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 34
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In Welton's meadow on Feb. 2, 1727-8 Henry Cook of Litchfield and Daniel Rose of Branford bought of Gershom and Abigail Fulford, Thomas and Mary Porter-heirs of Stephen Welton-two thirds of a lot of land "supposed to be ten acres more or fewer lying towards the upper end of the bounds that was our grand- fathers, John Welton's deceased." Feb. 1, 1727-8, or the day before, Cook and Rose had bought of Thomas and Mary Porter twenty acres to be taken up in the undivided lands, and the next day they had it laid out on the west side of Welton's meadow. Jan. 14, 1728, nineteen and a half acres were laid out to the same parties "at
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a place called Welton's meadow," and the same day still another "triangle " piece of thirteen acres, both pieces having been bought of Jonathan Scott, Jun. April 10, 1730, Henry Cook had laid out, " a little southwest of Twich Grass brook," on John Stanley, Junior's, bachelor lot (which poor John had so much difficulty in securing) a diamond shaped piece of land that contained one hundred acres,- this he sold the same year to Jeremiah Hull. Before Jan. 10, 1731, Cook had built a house in Welton's meadow, for he sold at that date to Elnathan Beach of New Cheshire forty acres from the south end of his farm on the west side the river, joining to the river, and in 1733 he owned a house lot of seventy acres with the river running through it, about fourteen acres of which were east of the river. This farm, with a house and other buildings, fruit trees, and fences-all upon the west-side portion of it-he sold in 1733 to Ebenezer Elwell of Branford, and Gideon Allyn of Guilford. In 1730 he gave John Standly, Jr. of Kensington £70 in bills of public credit for his £40 interest in the township. He laid out one hundred acres, with Rose, at the West Branch, in 1730; over a hun- dred with Mr. Thomas Brooks, merchant, of Boston, at Poland (then, in Waterbury) in 1731; while numerous other purchases and lay outs filled the time until 1735, when Mr. Southmayd conveyed to him fifty-three acres. After the sale of his first house to Eben- ezer Elwell, he built another house, or at least he sold land in 1737 to John Humaston of New Haven, described as "sixty-nine acres with a house upon it, with the buildings, fencing, fruit trees, timber, stones, watering and appurtenances." This deed, his wife, Sarah, (who must have been his third wife) signed with him. The land was "by Litchfield line "-bounded north " on land left for a high- way by Litchfield bounds." In 1739, he had a house at Poland, with " a brook running on the east side of it." In 1748 Henry Cook and his son Henry Cook quit-claimed to Samuel and Enoch Curtice "lands at Poland, originally called Lewis and Judd lots, excepting one hundred and twenty-five acres." Upon this one hundred and twenty-five acres that he reserved his house stood. We have found Henry Cook, of Litchfield in 1727-of Waterbury in 1729, at which time he went to Branford and sold to Josiah Rogers of that town twelve acres of land in Waterbury; and the next year we find him selling to Joseph Chittenden of Wallingford fifty-three acres (Chittenden calling him, "my father, Henry Cook);" to Dr. Jeremiah Hull of Wallingford one hundred acres; to Samuel Towner (Cook calling him "brother Towner ") land " seven score rods north from his house," and to Elnathan Beach, of New Cheshire, forty acres off the south end of his farm-and all, before the close of 1731. The first settler of any town holds, as such, an unique position,
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and we have given space to information that may serve to identify the site of Henry Cook's first, and subsequent habitations. We have found him to be a man of courage, enterprise, and a spirit that withstood injustice. While he was, apparently, one of the foremost promoters of the established church, he seems to have been so incensed one year at having his property four-folded, or put into the list at four times its value-when perhaps the river was so high that he could not get to the Town Spot with his tax- list-that the next year he went over to the Church of England.
While we are not able to present to view the face of Henry Cook, the soldier of the wilderness, we are able to give as his repre- sentative that of his soldier grandson, Lemuel Cook. He was, it is believed, the last survivor of the men who made possible the United States of North America. He was born in Waterbury (Northbury Society), it is believed in 1764, and was the second Lemuel born to Henry Cook and Hannah Benham-the first Lemuel having died in 1760. The Court of Probate at Woodbury, named a Lemuel among the living children of Henry Cook, deceased, in 1772. The History of Kirkland, New York, states that he died May 21, 1869, aged one hundred and four years- but a letter from his youngest grandchild, Louis P. Cook, of Clarendon, N. Y., informs us that he died May 20th, 1866.
Early in 1730 Ebenezer Blakeslee of New Haven be- came the owner of sixty acres, in two pieces, lying "in att and about the place common- ly called and known by the name of twich Grass Mea- dow ;" Joseph Hurlburt, of seventeen acres, in two pieces, one of them on a plain north of the meadow ; and Joseph Chittenden built a house that he sold to Bar- nabas Ford. It was a small LEMUEL COOK AT THE AGE OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS ; THE LAST SURVIVOR OF THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. house, and it or its successor became the center of the society that was later formed. As will be seen, the name of the region from 1730 to 1732 was "Twich " Grass Meadow. Before the close of the year 1732, so great was the activity of Henry Cook and his friends that when it became necessary to
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group together, for taxation, the fifty-two men who represented the inhabitants living at Woster (Watertown), Pine Meadow (Rey- nolds Bridge), and Twitch Grass Meadow (Thomaston), or all that region lying between Oakville and the north bound of the town- ship-Samuel Hikcox and David Scott, the listers, inscribed on the title page of the small tax-book the following: "The List of North Burey in Waterbury," ignoring Wooster Swamp completely, and giving to Twitch Grass Meadow and all the region thercabout the name of Northbury seven years before it was conferred upon the ecclesiastical society incorporated by legal authority.
The near presence of the hill, from whence the men of Farming- ton took specimens of ore in 1657, may have been an inciting cause in gathering inhabitants, and could the inner history of the period from 1730 to 1735 be revealed, we should doubtless find that for- tunes were dreamed of in the upper valley of the Great river by more men than poor John Sutliff (the grandson or great-grandson of the settler), who lived, and toiled, and died, in later years, in the full belief that the earth of Northbury stood ready to give forth treasures in metals to the faithful seeker. It is said that he made reservations relating to mines and minerals in all deeds that he gave, and the place is still pointed out where he, single handed, carried on his mining operations. It will be remembered that the staid planters living at the Town Spot (including Deacon Judd) owned, against English Grass meadow, "a place called the mines " in 1735. Who can tell how many "specimens " Henry Cook carried with him when he went forth to induce Elnathan Beach, Dr. Jere- miah Hull, Josiah Rogers, Joseph Chittenden, Samuel and Phineas Towner, Samuel and Enoch Curtiss, and Samuel Cook, merchant, to become purchasers of Northbury lands, or what inducements he held forth to Mr. Thomas Brooks of Boston, to invest with him in lands at Poland ! Seven years later we find Mr. Brooks buying half an acre " on the plain a little north of the turn of Poland river, north of his own and Cook's land." In this connection it should be mentioned that the name of a branch of the Naugatuck river was changed at about the time of the settlement of North- bury-from the East Branch to Lead Mine brook; also, that the brook enters the river at a point quite near the place opposite English Grass meadow, where marks still remain which may be attributed to attempts at mining in view of the recorded evidence of such an attempt having been there made. Not far below this lead mine section begins the tract of country once known as Henry Cook's (first) farm whose southerly end lay in Welton's meadow, which in turn extended to Andrew's meadow on which the upper portion of the village of Thomaston is built-its center standing on
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" Twich Grass Meadow plain," the meadow of that name lying below the village.
In so far as our researches extend, it appears that Isaac Castle (a son of the soil, his mother being the daughter of John Richard- son) was probably at Northbury soon after the arrival of Cook and Rose, for, as early as February, 1728, he sold his house and ten acres of land "by the highway that goes to Scott's mountain," to Capt. Thomas Judd, and removed to the northward. The present railroad bridge at Thomaston is in Isaac Castle's meadow of 1744, through which a highway was laid at that date.
We will not follow in detail the various petitions that were sent to the Town and to the General Assembly that led to the formation of the Society of Northbury, but refer the reader to Dr. Bronson's "History of Waterbury " and to the Rev. E. B. Hillard's article on "The Church in Plymouth," in "The Churches of Matta- tuck: 1892. Edited by Joseph Anderson, S. T. D.," where may be found extended statements. Neither of the above writers however seems to have taken notice that the town discriminated in favor of the Society at Westbury, and against that at Northbury.
The first intimation of the desire of the northwest inhabitants to absent themselves from the new meeting house during the winter months appears, in our Town Records, in the appointment of the town deputies to "answer a memorial brought to the General Assembly in October, 1732." Not a word is said of opposing it, and the court granted the petition by giving liberty to the inhabitants to hire a minister to preach the Gospel to them during the months asked for, for the space of four years-from 1732 to 1736. Dr. Bron- son tells us that in the spring of 1733 (only five months after the first petition was granted) the same inhabitants asked the General Assembly to set them off as a distinct society. Before the May ses- sion at which the above prayer was offered, on April 3, 1733, the town convened for the one purpose of considering the condition of the Northern inhabitants, and "agreed by vote that there might be a Society in the Northwest Quarter of the bounds of sd. Waterbury in a convenient time," and chose "Capt. William Judd, Lieut. Sam- uel Hikcox, Mr. Joseph Lewis, Mr. John Sutliff, Mr. Isaac Bronson and Capt. William Hikcox as a committee to agree upon and settle the bounds between the Society called the North Society and the old Town." Three weeks before the above meeting, the proprietors held a meeting, at which they sequestered three miles square of land-making the center of the sequestered land "the center" of the Society that shall there be allowed." This sequestration pre- vented the layout of any additional land within that territory, and has been considered as an act inimical to the best interests of the
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proposed society-but there is another view of it that ought, at least, to be considered. In 1736 the proprietors had found it necessary to look after their timber in the undivided lands "that there might be no trespass upon it from out of town men," and in all settlements, commons were a vital need. The proprietors of Waterbury had abundant commons for the Town Spot, in which were common past- ures, one for horses, and one for cattle, and in which the wood, timber and stone were the common property of all the inhabitants, and it is abundantly proven that anywhere in the commons men built houses both early and late-a right to do so being generally respected. Why may we not then consider this sequestration evi- dence of paternal regard for the future welfare of the village of Wooster? Many acres had already been laid out within the bounds whose title remained to the owners thereof, and it will be remem- bered that this sequestration was made, not by the town, but by the owners of the soil. If enacted simply to wait for the time of increased values, we must consider it a little worldly and advanced perhaps, but natural, in view of the sudden and increased demand for lands that had arisen.
March 14, 1734, a town meeting was held, at which " it was voted that the inhabitants of the northwest corner of Waterbury shall have a liberty without being interrupted by sd town to make their application to the General Assembly in May next for a committee to appoint a line between the town and the northwest part of the town, sd Petitioners being att the charge of the committe." This was the only business before the meeting, and Isaac Bronson was the moderator. A fortnight later, March 26, 1734, another meeting was held, at which Capt. Wm. Hikcox was moderator. At this meeting "A rate of a penny of money on the pound was laid to sup- ply the town with a stock of powder and lead." After the appoint- ment of the collector for the above rate, the meeting adjourned for one hour. It met in the afternoon according to adjournment, when "the town voted that a committee should be chosen by the town to consider the circumstances of the northwest part of the town and settle a line in order to make a Society in the northwest part of the town and voted that the worshipfull Joseph Whiting Sqr., Capt. Roger Nuton of Milford, Capt. John Russel of Branford be a committee to consider the circumstances of the town as above sd and to settle a line as above sd." The committee was to be called in sometime in the March following. In all of the above public expressions by the town I fail to find a straw of opposition. That nothing should be done in a hurry-seems to be the general tone of the town, towards the dwellers on the margin of Wooster Swamp.
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October 7, 1734, before the above committee had been "called in," a bill was laid before the town meeting "desiring that a com- mittee be chosen among themselves to set out the village in the northwest Quarter of the Bounds and other villages pertaining to the Town." By this, it will be seen that the town was fully alive to the fact that disintegration lay before it. The following was the bill which was acted upon:
Whereas att A Town Meeting In Waterbury upon March Last, warned In par- ticular for to Grant A Rate for A Town Stock there was some Other things Irregularly Done att the same meeting which are Matters of Weight, and We Judge beyond the Jurisdiction of That mceting and also to the Great Dissatisfaction of many people we would therefore urge that the same Buisness may be re-considered and the votes then past. which seem to be repugnant to the Common Interest of the town may be nul'd and made voide-and for the Effecting the buisness there In proposed of Setling the Society we chuse a Committee Among our selves to set out that and the other villages pertaining to the Town, which we Judge will be more Easie and for the better Contentment of the Town In General than to Com- mit It to strangers. Voted in the affirmative.
It will be noticed that Waterbury still avoided foreign committees and that this bill was simply to correct the mistakes that had been made, and did not annul the vote relating to the Society.
Now, at the same meeting in which the above change of com- mittee was made regarding the society at Wooster, the Twich Grass Meadow people "Henry Cook, Ebenezer Elwell, Samuel Towner, &c., laid before the Town a memorial-desiring a liberty to hire a Gospel minister for some time the next winter, and having their minister's rate abated for the same term of time. The town voted they would do nothing in the case."
The special reason why the town favored present Watertown, but seemed reluctant to grant the same extent of privilege to pres- ent Thomaston and Plymouth may perhaps be found in the friendly and paternal regard it felt for its very own, at Wooster. The peo- ple at Twitch Grass Meadow were strangers to the soil and the town very evidently wished to keep them closely under its own observation, or under that of the hamlet at Wooster. Wooster also needed help in sustaining Gospel preaching, and the Up River people, then living in present Thomaston, could get to Wooster without crossing the Great river.
The town meeting records are missing at this point for all of the year 1735 and for the larger part of 1736, and we have no proprie- tor's records for 1734 after April-none for 1735, and none in 1736 until the close of the year.
CHAPTER XXV.
EVENTS PRECEDING THE FORMATION OF WESTBURY SOCIETY-MR. SOUTH- MAYD RESIGNS THE PASTORATE OF THE FIRST CHURCH-WEST- BURY SOCIETY INCORPORATED-ITS INHABITANTS-HOUSES AT OAKVILLE-THE EARLY HOUSES OF WATERTOWN-THE SCOTT MILLS -SCOTT'S MOUNTAIN-PATTAROON HILL-HIKCOX HILL-WELTON HILL-THE REV. JOHN TRUMBULL-OTHER EVENTS.
T HE future historian of Watertown will find an interesting and profitable field in which to glean facts for the rebuilding of that township; facts which we may not introduce in this mere glance at the past of that portion of ancient Waterbury. The old town seems to have been unduly censured for delaying its growth; whereas, the town was willing-far more so than the "Colonial Authority," that her eldest child, whose maiden name was "Woster" should be introduced to winter privileges, and be received into "a separate and distinct " society of its own-its only insistence being that every thing be done decently and in legal order. One cannot avoid admiring the persistent endeavors made by the young thing to go alone, and its very audacity in answering nega- tive answers with louder knocks of petition seems at last to have wearied the General Assembly into consent. The winter of 1737 must have seemed long to the waiting people, waiting for Capt. John Riggs, Capt. Isaac Dickerman and Mr. John Fowler to appear and view their surroundings and circumstances, and tell them, whether in their judgment, the plan for an ecclesiastical society ought to be carried out, and great must have been the disappoint- ment-the winter being past and the May session ended-to learn that because two of the men named visited Watertown, and the third man stayed at home, the Assembly declined to accept the report, but appointed another committee to go over the ground, and set the bounds for the new society if it pleased them to think there should be one. The same men were at the same time to inform the town, and if the town chose to have them do it, and in case it was willing to pay them the cost of the proceeding, they were to view the other parts of the town-present Thomaston and Plymouth- and make report of their acts and thoughts in October, 1738. It was in September of 1738 that Messrs. John Fowler of Milford, and Samuel Bassett and Gideon Johnson of Derby, made the journey to Waterbury, where they were met by Deacon Joseph Lewis, Capt.
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Samuel Hikcox, Capt. William Judd, Capt. Timothy Hopkins and Mr. Thomas Blackslee, who escorted them through Woster .. It was no mean journey performed by that committee, as the report evidenced. Probably Watertown has never received more import- ant visitors, and it is unnecessary to suggest that it was an interesting and exciting occasion-for the fate of every man, woman and child lay in the hands of the three men. They and they alone could save two hundred and thirty-seven persons from journeying every Sun- day from the far-away hills and valleys of river and stream to the meeting house on Waterbury Green.
It is impossible to pass in review before the events of this period without being impressed with the conviction that Mr. Southmayd's heart was burdened and sorrowful beyond hope by the turning away of so many feet from his ministrations, and that he was influ- enced in his resignation of the pastoral office by passing events, although no word of lament appears in the fine and manly docu- ment preserved by his own hand in our records, in which he tells his people why he must withdraw from the ministry. Mr. South- mayd's words spoken in 1737, were explained in 1891, when upon the disinterment of his remains, it was found that at the time of his death he was unable to turn his head. In view of the above dis- covery, the following letter of resignation is of peculiar interest:
APRILL 1738.
To the Deacons and Townsmen in Waterbury to Communicate to the Church and Inhabitants of sd Town.
Beloved Breathren and Neighbours. I the Subscriber, being under great Diffi- culty and infirmity of Body and it being such as I fear will never wear off but increase and grow upon me which makes my care and concern very Burthensome and Distressing, so that the publick work I am engaged in is too much for me and having served you under very great Difficulty now almost two years and being quite discouraged as to getting well and finding that a sedentary life is very Destruc- tive to my health and being very far advanced in years and willing and desirous to Retire from my Public work in the ministry in which I have been with you about 38 years to the best of my ability and am now Desirous to live more privately. I take this opportunity for these reasons and many more which might be mentioned to signify to you that I am willing and heartily Desirous that you would get some person whom you can affect and pitch upon to come among you and preach the Gospel here and to be with you in order to a settlement as soon as conveniently may be In the work of the ministry, and I desire you would be as speedy in the thing as may be for I think I cannot serve you any longer, which Request I hope you will be most Ready and forward to comply with and Oblidge your friend and Distressed Minister who sincerely desires your welfare and prosperity both Spirit- ual and temporal and his own Ease and freedom. Desiring the continuance of your prayers for me I subscribe myself your well wisher,
JOHN SOUTHMAYD.
2I
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It would seem that a special town meeting was called on April 20th, 1738, to receive the above resignation. The memorial was con- sidered and the town voted to call another minister, but requested Mr. Southmayd to continue to serve them as far as he was able. It then adjourned for five days, and met to appoint a committee, who, after seeking the advice of Mr. Southmayd and neighboring elders, was to " call " a minister. Under the circumstances it is not surprising to find that Mr. Southmayd had not received his full salary for some time. In settlement he offered to take froo in money and to have the use of the Little Pasture as long as he lived. To this proposi- tion that christian gentleman added: "If that can't be agreed to, I am willing to leave it to some Indifferent persons to say what is Just and Reasonable to be done and to settle as to temporals between me and my People, with whom I have spent the best of my days, and abide by their judgement in the case."
It is pleasant to find that there was not one dissenting voice heard in the town meeting, and that Mr. Southmayd's proposal was at once accepted. It was at this meeting that the committee was appointed to meet the Assembly's committee, and guide them to Watertown and Plymouth.
The committee reported in October, whereupon the General Assembly "Resolved:
That the northwest quarter of Waterbury beginning at the line dividing between the towns of Waterbury and Woodbury, at the southwest corner of Capt. William Judd's great farm, and to continue eastward by the southside of Judd's farm to the southeast corner thereof; and from thence to extend to the southeast corner of the old farm of Joseph Nickols, late deceased [1733]; and from thence northeastwardly unto the place where Williams's corn-mill now stands; from thence an eastwardly course to the southwest corner of Jonathan Prindle's farm, including the said Prindle's; and from the southeast corner of said Prindle's farm easterly to the river, and then to run northerly by the river, the river being the east bounds thereof, until it comes where the west Branch enters the main river and then run- ning as the West Branch runs to Litchfield bounds; and then running westerly as the line runs between the towns of Waterbury and Litchfield until it comes to Woodbury town line, and then running southerly by the line between Waterbury and Woodbury to the forementioned corner of Capt. William Judd's farm, shall be, and is hereby made, a distinct ecclesiastical society, with the same rights and priv- ileges of such societies in this government, and shall hereafter be called and known by the name of Westberry.
The following list of families, and the number of persons in each family, was reported by the committee to be living in 1738 within the above bounds.
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