 1735, "a place called the mine." It was situated "near the upper end of the bounds." We further learn that "it was on the west side of the Naugatuck River," and that "it was against English Grass Meadow;" and still further, we are told by record that "English Grass Meadow is at the Mouth of East Branch, or Lead Mine Brook." It is the most northern meadow lot, save one-the Plum Trees-within the ancient bounds. Both meadow lots were named before 1688. The law forbidding persons to acquire title to lands from the natives, was not made until 1663, six years after the date of the conveyance of the mining rights to Lewis and Steele; hence, its validity as recognized in later transactions.
Since writing the above, a visit to English Grass Meadow has been made. It was impossible to mistake the beautiful curved meadow, lying at the mouth of the East Branch. Mr. Irwin Fenn, who lives in its vicinity, remembers it by its English Grass name. It was so called sixty years ago by its then owner, Mr. John Allen. It is now owned by Mr. George Gilbert, and is in this August of 1892, beautiful with corn, and plentiful with its crops of potatoes and grain. Mr. Fenn thinks that the "Plum Trees," were on the East Branch itself, and about three-fourths of a mile above English Grass Meadow. He remembers when, about fifteen years ago, the last of the plum trees that gave name to the meadow were cut down. They were, at that time, reduced to a few rods in extent. The present owner is Mr. Samuel Baldwin. The region has, from time to time, been sought after for its supposed mineral treasures. Mining rights have been secured as recently as within about twenty years in lands very near the mine of 1735.
Lewis and Steele evidently received their title to this great circle of land as representing a company of men; for under date of June 29, 1665, at a meeting held at Farmington, "there was chosen Sargt Stanly and Sargt Hart to go to Left. Lewis and Eng" Steel to demand ye Deed of Sale of Mattatuck Land, and have it assigned to them In ye behalfe of ye Company, and have it Recorded.
"A treu Copie Transcribed out of ffarmington old Town Book pr John Hooker, Regst"."
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
In 1712, a committee was appointed by Farmington, with full power to lease out to Col. William Partridge and Mr. Jonathan Belcher for sixty-eight years, "all their mines except iron and pre- cious stones and the fifth part of all oar of silver and gold that might be found within the common and sequestered land, not yet granted to any particular person or persons." These gentlemen of Massachusetts were undoubtedly men of large enterprise. They secured to themselves for terms of years varying from eight to sixty-eight, the working of all mines, iron excepted, within Farm- ington, Wallingford and Simsbury. In Wallingford and Simsbury, mineral wealth was known to exist at the period named. In 1714, the General Assembly confirmed the acts of the towns' committees in relation thereto, and granted the persons employed in the mines exemption from military duties. It is not unreasonable to suggest that early Waterbury shared in the same enterprise and that the place called " The Mine," was an outcome of that period, if indeed it did not date back to the lease of 1657.
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