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 41
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Twenty-five days after the above meeting the record penned by Mr. Southmayd's own hand tells us that " Daniel Southmayd, son of John Southmayd, died about eleven o'clock at night, January 12th, 1754." It is well to believe that Mr. Southmayd's sons were manly, winsome men, fitted by birth, environment and education to enact deeds of value to their fellow townsmen, and that the loss occa- sioned by their taking away was a genuine bereavement to the town, as well as to the beneficent patriarch of the early church and township. It increases our admiration to behold John Southmayd, at the age of seventy-eight years, rising up from the very depth of sorrow and going on in his fine, patient, effective career, to finish his course in the very fore-front of duty. Eighteen days after the death of his son Daniel he was present at a town meeting and wit- nessed the election of Deacon Timothy Judd as moderator of the meeting in that son's place, and, after an hour's adjournment, of Captain Samuel Hikcox to his place as townsman, and Jonathan Baldwin, Jr., to his place as one of the listers. On the ninth of May we find Mr. Southmayd with the legislators of the land at Hartford for a long session of the General Assembly, which continued until the end of the month, adjourning from time to time. There was no royal road of ease to Hartford at that date, and every mile of the long journeying on horseback must have been a weariness to a man of Mr. Southmayd's years. At the May town meeting he was on duty, when "it was voted that the town should commence a suit against Litchfield for not perambulating "; also, that "the town would be at the charge of paying the surveyor and chainmen for their time and expenses, and the expenses of the waiters in meas- uring and planning and settling our north line on the east side the river between Hartford and Windsor proprietors and this town." He was also present at the great town meeting in December, 1754, when the meeting was opened by prayer by the Rev.ª Mr. Samuel Todd, and when Mr. Southmayd was chosen town clerk for the thirty-fifth successive year, and town treasurer. At the March meeting following, Mr. Southmayd was absent and Timothy Judd was appointed to take the notes. At a later date, Mr. South- mayd made record of the meeting. His days of service were drawing to a close. The last record made by him, that has been noticed, was on the tenth of May, when he recorded the laying
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
out of a highway in the western part of the town by Dr. Power's home lot.
Of the last summer of Mr. Southmayd's life, we have no knowledge. He died November 14, 1755, at the age of seventy-nine years and three months. Few men have been permitted to serve any New England town for so long a period, and through so many forms of service, as did John Southmayd. Forty years he was pastor of the only Church of Christ, where now there are forty churches; thirty-five years the town clerk over a territory embracing one hundred and twenty-five square miles; proprietor's clerk for an equal length of time, and occasionally serving the town as recorder from the year 1709 to the date of his election to that office in 1721; representing Waterbury repeatedly in the General Assembly; sixteen times appointed justice of the peace for Waterbury, and several times for the county; serving the General Assembly on its committees on numerous occasions, and serving the people of Waterbury as councilor and legal adviser on every conceivable occasion, he rounded out his life into a formula of active beneficence, whose unseen influence is evident in every crisis of the town, whether temporal, mortal, or religious. Every man who stood at the helm in the little storm-tossed ship of affairs at his coming in 1699 had passed on and been gathered to his fathers when this man finished his course and was laid to rest in the centre of the group of Southmayd graves in the old burial place .* All that now remains of that group is a photograph. The Silas Bronson Library building covers its site.
Three weeks after Mr. Southmayd's decease the December town meeting was held. Mr. Leavenworth was present and opened the meeting with prayer. Deacon Thomas Clark was chosen to the offices of town clerk, which he held until his death in 1764, and town treasurer. It is interesting to note that in 1755, thirty-eight offices out of seventy -seven were held by persons owning the names that held sway before 1700. We find Deacon Clark carefully framing with a pen line, the following significant act: "It was voted to give Thomas Doolittle his fine for speak- ing without liberty in ye town meeting." The bridge at West Main street was to be substantially fenced on both sides at the town's cost. The Little Pasture at Mr. Southmayd's death re- turned to the party concerned. In a proprietors' meeting in 1756, it was voted that it should be for the use of the several
* In Mr. Southmayd's will, made May 27, 1755, is the following request to the Rev. Mark Leavenworth: It is my will that my Executor at the charge of my estate procure and get engraved four head stones and four foot stones of Farmington stone, to be set at the head and foot of the graves of my wife, my son John, and my son Daniel's grave and my own if I don't live to get some of them in my life time.
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1742-1760.
schools in the town of Waterbury, to be disposed of as the other school lands had been. In the town meeting of 1756, and of 1757, it was voted to rent out said pasture for the ensuing year and put the money into the town treasury. In 1756 the service of the county surveyor was to be obtained to erect monuments from the white-oak tree at the river to Farmington line. In 1759 the bridges had again been carried away; for it was voted to give the Society of North- bury five pounds for the encouragement of a bridge, provided they should complete a good cart bridge within a year, to give "the gentlemen that have built a bridge over the river at Woodbury road, five pounds to be paid unto them within a year from this time." The same inducement was offered to Captain Thomas Porter to "compleat " one at Judd's Meadow. Two years later the town was as bridgeless as ever.
Unaccountable as it may seem, it was not until 1757 that John Stanley, Jr., was finally put into possession of his Bachelor lot, and permanently added to the list of proprietors. About this time, certain men of large possessions desired to have their lands care- fully surveyed and the general plan of the farms placed upon record. Of this number, were Stephen Hopkins (for whom Deacon Thomas Clark and Captain Daniel Southmayd had made a survey and plan) and the heirs of Captain Timothy Hopkins-their land lying at Bronson's Meadow, the east side of Long hill, where they were allowed to lay out twenty-five additional acres in order to complete the survey of their farm. The first local officer at Judd's Meadow was Simeon Beebe, appointed keeper of the pound key in 1759. In the year 1760 no town meeting was held until December. An unusual number of young men, not long resident in the town, were elected to office. Nathaniel Lowre, Reuben Hale, Seth Bartholomew and Usael Barker were of the number. The town officers were the clerk, treasurer, agent, two packers of provisions (in which the colony rate was paid), three constables, eight select- men, twenty surveyors of highways, seven fence viewers, nine listers, ten grand jurors, eight tithingmen (to compel a proper observance of the Sabbath in meeting houses, church and town), two gagers, a sealer of weights and measures, three key keepers for the pounds, an excise man, a receiver of provisions, three leather sealers, three branders of horses, and three collectors of rates, one for each parish. It was evidently deemed wise to interest as many inhabitants as possible in the good government of the township. For perhaps the first time the selectmen were given power to abate the town rates of poor men who made applica- tion to them, and "a premium of three shillings was offered for the
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
killing or destroying" a grown wild cat, and two shillings for a fox, if killed by an inhabitant within the town bounds. The select- man giving an order for the premium was first to cut off the right ear of the cat or fox shown to him, to prevent a repetition of reward for the same animal.
The rigidity of the rule against new inhabitants who did not at once become land owners and otherwise fortify themselves against the possibility of becoming town incumbrances was evidently softening. In evidence, we find the following paper, with auto- graph signatures:
We, the subscribers, being neighbors to Mr. Ebenezer Bradley of Northbury . do certifye that We Esteem him the sd Bradley an Honest, Industrious man and that he and his family are likely to prove wholesome inhabitants.
Waterbury, February 26th, 1759.
thomas blakeslee
Eber Ford
Jacob Blakslee
Asahel Castel
Caleb Tompson Gedion Allen
Isaack Castel
John How
moses blakslee
Ebenezer Curtis
Ebenezer Allen
The judgment of Mr. Bradley's neighbors was undoubtedly justified. In his record of the above testimonial, Thomas Clark omitted the signature of Caleb Tompson-not so important an omission, however, as that of the early recorder who failed to give the name of Benjamin Judd, in his record of the original planters of the town.
CHAPTER XXX.
SERGEANTS-FIRST COMMISSIONED OFFICER -FIRST LIEUTENANT - FIRST CAPTAIN-FIRST MILITIA COMPANY IN 1689-TWO COMPANIES IN 1732-THIRD COMPANY IN 1740-WATERBURY IN THE SPANISH WEST INDIAN WAR-CAPTAIN HOPKINS A RECRUITING OFFICER- WATERBURY'S GRAVES ON CAPE BRETON-A NORTHBURY TRAIN BAND IN 1754-WATERBURY IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR- MUSTER-ROLLS-ISRAEL CALKINS' MEMORIAL.
T HE evolution of the military life of the Colony from the time when Major Mason gave thirty days in the year to training the men of Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield, is of inter- est, but we must limit the recital to the simple fact that in 1739 all the military companies then in being had been formed into thir teen regiments, and their respective field officers appointed. The tenth regiment was composed of the train bands of Waterbury, of Wallingford, the parish of Southington, and Durham. Its field officers were Colonel James Wadsworth of Hartford, Lieutenant- Colonel Benjamin Hall, and Major Thomas Miles of Wallingford.
Because of its numerical weakness, the Waterbury train band had no commissioned officer until 1689. Its earliest sergeants were John Stanley (who had been a lieutenant in Farmington), and Thomas Judd. They are so called in 1684. Our only knowledge of the sergeants of the township is derived through Mr. Southmayd's perfect system of nomenclature in his records of town meetings. Not once have we failed to find him giving the individual his mili- tary title in the year following its bestowment by commission. The following is the list of sergeants, as supplied by him, from 1721 down to the year 1754. The names are given in the order of their election. Sergeants John Stanley, Thomas Judd, Samuel Hikcox, Timothy Stanley, Isaac Bronson, Thomas Judd (Deacon), John Hopkins, Steven Upson, John Scovill, John Bronson, David Scott, Thomas Hikcox, William Judd, Richard Welton, Joseph Lewis, Thomas Clark, Thomas Bronson, Samuel Warner, John Bronson, Jr., Benjamin Warner, Thomas Richards, John Judd, Thomas Barnes, Thomas Porter, Richard Welton, Jacob Blakslee, Nathan Beard, Obadiah Warner, Thomas Hikcox, John Warner, William Scovill, Nathaniel Arnold, Gershom Fulford, Jonathan Prindle, James Prichard, Samuel Scott, Obadiah Richards, John Lewis, Oba- diah Warner, Jonathan Prindle, John Sutliff, Amos Hikcox, and
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Thomas Bronson. Where names have been repeated, the person- ality was not identical.
Thomas Judd (Sen.) was the first commissioned officer in the town. He was appointed an ensign in 1689. John Stanley was the first lieutenant-in 1689. Thomas Judd, nephew of the first ensign, was the first captain-in 1715. Other captains were Dr. Ephraim Warner, in 1722; William Hikcox, son of Sergt. Samuel, in 1727; William Judd, son of the first captain, in 1730 (upon the death of William Hikcox). In 1732, when Waterbury was entitled to a second company, Timothy Hopkins was made its captain, Thomas Bronson its lieutenant, and Stephen Upson its ensign-the com- missioned officers of the First company at that date being Captain William Judd, Lieutenant Samuel Hikcox, and Ensign John Scovill. The sixth captain was Samuel Hikcox of the First company, in 1737.
In 1740 the Third company was formed, with Thomas Blackslee, captain, John Bronson, lieutenant, and Daniel Curtiss, ensign.
Although we are not able to give individual instances of special devotion to warfare during the earlier years of town life, we have learned that certain of our planters held interest in land conferred upon their fathers for services in the Pequot massacre; we have inferentially believed that they very generally did service during King Philip's war; we also know that they protected their own fields and firesides during all the long and agonizing periods of Indian warfare-but in 1740 a new condition arose. England declared war against Spain and sent over a proclamation to her colonies in America announcing that fact, and also that an expedi- tion was fitting out against the Spanish West Indies, and offering to any of her colonists who would volunteer to serve in that expe- dition, a supply of arms and proper clothing, promising that they should be paid by King George, and should be under the command of officers appointed by the Governor. They were also assured that they should share in the booty which might be taken from the enemy, and when the expedition should be over, that they should be sent back to their homes. An additional inducement offered was five pounds, as a premium-to be paid out of the colony treasury. In July, 1740, the utmost activity prevailed throughout the colony. Beside putting the sea-coast on the defensive, the government obtained three vessels to transport the troops to Cuba, and provided every needful thing for the men, except clothing, tents, arms, ammunition, and pay, and immediately began the building of the war-ship, The Defence.
No known muster-rolls of the men engaged in this expedition are extant, and but three names are known to the writer, of Water-
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WATERBURY IN THE COLONIAL WARS.
bury men who had active part in that warfare. Josiah Arnold, a young, unmarried man, of perhaps twenty-eight years, the son of Nathaniel Arnold, made his will on the 4th day of July, 1740, in which he announces that he is designed to go into the war in the Spanish West Indies. On the same 4th of July, Ephraim Bissell made his will, with the same announcement (both wills doubtless written by Mr. Southmayd). Neither of the young men returned from the war. Careful research might disclose names of other soldiers from Waterbury. In August, 1741, recruits were called for, and a letter containing instructions concerning the levying of troops was sent to "Captain Hopkins." Our Captain Timothy Hopkins is the only Captain Hopkins to be found in the colony at that date, therefore he may have been the recruiting officer who with Captain Winslow proceeded to enlist not less than fifty, nor more than two hundred men "to be transported to the isle of Cuba in the colony sloop, The Defence." The recruiting officers were empowered to draw four pounds from the public treasury for each man enlisted. Under the above circumstances, it is perfectly reasonable to infer that a goodly number of young men were enlisted by our Captain Hopkins. Young men, under twenty-one, and without families, drop away and leave no sign in the public records. Doubtless certain of the missing sons of Waterbury fell on Cuban soil in 1740 and 1741, whose names may be found on mus- ter-rolls yet to be returned from their long concealment. In 1743 Stephen Upson was made captain of the First company in Water- bury.
In February, 1745, the Governor of the Colony convened the Assembly, to act upon a proposed expedition against his Majesty's enemies at Cape Breton. As early as 1731 France had encroached upon the claimed territory of New York, by building a fort at Crown Point, which encroachment at once called forth an urgent appeal from that Province to the English crown, in which appeal Connecticut had been requested to join. Meanwhile, on the island of Cape Breton, commanding the entrance to the Bay of St. Law- rence, France had constructed a fortress of wonderful strength, at a cost of £1,200,000 sterling. Its ruins to-day give full evidence of the formidality of this ancient stronghold. The solidity of the foundation-walls of its citadel and its "shattered bomb - proofs, whose well-turned arches choked with debris remain," are cited by S. A. Drake, while he tells us that one may continue the walk along the ramparts without once quitting them, for fully a mile, to the point where they touch the sea-shore among the inaccessible rocks and heaving surf of the ocean itself.
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386
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
It was the great fortress at Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton, that caused Mr. John Southmayd to take the wintry ride on horseback from Waterbury to Hartford in February, 1745-that called up every deputy throughout the colony to the same place. Not England-she was too busy elsewhere-but her weak American colonies resolved to take the French city and fortress. The utter amazement with which the project was received by the deputies may be imagined, but not described. It is mentioned as a "matter of great importance." The Assembly considered two letters written by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, and other papers presented -- and then "concluded and resolved (relying on the blessing of Almighty God) to join with the neighboring governments in the intended expedition."
The first step in the work was to encourage five hundred men to enlist themselves to join the forces from the neighboring govern- ments in the expedition. The inducements offered were the receipt of "eight pounds in old tenour bills" for each month of service, with ten pounds as a premium if the enlisting soldier provided for himself "a good fire-lock, sword, belt, cartridge box, and blanket, to the acceptance of the enlisting officer." He was also to receive one month's wages before embarkation; three pounds additional if he provided his own blanket, and an equal share in all the plunder with the soldiers of the neighboring governments. The land forces were to march to New London, and there embark on transports which were to be convoyed by the Colony sloop, The Defence, "equipped and manned with her full complement of officers and men." The five hundred men were divided into eight companies under Roger Wolcott as Commander-in-Chief.
The experience of 1740 in the Spanish West-Indies had been severe, and it evidently told effectively upon the spirits of the colonists, for the enlistments were not encouraging. A month later the "enlisting officers were authorized to beat up the drums in the regiments, and the captains were ordered to call their companies together under their command for enlisting volunteers, when required to do so. In May two companies more were made ready and sent to New London to await the transports. In July, it was neces- sary to raise three hundred men in addition to the seven hundred already gone. The three hundred men were to consist of three companies. Our Captain Samuel Hikcox was placed in command of one third of the recruits to be then enlisted as their captain for the expedition; but before the companies were in readiness news came that the fortresses at Louisburg had surrendered on the 10th of June, after a close siege of forty-nine days.
387
WATERBURY IN THE COLONIAL WARS.
Immediately, 350 men were enlisted to garrison the fortresses and town of Louisburg until the following June. Among the Waterbury men who were of the garrison quota, and who doubtless had already enlisted in Captain Hikcox's company, was Samuel Thomas, a neighbor of the Captain's, who died at Cape Breton in 1747. Another soldier was Daniel Warner, the son of Samuel Warner. "On the morning of the day whereon he left his father's house in Waterbury (being called as a soldier to go to Cape Breton) in the month of November, 1745, he made a verbal declaration con- cerning his worldly goods-how they should be disposed in case of his never returning," and called Thomas Warner of Waterbury, and Elizabeth Warner of Stonington to witness his will, "which was spoken in the street near to Daniel's father's house." He com- mitted all his worldly estate into the hands of his brother, Timothy Warner, "who was to pay his debts, and on his return to restore all his estate to him again, and, in case he never returned, Timothy was to have all, as his own." Daniel never returned to reclaim his estate. An old indenture is extant, through which it is made evident that Abraham Barnes, son of Samuel, was a third young man who lost his life in the same expedition. His little son, Abraham, at the age of two years was indentured to serve a neighbor for nineteen years, in which it is stated that his father died at Cape Breton. This is clearly a case of adoption, perhaps under the only formula then known as legal. Waterbury thus owns three of the five hundred graves that lie in the bleak and wind- swept field bordering the harbor of Louisburg-the graves of Samuel Thomas, Daniel Warner, and Abraham Barnes. How many more young men served and returned, or served and perished there we may not tell.
Thomas Hikcox (2d) was commissioned captain in 1746 of the First company in Waterbury; Daniel Southmayd in 1747; John Bronson in 1757. In 1752 the Fourth company was formed-in Westbury parish-with Nathaniel Arnold, Jr., captain; Jonathan Prindle, lieutenant; Timothy Judd, ensign. In 1754 Thomas Porter became captain of the First company, by reason of the death of Captain Daniel Southmayd, with Obadiah Richards, lieutenant, and John Lewis, ensign. In 1754, the officers of the Northbury Parish company were Phineas Royce, captain; John Sutliff, lieutenant; Zachariah Sanford, ensign.
In 1757 Jonathan Beebe was second lieutenant of the 13th com- pany in the roth regiment. In the same year the officers of the Westbury company were Capt. Timothy Judd, Lieut. Ebenezer Richards, Ens. Edward Scovill. In 1756 Israel Woodward was cap-
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
tain of the 6th company in the 2d regiment. In 1759 George Nichols was captain in Waterbury. In 1760 Phineas Castle served as captain of the 12th company in the 2d regiment, of which regi- ment the Rev. Mark Leavenworth was chaplain. In 1760 also, Gideon Hotchkiss became captain of the First company in Water- bury, and Stephen Upson (the third) became lieutenant of a com- pany called the South company, with Jonathan Baldwin its ensign. In 1761 Oliver Welton was ensign of the 5th company in the 2d reg- iment; Edward Scovill was made captain of the First company of Waterbury and Amos Hitchcock or Hickcox lieutenant. In 1762 Stephen Culver was lieutenant. Moses Blakslee was lieutenant in the 6th company of the 7th regiment and Timothy Clark lieutenant in the 4th company of the 12th regiment. In 1763 Thomas Richards was captain, John Nettleton lieutenant and Abel Woodward ensign of the Westbury company. In the same year Joseph Bronson was lieutenant and William Hikcox ensign in the Second company in the First society; Samuel Hikcox, Jr., was ensign of the First com- pany in the same society and Stephen Seymour of the Northbury company. In 1764 Stephen Upson was captain of the First com- pany; in 1765 Joseph Bronson of the Second company with William Hikcox his lieutenant; the officers of a new company in Northbury were Captain John Sutliff, Lieut. Stephen Seymour, Ens. David Blakslee-Lieut. Benjamin Upson and Ens. Samuel Curtis, Jr., belonging to the old company. In 1764 also the East company in Westbury was formed under Capt. Samuel Reynolds. In 1766 the officers of the Second company in the First society were Lieut. Samuel Hikcox and Ens. Stephen Welton-in the autumn of that year Capt. John Welton, Lieut. Jesse Leavenworth and Ens. Abra- ham Hikcox commanded the company, while Licut. Abel Woodward and Ens. Peter Welton were of the West company in Westbury In 1766 there was a "new erected company" in Farmingbury com- manded by Capt. Aaron Harrison, Lieut. Heman Hall and Ens. Josiah Rogers. In 1767 Capt. Jonathan Baldwin, Lieut. Andrew Bronson and Ens. Samuel Porter commanded the First company. Daniel Potter was captain of the First company at Northbury. In 1769 Randal Evans was captain of the same company, and Bartholo- mew Pond lieutenant; Abel Woodward, Peter Welton and Thomas Cole were the officers of the West company in Westbury; Samuel Hikcox was captain and Richard Seymour lieutenant of the Second company in the First society; and Samuel Porter was lieutenant of the First company. In the Farmingbury company, Josiah Rogers was lieutenant and John Alcock ensign. Of the new company in Northbury, David Blakslee was captain, Eliphalet Hartshorn lieu- tenant, and Jude Blakslee ensign.
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