CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE F 102W7'"b35 """""''' ''*'""' "'*lSliilflllllllillMlMii]iifSiV"% Connecticut . olin 3 1924 028 841 992 Overs Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028841992 HISTORY OF Windham County, CONNECTICUT. With Illustrations. EDITED BY RICHARD M. BAYLES. Land of my sires; — What mortal hand Can e'er untie the filial band That knits me to thy rugged strand." SCOTT. New York; W. W. PRESTON & CO. 1889. L-r PRESS OF J. HENRY PROBST, 36 Vesey St., New York. PREFACE The int^prest which one feels in knowing and preserving the record of events connected with his own locality, is both natural and commendable. The good citizen must everywhere learn that the roots of the present are in the.past, and that only by study- ing the past can he know the primal circumstances out of which have grown the conditions by which he is at present surrounded. By this study of cause and effect as seen in his local surround- ings he is prepared, as every patriotic citizen wishes to be pre- pared, to plant more intelligently the roots which shall secure to his local society in the future the richest fruits of prosperity and happiness. As our standard of intelligence advances the interest of the people in their local history increases, and we see a constantly growing desire to preserve the story of local events, local traditions, and the facts connected with the lives of those persons who are or have been conspicuous in the local society, and whose influence has given tone and direction to its life, character and history. The editor congratulates himself and the people of Windham county on the fact that in this work he has been able to bring together the labors of many earnest, enthusiastic students of local history, crystalized in this compilation, where the sons and daughters of old Windham and of new Windham may refer to them to decide those questions which increasing interest in local surroundings will ever thrust upon their attention. It would afford him pleasure to acknowledge personally, all and singular the favors and encouragement he has received from generous friends while engaged in the preparation of this work; But this iv PREFACE. pleasure must be foregone, for reasons which are obvious. Be- sides the draught which by special arrangement with Miss Lar- ned the editor has been permitted to make upon her previously- published History of Windham County, he has been ably assisted in this work by Miss Larned herself, who has prepared specially for us a very considerable part of the work. The co-operation in important sections of the subject, of Reverend Francis Wil- liams and Miss Jane Gay Fuller, will also add greatly to the substantial and literary value of the history. Asking the charitable forbearance of such exacting critics as have never known aught of the difficulties which beset the path- way of the editor and compiler of a work on local history, and expressing the most sincere thanks to all those who have aided him in his labors, the editor closes the work of compilation, trusting that its readers may find it as pleasing to peruse as he has found it exhaustive to prepare. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. GEOaRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. PAGE. Physical Features.— Location.— Shape and Area.— Subdivisions.— Surface.— Eivers and Brooks. — Agricultural and' Manufacturing Advantages. — Productions.-Manufactures.— Railroads and Transportation.— Old Stage and Freight Wagons.— Taverns of the Olden Time.— The Hilltop Settle- ments. — Romantic Scenery and Historic Associations. — Geological For- mation and Resources. — Elevations of Land 1 CHAPTER II. THE ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS. Algonquin Tribes.— The Mohegans.— The Nipmucks.— The Wabbaquassets.— Narragansett Claims.— The Quinebaugs.— The Pequot Ascendency.- Language and Customs of the Indians. — Their Implements and Arts. — Superstitions. — Indian Allegiance. — The Whetstone Country. — Intertribal Warfare. — Avenging an Insult.— Uncas and Owaneoo. — Christian Influ- ence and the "Praying Indians." — Visit of Eliot and Gookin. — King PhUip's War. — Its Disastrous Effect upon the "Praying Towns." — Unjust Treatment of the Indians by the English. — Indian Shrewdness. — Close of King Philip's War 10 CHAPTER III. SETTLEMENT. First Attempts at Settlement. — The Inter-Colonial Route. — Purchase of Land by John Winthrop. — Indian Title and Subsequent Confirmation. — Dis- pute as to Colonial Jurisdiction. — Indian Claims Revived. — Land in the Market. — Influx of Speculators. — First Lands Laid Out. — Boundary Dis- putes with Massachusetts. — Claims of Uncas to the Wabbaquasset Coun- try. — Land on the Quinebaug Sold. — Owaneco Appoints James Fitch his Attorney or Guardian. — Makes over to him Mohegan and Wabbaquasset Lands. — Fitch Sells Land to Roxbury. — Joshua Bequeaths Land to Six- teen Norwich Gentlemen. — Agreement of the Legatees. — Windham Set- tlements Made. — Depression of Improvements under Andros, — Slow Progress of Settlement. — Religious and Social Affairs. — Settlement of the Disputed Section in the Southeast Part of the County. — Some of the Early Settlers. — Early Days of the Quinebaug Country. — Settlement in the Whetstone Country and the Volunteers' Land 33 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. EARLY EVENTS. PAGf. Windham County Organized.— General Condition of Society.— Valuations of Property and Productions.— Public Morals.— Their Houses.— Social Con- ditions.— Organization of Courts.- Court House and Jail.— Militia Organ- ization and Training.— Woodstock Annexed to Worcester County.— Transferred to Windham County.— Organization of Probate Districts.— Emigrations of Inhabitants.— Colonization to Wyoming, N. Y.— The Susquehanna and Delaware Companies. — Settlement of Wyoming 40 CHAPTER V. THE PEENCH AND INDIAN WAR. Military Spirit of the People.— Expedition against Crown Point.— Fasting and Prayer by the People at Home. — Eastern Connecticut Regiment at Lake George.— Distinguished Sons of Windham.— Defeat of Braddook.— Earthquake. — Popular Alarm. — Filling the Ranks with Recruits. — List of Soldiers.— Offtcial Honors.— Capture of Fort William Henry by Mont- calm. — Enlistments and Names of Recruits. — Sufferings of the Soldiers, and of their Families at Home. — First Census of Connecticut in 1756. — Population, Valuation, Churches and Schools. — General Progress 53 ' CHAPTER VI. THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. Spirit of the People. — Influence of their Leading Patriots, Dyer, Durkee and Putnam..— Indignation at the Stamp Act of 1765. — Burning Effigies. — Positive Demonstrations. — Treatment of Stamp Agents. — Sons of Liberty in Windham. — Popular Outburst in 1767. — Determination of the Peojle against using English Goods. — Closing of the Port of Boston . — Windham the first to send Relief. — Rough Handling of Royal Agents. — The " Boy- cott "applied to an Adherent of the King. — " Windham Boys " noted for their Aggressive Patriotism.^ — Fever Heat of the Public Mind. — Alarm from Boston, September, 1774, heralded through the Towns, and answered by Putnam and two hundred Volunteers. — Convention of Del- egates at Norwich. — Providing Ammunition. — Preparing for War. — Organization of Militia. — Unity of Sentiment. — Answering the Call from Lexington April 9, 1775. — Gathering of Troops. — ^Windham County first to send Troops to the Scene of Conflict. — One-fourth of the Militia called out. — Ofiicers of Windham Troops. — Manufacturing Munitions of War. — Windham Soldiers at Bunker Hill. — Earnest Work of the Men at Home. — Energetic Women help on the Cause. — Windham Soldiers after Bunker Hill. — Encouragement at the Withdrawal of British Troops from Boston in 1776. — Manufacture of Powder, Balls and Guns at Home. — More Troops wanted. — At the Battle of Long Island. — Organiz- ation of the Troops, 1776.— The " Oliver Cromwell " fitted out.— Depress- ing Monotony of the long continued War. — Windham County Losses. — Raising their Quotas. — Massacre by Ihe Indians in the Wyoming Valley. — Attempt upon Newport, 1778. — Constancy of Windham Patriots. — Self-sacrificing Women. — The Fallen Heroes. — Young Men in the Field. TABLE OF CONTENTS. vii PAGE. —Raising Troops, 1780.— Armies en route through Windham County.— Cessation of Hostilities.— Return of Peace.— Dealing with the few Tories. — Scanty Pay of the Soldiers. — Organization of new Towns. — Adopting the new Constitution, 1788.— Windham's Representatives in the Conven- tion 60 CHAPTER Vn. WINDHAM COUNTY UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. Progress after the War.— Immigration and Commercial Enterprise. — The lot of the Farmers.— Moral and Religious Declension.— Slavery disappear- ing. —Remnants of Indian Tribes.— Educational Interests.— Teachers.— Newspapers.— Social Conditions. — Domestic Customs. — Manufacturing Enterprises begin.— The War of 1812.— Party Spirit.— Revival of the Patriotic Spirit. — Recruiting.— Organization of Troops. — First Summons to Arms, June 21st, 1813.— Another Call in September.— To Relief of New London, August 9th, 1814.— On Guard at Stonington.— Peace re- stored, 1815. — Appropriate Celebrations of the Event 88 CHAPTER VIII. THE CIVIL WAR. Aja Age of Prosperity. — Growth of the Union and Anti-Slavery Sentiment. — The Strongest Republican County in Connecticut. — Outbreak of the Re- bellion. — County Mass Meeting. — Volunteer Companies Formed. — The Uprising of the Martial Spirit. — Popular Excitement. — Raising the Flag. — Recruiting. — Death of General Nathaniel Lyon. — Windham's Interest in General McCleUan. — Organizations Represented by Windham County Soldiers. — Responses to Later Calls. — The Eighteenth Regiment. — Work of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions at Home. — The Martyrs to the Union Cause 99 CHAPTER IX. WINDHAM COUNTY OF TO-DAY. Its Towns and their present condition. — Their Population at different periods. — Conspicuous Citizens. — Presidential Candidates. — Honored Sons of Windham. — State Senators. — Presidents pro tern, of the Senate. — Speakers of the House.— Present Representatives.— The Courts.— County Ofllcers. — Literary Associations. — Agricultural Society.— Temperance Society. — Temperance Movements 105 CHAPTER X. PUBLIC CHARITIES AND CORRECTIONS. The Towns' Poor.— Early Methods of dealing with Dependents.— Increase of Burdens by the French War.— Meagre Fare and Accommodations.— Emi- gration and Temperance decreases the Burdens.— Present Costs and Man- agement of the Poor.— Children's Temporary Home.— Its Management and present successful Work.— The Record of Crime in Windham Coun- ty._Capital Punishment.— Execution of Criminals.— Elizabeth Shaw, Caleb Adams, Samuel Freeman, Oliver Watkms.— Other notable Crimes. —Jail Buildings.— Their Occupants.— Remova,! from Windham to Brook- lyn.— OtEcial Keepers.— Statistics of the present Jail 117 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XL THE BENCH AND BAR OP WINDHAM COUNTY. PAGE. Early Attorneys.— Elisha Paine.— Samuel Huntington.— Jabez Fitch.— Eliph- alet Dyer.— Jedidiah Elderkin.— Zephaniah Swift.— Thomas Stedman.— David Bolles.— Sylvanus Baekus.— Daniel Kies.— Other Windham County Lawyers of Former Times.— Courts Removed to Brooklyn.— The Wind- ham County Bar in 1820.— Chauncey F. Cleveland.— Glimpses of Many Practicing Attorneys.— WUUam Smith Scarborough.— Lucius H. Rick- ard.— Elliot B. Sumner.— Abiel Converse.— Earl Martin.— Edward Cun- dall.— John J. Penrose.— George W. Melony.— Seymour A.Tingier.— Ben- jamin S. Warner.— Calvin M. Brooks.— Albert McC. Mathewson.— Andrew Jackson Bowen.— John L. Hunter.— George A. Conant.— Arthur G. Bill. —Gilbert W. PhiUips.— Randolph H. Chandler.— Eric H. John- bon.— Charles E. Searls.— Samuel H. Seward.— Edgar M. Warner.— William G. Buteau.— Ebenezer Stoddard.— Louis B. Cleveland. — Thom- as E. Graves.— G. S. F. Stoddard.— John M. Hall.— James H. Potter.— George Larned. — Simon Davis 138 CHAPTER XII. THE MEDICAL FBATERNITY. The first Physicians in the different Towns. — Their influence on Society. — Later Practitioners. — Conspicuous Members. — Jonathan Huntington. — Albigence Waldo. — Samuel Lee. — Benjamin Hubbard. — Elisha Perkins. — After the Revolution. — Raising the Professional Standard. — Glimpses of the Physicians practicing in the early years of the Century. — The County Medical Society. — Lewis Williams. — Justin Hammond. — Samuel Hutchins. — Charles H. Rogers. — Ernest D. Kimball. — Frank E. Guild. — Chester Hunt. — David C. Card. — E. D. Card. — Eliphalet Huntington. — Charles James Fox. — Theodore R. Parker. — Samuel David. — Oliver B. Griggs. — Dewitt C. Lathrop. — Francis X. Barolet. — Gardner L. Miller. — Frederic A. Morrell. — Omer La Rue. — Daniel B. Plimpton. — Lowell Hol- brook. — Ichabod L. Bradley. — Louis Oude Morasse. — Willam Richardson. — Levi A. Bliss. — Frederick G. Sawtelle. — Seth Rogers. — John B. Kent. — Elisha K. Robbins.— S. P. Ladd.— F. S. Burgess. — Nathaniel Hibbard— Henry L. Hammond. — Harvey L. Converse. — James F. Mcintosh. — Jesse M. Coburn. — S. C. Chase. — William H. Judson. — Grin Witter, Sr. — Orin Witter, Jr. — Hiram Holt. — William Witter. — Henry R. Lowe. — WiUiam A. Lewis — Isaac B. Gallup 169 CHAPTER XIII. ANECDOTE AND LOCAL STORY OP OLD WINDHAM. The Mystery of Gates. — The Battle of the Frogs. — Revolutionary Anecdotes. — That Little God Bacchus. — The House the Women Raised. — The Black Sheep. — A Character. — ■' Tea-total." — Doctor Cogswell and Phyllis. — An Old Family of Scotland.— The Story of Micah Rood.— " No blood rela- tion of mine." — The Fine. — Story of Abijah Fuller. — Sabbath Breaking. — Strong minded Women. — Tne First_, Locomotive. — Windham Wags. — Old Time Pedagogues 205 TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER XIV. THE TOWN OF WINDHAM. PAGE. Geographical Description.— Settlement.— Town Charter and Organization.— The Early Settlers.— Laying out the Land.— County Kelations.— Early Town Officers.— Enlargement of Territory.— Settlement of the Eastern Quarter.— Mechanical and Commercial Trades Introduced.— Division of Town and Formation of Mansfield.— Various Phases of Public Interest.— Growth of the Northeast Section, called Canada Parish.— Society Organi- zation.— Probate Court Established.— Some Prominent Families.— Wind- ham made Shiretown.— Attempts at Manufacturing.— Scotland Society Organized.— Town Action.— Schools.— Early Taverns.— Prosperity of the Town.— Industries.— Under the War Clouds.— Removal of the Courts.— Reduction of Territory.- Through the Revolution.— Material Prosperity. — Social Innovations. — Roads and Bridges 253 CHAPTER XV. THE TOWN OF WINDHAM (CONCLUDED). Employing a Minister.— Building a Church.— Withdrawal of Mansfield.— Successive Pastors. — The Separate Movement. — Religious Declension. — The Father of President Cleveland.— Gradual Dissolving of the Town Church into the Windham Centre (local) Church. — Schools of the Town. — Early Newspaper. — Old-time Taverns.— Manufacturing Begun. — Gun- powder, Silk and Paper. — Windham Centre. — Ometery. — Congregation- al, Episcopal and Baptist Churches.^South Windham. — Manufacturing Enterprises. — Congregational Church. — North Windham. — Manufactor- ies. — Church, Cemetery and School. — Biographical Sketches 279 CHAPTER XVI. WILLIMANTIC. General Description. — Communication with the World. — Some Public Feat- ures. — Retrospect of Half a Century. — Early Stages of the Cotton Mill In- dustries. — Starting of the Windham and Smithville Companies. — First Steps of the Linen Company's Plant. — Early Builders of the Village. — The Post Office. — Incorporation of the Borough. — Fire Companies and Engines. — Fire Department. — Destructive Fires. — Water Works. — Public Schools. — Libraries. — Churches : Congregational, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopal, . Spiritualist, Mission Hall, Camp Meeting.— Growth of Manufacturing.— Windham Company. — Smithville Company. — Linen Company. — Holland Silk Company. — Morrison Company. — Chaffee & Son.— Turner Silk Mill.— Natchaug Silk Company.— Foundry.-Builders and Other Manufacturers. — Board of Trade. — Cemeteries. — Masonic His- tory.— Benefit Societies.— Banks.— Buildings.— Newspapers, Printing and Wood Type. — Biographical Sketches 310 CHAPTER XVII. THE TOWN OF HAMPTON. Beautiful Scenery.— Location and Description.— Settlement.— A Part of Wind- ham.— Organized as Canada Parish.— Its Historic Hills.-;-As Windham X TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. Village.— Constituted a Town.— Facts and Figures.— Bridges.— Pound.— Poor Dependents. — Town Busine.=s. — Heroic Women of the Revolution. — Military Matters.— Business Activity.— Manufacturing Projects. — The Railroad.— School Matters.— The Town Church.— Baptists.— Abbe-ites.— Christ-ians.— Roman Catholic Church.— Library. —Little River Grange. — Mills and Manufactories. — Biographical Sketches 372 CHAPTER XVIII. THE TOWN OF SCOTLAND. Description. — Original Connection. — First Settler. — Early Attractions. — Set- tlers coming in. — Church Association. — Disquiet in Society Relations. — Scotland Society Organized. — Minister Employed and a Meeting House Built. — Peace and Prosperity. — The Separate Movement. — Separate Church. — The Standing Church and the Schools. — Leading Men in So- ciety.— Successive Pastors. — Period of the Revolution. — The Congrega- tional Church in Later Days. — Universalism. — Business and Industry in the Town. — Organization of the Town. — Its Size and Growth. — Illustri- ous Citizens. — Present Status. — Shetuoket Grange. — The Green and its Surroundings 3S 3 CHAPTER XIX. THE TOWN OP CHAPLIN. General Description. — Settlement of the Region. — An Ecclesiastical Society Organized. — Town Privileges Obtained. — General Progress. — Manufac- tures. — Paper Mills, Lumber Mills, and Manufactories of Wheelbarrows, PlQw-beams, Spools, Woolen Cloth, Boxes and Shingles. — Schools and Teachers. — The Church of Chewink Plains. — A Protestant Methodist Church. — Deacon Benjamin Chaplin. — The Congregational Church.— Its Successive Pastors. — Biographical Sketches 411 CHAPTER XX. THE TOWN OP PLAINFIELD. Description. — Statistics.— Settlement and Settlers. — The Town Organized. — Conflicting Land Claims. — The Gospel Ministry. — Division of Lands. — Indian War.— Settlement of Land Disputes.— Progress of the Settle- ment. — An Epidemic. — The Separate Movement. — French Prisoners of War. — Town Officers, 1765. — Facilities of Commerce. — Old Tavern. — The Poor and the Oppressed.^ — Emigration. — During the Revolution. — Re- vival of iBusiness Enterprises. — Increase of Manufacturing. — Highways and Bridges. — The Ecclesiastical Society and Church. — Congregational Church of Plainfleld Street.— The "September Gale."— The Separate Church. — Quaker Meeting House 488 CHAPTER XXI. THE TOWN OP PLAINPIELD (CONCLUDED). Plainfield of To-day. — The Methodist Church.— Union Baptist Church. — Con- gregational Church, Central Village. — Wauregan, Mills, Congregational Church and Village. — All Hallows R. C. Church, Moosup. — Schools of the Town. — Plainfield Academy. — Eminent Men of Plainfield. — Village TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi Schools.— Manufactures.— Wauregan.—Moosup.—Centi-alViUage.— Ken-'*'™' nedy City.— Plainfleld Junction.— The Freshet of 1886.— Fraternal Societies.— Prominent Names of a Former Generation.— Biographical Sketches ig-. CHAPTER XXII. THE TOWN OF CANTEEBURY. Canterbury Geography.— Statistics.— Settlement of the Quinebaug Planta- tion.— Major Fitch.— Fitch and Winthrop Conflicting Claims.— Town Charter and Organization.— Boundary Disputes.— First Meeting House.— Dividing Line Established.— Adjusting Land Titles.— Distribution of Common Lands.— Ecclesiastical History.— Separate Movement.— West- minster Church and Society Formed.— Restoration of Harmony.- The Methodist Churches.— Roads and Bridges.— Accident on the Shetucket.— Bridges, Dams and Floods.— Turnpike Projects and Other Highways.— Public Education.— Miss Prudence Crandall's School.— General Town Progress.— Immigration and Enterprise.— Westminster Society.— Can- terbury Manufacturing.— Canterbury Separate Church.— Baptists and Episcopalians.— Packerville Baptist Church.— Packer ville Growth.— Masonic Lodge. — Biographical Sketches 481 CHAPTER XXIII. THE TOWN OF POMFEET. Description. — The Wabbaquasset Country. — Purchase by Roxbury Men. — The Mashamoquet Tract. — Blackwell's Purchase. — The Mortlake Patent. — ^The Mashamoquet Purchase Allotted. — Town Privileges Obtained. — Indian War. — Settlers and Settlement. — Progress. — The Town Fully Organized. — Mortlake Management. — Mashamoquet Proprietors. — In- creasing Population. — Prosperity of the Settlement. — Good Health of the People. — Slow Progress of Mortlake. — Inhabitants in 1731. — Abington Society Erected. — Mortlake Transferred to New Proprietors. — Social Character of the People. — Business Fluctuations. — Literary Movements. — Libraries. — Pomfret Hall. — Schools. — Roads and Bridges. — Improve- ments in the Quinebaug. — Great Thoroughfares. — Ecclesiastical History. — First Society and Church. — Disturbing Controversies. — Baptist Church. — Christ Church. — Quakers. — Methodists. — Roman Catholic Church. — Pomfret Landing. — Biographical Sketches 517 CHAPTER XXIV. THE SOCIETY OF ABINGTON. Organization. — Settlers. — Schools. — Church Progress. — Congregational Church. — Church of the Messiah. — Second Advent Church. — Libraries.— Hall. — Manufacturing. — Charles Osgood 5^7 CHAPTER XXV. THE TOWN OF BEOOKLYN. Facts and Figures.— Movement of Settlers.— Richard Adams.— Isolated Set- tlers.— Division of Vacant Lands.— The Stoddard Tract.— Heterogeneous Settlement.— A Minister Employed.— Organization of "The Society xii TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. taken out of Pomfret, Canterbury and Mortlake."— Becomes Brooklyn Parish.— The Town Chartered.— List of Inhabitants.— Business and Public Questions.— The County Seat Moved Here.— Brooklyn Newspa- pers.— Putnam and the Wolf.— General Putnam.— Godfrey Malbone.— Roads and Bridges.— Manufacturing Enterprises.— School Accommoda- tions.— Church History, early and late.— Banks.— Insurance Company.— Agricultural Society.— Creamery.-Decline of Manufactures.— Biograph- ical Sketches 564 CHAPTER XXVJ. THE -TOWN OF STERLING. Geographical Description.— The Volunteers' Land.— Settlement as Volun- town.— Division of the Land.— Town Privileges.— Presbyterian Church Organized.— Lands Laid Out.— Sterling Town Organized.— Meeting House Erected.- General Progress. — Public Highways.— School Mat- ters—The Voluntown and Sterling Church.— Line Meeting House. — Sterling Hill Baptist Church.— Other Churches. — Manufacturing. — Rocks and Quarries. — Oneco. — Decline of Manufactures. — The Grange. — Biographical Sketches 605 CHAPTER XXVII. THE TOWN OP THOMPSON. Location, Description, Geology. — Pre-historic Occupants. — The Indians of this Region. — Early White Settle s. — Quinnatisset Hill. — Increase of Population. — Land Controversies. — Pattaquatic. — Highways in the Wil- derness. — Bridge Building. — Samuel Morris. — Early Attempt to secure Town Privileges. — Second or North Society of Killingly. — Thompson Parish. — Land w^est of the Quinebaug annexed. — Building the Meeting House. — Religious Worship Established. — Military Company. — Non-resi- dent Land-owners. — Various Improvements. — Schools. — Town Affairs. — The French War. — The Old Red Tavern. — Business and Finance. — The Revolutionary Period. — Quadic Shipyard. — Petitions for Town Priv- ileges 634 CHAPTER XXVIII. THE TOWN OF THOMPSON (CONTINUED). Organization. — Affairs of the Body Corporate. — Foreign Trade and Traffic. — Highways.— Thompson Turnpike. — Fourth of July Celebration. — Pro- tection against Small-pox. — General Progress. — New Town Scheme. — The Civil War. — Temperance Sentiment. — Modern Improvements. — Town Expenses and Government. — The Public Schools. — First Church of Thompson.— First Baptist Church. — Baptist Church of Thompson Hill. — Methodists at West Thompson. — Fisherville Methodist Church. — East Thompson Methodist Church 647 CHAPTER XXIX. THE TOWN OF THOMPSON (CONCLUDED). Manufactures. — The Swamp Factory. — Fisherville Factory. — Water Priv- ileges. — Grosvenor Dale, Masonville. — North Grosvenor Dale. — Changes TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii Wrought by the Manufacturing Interests,— Catholic Churches.— The Swedish Church of Grosvenor Dale.— Connecticut Manufacturing Com- pany.— The " Brick" Factory.— West Thompson.— MechanicsvUle.—Qua- dic Manufacturing Company.— Brandy Hill.— The Northeast Section.— Wilsonville.— New Boston.— Thompson Village.— A " Boom" to Thomp- son Hill.— Old-Time Taverns.— Social Customs.— Railroad Opening.— Thompson Bank.— Fire Engine Company.- Some Prominent People.— Summer Inhabitants.— The Sons of Thompson.— Thompson Grange.— Biographical Sketches 683 CHAPTER XXX. THE TOWN OP PUTNAM. Incorporation and General Description.— Early History.— First Settlers.— West of the Quinebaug. — The South Neighborhood. ^Early Improve- ment of Water Privileges.— Roads and Bridges. — The Stone Mills.— Early Homestead Residents. — The French War.— The Revolution.— After the War.— Cargill's Mills.— Quinebaug High Falls.— Educational and Re- ligious. — KUlingly Hill. — Beginning of Cotton Manufacturing. — Pomfret Factory. — During the War of 1812. — Residents and Managers of the Fac- tory. ^RhodesvUle. — Building up of Additional Factories. — Rival and Conflicting Interests of Three Adjoining Towns. — Various Propositions arid Controversy. — Organization of the new Town of Putnam 749 CHAPTER XXXI. THE TOWN OF PUTNAM (CONCLUDED). Officers and Statistics. — Layout of Roads and Naming Streets. — Establish- ment of Churches. — Baptist Church. — Congregational Church. — Metho- dist Church. — ^CathoUc Church. — Episcopal Church. — Advent Christian Church. — Other Religious Societies. — Schools. — Cotton Manufactures. — Pomfret Factory Woolen Co. — Silk Manufactures. — Shoe Manufacture. — Artisans and Mechanics. — Business Men's Association. — Village Develop- ment. — Various Manufacturing Enterprises. — Creamery. — Waterworks. — Commercial Houses.— Business Blocks. — Hotels. — Banks. — Fire Depart- ment. — Fraternal Societies. — Celebrations. — Temperance Movements. — Library Association. — Newspapers. — Orchestral Music. — Antique Art Loan Exhibition. — Village Cemetery. — Other Burial Grounds.— Old Kall- ingly Hill, now Putnam Heights. — East Putnam. — Its Local Institu- tions. — Biographical Sketches 778 CHAPTER XXXII. THE TOWN OF WOODSTOCK. General Description and Geology. — Aborigines.— Visit of EUot and Gookin.— The Narragansett War. — New Roxbury Colony.— Incorporation as Wood- stock and Subsequent Events.— Indian Troubles.— Important Changes.— Final Division of Roxbury's Half of Woodstock.— Second Meeting House. —Ministerial Troubles.— Indian Alarms.— Land Divisions.— Worcester County Erected.— Early Schools.- Controversy with Colonel Chandler.— Settlement of West Woodstock.— Precinct Organized.— Building of Meet- ing House.— Organization of Church.- Woodstock's Revolt.— Contest between Massachusetts and Connecticut.— Church Division.— Various Town Affairs 831 xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTEE XXXIII. THE TOWN OF WOODSTOCK (CONCLUDED). PAGE. Early Industries.— Manufacturing.— Decline of Manufacturing.— Agriculture. -Woodstock Agricultural Society .—Senexet Grange.— Theft Detecting Society.— Woodstock Academy.— Church on Woodstock Hill.— The Sec- ond Church.— Baptist Churches.— East Woodstock Church.- Methodism. — Universalist Church.— Advent Christian Church.— Present Condition. — Public Celebrations. — Biographical Sketches 876 CHAPTER XXXIV. THE TOWN OP KILLINGLY. Location and Description. — Original Killingly. — The Whetstone Country. — First Proprietors. — Attempts at Settlement. — Bounds and Claims. — Set- tlers and Settlement. — The Town Organized. — Localities. — Counterfeit- ers. — General Progress. — Taking Care of the Poor. — Highways. — Early Manufacturing. — Prosperity of Manufacturing Interests. — The Gospel Ministry. — Meeting House Controversy. — The Second Society formed. — South Killingly Church 931 CHAPTER XXXV. THE TOWN OF KILLINGLY (CONCLUDED). Chestnut Hill. — Baptist Churches.— Cotton Mills.— Elliottville Mills. — Elm- ville Mills.— Attawaugan Mills.— M. E. Church. — Ballouville. — Dayville. — Manufactories. — Churches. — Societies. — Williamsville. — The Borough of Danielsonville. — Public Works. — Great Freshet.— Schools. — Churches. — Banks. — Music Hall. — Manufacturing Establishments. — Masonic and other Societies. — Newspapers. — Biographical Sketches 948 CHAPTER XXXVI. THE TOWN OP ASHPORD. The Wabbaquasset Country. — Land Speculators. — Settlement of Ashford. — . Major Fitch. — James Corbin. — New Scituate. — The Town Estabhshed. — Titles Confirmed. — Common Proprietors. — Land Controversies. — Civil Disorder. — Military Company. — Population and Growth. — Public Morals and Order. — Growth of the Settlement. — Early Town Officers. — Land Title War. — Days of the Revolution. — Visit of President Washington. — Post Office, Taverns and Probate Court. — Honored Sons. — Roads and Bridges. — Schools. — Ecclesiastical History. — First Church. — The Great Revival and the Separates. — We.--tford Congregational Church.- — Meet- ing Houses and Ministers. — First Baptist Church. — Eminent Men of Westford. — Baptist Church of Westford. — Manufacturing in Westford. Warrenville Baptist Church. — Manufacturing and Business at Warren- ville. — Eminent Sons of Ashford. — Babcock Library and Band. — Bio- graphical Sketch 990 CHAPTER XXXVII. THE TOWN OP EASTPORD. Location and Description. — Organized as an Ecclesiastical Society. — Cotton Mills. — Search for Gold. — Latham Twine Mill. — Smith Snow. — Crystal Lake. — Factories of Eastford Village. — Cotton and Woolen, Wagon TABLE OF CONTENTS. XV PAGE. Wheels, Leather, Boots and Shoes, Axes and Hatchets, Carriages, Scythes, Plow Handles and Beams, Bobbins.— Town Incorporation.— Communication. — Honored Sons.— Congregational Church.— The Society of North Ashford.— The Methodist Church.— Ministers and Teachers.- The "Church of Bacchus."— Creamery.— Biographical Sketch 1037 CHAPTER XXXVIII. Personal Paragraphs 1043' PORTRAITS. Aldrich, David L , 46» Aldrich, Edward 720 Arnold, William S 815 Atwood, James S 470 Atwood, William A 982 Babcock, William S 471 Baldwin, Lloyd E 365 Bartholomew, WiUiam 1 550 Bates, Ambrose H 620 Bates, Gustavus D .' 817 Bates, Jerome E 721 Beebe, WUliam S 72» Bishop, Ebenezer 909- Bowen, Stephen O 104O Briggs, Lucius 728 Buck, George ; 816 Bugbee, Edwin H 984 Burgess, Frank S 195 Card, David C 183 Carpenter, Ehsha 146 Carpenter, John A 818 Chaffee, J. Dwight 367 Child, Abel .-. . 910 Cleveland, Edward Spicer 389 Converse, Abiel 150 Converse, Elisha S 732 Converse, James W ^ 730 Cranska, Floyd 472 Dean, Ezra 912 ElUott, Henry 734 Evans, Thomas J 986 Fox, John 819 Fuller, Lucius H 820 Green, Marquis 913 Greene, Albert C 473 GreensUt, David 390 Griggs, David A 434 Grosvenor, William "^^^ Haskins, Rufus T 407 Hatch, Jonathan 306 Holt, George W. , Jr • 832 Hopkins, Timbthy E 987 xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. Hutchins, Joseph 474 JiUson, WUliam C 368 Knowlton, Danford 1034 Lamed, Ellen D 714 Lincoln, Edgar S 425 Lyon, William, 4th 914 McClellan, John 915 Manning, James W 834 Mathewson, Rufus S 552 May, Charles H 916 Messenger, Frank M 739 Miller, Gardner L 188 Milner, Edwin 476 Morse, George M 837 Morse, Joseph M 918 Morse, Milton S , 826 Moseley , Samuel S 392 Moulton, George S 307 Murdock, George T 740 Murdock, G. Thurston 741 Nichols, Franklin 743 Osgood, Charles H 554 Paine, Almond M 988 Palmer, William F 408 Parker, Alfred M 828 Penrose, John J 154 Perry, Oliver H 920 Phillips, Gilbert W ; 158 Phipps, Benjamin F 744 Pike, James 623 Putnam, William H 602 Ross, William 426 Sanger, Marvin H 514 Scarborough, George 604 Searls, Charles E 160 Smith, GuUford 308 Spalding, Chandler A 830 Sprague, Samuel B 410 Stanton, Avery A ; 628 Stranahan, J. S. T 478 Thayer, Charles D 745 Towne, Marcus F 746 Warner, Alexander 556 Westoott, Henry 989 Williams, Francis 422 Witter, Wilham C . . 370 Wood, Darius 516 VIEWS, ETC. Map of Windham County 1 Residence of George Lothrop Bradley 704 The " Ben-Grosvenor " V 710 MAP OF WINDHAM COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. W. W. PRBSTOH & 00. Publisliers. HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. CHAPTER I. GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. Physical Features.— Location.— Shape and Area.— Subdivisions.— Surface.— Rivers and Brooks.— Agricultural and Manufacturing Advantages.— Pro- ductions.— Manufactures.— Railroads and Ti-ansportation.- Old Stage and Freight Wagons.— Taverns of the Olden Time.— The Hilltop Settlements.— Romantic Scenery and Historic Associations.— Geological Formation and Resources. — Elevations of Land. WINDHAM COUXTY occupies the northeastern corner of the .state of Connecticut, bordering Worcester county, ^lassachusetts, lying on the north, and Providence and Kent counties in Rhode Island on the east. New London county bounds it on the south and Tolland on the west. Its greatest length, from north to south, is -twenty-seven miles, and its greatest width, from east to west, is twenty-three miles. Its north, east and south sides are nearly straight lines, while on the west side its territory interchanges offsets with Tolland. The greatest variation in the line made by these offsets, how- ever, does not exceed six miles. This occurs on the northwest corner, where the town of Union makes an advance of about the distance mentioned. We ma}- explain that the longest north and south line would be drawn from the northwest corner of Thompson to the southwest corner of Plainfield, and the longest east and west line would be drawn from the northwest corner of Windham to the Rhode Island line, about the middle of Sterling. The county contains an area of six hundred and twenty square miles and a population, by the last census, of 43,856. This num- ber, however, comprehends the population of Voluntown, then 1,186, which has since been set off from Windham to New 1 2 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. London. The population at present would doubtless still ex- ceed that of the census year, since the rapid growth of several of its manufacturing villages would several times make up the deficiency caused by the loss of that town. The county as now constituted contains the towns of Ashford, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Chaplin, Eastford, Hampton, Killingly, Plainfield, Pomfret, Put- nam, Scotland, Sterling, Thompson, Windham and Woodstock, fifteen in all ; and included in these towns are the incorporated boroughs of Danielsonville and Willimanfic. The surface is rugged and broken. But few spots of level land to any considerable extent of area may be found in the county. The most noticeable is the stretch of tolerably level valley that extends in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction through the heart of Plainfield and southern part of Canterbury. This covers a length of perhaps ten miles, and, though in some parts of the country it would be called decidedly rolling, its character is by comparison with its surroundings so nearly level that it was called by the early settlers the " plains," and so gave name to the town of Plainfield. The rugged character of the surface, of which we have spoken, while it is opposed to the most felicitous advancement of the arts of agriculture, affords two features of great advantage to the county, and which are indeed the main sources of prosperity, either realized in the present or expected in the future. These are the copious streams and rapid falls, which have invited the numerous manufacturing industries for which the county is noted, and the never ending variety and natural magnificence of its scenery which have fascinated thousands, and for which the county is equally celebrated. Although the hills have no regular grouping, yet in general they are cast into ridges run- ning north and south, and down the valleys so formed numerous streams flow in a generally southward direction. So numerous are these streams that hardly a square mile can be found in the whole county but upon it may be found a site for a saw mill or some more considerable manufacturing enterprise. With a very slight exception, in the northwestern part of Woodstock, the entire county is drained by the Quinebaug, Natchaug, Willi- mantic and Shetucket rivers, the waters of all of which finally empty into the ocean through the Thames." Along the valleys of these streams the soil is fertile, and upon the hillsides in years gone by agriculture was successfully car- HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 3 Tied on. This industry, however, has in many parts of the county greatly declined, and the agricultviral population has decreased in numbers, while the manufacturing population in the villages has largely increased. The agricultural interests of the county are still important. The value of farms, with im- provements and buildings thereoii, is about nine million dollars, and the county contains one hundred and ninety thousand acres of improved farm land, divided into three thousand farms. It is estimated that these farms annually produce about one and a half million dollars worth. The most important of these pro- ductions are annually about 180,000 bushels of Indian corn, 140,000 bushels of oats, 275,000 bushels of potatoes, 60,000 tons of hay, 20,000 bushels of buckwheat, 17,000 bushels of rye, 4,000 bushels of barley and about $15,000 worth of orchard fruit. The dairy products consist of about three hundred and fifty tons of Gutter and eighty tons of cheese. In the last mentioned product it exceeds any other county in the state except Litchfield. There are employed on farms some five thousand horses and about half the number of working oxen. The facilities for grazing accom- modate about twenty thousand head of cattle, twelve thousand of which are milch cows. Sheep husbandry receives some at- tention, about seven thousand sheep being kept, and their an- nual fleece amounts to twenty-nine thousand pounds of wool. About seven thousand hogs are annually fattened. The forest growth of the county is considerable. Besides wood for various manufacturing purposes considerable lumber, including shingles, is obtained from the forests which cover large areas of the hills. The most common kinds of wood are the hickory, oak, elm, beech, pine and other trees. The largest river of the county is the Quinebaug. This rises in Worcester county, Mass., and flowing the entire length of this county, joins the Shetucket in New London county. Its course is through the eastern part of Windham county, where it forms the entire western boundary of Killingly and the eastern boundary of Brooklyn, as well as partial boundary of Plainfield, Canterbury, Pomfret and Putnam. In its course through the county it receives numerous tributaries, the most important of which are Muddy brook from Woodstock, the Assawaga or Five Mile river from Thompson, Putnam and Killingly, the Masha- moquet from Pomfret, Blackwell's brook from Brooklyn, and the Moosup river from Plainfield and Sterling. The western part 4 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. of the county is drained by the Natchaug river, which receives the waters of several brooks from Ashford, which form Mount Hope river, as well as several other branches from Woodstock, Ashford and Chaplin. The Natchaug joins the Willimantic a short distance east of the village of the latter name, and the union thus formed takes the name Shetucket. Little river, draining Hampton and the west side of Canterbury, flows into the Shetucket beyond the limits of the county. These streams afford power for a large number of manufacturing establishments of various kinds and magnitude, from the large cotton, silk and thread mills, employing hundreds of operatives, down to the Woodside saw mill tended by a single pair of hands. Windham county has extensive manufactures of cotton,woolen, silk and linen thread, besides various other kinds. The last census shows 288 establishments engaged in this branch of in- dustry. The capital employed in manufacturing was $14,026,975. The number of operatives employed in these establishments was 4,789 men, 3,296 women, and 1,643 children and youth under the ages of sixteen years for males and fifteen years for females. The total amount of wages annually earned by these operatives was $2,607,418. The value of material used was $7,951,403 ; and the value of products annually finished was $14,022,290. The principal manufacturing villages are Willimantic, Danielsonville and Putnam. The villages of Moosup, Central Village,Wauregan, Dayville and North Grosvenor Dale are also prospering under the stimulus of this industry. The county is fairly supplied with railroad facilities, especi- ally through the central, southern and eastern parts. An ex- ception to this remark must be made for the northwestern part. The towns of Woodstock, Eastford and Ashford are not touched by any railroad. The same is true of Brooklyn, though it is almost surrounded by railroads but a short distance beyond its borders. Canterbury, Scotland and Chaplin each have a railroad cutting across a corner of the town. Altogether the county is traversed by about one hundred miles of railroad line. The New York & New England railroad traverses the county diagonally from the southwest corner to the northeast corner, a distance of about thirty-five miles. This is a well equipped, double track railroad. The Norwich & Worcester railroad traverses the eastern part of the bounty, from north to south, making a length within the county of twenty-eight miles. The HISTORY OF WIXDHAM COUNTY. 5 Hartford & Providence railroad crosses the southeastern cor- ner of the county, making within it a distance of thirteen miles. The New London Northern railroad has about seven miles of its length in the southwest corner, and the Stockbridge railroad has about five miles of its line in the northeastern corner. It is largely to these railroad facilities that the present pros- perity of the county is due. A native writer of prominence says : " Modern Windham dates its birth from the first whistle of the steam engine. That clarion cry awoke the sleeping valleys. Energy, enterprise, progress followed its course. At every stop- ping place new life sprung up. Factory villages received im- mediate impetus, and plentiful supply of cotton. Larger manu- facturing enterprises were speedily planned and executed, for- eign help brought in ; capital and labor, business and invention rushed to the railroad stations ; innumerable interests and in- dustries developed, and in less than a score of years the county was revolutionized. The first had become last and the last first. The turnpike was overgrown, stage coach and cotton team had vanished, the old hill villages had lost the leadership, and new railroad centers held the balance of power and drew to them- selves the best bload and energies of the towns." The Norwich & "Worcester railroad was commenced in the year 1835, and was opened for traffic here in the early part of 1839. The Hartford & Providence railroad was completed as far as AVillimantic and opened for use December 1st, 1849. That por- tion of the road which extends eastward from the latter point to Providence was completed and opened for use October 2d, 18.i4. The New York & New England main line, a later enterprise, was completed between Willimantic and Putnam in 1872, and opened for use in August of that year. Before the advent of railroads raw material was brought into the count}-, and the manufactured products sent out by means of heavily loaded teams hauling long distances over the numer- ous turnpikes and public roads which were then much frequented thoroughfares, but are now man}- of them almost deserted roads. Great lines of travel for stage coaches, mail routes and hauling goods from Boston to Hartford and New York, and from Provi- dence to Hartford, and from Worcester to Norwich and New London, lay through this county. These roads in those days presented scenes of considerable activity. Heavily loaded wagons, sometimes with eight draft horses before a single wagon, made 6 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNT i'. a business of hauling goods back and forth and were constantly on the road. The principal manufacturing village of this county- was then as now Willimantic, and stock and goods were inter- changed in this way between that village and the three outlet cities of Hartford, Providence and Norwich. The round trip to Hartford or Norwich and return was made in two days, while that to Providence occupied five days. Three different routes were used by the through travel from the eastern cities to Hart- ford and New York; a southern one, passing through Plainfield, a central one through Windham Centre and Scotland, and one more northerly passing through Brooklyn and Danielsonville. Then there were other routes intersecting some of the more northern towns. As might naturally be expected houses of " entertainment for man and beast " were frequent all along these routes. These old time hostelries were commodious and afforded the means of making guests comfortable without much assumption of cold formalities. However, it must not be supposed that the enter- tainers of those days were such boorish rustics as not to be able on occasion to display such dignified graces as were appropriate to the position. But the material cheer to be found in the well supplied table and full stocked bar-room, with the ample accom- modations at the barn for their horses, was what the traveling public looked for with more interest than graces of manner, ^lany of these old inns remain, in different parts of the county, to remind us of the customs of our fathers and grandfathers. Very few of them, however, are still occupied as public houses. The spacious stables, often capable of accommodating twenty to forty horses, which were a necessary accompaniment to these houses, have in most cases been removed or are in an advanced stage of dilapidation. But whether occupied now as private dwellings or half deserted hotels, they have their own several memories and legends which are faithfully preserved, and many are the noteworthy traditions related by their occupants, of the general character of the house, the arrangement of its accom- modations, the entertainment of some distinguished guest, the iokes of some regular patron, the enactment of some hair-stiffen- ing tragedy, the excessive jubilations of some disciple of Bacchus, or the winter night revelries, when the moon was full and " the snow was crusted o'er," of the young blood of generations whose scattered remnant are now in their decay. A few of these old HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. , 7 thoroughfares were "turnpikes," and had toll gates upon them, while others were public roads exacting no toll. But the toll- gate pike, the stage coach, the long line freight wagons and the roadside inn are things of the past. The main settlements of early date in many of the towns of this county are located on hilltops. This remarkable feature, while it is not without some advantages, has also its disadvan- tages. Among the latter may be mentioned difficulty of access from neighboring towns or even the surrounding valleys, as well as expostire to the cold winds of winter. On the other hand the magnificent outlook thus afforded to the residents is a "thing of beauty" on a grand scale, and therefore must be a " joy for- ever." It is said that those who planned these settlements con- sidered such elevated locations more safe from the attacks of Indians than valley sites would be. Certainly an approaching band of Indians could be more readily discovered from the hill- top than from the low ground. vBut though no such necessity for precaution exists at this time, we think it would be with re- luctance that the people would remove their homes from these commanding sites to the valleys below. These villages are of the true New England type. A wide street, which might with more propriety be called a lawn, is lined on either side with comfortable and commodious dwellings, sufficiently separated to give each some sense of retirement. Shade trees that have grown to massive proportions wave in luxuriant stateliness over broad stretches of the greenest and smoothest lawn, that lie on either side of the beaten roadway. In the central part of the village this velvet lined street widens into a sort of public square, of the same green carpeting and under the same canopy of dark foliage. Here one or two churches and sometimes a town hall appear. Looking from the immediate surroundings, which seem too pure and guileless and restful — like a hallowed Sabbath crystalized into living realization — to come into contact with the contaminating arts and usages of trade and business, the prospect as the eye sweeps almost the circle of the horizon, is one which the citizens of many sections of our country would make long pilgrimages to see. The most elaborate description of the distant objects — winding stream, darkening vale, hillside woods, cultivated farms, nestling cottages, factory village and mill, railroad trail through cut or over embankment, moving trains, tell-tale church spires, and numberless other points upon 8 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. which the eye rests as we sweep the circle, all of which are half enshrottded in the mist of distance, that distance which "lends enchantment "—the most elaborate description of all these, we say, cannot give the charming and inspiriting im- pression which this cycloramic view inspires. Abounding as it does, in some of the most enchanting scenery that picturesque New England can present, the local story and circumstance and character of its people, of former as well as present generations, are no less full of enrapturing interest. The part that Windham has played in affairs concerning the state and nation has ever been an honorable one, and the sons of Windham have inscribed their names high among those whom Columbia delights to honor. Well may those whose nativity is here be proud of their honorable birthright, and those who at later periods have made this county their home may safely feel that they have gained a place in a grander so- ciety than that to which men aspired in ancient times when " with a great price " they purchased the liberty of Roman citi- zenship. The geological resources of this county are not rich. The valuable minerals which add to the wealth of many sections in the central and western parts of the state are almost entirely wanting here. The surface is of secondary formation, and con- tains no minerals such as are found in the ranges of trap rock which pass through the central and western parts of the state. It may be that underlying the surface formation at considerable depth there are layers of red sandstone or freestone such as ap- pear on the borders of and underlying the trap ranges along the valley of the Connecticut river. It is not probable that coal formation exists at all beneath the surface of this county. Widely differing from the ridges of western Connecticut, so rich in their varied deposits of building stone, micaceous slate, copper, lead, silver, bayrites, hydraulic lime, cobalt, hematite iron ore, monu- mental limestone, slate and marble, this whole section is granitic and metamorphic, and is thrown into gentle and sometimes rugged hills which are capable of cultivation to their very sum- mits. Clay, suitable for the manufacture of bricks, is found in different parts of the county, and this is being worked to some extent, especially in the valley of the Quinebaug. In the valleys may be seen evidences of glacial action, and immense drift de- posits. One of the most curious examples of this kind ma}' be HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 9 seen in the Yalley just northeast of Hampton hill, where an almost perfect, dome of earth an acre or more in extent rests upon the bosom of the deep valley, plainly showing that it was deposited there by the settling of a glacial burden beneath the flood of pre-historic waters, and then its sides were smoothed and rounded by the action of those waters as they receded. This mound is now beautifully occupied as a burial place for the dead. The azoic rocks, which are of granitic or gneissoid character, are with very few and inconsiderable exceptions, buried many feet beneath the surface with these drift deposits. The general trend of these hills and valleys is north and south, though they are in many places so very irregular as hardly to have any perceptible uniformity in this respect. They are gen- erally composed of sand, varying in fineness, gravel and coarser stones, all of which bear evidences of attrition with water. In some of the valleys a loamy soil appears, and as we have pre- viously stated beds of clay are found in some places. These hills rise to a height of from fifty to three hundred feet, and their western slopes rise gradually from the average level, while their eastern slopes are generally more decidedly abrupt and sometimes precipitous. CHAPTER II. THE ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS. Algonquin Tribes. — Tlie Jlohegans. — The Nipmucks.— The Wabbaquat sets. — Nar- ragansett Claims.— The Quinebaugs. — The Pequot Ascendency. — Language and Customs of the Indians. — Their Implements and Arts. — Superstitions. — Indian Allegiance. — The Whetstone Country. — Intertribal Warfare. — Aveng- ing an Insult. —Uncas and Owaneco. — Christian Influence and the " Praying Indians." — Visit of Ehot and Gookin. — King Philip's War. — Its Disastrous Effect upon the " Praying Towns.'' — Unjust Treatment of the Indians by the English. — Indian Shrewdness. — Close of King Philip's War. WHEN our eyes look abroad over the beautiful scenery ■which has been made still more beautiful by the arts of civilized man, it is but a natural instinct that prompts us to inquire what were the conditions under which civilization was planted here, and what was the social condition which preceded it. We know that but a short quarter millennium has passed since the country now occupied by grand old Wind- ham county was the home and undisputed domain of the un- lettered savage. But where he had come from, or how long he had occupied these commanding hills and graceful valleys, or whom he had supplanted, or what had been the vicissitudes of his weal an-d woe in the dim and distant past, were questions that evoked no response beyond their own echoes. The story of human love and hatred, hope and despair, success and failure, which made up the lives of those who had for unknown cen- turies occupied these hills and valleys, brooks and lakes, forests and glens, was to the civilized world a sealed book, which noth- ing but the thunder that shall wake the dead at the last day will ever open. But the studen-ts of Indian history have expended great labor and pains upon the subject, and to them we are indebted for the translation of some of the Indian traditions which had well nigh passed into oblivion, from which we may gather ma- terial for conjecture amounting to even probability in regard to some of the Indian history of the dark period. HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 11 The North American Indians were stibdivided into a great many tribes of more or less numerical magnitude. These were scattered over the country with no organized association what- ever, and took their names from the natural features of the country where they frequented, whether mountain, lake, river, bay or island. But from similarity in language and some other respects it has been possible to group these fragmentary tribes into some show of order in a few great families or nations of aboriginal people. Of these the Algonquin tribes were numeri- cally the most powerful in America, though others may have been superior in warlike vigor and prowess. All the Indians of New England were branches of this stock, those of the territory occupied by Windham county being generally included in the Mohegan tribe, a subdivision of the Algonquin. The Indian neighbors on the south were the famous and fiercely warlike Pequots, whose sachem held his residence in a large fortress on a commanding hill in what is now Groton, thence making fre- quent incursions into the surrounding country and retiring to his stronghold whenever he could not safely keep the field. To the honor of the Mohegan tribe it may be said that they from first to last proved friendly to the whites. It is asserted that no other Indian tribe in New England can claim this honor. The Mo- hegans had gained by conquest a portion of the territory of the Nipmuck tribe, to which the Indians of this locality had be- longed, and thus the Mohegan jurisdiction was made to corres- pond generally with the northern border of Connecticut. The Nipmuck Indians were named from the circumstance that they occupied land remote from the seashore, in "the fresh water country." One of their favorite resorts was the great lake, Chaubunnagunggamaug or Chabanakongkomuch, meaning the " boundary fishing place." This was recognized as the dividing line or bound between the Nipmuck and the Narragansett ter- ritory. It lies a few rods north of the present northern boundary line of Windham county, and the Nipmucks at one time claimed land some eighteen or twenty miles south of it. The northwestern part of the present county was called by the Indians Wabbaquasset, meaning the " mat producing coun- try," on account of the reeds or rushes that grew abundantly in some of the marshes. The natives living there, as was usually the case, took the name of the locality. This AVabbaquasset country was bounded on the east by the Quinebaug river, and 12 HISTORY OF \YINDHAM COUNTY. extended as far south as a line running northwesterly from the junction of the Assawaga with the Quinebaug. The hills of this Wabbaquasset country were then, as now, abundant in fertility and famous for their product of maize. Some of these friendly Indians, it is said, were among the first of the natives of the interior to meet the New England settlers at Boston in commercial transactions. It is related that as early as 1630 a party of Indians from here, with Aquittimaug, one of their number as leader, loaded themselves with sacks of corn and tugged it on their backs all the way to Boston to sell to Winthrop's infant colony, which happened then to be in great need and stood ready to pay a good price therefor. The Narragansetts claimed the territory east of the Quine- baug, and at times fiercely contested it with the Nipmucks. A quarry of rock which possessed qualities for grinding or sharp- ening tools lay in this section near the mouth of a branch of the Assawaga which from this circumstance took the name Whet- stone brook. This quarry was called Mahumsqueeg, or Mahmun- squeeg, which name soon became applied to a considerable stretch of land north and south on the east side of the Quine- baug, the limits of course being altogether indefinite. On the south of Wabbaquasset and Mahmunsqueeg lay the Quinebaug country, the principal part of which was the territory now occupied by Plainfield and Canterbury. To the west of this and covering the southwest part of the county as well as parts of neighboring divisions,was an indefinite tract of country bear- ing the name Mamasqueeg. Some twenty years or more before the settlement of Connec- ticut by white men the Pequots had subdued the Quinebaugs and Wabbaquassets and assumed jurisdiction over all the terri- tory now occupied by Windham county, supplanting here both the Nipmucks and the Narragansetts. But their reign was to be a short one. They in turn were soon supplanted by the su- perior forces of English civilization. Of the Indians but little is known. They were subject clans of little spirit or distinctive character. They were few in num- bers and scattered in location of their favorite residences. The most favorable localities were occupied by a few families while large sections were left vacant and desolate. Their dwellings were poor, their weapons and utensils rude and scanty. They raised corn and beans and made baskets and mats. A few rude HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 13 forts were maintained at different places. They were evidently on the decline. But little has been preserved of their language or their cus- toms. They lived by hunting the wild game upon the land and fishing from the lakes and cultivating in a rude way the soil. As none of the Indians of the country knew anything of the art of working iron or any of the metallic ores, for making imple- ments of any kind, they were compelled to supply this want with sharp stones, shells, claws of birds and wild beasts, pieces of bones and other things of that kind whenever they wished to make hatchets, knives and such instruraents. These early implements were at once abandoned as soon as the Europeans came and brought them metal instruments. These were at once eagerly sought by the Indians in exchange for skins, corn, the flesh of animals or whatever nature had placed at their disposal that was of value to the whites. The primitive hatchets were made of stone, and were nothing more than clumsy wedges about six inches long and of pro- portionate width. For a handle a stick was split at one end and the stone inserted in the cleft,where it was firmly tied. A groove was generally made around the hatchet to receive the jaws of the split stick. Some were not handled at all, but were held in the hand while being used. Thongs made of sinews of animals, strips of skin or perhaps twisted or braided shreds of grass or bark were used in the place of cords or ropes to tie with. The hatchets were mostly made of a hard kind of rock stone, but some were made of a fane, hard, apyrous stone. One of the most important. uses which the hatchet served was for girdling trees. The object in this was to prepare ground for maize fields. Trees thus treated would soon die, and then, if small trees, they were pulled out, root and branches, but if too large for that they were not materially in the way so long as they were dead so that their roots drew no sustenance from the ground, and their branches, bearing no leaves, could offer no shade to the growing corn. In this way they cleared the land they used for cultivation, which was done by the use of sharp sticks, with which the ground was rudely and imperfectly torn up. For the purposes of knives they used sharp pieces of flint or quartz or some other kind of hard stone, and sometimes sharp- ened shells or pieces of bone. 14 HISTORY OF WIXDHAM COUNTY. Narrow, angulated pieces of stone were fastened to the ends of their arrows so as to form sharpened points. These stones were inserted in a cleft in the end of their arrows and firmly bound in place with fine cords. They were commonly made of pieces of flint or quartz, but sometimes other hard stones were used, and sometimes these were substituted by the bones of ani- mals or the claws of birds and beasts. For pounding maize they generally used stone pestles, which were about a foot long and as thick as a man's arm. Sometimes wooden pestles were used. Their mortars were made of the stumps or butts of trees, the end being hollowed out by means ■of fire. The pounded maize was a common article of food with them. The Indians were astonished beyond measure when they beheld the mills erected by the Europeans for grinding corn or other grains. When they saw the first windmills they came in numbers, some of them long distances, to view the wonder, and it is said they would sit for days together observing the mill at its work. They were slow to believe that it was driven by the wind. Such an assertion was nonsense to them. For a long time they held the opinion that the mill was driven by the spirits who lived within it. With something of the same in- credulity they witnessed the first water mills, but as water is a more tangible element than wind they were more ready to ad- mit its physical effect in driving the mill. The old boilers or kettles of the Indians were made either of clay or of different kinds of pot-stone {Lapisollaris). The former consisted of a dark clay mixed with grains of white sand or quartz and burnt in the fire. Many of these kettles had two holes near the upper edge on opposite sides, through which a stick could be passed, by means of which the kettle was hung over the fire. They seldom had feet and were never glazed either outside or inside. Many of the stones used in the manu- facture of the implements spoken of were not found in this locality but were brought hither from some other part of the country, either in the raw material or in the manufactured form, some of them perhaps from quite remote localities. The old tobacco pipes were also made of clay or pot-stone, or serpentine stone. The first were shaped like our common pipes of that material, though they were of much coarser texture and not so well made. The stem was thick and short, often not more than an inch long, though sometimes as long as a finger. HISTORY OF WIXDHAM COUNTY. 15 Their color resembled that of our clay pipes that have been used for a long time. Some of the pipes that were made of pot-stone were well made. Still another kind of tobacco pipe was made of a very fine, red pot-stone or a kind of serpentine marble. These were formed with great ingenuity, were very scarce, and were almost never used by any others than the chiefs. The stone of which these were formed was brought from a long dis- tance and was very scarce. Pipes of this material were valued by the Indians higher than the same bulk of silver. The cele- brated " pipe of peace " was made of this kind of stone. After the overthrow of the Pequots their lands, according to custom, lapsed to their conquerors. Uncas, having joined the English against the Pequot chieftain Sassacus, now claimed his land on the ground of relationship, and to his claim the timid Wabbaquassets quite readily yielded, "and paid him homage and obligations and yearly tribute of white deer skins, bear skins and black wolf skins." With the Quinebaugs Uncas was not so successful. His right to their allegiance was disputed by the Narragansetts, and for many years the land was in contention, Uncas extorting tribute when he could, and the Quinebaugs yielding homage to whichever power happened for the time being to be in the ascendency. For a time " they had no resi- dent sachem and went as they pleased." Afterward they con- sented to receive three renegade Narragansetts whom Uncas allowed to dwell among and exercise authority over them. These were AUumps {alias Hyems), Massashowett and Aguntus. They were wild, ambitious and quarrelsome. They built a fort at Egunk hill, another near Greenwich Path, and a third at Wanun- gatuck hill, where they were compelled to dwell a whole year for fear of the Narragansetts. The Whetstone country was also in conflict. Uncas claimed that his northern bound extended to the quarry, and his fol- lowers were accustomed to resort thither for whetstones, but its Nipmuck inhabitants " turned off to the Narragansetts." Nemo and Azzogut, who built a fort at Acquiunk, a point at the junction of the Quinebaug and Assawaga rivers, now in Danielsonville, " carried presents sometimes to Uncas, sometimes to Pessacus." The latter was at a time sachem' of the Narragansetts, being the successor of Miantonomi. This fort was eleven rods fifteen inches in circumference, four or five feet in height, and occupied -bv four families. Tradition also marks this spot as an aboriginal 16 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. battle field, the scene of the only Indian rencontre that is re- ported with any fair degree of distinctness. The tragedy referred to appears to have developed on this wise. The Narragansetts invited their Nipmuck tributaries to visit them at the shore and partake of a feast of shell-fish. The Nipmucks later returned the civility by inviting the former to a banquet of lamprey eels. The shell-fish were greatly relished by the Nipmucks but the eels, for lack of dressing, were dis- tasteful to the Narragansetts. Glum looks and untasted food roused the ire of the Nipmucks. Taunts and retorts were soon followed by blows and developed into a free fight, in which the visitors, being unarmed, suffered most disastrous conse- quences. With such terrible vengeance did the Nipmucks fall upon them that only two of their number escaped to carry home the news of the massacre. The Narragansetts now determined to avenge the blood of their fallen comrades. A body of warriors was at once dis- patched to the land of the Nipmucks, where they found them intrenched at Acquiunk, on the east of the Quinebaug. Unable to cross the stream that lay between them and their foes they threw up embankments and for three days waged war across the stream. Many were slain on both sides, but the Nipmucks were again triumphant and forced their assailants to retire with loss, leaving their dead on the field. The bodies of the slain Nipmucks were buried in deep pits on the battle ground, which has ever since been known as the Indian Burying Ground. Nu- merous bones and trinkets found on that spot give some credulity to this legend, which aged Indians took great delight in relating to the first settlers of Killingly. During the years of settlement of the neighboring country, and while attempts were occasionally being made by the strange white people to establish themselves in possession of some of this land, and while sanguinary conflicts were depleting the numbers of the neighboring tribes, the Wabbaquassets patiently submitted to the authority of Uncas, and when his oldest son, Owaneco, was grown up, received him as their sachem, "their own chief men ruling in his absence." In 1670 a new light dawned upon them. The influefice of the faithful Indian apostle, Eliot, reached this benighted region. Young Indians trained at Natick went into the Nipmuck wilderness and gathered the natives into "new praying towns" and churches. Of seven HISTORY OF ^YI^■DHAM COUNTY. 17 churches gathered three were in the territory now covered by Windham county. These were 3>Iyanexet or ]\lanexet, now the northern part of Woodstock, Quinnatisset, now Thompson, and Wabbaquasset, now the southeastern part of Woodstock. Joseph and Sampson, only sons of Petavit, sachem of Haman- nesset, now Grafton, came as Christian missionaries to Wabba- quasset, and for four years labored and pieached faithfully throughout this region. The simple and tractable Wabbaquassets hearkened willingly unto the gospel thus preached, and many were persuaded to unite in church estate and assume some of the habits of civilization. , They observed the Sabbath, they cultivated their lands, they gathered into villages. The largest village, comprising some thirty families, was called AVabbaquasset. Its locality has not been exactly identified, but it is known to be included in the present town of Woodstock, either on Woodstock hill or in its vicinity. The teacher Sampson had his residence here, and un- der his direction wigwams were built, the like of which were seen in no other part of the country. Of the magnitude or ex- act location of the settlement of Myanexet we have still less knowledge. It is said to have been upon the west side of the Quinebaug river in a very fertile country, and comprised about one hundred souls. The third settlement, Quinnatisset, is sup- posed to have been on Thompson hill and to have been about equal in size with the second. These villages and their in- habitants were under the care and guidance of the faithful Sampson, who held religious services statedly, and endeavored to civilize and elevate them. In September, 1674, Major Daniel Gookin, who had been ap- pointed by the general court of Massachusetts as a magistrate over the Praying Indians, with power to hold courts and dis- charge other similar functions, visited these villages on this errand. He was accompanied by ^Nlr. Eliot and several others, who were deeply interested in witnessing the effects of civili- zation and Christianity upon the Indians. The object of the visit was to confirm the churches, settle teachers over. them and to establish civil government. Religious services were held, :\Ir. Eliot preaching in the Indian tongue. On September 15th they reached Myanexet, where John Moqua was appropriately installed as their minister. Difficulties being in the way they did not visit Quinnatisset, but appointed a young man of Natick, 3 18 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. called Daniel, to be their minister, the appointment being ac- ceptable to the people there. The party arrived at Wabbaquasset on the evening of the 15th. Here they found a good soil and a ripening crop of corn which would yield not less than forty bushels to the acre. A spacious wigwam, about sixty feet long and twenty wide, was the resi- dence of the sachem, who was inclined to religion and had the meetings on Sabbath days at his house. The sachem was absent but his squaw admitted them and hospitably entertained them. The people were called together, among them Sampson, their teacher, and a good part of the night was spent in religious ex- ercises and conference. One grim Indian alone sat mute and took no part in what was passing. At length, after a great space, he arose and spoke, declaring himself a messenger from Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, who challenged right to and dominion over this people of Wabbaquasset. " Uncas," said he, " is not well pleased that the English should pass over Mohegan river [Quinebaug] to call his Indians to pray to God." The timid Wabbaquassets quailed at this lofty message from their sovereign master, but Mr. Eliot answered calmly, " that it was his work to call upon men everywhere to repent and em- brace the Gospel, but he did not meddle with civil right or juris- diction." Gookin, with the authority befitting his office as magistrate, then declared unto him and desired him to inform Uncas " that Wabbaquasset was within the jurisdiction of Massa- chusetts, and that the government of that people did belong to them, and they look upon themselves concerned to promote the good of all people within their limits, especially if they em- brace Christianity — yet it was not intended to abridge the Indian sachems of their just and ancient rights over the Indians in respect of paying tribute or any other dues, but the main design of the English was to bring them to the good knowledge of God in Christ, and to suppress among them their sins of drunkenness, idolatry, powwowing and witchcraft. As for the English, thev had taken no tribute from them, nor taxed them with anything of that kind." At this the meeting ended and no more was heard of the messenger from Uncas. On the day following, September 16th, 1674, religious services were held at which the people of this and the other two villages were present, after which Major Gookin held a court and estab- lished civil government among them. Sampson, who was spoken HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 19 of as " an actiYe and ingenious person, who spake good English and read well," was approved as teacher among them, and Black James was appointed constable. Each was inducted into the office to which he was appointed with an appropriate charge to be diligent and faithful in their places, and the people M-ere ex- horted to yield them proper obedience in the Gospel of Christ. He then published a warrant or order, empowering the constable to suppress drunkenness and Sabbath breaking, and especially powwowing and idolatry, and after giving due warnmg, to appre- hend all delinquents and bring them before authority to answer for their misdeeds. For offenses of lesser magnitude he was to bring them before Wattasa Companum of Hassanamesset, " a grave and pious man of the chief sachem's blood,"— but for serious offenses like idolatry and powwowing to bring them be- fore the magistrate Gookin himself. Mr. Eliot, Major Gookin and their party returned the same day, being well pleased with the success of the efforts which had been made to civilize and Christianize the Indians. Seventy families in Windham territory had been brought under the influence of these efforts and the results were encouraging to the expectation that from this fair beginning light would shine into all the dark region around them. These hopeful prospects were soon blighted. The Narra- gansett (King Philip's) war broke out in the following summer and swept away at once the result of years of missionary labor. The villages were deserted, the churches fell to pieces and the Praying Indians relapsed into savages. The Nipmucks east of the Quinebaug joined the Narragansetts, and the fearful Wabba- quassets left their pleasant villages and planting fields and threw themselves under the protection of Uncas at Mohegan. Early in August, 1675, a company of Providence men, under Captain Nathaniel Thomas, went out in pursuit of Philip, who had just effected his escape to the Nipmuck country, and on the night of August 3d, reached the second fort in that country, " called by the Indians Wapososhequash " (Wabbaquasset). This was on a hill a mile or two south of what is now Woodstock hill. Captain Thomas reports " a very good inland country, well watered with rivers and brooks, special good land, great quanti- ties of special good corn and beans, and stately wigwams as I never saw the like ; but not one Indian to be seen." The Wabba- quassets were then serving with the Mohegans, and aided in 20 HISTORY OF WIXDHAM COUNTY. various forays and expeditions, bringing in on one occasion over a hundred of Philip's men, so that each warrior, at the close of the campaign of 1675, was rewarded for his services by " a payre of breechis " from the Connecticut government. No battle or skirmish is reported during the war as occurring within the present Windham county territory, but it was re- peatedly traversed by scouting parties, and companies of soldiers were sent at different times to " gather all the corne and secure all the swine that could be found therein." In June, 1676, Major Talcot went out from Norwich on an expedition through the Nip- muck country with 240 English soldiers and 200 Indian warriors. They marched first to Egunk, where they hoped to salute the enemy, and thence to Wabbaquasset, scouring the woods through this long tract, but found the country everywhere deserted. At Wabbaquasset they found a fort and about forty acres of corn growing, but no enemy. The village, with its "stately wigwams," had perhaps been previously destroyed. They demolished the fort, destroyed the corn, and then proceeded to Chaubongagum, where they killed and captured fifty-two of the enemy. In this connection it will be of interest to quote the following paragraphs from an article by Reverend Martin Moore in the American Quarterly Register for February, 1843. Speaking of the Praying Indians in both Massachusetts and Connecticut, he says : " Philip's war produced a disastrous effect upon these praying towns. He formed a confederacy among the natives for the purpose of exterminating the English. He used every possible art to draw the Praying Indians into this league. The English on the other hand feared that they would turn traitors. The praying Indians stood between two fires. Both parties needed their assistance, and neither of them dared trust them. The number of praying Indians was about 3,000. The whole num- ber of English was about 20,000. Philip's confederacy probably numbered less. It was quite an object with both parties, who were nearly balanced, to secure the praying Indians. The Eng- lish were so fearful of them that at the commencement of the contest they dared not take them to the war. The o-eneral court finally removed them to Deer island in Boston harbor. In December, 1675, General Gookin and Mr. Eliot visited them. ' I observed in all my visit to them,' says Gookin, ' that they carried themselves patiently, humbly and piously, without mur- HISTORY OF WIXDHAM COUNTY. 21 muring or complaining against the English for their sufferings (which were not few), for they chiefly lived upon clams and shell-fish that they digged out of the sand at low water. The island was bleak and cold ;. their wigwams were poor and mean ; their clothes few and thin. Some little corn they had of their own which the court ordered to be fetched from their planta- tions, and conveyed to them by little and little ; also a boat and man was appointed to look after them. I may say in the words of truth that there appeared much of practical Christianity in this time of their trial." One of their number thus bewailed his condition to Mr. Eliot : ' Oh, sir,' said he, ' I am greatly distressed this day on every side ; the English have taken away some of my estate, my corn, my cattle, my plow, cart, chain and other goods. The enemy Indians have taken part of what I had ; and the wicked Indians mock and scoff at me, saying, " now what is come of your praying to God? " The English also censure me and say I am a hypocrite. In this distress I have nowhere to look but up to God in the heavens to help me. Now my dear wife and eldest son (through the English threatening) run away, and I fear will perish in the woods for want of food ; also my aged mother is lost, and all this doth aggravate my grief. Yet I desire to look up to God in Christ Jesus, in whom alone is help.' Being asked whether he had not assisted the enemy in their wars when he was amongst them, he answered, ' I never joined with them against the English. Indeed they often solicited me, but I utterly denied and refused them. I thought within myself, it is better to die than fight against the church of Christ.' After the war had raged for a while the minds of the English were softened toward them. They let them go forth to the war under the command of English officers. General Gookin says that they took and destroyed not less than four hundred of Philip's men." " Tradition has handed down to us some anecdotes respecting individuals, which exhibit the shrewdness of the Indian char- acter. Waban, at whose wigwam at Nonantum Mr. Eliot began to preach, was commissioned as a justice of the peace. Instead of having a long warrant, needlessly multiplying words, as legal instruments do at the present day, he was accustomed to issue his precepts in a very laconic form. When he directed his war- rant to a constable, he simply wrote : ' Quick you catch um, fast you hold um, and bring um before me, Justice Waban.' On an- 22 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. other occasion a young justice asked him what he should do- with Indians after they had had a drunken fight, and entered a complaint against any of their number? His reply was, ' Whip um plaintiff, whip um defendant and whip um witnesses.' The death of Philip in August, 1676, closed this bloody and destructive war. The Nipmucks found themselves almost anni- hilated. " I went to Connecticut," said Sagamore Sam of Nash- away, " about the captives there and found the English had de- stroyed those Indians, and when I came home we were also destroyed." The grave and pious Wattasa Companum, enticed away by Philip's men, was executed in Boston. Gookin was the only magistrate who opposed the people in their rage against the wretched natives. The few remaining Nipmucks found a refuge with some distant tribes, the Wabbaquassets remaining with Uncas at Mohegan. The aboriginal inhabitants of the future Windham county were destroyed or scattered, and their territory opened to English settlement and occupation. CHAPTER III. SETTLEMENT. First Attempts at Settlement.— The Inter-Colonial Route.— Purchase of Land by John Winthrop. — Indian Title and Subsequent Confirmation.— Dispute as to Colonial Jurisdiction.— Indian Claims Revived.— Laud in the Market.— Influx of Speculators.— First Lands Laid Out.— Boundary Disputes with Massachusetts.— Claims of Uncas to the Wabbaquasset Country.— Land on the Quinebaug Sold. — Owaneco Appoints James Fitch his Attorney or Guar- dian. — Makes over to him Mohegan and Wabbaquasset Lands. — Fitch Sells Land to Roxbury. — Joshua Bequeaths Land to Sixteen Norwich Gentlemen. — Agreement of the Legatees. — Windham Settlements Made. — Depression of Improvements under Andros — Slow Progress of Settlement. — Religious and Social Affairs. — Settlement of the Disputed Section in the Southeast Part of the County. — Some of the Early Settlers. — Early Days of the Quinebaug Country. — Settlement in the Whetstone Country and the Volunteer's Land. IN the early commerce between the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut a popular route over the land was through the region now covered by Windham county. Remote from the sea shore, and possessing no navigable lakes or rivers, it was perfectly reasonable that this territory should be for a time overlooked, or rather that it should be passed by as a goodly land for the home-seekers in a new world to locate upon. Ac- cessibility by water was to the first settlers an almost absolutely essential feature in any site chosen by them for the planting of a little colony. But we may well imagine that the fertile valleys and hills of this beautiful region, and the picturesque attractions of the future Windham did not long remain unnoticed. The land became known to the English about the year 1635. When, about that time, the early colonists began to traverse the " hide- ous and trackless wilderness," on the way from Massachusetts to the Connecticut river, tradition tells us their encampment for the night was on Pine hill in Ashford. A rude track, called the Connecticut Path, obliquely crossing the Wabbaquasset country, became the main thoroughfare of travel between the two colonies. Hundreds of families toiled over it to new homes 24 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. in the wilderness. The fathers of Hartford and Ncav Haven, ministers and governors, captains and commissioners, govern- ment officials and land speculators, crossed and recrossed over it. Civilization passed to regions beyond but made no abiding place here for more than half a centurj'. One of the most indefatigable land speculators of that period was Mr. John Winthrop. In Massachusetts, in Rhode Island, in Connecticut and upon Long Island his tracks may be seen, as, first in one locality and then in another, he obtained title more or less perfect to the wild lands occupied by the Indians. Here in the territory now occupied by Windham county he was the first Englishman to receive from the natives a deed for an in- definite quantity of land. This conveyance bears date Novem- ber 2d, 1653, and purports to have been given by James, sachem of Quinebaug, and confirmed by Massashowitt, his brother, and also to have been made with the consent, " full and free," of Aguntus, Pumquanon, Massitiarno, his brother, and Moas, " and all the rest of the chief men of these parts." The confirmation by others than James was made on the 25th of the same month, the writings being witnessed by Richard Smith, Samuel Smith, John Gallop, James Avery and William Weloma. The consid- erations named were "great friendship formerly from Mr. Win- throp, sometime governor of Massachusetts," the father of the grantee, and the fact that the latter had erected a saw mill at Pequot, which the grantors consider as a great prospective means for developing the forest resources of the country. The description of land conveyed was as follows : " the bounds thereof to be from the present plot of the Indians' planting ground at Quinebaug, where James, his fort is, on a hill at the said Pautuxett, and so down towards Shautuxkett so farr as the right of the said James doth reach or any of his men ; so farr on both sides the river as ye right of ye said James doth reach or any of his men, with all the swamps of cedar, pine, spruce or any other timber and wood whatever." The name Pautuxett, a general name for " falls," here refers to the falls at Acquiunk. In the transactions connected with this conveyance we are told a Pequot Indian, well known by the name of Robin Cassa- minon, acted as interpreter. One of the Indians named, Aguntus, was dissatisfied with the transaction and accused James, also named Hyems, of " selling land that was not his," and com- pelled him, in the presence of Winthrop, to pull off a coat which HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 25 he had received in payment. Aguntus's dissatisfied spirit, how- ever, was appeased by the presentation of " a roll of trucking- cloth, two rolls of red cotton, wampum, stockings, tobacco-pipes and tobacco." According to Trumbull there was a small num- ber of white families on the lands at the time of the purchase, but no trace of them has been recovered. An Englishman had attempted to settle in Quinebaug about the year 1650, but was driven off by the threat of Hyems, " to bury him alive unless he went away. Governor Winthrop took great pains to secure legal confirma- tion of this purchase. The Narragansetts were precluded from prosecuting their ancient claim to this territory by an especial clause in the agreement made by himself and John Clarke as agents for Connecticut and Rhode Island, concerning the divid- ing line between their respective governments, which provided that "if any part of that purchase at Quinebaug doth lie along upon the east side of that river that goeth down by New London, Avithin six miles of the said river, then it shall wholly belong to Connecticut Colony, as well as the rest which lieth on the west- ern side of the aforesaid river." The general court of Connec- ticut in October, 1671, allowed Governor Winthrop his Indian purchase at Quinebaug, and gave him liberty to erect thereon a plantation, but none appears ever to have been attempted under this permission. As a result of its border location the territory of Windham was long in dispute as to jurisdiction. The northern part was for a long time held by Massachusetts. The patent of Connec- ticut allowed her territory to extend northward to the head of Narragansett river, but the prior grant to Massachusetts re- stricted it to the southern bound of the Bay Colony, " three miles south of every part of Charles River." In 1642 the southern boundary line was run out from a point on Wrentham Plain, which was settled upon as being three miles south of Charles river, to a point in Windsor, Connecticut, which was really ten or twelve miles farther south than the starting point. This was the famous Woodward and Saffery's line, and it was maintained by Massachusetts as her southern boundary for seventy years, even against the repeated remonstrances of Connecticut. By this ■deflection the land now included in Woodstock and Thompson belonged to Massachusetts, and as a part of the vacant Nipmuck country awaited the action of that colony in its disposal, which. 26 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. on account of being weakened by the Indian war, was delayed for several years until she could recover sufficient pioneering- vigor to take hold of it. After the scenes of King Philip's war had closed and quiet and confidence were gradually restored, many of the Indians, re- covering from the shock of defeat, gathered again around their old homes and laid claim to various sections. To adjust these claims the general court of Massachusetts in May, 1681, appointed William Stoughton and Joseph Dudley, two men of prominence in public affairs there,' to investigate the basis of Indian claims in the Nipmuck country. A hearing was accordingly held by them in June, and Mr. John Eliot acted as interpreter on that occasion. Black James, the former constable at Chaubongagum, now appeared as claimant for the south part of the Nipmuck country. The commissioners found the Indians " willing enough to make claim to the whole country, but litigious and doubtful among themselves." They then adjourned to September, in the meantime hoping that some mutual agreement might be- arrived at. Then they spent a week exploring the country, at- tended by the principal claimants. They reported Black James' claim as being " capable of good settlement, if not too scant of meadow, though uncertain what will fall within our bounds if our line be to be questioned." They further recommended that some compensation be made to the claimants and that the latter surrender all their lands to the government and company of Massachusetts. This advice was accepted and Stoughton and Dudley were authorized to negotiate with the claimants and enter into an agreement with them upon the best terms ob- tainable. As a result of these negotiations the whole Nipmuck country from the northern part of Massachusetts to Nashaway, at the junction of the Quinebaug and French rivers in Connec- ticut, a tract fifty miles long by twenty wide, was, on the 10th of February, 1682, made over to the Massachusetts government for the sum of fifty pounds. Black James received, for himself and some forty followers, twenty pounds in money and a reservation of land five miles square. This Indian reservation was laid out in two tracts of land, one on the east of the Quinebaug at Myanexet, now included in the towns of Dudley, Webster and Thompson ; the other at Quinnatisset, now the south part of Thompson. Five thousand acres at Quinnatisset and a large tract at Myanexet, being a HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 27 moiety or full half of the whole reservation, were immediately conveyed to Stoughton and Dudley for the sum of ten pounds. A deed for this was given by Black James and his associates, the native proprietors, November 10th, 1682. These commis- sioners, Stoughton and Dudley, thus became personally the first white proprietors of Windham's share of the Nipmuck country. Dudley retained for a long time his fine farm on the Quinebaug. The Quinnatisset land was ' soon subdivided to other pur- chasers. Such a large tract of country being thrown into the market at once incited a rage for land speculation, and capitalists hastened to secure possession of favorable localities. June 18th, 1683, Joseph Dudley, for two hundred and fifty pounds, conveyed to Thomas Freak, of Hamington, Wells county, England, two thousand acres of forest land in the Nipmuck country, part of a greater quantity purchased of Black James. Two thousand acres in upland and meadow at Quinnatisset were also made over by Stoughton to Robert Thompson of North Newington, Middlesex, England, for two hundred pounds, English money. This Thomp- son was a very noted person, president of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and a devoted friend of the colonies. The land was laid out by John Gore, of Rox- bury, under the supervision of Colonel William Dudley, in June, 1684. This land remained in the family of Thompson for up- wards of a hundred years, and the town which subsequently in- cluded it was named in his honor. Freak's farm included the site of the present village of Thompson. The line dividing it from Thompson's ran through an old Indian fort on a hill a mile eastward. Five hundred acres south of Freak's were laid out to Gore, and five hundred on the north to Benjamin Gambling, of Roxbury, an assistant surveyor. These Quinnatisset tracts were not only the first lands laid out in the northern part of Windham, but are invested with additional interest by their connection with the disputed southern bound- ary of Massachusetts. Woodward and Saffery's line crossed the Quinebaug at its junction with the French river, and thence ran northeasterly to Rhode Island and Wrentham. It was intended to make this line the south bound of the Quinnatisset farms, but by an unfortunate blunder the greater part of Thompson's land and an angle of Gore's fell south of it, intruding upon what even Massachusetts acknowledged as Connecticut territory— an 28 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. intrusion which gave rise to much controversy and confusion. No attempt was made b}' their owners to occupy or cultivate these lands. A tract of twelve hundred acres lying between the Quinebaug and French rivers was sold by Nanasogegog, of Nipmuck, with the consent of Black James, to Jonathan Curtis, Thomas Dudley, Samuel Rice and others, in 1684 ; but other claimants apparently secured it. John Collins and John Cotton had each of them five hundred acres granted to them by the Massachusetts govern- ment, laid out on the east side of the Quinebaug in Quinnatisset. On the south of Lake Chaubongagum a tract of one thousand acres was granted to the children of Mr. William Whiting, sometime of Hartford. In the adjustment of Indian claims Uncas assumed the right to a large share of eastern Connecticut. Massachusetts yielded to his claim the whole Wabbaquasset country. The tract con- firmed to him as the hereditary territory of the Mohegans was bounded on the north by a line running from Mahmunsook on Whetstone brook to the junction of thfe Quinebaug and Assa- waga at Acquiunk, thence westward to the Willimantic and far beyond it. The Wabbaquasset country was held by him as a Pequot conquest. It extended from the Mohegan north bound far into Massachusetts, and westward from the Quinebaug to a line running through the "great pondSnipsic," now in Tolland. This large tract was given by Uncas to his second son, Owaneco, while the land between the Appaquage and Willimantic rivers was assigned by him to his third son, Atanawahood or Joshua, sachem of the Western Niantics. The latter died in May, 1676, bequeathing the land between the Willimantic and Appaquage to Captain John Mason and fifteen other men " in trust for a plan- tation." His estate was settled according to the terms of his will, the general assembly of Connecticut allowing the Norwich legatees the lands bequeathed to them at Appaquage, which, as soon as practicable, was incorporated as the township of Wind- ham. In the year 1679 some of the Mohegan Indians in a drunken carousal set fire to the New London county prison and destroyed it. The county court in September of that year ordered that Uncas and Owaneco should render satisfaction for the damage by surrendering their right to six hundred acres of land. The general court at Hartford in October confirmed this judgment HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 29 and ordered the county treasurer; James Fitch, Jr., to dispose of the land. A tract of six hundred acres was accordingly selected lying on both sides of the Quinebaug, extending from Wanan- gatuck on the north to a brook, now known as Rowland's brook, on the south. This was included in Winthrop's purchase of 1653. It was sold for forty pounds to John, Solomon and Daniel Tracy and Richard Bushnell, the survey being made in June, 1680. A farm south of John Tracy's division, adjoining the river island, Peagscomsueck, which gave its name to this section of the Quinebaug valley, was given to James Fitch by Owaneco, and laid out during the summer of the same year. Notwithstanding the general court had allowed Governor John Winthrop his purchase at Quinebaug, some nine years before, yet in May, 1680, that body ordered that " if Uncas hath right to any land about Quinebaug he may make it out and dispose of it to his son Owaneco and such gentlemen as he shall see cause. Under this sanction Owaneco assumed the right to the whole Quinebaug country as well as Wabbaquasset. Swarms of greedy land hunters now assailed the Mohegan chieftain, eager to ob- tain possession of these lands upon any pretext. Their chief friends and patrons were the sons of Major John Mason, the re- nowned conqueror of the Pequots, Mr. Fitch, the excellent min- ister of Norwich, and James Fitch, his son. Uncas was now in the years of his decay and Owaneco was drunken and incapable of managing business affairs with pru- dence and skill. The latter, however, was induced to consent to place his land claims in the hands of the younger James Fitch, to act for him as a sort of guardian, and accordingly gave Fitch a writing in effect a power of attorney, to dispose of all his lands and meadows upon the Quinebaug river, according to his discre- tion. This was done December 22d, 1680. By a formal deed of conveyance which was further confirmed by the general court of Connecticut, Owaneco, in 1684, made over to Captain James Fitch also the whole Wabbaquasset country. The Mohegan and Wabbaquasset lands were then for the first time surveyed and bounded, and their bounds confirmed by the assembly. The whole of the territory now embraced in Windham county, with the exception of two tracts, was thus placed in the hands of one individual, who was destined to play a very prominent part in its early history and subsequent development. The two excepted tracts above referred to were that of Joshua's, between the Willi- 30 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. mantic and Appaquage rivers, and a strip east of the Quinebaug which had been divided between the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. James Fitch, at first captain, and afterward known as major, was a man of great energy, shrewdness and business capacity. As soon as he gained possession of this land he threw it into the market. Personal interest, as well as the good of the public, led him to seek to dispose of these vast tracts to good and sub- stantial settlers — to colonies and towns rather than to indi- viduals and speculators. The northern part of the Wabbaquasset tract was under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and to a Massachusetts company Fitch sold his first township. This was the town of Roxbury, which had grown so large that it was con- sidered advisable to send out some of its members to plant a new town somewhere in the wilderness. Accordingly, after extended deliberations and due consideration of the preliminary measures, .a tract about seven miles square was purchased, and about the first of April, 1686, thirteen pioneers began to break up the ground and prepare for the improvement of New Roxbury, afterward Woodstock. The further particulars in regard to this tract will be given in connection with the history of Woodstock in another part of this work. Four months previous to the division and distribution of land for actual settlement in the upper end of Windham county, steps in a similar direction were being taken in the lower end of the territory. The fact that land here had been confirmed in title to Joshua, the third son of Uncas, has already been alliided to. By bequest this tract was granted to sixteen gentlemen of Nor- wich and adjoining towns. Their names were Captain John Mason, Lieutenant Samuel Mason, Lieutenant Daniel Mason, Reverend James Fitch, Captain James Fitch, John Birchard, Thomas Tracy, Thomas Adgate, Lieutenant Thomas Leffing- well, John Olmstead, Simon Huntington, William Hide, William Backus, Hugh Calkins, Captain George Denison and Daniel Wetherell. Joshua's will, granting the very extensive tract, which will be presently described, was allowed and established by the general court of Connecticut in May, 1678, and the persons named were allowed to possess all of Joshua's rights in the land, provided they should comply with the conditions therein named. Though the legality of Joshua's title to various other tracts conveyed. by HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 31 rtliis will occasioned much subsequent controversy and litigation, the Norwich legatees secured their portion with little difficulty and no apparent opposition. Robin Cassasinamon— governor of the surviving Pequots— was commissioned by Uncas to show these men the bounds of their tract, and soon after its confirma- tion by the general court he set out with a party of the legatees and a surveyor by the name of Bushnell into the wilderness north of Norwich. Passing through Mamosqueage, a strip north of Norwicli reserved for Joshua's children, they followed an old Indian trail eight miles northward, the trail being known in those days as the Nipmuck Path, to a flag meadow which was called Appaquage. Here their bounds were to begin. After ■ encamping for the night, the next morning they struck through the woods ten miles to the Willimantic river, where they spent the second night. Thence they followed Robin down the Wil- limantic to Mamosqueage. Soon after this priliminary explor- ation Bushnell and Joseph Huntington were sent by the lega- tees " to measure down eight m.iles from Appaquage, by the said Nipmuck Path," which they did, " and marked a white oak at ■ the end of said ei^ht miles, west side of path." The lines of the whole tract were soon afterward run by Simon Huntington, ' Thomas Leffingwell, Jr., and Richard Bushnell, under the direc- tion of Uncas. In October, 1681, Captain Robert Chapman, Captain James Fitch and Thomas Buckingham were appointed administrators of Joshua's estate, and they, during the following winter conveyed according to the terms of the will, "a tract of land lying to the -west of Appaquage, east from Willimantic River, south from Appaquage Pond, eight miles broad," to the legatees whose names have already been given. The recipients of this princely gift were all gentlemen of high . character and standing. Samuel and Daniel Mason resided in Stonington, Mr. Wetherell in New London, and the others in Norwich. The following agreement was signed by the legatees February 17th, 1682: " I. God willing, plantation work shall be carried on and a town settled within the space of four years, that is to say, we, after the above-mentioned time is expired, will bear all such public charges according to our just proportion for the carrying . on plantation, work. " II. Those that find they are not in a capacity to manage the . several allotments ior the .carrying on of the true intendment 32 HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. and end of a plantation shall resign up their allotments to such wholesome inhabitants as the said company shall see reason to admit, upon reasonable and moderate terms. "III. We having received the land, and upon a view judge that it will afford an allotment for every thousand acres, accord- ing to the distribution made by Uncas (who was appointed by the deceased son to act), with some other allotments for public uses in the several divisions, first, second, and third of the land bequeathed to us. " IV. It is agreed that the allotments be laid out in an equal manner, every one contenting himself with the place where God by his providence shall determine, by a lot drawn for that end, and the drawing of one lot shall answer for the home-lot and for the first division of upland and meadow. It is also agreed that Simon Huntington, William Backus, John Post and John Birchard shall lay out the same according to the order and manner above specified." Three years passed without any material progress being made toward the settlement of this large tract. In February, 1685, it was agreed to make settlements in three different places, for the convenience of lands and meadows. By the following spring the surveys and divisions were completed and the land was ready for distribution. Beginning at Appaquage — " a flaggy meadow," — now at or near the southeast corner of Eastford, the boundary line of the tract ran south eight miles, large measure, on the west side of Nipmuck Path ; thence due west to the She- tucket, running a little south of the present site of Windham Green ; thence eight miles northwest, up the Shetucket and Wil- limantic, and thence ten miles east to Appaquage. A large part of the present territory of Windham, Mansfield, Chaplin, Hamp- ton and Scotland townships was comprised in this royal gift, which was laid out in forty-eight shares, each containing a thousand acres. Each share included a home-lot in one of the three villages planned, and portions of meadow, pasture and upland in different localities. The three village sites selected were the Hither-place or Southeast Quarter, now Old Windham, village ; the Ponde-place, at Naubesatuck, now Mansfield Cen- tre ; and the valley of the Willimantic, near the site of the pres- ent borough of that name. Fifteen home-lots were laid out at the Hither-place, twenty-one at the Ponde-place, and twelve at Willimantic. Highways were laid out through each village HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 33 plat and from the Hither-place to the Ponde-place. The com- mittee spent five days in making the surveys and measurements, and were paid for their services at the rate of three shillings a day, but those who ran lines received an extra shilling a day. The allotments were made to individuals by drawing, on the 1st of j\lay, 1686. The common owners were probably all pres- ent, either in person or by representatives. Captain John M ason, William Hide and John Olmstead, having previously died, were represented by their heirs or administrators. It is a fact worthy of note that these men assembled on this occasion recognized the superintendence of an all seeing Providence, and impressed with the thought that this was serious, earnest business, and that consequences far greater than they could foresee might hang upon the results of their work, did not enter upon that work until " after prayer for direction and blessing." They then drew lots for their respective portions ; some receiving one and some six shares, according to the royal pleasure of Uncas, who had ordered the distribution. Three shares were reserved for the ministry and other public purposes, according to previous agreement. The settlement and improvement of this great tract was at first slow. This will not seem so strange when we remember that the events which we are noticing occurred about the time when the status of liberty in the colonies was wavering in the balance. Connecticut, like other colonies, was suffering from the encroachments of King James. Her privileges were cut off, her charter demanded, and her government assumed by that unsavory administrator. Sir Edmond Andross. Under his arbi- trary rule attempts at settlement were discouraged. He con- sidered an " Indian deed worth no more than the scratch of a bear's paw," and would have scouted the right of the legatees to land bequeathed by an Indian chieftain. There is no record of any attempt to secure confirmation of title from Andross. It was doubtless thought more prudent to wait in silence and in the meantime make what few improvements might be practica- ble until some turn of political affairs should bring them better opportunities. Some transfers of title were made among the legatees, but no substantial settlement was made until after the restoration of charter government in 1689. Captain Samuel Mason in 1677 transferred a thousand acre right to his brother-in-law. Captain 3 34 HISTORY OF WIXDHAM COUNTY. John Brown. In 1686 Captain James Fitch sold a similar right to Josiah 'Standish, of Duxbury, who convej^ed the same to Jacob Dingley, of Hingham, two years later. May 26th, 1688, Richard Bushnell sold to Jeremiah Ripley, also of Hingham, a similar share. Daniel Wetherell at the same date sold to Joshua Rip- ley an allotment. ' During the same summer also Calkins sold a right to Jonathan Hough, and Backus a right to Hough, Abel and Rudd. In this way the different shares and rights began to be transferred and their ownership divided and subdivided un- til in a short time one who should attempt to follow them would find himself in a perplexing labyrinth of titles. For many years this tract appears to have been uninhabited and unoccupied except as an occasional hunting ground. The Indians had left it many years before, and the white settlers were slow in improving it. John Gates is said to have been the first actual settler upon it. Having bought an allotment of Dan- iel Mason at the Hither-place, he built a house upon it in the summer of 1689. Some other lots were fenced in, ground pre- pared and timber made ready for building during, that summer. A division of pasture land was also laid out and distributed. The second settler is said to have been Jonathan Ginnings, who bought land of John Birchard, and took possession in 1690. Other settlers soon followed, but it is a fact which may be men- tioned as somewhat a curiosity that none of the original lega- tees made any actual settlement or improvements upon their rights. The nearest to such a thing done by any of them was that the share of Reverend James Fitch was improved by his son John ; William Backus resigned his rights to his two sons ; Huntington's right was made over to a son and nephew ; and John Birchard's land was occupied by two of his sons. The other legatees sold their rights, in accordance with the compact, "to wholesome inhabitants." Some improvements were made during the year 1691. Joshua and Jeremiah Ripley, John Crane, Richard Hendee, Thomas and Joseph Huntington, William and Joseph Backus and John Lar- rabee, had broken land, built houses and established themselves in the Hither-place. This was on what is now the west side of Windham street. Crane was a blacksmith and bought land of Calkins. Hendee bought land of Captain James Fitch. It is somewhere recorded that the young Backus brothers sold their accommodations in Norwich " to remove to the new, nameless HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 35 town springing up in the wilderness ten miles northwest of Norwich." The social conditions soon began to run in the cbanrels usral to civilized communities, as nearly as the peculiar surroundings would permit. Family affairs were not forgotten. The first child born in the settlement was a daughter to Jonathan Gin- nings, and the date was February 10th, 1691. The first public meeting of the settlers of which we have any knowledge was on -the 18th of May, 1691. Joshua Ripley, Jonathan Crane, William Backus and Joseph Backus were then directed, " To run the town lines from Appaquage eight miles south, and thence south west to Willimantic River." This work was accomplished by the 28th of the same month. During this summer a grist mill was established and set in operation by Jonathan Crane. This stood on the site of the present Bingham's Mills. A pound was .also constructed on the Hither-place, and preparations were made for settling at the Ponde-place. Religious services were held occasionally by the Reverend Mr. Fitch and his son Jabez. On such occasions the settlers and their families, with whatever wandering natives happened to be with them, assembled under a tree to listen to the preaching and engage in the other exer- cises of the hour. These settlers were mostly connected with the Norwich church, and attended divine worship there when- ever practicable. The old Nipmuck Path, on the east of the tract, and a rough way made by the first surveyors, connected the settlements. In the fall of that year (1691) the prospects of the settlement becoming permanent were sufficiently bright to encourage the settlers to petition the general court of Connecti- cut to grant them a charter as a town. This resulted in the or- ganization of the town of Windham under authority of an order •of the court granted May 12th, 1692, and consummated by the act of the people on the 12th of June following. Further par- ticulars of this will be found in the chapters of this work de- voted to the history of Windham town. We have now reviewed in brief the purchases from the In-