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 23
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1
198
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
N
W
Middlebury
S
a. G. 7Bassett
WATERBURY TOWNSHIP OF 1686.
THE TOWNSHIP OF 1686.
199
N
E
Meriden Mountain
S
VIEW FROM MALMALICK HILL.
200
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Kingdom of England in fee & common soccage & not in capitee nor Knight service they yielding & paying therefore to our Soverigne Lord the King his heirs & successors onely the fifth part of all the oare of Gold & Silver which from time to time & at all times hereafter shall be there gotten had or obtained in Lue of all rents services dutys & demands whatsoever according to the charter in wit- ness we have hereunto affixed the Seal of the Colony this eighth of febuary in the Third year of the reign of sa Soveraigne lord James the Second by the grace of God of England, Scotland, france & Ireland King defender of the faythe of or Lord 1686:
Pr order of the General Court of Connecticut,
JOHN ALLYN, Secret'y.
That the proprietors of Waterbury discovered that they held no legal title to their township, appears in the very words of their petition for a new one. In 1720, they ask that a " deed of release and quitclaim of and in the lands within the town may be granted, and be signed and sealed by the Honorable the Governor and the Sec- retary."
The omission on the part of the governor to sign Waterbury's Charter, was but a sign of the times. The colony was in a state of excitement and alarm. Sir Edmond Andros was daily expected to arrive, and to usurp the government. Waterbury had no repre- sentative at Hartford to look after her interests and it is highly probable that the town's patent, unsigned by the governor, and unsealed, was still at Hartford on June 15, 1687, when "Sundry of the court, desiring that the Patent or Charter [of the colony] might be brought into Court, the secretary sent for it, and informed the Governor and Court that he had the Charter, and showed it to the Court: and the Governor bid him put it into the box againe and lay it on the table, and leave the key in the box, which he did forth- with." This is all that relates to the story of the Colony's Char- ter that is on record.
Dr. Benjamin Trumbull, Gershom Bulkley, and tradition, give to us the Charter Oak, and the rest of the interesting story from the time when the box containing the charter was left upon the table with the key in the lock. It must have been a dark day in June, when lights were required in the court room; or an evening ses- sion must have been held-it is difficult to contend with traditions, even that of the Charter Oak-so dear to Connecticut. The charter itself still proclaims by its presence in the State Capitol, that it was never given up.
On the 13th of the October following, Sir Edmund Andros, in the name of King James II. took the government of the colony into his own hands. Under the advice of unwise counselors, the king had planned to revoke the charters of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth,
201
TIIE TOWNSIIIP OF 1686.
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and Connecticut Colony, and to consolidate them under one government. The Province of Maryland, and the Proprieties of East and West Jersey and of Dela- ware were to be united with the Province of New York. Edward Randolph had been for some time in possession of five writs of Quo Warranto, with summons from the sheriffs of London, summoning the Colony of Connecticut, with other colonies, to appear before the English Court, and show by what authority the Governor and com- pany held power. Certain articles of misdemeanor had been drawn up against " Authority " in Connecticut, as early as July 15, 1685. It will be seen that the General Assembly was not too early in getting ready for the expected disaster. Accusations were brought against the colony for promulgating and enforcing nine acts and laws, a number of which were declared to be contrary to the law of Eng- land. We cite one only. It was distinctly charged that the inhabi- tants were denied the "exercise of the religion of the church of England." A diligent search of the acts of the General Court, and of the code of laws fails to find any proof of such denial. This accusation was based upon the following law:
" It is ordered, that where the ministry of the Word is established throughout this colony every person shall duly resort and attend thereunto respectively upon the Lord's Day, and upon such Fast Days and days of Thanksgiving as are to be gen- erally kept by the appointment of authority. And if any person within this Juris- diction, without necessary cause, withdraw himself from hearing the public minis- try of the word, he shall forfeit for his absence from every such meeting, five shil- lings."
That the accusation was without foundation appears by an act made by the Connecticut legislators in 1669, and, so far as we have found, never revoked; showing, most conclusively, that the cere- monial rites of the Church of England were not denied to the in- habitants by any law made or existing after May 13, 1669.
" This Court having seriously considered the great divisions that arise amongst us about matters of Church Government; for the honor of God, welfare of the Churches and presevation of the public peace so greatly hazarded, do declare that whereas the Congregational Churches in these parts for the generale of their pro- fession and practice have hitherto been approved, we can do no less than still approve and countenance the same to be without disturbance until better light in an orderly way doth appear; but yet forasmuch as sundry persons of worth for prudence and piety amongst us are otherwise persuaded (whose welfare and peace- able sattisfaction we desire to accommodate) this Court doth declare that all such persons being also approved according to law as orthodox and sound in the funda- mentalls of Christian religion, may have allowance of their perswasion and profes- sion in Church wayes, or assemblies, without disturbance."
Sir Edmund Andros took possession of the Government in Octo- ber of 1687. James II. abdicated his crown fourteen months later,
202
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Dec. 11, 1688. On February thirteenth, in the same year, King Will- iam III. and Queen Mary assumed his discarded inheritance. Will- iam and Mary had been on the throne less than three months, when Sir Edmund Andros having departed, the General Court of Connec- ticut was again convened. The date was May 9, 1689, and that was the thrilling session, at which Waterbury, for the first time in her history sent a deputy to represent her interests. "Ensign Thomas Judd for Waterbury," is the magical sentence found in the records of that court which tells us that Waterbury, after having served fifteen years as a minor, took her place in 1689 (under the reign of William and Mary) as a unit in the political life of the colony.
Major Talcott did not live to see the plantation, for which he had done such excellent service throughout the period of its youth, celebrate its majority. He died after a most active, eventful, honored and useful life, in July of 1688. A singular independence in thought and act characterized this Puritan. Secretary Allen in writing to Governor Andros three months after that gentleman took his place as "Governor in Chiefe of his Maties Territories in New England," wrote of Major Talcott, that he was " one who loves to act his matters by himself." Of Sir Edmund Andros, one may be permitted in parting with him to write, that he performed unpleas- ant obligations to his sovereign, with the least possible friction to the colonists.
We find many "snap shots " taken of him both by professional and amateur historians, that utterly fail to give likeness to his life and character. His treatment of the Indians and his care for their welfare, is extremely winning. He constantly urged that the peo- ple should everywhere " faile not to have regard to ye Indians as their own people." If he tasted the sweets of power in America, he also drank the cup of sorrow, for but three months after he began to rule, his wife, Lady Andros, died at Boston. As a picture of burial rites in 1687, we give an extract from the Diary of Judge Sewell, relating to her funeral: " Between 7 and 8 lychns [links] illuminating the cloudy air, the corpse was carried into the hearse drawn by six horses, the soldiers making a guard from the govern- ors house down the prison lane to the South meeting house; there taken out and carried in at the western door and set in the alley before the pulpit with six mourning women by it. House made light with candles and torches."
CHAPTER XV.
THE RELATION OF EACH MAN'S PROPRIETY TO THE PURCHASE OF THE TOWNSHIP-LAND GRANTS-THE LOTTERY-MEADOW ALLOTMENTS -MINISTRY LANDS-THE THREE-ACRE LOTS-THE MINISTER'S LOT - MR. FRAYSOR-REVEREND JEREMIAH PECK INVITED TO BECOME THE SETTLED PASTOR IN WATERBURY-THE MINISTER'S HOUSE- THE SCHOOL-MASTER-THE "GREAT SICKNESS" OF 1689-THE DEATH OF ROBERT PORTER AND PHILIP JUDD-THE BURYING YARD-WATERBURY'S FIRST LIEUTENANT, COMMISSIONERS, AND TAX LIST.
F ROM 1677 to 1689, Waterbury made excellent progress in all the lines of her development. Neither death nor disaster, so far as we may know, attended her growth to that date. It is true that she had lost, by removal, two of her proprietors, Joseph Hickox and Thomas Hancox; but Robert and Richard Porter had been added to the number. During this period of twelve years much had been accomplished; the inhabitants had proceeded with their various industries without, so far as we can learn, taking thought of fear concerning their Indian neighbors. They had made definite and apparently satisfactory agreements with their prede- cessors in the ownership of the soil, covering an extent of territory about eighteen miles from north to south, and of an average breadth of from eight to nine miles. Over this stretch of country they had wandered at ease, examining every bit of meadow land on the Great river and its tributaries. The familiarity of the inhab- itants at a very early period, with their meadows, swamps, boggy lands, uplands, mountains, hills, "lo" lands and high lands; their islands, rivers, brooks, ponds, "grinlets," and "runs of water," when we consider the extent of the township, and the labors that filled their hands, is surprising. During the life of the plantation, a man's acres in the meadows determined the amount of his taxable estate. His interest in the purchase of the township was deter- mined by the number of pounds annexed to his name as a signer of the plantation agreement-the highest interest being indicated by froo, the lowest by £50. The relation between the one hundred or the fifty pound interest, and the "purchase paid," has not been learned. That there was a purchase of the township made by the planters in some form, and quite distinct from the purchase from
204
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
the aboriginal inhabitants, is evident; but nothing definite or explan- atory concerning it has been left on our records. The scheme that seems to have been carefully wrought out for the adventurers and voyagers, before the Massachusetts Bay Company set sail from England, affords certain hints in relation to the sub-divisions of interests and lands that ensued in that colony, and also in Con- necticut. It seems probable that the proprietors became holden to the colony, through the committee appointed by it, for all the costs and charges incident to the settlement of the plantation, including their Indian purchases and the work of the committee, together with all other incidental expenses. In the Massachusetts Bay, every adventurer who placed £50 in the common stock was to have two hundred acres of land. So in our own case, each planter secured lands according to his venture in the common stock. The division or allotment of lands in the former case was, in the begin- ning, left to the governor; in Mattatuck, to the committee. It is true that the men of Farmington told the Indians that the "Colony gave away their lands for the English to work upon without taking anything for it," but that was years before Waterbury was settled. If the above suggestion is in accordance with the actual purchase, then the amount of a man's propriety, if it was nominally £100, governed the amount of money he paid toward that purchase. In return for this payment, the man with the £100 propriety received from the committee twice as much meadow land as his neighbor who held but half his tenure in the township. There is no one thing that more finely sets forth and fully illustrates the implicit faith of our fathers in the all-controlling power of the God in whom they trusted, than the manner of their drawing of lots for their lands. To them, this was a "solemn and awful ordinance;" it was God who stood within it, directing the issues that fell to His chil- dren. If a man drew the first chance, which gave him power to choose his land where he pleased, it was the Lord of heaven and earth who dwelt in that chance and appointed that he should receive it. The man who was reserved to the last and left no choice, believed that he was appointed for that lot, and accepted his por- tion. We believe that the men of Mattatuck, in like manner and with equal solemnity, approached "the solemn and awful ordinance of a lot," and accepted their allotments and divisions of upland and boggy meadow in the same spirit of devout submission. We stand two centuries away from this belief and condemn the lottery, quite ignorant of the fact that our fathers held it as an holy ordinance, and that it is this very elimination of God from it which brought it into disrepute.
205
WATERBURY IN 1689.
Before 1689, the following apportionment of lands had been made : The eight-acre house lots on Town Plott in 1674; the two- acre house lots on the east side of the river in 1677 or 1678; and to these had been added, probably at the same time, and apparently to each proprietor, one acre in Manhan neck .* This must have been to afford a garden spot, where the land was already in readi- ness for the planter, on which food supplies, needful for immediate use, might be raised. There was also an eight-acre lot given to each proprietor. In addition to the above, there was a division of meadow land before 1679, and, probably before that time, one of boggy meadow. Of the layout of the above two divisions no record has been found. In the eleventh volume of the Land Records we find a copy of the order for the dividing of certain meadow lands in 1679. In 1891, the order itself was found, which we give below. The literal form of the original document is not copied, as the inex. perienced reader would need a translator to comprehend it, but the language is carefully followed. It is called :
THE DIVISION TO THE STRAITS.
The order which is agreed of in the dividing of and drawing of lots for those lands which "Lyeth " down the river from those lands already laid out to the "rivurit" [Beacon Hill brook] which runneth into the river on the east side of the river at the straits [of the Naugatuck river, below Naugatuck]; and also a meadow which is up the river from the town plot called by the name of Buck meadow [on the west side of the river above Mount Taylor]; and, in the dividing of the above said lands, we agree that three roods of the best of this land shall be accounted as one acre, and the worst of the land which we divide shall be accounted seven roods but for one acre, and so rise or fall in this division according to the goodness or badness of this land, and this to be considered and equalized by those which are or shall lay out this aforesaid land into their several allotments ; and also we agree that there shall be five acres allowed to a hundred pound allotment, and if these lands appointed to this division shall fall short to allow according to this propor- tion to every allotment, then those which fall short to take up their proportion in any undivided meadow, except a piece of land called the pasture, or a parcell of land which lyeth at the brook which runneth into Steele's meadow ; and in this division it shall be in the power of the above said persons if they see reason so to do to throw in lands into the several allotments and count it not in the measure according to their discretion and we begin in this division at the south side of the river and the lots to run south aud north which we count up and down the river and the first lot in order to be accounted that next the river and so run down the meadow to the "strayts" and take the lots in order as they fall at the north end and at the straits run over the river at the east side of the river in like manner, and go upward and end at the divided land at the fore said side, and then go up into Buck's meadow and begin in that allotment at the southward or lower end and go upward and end at the upper side or end of that meadow.
* Manhan neck surrounds Neck hill, which is the meadow hill that overlooks the present ball grounds.
206
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
The lots as they fell by succession :
Great Lot.
Benjamin Jones,
Samuel Hikcox,
John Warner,
Samuel Judd,
Daniel Warner,
John Judd,
Timothy Standly, Benjamin Judd,
William Higginson,
Thomas Warner,
Daniel Porter,
David Carpenter, Joseph Gaylord,
Isaack Bronson,
Joseph Hikox,
Thomas Newell,
Thomas Judd,
John Standly,
"y lote Botte,"
[The lot bought], Obadiah Richards, Thomas Hancox, John Bronson, Great Lot.
The two pieces of land that were excepted from use in this division, were the Little pasture, and the fifteen acres on Steel's brook, which had been set apart for the use of the ministry, by the Assembly's Committee in November, 1679. That act remained in force until the present session of the General Assembly of Connec- ticut (1893), at which session the First Church of Waterbury, after enjoying its inheritance for two hundred and sixteen years, sought and obtained legal power to alienate it. The moral right is still in question.
The Waterbury Driving Co. is the present owner, or occupier of the fifteen acres on Steel's brook. This division of meadow lands has been so carefully followed, that we are able to place defi- nitely the land of each and every owner. The mouth of Hop brook was the place of departure. The land between the brook and the river was a "great lot." Afterward, it belonged to the pro- priety that was given to Rev. John Southmayd, who, when he recorded it to himself (as seven acres and one-half), stated that it included the island between the river and the brook. This is the island that lies in the Naugatuck river against the mouth of Hop brook. Abraham Andrews seems to have had his lot cast next the minister on this as well as on other occasions. His house lot, his Straits division, his Beaver meadow, his Hancox meadow, his Tur- key hill field, and even his seat in the meeting-house, were next the minister. In course of time the lot of Andrews, by purchase,
Abraham Andrus, John Carrington, Benjamin Barnes, John Wilton, William Judd,
John Scovill, Edmund Scott, Thomas Richason, John Langdon, John Newell,
207
WATERBURY IN 1689.
became twelve acres, and about 1790 was still known as Andrews island! The railroad station at Union City is on a portion of it. John Carrington, Benjamin Barnes and John Welton also had their lots on Hop brook, substantially between it and the river. William Judd's lot began below where the Great hill meets the river, against Mr. J. H. Whittemore's house, and extended below the present river bridge. In 1687 this was called eight and a half acres. The point was so heavily washed by floods, and so much of it was hopelessly barren, that when duly measured it was accounted twenty acres, showing how great was the discretion of the measurers in "throw- ing in" land. This became the "Deacon's meadow," which name it retained for many years. The three men whose names are next on the list had their lots on the west side of the river-David Carpenter's lying on both sides of "Towantick " brook [Long-Meadow]. The hill against the canoe place was passed over, and then five lots, (John Langton's being the southernmost), occupied the meadow spaces as far down as "Straight's" mountain. We find fourteen meadows on the west side of the river. On the east side, the lots were divided by the rough, rugged hills that came to the river, so that only nine lots (beginning with John Newell's at Beacon Hill brook, and ending with Daniel Porter's lot, which for some not understood reason, ended before reaching the "hither end of Judd's meadows," leaving ten acres between it and Squantuck or Fulling Mill brook). Ten lots in this division were laid out up the river, beginning at Buck's meadow; Isaac Bronson's being the first, and the others following in the order given in the list. "Y. lote Botte" or The Lot Bought, became Reverend Jeremiah Peck's. Obadiah Richard's lot was on both sides of the river. Buck's meadow not containing sufficient land to complete the list, Thomas Hancox's lot was given to him, perhaps a mile above, at a place spoken of as the "Slip," and also as "The Butcher's Island," Hancox Island, Ensign Judd's Island and Welton's Island. John Bronson went into Wal- nut Tree meadow, above Buck's meadow, for his allotment. The final lot was a great lot. It became Jeremiah Peck's and the school lot. This lay east of the river at Walnut Tree meadow. Walnut Tree and Buck's meadow we find used interchangeably, that is for the land on the east side of the river.
The following preamble in relation to a meadow division of 1679, is new material that was found in 1890:
A MEADOW DIVISION OF 1679.
May, '79. The plantars of Mattatuck being at the town plot added by vote Thomas Judd to William Judd, John Standly, and Sam. Stell, to equalize the land to lay out in the division of land from Manhan meadow upward and make addition
208
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
to those lots in that division according to the quality of the land and remoteness of it as the foresaid parties shall judge to be just and right.
The first meadow, 20 acres.
2₫ 66
33
66 3d west side the river, 27 ..
East side river, the first meadow from the south 12 acres. Island 5 acres, I7
Second meadow, east side,
23
I20
The following is the result of the work of the committee :
The division of the remainder of the land in Manhan meadow and Steel's mead- ow, and Ben. Judd's meadow, and Hancox meadow and at the small brook, as follow- eth : We first began at Manhan meadow, and second, in Hancox meadow, and third, at a bit of land at the west side of the river against Hancox meadow, and fourth, at the south end of the brook against Hancox meadow, fifth at the lower end of the land which lies at the brook which comes down into Steele's mead- ow, and go upward and end at the north end of Ben. Judd's meadow, at Will- iam Higginson's lot, and according to this order to draw lots, two acres to a hundred pound, and if these lands herein expressed fall short of this divison, then to be made up by any undivided lands except this " Bit of Lande called a Pastors." We began in Hancox meadow at the southward end at that bit at the west side of the river against Hancox meadow at the south end.
The lots as they fell in this division in or by drawing.
ACRES.
HALF-ACRES. RODS.
I John Bronson,
I
half
I6
2 Joseph Gaylord,
half
32
3 Tho. Warner,
I 122 2
00
00
4 Edmund Scott,
2
00
00
5 Obadiah Richards,
I
half
I6
6 Daniel Warner,
H I
00
32
7 John Newell,
2
00
00
8 Thomas Hancox,
22 2
00
00
9 John Warner,
I
03 roods
3
IO Great Lot,
3
00
00
II John Carrington,
.
1 I
00
32
12 Ben. Jones,
2
00
00
13 Samuel Hicox [£ 95]
I
[?]
32
14 Will. Higginson,
I
I rood,
2.4
I5 John Welton,
half
16
I6 Tho. Newell,
I
3 rood,
8
17 Benj. Judd,
I
3
S
I8 John Langdon,
2
00
00
19 Isaac Bronson,
I
3 rood,
3
2I Thomas Richason,
H I
00
00
22 Abraham Andrews, .
I
half
I6
23 Great Lot,
3
00
00
24 Great Lot, .
3
00
00
25 John Scovill,
I
half
I6
26 David Carpenter,
I
half
I6
.
.
I
20 John Judd,
2
00
00
.
.
209
WATERBURY IN 1689.
ACRES.
HALF-ACRES. RODS.
27 John Standly,
2
00
00
28 Daniel Porter,
I
3 roods
3
29 William Judd,
2 2
00
00
30 Timothy Standly,
I
3 roods
24
31 Joseph Hikcox,
1 I
00
32
32 Ben. Barnes,
00
00
33 Samuel Judd,
half I6
34 Tho. Judd,
2
00
00
THE THREE-ACRE LOTS.
In March, 1678, an order was given for the laying out of the addi- tion to the house lots. The lots of this division are known as the three-acre lots. Our records contain nothing in relation to it, but the quaint old paper containing the lay out was among the treas- ures recovered in 1890. It is here given; and is, it is thought, in the writing of William Judd.
The order which the addition of the house lots in Mattatuck as it is to be taken up. Those that desire to take up their addition in the rear of their house lots we shall do all that we can to accommodate each man in that particular to be suited first and 2-3 so go on in that order.
I Benjamin Barnes.
2 Samuel Hickox.
3 Joseph Hickox.
4 John Welton. [Next east of the Burying Yard. ]
5 Abraham Andrus. [Between the Mill-land and the Mad River, and South of Union Square.]
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