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 39
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WATERBURY LANDS HELD BY NON-RESIDENT OWNERS.
Morris of New Haven sold his land to Joseph Guernsey of Milford, as did many other land owners; Caleb Hendrick of Wallingford bought of Jacob Johnson for £100, 80 acres "about three miles east from the town, near Doctor Hull's land. This is a peculiar deed, in that it contains the following : " To have and to hold all that is therein, thereon, or any wayes thereunto appertaining, As mines, minerals, wood, Timber, stones, water, Water Courses, Turff and Twigg," suggesting mining operations on East mountain. Nathaniel Beadle, John and Eleazer Hurd of Strat- ford, and Joseph Harris of Ridgefield, own land in Waterbury; there was a Free Holders Court held at Richard Welton's house on Buck's Hill to determine to whom a seven-acre orchard, or seven acres with an orchard on it, belonged; Mrs. Susanna Munson of New Haven obtained a Village lot; Samuel Scott of Derby bought four acres on the northwest corner of Drum hill; Mr. James Bradley of North Haven secured the right to lay out 100 acres of school land for 999 years-making 385 acres of school lands sold in 1734; Ebenezer Hikcox sold out all his lands and rights of land in Waterbury, except the acre on which his mill stood at Judd's meadows; John Humaston of New Haven bought 20 acres to be taken up in the undivided land; Thomas and Samuel Barnes sold their father's Town Plot house lot to Mr. Daniel Curtice of Stratford; Bantum Swamp and Great Pond in Litchfield are mentioned; in the sale of the Long Meadow School lot it was bounded south "upon land that belongs to the heirs of old Giffer John Bronson." This name, applied to John Bronson, the planter, occurs a number of times in the records.
In 1735 Thomas Matthews Jr. of Wallingford bought of Thomas Andrews a house and 69 acres of land, described as next Woodbury, and by the road that goes to Woodbury; Stephen Hopkins had a saw mill at Judd's meadow; Joseph Guern- sey, Jr. of Milford bought of Josiah Platt of Milford land "at a place called the North Village." Mr. John How of Wallingford invested £355 in a house and lands up the river; Deacon Samuel Brown became the owner of the Irving Block corner, and other lands; Captain William Judd began the purchase of his great farm two miles and a half out on the Woodbury road, by buying of Ebenezer Bronson three houses and numerous lands on Two-and-a-half-Mile and on Three-Mile hills- beside the little "two and-a-quarter rod" piece at Sandy Hollow that Ebenezer had bought for a Sabbath Day house of Joseph Smith, when Smith owned the Henry Scovill place; Benjamin Hikcox conveyed to Mary Hikcox and her son Thomas all his land rights; Benajah Stone sold land up the river; Nathaniel and Timothy Stanley, both of Farmington, sold to Martha Smith, wife of Thomas of that town, 100 acres off a larger tract that was conveyed to their father. Lieut. John Stanley; Samuel Wooster and Else, his wife, of Derby, sold to Nathaniel Gunn land at Poland, originally laid out to Stephen Welton, deceased; Samuel Moss con- veyed his right in 400 acres lying between the Spruce Swamp and the West Branch; Samuel Baker of Branford invested {16 in a Village lot, which he at once trans- ferred to Robert Foot of New Haven; a deed went upon record, whereby we learn that twenty proprietors of Waterbury united in 1725, in giving to Nathaniel Arnold 63 acres in the undivided lands, doubtless to induce so desirable a citizen to live in Waterbury; Daniel Tommus of West Haven began to buy lands; Basill Dixwell, formerly of Boston, but then resident in New Haven-a silver-smith- conveyed to Captain Moses Mansfield of New Haven part of a £50 right in the town, purchased by his grandfather, Mr. John Prout; Mrs. Susanna Munson of New Haven bought a Village lot; John Morgan of Norwich bought 100 acres; Stephen and Isaac Hopkins, brothers, who had held their lands in common, agreed to divide them-both having dwelling houses in the eastern part of the town; Daniel Curtiss of Stratford bought a £40 right in the township, originally Benjamin
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Warner's; Nathan Tuttle bought land of Edward Scovill; Nathaniel Gunn augmented his possessions by paying to Joseph Lewis, Jr., £390 in money for 110 acres and two houses; Eunice Welton of Durham conveyed land at Poland and at the Village; Ezekiel Welton of Milford Town obtained 7 acres at Isaac's meadow bars; James Smith of Haddam gave {226 money for four pieces of land northward of Scott's mountain; and Israel Richardson had removed to Sunderland, Mass.
In 1736, the forty-year-old deed by which Isaac Bronson obtained the lands of Thomas Newell when he removed to Farmington in 1696, is placed upon record; Amos Matthews of Wallingford obtains 57 acres of Thomas Andrews' land; Hannah Tompkins of Woodbury, for £100, gets three village lots of 16 acres and 20 rods each, and parts of three other lots; Jonathan Baldwin buys of John Bronson the land lying in the point between the Mad river and the Naugatuck river-two acres in extent; Abigail Woodbridge of Hartford sells to John Warner land of her mother, Elizabeth Wilson (widely known for her ability as a financier); Samuel Frost of Wallingford secures his first land in Waterbury; there is paid out of the Waterbury town treasury fifty shillings in money to Elnathan Taylor for "a triangle piece of land containing half an acre and fifty-two rods" in present Thomaston "for a burying place for the inhabitants of the town of Waterbury, lying on the plain by Elnathan Taylor's house, a little north of it and north of Twitch Grass brook "; Samuel Baker of Branford buys for £400 current money land in The Vil- lage; Abel Gunn of Derby buys of his brother Nathaniel the 30 acres at Judd's meadows, with two houses on it, which Nathaniel had bought of Joseph Lewis; Mary Tuttle of Woodbury has 50 acres laid out on her father Daniel Warner's right; John Rumrill buys a slice of Joseph Lathrop's 400 acres at the West Branch; Shadrach Seager of Wallingford buys 60 acres next south of Mr. Read's great farm, next Wallingford bounds; Lemuel Baker had worked for Joseph Lathrop three years and some months, and was to labor two months more for 100 acres of land lying near the West Branch; four Wells brothers, all of Stratford, give to their six sisters-four of them married-200 acres in the northern part of the township; Joseph Prime of Woodbury sells to Sergeant Moses Johnson of that town 209 acres near Break Neck hill.
In 1737 Mr. Benjamin Prichard of Milford bought of Obadiah Warner, for £190 in money, 50 acres at Buck's Hill, with a house and barn upon it; Mr. Samuel Baker of Branford, 60 acres at Scott's mountain; Richard Porter of New Haven sold to John Bronson his lands at Popple meadow; Mr. Josiah Terrill of Milford paid James Brown £814 in money, for his possessions "at and about Judd's meadow on the east side of the river "-eight parcels in all, including his house; Daniel Tommus of West Haven had become Daniel Thomas of Waterbury, when he sold to Josiah Terrell 20 acres that he bought of his father Brown, at Judd's Meadow; James Poisson of Hartford quit claimed land to John Southmayd, Jr., made over to him by order of the General Court from the estate of Israel Richard- son, deceased; Mr. Benjamin Harrison of Branford bought III acres, with a house and barn upon it, of the land that the brothers, Stephen and Isaac Hopkins, had but lately divided, lying in the eastern part of the township; Mr. Samuel Todd of New Haven purchased 30 acres of division land, formerly belonging to Joseph Prime of Woodbury; John Alcock secured a {20 right in the sequestered and undi- vided lands; Mr. John Smith of East Haddam expended £194 in Waterbury lands; Stephen Curtice and Zachariah Sanford of New Haven, {200; Mr. Samuel Cook of Wallingford, {200; Mrs. Abigail Tanner of New Haven, £200; Mr. John Hummes- ton of New Haven, £425 in money, paid to Mr. Southmayd; Samuel Linsley of Branford, £90; Nathan Beard, " Plough Right," secured land from a dozen own-
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WATERBURY LANDS HELD BY NON-RESIDENT OWNERS.
ers; Nathan and Mary Prindle sold to their brother, Nathaniel Arnold, the house and land on which they were living in April, 1737; and, in December of the same year, Arnold conveyed it to Ephraim Warner, Jr., and Ebenezer Judd-as "4 acres with a house, shop, Fulling mill and tainters thereon, the press Iron plate and other materials for dressing of cloth, lying eastward from the town by the highway to Buck's Hill;" Moses Tayler and James Pumroy of Hartford obtained of Robert Foot of Branford his portion of a Village lot, and bought another of John Scovill; Moses Taylor and James Pumroy of Hartford bought the 32d. lot in The Village, of John Scovill. In 1737 Abraham Utter had left Waterbury, for he is called "of the Oblong or Woster Sheer in Duchers County, in the province of New York in America." . In this year also, Isaac Trowbridge expended £360, and Thomas Foot £163 in land; John Morris of New Haven bought 10 acres at the mouth of Hog Pound brook-that is, near the East Farms school house; James Wakelin of Stratford, land at Judd's Meadow; Jacob Blakeslee of New Haven, 100 acres up the river; Nathan Tuttle, "living on the Oblong," sold his Popple meadow land; Israel Richardson "of Sunder Land," son of Israel, and grandson of Thomas, sold his father's Bachelor right to Capt. Timothy Hopkins; Samuel Sher- wood of New Milford. Joshua and Mary Judson, Abraham and Elizabeth Curtice, Gershom and Sarah Edwards, Thomas and Phebe Uffoot, and Samuel Sherwood of New Milford, sold rights in land.
In 1738, Nathan and Hannah Gaylord of New Milford, and Samuel Sherwood of the same place, sell rights in lands; Mathew Blakslee of Wallingford receives the gift of land; Mr. John Smith of East Haddam removes to Waterbury to take pos- session of his lands, for which he has paid £508; the Rev. Mr. Todd owns 115 acres, about this time; William Ludington of New Haven buys land between Shum's orchard and the river (in the north part of the township); Joseph Lothrop writes himself " of Norwich;" Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis, wife of Joseph of Derby, buys eight parcels of land; Samuel Cowle Sent of Wallingford, John Morgan of Norwich, Shadrach Sagar and Daniel Clark of Wallingford, are land owners. Mr. Roger Prichard of Milford buys of John Warner a house and barn and 20 acres of land on Buck's Hill; David and Ruth Johnson (the youngest daughter of Joseph Gaylord, the planter), of Durham. convey all rights in Waterbury lands to Benjamin Judd; Edmund Tompkins of Woodbury buys for {170, in money, half of the grist mill at Oakville of James Williams, including a house and lands, and Samuel Root of Farmington, fifty acres on Three Mile hill.
In 1739 Daniel and Lydea Pardy of New Haven sell II acres upon the side of Abrigado, given by Lydea's father, Richard Porter; James Waklee of Stratford buys a £40 propriety; Josiah Platt of Milford conveys land; Phebe Wooster, widow, of Derby, conveys a part of a propriety that was Benjamin Richards'; Elizabeth and Matthew Woodruff, both of Farmington, lay out lands; James Smith has a house north, of Scott's Mountain and east of Obadiah's Meadow, where William Scovill had 20 acres laid out on the "Ministry Right;" James Bellamy becomes the owner of 86 rods of land; Mr. Alexander and Lydia Woolcot of New Haven, and Mr. John and Lydea Eliot of the same place, lay out lands-the first on a right derived from Timothy Hopkins, the latter from John Gaylord. Eliphalet Bristol and Daniel Mallery of New Haven sell rights derived from Ebenezer Bron- son's bachelor lot; Samuel and Sarah Weed of Derby sell land to Edmund Tomp- kins of Waterbury. John and Ruth Hill of East Guilford sold land; Gamaliel Turrell of New Milford bought 20 acres at Scovill's mountain lot, and 27 acres at Buck's Hill on the east side of Benjamin Warner's house lot, and laid out six parcels of land; Jeremiah Peck for "the consideration of value received" of Mr. Mark
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Leavenworth, conveyed to him 46 acres westward of Hop Swamp, and Mr. Leaven- worth records 151 acres; the heirs of Consider Hopkins of Hartford lay out lands; Daniel Potter was of Waterbury; Mrs. Susanna Munson, widow, of New Haven, buys 54 acres of school land. Moses Johnson of Woodbury acquired land; William Lampson of Stratford sold land to George Nichols, who began the record of his lands-as, "25 acres on the westerly part of Burnt hill, east of the head of the Little brook, on a popple swamp; " Ephraim Warner sold his half of the fulling mill, house, and shop, that he had bought from Nathaniel Arnold; John Morris of East Haven laid out land with Mr. Southmayd and his son John, east of the town, and north of the Farmington road. Ephraim Sanford and Obadiah Hill obtain cer- tain land rights from John and Samuel Stanley of Wallingford-that were derived through John and Thomas Newell and John Stanley; Daniel Clark takes land at David's swamp; Mr. Benjamin Harger of Derby buys of Daniel Hall of Derby, and Josiah Gilbert of Ridgefield, land south of Ash Swamp; Thomas Osborne buys 110 acres on Bedlam hill; Hackaliah and Elizabeth Thomas of New Haven, sell, in 1733, to their brother Zadock Clark, Elizabeth's right in land-by a division of the estate of her mother, Mrs. Rebeckah Clark, late of New Haven; James Fenn becomes the owner of land on Bedlam hill; Samuel and Elizabeth Knowles of Woodbury sell to James Nichols land of John Bronson's original propriety, from their father Ebenezer Bronson's estate; Joseph Peet of Stratford sells to Thomas Leavenworth two tracts of land-one on the Little brook, the other on Burnt hill; " Alice " Woster (formerly Else) sells her land at the southeast corner of East moun- tain to Samuel Burwell of Milford; James Royce of Wallingford sells to his brother Phineas his right of inheritance in land up the river of their father Nehemiah Royce; Daniel Brackett of Wallingford buys land in Poland; Mr. Joseph Moss of Derby, 12 acres on the Twelve Mile hill, at the Twelve Mile stake, bought in 1721, and not before recorded-this is the 12 acres originally laid out to Stanley, and adjoined the 100-acre farm the Moss brothers bought of the Indian proprietors on that hill; Elisha and Abigail Kent of Fairfield also sell a right in the same 12 acres; Daniel, John, and Ebenezer " Bowton," Eliphalet and Mary Slason, David and Mary Waterbury, John and Eunice Fanshaw, all of Stamford, quit claimed their rights in land, derived through their mother, Mercy Bowton.
In 1740 Lieut. Jeremiah Peck of Milford conveyed to the Rev. Mark Leaven- worth land to be laid out; Mr. Samuel Hall of Wallingford and Joseph Daring of Litchfield each bought 20 acres to be laid out; Abram Canfield of Derby laid out 10 acres on the southwest end of Malmelick hill; Zachariah Blackman of Stratford, 60 acres near Grassy hill; Samuel and Daniel Lindly, heirs of Jonathan Lindly, all of Branford, over a hundred acres on both sides the Mad river; Josiah Rogers of Branford, land on Patucko's ring, while Josiah Rogers and Josiah Platt of Milford, give, each of them, 10 acres "for the consideration of the First Society in Water- bury settling a minister, and to make over to their now present minister (Mr. Leavenworth) as part of settlement;" Josiah Platt in the same year gave in addi tion to Mr. Leavenworth 5 acres to lay out, assigning the former consideration as a motive, and a few proprietors contributed 60 acres for the same end; Walter Hen- derson of Hartford bought two Village lots; Joseph Hikcox, John and Hannah Camp of Durham, grandchildren of Joseph Gaylord, sold lands; Mr. Jonathan Smith of West Haven bought of Thomas Brooks of Boston 60 acres to lay out " on the Right that was originally Phillip Judds;" Thomas Clinton of Wallingford bought an {80 right in the undivided lands; Jeremiah and Hannah O'Kean of Derby mortgage land a little south of Break Neck hill, which land was given to Hannah O'Kean " when she was called by the name of Hannah Hawkins, by her
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WATERBURY LANDS HELD BY NON-RESIDENT OWNERS.
father, Joseph Hawkins; " Captain Benjamin Holt of Wallingford becomes a land owner; and the children of Thomas Judd, Jr., sell their rights in land to "our brother and sister Joseph Hall and Abigail, his wife, of Wallingford." Abigail is not mentioned among the children of Thomas, Jr.
The above items represent but a very small fraction of the real estate transactions enacted during the period. Mr. Southmayd's duties were indeed arduous, and especially so during the year when he resigned his pastoral office, and in the year following, his weak- ness and inability are manifest in the public records. Oftentimes his strength failed in the midst of the recording of a deed, and another, and a very awkward hand, took up the work.
CHAPTER XXIX.
SAMUEL HOPKINS, D. D. - JOHN SOUTHMAYD, JR. - SABBATH DAY HOUSES -BRIDGES-THE "GREAT SICKNESS" OF 1749-JOHN ALLEN, A WORKER IN METALS-INVENTORY OF HIS ESTATE-TOWN INDEBT- EDNESS-EXPENSES FOR THE YEAR 1749-WARDS OF THE TOWN- MR. SOUTHMAYD-HIS DEATH IN 1755-TOWN OFFICERS IN 1760.
N OTWITHSTANDING the preaching of Tennant and Whit- field and Edwards, the standard of the religion of the Puritans, held aloft through such stress of tribulation for so many years, was gradually lowered. Nevertheless, here and there a rare, unsullied flower of Puritanism raised itself into life and beauty. Waterbury gave birth and nourishment to Samuel Hopkins, a royal specimen of that peculiar flower and fruitage- which specimen, men of coming ages will seek to analyze with sci- entific interest, and, let us hope, with spiritual insight. It is at this time that we find him, a young man of twenty-two years, returning after his graduation from Yale College to his father's house in Waterbury-to live for some months the life of a recluse, spending whole days in fasting and prayer, seeking the promotion of that which to him appeared to be the true religion and spend- ing his time in promoting it among the young people in the town. Wherever we follow him, whether preaching a little later for a few Sabbaths in the Waterbury meeting-house in the presence of Mr. Southmayd, the teacher of divine truth to him from his infancy, or seeking to live under the light that fell from the life of Jonathan Edwards, or preaching to the people of Great Barrington; whether hurrying home in the hope of receiving his mother's last words, and tenderly confessing his great love for her; or again speeding over the same weary miles to find his father dying; whether spend- ing himself in the care and education of his three young brothers (all members of Yale College) left to his protection, or in efforts for the African and the Indian; whether creating a great system of theology, or performing the lowliest service to man, we find this grand Puritan an absolutely truthful man! Presently we hear him breathing forth to himself in the silence of his diary, words like these: "If all the highest enjoyments of earth were laid at my feet, to have them to all eternity without God, I would not give this hour's enjoyment for them all. How swift and how sweetly do ideas pass the mind, when it is in any measure in a right frame.
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1742- 1760.
And again: "O astonishing that I may say it! I have had a gracious and most sweet visit from God. My soul adored and loved and rejoiced in him!" and again, "Have had a sweet time in a walk in the woods. Had more hope and confidence before God that I should dwell with him forever in his kingdom than I ever had before;" and once again, "I have been walking in a rope walk by myself. There I dedicated myself to Jesus Christ with strength of heart, with unspeakable joy." But we might go on indefinitely, repeating the scale of the heights and the depths of that man's magnificent nature-under Puritanism-without conveying a sin- gle note of its surpassing grace and sweetness. Would that some one of Waterbury's sons might honor himself by giving to our " Meeting House Green " statues in memory of John Southmayd and Samuel Hopkins.
The esteem in which John Southmayd, Jr. was held by his fel- low townsmen is well evinced by his election in December of 1742 to the offices of selectman, constable, fence viewer, collector of the country rate and member of the school committee. Two months later he died, leaving a wife-to whom he had been married but three years-and two sons. Daniel Southmayd, his only brother and younger by seven years, was appointed to fill the vacant office of con- stable, and to gather the country rate, while Timothy Judd became townsman, and Lieut. John Scovill served on the school committee.
In 1743 Wallingford was ambitious to have "Courts kept" a part of the time in that town, and invited Waterbury to join with her in a petition to that effect, which was agreed to on the part of Waterbury, provided that "no part of any expense of money in making the application, or building a court house or prison might fall upon her." In the same year liberty was granted "to set a school house where the old school house stood," but no word or hint has been afforded us as to the location of any school house up to this period, beyond the fact that when it was voted to build one in 1731, it was to be "twenty foot square and on the Meeting House Green," but a year from that day the above vote was cancelled and we hear no more of a school house until 1743. The probabilities seem to be that the first house was not on the green-that the second one was-and that the third one was placed where the first one had been. This was also the year when the town voted to apply to the General Assembly that the new bridge over the river at West Main street might " be made a toll bridge for all that should pass over it except the town inhabitants."
Sabbath Day houses became prominent in 1743. The earliest one noticed was in 1731 when Joseph Smith, then owning the Henry
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Scovill homestead lot of three acres, sold from that portion of it called the Sandy hollow, a two rod square piece to Ebenezer Bron- son for a Sabbath Day house. The Dr. North residence stands in Sandy hollow. In 1737 James Porter, then living at Hop swamp, sold to his brother Thomas the homestead of their father Daniel- the taxable estimate of which land alone is to-day rated at over one million dollars-"except 20 foot square on the east side joining to the highway to build a small house upon." The third one we find when Stephen Hopkins-then living at Judd's Meadow-bought of the William Hikcox estate, Jan. 12, 1740, "a small Sabbath day House and twenty foot square of land on which it stands in the First Society near the Meeting House, bounded south on a high- way and every other side on Mr. Leavenworth's land." Forty-four years later Stephen Hopkins' son Joseph sold the above land to the Rev. Mark Leavenworth, then described as "lying at the south- east corner of his home lot." It may now be described as the south- east corner of the homestead land of the family of the late Charles B. Merriman. This Sabbath Day house had an eventful history in its later and more secular days. In 1743 William Silkriggs had liberty to set up a house "in the highway against the north end of Edmund Scott's house where the discourse was of setting the church." The land granted was to be twenty by twenty-two feet in dimensions. In the same year the town "upon the motion made by some persons for liberty to set up Sabbath Day houses in the highway, appointed a committee to state what place they should build on." Ebenezer Hikcox wished to place a house in the Ram pasture [Willow street south of West Main street], but was referred to the committee appointed to state places for the building of Sab- bath day Houses. He was probably an attendant of the church near by. A little later general permission was accorded "such farmers as had a mind to build Saboth day Houses, of setting them in the highway against the Sandy hollow above Thomas Bronson's. ' They were to advance into the highway sixteen feet, and extend along it twenty rods.
In 1745 the town resolved "to apply to the General Assembly in May or some other time or way to get a settlement of the line between Farmington bounds and Waterbury." Mr. Southmayd, Captain Samuel Hikcox, and Sergeant Thomas Porter were empow- ered with authority to settle the matter. The bridge over the Great river on the Woodbury road was a source of continual anxiety, trouble and cost. It was built and repaired and rebuilt with surprising frequency. In 1748 it was again swept away. Eighty pounds was appropriated to the building of a new one,
1742 - 1760. 369
" taking the timber and plank left of the old bridge." At the same time £22 was appropriated for the Northbury bridge, £22 " for the bridge over the Mad river, a little below the mill," and £22 to Captain Samuel Hikcox toward a good cart bridge over the river at his mill. Even the highways in present Watertown were "spoiled by the flood " in that year. Nothing is found in relation to a bridge at Judd's Meadow until 1753, when the inhabitants living there petitioned for some relief about building a bridge. The town sent a committee "to view the circumstances and judge of the necessity of having a bridge and how the inhabitants there were affected to it." Captain Daniel Southmayd was on this committee. The report of the committee was acted upon by granting "Judd's Meadow men leave to draw £100 old tenor, towards the building a bridge over the river at the mouth of Toantic [or Long Meadow] brook where it empties itself into the river," but the grant was con- ditional,-Samuel Scott, Gideon Hikcox, and John and Samuel Lewis were required to give sufficient bonds that there should be no further demands on the town for building or repairing a bridge in that place. In a "Bridge account at Judd's Meadow " which has been preserved without date, but somewhat later, at the raising of the bridge eighty "meals of victuals" were furnished at six pence each. Among the items of cost are included two gallons of rum at four shillings per gallon, and "five gallons of Rhum of Capt. Ezra Bronson, allowed for the Watermen." The charge for a day's work on this bridge varied from two to three shillings, but in most instances the town reduced the amount by a six pence, if over two shillings. In 1749 the townsmen were ordered to take bonds of Ebenezer Richardson, Isaac Bronson, Jr., and Stephen Welton for the Woodbury Road bridge. That was a King's highway, or country road, and it was necessary to keep it open.
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