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 24
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6 Benjamin Judd. [Between the ancient Judd's Meadow road that ran east of . the Pine hill (now removed) and the Mill-land ]
7 John Bronson. [Seldom, if ever, had his lands recorded. ]
8 William Higginson. For "Will " Higginson "piched " north side of "Sam " Judd.
9. Thomas Newell. [Between Farmington Road and the Mad River, largely on the West Side of Dublin Street.]
IO. Thomas Hancox.
II Samuel Judd.
12 John Newell. To receive two acres at the rear of his lot. [It will be remem- bered that John Newell's house lot when recorded, contained five acres. ]
13. Great Lot next Tho. Richason. Pitched for the Great Lot, south side Ror- ing river . . . butting at John Carrington's east. [Mr. Peck was allowed to relinquish this lot, and take three acres between Farmington road and the river, east of Dublin Street.]
14 Thomas Richason.
15. "Adward " Scott, to receive his lot at the east side of the Roaring River.
16. John Carrington. [Next east of Mr. Peck on the south side of Roaring, or Mad River.]
17 Benjamin Jones. Ben Jons south side Roaring River next to that I piched of for - great lot.
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212 2 I
210
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
19 David Carpenter. Piched for David Carpenter [illegible] "Tho " Hancox, if he like it.
20 "Themothy" Standly. "Piched" for Timothy Standly at the south of Thomas Richason's, if he like it.
21. Daniel Porter.
22. John Judd. For John Judd, north side of John Warner's lot, Roring River if he like it.
23. Thomas Judd. [Lieut. Thomas Judd's three-acre lot was in the rear of his house lot, but separated from it by Grove Street.]
24. John Standly. To receive "Achur" more. [This acre was added to his house lot.]
25. John Scovill.
26. John Lanckton. Pitched for [?] south of Timothy Standly.
27. Obadiah Richards.
28. Great Lot next Abraham Andrus.
29. Thomas Warner.
30. Isaac Bronson. To receive 2 acres, end of his lot. [This lay out explains why Isaac Bronson held a four acre house lot.]
31 John Warner.
[32] Daniel Warner next John Warner.
[33] Joseph Gaylord.
[34] Great lot estend. [This was the ministry lot at the east end, on Bank street.]
The above paper is authority for the statement that the first English name of Mad river was Roaring river. During all this period we find nothing to indicate that the people of Waterbury possessed that most essential and central figure of colonial townships, a "minister," but we may not for one moment indulge the thought that the preaching of the Word and the teaching of the inhabitants were neglected. The General Court was at the helm, and we are persuaded that it did not allow Waterbury colonists to drift into barbarism. It is true that we cannot point to a single line of evi- dence concerning this matter, beyond the question that was asked about 1682, by the planters : "Which of the great lots shall be for the minister's use ?" until the year 1688, when a certain meadow division that had been planned in 1684 was consummated. In this division, Mr. Frayser is found in the possession of land belonging to one of the three grand divisions of £150 each. The title Mr. was reserved exclusively for "Ministers of the Gospel" and digni- taries in civil affairs, in the early days of the colony. This, together with the presence of the same name in 1687 (where it appears as Mr. John Fraysor) in a list of gentlemen who were clergy- men of the Established, or Congregational church, suggests that Mr. Frayser was, at the time, acting minister for the inhabitants of Waterbury.
A somewhat careful study of the dealings of the General Court with the towns under its jurisdiction, seems to justify the writer in
21I
WATERBURY IN 1689.
a statement to the following effect-that, in 1686, when Mattatuck was accepted as a town, she had chosen a minister, and that he was already living in the house that had been built for him on the house lot next to Thomas Richason's (the site now occupied by the resi- dence of Mrs. John C. Booth), and that the Court's blessing was obtained in consequence of this action on the town's part. This statement receives substantial aid in the very language used in the proprietor's meeting at which it was agreed to invite Mr. Peck to become the "settled " pastor. For thirty-three years the paper, which lies before me, containing the acts of the proprietors in rela- tion to Mr. Peck, remained unrecorded. Reverend John South- inayd testifies on the document that he recorded it in the "first book, p. 9, March 20, 1722." The following is a copy. The clerk's formula has been retained.
Att a meeting of the propriators of Watterbury: march the 18: 1689 they did unani- musly desire Mr Jerimy pecke Sent of grinage [Greenwich] to setle with them in the worke of the minestry:
At the same meeting for the Incoragment of Mr peck Above faid: the propria- tors gave him the houfs built for the minester, with the hom lote, att his first Entaranc there with his family:
Att the same meeting the above said propriators of waterbury granted: Mr Jerimy pecke of grinage the other alotmants or general Devisons belongin to the minesters lot so caled provided he cohabit with them four yers and if the providens of god so dispos that he Dye befor the four yers be out itt shall fall to his heirs:
Att the same meetinge the propriaters granted to Calabe and Jerimy pecke the to hous lots layd out to the great lots on buting westerly on abraham andrus his hous lot [south-east corner of West Main and Willow streets] the other on ben jons his home lote and one of the grat lots of meddows with the sevarall Divisions of upland: upon condisons they bild each of them a tenantable hous that is to say a house upon each hom lote and dwell with them four yers:
Two days later, the proprietors held another meeting at which they agreed to be at the charge of the transportation of Mr. Peck and his family, and cattle, and goods, to Waterbury. Samuel Hickox, Isaac Bronson and Obadiah Richards were chosen "to take as prudent a care as they can for to transport Mr. Peck and family and estate according to the vote above written for the benefit of the Town."
It will be noticed that the proprietors, in giving to Mr. Peck a house, describe it as the "house built for the minister at his first entrance there with his family." Mr. Peck's family was still in Greenwich, and the language is evidently applied to an act already consummated, and refers to a former minister. There is a letter, written at Greenwich by Reverend Jeremiah Peck in response to an invitation he had received from the church at Barnstable to
212
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
become its pastor, which is still extant. It belongs to the Governor Hinckley papers, and is in the Prince collection, which is in the present possession of the Boston Public Library. It throws light on the acts of the Waterbury proprietors, in relation to Mr. Peck and his son Jeremiah. Mr. Peck, in his letter to Governor Hinckley, asked what provision the men of Barnstable would be willing to make for his declining years, (Mr. Peck was no longer a young man) or for his family in the event of his death. He also inquired what opportunity Barnstable would afford for his son, as a school-master. The first question seems to offer an answer to the natural inquiry : Why was a great propriety, with all its belongings, bestowed upon Mr. Peck, when the use of that land was in the thoughts of the com- mittee and of the people ? It was doubtless freely given in order to secure the services of a man of Mr. Peck's worth and ability.
Waterbury evidently needed a school-master to teach spelling, reading, and writing, and seemed quite as ready to evince gener- osity in that line, as in the former ; for to secure the presence of Jere- miah, Jr., and Caleb, two sons of Mr. Peck, they were offered the second grand division of the three held by the township. Caleb declined his allotments, and the one-half of the propriety was dedi- cated to "the school." Jeremiah Peck, Junior, was probably Waterbury's early, if not earliest school-master. Reverend Jere- miah Peck himself, was master of the Colony school at New Haven, twenty-nine years before he came to Waterbury.
The year 1689 was a memorable one in our history. The need for the services and consolations expected from the minister was then imperative. "A distemper of sore throat and fever " passed through the colony. Secretary Allen in writing to Governor Brad- street, under date of August 9, wrote: "It is a very sickly time in most of our plantations, in some, near two-thirds of our people are confined to their beds or houses, and it is feared some suffer from want of tendance, and many are dead amongst us, and the great drought begins to be very afflictive." No session of the General Court could be held in August, because the Assistants were ill. Mr. Wadsworth, one of the members and the last survivor of the Com- mittee for Mattatuck, died in September. In Windsor, twenty-nine persons died within thirty-six days. In New London more than twenty deaths are recorded. We have no means of knowing the number of persons who fell victims to the disease in Waterbury. Through the Probate Court, we learn of the death in that summer or autumn of three of Waterbury's proprietors ; the eldest man in the community-Robert Porter, and Philip Judd-the last proprietor whose autograph has been found appended to the Plantation Agree-
213
WATERBURY IN 1689.
ment. He came to Waterbury in 1677, with his wife Hannah, who was a daughter of Thomas Loomis of Windsor, and their three chil- dren, Philip, Thomas and Hannah. Two children, William and Benjamin, were born in Waterbury. According to Dr. Bronson, "he was the first of the original proprietors who died in Water- bury." The inventory of the estate of Robert Porter was presented to the Court, September 18, 1689, while that of Philip Judd was not received until November 2. Robert Porter's son Benjamin, also died in 1689. Joseph Hickox was the first of the planters of 1681 to die. He removed to Woodbury about 1686, where he joined the church in May of that year, and his son Samuel was baptized there in Sep- tember of the same year. Benjamin Jones' estate appears in the Probate Court at New Haven, in 1690. It is not known whether the dead of 1689 were interred in Waterbury, or were carried to Farm- ington. John Warner made his will when about to leave Farming- ton for Mattatuck, and requested, in the event of his death, to be laid with his kindred in the place of burial at Farmington. The earliest mention of the "Burying yard" in Waterbury, that has been noticed, is in the entry of the following land grant-made by John Hopkins in 1695: "The town grants to Edmund Scott a par- cel of land laying within the common fence, butting east on the burying yard, north on the fence, west on the highway." This highway, forming the western bound, was the highway to the old Town Plot. It ran across the meadows from present Willow street to the river.
In September the business before the Court was urgent and of the utmost importance; but so universal was the prevailing illness that fourteen deputies to that session were absent. Ensign Thomas Judd was of the number. England and France being at war, the misery of it extended to their colonies. The Frenchmen of Canada, and the Englishmen of New England, alike, sought the aid of their Indian allies. It was a war session of the Court. It was determined to raise two hundred volunteers together with the Indians who were willing to go forth against the enemy. "To guard Albany and invade the French toward Canada," two "foot companyes " were ordered to go forth to that city. One company was placed under the command of our Derby neighbor, Ebenezer Johnson, who " had liberty to beat up the drum for volunteers to serve under him in every plantation in New Haven and Fairfield coun- ties." It was at this time that the office of Lieutenant-Colonel was first recognized; the sergeant major of each company as well as all other officers, were placed under command of that magnate.
214
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Waterbury's list was to be made out in this year-apparently for the first time. "Tho. Judd, John Stanly and Isaack Brunson," being the appointed listers. John Stanly was also "confirmed Lnt and Thomas Judd ensigne of the trayne band of Waterbury." Water- bury's first commissioners were appointed, in the persons of Cap- tain Wm. Lewis and Captain John Stanly, who also served Farm- ington in the same capacity. This was the year when freemen were to be admitted into the corporation, "being twenty-one years of age, of peaceable, orderly, and good conversation, and possessed of forty shillings in country pay, per annum." Being duly endorsed by the selectmen of his plantation, each man so admitted was to be duly " enrowled " by the Secretary of the Colony. Waterbury had in this year ten young men who had arrived at the required age. They doubtless, were peaceable, orderly, and of good conversation, and, possibly, to make their eligibility complete, lands were granted to them. Two of the number had already been made proprietors, and one, Joseph Scott, seems not to have attempted to settle in Water- bury.
CHAPTER XVI.
BOOKS OF RECORD-THE PROPRIETORS' BOOK-THE PLACE WHERE THE MILL-STONES WERE BROUGHT OVER-THE NEW ROAD TO FARM- INGTON-THE FIRST SAW-MILL-THE TEN MILES OF SEQUESTERED LAND-THE MINISTER'S DIVISION OF FENCE-INDIAN OCCUPANCY -FORT SWAMP-THE LONG WIGWAM-THE SEVEN ACRE HOG FIELD -NOTES OF WAR-WATERBURY ENTERTAINS SOLDIERS-SCOUTING -MILITARY WATCHES.
T HE papers in the hands of the Assembly's Committee; the proprietors' record of their acts, commonly called "The Proprietors' Book ;" a Book of Grants, of which nothing remains but the index; a town book for conveyances of land, in which certain planters recorded lands which they owned at the time of record-the owners often satisfying themselves by simply announcing their ownership, together with the mention of the names of the persons from whom they had received the lands; and fourth, the Book of Town Meetings and Highways, are the sources from whence we derive our knowledge of the progress of the town during a large part of its first half-century. Into the book of town- meetings and highways, many grants from the Proprietors' Book were copied; but the old book itself would seem to have fallen into careless keeping, for much of it has disappeared. Dr. Bronson described it in 1857, as "an old, dingy manuscript of foolscap size, which he dug out of a mass of forgotten rubbish, found in a private family, and with many of the leaves at the end rent and broken, and exceedingly brittle when handled." In 1890, through the cour- tesy of Dr. Bronson, it was received from the New Haven County Historical Society, where it had been deposited for safe keeping in 1862. It contains twenty-six folio leaves, and its appearance, as here presented, testifies the accuracy of Dr. Bronson's description of thirty-five years ago. One leaf has been lost since 1857. This book is evidently the result of an effort made to preserve as much of the original as could be found at the time the leaves were sewed together in their present form. At a later date, additional records were prefixed, they having been made by Reverend John Southmayd, as proprietors' clerk. It contains the acts of sixty-three meetings. The earliest date is 1677-the latest, 1722. But two entries that were made before 1689, remain.
12
43
22
Long worten 31
fica
20/08-22
Stipron .ben
23
2
going feat -29
37
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38
Fog Anylon -. L.S
Salmiak umur 33
FIXEZ RielEX - 49
36
Mat Richafen -11
Jase Itanly.
widow vonneg - 1
30
Reverend brandon = 17
goofs parter . 20
Mill river, and on the common fence against sª Andrus 3 acre lot, given to Abraham Andrus, Senior, "a piece of land butting on the Under date of 1680 (according to the transcription), there was
PROPRIETORS' BOOK OF RECORD, 1677-1722.
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
216
from this book before its disintegration began, afford a glimpse of The following miscellaneous items found among those copied
the growth of the town :
14
21 7
FROM 1685 TO 1691.
provided it do not prejudice highways, and he build a house, or set up a tan yard." In 1681, Abraham Andrews, Senior, had a house on West Main street. He later built a house near the mill, but of the tan yard we find no mention. Soon after 1686, a decided effort was made to induce young men to build in the eastern part of the town, but this inducement to Andrews in 1680 suggests a probable error made by the copyist in the date. In 1685, Joseph Gaylord received two acres of boggy meadow, upon ye account of a corner of his house lot, [supposed to be the Irving Block corner], yt he hath con- sented to be layd out to ye highway." In 1686, the boggy meadow was increased by "four acres on ye north sd. his two acres lying at ye heather end ye pople grinlet, to join to yt and run northward till he hath his compliment." This was on Long Hill. In 1687, he received four acres more, described as "at Judd's meadows, in ye lo land np among ye hills in a kind of a popple swamp." These lands were on "Toantick " or Long Meadow brook, near where Samuel Warner settled, and in the vicinity of Butler's house of pre-historic interest, and where, at a later date, William De Forest lived.
In 1686, Stephen Upson received a grant of the ground his barn stood on, "to run a straight line to his gate post, and 4 acres for a pasture on the north side John Hopkins' three-acre lot the west side the Long hill." In 1687, he had "4 or 5 acres the north side the above, to spring to the hill at both ends." In 1686, "The town granted Srg. Judd five acres, to begin at the mouth of the brook that comes into Mill river where the mill stones were brought over." The next year he was granted an "addition to his five-acre lot at the Mad river from the mouth of the brook to the foot of the hill north- ward, and to take in the low land, to run an east line to a rock from the foot of the hill." These grants have been followed until we are able to identify the mouth of the brook where the mill-stones were brought over, as Beaver Pond brook. It is now often called Hog Pound brook, the name of a branch having been substituted for the main brook. It enters Mad river at the east end of the East pond of the Brass Mill company. The grants mentioned, together with a subsequent grant, lie on the west side of Mad river south of the house of Mr. James Porter, and extend from the mouth of the brook mentioned to the present Cheshire road. The rock, which was the landmark mentioned, is in the meadow on the west side of the river, between it and the low green hill in the meadow. The Plank road may perhaps be said to pass through the first of the three grants; the pumping station of the City Water works to be on the second-westerly from which, the bound rock lies; while the third extends to the present Cheshire road, (at that point, a portion of
218
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
the Farmington road of 1686). Thomas, a son of Lieutenant Judd, sold the land to Daniel Porter about 1717. Porter sold it to Isaac Spencer; Spencer to Joseph Hopkins, and Mr. James Porter is the pres- ent owner of a part, if not all of the land included within the origi- nal grants. From whence the mill-stones were brought, we do not know. There was a mill-stone maker at that date, named Barnes, in the western part of the Colony, but there is no proof that he made our mill-stones, or that he was related to our Benjamin Barnes. The elder Governor Winthrop in a letter to his son John, then in England, wrote: "Bring mill-stones-some two and some three feet over," and it seems probable that Waterbury's first mill-stones were imported, and that they were borne from New Haven along the ancient road from Milford to Farmington, until the Wallingford path to Waterbury was met. They were brought over Beaver Pond brook six years before the road from Waterbury to New Haven was ordered to be made.
In 1686, we find mention of a new road to Farmington. We get this in a grant to Philip Judd, made the year before he died, when he received "eight or ten acres on the east side of the branch of the Mad river on the right hand of the new road as we go to Farming- ton." This grant was long known as Philip's meadow, and is on the east side of Linsley, Linley or Lindly brook, which was prob- ably named from a family of "Lindsleys." While still of Bran- ford, they owned land in Farmingbury Society in Waterbury, in 1780 and later.
We obtain our first knowledge of the road from Cook street to Pine Hole, from a grant in 1686 to Abraham Andrews, of "five acres for a pasture upon the Little brook where the way shall begin at the north end of the plain above the Flaggy swamp and so to run across the swamp to the foot of the hill at the east side-and if he goes away, it shall return to the town again."
The earliest intimation of a saw-mill comes in like manner. Samuel Hikcox, Jr., had arrived at an age to receive land, and was granted "three acres at the Pine swamp by the path that leads to the saw-mill on the brink of the hill taking in all the swamp." This swamp lies this side of Grange Hall on Saw-Mill plain, and the Meri- den road crosses it. The above grant establishes the fact that there was 207 years ago a saw-mill on or at the site now occupied by the "Leather Works" of Mr. William Rutter. The complete history of that mill site from the time of its occupancy in 1686, or earlier, down to the present time is doubtless within the range of possibilities. There was a gun factory there, I think, during the War of the Revolution; certainly in 1800.
219
FROM 1685 TO 1691.
It was quite reasonable and natural that the northeastern sec- tion of the township-that lying nearest to Farmington, should first be selected for occupancy; but after a time the proprietors recognizing that the lands in that direction were rapidly disappear- ing into the hands of individuals, resolved to prevent the lay-out of more grants, near the town, on that side. Accordingly, late in 1686, it was decided that "all the boggy meadows east from the town fence two miles north and southward from the town, should be sequestered for common lands." The same day, it was determined that not only the boggy meadows, but " all the land on the east side the fence around to the Mill river and to the East Mountain and north- ward to David's brook, should be and remain as common land." The original proprietors understood the terms of this sequestration, but the generation of twenty years later, seemed to require a new statement concerning it, and in 1707, the proprietors sequestered "for the use of the town two miles from the corner of East Main and Cherry streets eastward, or, in the language of the act, 'two miles from the going down of the hill beyond Thomas Hikcox house east, and then from it two miles north and two miles south, and then to run at each end west to the common fence.'" Within this area, which must have included about ten square miles of the township, as it ran from David's brook on the north to the Long Meadow falls on the south, were the common pastures. Waterbury was unique in its possession of a Horse pasture, a local name not yet entirely unfamiliar to the ear. "Ways for drifts of cattle " into the common pasture were frequently provided for, notably that one across the Mad river at Baldwin street. In this sequestered land, any inhab- itant might take fire wood, timber, or stone, but he might not lay out any grant of land within it.
The "Proprietor's Book," as we now have it, contains none of the grants cited. They belong to the portions of it that have dis- appeared. The single entry of 1677 which it contains, records the removal of the town site from Town Plot. In 1686, we are given the apportionment of the minister's fence in five divisions of the common fence. This, it will be remembered, is the date of the town's admission into the Colony, and is three years before the arrival of Mr. Peck. This intimation, taken in connection with the other evidence which has been adduced, seems to determine the presence of a minister in Waterbury from 1686 to 1688, if not at a still earlier date.
It is from this book that we learn that Waterbury possessed a " Long Wigwam." Long wigwams were built for special uses, and were designed for the accommodation of assemblies of Red Men.
220
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
They are described under that name by the earliest travelers in New England, who have left their observations upon record. Much time has been spent in a careful investigation of the region lying between the eastern bound of the sequestered lands, and the western bound of the ancient township of Farmington. By this investiga- tion, together with a most careful and exhaustive search of our town records, a line of Indian highway, and as we believe, of Indian occu- pancy, has been found dotted with Indian place names, and extend- ing certainly from Farmington's west-bound to a point north of Waterbury's village plot of 1689. It lies along the region that may be designated as bounding the land on its northern side that was sold by the Tunxis Indians in 1674, to the men of Mattatuck. We find within our borders that crowning evidence of Indian occupancy -a fort swamp. It lay north and west of the road to Farmington. The Meriden road passes through this swamp east of the house of George Hitchcock. A broad point of land extending into it, and now occupied by a house, formed an excellent site for an Indian fortress; while a brook called Fort Swamp brook flows out of the northwest part of the swamp, runs west, northwest and north into Lilly brook. Before reaching the brook it divides itself into several streams which uniting again form two streams, one flowing on either side of a small hill whence they enter Lilly Brook.
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