^Oi CORNELE (2^7 UNIVERSITY sea LIBRARY DATE DUE ^^kx-rm^ PRINTED IN U<5.J Cornell University Library F 104G9 S82 History Ql.thej>lalation,„ot,,M^^^^^^ olin 3 1924 028 842 445 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028842445 A HISTORY OF THE Plantation of Menunkatuck AND OF THE Original Town of Guilford, Connecticut, COMPRISING THE PRESENT TOWNS OF GUILFORD AND MADISON, WRITTEN LARGELY FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF THE HON. RALPH DUNNING SMYTH, BY ■ BERNARD CHRISTIAN STEINER. • '- - ■ ■ ■' % ■., \ ] -..„ ' PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. ,;. ,< BALTIMORE , , '^- \ ^K^ ^Pe ;Jtubenwaf& Company BALTIMORE, MD., U.S.A. TO THE MEMORY OF MY GRANDMOTHER RACHEL S. SMYTH THIS WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED PREFACE. Among my grandfather's papers were considerable collections of materials he had intended to use for a history of the town of Guilford. Among these was a fragment of a complete history of the town, written by Mr. Smyth shortly before his death. This forms, with some changes, the first four chapters of the present work and a part of the fifth. It is probable that I should have written part of it somewhat differently, but it seemed best to permit this record of his ripened knowledge of Guilford history to remain without essential change. The rest of the book was prepared from Mr. Smyth's manuscript col- lections, the Town Records, and other available sources. Owing to the extensive materials at hand, it is believed the work is, to a consider- able degree, exhaustive and complete. I desire to return thanks to Mr. Chas. H. Post for courtesies shown while examining the Town, Records, and to the Rev. W. G. Andrews for generous sympathy. Among those who have rendered especial assistance in the compilation of this work are Rev. Frederick E. Snow, Dr. Ellsworth Eliot,- Mr. Samuel H. Chittenden, Mr. Frederick C. Norton. This history of Guilford has had three predecessors. The Rev. Thomas Ruggles, Jr., prepared a sketch of the history of the town over a century ago, which has been twice published. In 1827 Dr. David Dudley Field prepared a sketch of the history of Guilford and Madison for the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, using Mr. Ruggles' work as a basis. In 1832 he revised it. About 1840 this sketch was revised and enlarged by R. D. Smyth. After Mr. Smyth's death this manuscript was found among his papers by his son-in-law, the Hon. Lewis H. Steiner, edited by him and published by Munsell in 1877. All the important statements therein are embodied in this work. " For to collect all that is to be known, to put the discourse in order, and curiously to discuss every particular point, is the duty of the author of a his- tory." — II Maccabees ii. 31. "The inhabitants of this town, more than most others in this State, have retained the ancient manners of the New England colonists. Parents are regarded by their children with a peculiar respect derived not only from their domestic government and personal character, but in a considerable degree from the general state of manners. Old people are in a similar degree revered by the young, and laws and magistrates at large. Private contentions have heretofore been rarely known, and lawsuits so rare that no lawyer till lately has ever been able to acquire a living in town. The weight of public opinion has been strongly felt, and diffused a general dread of vice." — Dwight's Travels, II, p. S14. " My fathers and brethren, this is never to be forgotten, that our New England is originally a plantation of religion and not a plantation of trade. Let merchants and such as are making their cent per cent returns remember this. Let others who have come over since at sundry times remember this, that worldly gain was not the end and design of the people of New England, but religion. And, if any man among us make religion as 12 and the world as 13, let such a one know he hath neither the spirit of a true New England man, nor yet of a sincere Christian." — Rev. John Higginson. "The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through his great power from the beginning. There be of them that have left a name behind them that their praises might be reported. And some there be which have no memorial. But with their seed shall continually remain a good inheritance and their children are within the covenant. The people will tell of their wisdom, and the congregation will show forth their praise." — Ecclesiasticus xliv. 7-9. CONNECTICUT. By Fitz-Greene Halleck. (The picture of village life in this poem is supposed to have been taken from Guilford, the poet's birthplace.) Still her gray rocks tower above the sea That crouches at their feet, a conquered wave; 'Tis a rough land of earth, and stone, and tree. Where breathes no castled lord nor cabined slave; Where thoughts, and tongues, and hands are bold and free. And friends will find a welcome, foes a grave; And where none kneel, save when to Heaven they pray. Nor even then, unless in their own way. Theirs is a pure republic, wild, yet strong, A " fierce democracie," where all are true To what themselves have voted — right or wrong- And to their laws denominated blue; (If red, they might to Draco's code belong;) A vestal state, which power could not subdue. Nor promise win — like her own eagle's nest, Sacred — the San Marino of the West. A justice of the peace, for the time being. They bow to, but may turn him out next year; They reverence their priest, but disagreeing In price of creed, dismiss him without fear; They have a natural talent for foreseeing And knowing all things; and should Park appear From his long tour in Africa, to show The Niger's source, they'd meet him with — " we know." They love their land, because it is their own. And scorn to give aught other reason why; Would shake hands with a king upon his throne. And think it kindness to his majesty; A stubborn race, fearing and flattering none. Such are they nurtured, such they live and die; All — 'but a few apostates, who are meddling With merchandise, pounds, shillings, pence, and peddling. lO CONNECTICUT. VI But these are but their outcasts. View them near At home, where all their worth and pride is placed; And there their hospitable fires burn clear, And there the lowliest farmhouse hearth is graced With manly hearts, in piety sincere. Faithful in love, in honor stern and chaste. In friendship warm and true, in danger brave. Beloved in life, and sainted in the grave. VII And minds have there been nurtured, whose control Is felt even in their nation's destiny; Men who swayed senates with a statesman's soul. And looked on armies with a leader's eye; Names that adorn and dignify the scroll. Whose leaves contain their country's history. ****** Her clear, warm heaven at noon — ^the mist that shrouds Her twilight hills — her cool and starry eves. The glorious splendor of her sunset clouds. The rainbow beauty of her forest-leaves, Come o'er the eye, in solitu'de and crowds. Where'er his weH of song her poet weaves; And his mind's brightest vision but displays The autumn scenery of his boyhood's days. And who were they, our fathers? In their veins Ran the best blood of England's gentlemen; Her bravest in the strife on battle plains, Her wisest in the strife of voice and pen; Her holiest, teaching, in her holiest fanes. The lore that led to martyrdom; and when On this side ocean slept their wearied sails. And their toil bells woke up our thousand hills and dales. Shamed they their fathers? Ask the village spires Above their Sabbath-homes of praise and prayer; Ask of their children's happy household fires, And happier harvest noons; ask summer's air. Made merry by young voices, when the wires Of their school cages are unloosed, and dare Their slanderer's breath to blight the memory That o'er their graves is "growing green to see!" TABLE OF CONTENTS. Preface Halleck's Connecticut FAQB 7 I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. ' XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. Rev. Mr. Whitfield and the Settlement of the Town 1 1 The Signers of the Covenant 41 The Home Lots 40 Union with New Haven eg The Counter-Emigration 60 The Guilford Indians 71 Rev. John Higginson 74 The Plantation Court 78 Dr. Rossiter and the Troubles concerning the Union with Con- necticut 99 The Regicides 109 The Suit against Mr. Robinson 112 Rev. Joseph Eliot 115 Rev. Thomas Ruggles, Sr 121 Later Settlers in Guilford 1 24 Town Meetings 140 The Liquor Question 150 Guilford Probate District and Guilford County 152 The Town Records 154 Later Land Purchases 156 The Patent 159 Boundaries of the Town 162 Division of the Land 166 Physical Characteristics of the Town 1 77 Trees and Timber 180 Rivers and Ponds and Drainage 183 Shell Fish 186 Madison 191 North Guilford 199 TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXIX. Falcon or Faulkner's Island XXX. Leete's Island, Sachem's Head and Guilford Harbor . . XXXI. Roads, Bridges, Wharves and the Railroad XXXII. The Town House XXXIII. The Town Mill XXXIV. Care of the Poor XXXV. Wild Animals XXXVI. Cattle . . XXXVII. Fences XXXVIII. Trade, Quarries and Manufactures XXXIX. The Borough, The Green and The Fire Department XL. Taxation, Newspapers, Banking and Population XLI. Centennial Celebration, July 4, 1876, and Quarto-Millennial Celebration, Sept. 8-10, 1889 XLII. The First Church and Society in Guilford XLIII. The Church and Society in North Guilford XLIV. The Fourth Church and Society in Guilford XLV. The Third Church and Society in Guilford XLVI. The First Church and Society in Madison XLVII. The Church and Society in North Madison XLVIII. Protestant Episcopal Churches XLIX. Churches of other Denominations L. Cemeteries of Guilford and Madison LI. Education and Libraries in Guilford and Madison LII. Physicians and Health in Guilford and Madison LIII. Colonial MiUtary Historj- LIV. Guilford and Madison in the Wars with Great Britain LV. Guilford and Madison in the War of the Rebellion LVI. Biographies of Guilford Men LVII. Secret Societies in Guilford and Madison LVIII. Representatives in the Legislature and Town Officers of Guilford and Madison PAGE . 202 204 . 211 . 221 . 227 . 232 236 238 246 249 257 262 269 273 293 301 340 344 362 371 386 I 39' 394 412 417 425 456 470 507 5" CHAPTER I. Rev. Mr. Whitfield and the Settlement of Guilford. In giving this first chapter of Guilford's history we speak of a period when she stood abstract and alone, working her individual way, with- out the aid of any other community, ^ither ecclesiastical or political, to the free and independent position which she once occupied, both as a church and as a state. The original emigration to Guilford sprang undoubtedly from that same priestly oppression and kingly subservi- ency which was mainly instrumental in procuring the settlement of most of the early plantations of New England. It has been said, however, and repeated so often indeed that it has come to be received almost as established history, that the founders of Guilford were either \ part of the same company which first landed at Boston in June 1637 and subsequently settled at Quinnipiack or New Haven in the spring of 1638 under Messrs. Eaton and Daven- port,^ or that they afterwards joined them — being a part of the same company — as Prudden and his associates did, early in the spring of 1639; ^iid further, that they co-operated with them in all their move- ments: first, in their emigration; secondly, in the selection and pur- chase from the Indian tribes of the territory needful for their habita- tion; and especially that they were present and assenting, if they took no part, in the meeting so famous in Mr. Newman's barn in Quinni- piack early in June, 1639, when the peculiar polity of the New Haven colony was adopted. Consequently it is assumed as an established fact that Guilford and its founders were originally a component part of the colony of New Haven, formed pursuant to a united simultaneous purpose made in England previous to their first emigration. My intention is to furnish for you the conclusions derived from recently discovered documents, and a very careful and more extended collation of contemporary records, which, as I think, thoroughly prove beyond controversy that Guilford, in her origin and settlement, was not a component part of New Haven colony, but an independent, separate government, having her own written constitution and laws, 'Ruggles MSS. pp. I, 2. Mass. Hist. Col. IV, 182. I. Trum. Ct. (I. ed.) 99, 104. I. Holmes An. 252, 253 n. I. N. H. Hist. Soc. Pap. 2, 3, 4. I. SpragTie's An. 100. 12 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. exclusively adopted by her own people, " intending a peculiar govern- ment,"' as distinct and appropriate as that of any one of the colonies of this continent. Moreover, that it did not become a component part of the New Haven colony, by entering into combination with it as a confederate, for mutual protection and defense in 1643, any more than the other neighboring colonies became one by combining in a similar manner to form the larger confederation of New England.' An equally striking and full as apt a comparison might be made with that larger confederacy which combined in later times — following the same model — in founding and perpetuating our great republic, which we fondly hope and confidently expect shall also in its progress, under the providence of God, become the model of other similar free and united republics, until they shall have extended throughout the world. Their end and aim indeed was, and should ever be in all such instances, the same — the highest and the noblest which human governments can conceive or attain — in their own language, " the advancement of the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ," and the enjoyment of the liberties of the Gospel and of freedom, in purity and peace, equally by every inhabitant of the land. Problems indeed not yet fully conceived or understood by them, or by us, in all their beauty and comprehensive- ness, but which shall shine forth, under the light of future times, with all the glory that beamed around the Saviour's face on the Mount of Transfiguration. The beginning of the history of Guilford is so thoroughly inter- woven and identified with that of her first minister and pastor, the Rev. Henry Whitfield, the projector and leader of her emigration to New England, that it becomes necessary to introduce a portion of his biography into our narrative. Mr. Whitfield" was bom in 1597, and was descended from an old and well-known English family which had long been distinguished in the south of England, both in church and in state. He was the younger son of Thomas Whitfield, Esquire, an eminent lawyer of the courts of Westminster, who resided at Mortlake, formerly called East ' I. Sav. Winth. 306. " Gov. Eaton speaks of these plantations in his book of laws entitled " New- Haven's Settling in New England and some laws for Government, published at London, 1656," and says they were, " though united in Nation, Religion and affection, yet otherwise severall and distinct jurisdictions free from any expresse engagement one to another." II. New Haven Colonial Records 561. ° I. HoUis. Con. 102. Berry's Genealogy of Surrey and Kent. Foster's, Alumni Oxonienses makes the year of his birth 1591. This is clearly wront WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. I3 Sheen, on the south side of the Thames, in the county of Surrey, near London, a gentleman of. wealth and influence, during the times of the first James and Queen EUzabeth. His mother was Mildred Manning, the daughter of Henry Manning,' Esquire, of Greenwich, in the county of Kent. His father, with high hopes for the future distinction of his son, intended him for the bar, and accordingly furnished him with a liberal education, first at the University of Oxford ' and subsequently at the Inns of Court. But in early life, says Cotton Mather, he became a Christian, and the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit upon his heart induced him to become a preacher of the Gospel, and his sense of this duty became so strong that his friends gave way, especially as he was sustained in his inclina- tions by such eminent ministers as Dr. Edmund Staunton of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, his alma mater, the Rev. Nicholas Byfield, and others. Mr. Whitfield entered the Christian ministry in the Church of Eng- land in the year 1618,'' at the age of twenty-one, and obtained at the same time the rich living of Ockley," in the county of Surrey, in the diocese of Winchester, where he continued for twenty years. During the same year in which he was instituted into his benefice he married Miss Dorothy Sheaffe, the daughter of Dr. Edmund Sheafife* of Cranbrooke, in the county of Kent, a lady of tastes and character similar to his own, the mother of his children, his companion in New England, and his survivor on his return to his native land. The situation of Mr. Whitfield during the period of his rectorship at Ockley was eminently desirable. " He was," says Dr. Trumbull, " one of the wealthiest clergymen that came into Connecticut." He had learning, friends and high position in life. His appearance is said to have been extremely dignified and prepossessing. " His delivery had in it," says Dr. Mather, " a marvellous majesty and sanctity." His courteous manners, his attainments as a scholar, his eloquence as a preacher, the purity and gentleness of his every-day Ufe made him eminent in an age distinguished for great and good men. His char- ities were in accordance with his opulence and opportunity. His house ' Matriculated at New College on June 16, 1610 (Foster's Alumni Oxonienses). ' Foster's Alumni Oxonienses says 1616. 'Camden says: "Some distance from the head of the river is the town of Aclea, commonly called Ockley from the oaks. Here Aethelwolf, the son of Egbert, engaged the Danish army with success; and here also is a certain custom observed time out of mind of planting rose trees upon the graves, so that this churchyard is now full of them " (Britannia, Vol. I, p. 183). * Berry's Gen. Kent. Pedigree of Whitfield as per Berry's Sussex Pedigrees, and article by Mark Antony Lower, M. A., F. S. A., in Sussex Archaeological H HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. was the resort and asylum of the oppressed and persecuted. His doc- trines were enlightened and evangelical; so- that "his labors," says Dr. Mather, " were blessed not only to his own parish, but throughout all the surrounding country, from whence people flocked to hear him.' His ministrations became so efficacious and popular, indeed, that at the earnest solicitations of his friends he procured a pious and worthy clergyman to act as a curate for his own parish and spent much of his time in visiting and supplying other churches, dispensing spiritual Collections, Vol. 19, pp. 83+. See latter for much interesting detail. (See Harl. See. Visitation of London.) William Whitfield: of Whitfleld Hall, Cumberland. WILLIAM WHITFIELD: Qent., possessor o£ Bandal- holme in right of his wife. (Ahout end of 13tli cen- tury.) 1T~ dau. and heiress of Blchard Holme of the manor of Alstonmore, Cumherland. = MAUDE, daughter and co- heiress of John Whetelay, lord of manor of Bandal- holme, In parish of Alston, Co. Cumberland. William = Richard = Richard of Whitfleld Hall= Thomas. Robert. John. Miles = Maud, of New- or ton Matilda. Berry. 2 Annls -_ Robert = 1 Katherine, widow of Wenberne. Daughter and heiress of John Qlles, 1 bapt. at { of Bldlerden, Sent. Buried 1567. Alston, 1461. Went to Wadhurat, Sussex, about 1491. Accused of being a Scot in 1622. Buried June 2, 1641, aged B8 or 90. I Bobert = of Worth, Sussex. Paid £100 for de- fence against Spanish Armada, Apr., 1688. 1 Ann, daughter of John = 1 EUz. Stacy. Thomas, Eliza = Rich. Geoffrey, of Chld- Qeo. Roberts, of of 2 " Crowe. 3d son dlngley Place. Breuchley, Kent. Tenter- of Ellzabeth = John Edwards, ol May- 2 Agnes, daughter den, Cliff, field and Huntland. of William Sent. Sus- Shemay have been dau. of 2d wife. Atwood, 2d son. sex. Margaret = Thos. May, of Pashley , of Kent. IQ Tioehurst. Thomas = Mildred, daughter of Henry Manning, of Greenwich, of by Catharine, daughter of Erasmus Kerkener. Mortlake, (See long pedigree in Archaeologia Cantlana, 6, 271.) Surrey. She was probably connected with the family of the poet Ohaucer, (N. B. Hist. Gen. Reg. LI, p. 389.) William, 5 2d son. daugh- ters. I John of Worth, near East Grinstead, Sussex, 1634. Arms sable. = Eliza, dau. of Sir Ed- ward Cole- peper, ol Wakehursi, Sussex. Henry ^ Dorothy, of Ockley, daughter of Dr. Surrey. Sbeatfe, of 2d son. Cranbrook, Kent. I I I I Katharine = Wm. Geoffrey (or Jefferay) Elizabeth = Blch. Southcott. Lucy = Frances = 1 .... East. 2 . . . . Mulford. Bridget of Whitfield — Argent, a bend plain between two cottises engrailed Crest — Out of a palisade crown argent, a stag's head or. See N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg. LI, p. 419. WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 1 5 and pecuniary assistance to the needy.' Though he was for twenty years a conformist of the established church/ still his house during all that time was a place of refreshment and security for the pious non- conformists in their troubles and persecutions. Such men as Cotton, Hooker, Goodwin, Nye, Davenport' and many others memorable in Old England, and afterwards in New England, frequently found refuge and concealment in his comfortable home. A ministry such as Whitfield's was not likely to be looked upon with favor by the reigning hierarchy of England at that day. Accord- ingly we find that he became early obnoxious to Archbishop Laud and the other high churchmen about the king, and soon after he incurred the scrutiny and censure of the High Commission Court, of which Archbishop Laud was the head,* for not reading the Book of Sports and for not conforming to some of the ceremonies required in the liturgy service.' Afterwards, being present at a conference in which Mr. Cotton and some other Congregational divines discussed the subject of chtirch discipline, there appeared so much of Scripture and reason on their side that not long after he became a nonconformist. Not being will- ' I. Sprague's An. loi. ' A little volume of religious exhortation and instruction, entitled " Helps to Stir up to Christian Duties," by Henry Whitfield, B. D., published at London, 1630, and of which a second edition was published 1634 at London dedicated to Lord Brook, by the peculiar purity and elegance of its style and the manly force and energy of its argument fully attests some points of the character I have given of Mr. Whitfield. ° Young's Chron. Mass. pp. 428, 515, 112, 102, and 11. Math. Mag. 593. ' I. Mather Mag. 593. I. Sprague's An. loi. L Neal Hist. Pur. 313. HL Brooke's Lives. ° The following interesting extract from the Calendar of State Papers (Domestic, Charles I.) shows that Mr. Whitfield felt the tenure of his parish was uncertain, some years before he finally left it. March 2, 1634-5. Henry Whitfield to Dr. Stoughton, Aldermanbury. Inquires of Stoughton (being as it is with the writer and how he shall be enquired into, and especially the Archbishops visitation being presently after Easter) if he knows of a young man as a curate now at liberty, for the writer would not draw any out of a settled place, his own standing being very uncer- tain, yet he thinks he may abide as he is till the end of summer. He is to do nothing for the writer but read prayers and officiate in that kind, help in the administration of the sacrament or the like, because preaching is now at a great rate; he shall have after i20 per annum for the time he is to stay with the virriter, and is to live in a gentleman's family in the writer's parish, where he shall be conveniently provided for, since the writer's own house is full. If Stoughton can help him he may send word to Mr. Stone (vide N. E. H. G. Reg., July, 1895) in Cateaton St. Would gladly know how it goes with Stoughton about the book, for the writer heard he was like to be questioned." l6 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. ing under these circumstances to continue longer in the exercise of the ministry in the Established Church, he procured a pious and evan- gelical successor, and embracing, says Dr. Mather, a modest secession, with true sincerity and self-denial, at the close of the year 1638 or about the beginning of the year 1639, he gave up his position and prospects in the national church and in his native land. He was indeed again cited to appear before the Archbishop's Court, but he seems to have escaped from the censure by relinquishing his place and retiring from the country. While he was a conformist, he was undoubtedly a Puritan; in his secession he became a Congregationalist and an Independent. He believed the two great ruling principles of the order which he had adopted to be the establishment of purity and spirituality in the churches, and of liberty and equality in the political and social rela- tions of all communities, whether of church or state, and he accepted them with his whole heart, and they became the ruling principles of all his subsequent life. " This was the conjuncture," says an eminent English historian, " when the liberties of his native country were at their greatest peril." The opponents of the existing government began to despair of their country, and many were looking to the American wilderness as the only asylum where they might enjoy civil and religious freedom. The tyranny of Laud and Wentworth had reached its culminating point. They went upon the great principle of thorough, but it was thorough in the wrong.^ The perfidy of the king was hopeless and inevitable, so that in 1638-39, when Whitfield relinquished his living in Ockley, Archbishop Laud, who had now become primate of England, trium- phantly reported to his master the king that in several dioceses not a single Dissenter was to be found. Every part of the country was sub- jected to the most perfidious espionage. Every little congregation of Separatists was hunted out and broken up. " Even," says the English historian, " the devotions of private families could not escape the vigi- lance of his spies." All the prominent Puritan divines, the associates and friends of Whitfield, were either silenced or driven into exile. Some had fled into the Low Countries, seeking a precarious existence among the Dutch; but more had chosen to brave the perils of the Atlantic voyage and the hardships of uncivilized life in America, in hopes of finding there an asylum and a future home. Mr. Cotton had escaped from Boston in Old England to Boston in the New. Hooker and Stone ' Forster's Eng. Statesmen, 160. WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 1 7 with their associates, after remaining awhile at Cambridge, had tra- versed the hitherto unbroken wilderness and had planted themselves on the Connecticut river at Hartford. Davenport and Eaton had fixed their habitation at Quillipiack, irrevocably engaged, as they them- selves said then, "to stand and fall, grow and decay, flourish and wither, live and die together." Many others of the Puritans and non- conformists, the friends and associates of Mr. Whitfield, had perma- nently established themselves in different parts of the New World. Various and contradictory were the reports which came back to England from those who had ventured their lives and fortunes in that then distant land. Many accounts from New England were painful and dreary, but others were more satisfactory and hopeful."^ They spoke indeed of present privations, of bitter suffering and frequent deaths before which many of the nobler and gentler spirits were pass- ing away. Still they were prophetic of a better future, and promised eventually " liberty and freedom to worship God for themselves and their posterity after them " in the land of their exile." Such was the aspect of affairs both in Old England and in America at this time when Mr. Whitfield found himself a minister without a people, sus- pected and proscribed, obnoxious to the censure of the great eccle- siastical tribunal of the land, which spared neither the property nor the limbs nor the lives of its victims. There was evidently no place for him in his native country.' He accordingly, early in the year 1639, sold his estate and prepared to emigrate with his family and friends to New England. During the latter part of the time of his connection with the national church, and while he was itinerating the counties of Kent, Surrey and Sussex, and probably north as well as south of London, he had associ- ated about him a circle of young people of principles and opinions similar to his own, who had sympathized with him in his persecutions and who had readily joined him in his separation from the English * Thos. Dudley's letter to the Countess of Lincoln, Young's Chronicles, pp. 314-318, " Many died weekly, yea almost daily. Amongst whom were Mrs. Pynshon, Mrs. Coddington, Mrs. Philips and Mrs. Alcock, a sister of Mr. Hooker's. The ships being gone, victuals wasting and mortality increasing, We held fasts in our congregations. But the Lord would not be deprecated, for about the middle of September died Mr. Gager, a skillful chirurgeon; Mr. Higginson, minister of Salem; and on the 30th of September, Mr. Johnson, another of the five undertakers, the lady Arabella, his wife, being dead a month before; within a month after died Mr. Rosrfter, another of our assistants, a godly man, which still weakened us more." ' Guilford T. R. Constitution. ' I. Mather Mag. sg3. I. Sprague's An. loi. l8 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. church. Many of them were liberally educated; all were persons of high culture and earnest zeal for religion and liberty, and some of them were connected with the most distinguished Puritans of the time. Among them were Desborow, Kitchell, Leete, Hoadley, Chittenden, Sheafife, Mepham, Thomas and John Jordan, and others. " They felt," says Dr. Mather, " that they could not live without his ministry, and they joined him enthusiastically in his design of emigrating to New England." Several of them — we know not how many — had already been pro- scribed by the reigning hierarchy of the day. Noble, in his history of the Cromwell family, says of Desborow, the future member of several parliaments, the Lord Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal for Scotland, " that he was obliged to go to New England to enjoy his religious opinions." " The troubles of his country forced Mr. Hoad- ley, who had been a clergyman of Rolvenden in Kent, to go to New England to enjoy his opinions," says his grandson. Dr. Benj. Hoadley, the great Whig Bishop of Bangor, Hereford, Salisbury and Winchester. Dr. Mather says that Mr. Leete was obliged to resign his place as Registrar of the Bishop of Ely's Court and was exposed to persecu- tion, which caused him to retire into New England in 1639 with many worthy ministers and other Christians. Mr. Chittenden, it is said, was obliged to retire for a while into Holland for similar reasons. Another quite as important early and very intimate friend of Mr. Whitfield appears at this time, who apparently had more influence than any other in promoting and directing his company's emigration to New England. I allude to George Fenwick, Esquire, the agent and partner of certain great lords and gentlemen, leaders of the Puritan party in England, who were then designing and preparing a settlement at Saybrook on the Connecticut river as a refuge from the tyranny which had become insupportable in their native land; a plan of which emigration and settlement,' drawn up by Hampden, had been sub- mitted to'' and had the approval of Sir John Eliot in the dungeon where the cruelty of Charles L had left him to die. Mr. Fenwick was the representative at this time, in this country under these lords and gentlemen, of all the patent privileges and chartered franchises granted under royal and other patents of all the territory comprised within the present limits of the State of Connecti- cut, with all the jurisdiction powers derived thereby from the govern- ment. ' Forster's life of John Pym, English Statesmen, Harper's ed. p. 161. H tj Walpole's cat. 352. Eliot's MSS. in possession of Lord Eliot, quoted by Forster in Eng. Statesmen. ^ Forster's Eng. Statesmen, 246 WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. IQ Sufficient consideration has never liitherto been given, as it seems to me, to the important position which Mr. Fenwick then held, not only in the affairs of the mother country, but more especially in those of our own.'' He was certainly one of the most prominent and efficient members of the Puritan party in England. Educated at Oxford, for many years a distinguished barrister of Gray's Inn, where he early became the associate and intimate friend of Mr. Whitfield. After- wards he was one of Cromwell's colonels, a member of Parliament, and one of the judges designated by that body to try treason in the king. One of the most important chapters of his, as well as of our own, history still remains to be written, illustrating the origin and history of the Warwick patent, with its high purpose of the settlement under it of those great Puritan lords and leaders. Lord Say and Seale, Lord Brook, Lord Riel and other noblemen; but far more than these, of England's greatest statesmen, Oliver Cromwell, John Pym, John Hampden, Sir Arthur Hasselrig and others, who afterwards controlled so long, for good or ill, the destinies of England. In June, 1635, this company of lords and gentlemen — all of them grantees, directly or indirectly, of the Warwick patent — made John Winthrop, Junior, then in England,^ governor for them of the jurisdic- tion of Connecticut, and sent him over hither with a large amount of money and a great company of carpenters and builders, under the charge of Lion Gardiner, an experienced engineer and architect, trained in the Low Countries under the Prince of Orange," "to con- struct fortifications at the mouth of the Connecticut River, with pres- ent accommodations for themselves," but more especially ' " such other houses as might be fit to receive gentlemen of quality about to come out of England." A subsequent letter, written by Sir Arthur Hasselrig and Mr. Fen- wick to Mr. Winthrop, Junior, from London, dated the i8th of Sep- tember following, shows the importance and extraordinary urgency which this matter had assumed, and is as follows: " You ° will receive from Mr. Hopkins a particular of what is sent. Therein you shall find our constancy and care. Our dependence on you is great. We need not express it. Your 'ability to perform your undertaking we doubt not. Your integrity to go on with the work we suspect not. Our request is that fit houses be builded. We write ' Hubbard says of him, p. 279, " The hands of those on that side of the country were strengthened by the coming over of Mr. Fenwick, a gentleman of great estate and eminent for wisdom and piety." ' Trumb. Conn. Ap. II, 527-8. ' II. Mass. Hist. Col. 136. * I. Palfrey 450, 451. ° IV. Mass. Hist. Col. VI, 364. 20 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. this as we hope to congratulate your arrival, and to encourage your forwardness in a work of such exceeding consequence. We shall be happier to live to see you. Howsoever our best desires are yours." Within a month after this, there arrived at Boston Mr. Harry Vane and the famous Mr. Hugh Peter,' "having order," says the elder Winthrop, " from these lords and gentlemen to assert their claims to all the land conveyed to them by the Warwick patent against all intruders, which they did immediately by a proclamation signed by them jointly with Mr. Winthrop, addressed especially to the new set- tlers at Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield, requiring them to state under what right and pretense they had taken up their plantation within the precincts of their patent,"'' and also requiring them to " acknowledge the rights and claims of said persons of quality, and in testimony thereof to submit to the council and direction of their pres- ent governor, Mr. John Winthrop the younger, established by com- mission from them in those parts." In May following, Mr. Fenwick° himself arrived at Boston, especi- ally charged with carrying out the same great purpose, and after stay- ing a few weeks in that city, making preparations for the work going on at Saybrook, he set out on horseback with Mr. Hugh Peter across the country, intending to take in the plantations at Windsor and Hart- ford on their way. From thence a pinnace, sent up the river for that purpose by Mr. Winthrop, Junior, conducted them safe to their place of destination, the new fortifications at the mouth of the river. At this time* the Pequot war was about commencing, and the murder of Mr. John Oldham occurred within less than a week after their arrival. After the overthrow of the Pequots and the establish- ment of the Mohegan Uncas on the ruins of the Pequot dominion," Mr. Fen wick, in pursuance of the same great object, purchased of him all the territory from Niantic to Tuxis, including a considerable tract of land subsequently comprised within the limits of the ancient town of Guilford. Alternate hopes and fears, fluctuating with the continually changing aspect of political affairs in their own country, and with the equally " I. Sav. Winth. 170. ' I. Sav. Winth. Ap. 391, 398. ' I. Winth. Ap. 390, 392. * Lion Gardiner's Relation, III. Mass. Hist. Coll. Ill, pp. 129-139. Mr Fenwick and Mr. Oldham arrived at Saybrook fort together. Gardiner's Rela- tion. " Mr. Fenwick and H. Peter left Boston, July 6th, 1636. They probably arrived by the 13th of July. Oldham arrived at the same time. On the 20th of July, 1636, Mr. Gallup found Mr. Oldham's vessel containing his body mutilated and yet warm. I. Winthrop 189, 190. I. Palfrey 458. WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 21 varied reports of the aggfression and repression of Indian ferocity which came to them from our own, kept this company of lords and gentle- men and their partner and agent Mr. Fenwick for a long period in a state of doubt and uncertainty as to their ultimate settlement in Connecticut. Once certainly, according to the historian Hume,' and the author- ities collected by him, they had already embarked in a company includ- ing Sir Arthur Hasselrigg,. Hampden, Pym, Cromwell, and many others, in eight ships, ready to sail in the Thames, resolved forever to abandon their native country and seek that liberty in the other extremity of the globe which was denied them at home, when they were detained by an order from the Privy Council. And the king had afterwards, says, the historian, " full leisure to repent this exercise of his authority." It is difficult to determine the precise time of Mr. Fenwick's return to England after his first visit to this country, but it is certain that he was in England as early as the beginning of the year 1638. Soon after, he was in company with Mr. Whitfield and his associates and arranged with them their already intended emigration and settle- ment within the limits of his patent, in friendly proximity to Messrs. Eaton and Davenport and their company, who were already located at Quinnipiack. No man in England could have been better acquainted with the country between the Connecticut river and their plantation than Mr. Fenwick, not only from his own personal observation, but also by reports such as that made by Captain Stoughton'' on his return from the rout of the Pequots, in which he said that the country was abundantly better than that of Massachusetts Bay and well fitted for a plantation. Besides, as has before been stated, Mr. Fen- wick had already purchased of Uncas the Mohegan a considerable portion of that territory. Further, Mr. Fenwick was also preparing to return to Connecticut in the business of his partners, the said lords and gentlemen, to be ready for any emergency which the convulsions of the times might eventuate. ^V. Hume (Harp, ed.) 85. Dugdale. Bates. I. Hutch. Mass. 42. Forster's Eng. Statesmen. Hutchinson says, " Many persons of figure and distinction were expected to come over, some of whom are said to have been prevented by an express order of the King, as Mr. Pym, Mr. Hampden, Sir Arthur HasseWg, Oliver Cromwell, etc. I know this is questioned by some authors, but it appears plainly by a letter from Lord Say and Sele to Mr. Vane, and a letter from Mr. Cotton to the same nobleman, and an answer to certain demands made by him, etc." I. Hutch. 42, 43. " I. Sav. Winth. 400. 22 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Accordingly, he arranged with Mr. Whitfield and his company ^ their joint emigration to Connecticut in the same ship, and made joint stock of their cattle and other effects necessary for the supply of their plan- tations. Mr. Fenwick had just married Lady Alice (Apsley) Boteler, widow of Lord John Boteler," the daughter of Sir Edward Apsley, of Sussex, a lady connected with the St. Johns, the Hutchinsons, and others of the eminent and noble Puritan families of England." Mrs. Fenwick, or Lady Boteler, as she is usually called, not only entered earnestly into the spirit of the adventure * and joined her hus- band in the emigration, but by a letter written subsequently by Mr. Fenwick to the elder Winthrop, dated July 6, 1640, it appears that she even stinted her own means to furnish Mr. Whitfield the necessary supplies." Mr. Fenwick too, in like manner, both before and after their arrival in Connecticut, evinced his long-continued friendship and regard for Mr. Whitfield by giving him all that land," formerly purchased of Uncas between the Athammonassett river and Tuxis, included in the boundaries of ancient Guilford. We give the letter to Mr. Leete announcing this generous donation: Mr. Leet: — I have often been moved by Mr. Whitfield to enlarge the bounds of your plantation, which otherwise, he told me, could not comfortably subsist, unto Athammonassett river; to gratify so good a friend and to supply your wants, I have yielded to his request, which, according to his request by this bearer, I signify to you for your own and the plantation's better satisfaction, hoping it will be a means fully to settle such who, for want of fit accommodation, begun to be wavering amongst you, and I would commend to your considera- ' tion one particular which I conceive might tend to common advantage, 1 IV. Mass. H. C. VI, 365. '' I. Hollister's Conn. 149, note prepared by J. H. Trumbull. ' MS. letter of 1857 from J. H. Trumbull, Esq. * IV. Mass. H. C. VI, 366. °IV. Mass. Hist. Col. 'VI, 365. George Fenwick to John Winthrop, Say- brook, July 6, 1640. " When I was wi^th yow I did not know how Mr. White- field and I should devid. I thought it most equall that he should have part stock & part of your debt, but he being vtterly destitute of catle, and relyeing vpon those he expected vpon his bargaine with my wife, I have condiscended to lett him haue all the 5 cowes that remained of my wife's whole stock and haue taken your debt wholly vpon my selfe." " I have bene & am lik to be more straitned for moneyes this yeare then in that little tyme I haue lived I haue euer bene." Tradition says those " cowes " were the ancestors of the sturdy breed of red cattle which are still used by the farmers of the town ' Guilford T. R. Vol. A, 4, 5. WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 23 and that is, when you are all suited to your present content, you will bind yourselves more strictly for continuing together; for however in former times (while chapmen and money were plentiful) some have gained by removes, yet in these latter times it doth not only weaken and discourage the plantation deserted, but also wastes and consumes the estates of those that remove. Rolling stones gather no moss in these times, and our conditions now are not to expect great things. Small things, nay moderate things, should content us, a warm fireside and a peaceable habitation with the chief of God's mercies, the gospel of peace, is no ordinary mercy, though other things were mean. I intended only one word, but the desire of the common good and settle- ment hath drawn me a little further. For the consideration, Mr. Whitfield told me you were willing to give me for any purchase, I leave it wholly to yourselves. I look not to my own profit, but to your comfort. Only one thing I must entreat you to take notice of, that when I understood that that land might be useful for your plan- tation I did desire to express my love to Mr. Whitfield and his children, and therefore offered him to suit his own occasions which he, more intending your common advantage than his own particular, hath hitherto neglected, yet my desire now is that you would suit him to his content, and that he would accept of what shall be allotted him as a testimony of my love intended to him before I give up my interest to your plantation, and that therefore he may hold it free of charge, as I have signified to himself. I will not now trouble you further, but, with my love to yourself and the plantation, rest. Your loving friend and neighbor, George Fenwick. Seabrooke, Oct. 22nd, 1645. If you consider John Mepham ' for his wife's sake and for mine, I shall take it kindly. Our friends were now ready for their departure, and we are enabled to catch some glimpses of their preparation. They certainly embarked at London, and it may have been in one of those very ships from which Cromwell, Pym, Hampden and Hasselrigg were so rudely detained. We learn further," although we do not know its name, that it was a ship of 350 tons. We find also, by a memorandum preserved by Bishop ^The Planters gave Mepham 40 acres of land, and on January 26, 1674-S, land in that section is granted to John Evarts's four sons, provided " they secure the Town from all molestation, claime, or demand which John Mepham's heirs may pretend to on account of respect to him by Master Fenwick's favour." ' I. Sav. Winth. 306. Hubbard 279. I. Trumb. Conn. 106. 24 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Hoadley in his autobiography, that Mr. John Hoadley, his grand- father, left home in Rolvenden in Kent to join Mr. Whitfield and his ship on the 26th of April, 1639. An original indenture recently found among the papers of the Mass. Hist. Soc., in the handwriting of William Leete, made at his EngHsh residence at Keystone in Huntingdonshire,' about 9 miles from Hinch- inbrook, the residence of Cromwell, and only a few miles from Ettisley, the residence of Mr. Desborow, made on 13th of April, the same month, with one Edward Jones of Northampton, a house-builder, provides for their joining the ship at London, for an expected delay in making preparation, for Jones' freight and passage to Quinnipiack, and for three years' service at his trade at their place of destination in the southerly part of New England." The exact day^ on which the vessel sailed is not known, but from what we know of the length of their passage, the time of their arrival and the other attendant circumstances, we are enabled to determine with tolerable accuracy that they commenced their voyage about the 20th of May, 1639. That they were on their way was certainly known at Quinnipiack, and their safe arrival was looked for with much solici- tude. Besides the many other desirable friends^ on board, there was a young child of Mr. Davenport's who had been left by him at London under the care of Lady Mary Vere, Baroness of Tilbury, a daughter- in-law of the Earl of Oxford. Away on the wide and stormy sea, out of sight of England, from which most of them had parted forever, they began to feel more thoroughly their mutual dependence upon each other and the necessity of keeping their little company together unbroken; and accordingly, after having been about ten days on their voyage, they drew up and signed their plantation covenant, pledging themselves to stand by and not desert each other in the new land which they were about to enter. This instrument, brief but complete for its purpose, has recently been found among the papers of the Mass. Hist. Society, and is as follows: Covenant." We whose names are here underwritten, intending by God's gracious permission to plant ourselves in New England, and if it may be, in the ' MSS. in Mass. Hist. Col. at Boston, being papers once preserved by Gov Leete, and of which he must have been the collector, examined by me at Boston, June, 1865. ' I. Sav. Winth. 306. Hubbard 279. IX. H. & G. Reg. 149. = I. Trumb. Conn. 106. * IX. H. & G. Reg. 149 ° This Covenant is among the MSS. papers of the Mass. Hist. Soc, Boston preserved probably by Gov. Leete. ' WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 2$ southerly part about Quinnipiack, do faithfully promise each, for our- selves and our families and those that belong to us, that we will, the Lord assisting us, sit down and join ourselves together in one entire plantation and be helpful each to the other in any common work, according to every man's ability and as need shall require, and we promise not to desert or leave each other or the plantation, but with the consent of the rest, or the greater part of the company who have entered into this engagement. As to our gathering together in a church way and the choice of officers and members to be joined to- gether in that way, we do refer ourselves, until such time, as it shalJ please God to settle us in our plantation. In witness whereof we sub- scribe our names, this first of June, 1639. Robert Kitchel, John Stone, Francis Chatfield, John Bishop, William Plane, Wm. Halle, Francis Bushnell, Richard Guttridge, Thomas ' Naish, William Chittenden, John Housegoe, Henry Kingnoth, Wm. Leete, Wm. Dudley, Henry Doude, Thomas Jones, John Permely, Thomas Cooke, John Jordan, John Mepham, Henry Whitfield. Wm. Stone, Thomas Norton, John Hoadley, Abraham Cruttenden, There are but twenty-five signatures to this covenant, but as each person signed for himself and those that belonged to him, including minors, dependants and servants, only the head of the family putting his name to the instrument, we may readily conclude the whole number of males to have been much larger. Mr. Samuel Disborough, their first magistrate, was at this time not quite twenty years of age, and consequently was not one of the signers. The same was true of Mr.. Thomas Jordan, a lawyer, who became distinguished after his return to England some fifteen years later. Mr. Jacob Sheaffe, brother of Mrs. Whitfield and Mrs. Chittenden, who afterwards became a prin- cipal merchant of Boston, had recently come of age, was still unmarried and was probably attached to some of these families. It is a remark- able fact that this company was almost entirely composed of young men^ just starting in life. That they were anxiously expected at New Haven" appears by a letter recently copied by Rev. Mr. Waddington of London from MSS. ' Indeed Hubbard, who was almost a contemporary, says, " It was remark- able that all besides Mr. Whitfield himself who began the work were young men, an unusual thing for those times." II. Hubbard, p. 328. " IX. H. & G. Reg. 149. 26 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. in the British Museum, written by Mr. Davenport to Lady Vere and dated Quinnipiack, Sept. 28th, 1639, a part of which I copy. " By the good hand of God upon us, my deare child is safely arrived, with sundry desirable friends, as Mr. Fenwick and his lady, Mr. Whit- field, etc., to our great comfort. Theyre passage was so ordered as it appeared, that prayers were accepted, for they had no sickness, but a little seasickness — not one dead — (but they brought to shore one more than was known to be in the vessel at their coming forth, for a woman was safely delivered of a child and both are alive and well) they attained to their haven where they would be in 7 weeks. Their pro- vision at sea held good to the last. About the time we guessed they might approach near us, we sett a day apart for public extraordinary humiliation by fasting and prayers, in which we commended them to the hands of our God whom the winds and sea obey, and shortly after we sent a pinnis to pilot them to our harbor, for it was the first ship that ever cast anchor in this place. But our pilott having watched for them a fortnight, grew weary and returned home. And the very night after, the ship came in guided by God's own hand to our town. The sight of ye harbour did so please ye Captain of the Ship and all the passengers that he called it Fayre Haven." ' Mr. Whitfield and his associates were undoubtedly received with joy and affection by the dwellers at Quinnipiack. They were again among friends who sympathized with them in their sufferings, opin- ions and faith. They had left their oppressors a thousand leagues behind them, separated by a wide, almost impassable ocean, and they were now truly in a new world. The historian Hubbard says they" arrived at New Haven on the 15th of July, 1639, but a very careful examination of the contemporaneous authorities, and especially those upon which he makes up his date, induces us to fix the time of their arrival a week or ten days earlier, that is from the 6th to the loth of July, 1639. It is evident that they had no intention of losing themselves in the colony of Eaton and Davenport. They wished to form their own independent community; the contemporaneous note of the Elder Win- throp is that " they intended their own peculiar government " a San Marino, if you please, of their own. They accordingly soon commenced negotiations with the Indians for the purchase of that part of the territory about'' Menunkatuck ' New Haven received its name the next year at a general court held the ist of the 7th month, 1640. The record is in these words, " This town now named New Haven." I. N. Hav. Col. R. 40. ' Hubbard 319, " A company came out of the Southern parts of England Kent, Suffolk, Surry, etc. with Mr. Henry Whitfield with whom came also WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 27 where they intended their habitation, which had not already been purchased by Mr. Fenwick.^ In acquiring this Indian title an inter- preter became necessary, but he was readily supplied in the person of, not Mr. Thomas Stanton, who had acted for Eaton and Davenport, but Mr. John Higginson, Mr. Fenwick's chaplain at Saybrook. Mr. Higginson, who soon became one of their company and one of the first seven pillars of their church," their first teacher and second pastor, and who at one time stood at the head of the clergy of New England, and whose sturdy patriotism and logic at a later period fur- nished a sterner barrier against the insolent tyranny of Andros and Randolph than any other, claims from us a more particular notice. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Francis Higginson and his wife Ann, who was, as Mr. Felt supposes, a sister of Governor Eaton. He was born at Claybrook in Leicestershire, August 6, 1616. He came with his father to Salem in 1629 at the age of 13 years, and was one of the first members of the Salem church. After his father's death in 1630 he accompanied his mother to Charlestown, and afterwards to Quillipiack. After acting as chaplain of the fort at Saybrook, 1636, teaching school for a while at Hartford, he fitted for the ministry with Messrs. Hooker and Stone. While engaged in these pursuits he made himself familiar with the Indian languages of New England,' not only for intercourse, but for Christian instruction of these savage tribes. He had frequently' been employed by the Winthrops in their negotia- tions with the Pequots and Narragansetts, and had recently returned" from a mission to the Indians on the shore of Long Island Sound, west of New Haven, for the purchase of their lands in anticipation of the Dutch. Mr. Wm. Leete, the late worthy Governor of the Connecticut Colony, then a young man. They chose a place about 16 miles easterly from Quillipiack (since called New Haven), and there set down, which is since called Guilford." ' Tradition says, " At first they thought of Milford, but finally fixed upon Guilford, because they found it, particularly about the town plat, where they first settled, low, flat, and moist land, agreeable to their wishes." History of Guilford, 1st ed. p. 12. The meaning of Menuncatuck, according to J. H. Trum- bull, is Menhaden River. '^ I. Felt Annals of Salem 24. II. Felt 542, 543. ' Higginson told Sir E. Andros that he learned the Indian language in his younger time and was at several times made use of by the Government and by divers particular plantations as an interpreter in treating with the Indians about their lands. I. Felt's Salem 24. Felt says Mr. Higginson was one of the most zealous and earnest in oppos- ing the claims of Andros and Randolph. Randolph wrote from prison, July 23, 1689, " All things are carried by a furious rabble animated by a crafty minister." ' I. Winth. 192. II. Winth. 345. " See Mr. Higginson's letter. 28 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The country about Menuncatuck was then subject to a squaw sachem named Shaumpishuh, sister of Momaugin, and had recently joined with him and her uncle Quosoquonsh, Sachem of Totoket, or Branford, m the sale of the lands at Quinnipiack to Messrs. Eaton and Davenport. The Indians of Menuncatuck, greatly thinned by disease and the in- cursions of other tribes, were at this time very few. The whole family of the Quinnipiacks to which they belonged numbered only 47 men.. They were kindred to the Indians of Mattabeset and the tribes west of the Connecticut, and were undoubtedly a branch of the great Narra- gansett tribe,' cut of? from the parent stock by the intrusion of the Pequots and Mohegans about half a century before this period. Weak- ened by sickness and harassed by the cruel ravages of the Mohawks- and Pequots on either hand, they declared to Mr. Eaton that by reason of their enemies they could not stay in their own country and had been obliged to flee from it. The advent of the English, therefore, was. looked upon by them as a great blessing, furnishing a protection against these hereditary enemies. " They accordingly, in as solemn a manner as Indians are wont to do on such occasions,"^ says Mr. Higginson, " expressed their desire to Mr. Whitfield and his com- pany for the friendship of the English and their willingness that they should come and dwell among them." And the Sachem queen of this little tribe of Menuncatucks, acting under the advice of her uncle and counsellor, Quosoquonsh, a monarch treating with the founders of a republic of their own, accordingly on the 23d of August, 1639, pre- sented to Mr. Whitfield and his interpreter, Mr. Higginson, a map, which I have recently had before me, rude indeed, but fully indicating the position of the territory, of all the country from Athammonassuck to Quinnipiack, with all the rivers, shores and adjacent islands, upon which the Sachem squaw made this her certificate : " That from Tuxis to Oiocommuck river the land wholly and only belongs to herself and is at her dispose, the description of it being given by Quosoquonsh, her uncle, and assented by herself, Aug. 23d, 1639. In the presence of me,, Henry Whitfield and John Higgeson."° The terms of the treaty of cession and sale and the consideration fully adequate under the existing circumstances, having been satis- factorily arranged, a meeting was held by Mr. Whitfield and his asso- ciates, together with the Indian proprietress, on the 29th of September, ' I. O'Callaghan, New Netherlands, 150, 151. I. Broadheads, N. Y. 2^2 ' Mr. Higginson's letter. ° The original map with the certificate upon it is now among the MSS of the Mass. Hist. Soc. at Boston. The certificate is in the handwriting of Mr Whitfield. The signatures are autographs. WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 29 1639, S'Hd, as is Stated in the record, at Mr. Newman's barn at Quilli- piack, which had come to be the great hall of council on such solemn occasions. Here, using their own language, " I. It was first agreed and concluded by the whole number of planters -with one consent, that the whole lands called Menuncatuck should be purchased for them, although the deeds and writings thereabout be by one consent made and drawn in the name of these six planters only, "viz. Henry Whitfield, Robert Kitchel, William Chittenden, John Bishop, John Coffinge, William Leete, each planter paying his pro- portionable share toward the charges and expenses about purchasing and settling the plantation." At the same time a provisional arrangement was entered into for settling the civil government of the colony until a more definite dis- position could be made. This was as follows, brief but adequate: " II. It is agreed also that the civil power for the administration of justice and the preservation of peace shall be and remain in the hands of Robert Kitchel, Wm. Chittenden, John Bishop and Wm. Leete, chosen for that work." They then proceeded to complete the deed of purchase from the Sachem squaw, the original of which, in the handwriting of Mr. Whit- field, is still preserved in the Massachusetts Historical Society Library, and is as follows, viz. : "Articles^ of agreement, made and agreed upon the 29th of September, 1639, between Henry Whitfield, Robert Kitchel, William Chittenden, William Leete, John Bishop and John Caffinge, English planters of Menuncatuck, and the Sachem Squaw of Menuncatuck, together with the Indians, inhabitants of Menunchetuck, as followeth: First. That the Sachem Squaw is the sole possessor and inheritor of all the lands lying between Kuttawoo and Oiockcommock river. Secondly. That the sayed Sachem Squaw (with the consent of the Indians there inhabiting, who are all, together with herself, to remove from thence), doth sell unto the foresayed English planters, all the lands within the foresayed limits of Kuttawoo and Oiockcommock river. Thirdly. That the sayed Sachem Squaw, havinge received 12 coates, 12 fathom of Wompom, 12 glasses, 12 payer of shooes, 12 Hatchetts, 12 paire of stockings, 12 Hooes, 4 kettles, 12 knives, 12 hatts, 12 poringers, 12 spoons and 2 English coates, professeth herselfe to bee fully payed and satisfied. In witness whereof the foresayed parties have sett their hands. Squaw f~\. Sachem, Hry Whitfield, her 4-^' mark. in the name of ye rest. In presence whereof John Higgenson, Robert Newman." ^ Less formal than the deed from Uncas. The date is, of course, old style. Kuttawoo is East River and Oiockcommock is Stony Creek. 30 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. "The names of the Indians that are to sit down at Kuttawoo: Sunk squaw (at Quillipiack), "this written afterwards." Qussuckquansh (at Totoquet), " written afterwards." His wife and 2 children. Commossuck. Auquaihamch, a blind Indian. Chamish, a dumb old man and his wife. Aiasomut, a wife and two children. Meishunk, a wife and two children. Pauquiam, his wife and one child. Mequnhut, and his one child. Kaukechihu, a wife and two children. Meltuckquachick, one child. Ponaim, a young man. Wantumbecun, one child. Apoaweion, one wife. [making 13 men, 8 women and 12 children, or 33 in all.] ^ " All these are the inhabitants of Kuttawoo (which formerly lived at Menoughkatuck, and the Squaw Sachem, in her own name and their promiseth their friendship and faithfulness to the English, and I, H: Whitfield, in my owne name, and of ye English yt are to inhabit at Menoughketuck, promise the like to them, so long as they doe so continue, provided yt they be friends to ye English, as they professe they are. The sayed Sachem Squaw, in her owne name, and ye rest of the above named Indians, promiseth that they will not hurt or steal any thing belonging to the English, as cows or hogs, corn, etc., and if any shall, they shall be punished and just satisfaction be made to ye owners, also they promise yt no traps shall be set by any Indians at any place within ye aforesayed limits where any English cattle vse to come to feed. I also promise, in my owne name, and ye names of ye rest, yt no hurt shall be done to them or any thing of theirs, and if any shall, just satisfaction shall be taken when they complaine. " Qussuckquansh binds himselfe to pay for all ye hurt yt ye Menoughketuck Indians shall doe; and I, H. Wh., do bind myselfe to- pay for all ye hurt ye English shall doe." At this meeting of purchase and treaty-making it does not appear that any of the inhabitants of QuilHpiack were present participating or advising, except Mr. Robert Newman, who owned the barn, who witnessed the deed. They next prepared for their removal to the new plantation with their families. The Rev. Thomas Ruggles,' who says that he conversed with old people who were personally acquainted with the first members of the church, states in his historical manuscript " that as soon as the first purchase was made the planters immediately! before winter removed from New Haven and settled themselves at Guilford." He wrote in 1729 that the first planters were twenty-eight in number, and that is probably a correct statement of the number of ' Ruggles MS. p. 6. WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 3 1 heads of families. Mr. Whitfield and his associates left no record of the allotments of the first division of the land. It appears to have been made in such a manner as to have given general satisfaction. The record of it may have been burnt, as certain records of the first begin- ning of the settlement are said to have been burnt by accident, the house where they were lodged being consumed by fire. All the other and more important records of the proceedings at the commencement of the colony are preserved. The divisions of the land at the begin- ning appear to have been restricted to their individual homesteads and a few necessary out-lots. These divisions were made according to the estates of each of the planters and to the amount contributed to the common stock by each one. The second Indian purchase was made, on the 20th of September, 1641, by Mr. Whitfield from Weekwash,^ commonly called the pious Weekwash, and included the Neck, so called, lying beyond the Kutto- woo or East River, and is as follows : Be it known by these presents that I, Weekwash of Passquishank, do give unto Henry Whitfield all the land called the Neck, lying beyond the East river of Menuncatuck, which reacheth unto Tuckshishoag, with all the profits that doe belong to said ground. In witnesse of which bargaine: John Jordan, Weekwash his mark. Samuel Disbokow, Thomas Jordan. Memorandum. Before these witnesses Weekwash did avow himself to be the right owner of this land and that he had true right unto it as given him by the squaw Sachem Quillipiag. ' Wequash, sachem of the Niantic Indians in Connecticut, died at an early period after the settlement of Lyme, and is buried at the Christian Indian burying ground on the west side of the bay, near the mouth of the Niantic river. His memorial stone says, " He was the first convert among the New England tribes." This may be a mistake . . . Mr. Shepard wrote of him, " Wequash, a pious Indian at the river's mouth, is dead and certainly in heaven. He knew Christ, he loved Christ, he preached Christ up and down, and then suffered martyrdom for Christ." (Allen's American Biographical Dictionary.) " On Wequash cook, an Indian living about Connecticut river's mouth and keeping much at Saybrook with Mr. Fenwick, attained to good knowledge of the things of God and salvation by Christ, so as he became a preacher to other Indians, and labored much to convert them, but without any effect, for within a short tilne he fell sick, not without suspicion of poison from them, and died very comfortalbly." (II. Savage's Winthrop's New England, p. 74.) Capt. Israel Stoughton writes to Gov. Winthrop, Aug. 14, 1637, " For We- quash, we fear he is killed; and if he be, 'tis a wicked plot and, seeing he showed faithfulness to us and for it is so rewarded, it is hard measure to us-ward, and what is meet to be done therein, it is difficult for me to conclude." (I. Win- throp, p. 400, vide 2 Conn. Col. Rec. p. 57.) 32 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. [Consideration], a frize coate, a blanket, an Indian Coate, one faddom Dutchman's coate, a shirt, a pair of stockings, a pair of shoes, a Faddom of Wampom. On the 17th of December, 1641, Mr. Whitfield and the other trustees bought of Uncas,' the Mohegan, all the land from East River or Kut- tawoo to Tuxis, including all the land in this quarter not previously sold to Mr. Fenwick, comprising most of what is now included in the 1st Society of Madison. The original deed is in the handwriting of Mr. Leete, and is as ■follows : Articles of agreement made and agreed upon the seaventeenth of Decem- ber, 1641, between Henry Whitfield, Robt. Kitchell, William Chittenden, John Jordan and the rest of the English planters of Menuncatuck, and Uncas, the Mohegin Sachem, as followeth: Imprimis, That Uncas, the Mohegan Sachem aforesaid, is the right, true and sole owner, possessor and Inheritour of all those landes lyeing betweene the East river of Menuncatuck, called Moosamattuck, consisting of uplands, plaine landes, woodes and underwoodes, fresh and salt marshes, Rivers, Ponds, Springs with the Appurtenances, belonging to any of the said landes and the River, Brooke or Creeke called Tuskshishoagg, neare unto Wattommonossock which belong to Uncas or any other Indians. And that he, the said Uncas, hath absolute and independant power to aliene, dispose and sell all and every pt of the said landes, together wth the Island wch lyeth in the sea before the said landes, called by the English Falcon Island and by the Indians . 2'iiy. That the said Uncas doth covenant wth the said English planters of Menunchatuck aforesaid, that he hath not made any former gift, grant, sale or Alienation of the said landes or any pt of them to any pson or psons what- soever, and that he will warrant the same and make good the Title thereof to the said English planters, and their heirs, against all men whatsoever, either Indians or others. 3*'y. The said Uncas, for and in consideration of four coates, two kettles, four Fathoms of Wampom, four hatchetts, three Hoes, now in hand, paid, or to be paid, doth bargaine and sell unto the foresaid English planters of Menun- chatuck all and every pt of the pticculars formerly mentioned, lyeing betweene the East River of Menuncatuck and Tuskshishoag as is aforesaid, to them and their heirs forever, by what names soever they are or have been usually called wti" all the rights, prveleges or royalties of Fishing, and that it shall not bee lawful for the said Uncas,, or any of his men, or any others from him to set any Trapps for Deare in the said landes, or any wares in the Rivers for to catch Fish, but to leave it wholly to the use and possession of the English planters aforesaid so farre as our boundes hereafter to be set doth limit y™.' 4thiy. In that divers Indians have seemed to lay claime to this lande aforesaid as the Sachem Squaw of Queliappyack and Weekwash through her right. The ^ Uncas had obtained this land by his marriage with the daughter of the Hammonassett Sachem Sebequanash. Probably most of his warriors moved to the eastward of the Hammonassett river after the purchase. (Deforest's " Indians of Connecticut," p. 182.) WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 33 one eyed squaw of Totoket and others, to this he saith, that he hath spoken w"" all the Indians of Quelliapyack together with the Sachem Squaw, the one eyed Squaw and the rest and they doe all acknowledge, that the right of the said land now sold by Uncus is Uncus his childe's. Hee reporteth also that Weekwash did confesse to him that this land aforesaid did belong to his Childe. There were also at the Agreement makeing two Sachems the name of the one was Achawamutt, the other Nebeserte, who also affirmed the same that Uncus his childe was the true heir of this said land. The boundes of this land w'=^ we have purchased is as followeth From the East River to Tuckshishoag by the Seaside. From the lesser river as it goes as far as the marsh w*''' is neare the head w* wee judge to be eight miles off. From the East River, where Connectacut path goes over halfe above the said place where wee go over on a Bridge, or tree lying over fro them, it goes up East and by North in the woodes w"'' boundes hee, is by promise to set out to VIS at the Spring. Henry Whitfield Uncus or Poquia ^f his marke Samuell Disborow W JoH Jordan Uncus Squaw cf her marke We, the planters of Menunkatuck aforesaid, do covenant with Uncas or Poquiam that if at any time any inconvenience or annoyance at any time shall arise to the English planters of Menunkatuck by the misdemeanors or evil dealings of the Indians which are his men or from himself, they shall and will at all times come to the English upon notice given them and make them such satisfaction as the English shall require according to right and if any of the English planters of Menunkatuck shall do wrong to him or any other Mohegan Indians under his Government, upon complaint made to the English Magistrates and officers there shall be made just satisfaction by them according William Leete Secretary Having thus secured the Indian titles to the territory necessary for their habitation, a meeting was convened on the 2d of February, 1641-2, when the trustees of the Indian purchases made the following declara- tion of their trust: " Wee, whose names are here underwritten, who have purchased of the Indians the whole lands called Menuncatuck, and have purchased them in our owne names, doe signify by these pi'sents what our true full intent and meaning is (Viz) not to make any advantage of the said purchase for o^selves or posterity by this act, nor that any of the planters shall be prejudiced by it, in regard to their p^'portionable devisions, either of home or out lots, but that all lots shal be made and devided equally according to estates given in and according to the number of heads in each family, unto whom lots do or shall belong, neither will we the said purchasers make any choysse of o'' lotts above others but the lots shall fall or bee layd out by agreement, at the times of devis- sion. Moreover we professe that C meaning is (according to their desires) to resign up all o'' right in trust in the said purchase of lands, into the hands of the church here, so soone as it shall please God to gather one amongst us. 34 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. whether we be members of the said church or not. In witnesse whereof we have set to our hands. In presence of the rest of the Planters. Robert Kitchell, John Bishop, W™ Leete, Henry Whitfield, William Chittenden, John Caffinge. Also it is agreed by consent that, although all the planters of Menuncatuck do pay their prportionable shares for the purchase of the said plantation, and for all the other charges expended about the necessary public business of the said plantation, that all the former right in trust shall so remain in the hands of the six purchasers until a church be gathered here. Also it is agreed that the civil power for administration of Justice and p^- ervation of peace shall remaine in the hands of Robert Kitchel, William Chit- tenden, John Bishop and William Leete, formerly chosen for that worke, until some may bee chosen out of the church, that shall bee gathered." The lands necessary for their plantation having been thus secured, it became necessary that the grounds should be laid out, the high- ways Opened and prepared, the building lots designated and fitting habitations erected. As usual in all such cases, the carpenters, masons and house-builders from all the neighboring plantations, as well as their own, were put under immediate requisition. The huts left by the Indians may have furnished a present shelter. It is evident from the records and concurrent tradition that they spent their first winter at Guilford.' A universal helpfulness prevailed. It is said that the Indians assisted carrying the stone necessary for Mr. Whitfield's house and others of that character on hand-barrows, and in various other , ways furnishing aid. Several of the first houses were built of stone. Among them were Mr. Whitfield's, the finest in the plantation and which still remains; also Mr. Desborow's, Mr. Stillwell's and Mr. Higginson's. Mr. Whit- field's was fitted up with folding partitions, and for one or two years it was used for the place of meeting on the Sabbath, until the first m^eeting-house was erected. The first meeting-house was also built of stone, and was situated about the middle of the north end of the public green. It was about 24 or 25 feet square with four roofs coming to a point in the center. But the highways duly prepared, the home lots selected and their houses builded, the meeting-house erected, and the general order of the community established, nothing now remained to hinder their 'Ruggles MSS. I. Trumb. Conn. WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 35 gathering into that church estate towards which all their previous movements and anticipations had been directed. Other reasons given for the delay in forming a church are that the settlers may have felt their continuance in Guilford more or less doubtful at first, that Mr. Higginson for some time may not have decided to stay as a teacher and that they wished to have a teacher as well as a preacher from the beginning of the church. Accordingly in the month of June, 1643, in ^ public meeting of all the planters, and without the aid or attendance of any other churches or communities, but by the unanimous consent of all their people, the church was gathered, upon which their whole social polity was pre- dicated.^ The records of these important events in handwriting of Mr. Des- borow are as follows, perfectly clear and explicit in all its detail: " A church ° was here gathered at Guilford consisting of these 7 persons: — Mr. Henry Whitfield, Mr. John Higginson, Mr. Samuel Desborow, Mr. William Leete, Mr. Jacob Sheaffe, John Mepham and John Hoadley. The nineteenth day of the fourth moneth (June 29), 1643, the ffeoffees in trust for purchasing the plantation resigned up their right into the hands of the church, and these foure of them, also w'='' were chosen to the exercise of civil power, did also expresse that their right and power for that worke was now terminated and ended, whereof notice being taken at the public meeting, it was further p^'pounded, agreed and concluded, that whereas, for the time past (while as yet there was no church gathered amongst us) we did choose out foure men to wit Robert Kitchel, William Chittenden, John Bishop and William Leete, into whose hands we did put full power and authority to act, order and dispatch all matters, respecting the publicke weale and civill govern- ment of this plantation, until a church was gathered amongst us, w'''^ the Lord in mercy having now done, according to the desire of o'' hearts, and the said foure men at this publicke meeting, having resigned up their trust, and power to the intent that all power and authority might be rightly settled within the church, as most safe and suitable for securing of those mayne ends ■(vch Tjf^^ prpounded to o''selves in o"" coming hither and sitting downe together, namely, that wee might settle and uphold all the ordinances of God in an explicit congregational church way, w*'' most purity, peace and liberty, for the benefit both of oi'selves and our posterities after us. We do now therefore, all and every of us agree, order and conclude that only such planters, as are ^ " They had been persecuted and driven from their native country because they were Congregationalists and Puritans, and they wished to enjoy their sentiments here unmolested by those who had no sentiments in common with them, who endeavored to destroy their religious and political bonds by which they had bound their new society and government together." History of Guilford, ist ed. p. 57. ' Davenport, four years earlier, derived this method of ecclesiastical organi- zation from the text: "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." 36 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. also members of the church here,'^ shall bee, and bee called freemen, and that such freemen only shall have power to elect magistrates. Deputies and all other ofificers of public trust or authority in matters of importance, concerning either the civill officers or government here, from amongst themselves and not elsewhere, and to take an account of all such officers, for the honest and faithful discharge of their several places respectively, and to deale with and p''ceed against them for all misdemeanors and delinquencies in their several places according to rule, unto which Magistrates Deputies or officers we doe freely subject o''selves in all lawful commands, p^'vided that they bee yearly chosen, from time to time, and p''vided also that no lawes nor orders bee by them made, but before all the planters, then and there inhabiting and residing have had due warning and notice of their meeting, or of what is to bee done so that all weighty objec- tions may be duly attended, considered and according to righteousness, satis- fyingly removed.'' It is since further agreed and ordered, that in all general courts (consisting of the Magistrates and Deputies who are also appointed to keep particular courts) all orders shall be made, in generall courts by the major part of the ffreemen, and all actions in particular courts, sustained by the major vote of the Magistrates and Deputies, only it provided for issue sake that when the votes fall equall in either of those courts, then the magistrate shall have a double or casting vote. Also it is agreed that there shall bee one fixed gen^all Court yearly for election of officers &c when shall be chosen the Deputies for the particular court, Treasurer, Secretary, Surveyors of highways, Marshall, Viewers of fences, &c. It is ordered that there shall be foure fixed prticulr Courts every yeare (viz) the first Thursdays in flfebruary. May, September and December, when and where all the members of the Court are to attend, from time to time, at eight o'clock in the forenoon upon the penalty of five shillings for every such default. It was further ordered that all the freemen and planters should attend each and all of these courts, and remain to their close— unless dismissed— under suitable but severe penalties. And it was further ordered that whosoever so appearing and attending shall have just cause to speake to or transact any businesse wti the Court or com- pany, or to or with any person or persons in their presence, they shall both in expressions and m all other manner of their behavyor, so comely and respect- fully demeane themselves, as may hold forth an honorable esteem of the ^ These rules of none being freemen but themselves and from the church here and none bemg officers but from amongst themselves and not elsewhere were' more exclusive than that of the other colonies, which was at the time of Ihlir admission as freemen each must be a member of some one or other of the approved churches of New England. I. N. Hav. Hist. Soc Papers 2^ January 31, 1649. Upon a review of the more ffixed agreements lawes and orders formerly (from time to time) made. The Gem Coun he;e he d he day and year aforesaid, thought fit, agreed and established them according to the ensuing draft as followeth. T. R. Vol B p i ^"lumg At a Gem Court, held Feb. 14, 1649, the whole 'frame of the foundation agreements, orders and conclusions were read and all new orders were voted as they stand m the drafts then read to the planters in publique. T R Vol WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. yj Authority then present, and a due attendance to peace, not speaking untill called or allowed to speake, nor addressing their speech to any but the Court, or Magistrate, or such as they shall allow him or them to speake unto, nor con- tinuing by impertinencies, needless repetitions or multiplications of words, w'^'' rather tends to darken than cleare the truth, or right of the matter upon such penalty as the Court, considering the fact or carriage wt"! the aggravating circumstances adjoyned shall see cause to impose and inflict. Many other laws, statutory and penal regulations, and provisions suitable and convenient to their situation were also enacted, which appear at length on their records. Under these laws their courts were duly established and their court records kept with great care and regularity for a period of about 20 years, until they were brought under the Connecticut jurisdiction. With such magistrates as Mr. Desborow and such secretaries as Mr. Leete, they fully proved themselves in no wise inferior in learning or dignity to any other courts, at that time in New England. New Haven, into combination with which they were forced by the exigencies of the situation, probably objected to receiving them before they should " embody in church estate." The phrase " church here " is thought by Prof. Hart to show that they feared the external pressure from New Haven. The consideration shown for planters not church members is also noticeable, another evidence of that tolerant spirit which Guilford has never lacked. They are to be notified and required to attend town meetings, and probably were allowed to speak at them. Although they acknowledged the scriptures contained in Divine Revelation, as furnishing a supreme rule of conduct, yet they had a due regard for the common law, which they had brought with them from their mother country, and which, founded, as they believed it to be, upon the general principles of righteousness and justice, furnishing the necessary rules for defining and ordering the social relations, regu- lating the proceedings and determinations of their courts, the descent of lands, dispositions by wills, the forms of holding and transferring property, the methods of entering into and enforcing the obligations of contracts, they considered they had no right to neglect or set aside. In proof of this might be cited an early order on the Guilford Court for the division of the estate of a deceased planter, where recognisances were taken by the court from the parties to abide further light on the subject. And afterwards it is noted that the recog- nisances were discharged and cancelled, the court having received light from England satisfying them that they had proceeded correctly.' Neither is there any allusion on their records, such as there appears '■ Guilford Records, vol. A, pp. ^(>, 77- 38 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. to be on the New Haven and Milford records, indicating any idea on their part of dispensing with the rules of the common law. Indeed it is impossible to believe, in the light of their proceedings and all the attendant circumstances, they could have intended understandingly to give up and disregard the common law, founded upon the decisions and accumulated wisdom of ages, interwoven, too, as it was, into all the affairs of their everyday life; nor can we believe for a moment that such men as Mr. Leete, Mr. Desborow, Mr. Thomas Jordan, to say nothing of Mr. Whitfield — men not only bred to the law, but eminent in the profession, both in their own as well as in their mother country, before and afterwards — could forego and belie the teachings of their whole lives. That the founders of Guilford may have endeavored, as many other good jurists have very properly done, to make the common law and their civil polity predicated upon it conform more strictly to the rules, as far as they were manifest, in the higher law of Divine Revelation is undoubtedly true; but that they could have designed to ignore the whole common law of England, leaving themselves without any code adapted to their own peculiar circumstances, whatever may have been done by their sister colonies,' can never be believed. That other colonies' took a different course for a short period, from different light or want of light in the matter, may have been one of the reasons why Guilford chose to adhere to her own peculiar and separate polity. At a General Court held at New Haven for the Jurisdiction, the 3d of April, 1644, " It was ordered that the judicial lawes of God, as they were delivered by Moses, and as they are a fence to the moral law, being neither typical nor ceremonial, nor had any reference to Canaan, shall be accounted of moral equity and gen'lly bind all offenders, and be a rule to all the courts of this Jurisdiction in their proceedings against offenders, till they be branched out into particulars hereafter." This simply amounts to this, that the laws of God as delivered by Moses were here established as " a rule to all courts of this Jurisdiction in their proceedings against offenders," that is, in all those matters of the criminal law where the penalty or punishment is ordinarily fixed by particular statutory enactments of the Legislature of the land. They ' At Milford— It was " voted that they would guide themselves in all their doings by the written word of God, till such time as a body of lawes should be established." Lambert p. 92. ' I. N. H. Col. Rec. (Hoad.) 12. " In all public offices which concern civil order as choice of Magistrates and officers, making and repealing lawes, dividing alotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature, we would all of us be ordered by those rules which the Scripture holds forth to us." WHITFIELD AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 39 did not bring the penalties and punishments enacted by the parHament of Great Britain with them to this country any more or less than any other colony of America, but they established the provisions of the law of Moses as their rule of penalties and punishments " until they could be branched out into particulars hereafter." This, however, had clearly nothing to do with the common law which they brought with them and always vised in its application to breaches of contracts, de- scents of lands and other property; also to civil injuries between man and man which are answered in damages, nor to the rules which regu- late the ordinary methods of procedure of courts in matters either civil or criminal.^ While the fundamental system of civil government adopted by the founders of the colony of Guilford was thus distinctively their own, on the other hand it is equally evident that their ecclesiastical polity, with the bare exception of their selection of seven of their principal planters, as the nucleus of their church, like that at New Haven and that at Milford and perhaps some others, was in all other respects no less distinctive and peculiar. Mr. Whitfield, like Mr. Davenport, Mr. Prudden and many other ministers who came to America, had been a clergyman of the estab- lished church of England previous to his emigration, but unlike those ministers, he did not think it necessary, on his settlement in Guilford, to be again ordained preparatory to a right discharge of all the duties of pastor in their church. That they had chosen him and he had chosen them seems to have been sufficient for their alliance, without any further installment or consecration for their respective duties. He had gathered them in England, or raither they had gathered themselves around him there, and he had come across the Atlantic with them as their pastor, and having called Mr. Higginson into their fraternity as their teacher, they, the whole community of the planters, gathered their church around their ministers, as a center, and as far as appears from the records and from tradition, without the advice or aid of any other churches or elders. There were, however, three men chosen annually at a special meet- ing every year ' from the first, men such as Mr. Desborow, Mr. Kitchell, Mr. Leete and Mr. Thomas Jordan, to collect the minister's mainten- ance and to manage the other temporalities of the church, holding an office similar, perhaps, to that of vestrymen in the Church of England, and there is no account of any other officers in their ecclesiastical community. "I. N. H. Col. Rec. 130. ^ See Town Records, October 7, 1646, and August 19, 1647. 40 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Mr. Higginson, it may be noted incidentally, in the discharge of his duties as teacher, officiated one-half of the day on each Sabbath and also had the charge of the public school. Probably in their primitive condition no necessity was felt for Deacons among them. It is certain at any rate that none were selected or appointed during the pastorate of either Mr. Whitfield or his suc- cessor, Mr. Higginson, for a period of nearly a quarter of a century. Unlike the neighboring churches, who seem never to have considered themselves completely supplied with officers until they had appointed a Ruling Elder, the church at Guilford not only never made any such appointment, but they wholly repudiated it in their organization. These fundamental points of difference in the order and discipline of the first church at Guilford from the other neighboring churches are fully proved from their records, as also by a letter among the papers of President Stiles, written to him by the Rev. Thomas Ruggles, Junior, the fifth pastor of the Guilford church over one hundred years ago, in which he says, " with regard to the church at Guilford, they never had, and upon principle never would admit, a Ruling Elder, and in this respect," he says, " their practice was quite different from that of the church of Mr. Davenporte." And he adds: " I have made diligent enquiries into the subject many years ago, with old people who were personally acquainted with the first members of the Guilford church. They invariably agree that Mr. Whitfield was never ordained in any sense at Guilford, but officiated as their pastor by virtue of his ordination in England. So he and his church," he says, " would never allow a Ruling Elder, and the ancient tradition in the church was and is that New Haven and the other churches conformed their judgment and practice to Mr. Whitfield^ and his church's judg- ment, who were strictly Congregational." Thus we have endeavored to follow the pioneers and founders of the colony of Guilford through their troubles and persecutions, and eventual expatriation from their native land; their first gathering into an association for their emigration to the land of their exile; thence through the first years of their settlement and of their political and ecclesiastical organization, forming themselves into a separate sov- ereignty independent and their own, having their own written con- stitution and laws, adopted exclusively by themselves, and as is said by the Elder Winthrop, intending their own peculiar government, standing, as is added by the historian Hubbard, on their own liberty until they had fully estabhshed themselves into an independent republic. ^ H. F. Waters, in his Genealogical Gleanings in England (N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg. July, 1897, vol. Ll, pp. 389-420), gives many interesting particulars with reference to Mr. Whitfield's ancestry. CHAPTER II. The Signers of the Covenant. The pioneers of Guilford being now comfortably established in their plantation, it may not be improper next to consider somewhat more distinctively the individuals who gave the principal character to its civil and religious society. Prominent among them, after Mr. Whitfield, the pastor, and Mr. Higginson, the teacher, to whom we have already briefly alluded, appears the first magistrate, Mr. Samuel Desborow, the third also among the pillars of the first church, the future member of Parliament and Lord Chancellor, who has left behind him on the Guilford records, as a specimen of his fine conceptions and exquisite skill, the beautiful draft of their gathering into church estate, and of the constitution and laws by which they embodied themselves into their civil community. He was born on the manor of Eltisley,^ in Cambridgeshire, on the 30th of November, 1619, and was the third surviving son of James Desborow, Esquire, and a younger brother of the famous Major Gen- eral John Desborow who married Jane Cromwell, a sister of the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, and was a member of several Parliaments and one of the judges appointed to try Charles I. Mr. Samuel Desborow studied law with his brother John Desborow, who in early life was a barrister. He was brought up as a Puritan, but his father dying in October, 1638, when he was only 19 years of age, and his elder brother, James Desborow, Esq., who inherited the manor and advowson of Eltisley, being an Anabaptist, he not finding himself free to follow his own opinions " at home, the next year joined Mr. Whitfield and Mr. Leete and their company in their emigration to New England. Whether he had ever been a graduate or member of the university which was in his own neighborhood does not appear. It is certain that his education was superior to men of his rank at that time. Mr. William Leete, the fourth among the pillars of the Guilford first church, was probably born at Keystone in Huntingdonshire, was a ^ His father, James Desborow, esquire, and his ancestors for several genera- tions, had owned the manor and advowson of Eltisley. II. Noble, Cromwell Family 244. ' II. Noble's Crom. 244. Stiles, Judges 34. II. Noble 254. 42 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. son of John Leete' and was born , 1611, and was therefore about 28 years old at the time of his emigration. He was married in England, and his first child, John Leete, is said to have been the first white child born in Guilford, and was born in 1639, soon after the settlement.' It is supposed that he was a graduate of Cambridge. He became a lawyer, and was for a considerable time registrar of the Bishop of Ely's court at Cambridge. In this service he became acquainted with the proceedings of the Bishop with the Puritans and non-conformists, and with the pleas and serious conversation of the latter when arraigned before their courts. He observed the great severity which was exercised towards them for going to hear sermons which they liked in other parishes when they had none at home, while such offenses as wantonness and drunkenness were looked upon as trivial matters, and persons guilty of lasciviousness and adultery were treated much more Hghtly than those who for conscience sake had violated some of the rules of uniformity. This led him to a serious consideration of these matters and to examine more thoroughly the doctrines and discipline of the Puritans. In consequence of this, he soon after embraced their opinions and faith, and abandoning the society of the men with whom he had formerly associated, he resigned his place in the Bishop's court. For this he was subjected to persecu- tion, which induced him to join Mr. Whitfield and his company and retire to New England. On his arrival at Menuncatuck he became one of the trustees of the Indian purchases, showed his consummate skill as a draftsman and a lawyer in drawing up the deeds from Uncas, and was chosen one of the four men into whose hands the civil power for the administration of justice and the preservation of peace was committed until the church was gathered. Mr. Jacob Sheaffe, the fifth of the pillars of the first Guilford church, was the youngest son of Dr. Edmund and Joanna Sheaflfe, and was born at Cranbrooke in the county of Kent, England, on the 4th of August, 1616. He was a brother of Edmund Sheaffe, Jr., who emi- grated to Boston; also of Mrs. Joanna, wife of Mr. William Chittenden; Mrs. Dorothy, wife of Rev. Henry Whitfield, and also, as it is supposed, of Mrs. Margaret, wife of Mr. Robert Kitchell. He was hardly twenty- three years of age and unmarried at the time of his emigration to Connecticut. Mr. Savage thinks it strange that one so young should have been selected as one of the pillars of the church,' but if he had examined carefully he would have found that four others of the seven were of a similar age. Mr. Sheaffe* married Margaret Webb, 'I. Math. Mag. 156. Steiner's Sketch of Wm. Leete in Proc. of Am. Hist Ass. for 1891. = I. Trumb. 375- " IV. Sav. Die. p. 66-7. " IV. Sav. Die. p. 444.. THE SIGNERS OF THE COVENANT. 43 only child of Mr. Henry Webb of Boston and the wealthiest heiress in that city, by special permission of the General Court of Massachusetts, September, 1642. After spending four or five years at Guilford after his marriage as a merchant, he sold his estate there to George Hub- bard, the 22d of September, 1648, and removed to Boston, where he spent the remainder of his life as a merchant and died March 22d, 1658/ His widow subsequently married Rev. Thomas Thatcher; she died February 23d, 1693, aged 68. , Mr. John Hoadley, the seventh of the pillars of the Guilford church, was born at Rolvenden in the county of Kent, England, January, 1617, N. S. He is said to have been a graduate of one of the universities and was fitted for the ministry in the established church. He was, however, a Puritan; was obliged, on account of his persecution, for opinion's sake,° says his grandson Bishop Hoadley, to join Mr. Whit- field and his company and journey to New England. He left his home in Rolvenden, as has been previously stated, to join their ship in London on the 26th of April, 1639. On his passage to this country he became acquainted with Miss Sarah Bushnell, daughter of Mr. Francis Bushnell, Sr., of Horsted, in the county of Sussex, where she was baptized, November 26th, 1625. They were married at Guilford, July 14th, 1642. His name is the ninth on the plantation covenant. He was one of the deputies of the first particular court, and the dis- tinction which he gained as one of Cromwell's chaplains at the garrison of Edinburgh, and afterwards as chaplain of General Monk, Duke of Albemarle, shows his ability and character. John Mepham, the sixth of the pillars of the Guilford church, is sup- posed to have originated in the county of Kent The date of his birth is unknown, but he was one of the youngest members of the plantation. His name appears the i6th on the plantation covenant. He married Mary after his arrival at Guilford, . In the letter of Mr. George Fenwick to Mr. Leete making the gift of the land at Athammonassuck, he says: "If you consider John Mepham for his wife's sake and for mine, I shall take it kindly," which was remembered with a gift of 40 acres of land. He was one of the deputies of the Particular Court in 1645 ^"d ^ deputy of the Jurisdiction Court at New Haven with Mr. Leete in 1645 and 1646. He was the surveyor of the plantation. He was evidently a person of education and ability, and ^ The monument of Jacob Sheaffe is a table in King's Chapel churchyard in Boston, and has this inscription: "Here lyeth interred the body of Jacob Sheaffe, who sometime lived in Cranbrooke in Kent in OVLD ENGLAND who deceased ye 22d of March 1658 AE 42 years." ^Autobiography of Bishop Hoadley in the ist vol. of his fol. ed. of his works, P- 3, 4- 44 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. might have become a person of distinction had it not been for his early death. He died in the fall of 1648, aged about 30 to 32 years. His widow married Mr. Timothy Baldwin of Milford, March 5th, 1649, 50. He died in 1665, when she married, October 20th, 1666, Captain Thomas Tapping. Mr. William Chittenden was a native of Cranbrook in the county of Kent, and was born about the year 1610. His name is fourth on the plantation covenant. It is said that owing to persecution he retired into the Low Countries, and was for a while in the service of the Prince of Orange. He married Joanna Sheafife, sister of Mr. Jacob Sheafife and of Mrs. Dorothy Whitfield. Mr. Chittenden joined Mr. Whitfield and his company in their emigration to New England. His name is the third in the list of trustees of the Indian purchases, and the second of the four men to whom the civil power for administration of justice and preservation of peace was committed to await the gathering of the church. He was one of the deputies of the particular court chosen in 1646 and continued until his death. He was elected fourteen times deputy to the jurisdiction court at New Haven. He was lieutenant of the train-band and the principal military man in the plantation. He died February, 1660. Dr. David D. Field, who visited Cranbrook in 1848, says the Chittendens are still numerous there. Robert Kitchell was one of the most prominent as well as one of the most wealthy of the first settlers of Guilford. He is supposed to have come from the county of Kent, England, and was born probably about 1612. He married Margaret, supposed to be a sister of Jacob Sheaffe. His name stands first on the plantation covenant, next after Mr. Whit- field's in the list of trustees of the Indian purchases, and first in the list of those to whom the civil power for administration of justice and preservation of peace was committed until the gathering of the church. He was engaged by the other planters in 1644 and '45 to build a mill for the plantation upon consideration of certain toll; but in 1645, i^i consequence of a great break in the mill-dam caused by a storm " be- yond all mens expectations and beyond all mens foresight," they agreed to make him remuneration. In October, 1646, he was chosen one of the deputies of the particular court, which post he held during his continuance in the plantation. In June, 1650, he was chosen one of the delegates to the court of the jurisdiction at New Haven, to which he was re-elected for nine subsequent sessions. In 1666 he was chosen to lead those who went to Newark, New Jersey, where he was the first magistrate, and in a small history of that place, published in i8;o he is called the benefactor of that plantation. He died at Arthur Kill in New Jersey, October, 1671. Mr. John Bishop, one of the signers of the plantation covenant, where THE SIGNERS OF THE COVENANT. 45 his name is second on the hst, next after Mr. Kitchell's. His name is fifth on the Hst of trustees of the Indian purchases and third of the four men to whom the civil power for the administration of justice and preservation of peace was committed. He was evidently older than most of the other founders of the plantation. He married Ann in England and brought with him several children when he came to Menuncatuck. He was probably as old as 35 years at the time of his emigration. He is said to have been a brother of Mr. James Bishop of New Haven. His estate was one of the largest in the plantation after that of Mr. Whitfield. He died in January, 1660. John Jordan was the seventh on the plantation covenant. He came from the county of Kent, from Lenham or the vicinity, with his brother Thomas Jordan and joined Mr. Whitfield and his company in their emigration to New England. He was a witness to the deed of Uncas, and also that of Weekwash, and although quite young at the time of his emigration, still he was a prominent member of the community. December 17th, 1645, ^^ was desired with John Stone to receive the College Corn (the contribution for Harvard College), which is requested to be paid before the 2Sth of March ensuing. He married Anne Bishop, daughter of John and Anna Bishop, about the year 1640. He died about the ist of January, 1649-50. His will was dated February 2, 1646. His widow married Thomas Clarke, of Milford, May — , 1652. She died January 3d, 1672-3. Thomas Jordan was a younger brother of John Jordan. His name does not appear on the plantation covenant, and probably, like Mr. Desborow, he was not then of full age. He appears as a witness to the deeds of Uncas and Weekwash. It is said that he was a lawyer. In 1646 he was chosen treasurer of the plantation, and afterwards, during his continuance at Guilford, no one shared more fully the public confidence. In 1646 he was chosen one of the deputies for the par- ticular court to sit with "the magistrate, and one of the three men to collect the minister's maintenance. In 165 1 he was chosen one of the deputies to the Court of the Jurisdiction at New Haven, and so con- tinued through all the sessions of that year and every year until he left Guilford about the beginning of 1655 and returned to England. At a Jurisdiction Court held at New Haven on the 29th of June, 1653, he was chosen to go to Boston with Mr. Wm. Leete as commissioner to the Congress of the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England and to bear an answer to the General Court of Massachusetts with regard to the proposed war against the Dutch. He was also appointed commissioner with Mr. Leete the next year. After his return to England he resided at Lenham in Kent and was an eminent attorney for many years. He died in England about the year 1705. He is 46 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. supposed to have married Dorothy Whitfield, born at Ockley, March, 1619, eldest daughter of Rev. Henry Whitfield. Henry Kingsnorth, the twenty-second signer of the plantation coven- ant, was from Staplehurst, in the county of Kent, where he was born about the year 1618. He was a friend of Mr. Whitfield. He married Mary Stevens, daughter of John Stevens, who came early to Guilford, but was not in the first company. He was a man of standing and property both in Old England and New England. He died without children in the time of the great sickness and was buried July 30th, 1668. By his will he disposes of his property in England to his relatives and his property in Guilford to such son of his brother Daniel Kingsnorth as should come from England for it, otherwise to John Collins and his wife Mary. Accordingly James Kingsnorth came the year following with a certificate of the rector, churchwardens and parish clerk of Staplehurst, in Kent, to his identity. He also brought a letter from Rev. Henry Whitfield to Mr. Jno. Hall affirming the same. There- fore he was adjudged the estate and resided in Guilford until his death in 1682. Not leaving any issue, by his nuncupative will he bequeathed all his real estate to either of his brothers or either of their sons that should come over to New England for it, and if none of them came in five years time, then the inheritance was to fall to his uncle and aunt Collins, they sending over to each of his brothers or their sons a piece of plate worth £3 in England. His two brothers, Daniel and John Kingsnorth, afterwards acknowledged the receipt of such pieces of plate, and by their deed, made and executed in England, conveyed the said real estate to John Collins, 1686. Thomas Jones was the sixth signer of the plantation covenant. He was not far from twenty-one years old at the time of his signing the covenant. He probably came from some of the counties north of London. He appears to have been the first marshal of the plantation, and was re-elected from year to year until June 9th, 1651, when George Bartlett was chosen, in the words of the record, " to succeed brother Jones in the marshals place when Providence shall remove' him." Before June, 1652, he seems to have removed. He may have gone away with Mr. Desborow, as he certainly left Guilford about the same time. In a letter' written by Mr. Davenport to John Winthrop, Jr., dated March, 1655, he says Mrs. Desborow and Goodman Jones of Guilford, died lately of small pox in England or Scotland. He married Mary , probably about the time of his coming to Guilford. She died December 5, 1650. He married, second,, Carter. ' He thought of removing as early as June 12, 1650. ' Append=^ to Bacon's Hist. Dis. p. 368. THE SIGNERS OF THE COVENANT. 47 On the 4th of March, 1667-8, Lieut. Wm. Chittenden, his agent,' sold his lands at Guilford to John Meigs, formerly of New Haven. William Dudley was the fourteenth signer of the plantation covenant. According to a tradition in the family, he was a native of Sheen, on the south side of the Thames in the county of Surrey; and, as is well known, they claim connection with the great family who were earls of Warwick and Leicester. He lived at the time of his emigration at Ockley, in Surrey. His marriage in the handwriting of Mr. Whitfield is on the records of that church under date of August 14th, 1636, to Jane Lutman, who came to Guilford with him and was the mother of his children. His oldest son, born perhaps June 8, 1639, ^^J have been the child born on the passage alluded to in the letter of Mr. Davenport to Lady Vere. He was a man of property, but bore few offices of trust among the planters. He was probably about 25 years old when he came to Menuncatuck. He died at Guilford, May 16, 1684. Francis Bushnell, the third signer of the plantation covenant, was probably the elder of that name and died about 1646. His son, who bore the same name, was born in 1609 and came to Salem in 1635. He was a millwright and carpenter and kept the Town Mill after the death of Thomas Norton in 1648. About 1659-60 he removed to Saybrook, and upon the solicitations of its inhabitants, erected a corn mill on Oyster River, it being the first erected in that town; for which the proprietors gave him a farm, on condition that a mill should be kept there continually and that the inhabitants should have equal privileges in regard to grinding, which farm was held by his descendants on these conditions for two centuries. He died December 4, 1681. One of his descendants, David Bushnell, invented the American Turtle, the first torpedo, during the Revolution; another, Cornelius, furnished Ericsson the funds for the " Monitor." William Stone, the eighth, and John Stone, the tenth signer, were probably brothers. William was a tailor and died November, 1683; John was a clothier and mason and died in February, 1687. William Plaine, the eleventh signer, was executed in 1646 for cor- rupting boys. Richard Guttridge, or Goodrich, the twelfth signer, died May 7, 1676. John Hughes, or Housegoe, the thirteenth signer, did not settle in Guilford. John Parmelee, the fifteenth signer, died in New Haven, November 8, 1659. He left numerous descendants in Guilford. ' He left a son or nephew, Samuel, and on the sale of his lands he gave free- consent thereto. 48 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Thomas Norton, the seventeenth signer, is probably son of William Norton, of Ockley, England, and was one of the wardens of Mr. Whit- field's church there. He came to New Haven in May or June, 1639, and thence with the first settlers to Guilford. He was the miller from 1646 until his death in 1648. Thomas Naish, the twenty-first signer, did not settle in Guilford, but in New Haven, where he died, May 12, 1658. Henry Dowd, the twenty- third signer, died August 31, 1668, and left numerous descendants. Abraham Cruttenden, the eighteenth signer, was probably from Kent. He died January, 1683. Francis ChatHeld was the nineteenth signer of the plantation coven- ant and was a prominent member of the company. He came with his brothers Thomas Chatfield and George Chatfield, who were probably too young at the time of the emigration to sign the plantation covenant. They evidently belonged to the better class of emigrants, as the honor- able prefix of Mr. is attached to their names, and that of gentleman when they made their deeds of lands. It is evident that Mr. Francis Chatfield much opposed the combination of the plantation of Guilford with that of New Haven, and for this, on the 14th of August, 1645, he was arraigned before the magistrate and deputies. Francis Chatfield died about two years after, in 1647, unmarried, and his estate was divided between his brothers Thomas and George Chatfield. Thomas Chatfield married Ann Higginson, sister of Rev. John Hig- ginson, and having sold out his accommodations in Guilford, he settled at East Hampton, in the East Riding upon Long Island before 1659, where he became the magistrate and principal man of the planta- tion. George Chatfield married, first, Sarah Bishop, daughter of Mr. John Bishop, but she dying, September 30th, 1657, he married Isabel Nettle- ton, March 29th, 1659, and joined afterwards in the settlement of Killingworth, where are many of his descendants. His eldest son, John Chatfield, was a tailor and was one of the first settlers of Derby, Connecticut. George Chatfield died at Killingworth, June 9th, 1671. Thomas Cook was the last of the signers of the plantation covenant, except Mr. Whitfield. Like most of the others, he was quite a young man when he came to Guilford, and he lived to be the last survivor of the original signers. He died at Guilford, December ist, 1692. He married Elizabeth . He was a representative to the General Court at Hartford, May, 1666, was usually the juror from Guilford after the county courts were established in 1666, and held many other hon- orable offices. CHAPTER III. The Home Lots. There is no particular account of the proceeding's in making the first division of lands. It is evident that they first laid out the high- ways and public grounds. Among their first transactions in this direc- tion, they laid out their large and beautifully located public green, a perpetual monument of their foresight and sagacity, as a common center, with its highways, mostly at right angles, running by its corners to the harbor, the river crossings and the surrounding villages. It was originally laid out in the form of a parallelogram, bounded by the highways running due east and west and due north and south. It is said that it originally contained about i6 acres, and it was also said to be a mile round it. The present area within the limits of the outer fences is about 12 acres. Ample width was also given to the streets running in continuation of the sides of the green or crossing these streets at right angles. After the streets and public grounds were laid out, the individual lots were laid out according to the following order, which was estab- lished by the Town soon after its first organization, entitled — " The proportion of Lotts," (in the handwriting of Mr. Desborow). — " It is agreed and ordered that no planter shall put in his estate above five Hundred pounds to require accomodation, proportionable in any division of lands in this plantation except it bee w"' expresse consent of the major part of the fifreemen, met together, and for some good causes and grounds granting liberty, to some such as desire a further enlargement And that all planters desiring accommodation here shall put in the valuation of their estates according to one or the other of these four sumes appointed for the rule of proportion, (viz.) either five hundred pounds, Two Hundred and fifty pounds, one hundred pounds, or fifty pounds, according to which last and lowest summe the poorest planter may put in for and have accommodation suitable if hee desire. And it is further ordered that all lands shall from time to time be allotted or divided, unto all and every of the planters here, both according to his or their estates put in, and according to the number of heads in each family, viz. — for every hundred pound estate, five acres of upland and six acres of meadow, and for every head three acres of upland and half an acre of meadow and so propor- tionably for fifty pounds estate, none being reckoned for such heads to any man but himself, his wife and children." "Not to refuse lots granted. — It is ordered that no planter accepting and possessing any one part of his lots or accommodations of land divided or appointed unto him, according to the manner of rule of proportions, agreed as 50 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. is expressed in the foregoing order, shall so refuse or reject any other part of the proportional allottments or divisions of land (w'='' of right do appertaine to him) as to delay or deny to pay equal rates &c for the same with others in that division. " Rules for sizing lotts.— It is agreed that all quarters of meadow or upland appointed to bee layd out to any planters here, shall first be syzed and set in equal proportion for quality and goodnesse by addition of land, such and so much as the syzers, shall think fit by comparing the upland w*" that in Norton's quarter, the meadow with that on the West River, the syze of wh"'' lands is agreed and appointed for the rule of valuation in the first division of out lotts. " Against engrossing lotts. — Whereas, much experience shows that sundry inconveniences do arise to the burdening, disturbing or depopulating of smaller plantations when either sundry lotts or accommodations are engrossed into one hand or possessed and held by unsuitable or unfit persons; it is therefore agreed and ordered that none shall sell exchange, fraudulently let, or give (either all or any part of his lotts or accommodations unto any, whether planter or other w^^out the consent of the court first publickly procured and recorded, together with the sale or exchange, particularly expressed and set downe in a book for teriers of land. " Taking of land for public uses. — It is ordered that every particular mans lotts bee his owne right and propriety, yet for the comon good's sake, for laying out wayes suitable for all necessary occasions w'^'' in after time may better appeare than at present can be foreseen or discovered, it shall be lawful] for the Court here to take and lay out so much land as they shall judge meet for a way or for other public use, out of or thorow all or any part of any mans lott provided that they do appoint and lay out to him for satisfaction so much land as may in justice be esteemed worth that v/'^^ is taken from him, when it shall be required." The original home lots were drawn 'or laid out according to the foregoing rules, and their localities were as indicated below. The stone house built for Mr. Whitfield still remains; his home lot was called four acres. The fine large open space in front of his house seems to have been arranged by himself. The house,^ built in 1639, was erected both for the accommodation of his family, as a place for religious meeting, and as a fortification for the protection of the inhabitants against the Indians, is one of the oldest dwelling houses in the United States. The house was kept in its original form until 1868, when it underwent such renovation as changed its appearance and internal arrangement to a great extent, although the north wall and large stone chimney are substantially the same as they have been for over two centuries and a half. It occupies a rising ground overlooking the great plain south of the village and commanding a very fine prospect of the Sound. It is said that the first marriage was celebrated in it, the wedding table being garnished ' Palfrey's N. E. II, p. sp. Footnote written by R. D. Smyth. THE HOME LOTS. 5 1 with the substantial luxuries of pork and pease. According to tradi- tion, the stone of which this house was built was brought by the Indians on hand-barrows, across the swamp, from Griswold's Rocks, a ledge about 80 rods east of the house, and an ancient causeway across the swamp is shown as the path employed for this purpose. The walls are three feet thick. In 1859, when drawings of the house were made by Walter H. Smyth, a small addition had in modern times been made to the back of the house, but there is no question that the main build- ing remained in its original state, even to the oak of the beams, floors, doors and window-sashes. In the recesses of the windows were broad seats. Within the memory of some of the residents of the town, the panes of glass were of diamond shape. The height of the first story is seven feet and two-thirds. The height of the second is six feet and three-quarters. At the southerly comer in the second story there was originally an embrasure, about a foot wide, with a stone flooring, which remains. The exterior walls are now closed up, but not the walls within. The walls of the front and back of the house terminate at the floor of the attic and the rafters lie upon them. The angle of the roof is 60°, making the base and sides equal. At the end of the wing, by the chimney, is a recess, which must have been intended as a place of con- cealment. The interior wall has an appearance of touching the chimney like the wall at the northwest end, but the removal of a board discovers two closets which project beyond the lower part of the building. Mr. Higginson's home lot contained three acres, and his house was , built of stone, occupying nearly the site of the house of Lewis R. Eliot, except that it stood so far back as to leave ample front yard. Mr. Desborow's home lot contained ten acres, situated on the south side of the street, now called Bridge street. His house, also built of stone,' occupying nearly the same site as that now occupied by that of Captain William C. Dudley. Mr. Leete's home lot, containing three and a quarter acres, occupied the corner of what is now Broad and River streets ; his house placed back of the house now occupied by Leverett C. Stone. Mr. Chittenden's home lot, containing three and a quarter acres, was on the opposite corner, now owned by his descendant Simeon B. Chittenden, of Brooklyn, N. Y. Here, the particular and perhaps the general courts were held for a score of years. It is not now known ' Jasper Stillwell, living north of Mr. Whitfield near Miss Kate Hunt's house, had a fourth stone house. 52 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. whether they were held at the house of Mr. Chittenden or whether a regular court house was erected. Mr. Kitchel's home lot, containing five and three-quarter acres, occupied the corner of what is now Broad and Fair streets, recently occupied by Judge Nathaniel Grififing and now by Mrs. Hannah Brown. Mr. Jacob Sheaffe's house stood on the opposite side of Broad street, near the present dwelling house of Mr. John Hubbard, on a home lot bounded west by that of Mr. Chittenden, containing three and a half acres. Mr. John Hoadley's home lot was on the same side of Broad street, next east of Mr. Jacob Sheafife's, and contained two and a half acres; his dwelling being west of that now occupied by Mr. John Evarts. Mr. Thomas Jordan's home lot, containing three acres, was near the northwest corner of the green, occupying the sites now covered by the home lots of Mr. Joel Tuttle and that of Mr. Edward Griswold. Mr. John Parmelee's home lot, occupying about an acre and a quarter, occupied the site of the first Congregational meeting house and of the buildings in the rear. The original meeting house, which was of stone, stood on the north end of the green, a little south of the present sign-post. Mr. Francis Bushnell Jr.'s home lot, containing five acres, was on the west side of Fair street and next north of the home lot of Mr. Kitchel, stretching west to River street. Abraham Cruttenden's home lot, containing one acre, was almost identical with the lot recently owned by Mr. Alvah B. Goldsmith on River street. Francis Bushnell Sr.'s home lot was that formerly owned by Judge Samuel Fowler and now by Dr. G. P. Reynolds, on the corner of Broad and Fair streets, containing about two and a half acres. William Dudley's home lot, next north on the east side of Fair street, where Mr. B. C. West now lives, contained three and a quarter acres. John Stevens, not one of the original signers of the plantation coven- ant, was probably here at the first allotments of lands. His home lot, next north of that of William Dudley on the east side of Fair street, contained one and a half acres, and his dwelling house stood near that now owned by Deacon Albert Dowd. Thomas Cook, Sr., the last surviving signer, had his lot next north on the east side of Fair street, near where Mr. Douglas Loper lives, and it contained originally two acres. Mr. John CaMnch, who joined Mr. Whitfield's company after their arrival at New Haven, had a home lot of five and a half acres, includ- ing the premises now occupied by Mr. Henry Robinson, extending to THE HOME LOTS. 53 Fair street and all on east to Fair street from the Abraham Cruttenden lot, including the premises now owned by Samuel C. Johnson. Mr. Caffinch was a wealthy planter; he may have come over in Mr. Whit- field's company, as he first appears as one of the trustees of the Indian purchases in September, 1639. He did not remain long at Guilford, for in 1643 he had accommodations at New Haven on a £500 estate. He had leased his lands and houses at Guilford to Thomas French, and afterwards sold them to Thomas Standish at Weathersfield. He married, about 1650, Sarah Fowler, daughter of Mr. William Fowler, the magistrate of Milford. He had also two brothers at New Haven, Mr. Thomas Caffinch and Saml. Caffinch. William Stone had a home lot of three acres and twenty rods on the east side of Fair street, next north of the home lot of Thomas Cooke, Sr., and kept the first ordinary or tavern, situated near where the present dwelling house now is. Mr. Charles Stone now resides near there. The north side of York street, where the Institute now is, was the home lot of William Barnes, Mr. Leete's man. Henry Kingsnorth had his home lot of two and a half acres on the west side of State street, near where the dwelling house of Miss Grace Starr now is. William Hall had his home lot next south of that of Henry Kings- north on the west side of State street. It contained one and a half acres. He afterwards purchased the home lot of John Linsley on the other side of the street, where Mrs. Titus Hall lived. This home lot has remained in the family ever since. Thomas Norton had his home lot next south of the original home lot of William Hall, on the west side of State street, near what is known as the Partridge house. He had two acres. Henry Dowde had his home lot, containing two acres, next south of that of Thomas Norton. John Mepham, the surveyor, had two and a half acres of land in his home lot, which was situated next south of that of Henry Dowde and was on the west side of State street, near where the dwelling house of Mrs. Munroe now stands. Thomas Jones had his home lot of two acres on the east side of the public square, near where the dwelling house of Ralph D. Smyth now stands. John Bishop had in his home lot seven acres, with one acre added since in front for yards, next south of the home lot of Thomas Jones. It extended to the corner where Mrs. Thomas Landon's house is. William Plane, the eleventh signer of the plantation covenant, had 54 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. his home lot on Whitfield street and the public green, containing two acres. His house was situated near where Mr. Knowles now lives. Thomas Relf had his home lot on Whitfield street with a part run- ning up to the green on the north round the home lot of William Plane, containing five and three-quarter acres, being the premises now occu- pied by Mrs. Richard Weld on Whitfield street and by Benjamin Bradley's place at the southeast corner of the green. Francis Chatfield had his home lot on the north side of Water street, containing four acres, bounded east by the home lot of George Bartlett and west by the home lot of Richard Hughes. John Stone had his home lot, containing six and a half acres, on the west side of Whitfield street, next south of the home lot of Mr. Hig- ginson. Dr. Talcott's house probably stands on this lot. Thomas Chatfield had his home lot, containing four acres, next south of Thomas Relf on the east side of Whitfield street, bounded by the home lot of Jasper Stillwell. Mr. Meigs Hand's house is on this lot. ' John Jordan, one of the signers of the plantation covenant, had his home lot on the west side of Whitfield street, opposite the home lot of Jasper Stillwell. It contained nine and a half acres. His house stood where the late house of John H. Bartlett stood. Henry Goldam, an early settler, though not a signer, had his home lot, containing two and a half acres, bounded north by land of Thomas French and south by land of George Bartlett. His house stood in the rear of the present dwelling house of Mr. William Isbell. Thomas French was here early and had his home lot next north of Henry Goldam's. It contained three and a half acres. His house occupied the present site of that of Henry W. Chittenden. Edward Benton, who was here as early as 1643, had his home lot on the corner of the green, bounded north by Broad street. It contained two acres, and his house was on the site now occupied by the house of Miss Lydia D. Chittenden. John Scranton had his home lot, containing two acres, on the east side of State street, bounded north by land of John Parmelee, Jr., south by home lot of Alexander Chalker. The site of his house is now occupied by that of Luther L. Rowland. Alexander Chalker had his home lot next south, bounded east on State street. It contained three acres. In 1648 he sold to John Sheather and removed to Saybrook. John Benton lives on this lot. William Boreman (or Boardman) had the home lot next south con- taining five acres. In 1645 it came into the hands of Richard Bristow and subsequently into the hands of Abrm. Bradley. Mrs. Aug. Hall now lives there. THE HOME LOTS. 55 Other early planters had their houses approximately on the follow- ing sites : George ChatHeld, at the Capt. James Frisbie place, on the east side of Whitfield street; Thomas Belts, at J. S. Elliott's house, on the west side of the same street ; John Sheather, immediately north of it on the same side of the street; Richard Hues, on Water street, where Mr. James Dudley's house is; Deacon George Bartlett, near Park Hotel, at the southwest corner of the Green; Richard Guttridge, on State street, where Mr. Charles Leete's house now stands ; Benjamin Wright, imme- diately north of it, near Capt. R. L. Fowler's ; William Love, across the street, near Miss Harriet Hall's place ; John Parmelee, Jr., further down the street, where William Benton's house is; and Stephen Bradley, at the comer of State and Broad streets, where Henry Chamberlain's place is. CHAPTER IV. Union with New Haven. From the first settlement of the plantations on Long Island Sound, about New Haven, a deep sense of their imminent and continual danger, not only from the aggressions of the Dutch, who claimed even the territory on which they were located, but also from the attacks of the savages on all sides around them, led them to adopt measures of mutual protection and defense."" Accordingly, in the summer of 1643, these plantations, by meetings of their delegates, entered into a treaty to be one jurisdiction upon a fundamental agreement which they solemnly and unanimously approved and concluded, on which their combination was framed." About the same time, or perhaps a little earlier, articles of confedera- tion were entered into between the plantations under the government of Massachusetts, the plantations under the government of Plymouth, the plantations under the government of Connecticut, and the govern- ment of New Haven and the plantations in combination therewith. These last articles of confederation were adopted by all the parties except Plymouth on the 19th of May, 1643, and assented to by the commissioners of Plymouth as soon as they received authority, Sep- tember 7, 1643. The plantation of Guilford probably had no formal part in the appointment and instructions of the commissioners from New Haven, who were Mr. Eaton and Mr. Gregson, who were chosen at a General Court, the 6th of the 2d month (April), 1643. ^ Gov. Eaton says in " New Haven's Settling in New England," etc., on this subject: " In this time the enemy slept not, but was at work to disturb the peace of the English, both in sowing tares within, among themselves, and stir- ing up the Indians from abroad against them." ^ Hubbard, p. 319, after telling the manner of the settlement of New Haven, Guilford, Milford, Stamford and Branford, says, " the towns named did all in their several times of settlement or other opportunities, conjoin themselves to New Haven as the principal, and so one with another, as the body politic, to order and manage the concerns accordingly, and to these towns upon the main was joined a small plantation upon Long Island, called Southhold, which came to pass by reason of the purchase of the land by Town of New Haven who disposed of it to the inhabitants upon condition of their union. And thus was this small colony born into the world. In this settlement they wanted the legal basis of a patent," which they could not get owing "to the con- fusion's that were in England in the times of the Civil War." UNION WITH NEW HAVEN. 57 Only one day before the Commissioners were appointed, delegates from Stamford had commenced the combination with New Haven at a court, there, to form the Jurisdiction. In the meantime the plantation of Guilford had gathered the church and formed the civil government there, as has been previously stated, possibly under pressure from New Haven. It is probable, however, that the principal men of that plantation had been previously consulted and had given their assent to the instruc- tions prepared at New Haven, as a guide to Messrs. Eaton and Gregson in arranging the proposed confederacy of New England. On the 6th of July, 1643, another " meeting for the plantations within this jurisdiction," as it is called, was held at New Haven — ^just three months after that first meeting with the delegates from Stamford — where Guilford appears for the first time in this connection. The record reads thus : " Mr. Leete and Mr. Disborough of Manuncatuck were admitted members and received the charge of freemen for this court.^ " Mr. Eaton and Mr. Gregson lately sent from this court as Commis- sioners with full power to treate and if it might be to conclude a com- bination or confederation with the General Court for the Massachusetts and with the commissioners for New Plymouth and Connecticut did this day acquaint the Court w*" the issue and success of that treaty. The articles agreed and concluded att Boston the 19th of May, 1643 were now read, and this whole court approved and confirmed." Provisions were made for numbering and arming the militia of all the plantations within this Jurisdiction or combination. They appear to have been at this time Menuncatuck (which now was named Guil- ford, Stamford and Yenycott (afterwards Southold) and New Haven, and the three former were called upon to contribute, the first two iS each and the last £2, as their several shares of the expense already incurred by New Haven. Neither Milford nor Branford appears in this combination. " Itt was ordered that each plantation within this juris- diction shall have a coppy of the Articles of Confederatio", for which they are to pay the Secretary." Mr. Eaton and Mr. Gregson were chosen by this court and invested with full power (according to the tenor and true meaning of the articles) as Commissioners for the Jurisdiction, at " the meeting of the Con- foederation to be held at Boston the 7th of September next.", ^ The record of this admission of Menuncatuck, on p. 199 [121] of tl\e New Haven Records, is as follows: " Monunkatuck, formerly purchased and planted by Mr. Whitfield and his Company, was also admitted into this jurisdiction upon the same fundamental agreement as Stamford, and upon their desire that plantation [was] called Guilford." 58 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The government of the New Haven colony, after the formation of the jurisdiction or combination in 1643, was vested in a General Court for purposes afifecting the whole community, which court consisted of two branches: one composed of the governor, deputy governor and three or more magistrates selected from those most distinguished for their talents, integrity and patriotism, by the general voice of the free- men annually; the other consisting of deputies elected, in some of the towns semi-annually, but in Guilford annually, in May or June, to meet in the spring and fall of each year. This court in its collective and public capacity was sometimes called the Legislature of the colony, tut oftener " the General Court for the Jurisdiction." The supreme executive power, both civil and military, was in the bands of the governor and deputy governor; the judiciary in that of the governor and the magistrates. Under this general government each town had a government of its own, for the management of its individual affairs, peculiar to itself. This originated from the circumstance that the individual towns at their settlement in 1638-39 and 40 were separate, independent governments and plantations by themselves, and, on their uniting in a jurisdiction or combination for mutual defense, they retained their individual forms of government, except so far as the general policy of the whole was concerned. The chief principle of the " combination," as it was sometimes called, and in which it differed materially from the colony of Connecticut, was that all power was placed in the hands of the church. To this rule no plantation appears to have adhered more rigidly than Guilford; and although the adoption of this mistaken system of policy seems to have occasioned much inconvenience and disquiet in Milford, Stamford and Southold, yet none is recorded in the records of this plantation. The method by which the rating of the individuals in a town was effected for the support of a plantation and as a part of the jurisdiction was the same as the modern method of assessment, and those appointed to make a valuation of property were styled assessors. The method of listing the property, which was so long in use afterwards, was bor- rowed from Connecticut. Concerning the origin of the name Guilford, which we have seen was given to the town, there is some doubt. The old and commonly accepted theory is found expressed by Ruggles as follows : " The in- habitants who purchased and first settled it principally came from Kent and Surrey and adjoining to London, and in remembrance of the land and place of their nativity from whence they embarked, they gave the name of Guilford to the town." From this it has been concluded that the town was named from Guilford in Surrey. This belief Mr. UNION WITH NEW HAVEN. 59 Smyth at first adhered to, but later somewhat changed his position, as will be seen. " In confirmation of this opinion, it may be said that Mr. Whitfield was from Okely, now Ockley in Surrey. Against this opinion is the fact that Guildford in Surrey lies in a hilly and almost mount- ainous country; that it is 30 miles or more from the ocean and watered only by the small river Wye, a mere stream at Guilford. There is also another Guilford, the small village of Guilford in Sussex, sometimes called East Guilford, lying on the east side of the river Rother, one of whose outlets skirts the other side of the town, making it almost an island. The land lying south of the village slopes southerly into a plain and marsh. A narrow, irregular bay sets up from the sea about one and a half miles on the southwest part of the village. The Rother is about 20 miles in length, corresponding in this respect as well as in size with the river and harbor of Guilford." From the neigh- borhood of this village came many of the planters; Jacob Sheafife and William Chittenden, from Cranbrook, 12 miles distant, and Henry Kingsnorth and William Boreman came from near at hand. When James Kingsnorth came over as his uncle's heir from Staplehurst in Kent, he " was examined by the Court here as to his knowledge of places and things there, of which he gave a satisfactory account to the Court, plainly implying a mutual familiarity with that vicinity." " In addition to this there is no tradition of any emigration to Guil- ford in New England, in Guilford in Surrey, nor are there any families there of the leading family names of Guilford in New Haven colony, as appears by a recent inquiry and examination of the Parish Records there by our late lamented friend E. C. Bacon, Esq., in his recent visit to England." On the other hand, the village is not of older date than Henry VIII ; its land has always been owned by foreigners, and it has but little importance. Another view is that it was named either from Lord Guildford, the title of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, or from the Guldford or Guilford family, neighbors of Whitfield and ancestors of the noble earl. The present writer is inclined to accept the theory which makes Guildford in Surrey the source of our town's name. CHAPTER V. The Counter-Emigration. After a few years the plantation of Guilford suffered its first serious calamity in the decease of several of its prominent and other almost equally necessary inhabitants. They lacked not land, for they had plenty of it, but men to till it and to occupy it and manage and assist in the afifairs of their community. Francis Bushnell the elder died in 1646; Francis Chatfield in 1647; Thomas Norton, the miller, John Mepham, the surveyor and one of the seven pillars of the church, Wil- liam Summers, John Jordan and William Barnes in 1648. All of these, excepting Francis Bushnell the elder, were young men and persons who could ill be spared from the plantation: But a still greater misfortune happened soon after to this little com- munity in the removal of several of the most prominent men of their company; for example Mr. Whitfield, their pastor, in 1650; Mr. Des- borow, their first magistrate, in 1651; Mr. Hoadley in 1653, and Mr. Thomas Jordan in 1655. Mr. WhiiHeld " was properly," as is said by Mr. Ruggles, " the father of the plantation, loved his flock tenderly, and was extremely beloved by them, whose advice they peaceably followed in all things in love." He was also possessed of a large estate — by far the richest of any of the planters — all of which he expended in advancing the interests of the plantation. After remaining with his people about twelve years he was induced, in consequence of his own impaired worldly condition here and earnest invitations which he received from England, urging his return m con- sequence of the change of the times under the Commonwealth, to go back to his native country. He communicated his intentions to his people and urged these circumstances as reasons for his removal. Accordingly, a meeting of the inhabitants was called to consider upon the matter and to devise means for retaining him still with them as their pastor. The method of his support, as also that of Mr. Hig- ginson, the teacher, was voluntary; that is, each one stated to the plan- tation what he was willing to give for these purposes, which sum was modified somewhat perhaps by the three men chosen to collect the ministers' maintenance and so equalized as to make the payments easy THE COUNTER-KMIGRATION. 6l and convenient. I think this is best illustrated by the record of the meeting above referred to, which I copy. "At a general Court held the 20th of ffebruary, 1649 [so]. Mr. Whitfield's reasons, tendered to the church here for his removall were read in publique; and enquiry was made of every man in particular, concerning his ability in paying to the ministers for ye present and in probability to continue according to ordinary providence. John Sheder professed he was willing and hoped he should be able to con- tinue to do what at present was laid upon him, but not further. John Parmelin, JuW^ professeth the like. , " add " Jasper Still-well professeth the like, and hoped he might be able to adde Ss. per annum more. "Z-Ade" John Johnson professeth the like, and hoped he should be able to continue the same and adde 6s. more Rich'i Bristow professeth the like to continue his present some, but not to adde. Rich^ Guttridge the like. "f " Alexander Chauker said he doubted how he should. John Linsley hoped he should be able to continue his present some. "adde" Thomas French szi6. the like, and said further he was willing to adde 6s. p'' annum. "Y' Rich'^ Uues^ professeth his inability to pay his present some. John Scrantunn professeth his willingness to pay his present some and hoped he should continue able so to do. Henry Kingsnoth professed his willingness to continue his present some auid hoped he should be able to adde. "■\" Henry Goldam professeth inability. "f " Thomas Belts doubted his ability to continue his present some. Thomas Cooke was willing to add. 2s. per annum and hoped he should be able to continue. Abraham Crittenden, Sen'- professeth his willingness and hoped he should be able to continue his present some. " Mr." [John] Bishop said the like. Tho: Jones the like. Thomas Chatfield, the like. Willm. Dudley, the like. John Parmelin, the like. •'Y' John Stevens, the like only doubted his continuance of his present some. Edw: Benton said the like. Henry Dowd said the like. John Fowler hoped he should be able to continue ye some at present laid upon him. William Halle said the like. George Chatfield said the like. George Bartlett said the like. Francis Bushnell saiA he was willing to continue his present some. 'December S, 1650. He and Wm. Stone, who were behindhand in paying the minister's dues, are ordered by court to pay. 62 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. " adde " Thomas Stevens s^ he was willing to pay his present some and hoped he might be able to adde 3s. 4d. p'' annum. "Mr." Thomas Jordan s^ he was willing and hoped he should continue his present some. "adde" Mr. {Roberf^ Kitchell&^ he was willing to continue his present some and was willing to adde. William Leete was willing to continue his present some. Mr. \Wm.'\ Chittenden was willing to continue his present some and hoped he might adde los. p'' annum. George Hubbard. Previous to this, the two following votes were passed, showing in- ducements held out to Mr. Whitfield to remain : " At a General Court held on the 1,5th of June, 1649. The Planters at Mr. Whitfield's request did grant liberty, out of respect and love to him, that his two sonnes should be free from watch- ing, for this year ensuing. At a Gen' Court held Jan^ 31, i649[50.] It was agreed & concluded y' the whole One Hundred and five pounds for ministers maintainance shall be levied and assessed upon all the planters & inhabitants, according to y^ discretion of y° 3 men chosen and appointed for that purpose, viz Robert Kitchell, William Leete & Thomas Jordan. Mr. Disbrowe declared to the plantation y* Mr. Whitfield did accept of y^ abatement of his rates and the addition of iio to his former allow- ance & judged y* ye people did so much as they were able & dealt respectfully & kindly with him, but yet he could not any farther engage himself than formerly." Mr. Whitfield, notwithstanding the reluctance of his people to part with him, felt it to be his duty, and perhaps a matter of necessity, to return to his native country. Hubbard' says: "After sundry years continuance in the country he found it too difficult for him, partly from the sharpness of the air, he having a weake body, and partly from the toughness of those employments wherein his livelihood was sought, he having been tenderly and delicately brought up; although I mean not that he was, as many others of Hke education were, put upon bodily labor. Finding, therefore, his estate very much wasted, his bodily heahh decaying, and many other things concurring, especially the strong inducements held out for his return from England by those who sought his help and counsel in the mother country, he at length took his departure about the 25th' of August, 1650, in a small vessell ' Hubbard 328. 'He executed a deed at Guilford on the 20th of August, 1650, and on the Sth of September, 16 days after, it was ordered at a Particular court at Guilford that he be sent to appoint an overseer of the will of John Jordan in his stead THE COUNTER-EMIGRATION. 63 bound for Boston, where he expected to take ship for London. The whole town accompanied him to the shore and took their farewell of their beloved pastor with tears and lamentations." His departure ^ was considered a great loss not only to his people, but to the whole country, both on account of his eloquence and ability as a preacher and also from the eminent wisdom and prudence of his counsels in all matters apper- taining to the welfare of the country. After leaving Guilford, on account of contrary winds he was obliged to put into Martha's Vineyard, where there was a native plantation and church gathered by that indefatigable and devoted missionary for the evangelization of the Indians, Thomas Mayhew. During this time he commenced collecting together the materials of a treatise upon that subject, which he afterwards completed on his return to England and addressed to the British Parliament. He spent ten days on that island in very interesting intercourse with the Indian converts, confirming their faith and assisting Mr. Mayhew in improving their spiritual and physical condition. About the time of his leaving the place, Mr. May- hew gave him a narrative which he had drawn up of the progress of the Gospel among the Indians of that vicinity, dated from Great Harbour in Martha's Vineyard, September 7th, 1650. On his sailing for Boston Mr. Mayhew accompanied him, from whence they visited the Rev. John Eliot at Roxbury and rode with him to Watertown and heard him preach to the Indians there, and assisted him in catechising the children in their native tongue. Mr. Whitfield also made frequent addresses, not only here, but also at Martha's Vineyard, to the Indians, by the aid of an interpreter. Mr. Eliot also furnished Mr. Whitfield a letter con- taining his experiences with the Indians, drawn up in the form of a narrative addressed to Mr. Winslow, the agent in England. This is dated at Roxbury, the 21st of the 8th month, 1650. Mr. Whitfield about that time embarked for his native land. Soon after his return'' he took charge of a church at Winchester. On his arrival in England he published a pamphlet volume upon the progress of the Gospel among the Indians," connected with his own observations with Mr. Mayhew and Mr. Eliot, with the following title, viz: "The light appearing more and more towards the perfect day: A further discourse of the present state of the Indians in New England, concerning the progress of the Gospel amongst them, manifested by letters from such as preach to them there. Published by Henry Whit- ' II. Hoadley N. H. Col. Rec. 197. ' Lechford Plaine Dealing Mass. Hist. Col. XXIII, p. 98. ° Mass. Hist. Col. XXIV, pp. 100-197. 64 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. field, late Pastor to the Church of Christ at Guilford in New England, who came late thence." This little book was so acceptable, not only to Parliament and the Government, but also the people, that in 1652 he published another, with this title: " Strength out of weakness, or a glorious manifestation of the further progress of the Gospell among the Indians in New Eng- land: Held forth in sundry letters from divers ministers and others to the corporation established by Parliament for promoting the Gospel among the heathen in New England and to particular members thereof, since the last treatise to that effect. Published by Mr. Henry Whit- field, late Pastor of Gilford in New England." Mr. Whitfield became a member of the corporation of this Puritan Missionary Society, and so continued until his death. In May, 1655, he, with Simeon Ashe, Edmund Calamy and John Arthur, was a patron of one of Rev. John Eliot's treatises. He died in September, 1657. Cotton Mather^ says: "His way of preaching was much like Dr. Sibs, and there was a marvellous majesty and sanctity observable in it. He carried much authority with him; and, using frequently to visit the particular families of his flock with profitable discourses on the great concerns of their interiour state, it is not easy to describe the reverence with which they entertained him." He had ten children, two of whom, Nathaniel and John, remained at Guilford a year or two after him. One daughter married Rev. Mr. Higginson and another Rev. Mr. Fitch, the minister at Saybrook and afterwards at Norwich. Nathaniel Whitfield ° removed later to New Haven and, after remaining for some years, removed thence to London, England, where he seems to have been a wealthy merchant and to have been very useful to the settlers. Mr. Whitfield's' wife appears to have been here as late as 1659, being then referred to in the records as being in Guilford and managing the estate. In consequence of what he had expended in the purchase of the town and of the gift of Mr. Fenwick, numerous and valuable tracts of land were allowed him in various parts of the town," which, upon his ^ Magnalia I, 593. ' He was Desborough's agent in London in 1664. ° By his will, dated Sept. 17, 1657, Mr. Whitfield left all his estate to his wife. N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg. LI, p. 417. *On September 20th, 1650, Mr. Whitfield sold "all that right and title to the Neck of land expressed in this writing being given or sold by Weekwash, the Indian, unto me, to the town of Guilford to the use of them and their heirs.'' October loth, 1651, " Mr. Fenwick's lettre read and an answer apointed to be given wn Mr. Whitfield procured and sent unto us a more full and formal writing or conveyance to discover and make over unto us all his title to the whole lands at Athomonossock on this side the said river, acknowledged and confirmed by the Indians, yt sold it unto him bearing testimony before us, THE COUNTER-EMIGRATION. 65 return to England, he offered to sell to his people upon low terms. They, however, did not purchase them, partly on account of their poverty and partly from an expectation, which prevailed for a time, that they should eventually follow him. John Winthrop, Jr., was thinking of buying them at one time;' but they were finally sold to Major Robert Thompson of London, in whose family they remained, to the great detriment of the town, until October 22nd, 1772, when Andrew Oliver, Esq., of Boston, as attorney for Thompson's heirs, sold them all to Mrs. Wyllys Elliott of Guilford for £3000 of the current money of Massachusetts. The stone house was purchased in 1776 by Jasper Grifiing and passed through the hands of his son Judge Nathaniel Griffing and his daughter Mrs. H. W. Chittenden into the possession of the present owner, Mrs. H. D. Cone. The Sawpitts farm remained in the Elliott family until 1837, when it was purchased of Samuel and Reuben Elliott by Walter Johnson, Esq. Mr. Samuel Desborough' was almost as great a loss to Guilford as Mr. Whitfield. He was sent at once to Scotland " in some employ- ment under the state, through the interest of his brother and Oliver Cromwell the General " : when he arrived in Scotland he sent a pressing letter to know whether he might expect a permanent settlement there, that he might be certain of procuring a suitable provision for himself, his wife and children. He was chosen to represent the city of Edin- burgh in Parliament and, at a council held at Whitehall, May 4, 1655, he was appointed by the Protector Oliver one of the nine councillors for the kingdom of Scotland; in the following year he was returned a member of the British Parliament for the sheriffdom of Mid-Lothian. He so pleased the Protector that, September 16, 1657, he gave a patent for the office of Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland to him or his deputy during his natural life, with all the fees from May ist preceding. He was continued in all his employments by the Protector Richard. He prudently embraced the Royal proclamation sent from Breda. In the presence of Gen. Monk he signed the submission to his Majesty, May 21, 1660, and he also obtained the king's warrant, October 24 fol- lowing, to the Attorney or Solicitor General, to prepare a bill for the royal signature for a pardon . . . which he received in consequence, December 12. " After this he retired to his seat, in Ellsworth in Cam- bridgeshire, which, with the manor and advowson of the church, he had yt it may be recorded amongst us or what else shall be necessary to answer it unto us, (we shall not delay to do what is desired)." Mr. Leete added the sentence in parentheses at a later day. ' IV. Mass. Hist. Col. VII, 399. ' Noble's House of Cromwell II, p. 295. Mass. Hist. Col. XXVII, pp. 196- 222. N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg., October, 1887, p. 3S3-S6. 66 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. purchased. . . .He remained in privacy until his death, December lo, 1690, and was buried on the south side of the communion rails in the church of Ellsworth." Over his remains is a black marble slab. He married several times.^ His last wife, Rose Hobson, widow of Samuel Pennyer of London, merchant, he married in 1655. She died, March 4, 1698, in her 83d year, and is buried on the north side of the com- munion rails opposite her husband. Noble thought wrongly that Dis- browe's children by his first wife died unmarried;' by his last (?) he had Dr. James Disbrowe, a physician, who resided and is buried at Cheshurst in Hertfordshire. He had no sons and only one daughter, Elizabeth, who married Matthew Holworthy. Noble speaks of a por- trait, certainly the Lord Keeper of Scotland, as it agrees in the likeness to an invaluable miniature of that person by Cooper." By both, the portrait and the miniature, he appears to have been, when in the middle age in life, of an oval face with small whiskers and a lock of hair beneath the lower lip. He has an engaging countenance and such as betrays good sense. Noble also speaks of a " travelling chest " and a cloak at Eltisley, which he supposes to have been Mr. Samuel Desborough's and adds, " I thought any thing of so remarkable a person worth recording." Pres. Stiles* speaks of him as a " man of political abilities to sustain so many and such high betrustments with the reputation and acceptance with which he discharged them." The inscription on his tomb is — Here lyeth the body of Samuell Disbrow Esquire, late Lord of this Manour, aged 75. He dyed the 10 of December in the year of our Lord, 1690. His will, made on September 20, 1680, shows a thoughtful and generous nature. He first states that, as his wife is provided for by her jointure, he wishes his son and executor to see she gets it. He further gives her all "that household stufif, plates, Jewells, or other goods whatsoever, which was her own at the time of our marriage," without further proof of its being hers than her word ; a life estate in his farm at Ellsworth, and the appurtenances, the necklace of pearls which was his wedding gift to her, any other jewels and plate he has, or shall give her before his death, an ebony cabinet, his best coach and ' His first wife was possibly Dorothy, daughter of Rev. Mr. Whitfield. ^ A daughter Sarah was born at Guilford, March, 1649. In his will he speaks of grandchildren, Christopher, Samuel and James Mills and their father N E H. G. Reg. October, 1887. " Mrs. Desborough left her husband's ring with his coat of arms on it to Samuel Mills, and to Elizabeth Holworthy his portrait set in gold. N E H. Gen. Reg. April, 1891. " History of the Judges, p. 35. THE COUNTER-EMIGRATION. 67 horses with their furniture, and £40 in money to be paid a month after his death. As he has not been able to make her jointure £200 a year, he wishes his son to pay her £12 a year in semi-annual payments, and gives her for her life for the further bettering of her jointure, the mes- suage with close of pasture bought of Thomas Allen ; but if she or any agents of hers shall cut down or destroy " any trees or grovage or young spires now growing, or that may grow, on her jointure land,'' the last three legacies should be void. He gives £20 apiece to his three grandchildren, when they shall arrive at the age of 21, and leaves the rest of his estate to his son James. To the poor of the parish he leaves £5, of which Thomas Cole, his " old diligent servant,'' is tO' have 20S., and if he be ever in want, James Disbrow is charged to relieve him. All the household servants, at the time of his death, are to get los. apiece, and all other servants a pair of gloves or two sixpences apiece. His sister Greene is to have her annuity of £40 continued. He de- sires his son-in-law and grandchildren to wear mourning. A lease of 1500 acres of land in Ireland, granted to him by the London Company of Drapers for 31 years from his wife's decease, he also transfers to his son. The amount and value of the property distributed show that Mr. Desborough must have been a man of some wealth. The communication he kept up with the Guilford people for some time after his departure is shown by a recently printed letter to him from Gov. Leete, dated October 10, 1654. It is of great interest, and the most important parts are here quoted. Mr. Leete begins by refer- ring to the Protector's offer to transplant the New Englanders and to a previous letter from Desborough on the subject. " I have made known y'r writing to many," says Gov. Leete, " so yt it is spread (I suppose) thorough the Country & I pceive is marvailous well resented & you laid up in the breasts of people as one of the Cordiall fTreinds of New England there." Desborough's letter had been dated March 5, 1653-4 and enclosed " a coppy of one you pleased to write to the Pro- tector at my request. In behalfe of y"' fifreinds in these pts of New England, entreating his wise & gratious contrivement & help in their afiflicted & straitned Conditio." Leete speaks of the uncertainty in the minds of the people as to remaining, " wch. frame cannot chuse but be somewt. detrimenting to settlemts here, if so should proue to be our way after all, yet for my pt. I think if many had knockt in lesser stakes into the Rocky sand pts. of this wildernes it might better have suited a wildernes state, in its infancy especially." The same despondency is visible which we shall see further on in a contemporaneous letter of Rev. Mr. Higginson. 68 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. " For matters here I referre you to conferrence w*'' yor Cotisen Jordan & yor brother Nathaniel (Whitfield) ; who fully understand the state of things here & can make some apology or excuse for me, in regard to the remainder of yor estate here not being returned as yet, hauing had some test of the difficulty of makeing returnes themselves." Gov. Leete, it would seem, was Mr. Desborough's agent for the sale of his property in Guilford. The colonists were trying new crops and he says: " If New England Tobacco would vend at some rate considerable, both I & my Boyes would leaue of some other improuemt to pro- cure a quantity to pay you wthall. That seeing our stock will not be converted that way, we might see to pay you wth worke, wch you have accepted in New England for currant pay. ... I purpose to send a hogs- head (of tobacco) upo Mr. Stapeley's Acct who wrote to me this yeare to order his estate here & meeting wth a debt of Corne upo the Accot: fro yor brother Nath : wch I knew not els wt to doe with all, it haveing lyen upo losse & charge a good space, I adventured to turne it into Tobacco, by wch. experiment you may pceive wt it will make in Eng- land & see wt it is, if you please. But, if this way liketh you not, then haue I propounded somewhat to yor Consideration in my last Ire, wch I much entreat may be-by yor fauor & Contriuemt brought about, wch if you please to cause to take effect (as I see not ought to ye contrary) but you may in a faire way unlesse my brother be unwilling either to doe it or resign to another who may, wch I (suppose) he will not. . . . The thing wch I haue propounded in my last Ire yt here I referre to is That you would please to consult or contriue wth my brother how to produce out of yt place, wch you may see how much it is by this enclosed Accot. ; if it can be but in some annual way raised (I suppose it may answer to wt is like to be done here unlesse the times turne") . . . I pray carry it wth great & tender regard to my brother that he may be very free to wt is done, for I would not lose an inch either of naturall or Christian love & afifectio for an Elle of profit or worldly Accoiii- odatio." This brother was John Leete of Midlow Grange in Hun- tingdonshire and was about a year younger than the Governor. By this arrangement with his brother, Gov. Leete thinks " may three lawful ends be attained, viz: i) yor estate returned, 2) I here settled 3) The people here more satisfied with me & their jealousy removed of yor being an instrument of my remoueall fro them." It would seem Mr. Desbrow had made some ofifer to Gov. Leete to advance him, if he would return to England, and the townspeople not unnaturally hated to lose this last leader, as they had the others. " Concerning wch.. Truly I was much afflicted & troubled at some passages the other day yt. fell fro some seemeing to be affected & to afifect others euilly against THE COUNTER-EMIGRATION. 69 you, in refference to ye goodwill you shewed towards me. Nowth- standing I told them ouer & ouer, That you had wrote nothing to me to inuite or give a call, but only expressions of love, showing reall friendship in a willingnes & gladnes of heart to doe good wth the Talent of opportunity, that god had lent you, to me or any other of yor New England friends, in case god called them, where they might use you, & I haue said that I wished some men's eyes were not euill, be- cause yors was good, & doe professe they take the wrong course to settle me, if they take up euill surmises, or cast any aspersions upo you, since wch my showing myselfe greiued wth such thinges, I hear no more. I wished them, if they thought anything of duty were to be done, in order to prvent or to exhort anything wch fro yor selfe might haue euill Consequence, I desired they would be silent here & write their mindes. I told them I was Confident you would take it well &, attend ym in any thing, yt was right & for their good. I pray mention nothing, as having a hint fro mee, you may know any of ye matters wth us, Viua Voce by our brethren in England. And, if you doe any thing in order to my settlemt here, be pleased to Expresse yor selfe, as doeing it much respecting them therein. It may be that such convict- ing testimony of yor non alienation, but still continued tender affectio toward the Church of Christ here may cast inward shame upo some spirits & my desire is not to raise any thing in yor spirit, but to bring Convictio up5 some others yt, seeing their folly (in an aptness to haue harsh thoughts on almost all men yt. goe for England, as if they regard not this poore people here, haueing [sougjht & obtained great thinges for themselves there) might learne to be more wise or more charitable for the future, wn they see yor enlarged loue, not onely putting forth itselfe, to keep such as come to you into old England. But also to seeke the upholdmt. and encouragemt of them, whom god requires to stay in New England. I might well have left out these latter passages of advise, concerning hints of directio how you should carry it & ex- presse yorselfe to us, not knoweing whether you will please to doe the thinges I request or no & also having so good knowledge of yor better wisdome than mine in euery matter, but onely that I saw somethings here, wch you at a distance could not so well understand & I desire euery thing you doe may turne to the best accot." After a little, he refers again to the uncertainty of their continuance in Guilford and says, in reference to a debt apparently owed by Mr. Desborough to William Dudley, " he will take no Compositi5 for his other 25 li. I haue tendered him mares, Cowes, or Corne, &c: he saith, he rather it should lye dead in yor hands there, than to haue much more here as thinges stand." yO HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The close of the letter is full of tender friendship and ardent piety. " But least I should be tedious, with Cheife respectes & dearest afifectio from my selfe & wife to both yr selfe & deare Mrs. Disbrow, recom- ending you & all yors to the blessed protectio & guidance of god our father, The lord Jesus Christ, & the holy spirit of grace to lead you through all the troubles and difficult tumeings & tergivisations of thinges in this age to enter into rest & finde eternall satisfactio . So prayeth Sr., he who euer desires to be yor most Cordiall loueing freind, to his power to serve you. Willm Leete." Then follows a postscript, desiring remembrances to be given to Mr. Thomas Jones & Mr. John Whitfield, concluding by returning again to the subject of Leete's remaining in Guilford. " One thing I must entreat, that, in case you should expresse, yt you haue done in order to my stay here, that you do carry it, as not to giue ym advantage to wthdraw, wt they doe for me, but rather as expecting they should continue their encouragmt in some certaine way, seeing yt I put by what in reason might more advantage me & mine in my low estate." The Rev. John Hoadley is said to have left Guilford on October 20, 1653. Soon after his return to England he went to Scotland, where he was chosen chaplain to the garrison of Edinburgh. He landed at Leith, June 29, 1654, and proceeded to Edinburgh. He seems to have held his post in connection with Mr. Samuel Desborough and to have resided there until 1662. He was during all this period a firm supporter of the Lord Protector Cromwell. Involuntarily, however, he became a considerable subscriber to the restoration of Charles II., for General Monk, having in his last journey to Scotland borrowed of him £300 (nearly his whole fortune), used the money to advance the interests of the king. This money General Monk never thought proper to restore. Rev. John Hoadley and his family left Scotland, June 26, 1662, and settled at Rolvenden in Kent, August 15 of the same year. Here he resided until his decease, June 28, 1668, at the age of 51 years. His widow died July i, 1693, aged 76 years. He had twelve children, of whom the first seven were born at Guilford. Mr. Leete, in 1654, desires Desborough to show " love and helpful- ness to poore brother Hodley . . he ^yas my constant Nocturnal Associate, whom I dearely miss." CHAPTER VI. The Guilford Indians. The Kuttawoo or East River was undoubtedly the dividing line between L'ncas and his followers on the east and the Indians who were common to Menunkatuck, Totoket, Quillipiac and Wepowage and their dependencies. Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull calls this tribe the Quiripi Indians, and says the only work in their language is a catechism prepared in 1658 by Rev. Abraham Pierson of Branford." These latter, inhabiting the seashore in the old colony of New Haven, seem to have been very mild and pacific in their dispositions, and there are no accounts of aggressions upon the lives or property of the English inhabitants. " A stone with a human head and neck roughly carved, formerly lying in a fence half a mile northeast of Madison meeting-house, is sup- posed to have been used by them as an idol." When the railroad was built, this stone was removed and built into a wall, where it was found in the summer of 1895. It is now in the yard of Mr. Nathan Bushnell of Madison. " Nothing is certainly known as to what became of the Indians after the purchase of their grounds. They may have joined their brethren, the Menunkatuck Indians, at Branford and East Haven, or the Hammonassett Indians at Killingworth, the remnants of whom remained in that town until 1739 or 1740. The latter sup- position is the most probable, as they appear to have been the most numerous about Hammonassett River, where they had cleared a large field which was easily cultivated and very productive. Indian bones have been found near the river and also on the neck." They were numerous on the great plains in the southern part of Guilford borough, as appears from the vast masses of shells which they brought upon it and which are mouldering to this day; and considerably numerous in other parts of the town, as the harbors and shores furnished them with great advantages for fishing and the woods for hunting. They seem to have lived on friendly and intimate terms with their new neighbors and never to have engaged in the more warlike move- ments of the tribes east and west. They seem to have receded as the •English settlements extended, until they finally retired to the other ' Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls., Ill, p. 9- 72 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. tribes inhabiting the broad territory north and west. They parted with their territory readily, and always received therefor what at the time was an adequate consideration, although it might bear little pro- portion to the present value of the land. To show this, it is enough to state that Branford was sold by Mr. Samuel Eaton and his friends for " between 12 and 13 pounds," and Stamford was transferred by one party of emigrants to another for the money expended in the pur- chase, amounting to £33. The Guilford Indians are said to have been tributary to the Mohawks, yearly paying tribute to them, until the arrival of the whites. From fear of Indian attack in Guilford, for many years a watch was kept, houses were palisaded, and the meeting house was guarded on the Lord's Day. Gov. Leete, in letters to Gov. Winthrop, on April 5, 1659, and Feb- ruary 7, 1660, desires him to inform the Farmington Indians that " we have taken and hired some Mohegin Indians for to plante and worke for vs this sommer, whome we would not have them molest" and that two Indians and their wives " doe live as servants unto mee for planting corne, cutting wood, &c. this winter and next sumer." The one was named Wutsnequam, " the other is one that the Englishmen ordinarily called Strong Liquors." They " have kept here not medling with the quarrels of Vncas." Col. Ward of Hartford, a man of intelligence, who was born in Guilford, February 2nd, 1768, and spent his youth here, said: " All I remember of the Indians was when I was about 10 years of age. I remember a squaw by the name of Hannah Punk, who was at that time said to be over 100 years old. She wore a conical cap and had short clothes. She walked firm and strong; her legs were small and looked like old dry sticks of wood. She wore no stockings and was under the ordinary size. " Tuis was, when I saw him, I should think middle aged. He had a few gray hairs mixed with his long, black hair. He was a strong- built man, rather above the ordinary size, of a striking and dignified appearance. " Tuis and Hannah were said to be of royal descent, of the lineage of the squaw Sachem of Manuncatuck and Quillipiack. They lived in the north part of the town, in the neighborhood of West Fond, they formerly had several wigwams there, their dress was unlike that of the English. " When they came to the old town, which they occasionally did to dispose of their Baskets, brooms and other Indian manufactures, the people gathered round them and treated them with great respect. THE GUILFORD INDIANS. 73 " They were kindly treated in the houses where they stopped, and they seemed to haue a particular interest in the prosperity of certain families of the old Inhabitants. " They were both intelligent, but Tuis was thought to have more than a common mind, and many of his sayings were remembered and treasured up until they seemed to have become proverbial among the people. " There was also Old Ann and Young Ann. They were somewhat fleshy and stout. They made baskets and brooms and were treated very kindly by the people. " Picket learned the blacksmith's trade of a Mr. Stone, after which he joined the Northern army in the French war and was in the battle at Fort George, where he captured the French General, Count Dieskau. He made brooms and baskets and lived like the other Indians. (He and Ann received aid from the town in 1788. Picket died in 1793.) " Walkee was said to live at North Bristol. He died about 1777 and left a son and a daughter; they lived like white people." Other Indians whose names have survived were Jim Soebuck, Sue Nonesuch and Molly Coheague. In 1769, Mr. Ruggles writes that the aborigines had entirely dis- appeared; a statement far too strong. In 1774 there were more Indians in Guilford than in any other town in New Haven county; and Grace, an Indian, died as recently as 1829. Some of the Guilford Indians retired and mingled with the Naugatuck Indians and then, with the advance of settlement, they became part of the Scaticook tribes. A peaceful race, they have left scarcely any record of their existence. CHAPTER VII. Rev. John Higginson. The planters did not wait long after Mr. Whitfield's departure to find a successor. Mr. Higginscm, the former teacher, was in the line of promotion and the town chose him to succeed his father-in-law. Two months after Mr. Whitfield left, we find that at a Town Meeting on Octo- ber 27, 1650, it was agreed to allow Mr. Higginson £70 per annum, and without any further formality of ordination he seems to have step- ped into the Guilford pulpit as the second pastor. A year later, Octo- ber 10, 165 1, Mr. Higginson's "paper of demands for the maner of ordering his allowance was read and agreed to be ordered accordingly," however that might have been. There still seems to have been some little doubt as to his remaining, and not until September 5, 1653, did he, " upon condition of the allowance of fourscore £ per annum in current pay & the building of a cow house, together with £20 more for this present year to pay debts, . . . promise & engage himself to settle and carry on the work of a minister here in Guilford, so long as the church and people do continue to allow him the £80 per annum." On October 25, 1654, Mr. Higginson wrote^ to Rev. Thomas Thatcher of Weymouth, showing that he considered himself finally fixed in Guil- ford : " For myself, I have settled upon my relation to the Ch'' and people here, either to stay or go together, as the will of God shall appear." This letter is so interesting, showing the difficulties of the new settlers and the feeling of uncertainty as to their continuance, as to be worthy of further quotation. " There is a frame of humbling, try- ing, discovering Providences now at work & yt. universally in all places and churches of this wilderness. Amongst others, I conceive the work you intimate may be one, viz. scarcity of clothing and how to provide for posterity. . . . God seems to provide in a gradual way for supply in clothing by the muhiplying of sheep, there being many thousands in Rhod. Island and from thence every plantation in these parts begin to get into stock more or less." He also refers to the plans of Cromwell to transplant New Englanders to Ireland, to Hispaniola, or Mexico, and to the fact that the apprehension of such a removal " doth for the present stop and stay many in these parts, who were inclined, some for ^ Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls. III. REV. JOHN HIGGINSON. 75 England and others for Delaware Bay." He mentions " having con- stant intelligence from some nearly related to me, who are also nearly related to the Lord Protector, we at Guilford are as like to share in any privileges there as any other (if there should be any such thing), but it may be these are but trials & yt. God will have his people stay here still." A note of discouragement is clearly heard, yet faith and trust in God remain, and in noble strain he bursts forth: "I have thought the great design of Jesus Christ in this age is to set up his Kingdom in particular ch""^, and, yt ye great duty of such as are in ch'' fellowship, is to conform themselves to those primitive patterns: Acts 2. 42 to ye end, Ephes. 4. 16, I Cor 12. 26, &c. To continue steadfast together, being true to ye. work of Christ, which they are engaged in, in a practical way. Those, yt. with Philadelphia, keep ye words of Christ's patience . . . shall undoubtedly be kept (as under the shadow of his wing) in ye hour of temptation." Mr. Higginson' remained in sole charge of the church at Guilford until 1659, when he took leave, with the intention of returning to his native country. The vessel in which he had taken passage for England put into Salem harbor in stress of weather, and as the church there was in want of a minister, they made proposals to him, which issued in an engagement on his part to remain and preach for them a year. Be- fore this time had expired, he received an invitation to become their pastor. He accepted it and was ordained in August, 1660. At his ordination the hands of the Deacons and one of the brethren were imposed in the presence of the neighboring churches and elders. Mr. Higginson continued in the pastoral relation to this church until his death, which occurred on the 9th of December, 1708, at the age of 92. He had been in the ministry 72 years. Mr. Higginson engaged with no inconsiderable zeal in the famous controversy with the Quakers. He pronounced their " inner light " to be often "a stinking vapor from hell," regarded their religious opinions and practices as dangerous to both the church and state, and hence he did not hesitate to recommend the excommunication from the church of such members as had joined them. It is said, however, that he subsequently regretted the warmth of his zeal on this subject. In the witchcraft delusion, with the single exception that he joined with Mr. Noyes, his colleague, in the excommunication of a person who had been charged with being under this Satanic influence, he took a part considered "suspiciously moderate." Says Upham: "The fact ^ On January 3, 1659-60, a tax laid to pay for a minister in Guilford, was also to cover £14 still owed to Mr. Higginson. 76 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. that, while his colleague took so active a part in the prosecutions, he, at an early stage, discountenanced them, shows that he was a person of discrimination and integrity. That he did not conceal his disappro- bation of the proceedings is demonstrated, not only by the tenor of his attestation in behalf of Goodwife Buckley," when she was accused of witchcraft, but also " by the decisive circumstance that the afflicted chil- dren cried out against his daughter Anna," the wife of Captain William Dolliver, of Gloucester; got a warrant to apprehend her, and had her brought to the Salem jail and committed as a witch. They never struck at friends, but were sure to punish all who were suspected to disapprove of the proceedings. But it was impossible to break down the influence or independence of Mr. Higginson. It is not improbable he believed in witchcraft, with all the other divines of his day; but he feared not to bear testimony to personal worth and could not be brought to co-oper- ate in violence or fall in with the spirit of persecution. The weight of his character compelled the deference of the most heated zealots, and even Cotton Mather himself was eager to pay him homage.' " In 1696," Mather wrote "This good old man is yet alive; and he that, from a child, knew the Holy Scriptures, does, at those years wherein men use to be twice children, continue preaching them, with such a manly, pertinent, and judicious vigor, and, with so little decay of his intellectual abilities, as is indeed a matter of just admiration." '' This " Nestor of the New England clergy," than whom, says Upham, " no character in all our annals shines with a purer lustre," was visited in 1686 by John Dunton, who thus speaks of him : " All men look to him as a common father; and old, for his sake, is a reverend thing. He is eminent for all the graces that adorn a minister. His very presence puts vice out of countenance; his conversation is a glimpse of heaven." His likeness is preserved in the Athenaeum at Salem. His descend- ants are numerous and respectable. Among them have been the Hon. Stephen Higginson, a member of the Revolutionary Congress of 1778, and Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, the historian. On April 13, 1706, Judge SewaJl wrote' to Mr. Higginson, that " Amidst the Frowns & hard Words I have met with for ys Undertak- ing, i. e. opposition to slavery, it is no small refreshmt to me yt I iiave ye Learned Revd & Aged Mr. Higginson for my Abetter. By ye interposition of ys Brest Work I hope to carry on & manage ys Enter- prise with Safety & Success." This is another proof of the high moral character of Higginson's nature. ^ Upham. History of Witchcraft & Salem Village II, pp. 194, 195. ' Magnalia I, p. 365. ' Moore's " Notes on Slavery in Mass.," p. 89. REV. JOHN HIGGINSON. "JJ Mr. Higginson was twice married and had nine children. Of these, the eldest, John, was a member of the Council of Massachusetts, and Nathaniel went into the East India Company's service, became wealthy, and died in England. Mr. Higginson published the following: i) "Ye Cause of God & his People in New England"; an Election Sermon, 1663. 2) Address to the Reader of Morton's N. E.'s Memorial (with Thomas Thacher) 1669. 3) " Our Saviour's dying Legacy of Peace to his Disciples in a Troublesome World from John xiv. 27 "... . Also a discourse on the Two Witnesses, etc.; unto which is added some help to self-examina- tion (which I drew up for myself in the year 1652), 1686: dedicated with an autobiographical letter to " the Church and people of God at Salem, Also at Guilford and Saybrook." 4) Preface to Cotton Mather's " Winter Meditations," 1693. 5) " An Attestation " to Mather's Mag- nalia, prefixed to that work, 1697. 6) An Epistle dedicatory to N. Noyes' sermon entitled " New England's duty and interest to be a habitation of Justice & holiness," 1698. 7) " A testimony to the order of the Gospel in the churches of New England " with Mr. Hubbard, 1 70 1. 8) An epistle to the reader, prefixed to Hale's "enquiry into the nature of Witchcraft," 1702. 9) A preface to Thomas Allen's " Invitation to Thirsty Sinners," 1708. 10) " The Deplorable State of New England," 1708. 11) Address to his children (Dying Testimony). Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. II. 97. M. H. S. C. XXXVIL, 222. Griswold pronounces his literary style to have been " incomparably superior " to that of any other American writer of that early day. CHAPTER VIII. The Plantation Court. Early Law Proceedings at Guilfokd. On April 3, 1644, the General Court of New Haven " ordered that, for the more comfortable carrying on of the affayres att Guilforde, till they have a magistrate their, the free burgesses may chuse among themselves fower Deputies and forme a Courte.'" " The first, chosen for that purpose, were probably Mr. Desborow, Mr. Leete, Mr. Mepham, and Mr. Hoadley. They may have con- tinued until October, 1645, when Mr. Samuel Disborow was chosen Magistrate and Mr. Leete, Mr. Mepham, and Mr. Hoadley Deputies." It is supposed that Mr., Desborough was not earlier chosen mag- istrate on account of his youth. Previous to August, 1645, there is no record of cases tried before this court.^ Then the records begin and are continued with some degree of completeness" until 1661, when they are discontinued, owing probably to the troublous times con- nected with the union with Connecticut. Mr. Desborough served as magistrate until 165 1, when Mr. William Leete succeeded him and held the position so long as New Haven was a separate colony. The deputies were as follows: 1645 — William Leete, 1650 — William Chittenden, John Mepham, to Robert Kitchel, John Hoadley, 1654 Thomas Jordan, 1646-William Leete, ^^""^^^ Hubbard, to William Chittenden, 1655 — Robert Kitchel, 1649 Thomas Jordan, to William Chittenden, 1647-Robert Kitchel '^^° G^°'-§^e Hubbard,* (additional deputy), ' I. N. H. Col. Rec. 131. ' The Court met regularly on the first Thursdays in February, May, Septem- ber and December, at 8 A. M. ' In these Courts, civil causes and minor felonies were tried and their power extended also originally to the probate of wills, to granting letters of admin- istration and to the division and settlement of estates. The probate of wills, etc., was later transferred to the judiciary of the combination. * At their election the first two took the oath, but Hubbard, " wanting light for renewing the same oath to the same person for the same worke, did forbeare for a time." THE PLANTATION COURT. 79 1 66i— Robert Kitchel, 1665— John Fowler, to George Hubbard, George Bartlett.' 1664 John Fowler, George Bartlett, The stability of the membership of the court, which was elected yearly, is noteworthy. Mr. Leete was dropped because he became magistrate; Mr. Jordan returned to England in 1655; Mr. Chittenden died in 1660; and Mr. Kitchell left Guilford at the time of the union. This shows that the decisions of the court must have been recognized as just. In 1666 the court was superseded by the New Haven County Court, of which Mr. William Leete was chief magistrate. Since then the magistrates of the town have been the assistants and the justices of the peace. The proceedings of the court are very interesting and form a pleas- ing contrast with those of some other towns at the same period. I. Military Cases. (See chapter on Colonial Military History). II. Failure to pay school rates. (See chapter on Education). Cases of fines for being " defective in watch," of insubordination to military officers, and of failure to pay for the schooling of children are elsewhere dis- cussed. III. Sedition and Offenses against the Government. " Speak- ing against the government " was one crime often laid to the charge of early Guilford men at odds with the majority. The very first trial recorded was on this charge, of which Francis ChatReld was accused. He was an opponent of union with New Haven and " exprest much in a sinful passion agt. the govermt of this place, charging y* it was now vile & we were better separate than upon New Haven." This he con- fessed " to proceed from a heat of passion." But that was not all his guilt, for he had libeled Mr. Gregson of New Haven, in stating that he had discouraged his man from coming to Guilford by asking " would he come hither to be ruled by them?" This was disproved by both Mr. Gregson and his man. A third charge was, that he had quoted Mr. Gregson as saying " he did wonder, we are not all to peeces, with other passages vented by him and confirmed by many witnesses," such as, " that Mr. Leet was checked by Mr. Gregson, . . . which reports were false." Contempt of court comes close to contempt of government, and at the same time Goodman Crittenden was heard on a " charg for refus- ing his hearing at ye apointment of ye Magistrate." This was con- ' These assistants were confirmed by the legislature in case of Milford and Stamford, but there is no evidence of such confirmation in case of Guilford. 80 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. sidered " a neglect of command, and contempt and slight, in not giving no reason for this action." ' John Stone, member of the church, also "confest" himself guilty, probably of some similar charge. The court voted on these cases: that, "there being much evil in these carriages of contempt and sHght of ye govermt; yet, being con- fest with sorrow for ym, their cases were levifyed, though ye things, in themselves considered, deserve punishment. Though there is sorrow expressed for them; yet, when they are the first beginnings, I should pass it over in way of favor in passing upon them." This wise leni- ency was characteristic of Guilford justice. The next case of the sort was that of John Bishop, Jr. He was accused of " sundry uncivel speeches and immodest expressions," " or," as it is elsewhere put, " wanton and lascivious speeches and prophane ex- pressions." As far as the records show, these speeches consisted in saying that it was " best to be in the quarter of gant squaws " and that "Mr. Higginson, in his sermon, did so teare at ye young men that, if he had been there, he would have gone out of the meeting-house and not have endured them." He was examined and confessed in part these expressions of discontent; but, on April i, 1647, when he was sent for to attend court, he wilfully absented himself. The court, in view of this contempt, ordered the marshal to " keep a warrant in constant readiness " for him and, on finding him, to apprehend him and keep him safe in ward until the court should take further action. All persons having knowledge of his whereabouts were also com- manded to make it known. On August 19, 1647, he appeared and being questioned in court, he acknowledged his former confession; but denied further charges and, as he did not seem " to have any real sense of sin," the court deferred sentence. On February 16, 1647-8, he was again called up and " saith, he hath had many thoughts " as to his speeches " and seene much evill in them, more than formerly, and desireth the Court to passe it by, hoping that he shall never let such speeches any more come out of his mouth to defile and corrupt others." The Court fined him £5, which his father promised to see paid. The reason for the fine was stated to be " the corrupting nature of such speeches, spoken to youth, who are most apt to drink in such poUu- ' There is also this mysterious entry: "Expressed by Mr. Whitfield as ex- pressed by Goodm: Crittenden, that he refused him a load of hay, therefore ff. appointed him to help at the Mill tho' it was cleared yt. Mr. Leet appointed liim to the mill, before yt. Crittenden spoke of his hay: witnessed by Will: Plaine. Apprehending Mr. Leet to be displeased, w'=h. other standers by apprehended «ot-" ' ' This he denied. THE PLANTATION COURT. »I tions, as temptations to fleshly lusts and prophaneness." This fine was not paid on September 4, 165 1, when he promised to pay it before the next particular court. William Stane was the next to " speak against the Government " and be tried therefor. There were two charges against him. The first that he " peremptory affirmed, w* heat & passion in open Court, y* he thought & did verily believe, he had wrong in the quantity of his cotton wool." The Jurisdiction' court ordered that every planter should have a canvas coat, quilted with cotton wool, so as to be a defense against Indian arrows. The town had bought a quantity of cotton wool and distributed it, and the secretary's bill, showing " everyone's just proportion," was " proved to be right and true." ' In apology, " Brother " John Stone said he had no " end to asperse any man or the Court with unfaithfulness or injustice," but confessed that he had said the words charged. The other accusation was that he gave out " in a slanderous and whis- pering way, some speeches to that purpose, that things were not rightly carryed, in that he was left to be one of the last in apointing & setting out ye place, where he should have his proportions of land." ^ This was testified to by three witnesses, who " did always look upon the said speeches, as charging the Court with partiality." The surveyor, John Mepham, informed the Court that Stone's land was equal in value to that of others, " in the quarter where it lies." Stone himself confessed that the witnesses had reported him correctly and added, "yt he did and doth still think, that there was no favor showed him, for always others were preferred before him." The Court reserved judgment, which was delivered on October 21, 1647, and then stated that it was not satisfied with his acknowledgment, " as not fully com- prehending the evil of his miscarriage & every particular of passion in ye charge proved against him." Therefore, he was summoned to "another, full confession and more manifest humbling selfe, unless he can cleare himself." He, accordingly, stated that " he was deeply guilty of irreverence, passion, and slandering & of an unbridled tongue, & is heartily sorry for the same, desiring yt. ye Court and all others would passe it by, hoping it shall be a warning for him forever after." ' I. N. H. Col. Rec. 214, 121. ' Alexander Chalker and Richard Guttridge " showed much rashness and con- fidence " about this business, and, being called before the Court, April, 1647, acknowedged their fault and craved forgiveness, which was granted. ' John Hodely testified, Stone said, " if it were not more for ye providence of God, than men, he should do ill enbugh in this place and, were it not for some other things, he would not tarry in the place." 82 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The Court " did passe it by, without fine or penal censure, admonish- ing him to be more careful for the future, lest he let loose his tongue and spirit to such passions, jealousies, boldness, & such other rash slanderous expressions prejudicial to the names, or credit, either of publique, or particular persons." The next case of a contempt for the authority of the Court is that of Benjamin Wright. This case first appears on October 12, 1648, when "the Court took into consideration a case w* ye Magistrate pro- pounded concerning ye buying of Mr. Caffinch his lot by Benjamin Wright & declared y' he was no fit planter for so great an accommoda- tion and therefore they disallow the said act contrary to order & warned the said Wright not to proceed in the business." We next hear of the case at a particular court held November the 8th, 1648. " Benjamin Wright being called appeared & it was laid to his charge y' he had miscarryed himselfe in sundrye thinges against the orders of the Magistrate & government of this place in 6 particulars then declared against him expressed in court by the magistrate, to which he answered, " That he desired time to give answer to the things charged against him & did with the same boldness, height and loudness of speech main- taine the speech he had formerly spoken against the Magistrate — wh""" he denyed & Wright, affirmed as also affirming that nothing hath beene done by him contrary to the order in the business with Standish; desiring that the case may be transferred to the Court of Magistrates next in May, to be heard there." The Court bound him to make his appearance there and to answer such things as should be laid to his charge, hereof he is not to fail upon the penalty of £30. The particulars of the charge laid against Benjamin Wright and expressed by the magistrate in court were as follows, viz. : " I. That he proceeded in a business of bargaining with Thomas Standish of Wethersfield for a certaine Accomodatio of houses & landes late John Caffinches, contrary to an order or orders made to hinder such proceedings, y* none should be sold to any, whether planter or other, unless the Court approved of them as fit planters for such an accomodatio. — The said Wright having been told by the Magistrate that he was no fit planter for such an Accomodatio & warned not to proceed in it; yet he proceeded in a secret & suble way of seeming exchange seeking thereby to undermine & frustrate the said order.^ " All planters were allowed to occupy lands on an outlay of £500, £250 or £100, or £50 estate, after which rule all estates were to be rated. Mr. Caffinch's THE PLANTATION COURT. 83 " II. That he being called to the court for his miscarriage & then the thing witnessed against as disorderly & he warned not to proceed further in the business, but to desert and cease from going on in the same, he neglected or resisted the court's admonition & went about again in a like subtle & fraudulent way to disappoint the said order. " III. That he cast aspersions upon the Magistrate charging him in publique that he should tell him the said Wright, that if he would for- beare to proceed w*"* Standish for the said lot, then ere long he would be weary of it & the towne should haue it for little or nothing: w"" words he did not proue, but upon the Magistrats rehearsal of what he said to him,— viz that if he were not hasty or eager to proceed with Standish then he might be brought to reasonable term & the towne might buy it of him, & he then promised Wright y' if it fell into the townes hands, he would do his utmost y' he might have such part as he desired or seemed to desire — he could not but acknowledge those to the expression, yet he boldly maintained that it was all to one efifect or purpose. " IV. That having thus sublely & fraudulently proceeded to get a title to said lot notw'^standing such advice and admonition given him, he also went on in a like secret suble & fraudulent way to possesse himselfe of the said houses & grounds either by creeping into the house at the windows or elsewhere, or breaking in through some part of the house or doors by force & violence w'^" were shut & lockt ag^' him by the Magistrates order and appointment. " V. That he (after the Magistrates solemne profession in court that what he had done in advising or opposing him in this business, was out of tenderness to him & his family, purposing to gratify his desire so farre as was fit, when it lay in his power) he tauntingly replyed: " You keep back my wages due for my worke whereon my wife and family should live: is that tenderness?" or words to y' efifect: of which uncomely & ungrateful expressions he being admonished & told y' he thereby manifested a revengeful frame of spirit: he replyed that he lot was a £500 estate and Benjamin Wright's was £50. The order referred to is on T. R. Vol. B. p. 11, entitled against engrossing lots, and is as follows: " Whereas much experience shewes that sundry inconveniences do arise to the burdening, disturbing or depopulating of smaller plantations when either sundry lots or accommodations are engrossed into one hand and possessed and held by unsuitable or unfit persons, It is therefore agreed and ordered that none shall exchange fraudulently, let or give, either all or any part of his lots or accommodations unto any, whether planter or others, without the consent of the court first publicly procured and accorded, together with the sale or ex- change particularly expressed and set down in a book of terriers of lands." 84 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. found nothing else, by w'^" expressions the court could not but con- cieue y' he aspersed y". at best to be men of revenge only towards him. " VI. That when the Court told him y' they required he should depart from his possession of the said lot so disorderly gotten as he would answer the contrary for contempt of the authority here established & notwithstanding the Court told & promised him that they would answer him for w' they did herein at ye court of Magistrates, if he required them, yet he replyed that he would not depart fro his posses- sion unless they cast him out by force and violence." At a court held at New Haven on the 3d of July, 1649, we gather something of the proceedings of the May court.' " Benjamin Wright of Guilford, having bine at a court of Magis- trats held at New Haven in May last charged w*" and proved guilty of sundry grave miscarriages, for w""" he deserved seveere correction, but ye Court seeing some show of remorse and hoping for better fruit than they now see, upon Mr. Disborows request, past it by, upon condition that he should make a full acknowledgement at Guilford of his several miscarriages as he had done in court & promised to do then as appeared by the proceedings of that court which were now read, — ^but when he came to Guilford & should have made his acknowledgement, he refused, and in a stubborn and bold way said he must fall under many because he wanted proofe, as appears by a note under ye hand of Mr. Leete Secretary at Guilford, and said that he acknowledged he went aboute to delude the townes order, because the Governor did so threaten him, as testified by Mr. Leete, Mr. Chittendin & Mr. Jordan upon oath taken before Mr. Disbrowe July 2d, 1649." (The record of the court at Guilford alluded to above is as follows:) "At a General Court held the 15 of lune, 1649, Benjamin Wright being called & enquired of whether he were ready according to the Court order & his promise to make full acknowledgement before this gen" Court of those miscarriages w"*" being those charged upon him were confessed by him, he answered that he was not as yet prepared & therefore desired further time of consideration, he also saying that his conscience would not suflfer him to owne somethings wh"^" he had acknowledged, namely that in going about to procure Standish his lot, he did it to decieue the order: neither did he appeare in any penitent satisfactory frame, but rather stubborne & saying that he must fall under many things because he wanted proofe yet he doubted not or hoped that God would one day cleare him or bring things further to light: Upon consideration of wh"^", his frame & carriage the Court VI. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 472. THE PLANTATION COURT. 85 warned him to Depart fro the house & to leaue the whole accomodatio to Standish, the owner of the same, who hath not as yet legally dis- possessed himself of the same according to order." At the General Court at New Haven, July 3d, as aforesaid,' " Wright was asked what threatening was used but he answered not, Hee was told that he had bine brought to corporal punishment before, but y' he made that acknowledgement he did, and gave hopes of better fruit than appears, for instead of doing what he promised, he returnes to his former pride and stubborness againe, and when he was bound to appear at this courte, and put in baile to do it, he came to ye Magistrate and told him plainly he would not come then, as Mr. Disbrowe affirmed before and he denyed it not. Hee was therefore desired to speake. if he could shew any reason why he should not now have sharpe punish* inflicted, Hee said he can say nothing against it but it is just, but though he had thought when he went from the court to doe what he had saide, yett God left him and he returned to his former course again, because he was not faithfull to those purposes that God had put in his heart. " The sentence of the Court concerning Benjamin Wright is that he be severely whipped heare at Newhaven, and a month hence at Guilford, and that he paye as a fine to ye Court of Jurisdiction io£ for the charge & trouble he hath put them too." The miserable man was undoubtedly whipt at New Haven. The record of the last part of this sad drama at Guilford is as follows: "At a generall Court held the 24th of August, 1649, Benjamin Wright was called to receive the punishment appointed by the last court of Magistrates & it was demanded of him w'. acknowledgem't of his miscarriages he had to make further for mitigation of his punish- ment, but he answering ' he was here to suffer,' he was led forth to receive his punishment." Out of the town's suits against Wright came one by him against Thomas Standish, from whom he had purchased the disputed property. On December 5, 1650, Benjamin Wright "desired an attachment upon the Steere & all other the estate of Thomas Standish extant in this plantatio," to compel him to answer a suit Wright intended to bring against him at the next particular court. The suit did not come to a trial until May, 1651, when Wright "pleaded, upon an action on the case, that he received damage to the value of fioo"; in that Standish did not give him " full & quiet possession of certaine houses & landes, that he hath purchased " from Standish. Standish did not appear at the Court, though it was proved he had had notice. The ' I. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 472. 86 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Court asked Wright for the evidence of the bargain, which he said he had left with the Court of Magistrates in New Haven when he was tried there. Thereupon the Court ordered him to present the evidence at the next session and deferred the case until then. Unluckily, we are ignorant as to whether he ever did so, for the records are silent as regards the further course of the case. Thomas French was called before the court, on February 5, 1651-2, for " claimorous & scandalizing expressions, tending to charge the towne with unmercifulness and exaction." Two witnesses testified that " he should say that he, nor his family, were not relieved, according to their need, nor that he could get any corn in the towne for pay, unless he came and ofifered them half so much more as it was worth ; but, when he did so, then they had corne enough for him, otherwise not; wherefore he was forced to goe out of the towne to get corne for his family." He acknowledged this speech and that he had done evil, " for the thing was true but of some particular persons, & that they too had given him satisfaction for their exaction; whereas his speech did & might include all, or any of the inhabitants of the towne, who had never so carryed it towards him, wherefore he was sorry that he had so spoken & wronged them." The Court thought that his confession was "in a base & dry manner; yet, out of tenderness to him & his family," they pass his fault over with an admonition, that he do so no more, or expect sharper dealing. These charges of the Court are noticeable for their quaintness and for tempering justice with mercy. IV. — Criminal Cases. If we may judge from the records, the morality of Guilford must have been high. Few criminal cases came before the Court. Indeed, Guilford has ever maintained a good repu- tation for morality. The only man from Guilford ever executed was William Plaine, who was convicted of sodomy and corrupting of youth and was executed in New Haven in 1646. There is no record of his trial on the Guilford books ; but the case was considered of sufficient importance to cause Gov. Eaton write to the magistrates and elders of Massachusetts for advice.' For theft," Agnes Wilde, apparently a servant of Mr. Kitchel, was sentenced, on January 21, 1646-7, to restore double the value of the things " stolen from him. Some of the articles she had exchanged with « ^ II. Winthrop, New England, p. 265. - In 1658 Wm. Pepper was charged of having stolen, among other things, a pistol from Goodman Clarke's store at Guilford. — II. N. H. Col. Rec. p 411 ' ' The articles were a cambrick band, 4 pair of cuffs, s neckcloths and cross- cloths, several "pieces of old and new together," some wampum, 2 handker- chiefs, 4 laced crosscloths, a Holland coif, a cap, a pair of Holland gloves, and a silver sixpence. THE PLANTATION COURT. 87 " a girle yt dwelt w"" Mr. Pierce at New Haven," who was commanded to return them. On September 4, 1651, Wm. Boreman " was questioned about lying," but this case of false accusation was deferred until February 5, 1651-2, when he confessed with penitence, he had lied "about the matter of taking a canister and charging it to Mr. Thomas Jordan & Stephen Bishop." The Court " passed him over with a Check and Admonition ; that, if he were found to miscarry himself again, they would make use of these aggravations to after faults to encrease their punishment." On March i, 1654-5, Thomas Stevens was accused of " selling flax, not currantly dressed & wanting about an ounce in each pound; his weight and balance, being proved, was found defective; the scales uneven, the weight too light." Thomas Stevens plead that he had sold much flax formerly, which did hold weight, and that the reason of this parcel being deficient was that " he had lost off from the spring of his scales a piece of lead, being a pistol bullet beaten out, which was to even the scales," and that " he made up the parcel of flax in moist weather." The Court told him " it was a grosse rriistake not to have his weight proved for sundry years " and that his excuse was not sufficient. Further, though " they were willing to conceive and hope the best, that he might not knowingly deceive," yet they thought it just to fine him 10 shillings and compel him to make up the loss to others from his scales. But one case of drunkenness is on record. On January i, 1656-7, John Parmelin, Jr., was " called to answer, about a comon fame or report of his inordinate drinking upon a Trayneing day of late, apear- ing in his gestures et &c. — Answered that he did acknowledge that he fell down at the stile at Bro: Cooke's doore & hit his drumme^ agt. the pales there: also that he did wade thro' the water against Mr. Kitchel's lott & that he againe went fro the way to ye pales ag'st Henry Goldam's Lott & then hit his drumme agt the pales and, further, he doth confesse that he had drunk too much strong drink that day, considering that he was empty & had eaten little & so acknowledgeth, yt he did evill & was not watchfull over himselfe, nor so carefull to avoid giving offence, as he should, for which he was sorry." Notwithstanding this confession, three witnesses were called in, who, in a deliciously naive way, reminding one of Dame Quickly, confirmed the confession, whereupon the Court sentenced him to pay a fine, as " he was disabled in his understanding by drinking.'" ' He was Town Drummer. ^ On September 3, 1652, Nicholas Hunger, John Rossiter, and six young women were examined " upon a comon fame or report of some miscarryages, 88 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. With all the strictness of the observance of the Lord's Day, we find but one accusation against any one of violating it. This is a most curious complaint and characteristic of Puritan morals. On December 4, 1657, John Meigs was brought up for having come " with his cart fro Athomonossock, late in the night on the Lord's Day/ making a noise, as he came with his cart, to the ofifence of many yt. heard it." He plead that " he was mistaken in the time of day, thinking that he had time enough for the journey; but, being somewhat more laden than he expected, & the cattell came more slowly than usual, & so cast him behinde, it proving to be more late of the day, than he had thought." " But he professeth to be sorry for his mistake & the ofifence justly given thereby, promising to be more careful for time to come." The Court, " seeing the matter seemed to be done upon a surprisall," passed it over with a reproof and commanded him to make " a publique acknowledgement of his evill on the next lecture or fast day." V. — Cases about Animals and Fences. Animals of various sorts, and especially hogs, occupy a large part of the records, and suits con- cerning them are very frequent. As early as October 9, 1645, four men are fined for neglecting to keep up a fence against cattle, and on May 28, 1646, the second civil case recorded was heard, that of Relf vs. Bishop & Jordan, for trespass by " hoggs " on the plaintilif's corn.' Thomas Relf claimed that he was damnifyed to the value of fifty shillings, by injury done by the defendants' animals to 2 acres of Indian Corn in the East Creek quarter. John Bishop confessed that the hogs were his and was fined 5 bushels of Indian corn and 7 shillings in wampum; but Thomas Jordan denied ownership of the hogs and was, apparently, acquitted. This suit led to another,' Bishop vs. Sheaffe, in which the plaintiff claimed that his hogs had gotten into Relf's corn, through the "de- fault " of Mr. Sheaffe's fence, and that the fine should be repaid him by the defendant. Mr. Sheaffe, by his attorneys, Messrs. Kitchel and Chittenden," acknowledged that his fence was unmade, bul claimed by disorderly night meeting, Unnecessary familiarity, or unfit company keep- ing." The Court judged them all more or less guilty of these rather vague offences, which may have been nothing more tlian undue merriment, and ordered them to " make a publique acknowledgement of their evills." ' Saturday night. ' November 7, 1648, Thomas Jones sued Richard Bristow, John Parmelin, and goodwife Bushnell for damages done his corn by their hogs; but the case was postponed and is no more heard of. ' May 4, 1650. 'The first mention of men so acting. THE PLANTATION COURT. 89 that Mr. Bishop's "hoggs were disorderly, viz: unyoked, &c." As no proof of neglect on Mr. Bishop's part was given, the Court sentenced Mr. Sheafife to repay the fine. A third suit followed from the second one, on the same day. This is the suit of Sheaife vs. Stevens for breach of contract. In this, Mr. Sheaffe's attorney said that, in September, 1645, the plaintifif agreed with the defendant to build 30 rods of fence for his East Creek lot and to have it finished by the first of the succeeding May, and from his failure to fulfill the contract Mr. Sheafife had to repay Mr. Bishop's fine. John Stevens acknowledged that the agreement was made as stated and that the fence was not made ; but claimed that the hogs were disorderly and " that he was hindered by being taken out to work ten dayes & a halfe about the mill by the magistrate." This pretext was regarded by the Court as flimsy and he was sentenced to pay Mr. Sheaffe's judgment and the costs of the two latter suits.' Two cases with the same parties, French vs. Evarts, were heard on May 3, 1655. The first was brought by Thomas French against John Evarts, on the ground that his sow, on a Sunday, early in April, was drowned in Evarts's uncovered well, the gate of the yard being open; wherefore he sued Evarts for four pounds damages. Evarts claimed that at night he shut and fastened his gate and in the morning found a pale broken down, " in a place yt was usually left firm before." French said that the same morning he passed by and saw no pale down and that his hogs were not in the habit of going into Evarts's grounds. William Seward, as a witness, said that French's " hoggs are apt to leap & to break fences; but he remembers not, yt. ye Sow was such a harmful hogg." The Court, seemingly, decided for the plaintiff, adjudging that the defendant should pay costs; but, as the sow was not yoked, her loss is to be divided equally between the two parties. In the second suit, French complained of " Damages, wch he had sustained in parsnips. Cabbages, & Pease, by the hoggs of John Evarts Senr. for severall years," which damage he put at 20 shilling-s. Evarts plead that his hogs got into French's land on account of defects in the plaintiff's fence and that, though it was not his fault, "he had tendered satisfaction in Cabbages" & French had stopped a pound of flax due him. Further, Evarts brought witnesses to prove that Goodwife French had said Samuel Blachley's sow had eaten their ^ Another suit caused on account of damage done by hogs was that of Stone vs. Goldam, brought December S, 1650, and postponed till February, 1651. It was, however, arranged out of Court, in all probability, as there is no further record. go HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. parsnips. The Court decided in the defendant's favor and sentenced French to pay costs and ten shillings " for his trouble & molestation." The case of Meigs vs. Chapman and Parker, October 31, 1657, " in an action for tresspass," was one of the few in which parties from outside the Jurisdiction appeared. John Meigs claimed that after he had " fenced his land at Athamonossock, w"' such an orderly fence, as was sufiScient to keep out great cattell; yet the Defendants' hoggs came into his field & destroyed his corne." He, therefore, claimed damages. A witness testified to bringing out of the corn 15 hogs of Parker's, at one time, and to having seen, " sundry other times, the Defendants' hoggs in Corne doing spoile." Chapman and Parker pleaded that the fence was not sufficient and, as they were strangers, living in Saybrook, whence the " hoggs " must have strayed, the Court sent viewers to examine the fence. These reported the fence not " sufficient to keep out great Cattell." At this, the Court declared it could not relieve the plaintiff; " but desired y* the defendants would consider the great losse the plaintiff sustained by their hoggs & that, therefore, in a neighborly way, they would consider to afford some supply, as themselves would desire in a like case. That amity & good agreement might be the better maintained betwixt the persons & Towns of Seabrooke and Guilford as formerly." The unfortunate Benjamin Wright was the defendant in the next suit^ about hogs, that of Crittenden vs. Wright. Abraham Crittenden, Sr., complained that " by his wife & one of his children " Wright had taken away his hogs from Thomas Crittenden, who was driving them out of his father's land to the pound. Wright said he knew nothing of the charge. " But, in a very loud, passionate, & proud manner, he told the magistrate, yt he looked upon it, that he acted out of pre- judice, or ill will agst. him, &, speaking after a slighting manner, bid him doe his worst & said he expected no less fro him." Considering his treatment some time before, there might be some excuse for this behavior, but it was certainly impolitic. The magistrate, we learn, had much ado to silence him and to induce him to speak "in court, according to peaceable and comely behaviour." On February 4, 1657-8, the case came up again. Wright's wife and daughter, who had taken the hogs from Crittenden, were then present. The magistrate, it seems, had been present at the time and had reproved them, saying to Mrs. Wright, "that she ought to have sought the recovery of them in a legall & orderly way." On Mr. Leete's stating this in court, Wright asked "that wt. had been so-charged & said, might be proved in a ' December 4, 1657. THE PLANTATION COURT. 9I legal way." Mr. Leete answered that the magistrate, being sworn " to doe justice in all causes brought before him in Court, needed not to take a new oath to confirm anything" he said there. Wright and his wife were not satisfied and, when Leete offered to confirm his statement with an oath, they said it was false and they could prove it. This they had difficulty in doing, and finally the Court decided against them and sentenced Wright to pay a, fine. During the trial, Wright again lost his temper and was admonished " that a corrupt, proud, passionate spirit fro within did seem to act in him in those unruly car- ryages & misdemeanors against God, his ordinances, trampling upo all authority, as formerly he had done, when other men were in place before." This did not check him, " for he went on still, in his reviling the magistrate in open Court." After another speech of Mr. Leete, Wright said he spoke according to his conscience, and this edifying dialogue was continued by " some of the Deputyes of the Court telling him his conscience was a corrupt & rotten conscience, not being a word to guide it, nor must be suffered in such a wicked course." The Court put him under bond of £50 to appear at the next General Court in New Haven. This he refused to give; though they consented to take his own bond ; " but he willfully wanted rather to be sent to prison." He was heard at New Haven, on May 31, 1658. In the morning the session was interrupted by his falling in a faint " which the Governour wisht him to consider the providence of God towards him, that, as he had beene smiteing at the authority of God, so now God came upon him, as if he would kill him." In the afternoon he " said he should apply himself to consider of his sin in ye sight of God." The Court decided to let him off for the present, under bond of £50 for good behaviour, the magistrates and deputies of Guilford, now, as always, merciful, petitioning them to it.' Probably at a later court, whose record is missing, he was fined; for, at the October ses- sion in 1668, the General Assembly of Connecticut refused to grant his petition to have his case reopened, as it had " passed to an issue in the Court at New Haven." ^ Other domestic animals, besides hogs, were causes of litigation. Cows were frequently troublesome and drew their owners into quarrels. The first case found of this kind is that of Hubball vs. Chittenden, attorney for Whitfield. Richard Hubball claimed £5 damages for the loss of a cow, who died, being " pushed " by Mr. Whitfield's bull. Witnesses testified to the goring of the cow and to the bull's being " a doghead beast, or surley, or used to attack some of the steere cattle ' II. N. H. Col. Rec. pp. 253-4. ' II. Conn. Col. Rec. p. loi. 92 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. formerly " and to attack people. The Court, after weighing the evi- dence, " doe conclude it to bee the case of a mere afflicting Providence & doe, therefore, apoint that the Bull shall be sold & the pay equally divided between Richard Hubball & Mr. Whitfield." ' John Fowler found a stray colt and brought him before the Court on July i8, 1657, claiming that it was one of his own which had formerly strayed away. The Court was not fully satisfied with his evidence, but ordered the horse to " rest in his hands, until some other do make out a better title in a legal way." Abraham Crittenden, Sr., took and kept a stray colt and was called before the Court therefor on April 2, 1660. He had lost a colt two years before and produced witnesses to prove that this was the one. It was testified for the town that Abraham Crittenden had previously claimed two other different horses as his lost one, and considering this, the Court decided that " wee see not how in justice to grant him the sole interest in this horse, which appears to be a stray, not having a legal owner. Therefore, Abraham Crittenden is to have half the horse's value for taking him up and, if he desire to keep him, to pay the other half to the Town." The Court further censured him " for being too inordinately affected or covetous, in straining or endeavor- ing to get some horse of three for his, all of them appearing to have some difference in their naturall marks, & one of them, especially, being notoriously unlike the rest, in w'^'' contrast wee see not how some passages by him spoken, may be reconciled with truth." A third stray horse was taken up by Andrew Benton and, being handed over to William Parker of Saybrook, he promised to be accountable for the horse, whenever it shall be called for " to answer any better title or clayme." " Kindred to the cases caused by cattle are those caused by defective fencing. The most important -of these is that of Wm. Chittenden & John Fowler, in behalf of the Company of the East River quarter, vs. Abraham Crittenden, Jr. The plaintiffs state that they are much " damnifyed " by the defendant's neglect to fence in his land in that quarter. The case covers three pages of the record, but is of little interest. The Court ordered him to repair his fence and to pay all damages arising from his previous neglect. ' On February 3, 1658-9, William Stone asked the Court to make decision, as to a stray bull he found three years before. It was, therefore, appraised at 3SS. and sold, and 8s. being deducted for charges, the remainder was divided equally between Wm. Stone and the Town. ^John Bishop and Dennis Crampton were charged with stealing a mare in November, 1666, "the said Dennis being one that hath beene found tardy in several pilferings before." — IV. Mass. Hist. Coll. VII, pp. 559 to 563. THE PLANTATION COURT. 93 On February 3, 1658-9, William Stone made a similar complaint against Richard Guftridge for neglect to fence in land at East River. The case was referred to the " 7 men who are appointed to set out wayes " for fuller information, and does not appear again upon the record. VI. — Slander. Next to troubles about cattle, hogs, etc., slander probably gave the court most business. The cases of Cooke and Dudley vs. Wright, on May 28, 1646, are the first of the kind. In the first of these, Thomas Cooke complained that the pugnacious Benjamin Wright had slandered him, in saying " that he was a man of a large conscience & yt. he was a whibbling man & yt he came fawning upo him & that he was a tale bearer." The case was postponed until October 13, when Wright made an acknowledg- ment of the slander, with which Cooke was satisfied. The second case was similar, William Dudley complaining that Wright said " he was a man of a large conscience and had a cuntry Conscience," whatever that may be. There is no record of a decision of the case. The next case of slander, that of Dunck vs. Johnson, was tried on May 4, 1650. John Johnson, it seems, had stated to several his sus- picions that Thomas Dunck had stolen butter and a " hand bill '" of his. Before the Court, he stated he was induced to believe that Dunck had taken the butter, because he was alone in another part of the house at the time, dressing flax, and when Johnson and his wife went out they left a hen shut up in the house, which was outside on their return. The Court, however, decided for the plaintiff and adjudged that Johnson make " a publique acknowledgement in some towne meeting of the wrong done by slander to Thomas Dunck "^ and pay the costs of the suit. This acknowledgment was made on February 4, 1650-1. The suit of Guttridge vs. Linsley was heard " at a particular court called out of Course " on February 26, 1653-4. Richard Guttridge charged that John Linsley had slandered his wife, by saying at various times to different persons " that she had told a thousand & a thousand lyes," " that she lied basely," that " she was a lyar & that he would remove his dwelling for her, & yt she was a Divell's bird & had mis- chieved his dogg & they, who would doe it to his dogg, would doe it to himself & family, so yt he should be afraid to goe out of his 'Ax? ' Conn. Col. Rec. I, p. 92. 40s. to Thos. Dunck for damage to corn at Guilford. 94 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. house without company." Part of these expressions were proved on him and part he confessed, and so the Court sentenced him "for punishment of the fact and, in some measure for the reparation of her good name," to pay £5 ^^^ costs. The case of Hunger vs. Evarts was heard on September 7, 1654. In this, Nicholas Hunger complained that Elizabeth Evarts slandered him, in accusing him of an attempted assault on her. The Court thought " she did evill by so speaking to persons, whereby she might instill or insinuate her own jealousies & suspicions of him into others, before and without legal triall or proofe of the fact against him." Therefore, they ordered her to " make publique acknowledgment of this her fault upo the next Lecture day, before the whole Assembly, w° met together." Dennis Crampton was the defendant in two suits for slander on June 12, 1656. These were the suits of Doude & Wright vs. Crampton. Elizabeth Doude complained of his spreading scandalous reports of her, which he had to confess. The well-known figure in the court, Benjamin Wright, complained that Crampton tried to throw suspicion on him of being the thief of flax stolen from Goodman Fowler. Crampton, it seems, said that the thief " was a little man & was the man, who was so angry when the searchers were at his house: all which descriptions were apprehended to agree more with Goodman Wright than any other in the Towne." For punishment, the Court decided that,, in a third suit brought at the same time against Crampton, as he, being an apprentice, had no estate, " Denise be immediately corporally punished by whipping." Hubball vs. Hill is the next case' of slander on the records. Richard Hubball complained that John Hill said that he " made no more of lyeing, than a dogg did to wagg his Taile." The Court concluded that " ye proofe was legal and cleare & that Hill was too commonly subject to such kinde of miscarryages " and awarded Hubball £5 and sentenced Hill to pay costs. On the same day another suit for slander was decided against Hill. Hill complained that Thomas Clarke " scandalously reported that he, the said John Hill, laid violent hands upo him & tooke him by the collar or throat & shooke him & offered, one while to strike him with his fork, and another while with his fist: w°^ the said Hill denyed." The Court, however, after " considering the case & finding the proofe cleare for what the defendant had charged the plaintiff with all," sentenced Hill to pay the costs. ' December 2, 1658. THE PLANTATION COURT. 95 On February 3, 1658-9, Thomas Clarke brought a countersuit against Hill for " unjust molestation." The plaintiff stated that Hill said that Clarke's oxen destroyed his hay and, on his bidding Hill to prove it, Hill took him " by the Throat or Collar & shooke him " and said " what if I should now take you a blow on the Chopps, how would you prove it," thinking they were alone. The Court " doe looke upon it as a very offensive carryage, tending to the breach of peace & to disorder." Therefore, they " appointed Hill to make such Acknowledgement in publique on the next Lecture day or at the next Town meeting as might fully reach the nature of the offence," and to pay a fine. Clarke, however, " is to pay Hill for the damage in his hay according to a just valuation of indifferent men & to bear his owne part of the charge of this action." Yet another suit for slander against Hill was heard the same day. Nathan Bradley complained that Hill slandered him, by accusing him " of a false witness bearing " and " so to disable him for witnessing in the case of Hubball vs. Hill." At that time, Hill said Bradley " had spoken false, about some days work, w''*' the Plaintiff affirmed he had done " for Hill. This work Hill said he had not done. The suit was arranged between the parties, however, without waiting for the decision of the court. VII. — Transfer of Houses and Land. Difficulties about the transfer of lands and houses often occurred.' In the first of these, on Novem- ber 4, 1645, Wm. Boreman claimed damages from William Chitten den, because he " refused to give possession of a house called Stiles his house, according to a bargaine made betwixt John Stodder & ye sd. Willm Chittenden for ye one half of ye said house." But, as Boreman did not prove his authority from Stodder to begin the suit, the Court decided against him and sentenced him to pay Chittenden is. The well-known litigant, Benjamin Wright, had a controversy with William Dudley on May 28, 1646, about an acre of land, whether Wright should have it from Dudley " by way of guift," or one-half by ex- change and half " by guift." The decision Wright left " to the liberty of the said Dudley." ' ' Vide the Wright case. 'The case of Jordan vs. Crittenden, heard on October 13, 1646, is of little interest. Thomas Jordan and Abraham Crittenden, Sr., had made an exchange of lands and apparently repented of their bargain, but Crittenden afterwards feared loss if he returned the land. The Court, as nearly as can be told from the records, which are obscurely worded, permitted them to return to their fortner holdings, if this would be just. A committee, appointed to investigate the matter, reported on December 10, 1646, that the retransfer would be fair to both parties. 96 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. On the first Thursday of December, 1656, the case of Meigs vs. Stevens was tried. John Meigs claimed that Thomas Stevens had sold him land at Hammonassett for 10 shillings, which statement was confirmed by Mrs. Meigs, whereupon Thomas Stevens said Meigs and his wife were " no fit witnesses, whereby he went about to impeach one or both of their credits & so to breed great difference and trouble between them & him & others & yet in a matter of no great moment." The Court advised that they should " rather between themselves, or by mediatio of some friends to end the controversy & not to haz- zard such hurtful events, as might proceed from yt way they were going on in." This benevolent advice they were sensible enough to take. Meigs,' however, who was engaged in almost as many suits as Wright, was plaintiff in another suit of the same character, on Feb- ruary 4, 1657-8. This was the case of Meigs vs. Johnson. John Meigs declared that John Johnson had exchanged some land with him at " the Gulfe at Athamonossock," which Johnson now refused to deliver at the terms agreed upon. Johnson objected to the testimony of Meigs and his wife, and in course of the trial, as Meigs denied something that Johnson and others affirmed he had said previously, the Court fined him los. for lying. Furthermore, Johnson brought testimony as to two other exchanges of land which Meigs had falsely pretended to have made, and the Court, weighing the testimony, " saw no cause to allow or confirme his pretence of right." The Court also thought it " not safe to admit his wife's testimony," as he had urged her to testify. It seems Meigs had built a house on Johnson's land, and this the Court ordered him to remove and to pay los. to witnesses and the defendant. Johnson, nevertheless, is to pay " w* appears due upo account." VIII. — Fraud. Actions for fraud are not common. On June 12, 1654, Dennis Crampton was convicted of " cousening " Nicholas Munger of flax. He took a parcel of flax from Munger and only returned part. The Court ordered him to return the rest and, as has been noted, ordered him whipped for this and for two slanderous reports. The only other case of the sort was heard December 2, 1658. Thomas Stevens complained of William Dudley, Jr., " for deceitfully working up shoes." " The shoes were showed in Court, w"'' ap- peared both shorter than other shoes of yt size & to be made up of many shreds of leather, instead of a middle sole, w'=^ being an unusual "The same Meigs gave the only mortgage deed recorded by the Court: it was for £27, and was given to William Stone on April 18, 1658, the security being three oxen and three cows. THE PLANTATION COURT. 97 manner & much wrong to the wearer of the shoes, as was judged by 3 shoemakers in Court, for w'='' offence he was adjudged to pay 5s. to the Complainer, for his Costs & damage, & los. to the Treasury, for injury to the Comonwealth, & was admonished to looke to it better hereafter, both for his sizes, & making,' &c." At a similar suit in New Haven in 1647 against John Meigs, John Parmelee testified that he bought a pair of russet shoes from him, the soles of which ripped from the uppers after 7 days' wearing. IX. — Miscellaneous Cases. The failure of men to pay taxes occa- sioned some suits before the courts at Guilford (1650) and New Haven,^ in which trials William Stone, Richard Hues, John Cafifinch, and Thomas Standish ' were ordered to pay rates. The quarrelsome John Meigs entered suit against William Chittenden, as agent for Mr. Nathaniel Whitfield, for debt in December, 1656. Meigs said that William Stone hired for him, about four years before, a vessel to carry goods from Hartford to Saybrook, and that Mr. Whitfield laded the vessel with " Tarre to the quantity of near halfe the freight." For this he had never been paid; but the decision' of the Court upon the case is unknown, for the records are silent.* The last of these miscellaneous cases was one in which George Hub- bard claimed that Daniel Benton kept a gun of his, " w""" he never sold to him &, therefore, it might be restored to him again." Benton claimed that Daniel Hubbard, George's son, had exchanged it for another, with his father's consent. This George Hubbard denied, say- ing the guns were only exchanged for the summer, and the Court taking this view of it, made Benton return the gun and take his own again." X. — Probate Cases. In addition to suits between living persons, the court acted as a Court of Probate, with large powers. The first will proved before it was that of Francis Bushnell, the elder, on Oc- tober 13, 1646. The second estate administered by the court was that of Francis Austin, who was lost in the Lamberton ship. Statements " I. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 348. ' I. N. H. Col. Rec. pp. 374, 43i, 497- ' A steer of his was levied on for taxes, vide December S, 1650, May, 1651. * On September 3, 1652, Mr. Bryan Rossiter and Edward Sewers came to the Court and said they would arrange by arbitration the case of Rossiter vs. Sewers for false imprisonment. What this case was is unknown. On the same day there is reference made to an unknown case, wherein Wm. Case, having put Wm. Stone as security for his appearance, did not appear. The Court required Stone to pay the sum, iio. ' On April 7, 1646, a suit for some unknown cause between " some of Guil- ford and Elias Parkman of Windsor," was postponed at New Haven.— I. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 229. 98 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. of debts were brought against him' by WilHam Leete and Richard Hues, and were allowed by the Court. Thomas Dunck and Richard Hues, also, tried to recover from the estate money they had given Austin to spend for them in England; but this the Court refused, see- ing "no cause that Francis Austin should beare the venture by the danger of the sea." John Stone also complained at the same time that he had hired a new milch cow from Austin, which had proved barren and the Court therefore abated part of the hire. On December 31,^ 1646, Thomas Dunck again brought suit against Austin's estate. He stated that when Austin " was about to prepare to take voyage for England in ye shipp yt. went fro New Haven," he came to Dunck and borrowed £2 los., that he " might accommodate & fit himself with some handsome coat & sword to goe to his father wthall & said yt, if he would, he should take it as a kindness from him and lay it out for him in England, in such things as he should appoint." Dunck said he lent the money, and asked to have it returned to him from Austin's estate. The Court, " considering ye premises &, looking upo the case as difficult & themselves as wanting insight and experience in the laws of merchandising & sea adventures, did refer the business to be tryed at ye next court of Magistrates &, if the said Dunck did require ye issue in ye case, they appointed him their to attend.'" It seems to the writer that the proceedings of the Court show that the settlers of Guilford were men of wisdom and prudence. The decisions given by the Court show a great amount of -ileniency, a clear respect for the provisions of the law of the country whence they came, an evident anxiety to render justice to all. That there was a general agreement that these decisions were righteous is shown by the repeated election of the members of the Court. The lack of bigotry is also much greater than would be noticed in the proceedings of any similar court of that day known to the author. That Guilford had such a Court, presided over by such remarkable men, is surely ground for pride. ^ See Record, December 10, 1645, and January 21, 1646-7. ''Jno. Hoadley and Wm. Chittenden then paid for fencing Austin's land. ' Nothing more known of it. CHAPTER IX. Dr. Rossiter and the Troubles concerning the Union with Connecticut. In the affairs of New Haven Jurisdiction, into which the town entered in 1643, Guilford took a prominent part. These do not fall within the strict province of a local history, and we can but allude to the. com- mission' in 1653 of two Guilford men, Mr. William Leete and Mr. Thomas Jordan, to plead the case of New Haven in regard to dangers from the Dutch before the General Court of Massachusetts; and, again, to treat on the same matter with Cromwell's commissioners. Mr. William Leete was one of the commissioners for the United Colonies every year after 1655, was deputy governor from 1658 to 1660, and then, to quote Hubbard's quaint language, " the hands of Mr. Wm. Leete, who was next chosen Governor, were strengthened to hold up the walls of this building for many years, even to the dissolution of the Colony & its conjunction with Connecticut, of both which Colonies so united he was the late Governor & his praise is in the gates." ' The town lived on peacefully under Mr. Higginson's ministry," but after he had gone, unsettled times began in church and state.* The " Capital and all other laws " of the General Court were regularly read in town meeting. On February 14, 1649-50, at town meeting, " the whole frame of the foundation agreements, orders, & conclusions were read and all new orders were voted, as they stand in ye draught, then read to ye planters in publique." It was a pure democracy voting on its Constitution. But, even in pure democracies, especially those en- gaged in opening up a new country, it is at times difficult to secure attendance on the meetings of the commonwealth, and so we find in ^11. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 10 sq. May 25, 1653, the Colony voted to have 12 horses at the four towns on the mainland, of which Guilford was to have two for " the publique occasions of the country." ^ I. Hubbard p. 331. ' Capt. John Manning had a vessel seized by New Haven Colony in 1654 for unlawful trading with the Dutch, and on February 26, 1665-6, Samuel Kitchel and Thomas Cooke were appointed from Guilford " to attend the Committee att New Haven about Capt. Manning's case." As a result of the deliberations thereat Capt. Manning was paid for his vessel and gave a receipt for ii20 therefor on September 26, 1666, to Mr. Alexander Bryan of Milford, which receipt is found on a Hy leaf of Vol. I. Com. Ct. Records of N. H. County. ■* Vide January 31, 1649-50. lOO HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. this Constitution an article " About attendance to meetings or Gen" Courts." This article provides that, whosoever, after notice of a meet- ing given by the marshal or his deputy, shall be late or absent from a tovsrn meeting, shall be fined: a freeman, for being over an hour late I2d., for absence 2s. 6d.; a planter, for late coming 6d., for absence I2d. These fines were levied on the person's estates, " only before distresse bee taken, the party shall have liberty to make his apologie at the next particular Court &, if they shall allow his excuse, hee shall be free." " Neither shall any depart & neglect to give constant attendance at the said Courts, or meetings, until orderly dismissed, upon the like pen- altyes as for late coming, impartial attendance, or as for total absence." All persons present, whether freemen or not, were allowed to speak; provided they, " both in expressions and in all other manner of be- havyor, so comely and respectfully demeane themselves, as may hold forth an honorable esteem of the authority then present and a due attendance to peace." No one was allowed to speak without being recognized by the Court, nor to continue " speech longer by imperti- nencies, needless repetitions, or multiplication of words, w"** rather tends to darken, than cleare the truth or right of the matter." When Dr. Brian Rossiter became discontented with the government of New Haven Jurisdiction we know not; but, for some cause, he was disaffected towards it and set himself to the task of fanning the half- dead embers of dislike towards the union with New Haven. An early intimation of trouble is found in a letter ' of Gov. Leete to Gov. Win- throp on April ii, 1661, wherein he says " that Mr. Rossiter had had a man arrested for slander in reporting that when I (Gov. Leete) heard how Mr. Rossiter had reported against me, that I had taken 20 li. per annum severall years, which was, (as he saith) granted me but for one yeare ; ' showed myself troubled at his speech, & expressed that I thought it was in effect, as to say, that I had cousened the Towne of 20 li. per annum." This suit Gov. Leete took up and says Dr. Rossiter began it " out of his slight esteeme of publique instruments in this Colony, & confident boasting of his great interest with you." ' A postscript seems to state that Dr. Rossiter is displeased at the Leetes' getting medicine from Gov. Winthrop. Rossiter appeared in ' IV. Mass. Hist. Col. VII, p. 546. ' On January 15, 1660-1, Dr. Rossiter said in Town Meeting that " for the £20 there were some considerations to be taken in how the grant was made. But the freemen generally said it was passed as a thing to be constant & to be continued up6 condition of my settlement according as I had propounded in my writing formerly w° it was by vote granted." ° That is the Colony of Connecticut. DR. ROSSITER AND THE UNION WITH CONNECTICUT. lOI opposition to the established authorities on November lo, 1661, when " he made objectifl, agst the jurisdictio rate or charge, & against the Town Treasurer, for paying or allowing it to be paid to any out of the Town rates, upo that Acco'." He also complained that the town accounts were not audited, and, together with Thomas Stevens, " raised up offensive objections ag'st the Governor & Townsmen, for that sundry parts of the Towne goodes, or estates, were or seemed to be, taken away & not accounted for; instancing in dung fro Mr. Higginson's yarde, nameing about 20 loads so taken away belonging to the Towne." Further complaints were that there had been a failure to account for " rent for the Barn' there," for " cloth bought with Town Apples and sold with advance of price," and for " Clapboards taken away from the Meeting House." It is suggested to one reading these charges and going over the whole controversy that there was some personal quarrel between Dr. Rossiter and Gov. Leete, for most of these charges are aimed at the latter. The charges were all answered, it is presumed, satisfactorily to the majority of the townspeople, for we hear no more of them. Concerning the general controversy, which preceded the union with Connecticut, the town records give us no help, for they are blank from May, 1662, to February, 1665-6. There was doubtless too much to do to keep up records. Other sources, however, fill up the gap to some extent. In the early part of 1662, Dr. Rossiter and his son John, with sundry others, including Thomas Stevens, Richard Hubball, John Bishop, William Stevens, Thomas Cruttenden and John Sheather, " subscribed some offensive papers," a copy of which Thomas Stevens handed to Gov. Leete, and other copies of which were " spread abroad to the disturbance of the peace of this jurisdiction."'' Dr. Rossiter was also in hot water for refusing to pay rates for his person and horse, on the ground of his being an allowed physician," pleading such were exempted by the law of nations from personal service and their estates from rates and assessments, and that they were not required in the Bay, nor previously in New Haven, nor of him when he lived in Connecticut. The marshal was sent to collect these rates. Dr. Rossiter being away, his son, John Rossiter, told him " yt he did not question but his father would pay ye town rates (for he had heard his father say soe), if they would stay, while his father ' January IS, 1660-1, " Mr. Leete propounded to know w' rent he should pay for Mr. Higginson's Barn' for 2 years, unto w'^''^ many expressed them- selves that they expected none and the rest present were silent " ' II. N. H. Col. Rec. pp. 429-440. ' HI. Mass. Hist, Col. X, p. 73. I02 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. came home," and, further, " yt. if cattle would do, he did not question but they would be payd." However, when Dr. Rossiter came home, the marshal was told by him that " he would not pay it then, nor next morning neither." "Then ye marshall, he went away to take two cowes & told the men yt. was with him, which they was, &, as he turned away, he heard Jno Rossiter say, yt. they should haue noe cowes there & then came & tooke up an axe & went to the gate." The Governor thinking " it high time to suppress these things," gave a warrant to arrest the Rossiters and they were brought to his house. There Goodman Bartlett asked John Rossiter why his father had struck the marshal and was answered, " may he not resist a theife, when he comes into the yard to take away any cattle or goods, he would knock him ' downe." After this they were brought to New Haven and tried on May 7, 1662. The trial was more or less mixed up with the trial of the Rossiters and others for the writings already referred to. There were two of these writings, both of which are lost; but they probably contained a statement of grievances against New Haven, because that non-freemen were not allowed privileges and liber- ties; Dr. Rossiter, after consultation with Mr. James Fitch, wrote these and they were signed by those formerly mentioned.' Next to the Rossiters, Thomas Stevens seems to have been the chief man in the business, and he was made to " confesse, yt. he now sees yt. he had done yt. which he ought not to haue done, nor should have done it, if hee had considered it, & yt. he was sorry for it, & desired to haue it passed by & confest, yt. he had grieued ye spirits of those, among whom he Hues." The other five men whose names were signed to the paper seem to have been mere submissive followers and to have had little idea of what they subscribed. The Rossiters were not dealt with until May 28, when Mr. AUyn and Mr. Wyllys of Connecticut were present at court, " prtending to be friends to us and friends to peace, labouring with Mr. Rossiter & his son, to bring him to some acknowledgement of evill." As a result, after some time, the Court did " accept of ye acknowledgm't & p'mises of Mr. Rossef & his son John, .... together w*'' their solemne engagem* made not to act any thing of psecutio or molestation against court or courts, officer or officers, or other psons belonging to ye colony of Newhaven, anywhere, to disturb their peace." Dr. Rossiter's confession stated that, " whereas much trouble hath ensued upon his deniall of this present goverm* of Newhaven, he did see cause to owne, 'The first paper was censured by the Court on May 29, 1661, and John Benham, who brought it to New Haven, made to beg pardon.— II. 'n. H. Col. Rec. p. 403. The second paper was written later. DR. ROSSITER AND THE UNION WITH CONNECTICUT. IO3 yt., in severall passages & expressions, he had been very rash & in- considerate &, he could freely say, offensive & he was truly sorry that he had noe better rule of his owne spirit . . ., soe far as any writing hath been given forth by him to pmote any unjust or pubHcke dis- turbance &, for ye future, he resolves against the disturbance of the place & gouerm't." John Rossiter s confession is much the same, adding that he would acknowledge his fault, " according to rule, unto ye persons injured.'" The promise to submit to the government they did not keep long, if, as is probable, they were among the " severall inhabitants of Guilford, tendering themselves, their p'sons, and estates under the Government and Protection " of Connecticut, in October, 1662. These persons Connecticut voted' it would " accept and owne, as members of this Colony, and shalbe ready to afifoard what protection is necessary. . . . And this Court doth advise the said persons to carry, peaceably and religiously in their places, towards the rest of ye In- habit'^, that yet have not submitted in like manner. And also to pay their just dues, unto ye Minister of their Towne; and also all publique charges due to this day." This submission to Connecticut was doubt- less caused by the arrival of her charter, dated April 23, 1662, which gave her the territory of New Haven Jurisdiction, at least by implica- tion, and so might seem to release its inhabitants from their allegiance to the latter. John Meigs was chosen constable over those submitting to Con- necticut, and Connecticut's only answer to a letter,' written by New Haven on May 6, 1663, complaining of this, was to confirm Meigs in office, on May 14. Matters changed but little until December 9, 1663, when the New Haven General Court ordered " all members and in- habitants of this colony ... to returne to their due obedience and pay- ing their arrears of rates for defraying the necessary charges of the Colony & other dues, within six dayes."* After the order was pub- lished at Guilford, Dr. Brian Rossiter, his son John, John Bishop and Isaac Crittenden hastened to Hartford, where they met the Council on December 28. Dr. Rossiter showed the Council this ordinance and complained " of some threatening expressions, that haue bin by some vented against divers, that have submitted " to Connecticut. The Council appointed Mr. Wyllys, John AUyn and Mr. Wait Winthrop to go to Guilford and treat with Gov. Leete. If no conclusion could at once be arrived at, they were to appoint another meeting at Middle- town. If New Haven refused to treat with them, they were, " in his ' II. N. H. Col. Rec. pp. 4S4-4S6. ' I. Conn. Col. Rec. p. 387. ' II. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 482. I. Conn. Col. Rec. p. 405. *II. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 51 1- XV. Conn. Col. Rec. p. 534. I04 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Ma"'^ name & by order from the councill of this colony, to require them to forbear putting into execution there aforesaid declaration . . . &, allso, to administer the oath of a constable to John Meggs and to require him to use his utmost endeavor to mayntayne the peace of this colony, amongst those at Guilford that have joyned it." ' On the 30th of December, " with sundry young men " and the mar- shal, these members of the council accompanied " Rossiter & his son " to Guilford. The story is all told in the little pamphlet, " New Haven's Case Stated," written the next March. Connecticut " was countenan- cing them & their party, against the authority of this gener" court, though yow^ knowe how obnoxious they were formerly to this juris- diction, for contempt of authority & seditious practises, & that they have been the ringleaders of this rent, & that Bray Rossiter, the father, hath been long & still is a man of a turbulent, restless, factious spiritt, & whose designe you have cause to suspect to be to cause a warre between these two colonies, or to ruine New Haven Colonie; yet him yow accompanied in opposition to this colonie, without sending or writeing before to our governor to be informed concerning the trueth in this matter. Sundry horses, as we are informed, accompanied them to Guilford, whither they came at unseasonable houre, about tenn aclock in the night these short dayes, when yow might rationally thinke that all the people were gone to bed, & by shooting of sundry gunns, some of yo''^ or of theyr partie in Guilford allarmed the towne, w"'' when the governor took notice of, & of the unsatisfieing answer given to such as inquired the reason of that disturbance, he suspected, & that not without cause, that hostile attempts were intended by theyr com- pany, whereupon he sent a letter to Newhaven to informe the magis- trates there concerning matters at Guilford, that many were affrighted, & he desired that the magistrates of Newhaven would prsently come to theyr succour & as many of the troopers, as could be gott, alleadg- ing for a reason, his apprihension of theyr desperate resolutions. The governor's messenger also excited to haste, as apprehending danger & reporting to them that Brandford went up in armes, hastening to theyr reliefe at Guilford, wch the governor required with speed. Hereupon Newhaven was also allarmed that night by beating the drume, &c., to warne the towne militia to be readie.'" New Haven sent over six troopers with orders not to provoke disturbance by word or action ; but to keep the peace." The fear, though " not causeless," was not justified by the results ; for, besides threatening Gov. Leete, " that, if any thing was done against those men, i. e. Rosseter & his party, Connecticut ^ II. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 512. ' Connecticut. ' II. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 527. * H. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 513. DR. EOSSITER AND THE UNION WITH CONNECTICUT. I05 would take it, as done against themselves," the party did nothing but ask for a conference with Gov. Leete, which he refused. The Connecticut men seem then to have retired. New Haven persistently refused to treat,' save on the precondition of Connecticut's " redintegrating " the colony, " by restoring our members at Stamford and Gilford." Connecticut agreed to this on February 24, 1663-4, ordering her par- tisans " to submitt to ye same authority with their neighbors in those places."^ This was not unsatisfactory to Dr. Rossiter, and on March 19, 1663-4, he addressed a petition to the Connecticut Assembly, plead- ing for a speedy decision in his favor,' saying " if tenne dayes be your resolve, to a man perishing in a famine, it would prove a languishing return &, in the eighth day, you may p'bably invite to a funerall."' He had been forced to flee at midnight from Guilford to Hartford, and prays to have granted " my exspences in my city of refuge, making my escape to neighbors & friends." This, he says, " would be some small ease to a distressed mind & give occasion, in some degree, to speake well of you: Thoe my reall exspectation is for a full & an efifectuall & allowance to the injoym'. of the full benefitt of the law." His party was as much distressed as he, and on March 29, 1664, they send a petition from Guilford to the Connecticut Assembly. The spelling of this document is more wonderful than usual. The memor- ialists were afraid they would again be levied on for taxes and pit- eously cry, " if ye have no power to p'tect us from the injury of others, why did you admit us under the shadow of youre winges? & ingage to be reall in ptecting & defending our persons & estates? if you have power, why are not such solemn covenants fulfilled? why is it we are in danger to be surprised & damnified every day." Then turning to the Scriptures, the familiar Puritan storehouse of argument, they ask why did not Connecticut keep its agreement with them : " was not God's rath dredful against all Ezerall, &. especially Sals house therein, for breech of covenant with very slaves, who were before apoynted to destruction? did not Josua, the instrumentall saviour of Ezerall & a tipe of our greate Saviour, prsently march forth to the sucker, eaid, & releife of Gibon? and yt because of the covenant made with them." They go on to state that they had hopes of speedy relief when the magistrates from Hartford came down in December; "but our times ... are in God's hand ... & it becomes us to weat his leasure." Yet, ^ February 16, 1663-4. A committee of 4 sent from Connecticut to Guilford and New Haven to treat, " grant and confirm to them all such privileges as they shall desire, which are not repugnant to the tenor of our charter." — XV. Conn. Col. Rec. p. S40. " H. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 516. ' II. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 538. ' IV. Mass. Hist. Soc. Col. VII, p. 528. I06 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. " yt. we may live as Christians & sit under our one vine & fig tree with peace and safety; we beg of yu to conseder our prsent streats.'" This Connecticut could not do, after her agreement with New Haven, and on May 20, 1664, " Brayan Rosseter " sent in another petition. He says that he has made application, " at least tenn times," " for some redress of those insufiferable inuries & pressures, the loade & burden under which I lye bowed downe," but had received no relief.' This petition also was unanswered, and, in despair, Rossiter and his party settled Kenilworth, or Killingworth, as it was later called, on the east side of the Hammonassett River. The rest of the Guilford people remained staunch to the New Haven Government until the end;' though but few of them were as bitter against union as the New Haven people were. It was a heavy blow to the good people, it is true, to lose the old existence and to become an integral part of lax and grasping Con- necticut, which had so long supported the stubborn faction of the Rossiters Yet but few* were extreme enough to join Rev. Abraham Pierson and his Branford followers, and aid in establishing a new settlement, where the original severity of manners might be main- tained. The majority, led by the wise and moderate William Leete, accepted the situation and tried to make the best of it. Guilford depu- ties appeared at the General Assembly at Hartford on May 11, 1665, and at that time Mr. Sherman and Mr. John AUyn were chosen to go to the four adjoining towns of the old New Haven colony and " ad- minister the freeman's oath to al those that were formerly freemen there, or to so many of them as wil accept of it, and to as many others, as by sufficient evidence, they may judge qualifeid according to law." " For legal business, " Mr. Robert Kitchel and Georg Hubbard are chosen Comrs. for the towne of Guilford and are invested with mage- straticall power, they taking their oaths, the one of freeman and both of Comrs. ; to assist in keeping court at Guilford ° . . . ; and the Towne of Guilford have hereby power to choose one or two selectmen to ^The signers to this were Thomas Clarke, Thomas Stevens, Thomas Crut- tenden, Thomas Smith, William Stevens, Abraham Crittenden, George Hylend, Dennis Crampton, John Stevens, John Bishop, John Grave, John Hill, John Sheather, George Chatfield, Isaac Cruttenden, Henry Crane, John Meigs. (17) — II. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 539. ' H. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 540, dated at Hartford. ' February 26, 1665-6, Mr. Samuel Kitchel and Thomas Cooke were chosen " to auditate and settell the last Jurisdiction Acounts and to make a divicion of the coition stocke unto the severall plantations." * For example, the Kitchels. ° II. Conn. Col. Rec. p. 18. 'They could try cases under £20, calling juries, if the sum were over 40s., with appeal from them to the General Court. DR. ROSSITER AND THE UNION WITH CONNECTICUT. IO7 assist in their Court." Guilford had entered upon a new stage of existence. One reminiscence of the old life dragged on for some time, in a continuation of the quarrel with Dr. Rossiter. He moved back from Kenilworth as stubborn and quarrelsome as ever. In the spring of 1665 he procured a summons for the appearance of Gov. Leete and Lt. William Seward before the court at Hartford ^ to answer an " action of unjust molestation, mannadged in an hostil manner," because of their treatment of him, previous to the union. Upon this, Mr. Leete went over to New Haven, to see if the people would stand by him in upholding what he did as Governor of the colony. New Haven voted that he was justified;' but at a particular court held in Hartford, July 13, 1665, the court and jury gave Mr. Rossiter costs, but could not agree on a verdict for damages. The case was then appealed by Mr. Leete to General Court ' and heard on October 13, 1665, when the vote was that the suit was " included in the act of oblivion and Mr. Leet by that act indemnified." Three assistants and ten deputies, however, had their names put on record as opposed to this vote.* It was felt just that Dr. Rossiter should receive some recompense; so, considering the loss he " hath undoubtedly sustained, the many dis- tractions and troubles that he hath passed throw both in his owne person and his family w* him," and on condition that no further trouble be given nor any more suits brought by him, the colony granted him iioo. Of this sum New Haven, Guilford, Branford and Milford were to pay £60.'' This imposition on these four towns was, however, remitted in May, 1667. All persons were also forbidden to cause further trouble to Dr. Rossiter " about any matter referring to former administracon of Government." Still peace did not come, and for some not very clearly known reason, probably having to do with his refusal to pay rates on himself and his horse,' he was summoned before the County Court in October, 1668. This summons he refused to obey, claiming that it was not legal, and appealed to the Legislature. As he did not appear, a verdict was given against him, and after waiting until May, an execution issued, to avoid which he wrote to Gov. Winthrop on June 30, 1669. Singularly '■ II. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 514. " Vide John Davenport's letter IV. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. VII, 52?- ' II. Conn. C. R. p. 23. ' II. Conn. C. R. pp. 25, 26. There were in all 10 assistants and 32 deputies. ' II. Conn. C. R. pp. 41, 59- John Davenport calls this " an unrighteous order." IV. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. VII, S30. ' III. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. X, 73- I08 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. enough, according to Mr. Smyth, who searched the County Court records carefully, there is no reference to Mr. Rossiter at this court, and this letter contains almost all the information existing concerning the suit. Gov. Winthrop wrote to Gov. Leete at once, desiring him to stop the execution. This letter Gov. Leete answered on July 5, stating that the execution had been granted in May, when he was not present; that the writ had been already served, but he had obtained a postponement of the " apprisment & issue," though with some dififi- culty. Mr. Leete hints that he had not been as bitter against Mr. Rossiter as others who " are apt to wonder that Mr. Rossiter should so long be borne with while he goes on to trouble both County, Town & Cuntry with unnecessary pleas and papers so abusive.'" Here ends our record of the long struggle between Guilford and the skilful physician. He seems to have given up controversy in his old age. ' IV. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. VII, 564. CHAPTER X. The Regicides. " In the ship which arrived at Boston from London, the 27th of July, 1660, there came passengers Colonel Whalley and Colonel GofTe, two of the late King's judges," says Hutchinson. The Restoration had come and it was time for Commonwealth men to flee. These two pasengers had such a romantic connection with Guilford that it can- not be passed ovei*, though part of the tradition is probably untrue. On March 7, 1 660-1, they arrived in the staunch Puritan Jurisdiction of New Haven, of which William Leete was Governor. They appeared publicly at first; but soon were forced to hide, through fear of the King's commissioners. Kellond and Kirk, two zealous royalists, were on their track like bloodhounds, and they must be straitly hidden. On May 11 these pursuivants arrived at Governor Leete's in Guilford to ask for authority to search for the judges. They had only the copy of the King's orders and a letter from Gov. Endicott with them. Gov. Leete did not act decidedly for them, as they had hoped, but, in the presence of several persons, he perused the papers and then "began to read them audibly, whereupon we told him," the messengers say, " it was convenient to be more private in such concernments as that was; upon which, withdrawing to a chamber, he told us he had not seen the two Colonels, not in nine weeks." They told him they had heard they were in New Haven since then and desired to be furnished with horses, &c, for their further progress, " which was prepared with some delays." They spoke to him of this and then, going out to the ordinary, they were met by Dennis Crampton, who, we have seen, had previously been sentenced to a whipping by Gov. Leete and may, therefore, have desired to revenge himself. He told them " he would warrant " that the colonels were then hidden at Mr. Davenport's and that Goodman Bishop " was able to give the like account and that, without all question. Deputy Leet knew as much." On hearing this and more of the same sort, they " went back to the Deputy's and required our horses, with aid and a power to search and apprehend them; horses were provided for us, but he refused to give us any power to apprehend them, or order any other, and said he could do nothing, until he had spoken with one Mr. Gilbert and the rest of his no HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. magistrates." As Palfrey says, " it was now Saturday afternoon, and for a New England Governor to break the Sabbath, by setting ofif on a journey, was impossible." While they were parleying with Governor Leete, Dennis Crampton, as he afterwards told them, saw an Indian start off toward New Haven, presumably to give notice of the danger. That must have been an anxious and tedious Sunday to Kellond and Kirk, and doubtless they were glad enough to get away on Monday morning. " But, to our certain knowledge," write they, " one John Meigs was sent a horse back before us, and by his speedy and unex- pected going so early before day, was to give them an information; and the rather because by the delays was used, it was break of day before we got to horse; so he got there before us. Upon our suspicion, we required the Deputy, that the said John Meigs might be examined what his business was, that might occasion him so early going, to which the Deputy answered that he did not know any such thing and refused to examine him." Governor Leete himself was in so little haste that he arrived in New Haven two hours after the pursuivants, and so anxious to save the fugitives as to incur from the royal agents the blame of being " obstinate and pertinacious in contempt of his Majesty." Two of Governor Leete's remarks are worthy of preserva- tion: when asked if "he would honor and obey the King or no in this affair," he said " we honor his Majesty, but we have tender con- sciences," and at the very end of the discussion he said in a moment of despair, he "wished he had been a ploughman and had never been in the office, since he found it so weighty."^ Prest. Stiles says the Judges were twice in Guilford. The first visit he mentions on their way from Boston to New Haven is quite probable and is of little importance. The latter visit is much disputed and some of the details of the tradition are clearly wrong. Dr. Stiles thinks that, on June nth, fearing to bring down ruin on New Haven colony, the Judges went from their cave on West Rock to Guilford and put them- selves in Gov.- Leete's hands to be given up, if it should be judged expedient. " The Governor's house was situated on the eastern bank of the rivulet (West River) that passes through Guilford. He had a store on the bank a few rods from his house and under it a cellar,* remaining to this day It is . . . still in the general and concurrent tradition at Guilford, that the Judges were concealed and lodged in this cellar several nights, most say three days and three nights, when the Governor was afraid to see them."' " Finally, their friends would " Stiles Judges, pp. 52 to 55. Palfrey New England II, 501-502. '^ The cellar is on land of Mr. Leverett Stone and is covered by a barn. ' Stiles, pp. 92, 45. THE REGICIDES. Ill not suffer them to surrender at this time, and it was concluded that they should retire again to their concealment. Upon which they returned to New Haven " and disappear from Guilford history. Dr. Stiles thinks they may also have been concealed at Dr. Rossiter's, because, on May 7, 1662, at General Court, mention is made of charges due him " about the Colonels " ; but these were much more probably incurred in connection with the pursuit. In another point, Dr. Stiles makes a laughable mistake; Anna, daughter of Gov. Leete, who afterwards married Mr. John Trowbridge of New Haven, was born March 10, 1661-2. The Regicides were hidden, if at all, in June, 1661. Yet Dr. Stiles gravely says, that " it is an anecdote still pre- served in that family that she used often to say that when she was a little girl these good men lay concealed some time in this cellar of her father's store; but that she did not know it till afterwards: that she well remembered that at the time of it, she and the rest of the children were strictly prohibited from going near that store for some days, and that she and the children wondered at it and could not per- ceive the reason of it at that time, though they knew it afterwards. Tradition says that they were, however, constantly supplied with victuals from the Governor's table, sent to them by the maid, who long after was wont to glory in it, that she had fed those heavenly men." CHAPTER XL The Suit against Mr. Robinson. A few years after the town was through with the difficulty with the Rossiters, it was involved in another with Mr. Thomas Robinson, Sr. The trouble here, like the case of Benjamin Wright, arose from taking up land " disorderly." Mr. Robinson had bought Mr. Caffinch's " accommodation," now owned by his descendants, and had fenced in land lying north -and east of his outlot. This proceeding the town, on November 6, 1676, unanimously refused to ratify, and sent Thomas Cooke, Jr.,' and William Stone to pull up his fence. They did this, and Robinson claimed that damage was thereby done' to him to the amount of £40. On June 7, 1677, the town voted to sue and pro- secute Mr. Thomas Robinson, Sr., in an action on the case, for break- ing the peace by offensive carriages, traducing, quarrelling with con- temptuous and scandalous speeches against the Messenger of God's Word.' Lt. William Seward and Deacon William Johnson were appointed the town's attorneys and authorized to call on the help of a lawyer, if need be, and the cost of the suit was to be paid by the town. Apparently the town won in the county court, for in October, 1677, on Mr. Robinson's petition for a rehearing " for the farther quiating of the disquiat spirit of the petitioner, and that there may be a finall issue of the case and be fully convinced of his irregularities, . . . grant him liberty to review the same at New Haven Court in November next." This caused the town to vote, on November 6, 1677, that Lt. William Seward and Deacon Williain Johnson should act as the town's attor- neys, "both as plaintive and "def endive, in any action or actions that they shall judge necessary for the town's good, until the town see cause to call in their power again." We hear no more of the suit until October, 1681, when the General Assembly was petitioned by Mr. Robinson that " those differences that he hath with the towne of Guilford about pulling down of fence," and with William Stone, of which more hereafter, be referred to Mr. Daniel Buckingham and Mr. Samuel Eells. Mr. Robinson "hath " One of the Townsmen. = III. Conn. Rec. p. 160. ° Rev. Joseph El'iot. Was it then that Wm. Stone boarded Thos. Robinson, Sr., for two weeks for which the Town paid him on January 30, 1683-4? THE SUIT AGAINST MR. ROBINSON. II3 given under his hand that he engage . . . that he will abide by and stand to their issue and never make any more trouble, suit, or com- plaint about the same for the future." The Court recommended to Guilford and Stone to take this method of ending the difficulty, in- structed the arbitrators to " attend rules of justice and equity," and recommended that the case be tried as soon as possible. These rec- ommendations were published at a Guilford town meeting on De- cember 28, 1681, together with a letter from the Court of Assistants, dated December i6, and one from Messrs. Buckingham and Eells. The town took these letters into consideration, chose the selectmen Deacon Wm. Johnson, Mr. Josiah Rosseter, Mr. John Grave and Abraham Fowler to examine the matter and report at the next town meeting, and directed the recorder, with the selectmen, to inform Messrs. Buckingham and Eells of the town's action. On February 21, 1681-2, the town voted, in adoption of a report of the committee, that, though they had thought the case finally settled, as it had been heard by several courts, " yet notwithstanding, seeing the Hon* General Court have recommended it," the town is willing to have the case reopened, if notified of the time of hearing. " The Town will be ready to open the true state of the case, and answer Mr. Robinson's allegations & when you have heard the case, if then you shall hold forth any further light, dififering from the judgements of the several courts, the Towne will be willing to consider their duty and act accord- ingly."^ The referees came to Guilford, heard the case and the Gen- eral Assembly at the May session ordered the parties to be satisfied with the decision, whatever it may have been.'' Here the case vanishes from view, until at a town meeting on Sep- tember 29, 1684, the town declared, " by a unanimous vote, that the pulling down the said fence was their act." Just after this, at the October session of the General Assembly, we learn from an appeal by Mr. Robinson that, on March 6, 1683-4, the case somehow came up again and the jury at New Haven gave him 10 shillings and costs and left the Court to determine the damage; that Thomas Cooke, Jr., and William Stone appealed from this verdict to the Court of Assist- ants, where the case was heard on May 27, 1684; and that Mr. Robin- son now appeals from this second decision. The General Court decided against him and gave the defendants " cost of court," ' and the case henceforth vanishes from mortal view. The case of Robinson vs. St(me, above referred to, was " concerning wrong about a house and ' Lt. Wm. Seward and Deacon Wm. Johnson again appointed Town's Attor- neys. ' Conn. Rec. Ill, p. 99. " HI. Conn. Rec. p. 160. 114 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. land and rent for purchass money." Gov. Leete drew up the deed, which was witnessed by Lt. Wm. Seward, and it stated that for £35 " purchass money " ' Mr. Robinson should pay Stone annually £3 and 3 bushels of pears, " judged at 10 shillings," ..." which interest is judged to be aboue the law £1.8.0 per annum." The case first went to the General Court in October, 1678,'' when Mr. Edward Griswold and Lt. Crane were appointed to hear it. Their report led the General Assembly to decide the case in Stone's favor." Mr. Robinson, how- ever, secured a rehearing in October, 1682, and the General Assembly, deciding that the interest was usurious, gave Mr. Robinson a verdict and ordered Stone to pay him £15.8.0 in county pay. On this decision an execution was granted on January 12, 1683-4. ' III. Conn. Rec. p. 118. " III. Conn. Rec. pp. 22, 28. 'III. Conn. Rec. pp. 113, 116, 117. CHAPTER XII. Rev. Joseph Eliot. After Mr. Higginson's departure the town of Guilford was in a con- fused state for several years, in both church and state. The civil troubles in connection with the Regicides, with the quarrel of Dr. Ros- siter and Gov. Leete, and with the desire of the former's party for union with Connecticut are elsewhere treated. In the church, Rev. Jeremiah Peck, the school teacher, probably preached as a candidate, as did Rev. John Cotton (H. C. 1657), who married in 1660, Dr. Rossiter's daughter Joanna. Cotton was son of the famous divine of the same name and was born in Boston, March 15, 1639-40. He was third in social station in a class of 7 at Harvard, and after graduation studied theology with Rev. Samuel Stone of Hartford. Then he lived at Wethersfield for several years, preaching there and at Guilford, Killingworth and Haddam. In 1663 he returned to Boston, where he was excommunicated for immoral conduct, but was restored the next month. He then preached to the English and Indians ' on Martha's Vineyard, until he fell out with Mr. Mayhew in 1667. Then he became pastor at Plymouth, continuing there until 1697, when he was dismissed. He remained a year there and then accepted a call to Charleston, S. C, where he arrived December 7, 1698, and labored until his death of the yellow fever,'' September 17 or 18, 1699. A third candidate was somewhat more successful; for, although not settled, he acted as pastor for several years. This was Rev. John Bowers (H. C. 1649), a son of George Bowers of Plymouth and Cam- bridge. He stood in social position last in a class of five at college, and on graduation began teaching at Plymouth. In 1653 he came to New Haven, where he taught until 1660, when he went to Guilford and probably filled the double position of teacher and preacher until 1664. It was a stormy, quarrelsome period, while the New Haven jurisdiction was giving way to the Connecticut charter; and Dr. Ros- siter's opposition, doubtless partly inspired by the fact that Mr. Bowers had succeeded better than his own son-in-law, Mr. Cotton, made his position all the harder. At a town meeting held the loth of November, 1661, " Mr. Rossiter objected against Mr. Bowers his continuing here ^ He assisted Eliot in preparing several of his works. ' Sibley's Harvard Graduates I, pp. 496-508. Il6 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. as a temporary supply as formerly, unless he would serve as cheap as any would in that way and that the full period of his time might be prefixed, making further objection against the writing made betwixt the freemen with some others and Mr. Bowers for his continuing here in that work, until we could accord and prevail for another to supply in his stead." Mr. Bowers had a house and land in Gpilford, which he held until September 24, 1678, when he sold them to Rev. Joseph Eliot. At a town meeting held March 11, 1664-5, it was voted "that Mr. Bowers shall have the full payment of his last year's ministry, although we did not need him the whole time and to have the minister's land rate free." How long he stayed in Guilford we know not. In 1667 he succeeded Rev. Abraham Pierson at Branford, where he preached until 1673, though in 1671 he declined a call to settle there. Thence he went to Derby, where he was ordained as the first pastor of the church and where he continued until his death' on June 14, 1687. None of these three was the town's choice for the pastor but the great Dr. Increase Mather' (H. C. 1656), who was then a young clergyman without charge. What turned Guilford's thoughts towards him can- not be ascertained; but as early as the summer of 1661 letters were sent, through Bro. George Hubbard, inviting him to Guilford. In answer to this invitation, letters from him and his father Rev. Richard Mather were read to the town meeting, November 10, 1661. By these " it appeared that Mr. Encrease Mather purposed to come hither in the next spring, in order to treat with us about settlement here for our help in the ministry, which gave us some encouragement upo that acco*." " Hereupon, the Governor propounded that a rate of 3* per pound might be layed for the supply of the ministry the year ensuing, w'^'' was accordingly granted." We are not able to tell whether Mather ever came to Guilford or not; but on May 19, 1662, he wrote, declining the "motion or Invitation unto him for a settled minister." The letter was read in town meeting, June 5, and it was then "debated & consuhed w* further to doe, in order to seek and invite " another to be minister. It was decided to send George Hub- bard again " as a messenger." He was directed to go first to North- ampton " upo Connecticut River to enquire and treat w* Mr. Joseph Ellyot & to invite him to give us a visit & improve his labors in the ministry or preaching for some time by way of tryall here." " But, in case he be not there, then Brother Hubbard is to passe on unto the Bay or Boston, with letters to Mr. Gookin," Mr. Mitchell,' & * Sibley's Harvard Graduates I, pp. 192-193. ^ Sibley's Harvard Graduates I, pp. 410-470. ' Maj. Gen. Daniel Gookin. * Rev. Jonathan Mitchell of Cambridge. (H. C, 1647.) Sibley I, pp. 140-156. REV. JOSEPH ELIOT. II7 Mr. Increase Mather &, with them, to advise, unto whom they judge it most meet & suitable for us, that application be made; whether unto ye said Mr. Elliot or unto one Mr. Stoughton," who (as we hear) is coming out of England: and, if neither of y™ may be attained, then to move the matter for us, unto whome the said three friends shall advise, whose helpfulness he is to entreat herein & judgement to direct his application accordingly." For some reason the Rev. Joseph Eliot did not at once accept the call,^ but in 1664 he was happily settled. He was the second son of the Rev. John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, and was born at Roxbury, Mass., on December 20, 1638. He "was endowed by the God of nature and of grace with a liberal portion of the excellencies of his father." After graduating from Harvard College in 1658, he began to qualify himself to instruct the Indians. Among the Acts of the Com- missioners of the United Colonies ' in September, 1658, is the following record : " Mr. Joseph Elliott, being tendered by his father to bee Im- ployed in the Indian worke and himselfe manifesting his Reddiness to attend the same, was promised due Incurragment, according as hee shall Improue himselfe in learning of the Language." In September, 1660, the Commissioners' accounts have this item: "To Mr. Joseph Elliott for his Incurragement in studdying the Indian Language these two yeares past, to fitt him for the worke £20," and in September, 1661, £10 to " Mr. Joseph Elliot juni'' for his Sallary for the yeare past." It is a singular fact that in after life, both he and Mr. Higginson, though acquainted with the Indian language, have left no record of an effort to use their knowledge in the conversion of the Indians near whom they lived. On November 23, 1662, the people of Northampton, Mass., " unani- mously expressed their desire to settle Mr. Joseph Elliot among them as a teacher " to assist Rev. Eleazar Mather. He came and served in this position for a year or two, but was not ordained. Probably in April or May, 1665, he was ordained * at Guilford, Rev. Eleazar Mather preaching the sermon. "The Church and Town Greatly flourished under his Successfull Ministry,"" says Rev. Mr. ' William Stoughton, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and chief judge in the witchcraft trials in 1692. ' Sibley's Harvard Graduates I, pp. 530-S33- Mass. Hist. Col. XXXVHI, pp. 374-9- " II. Hazard, pp. 395, 431, 443- In Plymouth Records, Acts of Com. of United Colonies II, pp. 207, 218, 245. *The earliest date we have for Mr. Eliot's residence in Guilford is May 18, 1664, when he wrote to his brother Benjamin from this Town. *A hint that there was more or less disorder in Town is found in a vote of September i, 1671, when " Several laws were read, concerning night walking Il8 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Ruggles, " and rose to great fame in the Colony. After this Burning & Shineing Light had ministred to this Good People About 30 years, he Deceased May 24, 1694, to the inexpressible Grief of his beloved flock, whose memory is not forgoten to this Day " (1769).' As a preacher, he is said to have been inferior to none in the age in which he lived. His religious character is well exemplified in a pious and excellent letter written by him to his brother in Roxbury, " show- ing how we must live in this world so as to live in heaven," which letter having been pubHshed in this century, served to bring his char- acter and work afresh to remembrance.^ The town of Guilford voted him a salary of i8o^ on February 8, 1664-5, ^nd on March 15 " agreed that the house and landes bought of Mr. Higginson in order to be disposed of for another minister's accom- modation be given Mr. Eliot." * With his coming, the deacons appear for the first time in the Guilford church, they being first mentioned on June I, 1665, when they "were empowared to repare Mr. Eliot's hows one the Townes charge, that is to say the Glas, seelings, and fHoowars." At times the minister's salary was not promptly paid.' On December 9, 1671, Mr. Eliot made complaint thereof, and a committee of four was chosen " to doe what they can, . . . that there may be a due supply for Mr. Eliot seasonably laid in and accounts cleared, that so the Deacons may be more helped against difficulties that may arise from the neglect Of due payment, or unsuitable provision for the min- ister." Each year the deacons appointed a day " for the cutting " of Mr. Eliot's winter stock of firewood, and those who did not, for any reason, go forth then were obliged to " bring a sufficient cart-load of wood home to Mr. EHot's house upon their own charge," within a month, or pay a bushel of Indian corn. The annual wood-cutting must have been an animated scene, for all went forth, "those that have and the Constable's worke exprest with an Admonition to householders to looke to those under their care, to prevent them from being out unseasonably and unnecessarily in the night, for the preventing of those misdemeanors that have been of late in the Towne, ... by our honored Deputie Governor." ' Mr. Ruggles also says of his predecessor: " He was many years the con- spicuous minister of Guilford, whose great abilities as a divine, a politician and a physician were greatly admired, not only among his own people, but through- out the colony, where his praises are in the churches." ' Sprague's Annals I, p. 22. ' Increased to iioo on February 23, 1678-9. * Eliot Genealogy, p. 144. May and October, 1668, the General Court made him one of Committees to settle religious differences. December, 1675, the Council appointed him on a Committee "to make diligent search for those evils amongst us which have stirred up the Lord's anger against us." ' November 6, 1677, the Town voted that part of the salary should come from the " Mill come." REV. JOSEPH ELIOT. II9 teams with their teams & their hands & those that have no teams only with their hands." ^ In 1675 Rsv. Mr. Eliot and his wife went to Massachusetts for medical treatment.'' While there he was under Mr. Greenland's (of Newbury) " mercuriall administrations " and recovered sooner than his wife, whom he was forced to leave behind him. These visits to Boston must have been bright spots in a life, to us seemingly rather dreary. The intellectual destitution is hard to conceive of. Mr. Eliot writes to Rev. Increase Mather, " I would earnestly entreat you, out of pitty to a famished man, to send me such treatises, historical or philosophical, as you have by you, especially that concerning the designes of a French government in England." ' And again of another treatise he writes : " I should be very glad to obtain a sight of it, if you would send any by the bearer of this letter, one of my neighbors, Stephen Bishop, I should return it safe in about a years time." The town of Guilford appreciated what a treasure they had in this man," who was physician as well as clergyman, and, when in 1682 he again fell sick, the town sent ' for Rev. Israel Chauncey of Stratford and paid the expenses thus incurred. Two years later, on April 29, 1684, the town permitted him to set the corner of his hay house 5 or 6 feet into the highway and keep it so for ten years. The same spring, when there was sickness in the town, they sent for him from Hartford, where he had gone for a visit. In 1692 he was in Boston again, and on November 21 visited, supped and prayed with Judge Samuel Sewall there and " went not away till ^Vide November 6, 1678. The same custom under Rev. Thos. Ruggles, Sr.; vide November 27, 1701, December 7, 1703, wood might be commuted for by- money. ' On August 16, 167s, he writes to Gov. Winthrop, " I have bene wont to be beforehand w*'' others in the gazets: ys year I have been disapointed of y™ My intreaty y'fore is unto yourself, yt you would do me the favor to lend me such as are gainable yr, and I shal carefully return ym: it is one addition to the advantage of reading ym; yt in ys our calamitous times we can the better sympathize w* the European stories of the sad effect of yes warrs: as also, if any thing from the Royal Society be come to hand, I desire the same favor. Yf. is one thing more, I left my wife ill in the Bay and have not gained a word of intelligence from her or about her, since I came away and hard it is to gain any, in ys sad interruption of passage: if yr be the least intimation to be gathered up by travailers yt came last ynce, I suppose it may have reached your ear, and it would be no small favor to let me hear it." — Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls. LI, p. 430. Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls. XXXVII, p. 575- ' Mass. Hist. Col. XXXVIII, p. 376, 379- 'Vide January 15, 1683-4. Town Records. For his medical knowledge see Proceedings of the Connecticut Medical Society for 1892. "Vide November 16, 1682. I20 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. half an hour after nine at night."' One wonders what the Judge and the minister talked of so late ! His last illness must have continued for some time ; for, on April 24, 1694, a month before his death, " The Town desires the Deacons to improve men, as occasion shall require, for sending, either on physical account or for the minister account, to fetch or send with them, as occasion may be and keep an account of the said charge to be paid by the Town, while Mr. Eliot continues in such a way.'" Mr. Eliot ' married twice and had eight children. One of these, Ann, married Gov. Jonathan Law of Connecticut; another was the famous Dr. Jared Eliot of Killingworth (Y. C. 1706), a fellow of the Royal Society. The homestead* and farm given him in 1664 has never passed out of the family. A pear tree, planted by Rev. Mr. Eliot himself, was standing until blown down in 1865, and the present owner of the home- stead, Mr. Edward Elliot, still possesses the sideboard that Rev. John Eliot is said to have given his son when he was setting out for the far-off Connecticut wilds. The descendants of Rev. Mr. Eliot have perpetuated his memory by the estabhshment of "The Joseph Eliot Memorial Scholarship"' in the College of Yale University. The income from this fund is to be given to a student of good intellectual and moral character, who must be (i) a descendant of Joseph Eliot bearing the family name, (2) any other descendant of Joseph Eliot, (3) a student who is a legal resident of the town of Guilford, (4) a student who is a descendant of a legal resident of the town. If none such apply, the interest is to be used for buying books for the college library. ' Sewall's Diary I, p. 369. ' On January 30, 1694-5, the Town refused to pay any more such bills. 'Tradition saith he was buried on the east side of the Green and that a wooden monument was erected to his memory. 'September i, 1671, Townsmen desired to finish Mr. Eliot's house before winter under the Deacon's direction. He was granted land April 15, 1675. " The fund is eventually to amount to $10,000. CHAPTER XIII. Rev. Thomas Ruggles, Sr. The town lost no time in trying to find a successor to Mr. Eliot. On May 29, 1694, five days after his death, the townsmen are directed to dispose of the mill corn for money, " to accommodate young ministers, as shall be improved and be helpful in the ministry, for the present vacancy of any settled help, and for expense of money layd out on our late charge." A committee of five — Mr. Andrew Leete, deacon Wm. Johnson, deacon John Grave, John Meigs and Josiah Rossiter — ^was appointed " to take care, as our present case requires, for sanctifying the Sabbath & to take what advice and discretion may be given by those proper to give advice, in such a case as ours is for supply in the ministry." Apparently neighboring clergymen were first consulted, and they advised sending to Boston for certain men they mentioned. This advice was accepted by the town on June 22, and Mr. Thomas Meacock and " Left " Stephen Bradley were chosen as " messengers." The messengers soon went, saw Rev. Thomas Ruggles (H. C. 1690), and returned, being speedily followed by him. He proved so accept- able, that, on August 21, the town unanimously voted that they desired him to go on with the ministry and offered him i8o per annum as salary. The town further instructed the committee for procuring a minister, to acquaint him with these votes and to thank him " for his readiness to come unto them." Mr. Ruggles continued preaching, and, on April 30, 1695, the town gave him an unanimous call " for a settlement for their minister " and appointed the townsmen a committee " to make enquiry and endeavor for some suitable habitation of lands for the ministry of the town of Guilford." The committee's report induced the town to purchase, on September 27, 1695, Goodman Cook's house, next Deacon Johnson's, on Fair street, for £45 in current money. The town further voted to the minister 15 acres of meadow land and 25 acres of pasture land and 100 acres in 4th Division land.^ It also agreed to " build a suitable house in convenient time, that is to say the Timber work and stone work of the sd. house, which shall be for the ministers that shall settle with us here in Guilford." The previously appointed committee is ' Laid out December 17, 1695. 122 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. requested to inform Mr. Ruggles of these votes and that his salary of i8o would be continued.^ From the tenor of these votes we gather that Mr. Ruggles had not fully determined to stay. If he wavered, it was but for a short time, and on December 17, 1695, the townsmen were bidden to give him a deed of gift for the lot the town had bought of Goodman Cook, and were " empowered to agree with some Carpenter to build the frame of Mr. Ruggles' house." On January 22, 1695-6, the house was ordered to be 46 by 221^ feet and 15 feet between joists, and, on February 26, the town voted to add a porch to it and laid a tax to pay for the expense incurred. It is probable that Mr. Ruggles was away for some time, getting his goods moved down from Roxbury, etc.; for, on January 22, 1695-6, the town approves of the deacons' paying lis. 6d. to the Rev. Stephen Buckingham (H. C. 1693) of Saybrook, " as a requital for his paines in preaching w*^ them." On June i, 1697, and May 31, 1698, the town further voted to pay the expenses of a man going to Boston with Mr. Ruggles. Mr. Ruggles was born at Roxbury, the same town as Rev. Joseph Eliot, March 10, 1670-1. He was ordained at Guilford, Novem- ber 20, 1695; elected a fellow of Yale College in 1711; and died June i, 1728, after an illness of 28 days. On June 9, 1728, Rev. Elisha Wil- liams, Rector of Yale College, preached a discourse in Guilford on " Death, The Advantage of the Godly," from Philippians i. 20. It was " the Lord's Day after the funeral " of Rev. Mr. Ruggles, and Rev. Mr. Williams said of him : " What of him first took our Thoughts, was his Comely, Serene, and Majestick Aspect, his Pleasant, yet Grave and Solemn Deportment, every way becoming the great Excellencies of his Mind, always commanding our Reverence, and Attracting our Love. Most happily was he in a Meek, composed, Peaceable, and Pleasant Disposition. He excelled in a pecuUar Sweetness and Goodness of Temper and in a Beneficent Love to Mankind. This his Love most Diffusive, tho' especially directed to such, where the Christian appeared, yet led him to do Good to all, and to the greatest distance from speak- ing Evil to any. He was Hearty and Real in his Affection to his Friend, Faithful to his Interest, Obliging and Sincere in the Expres- sions of his Friendship, and wholly Unpracticed in the Art of Dis- simulation." ° 'May 30, 1699, part of it was to be paid in corn from the mill. November 8, 1699, his salary was increased to igo, the extra amount to come from the mill. November 9, 1701, it was increased to £90 besides the iio from the mill, iioo in all. January 24, 1709-10, £130 " in specia," according to the country price, and wood at 4s. per load. "" Vide Sprague's Annals I, p. 261. REV. THOMAS RUGGLES, SR. 1 23 From a sketch of his Hfe, printed ^ in the New England Journal of June 17, 1728, we learn that " He was a Gentleman of Uncommon Worth, Serious and Religiously disposed from his Youth, somewhat Oppressed with Melancholy in his Younger time, but as he grew in Years, Grace and Experience, more Even and Composed being both Innocent, Chearful and becomingly Grave, which may be looked upon as an happy Reward upon his Careful and Strict Walk with God/ . . . " He was Cloathed with Humility and his Modesty (which sometimes made him decline Services, for which he was sufficiently Qualify'd) did yet remarkably cause his face to shine, whilst it Appeared that he had so well Learned that Lesson of the Apostles, of esteeming others better than himself, " He was Sincere and Open hearted, A common Friend to all Men and especially to them that feared God, who were ever welcome to him and found an hearty Reception in his Hospitable House. Tender and Compassionate to all that were Distressed and he knew how to speak a Word in Season to them that were weary. . . . . " Among his Brethren he was highly Valued and Esteemed, who were thorowly Conscious of his worth; And being for many Years Improved as one of the Trustees of Yale College, the Interest of that Society was ever dear to him, Labouring indefatigably for the Estab- lishment .and Welfare of it, under all the Shakings, Vicissitudes and Revolutions that it hath met with in its Infant State, and truly desirous that it might prove an hopeful Seminary for the Church of God." ' Written by Rev. Eliphalet Adams. ' He was said to be very strict and Calvinistic in his principles. CHAPTER XIV. Later Settlers in Guilford. I. According to tradition, forty planters settled Guilford, but if this be not a round number, the list cannot be completely made out, owing to lack of records. The earliest list of settlers, after that of the Plan- tation Covenant, is one of 1650, comprising forty-eight names. The plantation was heedless of formalities at first, and on May 22, 1648, we learn that " The freemen's charge, (having been neglected to be orderly given to such planters, as were capable of being made freemen), was this day read," apparently for the first time. * Henry Whitfield. Samuel Disborow, May 22, 1648. John Higginson. * William Leete, May 22, 1648. * Robert Kitchel, May 22, 1648. * William Chittenden, May 22, 1648. Thomas Jordan, May 22, 1648. George Hubbard. *John Hoadley, May 22, 1648. * Thomas Jones, May 22, 1649. *William Dudley, June 30, 1650. * Thomas Cooke, February 14, 1649. Henry Kingsnorth, ]xmt 15, 1649. * John Stone, May 22, 1648. * William Hall, May 22, 1649. *John Parmelin, Sr., May 22, 1649. *Thomas Betts, May 22, 1649. * Richard Guttridge, June 30, 1650. Richard Bristow, February 14, 1649. John Parmelin, Jr.," February 14, 1649. Jasper Stillwell, May 22, 1648. George Bartlett, May 22, 1648. Alexander Chalker, May 22, 1648. John Scranton, May 22, 1648. John Fowler, June 30, 1650. Edward Benton_, May 19, 165 1. * Abraham Cruttenden, Sr., May 19, 1651. John Evarts, February 5, 1651-2. The last three names were added after the Hst was made out. LATER SETTLERS IN GUILFORD. I25 The following were planters, but not freemen. *John Bishop, Sr. John Johnson, Thomas Chatfield, John Sheader, *Francis Bushnell, Samuel Blatchley, * Henry Dowd, Thomas French, Richard Hues, Stephen Bishop (son of John), George Chatfield, Thomas Stevens (son of John), *William Stone, William Boreman, John Stevens, Edward Sewers, Benjamin Wright, George Highland, John Linsley, Abraham Cruttenden, Jr. These lists are important, , as probably both are arranged in the order of precedence in the town and furnish the only means of knowing the relative standing of the settlers. The covenant signers are marked with a star and their high social standing, in comparison with the later settlers, is noticeable. The men italicised have left no descendants bearing their name in the limits of the original town of Guilford. George Hubbard seems to have been received as a freeman immediately on his coming to Guilford, and Mr. Whitfield and Mr. Higginson were probably granted the privilege of freeman by courtesy, as there is no record of their being sworn in. George Hubbard came from England about 1634 and probably went with the early settlers to Wethersfield. He was a surveyor, sat in the General Court at Hartford, and was one of the two men at Wethersfield permitted to trade with the Indians. He removed to Milford about 1643, and September 22, 1648, purchased from Jacob Sheafife the property in Guilford on which his descendants now live. He was a prominent inhabitant, and several times was sent as deputy to the General Court at New Haven. He also served as magistrate, and died in January, 1683. John Scranton was probably one of the original settlers, served twice as Deputy, and died, August 27, 1671. His descendants have given a name to a flourishing Pennsylvania city. Thomas Betts^ was one of the first settlers and of the smaller class of planters. He removed to Milford in 1657 and sold his accommoda- tion to George Highland. In 1660 he again removed to Norwalk, where he died in 1688, aged about 70. The late C. Wyllys Betts was a descendant. ' His son John, a weaver, was admitted planter February 25, 1672-3, but had moved to Norwalk by 1679. 126 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Richard Bristow was a cooper and was here as early as the first division of lands. He had no children and died September, 1683. His nephew Samuel Bristow, or Bristol, inherited his land and perpetuated the name in Guilford unto this day. His name was given to the Bristow apple, says Rev. Mr. Ruggles, because he had the first tree of the kind. " The true, perfect Bristows are a large, fair, very deep red colored apple. They are much esteemed by the inhabitants." Bezaleel Bristol was a descendant. Jasper Stillwell was at Guilford early, and died November 8, 1656, leaving one daughter. George Bartlett was one of the first settlers, a man of some educa- tion, served as town clerk and as one of the first deacons, was lieutenant of the trainband, and died August 2, 1669. Alexander Chalker was a young man and was here early. He removed to Saybrook between 1652 and 55 and became wealthy and prominent there, dying before 1673. John Fowler, probably the son of William Fowler of Milford, was one of the first settlers of that place, probably coming from Wethers- field. He came to Guilford before 1648, was one of the first deacons, served frequently as deputy, and died September 14, 1676. In 1672 his list was ii6o 7s., the largest in the town; that of Gov. Leete being ii6o. Edward Benton was one of the earliest settlers, coming perhaps from Milford. He died October 28, 1680. John Evarts came to Guilford in 165 1, purchased John Mepham's allotment on July 29, 1651, was admitted planter September 4, 1651, and died May 9, 1669. He first settled at Concord, Mass., where he was made freeman in March, 1638. Joel Benton, the author, is one of his descendants. Of the planters, Richard Hues probably came early from Dor- chester, Mass., and died July 3, 1658. His daughter Sarah was school- dame for many years and his son Nicholas was blacksmith. The name is also spelled Hughes or Hewes. John Stevens, with his sons Thomas' and William, came from Kent, and was here at the first division of lands. He died September i, 1670. The unfortunate Benjamin Wright came early to Guilford. He moved to Killingworth, on the settlement of that town, and died March 29, 1677. John Linsley was in New Haven in 1644, bought WilHam Love's allotment at Guilford, March 25, 1648, and moved to Branford in 1654, ' Thomas Stevens never became fi freeman and removed to Killingworth 1665. LATER SETTLERS IN GUILFORD. 12/ on account of a suit for slander with Richard Guttridge. He died in 1684. John Johnson was born in 1613 and died in November, 1681. He was a soldier in the Pequot War and came to Guilford early. Many of his descendants settled in North Madison. John Sheader, or Sheather, was an early settler, and was buried June I, 1670. Samuel Blachley bought his home lot of Henry Dowd about 1649. He removed from Guilford about 1653. Thomas French was at Charlestown, Mass., about 1638, and re- moved to Guilford about 1643. He died about 1665. He was one of the poorer planters. William Boreman came to Guilford early, possibly from Wethers- field. He was probably a servant, and died about 1652, leaving his property to his brother-in-law Daniel Butcher, in Hawkhurst, Kent. Edward Sewers came as late as 165 1; took oath of fidelity, Sep- tember 4; and his name, with the two following, must have been added to the list after it was made out. He removed to Stony Creek, Branford. George Highland, or Hiland, came to Guilford in 165 1 and died January 21, 1692. His name is perpetuated as a Christian name and was borne by his descendant. Judge Hiland Hall of Vermont. There were several planters besides these, and those formerly men- tioned, who died or removed prior to 1650. Thomas Mills died in 1648; William Somers died in 1650; Thomas Relf, at first a prominent inhabit- ant, was divorced from his wife Elizabeth Desborough in 1650, leaving the colony, so that his estate was settled as though he were dead, and his widow afterwards, in October, 165 1, married John Johnson. Relf fled to Rhode Island, the cave of Adullam in those days ; married again, and died there in 1682. Thomas Dunk was here in 1645, but removed to Saybrook about 1650, leaving his name to a rock in the west wooda Francis Austin was also at Guilford early and was lost in the Lam- berton ship; all these are not on the list. Henry Goldam is also omitted, although he came early to Guilford and remained until his death in 1661. William Barnes, " Got. Leete's man," died in 1649; ^^^ William Love, probably a servant, left Guilford before 1648. Timothy Baldwin of Milford married Mary, widow of John Mepham, March 5, 1649-50, and seems to have lived in Guilford for some time. His family returned to Milford. 2. In 1659 a second list of freemen was made out. It is probably 128 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. based on precedence. Those marked with a *' were freemen in 1650, This list contains 47 names and does not include planters. *Wm. Leete, *John Scranton, *Robt. Kitchel, * Edward Benton, * William Chittenden, Daniel Benton (son of Edward), * George Hubbard, John Meigs, Mr. Bray Rossiter (June 8, 1654),* Richard Bristow, * Mr. (John) Bishop, Sr. f John Johnson (Feb. 7, 1652-3), *Abm. Cruttenden, Sr. tJohn Sheather, * William Dudley, Richard HubbaU, William Johnson, * John Parmelin, Jr. t Benjamin Wright, Sr. f Abraham Cruttenden, Jr. t William Stone, John Graves, * Thomas Cooke, t George Highland, tJohn Stevens, John Rossiter, *John Fowler, John Baldwin, John Hill, Thomas Clark, *John Parmelin, Sr. f Richard Hughes, *John Evarts, *John Stone, t Thomas French, * George Bartlett, William Seward, Henry Goldam, William Stevens (son of John), Nicholas Munger, * Henry Kingsnorth, f George Chatfield, * Richard Guttridge, John Bishop, Jr. t Henry Doud, f Stephen Bishop. * William Hall, Nathaniel Whitfield was made freeman June 8, 1654, but left before the list was made out. William Johnson, the grandfather of Dr. Samuel Johnson, was the son of Robert, who came from Kingston upon Hull to New Haven at its settlement. He was born about 1630, and marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Bushnell, removed to Guilford as early as 1653. He served as town clerk and deacon and died October 27, 1702. John Hill, by trade a carpenter, came from Northamptonshire in England as early as 1654 and settled on the Green on the land now occupied by E. C. Bishop and Miss Mary Smith. He died June 8, 1689. Hon. David B. Hill of New York is a descendant. William Seward '' came originally from Bristol, England, and set- ^ Those marked with a t were planters, not freemen, on the former list. '' He was said to be at Taunton in 1643. LATER SETTLERS IN GUILFORD. 1 29 tied, first, at New Haven, and while residing there was married to Miss Grace Norton of Guilford, April 2, 165 1. He soon after removed to Guilford and took the oath of fidelity there, May 4, 1654. He appears to have been a tanner, a man of considerable property and eminence in the town, being for a long time captain of the guard. He died March 29, 1689, aged 62 years. John Meigs came to Guilford from New Haven, where he resided previously, and was admitted planter, on his buying a £100 allotment at Hammonassett, on its settlement, March 3, 1653-4. He was a shoe- maker and seems to have been unpopular. He removed to Killing- worth, on its settlement, and died there January 4, 1671. When he first came to Guilford his father, Vincent Meigs, who appears to have been old at that time, came with him and died at Hammonassett, 1658. John Meigs, Jr., came to Guilford from Killingworth, soon after his father's death, and settled in the east part of the town (now Madison), where his posterity are numerous to this day. Col. Return J. Meigs, Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, Prof. Josiah Meigs, William M. Meigs, Esq., and other prominent men are among his descendants. Richard Hubball was at New Haven in 1647, and was admitted a planter at Guilford, February 25, 1653-4, on purchasing Samuel Blatchley's lots and accommodations. He seems also to have purchased the land and accommodations of John Baldwin, October 16, 1660. He joined Dr. Rossiter's faction in 1662 and soon after moved to Fairfield, where he lived until 1692. He could not write. His descendants are numerous and their genealogy has been published. John Graves came from England to Hartford and thence to Guilford in 1657. He was the son of George Graves and was born 1633. He was town clerk many years and deacon in the church. He married, November 26, 1657, Elizabeth, daughter of Jasper Stillwell. She was her father's heir, and Mr. Graves lived with her on her father's land. He died December 31, 1695. John Baldwin came from Milford in 165 1 and took the oath of fidelity February 5, 1651-2. He moved to Norwich in 1660. Thomas Clark came from Milford, where he was one of the original settlers, and married Anne, widow of John Jordan, and settled here in 1653. They occupied Mr. Jordan's land. He was buried October 10, 1668. His family removed to Killingworth. Nicholas Hunger was a stepson of Henry Goldam and continued to live in Guilford after his stepfather's death. He died October 16, 1668. Of the planters not freemen, Dennis Crampton, or Scranton, was here before 1656, when he was convicted of slander and cheating. He afterwards, however, became a man of considerable property and some 130 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. distinction in the plantation, and his descendants remain in Guilford and Madison to this day. He settled on the west side of South Lane (Whitfield street) and afterwards removed and settled on the Neck plain in Madison. Thomas Meacock was in Milford in 1658, and was admitted a planter in Guilford, on purchasing land from Dennis Crampton, May 14, 1660. He was much respected and died May 13, 1706, leaving no children. Nathan Bradley and Stephen Bradley came to Guilford when quite young.' In 1658 the former was 20 and the latter 16 years of age. The tradition is that six or seven brothers came over from Bingley in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Nathan Bradley settled in' the eastern part of the town and Stephen in Neck plain, Madison. Their descend- ants are numerous both in Guilford and New Haven. Nathan Bradley was quite a hunter and was the discoverer of " Nathan's Pond," the source of the Hammonassett River. He lived to an advanced age,- and is said to have killed several hundred deer. The story is told that on one occasion in old age he went to see a friend who lived about a mile northerly of the meeting house in East Guilford. On his way he met a bear with her cubs. He endeavored to ride around her; but as he moved, the bear moved ; when he stopped, she stopped, and sitting on her haunches presented an undaunted front, seeming determined to oppose his further passage. He was obliged to turn back and shed tears in the childishness of old age, that he, who had killed so many of these creatures, should be obliged at last to turn his back upon one of them. He died November 10, 1713, and his brother Stephen, June 20, 1701. Judge Andrew J. Bradley of the District of Columbia is of this stock. Thomas Smith came from Fairfield to Guilford in 1652 as blacksmith and took the oath of fidelity May 11, 1654. There seems to have been great difficulty in procuring a blacksmith, and a considerable tract of land was given to induce Smith to settle here. In 1663 he removed to Killingworth, on the settlement of that town, and died after 1676. John Hodgkin came from Essex, England, and was admitted to the oath of fidelity May 11, 1654. His descendants gradually modified the name into Hotchkin and Hotchkiss. He probably came about 1648, as " Gov. Leete's man," and died January, 1681-2. He married Mary Bishop, April 4, 1670. Henry Crane was a planter at Guilford about 1660, but removed " to Killingworth on the settlement of that town, and died April 22, 171 1. John Hopson, or Hobson, came to Guilford probably about 1660, ' G. T. R. Book A. p. 172. ' He probably returned for a time to Guilford. LATER SETTLERS IN GUILFORD. I3I rented the stone-house farm, was " ordinary keeper," and died July 3, 1701. He was made planter, December 11, 1672. Humphrey Spinning was at New Haven in 1657 and was admitted a planter in Guilford on March 13, 1661-2. He married Abigail, daughter of George Hubbard, in 1657 and removed to Elizabeth, N. J., about 1666. He died March, 1689. Thomas Wright, the town shepherd, came from Wethersfield, about 1670, and died December 6, 1692. He married Sarah Benton and left daughters, but no surviving sons. 3. In 1672 a third division of land was voted, among all the then planters according to their lists of that year. The proprietors num- bered loi, although the number of resident planters must have been much smaller. A list of freemen made out a few months earlier num- bered 63. On these lists we find the following new names of families: Thomas Robinson bought the land which was formerly Mr. John Cafifinge's as early as 1666, and afterward became one of the wealthiest of the settlers. He was noted for a long and very expensive lawsuit with the town, described elsewhere. He died in 1689. John Collins, Jr., was probably born in England in 1640 and came with his father to Boston soon after. He learned his father's trades, those of shoemaker and tanner, but was well educated. He moved to Middletown in 1663, to Branfofd in 1667. He came to Guilford in 1669, bought John Stevens' house and land, and was made planter, February 13, 1670-1. He married Mary, sister of Henry Kingsnorth, and afterwards, in right of his wife, came into possession of the lands of Henry and James Kingsnorth. He taught the town school at times and died December 10, 1704. Joseph Clay came to Guilford about 1670 and died November 30, 1695. He left no sons. Ebenezer Thompson came about 1670 and died August, 1676. Edward Parks, from Killingworth, was admitted a planter May 28, 1671. He was a tailor by trade and became one of the first settlers of Cohabit (North Guilford). He probably first settled at Norwich. He married Deliverance, daughter of Thomas French, in 1669 and died in 1691. Besides these freemen, there were as planters: Ephraim Darwin, or Durren, or Durwin, who was a man of considerable property and resided near the rocks at |:he head of Fair street, which were called Ephraim's rocks from his name. He came to Guilford as early as 1670, but his family removed to New York State in the 18th century. He was made planter December 11, 1672, and died September, 1725. He married Elizabeth Goodrich, June 10, 1678. Prof. John M. Vincent of the Johns Hopkins University is a descendant. 132 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. John Sergeant was made planter December 11, 1672, as was John Bayley, who died about 1688 and from whom Bayley's Creek in Madi- son is named. He married Mary Goodrich, August 16, 1676. The name died out in the third generation. Thomas Blatchley was admitted planter April 23, 1668. He sailed for America in 1635, resided at Hartford in 1640, New Haven in 1643, and Branford in 1645. He intended to go to Newark in 1666, but instead moved to Guilford. He was a merchant and died in 1674 at Boston. His descendants are still residents of Guilford. Jonathan Hoyt, or Hoit, came from Windsor, and on December 9, 1671, was granted liberty to dwell here for the winter, and if he behaved himself well, in that time he may obtain a certificate according to law. He was admitted planter on April 2, 1674, and afterwards became one of the first proprietors of East Guilford (Madison), where his descendants still reside. Matthew Beckwith, a seafaring man, was at Guilford for a short time about 1667. Joseph Hand, the son of John, of East Hampton, Long Island, came before 1670 and settled in the eastern part of the town. He died Janu- ary, 1724. He married Jane Wright, daughter of Benjamin, in 1664. 4. When the patent was granted by Connecticut, December 7, 1685, there were, according to subsequent investigation, eighty -four pro- prietors. Of these the following are novi homines: Isaac Everest, ad- mitted planter November 9, 1680, lived at Nut Plains, and died Janu- ary 23, 1696-7. He was a weaver. His sons John and Isaac were insane. The former in a fit of insanity, August 26, 1705, killed an Indian child at Cafifinge's Island by cutting its throat. The father, Cupoquassen, immediately shot Everest. On being tried at Hartford he was acquitted, " on account of the sudden great provocation." Stephen Dodd was admitted planter December 14, 1676. He was son of Daniel of Branfotd, and was born February 16, 1655-6. He was a carpenter and died October 6, 1691. He married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Stevens. His male line died out before 1800. Peter Talman was admitted planter January 15, 1683-4. He was a physician and was born at Newport, R. I., March 22, 1658. He mar- ried, 1683, Anna, daughter of Benjamin Wright, and died July 6, 1726. Edward Lees, or Lee, came to Guilford about 1675, married Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Wright, in 1676, and died April, 1727. Obadiah Wilcoxon, or Wilcox, was at Kenilworth, or Killingworth, in 1669 and moved to Guilford about 1676. He was made planter Feb- ruary 8, 1675-6, and died in 1713. John Deadly, Doudly, or Dudley, came to Guilford in 1673 and was LATER SETTLERS IN GUILFORD. 1 33 admitted planter February ii, 1673-4. He married Martha, daughter of Thomas French, in 1673 and died May 30, 1690. The tradition is that, while quite a boy, he was going over London bridge, when he was met by a pressgang who asked him where he was going. He re- sponded that he was going to see his godfather and godmother. They said they would go with him, but conducted him on board of a British man-of-war, where he was kept until he made his escape, while cruising at Boston some years after. Then he fled, came to Guilford and en- tered Thomas French's employ. Thomas Tushand, Tushin, or Tustin, was here by 1685 and was the town grave-digger. Henry Wise was admitted planter November 9, 1680. He was dead before 1686. Besides the patentees, William Matthew, Mr. Leete's farmer, was admitted planter April 2, 1674. Samuel Baldwin was invited by the planters to come from Fairfield and settle as a smith in 1675, and on that condition was admitted planter February 8, 1675-6. Such was the desire of the inhabitants for some one to serve in his trade, that they granted him " one-half an acre of land upon the Green, between John Bishop's barn and the saw- pit all along against the front of said Bishop's home-lot," being nearly all the east side of the Green. When he came he was probably just out of his apprenticeship. He died January 12, 1696. John Walstone married Anna, daughter of Benjamin Wright, in 1677 and died in 1680. His descendants still live in Guilford. 5. Before 1700 other settlers had come in: Mr. James Hooker, a man of considerable note and the first judge of the probate court, came from Farmington and married Mary, only child of William Leete, Jr., on August I, 1691. He died March 12, 1740. Thomas Griswold came from Wethersfield about 1695. He died October 19, 1729. He was a blacksmith, married Sarah Bradley on May 9, 1697, and left numerous descendants in the town. His brother Samuel removed to Guilford with him. Andrew Ward, grandson of Andrew Ward, one of the first settlers of Wethersfield and one of the first judges of the Hartford County court, and son of Andrew Ward, who removed to Stamford and mar- ried in 1668, Tryal, daughter of John Meigs, Sr., came to Guilford with his mother about 1690. He died August 7, 1756. Comfort Starr, a tailor, came from Middletown about 1690. He died May I, 1743. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Hopson, and purchased, 1692, the home lot of John Collins on Crooked Lane (State street). He was a great-grandson of Dr. Comfort Starr, who came 134 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. from Ashford, Kent, to Newtown (Cambridge), Mass. Peter Bliss, a joiner, from Wethersfield, came to Guilford about 1698 and bought land here. Esekiel Bull was permitted to buy land in Guilford May 26, 1692, and doing so, became a planter. William Bartlett is said to have been an Englishman, who came from the Barbadoes to East Guil- ford in 1694. He settled in the neighborhood known as Flanders, married Hannah Evarts, and died October 10, 1741. He left numer- ous descendants. Gideon Allin, Jr., came from Swansey, Mass., and married Mary, daughter of Thomas Wright, about 1698. He afterwards removed to Killingworth, deserting his wife, who was relieved by the town in 1702. John Davis was probably the one who was at Lynn in 1684, removed to Guilford from Long Island about 1700, was a weaver, and died March 2, 1752. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Peter Talman. Ehenezer Field, son of Zachary, Jr., of Hatfield and Deerfield, Mass., ■ married Mary Deadly January 14, 1697, and died May 7, 1713. His descendants have remained in Guilford. Rev. David Dudley Field was a descendant. William Jones, Jr., son of Gov. William Jones, came to Guilford about 1690 from New Haven and died May 23, 1700. Jonathan Murray came from Scotland to Guilford about 1687, mar- ried Ann, daughter of Nathan Bradley, and died August 2^, 1747. Wm. H. H. Murray is a descendant. Thomas Hall, son of Samuel and Elizabeth, removed to Guilford from Middletown in June, 1692, and married Mary Hiland, February i, 1692-3. He was a prominent citizen, captain of the militia and deacon. He died February i, 1753, aggd 91 years. Gov. Hiland Hall of Ver- mont was a descendant. Thomas Willard, son of Josiah, came to Guilford and married Abigail, daughter of Nathan Bradley, July 8, 1689. Most of his descendants lived in East Guilford. On February 22, 1668-9, the town voted " to accept Mr. Samuel Hodgkiss of New Haven as a planter, if he can purchase an accommo- dation that will suit him." He does not appear to have come, but his grandson, Joseph Hotchkiss, a weaver, married Hannah Cruttenden in April, 1699, and removed to Guilford. He died January 31, 1740, leaving numerous descendants to carry on his name. William Parent was in Guilford in 1686, but soon removed to Flush- ing, L. I. 6. Between 1700 and 1750 still more settlers came, many drawn hither, as we have seen was the case before, by the influence of Guil- ford's fair daughters. A noticeable fact is the»number who emigrated hither from Long Island about the middle of the eighteenth century. LATER SETTLERS IN GUILFORD. 1 35 Nathaniel and Thomas Allis, probably sons of John of Hatfield, Mass., came about 171 5 and married respectively Mary Dudley and widow Mehitabel (Evarts) Blatchley. None of the name are left in Guilford. Josiah Avered married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Cooke, Jr., on December 20, 1703, and lived in Guilford for at least thirteen years. They had several children. Samuel Brown, the son of Dr. James Brown, an emigrant from Scotland to Middletown, came to Guilford about 1750, was a prominent merchant, and died June 4, 181 5. He married Hannah Landon. His father bought land here in 1716, but probably did not come himself. Thomas Burgis, Sr., a shoemaker and tanner, came to Guilford about 1707. He was a native of Yorkshire, England, and was pressed on board a British man-of-war, where he was detained several years. After some time the vessel was cruising in the neighborhood of New York, when Mr. Burgis escaped with one or two others and fled into the country. It is said he was retaken near Newtown, Conn., and received a grievous sabre cut on his face, which left a scar ever after. Subsequently he escaped again, when in the neighborhood of Boston, and coming along the shore, stopped at Guilford, married Mercy, daughter of Thomas Wright, and died October 23, 1736. His descend- ants were prominent in Guilford for many years. Charles Caldwell, with his brother John, came to New England from Perth in Scotland. They were traders, were said to be aristocratic in their manners, and unaccustomed to the industrious habits of the early settlers of New England. They arrived in America about 1718, and were said to have deserted from the British army in the early part of the recent Scottish rebellion. They first came to Hartford, whence Charles moved to Guilford, married, November 3, 1724, Anna, daughter of Rev. Thomas Ruggles, and died February 12, 1765. Joseph Chidsey, 3d, came to North Guilford from New Haven about 1735. He married Bathsheba Baldwin. Peter and George Coan emigrated with their parents and younger brother Abraham from Worms, Germany, to New York about 1730. The father and mother died on the voyage, leaving the children desti- tute. The youngest son was separated from the others and was never heard of. The elder two were apprenticed to persons in East Hamp- ton, L. I., where they married and not long after removed to Guilford about 1735. They settled in North Guilford and, engaging in agri- culture, acquired considerable estates. Peter Coan died October 31, 1779, and George, June 28, 1782. John Farnham married Hannah Cruttenden, October 29, 1725, and 136 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. removed to North Guilford from Killingworth about that time. On account of a lawsuit with the town, caused by the flooding of his lands from raising the level of Lake Quonapaug, he removed to Litchfield about 1749. Patrick Falconer, Jr., son of Patrick of Newark, N. J., married Deliv- erance, daughter of Thomas Cooke, in 1725 and removed to Guilford about that time. He died July, 1735. Richard Falcmer married widow Mary Hall in 1724 and lived at Guilford until his death, without children, in 1745. He may have been a relative of Patrick. Samuel Fitch, a great grandson of Rev. Henry Whitfield, came to Guilford as a blacksmith about 1740 and died November 4, 1763. Christopher Foster came to East Guilford from Southold, L. I., about 1740. Satmiel Fyler came to North Guilford about 1740 and died May 25, 1763. John Fosdick bought land on Water street and removed here in 1721. He was the son of Samuel of New London, married Jane, daughter of Abraham Bradley, and died February 7, 1747. Benjamin Gould settled at Guilford about 1707, married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Robinson, Sr., and died May, 1718. Robert GrifUng, grandson of Jasper Griffin, an emigrant from Wales to Southold, L. I., learned the joiner's trade and removed to Guilford about 1735. His brother Jasper ran away to sea on a privateer and then went to the Bahamas, where he spent a year or more in catching green turtles. He next came to New York and was pressed as a hand in the British navy. At the taking of Cape Breton, Col. Andrew Ward found him and assisted him to escape to his brother in Guilford. He tried to learn the joiner's trade, but becoming dissatisfied, became a coaster and accumulated considerable wealth. Many stories were told of him; for example, that, landing on Little Falcon or Goose Island after a storm one fall, he found the bodies of three or four sailors from a wrecked ship and some saddle-bags filled with gold. " It is undoubt- edly true," writes R. D. Smyth, " that he was a man of more enterprise and thrift than most of his neighbors, which might well account for all the increase of his wealth." He was long remembered in Guilford as the " Old Commodore." Abraham Kimberly, son of Nathaniel, came from West Haven to Guilford about 1740 and died February 19, 1797. Samuel Kirkham, or Kircomb, son of Samuel of Branford, came to Guilford, married Jane, daughter of John Fosdick, and died October 20, 1768. LATER SETTLERS IN GUILFORD. 137 Lyon Loper came from East Hampton, L. I., to North Guilford about 1740 and married Susannah Fyler. Deacon Seth Morse, son of Ezra of Dedham, Mass., married Hannah Falconer August 7, 1710, came to Guilford about that time and died June 12, 1783. Jacob Parsons came to East Guilford about 1730. Ephraim Pierson came to Guilford, married June 27, 1710, Dorothy, daughter of Daniel Bishop, and died February 25, 1761. Thomas Osborn came to Guilford about 1715 and died April, 1733. Joseph Pynchon came from Springfield and married Sarah Ruggles, July 12, 1759. He died November 23, 1794. He was a man of con- siderable property. Rev. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon of Hartford is a descendant. Samuel PenUeld came to Guilford from Bristol and was admitted planter December 17, 1710. He died November 22, 1714. Lt. Joshtia Pendleton came to Guilford, married Dorothea, daughter of Captain Andrew Ward, and died February 9, 1760. Shubael Shelly, son of Robert Shelly, Jr., came from' Barnstable, Mass., to Guilford and married Mary Evarts, February 17, 1704. He died April, 1727. Stephen Spencer, son of Obadiah, Jr., and great-grandson of Thomas, the emigrant to Hartford, came to Guilford, married, November .5, 1724, Obedience, daughter of Abraham Bradley, and died September 2, 1760. Samuel Smithson came to Guilford about 1700 and died September 15, 1718. He left no sons. Benjamin Waterhouse, Waterous, or Watrous, son of Abraham, came from Saybrook to Guilford and married Damaris, daughter of Capt. Andrew Ward, about 1720. William Woodward, son of Rev. John of Norwich, came to Guilford, married Mabel Chidsey about 1740, and died February 17, 1761. Timothy Todd, a brother of Rev. Jonathan Todd, came to East Guil- ford and married Abigail Grave, May 16, 175 1. He died January 3, 1779. Rev. John Todd was a grandson. 7. Between 1750 and 1800 the following families came to Guilford: Jonathan Bassett came to East Guilford from Wethersfield about 1760 and died January 5, 1786. Thomas Coe came to East Guilford from Middletown and married Submit Griswold, January i, 1783. He died July 7, 1827. Jacob Conklin, a tailor, came from Long Island to Guilford about 1760. James Davis, a tailor, came from Southold, L. I., to Guilford about 138 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. 1776 and died July 4, 1814. He was a grandson of Benjamin Davis, who emigrated from Scotland. Capt. Asher Fairchild, born in 1734, came to Guilford, married Thankful, daughter of Daniel Hubbard, and was lost at sea in August, 1795- Eli Foote came from Colchester to Guilford and married, October 11, 1772, Roxana, daughter of Gen. Andrew Ward. He died September 8, 1792. Among his descendants are the family of Lyman Beecher and that of Col. George A. Foote. Benjamin Frisbie came to Guilford and married Patience, daughter of Joseph Chittenden, January 19, 1774. John Goldsmith came from Southold to Guilford about 1751. He died September 14, 1816. Ambrose Hoadley, son of James of Branford, came to Guilford about 1790. Jonathan Kirby, son of John of Middletown, came to Guilford about 1760 and died May 15, 1782. David iMndcm, son of Judge Samuel Landon of Southold, came to Guilford and married Rebecca, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Ruggles, October 18, 1763. He died September 4, 1796. Jeffrey Smith married Dorothy Hubbard and came from Haddam to Madison about 1800. He died February i, 1846. Thomas Selby came from Boston to Guilford about 1755. Joel Tuttle, Jr., came from New Haven to Guilford about 1770. He married, first, Anna Woodward and, second, Elizabeth Fowler, and died November 30, 1822. Peter Vaill, son of John of Southold, came to Guilford about 1762, married Bethia, sister of David Landon, and died October 30, 1782. He served in the Revolutionary war as lieutenant. Ebenezer Walkley came from Haddam to Guilford about 1780. He married Ann Blatchley, daughter of Joshua, and died June 26, 1824. Joseph Weld, son of Daniel, came to Guilford, married Lucy, daughter of Ebenezer Fowler, October 31, 1759, and died April 28, 1806. On April II, 1768, the Proprietors permitted him to set up a barber shop on the south side of the Green. Rosewell Woodward came to Guilford and married Huldah Ruggles, daughter of Nathaniel, about 1790. He died September 5, 1807. About the time of the French Revolution, several French families from Hayti and San Domingo came to Guilford, among them the Loysels and Susannes. One of these French families painted their house black on hearing of the execution of Louis XVI. The house still stands on Boston street, and is now occupied by Alpha Morse. EMIGRATION. 1 39 Since 1800, many families have come to Guilford, but they are not yet old Guilford names. Since 1850 about forty families have emi- grated from Ireland to Guilford. They have made useful citizens. In the past twenty years some Scandinavians and Italians have come to Leete's Island and Sachem's Head, on account of the quarries there. Emigration. The emigrations from the town cannot be precisely and fully stated. When Branford was settled in 1644, some persons removed thither. About 165 1, Rev. Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Desborough and others returned to England. When Killingworth was settled in 1663 and 64 some families removed to that town, and others, about the same time, to Saybrook and Newark, N. J. About 1700, several families planted themselves in Durham, at the settlement of that place, and not long after, others settled in Middlefield and Westfield, Conn. About 1750, numbers moved to Litchfiefd, Washington, Goshen, Salisbury and Canaan in Litchfield County, especially members of the Parmelee, Norton, Fowler, Elliott and Baldwin families. Ten years thereafter numbers from Guilford took part in the settlement of Richmond and Stockbridge in Berkshire County, Mass. Guilford, Vt., and much of Chittenden County were largely settled from this place about 1764. Claremont and Charleston, N. H., were also settled from Guilford about 1786, and about the same time some emigrated and settled Greenville, N. Y. In the early part of the nineteenth century some settled at Paris, Westmoreland and Verona in New York, in the Connecticut Western Reserve, Ohio, and, about 1830, at Fairfield and other parts of Illinois. In consequence of being so largely engaged in agriculture, the popu- lation of Madison has not increased very greatly, and families and individuals have from time to time removed to other places where they could procure land at lower rates. About 175 1 some of the inhabitants by the name of Chittenden and Evarts removed to Salis- bury, not long after some by the name of Field and Munger to Norfolk, and some by the name of Stevens to Claremont, N. H., whither also others of the Munger family removed in 1800. A considerable number by the name of Field, French and Stone removed to Jericho, Va., about 1791, and several families to Bergen, Genesee County, N. Y., in 1806. " In addition to these emigrations of families, many a fireside," writes one who married a daughter of Guilford, " in distant States has been graced and made happy by the presence of the daughters of Guil- ford, who have carried with them to their husbands' homes the rich dower of truth, gentleness and Christian character attained in their New England home." CHAPTER XV. Town Meetings. In the " More Fixed Agreements " we find that " it is agreed that there shall be one fixed general Court yearly, for election of Towne officers, &c, upon the first Thursday of June, when shall be chosen the Deputies for the particular Court — The Townsmen, Treasurer, Secretary, Surveyors of highways, Marshall, Viewers of fences, &c." When the first annual town meeting was held, the imperfect character of the early records does not show; but, on October 7, 1646, we find the first recorded one. Then two deputies for the Jurisdiction's Gen- eral Court," three deputies for the Particular Court, a marshal, three "men to order and collect the minister's maintenance," and three surveyors of highways are mentioned as being elected. A treasurer' and a secretary were also doubtless elected, but no notice of an election to such offices is found until December 31, 1646, and October 21, 1647, respectively. The October town meeting gave place to a June one in 1649; but previous to this, on the 22nd of May, 1648, the list of permanent town officers was increased by the choice of two " Sealers," who were " sworn to be faithful, according to the order and true intent thereof." On February 14, 1649-50, such officers were again chosen, being then called " Overseers of weights and measures." ° To these officers were added three assessors " for the new way of rateing" on October 27, 1650, and the list was still farther increased by the addition of three Towns- men^ on March 10, 1651. The duties of these last were " to see to the making of fences, hiring of herdsmen, & that all workes necessary in comon to the Towne, about all sortes of cattell bee done and observed, according to order & Agreement, as also about the Mill, or Meeting house repairing, or what else the court shall appoint necessary to be ' An alternate was often chosen ' ' in case any of the other faile by any provi- dence of God," vid. April 24, 1666. ' Since 1871, in Guilford Town Treasurer's report has been published a week before Town Meeting, and since 1877 in Madison. ' December 19, 1673, Joseph Dudley was so chosen and allowed 6d. for each first " fitting and sealing " of a measure and 2d. afterwards. * First called Select men on February 14, 1671-2. New Haven did not have them until November 17, 1651. TOWN MEETINGS. 14! done."' These offices seem to have been quite, eagerly striven for, and Gov. Leete has left us the exact number of voteg which all candi- dates for them received. On June lo, 1652, three men were chosen "to set down the valuation of houses & gathering up the summe of all estates & to order Mr. Higginson's business according to agree- ment." On June 8, 1654, two men were chosen to be viewers of fences, in addition to being surveyors of highways. Not only was Guilford occupied with the election of her own offi- cers, but, on at least one occasion,'' she received a note from the free- men of Milford, expressing their desire " yt Mr. Fenn may be chosen Magistrate for this next year." He was so elected, whether on account of this, or from some other cause, we know not. Generally, there was no reluctance to take office; but sometimes it was necessary to excuse those not desiring it, as on June 12, 1656, when " Mr. Bishopp, by vote, was desired to supply the place of Townsman, because of unwill- ingness of others upon whom the vote fell equal."' No other offices are mentioned until the close of the period of New Haven's independence, save temporary ones chosen for some special purpose. As the union with Connecticut became a certainty, the town voted, on February 8th, 1664-5, " that William Stone, John Grave, & William Seward should auditate the books of account belonging to the Towne, both Towne and Ministers Booke of accounts & the accounts about the mill." Another commission, composed of George Hubbard, John Fowler, George Bartlett, Samuel Kitchel, William Stone, John Shether and Thomas Cruttenden, was chosen, on June 23d, 1665, to do the same,* "And to settell and determine w* is wright in all the particular disbursements and payments that are not as yet settled: Respecting boath Jurisdiction and Towne: To the end of the yeare 1662: And also all Towne acounts after 62 until this day, y' respect the Towne as a Towne, and this to be done, according to their best Abillitys." At the annual town meeting, held on the first of the same month, we see traces of Connecticut's influence in the change of the naming of two of the officers, from secretary to recorder' and from marshal to constable. The policy of Connecticut in the Grand List was adopted on September 8, 1665, when George Hub- bard, Abraham Cruttenden, Sr., and Henry Kingsnorth" "were ' The number was increased to 7 for the year 1683, as the meeting house was being repaired. ' April 13, 1654. ' Viz., Henry Kingsnorth, George Bartlett. 'From the Records on February 26, 1665-6, we learn that, as four of these refused to do the work, it was done by the remaining ones and their report was accepted by the Town. " The term clerk first appeared February 19, 1667-8. ' One of the three was usually chosen Commissioner to present the list to the General Court. Vid. September 19, 1666. 142 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. chosen to size all reateable lands and to prepare and make the list of all Reatabull Esteat, ether parsonall or reall according to ordar." A new town officer appears on December i6, 1665, when William Seward was elected to " Brand-marke this Towne horses and to entar y' Natturall and Arttificiall marks : And also to entar all seals of horses according to ordar." All these early officers seem either to have been unpaid or to have received merely nominal compensation." The first record of any pay being given by the town, save £20 to Gov. Leete, is a vote to pay the horse hire of the deputies to General Assembly, passed on May 3,' 1666. An official of much importance was the town surveyor, elected from time to time to lay out lands, etc. This office was first held by Mr. John Mepham, then by Dr. Bray Rossiter, and, on July i, 1666, George Hubbard was chosen thereto. These surveyors were assisted, by com- mittees, chosen from time to time, " to size the Meadows at Hamonas- sack,'" to " appraise the grants of land that are unsettled," etc. The June town meeting was changed to a February one on June 10, 1667, and the officers then serving were continued in their positions until the next February. These meetings were summoned by the beating of the drum by John Parmelin from a very early period. This work, in connection with his duty of sweeping the meeting house, he found so laborious as to petition successfully for an addition of los. to his salary on September 8, 1665. Tythingmen we find no suggestion of until December 30, 1667,* when John Evarts and Thomas Cruttenden were appointed " to do their best endeavor to keep the boys and girls in order during the time of service." Another im- portant duty in connection with the meeting-house, that of " seating " it, first finds attention from the town on November 8, 1670, when Rev. Mr. Eliot is empowered to appoint " who should join with the Deacons " for that purpose. Mill committees and pound-keepers were also added to the list of officers about this time. The February town meeting * was not satisfactory, and the date was changed to November in 1671, the town officers being asked to con- tinue in office until that time. The proxies for the election of governor, magistrates, etc., were ^ The Town Clerk was given £2 salary on November 6, 1672. ' Vid. July I, 1666. ' They disappear in 1846. * On February 23, 1670, " the Townsmen appoint the last Fourth day of March, of June, of September, of December, to be a meeting wherein their Assistant Commissioners and Townsmen to attend those occasions that shall be presented before them according to law." TOWN MEETINGS. I43 always taken at freemen's meeting and carried by the deputies to the capital, there to be counted. At times matters of importance to the colony at large came up, as on November 7, 1673, when the deputies "proposed to the Town's serious consideration that weighty aiifair respecting our Honored Governor ' which was debated in the General Court in October last and desired the town seriously to consider it and send in their mind to the Court." New and varied officers come into the records. On November 17, 1674, Joseph Dudley is " chosen Packer of Beef & Pork & a judger of Corn & Pork, when there is a difference between the buyer & seller concerning the cleanness of the Corn & also the merchantableness of the Com & Pork." The office of Hayward is first mentioned on April 15, 1675, while Leather Sealers appear on November 2 of the same year. Failure to take an office^ to which one was elected involved a fine, - which was imposed on Thomas Meacock on November 6, 1676, for refusing to act as constable in the years 1675 and 1676. An officer strange to modern ears appears on May 10, 1681, when William Stone was chosen Ordinary Keeper. He was succeeded by Samuel Baldwin on June 6, 1684. On September 16, 1712, John Hob- son was chosen Tavern Keeper and Lt. John Graves was chosen in ' 1717 to that office. After John Parmelin passed away and the town grew so large that one man could not " warn " all the people to town meeting,' the duty was divided, and on November 4, 1684, "Joseph Dudley was chosen to beat the Drum upon Sabbath days and all other public meetings and to sweep the Meeting house, so often as it needeth, and warn all town meetings, so far Eastward as Stephen Dodd's." For this he received £3. Judah Evarts was to " warn " the inhabitants thence to East River and Fence Creek, and Nathan Bradley thence to the Ham- monassett River." ^ Winthrop, Mass. Hist. Col. XLI, p. 431. Did this have any connection with what is mentioned in a letter from Rev. Joseph Eliot to Gov. Winthrop on August 16, 1675? " No further at present, but only being glad, for the sake of the publique, of your having laid aside your thoughts of England for the present. I hope I shal have the oftener opportunity to present the affectionate service of Joseph Eliot." "Vid. Nov. 2, 1881. 1877, all constables having failed. Selectmen authorized to appoint two. 1743, Selectmen empowered to sue for such failure of service. ■ 1766, John Evarts repaid a fine imposed for refusing to act as Tythingman. ' Ephraim Pierson rang the bell for Town and Proprietors' Meetings from 1734 for at least 20 years, and in 1754 he received £s old Tenor for his services. * November 10, 1687, his salary to come from the Miller, and he to keep the Meeting house in decent and comely order. 144 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. With the office of townsmen, that of lister was often combined, and the number was increased to eight in 1688, in view of the emergency; but it was diminished again to three in 1690. Five, however, for a long time seems the normal number. In 1688, the date of town meeting was again changed, this time to May; but eleven years later, in 1699, it was altered, so as to come in November, as it had done years previously. The officers had all been chosen by word of mouth up to this time; but now it was voted to use "papers." This did not prove satisfactory, and the old method of " holding up hands " was returned to the next year. By this time. Nut Plains had become suffi- ciently populous to have a separate man warn it to town meetings, and collectors of town's and minister's rates had been added to the list of officers chosen. In May, 1702, Guilford was made one of eight ports of entry for Connecticut, and Mr. Josiah Rossiter was chosen naval officer of the port on July 7, 1702. In that year also Joseph Dudley, on being chosen lister, was given a salary of los. " for his trouble," and Stephen Bishop was given 30s. for his labors in collecting taxes. In 1705, the month of town meeting was changed to December, and the long-disused office of town treasurer reappears. About this time the manner of voting again became a question, and on December 31, 1706, it was voted that " Constables, Townsmen, & Town Clerk be chosen by papers and the rest of the officers by the hand." A " Cuttor of Staves " was chosen on December 6, 1716, and the title of Tythingmen appeared about the same time. In December, 1739, Josiah Bowin is appointed "Ranger in the Town, to Take care that the law relating to Strays & Lost goods be Duly observed." The great number of officers chosen at town meeting makes it seem as if every one must have held at least one office during his life. For an example, the list of officers chosen in 1756 may show what a mul- tiplicity of offices there were. In that year were chosen a moderator, 7 selectmen,^ a mill committee of 3, a town treasurer, a town clerk, 5 constables, 5 grand jurymen, 3 packers, one to receive country pro- duce paid as taxes, 9 listers, 1 1 tythingmen, 19 surveyors of highways, 8 fence viewers, 4 branders of horses, 2 sealers of weights, 2 sealers of measures,'' 5 pound keepers, 2 sealers of leather, a collector of excise *Four of these were generally from the ist Parish, one from each of the others. Vide November, 1811. "December 14, 1774, this office was divided: Thelus Ward being chosen Sealer of Avoirdupois Weights, and his brother Bilious Ward Sealer of Troy Weights. The first vote in regard to weights and measures is passed on Jan- uary 8, 1645, when "it was ordered that all measures be made and sealed according to ye standard at New Haven and w* measures have not been found TOWN MEETINGS. I45 and 13 hay wards; 103 in all! Surely it seems with this the town ought to have been well governed; but it is probable that many of these offices were often, as now, combined in one person, and every one of sufiScient position in the town was given an office. William Chittenden was chosen "to Collect the Duty on Goods brought in by Foreigners " in 1768. In 1773, it was voted to choose town officers " by the usual way of holding up of hands," and that when any person notified of his election to office shall not appear to take oath, he shall pay for the service of the writ. The mode of elect- ing officers was decided to be by nomination in December, 1776, and each nomination needed a second before it could be put to vote.' The committees to provide for soldiers' families, to inspect provisions, etc., are spoken of in the chapter on the Revolution. On December 20, 1784, a remarkable office was filled, for Henry Hill was then made " Inspector & Brander of Pot & Pearl Ashes & of Fish, Flour & Tobacco." A December town meeting had been satisfactory for over a century, but it now became distasteful, and on December 11, 1798, the annual meeting was set a month earlier. This arrangement lasted for twenty years, but on November 13, 1820, it was put still a month earlier and made the first Monday in October,^ the number of select- men being reduced to five. The number was further reduced to three, as at present, in 1828, after Madison was set off. Of these, one is always from North Guilford, the other two from within the limits of the 1st Society.' The tendency of late years has been to reduce the number of officers to be approved by the men appointed for y* end shall not be accounted lawful measures not suffered to passe: Richard Bristow, appointed to be Measurer of the Measures and all men to bring them to him, every year upon the 29th of September." For a century, the weights and measures disappear from the records, but in December, 1753, each Parish was voted a " standard for ye Sealing of Measures at the Town's Cost." On November 11, 1800, the Select- men were authorized " to furnish Sealers of Measures with a half Bushel, a Gallon, and Long Measure and Sealers of Avoirdupois Wts. with one 56 wt. and such smaller wts. as are needed by law." ' December 25, 1781, Selectmen were " desired to make a nomination of Town officers and lay it before the Town at their Annual Meeting." ' From 1829 to 1837 it was in November again. ' Written notices of Town Meetings, stating the subjects to be discussed therein, first appear on the records in 183 1. On March 29, 1845, a motion to elect both representatives in the legislature on the. same ballot was lost on account of not receiving a two-thirds vote; but the same proposition was carried two years later in 1847. In 1861 it was further voted to choose all Town officers on one ticket and by a plurality. 146 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. chosen and to vest the appointment of many minor ones with the selectmen. For example, they were authorized in 1878 to appoint surveyors of highways. The old town meeting has been shorn of many of its functions by the increase of centralization; but it still stands a historic folkmoot of great significance and usefulness. A mere enumeration of its functions, past and present, would cover nearly every kind of governmental activity ever found in Guilford.'' The old spirit of independence lingered for some time in the old commonwealth of Guilford and, even as far down as April 4, 1670, the town records show that six men " had the freeman's oath administered to them by the Deputy Governor, according to law and our agreement with Connecticut." As the feeling of once having been independent died out, the town settled down quietly to attend to its local affairs and did not attempt, as a corporate body, to take part in public affairs until the Revolution. Its votes concerning independence and the war are given elsewhere; but another matter, besides becoming free from the authority of England, engaged the attention of the voters, namely, the Wyoming difficulty. On this matter the town, on December 22, 1773, sent as rigorous instructions to its representatives, " for the regu- lation of their conduct," as those of any Southern constituency in ante-bellum days. The preamble states that the town has been in- formed that papers " relative to our title or claim to the Western lands, so called, included in part in the purchase of the Susquehannah Company " have been transmitted to England ; that the agent, Wm. Sam'l Johnson, has been asked, " at the sole cost and expence of this Colony, to procure the opinion of Gent" learned in the law," that these opinions have been received, and that the Assembly " have proceeded & resolved that they will take those lands under their care & Jurisdic- ^ One duty of the old Town Meeting was the distribution of law books allotted to the Town. The old New Haven jurisdiction laws were sent to the Towns in 1656; Guilford received 60 copies, for each of which she was to pay " twelve penc. in good cuntry paye." — 11. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 186. On November 3, 1702, the Town voted that the New Revised Law Books be " divided to each inhabitant in the town, according to the list of estates." In December, 1753, a similar division was made on the basis of one law book to each iiooo on the list. A lot of Kirby's " Reports " also came to the Town, which voted, on January lo, 1797, to sell them to the highest bidder, and two years later, the Town Treasurer was ordered to deliver a set of the laws of the United States to the Societies' clerks. On April g, 1810, another lot of new law books was thus distributed: one to Town Clerk, one to Town Treasurer, one to the Listers, one to each regular school district save the first School Society, which was to have two, and the rest to be sold at auction. On November 6, 1837, Madison voted to buy a set of Connecticut Law Reports. TOWN MEETINGS. I47 tion & defend our title thereto against the claim of Mr. Penn & also appoint a Committee to wait upon the Governor of that province, in order to pursue proper measures to decide the controversy." Since Guilford thought these things tended towards an " Expensive Con- troversy," it resolved to remind its representatives " of the right, which we have to instruct our own Representatives, in matters of so high importance to the peace and interest of this Colony." Guilford thought the State had gone too far in taking measures " which will so deeply afifect the Colony" before explaining the case to the people. The resolutions then state the history of the case, as understood by the town, concluding that " there is no reasonable prospect this Colony can support their claim to the South Seas." " Moreover, we are of opinion the dispute will not be between this Colony & Mr. Penn but between this Colony & the Crown. Wherefore, as this Controversy will bring this Colony under a heavy load of expense (which at present we are not able to bear), without the most distant prospect of success &, if obtained, would be no real advantage to this Colony, as it would drain us of our inhabitants, lessen the present value of our lands, & involve us in inextricable difficulties with regard to the exercise of our former Government, which can not be exercised in so extensive a territory: wherefore it is our undoubted right and we do herebj instruct you to use your utmost endeavors & influence to stop all further proceedings in the premises." The town was not satisfied with this energetic expression of disapproval of the colony's Western policy; but, on March 22, 1774, considered "the alarming situation this Colony is involved in, by laying claim to the Susquehannah land & in extending their jurisdiction over the same." As a result of their consideration, the town resolved to take " some legal and proper measures to prevent " this policy from being carried out, and chose Mr. John Redfield and John Burgis, Esq., " to repair to Middletown on the last Wednesday of March Instant, to confer with Gent'n, as may be appointed by i>ther towns," & then & there draw up a suitable petition and remonstrance to be presented to the Hon. Gen'l Assembly." This committee reported on April 11, and consideration of the report was postponed from morning until afternoon. The petition drawn up by the convention was then referred to the General Assembly and Mr. John Redfield chosen to appoint some meet person to present the petition. After this exhibition of independence, the town did not again appear prominently in politics for some time. It sent Gen. Andrew Ward and Col. John Elliot' to the State convention which adopted the United ' 23 were represented. ' Chosen November 12, 1787. 148 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. States Constitution, and both of them, I regret to say, voted no. No more resolutions were adopted by town meeting until the time of the embargo. That act Guilford disapproved of, as did all New England, and, on September 19, 1808, a petition, dated August 29, from New Haven to the President of the United States praying for a suspension of the embargo was read in town meeting. The town voted that it approved of and concurred with the petition. On the 17th of Feb- ruary, 1809, the town took original action in resolutions, at the same time, firm, loyal, dignified, and embodying all their complaints. These were prepared by a committee composed of Henry Hill, Nathaniel Grififing, Samuel Robinson, Nathan Chidsey, Daniel Hand, Jr., Miles Munger, Augustus Collins, Samuel Fowler, Joseph Elliott, John Hop- son and Chapman Warner — almost all prominent men. These resolu- tions upon the " present alarming condition of the Country " were " unanimously accepted, there being three or four hundred legal voters present," and ordered to be printed in the Connecticut Herald. The preamble recites that " it is the Indispensible duty of a Free people to keep a vigilant and watchful eye upon their rulers," and "they have also an indisputable right to assemble together and express their opin- ions of national afifairs, especially in times like the present." This being stated, the town proceeds, "viewing the critical & alarming situation of our Country, the distress & misery brought upon all classes of our Citizens, by the Gen'l Government pursuing a new & unheard of system of policy, by which the nation has been reduced from an unexampled state of prosperity to adversity, disgrace & ridicule, and, as the present administration are still obstinately pursuing the same system, after Experience has demonstrated its futility, by enacting oppressive & arbitrary laws, subjecting the civil power to Military Despotism & depriving the citizens of their Constitutional rights. Therefore: Resolved, that we view it to be the duty of all citizens to submit to the laws, though oppressive & unconstitutional, rather than resort to violence, until such time, as they can fairly make trial of a Constitutional mode of redress: Resolved, that we view the act, laying an Embargo for an unlimited time, & the act, making further provisions for enforcing the same, as an infringement upon the Constitutional Compact, entered into by the Several States, as it encroaches upon the State Sovereignties & pros- trates them to a system of measures, which we have too much reason to fear have been effected by foreign influence: Resolved, That we hold it one of the essential rights of the people to navigate the ocean & to carry on a fair & honest commerce & we cannot approve of an Administration that abandons these rights: TOWN MEETINGS. I49 Resolved, That, in our opinion, the Present ruinous & unhappy situation that our country is plunged into by the destruction of our commerce might have been avoided, had the administration acted im- partially towards the Belligerent nations: Resolved, That we will unite with the well disposed of our fellow Citizens in a constitutional & peaceable way, in our endeavor to obtain a speedy redress of our grievances and to avert the evils, with which we are threatened, & will support the rights, liberties, independence, and steady habits of our Country with a becoming firmness & patriotic resolution, against every invasion whether foreign or domestic." On July 4, 1818, Nathaniel Grififing and William Todd were chosen delegates to the convention which met at Hartford and formed the State constitution.' The results of their deliberations were rejected by the staunch conservative town by a vote of 159 to 255. After the elevated language of the resolutions above quoted, it is quite a fall to find that the next intervention of the town in affairs outside of its borders was the appointment of a committee, on Novem- ber 7, 1836, to draft a petition to the Legislature " to establish a Standard Measure of Potatoes and Turnips.'" Since then the town has but once concerned itself with State affairs, outside of the resolutions concerning the RebelUon, mentioned in another place. This exception was an unsuccessful petition to the Governor in October, 1887, to call an extra session of the Legislature to make legislation in regard to grade crossings of railroads. * Guilford was a staunch Federalist Town. Pres. Dwight says, " in these convulsive times, efforts have been made to disturb this happy state of society; yet, though aided by some untoward incidents, they have been attended with less success than was rationally to have been expected." — Travels II, p. 488 sq. ' April 2, 1838, Madison voted to co-operate with Guilford in this. CHAPTER XVI. The Sale of Liquor in Guilford and Madison. The first reference to wine on the records is a grant to William Stone of " license " to " draw " a cask that he had on hand. This, was on May 4, 1650. John Fowler was appointed " to receive the customs and excises of wines & liquores " in 1658 and several succeeding years.' During the long period of the eighteenth century, the only references to liquor are appointments of gangers and collectors of excise. From 1820 to 1840 a duty of $5 and a license fee of $0.50 were paid by all liquor dealers. Licenses were granted by the selectmen and civil authority, consisting of the grand jurors, justices of the peace, and constables. In 1840 the town of Guilford voted, 82 to 66, that " all persons in this Town have the liberty to retail wines & spirituous Liquors subject to the laws of this State." Miner Bradley, Elisha Hutchinson, Anson Foote, Frederick R. Griffing, Rossiter Parmelee, and Bildad Bishop were licensed. In 1841, however, the town, beginning those pendu- lum-like changes which have been so common, voted " no license," 88 to 138. When Connecticut adopted the Maine Law, on September 4, 1854, the town directed the " Selectmen to appoint an agent for the purchase and sale of wines and spirituous liquors, to be sold only for sacra- mental purposes, medicinal, chemical and mechanical uses." This system continued so long as the State prohibitory law was in force. Since the passage of the law permitting the towns to vote yearly as to licensing the sale of liquor, the town has cast a vote on the subject nearly every year with the following results : Yea. Nay. Yea. Nay. 1874 License, 91 96 1 88 1 License, 140 112 1875 " 101 159 1882 132 195 1876 "3 97 1883 131 III 1877 " 72 "5 1884 121 i6s 1878 " 66 103 1885 no vote. 1879 "o vote. 1886 License, 151 179 1880 License, 32 76 1887 ' " 153 160 ' N. H. Coll. Rec. II, 236, 300. THE SALE OF LIQUOR IN GUILFORD AND MADISON. I5I Yea. Nay. Yea, Nay. 1888 License, 145 132 1893 License, 162 182 1889 " 142 175 1894 " 184 212 1890 " 151 145 189s " 165 158 1891 " 169 243 1896 " 155 265 1892 " 144 317 1897 " 172 253 Madison voted, on January 20, 1840, to have no wines or spirituous liquors sold, save by " Tavemers legally licensed." Eleven days later this vote was repealed and " any elector of the Town " permitted to sell liquors, provided he shall not " sell to be drank in his store," nor to any " who are reputed to make a bad use of the same." On January I, 1841, David Cruttenden, Luman Stone and the legally licensed taverners were allowed to sell liquors, but on the 30th of that month the town voted that any other person might sell them " for medicinal or other useful purposes, provided he sell not to persons of known intem- perate habits." The same vote was passed in 1842. In 1845 Martin L. Dowd, Achilles Willard and Harvey Hale were allowed to sell liquor. The names of these persons show that no odium was attached to the business. The Town Liquor Agency was begun on October 2, 1854, but was discontinued in 1857. In 1872 the town voted to license no drinking saloons and has not rescinded that vote.' ' The matter was voted on again in 1873 and 1886. CHAPTER XVII. Guilford Probate District and Guilford County. So important a place was Guilford thought to be in the early part of the 1 8th century, that, in October, 1718, a bill passed the lower house to make a new county, to be called Guilford county and to be composed of Saybrook, Killingworth, Guilford, Durham and Branford. The bill failed in the upper house; but Guilford was made the seat of a probate district, consisting of the same towns, in October, 1719. This was one of the first probate districts separated from the counties in the State. " The probate of wills, etc., was made in the particular courts from the establishment of civil order in the colony, 1643, till the formation of the county courts, 1666, where it continued until the probate districts were formed. As the Guilford district was in two counties, appeals from it were to be made to the superior courts of New Haven and New London, according as the matter in dispute lay in either county." The records of Guilford probate district begin on April 19, 1720, with the inventory of Benjamin Dudley presented by Tabitha Dudley, his administratrix. The project of creating Guilford county^ was revived in October, 1728, and again in May, 1736, when a bill to erect a new county, com- posed of the foregoing towns, with Haddam, having been largely debated, passed the lower house. Guilford herself took no recorded action until December 11, 1739, then it voted "That, whereas the Country is become so populous y' many think it might be convenient for the inhabitants, that a new County be made in this part of it, con- sisting of the towns of Guilford, Branford, Durham, Killingworth, and Saybrook, & that this town be the place for holding the County Courts &, in case the Gen'l. Assembly should, in their great wisdom, think fit to establish such a County, necessary charges will arise ... to build a gaol & Court house, before the avails of the Court will be sufficient to defray the same, &, forasmuch as this town may be benefited by the making of such a County, more than some other towns, especially Branford and Durham: This town, therefore, grants & orders that, when such a County shall be established here, the selectmen of the town, for the time being, shall pay . . . in favor of Branford & Durham ^ Conn. Col. Rec. VI, p. 141. GUILFORD PROBATE DISTRICT AND GUILFORD COUNTY. 1 53 the sum of iioo, over & above our Ratable part of charges toward the building of a gaOl & Court house for sd. County." Further attempts for making Guilford county were made in May, 1744, and in May, 1753, and each time the bill passed the lower house but was lost in the upper. The idea of making Guilford a county seat died hard, and some tra- dition of these old attempts doubtless inspired the appointment of a committee, on April 5, 1824, to consider whether it were wise to peti- tion the Legislature to set off the town to Middlesex county, if arrange- ments could be perfected for making it an half-shire town. The probate district has lost much of its old territory. The parish of Northford in North Branford was set off to Wallingford district, Durham went to Middletown district in 1752, Killingworth and Say- brook were made the district of Saybrook in 1780, Madison (formerly East Guilford) was made a distinct district in 1834, as Branford was in 1850. Consequently the Guilford probate district now consists of Guilford and the First Society of North Branford. CHAPTER XVIII. The Town Records. Book A of the town records contains the earHest record, written August 14, 1645. It is a minute of the doings of the particular or general court holden that day and begins as follows : " Mr. Samuel Disbrow, Richard Bristow, Thomas Betts, members of the church, and Thomas French, planter, took their oath," from which entry it appears that little had previously been reduced to record, for Samuel Des- borough had always been the magistrate of the plantation. Book A lasted until May 5, 1662. Book B lasted from February 8, 1664-5 to November 10, 1687. From May 21, 1688, book C was used; and book D from December 17, 1717. Book E was begun December 13, 1785; book F, October 6, 1828; and book G, the present one, on October 5, 1868. The records were kept at the house of the town clerk, or at his office, exposed to dangers of all sorts, until the Hon. E. R. Landon, when town clerk, built a vault in his law office for them, in which they were kept until 1894. They are now preserved in the Town Hall. At a court held January 8, 1645-6, exchanges of lands and convey- ances were ordered to be recorded and were entered in book A until April 10, 1648, when was begun: " A book of the Terryers of all the divided lands in Guilford according as they were at first divided, whether by lots or otherwise, upon request of particular persons or upon what considerations were thus disposed, together with all the alienations which have since been made by purchase, gift or exchange as f olloweth, viz : " And on the same title page is the following note, viz. : " Whatever is set down in the book with a date or without mention of a date is confirmed unto the person under whom it is recorded as a first grant [or lot] to him, and allowed as unquestionable title to the said lands for him and his heirs forever, unless an act be recorded, expressing particularly the alienation of all or any parts or parcels of the same, and bearing date since the first date of the book aforesaid." The first record is of the terryer of Mr. Samuel Desborough, the chief magistrate, beginning, as is the case with all the others, with a description of his house lot, or home lot, next, of his arable land, and next of his marsh land. . THE TOWN RECORDS. 1 55 These records contain the names of all the first settlers who were living in 1648 or who, having died, left heirs. They are commenced in the handwriting of Gov. Leete and continued in that of later town clerks. The record of each parcel of land, as set to the different individuals, is very short, not usually more than from four to six lines. This book is also called the first volume of the proprietors' records. The deeds from the Indians, the Constitution of the colony and the more lengthy writings were not entered in book A, which was devoted to the transactions of particular courts, town meetings or general courts of election, and the registry of ear-marks of cattle, marriages and deaths of the citizens. On January 31, 1649-50, these longer documents were collected in book B, originally entitled " Guilford Booke of the more fixed Orders for the Plantation." It begins thus: " Upon a review of the more fixed agreements laws & orders form- erly & from time to time made. The General Court here held the day and year aforesaid thought fit, agreed, and established them according to the Ensuing draft as foUoweth, viz: First, we do acknowledge, ratify, confirm, and allow the agreement made in Mr. Newman's barn at Quillipeack, now called New Haven, that the whole lands called Menunkatuck should be purchased for us and our heirs, but the deed, writings thereabout to be made and drawn (from the Indians) in the name of these 6 planters in our steads, viz: Henry Whitfield, Robt. Kitchell, William Leete, William Chittenden, John Bishop and John Caffinge, notwithstanding all and every planter shall pay his propor- tionable part or share towards all the charges and expenses for pur- chasing, selling, securing or carrying on the necessary public affairs of this plantation according to such rule and manner of rating as shall be from time to time agreed on in this plantation." Then follow copies of the deed from the Sachem squaw, from Week- wash, from Uncas in 1641, Mr. Fenwick's letter of gift, and Mr. Whit- field's grant in 1651, which have been already given. CHAPTER XIX. Later Land Purchases. The Indians' deeds conveyed rights to lands extending inland in- definitely, save Uncas's, which only granted to the original Connec- ticut path. This left the north part of the town subject to Indian claims. On the 13th of January, 1663-4, Mr. Wm. Leete and Samuel Kitchel purchased of Uncas and his son Ahaddon all the land lying north of Uncas's previous grants, as far as he owned; and at a town meeting, March 11, 1664-5, Mr. Leete propounded the purchase of the land beyond the East River, which he and Mr. Kitchel bought of Uncas, " whether the town will have it and pay the price of it, and the town, in the same meeting, declared they would have it and pay the price for it." The deed is as follows, viz.: A DEED OF SALE FROM UNCAS. Witness this writing made betwixt William Leete and Samuel Kitchel on the one part and Uncas the Mohegan and his son Ahaddon, alias Joshua, on the other part, that we, the said Uncas and Ahaddon, being the rightful heirs and possessors of all the lands, royalties, and privileges, betwixt the East River of Guilford and Athammonassett River, and having sold most part of that land to Mr. Fenwick and unto Guilford men long since, i. e., all beneath Con- necticut path to the seaside, for valuable considerations already had and received, do now, of our free will, bargain and sell all the rest of the lands, royalties, and privileges to us belonging, which land runs half way to Matowepesack, which right came to us by Uncas' marriage of the daughter of Sebequenach who dwelt at Athamonassett, and she was mother to the said Ahaddon. We say these lands, rights, royalties, and privileges we do sell and deliver up unto the said William Leete and Samuel Kitchel, to them and their heirs forever, for and in consideration of an Indian coat worth 30 shillings and a shirt cloth worth ID shillings, now had and received of the said William Leete and Samuel Kitchel: in testimony of the truth of all the premises, well interpreted and understood by us, we have set to our hands this 13th of January 1663. It was after the former writing agreed that Uncas or his son shall have leave to hunt in In the presence fit seasons within these tracts, observing the of directions of the said English and doing no hurt Thomas Chittenden, John Chittenden, Andrew Leete, to them or their cattle. Dated January 13, 1663. The mark of Uncas— 1 ,, , ., , a turtle. ) *^0"egan Sachem. The mark of Ahaddon, alias Joshua — a deer. Recorded by Josiah Rossiter. LATER LAND PURCHASES. 157 There were still other claims to part of North Guilford, and the inhabitants not being fully satisfied with the title derived from Shampishuh, the sachem squaw, at a town meeting, January 5, 1686, chose " as a committee : Mr. Andrew Leete, Thomas Meacock, Sergt. Stephen Bradley, and Josiah Rossiter to treat with an Indian called Nausup belonging to New Haven, or any other Indian or Indians laying claim to some part of our town bounds; and if the said com- mittee come to see and find the said Indian or Indians to be proper heirs of or to the sachem squaw, formerly of Menunkatuck, that the said committee are to bargain with the said Indian or Indians for the tract of land lying on the west side of our bounds for a settlement, and that, if a deed of sale be made by the said Indian or Indians to the committee above appointed in their names in behalf of all the planters of Guilford, they shall bear the charge and expense of the purchase."' Accordingly the said committee, on the 2nd of Feb- ruary, 1686, procured the following deed from Nausup, alias Quata- bacot, viz. : A DEED OF SALE FROM NAUSUP. Articles of agreement made and agreed upon the second day of Febry, in the year 1686, between Andrew Leete, Thomas Meacock, Stephen Bradley, and Josiah Rossiter of Guilford on the one part and Quatabacot alias Nausup, Indian, of New Haven on the other part. The above said Quatabacot, being son and heir to a sachem squaw formerly belonging to Guilford, which sachem squaw was the whole and sole proprietor of all the lands lying between a place formerly called Agicomook, now called Stony Creek on the western part, and Kuttawoo now called East River of the Eastern part in Guilford and so run- ning from the sea up northerly unto Pesuckapaug, which is at the north part of the bounds of Guilford, which said sachem squaw hath formerly sold a considerable part of the above mentioned tract of land unto the planters of Guilford, as will appear more fully by a written deed of sale from said sachem squaw, dated the 29th of September in the year 1639. Know all men, therefore, by these presents that Quatabacot, alias Nausup above named Indian of New Haven, being heir to the above named sachem squaw and so right owner of all the remainder of the above mentioned tract of land, the said Quatabacot doth now fully confirm and ratify, what his said mother hath formerly sold as above said, and he doth now, for and in considera- tion of the sum of sixteen pounds merchants' pay, and 12 shillings in money in hand truly paid, as he doth hereby acknowledge the receipt, and thereof and therefrom doth acquit & discharge the above mentioned party & for divers other good causes and considerations him thereunto especially moving, here and by these presents doth grant, bargain, sell, alien, enfeoff, confirm, and make over unto the above said Andrew Leete, Thomas Maycock, Stephen Bradley, and Josiah Rossiter, in the behalf of them and all the planters of Guilford, and to their heirs and assigns for ever, all the remainder part of the above mentioned tract of land, which lyeth adjoining unto the former purchase of lands, which were bought of the above mentioned sachem squaw and so ' G. T. R. Vol. B, p. IDS. 158 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. now both purchases lying or adjoining together as it lyeth, bounded by the sea on the South, by Stony Creek on the West, and so running up on the west side of the West Pond and from thence to the east side of Pesuckapaug Pond, about half a mile eastward of the said -pond at the west side of a high hill there, and easterly by the East River and so adjoining to a purchase form- erly bought of Uncas, Sachem of Mohegans, running up on the east side, also as high as Pesuckapaug, this to have and hold with all and singular rights, privileges, advantages, and appurtenances whatsoever, together with all up- lands, meadows, swamps, rivers, brooks, and ponds of all sorts whatsoever and the said Quatabacot doth hereby covenant to and with the party above named that they and their heirs and assigns shall peaceably and quietly, hold and enjoy the said premises without any manner of lett, molestation, disturbance, chal- lenge, claim, or demand whatsoever, either by the said Quatabacot, his heirs, or any under him laying claim or pretending to any right to any part of lands or any privileges within the bounds or limits of the Township of Guilford what- soever and, before signing, the Indians here named doth testify that the said Quatabacot is the true heir unto the above named Sachem squaw, and that the said squaw, mother to the said Quatabacot, was the Sachem squaw of Menun- katuck, who formerly sold a part of the land of Guilford to the planters thereof. They also testify that the said Quatabacot's sister, called Shambisqua, has no right to any part of land within the bounds of Guilford and that the said Quata- bacot is the true proprietor to the lands above mentionedj to be hereby bargained and sold as above. To the true performance of all the premises above men- tioned the said Quatabacot doth hereunto set his hand and seal, dated the 2d day of February in the year of our Lord 1686, which is the second year of our majesty's reign James the Second. Signed sealed and delivered in the presence of us Thomas Trowbridge Joseph Pardy his Naushump L sen'r, the father. mark his Naushunter ± marlc his Keyhow X alias James, the i">a''i' brother. his Quatabacot -|- alias Nausup. mark Memorandum. Liberty of hunt- ing, fishing and fowling on agree- ment is reserved to the said Indians, with the regulation of the EngHsh. On the day and year above written, appeared before me, the said Quatabacot, alias Nausup, and the above written deed being distinctly read and interpreted to him and the Indians present, he said he well understood the substance of every clause of it, and the Indian witnesses said the same, and then he, the said Quatabacot, alias Nausup, having made .his mark and affixed his seal, did freely acknowledge this to be his act and deed, as above written before me. WILLIAM JONES, assistant of His Majesty's Colony of Connecticut. Recorded per Josiah Rosseter, Recorder. From the records of meetings on April 26, 1687, and May 21, 1688, we learn that part of the Common Lands was sold to pay for this purchase, and on January 7, 1690, we find recorded a receipt from Thos. Trowbridge for ii2 on account from Goodman Hopson for the town. CHAPTER XX. The Patent. The conveyance of the lands in the town from the Indians was thus completed and the town seems to have rested satisfied with the title they acquired to their lands from the Indians and from Mr. Fenwick, during the time of their connection with New Haven and afterwards, until the act of the legislature of Connecticut passed October, 1684, requiring all the towns to take out charters from the government. After that, on August 12, 1685, a town meeting appointed a committee to consider the matter and " draw something of their judgment about it for the Town's consideration," and at a subsequent meeting, held the 4th of November, 1685, it was voted by the planters " that they did desire 12 men as patentees, in behalf of all the planters, to be nominated in the Town's patent, and it was also voted in the same meeting who the 12 men as patentees ^hall be. And Mr. Andrew Leete, and Mr. William Leete, Lieut. WiUiam Seward, Josiah Rossiter, Deacon William Johnson, and Deacon John Grave, Mr. Thomas Meacock, and Sergt. Stephen Bradley were chosen a committee, according to the best of their ability, to search the Town records and do all things they shall judge necessary, to prepare what shall be needful, in and about the Town's patent ; that is, to furnish the secretary with what is needful for the premises." The charter was accordingly obtained, as appears by its date, the 7th of December, 1685, and at a subsequent town meeting, held the 9th of February, 1685-6, " the Town voted that it should be kept by Andrew Leete, Wm. Seward, and Josiah Rossiter for the Town's use." It is as follows, viz.: Whereas, as the General Court of Connecticut have formerly granted unto the proprietors, inhabitants of the Town of Guilford, all those lands, both meadow and upland, within these abutments viz: at the sea on the south and on Branford bounds on the west, and, beginning at the sea, by a heap of stones at the root of a marked tree near Lawrence's meadow and so runs to the head of the cove to a heap of stones there, and thence to a heap of stpnes lying on the west side of Crooper hill at the old path by the brook, and thence northerly to a place commonly called pissing tree, to a heap of stones lying at the new path, and from thence to a heap of stones lying at the east end of that which was commonly called Rosses meadow, and from thence to a heap of stones lying at the south end of Pesuckapaug Pond, and so runs into the pond a consider- l6o HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. able way, to the extent of their north bounds, which is from the sea ten miles, and it abuts on the wilderness north and runs from the last station in the pond east, to the most westerly branch of the Hammonassett River, and, on the east, it abuts on the bounds of Kennilworth and runs from the last station, as that stream runs southerly, until the said stream or river falls into the sea on the east of East End Point, the said land having been by purchase, or other- wise, lawfully obtained of the Indian natives, proprietors; and whereas the pro- prietors, inhabitants of Guilford in the colony of Connecticut, have made appli- cation to the Governor and company of said colony of Connecticut assembled in court, May 25th 1685, that they may have a patent for confirmation of the aforesaid land to them, so purchased and granted to them as aforesaid and which they have stood seized and quietly possessed of for many years last past without interruption: now for a more full confirmation of the aforesaid tracts of land, as it is butted and bounded aforesaid unto the present proprietors of the township of Guilford; Know ye that the said governor and company assembled in General Court, according to the commission granted unto them by his majesty in his charter, have given, granted, and by these presents do give, grant, ratify, and confirm unto Andrew Leete, Esquire, Mr. Josiah Rossiter, Lieut. William Seward, Deacon William Johnson, Deacon John Graves, Mr. John Collins, Mr. John Stone, Mr. Stephen Bishop, Sergt. Daniel Hubbard, Mr. Abraham Cruttenden, Sergt. John Chittenden, and Mr. John Meigs, and the rest of the said present proprietors of the township of Guilford, their heirs, successors, and assigns forever, the aforesaid tract and parcel of land, as it is butted and bounded, together with all the wood, uplands, and meadows, pastures, ponds, waters, rivers, islands, fishings, huntings, fowlings, mines, minerals, quarries, and pre- cious stones, upon or within the said tract of land, and all other profits and commodities thereunto belonging, or in any ways appertaining, and do also grant unto the aforesaid Andrew Leete Esquire, Mr. Josiah Rossiter, Lieut. William Seward, Deacon William Johnson, Deacon John Graves, Mr. John Collins, Mr. John Stone, Mr. Stephen Bishop, Sergt. Daniel Hubbard, Mr. Abraham Cruttenden, Mr. John Chittenden, and Mr. John Meigs, and the rest of the proprietors, inhabitants of Guilford, their heirs, successors, and assigns forever, that the aforesaid tract of land shall be forever hereafter deemed, reputed, and be an entire township of itself, to have and to hold the said tract of land and premises with all and singular their appurtenances, together with the privileges and immunities, franchises herein given and granted unto the .said Andrew Leete Esquire, Mr. Josiah Rossiter, Lieut. William Seward, Deacon William Johnson, Deacon John Graves, Mr. John Collins, Mr. John Stone, Mr. Stephen Bishop, Sergt. Daniel Hubbard, Mr. Abraham Crut- tenden, Sergt. John Chittenden, and Mr. John Meigs, and other the present pro- prietors, inhabitants of Guilford their heirs, successors, and assigns forever, and to the only proper use and behoof of the said Andrew Leete Esquire, Mr. Josiah Rossiter, Lieut. William Seward, Deacon William Johnson, Deacon John Graves, Mr. John Collins, Mr. John Stone, Mr. Stephen Bishop, Sergt Daniel Hubbard, Mr. Abraham Cruttenden, Sergt. John Chittenden, and Mr. John Meigs, and the other proprietors, inhabitants of Guilford, . their heirs and successors forever, according to the tenor of East Greenwich in Kent, in free and common soccage and not in capite nor by knight service, they to make im- provement of the same, as they are capable, according to the custom of the country, yielding, rendering, and paying therefor to our sovereign Lord the THE PATENT. l6l King, his heirs and successors, his dues, according to the charter of the colony, to be hereunto affixed, this 7th of Dec. one thousand six hundred and eighty five, in the first year of the reign of our sovereign Lord King James the second of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith. ROBT. TREAT Gov. By order of the General Court of Connecticut signed JOHN ALLYN, Secretary.' This patent was confirmed by the legislature in May, 1703.' For some unknown reason, on April 29, 1718, the town, becoming uneasy about its title, expressed a desire to have a quit claim from the Gen- eral Assembly for the land within this township; but their fears were probably quieted, for we hear no more of this. ^ " Entered in the public records of the colony of Connecticut, Lib. D, fol. 144 and 145, Dec. 8th, 1685, per John AUyn, secretary," and recorded on the last three pages of Vol. C, Guilford Records. April 26, 1687, Andrew Leete and Josiah Rossiter appointed by the town to get the patent " new drawn " and make any needful alteration in its draft. Jan. 18, 1714-15, town voted to have no further debate about the patent. ' Conn. Col. Rec. IV, p. 433. CHAPTER XXI. The Boundaries of the Town. The original purchase of the town covered the larger part of the surface of the present town of Guilford. The most of the remainder of the present town was bought from Nausup in 1686. Madison was obtained in purchases from Weekwash and Uncas, as far as Tuxis Pond; and from there to Hammonassett River by a gift from j\Ir. Fenwick." All these purchases had rather vague Hmits to the north, and the northern boundary remained unsettled as long as the back country was in a like condition. The first boundary line to cause difficulty was that on the east. With the settlement of the plantation, called at various times Homono- scit, Kenilworth, Killingworth and Clinton, came the desire to deter- mine how far its territory should extend, and so, in May, 1666, the Gen- eral Assembly desired the inhabitants of Guilford " to make evident, at October session, their rights to the lands at Homonoscet River and the extent of their bounds eastward.'"' At that October session the General Assembly established " ye east bounds of the Towne of Guil- ford, to be the west branch of Homonoscet River, and soe to take ye most westerly branch of that River up in the wilderness." ' In May, 1675, we learn the boundary met that of Killingworth in the middle of the river.* The town itself took no further recorded action in regard to this eastern boundary until March 25, 1699, when Capt. Stephen Bradley, Joseph Hand and Thomas Crittenden were appointed a " Committee to run the town bounds between Guilford & Kelling- worth, up as high as our North bounds reach & to call forth the Town of Killingworth to run the said bounds." This was probably done, and we hear no more of trouble concerning the Killingworth boundary until April 7, 1760, when a committee of three" is appointed " to repair to the World's End Swamp in proper season & there view, ^The breadth of the original town on the Sound was 9 or 10 miles; the mean length about 10 miles. The breadth gradually diminished, although irregu- larly, northwards until it became only about 4^ miles. The mean breadth may be nearly 7 miles. ^ Conn. Col. Rec. II, 36. ' Conn. Col. Rec. II, 52. * Conn. Col. Rec. II, 251. Jan. 26, 1674-5, Left. Wm. Seward and John Grave appointed to join with the townsmen to treat with Killingworth. '' Authorized by the Legislature, May, 1759. Conn. Col. Rec. XI, 293. THE BOUNDARIES OF THE TOWN. 163 in order to discover the True River, which is the dividing line." Such a committee was again appointed on April 17 and December 8, 1761. Previously to this, however, on September 24, 1759, the Guilford selectmen, together with a Killingworth committee, tried to " Affix & Settle the Bounds of sd Towns," through the swamp; but the select- men acted without authority from the town, and as their settlement of the question was not an agreeable one, it was formally dissented from and disapproved of by the town on April 11, 1763. The original boundary followed the Hammonassett to its entrance into KilHngworth harbor, and one-half of the harbor was considered as belonging to Guilford; but the legislature of the State, at an ad- journed session in December, 1790, changed the line' from Dudley's Creek to West Rock on the Sound, throwing the whole of the harbor and a tract of land east of this new part of the line into Killingworth. It provided, however, that this should not prevent the town of Guil- ford from regulating the fisheries of oysters and clams as fully as though this alteration had not been made. This change of boundary Guilford ineffectually opposed through Mr. John Burgis, her agent. The southern boundary of the town has seen few changes, save those of Nature, as Long Island Sound stretches along the entire southern coast. Falcon or Faulkner's Island, however, was claimed by New York State until after 1880; when, the State boundary being rectified, it was restored to Connecticut, to which it properly belonged. The north boundary of the original town has occasioned but little difficulty. In October, 1667, the General Assembly granted " Guil- ford for their north bounds, from the sea into the wilderness tenn miles,"' and Lt. Thomas Munson was appointed to run these bounds' in May, 1671. To join with him, Guilford on May 28 appointed William Seward, John Grave, John Hopson, Thomas Meacock, John Hodgke and John Scranton, Jr. The town also requested the com- mittee to join with one appointed from Branford and measure the breadth " from East to West on the reare, and to set the Middle Stake thereof, to divide betwixt Guilford & Branford." The committee reported on June 16 that they had run a line ten miles north from Point of Rocks and, " at the period " thereof, they had marked a tree with the letters G. B. Thence they measured 2 miles 24 rods east to the westernmost branch of the Hammonassett River and there marked a tree in the same way.'' From the first tree they ran a line due west ^ A distance of 216 rods, 50° 10' east. ' Conn. Col. Rec. II, ■je. ' Conn. Col. Rec. II, 152- ■■ In all they made the distanca 4 miles 3 furlongs and 4 rods, but as the bound- ary began in the centre of the pond, the distance must have been more. 164 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. two miles and a quarter to " Pesopopaug," ^ and there marked a third tree; but, as Branford refused to appoint a Committee, they could not definitely determine the northwest point of Guilford. To fix this point, a committee of five was appointed' on March 15, 1691-2. On April 26, 1707, the selectmen of Durham appointed Caleb Seward and James Wright to confer with a Guilford committee con- cerning a boundary between the two towns. Durham had recently been settled and naturally wished its metes and bounds defined. This committee, meeting John Fowler, Daniel Evarts and Andrew Ward from Guilford, ran the boundaries west from Cochinchaug River to Pistapaug Pond, marking each 80 rods of the boundary by trees and heaps of stones. On July 14, 1871, the land around Pistapaug Pond north of Totoket Mountain was annexed to North Branford and put in Wallingford probate district. The new line runs from a heap of stones on land of Wooster Ives east 45 rods to a bridge across the road; thence east 125 rods across the land of Levi Fowler, deceased, to a heap of stones on the highway; thence northeast along the road 374 rods; thence east by the road 12 rods to the corner of the land of Harvey Elliott, deceased; thence northerly by the eastern line of that land to Durham line. The west boundary has given most trouble, from the fact that there was no such natural limit as the Hammonassett River; nor such an artificial one as the legislative grant of ten miles from the sea. The sparsely settled country did not, however, need exact limitation for some time, and not until October 5, 1670, do we find any record of a settlement of the line between Guilford and Branford. Then John Fowler, William Seward, John Grave,^ Andrew Leete and Thomas Meacock were appointed " to meet Branford men now, speedily, to run the line." They reported on February 17, 1670-1, that they had laid out the line as given in the Guilford Patent, and made this proviso : that " this agreement of division is to be no prejudice unto Guilford herds, or cattle feeding on any part of the west side of these lines in the common woods, nor unto Branford Cattle feeding on the East Side." * The boundary thus settled " was a straight line from the mouth of Stony Creek to the centre of Pistapaug Pond; where, in a single ^ Pistapaug Pond, one mile long and one-half mile broad, the source of the Wallingford water supply; the line ran a little north of east from here. " On April 17, 1700, a committee was appointed to run our north bounds as far west as Cochinchaug Brook. * He did not serve. *The line received considerable attention, e. g. committees perambulated the line in 1711. G. T. R. Book C, p. 25. THE BOUNDARIES OF THE TOWN. 165 monument, was the corner boundary of the four towns of Guilford, Branford, WalHngford and Durham." In May, i860, a part of the east of Branford was set off to Guilford on the petition of the inhabi- tants. Some twelve or thirteen years later John Beattie petitioned to have 44 acres more set off to Guilford, and Branford made a counter petition to have the line restored as it was before i860. The com- mittee of the General Assembly, to which the matter was referred, proposed to set off to Branford a portion of territory which, with im- provements, had cost Guilford nearly $3,000. This the town naturally protested against, on July 22, 1874, the protest being written by the Hon. R. D. Smyth and Deacon J. A. Dowd, and being successful in attaining the end aimed at. On May 26, 1875, the selectmen were given full power to act con- cerning the Branford boundary, and the town voted to repair the road from Beattie's house to the Leete's Island depot, " provided Mr. Beattie will promise not to again petition to be set to Branford." On April i, 1885, another addition of territory from Branford was obtained, the new boundary being Hoadley's Creek from the Sound to where it crossed the old line. In return for this Guilford was to pay the proportion of Branford's debt falling on the annexed district. When the town was divided in 1826, the 2nd and 5th Societies, or those of Madison and North Madison with " a narrow strip of land, previously a part of the ist Society, running northward about two miles from the Sound," were put in the new town. " The divisional line between the two Towns begins at the centre of Munger's Island on the margin of the Sound; thence in a right line to the extreme point of land between the East and Neck Rivers ; thence to the channel of the East River ;^ thence following the channel of the East River as far north as the abutment of Chittenden's landing; thence easterly to the northeast corner of said wharf; thence northeasterly in a right line to the parish line a little south of David Dudley's dwelling house, where the centre of the road intersects said parish line ; thence on the parish lines of East Guilford and North Bristol to the north line of Guilford." There has been no subsequent change in this Hne. ' Oct. 1878, selectmen ordered by the town to prosecute for violations of the oyster law without regard to Madison's claim that the town Hne runs in the middle of East River channel, and committee was appointed to settle the boundary. CHAPTER XXII. Division of the Land. It has been noticed that " one of the rules adopted by the first set- tlers of Guilford was that no man should put more than £500 into the common stock, for purchasing and settling the Town, and that no man should sell or purchase his rights without leave of the Town.' It was further ordered that every planter, after paying his propor- tionate share of the expenses arising from buying out and settling the plantation, should draw a lot or lots of land in proportion to the money or estate expended in the general purchase and the number of members in his family. These rules were evidently intended to pre- vent too great disparity in the circumstances of the people." The date of the first division of land is unknown, but it must have been very early. In it home lots were given and the Great Plain allotted to the settlers. The rich and cleared lands about the town plat, together with considerations of continual intercourse and mutual safety, induced the colonists to settle in a cluster, but as their members increased and as circumstances became more favorable, they gradually spread them- selves into other parts of the First Society, and pretty soon into Madi- son near the shore of the Sound and at Hammonassett. On Sep- tember 4, 1645, we learn that they had already surveyed " ye land on ye other side ye East River, intended and proposed for a village," and had found " of Upland 3000 acres; 100 acres in ye Neck and about 160 acres of Marsh." This second division of lands was soon laid out; on December 17, 1645, Mr. Jordan proposed various questions con- cerning it. The Court determined that " any man may lay downe all or any pt. of their accommodation here & they should have it made up to them on the other side of ye East River; " that " men yt. have small accommodations, desiring to go to the village shall have a fit proportion added, they paying rates answerable and the court approv- ing them fit to use such a proportion," that " they that go thither," as distinguished from those continuing to live in the town plat, " shall have the first share of the plane for their accommodations ; " that " the villagers shall have & hold the improveable pt. of their accom- ' Vide case of Benj. Wright and June 9, 1651. DIVISION OF LAND. 167 modations, till they have received 2 cropps more' rate free," that " the bridges shall be presently builded & the way made to it if ye village doe go on," that " they shall have hberty to exchange with any others, who want so much of their accominodations, & make his own agree- ment with them, if he can," being in this more favored than owners in the town plat, that " whoso will goe on with the village, shall put in their names with the magistrate before the 2nd Thursday in January," that " they shall have the same liberty to fence in the oxe pasture and calf pasture ... as the rest of the town have," and that they shall " have liberty to keep the inheritance of their homelots here " and rent them if they wish. We further learn that the ministers, Rev. Messrs. Whitfield and Higginson, " with ye concurrence & consent of the towne, have promised to be helpfull in coming thither to teach some- times, but will not be bound to any certain dayes." Only ten men handed in their names and so, on February 5, 1645-6, the Court reversed the former grant that " such, who do go to live on the other side of the East River, should have all yt. parcel of land divided to them, yt. is nearest ye River," and granted for the present " but the one half of yt. land " to those having handed in their names and reserved " the other halfe in ye hands of ye towne, to be divided hereafter, as they shall see cause and shall think may be most con- ducive to the publique good." In case of those planters who wished to exchange land in the First Society for that beyond East River, both the marsh and the upland near the river were to be exchanged, in the ratio of 5 to 3, and that further away in the ratio of 2 to i. This refusal to divide all the land near the East River was not satis- factory to many, and on February 19 the Court reconsidered the case and, " having a vote of the freemen and planters ' yt. was a publique good," ordered " yt. they should have it all, to divide into 12 lots or more, but not lesse." An interesting request follows, which was apparently made for the second time. Those going to East River "pleaded, from ye quality & rank of the persons goeing, yt. some of better quality might be granted to goe & set downe w**" them to be helpfull in several waves for their encouragement, they nominating and strongly pitching upon \Mlliam Leete." In answer to this, the Court saw cause to require " }'e judgement of ye planters and freemen, whether they thought it best for ye publique good, yt ye said William Leete should goe w"" them or noe, ye major pt. did vote aflfinnatively, yt is was best yt he should goe w"' ym., provided yt. he himself could be willing to undertake ^ This would indicate that settlement there had already begun. ^ A remarkable instance of tolerance in allowing non-freemen to vote. l68 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. such a way & could be satisfied in point of subsistance in providing for his family/ w"'. w"''. vote the Court did concurre, but did not desire him to attend ye business, nor to put himself upon yt. way, unlesse w*''. ye cautions aforesaid, w""" they left to himself & advise about." Gov. Leete, doubtless for the above-mentioned reason, did not move there. On January 8, 1645-6, " it was ordered that all men shall bring in fro time to time ... all sales, exchanges & gifts of land to the next General Court after such sale or exchange that so wt. is done may be recorded for the benefit of posterity and the better promotion of peace." So the Guilford Land Records begin on March 5, 1645-6, with the recording and confirmation of 10 exchanges of land among the settlers. The thirst for land was not easily gratified, and on October 22, 1646, a General Court was held " for to enquire about ye want of accommo- dations & about inconvenient accommodations." At this time " it was ordered, yt. the Nut plaine and another plaine on this side the East River (doubtless that now called Hewlett's ^, together with the land on the other side the East River, both upland and marsh, should be viewed and a survey taken of all the sd. parcells that so divisions may be made according as was due to every planter wanting land." " The Point of Rocks, both upland and marsh," was ordered " to be likewise surveyed & divided," at the same time, and on March 2, 1646-7, " the upland & marsh at ye upper end of the plaine " and parcels of land, " lyeing by Mr. Whitfield's homelot " and at the Duck- holes,' " were divided & granted to be laid out, according to a vote taken in Court at present & delivered to ye Surveyor to stake out accordingly." In addition to general grants, special ones were made to persons to whom the town was kindly inclined, as to Mr. Desbrow, on Decem- ber 30, 1647; to Thomas Betts and Francis Bushnell, on February 16, 1647-8, etc. On January 17, 1648-9, "the planters & Court (con- sidering that Mr. Disbrow, bearing the place of a magistrate in this towne & so likely to continue under such a burden, if Gd. grant him life) thought it a necessary duty to show & to testify their respect & love unto him, by adding some encrease, or enlargement of accom- modatio, for his better subsistence here, have freely granted a parcel ^ The building of a bridge over East River in 1649 " makes it probable that the lands in the vicinity of this river were then cultivated." ' Howlett=ovsflett. ' Dec. 30, 1647, Richard Hues was granted " liberty of mouing a parcel of hassocks & wet meadow lying on the other side of the East River over against the quarter of land at the Duck holes, close upon a great rock." DIVISION OF LAND. 169 of Upland & marsh, lying along by the side of the Neck River, as it is now fenced in, commonly called and knowne by the name of the Oxe pasture ... to have & to hold all of the said land rate free, during the time of his life or residence here — provided, according to Mr. Dis- borow's owne proffer, that if he shall remove fro this plantatib to dwell elsewhere, within the space of three years, then he shall returne the said whole parcel of land to the Towne again, they paying all the necessary & just charges, which he hath expended about the im- provement of the same." This vote is one to which Guilford may well look back with pride, and the care with which the forfeiture of the land, in case of removal, is mentioned as Mr. Desborough's own idea, not the town's harsh condition, is worthy of note, as show- ing that the planters would not have posterity think the town guilty of loading a gift with conditions. The town's sense of justice is shown at the same meeting by giving John Scranton, in return for land taken for a road, " another parcel of marsh lying by the side of East Creek, at ye upper end of the plaine, wch. was formerly apointed to be reserved for the Towne's use, to fetch shells, & for a way to goe to the sea there, reserving still the said liberty for the Towne's use," and, if this be not enough, " then he shall be made up elsewhere, so far as just & righteous." " Liberty to plant at Athamanassock " was granted on February 4, 1650-1, " for encouragement of any planter, in straights for want of corne." Any planter putting in his name within a fortnight was to have four acres of " such cleare land as there is there ... to use and possesse 5 summers next ensueing, to plow, plant, & take off the cropp in each summer, leaving open or Comon all ye time after Indian harvest until planting time &, after the end of the said five sum- mers, to resign up the same to ye plantation's use ... & receive only for their buildings or extraordinary fence " and " whosoever shall take up any the said ground so to use at present & doe not breake it up, within 2 years, it shalbe lawfuU for any other of yt company to breake it up & receive the profit for the said terme." We know not whether any went on this invitation. The great difficulty about settling at Hammonassett was its distance from town. On June 9, 1651, "a tender was made to all planters in want or straits, through insuffi- cency of lands &c, that they should be considered & have some en- largement at Athamonassuck ; but they not accepting, unless there might be proportionable help of the minister, the business was put ofif for the present." Church privileges were important things in those days. A little later, on October 10, 1651, the land there was " considered I/O HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. & appointed to be viewed, sized, & surveyed, w"'' being accordingly done & the upland found to amount to about 120 acres, ... the Court thought not fit to make any universal, or perpetual division of the said uplands or meadow, but only grant liberty to any (y* being in straits for want of Corne land & desired to improve that upland there) to have a meet proportion for their supply &, as they should subdue, for the space of 7 years, then to return it to the towne." It was hard to get the planters to go far afield, and on April i, 1653, we learn that the men who put in their names to go to East River and the Neck had taken another view of the place and reported "their discouragement fro the badness & rockiness of the land." To try again at Hammonassett was the determination of the town, and it was ordered " that the land meet for fencing & present improvement " there, " most convenient to be taken in, shal be divided & laid out proportionably to all planters in the Towne, according to their pro- portion of present estate ... to be holden ... as followeth, viz: that whosoever shall use or hold property in any lands, divided at or about Athamonassett, shall . . . pay his just proportion of all rates . . . , as the other planters doe, that dwell upon their land so divided to them there." Here was a clear premium offered for settlement there. Three " viewers & sizers of yt. land " were chosen, and we learn that Dr. Rossiter, succeeding John Mepham as surveyor, agreed " forth- with to survey & lay out & stake out the whole & every man's par- ticular proportion, sufficiently, for the sum of £5." The survey of Hammonassett was not finished and reported until March 27, 1656, when Dr. Rossiter brought in a map of 266 acres of upland to be divided and to pay half rates for 7 years, as the town ordered. It was to be " allowed 3 acres for 2 in the rate book." The planters, on April 4, 1658, repeated the vote that Dr. Rossiter should survey all men's lands " yt have been already laid out & should draw up an exact terryer with buttings and boundings, w"" descriptio of wayes &, as much as may be, of fences &c to prevent grounds of controversy, yt. may arise for want of the same." For this work he was to have £10. It is much to be regretted that the same meeting revoked the order and only appointed him to survey "wt persons desired at their owne charge to be done." The town showed their sense of indebtedness to Gov. Leete by granting him a farm at the islands about Hammonassett Point, which was laid out to him on January 15, 1660-1; the meadow "yt. runs along by the creek over against his Island, called horse Island, on the North or Branford side, together with one acre of upland, where he shall chuse it thereabouts"; and "that piece of land at ye point of DIVISION OF LAND. 171 rocks, which is over and above his other alotment there, reserving all liberty for digging or fetching shells for lime there unto ye plant- ers.'" Until 1666 no further allotments but individual ones were made. On June 7 in that year, however, the subject of making a third division of land was discussed, and we learn 'that " it was agreed that there should be a terrier of every man's land brought in on this day month." The town did not then agree on " the ways of disposing of the parcells of improveable lands in the commons." Until they decide, " those that had the grant of lands, since the first of June, 1665, or that may have hereafter granted them, have liberty hereby to improve such lands, upon a price set by the Committy appoynted; yet notwithstanding, they are not to paye for such lands, until the Towne have agreed in what way and manner to dispose thereof; nor then if any other way be settled." But if there be a third division, then all such land is to count as part of it. A third division of upland and meadow was not finally voted until ]\larch 15, 1666-7; but on July i, 1666, preparations were made for it. Then George Hubbard was chosen surveyor, or " towne measm-er of lands," and committees were appointed: one of five "to size the meadows at Hamonassack," and one of four " to appraise those grants of land that are unsettled." It was further decided " that all lands in each planter's present possession and set downe in the terrior already made, shall so be confirmed to them and allowed for the valuation thereof." Lands not bounded and valued are to receive the attention of the townsmen, and in case any one is dissatisfied, he may have the land resurveyed, at his own expense, and if the townsmen and the surveyor approve of the resurvey, it is to be entered " in the presence of some of the owners of the lands adjoining." " To search out and make report to the Towne," in March, 1672-3, " what lands they can find . . . meet to be laid out for a third division," a committee of ten was appointed on November i, 1667. A week later " they drew lots for the meadow of Hammonassett." As will be seen from a comparison of dates, the town wished its committee to do its work thoroughly and without being hurried. The work of dividing went on slowly, though several individual allotments wore made. On December 16, 1668, the town appointed a committee of five " " for the finishing of all matters that do respect ' These latter two granted March 13. 1662. Leete's Island, " The Great Island," was granted to him Feb. 22, 1668-9. At that time Will Island was granted to John Fowler, and the Stony Island to Henry Crane and Nathan Bradley. " Three of these were in the committee appointed July i, 1666. 172 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. the sizing, measuring, laying out, and settling a Terrier upon all the lands agreed to be laid out at Athamonassett . . . according to each man's right and grant." Dr. Rossiter, as will be remembered, had begun the work of surveying, so now it is voted " that what he hath laid out and can now be known and disserned shall so stand. . . . But what cannot so be done, then each man's proportion . . . shall be laid out unto them respectively by this committee, according as is equal with others in their judgment." The committee's work was increased on February 22, 1668-9 by having the duty given them to lay out " Bristow's Parke." The business dragged, on September 5, 1672, the town appointed a committee of 5 " to consider what way may be best to dispose of the Comon land," and finally, on December 10, 1672, rules for laying out the third division were made. The land was to be laid out, according to the list of 1672, under these conditions, viz.: (i) " That tenants' proper estates, distinct from what lands ... of their landlords, . . . shall be rated to themselves — the other to their landlord. The same rule to be observed of betwixt guardians and orphans — Aprentices and their masters, and parents and their chil- dren, both for their heads or other estate." (2) That the planters be divided into three classes, " a threefold consideration": (i) "Those that would improve land by farming, (2) Those that would improve land and dwell in the Town, (3) Those that look not at themselves at present in a capacity to improve their third division, yet it ought to be reserved for them as their right." The first class, " those that will take up their proprieties of land to farme & dwell upon it in three years time," shall have first choice and five acres of upland " more than their proportion upon rate account will come to." If, however, any one does not build a convenient house, in the three years, he shall forfeit los. a year thereafter. The policy was consistently one of encouraging a scattering of the population. The second class, " those that would take up their proportions of land where it is most convenient to improve and dwell in the Towne," had second choice and must " breake up and improve five acres of their upland or a quarter of their land " within three years or pay a fine of los. yearly. The third class, " all such as would have their allotments to be left at liberty for improvement, until they themselves see cause," are to have their land " where they shall find it out and desire it, provided it be without intolerable inconveniency to the Towne," and if their land be not equal to the first class in quality, they were to have additions made to it. The next day a committee, composed of Deacon John Fowler, Wil- DIVISION OF LAND. 1 73 liam Seward and William Johnson, were appointed ' as " Sizars and Surveyors of all the lands to be laid out for third division, and were invested with full power to set out the land reserved for the school & other public use firstly, to lay out highways, and to do any thing else necessary in the undertaking." On March 26, 1673, the com- mittee made its report, which is entered on the records, and from then until the end of September, 1674, the first two classes had their choice, after that " all that lies unchosen ... is to be reckoned in the third rank."" A fourth division of land was voted on September 24, 1691, to be laid out on the Hst of 1690. The rule was that there should be given one acre of land for every pound in the list, eighteen acres for each male child under 16 years, and 10 acres for each woman and female child. This was to be given to " all planters and proper in- habitants that have lived five years in this towne," and all children that are born before the date of ordering the division. The com- mittee' of 7, appointed to carry on the work, was ordered, on Feb- ruary 4, 1 69 1 -2, to prepare the method of laying out this fourth division by May. On June 14, 1692, further regulations were adopted. Town-born male* children, having no share in the third division and listed in 1690, are to have 10 acres of land, " added to their other right in this division," save those that had had a grant of land since the third division was agreed upon, and those of this class who " are under covert and not listed on their own head, to be at their parents' and masters' dispose, that is the land that rises by their heads." Tenants were to have the land as in the third division.' The town reserved for itself commons:' north of the town along West River to Quonepaug, west along Beaver . Pond, east from the upper end of East River to the entrance of Hassocky Gussell into the Hammonassett River, etc., and " all cedar swamps to be reserved for the town's use with convenient ways to them." ' Aug. 2, 1673, seven men were appointed " to size the list of estates in lands to see that there be no inequality to the list." ' Aug. 18, i6gi. Third division land is to be rated at one and one-half acres for one acre of other land. Third division was not finished on June 24, 1709-10. ' April 24, 1694. Fourth division committee to lay out highways. * March 20, 1693-4, these might pick their 10 acres by April i, and then any one might take up one-half their land. ° Those exempted by law and not listed and those absent from the list, be- cause pressed for the army, were given a share in the division. ' Feb. 20, 1722-3, town voted to have something done about securing town commons. The townsmen and Josiah Rossiter, on Feb. 9, 1693-4, were author- ized to take care of and let the sequestered lands for public use and improvement. 174 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. On May 30, 1693, the town voted to have every one take up his fourth division land, save if it be under 30 acres, in two parts: one " in that which is set apart for Cohabitation and the other by pick or Lot, as the town shall agree." ' However, those that wished to take up all their land in Cohabit might do so. Other regulations were adopted on April 24, 1694: the land was to be laid out to each owner from highway to highway, as far as possible, and "where the ways are very far assunder," the land is to be laid out half way from road to road, and " liberty of stone and timber for all the Inhabitants' im- provement, while the land so lieth in common unfenced." In this fourth division " two places for Cohabitation," North Guilford and North Bristol, or North Madison, were laid out. The " proprietors in the East River quarter " were " granted lib - erty," on May 29, 1694, " to pitch upon the Common Land in sd. quarter on 4th Division account to be regulated & laid out to them by the Committee, leaving sufficient highway throughout the com- mon." In addition to the land freely given to the planters, others were allowed from time to time to purchase land, and the planters were allowed to buy land to pay for Rev. Mr. Ruggles' house. If any of these purchasers " do not pay down their money within 6 months, then their grant is voted of no value, but to revert to the town again." That august body, the " Proprietors of the Commons and Undivided Lands," ^ was established by a vote of the town on June 25, 1697. It was then " voted that all that were proper settled planters in Guilford in the year 1686, which was the time of our last purchase of our common lands,' them and their male posterity after them forever, are accounted proprietors of all common lands, also those that purchase any foundation allotment in the said town is reckoned as a proprietor." On January 25, 1698-9, the town chose a committee of 5 " to take a list of the proprietors of the town of Guilford, according to the vote of the Town in June, 1697, and to present the said list to the Town . . . for confirmation and settlement." The cohabitation land was not laid out until 1705, and only half of it then, each person being allowed to choose on which side of the town he wished his share laid out. Where there were several in a family, they were allowed to have their land all together or separate, as they wished. Later,* the cohabitation land at East Guilford was ^Jan. 30, 1699-1700, all fourth division land pitched upon below Cohabit to be laid out in 12 months. ^ Their meetings were called by a paper signed by five or more proprietors. Vide Feb. 3, 1729-30. ' That from Nausup. ' Sept. 27, 1706. DIVISION OF LAND. 1 75 put in the hands of a separate committee there. The remainder of Cohabit was appointed to be laid out on November 5, 1706, though it was over a year before the matter was concluded. On November 27, 1707, the town unanimously agreed that those having cohabitation land might have a home lot; those in North Guilford to the east of the Sugarloaf Hill; those in North Bristol on the hill at the head of Neck River. On January 12, 1726-7, the proprietors began separate records. The sphere of their activity and that of the town seem to have had very ill-defined limits. They pass resolutions about divisions of lands, changes of highways, gifts of unoccupied land, setting up of Sabbath Day houses and horse sheds on the Green. At first their meetings were regularly held and much business was transacted. But as the land became distributed there was less and less need for their existence. Their meetings became more and more rare, and finally William Elliott, the last proprietor's clerk, records the last meeting of the august body on April 3, 1826, and on June 14, 183 1, the last entry in their records was made. Their dissolution had been foreseen, and on October 7, 1822, the town appointed Amos Seward to meet the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Lands and make arrangements. The ox-pasture at Sachem's Head was ordered to be laid out as the afth division of land on November 17, 1728. The proprietors then declared that there were loi patentees, whose shares were to be rep- resented in all divisions. On November 19 it was voted that any one not taking his share in the ox-pasture may have proportional share in other land; that those having undivided land next to their own may have that, and that the rest shall draw lots, each one, as he draws a lot, having a day to make his choice. The ox-pasture was surveyed by William Thompson, the county surveyor, divided into 260 lots, which gave 20 J4 acres and 35 rods to each patentee's share. The desire for land now caused a sixth division to be ordered on February 3, 1729-30. This was one of 40 acres to each patentee's share. This land could be taken up anywhere in the town. Another division, the seventh and last, being one of 40 acres to each patentee's share, was ordered January 20, 1730-1. These divisions dragged along. May 6, 1800, a committee was appointed to make inquiry into the situation and quantities of proprietor's lands that remain unlocated and dispossess any having them wrongfully, and on May 14, 1801, the proprietors voted that those who did not take up their fourth, sixth or seventh division land by November i should lose their right thereto. 176 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The proprietors of Hammonassett Quarter^ attended to the common land in the present town of Madison. Their records, from 171 5 to 1841, are in the possession of the Connecticut Historical Society, and show whose duty it was to repair the common fence, and whose the gulf and sequestered gates. These proprietors chose annually a " com- mittee to take care of the prudentials of the quarter for the year in- sowing," fence-viewers, a " trishurry," and " howards " or haywards. They managed the pound and the cow and ram pastures. ' James Hooker was the first moderator and Gilead Bradley the last. CHAPTER XXIII. The Physical Characteristics of the Original Town. Tlie lands on which the people first settled included in the borough are very admirably adapted to the culture of grain, corn and grass. The southern part is of a black loam; the northern, gravelly. The natural richness of the soil on the great plain was much increased by the marine shells, which the Indians brought upon it and which have been left to decay in the course of ages, as is also true of the other necks and points of land towards the Sound. The English also made much use of these shells, as well as of rockweed and seaweed, and the present inhabitants employ whitefish and other oleaginous fish in enriching the soil. The reasons have been already given why the English selected these lands and confined their attention pretty much to them for years. Another circumstance that prevented them from spreading rapidly abroad was the fact that they did not under- stand the proper method of subduing forests. A law was made quite early that every planter should clear up half an acre yearly " of such land as is fitt to plant, until the one halfe of his lott bee planted," or pay los. "for every halfe acre not so yearly subdued."' This they did at first, as was the custom in other parts of Connecticut, by dig- ging up the trees by the roots. John Scranton, one of the early settlers, at length cleared an acre in a different manner, and aston- ished the people by gathering from it twenty bushels of wheat, and from this the practice of clearing the land by cutting down the trees spread through the colony. ^ A large proportion of the land west of West River and south of the old post road to New Haven is poor. Some of it is very stony, containing many rock ledges, and some is swampy, although more particularly about Leete's Island and Sachem's Head there are lim- ited tracts of very strong productive soil. The soil of Moose Hill, a moderate elevation, extending into the town of Branford, is well adapted for grazing. The same is true of Long Hill, extending on the west side of West River northward into North Guilford. Clap- board Hill, east of the borough, running northward between East Creek and East River, is clayey and fertile, and less liable to injury ' G. T. R. Book B, p. 13, and A, p. 132. 178 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. by drought than the other lands generally in the neighborhood. Most of the other lands in the First Society are of an indifferent quality. The soil in North Guilford is generally gravelly and better adapted to grazing than for the growth of grain, although about Bluff Head there is some clayey and sandy soil. There is nothing in Guilford which merits the name of a mountain except the bluff just mentioned. This is the northeastern extremity of Totoket or Branford Mountain, which extends for several miles into North Guilford and nearly crosses its northwest corner. The bluff itself is very steep and bold. It is the southern extremity of the secondary region of country, extending south along both sides of the Connecticut River. A high, rugged hill, or rather succession of steep and broken basaltic cliffs, stretches south along the western shore of Quonepaug Pond, terminating in North Guilford. The change in the appearance of the country as you proceed south towards the sea- shore is sudden and striking. Instead of the sand hills and the trap rocks of the region just passed, you meet only with the rigid features of granite and gneiss rocks and a hard compact soil, while the great plain is of an alluvial character, bearing impressive marks of the sea upon it. This is also true of other portions along the shore, setting back into the land like bays and harbors. Shepard^ found in Guilford a " rather compact, lightish gray bitu- minous limestone," and two miles north of the centre of the town " brown, slender, curved and sometimes interlaced crystals (anthro- phyllite) of hornblende in granitic gneiss." Garnets are found in abundance in gray granitic gneiss, and especially " in large grained granite two miles northwest of the Meeting House." Prest. Dwight' said he knew " of no land more productive " than that on the Sound in the first parish of Guilford. Formerly, wheat was raised abundantly, and the First Society was famous for the cultivation of Indian corn. As much as 100 bushels have been raised to the acre, and instances have occurred of no, but 40 bushels was considered a good yield. Great quantities of flax of a good quality were formerly raised. The other principal productions of the town are rye, oats, potatoes and grass, while latterly turnips, onions and tomatoes, especially in the borough, have been found to afford re- munerative crops. Of the hay produced, much is from the extensive salt marshes. A writer in 1816 thought' "the farming interests of the town not very flourishing " and that there was " an apparent general want of agricultural improvements and enterprise." ^ Geological Survey of Conn., pp. 122, 135, 144. ' Travels, II, p. 488. = Gazetteer of Conn, and R. I., p. 121. THE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORIGINAL TOWN. I79 In consequence of the hilly or stony character of considerable por- tions of Guilford, much woodland remains, though this is being grad- ually cleared off for home consumption and exportation as fuel, for railroad ties and for ship timber. Originally, there were considerable quantities of cedar, white pine and white wood in Guilford, but the prevailing kinds of wood now to be found are hickory of several varieties, oak and chestnut. As early as 1816 the wood was " be- coming valuable,^ being situated within a tolerably convenient dis- tance of navigable waters," and " large quantities of wood and timber " were " annually got to market, principally to the city of New York." Still earlier, in 181 1, Prest. Dwight estimates' that about one-third of New Haven's fuel came from Guilford, Long Island or the banks of the Housatonic River. Latterly anthracite coal has become the prin- cipal fuel employed in the town, being delivered at Guilford harbor by vessels or transported by the Shore Line Railroad. ' Gazetteer of Conn, and R. I., p. 121. ' Statistical Account of N. H. p. 15, and Travels, II, p. 488 sq. CHAPTER XXIV. Trees and Timber. The early perception of the aesthetic value and the use of trees,' shown by the vote that " no more trees be cut down on the Green before the Meetinghouse," is still further made clear by a by-law of March 13, 1661-2, that " no meere inhabitant, or sojourner, shall cutt or fell any timber in our woods at Guilford, until he have first, by fair agreement, engaged the use and improvement thereof unto some planter of this Towne." It may be said this latter vote was unfair in discriminating in favor of planters, but that cannot be urged against a vote of May 10, 1681, that " if any man shall transport any Cedar, either rift or other cedar, from Cedar Swamp out of the Town, he shall forfeit double the value to the Towne." This care for the preservation of cedar is shown also by the votes of the planters in June, 1690, when, after reciting that the previous orders are violated and cedar bolls, shingles and clapboards are transported from the town, it is decreed, " to prevent this disorder," that a fine of 20s. shall be the penalty for each load of cedar bolls, or each thousand cedar shingles, or clapboards sent away, and that the fact that two witnesses saw any man lay down cedar by any landing place, or place convenient for transportation, shall be conclusive proof of an attempt to break the law. One-third of the fine was to go to the informer. To miti- gate the harshness of the act, John Meigs and Ebenezer French are permitted to transport some shingles they had already made and the saw-mill men had " liberty to transport sawn timber, till the Town see cause to debar them."^ On February 26, 1695-6, the planters were permitted by the town to transport pipe staves from the colony for a year, save that no timber was to be taken from land which is set apart for commons. An '■ In the More Fixed Agreements (G. T. R. Book B, 14) we find it ordered " that whosoever felleth any trees in the woodes and suffereth them to lye above six months uncut out, rent, or hewed, it shall be lawful for any other planter that findeth such trees to cut them & cary them away for his own use without paying for the felling of them." ' Feb. 12, 1704-S, planters might transport out of the colony timber growing on their land. Nov. 12, 1704, no man to get timber on another man's land. TREES AND TIMBER. l8l instance of generosity towards a sister town is shown by an ordinance of January 30, 1699-1700, permitting Mr. Wm. Hodely and Lt. Sam'l Pond " to get so many 18 inch shingles of cedar, as may be needed for their meeting house at Branford." When Guilford built its own meeting-house in 1713 and 1714 part of the expense was paid by the sale of staves.' The Society sold them at an advance after paying 26s. per 1000. A special officer, the " Cuttor of Staves," was appointed to superintend the manufacture of the timber into staves. In 1722 stricter laws as to felling of trees on the commons and highways were passed."" No one might fell them without a license from the select- men, and if they were felled for the purpose of making from them and exporting staves, boards, planks, slitwork, clapboards, or shingles, any one might seize the wood and receive half its value as a reward. The advantage of having shade trees in the roads was felt by the town's people, as is shown by a vote of December 16, 1735, that " no tree be felled, cut, or girded on the Highway, or street, without liberty from the Selectmen — which is suitable for shades, or stands within 20 Rods of any house or barn."" In December, 1769, a comprehen- sive ordinance was passed, stating that " proper and convenient Shades in the highways are found by experience to be of public Benefit & Advantage," and, " for promoting the Same, it is Voted & Enacted, That no person, or persons, Shall cut down, hurt, or Distroy any Tree or Trees that are now standing, or that shall be set out on the High- way or Highways of this Township & approved by the Selectmen & marked G, provided they are not Buttonwood, or placed so as to in- commode any person in their private Property. And it is desired that sd. Trees may be So Set out, as to Straiten the Path, where it may be with conveniency." The proprietors took a hand in the preservation of timber, and on January 12, 1726-7, voted that the Inhabitants may cut and carry off wood and timber growing on common and undivided lands, provided that: (i) None be cut for staves or hoops for casks, nor for building vessels or boats, nor save with the Proprietors consent; (2) Each tree (save chestnut trees) felled within two miles of the First Church, or in the 4th Division in East Guilford, must be cut up fit for fire wood or other timber within three months; (3) No tree under a foot at the stub be felled for firewood; (4) No tree be girded, or have the bark ' Vid. Jan. 5 and Feb. 4, 1713-14- ' Feb. 22, 1726-7, a fine was voted of los. for every cedar tree cut down in swamps and exported. ° 1756, cutting down of trees on road to Hammonassett forbidden. l82 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. stripped off while standing; (5) All trees felled for bark be carried off for firewood or timber in three months (save hemlock trees); (6) All timber, forbidden by this law to be felled, if already cut down, be cariied off. On September 21, 1773, a vote was passed by the pro- prietors forbidding any one to cut or carry off wood or timber from the commons or undivided lands. Large portions of the original town are still covered with trees, and this fact adds much to the attractive- ness of the drives in the country. CHAPTER XXV. Rivers and Ponds. The Mennnkatuck or West River, repeatedly mentioned in this work, rises in Quonepaug Pond in North Guilford, runs south and, passing along the west border of Guilford borough, empties into Guilford harbor. The pond which gives rise to this stream is about two miles long from north to south, and from a fourth to a half a mile wide. It is said to be sixty feet deep in some places. In a spring, a few rods above this pond, at the foot of Bluff Head, a stream rises which runs northward through Durham into Middletown and is also called West River. The Menunkatuck is largely a tidal river in its lower part, and at high tide is navigable for sloops as far as Jones' Bridge, and for row-boats as far as the upper bridges or even to the town mill. ' East Creek, a small stream or rather brook, the eastern boundary of the borough, rises in the limits of the First Society and empties into the East River near its mouth. It is sometimes called Sluice Creek and is not navigable for sail-boats. East River,' or Kuttawoo, rises in several brooks, the principal of which is Stillwater Brook, in the north and northwestern parts of North Madison. It takes a southwestern course and discharges its waters into Guilford harbor. Near its mouth is Farmer's Wharf, con- venient for the navigation of the river, and Sawpitts Quarry Wharf was formerly situated somewhat above it. Further up are the two wharves, one on each side of the river at East River Bridge, which are at the head of sloop navigation. Row-boats can go as far as the residence of Mrs. A. W. Foote in Nut Plains. West Pond, one of the headwaters of the Branford River, is situated in North Guilford, South District, and Aigocomick or Stony Creek and Chestnut Branch, a tributary of it, both rise in Moose Hill. Quonepaug" first appears on the records in December 8, 1742, when '^ April 10, 181S, Amos Dudley et al. allowed to make a sluice across East River a little northerly of the bridge. June 22, 1865, the Legislature authorized Sam'l Chittenden to build tide mills on East River above the bridge. " 1762, Dec, selectmen are to take particular care of the dam and prosecute any one letting out the water without leave. 184 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. the mill committee are desired, to " heighten " the dam there, so as to raise the Pond about 18 inches and to purchase any lands overflowed thereby. A lack of water for the mill caused another raising of the dam in 1770. On November 6, 1836, a new dam was ordered there for the town mill, and also one was directed to be made at Drowned Swamp Pond and on the top of Totoket Mountain for the same pur- pose. Twelve years later, in November, 1848, the town voted $375 for raising Quonepaug Dam 2 feet and paying for overflowed land and $150 for raising the Mill Pond Dam a foot. Since 1817 fishing with seines in Quonepaug, or in West Pond, has been almost always prohibited, and in 1876 an ordinance prohibited all fishing in Quonepaug Pond between October and April under penalty of $20. This pond is a beautiful sheet of water, and the view looking northwards towards Bluflf Head from an island in the southern part of the pond is very fine. The Mill Pond already referred to is directly back of the town mill and is the favorite resort of the youth for pond-lilies in the summer and for skating in the winter. The Guilford Ice Company has an icehouse on the eastern side, which it fills from the pond and whence it supplies Guilford with ice during the summer months. In Madison is found the Neck River, a tributary of East River. It rises north of the road from Guilford to Madison and runs in a very circuitous course through the salt marshes, emptying into the East River near its mouth. Neck River is navigable both for sloops and row-boats for some distance and to a point where it nearly approaches the highway in the Neck. Through the marshes also meanders Fence Creek, which enters Neck River some distance above its mouth. Tuxis Pond hes in Madison, some distance east of the Congrega- tional Church. It is used as the source of the town's supply of ice. The popular legend is that it is bottomless and that Tuxis Island, which lies in the Sound off the shore of Madison, was formerly where the pond is, but was removed to its present situation by an earthquake. The Hammonassett River forms the eastern boundary of Madison. Drainage. On September 4, 1645, " it was ordered, upon ye consideration of ye use and necessity of making a dike at ye rear of ye plaine; both to fence ye plaine and to draine ye marsh: it was ordered y'. ye ditch should be 5 feet wide and 3 foot deep, ye bank lying on ye plaine side, this dike is to be made by September next ensuing, anno 1646, and they (that) have not finished their dike by that time specified shall be RIVERS AND PONDS AND DRAINAGE. 185 fined, as ye Court shall see cause." This early care for drainage seems not to have been kept up.' At least the records mention no other such enterprise until April 26, 1687, when John Fowler was given " liberty to drown a swamp lying above Pedlar's Marsh, between that and Branford road, and when the swamp is well drowned and killed," then John Fowler should have one-third of it and the town the rest.' Another swamp, "near Burchen Swamp, below Branford road" was " drowned " by Thomas Hall and Thomas Norton in pursuance of a vote of February 10, 1702; but soon after this the right to order drainage passed to the Governor and Council. On May 28, 1713, Mr. James Hooker, Capt. John Seward, and Capt. Andrew Ward were appointed Commissioners of Sewers to supervise the drainage of the East Creek meadows; a year later, other meadows of unknown loca- tion had commissioners of sewers appointed for them, on petition of their owners, and on May 23, 1716, the draining of Island Creek meadows was ordered." The only other extant votes of the Governor and Council on this subject are these: one providing for the drain- age of Great Plain Swamp, in May, 1772; the other for that of Long Cove a little later.* The drainage of the latter was probably not then accomplished, for on September 16, 1799, the town appointed a committee to apply to the proprietors of Long Cove and see whether they will drain it, or at what price they will dispose of it." Dr. Dwight, in his travels refers to the draining of a marsh to the southeast in 1800. ' Mention is made on March 2, 1646-7, of Benj. Wright having a swamp drained, ^ On April 24, 1694, Aaron Blatchley, John Grave, John French and Ebenezer French were granted permission to " drown " a swamp above Tuxis Pond and have it set out to them when " drowned " " to prevent varment harboring." " Conn. Col. Rec. V, 386, 447, 569. * Conn. Col. Rec. XIII, 661, XIV, 70. ° May 6, 1800, proprietors gave Elijah Leete their lands there provided he drain Long Cove. CHAPTER XXVI. Shell Fish. Over fifty years ago it was written that on the flats adjacent to the harbor, " round and long clams of a very superior quality are taken by the inhabitants, and Guilford oysters, taken from the channel of East River, are noted as among the best in Connecticut. Their flavor is particularly agreeable and readily recognized by the epicure. They are, however, taken in but small quantities and held at a high price. Oysters are also taken in West River, but they are of a different species and inferior in quality." Either from the plentiful supply of bivalves or from a lack of appreciation of the flavor of the mollusk, no legislation concerning the oysters was made by the town until Decem- ber, 1753. Then attention was given to " the Preservation of Oysters, that they may not be unnecessarily Dispoil'd & Destroyed." To save such a " Publick Good " and " to prevent Such Publick Damage & preserve & promote the growth of them in this Town," the freemen vote that no person export from the town any oysters from the East River beds, under penalty of a shilling per bushel, unless the oysters be culled and " the Dead Shells, upon which the young oysters grow," be thrown into the river. This law proved sufficient until 1766, when a close season was made for the East River' beds, from May ist until September 15th. At the same time culling of oysters and the putting back of old shells at all times is made obligatory, and the transporta- tion of oysters from the town by water is forbidden. The fear that the oysters are being exterminated is no new thing, as may be seen from a vote of February 6, 1775, which stated that "the preservation of Oysters & Clams is of great importance to this Town & the Imprudence of many in catching the same and carrying them out of this Town ... in large quantities is like to produce a scarcity thereof." The ordinance then made re-enacted previous regu- lations, extending their application to oysters and clams on the flats in the harbor, north of a line from Point of Rocks to Hogstie Point. These measures were thought not to be sufficiently efficacious and, on 'Oct. 1766, General Assembly authorized towns to make laws concerning oysters and clams. Fine of 2s. for each offense, one-half to informer, one-half to town committee of seven to attend to the execution of the law. SHELL FISH. 187 December 15, 1775, the Selectmen were "desired to take advice of some able and juditious men concerning the best means for the preser- vation of oysters.'" There was one exception to the preceding law; for any two selectmen might license any one from another town " in a necessitous case to carry away" as many as one horse could conven- iently bear and, on February 24, 1791, the town voted that any one " in case of sickness," might get a license even during the close season. On April 10, 1797, the close period was extended greatly, from April 12 to December 10, and the penalty made $12. The season was short- ened to the period between April 15 and September 20 in April, 1817, and the penalty made $7.00. This law was to be published and, during the close season, selectmen might give any one a written permit to take not over a bushel, " upon a Certificate under the hand of a Physician, that the Oyster will be conducive to the Health of the person for whose benefit the permit shall be requested." A beginning of oyster culture is shown by the vote of April, 1828, that, under selectmen's direction, any one might lay down below high- water mark on the flats, oysters and clams which should be his prop- erty. There was violent contention at times as to the oyster law; in November, 1830, it was repealed and a new one was not enacted until November, 1832. In 1842 the town declared its dissent from the law passed by the legislature that May, ordered its own law to remain in force and probably, because the beds were becoming too much taken up by private persons, decreed that all oysters laid down after March I, unless brought from outside of the State, should be free for the inhabitants. Town oyster laws from that date onward are of little importance until October 2, 1876, when, by a vote of 80 to 39, the selectmen are authorized to lease the town oyster grounds in East and West Rivers for five years. This vote was repealed on October 14, by a vote of 116 to 53; but was re-enacted the next year by a vote of 57 to 49. The proposal to lease the beds was one which excited great discussion, and a month afterwards the ordinance was repealed by a vote of 197 to 28. A year later, in 1878, the extinction of oysters being feared, $250 were appropriated for the enforcement of the oyster law, and a committee was appointed " to report on the protection of oyster and other fisheries." '■ Nov. 12, 1799, no one to take oysters in East River for a year from Nov. 20 without a permit. Nov. 11, 1800, no one to catch oysters in Killingworth harbor, formerly in Guilford, without a permit. Feb. 24, 1794, the town voted to regulate shad fishing in the Hammonassett. l88 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The majority of the town has jealously sought to prevent any monopoly of shell fisheries. On October 6, 1879, it voted that all shores should be free to the inhabitants for long clams ' and, on Janu- ary 28, 1880, the town protested, at special meeting, against recent oyster laws. Resolutions were adopted urging the passage of different laws, opposing any legislation that will tend to restrict the right of the public to take shell fish, and appropriating $100 for that opposition. A committee was appointed to prepare a petition to the legislature and instructed to go before the Fishery Committee if necessary. Another $100 were appropriated to protect the " public right to fish for clams and oysters from any further invasion and encroachment," and the representatives of the town in general assembly were instructed to en- deavor to carry out these resolutions. On August 2, 1882,^ $500 were appropriated for two constables ap- pointed to carry out the law concerning the shell fisheries of Guilford and Madison. There is no considerable harbor in Madison. Small vessels, how- ever, lie with tolerable safety about midway of the town, to the right and left of Tuxis Island (an island an acre and a half in area, a small distance from shore), where wharves are erected for lading and unlad- ing, called East and West wharves. The inhabitants possess, how- ever, the right of regulating the fisheries of oysters and clams in Kil- lingworth harbor, secured to the town by the legislature in 1790. All Neck River and the one half of East River from the mouth to East River bridge also belongs to them, and in both oysters are taken. For the purpose of cultivating and improving oysters in Neck River further up than they had been found of good quality, a company was incor- porated in May, 1828, called the Madison Channel Company, to turn the fresh water from the bed of the river.' In the course of the year they threw a dam across the river, a mile and a half from its mouth, and dug a channel for the stream southward towards the sound, half a mile in length, from four to fourteen feet deep, and about eight feet wide at the bottom, by which means the fresh water was turned ofif and the original bed was left open for the action of the water froin the sound. The distance thus appropriated for oyster-ground was about three-fourths of a mile in length and two rods in width, over which '■ Round clams are first protected Oct. 4, 1824, and mussels and other clams also have protection in 1827. Dec. 8, 1877, representatives in General Assembly were requested to secure protection for clams and mussels. ' Statutes of 1882, ch. 6. ' This plan may have been foreshadowed by a vote of the town, Feb. 24, 1791, that a committee should see about altering the course of Neck River. SHELL FISH. I89 they scattered, in 1829, about fourteen hundred bushels of oyster shells. This attempt soon proved a failure and only the bed of the canal choked with bushes and reeds remciins. The town on April 6, 1829, appointed Capt. Frederick Lee its agent to petition the general assembly " that the former and original privilege enjoyed be restored to this Town, of fishing & of all the other privileges in the Hammonassett River & other waters, which were originally in the limits of this Town," but are now in Killingworth, and, on August 31, Billy Dowd is joined with him, " to employ council and defend the first case brought by the Borough of Killingworth against the inhabi- tants of Madison for taking oysters in Hammonassett River,"' to carry the case if necessary to a higher court, and to postpone other such cases until this be decided. On January 17, 1882, Madison acted still more boldly and notified " the Clinton selectmen that Madison intends to maintain its rights and interests as regarding catching and regulating the catching of clams & oysters in Hammonassett River, as reserved to it by act of 1790," and notified all persons that have oysters planted on ground under control of Madison to remove them before May i, 1882. The first Madison oyster law, passed April 6, 1829, provided that the selectmen might mark out places on any flats by any river, save Neck River above Leete's landing, between high and low water mark, where persons might lay down oysters for their own benefit and take them up at any time after a year. On November 5, 1832, a committee was ap- pointed to confer with similar committees from Guilford and Killing- worth about taking of oysters in East and Hammonassett Rivers and, a year later, another committee was appointed to stake out ground on the East River flats for laying down oysters. On April i, 1835, the first restrictive law was passed, that no oysters, nor round clams, be taken with tongs or rakes in East River at night, nor over one bushel for a person each day, and that the small oysters and refuse shells must be culled and thrown overboard, at the place where they were taken, under penalty of $7 for each offence, the fine to go to any one prosecuting oiifenders. On October 3, 1842, Madison dissented from the act of the legislature, passed June 10, 1842, to promote the growing of oysters. On November 7, 1848, Madison enacted a by-law that no oysters be taken in East or Neck Rivers, save on Tuesdays and Saturdays, be- tween sunrise and sunset, nor over two bushels each day for a person or boat, and that no oysters taken in Madison or Guilford be laid down in East or Neck Rivers. The penalty for not culling on the spot was raised to $15. On October 4, 1880, $300 were appropriated to see that no one took in one day more than two bushels of oysters, oyster shells. 190 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. stones or clams, on any flats, rivers, creeks, or waters in Madison. The penalty for so doing was to be $20. On January 17, 1882, Madison directed the selectmen to appoint two constables to see that the act of the legislature that month be executed/ ' On Dec. 21, 1882, the town directed 300 acres in Long Island Sound to be sold to Horace Fowler for $1 an acre. CHAPTER XXVII. Madison. An attempt was made in 1783 to make East Guilford' a separate town. The town voted favorably on a petition to that effect on Feb- ruary 24, and appointed a committee of five to arrange for the separa- tion. From their report on April 22 we see that the proposed town did not include all Madison, but only the first society thereof. The committee provided for a division between the old town and the new one, of powder and ball, of the poor, of debts, and of the value of the corn mills. This report, save as to the division of the corn mills, was adopted by the town, but for some unknown reason the matter went no further. The project did not come up again until April 5, 1824, when a committee was appointed for the same purpose as before and reported on April 26. The new town was taken from Guilford and incorporated by the Legislature of the State at their session at New Haven, May, 1826. It was called Madison after James Madison, late President of the United States. In another place we have given an account of its boundaries and dimensions, and of its purchase from the natives. It includes the original parishes of East Guilford and North Bristol, now Madison and North Madison, and a small tract of land previously belonging to the first parish of Guilford. The town was divided in 1838 into eleven school districts, six in Madison and five in North Madison. After Madison was made a town on October 2, 1826, Guilford appointed a committee to confer with her about dividing the town property and laying out the boundary ."^ For this latter purpose another committee was appointed on April 7, 1828. On June 19, 1826, was held the first Madison town meeting at " the Presbyterian meeting-house in East Guilford," and the basement of the same Congregational Church still receives the meetings of the citizens. Capt. Frederick Lee was the first moderator, and a town clerk, four selectmen, a treasurer, three constables, two assessors, a board of relief of three, five fence-viewers, three grand-jurors, five tythingmen, seven haywards, a° sealer of weights, two sealers of ' On Feb. 19, 1667, it was voted that this portion of the Town should be called " forever the East En'd of Guilford." " Madison appointed similar committees on Oct. 18, 1826. ° Nov. 9, 1829, selectmen are ordered to procure standard weights and meas- ures for the Town. 192 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. measures, and seven pound-keepers were elected. North Madison at first was of relatively much greater importance in the politics of the town than now. The annual town meeting, held the first Monday in November' until 1830, was held on alternate years in each part of the town, and in the year in which it was held in Madison the freeman's meeting in April was held in North Madison. On October 5, 1835, it was determined that North Madison should have only one-third of the town meetings. On March 17, 1851, it was decided that all " electors' " meetings and special town meetings should be held in Madison. On March 31, North Madison's proportion of all sorts of town meetings was made one-fourth. On July ix, 1871, North Madi- son was made a separate voting district; but all town meetings of whatever sort were henceforth to be held in Madison. On October 6, 1879, the town petitioned to have this separate voting district abolished, which request was granted by the Legislature, March 9, 1880. On April 29, 1842, the town voted to oppose an effort of Wm. Blatchley and others to have North Madison made a separate town, but -on May i, 1846, it granted permission to Evelyn Scranton and others to have the extreme northern part of the town set off to Dur- ham. Neither effort succeeded.'' The shore-line of the Town runs eastward from Guilford bounds until it approaches within a mile and a half of Killingworth, where it bends to the southeast, perhaps for a mile, and terminates at the point called Hammonasset Point. Between this bend and Killingworth harbor is a large and very valuable tract of salt marsh, belonging principally to Madison; immediately back of the Point are some uplands called Meigs Island, from the name of a former owner, others further back are Dowd's and Willard's Islands. The southwestern part of Madison, from one-half to three-fourths of a mile from the Sound, is a moderately elevated plain. Another plain of smaller extent occurs on the Sound, a mile and a half east- ward, and another on the Hammonassett River, north of the great salt marsh. Large portions of the other parts of Madison are broken, although level and cultivatable grounds to a considerable extent are found in different places. ^ Afterwards on the first Monday in October until 1836, when it was changed to November. In 1839 changed to October. ' An interesting vote was passed on Oct. 3, 1887, " Whereas, for the last 30 years at every annual Town Meeting, Wm. S. Hull has been present and exerted his influence on behalf of the best interests of the Town, resolved that his absence to-day is extremely regretted and our sympathies are with him in his present confinement and our hope is that he may soon be restored to the activities of life." MADISON. 193 There are no hills of any great elevation. The principal are Cedar Hill, Long Hill, Hasty-Pudding Hill, and Green Hill. The whole parish, when viewed from Clapboard Hill in Guilford and other high grounds in that vicinity, has the appearance of lying low and flat. The general character of the soil in the southern part is of a sandy loam, not remarkable originally for strength, but capable of being rendered rich and very productive by judicious cultivation. The soil in the central and northern part varies in character, but is in most cases gravelly. North Madison is generally rough and hilly, being better adapted for grazing than the culture of grain and corn. Con- siderable portions are yet covered with timber. The hills of most note in this portion of the town are Summer Hill, Cranberry Hill, Walnut Hill and Race Hill. The eastern section of the town is watered by the Hammonassett and its branches, the principal of which are Foster's Brook and Oil Mill Brook in Black Rock or Rockland district in North Madison. The western section is watered by East River and Neck River. The last rises near the centre of North Madison, runs southerly to within a mile of the Sound, turns westward and unites with East River at the western line of the town. Between this river and the Sound is a valuable tract of land called the Neck. The road through the south part of Madison is level and uncom- monly beautiful, passing through a region well settled, principally by farmers, whose buildings and grounds indicate comfort and prosperity; it commands, for a considerable part of the way, a clear view of the Sound, of Faulkner's Island, and of the shore of Long Island, the occasional looming up of which presents a magnificent view. The magnificent stretch of hard sand beach, the glory of the town, extending for some five miles, early proved attractive to summer visi- tors, who now dot the shore with their cottages from the Neck to Hammonassett Point and contribute much to the prosperity of the town. Many also board during the summer months with the towns- people, enjoying the beauties of the Green and of Boston Street. The Hammonassett House, near East Wharf, is generally well fflled during the warm season. The town has made the coast more attractive since 1880, by making a shore road from the Green to Webster Point. It is to be hoped this will be soon carried westward towards and beyond West Wharf. The Green was formerly an open common, crossed by numerous cart paths and encumbered with buildings of various sorts. The meeting-house disputed possession with a tannery and an alder swamp. The " School Pond," which covered the northern part of the Green 194 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. and the highway in front of the church, was filled up largely through the influence of Rev. S. N. Shepard. This was a work of great magnitude, to perform which the people, with much public spirit, turned out with their teams by districts, until the work was accom- plished. On October 25, 1826, the ist Society voted to appropriate and sequester the land for a " Publick Square and parade ground, and for other publick purposes, for all citizens of this society and others to use, improve, and enjoy." ^ March 3, 1842, it was voted inexpedient to have the ground incumbered with any building or buildings. May 12, 1845, the society gave to Thomas Scranton, Timothy V. Meigs, Baldwin Hart, and their associates " the privilege of railing in the Public Green or Square, also to set out trees and level the square and make such improvements as may be deemed judicious."' Thus Madi- son received its pleasant park, containing about four acres of ground. Magnetic iron is found in North Madison, two and one-half miles west of the meeting-house, on land of Col. Benton.' A place called Brimstone Ledge, a little east of North Madison meeting-house, pre- sents favorable indications of spathic iron, along with magnetic iron pyrites. A bed of massive garnet, apparently of inexhaustible extent, is found at North Madison. It is situated a quarter of a mile east of the meeting-house, on the Essex turnpike, and very near the road. The rock has the appearance of a fine-grained red sandstone ; but when nearly examined, is extremely brilliant. It is almost wholly made up of garnet, and is reduced to a fine sand with great ease. It is con- nected with the gneiss formation, and attains the surface only for a rod or two in extent. It is much to be desired, writes Shepard, that the proprietors of the locality will soon cause experiments to be made of the adaptability of this mineral for a polishing material. A rose red, fine granular variety (colophonite) of garnet, intermingled with quartz, is found a quarter of a mile further east, forming layers or beds in gneiss. It is not easy to ascertain precisely when settlements commenced in Madison. From the circumstance that lands were surveyed quite early eastward of East River, and that a bridge was thrown across that river in 1649, it is probable that settlements were begun in the town about that period. The first settlements were made at the Neck and near the Hammonassett, the southwestern and southeastern sec- ^ Nov. 13 1826. The Town voted that it might be fenced. 'May 12, 1845. Town granted permission for this, on condition that First Society permit the present roads north of the Green to be laid out. ' Shepard's " Report on the Geological Survey of Connecticut," pp. 16, 37, 66, 143. MADISON. 195 tions of the town, whence they extended towards each other into the Green, along the Sound, thence into the central and upper parts of the town. Nicholas Munger, who came from England when a youth, settled on the north bank of Neck River on the public road, probably as early as 1 65 1. Samuel Stone settled near him, and Reuben Norton a little to the west; they were both from Guilford. Dennis Crampton settled on the Neck in 1660. In a few years after the conditional gift of what is now the east part of the town by George Fenwick, Hammonassett (a tract westward of that river, a considerable part of which had been cleared by the Indians) was used as a common field. In 1650, Guilford encouraged a removal to it, by offering a certain portion of cleared land to every settler for the period of five years, but whether any removed to it on that condition has not been ascertained. In 1656 the upland was surveyed and allotted to each planter in the town according to his lot. Probably about this time (certainly as soon as 1658) the settle- ment began. Some of the first settlers on this spot were Ebenezer Thompson and Nathan Bradley from Guilford; Joseph Hand from East Hampton, L. I.; William Leete, John Scranton, James Hill and John Meigs from Guilford. They were soon joined by Thomas Crut- tenden, also from Guilford, Thomas WiUard from Deeriield and Joseph Wilcox from Middletown. Thomas Dowd settled on the west side of Long Hill in what is now called Liberty Street. With the settlers in the southwestern part of the town, Nathan Bradley, Benjamin Stone, Daniel Blatchley and Caleb Parmelee were early associated; and Josiah and Caleb Bishop, James Lee, Ebenezer Chittenden and Samuel Leete some time afterwards. They were all from Guilford. John Scranton left Hammonassett and settled on the Green. The other settlers within the limits of this district were John and Ebenezer French, John French, Jr., John Grave, Nathaniel Evarts, Cornelius and John Dowd and Thomas Hotchkin from Guilford; Jona- than Hoit from Windsor and Ebenezer Field from Deerfield, Mass. Jonathan Murray from Scotland settled in 1688 in the neighborhood which is now called Scotland, and John Bishop from Guilford some time after settled in the same neighborhood. John Hodgkin soon removed from the Green and settled at the Horsepond, where Ebe- nezer Dudley also settled. Benjamin Hand, son of Joseph, settled on the level grounds north of the Short Rocks. The early settlers on the road north from the Horsepond in the dis- trict called " the Woods " were John Wilcox from Middletown, Moses Blatchley from Guilford, Nathaniel Stevens from Killingworth, Joseph 196 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Hand, Jared Willard, Samuel Field, Josiah and Hull Cruttenden, all sons of settlers of the south part of Madison, and Abraham Dowd and Josiah Dudley from Guilford. John Grave, " the smith," from Hart- ford and Ebenezer Field settled west of the Woods' School House. John Pierson from Killingworth, afterwards minister of Woodbridge, N. J., John Hunger, grandson of Nicholas Hunger, and William Bartlett, an Englishman, who came here from Barbadoes, settled in the neighborhood called Flanders. Ebenezer Grave, sofi of John Grave the elder, Ebenezer Field 2d, and Josiah Evarts from Guilford settled in the neighborhood called Copse. Jonathan Lee from Guilford settled north of them, and Ebe- nezer Hunger, brother of Jno., to the west of Neck River. Nathaniel and John Allis from Bolton and Jonathan Judd from Farmington settled within the limits of the Green district. Thomas Wilcox from Hiddletown, ancestor of a part of the families now bear- ing that name, settled on the Neck. Jedediah Coe from Durham settled at the Horsepond, and Christopher Foster from Southampton, L. I., in the Woods district about 1745; Jonathan Bassett from Chester and Seth Stone from Guilford in the Neck about 1760. James and Jonathan Evarts and Bezaleel Bristol were some of the first settlers in the neighborhood called " the Quarter." Samuel Chittenden also settled there at an early period. In 1695 there were about 30 families within the limits of Hadison parish. In Harch, 1703, thirty-one persons petitioned for Society privileges, and there were also some inhabitants who did not sign the petition. Deacon Bela Hunger wrote the following historical sketch in 1829; " The parish of North Madison remained a wilderness for many years after the settlement of other portions of the old town of Guilford.' " The first dwelling house was built by a man of the name of Blin, near the southwest corner of the parish. There were then no settle- ments nearer than the seashore, and during a severe winter he came near perishing from want of food. The settlers after two days of labor succeeded in beating a path to his house, and took him with them to the older settlements. ' March 6, 1692-3, the Town ordered two places to be laid out for cohabita- tion, one ■' on the East side of the Town from the Little Meadow at the west branch oi the East River across to the top of the hill called high Hill and so over to Hammonassett River running up to the tower Straites and so oflE to the Blufif Head." On Dec. 19, I733, the Black Rock farmers were allowed to build a pound. MADISON. 197 " The first permanent settlement was made about 1725. The first families were, in the south part, Samuel Turner, David Dudley, Joshua Bishop, Josiah Hunger, Judah Evarts, John Allis, Bezaleel Bristol, Thomas French, Isaac Johnson, Obadiah Wilcox. These were soon followed by others, among whom were John Hopson, Caleb Munger, Thomas Dowd, Enos Bishop, Nathaniel Stevens, Joshua Blatchley in the south part; Demetrius Crampton, David Dudley 2nd, Zacharias Field and Samuel Field in the middle; and Daniel Seward from Killingworth, Asher Seward and two families of Wrights in the north part. The northwest part of the parish, being the western part of the North School district, remained unsettled till 1787 or '8, after which period it was rapidly settled, and from 1800 to 1810 there were many more inhabitants there than there are at present. " Demetrius Crampton was the first person buried in the west bury- ing-ground, which was in 1754. Deacon Thomas French in 1772 was the first buried in the east ground; Mr. Jacob Richmond in 1793 the first in the north ground. " Of the early settlers, being 23 families, the following 12 have no descendants now in the parish: Samuel Turner, David Dudley, Joshua Bishop, Judah Evarts, John Allis, Obediah Wilcox, Zachariah Field and Samuel Field, Daniel Seward, Asher Seward, the two Wrights. The families now (1820) living here are Bentons 2, Blatchley 3, Bishop 1, Bristol I, Bebee i, Bailly i, Crampton 2, Chittenden i. Cooper i, Coan 3, Dudley i, Dowd 2, Davis 2, Field 6, French i, Green i, Hop- son 2, Hill 4, Hall 2, Harrison 2, Johnson 6, Jones 4, Kelsey i. Leach 2, Munger 7, Norton 6, Nettleton i, Pardee 2, Richmond 2, Rogers 2, Stevens 9, Stannard i, Scranton 3, Stone 4, Tucker i, Talmadge i, TooUy I, Thompson 2, Walkley 2, West 2. 99 families and about 500 persons." " The majority^ of the people of Madison are engaged in cultivating the soil and derive their support directly from the ground. All parts of the town formerly produced wheat, and Madison parish was dis- tinguished also for its corn and flax. The Hessian fly and other adverse agencies caused the raising of wheat to receive less attention than formerly. " The people have long been accustomed to enrich their lands with shells, rockweed and seaweed procured from the Sound, as well as by barnyard manure. In 1799 they began using the whitefish which are found along the shore in immense numbers in the warm season of the year. For this purpose their long smooth beaches give them ' This is quoted from the MSS. of Rev. D. D. Field. 198 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. great advantages. They were now employed abundantly not only in this town, but were carried to farms in other towns. They have a remarkable effect, whether scattered immediately upon the ground and ploughed in, or gathered into heaps and composted with leaves, earth, etc., and after being thus reduced, spread upon the ground and covered with the furrow. Their action is best upon low, cold, dead grounds, and they are believed to secure grain from winter killing. In consequence of the use of this fertilizing material, some of the best crops of rye, corn, potatoes and grass are raised yearly in Madison that can be found in the State." Says Prest. Dwight : " The soil of East Guilford is naturally less rich than that on which the town is built, but, being extensively manured with whitefish, yields abundant crops. ... A single net has taken 200,000 in a day. They are sold for a dollar a thousand and are said to affect the soil advantageously for a considerable length of time. The people of East Guilford are not a little indebted to them for their present prosperity. One very disagreeable circumstance attends this mode of husbandry. At the season when the whitefish are caught in the greatest quantities, an almost intolerable fetor fills the surround- ing atmosphere, and however use may have reconciled to it the senses of the inhabitants, it is extremely disgusting to a traveller."' In the summer of 1792 or '3 a company from Newport, R. I., es- tablished a porpoise fishery on the long beach in the western part of the town, taking as many as 600 or 700 porpoises in a season, and in one case 75 at a draught. Their skins were tanned, making good leather for smith's bellows and similar purposes. The fatty parts of the body were tried for oil, while the remainder was used for manure. A full-grown porpoise would yield 6 gallons of clear oil, fitted for illuminating or other purposes for which whale oil is ordinarily em- ployed. The business was said to have been profitable, but the por- poises soon ceased to frequent a region where such extensive depreda- tions were made upon their numbers. Formerly the inhabitants of this town depended too much upon the extensive salt marshes in the southeast part of the town and on Neck and East Rivers for the support of their stock. Of later years they have gone extensively into the practice of putting their lands in other grasses, which when mingled with the black hay from the marshes enables them to keep a large number of cattle and in a better condition. 'Travels II, p. 488 sq. CHAPTER XXVIII. North Guilford. Part of North Guilford was contained in the original purchase from the Sachem squaw and the rest of it was obtained from Nausup in 1685. It was not settled until some time afterwards, not being sur- veyed and divided until 1705. " Soon after this, men were accustomed to go up from the First Society on Monday of each week to clear their lands and to return on Saturday. From the circumstance of their dwelling together through the week, the place began to be called Cohabit, a name which it long retained." This is first referred to on March 6th, 1692-3, when the town " voted to order & appoint two places for Cohabitation, w"'' should be sequestered and set apart — One on the West side of West River at the upper end of Green Swamp, across an East & West line from the West River to Branford Bounds & so upward to the top of Toket Hill." The name again appears on May 30, when a committee is appointed to report " where it will be needful for highways, up as high as the Cohabitation Land." The land was not laid out, however, until on April 24, 1705, a committee cornposed of Capt. Abm. Fowler, Ens. Nath. Stone, Mr. Jas. Hooker, Joseph Hand, John Lee, and Josiah Rossiter was appointed " to prepare something for the laying out of the Cohabita- tion land." Just how this was done comes more properly under the head of the Division of Land. The land was soon taken up, so that on December 6, 1716, the town voted to grant the petition of the " North Farmers in Guilford," that they may have " the liberty to hire a minister for 4 months for their ease in attending the worship of God, the Town being at no charge in contributing to the same." The signers of this petition were Nathaniel Parks, William Dudley, Josiah Stone, Sam'l Fowler, Samuel Hopson and Benjamin Watrous. The first of these was from East Guilford, the others from the First Society, as were Timothy and Nathaniel Baldwin, George and Daniel Bartlett, Ebenezer and Joseph Benton, Ebenezer and Samuel Bishop, Joseph Clark, John and Daniel Collins, Joseph Fowler, William Hall, John Hubbard, Benjamin Leete, Jona- than Robinson, Joshua Stone, Theophilus Rossiter and Ebenezer Talman. Joseph Chidsey moved over from East Haven " and the 200 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. ancestors of some other families moved into this section of the Town some time afterwards." In fact the population increased so rapidly that on February 9, 1719-20, the town, being petitioned by the Cohabi- tation farmers, looking forward to the time when they " shall be capable of setting up the public worship of God & of maintaining a minister among themselves," grants them boundaries " from Branford bounds at the South end of Joseph Stone's land by the South side of Capt Ward's land, where Andrew Ward Jr. now dwells, & thence eastward to Durham Road & then to Wills' Meadow & North to Dur- ham bounds." The town further granted 50 acres on Hooker's Hill " to be disposed for the ministry forever," and permitted the meeting- house to be set " on the hill called the ledge, in the highway against Sam'l Bishop's lot." In May, 1720, the General Assembly confirmed the above-men- rioned bounds to " the northwestern inhabitants of the town of Guil- ford," and empowered them, " by a major vote," to levy a tax " for the building a meeting house and for defraying ministerial charges, while they were freed from paying any thing towards the ministerial charges in the town of Guilford, when and so long as they shall have a minister of the gospel among them."^ They could not, however, entirely pay a minister's salary, and the town on Decejnber 10, 1723, acting as a missionary society, granted the north society '' £10 yearly for the support of a minister, for the space of 5 years after there is a settled minister & no longer." A year later the town still further showed its generosity by a promise of £3 from the town treasury to the North Society, when it should procure a bell for its meeting-house. In May, 1725, the General Assembly granted the inhabitants of the north society liberty "to imbody into church estate and to call and settle an orthodox minister of the gospel among them, with the appro- bation of the neighboring churches,"' and in October, 1725, the same body allowed the north society to lay a tax of a penny an acre for four years on all the lands in the parish to pay for the maintenance of the gospel." The society received its present name in May, 1727, when the General Assembly ordered that it be called North Guilford.* This name does not appear on town records until December 25, 1732. The history of the churches is related in its proper place. In secular matters, little of note has happened in North Guilford, which has ever been a peaceful farming community. In May, 1743, there was an attempt to form a new parish out of parts of Guilford, Branford and ' Conn. Col. Rec. VI, p. 176. ' Conn. Col. Rec. VI, p. 533. ' Conn. Col. Rec. VI. p. 572. ■* Conn. Col. Rec. VII, p. 95. NORTH GUILFORD. 201 Wallingford on the petition of Peter Fyler, John Baldwin and others. A committee was appointed to examine the state of afifairs and, as the committee did not act, another was appointed' in October, 1743. On January 11, 1745-6, the First Society voted to allow those who could most conveniently attend worship in Durham to do so and to pay all their society rates there, and thus the matter was probably smoothed over. The first inhabitants were people of property and of strong religious principles and purposes. The society has been noted for the elevation of its views and aims respecting education and the number of educated men it has sent forth. A postofifice has been established here for many years. "■ Conn. Col. Rec. VIII. pp. S31, 5S6. CHAPTER XXIX. Falcon or Faulkner's Island. This island first appears in the agreement between Uncas and the settlers on December 17, 1641, when the former sells the latter " the island which lyeth in the sea before the said lands called by the Eng- lish Falcon Island and by the Indians Messananunck." The name came from the birds which frequented it, and of late years it has been changed because of popular ignorance. The island was desired by Mr. Andrew Leete, and on October 18, 1677, he obtained leave from the General Court at Hartford to purchase it and Goose Island,' a smaller one about a mile to the west. Mr. Leete transferred the islands to some unknown person, the deed being lost and not recorded. Somehow Isaac Parmelee' be- came possessed of one-half of them and sold his share on April 7, 1 71 5, to Timothy Baldwin, who already owned the other half, which he obtained in equally mysterious manner. The same day the whole was sold to Thomas Islop, who on the first of May following disposed of them to Ebenezer and Caleb Stone. The islands are described as containing respectively ^Yz and J4 acres. On October 31, 1715, Thomas Stone, father of those previously mentioned, executes in their favor a deed for these two islands, to which he must have had some claim. Ebenezer Stone deeded his half to his son Seth, October 5, 1761, and Caleb Stone transmitted his share to his sons Caleb and Reuben. Seth Stone in his will, dated October 18, 1780, bequeaths his part of " Fortune Island " to Noah Stone. Noah Stone probably bought out the other owners. On May 19, 1800, he paid Medad Stone $158.34 for his share, and on May 12, 1801, sold the whole island to the United States Government for $325.00. During the i8th century it was the " custom of the farmers owning the island to go there in the spring, plow the land, plant the crops, and come home at night." ' The oxen were usually taken over in a scow. As soon as the United States bought the island it placed a keeper there and began the erection of a lighthouse. The light was kept by Joseph " Conn. Col. Rec. II, p. 325. ' Proprietors' Records VI, pp. 103, 277, 288; XVII, pp. 87-88. ' F. C. Norton, articles in Guilford Echo. FALCON OR FAULKNER S ISLAND. 2O3 Griffing until 1808, when he was succeeded by Solomon Stone. During the early years of the century a vessel was wrecked on Goose Island and its crew of seven men perished from cold. The island was several times visited by boats from English men-of-war during the War of 1812, but no harm was done to the people or property, as a good light was kept burning. In 1818, Eli Kimberley became keeper and continued in that office until succeeded by Captain Oliver N. Brooks in 1851. He held the position of keeper until 1882. His bravery in saving five lives from the wreck of the schooner Moses F. Webb, on November 23, 1858, obtained him a gold medal from the Society for the Preservation of Life of New York and the Life Saving Benevolent Association. During his long term of office he rendered assistance to 71 vessels, eight of which were nearly total wrecks. In 1875 the crew of the steamer Woodward were saved through the exer- tions of Captain Brooks and his family. Mr. William Jones suc- ceeded Captain Brooks when the latter retired to the mainland in 1882, and was himself succeeded in 1890 by the present keeper, Mr. Ernest Herrman. A fine large tree stood on the island for many years and was a conspicuous landmark until it was uprooted in the gales during the summer of 1893. The fog horn was placed on the island in 1879 and the present lighthouse built in 1801. The ownership of Faulkner's Island was disputed between New York and Connecticut for many years. Finally, about 1880, it was determined to be within the limits of the latter State. CHAPTER XXX. Leete's Island. This district, so called from its being surrounded by salt water at high tide, when the salt marshes are flooded, was granted to Gov. William Leete, from whom it takes its name. On January 15, i66q-i, he " propounded to the freemen to know upon what terms I stood with the plantation with respect to ye Island granted and ye fencing of 6 or 8 acres for my horse pasture." It seems that Dr. Rossiter had objected to the grant previously, but now he said that he looked on " the grant to be clear to me & mine for ever, or words to that eiJect, & all else silently or expressly gave consent to w*. he said." On the margin Deacon William Johnson, when he was town clerk, wrote that three men were appointed on February 9, 1667-8, " to lay out the Island to Mr. Leete." Leete's Island probably remained a horse pasture until Pelatiah Leete, a grandson of the Governor, settled there about 1706. He built his house where Deacon E. Walter Leete lives and was a prominent man. He is said to have owned 100 head of cattle. His brother, Joshua Leete, from whom Joshua's Point, on the east side of Island Bay, is named, went there about the same time and built a house between Roger Leete's and the road leading from the highway to the sea. Before the Revolution there were only 5 or 6 houses on the island, and John Morse, a singular man, was the only inhabitant not of the Leete family. Tradition has it that a Collins had salt works on Col- lins's Island in Great Harbor during the Revolution. The story of the British attack on the island is elsewhere told. A postoffice was estab- lished at Leete's Island some years since, and it is a station on the Shore Line Railroad.'' The establishment of large quarries here in recent years has greatly increased its population and importance. Sachem's Head and Guilford Harbor. Sachem's Head° is the name given to the termination of a rocky ridge of land, extending out from the adjacent country until it over- looks the sea, in the southwest part of the town of Guilford, in Con- ' Many of these facts are from a paper read before the Halleck Circle in 1889 on " Leete's Island Traditions," by C. M. Leete, Jr. " From MSS. of R. D. Smyth. LEETE's island, sachem's head and GUILFORD HARBOR. 2O5 necticut. The eastern edge of this ridge is bounded by Bloody Cove, a small bay skirted by a smooth beach of white sand, receding back a short distance into the mainland towards the north. From this cove the shore rises abruptly on the side of the rock some twenty or thirty feet. Thence it gradually slopes again, curving towards the south- west some two hundred rods, where rising it forms the rounded head- land which has obtained the homely name of Chimney Corner, from its fancied resemblance to those almost discarded conveniences of olden time. From this point the harbor is formed by the sea return- ing suddenly back in a semi-elliptical form into the mainland from the west. From the eastern extremity of the harbor a strip of marsh extends still farther eastward, along the whole front of the Sachem's Head ridge, nearly back to the cove, leaving a long narrow tongue of land on the south side of the marsh and harbor. Formerly, and until some fifty years since, this strip of land was covered with a thick growth of trees and underwood, of which only a few sassafras trunks, with their thick leaves, are left remaining near the headland. About the middle of this tract of land are two or three granite boulders.^ The north and west sides of the harbor are bounded by another prom- ontory, called Caldwell's Point, projecting its abrupt granite sides into the sea. The ridge of land first mentioned is the seat of " the Sachem's Head House," a place of resort during the summer months. Sachem's Head derives its name from certain incidents which occurred here during the Pequot war and before any settlements were made by the English on the seacoast of Connecticut westward of Saybrook. In the beginning of the month of May, 1637, Sassacus, the great Sachem of the Pequots, could boast of more subjects and of a prouder and more prosperous sway than any other Sachem or Saga- more of New England. Having introduced himself and his followers into Connecticut about the year 1617, and soon after the great sick- ness among the Indians along this part of the coast had depopulated the people and wasted the forces of their chiefs, he went on from con- quest to conquest, until he finally fixed himself and his nation in the vicinity of the present city of New London, upon some of the finest territory and best hunting grounds in the country. Tribe after tribe yielded to his arms, until no fewer than twenty-six Sachems or great war captains owned his dominion, and he could muster more than seven hundred bowmen into the field. The terror of his name spread from the Hudson to the Penobscot, and all the Sagamores of this extended region were fain to purchase their peace with presents and tribute. He was now too in the full vigor of manhood, and equally distinguished for native courage and physical hardihood and prowess. 206 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The site of his principal fortress was on a most beautiful eminence, surrounded by cornfields, on the banks of the Pogmumock, in the present town of Groton, commanding an extended view of the Sound and the adjacent country. Another fort, situated on the Mystic, a little to the eastward of the principal fort at Pequot, equally well chosen, commanded an eminence and a surrounding country hardly less beautiful. Encouraged by his success, the haughty Sassacus and his Pequots made repeated and unprovoked attacks upon the out- posts of the early settlers of Connecticut, and Captain Stone and Captain Norton, and subsequently Mr. Oldham, with many others, of both sexes and of all ages, became the victims of their treachery and cruelty. Grown insolent and audacious beyond measure, they besieged the English in their fort at Saybrook, during the winter and spring of 1637, and danced before the fort, clad in the attire of their victims, both male and female, and imitating their agonies in cruel mockery, they boasted that " they could kill the English like musqui- toes." But the destruction of the fort, on the Mystic, by Captain Mason, the morning of the 26th of May, 1637, struck a death-blow at the fortunes of Sassacus. Terrible was the conflict, yet so sudden and rapid was the attack that in little more than an hour, as the light of the moon, which had guided on the assailants, gave way to the first gray of the morning, the work of destruction was finished. Seventy wigwams were burnt and more than six hundred Indians perished, either by the sword or in the flames. Of all the Indians in the fort at Mystic, only seven escaped to tell the tale, and only seven more were taken prisoners. The same morning after this miserable overthrow, Sassacus with his remaining warriors, numbering about three hundred, were seen approaching the fort, prepared to lead the tribe on to the extermination of the white people of New England. He found only the smouldering and mangled remains of his bravest troops, mingled together with parents and children, saunup and squaw, old man and babe, in one promiscuous ruin. Terrible was the consternation of his followers. It is said that they stamped on the ground and tore their hair as they recognized fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, wives and children, strewn bleeding and scorched, among the smoking remains of their homes. Vain were all attempts at revenge! They seem from that hour to have been wholly unnerved for conflict, and ever after, says Captain Mason, even to the close of the war, their feeble resistance hardly deserved the name of fighting. Their rage was turned against themselves and their leaders, and they filled the air with complaints and reproaches. They charged their misfortunes especially to the haughtiness and misconduct of Sassacus, and nothing LEETE's island, sachem's head and GUILFORD HARBOR. 2O7 but the energy of his more immediate friends could save his life from their fury. Growing, however, gradually more calm, the remaining chiefs and fathers assembled in council, and there resolved — fore- shadowing the fate of the red men in successive generations — to retire to the recesses of the far west, to the regions of the setting sun, from whence they sprang, where the white men never came. They de- stroyed their beautiful fort at Pequot and sadly they gathered up the relics of their shattered fortunes, and two weeks after they were seen with their wives and children moving on towards the Hudson. But Captain Mason and his little band having refreshed themselves with a short respite from their almost unexampled toil, — with the pious Weekwash and the crafty Uncas, himself a Pequot and near kinsman of Sassacus, and the other Indians hostile to Sassacus, who in the pride of his power were wont to regard him with awe " as all one as God," but who, with a spirit not peculiar to the savage, were quite ready to turn against him in his adverse fortunes, — were on their track. They were reinforced too by fresh troops from Massachusetts, under Captain Stoughton, with the Reverend Mr. Wilson, their chaplain, and Mr. Ludlow from Connecticut, who met them at Saybrook, ready to assist in exterminating an enemy who had been so troublesome. Upon a general consultation, it was resolved to pursue the Pequots in their retreat to the westward. A portion of the troops took shipping at Saybrook and coasted along the shore as far as the friendly village of Quillipiack, now New Haven ; but Uncas and Weekwash with their Indians and a few of the English soldiers commenced their march by land. They soon came to places where the Pequots had made their nightly encampments as they moved on. Encumbered, as they were, with their families and effects, they proceeded slowly, and these places of rest were not very far distant from each other. Villages of Pequots were scattered along, among the Connecticut Indians, who collected about their brethren in their retreat. The Pequots having left their homes on the Thames and Mystic before the gathering of their corn harvest, became soon distressed for food for themselves and their families, and were consequently obliged to break up into detached parties, procuring a precarious subsistence from the clams on the shore and the game and berries in the woods and fields on their way. One of these parties, as it proceeded along, encamped for the night at the head of the little cove described in the commencement of this article, a small distance to the eastward of where the Sachem's Head House now stands, in the then village of Sachemdom of Menuncatuck. Uncas scouring the coast with his Mohegans was upon their trail, and learning of their proximity from his father-in-law the Sachem Sebe- 208 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. quounosh, "who dwelt at Hammonassett," he prepared to attack them in their encampment. They met in conflict at the head of the cove. The Pequots were commanded by two of Sassacus' Sachems or captains. Uncas was assisted by Weekwash, a few of the Connecticut soldiers, and probably by some of the Indians of his Sachem father- in-law at Hammonassett. Uncas and his Mohegans were victorious, but not, however, until numbers of both the contending parties and one of the Pequot Sachems had fallen, and the beach and the tide were stained with their blood, thus giving the name of Bloody Cove to the spot, which it has borne to this day. The other Sachem, with a few of his Pequots, proceeded out on the narrow tongue of land, lying between the marsh and harbor and the sea, hoping to escape the notice of their enemies. Uncas, however, detecting the stratagem, ordered some of his men to scour the point, which the Pequots per- ceiving, they endeavored to swim across the mouth of the harbor. But here again they were intercepted by Uncas, just as they were about gaining the opposite point, and made prisoners as they landed. A council was held and the sachem was condemned to be shot to death. Uncas himself is said to have shot him with an arrow. He cut off his head and set it up in the fork of a large oak tree — on the top of the ridge, — whose elevated trunk, stript of most of its branches, overlooked the Sound and the islands in the distance. Here it remained for many years, a ghastly object of terror and superstition to the peaceful Indians of the vicinity, and before the English planters had purchased Menuncatuck of the natives or settled the town of Guilford, this spot had obtained the name of Sachem's Head, a name which it will probably bear as long as the descendants of the Puritans shall dwell in the borders of Connecticut. The remnants of the Pequots were pursued to their hiding places, every wigwam was burned, every village and cornfield was laid waste. Another battle of extermination was fought in the great swamp at Fairfield, almost as disastrous to the Pequots as that on the banks of the Mystic. Sassacus, broken-spirited by these accumulated disasters, escaped to the Mohawks, and was there plundered of his treasures and soon after murdered by his countrymen, to whom he had fled for protection.' ' Accounts of the combat at Sachem's Head are also to be found in Winthrop's History, I, 233; Trumbull's Connecticut, I, 83; Hubbard's Narrative, 39 and 40; Ruggles' History of Guilford; Deforest's Indians of Connecticut, p. 144; Hol- lister's Connecticut, I, 68. Trumbull and HoUister say the two sachems were captives whose lives had been spared on condition that they act as guides, and as they refused so to do they were here beheaded. LEETE's island, sachem's head and GUILFORD HARBOR. 2O9 " The Sachem's Head House " mentioned in the foregoing sketch was large and commodious, adapted for the accommodation of sev- eral hundred guests and supplied with grounds beautifully laid out for the amusement of visitors. It was built in 1832 and was the larg- est summer hotel between New York and Newport. Destroyed by fire in June, 1865, it has not since been rebuilt. Of late years Sach- em's Head has been revived as a summer resort. John W. Barker's " Sachem's Head House " was built in 1879, and it and Roberts' board- ing-house are generally well filled during the summer season, though most of the visitors occupy neat and tasteful cottages, of which nearly fifty have been erected on Chimney Corner and Vineyard Point, at the entrance to Bloody Cove. Sachem's Head has been a flag- station on the Shore Line Railroad in the summer since about 1882. The Sachem's Head " harbor' was formerly much used as a station for night by vessels traversing the Sound before light-houses were erected, especially in the cold and stormy seasons of the year. Before the Revolutionary War it was also a favorite place for the shipping of cattle for the West India trade, driven hither not only from this town, but from towns on the Connecticut River, particularly from Middle- town." A little southwest from this harbor and to the east of Leete's Island is another, not much used, called Great Harbor. It is shallow and not convenient for vessels. Formerly shad and bass were sometimes caught within its limits in considerable quantities in the spring of the year. Guilford Harbor affords but an indifferent station for vessels. It has six feet of water on the bar at its entrance at low and twelve feet at full tide. In 1680 the harbor is called' " a pretty good tide harbor " in the " Answers to Queries," etc., and it is stated that " vessells of about 30 or 40 tun may come in." An application was made to Congress in 1837 for an appropriation for the building of a breakwater, which probably would have been obtained had it not been for the critical condition of the commercial affairs of the country, which so crippled its resources that no new harbor improvements could be undertaken. The application has not been renewed. In the harbor, on " Point of Rocks,"' to the east of the mouth of ' It is small but good, " land-locked, or rather rock-locked, on all sides except the southwest, where the entrance is narrow." ' Conn. Col. Rec. Ill, 297. " N. H. Col. H. Soc. Coll. Ill, 107. One of earliest lawsuits in Colony of New Haven by Mr. Evance agt. Capt. Jno. Charles for carelessly wrecking a vessel belonging to him, homeward from Azores and lo^t off Guilford Point with " certayne pipes of Madeira wine," etc., valued at iioo. N. H. Col. Rec. I, 27. 2IO HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. West River, is the Point House. " It is only open in the summer season, when its accommodations are fully tested by the fashionable and valetudinarian guests from Connecticut, who are tempted by the attractions of sea food and the hygienic luxuries of sea bathing and sea air." There has been a hotel on this point since 1797. Part of the present house was built as early as 1832, but the chief reputation of the Point House dates from the beginning of the management of Mr. Robert Hunt in 1844. In 1855 an addition to the hotel was built. Mr. James Hunt, son of the former proprietor of that name, was asso- ciated in the management for many years and has had entire control since the death of his father in 1890. A fire of unknown origin de- stroyed most of the hotel in April, 1897. There are few seaside resorts which have been managed by one family for over fifty years, and very few which have been pleasanter stopping places than the " Point." As early as 1820 we find Guilford's advantages as a resort thus stated: " This town being pleasantly situated on the seaboard; affording in the summer months a cool and salubrious atmosphere; having an abundant supply of shell and other salt-water fish; and possessing various facilities for enjoying the air, healthfulness and pleasantness of the salt water; is, in the warm season, a place of much resort, both for health and pleasure; there being few, if any, towns upon the sea- coast uniting so many agreeable and interesting objects.'" ' Gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island, p. 122. CHAPTER XXXI. Roads and Bridges. The original streets of Guilford village were those on the four sides of the green, Crooked Lane ' now State Street, Petticoat Lane now Fair Street, Disbrow's Lane now Water Street, Hog or South Lane now Whitfield Street, River Street, which apparently had no name, and Boston Street, opened as soon as men began tO' go eastward. Of course the roads were very rough in the early days, little more than cart tracks.^ Officers, called surveyors of highways, to attend to mat- ters connected with roads, were chosen as early as October 7, 1646. The first road we find them directed to lay out was that towards Nut Plains, voted on March 2, J646-7, at which time a new board of sur- veyors was appointed " to see that the nearest and best wayes to all land may be set out, so far as may be convenient for ye publicque good." How the roads were made is seen from a vote of May 22, 1648, that the " overseers for highways " should " warn the plantatio to make two comon days work this year." Over swamps and low places brush was used for a temporary expedient," till there was time to put earth down. The " More Fixed Agreements " have a section on " clearing and re- pairing of ways," ' in which it is enacted that any one felling a tree or making a ditch in any streets or highways to the annoyance of the same, " shall clear away the tree, as well the brush as the body, and make sufficient bridges over the said dykes within three days," or be fined. Further, that all highways, "whether they lye between men's lotts, or thorow any man's lands, yet shall the . . . bee repaired & made fit for the use of carting ... at the comon charge, either out of the treasury, or by comon dayes workes." In case a man's land was damaged by the passage of a highway through it, the town would make him a grant of other land to recom- pense him.° The town was anxious to have good roads and, on Octo- ' Opened Oct. 9, 1645. North Street was laid out April 4, 1658. Oak Street is mentioned Dec. 11, 1667. ' Feb. 16, 1647-8, Brother Hoadley appointed to make a gate & to hang it & Henry Doud to make a fence at Mr. Caffinch's, corner Fair & York Sts. ' Vide Feb. 20, 1649. ' G. T. R. Book B, p. 12. ' Vide Jan. 23, 1676, Nov. 1706. 212 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. ber I, 1678, unanimously resolved to appoint a committee " to prepare and draw up something for the regulating and setting out of the streets of the Town and all necessary highways." A month later this vote was followed by another, appointing the townsmen, with Dea. William Johnson and John Grave, " to draw up a map of the Town of Guilford and to consider some way of regulating those defects that the former Committee found in the streets and highways." When roads went through a man's land, frequently, gates were put at each end of his property, instead of obliging him to fence both sides of the road all the way.^ This, though convenient, had its drawbacks and, on January 7, 1689-90, we find a committee appointed " to state out all Town highways where any difiSculty has arisen and to know their bounds between the highways and particular propriety, and to exchange any highways with particular men for public convenience." When new divisions of land were made, provision was made for roads, the com- mittee which superintended the division being authorized to lay them out.^ Even then some persons had " their land shut in " and, on Sep- tember 17, 1700, a committee was appointed to lay out roads to such land, being paid by the owners. At times the fencing across highways, even when a gate was pro- vided, grew to be a nuisance and, on April 13, 1716, the selectmen were authorized to sue any so fencing a road. The reasons for laying out a road are seldom given, the expediency of it being presupposed. On February 9, 1719-20, however, a road is ordered to the saw mill on Hammonassett River and the reasons for this step are thus stated: (i) John Thompson has a tract of 3d division land and no highway to it; (2) A road is needful in carting timber to and from the mill and will be of no loss, when there shall be a grist mill there; (3) It is the most direct and indeed the only road that we have to Haddam; (4) Our neighboring farmers, which belong to the town of Killingworth, " desire that there may be a way there, that So with Conveniency they may Enjoy Lectures & other neighborly Con- verse in Guilford." Who could have voted against a road needed for all these cogent reasons ! ! These roads were made and repaired by the inhabitants called out for two days' work,' during the period from May to November, and superintended by the surveyors of highways, who also determined ' Feb. 12, 1704-S, Josiah Rossiter allowed to fence across the highway in his pasture, " he obliging himself to make & keep a handy gate on said way the Town's pleasure." Approved by County Court. ''Vide Dec. 17, 1695- 'An 8-hour day was made the legal one in Jan. 1797. Thus Guilford led in the 8-hour movement. ROADS, BRIDGES, WHARVES AND THE RAILROAD. 2I3 where repairs were needed. Any one who desired to pay a tax, instead of working, might do so, though, if he worked, he was allowed so much oflf from his tax for every hour of his work, or that of his team.* In case the surveyors did not perform their duty they were liable to a fine of twenty shillings.'' In December, 1750, we find a by-law made concerning the fact that " in Divers places in the Highway & Streets in this Town, Timber & firewood is Layd to the great Inconveniency of Travellers, Especially in wet Seasons or Dark Nights. Such wood & Timber Lying where it is most Convenient & Necessary for footmen to Travel, which may be Justly Esteemed a Common Nuisance." To provide against this, the selectmen are to warn all persons, laying " incumbrances on the road," to remove them and, if they do not, to prosecute them. Thus much bruising of limbs and bitterness of spirit should. be avoided. Communication with the back country was given much attention. On April 9, 1764, the people of Durham and Black Rock petitioned for ^ road and, though" not much was then done, on April 11, 1774, the town voted to " pay the Cost of the County Court and attendance thereon and half the cost of a Committee ... to lay out a highway through some part of Durham from this town." Another road through the back country to North Branford by Oliver Collins's was voted on April 10, 1769. This had formerly been a mere cart track with gates through fields, what was called a "pent-way.'' Application was made to the legislature about highways from time to time; on May 12, 1772, the town applied to the general assembly about the main road through the town and instructed its representatives to consult with those of Branford and KilHngworth in the matter and, on December 9, 1794, it applied to have power to tax polls and ratable estates for the repair of highways. This power was granted and, on December 12, 1797, we find a tax of a cent on the dollar of the assessed valuation laid for this pur- pose. On September 19, 1803, the town opposed a petition before the assembly for a turnpike from New Haven to New London and was successful in its efforts.' The main road " was formerly much used by travelers from New York to Boston." In May, 1794, " it was made a part of the great mail route from Georgia to Maine." George Wash- ington and his successors in the presidential office have ever shunned Guilford as a stopping place, but along the old stage road came the Marquis de Lafayette, when on his way to Rhode Island during the ' In 1810 the allowance was 10 cents a man and 12 cents for a team. Vide Dec. II, 1739. 'Vide Dec. 15, I747- 'Sept. 16, 181 1, another successful protest was made against a turnpike from East Haddam to New Haven through Guilford. 214 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Revolution. He stopped, so tradition saith, at the house of 'Squire Brown, where Music Hall now stands, and was so pleased with the succotash given him for lunch as to have mentioned it to Mr. Ingersoll in France years after. In his visit to the country in 1824, Lafayette stopped in Guilford again, taking dinner at the Miner Bradley house on the northwest corner of the green, at which place he was also given a reception and greeted Toby Scranton, an old Revolutionary veteran, who had been the General's servant.' On the main road ' " a line of stages was run for many years, until the introduction of steamboats on the Sound rendered it unprofit- able. About the year 1832 the stages were nearly all discontinued, but in 1837 3- daily line from Norwich to New Haven was established, furnishing Guilford the advantages of a daily mail. This was destined to continue only until the much more convenient accommodations of rail cars should be introduced." In May, 1811, the legislature granted a turnpike road, called the Durham and Madison Turnpike, from Durham Street through the centre of N. Madison to Madison Green, the capital stock of which was $10,000. In October, 1818, another turnpike was granted, called the Pantapaug and Guilford Turnpike, from Pantapaug Point (now Essex), through N. Killingworth (now Killingworth) and the upper part of Madison Parish to^ East River Bridge, 16 miles — the capital stock was also $10,000. In 1825 a third turnpike was granted, called the Fair Haven Turnpike, branching from the Pantapaug turnpike in the centre of Killingworth and running by N. Madison Meeting House, through N. Guilford, N. Branford and the northern section of East Haven to Fair Haven village, ig}i miles in length, with a capital of $7,500. In 1835 the Madison & North Killingworth turnpike was incorporated.' In 1839 the second of these companies surrendered its road to be kept in repair by the towns through which it passed; to this Madison at first strongly objected, but finally became reconciled. The third turnpike was surrendered to the town on April 3, 1843. The Guilford and Durham Turnpike followed West or Menunkatuck River to its source in Lake Quonepaug, and then along another West River as far as Durham Street, where it struck the road from New Haven to Middletown. It is 13^^ miles long from Guilford Green, and 171^ miles from Sachem's Head." The capital stock of the com- ' This item comes from a paper by Mr. Henry P. Robinson, read before the Halleck Circle. ' The Shore Road to Stony Creek was not voted until Nov. 1818. ^ Memorial History of Hartford Co. Vol. I, p. 553. * Nov. 7, 1831, town voted that turnpike to Sachem's Head be kept in as good repair as other roads and that no toll be paid. ROADS, BRIDGES, WHARVES AND THE RAILROAD. 215 pany was $5,100, divided into 51 shares of $100 each. The part of it in the borough above the green now bears the name of Church Street. A suggestive vote is that of September 21, 1807, directing the select- men to open a road through Purgatory in East Guilford. In addition to personal work, or furnishing a team, a by-law of November 10, 1812, provided that allowance for the use of a plough or an ox shovel on the roads was to be made. With the increase of travel to the railroad station, a need was felt of having Whitfield Street macadamized and, on March 15, 1869, a vote was passed so to pavQ forty rods of it, from the house of Erastus K. Meigs to the station, the sum expended not to exceed $600. This sum proved insufficient and, on March 18, 1870, $5,000 was appropriated for macadamizing the street from the green to the depot. A week later another meeting was held, $2,000 reported subscribed by private par- ties, and the town agreed to pay rest of the cost. The street was re- paved in 1887, and the town paid $400 to the borough for its share of the expense. The old system of surveyors of highways was done away with in 1870 and commissioners of highways, a small compact body for the whole town, were substituted. But the surveyor system was later again introduced, and since 1878 these officers have been appointed by the selectmen. The roads in Madison, as in Guilford, were first taken care of by each inhabitant working out his highway tax in labor. About 1830, the system of dividing the town into highway districts and having a surveyor for each, came in. In 1836 the selectmen were ordered to di- vide the town into " sections or shares " and auction the care of the roads in each to the lowest bidder. In 1872 the whole care of the roads was wisely given to the selectmei^. The bridges were leased to the lowest bidder in 185 1, but, on Oct. 4, 1880, they were also placed in the selectmen's care. The roads of Madison are generally very well kept. At times, in former days, encroachments on the highways were per- mitted by the town, as when in 1765 Daniel Hand was permitted to " Build a Shelter over his Cyder Mill and Press Standing on the High- way Southward of his Father's House, there to Remain During the Town's pleasure," or when, in 1813, Salmon Shelley's dwelling en- croaching 3>4 feet on the road was allowed to stand there for the same indefinite period. The borough at a meeting in January, 1816, named Harbor, Boston, Water, State, Union, Broad, River, York, Fair, North, Oak streets. Mill and Saw-Pit Lanes. Other street names were generally given by the 2l6 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. men who laid out the thoroughfares. In 1885, Harbor street's name was changed to Whitfield Street. It were much to be desired that the borough follow this up and name other streets after prominent early settlers, as Chittenden, Desborough, Leete, Rossiter, Johnson. The earliest roads crossed the streams by fords or by boats, but soon bridges were needed and were made. The earliest one mentioned is the present Jones's bridge and, that, as " a foot bridge, was apointed to be made over the West River over against Mr. Disborow's lane ends," on the nth of February, 1646-7. A short time later, on Jan. 17, 1648-9, a cart bridge was decided upon over East River " upon ad- vice fr6 the planters, who did advise & judge ye thing needful." ' A rude foot bridge had preceded it; for we read that the cart-bridge was to be " at the place the two trees now lye over," and it was to be made " wth trees hewed long enough to reach over thwart the river, twelve foot wide with a bearer in the middle." It was to be " substantial " " with a double rail on each side " and to be finished by October 14th. George Bartlett and John Hoadley were to build it and to receive just wages " £3 in English commodities, the rest in country pay or worke, as they shall desire to employ about the business." A bonus of £1 2s. was offered if carts can go over the bridge by harvest time. Tliis sum was raised by subscription: Mr. Disbrow giving 7s., Mr. Kitchel 2s. 6d., Mr. Chittenden and Mr. Thos. Jordan the same, Richard Bris- tow one day's work, and John Johnson 5s. T"rom a vote of June 15, we learn that " on topp " of the trees was to be laid either brush or split timber; but there is no record as to when the bridge was fin- ished, so that planters having estates in East Guilford could pass over, or as to whether the bonus was earned. When Kenilworth, or Killingworth, was settled, there came need of a road to it and of a bridge over the Hammonassett River. The general court stepped in, as the two towns could not agree, " stated " the road in May, 1674, and, a year later, ordered them to build a bridge over the river by December, each town bearing half of the expense.'' The town ordered on August 12, 1685, that the surveyors of high- ways should take care of all bridges on public roads, and they have ' May 30, 1699, a cart brig " over East River " by Goodman Hubbard's land is granted, and the right of way through the Evarts's and the widovir Bristow's land at East River. = Conn. Col. Rec. II, pp. 223 and 251. May 6, 1689, a committee of three to treat with Killingworth about repairing the bridge. May 27, 1690, townsmen empowered to built Guilford's share of a cart or horse " brig " over the Ham- monassett. ROADS, BRIDGES, WHARVES AND THE RAILROAD. 217 ever since done so. The manner of their supervision may be learned from a vote of May 26, 1692, when the townsmen were directed to " hire a workman to lead in the work of building a new brigg at East River " and " all the rest of this work to be done by Surveyors, appointing men to work proportionally." Joseph Hand probably built a vessel on the Hammonassett in 1696, for we find him petitioning the town on May 26 of that year that he might take up the bridge over that river, for the purpose of bringing his vessel down. The town, as it only owned half the bridge, felt itself unable to consent without Killingworth's approval and appointed a committee to confer with that town. If consent was given, " to take security of the said Joseph Hand, for the setting up of the brigg firm and substantially again." On May 30, 1699, the same Joseph Hand was appointed to take care of the bridge, " during the Town's pleasure." From a vote of July 7, 1702, we learn that there were then "two horse bridges over the West River; passing over towards Ezekiel Bull's house." These are doubtless those familiarly known as " The Bridges." The bridge below the saw-mill was ordered on Dec. 28, 1725; that over the great branch of East river at Nut Plains, on Dec. 27, 1733; and others, as fliey were found advantageous or necessary. On Dec. 15, 1741, it was voted "that no Vessel shall at any time Make fast to any Bridge in this Town," under the penalty of 20s. and damages. This ordinance was made more comprehensive on Dec. 18, 1754, when the prohibition was extended to tying any vessel, boat, or canoe, or laying " any Barrel, Tub, Wood, Clothes, or other Incum- brances on any Bridge, that may Interrupt ye passing over Such Bridge." The regular rule for each town to pay half of the expense of a bridge over the Hammonassett river was not carried out in the main- tenance of a bridge near Reuben Hill's Mill; for which Guilford paid all the cost and sought " a reasonable reimbursement " from Killing- worth in 1760 and 1761. When the causeway at Jones's bridge was first built is uncertain, as the first mention we have of it is an appropriation of £5 to save it, on Dec. 8, 1761. In 1797, $50 are appropriated for its repair. A hint of sloops having once passed to the north of Jones's bridge is found in a vote of April 9, 1798, forbidding any one to take up the bridge without the selectmen's consent. The flood-gates, so familiar to pass- ers-by in the summer months, when the salt hay is being cut, were allowed to be built at private expense, on Sept. 21, 1812. Those on East river were erected at an unknown date. 2l8 history of the plantation of menunkatuck. Wharves, &c. Wharves of a more or less rude character were, doubtless, early con- structed, but no notice of any is found on the records until Dec. II, 1739, when George Hill was permitted to build one near his home lot. Another wharf, on Dec. 15, 1741, was allowed to be built by Mr. Ebenezer Parmelee, pr any one else desiring it, at the Common Land- ing Place, at the Tree Creek, at his own cost. This wharf was to be " for ye use of the Inhabitants of this Town, for their Conveniency in Lading & unloading Vessels." The wharf at Jones's bridge was authorized by a vote of Dec. 11, 1744. It was built by John Fosdick, Joshua Pendleton, Ebenezer Bartlett and Joseph Cruttenden, Jr., under the selectmen's direction, and it was stated, in rather remarkable language, to be " for ye free use of all the Inhabitants of this Town, as they may have ocation for the Same in a Regular Manner, without Unnecessarily Incumbring the Same to ye Detriment of other Inhabitants of ye Town." The wharf seems to have been much used and, in December, 1768, on account of damage arising from tying vessels to it, Joseph Bradley was ap- pointed to take care of it and wharfage dues were fixed at 6d. daily. April 24, 1708, Ens. Stone was allowed to dig between the west " brig " and the fence of Josiah Rosseter's, the length and breadth of his scow, to lie there or unload during the town's pleasure. On April 8, 1771, Abraham Chittenden was allowed to build a wharf on East river, south of the road, and, on April 9, 1810, the pro- prietors of the Farmer's Wharf Company were permitted to take gravel from highways in the Great Plain to make a wharf and causeway on East river at its mouth. This wharf the town voted to take and keep in suitable repair, for the free use of the inhabitants of Guilford, on Oct. 5, 1885. The coasting trade of Guilford is carried on from this wharf. The Railroad. " The General Assembly of Connecticut, at the May Session of 1848, chartered the New Haven and New London Railway Company to construct a railway from New Haven," thence extending easterly through the towns on the shore of Long Island Sound, across the Con- necticut River, "to New London." This company contracted in 1851 for the construction of the road, which brought Guilford in direct com- munication by rail with both New Haven and New London. The first passenger train was run over the road from New Haven to the river on July i, 1852. The success of the road was largely due to two ROADS, BRIDGES, WHARVES AND THE RAILROAD. 2I9 Guilford men, respectively first President and Treasurer of the road, Frederick R. Griffing and R. D. Smyth. Much of the stock was also taken in Guilford. " The company was afterwards united with one authorized to construct a road from New London to Stonington, and was then known as the New Haven, New London, and Stonington Railroad Company." At a later date, " it passed from the hands of the stockholders, into those of the bondholders," and " was reorgan- ized as The Shore Line Railroad Company. In November 1870, its road was leased by this company to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company, for the sum of $100,000 a year. The latter company now runs regular trains over the same, supplying fa- cilities for the transportation of passengers and freight to and from Guilford, and giving it direct communication with New York and Boston." The road was double-tracked through Guilford and Madi- son in 1890 and 1891. In 1897 the Shore Line Railroad was consoli- dated with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. As the traffic on the road increased, the crossings at grade became dangerous and efiforts were made to have them done away with. In the present town of Guilford there were three crossings only on grade: on the road to Sachem's Head, at the depot, and on the road to the Sawpits. The growing popularity of Sachem's Head as a summer resort caused attempts to change the crossing on the road thither and, on Dec. 24, 1887, the town accepted an offer from the railroad in regard to changing it. The road, as changed, was accepted in October 1888. Since the change, the road goes under the track, having its course changed to the eastward to enable it to do so, and the Leete's Island road, using the same crossing, turns off to meet the old road thither, thus avoiding the bridge by which it formerly crossed the track.' In making a double track, the railroad desired to close the draw- bridges over East and West rivers, and did so on East river without the town being able to make opposition, as it owned no^ dock rights on the river. The dock rights of the town at Jones's bridge gave it a right to oppose the closing of the river, and this it did for a time with great stubbornness. On Nov. 4, 1890, strong resolutions were adopted, refusing consent to the closing of West river, or to the bridg- ing of the grade crossing at the depot on Whitfield street, as the rail- road proposed doing. On Nov. 25 the town reiterated its purpose ^ Railroad ofifered to build the bridge and make the excavation if the town would build the approaches and change the Leete's Island road. The railroad offered to build the new road if the town would get the right of way, or to pay the town $1,000 and let it do it. 220 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. not to sell its right to West River, and voted to petition Congress for an appropriation to improve the channels of East and West Rivers. On Jan. 19 and June 13, 1891, the town again said it would not sell; but on July 27, realizing that the navigation of the crooked and shal- low West River was comparatively worthless, by a large majority it instructed the selectmen to sell for not less than $S,ooo ($5,500 was re- ceived finally) such interest as the town may have, as a town, in the maintenance of a drawbridge over West River; provided the new bridge give two feet more head room than the old, and have 20 feet clear of piles for the passage of boats. The town should continue to own the wharf at Jones's Bridge for all purposes compatible with a closed bridge, and the railroad was to protect the town from all dam- age if a suit be brought against it. The drawbridge was therefore taken away and a permanent bridge takes its place. On June 13, 1891, the town voted to buy right of way for a new road at Snake Pond,' to remove the road from the railroad track, provided the railroad would build the new road as it offered to do. This was afterwards done. The Shore Line Railroad, passing just north of the village of Madi- son, crosses all the roads leading inland, and most of these crossings were formerly on the same grade as the roads. This made riding dan- gerous and unpleasant. As early as July 14, 1851, the selectmen were instructed to see that the railroad did not injure the roads it crossed. About 1883, with the increasing traffic on the railroad and the growing agitation aigainst grade crossings, efiforts were made to have the rail- road change the level of the roads. On October i, 1883, the town directed the selectmen to petition the Railroad Commissioners to have the crossings bridged near Martin Scranton's dwelling and any other ones they shall think necessary. After due hearing of the case, on December 14, the town appointed a committee to see the railroad offi- cials, state the feeling of the town's people in the matter, and see if the rjiilroad company will do more than the commissioners have directed them to do in their report. The particular crossing then in question was the one east of the depot. On October 3, 1887, the town petitioned the governor, by a vote of 80 to o, to call an extra session of the legislature to consider the ad- justment of the payment for removing grade crossings. On January 30 and February 27, 1888, the town considered at length a general proposal from the railroad to do away -with all grade crossings in the town, and finally accepted it with amendments. For the damage and. expense to the town in changing roads, etc., the railroad paid it $12,000.. During the years following every grade crossing was abolished. * On the road to Leete's Island. CHAPTER XXXII. The Town House. The first town meetings were probably held at Mr. Chittenden's,' either at his house or in one specially built for the purpose. Afterward they were held in the church, or meeting house, of the ist Society,'' and not until the times of the Revolution was a building especially built for town meetings. The first step was taken' on April 12, 1773, when Mr. Bilious Ward and Lieut. John Hubbard were appointed " to consult & examine into the expediency & usefulness of building a Town house for the pur- pose of transacting the public business of the town, together with the dimensions, cost, & most convenient place for erecting the same." It was, nevertheless, left for private enterprise and generosity to begin the house and, on April 10, 1775, the town voted to " take the house which hath been begun and partly finished by a number of subscribers (for the Benefit of Transacting the public Business of this town) into their care & will complete the same & will appropriate the same to the use expressed in the address of the subscribers." It was further voted to enter the address on the records and there it may be found to-day. It begins by stating that the great' objection to a town house has been " on account of its bringing too great burden on some of the poor Inhabitants of the town." To remove this objection " a number of subscribers, voluntarily, engaged to do something toward building sd. house, & have accordingly expended the sum of £90 upon the same." The subscribers now are willing that the town take the building as its own, and finish it, for the use of " every lawful society, of whatever denomination, belonging to sd. Guilford, to transacting their public business there, agreeable to the directions and reserving the liberty specified in the subscription paper, as also liberty for the Militia to ^ Sept. 7, 1654, planters met at Gov. Leete's. ""This was used for freemen's meetings long afterwards, the meeting adjourn- ing from town house to meeting house, and after freemen's meeting adjourning back again. Vid. Sept. 15, 1806. ' April 12, 1773, proprietors granted any number of subscribers on the town a site for a house near the site of the old stone meeting-house, and April 11, 1774, appointed a committee to see if a more commodious site on the Green might be given. 222 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. meet on Training days." This address, which was written by Oliver Dudley, John Burgis, and Gen. Andrew Ward, further assures the town, " upon our word and honor," that they never intended to call on the town for repayment of the money expended by them, but " offer it as a free donation." The subscription paper referred to is also found in the records, and from it we learn that the liberty reserved was " for every lawful Society, Justices' Courts, Listers' Meetings & all other legal meetings of the like kind, of whatever denominations, belonging to sd. Guilford to transact their public business so often as they shall see fit, provided they do not interfere with the Town freemen or proprietors in their respective meetings, nor with each other." The town granted a rate of one penny in the pound to pay for com- pleting the house, which rate might be paid " in labour & materials, proper for the building, or any other specie," acceptable to the com- mittee of 13 appointed to take charge of the work. The Revolution came on too suddenly to allow the town's purpose to be fully carried out and the prevalent lawlessness caused this vote, on April 10, 1780: "Capt. Dan. Collins is to prepare & find a sutable Lock to the Town House Dore & to commence & prosecute to effect any Actions against any person who shall be guilty of any abuse to the Town House, by Breaking or attempting to Break open the Dore or Windows, or by breaking the Glass of sd. House, or by any other insult, or Abuse, of what kind or sort." The breaking of glass must have continued, for on April 10, 1786, the selectmen are directed to make window shutters for the house. Any one willing to glaze the windows may have the amount so expended credited tO' him " when a Tax shall be laid for finishing sd. House." This tax was not laid until December 17, 1793, when the town also voted that " Liberty is granted to any one, or more, of the Inhabitants of this Town to Remove the Town House Southerly into a Line par- rallel with the old Meeting House, provided they do it by June i, & at their expense, & leave it in as good condition as before." The town house originally stood at the north end of the Green. Whether it was removed at this time is unknown. Why the town house was built in two stories is an unexplained mys- tery. The lower floor was soon found unnecessary to the town and as early as September 21, 1801, the selectmen were empowered to lease it for five years. The special purpose of such lease is stated in the vote of April 21, 1806, as "for a Store for dry & West India Goods, or for other purposes." As years passed on, the house needed alteration and on September THE TOWN HOUSE. 223 21, i8i2, the selectmen are directed to alter the upper floor " so that it may accommodate the greatest number of Persons Possible." ' The Green was cleared of buildings in the early part of the 19th century and, on April 3, 1820, the town authorized the selectmen " to remove the Town House ofif from the Public Square " ; provided it be done free of expense to the town and the place to which it is moved be acceptable. This was shortly done and it was removed to a site on Church Street, which site was given to the town by its owner, so long as the house should stand thereon. The little congregation of Baptists was granted leave on November 14, 1820, to meet in the town house, and did so for some years, while the Methodists also met here after the formation of that church and before their own building was erected.'' In the course of time the structure began to show signs of dilapida- tion and as early as October 6, 1845, we find the selectmen ordered to " take special care of the Town house & see that it be kept in good order." Eight years later, on December 6, 1852, the selectmen are directed to " make estimates of the cost of a Town Hall, with offices for Judge of Probate & Town Clerk." This was the first of several abor- tive attempts for a new house, the cost frightening the town in every case. As this first attempt failed, a committee composed of R. D. Smyth, Dr. A. Talcott, and James A. Norton was appointed on Octo- ber 6, 1856, to " prepare a plan of alteration, arrangement and repair of the Town Hall in such manner and form as to retain the use of the ground on which the said Hall now stands." But this attempt was as fruitless as the one for a new hall had been. In 1870 the house was so out of repair that, on June 6, a committee was appointed, which re- ported on October 3 that $100 would " make the house as comfortable for 20 years as it has been for twenty years past, and $2,000 will make it comfortable for the next 50 years." The town did not care to look too far ahead and appropriated $100. On July 9, 1874, a proposition was made by Mr. Nelson Hotchkiss of New Haven, ofifering to give the ground on which the town house stood to the town if it would build a new house there. A vote of thanks was given him on October 5 for his offer, but nothing was done in regard to it. The twenty years for which the house was to be made ' Nov. 1819, the selectmen were directed to make necessary repairs to the house. When town property was divided at the time Madison was set off, the Town House was expressly excepted from such division. " Vide April i, 1822, and Jan. 27, 1837. Another use of the Town House was for schools, for which purpose the selectmen were directed to rent the lower floor and provide shutters. 224 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. comfortable being nearly up, on October i, 1888, the town appointed a committee to procure plans, estimates ,and sites for a town hall, but the sum ' estimated as necessary by them was more than the town cared to pay. On October 5, 1891, a committee of five was appointed to select a site for a town house, and at the town meeting on October 3, 1892, it was voted to build a town hall to cost not over $13,500. The Johnson lot on the east side of the Green was selected by the committee and purchased by the town for $1,700. Ground was broken for the building in April, 1893. The selectmen were authorized to obtain a loan of $10,000, to be paid in sums of $1,000 per year. The necessity of borrowing was lessened by the timely sale for $5,500 to the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. of the rights of the town to the West River drawbridge. The building committee ' served without pay and received a vote of thanks from the town therefor in October, 1894. They were Geo. B. Spencer, Calvin M. Leete, George H. Bartlett, Edwin W. Bartlett, George W. Seward, William E. Weld, James A. Dudley, John D. Chit- tenden, and Dudley Chittenden. L. W. Robinson was architect, George W. Seward, builder, and John W. Oughton, mason. The front of the building is two-storied, measures 35 feet by 70, and con- tains rooms on the first floor for town clerk, judge of probate, justices' court, and a fine vault, 8 by 17 feet with 24 inch walls, and on the sec- ond floor halls which are leased to the Masonic Lodge for ten years. The town hall proper occupies the rear portion of the building, and has a seating capacity of about 500. It is supplied with a fifteen foot stage, two dressing rooms, drop-curtain and scenery. The room is furnished with opera chairs. The building is heated by two furnaces which cost $400, and lighted by a gas machine capable of supplying 150 burners at an initial cost of $1,000. The building is constructed of brick. Over the main entrance is a granite slab, the gift of Wm. E. Weld and John Beattie, with the inscription, "Town Hall erected 1893." Guilford now has a building which meets all the requirements of its public officers and is a credit to the town. Owing to limited appropriations it was found that there was not sufficient money to purchase scenery for the hall. In this emer- gency some public-spirited men stepped forward and organized the " Town Hall Scenery Association " with a capital of $500. This asso- 'The estimate was: site, $2,500; brick building, $12,000; wooden one, $8,000. June I, 1889. ^ The first five of these were appointed in 1891, the others, save John D. Chit- tenden, in 1892. THE TOWN HOUSE. 225 ciation advanced the funds for scenery and stage appointments, agree- ing to reimburse themselves from the net proceeds of entertainments, and when repaid the actual cost of equipment to give all the scenery to the town. The town hall having been completed was dedicated on May 2, 1894. Dea. John W. Norton presided at the occasion and the building com- mittee turned over the structure to the town. Hon. Lynde Harrison made the presentation address, and Rev. O. J. Range that of acceptance on behalf of the selectmen, while Rev. W. G. Andrews, D. D., delivered an Historical Address. Two days later the first play, entitled "The Woven Web," was given in the hall. The parts were taken by local amateurs. Mr. Ericsson F. Bushnell and Mr. Stanley Knight assisted with vocal and instrumental selections. Souvenir programmes were presented, printed on yellow satin. This entertainment was followed on May 15 and 16 by the cantata of Esther, also given by Guilford residents. Madison held her town meetings in the Congregational Church until 1897. Her records were kept in the house of the town clerk for many years. On October 5, 1874, a committee of three was appointed " to take into consideration the cost of a building and vault for the Probate and Town Records." On November 2, 1874, they reported and the town, voted to build a brick building 18 by 24 feet, with two vaults, one 4 by 5 feet, for town records, and one 3 by 5 feet for probate records. The building is well adapted for the purpose, and stands on Boston Street, a little east of the Green. At a celebration on July 4th, 1894, a com- mittee was appointed to arrange for a suitable memorial of the sol- diers of Madison in the Civil War and to raise money for the purpose. A large majority of the subscribers preferred a Memorial Hall. The Town voted an appropriation of $7500 for the purpose, and appointed a Building Committee consisting of Samuel H. Chittenden, James R. Meigs, and George E. Whedon. The contract was signed July, 1896, and the formal opening occurred May 31, 1897. At the dedication, addresses were made by John H. Meigs on " Madison in the War," by Gen. J. R. Hawley and Rev. W. F. Markwick of Ansonia, while C. J. and Ericsson F. Bushnell sang. The building is located on the north side of the main street, just east of the village green, upon the spot formerly occupied by Lee's Acad- emy and Coe's Hall. It has a front of 44 feet on the south, and 74 feet on the side facing the green. The wall, up to the main floor level, which is 7 feet 6 inches above grade, is built of Madison rock-faced granite. The upper portion of the building is of bufif brick, with white marble sills, keystones, etc. The roof is of slate. The main entrance 226 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. is at the southwest corner of the building, through an open vestibule, in which provision is made for historical data. Wrought iron grilles separate this vestibule from the Memorial Hall, which latter is a room 40 feet long by 17 feet wide, along the front of the building. This is well lighted, and has ample wall surface for memorial tablets, pictures, etc. The doors to the auditorium, and stairs to the gallery above, lead from this hall. The auditorium is 40 feet by 43 feet, with a large stage and dressing rooms at the north end. This room has an open ceiling, showing light iron trusses, the height from the floor to the un- derside of the trusses being 26 feet. It is lighted by six large windows. The seating capacity is four hundred, including the gallery, which is over the Memorial Hall. The interior finish throughout is of cypress. The cost of the building, including land and furniture, was about $13,000, of which about $5,000 was raised by subscription and $8,000 paid by the town. Large tablets in the vestibule will contain the names of all Madison volunteers, and it is hoped eventually to have a large collection of portraits and relics of the veterans in the Hall. CHAPTER XXXIII. The Town Mill. " Within the limits of the borough is the Town Mill, which was established at its present location very early after the first settlement." The first mill, however, was a tide mill,^ on Sluice Creek not far from its mouth; was built about 1643 or 1644 and completed in 1645. At the first meeting after the records were regularly kept, on August 14, 1645, the " finishing of the mill was concluded." " The first agree- ment was with Mr. Whitfield to construct a tide mill upon the bay and a certain lot was appropriated, on which the mill was to be constructed for the Town for a certain toll." On September 4, 1645, the town voted to make .the mill bay; "to set down ye. sluice with a gate near to ye great bake"; to begin the work the next week; and to employ Francis Bushnell and Francis Chatfield to fix the sluice. William Plaine, and Goodmen Stevens and Relf are also appointed to build the dam. The mill was finally finished, on December 25, 1645, and de- livered to Mr. Kitchell on January 8, 1645-6. He agreed " to main- taine & uphold a sufficient mill for the service of the Town, upon the consideration of toll." He further agreed to pay for one-half of all breaches, within the three following years, and afterwards " to bear all charges whatsoever, belonging to the said Millworke, as well about dammes floodgates, foundation work, together with all running gears, and implements, appertaining to ye. sd mill, without detriment to ye plantation." This arrangement did not prove satisfactory, and the dams having been broken away by storms within two months, the town voted, on March 5, 1645-6, " seeing the profit is at present no way equivalent to such charges " and " out of love & respect for Mr. Kitchell & for his encouragement," that Mr. Kitchell need only pay for " all running geeres & timber workes." Mr. Kitchell, it seems, did not even thus make a success of the mill, towards the construction of which he had laid out £80. On April 30, 1646, he offered to sell the mill to the town for that sum, " deducting the somme of £5, wch. the sd. Mr. Kitchell is contented to lose, in consideration of the former use of the sd. mill," and also deducting his proportion of the expense ' March 7, 1703-4, a sluice to be made a little below Mr. Thompson's mill lot line where the old mill was. 228 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. as a planter. This offer the planters accepted and agreed to pay the sum asked, with 8 per cent interest, on the 25th of the next March, in " currant merchantable corne." Mr. Whitfield, who, as we saw, had previously an interest in the mill, concurred in the sale, on con- dition of being free from all mill charges for his mill land " during the time that it remained in the handes of his heirs male bearing the name of Whitfield." The town, immediately on receiving the mill, " agreed to make up the Mill Bay w"" flood gates " and appointed Goodman Cruttenden overseer of the work. The first town miller was Thomas Norton, who died in 1648, and was succeeded by Francis Bushnell. The miller received one-half of the toll. Bushnell asked also to be freed from training, but this request was denied. The tide mill was not a great success and was abandoned as early ^ as April 4, 1658, at which time a vote of the town seems to imply that a mill had already been built on the present site near West River. After Mr. Bushnell, on March II, 1664-5, came William Stone, as miller, he being granted the mill for a year, provided he make a new mill-stone ' and leave the mill in good repair at the end of his term. He kept the mill until December II, 1667, when the town chose a committee of three, John Scranton, Henry Doude, and John Sheather, " to take the whole care & charge of all matters respecting the mill house, dams, and running gears and tackling, belonging to the same." 2d. " to keep an account of all the profits of the Mill, as also of all the charges and expenses." 3d. " In case any disablement, defect, or disappointment of a miller to provide another." 4th. " to call any of the planters or inhabitants to work " on the mill, " as they shall see cause, giving them due warning." The miller did not devote all his time to the business ; but, as we learn, was ready, on Tuesdays and Fridays,^ to grind the planters' grist. The other days he probably worked on his land. John Norton, probably, was Stone's successor, and on February 8, 1675-6, he was permitted to fence* in the land belonging to the mill, as a pasture, " so long as he keepeth the mill." He kept it for many years, and was succeeded by his sons, John and Thomas," who took the mill on August 13, 1701. The first mill became so dilapidated that, on March 17, 1702-3, the ^ Probably some time earlier than this. ^ He was released from this on Feb. 11, 1673-4, if he pay 30s. towards a new millstone above his proportion. " Oct. S. 1670. " He was not, however, allowed to cut wood on it. ° Thomas Hall and Thomas Norton, on Feb. 10, 1701-2, were allowed to drain a swamp near Burchen and use the land so long as their mill is a benefit to the town. THE TOWN MILL. 229 town appointed a committee " to consider the safest & cheapest way to prop it up," or " to pluck it down & fit it, in order to setting up a new mill." The former of the two courses was adopted, and in some way the mill was made good enough to warrant a lease of it for 15 years to Thomas Norton, on February 19, 1705-6. For the use of the mill for that time Mr. Norton was to pay £8 in corn annually, to keep the mill in good repair, to make a new mill-stone, to change the mill to an overshot^ one, and if it did not prove satisfactory, to change it back again. That very spring there was such a flood that it made a breach in the dam, three-fourths of the cost of which the town, on May 6, 1706, generously voted to bear. But, even with this encouragement, Norton soon grew sick of the lease and the town freed him from it on September 27 of the same year. The care of the mill went back to the mill committee; but Thomas Norton continued on as miller and had Ebenezer Benton chosen as an assistant, on November 5, 1706, "to attend grinding'' at the mill." The mill now disappears from the records until December 28, 1725, when it became involved in one of the quarrels between " the Ancient Society " and that of East Guilford, which are so common about this period.' At that time the town voted to allow the inhabitants * to have a rebate on their toll and to grant " to ye Old Parish in this town, where the Town Corn Mill now stands, the liberty and privilege of Choosing a Miller, or Millers, for grinding at sd. Mill & the appurtenances & repairing the same, as there shall be occasion from time, henceforward & for- ever." ° This vote was so distasteful to the East Guilford people that 55 of them signed their names to a protest, which is entered on the records. For the time they were unsuccessful; but five years later, on December 22, 1730,° the town voted that henceforth the miller take full toll, and thus one of their aims was accomplished. ^ It is not known of what kind it was previously. ^ Dec. 31, 1706, toll voted wheat at 6s., Indian corn at 3s. and rye at 3s. 6d. per bushel. ' Dec. 15, 1724, appropriation from mill profit for church bells. *Jany. 11, 1698-9, a committee ordered to "present a list of all those that were proper owners of the Corn mill in Guilford and whose right the profit of the mill corn was." " Dec. 19, 1727 (ist Society Records), " Voted that the Miller, or the person employed by him to Grind shall have power to order persons bolting at the Bolting Mill to observe their proper terms & to prevent any disorder therein." Dec. 29, 1729, the First Society voted " that whereas the Town has granted to this Society, the privilege of choosing millers and mill Committees for the Town Grist Mill & some of the Inhabitants of the Town showing themselves uneasy with sd. grant, this Society releases & surrenders ye privilege of choos- ing Millers and Mill committees to the Town again." ° At the same time Sergt. Ebenezer Stone was chosen Miller. The 1st Society had so chosen him in 1726. 230 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The town, by a vote on December 5, 1722, directed a bolting mill to be added, and ordered the expenses to be paid from the mill's earn- ings/ The mill was a source of considerable profit, so that on Decem- ber 15, 1747, the mill committee are directed to pay over all the earn- ings, save £40 or £50 to be kept for repairs, &c. This was but five years since a new mill had been voted, to be placed as near the old one as possible." The town at times voted to have the toll the same as prescribed by the county regulations;' but at other times it was per- verse, as on April 10, 1775. Then Lt. John Hubbard moved that the toll " for grinding & Boulting at the Town Mill, be the lawful tole," but the negative prevailed " by a great majority." About this time the town thought of having a windmill,* but the idea was soon given up. Lack of security, in the keeping of the flour and grain, led to a vote, on April 7, 1788, that there be provided a " convenient place, in the lower part of the Town Mill, for securing- bags of flour & meal from damages from Rats " and that there be procured " a good Lock & Key for the Door of said appartment, to prevent injuries that other- wise may happen " — a rather euphemistic way of speaking of theft. Meantime the old mill had become sadly out of repair, and a com- mittee, appointed on December 13, 1791, to examine the condition of things, reported on December 27 that repairs were useless, and that a new mill should be built, having two water wheels, one to carry a burr stone and one a flint stone, and that room should be left for another pair of stones. This report was accepted and a new mill was probably soon built. On December 13, 1796, a committee was appointed to " report the most advantageous plan, by which the Town may be furnished with constant grinding in future years." There seems to haye been some difficulty in managing the mill, so on April 10, 1809, the town voted to lease the mill for five years. When Madison was set off from Guilford and the town property was distributed, the mill fell to Guilford's share and was used until 1853. On November 7 of that year a committee advise the appropriation oi $3,000 to build a mill, 35 by 40 feet, " as the old one is much decayed." This report was accepted and the present mill was built in 1855. Mr. Ebenezer Woodruff was the first miller and Mr. A. B. Morse holds the office at present. When the very first tide mill was built, Benjamin Wright petitioned for a tan mill," and on September 4, 1645, he was granted leave to set ^ Dec. 22, 1736, miller directed to take charge of the bolting- mill. ' Dec. 8, 1742. ' Feb. 22, 1668-9. " Vide Dec. 30, 1776, etc. ' Vide Aug. 14, 1645. Dec. 17, 1645, a committee of four appointed to see how much of sluice Wright should pay for, on account of his " chesterne." THE TOWN MILL. 23 1 one Up " and to take the water yt. issueth out of ye waste gate " ; provided Mr. Kitchell ' permit and it hurt not the Town Mill. Whether this mill was set up is not known. It seems strange that we find no record of the early setting up of a saw mill; but none is mentioned until November 6, 1676, when the town permits the erection of such a mill. This mill was probably soon erected; but that it was the first is doubtful, for only nine years later, on September 23, 1685, the town permitted a saw mill to be set up on West River, " between Mr. John Collins out lot and the Old Saw Mill; provided they do not damnify the Com mill." As the saw mill was a private concern, we find but few allusions to it on the records. On March 2, 1717, Capt. Andrew Ward was allowed to set up a saw mill on West River; whether to succeed the former one or not does not appear. The dam of the mill was permitted to be so built as to overflow some of the common land, provided it injure no highway. The inhabitants of Cohabit (North Guilford) were authorized on February 12, 1722-3, " to set up a Saw Mill and make a Dam on the West Branch of West River." Private grist mills were allowed at times, especially to East Guilford people. In East Guilford permission was granted to five men on December 16, 1720, to erect a saw mill on Hammonassett River between Hog Pound Brook and Ivy Island. Reuben Hill obtained permission to build a grist mill a little below the weirs on the same river on December 13, 1743, and on December 15, 1747, Thos. French and Jonathan Wilcox were permitted to dam Hammonassett River at the falls near the road from Summer Hill and build a saw and corn mill there. When Madison became a town it thought it must have a mill, and in April, 1832, it thought seriously of purchasing the mill and mill-seat on the Hammonassett River, but finally gave up the idea. ^ Here spelled Citchell. CHAPTER XXXIV. The Care of the Poor. There were but few wealthy men among the first settlers of Guilford; but there were no poor, and for i6 years after the settlement we hearno mention of any being unable to support themselves. The first record of the kind is given here entire : " Tho : French, propounding in way of petition to the Towne, to have some reliefe, on account of his Daughter which was not wright in her minde. When the Towne had considered his Request, it was put to voat: And the voat past one the Negative: Viz. yt they did not see themselves engaged, either to him or to his, and, therefore, did expect that she should be Retturned to the place from whence she came." This harsh vote French did not obey, and on August 21, 1665, the "Towne being informed yt, not- withstanding Tho: French had been denied entertainment, or admit- tance into this Towne, Either for himself or his Daughter, yett had hiared Lands of Benjamin Wright to settell one: They did agree by vote, as a Prevention: That, whosoever did any longer entertain either of them, should give sufficient sequritye, that they should be no damage to the Towne." No further mention of persons in need is found until January 30, 1683-4, when a widow is to be paid for keeping a child of Edward Parks, one of the poorer planters. Care for widows ^ is noticeable in these old records; on March 18, 1689-90, it was voted to give two widows a certain amount of " bread corn at the mill," and on several occasions, as on May 27, 1695, widows are " forgiven " the payment of taxes."" About the end of the 17th century the poor must have increased, for on December 27, 1699, the town voted " to set a small house upon the Green for an Almshouse, or such like use." This house was to be 18 by 12 feet, one story high, and to have a stone chimney. Whether this was ever built and how long it stood are unknown, and the town seems to have had few needing help until the coming of the " French ' Jan. 16, 1700, Job Parmelee is paid 14s. for carrying a widow to Wethersfield. ""July 7, 1702, the townsmen to supply Mary Allen with things she needs as her husband Gideon Allen absents himself from her & she is not able to relieve herself. THE CARE OF THE POOR. 233 families." Who these were and how they came to Guilford is un- certain.' Legend hath it that a vessel, carrying the Acadians to the distant south, stopped one night ofif Guilford and landed some of its exiled passengers. Whether this be true is unknown ; but the " French families" were here by April 12, 1756, when the selectmen were directed " to put out to service, so many of the French family, which is amongst us, as they can dispose of, without expense to the Town, (o free it from charge." There are a few similar minutes: on De- cember 27, 1768, Eliphalet Hall was paid £3.5.7^ " for the old French- man's house rent," and on April 13, 1772, upon the petition of the Old Frenchman, who desired to go to Canada, the town voted him " $2 " to be given to the person, who appears to carry him & his family to Albany." Physicians and medicines for the sick were often paid for, if the person was needy. On December 8, 1767, the town voted to pay Joshua Cook's debt to Dr. Hempstead if not over £4 sterling. On De- cember 28, 1779, widow Rebecca Hill was allowed £22.4.0 continental currency to pay Dr. Foot's treatment of her son in his last sickness; and on September 18, 1781, Dr. Phineas Clark was paid £6.8.2, half of his bill, for " doctoring Aaron Hill in his last illness." The care of the town for the needy relatives of Revolutionary soldiers is treated of in another place. Another way of aiding the poor was to " abate " their arrears of taxes, which was frequently done.' Paupers were distributed about in dififerent families, where they were boarded at the expense of the town.* The selectmen's accounts for 1788 have fortunately been pre- served and throw interesting light on the treatment of the poor. Pay- ments are made " for provisions & wood," for Dr. Pynchon's bill, for clothing, for board at prices from is. 6d. per week to 3s. 6d., for Dr. Brook's bill, for repairing houses, for opium and i qt. of gin per month 1 ^ The Memorial History of Hartford County says 400 Acadian exiles were sent to Connecticut and were billeted on the various towns. Vol. 1, p. 302. ' First mention of the word dollar. ^ Vide Dec. 12, 1769. On Dec. 27, 1784, Aaron Stevens, petitioning the town, states that he had bought property, on which there were unpaid State taxes, that the man from whom he purchased it had taken " poor man's oath " and was free, and that unless taxes be remitted the property, all his estate, which " was hardly earned by serving his Country as a Soldier in the Continental Army," must be sold. The town granted one-third of his petition, but reconsid- ered its vote on April 11, 1785. ' Sept. 20, 1774, proprietors grant town leave to set up a house for conveniency of maintaining the poor on a- piece of land east of the mill pond. 234 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. to one reprobate old woman, for funeral charges, for warning persons out of town, &c.' On April 12, 1790, a committee was appointed to " examine into the state of the Town poor & to consult on the best measures for their support." Their report was submitted on September 21 and states that, " considering the circumstances & Bodily infirmities, that the greater part of those, who receive support from the Town, labour under — Also the Expence the Town must of necessity be put to — in Order to erect suitable Buildings for their Reception, in Case they shou" be collected under one Roof, as well as other Expenses, that must of Course arise. Your Com*^^ cannot advise to any mode of procedure in future, very essentially diflferent from that, which is now in practice.'' " About 1795, the practice was adopted of employing a family to take them all in a body into their house and to provide for them, charging for the articles consumed." In September, 1810, the question was again agitated of building a town poor house.' On December 11, however, the selectmen are directed " to let all such persons, who are wholly on the Town for Maintenance & Support, at public Vendue, and that they employ such trusty person or persons, to provide for them, under their inspection, as shall undertake to keep them the Cheapest and, that they let them quarterly in each Parish, or otherwise, at their discretion." This method was followed until December 14, 181 3, when it is voted to build a house, 52 by 27 feet, '2 stories high. The selectmen were ordered to sell all the town real estate but the town mill, town house, and powder house, and use the proceeds for the poor house, which should be built in the limits of the ist School Society. Deacon Spen- cer's land in the west part of the borough was purchased and the house standing thereon enlarged the next year. Rules for its govern- ment were adopted in November, 1814. The building and lot cost $1,600, and the entire expense, including the cost of the addition to the house, was $2,080. In this house, the poor of the town, varying from 25 to 30 in number, were supported until the division of the town. A family was procured to live in the house to take charge of the paupers, the cost being somewhat under $1,000 per year. By this arrangement there was a saving of some hundreds of dollars annually. This plan was continued until the division of the town, although at times there was disaffection, as is shown by the vote, four times repeated, that the almshouse and paupers should be " disposed ' See a paper read before the Halleck Circle on Town Poor, 1788, by Fred. E. Norton. ''A favorable report was made and adopted in November. THE CARE OF THE POOR. 235 of, if it be cheaper.'" "Upon the division of the Town, the pubHc property was also divided and the Almshouse building fell to the share of Madison. After this division the poor were kept for some years in private families." On November 3, 1828, a committee was appointed to " see about purchasing an Almshouse & Workhouse " ; but none was purchased, and the selectmen contracted for the support of town paupers, gen- erally for a year at a time, until December 17, 1849, when a committee advised the purchase of a house and lot, east of the village on Clap- board Hill, from the heirs of Timothy Seward. This was done for $1,650, and the place being fitted up, was used as an almshouse for nearly 20 years. The policy of having an almshouse was not approved by all the townspeople, and on October 3, 1859, the malcontents suc- ceeded in getting town meeting to direct the selectmen to sell the " town farm, if they can find a better place for Town Poor." No change was made, though, until 1868, when " the building, becoming dilapidated and in great need of repairs, was sold and the present almshouse on Water Street purchased for $1,800 from the heirs of George Parmelee." Any persons arrested in the town were kept by the constables until their cases were tried, or they were committed to jail. This proved very inconvenient, so the town, in October, 1889, voted to expend $600 in building a lockup, and one containing two cells was accord- ingly built on the poor-house lot. On October 18, 1826, Madison put the care of paupers in the hands of the selectmen for a year. After that, on April 7, 1828, Madison voted to use the " Almshouse belonging to the Town and situated in Guil- ford," as a work-house for the year. In 1829 the town voted to have one of the citizen's dwellings used as a work-house, and the few poor are still supported by the town in that way, being kept in the houses of the citizens, there being no town almshouse, and little need of one.'' The poor-house in Guilford was sold in 1832." Special appropriations for the support of paupers or for their burial have been made from time to time, and on November 4, 1836, a man was directed " to be hired out by the Selectmen by the month and year, to such person, as they shall judge best and, after paying for his clothes and other expenses, to pay over the remainder of his earnings for his or his family's benefit." ' Oct. 1823-4-S-6. Oct. 6, 1823, town bequeathed $50 by Mr. Bben'r Plumb of Stockbridge, Mass., for expenses in supporting his parents and sister. ^ In 1847 an unsuccessful attempt was made to have the town purchase alms- house and farm. " At the separation from Guilford some difficulty was found as to which poor belonged to Madison and which to the former town. CHAPTER XXXV. Wild Animals. Guilford seems not to have suffered as much from the ravages of wild animals as some other towns; yet we can see how vastly the set- tlement of the country has changed the character of the animals when we read of a reward of 15 shillings being voted, on October 7, 1646, to " whomsoever killeth a wolf within 2 miles of the Town." Tlie danger to cattle and even to persons from these animals continued for years, and, on October 10, 1654, 40 shillings, a large sum, was offered for the first wolf caught in a pit, " for encouragement of any to set upon wayes to kill wolves." On September 25, 1672, the town meeting voted 8 shillings for each wolf and that this order should hold in force for four years. For some time wolves continued troublesome, so that on January 15, 1683-4, "John Chittenden and Joseph Dudley were chosen and ap- pointed to endeavor to get some poyson of Mr. Eliot and to take his directions for the improving of it for the poysoning of the Woalfes." It is to be hoped the poyson was duly improved. As years went on wolves became more scarce and the desire com- pletely to exterminate them remained strong; so we find, on January 4, 1715-16, that the "Society Meeting of the West Side of Guilford" voted " That, for the future, if any person shall track any wolf or wolves into any swamp & bring certainty to the selectmen that the wolf or wolves are not gone out of sd. swamp, any person so doing shall have 5s. pay; provided the swamp be within 6 miles of the Town & the intelligence to the Selectmen before 12 of the Clock in the forenoon in the same day." Other depredatory animals soon received attention and, on February 4. 'i7'^7> a bounty of 2s. was offered for each fox or wild cat killed in Guilford. To assure against " repeating," the selectman to whom the dead animal was brought was to cut off an ear from its head. From that time onward these animals seem to have been considered the most troublesome and bounties varying in amount are offered time and again. The bounties for wild cats were continued somewhat longer than those for foxes and not until April 10, 1758, were the selectmen forbidden to " Disbust " the town's money for that purpose. WILD ANIMALS. 237 Of late years bounties for wild cats and foxes' have been given again. How late wild deer were found in the limits of Guilford is unknown, but in December, 1742, the town forgave John Wright their part of a £10 fine for killing deer contrary to law. ^ Wild animals received no attention in Madison until Jan. 17, 1882, when bounties of 25 cents for each woodchuck killed are offered, as is also $1 for each fox or coon, and on Oct. 8, 1883, four game wardens are appointed. CHAPTER XXXVI. Cattle. Tame animals gave the Guilford planters much more trouble than wild ones, and page after page of the records is covered with enact- ments in regard to the former. Most of these provisions are of little permanent value. Some are worthy of quotation on account of their quaintness, if for nothing else, for our ancestors' style seems to be most grotesque in enactments concerning cattle and " hoggs." In the minutes of the first recorded town meeting, August 14, 1645, time was appointed to be set for pound making. Goodm: Benton, George Bart- lett, Will: Love, and Francis Austin were appointed for this service, and the task was to be finished by the end of October. The energy of the people is further illustrated by a vote on September 4, 1645, to have "the hoggs taken out immediately and the fences made up." Animals were continually getting out of their owners' lots, as will be seen by the Plantation Court Records, and the pound keeper must have had a profitable position, as he received two pence out of the six pence paid for each beast legally impounded. As the town grew towards the east, additional pounds were made, so in 1670 (February 24) there were three pounds; one for the village proper, one for the Neck, and the third for Hammonassett.'' From time to time the records state that a new pound is to be built by the town, or that some one's barnyard shall be a legal pound. In 1735 the town voted to have one pound in East Guilford instead of two. When North Bristol began to be set- tled the town gave it a pound, decreeing in December, 1753, that Caleb Hunger's yard should be one until a town pound be built. The town pound there was probably built about a year later. When North Guil- ford first had a pound is uncertain, for the first notice found of it is a. direction to move it in April, 1758. The present town pound in Guil- ford borough is next Mr. Amos Hotchkiss's house on River Street. It is but seldom used, still it stands as a relic of former days, and, among the ofiScers chosen by town meetings, two pound keepers still have a ' Nov. 7, 1683, 30s. appropriated for a pound at the east end of Guilford. Vid. May 30, 1699. The town was not always so generous. On Nov. 3, 1702, it granted a pound at the Neck and Tuxis, provided it be made and kept without charge to the town. However, it thought better of this harsh decision and voted 24s. for it on April 24, 1705. CATTLE. 239 place. The present pound was probably built about 1785, at which time the ground on which the old pound stood was leased for 999 years. Cattle, in addition to being impounded if unruly, were taxed yearly according to the number in the planter's possession on January i. New planters paid full rates if they came before midsummer/ otherwise nothing, and if a planter lost cattle after his list was taken and before the tax was laid, he could have the tax on them remitted. Every planter was able to pick out his own cattle from the common herd, in which they roamed, by earmarks, which were recorded in the town records, and which were different for every planter. The question of pasturage for the cattle belonging to the planters was an important one and, on December 7, 1645, the town voted " that ye Neck at Athamonassock be received for the fence to be done at ye proportion of rates and to be taken in for a stinted coihon for young cattle." The town appointed a herdsman for the charge of this pasture and enacted, on January 8, 1645-6, that each planter must " agree with the herdsman at the time he puts in his cattle into the herd; but if he shall neglect so to agree, or do faile of the payment of w"^ they have agreed for, then they shall pay the whole some that is due in English corne, at the Merchants' price, as it may passe in New Haven, without losse to him and shall pay such other damage as the court shall see fit for such neglect or default." On the 30th of the next April the town further voted that " no cowes shall goe about ye plantatio, but under the herdsman's charge, amongst the rest of the herd of cowes," and early in May the herd went forth for their summer pasturage.'' A separate herd of calves seems to have been kept, and of this William Hall was appointed keeper on March 2, 1646-7. He was to be paid by one and a half day's work for every calf, to be given by the owner at any time on two days' notice, and if the herd should be less than 50 calves, those " who canne keep their calves themselves in their owne grounds '' must put in "an equal proportio of calves to make up the same." From an enactment of August 19, 1647, we learn that three acres was considered sufficient pasturage for each of the " great cattell " and two calves were considered as equalling one cow. The planters, at the same meeting, guarded their common lands against trespass by order- ing that no one should put in any cattle " upon the Commonage in any quarter of land wch is yet undivided until the whole company have met together & have, either amongst themselves agreed, or by reference ' March 10, 1651. " It was brought home about the middle of October. Vid. Oct. 10, 1651. 240 . HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. to some chosen by them, to set down a rule or proportion amongst them & a time when to put in upo the herbage to feed, unless the court shall have otherwise set down a rule for all to walk by in such a case." The frequency of votes concerning pasturage shows how important an interest grazing was. On December 30, 1647, " the Court & ye plant- ers did agree & vote, yt no young or dry cattle, wch feed or are kept beyond ye East river & beyond the herd's walk, shaibe stinted in com- monage; but all men have liberty to keep so many as they please." A further vote directed two herds to be kept the next year; one by Rich- ard Guttridge, and the other by Richard Hues. The reason for this division of the herd was " the straitness of comonage for the cowherd by reason of the rockyness & inconvenient lying of land fit for ye pur- pose." To keep the young cattle from the " herd's walk " at East River, the planters voted, on January 20, 1647-8, tO' build a fence' two miles long, as John Mepham, Thomas Jones and George Bartlett should decide. The fence, " because it wholly concerns cattell," was to be paid by a tax, laid according to the number of cattle possessed by each planter. The duties of herdsmen are well put in the vote on May 19, 1651, to hire John Bishop, Jr., " with his horse " for that office. He was " to make it his constant and daily worke to view them all &, if he se any small or weak cattell alone, or in small companys, unable to defend ym fro ye wolves, he is to herd a part of them into some other & stronger company ; or, if he perceive any hurt or destroy made, or done to any cattell, he is to make diligent search for ye carcasses or beast, & to give speedy notice to ye owners; also, wn. he perceiveth yt sundry cattell doe lye to near ye East River, or where the feed is bad, or the place very dangerous to be in by reason of advantage for the wolves to prey upon ym." For this work he received " 15s. per week in Corne & Beeff; viz., wheat at 4s. 6d. per bushell & pease at 3s. 6d, per Bushell, Beefe at 3d. pr. lb."' In the more " Fixed Agreements for the Plan- tation" are these provisions "About Herding": Cows kept in the herd over a month are to pay half price, those kept half the summer pay "the whole price, as is due for other Cattle that goe the whole time." " Young and fatting cattle," except those which are too weak, shall " bee drove out & put within the fence beyond East River within three days after the herdsmen drive out the Cowherd," upon 12 pence penalty for each bullock. If any of these young cattle return home ^This fence was yearly repaired about April i. Vid. Feb. 4, 1650-1. ' Feb. 4, 1650-1, John Slieader granted from town rates wages of herdsman for 2 cows of his, coming from Milford about midsummer, "seeing he could nor put ym in before he had ym, nor could the herdsman's bill now be altered." CATTLE. 241 their owners shall drive them to their " place againe &, either shall mend up the fence at charge of him whose fence is found defective, or they shall give him timely notice that so hee may doe it before those Cattle can come to the breach again." ' On February 4, 1650-1, it was voted to build a pound of five acres for the young cattle to lodge in and that they should have two herds- men. At the same time 20s. were granted to William Hall and John Scranton for damage " done in the come & flax at ye East bridge by the towne cattell, wn meen proved through raine hindered them fro making up their fence." The fact that some planters did not put their cattle into the herd seems to have excited jealousy and, on June 8, 1654, it was ordered that all cattle, except oxen pastured on the west side of East River, shall be paid for just as if they had been kept with the herd. The regu- lation of " all matters about herding cattell & their walks " was con- sidered one of the most important functions of the townsmen of our little village community.^ As the plantation increased in size the town seems to have paid only for the service of herdsmen in the spring and fall.^ In later years too the town took upon itself the expense of repairing the young cattle fence, formerly borne by the several proprietors.* But this matter of fencing off the young cattle from the cows seemed not to prove a success and, on January 30, 1683-4, the town voted " that there should be a fence made by the West River where, and so far as a Committee chosen to that worke shall appoint," 2nd " that all young or dry cattle shall be put on the West side of said fence for their summer pasturing & the East side of the West River shall be for cows or yearlings," 3d, that the expense of the fence shall be borne by those that keep cattle there, and that the people of East Guilford shall not pay for it unless they make use of the pasture. On April 8, 1686, the town voted to make a pound in the woods for the young cattle " to log in a nights " and to maintain it for seven years. When the practice of driving out the cattle in a common herd died out is uncertain; but it was probably about the beginning of the i8th cen- tury. About that period the mention of cattle disappears from the records, not to appear again until November, 181 5, when neat cattle over two years old are forbidden to go abroad without a keeper, under penalty of $3.00. Oxen were kept in a separate pasture at Sachem's Head. This was ' Book B, p. IS, G. T. R. " Vide June 8, 1654. ' Vide April i, 1658. * Vide Feb. 19, 1667-8. 242 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. fenced in pursuance to a vote passed on January 17, 1648/ from " the head of the long marsh acrosse to the Creeke in the Great Cove of Marsh." The fence was to be made by May i, and to be paid for by the owners of oxen. Oxen were to be taken out of Beggars Marsh and kept with the herd until the end of herding time, and if " found goeing at liberty & feeding upon the Coinonage wthout the oxe pas- ture " during this period their owner was to be fined a penny a bullock for the first offence, and four pence each succeeding time.^ On May 3, 1666, Henry Kingsnorth, John Hobson, and John Graves were appointed to lay out a fence for the pasture, which is hencefor- ward to be kept for " its proper use, from the last of March to the first of October." This fence was to be a three-railed one five feet high, and no man should put in more than four oxen or two oxen and one cart horse in the pasture. Just before Andross's usurpation on May 21, 1688, the town "voted that the Ox pasture on the West side of the Town of Guilford shall be and is stated for the time to come to be held fast and sure for the Town's use as an Ox pasture for those inhabitants as shall see cause to fence & improve it for their use." A committee to lay out a way to this pasture was appointed on June i, 1697, and, on June 25, another was appointed to survey it, which committee reported it to contain 600 acres. The town also voted to grant the East Guilford people a proportionate grant of land for a pasture; to sequester 50 acres of the ox pasture for " the surviving ministry when the Town shall see cause to improve it for that end "; and that the rest " be settled upon the proprietors of the town plat, so far eastward as East River, to be to them and their heirs forever." On March 7, 1793-4, all persons were directed to signify whether they desired a right in the ox pasture, or in the land in East Guilford. On December 19, 1733, the proprietors of the great ox pasture were allowed to build a pound if the town be put to no expense. The chapter on the division of land tells the final disposition of this pasture land. There was great care exercised in keeping up the breed of cattle. On April 30, 1646, we find " the planters agreed to hire a bull of Mr. Bishop for one year & to give him, in consideration of serving the cows in the herd, £1 is., to be raised upon every calf of such as do not keep a sufficient Bull of their owne." This care for the breeding of cattle is also shown by a vote of February 14, 1649, when " Mr. Bishop & Abraham Crittenden were chosen & apointed to oversee yt fit calves ' The first ox pasture was in the Neck and was given to Mr. Desborough, Jan. 17, 1648-9. = March 10, 1651. CATTLE. 243 bee weaned for Bulls & it was ordered yt all such, who by order are to weane Bulls, shall first desire those yt are chosen to view calves, to see such calfe, as they intend to weane, and if they shall disaprove him he shall then provide another yt thy shall judge fit & allow." On March 10, 1659, six men are appointed each to provide a bull for the town's use, and they are " allowed 4d. for every cow beast yt. is above 2 years old for Bulling." If dny of these men " weary of this agreement," they are to give the town two weeks' notice. Another mode of supplying bulls was adopted on April 28, 1685, when every man owning a bull might enter him in a book with the townsmen and, if the animal was accepted, receive los. yearly for his use. On December 22, 1730, the townsmen are to agree for a year at 20s. " for the largest and best Bulls that are kept, to serve the Cows of the Inhabitants." On Decem- ber 12, 1738, the town votes to pay for no bulls that year; but on December 8, 1742, it votes to pay los. a piece for the year " for ap- proved bulls." With the vote of 1748 that the town will pay for any bulls kept for its use, the town bull disappears from our records. Next to cattle, hoggs^ gave the planters great trouble. We first hear of them on April 30, 1646, when "the coi:rt ordered yt. what- soever hogg or pigg, aboue half a year old, shall, after ten dayes, be found goeing about the towne, within the compasse of one mile, with- out a sufficient yoke upon his necke, he shall pay for every such default the somme of 6d; also w'ever hogg yt is carried out & shall come home againe & remain above 3 days without a yoke, shall pay for every such default the somme of 6d." The law was changed on December 30, 1647, when an order was made ^ that " no hoggs shal, after ye first of March next, be found upon the Corhon without a ring in his nose & a sufficient yoke on his necke, for every hogg above one year & a half old, with a yoke 2 foot & a halfe long, & all lesser hoggs with a yoke of 2 foot long, & that all other hoggs, yt are caryed out into ye woodes, if any such returning home shalbe found above 3 dayes wthout a yoke & ring, he shalbe lyable to pay the same penalty as ye former hoggs," and " if any unyoked hoggs shall break through into any man's land & doe spoil, he yt is owner of the said hoggs, shall pay the damage — provided yt ye fence be such as is sufficient to keep out yoked & ringed hoggs." But this enactment did not prove stringent enough and, on January 17, 1648-9, another was made declaring "that if any swine (either such as are kept about home, or out in the woodes) shall break or swim into any quarter of land & there make spoile in Come, or by ' Re-enacted March 2, 1656-7, for hoggs found delinquent. April 4, 1658, Henry Doude to impound " disorderly hoggs." ^ G. T. R. Book B, p. 16. 244 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. digging of Marsh or Meadowland, then, upon complaint or notice given to the owners of such hoggs, he shall pay or satisfy for all such damages, according to righteousness, & shall immediately shut or keep up all the said swine in a close yarde or pound for the space of one month at least, or not suffer them to feed or rove at any time into the streets or Cofeon, within two miles of the Towne without a keeper during all the said space of time; and, if after that, they shall again breake into any land and doe like hurt or spoile they shall also againe be deprived of said liberty ... all the rest of that summer following until harvest be ended; only liberty is granted that such hoggs, whether they went at home, or in the woodes at the time, wn they did the hurt, yet they may be caryed out into the woods by water." This rule held until September 19, 1666, when it was repealed, and Guilford was without regulations concerning hogs until February 13, 1670-1, when the town ordered that all hogs breaking into cornfields and doing damage be ringed and yoked the rest of the summer. Their owners must pay for their ravages. Tliis was the law with little change until April 29, 1707, when swine ^ vvrere voted "the same liberty on the com- mons that other creatures have." On February 7, 1720-1, the town voted that "all Swine shall go at Liberty on the Commons within the precincts of this Town untill Such time as they are found to be unruly; that is to say, shall break into some field or Inclosure that hath a fence about it that shall be judged by Two Indifferent men. . . . Tollerable against Swine (although it may be Deficient against Horses & other Creatures), and in Such Case the owner of Such Swine, having notice thereof & shall not, within Twenty four hours after such notice given, yoke his swine, or shet them up, they shall be poundable from off the commons by any person to whome they have Done Damage, who shall be paid poundage as the Law Directs." This, as a specimen of English, is one of the most rernarkable to be found on the records. On December 15, 1740, Hog- reeves were appointed to impound all unringed swine two months old found on the commons. On December 9, 1760, all previous acts con- cerning swine are repealed and if " well ringed " they are permitted to go on the commons. This rule was in force until the end of the first quarter of this century, only that two rings, instead of one, were re- quired during the latter part of the period. Horses we first hear of on August 19, 1647, when, " for shortness of time," the business of rating horses was passed over by town meeting. ^ March 2, 1717, " voted to stand by the printed law respecting ringing & yoking swine." CATTLE. 245 They are next mentioned on May 3, 1666, as sharing the ox pasture with the oxen. The third mention of them is the appointment, on November 7, 1683, of Stephen Bradley to brand horses, a precaution very needful in those days. They seem not to have been very trouble- some and not until October i, 1827, do we find an ordinance forbidding " Horses, Asses, & Mules over 6 months old to go at large, under a penalty of $0.50." Geese were found troublesome enough on August 12, 1685, to war- rant the town imposing on their owners the penalty of one shilling each time one was found off his owner's land. Of Rams and Sheep ^ we hear nothing early, nor until February 10, 1701-2, when the east farmers were allowed " to fence in their seques- tered land, in the Gulf next the Sea, to keep their rams in 7 years." Sheep, by an ordinance of December 16, 1720, were not to be im- pounded if found on the commons without a keeper, and as late as April 7, 1 81 7, they might go at large, well yoked and fettered. The first legislation in regard to dogs was the imposition of a tax of $1.00 for them on October 5, 1846. On November 9, 1829, Madison directed a committee to report a by-law restraining " horses, cattle, asses, mules, swine, sheep and geese from going at large on the highways, or to make regulations for such as shall be permitted to go at large." The next spring, April 5, 1830, geese are forbidden to go at large, from May i to December i, without fourteen inch yokes, and goslings without foot yokes. Any one may impound geese, not observing this law, and receive half of the fine of four cents. Cattle are forbidden to go on town commons on Novem- ber 2, 1840, and horses and sheep on April 8, 1850. On October 6, 1856, the town decided it did not wish to come under the act for the protection of sheep culture. Guilford made the same decision in Octo- ber, 1857. ^ April 29, 1707, a fence to be made across the road to Hammonassett to part the two flocks when the rams are taken from the ewes. CHAPTER XXXVII. Fences. Since the chief use of fences in the early days was to keep cattle out of fields, a treatment of the legislation concerning them naturally fol- lows one of the ordinances in regard to domestic animals. According to the early law of Guilford, two fence viewers were yearly appointed, who were " upon tender of just satisfaction for their time," to go to view any fence, the owner of which might wish to know " whether it bee orderly or noe & whatever fence they condemne as insufficient it shall bear all the damage, whether by great cattle or by yoaked Sr ringed hoggs; but unyoaked hoggs shall bear halfe the damage, although the fence bee condemned for insufficient, they also being dis- orderly, like as the fence is." ' The owner of a defective fence must further repair it, within three days after notice, under penalty of 2s. 6d. per rod. " But if the fence bee approved as legal & sufficient by the viewers the Cattell shall beare all the damage as unruly." A sufficient fence was defined as one four'' feet high on " plaine ground." The " outfences belonging to each quarter of upland or marsh within this plantation shall be equally made and maintained according to the pro- portion, or number of acres, wch. each planter hath lying within that quarter." If the " quarter " were over two miles from the centre, fences need only be such " as in the judgment of the viewers may be competent to kepe out all orderly & great cattle, together with hoggs that are well yoaked & ringed," . . . together with all rivers or creeks so far as they doe secure against great cattle, shall in like manner be allowed for good fence against hoggs, that are not yoked and ringed." Since it was "thought hazardous to peace that severall home lotts should lye in comon," any one who makes his part of the fence between his home-lot and his neighbors may require the latter to m.ake and keep his part in repair, or to " bear the whole damage that comes thereby." " Where any quarter of outlotts of greater quantity doth either adjoyne to some home lott, or to some other quarter of outlotts of lesse quan- tity or number of acres, each such quarter shall both make & main- ' G. T. R. Book B, p. 12, Jan. 17, 1648-9. ' Vide Oct. 9, 1653, height standard raised to 4^^ feet. FENCES. 247 taine the one halfe of partition fence . . . because neither parcell is prejudiced, but both benefitted by their so adjoining." If any land, however, be " layed ^ out to any planter and he neglect to fence it," or to keep " sufficient bound-markes upon it," or to pay rates for it, after one year's neglect of these things the land " shall be free for any planter's use, while it so lies unfenced, to cut wood upon it, dig stones, clay, &c, & to carry them away without molestation from the proprietor." If the neglect in these things continue for seven years " the propriety to be forfeited to the plantation's use, that so it may not be longer under such hazards to be an object of contention." ' An interesting instance of the strictness with which these laws were required to be observed is found on December 30, 1647, when Mr. Whitfield asked " yt he might be freed fencing on either side of ye lane,° w"h runs into ye woods betwixt his house-lot & ye land, late Mr. Higinson's & since purchased by the said Mr. Whitfield." In return for this privilege, Mr. Whitfield offered "that the plantatio should have liberty to passe, with carts or cattell, through his land at ye reare of his homelot & over his bridge upon all occasions." This " tender " was accepted, " for ye present only . . . until the court shall see cause to require the said fence to be made, & that they shall make a way over the swamp in a right line — provided that he make and keep gates ready & fit for their use to passe through at all times." ■ At the same meeting " the Court, being willing tO' show tenderness & respect to Mr. Bishop," granted for a year his petition to be " foreborne fenc- ing of the way " from his lands by Thomas Relfe's," provided " he be carefull to keep convenient gates for passage." We learn from a vote on April 15, 1668, forbidding the practice, that the habit had grown up of placing new fences outside of the old ones, which of course tended to encroach on highways. More stringent measures in regard to fencing were adopted on Feb- ruary 24, 1 670- 1, and, to enforce them, three men were chosen for the Great and Little Plain; and two each for the Neck, East River, East Creek, East End, and Norton's quarter. The new ordinance set forth " the necessity of best advantageing corne here by reason that the proportion of ground being little and also' meane, and the families in- creasing." On acount of this, all fences, "wherein several persons have interest and at times are commoners together, shall be propor- tionally either new made or repaired with a sufficient five rail fence," before April i, and so be kept and " all sorts of cattle, which have been ' G. T. R. Book B, p. 14. ^ That these fines were not a dead letter may be seen in the Records, on Oct. 9, 1645. ' Now Elm Street. * Boston Street. 248 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. put in to feed the herbage after harvest, shall be secluded and taken out . . . . before the ist of November."^ The difficulty of telling in some cases where the land of one planter ended, and the consequent difficulty in fixing the penalty for defective fences, led to the passage of an ordinance on April 15, 1675, command- ing every one to put up stakes or posts at the comers of his land, marked with the first letters of his name, under penalty of 2s. 6d. for each missing stake, after a week's notice. On April 28, 1685, owners of unfenced land next to a corn-field are ordered to pay " all damage that they do thereby unto their neighbors, & also bear all damage that they shall sustain from others." ' On March 16, 1675, " at a meeting of the East End quarter " it was agreed that the quarter be fenced proportionately, the fence to be finished by April i. Further, that whosoever shall build there " shall fence off his home or dwelling lot at his own proper cost besides his quarter or out fence in just proportion." CHAPTER XXXVIII. Trade and Manufactures. The first settlers of Guilford were farmers, not traders or manufac- turers; they had not a merchant among them and scarcely a mechanic, and the story is told that they found some difficulty in getting a smith in their plantation. On February 26, 1665-6, Thomas Smith ^ propounded " for liberty to make use of the Town's Smith tools and Shope." His proposition was approved " upon condition yt the said Thomas Smith come to worke speadilly and to suit this plow season: and also yt he leave the tools in good repaire." He did not become a permanent inhabitant, and left before December 29, 1669, when Nicholas Hughes had liberty granted to come to " worke here on his trade and to forward him in so doing, the Town is willing to lend him their Smith tools at the begin- ning of Next March, and so long as the Town see cause." Jacob Joy was loaned the town's vise on February 23, 1669-70, " he promising to mend it," and on November 8, 1670, Nicholas Hughes was granted a homelot to be his if he remained for seven years, so he must have given satisfaction. On April 15, 1675, we find a "major vote" deciding " that the Townsmen should send to Fairfield to Samuel Baldwin,'' to desire him to come to work upon his trade of Smithering upon tryal." As years went on, however, the trade of smith became more of a pri- vate concern, and on March 31, 1693, the townsmen were " directed to make a sale of the Smith's tools, now belonging to said Town." ° Lt. William Seward was a tanner and, on January 15, 1660-1, he " desired that he might hereafter buy all ye hides of beasts killed in ye plantation for ye encouragement of his trade." To this request " some expressed their consent and all the rest were silent." ' He was in Guilford in 1652 and given land " upon condition of serving the Town in the trade of a smith upon just & moderate terms for the space of S years." This lot he sold, and Feb. 7, 1660-1, the town allowed the sale pro- vided he hold the lot he bought on the same condition. He was of Dr. Rossiter's party and went to Killingworth for a time. ' Land was granted to him on the east side of the Green on Feb. IS and March 19, 1676-7. " Dec. 13, 1673, Ephraim Darwin was allowed to put a shop on the Green, provided that if the town did not buy it and he should cease using it, he must remove it. 250 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The descendants of the first settlers have generally been farmers, but " some mechanic arts, besides the manufacture of the common articles of use in a family, have been pursued." ' On April 29, 1707, Dea. Samuel Johnson was granted " liberty to set up a Fulling Mill some- where between the Lime pit that Ezekiel Bull made Southward»of the River beyond the great bridge & the upper end of the little island that is there, and in case the said Johnson cannot attain his desire at that place, to sett a fulling mill on the West River above the saw mill, mak- ing a dam at the beginning of the falls, . . . and so set the mill in a valley on the West side of the river." The former site was chosen in the northwestern part of the borough. " The most that this establish- ment could do was to full the cloth sent to it, ' a large proportion of which was worn without shearing or pressing.' Cloth dressing at this establishment was carried on by the family of Samuel Johnson for many years, being even prosecuted by a great-grandson of the same name within the memory of some of the present inhabitants." Another fulling mill was allowed to be erected by John Norton, on February 24, 1783, to be placed on his own land below Elon Lee's. The list of the First and Fourth Societies of Guilford in 1747 shows that in that part of the town alone there were numerous small indus- tries. Three persons are taxed as joiners, i as a tailor, 7 as weavers, 4 as carpenters, 6 as merchants (2 of these being also boat-builders), 8 shoemakers (7 being also tanners), i ship-carpenter, 2 wheelwrights, 2 victuallers and " glasers," 3 coopers, 4 blacksmiths, i hatter, i saddler, I sailmaker and rigger, i rope maker, i clothier and victualler, i boat- builder, I physician, and i engaged in " matting." There were two corn mills and a saw-mill. "Vessels have been occasionally built in the present Town of Guil- ford.' Many of these, owned by the inhabitants, have been employed in the coasting trade, and in former days " some were employed in the West India trade." A shipyard seems to have been at Jones's Bridge as early as 1744. Bradley's shipyard was there in 1806. Boat building is still carried on by the Hill family near the harbor. ^ Permission by proprietors to erect blacksmith shops was granted to Ebenezer Benton in North Guilford, Sept. 1752; to Eliphalet Hatch, Sept. 15, 1767; Daniel Bradley at the Neck, Feb. 5, 1733-4; to .erect cooper shops to Benj. Crampton, April 9, 1753; Joseph Chittenden, April 27,' 1731; Miles Hunger, Jan. 27, 1821. A coal shop of Wm. Ward is mentioned April 24, 1738, and shops (kind not specified) of Stephen Benton in North Guilford on Sept. 16, 1760; of Miles Hotchkiss on April 7, 1766; and of Caleb Stone, Sept. 18, 1770 ' Vide Dwight, " Travels," II, p. 488 sq. 'A sloop belonging to Josiah Stone was seized at Rhode Island in Nov. 1710, for some violation of the navigation laws. Conn. Col. Rec. V, p. 291. TRADE AND MANUFACTURES. 25 1 " Formerly large quantities of shoes were made in the Town and sent to the Southern States for market." The " Gazetteer of Connecti- cut and Rhode Island " ^ about 1819, says : " The most considerable and important manufacturing business in the Town is that of making shoes. There are 11 shops engaged in this business in the borough, some of which pursue it upon an extensive scale. This manufacture is carried on to a greater extent here than in any other Town in the State, and the products of the business form an. important article of exportation. . . . Except the shoemaking business the manufactures of the Town are inconsiderable; the greater portion of the industry of the place being engaged in the pursuits of agriculture, or the fishing and seafaring business. There are i Forge, 5 Grain Mills, 3 Cloth dressing estab- lishments, 3 Carding Machines and 4 Tanneries." The shoemaking industry is now entirely dead and Dea. J. A. Dowd is the only one of the old shoemakers living. In September, 1730, 42 sail were reported as belonging to Connecti- cut, of which 4 belonged to Guilford; the sloops Mary, of 12 tons, Tryal of 20 tons, Swan of 25 tons, and Ruble of 30 tons.^ In 1810 there were three vessels engaged in the coasting trade and five regular packets plying between Guilford and New York." There were also from 20 to 30 oyster boats. Packets ran to New York until about 1890. The West India trade of Guilford was quite important. I believe my great-grandfather, Mr. Amos Seward, who died in 1881, was the last survivor of those who had been engaged in that trade, as Dea. Julius A. Dowd is the last survivor of those who made shoes in Guilford. There were grave risks in this West India trade, especially during the early years of this century when the vessels were in danger of capture by English ships. A vessel on which Mr. Seward sailed was so captured. Storms too claimed victims. Captain William Whit- tlesey, with a crew of six men, sailed from Guilford harbor on July 27, 1806. He arrived at Dominica on August 24, and wrote two letters there. The next day he sailed for Basse Terre, Guadeloupe, and dis- posed of his cargo there. On September 3 he sailed for home, but was never more heard of. Probably his ship with all on board went down in a hurricane about a week after he sailed. After some months of waiting the friends gave up the vessel as lost and the Rev. John Elliott preached a funeral discourse in February, 1807. His subject was the " Providence of God." " Mr. Daniel Hubbard conducted an extensive carriage making establishment until the commercial embarrassments of 1837." ^P. 121. ''Conn. Col. Rec. VI, 582. "Conn, and R. I. Gazetteer, p. 121. 252 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. In October, 1827, Erastus Dudley was permitted to dam West River' about, 40 rods north of the Fairhaven Turnpike in North Guilford, for machinery, and in the succeeding April Martin Seward was permitted to place a water wheel to turn light machinery below the town mill. In November, 1831, this permission was renewed on his paying "a reasonable sum," and a year later Daniel Hubbard and Alvah B. Gold- smith were allowed to dam West River, south of Eli Stone's, for me- chanical purposes. In 1847 Oliver B. Fowler and Charles Bishop bought the Hall iron foundry at Clinton and removed it to Guilford. Work was begun in a small building near Jones's Bridge. In the following year Mr. Bishop sold out his interest to Mr. Fowler and removed to Meriden, whence he had come. In 1849 ^ joint stock company, called the Guilford Manufacturing Company, with $20,000 capital, was organized for the manufacture of steam-engines, machinery of various kinds, iron-castings, etc., by some of the prominent and well-to-do citizens of the town. The location of the factory was near Jones's Bridge. It gave employment to a large number of persons and at first bade fair to be eminently successful, but eventually failed. The property and manufactured articles on hand, as well as the machinery, were sacrificed at a fraction of their value, and the building itself was removed to a lot on the west side of the Green, where it is now known as Music Hall. The foundry was soon thereafter removed to Fair Street where Nausup Creek crosses it, and a large building was erected. The manu- facturing of sad irons was there entered upon. In 1851 the establish- ment was called the Nassup Foundry and Machine Shop, with O. B. Fowler as agent in charge. Soon afterwards the property was sold to Israel Stowe Spencer and his son Christopher. Later another son, George B. Spencer, was added to the firm, which has been known as I. S. Spencer's Sons since the death of the father in 1867. In 1869 a brick foundry, 60 by 100 feet, was built, in which was a cupola having a capacity of five tons. In 1880 the works were enlarged and a seven ton cupola built, and in 1883 a brass foundry was added. Steam power was first used in 1872. There is here manufactured a complete line of grey iron castings, such as legs for school desks, pedestals for lamps, parts of bicycles, etc. In addition the Spencers produce a large num- ber of their celebrated family scales and do a large business in brass castings. The establishment has long been prosperous and afifords remunerative employment to many of the citizens. The proprietors ^ April, 1826, Jonathan Bishop allowed to draw water from Mill Pond for machinery. TRADE AND MANUFACTURES. 253 have carried on the business with great prudence and energy and to the great advantage of the town. There has never been a strike among their employees. About forty years since a Papier Mache Factory was operated by E. L. Ripley on Water Street near the old Rankin place. It has long since been discontinued, though it was quite successful for some years. In 1863 J. S. Norton opened a brass foundry and the American Lock Works at the foot of High Street, where the hub factory now stands. The enterprise was unsuccessful. In 1868 J. W. Schermerhorn, of the city of New York, began manu- facturing school furniture in the building erected for the lock factory, and was for some years very successful. The " manufactures were sought after from all parts of the Union, but financial embarrassments in 1877 put a stop to the operations of this enterprising firm." On October 22, 1877, the Guilford Enterprise Company was incor- porated to occupy the building vacated by Mr. Schermerhorn. It had a capital stock of $5,000, and was incorporated " to manufacture and sell vegetable ivory goods and any other articles wood, ivory, metal, com- position, or rubber." The officers were President, Christopher Spen- cer; Secretary, H. E. Norton. On January i, 1878, the capital stock was increased to $10,000, on July 13, 1878, to $15,000, and on October 20, 1881, to $30,000. It was for some time very successful, but an un- fortunate selection of managers and a fire, which destroyed the build- ing in May, 1884, induced a scaling down of the stock to $15,000 on September 4, 1884. A substantial brick building was erected in place of the one destroyed, but misfortunes continued and the works were finally closed. In 1890 the Paragon Novelty Company took possession of the build- ing. It did chiefly nickel plating and removed to New Haven in 1891. The Hub Factory was started by George E. Hull in the northern part of the First Society about 1870. The business gradually increased until several large buildings were needed for the work done by the company. In 1892 these buildings were destroyed by fire. Soon afterwards a new company was formed, consisting of G. E. Hull, J. C. Potter and L. L. Kelsey. They occupy the building formerly the property of the Button Company. Their business consists of the manufacture of hubs, spokes, and wheels. In 1895 Mr. Kelsey with- drew from the firm. On March 16, 1881, the Sachem's Head Canning Company was in- corporated with $10,000 capital stock and the following officers: Alfred P. Sloan of New Haven, President, and Darwin N. Benton, Treasurer. It has carried on an extensive business, chiefly in canning tomatoes 254 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. and pumpkins. Its buildings are on the east side of Water Street. It gives employment to a large number of persons of both sexes. Another canning company was organized by Edward Griswold, James A. Dudley and John Hubbard about the same time, but failed after a short existence. For it were erected the buildings south of John Hub- bard's house, now used as a public hall. On October 6, 1884, the town instructed the selectmen to abate the tax of any manufacturing com- pany coming to town, but this encouragement has produced little results. Shortly after this vote a number of Guilford people raised by popular subscription $25,000 to establish a silk mill in the town. W. O. Atwood of Stonington, formerly of Tariffville, conducted the affairs of the company. The business was not carried on satisfactorily, the stockholders obtained little profit, and finally a suspension of the busi- ness became necessary. The factory, a large wooden one, stands just north of the railroad and to the east of Whitfield Street. The mill was finally sold at great loss to the stockholders and now stands idle. It is the property of John J. Bockee of New York. In 1873, under the direction of John C. Norton, Fish Oil Works were built on the west side of Pipe Bay. Fowler and Colburn were the proprietors, and an extensive business was done in manufacturing oil from white fish to be used in paint. The company owned several sailing vessels and two steamers, all of which were engaged in obtain- ing fish. The works had previously been operated on a much smaller scale on Mulberry Point across Pipe Bay. In 1882 the plant was removed to Virginia and later to Long Island. The inhabitants of Madison, like those of Guilford, were mostly . farmers at the beginning and have generally continued so, although dififerent manufactures have been introduced and flourished for a sea- son. An oil mill was built in the last century and ran a portion of each year. Iron works were carried on for a while on Stillwater Brook, west of Race Hill in North Madison, and then abandoned. In 1834 there were in Madison Parish 4 merchants' stores, i grocery, 2 taverns, 4 shoe shops, 2 tanneries,' i saw mill and 2 grain mills; in North Madison, 2 merchants' stores, i tavern, i clothier's shop, i saw mill and i grain mill. Jonathan S. Wilcox and his associates were incorporated in May, 1834, as the " Madison Union Wharf Company." A wood-market has existed for many years at the rock or wharf east of Tuxis Island, and another is located at West Wharf on the opposite side of the same island. Shipbuilding has been carried on at dift'erent places along the shore. Vessels were formerly built at the Neck by the family of Bassett. Twenty-seven vessels of various kinds have TRADE AND MANUFACTURES. 255 been built at East Kiver, on the Guilford side, just before the main road to Madison. The inhabitants own and sail a few coasting vessels. The " Madison Mutual Fire Insurance Company " was incorporated in 1855 by Walter P. Hunger, Joseph W. Dudley, Erastus C. Scranton, Martin L. Dowd, George Dowd, Reynold Webb, and Frederick Dowd. It is still prosperous, having paid in losses about $3500 and in divi- dends about two-thirds of the cash paid in for premiums. It has now about $350,000 risks outstanding and a surplus of $9,213.44. The risks taken are confined to Madison and the adjoining towns. April 15, 1884, the town of Madison voted to free of taxes for 15 years any manufacturing company locating there before October i, 1886. The only manufacturers in Madison are Munger & .Son, school furniture, employing about 20 hands, and H. J. Griswold's knitting factory employing about ten hands. Quarries. In 1837 a granite quarry was opened at the sawpits, about a mile southwest of the village. It is on the original farm of the Rev. Henry Whitfield, about half a mile east of the Stone House. The Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum, in the twelfth ward of New York City, was built of this granite, and other public buildings obtained building material from this quarry. It has been disused for many years. The resources of Guilford ' had been scarcely touched in the matter of build- ing material until John Beattie came to Leete's Island in 1870, and buying land there, began quarrying for granite at two points, one on the shore of the Sound, the other by the side of the railroad. By this he obtained easy transportation and, as the stone is excellent, taking a good polish and pinkish in hue, like Scotch granite, he had no diffi- culty in obtaining orders. Within six weeks of his arrival he had four large contracts: for a beacon at Wickford, R. I., for the break- water at Block Island, for the breakwater at Westport, and for the Housatonic bridge. Up to 1873 he had built thirteen bridges on the Harlem Railroad, and in that year he contracted for all the granite work in the cut and tunnel in New York City from Harlem River to the Grand Central Depot. This he contracted to furnish for $400,000 and finished in three years, taking part of the stone from Sachem's Head, where a quarry was opened in 1874. From 1873 tO' 1876 he also built twelve beacons, the foundation for the New Haven lighthouse, and did much work on the abutments of the Brooklyn bridge. Since ' Great assistance has been found from a paper read to the Halleck Circle on this subject by C. M. Leete, Jr. 256 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. then he has furnished stone for two bridges crossing the Connecticut River at Springfield, built a grain elevator at Newport News, Va., cut- ting and shipping the stone therefor in midwinter, filled a large con- tract on the New Haven breakwater, put 30,000 tons of rock in the Connecticut River bridge at Lyme, and furnished stones to mark the boundaries of New York and New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. He has also built the north half of the Battery wharf at New York City, the foundation of the New York produce exchange, furnished stone for the elevated railroad at Hartford, and the New London bridge. Every stone in the pedestal of the statue of " Liberty enlightening the world " on Bedloe's Island is from Guilford, and Mr. Beattie is supposed to have cleared $75,000 from the contract. The works are on a great scale, sometimes 1,500 tons of rock are moved at a single blast, twelve engines, as many derricks, from four to seven schooners, and from 50 to 300 workmen are employed, and the monthly freight bill is sometimes $4,000. The Leete's Island quarry has at present the contract to furnish stone for the abutments of the new bridge from New York to Long Island over the East River. There are two other large quarries in Guilford : one at Leete's Island near the railroad track, owned by John Hanna of New Britain, Conn., the other at Sachem's Head near Great Harbor, operated by Hughes Bros, and Bangs of New York. Both produce excellent granite blocks. The stone came from Guilford quarries for the new railroad terminal station in Boston and the Third Avenue Bridge in New York City. CHAPTER XXXIX. The Borough. " Most of the trade of the present town of Guilford is transacted in the borough or village, pleasantly situated between the West River and East Creek. It was incorporated in October, 1815, and includes within its limits the great plain and village grounds, contained in the west part of the land bought from the queen sachem, Shaumpishuh, extends north and south from the Sound, back about the distance of a mile and a quarter, or a mile and a half, being % mile to ij^ miles in breadth." Its limits are as follows : " Beginning at the most southerly part of Hogshead Point, so-called, on the eastern side of the harbor, in the town of Guilford; thence running in a straig'ht line westerly to the inner scow channel rock at Mulberry Point; thence by high- water mark to the south-westerly point of the West, or Menuncatuck River; thence on the west bank of said river to the east end of the garden recently owned by Orrin D. Blatchley, deceased (anciently called Brad- ley's shipyard) ; thence across the road so as to strike the most western bend of said river a few rods north of said road; thence by the western bank of said river to the brook which empties into said river, a little north of the house of Enoch Stannard (anciently Lewis Sexton's); thence by said brook across the road ; thence by the western line of the North Guilford road so as to include the dwelling house formerly Bille Chittenden's, deceased; thence in a line due east to the brook a little south and east of the dwelling house of Charles L. Benton (anciently of Abraham Evarts, deceased); thence down said brook to East Creek; thence down said creek to Sawpit bridge, so-called ; thence in a straight line to the eastern part of Farmer's Wharf on the bank of East river; thence in a straight line to the first mentioned bounds." The borough has always held an annual meeting in the town house on the first Monday in March, and elects a warden, six burgesses, a clerk, a treasurer, a bailiff, a collector, and three assessors. The war- den is the chief executive officer and has power to suppress tumults and to commit to the lockup any disorderly person for a period not exceeding twenty-four hours. The warden and burgesses have control of the fire department, of making fire-limits for buildings, of laying out and discontinuing public squares, streets, sidewalks, etc., of con- 258 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. structing sewers and drains. As a court of burgesses they constitute a local board of health ; may make by-laws concerning markets and com- merce, the regulation of the mode of assessment and of the collection of taxes, and in general concerning such subjects as municipaHties may regulate by ordinances. The present charter was passed by the legislature in 1874, amended by the town and re-enacted with the amendments in 1875. The borough held its first meeting' on December 8, 181 5. Its ac- tivity has covered a somewhat extensive field, and among its by-laws are found provisions relating to the meetings of the warden and bur- gesses and of the borough; to the prohibition of the running at large of horses, sheep, cattle, swine and geese; to punishment for laying ob- structions in the highway and for firing guns ; to the pasturing of cattle on the green, and fastening horses to trees ; to naming streets ; to remis- sion of fines ; to licensing amusements in the public hall or out of doors, non-resident auctioneers, torchlight peddlers and peddlers of lager beer or spirituous liquors, circuses, menageries, side shows. Pounds are fixed, slaughtering of cattle prohibited, health provided for, the setting out of trees as well as the erection of fences regulated. An early by-law gives owners of land, planting trees on their side- walks, exclusive right to " their fruit and loppings," and another one provides that " any one taking fruit without leave " shall pay $2.50, if the theft was by day, and $5 if by night. The probability was to be in the plaintiff's favor and the defendant must prove himself not guilty ! A vote of May 6, 1816, repealed March i, 1852, freed Oak Street from privileges and burdens borne by the rest of the borough. The care of the green and of roads has lately received more attention from the borough, and in 1882 Miss Harriet Bradley left the warden and burgesses $500 to be used in improving and beautifying the green under the direction of the U. W. P. I. or by other agencies. The Green. This square, the pride of Guilford, is probably due to the one in New Haven, in imitation of which it is thought to have been laid out. It is, however, much smaller than its prototype, as its " length on the western side is 673/2 rods, on the eastern 66>^, on the northern 3i>4, and on the southern 28>^, and it contains 11% acres and 8 rods. The ground was originally uneven and disfigured with numerous basins or pond holes, the central part had been injudiciously used as a grave ' Only Stonington is older as a borough. THE BOROUGH, GREEN AND FIRE DEPARTMENT. 259 yard like the western portion of the public square of New Haven.'" On it stood in former days the Congregational and Episcopal Churches, the town house, the hay-scales,' and, according to President Dwight," four school houses, in which were kept four very good schools. The work of improving the square began* in 1646, when it was forbidden to cut down trees in front of the meeting house. In 1729 the green was surveyed and laid out by William Stone, Samuel Stone, Ebenezer Talman, and Michael Hill, and their measurements are those given above." In 1735 the town forbade the digging of gravel from the green, and in 1764 and 1775 found it necessary to repeat the prohibition. About that time there was a spirit of enterprise abroad. The old town house was built and " the pond holes were filled up and the ground partially leveled." The latter process had begun as early as 1774, when William Ward was authorized to remove " the dirt which lyeth higher than the natural earth where the former meeting house stood and lay it " in front of his lot on the west side of the green. On April 8, 1793, the selectmen were directed to remove " all incum- brances " from the green, and to allow any public-spirited individuals " to tend " the southern part under their direction." " The gravestones and monuments were removed about 1824 to the new cemeteries laid out in 1817, about a mile on either side East and West of the village. The public buildings which formerly incumbered the Green have all been removed, the last being the old Episcopal church, which was taken down in 1838. The Ancient Congregational church was removed in 1830, and the Town-house and the Academy, about the same time." The latter two were transferred to a position on Church Street " The inhabitants planted the elms about 1827 and the other shade trees which now so suitably embellish the Green. In 1837 ' Feb. 28, 1728-9, proprietors voted that the Green and East Guilford Green " shall hold the width & length they now have & the land left for a green in Cohabitation shall not be lessened nor the highway or square where the North Guilford Church is." A committee was then appointed to prepare a scheme for granting to the several societies the land on which the meeting-houses stood. ° Medad Stone authorized to build them, April 11, 1814. ' Travels, II, p. 488 sq. * G. T. R. Book B, 14, Jan. 8, 1658. In the more fixed agreements it is ordered that all stones " wch being digged above one whole yeare since upon the comon are not caryed home, they shall be forfeited & free for any other planter's use without paying anything for the digging of them." ° Guilford Fourth Book of Deeds, p. 120. ° A fear too much was being done is shown by a vote of Oct. 1823, forbidding any surveyor to lay out over $100 on the public square during the year. 26o HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. the Green was enclosed with a simple white railing, for which a private subscription of $350 was raised." Of late years the Green has been beautified by the Soldiers Monument, placed near the centre. " The Green is now an object of attraction to all and, surrounded as it is with comfortable and elegant houses, large and commodious churches, it presents a picture of village beauty equal to any in New England. Its location is in the plain at the bottom of the valley, which is overlooked by Long Hill, Clapboard Hill, Hungry Hill, and other eminences in the neighborhood. Its distance is 16 miles from New Haven, 34 South of Hartford and 36 from New London by Saybrook, and about 34 by Essex borough." The herbage on the green was given for twenty years from 1853 to four citizens in return for refencing it and taking care of it. After this agreement expired, the grass was yearly sold at public auction until 1893, when a horse lawn mower was purchased, by which the turf is kept neatly trimmed. President Dwight ^ thought the town " compactly built," the houses "in many instances, ancient and ordinary." The veracious Peters^ tells us that the village is laid out in squares, " 20 of which are built upon." The Fire Department. Precautions against fire were early taken and were quite necessary, as most of the settlers lived in log cabins for some years. At the very first regularly recorded town meeting, on August 14, 1645, the ques- tions were discussed of passing orders that ladders should be at every house and that " stuff " be not burnt in home lots. On January 8, 1645-6, definite action was taken and those who kindle fires in lots are ordered to pay the damage and make satisfaction in case such a fire, though it be made only " to burne stubble or rubbish . . . happen to burn fences, houses, stacks, or other damage to any other man." ' Ladders to reach the eaves were ordered and William Plaine was appointed to " view every chimney in the towne, once in six weeks every year, and whatsoever chimney has not been swept within the space of 6 weeks, before he comes to view it, they shall pay for every such Tunnell the sume of 4d. to him for sweeping it for them." To these laws the more fixed agreements add another : " that it shall be lawful for any planter or any other discreet person by his order, to frye any marsh, or burn leaves in the woods, at any time within the moneth of March yearly "; but if the fire be near any fences, buildings, or hay-stacks, notice must be given their owners. ^ Dwight Travels, II, 488 sq. ' Peters' History of Conn., p. 161. ' Vide Book B, pp. 14 and 15. THE BOROUGH, GREEN AND FIRE DEPARTMENT. 261 We find no further trace of an ordinance concerning fires until the borough was chartered. Among its first acts was the appointment of fire inspectors, who were instructed to see that each " shop or other building not inhabited " had a fire fender of sheet iron for each stove or fire-place, to prevent woodwork from catching fire. A little later each householder was ordered to have a ladder, a scuttle in the roof, and a flight of steps leading thereto. On March 4, 1850, the borough appointed a committee to see about buying a fire engine, and two years later it voted to purchase fire engine 7 and hose from New Haven for $325, and the Guilford Fire Engine Company's engine and hose for $175. The latter engine had been in use for some time. A lot on Water Street was purchased and an engine house erected^ and two fire companies were enlisted by Leverett C. Stone and Charles W. Miller for Fire Engine No. i, and Washington Fire Engine No. 2. In 1855 $170 were appropriated for hose, and in 1862 a cart was purchased with ladders and fire hooks and placed in the basement of the town house. The fire companies are reorganized from time to time, and at present are fairly well filled and drilled. At times, as in 1868, attempts to purchase new engines have been made, but the borough wisely has not done so, for the present engines are not the weak point in case of fire, but rather the lack of water, the wells soon being pumped dry. One of the fire companies has taken the name of F. C. Spencer, a prominent resident of the town. Comparatively few disastrous fires are recorded in the town's history. Two dwellings and a store on the west side of the green were burnt in the winter of 1871-1872. ' The engine is now kept in the basement of the new Town House. CHAPTER XL. Taxation. The early value of Guilford lands may be gathered from their assess- ment/ in October, 1676. Then house lots were " rated " at 2^s. per acre, and a quarter of the land improved " by tillage, mowing, and English pasture" was to be "hsted" at 20s. per acre, while the other three- fourths were listed at los. per acre. "All other lands particularly impropriated by fence," were assessed at is. per acre. The list of the town, as taken in 1825, was as follows: ist Society $25,252, North Guil- ford $8,891, Madison $11,278, North Madison $4,755, in all the original town $50,176. In 1 83 1 it was as follows: ist Society $22,320, North Guilford $8,390, Madison $13,097, North Madison $5,208, in all $49,oi:5- In 1850 the list of Guilford was $34,006, i860 $1,263,031, in 1870 $1,430,128, in 1880 $1,477,884, in 1890 $1,409,333.' The great increase between 1850 and i860 is explained by the fact that at the former date property was placed at 3 per cent of its assessed value, and at the last date at its full assessed valuation. It is interesting to note that the first tax referred to in the old records is the " Colledge Corne," showing how early Guilford gave of her scanty means for education. The next tax referred to is the " min- ister's rate," which was at first collected by three men yearly elected. On October 22, 1646, the first general tax was laid, " a rate of 3d. the acre & 3d. the head " " toward the schoole & charges & towne occa- sions." On October 27, 1650, three assessors were chosen " for the new way of rating," and as Thomas Stevens, John Sheader, and some others of the malcontents objected "to all former way of rating, it was con- cluded to make all rates by way of the proportion, according to ye gen- erall Courts order for rating." These assessors " set downe the valu- ation of houses," gathered up " the summe of all estates," ' and ordered " Mr. Higginson's maintenance." On January 3, 1659, a vote was passed, important enough to be placed among the " More Fixed ^ Conn. Col. Rec. II, 295. ^ $551,395 in houses. In 1894 it was $1,243,657, of which the borough list was $660,606. In 1896 it was $1,304,356. Taxation was 10 mills on the dollar in the town and 3J^ mills more in the borough. The borough had a debt of $2,690.17. In 189s, Madison's tax rate was 10 mills. " Vide June 10, 1652, G. T. Records Book B, p. 17. TAXATION, NEWSPAPERS, BANKING, POST OFFICE, POPULATION. 263 Agreements," providing for distraint upon the goods of all who do not pay taxes each year by the first of May, unless the town free them from this by a special vote. Dr. Rossiter, that chronic objector, on November lo, 1661, com- plained that nothing was finished upon "the audit of the Town Acco'ts " and objected to paying " the Jurisdiction rate or charge," on account of the attempt of some to keep Rev. Mr. Bowers here. When the union with Connecticut came, on September 8, 1665, three men were " chosen to size all Rateable lands and to prepare and make the list of all Reatabull Esteat ether parsonall or reall, according to ordar, for to be presented to the Gen'll Assembly." This was done henceforth year after year. An interesting official point was settled on March 31, 1666, when the town instructed the outgoing constable, though not re-elected, to con- tinue to execute warrants already in his possession against delinquent taxpayers. A little later, on November i, 1667, there were so many debts to the town that the townsmen were directed to collect them and pay the debts owed by the town. This proved hard to do. The taxes ^ were first paid in " Corne: some wheat, Indian and peas." On January 30, 1699- 1700, the town ordered taxes to be paid in grain as " formerly the custom had been." Wheat at 5s. per bushel, rye at 3s. 6d., Indian corn at 2s. 6d., pork at 3d. farthing per pound, and beef at 2d. per pound. Barley at 3s. 6d. per bushel, " Otes " at 2od. per bushel, and fiax at I2d. per pound are allowed to be received in Feb- ruary, 1719-20, and pork and beef have disappeared. At town meet- ings^ the treasurer "published" the county rate; the deacons, the minister's rate, and the townsmen, the town rate. Arrears of taxes were forgiven to persons for poverty or other rea- sons at various times.' At one time seven widows were excused from paying their arrears. The work of collecting taxes increased and an assistant to the collector was chosen on December 13, 1700. When the town thought a tax unjust, it did not hesitate to say so, and on October 2, 1689, it " voted that, whereas there was a County rate exacted upon the Inhabitants of Guilford, which was dissatisfying to many of the Inhabitants . . . they did declare that the money shall not be payd to any pretended officer of the County until it be made to appear according to the laws of this colony." This was probably done, for on March 18, 1689-90, the constable was directed to turn over the money to the county. Bills of credit first are mentioned about 1720, but coined money did ^ Dec. 8, 1670, Deacon Jno. Fowler's minister's rate to be paid by the town. " Vide Feb. 14, 1671-2. ' Vide Nov. 6, 1678, and May 27, 1693. 264 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. not come into the tax-gatherer's hands till many years later. Flax was received longer than any other agricultural product, even as late as 1 791. The flax must be brought in before a certain day, fixed in each year. After 1760 interest was allowed to those paying taxes before August I. The vote of December 11, 1764, is interesting. The town then re- funded to Lt. John Burgis 30s. for a counterfeit bill, dated March, 1761, "which he says he Rec'd in collecting the County Rate, but knows not of whom he Rec'd the Same." On December 15, 1775, money stolen from the Collector is refunded by the town. Since 1871 the town treasurer's report has been printed that the taxpayers may know how their money has been expended. A heavy debt contracted during the rebellion was refunded from 6 per cent to 5 per cent in 1877. When E. C. Bishop became first select- man in 1878 the debt amounted to $26,000; through his skillful man- agement it was entirely wiped out in the next five years, and the tax reduced from $.01 to $.007^4. For this he was thanked by the town, as E. Walter Leete had been in 1869 for collecting all the tax during his year of office." The list of Madison has been as follows: 1826 List of South Society. .11,520, of North Society. .4,790, Total. . 16,310 1833 " 1840 " " ..13,488, " " .5,520, (1 . , 19,008 ..15,654, t( " ..4,916, (( .. 20,570 ..15,168, (1 " •■4-704. (( .. 19,872 ..22,679, . It " • -5.079. a .. 27,759 1847 " 1853 " i860 Total 780,703 1890 Total 714.646 1870 " 867,862 1895 " 795,020 1880 " 737,328 1896 " 823,862 1826 — Per cent, in South Society 70.6, in North 29.4 1833— " " " 70.9. " 29.1 1840— " " " 76.1, " 23.9 ■847- " " " 76.3, " 23.7 1853— " " " ••' 81.7, " 18.3 Newspapers. The first newspaper published in Guilford, " The Shoreline Sentinel," made its appearance March 8, 1877. It was a large sheet, well printed by W. T. Hendrick, independent in politics, appeared weekly, and was for a time the only paper published on the shore line between New Haven and New London. It suspended publication in 1881. For some years thereafter Guilford local news was largely furnished by the " Shore Line Times," published in Fair Haven, which has always " Guilford's debt in 1896 was $2,690.17 and Madison's $10,000. TAXATION, NEWSPAPERS, BANKING, POST OFFICE, POPULATION. 26$ had a correspondent in the town. In 1894 C. H. Scholey bought this paper and removed it to Guilford. It has since been printed in that town on an excellent steam press and is the only paper printed in Guil- ford. Beverly Monroe issued an advertising sheet called the " Guilford Item " for several years previous to 1888. The Guilford Echo was established in August, 1891, by F. W. Bab- cock of Lyme, who had as his correspondent here Mr. C. M. Peck. In 1892 the plant was removed to Branford, where the paper was issued from a general printing office operated by F. A. Finch. In December, 1892, Frederick C. Norton assumed the editorship of the paper, having written for its columns since its first issue. In May, 1897, F. J. Wild- man became editor. Banking. The Guilford Savings Bank, incorporated at the May session of the general assembly in 1875, was organized October i, 1875, and declared its first dividend July i, 1876. Its first officers were Hon. Edward R. Landon, President; Alfred G. Hull, Vice-President; Beverly Monroe, Treasurer; Henry C. Fowler, Secretary. Lewis R. Elliott succeeded Judge Landon as President and served until his death in 1893. Charles Griswold ' became Treasurer in 18 — , and Harvey W. Spencer in 1889. Mr. Spencer died in 1894 and Mr. Griswold again assumed the duties of the office. Elisaph H. Butler is the President of the Bank. The report of the State Bank Commis- sioner for 1894 showed that, on October i of that year, the bank had assets to the amount of $176,247.42, and that the amount of its de- posits was $168,936.42. There were 880 depositors having less than $1,000 in the bank, 29 having between $1,000 and $2,000 and 5 having over $2,000. The bank is in a prosperous condition. It holds notes of the borough for $1,900, and of the Union School District of $1,695. In 1896 it had deposits amounting to $182,894.27 and a surplus of $7,900. Post Office. The earliest record I have found concerning the carriage of mails to Guilford is in the " Journal kept by Hugh Finlay, Surveyor of the Post Roads on the Continent of North America." Under date of November 12, 1773, he writes: " " East and West Guilford are large villages^ as is Bamford likewise; there must certainly pass many letters to and from these towns, but the riders I believe make them a perquisite, as there's no offices in these places to check them. . . . Many people asked me if I had not met the post driving some oxen; it seems he had agreed ' He was State Bank Commissioner from 1889 to 1893. ' P. 39. 266 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. to bring some along with him." The postoffice was established in 1789. The first recorded postmaster was Judge Reuben Elliott, who resided on Boston Street in the house lately occupied by Miss Cornelia Elliott, and kept in a room at the east end of the house, a large square board whereon a large quantity of red tape was diagonally tacked. When a letter was received it was tucked on the board behind the tape, and when the owner walked in the room and saw a letter addressed to him, it could easily be obtained. The mail then came three times a week by four horse stage, and one mail bag served the entire route. At each place the postmaster acted as postal clerk, taking out the mail for that town and putting in that which was to be sent, while the stage waited. Mr. Amos Seward was the next postmaster, keeping the office in the same fashion in a room on the north side of his house. He was succeeded by Dr. Elisha Hutchinson, whose house stood where Music Hall now is. Franklin C. Phelps succeeded him, being appointed by Buchanan, and having the postoffice in a store on the site of E. C. Bishop's house. The next postmaster, John Hale, had the office in his store, standing on the site of Henry Hale's store. President John- son reappointed Mr. Phelps, who had the office on the east side of the Green, and was succeeded by Maj. Samuel Seward, who' again placed the office in Hale's store. When he removed from Guilford, Capt. Chas. Griswold succeeded him and was postmaster for 17 years, during which time the office was in the Music Hall building. Harvey W. Spencer from 1884 to 1888, and Geo. N. Bradley from 1888 to 1894, kept the postoffice in a building on Park Street, and Geo. E. Meigs removed it to his store on Whitfield Street. At his death, in July, 1897, Miss Mary B. Griswold was appointed postmistress, being the first woman to hold that office. She has removed the office to the southeast corner of the Green. Population. The population of the town, including East Guilford, has gradually increased from the beginning until within the past few years, notwith- standing constant emigration. In 1670 there were 255 inhabitants,' comprising 135 males and 120 females, as ascertained at the time of making the third division of the lands in the town. At the time of the fourth division in 1690 there were 108 taxable persons. Supposing these were one-fifth part of the inhabitants, there must have been a ' In 167s, 100 houses in Guilford and 40 in Hammonassett. Mag. of Am. Hist. VIII, p. 849. TAXATION, NEWSPAPERS, BANKING, POST OFFICE, POPULATION. 267 population of 540 souls. In 1730, at the time of the sixth division of lands among the proprietors, 326 persons were taxed, giving according to the same rate of calculation, 1630, as the entire population. The following enumerations made by public authority give : 1756 2322 Total, 59 black. 1774 2930 Total, 84 black. 1790 3460 Total, — black. 1800 3S97 Total, 55 black. 1810 3845 Total, — black. 1820 4131 Total, the last census before the division. 1830 4153 Total, 2344 Guilford, 1809 Madison. In the last number were 67 persons in Guilford ist Society before the division. Had the society lines been unaltered the population would have been: j8oo i8ao 1830 Guilford 1st Society 1629 1918 'iXigh'!)' 1863 North Guilford 540 581 548 2169 2499 241 I Madison ist Society 939 1079 1262 North Madison 489 SS3 480 1428 1632 1742 3S97 Guilford. 1840 Total 2421 I 1850 Total 2653 j i860 Total 2624 I 1870 Total 2575 I 1880 Total 2782 1890 Total 2780 ' Houses. 1838 1870 Guilford borough 183 286 Out of borough 109 168 First Society 302 454 North Guilford 99 117 4131 4153 ms Borough. 2158 1st Society. 495 North Guilford. 1232 Borough. 2101 1st Society. .S23 North Guilford. 1300 Borough. 2079 1st Society. 496 North Guilford. 1450 Borough. Families 1838 1870 I9S 322 138 177 333 499 lOS 126 401 573 438 62s 268 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. In 1838 there were in the limits of the ist Society and out of the borough 4 taverns, 2 merchants' stores, 2 saw mills, part of Hubbard's carriage making establishment, 2 fulling mills and 2 tanneries, and in North Guilford 2 taverns, 2 merchants' stores, 2 grain mills, 2 saw mills, I clothier's establishment and 2 tanneries. In the borough there were three taverns (including the Point House), 13 stores, 6 shoe shops, I carriage factory and 2 cabinet shops. In 1800 the number of persons in Madison was 939, in North Madi- son 489, making a total of 1428. The population of Madison at later censuses has been as follows: 1820 1632. i860 1865. 1830 1809. 1870 1814. 1840 1788. 1880 1672. 1850 1837. 1890 1429. The number of families in 1838 in Madison was 250, and that of dwelling houses 203; in North Madison the families numbered 103, and the dwelling houses 87. Total, families 353; dwelling houses 290. The United Workers. The United Workers for Public Improvement. This association, famil- iarly known by its initials as the U. W. P. I., was organized February 9, 1874. Its objects are defined in the constitution as the raising of funds to repair the walks, light the streets, improve the condition of the village Green, and extend the work of beautifying and improving the village as necessity may demand and funds shall permit. The active membership is composed of ladies, gentlemen are admitted to honorary membership. The funds to carry out the general designs of the association are raised from the annual dues for membership, special subscriptions and donations, the proceeds of occasional concerts, lectures and exhibi- tions, of ice cream festivals and restaurants improvised on stated public occasions. The borough usually makes it an appropriation to aid it in lighting the streets. For this purpose the U. W. P. I. have caused to be erected nearly 100 lamp posts throughout the village and kept the same number of lights burning on evenings not lit by the moon. At times in the past they have raked leaves from the grass in the Green and taken care of its walks. Miss Harriet Bradley, at her death, left a bequest of $500 to this Society. The interest of this sum is to be expended by the advice of the Warden and Burgesses in the improvement of the Green. CHAPTER XLI. Centennial Celebration, July 4, 1876. With a view of honoring the grand event which gave birth to the United States, July 4, 1776, Guilford held a celebration on the centen- nial anniversary of the nation. This was largely attended by her citi- zens and many visitors from distant parts of the country. At sunrise 100 guns were iired as a salute by the Guilford Light Battery, Lieut. Wm. H. Lee commanding. At 9 A. M. there was a grand procession that moved through the different streets of the village, and at 11 A. M. the especial exercises of the day were held on the green. Judge Edward R. Landon in the chair, as president of the day. The music was fur- nished by the New England Band of Guilford. The exercises consisted of the reading of the Proclamation of the President of the United States recommending the celebration of the day, by Rev. John Wilson; reading of Scripture selections by Rev. Theodore L. Day; prayer by Rev. Geo. W. Banks; address of welcome by Rev. Lorenzo T. Bennett, D. D.; reading of the Declaration of In- dependence by Gen. E. M. Lee; a Historical Address by Alvan Talcott, M. D.; and a poem by Samuel W. Loper of Durham. After an inter- mission of an hour, the audience was called upon to hear brief ad- dresses in response to sentiments announced from the stand ; " The President and Congress of the United States " by Hon. Simeon B. Chit- tenden, "The State of Connecticut" by Judge H. Lynde Harrison, " The Town of Guilford " by Judge Robt. E. De Forest of Bridgeport, "The Soldiers and Statesmen of 1776" by Gen. E. M. Lee, and "The Ladies " by Hon. Lewis H. Steiner of Maryland. A Poem by Andrew J. Benton was then read by Rev. John Wilson and the audience was dismissed with the benediction by Rev. Henry Robinson. At night there was a general illumination throughout the village and fireworks were exhibited on the green and in private grounds. The Quarto-Millennial Celebration, Sept. 8, 9 and 10, 1889. As the 250th anniversary of the settlement of the plantation of Menunkatuck approached it was suggested by Dr. Lewis H. Steiner to several prominent residents of the town that it would be well to notice the occasion in some way. The suggestion was promptly taken 270 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Up and at the annual town meeting, October i, 1888, it was voted, on the motion of the Rev. Edmund M. Vittum, " That the Selectmen be empowered to appoint a committee of twelve to arrange for a suitable celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the set- tlement of the Town of Guilford." The Selectmen, Messrs. Henry E. Parmelee, Henry R. Spencer & Edwin W. Bartlett, in November, 1888, appointed as that committee: Rev. W. G. Andrews, D. D., Charles Gris- wold. Rev. Geo. W. Banks, Alvan Talcott, M. D., Lewis H. Steiner, M. D., Lewis R. Elliott, Reuben L. Fowler, S. Wilmot Landon, E. Walter Leete, Edwin W. Bartlett, Baldwin C. Dudley and S. B. Chit- tenden, Jr. The last named resigned January 17, 1889, and Rev. J. J. Smith was appointed in his place. Rev. W. G. Andrews was chosen chairman of the committee at its first meeting at Dr. Talcott's, Decem- ber 21, 1888. Charles Griswold was made secretary and served until August 7, 1889, when Samuel H. Chittenden was appointed in his place. Lewis R. Elliott acted as treasurer. The exact date of the settlement was not known. The deed from Shaumpishuh bore date September 29, 1639 (old style), but several cir- cumstances tended to show that the settlers removed hither somewhat earlier. September 8, 9 and 10 were chosen, as they were days near the time of full moon, and hence thought more likely to bring pleasant weather. At the first meeting of the committee it was voted to ask the select- men of Madison to co-operate. On March 25, Madison voted to do so and appointed as her committee: N. T. Bushnell, S. H. Chittenden, H. B. Wilcox, John H. Meigs, B. B. Munger, Jason Dudley, M. A. Wilcox, W. D. Whedon, Anson Norton, Geo. W. Bunnell, James R. Dowd, Frank C. Bartlett and Alfred B. Scranton. A circular was issued in April in behalf of both towns. Guilford by a special town meeting held August 10, voted to appro- priate $1,000 for expenses of the celebration. Of this amount only $900 were used. The permission of the Legislature to this appropria- tion by a formerly independent commonwealth was obtained previous to its grant. Many special committees were appointed: on Exercises, Finance, Invitations, Hospitality, Music, Decorations, Printing, Procession, Relics, Transportation, Reception, Historic Sites, Tickets, Informa- tion and Publication. Good work was done by all these committees; but the inspiring soul of the whole celebration was the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, Rev. W. G. Andrews, D. D. For months the town was in a stir of expectancy. The past was to be brought back. The homelots of the first planters were marked, as well CENTENNIAL AND OUARTO-MILLENNIAL CELEBRATION. 2']\ as all houses in the borough which had stood for more than a century. The houses were decorated and triumphal arches erected. Tliere was an exhibition of one thousand objects of interest displayed in two houses on Whitfield Street, loaned by Dr. Bennett for that purpose. Sons of Guilford returned to the old town from all parts of the country. For the speeches and speakers the prime demand was historic con- nection with the town and this gave a peculiar charm to the celebra- tion. Only one of the speakers was unable to find ancestors in Guil- ford nearly two hundred years before, and he had edited the first edition of the history of the town and suggested this celebration. The ex- tended publication of the proceedings at the celebration makes a com- paratively brief mention possible here. On Sunday morning in Madi- son (East Guilford) Rev. J. A. Gallup delivered a sermon on the ecclesiastical history of that place, and read a poem, " The Puritan Sabbath," by Geo. A. Wilcox. In the afternoon at the ist Congrega- tional Church in Guilford, where all subsequent meetings were held, be- sides devotional exercises there was read a sermon on the ecclesiastical history of Guilford, written by the Rev. C. L. Kitchel of New Haven. On Sunday evening the Rev. E. G. Starr presided and addresses were made by the Rev. James L. Willard, D. D., on " Education in Guilford and Madison"; by the Rev. Charles E. Stowe on "Congregational Ministers "; and by the Rev. Richard L. Chittenden of Paradise, Penn., on " Other Ministers." On Monday afternoon a poem entitled " A Legend of Sachem's Head " was read by George A. Wilcox of Detroit, Mich., and addresses were made by Prof. Chas. T. Johnson of Hartford on " Fitz-Greene Halleck," and by Henry P. Robinson of Guilford on " Guilford and Madison in Literature," while Dr. Lewis H. Steiner of Baltimore, Md., read " Extracts from ' Halleck's Connecticut.' " That evening there was a public reception to the guests of the town at the house of Mr. John Hubbard and Miss Hubbard on Broad Street, and a reunion of old pupils of the Guilford Institute in the lecture room of the 1st Church. Tuesday was the last, the great day of the feast. At sunrise the Guilford battery fired a colonial salute of six guns and the church bells were rung. At eight the procession began to form and at half-past nine it moved through the village streets. It was a varied and picturesque sight: the battery-men, the invited guests in carriages, the Grand Army veterans, the firemen, the members of the village secret societies, the painted Indians on horseback and in their wig- wams, the Puritans buying the land from the Indians, the log cabin crowded with the first planters, the gathering of people for the first marriage at the Stone House, the " one boss shays " with antiquely dressed couples, the old leather man, the spinning and quilting parties, 272 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. the old time shoe store, the couple riding with a pillion, and the repre- sentation of farm products were Guilford's contribution. Madison sent the planters buying East Guilford from the Indic:ns, an old-fashioned singing school, gay parties of lads and lassies, and a display of school furniture. At eleven the North Church was crowded and the audience heard addresses on " Guilford from 1639 to 1665," by Prof. Samuel Hart, D. D., of Hartford; on " Guilford and Madison from 1665 to 1861," by Bernard C. Steiner of Baltimore, Md.; and on " Guilford and Madison in the Civil War; Town Action," by Miss Kate Foote of Guilford. At noon dinner was served to 3600 persons on the east side of the Green, under the able direction of Capt. R. L. Fowler. It shows Guilford's generosity to state that not only was the multitude well fed, but that much food, which had been offered, was not called for. After the dinner short speeches were made by Sidney W. Leete of Guilford, Ellsworth Eliot, M. D., of New York, the President of the Day, Gen. Joseph R. Hawley of Hartford, Lieutenant Governor S. E. Merwin of New Haven, Judge Andrew C. Bradley of Washington, D. C, and Henry A. Barnard, LL. D., of Hartford. Joel Benton of Amenia, N. Y., read a poem written for the occasion. At half-past three Col. Thomas W. Higginson of Cambridge, Mass., delivered an address on " Whitfield and Higginson," Prof. William R. Dudley of Ithaca, N. Y., one on " Other Founders," and Rev. John E. Todd, D. D., of New Haven, one on " Distinguished Natives of Guilford and Madison." At sunset the grand celebration closed with ringing of bells and a na- tional salute of thirteen guns from the battery. Delegates were present from the Connecticut, New London County, and New Haven Colony Historical Societies, from Yale University and Trinity College. The selectmen of New Haven were present in a body. The celebration was of great benefit to the town in bringing the citizens closer together, in awakening municipal pride, in arousing interest in the past history of the town, and in binding closer to it, the sons who had gone forth into all parts of the earth. C'llAl'TI'.R XLll. The Imksp t'lUMuni and SoriK.rv. TiiK Micktint, IIousk. " As tlio i;ri';il ol\ji\-t of the lirst settlors was the enjoviiient of the privileij'es of the i;ospel in their own way. they very early ereeted a house for puhlie worship; althouj;h it is not eertainly known in what \ear. It was in-obahly tinished in 1114,^, at the time the ehureh was slathered," On jainiary S, iCi45-(\ it was ordered " that no more trees he out downe u\ion the -^reene before the meetinj;' house," an early (lereeption of the value of arhorieulture. " This house was of stone and stood on the north-west part of the Green." It was rather a primi- tive struetnre' with thatehed vooi and elay tilliui;' the interstiees of the stones, and so I'equired frequent repairs. The walls were implastered until io(»S. On .\pril 15 of that year it was also voted to make a gal- Ier\ " at the west end, about three or four seats in breadth." The seals to be oeenpied by the worshippers were tixed by a committee on which were the deacons, after Rev. I\lr. ICliot's pastorate began, and the results of their deliberation were declared in town meeting." .\ list showing how the (leople were seated is not to be foimd; but we do know ■' that all the boys under 14 years of age shall sit by the Oeacons scale \- thereabouts, and Richard Hristinv aiul John Johnson to looke to them to keep them in order in the time of exercise, and if any tliat are older shall be observed to be disorderly in the time of exercise, their parents or masters shall cause them to come and sit with the boys till tliey larne to beliave thnuselves orilerly.'" On I'Vbruary J5, 1(17 j-^. in order "to strengthen the meeting house wall the Town voted to build a porch for that end, strong iv; sut^cient and as cheap as they can." On lannary jo, 1070-80, it was agreed to build a porcli before the south door and a gallery on each side of the meeting house, two seats in width and " that the roof of the house should be ceiled tip to the chamber vv: the under side of the chamber'' tloor should be ceiled with boards." The gr^-at distance some of the settlers had to come to church and ' \idc voio of Oct. 10. if>5, *\ii.lo Dec. S. m~o. 'April 15, tcioS, John roniu-ly to go on tirutumiiig X: swooping the meeting- lioii,ing- taxes b}- the General Court, ordered taxes to be collected from * all others, and appointed a committee of three to represent the Society before the Assembly, if necessary. On October 8 the minority send a petition to the General Assembly, asking leave " to embody ourselves in Church Estate & to get a teacher ordained by the assistance & under the eoiiduct of such ministers and churches, as we can prevail with to assist in that affair, altho' the next neighboring ministers & churches should decline.'" They also complain of the harsh action of the ist Society in regard to levying taxes and, to avoid all doubt, beseech that the Assembly gi^•e freedom from ecclesiastical taxes to all their mem- bers. Thirdly, the>- ask that all in the future, who shall separate from the 1st Societ\- and take the oaths as dissenters, be also freed from ecclesiastical taxes to the ist Society. The Legislature, says Trum- bull, "fixed in their idea of uniting the parties, were slow & reluctant in granting them any privileges," and " appointed a large council to meet in Guilford to hear the parties & judge between them & make report to the Assembly " ' the next ]\Ia>-. Soon afterwards the dissent- ing party apphed to Mr. Moss for help and, on November 23, 1730, he writes them, enclosing a letter to be sent to the clergymen in Boston, and which he desires them to get signed also by Rev. Azariah Mather of Savbrook. If he is unwilling to sign, Mr. Moss wishes "" another visit" from " Mr. Ward, or some other of your leading men," to plan ' Conn. Col. Rec. VI, 278. 'April 10. ' 57 erantees are mentioned, of whom 18 were not signers of the second petition. * .A. most unjustifiable action. 'Trumbull's Conn. II, p. 119. 312 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Other measures. If Mr. Mather sign, then minute directions are given: copies of all important papers are to be gotten, wrapped all up together carefully, sealed " well under a general wrapper of good thick paper," superscribed to Rev. Mr. Thacher, and " it will be a handsome thing for you to write a few lines yourselves in the wrapper, craving help & advice from the Rev* Gentlemen & telling them that our letter hath stated your case as it is . . . and you must put in some money, three or four shillings, to pay the postage . . . that the Gentlemen may not be burdened with the postage, and keep copies of all the letters sent, you may improve young Mr. Norton,^ your scribe, for copies for he writes well and quick . . . that is, I mean, if the work of writing being pretty large, be too much a burden to Capt. Ward or Mr. Ward, or any other scribe." He tells them they must exercise faith and patience and all will come out aright; but " I don't wonder some of you are despond- ing and -ready to give up the cause as hopeless." He quotes David's long probation and Ezekiel's vision of wheels within wheels and says, " It seems to me, brethren, that there may be many wheels of the Revo- lutions of Divine providence moving for your good & for your help, that neither you nor yet your enemies yet perceive." He then refers to the fact that the second temple was 46 years building, and closes with a promise to continue to pray and work for them. It seems to me that Rev. Mr. Moss was largely responsible for the success of the schism in the Guilford church. The enclosed letter, from which we have already often quoted, gave a sketch of the history of affairs, stated that the ist Society, " the neigh- boring ministers and mostly thro' the colony . . . are greatly clamor- ing at & reproaching a few of us, that think well of them and are in- clined to pity and help them." The letter was sent to have "advice & council from some of the Rev'd Ministers of Boston, whose names & characters are highly exalted among us in Connecticut ... so that your countenancing the affair of their settlement in ch. order & ordina- tion of their minister will very much abate the clamours of their adver- saries & be much of a shelter & screen to some of us that probably may be called on to assist them in that office." Consequently two questions are propounded: (i) Whether the narration given in the letter being true, it be proper for the dissenting party " to embody into church estate & get their minister ordained," and (2) Whether it be proper for other churches and ministers to assist therein. No answer to this letter is extant, but Trumbull ^ thinks there was one and that it was favorable. Mr. Smyth vmtes that it is strange that ^ Thomas Norton, Jr. " Trumbull, II, 123. THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 3I3 an answer, which was looked forward to as a thing of so much conse- quence, should have been lost, so that not only nothing of it should be found, but that no allusion to it should be made in the many com- munications of the two societies. If an answer was ever returned it is probable that it advised the two parts of the society to call a mutual council to agree upon some plan of peace. It appears that soon after- wards a communication from the minority to the majority was made, which is lost as is its answer,^ but the reply following thereupon is pre- served and is in the handwriting of Mr. Edmund Ward. It begins by stating that the answer of the ist Society had complained of the paper sent it, " as very deficient in point of Clerkship, in so much that you pretend that it is ambiguous and unintelligible to you; to which we reply that we cannot believe, but you fully understand what we desire & ask of you, . . . but readily acknowledge that we are not so accurate in clerkship as perhaps many are in your party, who are known to yourselves & others roundabout to be superior men to us, both in natural & acquired abilities." They return no answer to the first two enquiries of the ist Society's letter whatever they were. In answer to the 3d enquiry, " the purport of which is to know of us, what favor & assistance we desire of you, in order to our settlement, which you say we have not so much as hinted at in our letter ... we think you can- not but understand what we would; . . . but, if you must have it in the plainest perhaps imaginable, we then say that our society, whose name & character are known upon the County Court Records at New Haven & upon the Gen'l Court Records at Hartford; whom the law owns to be a lawful Ecc'l Society, ... we are desirous of embodying into a church & to get our teacher ordained according to Gospel order, &, therefore, desire your good will & favor in that matter." The 4th en- quiry, probably another proposal for union, receives this answer, " you cannot but know what our different sentiments are, that make it im- practicable for you & us to unite in one society ... so long as you have gotten a man set over you as your Pastor (whom we desire & pray he may do much good among you), yet is so unacceptable to us that we cannot in conscience set down under his pastoral charge & care." On February 18, 1730-1, " at a meeting of the new society," it was voted to apply to Rev. Messrs. Joseph Moss of Derby, Azariah Mather of Saybrook, Jonathan Merrick of North Branford, and Seth Shove of Danbury to come with messengers on the 2nd Wednesday of March, " and assist in advising & counselUng us, under present diffi- culties, what may be our duty, always provided our brethren of the old Society choose the like number of Rev'd Divines with their mes- " Dated Jan. 24, 1730-1. 314 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. sengers, to join in said counsel & advice." The ist Society, probably, did not accept this proposition for a mutual council and, on March lo, 1730-1, the great council appointed by the Legislature, in October, 1730, met at Guilford. It does not appear from the records at whose instance they were convened. Prior to the plan for a mutual council, " the new society," on February 16, 1730-1, drew up a narrative to lay before the General Council. By this they " endeavor to clear ourselves of that aspersion cast upon us not only by our brethren, but others, of our being disorderly, wilful, heady, & factious company, governed wholly by our perverse wills & not by a good conscience in our seeking to be a separate society." They then rehearse the case, , how Mr. Ruggles " was not such an edifying preacher" to them and how no other man was tried "as a probationer for any small time," how they were a minority and though unable to prevent the distasteful settlement, were "willing that our brethren should have a minister, that was so agreeable & acceptable to them." How they petitioned for a dismission and got it, "provided the General Court would allow it (which without doubt they would if our brethren had not opposed it in court & blocked up our way all they could)"; how they separated themselves, hired Mr. Edmund Ward to preach for them, and did not join in Mr. Ruggles' call. How Mr. Ruggles was ordained over the whole church and so made " a Lord over God's heritage," if they are included, and, if they are not, that they "were left as sheep without a shepherd scattered upon the mountains, and, surely, it can't be disorderly for us to seek a settle- ment"; how they had twice petitioned the General Court to be made a separate society and had failed through the ist Society's opposition; how they had then taken advantage of the law about dissenters. They state that their minister, Mr. Edmund Ward, is to them " an edifying Gospel minister, who hath ministerial gifts and graces, also, so far as we are able to judge, & in this matter of gifts & graces, we have the opinion of some Revd ministers, whom we value & esteem capable judges & we know his conversation is good & as becomes the Gospel." They desire him ordained and they beseech the council not to hinder but to advance that end.' The narrative of the " Dissenting Party " and a declaration of the 1st Society were presented to the Council; members of both parties ap- peared and testified, and other papers, not specified, were considered. The Council decided: (i) that they " cannot but approve of " the " sev- ' Thus addressed to the " Rev. Council now sitting." Did the council hold a preliminary sitting then or rather was the paper drawn up in anticipation of their meeting but not dated forward? THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 315 ■eral steps" of the ist Society in settling and ordaining Mr. Ruggles," & judge them "very agreeable to such rules as . . . they ought to regard & haue their eyes upon"; (2) that they judge "insufficient" the reasons alleged by the Dissenting Party for their separation, and consider "that separation as sinful & justly offensive"; (3) that the dissenting party, " in setting up a separate assembly for public worship, without the countenance & liberty of the General Assembly or appro- bation of Neighboring churches, or the allowance of the settled min- istry of the place, & contrary to the advice of the association of the county, we judge to be disorderly & sinful &: disallowed by the 5th article in the 13th chapter of the Cambridge platform,"^ and that their qualifying themselves as " sober dissenters " under the colonial law, "was an abuse of that law & unjustifiable"; (4) "After an invitation, made by this Council & the said church, to those dissenting brethren ... to return to the Communion," if " they do not in some reasonable time do so, that they shall be suspended from the Communion of the Ch. of Christ, which sentence shall be pronounced against them, either by Rev. Mr. Ruggles & church, or by the Rev. Jacob Heminway & Mr. Jared Elliott in conjunction with them"; (5) that the Council do " declare & judge them, the sd. dissenting brethren, incapable of enter- ing into a church state until such time as they have returned back to their Pastor & Brethren of the church from which they have separated themselves, with such reflections on themselves as this council have thought proper, and, if any ministers & churches shall assist in so embodying them ... it will be disorderly & sinful "; (6) they find " a separate meeting for public worship set up by the Dissenting party in this place a disorderly assembly, do judge that Mr. Edmund Ward preaching to sd. assembly is disorderly & sinful and will be so, if he persists therein, & by the authority of this council, do charge him to desist preaching to them & that he do not presume to submit to ordi- nation, or take upon him the pastoral charge"; (7) "Finally, whereas some reflections have been cast upon the Revd Mr. Ruggles, as though he were weak, insufficient, unworthy, & unqualified for the work of Gospel, unsound in his doctrine, of a party spirit & little religion, this council declares that nothing of this nature hath appeared to us, he Tiaving given us a specimen of his ministerial abilities — ^partly from his personal acquaintance & partly from credible testimony, we esteem him a worthy minister of Jesus Christ, endowed with a good measure of ministerial gifts, sound in the faith, of a serious, religious & peace- able spirit — a sweet temper — a becoming conversation and worthy * A master stroke. The dissenting party professed to believe in that platform. 3l6 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. of honour & respect." Trumbull says this was " an extraordinary re- sult," and that the " dissenting party considered the Council as having no more authority over them, than they had over any church in Massa- chusetts, or New York, or of any other place, or denomination." They refused to obey its commands and continued to meet and listen to Mr. Ward's sermons.^ The 1st Society proceeded according to the directions of the Council. Soon after this their collector, Samuel Collins, enforced the taxes of the dissenters. On March 26, 1731, Mr. Samuel Leete's tax was col- lected by warrant, as were probably others. Accordingly, in May, 1731, the dissenting party petition the General Court: I. That they be declared a " lawfull Ecc'l assembly & their teacher, Edmund Ward, a lawful Ecc'l teacher to them." This they beg be- cause the council, whom they think " have got a little beyond their own province " in determining " the meaning of the statutes of the land," have declared them " disorderly." II. That the Guilford dissenters may embody into church estate, without lying " exposed to any punishment, as breakers of the laws of government, nor for rebellion toward the governing powers therein."" III. That " this Hon. Court would please not frown upon, discoun- tenance, much less punish any minister or church that may . . . help & assist this people in the concerns of their settlement in church order." = IV. " That, if this Hon. Court do not see cause to indulge us with the grant of these things, ... it is our humble prayer to them to find out . . . some other way for us to be a separate society . . . that we may not be forced to be one with our brethren again, whose sentiments about the government of the ch. so widely difiEer from us (this by the ^ Trumbull, II, pp. 126-127. He says the dissenting party contained over one- half the church members. This is incorrect; at no time do they seem to num- ber more than a third, which was what they claimed to be when incorporated in 1733. ^ This they pray for, because the council forbade their embodying into church estate. They claim that " such an assembly as we . . . are, whom the law could protect from insulting disturbers and was secure from the penal laws made against unlawful assemblies, might lawfully so do and get their minister ordained." ° This is asked for, " because our adversaries do industriously spread reports, . . . that any ministers or churches, that shall assist us therein, incur the frowns of the Gov't and are counted as rebells, which maketh some afraid to help us, who think well of us." THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 317 way is not true. B. C. S.), as well as about a person fit to lead us and teach us as our pastor." ^ Alas, it seems that the General Court took no notice of this petition, but left them " to the mercy of their persecuting brethren "! On June 24, 1731, the 1st church and pastor gave notice to the dissenting mem- bers to return to communion, pursuant to the order of the Ecclesias- tical Council. A notice to Mr. Andrew Ward and his wife is pre- served, which states that, unless they return to communion with the 1st church on or before June 30, they will be suspended from "the communion of the Church of Christ." Many, if not all, refused the in- vitation and Rev. Messrs. Heminway and Eliot having come over on June 30, sentence of suspension from the church was pronounced on 21 men and 25 women for " having, without justifying reasons, with- drawn yourselves from the worship & communion," and having, " by means justly offensive & sinful, continued and strengthened yourselves in your separation." At the time of Mr. Ruggles' ordination there were about 80 males, members of the church, and, doubtless, there were as many females, so "that this list contained about one-quarter of the members of the church, and not six more than one half. This," writes Mr. Smyth, " is a specimen of the manner in which Trumbull, with his biased mind, viewed the dissention at Guilford." The movement of the majority, following the direction of the council, was calculated greatly to injure the minority in' the community, and, for the purpose of strengthening themselves in their present position, they applied to their old friend. Rev. Joseph Moss, who, for the last time, gave them his advice. His opinion, addressed " to whom it may concern," was dated Derby, July 16, 1 73 1. In his letter he states "that, in my opinion, the Rev* Mr. Thomas Ruggles hath not a pastoral care over those ancient members of the church at Guilford, who were never active in choosing & calling him, but always protested against it . . . &, inasmuch as a consider- able number of such persons . . . are become a lawful Ecc'l Society, ... & haue a lawful teacher, that preacheth the gospel to them, who is a man of ministerial gifts, of a good life & free from scandal, that, therefore, it is a lawful thing in them to seek for an ordination of their teacher ... & consequently, that it is lawful & agreeable to the com- mon rules of charity for any minister or churches to assist them in that ' This is sought for, " lest we be kept to the mercy of our persecuting brethren at home: . . . this we can not bear . . . &, when all the king's subjects enjoy full liberty of conscience, we cannot but count it very hard measure to be singled out to tyranny and oppression, not by our civil rulers, but by our brethren under the conduct of some ecc'l men." 3l8 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. solemn & weighty affair." He died that year and so could no more be an adviser. On September 2^, 1731, at Hartford, a memorial was drawn up to be presented to the October session of the Assembly. It is signed by six men, all prominent clergymen, and " in consideration of the Dis- tressed circumstances of the Dissenting party in Guilford," recommends the appointment " of some of each Association in this Colony," as had been done in the case of the Stratford Church, "to enquire into that case in order to bringing matters to a comfortable issue, ... in their enjoyment of a distinct Christian Society," since there is no prospect of reunion. About the 14th of October another source of assistance was found. Then fourteen "of the ist Society" petition the General Court, " considering ... the sorrowful conditions that are amongst us and that 'there is no prospect of a happy reunion . . . whether it may not be for the interest of religion, & the peace & good agreement of the parties, for the dissenting party to be made a distinct ecc'l society & that liberty be given for others to join with them, & be freed from other ministerial charges." The Assembly listened to the former petition ' and, " Observing that the Society in Guilford having not come into the Established Platform of Church Discipline, as allowed & confirmed by the laws of this Colony, and more especially that the dissenting party . . . have . . . declared their dissent from said platform ... & thence, suppose they cannot be holden, nor obliged to abide by the determination of any association so appointed, . . . this assembly consider that it is not reasonable . . . to oblige, or direct, the several associations ... to send their dele- gates to hear the said Society and dissenting party. . . . Yet, neverthe- less, if the dissenting part . . . shall themselves move the elders of the several associations in this Gov't to send their delegates to consider of the difficulties, that have arisen ... at the proper charge of the dissenting party, that then this Assembly advise that the several Asso- ciations appoint & send delegates to Guilford, giving suitable notice to all parties, concerning the time of their meeting &, being met, that they use all proper measures and endeavors, to bring each party to a sense of any errors they find them to have been in & to endeavor to moderate their tempers & bring said Society into Christian love. Peace, & unity." If the delegates fail they are directed to report with recommendations to the Assembly at its next session. The minor part did make the application and the delegates from the associations convened at Guil- ford, November 23, 1731. On November 24 the ist Society chose a ^ Conn. Col. Rec. VI, p. 353. THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 3I9 committee of nine to represent it before "the Gen'l Association now convened," and the new Society appointed a similar committee of four, who drew up a statement on the next day, reiterating former com- plaints. The General Association heard the parties and then, being not agreed in their opinion with respect to the difi&culties, adjourned to meet in Hartford during election week. There is no evidence as to their meeting again and they certainly made no report to the Assembly." Consequently, on May 15, 1732, Caleb and Peletiah Leete, for the minor party, petition the Legislature again to be made a distinct society to be freed from paying taxes to the ist Society, and that Edmund Ward, their minister, might be freed from paying all taxes, as other clergymen are. The Legislature, the same month, appointed Matthew Allyn, Roger Wolcott, and Capt. John Marsh, " at a cost of the minor party," to repair to Guilford, " hear those parties ... & endeavor to reconcile them " and, if this be impossible, to report with recommenda- tions to the next session of the Assembly, and ordered " that no dis- traint be made upon the minor party for taxes, for the support of the worship of God," before October, provided they apply to the council before July. At the notice and request of the minor party, on an un- known date, the committee met in Guilford and heard both parties. The first Society, on June 6, 1732, appointed a committee of six to rep- resent it before the committee. A report was made by two of the com- mittee to the Assembly in October. This states the case briefly and fairly, tells us ^ " The Minor Party have built a Meeting House," 55 by 36 feet, "and almost glazed & finished it on the inside, the Pulpit is built & the floor laid," and that " both the parties declare themselves to be of the Congregational principles, religiously adhering to the Platform printed 1649." This last overthrows the minor party's dissenting plea completely. We learn that "the list of them that hear Mr. Ruggles, in 1731, was £9144.18.4 and of which are sundry members who declare they had rather be with Mr. Ward, whose list come to £521. The list of those that hear Mr. Ward is £3001.13.6." The continued refusal of the Assembly to make the minority a distinct society and the distraining them for taxes to support Mr. Ruggles were real grievances and were, of course, laid by them at the door of the ist Society, who denied having any share in the former grievance. The committee, very sen- sibly, conclude by saying, " we are of opinion that the minor party is so considerable & that they have such an aversion to Mr. Ruggles that 'Trumbull, II, p. 136; Conn. Col. Rec. VI, 376. ''Trumbull, II, 131; Conn. Col. Rec. VI, 416. Trumbull is wrong. Mr. Allyn either did not come to Guilford or for some reason failed to sign the report. 320 , HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. 'tis not likely that the forcing them to sit under his ministry will have any good effect. We rather think the allowing them to be a distinct society will be the likeliest way to restore peace and order . . . and we know not of anything that might hinder the Assembly from giving them that liberty, but an Ecclesiastical Censure that so many of them are under, and whether that censure was right ... or wrong . . . your committee think it is not proper for them to determine ; but . . . since it is pronounced, we think those, against whom it is given, are not proper persons to embody into church estate 'till it be removed." Therefore, the committee recommend the appointment of another council finally to " determine upon it, & if such council shall revoke (the) sentence, or affirm it in whole or in part, & their sentence be complied with, upon application of the minor party to the Assembly they be immediately allowed to be a distinct society . . . &, in the meantime, be no further taxed towards Mr. Ruggles' maintenance." In regard to previous taxation no recommendation is made. The report was approved by both houses and the recommendations of the committee adopted. The Legislature decided previously laid taxes must be paid. Only four of the eight ministers invited to the Council and five messengers came to Guilford on November 21 and 22, 1732. Both parties appeared before the Council. The minority said, unani- mously, that they could not comply with the directions of the Council of March and presented a paper justifying themselves : (I) Their separa- tion from the majority was not censurable for: (i) " It was no breach of any moral law of righteousness . . . for the major part, granting us liberty to be distinct, did at least release us from that." (2) " It cannot appear that we broke " any " rule of Religion," . . . till the majority can clear themselves of being causers of division ... by refusing the motion to choose another minister, in hopes of a greater unanimity." (3) If the minority's conduct be said to be "scandalous schism" and breach of " the law of the state," they point to more than one Church in Boston, to the South Church in Hartford, " nay the first churches in this country & all of them succeeding," as precedents for separating from unwelcome preaching. (II) " The Council censuring us had no authority so to do, but what they themselves assumed," the Guilford church never having acceded to the Saybrook Platform. (Ill) "The manner of the Council's procedure seems very failing: (i) too high," e. g., " We require you in the name of Christ, the King of the Church to appear." (2) " Hasty & without the air . . . of that love . . . with which divisions were wont to be removed in apostolic times." (3) " without previous citation or conviction of some of those censured." Furthermore some of the council were disqualified because of having THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 32 1 prejudged the case. The paper ends by stating that " the difficulties of the minority are indeed dreadful in themselves, their sufferings are in their names & estates & then finally in their souls, the spiritual food thereof denied them." Rev. Mr. Ruggles and the church were asked to reply to this and denied the authority of this new council, for reasons to be learned later on. The council overruled this plea and the church " refused to sub- mit the case ... by which the Council was laid under a disadvantage as to discovering the reasons & grounds upon which the Ch. & council judged the withdrawing ... & the means they used to continue and strengthen themselves in sd. separation justly offensive and sinful." From what the Council could learn, they decided "that their with- drawing from the worship & communion of the Church & continuance therein was (not?) so gross & criminal as to deserve their exclusion from the Church of Christ. Yet we think they had not justifying reasons for so doing; but were faulty & disorderly and failed of . . . suitable endeavors to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, which we think it becomes them . . . candidly to confess, according to a draught drawn for them by this council, which we hope the Rev. Mr. Ruggles & the Church . . . will accept, upon its being signed by those that lie under the censure & . . . being publicly read in his congrega- tion." The confession' read as follows: "We . . . acknowledge, from a sense of the corruption that is in our hearts, we have reason to sus- pect, that we have in many things been faulty in the eyes of a holy God, both in words & actions, relating to the contentions that have been amongst us & just reason to suspect, we had not such grounds for our witlidrawing from the worship & communion of this Church & con- tinuing therein, as will excuse us from fault in our so doing & some of us may have failed of paying a suitable respect to the officers of Christ & messengers of his churches and, wherein we have failed in these or any other respects, we are heartily sorry for it & humbly ask forgive- ness of God and request the charity of the Rev. Mr. Ruggles & the Church in this place & all who have been offended at any speeches or doings of ours, during this sad day of temptation that hath been among us, and we heartily desire the restoring of peace and brotherly love between us and that we may for the future walk together as it becomes those that are one in Christ, though we may attend the wor- ship of God in distinct assemblies." This was signed by 43 of the excommunicated members ' and handed to Mr. Ruggles on December ' Another draft not accepted is extant. ' Two men were dead. One woman was omitted, probably through inad- vertence. 322 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. I. The confession was laid before the church by him and rejected by it, and on December 28, 1732, the ist Society voted to lay no tax for the settlement or support of Mr. Ruggles until it be definitely known who are excepted from paying such taxes, but that any one may pay voluntarily, what he " can conveniently," and have the sum credited against him when the tax be laid. At the May session of the Assembly, 1733, the ist Society protested' against the acceptance of the council's report, because : (I) " The Gen- eral Assembly hath no power or authority to impose any decisive coun- cil upon any Church of Christ," by law of God and, if by law of man, the church would " offend the Kingly power of Jesus Christ, our only Lord & Lawgiver, by submitting thereto." (II) The charter gives the Assembly no "power to call synods & councils." (Ill) The case had been decided by the council of March 10, 1731, called by the church. If the church should submit to the second council it would be "a betraying ye right of churches to call in the help of councils." (2) The second council, if it acted by authority from Christ, had no more power than the first council and so could not sit in judgment upon it; if by the authority of the law, it had less authority than the former council. (3) The tendency of permitting a council to judge the acts of another is evil, as tending to set up " altar against altar," " separate ministers, divide the churches, and introduce confusion." The former council should have been summoned to vindicate itself, if its conduct was to b^ passed in review by the latter. (4) The Saybrook Platform of 1708 states that it shall not prevent any allowed society, not agreeing with it, " from exercising worship and discipline in their own way," and the ist church being such an one, " ought to enjoy the privilege reserved to them, which privilege they are deprived of if a Council be imposed on them & vested with power to revoke their acts." They plead that the Council of March 10, 1731, is binding on the minority, though they " did not consent & concur in calling" it: (i) for they declined an invitation to do so and to choose one-half the council; (2) and they had no right to claim the privilege of joining in calling it, for they were members of the church, which need not obtain "the consent of the brethren supposed to be under delinquency." Further (i) the recent council had only one-half of its members present; (2) refused to hear the statement of the church unless it "would acknowledge their authority to judge and decide on the case," which it could not do; (3) did not order an apology and confession sufficient for the faults they found in the minority." ' Protest is in Mr. Sam'I Hill's handwriting. "The 1st Society wa'S far too harsh in this. THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 323 The protest, however, was useless ; the Assembly had sensibly arrived at the conclusion that it was a vain effort to try to unite the two par- ties and, as Trumbull ^ says, " after a contention of between four & five years, great irritations & alienations between brethren & neighbours, & great expense of time & money before courts. General Assembly, & councils, a final separation was made in the Church and Town," and the 4th Society in Guilford was established with the same bounds as the I St.' The new society seems to have been immediately organized and the 4th Church soon after. The ist Society met on June 29, 1733, reor- ganized, and laid a rate for Mr. Ruggles' salary. About this time the 1st church accepted the acknowledgments made by the excommuni- cated persons, who formed the 4th church, and subsequently dismissed members to them in the spirit of Christian kindness and courtesy. The Rev. Edmund Ward was ordained over the 4th Church on Sep- tember 21, 1733, the sermon being preached by Rev. John Graham of Southbury, from the text, "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures." ' Mr. Ward was the ninth child and fifth son of Capt. Andrew Ward, Jr., and was born in Guilford,* September 22, 1706. His mother was Deborah, daughter of Jacob Joy of Fairfield and Killingworth. He was graduated at Yale College in 1727, studied divinity for a few months, then preached for a year in the Presbyterian churches of Rye and White Plains, N. Y. Then he returned to Guil- ford to enter the ecclesiastical fray there. Before he had been pastor for two years he was, to quote Mr. Smyth's words, " arraigned & charged with certain acts of grossly licentious & scandalous conduct, to which he did not directly plead not guilty and witnesses were also examined & testimony brought forward, as to certain miscarriages in his study and during a pleasure party to Long Island, which charges were considered so fully proved " by a council that met in the summer of 1735, "that he was dismissed from said church & society & silenced from acting any longer as a Gospel minister." On February 4, I734-S> Rev. John Graham wrote a letter regretting his inability to come to Guilford and visit the 4th Church, and congratulating them in being " so well provided for in a person of so good character ' and under the advice of sundry ministers," and says that Mr. Ward speaks falsely in stating that Mr. Graham never gave him any private advice; for, writes Mr. Graham, "my public charge & advice to him . . . was little to what I said to him in private, and the hints I had received concerning some of his former conduct . . . were such as I thought in justice ' Vol. II, pp. 133, 134- ' Conn. Col. Rec. VI, 437. ' 2 Tim. iii. ig. * Yale Biographies and Annals, I, pp. 363-4. ° Who this was is unknown. 324 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. obliged me to it. ... I think he has disgraced the sacred office & cast such scandalous reflections ... on the ministers in general that it is high time for him to stop." On March 12, 1734-5, Rev. Timothy Ed- wards of East Windsor writes, answering a letter of the 4th Church, dated February 19, saying that he cannot come to visit them at present, that they must not accept of Mr. Ward any confession, less than they have already required; that, if they send him copies of the evidence against Mr. Ward and what he offers to confess, he will, after reading them, send letters to the Church and to Mr. Ward, " which possibly may be as serviceable as if I were personally present." After his deposition, Mr. Ward remained in Guilford, but lived mostly secluded from gen- eral society. He joined the Episcopalians and used to read the service for that society, when they were without a minister. He represented the town in three sessions of the General Assembly and died in poverty at Guilford, November 15, 1779, aged 73 years. He married, in 1731, Mehitabel, daughter of Thomas Robinson, Jr., and had several chil- dren. On December 26, 1734, the ist Society unanimously requested its committee to inform the 4th Society that, as they " have at present no settled preaching among them, the said 4th Society . . . shall be welcome to attend the public worship of God with us. . . . And, fur- ther, if the said 4th Society shall think fit to reconcile with the first Society and become one society again as formerly . . . we shall re- joice in such a union & desire that whatsoever may have been the cause of separation between us, may be overlooked & buried in oblivion." This proposal for union is said to have been considered by the Council that condemned Mr. Ward. The ministers of the county advised a union and on October 16, 1735, the 4th Church made proposals thereto which are now lost. From the answer of the ist Church, however, we learn that the 4th Church said the first step towards a union must be a re- moval of the impediment which prevented them from communing with the 1st Church. The reasons for non-communing were that the 1st Church had pronounced separation from the church for the 46 excommunicated persons, instead of suspension as the council of March 10, 1731, had directed. This objection the ist Church, in its answer of December 4, 1735, speedily answers by declaring that by separation they meant suspension. The ist Church decHnes to call a council, say- ing they have "no case of conscience to present." Rather naturally the 1st Church expresses sorrow that the 4th Church has stumbled on the very threshold of union, and closes in the finest passage of writing in all this dreary quarrel. "Upon the whole, Brethren, we cannot but think it time to lay aside strife and debate and not to trouble THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 325 yourselves, nor us, any more in the affair. Must the sword devour forever? There is a considerable number of your church, who have shewn such a becoming Christian spirit as to communicate with us at the table of our common Lord, and we see nothing that should hinder any of you, any more than them, and we cannot but think your wisdom would be in it, as well as you would discover your Christian spirit by so doing. We invite you to make a common grave & let us bury all these things in Eternal oblivion. This we think the most reasonable way and beyond comparison the most prudent and Christian part — most for the glory of God and for the peace & welfare of religion." To this the Church answered that month in a spirit of some bitterness, cavilling at expressions in the ist Church's letter, and complaining that they who left the church for spiritual welfare had suffered, what those did not who for worldly gain left the town and, consequently, the church. They say that a Council might consider that the ist Church was wrong in excommunicating them when that church " should ask forgiveness of God & man " and, if the Council should decide that " great act " was right, " it would take off our hard thoughts of you." ' On February 10, 1734-5, the 4th Church followed this up by a remarkable document, stating that, since the ist Church would not "join and call a Council to show us that we are mistaken, or convince you that you have wronged us . . . we despair of convincing you ourselves; yet, believ- ing you to be a Church of Christ, and considering how much Christ commands brethren to love one another, we do desire to forgave you and hope God will, and we desire to partake with you." So the non- communion difficulty seemed settled, but union remained afar off. It is curious to see how tenacious of their rights both parties are. On May 20, 1736, the 4th Church sent to the ist Church, requesting it to send its pastor and a messenger to assist in settling as pastor Mr. Daniel Bliss (Y. C, 1732), who was later pastor at Concord, Mass. This request was answered in the negative on June 8. The answer is rather Pharisaic in tone, states that their refusal may be accounted for from the fact that they have received no notice of a repeal of the non- communion vote of the 4th Church, which seems a strange statement. It further states that " we hope there has been nothing wanting on our part to obtain a reunion," and that the only reason the ist Church knows for their separation is their " want of Christian & Brotherly love to the Pastor & Brethren of this church and, whenever it shall please God to remove the Cause, we may hope the effect will cease." To this the 4th Church, on the 13th of June, replied in a spirit of ^ Letter written by Deacon Cruttenden. 326 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. charity ' that they did not disown the ist Church as a church of Christ, nor invite others to withdraw from it, which they suppose would be necessary had they declared non-communion, but they mentioned " scruples of conscience," which then prevented them from communing with the 1st Church and which they hoped a council would remove. The letter, in a spirit of friendliness, refers to the ist Church's letter of December 4, 1735, states that "We now profess that we would live in Christian love & charity, joyfully owning you for a sister (yea our mother) church in Christ, desiring that, from this day forever, all our former misunderstandings may be far from us . . . that every thing displeasing to a holy God may be forgiven and forgotten by us all, and that we may henceforth live in peace & love." This was followed up by another letter on the iSth, proposing a union of the two churches and a settlement of Mr. Bliss as colleague pastor to Mr. Ruggles. On June 21 the ist Church answers this, agreeing to the proposition, pro- vided: (i) that Mr. Bliss and Mr. Ruggles preach alternately in the 1st Society's meeting house before the united congregations until the end of October; (2) that Mr. Bliss be paid during that time by the two societies proportionably at the rate of £100 per annum; (3) that the two societies jointly pray the General Assembly for a reunion; (4) that when the societies are united, a vote of the whole be taken as to calling Mr. Bliss. If he be called that the 4th Society pay his settlement, as they expect to do if there is no union, and that he and Mr. Ruggles get the same salary, to be raised by a rate on the united society; (5) that if the united society do not call Mr. Bliss the 4th Society may name another man to preach with Mr. Ruggles for three months, under the same conditions, and so on till one be chosen ; or the second choice may be made by the ministers of the county, if the 4th Society prefer. No answer to these conditions is extant, if one was ever given. On August 28, 1736, Rev. Messrs. Stephen Mix and Wm. Russel write to the 4th Society, enjoining on it care in calling Mr. Bliss, urging it to consider " the carnall workings, the beginning of your separation . . . and whatever ill steps may have been taken . . . therein &, particu- larly, . . . that the oath taken by some for qualifying you for liberty of worship together " may have been ill, suggesting that the Society employ one or more clergymen to act as its agents in promoting union with the 1st Society, and advising them to leave "the timeing of your set- tlement unto those who may be made use of therein." On November 22, 1736, the ist Society voted to accept the advice of the ministers of the county, as the 4th Society was also willing to do, ' Mr. Bliss probably wrote the letter. THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 327 and with that Society to invite Messrs. Samuel Lynde, WiUiam Pitkin, Rev. Jared Eliot and Rev. William Russel to come to Guilford on December 29, and give advice concerning union. This council met in due season and advised: (i) that the 4th Society should make another attempt "to sit under" Mr. Ruggles' ministry; (2) that, if this will not do, that application be made first to Mr. William Adams (Y. C, 1730), and then to Mr. Timothy Woodbridge, Jr., "to preach alter- nately with Mr. Ruggles in the old meeting house 'till the end of April," and then, if the majority can agree to call either man, that both societies petition the Legislature to be reunited. The same day the 1st Society voted to accept the Council's advice and apparently an agreement vras made, whereby Mr. Adams did preach alternately with ]Mr. Ruggles for three months; but no result came from this. In the meantime, Mr. Bliss had disappeared from view. The ist Society offered to call Mr. Adams as Colleague Pastor on April 27, 1737, if he would accept. Apparently he was willing to do so, for on May 6 the 1st Society empowered its committee to join the 4th Society's com- mittee in petitioning the Assembly for a reunion, as soon as Mr. Adams should be settled. The 4th Church had some unknown objec- tion. Apparently, some change in church discipline in connection with Cambridge, Boston, or Saybrook platform was desired, for the ist Church declines " to remove the ancient landmarks " and expresses wonder that " you should spoil so good a work for what seems to be trifles " ; but spoil it they did and for a time we hear no more of union. Early in 1738 the 4th Society sought and received' advice from Rev. Stephen Mix. They begged a visit from him and seemed somewhat discouraged, he advises them to summon a few ministers and laymen to come to Guilford and advise them. He evidently thinks they have not been well treated, but says that, when " we come to ask counsel we should not antecedently intend to follow it no further than it suits our own inclinations," evidently fearing that the 4th Society will do this. On April 25, 1738, the 4th Society called a council of four clergy- men. This council, on June 14, stated they thought " the 4th Society have been too stiMy fixed in opposing the union . . . but, if after suitable pains hath been taken ... a union can not be obtained, we advise that they apply to some suitable person to settle among them in the work of the ministry." Pursuant to this advice the 4th Society, on August 8, vote to " join the ist Society in hiring Mr. Timothy Woodbridge, Jr. (Y. C, 1732), to preach with Mr. Ruggles a quarter of a year." This plan fell through for some unknown reason, and on October 2, 1738, ' March 23. 328 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. the 4th Society voted to hire some one for three months. On October i6 Caleb Stone was chosen "to keep their minister." A separate school was started, for which Abraham Bradley was chosen school- master on February 6, 1738-9. In December, 1739, Rev. Joseph Lamb (Y. C, 1717), was called by a majority of the 4th Society and, on February 5, 1739-40, they voted to give him " £150 a year salary & a suitable supply of wood " and to have him " reinstalled," as soon as possible. He apparently encouraged them at first, and preached regularly, but when the council was called to install him, in January, 1740-1, he " refused to take office " and so, on July I, 1 741, the society voted to call the brother of Rev. Mr. Mills of Stratford for three months at a salary of iioo per annum. On December 22, 1741, they voted in vain to apply to Mr. Chauncey Whittlesey (Y. C, 1738), the Tutor David Brainerd thought had no more grace than a chair, to supply the pulpit and, on May 20, 1742, Rev. Hobart Estabrook (Y. C, 1736), was invited to preach and did so for some time, receiving 40s. per Sabbath and his board. Dur- ing this time, on March 17, 1742, the 4th Society voted to build' " 17 pews on the high ground of the Meeting-house, & 3 on the rear of each square body & 2 on the East flank, on the women's side, & 2 on the west flank, on the men's side . . . and that the pews in the square body be raised higher than the seats & that there be bannisters to them." This vote seems to show some prosperity. On October 8, 1742, the Rev. James Sproat (or Sproutt) was hired to preach for three months and proved so acceptable that he was called to the pastorate on December 14. He did not at once accept and on June 8, 1743, they voted to give him a settlement of £300, to be paid in two years, and a salary of £100 for those years and then an increase of iio yearly till the sum amounted to £150 old tenor, that he be installed as soon as possible, and that " a contribution be taken every Sabbath evening after prayer before singing, at the conclusion of the meeting," which money is to be used towards the minister's salary. These terms apparently did not suit Mr. Sproat and on June 13 the Society changed them to £150 salary for two years in Bills of credit, old tenor & then £150 in old tenor yearly, and for settlement a quarter- acre of land and a house ^ like Mr. Edmund Ward's. These terms Mr. Sproat accepted and, on August 16, 1743, the council met to ordain him. The next day Mr. Sproat was examined, the creed and cove- nant of the Church approved of, objections, from three members of the 1st Church to ordaining any pastor over the 4th Church, and from the ^ Dec. 14, 1742, " Voted that the meeting-house be ceiled overhead & not olastered." ^ Dec. 6, 1743, rate laid for building his house with a lean-to. THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 329 1st Church dedining to sit in the council, read and judged insufficient to stop proceedings, and the ordination proceeded with in due form. Mr. Sproat was the son of Lt. Ebenezer Sproat of Scituate, Mass., who removed to the neighboring town of Middleboro', where James Sproat was born," April ii, 1722. He was graduated at Yale in 1741. During the time of his study there he became converted by a discourse delivered by the celebrated Gilbert Tennent, whom he succeeded in the 2nd Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Before coming to Guilford he had preached some time at New Haven to the seceding party in the 1st Church there, being himself rather prominent among the young leaders of the New Lights, as they were called. Under the act of May, 1742, passed under the advice of the General Association that met at Guilford in November, 1741, providing that any one not an inhabitant of Connecticut, who shall " preach, teach or publicly exhort in any town, or society . . . without license of the settled minister & the major part of the church . . . shall be sent as a vagrant person . . . from Constable to Constable out of the bounds of this colony," Mr. Sproat was arrested at New Haven for preaching and was carried by the constables as far as Saybrook. There Mr. Samuel Brown of Guil- ford found him in a destitute condition. He brought him back to Guilford, clothed him, and furnished him with other necessaries and induced the 4th Society to have him preach for them. After the 4th Society had called him, and before his acceptance, Mr. Sproat was again at New Haven and, on January 18, ^742-3, he, with " others of the separate meeting," requested the County Court to permit him " to take oath & make subscription, according to ... the law of this Colony relating to sober dissenters." The Court decided " that the said James Sproutt hath not shewn himself to have a right by said law, to what is asked for." " Most clearly," writes Mr. Smyth, " he had no right, being a New Light Congregationalist, to the benefit of the Toleration Act which had relation only to members of the Church of England, Quakers, & Baptists. The court were governed by the law, as it then was, not as we in these days think it should have been." On August 28, 1743, the 4th Church voted that the pastor might " invite, whom he thought proper in this society," that he might "preach occasionally, where he thought Providence called him," and "that the table of the Lord should be supported by Contributions:" Mr. Sproat threw himself at once into the revival movements of the day, and by his zeal and eloquence secured very gratifying progress in his church. The course of the church, however, drew down upon ' Yale Biog. and Annals, I, 690-692. 330 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. it the wrath of the Association, which on May 29, 1744, voted not to hold communion with the 4th Church, " who had allowed Mr. Allen, Amos Munson, and others to preach among them." This vote was not rescinded until 1758. Apparently the ist Society claimed the right to tax the young men of the community, regardless of their father's connections. So to make a test case, on January 3, 1743-4, Caleb Stone, Jr., John Davis, Jr., Elisha Smith and Stephen Rogers stated they belonged to the 4th Society and proposed to pay taxes to it only. Nothing was done for a time; but on December 18, 1744, the 4th Society appointed two agents to act in the defense of any of its members who were " rated in the 1st Society."^ On the third Tuesday of January, 1744-5, the case of John Davis & others of the 4th Society vs. the ist Society was heard by the county court and apparently decided in the ist Society's favor. Soon after, however, on March 4, 1744-5, on the verbal petition of Peletiah Leete, 18 persons were freed by the ist Society from paying any charges to it."" The agitation against the ist Society's rates being assessed on all new-comers in town, whether they attended the ist or 4th Church, was vigorously kept up by the latter, which had justice on its side. On February 8, 1750, it appointed a new committee to present memorials on this subject to the General Assembly. The ist Society on May 7, 1750, protested against these memorials; but it was no use, the Gen- eral Assembly decided " that all such strangers,' as have or shall come to inhabit within the limits of sd. Societies, ... by entering their names with the Clerk of that Society, to which he shall so join himself, within 3 months, after they shall become inhabitants, . . . shall pay his rates and taxes only to that Society." On June 28, 1750, the 4th Church decided that it would " come into the concert of prayer, agreeable to the memorial from Scotland," and that persons owning the Covenant should have their children baptized. It may be interesting to give this Half-Way Covenant, that the respon- sibilities taken by those owning it may be clear. " (i) You desire to be thankful that you were born in a land of light & have been given to God in Baptism. (2) And, since of the Patience & forbearance of God to poor sinners you have been spared to adult years. You desire now to own your Baptism & accordingly do, before God & his people, acknowledge your baptismal obligations. (3) And you purpose by Grace '^ Special acts were passed by the Legislature quite frequently annexing men to one society or the other. ' In 1746 the 1st Society's rate was 5d. and the 4th Society's I4d. in the pound. ' Conn. Col. Rec. IX, 520. THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 33 1 to forsake the vanities of this evil world & to be seeking after Christ for your Redeemer & Saviour. (4) You also believe the Doctrine of the Christian Religion, as owned among us and submit yourself to the watch & discipline of this church. (5) You purpose by Grace to be labouring, after preparations, to come to the Lord's Table & that you will endeavor to bring up your Children in the Nurture & Admonition of the Lord." Difficulties still continued to exist between the two societies, and on March 20, 1753, the 4th Society appointed an agent to present a memorial to the Assembly. On February 18, 1755, the 4th Society voted to receive any members of the ist Society that should desire to change their membership, and deduct from their rates what they were forced to pay " to Mr. Ruggles's Rate." In the spring of 1757 they presented another memorial to the As- sembly which the ist Society on May 12 voted to oppose. Since the latter were about to settle Mr. Amos Fowler as Colleague Pastor to Mr. Ruggles, and there seemed likelihood of the 4th Society's losing Mr. Sproat, they thought it a good plan to revive the idea of reunion. So they sent the 4th Society their votes in regard to settling Mr. Fowler and voted " that it would be exceedingly desirable & acceptable to this Society, that the 4th Society concur with us & come unitedly into the settlement of Mr. Fowler, ... as a happy &, to us appearing, the most likely means to put an amicable end to our long unhappy differences & settle & establish a lasting peace among us & that, if the sd. 4th Society can persuade themselves to compliance, they shall be received & admitted freely to ye enjoyment of all the privileges that any of the members of this Society enjoy ... & shall be freed from bearing any part of the charge of Mr. Fowler's settlement." At the time this liberal ofifer was made, the ist Society had received certain unknown proposals from the 4th Society. On May 30th the 4th Society voted to decline the proposals made by the 1st Society; but, since they also desired that " some measures might be taken that we may live in peace . . . &, tho' we do not find ourselves willing that we, or our children, should be deprived of the ministry of the Revd. Mr. Sproutt, yet we are freely willing to join with our brethren of sd. 1st Soc. & be one body with them under the ministry of the Revd. Mr. Sprout & either the Revd. Mr. Ruggles or Mr. Amos Fowler." This was probably unacceptable to the ist Church, for we hear no more of the matter. At the same meeting of the 4th Society it voted that " we think it very likely to make peace between the Societys, . . . that all persons, upon application to either the ist or 4th Society, should be dismissed 332 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. from either Society & attend public worship of God, where they shalt choose & that, as long as they are contributing to one, they shall be freed from paying taxes to the other." This seems to us the only fair and just way, but the ist Society held out for what it 'thought were its rights until the Gen'l Assembly decided the question in 1760 in favor of the 4th Society. The law as enacted,^ provided that all within the limits of the ist & 4th Societies, on arriving at 21 years of age, may within a year " elect & choose to which of said societies they will belong & cause their names to be entered with the clerk of that So- ciety, . ; . & on failure so to enter their names, they shall continue where brought up ... & that all others within said limits, who have not been personally rated in either of said Societies, may on or before the 1st Day of September next elect to which of the Societies they will belong." ' Mr. Sproat had become very popular as a preacher and evidently was growing discontented with his situation in Guilford. In 1757 the Society of Plymouth, the most ancient in New England, being without a minister, Mr. Sproat preached for them some time.' A meeting was held June 29, at which " sundry articles were read to the Ch., shewing reasons of the Pastor's desire for a Council of neighbour- ing Elders & messengers to be called to give advice with respect to a Call of the minister to settle in Plymouth." This request the church denied, as the Society had done the day before. On September 19 another church meeting* was held "to consider further, on the afifairs relating " to Mr. Sproat's " removal." At this he read a letter " from Plymouth, shewing the importance of his re- moval thither & advice from sundry ministers " given at the Yale commencement, September 15, " relating to calling a council to advise respecting " this call. There was " much discussion," but nothing was done. At an adjourned meeting, held September 23, the church a second time voted not to join in calling a council. In October Mr. Sproat called a church meeting to hear the entreaties of representatives of the Plymouth Church, who had come to Guilford; but the meeting adjourned, without doing them the courtesy of listening to them. For two years now the matter was dropped; but on September 17, 1759, ' Conn. Col. Rec. XI, p. 404. ^ For some years the two societies kept a joint school. This was given up in 1762 on account of the increase of children. ' Thatcher, Hist, of Plymouth, p. 285. * In writing to the Tabernacle Church of Salem, July 9, 1768, the 4th Church says: "The plea of more extensive usefulness . . . has been thoroughly weighed here in Council in the case of Plymouth and was determined in our favour." THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 333 we find a last church meeting on this question. A representative of the Plymouth Church was present and read an address, but it pro- duced no effect. The church would not even consent to leave the question of their pastor's removal to a mutual council.'' On November 30, 1767, Mr. Sproat wrote a letter to the 4th Society, showing that trouble had arisen." He writes that " the present temper and conduct of the Society gives me great uneasiness, that people are backward in paying dues " and try " to crowd anything on me instead of money," that some " complain my salary is too high, others wholly refuse to pay," there is " a very great and almost general complaint " " that there is no living in these hard times because there are so many ministers to maintain," that people think to keep both a school and a minister is too expensive and that, if either is to be given up, the latter had better be dispensed with, and that many complain that " they are uneasy & disaffected with the present method of singing." ' For these causes Mr. Sproat thinks that he is " a burden to a considerable part of the Society, which thing must necessarily afford me sorrow of heart." In addition, he feels that his remaining is " not absolutely necessary," for " the same doctrines may be attended upon, with as little trouble . . . and vastly less charge, delivered with as much plainness and power as I can reasonably lay claim to." Therefore he asks for a dismission and reminds them that he had said a year ago : " I had rather be dis- missed from my people, than to quarrel with them and go to law for my support." He still feels thus and believes he " must do the one, or the other." If the Society is unable to pay him he does not wish to be a burden; if unwilling, he had rather be dismissed, than to quar- rel. But, at the annual meeting of the Society, December 2, no action was taken. Mr. Sproat became more and more discontented. He went away from time to time to preach in different parts of the country. On May 18,1768, he was given a call by the 3d Congregational Church (Taber- nacle Church) of Salem, Mass. On July 9 a letter was sent from the 4th Church to the Salem Church, stating that they decline to give up Mr. Sproat, because of " the perfect union there is among this people, ^ The 4th Church was received into fellowship by the Association in 1758, and met at Mr. Sproat's house on May 27, 1760. He and his " messenger " figure in several councils. " His salary was £60 from 1755 to 1757, when his pasture and wood were added. In 1759 it was increased to £66 with pasture and wood, and in 1763 to £80 without pasture and wood. ' Dec. 2, 1767, James Evarts, Jr., was added as Chorister to John Hall and Archaus Parmelee, who had been chosen " to tune the Psalm " for nine previous years. 334 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. with regard to his continuance here and the many ill consequences that will unavoidably follow his removal." They speak of the " almost unparalleled trials & expences " they have passed through before ob- taining Mr. Sproat, and say that Salem being " near one of the largest seminaries of learning on the Continent," can easily get another man. They were not, however, to keep him long. On August 30, 1768, the 2nd Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia called him, and on Octo- ber II a church meeting was held, which voted to join with Mr. Sproat in calling a council to decide as to his leaving. The council did not dismiss him, but advised the church and Society to grant his request for a dismission. There was evidently some ill-feeling, the church met twice and adjourned, and after a third meeting on the third consecutive day " the minds of the Elders were expressed, that it was not best for the Pastor to preach on the Sabbath." The Society met on October 24 and sent a committee to ask Mr. Sproat whether he considered himself pastor of the Philadelphia church or of the Guilford one. He refused to answer, but desired them to dismiss him as the council had advised. The Society voted not to do this, but that if he would yet perform his ministerial ofHce with them, " they were ready & willing to shew him all honor and respect." If he would leave them, they suggest that a committee " see on what conditions he will agree with him with respect to his settlement." On October 31 Mr. Sproat sent his answer to the Society. He says: " Things being as they are, it appears to be my duty to depart, as soon as may be, and, though you do not see fit to grant me a dismission, with regard to the Council's advice; yet it may be you will do it; because I think it my indispensable duty to be dismissed & heartily desire it. Unless I am here, wholly Uselessl as to the ministry. It may be, I may be made use of elsewhere. My Brethren, I have labored amongst you more than twenty five years in the work of the ministry. I have publicly preached the gospel, according to the grace given me, I have been with you in much weakness, I must own. Yet sure I am that I have had the most tender sympathy with you in all your afflictions; there are but few of your houses, in which I have not mingled my tears with yours, and poured out my broken prayers day and night with you for your sick and dying friends. Never have I refused, when able, to leave my bed by night, or to go through storms and cold by day, to afiford all the relief in my power under your dis- tresses. I mention these things not to boast — If I secretly do, I pray my God to humble me. From God I know I deserve utter and eternal ruin and I attribute every thing this side of final despair to mere grace and mercy. But from you, my Brethren! I don't know that I deserve cruelty — supposing that I have been misled in my own mind . . . yet I THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 335 trust . . . you will peaceably dismiss me," He says he has not re- fused to do manual labor, that he has " no disposition to wrong you in your temporal interests," that he will refund £50 of his settlement, " which I suppose to be more than is strictly just; or I will leave it to indiflferent Judges, mutually chosen, to determine " how much of his settlement he should repay. He concludes by asking their forgiveness of him and expressing his of them. This touching letter produced no efifect. He left, without a dismission, in November and was installed at Philadelphia, March 30, 1769. The Society prepared to prosecute him for a return of his settlement, and refused, in March, 1769, to accept £50 and the arrears of his salary, which he offered. Mr. Sproat had received his salary in full to January, 1768, as appears by his receipts. On November 6, 1769^ Dea. David Austin, his agent, on receipt of £50 discharges the 4th Society " from all demands whatever from the be- ginning of the world to this day." Col. Andrew Ward was so bitter over Mr. Sproat's departure that he is supposed to have written a somewhat scurrilous article which appeared in the Connecticut Journal, printed at New Haven : ' " Mr. Sproutt continued in charge of this Society in Philadelphia until the 4th Society was mostly broken up. He occasionally, though very rarely, visited his former people here. The hostile feelings, ex- cited at the time of his removal, must have made his visits here rather unpleasant. The gradual decay and dissolution of this formerly flour- ishing Church and Society must have created in his mind many mournful reflections. Besides, after a time, his situation at Philadel- phia became fraught with many painful incidents. He was becoming advanced in life & had lost much of the old vigour & raciness of his former style of preaching. Old sermons repeated lose much of their original vitality & point. A new race had sprung up around him and a revolutionary period had materially changed the habits & tastes of the people. Young men of a new style of eloquence had sprung up and were attracting the attention of the multitude. Still he was a man of great talent and fervour and was justly esteemed, wherever he was known, for his vigour & resources as a man, for his sincerity & depth of feeling as a Christian, & for his clearness and eloquence as a preacher. He was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the Col- lege of New Jersey, in 1780. He died at Philadelphia, Oct. 18, 1793, of the Yellow fever, which proved fatal also to his wife & several of his children. He was 71 years old and had been 50 years in the ministry, dividing his time almost equally between his two pastorates." ^ Reprinted in Barber's Conn. Hist. Coll., p. 219, and in Smith's History of Guilford. 336 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. His only publication was a funeral discourse occasioned by the death of Rev. George Whitefield in 1770. His engraved portrait and parts of his diary for four months preceding his death, were printed in the General Assembly's "Missionary Magazine" for 1805 (vol. I). " Dr. Ashbell Green, his colleague & successor, subsequently presi- dent of the College of New Jersey, in a funeral sermon, described him as excelling in the graces of the Gospel, as a good proficient in schol- astic attainments, and as an eminent theologian. As a preacher, he had but few equals in his day, dwelt much on the doctrines of grace & was highly evangelical. His exertions in the early part of his ministry were directed to the extension of the Great Revival. Throughout his whole life, his labours were admirably adapted to the promotion of experimental & vital Religion." On December 7, 1768, the Society voted to have the pulpit supplied and in January, 1769, it voted to " endeavor to continue to be a Society & to maintain the worship of God." At the same time they voted to have Mr. James Eells (Y. C. 1763) supply the pulpit, but reconsidered this and voted to apply to Rev. Joseph Fish of North Stonington. In March they voted to have Mr. Jonathan Murdock (Y. C. 1766) preach for them. A long course of candidating was begun. On May 30 they voted to have Mr. Ephraim Judson (Y. C. 1763) supply the pulpit and, on August 29, to apply to Mr. John Hunt. Mr. Hunt came, was liked, was asked, on September 26, to preach as a candidate on " tryal " for a month " in order for a settlement " and, at the end of the month, on October 30, he was called as pastor if he "would settle" on the Cambridge Platform. The society offered to give him one-third of an acre and build a house on it like Mr. Sproutt's for a settlement, pro- vided he give it up, if he leave except through death. For salary they offer £yo a year for two years, then an increase of £10 or 20 cords of walnut or oak wood. On June 7, 1770, the offer of a settlement is reiterated, but for some reason he did not accept the call. On October i, 1770, the society voted to apply first to Mr. Joseph Lyman (Y. C. 1767). Mr. Lyman came and, on December 5, the society voted to have him preach two Sundays more, that they might " get acquainted with his principles with respect to Church discipline." These were so satisfactory that he was called as pastor on December 17, with the same offers as were made to Mr. Hunt, save that the increase of salary was to come when he arrives at " family state." But , Mr. Lyman declined to come. Mr. Daniel Brewer (Y. C. 1765) was next applied to and, on March I3> ^77^> the society voted they had "such a regard for . . . his per- formances," that they invite him to preach further, with view to a THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 337 settlement. On March 25, 1771, the church called him to^ be its pastor and the society agreed with that vote the same day, and made him the same offers as they did Mr. Hunt, save that his house was to be " of any model" which would cost the same amount as Mr. Sproat's. There was some hitch in the matter and the society renewed the call on May 6, July 15, and August 6. Mr. Brewer finally accepted and the i8th of September was appointed for his ordination. A number of the church opposed to Mr. Brewer presented a petition to the council at its meeting on September 17, but their objections were thought insuffi- cient and the ordination was performed, Rev. Benjamin Trumbull preaching the sermon. The petition is dated September 6; objects to Mr. Brewer because he declines to baptize on the Half-way Covenant plan and states that, if he be ordained, " we shall look upon ourselves as disregarded by the church & Society, and desire that the Society would not have the least expectation of any assistance from us in sup- porting " him. It is signed by 19 men and had been presented to the church the very same day. The church, answermg it, said that some of these very men had voted to call Mr. Brewer, and that they have not been regular in attending meetings and so are out of touch with the rest of the society. On December 4, 1771, 17 of these com- plainants were freed by the Society from paying all taxes to it, save for schools, provided they pay taxes to some "other worshipping society." The ist Society, on December 16, 1771, voted to receive all those who should wish to join it and 16 of them did so, together with one not previously mentioned as connected with the movement. The Rev. Daniel Brewer was from Springfield, Mass., and was born 1744- Not long after his settlement he embraced the sen- timents of the Sandemanians. On December 9, 1774, in consequence ■of this, the society desired Mr. Brewer to " come . . . and discourse of some matters relative to the church " and, on December 20, it voted to join with the church in calling the same Council that ordained Mr. Brewer, " to endeavor to settle the grievances " between him and the Church and to permit him to add to the Council a number, not exceed- ing its original number. The Council met on March 8, 1775, and ad- vised the dismission of Mr. Brewer, to which advice the society agreed. On April 19, 1775, a committee was appointed "to settle with Mr. Brewer in the best way they can," and on February 22, 1776, a vote was passed to rent the house originally built for Mr. Brewer. He ■' remained in Guilford until 1779, when he removed to Newtown, Conn., where there was a society of the Sandemanians. He remained there some years and removed next to Taunton, Mass., where he died December 1825, aged 81. He retained his Sandemanian sentiments 338 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. unchanged through life, living a quiet & rather retired life. Of course he never preached after leaving his charge in Guilford, that denomina- tion admitting none as preachers except Christ & the Apostles. He sustained the rank, if it can be so called, of an Elder and as such used to take the lead of his congregation at Newtovi^n and afterwards at Taunton, in the duties of prayer, expounding the scriptures, & exhort- ing. It is said of him that he was a man of good natural abilities, respectable as a scholar, of a peculiarly blameless & passive temper, and apparently sincere & pious." After the dismission of Mr. Brewer there are no records of any attempt to employ a minister until April 27, 1780, when the society voted that it would grant a rate of two shillings in the pound for the purpose of paying for moving the family of Rev. Mr. Smith to Middle- town. Who he was, how long he had been there, and whether he was ever settled are unknown. After gap of four years more, and nine years after the last pastor was dismissed, the society voted, on August 26, 1784, to hire Mr. Beriah Hotchkim to preach for six months. He continued to preach after the six months were concluded, and on June 10, 1785, presented the Church ■' a draught of his sentiments respecting the form, order, & discipline of a Gospel church," which the Church examined and found satisfactory, and, after considering " its present broken circumstances," voted unanimously to call him to their pastorate. On June 13 the society concurred with the church and offered Mr. Hotchkin £60 salary for one year. An ordaining council was called for August 16, 1785. Mr. Hotchkin was pastor until 1789. On February 9 of that year the society voted " that we will consent that Mr. Beriah Hotchkin shall be liberated from his ministerial charge over this society ": for the vote 14, against it 13, neutral 3. He was probably dismissed March 4, 1789, and no attempt was made to settle a minister in that society afterwards. " The Rev. Mr. Hotchkin ^ was a native of Guilford and was born March 27, 1752. He was not a college graduate, but a plain man of good abilities — rather a moderate preacher. After his dismission he removed to Greenville, N. Y., whither some of his people had gone before him. He was installed there about 1793 and remained in con- nexion with them until 1824 or 5, when he was dismissed and removed ' Rev. C. E. Stowe (Quarto-Millennial Celebration) says his mother having lost four children, consecrated him to the Lord before birth while in a period of great spiritual exaltation in attendance on divine worship. He read the Bible through before reaching the age of seven, sat under Dr. Sproat's preaching, moved to Cornwall, united with the church there in 1780, and studied for the ministry with Rev. Amzi Lewis of Goshen, N. Y. THE FOURTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 339 to Steuben County, N. Y. He was able to supply a destitute congre- gation there and died February — , 1829, aged j-j. When he removed to Greenville the northern parts of New York, from the Hudson to the region of Oneida County, as far west as English settlements had then extended, were almost wholly destitute of religious instruction. There was not a single Congregational minister in that region besides him- self, & but few others of any denomination. He had a happy influence in promoting the cause of the Redeemer in Greenville & vicinity & in other parts of the State." After his dismission from the 4th Society, " some of the members died, others removed or joined the ist Society until the church became extinct. Still, however, meetings were kept up in the old meeting- house from time to time. Occasionally a subscription was raised and some itinerant minister was employed for a time. No great care seems to have been had in the selection and persons were occasionally em- ployed of other denominations. Many of the members of the 4th Society afterwards embodied themselves into the Baptist Society, when it was established. In May, 1809, the Legislature transferred 24 per- sons from the 4th to the ist Society, and this virtually put an end to the former. On December 3, 1810, it was voted to board up the meet- ing house windows and the last meeting, at which nothing was done, was held on March 4, 1811. The existence of the society was one long struggle against misfor- tunes and opposition and, except under Mr. Sproat, it seems never to have enjoyed prosperity. The following persons were deacons in the 4th church: Name. Time of Election. Time of Death or Removal. Age. Samuel Cruttenden, 1733- Died, December 12,1745. 70 Daniel Benton, May 29, 1746. " August 25, 1756. 61 Seth Morse, December 30, 1754. " June 12, 1789. q6 Peletiah Leete, " October 13, 1768. " October i, 1772. 88 Daniel Leete, [766. 63 Joseph Bartlett, July 28, 1768. " August 29, 1769. 70 John Davis, June S, 1772. " May 29, 1776. b3 Peletiah Leete, 2nd, January, 1773. " May 28, 1786. 74 John Hall, 1776. Removed to Richmond, Mass. Died, 1826. 82 Ambrose Leete, 1786. Re-elected in First Church. Died, 1809, Feb. 14. 61 James Corwin, Removed to Long Island. CHAPTER XLV. The Third Congregational Church of Guilford. As has been stated this church was formed from the First Church by the dismission from the latter of 123 of the more pronounced Aboli- tionists, and of the friends of Rev. Mr. Button, by an ecclesiastical council on November 23, 1843. The present house of worship was built in 1844, the corner stone being laid on July 17, and was dedicated to the service of God, January i, 1845. It was remodeled in 1862, and suppHed with a suitable organ in 1873. The chapel in the rear of the church was built in 1879. Rev. Arthur L. Seward is the only minister it has raised up, as far as is known. The church is connected with the New Haven East Consociation. Its membership (December, 1893) is 294. It was incorporated in 1893, and the society was thus done away with. The first pastor was the Rev. David Root, who was born at Piermont, N. H., June 17, 1791. He graduated at Middlebury College in 18 — , and there studied for the ministry. About 1818 he went to Georgia to preach and there married Miss Almira Alden of Connecticut. About 1820 he became pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thence he removed to Dover, N. H., where he married, as his second wife. Miss Mary Gordon. Next he went to Philadelphia, where he became pastor of the First Congregational Church, after which he removed to Water- bury, Conn., where he was installed, in July, 1841, pastor of the First Congregational Church. Having been duly dismissed from this church in 1844, he was installed pastor of the Third Church, Guilford, January i, 1845. He did not resume ministerial labors, after being dismissed at his own request from this church, April 6, 1851. The remainder of his days was spent in retirement in New Haven and Chicago, at which latter place he died August 30, 1873. His remains were brought to Guilford and interred in Alderbrook Cemetery. His monument there characterizes him as : "A faithful and fearless servant of God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. A pioneer and untiring laborer in the anti-slavery cause. A man of active benevolence, and a diligent promoter of Christian education. His memory is lovingly cherished by those with whom he dwelt, and his influence remains to bless coming generations." THE THIRD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF GUILFORD. 34I The Story is told that, when he was called to the Third Church, some unfriendly wag in the North Church quoted the text, " I have seen the foolish taking Root." The Rev. Richard Manning Chipman, the second pastor, was born at Salem, Mass., January 12, 1806, the eldest of twelve children of Deacon Richard M. and Elizabeth (Grey) Chipman. He prepared for college at Kimball Union Academy, Moriton, N. H., and graduated at Dart- mouth College, 1832. He studied for the ministry at Princeton and Union Seminaries and, during 1833 ^^d 1834, he was corresponding secretary of the American Peace Society, and editor of their periodical, The Calumet, in New York. He was ordained pastor of the Con- gregational Church in Harwinton, Conn., March 4, 1835, and dis- missed from it March 13, 1839. He was pastor of the Evangelical Congregational Church in Athol, Mass., from August 15, 1839, to December 23, 1851, and of the Third Church, Guilford, from January 14, 1852, to May 19, 1858. After this he served as acting pastor of Congregational Churches at Wolcottville in Torrington 1859-61, at Middle Haddam 1861-63, at Hyde Park, Mass., 1864-66, at East Granby 1866-70, and in 1871 at Lisbon. In 1863-64 he was in the service of the National Freedman's Relief Commission of Salem, Mass. He married June 11, 1835, Mary, second daughter of the Rev. Fosdic and Elizabeth (Bunnel) Harrison, then of Roxbury, Conn. He has published: (i) Discourse of Ecclesiastical Prosperity, delivered at the dedication of a church at Terryville in Plymouth, Conn., 1838. (2) Dis- courses on Free Discussion, delivered at Harwinton, Conn., 1839. (3) Discourses on Maintenance of Moral Purity, delivered at Athol, Mass., 1841. (4) Memoir of Eli Thorpe, 1842. (5) History of Har- winton, Conn., i860. (6) The Chipman Lineage, particularly as in Essex County, Mass., 1872. Rev. Mr. Chipman died on August 15, 1893, in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, at the residence of his son, with whom he had lived for twenty-two years. During the latter years of his life he was engaged in work for the Century Dictionary. The Rev. George Ingersoll Wood, the third pastor, was born at Stam- ford, Conn., May 20, 1814, being the second son of the Hon. Joseph and Fanny (Ellsworth) Wood. He graduated at Yale College in 1833, studied law for two years with his father, spent a year in the Yale Divinity School, and completed his theological education at the Union Theological Seminary in 1838. He was ordained pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, in Washington, D. C, May 18, 1840, whence, after two years, he was called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church of West Hartford. There he remained two years, until com- 342 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. pelled by ill-health to ask a dismission. From 1844 to 1850 he sup- plied the pulpit of the Congregational Church of North Branford, June 26, 1850, he was installed pastor of the Congregational Church at Ellington. A bronchial difficulty interfered with his performance of ministerial duties and, having in vain sought relief by rest and a voyage to Europe, his request for a dismission was reluctantly granted, Feb- ruary 20, 1854. After resting for a year he again supphed the pulpit at North Branford for three years, at the end of which time he was called and installed as pastor of the Third Church, Guilford, November 30, 1858, where he remained until October 2, 1867, when the recur- rence of the bronchial trouble compelled him to resign. For eighteen months after this he lived in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where he preached most of the time in the First Congregational Church. On his return to the East he took up his residence in Ellington, supplying the pulpit of the church there for a year and a half. He married, April 24, 1840, Susan T., daughter of Rev. Samuel and Clarina B. Merwin of New Haven. The later years of his life have been spent in Washington, ^■c- ' I I M i I ;i ! : ( ! ' He has published: (i) History of the First Congregational Church of North Branford. (2) Popular treatise on the origin of written lan- guage. (3) The Four Gospels, genuine and authentic, address before Tolland County Bible Society. (4) Reminiscences of Stamford Fifty years Ago. (5) Address before Agricultural & Mechanical Associa- tion of Tolland County. The Rev. George Mills Boynton, the fourth pastor, was born in Brook- lyn, N. Y., in 1837. He graduated at Yale College in 1858, and at the Union Theological Seminary in 1863. He was ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Riverside, now a part of the city of New York, in 1863. He was installed pastor of the Third Church, Guilford, June 24, 1868, and was dismissed December i, 1872, to become pastor of the Belleville Avenue Congregational Church in Newark, N. J. In 1880 he became pastor of the Central Congrega- tional Church of Jamaica Plain, Boston. In 1888 he became Secretary of the Congregational Sunday-school & Publishing Society, a position he still holds. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Middlebury College in 1888. He has published several pamphlets. The Rev. George Wallace Banks, the fifth and present pastor, was born at Greenfield Hill, Fairfield, Conn., July 11, 1839. He graduated at Yale College in 1863, and at the Yale Divinity School in 1866. He was ordained, October 3, 1866, pastor of the Congregational Church, in Bethlehem, Conn., and dismissed March 11, 1874. He was installed pastor of the Third Church, Guilford, June 18, 1874, beginning then a THE THIRD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF GUILFORD. 343 pastorate which has lasted already, over twenty years. In 1893 the church celebrated its semi-centennial with appropriate exercises. The sermon delivered on that occasion by the pastor has been printed, as have others of his discourses. The following persons have been deacons in the Third Church: Name. Time of Election. Time of Death or Removal. Age. Asher Dudley, Leverett Griswold, December 8, 1843. March 8, 1844. March 8, 1844. September 12, 1852. March 11, 1877. May 13, 1877. September 5, 1880. January 2, 1881. July 3, 1881. June 26, 1882. July IS, 1883. Died, October 29, 1862. " December 18, 1891. 62 Julius A. Dowd, Alfred G. Hull, James D. Hall, " January 31, 1894. Henry E. Norton, Edwin A. Leete, Lucius Dudley, Richard Bartlett, Calvin M. Leete, George W. Hill, On January i, 1845, the church had 179 members, 60 were added during Mr. Root's ministry; 35 during Mr. Chipman's; 62 during Mr. Wood's; 64 during Mr. Boynton's, and 291 during the present pas- torate,^ while 8 were added while there was no pastor. The church has enjoyed at least twelve seasons of especial religious interest, especially in 1875, 1881, and 1885, at which times 127 persons united with it. The Sunday-school was organized two weeks after the church. Jon- athan Parmelee was the first superintendent. The Christian Endeavor Society was organized March 27, 1887, and was the first one in the town. George W. Seward was the first president. ^ Up to 1894. CHAPTER XLVI. The Second Church and Society of Guilford in East Guilford, NOW The First Church and Society of Madison. From Guilford Green, where the meeting house stood, to Hammon- assett is seven or eight miles, and getting to church thence was no easy matter, in the days when all planters were only one society. " Four wheeled wagons," says Rev. Mr. Gallup, " did not come into existence until 90 years" after the settlement of Guilford.^ "There were no well appointed roads; only cart paths and pent ways, and bridle paths. The 'only modes of conveyance were on horseback or in ox carts," and tradition hath it that women frequently used to walk to Guilford and back in order to attend the worship of God. Pillions were universally in use for carrying wife or sweetheart, and horses were such luxuries that frequently two couples would use the same horse on the '' ride and tie " plan. That is to say " one couple would mount and ride a part of the distance, then dismount, tie the horse and proceed on foot; the second couple would start on foot, and proceed until they came up to the horse, then mount and ride the remaining distance." Killingworth is only three miles and a half from Madison Green and, after the former was settled, it was so much more convenient to attend service there that the Hammonassett people longed to do so and pay toward the support of that minister and meeting house instead of going to Guilford. So in May, 1672, the General Court recommended the town of Guilford and "their inhabitants on the east end, neare Homonoscitt, to consult with their neighbors of Kenilworth, what may be most advantageious to the publique good in refference to those people of the east end, their contribution to" the ministry of Killing- worth."^ Gov. Leete was to assist in the arrangement, which the Court wished to have made by October. On September 11, therefore, a letter with six signatures, was sent by the Hammonassett people to the town. This letter states that they, "being remote from you, do understand that you have heard some things to this effect. As we had declared that we were grieved with your rigorous dealing with us, to bind us to inconvenience upon the ' Historical Discourse, 1877, p. 12. ' Conn. Col. Rec. II, 177. THE SECOND CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF GUILFORD. 345 Sabbath." This rumor, they say, has been disproved by their neigh- bors, as they " leave that and doe signify our minds, concerning hear- ing the word at Kennelworth, when we are providentially hindered from coming to our oune towne." They state they " intend to give to the minister at Killingworth according to our going to hear the word, what we think in equity may be satisfying, and, when we find that we are thereby burthened, we shall orderly make knowne such an agrie- vancy to you, whom we, in charity, judge will answer our desires, be- ing rational." They, furthermore, " acknowledge ourselves free to pay our just dues and, as we are, we hope and shall be, carefuU of your credit & right as our owne, doe hope, yea believe, that you will doe the like towards us." This letter was approved of by the town on the 25th of the same month, and entered on the records and a committee of three was ap- pointed to join with the townsmen " to give an answer to our neigh- bors at Killingworth about the matter . . . concerning our inhabitants at the East End." For twenty years this arrangement was successful;' but, in 1694, " our farmers " drew up a petition, now lost, and sent it to the town. The town, on August 21, appointed a committee of six to answer it. The result of their work was approved by the town on January 30, 1694-5, when a committee of three was appointed "to discourse with our neighbors at Killinsworth concerning our neighbors liberty of going to Killinsworth to public worship there." This manifestation of restlessness was probably due to the fact that the Rev. Joseph Eliot, the town's beloved pastor, by his death in May, had broken the bond which fastened the farmers to the ist Church. On April 29, 1695, a petition was sent, by the hands of Joseph Hand and Nathan Bradley, to the General Court, signed by 12 men living in Hammonassett. The petitioners state they are 7 miles from Guilford and only 2 from Killingworth, that they are " persuaded of our duty to incurrage a Gospill ministry," and that they " ought to do it, where we may, with the least travel on the Sabbath day, injoy benefit by it." Consequently they "have made some motions to our neighl)ors, the' town of Gilford, that they would grant us Reliefe " ; this request being refused they appeal to the Court "to^ consider of" the question. " Though we do not desire to be abated from paying our dues, yet it is not to be compelled to pay where we cannot partake, without the difficulty, not only of much travel, but also of being separated from our children the greatest part of the day, and it is not unknown to most ' Great accommodation was had from the bridge thrown across the Hammon- assett in 1690. 346 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. considerate men, the need of the parents eye on their children on that day." I A counter-petition from East Guilford, with 20 signatures, was sent to the General Court on May 9. The signers of this petition were largely from the Neck and the present centre of the town and, hence, not so desirous of going to Killingworth to meeting. They refer to the fact that a petition had been sent to relieve certain persons from paying the minister at Guilford, and "pretending that they will join with the town of Killingworth as to the public worship of God." This, say the petitioners, "we fear will be a hindrance tO' our joining to- gether to make a village, if they are granted such a liberty." To oppose this the petitioners say they too are East Guilford men and somewhat " the major part of the town, being under some consider- able difficulty as to the far travelling to the public worship of God; but desire to wait God's time to enlarge vis to such a number as to maintain a minister among ourselves, which we hope may be in a short time, if our naibors still remain with us." They state that they number about thirty families and expect more settlers soon and " doubt not of the readiness of the Town to grant that we may be a village by our- selves, if our neighbors still remain as they are, to join in promoting of the same." Further that the town, foreseeing that they would become a village, "did sequester a parcell of land amongst us for publick use, as we are informed," and so they entreat the Court not to " frustrate our fore fathers good intent and soe to use the minor part as to prejudice or almost ruine the major part." These petitions, the work of plain farmers, are very skilfully drawn up. When the matter came up in General Assembly that May ' the Depu- ties of Guilford plead that they had no power from the town to act and the Court postponed the business until October, summoning Guil- ford to present her side of the case then, " but this Court should much rejoyce to hear you wd. come to a complyance amongst yourselves of these matters, wh. is most elligible & wd. be to the gt. sattisfaction of the Court." The General Court's wishes were not gratified and it had to decide the matter in October. It tried to please all parties: permitted the petitioners to pay the minister at Killingworth,^ provided they pay any arrears there might be, and all other taxes save ecclesiastical ones in the future to Guilford, and this order was to stand only until " the Homonoscitt people shall be capable, with the consent of Guilford, to set up & mayntayn the worship of God amongst them." ^ Conn. Col. Rec. IV, 144. " Conn. Col. Rec. IV, 151. May, 1696, an explanatory act that the petitioners are to pay " for all their rateable estate," the same proportion as Killingworth people do. Conn. Col. Rec. IV, 161. THE SECOND CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF GUILFORD. 347 Th« party who signed the counter-petition kept at work and, on January 25, 1698-9, these " Neighbor farmers on the East side of the Town," petitioned the town for " Liberty of their being a village." To this the following tart reply was made: " when our Neighbors at the East end have cleared up their rates and paid their dues ... & our minister's rates . . . the Town will then consider our neighbors peti- tion concerning a village propounded now for," and on November 8, 1699, followed up this vote with another, "that the Collector now chosen gather the minister's & Town rates of all the Inhabitants within the Town Bounds, according to law." A corn mill is granted tO' the east farmers on January 30, 1699-1700, as if to show that the town is not wholly ungracious to them. It is too bad we have not all the papers and must remain forever in ignorance as to the wording of the petitions from the east farmers ' and the Neck farmers, which peti- tions were read in town meeting, August 28, 1700, and referred to a special meeting on September 17, after the freemen's meeting. At that time a committee of six was appointed to meet the east farmers' com- mittee, " hear and debate " with them as to their settling public wor- ship among themselves, and report to the town. On January 16, 1700-1, it was voted to bring the matter up at the next meeting, but there is no record of this having been done and not until February 10, 1701-2, did the town take further action. Then it appointed a committee to prepare a memorial for the General Court, which was presented and approved on April 28, and put in the hands of Lt. Abm; Fowler and Ens. Nath'l Stone. From the Assembly pro- ceedings, we learn that this memorial was for a revocation of the order of October, 1695, as the farmers did not pay taxes anywhere under it. The General Court decided that those paying minister's rates at Kil- lingworth and taking receipts therefor, may enjoy the previous act;^ but those not paying at Killingworth must pay at Guilford. For nearly a year the matter slumbered until, on March 4, 1702-3, a peti- tion was sent to the town of Guilford, signed by 31 men, including both the Neck and the Hammonassett farmers. The petition begs for a distinct society, owing to their distance from the town plat, and states that the " present surcomstances . . . are preiodisiall to us " and "will be of equall preiodice to our children and posteritie; Where- upon we account it our duty to seek releuf, and desier your favorable judgment for the upbuilding the publick worship of God among our- selves, in order to ferder address to the General Cort for confarmation." The town thus replied to this petition from "the esterly farms," '■ Dated Aug. 21 and signed by 33 persons praying to be made a parish. " Conn. Col. Rec. IV, 382. 348 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. " that the sd. este farmers . . . have libarty granted them ... to be a societie by themselves and to procure a minister among themselves, in case the General Court aprove and confirme the same, they paying their dues to the minister of Guilford untill they have provided a min- ister among themselves." Upon receiving a favorable answer, James Hill, John Grant and Joseph Hand, as a committee, petitioned the General Assembly that East Guilford be made a society and be released from county taxes, while building a meeting house and settling a minister. The General Assembly granted the petition in May, 1703, on the same conditions as the town had made, and providing that no one within the territory be obliged to join them unwillingly.'' The town, upon the request of the East Society, on February 12, 1704-5, freed them from town charges, " they obliging themselves to bear all the charge that may arise among themselves for bulls & bridges & wolves and all' other charges arising among themselves this present year past and so forward, while they continue a society." A little later, on January 28, 1706-7, the minister's rate for Rev. Mr. Rug- gles was published for all the inhabitants of the town, except such as were in the East Society and " such others that dwell on the East side of the Neck river, as shall come and enter their names with the recorder of the town by Monday next." The East Society sent a summons to the town, which at town meet- ing on October 6, 1707, was thought " dubious " in character. A com- mittee to represent the town was appointed, however, and instructed, " in case they press for a line," to oppose it, " because it will be so very grievous to some particular persons." That very month the General Assembly formally incorporated the east farmers into a society, with the Neck River as a western boundary; with power to lay taxes for the minister's salary and for building and repairing the meeting house, to choose a collector and a recorder, " to imbody themselves in church estate, and to have their share of school money, if they keep a school.' They were also freed from paying for the Guilford minister so long as they have an orthodox one themselves. This line was moved to the westward ° in 1744, and is now near the boundary of the towns. In May, 1746, a committee was appointed to run a line between North and East Guilford, the former line not extending above the head waters of Neck River. As early as February 13, 1701, "at a meeting of the easterly far- mers," a site for a meeting house was agreed upon, " provided that the town of Guilford give us liberty to erect it." It stood on the south-east ' Conn. Col. Rec. IV, 420. ' Conn. Col. Rec. V, 33. ' Conn. Col. Rec. IX, pp. 27, 64 and 224. Conn. Col. Rec. VIII, 349. THE SECOND CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF GUILFORD. 349 part of the East Guilford Green, was built' in 1705, had neither bell nor steeple, and was without galleries" until 1715. From time to time individuals were permitted to build pews in these galleries for their own use and at their own expense. The pulpit was on the north and outside doors were on the south, east and west. It is doubtful whether the windows were glazed before 1717. On March 2, 1717, the town gave the East Society the remainder of the seats in the old meeting house and gallery, provided they be taken away in two months. In December, 1721, it was "voted to build up the hinder seats in side gal- lery and banister them, and that the younger sort of men to sit in the banestered seat, and ye boys to set in ye meddlemost seat and the like order to be in ye este gallery, by the younger sort of maids and. girls." It was also "voted to have a seat built before the foremost seat in the square body of ye meeting house for boys and girls to set on, and another on the hind part of sd. square body for the boys and gurls to set on; also to build a peu on the west side of the pulpit for Mrs. Hart to set in, and to move the peu este side of the pulpit up to the pulpit, for the aged widdows to set in, and to make the rest of the hy ground into seats." Committees^ were appointed from time to time, "to dignify the meeting house," or to assign to each of the congregation a seat " ac- cording to their age and list"; the men on the one side of the centre aisle, the women on the other, which latter practice was continued until within the memory of some now living. Fines were even im- posed for sitting out of the assigned seat and twelve men were chosen, " to have inspecshon over the youth on Sabbath days and other public days." For several years after the church was built watch was kept during public worship to guard against Indians, more from a traditional dread than from any real danger we fancy. The drum, beaten by John Grave for the stipend of 20s., or I3s.4d., according as the society was liberal or not, called the planters to church until the town, on December 15, 1724, appropriated £8 for a bell, out of the profits of the mill. Widow Martha Dudley swept the meeting house for 20s. per year. The year after the farmers built a meeting house they erected a ^ The house was completed before March 29, 1706, when a person was selected to sweep it and beat the drum, and it was voted, March 9, to have wooden case- ments on the windows. ' Jan. 14, 1713-14, voted to build galleries. Dec. 4, 1710, permission was given to erect Sabbath Day Houses near the meeting house. ° The Society chose Ebenezer French (on Dec. 6, 1712) to keep a house of entertainment for the year following. 350 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. parsonage/ It was voted to build a second meeting house, on Decem- ber 17, 1736, and John Grave was chosen to petition the General As- sembly to send some one " to state and ascertain the place where said society shall set their meeting house," which it was decided should be 60 by 40 feet. In May, 1737, the Assembly sent Maj. Samuel Lynde, Capt. Jno. Russell, and Mr. John Lane to go to East Guilford and fix a site for the meeting house. They reported in October, in favor of a place on the Green, midway between the old one and Capt. Janna Meigs' sabbath house, and their report was adopted.' Great " uneasi- ness " and serious controversy arose in regard to this location. Matters got to such a point that a council was called " to direct in the difficult circumstances." The society refused to lay the necessary tax to build and to allay the " great uneasiness, avert the ill consequences," and stop the " contention," they voted to send to the Assembly for a second committee to " consider this matter." At a subsequent meeting, however, it was voted not to send for another committee and that they were " satisfied " and " content with the place already afifixed." It seems as if the old controversy between Neck and Hammonassett had sprung up again; for the dissatisfied party sent a memorial to the As- sembly that the place chosen is out of the centre of the parish and that the former committee were imposed upon by a false plan.° A new committee was appointed to " hear all parties " and finally fix the site, which they probably did, for we hear no more of the controversy. Next, committees were chosen, "to provide nails and covering for our meeting house," " to take care of the frame," " to procure a carpen- ter or carpenters, and workmen, as shall be necessary to carry on the business," to make the window frames for, and cover our new meet- ing house." For these purposes rates were granted, laborers paid " five shillings a day," and so the work proceeded until, in February, 1742-3, it had so far advanced that a committee was appointed " to fin- ish our new meeting house." On May 11, it was "Voted to collour our new meeting house a lead collour " and that there shall " no hors be tyed to any part of our new meeting house ; that we will cart earth to the doors of our new meeting house, and then lay as good stones, as may be had among ourselves, upon it." The meeting house was dedicated in May, 1743, Rev. Nathaniel Chauncey of Durham preaching the sermon. The house was of two ^The church records for 80 years or so were unfortunately burnt by a fire in Mr. Todd's study. Part of them in the possession of Lt. Timothy Field were recently given to the Conn. Hist. Soc. by his great-granddaughter. Vote to build parsonage was Dec. 6, 1705. ' Conn. Col. Rec. VIII, pp. iii, 141. = Conn. Col. Rec. VIII, 217. THE SECOND CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF GUILFORD. 35 1 Stories, had two tiers of windows, and entrances on the south, east and west. In 1799 a steeple was buih on the west end, and in 1801 a bell ' superseded the drum in calling together the worshippers.' The pulpit was on the north side, reached by a long winding flight of stairs, entered through substantial doors and had the sounding board hung over it. On either side of the main aisle were long seats ; the deacons sat below the pulpit and behind the communion table, while there were pews around the walls and an outside tier on the square body. In this church the custom of seating the congregation was kept up until 1832, very deaf persons being permitted to " take any seat they please, except the pulpit and the deacons' seat." "The young men shall not occupy either of the two front pews, or any other seat in the ladies' gal- lery, only by permission of the tythingmen." Around the meeting house clustered the Sabbath Day houses, usual- ly of one story and containing one or two rooms. To these came the outlying families in the morning, built a fire, filled the footstove with live coals, and then, after shivering through a two hours' service, re- turned to these houses, ate lunch, discussed religious and other topics, refilled the foot stoves, and prepared for the afternoon service. On February 6, 172 1-2, permission for the erection of eight of these was granted, in December, 1742, for nine more, and for others from time to time. When stoves were introduced intO' meeting houses these disap- peared, the last one being removed to the seashore and transformed into a fish house. On January 22, 1837, it was voted to build a third meeting house, provided $2,500 were raised by subscription. It was voted to set the meeting house on Dea. Hart's land, which could be obtained without cost, and to build the house with " a steeple with a spire." The fixing of the site led to a bitter controversy, resulting, in 1841, in the with- drawal of 47 church members to form a new church.' These went so far as to prepare to erect a meeting house. Through the kindly mediation of the Consociation, however, this breach was closed, those who had withdrawn were restored to fellowship, and the bitterness died away. The architect and builder of the meeting house was Mr. Volney Pierce. While building the tower two workmen were instantly killed, on May 19, 1838, by the fall of a beam. The house was dedi- ^ Sold to the North Madison church when the new meeting-house was built. The town clock of unknown age was in the old meeting-house. ' Apparently the town's appropriation in 1724 led to nothing. ' April 5, 1841, by a vote of 92 to 69, the town voted to permit Galen Dowd, Ebenezer Dudley, Russell Evarts, Marvin Foster, Frederick Dowd, Noah Bradley and others to build a meeting-house where the old one was. 352 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. cated, November 21, 1838, by Rev. Mr. Shepard. On November 12, 1838, the town voted to give $500 for finishing the basement, pro- vided town and electors' meetings might be held there. The propo- sition was accepted on January i and this place was Madison's town hall until 1897. In 1867 the meeting house was enlarged 13 feet on the north, and the house was thoroughly altered, remodeled, and refurnished. It was rededicated, on November 21, 1867, by Rev. O. E. Daggett of Yale College. The expense was $12,500, about $8,200 was raised by sub- scription, and the rest was paid in yearly installments. An organ costing $2,600 was purchased and put in position in 1869. The church was formed on Tuesday, November 25, 1707, consisting of 13 male members, and the Rev. John Hart^ was ordained at the same time the pastor. Mr. Hart was born in Farmington, April 12, 1682, received his education in part at Cambridge but joined the infant col- lege in Connecticut in September, 1702, where he graduated in 1703, being the only one who received the honors of the College that year, and the first graduate who had studied at the College. Immediately after this he was elected Tutor, in which office he remained three years, during which time he was licensed to preach the Gospel. Some part of this time he spent in East Guilford, having his class with him, and discharging the double duties of an instructor in science and religion. He was here as early as the winter of 1705,^ and perhaps continued uniformly until his settlement, as the people gave him a call on June 12, 1706, and as nO' evidence exists that any other candidate was em- ployed. He was ordained November, 1707. He was a gentleman of good talents and exemplary piety, of great respectability and useful- ness.° Repeated bereavements and sore bodily infirmities, which it ^ Sprague, Annals, I, 260. He was granted 25 acres of land, June 21, 1706, if " he settle in the work of the ministry among our East Guilford neighbors." This is the first use of that place name on the records. (Yale Biog. and Annals, Vol. I, pp. 13 and 17.) ' On Dec. 6, 1705, a meeting of the " inhabitance " of East Guilford chose a collector for the minister's rate and voted to carry 20 loads of good fire-wood to John French's (the Society's treasurer) " for mister hart's yous." With refer- ence to the formation of the Society, it was long ago said that " what was necessary to be done to make a second parish in a town was so little understood that it was necessary to apply three or four times to the Assembly before they were a compleat society. They acted as a society, yea as a town, before there was any law appointing their clerk to be sworn or empowering them to choose collector." Hart's salary was ipo currency in wheat, rye, peas, pork and Indian corn (Vide Feb. 8, 1708). ^ He was one of the seven ministers doubting the validity of Presbyterian ordination in 1722, but the conference in the College Library freed him from THE SECOND CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF GUILFORD. 353 pleased an allwise Providence to inflict upon him for a course of years, were borne with resignation and patience until on March 4, 1731, he was gathered ' to his fathers in the 49th year of his age, and the 24th of his ministry. The Rev. Nathaniel Chauncy, in a sermon' preached at his funeral, gave him an excellent character. Mr. Hart was thrice married: his first wife was Rebecca Hubbard of Boston, by whom he had two children ; his second, Sarah Bull of Hartford, by whom he had one child; his third, Mary Hooker of Guilford, by whom he had six children. Four of his children died young, one, William, was a min- ister in Saybrook, one a deacon in E. Guilford, and three settled in Guilford. He admitted about 80 persons to the church. Rev. Abraham Todd (Y. C. 1727) supplied the pulpit during Mr. Hart's last illness and he continued after Mr. Hart's death until, in accordance with the advice of a council of five of the neighboring ministers, assembled in April, 1731, he was invited to preach three months on trial and, on the 26th of August, he was called to settle as pastor. The call not being very unanimous, he declined it and divis- ions sprung up, so that the church called a council on P'ebruary 15, 1732. This council did not do much good, and, in consequence of the unhappy divisions in the church, the Governor and council addressed them a letter from Hartford. Subsequently Mr. Thomas Weld (H. C. 1723) and Mr. Job Parker (H. C. 1729) were invited to settle but declined. In May, 1733, Mr. Jonathan Todd was invited to preach in this place and was ordained on the 24th of October following, when the church consisted of 51 members. Mr. Todd was a native of New Haven (born March 9, 1713) and a graduate of Yale College, where he took the Baccalaureate degree in 1732. He possessed superior abil- ities and was a sound, thorough scholar. He had few equals in the learned languages in our country, particularly the Hebrew. He paid considerable attention to philosophy, and greatly excelled in history. Many youths were guided and assisted by him in studies preparatory to admission to college. Remarkably mild and amiable in his man- ners, exemplary in his conduct, and faithful and useful in the various his doubts. Prest. Stiles calls him " a man of the greatest ingenuity and learn- ing of all the seven." At another time he took the advice of the trustees of Yale with reference to admission to the communion. ' He left an estate valued at £1900. ' Printed in New London, 1732, with the title " The Faithful Servant Re- warded." Ruggles says " he proved one of the first Eminence of preachers in his Day." In the " election sermon," May, 173 1, Rev. Samuel Whittlesey says his " Soundness of Mind, and Piety of Life, I should more Enlarge upon, but that I might be suspected of Partiality to a friend." 354 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. branches of ministerial duty he lived almost 60 years in love and peace with his people/ As a preacher and writer he was respected in his day. His publications, so far as they have come to my knowledge, were as follows : 1. A Sermon occasioned by the death of Captain Janna Meigs,, preached June 10, 1739. 2. A Sermon to the young people occasioned by the death of Miss Prudence Bishop, preached August 5, 1740. 3. An Answer to Mr. Robbins' (of Branford) Plain Argument, 1748. 4. An Election Sermon, preached at Hartford, May 11, 1749. 5. A Sermon on the death of the Rev. Nath'l Chauncy of Durham, preached in February, 1756. 6. A Meteorological Paper, sent to Franklin and by him read before the Royal Society, November 4, 1756 (Sparks' Franklin, VI, 171). 7. " A Faithful Narrative " of the proceedings respecting the Ordi- nation of the Rev. Jas. Dana, afterwards Dr. Dana, at Wallingford, pubHshed in 1758 or 9. 8. A Reply to the " Serious Remarks " of the Revd. Edw. Eells on the " Faithful Narrative." 9. A Sermon on the death of the Rev. Thomas Ruggles of Guilford,, preached in November, 1770. 10. A Sermon on the death of Deacon Timothy Hill, preached February, 1781. 11. A Sermon on the death of the Rev. William Seward of N. (now) Killingworth, preached February, 1782. 12. A Sermon on the death of Mrs. Amanda Redfield, preached March 24, 1783. Mr. Todd died February 24, 1791, in the 78th year of his age. His wife, who was Elizabeth Couch of Fairfield, died several years before him. They had no children." The exact number of persons admitted by him to the church is not known, as the records are incomplete. From those that are extant, however, it is calculated that he admitted about 565. A graceful act of Mr. Todd is deserving of remembrance. On the church records we read that he arranged that " those who object to make public relation of experience may do so before two or three of the Brethren whom they shall chuse to sit with me." ' On Dec. 13, 1761, the church voted to sing either Tate & Brady as heretofore or Watts's Psalms and Hymns. ' Sprague's Annals, I, 383. Yale Biog. and Annals, I, 465 ff. The records of church discipline during Todd's pastorate are in the library of the Conn. Hist. Soc. They show discipline inflicted for false witness, drunkenness, theft and fornication. THE SECOND CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF GUILFORD. 355 " He outlived all his parish who were heads of families at his ordina- tion and at the time of his death he had held the ofifice of minister longer than any person then living in the State." His estate was appraised at £511 and sixteen books formed his library. He sided with the "Old Lights " in theology. The Rev. David Dudley Field, D. D., wrote of him: "He was of a more than uncommonly spare habit, had a dark hazel, but bright eye, and a countenance by no means wanting in intel- ligence, but yet especially marked by benignant and generous feeling. ... As a preacher he held a highly respectable standing among his brethren, though I think, if there was any prominent fault in his ser- mons, it was a lack of directness." Pres. Stiles characterizes him as " one of the most learned and pious divines New England ever produced ; a great reader, of the most vigor- ous mental power, strong and penetrating acumen, mild and placid, calm and benevolent. In every respect a most excellent man." His will, dated February 3, 1791, frees and endows all his slaves and says : " I have long bedn convinced in my own mind that the enslaving of the Africans brought from Africa or those born in this country is unjust; and it is one of the sins of the land, and I would endeavor to free my estate from the cry of such sin against it." The Rev. John Elliott,'' D. D., was born August 28, 1768, and was a native of that part of Killingworth which is now called Clinton, and a graduate of Yale College in 1786, was ordained here November 2, 1 791, when there were 84 members in the church. The Rev. Achilles Mansfield of Clinton, his instructor and minister in early life, preached the ordination sermon, which was printed. Dr. Elliott died of heart trouble December 17, 1824, aged 56 years. He was the son of George Elliott, Esq., and grandson of the Rev. Dr. Jared Elliott of Clinton, great-grandson of the Rev. Joseph Eliot of Guilford, who was the son of the celebrated John Eliot, " the Apostle to the Indians." He was a good classical scholar, a correct serious preacher, a wise, judi- cious and exemplary man, dignified in his manners, greatly esteemed by his own people, by his brethren in the ministry and his numerous acquaintances. The persons especially who' were instructed by him — he kept a small school in his house in the early periods of his minis- try — held him in high esteem. His publications were: 1. A small English Dictionary, compiled in connection with Mr. Sam'l Johnson of Guilford. Printed in 1799, reprinted in 1802. 2. A Sermon preached in Guilford, February, 1800, on the death of the Rev. Amos Fowler. * Sprague, Annals, II, 321. On leaving college he taught for a time and did not make a profession of religion until 1789. 356 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. 3. A Sermon on the death of George Washington, preached Febru- ary 22, 1800. 4. A Sermon, preached October, 1800, on the death of Mrs. Mabel Lee, wife of the Rev. Nath'l Lee. 5. A Sermon preached on the first Sabbath of January, 1802, con- taining an account of the Church in Madison. 6. A Sermon preached in Haddam, April 11, 1804, at the ordination of the Rev. David D. Field. 7. Oration on Death of Thos. Lewis, 1804. 8. A Sermon on the death of Capt. Wm. Whittlesey and crew, lost at sea, preached February 7, 1807. 9. Right hand of fellowship address at ordination of Rev. Samuel Clark at East New Haven, January 13, 1808. xo. A Sermon preached in N. Guilford, April 25, 1808, at the funeral' of the Rev. Thos. Wells Bray. 11. An Election Sermon preached at Hartford, May 10, 1810. (The highest honor a Connecticut clergyman could receive.) 12. A Sermon preached in Bolton, November 8, 1815, at the installa- tion of the Rev. Philander Parmelee. 13. A Sermon preached at Meriden before the Eastern Consociation of New Haven County, in which an attempt is made to illustrate and defend the consociational mode of church government. 14. A Sermon preached at New Haven, November 5, 1817, at the ordination of the Rev. Eleazar T. Fitch, Prof, of Divinity in Yale College. 15. A Sermon preached on the death of Dr. Jonathan Todd, Feb- ruary 13, 1819. 16. Discourse on i Cor. vii. 29. In 1812 Dr. Elliott was elected a Fellow of the Corporation of Yale College, and in 1816 a member of the Prudential Committee of that body, which ofifices he held until his death. He was given a Doctorate of Divinity by Yale in 1822. During his ministry 338 persons were admitted to the church. He was married to Sarah, daughter to Lot Norton, of Salisbury, Conn., but had no children. His last public discourse was a Preparatory Lecture, in November, 1824. In it he referred to the feeble state of his health and to the probable nearness of the time when he must render an account of his stewardship, with great solemnity and pathos. Prof. Eleazar T. Fitch, who preached his funeral sermon, said of him: " He was a man of distinguished prudence. He deliberated before he acted; his deliberation was controlled by religious fear and wise THE SECOND CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF GUILFORD. 357 discernment; and his decisions were therefore prudent, inspiring- con- fidence in others. He was a man of upright constancy and of afifec- tionate kindness. The benevolence inculcated in the Gospel he endeav- ored to copy in his own heart and life. He was a man of peculiar sedateness and solemnity. If there was any one trait more prominent in his preaching than another, it was this — a mind impressed itself and impressing others with a solemn awe of God and eternity." The Rev. Samuel Nichols Shepard, a native of Lenox, Mass. (Wil- liams College, 1821), a son of the Rev. Samuel Shepard, was ordained here November 2, 1828. He was born September 25, 1799, and died September 30, 1856. He studied theology in Auburn, N. Y., and was called here after Rev. W. C. Fowler, who had been supplying the pulpit, declined to become pastor. He was called September 30, 1828, and was given a salary of $600, increased to $800 in 1846. Rev. Mr. Gallup says of him: he "was a man of positive and inde- pendent opinions," " not easily moved from conclusions once formed, or positions once taken. He had an active and discriminating mind and was bold and fearless in the utterance of truth. As a preacher he was earnest, forcible and practical. His sermons were vigorous in thought, original in style, and forcible in delivery. The truth he preached to others he deeply felt himself. He was often moved to tears while he spoke with great tenderness and often with captivating eloquence. He had the ready and happy faculty of adapting himself to every occasion. His prayers were remarkably felicitous in thought and diction in the sanctuary, at the burial of the dead, and on all public occasions. As a pastor he heartily sympathized with his people in their joys and in their sorrows. As a citizen he was public-spirited and patriotic; an ardent friend of education, and an earnest helper in village improvement. Intolerant of new measures — in religion and in reforms — he held on to the Gospel of Christ with great enthusiasm and , power." His death was sudden; on Sunday he preached with unusual power and was well. On Monday he was slightly indisposed, and on Tuesday seized with violent pains in the head, he became unconscious and died at 3 P. M., aged 57. His funeral sermon was preached by Rev. A. C. Baldwin.' Rev. Samuel Fisk, fifth pastor, was born in Shelburne, Mass., July 23, 1828, and graduated at Amherst College in 1848, second in his class. His boyhood was marked " by the same genial disposition and bright- ^ A sermon on " Personal Accountability," preached before the church on the first Sunday of 1857 by Rev. Milton Badger, was published by request of the society. 358 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. ness which characterized his mature years. He studied theology at Andover and then was Tutor at Amherst for three years, preaching frequently in the college and neighboring churches. In 1855 he went abroad for fifteen months, travelling in Europe, Egypt and Palestine, and studying in Paris and Germany. His letters while abroad, pub- lished in the Springfield Republican, under the title of " Dunn Browne's Experiences in Foreign Parts " obtained " wide notice for their pic- turesque style, Yankee common sense, keen wit, and overflowing humor." On his return to this country he was called, April 23, 1857, to be pastor of the Madison Church and, accepting, was ordained June 3, 1857. He was noted for " cheerfulness and amiability, quick wit, guilelessness, simplicity, and abounding charity." " No prejudice, ani- mosity, or resentment found harbor in his breast. He could not be made a party to any quarrel. His originality and quaint humor never deserted him ^ and a prayer of his one day, when the congregation was late, is remembered: "That the Lord would bless the congregation as- sembled, and that portion of it which was on the way to church, and those who were at home getting ready to come, and that, in his infinite patience, he would grant the benediction to those who reached the house of God just in time for that." " He took deep interest in the spiritual welfare of his flock, not a few of whom he guided to the Saviour and received into the visible church." " As a scholar his per- ception was quick, his grasp of a subject or author clear and com- prehensive, his memory retentive and his method of expression and action entirely original." When the Rebellion broke out he took deep interest in the Nation's struggle, and on the second call for troops he enlisted, on August 23, 1862, as a private in Company I, 14th Connecticut Volunteers. He was at once elected 2nd Lieutenant, then ist Lieutenant, and finally Captain of Company G. " The same earnest helpful spirit character- ized him in the camp and on the battle field." He was captured at Chancellorsville and, a prisoner in "Libby," read his own obituary. He was soon released, rejoined his regiment and fell, mortally wounded in the first day of the great battles of the Wilderness, while rallying his men to resist the enemy's charge. He was shot through the collar- bone and top of the right lung, but rode to the field hospital, a mile in the rear, whence he was taken to Fredericksburg, where he died, Sunday, May 22, 1864, aged thirty-six years. Rev. Wm T. Eustis preached his funeral discourse in Madison on May 26, and his remains, at his own request, were taken to Shelburne Falls. In the field he ' 250 Anniversary, pp. 133 and 25. THE SECOND CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF GUILFORD. 359 wrote " Dunn Browne in the Army," bright and sparkling like his other work. Rev. S. A. Loper supplied the pulpit during the two years Rev. Mr. Fisk was in the army, and after his death various persons preached, among them Rev. Thomas M. Boss for about six months. Rev. James Austin Gallup was bom in Ledyard, Conn., November 15, 1823. He fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, and was graduated at Yale in 1851. He studied theology in New Haven and was ordained over the Congregational Church in Essex, Conn., May 17, 1854. He was called to Madison September 18, 1865, and was installed there November 2, 1865. After a successful ministry of nearly thirty years he resigned the pastorate November 2, 1893, and was made pastor emeritus, which position he still holds. His discourses in 1877 and 1889 have been of much help in preparing this account of the church. Rev. William Thurston Brown was born October 20, 1861, at Medusa, N. Y. He prepared for college at Starkey Seminary, Starkey, N. Y., and graduated from Yale College in 1890 and Yale Seminary in 1895. He was ordained at New Bedford in 1888, and installed at Madison on March 20, 1894. In the spring of 1896 he was accused of heresy by some of the members of the church and a council was called to decide the matter. The council decided in Mr. Brown's favor and urged both parties to come together for harmonious efifort in promot- ing the kingdom of God. The church at Madison has never lost a pastor save by death. Of the 250 families living in Madison Parish in 1838, 219 belonged to the Congregational Society, 7 to the Episcopal Church of Guilford, 4 to the Baptist, 7 to the Methodist, and 13 were attached tO' no denom- ination. The Congregational Society has a fund, obtained by subscrip- tion, to be devoted to the support of a Congregational minister who shall be approved by the Chiu-ch and the Eastern Association of New Haven County — an accumulating fund not to be used until it amounts to $10,000. It amounted in December, 1831, to $2,770.31. The sub- scription was begun about 181 5, and the subscribers' were incor- porated in October, 1816, very much through the influence of Dr. El- liott. In case the sum should amount tO' over $10,000 the interest on the excess was to be used for a ministerial library. * " The Subscribers to the Fund in East Guilford." In 1837 they were author- ized to use the interest when the fund amounted to $S,ooo. It was then about $3,500. It now amounts to $12,000, and never a dollar of it has been lost. Since 1855 the income has been available and has paid about half the pastor's salary. 360 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The following persons have been deacons in this church: Name. Time of Election. Time of Death or Removal. Age. John Meigs, 1707. Died, February 19, 17 18. 48 Benjamin Stone, 1707. " February 14, 1753. 76 John French, 1718. " December 17, 1745. 66 Timothy Meigs, I74S- " September 14, 175 1. 38 Josiah Meigs, Esq., 1751- " December 26, 1774. 74 John Grave, Esq., 1753- " July 17, 1763. 74 Timothy Hill, Esq., 1763. " February 7, 178 1. 59 Thomas Stone, 1774- " February 10, 1797. 77 Benjamin Hart, 1781. (Resigned, 1798.) " February 15, 1804. 79 Levi Ward, 1791. (Resigned, March i, 1807.) " February 28, 1838. 93 Timothy Hill, 1798- (Resigned, June 6, 1806.) " July 26, 1814. 65 Ashbell Bradley, April 30, 1807. " October 6, 1817. 6z Col. Phinehas Meigs, September 4, 1806. " April 7, 1851. 82 Abel Hoyt, December 3, 18 17. " September 24, 1863. 90 William Hart, April, I, 1824. (Resigned, Sept. 29, 1825.) " August 29, 1836. 64 Benjamin Hart, 1820. " January 4, 1852. 80 Josiah Griswold, 1820. " September 26, 1855. 79 Jason Seward, April 2, 1841. (Resigned, July, 1846.) " October ig, 1874. 90 Zenas Wilcox, August 3, 1850. (Resigned, Nov. ig, 1857.) " March 14, 1873. 81 J. Trumbull Lee, August 17, 1850. " March 20, 1887. Walter P. Munger, August 17, 1850. '• September 8, 1859. 58' Martin L. Dowd. December 10, 1857. " October 4, 1875. 72 William C. Bushnell, September 29, 1859. April 5, 1878. . Benjamin T. Dudley, " September 18, 1888. Hiram S. Wilcox, April 5, 1878. January 14, 1888. Wm. H. Crampton, " August 24, 1895. Joseph S. Scranton. January 14, 1888. (Resigned.) Francis A. Kelsey, Frank C. Dowd, January 19, 1895. January 19, 1895. Frederick L. Coe, " Although the inhabitants of this parish were distinguished from the beginning for regular attendance upon the means of grace, and for moral and peaceable habits — although many were noted for their piety, yet no general or extensive revival occurred until the autumn of 1801, when the influence of the Spirit was shown over many of the people. The revival extended to the following year, a considerable number being awakened and hopefully converted in the winter of 1802-3. As the fruits of this work nearly 80 persons were received into the church, an unusual proportion of whom were heads of families. A limited but precious refreshing from the Lord was experienced in 1805, the subjects of which were principally youth. In the autumn of 1809 THE SECOND CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF GUILFORD. 36I a work of greater extent and power prevailed, in consequence of which between 50 and 60 made a profession of reHgion. Another revival still more extensive than either of the preceding occurred in 1823, as the fruits of which about 100 united themselves with the church, most of them during the following year. From a revival in 1826-7 ^^5 were received, and from another in 1831, 81 were admitted." In 1837 74, and in 1843 I03 were added as the results of revivals. In 1858 63 united with the church and 90 in 1866. Later and smaller revivals have resulted in the addition of 22 in 1871, of 15 in 1874, of 16 in 1875, of 39 in 1876. At a church meeting. May 2, 181 1, Benjamin Hart and George Hunger were appointed to teach the children the catechism the ensu- ing summer. The same was done in 1817 and 1818. Dr. Elliott would sometimes detain children after afternoon service and hear them recite texts; but not until May, 1820, was a committee appointed "to organ- ize the Sabbath School, and superintend the school when organized." This was by vote of the church so that the school started on the true basis that " the Sunday school is the child of the church," to which it has ever since been a valued auxiliary. Ministers raised up: Moses Bartlett, William Hart, William Stone, Timothy Field (home missionary), David D. Field, D. D., Erastus Scranton, Harvey Bushnell, William C. Fowler, Ralph S. Crampton, Stephen A. Loper, Andrew L. Stone, Seth B. Stone (foreign mission- ary), James L. Willard, William B. Lee, Chauncey D. Murray, Pascal Murray, William H. H. Murray, Marshall V. Meigs, Timothy J. Lee, Charles Dowd, Wedworth Dowd, Lewin F. Buel, Samuel C. Bushnell. CHAPTER XLVII. The 5TH Church & Society in Guilford or the Church & Society of North Bristol, now the 2nd Church & Society IN Madison or the Church & Society in North Madison. As early as December 19, 1727, the ist Society voted to "dismiss" the Black Rock farmers from paying their proportion of the rate, and a year later the privilege was extended for five years more, at the expiration of which time it was indefinitely extended. It was a long distance and but seldom could the farmers get to church. In Novem- ber, 1743, six' of these Black Rock farmers send a petition to the " Pastor & Church of the ist Society." It reads as follows: " Reverend & Dearly Beloved. We the Subscribers (all of us under your watch & care), living at a great distance from the house for Public Worship, are desirous for 10 Sabbaths in the winter Season, in concurrence with a few neighbours of the East Society, to hire some Young man to preach to us in some of our houses,'' if we can have liberty from our Pastor & Church & the Pastor & Church of the East Society: for we have no desire to be disorderly." " This, therefore. Reverend & beloved, is to ask your consent . . . to agree with some young man ... to preach, either in some of our houses, or the houses of our Neighbors living near us sd. 10 Sabbaths." This petition was granted, NovembeY 20, and, a year later, December 18, 1744, on the petition of the six above-mentioned and John Shelly, the 1st Society consented that these, " with others of East Guilford Parish, may apply to the Gen'l Assemb. to be made a Winter Parish, with leave to meet 3 winter month in the year & March by themselves for public worship & hire a minister to preach to them," and a boundary was given from the upper end of Ens'n Dan'l Seward's farm on Neck River to North Guilford Parish line at Will's Meadow.' The boundary ' Bezaleel Bristol, Zachary Field, John AUis, David Dudley, Demetrius Cramp- ton, Benjamin Field. ^ Zachariah Field's house was to be used for three of the ten Sundays. ' Sept. 18, 1750, the proprietors gave a parcel of common land above Buck Hill to the use of the Gospel ministry in a future society that may be made out of the northern part of the ist and 2nd Society, not to be alienated, but forever to be for that use. No timber trees shall be felled on said land till a minister is regularly settled in such society. April 13, 1752, the grant was limited to five acres. THE FIFTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 363 was changed and made more exact on March 27, 1752, and on Decem- ber 5, upon the memorial of Bezaleel Bristol and John Hopson, Jr., the minister's rates for the inhabitants of Cranberry and Town Hill were remitted. Winter preaching for three months was allowed the Black Rock farmers' by the Legislature in May, 1749, and they so increased that they soon were able to support a pastor. In May, 1753, the Society in North Madison was incorporated and called North Bristol, after Bezaleel Bristol — an early and respect- able settler. The present name was given to it in 1830, since the incorporation of the town of Madison. A small building, called the society-house, standing perhaps 100 rods below their present meeting house, subserved the double purpose of a sanctuary and a schoolhouse. The house of worship was erected in May, 1765, a few rods north of the present one.'' On March 23, 1757, the " Church imbodied, by subscribing their names to the following articles & Doctrines, viz : . . . under a sense of our vileness & unworthiness by nature & practice & of our insuffi- ciency of ourselves for any good work, depending upon and looking to the Holy Spririt for assistance, & the mercy of God in Christ for acceptance, we desire to unite together as a distinct church of Christ, taking the Lord Jehovah, Father, Son, & Holy Ghost to be our God, Our Father, Redeemer, & Sanctifier, & the portion of our souls for- ever, giving up ourselves to him & to one another by the will of God, promising to walk together as brethren in the faith & fellowship of the Gospel, to watch over one another in a spirit of love, meekness & tenderness, striving together against sin & to observe all the ordi- nances of Christ (as we understand them by his word) pure & entirely conscientiously attending & upholding the worship of God in this place, submitting ourselves to the discipline of Christ's Kingdom in the World. We also give up our children to the Lord, promising to bring them up in the nurture & Admonition of the Lord: — All this we do, looking to the blood of Christ, by which the new everlasting & well ordered Covenant is sealed for pardon of & cleansing from all our sins & short comings in duty, begging that God would make us steadfast in his Holy Covenant unto the end that we may obtain the blessing of it. Amen!" ^ Conn. Col. Rec. IX, 449, and X, 185. ^ The second house of worship, says Deacon Bela Hunger, was 32 by 45 feet, •without steeple or chimney. There were three doors at the middle of east, south and west sides, all opening into the audience room. There was a gallery around three sides of the church. In 1780 the pulpit and sounding board were built in the north side of the church. 364 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. "And, as touching terms of admission to special ordinance & the discipline of the Church, we confederate to & with one another to receive and go, according to those rules & methods of order & Gov- ernment contained in the Saybrook Platform of Church discipline, established by the Government, it appearing to us to be most agreeable to the word of God, and, as touching making relations, when they are admitted to full communion, we don't think it is made by Christ in the Gospel a term of Communion. Yet we would not debar any person from doing it at such a time if he think it his Duty & for edification, and, furthermore, we agree that the annexed articles of Faith shall be the professed faith of this church, to which all, that would hereafter join themselves, shall give their public assent & consent as to the articles of their faith." The original members were 24 in number, 10 being men and 14 women. On August 29, 1765, the Church voted "to sing Dr. Watts version J^ the time & the old version Yz the time," and on August 6, 1778, in the midst of the hard times of the Revolution, " the Church determined to have the communion, but once a quarter for a half year, on account of the exorbitant demands for the element of wine." In May, 1763, the North Bristol Society petitioned the General Assembly for liberty to tax for the support of their minister all the lands within their limits, whether belonging to residents of that, or of other societies in the town. This permission was opposed by the ist and 4th Societies, at meetings they held on May 16, 1763, and was not granted at the time, but in December, 1790, it was finally obtained. Rev. John Rundle preached in North Bristol from 1753 until Decem- ber, 1754. At the organization of the church, however, a call was extended to Rev. Richard Ely of Lyme, born in September 30, 1733 (Y. C. 1754). He accepted the invitation to become their pastor and was ordained at Guilford, together with the Rev. Amos Fowler, on June 8, 1757. The meeting house at North Bristol was not sufficiently large for the congregation so the ceremony was held in the walls of the parent church. The ministerial life of the Revd. Mr. Ely in North Bristol was far from being a peaceable one. He seems to have met with a variety of difficulties — some peculiarities of fashion seem to have attracted the attention of a portion of his church, and their censure was carried to a singular extent. A fashion of dressing the hair, called the top-knot, seems to have aroused superstitious fury in some of the people, and the monstrous birth of some animals, which were interpreted to signify the divine displeasure, increased the wildness of fanaticism. The mem- bers of Mr. Ely's family — particularly one of his daughters who had THE FIFTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 365 been educated at New Haven and had adopted, as most other young ladies then did, the prevailing fashion — treated the feelings of these superstitious members of the church with indifference. In vain did the Revd. Mr. Ely endeavor to stem the tide of fanaticism in the meet- ings of the church. His mild common sense reasonings seemed only to fan the flame and the opposition continued to increase until his dis- mission became inevitable. He was accordingly dismissed from his church and society August 28, 1785, by an Ecclesiastical Council called for that purpose. He remained without a charge but a short time. On the 1 8th of January, 1786, he was installed over the Second Society of Saybrook, called Pettipaug, of which society he continued to have the pastoral care until 1804, when he was furnished with a colleague, he being then over 70 years of age. Not long after this he removed to live with his son. Dr. Richard Ely, in the parish of Chester in the north part of the then town of Saybrook, where he died August 23, 1814. He married Jerusha Sheldon of Northampton, Mass., who died in Essex, November 26, 1797, aged 60. He is said to have been highly esteemed as a preacher, and to have been " conspicuous for his knowl- edge of the languages of the Bible and his interest in their study.'" Rev. F. W. Hotchkiss preached his funeral sermon, which was pub- lished with the title, " The Christian Minister studying to know Christ." Mr. Ely published: (i) Baptism, the ingrafting into Christ's visible Body, the Gospel Church . . . Two Sermons from Gal. iii. 2,^ to the Church and Society of North Bristol. New Haven, 1772. (2) Christ's Ministers, Messengers of the Lord of Hosts . . . Preached at the Ordination of Rev. Mr. David Ely in Ripton, October 27, 1773. The Rev. Simon Backus, son of the Rev. Simon Backus of Newing- ton parish, Wethersfield, was installed as pastor over this church and people October 30, 1790, and after a peculiarly stormy ministry he was dismissed April 4, 1801. He was born at Newington on February 13, 1737-8, and graduated from Yale College in 1759. His first parish was at Granby, Mass., where he was settled October 28, 1762, and whence he was dismissed, at his own request, March 3, 1784. Subsequently he removed to the region near Dartmouth College and preached for a season at Fairley, Vt., and afterwards at Cornish, N. H. After his dismission from North Bristol ^ he continued residing there for about 15 years, sinking gradu- ally into more needy circumstances and in constant difficulty with his neighbors. The town of Guilford commended its selectmen, on April 3, 1820, for bringing Rev. Simon Backus and family from Stratford and ordered Mr. Timothy Dudley to be paid " for prosecuting the case * Dexter, Yale Annals, II, 326. ^ Dexter, Yale Annals, II, 571. 366 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. between him and Rev. Mr. Backus to a final issue, concerning bringing him here." At length he was taken to the house of his eldest son, a lawyer in Bridgeport, Conn. Contributions were frequently made for Mr. Backus's benefit by his fellow ministers. Toward the close of his life he was afflicted with blindness. He died in Stratford, August 7, 1823. He married Rachel Moseley of Glastonbury on February 7, 1763. She died July 28, 1825. After the dismission of Mr. Backus the people were destitute of a pastor until October 14, 1812, when the Rev. John Ely, of Lyme, nephew of the Rev. Richard Ely, and also a graduate of Yale College in 1786, was installed as pastor. He had been settled twice before; at Bethel, a parish of Danbury, from November, 1791, to June, 1804, and at South Salem, Westchester County, N. Y., from November, 1804, to December, 181 1. Mr. Ely died in consequence of a sudden and awful accident on Friday evening, November 9, 1827. In going to Madison Parish on the afternoon of the preceding Monday his horse was startled about 80 rods north of the southern extremity of the Durham and Madison Turnpike and ran with the greatest fury, cap- sizing the wagon & finally falling dead. Mr. Ely was thrown with violence upon the ground and, although no external bruise was per- ceptible, no bones broken or dislocated, yet all his powers of body and mind were at once prostrated. He was carried into^ a neighboring house where he lay helpless and nearly speechless, with little, if any exercise of reason, until he expired. His remains were conveyed to North Madison, where he was buried on the following Monday. Esteemed as a prudent, judicious man, it is no wonder that his death under such circumstances spread gloom and mourning over his own parish and over those in the vicinity. At his death the society pur- chased his house and farm of 60 acres for a parsonage. The present dwelling house was built in 1868. The Rev. Daniel Metcalf, a native of Lebanon, and educated at Mid- dlebury College, Vt., was invited as pastor by this people. May 27, 1829, and dismissed September 27, 1831. The Rev. Jared Andrus (Y. C. 1823, honorary A. M.), a native of Bolton, and who had been minister of from December, 1820, to May, 1830, was installed here June 27, 1832, and died in the follow- ing November, aged forty-eight years. The Rev. Stephen Hayes was installed pastor of this church, June 3, 1833. He had been previously settled in Middlefield and Westfield for four or five years, and in West Springfield for about the same length of time. He was dismissed in June, 1838. In the year 1837 this society built themselves a new and very elegant THE FIFTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 367 church, fifty-one feet long and thirty-five in width including the por- tico, with an elegant and appropriate cupola. The corner-stone was laid July 4, 1837, and the building was dedicated by Rev. Stephen Hayes on February 14, 1838. The pulpit was exchanged for the pres- ent platform and desk in 1873. New seats were put in, the walls and ceilings painted and the roof shingled in 1889. During his ministry Mr. Richard Ely admitted 60 persons to the church and 5 were admitted in the interval between his dismission and the settlement of Mr. Backus. Mr. Backus admitted 41 to what was termed the half-way covenant, 14 of whom became communicants. Between his dismission and the settlement of Mr. John Ely 18 were admitted. Mr. Ely admitted 72, and Mr. Metcalf 18. The whole number of admissions down to 1834 was 202, when the membership numbered 74. The Rev. Amos Le Favor was called as pastor in December, 1838, and was dismissed in December, 1840. He was found guilty of scan- dalous and immoral conduct at New Berlin, N. Y., and upon the repre- sentations of the Chenango Presbytery was deposed by the Consocia- tion, July 28, 1842. • The Rev. Judson A. Root (Y. C. 1823) preached at North Madison from April, 1841, for a year. He died in September, 1855. He was the first uninstalled pastor and most since him have been uninstalled. From April, 1842, for three years the pulpit was supplied by the Rev. Lent Serajah Hough. He was born in Wallingford, January 21, 1804, spent two years at the Yale Theological School from 1829 to 1831, and was ordained at ChapHn, Ct., August 17, 1831. He was pastor there until December 20, 1836; at Village Corners in North Woodstock from January 11, 1837, until May 11, 1841, and supplied the pulpit at North Madison from 1842 to 1845. He was pastor at Bethel, Ct., 1845-46, at Westfield in Middletown from February 10, 1847, to March 31, 1863, supplied the pulpit at Wolcott from 1863 to 1869, at Salem, Ct., from 1869 to 1870, and at East Lyme from 1870 to 1876. He died at Poquonock in Windsor, September 22, 1879. The next year the Rev. Martin Dudley (Y. C. 1839) filled the pulpit. He was born at Guilford December 30, 1814 (Y. C. 1839), taught in Wethersfield in 1839-40 and then studied at the Yale Divinity School from 1840 to 1843. H^ supplied the pulpit at North Madison in 1845 and 1846. His health then broke down and he spent a year in Wis- consin engaged in farming. He taught at Southwick, Mass., from 1847 to 1849, studied at East Windsor Theological Seminary 1849-50, preached in Fairfield County 1850-51, and was pastor at Easton, Ct., from December 31, 1851, to April i, 1879. He then resided in Lowell, Mass., and died May 22, 1892. 368 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. He was succeeded by the Rev. William Case, who also preached for a year. He died in 1857. The Rev. James T. Terry preached from April, 1847, to April, 1848, and was succeeded by the Rev. Reuben Torrey, who occupied the pulpit until October, 1852. His successor, the Rev. Phineas Blakeman (Y. C. 1837), preached in North Madison from January, 1853, until April, 1858. He was bom in Stratford, February 14, 1813, and died February 17, 1870, at South Wales, Erie county, N. Y. He studied at the Yale Theological Semi- nary, 1837-40, and preached in New York State, Ohio, Connecticut and Long Island before coming to North Madison. After leaving this charge he acted as pastor of churches in Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York. Next the Rev. Samuel Howe (Y. C. 1827) acted as stated supply from August, 1858, until 1866. He was bom at Greenwich, Conn., March 27, 1802; studied theology at the Yale Divinity School and at Prince- ton Seminary. He preached as a missionary on Cape Cod and in New York State, where he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Hope- well, Ontario County, and of the Congregational Churches at Ridge- ville, Oneida County, and at North East Center, Dutchess County. From 1844 to 1854 he was pastor at South Tyringham, now Monterey, Mass. The next four years he spent without pastoral charge in New Haven, his health being poor. From 1866 to 1869, he supplied the pulpit at Willington, Conn., and then, with impaired health, gave up preaching and engaged in horticulture in Bricksburg, N. J. He died September 28, 1874. The pulpit was supplied by the Rev. Elbridge W. Merritt from July 22, 1866, until January 14, 1867. The Rev. Clinton Mellen Jones preached here from May i, 1867, until May I, 1870. He entered Amherst College in the class of i860, but left at the end of Freshman year. He graduated from Hartford Theo- logical Seminary in 1865, and was ordained at North Madison on May 5, 1869. From 1872 to 1888 he was pastor at Eastford, Conn. He was born at Pownal, Me., December 26, 1829. From September, 1870, to November, 1873, the Rev. Francis Dyer was the preacher for this congregation. The pulpit was filled by Rev. Dighton Moses from April i, 1874, until April i, 1875, and by Rev. F. F. Rea for three months in the latter year. The Rev. R. H. Gidman occupied the pulpit from December i, 1875, until December i, 1884. He then accepted a call to the church in Preston, where he was pastor in 1896. The Rev. Wm. E. B. Moore became the pastor of this church April, THE FIFTH CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN GUILFORD. 369 1885, and continued in that position for ten years. In April, 1895, he resigned and removed to Madison. He was born in the west parish of the town of Agawam, Hampden Co., Mass. His parents were Chris- tians and his father expected him to be a farmer like himself. Desiring an education, however, he fitted himself for college at the Connecticut Literary Institute, Suf&eld, Conn., and was graduated at Amherst Col- lege in 1858. He studied theology for a year at Union Seminary, New York City, and for two years at Andover Seminary, where he was graduated in 1862. He was ordained to the ministry in 1865 at Hunt- ington, Mass. He came to Connecticut in 1867, was installed pastor of the church at Bolton in May, 1868, dismissed there in 1878, he was acting pastor at West Stafford from 1879 to 1882, and at East Haddam from 1882 to 1885. " The Church has experienced several revivals;^ is poor in the things of this world, and has recently been weakened by the spirit of proselyt- ism," wrote Dr. Nettleton about the middle of this century. The Rev. Wilbur G. Searles became its pastor in November, 1895. The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor was organized in February, 1890. In 1893 the church became an incorporate body in accordance with the State law. Thus the old ecclesiastical society went out of existence. The Sunday-school began in 1820. At first there were two classes, one of males and one of females. After about two years these were united in a Bible class taught by the pastor. In 1826 a Sabbath school society was formed, which still continues to direct the school. At first the lessons consisted of memorizing pas- sages of Scripture and of the Assembly's catechism. Question books began to be used about 1830.'' Until 1865 the school was customarily closed for three or four months every winter. Since that date it has been open all the year around. In 1889 the school had a total membership of 125 and an average attendance of 68. Of the 103 families living in North Madison in 1838, 39 were Con- gregationalist, 18 Methodist, 11 Episcopalian and 5 Baptist; although the remaining families were not formally attached to any religious denomination, yet several of them contributed more or less to the sup- port of public worship in the different churches. ^ Dr. Nettleton's Memoir, 133; Contributions to Ecclesiastical History of Conn. pp. 4S4-4SS- ^ These facts are from the church manual and are furnished us through the courtesy of Rev. W. E. B. Moore. 370 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The following persons have been deacons in this church : Name. Time of Election. Time of Death or Removal. Age. Thomas French, Lieut. David Dudley, Caleb Munger, David Dudley, 2d, John Hopson, Sr., Noah Benton, Sr., Aaron Stone, John Hopson, ad, Noah Benton, 2d, Bela Munger, Hubbard S. Munger, June 30, 1757. March 3, 1758. August 29, 1765. June 12, 1775. August 29, 1782. Probably, 1776. May, 1796. December 3, 181 2. June 2, 1820. October 23, 1820. 1839. 1846. 1853- 1878. Died, June 20, 1772. " February 19, 1780. " February 15, 1797. " February 17, 1807. " August 2, 1786. " August 29, 1805. " January 7, 1821. " April 15, 1820. " October 27, 1847. " March 12, 1861. 1858. 73 73 74 89 59 68 79 ^5 84 74 64 Henry S. Hill, Timothy Norton, 1877. 64 CHAPTER XLVIII. PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES. The Church of England in Guilford: Christ Protestant Episcopal Church. Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson' wrote of his father, Deacon Samuel Johnson, who died in 1727, that he "would have communicated with us, if he had lived," but that he did not " think it necessary to leave the Dissenting communion." His two sons may be called the founders of the Church of England in the town.^ The conversion of Rev. Samuel Johnson to that church took place in 1722, his brother, Nath- aniel Johnson, had given in his adherence to the Anglican Church before 1738. In that year Rev. Jonathan Arnold, the first missionary in New Haven County of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel included in a list of 73 adult male members of the Church of England under his care, the names of Nathaniel Johnson, Thomas Walstone, and David Naughty.^ The Walstone family had conformed to the Anglican Church in Branford, whence Thomas had recently removed to Guilford. Nothing further is known of the Guilford Anglicans until the Rev. James Lyons, who had succeeded Mr. Arnold in 1743, visited Guilford in that year,* preaching and administering baptism. Dr. Johnson also preached there from time to time when on visits to his family.' On May 8, 1744, the Rev. James Lyons" wrote from Derby: "At a place called Guilford, where are two Independent Congregations in the compact part of the town, and where also the worship of our church has not till lately made its entrance, I have preached several times, baptized 3 children; and 8 families (consisting of 36 children besides adults) have declared their conformity and, in testimony thereof, have subscribed a paper, which I formed for that purpose, and many of them have occasionally communicated since that time." On Septem- ber 4 that same year the parish was organized. " At a vestry held at ^ Beardsley's Life of Samuel Johnson, 59. 1 ^ Great help in the preparation of this sketch was found in the history of the church written by its rector. Rev. W. G. Andrews, D. D., at its isoth anniver- sary in 1894. ' Ch. Rev. 1857, p. 113. ' Conn. Ch. Docs. I, 202. " Andrews, p. 25. " Conn. Ch. Docs. I, 208. 3^2 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. the house of Wm. Ward ^ in Guilford," Nathaniel Johnson (a brother of Dr. Samuel) and William Ward were appointed church wardens for the year ensuing and Samuel Collins was appointed clerk. " It was likewise agreed that the professors of the Church of England meet, in order to carry on worship, by reading a form of prayers and sermons by themselves." At this meeting Rev. Mr. Lyons was present. Dr. Andrews writes "the resolution adopted to hold services "by themselves " implied lay reading, since they would not often expect the presence of a clergyman. And by means of lay reading chiefly, or largely, worship and religious instruction were maintained in this parish for almost a century, or until . . . Dr. Bennett began his ear- lier ministry in 1834." The tradition is that the church was never closed on Sunday and the worship was carried on through the zeal and fidelity of laymen.^ Dr. Johnson writes, September 2, 1745, " I have continued once in a while, to visit Guilford, where there continues to be a good pros- pect" and, October i, 1746, "I have also visited Guilford, where the church keeps its ground," though I cannot say it much increases, for want of ministers." On September 7, 1748, Rev. Mr. Graves wrote that " I met Dr. John- son, at a place called Guilford, where he read prayers and baptised 3 children, and I preached to a large congregation." * Of this visit Dr. Johnson writes, September 29, " I have rode as much as I could, par- ticularly to Guilford and Branford, where I have preached to great numbers, which Mr. Graves also has done, and I believe those two towns will, in a little time, be prepared to make a mission: at the for- mer they are building a church." On January 2, 1746-7, we read in the church records that, " The Con- formists to ye Ch. of England in Guilford, having met ye time above dated, to consult ye building of a Church for ye public worship of God, which was agreed to be done by subscription & ye Committee chosen to carry on the said work; Messrs. Samuel Collins, Nathan'l Johnson, & Edmund Ward." £270 were then subscribed. Other subscriptions were made in smaller sums so that soon the sum" of £984.18.7 was disbursed towards building the church. Con- tributions to the amount of £200 came .from persons not living in Guil- ford. Of this amount Nathaniel Johnson obtained £113 at Newport, R. I. ' Near the residence of Miss Annette A. Fowler, on the west side of the Green. " Vestry " — parish meeting. ' Andrews, p. 29. ' Conn. Ch. Docs. I, 216, 222. " Conn. Ch. Docs. I, 242, 244. ° Of course these sums are in colonial currency, perhaps about one-fifth of sterling. Andrews, p. 34. THE I'llUlU'lt OK ICNcll.AND IN r.UILFOKn. 373 ' " At a nu'i-tiii;;' of the ri-oin-iotors of Common & Undivided lauds in Guilford," April 13, 1747, the politiou of tlio committee of the Con- fonuisls, •■ prayiui;- for liberty to build and set up a church of Eng- land," was road and "it was voted v"v snouted tliat thoy may buikl a church for that purpose on the (Ireeu in the first Society, on t:he knoll before Mr. Naut^hly's house nearest to the Middle Path." The church" was built of wood, 41 by 31 feet, without a steeple, and " was tlie last edilice left standing on the tuven, where it attracted atten- tion for many years, surrounded as it w^as with stately poplars." It was opened on March 13, 1751V1, by Dr. Sanuie! Johnson. On that day it was voted " that we will meet in the Church on Sundays & other holy days for Divine Service iV that shall be the place for the Coufornnsts to ti\e Chnrcii of luigland in the lirst Society in Guilford, to meet in for public iS: divine service." It was then also voted to " get the wiutlows & door cased i<: the laths rived and put on as soon as may be," " that the Ministerial I'v Society rates . . . shall be collected and improved , , . for buyin_t;- t'ilass or other necessaries for building- the Church, if the Rev. Mr. ruiulerson, our Missionary, assent to the same." At that time they declared that " The Name of the Church is Christ's Church, v^- the parish is called by that name." t'^u March j8. 1740, Rev. Dr. Johnson wrote: "a disposition among the sectaries towards the church seems still increasing, particularly at (aiilford and Branford. who with 18 families at Guilford' (which is within 10 miles) are in hopes they may, within a little while, become a mission vK: a yoimg man, who took his Rachelors degree last Com- mencement, whose name is Sttx-kiug (Daniel Stocking, Y. C. 174S), is desirous to be admitted as a candidate for the Society's service & they are about procuring him to read to them, till he is of age. which will be about j or 3 years hence, by which time there will probably be a considerable adi.lilion to them. My younger son (William Johnson, V. C. 1748') read last fall and winter sometimes at Guilford." * Mr. Stocking diil not come, but Mr. Peter Beers did for a year.' t')!! June J5, 1750. Rev. Mr. Ebenezer Tunderson (V. C. 1720) writes:* " .\s the \'enerable Society have appointed n\e an itinerant missionary in >>'ew England, the members of the church of England at Guilford have submitted themselves to my pastoral care." He speaks of preaching at tniilford and christening 4 children there. In October ' Prop. Roo, n. i.u. * Pwi.nlif's Travels. A nulc skotoh o( it is in Ainlrows' Christ Qiurch. p. 35. ' Dr. .Xiidrows, 11. ,^.'. thinl:s that North Guilford p.irish may be incliuied in tliis miinbcr. 'Conn. Cli. Does. I. -'51; II. 1.7. 'Conn. Ch. II00S. U. i-*. "Conn. Ch. Does, I, 362, J71. 374 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. he speaks of preaching there again " to abundance " and christening 3 children. He Hved in North Groton (now Ledyard) over thirty miles away and so could come to Guilford but seldom. Nathaniel Johnson's house was the regular place for the parish meetings and there, November 5, 1751, it was voted to " comply with the advice of the Rev. Mr. Ebenr Punderson, in a letter dated in Wal- lingford, September, 1751," that they "join with the conformists at Branford and North Guilford in hiring a Candidate to read prayers to us this winter season," and that Ebenezer Bishop, with one from each of the other parishes, " advise with the missionaries neighboring, to direct where to go for a Candidate to read for us." On December 3, 1751, they met at Benjamin Watrous's house and appointed William Ward to " treat with New Haven, Branford & North Guilford Com- mittees upon measures for getting a missionary settled in these several parishes, if it be thought advisable by the neighboring missionaries.'" On April 8, 1752, Dr. Johnson wrote " the church is gaining ground at Guilford and Branford, which propose for the present to join in pro- curing a minister, to whom they would also engage about £25 per annum & therefore stand in need of assistance." ' On September i, 1753, a subscription paper was drawn up by those, " being conformists to the church of England & having obtained lib- erty from the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to be made a mission, in conjunction with New Haven & Branford." ' Mr, Punderson* supplied the parish until about 1763. In 1760 Dr. Johnson thinks him not " polite " enough for New Haven and wishes some one in his place. He was born in New Haven on September 12, 1705. He studied theology after graduation in 1726, and in 1729 be- came the first pastor at Ledyard. In January, 1734, he proclaimed himself an adherent of the Church of England and, being dismissed from his church, went to England for orders. He preached at first largely in the region near his old parish and was an itinerant until I753- ^ They tried to get Mr. Solomon Palrtier of Cornwall. ' Conn. Ch. Docs. I, 291. ' Conn. Ch. Docs. II, 126. 1768, they say they raised £10 for Punderson, who came once a month as agreed on, " but soon neglected us and came no more." Punderson received £70 from the Society at North Groton, only £50 at New Haven. Andrews, p. 41. * Yale Biog. and Ann. I, 336-338. Dec. 4, 1754, the ist Society voted to let the " Conformists " have the bell rung on " their Feast & fast days or other Holy days, when it doth not interfere with any of the other days for public worship of the ist Society (during the Society's pleasure) they paying the bell- man for ringing the bell." This is a delightful instance of ecclesiastical comity. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN GUILFORD. 375 In 1762 he accepted a call to Rye and continued there until his death, September 22, 1764. On March 26, 1761, Rev. Mr. Scovil of Waterbury speaks of preach- ing at Guilford, there then being no pastor.' About a year later the " Conformists to the Ch. of England in the ist & North Parishes of Guilford met at the house of Mr. John Ward " and voted to have a letter written to Dr. Johnson ' by the Church Wardens of both Parishes, ■" earnestly requesting him once more to write " to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, " in favor of our being made a mission & that Mr. Bela Hubbard may have leave to go home for Holy orders in order to be our missionary." Mr. Hubbard, who was Nathaniel John- son's step-son, was sent to England in 1763 to be ordained over these two parishes and Killingworth.' A letter from Dr. Johnson, written October 20, 1763, says there are 50 families* of conformists and as many communicants in Guilford, and at least 10 more in 10 miles. Rev. Bela Hubbard, son of Daniel and Diana ° Hubbard, was born at Guilford, August 27, 1739. He joined the Anglican Church probably not far from the time of his graduation from Yale in 1758. He crossed the ocean and was ordained in February, 1764. On his return he offi- ciated at Guilford, North Guilford, and Killingworth ° until 1767, when he was transferred to New Haven and West Haven.' He was a Loy- alist during the Revolution, as were many of his flock, but conducted himself with such discretion and inofifensiveness, as to be allowed to pursue his vocation without interruption. He was a man of great benevolence and of sound judgment, an excellent reader of the ser- vice, and his sermons were well wrought and carefully prepared.' Dur- ing the prevalence of the yellow fever in New Haven in 1795, he not only remained at his post, but shrank from no sacrifice, no exposure incident to his office as a helper and comforter. He received the de- gree of D. D. from Yale in 1804 and died December 6, 1812. On ^ The Society would not give Guilford a missionary, till a house and glebe were provided for him. This the parishioners could never give. Andrews, 42. ^ Dr. Johnson, " to whom we always applied as a father and friend," advised them to have Mr. Hubbard read to them, which they did, probably as early as 1759. Andrews, p. 43. ^ Beardsley's Hist, of Ch. in Conn. I, 211; Beardsley, Life of Sam'l Johnson, p. 296; Conn. Ch. Docs. H, 53. * Andrews, 45, thinks that probably the majority of these were in North Guilford. ° His mother married as second husband, Capt. Nathaniel Johnson, the leading Episcopalian of the town. ° i. e. Clinton. 'July 8, 1771, he says he preaches occasionally at Guilford. Conn. Ch. Docs. II, 167. Sprague's Annals. He stipulated that he should be allowed to visit Guilford four times a year. ' Andrews, 48. 376 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. January 30, 1767, he wrote/ I have the pleasure to find my people constant in their attendance on public worship, readily embracing every Opportunity offered them for that purpose. They generally adorn their holy profession by a religious life and conversation. They are not able to give me more than £50 per annum, being generally poor." Yet Hubbard long hesitated to leave Guilford, and at one time felt " com- pelled to tarry among them." The church wardens wrote to the So- ciety that his removal " has given the church the heaviest blow it has ever received." ^ In 1768 Mr. John Tyler (Y. C. 1765), who had studied with Dr. Johnson,' was induced by him to preach at Guilford and was given a call by the church, but did not come, as the Society sent him to Nor- wich instead. On January 23, 1769, at Nathaniel Johnson's house, it was voted to build a pulpit and that the church be not used for any other purpose " than public or divine service, without the consent of the major part of the Conformists (except vestry meeting)." The pulpit was built at once, and cost £22.1.4, of which i2i.io.ij4 were raised by subscription. During 1769 and 1770 several persons were permitted to build pews and it was voted that the Society rate of the Conformists to the Ch. of England be collected by the ist Society's collector, and paid to Rev. Bela Hubbard, which was done for two or three years. On January 28, 1771, the Conformists to the Church of England met at the church and directed the wardens to write to the Society, entreat- ing it for aid, and that a missionary be furnished them.* On August 17, 1774, it was voted to ask Rev. Mr. Abraham Jarvis to assist in drawing up a letter to the Society. That document recited their his- tory and stated that then they numbered 2i7 families. During the Revolutionary War it is believed that they were nearly deprived of clerical ministration. The church edifice suffered during the war greatly from plunder and decay, and the congregation became very weak. Occasional services were rendered by Rev. Bela Hub- bard,' D. D., Rev. Samuel Andrews, Rev. Roger Viets, Rev. Jeremiah Learning, and perhaps by Rev. Andrew Fowler" (Y. C. 1783). Rev. James Sayre, a Scotchman and graduate of the college at Phil- adelphia served the parish in 1785, preaching also in North Guilford and Branford, and living in the last named places.' " Conn. Ch. Docs. II, 106. = Conn. Ch. Docs. II, 103, 107, 129. ' Life of Dr. Johnson, 333; Hist, of Ch. in Conn, I, 270. * Conn. Ch. Docs. II, 191. ° Beardsley, I, 435. Andrews thinks Hubbard was virtually the minister, 52. ° If he officiated, it was as lay reader before his ordination. ' Andrews, p. 58. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN GUILFORD. 377 In July, 1786, Bishop Samuel Seabury came to Guilford. This was the first visit made by such a dignitary to the town and it is probable that he confirmed most of the congregation at that time.^ No records of the parish exist from 1786 to 1798. In June, 1792, Rev. David Butler was ordained deacon and Hcensed ' for " the old cure of Bela Hubbard." A year later he was ordained priest. He was born in Harwinton in 1763. Dr. Andrews thinks that during all this period Christ Church was smaller and less prosperous than St. John's Church in North Guilford. Mr. Butler left the charge in the early part of 1795 and assumed the rectorship in Litchfield, Conn. He later was rector of St. Paul's Church, Troy, N. Y., where he died July 11, 1842. He was a mechanic in early life and a revolutionary soldier. For three years after he left Guilford there is no information as to the parish, save a tradition that but two men and their families attended the church during this period, one of the men reading service.* In 1798, probably through Dr. Hubbard's efiforts, a reorganization seems to have taken place, church wardens were chosen and a com- mittee appointed " to repair the publick building belonging * to " the congregation. In 1800 it is probable that Rev. Ashbel Baldwin of Stratford preached in Guilford for ten Sundays. The members were few in number until 1805 or 1806 when they received considerable accessions from the First Society. The Rez'. Nathan Bennett Burgess, a native of Washington, Conn., born Septem- ber 14, 1771, was called early in 1801 to be the rector of this church ° and of those in North Guilford and North Bristol. He remained until September, 1805, when his connection was dissolved by mutual con- sent. He afterwards settled in Glastonbury and other Connecticut parishes, and in western New York" and died in Utica, February 20, 1854. In March, 1807, the Rev. David Baldwin, a native of Litchfield was chosen pastor at Guilford and in June, 1809, he was inducted into office as the rector of the Episcopal parishes of Guilford, North Guilford, and North Killingworth, in all of which he officiated until September, 1824, when he confined his labors to the two parishes of Guilford. In 1834 he resigned the rectorate of the Guilford parish and his place was supplied by Rev. Lorenzo Thompson Bennett, of New Haven (Y. C. 1825), who continued until Easter, 1835, when he resigned, and became associated with the Rev. Dr. Harry Croswell over Trinity Episcopal Church in New Haven. Mr. Baldwin was born Feb- ' Andrews, p. 60. ' Andrews, p. 61. ' Andrews, p. 62. * Andrews, p. 63. " Andrews, p. 64. ° 2S0th Anniversary, p. 87. 378 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. ruary 4, 1780, and died in Guilford, on August 2, 1862.' He was allowed to preach while still a layman under clerical supervision in Litchfield County, as early as 1803. He came to Guilford'' in No- vember, 1806, was ordained deacon in Bridgeport in September, 1807, and priest in Guilford, April 30, 1809. For some time he officiated 10 Sundays yearly at North Killingworth. He continued in charge of North Guilford until 1851. After giving up Christ Church he took charge of the Branford Church, giving it a part of his time until it obtained the entire services of a clergyman. He continued in charge of the churches at North Branford and Killingworth until 1858, when infirmities disabled him from all ministerial duties. He was a man of strong character, inflexibly upright, kind-hearted though abrupt in manner, a man to whom many were strongly attached. He had a keen sense of humor and was distinguished by a habit of putting things in a terse manner, which resulted in wise and witty sayings often repeated. He was a firm Episcopalian and died in his 83d year, universally respected and beloved.' On Easter, 1835, Rev. William Nassau Hawks was made rector of the Guilford parish, but in consequence of the failing of his voice, he resigned in the following October. He was a native of Newbern, N. C, and brother of the two distinguished clergymen of that name. He returned to the South and died probably in 1866. In March, 1836, the Rev. Levi Hannaford Corson (a graduate of Washington, now Trinity College, in 1829), became rector. He re- signed in March, 1838, and succeeded Rev. Mr. Baldwin in the care of the Branford church. While in Guilford he conducted a school. To him is due the plan of the present church. After leaving Branford in 1840, he preached in western New York and Michigan,* and died there aged 82 years, on February 28, 1884. On April 8, 1838, Rev. Edward J. Darken, M. D., recently rector at Reading and Weston, took charge of the parish. He is said to have been a native of England and to have returned there before his death. Mr. Darken resigned" in 1840 and resumed the practice of medicine and the Rev. Lorenzo T. Bennett, D.D., was again invited to the rectorship. He was born in Galway, Saratoga Co., N. Y., on Novem- ber 13, 1805, and after graduation entered the United States Navy and served for several years in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, and then, resigning his commission, he studied for the ministry under Dr. Cros- well. He was ordained deacon on July i, 1834, and priest November ^ Vide the Calendar, Aug. 7, 1862. He was born of Congregational parents. ' He married Ruth Elliott of Guilford. ' Andrews, p. 70. 'Andrews, p. 71. °2Soth Anniversary, p. 89; Andrews, p. 71. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN GUILFORD. 379 20, 1835. Guilford was his first charge and he was the first pastor to give his entire time to Christ Church. His second ministry here was begun July 12, 1840. He resigned just 40 years later, July 12, 1880, and, being made pastor emeritus, continued to take part in the services until the day before his death. He died suddenly at the Guilford railroad station on September 2, 1889. In the approaching Quarto- Millennial Celebration he had taken deep interest, and his death threw a shadow over its festivities. A courtly, kind-hearted, Christian gen- tleman, he was associated with all that was best in the town for fifty years. His interest in young people was remarkable to the very end of his life. His successor said " that, in the delicate relation of a resident ex-pastor, he was a model of courtesy, always gladly doing whatever was offered him to do for his old flock, always shrinking from the slightest appearance of controlling or impeding another's work." Rev. Mr. Banks, of the Third Congregational Church, in an address at the 50th anniversary of Dr. Bennett's ordination, said : " He has approved himself as a minister of God, by pureness, by knowledge, by kindness, by love unfeigpied; and the good influence of his faithful. Christian teachings and consistent Christian living, have not been confined within the walls of Christ Church, but have gone out into all these congregations and families round about." At the celebration Mr. Sidney W. Leete said: "The chariots and horsemen have taken from us a master we loved and delighted to honor, a pillar on which we had learned tO' lean heavily. Faithful as a soldier, faithful as a minister, faithful as a citizen, he enjoys the reward of the faithful." Rev. William Given Andrews, D. D., became rector on April 24, 1881. He was born on October 8, 1835, at Kent, Conn., and gradu- ated from Marietta College in 1855. He then taught for four years, after which he entered the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1859, and remained there two years. From 1861 to '62 he was Tutor in Mar- ietta College. He was ordained deacon at Princeton, N. J., in Septem- ber, 1862, and priest at the same place in January, 1864. He was engaged in missionary work in Princeton and Rocky Hill until 1866. From 1866 to '67 he was assistant in the parish and school of Rev. Mr. Everest at Hamden, Conn. In 1867 he travelled in Europe, and in February, 1868, took charge of St. Paul's Mission in New Haven, which was organized as a separate church, " The Church of the Ascen- sion," in October, 1868, and he was made its first rector. He resigned his charge in November, 1879, but continued preaching there until the following June. Then for six months he was temporary pastor at Princeton, N. J. He first preached at Guilford on the second Sunday in January, 1881, and became rector at Easter. In 1885, Marietta 38o HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. College gave him the degree of D. D. He has been secretary of the New Haven Colony Historical Society and is a member of the Ameri- can Historical Association and of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Connecticut. He has published several pamphlets, mostly historical. His influence for good is felt everywhere in the village, and to him the credit of the success of the Quarto-Millennial Celebration is largely due. The following persons have been wardens of Christ Church. (The records are incomplete down to 1798.): Name. Appointment or Election. Expiration of Term. Deatli. Age. Nathaniel Johnson, 11 it Sept. 4, 1 744-* May 18, 1750. t March 31, 1766. t Sept. 4, 1744- * April 9, 1746.* May 18, 1750- 1 April 9, 1746.* March 31, 1766. t Aug. II, 1762. Aug. II, 1762. May 4, 1780. June 8, 1785. May 4, 1780. June 8, 1785. April 23, 1798. " 23, 1798. " 3, 1820. " 3, 1820. " 19, 1824. " 6, 1863. " 4, 1825. " 20, 1840. " 8,1833. " 17. 1854. " I, 1861. " I, 1872. " 6, 1874. " 17, 1876. " 18, 1881. '• 7, 1890. April 9, 1746, t( tt William Ward, July 8, 1768. April 9, 1746. ? After Oct. 10,1752. ? After July 8, 1768. March 31, 1766. March 31, 1766. June 29, 1793. January 4, 1760. 88 55 t( (( Nov. 15, 1779. 73 tt It Billions Ward, Samuel Johnson, it (( Nathaniel Johnson, Jr., (( It (( (( Thomas Powers, Dec. 6, 1784. March 1777. After 1807. 80 47 over 78 Probably at his death. March 20, 1798. 62 u (( (t 1 1 a (< Charles Collins, Abraham Coan, Jedediah Lathrop, Erastus C. Kimberly, ti <( Probably, April 3, 1820. Probably, April 3, 1820. April 20, 1840. " 19, 1824. " 4, 1825. " I, 1872. " 8, 1833. " 17, 1854. " 6,1863. " I, 1861. " 6, 1874. Dec. 26, 1822. Feb. 26, 1823. Feb. 14, 1863. 1859. 80 78 88 91 Thomas Burgis, If (C Henry Loper, John H. Bartlett, George A. Foote, George B. Spencer, Henry Hale, George C. Kimber y, William Skinner, George S. Davis, May 25, 1861. Feb. 21, 1873. July 10, 1864. Sept. 5, 1878. 2° 82 68 88 " 17, 1876. " 18, 1881. " 7, 1890. Nov. 29, 1892. October i, 1896.. '60' 80 * Appointed. t Elected. In 1836 the present church edifice was built on the east side of the Green. The corner-stone was laid by Rev. Mr. Corson, on June 24, 1836, on which occasion an elegant and appropriate address was deliv- ered by the Rev. L. T. Bennett. The church was consecrated Decern- THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN GUILFORD. 381 ber 12, 1838, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Church Brownell, Bishop of Connecticut. This edifice is a peculiarly beautiful gothic structure of granite, 64 by 44 feet, planned by Rev. Mr. Corson after old St. Thomas's, corner of Broadway and Houston St., N. Y., and cost about $7,500. In 1872 repairs and extensive improvements were made and a recess chancel was added, at a cost of $5,000, rendering the edifice one of the handsomest rural churches in the diocese. In 1890 the organ was placed in the chancel, an addition for it being built. A beautiful brass tablet to the memory of Dr. Bennett was unveiled on Easter, 1891. The parish has also been the recipient of legacies of $300 from Franklin M. Hill, $1,000 from Charles Collins and $50 from Miss Ruth Loyselle. Wm. H. Hubbard, a native of Guilford, but for many years a resident of Richmond, Va., also bequeathed the sum of $10,000 to the parish, of which only $4,000 has been received in consequence of losses experienced by his estate during the Rebellion. Wm.' Nor- ton (Y. C. 1829) left the parish $1,000, and from Capt. William Tyler a legacy of $5,000 was received. Not all these funds are available at present. In 1894 the parish numbered no families, and 165 commu- nicants.'' St. John's Church, North Guilford. Dr. Johnson had great influence over his relatives and brought nearly all of them into his adopted church. Dea. George Bartlett of North Guilford was his brother-in-law and when he, with many others, became disaffected in the troubles in the Congregational Church fol- lowing Rev. Mr. Russel's death ; doubtless this was one influence which led a number "to declare for the Church," in September, 1747. The first parish or vestry meeting was held in 1748 and, on October 18, 1750, Rev. Mr. Punderson speaks of having preached'' at Cohabit. Dea. Bartlett read prayers and sermons when there was no minister. The difficulty of taxation ' was much felt here. In May, 1750, the Congregational Society voted to " make application to the General Assembly . . . for their help & assistance under our present difficul- ties, that we are under, with regard to our neighbors that call them- selves Conformists to the Church of England, from whom we have begun to distrain rates, which hath been attended with the efifusion of ^ Andrews, p. 75. ' Conn. Ch. Docs. I, 290. ' Dr. Andrews thinks that this parish was much strengthened by these troubles, and was for a long time stronger than Christ Church. See History of Christ Church. 382 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. SO much blood, that we cannot find any Collectors that will undertake to gather any more. Therefore, we would pray the Honored Court to appoint some meet person to gather our rates, or find some other way, as they in their wisdom shall see fit." Capt. Sam'l Hill and Maj. Timothy Stone were made the society's agents. The case went to Court, and on December 3, 1751, the society voted approval of its committee's report of expenses therein and to indemnify Lt. Michael Baldwin, collector, against Mr. Punderson. Three days later Rev. Mr. Punderson complains of taxes being taken from Conformists, and of the failure of legal redress, and mentions £40 being taken from 4 persons of North Guilford.' November 8, 1752, Rev. Mr. Ichabod Camp says, for 3 years past,' he has preached at North Guilford, and that they are much distressed by tax gatherers there. He was son of John Camp of Durham, where he was born February 15, 1725-6. After graduation (Y. C. 1743), he studied theology, was licensed to preach, became a Conformist in 1748, and acted as lay-reader in Middletown, Wallingford, and North Guil- ford until he went " home for holy orders," which he received March 22, 1752. He, on his return, preached at Middletown, Wallingford, and Cheshire, until 1760, when he went to Wilmington, North Caro- lina. His health suffering there he removed to Cornwall parish, Lunen- burg County, Virginia, then to Amherst parish, Amherst County, Virginia, where he remained until 1778. Then he went to Natchez, in an unsuccessful colonial attempt, and next to Kaskaskia, reaching there May i, 1779. He was killed there, April 20, 1786, while defend- ing a wife from her cruel husband. After this North Guilford was united with Guilford and Killingworth as a cure until 1833, when North Branford and North Guilford were combined. In 1850 North Guilford was made a separate cure. It is difficult to say at what time the church was erected, probably about 1754 from the following vote: "At a meeting of the proprietors of the Common & undivided land" in September, 1753, "Upon the petition of Messrs. George Bartlett, John Hubbard, John Collins, Ebenezer Talman, David Fowler, & George Bartlett Jr. : Voted, That the said Petitioners have liberty to build a Church on the East side of Major Thompson's land, at the parting of the paths, near the South west corner of George Coan's home lot, so as not to incommode the highway." ' ^ Conn. Ch. Docs. I, 290. ' Conn. Ch. Docs. I, 298; Yale Biog. and Ann. I, 729-31. ' April 7, 1755, proprietors granted liberty to Conformists to Church of Eng- land to build a church on top of Ledge Hill. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN GUILFORD. 383 In 1812 they built a new church in place of the old one which had become dilapidated. This was dedicated by Bishop Hobart in 1817, at which time 37 were confirmed. The first church stood a few rods south of the present rectory on the east side of the road. The old rectory stood opposite it on the west side of the road. The present church is of wood, has a recess chancel and will seat 150 persons. In the middle of the front is a belfry with a good bell. There are three plain stained windows on each side, protected by outer blinds. St. John's Church has a fund of about $800 given by Zadoc Hull and George Bartlett. W. H. Hubbard left this parish in his will $10,000, only $4,000 of which was paid over, in consequence of losses exper- ienced by his estate. Rev. Bela Hubbard ' writes, on January 30, 1767, the " poor people of Cohabit are in great need of Prayer books. They have not a folio Prayer Book or Bible." On September 25, 1766, he writes from Guilford, discharging the society's committee from collecting rates for him on the list of 1768 from 15 men, presumably all in St. John's Church. A parsonage was early built at North Guilford and Rev. Mr. Butler lived there while preaching in the three congregations of his" cure. The Rev. Frederick Sill served under Mr. Baldwin or alone from June, 1850, until October, 1851. He was succeeded by the Rev. Alpheus Geer, who served from 1853 until 1859. From 1861 to 1863 Rev. De- lancey G. Rice was rector, and from 1865 to 1869, the pulpit was filled by Rev. Samuel Fuller (Union, 1822), a professor in the Berkeley Divinity School. Rev. Oliver Hopson (Trinity, 1827) was rector from 1869 till 1872, and Rev. H. C. Randall in 1874 and 1875. From 1875 to 1878 the pulpit was vacant. From February, 1878, to 1883 Rev. W. L. Marks ' was rectOr at North Guilford. From 1883 to 1885 the pulpit was vacant. From 1885 to June, 1886, Rev. Emerson Jessup was in charge of the parish. He was succeeded by Rev. R. L. Mathison (Wesleyan, 18 — ), who served the church from 1887 until 1889. From June i, 1889, until September i, 1890, Rev. Wilfrid H. Dean (Kenyon College, 1869) was rector. After his departure and an interregnum of several months, the pulpit was filled by Rev. Wm. H. Hutchinson in 1891 and 1892 as lay reader and also, after his ordination to the diaconate early in the latter year, until September i, 1893. The pulpit then remained vacant until the return of Rev. Mr. Dean on May I, 1894. He still continues as rector. ' Conn. Ch. Docs. II, 106. ' Andrews, p. 61. ° Came as lay reader; ordained deacon Oct. 1878. 384 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Church Wardens of St. John's Church : No records to 1781. Nehemiah Griswold, October 13, 1781, March 24, 1785. Abraham Hubbard, " " " until 1789 at least. David Fowler, March 24, 1785, to 1788. Jared Scranton, 1788 and 1789, and in 1796 and 1797. No records 1789, to March 10, 1796. Samuel Fowler, March 10, 1796 and 1797. No records 1797 to 1850. Wm. M. Dudley, 1850 to 1880. Samuel Loper, 1850 " 1880. George W. Dudley, 1880 " 1891. Elbert B. Potter, 1880 Henry Dudley, 1891 " 1895. Paschal K. Hoadley, 1895 Union Protestant Episcopal Church in North Bristol. Through the kindness of Rev. W. G. Andrews, D. D., and Rev. Wil- liam C. Knowles, now pastor of this church, at present located in Kil- lingworth, we learn the following facts. The church records of Union Church show that on June 17, 1800, due authorization was given Isaac Stone to warn the Episcopalians of North Bristol and David Blachley and Joel Norton to warn those of North Killingworth to meet at th^ Town Hill Schoolhouse in North Bristol on July 10, at 4 P. M., " to organize themselves and Chuse Necessary officiers." On the date named the meeting was held, Asher Fowler chosen moderator and Nathan Fowler, clerk, and it was voted to organize as the "North Bristol Episcopal Society." Asher Fowler and David Blachley^ were chosen wardens, James Pardee and Noah Hill, vestrymen, and the last named was also made treasurer. A tax of five mills on the dollar on the list of 1799 was granted and Nathan Crampton was chosen as col- lector. Twenty-one persons were warned of this meeting, and nine- teen of these, in Mr. Knowles' opinion, were residents of North Bristol. In January, 1801, Rev. Nathan Burgess was chosen minister by this parish for one-sixth part of the time, the rest of his endeavors being given to the Episcopalians of Guilford and North Guilford. On Octo- ber 15, 1801, the North Bristol Society asked for one-third of Mr. Bur- gess's time and offered to bear their share of raising him a salary of £90 at first, and to assist in increasing it yearly until the amount of £120 be reached. For some years after this public meetings " by Common Consent were holden some time in Guilford and some time in Killing- worth." In 1802, according to the journal of convention, a church was built for this society in North Killingworth. A great addition to ' A Killingworth man. UNION PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN NORTH BRISTOL. 385 the numbers of the society in North KiUingworth was made about that time, probably the most of these being persons formerly Congre- gationalists but now dissatisfied with the methods of the new pastor of that church in the parish. As a result of these additions and the building of the church in North KiUingworth, it seemed wise to cease holding meetings in North Bristol, and so at a meeting in June, 1805, it was voted that the Society be henceforth known as the " Union Episcopal Society," and that " in future all meetings for public worship of God or that anywise respect this Society be holden " at the North KiUingworth Church. So the Episcopalian Society passed away from North Bristol. It is now Emmanuel Church. CHAPTER XLIX. CHURCHES OF OTHER DENOMINATIONS. The Baptist Church of Guilford. A Baptist church was organized June 30, 1808, consisting of 19 members. The Rev. John Gano Whitman ministered to it from time to time "• and in 1821 it was supplied by Revs. Samuel West, Oliver Will- son, Samuel Miller, Enoch Green, and Josiah Grave. On February 24, 1823, Alvah Bradley Goldsmith was ordained elder over this society and his father, Joshua Goldsmith, was appointed and ordained deacon at the same time. The services took place in the old First Congrega- tional Church. The church met on Sunday in one of the rooms of the academy and later in the town house. The Rev. Alvah Bradley Goldsmith, who so dominated the little church and colored it with his views that the members were known as " Goldsmith Baptists," was born December 2, 1792, in Guilford. When a young man he became a bookseller in New Haven, and was an open and bitter unbeliever. A revival in the year 1820 aroused the deepest animosity. On the 8th of January, 1821, at a celebration of the battle of New Orleans (though after the regular proceedings were over and most had gone home) some infidel friends, who had been singing hymns in mockery, among which hymns was one, "There shall be mourning at the judgment seat of Christ," requested him to give them a sermon. The hymn had profoundly affected him and he preached in deadly earnest for perhaps two or three hours. He had a struggle of two or three days, during which God's wrath was manifest enough to him and he felt himself excluded from salvation. In attempting to de- scribe the love of Christ to some of his old companions, to use his own words: "/ felt it: the plan of salvation by a Redeemer, the amazing love of God to a sinful world, was something beyond measure glorious. . . . That night was a night of joy and peace to my soul; I knew on whom I had believed." His conversion, which was undoubtedly gen- uine, he described in a tract, written at New Haven, July 16, 1821, published in the Connecticut Journal, republished at Philadelphia by the Sunday and Adult School Union, and entitled, "The Infidel Preacher, or the Conversion of A. B. Goldsmith." Being unfortunate ^ In 1818, sixteen were added, and fourteen in 1821. THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF GUILFORD. ■ 387 in business he returned to Guilford, where, besides being pastor of the Baptist Church, he worked as a wheelwright. It is probable that he sympathized with the movement, which led, about the year 1835, to the formation of associations of " Old School Baptists," though it is not certain that his church was connected with any association. He is described as the first opponent of so-called new religious inventions, such as Fullerism, or the teachings of Rev. Andrew Fuller, an eminent Enghsh Baptist, " who modified and softened the extreme Calvinism, which had prevailed in his denomination and who was an earnest pro- moter of missionary efforts." The old school or primitive Baptists do not believe in missions, being also called Anti-Mission Baptists. " By degrees Mr. Goldsmith drifted away from the tenets of his denomina- tion," says Dr. Andrews, " in the direction of Quakerism. It is said that he always held firmly to the central truths of Christianity, while he became less and less careful about dogmatic accuracy and set the high- est value on practical religion. His life was eminently Christian and he was on friendly terms with other ministers." Those who remember him speak of him as kind and sympathetic in his family and an ardent lover of Christ. " He was clerk and judge of probate, trustee for many widows and orphans, and a thoroughly good citizen. He was remark- ably patient under strong provocation and a member of his family says that he never saw him angry. His strong tendency toward the spir- itual in religion must have led to much sympathy with the Quaker idea of ' the inward Christ ' and Christ's second coming seems to him to have been a spiritual one, in the hearts of Christians." He died June 12, 1863. The church, which numbered 36 members in 1826, prob- ably never greatly increased, and died with its pastor. The Methodist Episcopal Church of Guilford. This church owes its origin to the efforts of Rev. Nathan Kellogg, who first preached in a private house with a view to effect a church organization. Rev. Jesse Lee, in the summer of 1789, preached the first Methodist sermon in Guilford, in the house of Ebenezer Hopson on Boston Street. Bishop Asbury visited Guilford, on May 23, 1809, dined at the house of WilHam Griffin, found a lot to build a church and believed " God will work here." During the winter of 1837-8, Rev. Charles Chittenden, from the New York Conference, came here as a missionary and by him a Methodist Society was formed. Services were first held in private houses and in the town-house; but soon a building on the west side of the Green was erected, 48 by 36 feet. The timber used in its erection was fur- nished by Mr. William Hale, the pastor proceeding to the woods along 388 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. with some of the members and helping to fell the first tree/ Mr. Chit- tenden was " a very interesting and impressive preacher of the emo- tional type and easily drew tears." He disarmed opposition by his kindliness and tact and was successful as a revivalist. He was fond of children, of very social nature, and of genial and Christian temper. He preached in various places and died in Water bury on April 27, 1872, aged 66 years. The church was dedicated during the pastorate of his successor, and the original trustees were John Hale, William Hale, Henry Griffin, Samuel Leete, Samuel A. Barker, Lucius Elliott, F. C. Phelps and A. Kelsey. A list of the pastors is given below. During part of the time, when the church was without a regular pastor, the pulpit was supplied from Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn. The church was thoroughly renovated in 1869. The side galleries were taken out in 1884, and the front gallery remodelled into a class- room in 1890. In 1891 an organ loft was built and an excellent organ was presented to the society by Mr. Edward P. Dickey. A parsonage was built on Graves Street in 1894. In the autumn of 1896 a great revival took place. 1837-8, Rev. Charles Chittenden. 1864, Rev. Julius Field. 1838-40, Rev. Hart F. Pease. 1865-6, Rev. Moses Lyon. 1841, Rev. James Rawson. 1867, church closed. 1842, Rev. Edward S. Stout. 1868, Rev. John Dickinson. 1843-4, Rev. R. W. Wymond. 1869-70, Rev. J. D. Weeks. '"'^r^nwlio^^^^^ttor''' "'''"'' '''^ ''''""'' 1871-2, Rev. C. W. Gallagher, 1845-6, Rev. J. A. Edwards. 1873, Rev. E. A. Blake. 1847-8, Rev. C. R. Adams. 1874, Rev. Douglas. 1849-50, Rev. H. N. Weed. 1875, Rev. John S. Wilson. 1850-2, Rev. Benjamin Pillsbury." 1^76, Rev. Jordan. 1853, Rev. William Lawrence. ^^77, Rev. R. W. Whitcomb. 1854-5, Rev. Charles W. Turner. 1878-80, church closed. 1855-6, Rev. James R. Glover. ^881-2, Rev. W. A. Thomas. 1856-7, Rev. John L. Peck. 1883-85, Rev. O. J. Range. An interesting preacher. 1886-7, Rev. E. L. Thorpe. 1858, Rev. T. A. Lovejoy. 1887, Rev. James H. Crofut. jg^Q f Rev. Moser. 1888, Rev. E. L. Fox. 1 Rev. Asa Lyon. 1889-90, Rev. Samuel G. Neil. i860. Rev. G. D. Brown. 1890-91, Rev. Roberts. 1861-3, Rev. John S. Haugh. 1891-96, Rev. Otis J. Range. A man of great versatility. 1896, Rev. A. A. Clark. ^ 250th Anniversary, p. 84. ""The Rev. Benjamin Pillsbury, born at Boscawen, N. H., Oct. 25, 1824, was graduated at Wesleyan University in 1847 and the Yale Divinity School in 1850. He entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was stationed at Guilford from 1850 to 1852. He subsequently became presiding elder of the South Long Island and New Haven District, and died at Middletown, Ct., Feb. 28, 1887. While at Guilford he taught a school, and is described by one who knew him as " a handsome man, who had a lovely character." THE METHODIST CHURCH AT BLACK ROCK. 389 The Methodist Church in Madison. In 1839 a Methodist Church was formed in Madison Centre by Rev. James H. Perry of the New York Conference. There was much oppo- sition, he obtained a school house to preach in with difficulty and could find no house to live in nearer than North Madison, six miles off. He had unfailing ardor and a resolution daunted by no obstacles and left a class, meeting regularly. Soon after they obtained the church built by the dissatisfied party in the Congregational Church and still occupy it. Rev. George S. Hare largely added to the church and, being a man of ability, died as presiding elder of the Poughkeepsie District in New York. Rev. Mr. Gallup speaks of the Methodist ministers as " cordial and pleasant fellow workers. Christian gentlemen, earnest, and many of them able preachers of the Gospel."^ Its ministers have been: 1840, Rev. James H. Perry. 1841, 1842, Rev. E. O. Beers. 1843-4, Rev. Nathan Tibballs. 1845-6, Rev. George F. Kettel. 1847-8, Rev. H. D. Latham. 1849, Rev. M. E. Willing. 1850-1, Rev. Geo. S. Hare. 1852-3, Rev. Geo. Stillman. 1854-5, Rev. Jno. L. Peck. 1856-7, Rev. Wm. H. Russell. 1858-9, Rev. Benj. Bedford. i860, Rev. Wm. Hurd. 1861, Rev. Seneca Howland. 1862, Rev. Warren Little. 1863-4-S, Rev. H. Gidman. 1866, church was closed. 1867, Rev. Joseph Hammond. 1868-9, Rev. A. K. Crawford. 1870, Rev. G. W. Allen. 1871, Rev. Jos. O. Munson. 1872, Kev. H. D. Latham. 1873, Rev. J. H. Hand. 1874-5, Rev. W. T. Markwick. 1876-7, Rev. J. B. Shepherd. 1878-9, Rev. H. D. Latham. 1880-1, Rev. H. W. Livingston. 1882-3, Rev. W. T. Markwick. 1884, Rev. J. J. Moffitt. 1188s, Rev. W. E. Jeffries. 1886, Rev. W. H. Lawrence. 1887, Rev. H. G. McGlanflin. 1888, Rev. Jas. H. Crofut. 1889-90, supplied from Guilford. 1891, Rev. Joseph Irons. 1892-97, supplied from Guilford. The Methodist Church at Black Rock or Rockland. In the year 1799 according to Dea. Bela Munger, in 1801 according to others, a Methodist Church was formed in the Black Rock District of Madison, now known as Rockland. On April 7, 1806,. the proprie- tors of the common and undivided lands granted a site for this church to Josiah Coan, William Hale, Jeremiah Stephens, John Francis and others. The church was erected in 1816, but was not finished and dedicated until 1830. The congregation has always been small in numbers and not rich in this world's goods. ' 250th Anniversary, pp. 29, 85. 390 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. It has been served by the following ministers as far as known : 1835-36, Rev. A. K. Beach. 1837-39, Rev. O. Starr. 184s, Rev. William E. Bowen. 1849, Rev. T. A. Lovejoy. 1850-51, Rev. Henry Burton. 1853-54, Rev. W. W. Brewer. 1856, Rev. L. Leffingwell. 1868, Rev. S. Richards. 1869, Rev. L. Richardson. 1870-72, Rev. Charles Dixon. 1873, Rev. James Tragaskis. 1876, Rev. J. W. Gibbs. 1877, Rev. H. H. Hayden. 1878, Rev. W. C. Blakeman. 1879-80, Rev. J. W. Gibbs. 1881-82, Rev. Otis Saxton. 1883-85, church closed. 1886, Rev. G. A. Laas. 1887, church closed. 1888-92, Rev. George Bennett. 1893-95, Rev. W. E. Greene. 1895-97, church closed. St. George's Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholics first met together in Guilford as a distinct reli- gious body in 1854. Their first meetings were held in the old stone house, once the residence of the Rev. Henry Whitfield. In i860 they purchased a small building on Whitfield Street and fitted it up as a chapel, in which they continued to meet for several years. In 1876 they erected a handsome frame church on the corner of Whitfield and High Streets in which some thirty families found suitable accommoda- tions, and where public worship has been regularly maintained. The church was ministered to by the priest at Branford until February, 1887, when the Rev. John H. Dolan became its first resident pastor. He was born about 1850, and studied for the priesthood at Holy Cross College and at the seminary of our Lady of Angels at Niagara Falls. He was ordained priest in 1882 and died here, after a short illness, July 3, 1888. He was a man of engaging manners, energetic, cheerful, faithful, as is believed, and a favorite with Protestants as well as with his own people. His early death was much lamented. He was buried in the new Roman Catholic Cemetery on the Durham turnpike.' Rev. J. J. Smith succeeded him and served his people with success until relieved by the Rev. William J. Dullard in August, 1893. In September, 1895, Rev. J. F. Degnan assumed the pastorate. ' 250th Anniversary, p. 85. CHAPTER L. Cemeteries. The first burying-ground ' was in the centre of the Guilford Green, near where the Soldiers' Monument stands. Dr. Dwight, in his Travels, commented severely on thus " deforming " the square and states that, " to add to the deformity," the graveyard was unenclosed. " The graves," he goes on to say, " are therefore trampled upon and the monuments injured, both by men and cattle." He then goes into an excursus on the evils of this and the publisher adds, in a note, that some years later the cemetery was enclosed "with a decent and sub- stantial fence." Within the memory of some now living the dead were borne to this graveyard on biers. The gravestones and monuments were removed about 1817, and two new cemeteries, Alderbrook" and Riverside," or, in common parlance, East and West Cemeteries were laid out, about a mile east and west of the green. The old stones were partly transported to the new cemeteries, partly placed along the sides of the then existing churches, and partly carried ofiF by the families owning them, to be used as hearth and door stones, etc. A partial list of the tomb stones previous to 1800 has been published by the New Haven Colony Historical Society.' The second cemetery in the original territory of Guilford was the one at Hammonassett," where Vincent Meigs was buried as early as 1658, though the earliest gravestone bears date of 1682. A third ceme- tery, the present Madison one, was granted by the town on May 26, 1691,° at which time a committee was also appointed to lay out bounds for the one on the Green, and Mr. Joseph Dudley ' was chosen for " the making of coffins on all occasions of death." A kindred officer was chosen, on September 21, 1703, when John Tustin was " chosen to dig ' Proprietors incorporated Oct. 1818. " Opened May 25, 1818. Its proprietors incorporated Sept. 26, 1866. ' Proprietors incorporated Oct. 3, 1862. ' Collections, Vol. IV. " Feb. 24, 1729-30, proprietors granted a piece of land in East Guilford between Capt. Janna Meigs' marsh and John Thompson's land for a burying-place. ° March 7, 1703-4, Samuel Dod chosen therefor. Dec. 19, 1723 (Soc. Rec), " Voted that there shall be a shovel, a spade, and a mattock provided at the Society's charge to dig graves & to be lodged with Ensign Ebenr Benton." ' Interments had been made there as early as 1686. 392 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. graves " and allowed 4s. for a grown person and for lesser persons 3s., provided he " find himself tools " and " attend to it at all times he is capable." On December 21, 1731, the town voted that the Palls or " Cloaths to Cover the coffin of ye dead, when carried to their graves, shall be purchased at Town charge and paid out of the Emings of the Mill, and Each of the three Societies shall have the benefit of one Cloath." An interesting instance of the lack of sentiment felt in regard to graveyards by our fathers is shown by a vote of April 10, 1758, by which the Hammonassett Graveyard was to be leased, if a committee should think best, since the herbage was worth something for pasturage. That graveyard was the first to be enclosed, being fenced when that vote was passed. The East Guilford Cemetery was fenced in 1789, and the one on the Green in 1802.^ " A Cemetery was laid out at Leete's Island at an early period, one at Moose Hill in 1801," and another at Nut Plains'' in 1817. In North Guilford there is also a cemetery, doubtless laid out at the settlement of that society. About 1865 Alderbrook Cemetery was much enlarged and beautified and now Guilford's cemeteries are as attractive as those of any town known to the writer. The Roman Catholics purchased land north of the village on the Durham turnpike and had a cemetery consecrated there in the early part of 1888. There are three graveyards in North Madison; one in the west part* of the parish, in which the first burial, Demetrius Crampton, was in 1754, one in the east part, where first burial. Deacon Thomas French, occurred in 1772, and a third near the Methodist meeting house in Black Rock District, in which the first burial, Jacob Richmond, was M 1793- The old part of the Madison cemetery is under the control of and . owned by the town, the new part was laid out and is owned by the Cemetery Association, incorporated May 29, 1867. On October 4, 1869, the funds of the West Cemetery were ordered to be given to the Association to erect a gateway. The newer part of the cemetery has been much improved through the efforts of this Association. A town hearse was bought in Madison in the summer of 1868, and votes to have it painted and to have the cemetery mowed have been passed from time to time. The town in some years elects a " sexton " ^ May 14, 1807, owners of fence round graveyard on Green granted the grass by the proprietors while they keep up the fence. ' Feb. 24, 1729-30, proprietors granted a piece of land about Nut Plains school house for a burying-place. ' Sept. 1754, proprietors granted North Bristol a small piece of land on Flat Rock Hill near parting of paths to Cranberry and Race Hills for a burying-place. CEMETERIES. 393 A for each cemetery. Guilford also formerly owned a town hearse. The old custom .of announcing death was for the sexton of the church of which the person was a member to toll the church bell for a suitable time. After this he slowly tolled out the age of the deceased person and then, after a pause, the sex, one stroke for a man, two for a woman. The custom is still kept up though growing less common. CHAPTER LI. EDUCATION AND LIBRARIES. Education in Guilford and Madison. Almost as soon as the church came the school in all good Puritan towns. Guilford was probably no exception to the rule and had Mr. Higginson as teacher of her youth, in addition to his services as assistant pastor. Like the clergyman, the schools were supported by a tax and, at a town meeting holden October 7, 1646, " It is ordered that whoever shall put any child to schoole to Mr. Higginson shall not pay for lesse than a quarter's time at once & so shall be reckoned with all quarterly, though they have neglected to send all the time, at the rate of four shillings by the quarter to the Treasurer. It is agreed and ordered that ye additional sum toward Mr. Higgin- son's maintenance, with respect to the schoole, shall be paid by the Treasurer, yearly, out of the best of the rates in due season, according to our agreements." After Mr. Higginson succeeded Mr. Whitfield as pastor of the church, the town hired other men, paying them £20 or £30 per annum. On January 17, 1648-9, a rate of 2d. per acre and 2d. per caput was laid, " for raising certaine moneys to be disbursed about the bridge, schoole and other necessary expenses about town occasions." But Guilford did not confine her generosity to " Town occasions." The story of the coming of the Rev. Mr. Shepherd to the Commis- sioners of the New England Colonies in 1644, and getting their ap- proval to a " free contribution of a peck of wheat, or the value of it of every person," ^ who should be willing to contribute to the support of scholars at the struggling Harvard College is well known. In this service of " Colledge Corn," Guilford was zealous, and on December 17, 1645, ordered Mr. John Jordan and John Stone to collect it before March 25 ensuing. On February 16, 1647, "the court minded ye planters with ye Colledge Corn, desiring all to be free in it, as a ser- vice to Christ," and appointed Mr. Kitchel to collect it. Guilford, however, with all its zeal for education, was too sober minded to go into any rash schemes and so voted, on June 28, 1652; ' N. H. Col. Rec. I, p. 210. EDUCATION IN GUILFORD AND MADISON. 395 " the matter about a Colledge at New Haven was thought to be too great a charge for us of this jurisdiction to undergo alone, especially considering the unsettled state of New Haven towne, being publiquely declared from the deliberate judgment of the most understanding men to be a place of no comfortable subsistence for ye present inhabitants there: But if Connecticut do joyne, the planters are generally willing to bear their just proportion for erecting and maintaining a Colledge there, however, they desire thanks to Mr. Goodyear for his kind proffer to the setting forward of such work." Mr. Goodyear, the deputy gov- ernor of the colony, had oflered his own house as a college building. But Guilford was not backward in urging higher education when there seemed a reasonable chance of success. When the Colony Gram- mar School was proposed in 1659,^ Guilford's representatives " did pro- pound Mr. Whitfield's house freely for the furtherance of this worke, who did also declare that they judged it reasonable, yt, if the said schoole should be settled in any other place by those wch. are ap- pointed to determine this question, that ye like allowance should be made by that plantation where it falls, answerable to what by Guilford is now propounded." The school, however, was established in New Haven, not Guilford, and so the gift of the Old Stone House, then the best in the village, was not called for. I\'Ir. James Cornish taught school after Mr. Higginson became pastor, leaving however before 1654, in which year that troublesome man, Benjamin Wright, was ordered to pay for the schooling of his four children, which he had neglected.^ We learn that the pay of the teacher, " being all to be levyed upon the schoUars came to 13s. a head, as all the rest had paid; although scarce any of the scholars did, of could attend to go regularly." From 1656 to 1660 Rev. Jeremiah Peck taught the school and, falling in love with Joanna, daughter of Robert Kitchel, married her on November 12, 1656. Mr. Peck studied at Harvard,' but did not grad- uate. In 1666 he returned to Guilford and joined his father-in-law in the expedition to settle Newark, N. J. After he left Guilford in 1660 we have no record as to who taught* the school for eleven years. On June 18, 1668, the town voted that the townsmen should seek and secure a school-master and offer him £15, besides what will arise from the children's schooling. The result of this we know not, but on March 20, 1671, we find the town in treaty with Mr. Joseph Fenn, the ' N. H. Col. Rec. II, 301. ^ He was again brought up for neglect to pay for his children's schooling on Feb.. 4, 1657. ' Sibley's Harvard Graduates, I, 569. ' Probably Rev. John Bowers, 1660-1664. 396 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. second son of Hon. Benj'n Fenn of Milford. He was a brother of Mrs. William Leete, Jr., and, dying that same year, apparently did not. come to Guilford. The town voted " to improve him a year on trial- and give him £20 current country pay, as it goeth, or is prised among- us." They were not willing, however, to pay that sum for only seven- months teaching, beginning in September. At the same meeting " the Towne, considering the necessity of edu- cation of children," appointed Dea. John Fowler and John Scranton, Sr., to join with the townsmen and lay out 30 acres of upland and 20 of marsh "to be kept and improved for the best benefit of a school in Guilford." This school land was laid out thus: about fifty-two acres of upland in " Tuxes Quarter," fronting up to the country highway and rearing back to the sea beach; and about twenty acres of marsh in Cedar Island Meadow, between the highway on the east and the East and Neck Rivers on the west. Both these parcels of land were in Madison.' There was also other school land in Madison, probably laid out earlier, in two parcels : about forty acres of tipland on the west side of the Hammonassett " great creeke," running from the country highway to the sea and having an highway on the east, and a parcel of about 18 acres of meadow on both sides of Fence Creek. The first school house was probably built very early; for, on Decem- ber 9, 1671, "the townsmen were desired to repair the old School house speedily." These repairs must have been only temporary for, on February 26, 1677, it was voted to build a school house, " for the use of the school and watch," and the townsmen, with John Grave, were to fix its dimensions and " agree with a man or men for the building of it." The hiatus in the list of school teachers ends with the employment on trial of Mr. Matthew Bellamy^ for a year from September i, 1671. The trial was doubtless successful ; for, on July 2, 1672, he was hired for another year and given a parcel of land by the mill pond side. He left probably before July 3, 1674; for, on that day the town instructed the townsmen to hire some scholar to be schoolmaster, " he teaching all sorts and that from their A. B. C; secondly, to continue so doing for three years; thirdly, to be helpful in preaching when need required." Whether such an one was then obtained we know not; but, on November 2, 1675, M'"- Jonathan Pitman of Stratford was approved oL He probably had been teaching here previous to the vote, for two months later, on January 23, 1676, he was re-engaged " on the same terms as last year." 'I. Prop. Rec. 92, Town Meeting, Jan. 7, 1688-9. ^ Grandfather of the famous Rev. Joseph Bellamy. EDUCATION IN GUILFORD AND MADISON. 397 After Mr. Pitman left the school the town made an unsuccessful attempt, on February 25, 1678, to induce Mr. Bellamy to return; but not until May 10, 1681, do we hear of any one being engaged. Then Dea. Wm. Johnson was appointed for a year, or " so much as he can attend it." He was succeeded on September 30, 1682, by Mr. John Collins, who was at first engaged for a quarter of the year only; but continued in the position of schoolmaster for several years. On Jan- uary 15, 1683-4, the town voted the school teacher £30 salary, two- thirds to be paid by the town and the rest by those having children taught. Payment might be made in "winter wheat at 5s. a bushel, good meselen ^ at 4s. 6d. a bushel, Rye at 3s. 6d. per bushel, Indian Corn at 2s. 6d. per bushel, Oats at 2s. a bushel, Barley at 4s. a bushel, and flax well dresst from the swingel at one shilling a pound." A similar decree, on August 12, 1685, " ordered that whosoever shall not bring a sufficient load of wood to the school house, within 2 weeks .after their child, or children, begin to go to school, shall pay for their neglect therein 3s. for every load." Mr. Collins probably stopped teaching in 1686 and, who was his immediate successor is unknown; though it would seem from the records that there was some difficulty in filling the position. On July 4, 1690, Mr. Thomas Higginson of Salem, a son of the Rev. John Higginson, former pastor at Guilford, was invited to teach the .school for half a year " on tryall " and, he accepting, taught until 1694. -He afterwards, against his father's wish, went on a privateer, and was never heard of again. He was succeeded, on October 29, 1694, by Mr. John Eliot, who was given four acres additional to his allotment " gratis, as a free gift from the Town," on January 22, 1695-6. This showed that his services were acceptable. He continued until Novem- ber 8, 1699, when Mr. Jones was chosen teacher. This was prob- .ably John Jones, a Harvard graduate in 1690, and a son of Gov. Wm. Jones. On December 13, 1700, Mr. John Collins again took charge of the school and so continued until November 27, 1701; when Mr. James Hooker was chosen.^ Capt. Andrew Ward succeeded him and taught for two years. As will be noted, the teachers were selected by •the townsmen and confirmed by the town. In October, 1700, the General Assembly voted a school tax of 40s. • in the thousand and, in case this should not amount to £30, the town voted to make up half the deficiency .' ^ Meslin is wheat and rye grown together. ^ Nov. 27, 1701, the townsmen are empowered to agree with Mr. Hooker or ;Any other suitable man capable to keep the school for the present and to choose . a successor .and present him for confirmation. 'Town Meeting, Nov. 27, 1701. 398 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. For many years there was but one school in the limits of the town, but the people of East Guilford found it difificult to come over, and on May 21, 1688, the east farmers are given one-fourth of the school money if they are at the charge of schooling their children/ On Decem- ber 29, 1702, "Liberty was granted the East River Farmers from E. River Eastwards to provide a suitable man to keep school there, to be paid for the time he kept school, not exceeding 3 months in this year." In 1713-14 the East Society appointed a committee "to hyer a scoul- master and reserve the scoul money." A few years after this East Guilford was made a separate society, having control of its school. The school in Guilford proper had Sergeant Joseph Dudley as teacher in 1703 and 1705, and he was succeeded by the famous Dr. Jared Eliot, then a young Yale graduate of 1706. He was considered so valuable that he i^eceived £35 country pay. In case the money raised by tax did not amount to that amount and £5 additional, the town would pay three-fourths of the deficit. Those that sent scholars might have wood credited to them at the rate of 4s. a load. After Mr. Eliot left the school at the end of 1707, Capt. Andrew Ward taught a year and was succeeded by Mr. Daniel Chapman of Say- brook, a Yale graduate of 1707, and a grandson of Mr. John Collins, Sr. Dr. Samuel Johnson, one of his pupils, called him a "tolerable instructor." There seems to have been some difficulty in securing a successor, after his year was out, and we have no names of the teachers for four years."" During this period a new meeting house was built southward of the old schoolhouse. The renowned Dr. Samuel Johnson (Y. C. 1714) was employed on January 5, 1 713-14, and given 40s. a month. A little later his salary is raised to 45s. monthly, showing him to have been very successful. He continued teaching until appointed a tutor in Yale College in October, 1716, and the tradition is that, at times, he had his College class with him at his father's house in Guilford, and thus made the town a partial seat of Yale College. However this may be there is no doubt that Rev. John Hart of East Guilford had his class with him there, during his tutorship, so the original town may lay claim to having been one of the nurseries of Yale. Other schools were founded as the town grew, and the school records, which had hitherto been kept with those of the town, now appear in connection with those of " the old or Western Society," and of the East Guilford Society. ^ On Jan. 29, 1690, the town voted " to let the East farmers improve " for two months, October and November, Mr. Thomas Higginson. ''On Feb. 3, 1711-12, we learn there was a school-dame, Sarah Hughes, who was to be furnished by the selectmen with what she wants for her maintenance. EDUCATION IN GUILFORD AND MADISON. 399 The Nut Plains, in January, 1714, had the first school, apart from the original one in the present limits of Guilford. A schoolhouse was built in 1 71 7, 17 feet long by 12 feet wide and 6j^ feet between joists. The next notice of the school is a grant to it of £10 (old tenor) in 1718, which grant was several times repeated, provided a school be kept one month in the year. Later the grant was changed to £1 proclamation money, and then to 30s., and the school was required to be kept for two months. In 1766 the General Assembly passed an act giving towns and societies power to divide themselves into school districts, and, under this act. Nut Plains was made a school district on Decem- ber 16, 1771. On February 5, 1716-17, a school was established in the Neck. In the petition for it the signers state that they have paid for the mainten- ance of a school " and by reason of their remoteness from the town school house, have had but very little or no benefit by sd. school &, being, by Divine Goodness, blessed with a considerable number of children," they ask for a school of their own. A house of the same dimensions as that at Nut Plains was voted in 171 7 and a like grant of iio was made in 1748, followed by other grants of similar amounts. East River was made a separate school district, on December 2, 1767, being the first district set off from the first society. When North Guilford ' and North Bristol Societies were set off they were likewise given school facilities. Moose Hill was given 20s. for keeping school open two months in 1766 and was made a separate dis- trict on December 16, 1771. On December 2, 1767, the " Flagmarsh Farmers " were given 30s. on the usual conditions. In the center of the town the old meeting house was ordered to be repaired for a school house and for use in training and town meetings, in January, 1716. It was voted soon after to build a new house '' on the " Green or Market Place," 25 feet long, 18 feet wide and 6^4 feet between joints. This house stood until 1770, when the town built a new one, two feet less on the ground each way. On December 16, 1 771, the Center District was divided into two, a north and a south one, but this not proving satisfactory, the two districts were reunited a year later. The law of 171 7 required the appointment of a school committee of three from each society," so the first Society of Guilford chose as its first committee Capt. Ab'm Fowler, Mr. Caleb Leete and Serg't ^ School authorized there Dec. 12, 1721. 1 ' The old school-house was ordered to be sold on Feb. 9, 1719-20. ^ Nov. 2, 1717 (Soc. Rec), school-master chosen for the present, " until they have the laws which were made last October for their discretion in this affair." 400 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Thomas Hall. After Mr. Samuel Johnson left the school Capt. An- drew Ward taught it, receiving 14s. per week. In 1723 Mr. James Hooker, and in January and February, 1724, Thomas (Sir) Ruggles' (Y. C. 1723) taught the school. Mr. Ruggles (afterwards pastor of the North Church) was succeeded by his classmate, William (Sir) Hooker, who died only a month later and was followed by another classmate, Ebenezer (Sir) Gould, who served out the year, and was followed for two years ago by Mr. James Hooker. In 1727 Mr. Abm Bradley,^ still another Yale graduate of 1723, was hired for £40 per year. He was quite successful and taught, probably, until 1733. He was chosen as school teacher by the fourth society, on February 6, 1739, and by the first again on December 29, 1740. He probably continued to serve until about 1750. On June 29, 1733, Dea. William Seward was chosen schoolmaster and was followed by Nathaniel (Sir) Ruggles (Y. C. 1732) on December 27. In February 1740, the 4th Society, which had a sep- arate school, chose Capt. Andrew Ward as teacher. When the colony gave for school purposes certain towns in Litchfield County, then known as Western Lands, the Guilford ist Society voted that as their share would amount to nearly £1000, the sum should be made up to that amount and put out at interest for the support of the school. Whether this was done is unknown. The conflict between the 4th and 1st Societies even got into school matters " and the latter society voted, on December 20, 1748, "that the School masters shall not teach any children at the school of this Society; but such whose masters or par- ents belong to this society." This vote was repeated in 1754 and i7S5i but soon after a more harmonious state of things prevailed and we learn in 1762 that the two societies " have for a number of years past prac- tised keeping a school together, which practice has been agreeable." However, as the children have so increased as to render their instruc- tion by one man impracticable, the ist Society then voted to have a separate school. For several years from 1770 the ist Society granted a rate, generally of a farthing, or a half penny in the pound for schools. When the 4th Society died all schools in Guilford proper again came under the rule of the 1st Society by Act of October, 1793. "About the beginning of this century four schools were taught in the borough for many years, in one building which stood upon the Green.* This building was moved at the same time as the town house and was located south of it on the old Durham turnpike, now Church Street, where it now stands, converted into a dwelling house. ^ Sir was the usual title of the school teacher, if a college graduate. ^ He was the father of Abm. Bradley, Deputy Postmaster-General. " Apr. 9, 1764, proprietors grant 4th Society a site on the Green for a school- house. * Dwight's Travels, II, p. 488 sq. EDUCATION IN GUILFORD AND MADISON. 4OI About the beginning of the present century ^ Clapboard Hill dis- trict was set off and others have followed, as the population seemed to justify it. Centre District, and all the children were placed in one school (taught " In November, 1824, the Lancasterian method was adopted in the in the town house), excepting those in private schools and in the academy. The latter opened in 1825 and was under the charge of several teachers. Dr. Alvan Talcott and Samuel Robinson being among them. " In 1829 the Lancasterian system was given up and the children in the Centre District were divided into four classes. The first class corresponding to the academy, was taught from 1831 to 1834, by R. D. Smyth, afterwards by Luman Whedon, and thence to 1837, by Julius N. Dowd. In 1837 the district was divided into four parts and school houses built in the northeast and southwest districts, the northwest district occupying a part of the academy, the upper part of which building was occupied in 1838 by Mr. Dudley as a high school. From 1840 to 1854 Mr. Samuel Robinson taught school in Guilford.' The tendency to separation of school districts was checked by the law requiring school visitors, the number of whom was fixed at nine in Guilford in 1856. After the founding of the Guilford Institute the district schools in the borough ran down and, on October 3, 1870, the town appointed a committee to consider a consolidation of schools and to try to make an arrangement with the institute. A year later it was voted to con- solidate into one Union School District: the West Side, North West, North East, South East, and South West Centre School Districts and the Institute made an arrangement whereby the scholars of the district were admitted to its privileges without charge. In 1875 the Institute failed to receive any interest on certain bonds, which constituted its endowment, and its trustees gave permission to the Union District to occupy the building for a high school. In 1876 the town contained eleven school districts and a comparison of the number of children of school age, from four to sixteen, in their districts in that year and in 1895 is instructive. In October, 1896, there were 559 children of school age in Guilford. ' In 1794 the town voted in disapproval of the sale of Western Lands, from the proceeds of which sale the State school fund came. ' Born in Guilford, Sept. 16, 179S; died in Hartford, April 7, 1866. 402 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. 1876. 1895. Union School District 312 3^7 North Guilford South School District 40 i? North Guilford Centre School District 31 20 North Guilford Bluff School District 13 7 North Guilford North School District 23 15 Sachem's Head School District 13 8 Leete's Island School District 47 57 Moose Hill School District 26 8 Nut Plains Upper School District I5\ 17 Nut Plains Lower School District 17 Joint School District with East River — 12 Clapboard Hill School District 16 12 553 490 On October 7, 1889, $150 was appropriated for a high school in North Guilford. On July. 15, 1890, the town voted to establish and maintain a high and intermediate schools as provided by the State laws,* and appointed a high school committee of five to make suitable ar- rangements with the trustees of the Guilford Institute. As a result the present agreement was entered into; the trustees of the Institute give the use of their building and its appurtenances and the income from their endowment. The town committee maintains a high school not below the previous standard, and with the trustees selects the teachers. The school visitors supervise it as they do all public schools. Scholars resident in the town receive free tuition. Those out of the town pay twenty-five cents a week. The plan has worked well and Guilford has a good high school. Here may well be given a sketch of that gigantic failure, the Town Deposit Fund. The first vote of Guilford respecting it is on January 23, 1837, when the town resolved to receive its proportion of the money which may be deposited by the United States with this State, and to comply with the stipulation contained in the Act of this State, that the fund be loaned out in sums of not more than $1,000, nor less than $50 to one person. Samuel Elliott was made agent to receive the money, and three agents of the fund and a treasurer were elected. It was shortly afterwards voted to give these no compensation and, at the same time, October 2, 1837, it was voted to devote half of the income of the fund to the ordinary expenses of the town and half to the school societies, in proportion to the number of children. Guilford's share ^ Rev. Stat. 2215, 2216. EDUCATION IN GUILFORD AND MADISON. 4O3 amounted to $6,020.19, with $163.47 accrued interest, and all but $0.19 was at once loaned out. In 1839 the interest of the fund was $357.50, and it stayed near this figure for some years, gradually falling to $325.16 in 1848. Later the income of the fund was directed to be used entirely for the support of schools, but through bad management and lack of due care in loaning, its income has been much reduced. The fund is reported in 1895 to amount to $6,020.19, of which $4,520.19 has been borrowed by the town and the rest by individuals.' Madison's district schools were managed as Guilford's for some time, the school districts being in the South Society — East River, Neck, Centre, Boston, Liberty ,'' Hammonassett, Union, Nortontown, Woods ; and in the North Society — ^West Side, Centre, Summer Hill, Rockland. On February i, 1837, the town voted to accept its share of the Town Deposit Fund and made Walter P. Hunger its agent therefor. Madi- son received $4,646.13, of which, in 1888, $1,500 were invested in town notes and the remainder in secured notes. Of Madison's share, ac- cording to the report of her treasurer on September 16, 1895, $1,750 was borrowed by the town and $2,646.13 was invested in notes secured by mortgage. The interest on notes amounted to $284.20, and there was $250 in cash in the treasury. At the beginning a vote was passed that not less than $50 nor more than $500 be loaned to any person, nor that any be loaned as mortgage on uninsured buildings. On Novem- ber 6, 1837, a committee reported as to the use of the income from the fund " that, in designating the object on which to recommend the bestowment of the ' Boon,' " " solely in reference to the public good, regardless of mere selfish considerations," they thought " our Common Schools called most loudly for aid and support." These, they say, " constitute the very life blood of our Land; for, in them all our children acquire the first rudiments of education and here also, many of them acquire all the education they are ever to receive. Con- sequently your Committee feel that the most ardent wish of every par- ent, Christian and philanthropist, will be to have our common schools brought to as high a degree of perfection as is compatible with our means." Of the income two-thirds were to go to winter and one-third to summer schools. On November 2, 1840, this high spirit of devo- tion to education had passed and it was voted to give half the income for the ordinary expenses of the town. In 1852 the earlier plan of giving all the income to the schools was returned to. ' In 1878 the town voted that the agents of the fund should collect back inter- est or foreclose. In 1888, $2,762.30 were loaned to the town and the rest to individuals. ' Divided between Boston and Hammonassett districts, Dec. 15, 1877. 404 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The consolidation of all the school districts was discussed as early as 1854, and again in 1878, 1885, 1887, 1888, but was not accomplished until 1892. Schools, by a vote of October i, 1877, are to be kept open 34 or 28 weeks according to the population of the district/ Another needed reform in school administration, the placing the ap- pointment of the school teachers in the hands of school visitors was first adopted in 1872, but has not been consistently adhered to. The Guilford Institute. — Mrs. Sarah Griffing, widow of Hon. Nath- aniel GrifSng, deeded August 21, 1854, to E. Edwin Hall, Henry W. Chittenden, Simeon B. Chittenden, Alvan Talcott, Abraham C. Bald- win, Ralph D. Smyth, and Sherman Graves (who had been created a body politic under the name of the Trustees of Guilford Institute), a piece of land situated in Guilford, as also the sum of $10,000, " for the purpose of estabUshing and maintaining a school in said Guilford, of a higher order than the district or common school." She states in the deed, " whereas my wish is that the said school should in no sense be regarded as a sectarian institution, but be open alike to all who wish to enjoy its advantages, and on the same terms, yet as it must necessarily be under some government and control, and as more harmony will be likely to prevail, if all the directors or trustees are of the same religious views, my wish is that they should be of the denomination to which I belong, to wit, of the Congregational order and of that class designated and known at the present day as Orthodox or Trinitarian, of which the pastor of the First Church in Guilford shall always be one, should he hold such views or belief." She also expresses the wish that the Bible should always be used in said school as the foundation of all education for usefulness or happiness. To this donation was added another of $10,000 by the Hon. Simeon B. Chittenden, October 12, 1855. The corner stone of the Institute building was laid September 13, 1854, at which time the Rev. T. D. P. Stone of the Norwich Academy delivered an address. The building being completed, the first term of the Institute was opened September 3, 1855, with suitable public exer- cises, and addresses by Rev. E. Edwin Hall, S. B. Chittenden, and others. In September, 1872, by an arrangement with the Union School Dis- trict, its scholars were admitted to the Institute without charge. In 1875 the Institute failing to receive any interest on certain bonds con- ' A curious vote is one of Oct. 3, 1853, laying a tax to buy Webster's diction- aries and apparatus for the schools. EDUCATION IN GUILFORD AND MADISON. 405 situting its investments, the trustees gave permission to the Union District to occupy the building for a high school. The following persons have been principals of the Institute: Eli T. Mack (Williams College, 1830), 1855-8. Augustine Hart (Y. C, 1853), 1858-60. J. Wilson Ward (Amherst College, i860), 1860-2. Henry S. Barnum (Y. C, 1862), 1862-3. Joseph L. Daniels (Y. C, i860), 1863-4. Winthrop D. Sheldon (Y. C, 1861), 1864-5. W. H. Ayres, 1865. Edwin H. Wilson (Y. C, 1865), 1865-7. James P. Hoyt (Y. C, 1864), 1867-9. Frederic S. Thompson (Y. C, 1866), 1869-71. Charles E. Gordon, 1871. John P. Slocum (Y. C, 1872), 1872-5. Jairus P. Moore (Franklin and Marshall, 1875), 1875-6. Melville A. Stone (Y. C, 187s), 1876-8. Kate M. Dudley and Carrie P. Hall (1878-79). Charles H. Levermore (Y. C, 1879), 1879-83. Walter H. Buel (Y. C, 1880), 1883-4. Carll A. Lewis (Y. C, 1883), 1884-7. Robert H. Lewis (Y. C, 1887), 1887-8. Charles J. Wallace (Bates College, 1887), 1888-9. Arthur M. Hyde (Y. C, 1889), 1889-92. Wilbur E. Soule (Boston University, 1888), 1892-97. Frederick T. Sharpe (University of Vermont), 1897. Lee's Academy. — In 1821 Capt. Fred. Lee and some other gentlemen erected an academy in the Neck District, which was opened in Novem- ber of the same year under the instruction of Mr. Sam'l Robinson (Y. C. 1817), who remained in charge until the autumn of 1828, when he took charge of the Guilford Academy. He returned to its charge in 1832, the instruction having been under the care of Messrs. Robert A. Hallam (Y. C. 1827), Oliver Baker (Y. C. 1829), and Amos Pettingill (Y. C. 1825), during his absence. Mr. Robinson was succeeded by Mr. Wm. Wallace Wilcox (Y. C. 1835) in 1837. Among other teachers were Richard E. Rice (Y. C. 1839), Theodore A. Leete (Y. C. 1839), and John R. Freeman. Capt. Lee furnished about half the cost of the building, the balance being owned in 8 or 10 shares. The original location was on the small hill east of the Neck school house. The building was afterwards removed to a location near to the northwest corner ^of the Green and later to one near the northeast corner of the Green. During the latter years of its use, the Centre School district occupied the lower room, the upper one being used as the academy. Gradually, the shares of the academy were transferred to the school 4o6 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. district. In 1892 all the town schools were consolidated and the academy became town property. After the erection of Hand Acad- emy, the upper floor was rented to the Madison grange. On the erec- tion of Memorial Hall in 1897, the building was moved around the corner to a site on the Turnpike in the rear of Hand Academy. A primary school is still kept in the lower room. On December 29, 1877, Madison appropriated $500 for a high school to be kept in Lee's Academy, or Coe's Hall, open to all town pupils over 12 years old for not over $4 per term of 12 weeks. Hamd Academy. — In 1884 the well known philanthropist, Daniel Hand, erected in his native town a brick academy, on the north side of Boston Street, a little east of the Green. The expense of the building and land was $15,110, and he presented it to the town in November, 1884, on condition that an academy be kept there. On October 29, 1884, the town elected five trustees for it, the term of one of whom was to expire each year. The original trustees were Rev. James A. Gallup, James L. Parker, Francis A. Kelsey, J. Myron Hill, and George Munger. On June 14, 1887, the town voted that Hand Academy be a free school. Mr. Hand later gave some real estate, since sold for $1,000, the income from which fund is used for books and apparatus. The town makes an annual appropriation of about $900 for the school. Guilford Students at Yale University. This list includes those born in the town, residing there during their college course, or living there the greater part of their subsequent life. YALE COLLEGE.^ 1703, Rev. John Hart, M. A. (East Guilford), Tutor.^ 1705, Rev. Samuel Cooke, M. A., Fellow. 1706, Rev. Jared Eliot, F. R. S., A. M. (Harvard). 1712, Rev. Samuel Russell (North Guilford), Tutor.^ 1714, Rev. Samuel Johnson, M. A. (Oxford and Cambridge), D. D. (Oxford). Tutor, President Kings College. 1718, Rev. Ebenezer Rossiter, M. A. Rev. Timothy Collins, M. A. 1723,- Rev. Thomas Ruggles, M. A., Fellow. William Hooker. Abraham Bradley, M. A. Thomas Norton. Rev. Ebenezer Gould, M. A. 1727, Rev. Edmund Ward, M. A. ^ Those marked * did not graduate. Those marked ' were not of Guilford birth. Sketches of all who graduated prior to 1766 may be found in Dexter's " Yale Biographies and Annals," based on the collections of the late R. D. Smyth. GUILFORD STUDENTS AT YALE UNIVERSITY. 4O7 1728, Samuel Rosseter (mariner). 1730, Rev. Moses Bartlett, M. A. (East Guilford). 1732, Dr. Nathanael Ruggles, M. A. Rev. William Hart, M. A. (East Guilford). Rev. Jonathan Todd, M. A. (East Guilford)." Deacon Timothy Meigs, M. A. (East Guilford). 1733, William Leete, M. A. 1734, Rev. William Seward, M. A. 1737, Judge Nathanael Hill, M. A. 1741, Rev. James Sproat, M. A., D. D., College of New Jersey.' 1742, Rev. Asher Rosseter, M. A. 1745, Rev. John Richards, A. M. (North Guilford).' Deacon Timothy Hill (East Guilford).' 1747, Timothy Todd, M. A. (East Guilford)." 1749, Thomas Russell, M. A. (North Guilford). Rev. Nathanael Bartlett, M. A. (North Guilford). 1753, Rev. Amos Fowler, M. A. (North Guilford). 1754, Rev. Richard Ely, M. A. (North Bristol) ' 1757, Joseph Pynchon, M. A." Nathanael Caldwell (merchant), M. A. 1758, Nathanael Ruggles, M. A. Rev. Bela Hubbard, A. M., D. D. Ebenezer Parmelee, A. M. Thomas Burgis, M. A. 1759, Rev. Simon Backus, M. A. (North Bristol)." 1760, Rev. Daniel Collins, M. A. (North Guilford). 1763, Rev. Timothy Stone, M. A. 1764, Elihu Bartlett (East Guilford)." 1765, Rev. Daniel Brewer, M. A." Rev. Thomas Wells Bray, M. A. (North Guilford)." 1770, Abel Chittenden (North Guilford).' 1772, Hon. Abraham Baldwin (North Guilford), M. A., Tutor, U. S. Represen- tative and Senator from Georgia, Founder University of Georgia, Signer Constitution of United States. Henry Hill. 1777, Dudley Baldwin, M. A. 1783, Rev. Andrew Fowler, M. A. 1784, William Brown. Henry Caldwell. 1785, Richard Ely, M. D., 1814 (North Bristol). Nathanael Rossiter. 1786, Rev. John Ely (North Bristol), M. A. Rev. John Elliott, D. D., Fellow (East Guilford).' Rev. Aaron Cooke Collins, M. A. (North Guilford). Nathanael Griflfing. Rev. William Stone, M. A. 1787, William Ely (North Bristol). 1790, Rev. John. Hart Fowler. 1795, Oliver Bray, A. M. (North Guilford). Alexander Collins (North Guilford). Jared Scranton (North Guilford). Michael Baldwin (North Guilford). 408 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. 1797, Rev. Lyman Beecher, M. A., President Lane Theological Seminary.^ Rev. Timothy Field, M. A. (North Guilford). 1802, Rev. David Dudley Field, M. A. (East Guilford), D. D., Williams. Jeremiah Evarts, M. A. (East Guilford). Rev. Erastus Scranton, M. A. (East Guilford). 1803, Rev. Aaron Dutton, M. A., Fellow.' 1805, Harvey Elliott, M. A., M. D., Physicians and Surgeons, N. Y. Rev. Thomas Ruggles. 1806, William Todd, Esq., M. A. 1810, Joseph Pynchon Rossiter, M. A. 181 1, Rev. Henry Robinson, A. M., Bowdoin. 1813, George Augustus Elliott. Joy Hamlet Fairchild, M. A. Joseph Winborn Hand (East Guilford). 1816, William Chauncey Fowler (East Guilford), A. M., Middlebury, LL. D., Lafayette, Tutor and Professor, Middlebury, Amherst. George Hill. 1817, Samuel Robinson, M. A. 1823, Rev. Milton Badger (Madison), M. A., D. D., Middlebury, Tutor." 1824, Alvan Talcott, M. A., M. D., 1831.' 1825, Rev. Lorenzo Thompson Bennett, M. A., D. D., Trinity.'' 1827, Hon. Ralph Dunning Smyth.'' 1829, George Edward Hand, Esq., M. A. William Norton, M. A. 1832, Rev. Collins Stone, M. A. 1833, Rev. Samuel William Southmayd Dutton, M. A., D. D., Brown, Tutor. Judge Edward Ruggles Landon, M. A. 1837, Aaron Rice Dutton, M. A., LL. B., 1843. 1838, Lewis Joel Dudley, M. A., LL. B., 1847, Tutor. Rev. Edwin Dickinson Seward. 1839, Rev. Martin Dudley. Rev. Theodore Adgate Leete. 1842, Rev. Joseph Augustine Benton, M. A., D. D., Professor Pacific Theo- logical Seminary. Matthew Dutton.' Rev. Seth Bradley Stone, M. A. (Madison). 1846, Daniel Meigs Webb, M. A., M. D. (Madison). 1849, Ellsworth Eliot, M. A., M. D., Physicians and Surgeons. Rev. James Lawrence Willard, M. A., D. D., Maryville (Madison). William Henry Talcott.' 1850, Joel Sherland Blatchley (Madison). 1851, Rev. James Austin Gallup (Madison).' 1852, Samuel Curtis Robinson, M. D., 1855. George A. Wilcox, M. A. (Madison). James Frisby.' 1854, Matthew Noyes Whitmore (North Guilford). i860, Rev. Henry Lewis Hall. Theodore Lewis Buffett Howe (North Madison). 1862, Henry Josiah Griswold. Charles Wright Ely, M. A. (East River). Rev. William Henry Harrison Murray (East River). GUILFORD STUDENTS AT YALE UNIVERSITY. 409 1863, Henry Pynchon Robinson. Walter Hebert Smyth. Joel Tuttle Wildman, M. A. Rev. George Wallace Banks.^ Uriah Nelson Parmelee.^ Charles Carroll Blatchley (North Madison). 1865, Simeon Baldwin Chittenden, Jr., LL. B., Columbia, 1868, M. A. William Walker Scranton, M. A. (Madison). 1866, Richard Edward Smyth. Rev. Edward Comfort Starr, B. D., 1870. 1867, Henry Abel Chittenden, LL. B., Columbia, 1870. Frederick Richard Seward Drake, M. D.^ Melzar T. Bartlett (North Guilford).' Robert Elliott (Griswold) DeForest, Member of Congress. 1868, Robert Austin Rice, M. A. (Madison), Williams, Professor Vermont and Williams. 1869, Edward Clarkson Seward. 1871, Rev. John Wolcott Starr, M. A., B. D., 1874. 1872, Judge Edwin Christopher Woodrufl. 1874, Rev. Samuel C. Bushnell, B. D., 1877 (Madison). 1875, James Hazleton Cook, LL. B., 1876. Rev. Timothy Jonathan Lee, B. D., 1879 (Madison). Rev. Frederick Elkanah Snow, B. D., 1878.' Melville Alvord Stone. 1877, Gerrit Smith, LL. B., 1880 (Madison). 1878, Reynold Webb Wilcox, A. M., M. D., Harvard, 1881 (Madison). 1880, Walter Hull Buell, A. M. (Madison). 1882, John Rossiter (North Guilford). 188s, Colin Sherman Buell, A. M. (Madison). Rev. Lewin Frank Buell, B. D., 1888. 1886, Louis Bennett Bishop, M. D., 1888. 1888, Winthrop G. Bushnell (Madison). 1888, Bernard Christian Steiner, A. M., i8go, Ph. D., Johns Hopkins, 1891, LL. B., University of Maryland, 1894. 1889, John Wallace Banks, LL. B., 1893. Ernest Smith Bishop, M. D., Physicians and Surgeons, N. Y. 1890, Herbert Morton Bishop, LL. B., 1892. Rev. William T. Brown, B. D., 1895.' William Chittenden Lusk, M. D., Bellevue, 1893. 1891, Levi Ives Bushnell (Madison).' 1892, Walter Ralph Steiner, A. M., 1895." 1894, Walter B. Cruttenden (East River). 1897, Irving Prentice Leete (Leete's Island).' 1898, Jewett Hamilton Scranton (Madison). YALE MEDICAL SCHOOL. 1816, Abraham Blatchley (East Guilford). 1819, Reynold Webb (East Guilford).' 1828, Elisha Hutchinson.^ 1830, John Fosdick Fyler (North Guilford). 410 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. 1834, George W. Scranton (Madison). 1847, Edwin Bidwell (Madison).' 1849, Joseph Josiah Meigs (Madison). 1859, Jonathan Hamilton Lee (Madison). i860, Nelson Gregory Hall. 1864, John Heman Tyler (Madison). 1866, Stephen Chalker Bartlett (North Guilford). 1871, Walter Russell Bartlett (North Guilford). 1875, William Howard (North Guilford). 1883, William Henry Chittenden (North Guilford). 1890, Charles N. Murray (East River).^ YALE LAW SCHOOL. 1847, Aaron Ely Stone (North Madison). 1858, Gustavus Rose Elliot. 1874, E. Edwin Hall.' 1876, Hollis Thayer Walker.' Albert Lee Murray (Madison). 1886, John McKean, LL. M., 1887 (Madison).' SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL. 1867, Samuel Hosmer Chittenden, C. E., 1875 (East River). 1869, Arthur De Wint Foote.^ 1870, Judge Charles H. Post.^ 1871, George Benjamin Chittenden, C. E., 1873 (East River). 1872, Frederick Floyd Weld. 1876, Walter Cleveland Butler. 1877, George Henry Bartlett (North Guilford). 1883, John Bartholomew. 1888, Elbert Ellsworth Norton. 1890, Walter Tuttle Spencer. 1894, Isaac Stowe Spencer. 189s, Henry Ward Foote. YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL. 1850, Rev. John Eliot Benton, A. B., University of the City of New York, 1847. i860, Chauncey Dickinson Murray (East River). 187s, Rev. Solomon Melvin Coles, A. B., Lincoln, 1872. 1878, Rev. Henry Orton Finch, A. B., Vermont, 1874. 1879, Rev. Arthur Lee Seward.' Libraries. In 1737 a library was formed in the towns of Guilford, Saybrook, KillingTvorth, and Lyme. The books were principally on divinity, some of them being large and valuable. In May, 1787 (after many had probably been lost or worn out), these consisted of 60 folios, 24 quartos, and 307 of other sizes, which were appraised at £167.7-0. Many of the proprietors of this library lived in Guilford. Sometime before 1797 this company was dissolved and a new company was formed in the First Society, into whose library some of the books of the former library were introduced. The young people afterwards LIBRARIES. 41 1 associated and purchased another Hbrary. These libraries were united in 181 7, and called the Union Library, containing, in 1838, about 600 volumes. The old library contributed largely to the education of Fitz- Greene Halleck, who claimed in after life to have read every book in it, as his father had done before him.^ A public library was formed in North Guilford about 1760. In 1794 the house in which it was kept was burned and most of the books were destroyed. New books were purchased until it contained 185 volumes. After it was dissolved a new one was formed, which in 1838 contained less than 100 volumes. Misses Shepard and Fowler began a success- ful subscription circulating library in 1872. It had in 1895 about 1500 volumes. About 1888 the Young Women's Christian Temperance Union opened a free library and reading room over Henry Hale's store. In 1891, largely through the beneficence of Mr. E. P. Dickey, who had previously given books to the library, a neat and tasteful frame build- ing was erected for it on Whitfield Street. The young ladies of the Association go in turn to care for the distribution of books. Expenses are paid and new books added by personal effort. The room is open three times a week and an average of about 20 books given out each time. There are few reference books, most of the library being care- fully chosen books of fiction, chiefly hsed by the school children. The building is valued at $1,500. There are about 1,000 volumes. A public library was secured in Madison in 1793, which contained in 1838, 250 volumes, and another in N. Madison in 1824, which contained also in 1838 from 105 to no volumes. The East River Library Com- pany was organized in 1874 and incorporated October 23, 1876, the Madison Library Association was incorporated May 3, 1883. The latter had its library in the old school building on Boston Street, the former in a neat building near the East River Station, erected through the liberality of Mr. & Mrs. Horace B. Washburn. The East River Library has a collection of some 1,500 volumes and 200 pamphlets. It has an income of $300 from its fund of $6,500 given by Mr. and Mrs. Washburn, and circulates 1,000 works of fiction annually. Tlie build- ing of the Madison Library Association and its collection of some 800 volumes were destroyed by fire in March, 1895. A subscription for a new library was at once begun, a charter was obtained from the Legis- lature in 1895, and the Library has grown steadily. In the spring of 1897 a small building was rented and is open twice a week. Rev. H. D. Latham, for many years a resident of Madison, left the Association a legacy of about $700 for a permanent fund. * Wilson's Life of Halleck, p. 53. CHAPTER LII. Physicians and Health. Dr. Nicholas Auger of New Haven, dying in the fall of 1676, left his property to his sister, Mrs. Ellen Coster.^ His medicines were of no great use to her and so she endeavored to dispose of them and thus caused the holding of a special town meeting in Guilford, July 3, 1679, " to consider whether the inhabitants would buy Mrs. Cossters Physic and Physical Drugs." " And it was answered, by a unanimous vote, that they would buy them." "In such repute were the good lady's, drugs holden that, at the same meeting, it was considered as follows, viz : Whether they would pay for them by a free contribution, or by a town-rate, and it was given the town also to understand that the pay- ment for it must be by wheat and peas and some beef, if the beef were suitable, and some flax, if the market for flax did stand, and half the payment to be made the next spring, and half the payment the next spring following. To this it was answered, by a unanimous vote^ except one person, that it should be paid by a town rate, and in the specie and time proposed." In a subsequent town meeting, August 28, 1679, " Lieut. Wm. Seward was chosen and appointed to fetch or procure the Phesseck and Pheseckall drugs bought of Mrs. Cosster, brought to Guilford, and deliver them into the hands of Mr. Joseph Elliott for the town's use." The rate was published January 20, 1679-80, and Feb. 9, 1680-1, the town granted from the town rate what was wanting in the " Phis- seek rate by mistake in making said rate." We trust many of the vil- lagers were healed by this medicine. Previous to this either home remedies were used or Dr. Bryan or Bray Rossiter was called in. This remarkable man was sworn freeman June 8, 1654. In 1651 he came from Windsor to Guilford and left Hartford County without a physician. His practice was great and extensive. He performed the first autopsy in the Colony of Connecticut. He pur- chased Mr. Samuel Desborough's estate and was admitted as a planter in October, 165 1. An old book of his in the library of Trinity College (" Francisci Valesii Covarrobiensis in Libros Hippocratis de Morbis popularibus Commentaria," Cologne, 1588. On the title page is writ- ^ " Some Acct. of the Med. Profession in New Haven," Dr. Francis Bacon, p 7. PHYSICIANS AND HEALTH. 4I3 ten Ex dono dirine Hopkins, Bray Rossiter his booke.) contains a plan, thought to be that of his house in Guilford. He was a man of choleric temper and became entangled in difiSculties with Gov. Leete and the town. Possibly his enmity to Gov. Leete was caused by the latter's consulting Gov. Winthrop instead of Dr. Rossiter in cases of sickness in his family. However this may have been a result, not a cause of the difficulty. On April ii, 1660, Gov. Leete writes Gov. Winthrop, " My wife entreats some more of your phisick, although she feareth it to have very contrary operations in Mr. Rossiter's stomach."' The following list comprises all the physicians who have practised in the town: Bryan Rossiter, settled 1651 ; died at Guilford, Sept. 30, 1672. Rev. Joseph Eliot (H. C. 1658), settled April, 1665; died at Guilford, May 24, 1694. Joseph Seward, born. 1655; removed to Durham, 1702. Peter Talman, settled 1683; died at Guilford, July 6, 1726. Anthony Lahore, settled 1710; died at Guilford, March 19, 1712. Ebenezer Talman, settled about 1710; died at Guilford, Sept. 2, 1770, ae. 78. Nathaniel Ruggles, Sr. (Y. C. 1732); died at Guilford, Oct. 16, 1794, ae. 82. Nathaniel Ruggles, Jr. (Y. C. 1758); died at Guilford, 1798. Giles Hull,^ settled 1753; died at Ticonderoga, Aug. 14, 1759. John Redfield, settled June 8, 1758; died May 14 or 16, 1813, ae. 78. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, S or 6 years at the hospital in New York City until he became an expert physician, came to Guilford at the close of the Revolu- tionary War, and died Sept. 10, 1796, ae. 36. Jared Redfield; died at Guilford, 1821, ae. 50. Seth H. Rogers; died at Guilford, Feb. 6, 1807, ae. 35. Lewis Collins; removed from Guilford. David Marvin; removed to Hackensack, N. J., 1811. Anson Foote; died at Guilford, May 2, 1841, ae. 57. Elias Shipman (Y. C. 1799?); removed to New Haven. Lyman Strong; removed to Hebron and Colchester. Joel L. Griffing; died at Guilford, June 15, 1825, ae. 36. Joel Canfield (Hon. M. D., Yale, 1847), settled in Guilford, 1824; died at Guilford, April 9, 1877, ae. "jd. Elisha Hutchinson, M. D. (Yale, 1828), settled in Guilford, 1838; removed 1849; died Aug. 20, 1862. Alvan Talcott (A. B., Y. C. 1824; M. D., Y. C, 1831), settled in Guilford, 1841; died at Guilford, 1891, ae. 87. Gideon Perry Reynolds, M. D., settled in Guilford, 1870. N. Gregory Hall, M. D. (Y. C. i860), settled in Guilford, 1871. Hiram I. Fisk, M. D. (Eclectic), settled in Guilford, 1876, died 1896. Francis P. Griswold, M. D., settled in Guilford, 1878; removed to Meriden, 1883. S. J. Peck (Homeopathist) M. D., settled in Guilford, 1878; removed 1881. ' IV. Mass. Hist. Coll. VII, 548. ^ Captain in French and Indian war; married Abigail Ward. 414 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Chas. H. Hamilton, M. D., settled, 1883; removed, 1886, George H. Beebe, M. D., settled, 1886. Redfield B. West, M. D., settled, 1892. F. S. Cowles, M. D., settled, 1894; removed August, 1895. The following physicians have been settled in North Guilford: ■ Hosford, moved away. David Brooks, removed to New York; died Jan., 1826. Samuel Fitch; died Aug. 8, 1B47, ae. 71. Julius Willard, removed to Avon. Joel Canfield, removed to First Society. George Kirtland; died Nov. S, 1825, ae. 25. Richard Dennison, moved away. Justin W. Smith, removed to Stony Creek. The following physicians have practised their profession in Madison: Elihu Bartlett, Y. C, 1764, died 1779. Isaac Knight; removed to Plainfield, Y. C., 1767, died 1818. Timothy Todd, Jr.; removed to Clinton; died Dec. i, 1806. Jonathan Todd; died Feb. 10, 1819, ae. 62. Abm. Blatchley; joined Sandwich Islands Mission, 1822; removed to Canaan; M. D., Y. C, 1816; died i860, ae. 72. William C. Griffith; died Nov. 30, 1831, ae. 55. David Pritchard, M. D., Y. C, 1832, came from Waterbury; returned to Water- bury; died Oct. 30, 1868, ae. 58. George W. Scranton, M. D., Y. C, 1834; removed to Michigan; died March I, 1853, ae. 47- George Stone. Reynold Webb, M. D., Y. C, 1819; died July i, 1856, ae. 65. Edwin Bidwell, M. D., Y. C, 1847. Daniel M. Webb, A. B., Y. C, 1846, and M. D., 1849. Josiah J. Meigs, M. D., Y. C, 1846; died 1887. George E. Perkins, M. D., Y. C, 1843; from New Haven {o North Madison, 1850; removed to Waterbury, 1850; died Aug. 22, 1876, ae. 55. Jno. Heman Tyler, M. D., Y. C, 1864. A. D. Ayer, homoeopathist; died June 18, 189s, ae. 54. Chas. N. Murray, M. D., Balto. Med. Coll., 1891 (East River). George L. Tiffany (Eclectic) in 1892. George M. Burrows came in 1896 (Eclectic). A. T. Ayer (Eclectic). Andrew N. Smith. " The health of Guilford is evinced by the longevity of a large pro- portion of its inhabitants, of which examples are given in the ages of the ecclesiastical and civil ofHcers mentioned in this work. From a bill of mortality, kept by John Burgis, Esq., from January 1746 to 1799, a period of fifty-three years, it appears that there were in the whole PHYSICIANS AND HEALTH. 415 town 2,024 deaths, which makes the average annual number of deaths a fraction over thirty-eight. The greatest mortality was in 1751, 1769, 1776, 1794, and 1795, being in these years no, 70, 70, 67, and 60. The disease prevalent in 1751 is called "an awful epidemic," but its appro- priate name is not mentioned; that in 1769 and 1776 was the dysentery. In the latter year, from the rapidity with which it spread among those who went into the army, it was usually called " the camp distemper." An alarm of small-pox caused a vote, on December 11, 1759, that the selectmen should procure timber and other materials for building a pest house, 30 by 16 feet, with a chimney in the middle. On April 7, 1760, the selectmen were instructed to buy 9 acres in Tanner's Swamp therefor. Probably nothing was done as a new order on December 9, 1760, directed the selectmen to build a pest-house, the dimensions and site being left to them. This, when built, was to be used for persons " suspected to have taken the Infection of the Small Pox." The scare passing over, work was ordered to be suspended on April 13, 1761. A large proportion of the deaths in 1794 was among the children, many of whom died of scarlet fever. In 1795 nine died of the small- pox, contracted from persons who had left the pest-house in Haddam in a filthy condition. At that time a vote was passed in town- meeting that, if small-pox should appear in the families of Caleb and Nathan Dudley " may take the small pox by way of inoculation under the direc- tion of the Selectmen," probably that they might serve as nurses.' Nearly two-thirds of the deaths in those sickly years were in the First Society. The deaths occurring in its members from 1799 to January, 1832, during thirty-three years, are 895, a fraction over 27 annually. Supposing the average population during this period to have been 1,850 the deaths were nearly as i : 69. In North Guilford the average annual deaths were a fraction over 8 in an average population of about 570, so that the general state of health in the two societies was nearly the same." ^ On April 3, 1826, the town voted $100 to Dr. Sylvanus Fancher "to vaccinate the inhabitants with the kine-pox."° The clergy and the school committee were to superintend the operation. This physician was inoculating in Hartford in 1816.* ' Small-pox appeared in Capt. Rich. Fowler's family in 1840, and the borough took action to prevent its spreading. ^ On Aug. 27, 1832, the civil authority voted to " provide a suitable house for a Hospital " and, if necessary, suitable furniture and attendance. ' Madison voted to hire him, Oct. 7, 1839, if he can be procured reasonably. " Hist of Hartford Co. I, p. 374. 4l6 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Mortality. Guilford. North Guilford. Total. 1830-40 was 311 78 389 or 1.613 per cent. 1840-50 was 323 82 405 or 1.672 per cent. 1850-60 was 357 81 438 or 1. 65 1 per cent. 1860-70 was 398 104 502 or 1.913 per cent. 1870-80 was 395 1880-90 was 441 1890-95 was 332 Pres. Dwight ' says, " There are two marshes in this town, which at times have produced among the inhabitants in their neighborhood the fever and ague; on the eastern side of the Green Mountains a singu- larity. In the year 1796 the inhabitants removed a large body of shells, from the beach lying on the South-east, for the purpose of manuring their fields. In this manner they lowered the surface of the beach to such a degree that, in spring tides, the waters of the sound broke over it, and flooded a tract of salt marsh lying between it and the town. Here they were stagnant and soon became offensive. The inhabitants were distressed in great numbers with the bilious remittent and dysen- tery. In the year 1800 they drained the marsh early in the summer. The fish with which the waters had become replenished, died. The bilious remittent again spread over the whole neighborhood. In one instance only has it been fatal, yet it has been very distressing in many. If the work has been efifectually executed, it is probable that hereafter the sickness, so far as it has been derived from this source, will be prevented." From 1639 to 1700 about 328 people died and were buried in Guil- ford; from 1700 to 1750, about 880, from 1750 to 1800 about 2,168, from 1800 to 1850 about 2,786, and from 1850 to 1865 about 680, total 6,942. I ' Travels, II, p. 488. CHAPTER LIII. Colonial Military History. Among the " more fixed Agreements, lawes & Orders " ^ are these " about watching." " It is ordered that, for every distinct acomoda- tion — although by sale, or otherwise, it bee much lesse than it was laid out to the first plantr, or proprietors; yet shall there bee a watch cafyed on by the owner thereof in due course, as other planters doe, excepting only such lotts or acomodations, the owners whereof are freed in their person, either by the Towne, jurisdiction, or Genrall Court." "The charge for the watch" was as follows: "You are, all and each of you, required, by vertue of an Order from the Jurisdiction Genr'll Court, faithfully to perform your trust, as watchmen for this Towne, from this time until half an hour after daylight, in the morning; during all which space without the house in a centinell posture for the discovering of any danger, either from enemies, or by fyre; if by fyre, you are to give notice by discharging two pieces distinctly, & crying fyre; fyre! — if by enemies, discharging three pieces distinctly, crying arme ! arme ! — one of you repairing to the drummer to beat the drum, if you can with safety to the watch; further, if you shall discover any persons whatsoever, walking at unseasonable hours, you shall require of them an account of their way, wch, if they bee not able to give, or bee suspicious persons, or cafy themselves in a disorderly manner, you shall make stay of them until! you call one of your mili- tary officers to examine them further &, if any shall refuse to stand at your commanding them the third time upon their perills, you may discharge at them, if you see them intend to escape, or that you can- not apprehend them any other way with safety to yourselves." ' " If you discover any Indians walking in the time of your watch you are to apprehend them & kepe them in safe custody; if any shall ofTer violence, you may use your armes for defending yourselves & you may call for more helpe, or make alarme if need require." " You ° are to warne the next watch in the time of your watching." ' Town Records, Vol. B, p. i6. ' On Jan. 8, 164S-6, it was forbidden to try guns by shooting at marks, but at one of the appointed places, under penalty of Ss. fine. ' Ordered on June 15, 1649. 4l8 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Guilford had but few alarms and, consequently, it is not surprising to find on October 9, 1645, fines imposed on William Summers " for late coming 2 watches " ; on Thomas Dunk for tardiness and for being " defective in his watch " ; on Richard Guttridge and Goodman Wright for the latter offence ; and on Sander (Alexander) Chalker " for being destitute and careless in his watch in a grosse manner, sleeping in his centrye and loosing his arms." The watch was under the leadership of two sergeants,' who were excused from watching on June 15, 1649, " upon consideration of their service in setting the watch and other military service, &c.'' At the same time, as a special favor, " out of respect and love to Mr. Whit- field," his two sons were excused for a year at his request." Votes were also passed at that time, ordering " all men here inhabiting, at the hearing of an alarm made by the watchmen, suddenly to answer againe, by shooting, and then speedily repaire to the Court of Guard, to assist in such services as may be requisite " ; and except where the owners of allotments were excused from watching, every " distinct acommodation in this plantatio, to find & provide a sufficient watchman, all the turnes & times, yt by due course shall come & be required by the Military officers." The reason of this last ordinance was that, " by reason of the death, or old age of some planters, the removal of others, the burden of watching appears so heavy that the rest of the planters & inhabitants could not comfortably goe under it." On July 6, 1649, ^t a particular court, the case of William Boreman was tried. He was accused of a " miscarriage in reference to watch": the charge being that on July 21, after the sergeant had ordered him to watch, " he went away & said he would not watch, nor did he pro- vide any in his stead to watch that night, whereby much disturbance was occasioned to ye sergeant and rest of the watch." This fault was both confessed and proved and he was fined' therefor; but was ac- quitted for lack of proof on the charge of "absenting himself from Trayning one day about fetching & dressing a deare." The General Court in this year ordered that Guilford provide 6 muskets, and on August 24, 1649, ^ rate of 3d. per acre was laid for their purchase. ' May 22, 1648, JVEr. Chittendine of Guilford was chosen Lieutenant of the Artillery Company of the Jurisdiction of New Haven. ' Aug. 19, 1647, the herdsmen are excused from watching during their service as such, considering they " are often unfit to watch by reason of wet." Repealed May 22, 1648, on account of increase of herdsmen. June 10, 1652, Mr. Jordan chosen treasurer and therefore freed from watching. ' This he had not paid, Sept. 4, 1651, and a distress was granted against him, " if it be not suddenly paid." COLONIAL MILITARY HISTORY. 4I9 A particular court on February 7, 1649-50, tried another military case. Henry Dowd was charged by John Hodley & the Lieutenant ^ & Serg't Jones with " not obeying the lawful coinand of the chiefe officer to give fire on a training day & slighting, or scoffing at ye Sergt, telling him, in a deriding way, w". he was reproved for unmannerly behaviour in sitting before ye chiefe officer w"' his hat on, ' Yes I will reverence you, Serg't,' or wordes to y' effect." The defendant claimed that he failed to fire because he had forgotten his powder and that he so spoke to Sergt. Hodley, because he thought he " did call for such respect and honor to himself &, therefore, he so put off his hat to him & bowed & said, yes I will put off my hat to you, Sergt. He only acknowledgeth yt he was in some heat of spirit; but sees no other evill in his speech or carryage." At Henry Dowd's request the case was postponed to May 4, when he confessed that he was wrong and was let off with a promise to make a like confession publicly on' the next training day. These training days were considered of so much importance that on June 9, 1651, upon complaint of the military officers, "y' sometimes, by reason of the absence of a few of the band of souldyers, it hath hap- pened y' the rest of the body have here been hindered to carry on training to the best befitting in that work, & so causing the rest in great p' to lose their time, it was ordered, y' no person apointed to traine should, after notice given of the day apointed for traineing, should absent themselves by going out of Towne, or otherwise," with- out leave, under penalty of a fine. John Parmelin, Jr., was granted " freedom from watching for one of his lotts," on June 10, 1652, in consideration of beating " the Drumme every night at the setting of the watche," and Mr. Rossiter was given the same privilege since he was " a physitian in practice." In 1652 a general training day for the Jurisdiction of New Haven was proposed, but Guilford voted against it, on June 28, as " too great a change." In 1654 an expedition against the Dutch was proposed by the United Colonies. 133 men was New Haven's proportion, of which Guilford was to furnish 17 and Sergt. George Bartlett was to command them." Thomas Stevens was to be a corporal of the New Haven troops, "but onely for this present service, and that he Pccede no higher in any other office, because he is not a free-man, and that the chiefe military officer be acquainted with it." ° In May, 1656, Guilford and Branford were to furnish a man to be one of four for the crew of a bark " to hinder Ninigret from goeing ' Probably Mr. Chittenden. ' In the troubks with the Dutch in 1653, New Haven voted to furnish four guns, i. e. cannon, for the " friggot, wch lyes at Connecticote," and Guilford was to furnish one of the four. ' II. N. H. Col. Rec. p. 108. 420 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. against the Long Island Indians." At the same time the jurisdiction resolved to raise a troop of horse of i6, of which number four were to come from Guilford and Branford. Guilford is also ordered to provide twelve pikes for her soldiers/ For some years now we hear but little of the guard, but it probably- continued to attend to its duties and, on June i, 1665, "Will: Seward was chosen Captaine of the Guard for the year ensueing and had liberty to choose his men." On July 6 ' the company offices were further filled by the election of George Bartlett as Lieutenant, and Samuel Kitchel as Ensign, and, on August 21, the town stock of ammunition was 140 pounds of powder and 235 pounds of " Lede," which the colony records declare to be not " compleat." To complete it for 68 persons, the number in the guard. Will : Stone is directed to " procure with speed 40 pounds of powder and 300 lb. of Lead." ^ The guard were granted 3s. apiece for a year's service,' on the 7th of June, 1666. On August 14, 1666, persons above 60 years of age were excused from watch when they were only two in a watch. The General Court, in October, 1667, ordered a troop of dragoons to be raised in each county, which order was read in Guilford on April 23, 1668.° On July 2, 1672, the town directed Deacon Fowler and John Grave to join with the townsmen in getting " 'Arter ' Smith of Hartford to come to mend the Town's Arms." These arms were soon to find a use; " for four years later broke out King Philip's War. Town meetings ^ were often held on training days, as the greatest number of men were there present, and, at that time also, did the com- panies choose their officers, which were later confirmed by the Gen- eral Court.' Men were so proud of these offices as to have their mil- itia titles carved on their tomb-stones. In fear of an attack during King Philip's War," the town voted, on March 9, 1676, that there should be two garrisons, one at Rev. Mr. '■ II. N. H. Col. Rec. pp. 171, 173, 174. ' Court of Assistants confirmed John Fowler, Will™ Johnson, & Willm. Seward as Sergeants at the same time. II. Conn. Col. Rec. p. 22. ° II. Conn. Col. Rec. 137, for town stock in 1670. * Sept. IS, 1670, vote repeated and guard to consist of 12 men. Sept. 20, 1669, " the Town condescended to give to the guard a bushel and a peck of pease for their service this year." "Aug. II, 1673, Guilford to furnish 19 of 120 dragoons for New Haven County. 'On Nov. 6, 1671, Thos. Meacock, Daniel Hubbard, & Joseph Dudley were chosen Corporals by the Soldiers. ' II. Conn. Col. Rec. p. 207. ' This information was only necessary for commissioned officers. ° On account of Maj. Andros's expedition to Saybrook in 1675,- the Guilford constable was directed to impress as many men as Capt. Bull, commander at Saybrook, should ask for and send them to him. II. Conn. Col. Rec. p. 370. COLONIAL MILITARY HISTORY. 421 Eliot's, the other at Dea. John Fowler's and Mr. Andrew Leete's, and that all men, from 14 and upwards, should work on the fortifications,* and, by an unanimous vote, it was nobly resolved " that houseing, be- longing to the Town of Guilford, both without and within the fortifica- tions, what damage cometh to them by the enemies, after the fortifica- tions are finished, shall be borne and made good by the Towne in general." On March 13, the townsmen, "'Left' Seward and John Grave were chosen a committee to order the fortifications." Fortu- nately, the tide of Indian invasion rolled to one side and, on December 25, 1678, the town " acquitted the Constable from all that may arise from not keeping watch, till they apprehend more danger appears." Though danger did not threaten the town, yet she was not selfish enough to neglect her sisters and sent soldiers under Major Robert Treat and Mr. John Talcott. To these soldiers,^ anticipating the policy of the United States as to the public land, Guilford granted ten acres of land in the third division. When Sir Edmund Andros came in power the town feared trouble and, on May 21, 1688, voted that the " Guard should stand this year and be paid by the Town, as formerly they were." Another vote and the last passed for nearly a year " em- powered the townsmen to look after the town's bounds and to defend the town rights against any that shall infringe them, and to give letters of attorney, in the Town's name, which shall be of as full power and virtue, as if the Town had done it." Then came the gloomy times of Andros's tyranny and the records are blank, but tradition tells us that the plucky town meant its daring words. Hearing that the charter was concealed at Mr. Andrew Leete's in Guilford, commissioners were sent down from Hartford to search for it. They lodged for the night at the southeast corner of the Green, intending to prosecute their search the next day; but William Seward, the commander of the train band, heard of their arrival and roused them, marshaling his company before their windows. With drawn sword he informed the delegates that their presence was not desired in Guilford and that he was there to escort them out of town. They yielded unwillingly to necessity and were soon outside of Guilford, which sufiEered no more from them. The War of William and Mary made the town resolve, on February 28, 1689-90, to make a fortification about Mr. Eliot's house, beginning on the first Tuesday in March.' A committee of four including the ^ On an Indian alarm, Gov. Leete writes of Guilford, on Aug. 16, 1675, to Gov. Winthrop, " We have our men in readiness." ^ On Nov. 16, 1682, the town voted to pay the expenses of soldiers at Gen'l Training in New Haven on the 6th of the month. ' Stephen Bradley was made Ensign of Dragoons for New Haven County, April, 169a. III. Conn. Col. Rec. p. 21. 422 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. two deacons, was appointed to " be helpful in laying the platform of the fortifications " and another one of four " to order and appoint the work "; while all " that are capable of attending the work " are to " go mutually, hands and teams." The town arms so consisted of three swords and one musket, on July 28, 1692, and the watch was laid down on September 14, 1693. Some time about this period the town showed its predilection for artillery," by getting some great guns, which it voted to have "set upon carriages and fitted for service," on March 8, 1693-4. Concern- ing these cannon the town had a special meeting on June 11, 1697, because Capt. John Prentice and Mr. Fosdick pretended an order to press them and transport them to New London fort. The town, con- sidering the matter, " did vote that they would not part with them, but set them in order for their own defence against the common enemy in convenient time." On December 11, 1739, the town voted that "the 2 Great Guns be cleared & searched & fitted for service & sold for the use of the town." The town stock of ammunition was kept by Capt. Andrew Ward, who received 5s. therefor on March 17, 1703. On April 29, 1703, the " Selectmen were empowered to sell the Town arms — small guns, locks, and swords, and if need be to procure ammunition." On December 11, 1744, the town's stock of powder was directed to be kept in the church attic, but a fear of fire'' probably led to a vote to build a powder house on Col. Sam Hill's lot, on December 17, 1745, which house was not sold until December 14, 1813. On March 7, 1703-4, a watch of three persons nightly was set, in consequence of some alarm; but, with its discontinuance a year later, we hear no more of watches for the present.' As the town grew other train bands were formed. In 1705 East Guilford * had one, in 1708,° the one in the centre was divided, and in 1727 one was established in North Guilford. ' In 1680 the General Assembly advised each town to have a great gun. ^ Dec. 10, 174s, 1st Society asked for its removal. ° Guilford was to furnish 13 men for the expedition against Canada in 1709. Abraham Crittenden was one of them and probably Josiah Stone, for his servant Kerle Smith of Guilford was paid for S weeks, being dismissed at New Haven. V. Conn. Col. Rec. pp. 90, 339, 340. In April, 1725, Guilford is ordered to send 7 men to march to Litchfield for the safety of that town. VI. Conn. Col. Rec. p. 512. * V. Conn. Col. Rec. p. 461. The General Court, in Oct. 1714, heard a petition from four East Guilford men that the officers of their trainband were not " fairly chosen, some persons putting in more votes than one apiece." But the Assembly dismissed the petition and made the complainants pay costs. " Oct. 13, 1710, there were 197 men in the three companies, 57 of whom were of East Guilford. COLONIAL MILITARY HISTORY. 423 In 1745, Col. Andrew Ward of Guilford commanded a company at Louisburg and, in the expedition at Fort William Henry, two compan- ies of Guilford men participated under Capts. Oliver Dudley and Nath- aniel Johnson. General Ward," Dr. Giles Hull, and Colonel Ichabod Scranton also commanded companies of Guilford men in the Second French War; but the only Guilforder, whose individual exploits have come down to us, is the Indian, Picket, who, at the battle of Lake George, found Baron Dieskau, the French general, wounded and carried him a prisoner within the English lines. Although thus made a prisoner, the Baron gave his purse to his captor in gratitude for having saved his life. Picket afterwards had the purse stolen from him.' The peace of Guilford itself remained unbroken from the death of the Pequod chief, who gave Sachem's Head its name, until the Revo- lution. We append to this chapter an interesting muster roll from the old French war. (Endorsement). Men drafted under Capt. N. Johnson in the French War. (On outside). An acct of y« Names of the men Detacht by Oliver Dudley Capt of y« 9 Companty in y« 7th Ridgment Sargt Benjamin fowler * Corpel John Evets Sargt Joel Canfield * Corprel Phileman French Sargt Willm Collins * Corprel Aaron Parmele * Sargt Jonathan Evets * Corprel felix Norton. (Inside). A muster Role of the Men Detacht out of y« 7th Ridgment and put under y« Command of Nath" Johnson Capt of y« 2nd Company in the present Expedition at fort W™ Henry Sergt. Samuel Bartlet " Dan" Chittenden Jnr* Ezra Stone ° Sam" Fitch Jnr* Peter Talmon* David Fowler* Ebenzr Hatch* Aaron Parmele* Sam" Hart* Samll Loper* Jacob Coan* Wm. Collins* * (Repeated on outside) ' He was the son of Col. Andrew Ward and had Mr. Enos Bishop of North Bristol as lieutenant. Col. Ichabod Scranton of East Guilford had Abraham Tyler (afterwards Col. Tyler of Haddam) as lieutenant. ° Many Guilford men died of sickness, though there is no record of any falling in battle. The brothers Benjamin and Zenas Bradley died of dysentery in the Northern Army. Josiah Cruttenden served in Capt. Peleg Redfield's company in 1760. ° Lines have been drawn through these names. 424 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Leut timothy hill Leut Samuel Bartlet Asher Stone* Jared Shepard* Timo Cadwill* John Elliot Wm Starr* Danll Norton felex Norton* Isaac Penfield* John Forsdick* Stephen Savage* Thelus Ward* Jonathll Evarts* Jno Bartlet* Joseph Chidsey Jnr* Charles Falkner* Dan'll Hill Jnr* John Evarts* Benj'^ Fowler Jnr* Joseph Stone* Zetjulon Norton Thos Griswold Jnr* Jared Benton* Mark Spencer* Phinehas Johnson* Luther Chittenden* Asher Seward*" Stephen Chittenden* Nathan Rosseter Sam Bishop Jnr* Philemon French* Samll Field y^ 2^* ♦Stephen Meigs* *Joshua Bishop* Samll Field y« 3** - Sheubell Shelley* Joseph Dudley Abram Bartlet* Jared Leete* Joseph Chittenden Jnr* Thos Calder* Samll Stone* home Sick Amos Hodgkis* Reuben Leete* David Norton Mark Hodgkis* Simon Doolf Dismist Samll Luddentun* Aaron Jones (In another Hand; From Saybrook?) Caleb Chapman Jnr* Joseph Bushnell* Jesse Bushnell* Nathan Post Junr* Daniel Lay Junr* Joseph Carter* Jeremiah Kelcey* Daniel Devall* Reuben Post* Ephraim Kelcey Junr* John Shipman* Nathan Southworth* Moses Baldwin* John Duglas Eleazer Warner* Gideon^ Waterous* Joel Canfield* Zachariah Clark* William Hough* William Reaves^ Dismist Jared Everest' Samuel Waterhouse* (Another Hand Similar to ist.) Zebulon Chittenden* timothy Spencer* ' Lines have been drawn through these names. ' Lines drawn through Christian name. CHAPTER LIV. Guilford and Madison in the Wars with Great Britain. At the beginning of the Revolutionary period, on January i, 1774/ Guilford is reported as having 2846 white inhabitants and a grand list of £35,462.14.7. There were also 61 negroes and 23 Indians in the town, the number of the latter being greater than was found in any other town of New Haven County. The greater part of the population entered heartily into the great struggle for independence and the Tories were a small though troublesome minority. There is no record of the town's taking action on the Stamp Act, and the other early repressive measures, but that this was not from any lack of patriotism is shown by the resolutions passed in regard to the Continental Association. These are so strong and fervid with love of country and hatred of oppression that they are worth reading to-day : " At a full Special Meeting of the Inhabitants of the town of Guil- ford, held December 14, 1774, Col. Andrew Ward, Moderator. The Association of the American Continental Congress being read, together with the Resolves of the Representatives of this Colony thereon: This meeting, taking into serious Consideration the present Melan- cholly & Critical state of their Country, strugling in the cause of " Lib- erty " ^ those precious privileges which are the birthright of every Eng- lishman — Privileges which were so dear to our fathers that they left their native country and, encountering almost every danger and hardship, brought them over to this American land &, thro' the goodness of God, have handed them down as a birthright unto us their children. Sensi- ble that, in the present Critical time. Union is of the greatest Impor- tance, & being convinced that proceedings of the late respectable Con- tinental Congress, together with the Resolves of the House of Repre- sentatives thereon, is the most Rational, wise, & judicious Method to gain redress of Grievances & restore that peace & union between Great Britain & the Colonies, which is so much to be desired & to convince the world that we would not like Esau, for one mess of Pottage, sell our important birthright. This meeting, therefore, agree and Resolve faithfully to adhere to and strictly abide by the Association entered into by the s'd Congress." ' Conn. Col. Rec. XIV. ^ This word was fir$t written and then erased. 426 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The meeting also appointed a committee of seventeen " to see the same in every part carried into Execution," and authorized this com- mittee, " in case it should be thought desirable to have a County or Colony Congress," to select two from their number to represent the town therein. The situation in Boston also occupied the attention of the meeting and Timo. Todd, Esq., Sam'l Brown, Esq., Mr. David Landon, Capt. And. Ward, and Mr. Sam'l Robinson, Jr., were appointed to " Corre- spond with the Committees of other towns or governments & to re- ceive charitable donations for the distressed poor in Boston, who are more immediately suffering in the Common cause & provide for the same being sent to Boston for that purpose." This meeting was felt to be so important that it was voted that its resolves be printed, an unusual thing, as well as " entered on the Public Records." The town was in earnest as to the observance of the Association, as is seen in the case of Capt. Grififin.^ He sailed in the fall of 1774 from Guilford for Martinico in a vessel of Mr. Morgan's of Killingworth (now Clinton). As the ship had 14 sheep in its cargo, it was charged in the Connecticut Journal of February 22, 177S, that he had violated the Association. This charge he denied in the Journal of March 8, 1775, and, on the 23d of the same month called on the Committee of Inspection for Guilford " to clear his character in said aflair," and having convinced it of his innocence, the committee, through David Landon, its clerk, published a card, stating that they " do acquit and recommend him to the favorable acceptance of the publick." ^ Doubt- less other cases, of which no record is preserved, came before the committee. When the alarm of Lexington came there was no hesitation in responding to the call for men. East Guilford sent twenty-three men under Ensign Jehiel Meigs, who was too soon to die of privations in the field. These all served five days, probably till the alarm was over.' From Guilford itself came forty-three men under Capt. Noah Fowler and Ensigns John Hubbard and Stephen Hall. The most of this company served for seven days. For the service of these companies the State paid the selectmen* £140.15.4. At the session of the General Assembly held in the same month," ^ Probably the same as Capt. Griffith (sic), who, Feb. 28, 1777, was permitted to go out of Guilford with a vessel loaded with staves, etc., 5 barrels of pork and beef, including vessel's stores and return with a cargo of salt. Hinman, Rev. War, p. 419. ^ IV. Am. Arch. II, 222. ' Record of Conn. Men in the Revolution, p. 12. * Hinman, Rev. War p. 23. THE WARS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 427 April, 1775, six regiments were ordered to be raised. Andrew Ward was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the ist Regiment (Gen. Wooster's), and Captain of the second company in the Regiment. This company was made up of Guilford men, with Stephen Hall for ist and Jehiel Meigs for 2nd Lieutenant, and Augustus Collins for Ensign, who did not serve and was succeeded by Ebenezer Fowler, Jr. The company had thirty-nine men on its rolls and served until November, 1775. It was stationed at first in Harlem, N. Y., and later along Lakes George and Champlain, together with the rest of the ist Regiment. Its ser- vice was all in the Northern Department, where it assisted in the reduc- tion of St. John's in October, 1775, and was partly stationed at Mon- treal." The only action the. town took in this year was on December 15, 1775, when a committee of inspection of 25 was appointed " to see that the Rules and orders of the Hon. Continental Congress be carried into execution in this town." At the same meeting the committee on correspondence was reappointed, with the substitution of Dr. John Redfield for Mr. Sam'l Robinson, Jr., and it was again authorized, in case of need, to send two or more of its number to a County or Colony Congress. From March 22, to April 18, 1776, Capt. Daniel Hand of Guilford commanded a company " for service in the New York Expedition." This company numbered 102 men and had John Hopson as ist and Augustus Collins as 2nd Lieutenant and Increase Pendleton as En- sign. On May 14, 1776, the Connecticut General Assembly, in answer to a requisition from Continental Congress, voted to raise a regiment to serve a year and Col. Andrew Ward was made its commander. Capt. Jehiel Meigs commanded a company in this regiment and many Guilford men were doubtless enlisted in it, though Timothy Scranton's is the only name which has been preserved. The regiment marched to join Washington in New York in August and was stationed near Fort Lee. It was in the battle of White Plains, then marched to New Jersey and went into winter quarters with the Continental Army. It fought in the battle of Trenton on that memorable winter day, and in the battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777, and then camped with Gen. Washington at Morristown until after the expiration of the term of service." While there, the tradition runs. Col. Ward induced his men, in addition to their own share of the work, to dig trenches which troops from another State refused to do. " Record of Conn. Men in the Revolution, p. 39. ' Record of Conn. Men in the Revolution, p. 109. 428 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. At the expiration of his regiment's term, Col. Ward was made a Brigadier General of Connecticut Militia, which position he held dur- ing the rest of the war. On July 31, 1776, the town of Guilford released the committee of inspection, for some unknown reason, and appointed a new one of 11, of which number 9 had been in the old committee. At the same time the town voted to " countenance, encourage and support the Com- mittee " and also " that the Selectmen are desired to finish the Car- riages which are begun for the Cannon in this place and fit them for service." By this last we see that the people were beginning to put themselves in a posture of defence against the British vessels cruising in the sound. On August 8, 1776, Col. Ward wrote from Guilford the following letter to Gov. Trumbull : " Honoured Sir : — On receiving your Circular Letter yesterday afternoon, the Authority, Selectmen, Committee of Inspection, and Militia officers immediately met to consult what they could do more than they had already done towards promoting further inlistments and were of opinion that there were but two methods which would efifect your purpose: one by a subscription of money in addition to their premium, the other if thirty or forty men would appear to join Capt. Meigs company for a short term of three or four months on the encouragement the State had offered to others in the same regiment. I told them I did not know, but that would procure the men. But Captain Meigs's orders were to inlist for one or two years and whether it would be approved of by Gov. Trumbull or Congress I know not. They desired I would request your Honour (if you thought it worth taking notice of) to give me your opinion. They further purpose the inlisting an Independent company to go and join and do duty in any regiment thought best as matters seemed so pressing at this critical time. They are warm in the glorious cause of liberty and their country and will do everything in their power in compliance with your requi- sition." ' Guilford men formed a company in Capt. Swift's Battalion, which garrisoned Ticonderoga from July to November, 1776. This com- pany was thus officered: Capt. Stephen Hall, ist Lieut. Jehiel Meigs, Jr., 2nd Lieut. Ebenezer Fowler, Jr., and Ensign David Dudley, 3d. After his service here Capt. Jehiel Meigs returned to Col. Ward's Reg- iment and died in December, 1776. For the militia of the State, Guilford, with Saybrook, Killingworth, and Haddam, was in the 7th Regiment and in Cavalry it was in the 1st Light Horse Regiment. ^ Force's American Archives, V, I, p. 858. THE WARS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 429 After Long Island fell into the hands of the British many patriotic men wished to leave and to take as much property as possible with them, thereby to avoid confiscation, and so, on August 28, 1776, the Congress of New York sent a letter from Harlem to the several towns along the shore line, asking them to " assist in removing the stock from Long Island and also the people that were desirous of removing." When this letter was received at Guilford a meeting of the committee of inspection was at once called. At this meeting, on August 31, 1776, the letter from New York was considered and the committee voted to comply with the request, appointing Nathaniel Ruggles, Samuel Brown, the clerk of the committee, Solomon Leete, Nathaniel Stone, and Samuel Lee, Jr., to carry out the task.'' The committee deter- mined to use the sloop Polly, Captain Griffin, of which Samuel Brown was part owner. As a result of this we find the following bill pre- sented on September 30 : " The Honorable Congress of New York to Sam'l Brown, Dr. To five trips of the sloop Polly,' 55 tons burden, from hence to Long Island and back to Guilford, bringing horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, people, household goods, &c., at £20 this currency per trip, iioo. Errours excepted. Samuel Brown." This bill apparently was not sent until November 6, the date of the letter accompanying it; probably on account of the difficulty of communication. It was finally sent by Ezra L'Hommedieu, Esq., who was authorized to receive the payment. In his letter Mr. Brown states that it was impossible to make out an itemized bill and that he thought the sum reasonable, provided he took on himself " the whole charge and damage," which was very great as one anchor of 341 pounds weight was lost by the cable being cut off with rocks, the cable much damaged, and almost the whole of the running rigging worn out, used for halters, and gone; the expense for victualling, drink, and more especially hands' wages running high, as we could hire no otherwise than by the day, and a lighter at 3 shillings per day for shipping cattle the whole time. She is much damaged ° &c." Whether payment was ever made is unknown. In October, 1776, the General Assembly recommended the several towns on the coast " to set up a sufficient military watch and ward, and to order sufficient sentries to be set in all proper places contiguous to the sea or elsewhere." In pursuance of this, Guilford set a watch of 24 men nightly, " divided into 6 sentries," from October 20, to December 20, 1776, and again from March 12 to May 13, 1777, "when they were ' V. Am. Arch. I, p. 1279. ' Captured by the British in 1777. » V. Am, Arch. Ill, p. 5Si- 43° HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. relieved by Captain Sage with a company of militia, who continued with them till the 8th of June following." ^ The town had a long and exposed line of seacoast and was to witness several descents of the enemy. At the December Session of the General Assembly in 1776, a com- mittee was appointed from different parts of the State west of the Con- necticut River to arouse and animate the people, to cherish and propa- gate zeal for the country, and to set on foot enlistments, and Capt. David Landon of Guilford was honored with a place on that com- mittee.'' At the May session of the General Assembly in 1777, Timo- thy Bishop of Guilford obtained £8.6.4, ^^ recompense for expense in caring for his wife, who when away from home in January, 1777, was taken with a fever caused by cleansing the clothes of two prisoners from New York, who were sick with the small-pox, and whom the selectmen of Durham hired her to nurse.' While the breadwinners were in the field, the dependent ones at home were suffering during the cold winter. This the town would not permit and it nobly appointed a committee of ten to provide for sol- diers' families on March 28, 1777. At the same meeting the town voted a " Bounty of £10 ... to each soldier that shall enlist in the Continental Army for 3 years, or during the war " (words of familiar sound in a later war), provided he were an inhabitant of the town, and "to encourage soldiers to enlist in the Continental army," a tax of 6 pence in the pound was laid. At the same time the town voted to have the directions of the act of the General Assembly, passed December 18, 1776, strictly complied" with. This act regulated the prices of a number of enumerated arti- cles and its immediate execution seemed " of the utmost consequence to the Community in general & to this town in particular." Therefore, it was voted that " this town, being fully sensible that it is the duty of every friend to his country to sell and dispose of the articles enumer- ated in the act of the assembly at the prices at which they are therein stated — Therefore, voted, that those of us, who have beyond what we want for our own consumption, will readily and cheerfully sell them either for money or produce at the prices in s'd act stated and that we will esteem all persons, who shall not do the same, enemies to their country and treat them accordingly." This is perhaps as convenient a place as any to sum up the further service of Guilford men in the field.* The old Connecticut Line of the * Hinman, Rev. War, p. 602. " p. 256. ° p. 280. "At the time of Tryon's invasion of New Haven, Capt. Bezaleel Bristol's company marched to the scene of action. The other ofKcers were Lt. Samuel THE WARS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 431 Continental Army was organized into eight regiments in the spring of 1777. The lists are very incomplete as to the residences of the men, but they show twelve men in the 6th Regiment and fourteen in the 7th from Guilford. In the 7th were two Guilford officers: Capt. Stephen Hall and Lieut. Philemon Hall. The 6th Connecticut Regi- ment served mostly along the Hudson at West Point, etc. On July 15, 1779, it assisted in the storming of Stony Point and spent the winter of 1779-80 at Morristown, N. J. It then was transferred back to the Hudson and remained there until it was disbanded in 1781.'' The 7th Regiment also served on the Hudson. It was at the battle of German- town on October 4, 1777, wintered at Valley Forge, fought at Mon- mouth and Stony Point, wintered at Morristown in 1779-80, and was then stationed on the Hudson until disbanded in 1781.^ In Col. Samuel B. Webb's Regiment, afterwards the 0h Connecticut Line, several Guil- ford men served. This regiment was stationed on the Hudson, in Long Island, in Rhode Island, and at Morristown, and was disbanded in 1 78 1, after four years' service.^ Col. Moses Hasen's Regiment, raised at large and known as " Congress Own " and " Canadian," contained several Guilford men. This regiment was at the Brandywine, German- town, Monmouth, and Yorktown.* Guilford men were also found in Col. Lamb's Artillery and in the Regiment of Artificers ° and Rev. Abraham Baldwin, a Guilford man, was Chaplain of the ist or Parsons Brigade, from February i, 1779, when he succeeded Pres. Timothy Dwight,° to 1781, when he was transferred to the 2nd Brigade, where he served until June, 1783. In September, 1781, several Guilford men served in Col. Canfield's Militia Regiment at West Point.' In 1781 the Connecticut Line was reorganized and the Guilford men were put in the 2nd Regiment.' At a second and final reorganization in January, 1783, the Guilford men were still continued in the 2nd Regiment. The names of some twenty of these are known." On April 7, 1777, the town voted to carry one of the town's great guns to East Guilford and, a month later, Guilford was the starting point of one of the most successful raids of the revolution. Enraged at Tryon's invasion and attack on Danbury, Gen. Parsons determined to attempt the destruction of the British deposit of military stores at Sag Harbour, L. I. He employed Col. Return J. Meigs, himself of Pierson and Ensign Daniel Parmelee and the company numbered 60 men, besides 17 who were absent. Record of Conn. Men in the Revolution, p. 551. ' Record of Conn. Men in the Revolution, p. 207ff. ' Ibid. p. 2l7ff. = Ibid. p. 247. * Ibid. p. 261. = Ibid. pp. 285, 289. ° Ibid. pp. 144 and 314. ' Ibid. p. 581. ' Ibid. p. 3I4- ' Ibid. p. 361. 432 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENtJNKATUCK. Guilford stock, to lead the expedition. On May 2i„ 1777, he set out from New Haven with thirteen whale boats. At Guilford, the starting point of the expedition, he obtained re-enforcements and, on the 23d set out from Sachem's Head with 170 men under convoy of two armed sloops. He took another unarmed sloop to carry prisoners and booty. The expedition was most successful. In a little over twenty-four hours he took ninety-six prisoners, without losing a man; travelled ninety miles; destroyed twelve brigs and sloops, one hundred tons of pressed hay, a large quantity of grain, ten hogsheads of rum, and much merchandise, and returned safely to Sachem's Head. For this service Congress voted him a sword.' Singularly enough, the next month saw the first descent of the British on our soil at the place whence Col. Meigs set sail. On June 17 a party from three British ships landed at Sachem's Head and burnt Solomon Leete's house and two barns with their contents. The people were aroused and the enemy " made a short tarry." Mr. Leete had his damage appraised at £522.7.7, which the General Assembly granted him in January, 1778.^ In consequence of this attack, on June 24, 1777, a town meeting voted to apply to the Governor and Council of Safety for a company of soldiers to be stationed in Guilford as a guard. In case that could not be obtained, the civil authority, selectmen, and Gen'l Ward were empowered to hire such a guard as they should deem sufficient, and " the men so hired to be sequestered for that service to be paid out of the town Treasury." A^rrangements were also made for giving notice of any landing of the British. The signals were as follows: If the attack were to the west of Hogstie Point, the alarm should be " the firing of two great guns in the old town, answered by one at E. Guilford and ringing of the bell." If at the east of that point the procedure was just the reverse. An attack at North Guilford was to be announced by the " firing of three small arms and beat of drum at the usual place of parade " ; while at North Bristol there was to be the same procedure, the drum being beaten on the hill by Capt. Hopson's house. These last two pi-ecau- tions were probably designed against Tories. The State did not grant the company of soldiers, but on June 26, 1777, ordered the overseers of the furnace at Salisbury to deliver to the selectmen of Guilford " 100 round 4 pound shot with grape shot in proportion," and the owners of the powder mill at New Haven to 'Dwight's Hist, of Conn. p. 373; Hollister, Hist, of Conn. II, p. 307; "Life of Trumbull," by Stuart, p. 330. ^ Hinman, Rev. War, pp. 114, 127 and 305. THE WARS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 433 deliver 1 50 pounds of cannon powder, which latter Gen. Ward received' shortly afterwards. The town, not being able to get State aid in troops, and fearing especially the carrying off of cattle, many of which were kept near the seashore, enlarged the watch to 60 men and kept it night and day for forty days. Then 30 men were hired for 14 days, until the 5th of August, when a town meeting requested the civil authority and select- men to go on with the watch, which was increased to 40 men and so continued until November 10, 1777, when it was discontinued. The town at the same meeting voted to allow 2s. 6d. to each man watching a night and 4s. to each man watching a day and night. It also re- pealed the ofifer of a bounty and voted to devote the 6 pence tax to the payment of the guard. On January 3, 1778, the town petitioned the State for the payment of £1025.13.4, expended by the town for its watch, which sum was equal to that needed for the service of 51 men for 8 months. The Assembly thereupon voted to pay the selectmen of Guilford " the wages and rations of two lieutenants, 2 sargeants, 4 cor- porals and 43 privates for four months and the rations estimated at 8 pence per ration." ' On September 16, 1777, the town voted to set up saltworks and ap- pointed Thos. Burgis, Nath'l Stone, and Sam'l Lee, Jr., a committee to purchase a sufficient number of kettles for the saltworks at the town's expense. On September 29 and December 23, 1777, others were added to the committee, but the enterprise was not a success, so the works were given up and the apparatus ordered to be sold on December 31, 1777. Even while the works were running, on October 30, 1777, the General Assembly appropriated to Guilford 48 bushels of the State salt at Dartmouth.' On September 29, 1777, the selectmen were " desired to procure arti- cles of clothing for the soldiers in the Continental Army," as requested by Gov. Trumbull's proclamation. The necessities of soldiers and their families constantly occupied the attention of the town. On December 23, 1777, the town treasurer was authorized to pay 2s. 9d. per yard for tent cloth and a new committee of eleven was appointed to care for soldiers' families. This committee was enlarged by the addition of four men on January 5, 1778, and still another member was added on February 10, 1778. The committee was made to consist of 17 at a town meeting on December 11, 1778, and further instructed to provide clothing for soldiers. It undoubtedly ' Hinman, Rev. War, p. 4Si- " Hinman's Rev. War, pp. 315 and 606; Pub. Recs. of the State of Conn. I, pp. 548, 582. ' Hinman, Rev. War, p. 498. 434 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. did much good. On April 12, 1779, Reuben Stone was to be paid by the town treasurer, "in behalf of the Committee to provide for the soldiers, &c., £4. 7s. 6d. for 2 journeys to New Haven and i to Hartford. At the same time the committee was granted for their services 2^/^ per cent of the money paid out. On December 14, 1779, it was voted to continue the then existing committee until January i, but just a week later, on the 21st, a new committee of ten was appointed to which two were added on the 28th. Its number was still further increased by the addition of 8 men on February 14, 1780. How long this committee served is not known and no further mention of it is found on the records. In the campaign against Burgoyne in the fall of 1777, Gen. Andrew Ward commanded the 2nd Brigade of Connecticut Militia, from June until the surrender at Saratoga. Robert Kimberly is the only one from Guilford known to have been at the surrender. He served in Capt. Shipman's Company of Col. Thaddeus Cook's Regiment and was in both actions at Saratoga, being wounded in the breast at the latter one. Capt. Bezaleel Bristol of North Bristol led a militia company from that place in this campaign. He was in Col. Newberry's Regiment, com- manded by Col. Ahiel Pease, and was stationed at Peekskill, serving from October 6, 1777, to December 6, 1777. In this same year Capt. Augustus Collins of North Guilford served in Col. Ely's State Regi- ment.'' Some time after Burgoyne's surrender four men -from his army ° " came to Guilford and were secreted for sometime in the chamber of Samuel Johnson, where they were fed, &c." The tradition was told by Nath'l GrifiRng, Esq., to the late R. D. Smyth on August 24, 1843, and written down by him. " During the night they went down West River, stole a whale boat, and endeavored to get out to sea, for the purpose of going to Long Island. After going some distance down the' river their boat ran aground. They spent the night endeavoring to get off, till morning, when they were taken and brought back to town. They were discovered to be British soldiers and ordered to tell where they had been concealed. For some time they refused, until one Benjamin Stone, a goldsmith, who had a shop near where Mr. M. Bradley's' house now stands, came forward and said he could make them tell. He took them into his shop and put their thumbs into his vice and told ' Record of Conn. Men in the Revolution, pp. 521 and 614. ^ Another lot of British, 29 in number, were captured by the Guilford men and sent to New London in the fall of 1779, and the selectmen successfully petition the Assembly at its January session of 1780 to refund to the town an outlay of ^198.7.6 incurred in this affair (Conn. Rev. Recs. II, p. 491). " Now Miss Lydia D. Chittenden's. THE WARS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 435 them that he would keep them until they told him where they had been concealed. They told him that they would conduct him to the place and took him to Mr. Samuel Johnson's chamber. Soon after the mat- ter of the concealment came before the court at New Haven and Miss Clarissa Johnson, who afterwards was married to the Rev. Ashbel Baldwin, was called forward to testify. Her father told her, as she was to be put under oath, to tell the whole truth and keep nothing back. She did so and admitted that they were concealed by her father, but said that he did not bring them there, but after they were brought there, he helped to conceal them. She admitted that the food for their sustenance, during the concealment, was carried to them by her." The result was a heavy fine, but no further punishment. Another landing by the British occurred in December, 1777, when some unknown damage was suffered by Timothy Shelley to his house and goods at Point of Rocks. On December 31, 1777, a committee of three was appointed to appraise the loss, which they reported on Janu- ^T 5' ^77^! as £5.10.0. The town voted him this amount from its treasury. The town of Guilford, with that sturdy independence characteristic of it, voted on January 5, 1778, to adopt the Articles of Confederation. The Articles were " read in open town meeting " and it was voted " that s'd Articles are approved of and adopted by this town, with this understanding, that the word Pauper in the 4th Article hath refferance to such persons as are maintained at the public expense of any town or State." At the same time the pressure of want was so felt that a committee was appointed " to state the prices of the necessary articles of life " against which vote some one has written on the margin of the old record book the expressive words, " tuf times." This matter of the necessities of life came up only too often; on March 7, 1780, inspectors of provisions are chosen, as they are again on November 13, 1780, when a comm.ittee is appointed to " purchase the several articles of provisions as required by General Assembly." On November 20, 1780, the selectmen are directed "to borrow Money, as they shall need, to procure the provisions and to put them in casks. On December 19, 1780, a committee of supplies is appointed, and on December 12 the town votes to " pay our Committee of Supplies what they have advanced over and above that allowed by the Committee of the Pay Table of this State." ^ On February 13, 1781, the purchasers of provisions were directed to get meat to " fill the town's quota." ^ On Jan. 8, 1781, a tax of 3d. silver was laid for the purpose of getting grain. This was changed to 2d. in Feb. 13. 436 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. On April 9, 1781, the town voted " that each Soldier that shall Inlist into the Town Guard, that will provide himself with Meat for the Sum- mer Season, shall be Repaid in the fall either in Meat or Money, as he shall Choose." On April 16, 1781, a rate of 2d. in the pound was laid " for raising meat for Town Guards," and on June 26, 1781, a rate of 46. silver money in the pound, for getting beef cattle for the State and Continental Armies. This tax was to be paid by July 10. On September 18, 1781, Capt. Peter Vaill and Lieut. Timothy Field were appointed purchasers of provisions for the guard.'' On February 26, 1782, the town votes to " pay the Expences of a Journey to Hartford to settle the Flour tax with the Committee of the Pay Table." On February 24, 1783, the town voted to pay " those People that supplied Capt. Vaill's Guard with Beef." The last minute in regard to this on the records is dated December 20, 1784, and is worded in the following remarkable manner: "Voted that the Pay table Orders that belong to this town be put into the Loan Office, provided they can be put into sd. ofiSce without discount. Voted that the sd. pay-table Orders may be put into the Loan OfiQce with some Discount." For a second time, on February 10, 1778, a bounty of iio is voted for each " able-bodied and effective man that shall enlist into the Con- tinental Army " for 3 years or the war, provided he belong to Guilford, and enlist before March 10. At a town meeting on June 23, 1780, the captains of the several militia companies in the town were requested to make return to the State authorities at once of the men in their commands in the Continental Army, presumably to see if the town's quota were filled. At the same time a bounty of £g "lawful money, in addition to what is already granted by State or Continental," is voted to every able-bodied man to the number of 16, who should enlist before the 29th of June, to serve in the Continental Army till the last of December. This bounty was to be paid in money, or in grain or wheat, at enlistment, at the prices stated by the Act of the General As- sembly. The men enlisting in the town's quota of light horse were to receive the same bounty, for the payment of which the selectmen were instructed to borrow money; while a tax of 2d. in the pound was laid to pay for it. This tax was increased by one of 6d. on November 12, 1780, while on November 20 the additional tax was increased to 8d. On this last date a committee of five were appointed to hire men to enlist in the Continental Army for three years or the war, " on as rea- sonable terms as they can." As in a more recent war it became evi- '- On Feb. 10, 1778, the selectmen are directed to dispose to best advantage of the salt belonging to the town, which was at Bedford. The cause of this vote is unknown. THE WARS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 437 dently more difficult to induce men to enlist, as the conflict dragged its weary length along. On January 8, 1781, a bounty of £10 in provisions was again offered, this time to any able-bodied men, " who enlist into the State Battalion ' raised for the defense of the State for one year," if they should enlist by February i.' This bounty was to be paid one-half in November and the rest at the end of the year. For those up to the number of 25 who should enlist into the Continental Army for 3 years or the war, there was to be a bounty of ii2, " to be paid annually, in addition to that paid by the Governor of the State." Still the town's quota was unfilled and, on February 16, 1781, the town voted to procure able-bodied men to enlist in the State Battalion or Continental Army, for " as reason- able terms as they can, either for hard money, grain, or cattle, or any other Specie." ' Even yet the quota was incomplete and, on March 22, 1781, the town was " divided into 1 1 districts or Classes " to raise the requisite number of men for the State Battalion. At the same time a committee of five was appointed to ascertain the number of soldiers from Guil- ford in the Continental Army, proceeding thither, if necessary, at the town's expense. A year later, on February 28, 1782, Capt. Augustus Collins was appointed for the same purpose and directed to report to the committee that are " to set " in New Haven that week. The last attempt to fill the town's qudta was the appointment of a committee of seven to attend to the matter on March 7, 1782. The matter of a guard for the town came up again on April 13, 1778, when it was voted that the selectmen should apply to the Governor for a company of soldiers to be stationed at Guilford and, acting on the principle that Heaven helps those who help themselves, the town further voted to hire a guard " sufficient for the, safety of the town." In answer to Guilford's petition the General Assembly, on April 26, directed Maj.-Gen. Wadsworth to order the next company raised near by to guard the coast of Guilford.^ This arrangement, probably, lasted some time, for the next reference to the guard is on April 12, 1779, when the selectmen are desired to apply to the Governor to appoint a Lieutenant to enlist a guard for the Guilford coast at State expense. The Assembly consented that a guard,* consisting of a Lieutenant, two ' The only man known to have been hired by Guilford for this service is Henry Bivans, hired April 26, who served in Capt. Nath'l Edwards' Company, Gen. Waterbury's Brigade, guarding coast from Horseneck to New Haven. Record of Conn. Men in the Revolution, p. 568. ^ On March 13, 1781, a rate of 2^d. hard money was voted for raising soldiers. ' Hinman, Rev. War, p. 532. ' On Sept. 29, 1779, Solomon Leete was given the three dozen cartridges and two pounds of powder he had drawn from the town stock. Was he in the guard? Conn. Rev. Recs. II, pp. 235, 282. 438 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. sergeants, two corporals, a drummer, and 24 privates, be raised by voluntary enlistment for the protection of the Guilford coast. The guard was in service until January i, 1780. On May i, 1780, Lt. Samuel Lee, Jr. enlisted his company which served 165 days until October 12. The company numbered twenty- nine men.^ Who composed the guard during the ensuing winter is unknown, but one was doubtless kept, for on February 16, 1781, the selectmen are requested to present the General Assembly a memorial for its increase. On March 22, 1781, it was voted to leave to the discretion of the selectmen whether to send to the Governor and Council for instructions for the guard or not. On April 10, 1781, Capt. Peter Vaill enlisted a company of coast guards, of which Lt. Timothy Field and Ensign Jonathan Todd were the other ofificers.'' The company numbered in all 100 men and served for 8 months and 20 days. It was "posted in squads at dififerent places along the coast, these relieving each other from day to day and concentrating wherever it became necessary." This company was engaged in the most serious encounter with the British which took place on Guilford soil. Leete's Island, the scene of this encounter, had been fortified with a block house by Dea. Pelatiah Leete in 1778, for which service the town voted him 30S. on December 11 of that year. At some later period an at- tempt had been made " by the crew of a whale boat, to do mischief at Leete's Island, but the enemy was repulsed by the guard stationed there, and one of their number being killed, was left dead on the shore." "On the i8th of June, 1781, the enemy, mostly composed of refu- gees, landed under the bank, a little to the southwest of the house occupied by Daniel Leete, and came up, mostly out of sight, until they arrived at the village. The soldiers and men were mostly out of the way. The women, seeing the enemy approach, fled with their children and such efifects as they could to the woods. The soldiers were so near them that they barely had time to escape." ° The hand trunk in which Mrs. Charity Leete, the wife of Daniel, carried her valuables to the woods is still preserved. The British came in two armed brigs and a schooner and landed about 150 men. They set on fire Mr. Daniel Leete's house and barn and the barn of Mr. Ambrose Leete, whose ^ Record of Conn. Men in the Revolution, p. 560. During 1780 the coast of Connecticut was patrolled by three sets of whale boats, one from Stonington to Guilford, a second thence to the Housatonick, a third thence to New York. Stuart's "Trumbull," p. 490. ^ Record of Conn. Men in the Revolution, p. 584. ° Letter of R. D. Smyth to Dr. D. Field, Feb. 11, 1856. THE WARS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 439 thumb was cut off by a British officer as he stood in his doorway. They also set on fire another house which was saved by the speedy arrival of the coast-guard.' " Immediately an alarm was given at town, Capt. Peter Vail and his men ran as rapidly as possible towards Leete's Island. He was on foot. The smoke of the burning buildings rose in clouds. The weather was extremely hot and under the excitement and haste in running, Capt. Vail, whose health seems to have been feeble, became exhausted and the charge of the company devolved on Lieut. Field. The militia arrived at the place while the enemy were setting fire to the buildings. They made a spirited attack. Six or seven of the enemy were shot down at once. They hastily retired to their boats, but rallied to cover their embarkation. During this time several vol- lies were discharged on both sides. Our men fought behind the rocks and the fences. Several collected behind a large rock near the shore. Two men, Mr. Simeon Leete, son of Pelatiah, aged 28, and Mr. Ebe- nezer Hart, son of Thomas, aged about 24, were mortally wounded. Mr. Hart died the same day. Mr. Leete'' survived until the day fol- lowing. As the enemy were retreating, Mr. Daniel Leete shot down a Tory by the name of Benjamin Prescott of New Haven, who, with the other wounded men of the enemy, was carried off to their boats. Prescott subsequently recovered. Capt. Peter Vail injured himself so much by excitement and overheating himself in his haste to arrive at the place of conflict that he immediately went into a decline and died January 30, 1782." " Those sufifering from this attack petitioned the General Assembly three times without any apparent success.* To repel such attacks sloops cruised the sound. One of these bore the name of Guil- ford. Nathaniel Norton of Guilford commanded another of these cruisers, the Norfolk.' The town desired the civil authority and selectmen, on December 25, 1 78 1, to provide suitable guards, after "the Stated Guards' times are out," and to apply to the governor for a guard. The selectmen did not make permanent arrangements, for on February 25, 1782, the town desired them to supply suitable guards until the next town meeting and " to lay a plan for the town guard for the next summer." A little later, on March 7, the town voted to establish a guard of 40 men, one of whom, Bille Stone, was wounded in some skirmish on the 17th of the month.' '■ Conn. Journal, June, 1781. ' His tombstone is visible from the roadside. ' Dwight's Hist', of Conn. p. 398. * Hinman, Rev. War, p. 626. ' Record of Conn. Men in the Revolution, pp. 607 and 628. ° On April 8, 1782, it was voted to give the guard ammunition from the town stock. 44° HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. On the 19th day of May, 1782, occurred the last skirmish on Guil- ford soil and the only one in the limits of the present town of Madison. It " took place on the shore near the east wharf. In opposing the landing of a few of the enemy, Capt Phinehas Meigs was killed by a ball, which passed through his head. Several of the enemy were prob- ably killed; the body of one was left and buried by our people near the scene of action." The brave Capt. Jehiel Meigs, whose death we have previously noted, had married the only daughter of Capt. Phin- ehas Meigs. We may introduce the experience of one Guilford militiaman as typical of the rest. When Timothy Seward ^ applied for a pension on August 16, 1833, he testified that " In the month of January, 1776, I enlisted into the United States service, as a private- soldier, for two months, and was marched to Fairfield, then returned home and then ordered immediately to New York, crossed to Brooklyn and was kept at work on the forts which were erecting and on duty constantly for two months, and was then verbally discharged, I believe by General Sullivan. I was attached to Capt. Noah Fowler's company and Col. Andrew Ward's regiment. " The same year, after the British took New York, the militia com- pany to which I belonged, was drafted and marched directly for New York and we encamped near Fort Washington, from thence we were marched to Valentine's Hill, and from thence to White Plains, where we had an engagement with the enemy and there remained until the company returned to New York. We were then marched 'to North. Castle and were verbally discharged. I belonged to and served in Capt. Samuel Parmelee's company. Tlio. Powers was Lieut., and Dan'l Collens, Ens'n, the regiment was commanded by Col. Worthing- ton and Maj. Graves. Gen. Putnam was there and Gen. Washington, and I well remember seeing Gen. Washington standing in front of the line when the enemy were firing cannon at us. In this tour of duty I served constantly two months and 21 days as a private soldier.^ "In the year 1777, when the British forces were driving up the North River or Hudson, the militia company was again called out and put under command of Capt. Daniel Hand and marched to join our forces. We had proceeded 60 or 70 miles, and hearing of Burgoyne's defeat, we were ordered back again and reached home in 7 days from the day we marched.' " In the year 1779 I was again drafted for 2 months one of the shore 'U. S. Pension Office Records. ' Samuel Hotchkiss and William Parmelee swore they were with him in 1776. ' He states he knows of no living person with him on this expedition. THE WARS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 44I guards and stationed at Sachem's Head Harbour under Command of Phares Leete, officer of the guard, that in consequence of severe cold weather the sound was frozen as far as the eye could reach and, there being no possibility of the enemy's approach, we were discharged, after having served ' one month and 14 days as a private soldier. "When the British were in possession of New York and a project was on foot to retake the place, I entered under Capt. Peter Vail as a private soldier, and was marched on as far as Horseneck, where it was understood that the plan was abandoned and we all returned home, having been in service 14 days. " When the enemy landed at East Haven, I volunteered and went on and served two days. " I was next drafted and served 2 weeks or 14 days as one of the coast guard at a place called Leet's Island, under command of Absa- lom Miner, officer or serg't of the guard. "When the enemy burnt the public stores at Danbury, the militia was called upon and we went on from Guilford to Fairfield and re- turned by way of Redding, in search of Tories. We succeeded in taking 8 or 10 suspicious persons one night. One of them, named Griswold, proved to be a traitor, and was hanged. I was in service at this time as a private soldier, 6 days under command of Capt. Samuel Parmelee." In all he served seven months and 18 days. Previous to the Revolution the taxes in Guilford had always been low, but under the pressure of war, they rose to a great height and, that such taxes could be endured, shows how deeply the people were imbued with a desire for liberty." On December 30, 1776, the rate was set at 2^d. in the pound. This was found insufficient and, in spite of special taxes levied during the year, it was found necessary to raise it, on December 23, 1777, to 8d. in the pound. On December 11, 1778, the rate for the ensuing year was put at I2d. in the pound, or 5 per cent, and on December 21, 1779, the high-water mark was reached when the tax for the following year was put at 5s. in the pound, or 25 per cent of the assessment of property. So many special taxes were laid in 1780, that on December 29 the tax was only 2d. The various things in which it might be paid shows how nearly our ancestors had come to barter. These are : " Wheat 6s., Meslin 5s., Rye 4s., Indian ' Medad Dudley swore he was with him in the guard. "The town, on Sept. 10, 1783, voted to send two men to represent it at the convention proposed to be held at Middletown "to consider what ought to be done upon the subject of Commutation, in order to some Constitutional mode of redress." These delegates were discontinued on April 26, 1784. 442 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Com 3s., Sheep's wool is. gd. per lb., Fresh Pork from 5 to 7 score 3^d., from 7 to 10 score 4d., all above 4 score 4j/^d. per lb., good salt pork with bone at 7d. per lb., stall fed beef 3>4d., Grass fed beef 2%d., salt beef 3>4d., Fresh and Salt Mutton same, Good cheese till June ist 6d. per lb.. Butter till May ist lod.. Flax pd., Low Cloth yard width ^, Wheat flour 24s. per Hundred Gross wt.. Rye flour i6s., Indian Corn 4s. per bushel, and all other Articles that the selectmen & Committee of supplies shall find Necessary for the support of the Town's Poor or Soldier's Families." All Guilford men, however, were not patriotic and the Tories often sorely vexed the good people. Here, as often happened, the Protest- ant Episcopal Church, or as it was then called, the Church of England, contained most of the Loyalists. On January 30, 1767, the Rev. Bela Hubbard wrote from Guilford of his parishioners of Christ Church: " In particular, during the late stir about the Stamp duty, they pre- served a loyal & dutiful regard to his Majesty's imposition."^ The records show no sign of Tories until 1781, unless James Bishop, 2nd, be one. He had a fine remitted on April 13, 1778, for neglecting to march with the militia in the preceding October.'' On July 11, 1781, Daniel Sherman, Benj'n Hinman and Increase Moseley, a committee appointed by the General Assembly in November, 1780, " to examine such persons as the Civil Authority and selectmen of any town should judge to be inimical persons," came to Guilford, at the request of the authority and selectmen. Judge Nathaniel Griffing told the Hon. R. D. Smyth in after years that he remembered this visit and the exami- nation of witnesses to prove the reputation of those men, whose names were given to the committee. The committee cited a number of men to appear at the townhouse and, after examination, directed twenty of them to be recorded in the town clerk's office " as Inimical and dan- gerous persons, agreeable to an Act more effectually to prevent Rob- beries and plunders from our open and secret enemies." The men so entered were: Andrew Fowler, Nathaniel Johnson, Jr., Thomas Cald- well, Abraham Stone, Henry Bartlett, Ezra Stone, George Bartlett, Mark Spencer, Simeon Parmelee, Timothy Fowler, Nehemiah Gris- wold, Dg.vid Fowler, Eber Stone, John Fowler, Samuel Johnson, Caleb Benton, Jr., James Stone, Abraham Hubbard, Jesse Bishop, Andrew Leete. This minute was not entered in its proper place in the records, but on a fly leaf. As the passions of war times died away, the town nobly voted, on April 12, 1790, that the doings of this committee, " directing the names of sundry inhabitants of this town to be entered ^ Epis. Ch. Docs. Conn. Vol. II, p. 106. ' Probably in Capt. Bezaleel Bristol's Company. THE WARS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 443 & Recorded in the Records as inimical to the Hberties of this & and the United States of America, be Expunged from the records of this town and that s'd doings and s'd Enrolment no longer form any part of the Records of this town." In the same spirit of pardon the town granted Andrew Fowler's petition on December 27, 1784. He, " dur- ing the late war, differed from the Generality of the Town in his opin- ion respecting the Equity of the same, and has refused to pay an active obedience to the Military Institution, by which means he has been subjected to a number of fines, which are now called for, and your memorialist concludes to pay passive obedience to the town so long as he shall abide in it." Therefore he begged to have a remission of the fines which had been imposed upon him " for not appearing upon the place of parade," and his prayer was granted. A like action was taken on December 27, 1796, when the selectmen were " directed to defray the Notes given to the Town iTreas'r by Chas. Collins, Thos. Caldwell, Simeon Parmele, Amos Hotchkiss, and John Crumbly, for their Refusing to March when they were Draughted in the late War." Illicit trade, carried on by Tories, caused great trouble and, on December 25, 1781, the Town voted that they would " mutually En- deavor to detect, suppress, and stop the Illicit trade with our Enemies & will endeavor to assist and encourage and protect the Authority or any person or persons, who shall have exerted themselves in any lawful way to prevent the same, esteeming our greatest danger to arise from that quarter." The special charge of preventing this trafiSc fell on that ardent patriot, Capt. Samuel Lee, whom we have mentioned as Lieut- enant of Coast Guards. He was a remarkable man, much given to discussing Biblical subjects and to writing his opinion on points of doctrine. He was prompt and energetic in dealing with Tories, and in many respects was a typical Puritan. The alarm gun was kept in front of his house on State St., now owned and occupied by John Starr. Lead was brought there to be moulded into bullets and confiscated goods were kept in his house and in that of Mr. Jared Bishop, who lived further up the street. For this purpose Mr. Bishop used his attic, and Capt. Lee the bed-room in the west end of his house. Capt. Lee's wife, Agnes, daughter of Azariah Dickinson, was as brave as her husband. The tradition has it that one night, probably in 1779, when Capt. Lee was not at home, there came a knock at the door. Mrs. Lee would not open it and a party of men burst it open and came in. Three times they blew out the candle she held, which each time she relighted at the open fire. They told her they had come for their goods, which had been confiscated. She stepped before the 444 HISTORY OF SHE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. door of the room where they were kept and said, they could only pass over her body. At this moment Levi Lee, her husband's younger brother, a famous fifer of the time, came in with a gun and, seizing another gun, she said "I can load as fast as you can fire." He fired once and the ball lodged in the side of the window and the Tories retreated. He heard voices outside and fired again, a groan was heard and a North Guilford Tory was confined to his house with rheu- matism for a long time thereafter. Capt. Lee also was engaged in smuggling goods past the vigilant British cruisers and kept buttons, strings, &c., behind the bed in his sleeping room. Once, when the house was threatened with an un- friendly search, Mrs. Lee put laces, &c., into a pot on the fire and thus saved them. She was also brave enough to fire the alarm gun with a coal from the hearth on one occasion when the men were away. The hatred of the Tories for Capt. Lee and his family was intense. At the marriage of his daughter, Rebecca, to Timothy Seward, they cut the dresses of the ladies and put cords across the road to trip the wedding guests. When Capt. Lee was away from town a watch was customarily set to save the house from malicious attacks by the Tories. The barn of Mr. Jared Bishop was burned by Tories and Capt. Lee's was threatened, but was actually destroyed by being struck by light- ning. On this occasion Mrs. Lee again showed her heroism by going up into the attic, where ammunition 'Was stored, and shutting the win- dow that sparks might not get in — a thing no man there had dared to do.' A letter written by the justices of the peace and selectmen to Guil- ford's representatives in the General Assembly, on January 27, 1783, is of considerable interest.^ From it we learn that "public affairs are truly deplorable and very alarming. The malevolence of our internal enemies, as we fully believe has proceeded so far as to burn the barn of Mr. David Bishop last Friday night, and it was owing to a kind provi- dence (the wind being westerly) that several houses escaped the confla- gration. You will be at no loss what made him the object of their revenge." They say that "this shocking affair has so alarmed the town that we think ourselves not safe without night guards," and ask that the State do something for their relief. The coming and going of the Long Island people and their residence in Guilford at their pleas- ure without being liable to any punishment for illicit trade is also a cause of difficulty as it greatly promotes such trade. '■ Assistance in this sketch has been found in a paper on " Traditions of the Comfort Starr House," by Miss Lay, read before the Halleck Circle in 1889, and from conversation with Miss Achsa Seward, daughter of Timothy. ^ It is in the possession of the Conn. Hist. Soc. THE WARS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 445 The representatives are also told that the law directs the selectmen to hale up and secure river craft, but makes no provision for guarding them, and for condemning whaleboats, but says nothing of their sale when condemned. To supply these omissions in the law the represen- tatives are requested to have provision made. The letter shows us the town trembling for fear of incendiary fires and anxious to repress the illicit trade with Long Island, and gives us an insight into the anxious care exercised by the local authorities. About twenty-five Guilford men died in the Revolution from wounds, sickness, exposure, camp diseases, &c. After the Revolution Guilford furnished at least three representatives to the Connecticut State Society of the Cincinnati. These were Lt. Philemon Hall, Lt. John Hall, and Amos Hall,' by right of his father Capt. Stephen Hall, who died April 25, 1783. The Guilford Revolutionary soldiers survived so long that in 1840 the census found in Guilford 9 Revolutionary soldiers and 3 of their widows, and in Madison 10 Revolutionary soldiers.^ Guilford citizens who died during the war on account of service. Timothy Barnes (died at Danbury), aged 32. David Field, son of David, aged 48. William Fairchild, son of Lewis (died in prison at New York), aged 17 Aaron Evarts, Jr., son of Aaron. William Dudley, son of Andrew, aged 35. Lewis Fairchild, son of Lewis (died in prison), captured at Danbury, aged 19. Joseph Hotchkin, son of Thomas, 6th Conn. Line, Col. Humphrey, May 26, 1777, disc. July I, 1778, aged 17'. Ebenezer Hart (killed at Leete's Island), aged 24. James Hall, son of Eliphalet (prison ship), aged 28. Eber Hall, son of Hiland, Sept. 2 to Dec. 31, 1781, in 4th Conn. Line, aged 41. " Record of Conn. Men in Revolution, p. 375. ' Revolutionary Pensioners in 1840 and their ages. Guilford. John Stone, 80. James Davis, 75. Jerry Scranton, 84. Medad Potter, 84. Nathan Chittenden, 82. John Coan, 77. Abraham Chittenden, 79. Jared Dudley, 83. Timothy Seward, 86. Madison. Gilead Bradley, 83. Abraham Hill, 77. Timothy Grave, 81. Vial Richmond, 76. Jeflfrey Smith, 78. Morris Jones, 85. Jonathan Lee, 78. Noah Benton, 77. Sam'l Foster, 85. Timothy Scranton, 88. 446 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Abner Leete, son of Roland, aged 23. Timothy Ludington (killed at New Haven, July 5, 1779, by cannon ball). Simeon Leete, son of Peletiah (killed at Leete's Island), aged 26. Seth Morse, son of John (died at Ft. George), aged 26. Capt. Jehiel Meigs, son of Jehiel (died in camp), aged 33. Capt. Phinehas Meigs, son of John (killed at East Guilford), aged 73. Bridgman Murray, son of Jonathan, aged 20. Wait Munger, son of John, aged 49. Bethel Nichols (killed in action, July 11, 1779). Bela Stone, son of Daniel, aged 18. Samuel Stevens, son of Nathaniel (died at Ticonderoga), aged 22. Abel Saxton, son of Simeon, aged 20. William Sabine (shot at Leete's Island). Daniel Stone, son of Daniel (died in the Jerseys), in Benedict's Co., Bradley's Regt., June 21, 1776. Taken at Ft. Washington, aged 40. Joy Ward, son of Peter, aged 40. Samuel Ward, son of Thelus, (died in army at Boston) aged 17. We append lists of Guilford revolutionary soldiers so far as known and not heretofore mentioned/ Guilford Volunteers after Lexington. Guilford. Capt, Noah Fowler served 6 days. Private Benj. Crampton, Jr. served 7 days. Ensign John Hubbard " 5 " " Eber Hall " 7 Stephen Hall " 12 " " Luther Dudley 7 Serg't David Dudley " 7 " " Samuel Stevens " 7 Private Levi Lee " 42 " " Thomas Fowler " 7 " Ebenezer Fowler " 42 " " Simeon Chittenden " 7 " Nathaniel Dudley " 42 " " Timothy Rosseter " 7 " Zebulon Benton " 42 " " Simeon Leete " 7 " John Harris " 42 " " Thomas Wheeler " 7 " Stephen Wheaden " 42 " " Philemon French " 7 Samuel Ackley " 36 " " Seth Cruttenden " 7 7 7 Nathaniel Parmelee " 16 " " Elnathan Norton " 7 7 Daniel Adkins " 36 " " John Johnson, Jr. Eber Dudley " 19 " " John Donnell David Morse " 16 " " Henry Norton Solomon Stone " 9 " ■■ Pitman Collins " 7 4 Augustus Collins " 7 " " Thalmeno Bishop " 4 4 4 4 4 Medad Stone " 9 " " Seth Morse Augustus Colhns " 7 " " Thalmeno B Beriah Norton " 7 " " Caleb Munger James Bishop " 7 " " David Dudley David Landon " 7 " " Timothy Benton Ebenezer Bragg " 7 " " Simeon Parmelee " Daniel Norton, Jr. " 7 " " Luther Bishop " 3 East Guilford. Ensign Jehiel Meigs, Sergt. Timothy Hull, Jr. Sergt. Ebenezer Graves, Jr. Doctor Isaac Knight, ^ This list is mainly taken from " Record of Conn. Soldiers in the Revo- lutionary War," pubHshed by the State. GUILFORD VOLUNTEERS AFTER LEXINGTON. 447 Sergt. Daniel Meigs, Sergt. Timothy Field, Sergt. Ambrose Evarts, Corp. Amaziah Evarts, Private James Hunger, Private Timothy Wilcox, Jr. Private Eli Grave, Private Timothy Doud, Private Tosiah Munger, Private Elisha Bartlett, 2nd Co., 1st Regiment. Capt. and Lt.-Col. Andrew Ward (com. May i, disc. Dec, 1775, re- ent. 1776). 1st Lt. Stephen Hall (com. May i, disc. Dec. 1775, re-ent. 1776). 2nd Lt. Jehiel Meigs, Jr. (com. May I, disc. Dec. 1775, re-ent. 1776). Ensign Augustus Collins (did not serve). Ensign Ebenezer Fowler, Jr. Sergt. Wm. Fowler (disc. Nov. 20, I77S)- Corp. Eber Hall (disc. Nov. 20, 1775). Privates discharged Oct. 17, 1775. Barnabus Mackery, Johnson Bishop, William Willary, Nath. Parmerly. Discharged Nov. 16, 1775. Luke Field, Timothy Field. Discharged Nov. 20, 1775. Joel Norton, Elnathan Norton, Reuben Rowlandson, James Ned. Griffin, Thomas Bibbins, Amos Parmerley, Private Seth Stone, Sergt.. Nathaniel Lee, Private David Hoyt, Private Salmon Cruttenden, Private David Grave, Private Samuel Hoit, Private Reuben Hill, Private James Hart, Private Jonathan Judd, Private Benjamin Cusjoy. (Gen. Wooster's.) 1775. John Mees, Benjamin Chrisjoy, William Murry, Richard Deck. Discharged Nov. 28, 1775. Philemon Hall, Stephen Wheaden, Ebenezer Bragg, Gilbert Crittenden, Levi Lee, Moses Hill, Moses Doud, Reuben Doud, Lyman Munger, Nathan Meigs, Henry Norton, Zebulon Crittenden, Samuel Handee, Reuben Shelly, Soto Cornelius, John Harriss, Jared Crittenden, Thalmeno Bishop, Asa Hotchkiss. Discharged Jan. 8, 1776. John Meeker, John Walker. Capt. Hand's Company. Capt. Daniel Hand, 1st Lt. John Hopson, 2nd Lt. Augustus Collins, Ensign Increase Pendleton, Sergt. Samuel Loper, Sergt. Dan. Collins, Sergt. William Starr, Sergt. Timothy Hill, Clerk Thomas Hodgkin, Corp. Aaron Stone, Col. Talcott's Regiment. 1776. Private Samuel Crittenden, Private Thomas Griswold, Private Thomas Lee, Private Luther Evarts, Private Thomas Dudley, Private Phinehas Parmelee, Private Nathan Willcox, Private Gilbert Grave, Private Thomas Willard, Private Zachariah Doud, 448 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Corp. Eber Stone, Corp. David Seward, Corp. Didymus Dowd, Drummer Nathaniel Allis, Drummer Zadoc Griswold, Fifer Jed. Cruttenden, Fifer Stephen Wheeden, Private Jesse Murray, Private Reuben Norton, Private Gilead Bradley, Private Timothy Grave, Private Benjamin Scranton, Private Thomas Coe, Private Luke Field, Private Elihu Bragg, Private William Bailie, Private Seymor Murrey, Private James Hill, Private Ichabod Hand, Private John Adkins, Private William Morse, Private Jairus Chittenden, Private Eber Hall, Private Ambrose Dudley, Private William Griffing, Private Mulford Cone, Private Amos Dudley, Private Zebulon Cruttenden, Private Andrew L. Stone, Private David Evarts, Private Asa Saxton, Private Nathan Cruttenden, Private Beriah Hotchkin, Private Nathan Benton, Private Elon Lee, Private Ebenezer Hart, Private John Cadwall, Private Joseph Bartlett, Private Levi Stone, Private Miles Johnson, Private Nathaniel Johnson, Private Nathaniel Fowler, Private Pharez Leete, Private Samuel Scranton, Private William Ford, Private Lyman Munger, Private Leverett Bishop, Private Luman Grave, Private Nathan Dudley, Private Josiah Crampton, Private Job Doud, Private James Hall, Private Benjamin Hall, Private Samuel Hotchkin, Private Daniel Scovil, Private David Morse, Private Joel Parmelee, Private Nathaniel Vial, Private William Wyllisee, Private Ira Hotchkin, Private Nathan Meigs, Private Abraham Cruttenden, Private Jared Chittenden, Private David Field, Private John Crumbly, Private Henry Norton, Private Torry Scranton, Private Elias Willard, Private Solomon Leete, disc. March 29, 1776. Private Theophilus Fowler, disc. March 29, 1776. Private Jared Norton, Private Lumus Parmelee, Private Samuel R. Griffing, Private Nathan Chidsey, Private Jeremiah Doud, Private Caleb Fowler, Private Jared Dudley, Private Samuel Fitch, Private Seth Stone, Private John Leete, Private John Scranton, Private David Lewis, Private Noah Scranton, Private David Hoit, Private William Handy, Private Anson Fairchild, CONNECTICUT LINE. 6th Regiment. Ely's Company. Enlisted for war. Sergt. David Thompson,^ Jan. 25, 1777. Private Jehiel Dowd (dis. Dec. i, 1780; rejoined Jan. i, 1781), May 5, 1777. GUILFORD VOLUNTEERS AFTER LEXINGTON. 449 Humphrey's Company. Sergt. Edward Benton (trans, to Invalid Corps, April 6, 1781), April 10, 1777. Private Isaiah Atkins (Corp. Feb. i, 1781), April 6, 1777. Private Chandler Benton/ April 10, 1777. Private Moses Dowd (dis. April 23, 1781), May 20, 1777. Private Isaac Johnson (transferred to ist Regt. Aug. i, 1781), May 8, 1777. Private Bethel Nichols (killed in action, July 11, 1779), Dec. 18, 1776. Private Timothy Scranton, April 10, 1777. Private Timothy Stevens (ist Muster, May, 1778), . Private Thomas Wheeler' (Corp. Jan. i, 1781), April 10, 1777. Private Benjamin Waterous, May 9, 1778. 7th Regiment, Conn. Line. Capt. Stephen Hall, com. Jan. i, 1777; ret. by consolidation Jan. i, 1781; died Dec. 25, 1783. Capt. Noah Fowler, 1777, served until 1782, when he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel Commandant of the 28th Militia Regiment. Lt. Philemon Hall, com. Ensign Jan. i, 1777, 2nd Lt. March 10, 1778, ist Lt. March 12, 1780 (appointed July 17) deranged by resolution of Congress, Aug. 18, 1782. Ret. by consolidation Jan. i, 1783. Lt. Samuel Lee, May, 1778 (Conn. Rev. Recs. II, p. 28). Timothy Field was lieutenant in this regiment in 1780. Sergt. Samuel Handy, for war. May 24, 1777, Q. M. Sergt. July, 1780. Sergt. John Strong, for war, May 19, 1777; disc. Mar. i, 1780. Corp. Jonathan Arnpld,' 3 years, April 21, 1777; Serg. July 10, 1780. Corp. Nathan Meigs,' for war. May 24, 1777; Serg. July 10, 1780. Private Solomon I)owd,' for war. May 22, 1777 (Stevens Co.). Private Thomas Hall," for war. May 20, 1777; Corp. Sept. i, 1780. Private William Handy, 8 mos., April 22, 1777 (Hall's Co.); disc. Jan. 9, 1778. Private Ambrose Norton,' for war. May 28, 1777; Corp. July 10, 1780. Private Rufus Norton,' for war, March 8, 1777; Corp. April i, 1778; Sergt. July 10, 1780. Private Elon Norton,' for war, March 29, 1777; Corp. July 4, 1781. Private Cuff Nigar, for war. May 10, 1777. Private William Stone, for war, June 8, 1777; disc. June 8, 1780. Coll. S. B. Webb's Regiment, 9th Conn. Line. Wyllys's Company. Corp. Bela Scovil, enlisted for war, April i, 1777; Sergt. May 16, 1780. Whiting's Company. Private Ebenezer Hoadley, enlisted for war, April i, 1777. Watson's Company. Private Benjamin Kircum, enlisted for war, April i, 1777. Col. Moses Hazen's Regiment. Capt. Jeremiah Parmelee's Company. Sergt. James Ward, enlisted Jan. i, 1777; served to end of war. ■"IttCorp. Samuel Ackley, enlisted Jan. i, 1777; disc. Jan. i, 1780. Col. Lamb's Artillery. Corp. Jared Crittenden, enlisted April 8, 1777; Bombardier June 28, 1779. Gunner Zebulon Benton, enlisted May 22; no record of discharge; served in 1781. ' These were in the 2nd Regiment on Feb. i, 1783. 450 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Regriment of Artificers. Capt. Painter's Company. Private Ichabod Hill, for 3 years, I^'eb. 11, 1777; E. Guilford. Private William Handy, for war, Feb. 9, 1778; E. Guilford. Private Luther Parmely, for war, Feb. g, 1778; Guilford. Capt. Sizer's Company. Private Amasa Murry, for 3 years, Feb. 11, 1778. Private Bela Hunger, for 3 years, Feb. 8, 1778. Private Stephen Murry, for 3 years, Feb. 11, 1778. Private Benjamin Wright, for 3 years, Feb. 16, "1778. Private Timothy Wilcox, for 3 years, Feb. 11, 1778. 2nd Conn. Line Regiment. Capt. Comstock's Company. Corp. Thalmeno Bishop, for war, April 19, 1779. Capt. Humphrey's Company. Private William Bailey, May 26, 1777, for war. Capt. Potter's Company. Sergt. Amos Hall, Feb. 6, 1777, for war. Private Ira Atkins, March 9, 1781, for 3 years. Private George Ranney, March 30, 1777, for war. Capt. Chapman's Company. Private Sharp Rogers, enlisted May, 1777, for war. Capt. Kimberley's Company. Private Gad Asher, May 20, 1777, for war. Private Bartlett Rowlinson, March 9, 1780, for 3 years Capt. Bezaleel Bristol's Militia Company. 1777. Capt. Bezaleel Bristol, Private Josiah Griswold, Lt. Elias Graves, Private Elnathan Hurd, Ensign Richard Johnson, Private Stephen Utter, Sergt. Simon Hough, Private David B. Pratt, Sergt. Allen Leete, Private Stephen Stone, Corp. Samuel Tyler, Private Amos Leete, Corp. Daniel Clark, Private John Evarts Stone, Private Stephen Murry, Private Miles Johnson, Private Bill Chittenden, Private Timothy Lee, Private Joseph Carter, Private Thomas Coe, Private Josiah Wolcott, Private Aaron Norton, Private Samuel Chapman, Private Lewis Smith, Private William Jones, Private Ezra Shalor, Private Phineas Dudley, Private James Comstock, Private Josiah Graves, Private Noah Scranton (dis. Oct. 18). Private Simeon Brooks, Private Daniel Chalker (dis. Oct. 22). 1779. Capt. Bezaleel Bristol, Private Carter Kelsey, Lt. Samuel Pierson, - Private Elisha Kelsey, Ensign Daniel Parmelee, Private Bani Kelsey, Sergt. Noah Hill, Private Stephen Kelsey, GUILFORD VOLUNTEERS AFTER LEXINGTON. 451 Sergt. Joel Parmelee, Sergt. Jeremiah Kelsey, Sergt. Abraham Pierson, Sergt. Bela Buel, Corp. Ebenezer Wilcox, Corp. Aaron Clark, Corp. Isaac Kelsey, Drummer John Parmelee, Fifer Eliel Isbel, Private Jeremiah Buel, Private Gurden Buel, Private Jonathan Chatfield, Private Elisha Crane, Jr. Private Ebenezer Crane, Private Phinehas Dudley, Private Jehiel Evarts, Jr., Private John Evarts, Private Joel Evarts, Private Ebenezer French, Private Ebenezer Griswold, Private Joel Griswold, Private Nathaniel Griswold, Private Abner Graves, Private Phinehas Graves, Private Roswell Hull, Private Levi Hull, Private Gornen (?) Isbel, Drummer Elias Isbel, Private Solomon Davis, Jr. Private Josiah Davis, Private Ebenezer Davis, Private James Davis, Private Miles Dudley, Private Asa Stevens, Private Giles Parmelee, Private Samuel Crittenden, Private Roswell Dudley, Private Reuben Kelsey, Private John Lane, Jr. Private Jabesh Lane, Private Joseph Lane, Jr. Private Bartholomew Merit, Private John Nettleton, Private Abner Nettleton, Private William Nettleton, Private Abner Ward, Private Thomas Wilkeson, Private Elisha White, Private Asahel Parmelee, Private Hiel Parmelee, Private Bani Parmelee, Private Ezra Porter, Private Constant Redfield, Private Peleg Redfield, Private Seth Redfield, Private John Rutley, Private Samuel Steven, Jr. Private Jedidiah Storrs, Jr. Private Elijah Willcox, Jr. Private Abel' Willcox, Private Nathan Willcox, Jr. Private Josiah Willcox, Private Joseph Griswold. Absent. Private Moses Griswold, Private Josiah Graves, Private Samuel Parmelee, Private Nathan Pierson, Private Jeremiah Redfield, Private Joseph Willcox, Private Joel Willcox. N. B. — Moses Kelsey and Joel Kel- sey ye 2d came in after the roll was called. Col. Canfield's Militia Regiment. 1781. Levi Chittenden, Reuben Johnson, Isaac Parmelee, Simeon Saxton. Ichabod Fields, COAST GUARDS. Enlisted. Served. Lt. Samuel Lee May i, 1780. i6s days. Sergt. Timothy Todd May 15, 1780. 150 days. Sergt. Levi Lee May 10, 1780. 155 days. Corp. Daniel Handy June S, 1780. 130 days. Corp. Jedihiah Griswold '. May 15, 1780. 150 days. 452 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Enlisted. Served. Private William Barker May lo, 1780. iS5 days. Corp. Jedediah Griswold May 15, 1780- ISO days. Private Blachley May 15, 1780. 150 days. Private Abraham Blachley May 15, 1780. 150 days. Private Nathan Willcox May iS, 1780. 150 days. Private ra Willcox May 15, 1780. 150 days. Private John Henderson, Jr May 15, 1780. 150 days. Private Harvey Leete May 18, 1780. 147 days. Private Elijah Leete May 18, 1780. 147 days. Private Solomon Leete May 23, 1780. 142 days. Private James Davis May 24, 1780. 141 days. Private Thomas Hart, Jr May 24, 1780. 141 days. Private Jonathan Bishop May 26, 1780. 141 days. Private Nathan Cruttenden May 26, 1780. 139 days. Private Ebenezer Hotchkin, Jr May 27, 1780. 138 days. Private Peter Vaill May 27, 1780. 138 days. Private Daniel Dibble May 27, 1780. 138 days. Private ee Griffing May 29, 1780. 137 days. Private dman Shelley May 30, 1780. 136 days. Private Shubal Shelley May 31, 1780. 135 days. Private Joseph Evarts June 2, 1780. 133 days. Private Absalom Leete June 3, 1780. 132 days. Private James Bradley June S, 1780. 130 days. Private James Scott June 5, 1780. 130 days. Private Samuel Cruttenden June $,. 1780. 130 days. Capt. Peter Vaill April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Lt. Timothy Field April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Ensign Jonathan Todd April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Sergt. Wilmot Goldsmith April 14, 1781. 8 mos. 16 days. Sergt. Reuben Parmelee April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Sergt. Daniel Meigs April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Sergt. David Morse April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Corp. Absalom Miner April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Corp. Timothy Graves April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Corp. Asahel Crampton April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Corp. Pharez Leete April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Drummer Luman Graves April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Fifer Levi Lee May 8, 1781. 7 mos. 23 days. Private Charles Falkner April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Private James Davis April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Private Daniel Dibble April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Private Solomon Leete April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Private Elijah Leete April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Private Joel Morton April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Private William Norton April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Private Shubal Shelley April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Private James Davis, Jr. (substitute for John Leete) April ID, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Private Oliver Blatchley April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. Private Hamilton Bishop April 10, 1781. 8 mos. 20 days. GUILFORD VOLUNTEERS AFTER LEXINGTON. 453 Enlisted. Private Jonathan Crampton April lo, 1781. Private John Grave April 10, 1781. Private Milton Grave April 10, 1781. Private Jedediah Griswold April 10, 1781. Private Daniel Hill April 10, 1781. Private Edmund Hand April 10, 1781. Private Ichabod Hand April 10, 1781. Private AEraham Hill April 10, 1781. Private Ezra Grave April 10, 1781. Private Elias Meigs April 10, 1781. Private Theo. Niger April 10, 1781. Private Abraham Scranton April lo, 1781. Private Elijah Stanard April 10, 1781. Private Andrew Stone April 10, 1781. Private Seth Stone April 10, 1781. Private Matthew Wilcox April 10, 1781. Private Joseph Wilcox April 10, 1781. Private Elijah Wilcox April 10, 1781. Private Timothy Wilcox April 10, 1781. Private Samuel Wilcox April 10, 1781. Private Elizur Willard April 10, 1781. Private Timothy Dudley April 13, 1781. Private Timothy Lee April 15, 1781. Private Jonathan Lee April 15, 1781. Private Nathaniel Crampton April 15, 1781. Private James Hart April 15, 1781. Private Daniel Goldsmith April 20, 1781. Private James Bradley April 20, 1781. Private Noah Benton, Jr April 28, 1781. Private Billy Chittenden April 28, 1781. Private Samuel Hoadley May I, 1781. Private David Bishop Qared Bishop substitute) May 8, 1781. Private Samuel Bartlett May 18, 1781. Private Isaac Kimberly May 18, 1781. Private Nathaniel Bartlett May 18, 1781. Private Samuel Russell May 18, 1781. Private Ebenezer Johnson May 18, 1781. Private Samuel Bennett May 18, 1781. Private Luther Crampton May 18, 1781. Private Timothy Munger May 18, 1781. Private Benjamin Field May 18, 1781. Private John Scovil June 15, 1781. Private Levi Stone June 16, 1781. Private David Fowler June 20, 1781. Private Ebenezer Bragg June 20, 1781. Private Zachariah Field June 20, 1781. Private Josiah Crampton June 20, 1781. Private Thomas Fitch June 20, 1781. Private James McKean June 20, 1781. Served. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 8 mos. 20 days. 2 mos. 13 days. IS days. IS days. IS days. IS days. 8 mos. 10 days. 8 mos. 10 days. 8 mos. 3 days. 8 mos. 3 days. 8 mos. 7 mos. 23 days. I mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. 2 mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. I mo. 454 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Enlisted. Served. Private Medad Dudley. June 20, 1781. i nio. Private Ezra Bishop June 20, 1781. i mo. Private Phinehas Fowler June 20, 1781. 2 mo. Private Luther Collens June 21, 1781. i mo. Private Elias Cadwell June 27, 1781. i mo. Private Moses Dowd June 28, 1781. 2 mo. Private Elihu Kirkum June 28, 1781. I mo. Private Simeon Saxton July 14, 1781. i mo. Private Eliakim Stevens July 23, 1781. i mo. Private Joshua Field July 23, 1781. l mo. Private John Hopson July 24, 1781. I mo. Private Timothy Baldwin July 27, 1781. i mo. Private Ebenezer Hall July 27, 1781. i mo. Private Stephen Fowler July 27, 1781. i mo. Private Samuel Rockwell July 27, 1781. I mo. Private John Davis July 31; 1781. i mo. Private Jacob Norton Aug. 3, 1781. i mo. Private Barnabas McKean Oct. i, 1781. i mo. Private William Miller Oct. i, 1781. I mo. Private Johnson Bishop Oi;t. 11, 1781. 2 mos. 20 days. Private Neri Bishop Nov. 14, 1781. i mo. Private Daniel Handy Nov. 14, 1781. i mo. Private Isaac Hotchkiss Nov. 14, 1781. i mo. Private Thelus Ward Nov. 14, 1781; i mo. Private John Dowd Nov. 14, 1781. i mo. Private Dudley Stone Nov. 14, 1781. i mo. Private Daniel Collins Nov. 14, 1781. i mo. Private John Coan Nov. 14, 1781. i mo. Private Lyman Tallman Nov. 14, 1781. i mo. Private Noah Benton Nov. 14, 1781. i mo. From 1783 to 1861 Guilford's military history is little but a record of militia training days. In the war of 1812 a volunteer artillery com- pany was raised in Guilford, which had two brass field pieces kept in the town house, and another in Madison, which had an iron cannon. A company of State troops,' not liable to service out of Connecticut, was formed in Guilford and Branford with Abraham I. Chittenden, Abraham Rogers and William Todd as commissioned officers. A detachment of this company served at New London under Lieutenant Todd and at New Haven under Lieutenant Rogers. Another company, officered by Amos Fowler, Benjamin Bradley and William Johnson, was called out at Guilford, in consequence of some alarm, and served from July 16 to 20, 1813, and from September 7 to 14, 1814. Still Guilford's part in that war was not a glorious one. Prof. W. C. Fowler gives us the following account of the only de- ^ Letter of Mr. Henry Rogers. GUILFORD VOLUNTEERS AFTER LEXINGTON. 455 scent of the British on the town in this war: " In the summer or early- autumn of 1 814' a frigate, a sloop of war & several tenders were lying at anchor near Faulkner's Island, belonging to the blockading squadron ofi New London. These vessels were regarded by the neighboring towns as a standing menace. They would sometimes bellow forth from their great guns their mimic thunder to fill the minds of the fearful with forebodings of evil. One morning, about eight or nine o'clock, a man came riding through the streets of East Guilford from west to east crying, 'Turn out, turn out, the British are coming.' Numbers of the young and active men went down to the west wharf to defend a vessel on the stocks against any attacks from the British. On our arrival we found what proved to be two barges, forty-six men on board each, armed with muskets, there being a short cannon at the bow, a six-pounder for carrying grape-shot. These barges impelled by the strong arms of trained oarsmen came rushing along on the level brine directly towards the vessel, behind which we had taken our posi- tion and where we had determined to give them a warm welcome. " Suddenly these barges changed their course and steered directly for the east wharf, where they would arrive sooner than we could, who had to follow the windings of the shore. One of them went to the east end of the wharf and proceeded to cut out a sloop loaded with earthenware, from Norwalk. Her consort took a position on the west side of the same wharf nearly south of Scranton's fish house, and about 12 or 15 rods from the shore for the purpose of supporting her. " Our company, increased to 40 or 50, took their position back of the beach, east of Scranton's fish-house, and commenced to fire upon the supporting barge. One of our men fired 17 rounds at the barge and another not more than 7, and all averaged about 10 rounds. The prize having been carried ofif, the barges left us. " In the early part of the action Dr. John Elliott and Dr. Jonathan Todd came down on their horses. Both of them took their position under a hickory tree and awaited the issue. A charge of grape-shot passed through the top of the tree, cutting ofif some of the branches, but without doing any further injury. On this occasion there was none of us killed thanks to the bad shooting of the British, though it was said that we killed two men, who were buried the next day on Goose Island." The Mexican War excited so little interest that only three names of volunteers from the old town can be found: one from Guilford and two from Madison. ^ Centennial Papers General Conference Conn. 1876, pp. 140-1, CHAPTER LV. Guilford and Madison in the Rebellion. In an emergency the old town has never been found wanting and, when rebels menaced the safety of our nation, she did her share in aiding President Lincoln to put them down. There were those, it is true, who sympathized with the secessionists and expressed sentiments of sympathy with the cause of disunion, but they did so with bated breath, for public sentiment in Guilford was uncompromisingly for the Union. With a population of 2,600 in i860 Guilford should have had between 500 and 600 men of military age and, either in person or by substitute, she furnished 308 men to fight for their country. Of these 62 proved the truth of Horace's saying, " Dulce et decorum est pro patria raori." Few towns can show a better record. Madison was not far behind, with a population of 1,865 she sent forth 205 men, of whom 35 gave up their lives that the Nation might live. In money, no less than in men, the towns were liberal, Madison giving, by vote of the town alone, $16,065 ^nd Guilford $21,166. Of the work of the volunteers we cannot speak more than to say they did their duty nobly. The names of two, however, must be men- tioned here: Capt. Uriah N. Parmelee, from whom Parmelee Post, No. 42, G. A. R., is named, and Rev. S. N. Fisk, both among those on the roll of those giving their lives for the Nation. Of the work of those who stayed behind we can say more. Guilford, as was befitting the mother town, took first action. When the call for 75,000 volunteers came, on April 15, a call for a special town meeting in Dr. Talcott's handwriting was circulated, and was signed by J. M. Hunt, Beverley Monroe, H. E. Norton, S. D. Munger, George E. Kimberley, H. N. Chamberlain, F. C. Phelps, James Monroe, John Graves, Cornelius Wildman, Albert Wildman, J. A. Stanton, Charles E. Chittenden, H. B. Griswold, H. W. Scranton, James R. Frisbie, Henry Hale, John Hale, and N. T. Leete. The number of names of Democrats in this list shows that both parties in Guilford united in that supreme moment to aid their country. So the town met on April 30 with Samuel C. Johnson as moderator, and passed resolutions, breathing as loyal and devoted a spirit as those at the beginning of the Revolution. Here they are: GUILFORD AND MADISON IN THE REBELLION. 457 " Resolved, that the National Government, now struggling for its very existence, must be defended and maintained at every hazard, and to the last extremity. " Resolved, that every Inhabitant of this Town, whether married or single, who shall go forth to fight for his country, shall receive our care and support. " Resolved, that this meeting appropriate such sum as shall be neces- sary to procure suitable arms (if not furnished by the State) and fur- nish the necessary clothing for each brave volunteer. Also provide for the family of the same (whenever they shall be called into actual service) and that the following gentlemen be a Committee to carry out the intentions of this Resolution: James A. Norton, Albert B. Wild- man, Beverley Monroe, John H. Bartlett, Calvin M. Leete, Samuel W. Dudley, and William M. Dudley. " Resolved, that this meeting appoint a suitable Committee, whose duty it shall be to erect forthwith a Liberty Pole' upon our Public Square, not less than loo feet high, and place thereon a magnificent Flag of the Stars and Stripes, at the expense of the Town, and that the Selectmen have charge of the Pole and Flag. " Resolved, that this Committee be directed to erect a suitable pole in North Guilford on the Green and furnish a flag for the same." Madison, as a dutiful daughter, followed her mother three days later, on May 2. At a special town meeting held then, Mr. E. C. Scranton introduced these resolutions, which were passed: " Whereas, our country is involved in a civil war, which imperils not only life and property on a most extensive scale, but the perpetuity of our institutions and the stability of our Government itself, and whereas, the President of the United States has made a requisition upon his excellency, the Governor of this State, for one or more Regiments of Soldiers for the defence of the national Government and property, and for the vindication of the laws, and whereas other similar requisitions will no doubt be made before a lasting peace is attairted and rebellion is vanquished and subdued, and whereas, interest, patriotism, ■ duty, self-respect, and obligation to the heroic men of the past, whose names and blood we inherit, alike demand that, as individuals and as a com- munity, we do our part in the great struggle and, especially, that we, who stay at home, shall with our money properly sustain those gal- lant men who so nobly and freely come forward in this hour of peril and lay their lives a willing sacrifice upon the altar of their country now: Therefore, Resolved, that the selectmen of the town be and they *This pole was removed about 1879. The flag was made by Mrs. Samuel Stone and her daughter. Miss Ruth Stone. 458 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. are hereby authorized " to pay to each Madison man, who during the Civil War, " commenced recently and now prosecuted by the seceding states against the Government of the United States," enlists in the army, " for the purpose of aiding in defending " the Nation, and of " suppressing said rebellion either upon the land or sea," $io per month while so engaged, not exceeding $120 to any person, to be paid quarterly or oftener, at the Selectmen's discretion, either to soldiers, wives, or other members of their families. For this the treasurer was authorized to borrow $3,000, at not over 6 per cent interest. When Lincoln called for more volunteers, in 1862, Guilford re- sponded. On July 24 the town voted $75 bounty for each volunteer enlisting before August 20; to this Hon. S. B. Chittenden added $25 apiece more. On September 8 another meeting voted a bounty of $100 for each volunteer enlisting before a draft was ordered, and authorized the selectmen to borrow $11,000 therefor. Another meet- ing was held on October 27, and the bounty was doubled, making it $200. The selectmen were authorized to borrow money for this pur- pose and, with James R. Frisbie, Franklin C. Phelps, and R. D. Smyth, were appointed a committee " to ascertain the number who have vol- unteered from the Town." Madison was no less prompt: on July 28, 1862, she "Voted that, for the purpose of encouraging enlistments under the recent call of the President of the United States upon the loyal states for 300,000 soldiers, additional troops, the Town of Madison, in addition to all other bounties and compensations, will pay a sum equal in the aggre- gate to $100 for each citizen of the Town, who, since July i, 1862, has enlisted, or shall for the next 60 days, to serve during the war." Each such volunteer was to receive $75 bounty and the " rest of the $100 shall be kept as a Military volunteer fund, and be used for the benefit of such volunteers as may by wounds, or sicknessj be disabled while engaged as such volunteers in the public service, or to the families, or near relatives of such volunteers as may lose their lives when so em- ployed; the balance, if any, of said fund to be equally divided among all volunteers living at the close of the war."^ For this $5,000 were appropriated and E. C. Scranton, H. B. Washburn, and Wm. S. Hull were appointed a committee to carry the resolution into eflfect. At the annual town meeting, on October 6, Madison voted to assume the bounty given to 9 months volunteers by certain citizens of the town, where no other bounty had been received by these volunteers. This bounty was of $100 and was paid within 5 days after they were accepted and sworn in the United States service. At the same time George ^ A tax of .005 on the dollar of the grand list of 1861 was laid for this. GUILFORD AND MADISON IN THE REBELLION. 459 Dowd, Samuel R. Crampton, and S. H. Scranton were appointed " to look after and assist volunteers from Madison." The care for sol- diers and their families shown in the Revolution had not been for- gotten. A special meeting in Madison, on November 17, passed resolutions presented by H. B. Washburn, stating " that under the call for 600,000 in July and August the Town's full quota was furnished in volunteers, avoiding a draft, and as some were rejected by the surgeon, making a deficiency, therefore, to encourage enlistments to fill the deficiency, the Treasurer is to pay $200 bounty and, if not enough volunteer from Madison, to pay the same sum to each man from another place out of the State, who shall volunteer in Madison's quota, until the deficiency be filled." Guilford increased her bounty to $300 on July 31, 1863, and agreed to recompense to this amount those who should furnish a substitute. The preamble to this vote states that the impelling cause for it was to care for the dependent families of soldiers. This measure was opposed, but was confirmed at two special meetings on August 20, and January 18, 1864. Though volunteers became harder to obtain and the war dragged its weary length along, Guilford's purpose never faltered. On August 15, 1864, the selectmen were authorized to borrow $25,000 to pay a bounty of $500 to each man volunteering, or furnishing a substitute. Asahel B. Morse and Beverley Monroe were sent to New Haven, New London, and Hartford to find out at the provost-marshal's offices how many men Guilford has furnished. This bounty was thought too high, and was reduced to $300 again, on October 3, and was directed to be paid to those who paid commutation on the draft. Guilford held five special meetings;^ Madison seven; but several of the latter were fruitless. On August i and 14, 1863, nothing was done there at meetings called to see about offering bounty. On August 22, 1864,^ the Madison treasurer was authorized to borrow $10,000 for raising volunteers under the call of July 18, and the selectmen, with Wm. C. Miner and Stillman Rice, were put in charge of the work. A week later the town rescinded the vote and promised to refund both principal and interest of any sum not over $10,000 put in the hands of the treasurer for this purpose, when authorized to do so by the Legis- lature, and the treasurer was to give to every one loaning money a ^ No war business was done in Guilford at regular town meetings, and but twice in Madison. ^ Aug. 1864, Madison voted 162 to 88 for constitutional amendment,, allowing soldiers to vote. 460 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. receipt therefor. To expend this money the same committee, with the addition of Leverett Whedon and Harvey E. Crittenden, was ap- pointed. This measure was not satisfactory to all and adjourned meet- ings, at which nothing was done, were held on August 30, 31, and September 5 and 7. Madison laid an extra tax of one cent in 1865 and paid off most of her war debt, while Guilford's was paid more slowly. On October 2, 1865, Madison voted that the town clerk should get a correct list of names of all officers and soldiers, who were citizens of Madison, and who have served in the army and navy dtiring the late Rebellion and record the said names in the town records of Madison. This was not done, however. The citizens, individually, worked as hard and did as much as the towns. How much private hands gave can never be known on this earth, but many might have said, as one wrote to Miss Foote, " I kept no account; I did not desire to. If I had a dollar more than my neces- sities required, I gave it cheerfully." F. A. Drake, a devoted patriot, said " there were other men who were glad to give as well as I," such as Judge E. R. Landon, Albert B. Wildman, John Hale, Calvin M. Leete, John R. Stanton, Dr. Alvan Talcott, E. C. Scranton, and others. C. S. Bushnell of Madison furnished a Swedish inventor money, which enabled Ericsson's Monitor to save our navy and to change the course of warfare on the sea for all time. Admiral Worden wrote to Miss Foote that Mr. Bushnell and his two associates " have never received from their country the applause they deserve for the patriotic and prac- tical support they gave to the government in its hour of tieed, for to them is undoubtedly very largely due the credit for the building and equipping of the Monitor in time to enable her to meet the desperate emergency at Hampton Roads in 1862." Women worked as well as men. In the late spring of 1861 a Sol- diers' Aid Society was formed in Congress Hall in Guilford and in Madison a similar one was formed about the same time, with Mrs. Henry Lee, President; Mrs. Philander P. Coe, Vice-President; Mrs. Elihu Kelsey, Secretary. At first mistakes were made and havelocks, on which much time was spent, proved of little use for their intended purpose. But soon they found what was needed. A Madison lady told Miss Foote : " We sent off five thousand yards of bandages in casks in three days. I remember how they sewed at one end of the room and how Mr. John Stanton helped 'me pack them at the other end of the room." When Mr. S. H. Scranton was sent from Madison to look after their volunteers he said he would take, at his own expense, whatever GUILFORD AND MADISON IN THE REBELLION. 461 eatables were sent to his care, to the 14th Regiment at Falmouth, Vir- ginia. In response to this food was sent in to such an extent that, on the day of his departure, his kitchen, cellar, and woodhouse were piled high with boxes and packages. In Guilford the Third Congregational Church took subscriptions to send newspapers to soldiers in camp and hospital. Rev. William S. Smith, pastor of the ist Congregational Church went down to Bolivar Heights, after the battle of Antietam, with supplies for the 14th Regi- ment, in which were many of the Guilford boys in blue. The most of what the women did cannot be written. The records are silent as "to linens and jellies, the quilts and mittens and blankets that went to the hospitals and the Sanitary Commission." Many had the spirit of Mrs. Henry B. Starr, who bringing a great pile of old linen said, " though of ancestral value it can never be put to better use." How much was sent, however, cannot be told. The very givers remember no more than a Madison lady, who said," I remember going about to collect and we sent ofif at one time three barrels and 24 boxes full of all good things. At another time — well it was more boxes and that is all I can tell." Another, on being asked how much her loyal-hearted and generous mother had done, said, ""^ou could not have appealed to any more ignorant person than I to know what my mother did for the soldiers' comfort. I suppose she did whatever she was asked and in the way she was asked." Inklings of how much was given are found in statements like that of Mr. John A. Stanton, who remembered marking 43 barrels of vege- tables for the soldiers, or of Mr. S. H. Scranton, who remembered 30 barrels of potatoes ready to go at one time. But, after careful calcu- lation, Miss Foote and Mr. Stanton could only estimate that " from all sources Guilford contributed $2,500 a year, or $10,000 during the four years of the war, in ways that may be called womanly,'' and that " Madison must have given nearly as much." Immediately after the war, on October 2, 1865, Madison appropri- ated $1,000 for a soldiers' monument, appointed a committee to nomi- nate a " Locating Committee," and a " Committee to disburse, or ex- pend the monument funds appropriated." This was done, but for some reason the matter proceeded no farther. Thirty years later, in 1894, the town voted to appropriate $5,000 towards the erection of a Soldiers' Memorial Hall, the amount to be used in connection with money raised by subscription for the same purpose. Delays occurred in connection with selecting a location, but work was begun in the spring of 1896 and completed in 1897.^ ' See chapter on Town House. 462 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Col. Vincent M. Wilcox, a native and for many years a resident of Madison, preferred a monument rather than a memorial hall, and in 1896 erected a very fine monument in the West Cemetery in Madison. The monument is situated on a prominent knoll in the northern part of the cemetery, and commemorates the three wars: the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Rebellion, 1861-1865. The lower part, 12 feet high, is of granite, surmounted by a bronze soldier 7 feet 3 inches high. The inscriptions on the four sides are as follows: Front, "Antietam. To the Memory of the Soldiers of Madison. Presented by Vincent Meigs Wilcox, New York City, Col. I32d Regt. Pa. Vols. Born in Madison October 17, 1828; " left side, " Gettysburg, 1775-1783. Capt. Timothy Field, Capt. Dan'l Hand, Capt. Jehiel Meigs, and 65 others; " back, " Chancellorsville, 1812-1814. Lt. Benj. Bradley, Lt. Timothy Dudley and 32 others; " right side, " Fredericksburg, 1861-1865. Col. Vincent M. Wilcox, Capt. Sam'l Fiske, Capt. Chas. M. Wilcox, Capt. Sam'l F. Willard, Capt. Joel B. Bishop, Capt. Chas. F. Hand, Capt. Wm. W. Hart, Capt. Henry C. Warner, and 158 others." Col. Wilcox died in May, 1896, and the monument was unveiled July 4th, 1896, under the direction of Rev. John E. Bushnell, pastor of the church in New York City with which Col. Wilcox was connected. Ah address which Col. Wilcox had prepared for the occasion was read by his brother, Capt. Charles 'M. Wilcox. Guilford did not set about honoring her soldiers with a monument for some years and then did it by private contributions. At a public meeting held on Memorial Day, 1872, a movement was begun towards the erection of such a monument, and a comniittee was appointed to solicit contributions for this purpose. In this way and from the pro- ceeds of entertainments about $1,300 were raised. The association was organized in the spring of 1874, and an executive committee appointed with instructions to erect a pedestal. The site selected Was the centre of the Green, on the spot where rest the early settlers of the town. In fact human bones were found while digging for the foundation of the monument. The cornerstone of the monument was laid on Decor- ation Day, May 30, 1877, at which time an appropriate address was delivered by Rev. W. H. H. Murray of Boston. The pedestal is built of Leete's Island granite, and is surmounted with the standing figure of a private soldier, resting on his gun. The statue is of Rhode Island granite and was not placed on the base until some years after the latter was in position. In 1887 the amount of money needed for the statue was procured, largely through the generosity of two natives of Guil- ford — Mrs. Sarah B. Cone of Stockbridge, Mass., and Hon. S. B. Chittenden of Brooklyn, N. Y. The names of the Guilford men who GUILFORD AND MADISON IN THE REBELLION. 463 died in their country's service are cut on the four sides of the monu- ment and the names of four engagements in which Guilford men did nobly. These are Gettysburg, Antietam, Port Royal, and Fredericks- burg. All being ready the monument was dedicated on June 2, 1887. The order of exercises at the dedication was as follows : prayer by Rev. R. L. Mathison of North Guilford, presentation of the monument to the Grand Army Post by the Hon. Chas. Griswold, procession with Capt. W. H. Lee as marshal, address by Rev. E. M. Vittum in the North Church, and brief speeches by General J. R. Hawley and Mr. Hart Landon. Mr. Vittum's address was especially fine. The monument was unveiled by Messrs. James Lee^ and George Bartlett, two of the town's oldest citizens. In the procession were the First Platoon of Battery A, C. N. G., Gov. Lounsbury of Connecticut and his stafif, Senators Piatt and Hawley, Parmelee Post G. A. R., and delegations from other posts. U. N. Parmelee Post, No. 42, Grand Army of the Republic, Depart- ment of Connecticut, was organized on June 17, 1873, in the room over the harness shop of H. H. Mack, on Water Street. The veterans of the Civil War assisted by citizens had for several years decorated the graves of their dead comrades with flowers. The necessity for some permanent organization for the systematic and effective work of char- ity led to the foundation of the Post. The following were the original members of the Post: A. W. Wilcox, W. H. Harrison, G. H. Fowler, J. F. Watrous, H. E. Parmelee, Edward Griswold, H. B. Griswold, H. B. Dudley, John Coulter, H. G. Landon, J. H. Mack, H. L. Harri- son, H. H. Mack, S. R. Snow, Joel Griswold, and Charles Griswold. The post took its name in honor of Uriah N. Parmelee of Guilford, late captain in the ist Conn. Vol. Cavalry, who was slain at Five Forks. In November, 1873, the Post removed to Meigs' Hall on Whitfield St; in January, 1881, to the front room of Music Hall, and in December, 1881, to its present quarters in Post Hall over the Savings Bank. It is largely due to the efforts of the Post that the soldiers' monument on the Green was erected. Joseph R. Hawley Camp, No. 3, Sons of Veterans, was founded by F. J. Wildman and others about 1883. It lived but a short time. The Guilford Light Battery (Section i. Battery A. Conn. Nat. Guard). In 1866 some returned soldiers with others organized the battery, which has since been successfully kept up, generally with its full com- plement of over forty men, a remarkable record for a country town. ^ Mr. Lee had three sons in the army, one of whom was starved to death amid the unspeakable horrors of the prison camp in Andersonville.' 464 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The armory was for many years on State Street, and then for some time the former canning factory on the property of John Hubbard was occupied by the battery. The battery yearly goes into camp at Niantic. In the fall of 1894 it moved into its fine new brick armory on Water Street in Odd Fellows' Hall. Its commanders have been: 1866, First Lieut., Edward Griswold. 1884, First Lieut., Arthur S. Fowler. 1887, " " E. M. Gillette. 1888, " " Wm. H. Lee. 1892, " " Barlow S. Honce. 1893, " " George T. Fowler. 1872, 1874, 187s, 1883, L. O. Chittenden. J. B. Hubbard. Wm. H. Lee. Wm. T. Foote. In 1882 it was joined to another section in Clinton, later transferred to Branford, and thus formed Battery A, whose commanders have been: 1882, Wm. H. Lee. 1887, Arthur S. Fowler. 1893, Barlow S. Honce. Volunteers' in the War of the Rebellion. Guilford. ♦Andrew Adams, Private nth Regt. Francis Berry, Private 30th Regt., C. V. Jerry Bell, Private 30th Regt., C. V. Inf. Edward R. Benton, Private z7th Regt. S. Allen Bristol, Private 27th Regt. Edward L. Bishop, Private 27th Regt. Calvin H. Beers, Private 27th Regt. Amos N. Benton, Sergt. 27th Regt. Joha\ H. Baldwin, Private 20th Regt. William H. Burgis, Private i6th Regt. *Charles Augustus Bishop, Private i6th Regt., C. V. Inf. ♦Charles H. Benton, Private i6th Regt. *Lewis Wm. Blatchley, Private 15th Regt., C. V. Inf. Charles B. Byington, Private isth Regt. *John Randolph Burgis, Private 2d and 9th Regts., C. V. Inf. Henry Benton, Private zd Regt., C. V. Alfred G. Bishop, Private ist Lt. Batt. Edwin O. Blatchley, Private ist Lt. Batt. •Henry B. Bullard, Private ist Lt. Batt. Wm. Talcott Blake, Private 2d Heavy Art., C. V. John Bradley, Private 7th Regt., C. V. Peter Bushy, Private loth Regt., C. V. Emanuel Bentz, Private nth Regt., C. V. *Joel Canfield Benton, Private 14th Regt. ♦Raphael Ward Benton, Private 14th Regt., C. V. Inf. Charles G. Blatchley, Private 14th Regt. •Wm. Nelson Bartlett, Private 14th Regt. •Joel Edward Benton, Private 14th Regt., U. S. Inf. •Henry A. Beers, Private nth Regt., C.V. •Fairfield Cook, Private ist Lt. Batt. Wm. H. Clancey, Private ist Lt. Batt. •Nathan C. Clement, Private 14th Regt. 1 All men whose force is not stated were enrolled in the Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiments. * This list is kindly furnished by Captain Charles Griswold, Those marked with a star gave up their lives that the country might live. The names in italics were those of former Guilford men who did not enlist in Guilford. The following substi- tutes or drafted men deserve to be remembered, as they died for the Union : George W. Blake, Private 14th Regt. Inf.; Joannes Lambric, Private ist Heavy Art,; Sam- uel Mason, Private 14th Regt, Inf.; Patrick Murphy, Private 5th Regt. Inf. GUILFORD AND MADISON IN THE REBELLION. 465 *Moses G. Clement, Private 14th Regt. Samuel D. Cruttenden, Com. Sergt. 14th Regt. Inf., C. V. L. Odell Chittenden, Private 14th Regt. James Coleman, Private 15th Regt. Inf. Jerome Coan, Corp. 15th Regt. Inf., C. V. *Joseph Coan, Private isth Regt. Inf. Wallace W. Crook, Private isth Regt. Philip Cope, Private 15th Regt. Inf. John Coulter, Jr., Private T5th Regt. Inf. ♦Patrick Cox, Private 20th Regt. Inf. Josiah Cozens, Private 30th Regt. Inf. Alexander Cunningham, Private 30th Regt. Inf., C. V. Edgar G. Davis, Private ist Lt. Batt. George W. Durgin, Private ist Lt. Batt. William Delancey, Private ist Heavy Art., C. V. James Dayton, Private 2d Heavy Art. Wm. Davis, Private 7th Regt. Inf., C. V. Frederick Deers, Private loth Regt. Inf. Antonio Demore, Private loth Regt. Inf. ♦Samuel Bradley Dunn, Corp. 13th Regt. John Donovan, Private 14th Regt. Inf. •Henry Chittenden Dudley, Sergt. 14th Regt. Inf., C. V. Henry B. Dudley, Private 14th Regt. Charles S. Dudley, Private 14th Regt. Henry H. Dudley, Q. M. Sergt. 14th U. S. Inf. Daniel L. Davis, Mus. 15th Regt. Inf. E. Roger Davis, Corp. 15th Regt. Inf. •Samuel Richard Davis, Private 15th Regt. Inf., C. V. George C. Dudley, Private 15th Regt. ♦John Nelson Davis, Private 15th Regt. *Wm. Henry Dolph, Private 15th Regt. ♦Benjamin R. Dowd, Private 15th Regt. Alfred Daniell, Private 29th Regt. Inf. Horatio W. Evarts, Sergt. ist Lt. Batt. Edward G. Evarts, Private ist Lt. Batt. Charles E. Evarts, Private ist Lt. Batt. Stephen C. Evarts, Private ist Lt. Batt. ♦Oliver Wolcott Evarts, Private 14th Eben B. Evarts, Sergt. 9th Regt. Inf. *Ed>nundy. Field, Private 14th Regt. Inf. ♦George Augustus Foote, Jr., 2d Lt. 14th Regt. Inf., C. V. Thomas B. Fowler, ist Lt. 14th Regt. Abraham B. Fowler, Private ist Lt. Batt. Joseph W. Fowler, Private ist Lt. Batt. * Richard H. Fowler, Sergt. 27th Regt. *Dou^las Fowler, Lt. Col. 17th Regt. Inf. * Henry Fowler, Lt. Col. Regt. Inf., N. Y. V. Samuel E. Foote, Private loth Regt. Inf., C. V. and Navy. Edward Fowler, Private 14th Regt. Inf. Eber S. Fowler, Private 15th Regt. Inf. John Flynn, Private 15th Regt. Inf. Peter Flansburg, Private 15th Regt. Inf. Wallace H. Fowler, Private i6th Regt. Francis R. Foster, Private 20th Regt. Walter E. Fowler, Private 27th Regt. ♦Samuel Fowler, 2d, Private 27th Regt. ♦Emerson S. Fowler, Private 27th Regt. George H. Fowler, Mus. ist Regt. N.Y. V. Inf. John Gray, Private ist Regt. Cav., C. V." Edward Griswold, Private ist Lt. Batt. James Grayson, Private ist Heavy Art. ♦John L. Graham, Private sth Regt. Inf. William Gorham, Private 14th Regt. Inf. Charles Griswold, Capt. 15th and 29th Regts. Inf., C. V. Joel Griswold, Jr., Corp. 15th Regt. Inf. Samuel J. M. Greene, Corp. 15th Regt. ♦Samuel E. Grosvenor, Sergt. i6th Regt. Samuel J. Griswold, Sergt. i6th Regt. *Joseph A. Grosvenor, Private i6th Regt. Dwight S. Griswold, Corp. 14th Regt. Inf., U. S. George L. Griswold, Private 14th Regt. Inf., U. S. Daniel W. Grosvenor, Mus. ist Regt. Inf., N. Y. V. David Housman, Private 30th Regt. Inf. Benjamin F. Huntley, Wagoner 20th Regt. ♦Wm. Henry Hubbard, Sergt. i6th Regt. Nathan D. Hill, Private 15th Regt. Inf. Thadeus W. O. Hanlon, Private 15th Regt. Inf., C. V. ♦H. Ellsworth Hull, Private isth Regt. George H. Hall, Private 15th Regt. Inf. Charles A. Hall., Private 15th Regt. Inf. Henry Hawley, Private isth Regt. Inf. Horace Hawley, Private ist Cav. Regt. Daniel Hawkins, Private ist Cav. Regt. Dwight H. Hall, Private ist Lt. Batt. Marcus M. Hall, Private ist Lt. Batt. 466 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Titus A. Hall, Private ist Lt. Batt., C. V. *Samuel H. Hull, Private ist Lt. Batt. Byron Harvey, Private ist Lt. Batt. Wm. Hitchcock, Private 3d Lt. Batt. James Hill, Private 2d Heavy Art., C. V. James D. Havfley, Private 6th Regt. Inf. James Hope, Private gth Regt. Inf. , C. V. Henry L. Hall, Chaplain loth Regt. Inf. *Henry Harrison Hall, Private loth Regt. Inf., C. V. John A. Henneberg, Corp. loth Regt. Enos A. Hale, 2d Lieut, nth Regt. Inf. J. Wilson Hale, Private 12th Regt. Inf. Edwin J. Hale, Private 12th Regt. Inf. Frederick H. Hurd, Private 14th Regt. Geo. A. Hull, Private 14th Regt. Inf. *Richard Lawrence Hull, Corp. 14th Regt. Inf., C. V. George I. Hall, Corp. 14th Regt. Inf. Charles Hart, U. S. Navy. Wm. Jones, Private ist Cav., C. V. Thomas S. Jukes, Private nth Reg. Inf. George Johnston, Private nth Regt. Inf. Richard Jackson, Private 15th Regt. Gens Peter Johanson, Private 15th Regt. *Harmon Barber Johnson, Private 15th Regt. Inf., C. V. *Abraham Jackson, Private 29th Regt. Edmund S. Jillson, Mus. ist Regt. Inf., N. Y. V. George H. Kelsey, Private ist Lt. Batt. Watson D. Kelsey, Corp. 15th Regt, Inf. Richard T. Kelsey, Private 27th Regt. John Kelley, unassigned. Josez Lopez, Private ist Cav., C. V. Hethcote G. Landon, Sergt. ist Lt. Batt. Hart Landon, Private ist Lt. Batt. William Leonard, Private ist Heavy Art. Douglass M. Leete, Private ist Heavy Art. Frederick W. Lee, Private 10th Reg. John Lee, Private 14th Reg. Inf., C. V. Joseph A. Leete, Private 14th Regt. Inf. Edwin A. Leete, Private 14th Reg. Inf. Henry E. Lee, Private 15th Reg. Inf. •Charles Gilbert Lee, Private i6th Reg. Wm. H. Lee, Private 16th Regt. Inf. Daniel S. Leete, Private i6th Reg. Inf. Lyman Lawrence, Private 29th Reg. Inf. Chauncey C. Livingston, Private 30th Reg. Inf., C. V. James Leary, Private i ith Reg. Inf. Edward M. Lee, Brevet Brig. Genl. Ruggles Loper, Private 15th Regt. Inf. Leonard P. Mansfield, Private ist Cav. John J. Moy, Private ist Lt. Batt., C. V. John McPherson, Private 2d Heavy Art. Wm. McQuinney, Corp. loth Regt. Inf. Abram D. Morehouse, Private 15th Regt. James McDermott, Private 15th Regt. Philip Meyer, Private 20th Regt. Inf. Marsal Moran, Private 23d Regt. Inf. Edward P. Norton, Private ist Lt. Batt. Elias O. Norton, Private ist Lt. Batt. *Jonathan G. Norton, Private ist Lt. Batt., C. V. Stephen H. Norton, Private ist Lt. Batt. John Norton, Private 21st Regt. Inf. Wm. B. Norton, Private ist Lt. Batt. C. Henry Norton, Private ist Lt. Batt. ♦Francis Morgan Norton, Private 14th Regt. Inf., C. V. George I. Norton, Private 14th Regt. Inf. *Dennis F. Nettleton, Private i6th Regt. Andrew Nolan, Private ist Lt. Batt. Lorenzo B. Norton, Mus. ist Regt. Inf., N. Y. V. Frederick M. Parmelee, Private 3d Regt. *Uriah Nelson Parmelee, Captain ist Cav., C. V. James G. Fetters, Private ist Heavy Art., C. V. Joseph E. Parmelee, Private loth Regt. Edward A. Page, Private 13th Regt. Inf. Henry E. Parmelee, Private 14th Regt. Inf., C. V. George Peters, Private 15th Regt. Inf. Joel C. Page, Private 15th Regt. Inf. Sidney Plummer, Private 15th Regt. Inf. James Pointer, Private 20th Regt. Inf. James B. Page, Private 27th Regt. Inf. *Joel Cruttenden Parmelee, Private 27th Regt. Inf., C. V. John H. Peterson, Private 29th Regt. *Alexander Peterson, Private 30th Regt. Walter J. Page, Private 14th Regt. Inf., U. S. William E. Paige, Private 15th Regt. Inf., U. S. Wm. H. Porter, Sergt. 14th Heavy Art., R. 1. V. GUILFORD AND MADISON IN THE REBELLION. 467 Geo. F. Remington, Private ist Lt. Batt. *Miles G. Richardson, Private 14th Regt. Henry M. Rossiter, Private 14th Regt. David Robbins, Private nth Regt. Inf. Alfred Sommers, Corp. 30th Regt. Inf. Sylvester R. Snow, Private 27th Regt. Wm. H. Smith, Private i6th Regt. Inf. Hamlin Stannard, Private i6th Regt. Wm. Todd Seward, Lieut, ist Lt. Batt., C. v., Capt. U. S. V. Daniel F. Scranton, Private ist Lt. Batt. Geo. H. Starr, Private 1st Lt. Batt. and 14th Regt. Inf., C. V. Geo. Stevens, Private ist Lt. Batt. and U. S. Navy. Phineas L. Squires, Private 6th Regt. Wm. Sanders, Private gth Regt. Inf. Daniel Sanford, Private gth Regt. Inf. Watson L. Seward, Private 10th Regt. Alfons Schoefers, Private lOth Regt. Michael Stone, Private i ith Regt. Inf. Jphn S. Stannard, Private 14th Regt. Inf. *Francis S. Scranton, Private 14th Regt. Samuel H. Seward, Lieut. 14th Regt. *Thomas Marvin Scranton, Private 14th Regt. Inf., C. V. Charles Sweet, Private 15th Regt. Inf. Albert Schofield, Private isth Regt. Inf. Joseph Smith, Private 15th Regt. Inf. Wm. L. Seward, Sergt. 14th Regt. Inf., U. S. Jalakin F. Tryon, Private 3d Regt. Inf. *Hezekiah Tuttle, Private ist Lt. Batt. •Charles Tuttle, Private 2d Heavy Art. Ephraim Trusler, Private gth Regt. Inf. *Abraham Tibbals, Private loth Regt. *Toby Trout, Private 30th Regt. Inf. Oliver E. Wood, Private ist Cav., C. V. Charles E. Wellman, Private ist Lt. Batt., C. V. ■Samuel Warner, Private ist Heavy Art. Thomas Wall, Private 14th Regt. Inf. Hugh Wilson, Private 14th Regt. Inf. Meriman Williams, Private 14th Regt. Daniel F. Warner, Private 15th Regt. *Harvey S. Welton, Private 27th Regt. Henry Wolfe, Private 2gth Regt. Inf. Wm. H. Wallace, Private 30th Regt. Inf. Joel Tuttle Wildman, Act. Asst. Pay- master U. S. N. *Henry Wm. Wright, Private S4th Regt. Inf., Mass. V. * Saml. F. Willard, 14th Regt. Wm. W. Hart, 14th Regt. * Rev. Saml. Fiske, 14th Regt. Wm. T. Bradley, 3d Regt. Chas. W. Coe, 3d & — Regt. * John T. Bradley, 14th Regt. Chas. W. Ely, 27th Regt. * Edward W. Hart, 14th Regt. Horace A. Hull, 12th Regt. Elisha H. Fonda, Sth Regt. Joseph Bishop, 14th Regt. James U. Conklin, 14th Regt. Nelson C. Murray, 14th Regt. Alfred N. Wilcox, 14th Regt. Wm. B. Hunter, 27th Regt. Captains. Charles M. Wilcox, 27th Regt. Charles F. Hand, 14th Regt. 1st Lieutenants. Stillman Rice, 27th Regt. 2d Lieutenants. Orsamus B. Sawyer, 14th Regt. J. Saml. Scranton, 14th Regt. Sergeants. Charles Smith, 14th Regt. Wm. B. Crampton, 27th Regt. George C. Dowd, 3d & 14th Regts. Henry A. Pendleton, 14th Regt. Thomas S. Field, 27th Regt. George E. Whedon, 27th Regt. Charles W. Lane, ist Lt. Battery. * George Hammond, 12th Regt. Henry D. Knowles, 14th Regt. Corporals. * William S. Meyers, 14th Regt. * Sanford Foster, 14th Regt. Judson H. Dowd, 27th Regt. 468 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. * Corydon N. Thomas, 27th Regt. Willoughby W. Ely, loth Regt. David C. Roberts, 12th Regt. John H. Meigs, 14th Regt. John B. Stevens, 14th Regt. John M. Bishop, 6th Regt. George W. Hill, 14th Regt. Payson W. Tucker, 14th Regt. * Richard Howard, 3d Regt. Wm. H. Caldwell, 3d Regt. Hamilton O. Evarts, 7th Regt. * Charles C. Francis, 12th Regt. Almon R. Thompson, 12th Regt. Newton Field, 12th Regt. * Henry J. Francis, 12th Regt. * Henry Stevens, 12th Regt. * Alva M. Dudley, . * D. Lewellyn Dudley, 3d U. S. Artillery. Charles N. Appleby, 14th Regt. Washington Bristol, 14th Regt. Darius Curtis, 14th Regt. William Donahue, 14th Regt. John W. Gardner, 14th Regt. Abraham Hunter, 14th Regt. Jerome Kelsey, 14th Regt. * John L. Lane, 14th Regt. William S. Norton, 27th Regt. Henry Rolf, 27th Regt. * Rufus S. Shelley, 27th Regt. James E. Spencer, 27th Regt. Charles H. Young, 27th Regt. Matthew Kane, 14th Regt. Edward B. Stannard, 14th Regt. John O' Conner, 14th Regt. Nelson M. Caldwell, 3d Regt. Gilbert W. Blake, ist Lt. Battery. Joseph Green, Charles Brown, Thomas Telford, 12th Regt. William J. Bradley, 12th Regt. * Osmer F. Field, 12th Regt. George L. Griffin, 12th Regt. * William Updike, 12th Regt. George Telford, 13th Regt. John D. Kane, 5th U. S. Infty. Edgar S. Ely, 14th Regt. Frederick W. Hull, 27th Regt. Henry B. Wilcox, 27th Regt. John N. Watrous, 27th Regt. Edgar A. Willard, 6th Regt. Musicians. Edgar Moody, 14th Regt. Wagoners. Leander F. Johnson, 27th Regt. Privates. Henry C. Bradley, 14th Regt. * Cornett M. Crampton, 14th Regt. Wilbur R. Dee, 14th Regt. * Henry E. Foster, 14th Regt. John M. Hall, 14th Regt. William S. Jones, 14th Regt. Alpheus L. Knowles, 14th Regt. * Ozias C. Leffingwell, 14th Regt. * William D. Marsh, 14th Regt. William H. Morgan, 14th Regt. * Edward F. Norton, 14th Regt. John D. Redfield, 14th Regt. * Charles H. Smith, 14th Regt. Edson W. Hopson, Ralph S. Thompson, 14th Regt. Edwin M. Wilcox, 14th Regt. Leonard D. Scranton, 17th Regt. John B. Bailey, 27th Regt. Thomas Day, 27th Regt. James Hull Dowd, 27th Regt. Timothy A. Dowd, 27th Regt. Launcelott Dudley, 27th Regt. Samuel J. Field, 27th Regt. Selden Hall, 27th Regt. Horace O. Hill, 27th Regt. * Joseph Hull, 27th Regt. George W. Norton, 27th Regt. Jehiel H. Meigs, 14th Regt. Dennis L. Norton, 14th Regt. John Patterson, 14th Regt. Orrin D. Redfield, 14th Regt. * Worthington Snow, 14th Regt. * Horace B. Stevens, 14th Regt. Daniel H. Willard, 14th Regt. * William E. Norton, 14th Regt. Frederick F. Bailey, 27th Regt. Edson S. Blake, 27th Regt. Alvah R. Doane, 27th Regt. GUILFORD AND MADISON IN THE REBELLION. 469 James R. Dowd, 27th Regt. Sylvester S. Dudley, 27th Regt. Joseph M. Eckert, 27th Regt. Frank Foster, 27th Regt. * George S. Hill, 27th Regt. Addison A. Hopson, 27th Regt. Timothy A. Meigs, 27th Regt. Joseph R. Norton, 27th Regt. Thomas Pentelou, 27th Regt. Daniel F. Scranton, 27th Regt. Julian F. Watrous, 27th Regt. Joel C. Smith, * Edson W. Spencer, 14th Regt. Samuel S. Smith, 27th Regt. Albert O. Tucker, Thomas J. Spencer, 27th Regt. Natives of Madison who enlisted in other States. Col. Vincent M. Wilcox, 132 Penn. V. Sergeant Henry C. Bradley, Capt. Joel B. Bishop, Private Edgar C. Meigs, Capt. Henry C. Warner, Hazard Marsh, U. S. Navy.' Lieut. Jefferson Wilcox, ' This list was prepared by John H. Meigs of Madison. Madison sent 139 residents and 71 substitutes. 10 of her men were killed, 27 died, and 23 were discharged as disabled. 24 enlisted in 1861, 107 in 1862, 25 in 1863, 46 in 1864, and 2 in 1865. CHAPTER LVI. Biographies. Brief sketches of the lives of the Guilford clergymen and of Messrs. Samuel Desborough and John Hoadley have been already given. To avoid invidious comparison no sketches of living men are given except of the clergymen settled over the various churches. William Leete, whose early life is elsewhere recorded, was one of the pillars of Mr. Whitfield's church and received the highest honors in the gift of the colony of New Haven, and after the union of that colony with Connecticut, of the united government. From 1651 to 1658 he was the magistrate of Guilford and one of the court of magistrates for the jurisdiction of New Haven Colony. In 1658 he was chosen Deputy Governor and continued in that ofiSce until 1661, when he was elected Governor of the colony, which dignity he held until the union with Connecticut in 1664. Upon this union he was elected magistrate and then, from 1669 to 1676, Deputy Governor of Connecticut. In the latter year he was chosen Governor, which office he held until his death, April 16, 1683. "For forty years," says Dr. Trumbull, "he was magistrate. Deputy Governor, or Governor of one or other of the Colonies. In both Colonies he presided in times of the greatest diffi- culty, yet always conducted himself with integrity and wisdom so as to meet the public approbation." He was the chief magistrate of the county court of New Haven County from its formation in 1664, until his removal to Hartford on being elected Governor. After that time he lived at Hartford, managing the affairs of the government of the whole colony, until his death, full of days and full of honors. His prudent course and intimate friendship with Gov. Winthrop did much to render the union with Connecticut peaceful and to remove the sting of defeat. This and his connection with the Regicides and his quarrel with Dr. Rossiter are treated of in another place. His letters to Gov. Winthrop ^ have been preserved and show the large and kindly nature of the man. A good specimen ' of the spirit and style of his writings is the fol- lowing in reference to the difficulty at Hartford, which resulted in the division of the church there: "Notwithstanding our different attain- ' IV. Mass. Hist. Colls. VII, 538-586. Vide VIII, 621, for letter to Increase Mather. ' IV. M. H. C. VII, p. 568. BIOGRAPHIES. 471 ments in light disciplinary, but yet there may be a joyntly aymeing to lift up Jesus Christ in holynes, both of heart and life, that so the brazen wall of our security may yet stand; & our beautifull gate of spirrituall priveledges may not be burnt up; but peace & truth may be our portion to enjoy all our dayes, & left to our posterity by wisedome & faithfull- nes in our generation (a) worke incumbent on us." Many interesting little glimpses^ are caught from the correspond- ence of the primitive character and of the hardships of the early set- tlers' lives. For example, in 1660 Gov. Leete writes to his friend: " I thought not meet any longer to delay our thankfullnes for your many favors & late large token, very pretious to us here; for we have not had such a loafe in our house sundry yeares, so farr surpassing all our usual Indian loaves. I wish we have not too much unfurnished Mrs. Win- tropp's closet for, if so, truly we are in too meane condition to make an answerable recruit." His tombstone was discovered at Hartford about 1830 on removing some earth from the old burial ground there. Gov. Leete left a numerous family in Guilford where many of his descendants still remain, while others have removed to other parts of the State. His eldest son, John, who died November 25, 1692, aged about 53, is said to have been the first white person born in Guilford. Gov. Leete's first wife, Anna Payne, the daughter of a clergyman, came from England with him. Almost alone of New Haven's leaders. Gov. Leete, slow and cautious in reaching a decision, but nearly always deciding aright, saw the defects and weaknesses of New Haven Colony, and his statesmanlike foresight enabled him to write Winthrop as early as 1661, " I wish that you and wee could procure one Pattent to reach beyond Delawar." Take him all in all he was Guilford's greatest statesman. Andrew Leete, son of the Governor, possessed a liberal portion of the excellencies of his father. He was early appointed commissioner, or justice of the peace, and had principal concern in managing the affairs of the town. In 1677 he was elected an assistant in the colony, and was annually re-elected until his death, October 31, 1702. He is said to have had the principal agency in recovering the charter of the colony during the time Major Andross usurped the government, and to have kept it for a season in his house here." He appears to have ^IV. M. H. C. VII, p. 543- Vide Steiner's Leete in Proc. Am. Hist. Ass. for 1891. ' Ruggles H. of G.; I. M. H. C. X, p. 99. The charter taken by Capt. Wads- worth was the duplicate, not the original. Conn. Rec. V, p. 507.- Nov. 2, 1687, Andross made him justice of the peace for New Haven county. Conn. C. R. XV, p. 550. 472 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. been a man of infirm health, most of his life subject to fits of epilepsy, which impaired his usefulness. For a number of years he was one of the Justices of the County Court for New Haven County. He married a daughter of Thomas Jordan, Esq., one of the principal settlers, and after the return of his father-in-law to England about 1660, occupied his estate and dwelling house on the northwest corner of the Green. Josiah Rossiter, son of Dr. Bryan Rossiter, for many years town clerk and deputy at the general court and one of the principal men of the town, was elected an assistant in 1701, and annually re-elected to that station afterwards until May, 171 1. He was made Judge of the New Haven County Court and of the County Court of Probate in Octo- ber, 1703."^ He was born in Windsoi', 1646, and died January 31, 1716. He married Sarah, daughter of Hon. Samuel Sherman of Woodbury. Abraham Fowler, Esq., was an assistant in the colony from 1712 to 1 71 9, and was also one of the Justices of the New Haven County Court, in which position he was distinguished for his firmness and good judg- ment. He was born August 29, 1652, and died September 30, 1819. He was a joiner by trade. James Hooker, Esq., first Judge of Probate for the district of Guilford, wsa a native of Farmington, being bom there October 27, 1666. He removed to Guilford before 1700. He married the daughter of Wil- liam Leete, Jr., and held a distinguished place in the esteem of the people until his death, March 12, 1740. Col. Samuel Hill was a native of the town (born February 21, 1677-8), and during a long lifetime one of the principal managers of its affairs. Indeed, so often was he elected to the Legislature that the story goes that at town meeting the moderator would rise and say " we are here to elect Col. Sam Hill and some one to go with him to the next General Court." He was chosen town clerk in 171 7, and afterwards served as clerk of the proprietors of the town, until his death. In 1720, at the formation of the Probate Court for Guilford district, he was chosen clerk and on the death of Judge Hooker, judge of the court, which position he held until his death. May 24, 1752. He was also for a con- siderable period Justice of the County Court of New Haven and one of the principal magistrates of the town of Guilford. He always sus- tained a high character for integrity, uprightness, firmness and perhaps sternness of principle. He was a hatter by trade. To this day his name is used in Guilford to express superiority in various directions, e. g. " He runs like Sam Hill," &c. His son, Nathaniel Hill (Y. C. 1737), was born March 10, 1716 and died November 16, 1777. He followed his father in all his honors. ^ Conn. Rec. IV, p. 442. BIOGRAPHIES. 473 Henry Hill (Y. C. 1772), son of Henry and grandson of Col. Samuel, was born October 15, 1750, and died December 21, 1827. He was a worthy successor to his uncle and grandfather in all their honors, save that of Justice of the County Court. With him ended the family dynasty in local politics. Col. Timothy Stone was born March 16, 1696, and died September 9, 1765. He went to the Legislature as regularly as Col. Samuel Hill and was Justice of the New Haven County Court. Nathaniel Rossiter was born May 21, 1762, and died 1835. He was a lawyer, and sheriff of New Haven County from November 3, 1804, to June I, 1819. He graduated at Yale in 1785, and was Jus- tice of the New Haven County Court. Col. Andrew Ward, born April 22, 1695, and died July 14, 1779, was an officer in the French and Indian War and father of Gen. Andrew Ward, of Revolutionary fame, who not only served his country in the field, but also as Justice of the New Haven County Court. He lived at the northeast corner of the Green until sometime during the Revolu- tion, when he moved to Nut Plains. In 1795, with Col. Jeremiah Halsey of Norwich, he ofifered to finish the State House at Hartford for the Gore lands on Lake Erie. The offer was accepted, but the enterprise proved unprofitable to them.' He was born November 19, 1727, and died January 10, 1799. William Todd, Esq., was a native of East Giiilford (born January 3, 1785). He was the son of Dr. Jonathan Todd and grandnephew of the Rev. John Todd, the second clergyman of that parish. He gradu- ated at Yale College in 1806, was admitted to the bar in 1809, and practised his profession for almost a quarter of a century in Guilford, securing the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He died October 8, 1831. For many years, his tombstone recounted that he was " a graduate of Yale College, an attorney at law, an ornament to society, a pillar of the church, and his bereaved partner's last comfort this side heaven." After her death, I regret to say the stone was removed and a marble monument erected to both. On July 6, 1814, he married Miss Sarah Redfield, who survived him until 1892, when she died, aged 96. Ralph Dunning Smyth," son of Richard and Lovine (Hebert) Smyth, was born in Southbury, Conn., October 28, 1804. On his father's side he was a descendant of John Smyth, who came with his wife, Grace, to Milford about 1640. His mother, the daughter of Ebenezer Hebert '■ Hist, of Hartford Co. ' This sketch is based on one written by his son-in-law, Dr. Lewis H. Steiner, and published in N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg. for July, 1875. 474 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. of Wyoming, Penn., was born at Easton, Penn., shortly after the flight of her mother from the great massacre at Wyoming/ He was fitted for college at the Weston (now Easton) Academy, un- der its principal, John Hiram Lathrop, LL. D. He was graduated at Yale in 1827, in a class which numbered among its members the Rev. Horace Bushnell, N. P. WilHs, Judge Henry Hogeboom, his room- mate, the Rev. Dr. Wm. Adams, the Rev. Dr. Theron Baldwin, the Rev. Dr. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, and others, whose names have attained a national reputation. After the completion of his collegiate course he adopted the pro- fession of law as the pursuit most congenial to his taste, and prose- cuted his studies under the direction of the Hon. Edward Hinman of Southbury and Heman Birch, Esq., of Brookfield, completing his course of education in the law school attached to Yale College, under Judges Daggett and Hitchcock. He was admitted to the bar at New Haven in 1831 and in November of the same year, located at Guilford, where he spent the remainder of his life. During the probationary period, through which every yonng profes- sional man must pass, he occupied himself for some years in teaching a select school in the place of his adoption, at which some prominent men were prepared for college. He married, October 13, 1837, Rachel Stone Seward, daughter of Amos Seward of Guilford, who survived him and died August 2, 1882. They had four children, viz : Sarah Spencer, who married Dr. Lewis H. Steiner of Frederick, Md. (later a resident of Baltimore) ; Mary Drake, who died when two years of age; Walter Hebert (Y. C. 1863) died November 27, 1863, who was the highest stand man in his college class and the first man ever granted the Baccalaureate degree without pass- ing the final examinations; and Richard Edward (Y. C. 1866) one of the founders of the Yale Courant, the first college weekly, and a graceful poet, who died December 18, 1868. In June, 1844, Mr. Smyth was appointed Judge of the Probate Court of Guilford, which office he held until 1846, and again from 1847 ^iitil July 4, 1850, filling the duties of the ofiEce with great skill, care and judgment. In 1859 he was elected a representative of the town of Guilford in the General Assembly of Connecticut, and during its ses- sions acted as Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, and as a mem- ber of other important committees. " From 1848 to 1854 he was engaged in chartering and conducting the New Haven and New London Railroad and the New London and ^ See Genealogy of the Hebert Family by R. D. Smyth and Harvey Hebard in N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg. for July, 1897. BIOGRAPHIES. 475 Stonington Railroad, performing- several years of severe and con- tinuous labor as Secretary, Treasurer, Director and Attorney in origi- nating and building these roads, and in the subsequent management thereof." Prior to, during and subsequent to his labors in connection with these railroads. Judge Smith was actively engaged in the duties of his profession, acquiring a well-merited reputation as a thorough office lawyer and a sound practitioner, distinguished for his hesitation in taking charge of a case until he was absolutely satisfied of its justice. Judge Munson of Seymour spoke of him, at the bar-meeting called in honor of his memory, as one who knew the law better than any lawyer within the acquaintance of the speaker, as a walking text-book, who only needed to be reminded of the principle involved in a case to tell at once its name," and to give a reliable opinion of the same. Another colleague, at the same meeting, spoke of him, " as a thor- oughly honest lawyer, preparing his case with great care and never employing questionable means, or using questionable efforts to secure a result in his favor," and of "the genial qualities, which made his counsel and pleasant words go deep into the hearts of the young, as well as the old." Although devoted to the study and practice of his chosen profession, with an earnest zeal rarely excelled by its honored practitioners, he still found time to cultivate the fields of elegant literature, history, biography, and genealogical research. He studied the English clas- sics with a zest that could only spring from a genuine love of the beautiful and true. His memory was richly stored with the choicest English poetry, which was always at his command whenever needed for illustration. He kept up his acquaintance with the classics to the very end of his life, and regularly read the Greek Testament. He took great pleasure in English and American history, and his calm, unpreju- diced mind enabled him to pronounce exceedingly accurate judgments upon the lives and motives of those who had figured most prominently upon its pages. His love for research led him to investigate the obscure corners and works of history and biography, which other and more superficial students were in the habit of passing by unnoticed. Thus he was brought into the fields of genealogical research by a sort of inevitable necessity. Here, however, he found an ample scope for the exercise of his habits of careful research and untiring labor. Shortly after his location in Guilford he was attracted by the rich materials for study furnished by its eariy history and, beginning with a careful study of its earliest records, he found the field of his investi- gation becoming wider and wider, as his untiring spirit zealously pur- 476 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. sued his labors. How vast and painstaking these labors were can be seen from the immense mass of material collected by him. Rightly has he been called the " Guilford Antiquary." Old records, old tomb- stones, and monuments were favorite subjects for study, indeed every- thing that could elucidate the town's history became of special interest to the enthusiastic student. Necessarily his investigations took a still more and. more extensive range until everything connected with the genealogy of New England became attractive to his inquiring spirit, and his shelves began to fill up with books devoted to local and family history, while his manuscript collections increased until they became mines of wealth to younger investigators. A sketch of the History of Guilford, originally written by Rev. David Dudley Field and revised by Mr. Smyth in 1838, was edited by his son-in-law, after his death, and published in 1877. It forms the basis of the present work. Next to Guilford he loved Yale College and, devoting himself with great care and painful assiduity to collecting biographies of the early graduates, he completed a series of sketches of the lives of the same from the beginning down to 1767 inclusive. The early part of these appeared in the Yale Courant for 1868. The manuscript was given to the college by Mrs. Smyth and forms the basis of Prof. F. B. Dexter's " Yale Biographies and Annals." His manuscripts were very voluminous, comprising, in addition to those mentioned: (i) The genealogy of the principal families of Guil- ford, which would probably make two volumes of some 600 pages each.' (2) A Biographical Record of the Class of 1827 in Yale College. (3) A catalogue of the Connecticut Election Sermons.^ (4) A sketch of the history of the Fourth Congregational Society of Guilford, largely em- bodied in this work. (5) A beginning of a complete history of Guil- ford, forming the first chapters of this work, &c., &c. Judge Smyth was a modest, retiring man, avoiding as far as possible public life, but delighting in the company of his friends, the genial attractions of his literary and professional studies, and in imparting in- formation from his richly stored memory to any seeker after knowl- edge. The results of -his genealogical labors he delighted to impart to every inquirer and he was always very happy when he could aid a brother genealogist in his researches. A fellow-laborer writes that he ^ His memoranda on the family of Thomas French were published in the N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg. for July, 1893, part of those on the Dunning Family in the same magazine for Jan., 1898, and on the Seward Family in the number for April, 1898. ' Published in N. E. Hist, and Gen. Reg. for April, 1892. BIOGRAPHIES. - 477 was the most generous man with his collections that he ever knew, or that he could imagine to exist. Another closes a warm eulogy with the statement that he " has not left behind him any one so conversant with the general family history of the State." He was a member of the New England Historic Genealogical So- ciety and of the Connecticut and New Haven Colony Historical Socie- ties. He was a Congregationalist from choice and conviction and attached to the First Church of Guilford, but his religion was of that catholic nature which recognizes those of whatever name, who love Jesus Christ as brethren. The loss of his sons, shortly after they had grad- uated with distinction and when careers of great usefulness were seem- ingly before them, for a while detached him from his favorite pursuits, but as grandchildren grew up around him, he learned to sympathize in all their joys and sports and again resumed his former studies with something of the ardor he had shown in earlier days. During the spring and summer of 1874 he gradually laid by his favorite pursuits and seemed to suffer from symptoms of the painful disease, which finally terminated his life, on September 11. On the 15th his funeral was attended by a large concourse of his fellow towns- men, who felt that they had lost their most important citizen, and by many friends and professional brethren, who had come from a distance to show respect to his memory. The Rev. Leonard Bacon, D. D., an old and valued friend, pronounced the funeral discourse. In the beau- tiful Alderbrook Cemetery rests he, who truly was, as his epitaph says, " An upright lawyer, a profound scholar, and a faithful Christian." Edward Ruggles Landon (Y. C. 1833) was born in Guilford May 31, 1813, and died there July 25, 1883. He studied law with Judge R. D. Smyth in New Haven, and in Detroit, and began practising in Tecum- seh, Michigan. In December, 1838, he returned to Guilford and spent the remainder of his life there. He was chosen town clerk in 1848 and Judge of Probate in 1854, and held both positions until his death. In 1856 he was a member of the State Senate and in 1870 of the House of Representatives. A kindly, jovial man, " he was long the principal magistrate of the town, prominent and useful in public affairs and universally respected for integrity and fidelity." He married (i) Janu- ary I, 1838, Anna Theodora Lay, who died on September 18, with her infant child, and (2) October 5, 1871, Parnel C. Hotchkiss. Dr. Bryan Rossiter was a son of Edward Rossiter and came to this country with his father, in the Mary and John, in 1630. He was made freeman at Dorchester, Mass., in 1631, moved to Windsor in 1639, where he was first town clerk, and to Guilford in 1651. Where he 478 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. obtained his medical education in unknown. He removed to Killing- worth (now Clinton) on account of his difficulties with the people of Guilford about the union with Connecticut, but soon returned and died at Guilford, September 30, 1672. His medical practice was very ex- tensive. Alvan Talcott, M. D., was born in North Bolton, near Vernon, Conn., August 17, 1804. He graduated from Yale College in 1824 and from the Yale Medical School in 1831. The years 1824-29 he spent in teach- ing at East Windsor, Guilford, and Wilkes-Barre, Penn. He began to practise in Vernon, but moved to Guilford in 1841 and continued to reside there until his death, January 17, 1891. He was a scholarly man and an able physician. In December, 1888, he endowed with $25,000 a Professorship in Greek in Yale College to be called by his name. By his last will he gave to the Yale Medical School his medical and surgi- cal books and instruments. He married, March 7, 1831, Olive N. Chittenden of Guilford, who, with their three children, died before him. He was much interested in genealogy, made large collections relating to the history of Guilford families and published a volume on the Chittenden family in 1882. Dea. Timothy Meigs, one of the most prominent residents of East Guilford, was born there September 19, 1713, and was graduated at Yale in 1732. He pursued no profession, but settled in his native town, where he died of an epidemic dysentery on September 14, 1751, having been taken sick while attending divine worship. From a "Lamentation," written by some unknown local bard, the following stanzas are taken: 13. Until at last. Death seised fast Our much lamented Deacon, Whose sickness strong first seis'd upon Him, when he was at Meeting. 15. Till this dark hour, this man of prayer Stood by in our distress, Ready to run to every one, Whom sickness did oppress. 17. When we unto God's house did go To try the force of prayer, In that dark hour, in which no power But God's could help and spare; 18. This lov'ly man, with speed he came Amongst the few to pray, Who were not yet by the arrows hit That flew by night and day. BIOGRAPHIES. 479 19. Ah! how he pray'd, how did he plead And pour out all his soul ! His tears did run, they trickled down And on his cheeks did roll. 26. For him we all did justly call Our Israel's sweet singer, And .each that heard him sing and read Admired the chorister. The sermon is next described. 32. He spoke, and then an arrow keen. Shot from the Almighty's bow. Strikes to his heart, he feels the smart And bows and home doth go. 33. In six days time, he did resign Unto the fate of death. We stood around, in tears were drowned, While he resigned his breath. 35. A heavy stroke that from us took This good and useful man! How deep the wound, how sad the sound. The lovely Meigs is gone! Gen. Augustus Collins served in the Revolutionary army, was a prominent public man, a magistrate for many years and served the town in nearly forty sessions of the legislature. His sister, Lorraine, married Gov. Oliver Wolcott, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Gen. Collins was born August 7, 1743, and died April 30, 1814. He resided in North Guilford. Frederic Redfield GriMng was born November 5, 1799, and died Octo- ber 13, 1852. He was prominently connected with the building of the New Haven and New London Railroad and was its first president. He was a man of large means. Joel Tuttle was born May 8, 1792, and died May i, 1855. His only son, William Sage Tuttle, died at an early age. His mother erected a library building for Olivet College, Michigan, in memory of him. Nathaniel Griffing was born January 26, 1769, and died September 17, 1845. He was graduated at Yale College, 1786, was Justice of the New Haven County Court, and the leading man in Guilford for many years. Rev. Samuel Cooke (Y. C. 1705) was born at Guilford November 22, 1687, and died December 2, 1747, at Stratfield (now Bridgeport), where he had been pastor since 171 5. He was rector of the Hopkins Gram- 480 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. mar School in New Haven from 1707-15. He was prominent as one of the " New Lights " and published several sermons. He was a fellow of Yale College for some years. Rev. Jared Eliot, F. R. S. (Y. C. 1706), the son of Rev. Joseph Eliot, was born in Guilford November 7, 1685. He succeed^ed Rector Pier- son as pastor at Killingworth in 1707, and was ordained there in Octo- ber, 1709. He married Hannah Smithson of Guilford on October 26, 1710. He was one of the seven who had doubts as to Congregational ordination in 1722, but his scruples were satisfied and he died in his pastorate at Killingworth, April 22, 1763. An active, earnest man, of great conversational powers, of manifold knowledge, executive ability and broad religious and human sympathies, he made great attainments in science and medicine. He was the first physician of his day in Connecticut and an excellent botanist as well as a scientific agricul- turist. He introduced the white mulberry and the silkworm into Connecticut. He was elected unanimously (an unprecedented thing) a member of the Royal Society in 1756 or 7, and given the gold medal of the London Society of the Arts in 1762 for proving that iron could be obtained from common black sea-sand. He was a friend and correspondent of Franklin, Bartram (the Amer- ican botanist), Ezra Stiles, and many other prominent men. He was made Trustee of Yale in 1730 and held the office until his death. He held to the " Old Light " party and opposed the forming of a College Church. His legacy of iio to Yale is the beginning of the Library Fund. He published nine sermons and essays; the only ones relating to Guilford are : 1. "The Blessings Bestowed on them that Fear God. As was showed in a Sermon [from Ex. i:2i] Occassion'd by the Death of Mrs. Elizabeth Smithson, who died at Killingworth, February 12, 1738-9. N. London, 1739. 16 pp. II 30. (She was his wife's mother and is described in the preface as a " Famous Midwife in the Town of Guil- ford, and a Gentlewoman of extensive charity and benevolence.") 2. "An Essay upon Field Husbandry in New England in six suc- cessive numbers." N. London and N. Haven, 1748-59. 16°, pp. 180 and 34. (This contains accounts of his experiments on his Guilford farm.) Rev. Samuel Johnson (Y. C. 1714) was son of Dea. Samuel Johnson and grandson of Dea. William Johnson, one of the principal settlers of Guilford, and was born here October 14, 1696. He taught school at Guilford from 1714 to 1716, and then was Tutor at Yale until 1719, being for the first two years the only member of the faculty besides the President. He was the first person to occupy the first College BIOGRAPHIES. 481 building. He was next called as pastor of the church at West Haven, in the town of Orange, being its first minister. His doubts as to the validity of non-episcopal ordination, for a time put aside, returned and he finally declared for Episcopacy in September, 1722. He gave up his church and, with Rector Cutler and Tutor Browne, sailed for Eng- land on November 5, 1722. He was admitted to the Church of Eng- land, ordained deacon and priest, and made Master of Arts at both Oxford and Cambridge. He was appointed by the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel " its missionary to Stratford, Conn., and set sail for home, July 28, 1723. On Christmas day, 1724, he opened the iirst Episcopal house of worship in the colony, in which, for three years, he was the sole Episcopal clergyman. He was given the degree of D. D. by Oxford in 1743 and, in the autumn of 1753, was chosen first president of King's (now Columbia) College, New York. He removed thither in April, 1754, began instructing in July, and continued in his ofiSce until the death of his second wife from small-pox in 1763. Then he resigned, retired to his son's house in Stratford, and took his old church. He continued therein until his death, January 6, 1772. Pres. Stiles said : " He was an excellent classical scholar, even a good critic in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew." He "was a man of gen- eral, but not of profound and solid or deep erudition." Rev. Mr. Rug- gles of Guilford used to say of him, " Dr. Johnson was always of the opinion of the last book he read." " He was pleased with polite writ- ings, had some taste for History, particularly of the Classics, and for the periodical Productions of the world as they came forth." " Not of the deepest penetration and judgment, but of multiform and extensive Reading." " He was good at the Sciences, easy and communicative, was eminent in Moral Philosophy." His father-in-law. Rev. John Beach, in a funeral sermon on him, said " he was the most excellent Scholar and the most accomplished Divine that this colony ever had to glory in." He was distinguished for his literary and popular talents and accomplishments, was genteel and engaging in his manners, and ■of great personal worth. A gentleman of his church said that Dr. Johnson's life was a practical commentary on the beneficial influence of a firm adherence to principles. His publications number 17, liter- ary, scholastic and polemic. His life has been written by Chandler and by Beardsley. His son William Samuel Johnson became more famous than his father, signed the United States Constitution, and was also President of Columbia College. Through the influence of two Guilford men, Rev. Jared Eliot and Dr. Samuel Johnson, Bishop Berkeley was induced to make his benefac- tions to Yale College. 482 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Rev. Timothy Collins (Y. C. 1718) was born at Guilford April 13, 1699, was pastor at Bantam, afterwards called Litchfield, from 1720 to 1752, when he was dismissed because of Dr. Bellamy's hostility to him, as an " Old Light." He continued to serve in Litchfield as a physician and magistrate until his death, February 7, (?) 1777. He served as surgeon in the French and Indian War in 1755 and 1762. Hon. Abraham Baldwin ^ (Y. C. 1772), the son of Lieut. Michael Bald- win, the North Guilford blacksmith, was born there November 6, 1754. His half-sister, Ruth, ran ofif with a young school-teacher and so be- came wife of Joel Barlow. She was slanderously said to have spent three months acquiring grace enough to be presented at court in France. Mr. Baldwin served as Tutor at Yale, 1775 to 1779. His attention was first directed to theology, he became a candidate for the ministry, and was a chaplain in the Revolutionary army through sev- eral of the latter years of the war. At its close, at the request of Gen. Greene, he removed to Savannah, Georgia, where he relinquished the ministry and entered the profession of law, in which he rose to great eminence. His talents and patriotism were too conspicuous to remain unnoticed even among strangers. He was soon elected a representa- tive to the Legislature of his adopted State, and in 1784, a member of the Continental Congress, continuing therein and in its successor, the House of Representatives, without interruption until he was promoted by the citizens of the State in 1799 to the more exalted position of member of the United States Senate, in which office he continued unti! his death, March 4, 1807, at the city of Washington, in the midst of his usefulness and surrounded with honors. It is a remarkable cir- cumstance and an instance of assiduity almost without a parallel that, during his long Congressional life, he was never known to be absent a single hour during the sessions of Congress until the week preceding his death. He was a man of great industry and talents and his distin- guished patriotism, learning, and public services shed an honor on his native State, as well as that of his adoption. In 1787 he was elected a member of the convention which constructed the Constitution of the United States. In that convention he cast an important vote, making a tie, which led to the so-called Connecticut compromise, resulting in the present formation of the United States Senate. He voted, later, to place the Capital on the Potomac. In 1784 he conceived the plan of the University of Georgia, obtained a charter for it and was the leading spirit in its organization. He was made the first President of its Board of Trustees. He was a man of ^2S0th Anniversary, pp. 236, 241. BIOGRAPHIES. 483 extensive benevolence, consistent, liberal, dignified, and patriotic. Living in an eventful and important period of our history and filling such high and responsible positions in the forming and maturing of the United States government, as well as of the government and liter- ature of Georgia, he will descend to posterity among the most illus- trious men of our country. Baldwin County, Georgia, which includes Milledgeville, is named after him. Col. Richard Malcolm Johnston says of him, " He was the greatest man who ever lived in Georgia. In some respects he was superior to Jefiferson. His educational plans were far-reaching in their scope. Justice has never been done to his great merits." Ebenezer Chittenden, 2d, great-great-grandson of Lieut. William Chit- tenden, was bom, September ii, 1726, in East Guilford, whither his father had removed. His mother was a sister of Dr. Samuel Johnson, of Stratford. He settled in New Haven. Possessing great mechanical genius he invented, among other curious machines, one for bend- ing and cutting card teeth in a single movement.' It is said some unscrupulous person obtained knowledge of this invention and pat- ented it in England as his own. Eli Whitney had an exalted opinion of Mr. Chittenden's skill and judgment as a mechanic. He- died May II, 1812. Thomas Chittenden, brother of the last mentioned, was born in East Guilford January 6, 1730. On October 4, 1749, he married Elizabeth Meigs and soon after moved to Salisbury. There he resided, cultivat- ing a farm, until 1774. He showed such ability that, though only pos- sessing a common school education, he was sent to the Colonial Legis- lature from 1766 to 1769, and in 1772 he was made Colonel of Militia and Justice of the Peace. In 1774 he settled in Vermont, at Williston on the Onion River. Driven thence by the British in 1776 he resided in Danby, Pownal and Arlington until 1787, when he returned to Wil- liston, where he continued to live until his death, August 24, 1797. When the general convention was held at Westminster, January, 1777, which declared Vermont an independent State, he was said to be the only member who had ever before sat in the capacity of legislator. He was on the committee to report to Congress the proceedings of the inhabitants and to solicit the admission of their district into the Ameri- can Union. He was also a member of the convention which met in July, 1777, to draft a constitution for the new State, and was chosen President of the Council of Safety. On the adoption of the Constitu- tion in 1778, he was elected first governor of the State and was re- ^ Barber's Hist. Coll. Conn, p. 228. 484 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. elected each succeeding year until 1797, save 1789, when though nearly- elected by the people, he was defeated in the Legislature, largely through the jealousy of Ira Allen. During the early years of his administration the State had to contend with great difficulties. It was threatened with invasion by the British forces from Canada and its independence of New York and New Hampshire was not yet acknowl- edged by Congress. The British Government tried to seduce Vermont from its allegiance to the United States, but in vain. Gov. Chittenden had the wisdom to pursue a course of measures which saved the State from invasion and secured its admission finally into the Union. At the time of this admission in 1791 Gen. Washington observed that Gov. Chittenden deserved well of his country for the wisdom, patriotism, and firmness he had displayed in managing the affairs of his adopted State. His substantial excellence, aptly compared to the solid Roman arch, not to the ornate Corinthian pillar, was recognized by Vermont in words as well as deeds. The Legislature, in an address to him, spoke of their " satisfaction in his administration, grateful sense of many and good services he had rendered, as the supporter, guardian and protec- tor of their civil liberties," and said they gave him " all that a noble and generous mind can give, or wish to receive, their gratitude and warm- est thanks." His friends esteemed him highly. Said Ethan Allen, he was the " only man I ever knew, who was sure to be right in all, even the most difficult and complex cases and yet could not tell, or seem to know, why it was so." Another testimony from Hon. David Read was that Gov. Chittenden was " educated to habits of industry and economy and had but little to do with the artificial forms of society," and that he had " intuitive insight into all men with whom he came into contact, and into all questions he had to decide." The little time he had to spare from labor, he devoted to athletics rather than to books, and he usually dictated his letters to more competent scribes. From his first entrance into the State, in every community in which he dwelt, he showed himself master, either by force of character or power of position. His government was "patriarchal rather than constitu- tional." His sagacity, humanity, and sound discretion were especially conspicuous in his treatment of the Tories and their estates. He moved to Arlington to drive out the Tories there and was so success- ful that they left their fields unharvested and their families in danger of famine. Gov. Chittenden visited every family and took account of the provisions on hand and made an impartial and disinterested dis- tribution under his oversight, " so that, though all were pinched, none perished." In June, 1779, he issued a Proclamation of Pardon to Tories and " Yorkers," stating his " gracious design of Mercy," " to BIOGRAPHIES. 485 alleviate the miseries of those unhappy subjects, who act through mis- taken notions and resist the penalties." Again and again he imposed embargoes on the exportation of breadstuffs in those stormy days and, on one occasion, refused to sell his own crop, saving it for the benefit of the people in their hour of need. He was six feet in height, of fair proportions but not portly, owning a fine set of teeth, but possessing only one eye. This sturdy son of Guilford may justly be called the father of Vermont.'' The Hon. Hiland Hall, himself of Guilford stock, said that " the for- mation of the territory of Vermont into a separate State, the successful progress of its government, and its final establishment, against the powerful opposition of other governments, were owing in a great degree to the almost unerring foresight, vmhesitating firmness, and sound judgment of Thomas Chittenden." '' Governor Chittenden was clearly a man of superior natural abilities, of keen discernment, well acquainted with human nature, uncommonly skilled in reconciling discordant parties, and capable of forming and accomplishing important designs. He was a great blessing to Ver- mont and saw it rising up under his government from a small begin- ning to strength and importance. He was kind and liberal to the poor and distressed, and a sincere professor of the religion of Jesus Christ. In his manners and personal appearance he was rough, blunt and uneducated; yet his bluntness was sO' seasoned with frankness and benevolence that he was universally beloved, wherever he was known, and the citizens of his adopted State have named one of their counties in his honor.° Abraham Bradley, 3d., who was at one time deputy postmaster-gen- eral, was born in Guilford, December 11, 173 1. In a letter written to Medad Stone (who kept the stage house and post-ofiEce on the Green), dated Washington City, August 15, 1812, he states that he had been bom at the lower end of Crooked Lane (State Street), and had resided in six States of the Union before coming to Washington a little over a year previously. He enclosed the verses, part of which we quote : AN ADDRESS TO GUILFORD. Kow shall I sing with becoming grace The high respect due to my native place? '2S0th Anniversary, pp. 237-9; H. of G. pp. 130-131; Hon. David Read in Vt. Hist. Mag. I, 906; Vt. Hist. Mag, I, p. 130; Slade's State Papers, pp. 556 et seq.; Records of Vt. Gov. and Council, I, p. 118; Chipman's "Memoir of Chittenden." ' Hist, of Vt. p. 458. ' Its county-seat is Guilford. 486 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. To thee, O Guilford, gratitude is due, In thee, at first, the vital air I drew; In thee, I first received the visual ray, — Therefore to thee I will due homage pay. The Indians there had unknown ages dwelt — Men, who the softer passions seldom felt, To whom were arts and sciences unknown; Who knew no common interest not their own. Wild flesh, wild fruits, their food, but oft'ner fish And clams and oysters their more common dish. Skins of wild animals for raiment served; They oft with cold and oft with hunger starved. These sons of nature held the right of soil, On which, however, they disdained to toil; Void of invention, iron they had none — Their edge tools all were made of shell or stone. Menunkatuck was the Indian name. When to the English they transferred their claim. On contract fair, their right they did assign, September, sixteen hundred, thirty-nine. Pleased with the site they now enjoyed the purchase. Cleared up the ground, built fences, houses, churches. Soon did the savage howl and yelling cease. Succeeded by religion, love, and peace. And 'tis among their heirs and their assigns. Now happiness resides and virtue shines. E'en now my recollection brings to view The scenes long past and people once I knew, Their simple manners and their social glee. Philanthropy to all, good will to me. Morals humane, pacific, mild, and just (Tho' some too much to doubtful faith might trust). Virtues, in which they might indulge more pride. Than those of any spot on earth beside, And, tho' the produce of their grav'ly soil. But ill remunerates the farmer's toil, Economy and commerce lend their aid, So they're as blest as under Eden's shade. CROOKED LANE (now State Street.) And still I feel an impulse to maintain The ancient honors of old Crooked Lane; A people, whom the arts ne'er taught to stray Among the stars, or climb the milky way. Here enterprise was ever a recluse, And dormant slept the genius and the muse. Here proud ambition never fixed his throne. And maddening politics were little known. BIOGRAPHIES. 487 The gilded demons, wealth and power and fame, To them were but the whistling of a name. No flags have they in distant seas unfurled, Nor sought the subjugation of a world. Content at home, as foxes in their holes. Nor pride nor envy fired their souls, But when tobacco smoke perfumed their noses, Felt wise as Solomon, and meek as Moses. In erudition sought no greater glory, Than of some witch to hear and tell the story. The way their fathers trod, supinely bred to tread. Without enquiring to what goal it led. Honesty, banished from the proud and great. Set up in Crooked Lane her humble seat. 'Tis thought they stood as good a chance for Heaven As Mary Magdalene purged of her seven. When now Thanksgiving takes her yearly circuit, It is a merry farce the way they work it. Molasses they must have and quick in search on't Each with his jug runs nimbly to the merchant; And if this noblest luxury can be had, Their eyes are lively and their face bow glad! If not, they must adjourn for that same reason The giving thanks unto another season. For pies and puddings sweet, as well as tarts. The great incentives are to thankful hearts. And they were never brought to such a pass as To celebrate this feast without molasses. A Sunday coat held good, unnumbered years. However oft meanwhile the fashion veers; May be transferred, from father down to son. As long as grass shall grow, or water run. 'Tis on this spot, this paradise of earth, (Pardon my arrogance), I boast my birth; Though this indeed it were not need confest. For so, who reads these lines would sure have guessed. Now, what I write, I let my readers know, Relates to facts of seventy years ago. (circa 1740) If any change, for better or for worse. Has since occurred — pray what is that to us — Some rising bard may in a fitting strain. The present state depict of Crooked Lane. Simeon Baldwin Chittenden, Sr., was born at Guilford March 29, 1814, and died at Brooklyn, N. Y., April 14, 1889. On leaving the schools of his native place he went into business in New Haven, whence he removed to New York in 1843. Grasping the opportunity then given for acquiring a fortune in the dry-goods trade, he soon obtained wealth and enlarged his business, making it very profitable, especially during 488 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. the Civil War. In 1875 he retired from business with a large fortune. At that time his associates in the Chamber of Commerce gave him a great dinner. From 1867 to 1869 he was Vice-President of the New York Chamber of Commerce. He was a director of several railroads and had other large financial interests. He was one of the founders of the Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, which city was his home for many years. In that city he took deep interest in literary and educa- tional affairs and aided in founding the Brooklyn Library and the Long Island Historical Society. He gave about $250,000 to Yale Col- lege, founding the Chittenden Professorship of Divinity and erecting a College Library building. Shortly before his death he gave to the Young Women's Christian Association a lot of ground in Brooklyn, valued at $i'8,ooo. He was a Republican in politics. In 1866 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress; in 1874 he was elected to Congress to fill a vacancy and, failing to receive the regular nomination in 1876 and 1878, he was twice re-elected as an Independent Republican. In 1880 Mr. Chittenden obtained the regular nomination but was defeated. In Congress he was regarded as a valuable member and served on important committees. He made his summer home in Guilford, where he purchased a large estate and where his house stood on the home lot of his ancestor, Lieut. Wm. Chittenden. He was twice married, and by his first wife had two children, S. B. Chittenden, Jr., of Brook- lyn, and a daughter, Mary, who was married to Dr. Wm. T. Lusk of New York City. A broad-minded and sagacious financier and legislator, a generous benefactor, a respected merchant, an honored man, he will long be remembered. Stephen C. Bartlett, M. D., was born in North ' Guilford, April 19, 1839, graduated at the Yale Medical School in 1866, and died in Waterbury on February 3, 1879. Previous to graduation he served in the U. S. military hospitals at West Philadelphia and Chester, Pa., and as acting assistant surgeon in the U. S. Navy in 1864-5. He began practising medicine at Naugatuck, where he was married to Julia B. Pickett on September 22, 1869. In 1872 he removed to Waterbury, where he was a successful practitioner until his death. One of his most important cases was a successful attempt at skin-grafting on a more extensive scale than had ever been done in America, the patient's entire scalp having been torn off by the hair being caught in machinery. Rev. Andrew Fowler was born in 1765 and died in Charleston, S. C, in 1851. . He graduated from Yale College in 1783, entered the min- istry of the Protestant Episcopal Church and served as rector in several BIOGRAPHIES. 489 places in New York, New Jersey, and South Carolina, devoting the last years of a useful and honored life to missionary work in the last named State. He presented to the bishop the first class for confirma- tion in the Protestant Episcopal Church ever gathered in South Caro- lina.' Rev. David Dudley Field, D. D., was born in East Guilford May 20, 1781, graduated at Yale College in 1802, and died at Stockbridge, Mass., April 15, 1867. His father, Captain Timothy Field, had been a soldier in the Revolutionary Army. He was fitted for college, together with Rev. Jeremiah Evarts, by Dr. John Elliott of East Guilford. He studied theology under Dr. Charles Backus of Somers, and was licensed to preach by the New Haven East Association in September, 1803. He was married, October 31, 1803, to Miss Submit Dickinson of Somers. He preached at Haddam, was ordained there, and re- mained pastor of that church until April, .1818. He then took a mis- sionary tour of some months in Western New York and next was settled at Stockbridge, Mass. After a pastorate of nearly eighteen years there he was recalled to his old parish at Haddam. This charge he kept seven years, when the parish being inconveniently large, was divided. He then preached seven years longer to the new society formed at Higganum. During this time he made a voyage to Europe, visiting the homes of the settlers of Guilford and spending several months in France and Great Britain. In the spring of 185 1, having reached the age of 70, he returned to Stockbridge, where he resided until his death. He published Histories of Middlesex County, Conn., and of Berkshire County, Mass., a Historical Address on the Second Centennial Anniversary of Middletown, Conn., a Genealogy of the Brainerd Family, Memoirs of his College Class, and many sermons. He received the degree of D. D. from Williams College in 1837. He was at one time Vice-President of the Connecticut Historical Society. He was the father of four sons, still more distinguished than himself: David Dudley, Cyrus W., Stephen J., and Henry M., while a daughter was the mother of Mr. Justice David J. Brewer of the United States Supreme Court. Rev. Samuel William Southniayd Dutton was born in Gtiilford March 14, 1814, graduated at Yale College in 1833, and died at Millbury, Mass., January 26, 1866. After graduation, he taught at Mount Hope College, Baltimore, Md., was rector of the Hopkins Grammar School, and tutor in Yale College. He graduated from the Yale Divinity School in 1838 and, accepting a call to the pastorate of the North '■ 250 Anniversary, p. 240. 490 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Church in New Haven, he was ordained there June, 1838. In this pulpit he continued until his death, with an influence extending widely beyond the limits of his parish. In 1842 he published a History of the North Church and, a year later, became one of the original asso- ciate editors of the New Englander, to which he furnished no less than 46 articles. He also published sermons and contributed articles to the Congregational Quarterly. He received the degree of D. D. from Brown University in 1856. He was married in 1838 to Miss Harriet Waters of Millbury, Mass. He is described as a genial man of humane and generous temper.' Col. Rufus Norton, born in North Branford August Q, 1756, died 1812. A Revolutionary soldier and a teacher of some note in Guil- ford, he was a man of deep religious feeling, expressing itself freely in verse. He left a volume of unpublished poems of graceful expression, " severely introspective," says Mr. Henry Robinson, " and gloomy, and full of religious melancholy." ' The latter part of his life was spent in Chesterfield, N. Y. Samuel Hoadley' born at Guilford, September 30, 1643, educated at Edinburgh, Scotland, was for some time a teacher in Kent County, England, and a clergyman without a benefice. He died master of the public school in Norwich, England, where he is buried with his wife in St. Luke's Chapel in the cathedral. He published in 1698, " The Na- tional Method of Teaching," which went through eleven editions be- fore 1773, an edition of Phaedrus with notes, and another school book of grammatical purpose, at London in 1683. He was the father of Archbishop John Hoadley of Armagh and of Bishop Benjamin Hoad- ley of Bangor, the famous Whig. The latter published seven of his father's letters to Graevius of Saxony, a celebrated teacher. John Parsons Foote* born at Guilford June 26, 1783, died 1867, wrote a biography of his honored brother, Samuel E. Foote, and a history of the public schools of Cincinnati, Ohio. Charles Wyllys Elliott,^ born at Guilford May 27, 1817, died August 23, 1883. He came of a family famous for personal beauty and was, says Mr. Henry P. Robinson, " eccentric, original, genial, humane, com- panionable, attractive, and interesting." He was quite a writer, publish- ing "Cottages and Cottage Life" in 1848; "Glimpses of the Super- natural" in 1852; "San Domingo and Its Hero," 1855; "The History of New England from A. D. 986 to 1776," in 2 volumes, 1857; "Re- markable Characters and Places in the Holy Land" in 1868; "The ' 2S0th Anniversary, pp. 133 and 240. ' Ibid., p. 125. ' Ibid., p. 120. ' Ibid., p. 127. ° Ibid., p. 131. BIOGRAPHIES. 49I Book of American Interiors " in 1876; and " Pottery and Porcelain " in 1878. The History of New England, his most important work, is described as "rather a curiosity shop of history and illustrates with painful fidelity all that is monstrous and peculiar in the earlier annals of the colonies." Mr. Elliott was a member of the New York, Ohio, and Connecticut Historical Societies, lectured before the Lowell Insti- tute of Boston, contributed to the North American Reviev/, and wrote much on the labor movements of the day. George Hill, the youngest son of Judge Henry Hill, was born in Guil- ford, January 29, 1796, graduated at Yale College in 181 6, and died in St. Vincent Hospital, New York City, December 15, 1871. He was married in 1817 to Miss EHzabeth S. Hamilton of New Haven, and in 1833 to Miss Mary K. Greer of Washington, D. C. After graduation he was employed in the U. S. General Land Office until 1827, when he was appointed teacher of mathematics in the Navy, in which capac- ity he was attached to the Mediterranean squadron until 1831. On his return he was made librarian of the State Department, continuing there until 1839. He was then appointed consul for the southern part of Asia Minor, but soon returning on account of ill health, he was em- ployed again in the State Department. He resigned his position in 1855, returned to Guilford and spent the remainder of his life there. In 1 83 1 he published a volume of poems, anonymously. In 1839 a second and in 1870 a third edition appeared. These poems are " clas- sical and finished in form " and largely autobiographical. Many have a gentle vein of sadness. " Classic lands," says Mr. Robinson, " reli- gious devotion, and nature are the general motives of 'his fancy, treated with refined and chastened spirit." " Titania's Banquet " has some ex- quisite passages, while " The Ruins of Athens," " The Fall of the Oak," the " Maiden's Song to the Violets," and " The Cavalier's Serenade " are especially excellent. The poem entitled " Idlings with Nature " deals with Guilford scenery, that of the East Woods and of the valley of the Alderbrook. Fitz Greene Halleck, the son of the village tailor, Israel Halleck, and of Mary Elliott, was born on the west side of the Green in Guilford, where Henry Hale now lives, on July 8, 1790. Like Pope he lisped in numbers and poems of his are extant written before he was 10 years old. He had no taste for rough sports when a boy, but was quiet and a great reader, as his father had been. At fifteen he entered Andrew ElHott's store, learned book-keeping there and took entire charge of the store when the owner was on the farm. Even then he was noted for that courtesy of manner, which was such a marked characteristic of his in later life, and love poems then written by him to Guilford maids are still preserved. In 1808 he visited New York for the first time, 492 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. and a year later published his first poem. In May, 1811, he became a clerk in the banking house of Jacob Barker in New York, spending his vacations in Guilford and in trips to Canada and Washington. Throughout his whole life he maintained a strong friendship for his sister Maria, who outlived him. His letters to her are delightful read- ing. He had a great capacity for making friends and " the compan- ionship and friendship of Joseph Rodman Drake brought him the stim- ulus of artistic sympathy. There are few literary friendships on record more charming than that of Drake and Halleck. Alas, that it was so early closed by death!" In 1820 Drake died and Halleck mourned him in an exquisite poem, if it be a trifle conventional, that beginning — " Green be the turf above thee, Friend of my better days." Before this Drake and Halleck wrote together a series of short poems for the Evening Post, called " The Croakers." These, says Pro- fessor Johnson, satirize "with good humored persiflage, the leading personages of the day in the worlds of politics and fashion." " These are as neatly done as anything of the kind that has appeared since, ephe- meral, of course, from the local interest of their topics, but abounding with wit and youthful high spirits and brimful of a sauciness, which never oversteps the limits of good-breeding." The closeness of the literary sympathy between the authors is shown by the similarity of the style and manner. Published anonymously they attracted much no- tice. " Never has light satire been written in American with more spirit and fluency." In 1820 Halleck published " Fanny," a satirical society poem of some length, to which he afterwards added another canto. " It is in the stanza of Byron's Beppa, and is the precursor of " Nothing to Wear," and many other similar poems. It is now little read; for " satire, which is aimed at the follies and fashions of the day, cannot be much longer-lived than they." In 1822 Halleck went to Europe, bearing letters of introduction to many celebrated men, some of whom he met, dining in Edinburgh with Blackwood, Hogg and Ballantyne ; but others he either failed to come across, or from shyness or whim declined to meet as was the case with Coleridge. To this journey is due the admirable verses on Burns, who with Campbell, seems to have influenced him greatly, and those on Alnwick Castle, the ancestral home of the Percys. The last are among his best. " Halleck views the stately border castle very much in the vein of Scott. He dwells on the picturesque, poetic features, giving them a slightly theatrical color, but sometimes hitting the essen- BIOGRAPHIES. 493 tial, underlying poetry o'f the feudal society in one of its aspects, which is often obscured by the exact, careful, historical analysis of to-day." After visiting England, Scotland, Wales, France, and Switzerland, he returned and continued his connection with Mr. Barker until the lat- ter's failure in 1829. Said Halleck, " In a long connection of nearly 20 years not a cool word passed between us." The connection was broken for a short time when Halleck went into business for himself unsuccessfully. After Mr. Barker's failure, Halleck devoted himself entirely to literary pursuits for a time, and in 1832 entered the counting house of John Jacob Astor, where he remained sixteen years, until the death of the latter. Mr. Astor left Mr. Halleck an annuity of $200, to which Mr. William B. Astor added a gift of $10,000. Early in 1849 Halleck returned to Guilford and made it his home until his death, which occurred November 19, 1867. For many years his residence was the house now occupied as a hotel, on the southwest corner of the Green. In 1837 he received the honorary degree of M. A. from Columbia College. Shortly after his return from Europe he wrote " Redjacket " and " Marco Bozzaris." The last, his best known work, is " a noble ode," says Prof. Johnson, " and the ode is a form in which the English lan- guage has few great poems to show." It is marked by " dithyrambic quality of ringing music," by " rush, fire and enthusiasm." It has been wonderfully popular and still inspires many a schoolboy to noble deeds. About 1830 an intellectual paralysis seemed to fall upon Hal- leck and, though he lived nearly forty years longer, he wrote little and almost nothing equal to his earlier work. He was " a lyric poet of grace and purity ... an artist at a time when it was even more difficult to live the artistic life in America than it is now." "Among the American poets of the first quarter of the century there is none whose note is truer than Hallcck's. If his rhymed rhetoric is not so copious and powerful as Byron's, it is never cynical with a shallow and ill-natured contempt of mankind. Such self knowledge as he had did not undermine self respect, nor regard for his brothers. If his songs have not quite the musical quality of Moore's, their gaiety is more simple and natural and echoes a less con- ventional sentiment. If his vers de societe lack the perfect form and dainty wit of Praed's, it is only because Praed is unapproachable in lightness of touch and felicitous turn of rhymed expression." Prof. Johnson continues, " He passed habitually from the counting house to the fields of Arcady, where his employer could not follow him. For there was given to him the language of the imagination, the love of nature, the ability to interpret in words some of her simpler moods, the 494 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. enthusiasm of the intellect, and the power of graceful metrical expres- sion. These are not the gifts of the seer, but they are some of the gifts of the singer. It is these gifts that constitute the Halleck that is known to us." ^ Lowell, in his Fable for Critics, gives another estimate — There goes Halleck, whose Fanny's a pseudo Don Juan With the wickedness out that gave salt to the true one; He's a wit, though I hear of the very first order. And once made a pun on the words " Soft Recorder." More than this, he's a very great poet, I'm told, And has had his works published in crimson and gold, With something they call Illustrations — to wit, Like those with which Chapman obscured Holy Writ^ Cuts rightly called wooden, as all must admit. But to quit badinage, which there isn't much wit in, Halleck's better, I doubt not, than all he has written; In his verse, a clear glimpse you will frequently find, If not of a great, of a fortunate mind, Which contrives to be true to its natural loves, In a world of back offices, ledgers, and stoves. When his heart breaks away from the brokers and banks, And kneels in its own private shrine to give thanks. There's a genial manliness in his that earns Our sincerest respect, (read, for instance, his " Burns ") And we can't but regret (seek excuse where we may) That so much of a man has been peddled away. He was buried in Alderbrook Cemetery and a monument, erected to his memory by his friends and admirers was formally dedicated July 8, 1869, on which occasion an oration was pronounced by Bayard Taylor and the following original sonnet read by his friend and brother poet, George Hill: In thee no gorgeous capital, no mart. Known wheresoe'er a wave rolls, though we see, Yet Guilford, even thine no humble part. In memory's pageant henceforth e'er shall be. The earth that heaps thy relic, Halleck, where No name more famed sepulchral shaft shall bear, Full many a pilgrim-band from many a shore Shall wend to greet, till time shall be no more; The spot, henceforth to genius ever dear. Shall gladly hail nor quit without a tear; 'asoth Anniversary, pp. 96 to in. BIOGRAPHIES. 495 Some strain of thy imperishable lyre Recall, and, ere reluctant he retire. Exclaim, " In thee, O Fame's lamented son, A thousand poets we have lost in one." A poem written for the occasion by Oliver Wendell Holmes, was also read by Gen. James Grant Wilson, the author of " Halleck's Life and Letters," and the editor of his poems, through whose instrumen- tality mainly, the money for the monument had been collected. The closing stanzas are as follows: Count not our poet dead! The stars shall watch his bed. The Rose of June its fragrant life renews, His blushing mound it strews, And the tuneful throats of summer swell With trills as crystal clear As when he moved the ear Of the young muse that haunts the wooded dell With songs of that " rough land " he loved so long and well. He sleeps; he cannot die! As evening's long drawn sigh, Lifting the rose leaves on his peaceful mound, Spreads all their sweets around. So laden with his song, the breezes blow From where the rustling sedge Frets our rude ocean's edge To the smooth sea beyond the peaks of snow, His soul the air enshrines and leaves but dust below." Halleck was the first American poet to whom was awarded the honor of a bronze statue in a public place. This is of heroic size, repre- senting him seated, holding a thin roll of manuscript in his left hand and a pen in his right. It was presented to the city of New York by some of Halleck's admirers, and occupies a prominent position in the Central Park, near the statues of Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott. The ceremony of unveiling took place May 15, 1877, when the vener- able poet, William Cullen Bryant, presided, and, after making a brief speech, full of pleasant memories of his old companion, introduced Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes, president of the United States, who for- mally presented the statue, in the name of the subscribers, to the city of New York, through its mayor, Hon. Smith Ely, Jr. An eulogy was then pronounced by William Allen Butler, Esq., of New York, and the following poem, written for the occasion by John Greenleaf Whittier, was read : 496 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Among their graven shapes to whom Thy civic wreaths belong, O, city of his love, make room For one whose gift was song. Not his the soMier's sword to wield. Nor his the helm of state. Nor glory of the stricken field. Nor triumph of debate. In common ways, with common men, He served his race and time As well as if his clerkly pen Had never danced to rhyme. If, in the thronged and noisy mart The Muses found their son. Could any say his tuneful art A duty left undone? He toiled and sang; and year by year Men found their homes more sweet, And through a tender atmosphere Looked down the brick-walled street. The Greek's wild onset Wall street knew The Red King walked Broadway; And Alnwick's Castle's roses blew From palisades to bay. Fair city by the sea! upraise His veil with reverent hands; And mingle with thine own the praise And pride of other lands. Let Greece his fiery lyric breathe Above her hero-urns; And Scotland, with her holly, wreathe The flower he culled for Burns. O, stately stand thy palace walls. Thy tall ships ride the seas, To-day thy poet's name recalls A prouder thought than these. Not less thy pulse of trade shall beat. Nor less thy tall fleets swim, That shaded square and dusty street Are classic ground through him. BIOGRAPHIES. 497 Alive, he loved, like all who sing. The echoes of his song; Too late the tardy meed we bring The praise delayed so long. Too late, alas! Of all who knew The living man, to-day Before his unveiled face, how few Make bare their locks of gray! Our lips of praise must soon be dumb, Our grateful eyes be dim; O, brothers of the days to come Take tender charge of him. New hands the wires of song may sweep, New voices challenge fame; But let no moss of years o'er-creep The lines of Halleck's name." Rev. Erastus Scr anion, born in East Guilford, August i, 1777, died at Burlington, Conn., October 5, 1861. He graduated at Yale College in 1802, studied theology, and preached at Orange 1805 to 1827, at Wolcott 1827 to 1829, and at Burlington 1829 to 1840, where he resided until his death. He published in 1855, a " Genealogy of the Descendants of John Scranton of Guilford." Rev. William C. Fowler was born in Killingworth, now Clinton, Sep- tember I, 1793, graduated from Yale in 181 6, and died at Durham, January 15, 1881. His parents moved to East Guilford about 1809, where he was prepared for college. Before graduation he was ap- pointed rector of the Hopkins Grammar School. He spent some time as private tutor in the South, studied theology, served as tutor at Yale for five years, and in 1825 was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in Greenfield, Mass. In 1827 he became professor of chemistry and natural history in Middlebury College, whence he went in 1838 to become professor of rhetoric in Amherst College. He resigned his professorship in 1843 ^^^ removed from Amherst to Durham in 1858. He edited the octavo University Edition of Webster's Dictionary in 1845, prepared a series of works on English Grammar, published " Me- morials of the Chaunceys " in 1858, " The Sectional Controversy " in 1863, a "History of Durham" in 1866, a "Treatise on Local Law in Massachusetts and Connecticut " in 1872, and later several collections of essays. He received the degree of LL. D. from Lafayette College in 1861, and sat in both the Connecticut and Massachusetts Legislatures. George Edward Hand was born in East Guilford (Madison) August 16, 1809, and died there August 30, 1889. He studied law after gradu- 498 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. ating from Yale in 1829, and was admitted to the bar at Detroit, Mich- igan. In 1835 he was appointed Judge of Probate for the county, in 1846 he was elected to the State Legislature and, under President Pierce, he held the office of U. S. District Attorney for the district of Michigan. He was successful both in the practice of law and in amass- ing property. He was a brother of Daniel Hand. Rev. Collins Stone was born in Guilford September 6, 1812, gradu- ated at Yale in 1832, and was killed by a railroad train at Hartford December 23, 1870. He taught in the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb at Hartford from 1833 to 1852 and then became principal of the Ohio State Asylum at Columbus. In 1863 he was recalled to the American Asylum as principal, and held that office at the time of his death. He studied theology in Hartford and was ordained as an evangelist in Ohio in 1853. Aaron Rice Duttan (Y. C. 1837) was born in Guilford, July 28, 1816, and died in Washington, D. C, May 4, 1885. After graduation he taught in Connecticut and Georgia until 1842. He then spent a year in the Yale Law School, graduating with the degree of LL. B in 1843. In December of that year he settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he practiced his profession over thirty years. About 1876 he was ap- pointed chief clerk and later law clerk of the Department of Justice in Washington, a position he held until April, 1885. He was married November 26, 1856, to Miss Elizabeth B. Perry. He was a brother of Rev. S. W. S. Dutton and of Miss Mary Button (born November 10, 1807, died 1887), who was for many years the successful principal of Grove Hall, a young ladies seminary in New Haven. Rev. Seth Bradley Stone was born in East Guilford September 30, 181 7, graduated at Yale in 1842, taught until 1847, ^iid then studied for three years at the Union Theological Seminary. He then went as a missionary to the Zulus in Africa where he remained until 1871. He returned in 1873, but was compelled to give up work a year and a half later on account of ill-health, and died at Harlem, N. Y., January 27, 1877. Rev. Lyman Beecher was born in New Haven, Conn., September 12, 1775, and died at Brooklyn, N. Y., January 10, 1863. His mother dying at his birth, he was brought up by his uncle. Lot Benton of North Guilford, where he was fitted for college by the Rev. Thomas W. Bray. His autobiography gives a charming picture of the rural life of Guilford at the time. About the time of his entering college, where he graduated in 1797, his uncle moved down to Guilford, which was Dr. Beecher's home until, after studying theology in New Haven, under President D wight, he was ordained pastor of the Presbyterian BIOGRAPHIES. 499 Church in East Hampton, L. I., in September, 1799. He married, September 19, 1799, Roxana Foote of Guilford, daughter of Eli Foote, and grand-daughter of Gen. Andrew Ward. In 1810 he became pastor of the First Congregational Church in Litchfield; in 1826 pastor of the Hanover Church in Boston; in 1832 President of the, Lane Theo- logical Seminary near Cincinnati, Ohio. There he remained nineteen years, preaching also for the former half of the period in the Second Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati. His works, his great reputation, his distinguished family fall beyond our province, but Guilford claims a part in Dr. Beecher since he made his home there for twenty-three years. Harriet Ward (Foote) Hawley was bom June 25, 1831, in Guilford, married Gen. Joseph R. Hawley, December 25, 1855, and died at Wash- ington, D. C, March 3, 1886. She was a cultured woman of fine tal- ents and large sympathies. Her executive ability was great. During the war she was her husband's confidential secretary and adviser, and while he was in the field, devoted herself to hospital work at Washing- ton, Beaufort, Femandina, Hilton Head, and Wilmington, N. C. Later she. was president of the Washington Branch of the Indian Rights Association.^ She was daughter of Col. Geo. A. Foote, son of Eli Foote and Roxana, daughter of Gen. Andrew Ward. Col. Foote was born December 9, 1789, at Guilford, and died at Guilford Septem- ber 5, 1878. He represented the town several times in the Legislature. Dr. Lewis H. Steiner wrote of him as " a grand, happy, bright, intelli- gent gentleman of the old school, who lived a quiet useful life." Deacon Edward L. Leete was born June 28, 1810, and died May 3, 1884. A devout Christian, a thorough student of the Bible, a most lovable man, he will not soon be forgotten. He devoted much time to the preparation of a genealogy of the Leete Family, which was pub- lished in 1884. He was a farmer and resided at Leete's Island. His great-great-grandfather," great-grandfather, grandfather, great-great- uncle, brother, first cousin, and son were all deacons in the Congrega- tional Church. Clarissa J. Stone, the author of the " Genealogy of the Grififing Fam- ily," was born June 30, 1815, and died March 26, 1880. This elegant, cultured and lovable lady, after a life spent in instruction, spent her last years in her native town, dutifully recording the lives of her fore- fathers and inspiring the youth of the place with a love for literature. Daniel Hand was bom in East Guilford on July 16, 1801, and died in Guilford December 19, 1891. At the age of eighteen he went to ' 250th Anniversary, p. 242. ' Dea. Peletiah Leete Sr., vide p. 204. 500 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Savannah and engaged in business with his uncle, Daniel Meigs, whom he eventually succeeded. He was extremely successful and amassed a large property. When the Civil War began he transferred all of his property to his partner, G. W. Williams, and came North. Once dur- ing the war he visited the South and was arrested in New Orleans on the charge of being one of Lincoln's spies. He escaped to Augusta, was there threatened by the populace and sought safety in the jail. Later he was secretly removed to Asheville, N. C, where he remained until the close of the war. Then he came north and settled in Guilford, where he resided with relatives until his death. He married Miss Elizabeth Ward of Rochester, N. Y., who died many years before him. They had no surviving children. He had accumulated a large fortune in the South, some of which he invested in Northern securities. The remainder, which by the transfer to Mr. Williams had escaped confiscation during the war, was re-trans- ferred to him by Mr. Williams in 1885. Mr. Hand had long been in- terested in the education of negroes and felt that, as his money had been made in the South, it ought to be used for the benefit of that portion of the Union. Shortly after the re-transfer of his property to him, at the annual meeting of the American Missionary Association at Providence, R. I., in 1885, Mr. Hand gave the association $1,000,894.25 in interest bearing securities, to be held in trust and known as the " Daniel Hand Educational Fund for Colored People " in the former slave States, the only restriction being that not more than $100 a year shall be spent on any one person. Mr. Hand's gift aids about fifty schools from its income of over $50,000 per year. He was a man of " fine presence, extensive reading and wide observation." During the latter years of his life he was cut ofif from social intercourse by extreme deafness, but he preserved his interest in his fellowmen, giving "for the well-being of many, both within and without the family connection . . . befriending those who try to help themselves, whether success- fully or not, but unalterably stern in his disfavor when idleness or dis- sipation led to want." He gave the Hand Academy to Madison. While residing in Augusta, Georgia, he was for thirty years the Sunday-school superintendent of the First Presbyterian Church there and he was always a faithful student of the Bible. At his death Mr. Hand left a fortune of over a half a million dollars, the bulk of which was bequeathed to benevolent organizations. The American Missionary Association was made the residuary legatee. Mr. Hand was quite eccentric in the latter years of his life, and his will was contested, but was sustained as valid by the courts. Dr. John Todd, the famous author of the " Students' Manual," was BIOGRAPHIES. 50I the son of Dr. Timothy Todd, Jr., of East Guilford. His father moved to Arlington, Vt., about 1783, and there John Todd was born October 9, 1800. Owing to his father's being disabled by an accident, the family removed to Killingworth a few months thereafter. After his father's death in 1806, Dr. Todd lived in the family of an aunt in North Killingworth until the fall of 1812. He then entered the household of his uncle. Dr. Jonathan Todd of East Guilford that he " might enjoy better means of schooling." There he lived three years. He next resided with the family of Rev. Jeremiah Evarts in Boston. He entered Yale College and was graduated in the class of 1820. He then studied theology at Andover and became pastor of Congregational Churches at Groton, Mass., Northampton, Philadelphia, and Pittsfield, where he died August 24, 1873. His reminiscences of East Guilford are inter- esting.^ For instance, he speaks of Rev. John Elliott as " a tall, very thin, and slim man. His legs, always dressed in black stockings and small clothes, seemed too slender to hold him up." He was always dressed neatly, wore a broad-brimmed felt hat, renewed every two years, had " most gentlemanly " manners and bearing. " He was a fine scholar, a genuine lover of study, a capital preacher, a wise and most shrewd man, never trying to be rich or known, but well-known, and all his life long he received the enormous salaty of $400 a year. He was the life and soul of the village library and ready for every good work." Of Dr. Jonathan Todd, he writes, "' a short, heavy, lymphatic man, whose hair was almost milk-white," careless about his dress, always rode horseback with saddlebags, and charged $0.17 a visit. " He was most careful as a nurse, and though he bled, purged, and gave medicines that would now be thought fearful in quantity, yet he was a good physician. He was a peace-maker and, though a justice of the peace, he always settled the quarrel if possible without trying it." Of a third village worthy. Captain Judd, the village blacksmith. Dr. Todd says, " he was tall, straight as an arrow, and had a noble figure. When he came forth on ' training day,' with an old Continental uniform ... his blue coat, bufif vest, and bufif leather small clothes, and white top boots, and high triangular hat with its lofty plume, his red sash around his loins, and his neat sword, who would not stand in awe." Lavinia {Stone) Stoddard was born June 29, 1787, at Guilford, and died in Blakely, Alabama, in 1820. As a child she was taken to Pater- son, N. J., and there in 181 1 married Dr. WilHam Stoddard, with whom she established an academy at Troy, N. Y. A poem by her entitled, ^ "John Todd; The Story of his Life." By J. E. Todd, pp. 48 to 54. 502 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. " The Soul's Defiance " is found in Stedman's " Library of American Literature," and in Griswold's " Female Poets of America." Rev. Aaron Cleveland was born in Haddam February 3, 1744, and died in New Haven, September 21, 1815. For a number of years he was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Norwich and Guilford. Later he became pastor of a church, near Hartford. He was a noted wit. He sat in the Connecticut Legislature in 1779. He published a poem on slavery and other pieces, one of which is contained in Stedman's " Library of American Literature." Henry Abel Chittenden, who died May 22, 1895, at Montclair, was the youngest child of Abel and Anna Hart (Baldwin) Chittenden, and was born in Guilford, April 29, 1816. He began a business career at an early age in New Haven, whence he went to Hartford, where for a number of years he was a prosperous merchant, and a leading spirit in temperance work, being at the head of what was known as the Wash- ingtonian movement. He removed to New York City, was associated with his brother, Simeon Baldwin Chittenden, in the wholesale dry- goods trade, which later he carried on in the firm of Chittenden, Coe & Co. He was a resident of Brooklyn until his removal to Montclair, N. J., in 1858, being one of the first of New York's business men to settle in that place, then West Bloomfield. He introduced Henry Ward Beecher at the Broadway Tabernacle to his first Eastern con- gregation, and was instrumental in the calling of Mr. Beecher from Indianapolis to Plymouth Church. Mr. Chittenden was one of the pioneers in the anti-slavery move- ment. He was active in the " underground railroad " system, assist- ing by his contributions and personal services in helping numbers of fugitive slaves on their way to Canada and freedom, at one time, in consequence of his prominence in that work, narrowly escaping lynch- ing in Baltimore. In 1844 Henry A. Chittenden married in Cincinnati, Henrietta Gano, a descendant of Frangois Gerneux, a Huguenot refugee, who was one of the founders of New Rochelle, N. Y. Cornelius Scranton Bushnell was born in Madison July 18, 1828, and died in New York City, May 6, 1896. He was the son of Nathan and Chloe (Scranton) Bushnell. At the age of fifteen he began mercantile life in the coasting trade and in less than a year became captain of a 60-ton schooner. In 1849 he established the wholesale grocery busi- ness of Bushnell & Co. in New Haven and rapidly built up a large and successful business, still carried on under the firm name of James D. Dewell & Co. In 1858 Mr. Bushnell became interested in the Shore Line Railroad, in the completion of which he was largely instrumental BIOGRAPHIES. 503 as well as in making the connections at Stonington, which established the rail route between New York and Boston now used by the Con- solidated Railroad. Turning his attention to shipbuilding at the open- ing of the Civil War, he was largely interested in securing the pas- sage by Congress of a bill authorizing the appointment of three naval experts to examine all plans for iron vessels and adopt whatever might be approved. Under this bill he took a contract for the construction of the warship Galena, whose plans he submitted to Capt. John Ericsson for approval, owing to the fear expressed by some that she could not carry the immense weight of armor. In approving the plans of the Galena, Mr. Ericsson exhibited to. Mr. Bushnell the complete plans of the original Monitor. Grasping at once the importance of Ericsson's invention, Mr. Bushnell dropped the plans for the Galena for a time and, in the face of fierce opposition from naval architects, through his indomitable energy, he succeeded in placing the Monitor in Hampton Roads within lOO days from the day on which Ericsson showed him the plans. The revolution in the warfare of the world and the salvation of the Federal navy was largely due to Mr. Bushnell. The Monitor was still the property of her builders when she defeated the Merrimac, as the United States Government did not accept her until after her success was demonstrated. Mr. Bushnell was one of the " minute men " who enlisted in defense of the National Capital in the spring of 1861. At the close of the war he turned his attention again to railroad construction and was one of the incorporators and original directors of the Union Pacific Railroad, to whose stock he was the largest single subscriber. Mr. Bushnell was thrice married; by his first wife he had nine sons and one daughter. Capt. Frederick Lee of the U. S. Revenue Marine Service was born April 3, 1766, and died in Madison on May 27, 1831. He was the founder of Lee's Academy, and moderator of the first Madison town meeting. It is said that he named the new town. He brought Kos- ciusko to this country in his vessel, was his friend and was visited by him. The family have many relics of the famous Pole. He was one of the original Democrats of Guilford. Elijah Nortm of Guilford, and later of Woodstock, published two pamphlets in 1785 and 1798. The former was entitled " Fools in their folly the most dangerous companions," the latter " The impossibility of sinners coming to Christ without the Almighty drawing of God the Father" (a discourse preached at Royalton, Vt.). I know nothing more of him. Hon. Lewis J. Dudley, son of Joel and Harriet (Griswold) Dudley, 504 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. was born in Guilford, November 11, 1815, and graduated from Yale in 1838. His preparation for college was obtained at Guilford and Berlin, Conn. After graduation he taught in academies for two years and was tutor at Yale from 1840 to 1846. The first year he gave instruction in Latin, afterwards in Greek. In 1847 he graduated from the Yale Law School and later from the Theological School. He was admitted to the bar in 1848, but speedily gave up the practice of law and opened a classical school, called the Shady Lawn School, at North- ampton, Mass. At the opening of the Civil War he gave up the school and spent much of his time during the struggle in aiding in the enlist- ment of soldiers, besides caring for their comfort in the field. He was a member of the Massachusetts State Senate in 1864 and of the House of Representatives in 1865, 66, 67 and 73, being elected on the Repub- lican ticket. He was instrumental in the construction of the Massa- chusetts Central Railroad and was a director therein for 13 years. In 1867 he was appointed on a committee of the Legislature of Massa- chusetts to draw up a charter for the Clarke Institution for Deaf Mutes. His attention had been drawn to the needs of that class of the commu- nity from the fact that he had a daughter who was absolutely deaf. In the affairs of Clarke Institution Mr. Dudley took a prominent part until his death, being chairman of the school committee for 28 years and president of the board of trustees for 12 years. He also did much to advance the education of the deaf throughout the country. He was a forcible public speaker. He died on February z"/, 1896, at North- ampton, Mass., after a number of years of ill health. He married. May, 185 1, Theresa Hunt Bates. Beriah Bradley was born in Guilford on June 11, 1777, and died in New Haven on January 11, 1875, at the age of 97 years. He removed to the latter place with his father when only three or four years of age. He became a shoemaker and built up a large business, having agencies for his goods in Georgetown, S. C, Augusta, Ga., and Mobile, Ala. He also became the owner of valuable real estate in New Haven and amassed a considerable fortune. He was for many years the senior alderman and judge of the city court. Charles G. Landon, brother of Judge E. R. Landon, was born at Guil- ford August 18, 1818, and died in New York City, March 23, 1893. He went to New Haven when about seventeen years of age and be- came a clerk in a wholesale mercantile business. In 1842 he went to New York and entered the employment of S. B. Chittenden. He was afterwards taken into the firm as a partner. In 1864 he entered the firm of Benkard and Hutton, one of the oldest wholesale dry goods houses in New York City. In 1885 the firm name was changed to BIOGRAPHIES. 505 Charles G. Landon & Co., and Mr. Landon continued as the active senior partner until his death. He married Miss Susan H. Gordon in 1849 and had five children. He was one of the most prominent mer- chants of New York City and was a director of several banks and other financial corporations. He was long a vestryman of Grace (P. E.) Church. Sherwood Coan, who is better known under his stage name of S. C. Campbell, was born in North Guilford on May 15, 1829, and died in Chicago, November 25, 1874, aged forty-five. In early Hfe he worked at the trade of a carriage-maker at New Haven. He began his musical career in connection with the Campbell minstrels. Later he sang in English opera, being associated with Fanny Stockton, Rosa Cook, Zelda Harrington, Parepa Rosa, and his inseparable friend, William Castle. He also sang for a time in the choir of Grace Church, New York City, and the fame of that church for music is said to be due in no small degree to his ability. His early playmate. Dr. Ellsworth Eliot of New York City, writes of him: " His baritone voice, ' sweet, mellow, sympathetic, firm and powerful ' made him a great favorite. He had no rival and left no successor. While living he was greatly beloved, and at his death he was greatly lamented." Harvey Eliot, M. D., was born in North Guilford November 23, 1784, and died in New York City on February 23, 1824. A graduate of Yale College, he studied medicine and practised at Harlem, N. Y., at first for four years under a license from the State of New Jersey, and later with the degree of doctor of medicine from the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons of New York City. He was the leading practi- tioner in the northern end of Manhattan Island and the adjoining parts of West Chester County. His remains were removed to Guilford in 1867. His gravestone recounts that " he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of a large and respectable community by whom his loss is deeply regretted." Col. George W. Scr anion was born in East Guilford on May 23, 181 1. When eighteen years of age he went to New Jersey and later removed with others of his name to Pennsylvania, and founded the city which bears the family name. He was a man of decided ability and was chosen a representative from Pennsylvania in the United States Con- gress for 1858 and i860. He died at Scranton March 24, 1861. His wife was Jane Hiles of Belvidere, N. J., by whom he had four children. He was President of the Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company and of the Cayuga and Susquehanna Railway Company. He engaged in the iron business, having extensive interests at Oxford, N. J., and Scranton, Penn. 506 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Hon. John Willard was born in East Guilford on May 20, 1792. He removed to Avon, Conn., and later to Troy and Saratoga Springs, N. Y. On January 14, 1829, he married Elizabeth Curtiss Smith, by whom he had one daughter, who died unmarried. He studied law in his youth and practiced that profession with success for many years. He was long a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, and in 1 861 was chosen State Senator from the Saratoga District by a unani- mous vote. He was a member of the Democratic party but supported the Union warmly at the outbreak of the Civil War. He died at Sara- toga Springs on September i, 1862. Like the writer of Hebrews, we must add the time would fail us to tell of the many other worthies of the town: Lieutenant Samuel Lee, William Brown, Abel Rossiter, Stephen Bradley, Captain John Seward, Benjamin Hand, John Burgis, John Elliott, Samuel Robin- son, Thomas Hotchkiss, Peletiah Leete, Caleb Leete, Henry W. Chittenden, Janna Meigs, Walter P. Munger and many others who faithfully served their God and country and held the highest positions of trust which Guilford could give them. CHAPTER LVII. Societies. St. Alban's Lodge, No. 38, Free and Accepted Masons. This lodge ■was instituted on July 10, 1 771, by virtue of a charter issued by the Pro- vincial Grand Master, Richard Gridley. The lodge still possesses this charter. Timothy Ward, Bilious Ward, David Landon, Timothy Lud- ington, Eber Waterhouse, Asher Fairchild, Benjamin Stone, Giles Tru- bee, and William Johnson were the charter members, and Bilious Ward the first master. In the early history of this lodge, the convivial element seems not to have been lost sight of, and we are informed that the account books tell of taxes frequently levied at its meetings to meet the expense of flip purchased for its members. Indeed the flip mug, which was used ■on such occasions is said to be still in existence, although no longer employed as in former days. The early records of the lodge were destroyed by the fire at Congress Hall in 1862. The lodge was dispersed by the Revolution in 1776 and did not come together again until 1797; in May of that year the masons petitioned the Grand Lodge to recognize their charter and grant them a new one. The petition was granted free of expense save for the secretary's fee of office and the present name and number were then g'iven. That October it was represented at the Grand Lodge. The lodge became dormant in 1827 on account of the Anti-Masonic excite- ment. The charter was revoked in 1838 and restored in 1851. The lodge was incorporated May 23, 1856.^ It was formerly the custom to have an annual sermon; for example, on November 4, 1797, the lodge were " agreeably entertained " by a sermon from Matt. v. 6, by Rev. Ashbel Baldwin at the First Church and we learn that " the principles which were inculcated were worthy of the attention of all men, especially masons." On June 26, 1799, he again preached to them at the First Church from Hebrews ii. 7. The occasion was the feast of John the Baptist and " an elegant dinner " was served. On January 7, 1800, the lodge voted to wear crape on the left arm for six months in honor of George Washington. ^ Hist, of Masonry in Conn., II, pp. 86, 87. 5o8 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The regular communications of the lodge are held on the first and third Mondays of each month. The lodge met in members' houses for many years. From 1875 until 1894 it met in the Hall over Henry Hale's store. In the spring of the latter year it took possession of fine quarters in the second story of the new town house. The masters of the lodge have been: 1771-72-73, Billious Ward. I774-7S, Eli Foote. ^ ^ ;): ^ ^ 1797, Isaac Chalker. 1798, George Cleveland. 1799, Oliver Bray. 1800, Jedidiah Lathrop. 1801, George Cleveland. 1802-3, Joel Griffing. 1804-5-6, Jeremiah Parmelee. 1807, William Spencer. 1808-9, Peletiah Leete. 1810, Thomas Powers. 181 1, Jeremiah Parmelee. 1812-13, Jedidiah Lathrop. 1814, Abraham I. Chittenden. 1815-16, Joseph Griffing. 1817-18-19, Jedidiah Lathrop. 1820-21-22-23, Amos Seward. 1824, Merritt Foote. 1825-26, Jedidiah Lathrop. 1827, Amos Seward. ***** 1851, Charles A. Ball. 1852, C. L. Crowel. 1853, Charles W. Miller. 1854, C. L. Crowel. 1855 to 1862, Asahel B. Morse. 1863-64-65-66, Henry B. Stannard. 1867-68-69, William T. Dowd. 1870-71, Henry B. Stannard. 1872-73, William T. Dowd. 1874-75, C. Henry Norton. 1876, William T. Dowd. 1877, C. Henry Norton. 1878, Henry E. Norton. 1879, Hart Landon. 1880, A. B. Palmer. 1881, Wm. T. Dowd. 1882, Asahel B. Morse. 1883-84, George S. Davis. 1885-86, Charles W. Walkley. 1887-88, Samuel J. Griswold. 1889, S. Wilmot Landon. 1890-91, Lewis P. Anderson. 1892, George B. Norton. 1893, Charles H. Post. 1894, Edward S. Spencer. 189s, Charles W. Crocker. 1896, George H. Jillson. Madison Lodge, No. 87, A. F. & A. M., was at least 40 years old in April, 1895. Halleck Chapter of Royal Arch Masons meets in the Guilford town Hall on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. C. H. Post is high priest. It was established in 188 . Sachem Lodge, No. 191, New England Order of Protection, is an insurance society, organized in 1891. It has about 75 members and holds meetings on the first and third Wednesday evenings of each month. Odd Fellows: Menuncatuck Lodge, No. 62, I. O. O. F., was revived February 25, 1880. It had 74 members in 1887, 89 in 1891 and 100 in 1895. Its accumulated fund increased from $816.98 in the former year to $2,013.41 in the latter. It met in Masonic Hall over Henry Hale's store until 1895, when it occupied a fine new two story biick building SOCIETIES. 509 on Water Street, erected expressly for the lodge, and dedicated on April 18, 1895. The lower story of this building is rented to the local platoon of artillery. In 1891 the lodge received $709.08 from fees, dues, etc., and paid $106 in sick benefits, $102.72 for funeral bene- fits and $117.51 for its management. Since its revival it has paid $2,000 in sick benefits. It was originally founded in 1849 with the following charter members: R. L. Fowler, H. B. Stannard, Horace Fowler, Ed- ward B. Benton, Amos Griswold and Alpha Morse. It then prospered for a number of years until broken up on account of the treasurer ab- sconding with the lodge's funds. The Past Grands have been: R. L. Fowler, A. B. Morse, H. Pendleton, Jr., Chas. W. Walkley, Horace Fowler, Amos Griswold, E. H. Butler, R. E. Benton, Geo. P. Rolf, E. M. Gillette, Nelson S. Leete, A. G. Sommer, C. M. Lee, J. C. Potter, C. B. Forbes, A. H. Benton, Wm. P. Fowler, Wm. H. Davis, Chas. W. Davis, D. A. Vaughan, M. F. Hair, Geo. A. Walker, O. B. Swain, D. W. Potter, C. W. Crocker. The present Noble Grand is Chas. A. Gladwin. Friendship Lodge, No. 167, I. O. O. F., at Madison was incorporated on May 23, 1853. It continued in existence some 15 years and had a surplus fund of from $1,000 to $1,500 which was divided among the members when the lodge was dissolved and the records returned to the Grand Lodge of Connecticut. Its charter is said to have been granted about 1845. Maida Rebekah Lodge, No. 40, I. O. O. F., was instituted at Guilford on March 25, 1895, largely through the efforts of A. G. Sommer. The charter members were: Mrs. Mary A. Rolf, Mary A. Lee, Mary Nor- ton, Jane E. Walkley, Fannie Butler, E. H. Butler, A. G. Sommer and C. M. Lee. The membership of the lodge is about 50. Meetings are held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Mrs. Mary A. Rolf is N. G. of the Lodge. Seaside Council, United Order of American Mechanics, was estab- lished in Madison in 1894. A year after its institution it had 55 mem- bers. Royal Arcanum: Whitfield Council, No. 1034, was instituted April 19, 1887, with 35 members. In 1891 it had 56 members and a fund of $98.35. It met in Masonic Hall over Henry Hale's store until 1894, when it removed to the second story of the town house. In 1891 it received $277.25 from fees, dues, etc., and $1,381.44 for death assess- ments. Its management cost $222.28. There are prosperous granges in Guilford, North Guilford and Mad- ison. The Guilford Agricultural Society. This society, composed largely 510 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. of Guilford farmers and others interested in agriculture and horticul- ture, has been in existence since about i860, although only acting un- der a permanent organization since 1872, and incorporated in 1874. Its object is to awaken and promote an intelligent interest in agricul- tural and kindred pursuits. It has held twenty-six annual agricultural and industrial exhibitions, usually during the latter part of September, or the beginning of Octo- ber. These attract large numbers of visitors from Guilford and the adjoining towns, afifording opportunity for an examination of the arti- cles exhibited and a pleasant exchange of views on agriculture and industrial subjects. Competition at these exhibitions or fairs is ordi- narily confined to Guilford and the neighboring towns. The Madison Agricultural and Industrial Society was incorporated March 10, 1886, and holds biennial exhibitions on the town Green, which have been quite successful. CHAPTER LVIII. Representatives, Town Officers, &c. During the connection with New Haven these were chosen for irreg- ular periods. From the union delegates were elected semi-annually and sent to Hartford. From 1701 to 1818 they were chosen semi-annu- ally and went to Hartford in May and New Haven in October. The present constitution, adopted in 1818, provided for only one session a year, held in May alternately at the two capitals, beginning with Hart- ford and henceforth representatives were elected annually. In 1875 the meeting of the Legislature in New Haven was done away with in accordance with a constitutional amendment passed two years pre- viously. In 1877 another amendment, passed in 1875, changed the time of the meeting of the General Assembly from May to January, and in 1887 a third amendment made its sessions biennial and members are consequently now elected for two years. The Deputies to the General Court from Guilford have been: 1643, Both Sessions, Samuel Desborough, William Leete. 1644, Both Sessions, William Leete, Jacob Sheafe. 164s, Both Sessions, William Leete, John Mepham. 1646, May Session, William Leete, John Mepham. 1646, October Session, William Leete,* William Chittenden.* 1647, Both Sessions, William Leete,* William Chittenden.* 1648, Both Sessions, William Leete, William Chittenden. 1649, Both Sessions, William Leete,* William Chittenden.* 1650, Both Sessions, Robert Kitchel, William Chittenden. 1651, Both Sessions, William Chittenden,* Thomas Jordan.* 1652, Both Sessions, Thomas Jordan,* George Hubbard.* 1653, Both Sessions, William Chittenden,* Thomas Jordan.* 1654, Whole Year, Lt. William Chittenden,* Thomas Jordan.* (George Hub- bard chosen alternate.) 165s, Whole Year, William Chittenden,* George Hubbard.* 1656, Whole Year, William Chittenden,* Robert Kitchel.* 1657-1660, Whole Year, William Chittenden * George Hubbard.* 1661, Whole Year, Robert Kitchel, John Fowler. 1662, Whole Year, Robert Kitchel,* George Hubbard.* (Geo. Bartlett chosen alternate.) 1663, Whole Year, Robert Kitchel, George Bartlett. 1664, Extra Session, January, Dea. John Fowler, John Scranton. Those marked * are mentioned as chosen in the town records. 512 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. 1664, Summer Session, John Fowler, George Bartlett. 1665, First Session, George Bartlett, John Fowler. 1665, Second Session, George Hubbard, Sergt. William Johnson. 1666, First Session, John Fowler,* Thomas Cooke.* (Robt. Kitchel chosen alternate.) 1666. Second Session, George Hubbard,* John Fowler.* 1667, First Session, John Fowler,* William Johnson.* (W. J was alternate for George Hubbafd.) 1667, Second Session — 1669, First Session, John Fowler,* William Johnson.* 1669, Second Session, William Johnson,* John Scranton.* 1670, First Session, John Scranton,* Dea. John Graves.* (Wm. Seward was chosen alternate.) 1670, Second Session, John Fowler,* William Johnson.* (John Graves chosen alternate.) 1671, First Session, John Graves,* William Johnson.* -(John Scranton chosen alternate.) 1671, Second Session, John Fowler,* John Graves.* 1672, First Session, John Fowler,* John Graves.* 1672, Second Session, John Fowler,* John Graves.* (Wm. Johnson chosen alternate.) 1673, First Session, John Fowler, John Graves. 1673, Second Session, John Fowler,* Lt. William Seward.* 1674, First Session, William Johnson,* John Graves.* 1674, Second Session, William Seward,* John Fowler,* (W. S. was alternate for John Graves.) 167s, First and Special Session, John Graves,* John Fowler.* 167s, Second Session, Mr. Andrew Leete,* John Fowler.* 1676, First Session, Andrew Leete,* William Johnson.* 1676, Second Session, Andrew Leete,* John Graves.* 1677, First Session, Andrew Leete,* Mr. William Leete.* 1677, Second Session, Andrew Leete,* John Graves.* 1678, First Session, Andrew Leete,^ * William Leete.* 1678, Second Session, John Graves,* William Johnson.* 1679, First Session, William Johnson,* John Graves.* 1679, Second Session, William Leete,* William Johnson.* 1680, Both Sessions, William Leete,* William Johnson.* 1681, Both Sessions, William Leete,* John Graves.* 1682, First Session, William Johnson,* John Graves.* 1682, Second Session, William Leete,* John Graves.* 1683, First Session, William Seward,* Mr. Josiah Rossiter.* 1683, Second Session, William Leete,* William Seward.* 1684, First Session, Josiah Rossiter,* John Graves.* 1684, Second Session, William Seward,* John Graves.* 1865, Both Sessions, William Seward,* William Johnson.* 1686, First Session, William Johnson,* John Graves.* (William Leete chosen " 3* man.") 1686, Second Session, William Johnson,* John Graves.* (William Seward chosen alternate.) '- Mr. Andrew Leete being chosen Assistant, Mr. William Leete was the only- representative. REPRESENTATIVES. 513 1687, First Session, William Johnson,* John Graves.* (Wm. Leete chosen "3* man.") 1687. Second Session, William Johnson, John Graves. 1688. No meeting of the Assembly in consequence of the usurpation of E. Andross, and no delegates chosen. 1689. First and Special Session, William Johnson,* John Graves.* 1689, Second Session, Josiah Rossiter,* William Johnson.* 1690, First and Special Session, Josiah Rossiter,* William Johnson.* 1690, Second Session, Josiah Rossiter,* Capt. John Graves.* 1691, First Session, William Johnson, John Graves. 1691, Second Session, William Johnson,* John Graves.* 1692, Both Sessions, John Graves,* Lieut. Stephen Bradley.* 1693, First Session, John Graves, Stephen Bradley. 1693, Second Session, John Graves,* Stephen Bradley.* 1694, First Session, Josiah Rossiter, Stephen Bradley. 1694, Second Session, Josiah Rossiter,* William Johnson.* 169s, First Session, Josiah Rossiter,* Mr. Thomas Meacock.* 169s, Second Session, Josiah Rossiter, Thomas Meacock. 1696, First Session, Josiah Rossiter,* Mr. John Eliot.* 1696, Second Session, Josiah Rossiter, Stephen Bradley. 1697, First Session, Josiah Rossiter, John Eliot. 1697, Second Session, Josiah Rossiter, Mr. Abraham Fowler. 1698, First Session, Josiah Rossiter, Ensign Abraham Fowler. 1698, Second Session, Capt. Stephen Bradley, Lieut. Abraham Fowler. 1699, Both Sessions, John Rossiter, Lieut. Abraham Fowler. 1700, Both Sessions, John Rossiter,* Stephen Bradley.* 1701, First Session, Stephen Bradley,* Abraham Fowler.* 1701, Second Session, Stephen Bradley, Abraham Fowler. 1702, First Session, Abraham Fowler,* Ens. Nathaniel Stone.* 1702, Second Session, Abraham Fowler,* Mr. James Hooker.* 1703, First Session, Capt. Abraham Fowler, James Hooker. 1703, Second Session, Abraham Fowler,* James Hooker.* 1704, First Session, Mr. Joseph Dudley,* Lieut. John Seward.* 1704, Second Session, Abraham Fowler,* Joseph Dudley.* 1705, First Session, John Seward,* James Hooker.* 1705, Second Session, Abraham Fowler,* Sergt. Joseph Dudley.* 1706, First Session — 1708, First Session, Abraham Fowler, James Hooker. 1708, Second Session, Capt. John Seward, James Hooker. 1709, First Session, James Hooker, Mr. John Seward. 1709, Second Session, Abraham Fowler, Mr. John Collins, 2d. 1710, First Session, Abraham Fowler, James Hooker. 1710, Second Session, Abraham Fowler, Mr. Andrew Ward. 171 1, First Session, Andrew Ward, John Collins, 2d. 171 1, Second Session, Abraham Fowler, Mr. Caleb Leete. 1712, First Session, Abraham Fowler,' James Hooker. 1712, Second Session, James Hooker, Capt. Andrew Ward. 1713, First Session, James Hooker, Caleb Leete. 1713, Second Session, James Hooker, Andrew Ward. 1714, Both Sessions, Capt. Andrew Ward, Mr. Caleb Leete. ' Capt. Abraham Fowler being chosen Assistant, Mr. Hooker alone sat for Guilford. 514 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. 1715, Both Sessions, Andrew Ward, Mr. Peter Talman. 1716, First Session, Andrew Ward, Lieut. Janna Meigs. 1716, Second Session, Mr. James Hooker, Caleb Leete. l7iZj First Session, Caleb Leete, Capt. Janna Meigs. 1717, Second Session, Andrew Ward, Caleb Leete. 1718, First Session, Caleb Leete, Janna Meigs. 1718, Second Session, Caleb Leete, Mr. Benjamin Hand. 1719, First Session, Caleb Leete, Mr. Joseph Stone. 1719, Second Session, Benjamin Hand, Caleb Leete. 1720, First Session, Caleb Leete, Mr. Joseph Hand. 1720, Second Session, James Hooker, Benjamin Hand. 1721, First Session, Caleb Leete, Andrew Ward. 1721, Second Session, Caleb Leete, Joseph Stone. 1722, Both Sessions, Caleb Leete, Joseph Stone. 1723, First Session, James Hooker, Caleb Leete. 1723, Second Session, Joseph Stone, Mr. Peletiah Leete. 1724, Both Sessions, Caleb Leete, Joseph Stone. 1725, Both Sessions, Caleb Leete, Andrew Ward. 1726, First Session, Janna Meigs, Andrew Ward. 1726, Second Session, Caleb Leete, Peletiah Leete. 1727, Both Sessions, Caleb Leete, Peletiah Leete. 1728, First Session — 1732, Second Session, Mr. Samuel Hill, Mr. Benjamin Hand. I733> First Session — 173S, First Session, Samuel Hill, Mr. Thomas Hotchkiss. 173s, Second Session, Samuel Hill, Peletiah Leete. 1736, First Session, Samuel Hill, Peletiah Leete. 1736, Second Session — 1737, Second Session, Samuel Hill, Mr. Timothy Stone. 1738, First Session, Peletiah Leete, Samuel Hill. 1738, Second Session, Peletiah Leete, Mr. Samuel Robinson. 1739, First Session, Peletiah Leete, Samuel Hill. 1739, Second Session, Samuel Hill, Timothy Stone. 1740, First Session, Caleb Leete, Peletiah Leete. 1740, Second Session — 1741, Second Session, Samuel Hill, Timothy Stone. 1742, First Session — 1744, First Session, Samuel Hill, Benjamin Hand. 1744, Second Session, Timothy Stone, Samuel Robinson. 174s, First Session, Samuel Hill (Speaker), Timothy Stone. 174s, Second Session, Samuel Hill, Timothy Stone. 1746, First Session, Samuel Hill (Speaker), Timothy Stone. 1746, Second Session, Samuel Hill, Timothy Stone. 1747, First Session, Samuel Hill, Timothy Stone. 1747, Second Session, Timothy Stone, Samuel Robinson. 1748, Both Sessions, Samuel Hill, Timothy Stone. 1749, First Session, Timothy Stone, William Ward. 1749, Second Session, Samuel Hill, Timothy Stone. 1750, First Session, Andrew Ward, Samuel Robinson. 1750, Second Session — 1752, First Session, Samuel Hill, Timothy Stone. 1752, Second Session — 1753, Second Session, Timothy Stone,. Samuel Rob- inson. 1754, First Session, Andrew Ward, Nathaniel Ruggles. 1754> Second Session, Timothy Stone, Andrew Ward. 1755, First Session, Andrew Ward, Jr., Samuel Robinson. REPRESENTATIVES. S15 1755, Second Session — 1758, Second Session, Timothy Stone, Samuel Robinson. 1759, First Session, Andrew Ward, James Robinson. 1759, Second Session — 1760, Second Session, Timotliy Stone, Edmund Ward. 1761, First Session— 1762, First Session, Timothy Stone, Nathaniel Hill. 1762, Second Session, Timothy Stone, Samuel Robinson. 1763, First Session, Samuel Robinson, Nathaniel Hill. 1763, Second Session— 1765, Fisst Session, Timothy Stone, Nathaniel Hill. 1765, Second Session— 1766, Second Session, Nathaniel Hill, Nathaniel Rug- gles. 1767, First Session, Nathaniel Hill, Josiah Meigs. 1767, Second Session, Nathaniel Hill, John Elliott. 1768, First Session, Nathaniel Hill, Joseph Pynchon. 1768, Second Session, Nathaniel Hill, John Burgis. 1769, First Session, Nathaniel Hill, Joseph Pynchon. 1769, Second Session, Nathaniel Hill, John Burgis. 1770, First Session, John Elliott, John Burgis. 1770, Second Session, Nathaniel Hill, John Elliott. 1771, First Session, Nathaniel Burgis, Andrew Ward. 1771, Second Session, John Burgis, Nathaniel Hill. 1772, First Session, Andrew Ward, John Burgis. 1772, Second Session — 1773, Second Session, Samuel Brown, Andrew Ward. 1774, First Session, John Burgis, J. Redfield. 1774, Second Session, John Burgis, Andrew Ward. 1775, First Session, John Burgis, Andrew Ward. 177s, Second Session, John Burgis, Samuel Brown. 1776, First Session, Andrew Ward, John Burgis. 1776, Second Session, N. Stone, Nathaniel Ruggles. '^m, First Session, N. Stone, Nathaniel Ruggles. 1777, Second Session, Andrew Ward, John Burgis. 1778, Both Sessions, Andrew Ward, Samuel Robinson. 1779, Second Session, John Burgis, N. Stone. 1780, First Session — 1781, First Session, John Burgis, Andrew Ward. 1781, Second Session, , Andrew Ward. 1782, Both Sessions, John Burgis, Andrew Ward. 1783, First Session, John Burgis, Augustus Collins. 1783, Second Session, Andrew Ward, John Burgis. 1784, First Session, Augustus Collins, Samuel Lee. 1784, Second Session, John Burgis, Andrew Ward. 178s, First Session, Andrew Ward, Samuel Lee. 178s, Second Session, John Burgis, Samuel Lee. 1786, First Session, John Burgis, Andrew Ward. 1786, Second Session, John Burgis, Samuel Lee. 1787, First Session, John Elliott, Andrew Ward. 1787, Second Session, John Burgis, John Elliott. 1788, Both Sessions, John Burgis, Andrew Ward. 1789, First Session, John Elliott, Andrew Ward. 1789, Second Session — 1791, Second Session, Andrew Ward, John Elliott. 1792, First Session, Augustus Collins, Samuel Lee. 1792, Second Session, Andrew Ward, John Elliott. 1793, First Session, Augustus Collins, Andrew Ward. 1793, Second Session, Andrew Ward, John Elliott. Sl6 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. 1794, Both Sessions, Andrew Ward, William Brown. 179s, First Session, Andrew Ward, Nathaniel Rossiter. 179s. Second Session, Augustus Collins, William Brown. 1796, First Session, Andrew Ward, John Elliott. 1796, Second Session, Andrew Ward, William Brown. 1797, First Session, Andrew Ward, Augustus Collins. 1797, Second Session, Nathaniel Rossiter, Jonathan Todd. 1798, First Session, Nathaniel Rossiter, Andrew Ward. 1798, Second Session, Nathan Chidsey, Rufus Norton. 1799, Both Sessions, Augustus Collins, Samuel Lee. 1800, First Session, Augustus Collins, Samuel Robinson. 1800, Second Session, Augustus Collins, Samuel Lee. 1801, First Session — 1803, Second Session, Augustus Collins, Nathaniel Ros- jSiter. 1804, First Session, Augustus Collins, Nathaniel Rossiter (2d Clerk). 1804, Second Session, Augustus Collins, Nathaniel Rossiter (ist Clerk). 1805, First Session — 1806, First Session, Augustus Collins, Nathaniel Griffing. 1806, Second Session, Augustus Collins, Samuel Robinson. 1807, First Session, Nathaniel Griffing, Joseph Elliott. 1807, Second Session, Augustus Collins, Nathaniel Griffing. 1808, First Session, Augustus Collins, Nathaniel Griffing. 1808, Second Session — 1809, Second Session, Augustus Collins, Joseph Elliott. 1810, First Session, Augustus Collins, Nathaniel Griffing. 1810, Second Session, Augustus Collins, Joseph Elliott. 181 1, First Session, Augustus Collins, Joseph Elliott. 181 1, Second Session — 1813, Second Session, Augustus Collins, Nathaniel Griffing. 1814, First Session, Nathaniel Griffing, Jonathan Todd. 1814, Second Session, Nathaniel Griffing, Jong.than Todd. 1815, First Session — 1816, First Session, Joseph Elliott, Samuel Robinson. 1816, Second Session, Nathaniel Griffing, Samuel Robinson. 1817, First Session, Samuel Robinson, Benjamin Baldwin. 1817, Second Session, Nathaniel Griffing, Samuel Robinson. 1818, First Session, Nathaniel Griffing, Samuel Robinson. 1818, Second Session, Nathaniel Griffing, William Todd. Delegates to Constitutional Convention 1818, Nathaniel Griffing, William Todd. 1819-1824, Nathaniel Griffing, William Todd. 1825, Nathaniel Griffing, Samuel Robinson. 1826, Nathaniel Griffing, Abel Rossiter. 1827, Nathaniel Griffing, William Todd. 1828, Nathaniel Griffing, Abel Rossiter. 1829, Nathaniel Griffing, William Todd. 1830, Nathaniel Griffing, George Landon, Democrat. 1831, Nathaniel Griffing, Abel Rossiter. 1832, Nathaniel Griffing, Joel Tuttle, Whig. 1833, Nathaniel Griffing, Abel Rossiter. 1834, Joel Tuttle, Whig; Abraham S. Fowler, Whig. 183s, Nathaniel Griffing, Abel Rossiter. 1836, George Landon, Democrat; Nathaniel Griffing. 1837, George Landon, Democrat; Henry Elliott. 1-838, Joel Tuttle, Whig; John Hooker Bartlett, REPRESENTATIVES. 517 1839, George Augustus Foote, Whig; Marcus B. Bartlett. 1840, George Augustus Foote, Whig; Samuel C. Johnson, Whig. 1841, George Augustus Foote, Whig; Samuel W. Dudley, Whig. 1842-45, No representatives chosen. 1846- 1847, Reuben Stone, Democrat; William Hale, Democrat. 1848, Reuben Stone, Democrat; Jasper Monroe, Whig. 1849, Reuben Stone, Democrat; Franklin C. Phelps, Democrat. 1850, Julius Albert Dowd, Free Soil; Lewis Griswold, Whig. 1851, Russel Benton, Democrat; James A. Norton, Democrat. 1852, Henry Fowler, 2d., Independent; Lewis Griswold, Independent. 1853, Samuel W. Dudley, Whig; Henry Fowler, Independent. 1854, Edward L. Leete, Whig; Leverett Griswold, Free Soil Democrat. 1855, George Augustus Foote, American Whig; Amos Fowler, American Whig. 1856, John Hale, American; Calvin M. Leete, Republican. 1857, George Augustus Foote, Republican; Samuel W. Dudley, Union. 1858, Albert B. Wildman, Republican; Benjamin Corbin, American Repub- lican. 1859, Ralph Dunning Smyth, Republican; Timothy Rossiter, Republican. i860, Sherman Graves, Republican; John Hale, Republican. 1861, Richard Bartlett, Republican; Stephen R. Bartlett, Republican. 1862, Calvin M. Leete, Republican; John Griswold, Republican. 1863, John Hooker Bartlett, Republican; Samuel W. Dudley, Republican. 1864, John Hooker Bartlett, Republican; Henry E. Norton, Republican. 1865, Samuel W. Dudley, Republican; Edward L. Leete, Republican. 1866, Henry Fowler of Rich., Gen. Edward Merwin Lee, both Republican. 1867, Gen. Edward Merwin Lee, Republican; David B. Rossiter, Republican. 1868, Rev. Eli Edwin Hall, Republican; Eli Parmelee, Republican. 1869, Julius Albert Dowd, Republican; Stephen R. Bartlett, Republican. 1870, Edward Ruggles Landon, Hethcote G. Landon, both Republican. 1871, Henry Benton, 2d, Republican; John R. Rossiter, Republican. 1872, Albert B. Wildman, Republican; Charles F. Leete, Republican. 1873, Henry Fowler, Republican; John R. Rossiter, Republican. 1874, H. Lynde Harrison, Republican; George B. Spencer, Democrat. 187s, H. Lynde Harrison, Republican; John R. Rossiter, Republican. 1876, H. Lynde Harrison, Republican; John William Norton, Republican. 1877, H. Lynde Harrison (Speaker), Republican; David Bartlett, Republican. 1878, Calvin M. Leete, Republican; Andrew Ward Foote, Republican. 1879, John Graves, Republican; David Bartlett, Republican. 1880, Wallace G. Fowler; Republican; James A. Dudley, Republican. 1881, H. Lynde Harrison, Republican; John R. Rossiter, Republican. 1882, Elisha Chapman Bishop, Republican; Edward Griswold, Republican. 1883, Edward Griswold, Republican; Henry M. Rossiter, Republican. 1884, Rev. Otis J. Range, Republican; John William Norton, Repubhcan. 1885, Wallace G. Fowler, Republican; Edgar P. Rossiter, Republican. 1886, Harris Pendleton, Jr., Republican; William H. Lee, Republican. 1887, Charles Griswold, Republican; Henry M. Rossiter, Republican. 1889, George S. Davis, Republican; Henry E. Parmelee, Republican. 1891, George S. Davis, Republican; Benjamin Rossiter, Republican. 1893! Hart Landon, Republican; Oliver N. Brooks, Democrat. 1895, Rev. Otis J. Range, Republican; Erastus Dudley, Republican. 1897, Herbert Parmelee, Republican; William P. Hill, Gold Democrat. 5i8 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. The following persons have represented Madison in the Legislature: 1827, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831- 1833, 1834, 183s, 1836, 1837, 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845- 1847, 1848, 1849- 1851, 1852, i8S3, i8S4, i8S5, i8s6, i8S7, 1858, i8s9- Bber Ju'dd. Frederick Lee, Democrat. 1832, Phinehas Meigs. William Blatchley. Samuel Robinsctfi, Jr. Phinehas Meigs. Frederic S. Field. Jesse Crampton. Galen Dowd. Sherman Munger. Leaming Evarts. [No election.] Nathan W. Hopson. Charles M. Miner. Frederick Foster. , 1846, Erastus C. Scranton, Democrat. Wm. C. Bushnell, Whig. Heman Stone, Whig. 1850, Jonathan F. Todd, Whig. Erastus C. Scranton, Democrat. Freeman Harrison, Democrat. Abel Scranton, Whig. Sam'l R. Crampton, Whig. Frederick Dowd, American. Erastus C. Scranton, American. Luman H. Whedon, Union. John P. Hopson, Republican. 60, Sereno H. Scranton, Republican. 1861, Joseph Wm. Dudley, Republican. 1862, Erastus C. Scranton, Republican. 1863-1864, Baldwin Hart, Republican. 186s, Edward S. Scranton, Republican. 1866, Elias S. Ely, Republican. 1867, Sereno H. Scranton, Republican. 1868, Augustus C. Wilcox, Democrat. 1869, Jonathan Willard, Republican. 1870, Joseph G. Dickinson, Republican. 1871, Augustus C. Wilcox, Democrat. 1872, Sereno H. Scranton, Republican. 1873, William B. Crampton, Republican. 1874, Heman C. Stone, Republican. 187s, John N. Chittenden, Republican. 1876, Samuel Griswold, Republican. 1877, John N. Chittenden, Republican. 1878, Washington Bristol, Republican. 1879, C. Henry Whedon, Republican. 1880, I. Lee Scranton, Jr., Republican. 1881, Horace N. Coe, Republican. 1882, Horace O. Hill, Republican. 1883, William C. Miner, Republican. 1884, Phineas M. Griswold, Republican. 188s, Harvey E. Cruttenden, Republican. 1886, James R. Dowd, Republican. 1887, Charles Smith, Republican. i88g, George B. Munger, Republican. 1891-1893, James R. Meigs, Republican. 189s, Myron R. Munger, Republican. 1897, Edwin W. Munger, Republican. The following have been State Senators from the 6th District: From Guilford. 1850, George Landon. 1856, Edward R. Landon. 1863, Franklin C. Phelps. From Madtson. 1870, Sereno H. Scranton. 1873, Augustus C. Wilcox. 1831, Reuben Elliott. ,1836, Anson Foote. 1839, Joel Tuttle. 1844, Samuel Spencer. 184s, John R- Wilcox. 1859, Abel Scranton. i860, Erastus C. Scranton. Town Clerks of Guilford Since the Settlement of the Town. William Leete, 1639 to 1662. William Johnson, 1668 to 1673. George Bartlett, 1662 to 1665. John Graves, 1673 to 1685. Samuel Kitchel, 1665 to 1668. Josiah Rossiter,"^ 1685 to 1706. ^ November 10, 1687, John Collins, Sr., was empowered to assist Mr. Rossiter in the work of recording during the time of the providential weakness of Mr. Rossiter. JUDGES OF PROBATE OF THE GUILFORD DISTRICT. 519 Joseph Dudley, 1706 to 1707. Josiah Rossiter (re-chosen), 1707 to 1716 Samuel Hill, 1716 to 1720. Andrew Ward, 1720 to 1721. Samuel Hill (re-chosen), 1721 to 1752. Nathaniel Hill, 1752 to 1771. Ebenezer Parmelee, 1771 to 1776. Thomas Burgis, Jr., 1776 to 1799. John H. Fowler, 1799 to 1801. Samuel Fowler, 1801 to 1835. Reuben Stone, 1835 to 1838. Joel Tuttle,' 1838 to 1843. Henry W. Chittenden, 1843 to 1848. Edward R. Landon, 1848 to 1883. Edwin C. Woodruflf, 1883 to 1886. Charles H. Post,' 1887 to . The following persons have been town clerks in Madison: Walter P. Hunger, chosen 1826. Joseph W. Dudley, chosen 1849. Ezra S. Smith,' chosen 1861. Henry B. Wilcox, chosen 1863. Reuben Shaler, chosen 1867. Henry B. Wilcox, chosen 1868. Dennis Tuttle, chosen 1871. Henry B'. Wilcox,* chosen 1872. J. Myron Hull, chosen 1890. Samuel H. Chittenden, chosen 1891. Judges of Probate of the Guilford District. James Hooker May, 1720. March 12, 174c. Col. Samuel Hill June, 1740. 1752. Col. Timothy Stone I7S-- Sept. 9, 1765. Nathaniel Hill Sept., 1765. Nov. 16, 1771. Aaron Elliott (Killingworth) June, 1772. 1780. Samuel Barker (Branford) 1780. Dec, 1781. Col. Edward Russel (Branford) 1782. 1810. Henry Hill 1810. 1820. Reuben Elliott July, 1820. 1834. Maj. Samuel Fowler 1834. 1835. Reuben Elliott (re-chosen) 1835. 1838. Joel Tuttle 1838. 1842. George Griswold 1842. Feb. 7, 1843. John R. Wilcox (Madison), acting judge Feb. 7, 1843. June 5, 1843. George Landon 1843. 1844. Ralph D.Smyth June, 1844. 1846. George Landon (re-chosen) 1846. 1847. Ralph D. Smyth (re-chosen) 1847. 1850. George Landon (re-chosen) 1850. 1854. Edward R. Landon 1854- 1883. Edwin C. Woodruff 1883. 1886. Charles H. Post ■ •• • 1887. In 1834° the town of Madison was constituted a Probate District. The following persons have acted as Judge of Probate from that time: ' R. D. Smyth, assistant clerk, 1840 and 1841. ^ Wallace G. Fowler first chosen did not serve. * April 29, 1861, Chas. M. Wilcox assistant town clerk. * October 29, 1877, H. Clifford Wilcox assistant town clerk. ^ April 7, 1834, Town petitions therefor. 520 HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKATUCK. Samuel Robinson, 1834 to Dr. Reynold Webb, 1836. Jesse Crampton, 1840. John R. Wilcox, 1842. Jesse Crampton, 1844. Nathan W. Hopson, 1846. Jonathan T. Lee, 1847. Jesse Crampton, 1848. Reynold Webb, 1850. Jesse Crampton, 1852. 1836. Joseph W. Dudley, 1853. Martin L. Dowd, 1861. Luman H. Whedon, 1862. William J. Hull, 1867. Lucius B. Tuttle, 1868. Henry B. Wilcox, 1869. William J. Hull, 1871. Henry B. Wilcox, 1872. Samuel H. Chittenden, 1890. Officers of the Borough of Guilford. Wardens. 1816-19, Joel Griffing. 1819-21, William Todd. 1821-22, Nathaniel Griffing. 1822-25, Samuel Elliott. 1825-28, William Todd. 1828-30, Jedidiah Lathrop. 1830-32, William Todd. 1832-33, Samuel C. Johnson. i833-35> George Griswold. 1835-37, Samuel Scranton. 1837-39, George Hart. 1839-41, Anson Foote. 1841-43, Miles M'unger. 1843-45, Elisha Hutchinson. 1845-49, Joel Tuttle. 1849-53, Ralph D. Smyth. 1816-22, Samuel Fowler. 1822-25, Reuben Stone. 1825-26, Abraham S. Fowler. 1826-32, Amos Seward. 1832-33, Samuel Fowler, Jr. 1833-3S, George C. Griswold. 1835-36, William Hale. 1836-39, Richard Weld. 1839-43, Roger Griswold. 1843-46, Charles W. Landon. 1846-50, Sylvanus Clark. 1853-55, James A. Norton. 1855-58, Edward R. Landon. 1858-60, Russell Benton. 1860-61, Franklin C. Phelps. 1861-62, Reuben L. Fowler. 1862-69, William C. Dudley. 1869-74, Russell Crampton. 1874-78, George B. Spencer. 1878-79, Elisha C. Bishop, 1879-80, George B. Spencer. 1880, John Graves (declined). 1880-86, John S. Starr. 1886-92, William T. Dowd. 1892-94, George P. Rolf. 1894, G. W. Dudley. Clerks. 1850-53, Edward R. Landon. 1853-58, Beverly Monroe. 1858-64, John S. Elliott. 1864-67, John A. Stanton. 1867-70, Charles Griswold. 1870-72, L. O. Chittenden. 1872-78, H. Pendleton, Jr. 1878-86, Harvey W. Spencer. 1886-90, George W. Seward. 1890, Frederick C. Spencer. INDEX. Abolitionists, 386, 340. Acadians, 233. Ackley, Samuel, 446, 449. AdamSf William, 327. Adams, Rev. C. R., 388. Adams, Andrew, 464. Adkins, Daniel, 446. Adkins, John, 448. Atkins, Isaiah, 449. Atkins, Ira, 450. "Address to Guilford, An," 48s. Agicomock See Stony Creek. Agriculture, 68, 71, 377, 179, 197, 198. Ahaddon, 156. Alden, Almira, 340. Alderbrook Cemetery, 340, 391, 392. Allen, Gideon, Jr., 134, 232. Allen, Mary, 232. Allen, Rev. G. W., 3S9. AUis, Nathaniel, 135, 196, 448, Aliis, Thomas, 135. Allis, John, 196, 197, 362, Allyn, John, 104, 106, 161. Alms House, 232. Ambler, Rev. John L., 297. Anderson, Lewis P., 508. Andrews, Rev. W. G., D. D.,225, 27a, 371, 372, 379, 380, 387. Andrews, Rev. Samuel, 376. Andrus, Rev. Jared, 366. Andros, Sir Edmund, 420, 421, 471.513- Appleby, Charles N., 468. Arnold, Rev. Jonathan, 371. Arnold, Cor. Jonathan, 449. Artillery, 422, 454, 463. Asbury, Bishop Francis, 387. Asher, Gad, 450. Athammonassett. See Hammon- assett. Atwater, Ira, 278. Atwood, W. O,, 254. Auger, Dr. Nicholas, 412. Austin, Francis, 97, 98, 127, 238. Avered, or Everitt, Josiah, 135, 274. Ayer, A, D., 414. Ayer, A. T., 414. Ayres, W. H-, 405. Babcock, F. W., 265. Backus, Rev. Simon, 365, 366, 367. 407. Bacon, Rev. Leonard, 287, 477. Badger, Rev. Milton, 357, 408. Bailey, or Bailie, William, 44B, 450- Bailey, or Bayley, John, 132. Bailey, John B., 468. Bailey, Frederick F., 468. Baker, Oliver, 405. Baldwin, Michael, 407. Baldwin, Rev. Abraham C., 298, 300. 357. 404- Baldwin, Rev, Ashbel, 377, 435, 507- Baldwin, Rev. David, 377, 378. Baldwin, Hon. Abraham, 407, 431, 482, Baldwin, Dudley, 407. Baldwin, Lieut. Michael, 295, 382, 482. Baldwin, Timothy, 44, 127, 199, 202, 454. Baldwin, John, 128, 129, 201. Baldwin, Samuel, 133, 143, 249. Baldwin, Bathsheba, 135. Baldwin, Nathaniel, 199, 300. Baldwin, Moses, 424. Baldwin, John H., 464. Baldwin, Ruth, 482. Baldwin, Benjamin, 516. Ball, Charles A., 508. Banks, Rev. George W., 269, 270, 288, 342, 379, 409. Banks, John W., 409. Baptists, 223, 339, 359, 369, 386. Barker, John W., 209. Barker, Samuel, 388, 519. Barker, William, 452, Barlow, Joseph, 482. Barnard, Henry A., 272. Barnes, William, 53, 60, 127, Barnes, Timothy, 445. Barnum, Henry S., 292, 405. Barrow, Grace, 282. Bartholomew, John, 410. Bartlett, Stephen R., 517. Bartlett, David, 517. Bartlett, Marcus B., 517. Bartlett, Elisha, 447. Bartlett, Nathaniel, 453. Bartlett, George, 46, 55, 6t, 79, loi, 124, 126, 128, 141, 199, 216,. 224, 238, 340, 292, 300, 383, 419^ 420, 442, 463, 5T1, 512, 518. Bartlett, William N., 464. Bartlett, Henry, 442. Bartlett, Walter R., 410. Bartlett, George H., 410. Bartlett, Samuel, 423, 424, 453. . Bartlett, Abram, 424. Bartlett, John, 300, 380, 424. Bartlett, John H., 54, 457, 516,. 517' Bartlett, William, 134, 196. Bartlett, Daniel, 199, 301. Bartlett, Joseph, 339, 448. Bartlett, Stephen C, 410, 488. Bartlett, Rev. Moses, 361, 407. Bartlett, Dea. George, 381, 382. Bartlett, George, Jr., 382. Bartlett, Elihu, 407, 414. Bartlett, Melzar T., 409. Bartlett, Rev. Nathaniel, 3C0,. 407. Bartlett, Ebenezer, 218, 292. Bartlett, Edwin W., 224, 270. bartlett, Frank C, 270. Bartlett, Richard, 343, 517. Bassett, Jonathan, 137, 196. Beach, Rev. A. K., 390. Beatiie, John, 165, 224, 255, 256- Beckwith, Matthew, 132. Bedford, Rev. Benjamin, 389. Beebe, Dr. George H., 414. Beecher, Rev. Lyman, 138, 285, 292, 408, 498. Beecher, Henry Ward, 502. Beers, Peter, 373. Beers, Rev. E O., 389 Beers, Calvin H., 464. Beers, Henry A., 464. Bell, Jerry, 464. Bellamy, Matthew, 396. Bennett, Rev. Lorenzo T., 2f'6,. 270, 373, 377, 381, 408. Bennett, Rev. George, 390. Bennett, Samuel, 453. Benton, R. E., 509. Benton, A. H., 509, Benton, Russell, 517, 520. 522 INDEX Benton, Joel E., 464. Benton, Amos N,, 464. Benton, Charles H., 464. Benton, Henry, 464, 517. Benton, Joel C, 464. Benton, Raphael W., 464. Benton, Edward R., 464. Benton, Caleb, Jr., 442. Benton, Zebulon, 446, 449. Benton, Timothy, 446. Benton, Nathan, 448, Benton, Chandler, 449. Benton, Rev. Joseph A., 408, Benton, Andrew J., 269. Benton, Joel, 272. Benton, Lot, 278, 498. Benton, Jared, 424. Benton, Noah, 370, 445, 453, 454- Benton, Edward, 54, 61, 124, 126, TsS, 238, 449. Benton, John, 54. Benton, William, 55. Benton, Daniel, 97, 128, 339. Benton, Sarah, 131. Benton, Rev. John E., 410. Benton, Ebenezer, 199, 229, 250, Benton, Josiah, 199. Benton, Stephen, 250. Benton, Darwin, 253. Benton, Charles L., 257. Bentz, Emanuel, 464. Berkeley, Bishop George, 481. Berry, Francis, 464. Betts, Thomas, 55, 61, 124, 125, 154, j68. Betts, C. Wyllys, 125. Bibbins, Thomas, 447. Bidweli, Edwin, 410, 414. Biographies^ 470, Bishop, John, 25, 29, 34, 44, 45, 48, 53, 6r, 80, 88, 8g, 109, 125, 128, 133, 141, 155, 195, 242, 247. Bishop, Anna, 45. Bishop, Sarah, 48. Bishop, John, Jr., 80, 92, loi, 103, 106, 12S, 240. Bishop, Stephen, 87, iig, 125, 128, 144, 161. Bishop, Ebenezer, 199. Bishop, Nathan R. S., Jr., 424. Bishop, Samuel, 200. Bishop, Charles, 252. Bishop, David, 292, 444, 453. Bishop, Prudence, 354, Bishop, Jared, 443, 444, 453. Bishop, Herbert M., 409. Bishop, Ernest S., 409. Bishop, Timothy, 430. Bishop, James, 442, 446. Bishop, Jesse, 442. Bishop, Louis B., 409. Bishop, E. C, 128, zt6, 517, 520, Bishop, Mary, 130. Bishop, Daniel, 137, 280, Bishop, Dorothy, 137 Bishop, Biidad, 150. Bishop, Jonathan, 252, 277, 452. Bishop, Josiah, 195. Bishop, Caleb, 195. Bishop, Joshua, 197, 424, Bishop, Enos, 197, 423, Bishop, Ebenezer, 199, 374. Bishop, Ezra, 454. Bishop, Thalmeno, 446, 447, 450. Bishop, Luther, 446. Bishop, Johnson, 447, 454. Bishop, Levereit, 4*48. Bishop, Hamilton, 452. Bishop, Joseph, 467. Bishop, Neri, 454. Bishop, Joel B,, 462, 469. Bishop, Edward L., 464. Bishop, Charles Augustus, 464. Bishop, Alfred G., 464. Bishop, John M., 468. Bivans, Henry, 437. Black Rock. See Rockland. Blake, Rev. E. A.,3B8. Blake, William T., 464. Blake, George W., 464. Blake, Gilbert W., 468. Blake, Edson S., 468. Blakeman, Rev. Phineas, 368. Blakeman, Rev. W. C., 390. Blachley, David, 384. Blachley, Samuel, 89, 125, 127, 129. Blatchley, Thomas, 132. Blatchley, Ann, 138. Blatchley, Joshua, T38, 197. Blatchley, Aaron, 185. P>latchley, Charles C, 409. Blatchley, Wm., 192, 518. Blatchley, Daniel, 195. Blatchley, Moses, 195. Blatchley, Orrin D., 257. Blatchley, Joel S., 408. Blatchley, Abraham, 409, 414, 452- Blatchley, Oliver, 452. Blatchley, Lewis William, 464. Blatchley, Edwin O., 464. Blatchley, Charles G., 464. Blin, Peter, 196. Bliss, Rev. Daniel, 325, 326. Bliss, Peter, 134. Bockee, John J., 254. Booth, Wilson, 279. Boreman or Boardman,William, 54. 59. 87,125, 127,418. Borough, The, 257, 520. Boss, Rev. Thomas M., 359. Boundaries, 162-165, Bowen, Josiah, 144. Bowen, Rev. Wm. E., 390. Bowers, Rev. John, 115-116,263, 395- Boynton, Rev, George Mills, 342, 343. Bradley, William J., 468. Bradley, Henry C, 468, 469. Bradley, Abraham, 3rd, 485. Bradley, Beriah, 504, Bradley, John T., 467. Bradley, Obedience, 137. Bradley, Miner, 150, 214, 434. Bradley, Joseph, 218. Bradley, Harriet, 258, 268. Bradley, Noah, 351. Bradley, Zenas, 423. Bradley, Abraham, 54, 136, 137, 328, 400, 406. Bradley, Stephen, 55, 121, 130, 157. i59i 162. 245. 274. 421. 506, 513- Bradley, Ann, 134. Bradley, Abigail, 134. Bradley, Jane, 136. Bradley, John, 464. Bradley, Benjamin, 54, 423, 454, 462. Bradley, Nathan, 95, 130, 134, i43» i7». 195,345. Bradley, Andrew J., 130, 272. Bradley, Sarah, 133. Bradley, Gilead, 176, 445, 448. Bradley, William T., 467. Bradley, George N., 266. Bradley, Ashbell, 360. Bradley, James, 452, 453, Bragg, Ebenezer, 446, 447, 453. Bragg, Elihu, 448. Brainerdj Rev. Israel, 282-285, 291. Branford, 28, 71, 72, 104, 107, 127, 131* 132* 139. 152* 153. 163. 164, 165, 181, 199, 200, 390, 419, 420. Bray, Rev. Thomas Wells, 283, 296, 297, 356, 407, 498. Bray, Rev. John E., 300. Bray, Oliver, 407, 508. Brewer, Rev, Daniel, 336-338, 407. Brewer, Rev. W. W., 390. Brewer, Justice David J., 489. Bridges, 216, 345, Bristow, or Bristol, Richard, 61, 88,124,126,128, 145, 154, 216, 272, Bristow, Samuel, 126. Bristow Apples, 126. Bristow, Bezaleel, 126, ig6, 197, 362, 363, 430, 434, 442, 450. Bristow, Widow, 216. Bristol, S. Allan, 464. Bristol, Washington, 46S, 518. British Prisoners, 434. Brooks, Oliver N., 203, 517. INDEX 523 Brooks, David, 414. Crooks, Simeon, 450. Brown, Mrs. Hannah, 52. Brown, Rev. G. D,, 383. Brown, William, 214, 407, 506, 516. Brown, Samuel, 135, 426, 429,* Sis- Brown, James. 135. Brown, Rev. William T., 359, 409. Brown, Charlei, 468. Brownell, Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Church, 381. Buckingham, Rev, Stephen, 122. Buel, Gurden,45i. Euel, Rev. Lewin F., 361, 409. Buel, Walter H., 405, 409. Buel, Colin S., 409. Buel, Bela, 451. Buel, Jeremiah, 451, Bull, Sarah, 353. Bull, Ezekiel, 134, 215, 217. Biillard, Henry B , 464. Bunnell, George W., jjo. Burgis, Rev. Nathan B. , 377, 384. Burgis, Thomas, 135, 163, 292, 380,407,433, 519. Burgis, John, 147, 22:;, 264, 277, 292, 4M. 506,515* Burgis, Samuel, 277. Burgis, Hannah, 277. Burgis, Elizabeth, 277. Burgis, William H., 464. Burgis, John Randolph, 464. Burrows, George M., 414. Burton, Rev. Henry, 390. Bushnell, William C, 360, 318. Bushnelt, Francis, Sr., 25, 43,47. 52, 60, 61, 97, 128, 228. Bushnell, Sarah, 43, 88. Bushnel 1, Francis, Jr., 47, 52, 1 25, z68, 227. Bushnell, David, 47. Bushnell, Cornelius S., 47, 460, 502. Bushnell. Rev. Samuel C, 3^1. 409. Bushnell, Winthrop G., 409. Bushnell, Levi Ives, 409. Bushnell, Joseph, 424. Bushnell, Jesse, 424. Bushnel], Harvey, 361. Bushnell, Nathan T., 71, 270. Bushnell, Elizabeth, X28. Bushnell, Robert, 128. Bushnell, Ericsson, 225. Bushnell, C. J, 225. Bushnell, Rev. John E., 462. Bushnell, Nathan, 502. Bushnell, Chloe, 502. Bushy, Peter, 464. Butcher, Daniel, 127. r.iitter, Etisaph H., 265, 509. Butler, Rev. David, 377, 383. Butler, Walter C., 410. Button Facioiy, 253. Byington, Charles B.,464. Cadwill, Timothy, 424. Cadwall, John, 448. Cadwell, Elias, 454. Caffinch, John, ^9, 34, 52, 53, 82, 97, 112, 131. 155, 211. Caffinch, Thomas, 53. Caffinch, Samuel, 53. Calder, Thomas, 424. Caldwell. Nelson M., 468. Caldwell, Thomas, 442, 443. Caldwell, Charles, 135. Caldwell, John, 135. Caldwell, Nathaniel, 407. Caldwell, Henry, 407. Caldwell, William H., 468. Camp, Rev. Ichabod, 382. Campbell, S. C-, 505. Canfield, Joel, 277, 413, 414, 423, 424. Carter, Joseph, 424, 450. Case, Rev. William. 368. Cattle, 22, 88, gi, 95, 164, 175, 202, 238 to 248. Cemeteries, 391. Centennial Celebration, 269. Chalker, Alexander, 54, 6x, 81, 134, 136, 418. Chalker, Daniel, 450. Chalker, Isaac, 508. Chamberlain, Henry N., 55, 456. Chapman, Robert, 90. Chapman, Daniel, 398. Chapman, Caleb, Jr., 424. Chapman, Samuel, 450. Chatfield, Francis, 25, 48, 54, 60, 79, aa?. Chatfield, Thomas, 48, 54, 61, 125- Chatfield, George, 48, 55, 61, 106, 125, 128. Chatfield, John, 48. Chatfield, Jonathan, 451. Chauncey, Elnathan, 294. Chidsey, Joseph, 135, 199. Chidsey, Mabel, 137. Chidsey, Nathan. 148, 448, 516. Chidsey, Joseph, Jr., 424. Chipman, Rev. Richard Man- ning, 341, 343. Chittenden, John N., 518. Chittenden, Abraham I., 454, 508. Chittenden, Charles E., 456. Chittenden, L. O., 464, 465, 520. Chittenden, Olive N., 478. Chittenden, Jared, 448. Chittenden, Stephen, 424. Chittenden, Joseph, Jr., 424. Chittenden, Zebuton, 424. Chittenden, Nathan, 445. Chittenden, Jairus, 448. Chittenden, Bille, 277, 450, 453. Chittenden, Samuel H., 225, 270, 410, 519, 520. Chittenden, Simeon B., Jr., 270, 409, 488. Chittenden, Rev. Richard L., 371. Chittenden, Justus S., 277. Chittenden, Henry Abel, 409, 50a. Chittenden, Luther, 424. Chittenden, Joseph, 138. Chittenden, Patience, 138. Chittenden, Thomas, 157, 483. Chittenden, John, 157, 160, 236. Chittenden, Samuel, 183, 196, 293. Chittenden, Simeon, 2^6, 300, 446. Chittenden, Abel, 296, 407, 502. Chittenden, Levi, 300, 451. Chittenden, Martin L., 300. Chittenden, William H., 410. Chittenden, Anson, 292. Chittenden, Anna H., 277, 379, 502. Chittenden, John B., 277, 292. Chittenden, Mrs. Mary G., 65, 279. Chittenden, Rev. Charles, 387, 388. Chittenden, Daniel, Jr., 423. Chittenden, Ebenezer, 195, 483. Chittenden. John D., 224. Chittenden, Dudley, 224. Chittenden, Abraham, 218, 277, 292, 445. Chittenden, George B., 410. Chittenden, William, 18, 25, 29, 33. 34. 42i 43. 46. 51. 59. 6=i 78. 79, 84, 91, 92, 95, 97, 98, 134, ja8, 145, 155, 2i6, 221, 418, 419, 483,488,511. Chittenden, Simeon B., 51, 269, 404. 458, 462, 487, 502, 504 . Chittenden, Henry W., 54, 404, 506, 519. Chittenden, Lydia D., 54, 434. Chrisjoy, or Cnsjoy, Benjamin, 447- Civil War, 225. Clancy. William H., 464. Clapboard Hill, 177, 335, 401, 402. Clark, Aaron, 451. Clark, Sylvanus, 520. Clark, Zachariah, 424. Clark, Phineas, 233. Clark, Rev. A. A., 388. Clark, Daniel, 450. 524 INDEX Clarke, Thomas, 45, 86, 94, 95, 128, 129. Clarke, Joseph, 199. Clay, Joseph, 131. Cleveland, Rev. Aaron, 502. Cleveland, George, 508. Clement, Nathan C, 464. Clement, Moses G., 465. Clinton. See Killingworth. Coan, Joseph, 465. Coan, Jerome, 465. Coan, Sherwood, 505. Coan, John, 445, 454. Coan, Abraham, 135, 380. Coan, George, 135, 382. Coan, Peter, 135. Coan, Josiah, 389. Coan, Jacob, 423. Coe, Horace N., 518. Coe, Jedediah, 196. Coe, Frederick L., 360. Coe, Thomas, 137, 448, 450. Coe, Philander P., 460. Coe, Charles W., 467. Coe's Hall, 225. Cohabit. See North Guilford and North Madison. Coleman, James, 465. Coles, Rev. Solomon M., 410. *' Colledge Corn," 394. College at New Haven, 395. Collins, Alexander, 407. Collins, LfCwis, 413. Collins, Pitman, 446. Collins, Lorraine, 479. Collins, Augustus C., 300, Collins, John, 46, 382, 397, 398, 518. Collins, Mary, 46. Collins, Augustus, 148, 427, 434, 437» 446, 447. 479. 515. 516. Collins, Oliver, 213. Collins, Charles, 380, 3B1. Collins, William R., 300, 423. Collins, John, Jr., 131, 133, 160, 199,231, 274, 513. Collins, Daniel, igg, 322, 291, 300, 407, 440, 447, 454. Collins, Timothy, 291, 406, 454, 482. Collins, Aaron C, 300, 407. Collins, Samuel, 316, 372, 380. Comstock, James, 450. Cone, Mrs. H. D., 65, 462. Cone, Mulford, 448. Congregational Church, First of Guilford. Bell, 275. Congregational Church Clock, 276, 279. Congregational Church Horse Sheds, 274. Congregational Church, First of Guilford. Meeting houses, 34, 52, 143, 175, 181, 22T, 271, 273. Congregational Church, First of Guilford. Organization, 35, 37, 39, 40, 201, 279, 291, 340, 374, 400, 404. Congregational Church, First of Guilford. Ministers, 60-65, 74~ 77, 115-123, T41, 142, 279. Congregational Church in North Guilford, 200, 259, 293. Congregational Church, Third of Guilford, 2E6, 341, 461. Congregational Church, Fourth, 301-339,400,476. Congregational Churches, 259, Congregational Church inMadi* son, 167, 169, 344-361. Congregational Church in Madi- son. Meeting House, 348, 349- 3SZ. Congregational Church in North Madison, 351, 362-370. Congregational Church in North Madison. Meeting House, 214, 363, 366, 367. Congregational Church in North Madison. Parsonage, 366. Conklin, Jacob, 137. Conklin, James U., 467. Connecticut Constitution, 149. Connecticut State Society of the Cincinnati, 445. Connecticut Path, 156. Cook, James H., 409. Cook, Fairfield, 464. Cook, Joshua, 233. Cooke, Samuel (Rev.), 406, 479. Cooke, Thomas, 25, 48, 52, 61, 87. 93^ 99, 106, 121, 122, 124, 128, 512. Cooke, Thomas, Jr., 112,114, '35» 136. Cooke, Elizabeth, 135. Cooke, Deliverance^ 136. Cope, Philip, 465. Corbin, Benjamin, 517. Cornelius, Soto, 447. Cornish, James, 395. Corson, Rev. Levi H,, 37S, 380, 381. Corwin, James, 339. Coster, Mrs. Ellen, 412. Cotton, Rev. John, 115. Couch, Elizabeth, 354. Coulter, John, 463, 465. Covenant of first settlers, 24. Cowles, F. S., 414. Cox, Patrick, 465. Cozens, Josiah, 465. Crampion, William B., 467, 518. Crampton, Cornett M,, 468. Crampton, Jesse, 518, 520. Crampton, Russell, 520. Crampton, Samuel R., 459, 518. Crampton, Josiah, 448, 453. Crampton, Asahel, 452. Crampton, Jonathan, 453. Crampton, Nathaniel, 453. Crampton, Luther, 453. Crampton, Benjamin, Jr., 446, Crampton, Dennis, 92, 94, 96, 106, 109, no, 129, 130^ 195. Crampton, Demetrius, 197, 362, 392' Crampton, William H., 3^0, Crampton, Ralph S., 361. Crampton, Nathan, 384. Cranbrook, Eug., 13, 59. Crane, Henry, 106, 130, 171. Crane, Ebenezer, 451. Crane, Elisha, Jr., 451. Crawford, Rev. A. K., 3^9. Crittenden. See Crutfenden. Crittenden, Samuel D., 465. Crittenden, Jared, 447, 449. Crittenden, Zebulon, 447, 448. Crocker, Charles W., 508, 509. Crofut, Rev. James H., 388,389, Cromwell, Oliver, 19, 21,65,67, ^^, 75. Crook, Wallace W., 465. Crooked Lane, 486. Crowel, C, L., 508. Cruttenden, Jedediah, 448. Cruttenden, Nathan, 448, 452. Cruttenden, Harvey E., 460, 518- Cruttenden, Abraham, Sr., 25, 48,61,79, 80,90, 92,95, 124, 128, 141,228, 242. Cruttenden. Abraham, Jr., 92, 106, 125, 128, 161, 422. Cruttenden, Thomas, loi, io6>, 141, T42, 162, 195. Cruttenden, Isaac, 103, 106. Cruttenden, Hannah, 134, 135. Cruttenden, David, 151, 447. Cruttenden, Lieut. Joseph, 305. Cruttenden, Samuel, 325, 33C>> 447, 451. 452. Cruttenden, Walter B., 409, Cruttenden, Seth, 446. Cruttenden, Salmon, 447. Cruttenden, Joseph, Jr., 218. Cruttenden, Abraham, 448. Cruttenden, Eber, 277. Cruttenden, Rev, Richard, 29S. Cruttenden, Josiah, 423. Cunningham, Alexander, 465. Currency, 263, 264. Curtis, Rev. William B., 299. Curtis, Darius, 468. Daniell, Alfred, 465. Daniels, Joseph L., 405, Darken, Rev. Edward J., 378. Darwin, or Durren, Ephraim, 131- Davenport, Rev. John, 107, 110, Davis, Edwin O., 292. INDEX 525 Davis, John, 134, 330, 339, 454. Davis, James, 137, 445, 45i» 452. Davis, Joel, 2nd, 277. Davis, Henry, 2S2. Davis, George S., 380, 50S, 517. Davis, Charles W., 509. Davis, Danitl L., 465, Davis, E. Roger, 465. Davis, Samuel R,, 465. Davis, John N., 465. Davis, William H., 509. Davis, William, 465. Davis, Solomon, Jr., 451. Davis, Josiah, 451. Davis, Ebenezer, 451. Davis, James, Jr., 432. Davis, Edgar G,, 465. Day, Rev. Theodore L., 369, 289. Day, Thomas, 468. Dayton, James, 465. Dean, Rev. Wilfrid H., 383. Deck, Richard, 447. Dee, William R., 468. Deer, 237, Deers, Frederick, 465. De Forest, Robert E., 269, 409. De Forest, J. H., 292. Degnan, Rev. J. F., 390. Delancey, William, 465. Demore, Antonio, 465. Dennison, Dr. Richard, 414. Desborough, Samuel, t8, 24,35, 3^ 33. 35» 37-39. 41, 46, 49> 5i. 57, 60, 62, 64-70, 78, 84, 85, 124, 155, 168, 169, ai6, 412, 470, 511. Desborough, James, 41, 66, 67. Desborough, John, 41. Desborough, Elizabeth, 66, 127. Desborough, Sarah, 66. Dibble, Daniel, 452. Dickey, Edward P., 3S8, 411- Dickinson, Rev. John, 388. Dickinson, Azariah, 443. Dickin&on, Joseph G., 518. Dixon, Rev. Charles, 390. Doane, Alvah R., 468. Dod, Samuel, 391. Dodd, Stephen, 132, 143. Dodd, Daniel, 132. Dolan, Kev. John H., 390. Dolliver, William, 76. Dolph, William H., 465. Donahue, William, 468. Donnell, John, 446. Donovan, John, 465. Doolf, Simon, 424. Dorr, Edward, 294. Douglas, Rev., 388. Douglas, John, 424. Doude, or Dowd, Henry, 25, 48, 53, 61, 125, 127, 128, 211, 228, 243* 419- Doude, Elizabeth, 94. Dowd, Julius N., 401. Dowd, Dea. Julius Albert, 52, 165.351, 343.517. Dowd, ■William T.,508, 520. Dowd, Benjamin R., 465. Dowd, George C, 467. Dowd, Judson H., 467. Dowd, James H., 468. Dowd, Timothy A., 468. Dowd, Martin L., 151, 255, 360, Dowd, George, 255, 459, Dowd, Frederick, 255, 351, 518. Dowd, James R., 270, 468, 51S. Dowd, Galen, 351, 518. Dowdi Solomon, 449. Dowd, Zachariah, 447. Dowd, Didymus, 448. Dowd, Jehiel, 448, Dowd, Job, 448. Dowd, Jeremiah, 448. Dowd, Frank C, 360. Dowd, Cornelius, 195. Dowd, John, 195, 454. Dowd, Abraham, 196. Dowd, Thomas, 195, 197. Dowd, Rev. Charles, 361. Dowd, Wedworth, 361. Dowd, Timothy, 447. Dowd, Moses, 447, 449, 454. Dowd, Reuben, 447. Drainage, 184. Drake, Rev. Charles W., 299. Drake, Frederick R. S., 409. Drake, F. A., 460. Drawbridges, 219. Dudley, Joel, 503. Dudley, Harriet, 503. Dudley, Joseph Wm., 518, 519, 520. Dudley, Jason, 270. Dudley, Joseph, 140, 143, 144, 236, 39^. 398. 424. 5^31 529- Dudley, Doudly, or Deadly, John, 132, 133. Dudley, Doudly, or Deadly, Mary, 134. Dudley, Mary, 135. Dudley, Benjamin, 132. Dudley, Henry H., 465. Dudley, William M., 384, 457. Dudley, Henry B., 463, 465. Dudley, Henry C, 465. Dudley, Charles S-, 465. Dudley, George W., 384, 520. Dudley, Samuel W., 300, 517. Dudley, Lucius, 343. Dudley, Benjamin T., 360. Dudley, Timothy, 365, 453, 462. Dudley, Thomas, 447. Dudley, Medad, 441, 454. Dudley, Jared, 445, 4-18. Dudley, Nathaniel, 446. Dudley, Eber, 446. Dudley, Luther, 446. Dudley, Joseph C , 255, 420. Dudley, Amos, 183, 44S. Dudley, Ebenezer, 195, 351, Dudley, Josiah, 196. Dudley, David, 165, 197, 362, 370, 446. Dudley, Erastus, 252, 517. Dudley, Abraham. 292. Dudley, William R., 272, Dudley, John, 274. Dudley, Asher, 277, 343. Dudley, Rev. Martin, 292, 367 408. Dudley, Martha, 349. Dudley, David 3rd, 428. Dudley, Henry, 384. Dudley, Kate M., 405. Dudley, Lewis J., 408. Dudley, Caleb, 415. Dudley, Nathan, 415, 448. Dudley, Baldwin C, 270, Dudley, Tabitha, 152. Dudley, Oliver, 222, 423. Dudley, Selah, 300. Dudley, James A,, 254, 517. Dudley, William, 25, 46, 52, 61, 69, 93. 95i ^24. 128, igg, 300, 445- Dudley, William C, 51, 520. Dudley, James, 55, 224. Dudley, Robert, 59. Dudley, William, Jr., 96. Dudley, Samuel W., 457. Dudley, Ambrose, 448. Dudley, Phineas, 450, 451. Dudley, Miles, 451. Dudley, Roswell, 451, Dudley, Lewis J., 503. Dudley, George C, 465. Dudley, Alva M., =, 265, 266, 270, 290, 463, 464, 46s, 517, 520. Griswold, Mary C., 266. Griswold, Thomas, Jr., 424. Griswold, George L., 465. Griswold, Nathaniel, 451. Griswold, H. B., 456, 463. Griswold, Joel, Jr., 465. Griswold, Samuel J., 465, 508. Griswold, Dwight S., 465. Griswold, Joel, 451, 463. Griswold, Zadoc, 448. Griswold, Jedediah, 451, 452, 453. Griswold, Moses, 451. Griswold, Joseph, 451. Griswold, Ebenezer, 451. Griswold, George, 277, 519, 520. Griswold, Thomas, 133, 447. Griswold, Submit, 137. Griswold, Nehemiah, 384, 442. Griswotdj Henry J., 255, 408. Griswold, Rev. Sherman, 291. Griswold, Florence, 292. Griswold, Leverett, 343, 517. Griswold, Josiah, 360, 450. Griswold, Francis P., 413. Grosvenor, Mason, 286. Grosvenor, Samuel E., 465. Grosvenor, Joseph A., 465. Grosvenor, Daniel W., 465. Grumbly, John, 443, 448. Guilford Manufacturing Co., 252. Guilford Enterprise Co., 253, Guilford Agricultural Society, 509, 510- Guilford Harbor, 209, 210. Guilford Light Battery, 269, 271, 272, 463. Guilford Sloop, 439. Guilford Monument, 462. Guilford Instituts, 53, 271, 401, 402, 404. Guilford Savings Bank, 265. Guilford County, 152, 153. Guilford Patent, 159. Guilford Item, 265. Guilford Echo, 265. Guilford Borough, ¥65, 267, 520. Guilford named, 57-59. Guildford, Eng„ 59. Guttridge. See Goodrich. Hale, Harvey, 151. Hale, Henry, 266, 380, 456, 491, 508, 509. Hale, John, 266, 388, 456, 460, SJ7- Hale, Albert, 286. Hale, Wm,, 387-389, 517, 520. Hale, J. Wilson, 466. Hale, Edwin J., 466. Hall, Capt, Stephen, 426, 427, 428, 431.446, 417. 449- Hall, Augustus P., 54. Hall, Harriet, 55. Hall, Thomas, 134, 183, 228, 274, 275, 292, 301, 302, 305, 400, 449. Hall, Samuel, 134. Hall, Elizabeth, 134. Hall, Benjamin, 448. Hall, Philemon, 431, 445, 447, 449. Hall, Amos, 445, 450. Hall, James, 445, 448, Hall, Eber, 445. 446, 447, 448. Hall, Nelson G,, 410, 413. Hall, William, 25, 53, 61, 124, 128, 199, 239, 241. Hall, John, 46, 333, 339, 445. Hall, Titus, 53. Hall, Hiland, 127, 134, 485. Hall, Mary, 136. Hall, Eliphalet, 233. Hall, Rev. E. Edwin, 286-289, 404, 410, 517. Hall, Rev. Henry L., 292, 408, 466. Hall, James D., 343, Hall, Carrie P., 405, Hall, Henry H., 466, Hall, George I., 466. Hall, John M.,. 468. Hall, Selden, 468. Hall, Titus A., 466. Hall, Ebenezer, 454. Hall, George H., 465. Hall, Charles A., 465. Hall, Dwight H., 465. Hall, Marcus M., 465. Hallam, Robert A., 405, Halleck, Fitz-Greene, 9, 411, 491. Halleck, Israel, ±gi. Halleck, Maria, 492. Halleck Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, 508. Hamilton, Dr. Charles H., 414. Hammond, Rev. Joseph, 389, Hammond, George, 467. Hammonassett River, 22, 32, 64, 96, 129, 130, 142, 143, 156, 160, 162, 163, 164, 166, 169, T73, 176, 184, 187, 189, 192, 193, 194, igs, 2]2, 216, 217, 231, 238, 239, 245, 266, 344-347. 3So> 39^ 396, 403* Hammonassett Grave Yard, 392, Hand, Capt. Daniel, 427, 440, 447. 462. Hand, J. Meigs, 54. Hand, Joseph, 132, 1^2, 195, 199, z'7. 345. 348, 5M- Hand, John, 132. Hand, Daniel, Jr., 148. Hand, Benjamin, 195, 506, 514. Hand, Edmund, 453. Hand, Daniel, 215, 406, 498, 499. Hand, Rev. J. H., 389. Hand, Joseph W., 408. Hand, George E., 40S, 497. Hand, Ichabod, 44S, 453. Hand, Charles F., 462, 467. Hand Academy, 406. Handee, Samuel, 447, 449. Handy, William, 448, 449, 450. Handy, Daniel, 451, 454. Hanlon, Thaddeus W. O., 465. Hanna, John, 256, Hare, Rev. George S., 389, Harris, John, 446, 447. Harrison, Freeman, 518. Harrison, Hon. Lynde, 225, 269, 463. 517. Harrison, Rev. Fosdick, 298. Harrison, Mary, 341. Harrison, William H., 463. Hart, Mrs. John, 349. Hart, Benjamin, 351, 353, 360, 361. Hart, Augustine, 405. Hart, Ebenezer, 439, 445, 448. Hart, James, 447, 453. Hart, Thomas, 292, 439, 452. Hart, Baldwin, 194, 518. Hart, Samuel, 272, 42^. Hart, William, 277, 285, 333, 360, 361, 407. Hart, Rev. John, 280, 352, 353, 398, 406. Hart, Rebecca, 280. Hart, William W., 462, 467. Hart, Charles, 466. Hart, Edward W., 467. Hart, George, 520. Harvey, Byron, 466. Hatch, EHphalet, 250. Hatch, Ebenezer, 423. Haugh, Rev. John S., 388. Harvard, Richard, 468. Hawkins, Daniel, 465. Hawks, Rev. Wm. N., 378, INDEX 529 Hawley, Joseph R., 225, 272,286, 463. Hawley, Henry, 465. Hawley» Horace, 465. Hawley, James D., 466. Hawley, Harriet W., 499. Hayden, Rev. H. H., 390. Hayes, Rev, Srephen, 366, 367. Health of Guilford, 412, 414. Henderson, John, Jr., 452. Hendrick, W. T., 264. Henneburg, John A., 466. Hepburn, Rev. James C, 292. Herrman, Ernest, 203. Higginson, Rev. John, 8, 27-29, 3i, 35, 39-41, 48, 5^ 60, 64, 67, 74-77, 80, 99, 115, ri8, 124, T25, 141, 167, 262, 394. Higginson, Ann, 48, 76. Higginson, Stephen, 76. Higginson, Thomas W., 76, 272. Higginson, John, 77, 247, 397. Higginson, Nathaniel, 77. Higginson, Thomas, 3^7, 398. Hiland, or Highland, George, 106, 125, 127, 128. Hiland, Mary, 134. Hill, John, 94, 95, ig6, 128. Hill, David B., 128. Hill, Henry, 145, 14S, 407, 473, 49 ^ 519- Hill, JameS; 195, 348, 448, 466. Hill, Michael, 259. Hill, Aaron, 233. Hill, Reuben, 217, 231, 447. Hill, George, 218, 408, 491, <)94. Hill, Rebecca, 233. Hill, Ralph, 250. Hill, Franklin M., 381. Hill, Col. Samuel, 281, 322, 382, 422,472,473, 514, 5(9. Hill, Sarah Adams, 283. Hill, George W., 343, 46S. Hill, Dea. Timothy, 354, 360, 407. Hill, Noah, 384, 450. Hill, George S., 469. Hill, Ichabod, 450. Hill, Daniel, 453. Hill, Nathan D., 463. Hill, George B., 468. Hill, Horace O., 468, 518. Hill, Moses, 447, Hill, Nathaniel, 407, 472, 515* 519- Hill, Lieut. Timothy, 424, 447. Hill, Daniel, Jr., 424. Hill, Abraham, 445. 453. Hill, William P., 5»7- Hinckley, Rev. Geo. W., 292. Hitchcock, William, 466. Hoadley, Rev. John, 18, 24, zSt 35. 43» 52, 6o» 70, 78, 81. 9^' ^24» 211, 216, 310,419. Hoadley, Benjamin, 18, 24, 310, 490. Hoadley, Wm., 181. Hoadley, Paschal K., 384. Hoadley, Ebenezer, 449. Hoadley, Ambrose, 138. Hoadley, Samuel, 453, 490. Hoadley, Archbishop, John, 490. Hoadley's Creek, 165, Hodges, Henry E., 277. Hogs, 88, 8g, 90, 238, 241, 243. Hogstie, or Hogshead Point, 186, 257. Holmes, Oliver W., 495. Honce, Barlow 5., 464. Hooker, James, 133, 176, 185, igg, 292, 301, 302, 308, 397, 400, 472, 5'3. 5i4f 519- Hooker, Mary, 353. Hooker, William, 400, 406. Hope, Jamc!, 466. Hopson, Edson W., 468. Hopson, Adison A., 469. Hopson, Nathan W., 518, 520. Hopson, John P., 518. Hopson, or Hobson, John, 130, 133. 143. 148. 158, 163, i97» 242, 363, 370. 427, 432. 447, 454- Hopson, Eliz;ibeth, 133. Hopson, Samuel, 199, Hopson, Rev. Oliver, 3S3. Hopson, Ebenezer, 3''7. Horses, 92, 142, 244, 274, 275. Hosford, Dr., 414. Horgkin, Hotchkin, or Hotch- kiss, John, 130, 163, 193. Hodgkin, Hotchkin, or Hotch- kisc, Thomas, 395, 447. Hotchkin, Rev. Beriah, 291,338, 339, 448. Hotchkin, Joseph, 134, 445. Hotchkin, Samuel, 134, 440, 448. Hotchkin, Ira, 448. Hotchkin, Ebenezer, Jr., 452. Hotchkiss, Nelson, 223. Hotchkiss, Amos, 238, 424, 443. Hotchkiss, Miles, 250. Hotchkiss, Rev. F. W., 365. Hotchkiss, Asa, 447- Hotchkiss, Isaac, 434. Hotchkiss, Parnel C, 477. Hotchkiss, Thomas, 506, 514. Hough, Rev. Lent S., 367. Hough, William, 424. Hough, Simon, 430. Housegoe, or Hughes, John, 25, 47- Housman, David, 465. Howard, Rev, William, 299. Howard, William, 410. llowe. Rev. Samuel, 368. Howe, Theodore L, B., 408. Howland, Rev. Seneca, 389. Howlett's Plain, 168. Hoyt, or Hoit, Jonathan, 133, 195.; Hoyt, Abel, 360. Hoyt, James P., 405. Hoyt, David, 447, 448. Hoyt, Samuel, 447. Hubball, Richard, gi, 92,94,101, 128, 129. Hubbard, Gecrge, 43, 62, 78, 79, 97, J06, 116, 124, 125, 128, 131, 141, 142, 171, 216, 511, 512. Hubbard, John, 52, igg, 221, 230, 254, 271, 382, 446, 464. Hubbard, Abigail, 131. Hubbard, Thankful, 138. Hubbard, Daniel, 138, 160, 251, 252, 37S, 420. Hubbard, Rev. John, 294. Hubbard, Dorothy, 138. Hubbard, Mary, 271. Hubbard, Rev, Bela, 291, 375- 377, 383, 407, 442. Hubbard, J. B., 464. Hubbard, Rebecca, 353, Hubbard, Diana, 375. Hubbard, William H., 381, 383, 465- Hubbard, Abraham, 3S4, 442, Hubbard, Ensign John, 426. Hues, Hughes, or Hewes, Rich- ard, 55, 61, 97, 98, 125, 128, 16S, 240. Hues, or Hughes, Sarah, 126, 398, Hues, or Hughes, Nicholas, 126, 249. Hughes Bros., 256, Hull, Richard L., 466. Hull, Roswell, 451. Hull, Levi, 451. Hull, H. Ellsworth, 465. Hull, Samuel H., 466. Hull, George A., 466. Hull, Zadoc, 383. Hull, William S., 192, 45S. Hull, G. E., 253. Hull, Timothy, Jr., 446. Hull, Alfred G., 265, 343- Hull, Giles, 413, 423. Hull, Horace A , 467. Hull, Frederick W., 468. Hull, Joseph, 468. Hull, J. Myron, 406, 519, Hull, Wm. J., 520. Hunt, Robert, 210. Hunt, James, 210. Hunt, John, 336, 337. Hunt, J. N., 456. Hunt, Kate, 51. Hunter, William B., 467. Hunter, Abraham, 468. Huntley, Benjamin F., 465. Kurd, Rev. William, 389, Hurd, Elnathan, 450. Hurd, Frederick H., 466. 530 INDEX Hutchinson, Elisha, 150, 266, 409, 413* S20. Hutchinson, Rev. William H., 383. Hyde, Arthur M,, 405. Ice Company, 184. Imports, 144, 145. Indians, 27-34, 51, 64, 7i"73^ 132, 155-160, 195, 349, 417, 423, Irons, Rev. Joseph, 389. Isbell, William, 54. Isbell, Eliel, 451. Isbell, Elias, 451, Isbell, Gornen, 451. Islop, Thomas, 202. Ives, Wooster, 164. Jackson, Richard, 466. Jackson, Abraham, 466. Jeffries, Rev. W. E., 389. Jessup, Rev, Emerson, 383. Jillson, Edmund 5., 466. Jillson, George H., 508. Johansen, Gens Peter, 466. Johnson, Nathaniel, 371, 372, 374. 375, 376, 380, 433. 448. Johnson, Rev. Samuel, 128, 291, 371, 372* 374» 375. 376, 398, 400, 406, 4B0, 481, 483. Johnson, Wm. Samuel, 146, 481. Johnson, Isaac, 197, 449. Johnson, Charles T., 271. Johnson, Rev. James C. N., 299, Johnson, Dea, Samuel, 292, 371, 480. Johnson, Samuel C.,53, 250, 434, 435, 456- 5^7, 520. Johnson, John, 61, 93, 96, 135, 127, 128, 216, 273. Johnson, Walter, 65, Johnson, William, 113, 113, 121, 128, 159, 160, 173, 204, 212, 292, 373, 397. 420. 454, 480, 5^7, 5^2, 513. 5'8. Johnson, Samuel, 355, 380, 442. Johnson, Leander, 468. Johnson, Richard, 450- Johnson, Reuben, 451. Johnson, Ebenezer, 453. Johnson, George, 466. Johnson, Harmon B., 466. Johnson, Miles, 448, 450. Johnson, Phineas, 424. Johnson, Clarissa, 435. Johnson, Nathaniel, Jr., 442. Johnson, John, Jr., 446. Jones, Morris, 443. Jones, Thomas, 25, 46, 53, 61, 70, 88, 124, 240, 419. Jones, Samuel, 47. Jones, William, Jr., 134, 158. Jones, Rev. Clinton M,, 368. Jones, Aaron, 424. Jones, Edward, 24. Jones, William, 203, 450, 466. Jones, John, 397. Jones, William 5., 468. Jones' Bridge, 183, 216-220, 252. Jordan, John, 18, 25, 31-33, 45, 54, 60, 62, 129, 394. Jordan, Thomas, 18, 25, 31, 38, 39, 45, 52, 60, 62, 68, 78, 79, 84, 87, 88, 95, 99, 124, 166, 2x6, 418, 472, 511. Jordan, Rev,, 388. Joy, Jacob, 323, Judd, Jonathan, 196, 447, 501. Judd, Eber, 518. Judson, Ephraim, 336. Jukes, Thomas S., 466. Kahler, Rev. F. R., 293, 299. Kane, Matthew, 468. Kane, John D,, 468. Kelley, John, 466. Kellogg, Rev. Nathan, 387. Kelsey, Jeremiah, 424, 451. Kelsey, Mrs. Elihu, 460. Kelsey, Bani, 450. Kelsey, Stephen, 450. Kelsey, Isaac, 451. Kelsey, Moses, 451. Kelsey, Joel, 451. Kelsey, George H., 466, Kelsey, Watson D., 466. Kelsey, Richard T., 466. Kelsey, Jerome, 468. Kelsey, L. L., 253. Kelsey, Francis A., 360, 406. Kelsey, A., 388. Kelsey, Carter, 450, Kelsey, Elisha, 450. Kerr, Rev. Milton R., 300. Kettle, Rev. George K., 389. Killingworth, 106, 115, 126, 129, 130, 131, 132, 134, 136, 139,152, 153, 160, 162, 163, 187, 189, 195, 196, 197, 212, 214, 2x6, 217, 344, 345. 346, 347, 378, 382, 384, 410, 426, 428, 478, 480, 497, 501, Kimberley, Isaac, 453. Kimberly, Abraham, 136, Kimberly, Eli, 203. Kimberly, Erastus C, 380, Kimberly, George C, 380, Kimberly, Robert, 434. Kimberly, George E., 456. Kingsnorth, Henry, 25, 46, 53, 59, 61, 134, 128, 131, 141, 242. Kingsnorth, Daniel, 46. Kingsnorth, James, 46, 59. Kingsnorth, John, 46. Kingsnorth, Mary, 131, Kirby, Jonathan, 138. Kirkham, or Kircomb, Samuel, 136. Kircum, Benjamin, 449. Kircum, Elihu, 454. Kirtland, George, 414. Kitchel, Robert, 18, 25, 39, 32, 34, 39, 42, 43, 52, 62, 78, 79, 86- 88, 99, 106, 124, 128, 155, 216, 237,231,289, 394,395.5", 5". Kitchel, Samuel, 106, 141, 156, 420, 518. Kitchel, Rev. C. L., S71, 289. Kitchel, Joanna, 395. Knight, Stanley, 225. Knight, Dr. Isaac, 414, 446. Knowles, Wm, C. 384. Knowles, Henry W., 467. Knowles, Alpheus L., 468. Kuttawoo. See East River. Laas, Rev. G, A., 390, Lahore, Anthony, 413. Lafayette, 213* 214. Lamb, Rev. Joseph, 328. Lambric, Joannes, 464. Land Divisions, 49, 142, 154, 166, Landon, Hethcote G., 463, 466, 517. Landon, Hannah, 135. Landon, S. Wilmot, 270, 508. Landon, George, 377, 516, 518, 519- Landon, Hart, 463, 466, 50S, 517. Landon, Charles G., 504. Landon, Thomas H., 53. Landon, David, 138, 436, 430, 446, 507. Landon, Bethia, 138. Landon, £. R., 154, 265, 269,408, 460, 477, 504, 517, 518, 519, 520. Landon, Charles W., 520. Lane, John, Jr., 451. Lane, Jabesh, 451. Lane, Joseph, Jr., 451. Lane, Charles W., 467. Lane, John L,, 468. Latham, Rev. H. D,, 389, 411. Lathrop, Jedediah, 380, 508, 520. Lawrence, Rev. William, 388. Lawrence, Rev. W. H., 389. Lawrence, Lyman, 466. Lay, Daniel, Jr., 434. Lay, Anna T., 477. Leaming, Rev, Jeremiah, 376. Leary, James, 466. Lee, Elon, 250, 448. Lee, Agnes, 443, 444, Lee, Wm. H,, 269, 463, 464, 466, 517. Lee, Gen, E. M., 269, 466, 517. Lee, Mabel, 356, Lee, Rev. Nathaniel, 356, Lee, Rev. William B., 361. Lee, Rev. Timothy J,, 361, 409. Lee, Rev, Jesse, 387. Lee, Jonathan H., 410, 445. INDEX S3I Lee, Samuel, Jr., 429, 433, 438, 443. 444> 449» 45i» 5"6, 5^5, 516. Lee, Mrs. Henry, 460. Lee, Frederick W., 466. Lee, Henry E., 466. Lee, Charles G., 466. Lee, J. Trumbull, 360, 520. Lee, Edward, 132. Lee, Capt. Frederick, 189, 191, 405.503*515. Lee, James, 195, 463. Lee, Jonathan, 196, 453. Lee, John, 199, 274, 466. L-^e, Timothy, 450, 453. Lee, Levi, 444, 446, 447, 45i< 45'- Lee, Rebecca, 444. Lee, Sergt. Nathanie!^ 447. Lee, Thomas, 1(47. Lee. Mary A , 509. Lee, C. M., 509. Lee's Academy, 225, 405, 406, 503- Lcete, Gov. William, 18, 22, 24, aSi a?. 29, 32. 34. 35, 37-39, 4i. 43. 45. 51. 53. 57. ^a. ^5* 67-70* 72,78-80,84,90,91,98-111, 114, IIS, '•4. 136-128, 130, 133, 141- 143. 145, 156, 159, '67, 168, 170, 195,204,221, 344.413.470,471. 5". 518. Leete, Roger, 204. Leete, Jared, 424. Leete, Peletiah, 204, 319, 330, 339.438,439,499.506, 5M. Leete, E. Walter, 204, 264, 270, 290, 292. Leete, Joshua, 204. Leete, Rev. William, 291, 407. Leete, Simeon, 439, 446. Leete, Mrs. William, Jr., 3)6. Leete, Irving P., 409. Leete, Solomon, 429, 43a, 437. 448,452. Leete, Charity, 438. Leete, John, 42, 63, 448, 452. 471. Leete, Anna, iii. Leete, Andrew, J2i, 156, 157* i59. ifo, ifii, 164, 202, 421, 44a, 47'. 512. Leete, Benjamin, 199. Leete, Charles F., 517. Leete, N. T., 456. Leete, Douglas M., 466. Leete, Joseph A., 466. Leete, Daniel S., 466. Leete, Nelson S., 509. Leete, Edwin A., 343, 466. Leete, Clarissa, 292. Leete, Albert A., 292. Leete, Edward L.. 292, 499, s^?- Leete, Daniel, 339, 438, 439- Leete, Pelatiah 2nd, 339, 508. Leete, Absalom, 45a. Leete, Phares, 441, 448, 45a. Leete, Abner, 445, Leete, Allen, 450. Leete, Amos, 450. Leete, Harvey, 452. Leete, Calvin M., 224, 343, 457, 460, 517. Leete, Sidney W., 272, 379. Leete, Caleb, 274, 301, 305, 319, 399.506, 513.514- Leete, Ambrose, 277, 292, 339, 438. Leete, Rev. Theodore A., 29T, 405, 408. Leete, Reuben, 424. Leete, Charles, 55. Leete, William, Jr., 133, 472, 512, 513- Leete, Mary, 133. Leete, Elijah, 185, 452. Leete, Samuel, 195, 308, 311, 316, 388. Lceie's Island, 165, 170, 177,204, 209, 219, 255, 256, 392, 402, 438, 441. Leffingwell, Rev. L., 390. Leffingwell, Ozias C, 468. Le Favor, Rev. Amos, 367. Leonard, William, 466. Levermore, Charles H., 405. Lewis, Zachariah, 282. Lewis, Thomas, 356. Lewis, Carll A., 405. Lewis, Robert Hart, 405. Lewis, David, 448. Libraries, 410. Lighthouse, 20a. Little, Rev. Warren, 389. Linsley, John, 53, 61, 93, 123. Livingston, Rev. H. W., 389. Livingston, Chauncey C, 466. Long Island, 195, 196. Loper, Samuel, 447. Loper, Ruggles, 466. Loper, Henry, 380. Loper, Douglas, 52. Loper, Lyon, 137. Loper, Samuel W., 369, 384, 423. Loper, Daniel, 277. Loper, Rev. Stephen A. , 300, 359, 361. Lopez, Josez, 466. Love, William, 55, la/, 238. Lovejoy, Rev. T. A., 388, 390. Loysel family, 138. Loyselle, Ruth, 381. Ludington, Timothy, 446, 507. Ludington, Samuel, 424. Lusk, William C, 409. Lutman, Jane, 47. Lyman, Asa, 38a. Lyman, Joseph, 336. Lyon, Rev. Asa, 388. Lyon, Rev. Moses, 388. Lyons, Rev. James, 371, 372. Mack, Eli T.,405. Mack, J. H., 463- Mack, H. H., 463. McDermott, James, 466. McGIanflin, Rev. H. Ci., 389. Mcintosh, Rev. Charles H.. 290. McKean, James, 453. McKean, Barnabas, 447, 454. McKean, John, 4x0. McKnight, Rev. Henry C, 299. M.cPherson, John, 466, McQuinnie, William, 466. Madison, 32, 71, 129, 130, 132, 134, 136-140, 14s. 149, 15', 153, 165, i88, 189, 191, 195, 156,214- 216, 220, 223, 225, 229, 330, 231, 235, 237, 238, 24X, 245, 254, 26a, 264, 267, 268, 270-272, 274, 283, 344, 348, 391, 392. 396, 398, 403. 411, 415, 422, 432, 440, 454*455- 462, 497, 498, 499, 501, 508, 509, 5'0, 5x8, 519. Madison Agricultural Society, 510. Madison Cemetery, 462. Madison, Soldiers' Monument, 462. Madison Union Wharf Co., 254. Madison Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 355. Madison Town Hall, 225, 352. Madison Library Associ;Uion, 411. Maida Rebecca Lodge I. O. O. F., 509. Malan, C6cile, 288. Manning, Mildred, 13, 14. Manning, Capt. John, 99 Mansfield, Leonard P., 466. Marks, Rev. W. L., 383. Markwick, Rev. W. F.,2a5, 389. Marsh, William D., 468. Marsh, Hazard, 469. Marvin, David, 413. Martha's Vineyard, 63, 115. Mason, Samuel, 464. Masonic Lodge,2a4, 505, 507, 508. Mather, Rev. Increase, 116, 1x7, 119. Mather, Rev. Azariah, 302, 306, 3"*3i3- Matthew, William, 133- Mathison, Rev. R. L., 383, 463. Mayer, Philip, 466. Mayhew, Thomas, 63, 115. Meacock, Thomas, 121, 130, 143, 157. X59. ^64, 430, 513. Meeker, John, 447. Mees, John, 447. Meigs, Jehiel H., 468. 532 INDEX Meigs, Daniel, 446, 453, 500. Meigs, Nathan, 447, 448, 449. Meigs, Elias, 453. Meigs, Dea. Timothy, 407, 478. Meigs, Joseph Josiah, 410, 414. Meigs, Stephen, 424. Meigs, Captain Jehiel, 426, 427, 428, 440, 446, 447, 462. Meigs, John, 47, S8, go, g6, 07j 103, 104, 106, 110, izi, iz8, 129, 133, 160, 180, 195, 292, 360. Meigs, Vincent, 129, 391. Meigs, John, Jr., 129. Meig*!, Return J., 129, 431, 432. Meigs, Col. Phineas, 360, 440, 446, 518. Meig':, Capt. Janna, 350, 354, 391, 506, 514. Meigs, Montgomery C., 129. Meigs, Josiah, 129, 360, 515, Meigs, William M., 129. Meigs, Tryal, 133. Meigs, Timothy V., 194, 360. Meigs, Rev. Marshall V., 361. Meigs, Krastus K., 215. Meigp, James R., 225, 518. Meigs, Jphn H., 225, 270, 468, 469. Meigs, George E., 266. Meigs, Timothy A., 469. Meigs, Edgar C, 469. Meigs, Elizabeth, 483. Menunkatuck, 26-33, A^t 57) 7^> no, 155, 157, 173, 177, 183, .86, 187, 199, 214, 269. Mepham, John, 18, 23, 25, 35,43, 53,60, 78, 81, 126, 127, 142, 170, 240, 511. Mepham, Mary, 127. Merritt, Rev. Elbridge W., 368. Merit, Bartholomew, 451. Merwin, Samuel £.,272. Mtrwin, Susan T-, 342. Metcalf, Rev, Daniel, 366, 367. Methodists, 223, 359, 369, 387. Methodists in Madison, 389. Meyers, Wm. S., 467. Mexican War, 455. Milford, 27, 107, 125, 141, 240. Military Affairs, Colonial, 281, 417. Miller, Charles W., 261, 508. Miller, Samuel, 386. Miller, William, 454. Mills, Thomas, 127. Miner, Absalom, 441, 452, Miner, William C, 459, 518. Miner, Charles M., 518. Minerals, 178, 194. Mitchell, Rev. Jonathan, 116. Mix, Rev. Stephen, 326, 327. Moffitt, Rev. J. J., 389. Monroe, Reverly, 265, 456, 457, 459* 520. Monroe, James, 456. Monroe, Jasper, 517. Moody, Edgar, 468. Moore, Rev. Wm. E. P., 368, 369, Moore, Jairus P., 405. Moose Hill, 177, 392, 399, 402. Moran, Marsal, 466. Morehouse, Abram D., 466. Morgan, William H ,468. Morse, Asahel B,, 230, 459, 508, 509- Morse, William, 448. Morse, Seth, 137, 339, 446. Morse, Alpha, 138. Morse, John, 204. Morse, David, 446, 448, 452. Morton, Joel, 452. Moser, Rev., 388. Moses, Rev. Dighton, 368. Moss, Rev. Joseph, 301-303, 306, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 317. Moy, John P., 466. Mulberry Point, 254, 257. Munger & Son, School Furni- ture, 255. Munger, George, 361, 406. Munger, Josiah, 197, 447. Munger, Caleb, 197, 238, 370, 446, Munger, Walter P., 255, 360, 403, 506, 519. Munger, B. B., 270. Munger, Samuel, 274. Munger, Edwin W., 518. Munger, Myron R., 518. Munger, George B., 518. Munger, Sherman, 518. Munger, S. D., 456. Munger, Judson H., 370. Munger, Wait, 446. Munger, James, 447. Munger, Lyman, 447, 448. Munger, Timothy, 453. Munger, Hubbard S., 370. Munger, Nicholas, 87, 94, g6, 128, 129, 195, 196. Munger, Miles, 148, 250, 520. Munger, John, 196. Munger, Ebenezer, ig6. Munger, Dea. Bela, 196, 363, 370, 389. 45°- Munson, Thomas, 163. Munson, Rev. Joseph O., 389. Murdock, Jonathan, 336. Murphy, Patrick, 464. Murray, Nelson C, 467. Murray, Albert Lee, 410. Murray, Jonathan, 134, 195. Murray, Wm. H. H., 134, 361, 408, 462- Murray, Rev. Chauncey D., 361, 410. Murray, Rev, Pascal, 361. Murray, Charles N., 410, 414, Murray, William, 447. Murray, Bridgman, 446. Murray, Jesse, 448. Murray, Seymour, 448. Murra}', Amasa, 450. Murray, Stephen^ 450. Nash, Thomas, 25, 48. Naughty, David, 371, 373. Nausup, 157, 158, 162, 199. Neck, The, 31, 64, 166, ifg, 170, 184, 188, 189, 193-195. 238, 346- 348, 362* 396, 399» 403* 405. Neil, Rev. Samuel G., 388. Nettleton, Dennis P., 466, Nettleton, Isabel, 48. Nettleton, John, 451. Nettleton, Abner, 451. Nettleton, William, 451. Newark, New Jersey, 43, 131. New Haven, 11, 12, 17,21, 24-50 38-391 56-58i 99-m» ii5» 141* 155, 474- Newman's (Mr. Robert) barn, 11, 29-30, 155- Newspapers, 264. Nichols, Bethel, 446, 449. Niger, Cuff, 449. Niger, Theo., 453. Ninigret, 419. Nolan, Andrew, 466. North Branford, 164. North Bristol. See North Madi- son. North Guilford, 131, 135, 136, 14s, ^57» 174) 175* 178, 198, 2CO, 214, 231, 238, 257, 262, 267, 268, 281, 283, 356, 362, 373, 374, 376, 377, 378,381-384, 399, 402, 411, 41s, 416, 422, 432, 444, 457, 479, 482, 498, 509. North Madison, 73, 127, 165, 174, 175, 191, 192, 193, 194, 196, 1Q7, 214, 238, 262, 267, 268, 282, 362- 370»384,38s»392)4ii. Norton, JareH, 448. Norton, David, 424. Norton, Nathaniel, 439. Norton, Beriah, 446. Norton, Elnathan, 446, 447, Norton, William E., 468. Norton, Sarah, 356. Norton, John, 228, 466. Norton, J. S., 253. Norton, H. E., 253, 343, 456, 50S, 517- Norton, John C, 254. Norton, Fred. C-, 265. Norton, Mary, 509. Norton, Joseph R., 469, Norton, Elijuh, 503. Norton, Edward R., 520. Norton, George B., 508, Norton, Zebulon, 424. Norton, Timothy, 370. INDEX 533 Norton, Elbert E., 410. Norton, Felix, 423, 424. Norton, D.miel, 424, 446. Norton, Henry, 447, 448. Norton, William, 381, 408, 452, 466. Norton, Anson, 270. Norton, Andrew, 277. Norton, Rev. John, 294. Norton, Thomas, Jr., 312. Norton, Joel, 384, 447. Norton, Ambrose, 449. Norton, Rufus, 449, 490. Norton, Elon, 449. Norton, Aaron, 450. Norton, Edward F., 46S. Norton, C. Henry, 466, 508. Norton, Francis Morgan, 466. Norton, George I., 466. Norton, Lorenzo B., 466. Norton, William 6., 468. Norton, George, 468. Norton, Dennis L., 468, Norton, Lot, 356. Norton, Thomas, 25, 47, 48, 53, 60, 185, 228, 229, 406. Norton, Grace, 129. Norton, Reuben, 195, 448. Norton, James A., 223, 457, Norton, Dea. John W., 225, 290, 292, 517. Norton, Wm. B., 466. Norton, Edward, 466. Norton, Elias O., 466. Norton, Jonathan G-, 466. Norton, Stephen H., 466. Nut Plains, 144, 168, 183, six, 317. 392*399, 402*473- Oxen, 24X. Ockley, 13, 47, 48, 59- Oiocommuck. See Stony Creek. Osborn, Thomas, 137, Oughton, John "W., 224. Paige, William E., 466. Prfge, Joel C, 466. Page, Edward A., 465. Page, James B-, 466. Page, Walter J., 466. Paragon Novelty Co., 253. Palmer, Solomon, 374. Palmer, A. B., 508. Pardee, James, 384. Parent, William, 134. Parker, William, 90, 92. Parker, Lucretia, 292. Parker, Job, 35^3. Parker, James L., 406. Parks, Edward, 131, 232. Parks, Nathaniel, 199. Pdrmelee, Ensign Daniel, 431, 450. Parmelee, Archaus, 333. Parmelee, Jonathan, 343, Parmelee, Rev. Philander, 356. Parmelee, Uriah N., 409, 457, 463, 466. Parmelee, Capt. Samuel, 440, 441, Parmelee, Joel Cruttenden, 466. Parmelee, Samuel, 451. Parmelee, Reuben, 432. Parmelee, Frederick, 466. Parmelee, Joseph E., 466. Parmelee, Jeremiah, 508. Parmelee, Phinehat;, 447. Parmelee, William, 440. Parmelee, Simeon, 442, 443, 446. Parmelee, Nathaniel, 446, 447. Parmelee, Amos, 447. Parmelee, Joel, 448, 451; Parmelee, Eli, 292, 517. Parmelee, Ebenezer, 218, 276, 407> S»9- Parmelee, Job, 232. Parmelee, George, 235. Parmelee, Henry E , 270, 463, 466, 517. Parmelee, Stephen, 274. Parmelee, Hiel, 451, Parmelee, Lumus, 448. Parmelee, Drummer John, 451. Parmelee, Giles, 451. Parmelee, Asahel, 451. Parmelee, Bani, 451. Parmelee, Hannah, 307. Parmelee, John, Sr., 25, 47, 52, 61, 97, 124, 128. Parmelee, John, Jr., 53, 61, 82, 88, 124, 128, 142, 143, 273, 419, Parmelee, Rossiier, 150. Parmelee, Caleb, 195, Parmelee, Isaac, 202, 451. Parmelee, Herbert, 517. Parmelee, Luther, 450, Parmelee, Aaron, 423. Parmelee Post, G. A. R., 463. Parsons, Jacob, 137. Patterson, John, 468. Payne, Anna, 471. Pease, Rev. Hart F., 388. Peck, S. J., 413- Peck, Rev. Jeremiah, 115, 395. Peck, C. M., 265. Peck, Rev. John L., 388, 389. Pendleton, Joshua, 137, 218. Pendleton, Increase, 427, 447. Pendleton, Henry A., 467. Pendleton, H., Jr., 509, 517, 320. Penfield, Samuel, 137. Penfield, Isaac, 424. Pentelou, Thomas, 469. Pepper, William, 86. Pequots, zo, 21, 27, 28, 205, 206, 207, 208, 423> Perkins, Rev. Fred. T., z86. Perkins, George E., 414. Peters, George, 466. Peterson, John H., 466. Peterson, Alexander, 466. Fetters, James G., 466. Pettingill, Amos, 405. Phelps, Franklin C-, 266, 388, 456. 458, 517* 518, 520. Phelps, Rev. Oscar, 292. ' Physicians and Health, 472. Picket, 73, 423. Pierce, Volney, 351. Pierpont, Benjamin, 30T. Pierson, Rev. Abraham, 71, 106 Pierson, John, 196. Pierson, Lt. Samuel, 430, 450. Pierson, Nathan, 451. Pierson, Ephraim, 137,143,276. Pillsbury, Rev. Benjamin, 388. Pipe Bay, 254. Pistapaug, 157, 158, 159, 160, 164. Pitman, Jonathan, 396. Plane, or Plaine,William, 25, 47, 53, 80, 86, 227, 260. Plumb, Ebeneyer, 235, Plummer, Sidney, 466. Pointer, James, 466. Point of kocks, 168, 186, 209, 43s. Pond, Samuel, 181. Perry.. Rev. James H., 389. Poor, Care of the, 232. Population, 266. Porter, Ezra, 451. Porter, Wm. H., 466. Post, Nathan, Jr., 424. Post, Charles H., 508, 519. Post roads, 213, 214. Post Office, 26s, 266. Potter, J. C, 253, 509- Potter, Elbert B., 384. Potter, Medad, 445. Potter, D. W., 50^. Powers, Thomas, 380, 440, 508. Pritchard, David, 414. Probate Court, 97, 98, 152-153- Protestant Episcopal Church in Guilford (Christ Church), 259, 283,324.359* 376-381- Protestant Episcopal Church (St. John's), 296, 373, 381-384. Protestant Episcopal Union Church, 369, 377, 384, 385. Punderson, Rev, Ebenezer, 373, 374. 3811 382. Pynchon, Joseph, 137, 407, s\^. Pynchon, Rev, Thomas R., 137. Pynchon, Thomas R., 233, 413. Quarries, 255, Quarto-Millennial Celebration, 269. Quonapaug Lake, 136, 173, 178, 183, 184, 214. Railroads, 149, 21S. Randall, Rev. H, C, 383. 534 INDEX Range, Rev. O. J., 225, 388, 517. Ranney, George, 450. Rawson, Rev. James, 388. Rea, Rev. F. F., 368. Rebellion, The, 358, 456. Reaves, William, 424. Redfield, Seth, 451. Redfield, Jeremiah, 451. Redfield, John D., 468. Redfield, Orrin D., 468. Redfield, Sarah, 473. Redfield, Capt. Peleg, 423, 451. Redfield, John, 147, 413, 427, 515. Redfield, Amanda, 354. Redfield, Alanson, 370. Redfield, Jared, 413. Redfield, Constant, 451. Regicides, 110, 470. Relf, Thomas, 54, 88, 127, 247. Relf, Robert, 227. Remington, George F.,467, Revolutionary War,233, 375, 425, 462. Reynolds, G. P., 52, 413. Rice, Rev. De Lancey G., 383. Rice, Richard E., 405. Rice, Robert A., 409. Rice, Stillman, 459, 467. Richards, Rev. John, 294, 407. Richards, Rev. S., 390. Richardson, Rev. L., 390. Richardson, Miles G., 467. Richmond, Vial, 445. Richmond, Jacob, 302. Ripley, E. N., 253, Ripley, Erastus, 282. Riverside Cemeter5', 39T. Roads, 141, 146, 181, 211, 344. Robbins, David, 467. Roberts, Rev., 388. Roberts, David C, 468. Robinson, Samuel, Jr., 401, 405, 408, 518, 520. Robinson, L. W., 224. Robinson, Henry P., 371, 409, 490. Robinson, Sarah, 296. Robinson, Samuel C, 408. Robinson, James, 515. Robinson, Rev. Henry, 52, 269, 29T, 408. Robinson, Thomas, 112-J14, 131, 136, 324. Robinson, Elizabeth, 136. Robinson, Samuel, 148, 277,[299, 426, 427, 506, 514, 51?, 516. Robinson, Jonathan, 199, 296. Rockland, 193, 213, 362, 363, 388, 389» 392 > 4':'3. Rockwell, Samuel, 454. Rogers, Stephen, 330. Rogers, Seth H.. 413. Rogers, Sharp, 450. Rogers, Abraham, 454. Rolf, Henry, 468. Rolf, Geo. P., 509, 520. Rolf, Mary A., 509. Roman Catholic Church, St. George's, 390. Roman Catholic Cemetery on Durham Turnpike, 390, 392. Root, Rev. David, 340, 343. Root, Rev. Judson A., 367. Rose, Joel, 300. Rossiter, Nathaniel, 407, 473, 516, 520. Rossiter, John R., 298-299,300, 517- Rossiter, Timothy, 300, 446, 517. Rossiter, Benjamin, 300, 517. Rossiter, Samuel, 407. Rossiter, Rev. Asher, 407. Rossiter, Joseph Pynchon, 408. Rossiter, Henry M., 467, 517. Rossiter, Abel, 506, 516, Rossiter, David B., 517. Rossiter, Ebenezer, 293, 406, Rossiter, Bryan, 97, ico-108, in, IIS, ^28, 129, 142, 170, 171, 249, 263, 412, 413, 47i» 472, 477' Rossiter, John, 101-105, ^^8, 409, 513. Rossiter, Josiah, 113, i2t, 144, 156-161, 173, 199, 212, 218, 472, 512, 513. 5i8»5f9- Rossiter, Joanna, 115. Rossiter, Theophilus, 199, 300, 520. Rowland, Luther L., 54. Rowlandson, Reuben, 447. Rowlinson, Bartlett, 450. Royal Arcanum, 509. Ruggles, Rev. Thomas, Jr., 30, 40, 60, 126, 276, 279, 280, 281, 282, 291, 293, 794, 301-303, 305, 306, 314, 315, 3171 319. 320-3231 326, 327, 353, 354, 400, 406, 481. Ruggles, Rev. Thomas, Sr., 119, 121-123, 13s, 174, 279, 280, 301, 348. Ruggles, Sarah, 137. Ruggles, Rebecca, 138. Ruggles, Nathaniel, Jr., 413. Ruggles, Huldah, 138. Ruggles, Nathaniel, 138, 292, 400, 407, 429> 514* 515- Ruggles, Rev. Thomas, of Der- by, 287, 2gT, 408, 413. Rundle, Rev. John, 364. Russell, Thomas, 407. Russell, Samuel, 453. Russell, Col. Edward, 379. Russell, Rev. Samuel, 281, 293, 302, 308, 381, 406. Russell, Dorothea, 294. Russell, William, 301, 304, 326, 327- Russell, Rev. William H., 389. Rutley, John, 451. Sabbath Day Houses, 274, 349, 351- Sabine, William, 446. Sachem's Head, 175, 177, 204- 209, 214, 219, 241, 253, 256, 289, 402, 432, 441. Sachem Lodge, N. E. O. P., 508. Salem, Mass., 27, 75. Sag Harbor, L. I., 431. Sanders, Wm., 467. Sanford, Daniel, 467. Savage, Stephen, 424. Saw Mill, 231. Saw Pits, 219. Saw Pit Bridge, 237. Sawyer, Orsamus B., 467. Saybrook, 19, 20, 23, 47, go, 152, 153- Saxton, Rev. Otis, 390. Saxton, Abel, 446. Saxton, Asa, 448. Saxton, Simeon, 451, 454. Sayre, Rev. James, 376. Schermerhorn, J. W., 253. Scholey, C. H., 264. Schools, 223, 259, 397. Scott, James, 452. ScoviJ, Daniel, 448. Scovil, Bela, 449. Scovil, John, 453. Schoefers, Alfons, 467. Schofield, Albert, 467. Scranton, Rev. Erastus, 361, 407, 497- Scranton, Martin, 220. Scranton, Erastus C., 255, 437, 438, 460, 518. Scranton, Alfred B., 270. Scranton, Joseph S., 360. Scranton, Jared, 384, 407. Scranton, John, 34, 61, 124, 125, 128, 169, 177, 195, 228, 241, 396, 448, 497»5"j 512. Scranton, John, Jr., 163. Scranton, Evelyn, 192. Scranton, Thomas, 194, Scranton, Toby, or Torry, 214, 448. Scranton, Abraham, 433. Scranton, Benjamin, 448. Scranton, Samuel, 448, 520. Scranton, Noah, 448, 450. Scranton, H. W., 436. Scranton, J. Saml., 467. Scranton, S. H., 439, 460, 461. Scranton, Daniel F., 467, 469. Scranton, Francis S., 467. Scranton, Thomas Marvin, 467. Scranton, Leonard D., 468. Scranton, Abel, 318. Scranton, Sereno H., 318. Scranton, Edward S., 518. INDEX 535 Scranton, I. Lee, 518. Scran torij Timothy, 427, 445, 449. Scranton, William W., 409. Scranton, Jewett Hamilton, 409. Scranton, George W., 410, 414, 505- Scranton, Col. Ichabod, 423. Scranton, Jerry, 445. Seabury, Bishop Samuel, 377, Searles, Rev. Wilbur G., 369. Seaside Council, U. O. A. M., 509- Selby, Thomas, 138. Sergeant, John, 132. Sewall, Samuel, 76, 119-120. Seward, Rev, Arthur L., 340, 410. Seward, Martin, 232. Seward, Samuel, 266. Seward, Jason, 277, sg2, 360. Seward, Rev. Wm., 291,354,407. Seward, William, 8g, 107, 112- 114, 128, T29, 741, 142, 159, 163, 162, 363, 172, 420, 421, 512. Seward, Dea. William, 292,308, 400. Seward, Caleb, 164. Seward, Amos, 175, 251, 266,277, 474. 508, 520. Seward, Rachel Stone, 474. Seward, David, 448. Seward, Wm. Todd, 467. Seward, Watson L., 467. Seward, Samuel H., 467. Seward, William L., 467. Seward, Rev. Edwin D., 291, 408. Seward, John, 185, 302, 506, 513. Seward, Asher, 197, 424. Seward, Daniel, 197, 362. Seward, George W., 224, 343, 321. Seward, Timoihy, 235, 440, 444, 445- Seward, Edward C, 409. Seward, Joseph, 413. Seward, Rebecca, 444. Seward, Achsa, 444. Sewers, Edward, 97, 125, 127. Sexton, Louis, 257. Shalor, Ezra, 450. Shalor, Reuben, 519. Sharp, Frederick T., 405. Shaumpishuh, 28, 29, 31, 33> ^57' 158, 199, 270. Sheaffe, Dorothy, 13, 14, 4^^ 43- Sheaffe, Edmund, 13, 14, 42- Sheaffe, Jacob, 18, 25, 35, 42. 43* 32, 59, 88, 89, 125. Sheaffe, Joanna, 23, 42, 43. Sheaffe, Margaret, 23,42, 43- Sheather, |ohn, 54, 55, 6r, 101, 106, 125, 127, 128, 141, 228, 240, 262. Sheep, 74, 245. Sheldon, Winthrop D., 405- Sheldon, Jerusha, 363. Shell Fish, 162, i86. Shelley, Shubael, 137, 424, 452. Shelley, Salmon, 215. Shelley, John, 362. Shelley, Timothy, 435. Shelley, Reuben, 447. Shelley, Rufns S., 468. Shepard, Jared, 424. Shepard, Rev. S. N., 194, 352, 357- Shepard and FowIer,Misses,4ii. Shepherd, Rev. J. B., 389. Shipman, Elias, 413. Shipman, John, 424. Shore Line Sentinel, 264. Shore Line Times, 264. Silk Mill, 254. Sill, Rev. Frederick. 383. Skinner, William, 380. Slavery, Negro, 355. Sloan, Alfred P., 253. Slocum, John P., 403. Sluice Creek. Sse East Creek. Small, Rev, Harry E., 299. Smith, Chas., 318. Smith, Wm. H., 467. Smith, Joseph, 467. Smith, Chas. H., 468. Smith, Joel, 469.- Smith, Samuel, 469. Smith, Gerrit, 409. Smithj Justin W., 414. Smith, Andrew N., 414. Smith. Kerle, 422. Smith, Lewis, 450. Smith, William, 461. Smith, Elisha, 330. Smith, Thomas, 106, 130, 249. Smith, Jeffrey, 138, 445. Smith, Rev. J. J., 270, 390, Smith, Rev. Wm. S., 288. Smith, Ezra S., 519. Smithson, Samuel, 137. Smithson, Dorothy, 293. Smithson, Hannah, 480. Smithson, Elizabeth, 480. Smyth, Walter H., 31, 409, 474. Smyth, Ralph D., 53, 136, 163, 219, 223, 401, 404, 408, 434, 442, 458,473,474.517.519- 521. Smyth, Richard E., 409, 474. Snow, Rev. Fred. E., 290, 409. Snow, S. R., 463, 467. Snow, Worihington, 468. Sommer, Alfred G., 467. 309. Soldiers' Aid Society, 460, Soldiers' Monument, 260, 462, 463. Soldiers' Memorial Hall, 461. Soule, Wilbur E., 405- Southmayd, Dorcas, 285, Southworth, Nathan, 424. Spencer, William, 508, 520. Spencer, Timothy, 424. Spencer, James E., 468. Spencer, Edson, 469. Spencer, Thomas, 469. Spencer, Edward S., 508, Spencer, Chester S., 410. Spencer, Christopher, 253. ' Spencer, F. C, 261, 520. Spencer, Harvey W., 263, 266, 320. Spencer, Henry R., 270. Spencer, Mark, 424, 442. Spencer, Walter Tuttle, 410. Spencer, Stephen, 137. Spencer, George B., 224, 252, 380, 517, 321- Spencer, Deacon, 234. Spencer, Israel Stowe, 252. '• Spencer, I. S. Sons," 232. Spencer, Samuel, 518. Spinning, Humphrey, 131. Sproat, or Sproutt, Rev. James, 328, 329, 331-337. 339, 407- Squires, Phineas, 467. St. Alban's Lodge, A. F, and A. M., 307. Standish, Thomas, 33, 82, 85, 97. Stannard, Edward B., 468. Stannard, Enoch, 257. Stannard, Elijah, 433. Stannard, Hamlin, 467. Stannard, John, 467. Stannard, Henry B,, 508. Stanton, J. A., 456, 460, 461; 521. Starr, John S., 443, 520. Starr, Rev. O., 390. Starr, Mrs. Henry B., 461. Starr, Geo. H.,467. Starr, Wm., 292, 424, 447, 5^0. Starr, Grace, 33. Starr, Comfort, 133-134.277,292 444. Starr, Rev. E. C., 271, 292, 409. Starr, John W., 292, 409. Starr, Elizabeth, 292. Steiner, Lewis H., 269, 270, 271, 473, 474. 499- Steiner, Bernard C, 272, 290,409. Steiner, Walter R., 409. Stevens, Eliakim, 434. Stevens, Nathaniel, 195, 197. Stevens, Aaron, 233. Stevens, Jeremiah, 3S9. Stevens, Samuel, 446, 451. Stevens, Asa, 451. Stevens, Timothy, 449. Stevens, John, 46, 52, 6r, 62, 89, 106, 123, 126, 128. Stevens, Mary, 46. Stevens, Thomas, 87, 96, loi, 102 , 106, 125, 126, 132, 227, 262, 419, Stevens, William, loi, 106, 126, 128, Stevens, Sarah, 132, Stevens, Geo., 467. 536 INDEX Stevens, John B., 468, Stevens, Henry, 468. Stevens, Horace B., 468. Stillman, Rev. George, 389. Stillwel], Jasper, 34, 51,61, 124, 126) 129* Stillwell, Elizabeth, 129. Stocking, Daniel, 373. Stoddard, Lavinia Stone, 501. Stoddcr, John, 95. Stone, Melville A., 405, 409. Stone, Noah, 202. Stone, Medad, 202, 446, 485. Stone, Solomon, 203, 446. Stone, Benajah, 274. Stone, Asher, 424, Stone, Rev. Collins, 408, 498. Stone, Aaron E., 410. Stone, George, 414. Stone, Ezra, 423, 442. Stone, Daniel, 446. Stone, Bela, 446- Stone, Bille, 439. Stone, Abraham, 442. Stone, James, 442. Stone, Eber, 442, 448. Stone, Andrew L., 361, 448. Stone, Joseph, 200, 301, 424, 514. Stone, Ebenezer, 202, 229. Stone, Caleb, 202, 328, 330. Stone, Thomas, 202, 360. Stone, Reuben, 202, 432, 517, 519, 521. Stone, Aaron, 370, 447. Stone, Rev. Timothy, 283, 291, 407. Stone, Col. Timothy, 293, 382, 473. 514. 515. 519- Stone, Nathaniel, 218, 347, 433, 515- Stone, Rev. William, 407. Stone, Clarissa, 499. Stone, Ruth, 457. Stone, Michael, 467. Stone, Seth B., 361, 408, 498, Stone, Luman, 151. Stone, Benjamin, 195, 360, 507. Stone, Seth, ig6, 202, 447, 448, 453- Stone, Josiah, 199. Stone, Joshua, 199. Stone, William, 25, 47, 53, 61, 81, 89, 92, 93, 96,97, 112-J14, 125, 128, 141, 143, 150, 164, 228, 259, 302, 361, 420, 449. Stone, John, 25, 45, 47, 54, 80, 81, 98, 124, 128, 160, 394, 445. Stone, Leverett C, 51, no, 261. Stone, Charles, 53. Stone, Samuel, 115, 195, 259, 274, 424, 457- Stone, Dudley, 454, Stone, Levi, 448, 453. Stone, Stephen, 450. Stone, John Evarts, 450. Stone, Andrew, 453. Stone, Heman, 518. Stone, Heman C>, 518. Stone House, Old, 50, 65, 390, 395- Stony Creek, 28, 29. 157, 158, 183, 214. Storrs, Jedediah, Jr., 451. Stoughton, Gov. William, 117. Stout, Rev. Edward S., 388, Stowe, Rev. Charles E., 271. Strong, Lyman, 413. Strong, John, 449. Summers, William, 60, 127, 418. Sunday, Observance of, 88. Susanne Family, 138. Swain, O. B., 509. Sweet, Charles, 467. Talcott, Alvan, 54, 223, 269, 270, 401, 404, 408, 413, 456, 460, 478. Talcott, Gov. Joseph, 308, Talcott, William H.. 408. Talman, Peter, 132, 134, 199, 413, 423* 514- Talman, Elizabeth, 134. Talman, Ebenezer, 259, 382, 413. Talman, Lyman, 454. Taxation, 58, 141, 142, 144, 232, 233, 262, 441, 458, 46a. Taylor, Rev. Frank H., 289, 290. Telford, Thomas, 468. Terry, Rev. James T., 368. Thatcher, Rev. Thomas, 74, 77, 301. Thatcher, Rev. Peter, 43. Thomas, Rev. W. A., 388, Thomas, Corydon N., 468. Thompson, Ralph S., 468. Thompson, Maj. Robert, 65, 227, 382. Thompson, Ebenezer, 195. Thompson, John, 212, 391. Thompson, Almon, 468. Thompson, Ebenezer, 131. Thompson, Frederick S., 405. Thompson, Sergt. David, 448. Thorp, Rev. E. L., 388. Tibbals, Rev. Nathan, 389. Tibbals, Abraham, 467. Tiffany, George L., 414. Todd, Abraham, 353. Todd, Timothy, 137, 407, 414, 426, 451, 521. Todd, Rev. Jonathan, 137, 280, 283, 294, 350, 353-356, 407. Todd, Rev. John, 137, 473, 500. Todd, William, 149, 277, 408, 454, 473»Si6, 520. Todd, John E.,272. Todd, Dr. Timothy. Jr., 501. Todd, Jonathan, 414, 438, 452, 455. 473. 501. 516- Todd, Jonathan K., 518. Tories, 432, 441-444. Torrey, Rev. Reuben, 368. Town Meeting, 141, 142. Town Deposit Fund, 402. Town Mill, 141, 184, 227, 232, ?47. Town Pound, 238, Town Clerk, 142, 518, 519. Town Records, 152. Town House, 154, 221, 508, 509. Town Lock-up, 235. Trade & Manufactures, 249. Tragaskis, Rev. James, 390. Trees, 179, 180, 213, 258, Trout, Toby, 467. Trowbridge, Thomas, 158. Trubee, Giles, 507. Trumbull, Rev. Benjamin, 28I^ 312. 3i6i 3^7' 319* 337- Trumbull, Gov. Jonathan, 433. Trusler, Ephraim, 467. Tryon, Jalakin F., 467. Tucker, Payson W., 468. Tucker, Albert O., 469. Turner, Samuel, 197. Turner, Rev. Charles W., 38S. Turnpikes, 214, 215. Tushand, Tushin, or Tust in, Thomas, 133. Tustin, John, 391. Tuttle, Dennis, 519. Tuttle, Joel, 52, 138, 277, 479, 516, 518-520. Tuttle, Hezekiah, 467. Tuttle, Chas., 467. Tuttle, Lucius B., 520. Tuttle, Wm. Sage, 429. Tuxis, 20, 22, 28, 32, 162, 1S4, 188, 238. Tyler, Abraham, 423. Tyler, Rev. Jared, 300. Tyler, John, 376. Tyler, Capt. William, 381. Tyler, John Heman, 410, 414. Tyler, Samuel, 450, Tything Men, 142. Updike, William, 468. Uncas, 20-22, 32-33, 45, 72, 155- 156, 162, 207, 208. United Workers for Public Im- provement, 268. Union Library, 41T. Union School District, 401, ^02, 404. U. S. Constitution, 148. Utter, Stephen, 450. Vaughan, D. A., 509. Vaill, Peter, 138, 436, 438, 439. 441, 452. Vaill, Rev. William F., 296, 257. Vial, Nathaniel, 448. Vessels, 217, 250, 231, 254. INDEX 537 Viets, Rev. Roger, 376. Vittum, Rev. Edmund M., 270, 290, 463. "Wall, Thomas. 467. Wallace, Charles J., 405, Wallace, Wm. H., 467. "Wallingford, 164, 165, 201. Walker, Hollis Thayer, 410. Walker, John, 447. "Walker, Geo. A., 509. Walkley, Ebenezer, 138. "Walkley, Chas. W., 508, 509. Walstone, John, 133. Walstone, Thomas, 371. War of i8i2t 203, 454, 462. War, King Philip's, 420. War with Great Britain, 425. War of Rebellion, 453. War, French a^ Indian, 424. Ward, Bilious, 144, 221, 380, 507, 508. Ward, Rev. Edmund, sgi, 302, 307, 309. 3"> 3«-3^6, 319, 323, 324, 328, 372, 380, 406, 515. Ward, I^vi, 360. Ward, John, 375. Ward, Dorothea, 137, Ward, Damaris, 137, Ward, Roxana, 138. Ward, Thelus, 144, 424, 454. Ward, William, 259, 372, 374, 380, 5H- Ward, Andrew, 133. Ward, Col. Andrew, 72, 136, 200, 335. 423. 425» 427. 447» 473^ 5i4- Ward, Gen. Andrew, 138, 147, 222, 423, 426, 427, 428, 432, 434, 473,499. 5'5»5'6. Ward, Capt. Andrew, 137, 185, 164, 231, 301, 302, 312, 317, 323, 397, 398, 400, 422* 447. 5'3, 5i9- Ward, Abner, 451, Ward, J. Wilson, 405. Ward, Joy, 446. Ward, Samuel, 446, Ward, James, 449. Warner, Chapman, 148. Warner, Eleazer, 424. Warner, Samuel, 467. Warner, Daniel F., 467. Warner, Henry C, 462, 469- Washburn, Mr., and Mrs. Horace B., 411, 458, 459. Washington, George, 440, 507. Waterhouse, Waterous, or Wa- trous, Benjamin, 137, 199, 374- 449-, Waterhouse, Gideon, 424. Waterhouse, Samuel, 424. Waterhouse, Eber, 507. Watrous, Benjamin, igp, 449- Watrous, John N., 468. Watrous, Julian F., 463, 469. Webb, Margaret, 42. Webb, Reynold, 255, 409, 414. Webb, Daniel M., 408, 414. Weed, Rev. H. N., 388. Weeks, Rev. J. D., 388. Weekwash, 31-33, 45, 64, 153, 162, 207, 20S. Weights and Measures, 144, 149, 191. Weld. Joseph, 138. Weld, Rev. Thomas, 353. Weld, Frederick Floyd, 410. Weld, Richard, 54, 520. Weld. Wm. E., 224. Wellman, Chas. E., 467. Welton, Harvey S., 467. West. Rev. Samuel, 386, West, Redfie'd B.,414. West, Benjamin C, 52. West Pond, 158, 183. West River. See also Menun- katuck, 2i6. 2x7, 219, 220, 228, 231 ( 241, 250,. 257. West Cemetery, 462. Whalley, Gen. Edward, 109-111. Wharves, 183, 188, 218. Whedon, Leveretr, 460. Whedon, George E., 225. Whedon, W. D., 270. Whedon, Luman, 401, S'8, 520. Whedon, Stephen, 446, 447, 448. Whedon, George E., 467. Whedon, C. Henry, 518. Wheeler, Thomas, 446, 449. Whitcomb, Rev. R. W., 388. White, Elisha, 451. Whitfield Pedigree, 14. Whitfield Street, 215, Whitfield, Rev. Henry, 12-18, 21-26, 28-35, 38-43* 45-48, 50, 57, 60, 61-64, 74> 9^. 92* 124, 125, 155, 167, 168, 227, 228, 247, 255* 390. 394- Whitfield, Dorothy, 46, 64, 66. Whitfield, Nathaniel, 64, 68, 97, 128. Whitfield, John, 64, 70. Whitman, John G., 386. Whitmore, Rev. Zolva, 297. Whitmore, Matthew N., 408. Whittelsey, Capt. William, 356. Whittier, John Greenleaf, 495. Wickes, Rev. Henry M., 279, 288. Wilcox, or Wilcoxon, Obadiah, 132, 197. Wilcox. Josiah, 451. Wilcox, William Wallace, 405. Wilcox, Reynold W., 409. Wilcox, Timothy, 447, 450, 4S3- Wilcox, Nathan, 447, 452. Wilcox. Joel, 451. Wilcox, Hiram, 360. Wilcox, Jonathan, 231. Wilcox, Jonathan S., 254. Wilcox, Henry B., 270. 468. 519, 520. Wilcox, M. A., 270. Wilcox, George A-, 271, 40S. Wilcox, Augustus C, 518, Wilcox, A. W., 463. Wilcox, Alfred N., 467. Wilcox, Edwin M„ 468. Wilcox, Jefferson, 469. Wilcox, John R., 518, 519, 520. Wilcox, Chas. M., 462, 467, 519 Wilcox, ra, 452. Wilcox, Matthew, 453- Wilcox, Elijah, 453. Wilcox, Samuel, 453. Wilcox, Vincent M., 462, 469- Wilcox. Zenas. 360. Wilcox, Joseph, 195, 451, 453. Wilcox, John, 195. Wilcox, Thomas, 196. Wild Animals, 236. Wildman, F. J.. 265. 463. Wildman, Joel T., 409, 467. Wildman, Cornelius, 456. Wildman, Albert B., 456, 457, 460, 517. Wilde, Agnes, 86. Wilkeson, Thomas, 451. Willing, Rev. M. E., 389. Willard, John, 506. Willard, Elias, 448. Willard. Elizur, 453. Willard, Sam'l F., 462, 467. Willard, Edgar A., 468. Willard, Daniel H.,468. Willard, Julius, 414. Willard, Thomas, 134, 195, 447. Willard, Josiah, 134. Willard, Achilles, 151. Willard, Jared, 196. Willard, Rev. James L.,271, 361, 408. Willard, Jonathan, 518. Willard, William, 447. Williams, Rev. Elisha. 122. Williams, Meriman, 467, Wilson, James Grant, 495. Wilson, Rev. John, 269, 388, Wilson, Rev. Oliver, 386. Wilson, Edwin H., 405. Wilson, Hugh, 467. Winthrop, John, Jr., 19, 20, 22, 46. 651 72, 100, 1071 108, 119, 143. 413* 42'. 470. 471- Wise, Henry, 133. Wolcott, Josiah, 450. Wolcott, Gov. Oliver. 479. Wolfe, Henry, 467, Wolves, 236. Wood, Rev, George Ingersoll, 341. 343. Wood, Oliver E., 467. Woodbridge. Rev, Timothy, 327. Woodruff, Ebenezer, 230. 538 INDEX Woodruff, Edwin C., 409, 519. Woodward, William, 137. Woodward, Rosewell, 138. Woodward, Anna, 138. Wright, Benjamin, 55, 82-86, 90, 9i» 93> 94> 95* ^"^^i ^^5i ''^^t ^^^i 132, 166, 185, 230, 232, 395, 4x8, 450. Wright, Thomas, 131, 134, 135. Wright, Jane, 132. Wright, Anna, 132, 133. Wright, Elizabeth, 132. Wright, Hen. Wm., 467. Wright, Mary, 134. Wright, Mercy, 135. Wright, James, 164. Wright Family, 197. Wyllisee, William, 448. Wymond, Rev. R. W., 388. Wyoming, 146. Yale College, 398,406-410, 481. Young, Charles, 468. Young Woman's Christian Tem^ perance Union, 411.