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 History of Norwich, Connecticut- from it 
 
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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/cletails/cu31924028843055 
 

 
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PREFACE. 
 
 The History of Norwich, published in 1845, having been for several 
 years out of print, it seems desirable that the public should be furnished 
 with a new and more complete work, — one that shall not only bring the 
 course of events to the present time, but shall glean over again the records 
 of the past, and be more exhaustive in regard to memorials of former 
 days. The first edition may be regarded as a preliminary foray into a 
 district so rich in resources, that the invader could not leave it without a 
 deep-seated determination to return and more thoroughly explore the field. 
 
 The History has been entirely re-written, and is, in fact, a new work. 
 The author has coiif^idered it an imperative duty to review all the sources 
 of information, and to make it as complete a town history as the materials 
 would permit. This led to a considerable delay in the original purpose 
 which was to have it appear in 1860, as an offering to the two hundredth 
 year. But had it been issued then, it would have closed with the Bi- 
 Centeunial festival of the town, without any warning of that mighty con- 
 vulsion which was about to upheave the country, and the closing chapters 
 which display the patriotism, energy, and sacrifices of the town in the war 
 for the Union, would have been wanting. 
 
 The author is now enabled to speak with more certainty than in the 
 former history upon many points, and particularly concerning the ancestoi's 
 of families. Yet the work is designed to be strictly a History, not a col- 
 lection of Genealogies. The field was too opulent in narrative materials 
 to leave space for following out the family branches of so large a surface, 
 and to map out the descendants of a few of the fathers of the town and 
 not of all, would make the work a failure. ' 
 
 It has been the aim of the writer to avoid profuse laudation, yet to be- 
 stow praise where it was due, and invariably to speak of men and meas- 
 
IV PBBPACE. 
 
 ures historically, without straining the records, or ranking probabilities as 
 certainties. Mistakes are made and errors propagated in history till they 
 become current, and truth is lost by a loose and thoughtless way of para- 
 phrasing the original annals, and giving the transcriber's impressions of 
 the scene, rather than the strict features of the scene itself. The idea 
 thus conveyed is often at variance with the facts. We look at the pic- 
 ture through another man's mind and see it colored with the hue of his 
 prejudices. 
 
 This history has not been written as a task, but rather for the pleasure 
 it gave ; flowers grew and fragrance filled the air, all along the path of 
 research. The author can but hope that some few readers — aged and 
 lonely people, or those among the stirring and ardent, who turn reverently 
 toward the past, the youth perchance whose curiosity is excited to know 
 what has been done on this spot in other times, and the far-oflf wanderer 
 that cherishes Norwich as his own early home, or the seat of his ancestors 
 — will experience in the perusal some portion of that satisfying interest 
 which was felt in the preparation. 
 
 The work is larger than the author had forecasted ; there is more of it 
 perhaps than is desirable ; yet the original manuscript has been much 
 abridged and condensed to bring it within this compass. 
 
PEEFAOE TO EDITIOl^ OF 1874. 
 
 At the time of the decease of the author of this History there remained 
 in sheets in the hands of the printers about 350 copies of the work. The 
 undersigned, after consulting with a few friends in Norwich who have 
 always manifested much interest in their local history, determined to pre- 
 fix a brief memoir of the author and to add such number of pages to the 
 volume as would be necessary to bring the record of important local 
 events down to the close of the year 1873. 
 
 He desires to express Ms sincere thanks to Mr. John W. Stedman, 
 author and publisher of the Norwich Jubilee, for his kindness in preparing 
 the additional pages, and thus preserving many incidents of local interest 
 which might otherwise have been lost and forgotten. 
 
 All the contents of the history published iu 1866 will be found in this 
 volume, with the exception of the portraits of Samuel Huntington, 
 Ebenezer Huntington, John Breed, and Lydia H. Sigourney. Engravings 
 were originally printed from all the plates in sufficient number for the 
 present edition, but an accident to the building in which they were stored 
 destroyed a number of them, and only a portion of those thus destroyed could 
 be conveniently replaced. The portraits of Hiram P. Arms, David N. 
 Bentley, Eliza Huntington, Harriet P. Williams, and Frances M. Caul- 
 kins, are added to this edition. 
 
 HENEY P. HAVEN. 
 
 New London, Nov. 24, 1873. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 From time to time death i-emoves from this world those who have 
 filled high places of honor or trust, and those whose names have become 
 familiar to both young and old by their deeds of valor, or by their 
 contributions to the continually accumulating stores of human linow- 
 ledge and science. When such persons of special eminence depart 
 from among us, public tributes of respect and obituary notices bring 
 freshly before the living the virtues and talents of the deceased, and not 
 unfrequently a volume of biography preserves the memory of their 
 great or good deeds for the benefit of future generations 
 
 There are, however, all through our land many excellent and intel- 
 ligent men and women, who, in the more quiet walks of life, not only 
 shed light and happiness within their own circle of associates, but con- 
 tribute of the talents which the Lord has given them to elevate and 
 enlighten their fellow men. Loved and respected as widely as they are 
 known, when such choice spirits pass away it is surely right that the 
 call of living friends for some brief memorial of their well-spent lives 
 should be heeded and answered. 
 
 It has been deemed proper, in binding up for sale and circulation the 
 copies remaining on hand of the " History of Norwich " (the author's 
 last work), to prefix this brief memoir, which is mainly a reprint from 
 a sketch published in the " New J'^ngland Historical and Genealogical 
 Register" for October, 1869. 
 
 Frances Manwaring, daughter of Joshua and Fanny (Manwaring) 
 Caulkins, was born in New London, Conn., April 26, 1795, and died 
 there February 3, 1869. Her ancestry, on the paternal side, can be 
 traced to the early setttlers of Plymouth, Mass., and vicinity. 
 
 Mr. Richard Blinman, minister in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Eng- 
 land, having been silenced for non-conformity to the established church, 
 immigrated to this country, and is supposed to have arrived at Plymouth 
 in the autumn of 1 640. He was accompanied in his voluntary exile by 
 
'Cc^i'-i^j 
 
M E M I E . IX 
 
 Mr. Blinman was a man of good repute in New England, and is 
 spoken of by Gov. Winthrop as " godly and able." The town pledged 
 him a salary of £60 per annum, to be increased with their ability, and 
 liberal donations of land. The records show that they abundantly 
 fulfilled the last pledge, and he was probably- quite acceptable to the 
 people, as they built him a house on a high, pleasant lot, now Granite 
 street, west of the first burial ground. The reasons for relinquishing his 
 charge are not given, but he left New London early in 1658, and 
 removed to New Haven, where he resided about a year. He embarked 
 from New London in 1659, for England, via Newfoundland, and was 
 living in "the castle," city of Bristol, January, 1670-1.' 
 
 Soon after his pastor i-emoved, Hugh Calkin joined a Saybrook com- 
 pany, who had associated themselves for the purchase .'ind settlement of 
 Norwich, and a church being organized at Saybrook for the new town, 
 he was made a deacon. He seems not to have removed immediately) 
 but to have alternated in his business enterprises between the two t^wng 
 for about two years. He owned some large tracts of land in the 
 vicinity of New London which he retained for several years, but sold his 
 house, barn and home-lot on " New street" to William Douglass, in 
 February, 1661. An incident which gives us some insight into .the 
 habits and customs of the people of that day may here be mentioned. 
 In February, 1 672-3, Deacon Gaulkms, of Norwich, was served with a 
 writ from Mr. Leake, of Boston, for £3 10s., the amount of debt due to 
 William Rogers from the town of New London, for the rent of a building 
 that had been used for a meeting-house, some fifteen years before, and 
 for which Mr. Caulkins was the surety. The endorser satisfied the debt 
 and applied to the town for repayment. The obligation was acknowl- 
 edged, but hardly with the promptitude which would be expected at the 
 present time ; as appears from the following note on the town records : 
 " Upon demand, by Hugh Calkin, for money due to Mr. Leake, of Boston, 
 for improvement of a barn of Goodman Rogers, which said Calkin stood 
 engaged for to pay, this town doth promise to pay one Barrel of Pork to 
 said Calkin some time next winter." Hugh Calkin took a prominent 
 part in the town and church affairs of Norwich, and died there about the 
 year 1690, and as he was by his own deposition 72 years old in 1672, he 
 must have been about 90 at his death. He was doubtless interred in the 
 old burial ground in that town. 
 
 Of his wife we only know that her name was Ann. Hugh and Ann 
 Calkins are believed to have been the common ancestors of all persons 
 bearing the name in the United States. They had six children : Sarah, 
 Mary, John, Rebecca, Deborah and David.^ 
 
 iThe Journal of T/iomas Minor, of Stouington, says — Mr. Blinman " taught " in 
 New London, July 27, 1659 ; probably a farewell service. 
 2 
 
Xll M B M I E . 
 
 London," for Oliver Manwaring his brother-in-law. A part of this 
 purchase still remains in the name, being owned by R. A. Manwaring, 
 M. D., a lineal descendant, and has never been alienated. It is one of 
 the finest situations in the city, commanding a beautiful view of the 
 harbor and Long Island sound. 
 
 Whether Oliver' Manwaring had then just arrived, or had previously 
 been an inhabitant of the colony, is unknown. His wife wns Hannah, 
 the daughter of Richard Raymond, who was made a freeman at Salem, 
 Mass., 1634, afterwards removed to Norwalk, and thence, in 1664, to 
 Saybrook. Hannah was baptized at Salem, February, 1 643. ■ The date 
 of their marriage is unknown. She united with Mr. Bradstreet's church 
 in New London in 1671, and four of their children, all daughters, were 
 baptized September 1 0, in that year. They had ten children. Oliver' 
 Manwaring died November 3, 1723, nc-irly 90 years of age. Hannah 
 died December 18, 1717, aged 74. His will was dated March 15, 1721, 
 and all his children were living at that time. He bequeathed to his 
 grandson, John Richards, among others things, " that bond which I had 
 from my nephew Oliver Manwaring in England." The Manwarings 
 who settled in the vicinity of New London, are said to have been noted 
 for a sanguine temperament, resolution, impetuosity, and a certain degree 
 of obstinacy. They were lovers of discussion and good cheer. A florid 
 complexion, piercing black eyes and dark hair are described as personal 
 traits, which are still represented in their descendants. 
 
 Richard,^ the fifth child and oldest son, was baptized July 13, 1673. 
 He married Eleanor, daughter of Richard Jennings, May 25, 1710. 
 They had seven children. No record is preserved of the death of either 
 of them, but the inventory of his estate was taken May 10, 1763, and 
 probably indicates the correctness of the tradition, that he lived to the 
 age of 90. 
 
 Christopher,^ the sixth child and youngest son, was born September 
 1, 1722, and married Deborah— born December 9, 1722— daughter of 
 Robert Denison, January 31, 1745. They had thirteen children. He ■ 
 died in 1801, aged 79, and his will was proved May 8, of that year." His 
 wife survived him, and died March 22, 1816, in her 94th year. 
 
 Robert,' the oldest child of Christopher and Deborah, was born 
 December 16, 1745, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain James 
 Rogers, October 8, 1772, and by her had seven children. His wife died 
 August 31, 1798, aged 57, and was buried in New London. He was 
 twice married afterwards, having one child by each wife. Robert Man- 
 waring was a man of good information, and strong character. He was 
 for many years a deacon of the church in New London, and removed to' 
 
MEMO IE. XUl 
 
 North Parish, now Montville, in 1799, and to Norwich, Conn., in 1800, 
 where he died March 24, 1807, aged 61 years. He was buried in the 
 old yard in Norwich town. 
 
 Fannt,5 the third child of Robert and Elizabeth, was born November 
 6, 1776, and married, first, Joshua Caulkins, 1,792 ; second, Philemon 
 Haven, September 18, 1807. The news of the death of her young 
 husband came to Mrs. Caulkins before the birth of her daughter Frances 
 and at 19 years of age she found herself a widow with two children. She 
 had never left the paternal roof, and most of the time of her widowhood 
 was spent in the family of her father, Robert Man waring. 
 
 Having thus briefly traced the ancestry of Miss Caulkins in both 
 branches, from their first settlement in New England, the further object 
 of this sketch will be to note briefly some of the more interesting 
 events of her life, and the striking beauties and excellences of her 
 character. 
 
 During the year 1806, she became the pupil of Rev. Joshua Williams, 
 who taught a select school for young ladies on the green in Norwich 
 town, and though only eleven years of age, she appreciated and improved 
 the advantages enjoyed under this excellent teacher. He was an accom- 
 plished. Christian gentleman, of fine taste and literary culture, and she 
 always retained the pleasantest recollections of him, and, indeed, revered 
 his memory. As an illustration of that untiring industry and love for 
 valuable information which characterized her entire life, we may mention 
 that while attending this school, and before she had entered her twelfth 
 year, she patiently wrote out from memory a volume of educational 
 lectures as they were delivered, from week to week. The elements of 
 science which she acquired at this time were the foundation of all her 
 future knowledge and attainments in literature ; for, with occasional 
 opportunities of instruction from the best teachers, she was yet in a great 
 measure self-taught ; and when once aided in the rudiments of a study 
 or language would, herself, make all the progress she desired. She was 
 an insatiable reader, and it might almost be said that when very young 
 she devoured every book that came within her reach. While she enjoyed 
 fiction and works of a lighter character, her taste for solid reading was 
 early developed, and at eleven years of age she was familiar with the 
 English translation of the Iliad and Odyssey, and the thoughts of the 
 standard English writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
 entered into and gave a cast to her expanding mind. The germ of the strong 
 love for historical literature which chatacterized her later life was seen 
 occasionally in her early years. At one time, when only about ten years 
 old, she was missed while visiting at the house of a relative, and after 
 
XIV MEMOIR. 
 
 much searcli was found seated on an unused loom in the garret, deeply 
 absorbed in reading the history of Connecticut. As might be expected, 
 such a young person was a great favorite, not only among her juvenile 
 acquaintances, but with older persons who could appreciate her talents 
 and maturity of mind. Often would her young friends gather around her 
 and beg her to tell them a story ; and then, with a sweet and animated 
 countenance, she would commence the recital of some tale of romantic 
 interest, reproduced perhaps from her reading, or, not unfrequently, 
 drawn frona her own imagination. These recitals carried captive her 
 youthful audience, and invariably won their admiration and frequently 
 their boisterous applause. 
 
 In 1811 and '12, Miss Nancy M. Hyde, and Miss Lydia Huntley; 
 afterwards Mrs. Sigourney, were teaching a young ladies' school in 
 Norwich, and she enjoyed the superior advantages thus afforded for a 
 time, entering their school September, 1811. A book written in that 
 school and preserved by her, contains her first composition ; the subject 
 was " Antiquities." These ladies were both persons of superior literary 
 taste and culture, and doubtless exercised a very favorable influence on 
 her mind. Miss Huntley removed to Hartford in 181.5, and married Mr. 
 Charles Sigourney, June 16, 1819, and until her death, June 10, 1865, 
 remained a very warm friend and frequent correspondent of Mir-s Caul- 
 kins. Miss Hyde died March 26, 1816. A volume of her letters, &c., 
 published after her death, contains a poetical tribute to her memory from 
 her former pupil. 
 
 Frances evinced a remarkable aptitude for the acquisition of languages. 
 She enjoyed the advantage of instruction only a short time, but with 
 patient private study she acquired a thorough knowledge of Latin, and 
 was able to read and teach both that language and the French with facil- 
 ity and acceptance. She spent some time in the family of Rev. Levi 
 Nelson, of Lisbon, in 1825, for the special purpose of advancino- her 
 knowledge of Latin, and took lessons in the French language, of M. Roux 
 a native and accomplished teacher of that tongue, who then resided in 
 Norwich. Later in Life, while living in New York, she pursued the study 
 of German, and under the instructions of Maroncelli, an eminent political 
 exile, gained such a knowledge of Italian, as enabled her to read Dante 
 and Tiisso in the original. 
 
 Never having been permitted to look upon the face of her own father 
 her knowledge of [larental affection came only through her step-father 
 and to him she was tenderly and deservedly attached ; and her affection 
 was thoroughly reciprocated. His death, which took place Nov. 12 1819 
 left her mother again a widow, tvith three young children and limited 
 means. Having before this been occasionally employed in teachino- small 
 schools, Frances now determined to support herself, and if necessary aid 
 
MEMOIR. XV 
 
 her mother. On the 4th of January, 1820, she opened a select school for 
 young ladies in Norwich-town. As her talent for teaching was devel- 
 oped, her scholars increased, and the school acquired an excellent reputa- 
 tion and was well sustained for nine years. In 1829, she accepted an 
 invitation from the trustees of the female academy at New London, to 
 take charge of that institution. She was invited back to Norwich city — 
 or Chelsea, as it was then called — in 1832, and was principal of the acad- 
 emy there, with a large number of pupil.9, until the close of the year 
 1834, when she relinquished finally the duties of a teacher. 
 
 During these fifteen years she had under her charge nearly 400 differ- 
 ent young ladies ; many of whom are still living and retain a very plefis- 
 ant remembrance of their school-days and a strong personal attachment 
 to their instructor. Among her pupils were the lamented wives of Sena- 
 tors Jabez Huntington and William A. Buckingham; and three daughters 
 of Charles Lathrop, afterwards missionaries to India. Very many of her 
 pupils became themselves teachers, and others, as wives of clergymen and 
 laymen in positions of respectability and honor, have so conducted them- 
 selves, that, as a teacher, we may say of her, in the words of Scripture : 
 '■ Let her own works praise her." 
 
 The year following the close of her school she spent in visiting her 
 frienils and in recreation. In the spring of 1836 she went to New York 
 and resided in the family of her cousin, David H. Nevins, until May, 
 1842, when she removed to New-London and found a home in the family 
 of the writer until the day of her death. 
 
 She early manifested an unusual talent for versification as well as for 
 prose writing, ami although encouraged by the advice and. approbation of 
 friends she declined to thrustherself forward into notice by offering the pro- 
 ductions of her pen to the public prints. Among her manuscripts ore many 
 fugitive pieces of poetry without date,biiL evidently written in early life. The 
 first, in apparently the oldest book, is entitled the " Indian Harp," and 
 would do credit to her later years. The fourth in order, in this book, is a 
 long poem on " Thanksgiving," and the only one dated. This is stated to 
 have been written in 1814. One earlier piece only bus been found, and 
 that is on a loose sheet, dated Oct. 2.6, 1813, and entitled " The Gerani- 
 um's Complaint." 
 
 A considerable portion of the time, from 1812 to 1819, while her 
 mother resided in Norwich, she spent pleasantly in the family of her uncle, 
 Christopher Manwiiring, at New London. He had recently erected a fine 
 mansion, on the beautiful grounds which he had inherited from his ances- 
 tors, and was a gentleman of literary taste and cultivation. He was a 
 great admirer of Pope, Johnson, and the old English authors. He had a 
 good library, and being of kind and winning manners, it is not strange 
 that a strong mutual attachment grew up between them, and that he be- 
 
xvi MEMOIR. 
 
 came very fond of the society of Ms niece, and proud of her talents. He 
 was a great friend of Madison, and an early admirer of General Jackson. 
 Tiie first of her writings, now known to have been printed, appeared in 
 the Connecticut Gazelle, April 17, 1816, addressed to the hero of New 
 Orleans. The contributor acknowledges that he stole it from the '■ fair 
 tyro," aiid-no author's name is attached. 
 
 Her contributions to the local papers of New London, have been very 
 numerous, and with any ntriking tvent in the domestic history of the 
 place, or with the decease of any aged or distinguished person, its citizens 
 were sure to be favureil with an interesting artiile, in which passing events 
 were so interwoven with previous history as to command the attention of 
 all clashes of readers. During the past few years quite a number of in- 
 habitants of that city have been able to notice the fiftieth anniversary of 
 their marriage. She was sure to be a welcome guest at all such gather- 
 ings, and her congratulatory Hues were ever re;^arded as a golden present. 
 Holding the pen of a ready writer, choice thoughts flowed in chaste and 
 beautiful words, whether in prose or poetry, and it is not too much to say, 
 that only hei own modesty and humility prevented her from coming be- 
 fore the world and claiming a position among the distinj^uished writers of 
 the day. 
 
 It will be proper, in this connection, to speak of her published works 
 and contributions to the religious and historical literature of the country. 
 During her re.-idv;nce in New York, she was intimately acquainted with 
 Rev. Messrs. Ilallock and Cook, secretaries of the American Tract Soci- 
 ety. Ill 1835, that society published a premium tract entitled, " Do your 
 Children reverence the Sabbath?" and the following year, "The Pequot 
 of a Hundred Years," both from her pen, and of which they have issued 
 1,058,000 copies. She next prepared for them, in 1841, '• Children of 
 the Bible," all in verse and original; and in 1840, " Child's Hymn- 
 Book," partly a compilation. In 1847, she furnished the " Tract Primer," 
 one of the most popular and useful books ever published by that society. 
 They have printed 800,000 copies of it in English, and 246,000 have 
 been published in German and other European languages. The society, 
 at a meeting of their publishing committee, April -23, 1849, by vole in- 
 vited her to prepare a suitable series of books for children and youth, to 
 follow the Primer. In compliance with this request, she furnished six 
 volumes of " Bible-Studies," forming an illustrative commentary on the 
 whole Scriptures, and showing accurate scholarship and biblical research 
 interesting to the young, but full of valuable information for all who love 
 th« word of God. She was five years (from 1854 to 1859) in prcpariug 
 this series, and contributed to the society, in 1861, one more work, enti- 
 tled " Eve and her Daughters," being sketches of the distinguished wo- 
 men of the Bible in verse. She was also, up to the close of her life 
 
MEMOIR. XVll 
 
 frequent contributor to their " American Messenger," furnishing them, 
 but one week before her death, " The Aged ]dimigrant" — a few verses of 
 poetry — the last line being "A Stepping-stone to Heaven." 
 
 A deep sense of religious obligation pervaded her entire life, and was 
 never lost sight of in her literary labors. An ardent thirst for knowl- 
 edge, so deep as to amount to an almost insatiable craving, early took 
 possession of her soul, and she could only be satisfied as she gathered and 
 stored up the wisdom of the past. With a deep veneration for the piety 
 and principles of our Puritan forefathers, she loved to linger among the 
 graves and written records of their lives and deeds ; and, like " Old Mor 
 tality," she recovered many an almost obliterated tomb-stone, and pre- 
 served its story from oblivion. Nearly every burial place in the county 
 was personally examined, and any stone of great age or special interest 
 was faithfully transcribed. Doubtless all these researches into the records 
 of the past, whether in town Or church-books, or on torub-stones, were 
 in accordance with her natural tastes ; still we believe that something of 
 the feeling which animated Walter Scott's hero was ever present with 
 her. She would not let the worthy and pious dead pass out of mind, nor 
 allow the good deeds of our ancestors to be forgotten, so far as any labor 
 that she could perform might prevent it. 
 
 Something from the mass of historical and genealogical information 
 which she had accumulated, was first given to the public in the form of a 
 history of the town of Norwich, in 1845. It was a book of 360 pages, 
 with some local illustrations, and was well received and appreciated by 
 the public. In 1852, she published a larger work. The History of New 
 London, of 672 pages. This was very carefully and thoroughly pre- 
 pared, and won many commendations from distinguished scholars and 
 antiquarians. In 1860, some of the volumes of this history being still in 
 sheets, twenty pages were added and bound up with the original book, 
 thus giving eight years additional records. Her materials having greatly 
 increased since the issue of the first history of Norwich, and the edition 
 being out of print, she re- wrote the entire work, and a new, volume of 
 700 pages was given to the public in 1866. 
 
 Miss Caulkins had now become widely known to many of the leading 
 writers, particularly of antiquarian tastes, in different parts of the coun- 
 try. Edward Everett, Robert C. Winthrop, George Bancroft and others 
 frequently corresponded with her, and acknowledged her ability and ac- 
 curacy. The late Sylvester Judd, of Northampton, and the Hon. James 
 Savage, of Boston, fully appreciated her historical knowledge, and 
 jften availed themselves of her stores of information respecting the 
 sarly colonists of New England. Roger S. Baldwin and Henryj White of 
 STew Haven were among those who highly esteemed her works; and the 
 atter, in a letter under <3ate of June 3, 1864, referring to the history of 
 3 
 
xviii M E MO I R . 
 
 New London, writes :— " I have met with no town history which, in my 
 judgment, is quite equal to it." Rev. Dr. Sprague, of Albany, m very 
 complimentary terms, says : — " I imagine there are few in our country, of 
 either sex, whose opinion or accuracy in respect to the past is as go^d as 
 yours." She was elected to honorary and corresponding membership by 
 several eminent societies, which appreciated her historical researches and 
 accumulated antiquarian lore. She was the only woman upon whom 
 the Massachusetts Ilistorical Society conferred that honor. 
 
 Justice to the religious element in her character requires some more 
 particular notice of her views and feelings on the great question of im- 
 mortality, and fitness for the life which is to come. It isvery evident 
 from her early writings that she fully accepted and believed the main doc- : 
 trines of the Scriptures as they were received and held by her Puritan 
 ancestors. She was profoundly impressed with a sense of her accounta- 
 bility to God, and the responsibility which ever rested upon her to use 
 the talents which He had given her to His own honor and glory, j 
 Amidst her highest aspirations, she retained a prevailing sense of sub- 
 jection to the Divine Will. The great doctrines of religion were espe- 
 cially the subject of anxious thought and solemn reflection, from 1826 to 
 1831. During the latter year the deep yearnings of her soul for a knowl- 
 edge of God was satisfied. Under the preaching of Rev. Dr. McEwen, 
 for 54 years pastor of the First Church in New London, her heart became 
 deeply touched with a sense of personal sinfulness and need of a divine 
 saviour ; and she publicly acknowledged her deliverance from doubts and 
 fears, and her confidence in Jesus as her Redeemer, by a public profes- 
 sion of her faith and union with the First Church, July 5, 1831. The 
 exercises of her mind were of a peculiarly interesting character, and from 
 a state of gloom and doubt she emerged into a bopefiil light, and laid { 
 hold on truth with a calm and cheerful faith which abided with her to the 
 end. She immediately engaged in Sunday-School work, and gave some 
 time each week to regular Biblical study vvith her own school. In removing 
 to Norwich she beeame connected with the Second Congregational Church 
 there, and, while in New York, united with the Mercer-street Presbyte- 
 rian Church. Alter taking up her permanent abode at New London, she 
 transferred her connection to the Second Congregational Church in that 
 city, in February, 1843. Ever ready for good words and works, cheer- 
 fully cooperating with fellow Christians (especially as secretary of the 
 Ladies' .Seumen's Friend Society for more than twenty years), she will 
 ever be remembered in the community in which she spent the last years 
 of her life, as wortliy of the commendation which her Master bestowed 
 upon one of whom he said, " She hath done what she could ;" words 
 which her pastor appropriately used as the text of a memorial sermon 
 Feb 14, 1869. ' 
 
MEMOIR. XIX 
 
 • 
 
 In the summer of 18G6, she was brought by a long and slow fever 
 very near the gates of death. The second edition of her history of 
 Norwich had just gone into the printer's hands, and the last proofs had 
 been corrected, when her frame, for many years feeble and frail, yielded 
 like a strained bow, and fell withered and almost broken. Fully con- 
 scious of her condition, and willing to go if the Master called, she had, at 
 that time, a strong' desire to remain longer among her friends, and said 
 to a dear relative: "While I would be resignei!, yet my prayer is 
 'Spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no 
 more.'" That prayer was graciously answered. She slowly regained a 
 comfortable measure of health and strength, and was able to resume light 
 literary labors, which were continued until the last week of her life. 
 Never possessing a strong physical frame, and very often suffering from 
 ■weakness and pain, yet she was ever cheerful and pleasant, and by her 
 animated countenance, her chaste and intelligent conversation, shed a 
 fragrant incense upon those into whose society she was thrown. Like 
 many other cultivated minds who rise far above the ordinary level of 
 those around them, her private papers show that she was sometimes 
 touched in her inner life with a shade of sadness, almost of melancholy, 
 and especially felt, as others of the most faithful have often done, that 
 she had accomplished but very little. 
 
 A large mass of historical information and genealogical notes, and 
 hundreds of pages of moral and religious prose, remain among her 
 manuscripts. Many of her poetical effusions relating to the private 
 affairs of family and life are now exposed, for the first time, to the 
 eyes of her friends ; but the most precious papers to them are a number 
 of pieces written, apparently, within a few months preceding her death, in 
 which her muse seems almost to have been inspired ; for her themes are 
 of the coming life, then so near that its beauties and its glories were 
 already opened to her gaze. 
 
 A large collection of autographs-^many of them not names alone, 
 but letters of distinguished men and women, attest her interest in that 
 department of antiquarian research ; and a valuable assortment of ancient 
 and modern coins had been assiduously gathered during the last fifty 
 years. Specimens of continental currency, with many curious and rare 
 pamphlets, and sermons of ancient date, have been treasured up, and the 
 peculiar issues of corporate, state and governmental paper, i-epresenting 
 fractional parts of a dollar, which were so general in the early years of 
 the late war, have been to a good extent preserved in a specimen book. 
 
 While no high rank is claimed for her among the poets of the country, 
 yet many of the productions of her pen, both in measure and rhyme, 
 have commanded respect, and in some cases admiration. , Two or three 
 short pieces, believed to have been written not long before her death, 
 
2X MEMOIR. 
 
 have been selected from many unpublished sheets, and are' printed at the 
 close of this memoir, and one on the " Loss of the Atlantic," which was 
 extensively copied on its first appearance, is reprinted. 
 
 The resuhs of her years of antiquarian and genealogical labors, 
 liave only been given in part to the public. Her relatives have a large 
 mass of manuscripts which they prize, not only for their intrinsic value, 
 but as memorials of her diligent and patient industry. It will give them 
 pleasure, as it ever did the deceased, to communicate any information 
 they possess especially to all who love to search . for their own ancestry 
 among those of whom it was well said, two hundred years ago, " God 
 sifted a whole nation that he might send choice grain over into this 
 wilderness." 
 
 It only now remains to speak of the closing scenes of her life. During 
 the early part of the winter of 1868-69, she enjoyed a comfortable 
 measure of health, and on Sunday, January 24, attended divine service 
 in the morning. The day was very beautiful, and she walked, without 
 any apparent fatigue, to the old Universalist Church on Main street, 
 where the Second Congregational Church were then worshiping. The 
 vail which hangs over the future is, wisely, so dark that we cannot pierce 
 its folds, and no intimation of the near approach of the messenger of 
 death was given to her friends. A sudden cold, which fastened itself 
 upon liier lungs the last week in January, she had not the physical vigor 
 to overcome. On Monday, February l^t, wliile still with sufficient 
 strength to pass into an adjoining room, she said to the writer, " I should 
 suffer greatly with my little flesh from a long sickness, and I do not 
 believe it will be appointed unto me." This pleasant testimony of her 
 child-like faith is gratefully remembered. Her friends did not then consider 
 her situation critical. Her open bible on the morning of Feb. 2d showed 
 her reading the previous evening to have been in the Psalms. The 116th 
 one of the Jewish " Hallel," usually supposed to have been sung at the 
 institution of the Lord's Supper, commencing "I love the Lord because 
 He hath heard the voice of my supplications," was on the open page, and 
 was, perhaps, the last words she ever read. The verse in this Psalm, 
 " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints," we fully 
 believe was speedily realized in her case. During Tuesday, February 
 2d, her breathing was painful, and she was oonfined to her bed. As the 
 day p;\ssed, however, her suffierlngs were alleviated, and friends fondly 
 hoped that the illness was only temporary. But it was the last day of 
 earth, and as evening came on, she was sensibly failing. "With slow and 
 painful utterance she said a few words in conversation with a dear 
 relative, indicating that deep love for the Lord and His truth which had 
 long been interwoven into her very being. Several of the beautiful 
 hymns she loved were quoted to her, and she herself mentioned that 
 
MEMOIR. XXI 
 
 noble old one of Charles Wesley's, " A charge to keep I have," as her 
 favorite^ And no wonder she loved that hymn, for the sentiments it 
 expresses had guided her whole life. Among the Scriptures quoted, her 
 mind rested on the first chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 " How noble, how grand." But the organs of the weak, physical frame 
 had nearly done their appointed work. She sank gradually into a quiet 
 sleep, and early on Wednesday morning, February 3, 1869, the spirit 
 passed peacefully from the mortal clay, and returned to Him who gave it. 
 The funeral services at her late residence were conducted by her 
 pastor, the Eev. G. 'B. Wilcox. The favorite hymn of which she spoke 
 a few hours before her death was sung. At the grave the beautiful 
 burial service of the Episcopal Church was read by the Rev. Dr. Field, 
 and her remains were laid to rest in the Cedar Grove Cemetery. When 
 this lovely spot was consecrated, October 8, 1851, she wrote a hymn of 
 dedication, in which these sweet lines are found : 
 
 " The clay that once a soul possessed 
 
 Is not a common clod ; 
 leave in sacred peace to rest 
 
 The workmanship of God." 
 
 And there we left the " natural body," sown in full faith that it shall be 
 raised a " spiritual body." 
 
 Her pastor preached a memorial discourse Sunday, February 14, from 
 the words, " She hath done what she could." The inner workings of her 
 spiritual life were brought out very fully in this sermon, which was 
 afterwards printed for circulation among friends. 
 
 No words of eulogy are intended in this brief memoir. Though 
 written by the hand of a loving relative, who enjoyed with her long years , 
 of pleasant home associations, and who can testify to a cheerful daily life, 
 such as is seldom seen, yet great care has been taken to record only 
 incidents and events which would interest friends, and not to introduce 
 extracts from her journals and personal reminiscences which would be of 
 a private nature, and contrary to the refined taste of the deceased. Her 
 character may be briefly outlined in these words, " She loved the past, 
 enjoyed the present, was hopeful in the future." 
 
 The high esteem in which Miss Caulkins was held wherever she was 
 known found expression in various forms as soon as her death was 
 announced. Letters of sympathy came to her relatives from numerous 
 personal friends, who loved her for all that she had been to them as a 
 pure, holy. Christian woman, and also from those who knew her less, but 
 honored and respected her talents. As no other memoir of her life will, 
 probably, be published, it has been deemed proper to append to this 
 
XXU MEMOIR. 
 
 sketch some of these letters, with the tributes of personal regard pub- 
 lished in a local daily paper by the pastors of the two Congregational 
 churches in New London. 
 
 If any person should feel that such testimonials are hardly in place in 
 this volume, the excuse must be, tliat this is the only form in which they 
 would, probably, be permanently pj-eserved. 
 
 A notice of the death of Miss Caulkins was communicated to friends 
 immediately after her decease in the " In Memoriam," which ibllows in 
 facsimile. 
 
MBMOI B , 
 
 XXlll 
 
 ftt Pntt0ri«m 
 
 Ftiattoes M, ^etuXhins. 
 
XXIV 
 
 MEMOIB , 
 
 B ied. 
 
 In New London, Conn., Wednesday morning, Feb. 3d, 
 1869, after a brief illness, at the residence of her brother, 
 Henry P. Haven, Frauces Manwa^ing Caulkins. 
 
 " We watched her breathing through the night, 
 
 Her breathing soft and low. 
 As in her breast the ware of life 
 
 Kept heaving to and fro. 
 
 " When came the morn so dim and sad. 
 
 And chill with early showers, 
 Her quiet eyelids closed ; she had 
 
 Another morn than ours." 
 
MEMOIR , 
 
 XXV 
 
 On the morning of the second of February, ere 
 the sun had lighted up the day, we heard a 
 strange muffled Toice within our happy dwelling, 
 and as we trembled, we feared lest it were the 
 rustling of the dark wings of the Angel of Death. 
 All the day, kind friends and the "beloved Physi- 
 cian," ministered around the couch of the loved 
 one, and as evening came on, our hearts were 
 comforted, for the sufferer was free from pain, and 
 the cheerful spirit of her daily life was again 
 upon her. 
 
 But we knew not the purposes of our Heavenly 
 Father. The mansion her Saviour had long ago 
 prepared for her might no longer remain vacant, 
 and the Lord had need of her in His upper king- 
 dom. Soon after the sands of that day were run, 
 and the midnight hour had passed, the dark An- 
 gel came again and would not wait. A voice un- 
 heard by mortal ears floated down alM whispered 
 to the frail sufferer, " saying the Master is come 
 and calleth for thee," and "as soon as she heard 
 
XXVUl 
 
 MEMOIR, 
 
 HYMN AT MIDNIGHT. 
 
 Midnight spreads her mantle drear, 
 Tet bright is my small atmosphere. 
 A gleam of Thy great light I see, 
 My heart grows large to take in Thee. 
 
 The stars are out exchanging rays, 
 In shining stillness teaching praise : 
 I shine within and Thou canst see. 
 My shining thoughts are all of Thee. 
 
 I think of Christ, our risen Lord, 
 The glories of the written word : 
 Doubts, terrors and temptations flee. 
 While thus I meditate on Thee. 
 
 The gloom that hid my path gives way, 
 The clouds disperse and let in 'day; 
 Jerusalem comes down to me. 
 While thus I pass the time with Thee. 
 
 My heart is hot, my praises bum, 
 Like incense from creation's urn : 
 My voice breaks forth like wind or sea, 
 And midnight shines with praise to Thee. 
 
MEMOIR . 
 
 XXIX 
 
 Now let the joyfnl tidings spread, — 
 
 My soul is rising from the dead. 
 
 My Saviour's loving face I see, — 
 
 I hear the sweet words — " Come to me.' 
 
 These gracious words my soul redeem; 
 Cool zephyrs, healing dews they seem; 
 Deep thunders in soft music's key, 
 From heaven resounding " Come to me." 
 
 I feel His love's encircling fold, 
 Like snow without the touch of cold. 
 I float away on love's deep sea, 
 Borne by a whisper, "Come to me." 
 
 not so sweet the raptured sound. 
 Of rolling worlds in heaven profound ; 
 No gifted nrtse, no graceful plea. 
 Charms like my Saviour's "Come to me." 
 
 1 come ! I come ! He wins my soul ; 
 I yield to His divine control. 
 
 'Tis love alone, 'tis mercy free. 
 
 That speaks constraining, — "Come to me." 
 
XXX M E M O I K . 
 
 [The following testimonials, received by relatives after her death, are selected from 
 numerous letters, as mentioned on page 21.] 
 
 From Miss Eloise H. Thatcher, New London, Conn. 
 
 I have just received the touching little memorial of your beloved sister, whose 
 death her large circle of loving and admiring friends most truly mourn. 
 
 I feel that I cannot better express my sympathy with you and yours on this sad 
 occasion than by asking your acceptance of the enclosed lines, written some days ago, 
 which I have kept until now, intending to deliver them in person. 
 
 Although I am conscious that my simple offering fails to do justice to the gifted 
 and beautiful character it commemorates, still I trust it will find a place in the hearts 
 of those to whom she was so dear. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM 
 FRANCES MANWAEING CAULKINS. 
 
 I saw her in her robe of death. 
 
 Yet scarcely seemed she of the dead, 
 
 But in a soft and gentle sleep — 
 
 Oh, should we mourn ■? or should we weep 1 
 
 When such a soul to God hath sped ? 
 
 A life so good, so pure, so sweet. 
 
 So childlike at her Saviour's feet. 
 
 So by His precept led. 
 ■ To live for Christ ! for Christ to die ! 
 Such is her gain eternally. 
 
 I thought as cold in death she lay. 
 
 And fresh-blown flowers breathed 
 Their fragrance o'er the unconscious clay, — 
 And friends came in with noiseless tread. 
 And reverently looked on the dead. 
 How oft for all, the chaplet sweet 
 
 Of poesy, — she'd wreathed. 
 
 I thought upon her gifted mind 
 Where treasures rich had lain enshrined — 
 The heart that in that fragile form 
 Had ever beat with love so warm 
 
 For all of human kind. 
 The kindling eye, the smile so sweet. 
 The voice we always loved to greet. 
 The kindly hand, the friendly ear. 
 The words that ever came to cheer. 
 These are the charms that may not die 
 So dear are they to memory. 
 
 Cheerful, through all her length of years 
 
 Serene, amid life's hopes and fears 
 
 She passed away from mortal eyes. 
 And now within God's holy ground 
 Is yet another flower-strewn mound. 
 Where she from labor, care, and pain 
 Shall rest 'till all the dead arise. ' 
 And over that still, dreamless sleep 
 Good angels sacred watch shall keep. 
 
 Gone from among us ! but hor name 
 
 Enduring in historic fame, 
 
 Shall be our precious legacy ! 
 
 More gifted minds her praise may breathe 
 
 Mine shall the heartfelt tribute be 
 
 Around her honored name to wreathe '' 
 
 This offering of memory. E H T 
 
MEMOIR. XXSl 
 
 Frmn Richard A. Wheeler, Stonington, Conn. 
 
 Please accept mj grateful acknowledgments for a copy of the beautiful " Memoriam " 
 of your gifted sister, Miss Frances M. Caulkins. From a brief acquaintance with her, 
 and from a somewhat extended correspondence upon genealogical and historical 
 matters, I had learned greatly to esteem and respect her. Her generous and valuable 
 contributions have laid me under the greatest obligations, and I shall ever cherish 
 her memory with gratitude and affection. Be assured of my heartfelt sorrow for her 
 death, and of my tenderest sympathy for you in your great bereavement. 
 
 From Mrs. Charles Coit, Norwich, Conn. 
 
 As so much that is sweet, and holy, and joyful mingles with every thought of her — 
 it is so easy to think of her in heaven, for she seemed all ready for the society of the 
 blessedT-that I would rejoice while I grieve with you. 
 
 I was greatly shocked by the suddenness of her decease, but could only think of her 
 as a released, rejoicing spirit, going home, having served her precious Saviour faithfully 
 here, and now permitted to go up higher, to serve Him above. Oh, what a glorious 
 thought it is ! 
 
 I have thought much of the time when I was associated with her daily — and ever 
 admired her lovely, cheerful. Christian spirit — of her life since, always doing good to 
 others, ever active in her charities, honoring her Redeemer by her consistent walk, 
 and giving pleasure to all by her cheerful goodness. 
 
 From Miss Jane Ingersoll, Springfield, Mass. 
 
 With her lovely qualities — so much sweetness of disposition, united with so much 
 intelligence — she made her presence a joy anywhere. 
 
 With how much truth can I say this of her, when I recall her past intercourse w:ith 
 our family. Indeed she was so associated with our joys and sorrows, that when the 
 news of her death reached me I felt as if one belonging to us had been taken away. 
 
 From Benry Bill, Norwich, Conn. 
 
 My memory of Miss Caulkins will always he fresh and sweet. She was every- 
 body's friend, and her Christ-like character will live long after she has returned to 
 dust. 
 
 May her memory be cherished and her example imitated by all, and may flowers 
 bloom on her grave, while she sweetly says, " Come to me ! " 
 
 From Rev. Tryan. Edwards, D. D., Hagerstown, Md. 
 
 She has passed away, hut her memory never will ; for those that knew her best had 
 most reason to feel that she was one of the purest spirits, and one of the most faithfiil, 
 conscientious Christians that it is our lot to meet vvith here below. As some one said 
 of Leighton, it makes the thought of heaven sweeter to know that we shall meet such 
 there. 
 
 From William H. Starr, New London, Conn. 
 
 Pure, sympathizing, and unselfish, she lived and labored more for others than 
 herself. TSo child of grief or misfortune ever failed to find in her a kind and sincere 
 friend, and when her willine hands could not reach the object of her sympathy, her 
 heart and her pen never failed in their purpose. Her whole life was one " bundle of 
 love" for her neighbor, in the Scriptural sense of the word. Her " light was always 
 in the window" for every wandering child of misfortune or grief. She was the sincere 
 and constant friend of her race. Her heart created its own atmosphere of love around 
 her, and it would have been strange if she had not been so universally beloved herself, 
 as she was by all who knew her. 
 
 The Master whispered in her ear, " Come up higher !" and her pure spirit took with 
 joy its heavenward flight. Her life had been a sweet savor of gentleness and love in 
 her Master's service, and her death was precious in His sight. 
 
XXXU M E M I B . 
 
 Frmn Rev. Hiram. P. Arms, D. D., Norwich Town, Conn. 
 
 You know in what high esteem she is held by ber Norwich friends, who are many. 
 Few have left a fairer, purer record than hers. Very few, with the same amount of 
 strength, have accomplished as much for the Master as she. 
 
 I shall ever remember with satisfaction ray last interview with her at your house. 
 She was feeble, and fast losing her hold upon the world. I have thought of her since, 
 as identified with the world above rather than with earth. 
 
 She rests from her labors, and her works do follow her. 
 
 The memory of her saintly life cannot but be a blessing to your family. Your 
 children have seen in her an exhibition of our religion divested of everything ascetic 
 and forbidding ; cheerful, happy ; abounding in beneficence and good-will. 
 
 From Mrs. S. C. B. Thomson, Fair Haven, Conn. 
 
 I loved and revered your departed sister. 
 
 I had hoped to see her soon, and arrange a visit with her at my home the coming- 
 summer. Jiut she has gone to a brighter home, to be welcomed with "greetings" 
 from loved ones gone before ; dear friends, and very many dear pupils, who owe as it 
 were, their own selves, their salvation to her faithful teachings while under her care. 
 
 Her record is with the Holy One. She has left a sweet memorial in the hearts of 
 all who knew her. 
 
 While I lament her loss, I thank Grod that for a few years I enjoyed the rare privi- 
 lege of her personal friendship. 
 
 I rejoice to hear that ber last hours were peaceful and painless. 
 
 From Mrs. A. W. Lathrop, New Haven, Conn. 
 
 I wonder not that " sorrow hath filled your hearts" and that you mourn " the light 
 of your dwelling gone out."— Nor do I wonder that she heard, gladly, the whisper of 
 the Angel, ° ^ r 
 
 " Sister spirit come away." 
 
 She was so eminently fitted to live, and there was so much for her to enjoy on 
 earth, that we can but deplore this unexpected summons. And yet it were far better 
 for her to depart and be with Christ. " For sure, she must be near to Him in Heaven 
 who did so love His name on earth." 
 
 What an industrious life ! How much and how well she executed her work !— That 
 History of Norwich, if there were no other proof of Iier patient and laborious indus- 
 •''^~,'%^" '^'^'" ' ""'^ '° ™^ ^ marvel. I have, for one, thanked her many times ■ 
 indeed, I never open the volume, which I always read with renewed interest, without 
 thanksgiving for my share in its records, that I can find nowhere else 
 
 Every scrap from her pen, especially her poetic effusions, I treasure up : and regret 
 that I have not more. '^ = 
 
 From Miss Mary E. HempMmd, Norwich, Conn. 
 'l^L'"^',??-?"^"*'""^ °^ '"^'' ''™ ^^""y P'easant. We went over too-ether to see Mr 
 
 tTe church^' She- J''% ?"l?%"^' "'"^ "I' ""'^ "« "'^"^ aroundlh: founda ionfof 
 the chinch. She seemed full of interest for the New Church— and was orenarinp- a 
 Hymn to besung at the laying of the ■■ Corner Stone."-But before thirdifice^rs com 
 plctod she has gone to the Church above, where in " white ar ray"-she sits by h^r 
 wZt aiSf ,,^f™'''- -'^ -'>'^--- -'> will •' go noUt\r;orYve'r^" 
 Many, many thanks for the " In Memoriam"-That beautiful "Midniriit Hvmn '" 
 Oh, for such a midnight ! What an expression !-so full, so satisfy in J" s^glXus- 
 
 " My heart grows large to take in—Thee!" 
 bank ot the river, until she came to a very narrow place, where the stepped^over."- 
 
M E M I B . xxxiii 
 
 You have every consolation possible in her triumph over death. Her life has been 
 very happy, very useful. How much she has accomplished with great physical weak- 
 ness and suffering. Truly—" She hath done what she could :" and well done too ; 
 and has gone to everlasting rest. 
 
 From Mrs. B. P. Williams, Norwich, C^nn. , 
 
 So recently had we seen and enjoyed the society of Miss Caulkins, that it seems 
 doubly trying and sorrowful to realize it was the last time. 
 
 Her memory will be lovingly and tenderly cherished by us and all her Norwich 
 friends. Her works will follow her ; and be more fully appreciated as time rolls on ; 
 while her happy spirit is in the full enjoyment of the blessed. 
 
 From Rev. W. B. Sprague, D.D., Albany, N. Y. 
 
 I never had the pleasure of seeing Miss Caulkins but once, and then only for an 
 hour ; but her fine conversational powers and amiable and gentle qualities, left an im- 
 pression upon me, which I have never lost. She seemed to me a truly noble speci- 
 men of a woman and I cannot doubt she will form the subject of a most interesting 
 Biography. 
 
 From Bon. Robert C. Winthrop, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Her Historical labors and her Christian character alike, were worthy of all praise. 
 I noticed her death briefly, at the meeting of our Historical Society, (of which she 
 was a Corresponding member,) in February. 
 
 From D. C. Oilman, New Baven, Conn. 
 
 I trust that there will be a fuller tribute to her memory, than the little sketch you 
 have sent me, appropriate as that is. She has done so much to perpetuate the mem- 
 ory of the good deeds of others, that her own name and services to the State ought to 
 be commemorated. 
 
 Her moral and religious worth every oae will acknowledge — Iiut it is not every one 
 who knows, or can appreciate her industry, skill, enthusiasm, and success as the pio- 
 neer among our local historians. 1 trust you will pardon me for expressing the hope 
 that this literary phase of her character will not be lightly passed over. 
 
 From George L. Perkins, Nwwich, Conn. 
 
 It is unnecessary to indulge in extended remarks on the life and character of one 
 who needs no other memorial than the lovely example of womanly virtues and Chris- 
 tian graces she exhibited in the sphere in which she has lived and labored. Unam- 
 bitious, unselfish, she put her hand to every good work that fell within her sphere 
 of responsibility. 
 
 Like Mary of Bethany she chose the good part, which ever afterward she valued 
 as a well-spring of happiness ; and which was, 1 have no doubt, her cousolation and 
 support when she suddenly received the summons from the Master to enter upon 
 [ligher services and purer joys in his Kingdom above. 
 
 I always esteemed her as a friend sincere and reliable, as a woman of refined sensi- 
 jilities and culture, as a Christian — cheerful, active, consistent ; and in her death, I 
 'eel that all her acquaintances experience a common bereavement. 
 
 When I saw on the casket that contained, the precious remains of your dear sister, 
 hose beautiful and fragrant flowers — they called to mind the words of an old poet : 
 
 " Only the actions of the just. 
 Smell sweet and blossom from the dust." 
 
Xxxiv MEMOIR. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 FRANCES lANWARING CAULKINS. 
 
 " We thought her dying when she slept 
 And sleeping when she died." 
 
 Let her rest, — 
 
 Fold the hands upon her breast. 
 No more deeds of olden time 
 Will they trace in prose or rhyme ; 
 All her work is nobly done,— 
 God hath set his seal thereon. 
 
 Hidden quite, 
 
 Under lids so cold and white, 
 Those dark eyes whose lambent light 
 Steadfast gleamed like stars by night ; 
 Tender eyes, that oft grew dim 
 O'er another's grief or sin. 
 
 Happy eyes 
 
 That mid heavenly harmonies, 
 Open wide in glad surprise, 
 On the joys of Paradise, 
 rinding each Ideal complete, 
 Clothed in Beauty exquisite. 
 
 So 'tis best, 
 
 Thus to enter into rest : 
 
 No more days of racking pain. 
 
 Throbbing nerve and aching brain ; 
 
 She hath triumphed o'er Death's Sting 
 
 Perfected through suffering. 
 
 Wake Earth ! 
 Call thy fairest treasures forth ! 
 Buds and flowers to deck her tomb — 
 Hyacinth's empurpled blosm, 
 Arbutus and violets dim, 
 Pink-haed Indian Moccasin. 
 
 Let the hours, 
 
 Numbered be by troops of flowers 
 She will love them none the less 
 With the lilies on her breast. 
 Both alike she knows to be. 
 Emblems of Clirist's purity. 
 
 Dust to Dust! 
 
 Lay her down in perfect trust ; 
 Fragile form and sweet, pale face 
 Soul so rich in Christian grace, — 
 Patient, tender, true and good 
 Noblest type of womanhood. 
 
 Hear our cry. 
 
 By thy tears at Bethany, — 
 while we offer thanks to Thee, 
 
 For her fair humanity ! 
 
 Thou hast taken — all the same 
 
 Weeping, Lord, we bless thy name ! 
 
 Maktha RnsSELL, Washington, D. C. 
 
MEMOIR. XXXr 
 
 OBITUARY NOTICE BY REV. THOMAS P. FIELD, D.D. 
 
 It is with emotions <5f deep grief that we record the death of one widely Imown and 
 warmly loved in this community — Miss Fkanoes M. Caulkins. 
 
 Rarely does death take from us one over whose departure we have so much cause to 
 mourn. But the memory of her worth soothes our sorrow, and turns the eye of faith 
 to the home of rest to which the spirit has gone. 
 
 It is not now a iittins; time to speak of the invaluable services which Miss Caulkins 
 has rendered" to this town and the neighboring town of Norwich. Her thorough, ac- 
 curate and interesting histories will be a monument to her memory more enduring 
 than marble ; and will be more and more highly appreciated as time goes on. ITew 
 knew the early history not only of our own region, but of New England, as she knew 
 it, and it is interesting to see how much she accomplished, witli her feeble health, to 
 make that history known to others. 
 
 Miss Caulkins was a lover not only of history, but of all good literature. She had 
 an extensive acquaintance with books and authors. She was exceedingly fond of 
 poetry, and the poetic productions of her own pen often adorned the columns of this 
 and other papers, and cheered the Christian assembly and the social gathering of 
 friends. The writer of this remembers how deeply he was impressed by a little poem 
 of hers on the " Bell of the Atlantic" many years before he knew personally the 
 author. Indeed, what was beautiful in art or nature always found in her a sympa- 
 thizing admirer. 
 
 This extensive knowledge and general culture, united to a most amiable, kind and 
 genial spirit, made her conversation exceedingly interestinic and instructive. And it 
 was interesting to all persons. She made no pretentious show of learning, or talent, 
 or knowledge, but had a childlike simplicity of character that would attract the hearts 
 of all, young or old, learned or unlearned. She was uniformly cheerful, and often 
 sparkling and witty in what she said, although there was scarcely ever a day in her 
 life in which she was not a suflFerer But even when she suffered, grace enabled her to 
 "put a cheerful courage on" so that others should not suffer also. And this was her 
 sustaining, comforting power, always, the grace of God in Christ. She loved history, 
 she loved literature, she loved nature, but she loved, above all, the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 The church was near her heart. The services of the Sabbath and the sanctuary were 
 her delight. She wept over the loss by fire of the house where she had so long woi-- 
 shiped, and took great interest in the erection of a new temple to the Lord. But 
 though local attachments were strong, she looked out widely upon the world, and 
 noted, with the deepest interest, the extension of Christ's kingdom in our land, and in 
 all lands. 
 
 So, as her friends stand around her lifeless form, or drop the silent' tear upon her 
 grave, thev are comforted. There is nothing to awaken anguish of soul, but only that 
 tender sorrow that bows the heart in acquiesence to the will Supreme. She' expressed 
 the fear, shortly before deatb, that she might have to suffer long, but she was spared 
 that trial ; and gently and without long continued pain, she fell asleep. May her 
 beautiful life and patient sufferings, and sure hope, be a new incitement to Christian 
 activity and duty, and turn all our hearts to Him who can take away the sting of 
 death, and make us victorious over the grave. — From the New London Star, Thursday 
 Evening, February 4, 1869. 
 
 jProm the Congregationalist, by Rev. G. B. Willcox. 
 
 Miss Frances Manwaring Caulkins, a historian, a poet, and a Christian of rare 
 genius and character, died in New London, Conn., Feb. 3d. Born in 1795, she passed 
 much of the earlier part of her life in teaching. Three foreign missionaries, two wives 
 of senators, and otiier women of high position and great influence, were among the 
 nearly four hundre'd young ladies who were at one time or another under her care. 
 
 Her historical studies commenced earlier in life than most readers of her work have 
 imagined. At ten yeai's of age she was missed one day by the family, who in some 
 anxiety began a thorough search. After a while the child was found in a corner of 
 the garret poring over an old history of Connecticut. The volumes she gave to the 
 world in her character as an annahst, were The History of Norwich in 1845, that of 
 New' London in 1852, and a far larger and more elaborate History of Norwich in 
 1856. The last two were octavos of 678 and 704 pages, and cost her an immense 
 amount of labor. These works won her the thanks and eulogiums of such historians 
 
SXXVl MEMOIR. 
 
 as Bancroft, and such statesmen as Robert C. Winthrop. The first of the three led 
 to her election as the onhi female member of the Massachusetts Historial Society. ^ 
 
 To the "Ameriraii Messenger" she ccntribiited often, from its first issues, chiefly m 
 verse, but occasionally in prose. For the Tract Society in New York she prepared 
 the " Tract Primer," both educational and religious in its character, which has had, 
 especially among the Freedmen, an immense circulation. Two volumes of her poetry 
 have been published by this society, and materials for another remain, which will 
 probably soon be put to press. 
 
 But it was as a Christian, rather than as a historian or poet, that she would have 
 wished to be remembered. Her religious experience at conversion, amidst the great 
 revival of 18.31, was as her letters show, of a really wonderful depth and power. 
 There was all the searching and drastic " law work" which, in so many more recent 
 conversions, seems sadly wanting. " You cannot know,"- she wrote to a friend, " any- 
 thing of the agonies suffered by a soul for which two opposite powers have so long 
 struggled for the ma."tery." From the gloam or this valley of the shadow of death ■ 
 she came out into a cloudless morning, and thenceforward, to the close of her long 
 life, gloried above all tliinL's in the Cross. 
 
 Three traits stood prominent in her character One was incessant and untiring in- 
 dustry. She was not only of an ac tiie mind by nature, but amscieniioits in the use of 
 her time. There was nothing in her of the notion that, so one's sacred hours are 
 well spent, it matters little, on secular days, whether one works or idles. A thing well 
 done was no reason, in her judgment, for sitting down to enjoy it and have her self 
 gratulations over it, but rather going at once about some other thing to be done better 
 still. At times, especially toward the close of her life, she was, like all other efficient 
 and noble souls, oppressed with a feeling that she had done nnthing, that her life had 
 almost run to waste. She compared herself with a standard, aimed at a mark so high, 
 that, of course, being human, she was always far below it. 
 
 Another beauty in her character was the law of kindness on her lips. The fixed 
 principle of her life was never to speak to the prejudice of any one, except when some 
 positive duty required it. And she was well aware how lenient positi^■e duty is in mak- 
 ing any such demand. This gentleness of speech iva.-^ the more remarkable, as she was 
 just of the decided and efficient character that is least likely to be patient, most apt to 
 pass harsh judgments. She was not one of tho.se who are amiable because really too 
 lazy to be anything else. She could always find an apology for anybody's failings 
 but her own, because she looked for it not so much in the person concerned as in her 
 own charitable heart. 
 
 Another quality was her singular cheerfulness. ■ Much afflicted with disease and 
 often in pain, she had nothing to say of her ailments, no words to waste in repining. I 
 Lowell's fountain • re- i 
 
 " Into the star-light 1 
 
 Rushing in spray ; 
 Happy at midnight, 
 
 Happy by day ;" 
 
 is the best type of her common mood. She enjoved the sports of children as intensely 
 as children themselves. She had at three score vears and ten, none of the sour and 
 doleful views of life so common to aged people— none of tlie complaint " that the for- 
 mer days were better than these." A relative has well outlined her character in the 
 ^°pu ' ^ u"^^ P^^'' '^"J°y'''g '^« present, hopeful of tlie future. 
 
 1 he following lines, found among her private papeft, and perhaps the last she ever 
 wrote, breathe in fitting words her a-^pirations for the heaven to which she has gone : 
 
 This one word, home ! no sweeter sound 
 
 The voice of man e'er breathed around ; 
 
 'Twas heaven that warmed earth's frozen ground 
 With tills bright hearth-stone, home ! ' 
 
 Sweet word ! the echo from a gate, 
 "Wherein the chiming angels wait, 
 With glowing hearts and harps elate 
 To welcome pilgrims home. 
 
 Like tuneful air, or silvery flame. 
 Shook from a seraph's wing it came ; 
 AVliat speech but that of heaven could frame 
 So sweet a word as home > 
 
M E M I B . XXXVll 
 
 When worldly cares distracting rise, 
 "When winds are wild and dark the skies, 
 On Thee, Lord ! my soul relies ; 
 Where Thou art, there is home. 
 
 Soon may it come, that joyful day. 
 When, sin and sorrow swept away. 
 Thou to my leaping heart shalt say 
 Come home, my child, come home ! 
 
 [The three pieces following are selected from numerous papers found after the au- 
 thor's death, and have never before been published.] 
 
 I'M GROWING OLD. 
 
 A blight is on my leaves I see; 
 
 My root is passing into mould, 
 I hear a whisper in the tree, — 
 I'm growing old. 
 
 My flowery May, my summer skies. 
 
 Behind me lie, like maps uprolled ; 
 October fills the air with sighs, — 
 I'm growing old. 
 
 Mid gleaming lights and pleasing shades, 
 My youth'.s bright rain-bow did unfold ; 
 The rain-bow into gray mist fades, — 
 I'm growing old. 
 
 My days ran down in sunsets bright, ' ' " 
 
 My minutes shone like beaded gold ; 
 Days, minutes now, are all twilight, — 
 I'm growing old. 
 
 Gay meadow larks, my friends and I, 
 In song and flight our joys we told ; 
 No more, alas ! I sing or fly, ' 
 
 I'm growing old. 
 
 Those early friends, like melting snow 
 
 Like streamlets into ocean rolled, 
 Passed off and left me murmuring low, 
 I'm growing old. 
 
 But yet the burden of my cry. 
 
 The weight, the sting, I have not told ; 
 A mightier anguish prompts the cry, 
 I'm growing old. 
 
 For I have left undone God's will ; 
 
 My large thoughts lie but half enrolled. 
 With great designs unacted still, 
 I'm growing old. 
 
 With darkness round me asking light, 
 
 With lead to transmute into gold ; 
 With wounds to heal and wrongs to right, 
 I'm growing old. 
 
XXXviii MEMOIR. 
 
 God hath a blest idea in mind, 
 
 Foi- each true servant to unfold ; 
 Ere I that primal task can find, 
 
 I'm growing old. !■• m- c- 
 
 ASPIRATION. 
 
 Lord, from thy molding hands I came, 
 
 O take me back to Thee : 
 I feel within the irlowing flame. 
 
 Lent by thy breath to me. 
 
 I long beyond earth's narrow space. 
 
 Thy golden tracks to see ; 
 And in the fulness of thy grace. 
 
 To lose myself in Thee. 
 
 In thy great light, let me hide. 
 
 And shine alone in Thee : 
 O'erwhelmed in love's celestial tide, 
 
 A drop in thy great sea. 
 
 Made of thy dnst, thy spark of fire. 
 
 Thy child, I fain would be ; 
 Thy work, — I yearn with strong desire. 
 
 To work, O God, with Thee. 
 
 Launched outward with a high-born aim, 
 
 On rapture's heavenly sea ; 
 A soul that from thy bounty came. 
 
 Returns to worship Thee. 
 
 This little fragment, found among her papers, might be entitled — 
 
 A PROPHETIC DREAM. 
 
 Wearily I lay down and soon I slept. 
 
 I waked and was not here, but elsewhere lived. 
 
 Awful had been the dread of that groat change; 
 
 Yot with a sweet transition it was made. 
 
 As on a floating stream of low soft praise, 
 
 Four parts in one, love, rausum, ^icace and joy, — 
 
 Conscious of nought but that celestial sound. 
 
 Upon the sweet assurance calm I lay. 
 
 And passed from life into eternity. F. m. c. 
 
M E M I E . XXXIX 
 
 THE ATLANTIC'S BI-LL. 
 
 The Atlantic, a fine new Steamer belonging to the Norwich and Worcester E. Road 
 Co., was lost on Fisher's Island near the entrance of New London Harbor, Thursday, 
 Not. 26, 1846. Forty-two persons perished with the wreck. 
 
 [When the steamer struck the shore, the dashing of the wares against her frame 
 caused the bell to toll. The tone of this bell is uncommonly shrill and clear, and 
 heard at such a time must have seemed like a peal from another world. It has been 
 freq.uently heard since the consummation of the catastrophe, and is still sending forth 
 at intervals, its solemn and piercing sound.] 
 
 Storm-spirits ye did well, 
 To swing the funeral bell. 
 
 That sad night ; 
 Noting down with iron pen. 
 When the struggling souls of men 
 
 Took their flight. 
 
 Mid the raging tumult round. 
 How the shrill entrancing sound. 
 
 Fills the air ! 
 Over mastering the gale. 
 Childhood's shriek, woman's wail, 
 
 Man's despair. 
 
 From eternity's dark land, 
 
 On whose cold brink they stand. 
 
 Hark ! it rolls ; 
 Pealing forth the notes of woe. 
 Ringing loud, ringing slow, 
 
 For the souls. 
 
 Ah ! 'tis not the broken deck, 
 Man, man's the only wreck, 
 
 Worth a tear ! 
 Oh ye seas ! what a prize. 
 What a costly .sacrifice. 
 
 Ye took here ! 
 
 Yet they perished not in vain : 
 From their peril, from their pain. 
 
 Let us turn 
 To the lessons they unrolled. 
 Worth an argosy of gold. 
 
 But to learn. 
 
 For the sons of God were there, 
 Men of faith, men of prayer 
 
 Unsurpassed ; 
 And the love of Christ had power ; 
 'Twas an anchor in that hour, 
 
 Holding fast. 
 
 There was one^ whose face was seen. 
 Like a shining and serene 
 
 Crystal sea : 
 Sublimed, as if the soul- 
 Had already passed the goal, 
 
 And was free. 
 
 iDr. Armstrong of Boston. The serene and heavenly expression of his counten- 
 ance during the whole of that trying Thursday, has been mentioned by several of the 
 survivors. 
 
Xl MEMOIR. 
 
 There was one i of manly brow, 
 " We are nearer .Testis now," 
 
 Was his cry : 
 Then the rushing surge swept o'er 
 And the loosened seraph bore 
 
 To the sky. 
 
 One calmly said,^ " Of old 
 My Saviour's voice controlled 
 
 All mv woe ; 
 And if through the raging sea, 
 Now he says, Follow me, 
 
 I will go." 
 
 No thought amid the strife. 
 Of his own death or life. 
 
 Had the chief;' 
 The burden on his breast, 
 ■Was the lives of all the rest. 
 
 And their grief. 
 
 They dropped into the wave : — 
 " Some found in it a grave. 
 
 Some an ark : 
 Down, down into the deep, 
 As they fall, as they leap, 
 
 Hark ! oh hark ! 
 
 Now the loud and silvery bell 
 Like an anthem seemed to swell, 
 
 Shrill and sweet ! 
 And a group of angels came. 
 With their bosoms all in flame, 
 
 Friends to meet. 
 
 They caught the jewels bright. 
 As they burst forth in light. 
 
 From the clay ; 
 And the souls and seraphim 
 In a sweet thanksgiving hymn 
 
 Passed away. 
 
 Tet still upon the deck, 
 
 Mid the breakers and the wreck 
 
 Swings the bell ; 
 Now an aiitlieni floats around, 
 Now a low and dirge-like sound, 
 
 And a knell. 
 
 Above tlie thundering breeze. 
 And the heavy booming seas, 
 
 Peals its woe, 
 Like a requiem in the air. 
 Wildly mournful : it is there. 
 
 Swinging slow. 
 
 1 This gentleman, (whose name was not known to the passengers who related t 
 circumstance,) was heard several times expressing his confidence in God, and encoi 
 aging others to trust in him. He was in the saloon, and was heard to utter the woi 
 quoted above, just as the sea broke over and dashed the saloon from the deck, crui 
 iim' or drowning all who were in if 
 
 - A gentleiiuin from Ohio : name not known. 
 
 8Tlie nolile. scU-forgett'uliicss of Capt. Dustan cannot be too highly praised, sir 
 itseemed to spring from a high sense of the responsibility of his post, and his duty 
 a man and a Christian. 
 
HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Iktroductokv and Descriptive. 
 
 Norwich, when purchased of the Indians, June 6, 1659, consisted of 
 a tract of wild land nine miles square, in the heart of the Mohegan terri- 
 -tory, at the head of what was then called Mohegan or Pequot river. This 
 area comprised the present towns of Norwich, Bozrah, Franklin, Lisbon, 
 Sprague, and the western border of Griswold and Preston, embracing 
 Jewett's City, Long Society, and a part of Poquetannock. 
 
 The Shetuchet river flows in a semicircular sweep through the eastern 
 portion of this area, receiving the Quinebaug about three miles before it 
 reaches the Thames. The Quinebaug comes down with a rapid current 
 through a country abounding in hills and valleys, rugged and abrupt, and 
 has its channel frequently encumbered with ledges of rock. Its name in 
 the Indian tongue signified Long Pond, — the flowing river bearing with it 
 in its course the name of its fountain head. It is a larger stream than the 
 Shetucket, yet the Indians, after the junction, continued the name of the 
 minor branch, and this practice has been very properly retained, since the 
 united stream, both in its course and the nature of its current, seems to be 
 a continuation of the Shetucket rather than of the Quinebaug. 
 
 The Shetucket was formerly noted for its abundant supply of shad. 
 Just below the mouth of the Quinebaug they were caught in April and 
 May by driving the river. Pens were constructed in the shallow waters,. 
 and the fishermen, plunging into the river with bushes in their hands,, 
 drove the fish into these inclosures, where they were caught by hand and 
 thrown into baskets. Shad and other fish are still found in the river, but 
 not of the size and flavor of former times, and far less abundant. 
 
 The Tantic is a small romantic stream flowing east and southeast,. 
 
 affording by its declination and consequent rapidity various sites for mills 
 
 and manufacturing establishments. The brooks and rivulets that swell it 
 
 to the size of a little river come from Lebanon, Colchester and Bozrah... 
 
 2 
 
18 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 The largest stream issues from Gardner's Lake, the Mashipaug of the 
 Indians, a fine sheet of water that forms a corner bound to the three towns 
 of Colchester, Bozrah and Montville. 
 
 About a mile before the Yantic meets the Shetucket, while flowing 
 south, it suddenly sweeps round in an easterly direction, and coming upon 
 a bed of rocks, plunges over a ledge twelve or fifteen feet in height, and 
 still descending, works its way amid the heaped up rocky masses, through 
 a narrow chasm l)etween perpendicular cliflFs to the level basin below. 
 These are the well-known Norwich Falls, which at the time of a spring 
 'flood suddenly swell into sublimity, spanning the river with a sheet of 
 foam, and filling the ravine with a heavy roar. 
 
 Escaping from this compression, the river turns again to the south, and 
 in a gentle current passes onward to meet the Shetucket, and in their 
 union they become the Thames. 
 
 The whole course of the Thames from Xorwich to its entrance into 
 Long Island Sound is about fourteen miles. It is navigable from its 
 mouth to Gale-town village, more than half its length, for vessels drawing 
 twenty -five feet of water. Ships of the line might at all times of the tide 
 ascend to a distance of nine or ten miles; but above this the channel is 
 impeded by bars and sand-banks, which are frequently changed in their 
 position by the spring floods, and aggravated by the sand brought down 
 from the Shetucket.* 
 
 The Thames in earlier days was widely known for its lavish abundance 
 of fish. The shad, alewives, bass, mackerel, eels, oysters, and lobsters, 
 were nowhere to be found in larger quantity or greater perfection. Stur- 
 geon and other large fish often wandered into the stream, and have been 
 known to leap into a passing boat.f 
 
 It was chronicled in the Boston Xews-Letter, just after the great freshet 
 of February, 1729, that Xorwich river was swarming vrith fish to such an 
 extent that 20,000 bass had been caught within a few days just below the 
 Landing. This might have been a larger amount than usual, but every 
 year at the breaking ui) of the ice, there was a great demand, far and near, 
 for the striped bass of Xorwich river. 
 
 In a newspaper of 1771, it was noticed that 300 barrels of mackerel 
 had been taken that season in the river between Xew London and Xor- 
 wich, and that six barrels were filled from the contents of a single seine. 
 The ri\er has not entirely lost its character for supplies of fish, but the 
 abundance varies with varying seasons, and incessant navigation has had 
 its usual t'ii'ect in scattering the finny tribes. 
 
 # In 1806, the Channel Company, after dredging the river, reported nine feet of 
 ■water at common tide, the whole distance from Norwich to New London. 
 
 tSo recently as May, 1861, a sturgeon (called in the marine vernacular Albanv 
 *eef,) was caught above Gale's Ferry, which weighed 125 lbs. ' ^ 
 
HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 19 
 
 It was long before the river attained a fixed and popular name. It was 
 called indifferently the Pequot or Mohegan river. At what period or by 
 whose suggestion it began to be called the Thames, is uncertain, but the 
 name is an easy sequence to that of New London. London on the Thames 
 seems to require that the river of New London should be the New Thames, 
 and probably the name slid into usage' without any definite beginning or 
 sponsorship. The aboriginal name has not been recovered, but there 
 can be little hesitation in assuming that it was the term which signified 
 in the Indian tongue. Great River, — this being the first distinctive name 
 applied to it by the English, and the one long in use among the Mohegans. 
 In its present dimensions, Norwich covers an area of twenty-six square 
 miles. The greatest extent is from Trading Cove brook to Plain Hill, 
 which measures seven miles ; its medium breadth is about three. In point 
 of scenery it is one of the most picturesque towns in New England, pre- 
 senting a pleasing variety of high and low ground, forest and field, rock and 
 river. It displays a multiplicity of slopes and side-hills ; every turn brings 
 forth a new landscape ; every height oflFers a fresh expanse of interesting 
 details. It is beautiful in its contrasts and its harmonies ; beautiful beyond 
 comparison in its circling streams, its umbrageous parks and rural avenues. 
 In the pursuits of life, rare combinations of apparently opposing interests 
 are here embraced in one municipal bond. Tasteful and costly dwellings, 
 the refinements of social life, means of high mental culture, and all the 
 aspects of elegant retirement, are found in strange proximity with crowded 
 places of business, the bustle and haste of railroads and wharves, and the 
 tremulous, unceasing roar and confusion of innumerable mills and machine 
 shops. 
 
 There are many points of observation within the limits of the town, 
 that may be called mounts of vision. From Plain Hill on the northwest 
 boundary the prospect is broad and noble, expanding almost to vastness 
 and sublimity. The Old Parsonage or Meeting-House hill in the Town- 
 plot commands a lovely valley warm with hfe, where the quiet abodes of 
 man seem in perfect harmony with the works of nature. From Ox-hill, east 
 of the Town-plot, there is a view of surpassing beauty, ample and pano- 
 ramic, the outlines composed of those interminable woods which are the 
 relieving shadows of all American scenery. 
 
 The high grounds in and around Chelsea afford a still greater variety 
 of prospect. In addition to woodland grandeur and village beauty, the 
 eye takes in the clustered, crowded city, the neighboring villages, and a 
 long reach of the river with its diversified banks, combining several dis- 
 tinct landscapes in one view. 
 
 In historical interest Norwich holds a prominent position. It has an 
 aborio-inal as well as an Enghsh and American history. The first plant- 
 ers were a body of men who displayed much of the genuine old English 
 
20 HISTOETOFNORWICH. 
 
 character, and left the impress of their origin deeply stamped upon tl 
 laws and regulations. The two most noted founders of the town, Mi 
 John Mason and the Eev. James Fitch, were remarkable men, and vari 
 individuals of more than common note have, first and last, issued from i 
 community. In Revolutionary times the inhabitants stood boldly forth 
 resistance to oppression, and were among the first in the country to t 
 their attention to certain manufactures for which the colonies had bi 
 Itept dependent upon Great Britain. In later times it has become s 
 more distinguished for the variety, quantity and value of its manufactu: 
 products. These circumstances, in connection with the diversified scene 
 have gi\'en a name and character to the town, which make it more c 
 spicLious than many others of greater numerical importance. 
 
 In some respects oSforwich has been peculiarly favored by Providen 
 It has never been visited by any extraordinary visitation of disease, 
 crushed by any sudden calamity. In common with other parts of t 
 country it has met with financial reverses ; it has had periods of depn 
 sion, when improvements ceased and business of all kinds ran to a \t 
 ebb, throwing it backward in its career for a time, and obliginor it 
 retrace the steps to prosperity. But neither war, nor treason, nor famii 
 nor plague, nor whirlwind, nor life-destroying floods, nor widely desolati 
 flames, have ever imperiled its welfare. Since the Xine-miles-square w 
 bought of the Indians, no embattled foe has been seen in the territoi 
 The greatest of outward disasters has been an occasional loss from flo 
 or fire ; the destruction of a church, a factory, or dweUing-house, the ru 
 ture of a bridge, or the submerging of a \yharf. 
 
 Norwich, beside its central division, the city, consists of several distin 
 portions or villages, stretching like wings along the banks of the Shetuck 
 and Yantic, with a background of hUls and woods, interspersed with farr 
 moderately fertile, surrounding the whole area. At the northwest, thr 
 and a half miles distant from the port, and bordering closely upon Bozn 
 and Franklin, is the village of 
 
 Tantic. 
 
 Tiiis section of the town retains its aboriginal name. At the time 
 the settlement, the whole district beyond Bean Hill was called Yantic, , 
 Yantuck. Strips of meadow land at Yantuok were among the earl'ie 
 grants dealt out to the planters, and highly prized as aflTording native gra 
 for their cattle. But the name was probably derived from^the river tl 
 syllable tid; or tuck, usually denoting in the Indian tongue, a streaiL : 
 water. 
 
 The village is wholly of modern growth; built up since 1820 ar 
 mainly dependent upon the manufacturing interest for its business an 
 population. Here in former times were the Backus iron-works ; th 
 
HISTORYOPNORWICH. 2l 
 
 Backus mansion, and a range of woods, meadows and rugged heights 
 belonging to the Backus family. Beyond these were the West Farms 
 and the Hyde tavern. Various branches of the Backus family, scattered 
 over the Union, look back to this place for their ancestors. 
 
 Yantic is also the birth-place of the late Joseph Otis, to whom Norwich 
 is indebted for its public library. His father wrought in these old iron- 
 works, and his boyhood was spent in this secluded hamlet. It was here 
 that he acquired habits of industry and perseverance, and what education 
 he had, was obtained at the Bean Hill school. 
 
 Bean Hill, in the early days of the settlement, was the northwestern 
 limit of the town-plot. No house-lots were originally laid out beyond the 
 point where the river crosses the main street. The platform of the hijl, 
 wisely left open for public use, was then probably covered with forest 
 trees. It is still shaded in part by a fine old elm, the successor of one of 
 great size and symmetry, which, according to tradition, was verging toward 
 decay when the settlement commenced. Under the shadow of this elm 
 dynasty, in former times when Bean Hill was noted for its business and 
 gaiety, tables were spread, speeches made, and sermons preached. Here 
 neighbors gathered to hear the news, and teamsters loitered in the heat of 
 the day. 
 
 The Town-plot, the oldest part of Norwich, originally consisted of one 
 long, irregular street, winding around the hills, and following the course of 
 the Yantic. It retains still the same outline, with but little variation from 
 its first laying out. The streets, the house-lots, the garden-plots, are the 
 same, and in many places the old first-built walls and fences remain. 
 Near the center is an open square or plain, hedged in on the north by a 
 range of high ground, rocky and precipitous. In the early days of the 
 settlement, on the summit of this hill, towering over the plain, stood the 
 venerated House of Worship, for many years the only public gathering- 
 place for a Christian assembly in the Nine-miles-square. The neighbor- 
 ing heights were doubtless crowned with woods, and theTocks, now so 
 bare, decked with a luxuriant growth of moss-tufts and creepers. How 
 beautiful the ascent to this Mount Zion ! — the venerable-Mr. Fitch leading 
 the way, and his pilgrim followers, old and young, singly or in groups, 
 scattered along the pathway and gathering at the sacred porch. 
 
 At the end of the first century from the settlement, the church, no 
 longer necessary as a look-out post of the town, came down from the hill, 
 and took its position at the corner of the Green, where it now stands. 
 
 This Plain, or Green, was the place where trades, merchandize, public 
 business, military exercises, shows, sports, festivals, and the general enter- 
 prize of the town, found a center. The County Jail stood on the north 
 side at the foot of the hill ; the Court-House was in the open area ; the 
 Post-Office not far from the meeting-house ; two printing-offices, within a 
 
22 HISTOEY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Stone's throw at the west, and taverns, schools and shops alternating with 
 private dwellings around the border. 
 
 The Court- House in 1798 was removed to the site once occupied by the 
 dwelling of Capt. .John Mason, (the first house built in Norwich,) where 
 it now stands, and since the transfer of the courts to Chelsea, has been 
 used for a school-house. Trade, noise, bustle and gaiety have left the 
 precincts ; the taverns are closed, and the peace and quiet of the Happy 
 Valley seem to have obtained undisturbed possession of this charming 
 plain. 
 
 Yet the germs of mental and moral power are quick with life beneath 
 the calm green of these quiet scenes. Character draws strength and elas- 
 ticity from the soil. From this nucleus issue forth bright spirits, one after 
 another, who take positions east or west and radiate light through other 
 spheres. Latent fire is at work in the heart of a society from which pro- 
 ceed such young men as Herr Driesbach, the lion-tamer ;* Aaron S. Ste- 
 phens, the unfortunate participator in the measures of John Brown ; Ed- 
 ward Harland, a brigadier-general at the age of twenty-five ; merchants 
 for other cities, ministers for many pulpits, and patriot soldiers to die for 
 the Union. 
 
 Honor to the old Town-plot. It is still worthy of its founders, the 
 Masons, the Fitches, the Huntingtons, Hydes, Tracys, Leffingwells and 
 Latlirops of the ancient settlement. 
 
 The Falls Village lies in a hollow bend of the Yantic, just where it 
 rushes over the rocks through a winding channel into the cove leading to 
 the Thames. It is wholly of manufacturing origin, and with the exception 
 of an old mill-seat, and a dwelling-house built by Elijah Lathrop, is the 
 growth of the last half century. 
 
 The Water-Fall at this place was formerly regarded as one of the most 
 interesting natural curiosities in this part of the country. So much of the 
 stream has been diverted from its original headlong course over the para- 
 pet of rocks, for mechanical uses, that the description ijiven of the cataract 
 sixty years ago seems exaggerated. It is only at the spring floods, when 
 the swollen river comes roaring through the cliasm, filhno- the channel 
 from side to side, that >\e can realize the old picturesque grandeur of the 
 scene. 
 
 It then becomes easy for tlie imagination to re-people the landscape with 
 savage combatants, and to discern amid the noise of the fallino- water dis- 
 tant eclioes of the war-whoop. The perpendicular cliff that walls the 
 chasm suggests the old tradition, and the Indian tragedy seems again acted 
 before us. The iianting Narragansetts come suddenly amid the thick 
 
 * Samuel, son of Consider Sterry, is supposed to be identical with this hero of the 
 hippodrome,— Herr Driosbach being the name assumed when he became a circus actor. 
 
HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 23 
 
 woods upon the edge of the precipice, and plunge, or are driven by their 
 victorious pursuers, over the battlements upon the pointed rocks below. 
 
 Chelsea Plain in its whole extent from the range of hills by which it is 
 circumscribed on the east, to the brink of No-man's Acre, is without rocks, 
 and resembles an alluvial formation, or the bed of a lake. Gravel and 
 rounded stones, differing in their character from the gneiss and hornblende 
 of the neighboring heights, are found a few feet below the surface. The 
 form of the land in its descent toward the river, the clefts in the banks, 
 and various peculiar configurations, suggest the idea of some violent force 
 exerted in past ages, such as the rush of retiring waters and the fitful 
 sweep of an eddy.* 
 
 This Plain is a very beautiful part of Norwich. Here is the Free 
 Academy, a magnificent building planted in the midst of ample space, 
 with a romantic woodland for its background, — the broad and open Park, 
 —the Uncas Monument, overshadowed with almost sepulchral gloom, — 
 a small but tasteful church, — the Yantic Cemetery, already rich in its 
 memorials of departed worth, and continually- amassing sacred treasures, — 
 many elegant private mansions, gracefully varied in age, style and posi- 
 tion, and everywhere groups and columns of towering, interlacing trees. 
 
 It is on this plain that we may with some degree of probability fix the 
 seat of an Indian sachem and a village of wigwams prior to the English 
 settlements. The Yantic cove below, we may assume, was their canoe- 
 place, for like other savages they would naturally congregate at the foot of 
 a waterfall. Near at hand is the ravine by which they ascended to the 
 plain, where stood their matted tents and corn-fields. Waweekus Hill, the 
 rock-browed head of Norwich, looking down the river and commanding 
 the entrance to the streams on either side, was their watch-post and place 
 of refuge. This we may infer from its ancient name of Fort Hill. They 
 have, moreover, left arrow-heads and stone pestles embedded in the soil, 
 and their royal burying-ground on the brink of the upland, to attest then- 
 residence and identify their aboriginal character. 
 
 The City, or central part of Norwich, encompasses the meeting-place 
 of the Yantic, the Shetucket, and the Thames, spreading over both sides 
 of each of these three rivers. It is an assemblage of side-hills and hill- 
 tops, with rivers gliding at their feet. The upper ' streets are declivities, 
 and the buildings lie in tiers one above another. In ascending the river 
 by night, the houses on the hill seem suspended in the air. The lower 
 streets have either been won from the water, or blasted out of the rock. 
 The bold projections along the border line have been moulded into foun- 
 dations for wharves, ofiices, and freight-houses. Central Wharf, a stupen- 
 dous platform covered with shops, factories, and machinery of various kinds, 
 
 # The elevation of the Plain above the level of Shetucket and Main streets, at their 
 intersection, according to an old measurement of surveyors, was .78 feet. 
 
24 HISTOETOFNOBWICH. 
 
 and affording facilities for an extensive trade in coal and lumber, has been 
 wholly created, and a railway laid along the semicircular border of the 
 promontory forms a connecting link between the railroads to Amherst and 
 to Worcester, «'hich run from hence nortliwest and northeast, leaving 
 Norwich between them at their point of junction. 
 
 In this part of Norwich since A835 the advance in the style of build- 
 ings, both pul)lic and private, has been surprisingly rapid, — almost like 
 the changes of imagery in an enchanter's mirror. Churches, banks, — and 
 among the most recent, the noble bank building in Shetucket street, stand- 
 ing upon the brink of a ledge of rock, with the narrow, dark river far 
 down in its rear, — mercantile blocks, armories and machine-shops, school- 
 houses of grand proportion and finished detail, the Waureegan Hotel, the 
 Otis Library, Breed Hall, one after another, have taken their places in 
 the scene. Elegant mansions, in all the various styles of cottage, city, 
 country and castellated architecture, erected at a cost varying from five to 
 forty thousand dollars, and collecting ai-ound them groves and gardens of 
 exquisite beauty, rise along the streets and extend over the hills. So 
 great are the transformations, that absentees of fifteen or twenty years, on 
 returning are embarrassed in endeavoring to trace out their former haunts. 
 Taste and enterprise, led on by prosperity, are in continual operation, 
 creating tlie new, remodeling the old, transforming the rude into the ele- 
 gant, the barren cliff to a verdant terrace, and gullies of sand and gravel 
 to gardens of fruitfulness and bloom. 
 
 West Chelsea was formerly noted for ship building. Not only common 
 trading vessels, but ships of considerable sizi% were constructed here 
 under disadvantages which energy and pel-severance only could have con- 
 quered, the narrowness of the river making it necessary to launch them 
 side-ways or diagonally. 
 
 Oak-spring hill. Baptist hill and Mount Pleasant are names by which 
 this high district has been locally known at different periods. Here, 
 under the shade of venerable trees, far above the level of the river, above 
 the line of numberless chimneys and tree-tops, springs of pure water that 
 have neVer been known to fail, rise to the surface of the earih. For 
 many years one of these perpetual fountains has supplied a portion of the 
 city with water. 
 
 This hill xvas in former times covered with a stately forest, and until a 
 recent period all the roads and pathways on this side of the river led 
 through woods and thickets. Streets and houses are now extending over 
 the hcghfs, and the ^vaste la^ids are rapidly passing into gardens and cul- 
 tivated fields. 
 
 Below ANVvst Clielsea, on the riNcr, is a place formerly known as a re- 
 treat for fishing boats, with here and there a fai-m house in sight upon the 
 bank, and called -Bushnell's Cove. A distillery was an old occupant of 
 
HISTOEYOPNORWICH. 26 
 
 the Point, and a house near by was at one time kept as a tavern. Since 
 the year 1850, an entire change has been effected in this locality, and the 
 present appearance is no more like the former than if a new creation had 
 taken place. Mitchell's iron works, Wetmore's ship-yard, and the com- 
 mercial enterprise of J. M. Huntington & Co., have transformed this 
 secluded station into a thriving village, which hes within the city bounds, 
 but is distinguished by the appropriate name of 
 
 Tkamesville. 
 
 A vast amount of labor has here been expended in leveling, grading 
 and building. The high banks have been broken up and gradually de- 
 posited at the river side, changing the marshes and shallows into acres of 
 solid ground. By perseverance and capital, overcoming obstacles, ample 
 space and facilities for business have been obtained, and the village now 
 exhibits several handsome dwelling houses, a steam engine and machine 
 factory, a well prepared ship-yard, convenient wharfage and a quay, with 
 all the necessary appurtenances of workshops, warehouses and tenements. 
 
 On the east side of the river, below the mouth of the Shetucket, is the 
 wild and romantic district of Laurel Hill, one of the youngest of the 
 Norwich group of villages. So late as 1850, this bank of the river re- 
 mained chiefly in its natural condition, abrupt, rocky and uncultivated, 
 with a single farm-house in an extent of two or three miles. 
 
 It has had no magic touch from the wand of manufacture, no mines or 
 marble quarries lurk beneath the surface ; it stands apart from the clash 
 of mills and machinery, but under the management of taste and enterprise, 
 pleasant homes and fertile gardens have risen along the rugged slopes, 
 bursting out one after another, like the old laurel blossoms, for which the 
 place was noted, at the call of June. The first dwelling house was erected 
 in 1852. It numbers at the present time, (1865,) 45 houses; has 70 
 scholars for the public schools, and sends 50 voters to the polls. 
 
 East Chelsea was originally the least desirable of all the suburbs of the 
 city. The river swept over it at every freshet, and receding, left it cov- 
 ered with the stones and rubbish that came down imbedded in the ice- 
 blocks, or torn up by the impetuosity of the current. Hence, probably, 
 it obtained the descriptive name of Swallow-all. Franklin street was a 
 rugged lane winding into the woods between Stony Brook and Burial 
 Ground hill. The brook itself, alternately a quiet stream and a roaring 
 torrent, having received its petty branches and its tributary pond, flowed 
 into the Shetucket, crossing Main street in the line of Franklin Square. 
 
 The brook and the massive stones that covered it, are now far beneath 
 the surface of the street, the soil having accumulated above to the depth 
 of several feet. Churches, handsome houses, mercantile blocks, a railroad 
 depot, and various forms of business, occupy the once neglected surface. 
 
 Franklin street, elevated, widened, lehgthened, and lined with buildings 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY OP NORWICH 
 
 on either side, has become a busy thoroughfare and the seat of several 
 largu manufacturing establishments ; among them are the gigantic works 
 of the Norwich Arms Company, which, during the pressure of the war, 
 had the workmen at command, and the machinery in operation, capable 
 of turning out 400 finished muskets per day.* 
 
 Greeneville, on the Shetucket, was indebted, in its origin, to the foresight 
 and well-directed enterprise of William C. Gilman and William P. Greene. 
 The former made the first purchase ; the latter followed out and completed 
 the grand design, and is imperisliably connected with its name. 
 
 It was founded upon manufacturing privileges. Dams, canals and fac- 
 tories were here coeval with dwelling houses and families. A first speci- 
 men of each sate down together in 1829, and these rapidly grew. into a 
 community. A school was established in 1832, a Congregational church 
 organized January 1st, 183.5, and a house for worship completed in 1835. 
 
 Greeneville affords a striking illustration of the success with which, 
 under the influence of ^ise regulations and liberal patronage, an assem- 
 blage of various nations and pursuits may be wrought into a prosperous 
 and well-ordered community. This village has now several large facto- 
 ries, with the great Shetucket Cotton ]MiU and the mammoth Chelsea 
 paper-mill at their head ; three churches, an excellent system of graded 
 schools, and a population of 3,000 or more, gathered from five different 
 nations, — ranking them in the order of numbers, — Irish, American, Scotch, 
 English and German. So far they have worked well together, and give 
 promise of soon becoming a homogeneous community. 
 
 This cursory survey of Norwich is sufficient to show how richly she 
 has been endowed by nature with sources of prosperity and with what 
 happy results these facilities have been thus fai- improved. 
 
 In available sites for manufactories the town is peculiarly favored. 
 
 It is surrounded by a farming region, fertile, extensive and well culti- 
 vated, which makes it advantageous as an agricultural market. 
 
 Its situation at the head of a navigable river gives it facilities for fur- 
 nishing supplies to a >\idely extended back country and to the numerous 
 mill seats and villages that occupy the tributary streams. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 1756 — 5,540, of whom 22.3 were coloixnl, 
 1774—7,321. 1,024 t'amilk'S ; 901 ihvelling-houses. 
 1779— 7, 1S7. 
 
 1780—6,541. 
 
 1790—3,284. 
 1800—3,476. 
 
 AFTER THE DIVISION OP THE TOWN. 
 
 *Sco article "Norwich Armories," in Harper's Miigazine for March, 1864. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 27 
 
 Census taken by Benjamin Tracy at the close of the yoai- 1810 : 
 Free white males, 1,554 
 
 Free white females, 1 ,807 
 
 Free colored persons, 1 52 
 
 Slaves, 12 
 
 Total, 3,525 
 
 1820—3,624. 
 
 1830—5,179. 
 
 1840 — Free white males, 3,254 
 
 Free white females, 3,633 
 
 Colored persons, 352 
 
 Total, 7,239 
 
 1850—10,265. 
 I860 — 14,058, of whom 361 were colored. 
 
 According to the Grand List of 1864, Norwich has 1 727 dwelling-houses ; 267 stores; 
 41 manufactories ; 758 horses; 533 carriages ; 613 time-keepers. 
 
 Total value of property, $16,094,637; of taxable property, $10,649,619. 
 
 Total number of polls registered, 1764; military exempts, 47; firemen, 296; other 
 exempts, 107 : total taxable polls, 1314. 
 
 It has seven banks, besides one for savings and a savings society that has been forty 
 years in operation ; four insurance companies ; seventeen churches ; eight school dis- 
 tricts ; thirty-nine public schools ; and a Free Academy, open for an academical educa- 
 tion to all the children of the town, free of expense, and without regard to sex or con- 
 dition. 
 
 By the old stage route, from Norwich to New York is 128 miles ; to New Haven, 58 ; 
 to Boston, 80 ; to Hartford, 38, and about the same distance to Providence. 
 
 By the Norwich & Worcester Railroad, Boston is reached in four hours. By the 
 Northern Railroad to New London, and the New Haven Railroad, New York is reached 
 in six hours; by the Northern Railroad and the steamboat Ime connected with it, in 
 eight or nine hours. 
 
 Latitude, 41°, 33', N. 
 
 Longitude, 72°, 7', W. of Greenwich. 
 
 MEASTJKEMENTS. 
 
 Line between Norwich and Lisbon, by the Shetucket river, 4 miles and a few rods. 
 
 Between Norwich and Franklin, 5} miles. 
 
 Between Norwich and Bozrah, 4| miles. 
 
 Between Norwich and Montville, by Trading Cove and brook, 3} miles. 
 
 From Trading Cove to the mouth of the Shetucket, 2 miles, 100 rods. 
 
 From thence by the river to Lathrop's bridge, 3 miles, 80 rods. 
 
 From 1st Society Court House to Lathrop's bridge, a little over 3 miles. 
 
 " " " to Lovett's bridge, 4 miles. 
 
 " " " over Plain Hill to Franklin line, 4j miles. 
 
 " " " to Trading Cove, (New London road,) 3^ miles. 
 
 " " " to Wharf bridge, 2 miles. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Aboriginal History op the Nise-Miles-Squaee. 
 
 When the English began their settlements in the eastern part of Con- 
 necticut, they found the Mohegans claiming and holding by a kind of wan- 
 dering possession, a large area back from the sea-coast, and extending far 
 into the interior of the country. How was their title obtained ? Xot by 
 inheritance or conquest, but apparently by stepping into vacancy and occu- 
 pying the seats of an extinct or fugitive race. This appears to have been 
 the origin of the right which Uncas had to the Xiue-miles-square, and to 
 several other fair towns, the ownership of which is derived from him and 
 his sons. In point of fact, this title could not be fairly challenged ; for as 
 aborigines and as present sole occupants, their right was paramount to all 
 others. The English had no claim beyond the hne of their conquests on 
 the sea-board. 
 
 But who were the antecedent inhabitants of the Xino-miles-square ? 
 What people had fished in its streams, swept over it with their hunting 
 bands, and built their huts upon its area, not only before 3Iason and Fitch 
 set up their pillars in the wilderness, but before Uncas became a sachem 
 and his people a tribe? On this point no certainty has been obtained. 
 The Pequots were the earliest children of the soil, of whom we have 
 any knowledge. Beyond the Peijuots we recede into darkness and ob- 
 livion. 
 
 A committee appointed by the Commissioners of the United Colonies 
 to inquire into the claims of Uncas to the Pequot territory, made a report 
 in 1663, which throws some light on the ancient condition of that tract oi 
 land which is now Norwich. They had consulted, they say, "old and 
 creditable chiefs," and the testimony obtained goes a step beyond the 
 Pequot war, and gives us a starting-point for our history. 
 
 " Tliey jointly affirm that Uncas had at first but little land and very few men, inso- 
 much ho could not make a hunt, but always hunted by order from other Sachems and 
 in their companies ; which Sachems, being five brothers, lived at a place called bv the 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 29 
 
 ( 
 
 Indians, Soudahque,* at or near the place where Major Mason now liveth, [i. e., Nor- 
 wich,] who were the sons of the great Pequot Sachem's sister, and so became very 
 great Sachems, and had their bounds very large, extending their bounds by Connecti- 
 cut path,t almost to Connecticut,t and eastward meeting with the bounds of Pasquat- 
 tuck, (who lived at Showtuckett, being a Pequot Sachem whose bounds extended 
 eastward and took in Pachaug ;§) the which five Sachems being brothers grew so great 
 and so proud that upon hunting they quarrelled with the Pequots, at which the great 
 Pequot [Sachem] being angry whh them, made war upon them and conquered them 
 and their country, and they all fled into Narragansett country, (leaving their country 
 and men unto the Pequot Sachem,) from whence they never returned, but there died. 
 So that Indians afiBrm all their lands and Woncas's too, according to their customs and 
 manners were Pequot lands, being by them conquered, and now are the true right of 
 the English, they having conquered the Pequots."|| 
 
 According to this testimony, the Nine-miles-square, at a period not long 
 anterior to the arrival of the English, was inhabited by bands of Indians 
 whose rulers were allied to the royal Pequot race, and probably they and 
 their people were of Pequot origin. 
 
 Nothing more is known of these children of the soil. They were doubt- 
 less few in number, and passed awajs^fke dry leaves of the forest, swept 
 off by winds, or beaten into the earth by wintry storms. Perhaps the 
 report of the aged chiefs was correct, that they withdrew into Narragan- 
 sett and coalesced with its tribes. The territory that had been occupied 
 by these five brothers, however, again rises to the view in 1 648. It was 
 then claimed by Uncas, the Llohegan chief, and bore the general name of 
 Mohegan. 
 
 Various historical notices tend to show that the Mohegans were origin- 
 ally a river tribe, possessing lands on the Connecticut, in what are now 
 the towns of East Hartford and East Windsor. The father of Uncas 
 having married into the royal Pequot family, acquired by this alliance a 
 right to a certain tract of land on the west side of Pequot river, since 
 known as Mohegan proper, and here fixed the principal seat of his 
 sachemdom. The chiefs, consulted by the committee before mentioned, 
 testified that Uncas was " akin to the Pequots," and that he received this 
 tribal seat by inheritance from his father. Thus, when the five sachems 
 were driven from their possessions in the neighborhood, the Mohegans 
 stood ready to spread their hunting and fishing claims over the relinquished 
 country and include it in their domain. 
 
 * Soudahque: the name comes to us through several copyists in this form. It mav 
 have been identical with Souduch, a variation of Showtuck, Showtucket. It has been 
 suggested also that the word was originally written Yontahque, a name of which our 
 modern Yantic would be the representative. 
 
 t The road to Hartford. 
 
 X The three towns of Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor then constituted Connect- 
 icut. 
 
 ^ Showtucket and Pachaug are now Lisbon and Griswold. 
 
 l Conn. Col. Eec, 3 : 479. 
 
30 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 The Yantic water-fall appears to have been a favorite resort of tl 
 Mohegans. It was their landing place and their fishing place. It 
 probable that they had wigwams at intervals in the neighborhood, an 
 that it became one of their wandering homes. This supposition harmi 
 nizes with the fact that the first English settlers found here a "place i 
 Indian Graves " which was venerated by Uncas as the spot where L 
 parents and relatives were buried. 
 
 As a tributary chief, Uiicas was exceedingly restless and ambitiou 
 Five times, the Indians said, he rebelled against his superior, and eac 
 time was expelled from his possessions, and his followers subjected to th 
 sway of the conqueror. But at this extremity, he had always managec 
 by submission and entreaty, to gain the pardon of his liege lord and re 
 cover his inheritance. ' 
 
 Still another of these rebellious outbreaks occurred about the time tha 
 the English first settled upon Connecticut river. Uncas being once mor 
 defeated by Sassacus, retired to the territory claimed by the Mohegans 
 near Windsor, where some of the tribe still remained. This brought hin 
 into the neighborhood and to the knowledge of the English, and particu 
 larly of Capt. Mason, whom he joined, with seventy Mohegan and rive 
 Indians, in the famous expedition against the Pequots, in 3Iay, 1637. 
 
 The success of this enterprise opened the way for his return to his sea 
 upon Pequot river. He was henceforward protected and fostered by thi 
 Enghsh, his claims to large tracts of land allowed, and the number of hi 
 subjects greatly increased by the captives bestowed upon him, and thi 
 fugitives that sought his protection. In the words of other Indians, "thi 
 English made him high." 
 
 The Narragansetts and Mohegans were rival races ; their sachems jeal 
 ous of each other, and the people ever ready to break out into raneoroui 
 warfare. The early history of Connecticut is perplexed with accounts o 
 their petty quarrels. Our present Norwich was then the Mohegan fron 
 tier, the battle-ground and lurking place of hostile tribes. Amom: it 
 rocks and ravines the scouting parties of the Xarragansctts often"lai( 
 their snares or found shelter when pursued ; and here also was the look 
 out post of the Mohegans, when expecting an attack from the foe. 
 
 In 1638, the hostile sachems, Miantonomoh and Uncas, through thi 
 persuasion or authority of the English, entered into an agreenTent a 
 Hartford, not to make war upon each other without first appealing to th 
 English. But mutual dislike and national jealousy were easily inflamei 
 nito open hostility, and neither party, when roused to the conflict, waitei 
 for the sanction of its neighbors. An open rupture at length took place 
 the UBmeduitc cause of which is thus stated by Governor Winthrop o 
 Massachusetts, in his journal : 
 
HISTORYOFNORWICH. 31 
 
 " Onkus, being provoked by Sequassdn, a sachem of Connecticut, made war upon 
 him, and slew divers of his men, and burnt his wigwams ; whereupon Minantunnomoh 
 being his kinsman, took offence against Onkus, and went with near one thousand men 
 and set upon Onkus before he could be provided for defence, for he had not then with 
 him above three or four hundred men ." 
 
 Other liistoi-ians, and among them Trumbull, in his History of Connec- 
 ticut, trace the dispute farther back, to an attempt which was made to 
 assassinate Uncas by a Pequot, who was suspected to have been incited 
 to this act by the Narragansett sachem. Of this, however, no satisfactory 
 proof was ever adduced. Miantonomoh indignantly denied the charge, 
 and retorted upon Uncas that he had cut his own arm with a flint, and 
 then accused the Pequot of wounding him. But whatever might be the 
 incident which supplied the spark of ignition, the materials had long been 
 gathering, and the flame broke forth ip the summer of 1643. The follow- 
 ing account, more minute than is usually given of this contest, is deduced 
 from a careful comparison of the earliest histories, with the traditions of 
 the Mohegans. 
 
 Miantonomoh having secretly assembled a force of five or six hundred 
 warriors,* marched against the Mohegans. He expected to take them by 
 surprise, the season being that in which they were usually busy in their 
 cornfields, or engaged in fishing, and he might reasonably anticipate a 
 brilliant victory. But Uncas was a wary chieftain ; his partizans were at 
 that very time abroad, and he soon received information of the movements 
 of his enemies. According to tradition the Narragansetts were first dis- 
 covered as they were crossing the Shetucket at a fording place, near the 
 junction of the Quinnebaug. 
 
 From this point they came streaming onward through the woods and 
 over the long hill that commands the valley of the Yantic. This was one 
 of the common routes from Narragansett to Mohegan, and without doubt, 
 Uncas in seasons of peculiar peril kept the path strictly watched. 
 
 Having received information of their approach, he assembled his men 
 with great celerity and boldly advanced to meet the foe. 
 
 When he reached what is called the Great Plain, three or four miles 
 from his principal settlement, and a mile and a half south-west of the 
 Yantic, he learned that the Narpgansetts had crossed the fords of the 
 Yantic, [at Noman's acre,] and were pouring down upon him. He im- 
 mediately halted, arranged his men on a rising ground, and made them 
 
 *Nine hundred, or one thousand, says Trumbull, and the warriors of Uncas four or 
 five hundred. This is an over-estimate, as an inquiry into the effective force of the 
 two tribes will show. Half the number assigned in each case, would probably come 
 nearer to the truth. In Mohegan proper, there is no reason to suppose that even two 
 hundi-ed warriors could have been found at that time, and though Uncas might com- 
 mand the services of several small tributary bands, he could have had no opportunity 
 to assemble them for this service. 
 
32 HISTOBTOFNOEWICH. 
 
 acquainted with a stratagem, the effect of which he was about to p 
 He had scarcely given his warriors instructions how to act, befon 
 Narragansetts appeared on an opposite declivity. Uncas sent forwi 
 messenger, desiring a parley with Miantonomoh, which was granted 
 the two chiefs met on the plain, between their respective armies, t 
 then proposed that the fortune of the day should be decided by themsi 
 in single combat, and the lives of their warriors spared. His propos 
 was thus expressed : " Let us two fight it out : if you kill me, my 
 shall be yours ; but if I kill you, your men shall be mine." 
 
 Miantonomoh, who seems to have suspected some crafty manojuvr 
 this unusual proposition, replied disdainfully, "My men came to'fight, 
 they shall fight." Uncas immediately gave a pre-concerted signal ti 
 followers, by falling flat upon his face to the ground. They, beinj 
 prepared with bent bows, instantly discharged a shower of arrows i 
 the enemy, and raising the battle yell, rushed forward with their t( 
 hawks, their chieftain starting up and leading the onset. The Narra 
 setts, who were carelessly awaiting the result of the conference, and 
 expecting that the Mohegans would venture to fight at all with such 
 rior force, were taken by surprise ; and after a short and confused att( 
 at resistance, were put to flight. The fugitives and their pursuers, 
 despairing cries and triumphant shouts, crossed the river at the shal 
 and swept like a whirlwind over the hills, regardless of tangled for 
 rushing torrents and precipitous ledges of rock. The course of flight 
 pursuit led across the Tantic shoals below Noman's acre, and from thi 
 through Norwich, over the high ridge of Ox-hill, toward the well-kn 
 fords of the Shetucket, above the mouth of the Quinnabaug. 
 
 One of the Mohegan Captains, who was very swift of foot, singled 
 Miantonomoh and pursued him with relentless pertinacitv. The sac 
 had nearly reached the river, but being, it is said, encumbered and retai 
 by a corslet of mail,* his pursuer overtook him, and throwing hin 
 against him, impeded his motion. "Wlien the chief had recox ered him 
 he repeated the act, continuing thus to obstruct his flight, but not attei 
 ing to seize him, that Uncas might come up and have the honor of 
 capture. The moment that Uncas touched his shoulder, Miantono 
 stopped, and without the least resistance, remained calm and silent, 
 cas, surveying him, demanded why he did not speak. "If you had U 
 me," he said, "I would have besought you for my life."t The cap 
 chief made no reply, "choosing rather to die, than to make supplies 
 for his life."t Uncas, giving the Indian whoop of victory, collected 
 
 « Furnished by Gorton of Rhode Ishind. Probably it was only a padded or qu 
 vest to check the force of an Indian arrow. 
 tWiiithrop 2 : 158. Savage's edition, 1853. 
 t Hubbard, 451. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 33 
 
 men ai'ound him and the strife ceased. The conflict had been short, and 
 the pursuit rapid, occupying the shortest space of time in which we may 
 suppose the fleet-footed Indians to have swept over a distance of five or 
 six miles.. 
 
 About thirty Narragansetts were slain and many more wounded. 
 Among the latter were two of the sons of Canonicus and a brother of 
 Miantonomoh. 
 
 We have said above that a Mohegan warrior overtook Miantonomoh in 
 his flight, impeded his steps, and materially assisted Uncas in hunting him 
 down. According to Winthrop's account, it was two of the flying sachem's 
 own men who arrested his course and gave him up to Uncas, hoping thereby 
 to obtain favorable terms for themselves ; but the Mohegan sachem, indig- 
 nant at their treachery, slew them on the spot. This account is happily 
 at variance with other contemporary testimony, which states that the cap- 
 ture of the Narragansett chief was secured by a Mohegan, and not by the 
 cowardice and treachery of his own companions. The very name of the 
 fortunate warrior has been preserved. Mr. Thomas Peters, who was 
 shortly afterward a visitor at the fort of Uncas, mentions Tantaquieson as 
 the Mohegan captain "who first fingered Miantonomio." Hubbard also, 
 in his History, gives the credit of the capture to the same chief.* More- 
 over it was this exploit that elevated the name of Tantaquieson; (or Tan- 
 taquidgin, as it was pronounced in later days,) and made it an honorable 
 one among the Mohegans. His descendants long afterwards, in their visits 
 among the neighboring whites, were accustomed to boast of the capture of 
 the great Narragansett giant by their ancestor. 
 
 But while it exalted the warrior in the estimation of his own people, it 
 pointed him out as the special object of Narragansett vengeance, exposing 
 him both to open attack and secret assassination. Various snares were 
 laid for him, and both craft and courage employed to accomplish his 
 destruction ; but apparently he escaped all designs against his life, and 
 died in a quiet way.f 
 
 Traditions of this rem3,rkable contest, embellished probably with various 
 legendary additions, have been preserved both by the whites and Indians 
 in the neighborhood of the scene. In point of fact, it is the most conspic- 
 uous purely Indian fight recorded in the annals of New England. The 
 English had no direct concern in the conflict. It was entirely aboriginal 
 in its character and execution. The numbers engaged, the dignity of the 
 sachems, the importance of its results, and the romantic incidents in its 
 train, combine to enhance the interest of the contest, and to demand for it 
 a special prominence in the history of Norwich. Here was the battle- 
 
 * App. to Savage's Wintlirop, Vol. 2. Hubbard's New England, 459. 
 t One of his grandsons was an estimable deacon of the Mohegan church. 
 
 3 
 
34 HISTOBTOFNOEWICH. 
 
 ground : the flight, pursuit and capture of the sachem all took place within 
 the limits of the present town. 
 
 The sudden rout and extreme terror of the Narragansetts, which fol- 
 lowed the first onset of the Mohegans, shows in a strong light, the bewil- 
 dering influence of panic. Considering the preponderance of their num- 
 bers, and the confidence with which they advanced to the attack, the 
 precipitate, headlong letreat that followed becomes almost ludicrous. If 
 we may credit the accounts given by the Mohegans, so great was the 
 dismay and alarm of the fugitives, that they seemed bereft of their senses, 
 and were driven like frightened sheep through woods and swamps, or 
 captured without resistance. Long afterwards some old Mohegans were 
 heard to boast of having found in the cha>c a poor Narragansett struggling 
 and panting in the thicket that bordered the river, and so frantic with fear 
 and excitement, as to suppose himself in the water, and actually attempt- 
 ing to swim among the bushes. 
 
 It is to this headlong rout that the traditionary legend connected with 
 the Falls of the Yantic may with some desree of probability be assigned.* 
 One band of the fugitives being turned out of the direct line leading to 
 the fords of the Yantic, were chased through woods, and over rocks and 
 hills, by the relentless fury of their pursuers, and coming upon the river 
 where the current was deep and rapid, many of them were driven into it 
 headlong, and there slaughtered or drowned. Others, in the rapidity of 
 their career, having suddenly reached the high precipice that overhangs 
 the cataract, plunged, either unawares or with reckless impetuosity, into 
 the abyss beneath, and were dashed upon the rocks, their mangled bodies 
 floating down into the calm basin below. 
 
 After the battle, Uncas returned in triumph to his fortress, carryino- his 
 illustrious captive with him, whom he treated with generous kindness and 
 respect. But on the requisition of the English, he conducted him to Hart- 
 ford and surrendered him to the custody of the government, consentino- to 
 be guided in the future disposal of the sachem entirely by their advice. 
 
 The whole affair was laid before the Commissioners of the United Col- 
 onies, at their meeting at Boston in September, and the question was there 
 debated whether it was just and lawful to put iNIiantonomoh to death. His 
 execution of a Pequot who had testified against him; his repeated attempts 
 upon the hfe of Uncas by assassination, poison and sorcery ; his turbulence 
 in maliing war against the Mohegans without a previous appeal to the 
 English ; and his inveterate hostility to the whites, to exterminate whom 
 
 * It is difficult to give these old unwritten tales their proper place in history. The 
 author formerly assigned a later date to the frightful plunge of the fugitives at the Falls, 
 but when all the accompanying circumstances are considered, the legend is found to 
 coincide best with the strange panic that prevailed among the Narragansetts at this 
 time. 
 
HISTOBY OF NORWICH. 35 
 
 he was accused' of endeavoring to bring about a confederacy of several 
 tribes, and of hiring the Mohawks to assist in the deadly work, were the 
 arguments urged against him. Nevertheless, the court still hesitated 
 whether it would be just to put him to death, and in this dilemma referred 
 the matter to ecclesiastical counselors. Five of the principal ministers in 
 the colonies were consulted, and these, considering it hazardous to the 
 peace of the country that the sachem should be released, gave their voice 
 in favor of his execution. This decided the question in the affirmative, 
 and the Commissioners directed that Uncas should conduct his captive 
 
 " Into the next part of his own government, and there put him to death : provided that 
 some discreet and faithful persons of the English accompany them and see the execu- 
 tion, for our more full satisfaction." 
 
 Such was the death-warrant of the Narragansett sachem. The result 
 is recorded by Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts, in his Journal. He 
 states that the Commissioners from Connecticut, on their return to Hart- 
 ford, sent for Uncas and acquainted him with the decision in regard to his 
 captive. He readily undertook the execution of the sentence, and Mian- 
 tonomoh was accordingly delivered into his hands. Two Englishmen 
 from Hartford were directed to remain with the prisoner as witnesses of 
 the deed. Uncas promptly obeyed the directions given. "Winthrop says : 
 
 " Taking Miantonomoh along with him, in the way between Hartford and Windsor, 
 (where Onkus hath some men dwell, ) Onkus' brother, following after Miantunnomoh, 
 clave his head with an hatchet." 
 
 This slaughter of the Narragansett chief undoubtedly took place on that 
 tract of land south of the Podunk which was claimed by Uncas and inhab- 
 ited by scattered families under his jurisdiction. The narrative of "Win- 
 throp is explicit in stating that Uncas led his captive to this district, and 
 that he was executed suddenly on the way, probably as soon as they had 
 passed the English boundary and entered upon Indian territory. We can 
 not doubt that the Commissioners had this special tract in view when they 
 directed Uncas to carry his captive into the next part of Ms own govern' 
 ment, and there put him to death. "Winthrop, who records the event, 
 understood, evidently, that the execution took place in this Mohegan 
 claim between Hartford and Windsor, that is, the present East Hartford 
 and East Windsor, and he probably derived his information from the 
 Englishmen that were designated to witness the act and see that it was 
 done without torture. We are thus, in a manner, compelled to admit that 
 Miantonomoh was executed in some unknown spot, near the old boundary 
 line of Hartford and Windsor. 
 
 But Trumbull, the worthy historian of Connecticut, yielding to the 
 strong current of local tradition, in and around Norwich, assigns a very 
 different place for the scene of this tragedy. 
 
36 HISTORY OF NOBWICH. 
 
 According to this authority, Uncas conducted his captive to the 
 spot where lie had taken him prisoner: that is, to the border of the 
 tucket river, about forty miles in a southeasterly direction from Hai 
 and there executed the awful sentence ; a blow upon the head v, 
 hatchet by one of the attendants of Uncas dispatching him at a s 
 stroke. The historian adds : 
 
 " Uncas cut out a large piece of his shoulder, and ate it in savage triumph 
 said, It was the sweetest meat he ever ate : it made his heart strong." 
 
 We know that many of the Indian tribes, even those not accoi 
 cannibals, had the custom of tasting the flesh or blood of a slaugh 
 foe, believing that thereby the strength and valor of the deceases 
 infused into their own souls. This part of the tradition is not w 
 improbable. Whether the chief was slaughtered in the nameless ■ 
 above Hartford, or on the banks of the Shetucket, Uncas may have 
 ified his revenge and honored a savage practice by tasting the flesh o 
 fallen enemy. The incident, however, rests wholly on tradition, ai 
 not countenanced by any thing that we know of the customs and chi 
 ter of the Mohegans. On the contrary, it has the vague and exagger 
 .features of fiction. 
 
 The historian further 'relates that the Mohegans, by order of U 
 buried the victim at the place of his execution, and erected a great ] 
 or pillar upon his grave ; adding that this memorable event gave to 
 place the name of Sachem's Plain. 
 
 This narrative coincides with current tradition. Sachem's Plain i 
 the western bank of the Shetucket, north of the present viUa'^e of Gr 
 ville, and here for a long course of years the monumental heap ^Yas ti 
 seen, apparently giving solemn evidence of the verity of the staten 
 Nevertheless the Records of the Commissioners, and the Journal of 'V 
 thri.]!, being written at the time, and with such manifest attention to mii 
 accuracy, must be accepted as more reliable tlian tradition.* 
 
 And indeed, considering the nature of the route, without refert 
 either to history or tradition, it is scarcely credible that Uncas would 1 
 taken that long journey with his manacled captive, through the wilden 
 where the chances of escape or recapture were so immine°nt, and he m 
 rc;i^onably exjiect his course to be watched and his path ambushed by 
 enemy, when the terms of his engiigement could be fulfilled and his 
 barrassments ended at a much nearer point. For it is evident tliat 
 
 * Tlic authority quoted by TrurabuU is a manuscript of Richard Hyde F.„ ( 
 in the Library of Yale Colk-c,) which is dated Oct. 9, 1769. It is undoJb'ed v 
 it , laims to be, a faithful nai-rative of the traditions of ancient men in the vicinity ■ 
 in the course of 126 years it would bo very easy for an error to slide into tradii 
 which should blend the place of the sachem's execution with that of his capture 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 37 
 
 Commissioners designed tliat Miantonomoh should be removed from life 
 with expedition, and the phrase, next part of his oivn government, used in 
 reference to the jurisdiction of TJncas, points to the Mohegan territory on 
 the Podunk, and not to the Mohegan territory on the Shetucket.* 
 
 This view of the subject by no means destroys the interest attached to 
 the monumental heap, and the commemorative name, Sachem's Plain. 
 They were memorials of the capture, if not of the slaughter, of the chief- 
 tain. Here the first blow was given, that ended in the bloody execution. 
 Here the great Narragansett was arrested in his flight. Here he sate 
 upon the stone, and his captors came around with taunts and mockery, and 
 shouts of joy and triumph. Here they bound his arms with withs, and 
 led him away like a captured lion to Mohegan. 
 
 The heap of stones was doubtless in its origin a Mohegan pile, — a mar- 
 tial trophy erected upon the spot where the tribe had been victorious. 
 But the place of sacrifice in the woods of Windsor, — the spot where the 
 helpless chief received the fatal blow, — was left unmarked and unvisited. 
 There, perchance, the carrion fowls fed upon his flesh, and his bones were 
 left to bleach and decay. No tradition designates the spot, and it must 
 forever remain unknown. 
 
 The rude tumulus on Sachem's Plain, which was at first, perhaps, but 
 three or four stones rolled together, grew at last to a memorable heap. 
 Being near an Indian route often traveled, it was visited by scouting par- 
 ties of different tribes, and additions made to it alike by exultant foes and 
 bewailing friends. AU true-hearted Narragansetts who passed that way, 
 renewed their lamentations at the heap, and cast a few more stones upon 
 it, consecrating them with doleful cries and frantic gestures. Tradition, 
 therefore, might naturally be drawn into the mistake of supposing this the 
 tomb of the chieftain. The English who settled on the tract, seeing this 
 artificial mound, this Gilgal or heap of memorial stones reared in the wil- 
 derness, and observing that every Mohegan, when he came within sight of 
 it, broke into loud exultation and bravado, and every Narragansett uttered 
 his dismal howl of lamentation, while each paused to cast upon it another 
 stone of defiance or of honor, would easily credit the report, however vague 
 its authority, that here lay the remains of the great Miantonomoh. 
 
 A late citizen of Norwich, N. L. Shipman, Esq., who deceased in 1853, 
 at the age of eighty, remembered this tumulus in his youth, — a rude stone 
 heap, between two solitary oak trees, about sixteen rods east of the old 
 Providence road, and nearly ii^ a line with that part of the river where 
 the great dam has been built. 
 
 * In the former edition of this work, the author, swayed by a belief entertained from 
 childhood, — a belief current and unquestioned in the neighborhood of Norwich, and 
 sanctioned by Trumbull and other historians, — expressed a different opinion. It was 
 an opinion, however, based upon tradition rather than coeval testimony. Subsequent 
 inquiries have led to a dififerent conclusion. 
 
38 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 At length the owner of the land, who was perhaps ignorant of the 
 design of the stones, removed the greater part of them to use in the 
 undersetting of a bam he was erecting in the neighborhood. The remain- 
 der, in the clearing up of the ground, gradually disappeared. In the 
 process of time the old oak trees also vanished, and nothing was left to 
 designate the spot where the flying chieftain yielded to his foe, untU the 
 4th of July, 1841. At that time a monument was erected, by a few citi- 
 zens of Norwich, as nearly upon the site of the old tumulus as could be 
 ascertained.* It consists of a block or cube of gi-anite, five feet square at 
 the base, placed on a pedestal that raises the whole eight feet above the 
 surface, and bearing the simple inscription — 
 
 MIANTONOMO. 
 1 643. 
 
 This is the Sachem's monument. The place where it stands has long 
 been known as Sachem's Plain, or Sachem's Point : a small stream which 
 here flows into the Shetucket, is Sachem's Brook; and a living spring near 
 by, is Sachem's Spring. In fact, the whole neighborhood is overshadowed 
 and engraven with the name and fame of the great Narragansett chief. 
 
 This granite block wa^ dedicated in the presence of a concourse of 
 people, young and old, from the neighborhood, the ceremony being con- 
 nected with a festival of children from the village of Greeneville. It was 
 consecrated by prayer, and libations of pure water from the Sachem's 
 spring, where doubtless he had slaked his thirst and cooled his heated 
 brow in his marches through the wilderness. 
 
 Another question may be worthy of some consideration. What was 
 the precise date of the execution of ISIiantonomoh ? 
 
 A note in the Massachusetts Historical Collection says : 
 
 " The Indian Prince was murdered, as appears from Governor Winthrop's MS. His- 
 tory, the 28th of September, 16i3."t 
 
 Winthrop's History, since published, fails to verify this statement the 
 date of the tragedy not being there given. Nevertheless, the time desig- 
 nated may be correct. 
 
 The Commissioners met at Boston on the 17th of September. It was 
 agreed that the proceedings should be kept secret until after the members 
 from Hartford and New Haven should return home. Uncas was then to 
 be sent for, and the execution committed to his hands. 
 
 * Erected principally througli the influence and exertions of Wm. C. Gilman F 
 To identify the spot, the party relied upon the accuracy of Judge Shipnian wh 
 present at the dedication, and rehearsed the traditions connected with the place 
 
 t Vol. 7 of Series 2, p. 47. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 39 
 
 The Commissioners probably reached Hartford by tlie 22d. Uncas 
 might have been summoned so as to arrive on the 26th or 27th, and the 
 execution would naturally follow without unavoidable delay. 
 
 The General Court met at Hartford on the 12th of October, and passed 
 a resolve to send eight soldiers to remain a while with Uncas to protect 
 him from the anticipated vengeance of the Narragansetts.* The same 
 day the message of Pessacus, the brother of Miantoaomoh, arrived in 
 Boston, avowing his intention to avenge the death of the chief. AU these 
 dates and attendant circumstances concur in assigning the sachem's death 
 to one of the last days of September ; and probably it occurred on the 
 28th. 
 
 The sentence of Miantonomoh is one of the most flagrant acts of injust- 
 ice and ingratitude that stands recorded against the English settlers. He 
 had shown many acts of kindness towards the whites ; in all his intercourse 
 with them had evinced a noble and magnanimous spirit ; had been the 
 uniform friend and assistant of the first settlers of Rhode Island; and 
 only seven years before his death, had received into the bosom of his 
 country, Mason and his little band of soldiers from Hartford, and greatly 
 assisted them in their conquest of the Pequots. 
 
 The Narragansetts were determined to avenge the death of their chief. 
 They were particularly exasperated with Uncas, as he had entered into 
 treaty with them for the release of the sachem, and had already received, 
 as they averred, a large quantity of wampum in part payment of his ran- 
 som. The Mohegans, on their part, denied that any wampum or other 
 goods had been received by them, except small parcels which Miantono- 
 moh himself had bestowed, as gratuities, upon their captains and counsel- 
 ors, or given to " Uncas and his squaw, for preserving his life so long and 
 using him courteously during his imprisonment." 
 
 A harrassing and inveterate system of hostility between the two tribes 
 ensued. The Narragansetts were double in number to the Mohegans, but 
 the latter were shielded by the protecting care of the English, so that a 
 balance was preserved between the two nations, otherwise unequal. The 
 war was carried on by sudden skirmishes, and a system of scouting and 
 ambushment, creating constant alarm and irritation, but yielding small 
 results. 
 
 During the spring of 1645, the Narragansetts invaded the Mohegan 
 country with a large force, committed great devastation, and finally drove 
 Uncas to his strongest fort and besieged him there. According to tradi- 
 tion this fort was on Shantok Point, a rough projection by the side of the 
 Thames, nearly opposite Pocquetannok. The English had assisted Uncas 
 in fortifying this spot. There is still a fine spring of water by the bank. 
 
 * Col. Kee. Conn., 1, 96. New Haven also sent six by a resolve of Oct. 14. Col. 
 Eec. N. H., p. 110. 
 
40 HISTOETOPNOEWICH. 
 
 The position was easily defended, and the Narragansetts had no hope of 
 taking it by assault. Many of the women and children had fled to the 
 other side of the river, with a part of the canoes, but of the remainder the 
 Narragansetts had taken possession, so as to cut off retreat on the water 
 side, and thus enclosing them on this point of land, they hoped to subdue 
 them by famine. How long the siege continued is not known ; but one 
 night a messenger dispatched by Uncas left the fort without being discov- 
 ered by the besiegers, and creeping along the margin of the river very 
 cautiously till without the range of the enemy's scouts, he crossed the 
 country with Indian speed, and arrived the next day at Sajbrook, the 
 nearest En^^lish settlement, wliere he made known the desperate situation 
 of the Mohegans. Or perhaps Trumbull's account may be more correct : 
 that he fell in with a scouting party from the fort, and communicated to 
 them the messag(j with which he was charged by Uncas. 
 
 Measures were immediately taken at Saybrook for the relief of the 
 beleaguered sachem. This was before the appointment of Mason to the 
 command of the fort, and the supplies sent are supposed to have been for- 
 warded by private enterprise. No later investigations either enlarge or 
 vary the account given by the venerable historian of Connecticut. 
 
 " Upon this intelligence, one Thomas Lcffingwell, an ensign at Sajbrook, an enter- 
 prising, bold man, loaded a canoe with beef, corn and pease, and under cover of the 
 night paddled from Saybrook into the Thames ; and had the address to get the whole 
 into the fort." * 
 
 It is probable that Leffingwell had often been on trading excursions to 
 Mohegan, and was well acquainted with Pequot river, and the position of 
 Shantok fort. We know in general that the people of Saybrook were in 
 the habit of coming into the river to trade with the Indians, and that 
 Trading Cove, which afterwards became the southern boundary of Nor- 
 wich, was a name bestowed by them long anterior to the settlement. 
 
 A fanciful legend has in later times been connected with this adventure. 
 It would be difficult now to ascertain what degree of truth belon"-s to it. 
 It is said that the expected relief from Saybrook was delayed much lono-er 
 than the hungry and impatient Mohegans had anticipated ; and that each 
 night Uncas left tlie fort and crept along the bank of the river, skulking 
 by the water's edge, till he came to a rocky and precipitous point, which 
 juts into the stream, a little above Massapeag Cove. Here, under shelter 
 of the rock, the sachem remained till nearly day-light, with his sleepless 
 eyes upon the river, and his ear intent to catch the lightest sound of a 
 falling oar, and it was not till the second or third night of his watch that 
 
 ♦Trumbull's Conn.: Ch. xi. Leffingwell was not an ensign at that period. He 
 was chosen ensign of the tr.iin band in Norwich, long afterward. 
 
HISTORTOPNORWICH. 41 
 
 Leffingwell arrived. The ledge of rock on which the sachem sat in his 
 midnight watch has since obtained the name of TJncas' Chair. 
 
 No sooner was this timely supply of provisions safely lodged in the for- 
 tress, than loud shouts of exultation were uttered by the besieged, to the 
 astonishment of the Narragansetts, who were unable to divine the cause 
 of this midnight triumph. At the dawn of day, however, the secret was 
 disclosed ; the Mohegans elevated a large piece of beef on a pole, and 
 thus gave notice of the relief they had obtained. The Narragansetts 
 dared not assail either the persons or property of the English, but we can 
 readily believe that they beheld the boat lying by the shore with bitter 
 feelings of exasperation, and poured out a torrent of threats and invectives 
 against its officious owners. That they saw Leffingwell, and knew it was 
 he that brought the supplies, is evident from Lefflngwell's own testimony, 
 as will soon appear. Finding that there was no chance of reducing the 
 Mohegans while they were thus supported, the Narragansetts abandoned 
 the seige and returned home. 
 
 It may be thought that the ye§ir 1645 is too early for the date of that 
 particular irruption of the Narragansetts from which Uncas was relieved 
 by Leffingwell. The sachem was so often, after the death of Miantono- 
 moh, assailed by his enemies, that it is not easy to determine where this 
 incident belongs. Trumbull uses the vague phraseology, ^'during the 
 wars between Uncas and the Narragansetts," which would apply to any 
 year between 1642 and 1660. A later historian of the State places it 
 without question in 1657,* but this date can not be sustained. Uncas was 
 indeed closely besieged in 1657, but in a fortress that stood near the head 
 of Niantick river, west of New London, and the siege was raised not by 
 virtue of beef and corn from Saybrook, but by the presence of Lieut, 
 Avery, Jonathan Brewster, and other inhabitants of New London, who 
 hastened to the fort and spread their protecting JEgis over the sachem. 
 
 It might be the safest course to leave the period of this incident indefi- 
 nite ; yet there appears to be sufficient historic evidence to justify us in 
 assigning it definitely to May or June, 1645, that being the period when 
 the Mohegans were reduced to the greatest extremity. 
 
 It was in the year 1645 that the younger Winthrop and his party com- 
 menced that settlement in the conquered Pequot territory, which soon 
 grew into the town of New London. This was but seven or eight miles 
 below the principal fort of Uncas, and it may be fairly inferred that the 
 siege, in which the sachem was brought to the verge of destruction by his 
 enemies, was before this English settlement had taken the form of a regu- 
 lar plantation. Otherwise, Uncas would have been hkely to apply for aid 
 to his nearer neighbor, Winthrop, instead of sending his scouts to Say- 
 
 *Hollister'3 Hist. Conu., I : 199. 
 
42 HISTOETOFNORWICH. 
 
 brook for assistance. He would, at least, have informed Mr. Winthrop of 
 his situation, and implored the interference of the English. Moreover, 
 the summer of 1645 was a critical period in the history of Uncas. The 
 regular meeting of the Commissioners of the United Colonies was to take 
 place in September, but on account of the hostile bearing of the Narra- 
 gansetts, and the consequent danger of Uncas, they assembled in an extra 
 session at Boston, on the 28th of July. From their proceedings at this 
 time, we learn that the IMohegan sachem had abeady been "divers times 
 assaulted in his fort by a great army of the Narrohigansetts." 
 
 In the regular sequence of events, "about or before planting time," 
 Tantaqueison, the Mohegan warrior that captured Miantonomoh, was 
 assaulted and dangerously wounded by a lurking foe, that crept stealthily 
 into his wigwam, as he lay asleep. 
 
 After this, and before the meeting of the Commissioners, in July, the 
 Narragansetts "at several times openly invaded Uncas," and the colonies 
 of New Haven and Connecticut sent a few soldiers to Mohegan for his 
 defence. Again, before the 11th of August, the Commissioners say that 
 the enemy have made "a new assault upon Uncas, and have done him 
 much hurt." 
 
 In another irruption made by Pessacus, the same year, the force of the 
 Narragansetts, when compared -with that of Uncas, was so overwhelming 
 in point of numbers, that it is difficult to understand why the Mohegans 
 were not entirely annihilated. Making a show of only forty men at a 
 time, they drew the warriors of Uncas into an ambush, then suddenly 
 rising, pursued them with arrows and bullets to the cover of their forts. 
 But here the latter rallied, repulsed their assailants, and in the end drove 
 them from their territory. 
 
 It was during this season, and while these sanguinary conflicts were 
 raging at Mohegan, that Winthrop, with his associate, Mr. Thomas Peters, 
 arrived at Pequot harbor with a pioneer band, to lay out a plantation and 
 make preparations for an immediate settlement. In the midst of their 
 work, learning, probably from the fear-stricken fugitives that came down 
 through the forests from Mohegan, that the Narragansetts were devasta- 
 ting the fair fields of Uncas, they east aside the woodman's axe and the 
 surveyor's chain, and hastened to the assistance of the sachem. 
 
 A letter from Mr. Peters to the elder Winthrop, at Boston, giving a 
 brief but spirited description of the condition in which they found the 
 Mohegans, has been preserved. 
 
 "I with your son were at Uncus fort where I dressed seventeen men and left plas- 
 ters to dresso seventeen more who were wounded in Uncus brother's wigwam before 
 we came. Two captains and one common soldier were buried, and since we came 
 thence two captains and one common man more are dead also, most of which were 
 wounded with bullets. Uncas and his brother told me, the Narragansetts had tliirty 
 guns which won them the day else they would not care a rash for them. 
 
HISTOBYOPNORWICH. 43 
 
 They drew Uncus forces out by a wile, of forty appearing only, but one thousand in 
 ambush, who pursued Uncus men into their own land where the battle was fought 
 vario marte, till God put fresh spirit into the Moheagues, and so drave the Narragan- 
 setts back again."* 
 
 It is evident that amid the multiplicity of attacks and sieges, and the 
 numerous invasions of Mohegan during the long wars of Uncas and 'the 
 Narragansetts, it would be a vain attempt to determine with nice precision 
 the time when the adventurous Leffingwell appeared with his boat load of 
 nutriment. It tallies best, however, as we have seen, with other historical 
 facts to give it a place in this eventful year, and at an early period of the 
 campaign, before Winthrop and Peters were well established at New 
 London. 
 
 It is probable that Leffingwell was paid for his exploit, as far as expense 
 was incurred, in the usual way of Indian traffic, with skins and wampum. 
 TrumbuU says, "For this service Uncas gave said Leffingwell a deed of 
 great part if not the whole town of Norwich." There is, however, no 
 such deed on record, and no allusion to any such deed in subsequent 
 transactions ; nor does it appear afterwards, upon the settlement of the 
 town, that Leffingwell received or claimed any larger share than the other 
 proprietors. 
 
 In 1667 he petitioned the General Court to confirm to him a grant of 
 land which Uncas had proffered him in recompense for services that he 
 had rendered. His petition implies that he had heretofore received no 
 special gratuity from the sachem. He says : 
 
 "Its not unknown to him and others what damage in my outward estate I have suf- 
 fered by his men, and yet notwithstanding, when he and his people were famishing, 
 being besieged by many enemies, I did afford him provltion for their relief, although it 
 was to the hazard of all my outward comforts, the enemy knowing what supply I had 
 and did afford him ; upon these and such like reasons, Uncas hath several times offered 
 me some land for my recompense and just satisfaction, and hath expressed the same to 
 the Major, who is acquainted with the truth of these things, but order reqnireth me to 
 propound the matter to your worshipful consideration, desiring your approbation of the 
 way Uncas hath propounded for my satisfactian."t 
 
 The petition of Leffingwell was considered by the General Court, 
 jointly with an application for land by Thomas Tracy, and a grant was 
 made to the two of 400 acres, to be laid out on the " east side of Show- 
 tuckett river," and equally divided between them. The land taken up by 
 them in virtue of this grant lay beyond the bounds of Norwich.J 
 
 * Appendix to Savage's Winthrop, Vol. 2. 
 
 t Col. Rec. Conn,, 2, 74. 
 
 t From the fact that Tracy shared with LeflSngwell in this grant, the idea originated 
 that he had been a partner with him in the relief of Uncas. But the inference is not 
 necessary. Tracy was much employed in public affairs, and might obtain the grant in 
 recompense for other services. 
 
44 HISTORTOPNOEWICH. 
 
 This is all that has been found on record concerning the claim and 
 compensation of Lefflngwell. There is no evidence that he ever obtained 
 from Uncas a deed of the town of Norwich, or a promise of it. What 
 he did obtain in remuneration for certain services, was granted more than 
 twenty years afterwards, and instead of being a sufficiency for a town, it 
 was only 200 acres, and not even within the bounds of the Nine-miles- 
 square. It was through the influence and agency of Mason, and not of 
 Lefflngwell, that the cession of Norwich was obtained of the Indian 
 sachems. 
 
 For a period of fourteen years after these desperate fights at Mohegan, 
 the mutual enmity of the Narragansetts and Mohegans continued without 
 abatement, and other Indian tribes of less note, Podunks, Pecomticks, 
 Nehanticks, were drawn into the quarrel. The results indeed were tri- 
 fling. It was a system of marauding, skulking and assassination, rather 
 than of legitimate warfare, but such a state of things rendered it hazard- 
 ous for the English to advance the frontier and attempt new settlements 
 in the Indian country. The utmost vigilance, prudence and bravery were 
 for several years necessary to defend the points they had already assumed. 
 
 Through all this long succession of disputes and contests, the English of 
 Connecticut, though ostensibly neutral, were the favorers and protectors 
 of Uncas. Their timely assistance and the dread of their power alone 
 prevented him and 'tis tribe from falling a prey to the exasperation of 
 their enemies. The plans of the Narragansetts were repeatedly discov- 
 ered and their designs defeated by the planters in the neighborhood of the 
 Mohegan villages. Mr. Jonathan Brewster had erected a trading-house 
 in 1650, at Poquetannock on the east side of the river, opposite the prin- 
 cipal settlement of the Mohegans, and in all the subsequent inroads of the 
 Narragansetts, and of their allies, the Podunks and other Indians of Con- 
 necticut river, he was the constant friend and adviser, though not the open 
 ally and defender, of Uncas, the English neutrality forbidding any overt 
 act of championship. 
 
 Uncas was on several occasions warned of the approach of his enemies 
 by these friendly neighbors. By a concerted signal from the summit of a 
 hill, by the firing of a gun, or by shouting across the river, they contrived 
 to give him timely notice of impending danger, and prevent him from 
 being taken by surprise.* 
 
 * Roger Williams and other planters, east of Pawcatuck river, favored the Narra- 
 gansetts. A letter from Rhode Island, dated July 4, 1657, ohse'rves : "We have at 
 tliis instant a very solemn and serious information from the Narragansett sachems 
 by a chief counsellor of theirs, that they take it ill of some English who live neaj 
 Uncas his fort, for that (as they say) the English by their scouts discover to tlie Mo- 
 hegans the approach of the Narragansetts, and thereby do defeat their designs in war 
 against Uncas." 
 
 Mass. Hist. Coll,, 2d Series, 7, 81. Potter's Narragansett, p. 54. 
 
HISTOBYOPNOEWICH. 45 
 
 But on the north and west of the Mohegana there were no friendly set- 
 tlements, and the Narragansett war parties often came from that quarter, 
 skulking through the woods and breaking in upon them with a sudden 
 howl. The customary haunts of the Mohegans at Trading Cove, and 
 along the river, were rendered so hazardous by exposure to these furious 
 irruptions, that at length the wigwams were deserted and the tribe scat- 
 tered abroad. Some of them, in groups or families, found temporary 
 shelter and concealment in distant woods, but Uncas and the greater part 
 of his people retired to Nayantick, (or JNiantic,) on the western border of 
 New London. This was a fishing station of the tribe, where they often 
 encamped during the summer. Here they entrenched themselves in a 
 fort, built after their usual mode with logs, stakes and stones, erected a 
 few wigwams, and feasted on fish and clams. But the repose was of shcH't 
 duration. 
 
 Pessacus of Narragansett could not forget the murder of his brother, 
 and was resolute not to bury the hatchet while his great enemy breathed 
 the air of heaven. In August, 1657, he collected his forces for a fresh 
 onslaught, and sweeping through Mohegan, came upon Uncas in his new 
 entrenchments at Nayantick, and pressed him with a close siege. The 
 sachem would probably have been compelled to surrender, had not a body 
 of armed men from the neighborhood, headed by Mr. Brewster and Lieut. 
 Avery, hastened to his assistance.* They threw themselves into the fort, 
 and the besiegers, unwilling to engage in a contest with the English, 
 retreated. 
 
 At the next session of the General Court of Connecticut, Major Mason 
 presented a narrative of the beleaguering of Uncas by the Narragansetts 
 at Nayantick, and Mr. Brewster was regularly authorized to assist and 
 protect the sachem, should he be again molested by his enemies. The 
 Commissioners of the United Colonies, however, at their meeting disap- 
 proved of this measure, and ordered that henceforth no colony nor indi- 
 vidual within their jurisdiction should interfere in any Indian quarrel, 
 unless in their own just and necessary defense. 
 
 It is exciting to the imagination to consider how many times in the 
 course of these barbarous incursions, the peaceful hills and vales of our 
 now populous and hospitable Norwich, which lay directly in the path of 
 the invaders, were swept over by rushing bands of grim and stalwart 
 warriors, horribly painted for war, brandishing their hatchets and war- 
 clubs ; now creeping stealthily as a beast after his prey, and anon rushing 
 down to the attack, or fleeing in disordered rout before the pursuer. 
 
 In the year 1659, Uucas was invaded by a combined force of Pecom- 
 ticks and Narragansetts. They found him strongly intrenched in his fort 
 
 * Col. Rec. Conn., 1, 301. Hist. New London, p. 127. 
 
46 HISTOETOF NORWICH. 
 
 at Shantok, opposite Mr. Brewster's trading-house, and having laid waste 
 his fields and plundered his wigwams, they departed. 
 
 An incident that occurred at the time of this inroad, was made the sub- 
 ject of complaint before the Commissioners. Some of the young warriors, 
 having been fired at by an Indian near Mr. Brewster's, crossed the river 
 in pursuit of the offender, and chased him into the house and to the very 
 feet of " Mistress Brewster," to whom he fled for succor, and slew him 
 there, " to her great affrightment." 
 
 For this offence the Narragansetts were amerced by the Commissioners 
 in eighty fathoms of wampum. 
 
 In a second irruption of the enemy at a later period of the same year, 
 Mr. Brewster was plundered of both com and goods. The Mohegans fled 
 at first, but rallied, and gaining some advantage, obliged their enemies to 
 retreat, pursuing them triumphantly into the wilderness. This was prob- 
 ably the last battle fought at Mohegan. The long contest was drawing to 
 a close. 
 
 The course of our narrative has now brought us to the verge of the 
 settlement of Norwich. The soil had been purchased, the deed signed, 
 and certain advance parties from Saybrook were exploring the banks of 
 the Yantic, making surveys and measurements, and laying out lots for a 
 future township at this very period, near the track of this last expedition. 
 According to tradition, two of these English surveyors were upon the 
 side hill, near the present residence of Daniel W. Coit, Esq., engaged in 
 diggmg ground-nuts to satisfy their hunger, when they heard the noise of 
 a tumultuous throng pressing furiously through the fords and wood-paths, 
 and the distant shouts of pursuers driving them over the Yantic. 
 
 From this period the alarms of Uucas were at an end : the Eno-lish. 
 advancing beyond him, manned his frontier and became his bulwark. 
 Capt. Mason, his patron and friend, stood ready with arms and influence 
 to intercept the blows of his enemies. Stonington also on the eastern 
 frontier had become a settled township, and a barrier against the Narra- 
 gansetts in that quarter. The providence of God had prepared the way 
 for the peaceable settlement of the Saxon race, by permitting for a while 
 the deadly passions of the Indians to take their full scope, and make them 
 instruments of each other's destruction. The wilderness was thus thinned 
 of its obstructions, and prepared to receive the new race of inhabitants. 
 
 Although there does not appear to have been any destructive attack 
 upon the Mohegans after 1659, incidental circumstances show that small 
 scouting parties i.ceasionally came into the neighborhood, sometimes plun- 
 dering and alarming the white settlers as well as the Indians. One such 
 hostile skulking party passed through Norwich early in the year 1660,* 
 
 » It was probably before the 25th of March, at which time the double dating of the year 
 ceased, as the occuiTence is by one authority assigned to 1659, and by others to 1660. 
 
HISTORTOPNOBWICH. 47 
 
 and lingering in the way, made an attempt upon the life of Mason. The 
 incident is thus reported in a document emanating from the General Court 
 of Connecticut, dated June 9th, 1660: 
 
 " Not many weeks now past, wee are by suflacient information certified, that one 
 
 night at y° New Plantation at Monheage [Norwich,] some Indians, as will appeare, of 
 
 .the Narragansetts, shot 11 bullets into a house of our English there, in hopes, as they 
 
 boasted, to hare slaine him whome we hare cause to honor, whose safety we cannot 
 
 but take ourselves bound to promote, our Deputy Gov' Major Mason."* 
 
 The same fact is mentioned in the Records of the Commissioners, (vrith 
 some variation in the number of bullets,) as a complaint presented by the 
 English, living at a new plantation at Mohegan, viz. : 
 
 " That some Indians did in the dead time of night, shoot eight bullets into an Eng- 
 lish house, & fired the same, wherein five Englishmen were asleep."t 
 
 This was a rough salute for the new settlers, and an appalling specimen 
 of the hazards attending their enterprise. The house thus attacked must 
 have been that of Major Mason, supposed to have been the first built in 
 Norwich. It stood upon a knoll above the river, at the southwest corner 
 of the Green, where is now the old Court-House. 
 
 The Narragansetts were summoned by the Court of Commissioners to 
 answer for this outrage. The chiefs apologized, saying that the offence 
 was committed without their consent or knowledge, and that they counte- 
 nanced no such practices. It was decreed, however, that in expiation of 
 the insult they should either deliver up the four principal offenders, or pay 
 500 fathoms of wampum. 
 
 Of one more, and perhaps the last irruption of Narragansett upon 
 Mohegan, a glimpse is obtained from a passage in a letter of Eoger Wil- 
 liams to the younger Winthrop. Writing from Providence, Sept. 8, 1660, 
 he intimates that a party of his barbarous neighbors had just returned 
 from an expedition in which nothing had been effected : 
 
 " The Monhiggins would not sallie, and the Nanhiggs would not spoile the come 
 for feare of offending the English. "J 
 
 * Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 1, App., 577. 
 
 t Hazard's Records of United Colonies. 
 
 i Winthrop Papers in Mass. Hist. Coll., 3, 10, 41. 
 
48 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 INDIAN NAMES. 
 
 Miantonomoh. A standard of authority for the spelling and accei 
 tion of Indian names would be a great relief to writers, and an accep 
 contribution to the history and topography of the country. But it 
 desideratum to which we seem as yet scarcely to have made an app: 
 mation. Hesitation and uncertainty hover over the pen wheneve 
 Indian word is to be written or pronounced. And amid the thron 
 doubtful terms, there is no one more variable, and therefore more perj 
 ing, than the name of Narragansett's greatest sachem. 
 
 The variations of the name are too numerous to quote at large, 
 old authors disagree with one another, and are not consistent in their 
 practice. But the difference of orthography might perhaps be accom 
 dated to a common standard of sound, if they had given the name 
 proper accent. One of the forms used by Roger Williams, viz., Mian 
 omi, may be pronounced in three ways, viz. : 
 
 jili-anto-no-mi. 
 Mi-anto-nom-i. 
 Mian-ton'-o-mi. 
 
 The first of these forms, with the long o accented, is both sonorous 
 majestic, and if the termination o or oh be adopted, as used by the e] 
 Winthrop, who usually wrote the name Miantunnomoh, the result is agi 
 able both to the eye and ear. 
 
 The second pronunciation coincides with that considered most authei 
 by J. H. Trumbull, Esq., who, after collating the various authorities, 
 cides in favor of Me-anto-nom'-y. 
 
 The third mode, with the accent on the antepenultimate, has been mi 
 in vogue of late years, and seems to be required by the orthography u 
 by Hubbard in liis Indian Wars and New England History, and by ; 
 Trumbull, — Mian-ton'-imo, with or without a final h. 
 
 But this pronunciation is probably Anglican, and not aboriginal. If 
 entirely irreconcilable ^Yith some of tlie most ancient model of spell 
 the name; for instance, that employed by Mr. Thomas Peters in 1645 
 
 Miantinomio. 
 On the Sachem's monument in Greeneville, the inscription is 
 
 MIANTONOMO. 
 This mode of spelling the name, with the three O's, and the finishi 
 lelt.T A, ,s adopted in this work. It affords scope for the accent to 
 placed either on the third or fourth syllable. 
 
HISTOEYOFNORWICH. 49 
 
 Uncos, Occom, Pequot, Mantic. 
 
 Roger Williams for Uncas wrote Okace. Other cotemporary writers 
 supply the variations Onkos, Wonkus, Unkus, Uncas. The last form has 
 prevailed and driven its rivals from the field. 
 
 When a mode of spelling has become current, it is undoubtedly wise to 
 let it pass on to perpetuity, whether, abstractly considered, it is the best 
 form or not. We should perhaps write Unkus, or Onkos, if the name was 
 now for the first time to be embodied in letters ; and likewise Aukum, for 
 the name of the Mohegan preacher; but Uncas and Occom are time-sanc- 
 tioned, and we would therefore leave them as they are. For the same 
 reason we use Pequot instead of Pequoadt, and Niantic instead of Nahan- 
 tick or Nahanticut. 
 
 Owaiieco, son of Uncas. 
 
 This name, as uttered by the Indians, commenced with the whistled W, 
 'Wuneco. There is a doubt where the accent should be placed. Oneco 
 is a familiar abridgement of the name, and this seems to indicate the 
 penultimate accent, Owane'co. But the modern Mohegans pronounce it 
 Owan'eco, which harmonizes with the orthography sometimes found in old 
 records, as Awaneca, Oaneca, &c. 
 
 Mohegan. 
 
 There are many forms of this name. Mohiccan is one of the best. 
 The tribe is supposed to have been a branch of the Mohiccanni, or Mo- 
 hickanders of Hudson river, that had migrated to the banks of the Con- 
 necticut long before the English settled at Hartford. 
 
 The Indian names were all descriptive and significant. This portion of 
 the country having been so recently in their occupation, every distinctive 
 object, hill, stream, plain, forest, ledge of rocks, or sweep of river, seems 
 to have had an Indian descriptive name. The early settlers being on 
 friendly terms with their aboriginal neighbors, caught up and perpetuated 
 many of these terms. This accounts for the number of Indian names 
 that appear in old deeds and grants, some of which can not now be 
 located. 
 
 The aboriginal name of the Thames has not been recovered. In the 
 early records it is simply styled the Great River, in distinction from the 
 Yantick, or Little River. This being used also in Indian conveyances, it 
 may be inferred that the original name was an Indian term signifying 
 great or large. 
 
 Quinebaug is literally Long Pond. In a deed of 1653 it is called " the 
 river that comes from Quinabaug," and runs down toward Mohegan. In 
 a deed of 1699 this phraseology occurs, " Quinabaug river, alias Aspinook 
 river, according to the Indian name." 
 4 
 
5Q 
 
 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Showtuck, (passing through many variations to Shetucket,) is supposed 
 to mean middle river. The determining pai-t of the word, show or shaw, 
 is a contraction of nashaw, between, or in the middle. The termination et, 
 makes it applicable to the land between the rivers. Perhaps this was the 
 original name of Norwich city. The situation is such as the Indians 
 would describe by that word. The Indian settlement in the southern part 
 of Lisbon was called Showtucket. 
 
 Yantick may have had its origin in Mishontuck, which means a roai-ing 
 or noisy stream. Mishi-yon-tuck, great-noise-river, or loud-voiced-stream. 
 
 Mashipaug. This is the Indian name of a lake or pond, which was 
 the south-western corner boundary of the nine-miles- square. Several 
 other sheets of water in New England had the same name. It signifies 
 Great Pond. 
 
 Massapeag — the same word in a different dialect — denotes a large cove 
 at Mohegan, nearly surrounded by high land. Mr. Brewster m 1657 
 wrote the name Massapeack. 
 
 Waweekus. Two hills in Norwich bore this name : one, a range lying 
 west of the town-plot, sometimes called Westward hill, and the other at 
 the point where the rivers meet, now covered by the City. The latter 
 was often written Weequaw's hill, and the name of both is supposed to be 
 derived from Waweequaw, or Waweekus, the brother of Uncas. 
 
 Wequonuk. This name was given to a tract of land north of the town- 
 plot, on the Shetucket. The brook which flowed through it bore the same 
 name, which was familiarly abbreviated to Quonuk. The word is sup- 
 posed to have some relation to wet or marshy land. 
 
 Pautipaug. This is the aboriginal name of a portion of the nine-miles- 
 square, now included in the town of Franklin. The word is supposed to ' 
 signify a bay, or cove, setting into the land, or at least to relate in some 
 way to water. It is not easy therefore to determine why it should have 
 been given to this inland district. 
 
CHAPTER III, 
 
 Earlt History op Satbrook; Purchase and Deed op Norwich. 
 
 Satbrook is an old, substantial, euphonious name, interesting from its 
 historical associations, and honorable in its derivation. It perpetuates the 
 unity of sentiment and partnership in enterprise of two enlightened noble- 
 men, Lord Say and Seal and Lord Brook, and the grateful regard of the 
 first settlers of the place for these their benefactors. These noblemen, 
 with their associates, were the patentees of Connecticut. Their right or 
 privilege, technically called a Patent, was purchased of Eobert, Earl of 
 Warwick, in 1632, and extended along the New England coast, westward 
 of Narragansett river, 120 miles, and "in latitude and breadth to the 
 South Sea." The Earl of Warwick was President of the Council of Ply- 
 mouth, incorporated by King James the First for the settlement of New 
 England, and authorized to dispense grants and patents to others. The 
 right of the patentees was therefore valid and clear. 
 
 The place of immediate importance in this patent was the Point at the 
 mouth of Connecticut river ; and here John Winthrop the younger, acting 
 under commission from the patentees, built a fort and commenced a plant- 
 ation in 1635 and 1636. The Pequot war followed close upon this estab- 
 lishment, and threatened the annihilation of the infant settlement. The 
 fort was frequently surrounded by the savages. During one whole win- 
 ter, that of 1636-7, it was kept in constant jeopardy like a besieged place. 
 Several of the men were slain ; others taken prisoners ; and one, by the 
 name of Butterfield, tormented to death. The place was however sus- 
 tained by the prudence and bravery of Lieut. Lion Gardiner, the active 
 and efficient agent of Winthrop in building the fort and beginning to cul- 
 tivate the ground. 
 
 At the close of the Indian troubles. Col. George Penwick, one of the 
 patentees, clothed with the authority of the Company, came over to take 
 the direction of affairs, hoping to revive the drooping spirits of the plant- 
 ers, and give a fresh impetus to the undertaking. This gentleman arrived 
 at New Haven in September, 1 639, in the first European vessel that ever 
 
52 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 anchored in New Haven harbor* He was accompanied by his wife, Lady 
 Alice Botler, the daugliter of an English knight.f * 
 
 The settlement now began to be known by the genial and enduring 
 name of Saybrook. Previously it had been distinguished only as the fort 
 or settlement at the river's mouth. New houses were now built, and the 
 land more extensively cultivated. The Point was laid out into streets 
 and blocks for a city. West of the fort a square was reserved for the 
 dwellings of the magistrates and noble emigrants. Another square was 
 set aside for the public service, — for churches, courts and schools. Across 
 the neck of the peninsula a row of pahsades was erected as a protection 
 against the Indians. 
 
 It was expected that others of the patentees and devout Puritans would 
 emigrate with their families, and that prosperous towns would spring up 
 along the coast, within the 120 miles of the patent, which would become 
 places of refuge for noble and generous spirits that might wish to escape 
 from the vanities and perplexities of courtly life and feudal obligation, as 
 well as for those who should flee from persecution, or seek by voluntary 
 exile a sphere of religious freedom. But subsequently, a different turn 
 of public affairs, and the fluctuations of fortune and opinion, effected a 
 change in these designs. The higher classes of proposed emigrants found 
 themselves more necessary or more comfortable at home. Statesmen and 
 generals, princely merchants and titled noblemen, the Cromwells, Hamp- 
 dens, Pymms and Hazlerigs remained behind, and left New England to 
 be colonized, with a few exceptions, from the ranks of oppressed virtue, 
 heroic faith, and adventurous poverty. 
 
 In December, 1644, Col. Fenwick entered into an agreement with the 
 associated towns upon the river, forming the Colony of Connecticut, by 
 which, for the sum of £1600, and the revenue for ten years arisino- from 
 certain duties paid by vessels on entering the river, he transferred to them 
 the fort and plantation at Saybrook, with all other rights and claims to 
 the occupation, ownership and jurisdiction of lands upon Connecticut 
 river, derived from the Warwick patent. He only reserved to himself 
 certain personal privileges and especially the liberty of occupying his 
 premises at the fort for ten years, if he should choose to remain for that 
 time in the country. 
 
 From this period the settlement took a new start. It had been hitherto 
 merely a military post ; it was now a plantation, and the inhabitants in- 
 creased rapidly. In 1646, a church was organized, and Mr. James Fitch 
 ordained for its minister. In 1647, at the special instance and request of 
 
 * Sco letter of Ku\'. Mr. Davenport of New Haven, to Lady Vere; printed in Hist, 
 and Gen. Reg., App. 1855, p. 149. 
 
 t Among the English nobility, a lady married to a commoner is allowed by courtesy 
 to retain her maiden title. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 53 
 
 the inhabitants, Capt. John Mason removed thither from Windsor, and 
 was thereupon appointed by the Colony to the military command of the 
 post. He was empowered to receive the fort and its appurtenances from 
 Fenwick, who had apparently been left in possession until this time. 
 
 Saybrook Point, the part of the plantation first settled, is a neck of 
 land, elliptical in form, and about a mile in length from east to west, 
 spreading out between two coves or inlets from the river, of which the 
 one on the north side affords a good harbor for shipping, and is known as 
 Saybrook harbor. The fort stood on the eastern bank, or upland bluff, 
 overlooking and commanding the flats and shallows at the mouth of the 
 river. 
 
 Thi^fort was built of wood. It caught fire in the winter of 1647, and 
 was consumed, with the dwelling-house connected with it. Capt. Mason, 
 with his wife and child, narrowly escaped from the flames. 
 
 Another fortification was soon afterward constructed, not on the same 
 spot, but a few rods distant, upon a height which advanced more promi- 
 nently toward the river, and was from that time called New Fort Hill. 
 A portion of the walls and embankments of this second fort, (often, how- 
 ever, renewed in later times,) may yet be traced. Lady Fenwick died at 
 Saybrook, in 1648, and was interred within the inclosure of the old fort. 
 A monument of red sandstone erected over her remains is still extant, 
 and has given to the site the name of Tomb Hill. 
 
 Saybrook has no church records of the period of Mr. Fitch's ministry, 
 and the town records before 1660, are also wanting. A few items only 
 of earlier date may be found standing amid subsequent entries. One of 
 these, (perhaps the earliest remaining of a municipal character,) is a no- 
 tice of a town meeting, January 7, 1655-6, at which the following persons 
 were present : r 
 
 Tho. Adgate, William Hide, 
 
 Robert Bull, Eandall Marvin, 
 
 Tho. Bardlet, William Parlier, 
 
 William Busimell, Jolin Post, 
 
 Eobert Cliapman, Stephen Post, 
 
 Jolin Clarl?, Sen., Jonathan Rudd, 
 
 Tho. Dnnke, Richard Tousland, 
 
 Richard Edgerton, Tho. Tracy, 
 
 Francis Griswold, William Waller. 
 
 At the same time mention is made of Mr. Fitch and Mr. Lay. Nearly 
 half of these are afterward found at Norwich. William Backus, Thomas 
 Bliss, Morgan Bowers, the two Huntingtons, Thomas Leffingwell and 
 John Olmstead, were probably inhabitants of as long standing as most of 
 those in the list. 
 
 It is apparent that the plantation before 1660, had been extended over 
 
54 HISTOBYOFNOEWICH. 
 
 a large area. The lands on Oyster river were cultivated ; planters had 
 settled at Pautipaug, Deep River, Six-mile-island, and on the east side of 
 the Connecticut, in Lyme, which was then a dependency of Saybrook. 
 A division of lands made before IGoO, gives a list of forty grantees, and 
 this number must have been nearly doubled in 1660. 
 
 The removal of Mr. Fitch and his friends, though it weakened Say- 
 brook, by no means left it desolate. She had stout and valiant hearts left 
 and in the course of a few years the vacancies made by the Norwich 
 emigration were filled by fresh purchasers, and new grants and divisions 
 of the common land were necessaiy in order to accommodate the thick 
 coming planters. The church, however, languished under the loss of her 
 golden head, and was scarcely kept alive until 1670, when t^e Rev. 
 Thomas Buckingham, originally from Wales, but immediately from Mil- 
 ford, was settled as the pastor.* 
 
 This preparatory sketch of Saybrook, the mother-town of Norwich, in- 
 troduces us to the settlement of the latter place. 
 
 The project of establishing a plantation in the Mohegan territory, four- 
 teen miles above New London, originated, in all probability, with Capt. 
 Mason. When his previous adventures, his long familiarity with Uncas, 
 and his frequent explorations of the Indian country, are considered, to- 
 gether with his influence in the Colony, there can be no hesitatioji in 
 affirming that he was the prime mover and ruling spirit of the undertak- 
 ing. If any one of the first proprietors, more than another, has a special 
 claim to be considered the founder of Norwich, the pre-eminence must 
 certainly be accorded to Mason. He had been one of the founders of 
 Dorchester and Windsor, had re-awakened the breath of life, in the dying 
 settlement at Saybrook, and was now ready for the fourth time to erect 
 his lodge in the wilderness. « 
 
 At what period the plan of this new settlement was broached is uncer- 
 tain. Probably it was for several years under consideration. A large 
 proportion of the best inhabitants of Saybrook entered into it ; a few 
 names from other places were added to the list, and in May, 1659, appli- 
 cation was made to the General Court for permission to begin the work. 
 The proposition was favorably received by the Assembly, and sanctioned 
 by the following enactment : 
 
 Hartford, May 20, (59.) This Court haveing considered the petition presented by 
 the inhabitants of Seabrook, doe declare yt they approve and consent to what is de- 
 
 *This worthy successor of Mr. Fitch, forms another link uniting Norwich with its 
 ancient nursing mother Saybrook. Some of his descendants of the present generation, 
 passing by way of Lebanon, have chosen Norwich for their home, and given to it the 
 distinction of furnishing a second Chief Magistrate to the State. "William Alfred 
 Buckingham, Governor of Connecticut since 1858, is of the si.^th generation in de- 
 scent from the Rev. Thomas Buckingham of Saybrook. 
 
-^i%a„£p^, hc--^- 
 
 
 ( libi/lf&uJzm4iau<J 
 
 ONN_ 
 
HISTOETOPNOEWICH. 55 
 
 Eired by ye petitioners, respecting Mohegin, provided yt within ye space of three yeares 
 they doe effect a plantation in ye place propounded. 
 
 It is to be regretted that no copy of the petition has been preserved. A 
 list of the signers would be invaluable. The action of the court speaks 
 of it as emanating from "the inhabitants of Seabrook," not from a com- 
 pany or a portion of the planters. This would seem to imply that the 
 greater part of the people, or at least a majority, were proposing to re- 
 move to the new settlement ; and this coincides with the current opinion, 
 that the company consisted of Mr. Fitch and the major part of his church. 
 
 It would be gratifying also, to ascertain the motives which led these 
 solid and considerate householders to determine upon a change of resi- 
 dence. What should induce them to abandon improvements which they 
 had long labored to obtain, lands which they had subdued b.y toilsome cul- 
 tivation, comfortable abodes and a civilized neighborhood, to plunge again 
 into a wilderness and begin life anew, upon another savage soil, near a 
 frontier bristling with alarm and terror. It was undoubtedly wise as a 
 measure of State policy, to advance the settlements and erect a fresh bar- 
 rier against Indian invasion, and this consideration may have been of 
 weight with Major Mason and Mr. Fitch. But the majority must have 
 had some alluring prospect of individual advantage, to counterbalance the 
 sacrifices they were to make. Undoubtedly the moving cause was to be 
 found in the sheltered vales and fine grazing lands, the sparkling, dashing 
 streams, the wide ranges of upland forest, and the rich provisions for 
 hunting and fishing which were included in the broad extent of the pro- 
 posed township. These were the bright attractions that charmed the 
 planters of Saybrook from their fertile plains and stoneless soil, and fixed 
 their longing eyes upon the frowning cliflTs and wild varieties of surface in 
 the neighborhood of the Tantic, the Shetucket and the Quinebaug. 
 
 Another reason dissimilar, and apparently inadequate and frivolous, has 
 been assigned, by local tradition, as the immediate, provoking cause of 
 the removal. It has been said that the Norwich settlers, being for the 
 most part farmers, were driven from Saybrook by the crows and black- 
 birds. This story is at least suggestive of a great nuisance in the early 
 days of our country. It is well known that clouds of these gormandizing 
 fowls, darkening the sky, and filling the air with clamor, would come down 
 upon the newly planted maize, in the late May or early June, when the 
 young shoots could be easily torn up, and in a few days leave the fields 
 of a whole district in ruin. These cormorants were peculiarly trouble- 
 some upon level corn-fields, near the sea, or lai-ge rivers, obliging the 
 farmer to plant and replant, and sometimes destroying prematurely the 
 whole harvest. 
 
 In most of the settlements by-laws were made rendering it obligatory 
 upon every man to destroy, during the three spring months, a certain 
 
56 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 number of crows, black-birds, wood-peckers, jays, and other grain-devour- 
 ing birds. A dozen was the usual number required, with a premium for 
 all over a dozen, and penalties imposed on those who fell short.* Thus 
 it appears that the early inhabitants of nearly all our towns were obliged 
 to wage an annual war, not only with wild beasts, venomous serpents and 
 pilfering animals that burrowed in the ground, but with predatory fowls 
 swarming in the air. 
 
 But that the people of Saybrook were routed from their habitations, 
 and forced into exile by the inroads of voracious birds, was doubtless a 
 pleasant satire rather than a fact. President Styles notices the tradition 
 in his diary, but dismisses it, expressing an opinion with which most peo- 
 ple who consider the circumstances will coincide, that Mr. Fitch and his 
 congregation relinquished their Saybrook grants in the hope of finding 
 accommodations better adapted to their pursuits and aspirations at Nor- 
 wich. 
 
 The enterprise having been sanctioned by the General Coftrt, and the 
 deed obtained from the Indians, the proprietors began to prepare for a 
 removal. The township was surveyed, the town plot or central village 
 laid out, a highway opened, and house-lot-; measured and assigned to the 
 purchasers in the fall of 1659. By what rule the distribution was made 
 is not known. The probability is that Mr. Fitch and Major Mason had 
 the privilege of a first choice. 
 
 No removal of cattle or goods appears to have taken place until the 
 next year. Doubtless some small cabins were erected, and a few persons 
 remained on the ground to keep watch and guard. The flying attack 
 made by the Narragansetts, already mentioned, shows that there was one 
 English hou-iC and five Englishmen at Norwich during the winter; and 
 this, as far as is known, comprises the whole settlement previous to the 
 spring of 1660.t 
 
 The IMohegan territory, comprising all the lands claimed by Uncas and 
 
 *A similar regulation was enforced at Colchester, so late as tlie year 1717. 
 
 " Voated to oblige cvcrv pei-son in the town of sixteen years of age and upwards 
 to kill one Duson of blaclihuds, or wood-peckers or gay burds, and bring their heads 
 to the Select Men; iind wbat are killed in the months of march aprell or may, six 
 shall be counted as a duson ; and if any person kills more than his Duson he shall be 
 alowod one pennc pr head — and he that doth not kill his dusen shall pay to the town 
 Kate one shilling." 
 
 Tnintor's Extracts from Iiocords of Colchester, p. 19. 
 
 t In the MS. Journal of Thomas Minor of Stonington, this memorandum occurs, 
 under date of 1 65'.), Nov. 8th : 
 
 " We wcr at Mohegon." 
 It is tantalizing not to have him say more. But this being the precise month -when 
 the proprietors were laying out their lots in the Mohegan purchase, it may be conjec- 
 tured that Minor wont there as an assistant in surveys and measurements. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 57 
 
 his tribe, by whatever name known, within the bounds of the Connecticut 
 colony, was ceded by Uncas to the colonial authorities at Hartford, Sept. 
 28, 1640.* This appears to have been regarded as a cession of jurisdic- 
 tion only ; for whenever afterward settlements were about to commence, 
 a regular purchase of the place was made. Often also additional gratu- 
 ities were made for special tracts within these purchased towns, by indi- 
 viduals. » 
 
 When the settlement of Norwich was projected, the township was con- 
 veyed to the proprietors by Uncas and his sons, for the sum of seventy 
 pounds. This was in June, 1659. Major Mason was at this period act- 
 ing under a commission from the General Court, the object of Tiihich was 
 to obtain a fresh conveyance to the colony of all the Mohegan lands not 
 actually planted and improved .by the tribe. In this business he was suc- 
 cessful. A deed of cession was obtained, signed by Uncas and his brother 
 Wawequaw, Aug. 15, 1659.t Thus it appears that the nine-miles-square 
 of the iSorwich purchase was three times legally transferred from the abo- 
 rigines to the whites, and each time, apparently, in the way of fair and 
 honorable deahng. 
 
 " On just and equal terms the land was gained ; 
 No force of arms hath any right obtained."! 
 
 The original deed of Norwich is not extant. In March, 1663, the- 
 General Court ordered it to be placed on record at Hartford.§ Appa- 
 rently, in recording the deed, some slight variations from the original copy 
 were allowed, for the phrase used by one of the contracting parties, viz., 
 Town and Inhabitants of Norwich, seems to imply that a settlement had 
 been made. 
 
 DEED OF NORWICH.il 
 
 Know all men that Onkos, Owaneco, Attawanhood, Sachems of Mohegan have- 
 Bargined, sold, and passed over, and doe by these presents sell and pass over unto the- 
 Towne and Inhabitants of Norwich nine miles square of land Ijing and being at 
 
 * Proceedings in the Mason controversy, transmitted to the Board of Trade and 
 printed in London, 1743. 
 
 t Ibid. This deed was witnessed by Wm. Thompson, Thomas Lefflngwell,, and 
 Benjamin Brewster. \ 
 
 J Koger Wolcott. 
 
 § Conn. Col. Rec, 1, 393. 
 
 II This is taken from the first book of Norwich Proprietary. Records, into which it 
 was transcribed about 1680, not apparently from the original deed, but from ihe copy 
 recorded at Hartford in 1663. It has, however, some slight variations from the Hart- 
 ford record. The latter has Monheag for Moheagen, and after Great River (line 11) 
 Is added, "commonly called Monheag river." 
 
 This deed is also recorded at New London, (Deeds, V. I, 226,) where the orthogra- 
 phy is Unchas, Owaneca, and Monheage. 
 
58 HISTOEY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Moheagen and the parts thereunto ajoyneing, with all ponds, rivers, woods, qui 
 mines, w;ith all royalties, privileges, and appurtenances thereunto belonging, to 
 the said inhabitants of Norwich, theire heirs and successors forever — the said lau' 
 to be bounded as foUoweth, ("viz. ) to the southward on the west side of the Great ] 
 ye line is to begin at the brooke falling into the head of Trading Cove, and soe I 
 west norwest seven miles — from thence the line to run nor north east nine milei 
 on the East side the afores'd river to the southward the line is to joyne with New 
 don bounds as it is now laid out and soe to run east two miles from the foresd 
 and soe from thence the line is to run nor noreast nine miles and from thence t( 
 
 nor noiwest nine miles to meet with the western line. In consideration wl 
 
 the sd Onkos, Owaneco and Attawanhood doe acknowledge to have received c 
 parties aforesd the full and juste sum of seventy pounds and doe promise and er 
 ourselves, heirs and successors, to warrant the sd bargin and sale to the aforesd pa 
 their heirs and successors, and them to defend from all claimes and molestations 
 any whatsoever. — In witness whereof we have hereunto set to our hands this 6 
 June, Anno 1659. 
 
 TJiiKOS ' 1 7/ his marke 
 
 Owaneco ; / marke 
 
 Atiawasthood / iC: marke 
 
 Witness hereunto 
 John Mason 
 Thomas Tract. 
 
 This deed is recorded in the Country Booke Agnst 20th 1663 : as atests 
 
 John Allyn, Sec') 
 
 The bounds of this tract, as more particularly described in the f 
 volume of the Proprietors' Records, were as follows : 
 
 The line commenced at the mouth of Trading Cove, where the bn 
 falls irjlo the cove ; thence W. N. W. seven miles to a Great Pond, [n 
 in the corner of Bozrah and Colchester,] the limit in this direction be 
 denoted by a black oak marked N that stood near the outlet of i 
 " Great Brook that runs out of the pond to Norwich river ;" thei 
 N. N. E. nine miles to a black oak standing on the south side of 1 
 river, [Shetucket.] " a little above Maw-mi-ag-waug ;" thence S. S. 
 nine miles, crossing the Shetucket and the Quinebaug, and passing thron 
 "a Sender Su-amp called Catantaquck," to a white Jak tree, mirked 
 thirteen rods beyond a brook called Quo-qui-qua-soug, the space from t 
 Quinebaug to this tree being just one mile and fifty-eight rods- then 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 59 
 
 S. S. "W. nine miles to a white oak marked N, near the dwelling-houses 
 of Robert Allyn and Thomas Eose, where Norwich and New London 
 bounds join ; thence west on the New London bounds, crossing the south- 
 ern part of Mr. Brewster's land, two miles to Mohegan river, opposite the 
 mouth of Trading Cove brook, where the first bounds began. 
 
 Such were the bounds, as reviewed and renewed in October, 1685, by 
 an authorized committee, accompanied by the two sachems and some of 
 the chief men of Mohegan. The former deed of 1659, with the bounda- 
 ries thus described and explained, was then ratified and confirmed by 
 " Owaneca, sachem of Mohegan, son and heire unto Vnohas deceased," 
 and " Josiah, son and heire unto Owaneca," in a new deed, signed by 
 them Oct. 5th, 1685, witnessed by John Arnold and Stephen Gifford, and 
 acknowledged before James Fitch, Assistant.* 
 
 The southern boundary ]h\e, it will be observed, is nine miles in length, 
 two east of the river, and seven west, without counting the breadth of the 
 Thames, and the length of Trading Cove to the mouth of the brook, which 
 would make this line nearly ten miles long. This is explained in the 
 deed to be designed as a compensation for " the benefit and liberty of the 
 waters and river for fishing and other occasions," reserved to the Indians. 
 
 * Recorded at Hartford, Liber D, folio 104. Also at New London, Book 6, folio 
 226. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Propeietoks and House-Lots. 
 
 Who were the original proprietors of Norwich ? The current state- 
 ment that they were just thirty-tive in number, is based upon the author- 
 ity of historians writing more than a century after the settlement. Dr. 
 Trumbull in his History of Connecticut gives this number, relying, it is 
 supposed, upon a list furnished in 1767 by the Rev. Dr. Lord, pastor of the 
 First Church of Norwich. Dr. Lord's manuscript is extant. He says : 
 
 " The town of Norwich was settled in the spring of 1 660 : the Pui'chase of sd Town 
 ■was made in ye month of June, 1659, by 35* men." 
 
 He then gives a list of the names, which includes several who were 
 minors at that time, and one at least [John Elderkin] whose earliest grant 
 at Norwich was in 1667. 
 
 Laying aside therefore all subsequent statements, and recurring to the 
 oldest records remaining at Norwich, from which these abstracts must 
 have been derived, it is found that the original records were very defi- 
 cient in giving dates to the early grants. Resolutions passed at different 
 periods, in the town meetings, refer to this defect. 
 
 In 1672, a new record of lands was made under direction of the town 
 authorities, by James Fitch, Jr. It was commenced May 1st of that 
 year, and the book contains a registry of the town lands and grants, " so 
 far as copies of said lands were brought in by the inhabitants." The 
 number of land-owners recorded is seventy-eight, three or four of whom 
 were non-residents. 
 
 In 1681, the inhabitants declaring themselves sensible of a deficiency 
 in their original records, appointed three of the first-comers, Thomas Lef- 
 fingwell, Thomas Adgate, and John Post, to search for the original dates 
 of former acts and grants, but nothing appears to have been done under 
 this commission. 
 
 May 3d, 1684, Christopher Huntington, Recorder, at the request of 
 John Olmstead, who, he says, "desireth to have the primitive date set to 
 his record of land, which hath not been done heretofore for the want of 
 
 * Altered in the MS. from 34, and John Elderkin interlined. 
 
HISTOETOPNOEWICH. 61 
 
 an orderly dating by tlie first recorder, Mr. Birchard," ascertains the true 
 date, and affixes it under Ms signature, — "which date we find out of an 
 antient wrighting which respects our purchase interest, and right, to be 
 in the yeare of our Lord upon the 30th day of June 1659." 
 
 Again, Dec. 18th, 1694, the town, after adverting to their former neg- 
 ligence in the record of proprietary lands, nominated a committee of six 
 men " to search out and do the best they can to find the names of first 
 purchasers, and what estate each of them put in, and report to the town." 
 
 The striking fact is here disclosed, that in little more than thirty years 
 after the settlement, the number of the first proprietors, the amount of 
 each one's subscription, and the names of all the purchasers, were not 
 generally known and could not be determined without some difiiculty. 
 
 No report of the last commission is recorded. Not long afterwards 
 Capt. James Fitch was employed in the same business. He began a new 
 registry of lands, copying original records where he could find them, 
 stating bounds as they then existed, and affixing dates as nearly accurate 
 as could be ascertained. It is from this registry that the various lists of 
 the thirty-five proprietors have been gathered. Home lots, that seem to 
 have constituted original grants, not having been alienated or purchased, 
 were in general dated November, 1659. But the whole number that 
 appears to be included under this date, either expressly or by implication, 
 is thirty-eight, and it is difficult to decide which of these should be 
 rejected, so as to leave the number just thirty-five. 
 
 The following list comprises those against whom not only nothing is 
 found to militate against their being ranked as first proprietors, but, on 
 the contrary, the records either prove conclusively, or favor the idea, that 
 they belonged to that class : 
 
 Kev. James Fitch, Christopher Huntington, 
 
 Major John Mason, Simon Huntington, 
 
 Thomas Adgate, William Hyde, 
 
 Robert Allyn, Samuel Hyde, 
 
 "William Backus, Thomas Leflnngwell, 
 
 William Backus, Jr., John Olmstead, 
 
 John Baldwin, John Pease, 
 
 John Birchard, ■ John Post, 
 
 Thomas Bliss, Thomas Post, 
 
 Morgan Bowers, John Reynolds, 
 
 Hugh Calkins, Jonathan Royce, 
 
 John Calkins, Nehemiah Smith, 
 
 Richard Edgerton, Thomas Tracy, 
 
 Francis Griswold, Robert Wade. 
 
 Others having original home-lots and all the privileges of first proprie- 
 tors, were : 
 
62 HISTORTOPNOKWICH. 
 
 Thomas Bingham, Thomas Howard, 
 
 John Bradford, Thomas Waterman, 
 
 John Gager. John Tracy, 
 
 Stephen Gifford, Josiah Reed, 
 
 Richard Hendy, Richard Wallis. 
 
 Of this second class, Bingham, Gifford, Howard, Reed, Tracy and 
 Waterman, were probably minors when the plantation commenced. They 
 were all married between 1666 and 1670, inclusive, and were all living, 
 except Howard, in 1702, when a roll of the inhabitants was made in ref- 
 erence to a division of lands which distinguished the surviving first pro- 
 prietors from the list of accepted inhabitants. Bingham, Gifford, Reed, 
 Tracy and Waterman, were enrolled with the latter, which would seem 
 to settle the point that they were not original proprietors. 
 
 Most of these names, however, are necessary in order to make up the 
 charmed number thirty-five. From the position these young men took, 
 and the prominence of their descendants in the history of the town, they 
 seem to have a higher claim to be ranked as proprietors than some of the 
 earlier class, Hendy and Wallis, for instance, of whom we know little 
 more than their names, and Wade, who soon alienated his possessions. 
 By dropping these three names, and accepting the six minors, we are 
 brought back to the time-honored prescriptive number, Thirty-jive. 
 
 Stephen Backus, another minor, became a proprietor in the right of his 
 father, William Backus, who died soon after the settlement. 
 
 The Town-plot was laid out in a winding vale, which followed the 
 course of the rapid circuitous Yantic, and was sheltered for the greater 
 part of the way, on either side, by abrupt and rocky, but well-wooded 
 hills. A broad street or highway was opened through this valley, on each 
 side of which the home-lots were arranged. 
 
 A pathway was likewise cleared from the center of the settlement, to 
 the Indian landing place below the Falls of the Yantic, near the head of 
 the Cove ; following the old Indian trail from Ox-hill to Yantic ford. 
 This path, called by the settlers Mill-Lane, was the most eligible route 
 by whicli the effects of the planters could be conveyed. In some 
 places the forests had been thinned of their undergrowth by fires, to 
 afford scope for the Indians in their passionate love of the chase, 
 and the beaver had done his part towards clearing the lowlands and 
 banks of the rivers. A few wigwams were scattered here and, there, the 
 occasional abodes of wandering families of Indians at certain seasons of 
 th(^ year, who came hither for suppUes of fish, fruit, or game ; and the 
 sumniils of some of the hills wore crowned with disorderly heaps of stones, 
 showing where some rude defence had been constructed in the course of 
 their wars. But in every other respect the land was in its natural wild 
 State. It was a laborious task to cut down trees, to burn the underbrush, 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 63 
 
 to mark out roads and pathways, to throw temporary bridges over the 
 runs of water, and to collect materials for building. 
 
 The home-lots comprised each a block of several acres, and were in 
 general river-lands, favorable for mowing, pasture and tillage. Here lay 
 the prime advantage to be gained by a change of residence, the first pro- 
 prietors being, with scarcely a single exception, agriculturists and farmers. 
 
 Each homestead had a tract of pasture land included in it, or laid out 
 as near to it as was convenient. Where the street approached the river, 
 the planters had their pasture lots, in the same line with the house lots on 
 the opposite side of the stream. 
 
 Near the center of the Town-plot an open space was left for public 
 buildings and military parades. This was soon known as the Green, or 
 Plain. Here stood the first meeting-house, toward the south side, with 
 the open Common around it, and a steep pitch to the river. Of its erec- 
 tion there is no record. It was probably built as the bridges were, by a 
 general turn-out of the effective inhabitants, laboring under the direction 
 of the best workman among them. 
 
 The dwellings of Mr. Fitch and Major Mason were near together, 
 facing the Green, and with the river in their rear. The road running 
 from the Green to the river, and spanning the stream with a bridge, sepa- 
 rated the two homesteads. The allotment of Mr. Fitch, consisting of 
 eleven acres, was on the south-east side of the Green ; the home-lot of 
 Mason, "eight acres more or less," — the early measurements were ex- 
 tremely liberal, — was on the south-west side. 
 
 The first wife of Mr. Fitch died at Saybrook, in September, 1659. 
 He came to Norwich a widower, with six children ; two of them sons, 
 five and eleven years of age, who became active business men, and ap- 
 pear in so short a time taking part in the affairs of the town that it might 
 be a pardonable inaccuracy were they ranked as original planters. 
 
 Three acres of Mr. Fitch's home-lot he afterward transferred to his 
 son, Capt. James Fitch. 
 
 On the north-west side of the Green, covering the ledgy side hill, was 
 the allotment of Stephen Gifford. This was afterward bought by the 
 town for parsonage land. On this hill, in the time of Philip's war, the 
 meeting-house, the second sacred edifice of the town, stood. 
 
 At the east end of the Green was the homestead of Simon Hunting- 
 ton. His lot was laid out on both sides of the street, with a pleasant 
 rivulet running through it and a lane winding into the woods on one side, 
 separating his land from that of his neighbor, Bradford. The dwelling- 
 house of the late Gen. Z. Huntington, stands on a portion of the original 
 lot, which has never been alienated, but is still in the possession of de- 
 scendants to whom it comes by inheritance. 
 
 On the river, south-east of Mr. Fitch, was the lot of John Olmstead, 
 
64 HISTOEYOPNOEWICH. 
 
 eight acres ; and next to him that of William Backus, Senior, six acres. 
 Mr. Backus died soon after the settlement, and left his accommodations to 
 his son Stephen, in whose name they were subsequently registered. 
 
 " Mcmorando : the footeway six foote broad which goes throngji the home lot of 
 Mr. Fitch John Holmstead and Steven Backus was laid out by Towne order and 
 agreement for the use of the towne, in August 1661." 
 
 This path, for more than a century, remained a pent-way, with a gate 
 and turn-stile at each end, and when at last, that is, a little before the 
 revolutionary war, it was widened into a road and thrown open to the 
 public, it was dark with shrubbery and overhanging trees, and known as 
 the road through the Grove. 
 
 Thomas Tracy's home-lot lay east of Simon Huntington's, on the south 
 side of the street, which here runs nearly east and west. It consisted of 
 nine acies, measuring thirty-four rods on the street. His son Solomon 
 afterwards built a second Tracy house on a part of the same lot. 
 
 John Bradford, four acres, opposite Trac}-, with the street and high- 
 ways on all sides. "Mr. John Bradford's comer," was quoted as a land- 
 mark. This was at the east end of his lot, where what was then called 
 "the road to Shetucket" began. 
 
 Christopher Huntington, six acres, east of Thomas Tracy, with the 
 brook between them. His house was at the corner, and the homestead 
 remained in the family down to the present generation. 
 
 By the detours of the street, first east and then south, a large central 
 space was left in the town plot which included a dark and dolorous swamp, 
 antecedently the haunt of wolves and venomous serpents, from whence it 
 is said, often at night-fall low howHngs issued and phosphorescent lights 
 were seen, very fearful and appalling to the early planters. In this 
 swamp Huntington's and Bradford's brook united and flowed into the 
 Yantic. These are now insignificant rills, confined in channels, or only 
 gleaming like silvery lines amid the grass ; but when the country was in 
 its natural state, the}' were loud-voiced, swift-footed streams. 
 
 South of Huntington's corner was a ravine, with a pitch of several feet, 
 thi-ough \\hicli, in times of abundant rain, another gurgling stream, formed 
 by rivulets trickling down from Sentry Hill, passed into the dense alder 
 swamp below. 
 
 South of this ravine was the allotment of Thomas Adgate, whose land 
 met that of Olmstead at the corner, completing the circle of home-lots 
 around the eintral block. 
 
 Opposite the homestead of Adgate a branch of the town street ascended 
 Sentry Hill and came down again to the main road below the corner, in 
 the line of the old Indian trail toward the fords of the Yantic. 
 
 Upon this side road near where it came into the Town street, was the 
 
HISTOBTOPNORWICH. 65 
 
 lot of Sergt. Thomas Leffing^yell, twelve aci-es, with an additional pasture 
 lot of ten acres, with Indian wigwams then upon it, "abutting easterly 
 upon the rocks." The house lot was eighty-six rods in length upon the 
 narrow highway. The residence of the late Judge Hyde (originally a 
 LeiSngwell mansion,) stands on this old house lot; but the first house 
 built upon it by the ancient proprietor is supposed to have stood on the 
 opposite side of the road, founded upon a rock and sheltered by the hill. 
 
 Sergt. Leffingwell was peculiarly the soldier and guardsman of the new 
 town, and Sentry Hill was the look-out post, commanding the customary 
 Indian route from Narragansett to Mohegan. A sentry box was built on 
 the summit, and in times of danger and excitement a constant watch was 
 kept from the height. Here too, in the war with Philip, a small guardr 
 house was built, sufficient for some ten or twelve soldiers to be housed. 
 It has of late been called Center Hill, an unconscious change from Sen- 
 try, that has probably obtained currency from the supposition that the 
 name referred to its position among other elevations in this multitude of 
 hills. Nor is the name at present inapplicable, this being not far from 
 the center of the modem township, though by no means central in refer- 
 ence to the original nine miles square. 
 
 North of Leffingwell, and stretching toward Ox Hill, grants were laid 
 out to Richard Hendy, Josiah Reed, and Richard Wallis, with the com- 
 mons for their principal boundaries. 
 
 Next to Leffingwell, on the street as it runs south, was the allotment of 
 Thomas Bliss ; five acres and a fourth, with a lane on the south leading to 
 a watering place at the river. This homestead is still in the occupation of 
 his descendants, and the house itself in its frame-work is doubtless the 
 original habitation built by the first grantee. 
 
 John Reynolds, southeast of Thomas Bliss, six acres ; bounded south 
 by the highway to the old landing-place, i. e., mill-lane. This is another 
 homestead which has descended by inheritance to the present generation. 
 
 Here was the eastern frontier of the town plot. A dense and miry 
 thicket lay between the mill-lane and the upland plain below. 
 
 Returning to the Green which divided the settlement into East and 
 "West Ends, the proprietors were arranged along the street and river, west 
 of Major Mason, in the following order : 
 
 Thomas Waterman, seven acres. 
 
 Thomas Bingham, four acres ; a strip running from the street to the 
 river. 
 
 John Post, six acres. 
 
 The meadow land of Waterman and his neighbor Post is incidentally 
 mentioned at an early date. This meadow, which lay in the rear of the 
 old Waterman and Post homesteads, has recently become the seat of a 
 large manufacturing establishment. 
 5 
 
66 HISTOBYOFNOBWICH. 
 
 The Waterman house was nearly opposite the residence of the late Dr. 
 Turner. The Post house stood by the side of a noisy rivulet that crossed 
 the street and leaped down to the glen below. The older portion of the 
 house still standing on the spot, is supposed to have been a part of the 
 original dwelling built by the first John Post. 
 
 John Birchard, seven and one-fourth acres : sixteen rods and eleven 
 feet in front. Mr. Birchard's house is supposed to be the one still extant 
 at the entrance of Hammer-brook lane, and, taken as a whole, is without 
 doubt the most ancient house remaining in Norwich. It has had various 
 owners and occupants, but no lean-tos, porches, additions or improvements 
 of any kind have changed its original outward form. According to tradi- 
 tion, it was fortified in the time of Philip's war, and a garrison kept in it, 
 who made port-holes under the roof, through which to fire if they should 
 be attacked. 
 
 Robert Wade, six acres : sixteen rods front. This lot was sold in 1677 
 to Caleb Abell, and better known as the Abell homestead. 
 
 Adjoining Wade, but with boundaries and situation uncertain, was the 
 lot of Morgan Bowers. Probably his house was in Hammer-brook lane. 
 
 Opposite Post and Birchard, on the northeast side of the street, were 
 the allotments of William Hyde and his son Samuel, extending back into 
 the commons. The Hyde house stood a few rods back from the town 
 street, upon the "highway into the woods," as the lane was then called, 
 near the present residence of Henry B. Tracy. The father and son prob- 
 ably formed but one family. The Mansfield house, buUt by one of the 
 later Hydes, on a part of the old home-lot, has descended to the present 
 owner by inheritance on the maternal side from the Hydes, and has never 
 been conveyed out of the family. 
 
 Next west of Robert Wade, on the river side of the street, was the 
 home-lot of John Gager, eleven and a half acres ; part of it a dense 
 swamp, and Hammer brook running through it. 
 
 Thomas Post, adjoining Gager, on the upland, six acres; "a burying- 
 place excepted that lyeth within his lot, and also a way to it.'' 
 
 On the other side of the street were the locations of Nehemiah Smith 
 [fifteen acres] and Thomas Howard, with Hammer brook running between 
 them. 
 
 Beyond Thomas Post on the northwest, with lots reaching from the 
 town sti'L'ct to the river, were the following proprietors in regular suc- 
 cession : 
 
 Richard Ed^erton, six acres ; William Backus, six ; Hugh Calkins, 
 six ; John Calkins, four and three-fourths ; Francis Griswold, seven ; 
 Robert Allyn, five ; Jonathan Royce, six ; John Baldwin, 5 ; John Tracy, 
 twelve ; John Pease, seven, with the river on the northwest, west and 
 south. 
 
First Hotjse Lots 1660. 
 
68 HISTOBTOPNORWICH. 
 
 This was at the western limit of the town-plot, where the river by a 
 sudden turn to the southwest crossed the street at right angles. 
 
 These thirty-eight lots were the first laid out, and though not all in 
 1659, and some perhaps not till several years later, those who held them, 
 whether immediate possessors or not, were commonly reckoned original 
 proprietors. 
 
 As heretofore intimated, several of these first home-lots, or parts of 
 them— those of William Hyde, Simon Huntington, Thomas Leffingwell, 
 Thomas Bliss, and John Reynolds— shorn indeed of their original dimen- 
 sions and of their first-built dwellings, but each a portion of the original 
 grant of November, 1659, and with a representative house upon it, the 
 most recent of which dates backward more than a century, remain in the 
 possession and occupancy of descendants, having never been alienated, 
 sold, or purchased, but descending by inheritance to the present day. In 
 a country where the tenure is allodial and there are no rights of primo- 
 geniture or laws of entailment, instances of two hundred years of family 
 ownership are not very common. Similar examples are to be found 
 among the farms within the Nine-miles-square, but the home-lots above 
 named are supposed to be all that claim the distinction within the present 
 bounds of Norwich. 
 
 After the first thirty-eight proprietors, the next inhabitants who come in 
 as grantees of the town, are John Elderkin and Samuel Lothrop. Elder- 
 kin had two home-lots granted him in remuneration of services. The first 
 grant of 1667 was laid out in the town plot, but being at too gi-eat a dis- 
 tance from his business, it was conveyed, with consent of the townsmen, 
 to Samuel Lothrop, 24th August, 1668. Another was given him at the 
 old landing-place below the Falls, where, according to contract, he built a 
 grist-mill for the convenience of the town. 
 
 The Lothrop house-lot comprised six acres, and had a street, highway, 
 or lane on every side of it. Probably it lay on the side-hill opposite 
 Adgate's. The early intermarriages in the families of Lothrop, Leffing- 
 well, Adgate, and Bushnell, leading them to divide house-lots and settle in 
 contiguous homes, make it difficult to determine the precise situation of 
 each original grant. We can be confident only that these families had 
 their lirst dwellings near together at the east end of the town plot. 
 
 The first Samuel Lothrop appears to have erected a house on the town 
 street before 1670. Tlie house built by Dr. Daniel Lathrop* about the 
 year 1745, probably stands on the same site. 
 
 Samuel Lothrop, Jr., in lli79, had a piece of land given him by the 
 town, to build upon, "near his father's home-lot," upon which he is sup- 
 posed to ha.vc built the house that subsequently belonged to Col. Simon 
 Lathrop, and still later to Rutus Lathrop Huntington. A noted pine-tree, 
 
 * Now Mrs. Oilman's. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 69 
 
 originally of great size and height, stood near and pointed out the site even 
 after the house was demolished. But within a few years, this interesting 
 landmark, the old Lathrop pine, reminding us of the stout Louisburg 
 Colonel, has disappeared. 
 
 The next householders after these were the older sons of proprietors, of 
 whom the most distinguished were John and Daniel Mason, sons of the 
 Major, Capt. James Fitch, and Richard and Joseph Bushnell, sons of Mrs. 
 Adgate. These are all ranked as first-comers, taking part in the affairs 
 of the first generation. 
 
 Richard Bushnell's residence stood conspicuously upon the side-hill, 
 where is now the mansion of Daniel W. Coit, Esq. Courts of larger or 
 lesser significance and meetings of various kinds were held there. One 
 of the Courts of Commission appointed by royal authority to settle the 
 Mohegan controversy, is said to have held its sessions in the great square 
 room of the BushneU house. 
 
 A careful examination of the grants and proprietary records shows that 
 in 1672 land had been recorded to only seventy-seven persons within the 
 town limits. 
 
 In April, 1661, the first division land was laid out, (this included the 
 Little Plain) ; in 1663, the second division land, which lay towards Leb- 
 anon ; and in 1668, the third, upon Quinebaug river. After a few years, 
 almost every citizen owned land in eight or ten different parcels. For the 
 first eighty or one hundred years, very few of the homesteads seem to 
 have been alienated. They passed from one occupant to another, by quiet 
 inheritance, and in many cases were split into two or three portions, among 
 Ithe sons, who settled down by the side of their fathers. 
 
 The impression made by the scenery upon the minds of the planters, at 
 their first arrival, must have been on the whole of a hopeful though solemn 
 character. The frowning ledges of rock, with which the place so pecul- 
 iarly abounds, and the immense preponderance of forest, chastened the 
 landscape almost into gloom. Many of the rocky heights were rendered 
 impervious with stunted cedar, spruce, hemlock, juniper, savin, and the 
 whole family of evergreen trees. The uplands and declivities were cov- 
 ered with groves of oak, walnut, chestnut and maple, and having been 
 partially cleared of underwood, were designated as Indian hunting grounds; 
 The lowlands were dense with alder, willow, hazlenut, and other shrubs ; 
 and the plains, now so smooth and grassy, were rough with bogs and 
 stumps, mullein, thistle, and various unsightly weeds. The inequalities of 
 the ground were much greater than at present. Running waters now 
 scantily trickhng down the rocks, or murmuring over a few small stones, 
 were then rushing torrents, and the little brooks that creep under the 
 streets in concealed channels, were broad streams, to be forded with care, 
 or avoided by tedious circuits. Flowering plants and shrubs were com- 
 
70 HISTOEYOFNOBWICH. 
 
 paratively abundant, and the settlers must have been regaled with a suc- 
 cession of scents and blossoms, from the arbutus, the shad-flower, the dog- 
 wood, the early honeysuckle, and the laurel, which, at the time of their 
 removal, were in bloom. Birds and animals of almost every species 
 belonging to the climate, were numerous to an uncommon degree. The 
 evening air often brought with it from the dingles and swamps of the 
 neighborhood, low bowlings or melancholy whines, mingled with the hoots 
 and plaints of owl and screech-owl, or the less demonstrative but more 
 nerve-trying hiss and rattle of the venomous serpent tribes. 
 
 To complete the view, it may be added, that the streams swarmed with 
 fish and wild fowl; in the brooks and meadows were found the beaver and 
 the otter ; and through the whole scene stalked at intervals the Indian and 
 the deer. 
 
 On this spot the hardy race of Puritans sat down with a determination 
 to make the wilderness smile around them, to build up the institutions of 
 religion and education, and to leave their children members of a secure 
 and cultivated community. They were a fearless and resolute people, 
 most of them being men of tried fortitude and experience, upright and 
 devout, industrious and enterprising. Though assembled from many dif- 
 ferent places, they were bound together by a common faith, a common 
 interest, and a common danger. They were an associated body, both in 
 their civil and ecclesiastical capacity, and only a few weeks were necessary 
 to give them the form and stability of a well-ordered society. 
 
 There was a peculiarity in the foundation of Norwich, that distinguishes 
 it from most other settlements in this part of the country. It did not begin 
 in a random, fragmentary way, receiving accessions from this quarter and 
 that, till it gradually grew into a compact form and stable condition ; but 
 came upon the ground, a town and a church. The inhabitants were not a 
 body of adventurers, fortuitously thrown together, but an association, car- 
 rying their laws, as well as their liberties, with them ; each member bound 
 to consult the general good, as well as his own individual advantage. 
 Steady habits, patient endurance, manly toil, and serene intelligence, set- 
 tled with them, inspiring and efficient though quiet housemates. In the 
 early days of the township, the inhabitants labored hard, but every man 
 helped his neighbor. Trespasses were rare ; a grand decorum of manners 
 prevailed ; sympathy, kindly counsel and friendly assistance softened the 
 rigors of the wilderness, and the hearts of all were strengthened with the 
 constant cheer of gospel promises. All the enactments and proceedings 
 of these fathers of the town, all that we can gather concerning them from 
 records or tradition, exhibits a well-organized community, — a people, bold, 
 earnest, thoughtful, with the ring of the true metal in their transactions. 
 
 The whole course of history furnishes no fairer model of a Christian 
 settlement. 
 
CHAFTEE V. 
 
 Name of the Town. Fihst Things and Eaklt Customs. 
 
 The name, Norwich, was probably selected for the new township before 
 the actual settlement, but it did not come immediately into familiar use. 
 For the first two or three years it was generally known as the new town- 
 ship of Mohegan. The earliest notice of the English name upon the rec- 
 ords of the General Court is in March, 1660-1, where "the Constable at 
 Seabrook " is required to levy a certain sum " upon ye estates of such at 
 Norridge as are defective in their rates."* 
 
 The settlement appears to have been accepted and enrolled as a legal 
 township, under the government of Connecticut, in May, 1662. The act 
 is omitted in the records of the General Court, but during the session of 
 October preceding, the following order was issued : 
 
 " This Court orders ye Secretary to write a letter to Norridge, to send vp a Comit- 
 tee in May next invested with full [power] to issue ye affair respecting settling that 
 Plantation vnder this GoTernient."t 
 
 The name was undoubtedly bestowed in honorable remembrance of 
 Norwich in England ; but why ? Was it suggested by resemblance of 
 situation, or was there anything about the old English city so becoming 
 and acceptable to the minds of these dwellers in the wilderness, that they 
 wished their settlement to become a New-Norwich ? The most natural 
 supposition is, that the prominent persons engaged in the new plantation 
 came from old Norwich, and wished to perpetuate the familiar name by 
 giving it to their American home. But as yet, no such connection has 
 been traced between the ancient city and the new settlement, except 
 through the brothers Huntington, and even with them the link is uncer- 
 
 * Conn. Col. Kec, 1, 362. 
 
 t Ibid., 1, 374. In early records it is often called New-Norwich. In a journal kept 
 by Thomas Miner of Stonington, and preserved by his descendants in MS., there are, 
 from 1662 to 1676, fifteen references to Norwich, but they are chiefly bare memoran- 
 dums of going thither, with nothing suggestive about them but the variations in spell- 
 ing the name. In three places it is correct; the other changes are Norwitch, Nor- 
 which, Norwige, Norwig, Norige. 
 
72 i_ifc;ioi{YO?Nor.-v7.c^. 
 
 tain or slight. Major Mason was the controlling spirit of the party, and 
 without doubt the name was either suggested in the first place by him, or 
 sanctioned by his special favor. If Norwich, the capital of Norfolk Co., 
 England, had been the place of his nativity, it would be easy to account 
 for the planting of the name in this new soil. But it is not known where 
 Major Mason was born. 
 
 The original meaning of the word Norwich, renders its application to 
 the new township strikingly appropriate. It is derived from North-wic, a 
 Saxon name, signifying North- Castle, and the formidable piles of rocks 
 found here, some of them crowned with the stone forts of the Indians, are 
 forcibly suggestive of walls, towers and battlements. 
 
 Mill. In settling a plantation, one of the first necessities to be pro- 
 vided for was the grinding of com. Maize was the common grain, and a 
 mill was indispensable. 
 
 The earliest town act of which any record has been recovered, bears 
 the date of Dec. 11, 1660. It is the renewal of a contract stated to have 
 been made at Saybrook^ Feb. 26, 1655,* [probably should be 1659-60,] 
 between John Elderkin on the one hand, and ''the town of Moheagan' on 
 the other, to erect a corn-mill, either by the home-lot of John Pease, [at 
 Yantic, western extremity of the town-plot,] or at No-man's Acre, to be 
 completed before Nov. 1, 1661, under penalty of forfeiting $20. The toU 
 allowed was to be -j^, and a tract of land was pledged as a compensation 
 for the erection of the mill. 
 
 Elderkin's mill, erected first at No-man's Acre, was soon removed to a 
 situation below the Falls, and new grants and privileges were bestowed 
 upon the proprietor, that it might be well sustained. Here for a long 
 course of years stood the mill and the miUer's house. This had formerly 
 been a noted landing-place of the Indians. A fine spring of pure water 
 gushed copiously from the side-hill near by, which was literally a perpet- 
 ual fountain of sweet waters, with no record or tradition of its having 
 failed but once, and that was in the great drought of 1676. 
 
 The Mill Falls, Elderkin's Mill, "the valley near the mill in which the 
 Spring is," "the deep valley that goeth down to goodman Elderkin's 
 house," and "the island before his house at the Mill Falls," are all 
 
 * This date, 1655, ie a mistake of the recorder. In 1701, a controversy having 
 arisen lictwcen the Town and the seeond John Elderkin respecting the mill, a com- 
 mittee was appointed to review what was called the old Covenant with Elderkin, and 
 give a clear statement of the case. In their report they affirm that Elderkin was obli- 
 gated to maintain a mill for the use of the town, or forfeit the lands and privileges 
 appertaining to the mill. To the record of this report a notice is appended, that the 
 old agreement with Elderkin, "bearing date 1655, the town do now declare to be an 
 error in the date." The true date is not given, but probably it was during the winter 
 of 1659-60. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 73 
 
 referred to in the early records, with circumstances indicating that they 
 were locally grouped together. 
 
 Forty acres on the south side of the Little Plain side-hills, upon the 
 cove, were given to the mill, " to lye to it with the Landing Place, for the 
 use of the town," and to be improved by John Elderkin, the miller. 
 
 This grant covered the Indian burying-place, and was coupled with a 
 reservation that the Indians should have free access to the spot, and the 
 right of sepulture — privileges which it may be inferred from this stipula- 
 tion the town had promised to Uncas. The grant extended over the 
 greater part of what is now Washington street. It was afterwards pur- 
 chased by Col. Simon Lathrop. 
 
 First Births. Elizabeth Hyde, born in August, 1660,* was the first- 
 born child of the plantation. The parents, Samuel Hyde and Jane Lee, 
 had been married the preceding year at Saybrook. The house where 
 this first daughter of Norwich opened her eyes upon the world, stood on a 
 declivity sloping to the town street, with higher land in the back-ground, 
 bristhng with massive rocks and heavily shadowed with chestnut and oak. 
 This homestead remained in the Hyde family for five generations, the last 
 occiq)ant of the name being Elisha Hyde, Esq., Mayor of the city.f 
 
 The second offspring of the plantation was also a female — Anne, daugh- 
 ter of Thomas Bliss, born in September, 1660. 
 
 Elizabeth Hyde married Richard Lord of Saybrook. 
 
 Anne Bliss married Josiah Eockwell. 
 
 The first-born male child was Christopher, son of Christopher and Euth 
 Huntington, Nov. 1. There is no record of any other births during the 
 year 1660. 
 
 The following occurred during the first five years of the settlement. 
 They were not registered at the time, but are gathered from subsequent 
 records. This list may not comprise the whole number of births during 
 that period, but no others have been traced. 
 
 1661. Sarah, dr. of John Birchard; Deborah, dr. of Francis Griswold ; both bora in 
 
 May. Sarah Birchard died young. Deborah Griswold married Jonathan 
 
 Crane. 
 John, son of John Calkins, bom in July. 
 Abigail, dr. of Thomas Adgate, in August. 
 Joseph, son of Simon Huntington, in September. 
 
 1662. Elizabeth, dr. of Jonathan Royce, in January. 
 John, son of William Backus, Feb. 9. 
 John, son of Richard Edgerton, June 12. 
 
 * In the town registry of these ancient births, the day of the month is seldom given. 
 Mr. Birchard, the first clerk, was very remiss in this respect, 
 t The present residence of H. B. Tracy, Esq. 
 
74 HISTOETOPNORWICH. 
 
 Thomas, son of John Baldwin; no record of his birth found, but his age shows 
 that he waa born this year.* 
 
 1663. Rebecca, dr. of Thomas Bliss, in March. 
 
 Lydia, dr. of John Gager, in August. She married Simon Huntmgton, who 
 
 was born at Saybrook in 1659. 
 Samuel, son of John Calkins, in October. 
 John, son of Jonathan Royce, in November. 
 
 1664. Sarah, dr. of Thomas Adgate, in January. 
 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Simon Huntington, in February, and died m mfancy. 
 Mary, dr. of John Reynolds, in April. She married John Edgerton, above 
 
 named, (born 1662.) 
 Abigail, dr. of John Post, Nov. 6. 
 Thomas, son of Thomas Post, in December. 
 
 1665. Thomas, son of Christopher Huntington, March 18. 
 Samuel, son of William Backus, May 2 ; died young. 
 James, son of John Birchard, July 16. 
 
 Daniel, son of Rev. James Fitch, in August. 
 Samuel, son of Francis Griswold, in September. 
 Sarah, dr. of Jonathan Royce, in October. 
 
 Deaths. The earliest death on record is that of Sarah, wife of Thomas 
 Post, who died in March, 1661, and was buried in a corner of her hus- 
 band's home-lot, " adjoining Goodman Gadger's lot." 
 
 The elder William Backus was probably the second person, at least the 
 second of mature age, summoned from the plantation. His will is dated 
 June 12, 1661, and though the time of his death is not known, it may be 
 inferred that he died shortly afterward. The arrangements of the will 
 show that the testator considered himself near death. The homestead 
 which he left to Stephen is recorded to the latter with the date 1661. 
 Moreover, the testator nowhere appears after that period, and his son, 
 "William Backus, is mentioned in 1662 without the distinction of junior. 
 
 Marriages. Of the first marriage in the plantation no special informa- 
 tion has come down to us, either by record or tradition. Most of the 
 proprietors were men of mature years, with considerable families, and 
 among the younger class several marriages had taken place at Saybrook 
 within two or three years previous, iu anticipation of the settlement. 
 Thomas Post was married to his second wife, Rebecca, daughter of Oba- 
 diah Bruen, Sept. 2, 1663, but the rite was undoubtedly performed at 
 her father's house in New London. We may therefore conclude that the 
 first nuptial ceremony within the bounds of the new plantation, was that 
 in which its widowed minister, the Rev. James Fitch, was united to Pris- 
 cilla Mason. This was in October, 1664, and as the marriage service was 
 then commonly performed by a magistrate, we may suppose that Major 
 Mason himself ofliciated upon the occasion. 
 
 * He died Sept. 16, 1741, in the 80th year of his age. 
 
HISTORYOFNOBWICH. " 75 
 
 Miscellaneous Details. The early houses of our country covered a 
 large area, but they were seldom thoroughly finished, and the upper 
 rooms of course were cold and comfortless. A snug, well-flnished house, 
 adapted to the family and circumstances of the owner, is an improvement 
 of modern times. These old houses were generally square, heavy build- 
 ings, with stone chimneys that occupied a large space in the center. The 
 posts and rafters were of great size and solidity, and in the rooms heavy 
 beams stood out from the ceiling overhead, and projected like a low, nar- 
 row bench around the sides. The floors were made of stout plank, with 
 a trap-door leading to the cellar. A line of shelves in the kitchen, called 
 the dresser, often displaying a superb row of burnished pewter, performed 
 the office of side-table and closet. The best apartment was used for a 
 sleeping-room, and even the kitchen was often furnished with a bed. The 
 ceilings were low, and the fire-place, running deep intp the chimney, gaped 
 like an open cavern. But when the heaped-up logs presented a front of 
 glowing coals and upward-rushing flame, while storms were raging with- 
 out, or the heavy snow obliterated the landscape, such a fountain of 
 warmth not only quickened the blood, but cheered the heart, inspired 
 gratitude, and promoted social festivity. Such scenes have made the fire- 
 side an expressive type of domestic happiness. There is certainly a charm 
 in the very phrase, old-fashioned comforts. 
 
 Yet these large fire-places were not without their disadvantages. They 
 required a constant current of air from without to force the smoke up the 
 chimney, and this kept the room cold. They were often made eight feet 
 wide, and two or three feet deep. Wood was cut four feet in length, and 
 the rolling in of a log was a ponderous operation that made all the timbers 
 creak and crushed the bed of burning coals upon the hearth into cinders. 
 Even if wood were as abundant as formerly, we should still be compelled 
 to acknowledge that the reduction of fire-places and the introduction of 
 other modes of warming rooms, are great improvements of modern house- 
 keeping, promoting at once comfort, economy, and symmetry. 
 
 Norwich, in its beginning, was a step in advance of most settlements. 
 The people had built their first habitations at Saybrook, or elsewhere, and 
 on this chosen spot, at the outset, laid firm their foundations and furnished 
 themselves with respectable homes. No record or tradition favors the 
 notion that huts or log-houses preceded the spacious and comfortable 
 houses of the first proprietors. The builders must have had some tempo- 
 rary shelter, of booth or wigwam, but it is probable that in most instances * 
 families were not removed until the houses were at least framed. 
 
 Towns were not built in those days like a factory-village, all at once 
 and after one model. At Norwich, especially, if considered in its whole 
 extent, great diversity in the form and position of the buildings was dis- 
 played. Here a house stood directly on the town street ; another was 
 
76 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 placed at the end of a lane ; a third, in a meadow bj a gurgling brook ; 
 and others were scattered over side-hills, or sheltered under jutting ledges 
 of rock. Some were only of one story, with two rooms ; but the better 
 sort presented a wide, imposing front of two stories, ending in a very low 
 story in the rear. Two large rooms, often twenty feet square, viz., a great 
 room, as it whs called, but meaning a best or company room, and a kitchen, 
 with a bed-room, and a capacious milk and cheese pantry, usually covered 
 the ground-floor. The windows were small and few, most of them fur- 
 nished with panes of diamond glass, cased in lead.* The rooms were 
 supplied with chimney-closets, both over the fire-places and by their sides. 
 In the chambers, and sometimes even in the garret, large closets might be 
 seen diving here and there into the chimney, or occupying the space be- 
 tween the cliimneys. Occasionally one has been found having a winding 
 course around the chimney, or a turn in it like a corner ; others have had 
 the door inconspicuous, suggesting the idea that they were made for places 
 of concealment. As the houses decayed, these closets became receptacles 
 for rubbish and vermin. Often in later times, the wrecks of discarded 
 furniture, old snow-shoes and wooden-clods, moth-eaten buff-caps, broken 
 utensils, and sometimes books and pamphlets, or written papers, discolored, 
 tattered, nibbled, till they were worthless, have been dragged from these 
 dusty reservoirs. 
 
 Among articles of furniture distinctively belonging to old times, we may 
 notice the high chest of drawers, reaching nearly from tloor to ceiling, and 
 its multitude of drawers graded in size from a button-box almost to a 
 trunk. 
 
 Whether any of the first settlers owned a clock or watch, is unknown. 
 Perhaps Mr. Fitch or Major Mason had this convenience ; but in general, 
 the only time-pieces must have been the universal noon-mark in the 
 window, and the dial in the garden, — ^both useless when the sun was 
 obscured. After a time, as wealth increased, the great house-clock, with 
 its radiant, moon-like face, made its appearance in a few houses. In the 
 kitchen, the high wooden settle was never absent, — now used as a screen, 
 and now receding to the wall, to give full exhibition to that grand recept- 
 acle of cheering coals and flame, the wide-mouthed-fire-place. 
 
 The kitchen was the principal sitting-room of the family. Blocks in 
 the chimney-corners were used for children's seats ; the settle kept ofif the 
 air from the door ; a tin candlestick, with a long back, was suspended on 
 a nail over the matel, and the walls were adorned with crook-necks, 
 flitches of bacon and venison, raccoon and fox skins, and immense lobster 
 claws. Afterwards, as fears of the Indians died away, and weapons of 
 warfare were less used, occasionally a musket or an espontoon might be 
 
 * As late as the year 1810, windows of this kind were remaining in the old Post 
 house. 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 77 
 
 seen suspended transverse from beam to beam, and bearing as trophies, 
 reserved for winter use, strings of dried apples, chains of sausages, and 
 bunches of red peppers. A small open recess for books was usually seen 
 on one side of the fire-place, a little below the ceiling, where even the 
 cleanest volumes soon acquired a dingy hue. Venerated were these 
 books, for they came from the fatherland, and were mostly of that blessed 
 Puritan stamp whose truths had inspired the owners with courage to leave 
 the scenes of their nativity, to find a home in this distant and savage land. 
 This little recess, displaying its few books, often appears in the back- 
 ground of ancient portraits ; for example, in that of Col. Dyer, of Wind- 
 ham, formerly among the pictures in the Wyllis mansion at Hartford. 
 
 In these houses the Family Bible was never wanting. It occupied a 
 conspicuous station upon the desk or best table, and though much used, 
 was well preserved. It came from home, for so the colonists loved to call 
 the mother country ; it had voyaged with them over the billowy waters, 
 and was revered as the gift of Heaven. One of these blessed volumes, 
 long preserved as a precious relic in the Lathrop family, and now depos- 
 ited in the archives of the American Bible Society, merits a particular 
 notice. It is in the old English text, and of that edition usually called 
 Parker's, or the Bishop's Bible. It was preserved in the family of Mr. 
 Azariah Lathrop, grandson of the second Samuel Lathrop of Norwich, 
 with the tradition that it was brought from England by an ancestor, who, 
 reading one night in his berth, fell asleep over the book, when a spark 
 escaped from his lamp, and falling upon the leaf, ate its way slowly 
 through a large number of pages, committing sad havoc in the sacred 
 text. The owner afterwards with great neatness and patience repaired 
 the ravage with his pen, restoring the text to each of the inspired leaves,. 
 as may be seen by inspecting the venerable relic. 
 
 The Kev. John Lathrop of Barnstable, Mass., a devout lover of the- 
 Sacred Book, was the emigrant ancestor of the Lathrop family : to him,, 
 therefore, the above incident may with some probability be referred. But 
 the volume is found among the descendants of his son Samuel, the ances- 
 tor of the Norwich Lathrops, and the latter, though only a lad at the time 
 of his emigration, may nevertheless have been the sleeping student who> 
 came so near to the losing of his treasure. All that can be asserted on 
 this subject is, that the repaired Bible, with this interesting tradition con- 
 nected with it, comes down to the present generation in the hne of Mr. 
 Azariah Lathrop. 
 
 There is no account that the planters ever experienced any scarcity of 
 food, or were ever deprived at any time of the real comforts of life. On 
 the contrary, they seem to have had abundant harvests, and to have been- 
 generous livers. Though their modes of cooking were more simple than. 
 
78 HISTOETOPNOEWICH. 
 
 those now in vogue, the variety of sustenance was nearly as great. To 
 obviate the necessity of going often to mill, pounded maize, called by the 
 Indians samp, or nasaump, which resembles hominy, was much used. 
 Hasty-pudding was a common dish, the usual supper of children. Out of 
 New England this article was called mush and suppawn. The coarse 
 meal of those days required at least an hour's cooking to make the pud- 
 ding good ; the name hasty is therefore entirely inappropriate, the special 
 pleading of Barlow to the contrary notwithstanding : 
 
 " In haste the boiling cauldron, o'er the blaze, 
 Receives and cooks the ready-powdered maize." 
 
 A true hasty-pudding, that is, one which can be properly made in a 
 short time to meet a sudden emergency, requires a different grain from 
 maize. The minute-pudding, so called, made of rje, or buckwheat, is of 
 this kind, justifying its name by the haste with which it can be prepared. 
 
 Another dish which the Indians taught the English to make, was sueca- 
 tash, a mixture of tender Indian corn and new beans, forming a delicious 
 compound, still a great favorite all over New England. They also learned 
 of the natives to bake corn-cakes on the hot hearth, under the ashes, form- 
 ing a sweet and wholesome bannock; and to pound their parched com 
 and eat it with milk or molasses. This was called in their languao-e, 
 To-ke-ug* The first planters were also famous for baked beans and 
 boiled Indian puddings, — dishes that have been perpetuated by their de- 
 scendants, with considerable spirit and pertinacity, though they have 
 ceased to be peculiarly characteristic of the place. f The beans were 
 put into the oven early in the morning, crowned with a choice portion 
 from the pork-barrel, and having been kept all day seething and brown- 
 ing, appeared upon the supper-table, hot and juicy, and with their respect- 
 able accompaniment, the slashed and crispy pork, gave dignity to the best 
 tables. This was the universal Saturday night treat ; so that wits would 
 say the inhabitants knew when Sunday was coming only by the previous 
 dish of baked beans ; and that if the usual baking should at any time be 
 omitted, the ovens would fall in. There can be no doubt that the name 
 Bean Hill was bestowed on a part of the town-plot from the prevalence 
 of this Saturday night treat. Bean-porridge wa^ also, in those early days, 
 a common breakfast dish. 
 
 * Nokchick, in the idiom of some tribes. 
 
 "Nokehi.k, parched meal, which is a roadie wholesome food." (Roger Williams.) 
 
 The English sometimes called it No-cake. 
 
 t It has been said that baked beans is not an old English dish, yet from its preva- 
 lence m Norwich nnJ some other places, so soon after the settlement, we should natu- 
 rally mfor that the emigrants brought with them their relish for this dainty of the table. 
 They certainly did not find it among the Indians. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 79 
 
 In other places, peas were more generally cultivated than beans. In a 
 list of the principal productions of the Colony, made out in 1680, peas are 
 mentioned, but not beans. Perhaps the inhabitants of Norwich were par- 
 ticularly prominent in bringing the latter into common use, and hence 
 arose their local renown in connection with them. The beans and pud- 
 dings of Norwich were, however, only a popular way of representing 
 tables bountifully supplied with substantial food. 
 
 With respect to the puddings, it is reported that they were frequently 
 made of such size and solidity as to carry ruin in their path if the pyra- 
 mid chanced to fall.* An extra-good housewife would put her pudding 
 in the bag at night, and keep it boiling until dinner-time the next day. 
 The carving commenced at the top, and as the pile lowered to the center, 
 the color deepened to a delicious red. One can not help being curious to 
 know whether these local customs could be traced back to those parts of 
 England from which the planters came. 
 
 Potatoes were then unknown in the country, and not introduced until 
 after 1720. Turnips were a common vegetable. Pumpkins were so 
 abundant in New England, that wits seized upon them as a symbol of the 
 country. A chubby boy astride of a large pumpkin, and blowing the 
 hollow stalk of the vine for a trumpet, is at least an emblem of some sig- 
 nificance. Pumpkin johnny-cake, made of corn-meal and stewed pump- 
 kin, baked before the fire upon the trencher, and turned to give a brittle 
 crust to both sides, was an article for the table in high estimation. 
 
 The drink of our ancestors consisted chiefly of pure water from the 
 well or fountain ; but they had also beer, cider, and metheglin, and they 
 made great account of syrups concocted from the juice of berries, and 
 cordials distilled from mints. 
 
 In addition to the flesh afforded by the flocks and herds which they fed, 
 the boimty of Providence furnished them with rich supplies. Deer at the 
 time of the settlement were not infrequent ; wild fowl, especially pigeons, 
 were at the proper season very abundant ; all the smaller game, such as 
 squirrels, foxes, woodchucks, and rabbits, might be caught in snares at the 
 very doors of the houses, and the rivers and brooks around them furnished 
 
 * A sportive story was formerly current, that on a certain festive occasion, a conical 
 pudding was set in the center of the table, in monumental dignity, but losing its bal- 
 ance at the first insertion of the carving-knife, it fell and knocked down three men. 
 Whereupon the townsmen made a regulation that no pudding should henceforth con- 
 sist of more than twenty coombs of corn, that is, about four bushels. 
 
 The Norwich puddings were played by the local humorists against the New Londoa 
 dumplms. The latter, it is said, were often made so large and hard that it was neces- 
 sary to chip them up with a pick-axe. The remains of a great dinner being at one 
 time thrown into the river, near the town, the Isle of Rocks, a noted fishing ledge in 
 the harbor, was formed, and is still by some of their neighbors called the New London 
 Dumplins. 
 
80 HI3T0ET OF NORWICH. 
 
 first-rate bass, innumerable shad, fine lobsters, delicate oysters, and higUy- 
 prized trout. Such were the dainties spread upon their board. 
 
 The annual Fast was kept with great strictness : no food being allowed 
 between sunrise and sunset. Thanksgiving was then, and has ever since 
 been, the great festal day of the year, — the day for family gatherings and 
 heart-greetings ; for the noonday feast, and the evening spent in eating 
 nuts and apples, telling stories, and playing blind-man's-buff, — simple ele- 
 ments of pleasure, but great in their productive result. These two memo- 
 rial seasons have been called the saint-days of New England, or, as ex- 
 pressed by a domestic humorist, the festivals of St. Stuff" and St. Starve. 
 
 Wames. Our ancestors displayed but little taste in the way of names- 
 giving, either to persons or places. The Christian names bestowed upon 
 sons and daughters were often quaint and whimsical, sometimes even harsh 
 in sound and inconvenient of utterance. Shadrach, Jephthah, Abinadab, 
 Aquilla, and Zorobabel, are to be met with upon the records. Others 
 were chosen from some implied principle of association, in defiance; of all 
 fitness ; such as Consider, Friend, Preserved, Retrieve, Yet-once. But 
 these are the extremes in this line, and none more ungainly, such as are 
 often and perhaps falsely attributed to the old Puritans, are found in our 
 Connecticut registries. 
 
 Female names of a descriptive class were very common, such as 
 Thankful, Mindwell, Patience, Experience, Temperance, Obedience, Re- 
 membrance, Deliverance, Desire, Submit, Faith, Hope, Love, Charity, 
 Silence, Mercy. Many of these, however, far from being uncouth, are 
 euphonious and appropriate, worthy of perpetual repetition. 
 
 Many local names that were current in the early stages of the settle- 
 ment, have become obsolete. Such are — 
 
 Connecticut Plains, — a tract wiihin the bounds of the nine-miles-square, • 
 on what was then called the path to Connecticut, that is, the old road to 
 Hartford. 
 
 Little Lebanon, — at the end of Yantick, or just beyond Yantick. Little 
 Lebanon Hill and Valley, mentioned 1673, before the settlement of the 
 present town of Lebanon. 
 
 New Roxbury, — now AVoodstock. 
 
 Nicholas Hill, — south of the Yantic, since called Nick's Hill. 
 
 Little Faith Plain, — south of Wavvekus Hill. 
 
 The first names given to a new country are usually descriptive, embody- 
 ing some prominent cliaracteristic that shall bring the place directly before 
 the mind. Tluis we find on the early records of Norwich — 
 
 Tlic Crotch of the Rivers. 
 
 The Hook of the Quinabaug. 
 
 Hummer Brook. 
 
 Stony Brook. 
 
HISTOBTOFNORWICH. 81 
 
 Kimicall [Chemical] Spring, — ^in a grant to Capt. Fitch, 1687. 
 
 The White Eock upon Plain Hill, — a land-mark. 
 
 Scotch Cap Hill, — near the point where the present bounds of Norwich, 
 Franklin and Bozrah meet. 
 
 Huckleberry Plains. Great Beaver Brook. 
 
 Ising-glass Eock. Little Beaver Brook. 
 
 Wheel-timber HiU. Wolf-pit Hill. 
 
 Hearth-stone Hill. Saw-pit Hills. 
 
 Butternut Brook. Great Cranberry Pond. 
 
 Stonie Hollow, (now East Chelsea.) 
 
 Clay Banks of the Great Eiver. 
 
 The Great Darke Swampe. 
 
 Dragon's Hole at Kewoutaquck. 
 
 The Eocky Hill, called Wenaniasoug. 
 
 If any dependence can be placed on names and traditions, the Indians 
 had at least three rude forts within the present bounds of Norwich. One 
 at the Landing on the brow of the hill, which on this account was called 
 at the first settlement, Fort Hill. This was probably the citadel of Wa- 
 weequaw, the brother of Uncas. Another, upon Little Fort Hill, between 
 the Landing and Trading Cove, belonging to Uncas himself. And a third, 
 more ancient than either of these, on the south-western side of the Yantic, 
 below the junction of Hammer-brook. This stood upon a rugged platform 
 of rock, surrounded and overshadowed with woods. It was a barren and 
 secluded spot ; but the tradition has been current, particularly among the 
 Hydes and Posts, who first owned the spot, that here was an ancient 
 Indian fortress. It consisted of a high stone wall, inclosing an area upon 
 the brow of the hill, and must have been designed only as a hiding-place, 
 .to which to retreat in times of invasion. The stones had been broken by 
 the Indian builders into portable size, and about the year 1790, were 
 removed and used in the building of a cellar and for other purposes by 
 the owner of the land. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EAKLIE8T Town Oificees. ConKTS. Tkain-Bands. Magistrates and 
 
 Schools. 
 
 According to the best writers on New England polity, the four 
 important institutions that lie at the foundation of our prosperity are the 
 towns, congregations, schools, and militia. Upon these as a basis, com- 
 munities spring rapidly into thrift and importance, and become the pillars 
 of nations. The first of these institutions in order, and that which em- 
 bodies the tirst element of a commonwealth, is the township. Formerly, 
 in Connecticut, this included also the second branch, the parish, or con- 
 gregation, which was co-extensive with the town, and the minister not 
 only the religious head, but the political counsellor, of the people. The 
 schools were quiet and insignificant, partly domestic and partly municipaL 
 The train-bands, on the contrary, were indispensable and efficient, being 
 the town itself, in its wisdom and strength, armed for defence. 
 
 The Connecticut Constitution, the oldest of the American State Con- 
 stitutions, makes no allusion to the king.* It regards the people as the 
 only source of power ; deputies represent the will of the people ; towns 
 select the deputies and impower them to act in their behalf. Towns are 
 older than states', and the fountains of political power. 
 
 Townships are therefore the foundation-stones of American liberty: 
 accepted inhabitants are identical with free citizens, and municipal inde- 
 pendence opens the way to all other liberal institutions. 
 
 The earliest town records of Nor\\ ich are in the hand-writing of John 
 Birchard, who had probably been the Town Clerk at Saybrook, before 
 the removal. He discharged the duties of a Clerk or Recorder at Nor- 
 wich, for fifteen or eighteen years, but there is no memorandum extant of 
 his appointment to office. No town action remains of an earlier date than 
 Dec. 11, 1060, but from the fragmentary state of the oldest book, we 
 may infer that several pages in the beginning have been worn away and 
 lost. 
 
 The original grants were evidently not recorded, until reviewed and 
 
 * See Constitution of 1639 : Conn. Col. Kec, 1, 20-25. Also Code of Laws, ibid., 
 509. 
 
HISTORTOFNORWICH. 83 
 
 rectified by later surveys, and these, with subsequent grants and divisions 
 of common land, were registered by Captain James Fitch. 
 
 The affairs both of the town and society, civil and ecclesiastical, were 
 all recorded together, until the year 1720. The volumes are labeled, 
 Town Books of Acts, Votes, Grants, &c. They contain also an account 
 of the freemen, strays, cattle-marks, lost goods, and occasionally a record 
 of a justice's court. Afterwards the town and society affairs were sepa- 
 rated, and the latter kept by themselves in a volume entitled "The Town- 
 Plot Society Records." In the first books, dates are confounded and sub- 
 jects intermixed with a strange degree of negligence. Some of the rec- 
 ords seem to have been made promiscuously, with the book upside down, 
 or upright, as it happened ; and forward or backward, wherever there 
 was a blank space, The earliest notices relate to the granting of lands, 
 appointing fence-viewers, erecting public pounds, gates and fences, stating 
 highways, felling trees, and regulating the running at large of swine, 
 rams, and other domestic animals. These were the first subjects of legis- 
 lation, and the first officers were a constable and two townsmen, one for 
 each end of the town. The townsmen were afterwards called overseers, 
 and select-men, and varied in number, though seldom more than four were 
 chosen. It was their business (according to a town vote in 1683,) "to 
 order the prudentials of the town, and see to it that the wholesome town 
 orders be attended to." They were empowered to call public meetings, to 
 take cognizance of all offences against law, order, and morality ; to settle 
 differences, and try cases of small value. 
 
 The imperfection of the early records leaves us without a complete list 
 of early town ofiicers. The following are all that have been recovered for 
 the first twenty-five years of the settlement. Later than this, the of&cers 
 for each year are, with rare exceptions, extant. 
 
 
 
 CONSTABLES. 
 
 1669. 
 
 Eobert Allyn. 
 
 1682. 
 
 Samuel Lothrop. 
 
 1670. 
 
 Ensign Thomas Tracy. 
 
 
 Joshua Abel. 
 
 1671. 
 
 Thomas Post. 
 
 1683. 
 
 Thomas Bingham. 
 
 1673. 
 
 Samuel Lothrop. 
 
 
 Josiah Reed. 
 
 1674. 
 
 John Gager. 
 
 1684. 
 
 Caleb Abel. 
 
 1675. 
 
 Simon Huntington. 
 
 
 Christopher Huntington, Jr., east of 
 
 1678. 
 
 John Baldwin, Sen. 
 
 
 Showtucket. 
 
 
 Thomas Leffingwell, Jr. 
 
 
 Thomas Tracy, Jr. 
 
 1679. 
 
 John Calkins. 
 
 1685. 
 
 Joseph Bushnell. 
 
 
 Richard Bushnell. 
 
 
 Simon Huntington. 
 
 1680. 
 
 Richard Edgerton. 
 
 
 Caleb Forbes. 
 
 
 Thomas Sluman. 
 
 1686. 
 
 Stephen Gifford. 
 
 1681. 
 
 Solomon Tracy. 
 
 
 John Calkins, Sen. 
 
 
 Stephen Merrick. 
 
 
 Thomas Parke, Jr. 
 
84 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OP NOEWICH. 
 
 
 TOWNSMEN. 
 
 1669. 
 
 Thomas Leffingwell. 
 
 1680. 
 
 Capt. Fitch. 
 
 
 Christopher Huntington. 
 
 
 Lefft. Thomas Tracy. 
 
 1671. 
 
 John Bradford. 
 
 
 Lefft. Leffingwell. 
 
 
 John Calkins. 
 
 
 Ensign Backus. 
 
 1672. 
 
 Hugh Calltins. 
 
 
 Thomas Adgate. 
 
 
 Simon Huntington. 
 
 1681. 
 
 Simon Huntington. 
 
 1673. 
 
 William Hide. 
 
 
 Thomas Waterman. 
 
 
 John Holmsted, 
 
 
 John Tracy. 
 
 1674. 
 
 John Post. 
 
 1682. 
 
 Ensign William Backus. 
 
 
 Thomaa Adgate. 
 
 
 Caleb Abel. 
 
 1675. 
 
 Thomas Waterman. 
 
 
 Leffi. Leffingwell. 
 
 
 John Calkins. 
 
 
 Thomas Adgate. 
 
 1676. 
 
 East End, Thomas Adgate. 
 
 1683. 
 
 John Baldwin, Sen. 
 
 
 "West End, Thomas Bingham. 
 
 
 Thomas Tracy. 
 
 1677. 
 
 John Holmstead. 
 
 1684. 
 
 Ensign Backus. 
 
 
 Lefft. Th. LeflangweU. 
 
 
 Sergt. Waterman. 
 
 1678. 
 
 Simon Huntington. 
 
 
 Lefft. Leffingwell. 
 
 
 Richard Edgerton. 
 
 
 Thomas Adgate. 
 
 1679. 
 
 Six Townspen chosen : 
 
 1685. 
 
 Sergt. John Tracy. 
 
 
 James Fitch, Jr. 
 
 
 Stephen Merrick. 
 
 
 Lefft. Leffingwell. 
 
 
 Solomon Tracy. 
 
 
 Ensign Backus. 
 
 
 Samuel Lothrop. 
 
 
 Simon Huntington. 
 
 1686. 
 
 Lefft. Leffingwell. 
 
 
 John Post. 
 
 
 Thomas Adgate. 
 
 
 Thomas Adgate. 
 
 
 Ensign Backus. 
 John Post. 
 
 In October, 1661, the first deputies of the town, Thomas Leffingwell 
 and Thomas Tracy, appear on the roll of the General Court at Hartford. 
 There was but little fluctuation in the higher public offices at that period. 
 A candidate once chosen and found to be competent and faithful, was gen- 
 erally a life-long incumbent. The election of deputies was semi-annual, 
 but for the first eleven years, the choice, with only two exceptions, was 
 restricted to four persons : 
 
 Thomas Tracy. 
 Thomas Leffingwell. 
 Hugh Calkins. 
 Francis Griswold. 
 
 The exceptions were IMr. Benjamin Brewster, chosen for one session in 
 1668; and John Mason, one in 1672. 
 
 Afterwards other proprietary names appear among the representatives, 
 but the perpetuity of the office continued. Ricliard Bushnell, beginning 
 at IG'Jl, was chosen for 37 sessions; Solomon Tracy for 19; and Joseph 
 Backus for 34, beginning at 1704 and ending in 1733. 
 
HISTOETOFNOEWICH. 85 
 
 In tlie list of estates in 1663, Norwich was estimated at £2,571. Say- 
 brook at the same time was valued at £8,000, and New London at £7,185. 
 This was before the union with New Haven, when Connecticut comprised 
 only eleven towns or plantations.* Of these, Norwich was the lowest on 
 the list. By the union under the charter in 1665, and the addition of two 
 or three new settlements, the towns in the Colony increased, during the 
 next twelve years, to twenty-three ; of these, Norwich was about the fif- 
 teenth in valuation, reporting in 1676, persons 71, estates £4,598. Before 
 1688, the towns increased to twenty-six, and Norwich advanced to the 
 ninth position, returning over 100 polls and upwards of £7,000 in estates. 
 Those higher upon the list, in the order of valuation, were Hartford, New 
 Haven, Windsor, Wethersfield, Fairfield, New London, "Windsor, Strat- 
 ford. 
 
 In 1676, the best house-lots in New London and Norwich went into the 
 list at 25s. per acre, the poorer quality at 20s., and other fenced lands at 
 Is. In Saybrook and Stonington, none were estimated above 20s. per 
 acre. This was also the highest estimate at New Haven, but at Hartford 
 and "Wethersfield the home-lots were listed at 40s. per acre. 
 
 Houses were not reckoned in the valuation of estates ; being " so charge- 
 able to maintain," that they were exempted from taxation. Horses, four 
 years old and upward, in 1665, were reckoned at £10, but in 1670, at £4. 
 
 In 1680, the Lords of the Council of Trade, in England, proposed cer- 
 tain queries to the General Court of Connecticut, respecting the state of 
 the Colony. In the answers to these questions, an allusion incidentally 
 made to Norwich was perhaps the first public notice sent across the ocean 
 that such a town had been estabUshed. In speaking of New London and 
 Pequot river, the document says : 
 
 " A ship of 500 tunn may go up to the Towne, and come so near the shore that they 
 may toss a biskit ashore : and vessells of about 30 tunn may pass up about 12 mile 
 above New London, to or neer a town called Norwich."t 
 
 The number of towns in the Colony at this period was 26 ; the number 
 of men, 2,507 ; in Norwich, 85. 
 
 In a roll of freemen of the Colony, recorded in 1669, Norwich has 25, 
 
 Thomas Adgate. Richard Edgerton. Thomas Leffingwell. 
 
 William Backus. John Elderkin. Major John Mason. 
 
 John Baulden. Mr. James Fitch. John Post. 
 
 Jolin Birchard. Francis Griswell. Thomas Post. 
 
 * The word Plantation was nearly synonymous with town, — not always meaning dis- 
 tinctively a new town. To obtain the privileges of a plantation, was equivalent to 
 incorporation as a town. 
 
 t Conn. Col. Rec, 3, 297. 
 
86 HISTORY OP NORWICH, 
 
 Morgan Bowers. William Hide. John Eenolds. . 
 
 Benjamin Bruister. John Holmstead. Jonathan Eoice 
 
 Hugh Callcins. Christopher Huntington. Nehemiah Smyth. 
 
 John CalkiuB. Simon Huntington. Thomas Tracey. 
 
 Eobert Wade. 
 
 Taken by U3 whose names are underwritten this 9th of October, '69. 
 
 John Baulden, 
 John Renold, Townsmen. 
 Jonathan Eoice, Constable.* 
 
 It is probable that the name of Thomas Bliss was accidentally omitted 
 from this list, as he was one of those that had been propounded and 
 accepted by the General Court, in 1664. 
 
 In 1681, eight other freemen were added to the list: 
 
 Hugh Amos. Thomas Howard. John Tracy. 
 
 Thomas Bingham. Thomas Leffinewell, Jr. Thomas Waterman t 
 
 Stephen Gifford. John Mason. 
 
 In 1685,— 
 
 Samuel Bliss. Samuel Lothrop, Jr. 
 
 Joseph Bushnell. Solomon Tracy. 
 
 In 1662, Thomas Tracy, Thomas Adgate and Francis Griswold were 
 chosen, with the townsmen, to try all cases to the value of -iOs. These 
 formed a Court of Commission. 
 
 In 1669, John Bradford, Simon Huntington and Thomas LefBngwell 
 were the Commissioners, with WiUiam Backus acting as marshall. 
 
 In 1671, Ensign Thomas Tracy, Serg. Thomas Leffingwell and Hugh 
 Calkins held the office. These were all appointed by the town. 
 
 The first Commissioner or Justice appointed by the General Court for 
 the town was Ensign John Blason, 1672. 
 
 In 1676, John Birchard. 
 
 In 1678, James Fitch and Thomas Tracy. 
 
 In 1686, Benjamhi Brewster. The next year IVlr. Brewster was com- 
 missioned both for Norwich and New London, and in 1689, for Preston 
 also. 
 
 Cases of over 40s. vahie, and all weighty matters, were carried before 
 a special court, called a Court of Assistants, where a magistrate or assist- 
 ant presided. Several Courts of Assistants were held in New London, at 
 which Major Jlason. witli others of the magistrates, Wyllis, Wolcott, or 
 Governor Leete, presided. These courts were subsequently merged in 
 the County Court. 
 
 * Col. Rec. Conn., 2, 523. 
 t Ibid., 2, 154. 
 
HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 87 
 
 Counties were constituted in 1666. New London County extended 
 from Pawcatuok river "to the western bounds of Hammonassett planta- 
 tion," comprising the four towns of Saybrook, New London, Stonington, 
 and Norwich, with the new settlement at Hammonassett or Killingworth. 
 New London was the shire town. The first County Court was held June 
 6, 1666. Major Mason presided, assisted by John AUyn, Assistant; 
 Thomas Stanton and Obadiah Bruen, Commissioners. 
 
 Major Mason continued to preside at the sessions of this court until Sep- 
 tember, 1670, when he appeared for the last time on the bench. 
 
 The first Clerks of the County Court were Obadiah Bruen, Edward 
 Palmes, and Daniel Wetherell, all of New London, and in office s;iccess- 
 ively, each about two years. In 1673, John Birchard of Norwich was 
 appointed Clerk of the Court, and held the office for eight or ten years. 
 
 Frequent courts, either of higher or lower grade, were an imperious 
 necessity of the times. It was a litigious age. The early settlers were 
 fond of appealing to the laws, and settling their disputes by writs, pleas, 
 and judicial forms. A case in court was, with some men, little more than 
 a customary part of the year's business. "When the county consisted of 
 only five or six towns, irequently the list of cases for debt, trespass, dis- 
 orderly conduct, and breach of law, amounted to forty or fifty at a single 
 session of the court. 
 
 In several instances, however, wherein Norwich as a town appears on 
 the docket, the cases were such as show the prevalence of law and order 
 in the community, rather than a fondness for litigation. Such are the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 In 1671, the grand jury made a presentment of John Pease for living 
 alone and neglecting the Sabbath. 
 
 In 1 680, an action was brought by Frederick ElHs against the towns- 
 men for warning him out of the town after he had been made an inhabit- 
 ant by grant and possession of lands ; and also against Christopher Hunt- 
 ington, the Clerk, for refusing him a record of said lands. He was non- 
 suited in the first case ; but in answer to the complaint against the clerk, 
 the court ordered that EUis should have a record of the land. 
 
 Prosecutions for slander, profanity, speaking evil of dignities, and other 
 cases for which an unbridled tongue was answerable, were more frequent 
 in the young, half-established communities of that period, ttan at the 
 present day. An instance will be given for illustration, which has an 
 additional interest from its connection with one who was then the great 
 man of the mtie-miles-square. With the exception, however, of this case. 
 Mason vs. Eichardson, the first band of Norwich proprietors furnished 
 but little business for the courts, — preferring, it would seem, to settle the 
 common cases of debt and trespass in a private way, or before a justice 
 of the peace. 
 
88 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 At a County Court held in New London, June 6, 1671 : John Allyn, 
 presiding Judge, a case was brought by "Major Mason, plaintiff, contra 
 Amos Eichardson, defendant, in an action of slander and defamation for 
 saying he was a traytor and [had] damnified the Collonie one thousand 
 pounds." The damages were laid at £500. The jury found for the 
 plaintiff one hundred pounds, and costs of court, £1 8s. The defendant 
 apphed for a review, which was granted, and the case being called up at 
 the next September court, was respited and not brought before the Bench 
 again till June, 1672. 
 
 In the meantime the original plaintiff, Major Mason, had been removed 
 by death ; and when the appellant, Richardson, was summoned by the 
 court either to withdraw his action or go on with his review, he replied 
 that Major John Mason, who was the first plaintiff, is now deceased, and 
 that he conceives the action dies with him." Samuel and John Mason, 
 sons of the Major, appeared in court and tendered to defend the action, 
 but still the plaintiff replied that he had nothing further to say than what 
 was contained in the papers on file. The action was therefore dropped, 
 and the judgment against the plaintiff remained in force. 
 
 At the same court, when the proceedings in this case were read, Mr. 
 Richardson disputed the record. He was thereupon arraigned for defam- 
 ing the court by saying that a part of its record was not true, and fined in 
 the sum of eight pounds. 
 
 Execution to satisfy the original judgment was subsequently levied by 
 the heirs of Mason upon the estate of Richardson, and twelve mares taken, 
 for which only £71 being allowed, and the plaintiff claiming, that they 
 were worth much more, further litigation ensued before the matter was 
 finally settled. 
 
 The first notice of a military organization in the town is from the Rec- 
 ords of the General Court : 
 
 Oct. '66. Francis Griswold is confirmed Lt. to ye Traine band at Norridge and 
 Thomas Tracy to be Ensigne. 
 
 June 1672. This Court confirms Mr. John Mason, Lieutenant, and Thomas Leffing- 
 well, Ensigne of the Traine Band of Norwich. 
 
 These were the first militia oflicers. John Mason was the second son 
 of the IMajor, and son-in-law of the Rev. Mr. Fitch. Though but a 
 young man, he was already in the commission of the peace, and was this 
 year chosen an Assistant. 
 
 In August, 1G7", upon some hostile manifestations from the Dutch of 
 New York, the mililia. or train-bands of Connecticut were ordered to be 
 ready for service, and 500 dragoons raised, who were to be prepared to 
 march at an hour's warning, to defend any place in the colony. Of these 
 dragoons. New London County was to raise a company of one hundred: 
 
HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 89 
 
 James Avery of New London, Captain ; Thomas Tracy of Norwich, 
 Lieutenant ; John Denison of Stonington, Ensign. The number of pri- 
 vates apportioned to Norwich was 17. Saybrook had the same number; 
 New London 26, and Stonington 19.* Later in the same year, Benjamin 
 Brewster was appointed Lieutenant of this troop ; Daniel Mason, Quarter- 
 master ; and Lieut. Tracy, Muster-master, or inspector of arms and am- 
 munition. 
 
 According to the laws of the cotony, a train-band of thirty-two persons 
 was entitled to a Lieutenant, Ensign, and two Sergeants ; but no Captain 
 was allowed until the band numbered sixty-four privates. John Mason 
 was the first person in the town who attained the rank of Captain. He 
 was commissioned during Philip's war, Sept. 16, 1675,t received a severe 
 wound, shortly afterward in the attack upon Narragansett fort, and died 
 the next year. 
 
 Thomas Leffingwell held a Lieutenant's commission in 1676, and per- 
 formed active service against the Indians, but did not succeed to the cap- 
 taincy. The highest civil officer, assistant or magistrate of the town, 
 probably had a prior claim, as in May, 1680, James Fitch was confirmed 
 Captain of the Norwich train-band, Thomas Leffingwell Lieutenant, and 
 William Backus Ensign.]: 
 
 The predilection for military titles was a trait of our worthy ancestors, 
 which it is not easy to reconcile with their Puritan origin and peaceful 
 pursuits. It is rare to find upon the early records a military officer men- 
 tioned above the rank of corporal, without the adjunct of his title. They 
 plumed themselves upon an office in the train-bands, as a token of distin- 
 guished rank and honor.§ 
 
 Major Mason had been elected Deputy Governor of the Colony in 
 May, 1660. His connection with the settlement of Norwich, and his res- 
 idence in the place, gave dignity and respectability to the young town. 
 Many people resorted thither for the transaction of public business. 
 
 Thomas Minor, in a MS. diary preserved by his descendants, records, 
 June 18, 1664: 
 
 " Ould Cheesbrough was going to Norwig to sorendcr the Towne to Coneticut." 
 
 That is, transfer the jurisdiction of Stonington, or Southerton, as it was 
 then called, from the Bay State, under which it had been comprehended, 
 to the Colony of Connecticut, of which Mason was then the acting Gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 * Conn. Col. Eec, 2, 207. 
 t Ibid., 2, 366. 
 t Ibid., 3, 60. 
 
 § CivE titles also were ceremoniously observed. An assistant, or magistrate, was- 
 addressed as the worshipful. 
 
90 HISTORTOPNOEWICH. 
 
 Again he writes, Sept. 8, 1667: 
 " We wer at Norwhich, the Commission wer there." 
 
 Eeferring, p];pbabl7, to the Court of Commissioners, where a magistrate 
 usually presided. While Major Jlason lived, there was no other magis- 
 trate in New London County, and he generally held his courts at home. 
 But during several of the last years of his life, he was subject to attacks 
 of a painful disease that often disabled him from attending to public 
 affairs. This caused some inconvience, and led to murmurings and com- 
 plaints, particularly at New London, where there was more trade and 
 bustle, more of a populace, and a louder call for courts and pleas, than in 
 any other place in the colony. It was onerous and irritating to this stir- 
 ring community, to be dependent upon Norwich, the staid and somewhat 
 frowning younger sister, for justice and arbitrament. Li October, 1669, 
 Mr. Wetherell of New London, Clerk of the County Court, in behalf of 
 the Commissioners, petitioned the General Court for relief in this partic- 
 ular, and obtained an order for an assistant or magistrate to hold a court 
 at stated times in New London.* 
 
 After the death of Major Mason, New London County had no chief 
 magistrate or presiding judge resident within its bounds, tiU jMay, 1674, 
 when the following appointment is recorded : 
 
 " Major Edward Palmes is invested with magistratical power, throughout New Lon- 
 don County and the Narragansett conntry."t 
 
 Major Palmes was of New London County, and Norwich in her turn 
 found it irksome to go to her neighbor for award and decree. Between 
 these sister townships there seems to have been little similarity of taste, 
 and no fusion of purpose and action. 
 
 When two communities are situated near to each other, and possess 
 nearly equal claims to patronage and favor, — especially if they lie upon 
 the same river and expect to draw their prosperity from similar pursuits, — 
 occasional outbreaks of jealousy and rivalship invariably make their ap- 
 pearance. The rivalry between New London and Norwich, however, 
 thou;j;h it arose early and has never entirely disappeared, has generally 
 exhausted itself in sportive sarcasms or a few passionate invectives, stop- 
 ping short of aggressive deeds. It has been restricted to public matters 
 
 * The petitioner sta'es that Mnjor Mason, "by God's visiting hand upon him in 
 respect of weakness and sickness of body, hath not at all times been in a capacity to 
 undergo the great trouble that attends our courts," and further observes, " Our matters 
 many times require able help in respect of the ofteij recourse of merchants and stran- 
 gers by reason of the convenience of our harbor here." 
 
 Conn. Col. Rec, 2, 115. 
 
 ■f Ibid., 2, 231. 
 
HISTOBYOPNORWIOH. 91 
 
 and objects of pecuniary concern, never interfering with the cultivation of 
 social intercourse, the establishment of warm friendships, the alliance of 
 families, and a hearty, prompt and efficient assistance in seasons of calam- 
 ity and danger. 
 
 On festive occasions particularly, the inhabitants of the two townships 
 were accustomed from the earliest times to unite with the utmost cordiality 
 and sympathy. Concerted parties would turn out from both places, on 
 horseback, and in all kinds of vehicles as they successsively served the 
 generations, and \neet half-way, at Massapeag, or Indian hill, or Cochegun 
 rock, or some other part of Mohegan, to roast oysters, hunt squirrels, or 
 witness the Indian dance ; in spring, to gather strawberries ; in autumn, 
 wild plums ; and in winter, upon sleds or sleighs to have a great supper at 
 Bradford's, or Haughton's, or some other half-way house.* 
 
 Nor has the jealousy between the two places ever been so patent, nor 
 the exasperation so bitter, as has been sometimes exhibited by different 
 sections of either town toward each other ; between Chelsea society and 
 the Town-plot, for instance, which have had seasons of convulsive enmity 
 so violent as to make reconciliation seemingly impossible, but which have 
 commonly terminated in greater harmony and complacency than before. 
 
 These prefatory remarks are designed to introduce the wary, caustic, 
 and somewhat plaintive petition sent from Norwich to the Legislature, 
 in October, 1674, praying to be freed from their connection with New 
 London County. It was a burden to which they had hitherto been sub- 
 missive : 
 
 " But upon many yeares experience it liath proved so afflicting to us that wee can- 
 not but desire to bee free from this County and come under Hartford County, if it may 
 be. Many reasons we could give, but we fear it will not be expedient for us to men- 
 tion them ; onely this wee must crave liberty to say, that hitherto our relation to Lon- 
 don County hath bene an oppression unto us, wee bearing the burthen of others con- 
 tentions, w'ch now seeme to be rather of an increasing nature than otherwise." 
 
 They further intimate that several other plantations in the county " doe 
 sigh under the same burden and desire the like reliefe." Signed by "Wil- 
 ham Hide and John Holmstead, " Select men in the name and v,'ith the 
 consent of the town."t 
 
 This petition was not placed on record. The Legislature wisely post- 
 poned the consideration of the subject to the next May, and it does not 
 appear to have been afterwards revived. 
 
 * These rural excursions to which our ancestors were so partial, were of a jubilant, 
 exhilarating nature, especially those which took place in the genial seasons. Men and 
 women on horses of every grade, some with pillions riding double, crowding together, 
 filled the air with echoes, often shouting rapturously and singing on their way. Our 
 modern pic nics fail to reproduce the joyous inspiration and healthful flush of those old 
 festivities. 
 
 t Conn. Col. Eec, 2, 247. 
 
92 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 By the early laws of the colony, it was ordered that every town con- 
 taining thirty families should maintain a school to teach reading and writ- 
 ing, and that a Latin School should be established in every county town. 
 A grant of six hundred acres of land was made to each county, to assist 
 in establishing this Latin School. These regulations were not always 
 observed ; the new settlements were tardy in their educational concerns. 
 The earliest schools were taught principaUy by females, who advanced 
 their pupils but little beyond reading, spelling, and learning the catechism. 
 The New England Primer, containing the Westminster Catechism, was 
 the universal class-book of the children. This was first published about 
 
 1660. . 
 
 In 1678, the County Court took the condition of the schools into con- 
 sideration, and appointed a committee to see what could be done towards 
 settling a Latin school at New London. 
 Members of the Committee, — 
 
 Major Edward Palmes, for New London. 
 Mr. James Fitch, Jr., for Norwich. 
 Mr. Samuel Mason, for Stonington. 
 Capt. Robert Chapman, for Saybrook. 
 Ensign Joseph Peck, for Lyme. 
 Mr. Edward Griswold, for Killingworth. 
 Several years elapsed before the county grant was disposed of and a 
 Latin school established, but the agitation of the subject seems to have 
 aroused the towns to the importance of maintaining each a common school 
 of its own. 
 
 In Norwich, no schoolmaster is mentioned before 1677, when John 
 Birchard occupied the teacher's chair, and was engaged to keep nine 
 months of the year for £25, provision pay. The next item recorded is 
 the following : 
 
 March 31, 1679. It is agreed and voated by the town that Mr. Danill Mason shall 
 be improved as a school-master for the towne for nine months in the yeare ensuing and 
 
 to allow him twenty-five pounds to be payed partly by the children, and each 
 
 child that is entered for the full time to pay nine shillings and other children that come 
 occasionally to allow three pence the week ; the rest to be payed by the Towne. 
 
 July 28, 1G80, a special meeting was called to deliberate respecting the 
 establishment of a town school, and the whole matter committed to the 
 charge of the Selectmen, with injunctions that they should see — 
 
 " 1st, that parents send their children ; 2d, that they pay their proportion, according 
 to what is judged just; 3d, that they take care parents be not oppressed, espeshally 
 such who are disabled ; 4th, that whatever is additionally necessaiy for the perfecting 
 the maintenance of a school-master, is a charge and expense belonging to all the inhab- 
 itants of the town, and to be gathered as any other rates ; 5ih, whatever else is neces- 
 sary to a prudent carrying through this occation, is committed to the discreshon of ye 
 sd select men." 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 93 
 
 Public works ia those days were slow in progress, more from the want 
 of hands to labor, than from deficiency of skill or the absence of enter- 
 prise. A school-house, for which appropriations had been made in 1680, 
 was finally built in 1683, by John Hough and Samuel Roberts. These 
 men were both from New London, but found employment in Norwich, as 
 house-builders, and about this period became residents of the town. 
 
 1680, July 21. Mr. Arnold accepted as an inhabitant : the Select men to provide 
 him with i or 5 acres of land as convenient as may be. 
 
 Mr. John Arnold was a school-master, and probably exercised his call- 
 ing for several years in Norwich, although the records do not advert to 
 him in that capacity. An allusion occurs to " Mr. John Arnold, merchant," . 
 who was doubtless the same person, as a variety of occupations, in a small 
 way, were often pursued by one man in those days. 
 
 Mr. Arnold afterwards removed to Windham, where his name is found 
 on the list of the first twenty-two inhabitants. May, 1693. He settled in 
 that part of the town which is now Mansfield, and the records of the place 
 show that he had been master of a school in several different towns, and 
 had children born at Newark, Killiagworth, Norwich, and Windham.* 
 
 Schools in our early settlements were only kept a certain part of the 
 year, varying from two to eight or nine months. In 1690, the Selectmen 
 were directed to provide a school-master, the scholars to pay 4d. a week, 
 and the remainder of the salary raised on the list. No further notice is 
 taken of schools, town-wise, until 1697, when Richard Bushnell is ap- 
 pointed to keep the school for two months that year, and to be paid in 
 land. 
 
 In 1698, David Hartshorn was engaged for the same time. Here it is 
 probable that the town school died out. 
 
 In the year 1700, a startling fact appears in the indictments of the 
 grand jury of the county : 
 
 "Worwich presented for want of a school to instruct children." 
 
 That measures were immediately taken to remedy this deficiency, we 
 may infer from the fact that £6 was added to the next year's rate, for 
 repairing the school-house, and about the same time a tract of land was 
 granted to David Knight in payment for work upon the meeting-house 
 and school-house. 
 
 It may not be true of all New England, but in some portions of it, for 
 a considerable period after the first generation had passed away, educa- 
 tion was neglected ; the schools were of an inferior grade, and very grudg- 
 ingly and irregularly sustained. This was probably owing to the paucity 
 
 * Weaver's Ancient Windham, p. 42. This Mr. Arnold was probably an English. 
 man, and must not be confounded with John Arnold, merchant of New London, who 
 died in 1725, aged 73. 
 
94 HISTOETOFNOBWICH. 
 
 of good teachers, and the superfluous activity of the people, which led 
 tliem to break away impatiently from sedentary pursuits. But the inev- 
 itable consequence was, that the grand-children of the first settlers were 
 more illiterate than either the generation before or after them. 
 
 April 26, 1709, the town passed a resolution, "that they will have a 
 school-master, according to law." This emphatic determination seems to 
 imply an antecedent neglect. Eichard Bushnell was again employed for 
 a short period. 
 
 Jan. 26, 1712. In town meeting, Lieut. Joseph Backus, moderator : 
 
 " It was voted that a good and safficient school-master be appointed to keep school 
 the whole year and from year to year ; one half of the time in the Town Plot and the 
 other half at the farms in the several quarters." 
 
 At this period 40«. on the list of every thousand pounds was granted by 
 the country, — that is, by the General Court, for the benefit of schools, and 
 each town was by law obliged to maintain a school for a certain part of the 
 year. 
 
 After this we find nothing of importance in regard to schools untU far 
 into the century. The old course kept on with gradual improvements in 
 teaching and a wider range of subjects, but with no systematic change of 
 plan, to the era of boarding schools for misses and classical schools for 
 boys. 
 
CI-IAPTEE VII. 
 
 Town Affaihs. Grants. Peudential Eegulations. 
 
 Land at this period was given away with a lavish hand. Grants were 
 often made in this indefinite manner, — " where he can find it," — " over the 
 river," — "at any place free from engagement to another," — "at some con- 
 venient place in the common lands," — "a tract not indud^d in former 
 grants," — "what land may be suitable for him," — "as much as he needs 
 in any undivided land," &c. A man obtains a lot, "for the conveniency 
 of joining his lands together," — another five or six acres "in order to 
 straiten his line," — and frequently in lieu of a laf, of somebody else, on 
 his land. These laps, owing to imperfect surveys, were very numerous. 
 
 Several of the original home-lots measured double their nominal extent; 
 the convenient terms, more or less, used in the grant, fortifying the owner's 
 light. Often the grants were not only mdefinite in situation and extent, 
 but imperfectly recorded, and without date. In 1681, a resolution passed, 
 that if no other date could be ascertained for the grant of any inhabitant, 
 it was to take date from that period, and the title remain good and firm. 
 Committees were frequently appointed to ascertain dates and add them to 
 the old book of records. In 1683, one hundred acres of land — "where 
 he can find it" — is granted to Capt. Fitch, "for being helpful to the town 
 Recorder, in making'a new record of lands." This gentleman commenced 
 a register of the proprietary lands, in a volume distinct from the town 
 books. It is endorsed thus, "Norwich Book of Records of the River 
 Lands. Capt. James Fitch writt this booke." This register was after- 
 wards partially copied and continued by Richard Bushnell and others. 
 Clerks of the Proprietors, until the year 1740, when the final division of 
 the common lands was made, the accounts of the proprietors closed, and 
 their interests merged in those of the town. 
 
 Grants were uniformly made by a town vote. Examples : 
 
 1669. " Granted to one of Goodman Trade's sonnes 100 akers of land in y° division 
 of y' out lands. 
 
 " Granted to Sergent Waterman liberty to lay down twenty acres of upland over 
 Showtucket river, and take it up again on the same side of the river, against Potapaug 
 hills, adjoining to some other lands he is to take up, and the town leaves it to the meas- 
 urers to judge respecting any meadow that may fall within the compass of it, whether 
 it may be reasonable to allow it to him or not." 
 
96 HISTORTOFNOBWICH. 
 
 " Granted to Mr. Brewster and John Glover two bits of land on the east side of 
 Showtucket river, near their own land, they two with the help of Goodman Elderkin 
 to agree peaceably about the division of it between them, and in case they cant well 
 agree about the division then it falls to the town again." 
 
 " Granted to Ch' Huntington, Sen^ an addition to his land at Beaver Brook to the 
 quantity of seven or eight acres to bring his lot to the place where the great brook turns 
 vrith an elbow." 
 
 In 1682 we find the following entry : 
 
 " It is voted y' there shall be a book procured at town chai-ge for the recording of 
 lands, and allso a boat cumpas and y' there shall be allowed to any of the inhabitants 
 of this towne to make a new surrey of their land provided they take then: neibors with 
 y" whose land lyeth adjoining to them." 
 
 To the confusion produced by contradictory deeds, grants without 
 date, and careless surveys, was added that of undefined town limits. This 
 led to vexatious and long-continued disputes with the Indians, and after- 
 wards with the neighboring towns. The Selectmen were obliged to per- 
 ambulate the bounds, in company with a committee from the adjoining 
 towns, every year, and to see that the boundaries and meres were kept up. 
 The preservation of boundaries, both public and private, was extremely 
 difficult, where the only marks were a white oak tree, or a black oak with 
 a crotch, — a tree with a heap of stones around it, — a twin tree, — a very 
 large tree, — a great rock, — a stone set up, — a clump of chestnuts, — a wal- 
 nut with a limb lopped off, — a birch with some gashes in it, &c If a man 
 set up a stone in the comer of his grant, with his initials marked on it, 
 he was much more precise than his neighbors. A strip of land, about 
 three miles in breadth, lying between the northern boundary of Xew Lon- 
 don and the southern of Norwich, gave rise to much litigation and contro- 
 versy, not only among individuals, but between the two towns, and the 
 whites and Indians. Three parties claimed it, and each was officious in 
 selling and conveying it to individuals, so that a collision of claims and 
 interests w.is inevitable. It was long before this affair was satistactorily 
 settled. Many committees were appointed; and the town hoped to arrange 
 the difficulty by referring it, as far as they were concerned, " to the wor- 
 shipful Samuel Mason and the Rev. jNIr. Fitch." This tract is now 
 included in Montville. 
 
 Doc. 31, 1669. " Ordered by the town concerning the outlands that there shall be 
 only one allotment for the said lands and every man shall take his allotment in the 
 place whcro God by his Providence shall cast it, Mr. Fitch only excepted." 
 
 The meaning probably is, that Mr. Fitch had the hberty of choice, but 
 others must abide by the lot. 
 
 Every enterprise that tended to advance the public convenience was 
 patronized by a grant of land. The advancing settlements began to 
 
HISTOHY OP NORWICH. 97 
 
 require a regular ferry over Shetucket river, about tlie year 1670. Sam- 
 uel Starr proposed to keep this ferry, and for his encouragement land was 
 given him upon the east side of the river, where he began to build and 
 make fences ; but soon rehnquished his purpose and forfeited the grant. 
 In November of that year, the town reclaimed the grant and authorized 
 reprisals ; to wit : 
 
 Not. 6, 1670. " The towne have given liberty promising defence to any that shall 
 demolish whatsoever building or fencing is done upon said lands by Samuel Starr." 
 
 In 1671, Hugh Amos was engaged to keep the ferry, and the land 
 made over to him. 
 
 Nov. 18, 1679. The ferry place over the Showtucket shall be at the upper end of 
 the Island against the land of Levt. LefEngwell. — The adjoining lands granted to 
 Hugh Amos for keeping the fen-y are to extend as far as his neighbor Rockwell's land. 
 — ^None to set up a ferry between this place and the mouth of the river." 
 
 A blacksmith was encouraged to enter upon business by a similar 
 reward : 
 
 March 11, 1699. Granted to Joseph Backus so much land upon the hill by Thomas 
 Post's house, as may be needful for him to set a shop and coal-house upon, provided he 
 improves it for the above use. 
 
 This grant was confirmed the next year. The place was between the 
 roads, just below Bean Bill, and remained in the Backus family for three 
 generations. 
 
 July 7, 1704. The town being sensible of their need of another blacksmith desire 
 that the son of Capt. Edmonds of Providence, may be invited to settle in the town, 
 engaging that coals and a place to work in, shall be provided by the town. 
 
 This application was not successful. Jonathan Pierce was subsequently 
 engaged as a smith, and land given him for his encouragement both in 
 1705 and 1712. 
 
 A miller, a ferryman, and a blacksmith, were important personages for 
 the infant settlement. 
 
 A saw-mill would seem also to have been a desirable acquisition, but 
 this convenience was not early obtained. In 1680 a grant of 200 acres of 
 land was tendered to Capt. Fitch for his encouragement in setting up a 
 saw-mill. This was reiterated in 1689, with the condition that if the mill 
 was not forthcoming within two years, the privilege should be forfeited. 
 In 1691 no mill had been built, and the town proposed to erect one on its 
 own account. This was not done, and it does not appear that any savv^ 
 mill was set in operation, within the town limits, until about 1700. 
 
 The first planters might have had some of their work done at Mr. Win- 
 throp's saw-mill on the river above New London, from whence the trans- 
 portation by water was easy. But in general, the timber and plank that 
 7 
 
98 HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 
 
 composed the first habitations were hewed and shaped entirely by hand. 
 Many of the houses were covered with short clapboards, overlapped like 
 shingles, and these were split and cut without the aid of the saw-mill. 
 The beams and rafters of old buildings stiU extant, are scarred with 
 hatchet clefts. The axe was a mighty instrument, when wielded by these 
 hardy pioneers. With a brave heart and a strong arm they marched into 
 the wilderness, and it took but a short time to transform a clump of trees 
 into a comfortable dwelling. 
 
 In 1690, a committee was appointed to fix upon a suitable position for 
 a fulling-mill. 
 
 In 1704, Eleazer Bumham applied for "liberty to set up a fulling-mill 
 upon the stream that runs into Shetucket river by the Chemical Spring." 
 Thirty acres of land were granted to encourage the undertaking, and more 
 promised if the enterprise should prove successful. 
 
 The project, however, failed. Competent workmen in this trade were 
 then scarce in the country. Before the year 1710 there was but one 
 clothier in the whole colony of Connecticut. 
 
 The regulation of swine was a subject brought up at almost every pub- 
 lic meeting for a number of years. Innumerable were the perplexities, 
 the votes and the reconsiderations respecting them. Sometimes they were 
 ordered to be rung and yoked, — at others not : sometimes strictly confined, 
 and then again suffered to go at large. There is no municipal act of those 
 early days introduced with such prosy solemnity as the report of a com- 
 mittee on this subject, accepted and confirmed by the town : 
 
 "When Providence shall so order, (says the act,) that there are plenty of acorns, 
 walnuts or the like in the woods then it may be considered and determined what liberty 
 to grant in this respect that the swine may hare the benefit and profit of it." 
 
 " In the time of acorns we judge it may be profitable to suffer swine two months or 
 thereabouts to go in the woods without rings." 
 
 The stringency of these laws in regard to the confinement of swine, 
 they justified by the necessity of the case : " Our corn-fields being remote 
 from the settlement and our mowing lands not in one parcel, but scattered 
 here and there through the town." 
 
 Yokes for swine were to be two feet in length, and six inches above the 
 neck. 
 
 The recording of cattle-marks was a work of no small labor, and one 
 which the increasing herds made every year more and more arduous. 
 The pasture lands being mostly held in common, and private fences often 
 rude and insecure, and therefore strays frequent, it was absolutely neces- 
 sary that each man's cattle should bear a peculiar mark, and that this 
 mark should be made matter of public record. These marks were made 
 on the ear, and wen; of this kind — a cross, a half-cross, a hollow cross, a 
 slit perpendiculai', horizontal or diagonal, one, two, or three notches, a 
 
HISTORYOPNOEWICH. 99 
 
 penny, two pennies, or a half-penny, a crop or a lialf-crop, a swallow-tail, 
 a three-cornered hole, &c. 
 
 All public affairs were transacted town-wise ; and of course some mis- 
 takes were made in their legislation, which experience or mature delibera- 
 tion corrected. Occasionally, under a town vote which had been recorded, 
 an endorsement to this purport is found : " Ondon next meeting." 
 
 All the effective males turned out at certain seasons of the year, to labor 
 on the highways, or to build and repair bridges. Two horse-bridges were 
 very early erected over the Yantic, at each end of the town-plot ; and 
 before many years, six bridges over the same river were maintained by 
 the town. 
 
 The I'oads leading into the country, and from town to town, were at first 
 merely foot or bridle paths. It was a great advance when they were 
 widened or cleared into cart-paths. The path to New London was exceed- 
 ingly rough and circuitous, with several pitches meriting the name of 
 hreak-necJcs. The path to Connecticut, often referred to in old records, 
 was the road leading westward through Colchester, toward Hartford and 
 Wethersfield. 
 
 The town street was originally laid out four rods wide in the nai-rowest 
 part. Most of the branches or side-roads, leading into the woods, were 
 kept as pent-ways, closed with gates or bars. Mill-lane was the regular 
 avenue to the old Landing Place. There was no direct path to that rock- 
 incumbered, forest-crowned Point between the rivers, where now an im- 
 posing city sits upon the hill, with her shining garments trailing far around 
 her. The road thither from 3Iill-lane and No-man's Acre was very cir- 
 cuitous, following the turns of the river and the declivities of the hills. 
 The whole point was considered scarcely worth a pine-tree shilling. For 
 the first fifty yfears, almost the sole use made of that quarter of the town 
 was for a sheep-walk, and for that purpose it was kept within fence and 
 gate. 
 
 1670. "It is ordered if any person shall pass with horse or cattle over the general 
 fence and so come through the Little Plain, to or from the town, he shall pay a fine of 
 5 shillings." 
 
 A gate was maintained at the town charge below the house of John 
 Reynolds, another at Thomas Bliss's, or Lefflngwell's corner, a third at 
 the end of the Green by Mr. Fitch's, a fourth at Quarter-bridge lane^ 
 near the houses of John Calkins and Samuel Griswold, and a fifth at 
 Stephen Merrick's on Bean Hill. 
 
 The fences were a continual source of vexation. ' One of the dutieS' 
 enioined upon the townsmen was, "that they take effectual care to secure 
 the fields in which is our livelihood." The winter was the season for 
 making fences and cutting bushes. It was repeatedly ordered that alli 
 
100 HISTORY OF NORWICH, 
 
 front fences should be done up by the first of March, and the general 
 fences by the first of April. The front fences were to be "a five rayle or 
 equivalent to it, and the general fences a three rayle or equivalent to it." 
 Afterwards a lawful fence upon plain ground was thus defined — "A good 
 three rail fence, four feet high ; or a good hedge, or pole fence, vpell staked, 
 four and a half feet high." Two pounds were erected in 1669, one at 
 each end of the town, which appear to have had plenty of occupants ; for 
 cattle, swine, sheep and goats often roamed at large, and tresjtasses were 
 frequent. 
 
 March 2, 1685-6. "Voted that ihe town will cut bushcB two clays this ensueing 
 year; one day on 'ye hill, the other in ye town, and that the townsmen procure hay- 
 seed at the town charge." 
 
 In 1687, the order for bush-cutting was repeated in urgent terms, as 
 absolutely necessary for the successful raising of sheep and swine, and 
 the townsmen were empowered to call out for the customary two dayS' 
 service, all the inhabitants between fourteen and seventy years of age, 
 farmers only excepted. 
 
 The inhabitants being principally employed in agricultural pursuits, 
 their trading must have been chiefly in the way of barter. Clothing and 
 provisions formed the circulating currency. Loaded boats, however, fre- 
 quently passed up and down the river, and the beginning of commerce 
 was soon beheld at the old Landing Place. 
 
 No shopkeeper or merchant appears among the early inhabitants. Li- 
 cidenfal allusions are found to temporary traders, but for a considerable 
 period most of the commodities required for comfortable house-keeping, 
 not produced among themselves, were probably procured at New London. 
 Alexanger Pygan, an early merchant of that place, but originally from 
 Saybrook and doubtless well acquainted with Norwich people, had many 
 customers among them, receiving in return for his merchandize, the rich 
 produce of the field, the stall, and the dairy. A note-book of Mr. Pygan 
 ihas been preserved, which contains the names of tliirty-two persons in 
 "Norwich and Windani," with w'hom he had accounts before 1700. 
 
 Inn-keepers were considered as town officers. The appointment was one 
 'of honor and respectability, and to obtain a license to keep a House of 
 Enterlainmcnt, a man must be of good report and possessed of a comfort- 
 able c'slate. The first of whom we have any notice was Thomas Water- 
 man. 
 
 "Dcp. 11, 1079. Agreed and voted by y' town y« Sergent Thomas Waterman is 
 desired to kocpc the ordynai-y. And for his encouragement he is granted four ackers 
 of iKister land where he can convenyently find it ny about the valley going from his 
 house into the woods." 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 101 
 
 To him succeeded, about 1690, Dea. Simon Huntington. Under date 
 of Dec. 18, 1694, is the following appointment: 
 
 " The towue makes choise of calib abell to keep ordiaari or a house of entertayne- 
 luent for this yeare or till another be choosen." 
 
 In 1700, liberty was given to Thomas Leffingwell to keep a House of 
 Entertainment. This is supposed to have been the commencement of the 
 famous Leffingwell tavern, at the east corner of the Town-plot, which was 
 continued for more than a hundred years. 
 
 In 1706, Simon Huntington, Jr., was licensed ; in 1709, Joseph Eey- 
 nolds. 
 
 Dec. 1, 1713. "Sargent William Hide is chosen Taverner." 
 
 These were in the town-plot. 
 
 The frequency of taverns in the early days of the country, wjaen the 
 population was slender and travelers were few, excites some surprise. 
 But our English ancestors had a prescriptive love for a common gather- 
 ing-place, — not a bar-room, nor a caravansery, nor even a club, but a fire- 
 side, a porch, or a bench under the trees, where current events and private 
 opinions might be circulated, and a kind of "portico parliament" held, 
 with an accompaniment of a mug of flip or a drawing of cider. They 
 have sent down to us a maxim which their own practice contradicted : 
 
 " Taverns are not for town-dwellers." 
 
 The following order shows that an erroneous principle prevailed among 
 the authorities of the town, viz., that church-membership conveyed civil 
 rights and privileges. A regulation so remarkably prescriptive and sect- 
 arian in its bearing, could not have been long enforced in a mixed and 
 rapidly increasing community. It has more of the Blue-law tincture than 
 any other item upon the records of the town. 
 
 Dec. 11, 1679. Agreed and voted at a town meetino;, — 
 
 " That the power and privilege of voting in town meetings in ordering any town 
 affairs shall only belong to those who are the purchasers of the said plantation and con- 
 sequently to their lawful heirs and not to any others who have been or shall be admit- 
 ted to be inhabitants upon other considerations. Only it is granted to those who are 
 or shall be church members, in full communion, equal privileges with us in the above 
 mentioned town concerns." 
 
 WEAKS. 
 
 March 7, 1686. " Shetucket river from the mouth to the crotch of Qninnebaug is 
 granted to Serg' Rich'* Bushnell and three others with liberty to increase the number 
 to twelve or twenty for the purpose of making wears and taking fish for the term of seven 
 years, they attending to those things that are customary in other places in New Eng- 
 land in respect to opening the weares." 
 
102 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Great care was taken to admit no inhabitants that were not industrious 
 and of good moral character. Transient persons, and those who had no 
 particular way of getting a livelihood, were quickly \\'arned out of town. 
 
 A few instances will be given to show the solicitude of the townsmen 
 to keep the community free from vagrants and contemners of law and 
 order. 
 
 " At a towne meeting January 24, 1678, the Towne having seryously considered the 
 desires of Frederick Ellis lethcr-dresser respecting his admission into the towne to set 
 up and make improvement of his trade, — we hearing some things y'doe apeare much 
 discouraging and allso his comeing to us not being so orderly haveing no testymony 
 from the place from whence he came of his comely behaviour among them but reports 
 passing rather to the contrary, yet notwithstanding he being providentially amongst ns 
 we are willing to take a tryall of him for one yeare provided y' if he carryeth not 
 comely and comfortably amongst us y' he shall now at his entrance give security under 
 his hand y' upon a warning given him by the Select Men of the town he shall without 
 delayes remove his dwelling from us." 
 
 With the passage of this vote, space for a tannery was granted to EUis 
 upon Hammer brook, and seven acres of land promised conditionally, but 
 after a short trial a colUsion occurred between him and the town authori- 
 ties, which ended in his expulsion from the place, and a fruitless resort on 
 his part to the courts for redress. 
 
 " 1692. — Whereas Richard Elsiiifrham and Ephraim Philips have petitioned this 
 town that they may live here one year, the town do agree that they mav dwell here the 
 year ensuing, provided that they then provide for themselves elsewhere." 
 
 No exchange or alienation of house-lots and no sale of lands could be 
 made without the consent of the town. If a man sold house or land with- 
 out first tendering it to the town and obtaining permission, the compact 
 was declared null and void. An early exchange of allotments, made by 
 Wade and Abell, is recorded with a c<.iemonious preamble : 
 
 "Forasmuch as in Anno Dom 1677, January 1, Caleb Abel and Robert Wade by 
 mutual agreement and consent of their wives did then see cause to make an exchange 
 of their home-lots, making over the property each to other hv deed," &c. 
 
 [Confirmed by the town, and signed bv Robert Wade and his wife Susannah, Caleb 
 Abel and his wife Margaret.] 
 
 In 1704, Thomas Rood sold his house and land without the- consent of 
 the town, and the sale was declared null and void. 
 
 The Annual Town Meeting was held at first in February, but afterward 
 m December. AVarniugs for' town meetings were set up" six days before 
 the time, at the smith's shop, (between the roads,) at the corner of tte 
 Green, at Ensign Leffingwell's, and other conspicuous places. The meet- 
 ings were opened at 9 o'clock A. M., and must be dismissed half an hour 
 before sunset, at the latest. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 103 
 
 Sheep- Walks and a Shepherd. Several sheep-walks were laid out in 
 diflferent parts of the town, to accommodate the several districts. One 
 of these was at Wequonuck Plains, and another, agreed upon in 1673, 
 lay "between the Great River and the Great Plain," reaching south to 
 Trading Cove. 
 
 Two others were reserved expressly for the benefit of sheep-owners 
 living in the town-plot, and not for farmers, and were called the East and 
 West sheep-walks. These remained long intact. The eastern reserva- 
 tion, of 900 acres, covered the Point between the rivers, now the central 
 part of Norwich City. No special appointment of a shepherd to preside 
 over this walk has been found. The west sheep-walk, of 700 acres, ex- 
 tended over West Wawecos Hill, and Richard Pasmoth was appointed the 
 shepherd, Feb. 12, 1682. He was to have a salary of 40s. per annum, 
 and twelve acres of land on the hill for a house-lot, and the sheep-owners 
 were to take their turns with him in guarding and folding the tlock on the 
 Lord's days. 
 
 Sheep-raising, however, was never carried to its expected extent in 
 Norwich, and in 1726 the two reservations were relinquished and divided 
 as commons among the inhabita,nts, according to the following general 
 principles : 
 
 No one to have less than a fifty-pound share. 
 
 First-comers who had fallen in estate, to be rated as at first. 
 
 All other shares to be laid out according to estates in the list. 
 
CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 Indian Histobt. Attempts of Mr. Fitch to Cheistianize the Indians. 
 
 Philip's Wab. 
 
 The Mohegans were eager to exchange their services for the food, 
 clothing and other comforts which they received from the English. Many 
 of them erected wigwams in the vicinity of the settlers, and some even in 
 their home-lots. The plantation soon swarmed with them, and the whites 
 found them rather troublesome neighbors. Their habits of indblence, 
 lying and pilfering were inveterate. At first, a strong hope of converting 
 them to Christianity was very generally entertained, but the major part of 
 the planters soon relinquished the task in despair. It was now found a 
 work of no small difficulty to shake them off, or to keep them in due sub- 
 jection and order. Laws were repeatedly made for their removal from 
 the town, but still they remained. Restrictions of various kinds were 
 thrown around them ; a fine of 1 Os. was imposed on every one who should 
 be found drunk in the place ; the person who should furnish an Indian 
 with ammunition of any kind, was amerced 20s., but they were neither 
 driven away, nor their morals improved. 
 
 The Indian of that day, — the one with whom the early settlers had to 
 deal, — was a heathen of the most untameable species. He would readily 
 fall into vicious habits, but if he made any advance in civilization, it was 
 accompanied with a tendency to relapse, which rendered it necessary to 
 be cautious in trusting him, even when he seemed the safest. Vagrancy 
 was his nature and his habit, and he was moreover deceitful and thievish 
 beyond remedy. 
 
 With such a people swai-ming around them, the path of the settlers, 
 however beautifully embellished with roses in other respects, was beset 
 with troublesome thorns. There is no race of men whom it has been 
 found so difficult to civilize and Christianize, and at the same time to pre- 
 serve and rciuk'r lu-ospc'rous, as the Aborigines of America. A change 
 of their wild habits leads by degrees, more or less rapid, to extinction. 
 
 The conversion of these Indians was a cherished object with the Rev. 
 Mr. Fileh. He continually sought opportunities for sowing the seed, and 
 his earnest faith and large-hearted charity made him hopeful of the har- 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 105 
 
 vest. He cultivated an intercourse with the tribe, and made use of every 
 opportunity for acquiring their language. 
 
 Most of the early settlers of Norwich gleaned enough of the Indian 
 tongue to be able to chaffer and chat with their vagrant visitors, and learn 
 the general news of the tribe. The Indians on their part were equally 
 venturesome and successful in their inroads upon the English speech. 
 But Mr. Fitch, having a great purpose in view, pursued the study of the 
 native tongue with system and a fair measure of success. After a few 
 years he was able not only to instruct in private, or with an interpreter, 
 but could speak in a way to be understood and appreciated in assemblies 
 of the tribe. 
 
 With the sachems and chiefs, Christianity was never popular ; not all 
 their reverence for Mr. Fitch and the benefits he heaped upon them, could 
 induce them to accept his doctrine and worship the Being whom he adored. 
 Uncas and Owaneco, it is true, fluctuated somewhat in their bearing toward 
 the subject, but at heart were never its favorers, and Wawequaw, the 
 brother of Uncas, a chief of power and influence, if we may believe tra- 
 dition, was invariably hostile. 
 
 But among the poorer, gentler, and more scattered famihes, particularly 
 among the tributaries and those adopted from other tribes, who were often 
 oppressed by Uncas, Mr. Fitch found wilhng ears and accessible hearts. 
 Here the gospel seemed to come as into a prepared place, bringing with it 
 peace and comfort. Mr. Fitch rejoiced over these poor people as over 
 lost children that had been found, and collected them into a small commu- 
 nity, setting over them instructors and guardians from among themselves, 
 whom he himself taught and trained for their office. 
 
 The war with Philip commenced in June, 1675, and raged about fifteen 
 months. Mr. Fitch was an active agent and valued counselor of the gov- 
 ernment. Norwich and Stonington were frontier towns, and consequently 
 kept during the whole course of the war in a state of excitement and 
 apprehension. Alarming rumors swept over them with every wind. Sol- 
 diers from all quarters, horse and foot, came among them for rendezvous ; 
 bands of friendly Indians, apparreled for war, made these their starting- 
 points ; and often other parties, connected with the hostile tribes, forlorn, 
 abject, famished, came from their haunts to take whatever doom — kind- 
 ness, captivity, or death — might be awarded to them. 
 
 Of these incidents, interesting and exciting as they are, the town records 
 furnish no information. Indian regulations and warlike proceedings were 
 affairs of the general government, and not of selectmen and constables. 
 We must therefore look elsewhere for mementoes of the war.* 
 
 * The author has very carefully prepared the following review of Philip's war. The 
 principal facts may be verified from the second volume of Conn. Col. Records, but 
 various bints, dates and minor circumstances have been gathered from county court 
 papers, and other local MSS., public or private. 
 
106 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 A rapid sketcli of the shifting scenes presented to the inhabitants of 
 Norwich during this period of alarm, is all that can be here attempted. 
 The picture would serve, with a change of names and some variation of 
 detail, for almost every town then lying upon the barbarian frontier. 
 
 In July, 1675, those vague alarms that had occasionally swept out of 
 the wilderness, became embodied in startling reports of hostile Indians 
 prowling in the vicinity. An invasion was apprehended, a night watch 
 was established ; several houses at intervals along the street were fortified, 
 and householders lay down to sleep with loaded muskets by their side. 
 
 Brewster, Mason, and Tracy, the train-band officers of the town, were 
 summoned to attend upon Capt. Wait Winthrop, with a certain number of 
 men, and assist in an expedition into the Xarragansett country, to prevent 
 that tribe, if possible, from joining the party of Philip.* Uncas came to 
 consult with Mr. Fitch, and Mr. Fitch visited the Pequots to see if all 
 was right in that quarter. The Indians consented to join the English, but 
 apparently with a doubtful mind, and inclined to take that side only ' 
 because it was the strongest-t 
 
 Of Uncas the English had at first deep distrust. He professed great 
 friendship in his consultation with Mr. Fitch, but the latter thought it 
 prudent that he should be induced to commit himself as soon as possible, 
 by some act of hostility against Philip. The sachem saw where his inter- 
 est lay, and consented to engage in immediate action. Before the end of 
 July, fifty Mohegan warriors, staunch and well caparisoned, under the 
 command of Owaneco, who had two other sons or near relatives of Uncas 
 with him, were ready to start for Boston, there to oflTer their services 
 against the Pocasset chief. They paused in Norwich to obtain letters 
 from Mr. Fitch and Lieut. Mason, and then proceeded to the Bay. At 
 Boston the two younger chiefs were retained as hostages, but Owaneco 
 and his men were dispatched to join the Massachusetts forces then in the 
 field. It was this party that on the 1st of August fell upon the rear of 
 Philip's retreating force, at Rehoboth plain, and kiOed a number of his 
 men,— among them one of his bravest captains, named Woonashum, ahas 
 Nimrod.J 
 
 Major Pynchon of Springfield, in a letter to Gov. Winthrop of Con- 
 necticut, Aug. 7, 1075, observes: 
 
 " If y- Pequot Indians and Moheags would now pursue Philip while he is faint and 
 weary it would be the best savice, and so likewise for our army : for v» Indians say he 
 hath left his country wholly ; so that it is to noe purpose to he there, neither is there 
 any need of fear about Norwich."* 
 
 * Lieut. Tracy was the Quartermaster or Commissary of the expedition. Conn. 
 Col. Rec., 2, 332. t Ibid., 2, 336. 
 
 i Increase Mather's Hist, of Philip's War, Drake's excellent edition, p. 65. 
 § Ibid., Appendix, p. 238. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 107 
 
 At this time, Joshua, another son of Uncas, took the field with a band 
 of thirty Indians, and went up by the way of Hartford, to scour the woods 
 in the route of the retreating foe. He was at Hadley, Aug. 9 th.* 
 
 In the latter part of August, a body of Nipmug Indians, comprising 
 twenty or thirty families, 126 in all, surrendered themselves to Uncas. 
 Lieut. Mason also, with a party of volunteers, whites and Indians, made a 
 hasty march into the wilderness, to secure a troop of timid, unsettled, wan- 
 dering Indians, allies of Philip, that had been arrested in their flight west- 
 ward by the friendly Wabequassets, and detained for English supervision.! 
 These were brought to Mohegan and delivered in charge to Uncas, but 
 the greater part were afterward transferred to Boston. 
 
 During the month of September, the Mohegans and Pequots were out 
 with their whole force. Every able-bodied man among them was engaged 
 in the various forays against the enemy, generally attached to some Eng- 
 lish command, but under little restraint in regard to forage and plunder. 
 
 Major Pyncheon, in a letter to the Council of Connecticut, notices 
 among the forces in the field, " Those English that have gone out of Nor- 
 wich with Lt. Browne and about 80 Pequots and some Mohegans."J 
 
 Lieut. Mason, also, had a hundred or more of the warriors of these 
 tribes under his command, and marched with them to Hartford, from 
 whence they joined the expedition into western Massachusetts under Major 
 Treat.§ »» Smaller scouting parties under Uncas himself, or some of his 
 family, were frequently making excursions towards the Nipmuck country, 
 and bringing home prisoners or booty. 
 
 In October the alarm increased. A portion of the enemy were retiring 
 from Narragansett to the interior, and were supposed to be gradually ap- 
 proaching Norwich. The wildest rumors prevailed, and great apprehen- 
 sion was excited. The power and resources of Philip and the number 
 and strength of his allies were greatly exaggerated. At length a report 
 came that Philip with 400 men was meditating a desperate attack upon 
 Norwich, and on the loth of October the Council at Hartford ordered 
 forty soldiers to march immediately to the defence of the place. The 
 rumor seems to have been without foundation, but when the next levies 
 were made, New London County, being considered in jeopardy, was 
 exempted from furnishing its quota. A company was however organized 
 from the four towns, to hold themselves in readiness for any exigency, and 
 placed under the command of Capt. John Winthrop. Norwich furnished 
 twenty men, to whom were joined a band of Mohegan auxiliaries, forming 
 a company, with Capt, Mason and Lieut. LefRngwell for their immediate 
 officers. 
 
 * Conn. Col. Rec, 2, 348, 49. t Ibid., 2, 355. 
 
 X Ibid., 2, 348. § Ibid., 2, 366. 
 
108 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 On the 2d of November, the Commissioners declared war against the 
 Narragansetts, and the whole country started into immediate action. A 
 thousand men were to be raised: the proportion of Connecticut was 315; 
 of New London County, 70; of Norwich, 18:— all to be equipped with 
 arms and ammunition and to be in the field by the 10th of December. 
 
 The rendezvous was at New London. The towns were scoured for 
 provisions ; the county was embargoed for two months, and wheat, cheese, 
 beef, pork, Indian corn, oats and rum were seized and sequestered for the 
 army wherever they could be found in quantities beyond the necessary 
 demands of their owners. Wheat to the amount of three hundred bushels 
 was hastily baked into biscuits. Ten men from every county were fur- 
 nished with hatchets, instead of swords and guns, to' clear the way through 
 the thickets. 
 
 Major Treat went forward with the army. Norwich was on the frontier, 
 and at the mercy of hostile Indians who might suddenly cross the Quine- 
 baug and make a dashing raid upon the settlement, with every prospect of 
 success, while so many of her best men were in the field. In great alarm 
 she applied to the Council of War for a guard, and twenty-six men were 
 accordingly detailed "to lye in garrison at Norwich." 
 
 And now the colonies resounded with the deep echoes of the Narragan- 
 sett fort fight, which gave such a mournful notoriety to December 19th. 
 Eighty out of Major Treat's little army were slain or fatally -vnpunded, 
 138 more disabled from duty, and he hastened back to New London with 
 his battered forces. The gallant Capt. John Mason, fearfully wounded, 
 but not yet despairing of recovery, was brought by the aid of his Indian 
 warriors with great care to his own home. Nine of his little company 
 were killed or badly wounded, one of whom was Thomas Howard, who is 
 usually classed among the first band of Norwich proprietoi"s. He was left 
 dead upon the field of battle. Capt, 3Iason also ultimately died of his 
 wounds, Sept. 18, 1676.* 
 
 This was emphatically the winter of gloom. Norwich was a garrisoned 
 town ; twenty or thirty soldiers were quartered upon the inhabitants ; a 
 block-house was built ; private houses were fortified. It was a general 
 order throughout the colony, that the inhabitants should carry arms and 
 ammunition with theiu to every public meeting ; but at this time, upon the 
 frontier, it was necessary to keep a loaded musket continually at hand, and 
 to be well armed in passing from house to house, and especially in driving 
 
 * C;ipt. Gallop of Grotou, who commanded the Mohegans and Pequots, was slain in 
 the battle. 
 
 " It hath pleased God to humble us, by translating to rest out of the bed of honour 
 in the service of Chiist, severall worthy and valiant comanders and souldiers both of 
 ours and yours." Letter from Gov. and Council of Mass. to Gov. and Council of 
 Conn, after Norragansett fort fight. Col. Eec. Conn., 2, 399. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 109 
 
 cattle or tending sheep. The woods were supposed to be haunted with 
 prowling enemies. The Indians around them, quick, fearful, and imagin- 
 ative as children, with their rumors and fancies increased the general 
 excitement. TJncas, though in the main a valuable ally to the whites, and 
 attesting his friendship by numerous expeditions and blows in their behalf, 
 yet conceiving that his own interest might be served by keeping his neigh- 
 bors in a state of alarm, did not hesitate to make use of that advantage. 
 He blew up the coals and cried loudly, fire ! fire ! that he might have the 
 credit of quenching the flames. This was the cunning streak conspicuous 
 in the character of Uncas : wily is the most expressive epithet that can be 
 attached to his name. 
 
 On the 25th of January, 1676, Major Treat left New London on a 
 second expedition into the wilderness, with a force of about 300 men.* 
 Mr. Fitch accompanied him as chaplain, — Uncas and his warriors as 
 scouts. They were absent twelve days, and killed and captured about 
 seventy, During this interval, Norwich experienced something more 
 than rumor and panic. The tomahawk swept along her eastern border, 
 and left slaughter in its track. A band of Indians, supposed to be Nar- 
 ragansetts, prowling on the east side of Shetucket, killed two men, and 
 carried off a young lad as prisoner. 
 
 The only cotemporary account of this affair is contained in a letter from 
 Major Palmes of New London to the Council of War, dated Jan. 29th: 
 
 " This morning early came post from Norwich with the sad intelligence of two men 
 and a boy being taken and killed, who went over Showtuckett Kiver to spread flax, 
 viz. Jos: Rockwell and his boy of 15 or 16 years ould and John Renolls Jun. of Nor- 
 wich. The said Jos: Rockwell and Renalls ware found dead and thrown downe y" 
 River banke, theire scalps cutt off : the boy is not yett found, supposed to be caryed 
 away alive. "f 
 
 Mr. Fitch was absent with Major Treat's expedition at the time of this 
 outrage, otherwise we might have looked for an account of it from his pen, 
 as he usually kept the authorities at Hartford well infoi-med of occurren- 
 ces in his neighborhood. No allusion to it is to be found on the records of 
 the town. The deaths of the two men are registered without notice of 
 their tragic end. The captive boy, .Josiah Eockwell, Jr., was soon after- 
 ward recovered by the aid of a friendly Indian. J 
 
 * Conn. Col. Rec, 2, 402. Trumbull in Hist, of Conn, does not mention this sec- 
 ond expedition. 
 
 t Conn. Col. Rec, 2, 403. 
 
 X A mistake seems to have been made in his age. His birth as registered in Norwich 
 was in June, 1 662. He was therefore less than 14. The inventory of Josiah Rockwell, 
 the father, was exhibited in the County Court in September, 1676. A wife and six 
 children are mentioned. The oldest child was this Josiah ; the youngest not born until 
 after the father's decease. 
 
110 HISTOET OP NORWIGH. 
 
 Early in February an expedition of sixty or eiglity impressed men, 
 from the four towns of New London County, under Capt. Denison and 
 Lieut. ]\rinor, with Mohegan and Pequot flankers, assembled at Norwich 
 and marched toward Wabequasset to disperse the lurking foe in that 
 quarter. After this the noise of clashing arms and tramping hosts passed 
 around to the north, the seat of war being transferred to the neighborhood 
 of Connecticut river. Edward Culver and his Indian scouts trailed off in 
 that direction, and in this county a short period of security intervened. 
 The towns were nevertheless kept lively by frequent raids made by vol- 
 unteer parties into Narragansett and the Nipmuck countrj-, to hunt out the 
 last remains of hostility and gather the scattered booty. 
 
 A-t this period of comparative serenity, the Fast Day, appointed by the 
 Council (March 22d), was kept by :Mr. Fitch and his congregation with 
 unexampled solemnity. This will be more particularly noticed in another 
 chapter. 
 
 Before the end of March the blast of war again veered toward Narra- 
 gansett. Major Treat was ordered to march with a hundred men to Nor- 
 wich, where recruits and provisions were to be collected for a fresh expe- 
 dition against the foe. Before, however, the Major could reach the ren- 
 dezvous, he was suddenly recalled and ordered to the defence of Simsbury, 
 which had been attacked by the enemy. The contemplated expedition 
 was therefore consigned to the charge of Major Palmes, assisted by the 
 Rev. Mr. Fitch as counselor. 
 
 The force assembled consisted of 42 volunteers, 37 pressed men, and 
 100 Indians, — three parties not well inclined to act in concert. Major 
 Palmes complains of them as a disorderly company, — "every man his own 
 carver,'' — and at the same time gives a side-thrust at Norwich for sending 
 but 15 men, "which (he says) may well be furnished out, when 20 men 
 are maintained in their place at the country's charge."* 
 
 The Major did not himself accompany the expedition. Its officers were 
 Denison, Avery, Minor, and Leffingwell, and it proved one of the most 
 successful forays of the war. Tiiey left Norwich, [March iTth, and re- 
 turned the 4th or 5th of April, having killed and captured forty-four of 
 the natives. Among the captives was the brave sachem Canonchet or 
 Nanunteno, the son of JMiantonomob, who was carried to Stonington, and 
 there shot, — the unfortunate viclim of a too stern vengeance. 
 
 In IMay a much larfjcr force wr.s raised by the colony. It was designed 
 to consist of 350 men besides Indian auxiliaries, and was to be kept in 
 service a.s a standing army during the war. The command was assigned 
 to Major Talcott. Norwich was the place of rendezvous, and the first 
 movomcnl was to be made into the northern wilderness in search of the 
 Pocomticks and Nipmucks. After long waiting for the necessary supplies, 
 
 « Conn. Col. Kcc, 2, 427. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. Ill 
 
 the Major left Norwich, June 2d, with a force of 250 Engh'sh soldiers, all 
 on horses, and 200 Indian warriors on foot, and reached Hadley on the 
 8th. Mr. Fitch accompanied the army as chaplain, and the Rev. Gershom 
 Bulkley as surgeon. On the march they killed and captured above fifty 
 forest wanderers, sparing the women and children and sending them to 
 Norwich with a guard. Hadley was attacked by the Indians, June 12th, 
 and but for the presence of this force from Connecticut, of whose arrival 
 the attacking party seems not to have been aware, would probably have 
 been destroyed. Major Talcott went as far north and west as Deerfield 
 Falls, and returned to Connecticut after an absence of eighteen days. 
 
 Major Talcott left Norwich again on the 29th or 30th of June, and led 
 his army toward Providence, and from thence south through the Indian 
 territory to Point Judith, accomplishing with vigor and rapidity the work 
 he was sent to perform. This expedition was pre-eminently successful, so 
 far as slaughtering and making captives of the wretched savages may be 
 called success : 238 were killed or taken prisoners, and among the latter 
 was a well-known female chief called the Sunkesquaw. Mr. Fitch was 
 the chaplain of this tour of service also. 
 
 Still another expedition into the Indian country was led by Major Tal- 
 cott, the point of departure being this time New London, which had been 
 the rendezvous of the army on its return from Narragansett. They left; 
 New London in the latter part of July, went first to Taunton, and from 
 thence turned west, following the enemy to the Connecticut. The Indians 
 crossed the river at the foot of the Great Falls, on rafts, August 11th. 
 Talcott reached Westfield on the 12th, but being short of provisions, he 
 sent back his horses and all his force except sixty soldiers and as many 
 Indian warriors, and with these pursued the retreating foe to the Housa- 
 tonick. He overtook them on the west side of that river, August 15th, 
 killed and captured a considerable number, and dispersed the rest. He 
 then returned to the settlements, half-famished and worn down with 
 fatigue and exposure. This was the expedition afterwards distinguished 
 as " the long and hungry march."* Its whole course was from New Lon- 
 don to Taunton, and from thence through the wilderness to nearly the 
 western limit of Massachusetts, and back to Hartford. 
 
 In the meantime Philip had been slain at Mount Hope, by a party of 
 English and friendly Indian.^, under Capt. Church of Rhode Island, and 
 there was vei'y little more fighting to be done. 
 
 Though Connecticut suffered but slightly during this war, from any 
 actual attack within her borders, she certainly bore her full part in its 
 fightings, marchings, and privations. 
 
 * Trumbull 'has erroneously given this descriptive title to the expedition of Talcott 
 in June. 
 
112 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 We have (Jesigned to rehearse the incidents of Philip's war only from 
 a Norwich point of view, and to enter upon them no farther than as they 
 affected her inhabitants and were connected with her history. But from 
 this brief statement it appears that beside the various forays upon the 
 enemy by volunteers under Captains Denison, Avery, Minor, and others, 
 seven successive expeditions marched from New London County into the 
 Indian territory in the space of little more than a year, under the direction 
 of the Governor and Council of War. 
 
 1. July, 1675, from New London, under Capt. Wait Winthrop, who 
 met the forces from Massachusetts, and a treaty of peace was concluded 
 with the Narragansetts, July 15th. 
 
 2. Dec. 10th, from New London, under Major Treat: 300 soldiers and 
 150 Indian warriors. These took part in the Swamp fort fight. 
 
 3. Jan. 26th, 1676, from New London, under Major Treat. The army 
 went through Westerly, Charlestown, Kingston, and Wickford ; united with 
 the Massachusetts forces and pursued the enemy into the Nipmuck coun- 
 try ; returned, Feb. 5th, to Norwich. 
 
 4. March 27th, from Norwich, prepared by Major Palmes, sent into 
 Narragansett under Capt. Denison ; returned to Stonington, July 4th or 
 5th. 
 
 5. June 2d, from Norwich, under Major Talcott ; went to Hadley and 
 Deerfleld; 250 English and 200 Indians. 
 
 6. June 29th or 30th, the same army from Norwich, under Major Tal- 
 cott ; scoured the Narragansett country, and returned to New London, 
 July 8th, and recruited. 
 
 7. July 20th, from New London, under Talcott ; went first to Taunton, 
 and from thence west to Housatonick river. 
 
 Since the settlement of our country, New England has known no war 
 so terrific in its features as this ; none that filled the country with such 
 alarm and apprehension ; none attended with such burdensome toU both 
 in marching into the wilderness and in keeping guard at home. The reg- 
 ulations of the Council of War were exceedingly stringent. Great labor 
 was expended upon fortifications ; a watch was kept night and day in 
 every town through the colony, and in March, 1670, measures of extraor- 
 dinary vigilance being considered necessary, all the effective inhabitants 
 of every plantation were obliged to take their turn as ■watches or scouts.* 
 
 Soldiers engaged merely in defence of their own town or county, re- 
 ceived no pa)-. The whites and Indians engaged in volunteer expeditions 
 against the enemy, were compensated by the plunder they amassed. The 
 forces raised by the colony were under pay at the following rates : 
 
 * Conn. Col. Kec, 2, 417. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 113 
 
 J.Iajor, 30s. per week; Captain, 20s.; Lieutenant, 16s.; Ensign, 14s.; 
 Sergeant, 12s.; a private soldier, 8s. 
 
 For a horse, 3s. per week was allowed. 
 
 For quarterage of a soldier, 6s. per week. 
 
 Pasturage for a horse, '4c?. per day.* 
 
 Though Norwich during the whole of Philip's war was kept in continual 
 alarm, and the town was often changed from a quiet village to a tumultuous 
 camp, yet the only actual outrage upon the inhabitants was the slaughter 
 of Reynolds and Rockwell. This is a remarkable fact, considering the 
 recent origin of the town and its situation upon the frontier during a bar- 
 barian -war. The whole colony was indeed singularly favored with exemp- 
 tion from the stain of blood. The two men above named, with three that 
 were slain in the neighborhood of Hartford,! were the only English per- 
 sons killed while the war lasted, within the bounds of Connecticut. 
 
 Surrenderers. During the war a considerable number of the Indians 
 voluntarily gave themselves up to the Enghsh, or to the Mohegan sachem. 
 Small tribes and companies, that had been necessarily forced into some 
 degree of intercourse with the hostile bands, but had not taken arms, or 
 committed any act of violence against the whites, found themselves in 
 continual danger of being treated as enemies, and therefore sought pro- 
 tection and safety under the shadow of the English settlements. Several 
 of these companies came of themselves to Norwich, or were brought in by 
 the soldiers ; others were collected by the Mohegan scouts. In August, 
 1676, no less than sixty-five men, with their retinue of old men, women, 
 and children, at one time gave in their adhesion to Uncas. 
 
 Mr. Fitch manifested a deep interest in the fate of these homeless, 
 broken-spirited strangers. He earnestly requested that they might be 
 settled in a community by themselves, apart from the control of Uncas 
 and the debasing influence of heathenism. The Council of War gave a 
 temporary and conditional sanction to his benevolent designs. They say : 
 
 " Norwich gentlemen are desired to consider of a place for such as are not othenvlse 
 disposed of to plant on, as near as may be for Mr. Fitch to have often recourse to them 
 till the General Court, or some other Court or Council, doe order or appoynl them else- 
 where."} 
 
 It proved to be a difficult business to manage. Vagrants skulking in 
 the woods, half-famished wanderers, fearfully imploring aid, the forlorn 
 
 * Conn. Col. Rec, 2, 386. 
 
 t These three were John Kirby of Middletown, killed between Middletown and 
 Wethersfield ; Edward Elmore of East Windsor, killed at Podunk; and Henry Dens- 
 low of Windsor. 
 
 } Conn. Col. Rec., 2, 475. 
 8 
 
114 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 remnants of former considerable tribes, meekly submitting to the hunters : 
 when all these were gleaned out of the wilderness, not only the Mohegans, 
 but the Pequots of Groton and the friendly tribes at or near Stonington, 
 were embarrassed with the multitude of fugitives. The Council of War 
 therefore appointed three Commissioners, Samuel "Wyllis, James Rich- 
 ards, and John Allyn, to hold a general Indian convention at Norwich on 
 the second Wednesday of December, and there, in concert with Mr. Fitch, 
 as one of them, "to receive, dispose and settle all surrenderers according 
 to order."* 
 
 Of this meeting no special record has been preserved, though several 
 allusions show that it took place. It must have displayed the greatest 
 assemblage of Indians that -were ever gathered at one time in Norwich, 
 famous as the place has been for similar meetings. The neighboring 
 tribes were summoned to appear and ^ve account of all captives and sur- 
 renderers, with the time of their coming in. Then the Committee were 
 to call for their personal appearance, and " to list them by their names, 
 their relations and progenies respectively." 
 
 All young and single persons were to be settled in English families as 
 apprentices for ten years. Those taken in war were to be sold as perma- 
 nent bondsmen, and distributed to each county proportionably ; while 
 others were to be disposed of temporarily in some fit place under English 
 teachers and Indian constables, and ever}' full-aged man was to pay to the 
 colony a yearly tribute of 5s. per head as an acknowledgment of subjec- 
 tion. 
 
 These were rigorous terms. How far they were put into execution is 
 not known, nor has the number of registered persons been ascertained. 
 Some were doubtless concealed or favored by the friendly Indians. Uncas 
 was accused of double-dealing with his captives and dependents, — keeping 
 some at hard service, accusing others falsely to the English, and instigating 
 many to run away. A certain number of innocent fiimilies were registered . 
 by Mr. Fitch and placed under his superintendence. With respect to these 
 the following action of the town is recorded : 
 
 Feb. 1, 1676-7. A motion was madeJjv the Rev. Mr. Fitch with reference to a place 
 of residence for those Indians who arc listed suirendeiers, where they might be enter- 
 tained and accommodated with lands for their improvement in order to their comfort- 
 able living till such time as some otlier way may be made open for them. 
 
 The Town consented tliat they should settle on the hill called Wawequos, where 
 tlicy should liavo liberty, they behaving themselves orderly, to make the best improve- 
 ment of the place for their own advantage for i years without any rent being de- 
 manded. 
 
 It is probable that the higliland ridge, called Waweekus, in the western 
 
 * Conn. Col. Rec, 2, 481. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 115 
 
 part of the town, near the present line of Bozrah, was the place designed 
 Sov this Indian settlement. From some cause not explained, the project 
 failed of accomplishment. A few families may have been gathered upon 
 the hill, but if so they were soon dispersed. The kind-hearted Mr. Fitch 
 labored hard for his poor Indians, yet with unsatisfying results. Out of 
 the hundreds that surrendered during the war, only one village consisting 
 of about thirty families was actually established, and this was on a reserv- 
 ation, laid out by the town for this express purpose, between the rivers 
 Shetucket and Quinebaug, where Owaneco and his people had formerly 
 sojourned. 
 
 This settlement was effected during the winter and spring of 1678. 
 The Indians, known afterwards as the Showtuckets, were provided with 
 corn and other necessaries to begin life anew, and a fort was built for 
 their protection. Mr. Fitch, in his report of the business to the General 
 Court, observes: 
 
 " I am sufficiently informed there are a considerable number more abiding with 
 Uncus, who are doubtless willing to come and settle with the others, but are meerly 
 hindered by Uncus."* 
 
 It was hoped that this remnant of a subdued race would take root and 
 prosper and grow into a permanent community. They had comfortable 
 wigwams, and were furnished with some of the tools and conveniences of 
 civilized life. But the settlement seems to have languished for a few 
 years, and finally tapered into extinction. The enmity and intrigues of 
 Uncas were alone sufficient to deaden its prosperity. At its outset, one 
 of the men was waylaid and murdered, and though Uncas endeavored to 
 fasten the deed upon the Mohawks, Mr. Fitch believed that it was done 
 with his connivance and by some of his agents. 
 
 In the meantime Norwich was harrassed with Indian fugitives. It is 
 probable that the well-known benevolence of Mr. Fitch allured many of 
 these troublesome dependents to the town, but their thriftless habits and 
 pilfering propensities could not be long endured. At length a vigorous 
 effort was made to clear them all away, except those that were engaged as 
 family servants. 
 
 Nov. 12, 1678. In town meeting an order was passed, requiring the 
 Selectmen to remove forthwith all Indians from the town plot. Twelve 
 days warning was to be given, and if, after that, any inhabitant should 
 allow them to remain on his home-lot or pasture near the town, he was to 
 pay a fine of twenty shillings. Similar orders were reiterated from time 
 to time, yet a few families of resident Indians continued in the town until 
 they slowly melted away. Several wigwams remained far into the next 
 century. One of the last that decayed was on the hill not far from the 
 
 * Conn. Col. Rec, 2, 591. 
 
116 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 spot where the Marsh house stands, the place being still known to aged 
 people as the wigwam pasture. It was a part of Leffingwell's grant. 
 
 MK. fitch's prater for rain. 
 
 The summer of 1676 was remarkable for a long-continued drought. It 
 was particularly severe in the southern part of Connecticut ; the fields of 
 Indian corn were parched, and the IMohegans were apprehensive that thoy 
 should lose their whole crop. They had recourse to powwows, incanta- 
 tions, and various heathenish rite-i, but could get no rain. At length they 
 applied to Mr. Fitch, entreating him to intercede with the Lord of the 
 harvest to refresh their drooping fields with the customary showers. 
 
 Of this drought and the successful prayer for rain, an account is given 
 under Mr. Fitch's own hand, which he calls "a true narrative of that 
 providence." 
 
 " In August last such was the want of rain, that the Indian com was not only dried 
 and parched up, but the apple trees withered, the fmit and leaves fell off as in autumn, 
 and some trees seeming to be dead with that drouth ; the Indians came Into town and 
 lamented their want of rain, and that their powows could get none in their way of 
 worship, desiring me that I would seek to God for rain : I appointed a fast-day for the 
 purpose ; the day being come it proved clear without any clouds until sunsetting when 
 we came from the meeting, and then some clouds arose ; the next day remained cloudy • 
 then Uncas with many Indians came to my house. Tineas lamented there was such a 
 want of rain : I asked Whether if God should send us rain he would not attribute it to 
 their powows ; he answered no, for they had done their utmost and all in vain : I re- 
 plied, if you will declare it before all these Indians you shall see -whsA God will do for 
 us, for although this year he hath shewn his anger against the English and not only 
 against the Indians, yet he hath begun to save ns, and I have found by experience 
 twice in the like case, when we sought by fasting and prayer he hath given us rain, and 
 never denied us. Then Uncas made a great speech to the Indians (which were many^ 
 confessing that if God should then send rain, it could not be ascribed to their powaw- 
 ing, but must be acknowledged to be an answer of our prayers. This day they [the 
 clouds] spread more and more, and the next day there was such plenty of rain that our 
 river rose more than two feet in height."* 
 
 An impression has prevailed somewhat extensively, that Uncas yielded 
 at length to the eloquence of Mr. Fitch and the convictions of truth, and 
 became at least a favorer of Christianity, and an outward attendant upon 
 its ministrations.! This charitable inference is based upon the sachem's 
 frequent promises to attend upon the preaching of the word, the bond or 
 pledge to this eflTect signed by him at the instance of Major Talcott, and 
 the imi>ression made on his mind by Mr. Fitch's prayer for rain, as related 
 above. Unfortunately the sequence of dates militates against this favor- 
 
 * Relation of Mr. Fitch in Hubbard's Narrative of Indian "Wars. 
 
 t " Whether Uncas died in faith or not, I am unable to say. It is agreeable, how- 
 ever, to find him at last acknowledging the God who is above, and paying homage to 
 the religion of his Son." Holmes' Memoir of the Mohegans. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 117 
 
 able judgment, and the fallacy of the sachem, as Mr. Fitch calls his 
 double-dealing, deprives us of all confidence in his promises. 
 
 The pledge to attend on the ministry and to encourage his people to do 
 tjie same was signed June 7, 1G73. In September, 1674, Uncas sent an 
 agent to Wabequisset, (Woodstock,) to meet Mr. Elliot, who was then on 
 a preaching tour to the Indians, to protest against the introduction of 
 Christianity among his tributaries in that region, — the agent delivering 
 his message in these brief expressive terms : 
 
 "Uncas is not well pleased that the English should pass over Mohegan river, to call 
 his Indians to pray to God."* 
 
 The character of Uncas, as drawn at this time by General Gookin, com- 
 prehends only sinister and repulsive features : 
 
 " Unkus, an old and wicked wilful man, a drunkard and otlierwise very vitious ; who 
 hath always been an opposer and underminer of praying to God." 
 
 The sachem's recognition of the mighty power of God, in the success- 
 ful prayer for rain, was in 1676. But in May, 1678, Mr. Fitch depicts 
 his character in colors of the blackest dye. He accuses him of hostility 
 to the English, and hatred of their rulers, laws, and religion ; of cunning, 
 malice, robbery, oppression, and breaking of pledges, closing the statement 
 by saying that he is 
 
 " The greate opponent of any meanes of soul's good and concernment to his people 
 and abounding more and more in dancings and all manner of heathenish impieties 
 since the warrs and vilifying what hath been done by the English and attributing the 
 victory to their Indean helpes."t 
 
 Such is the latest contemporary portrait of the sachem Uncas, drawn, 
 too, by a truthful, tender-hearted, saintly man, proverbially the friend of 
 the aborigines, and a benefactor to the sachem himself. It is impossible, 
 therefore, for the most lenient judgment or the most ardent hope to con- 
 ceive of him as a Christianized man, or even a noble-hearted barbarian. 
 Yet there were some valuable points about him. He manifested a certain 
 degree of native talent, a more than common share of worldly wisdom, 
 and a persevering activity in securing the independence of his tribe. 
 
 • Moreover, the generous and kindly treatment which the Narragansett 
 prince received from him, while in his power as a captive, ought to be 
 placed to the credit of the Mohegan chief. Miantonomoh confessed that 
 he had nothing to complain of in this respect, and that the courtesy he 
 
 had experienced was beyond the common degree of consideration in such 
 cases. 
 
 * Gookin's Hist. Col. of the Indians, 
 t Conn. Col. Eec, 2, 593. 
 
Il8 HISTORY OF NOBWICH. 
 
 The savage character of TJncas is by no means an exponent of that of 
 his tribe. Whatever they may have been in the days of their heathenism, 
 for the l:ist hundred years they have been noted as a civil, teachable, act- 
 ive, and intelligent people. "With the sachem himself the inhabitants of 
 llie town always sustained amicable relations, and his tribe, the Mohegans, 
 from the earliest periodof the settlement to the present day, may be called 
 favorites with the people of Norwich. They have been looked after with 
 almost parental care, and the men of most influence in the town, on all 
 jniblic questions, have taken their part, against the state and against 
 opposing tribes. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Church Histobt. The Meeting-House on the Hill. Me. Woodwaed's 
 Settlement. Gkate-Yakds. 
 
 The Meeting-house Green or Plain was originally somewhat larger 
 than it is at the present day. A considerable slice, where the post-office 
 and several dwelling-houses stand, was cut ofF from the common in 1 684, 
 and given to Capt. James Fitch, as an addition to the home-lot bestowed 
 on him by his father. The first meeting-house stood near the south-west 
 corner of the Green, not far from the dwellings of the minister 4ind mag- 
 istrate, and forming with them the three corners of a triangle.* It is not 
 probable that this primitive church had either steeple, porch, or gallery. 
 We may conjecture that a sun-dial stood near the door, and perhaps a 
 horse-block. "Without doubt it was furnished with a pulpit, though no 
 tasseled cushion supported the open Bible. In all probability long benches 
 were used instead of pews, — the men sitting on the right hand of the min- 
 ister, and the women on the left. A choir of singers was then unknown ; 
 the deacon read off the lines, and the congregation followed in tuneful 
 quavers. 
 
 In 1668 a small rate was collected to pay Samuel Lothrop "for repair- 
 ing and heightening the meeting-house." But this first rough-hewn edifice 
 could not long satisfy the demands of the growing town. It was in use 
 only twelve or fourteen years. 
 
 In 1673 the town contracted with John Elderkin to build forthwith anew 
 meeting house. The site fixed for it was the summit of the hill, towering 
 over the Green, and looking east and west toward the two ends of the town- 
 plot. The country was at this period in a disturbed condition. The at- 
 mosphere was dark with the shadows of approaching evil. On the west- 
 ern border of New England the Dutch had assumed a threatening attitude, 
 and several of the larger Indian tribes appeared surly and vindictive. 
 
 In this posture of affairs, if a new meeting-house was to be built, the 
 
 * We learn the situation from incidental allusions afterwards made to the place where 
 the old meeting-house stood; as in the following item : 
 
 1684. " Granted to Capt. Pitch, a gusset of land from the S. E. comer of the old 
 meeting-house to the corner of his father's home-lot." 
 
120 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 prudence and fore.-^ight of the managers would lead them to select for it 
 an appropriate -Ate. On this elevated platform it could not be easily sur- 
 prised, and it might serve as a watch-tower, an arsenal, and a garrison- 
 post, as well as a house of wor.^hip. 
 
 The building committee were Deacon Hugh Calkins, Ensign Thomas 
 Leffingwell, Ensign Thomas Tracy, Simon Huntington, and William 
 Backus. It was completed in the course of two years. Elderkin had 
 contract;'d to build it for £428, but the expense exceeding his estimate, he 
 presented in town meeting the following petition : 
 
 Christian Friends and Neighbors, — 
 
 Your humble petitioner pleadeth your charitie for the reasons hereafter expressed. 
 Gentlemen, it is well known that I have been undertaker for building of the meeting- 
 hoiis, and it being a piece of work very difficult to understand llie whole worth and 
 value off, yet notwithstanding I have presumed to doc the work for a sertain sum of 
 money, Cto wit,) 428 pound, not haveing any designe thereby to make myself rich, but 
 that the towne might have there meeting-hous dun for a reasonable consideration. But 
 upon my experience, I doe find by my bill of cost, I have dun said work very much to 
 my dammage, as I shall now make appear. Gentlemen, I shall not say much unto 
 you, but onely if you may be made sencible of my losi in said undertaking, I pray for 
 your generous and charitable conclu>ion toward me, whether it be much or little, I 
 hope will be well excepted from your poor and humble petitioner. 
 
 John Elderkin. 
 
 The town declared themselves to be at this time greatly burdened by 
 the necessity of raising the £428 ; but as a compensation for the gallery 
 of the new meeting-house, thc}' granted Elderkin a tract of land "at 
 Pocketannuk's Cove's mouth." 
 
 Mr. James Fitch having provided nails for this meeting-honse, to the 
 value of £12, " wherein his forwardness for the use and benefit of the 
 town, is owned and accepted," liberty was granted him to take two hund- 
 red acres of land, as a satisfaction for the same, viz., " 100 in the crotch 
 between Quinebaug and Showtucket, and 100 as convenient as he can find 
 it, on the other side of Showtucket river." 
 
 The situation of this meeting-house was very imposing. Perched like 
 a citadel upon its rocky height, «itli perpendicular ledges, or abrupt, stony 
 declivities on either side, it presented a formidable and secure aspect, and 
 was the center of vision to both ends of the town. The difficulty of access 
 was such as to require climbing nilher than walking. Without doubt the 
 wayfarers often ctiught hold of shruljs by the path, to assist in pulling 
 thi-msulves up, and aged people felt their M-ay, planting the staff firmly at 
 each step. 
 
 In winter it must have been a cheerless sanctuary, even when the 
 approach was not obstructed by icy foot-paths and incumbent snows. 
 Churches in those early days ^^■ere always comfortless in cold or stormy 
 weather. They had no apparatus for wtirming ; neither fire-place, stove, 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 121 
 
 nor furnace, The women carried heated stones or bricks in their muffs, 
 and the men put their feet into fur bags, or moccasins, with which many 
 of the seats were provided. At a later date, foot-stoves were used. 
 
 To this church, until all fear of the Indians had passed away, tiie men 
 of the congregation were accustomed to repair with muskets upon their 
 shoulders, which were not, however, carried into the house, but stacked 
 without and kept under watch and guard by some person conveniently 
 stationed for that purpose. The regular soldiers, or militia-men, went in 
 last, and sat near the door, to be ready in case of alarm. 
 
 Swords were customarily worn when in full dress, by persons both in a 
 civil and military capacity. Hats were made with a broad brim and a 
 steeple crown. Perhaps two or three at the church door reverently took 
 off a " black beaverett," though that was a costly article in those days, and 
 considered quite magnificent. The poorer sort of people wore buff-caps, 
 knit from woollen yarn, often in gay colors, and crowned with a heavy 
 tassell. The coat was made with a long, straight body, falling below the 
 knee, and with no collar, or a very low one, so that the stock or neck-cloth 
 of spotless hnen, fastened behind with a silver buckle, was fully displayed. 
 In warm weather it was not considered indecorous to go to meeting in 
 one's shirt-sleeves, or to take off the coat when there. 
 
 It is not probable that any one of the inhabitants assumed such a degree 
 of state and dignity as to wear a ruff, though that article was in vogue 
 among people of rank, as were also hand-ruffles. A conspicuous wrist- 
 band with sleeve-buttons was more common. 
 
 It is uncertain whether the small clothes had then begun to grow, so as 
 to reach below the knee, and to be fastened with knee-buckles, or not. 
 The earlier mode was to have them terminate above the knee, and to be 
 tied with ribbons. The common kind were made of dressed deer's leather. 
 Petticoat trowsers of striped linsey-woolsey, the leg short and loose, were 
 a customary article of every-day dress among the common people. 
 
 Eed woollen stockings were much admired. The shoes were coarse, 
 clumped, square-toed, and adorned with enormous buckles. If any boots 
 made their appearance, prodigious was the thumping as they passed up 
 the aisles, for a pair of boots were then expected to last a man's life. The 
 tops were short, but very wide ; formed, one might suppose, with a special 
 adaptation to rainy weather, — collecting the water as it fell, and holding 
 an ample bath for the feet and ankles ! 
 
 Wigs were not then common ; it was at a later day that hats were 
 trimmed with gold lace, and full-powdered wigs were worn, and scarlet 
 roquelaurs adorned a few distinguished characters. Long hair was getting 
 into vogue. It was combed back from the forehead, and gathered behind 
 into a club or queue, wound with a black ribbon. A congregation of such 
 men, in frugal, respectable attire, with their brave, manly brows, fronting 
 
122 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 their minister, worshiping God upon the high rock that overlooked their 
 settlement, must have been a solemn and majestic sight to superior 
 beings. 
 
 But our great-grandmothers are also here : they come decently, but not 
 gaudily dressed. They have finery, but they leave it at home on the Sab- 
 bath. The more respectable matrons have all a full dress of flowing bro- 
 cade, embroidered stomachers, and hanging sleeve?, but it is reserved for 
 feasts and great civic occasions. They are dressed on the Sabbath, per- 
 haps, in short gowns and stutF-petticonts, with white aprons of linen or 
 muslin, starched stiif. The gown-sleeve is short, and they wear mittens 
 extending to the elbow, and leaving the fingers with a part of the thumb 
 bare. The cloak was short, with a hood to cover the head, and was called 
 a riding-hood. The hood was thrown back in meeting, and those who 
 wore bonnets took them off. The matrons wore caps, and the young 
 women had their hair curled or otherwise dressed. 
 
 The feminine attire, though in general plain and somewhat uncouth, 
 was of a purer type than some of the fashions of later generations. It 
 might even be called graceful and becoming in comparison with the short 
 waist, the low neck, the high head-cushion with its wings or lappets flaunt- 
 ing in the wind, and the huge calash, of the next century. 
 
 Rank, birth and station were held in high account, and customs of def- 
 erence and precedency were carefully maintained. It is a fact not easily 
 explained, that such stiff and stately notions should have been cherished 
 in a community where there was so little disparity of wealth and com- 
 fort. 
 
 Mr. was a title of respect awarded only to those who held office in 
 church or state, or were of the rank commonly called gentlemen. Mrs., 
 Mistress, Dame, and Madam, were the feminine titles of honor, bestowed 
 charily and only in accordance with family rank, saintly character, and 
 venerable age. 
 
 The minister was simply Mr. The title of Reverend was seldom be- 
 stowed, except in such phrases as our reverend pastor. Church-members 
 almost invariably called each other brother and sister. 
 
 Goodman and Goodwife were in common use. Goodey was sometimes 
 heard. Gaffer and Gammer, old Saxon words of address to the aged, are 
 not found on our records. Neighbor was a common adjunct. Parents 
 were uniformly called daddy and mammy, even by people of mature age. 
 
 It can not be doubted that an able scholar and expert penman like Mr. 
 Fitch would kcei) an ample and accurate record of his little church in the 
 wilderness. Unfortunately no such record is to be found. One document, 
 however, belonging to the period of his ministry, having been put in print, 
 is extant, and of great interest. This is the Covenant made, or renewed, 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. _ 123 
 
 by the churcli on the day of the public Fast in the spring of the year 
 1676, while the war with Philip and the Narragansetts was yet in prog- 
 ress, and the hearts of the people were solemnized by a succession of des- 
 olating judgments. 
 
 " We intend, (says Mr. Fitch,) God willing, to take that very daye solemnly to 
 renew our covenant in our church state, according to the example in Ezra's time, and 
 as was sometime practised in Hartford congregation by Mr. Stone, not long after Mr. 
 Hooker's death. If other churches doe not see cause to doe the same, yet wee hope it 
 will not bee offensive; hut doe verily conclude if that be rule for practice, this is a 
 time when the Providence of God does in a knocking and terrible manner call for it."* 
 
 This Covenant renewed is one of the most intensely searching, spiritual 
 and apostolic documents to be found in our New England annals. It is 
 admirable as a composition, and in this respect likewise creditable to its 
 reverend author.f 
 
 It contained the following specific engagements : 
 
 1. That all children from 8 or 9, to 13 years of age, should be presented in the pub- 
 lic Congregation every Lord's Day to be catechised. 
 
 2. That after 13 years of age, while they remained under the family government of 
 parents or others, they should attend a private meeting of religious instruction provided 
 for them. 
 
 3. That when grown up and at their own disposal, they should be required to take 
 hold of the Covenant of their Fathers, or at least should use means to prepare them- 
 selves for it ; if negligent in this particular they were to be admonished; and if obsti- 
 nately so, to be " cut off from the Congregation by the dreadful ordinance of excom- 
 munication." 
 
 4. That, as parents were commonly too indulgent to their children, and negligent 
 in admonishing and restraining them, the Church should appoint certain Brethren to 
 take notice of the behaviour of young persons, warning and admonishing both them 
 and their parents, at first in private, but if that were ineffectual, to make public com- 
 plaint of them. 
 
 5. That the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper should be observed once in six 
 weeks. 
 
 6. That Brethren of the Church should solemnly pledge themselves to rebuke and 
 admonish one another faithfully according to Christ's order, taking notice of all offen- 
 sive behaviour, and suffering no sin to rest unreproved upon a brother. 
 
 7. That this Covenant should be publicly read once every year on a day of fasting 
 and prayer, and that It should be enjoined on their children to do the same. 
 
 This Covenant appears to have been faithfully rehearsed before the 
 church, agreeably to the last specification, and confirmed or acquiesced in 
 for thirty years. 
 
 * Letter to the Council, March 13th. Conn. Col. Eec, 2, 417. 
 
 t 'A printed copy is lodged in the Pastoral Library of the First Society. See also 
 Apri. to Oilman's Bi-centennial Discourse, and Sermon by Eev. H. P. Arms, Norwich 
 JubUee, p. 254. 
 
124 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 It was reviewed by a committee of tlie church, Nov. 10, 1706, and three 
 clauses of limitation and explanation affixed to it, which, on being pre- 
 sented to the church, "passed with a very full vote." These provisos 
 were as follows : 
 
 1. " Whereas it is said in y° first particular of y* Covenant, y° Children shall be 
 presented every Lord's day to bo Catechised, — The Brethren of this Church do now 
 see cause to alow y' y° Children shall be Catecliised upon a week day." 
 
 2. " Whereas it is said. The Church doth appoint some Brethren to take notice of 
 such children &c. — The Brethren doe now agree to suspend acting according to sd par- 
 ticular, for ye present, and untill they see good cause and reason for it." 
 
 3. "Respecting ye Third Particular in sd Covenant ye Brethren look upon it to be 
 this, That ye persons therein intended shall be exhorted and excited privately and pub- 
 licly to take hold of the Covenant of their Fathers ; or at least y' they be in ye use of 
 all gospel means to prepare for the same." 
 
 This instrument was again discussed and sifted at a church meeting, 
 June 30, 1709, and a declaration made to this effect: That they and their 
 children were bound to the performance of the duties enjoined in the Cov- 
 enant, because they were required by the "Word of God, but they were 
 not bound by virtue of said Covenant ; and that they would continue in 
 the faithful performance of those duties, as explained and limited in 1706, 
 but the reading of the Covenant might henceforth be discontinued. 
 
 Difficulties were soon experienced with respect to collecting the minis- 
 ter's rates. It had been arranged that every inhabitant should himself 
 carry in his proportion annually, on or before the 20th of March, and for 
 a time this mode answered well. But after a few years the deficiencies 
 became so progressive and obvious as to call for the rebuke and interfer- 
 ence of the town. 
 
 Jan. 7, 1686. 
 
 Whereas the Select men and some others have presented to us the great need, reason 
 and necessity for us to consider of some suitable but thorough way of doing what ye 
 law of God and man and duty obliges to, viz. the discharge of that obligation wee lye 
 under with respect to the maintenance of our Kev<i minister, and in that it appearing 
 unto us that ye great lenitie of the Eev'« Mr. Fitch towards some is too much abused 
 and in that many are got into a way of slightiness and remissness in making of due 
 payment not only what is their just due but allsoe of what they are able, now tlerefore 
 that we miglit all be more thorow soe as the work of God may not fail amongst us tis 
 now ununimously agreed tliat for time to come the rate be put into the Collectors hands 
 and each man to account with them and no man to be cleared until by the Collectors 
 the rate bo crossed and each one to clear his rate by the first of Feb. or March an- 
 nually. 
 
 To bo payed one third in wheat at 4s. per bu. one third in rye or pease at 3s. and one 
 thu-d in Indian corn at 2s, or what is equivalent. 
 
 At a subsequent period the town made an attempt to support the min- 
 istry by monthly contributions, but it ended in a return to the legal com- 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 125 
 
 pulsory mode. As a general rule, the collectors were instructed to leave 
 out such poor men and widows as they should judge ought to be exempted 
 from the rate. 
 
 In 1 694, Mr. Fitch was suddenly disabled from preaching by a stroke 
 of the palsy. This led to the following action : 
 
 At a town meeting Sept. 12, 1694. 
 
 Inasmuch as it hath pleased God to lay his afflicting handupon our Eeverend pastor 
 Mr. James Fitch that at present he is disabled with respect to the work of the ministry 
 among us — Wherefore the towne appoint Left. Thomas LefBngwell, Left. William 
 Backus, Simon Huntington Sen'. Thomas Adgate and Richard Bushnella Committee 
 to treat with Mr. Jabez Fitch with respect unto his succeeding of his father in the work 
 of the ministry among us. 
 
 Mr. Jabez Fitch had just completed his course of study at Cambridge, 
 and was twenty-two years of age. He consented to occupy the pulpit of 
 his father on trial. A vote was passed "to pay the charge of sending for 
 him from the Collidge," and a rate allowed for his salary. After remain- 
 ing with the people' more than a year, the town declared themselves well 
 satisfied and invited him to become their permanent minister. He declined 
 a settlement, though his reasons are not found on record. A second invi- 
 tation was extended to him in August, 1696, but with no better success. 
 It is probable that he wished for a longer course of preparation before 
 taking charge of a parish.* 
 
 After Mr. Jabez Fitch, several other candidates were tried. The most 
 popular was Mr. Henry Flint, a graduate of Harvard in 1693. His min- 
 istry was so highly acceptable and useful, that a record was made in the 
 town books, acknowledging him as a special gift of Providence, in the fol- 
 lowing words : 
 
 " The good providence of God succeeding our endeavours hath sent Mr. Flint unto 
 us, for which we have reason to bless God, and doe desire he may abide with us half a 
 year more or less, that he may have further tryall of us, and wee of him ; — and that he 
 may stay as long as may be judged expedient for probation." 
 
 The next April, by "a full and free vote," he was invited to settle as a 
 permanent pastor, upon the following pecuniary conditions: 
 
 Terms ofpeked to Mr. Flint in April, 1697. 
 
 Fifty-two pounds per year and his board while he remains without family. When 
 
 he hath a family, 60 loads of wood annually and 70 pounds : that is .50 pounds in 
 
 money and 20 in work or grain. If it please God to prolong his life after the death of 
 
 Mr. Fitch then to increase his salary as his circumstances may need and as it shall be 
 
 * Mr. Jabez Fitch was subsequently elected Tutor and Fellow of Harvard College, 
 which may be considered honorable testimony in favor of his scholarship. In 170.3 he 
 was ordained at Ipswich as colleague of the Rev. John Rogers, but removed afterward 
 to Portsmouth, N. H., where he died in 1746. 
 
126 HISTOEY OF NORWICH. 
 
 esteomcil the proyidence of God enablcth the town. One half the annual salary to be 
 psiid Dec. 1 and the other May 1.— 150 acres of land to be given to him at Plain 
 Hills. 
 
 These offers were not accepted. They were repeated in September, 
 and again declined. The correspondence was not recorded, but left on 
 file, and in the lapse of time has disappeared, leaving us in ignorance of 
 the grounds of Mr. Flint's refusal.* Not long afterward, a special rate 
 was levied to defray " the expense of sending hither and thither for min- 
 isters, and also to pay arrears due to Mr. Jabez Fitch, Mr. Emory, Mr. 
 Morgan and Mr. Flint." 
 
 Aug. 2!), 1698. The preamble of a vote alludes to the melancholy fact 
 that the town is "yet de.-,titute of a preaching minister;" and nine persons 
 were designated as a committee, who, in concert with the Rev. Mr. Fitch, 
 were authorized to look out for a pastor. 
 
 This reference to Mr. Fitch shows that his mind stUl retained its vigor, 
 and that his people were in the habit of resorting to him for counsel and 
 direction. Nor were they unmindful of his support. After he was disa- 
 bled from service, a rate was annually collected for his use, amounting to 
 forty, fifty, and one year to seventy pounds. There can be little doubt 
 that he was favored also with many free-will offerings, and that his people 
 were studious to please and gratify him in the choice of a successor. 
 
 During this interval, measures were again taken for enlarging and re- 
 pairing the meeting-house. A Leanto was added, in which several new 
 pews were made, and these not being suflScient to accommodate the increas- 
 ing congregation, leave was given to twelve persons, who petitioned to 
 that effect, " to build a seat on the Leanto beam^, for their convenient sit- 
 ting on the Lord's dayes." All these improvements being completed, in 
 March, 1698, the Townsmen and Goodman Elderkin, the carpenter, were 
 engaged to arrange the pews into eight classes, according to their dignity. 
 This being done, five of the oldest and most respected inhabitants, viz.: 
 Lt. Thomas Letfingwell, Lt. William Backus, Deacon Simon Pluntington, 
 Thomas Adgate, Sen., and Serg. John Tracy, were directed to seat the 
 people with due regard to rank : " the squan.' pue to be considered first in 
 dignity ; the new scats and the fore seats in the broad ally next, and alike 
 in dignity;" and so on through the eight classes. 
 
 In 1702 the house was again reseated, and "a paper vote" was taken 
 who should sit in tlie square pew and the seat next to it, and the persons 
 so seatcil wci'o to arrange the remainder of the inhabitants. 
 
 A similar custom prevailed in all the settlements. When the meeting- 
 
 * Rev. llonry flint never settled over a parish. He was Tutor in Harvard College 
 from 1705 to 1754, and died Feb. 13, 1760, aged 84. 
 Maes. Hist. Coll., 10, 165. Sprague's Annals, 1, 116. 
 
HISTOEY OF NORWICH. 127 
 
 house was finished, a committee was appointed to "dignify the seats," and 
 establish the rules for seating the people. 
 
 Usually the square pew nearest the pulpit was the first in dignity, and 
 next to this came the second pew and the first long seat in front of the 
 pulpit. After these the dignity gradually diminished as the seats receded 
 from the pulpit. If the house was furnished, as in some instances, with 
 square pews, on each side of the outer door, fronting the pulpit, these were 
 equal to the second or third rank in dignity. The front seat in the gallery 
 and the two highest pews in the side galleries were also seats of consider- 
 able dignity. 
 
 The rules for seating were formed on an estimate of age, rank, office, 
 estate list, and aid furnished in building the house. These lists were oc- 
 casionally revised, and the people reseated, at intervals probably of three 
 or four years. 
 
 Frequent disputes and even long-continued feuds were caused by this 
 perplexing business of seating a congregation according to rank and dig- 
 nity. 
 
 Various incidental allusions and items of expenditure furnish hints that 
 assist the imagination in reconstructing this old meeting-house on the hill. 
 It had leantos or wings on two sides, a porch to shelter the door in front; 
 was furnished partly with pews and partly with benches ; had a double 
 gallery, with corner seats for the tithing-man, overlooking the whole audi- 
 ence ; and was crowned with a pyramid for a steeple or spire.* The 
 windows were probably formed with lead casements, and panes of glass 
 diamond-shaped.f 
 
 Though standing on a high platform, it was partially sheltered by 
 clumps of rock, covered with shrubs and trees, that bristled the surface of 
 the hill at a short distance east and west of the building. We may sup- 
 pose that it faced the Green, and presented an appearance not unlike the 
 design on page 129. 
 
 In the latter part of 1G98, Mr. Joseph Coit was engaged to supply the 
 pulpit, and after a few months probation, was invited to settle. The 
 committee who communicated this resolution to Mr. Coit, received from 
 him an answer, which they reported in town meeting, in the following 
 words : 
 
 " We hare received a writing from Mr. Coit, in which he dolh expressly declare his 
 disagreement from Norwich church, and consequently he can not walk with them, for 
 how can two walk together, if they be not agreed"? — But he that in matters controver- 
 
 * There was an order in 1 705 " to mend the pyramid and close the leanto roofs where 
 they join to the body of the house." 
 
 t Windows of this kind long remained in a few old buildings in Norwich. They 
 were small and of the same form as the panes of glass, — a rhomb, or diamond-shaped. 
 Sash casements, and glass with square corners, were of later introduction. 
 
128 HISTOIIY OP NORWICH. 
 
 sial doth set up his own opinion in opposition to the Synod Book, and a cloud of wit- 
 nesses, will be in great danger to wander from the way of peace and truth. But as 
 for us, let us please one another, in that tliat is good, and may be for edification. 
 Voted." 
 
 Mr. -Tohn Woodward was their next candidate, and a vote was passed 
 to "call him to office." He accepted this call, and was ordained in Octo- 
 ber, IC'J',). 
 
 Ihe church organization in the days of ^Ir. Fitch not only extended 
 over the nine-miles-square, but took in the new settlements of Windham 
 and Canterbury. Mr. Woodward's parish was at first of the same extent. 
 'J1ie church records now extant begin with his ministry. The first per- 
 sons who, after his ordination, " Publickly owned ye Covenant of Grace," 
 were — 
 
 J\Ir. John Fitch, of Windham. 
 Mr. .Joseph Bradford. 
 
 Abigail, ye wife of Brother Thomas Baldwin. 
 Jabez Perkins. Isaac Lawrence. 
 
 This accession was in 1700. The same year, Mr. Fitch above named 
 was received into full communion, as were also Thomas Baldwin and John 
 Birchard. 
 
 The first child baptized by Mr. Woodward was. 
 
 Margaret ye Daughter of Brother John Elderkin, 2 d. 12 m. 1700. 
 
 This in our style would be Feb. 2, 1701. A comparison of births and 
 baptisms sliows that children were then baptized at an early date, gener- 
 ally the first or second Sabbath after birth, being presented, when the rite 
 was performed in public, by the father only. 
 
 The town having agreed to provide Jlr. Woodward with a parsonage, 
 purchased the house and home-lot of Samuel Huntington for his accom- 
 modation. It was the former residence of Capt. James Fitch, and sold 
 by him at the time of his removal to Canterbury. Mr. Huntington was 
 now pn^paring to remove to Lebanon, and therefore willing to part with 
 his recent purchase. Out of the lot the town reserved an acre and a half 
 for "a common burial place." This was soon opened for interments, and, 
 with an adjoining lot since purchased, is still used as the Society Burial 
 Ground. 
 
 In 171.") the town ordered this new burial-place to be surveyed, and its 
 boundaries marked by mere-stones. It remained long uninclosed. The 
 fir;,t persona known to have been interred here were Deacon Simon Hunt- 
 ington, and his grandson of llie same name, a young man who was killed 
 by the l)ile of a rattlesnake. According to tradition, the venomous ser- 
 [lent darted its fangs into his foot while he was mowing in the meadow, 
 near the spot where he was interred. The weather was hot, the blood of 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 CHITRCH ON THE HILL,— 1676-1715. 
 
 129 
 
 tlie youth inflamed with exercise, and the poison exhibited its deadly 
 power almost instantaneously. His body became swollen, his flesh turned 
 purple, and he died in a few hours. 
 
 Head-stones of rough granite, standing as sentinels to these graves, 
 have their inscriptions • stiR legible, and, with a similar memorial to the 
 memory of Thomas Adgate, are the oldest grave-stones in the town. 
 
 DEACON 
 
 SI 
 
 M ON 
 
 HUNT 
 
 INGT O N 
 
 DY 
 
 ED J 
 
 VNE 
 
 ye 
 
 28. 
 
 1 70 
 
 6 
 
 M. 
 
 77- 
 
 
 HERE LIES 
 THE BODY OF 
 DEACON THOMAS 
 ADGET WHO 
 DIED JVLY 1707 
 IN ye 87th YEAR 
 
 OF HIS AGE. 
 
 SIMON 
 
 HVNTINGTON 
 
 DYED JVLY 
 
 29. 1707 
 
 AGED 21 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Three others of the first proprietors were interred in this ground, and 
 have their graves indicated by legibly inscribed stones : Thomas Water- 
 9 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 man, John Post, and Stephen Gifford. The first Thomas Leffingwell Wtt3 
 undoubtedly buried here, but he has no memorial. 
 
 Before the purchase by the town of this Huntington lot, the only place 
 in Norwich known to have been used as a cemetery was that which is 
 called the 
 
 POST AND GAGER BURIAL GROUND. 
 
 Siirah, the wife of Thomas Post, died in March, 1661, and is supposed 
 to have been the first p(;r.son who deceased after the settlement of the 
 town. She was buried on the home-lot of her husband, and the place of 
 her interment was soon after sequestered and appropriated by the town 
 authorities, for the common burial-place of the inhabitants. It was re- 
 corded Dec 16, 1661. 
 
 Memorandum. 
 
 The TowHe hath purchased a burying place of Thomas Post, vide a parcell of land 
 "Bight rod one way and five and a half rod the other way in the home lott of the said 
 Thomas Post towards the reare of his lott ajoining to the west side of goodman Cadgers 
 lott, the said Thomas Post allowing a highway t)f six feet broad to the burying place. 
 
 To this area an addition was afterward made from the adjoining lot of 
 John Gager, and in 1693 the burying-place was recorded as an irregular 
 oblong plot, the extreme length eleven rods, and the greatest breadth 
 seven. 
 
 In 1697 the town granted to Samuel Gager "twelve acres of land on 
 Connecticut Plains, in consideration of the laud taken out of his father's 
 home-lot for a burial-place." 
 
 The Post home-lot remained in the possession of the family for one 
 hundred and twenty-five j-ears. It was then sold by Jbseph Post of Leb- 
 anon to Ezekiel Barrett. The deed of conveyance, dated April 14, 1775, 
 after describing the bounds, has this clause : 
 
 " Excluding about 32 rods of land within the said bounds, belonging to the town of 
 Norwich, being the old bin ying ground, with liberty of a pent way across my other 
 land, from the town street to the above bargained premises, to pass and repass." 
 
 This is perhaps the latest record respecting the old Grave Yard. It 
 seems never to luive been fenced or separated from the adjoining lots, and 
 becoming gradually identified with them, has been occupied as private 
 property. 
 
 After the year 1700, very few interments were made in this ground. 
 The Gager ftunily lay in a group near the south-east part of the plot. 
 Several rude head-stones, with initials and perhaps a date, were formerly 
 to be seen here, but the only regular grave-stone known to have been set 
 in this burial-place was that of Mr. Samuel Gager, who died in 1740, and 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWIOS. 131 
 
 in accordance with his special request was laid here by the side of his 
 ancestors. His monumental slab, with a broad-winged face graven at tlie 
 top, and overshadowing the inscription, was standing, though in a brolten 
 and leaning condition, tottering to its fall, in the year 1825, when the fol- 
 lowing epitaph was taken from it : 
 
 By the Bodies of his Parents 
 
 Here lies the Body of 
 MR. SAMUEL GAGEK. 
 A steady counsellor, a friend to piety ; 
 was an enemy of vice, a lover of 
 pure public worship, and being blessed 
 With long life left this World with 
 a comfortable hope of life eternal, 
 on the 11th day of June 1740, 
 ■ In the 86th year of his age. 
 
 A few fragments are all that now remain of this stone, and no othef 
 inscribed blocks, or even the suggestive memorials of grassy hillocks^ 
 remain to indicate the treasures that have here been deposited. 
 
 In very few instances are the graves of the first generation of our set- 
 tlers distinguished by coeval monuments. The men of that age, encom- 
 passed with labors and privations, exhausted in laying the foundations of 
 society, had no leisure to cultivate the monumental arts, and rear tombs 
 and columns over their falling companions. But the more favored inhab- 
 itants of a later day, the prosperous sons of these laborious fathers, have 
 a debt of grateful reverence to pay, which should lead them to preserve 
 the sacred dust from dishonor and cherish with reverent awe the sepul- 
 chres of the fathers. 
 
 An opinion has been current of late years, that the persons interred in 
 this ancient Cemetery were principally friendless people, infants, Indians, 
 and a few individuals of the Post, Gager, and other neighboring families, 
 that died soon after the settlement. But where then, it may be asked, are 
 we to look for the graves of nearly the whole of the first generation of 
 settlers ? The second ground was not opened for interments till forty 
 years after the settlement. It would be a very moderate computation to 
 assume that during this period the deaths of all ages in the town-plot 
 averaged three per year,— more probably it was four or five,— and we 
 know of no other place where even one of them was laid but in this com- 
 mon burial-ground. 
 
 Several of the proprietors emigrated to new towns in the neighborhood, 
 but of those who were undoubtedly laid in the grave at Norwich, and who 
 died before 1700, we may name the foUowmg: 
 
132 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 William Backus, the elder, dying before 1663. 
 
 Francis Griswold, 1671. 
 
 Major John Mason, and his wife, Mrs. Anna Mason, both dying in 
 1672. 
 
 Capt. John Mason, son of the Major, fatally wounded at the Narragan- 
 sett fort fight in December, 1675, and dying in 1676. 
 
 John Bradford, 1G75. Samuel Hyde, 1677. 
 
 William Hyde, 1682. Nehemiah Smith, 1685. 
 
 Lieut. Thomas Tracy, 1685. John Elderkin, 1687. 
 
 Thomas Bliss, 1688, and his son, Thomas Bliss, Jr., 1681. 
 
 Jonathan Royce, 1689. 
 
 John Olmstead, the first physician of the town, 1689. 
 
 Hugh Calkins, 1690. 
 
 The first Christopher Huntington, 1691. 
 
 John Baldwin, (unknown.) .« 
 
 Richard Edgerton, 1692. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Town Cleeks. Patent. Neisheosing Towns. Major Fitch. 
 
 John Biechaed has been already mentioned as the first Town Clerk 
 or Recorder of Norwich. The second, and first of whose appointment 
 any record has been found, was Christopher Huntington, elected in 1678, 
 and_retained in office until his death in 1691. Richard Bushnell was 
 chos&i his successor in December of that year, and between him and 
 Christopher Huntington, 2d, the son of the former Christopher, the ofiiee 
 alternated irregularly, to the 6th of December, 1726, when Isaac Hunt- 
 ington, the son of the second Christopher, was chosen to the clerkship, 
 and retained the ofiiee till removed by death in 1764. During this period 
 of thirty-fiye years, at the annual meetings, the question was regularly 
 put by the moderator — "Will the town now proceed to the choice of a' 
 Clerk ? " — and uniformly decided in the negative ; it being understood 
 that the then incumbent was to be continued until a successor was ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 After the death of Isaac Huntington, the clel-kship was assigned for 
 one year to Benjamin Huntington, Senr., of the same generation with 
 Isaac, but the next year it came back to the family of Isaac, and was 
 awarded successively to his son Benjamin, and his grandson Philip, and 
 his great-grandson Benjamin, continuing in this fine to the year 1830, 
 when the records were removed to Chelsea, and a Clerk chosen from that 
 society. Thus six generations of Huntingtons, in a right line, held the 
 clerkship, from 1678 to 1830, — 152 years; with a single exception in 
 1778, when Samuel Tracy was chosen to ofiiee for one year.* 
 
 The Town Clerk was also generally, if not uniformly, the Clerk of the 
 First Ecclesiastical Society, from the first formation of that society, as 
 distinct from the town, to the year 1828. 
 
 In 1684, the list of estate as returned to the General Court was £6,265. 
 Number of taxable persons, 115. 
 
 * The experience of New Haven furnishes a similar instance of perpetuity in oflace. 
 Three successive Samuel Bishops — father, son and grandson — held the office of Town 
 Clerk of New Haven for 85 years, from 1717 to 1801. Elisha Munson, nephew of the 
 last of these Samuel Bishops, who had acted as his clerk, succeeded him, and continued 
 in office till 1832. The four held the office 116 years. 
 
134 HISTORT OP NOBWICH. 
 
 In 1685, a patent was obtained which confirmed to the town the original 
 tract of nine miles square, to be an entire township, "according to the 
 tenor of East Greenwich, in Kent, in free and common soccage, and not 
 in capita, nor by Knight's service." 
 
 PATENT 
 OF THE TOWN OF NORWICH, A. D. 1685. 
 
 Whereas the General Court of Connecticut have forerer granted unto the proprietors 
 and Inhabitants of the Towne of Norwich all those lands, both meadows and uplands, 
 within these abuttments (viz.) from the mouth of Tradeing-cove Brooke the line to run 
 as the Brooke to the head of the Brooke to a whitaoake marked N : and from thence 
 west northwesterly to a great pond to a black oake marked N : which stands neere the 
 mouth of the great Brooke that runs out of the pond to Norwich river, which is about 
 seven miles from the said Tradeing Cove ; and from thence the line runns North noreast 
 nine miles to a Black oake standing by the river aide on the south of it, a little above 
 maumeagway, and from thence the line runs south southeasterly nine miles to a white 
 oake standing by a brooke marked N : and then the line runs south southwesterly nine 
 miles to a white oake neere Robert Allyn and Thomas Rose's Dwelling houses, which 
 tree is marked N : and from thence westerly as New London Bounds runs to Mohegan 
 river, the whole being nine miles square, the said land haveing been by purchase or 
 otherwise lawfully obtayned of the Indian natives proprietors. — And whereas, the said 
 Inhabitants and proprietors of the s^ Norwich in the Colony of Connecticutt have made 
 application to the Govemo' and Company of the s^ Colony of Connecticutt assembled 
 in Court May 25", 1685, that they may have a patent for the confirmation of the afore"* 
 land, so purchased and granted to them as aforesaid, and which they have stood seized, 
 and quietly possessed of for many years late past, without interruption. Now for a 
 more full confirmation of the aforesd unto the present proprietors of the s'* Towneship 
 of Norwich in their possession and injoyment of the premises, know yee that the s'* 
 Goveniour and Company assembled in Generall Court according to the Commission 
 Granted to them by his magestie's charter, have given and granted and by these pres- 
 ents doe give, grant Rattifie and confirme unto Sir. James Fitch sen', Capt. James 
 Fitch, Mr. Benjamine Brewster, Lieut. Thomas Tracy, Lieut. Tho. LefiBngwell, Mr. 
 Christopher Huntington, Mr.Simon Huntington, Ensign William Backus, Mr. Thomas 
 Waterman, Mr. John Burchard and Mr. John Post, and the rest of the said present pro- 
 prietors of the township of Norwich, their heirs, successors and assigns forever ; the 
 aforesaid paiceU of land as it is Butted and Bounded, together with all the woods, 
 meadows, pastures, ponds, waters, rivers, islands, fishings, huntings, fowleings, mines, 
 mineralls, quarries, and precious stones, upon or within the said tract of land, and all 
 other proffitts and comodities thereunto belonging, or in any wayes appertayning ; and 
 Doe also grant unto the afovesd filr. James Fitch, sen', Capt. James Fitch, Mr. Ben- 
 jamin Brewster, Lieut. Thomas Tracy, Lieut. Thos. Leffingwell, Mr. Christopher 
 Huntington, Mr. Simon Huntington, Ensign Wm. Backus, Mr. Thomas Waterman, 
 Mr. John Birchard, and Mr. John Post, and the rest of the proprietors. Inhabitants of 
 Norwich, their heirs, successors and assigns forever, that the fores^ tract of land shall 
 be forever hereafter deemed, reputed and be an intire towneship of itself— to have and 
 to hold the said tract of land and premises, with all and singular their appurtenances, 
 together with the priviledges and immunities and franchises herein given and granted 
 unto the say^ Mr. James Fitch sen', Capt. James Fitch, Mr. Benjamine Brewster, 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 135 
 
 Lient. Thomas Tracy, Lieut. Thomas Leffingwell, Mr. ChristOfAer Hantington, Mr. 
 Simon Huntington, Ensign Wm. Backus, Mr. Thomas Waterman, Mr. John Birchard 
 and Mr. John Post, and other the present proprietors. Inhabitants of Norwich, theire 
 heirs successors, and assignes for ever, and to the only proper use and behoofe of the 
 sayd Ml-. James Fitch sen', Capt. James Fitch, Mr. Benjamine Brewster, Lient. 
 Thomas Tracy, Lieut. Thomas Leffingwell, Mr. Christopher Hantington, Mr. Simon 
 Huntington, Ensign Wm. Backus, Mr. Thomas Waterman, Mr. John Birchard and 
 Mr. John Post, and other proprietors, inhabitants of Norwich, their heirs, successors, 
 and assigns for ever, according to the Tenor of East Greenwich in Kent, in free and 
 common soccage and not in capitte, nor by Knite's service, they to make improvement 
 of the same as they are capable according to the custom of the country, yielding, ren- 
 dering, and paieing therefore to our sovereign Lord the king, his heirs and successors, 
 his dues according to Charter. In witness whereof, we have caused the Seale of the 
 Colony to be hereunto affixed this twenty-first of May, 1685, in the iirst yeare of the 
 reigne of our sovereigne lord Janfts the Second, by the grace of God, of England, 
 Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the faith. 
 
 EGBERT TREAT, Governor. 
 -->-'■— ^ March 30*, 1687, per order of Gov', and Company of the Colony 
 
 \ SEAL. > of Connecticntt. 
 .^.-v-.^ Signed pr 
 
 John Alltn, Secrety. 
 Entered in the pub. records. Lib. D : fo. S38, 139, Nov' 27*, 1685 : pr 
 
 John Alltn, Secrety. 
 
 Twelve Patentees were chosen by the town ; but from some cause un- 
 known, Thomas Adgate, who was one, is not named in the instrument as 
 recorded on the town books. They will all be recognized as belonging to- 
 the original band of proprietors, with the exception of Capt. James Fitch 
 and Mr. Benjamin Brewster. 
 
 In January, 1702, a fresh enrollment of the inhabitants was made, in 
 connection with "An Act for the more equal Division of the Common 
 Lands." This list seems to have been made with great care, and we may 
 rely upon it as nearly accurate. It enumerates 9 surviving first proprie- 
 tors, 76 accepted inhabitants, and 6 orphans under age, all entitled to 
 share as first settlers. Twelve other persons, who had more recently set- 
 tled in the township, were entered for half shares. This would give 97 
 freemen, or legal voters and proprietors, to the town. Probably the num- 
 ber of actual residents was considerably larger. 
 
 Jan : 31, 1701-2. The names of the first settlers now surviving are as followeth, — 
 
 The Rev. Mr. James Fitch. (died 18 Nov. 1702.). 
 
 Lev't Thomas Leffingwell. (d. 1710.) 
 
 Deacon Simon Huntington. (d. 28 June, 1706.) 
 
 Deac. Thomas Adgate. (d. 21 July, 1707.) 
 
 Levt. William Backus. (d. 1721.) 
 
 John Post. (d. 17 Nov. 1710.) 
 
 Thomas Post. (supposed d. 5 Sept. 1701.) 
 
 John Reynolds. (d. 22 July, 1702.) 
 
 Morgan Bowers. (unknown.) 
 
136 HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 
 
 At this time a large proportion of the outlands had been already dis- 
 tributed, and were in a great measure occupied. AH the better part of 
 the inhabitants, in addition to their possessions in the town-plot, owned 
 farms. Many of the sons of the first proprietors had settled on these 
 paternal acres. The wide districts now forming the towns of Bozrah and 
 Franklin, were then the Norwich farms. Several of these farm home- 
 steads have descended by inheritance to the present day, and are claimed 
 by virtue of the original town grant. 
 
 Before the year 1700, several flourishing towns were growing up 
 around Norwich, most of them offshoots from her trunk and nourished 
 with her life-blood. 
 
 A part of Preston was originally East Norwich. Lebanon, Windham, 
 Mansfield, Canterbury, Plainfield and Griswold were daughters of Nor- 
 wich, or at least drew a large proportion of their early settlers from her 
 bounds. 
 
 Though John Gates, an Englishman, is said to have erected the first 
 habitation in Windham, as early as 1689, yet the legatees of Joshua 
 Uncas were the first proprietors of the land, and fourteen of these (the 
 whole number being but sixteen) were of Norwich. Those who claimed 
 under these leg^-tees, the Backuses, Binghams, Huntingtons, and other 
 early settlers, were the men who actually founded Windham, changing the 
 wild lands of Naubesetuck to a thriving plantation. 
 
 The first town meeting at Windham was held June 11, 1692. Among 
 the town officers chosen on that occasion, seven are recognized as sons of 
 Norwich proprietors, viz. : John Fitch, fourth son of Rev. James ; Thomas 
 Huntington, son of Christopher ; Joseph Huntington, son of Simon ; Sam- 
 uel Hyde, Jonathan Hough, and John Royce. 
 
 Among the first planters we find also John Backus, Thomas Bingham, 
 Samuel Birchard, Benjamin Armstrong, Jonathan Crane, Peter Cross, 
 Samuel Gifford, William Moore, Robert Wade, — all removing thither 
 from some part of the nine-miles-square. 
 
 Few persons of that period had more influence in this part of the col- 
 ony than Captain, or as he wa5 afterwards styled. Major Fitch. He was 
 a noted friend and patron to the Indians, and after the death of Major 
 Mason, possessed more sway over the sachems than any other individual, 
 not excepting their other distinguished advocate, Capt. Samuel Mason. 
 The signature of Owaneco, subsequent to the year 1680, was considered 
 of no value unless countersigned by Capt. Fitch ; the Sachem, with the 
 consent of the General Court, having authorized him to act as bis 
 guardian. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 137 
 
 (From a signature of 1682.) 
 
 Major Fitch stands forth remarkably prominent in connection with the 
 landed interest of eastern ConnecticuL He was noted as a land-surveyor, 
 land-registrar, land-speculator, and a land-holder to an immense extent. 
 By legislative grants, by purchase from other grantees, and intimate con- 
 nection with the Indian sachems, he accumulated a vast number of acres. 
 In 1684, he obtained from Owaneco the native right and title to a broad 
 tract of unsettled land, comprised under the general name of " the Nipmug 
 and Wabaquassuck eountreys." The southern line of this territory, be- 
 ginning at the Quinnabaug river, north of the present town of Brooklyn, 
 and running west, was estimated at forty-five miles, and from this western 
 point the line running north extended beyond the northern boundary of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Out of this tract, the town of Pomfret was purchased of Capt. Fitch fo^ 
 thirty pounds. It was called the Mashamoquet Purchase, and consisted 
 of fifteen thousand one hundred acres, which was assigned by Fitch to 
 certain proprietors. May 5, 1686, the deed being countersigned by Owan- 
 eco and Josiah. 
 
 In 1687, Owaneco convejed to Major Fiteh, parcels of knd in the 
 towns of Plainfield and Canterbury, of such extent as also to be measured 
 by miles. A mortgage deed, executed in favor of Simeon Stoddard of 
 Boston, Nov. 19, 1651, maps out a portion of Major Fitch's accumulated 
 land claims. 
 
 1st. A tract " in the crotch of the rivers Showtuckett and Queenabauge," 
 a mile and a fourth on one river, and nearly three miles on the other, now 
 the southern part of Lisbon. 2d. Four thousand acres, in two parts : two 
 thousand on each side of the Quinebaug, in the present towns of Plainfield 
 and Canterbury. 3d. Five thousand acres, in two parts, lying south of 
 New Eoxburj, alias Woodstock. 4th. A cultivated farm of two hundred 
 acres in Preston. 
 
 Following Major Fitch by his various deeds on record, we might sup- 
 pose that during a part of his life he changed his local habitation with 
 every revolution of the sun. On one occasion he is spoken of as an 
 inhabitant of Preston. 
 
 In 1697, he writes himself, "I, James Fitch of Norwich." 
 
 In 1698, "IJames Fitch of Peagscomsuck."* 
 
 * Deed jrecoriled at Horwich. 
 
13S HISTORY OF NORWICH^ 
 
 In 1699, "I James Fitch of Kent, alias Peagscranset."* 
 
 In 1701, "I James Fitch of Plainfield."t 
 
 In 1703, "I James Fitch of Canterbury." 
 
 But though Major Fitcb had farms and dwelh'ng-houses in several tomt- 
 ships, and seems to have circulated freely through bis possessions, he re- 
 tained his connection with Norwich as a legal inhabitant d«wn to the year 
 1697. He then removed his family to Peaigscomsnclt,}: oo the Quinebaug- 
 river, — a plantation that he designed should be called Kent. The namer 
 however, obtained but a limited currency, and was soon dianged to Can- 
 terbury. Of this town he was pre-enrinently the founder. He purchased 
 the land, made the first clearings, laid it eot in farms and ho«ise-lots, and 
 built himself the first bam and the first framed house within its limits. 
 He drew after him from Norwich other substantial settlers : the names of 
 Backus, Bradford and Tracy appearing- early ttpon the amnals of the- 
 town. 
 
 Canterbury and Rainfield grew up like twin plantatiwis, side by side. 
 Major Fitch was one of the first proprietors in each. Mr. Joseph Coit 
 was the herald of the gospel to both communities, and for several years 
 preached alternately at dtber place. Plainfield was incorporated in 1 699 j 
 Canterbury, im 1703. 
 
 Major Fitch and bis brother Daniel were hi^ly esteemed as brave 
 soldiers and experieneed partizans in Indian warfare. In the summer of 
 1696, a band of Mohawks committed soEse depredations on the western 
 towns in Massachusetts, and a rumor having reached Capt. Fitch that a 
 party of them had been seen skulking about Woodstock, he hastened froms 
 his farm to Norwich, collected a band c£ whites and Mohegans, and 
 plunged into the forests in pursuit of the enemy. From "Woodstock, hfr 
 sent a part of his f<Mx;e under his brother Daniel, to range the woods fur- 
 ther to the west, which they fid, scouring- th& country as far as Oxford,. 
 Worcester, and Lancaster. 
 
 Tradition and record give intimations of one defeat in the character of 
 the gallant Major. He could not always resist the ten^tation to convivial 
 excess, but he appears to have had the Christian grace to acknowledge the- 
 fault when committed, and repent of it. He continued his connection with 
 the Norwich church long after his removal to Canterbury, and perhaps till 
 his death. He was under the temporary discipline of the Norwich church 
 in 1704. 
 
 Yale College honors Major Fitei as one of its earliest patrons. He 
 
 * Decef recorded at New London. 
 
 t At Now Iiondon : dieed to Massiah Harding and: Bichard Cooke, of Eastham, — 
 1000 acres in Plainfield, Cooke sold to Elisha Payne, 
 
 J This was the Indian name of an island ia the riwer, neas which; ha settled. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 139 
 
 contributed to the funds gathered for its first establishment, gave the glass 
 and nails for the college edifice, and endowed it with 637 acres of land in 
 the town of Killingly. 
 
 He was twice married, and had thirteen children. His first wife, Eliz- 
 abeth Mason, died in 1684. He married, second. May 8th, 1687, Alice, 
 daughter of Major William Bradford of Plymouth, and relict of Eev. 
 William Adams of Dedham. She was sister of Thomas Bradford of 
 Norwich, and mother of Rev. Eliphalet Adams of New London. 
 
 Major Fitch died in Canterbury, Nov. 10th, 1727. His youngest son, 
 Jabez, born in 1702, was a respected inhabitant of Newent Society, where 
 he filled the offices of justice, judge, and colonel. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 Brief Memobials or the Propeietoes and their Descendants. 
 
 We have now reached the period when the first class of settlers disap- 
 pear from the scene. One generation has passed away, and another is 
 rapidly verging towards the down-hill of life. 
 
 Before dismissing this venerated band to their last resting-place, the 
 few facts which have been ascertained respecting each proprietor will be 
 rehearsed, with brief notices of his family, and glances at some of his 
 descendants. 
 
 I. Major John Masox. 
 
 Every memoir of Mason is obliged to take him up at the prime of life, 
 for of his birth,* parentage, and early yeai^, no certain information has 
 been obtained. "When he first appears in history, he is in the English 
 army under Sir Thomas Fairfax, fighting in the Netherlands in behalf of 
 the Dutch patriots, against the bigotry and tyranny of Spain. 
 
 He is supposed to have emigrated to this country in 1630, with Mr. 
 Warham's company that sailed from Plymouth, England, March 20th, 
 and arrived at Nantasket May 30th of that year.f But this can not be 
 stated with absolute certainty, as he has not been actually traced on this 
 side of the ocean before December, 1632, when he was engaged in a 
 cruise with John Gallop, under a conmiission from the Governor and 
 Magistrates of Massachusetts to search for a pirate called Dixy Bull, who 
 had for some time annoyed the coast with petty depredations. He was 
 then called Lieutenant Mason, but soon afterward attained the rank of 
 Captain.J In 1634, he was one of a Committee appointed to plan the 
 fortifuations of Boston Harbor, and was specially employed in raising a 
 battery upon Castle Island. 
 
 In March, 1635, he was the representative of Dorchester to the General 
 Court, but in the latter part of the same year, or early in the next, removed 
 
 * That he was born about 1600, may be inferred from his age at the time of his 
 death, — upwards of 70 in 1672. 
 t Prince's Chronology. 
 X Life of Mason, by Ellis. 
 
HISTORT OP NOBWICH. 141 
 
 with the major part of Mr. Warham's people to the Connecticut Valley. 
 Here the emigrants planted themselves on the western bank of Connecti- 
 cut river, above Hartford, and founded the pleasant and honorable town of 
 Windsor. 
 
 With the residence of Capt. Mason at Windsor, all the stirring scenes 
 of the Pequot war are connected. This was the great event of the early 
 history of Connecticut, and the overshadowing exploit of Mason's life. 
 He was instrumental in originating the expedition, formed the plan, fol- 
 lowed out its details, fought its battles, chnched, as it were with iron 
 screws, its results, and wrote its history. This war was begun and ended 
 when Connecticut had only 250 inhabitants, comprised principally in the 
 three towns of Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor. Out of these Mason 
 gathered a band of seventy men, and passing down Connecticut river, 
 landed in the Narragansett country, and being joined by a band of friendly 
 Indians, marched directly into the heart of the hostile territory, assailed 
 the Pequots in their strongest fortress, destroyed it, laid waste their dwel- 
 lings, and kUled nearly half of the whole nation. This expedition occu- 
 pied three weeks and two days. The skill, prudence, firmness and active 
 courage displayed by Mason in this exploit, were such as to gain him a 
 high standing among military commanders. From this period he became 
 renowned as an Indian fighter, and stood forth a buckler of defence to the 
 exposed colonists, but a trembling and a terror to the wild people of the 
 wilderness. 
 
 In 1637, he was appointed by the General Court the chief military 
 officer of the colony, his duty being "to train the military men" of the 
 several plantations ten days in every year: salary, forty pounds per 
 annum.* At a later period, [1654,] he was authorized to assemble aU 
 the train-bands of the colony once in two years for a general review. 
 The office was equivalent to that of Major-General. He retained it 
 through the remainder of his life, thirty-five years, and during that time 
 appears to have been the only person in the colony with the rank and title 
 of Major. 
 
 When the fort at Saybrook was transferred by Col. Fenwick to the 
 jurisdiction of the colony, Mason was appointed to receive the investment, 
 and at the special request of the inhabitants he removed to that place and 
 was made commander of the station. Here he had his home for the next 
 twelve years. 
 
 The people of New Haven were not entirely satisfied with their loca- 
 tion, and formed a design of removing to a tract of land which they had 
 purchased on the Delaware river. In 1651, they proposed this matter to 
 
 * " The saide Capt. Mason shall have liberty to traine the saide military men in 
 every plantation tenn dayes in every yeere, eoe as it be not in June or July." Conn. 
 CoI.Kec., 1, 15. 
 
142 HISTORY OP NOKWICH. 
 
 Capt. Mason, urgently requesting him to remove with them, and take the 
 management of the company. This invitation is a proof of the high 
 opinion his cootemporaries had formed both of his civil and military tal- 
 ents. The offers they made him were liberal, and he was on the point of 
 accepting, when the Legislature of Connecticut interfered, entreating him 
 not to leave the colony, and declaring that they could by no means con- 
 sent to his removal. Finding that his presence was considered essential 
 to the safety of Connecticut, he declined the offers of New Haven. If he 
 went, there was no one left who could make his place good ; neither had 
 New Haven any person in reserve, who could fiU the station designed for 
 him, and therefore the projected settlement never took place. The active 
 disposition of Mason, however, never lacked employment. There was 
 scarcely a year in which he was not obliged to go on some expedition 
 among the Indian tribes, to negotiate, or to fight, or to pacify their mutual 
 quarrels. At one time, his faithful friend Uncas was in danger from a 
 powerful league of the other tribes, but the seasonable preparations of 
 Mason for his reUef, frightened the foe into peace and submission. At 
 auother time, he was sent with arms and men to the assistance of the 
 Long Island Indians, against Ninigrate, the powerful sachem of the Na- 
 hanticks, who threatened them with extirpation. This service he gallantly 
 performed ; but only two years afterwards was compelled to appear again 
 on that Island with a band of soldiers, in order to chastise the very Indians, 
 mischievous and ungrateful, whom he had before reheved. 
 
 We find him, at the same time, and for several years in succession, 
 holding various public oflices, all arduous and important. He was Indian 
 agent, Indian umpire, and the counselor of the government in all Indian 
 concerns ; captain of the fort, justice of the peace, and empowered to hold 
 courts as a judge ; a member likewise of two deliberative bodies, the Con- 
 n^.cticut Legislature, and the Board of Commissioners of the United Col- 
 on es ; Major-General of the militia at home, and the acting commander 
 in all expeditions abroad. In 1660 he was chosen Deputy Governor, to 
 which office he was annually re-elected for eight years, five under the old' 
 form, and three under the King's charter, which united Connecticut with 
 New Haven. The same year he was actively employed, in conjunction 
 with Mr. Fitch and others, in effecting the settlement of Norwich, and 
 also in purch;ising of the Mohegans a large tract of land, in behalf of the 
 colony. 
 
 At this time also, for nearly two years, he performed all the duties of 
 the chief magistrate of the colony, — "SA'inthrop, the Governor, being absent 
 in England, engaged in negotiations respecting the charter. 
 
 Thus the life of Mason on this continent may be distributed into four 
 portions. The fir^ t w as given to Dorchester, and the remainder in nearly 
 equal parts to the three towns in Connecticut that he assisted in planting. 
 
■HISTOST OP NORWICH. 143 
 
 liientenant and Captain at Dorchester, five and a half years. 
 
 Conqueror of ifee Pequots, magistrate and major at Windsor, twelve 
 years. 
 
 Captain of the fert, and Commissioner of the United Colonies at Say- 
 brook, twelve. 
 
 Deputy Governor and Assistant at Norwich, twelve. 
 
 He vfas not chosen Deputy Governor after 1668, but continued in duty 
 as an Assistant, and was present for the last time at the election in May, 
 1671. 
 
 Of the original band of Norwich purchasers, Mason was one of the 
 earliest laid in the grave.* He died Jan. 30, 1671-2. According to 
 Trumbull, he was ia the seventy-third year of his age. His last hours 
 were cheered by the prayers and counsels of his beloved pastor and son- 
 in-law, Mr Fitch. Two years before, he had requested his fellow-citizens 
 to excuse him from all further public services, on account of his age and 
 infirmity ; so that the close of his life, though overshadowed by sufi^ering 
 from an acute disease, was unharrassed by care and responsibility. There 
 is no coeval record that points out his burial-place, but uniform tradition 
 «nd current belief in the neighborhood, from generation to generation, 
 ieave no reason to doubt that he was interred where other inhabitants of 
 that generation were laid, that is, in the Post and Gager Burial Ground, 
 ■or First Cemetery of Norwich. 
 
 He had been for twelve years an inhabitant of Norwich. It was his 
 ■chosen home, and no urgent motive can be assigned for his interment else- 
 ■where. Moreover, it was mid-winter, when a traveling procession in a 
 aew country, with the imperfect accommodations of that period, would 
 have been almost impracticable. Had he been removed, under such cir- 
 cumstances, to any other place for interment, (to Saybrook or Windsor, 
 for example,) the event would have been of public notoriety throughout 
 the colony, and must inevitably have been recorded somewhere in the 
 annals of the day. 
 
 All the probabilities therefore are in favor of his having been buried in 
 Norwich. And if so, where ? Not in a quiet nook in some portion of his 
 own ground, for solitary private interments were not common in those days, 
 iand if the renowned Capt Mason had been entombed in his garden or his 
 
 * Richard Hendy had deceased before this period, but no prominent proprietor, ex- 
 cept Williaia Baclius, Sen. The precise date of Mason's death is ascertained from a 
 cotemporary journal Isept by Eer. Simon Bradstreet of New London, whose record is 
 as follows : 
 
 •"Jan: 30, 1671 (O. S.) Major Jno. Mason who had severall times been Deputy 
 Govern' of Counecticot Colony dyed. He was aged about 70. He Uyod the 2 or 3 
 last years of his life in Extream misery with ye stone or strangury or some such desease. 
 He dyed with much comfort and assur" it should be well with him." Hist, and ''' 
 
144 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 field, would all knowledge of the fact hare been completely obliterated 
 from history, memory, and tradition ? Would his sons have sold their 
 inheritance without recording the fact that it contained their father's sep- 
 ulchre, and stipulating that his remains should be respected ? "We may 
 take it for granted therefore that Mason was buried in the common place 
 of sepulture with his friends and neighbors.* 
 
 In that primitive cemetery, the only memorials erected in honor of the 
 dead were a grassy hillock, and a block of unhewn granite at the head and 
 foot of the grave. No squared pillars or chiseled inscriptions decorated 
 this humble spot. The stones gradually sunk into the earth, or were 
 removed by those that knew not they had any watch to keep ; the graves 
 wore away to a level with the field, and then a little below it, and long 
 before the end of another century, the ploughshare and the seedsman 
 passed over and obliterated every vestige of grave and monument from 
 the place. 
 
 Mason is one of the prominent figures in our early history. He shines 
 forth as a valiant soldier and a wise counselor. He was prudent, and yet 
 enterprising ; fertile in resources ; prompt and heroic in the field of action. 
 The natural ardor of his mind, fostered by early military adventures, and 
 continually called into exercise by great emergencies, made him a fearless 
 leader in war. Sturdy in frame, and hardy in constitution ; regardless of 
 danger, fatigue, or exposure ; he was invaluable as a pioneer in difficult 
 enterprises, and a founder of new plantations. He was also a religious 
 man and a patriot ; of virtuous habits, and modejate ambition. Though 
 he sustained many high and honorable ofiices in the infant colony, he is 
 best known by the simple title of Captain. Trumbull comprises his 
 peculiar traits in these few words : " He was tall and portly, full of martial 
 fire, and shunned no hardships or dangers in the defence and service of 
 the colony." 
 
 His sign manual seems expressive of his massive person and bold de- 
 cision of purpose. 
 
 /SS/ 
 
 * This argument, seeiningly unnecessary, i9 prompted by the doubts and snrmisea 
 that have been broached respecting the place of Mason's burial. Such doubts appear 
 to the author entirely baseless. They have originated, doubtless, from the absence of 
 grave-stones and the obliteration of hillocks in this old burial-place. The meditative 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 145 
 
 Yet viewing the character of Mason at this distance of time, we become 
 aware of some rigid and imperious features. Though faithful to his con- 
 victions of duty, he was stern and unrelenting in the execution of justice, 
 and as a magistrate and commander, dictatorial and self-reliant. 
 
 Roger Williams, in his correspondence with Winthrop of New London,* 
 refers to Mason in terms which lead us to infer that the latter, as a neigh- 
 bor, was not particularly acceptable to other plantations : 
 
 " Since I mention Capt. Mason, worthy sir, I humbly beg of the Father of Lights 
 to guide you in youre converse and neighbourliood with him." 
 
 " Sir, heape coales of fire on Capt. Mason's head, conquer evil with good but be not 
 cowardly and overcome with any evill." 
 
 Again, alluding to dispatches that he had received from Capt. Mason, 
 he says : 
 
 " The letters are kind to myself but terrible to all these natives, especially to the 
 sachims." 
 
 Uncas and his tribe were peculiarly the wards and adherents of Mason,, 
 and he seemed pledged to defend them against all complaints. Several' 
 times he interfered to screen his favorite sachem from punishment, for his. 
 insolent bearing towards the neighboring settlements, or for his depreda- 
 tions upon private property ; but towards other native clans. Mason was 
 often a severe and exacting ruler. In September, 1639, he broke up with 
 ruthless determination a small settlement of the Pequots, whose only 
 offence was, that they had huddled together at Pawcatuck, upon the skirt'^ 
 of their former domain, and were endeavoring to obtain a comfortable 
 subsistence. With about forty of his own men, and a horde of Mohegans • 
 under the command of Uncas, he made a sudden descent upon the village, 
 dispersed the terrified inhabitants, or took them prisoners, plundered and 
 burnt the wigwams, destroyed all the goods and provisions that could not 
 be removed, and returned with thirty canoes, taken from the natives and. 
 filled with their plunder. They found a harmless people, prospering by 
 means of their corn-fields and fishing-boats ; they swept over the scene,- 
 and left nothing but flight, terror, and desolation. 
 
 It was probably an act of sagacious foresight, but not of true heroism. . 
 We would willingly blot it out of the history of our gallant captain. Yeti 
 it must be conceded that undue severity to the aborigines was then a part 
 of the law of the land, and not a peculiarity in the character of Mason. . 
 
 mind very naturally asks itself, — Can it be that this bold Connecticut pioneer has been 
 left in this unnoticed spot for nearly 200 years, without a stone to mark his grave V 
 After wonder at this forgetfulness, comes a doubt of the fact. Yet there is but this one^ 
 place pointed out by tradition, and this is sustained by all the attendant circumstances.. 
 * Winthrop Papers in Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d series, 9, 278, Letters of 1648-9. 
 10 
 
146 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 We may be disposed to charge him with cruelty to a vanquished foe ; but 
 the same taint lies on most of the early colonists. He only shared in the 
 ferocious character of the age, and we may add, in that misconstruction of 
 the spirit of Christianity, which devoted its enemies to immediate and vm- 
 dicfive destruction. 
 
 Of the first marriage of Capt. Mason, no date or specification has been 
 recovered. A memorandum in the old Church Book at Windsor gives 
 the number of those who had died in the plantation before the year 1639, 
 and mentions as one of them, the Gaptain^s wife. No other inhabitant is 
 known to have had at that time the title of Captain, and therefore this 
 may be pronounced, without hesitation, the wife of Mason. In July, 1639, 
 he was married to Anne Peck, who was the mother of the seven children 
 recorded at Norwich, which list is supposed to comprise his whole off- 
 spring. 
 
 Mrs. Anne Mason died at Norwich, before her husband. A memorial 
 sermon, preached by Mr. Fitch, represents her as a woman of eminent 
 piety, and "gifted with a measure of knowledge above what is usual in 
 her sex." 
 
 " I need not tell you, (says the preacher,) what a Dorcas you have lost; 
 men, women and children are ready with weeping to acknowledge what 
 works of mercy she hath done for them."* 
 
 The family is registered at Norwich, with this heading : " The names 
 and ages of the children of Major Mason." The day of the month is not 
 given, nor the place of birth. The list is as follows : 
 
 Priscilla, born in October, 1641. 
 
 Samuel, 
 
 " July, 1644. 
 
 John, 
 
 " A«gust, 1646. 
 
 Eachel, 
 
 " October, 1648, 
 
 Aune, 
 
 " June, 1650. 
 
 Daniel, 
 
 " April, 1652. 
 
 Elizabeth, 
 
 " August, 1654. 
 
 The first three were probably born in Windsor, the others at Saybrook. 
 
 Of this group, three were ingrafted into the Fitch family. Rev. James 
 Fitch married for his second wife, in October, 1664, Priscilla Mason; John 
 Mason, 2d, married Abigail Fitch ; and James Fitch, 2d, married Eliza- 
 beth Mason, Jan. 1, 1G76. 
 
 * Printed at Cambridge by Samuel Green in 1672. But neither the date of Mrs. 
 Mason'a deatli, nor the time when the sermon was preached, is stated. The title page 
 rsimply refurs to her death as preceding that of her husband. 
 
 "A Sermon preached upon the occasion of the Death and Decease of that piously 
 .afFocte.l and truly religious Matron, Mrs. Anne Mason, sometime wife to Major Masoli 
 who not long aftei- finished his course and is now at rest. By Mr. James Fitch Pastor 
 of the Church at Norwich." • ' 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 14T 
 
 Rachel Mason became the second wife of Charles Hill of New London. 
 They were married June 12, 1678, and she died in less than a year after- 
 ward. 
 
 Anne Mason married, Nov. 8, 1 672, Capt. John Brown of Swanzey. 
 
 John Mason, second son of the Major, succeeded to his father's accom- 
 modations in Norwich. 
 
 This gallant young Captain was severely, and as it proved, fatally 
 wounded in the great swamp fight at Narragansett, Dec. 19, 1675. It is 
 probable that he was brought home from that sanguinary field by his Mo- 
 hegan warriors on an Indian bier. His wounds never healed. After lin- 
 gering several months, he died, as is supposed, in the same house where 
 his father expired, and was doubtless laid by his side in the old obliterated 
 grave-yard of the first-comers. Though scarcely thirty years of age at 
 the time of his death, he stood high in public esteem both in a civil and 
 military capacity. He had represented the town at three sessions of the 
 Legislature, and was chosen an Assistant the year of his decease. In the 
 probate of his estate before the County Court, he is called " the worshipful 
 John Mason." The Rev. Mr. Bradstreet of New London records his 
 death in these terms : 
 
 " My hon'd and dear Friend Capt. Jno. Mason one of ye magistrates of this Colony, 
 and second son of Major Jno. Mason, dyed,"* Sept. 18, 1676. 
 
 He left two young children : Anne, who married John Denison ; and 
 John, born at Norwich in 1673, afterward known as Capt. John Mason, 
 being the third in lineal succession who had borne the name and title. 
 He is best known as an Indian claimant, visiting England to assert the 
 rights of the heirs of Major Mason to those lands which the latter pur- 
 chased as agent of the colony. His connection with this long Mohegan 
 controversy, will bring him at another period within the range of our 
 history. 
 
 The other sons of Major Mason, Samuel and Daniel, settled in Stoning- 
 ton, on an ample domain given by the colony to their father, near the 
 border of Long Island Sound. Samuel was chosen an Assistant in 1683, 
 and acquired the same military rank as his father, being known also as 
 Major Mason. He was one of the four purchasers of Lebanon, but never 
 removed thither. He died at Stonington, March 30, 1705, leaving 
 four children, all daughters. His only son, John,, died ten days before 
 him, aged twenty-eight, and unmarried. The male branch in this line 
 here became extinct, but the name was continued in the line of the oldest 
 daughter, Anne, who married her cousin, the third John Mason, before 
 mentioned. 
 
 * Hist, and Gen. Ecg., 9, 46. 
 
148 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Lieut. Daniel Mason, the early schoolmaster of Norwich, died at Ston- 
 ington, Jan. 28, 1736-7, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. His first wife 
 was Margaret Denison of Roxbury, and his second Eebecca Hobart of 
 Hingham. His oldest son, Daniel, married Dorothy Hobart, and settled 
 in Lebanon, where he died, July 4, 1706, thirty years before the decease 
 of his father, leaving only one child, an infant son, named Jeremiah, after 
 his grandfather. Rev. Jeremiah Hobart.* 
 
 n. Rev. James Fitch. 
 
 This venerated man died at Lebanon ; a plantation in which he had 
 taken great interest, and where several of his children had established 
 their homes. In the quiet cemetery of that place, where almost a congre- 
 gation of good and great men have since been gathered, he was laid to 
 rest. The monumental tablet that marks his grave, has an elaborate 
 Latin inscription, said to have been written by his son, the Rev. Jabez 
 Fitch,* that furnishes a judicious and comprehensive summary of his life 
 and character. ' 
 
 [translation.] 
 
 In this tomb are deposited the remains of the truly Reverend Mr. James Fitch : bom 
 at Booking, ia the county of Essex, England, December 24, 1632 ; who, after he had 
 been well instructed in the learned languages, came to New England at the age of 16, 
 and passed seven years under the instruction of those eminent divines, Mr. Hooker and 
 Mr. Stone. Afterward he discharged the pastoral office at Saybrookfor 14 years, fix>m 
 whence, with the greater part of Ms church, he removed to Norwich, and there spent 
 the succeeding years of his life, engaged in the work of the Grospel, till age and infirmity 
 obliged him to withdraw from public labor. At length he retired to his children at Leb- 
 anon, where scarcely half a year had passed, when he fell asleep in Jesus, Nov. 18,{ 
 1702, in the 80th year of his age. He was a man, for penetration of mind, solidity of 
 judgment, devotion to the sacred duties of his office, and entire holiness of life, as also 
 for skill and energy in preaching, inferior to none. 
 
 Mr. Fitch is placed by Mather in his second classis of New England 
 ministers, — consisting of "young scholars, whose education for their 
 
 * Mrs. Dorothy Mason subsequently married Hezekiah Brainerd of Haddam. The 
 devoted missionary to the Delaware Indians (David Brainerd) was one of the children 
 of this connection. 
 
 t Mass. Hist. Coll., 10, 68. 
 
 X In the town book at Lebanon, Nov, 19 is the recorded day of Mr. Fitch's death. 
 Slight discrepancies in the cotemporaneous records of deaths frequently occur, and may 
 B0B»9times result from one giving the d ly of death, and another that of interment. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 149 
 
 designed ministry not being finished, came over from England witli tlieir 
 friends, and had their education perfected in this country before the Col- 
 lege was come into maturity enough to bestow its laurels."* 
 
 It appears that the father of the family had deceased, and that the 
 mother with several sons emigrated to this country in 1638. The exact 
 number of the brothers that came over has not been definitely ascertained. 
 Thomas, Joseph and James can be clearly traced. But there was a coeval 
 Samuel Fitch, schoolmaster at Hartford, that married, in 1650, the widow 
 of the first William Whiting, and subsequently removed to Milford, who 
 may have been another brother.f 
 
 Thomas Fitch settled in Norwalk, where, in the valuation of estates in 
 1665, he was the highest upon the list-f He is also the first person men- 
 tioned in the Patent of that town, granted in 1685, and from him in a line 
 of three generations, each bearing the same name. Gov. Thomas Fitch, 
 who occupied the chair of state in Connecticut from 1754 to 1766, was 
 descended. 
 
 Joseph Fitch eaa be traced as a landholder, or as a temporary inhabit- 
 ant, at Norwalk, Hartford, and Northampton ; but he ultimately settled at 
 Windsor, upoa a valuable farm near the boundary line of the present 
 towns of East Hartford and East Windsor. John Fitch, whose name is 
 honorably connected with the invention of steam navigation, was a de- 
 scendant of Joseph, and bom Jan. 21, 1743, near the place where his 
 ancestor settled, on the Windsor part of the farm. 
 
 Of Mr. James Fitch, our immediate subject, we have a statement of his 
 birth, emigration at the age of sixteen, and seven years of theological 
 instruction at Hartford, and this is all that is known of him previous to 
 his ordination at Saybrook in 1646. At this ceremony, Mr. Hooker of 
 Hartford was present, but the imposition of hands was by two of the 
 brethren appointed by the church to that office. The same form was also 
 used at the same place, at the ordination of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Buck- 
 ingham in 1670.§ Mr. Hooker had himself been ordained in the same 
 manner at Cambridge. This was a Congregational ordination in the 
 strictest sense of the term. 
 
 The element of independence thus wrought into the original structure 
 «f Mr. Fitch's church, was brought with it to Norwich, and has never died 
 out. Though not subsequently asserting its rights in the special form of 
 ordination, the congregational principle struck its roots deep, and has ever 
 
 * Magnalia, 1, 215. Hart. Edition. 
 
 t la Westcott's Life of John Fiteh, it is said that five brothers emigrated, bat the 
 aathority seems only traditionary. 
 t Hall's History of Norwalk. 
 i Trumbull's Conn., 1, 299. 
 
150 HISTOBY OP NORWICH. 
 
 since maintained its ground, giving something of a distinctive character to 
 the church in its whole course.* 
 
 When a part of Mr. Fitch's church decided, in 1660, to remove to 
 Norwich, it was a subject of some contention between the two parties 
 whether he should stay with those who were to remain, or go with those 
 who should remove. He was greatly beloved by all, and.each side claimed 
 him. After solemn prayer and long deliberation, Mr. Fitch decided that 
 it was his duty to keep with the majority, and this brought him to Nor- 
 wich. Soon after his removal thither, the people of Hartford invited him 
 to become their minister, thinking, probably, that the hardships of a new 
 settlement, and the prospect of extensive usefulness in a wider and more 
 elevated sphere, might induce him to leave his flock. The only reply he 
 sent to their invitation was this: "With whom then shall I leave these 
 few poor sheep in the wilderness ? " 
 
 The oldest Election Sermon in Connecticut, of which any record has 
 been discovered, was preached by Mr. Fitch, in 1674, from this text: 
 "For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and 
 will be the glory in the midst of her.^f 
 
 Other products of his pen, yet extant, are : a sermon on the death of 
 Anne, wife of Major Mason, 1 672, and a small volume printed at Boston 
 in 1683, with an Introduction by Rev. Increase Mather, and comprising 
 three distinct tracts, viz. : 
 
 A Treatise on the reformation of those erils which have been the procuring cause of 
 the late judgments upon New England. 
 
 The Norwich Covenant, which was solemnly renewed March 22, 1675. 
 
 A brief Discourse proving that the First Day of the week is the Christian Sabbath. 
 
 The multiplied labors of Mr. Fitch in behalf of the Indians, to civihze. 
 Christianize, and render them comfortable, have been heretofore noticed. 
 His correspondence with the Governor and Assistants was voluminous. 
 Among the documents of the State, lettere concerning the wayward natives 
 are yet extant, bearing his signature. 
 
 * Rev. H. r. Arms, the successor of Mr. Fitch at the present day, — the sixth incum- 
 bent of the pastoral office in the old town of Norwich, — in i'«ference to the ordination 
 of Mr. Fitch, observes : 
 
 " We retain the same principles, and hold that all ecclesiastical authority is vested 
 in the individual churches, and that while, as a matter of Christian courtesy, we ask 
 the aid of a council in ordaining o.r deposing ministers, we accede to that council no 
 authority beyond what the church delegates to it for the occasion." Norwich J,ubiles, 
 p. 252. ^ 
 
 t Conn. Col. Eec., 2. 222. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 151 
 
 As a pastor, Mr. Fitch was zealous and indefatigable. In addition to 
 his other labors, he trained several young men for the ministry, as he him- 
 self had been trained by Mr. Hooker. Eev. Samuel Whiting of "Wind- 
 ham, Taylor of Westfield, and Adams of New London, received a part 
 at least of their theological instruction from him. Before colleges and 
 academies were established in the land, a course of study in the family of 
 some experienced divine was the customary method of preparing young 
 men for the ministry. 
 
 Lebanon, we have said, was an offshoot of Norwich. In 1663, Major 
 Mason had ^ legislative grant of 500 acres of land, with his choice of 
 location in the unappropriated territory of the colony. It was taken up 
 " at a place called by the Indians Pomakuck near Norwich." 
 
 The registry is found on the records of the New London County 
 C!ourfc: 
 
 Wee whose names are under writeu according to the order from the Generall Court 
 wee have laid out five hundred ackers of upland and meadow for Maior Mason at po- 
 macook. Thomas Tract. 
 
 Francis Geiswold. 
 
 from Norwig 1665, the 6th [month left blank.] 
 
 Acknowledged by Uncas sachem of Mohegan in Court at ETew London Nor. 14, 
 J665. 
 
 Pomakuck, or Pomakook, was a tract of land upon Deep River brook, 
 near the borders of Lebanon and Franklin, the latter being then a part of 
 Norwich. In October, 1666, a grant was made to Mr. Fitch of 120 acres 
 adjoining Major Mason's land at Pomakook.* To this grant, Owaneco, 
 the son and successor of Uncas, at a subsequent period, in acknowledg- 
 ment of favors received from Mr. Fitch, added a tract five miles in length 
 and one in breadth. This munificent gift was familiarly called the Mile, 
 or Mr. Fiteh's Mile.f 
 
 Afterward the same chief, who claimed all the unsettled lands in this 
 quarter, sold to four proprietors, viz., Capt. Samuel Mason and Capt. John 
 Stanton of Stonington, Capt. Benjamin Brewster and Mr. John Birchard 
 of Norwich, a tract five miles square, " at a place called by the Indians 
 Poque-chan-neeg adjoining to the Mile, so called of the Eev. Mr. Fitch." 
 This deed bears date. Sept, 6, 1692, and was probably executed at Nor- 
 wich, the witnesses being Richard Bushnell and Thomas Adgate.J 
 
 » Conn. Col. Rec, 2, 49. 
 
 t L. Hebard, Esq., of Lebanon, estimates the Mile to have been a mile in width, lib- 
 eral measure, and about seven miles in length instead of Ave. It was bounded north by 
 Shetucket river, and east by Norwich. 
 
 1 Acknowledged before Samuel Mason, at Norwich, Jan. 5, 1698-9. Recorded at, 
 Lebanon, Book 1, Article 1. Endorsed, confirmed by Gen, Ass., May, 1705. 
 
152 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Tliese various grants, with certain strips and gores purchased at a later 
 date, make up the town of Lebanon. Major Mason was undoubtedly the 
 first English proprietor, but not a resident. 
 
 The distribution into lots, the occupation and actual settlement of the 
 town, befan in 1695.* The number of grants and allotments bearing 
 date in November of that year is about fifty. In the earliest roll of mhab- 
 itants, made soon after 1700, are the names of four sons of the Rev. Mr. 
 Fitch, — Jeremiah, Natlianicl, Joseph, and Eleazer. 
 
 According to tradition, the township was named by Mr. Fitch before a 
 house had been built, or a tree felled by a white man upon the tract. 
 Within the bounds of the Mile, was an extensive cedar forest, which, by 
 the principle of association, assisted also by the height of the land, sug- 
 gesting to the mind of its accomplished owner the Cedars of Lebanon, led 
 him to bestow the name of Lebanon upon the whole tract. 
 
 The town and its patron have reason to be satisfied with each other. 
 Quiet, beautiful, dignified Lebanon ! with its broad street like a continued 
 park, and its fertile farms, — the birth-place and resting-place of the two 
 Trumbulls, and of Williams, equally true-hearted and patriotic, — ^let pil- 
 grimages be made to its bounds, and wreaths, often renewed, laid upon the 
 graves of the fathers and patriots that rest in its bosora.t 
 
 To this new and interesting plantation Mr. Fitch, in the year 1701, 
 retired to die. A brief summer passed in its quiet, secluded shades, led 
 him gently forward to the tomb. His three youngest son?, Nathaniel, 
 Joseph, and Eleazer, early settlers of Lebanon, repose near him, with 
 head-stones to point out their graves. 
 
 Mr. Fitch was twice married, and had fourteen children, whose births 
 are all recorded at Norwich, though the first six were born in Saybrook, 
 and are also recorded there, with the death of the first wife. All the 
 children except Elizabeth are referred to as among the living, in the will 
 of their father, February, 1696, and it is not improbable that twelve fol- 
 lowed his remains to the grave. His first wife was Abigail, daughter of 
 the Rev. Henry Whitefield, whom be married in October, 1648. She 
 died at Saybrook, Sept. 9, 1 659, and in October, 1 664, he was united to 
 Priscilla Mason, who survived him. The date of her death has not been 
 ascertained. Her signature (Priscilla Fitch) is attached, with the names 
 
 * Tlio name, Lebanon, was cairont in the neighborhood of Norwich, before it was 
 given to the town. Grants at Lebanon, referring to certain parts of what is now Frank- 
 lin, wore recorded in 1687. The farms of John Johnson and Thomas Baldwin were 
 described as " near to Lebanon," and Johnson had ten acres in Lebanon Valley. Liill' 
 Lebanon and Lebanon Hill were terms used at that period in reference to places in 
 Franlilin. 
 
 t In 1850, there was no lawyer and no tavern in Lebanon. The population had 
 somewhat decreased, and was then only 1,901. 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 153 
 
 of Other Mason heirs, to a quit-claim deed to rights in Mohegan lands 
 derived from their ancestor Major Mason, March 20, 1710, probably 
 N. S. 1711. 
 
 The Fiteh family soon became numerous, and the name widely spread, 
 owing to the preponderance of sons in the early branches. Mr. Fitch had 
 himself nine sons, and his oldest son James the same number. Joseph 
 had seven sons, and Nathaniel fifteen children, of whom eleven were sons. 
 Eleazer, the youngest of the original family, was the only one who left no 
 posterity. 
 
 It is a little singular that not one of the sons of Mr. Fitch established 
 his permanent home in Norwich. James went to Canterbury. Samuel 
 settled on a farm in Preston as early as 1 687.* Daniel became an inhab- 
 itant of the North Parish of New London, in the immediate neighborhood 
 of Norwich, but not within its bounds. John went to "Windham. Jabez 
 pursued his ministerial calling at Ipswich and Portsmouth, and the four 
 others took up farms in Lebanon. 
 
 Capt. Daniel Fitch above named, of the North Parish (now Montville), 
 was born at Norwich in the fifth year afler the settlement, and died June 
 3, 1711. His inventory shows that he owned three farms, one at Trading 
 Cove, one at Dry Brook, and one lying on both sides of Connecticut path, 
 that is, the road to Hartford, through Colchester. The homestead farm at 
 Trading Cove was a town grant to his father, and has never been either 
 bought or sold, but has descended by inheritance to the present day, 
 (1865.) 
 
 As a general rule, the early Fitches were men of .capacity, and pros- 
 perous in their worldly concerns. It was formerly a current saying 
 among the farmers of the neighborhood, that the Fitches always settled 
 by a stream of water, which was equivalent to saying that they were 
 thriving men possessed of valuable farms. 
 
 The five daughters of the Rev. James Fitch were connected in mar- 
 riage as follows : 
 
 Abigail with Capt. John Mason, 2d. 
 
 Elizabeth with Rev. Edward Taylor of Westfield, Mass. 
 
 Hannah with Thomas Meeks, or Mix. 
 
 Dorothy with Nathaniel BisselL 
 
 Anna, the only daughter of the second marriage, became the wife of 
 Joseph Bradford. 
 
 Two of these daughters, viz., Abigail and Hannah, remained at Nor- 
 wich. Thomas Meeks married Hannah Fitch June 30, 1677. They 
 settled on the east of the Shetucket, but within the bounds of the Nine- 
 miles-square. 
 
 * Mr. Samuel Fitch died in 1725. He was the ancestor on the maternal side of As*- 
 Ktch, Esq., of Fitchvillo. 
 
154 
 
 HISTORY OP NORWICH, 
 
 By means also of intermarriages with other families of the town, Nor- 
 wich still retains a large interest in the family of her first revered minis- 
 ter. Not only his influence, memory, and example, but the vital current 
 that quickened his frame, flows in the veins of many of her children. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, who settled in the ministry at Westfield, Mass., had been a 
 theological student in the family of Mr. Fitch. His attachment to the 
 daughter probably commenced at that time. A love-letter that she re- 
 ceived from him before their marriage, has been preserved,* which dis- 
 plays in a striking manner the quaint and metaphorical taste of the age,— 
 a taste, the decline of which can not be lamented, since it seems better 
 adapted to the display of an elaborate fancy, than to express genuine feeling. 
 
 The address was accompanied with a crude sketch of a carrier dove 
 with an olive-branch in his mouth. 
 
 This for mv friend and only beloved 
 Miss Elizabeth Fitch, 
 at her father's house in Norwich. 
 
 AVestfield, 8 day of 7th month, 1674. 
 
 My Dove, 
 
 I send you not my heart, for that I trust is sent to Heaven long since, 
 and unless it hatli.wofuUy deceived me, it hath not taken up its lodgings in any one's 
 bosom on this side of the Royal City of the Great King, but yet the most of it that is 
 allowed to be layed out upon any creature doth safely and singly fall to your share. 
 
 So much my post pigeon presents you with here in these lines. Look not, I entreat 
 you, upon it as one of Love's hyperboles, if I borrow the beams of some sparkling 
 metaphor to illustrate my respects unto thyself by, for you having made my breast the 
 cabinet of your affections, as I yours mine, I know not how to offer a fitter compari- 
 son to set out my love by than to compare it unto a golden ball of pure fire, rolling up 
 and down my breast, from which tliere flies now and then a spark like a glorious beam 
 from the body of the flaming sun. But alas ! striving to catch these sparks into a love, 
 letter unto yourself, and to gild it with them as with a sunbeam, I find that by what 
 time they have fallen through my pen upon my paper they have lost their shine, and 
 fall only like a little smoke thereon instead of gilding them, wherefore, finding myself 
 so much deceived, I am ready to begrudge my instruments, for though my love within 
 my breast is so large that my heart is not sufficient to contain it, yet they can make it 
 no more room to ride into, than to squeeze it up betwixt my black ink and white paper. 
 But know that it is the coarsest part that is couchaut there, for the purest is too fine to 
 clothe in any linguish huswifry, or to be expressed in words. 
 
 * If not the original, at least a careful copy. 
 
HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 155 
 
 The writer then proceeds to show "that conjugal love should exceed all 
 other love," but in illustrating this point he runs into the style of a sermon, 
 and the lover is almost lost in the theologian. 
 
 Mr. Taylor was a man of great erudition, and left a large number of 
 MSS. behind him. One of his daughters by his second wife, Ruth Wyllis 
 of Hartford, was the wife of Rev. Dr. Lord of Norwich. Another daugh- 
 ter was mother of President Styles of Yale College. 
 
 III. Ad GATE. 
 
 No other Adgate except Thomas is found among the original settlers of 
 New England, and his name has not been traced until it appears at Say- 
 brook. From whence he came, or when, and whether alone or with wife 
 and children, are alike unknown. It is seldom that any name appears so 
 isolated and untraceable. The following record, with a registry of lands, 
 and his name, as present. at a town meeting in 1655, are the chief memo- 
 rials of him at Saybrook. 
 
 Childeen or Thomas Adgat. 
 Elizabeth bom the 10th of October, Anno 1651. 
 Hanna bom the 6th of October, Anno 1653. 
 
 At Norwich the same children are recorded with those of subsequent 
 birth, as follows : 
 
 Elizabeth, born in October, 1651 ; Hannah in October, 1653; Abigail 
 in August, 1661; Sarah in January, 1663; Rebecca in June, 1666; 
 Thomas in March, 1669-70. 
 
 No day of the month is given. The death of the first wife, and his 
 marriage with the second, are not registered. From incidental circum- 
 stances it is evident that the second wife was Mary, daughter of Matthew 
 Marvin and widow of Richard Bushnell, and it is probable that the mar- 
 riage took place about the time of the removal to Norwich. 
 
 The five daughters married respectively, Richard Bushnell, Samuel 
 Lothrop, Daniel Tracy, Christopher Huntington, and Joseph Huntington, 
 all proprietors of Norwich, of the first or second generation. 
 
 Thomas Adgate was a deacon of Mr. Fitch's church, but at what period 
 chosen to that office is not known. He was older than his pastor, and per- 
 haps his coeval in oiEce. It is probable that he exercised the functions 
 "for at least half a century. His will, dated May 22, 1704, commences, 
 " I Thomas Adgit, being in the 84th year of my age," &c. He died July 
 21, 1707. Mrs. Mary Adgate, his relict, died March 29, 1713. 
 
 The second Thomas Adgate was ^Iso deacon of the church, hoHing the 
 office for forty-two years. He died Dec. 10, 1760, aged 91. He had two 
 
156 HISTORY OP NOKWICH. 
 
 sons, Thomas and Matthew, both of whom had families. The former died 
 in the 34th and the latter in the 81st year of his age. Most of the 
 descendants emigrated to other states, and the name is now rare in this 
 vicinity. Matthew, the son of Matthew, removed in middle life to a place 
 called from him Adgate's Falls, in Chesterfield, New York. He was a 
 member of the Convention that formed the Constitution of New York in 
 1777. Asa Adgate, M. C. from Essex County, N. Y., from 1815 to 1817, 
 was his son. 
 
 William Adgate, brother of the last-named Matthew, occupied the 
 family homestead at Norwich, where he died in 1779, in the 35th year of 
 his age. His relict survived him thirty-three years. Their sons Daniel 
 and William had previously settled in Philadelphia, and the old residence 
 of the family went into other hands.* 
 
 IV. Alltj^. 
 
 Robert Allyn was of Salem in 1637, and enrolled as a member of the 
 church, May 15, 1642. He removed to New London in 1651, where he 
 obtained a grant of a large farm on the east side of the river, at a place 
 still known as Allyn's Point, but now in the town of Ledyard. He was 
 one of the first company of purchasers of Norwich, and resided for sev- 
 eral years in the western part of the town-plot. In 1661, he styles him- 
 self of " New-Norridge," and held the office of constable in 1669, but in 
 a deed of 1681 uses the formula, "I Robert Allyn of New London." 1 
 
 Among the early settlers of the country, we often meet with person! 
 whom it is difficult to locate. They possess lands that lap over the bounds 
 of adjoining settlements, and sometimes appear to belong to different town- 
 ships at one and the same time. 
 
 Robert Allyn had doubtless relinquished his house in Norwich to his 
 son John, and retired to his farm on the river, within the bounds of New 
 London, where he died in 1683. His age is unknown ; but he was freed 
 from training in 1669, probably upon attaining the age of 60, the custom- 
 ary limit of military service : this would make him about 75 at death. 
 
 The heirs to his estate were his son John, and four daughters, — Sarah, 
 wife of George Geares ; Mary, wife of Thomas Parke ; Hannah, wife of 
 Thomas Rose ; and Deborah, who afterwards married John Gager, Jun. 
 The son received £133, and each of the daughters £66 6s. 
 
 John Allyn, the son, married Dec. 24, 1668, "Elizabeth, daughter of 
 John Gager of New Norwich." In 1691, he exchanged his homestead 
 
 * Oi-igin of the name : The prefix At was used to denote the residence of a person, 
 as James 'At Well, at the well ; Tom At Wood, at the wood ; Will At Gate, at the gate ; 
 BOW Atwell, Atwood, and Adgate. Sec Arthur's Family Names. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 157 
 
 and other privileges in Norwich with Joshua Abell and Simon Hunting- 
 ton, Jr., for lands east of the river, and transferred his residence to the 
 former seat of the family at Allyn's Point. This brought him again 
 within the bounds of New London, and his name appears in 1704 as one 
 of the patentees of that town. He died in 1709, leaving an estate of 
 £1278, to be divided between his son Robert and his daughter Elizabeth, 
 the wife of Thomas "Waterman. His inventory enumerates three farms 
 and a trading establishment upon the river. Among the moveables are 
 such articles of cost and comfort as a silver tankard, cup and tumbler, 
 a silver whistle, a gold ring, a wrought cushion, and a lignum-vitas mortar 
 and pestle. This was about the period when such small luxuries were 
 beginning to be diffused among prosperous farmers and traders. 
 
 With Robert AUyn of the third generation, the male line was still a 
 unit. He married Deborah Avery, and died in 1730, leaving nine child- 
 ren. Robert Allyn, of the fourth generation, occupied the same home- 
 stead at Allyn's Point, and dying in 1760, left an estate of more than 
 £3,000. His inventory of wearing apparel comprised : a blue coat with 
 brass buttons ; silk jacket and breeches ; laced jacket ; boots and spurs ; 
 gold sleeve-buttons and ring ; silver snuff-box ; silver buckles for shoes, 
 knees and neck-bands. 
 
 These successive inventories vividly illustrate the advance of the coun- 
 try in wealth, comfort, and elegance. 
 
 Allyn's Point, where stood the old homestead of the family, is about six 
 miles below Norwich, on the opposite side of the river from the Mohegan 
 
 Ids. The ancient fort of Uncas was in full view from the house. South 
 
 the pond and cove is a conspicuous elevation known as Allyn's Mount- 
 ain, from whence the prospect is wide and far-reaching. To this height 
 the neighbors were accustomed to resort as a look-out post, when the river 
 was visited by any unusual craft, or the Indians on the other side were 
 gathered for council or sport. From this place on the memorable 6th of 
 September, 1781, the conflagration of New London was witnessed by 
 women and children whose husbands and fathers had hastened to the 
 scene of action. In the war of 1812, the three blockaded vessels forming 
 the squadron of Commodore Decatur were laid up in the river near hjt 
 and on this hill his men threw up a redoubt and kept a sentry to watch 
 the movements in and near New London Harbor. 
 
 Backus. 
 
 Little is known of the history of William Backus, Sen. He is sup- 
 posed to have been living at Saybrook as early as 1 637. In the settle- 
 ment of the estate of John Charles, who died at Branford in 1673, the 
 
158 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 children of William Backus received a share, in right of their deceased 
 mother, who was his daughter. From this fact it is ascertained that the 
 fii-st wife of William Backus was Sarah, daughter of John Charles. 
 
 Before removing to Norwich, he married Mrs. Anne Bingham, and 
 brought with him to the new settlement three daughters, two sons, and his 
 wife's son, Thomas Bingham. The three young men were of mature age, 
 or near maturity, and are all usually reckoned as first proprietors. The 
 daughters were subsequently united in marriage to John Reynolds, Ben- 
 jamin Crane, and John Bayley. 
 
 The house-lots of the younger "William and of Stephen Backus are both 
 recorded as laid out in 1659 ; but the latter was the allotment of his father, 
 who dying at an early period after the settlement, and the land-records 
 being made at a later date, it was registered in Stephen's name, who had 
 received it by bequest from his father. Hence, William Backus, Senior, 
 does not appear on the town record as a land-holder. 
 
 His will, dated June 12, 1661, and witnessed by Thomas Tracy and 
 John Post, is recorded at Xew London, and endorsed as allowed by a 
 court held in that place, June 21, 1665. The inventory of his eifects is 
 found among ancient court documents at Hartford, dated June, 1664. 
 The date of his death has not been recovered. It is probable that it took 
 place soon after the signing of the wiU. The slender legacies mentioned 
 are suggestive of the limited resources of the settlement in its earliest 
 days, and we may fairly infer from the rapid growtli of the town after- 
 ward, that they would have been enlarged by a subsequent addition, or 
 that a fresh instrument would have been executed, had the testator sur- 
 vived until 1664. That three or four years intervened before the settle- 
 ment of the estate, scarcely militates against this supposition, when the 
 circumstances of the case are considered ; the land almost a wilderness, 
 the inhabitants engaged in arduous labors, the town but just organized, and 
 no justices, no law offices or courts within their own bounds. 
 
 The provisions of the will are few and simple. He has nothing to 
 bequeath but his house and land, cows, corn, household stuff, and "the 
 tools belonging to the trade of a smith or cutler;" and he confirms it with 
 the signature W. B., instead of writing his name. 
 
 It is interesting to observe how rapidly the settlement advanced in pros- 
 perity and comfort. This family and others in the course of a single gen- 
 eration grew strong and luxuriant, throwing out buds and branches of rich 
 and noble growth. 
 
 The death of Mrs. Backus is registered with the Bingham family. 
 
 "Mrs. Anne Backus, mother of Thomas Bingham Sen. died in May 1670." 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 159 
 
 V. Stephen Backus. 
 
 The rights and privileges of William Backus, Senior, were transferred 
 so soon after the settlement to his son Stephen, that the latter is accounted 
 the original proprietor. The house-lot was entered in his name, as to a 
 first purchaser. It lay upon the pent highway by the Yantic, between 
 the Town Green and the allotment of Thomas Bliss. 
 
 Stephen Backus was married in December, 1666, to Sarah Spencer, 
 After a residence of over thirty years in Norwich, he removed with his 
 family about the year 1692 to Canterbury, and there died in 1695. His 
 sons Stephen and Timothy are counted among the early settlers of that 
 town. Stephen, 2d, died May 1, 1707. An agreement subsequently 
 made by the heirs of the elder Stephen, has the signatures of the widow 
 Sarah Backus and her daughter Elizabeth, of Timothy Backus, and of 
 David Knight, Robert Green, and William Baker, who signed in behalf 
 of their wives, Sarah, Ruth, and Rebecca, daughters of the deceased. 
 
 VI. William Backus, Jr. 
 
 The second William Backus married Elizabeth, daughter of Lieut. 
 William Pratt of Saybrook. She was born Feb. 1, 1641. The date of 
 the marriage is not registered at Norwich, and it is probable that the 
 young couple did not remove to the new settlement till after the birth of 
 their first son, William, May 11, 1660. John, the second son, born Feb. 
 9, 1661-2, married Mary, daughter of Thomas Bingham. Hannah 
 Backus, one of the daughters of the family, found a partner in the second 
 Thomas Bingham. Both marriages have the same date, Feb. 17, 1691-2. 
 It was not uncommon in that day for families to be linked and interlinked 
 and the knots doubled and twisted as in the case of the Backuses and 
 Binghams. William Backus, 2d, is found on record with the successive 
 titles of Sergeant, Ensign, and Lieutenant, though he styles himself, in 
 deeds, simply yeoman. His will and inventory were presented for pro- 
 bate in April, 1721. 
 
 William Backus, 3d, son of the above, sold his accommodations in Nor- 
 wich to his father, in 1692, and removed to "the nameless new town lying 
 about ten miles N. W. of Norwich." His brother John also emigrated to 
 the same place, afterward named Windham, and both are reckoned among 
 the early proprietors of that town. The present Windham Green was 
 part of the original home-lot of William Backus. 
 
 Joseph and Nathaniel, the younger sons of William Backus, 2d, re- 
 mained in Norwich. Joseph married Elizabeth Huntington, and Nathan- 
 iel, Elizabeth Tracy, daughters of the proprietors Simon Huntington and 
 
160 HISTORT OP NORWICH. 
 
 John Tracy. Joseph and Simon Backus, the first two graduates of Tale 
 College of the name of Backus, were sons of Joseph. The former grad- 
 uated in 1718, and some eight or ten years later was styled by his cotem- 
 poraries, Lawyer Backus of Norwich. 
 
 A large number of the Backus family have acquired distinction in the 
 various walks of life. Elijah Backus, whose iron works at Yantic were 
 so serviceable to the country in the Revolutionary war, was a grandson of 
 Joseph. He married Lucy, daughter of John Griswold of Lyme. His 
 sons, and his son-in-law, Dudley "Woodbridge, were among the first emi- 
 grants to the banks of the Ohio. James Backus, one of the sons, as agent 
 of the Ohio Company, made the first surveys of Marietta, and is said to 
 have built the first regular house in that town. He afterward returned to 
 Norwich, and died at the family residence, Sept. 29, 1816. 
 
 The second Elijah Backus, an older brother of James, graduated at 
 Yale College in 1777, and for several years held the office of Collector of 
 Customs at New London. His first wife was Lucretia, daughter of Rus- 
 sell Hubbard, who died at New London in 1787.* He afterward married 
 Hannah, daughter of Guy Richards, and removed with his family to 
 Marietta, Ohio, where he died in 1811. His daughter Lucretia, born at 
 New London in 1787, married Nathaniel Pope, of Kaskaskia, Illinois, 
 delegate in Congress from Illinois in 1816, and Judge of the U. S. Dis- 
 trict Court. Major-General John Pope, U. S. A., is their son, born March 
 12, 1823. His mother, Mrs. Lucretia Pope, in remembrance of the place 
 of her father's nativity and of her own early associations, came from her 
 western home to attend the bi-centennial Jubilee at Norwich, in Septem- 
 ber, 1859. 
 
 Among the descendants of "William Backus, who were natives of the 
 old town of Norwich, the following clergymen are of note : 
 
 1. Simon Backus, son of Joseph, born at Norwich, Feb. 11, 1701, grad- 
 uated at Yale College in 1724, and was ordained pastor of the church at 
 Newington in 1727. He attended the expedition to Cape Breton, as 
 chaplain of the Connecticut troops, and died while on duty at that place, 
 in May, 1746. His wife was a sister of President Edwards of the New 
 Jersey College. 
 
 * Her grave-stono has the following inscription : 
 
 Hie jac : reliq : 
 
 Lucretia uxor 
 
 E. Backus Armig : 
 
 qu£B ob. Jan. 30. 
 
 An. Christ. 1787 
 
 ^tat. 25. 
 
 Quae latet Veritas sub umbra, 
 Noote prreterita tenebrarum partebit. 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 161 
 
 2. Eev. Simon Backus, son of the above, was pastor in Granby, Mass., 
 and died in 1828, aged 87. 
 
 3. Rev. Charles Backus, D. D., of Somers, born in that part of Nor- 
 wich which is now Franklin, Nov. 9, 1749, died in 1803. He had a high 
 reputation as an acute and able theologian, and prepared between forty 
 and fifty young men for the sacred office. Dr. Dwight said of him, "I 
 have not known a wiser man." 
 
 4. Rev. Isaac Backus, A. M., of Middleborough, Mass., was born at 
 Norwich, within the limits of the old town plot, Jan. 9, 1724, and died 
 Nov. 20, 1806. He was first a Separatist, and afterwards embracing 
 Baptist principles, became eminent in that denomination as a preacher, 
 and the author of several historical works relating to the difiusion of the 
 Baptist faith in New England. 
 
 5. Eev. Azel Backus, D. D., born in Franklin, Oct. 13, 1765, was a 
 nephew of Eev. Charles Backus of Somers. His father died when he 
 was a youth, and left him a farm, which, he said, "I wisely exchanged for 
 an education in College." He settled at Bethlem, Conn., as the successor 
 of Dr. Bellamy, but in 1812 was chosen the first President of Hamilton 
 College. The most noted of his writings is an Election Sermon preached 
 at Hartford in 1798, on the character of Absalom, — a political discourse 
 of strong partizan tendency. 
 
 VII. Baldwin.* 
 
 John Baldwin is a name often repeated among the early emigrants to 
 the New World. Two or three John Baldwins settled in Massachusetts. 
 John, the son of Sylvester, was at New Haven before 1640, and is sup- 
 posed to have removed to Stonington.f A person of the same name, 
 with several other Baldwins, is found among the planters at Milford in 
 1639, from whence he removed with his son John to Newark in 1667. 
 
 John Baldwin of Norwich stands apart from all these, no connection 
 between him and any other Baldwin family having been hitherto ascer- 
 tained. A family tradition has been current that he came to this country 
 in his youth with a relative, but had no brothers. His first appearance on 
 record is at Guilford, where he married, April 25, 1653, Hannah Burchet, 
 [probably Birchard.j The children recorded at Guilford are : 
 
 John, born Dec. 5, 1 654. 
 
 Hannah, born Oct. 6, 1656. 
 
 Sarah, born Nov. 25, 1658. 
 
 * The name, Baldwin, is said to be a contraction of Bold-winner, 
 t John Baldwin, first of New London and afterward of Stonington,' married widow 
 Kebecca Chesebrough, July 24, 1672. He died in 1683> 
 11 
 
162 HISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 The registry is not continued in Norwich, but we know that he had a 
 second son, Thomas, who was born in 1661 or 62. 
 
 Of the decease of the proprietor there is no account. His oldest son, 
 John, removed to Lebanon. He was one of the grantees of that planta- 
 tion in 1695, one of the selectmen of the newly organized township in 
 1699, and at the time of his decease in January, 1705, was a deacon of 
 the church. 
 
 "Thomas Baldwin, Husbandman," the second son of John the proprie- 
 tor, married Sarah, daughter of John Calkins. He died Sept. 16, 1741, 
 in the 80th year of his age. His farm was three miles distant from the 
 town-plot, and now forms a part of the large domain of Asa Fitch, Esq., 
 of Fitchville, Bozrah. Though he himself made a cross for his signature^ 
 in the course of three or four generations we find among his descendants, 
 divines, lawyers, physicians, scholars, and statesmen. He had four daugh- 
 ters, who passed in due time into other families, — Baldwin of Lebanon, 
 Birchard, Backus, and Post ,- and four sons, viz., John, who married Lucy 
 Metcalf of Lebanon, and his family removing to the Cohos country, as- 
 sisted in peopling the New Hampshire grants ; Thomas, Ebenezer, and 
 Jabez. 
 
 The second Thomas, son of Thomas and Sarah, baptized by Eev. Mr. 
 "Woodward, July 22, 1701, married Ann Bingham, 1730. They had eight 
 children. Their oldest son, the third Thomas Baldwin, bom in 1734, 
 studied medicine, and after a short term of practice, entered the army as 
 surgeon, and served in that capacity on the frontier, in the wars against 
 the French. He died in the prime of hfe, and probably while in the 
 service, before he had attained his 30th year. 
 
 He had married at a very early age, and left a widow, and an only son, 
 who continued the paternal name, and gave to it a distinguished reputa- 
 tion. This fourth Thomas Baldwin, in regular succession, was born in 
 the Bozrah district of Norwich, Dee. 23, 1753, and considered in the light 
 of a self-taught man, deriving but little aid from schools or books, and 
 gathering mental treasures slowly, in tlie intervals of a laborious farming 
 life, was one of the most noted chai'acters that the Nine-miles-square has 
 produced. 
 
 His mother married a second husband of the name of Fames, and when 
 he was about sixteen years of age the family removed to Canaan, N. H., 
 where they breasted the hardships of a frontier life. In that mountainous, 
 half-opened, spai-sely-inhabited district, the ministerial labors of Thomas 
 Baldwin commenced. He mai-ried, in September, 1775, Euth Hunting- 
 ton of Norwich, {o7ie of the Ruth Huntingtons, it might be said, for that 
 has been a name often duplicated in Norwich,) and spent several years, 
 fki-ming and studying, traveling and preaching, — a pains-taking, hard- 
 working, unpaid evangelist of the Baptist denomination. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 163 
 
 From these useful but obscure scenes, he was suddenly transferred, in 
 the year 1790, to the pastorate of a large, intelligent and wealthy society 
 in Boston. Yet he rose naturally to the requisite standard, and filled this 
 aew sphere as successfully as the former. The native vigor of his intel- 
 lect was equal to all demands made upon it. He became known as an 
 author, editor, and theologian, and exerted a powerful influence in favor 
 3f the denomination to which he belonged, concentrating its"~energies and 
 greatly enlarging the sphere of its operations. 
 
 He died suddenly, at Waterville, Maine, while on a visit to that place, 
 A.ug. 29, 1824, aged 71. 
 
 Capt. Ebenezer Baldwin, the third son of Thomas and Sarah, was born 
 May 7, 1710, and married Bethiah Barker, the nuptial contract being 
 Hade sure "per Jacob EUiot." The epitaph upon his tomb-stone con- 
 ienses the history of his life. 
 
 In Memory 
 
 of 
 
 Capt. Ebenezer Baldwin, 
 
 who departed this life May 2d 
 
 1792, aged 80 years. 
 
 A reputable citizen, 
 
 A kind husband, a tender parent, 
 
 An amiable cheerful neighbour, 
 
 And a good man. 
 
 Supported by Christian fortitude 
 
 He bore with singular Philosophy 
 
 the peculiar calamities of his life 
 
 during nine years of blindness and infirmity 
 
 and the extreme pains of 
 
 his last lingering sickness 
 
 in the sure hope of a long wished for 
 
 Eternity of happiness. 
 
 Ebenezer, the oldest son of Ebenezer and Bethiah Baldwin, born July^ 
 , 1745, was a graduate and tutor of Yale College ; ordained pastor at. 
 )anbury in 1770, entered the army as chaplain in 1776, and died in, 
 )ctober, 1777, aged 31. 
 
 Hon, Simeon Baldwin, so long known as Judge Baldwin of New Haven^ 
 ue of the sterling men of Connecticut, was also a son of Capt. Ebenezer 
 nd his wife Bethiah. He was born at Norwich, Dec. 14, 1761, grada- 
 ted at Yale CoUege in 1781, was member of Congress from Connecticut, 
 •om 1803 to 1805, Associate Judge of the Superior Court and Supreme- 
 lourt of Errors, and Mayor of the city of New Haven, where he died,, 
 [ay 26, 1851, in his 90th year. 
 
 His son, the Hon. Roger S. Baldwin, held the offices of Governor of 
 ■onnecticut, and U. S. Senator, serving his native state in her highest. 
 
164 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 executive and confederated capacity. He died at New Haven, Feb. 19, 
 1863. 
 Jabez Baldwin, the fourth son of the first Thomas, died in his 25th 
 
 year, without issue. 
 
 Vni. Bingham. 
 
 The house-lot of Thomas Bingham bears the date of AprU, 1 660, though 
 at that time ho could not have been over eighteen years of age. He mar- 
 ried, Dec. 12, 16G6, Mary Rudd, who is supposed to have been the daugh- 
 ter of Lieut. Jonathan Rudd of Saybrook. Her image rises before us 
 enveloped in a haze of romance, on account of her probable connection 
 with the story of Bride Brook. 
 
 The dainty little river or rivulet that bears this name, is in East Lyme, 
 and received its designation from a marriage ceremony that was performed 
 on its bank in the latter part of the year 164:6, or the early part of 1647. 
 The couple linked together were Jonathan Rudd and some unknown fair 
 one to whom with httle hazard of mistake we may give the gentle name 
 of Mary. New London and Saybrook were then adjoining towns, though 
 Lyme, East Lyme and TVaterford have since seated themselves between. 
 The scene of this solemn betrothal was a solitary spot, far from any human 
 habitation, unless it might have been of savage wigwams ; the ground was 
 covered with snow, and the solemnities must have been performed in the 
 open air. 
 
 Witnesses were not wanting on this interesting occasion. The air, we 
 may believe, was full, — and a goodly number belonging to the earth, stood 
 around, wrapped in their furry robes. John Winthrop, Esq., afterward 
 Governor of the Colony, was the acting magistrate ; a friendly cavalcade 
 accompanied him from New London, which, with the bridal party from 
 Saj'brook, arid a few wild faces peering curiously from the woods, made a 
 company suiHcient to relieve the wilderness of its silence and solitude. 
 
 This enlivening piece of romance, which comes like the breath from a 
 bank of violets across the sterile ridges of our early history, originated 
 from what the historian may consider a fortunate concurrence of untoward 
 events. No person duly qualified to perform the nuptial service was to be 
 found in Saybrook, and the route to Hartford was too much obstructed 
 wiiU snow to admit of travel in that direction. Application was made to 
 Mr. Winthrop at Pequot Harbor to come to Saybrook and ratify the con- 
 tract ; but he had been commissioned by Massachusetts, and his settlement 
 being under the jurisdiction of that colony, he could not exercise the func- 
 tions ol' a magistrate within the limits of Connecticut. To obviate the 
 difficulty, he proposed to meet the parties upon the border of the two gov- 
 
HISTOET OP NOBWICH. 165 
 
 ernments, and there, under tlie open expanse of heaven, to rivet the 
 golden chain. This arrangement not only gave novelty and brilliance to 
 the ceremony, but made it an incident of historical importance, subse- 
 quently cited and accepted as reliable testimony in a case relating to the 
 original bounds of the two plantations.* 
 
 The name of the bride of Bride Brook has not been recovered. Mary 
 E.udd, who became the wife of the young Norwich proprietor, Thomas 
 Bingham, is supposed to have been a daughter of the couple who were 
 there united, and probably their first-born child.f Her age at the time of 
 her death carries her birth back to 1648. 
 
 Thomas and Mary Bingham had eleven children, four of them daugh- 
 ters, viz., Mary, Ann, Abigail, and Deborah, who became in due time the 
 household partners of John Backus, Hezekiah Mason, Daniel Huntington, 
 and Stephen Tracy. The parents, with the greater part of their family, 
 removed to Windham, where Thomas Bingham can be traced for more 
 than thirty years, as sergeant, selectman, and deacon of the church. He 
 is on the first list of approved inhabitants in 1693, and appears to have 
 sustained through life a position of influence and respectability. Both in 
 a civil and rehgious capacity, he takes rank among the fathers of that 
 town. J 
 
 He died Jan. 16, 1729-30, aged 88. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Bingham died Aug. 4, 1726, aged 78. 
 
 Thomas Bingham, Jr., born Dec. 11, 1669, was the only one of the 
 sons that settled permanently in Norwich, and succeeded to the privileges 
 of his father as a proprietor of the town. He married Hannah, daughter 
 of WiUiam Backus, and died AprU 1, 1710, leaving eight children under 
 the age of 18. 
 
 Caleb Bingham, a bookseller of Boston, well known to the New Eng- 
 land schools of the last generation as the publisher of the Columbian 
 Orator and American Preceptor, was a descendant of Thomas Bingham 
 of Norwich. He was a native of Salisbury, Conn. 
 
 IX. BiRCHAKD, 
 
 Thomas Burchard, aged forty, embarked for New England in a vessel 
 called the True Love, Sept. 20, 1635, with his wife, Mary, and six child- 
 
 * Winthrop's deposition in Mareh, 1672, respecting the bounds between New London 
 and Lyme. Conn. Col. Eec, 2, 558, 
 
 t In a deed recorded at Saybrook, Nathaaiel Kudd calls Lieut. Jonathan Eudd his 
 father, and in a similar instrument upon record at Norwich, Thomas Bingham speaks 
 of Nathaniel Radd as his brother, from which it is inferred that Mary (Rudd) Bingham 
 was the daughter of Jonathan Rudd. 
 
 J W. A. Weaver's Notes on Windham, 
 
166 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 ren, one of them a son, named John, aged seven, and the others daugh- 
 ters, Thomas Bircher, made free at Bo-^ton, May 17, 1637, and Thomas 
 Birchwood, or Birchard, of Hartford in 1639, were probably the same 
 person. He is subsequently found at Saybrook, and was deputy from 
 that township to the General Court in 1650 and 51. After this there 
 seems to be no trace of him at Saybrook, except in a land sale made in 
 1656 by Thomas Birchard, " of Martin's Vineyard," to William Pratt, 
 wherein he quits claim for himself and in behalf of his son, John 
 
 Birchard.f 
 
 There can be little hesitation in assuming that John, son of the above 
 Thomas, (aged seven in 1635,) was the John Birchard that became a pro- 
 prietor of Norwich. He appears to have been a man of considerable 
 note in the company, particularly as a scribe, serving for several years as 
 Town Clerk and Eecorder. 
 
 John Birchard was one of the ten inhabitants of Norwich accepted as 
 freemen at Hartford in October, 1663, Clerk of the County Court in 1673, 
 a Commissioner or Justice of the Peace in 1676, and Deputy to the Gen- 
 eral Court in October, 1691. 
 
 (Autograph in 1680.) 
 
 The marriage of John Birchard and Christian Andrews, July 22, 1653, 
 and the births of fourteen chUdren, ranging from 1654 to November, 
 1680, are recorded at Norwich, The first five of the children and one of 
 later birth died in infancy. Ihe mother seems to have been called away 
 while her family was still young, and Mr, Birchard married for a second 
 wife, Jane, relict of Samuel Hyde and daughter of Thomas Lee, 
 
 In the settlement of Lebanon, Mr. Birchard took a prominent interest. 
 He was one of the four original proprietors of the five miles tract pur- 
 chased of Owaneco in 1692, He assisted in laying out the lands, removed 
 thither with his family, probably about 1G98, and there died, Nov. 17, 
 1702, — just two days before the decease of Mr, Fitch, His relict, Mrs. 
 Jane Birohard, died at Lebanon, Jan. 21, 1722-3. 
 
 Mr, Birchard had six sons that lived to maturity. Samuel, the oldest? 
 went to Windham, John, Joseph and Daniel are found among the early 
 inhabitants of Lebanon, though it is not certain that they all remained there. 
 
 * Mass. Hist. Coll., 3 : 8, 272. 
 
 t A Thomas Birchard died at Dca:chester, uear Boston, Oct. 3, 1657. Savage's Gien. 
 Diot., 1, 181. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 167 
 
 James Birchard, born July 16, 1665, settled at Norwich. "West Farms, 
 now Franklin. He married Elizabeth Beckwith, had a family of ten 
 children, and lived to be more than eighty years of age. 
 
 Thomas Birchard also settled in Norwich, and left descendants. The 
 name has never disappeared from the roU of inhabitants. 
 
 The tvro daughters of the proprietor, John Birchard, married John 
 Calkins and Jonathan Hajtshorn. 
 
 X. Bliss. 
 
 Thomas Bliss, Senior and Junior, had house-lots and divisions of land 
 in Hai-tford, as early as 1640. The senior died in Hartford, leaving nine 
 children, and his widow, Margaret, apparently a woman of resolute, inde- 
 pendent character, removed with the younger part of the family to Spring- 
 field. Thomas Bliss, Junior, is afterwards found at Saybrook, where his 
 marriage and the births of six children are recorded. The list is repeated 
 ■with some variation of date and the addition of two more children, at Nor- 
 wich. The wife's family name is not given in either place. " Thomas 
 and Elizabeth. Bliss were married the latter end of October, 1644." 
 
 The allotments of Thomas Bliss in Saybrook were eastward of the river 
 in what is now Lyme, His house-lot of thirty acres lay between John 
 Ompsted (Olmstead) on the north, and John Lay south. He sold it, July 
 23, 1662, to John Comstock. His home-lot in Norwich was also near to 
 that of John Olmstead, extending originally, at the north-west, to the pent 
 highway. That part where the house stands, has never been alienated. 
 Seven generations have dwelt on the same spot, and the house is supposed 
 mot to have been entirely rebuilt since it was erected by the first pro- 
 prietor.* 
 
 Thomas BKss died April 15, l,-688. His will, executed two days before 
 his death, was proved at New London, before Edward Palmes, June 13, 
 and allowed by Sir Edmund Andross at Boston ; this beiog the period 
 when that delegated despot arrogated to himself supreme authority over 
 the courts of New England. The will recognizes wife Elizabeth, son 
 Samuel, and six daughters. His eldest son, Thomas, had died without 
 issue, Jan. 29, 1681. Elizabeth, the relict, died Feb. 28, 1699-1700. 
 
 Samuel Bliss married, Dec. 8, 1681, Anna, daughter of John Elderkin. 
 
 Five of the daughters married as follows : 
 
 * "Bliss in 1659 ; Bliss in 1859 : no bad motto for a Norwich home." Gilman's 
 Hist. Discomrse, Sept. 7, 1859. The portrait of Dr. Benjamin Lord, one of the ven- 
 erable ministers of the parish, and the maternal ancestor of the present occupants, 
 hanging upon its walla, seems to accord .with the ancient date and juiet comfort of the 
 
 dweUiqg. 
 
168 HISTOET OP NOEWICH. 
 
 Elizabeth married Edward Smith of New London, June 7, 1663. 
 
 Sarah m. 1st, Thomas Sluman, Dec, 1668; 2d, Solomon Tracy. 
 
 Mary m. David Calkins of New London. 
 
 Deliverance (recorded also Deliver and Dolinda) m. Daniel Perkins of 
 Norwich. 
 
 Anne, one of the first-bom daughters of Norwich, m. Josiah Eock- 
 well, 1688. 
 
 Eebecca, the youngest daughter, born in 1663, has not been traced. 
 
 In the inventory of Thomas Bliss, his estate is estimated at £182.17.7, 
 He had land, besides his home-lot, over the river, — on the Little Plain,^ 
 at the Great Plain, — at the Falls, — ^in Tantic meadow, — in meadow at 
 Beaver Brook, — in pasture east of the town, — and on "Westward hill. 
 
 This illustrates the prudential course of the early rulers of the planta- 
 tion in regard to the common lands. They were divided in small quan- 
 tities at short intervals, corresponding to the gi-owth and necessities of the 
 town and the ability of the owners to clear them up and place them under 
 cultivaticm. 
 
 XI. Bowers. 
 
 Morgan Bowers came from that part of Saybrook which lay east of the 
 river, and is now Lyme. His home-lot in these Lyme grants was on, or 
 near Black Point, and had been in his possession about five years. Little 
 is known concerning him, either before or afler he removed to Norwich. 
 He was on the jury of the county court in 1 667, and again in 1 68(>. No 
 trace is found of wife or children, but probably he had both. It was dis- 
 reputable at that period for a man without a family to live as a house- 
 holder by himself. In his old age, however, he seems to have been both 
 lonely and infirm. 
 
 The following notice is recorded in 1701 : 
 
 " Morgan Bowers being unable to take care of and relieve himself, desirelb the town 
 would please to take care of hiiu, and what estate h& hath, that it should be disposed of 
 at the discretion of some persons appointed by the town, fojr his maintenance." 
 
 Tlie town accordingly appointed Lieut. Wm. Backus, Ensign Thomas 
 "Watorniaii, and Sergeant Caleb Abel, "to take care of the said Morgan 
 Bowers, and provide for him as Ids need requireth, by improving his own 
 estate for that end as far as it will go, and for want of estate of his owa 
 to provide for him on the town account." 
 
 Nothing later has been found respecting- liiuv 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 169 
 
 Xn. Bradford. 
 
 John Bradford was the son of "William Bradford, the Pilgrim Governor 
 of Plymouth Colony. His mother was Dorothy May, the earliest of our 
 May-flowers, the herald of those that give fragrance to the airs of spring, 
 and the graceful prototype of the white-winged hark that bore her and 
 the pioneers of freedom over the ocean.* 
 
 Dorothy May was the first wife of Governor Bradford. She embarked 
 with her husband for the Promised Land, — ^but, Hke Moses, only saw it at 
 a distance. After the vessel had anchored in Cape Cod Harbor, she fell 
 overboard and was drowned, Dec. 7, 1620, her husband being absent at 
 the time in a boat or shallop exploring the coast and selecting a place for 
 a settlement. 
 
 John Bradford was not the companion of his parents in this voyage, 
 and it is not ascertained when he came to this country. Very little ii 
 known of his early history, for neither Morton nor Prince, the earliest 
 authorities respecting Plymouth Colony, give any hint of the existence of 
 this son of Gov. Bradford. 
 
 He was of Duxbury in 1645; afterwards of Marshfield, and deputy to 
 the General Court from both places. He married Martha, daughter of 
 Thomas Bourne of Marshfield, but had no children. Of the circumstan- 
 ces which led him to leave the old colony and unite with the people of 
 Saybrook in founding a new plantation in the Mohegan wilderness, we 
 are ignorant. But it may be supposed that the project originated through 
 acquaintanceship and frequent intercourse with Mr. Jonathan Brewster, 
 who had so greatly benefited his outward condition by a similar change 
 ten years before. The two friends, however, if such they were, never 
 enjoyed the pleasures of friendly neighborhood, as Mr. Brewster was laid 
 in his grave before Mr. Bradford left the old colony. 
 
 The home-lot of the latter in Norwich bears the date of the oldest pro- 
 prietors, 16.59, and it is probable that he soon removed to the spot. His 
 farm in Duxbury was sold by "John Bradford, gentleman," to Christopher 
 Wads worth, in 1664. 
 
 Mr. Bradford was one of the townsmen of Norwich in 1671, but his 
 name seldom occurs on the records. His will was exhibited at the County 
 Court in September, 16.76. His widow married, after a short interval, 
 her opposite neighbor, Lieut. Thomas Tracy. The period of her death 
 is not ascertained, but the Lieutenant was living with a third wife in 
 1683. 
 
 After Mr. Bradford's death, his homestead reverted to his nephew, 
 Thomas Bradford, who sold it, April 2, 1691, to Simon Huntington, Jr., 
 
 * Was aot the vessel her namesake 1 
 
170 HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 
 
 describing it as "my home lot in Norwich with my new dwelling house 
 and pasture adjoining, 8^ acres, more or less, abutting on the town street, 
 19J rods." The price was £50 in country pay, or £25 in money.* 
 
 About this time Thomas Bradford engaged, in connection with his 
 brother-in-law, Nehemiah Smith of New London, (son of N. S., senior, 
 of Norwich,) in a large land purchase, made of Joseph and Jonathan 
 Bull of Hartford. This land lay on the west side of Nahantic Bay, and 
 was called the Soldier Farm, having been originally granted by the Leg- 
 islature to five of Capt. Mason's soldiers for services in the Pequot war. 
 On the northern portion of this tract, was a farm of about two hundred 
 acres, where Thomas Bradford settled. His house was not far from the 
 north-western comer of New London, as the bounds were then understood. 
 It would now fall within the town of Salem. 
 
 Thomas Bradford was a son of Major William Bradford of Plymouth. 
 He died in 1708. 
 
 Two of Major Bradford's daughters, own sisters of Thomas, found 
 partners among the inhabitants of Norwich. Alice, relict of Rev. "Wm. 
 Adams of Dedham, who became the second wife of Major James Fitch ; 
 and Melatiah, who married John Steele, then a resident of the town. 
 
 Joseph Bradford, another of the fifteen children of Major William of 
 Plymouth, also came to Connecticut. He married Anna, the youngest 
 daughter of the Rev. James Fitch, and settled first in Lebanon. After 
 the death of his wife, he made important purchases in the Mohegan terri- 
 tory, between Norwich and New London, and removed to this new field 
 in 1716. The district in which he settled was then the North Parish of 
 New London, but is now the town of Montville. 
 
 The births of ten children of Joseph and Anna Bradford are recorded 
 at Lebanon, — one son, Joseph, and nine daughters. Among them are 
 three couplets, or pairs of twins. He had also, by a second wife, a son 
 John, born May 20, 1717, at Blohegan. 
 
 Mr. Bradford was the only son of jMajor William Bradford by his 
 second wife, who was the widow Wiswall. From his grave-stone in the 
 Montville Cemetery, we learn that he was born in 1675. 
 
 "In memory of Lieutenant Joseph Bradford, who died Jany. 16, 1647, in the 73d. 
 year of his age." 
 
 * Three Huntington houses wore afterwards built on this lot, and still retain their 
 plaoes. They wore occupied for many yeai-s by the brothers, Andrew, Joshua, and 
 Ebeuozcr, sons of General Jabez Huntington. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 171 
 
 XIII. Hugh Calkins. 
 
 Hugh Calkins (or Caulkins*) was one of a body of emigrants, called 
 the "Welsh Company, that came to New England in 1640, from Chepstow 
 in Monmouthshire, on the border of Wales, with their minister, the Eev. 
 Mr. BUnman. The larger portion of this company settled first at Marsh- 
 field, but soon transferred their residence to Gloucester, upon the rough 
 promontory of Cape Ann. From thence, after eight years of experiment, 
 most of them removed to New London, hoping probably to find lands 
 more arable and productive, and allured also by alfectionate attachment 
 to Mr. Blinman, whom Mr. Winthrop had invited to his plantation. 
 
 Hugh Calkins was, in 1650, deputy from Gloucester to the General 
 Court of Massachusetts, and chosen again in 1651, but removing early in 
 that year to New London, the vacancy was filled by another election. 
 
 While living at New London, he was chosen twelve times deputy to 
 the Connecticut Assembly, (the elections being semi-annual,) and was one 
 of the townsmen, or select-men, invariably, from 1652 till he removed to 
 Norwich. 
 
 From Norwich he was deputy at ten sessions of the Legislature, be- 
 tween March, 1663, and October, 1671, and was one of the first deacons 
 of the Norwich church. At each of the three towns in which he was an 
 early settler and proprietor, he was largely employed in public business, 
 being usually appointed one of committees for consultation, for fortifying, 
 drafting soldiers, settling difficulties, and particularly for surveying lands 
 and determining boundaries. These offices imply a considerable range of 
 information, as well as activity and executive talent, yet he seems to 
 have had no early education, uniformly making only a bold H for his 
 signature. 
 
 In a deposition made in 1672, he stated that he was then 72 years of 
 age. The year 1 600 may therefore be taken as the date of his birth. 
 Of his wife, we only know that her name was Ann. Six children have 
 been traced, four of whom were probably born before the emigration to 
 this country. 
 
 Sarah, supposed to be the oldest child, was married at Gloucester, Oct. 
 28, 1645, to William Hough. This couple removed in 1651 to New Lon- 
 don, and several of their descendants afterwards settled in Norwich and 
 its vicinity. 
 
 Mary was married at Gloucester, Nov. 8, 1649, to Hugh Roberts; and 
 these also followed the fortunes of the family to New London. 
 
 Eebecca died at Gloucester, March 14, 1651. 
 
 Deborah was born at Gloucester, March 18, 1643-4, and is the only 
 
 * The name appears on the early records, written indifferently, with or without the 
 u, and with or without the final 8. 
 
172 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 one of the children the date of whose birth has been ascertained She 
 married Jonathan Eoyce, one of the first band of Norwich ijroprietors. 
 
 The two sons of Hugh Calkins were John and David. The former 
 removed with his father to Norwich. David remained in New London. 
 
 Deacon Hugh Calkins died in 1690, aged about 90 years. 
 
 XIV. John Calkins. 
 
 John Calkins, the oldest son of Hugh, was probably born about 1634. 
 He was old enough to be summoned to work, with other settlers, on the 
 mill-dam at New London in 1652. He married, at New London, Sarah, 
 daughter of Robert Royce, and his oldest child, Hugh, was born at that 
 place before the removal to Norwich. 
 
 John Calkins was one of the selectmen of Norwich in 1671, and on the 
 jury of the county court so late as 1691. He died Jan. 8, 1702-3. 
 Sarah, his relict, died May 1, 1711, aged 77 years. They had three 
 daughters that lived to maturity, Sarah, Mary, and Elizabeth, who mar- 
 ried in the same order, Thomas Baldwin, Samuel Gifford, and Samuel 
 Hyde. 
 
 They had also three sons, older than the daughters : 
 
 1. Hugh, born in June, 1659, married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Slu- 
 man and step-daughter of Solomon Tracy. She died in 1703, and he 
 married, second, Lois Standish, probably daughter of Capt. Josiah Stand- 
 ish of Preston. 
 
 He had five children, and left them at his death what was then consid- 
 ered a large estate. After providing for the widow, the oldest son had a 
 double portion, and the others inherited equal shares of £203 10s.* 
 
 INSCKIPTION UPON HIS GKAVE-STONE. 
 
 S E Rt H V G H 
 
 CALKINGS DYED 
 
 SEPTr 15. 1722 
 
 IN YE 63D Year 
 
 OF HIS AGE. 
 
 2. .John, the second son of the proprietor John, born in July, 1661, — 
 probalilj' the third male child born in Norwich, — married Abigail Birch- 
 anl, Oct. 23, 1690, and subsequently removed to Lebanon. He was the 
 first constable of that town, chosen at its organization, May 31, 1698, and 
 corporal of the first militia company, 1700. 
 
 * The inventory of hia effects, taken a few days after Ms death, mentions the articles 
 of honey, beeswax, butter, cider, and inetheglin, which shows the variety of domestic 
 produce of that day. Metheglin was a favorite beverage of the old inhabitants. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 173 
 
 His youngest son, James, born April 29, 1702, is on tbe list of Tale 
 College graduates as Mr. Jacobus Calking, 1725. He was an ordained 
 minister, and officiated as sucli for several years, but afterwards settled as 
 a farmer in tbe western district of Norwich, where he died in 1756. 
 
 3. Samuel, the third son of John, settled in Lebanon. Stephen, the 
 son of Samuel, born in 1706, was an active, stalwart, enterprising farmer, 
 famous in his time as a cattle-drover or horse-courser. He may be traced 
 by deeds, and town and court records, as a resident at Norwich, New 
 London, Lyme, Lebanon, and finally at Sharon, Ct., where several of his 
 sons settled, and from whence, after the Revolutionary war, his descend- 
 ants spread into western New York. 
 
 XV. Edgerton. 
 
 No earlier notice is obtained of Richard Edgerton, than the date of his 
 marriage, which is recorded at Saybrook, but without naming the wife. 
 The omission is supplied by the ampler details at Norwich. Richard 
 Edgerton and Mary Sylvester were married April 7, 1653. The birth of 
 three daughters is registered at Saybrook, reaching to September, 1659, 
 and in November of that year we have the date of his house-lot at Nor- 
 wich. 
 
 In this new home, six other children are added to the list, four of them 
 sons, John, Richard, Samuel, and Joseph, each of whom became the head 
 of a family. 
 
 Richard, the proprietor, served at different periods as townsman and 
 constable. He died in March, 1692. 
 
 John Edgerton, one of the earliest-born sons of Norwich, (b. June 12, 
 1662,) married Mary Reynolds, and died soon afterward, leaving an infant 
 son John, afterward known as Lieut. John Edgerton, the father of Capt. 
 Elisha Edgerton of the Revolutionary period. 
 
 Richard Edgerton, 2d, married Elizabeth Scudder, Jan. 4, 1692. He 
 died in 1729, and- his aged relict in 1762. 
 
 Samuel Edgerton married Alice Ripley, and died in 1748. Captain 
 James Edgerton, a noted ship-master of New London, who died in 1842, 
 was a descendant of this couple. 
 
 Joseph, the youngest son of the proprietor, was one of the original- 
 planters of Lebanon. 
 
174 HISTOBT OF NORWICH. 
 
 XVI. Gagee. 
 
 William Gager came to America in 1630, with Gov. "Winthrop, but 
 died the same year from a disease contracted by ill diet at sea, which 
 swept off many of the emigrants. He is characterized by cotemporary 
 journalists as " a skilful surgeon, a right godly man, and one of the dea- 
 cons of our congregation."* His son John, the only child that has been 
 traced,t was one of the company that settled at New London with John 
 Winthrop the younger.^ His name is there found on the earliest extant 
 list of inhabitants. 
 
 He had a grant from the town of New London, of a farm of two hund- 
 red acres,§ east of the river, near the straits, (now in Ledyard,) to which 
 he removed soon after 1 650, and there dwelt until he joined in the settle- 
 ment of Norwich and removed thither. His house-lot in the new town 
 bears the date of the oldest surveys, viz., November, 1659. He was con- 
 stable of Norwich in 1674 and 1688. 
 
 His oldest son, born in September, 1647, who in 1688 is styled "John 
 Gager of New London, son to John, Sen. of Norwich," died in 1691, 
 without issue. 
 
 The will of John Gager, the proprietor, dated Dec. 21, 1695, has the 
 descriptive passage, "being now aged and full of days;" but he hved eight 
 years longer, dying Dec. 10, 1703. His will provides for wife EUzabeth, 
 bequeathes all real estate to "only son Samuel," and adds "to my six sons 
 that married my daughters, viz. John Allyn, Daniel Brewster, Jeremiah 
 Eipley, Simon Huntington, Joshua Abel and Caleb Forbes,|| twenty shil- 
 lings each, having akeady given their wives considerable portions in move- 
 ables and lands." 
 
 It was much the custom in those days for men who had children arrived 
 at maturity, to become in great part their own executors, distributing their 
 estates by deed and assignment before death, resemng only a needful 
 portion for themselves, to be disposed of afterwards. This accounts for 
 
 * See Prince's Chronology, 1630; also, Life and Letters of John Winthrop. 
 t Gov. Winthrop, in a letter of Nov. 29, 1630, says : " I hare lost twelve of my 
 family," — and among them enumerates Mr. Gager and his wife and two children. 
 Savage's Winthrop, App. Vol. I. 
 
 t The elder Gov. Winthrop remembered him in the following item of his last will 
 and testament : 
 
 " I will that John Gager shall have a cow, one of the best I shall have, in recom- 
 pense of a heifer liis father bought of me, and two ewe goats, and ten bushels of Indian 
 corn." Sav. Winth., App. Vol. II. 
 
 § Sold in 1696 to Ralph Stoddard. 
 
 II Had he mentioned the nam^ of the wives in the order of their age, they would 
 have been, Elizabeth Allyn, Sarah Forbes, Bethiah Abel, Lydia Huntington, Hannah 
 Brewster, and Mary Ripley. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 175 
 
 he slendemess of many ancient inventories. That of John Gager in 
 L703 amounted to £49 16s. 
 Among the items enumerated are,— 
 
 One great Bibell. 
 One white-faced stag. 
 
 This last we may imagine to have been a domestic pet of the old peo- 
 ple. Several articles are mentioned belonging to the old-fashioned fire- 
 place, which the modern use of stove, furnace and range has rendered 
 almost obsolete ; such as, — 
 
 Two tramills, a peal and tongs. 
 
 A snit, warming-pan and andirons. 
 
 A pe(d (or peel) was a large flat shovel used to draw bread from the 
 oven. A common shovel was often termed a slice, and rniit was probably 
 ased for snuffers.* 
 
 Other articles that seem antique and homely to the present generation, 
 were porringers, wooden trenchers, and syllabub pots. 
 
 Many curious things are found in these old inventoriesy — ^very common 
 articles are eanns, of pewter or silver, piggins, keelers, pewter basins, and 
 a cow-bell. 
 
 Samuel Gager, only surviving son of John, born Feb., 1 654, married Re- 
 becca (Lay), relict of Daniel Raymond of New London, in 1695. He 
 was a man of good repute and considerable estate, a resident in the parish 
 of New Concord, but interred at his own request, as heretofore stated, in 
 the old neglected grave-yard of the first-comers, in the town-plot, where 
 some fragments of the stone may yet remain. 
 
 "William Gager, one of the sons of Samuel, born in 1704, graduated at 
 Tale College in 1721, and in 1725 was settled in the pastoral office at 
 Lebanon. He died in 1739. 
 
 Othniel Gager, who has held the office of Town Clerk in Norwich for 
 the last quarter of a century, is of the sixth generation in descent from 
 the first proprietor, in the line of John, oldest son of Samuel. 
 
 XVn. GlFFOKD. 
 
 Stephen Gifford's first marriage was with Hannah Gove, in May, 1667. 
 She died Jan. 24, 1670-1, leaving two children, Samuel and Hannah. 
 He married, second, Hannah, daughter of John Gallop of Stonington, 
 May 12, 1672. Four children are subsequently recorded to him, — John, 
 Ruth, Stephen, and Aquilla. 
 
 * See mite in Webster. 
 
176 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The proprietor and his second wife lived together more than half a 
 century, and died the same year. Twin head-stones of rough granite 
 record their decease. 
 
 MR MRS 
 
 STEPHEN GIFF HANNAH GIF 
 
 ORD DYEDNOVr ford DYEDJANy 
 
 27. 1724. AGED 20. 1724. AGED 
 
 83YERS. 79YERS. 
 
 Samuel Gifford removed to Lebanon in 1692, and there died, Aug. 26, 
 1714. The two daughters of Stephen, the proprietor, also settled in Leb- 
 anon, as the wives of Samuel Calkins and Jeremiah Fitch. John, Ste- 
 phen and Aquilla Gifford, sons of the first proprietor, were inhabitants of 
 Norwich in 1736. They left descendants, and the name has continued 
 on the rolls of freemen and among the substantial farmers of the neigh- 
 borhood to the present day. 
 
 XVin. Griswold. 
 
 The brothers Matthew and Edward Griswold were natives of Kenil- 
 worth, in "Warwickshire, England.* The latter, according to a deposition 
 in the State Records at Hartford, was born in 1607. The date of their 
 emigration to this country has not been ascertained. Edward is found at 
 Windsor not long after 1 640, and is supposed to have brought with him 
 from England a wife, Margaret, and several children, others being added 
 to the group in this country. In 1664 he removed to Killingworth, as 
 one of the leaders in the settlement of that place, and was its first magis- 
 trate. It may be inferred also that he stood sponsor when the name was 
 given, Killingworth, or Killinsworth, answering to the popular pronuncia- 
 tion of his native place in England. 
 
 Lieut. Francis Griswold, the Norwich proprietor, was a son of Edward 
 
 * Copy of a deposition made by George Griswold of Killingworth : 
 
 "George Griswold, about 61, testifieth — 
 
 " That in his youthful years he lived with his father in England, in a town called 
 Killinsworth in Warwickshire — he did several times since heare his father Edward 
 Griswould say that the house he then lived in and lands belonging thereto was his 
 brother Matthew Griswoulds and have lately seen and read a letter under the hand of 
 Thomas Griswould of Killinsworth abovesd, directed to his brother Matthew Griswould 
 ttfores'd, wherein the said Thomas Griswould intimated that he did then live in the 
 abovesd house, belonging to his said brother Matthew aforesd. 
 Sworn before Joseph Curtiss, Assistant. 
 May 9, 1700," 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 177 
 
 and Margaret, born about 1632. He appears to have been a man of 
 capacity and enterprise, and took an active part in the affairs of the plant- 
 ation, serving as representative to the General Court for eleven sessions, 
 beginning October, 1664, and ending May, 1671. 
 
 "It is not known when he was married, or to whom. Not even the 
 household name of his wife is found in the records at Saybrook or Nor- 
 wich. At the former place is the following registry : 
 
 " Children of Francis Grisell. Saraw b. 28 March, 1653. Joseph, b. 4 June 1655, 
 d. the latter end of July, the same year. Mary, b. 26 August 1656 : Hanna, b. 11 
 December, 1658." 
 
 From Norwich records : 
 
 " Some of the children of Lieut. Griswold dec'd. Deborah bom in May 1661 . Lydia 
 in June 1663 and died in 1664. Samuel in Sept. 1665. Margaret in October 166S. 
 Lydia in October 1671." 
 
 Lieut. Griswold died the same month, October, 1671, — cut down appa- 
 rently by some sudden attack of disease, leaving seven of the above-named 
 children, varying in age from an infant of days to eighteen years. 
 
 Thomas Adgate and John Post, Sen., acted as guardians to the younger 
 children. The daughters were very early provided with eligible part- 
 ners. 
 
 Sarah was married to Robert Chapman of Saybrook, June 27, 1671. 
 
 Mary to Jonathan Tracy, July 11, 1672; second marriage to Eleazer 
 Jewett, Sept. 3, 1717. 
 
 Hannah to WilUam Clark of Saybrook, March 7, 1678. 
 
 Deborah to Jonathan Crane, Dec. 19, 1678. 
 
 Margaret to Thomas Buckingham, oldest son of the Rev. Thomas 
 Buckingham of Saybrook, Dec. 16, 1691. 
 
 Samuel Griswold became a married man at the age of twenty, follow- 
 ing his sisters in the flowing stream of youthful connections. Young 
 people in those days, scarcely waiting to reach maturity, chose their part- 
 ners and marched on with rapid and joyous steps to the temple of Hymen. 
 The companion of Samuel Griswold was Susannah, daughter of Christo- 
 pher Huntington, and the wedding took place on her 17th birth-day, Dec. 
 10, 1685. 
 
 About the middle of the 18th century, a branch of the Griswold family 
 of Norwich removed to Sharon, Ct. It consisted of three brothers, Fran- 
 cis, Daniel, and Adonijah, grandsons of Capt. Samuel Griswold. Capt. 
 Adonijah Griswold was in the army of the Revolution. 
 
 12 
 
178 HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The grave-Stone of Capt. Samuel Griswold has the following epitaph: 
 
 Here lies interred ye 
 
 Kemaina of Capt. Sam 
 
 uel Griswold the first 
 
 Captain of the 2d 
 
 Company of train bands 
 
 in Norwich. He was 
 
 bom in Norwich 
 
 Septr 1665 and died 
 
 on ye 9 th day of 
 
 DecemV 1740 in 
 
 the 76* year 
 
 of his age. 
 
 XIX. Hexdt. 
 
 This name is identical with Hende, Hendys, and Handy. Eichard 
 Hendy seems to have been one of the first purchasers of Norwich, and to 
 have had an early allotment in the neighborhood of the town-plot. He 
 also shared in the first divisions of land, but there is no evidence of his 
 actual residence at any time in the settlement. In 1660 and '61 a person 
 of this name was at work upon vessels at New London and Newport. A 
 Eichard Handy, four or five years later, was proprietor of a mill built by 
 John Elderkin on the Menunkatesuck river at Killingworth, and died at 
 that place, Aug. 4, 1670. This mill at Killingworth, and fifty acres of 
 land on "Westward HiU in Norwich, were among his assets.* The same 
 year the townsmen of Norwich directed that the children of Eichard 
 Hendy, deceased, should have a share in the divisions of common land 
 equal with other proprietors. From these and other concurrent facts, it 
 is evident that Eichard Hendy, the Norwich proprietor, and Eichard 
 Handy, of Killingworth, were one and the same person. 
 
 Hannah, the wife of Eichard Handy, was a daughter of John Elder- 
 kin. Only three children appear as heirs, Jonathan, Eichard, and Han- 
 nah. Elderkin was their guardian, and settled the estate. Eichard lived 
 in the family of Elderkin, and became an inhabitant of Norwich. Han- 
 nah married Samuel Belding of Wethersfield, Jan. 14, 1685. 
 
 * Conn. Col. Rec, 2, 191. 
 
 t The author is indebted for this fact and other information concerning Eichard 
 Handy of Killingworth, to R. D. Smith, Esq., of Guilford. Miss Sally Handy, the 
 last of the name in Guilford, died Feb. 28, 1849, almost a centenarian. She was 
 born March 20, 1750. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 179 
 
 XX. Howard. 
 
 The house-lot of Thomas Howard has the same date as those of Fitch 
 md Mason. Of his antecedent history no information has been obtained. 
 Bis family registry at Norwich is as follows : 
 
 " Thomas Howard and Mary Wellman were married in January, 1666. Children : 
 Mary born in Dec. 1667. Sarah in Feb. 1669. Martha in Feb. 1672, and died one 
 Bonth after. Thomas bom in March 1673, and Benjamin in Jaqe 1675." 
 
 Thomas Howard was slain at the Narragansett fort fight, Dec. 17, 
 1675. The County Court settled the estate in the following manner: to 
 the relict twenty-four pounds, with a third of the profits of the lands dur- 
 ing life ; to Thomas, sixty pounds ; to Benjamin, thirty-two ; to Mary, 
 thirty-two ; to Sarah, thirty. John Calkins and John Birchard to be 
 overseers. 
 
 In August, 1677, Mrs. Howard became the wife of William Moore, 
 and removed with him to Windham, where Mr. Moore died, April 28„ 
 1728, aged 87. 
 
 Huntington. 
 
 The Huntington pedigree oflTers a good illustration of the uncertainty 
 Df tradition, even when the details appear to have been carefully pre- 
 served, and the lapse of time is not more than a century. The Eev; 
 Joseph Huntington, of Coventry, Ct., of the fourth generation from the 
 Erst emigrant, collected and embodied the reminiscences that had been 
 preserved in the family concerning their progenitor, which were in sub-- 
 stance these : 
 
 That'the ancestor of the family, Simon Huntington, was a citizen of 
 Norwich in England, who, during the reign of Charles the First, (about 
 1640,) embarked with his wife and three sons for America ; that he was 
 a Puritan, suifering from persecution, but had a brother Samuel who was 
 saptain of the king's life-gu*rd, and high in the royal favor ; that the said 
 Simon Huntington was nearly fifty years of age, his wife some years 
 younger, and their three sons, Christopher, Simon, and Samuel, in the 
 i)loom of youth; and that they made their course for the mouth of Con- 
 lecticut river. "But our progenitor, (says the MS.,) being seized with a, 
 (dolent fever and dysentery, died within sight of the shore ; whither he 
 ivas brought, and now lies buried, either in Saybrook or Lyme, as both 
 ;owns were but one at first." 
 
 The above statement was long unquestioned, and has been repeated 
 md perpetuated in various narratives and historical annals. It is, how- 
 
180 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 ever, ascertained from authentic documents that the family arrived at an 
 earlier date and upon a diflferent part of the coast, and the other incidents 
 mentioned have not been substantiated by later inquiries. 
 
 The church record at Roxbury, Mass., contains the following entry, in 
 the hand-writing of the Eev. John Eliot, who was then the minister of 
 that place : 
 
 "Margaret Huntington, widow, came in 1633. Her husband died by the way, of 
 the small pox. She brought children with her." 
 
 The rest is left blank. The name of the husband is not mentioned, nor 
 the names or number of the children, but the record makes it evident that 
 this emigrant family landed in Massachusetts and not at Saybrook, and if 
 the husband was buried on the coast, it was more likely to be on Nantas- 
 ket beach than on the banks of the Connecticut. 
 
 The widow Margaret Huntington united with Roxbury church, and is 
 afterward found at ^Yindsor, Ct., as the wife of Thomas Stoughton, the 
 family having removed thither in 1635 or '36. 
 
 Tradition is uniform in naming the husband who died on the voyage, 
 Simon, and a letter registered in an ancient volume of Connecticut Records 
 that has been recently brought to light,* enables us to settle some points 
 Tespecting this Huntington family, that were formerly left doubtful; viz., 
 the number of the children, the order of seniority of the sons, and the 
 maiden name of the mother. 
 
 This letter, written from Xorwich, England, April 20, 1650, and ad- 
 dressed to "Cozen Christopher Huntington," acknowledges a letter from 
 ibim dated at Seabrook, Sept. 20, 1649, and is signed, 
 
 " Tour loving uncle, 
 
 Petee Baket." 
 
 It relates principally to the disposition to be made of certain remittances 
 ■that had been forwarded by the writer to his brother Stawion, [Stoughton,] 
 amounting to £140, which he directs to be divided in certain proportions, 
 as his gift, between the three brothers and their sister Ann.f 
 
 We learn from this letter that the children of Margaret Huntington 
 were four u\ number : three sons, Christopher, Simon, and Thomas, appa- 
 jently in this order of seniority, and a daughter Ann, whose position in 
 
 * C. J. Moadly, Esq., Sti'.te Librarian, lias recovered a long-missing volume of the 
 Eocords of the I'articiilar and Probate Court from 1650 to 1663, and two volumes of 
 Land and Miscellaneous Records, 1640 to 1656, whose existence was not Itnown. In 
 ■ one of these latter volnmos, the letter referred to is found. 
 
 t William Huntington, who settled at Salisbury, Mass., is the ancestor of a distinct 
 line of Huntingtons. His relationship, if there was any, with the family of the widoff 
 Margaret, has not been ascertained. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 181 
 
 the line is uncertain. The whole group, at the time of their emigration, 
 were probably under eight years of age. 
 
 The letter shows also that the mother of the family was originally 
 Margaret Baret, of Norwich, Eng. From Bloomfield's History of that 
 ancient town, we learn that Christopher Baret was Mayor of Norwich in 
 1634, and again in 1648. It is not unlikely that this Mayor was the 
 father or a near relative of Margaret, and that from him the oft-repeated 
 name of Christopher first crept into the Huntington nomenclature. 
 
 Of the daughter, Ann, nothing further is known. We may presume 
 that her uncle's marriage dowry of £27 would assist in settling her ehgi- 
 bly in life, and we may yet obtain some fortunate hint that will show into 
 what family she was ingrafted. 
 
 Thomas Huntington, though apparently the youngest of the brothers,* 
 was the first admitted to poUtical privileges. He was made a freeman by 
 the General Court at Hartford in May, 1657 ; Christopher in May, 1658 ; 
 Simon, not till after his settlement in Norwich, 1663. 
 
 Thomas Huntington was one of the company that first purchased and 
 settled Newark in New Jersey. This company was gathered from the 
 towns on the southern coast of Connecticut, from MUford to New London 
 inclusive, and had the Rev. Abraham Pierson for their spiritual guide. 
 Previous to their departure from Connecticut, a body of the planters met 
 at Branford, and adopted, Oct. 30, 1660, certain "fundamental agreements 
 touching their intended design." This was signed by twenty-three " heads 
 of families," of whom Thomas Huntington was one. 
 
 He is subsequently traced at Newark, as sergeant of the train-band in 
 1675 ; afterward, as one of the seven townsmen to whom the municipal 
 affairs of the plantation were intrusted, and finally as deputy to the As- 
 sembly in 1658.t He had a son, Samuel, who continued the line in New 
 Jersey. 
 
 XXI. Christopher Huntington. 
 
 Christopher and Simon Huntington probably settled at Saybrook as 
 soon as they attained their majority. Christopher was there in 1649, 
 apparently engaged in trade, and had written to his uncle Baret in Eng- 
 land, for consignments of cloth and shot. In 1651, he was one of five 
 persons who seized a Dutch vessel that was on the coast trading illegally 
 
 * From the letter of his uncle, Peter Baret, in 1650, Thomas seems to have been the 
 only one of the children then under age. He directs that the bonus of Thomas shall 
 "be put into some good hand and security taken for it, till he become able to employ 
 it," while the others receive their shares at once. Thomas was probably 16 or 17 years 
 of age. 
 
 t Gen. Hist. Reg., 8, 186. 
 
182 HISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 with the Indians. He married Ruth, daughter of "William Eockwell of 
 Windoor, Oct. 7, 1G52. They lost one child, and perhaps more than one, 
 in infancy, and when the removal to Norwich took place, the parents had 
 only their little daughter, Ruth, to carry through the wilderness. But a 
 blessing soon descended upon their new home ; a son was born, a second 
 Christopher, Nov. 1st, 1660.* 
 
 The first horn male in Norwich. 
 
 The children of Christopher Huntington were subsequently increased 
 to' seven in number, while Simon had a family of ten. They both hved 
 to embrace their children's children, and to. see the family hives swarm 
 and emigrants pass off to ahght in the woods and wastes of Windham, 
 Mansfield, and Lebanon. 
 
 Thomas, the second son, bom in 1664, was one of the early settlers of 
 Windham. 
 
 Christopher Huntington, 1st, died in 1691, as is indicated by the pro- 
 bate of his estate that year. No other record gives the date. He was 
 probably buried in the Gager and Post burial-ground, and no stone marks 
 his grave. 
 
 The second Christopher Huntington, the first-born son of Norwich, 
 executed the oflice of Town Clerk and Recorder for twenty years, and 
 was deacon of the church from 1696 to 1735. 
 
 The two wives of Deacon Christopher were Sarah Adgate, and Judith, 
 widow of Jonathan Brewster. He had a family of twelve children ; seven 
 sons and four daughters survived him. His oldest child, Ruth, was the 
 mother of Dr. Eleazer Wheelock, the founder of the first Indian school at 
 Lebanon, and the first President of Dartmouth College. 
 
 * What a pleasant excitement this event must have caused iu the young plantation ! 
 The inhabitants, well housed, with plenty of corn, beans and pumpkins in store, (not 
 to mention acorns, for coffee,) were reposing after the toils of the first arduous season, 
 and had leisure to engage in huskings, nuttings, oyster-parties, neighborly visits, and 
 conference-meetings. And lo ! a child of promise appears, the herald of a numerous 
 race. Norwich has not only daughters, but a son, to wliom the right of primogeniture 
 belongs. How swiftly the news passes from house to house ! What congratulations 
 and kindly inquiries are dropped at the door. What lively sallies are indulged, and 
 adventurous calculations made resjiecting future rates of increase, and conjectures how 
 the population will stand ten, twenty, or a hundred years hence ! AVhat a thronging to 
 the baptism of the little Christopher. He is wrapped perhaps in some sacred child- 
 blanket brought from England, which is kept as a venerated relic of ancestral drapery. 
 The blessed Mr. Fitch performs the ceremony with so much unction, that the audience 
 is moved, and the women in little mob caps wipe their eyes. As they go out of meet- 
 ing, one says to another, " A precious sarmont ! " or, perhaps, " A solemn sareum- 
 stanco ! " — while a young damsel whispers to her companion, " Didn't he look pwl for 
 such a young one ? I wish Christenings would come epery Sunday ! " 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH, 
 
 183 
 
 Slabs of gray stone, broad, low, and quaintly carved, point out the spot 
 where this worthy deacon, the son of the wilderness, was laid. 
 
 r>/// 
 
 ^\ vv 
 
 S)< 
 
 <cjmAl:e:s W ^ T'oww He sxrvfdI 
 
 XAJl JiOY^AB<SiN §- OFFICE 
 
 '^^/)3S--^TN ryS- Y^ or H/:s AQE 
 nZMEHTb MORI, 
 
 !ii*vaVIHfJMtltt 
 
184 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Christopher Huntington, 3d, was born in 1686. Christopher Hunting- 
 ton, 4th, born in 1719, was a physician in the parish of New Concord. 
 These four Christophers were in the direct hne, each the oldest son of his 
 father, but the fifth Christopher was the youngest son of the fourth. He 
 succeeded his father as a physician in New Concord, or Bozrah, where he 
 died in 1821. His oldest son, the sixth Christopher, settled in Hartford, 
 where he died in 1834, and with him the direct line of the Christophers 
 ends, other names in the family of the last-mentioned Christopher taking 
 the place of the old heir loom. 
 
 XXn. Simon Huntixgtox. 
 
 The title of Deacon became very early a famihar appendage to the 
 name of Huntington. Out of twenty deacons of the first church, seven 
 have been Huntingtons,* six of whom held the office over thirty years 
 each. In the line of Simon, the deaconship descended from father to son 
 through four successive generations, Simon, 1st, Simon, 2d, Ebenezer, and 
 Simon, 3d, covering a period of 120 years. Deacon Barnabas Hunting- 
 ton of Franklin was also a progenitor of deacons.t Other churches in 
 the vicinity have been prone to select their ministering servants from the 
 same cognomen. Near the close of the lust century there were six Deacon 
 Huntingtons oificiating at one period, in as many different parishes of 
 Norwich and the neighboring towns. 
 
 Simon Huntington, the proprietor, was united to Sarah, daughter of 
 Joseph Clarke of Saybrook, in October, 1653. They lived together fifty- 
 three years, and she survived him fifteen, dying in 1721, at the age of 88. 
 This was probably the earliest, but not the only one of the first thirty-five 
 wedded pairs, that could have celebrated the golden period of their con- 
 nubial life, if at tliat day such festivals had been in vogue. 
 
 Deacon Simon left an estate appraised at £275. The inventory of his 
 books may be worth quoting as a specimen of what was doubtless a fair 
 library for a layman in 1706. 
 
 * Eight, if we include the first Christopher Huntington, who is usually placed on the 
 list ; but there does not appear to be any contemporary evidence tliat he held the office. 
 The statement is derived from minutes made by Dr. Lord, in wliich the first Christo- 
 pher was probably confounded with the second. 
 
 t " The old Franklin homestead was for a long period in the possession of deacons, 
 and what is not a little remarkable, these deacons, each in his day and generation, kept 
 tavern under tlio sign of the Seven Stars, which shone with steady lustre for the ben- 
 efit and bountiful cheer of wiivfarors on the old Lebanon road." Speech of Hon. 
 Asahel Huntington of Salem, Mass., at the Huntington Gathering at Norwich, Sept. 
 3, 1857. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 185 
 
 "A great Bible 10s. Another great bible 8s. Rogers his seven treatises, 5s. A 
 practical Catecise , Is. 6^. William Dyer, Is. Mr. Moody's Book 8d. Thomas 
 Hooker's Doubting Christian, 9d. New England Psalm Book, Is. Mr. Adams' Sar- 
 mon. The bound book of Mr. Fitch and John Rogers 2s. The same unbound Sd. 
 The day of doom lOd." 
 
 At the time of Deacon Simon's death, his six sons and three daughters 
 were all heads of famiHes. His sons-in-law were Solomon Tracy, Dea. 
 Caleb Forbes of Preston, and Joseph Backus. Four of his sons, Simon, 
 Nathaniel, Daniel, and James, settled near their parents, in Norwich, 
 though not all in one parish. Joseph went to Windham, and Samuel to 
 Lebanon. 
 
 The oldest son, Simon, born in Saybrook before the removal to Nor- 
 wich, married Lydia Gager, Oct. 8, 1683, and had four children. The 
 oldest of these, bearitig his own name, the third Simon in direct descent, 
 was the person killed by the bite of a rattlesnake just after he became of 
 age, as previously related in this work. 
 
 This second Deacon Simon Huntington had two other sons, besides the 
 one so suddenly removed, viz., Ebenezer and Joshua, and in the series 
 descending from these are found several names of more than common dis- 
 tinction. The last-named son was born Dec. 80, 1 698, and is known in 
 local tradition as Capt. Joshua. He was a noted merchant, beginning 
 business at nineteen, and pursuing it for twenty-seven years, during which 
 time it is said that he traded more by sea and land than any other man in 
 Norwich. In the prime of life, activity and usefulness, he took the yellow 
 fever in New York, came home sick, and died the 27th of August, 1745, 
 aged 47.* He was the father of Gen. Jabez Huntington, of whom more 
 will be said hereafter. 
 
 Among the Huntingtons of note in this and the neighboring towns, 
 besides the clerks and deacons already mentioned, we might enumerate 
 five or six judges of the common courts, five members of Congress, one of 
 them President of the Continental Congress and Governor of the State, 
 and six or seven who acquired the military rank of colonels and generals, 
 one of .them a brigadier-general in the army of the Eevolution. Of the 
 clergy, also, a considerable list of Huntingtons might be made without 
 going out of New London county for their nativity.f 
 
 The name has also been widely disseminated in other States besides 
 Connecticut, and rendered honorable by the talents and virtues of those 
 who have borne it. But it is not on this account wholly that we give it 
 special prominence in these details, but rather for this reason, that the 
 
 * His epitaph says, " Very justly lamented by the survivors." 
 
 t The Genealogical Memoir of the Huntington Family, published by Rev. E. B. 
 Huntington of Stamford, is a work of great interest and value. It embodies the 
 results of years of patient research, and is clear, full, and almost exhaustive in its 
 details. 
 
186 HISTORY OP NOBWICH, 
 
 Huntingtons are the only family among the proprietors, with whom any 
 connection has hitherto been traced with Norwich in Englanjl. As we 
 have seen, Margaret Baret, the mother of Christopher and Simon Hunt- 
 ington, appears to have been a native of Norwich, and it is not improbable 
 that her children were also born there. 
 
 XXIII. TTiLLiAsr Htde. 
 
 William Hide, or Hyde — the first mode of spelling being the most 
 ancient — is found at Hartford before 1C40, a resident and proprietor. 
 The period of his emigration is not known. He removed to Saybrook, 
 perhaps as early as 1648. His daughter Hester, who married John Post 
 in 1652, probably came with her parents from the old world, but his son 
 Samuel, born about 1636, may have been a native of Hartford. No 
 other children are known. 
 
 On his removal to Norwich, he sold his house and home-lot to Francis 
 Bushnell, and other property to Robert Lay.* He died Jan. 6, 1681-2. 
 His age is not known, but he was styled "old Goodman Hide" in 1679. 
 His will was proved in the county court, June, 1682, and distribution 
 ordered to the heirs of his son Samuel, and to his daughter Hester, wife 
 of John Post. 
 
 XXIY. Samuel Hyde. 
 
 " The marriage of Samuel Hyde with Jane Lee was in June Anno Dom. 1659."— 
 [Norwich Records.] 
 
 Thomas Lee, an emigrant, coming from England with his family to 
 settle in America, died on the passage. His wife, whose maiden name 
 was Phebe Brown, with her three children, Thomas, Sarah, and Jane, 
 completed the voyage, and are afterward found at Saybrook, or Lyme, 
 where the relict married Greenfield Larrabee. Samuel H\de's wife was 
 the step-daughter of Larrabee. 
 
 After the removal to Norwich, the younger Hyde appears to have 
 formed at first but one family with his father, though he afterward settled 
 
 * The sales arc registered at Snybrook, with the following receipt : 
 I William Hide of Mohegan do acknowledge to have received of Eobert Lay of Six 
 Mile Island the full and just sum of forty pounds which was the first payment speciBed 
 in the agvecmont made 25th day of January 1659 for all the lands I had at Potapauge. 
 Witness my hand 5th of Jlay 1660. 
 
 William C C Hide. 
 his mark. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 187 
 
 at the West Farms. In August, 1660, on the Hyde home-lot, in a newly 
 erected habitation, standing upon the border of the wilderness, with a 
 heavy forest growth in the rear, a new member, a welcome addition to 
 the settlement, made her appearance. This was Elizabeth, daughter of 
 Samuel and Jane Hyde, — 
 
 The first child horn of Mnglish parentage in Norwich. 
 
 "We may imagine that this little God-gift was fostered with tender care, 
 and regarded with peculiar interest and favor by the community, as a 
 token of prosperous import, — the herald of a new generation, — the prom- 
 ise and pledge of multiplied descendants. 
 
 In due time this first-born daughter of the town married Eichard Lord, 
 and removed to the sea-coast. 
 
 "Elizabeth thfi daughter of Eichard and Elizabeth Lord was bom Oct 28, 1683." — 
 [Lyme Records.] 
 
 So thickly the generations crowd upon each other, — mother, daughter, 
 and grand-daughter, probably born within the compass of forty-five years. 
 
 Phebe, the second daughter of Samuel and Jane Hyde, born in Janu- 
 uary, 1663, married Matthew Griswold of Lyme. The two sisters were 
 thus pleasantly settled in the old neighborhood of their mother, upon the 
 border of the Sound. The Lees and Larrabees were at Giant's Neck, 
 and the Griswolds at Black Hall, — two of the most conspicuous and eligi- 
 ble situations on that breezy portion of the coast. 
 
 Samuel Hyde did not live to see the settlement of his daughters. He 
 died in 1677, leaving seven children, the youngest an infant, and all sons 
 but the two daughters above mentioned. From various incidental refer- 
 ences, it appears that his relict, Mrs. Jane Hyde, married John Birchard. 
 
 The five sons of Samuel Hyde were speedily multiplied into a numer- 
 ous body of descendants. 
 
 1. Samuel married Elizabeth, daughter of John Calkins, Dec. 16, 
 1690. He lived first at West Farms, now Franklin, but removed to 
 Windham, and afterward to Lebanon, where he died in 1742, aged 77. 
 
 He was the grandfather of Capt. Walter Hyde, whose monumental 
 inscription in the Lebanon cemetery states that he joined the American 
 army in 1776, with an independent company of which he had command, 
 and died at Greenwich, Sept. 18, 1776, aged 41. 
 
 He was also the ancestor of Col. Elijah Hyde, a neighbor and friend of 
 Gov. Trumbull, who commanded a regiment of light horse during the war 
 for liberty, and was on duty with the northern army at the surrender of 
 Burgoyne ; and of Gen. Caleb Hyde, who at the period of the Revolu- 
 tion was a sheriff in Berkshire county, Mass., but afterward settled in 
 western New York. 
 
188 HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 
 
 2. John Hyde, the second son of the proprietor Samuel, married Expe- 
 rience Abel. He lived upon a farm on Wawekus Hill. Though he him- 
 self died at the age of 60, his relict lived to be near 90, and their family 
 of nine children all lived to be heads of families, six of them ranging in 
 age from 77 to 90 years at their decease. 
 
 The longevity of this family is noticed as one illustration, out of many 
 that might be brought, to show that life'was not shortened by removal to 
 a new country, but that the active, plain, frugal, and yet comfortable mode 
 of living then prevalent, — the first hardships and hazards of a frontier life 
 having passed away, — was favorable to health, strength, and long life. 
 
 3. William Hyde, the third son- of the proprietor Samuel, inherited the 
 homestead of his grandfather William, in the town-plot. The number of 
 his days exceeded even those of his long-lived brothers. He died Aug. 
 8, 1759, in, the 90th year of his age. His wife was Ann, daughter of 
 Richard Bushnell, and of their ten children, nine left descendants. 
 
 William, their oldest son, born in 1702, was the first of the, name of 
 Hyde in this country to receive a collegiate education. He graduated at 
 Yale in 1721, and entered immediately into a promising sphere of useful- 
 ness in his native town, but was early removed by death.* 
 
 Two other sons of the second William built houses by the side of their 
 father, upon portions of the original Hyde home-lot. 
 
 Richard Hyde, who built and occupied the stone house near his father, 
 was a man in high local repute, as captain, justice, and judge. He was 
 I also popular as a social companion and a narrator of traditionary lore.f 
 
 Jedidiah, the third son of WiUiam, 2d, became a Separatist in religion, 
 and was ordained in 1746 as a minister of that denomination. 
 
 Elisha, the fourth son of William, occupied the old homestead, and was 
 the father of Elisha Hyde, Esq., third Mayor of I^orwich city. 
 
 4 and 5. Thomas and Jabez, younger sons of Samuel the proprietor, 
 settled at the West Farms, (Franklin,) where they died at the ages of 82 
 and 85 years. The late Judge Hyde of Norwich town, and Lewis Hyde 
 of Yantic, are among the descendants of Jabez. Other branches of the 
 same line are widely disseminated in western New York, Pemisylvania, 
 and states yet father west. 
 
 The fi\ e sous of the proprietor Samuel had forty children, of whom 
 twenty-three were sons, and twenty-one married and reared families of 
 children. This accounts for the rapidity with which the name spread 
 
 * Hempstoad's Diary lias this notice : 
 
 June 11, 1738. " Received news of the death of William Hide Jiin. of Norwich 
 aged 35. He had 150 convulsion fitts in two days. He was brought up at the College 
 and hath been Captain and justice of the peace many years." 
 
 t Elihu, second sou of Kichard, removed to Lebanon, N. H., and was one of the first 
 magistrates of that town. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 189 
 
 through the country, — a rapidity that seems unexampled when considered 
 in connection with the fact that all are derived from Samuel, whose first 
 son was born in May, 1665. 
 
 An enumeration made in 1779, showed upwards of twenty families of 
 Hydes, numbering over 150 members, in the town-plot and western part 
 of Norwich. And notwithstanding the removals to other parts of the 
 country, the census of 1791 records thirteen families of the name in 
 Franklin, and eight others in Norwich or its immediate vicinity.* 
 
 XXV. Lefpingvs^ell. 
 
 Thomas Leffingwell, according to minutes preserved among his descend- 
 ants, was a native of Croxhall in England. The period of his emigration 
 has not been ascertained. In his testimony before the Coui-t of Commis- 
 sioners at Stonington in 1705, he says he was acquainted with Uncas in 
 the year 1637, and was knowing to the assistance rendered by the sachem 
 to the English, then and ever after, during his life. According to his age 
 as given in depositions, he must have been born about the year 1 622, — 
 therefore, at the time of the Pequot war, not more than fifteen or sixteen 
 years of age.f 
 
 The earliest notices of his name connect him with Saybrook. From 
 the Colonial records we learn that in March, 1650, a petition was pre- 
 sented "from the inhabitants of Saybrook by Matthew Griswold and Tho: 
 
 * Chancellor Walworth of Saratoga Springs is descended in equal degrees from Wil- 
 liam Hyde and Thomas Tracy, through their sons, Samuel Hyde and John Tracy, all 
 of whom were original proprietors of Norwich. Apphia Hyde, of the fifth generation 
 from William, 1st, daughter of the Rev. Jedidiah Hyde, the Separatist minister, and 
 his wife, Jerusha Tracy, of the fifth generation from Thomas, Ist, married in 1782, 
 Benjamin Walworth, a native of Groton. They settled at Bozrah, then a part of Nor- 
 wich, but made an Independent town in 1786. Reuben Hyde Walworth, the third of 
 their ten children, was there born Oct. 26, 1788. 
 
 The Hyde Genealogy, published by Chancellor Walworth, is a worls of great value 
 in the line of family history, embodying a vast amount of pedigree, and displaying 
 clearness of perception and skill in arrangement, as well as unwearied perseverance 
 and accuracy in research. It forms a grand memorial record of paternity and lineage, 
 spreading far and wide, but talcing the Nine-Miles-Square of Norwich as the center from 
 which it radiates. Such a work is a monument to perpetuate the name of the author, 
 more lasting than statues of marble or pillars of granite. 
 
 t A tradition has obtained in some branches of the family, that Thomas Leffingwell 
 came to this country from Yorkshire, at fourteen years of age, but returned to England 
 at twenty-one, and married there Marv White. When he emigrated a second time, he 
 brought with him his youngest brother Stephen, fifteen years of age, leaving seven or 
 eight other brothers in the old country. The author is unable to decide whether these 
 traditions should be ranked as fable or fact. 
 
190 HISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 Leppingwell."* The births of his children are also registered at Saybrook, 
 but under the simple heading of "Children of Thomas LefRngwell,"— the 
 name of the mother not being mentioned. The list is as follows : 
 
 "Rachell bom 17 March 1648; Thomas 27 August 1649 ; Jonathan 6 Dec. 1650; 
 Joseph 24 Dec. 1652 ; Mary 16 Dec. 1654 ; Nathaniel 11 Dec. 1656." 
 
 It is probable also that Samuel Leffingwell, who married Anna Dickin- 
 son Nov. 16, 1687, and died in 1691, was the son of Thomas, though his 
 birth is not found recorded. 
 
 Following Mr. LefRngwell to his new home in Norwich, we find him 
 an active and influential member of the plantation. He was one of the 
 first two deputies of the town to the General Court, in October, 1662; 
 an officer of the first train-band and during Philip's war, lieutenant under 
 Capt. Denison in his famous band of marauders, that swept so many times 
 through Narragansett, and scoured the country to the sources of the Quin- 
 ebaug. 
 
 He lived to old age, but the record of his death does not give his years, 
 and no memorial stone marks his grave. 
 
 " Lieutenant Thomas Leffingwell died about 1710. 
 Mrs. Mary Leffingwell died Feb. 6, 1711." 
 
 The staff of the venerated lieutenant, reputed to have been brought 
 with him from his native place, and bearing his initials on its silver head, 
 is now in the possession of one of his descendants, Rev. Thomas Leffing- 
 well Shipman of Jewett City, Conn. This memorial staff is interesting 
 on the score of antiquity, but far more so from its association with the 
 venerable men of successive generations to whom it has been a staff of 
 support. It calls up from the misty past the image of the old soldier, or 
 the deacon, on the Sabbath day, slowly marching up to his seat under the 
 pulpit ; we see his white hair, and hear the steady sound of the staff 
 brought down at every step. 
 
 Thomas LefRngwell, Jun. and Slary Bushnell were married in Septem- 
 ber, 1672, and might have celebrated their golden wedding in 1722, with 
 a house-full of prosperous descendants gathered around them. The hus- 
 band died March 5, 1723-4, leaving five daughters, all married to Bush- 
 nells and Tracys, and three sons, Thomas, John, and Benajah. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Leffingwell long survived her partner, as the epitaph on her 
 grave-stone proves. 
 
 * Col. Rlic, 1, 205. Leppingwell and Leppenwell often appear on the early Norwich 
 records. It is suggestive of the supposed origin of the name, — Leaping-well, denoting 
 a bubbling or boiling spring. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 191 
 
 IN 
 
 M E M K T 
 
 of an aged nursing 
 
 Mother of GOD'S New- 
 
 english Israel, viz. Mrs. 
 
 Mary LefEngwell, wife 
 
 to Ensign Thomas Lef- 
 
 fingwell Gent" who died 
 
 Sept. ye 2'» A. D. 
 
 1745. Aged 91 years. 
 
 The inventory of Ensign LeiBngwell in 1724 shows that he was richly 
 furnished not only with the household comforts and conveniences of that 
 era, but with articles of even luxury and elegance. He had furniture 
 and linen in abundance, wooden ware, and utensils of iron, tin, pewter, 
 and silver.* 
 
 Wearing apparel valued at £27. 
 
 Wig, 20s. Walking-staff with silver head, 20s. 
 
 Rapier with silver hilt and belt, f 6. 
 
 A French gun, £3. Silver watch, £5. 
 
 3 tankards, 2 dram-cups. 
 
 4 silver cups, one with two handles. 
 Copper pennies and Erabians,t £6.18.7. 
 Total valuation of estate, £9793.9.11. 
 
 It is doubtful whether, at that time, any other estate in the town equaled 
 this in value. 
 
 The third Thomas LefEngwell, son of the Ensign and bom in 1 674, is 
 distinguished as Deacon Thomas. He married Lydia, daughter of Solo- 
 mon Tracy, and died July 18, 1733. He had six children. 
 
 His brothers, Capt. John and Benajah Leffingwell, had large families : 
 the former, eight daughters and four sons; the latter, eight sons and four 
 daughters. Capt. John LefEngwell married, first, Sarah Abell, and sec- 
 ond, Mary Hart of Farmington. 
 
 The first wife is commemorated in the following epitaph : 
 
 Here lyes ye Body of 
 
 that Worthy, Virtuous 
 
 and most injoneons and 
 
 jenteel Woman, Mrs 
 
 Sara LeiBngwell, 
 
 who Dyed May ye 
 
 9th, 1730. Aged 
 
 39 years. 
 
 * In the inventory of Nathaniel Leffingwell at an earlier date, we find a castor hat 
 one coffee-cup, a beaker, a pair of campaign boots, &c. 
 t An Arabian is supposed to have been a small gold coin. 
 
192 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Benajah Leffingwell married Joanna Christophers of New London. 
 Col. Christopher Leffingwell of the Revolutionary period was the third 
 of his eight sons. 
 
 Thomas Leffingwell, 4th, (son of Deacon Thomas,) married Elizabeth, 
 daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Lord, Jan. 23, 1729. He died in 1793, 
 in the 90th year of his age. 
 
 Thomas Leffingwell, 5th, bom in 1732, died in December, 1814, aged 
 82. These five generations were in direct succession, each the oldest son 
 of the oldest son, but the lineage is here interrupted, as Thomas the 5th 
 died unmarried. 
 
 The Leffingwell tree has a multitude of branches. Samuel Leffingwell, 
 who married Hannah Giflford, March 2, 1714-15, was the progenitor of 
 several large families. A district in the southern part of the township is 
 known by the familiar designation of Leffingwell-town, from the predom- 
 inance of the name in that neighborhood. In a field upon old Leffipgwell 
 land in this district there is a quiet village of the dead, where Leffingwells, 
 Chapmans, Posts, and other names of the vicinity, are found. Here is the 
 grave of Dea. Andrew Leffingwell, who died in 1803. He was the son of 
 Samuel, and born Dec. 12, 1724. 
 
 Some of the Leffingwells, who lived on farms, have the traditionary 
 renown of having been stalwart men, able horsemen, enterprising, robust, 
 dread-nought kind of people. They would ride to Boston in a day, with 
 a led horse for rehef, and return on the morrow, unconscious of fatigue. 
 One of them, it is said, performed the feat with a single horse, but the 
 noble animal was sacrificed by the exploit, being found dead the nezt 
 morning.* 
 
 XXVL Oljistead, or Holmstead. 
 
 Richard and John Olmstead were kinsmen and wards of James 01m- 
 stead, who came from England in 1632,* and died at Hartford in Septem- 
 ber, 1640.t 
 
 * On one of those gallops to Boston, a spirited dog accompanied his master, but the 
 next morning, when the family arose, he was at home, whining at the threshold for 
 admittance. It was afterward ascertained that at night, in Boston, he had been acci- 
 dentally shut out of his master's lodging, upon which he turned immediately upon the 
 track and followed the trail home, traveling the whole distance between nine o'clock at 
 night and six in the morning. 
 
 Such traditionary stories are usually exaggerative ; but even then they have a degree 
 of interest, and are worth collecting, as examples of growth by repetition, and the mag- 
 nifying power of common report. 
 
 t Gen, Hist. Reg., 14, 301, 
 
 % Conn, Col. Eec, 1, 447, 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 193 
 
 John Olmstead married Elizabeth Marvin, and settled at Saybrook, 
 where he was appointed leather-sealer in 1656. He is mentioned inci- 
 dentally upon the Saybrook records in 1661, as "John Olmsted of Mohe- 
 gan, shoemaker," which shows that he had removed to the new plantation. 
 At this place, however, he appears as a doctor or chirurgeon, and was 
 undoubtedly the first physician of the settlement, though the articles enu- 
 merated in his inventory would imply that he still continued his practice 
 with the last and lap-stone. For several years he was on the grand jury 
 of the county. 
 
 He possessed a considerable estate, and was very precise respecting the 
 date and bounds of his grants. Though the H. is uniformly given to his 
 name by the Norwich recorders, it was not used by himself. The blazed 
 trees and mere-stones by which he indicated the corners and limits of his 
 lots, were marked I. 0.* 
 
 He died Aug. 2, 1686; his age was about 60. No children are men- 
 tioned. He left most of his estate to his wife, who made over to his two 
 nephews at Norwalk a large tract of land (stated at 2,000 acres) owned 
 by him in the new plantation at Windham. Several slaves that he pos- 
 sessed were to receive their freedom at the death of his wife. 
 
 Mrs. Olmstead died in 1689. Her will, made in October of that year, 
 was contested by the relatives of her husband, but confirmed by the Gen- 
 eral Court. She bequeathed £50 to the poor of Norwich, and £10 to Mr. 
 Fitch; recognizing also by legacies Sergt. Richard Bushnell, "brother 
 Adgate's four children," and the children of her husband's sister Newell, 
 but left most of her real estate to her " friend and kinsman Samuel Lo- 
 throp," whom she appoints executor. This was the second Samuel 
 Lothrop, whose wife was Hannah Adgate. The word kinsman, as used 
 in ancient records, has a wide range of meaning. Deacon Adgate's sec- 
 ond wife was the sister of Mrs. Olmstead, but Hannah, the wife of Samuel 
 Lothrop, was the child of the first wife ; and this is the only relationship 
 that in this instance has been traced. 
 
 XXVn. Pease. 
 
 The name of John Pease appears incidentally at New London in 1650, 
 md it may be conjectured that he was a seaman, then belonging to Boston 
 jr Martha's Vineyard.f It is probable that he resided for a time at Say- 
 jrook before joining the company of Norwich proprietors, and that he took 
 
 * On County Court Records, when his inventory was exhibited, it was written Vm- 
 iteade. 
 t There was a seaman in Boston of this name in 16S6. Gen. & Hist. Beg., 9) 142. 
 13 
 
194 HISTOHT OP NORWICH. 
 
 a family with him to the new settlement. His home-lot was at the west- 
 ern limit of the town-plot, and bore the date of Nov., 1659. 
 
 But in the course of a few years, his family, if he had one, his posses- 
 sions and his character had all passed away. The Court Record for 1672 
 has the following item : 
 
 "John Pease complained of by the townsmen of Norwich for living alone, for idle- 
 ness, and not duly attending the worship of God. 
 
 " This Court orders that said Townsmen do provide that Pease be entertained into 
 some suitable family he paying for his board and accommodation, and that he employ 
 himself in some lawful calling, which if he neglect or refuse to do, the townsmen may 
 put him out to service in some approved family. Except he dispose of his accommo- 
 dations and remove out of the town." 
 
 Again, in 1682, we find that John Pease being in aiTears for town and 
 ministry rates, a levy was ordered on his estate. 
 
 It is not necessary to infer from these notices that Pease was wholly a 
 worthless vagrant. He may have been a lonely, disappointed man, — a 
 recluse, an anchoret, world-disgusted and unsocial, — or a secret dissenter, 
 cherishing unpopular tenets, and choosing therefore to keep out of the 
 way of his neighbors. Persons with any of these characteristics found 
 but little sympathy in the plantations at that day. In Norwich they were 
 particularly rigid in their requirements, not only of accepted inhabitants, 
 or voters, but also of common town-dwellers. Men were not allowed to 
 live alone, but obliged to connect themselves with some household, to have 
 some specific employment, to assist in supporting the institutions of the 
 town, and to appear in the house of worship on the Sabbath. 
 
 Nothing further is certainly known of John Pease. No settlement of 
 estate is found ; he is not mentioned in any subsequent division of propri- 
 etary commons ; but allusions made in 1G87 and later, seem to indicate 
 that he was then living. A branch of the Yantic in the western part of 
 the town, near the border of Lebanon, was called Pease's brook. At the 
 mouth of Pease's brook was Pease's fann ; and here, about 1690, a corn- 
 mill was established. It is not improbable that John Pease had retired to 
 this tract of land, and originated these improvements. The spot, then so 
 solitary, is now jubilant with machinery, — the seat of the manufacturing 
 village of Bozrahville. 
 
 Post. 
 
 Stephen Post, who died at Saybrook Aug. 16, 1659, is supposed to have 
 been the father of John, Thomas, and Abraham Post, and it is a plausible 
 conjecture that EUener Post, [Helener in county court records,] who died 
 at that place Nov. 13, 1670, was the relict of Stephen and mother of his 
 childrpTi 
 
HISTORY OF NOEWIOH. 
 
 195 
 
 John and Thomas Post removed to Norwich. Abraham remained in 
 Saybrook, where he was known by the title of Lieutenant, and died in 
 1690. 
 
 XXVm. John Post. 
 
 The marriage of John Post and Hester Hyde, "in the last of March, 
 '52," and the births of four children, are. found on record at Saybrook. 
 Four other children are recorded at Norwich, and they had likewise a 
 daughter Mary, not registered at either place, bom probably in 1662, — 
 comprising in all, a family of two sons and seven daughters. 
 
 Mrs. Hester Post died Nov. 13, 1703. 
 
 Mr. John Post died Nov. 27, 1710, aged 84 years. 
 
 The following inscription is still legible in the grave-yard at Norwich:. 
 
 
 HE ARE 1 
 
 LIES THE BO| 
 
 D Y 
 
 OF MR JO 
 
 HN 
 
 POST WHO 
 
 DYED NO Vr 1 
 
 27. 
 
 1710. AGED 
 
 8 
 
 4 YEARS. 
 
 Two of the daughters of John Post were united to inhabitants of New- 
 London : Sarah married Capt. John Hough ; Lydia married, 1st, Abel 
 Moore, — 2d, Joseph Harris. 
 
 Two other daughters were married in Norwich: Margaret to Caleb 
 Abel, and Mary to Nathaniel Rudd. 
 
 The sons were John and Samuel. John, born at Saybrook, April 12, 
 1657, married Sarah Eeynolds, and died in 1690, leaving two young 
 children, John and Sarah ; but they died without issue, and no descend- 
 ants in this line remain. 
 
 Samuel Post, born in Norwich, March 8, 1668, married Ruth Lothrop,. 
 and had two sons, Samuel and Nathaniel. Samuel Post, 2d, born Dec. 
 22, 1698, married Sarah Griswold of Guilford, and had an only son Sam- 
 uel and several daughters. Samuel, 3d, born Feb. 12, 1736, was a gold- 
 smith in New London, but after the Revolutionary war went south and. 
 has been no further traced. 
 
 Nathaniel Post, son of Samuel, 1st, born in 1702, died in November,. 
 1799, almost a centenarian. His wife, Abigail Birchard, died in 1792,, 
 
196 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 in her 89 th year. They had two sons, John and Jabez. The latter, born 
 in 1730, inherited the family homestead, and planted the stupendous elm 
 by which it is now overshadowed. He married, 1st, Martha, daughter of 
 the Rev. Jedidiah Hyde, the Separatist minister, and had two sons, Jabez 
 and Jedidiah, who, after the Revolution, settled at Newtown, N. J. By a 
 second wife, Lucy, daughter of Richard Hyde, he had two other sons, 
 Andrew and George Washington, who settled at Lebanon, N. H. He 
 had also two daughters : 1st, Anne, who married Henry Blake, (publisher 
 of a newspaper at Keene, N. H.,) and after his death, Thomas L. Thomas 
 of Norwich ; 2d, Lucretia, who married Eliphalet Carew, and died at the 
 residence of her daughter, on a portion of the old Post home-lot, where 
 she was born, July 6, 1858, aged 90. 
 
 Henrietta Blake, the only child of Henry and Anne Blake, married 
 George D. Harris of Norwich. The late Hon. Thomas L. Harris, of 
 Illinois, was their son. He was born at Norwich, Oct. 29, 1816; gradu- 
 ated at Trinity College, Hartford, 1841 ; studied law with Gov. Toucey, 
 and settled in Illinois. In 1846 he enlisted in the Mexican war, and was 
 noted for his gallantry at the taking of Vera Cruz and the battle of Cerro 
 Gordo. He was elected member of Congress in 1848, and continued in 
 office till his death, which took place at Springfield, 111., Nov. 24, 1858. 
 His Ufe, though short, was marked by varied and exciting events. 
 
 XXIX. Thomas Post. 
 
 No reference to the family of this proprietor has been found at Say- 
 brook. His existence seems not to be recognized any where but in Nor- 
 wich. From the records of this place we learn that he married Mary 
 Andrews in January, 1656, and that she died at Norwich in March, 1661, 
 and was buried in a corner of her husband's home-lot, as heretofore 
 related. 
 
 She left i^n infant daughter. Sarah, afterward the wife of Thomas Vin- 
 eent. Mr. Post married, id, Rebecca Bruen, daughter of Obadiah Bruen 
 of New London, Sept. 2, 1663. He died in 1701, leaving two sons, Oba- 
 diah iuid Joseph, and two daughters, Mary and Hannah. Obadiah died 
 in 1703, without issue. The daughters died at tlie age of 70 and upward, 
 unmarried. Joseph, born in 1681, married Mary Post of Saybrook, and 
 died in 1749, leaving an only son, Joseph, and seven daughters. Thus, 
 at the end of a century, the male line in this branch of the Post family 
 again commenced with a unit. 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 197 
 
 XXX. Read, (or Reed.) 
 
 The marriage of Josiah Read to Grace, the daughter of William Hol- 
 loway, took place at Marshfield in November, 1666. At this time he had 
 probably cleai-ed his home-lot and prepared his domicile in Norwich. 
 About the year 1687, he removed from the town-plot to a farm "over 
 Showtucket," and was probably the first permanent settler upon that gore 
 of land which was then called the Crotch, but afterward Newent. He had 
 a brother John, at that time living " near Pease's farm," within the present 
 limits of Bozrah. 
 
 It is probable that the brothers Josiah and John Read married sisters. 
 The farm of William HoUoway in Marshfield fell to his two daughters. 
 It was sold, one half in 1670, by "Josiah Reed of Norridge, in the Colony 
 of Connecticut," as the inheritance of his wife Grace, and the other half 
 in 1673, by "Hannah Read, formerly Holloway," whom we suppose to 
 have been the wife of John. The only proof, however, is the coinci- 
 dence of name. 
 
 A third brother, Hezekiah Read, was considerably younger than the 
 others. The father, whose Christian name has not been recovered, died 
 in 1679, leaving Hezekiah a minor, who, in accordance with his own 
 request, was committed by the court to the guardianship of his brothers, 
 Josiah and John, "for his good education in the fear of God, good litera- 
 ture, and some particular calling."! 
 
 John and Hezekiah Read do not come again within the range of our 
 history. It is probable that they removed from the town, as in the next 
 generation we find only five of the name enrolled as householders, and 
 these were Josiah and his four sons, Josiah, Jr., William, John, and Jo- 
 seph, — all of them "farmers in ye Crotch of ye Riversr." 
 
 Josiah Read, the elder, died July 3, 1717. 
 
 Mrs. Grace Read, his wife, died May 9, 1727. 
 
 William Read died Aug. 13, 1727, leaving a wife, Mary, and an estate 
 valued at £407. 
 
 XXXI. Reynolds. 
 
 In the lists that have been collected of emigrants to the western world 
 in the days of the great Exodus, beginning with the departure of the Pil- 
 grims from Holland, the name of John Reynolds is several times found. 
 
 * Letter of Marcia Thomas of Marshfield. 
 
 t A Joseph Eead appears at New London about as early as Josiah and John, who 
 may have been the father of the family. The mother of Hezekiah Read in 1680 was 
 Ruth Percy. 
 
198 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 It appears in the shipments for St. Christopher's * for Virginia, and for 
 New England. 
 
 One of the name was made freeman in Massachusetts, May 6, 1635, 
 and was probably the same that settled at Weymouth,! where he was hv- 
 ing with a family in 1660. One went from "Watertown to Wethersfield, 
 and there settled before 1 640. | Another of the same cognomen estabhshed 
 himself at Stonington, Ct., and was accepted as an inhabitant in 1667. 
 John and Jonathan Renalds were landholders in East Greenwich, Ct., in 
 1672.§ 
 
 John Reynolds, the proprietor of Norwich, was a distinct person from 
 these, but perhaps a son of John of Wethersfield. He was a wheelwright 
 by occupation, and removed from that part of Saybrook which is now 
 Lyme. His housing and land were sold to Wolston Brockway, Dec. 3, 
 1659. 
 
 The births of his children are recorded at Norwich, but without men- 
 tioning the name of his wife. John, the oldest child, born in August, 
 1655, was killed by the Indians in Philip's war, as elsewhere related. 
 Stephen, another son, died Dec. 19, 1687. 
 
 John Reynolds, the proprietor, died July 22, 1702. His wiU, dated 
 seven days previous, shows that his family then consisted of wife Sarah, 
 only son Joseph, and four married daughters, viz., Sarah Post, Mary Lo- 
 throp, Elizabeth Lymon, and Lydia Miller. He bequeathed his instru- 
 ments of husbandry and wheelwright tools to his son, with all his housing 
 and lands, subject only to the widow's dowry. His wife Sarah and son 
 Joseph were named executors, and he adds, "I do make choice of my 
 loving kinsman Ensign Thomas Leffingwell overseer to be helpful to 
 them or either of them." 
 
 Joseph Reynolds, the son, was bom in March, 1660, shortly before the 
 removal of the family to Norwich. He married Sarah Edgerton in 1688, 
 and through his four sons, John, Joseph, Stephen, and Daniel, the name 
 has been perpetuated in Norwich. 
 
 John Reynolds of the third generation (son of Joseph) married Lydia 
 Lord of Lyme, an admirable Christian woman who lived to the age of 92, 
 and was more than forty years a widow. She died July 16, 1786. The 
 tablet to her memory bears an inscription so suggestive in its simplicity, 
 that it reveals the whole excellence of her character by giving a single 
 trait : 
 
 " Here lies a Lover of Truth." 
 
 * Embnikcd from Gravesond for St. Christopher's, April 3, 1635, in the Paul of 
 London, John Rcinolds, aged 23,— do. May 21, in the Slatthew of London, Jo: Rei- 
 nolds, aged 20. 
 
 Gen. Hist. Reg., 14, 349, 551. t Ibid., 3, 71, 93. 
 
 t Ibid., 13, 301. § Ibid., 4, 62. 
 
HIST0R7 OP NORWICH. 199 
 
 XXXII. EOYCE. 
 
 Jonathan Royce was one of the five sons of Robert Royce of New 
 London, and probably the oldest, though no record of his birth has been 
 found. He married Deborah, daughter of Hugh Calkins, in June, 1660, 
 according to the registry in Norwich, but at New London it is recorded 
 March, 1660-61. Allowing the latest date to be correct, the bride was 
 barely 17 years of age, her birth being recorded at Gloucester, Mass., 
 March 18, 1643—4. This was a second hymeneal tie connecting the two 
 families ; John Calkins of Norwich having taken for his partner Sarah 
 Royce, the sister of Jonathan. 
 
 The Royce family was also connected by a double link with that of 
 Samuel Lothrop ; Isaac Royce being united to Elizabeth Lothrop, and 
 John Lothrop to Ruth Royce. These removed to Wallingford. 
 
 Jonathan Royce, the Norwich proprietor, died in 1689. Nine of his 
 ten children were living at that time. John, the oldest son, married Sarah 
 Perigo, Nov. 9, 1683, this being his 20th birth-day. He was an early 
 settler in Windham. 
 
 After the second generation, the name of Royce disappeared from the 
 roll of inhabitants in Norwich. 
 
 Robert Royce of Wallingford, at his death, in 1676, left a small gratu- 
 ity to each of the churches of New London, Norwich, and Walhngford, 
 as a memorial of his "great affection and good-will" for the ministry and 
 churches with which he and his family had been connected. 
 
 XXXni. Smith. 
 
 Nehemiah Smith was of Stratford, 1646, but removed to New Haven, 
 and obtained a grant of land upon Oyster river for his accommodation in 
 keeping sheep. He is occasionally called on the colonial records, '• Shep- 
 herd Smith." Li 1652 he transferred his residence to New London, 
 where his brother John had previously settled, and from thence came to 
 Norwich in 1660, or soon afterward. In 1663 he is styled, "now of New 
 Norridge." 
 
 He appears to have had six or seven daughters, and one son ; but only 
 four of the daughters can be traced into other households. Mary became 
 the wife of Samuel Raymond ; Elizabeth, of Joshua Raymond ; Ann, of 
 Thomas Bradford ; and another, (name uncertain,) of Joshua Abel. 
 
 At New Haven, the birth and baptism of six of the children may be 
 found on record, his wife Sarah being a member of the church at that 
 place. At Norwich, in his old age, he had a wife Ann. 
 
200 
 
 HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 
 
 From an entry in the records of tlie county court in 1666, we learn his 
 
 age: 
 
 "Nehemiah Smith of Norwich declaring himself above 60 years of age and his 
 brother John declaring the same at his earnest desire is freed from training." 
 
 He died in 1686. His only son, Nehemiah, born in 1646 at New 
 na\en, settled in Groton, where he was generally designated, from the 
 office tliat he held, Mr. Justice Smith. 
 
 Edward Smith, a nephew of John and Nehemiah, married, June 7, 
 1003, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Bhss of Norwich. He also settled 
 in Groton, where he and his wife and his oldest son John, fifteen years of 
 age, died on the 8th, 10th and 14th days of July, 1689, all victims of a 
 fatal epidemic called the throat distemper. Another son, Obadiah, and 
 seven daughters, were left orphans. Most of these found homes among 
 their Norwich relatives. Obadiah Smith was chosen constable of the 
 town in 1704, and it is the first time that the name of Smith, usually so 
 prominent in our annals, is found attached to any office in Norwich. He 
 was afterward captain of the train-band. The inscription upon his grave- 
 stone is interesting on account of its rude simplicity. 
 
 HERE LIES Ye BODY 
 
 OF CAPt obadiah 
 
 SMITH WHO DIED 
 
 MAY 1 = 1 727 = AND 
 
 IN ye 50H YEAR OF 
 
 HIS AGE. 
 
 NOW, BETWEEN 
 
 THESE CARVED STONS 
 
 RICH TRESVER LIES 
 
 DEER SMITH HIS BONES. 
 
 XXXIV. Thomas Tract. 
 
 Thomas Tracy, from Towksbury in Gloucestershire, came to New 
 Enoland in April, 1636. His name was enrolled at Salem, Feb. 23, 
 1037. 
 
 " Thomas Tracy, ship-carpenter, received an inhabitant, upon a certificate of divers 
 of Watcrtown, and is to have five acres of land." 
 
 He left the Bay for the new colony on the Connecticut, probably about 
 1610, and settled at Wethersfield, where he is supposed to have married 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 201 
 
 the widow of Edward Mason in 1641. A few years later he removed to 
 Saybrook, from whence, after a residence of twelve or fourteen years, he 
 came to Norwich, bringing with him six sons and a daughter. Perhaps 
 his wife also was then living, for neither the place nor period of her 
 death has been ascertained. Two of his children, John and Thomas, 
 were probably born in Wethersfield, and the others in Saybrook. Miriam, 
 the daughter, was the middle member of the list, and at the time of the 
 settlement about ten years of age, her brothers ranging above and below, 
 from six to (perhaps) sixteen years. 
 
 Mr. Tracy was evidently a man of talent and activity, skillful in the 
 management of various kinds of business, upright and discreet. The 
 confidence placed in him by his associates is manifested in the great num- 
 ber of appointments which he received. His name is on the roll of the 
 Legislature as representative from Norwich at twenty-seven sessions. 
 The elections were semi-annual, and Mr. Tracy was chosen twenty-one 
 times, beginning Oct. 9, 1662, and ending July 5, 1684. The others were 
 extra sessions. 
 
 In October, 1666, he was chosen ensign of the first train-band organized 
 in Norwich, and in August, 1673, lieutenant of the New London County 
 Dragoons, enlisted to fight against the Dutch and Indians. In 1678 he 
 was appointed commissioner or justice of the peace. 
 
 The second wife of Thomas Tracy was Martha, relict of John Bradford, 
 whom he married in 1676. In the course of a few years he was again a 
 widower, and married in 1683, Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Foot, and 
 relict, first of John Stoddard, and second of John Goodrich, both of Weth- 
 ersfield. Mr. Tracy was her third husband, and she was his third wife. 
 
 Lieut. Thomas Tracy died Nov. 7, 1685. His estate was prized at 
 £560 ; he had about 5000 acres of land. The court ordered distribution 
 as follows : to John, the oldest son, £120 ; to the other sons, and to Sergt. 
 Thomas Waterman, each £70. In this distribution no mention is made ' 
 of a widow ; and the inference is, that Mrs. Mary Tracy did not survive 
 her husband. 
 
 Late researches into the history of. this family furnish evidence that 
 Thomas Tracy was of honorable descent, and that his immediate ancestors 
 for three generations had been distinguished for fidelity to the reformed 
 religion. Eichard Tracy, of Stan way, England, published a work deeply 
 imbued with the spirit of Protestantism, on account of which he suiFered 
 much from persecution in the days of Queen Mary, though he escaped 
 martyrdom. It is supposed that one of his sons, Nathaniel, living at 
 Tewksbury, was the father of Thomas, and that the latter was born at 
 that place in 1610.* 
 
 * This is the result of an examination of the recorcls of Gloucestershire, England, by 
 the late F. P. Tracy of San Francisco, Cal. The eyidenca was such as to satisfy him 
 
202 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 No registration of the family of Thomas Tracy has been found. From 
 the early appearance of his name at Salem, it is evident that his children 
 were all born on this side of the ocean. In the settlement of his estate, 
 the order in which they are mentioned, corresponding with other incidental 
 testimony, gives the following series as their natural position : 
 
 1. John, born not earlier than 1642, nor later than 1644. 
 
 2. Thomas, (probably) 1646. 
 
 3. Jonathan, 1648. His age in 1698 was stated at 50. 
 
 4. Miriam, 1649 or 1650. She married Thomas Waterman inNovemher, 1668. 
 
 5. Solomon, 1651. Aged 46 in 1697, and when he died, July 9, 1732, was in his 
 
 82d year. 
 
 6. Daniel, 1652; died June 29, 1728, aged 76. 
 
 7. Samuel; died Jan. 11, 1693, without issue, — his effects being assigned to his 
 brothers and sisters. 
 
 John Tracy so soon took his place among the inhabitants of Norwich, 
 that he acquired the rank, influence, and all the privileges of a first pur- 
 chaser, and as such is numbered as one of the Thirty-five. 
 
 Thomas and Jonathan Tracy, second and third sons of Lieut. Thomas, 
 settled upon the wild, unreclaimed lands on the east side of the Shetucket, 
 then belonging to Norwich, but afterward included in Preston. Jonathan 
 married, July 11, 1672, Mary, daughter of Francis Griswold. The wife 
 of Thomas Tracy has not been traced. The brothers had each a large 
 blessing of children, that were soon disseminated in the neighborhood, 
 founding homes of their own, and assisting in the great work of clearing 
 away forests and planting homes in the wilderness. 
 
 The will of Thomas Tracy was executed April 6, 1721, but not proved 
 till 1724. He probably died early in that year. 
 
 His youngest son, Dea. Jedidiah Tracy of Preston, died June 8, 1779, 
 in the 87 th year of his age, his death being caused by a fall from his horse 
 as he was riding to the mill. He had been deacon of the church for nearly 
 fifty years, and was also a justice of the peace and representative of the 
 town. He left, says a newspaper of the day, one hundred and thirty- 
 seven descendants. 
 
 Jonathan Tracy was the first town clerk of Preston, the first lieutenant, 
 and the first justice of the peace. In an old grave-yard devoted to the 
 Tracys, Forbes, and other earlj' inhabitants of Preston, is a rough head- 
 that Lieut. Thomas Tracy of Norwich was the son of Nathaniel of Tewksbury, who 
 was the son of Uichard, Esq., of Stanway, who was the son of Sir William, the ninth, 
 of Toddington. 
 
 Mr. Trncy had collected materials for a thorough historical registry of the descend- 
 ants of the Lieutenant ; but he died while on a political tour in western New York, 
 Oct. 10, 1860, and the work for which he had made such ample preparation has not 
 been published. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH, 
 
 203 
 
 stone, carved with the letters J. T. and the date 1711, which is supposed 
 to point out his grave. The inventory of his esta:te was taken Feb. 12, 
 1712. 
 
 Solomon Tracy was a physician, and the second in Norwich of whom 
 we find any notice, — John Olmstead being the first. He was united in 
 marriage, Nov. 23, 1676, to Sarah, daughter of Simon Huntington. She 
 died in 1683, and he married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Bliss and relict 
 of Thomas Sluman. 
 
 INSCRIPTION UPON THE GKAVE-STONE OP DE. SOLOMON TEAOT. 
 
 IN THIS 
 
 SPOT OF 
 
 EARTH IS 
 
 INTERRED 
 
 Ye EARTHY 
 
 PART OF Mr 
 
 SOLOMON TRACY | 
 
 WHO DIED 
 
 IVLY Ye 9H 
 
 1732. & 
 
 IN YE 8 2D 
 
 YEAR OF 
 
 HIS AGE. 
 
 THE DEAD 
 
 IN SILENT 
 
 LANGUAGE SAY | 
 
 TO LIVING 
 
 THINKING 1 
 
 READER HEARE | 
 
 LOVING 
 
 FR IN DS 1 
 
 DOE NOT DELAY 
 
 BUT SPEEDILY FOR 
 
 DETH PREPARE. 
 
 Lydia, only daughter of Solomon Tracy, married the third Thomas 
 LefSngwell. Simon Tracy, son of Solomon, married Mary LeffingweU. 
 This last couple were united in 1708, and journeyed together far into the 
 vale of years. A head-stone in the burial-ground informs us that " the 
 pious, beloved, and very aged Mr. Simon Tracy, died 14th September, 
 1775, in the 96th year of his age." His wife died in her 89th year. 
 
 Solomon Tracy, second and youngest son of Solomon, removed to Can- 
 terbury. 
 
 Daniel, the fifth son of Lieut. Thomas Tracy, inherited the paternal 
 homestead in the town-plot. He was twice married; first, to Abigail 
 Adgate, and second, to Hannah, relict of Thomas Bingham. After a 
 long, honorable and useful life, he came to an untimely end, being instan- 
 taneously killed by faUing from the frame-work of a bridge tliat had just 
 been suspended over Shetucket river. 
 
204 HISTOET OP NOEWICH. 
 
 The late Dr. Ebenezer Tracj of Middletown, the Tracys of Scotland 
 parish, (Windbam,) and Major Thomas Tracy of Norwich, long of the 
 firm of Avery & Tracy, who died in 1806, were descendants of Daniel 
 Tracy. 
 
 XXXV. John Tract. 
 
 The marriage of this young proprietor to Mary Winslow, June 10, 
 1670, is recorded at Duxbury, ilass. The bride was a daughter of Josiah 
 Winslow the elder,* who was brother to Governor Edward Winslow of 
 Plymouth. 
 
 John and Mary Tracy had five children, — four sons and one daughter ; 
 the latter married Nathaniel Backus. The oldest son, Josiah, died in 
 infancy. The others, John, Joseph, and Winslow, all had families. 
 
 Mr. John Tracy died Aug. 16, 1702. 
 , Mrs. Mary Tracy died j;uly 30, 1721. 
 
 Mr. Tracy's inventory specifies the homestead, valued at £130, and 
 seventeen other parcels of land, comprising between three and four thou- 
 sand acres. He had land at Yantick, at Bradford's brook, Beaver brook, 
 Lebanon, Little Lebanon, Wawecos hill, Potapaug, at Wenungatuck, (on 
 the west side of the Quinebaug, above Plainfield,) at Tadmuck hill, (east 
 of the Quinebaug,) and at Mashamagwatuck, in the Nipmuck country. 
 The land at Wenungatuck was part of a large tract purchased of Owan- 
 eco, sachem of Mohegan. In. the division of the estate it fell to Nathan- 
 iel Backus. 
 
 John Tracy of the second generation was born in 1673; of the third, 
 in 1702; of the fourth, in 1726; of the fifth, in 1755; of the sixth, in 
 1783. These six John Tracys were in the line of primogeniture, and all 
 natives of Norwich except the first. Their partners in regular succes- 
 sion were Mary Winslow, Elizabeth Leffingwell, Margaret Hyde, Mar- 
 garet Huntington, Esther Pride, and Susannah Hyde. The sixth in this 
 line was the late John Tracy of Oxford, New York, who was born in that 
 part of Norwich which is now Franklin, and was a man of acknowledged 
 ability and integrity, devoting himself for many years to the service of the 
 public as post-master, representative, judge, and for six years Lieutenant- 
 Governor of New York, lie died June 18, 1864. He leaves no son to 
 continue the line. 
 
 Dr. Elislia Tracy, a distinguished physician of Norwich of the Revo- 
 lutionary era, was a son of Capt. Joseph Tracy, second son of John the 
 proprietor. He was tlie father of the late Dr. Philemon Tracy, two of 
 
 * It has been claimed thnt she was a daiiglitcr of John Winslow and his wife, Max-y 
 Chilton of the Mayflower ; but this is a mistake. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 205 
 
 whose sons, Phineas L. and Albert H., have been representatives in 
 Congress from New York. Capts. Jared and Frederick Tracy, in the 
 mercantile line, who have descendants in various parts of the Union, from 
 New York to Missouri, were of the same lineage. 
 
 Uriah Tracy of Litchfield, born at Norwich, West Farms, in 1755, and 
 U. S. Senator from 1796 till his death, was a descendant of Winslow 
 Tracy, the youngest son of the first John. He died at "Washington, July 
 19, 1807, and was the first person interred in the Congressional Cem- 
 etery. / 
 
 XXXVI. Wade. 
 
 The name of Robert Wade is found at Dorchester in 1G35 ; a person 
 bearing the same name was admitted as a freeman at Hartford in 1640 ; 
 at a later period it is found among the inhabitants of Saybrook, and still 
 later at Norwich. All these notices probably refer to one person. 
 
 In August, 1 657, Robert Wade was divorced from his wife by the Gen- 
 eral Court at Hartford ; the act being recorded in the following terms : 
 
 " This Court duely and seriously considering what evidence hath bene prsented to 
 them by Robert Wade of Seabrooke ia reference to his wines rnworthy, sinfull, yea, 
 unnaturall cariage towards him the said Eobert, her husband, notwithstanding his con- 
 stant and comendable care and indeauor to gaine fellowship w* her in the bond of mar- 
 riage and that either where shee is in England, or for her to hue w* him here in New 
 England ; aU -w'^ being slighted and rejected by her, disowning him and fellowship w"" 
 him in that solemne couenant of marriage betwene them and all this for neare fifteene 
 yeares : They doe hereby declare that Eobert Wade is from this time free from Joane 
 Wade his late wife and that former Couenant of marriage betwene them."* 
 
 We assume that this was the Eobert Wade that appeared a few years 
 later among the proprietors of Norwich, with wife Susanna. 
 
 His house-lot, between those of John and Thomas Post, was subse- 
 quently transferred to Caleb Abell in exchange for a situation better 
 adapted to farming. 
 
 The inventory of Robert Wade was exhibited at the county court in 
 June, 1682. He left a widow, son Robert, and three daughters, Susan- 
 nah, Mary, and Elizabeth. 
 
 Robert Wade the younger married in 1691, Abigail Royce, and is found 
 shortly afterward among the planters at ^Hhe Ponds," by which name a 
 portion of Windham was originally known. He was made a freeman 
 May 30, 1693, 
 
 * Conn. Col. Eec, 1, 301. 
 
206 
 
 HISTOEY OP KOBWICH, 
 
 XXXVn. EiCHAED Wallis. 
 
 This name is probably identical with Wallace, Richard Wallis, though 
 ranked as an original proprietor, was not one of the earliest company that 
 settled at Norwich. He was living at that time in the eastern division of 
 Sayld'ook, now Lyme, and sold his house with six acres of land to John 
 Borden, but yet delayed from year to year to vacate the premises. In 
 1670, Borden brought a suit against him before the county court, in order 
 to obtain possession. The court ordered "Wallis to deliver the premises 
 to the purchaser, in good condition, within one month from the date of 
 judgment. We assume, therefore, the year 1670 as the date of his re- 
 moval to Norwich. 
 
 He died early in 1675, leaving a widow and two daughters, Abigail 
 and Joanna. In the settlement of estate, the court gave the lands in 
 Norwich to Abigail, and those in Lyme to Joanna. Simon Huntington 
 and John Birchard were appointed overseers of the children and estate. 
 The widow married the next year, Jacob Wackley. 
 
 XXXVni. Waterman. 
 
 Thomas Waterman was nephew to the wife of John Bradford. Eobert 
 Waterman and Elizabeth Bourn of Marshfield were married Dec. 9, 
 1638. Thomas, their second son, was born in 1644, and probably came 
 to Norwich with his uncle Bradford. In November, 1668, he was joined 
 in wedlock with Miriam, only daughter of Thomas Tracy. The Water- 
 man house-lot was next to that of Major Mason, and the dwelling-house 
 was built at a slight turn of the town street, opposite the residence of the 
 late Dr. Turner. It projected awkwardly into the highway, which now 
 passes over a part of the site. The old well that stood by the house, is 
 mider the street. 
 
 A granite stone records in rude capitals the decease of this proprietor. 
 
 S E Rt 
 
 THOMAS 
 
 WATERMAN, 
 
 DECdJVNE 1ST 
 
 1708. Aged 64 y 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 207 
 
 The inventory of Thomas Waterman amounted to £855.11.4. He had 
 ten oxen, ten cows, and abundant household goods, showing a condition of 
 thrift, comfort, and independence. He left three sons and five daughters. 
 
 Elizabeth, the oldest daughter, married John Fitch, one of the sons of 
 the reverend minister of the town, and settled in Windham. 
 
 Martha, the second daughter, went to Lyme, as the second wife of 
 "Lyme's Captain, Reinold Marvin." 
 
 Miriam died unmarried, Sept. 22, 1760, aged 82. 
 
 Lydia married Eleazer Burnham, a new inhabitant of the Nine-miles- 
 square, that came in from Ipswich after 1700. 
 
 Ann, the youngest daughter, became the partner of Josiah DeWolfe of 
 Lyme. 
 
 The sons of the proprietor were Thomas and John. 
 
 Thomas, the first-born of Norwich Watermans, not waiting to be quite 
 twenty-one years of age, married, June 29, 1691, Elizabeth, daughter of 
 Robert AUyn. Their union was prolonged to a term of sixty-four years, 
 and the memorial stones at their graves show that they had both attained 
 their 86th year, and died within a few months of each other in the year 
 1755. They had seven sons and two daughters. 
 
 Lieut. Elisha Waterman, their fifth son, died in Havana, a victim of the 
 fatal expedition undertaken against the Spanish in 1762. He left a large 
 family. 
 
 Asa Waterman, the sixth son, was the father of Arunah Waterman, 
 who was bom at Norwich in 1749, and after taking an active part in the 
 various scenes of the Revolutionary war, both as a soldier and assistant 
 commissary, emigrated with his family, about the year 1800, to Johnson, 
 Vt., assisting greatly in the growth and prosperity of that town. At 
 Johnson, Capt. Waterman lived to old age, adhering to ancient principles, 
 simple manners, and old customs, grandfather to the whole village, and 
 wearing to the last the long waistcoat, small clothes and shoe-buckles of a 
 former generation. He died in 1838. 
 
 Nehemiah Waterman, seventh son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Allyn,) 
 was the first of the Bozrah line of Watermans. He died Oct. 27, 1796, 
 in the 88th year of his age. His son Nehemiah was an officer of the 
 Revolutionary army, and the representative of Bozrah for ten sessions, 
 from 1787 to 1797. He died in 1802, aged 66. 
 
 Rev. Elijah Waterman, distinguished as a successful teacher of the 
 classics, and an able and fearless preacher, was a son of the second Nehe- 
 miah Waterman, and bom in Bozrah, Nov. 28, 1769. He graduated at 
 Yale College in 1791, and was ten years pastor of the church at Wind- 
 ham. He was afterward engaged in the ministry at Bridgeport, where he 
 died Oct. 1 1, 1825, aged 56. He was a man of large information and an 
 able writer. It is said that he had read the Paradise Lost several times 
 
208 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 through before he was nine years of age, He published sermons and 
 treatises ; was fond of poetry, and often composed small poems on fugitive 
 occasions.* 
 
 John Waterman, the second son of the proprietor Thomas, born in 
 March, 1G72, married in 1701, Elizabeth, daughter of the second Samuel 
 Lothrop. They lirid a family of six or seven sons and two daughters, the 
 youngest of whom, Hannah, was the mother of Benedict Arnold. 
 
 A branch of the Waterman family settled in Lebanon, N. H. Col. 
 Thomas Waterman, born July 11, 1766, is said to have been the &3t 
 white child born in that town. His parents, Silas and Silence Waterman, 
 were from Norwich. 
 
 * Sprague's Pulpit Annals, Vol. 2. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Second Class op Pkopkietoks; reckoned among First-Comeks. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that for the first eighty years after the settlement, 
 very few names occur among the town officers but those of the earliest 
 class of settlers and their descendants. It shows how closely within their 
 own charmed circle the proprietors kept the powers of government. The 
 AbeUs, Brewsters, Bushnells, Elderkins and Lothrops were included in 
 the circle, but beyond these the exceptions were rare. Thomas Sluman, 
 one of the constables for 1680; Stephen Merrick 1681, and a townsman 
 1685; Caleb Forbes, constable east of Shetucket, 1684, and Thomas 
 Parke, Jr., 1685 ; John Elderkin, constable 1694; and after 1709, David 
 Hartshorn and Nathaniel Rudd occasionally appointed townsmen for the 
 West-farmers, are all the names that are registered for any important and 
 useful ofiice, outside of the original proprietary list, until the year 1721. 
 In the choice of deputies the range was restricted to the same circle, with- 
 out any exception, till Jabez Perkins appears on the roll in 1720. After 
 this period the old dynasty began to loosen its bolts, and the admixture of 
 new names is more frequent. 
 
 I. Abel, ob Abell. 
 
 Three of this name are found at an early period among the inhabitants 
 of Norwich : Caleb, Benjamin, and Joshua. It is a natural supposition 
 that they were brothers, and nothing is known that disproves the relation- 
 ship. In all probability they came from Dedham. 
 
 1. Caleb Abell married in July, 1669, Margaret, daughter of John 
 Post. They had eleven children. The wife died in 1700, and Mr. Abell 
 married Mary, relict of Stephen Loomer. 
 
 He was chosen constable in 1684; townsman in 1689, and often after- 
 wards; appointed to keep tavern in 1694; enrolled among the dignitaries 
 with his military title, "Sargent Calib Abel," in 1702; died Aug. 7, 1731 
 leaving wife Mary, and nine children. 
 14 
 
210 HISTORT OP NORWICH. 
 
 Enough of the broken head-stone of his grave remains to show that he 
 was in the 85th year of his age. 
 
 Of the six sons of Caleb and Margaret Abell, the first three on the list, 
 Samuel, Caleb and John, married sisters, Elizabeth, Abigail and Rebecca 
 Sluman, daughters of Thomas Sluman and Mary Bliss. 
 
 Samuel, the oldest son, born in 1672, was a physician. In 1708, and 
 again in a list of land-owners in 1726, he appears with the prefix of his 
 profession. We assign him to the third place in the list of Norwich phy- 
 sicians whose names have been recovered. Though cotemporary with 
 Dr. Caleb Bushnell, he was a few years senior in age. 
 
 Theophilu.^, the fourth son, died on the last day of August, 1724, aged 
 44. This was before his father's decease. He left a wife and two daugh- 
 ters. His library seems to intimate that he was a religious teacher. It 
 consisted of about thirty volumes, and among them were the following: 
 
 A Bible with silver clasps. 
 
 Wise's Church Quarrels. 
 
 Doolittle on the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Henry's Communicant's Companion. 
 
 Robert Russell's Seven Sermons. 
 
 Dr. Mather on Angels ; do. on Resignation to the Will of God. 
 
 Memorial on Milk for Babes. 
 
 Cotton Mather's Day of Rain. 
 
 Stoddard on Saving Conversion. 
 
 Dr. Mather's Now or Never. 
 
 Bunyan's Forsaken Sinner. 
 
 Do. Solomon's Temple Spiritualized. 
 
 Wadsworth's Guide to the Doubting. 
 
 Dr. Mather's Ecclesiastical Councils. 
 
 Pierpont's False Hope. Henry Gearing. 
 
 Burrough's Prepaiation for Judgment. 
 
 Stoddard's Guide to Christ. 
 
 Flavel's Husbandry Spiritualized. 
 
 Sundry old books. 
 
 No single book, except the Bible, was valued over 2s. 6d. 
 
 2. Benjamin Abell was in the settlement as early as 1670. His in- 
 ventory was presented to the Prerogative Court in June, 1699, and the 
 statement made that he left a son, Benjamin, and six daughters. 
 
 3. Joshua Abell married, Nov. 1, 1677, Mehitable, daughter of Nehe- 
 miah Smith. He was constable in 1682, and was frequently chosen 
 townsman. He died March 17, 1724, in the 77th year of his age. His 
 estate was distributed the same year to four daughters, £915 to each. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 211 
 
 They were the wives of John Lothrop, John Leffingwell, Hugh Calkins, 
 and Thomas Lothrop. Two other daughters, the wives of Nathaniel 
 Fitch and Obadiah Smith, had received their portions. No son is men- 
 tioned. 
 
 It will not be inappropriate to advert here to a late worthy descendant 
 of Caleb Abell of Norwich, who has left no posterity to perpetuate his 
 line. General Elijah Abell, a gallant officer in the army that contended 
 against England for liberty and independence, was born within the old 
 municipal bounds of Norwich, but after the conclusion of the war settled 
 in Fairfield, and for nearly twenty years served as sheriff of the county. 
 In later life he returned to the old homestead in Bozrah, and there died, 
 June 3,1809, aged 71. He was a graduate of Yale College, well-informed, 
 energetic, and upright. 
 
 II. Beewstek. 
 
 Jonathan Brewster was the oldest son of Elder William Brewster of 
 the Mayflower Colony, but came over in the Fortune, 1621, a year later 
 than his father. He settled at Duxbury, and represented that town in 
 1639. With others of the Plymouth Colony, he engaged actively in the 
 trade with the Indians of Long Island Sound and Connecticut River. 
 This trade was can-ied on in sloops and shallops. Some of the first set- 
 tlers of Windsor appear to have been carried thither in Brewster's vessel. 
 Jonathan and William Brewster were witnesses to a deed of land pur- 
 chased by the Dorchester people of the Indians at Windsor, April 15, 
 1636.* 
 
 These voyages brought Mr. Brewster into contact with the younger 
 Winthrop, the founder of New London ; to which place he removed in 
 1649, and found immediate employment, not only in the old path of Indian 
 traffic, but as Recorder or Clerk of the plantation, — many of the early 
 deeds and grants at New London being in his hand-writing. 
 
 16 May, 1650. ' This day were made Freemen of this jurisdiction, John Winthrop 
 Esq. Mr. Jonathan Brewster," &c. 
 
 Nine or ten years before the settlement of Norwich, Mr. Brewster had 
 established a trading-post near the mouth of Poquetannock creek. The 
 point of land formed by the junction of the creek and river is still called 
 Brewster's Neck. A large tract of land was here given by Uncas to Mr. 
 Brewster, as a bonus to induce him to establish the post, and it was con- 
 firmed to him by the townsmen of New London, within whose original 
 bounds it was included.t 
 
 « Stiles' Windsor, 1, 1 11, t Conn. Col. Eec, il, 207, 
 
212 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 He commenced operations at Brewster's Neck in 1650, without waiting 
 to obtain a license from the authorities of Connecticut, who claimed the 
 jurisdiction. The General Court, at their session in May of that year, 
 censured him for the way of proceeding,'but legalized the undertaking 
 itself. 
 
 " Whereas Mr. Jonathan Brewster hath set up a trading-house at Mohigen, this 
 Courte declares that they cannott but judge the thinge very disorderly, nevertheless 
 considering his condition, they are content hee should proceed therein for the present, 
 and till they see cause to the contrary."* 
 
 From this time forth, Brewster's Neck and Trading Cove on the oppo- 
 site side of the river became the principal places of traffic with the Mo- 
 hegans. Mr. Brewster maintained an agency here and kept his family at 
 the post for several years, but at length relinquished the trade to his son 
 Benjamin, and returned to Pequot Harbor, as New London was then 
 called. In May, 1657, he was chosen "Assistant for the towne of 
 Pequett."t 
 
 (Autograph in 1659.) 
 
 ^'^hnn^i c>t^e*vp^r' 
 
 His four daughters were all eligibly married in New London, and there 
 he and his wife spent their last days. He died in 1661. Incidental cir- 
 cumstances determine the year, but the precise date has not been ascer- 
 tained. The MS. diary of Thomas Minor of Stonington mentions the 
 burial of Mrs. Brewster, March 5, 1678, (N. S. 1679.) 
 
 This worthy and honorable couple, Jonathan and Lucretia Brewster, 
 belong to the venerated class of First-Comers of New England. 
 
 Mr. Brewster brought with him to New London his son Benjamin and 
 four daughters, leaving William, and possibly other children, in the Old 
 Colony. Benjamin Brewster married Anna Dart in February, 1659, and 
 succeeded his father at Brewster's Neck, where, after a life of usefulness 
 and honor, he died Sept. 10, 1710, aged 77. The births of his seven 
 children are recorded at Norwich. 
 
 New London, as the bounds were stated in 1652, extended a quarter of 
 a mile above Mr. Brewster's trading-house. In 1668, the line between 
 New London and Norwich was reviewed and rectified, and it was still 
 found to cross Brewster's Neck, dividing the Brewster farm between the 
 
 * Conn. Col. Rec, 1, 209. The phrase, "considering hi* candition," refers to the 
 losses he had sustained in the Old Colony. 
 I Ibid., 1, 298. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 213 
 
 two towns. The Legislature therefore left it to the option of Mr. Benja- 
 min Brewster to which place he would be attached. The settlement at 
 one place was four miles north of him, and at the other eight miles south. 
 He chose the nearer neighborhood. Accordingly in 1669 we find him 
 recorded as one of the twenty-five freemen of Norwich, and in 1685 he 
 was one of its twelve patentees ; but a year later, when Preston was 
 accepted as a plantation, his farm fell within the hmits of that new town, 
 and he was enrolled as one of its inhabitants. 
 
 Thus it appears that Brewster's Neck, which, as we have seen, was at 
 first an advanced post into the wilderness, where the first house was 
 erected by white men in the Mohegan or Pequot territory, north of New 
 London, was long afloat in regard to its territorial possession, and settled 
 with difficulty into a permanent position. Originally included in the ter- 
 ritory conquered from the Pequots, yet claimed and given away by Uncas, 
 accredited for about twenty years to New London, and then assigned by 
 courtesy to Norwich, — afterward made a part of the town of Preston, but 
 subsequently included in North Groton, — ^it is now undeniably, and has 
 been since 1836, within the limits of Ledyard. It is seldom that the 
 formation of new towns and the alteration of boundaries produces so many 
 changes in a particular locality. 
 
 The late Mr. Seabury Brewster of Norwich was not a descendant of 
 Jonathan Brewster, but of some other branch of the Mayflower family. 
 He emigrated to Norwich from the Old Colony during the Revolutionary 
 war, when about twenty-two years of age. The following is the inscrip- 
 tion upon his tomb-stone : 
 
 "Seabury Brewster was born at Kingston, Plymouth Co., Mass., 19 Oct., 1754, and 
 died at Norwich, Conn., 27 July, 1847, aged 93. He was 6th in descent from Elder 
 William Brewster, one of the Pilgrims that came over in the Mayflower and landed at 
 Plymouth in 1620. 
 
 " This stone is erected by his three sons, William, Christopher, and Seabury." 
 
 in. BUSHNELL. 
 
 The marriage of Richard Bushnell and Mary Marvin, Oct. 11, 1048, 
 is recorded at Hartford. Mary Marvin was a daughter of Matthew Mar- 
 vin, afterward of Norwalk. Richard Bushnell's name also appears in 
 1656, among the owners of home-lots in Norwalk, but he is not afterward 
 found in the list of early settlers, and it is supposed that he became a 
 resident of Saybrook, and there died about the year 1658. His relict 
 appears in 1660, at Norwich, as the wife of Thomas Adgate. Her child- 
 ren were brought with her to the new settlement, and their births are found 
 registered with those of the Adgate family. 
 
214 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 " The names and ages of the children of Richard Bnshnell deceased, who stand in 
 relation unto the second wife of Thomas Adgate as their mother, are as foUoweth : 
 Joseph Bushnell was borne in May, Anno Dom 1651. 
 Richard " " " "Sept. " " 1652. 
 
 Mary " " " " Jan'y " " 1654. 
 
 Marcie " " " "March " " 1657. 
 
 Mary Bushnell, the only daughter of this group that appears to have 
 lived to maturity, married in September, 1672, Thomas Leffingwell, Jr. 
 Joseph, the oldest son, married Mary Leffingwell of the same family, Nov. 
 28, 167.3. This couple had a family of eleven children — seven daughters 
 and four sons ; but only two of the latter, Jonathan and Nathan, became 
 heads of families, 
 
 Mr. Joseph Bushnell lived to his 96th year, and his wife to her 92d. 
 The life of their daughter, Mrs. Mary Leffingwell, was also extended 
 beyond the age of 90. 
 
 Richard Bushnell married in 1672, Elizabeth Adgate, the daughter of 
 his step-father by his first wife. He had two sons, Caleb and Benajah, 
 and two daughters, Anne and Elizabeth, who married the brothers Wil- 
 liam and John Hyde, sons of Samuel the proprietor. 
 
 In the earher part of the eighteenth century, Richard Bushnell was one 
 of the most noted and active men in Norwich. After arriving at man's 
 estate, we find him taking a prominent part in almost every enterprise 
 that was set on foot in the place. 
 
 He performed successively, if not contemporaneously, the duties of 
 townsman, constable, school-master, poet, deacon, sergeant, heutenant and 
 captain, town-agent, town-deputy, court-clerk, and justice of the peace. 
 
 As a military man, it is probable that he had seen some actual service 
 in scouting against the Indians, and was useful in exercising the train- 
 bands. The first Mondays of May and September were days of general 
 militia muster, or training-days, as they were usually called. These in 
 Norwich, as elsewhere, were always days of festivity. No one was so 
 poor as not to regale his t'auiily wilh training-cake and beer at those times. 
 In 1708 a new start was taken in improving the appearance and exercise 
 of the trainers. " Drums, holbarts, and a pair of colours," were purchased 
 for them. 
 
 As a clerk, Mr. Bushnell exhibited an improvement upon the old forms 
 of writing and spelling; ; and as a justice, he decided numerous cases of 
 debt and trespass, both for >s'orwich and the neighboring towns. 
 
 Caleb Bushnell, the son of Richard, born May 26, 1679, was nearly aa 
 conspicuous in the affairs of the town as his father. He was a physician, 
 captain of the train-band, often employed in civil affairs, and a prosperous 
 trader. He was also one of the first occupants and improvers at the Land- 
 ing, no one of his compeers going before him in activity and enterprise. 
 
HISTORY OF NOEWIOH 
 
 215 
 
 He left an estate of about £4000. The stone record gives his age and 
 death : 
 
 " Here lyeth what was mortal of that worthy gentleman, Capt. Caleb Bushnell, son 
 to Capt. Richard Bushnell Esq. who died Feb. 18, 1724, aged 46 years, 8 months and 
 23 days." 
 
 Richard Bushnell's will was written after the death of his son Caleb. 
 In that instrument he states it to hare always been his intention not to 
 bequeath a double portion to his oldest son, (as was the custom of the 
 country,) but to give his children equal portions of his property. To his 
 son Benajah he leaves those relics or heir-looms which would probably 
 have fallen to Caleb, had he survived, viz., his double-barreled gun, silver- 
 hilted sword and belts, ivory-headed cane, and silver whistle. 
 
 HERE LIES ye BODY 
 OF CAPT. RICHARD 
 BVSHNELL ESgVlRE 
 WHO DIED AVGVST 
 ye 27.. 1727. .& in ye 
 75TH YEAR OF HIS AGE. 
 
 AS YOU ARE 
 SO WAS WE 
 BUT AS WE ARE 
 YOU SHALL BE. 
 
 IV. Eldekkin. 
 
 Our acquaintance with John Elderkin begins at Lynn, in 1637, when 
 he was about 21 years of age. From thence he may be traced to Boston, 
 Dedham, Reading, Providence, New London, and at last to Norwich, 
 which was probably his latest home and final resting-place. 
 
 In a deposition taken in 1672, he gives his age, 56, and says that he 
 became an inhabitant of New London the same year that Mr. Blinman 
 and his company came there to dwell. We find a grant of house-lot 
 recorded to him at that place in October, 1650, in anticipation of his 
 coming. 
 
 Elderkin was a house-carpenter and mill-wright, — crafts which in the 
 circumstances of the country were better than a patent of nobility in 
 gaining for him a welcome reception, esteem and influence. In the places 
 
216 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 ■where he sojourned, he built mills, meeting-houses, probably also bridges, 
 and the better sort of dwelling-houses. At New London he built the first 
 meeting-house, constructed two or three saw-mills in the neighborhood, and 
 occasionally tried hia hand in building vessels. 
 
 The settlement of Norwich opened a new field for his services. The 
 proprietors at their first coming entered into a contract with him to erect 
 a mill upon the Yantic for grinding corn, with the privilege of runnmg 
 the mill for a term of years as a kind of monopoly of the business. This 
 led to a change of residence, and in 1664 he uses the style, "I John El- 
 derkin of Norwige, car[)enter." 
 
 In building the first meeting-house on the Plain, Elderkin does not 
 appear to liave had any concern. In constructing that temporary edifice 
 the planters themselves were probably the architects and workmen. In 
 1673, Elderkin wus engaged to build a more imposing and durable struct- 
 ure for a house of worship, in conjunction with Samuel Lothrop, by whom 
 a certain part of the work was to be performed. This edifice was scarcely 
 completed, when he entered into a similar contract with the people of 
 New London. He seems in point of fact to have been occupied in run- 
 ning a mill and building a meeting-house at each place, nearly at the same 
 time. 
 
 He died June 23, 1687, aged about 71. Of his first wife nothing is 
 known. The birth of a daughter, Abigail, is recorded at Boston, Sept. 13) 
 1641. Richard Hendy's wife was Hannah, daughter of John Elderkin' 
 and it is probable that Daniel Comstock's ivife, Paltiah, was another of 
 the family, as he and Elderkin use the terms father and son in their trans- 
 actions with each other as early as 1661. 
 
 Elderkin married, in 1660 or before, EUzabeth, relict of William Gay- 
 lord of Windsor.* Three sons and two daughters were the issue of this 
 second marriage. 
 
 (Fac-similo of his Sigaature ia 1653.) 
 
 * In an accouni of Daniel Lane of New London against Elderkin in 1660, there is 
 a charge of " 4 yds. of lase for his mother, 6d. per yd." This must have been his 
 wife's mother. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 21T 
 
 V. Latheop. 
 
 Samuel Lathrop, or Lothrop, as the name was then generally spelled? 
 (with the pronunciation Lotrop,) was a son of the Rev. John Lothrop, 
 who had preached in London to the first Independent or Congregational 
 Church organized in England, as successor to Mr. Jacob, under whose 
 ministry the church was formed. The congregation was broken up by 
 ecclesiastical rigor, and Mr. Lothrop suffered an imprisonment of two 
 years duration, from which he was released only on condition of his leav- 
 ing the country. He came to America in 1634, and was the first minister 
 both of Scituate and of Barnstable. 
 
 Samuel was his second son, and probably about fourteen years of age 
 when the family emigrated. His marriage is recorded at Barnstable, in 
 his father's hand-writing : "My sonn Samuel and Elizabeth Scudder mar- 
 ryed att my house, Nov. 28, 1644." 
 
 Samuel Lothrop was a house-carpenter, and found occupation for a time 
 in Boston, from whence he went to New London, then called Pequot, in 
 the summer of 1 648.* Just twenty years later he removed to Norwich, 
 where, after a residence of more than forty years, he died, Feb. 29, 1700. 
 
 (Autograph.) 
 
 His nuncupative will, made five days before his decease, was witnessed 
 by Rev. John Woodward and Dea. Simon Huntington, and proved in the 
 Prerogative Court the succeeding April. He had nine children., John, 
 the oldest, was probably bom in the Bay State ; the others in New Lon- 
 don. They were all by his first wife, of whose death there is no record. 
 
 His second wife, whom he married at Plymouth in 1690, was Abigail, 
 daughter of John Doane.f She survived him, and lived to the great age 
 of 103 years. On her hundredth birth-day a large audience assembled at 
 her house, and a sermon was preached by the pastor of the church. At 
 this time she retained in a great degree the intelligence and vivacity of 
 her earlier years. 
 
 * The following passage occurs in a letter from the elder Winthrop of Boston to his 
 son at Pequot, Aug. 14, 1648 : 
 
 " Your neighbor Lothrop came not near me, as I expected, to advise about it ; but 
 went away without taking leave. Only enquiring after him I sent my letters to the 
 house where he wrought the day before his departure." Sav. Win., 2, 355, App. 
 
 t This was her first marriage ; she was about 60 years of age. 
 
218 
 
 HISTORY OP NORWICH- 
 
 INSCRIPTION UPON HER GKAVE-STONE. 
 
 FOOT-STONE. 
 
fflSTORT OP NORWICH. 219 
 
 At the time of her decease, the descendants of her husband amounted 
 to 365. 
 
 John Lothrop, the oldest son of Samuel, married Euth Royce. Eliza- 
 beth, the oldest daughter of Samuel, was united at the same time to Isaac 
 Eoyce. This double marriage was solemnized in the court room at New 
 London, Dec. 15, 1669, by Daniel Wetherell, Commissioner, the presiding 
 officer of the court. It was not uncommon for the bench and bar to be 
 thus enlivened with a wedding during the interludes of business. 
 
 Incidental testimony leads to the conclusion that Nathaniel Royce sub- 
 sequently married Sarah, the second daughter of Samuel Lothrop, forming 
 a third nuptial link in the two families. These young people all went to 
 Wallingford, and were early settlers in that plantation. 
 
 Samuel Lothrop had three other sons, Samuel, Israel, and Joseph. 
 
 Samuel was joined in wedlock, Nov., 1675, to Hannah Adgate. Israel 
 Lothrop and Rebecca Bliss, Joseph Lothrop and Macy Scudder, were 
 married the same day, April 8, 1686. These three brothers settled in 
 Norwich. 
 
 The Lothrops, or Lathrops,* who look back to Norwich for their ances- 
 try, like the Huntingtons and Hydes, have become so numerous that a 
 mere outline of the branches, if it were possible to follow them in their 
 numerous emigrations and connections, would occupy many pages. The 
 name will frequently occur in this history, and only a few prominent per- 
 sons can be noticed here. 
 
 Colonel Simon Lothrop, third son of Samuel 2d and Hannah (Adgate) 
 Lothrop, born in 1689, was a man of more than ordinary local renown. 
 He commanded one of the Connecticut regiments in the successful expe- 
 ditions against Annapolis and Louisburg, and was valued for his judgment 
 in council as well as for his gallant bearing in the field. At one period he 
 was left for a considerable time in the chief command of the fortress at 
 Cape Breton. 
 
 Col. Lothrop was of a prudent, thrifty disposition, fond of adding land 
 to land, and house to house. There was a doggerel song that the soldiers 
 used to sing after their return from Oapertoon, that alludes to this pro- 
 pensity. 
 
 * The name appears to have been usually, if not invariablY, written Lothrop, until 
 about 1760, when Dr. Daniel Lothrop, having spent some time in England, and while 
 there having made special inquiry concerning his ancestors, became convinced that the 
 original name was Lathrop, He therefore altered the spelling of his own name, and 
 the change was gradually adopted by other branches of the family. The old pronun- 
 ciation, Lotrop, held its ground much longer, and is still occasionally heard. 
 
 In this work the old spelling is retained in connection with the early families that 
 wrote the name Lothrop, as it seemed desirable to use the form that appeared in coeval 
 records ; but in later generations the modern spelling is employed. 
 
220 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Col. Lotrop he came on 
 
 As bold as Alexander : 
 He wa'n't afraid, nor yet ashamed. 
 
 To be the chief commander. 
 
 Col. Lotrop was the man, 
 
 His soldiers loved him dearly ; 
 And with his sword and cannon great, 
 
 He helped them late and early. 
 
 Col. Lotrop, staunch and true. 
 
 Was never known to baulk it ; 
 And when he was engag'd in trade, 
 
 He always filled his pocket. 
 
 Col. Lothrop died Jan. 25, 1775, aged 86. He was an upright man, 
 zealous in religion, faithful in training up his famUy, and much respected 
 and esteemed for his abilities and social virtues. His wife was a Sepa- 
 ratist, and he carefully abstained from any interference with her predilec- 
 tions, but was accustomed every Sunday to carry her in his chaise up to 
 her meeting, half a mile beyond his own, — then return to his own place of 
 worship, and after the service was over, go up town again after his wife. 
 
 Col. Lothrop was the father of Simon and Elijah Lathrop, who were 
 prominent inhabitants of the town, and for a long period proprietors of 
 the mills at Norwich Falls. 
 
 17 Peb., 1745. The house of Samuel Lothrop Esq. of Norwich was burnt at night, 
 and almost all its contents destroyed. The loss estimated at £2000 Old Tenor. [Bos- 
 ton paper.] 
 
 Israel, the third son of the proprietor Samuel, was the father of seven 
 sons and three daughters. William, the second of these seven sons, born 
 in 1688, was one of the old worthies of the town-plot. He lived to the 
 age of ninety years, and had ten children, all of them sons. The young- 
 est but one of this train was the Rev. John Lathrop, a distinguished min- 
 ister of Boston, but born at Norwich, May 6, 1739. After completing his 
 education at Princeton, he became for a time an assistant to Mr. Wheelock 
 in his Indian school at Lebanon, but in 1768 was ordained to the pastoral 
 chai-ge of the old North Church in Boston. This church having been 
 demolished by the British while they had possession of Boston, the society 
 united with the new Brick Church, and Mr. Lathrop became the pastor 
 of the United Society. He published a variety of sermons, and died in 
 1816, aged seventy-five. 
 
 Joseph Lothrop, the fourth and youngest son of the first Samuel, had a 
 family of nine daughters, assisting largely in bringing the sexes in the 
 Lothrop series to an even balance. He had also four sons, the youngest 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 221 
 
 of whom, Solomon, died at the age of twenty-seven, leaving an only son, 
 Joseph, who has become extensively known as Rev. Joseph Lathrop, D. D. 
 of "West Springfield, Mass. He was born at the Lothrop farm upon the 
 west bank of the Shetucket, Oct. 20, 1721. His mother was Martha, 
 daughter of Dea. Joseph Perkins. 
 
 Dr. Lathrop was the pastor of one church sixty-three years, and for a 
 long period was regarded as the patriarch of the Congregational churches 
 of New England. As a preacher he was remarkable for the variety of 
 his illustrations and his improvement of daily occurrences. A large 
 proportion of his sermons, which have been published in seven volumes, 
 are upon anniversaries and striking events. He died Dec. 31, 1820, aged 
 eighty-nine years. 
 
 Hon. Samuel Lathrop, M. C. from Mass. from 1818 to 1826, was one 
 of his sons. 
 
 The following is the oldest Lothrop inscription that is extant and legible 
 in the Norwich grave-yard : 
 
 "Here Lyes Buried ye Body of Mr. Israeli Lothrup ye Husband of Mrs. Rebekah 
 IiOthrup, who lived a life of exemplary piety & left ye Eartb for Heaven March ye 28, 
 1733 in ye 73d year of his age." 
 
CHAPTER Xin. 
 
 Eaklt Inhabitants. 
 
 [Catalogite of inhabitants that came in after the first settlers, and 
 appear as residents of the town-plot, or as grantees on the commons and 
 outlands. The earliest date is given at which the name has been noticed, 
 but in some instances the person may have been upon the ground for sev- 
 eral previous years. This chapter is not designed to include those who 
 settled east of the Shetucket, but the exact location of each new inhabitant 
 can not always be ascertained. 
 
 Adm. stands for admitted inhabitant by public vote.] 
 
 Allen. Timothy Allen married Oct. 11, 1714, Rachel, daughter of Jo- 
 seph BushneE; adm. 1715; removed subsequently to Windham. 
 
 Allerton. Thomas AUerton had his cattle-mark registered in 1712. 
 
 John Allerton was one of the selectmen in 1721. His wife was Eliza- 
 beth, and he had nine children, the births ranging from 1713 to 1735. 
 The name of Isaac appearing among them, suggests a connection with 
 Isaac Allerton of Plymouth and New Haven,* but his antecedents have 
 not been ascertained. 
 
 Ames, Barnes, Emms. Joseph Eames had a son Joseph, baptized April 
 2, 1710. He died in 1734. Three sons are brought to view in the set- 
 tlement of the estate : Joseph, Ebenezer, and Josiah. The relict, Mary, 
 married Daniel Palmeter. 
 
 Andrews, And)~us, Andross. Jeremiah Andrews adm. May 7, 1714. 
 
 John Andrews, Sen., adm. 1716. 
 
 These were probably sons of Francis Andrews, who died at Fairfield 
 in 1663, and in his will enumerated nine children, among whom were 
 John and Jeremiah. 
 
 * Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. 27, p. 248. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 223 
 
 John Andrews, Jr., adm. 1716. 
 
 John and Sarah, children of John Andross, Jr., were baptized July 5, 
 .713. 
 David and Benjamin Andross appear also as inhabitants about 1715. 
 
 Armstrong. Jonathan Armstrong settled before 1670 at Misquamicut, 
 (Westerly,) where he had a stormy experience of several years' continu- 
 ance amid the riots, inroads, writs and judgments that disturbed the de- 
 bateable lands on the borders of the two colonies, Connecticut and Ehode 
 Island. In partial redress of his grievances, the Legislature of Connect- 
 icut granted him in October, 1677, one hundred acres of land near the 
 bounds of Norwich.* 
 
 Nathaniel Armstrong was a grantee of the town in 1679, and Benjamin 
 in 1682. 
 
 Benjamin Armstrong died Jan. 10, 1717-18, leaving four sons, Benja- 
 min, John, Joseph, and Stephen, all of age. Benjamin married Sarah 
 Raymond, and in 1703 was one of the patentees of Mansfield. Stephen 
 settled in Windham. Joseph was a householder in 1716. John married 
 in 1710, Anne Worth, and had a numerous family. 
 
 Lebbeus Armstrong, a descendant of John, removed about 1770 to 
 Bennington, Vt. 
 
 Arnold. John Arnold was a land-holder, both by grant and purchase, 
 in 1683. He removed a few years later to Windham. 
 Benedict Arnold took the freeman's oath in 1739. 
 
 Avery, Jonathan, adm. 1724. 
 
 Baker. Joseph Baker, an inhabitant before 1690, was received with 
 his wife into the West Farms church in 1721. 
 
 Nathaniel Baker, a resident in 1718. Ebenezer, adm. 1724. 
 
 Bacon, John: adm. 1713; wife Hannah received into the church and 
 four children baptized in 1718. 
 
 Badger. Nathaniel Badger, adm. 1721, probably came from Newbury. 
 Daniel Badger married Sarah Roath, Oct. 22, 1719. 
 The births of three children, Daniel, Gideon, and David, are recorded 
 in Norwich. 
 
 « Conn. Col. Rec, 2, 324. 
 
224 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Barrett, Ezekiel, 1711. Isaac, 1716. 
 
 Barstow. Job, the son of John Barstow, born at Scituate, March 8, 
 1679, adm. at Norwich in 1708. He and his wife Rebecca, who was the 
 daughter of Joseph Bushnell, were baptized and received into the church 
 Aug. 9, 1709. In 1725 he was one of the selectmen. He had three 
 sons: .Jonathan, born in 1712; Ebenezer, in 1720; and Yet-once, July 
 17, 1722. 
 
 Bates, "William: cattle-mark registered 1678. 
 
 Belden, Stephen : adm. 1720. 
 
 Bell. Eobert Bell came from Ipswich about 1720. He appears to have 
 been a physician, and had married at that place, Nov. 7, 1717, Abigail, 
 relict of John Fillmore. He died Aug. 23, 1727, and his wife in Novem- 
 ber of the same year. They left three children : Samuel, bom in Ipswich, 
 1719 ; Benjamin and Deliverance, natives of Norwich. 
 
 [This Robert Bell may have been a son of Robert of Hartford, as the 
 latter had a son Robert bom in 1680.*] 
 
 Blachnore, Samuel: one of the Separatist party in 1748. 
 
 Boom, or Bourn, George: a resident in 1726, and had a son George, 
 baptized March 8, 1729. 
 
 Brown. Ebenezer Brown, son of Capt. John Brown of Swanzey, and 
 grandson of Major Mason, married Sarah, daughter of the second Samuel 
 Hyde, Feb. 25, 1714. They removed to Lebanon, where he died in 1755. 
 His relict long survived him, and died in Windham, March 1, 1797, aged 
 ninety-nine years and two months. 
 
 Burton, Samuel: a resident in 1719. 
 
 Burley, Jonathan: adm. 1727 ; mar. March 30, 1730, Elizabeth White. 
 
 * Savage's Gen. Diet. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 225 
 
 Oapron, Walter : 1730. 
 
 Carew. Thomas Carew married Sept. 10, 1724, Abigail, daughter of 
 Daniel Huntington. Joseph Carew, brother of Thomas, married in 1731, 
 Mary, daughter of the same, and died in 1747, leaving seven children ; 
 estate, £2,847. 
 
 Palmer Carew was an inhabitant in 1730. 
 
 Carpenter, John : adm. 1723 ; probably son of "William of Rehoboth. 
 His wife, Sarah, was received into the church the same year. 
 
 Carter, John: united with the church in 1722. 
 
 Case. Moses Case, adm. Sept. 13, 1726. 
 John, son of John Case, baptized in 1729. 
 
 Oathcart, Eobert : an inhabitant in 1728. 
 
 Chapman. Joseph Chapman, probably son of William of New Lon- 
 don, adm. 1715 ; died June 10, 1725. His wife, Marcy, died seven days 
 previous. Eight children are recorded. Two of the sons, Moses and 
 Daniel, are on the list of Separatists in 1748. 
 
 Chappell, Caleb, son of George of New London, was resident in 1694, 
 but removed to Windham. 
 
 Cleveland. Isaac Cleveland, adm. 1709, was probably son of Moses of 
 Woburn, who had a son Isaac, born May 11, 1669. Samuel and Josiah 
 Cleveland, early settlers at Canterbury, appear to have been his brothers. 
 In 1715, Elizabeth, wife of Clement Stratford, mariner, administered on 
 the estate of her former husband, Isaac Cleveland. No mention is made 
 of children. 
 
 Ooolidge, Samuel, a resident in 1694. 
 15 
 
226 HISTORY OP KOBWICH. 
 
 Cole. "The inventory of Ambrose Cole of Norwich, deceased," was 
 presented to the county court in 1690. Probably the family came from 
 Scituate. 
 
 Ootterel, Gershom: a resident in 1678. 
 
 Crane. Jonathan Crane, probably from Killingworth, had land regis- 
 tered in 1672, and married, Dec. 19, 1678, Deborah, daughter of Francis 
 Griswold. He removed to Windham, where he had a thousand acre 
 right ; built the first mill in that plantation ; was one of the selectmen in 
 1692, and a patentee of the town in 1703. 
 
 Crocker. Samuel Crocker settled at West Farms about 1700, and was 
 one of the selectmen in 1722. He was probably son of Thomas of New 
 London, and born at that place in 1677. He had four children, Samuel, 
 John, Jabez, and Hannah, baptized in 1709. 
 
 Cross. Peter Cross had land recorded in 1672, and was a resident in 
 1698, but afterward removed to Windham. 
 George Cross, a resident in 1719. 
 
 CuUum, Benjamin : adm. 1715. Abigail, daughter of Benjamin and 
 Abigail Cullum, baptized in 1718. 
 
 Culver. The marriage of Edward and Sarah Culver is recorded Jan. 
 15, 1681 ; the births of seven children foUow. 
 
 Edward Culver was on the board of Listers in 1685. In 1698 he 
 removed to Lebanon, and was living there in 1716. 
 
 John Culver and his wife Sarah united with the church at Norwich in 
 172L 
 
 CulversweU, Thomas, died April 15, 1725. 
 
 Darby, Samuel, a resident in 1700. 
 
 Davis. Ephraim Davis was on the roll of 1702. Thomas, Comfort 
 and Joseph appear as inhabitants soon after 1712. Thomas had daughter 
 Mercy baptized in 1711. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 227 
 
 Daynes, or Deans. Abraham Daynes of North Yarmouth mar. Dee. 
 !7, 1671, Sarah, daughter of William Peake. This marriage is recorded 
 it New London, with the births of three children, Johanna, John, and 
 Chomas. Three others are on record at Norwich, viz., Ebenezer, Sarah, 
 md Ephraim. The sons are found among the inhabitants of the town in 
 he next generation, but the name is more frequently written Deans. 
 Tames and Oxenbridge Deans were young men in 1738. 
 
 Dean. Nathaniel Dean, adm. Dec. 28, 1714; wife, Joanna, probably 
 rem Taunton. Seth Dean, 1739. 
 
 Decker. Joseph Decker and wife Thankful were received into fellow- 
 ihip'with the church in 1714. They removed to Windham. 
 
 Denison, Capt. Robert, adm. 1718. His farm of 500 acres, conveyed 
 ;o him by Owaneco, with the consent of the Legislature, in 1710, lay upon 
 ;he border of Mashipaug or Gardner's lake, and was then supposed to fall 
 vithin the Nine-miles-square. He began his improvements at this place 
 n 1716, but when the bounds of the town were more accurately defined, 
 ;he greater part of his farm, including his family residence, was found to 
 ie within the limits of New London North Parish, and after 1720 his 
 jonnection with Norwich ceased. 
 
 Capt. Denison died in 1737, and was interred in a cemetery prepared 
 )y himself on his farm, where a group of Denison grave's, with granite 
 !urb-stones marked with initials and dates, still remain. 
 
 His son, the second Capt. Robert Denison, was an officer in the French 
 wax, and removed to Nova Scotia. 
 
 Dennis, John: a resident at the Landing in 1739. 
 
 Dowd. The cattle-mark of Abraham Dowd was recorded in 1723. 
 He was probably a son of John Dowd of Guilford, born in 1697. 
 
 Edgecombe, Thomas, born in New London, 1694, settled in Norwich 
 )efore 1720, and there died Sept. 16, 1745. His first wife was Katherine 
 liopp; his second, Esther Post, who survived him but a few months. 
 tVhile on her way to New London, she was thrown from her horse, 
 everely wounded in the head, and carried to the house of Mr. William 
 ^.ngel, where she lingered for a fortnight in great pain and distress. The 
 
228 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 whole neighborhood was moved by her sufferings, and several physicians 
 hastened to her relief. Dr. Goddard came from New London, with Dr. 
 Morrison, an army surgeon, just returned from Cape Breton, Dr. Worden 
 from Franklin, and Dr. Porter from Wethersfield ; but surgical skill was 
 exerted in vain. She died May 20, 1746, aged forty, and was interred at 
 New London. 
 
 The sons of Thomas Edgecombe by his first wife were Thomas, John, 
 Jonathan, and Samuel. 
 
 Thomas died in Norwich, April 39, 1755. 
 
 John was a soldier in the expedition against Cape Breton, and there died 
 after the surrender in 1746, at the age of twenty. 
 
 Jonathan, a seaman, was taken by a Spanish privateer, Aug. 3, 1752 ; 
 carried first to Campeachy, and from thence to Old Spain, where he was 
 kept confined for several months, but at length picked the lock of his 
 prison, escaped and reached a French port in safety. Here he found an 
 English vessel, on board of which he worked his passage to England, but 
 had scarcely touched the Island, when he fell into the hands of a press- 
 gang and was enrolled on board of a man-of war. After a year's service 
 he contrived to escape, and through various other adventures, finally 
 reached home, Nov. 30, 1754. He afterward settled in Vermont. 
 
 Samuel, the fourth son, was Deacon Samuel Edgecombe of Groton, Ct., 
 who died Aug. 14, 1795, aged 65. 
 
 Fairbanks, Samuel : a resident in 172i 
 
 Fales. Samuel Fales, adm. 1708 ; received into communion with the 
 church in 1711 ; died 1733. He was son of Mr. James Fales of Ded- 
 ham, and son-in-law to John Elderkin. His inventory included a more 
 than ordinary number of religious books. It is probable that he was 
 theological student. 
 
 Fargo. Moses Fiirgo came from New London about 1690, and in 1694 
 obtained a grant of land "on the hill above the rock where his house stands." 
 Ho was on the roll of 1702, and died about 1726. Name often written 
 Firgo. 
 
 Field. Verdict of a jury upon the body of Gregory Field : " Found 
 dead in Shoutucket river in Norwich, 29 April, 1710." 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 2ii9 
 
 FiUmore. John, son of John Fillmore, was born at Ipswich, March 18, 
 1702. His father was a mariner, and died at sea about the year 1711. 
 His mother's maiden name was Abigail Tilton. She married for her sec- 
 ond husband, Robert Bell, and removed with him to Norwich West Farms, 
 Her son, John Fillmore, returning from sea, was united Nov. 9, 1724, 
 to Mary Spiller of Ipswich, and on the 28th of the same month made a 
 purchase of lands in Norwich, where he planted his hearth-stone and 
 spent the remainder of his days. 
 
 Some extraordinary incidents are connected with his previous history. 
 While out on a fishing voyage, he had been captured by a noted pirate of 
 the name of Phillips, and compelled to perform duty as the helmsman of 
 the fi-eebooting craft ; but after nine months of this odious service, he 
 combined with several other prisoners that had been subsequently taken, 
 and at a concerted signal, making a desperate attack upon their captors, 
 they killed and threw overboard the captain and a number of his crew, 
 disabled the rest, took possession of the vessel, and navigated her to Bos- 
 ton, where they arrived May 3, 1724, and gave their prisoners up to 
 justice. Three of them were executed in Boston, and three sent to Eng- 
 land, where they suffered at Execution Dock. The gun, sword, tobacco- 
 box, buckles and rings of the captain of the corsair were awarded by the 
 Court of Admiralty to young Fillmore, as spoils won by his valor and 
 decision. A part of these articles are still preserved as relics by his 
 descendants.* 
 
 He was subsequently known as Capt. John Fillmore of Norwich West 
 Farms, — a man of probity, and a useful citizen, a member of the church, 
 and captain of a military company. He was three times married, and his 
 will mentions fourteen surviving children. He died Feb. 22, 1777, aged 
 76 years. 
 
 Nathaniel, one of the sons of his second wife, (Dorcas Day of Pomfret,) 
 bom in 1740, married Hepzibah Wood, and settled at Bennington, Vt., 
 when that part of the country was new and unsubdued. He served as a 
 soldier in the French war and in the war for independence, and died at 
 Bennington in 1814. His son, Nathaniel 2d, born in 1771, married 
 Phebe Millard of Bennington, and he and his brothers, following the 
 example of their ancestors, removed into the wilderness, and settled in 
 Western New York, where they became farmers, and in the course of 
 time, clerks, teachers, justices, and members of the Assembly. This Na- 
 thaniel 2d was the father of Millard Fillmore, thirteenth President of the 
 United States, who was bom in Cayuga Co., N. Y., Jan. 7, ISOO.f 
 
 * See Memoir by Ashbel Woodward, M. D., in Hist. & Gen. Reg., \\, 61. 
 
 t President Fillmore, on account of the connection of his ancestry with Norwich, 
 attended the Bi-ceutennial Celebration in 1859, and manifested a cordial interest in the 
 proceedings. 
 
230 HISTOET OF NOEWICH. 
 
 The descendants of Capt. John Fillmore emigrated not only to Ver- 
 mont, but to Nova Scotia and other provinces, and have been widely scat- 
 tered ; yet representatives of the name and family were left in Norwich 
 and Franklin, where the lineage is still to be found, comprising descend- 
 ants of the brave Capt. John and also of his brother Ebenezer, who mar- 
 ried Thankful Carrier in 1733. 
 
 Ford, .John : adm. 1722; married May 26, 1729, Ann HoUoway. 
 
 Fowler. Jonathan Fowler married Aug. 3, 1687, Elizabeth Eeynolds. 
 The widow Fowler is incidentally mentioned in 1698. 
 Thomas Fowler of Lebanon, died in 1707. 
 
 Fox. Isaac Fox, adm. 1721 ; Thomas, 1722. 
 
 Frasier. Colin Frasier married in 1718, SOTah, daughter of Paul 
 Wentworth. In January, 1724, Mrs. Frasier was arrested on the charge 
 of killing an Indian woman in a fit of insanity. On the 24th of February, 
 while imprisoned at New London, the unhappy woman, in another access 
 of her malady, to which she was constitutionally subject, plunged a knife 
 into her own throat, but the wound did not prove fatal. She was tried in 
 March, and fully acquitted on the ground of distraction. 
 
 French, John French, Senior, of the West Farms, adm. 1724; died 
 April 20, 1730, leaving sons, Abuer, John, Joseph, and Samuel. 
 
 Jolin French, Jr., [Major John French] married Aug. 21, 1729, Phebe, 
 daughter of Thomas Hyde. 
 
 Gaylord, Josiah, 1675. He was probably son of William of Windsor, 
 and step-son of John EUlerkin. He is on the roll of 1702 ; his "house at 
 Pock-nuck" is mentioned in 1720. He died in 1727. 
 
 Gibbons, John, 1719. "Hambleton Gibions," connected with a disturb- 
 ance in the meeting-house, 1723. 
 
 Gookin. Edward Gookin, adm. Sept. 13, 1726. He had four children 
 baptized at dates ranging from February, 1723, to Mai'ch, 1730. He was 
 
HISTOET OF NORWICH. 231 
 
 probably son of Daniel Gookin of Sherborn, whose wife was a daughter 
 of Edmund Quincy, and who had a son Edmund, born March 31, 1688. 
 
 Edmund of Norwich had wife Sarah, and two sons, Samuel and Daniel. 
 The former has not been traced, but Daniel, with his parents and their 
 three daughters, who lived to be aged spinsters, all sleep together in the 
 town burial-ground. 
 
 Gould, Nathaniel, 1780. 
 
 Gorton. Benjamin Gorton, from "Warwick, E. I., on the 20th of Sep- 
 tember, 1717, purchased the valuable farm of Peter Mason near the Great 
 Pond, or Mashipaug Lake, 500 acres, with dwelling-house and other build- 
 ings, for £500. This farm was then supposed to lie within the bounds of 
 Norwich, and he was for several years considered an inhabitant. He died 
 in 1737. 
 
 Gove, Samuel and Nathaniel, adm. 1723. 
 
 Green, Eobert of Peagscomsuck, 1696. 
 
 Grist. Thomas Grist married Ann Birchard, Aug. 14, 1721; adm. 
 1726. 
 
 Grover, Ebenezer, first mentioned about 1720. 
 
 Hall. Thomas Hall, adm. 1701 ; probably came from "Wobum. 
 Thomas, Jr., adm. Dec. 21, 1712. 
 
 Hamilton, Solomon, a resident in 1738. 
 
 Hammond, Joseph, 1712. Caleb, married Nov. 21, 1723, Mary Brew- 
 ster; adm. 1727. Elijah, adm. 1730. 
 
 Isaac, of Norwich, bought a farm on Mohegan hill in 1734, for £660. 
 
 Harrington. Isaac Harrington died 1727 ; left wife Sarah, and four 
 children, Isaac, Silvanus, James, and Patience. 
 
232 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 Harris. John Harris, adm. Dec. 21, 1712, died 1728 ; left wife Susan- 
 nah; other legatees, "brother Eobert and his son John of Brookline, in 
 New England." 
 
 Gibson, son of Samuel Harris of New London, born 1694, settled in 
 1726 on a farm in New Concord, now Bozrah. His wife was Phebe, 
 daughter of Capt. George Denison. He died in 1761. He was the 
 father of Dr. Benjamin Harris of Preston. 
 
 Hartshorn. David and Jonathan Hartshorn, brothers, from Eeading, 
 settled at the "West Farms, and are on the roll of inhabitants in 1702. 
 
 David was a physician ; selectman in 1709 ; built a saw-mill on Beaver 
 brook in 1713 ; was one of the first deacons of the West Farms church; 
 died Nov. 3, 1738, aged 81. He was a man of good report, and a valu- 
 able citizen. His wife was Rebecca Bateheler. 
 
 Jonathan Hartshorn, probably son of Jonathan above named, married 
 in 1709, Lucy Hempsted of New London, and in 1726 removed with his 
 family to Cecil county, Maryland. 
 
 Hashins, or Hoshins. Eichard and John were early residents. Eich- 
 ard died in 1718, leaving nine children; estate, £1,257. John died in 
 1719, leaving seven children. 
 
 Daniel, adm. Dec. 5, 1721, married Mehitable Badger. 
 
 Hazen. Thomas Hazen, adm. Dec. 21, 1712. He and his wife were 
 received to church membership by letter from the church in Bosford. 
 
 John Hazen, adm. 1715. Joseph and Jacob also became residents near 
 this time. 
 
 Heath. John Heath came from Haverhill. His wife, Hannah, was 
 received into the church, and her son Josiah baptized, 1715. 
 
 Hcndrich, Laac, a resident in 1721. 
 
 Hill, Charles, a Sepai-atist in 1718. 
 
 Hodges, Ephraim, adm. 1729. 
 
HISTOEY OF NORWICH. 233 
 
 Hough, John, 1678 ; son of William Hough of New London, and there 
 bom Oct. 17, 1655. He was a house-builder, and much employed both 
 in Norwich and New London, acquiring lands and houses in each place. 
 He died at New London, Aug. 26, 1715, suddenly deprived of life by a 
 fall from the scaffolding of a house on which he was at work. He was a 
 large man, of a military turn, and active also in civil affairs, extensively 
 known and highly esteemed. The sudden stroke that swept him into 
 eternity, resounded through the country with startling emphasis. 
 
 The wife of Capt. Hough was Sarah Post of Norwich. He had a farm 
 in New Concord Society, the land being an original grant from the town 
 in payment for building a school-house. His youngest son, Jabez, born in 
 1702, inherited this farm, and there died, Jan. 24, 1725, only seventeen 
 days after his marriage with Anne Denison of New London. The fann 
 was after this the homestead of his older brother John, and from him it 
 went to his son Jabez, who married Phebe Harris, who died at the age of 
 92, July 23, 1820. 
 
 Hutchins. John Hutchins, adm. Dec. 20, 1715 ; a constable in 1726 
 and 1727. 
 
 Thomas Hutchins, inn-keeper at Newent in 1733. 
 
 Hutchinson, Joshua, adm. April 29, 1729. 
 
 Jennings. Land granted to Jonathan Jennings in 1 677. In 1 684 he 
 had other grants at Senemancutt and Sucksqutumscot. He removed to 
 Windham, and there died June 27, 1733, in his 79th year. His son, 
 Ebenezer, was the first male child of English parentage born in Wind- 
 ham.* 
 
 Jones, John, a resident in 1712 ; died 1749. 
 
 Johnson. "Ten acres of land at Lebanon Valley," granted to John 
 Johnson in 1677; also a grant at Westwai-d hill. His cattle-mark was 
 registered in 1683 ; he was a Lister in 1698. 
 
 Isaac Johnson of Norwich died Jan. 7, 1708. 
 
 Ensign William Johnson of Canterbury, who probably went from Nor- 
 wich, died Feb. 23, 1713. 
 
 Ebenezer Johnson of the West Farms, 1718, married Deborah Cham- 
 pion. 
 
 * Weaver's Ancient Windham. 
 
234 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Kelly, Joseph, a resident in 1716. 
 
 Thomas, adm. 1719. Probably both came from Newbury. 
 
 Kennedy, Robert, a resident in 1730; had wife Mary. 
 
 Kimball, Richard, 1722. 
 
 King, Edward, a resident in 1699 : adm. 1701 ; died before 1726. 
 
 Kingsbury. Joseph, from Haverhill, Mass., with his sons, Joseph, Jr.. 
 and Nathaniel, adm. 1710. The wife of the elder Joseph was Love 
 Ayres, and of the younger, Ruth Denison, both of Haverhill. The wife 
 of Nathaniel has not been ascertained. He had son John, bom in 1710, 
 and Nathaniel in 1711. 
 
 Joseph Kingsbury, Sen. was one of the first dea(^on3 of the West Farms 
 church, chosen in 1718. Joseph, Jr. was one of the eight pillars, and 
 their wives. Love and Ruth Kingsbury, were among the earliest members 
 received. Dea. Joseph Kingsbury died in 1741. 
 
 Joseph Kingsbury, Jr. was an ensign in 17il, selectman in 1723, cap- 
 tain of a company in 1726, chosen deacon in 1736, and died Dec. 1,1757, 
 aged 75. He had 13 children. 
 
 Mrs. Ruth Kingsbury, relict of the second Deacon Joseph, died May 6, 
 1779, aged 93, leaving behind the remarkable number of 231 descendants, 
 viz., 5 children, 61 of the next generation, 152 of the 4th, and 13 of the 
 oth. The homestead farm is stiU .in possession of descendants of the same 
 name. 
 
 Andrew Kingsbury, an officer of tlie Revolution, and subsequently, 
 from 1793 to 1818, State Treasurer of Connecticut, was a descendant of 
 Joseph, Jr., in the line of his son Ephraim. 
 
 Kirby, Richard, adm. 1721. 
 
 Knowles, Thomas, adm. 1710. 
 
 Knowlton, Joseph, accidentally killed, 1718 ; "no estate but two cows." 
 Mary, daughter of Thomas Knowlton, a member of the church in 
 1709. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 235 
 
 Ladd, In 1709, Samuel Ladd, from Haverhill, Suffolk Co., Mass., 
 purchased land of David Hartshorn "on the hill beyond Thomas Hide's 
 farm." Adm. 1710. i 
 
 Nathaniel Ladd was selectman in 1721, but in 1729 had removed from 
 the town. 
 
 David Ladd, another early settler at the West Farms, married Mary 
 Waters. His family and that of Capt. Jacob Hyde were linked together 
 by a triple marriage of their children. The three brothers, Samuel, 
 Ezekiel and Joseph Ladd, married the three sisters, Hannah, Ruth and 
 Silence Hyde, botli parties in the natural order of seniority, and each of 
 the sisters at the age of 19 years. 
 
 Lamh. Ebenezer Lamb married May 6, 1690, Mary Armstrong. 
 David, Isaac and John Lamb were residents about 1718. John died 
 Aug. 16, 1727. 
 
 Lawrence, Isaac, owned the church covenant in 1700 ; was adm. 1702. 
 Isaac Lawrence, Jun., had four children baptized at dates from 1711 to 
 1718. 
 
 Lee. Eichard Lee, adm. 1705 ; died Aug. 7, 1713 ; left widow Sarah, 
 and nine children : the oldest son Thomas 40 years of age, Richard 34 
 Joseph 32, and Benjamin 30. 
 
 Loomer, Samuel, of the parish of New Concord, adm. Sept. 13, 1726. 
 
 Lord. Cyprian, a younger brother of Rev. Benjamin Lord, settled in 
 Norwich about 1720, and married in 1725, Ehzabeth Backus. 
 
 Low. The only person of this name found on the records is David, 
 adm. 1709 ; died Feb. 10, 1710, aged 23. His estate was settled by 
 Thomas Leffingwell. The low semicircular head-stone that marks his 
 grave is one of the oldest in the town-plot cemetery. 
 
 Lyon, Ebenezer, 1722. 
 
 Marshall: "Abial Marshall of Norwich and Abiah Hough of New 
 London were married 18 Nov. 1708." Their oldest son, the second Abia 
 MarshaU, died in Bozrah, Dec. 1, 1799. 
 
236 HISTORY OP NORWICH 
 
 Meach. John Meach is on a list of 1698. 
 
 Metcalf. Ebenezer Metcalf, from Dedham, married in 1702, Hannah, 
 daughter of Joshua Abel of the West Farms, and had five children bap- 
 tized, extending to 1711. He was on the roll of inhabitants in 1718, but 
 removed to Lebanon, and there died Nov. 5, 1755, aged 76. He was a 
 descendant of Michael Metcalf, who had lived at Norwich in England, but 
 emigrated to this country with his wife and nine children in 1637, and 
 settled at Dedham. 
 
 Merrich. Stephen Merrick married JMercy Bangs, Dec. 28, 1671, he 
 being 25 and she 20 years of age. Mercy and Apphia Bangs were twin 
 daughters of Edward Bangs of Plymouth colony, and were married the 
 same day, — Apphia probably to John Knowles.* 
 
 Stephen Merrick came to Norwich about 1C72. He was a constable in 
 1681, and appointed county marshal or sheriff in 1685. 
 
 Moore. Grants of land were made to William Moore in 1677 and 
 1682. He had land also at Potapaug and "over the river at a place 
 called Major's Pond." He married the relict of Thomas Harwood in 
 August, 1677, and about twenty years later removed to Windham. 
 
 Morgan. Two of this name are found early at Norwich, and left fam- 
 ilies there, — William and Peter. William was probably son of WilUam 
 and Margaret (Avery) Morgan of Groton, (born 1607.) 
 
 Peter was a son of John Eose-Morgan of New London, bom in 1712. 
 His wife was Elizabeth Whitmore of Middletown, and his house stood 
 under the hUl upon the site afterwards built upon by Rev. Joseph Strong, 
 and now the residence of D. F. Gulliver, Jl. D. Peter Morgan removed 
 to the Great Plain. 
 
 Moseley, or Maudsky. The eai-liest notice of this name is found in the 
 baptismal record : 
 
 "Increase and Sarah, children of Increase Maudsley, bap. 6:9: 1715," 
 that is, Nov. 6, 1715. 
 
 Increase Mt>seley, the father, died in 1731. 
 
 Increase, tlie son, born i\Iay 18, 1712, married in 1735, Deborah Tracy 
 of Windham, and removed about 1740 to Woodbury, settling in that part 
 
 t Gen. Diet., article Bangs. Merrick is there erroneously printed Herrick, and the 
 date of the marriage 1670 instead of 1671. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 237 
 
 if the town wliicli is now "Washington. He there sustained various offices 
 >f trust and honor, representing the town in the legislature for some fifteen 
 luccessive years, but removed to Clarendon, Vt., in 1781, and there died 
 May 2, 1795. 
 
 His son, the third Increase Moseley in direct succession, probably born 
 ilso in Norwich, settled in Southbury, and was a colonel of one of the 
 [Connecticut regiments during the Revolutionary war.* 
 
 Rev. Peabody Moseley, son of the first Increase, was born at Norwich 
 n 1724. He was a Baptist clergyman, but about the year 1780, joined 
 ;he Shaker society of New Lebanon. 
 
 Munsell, Elisha, 1720. Elisha, Jr., 1721. The latter was on the list 
 sf Separatists in 1748. 
 
 Norman, James, adm. Dec. 20, 1715. He was captain of a vessel ; 
 kept also a shop of merchandize; and in 1717 was licensed to keep a 
 house of entertainment. He died June 28, 1743. 
 
 Ormshy, John, adm. Dec. 20, 1715 ; died July 11, 1728. His relict, 
 Susannah, died in 1752. 
 Joseph, adm. 1720 ; wife Abigail united with the church in 1721. 
 
 Pcdmetef^ Darnel, adm. 1724. 
 
 Pasmore. The inventory of Joseph Pasmore of Norwich was exhib- 
 ited in 1711, comprising a Bible, psalm-book, sword, articles of apparel, 
 and twelve acres of land. 
 
 Pech, Benjamin, adm. 1700. The church record gives the names of 
 eight children of "brother Benjamin Peck," that were baptized from 1703 
 to 1718. He died in 1742. Joseph, his oldest son, born in 1706, was 
 father of the late Capt. Bela Peck of Norwich. 
 
 The ancestor of this family was Henry Peck of New Haven, whose 
 twin sons, Joseph and Benjamin, were born Sept. 6, 1647. 
 
 * Cothren's History of Woodbury. 
 
238 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 Pemler, John : adm. 1722; son of John and Agnes Pember of New 
 London. He mcarried in 1716, Mary, daughter of Thomas Hyde, and 
 settled at West Farms, where he died in 1783, aged 85. 
 
 Pettis, Samuel, adm. 1727. 
 
 Phillips, George, adm. 1726. 
 
 Pierce, Jonathan and Ebenezer, adm 1712. 
 
 Pike. Elizabeth, wife of John Pike, baptized Aug. 5, 1711 ; son John 
 baptized 1712, and other children onward to 1723. 
 
 Pitcher. Samuel Pitcher, supposed to be a son of Andrew of Dor- 
 chester, had son Benjamin baptized in Norwich, March 20, 171J:. He 
 was one of the selectmen in 1721, but in 1735 removed to Woodbury, Ct. 
 A part of the family remained, and the name has been continued in the 
 town to the present day. 
 
 Polly. Matthew, 1719, probably from Woburn. 
 Abigail, wife of Daniel Polly, died June 8, 1725. 
 
 Prior, Joshua, a householder in 1733. 
 
 Raymond. Samuel Raymond of Xor\Yich and Lydia Birchard of Leb- 
 anon were united in marriage March 6, 1717. They had sons Samuel and 
 Daniel, the former born Dec. 25, 1720. 
 
 Richards, Nathaniel, an inhabitant in 1716. 
 Andrew, adm. 1727. 
 
 Roberts, Samuel, 1G78, son of Hugh Roberts, an early settler in New 
 London, lie came to Norwich as a house-carpenter, in company with 
 John Hough. These two men were often associated in work, and called 
 themselves vcar kinsmen, the mother of each being a daughter of Hugh 
 Calkins. The first school-house in Norwich, of which we have any notice. 
 
HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 239 
 
 I'as built by John Hough and Samuel Roberts, and paid for in land in 
 683. They were the master-builders of many early houses in the town- 
 )lot, — the regular, substantial houses that followed the temporary habita- 
 ions of the first encampment. 
 Samuel, son of Samuel Eoberts, was born May 9, 1688. 
 
 Rogers, Theophilus, 1720 ; a native of Lynn, Mass., and reputed to be 
 I, descendant of John Sogers, the Smithfield martyr. He had studied 
 )hysic and surgery in Boston, and settled at Norwich in the practice of 
 lis profession. He died Sept 29, 1753. Two of his sons, Ezekiel and 
 Theophilus, were physicians, and two others, Uriah and Col. Zabdiel, were 
 :onspicuous as active citizens and patriots of the Revolutionary period. 
 
 Rood. Thomas Rood was an early settler upon the outlands of the 
 »wnship. His wife, Sarah, died in March, 1668, and he in 1672. Nine 
 ;hildren are recorded, the dates of birth ranging from 1649 to 1666, but 
 ;he place of nativity is not given. 
 
 Thomas, Micah, Samuel and George Rood are on the roll of inhabit- 
 in ts in 1702. Micah obtained some local notoriety on account of a pe. 
 ;uliar variety of apple that he brought to market, which was called from 
 lim the Mike apple, and has since been more extensively propagated. It 
 s an early species, has a fair outside, an excellent flavor, and each indi- 
 vidual apple exhibits somewhere in the pulp a red speck, like a tinge of 
 iresh blood. Several fanciful legends have been contrived to account for 
 ;his peculiarity. Micah Rood died in December, 1728, aged about 76. 
 
 Rosehrough. In 1693, the proprietors granted to George Rosebrough, 
 'three or four acres of land, where his house stands." No other reference 
 ;o the name has been observed. 
 
 Rudd. Jonathan and Nathaniel Rudd, brothers, came from Saybrook. 
 The former settled east of the Shetucket, and the latter at the West Farms, 
 [t is probable that they were sons of that Jonathan Rudd who was married 
 It Bride Brook in the winter of 1646-7. 
 
 Nathaniel Rudd married, April 16, 1685, Mary, daughter of John Post. 
 BGs homestead was in that part of the West Farms which is now Bozrah. 
 He died in April, 1727, leaving an estate valued at £689. 
 
 Daniel Rudd, one of the sons of Nathaniel, born in 1710, married for 
 lis second wife, (July 1, 1745,) Mary Metcalf, a daughter of the Rev. 
 foseph Metcalf of Falmouth, Me. She had previously been living with 
 
240 HISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 her relatives in Lebanon, to which place she came from her far-off home, 
 according to tradition, in a three-days' journey, riding on a pillion behind 
 Capt. James Fitch. Her son, Daniel Rudd, Jr., born June 10, 1754, 
 married Abigail Allen of Montville, who died Jan. 20, 1857, wanting only 
 a few months of being 100 years of age. Lucy Rudd, one of the daugh- 
 ters of tins couple, married, first, Capt. Henry Caldwell of the U. S. 
 Marines, and secfud, Major-General Henry Burbeck, an officer of the 
 Revolutionary war and of that of 1812. General Burbeck died at New 
 London, Oct. 2, 1848, aged 95. His relict, Mrs. Lucy Burbeck, is still 
 living. It is a singular coincidence, occurring, it is presumed, very rarely 
 in the history of families, that Mrs. Burbeck's father, Daniel Rudd, and 
 her husband, Henry Burbeck, were born on the same day, — June 10, 
 1754. 
 
 Sabin : often upon early records written Sabiens. Isaac, adm. 1720. 
 
 Sluman. Thomas Sluman married, Dec, 1668, Sarah, daughter of 
 Thomas Bliss; constable in 1680; died 1683, leaving a son Thomas and 
 five daughters. His relict married Solomon Tracy. Thomas Sluman, 2d, 
 was on the roll of 1702. 
 
 Smallbent. Mark Smallbent died Dec. 26, 1696; left two young 
 daughters; estate, £143. 
 
 Spalding. Andrew, son of Philip Spalding, was baptized July 15, 
 1722. 
 
 Starr. Samuel, son of Jonathan of Groton, married Ann, daughter 
 of Capt. Caleb Bushnell, in 1727, and settled in Norwich. 
 
 Si'ickncy, Amos, 1725. 
 
 Aoddard, Thomas, a resident in the parish of New Concord, 1708 ; pres- 
 ent at a church meeting in 1714. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 241 
 
 Story. Samuel Story and wife were received into the cliurcli in 1722. 
 liey came undoubtedly from Ipswich. The inventory of his estate, taken 
 
 1726, has among its items, "a wood-lot in Ipswich." He left a numer- 
 is family : five sons who were living are noticed in his will, the children 
 
 Ephraim deceased, and six married daughters, viz., Elizabeth Hidden, 
 "ary Andrews, Dorothy Day, Hannah Nolten, Anna Proctor, and Mar- 
 iret Choate. 
 
 Swelland. John, son of John Swetland, was baptized in 1708 ; another 
 n, Joseph, in 1710. The family, in aE probability, dwelt near the west- 
 n bounds of the town, within the present area of Salem. 
 
 Tenny, Joseph, adm. 1723. 
 
 Todd, Thomas, died Aug. 29, 1727. He owned one-third of a sloop 
 ,lled the Norwich. His relict, Martha, married a Lathrop. 
 
 Thomas, Ebenezer, adm. 1727. He owned lands in Duxbury, and was 
 obably son of Jeremiah Thomas of Marshfield, born Nov. 1, 1703. Eb- 
 lezer, Simeon, and Thomas L. Thomas, active men of business during 
 e latter part of the century, were his sons. He died Oct. 16, 1774. 
 
 Tubbs. Mary, wife of Joseph Tubbs, received adult baptism in 1718. 
 
 Walker, Jonathan, adm. 1722. 
 
 Warren, Robert, a resident in 1713 ; selectman in 1721. 
 
 Way, John, adm. 1722. 
 
 h, John, adm. 1705 ; died 1728 : estate, £333 ; inventory presented 
 his son John. 
 
 White, Daniel, adm. April 30, 1723. He married Ehzabeth Ensworth, 
 ne 10, 1723, and died Sept. 9, 1727, leaving a wife and three small 
 ildren. Estate, £407. 
 16 
 
242 HISTOHT OP NORWICH. 
 
 Whitaker, Jonathan, 1710. He married, in 1718, Abigail Lambert. 
 
 Wightman, Daniel, 1727. 
 
 Williams, Joseph, adm. 1702; Charles, of Preston, 1687. 
 
 Willoughby, John, 1718. 
 
 Joseph, adm. Dec. 5, 1721. He afterwards purchased a farm in the 
 North Parish of New London. 
 
 Wood, Thomas, a resident in 1716. 
 
 Ebenezer, adm. Dec. 2, 1718; married ilary Rudd, March 12, 1718. 
 
 Woodworth, Isaac, adm. 1705 ; died April 1, 1714, leaving wife Lydia, 
 and nine children between the ages of 8 and 27. 
 Moses, adm. 1719, 
 
CHAPTER XrV. 
 
 Settlers in Long Society, ok East Norwich, aetbrwaeds included in 
 
 Pkeston. 
 
 Some of the earliest grantees on the Shetucket river, below its junction 
 with the Quinebaug, were Samuel Andrews, John Reynolds, Josiah Rock- 
 well, and Robert Roath. These grants in some instances crossed the river 
 and took in the land on both sides. Reynolds and Rockwell were at work 
 upon their land on the eastern bank when attacked by the Indians in 1676; 
 but it is not probable that any permanent habitations were reaj-ed on that 
 side until after the conclusion of Philip's war. 
 
 The Reynolds farm remained long in the possession of the family. A 
 portion of it was sold to the Water Power Company in 1826 by persons 
 to whom it had descended by regular inheritance. 
 
 The district on the east side of the river comprised Long Society, or 
 East Norwich ; but the grants made by the town were hot wholly limited 
 to this society. A considerable portion of Preston was held originally by 
 the same tenure. Its earliest land-owners and inhabitants settled under 
 the authority of Norwich and were admitted to the privileges of the town, 
 included also in the same church bounds, as parishioners of Mr. Fitch. 
 
 In all probability Greenfield Larrabee was the first settler in this region, 
 — the first actual inhabitant of the town of Preston. Next to him we may 
 reckon the sons of Norwich proprietors, — Thomas Tracy, Jun., Jonathan 
 Tracy, Samuel Fitch, and Nathaniel Leffingwell, who were cultivating 
 farms on that side of Shetucket river in 1680, or soon afterward. 
 
 The lands east of the town line were claimed by Owaneco, and used by 
 him and his clan for their roving, hunting, and planting grounds. 
 
 The following entry is from the records of the General Court, at Hart- 
 ford, May 10, 1679 : 
 
 " Whereas, Tineas his son hath damnified Thomas Tracy, Jun., in his swine, and 
 Tineas is willing to make him satisfaction for the same in land, this Court grants him 
 liberty to receive of Tineas to the value of 100 acres of land for the said damage, if he 
 see cause to grant it to him, provided it be not prejudicial to any plantation or former 
 grant made by the Court. Lt. Thomas Tracy and Lt. Thomas Leffingwell are ap- 
 pointed to lay oat this grant to the said Thomas Tracy, Jun., according to this grant." 
 
244 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 Thomas Tracy's farm east of the Shetucket was not far from Owaneco'a 
 claim, and it is not unhkely that the swine were lawfully slain in defence 
 of his corn-fields. But this was an easy way of settling disputes ; the 
 Indians set but little value upon their lands, and the settlers were willing 
 to be sligJitly "damnified," for the sake of the indemnity. 
 
 In 1699 the. farmers east of the Shetucket petitioned the town that they 
 might be relieved from the ministry rates in Norwich, and pay to Preston. 
 This was not granted, as the people at West Farms and in the crotch.of 
 the rivers were similarly situated, and the privilege could not be consist- 
 ently granted to all. 
 
 Amos.* Hugh Amos probably came from Boston, where a person of 
 his name was living in 1C66. He was propounded for freemanship at 
 Norwich in May, 1671, but an earlier notice of him is the following: 
 
 Sept. 26, 1670. "A committee of three persons, John Bradford, Hugh Calkins and 
 Thomas LefEngwell are to agree with Hugh Amos to keep the ferry over Showtuckett 
 river." 
 
 This was after the privilege of keeping the ferry had been granted to 
 Samuel Starr, and forfeited by him. '• Hugh Amos and his neighbor 
 Rockwell" are mentioned in 1678 as living near the ferry. 
 
 Amos died in 1707, leaving an estate valued at £ilO, consisting princi- 
 pally of housing and 570 acres of land. His children then liA'ing were 
 John, Mary, wife of Benjamin Howard, Samuel (of Stonington), and 
 Ann. 
 
 Samuel Amos in 1085 obtained a deed of land lying "between Shunk- 
 hungannuck hill and Conaytuck brook," of the sachem Owaneco. A 
 handsome sheet of water called Lake Amos, in the south-east part of 
 Preston, near the line of North Stonington, probably obtained its name 
 from him. 
 
 Ayer. John and Joseph Ayei*, or Ayers, emigrants probably from Ips- 
 wich, Mass., settled at Preston and North Stonington as farmers. 
 
 Joseph Ayer's farm was within the bounds of Norwich, East Society, 
 and he was admitted an inhabitant in 1704. His will, dated at Norwich, 
 Sept 6, 173G, but not proved till 1747, mentions four children — Joseph, 
 Timothy, Sarali Ilazen, and Abigail, wife of Dennis Manough. 
 
 Benjamin. Joseph Benjamin settled in Preston about 1690, and is 
 supposed to have come from Barnstable. The inventory of his estate \vas 
 
 * The list given in this chapter of eady settlei-s does not cover the whole of Preston. 
 It includes only those who settled in East Society under the authority of Norwich, and 
 others whose names have been found in connection with the town at an early date. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 245 
 
 ken April 27, 1704. He left a widow Sarah, and children according to 
 
 e inventory — "Joseph aged 30, John 22, Abigail, Jemima, Sarah, Mary 
 
 d Marcy, all about 20." The appraisers of his estate were Thomas 
 
 anton, Jonathan Tracy, and Samuel Lennerson, who were doubtless his 
 
 lighbors." 
 
 John Benjamin died Aug. 2, 1716. 
 
 Belcher. William Belcher of Preston died Feb. 7, 1732. His will, 
 ted Sept. 6, 1731, provides for wife Mehitabel, son William, and brother 
 lijali ; also his mother and sister. His estate was valued at £2,298. 
 mong his bequests was a wood-lot to his pastor, Mr. Hezekiah Lord. 
 
 Billings. William Billings is supposed to have been the oldest son of 
 llliam Billings of Stonington, and born in that plantation about 1665. 
 1 1709 he is styled " Capt. William Billings of Preston." He had rights 
 the volunteer lands, probably derived from his father, who had fought 
 ;ainst the Indians in Philip's war. He died in June, 1738.* He was 
 e father of Rev. William Billings, who graduated at Yale in 1 720, set- 
 id in the ministry at Windham, and died May 20, 1 733, leaving an only 
 n William, afterward known by the same style and title as his grand- 
 ther, viz., Capt. William Billings of Preston. This last-named Capt. 
 'illiam died Nov. 28, 1813, in the 88th year of his age, and was buried 
 Poquetannock. 
 
 Branch. Peter Branch, probably son of John of Scituate, had his cat- 
 s-mark registered at Norwich about 1680. He died in 1713, leaving 
 ae children, of ages from twenty-eight years down to seven. In settling 
 e estate, it was decided that a division could not be made without preju- 
 ce to the children, and testimony to that effect was presented to the court, 
 ;ned by the following persons, who were doubtless freeholders in the dis- 
 ict at that time : 
 
 John Ames, Isaac Morgan, 
 
 Daniel Brewster, Ezekiel Parke, 
 
 Caleb Eorbes, David Roode, 
 
 John Freeman, Nathaniel Tracy, 
 
 Joseph Freeman, Thomas Tracy. 
 James Morgan, 
 
 Broion, Tristram, adm. June 21, 1716; the birth of Samuel, son of 
 ristram and Mary, recorded the same year. 
 
 "Tnistram Brown and Abigail Parke were married 28 Aug. 1722." 
 bis was probably a second marriage of the above. 
 
 * Joshua Hempstead of New London, in his prirate Diary, says that Capt. Billings 
 Preston and Capt. Wm. Hyde of Norwich were buried the same day, June 9, 1738. 
 lese were men of note in their respective towns. 
 
246 HISTOET OF NOEWICH. 
 
 Gady, Nicholas, owned a mill in Preston, and there died in 1725 ; sup- 
 posed to have come from JCillingly. 
 Isaac Cady died in 1730. 
 
 Gary, Joseph, had land granted to him in 1687, "near Capt. Standish's 
 farm." 
 
 Clarh. John Clark, carpenter, adm. 1702 ; died 1709, leaving a wife, 
 Mary, and children, .John, Thomas, Mary, Phebe, Isaac, and James, — all, 
 or most of them, of mature age. 
 
 Isaac, adm. 1714; selectman 1723. 
 
 James Clark of Norwich died 1719. 
 
 Gooh, Richard. A deed of gift, dated July 21, 1680, is recorded, from 
 Greenfield Larrabee to Richard Cooke of Stonington, of thirty acres of 
 land " over Showtuckett, where my now dwelling is, provided he removes 
 and dwells upon it." Richard Cooke accepted the conditions, was after- 
 ward admitted an inhabitant, and had other lands granted by the town. 
 He died in 1695. His son Obed, born Feb. 1, 1681, was the father of 
 Capt. James Cook of Preston, who died June 9, 1778, in the 62d year of 
 his age. 
 
 Eliphal, one of the daughters of Capt, Cook, married OUver Wood- 
 worth, and died Jan. 25, 1842, aged 92, making but four generations from 
 the settlement. 
 
 Corning. This name is found early in the East Society. Josiah and 
 Nehemiah Corning were born, the former in 1703, and the latter in 1716. 
 Both are interred in the Long Society burial-ground. 
 
 Danfortk, Thomas, a land-owner in 1730, perhaps earlier. 
 
 Davison. Peter and Thomas Davison were early inhabitants of the 
 East Society, or Preston. They probably came from Stonington. Peter 
 died in 1706; Thomas in 1724; and a second Thomas in 1741. 
 
 Downer, Jonathan, adm. 1716. 
 Samuel, adm. 1721. 
 
 Andrew, a resident in 1723. Dr. Joshua Downer of Preston, bom Aug. 
 6, 1735, was a son of Andrew. 
 
 Downs. John Downs and Hannah Rockwell were married March 1) 
 1693-4. They had five children baptized by Mr. Woodward in 1707. 
 
 Joshua Downs of Norwich and Mercy Raymond of New London were 
 married Feb. 12, 1729-30. 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH, 
 
 247 
 
 Fitch. Mr. Samuel Fitch, son of the Eev. James, was one of the ear- 
 liest inhabitants east of the Shetucket. He died in 1725. His sons were 
 Hezekiah, Jabez, and Benjamin. The following inscription is from one of 
 the oldest grave-stones in Long Society : 
 
 HERE LAIS THE 
 
 BODY OF DEACON 
 
 BENJAMIN FITCH 
 
 DIED OCT'R 19 
 
 1727 IN ye 37TH 
 
 YEAR OF HIS AGE. 
 
 Forbes, Caleb Forbes had a land grant in 1672, and was constable on 
 the east side in 1685. His marriage with Sarah, daughter of John Gager, 
 took place June 30, 1681. A deed from Owaneco, in his favor, of 110 
 acres of upland and meadow " south of Connoughtug brook," bears the 
 date of Dec. 10, 16-83. 
 
 Deacon Caleb Forbes of Preston died Aug. 25, 1710. His estate was 
 estimated at £625. He left a relict, Mary, and five children, Sarah, Caleb, 
 Mary, John, and Elizabeth. 
 
 Francis, David, adm. 1697. He was on the roll of inhabitants in 1702, 
 and again in 1718, with the title of Sergeant. 
 
 Freeman, Joseph, of Preston, 1698. 
 
 Sergeant Joseph Freeman's inventory was presented at the county court 
 in 1706, and distribution of his estate ordered to his three sons, John, 
 Ebenezer, and James. 
 
 Gates, Stephen, an inhabitant of Preston in 1720. 
 Thomas Gates died Oct. 24, 1726. 
 
 Geer. The farm of George Geer was near the dividing line between 
 New London a,nd Norwich, east of the river, and was afterward included 
 in Groton. He married in 1659, Sarah, daughter of John AUyn, His 
 sons, Joseph and Jonathan, were reckoned as inhabitants of Preston in 
 1687. 
 
 Giddings, Nathaniel, son of Nathaniel, bom 1705; daughter Elizabeth 
 baptized Sept. 19, 1715. 
 
248 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Glover. John Glover, a grantee of 1 680, is on the roll of inhabitants 
 in 1702 and 1718. He married May 29, 1682, Hannah ,the fam- 
 ily name not given. 
 
 March, 1684. " Granted to Mr. Brewster and John Glover, two bits of land, near 
 their own land, on the east side of Showtueket river." 
 
 Haskell, Dyer, ndin. Dec. 1, 1713. 
 
 Roger, adm. 1716; Daniel, 1723. 
 
 Roger and Daniel Haskell were brotliers. The former died in 1727. 
 The decease of Daniel and two si-ters, .Judith and Sarah, took place dur- 
 ing the year 1730. Daniel left an estate of £850. In the last will and 
 testament of Judith, several of the bequests are suggestive of the fashions 
 of the day. "I give to brother Roger's daughter Zipporah, my Bible, my 
 silk apron ami pinners, and two ribbons. I give to brother Fitch's daugh- 
 ter Abigail my chince frock and stays with green covering,"' &c. 
 
 A second Eoger Haskell, Tvho died in 1759, aged (;7, and a third of the 
 same name in 1791, have stones to then- memory in the Long Society 
 burial-ground. 
 
 Hewit. John Hewit, member of Xorwich church in 1726, had a son 
 Solomon baptized March 30, 1729. 
 
 Hillard, Joseph, 1738. 
 
 Larrabee, Greenfield, from Saybrook, son of an oi'iginal emigrant of the 
 same name, married Alice, daughter of Thomas Parke, in March, 1673, 
 and settled upon a farm east of the river, near his father-in-law. In this 
 new location he prospered, acquired large lands, brought up a family of 
 eight sons and daughters, and lived to be upwards of 90 years of age. 
 He was born April 20, 1648, and died Feb. 3, 1739. 
 
 JIainer, Zachariah, 1722. 
 
 JIl.v, or Meehs. Thomas Meeks, son of Thomas of New Haven, and 
 there born in 1635, married June 30, 1677, Hannah, daughter of Rev. 
 James Fitch. He settled upon a form belonging to ]Mr. Fitch, east of the 
 Shetucket. A tract of twenty acres, "where his house stands," was con- 
 firmed to him July 16, 1680, as a free gift from Mr. Fitch to his daughter. 
 'T\wj had nine children. 
 
 Mr. Mix died July 30, 1706. His son Daniel was a selectman in 1725 
 and 1720. 
 
 Mon/aii, Joseph, of Preston, son of James of New London and Groton, 
 married Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Parke, "sometime in April, 1670," 
 says the record. He died April 5, 170-1. He had one son, Joseph, and 
 six daughters, who lived to maturity. Estate, £522. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 249 
 
 Parish, Samuel, a^lm. 1716; Benjamin, a little later : probably sons of 
 John of Stonington, who died in 1715. 
 
 Parke, or Parks. The farm of Thomas Parke was so ambiguously sit- 
 uated that it took a course of years to get it settled into art abiding position. 
 In 1681 he was a collector of taxes for New London, and his son, Thomas 
 Parke, Jr., a constable of the same town. In 1686, the latter, without 
 any removal of residence, was chosen constable for Norwich. . A year later 
 they were both included in the new town of Preston. Deacon Thomas 
 Parke died July 30, 1709 ; his son, Thomas Jr., had previously deceased. 
 
 Robert Parke, second son of Deacon Thomas, married Rachel Leffing- 
 well, Nov. 24, 1681. He also died before his father, (1707,) leaving a 
 second wife, JMary, and ten children between the ages of nine months and 
 twenty-three years. Robert Parke's homestead farm was within the 
 bounds of Groton ; he had also a farm at Pachaug. 
 
 Capt. John Parke of Preston, another son of Deacon Thomas, and prob- 
 ably the oldest, died in 1716. In the division of the estate, the widow 
 Mary received that part of the farm " on which old deacon Thomas dwelt 
 by the Great Pond." She afterward married Salmon Treat. 
 
 Nathaniel Pai'ks in 1683, was a neighbor of Josiah Rockwell. 
 
 Richards. In 1713, Deacon John Richards of Preston asked for a 
 confirmation of his land. William Richards, probably a brother of John, 
 was also an early inhabitant of Preston. No connection between them 
 and the Richards family of New London has been traced. William died 
 in 1721 ; John in 1756. Both left descendants. 
 
 Roath. Robert Roath married in October, 1668, Sarah Saxton, and in 
 1672 was living at Norwich, near the Shetucket ferry. In 1680 the road 
 to Poquetannock was laid out, beginning at the house of Robert Roath, 
 and running south through land of Owen Williams. Robert Roath had 
 three sons, John, Daniel, and Peter, who all became heads of families. 
 
 Robinson. Peter Robinson came from Martha's Vineyard about 1708; 
 adm. 1712; had three children baptized by Mr. Woodward, (1711, 1713, 
 1714,) all daughters ; removed to Windham, probably about 1720, and 
 was one who assisted in forming the church in Scotland parish, 1735. 
 
 Israel Robinson was a resident of' Norwich in 1720. 
 
 Rockwell. Josiah Rockwell settled at Norwich about 1670, and was 
 slain by the Indians in January, 1676. His farm was on the eastern side 
 of the Shetucket, near the road to Poquetannock. 
 
 The parentage of Josiah Rockwell has not been determined by actual 
 records, but presumptive evidence connects him with the family of William. 
 
260 HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Rockwell who died at Windsor in 1640. Though only three sons of Wil- 
 liam are found on record at Windsor, viz., John, Samuel, and Joseph, it is 
 not improbable that Josiah was an older son by a previous marriage. He 
 was at New London in 1658, and remained there ten or twelve years. 
 He then removed" to Norwich, where one of William Rockwell's family — 
 Ruth, wife of Christopher Huntington — had settled. Among his children 
 we find the names of the three brothers of Windsor, Joseph, John, and 
 Samuel, perpetuated ; and in the family of Samuel, at Windsor, we find a 
 Josiah. These are hints suggestive of a relationship. 
 
 Josiah Rockwell had seven chOdren, the births ranging from 1658 to 
 1676, inclusive. The oldest died in infancy. His marriage is not re- 
 corded, and the name of his wife has not been traced. 
 
 Hood. John, son of Thomas and Sarah Rood of Norwich, had a home- 
 lot granted him in 1679, ''on the other side of Showtucket river, near to 
 his uncle Lefirngwell's." He died in September, 1706, leaving a wife, 
 Mary, and six children, — the oldest, John, aged 1 6, and the second, Zach- 
 ariah, aged 14. The last mentioned was probably the venerable centena- 
 rian whose grave-stone jn the Preston burial-ground has the following 
 interesting record : 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 Mr. Zachariah Eude 
 
 ■who died Feb. 10th 
 
 1795. 
 
 in the 1 03d year 
 
 of his age. 
 
 Here in the history of my age, 
 
 Men who review my days. 
 May read God's love in every page, 
 
 In every line his praise. 
 
 Eose. Thomas Rose was an early settler in the southern part of Pres- 
 ton. His name acquired notoriety from the situation of his dwelling-house. 
 A large oak-tree near the house was a noted boundary-mark between Nor- 
 wich and New London, standing as a stately warder precisely at the south- 
 east corner of Norwieh. It was directly upon the line running east from 
 the head of Poquetannock Cove to the bounds of Stonington, and is 
 referred to in several surveys, acts, and patents. 
 
 Thomas Rose mai-ried Hannah, daugliter of Robert Allyn. Under the 
 shadow of the great boundary-tree they both Hved to a good old age. He 
 died in 1743, leaving an estate valued at £2,498. His wife survived him, 
 and he left also a son Joseph, and six daughters. Another son, Thomas, 
 died before his father, in 1733, leaving a family. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 251 
 
 Rudd. Jonathan and Mercy Rudd were married Dec. 19, 1678, and 
 probably settled in Norwich about that time. His land east of the She- 
 tucket was held by a deed of purchase from Owaneco, dated Dec. 10, 
 1683, and consisted of 100 acres on Connoughtug brook, and 108 acres 
 betwixt Shunkhungannock hill and Norwich bounds. He appears also to 
 have had other lands. 
 
 He died in 1 689. In the distribution of his estate, his wife received 
 £60; the oldest son, Jonathan, £117; Nathaniel and Abigail, each £58, 
 IQs. "At the desire of the widow, Joseph and Richard Bushnell, Na- 
 thaniel Rudd, Thomas Tracy and Caleb Forbes were appointed overseers 
 of the widow, children and estate." 
 
 Spicer. The first Peter Spicer was of New London in 1666, and died 
 in 1695. The second Peter was of Norwich in 1702 and 1716. Samuel, 
 adm. Dec. 20, 1715. 
 
 Standish. Josiah (or Josias) Standish was a son of the renowned 
 Miles Standish of Duxbury. His first wife, Mary, " dyed and was buried 
 at Duxborough July 1, 1665."* His second wife is supposed to have 
 been Sarah, daughter of Samuel Allen of Braintree.t The earliest notice 
 we obtain of him in this neighborhood is from a deed of sale dated Feb. 
 5, 1686, from "John Parks of the new plantation, east of Norwich," 
 (Preston,) to "Capt. Josiah Standish now in Norwich," of 150 acres of 
 land "over Showtucket river upon the hiU between Mr. Fitch's farm and 
 Pocketannuck," — consideration, £22. Witnesses, Thomas Bradford and 
 Simon Huntington, Jr. The same year he purchased a thousand-acre 
 right in Windham, near where WUlimantic now stands. 
 
 Capt. Standish died in 1690. The widow and son Miles were appointed 
 administrators on his estate. We may assume that Samuel Standish, 
 licensed to tan leather in Preston, 1706, Israel Standish of Preston, 1709, 
 Josiah, who went from Preston, and was one of the first settlers of Staf- 
 ford, 1719, and Lois, who married Hugh Calkins in 1706, were children 
 of Capt. Josiah. 
 
 Miles Standish of Preston died in 1728; left relict Elizabeth; estate 
 appraised at £919.11.3. 
 
 In his inventory are articles that harmonize well with his name, — viz., 
 gun, sword, belt, pouch, and bullets ; a Bible and Confession of Faith. 
 
 Starkweather. John Starkweather was an early inhabitant. He died 
 Aug. 21, 1703, leaving a widow and seven children between the ages of 
 12 and 26 years. 
 
 « Hist, and Gen. Reg., 8, 192. 
 t Ibid., 10, 225. 
 
252 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Tyler. Hopestill Tyler, "an aged man, died in 1733. He left a wife, 
 Mary, and four children, viz., Hannah Buswell, Daniel, James, and Hope- 
 still. Estate, £813. In the inventory of his wardrobe is "a close bodied 
 coal," valued at £4, 5«., a beaver hat, an orange-colored cloak, and a muff. 
 
 Wcilf/r, Thomas. Deborah, relict of Thomas TTedge, died in 1703, 
 leaving seven children, viz., .John, Mary, Joshua, Isaac, Deborah, David, 
 and Deliverance. John Ricliai-Js and .John Tracy witnessed her will. 
 
 Joshua was on the roll of Norwich inhabitants in 1716. 
 
 WenHcorth. Paul "Wentworth, a son of Elder "William "Wentworth of 
 Dover, N. H., obtained from Owaneco, the Indian sachem, a lease of cer- 
 tain lands in Mohegan, to which he removed with his family. He was 
 dismissed, with his wife Katherine, from the church at Eowley, where he 
 had lived, to the church at New London, .June 29, 1707. But his name 
 does not appear on the list of church-members at jS^ew London. His 
 farm, though within the limits of the ecclesiastical parish, was at least ten 
 miles from the church, and the intervening country was almost a wilder- 
 ness. He afterward purchased lands of David Francis, in East Society, 
 Norvyich ; removed thither and was accepted as ;m inhabitant of the town 
 Dec. 20, 1715. He had thirteen children, all bom before he came to this 
 colony, the dates ranging from 1680 to 1700. He died in 1750. 
 
 Benjamin, his seventh son, married in 1726, IMehitable Carrier. Jared 
 Wentworth, son of Benjamin and ^lehitable, born in 1728, married Abi- 
 gail Wilson of Ashford. The residence of this couple was in the western 
 part of Norwich, near Bean Hill. One of their daughters, Zerviah, born 
 April 12, 1767, was united Nov. 2S. 1790, to Ezekiel Huntley. The only 
 child of this union, Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, has acquired a literary fame 
 second to that of no female in the country. Her numerous writings, in 
 prose and verse, are all of a pure and elevated tone, calculated to charm, 
 console and entertain all willing readers, and particularly to mould and 
 invigorate the character of the young. 
 
 Williams. Several of this name settled at an early date east of the 
 river. 
 
 Owen Williams is mentioned in 1669. He obtained a grant of land in 
 1(170, "near Brewster's in the path that goes from Showtuckto Pocketan- 
 nuek." He died in 1680, leaving a family. 
 
 Joseph Williams, adni. 1702, and a vote passed that he be "entered as 
 a wliole share man respecting lands." 
 
 John Williams, appareritly an original emigi-ant, not connected with 
 others of the name in this neighborhood, appears early in the next century 
 among the inhabitants. According to family traditions, he came from 
 
HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 253 
 
 Wales, and was born in 1680. His first wife was Hannah Knowlton.* 
 His residence was at Poquetannock village, but within the bounds of Nor- 
 wich, as is evident from his serving repeatedly as one of the selectmen of 
 the town, in 1721, 1728, and afterward. He died early in the year 1742, 
 leaving a widow Mary. His will provides for his only son Joseph, and 
 sons-in-law, Nathaniel Giddings and James Geer. His estate comprised 
 the homestead farm, a grist-mill, fulling-mill, a wharf and two warehouses 
 at the Landing. Among his personal effects were five negroes, valued at 
 £600. Total estate, £21,727. 
 
 The following is a cotemporary notice of his death, Jan. 12, 1741-2 : 
 
 " Capt. John Williams died at Pockatonnock of pleurisy after 7 days illness. He 
 was a good commonwealth's miin, traded liiach by sea and land with good success for 
 many years, and acquired wholly by his own industry a great estate. He was a very 
 just dealer aged about 60 years."! 
 
 Brig. Gen. Joseph Williams of Norwich, one of the purchasers of the 
 Connecticut Reserve, was a grandson of Capt. John. He died Oct. 3, 
 1800, aged 47. 
 
 Witter, Ebenezer, of Preston ; died Jan. 31, 1711-12. He left a wife, 
 Dorothy, and seven children, Joseph, Ebenezer, William, Elizabeth, Mary, 
 Dorothy, Hannah. Estate, £729. 
 
 Woodward, Daniel, of Preston, died in 1713 ; left wife Elizabeth, and 
 twelve children from eleven to thirty -three years of age. Daniel Wood- 
 ward, Jr., administered on the estate. 
 
 In 1718 the proprietors of Norwich east of the Shetucket were enume- 
 rated. The list includes only property-holders, who were voters and paid 
 rates to the ministry. 
 
 Benjamin Brewster. John Larrabee. ^ 
 
 Jonathan Brewster. Daniel Leffingwell. 
 
 John Clark. Nathaniel Leffingwell. 
 
 Obed Cook. Daniel Mix. 
 
 John Downs. James Mix. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Fitch. Daniel Koath. 
 
 David Francis. John Rockwell. 
 
 John Glover. Joseph Rockwell. 
 
 Matthew Huntington. Josiah Rockwell. 
 
 Andrew Huntington. Samuel Rockwell. 
 
 Greenfield Larrabee. John Williams. 
 
 Nathaniel Larrabee. Joseph Williams. 
 
 * History of the Williams Family, p. 322. 
 t MS. Diary of Joshua Hempstead. 
 
254 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 To these were added : 
 
 Mr. Worthington if he settle there. 
 
 Isaac Huntington in right of Matthew Coy. 
 
 And three half-share men, Hezekiah, Benjamin and Jabez Fitch. 
 
 Preston, as an independent town, begins with the beginning of the 
 year 1687. The petition of the inhabitants to the Legislature for in- 
 corporation was in October, 1686, and signed by Thomas Parke, Sen., 
 Thomas Parke Jun., Thomas and Jonathan Tracy, Hugh Amos, Jona- 
 than Eudd, Caleb Forbes, John Amos, John Rude, Peter Branch, Jo- 
 seph Morgan, Thomas Rose, Daniel Brewster, Nathaniel and John 
 Parke, Charles "Williams, Jonathan Gere, Edward Litell, and James 
 Smith, — 19 persons.* 
 
 At a special Court the next January, the petition was granted and the 
 bounds stated. Its limits extended over what is now the southern part of 
 Griswold, but the claim of Norwich east of the river was 'respected, and 
 no part of Long Society included in the new town. 
 
 The Plantation Act is recorded at Preston, signed by Robert Treat, 
 Governor, and dated Jan. 15, 1686.t In this instrument fifteen persons 
 are named, comprising the largest landholders, but several of them were 
 not actual inhabitants. 
 
 Hugh Amos. Thomas Parke. 
 
 John Avery. John Plumbe. 
 
 Thomas Avery. Thomas Rose. 
 
 Benjamin Brewster. Jonathan Eudd. 
 
 Caleb Forbes. John Stanton. 
 
 Capt. Samuel Mason. Jonathan Tracy. 
 
 Ephraim Miner. Thomas Tracy. 
 John Parke. 
 
 The whole number of those who were embodied in the plantation, and 
 agreed to assist in supporting a minister, was 31. Jonathan Tracy was 
 the first Recorder. 
 
 A quit-claim and confirmatory deed was obtained March 17, 1687, 
 from the Mohegan sachem, of the new township, comprising a tract five 
 
 * Conn. Col. Kec, 3, 220. 
 
 t There is probably an error of a few days in this date. The Special Court met to 
 confirm the grant and state the bounds, Jan. 26. 
 See Conn. Col. Eoc, 3, 222. 
 
HISTOEY OP NOKWICH. 255 
 
 miles in length between Stonington and Norwich. It purports to be 
 from 
 
 "Oaneco to Capt. James Fitch, Capt. Josiah Standish, Thomas Parke, 
 Sen., Jonathan Trasy, Thomas Trasy, Joseph Morgan, and all the rest of 
 the inhabitants living in New Preson." 
 
 Signed. 
 
 The mark 
 
 Witnesses : 
 
 John MoRaAN. 
 John Stanton. 
 The mark c*0 of John Unoas. 
 
 The following instrument, signed by Owaneco, is dated Dec. 22, 1680: 
 
 Whereas at a General Court in Hartford May 13, 1680, my father Tineas had liberty 
 to dispose unto me his land upon Quinnabaug river and the Court at the same time 
 granting mo liberty to dispose of it unto gentlemen among them, as I should see cause 
 to do, and a good part thereof I have disposed of already, but finding that some through 
 their great importunity and others taking advantage of me when I am in drink, by 
 causing me to sign deeds, not only wronging myself, but may spoil it ever being a 
 plantation — for these and other reasons I make over all my right and title of any and 
 of all my lands and meadows unto my loving friend James Fitch Jr. for him to dispose 
 of as he shall see cause. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Nbwent, oe between the Rivees, now Lisbon. 
 
 Tbe large tract of land lying between the crotch of the rivers She- 
 tucket and Quinebaug, was acknowledged by the English to be a part of 
 the Mohegan territory. At an early period it was inhabited by a band of 
 Indians tributary to Uncas, called by the first settlers Showtuckets. The 
 town of Norwich claimed this land as belonging to their commons. 
 
 Feb. 25, 1669. 
 
 " The towne having seriously taken into their consideration the condition of Awan- 
 eco, the Sachem, being in hazard of the loss of his Sachemship for want of land to 
 accommodate his subjects, for his reliefe herein the towne hare seen cause to give unto 
 the said Awaneco a parcell of land. Thomas Tracy, Thomas Leffingwell and John 
 Post are to lay out to him 200 or 300 acres at then: discretion near Showtucket river, 
 and abutting southerly on Queenapaug river, secured also to his heirs and successors 
 but not in their power to alienate any part of it." 
 
 To this grant certain regulations were attached in regard to fencing and 
 keeping cattle and swine. Notice was also given that all trespassing upon 
 the inhabitants of Norwich must be satisfied according to English law, and 
 the act concludes in this manner : 
 
 " It is further engaged by Oweneco, that whereas as he hath received these lands by 
 gift from the town of Norwich, the town does order that he shall forbear on the Sab" 
 bath day from working, hunting, fishing, or any servile labor, and if any of his subjects 
 be found guilty of this violation, they shall be liable to be punished, and to these said, 
 and above specified particulars, the said Oweneco doth bind and engage himself, his 
 heirs and lawful successoi-s." 
 
 Consented to and subscribed by Owaneco, Slarch 22, 1669. 
 
 Witnesses : 
 
 James FiTcn, 
 John Mason, Jr. 
 
 Mark of ft J>"''Wj Owenneko. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 257 
 
 On this grant the sachem gathered his special clan, probably some 
 renty or thirty families. An annual tribute of ten deer-skins was at 
 •st demanded of them, but the scarcity of deer in the vicinity rendered 
 lat regulation a dead letter. Moreover the village was soon broken up 
 f the war with Philip, which called the sachem and his warriors to the 
 3ld, and scattered the women and children among their neighbors. 
 
 When the conflict was over, a part of this tract was assigned to the 
 idian fugitives, called Surrenderors, and in May, 1678, Mr. Fitch re- 
 Drted to the government that twenty-nine families of this class had settled 
 pon it under the supervision of the English. 
 
 By a deed of trust, Dec. 22, 1680, Owaneco assigned to James Fitch, 
 r., the care and disposition of all his lands on Quinebaug river. A few 
 sars later, absolute deeds of sale of these and other tracts of land were 
 secuted by the sachem in favor of tlje same Capt. Fitch. 
 
 In 1695, Owaneco and Capt. Samuel Mason, who, by his own choice 
 nd the authority of the government, had been appointed his trustee, 
 ;quested that a committee of the town should be empowered to survey 
 le 300 acre grant and fix its bounds. 
 
 The next year, Capt. Fitch, being then proprietary clerk, recorded the 
 hole grant to himself, as included in the large purchases he had made of 
 iwaneco in 1684 and 1687. The town entered a formal protest against 
 le claims of Capt. Fitch, particularly to the 300 acres at Quinebaug 
 'alls, which had been guarantied to the Indians with a proviso that it 
 lould not be alienated. 
 
 The course of Capt. Fitch in regard to these Indian purchases was dis- 
 isteful to the town, and no clear account can be given of the basis upon 
 hich the difficulty was settled. Apparently the town, after some mur- 
 luring, acquiesced in the claim of Capt. Fitch to what was called the 
 300 acre grant. 
 
 Capt. Fitch sold this grant in 1694 and '95, to certain purchasers from 
 Dswich, Mass., viz., Joseph SafFord, Eichard Smith, Meshach Farley, 
 [atthew Perkins, and Samuel Bishop. 
 
 Joseph and Jacob Perkins, also of Ipswich, purchased a tract between 
 le rivers in 1695, of John Fitch, and subsequently bought also a part of 
 le 1800 acre grant from the former purchasers. 
 
 Settlements were immediately commenced, and in 1718, sixteen persons 
 1 the roll of accepted inhabitants were characterized as 
 
 Farmers in ye Crotch of ye Rivers. 
 
 Samuel Bishop. Samuel Lotlyrop. 
 
 Samuel Coy. Jabez Perls-ius. 
 
 Eleazer Jewett. . Joseph Perkins. 
 
 David Knight. Josiah Bead. 
 
 Daniel Longbottom. Josiah Kead, Jr. 
 
 17 
 
268 HISTOEY OF NOBWICH. 
 
 Joseph Bead. Samuel Eood. 
 
 John Road. Samuel Eood, Jun. 
 
 William Read. Henry Wallbridge. 
 
 Samuel and John Bishop were early settlers in this district. They 
 were probably brothers and sons or grandsons of Thomas Bishop of Ips- 
 wicli. Samuel married in 1706, Sarah Forbes. John, in 1718, married 
 Mary Bingham. Samuel was adm. 1702, and John in 1710. 
 
 j\Iatthew Coy obtained a grant of land east of the Shetucket in 1685. 
 His cattle-mark was registered still earlier. He was probably that Mat- 
 thew Coy (son of Matthew) whose birth was recorded at Boston Sept. 5, 
 1656. 
 
 Samuel Coy of Newent may have been a brother or a son of Matthew, 
 but no such connection has been traced. He had a son Abraham baptized 
 in 1719. 
 
 Eleazer Jewett, Dec. 5, 1698, purchased of Mes?i>-. Waterman and 
 Bushnell, agents of the town, 75 acres of land near the Shetucket river. 
 He is supposed to have come from Eowley, Mass. His son, the second 
 Eleazer Jewett, died in 1747, at which time the father was still living. 
 The third of the name was the founder of Jewett City village. 
 
 David Knight married, March 17, 1691-2, Sarah Backus. Land was 
 granted him in 1700, for repairing the meeting-hoase and school-house. 
 He died in 174-1. 
 
 Daniel Longbottom was an inhabitant in 1698, and was chosen one of 
 the surveyors in 1702. Himself, wife and six children were baptized by 
 Mr. Woodward in September, 1718. He died in 1729. 
 
 Jabez and Joseph Perkins, adm. 1701, were sons of Jacob Perkins of 
 Ipswich, and commenced their agricultural improvements between the 
 rivers in 1695, holding their land in common until 1720, when it was 
 equally divided between them. Joseph died in 1726, and Jabez in 1742. 
 They left large estates and thriving families. 
 
 Josiah Read has been nh-eady noticed as one of the original proprietoi'S 
 ol' Norwich. His four sons are here enumerated with him as independent 
 huul-owncrs and accepted inhabitants. 
 
 Samucd Rood was tlie son of Thomas and Sarah Rood, and bom in 
 1666. In 1687 he became a householder, having liis residence "below 
 Showtuckett Falls." 
 
 Henry A\'anbri(lgo was an accepted inhabitant in 1702. "V\'illiam is 
 mentioned in 1719; Amos in 1721. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 259 
 
 Richard Adams, though not on the Hst of 1718, was an early proprietor 
 between the rivers. He probably came from Sudbury, and may have 
 been the soldier of that name who was wounded in the great swamp fight 
 with the Narragansetts, Dec. 19, 1675. His wife, Rebecca, was received 
 into full communion by Mr. Woodward in 1708, and three of his children 
 baptized. He died Aug. 24, 1728. His will mentions ten children, among 
 whom were four married daughters, Hannah Bacon, Mary Baldwin, Abi- 
 gail Brown, and Rebecca Haggitt. 
 
 William Adams, perhaps brother of Richard, died in 1727. Eliashib 
 Adams, of Preston, died May 15, 1733. 
 
 John Safford is mentioned as an inhabitant of Norwich in 1698. John, 
 Joseph and Solomon of the next generation were probably his sons. 
 
 John Lambert was an early resident in Newent Society. He died July 
 30, 1727. 
 
 Another name found in this society at an early period is that of Burn- 
 ham: Eleazar Burnham was recognized as an inhabitant in 1703. He 
 was probably the son of Thomas, and born at Ipswich in September, 1678. 
 He married Lydia Waterman, Nov. 20, 1708, and died in 1743. 
 
 James Burnham, admitted as an inhabitant in 1710, married, in 1728, 
 Ehzabeth Hough, and died May 22, 1757. 
 
 Aaron Burnham, a seaman, first mentioned in 1718 ; cattle-mark en- 
 rolled in 1720 ; died Aug. 18, 1727. His will was proved at Ipswich, 
 Oct. 9 of that year. His wife was the sole legatee. 
 
 Benjamin Burnham, adm. 1726, married April 20, 1727, Mary Kins- 
 man. He died Oct. 15, 1737. 
 
 These four persons came from Ipswich before 1720. The Kinsmans, 
 Palmers and Stevenses were later emigrants, probably from the same 
 place. The Lovetts came from Beverly ; the Rathbuns from Block 
 Island; and Thc>mas Crosby from Barnstable.* 
 
 Robert Kinsman was admitted an inhabitant Dec. 5, 1721. He was 
 one of the selectmen in 1725 and 1728. 
 
 The settlement of Newent was for many years obstructed by the diver- 
 sity of claims arising from a confusion of grants and conveyances. In 
 1723 a committee was appointed "to enquire into and gain as good an 
 understanding as they can come at respecting the Indians land in the 
 Crotch of Quinebaug and Showtucket rivers."t 
 
 * Half-Century Sermon of Ber. Levi Nelson of Lisbon, 1854. 
 
 t After this Indian resei-vadon liad been entirely cleared of native occupants, one of 
 the English owners found at a certain time an old Indian woman, who had come from 
 a distance, barking his birch trees and otherwise trespas.^ing upon his grounds- and 
 
260 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 In 1725, the proprietors of the common and undivided land put an end 
 to all controversy by giving a quit-claim deed to Capt. Jabez Perkins, Lt. 
 Samuel_ Bishop, Mr. Joseph Perkins, and Mr. John Safford, of all the 
 Indian land in the crotch of the rivers, and of all contained in Major 
 Fitch's 1800 acre grant, for the sum of £75, money in hand, paid to said 
 proprietors, provided that the Indians should be allowed to remain and 
 occupy the tract that had been secured to them. To these purchasers and 
 to those who should claim under them, the town confirmed the title of 
 reversion. The Indians dwindled away, and in 1745 the descendants of 
 Owaneco and other principal Mohegans, for the sum of £137, executed a 
 quit-claim deed of the Indian reservation in favor of the English claim- 
 ants. This instrument, which extinguished the last aboriginal claim to 
 land in the nine-miles-square, was in substance as follows : 
 
 Ann alias Cutoih, Betty Aucum widow, Wedemow daughter of Mahomet deceased, 
 Ann, otherwise young Ben's wife, all of whom are descendants of Owaneco, late sachem 
 of Mohegan, and the said young Ben or Ben TJncas Jr. and Daniel Pauganeek, all of 
 Mohegan, for the consideration of 137 pounds in bills of credit — to Capt. Samuel 
 Bishop, Joseph Perkins, Jacob Perkins, John Safford, Joseph Safford and Solomon 
 Safford, to all of them in proportion as they now possess — do now relinquish all right 
 and title to the tract of 300 acres more or less in Newent, in the crotch of the rivers 
 Quinebaug and Showtucket, called the Indian Land, abntting southeasterly on the 
 Quinebaug. — April 9, 1745.* 
 
 Witnesses, Isaac Huntington. 
 Asa Wokthington. 
 
 upon remonstrating with her, was met with a fiery and indignant rejoinder. " This land 
 yours !" she exclaimed. " How you get it ? Indian land, all of it, — you white folks 
 come here, — drive away poor Indian and steal his land, — that the way you get it ! " 
 
 This no doubt expresses, in a homely way, the feeling of many of the aborigines, as 
 from time to time they have relinquished their ancient seats to the vphites, and retired 
 into the wilderness. 
 
 * Norwich Deeds. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MOHEGANS AND THEIK SaCHEMS. MaSON CoNIEOVEKSY. 
 
 It is a singular fact that while the Indian Sachems were conveying to 
 the English large tracts of land, they were at the same time complaining 
 of want of room for their own accommodation. The habits of the race 
 made a large extent of territory necessary for their subsistence. They 
 must have a different haunt for every varying season ; forests for hunting, 
 thickets where they could procure materials for mats, baskets, brooms, 
 pails, bowls, and all the varieties of their rude manufacture, as well as 
 corn-fields, and stations upon the sea-shore and river banks for fishing. In 
 a general form they had ceded all their inheritance to the English, except 
 the tract upon the river between Norwich and New London, where Uncas 
 had his royal residence ; and here the fresh settlers were crowding upon 
 them, and constraining them to adopt agricultural occupations and fixed 
 habitations very repugnant to their roving habits. 
 
 More than thirty deeds are recorded in the Norwich books, bearing the 
 signatures of Uncas, Owaneco, or Joshua, conveying to various individuals 
 tracts of land, most of them comprising hundreds of acres. Similar deeds 
 are on record at New London. Often these Indian grants overlapped 
 and covered others, leading to many disputes as to titles, and perplexities 
 as to bounds, which entangled the rights and claims of the settlers in an 
 inextricable maze. One is almost inclined to join in the declaration of 
 Sir Edmund Andross, that he did not value an Indian deed any more than 
 the scratch of a cat's paio. 
 
 The following record shows that an amicable settlement of all dififerences 
 with respect to land claims and boundaries took place between the town 
 and the aged chieftain of the Mohegans : 
 
 "Whereas Uncas, Sachem of Mohegan, hath of late made application to the Town of 
 Norwich for some Releife with Reference to a small Tract of Land which fell out to be 
 within the bounds of the Town, on the south Bounds, over the Traiding Cove Brook . 
 This Town, Considering of his Request, and of him as an Old Fkiend, see Cause to 
 Gratify him with the said Land as a Gift to him and his heirs forever, and Whereas the 
 s'' Uncas doth also Recon upon three pounds yet due to him as arrears of the payment 
 of the purchas of Norwich Township, though there is nothing appearing how the said 
 money is due, neither by written nor any other Evidence — Yet notwithstanding the 
 
2Q2 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Town have Grauted his desire as not willing to dissatiefie an Old Friend in sucli a 
 small matter, and tlie said tJncas Also Declaring himself to be in some fears Eespect- 
 ing hie Posterity, whether they may not be infringed of their Liberty of Fishing and 
 making use of the Tiivers and other Royalties by some English : that being the Reason 
 why he Gave place at the first that we should run the line of the Two miles on the 
 East side of the Great liiver. Beginning at the River: We also satisfie him in this 
 writing about it, that he and liis successors shall from Time to Time, and at all times 
 have full and free Liberty to make use of the Rivers and ponds, with other Royalties 
 as abovesaid, not debaring Ourselves, and having thus done, we whose names are sub- 
 scribed being appointed by the town of Norwich to treat with him the said Uncas upon 
 the premises, or any thing Elce that might tJondnee to mutual satisfaction, we asked 
 him whether now he was fully satisfied as to the former, so Concerning any thing Elce 
 depending between him and us, and he hath declared himself : as witness by his hand 
 that he is fcllt satisfied with us concerning the premises, so Respecting all our 
 Bounds and boundaries, and particularly Concerning the Running of the Line on the 
 East side of the River, and Concerning the beginning of the said Line at the River, 
 and the end of said Line to a Tree marked near the Dwellinghouse of Robert Allen : 
 Dated in Norwich, September !'», 1682 : 
 
 The mark ul of UNCAS. 
 
 Thomas Leffingwell. ^ 
 
 William Backus. ( Entered in Lib' the second folio 1'*, 
 
 John Birchard. | October 18"", 1682. 
 
 John Tracy. J 
 
 By me, Chkistophbr Huntingtox, Recorder. 
 
 The exact period of the decease of Uncas has not been ascertained. It 
 is supposed to have occurred in the fall of K'.So. The latest notice of him 
 that has been discovered is the acknowledgment of a deed before Samuel 
 Mason in June, 1 683, Accordmg to tradition, the last two or three years 
 of his life were mostly dozed away, half stupid in his wigwam. It was 
 very common for old Indians to wear out in that way, becoming physically 
 inert, sinking into indifference, and dying as it were for want of thought. 
 An active mind undoubtedly assists largely in keeping the vital powers in 
 motion. It is said that the English in passing through ilohegan, between 
 Norwich and New London, would often turn aside to the royal wigwam of 
 Uncas, in order to pay the chief a visit, and in these latter years of his hfe 
 were wont to find him sitting at the door on a rude bench, sleeping m the 
 sun ; sometimes with his liead lolling on his breast, and sometimes bent 
 forward upon his hands, leaning on a staff. It was difficult to rouse him 
 any further than to elicit the guttural lu/L! waugh! or perhaps a listless 
 Jlosh-ali-iiu'-f How do you do? or, Ty-an-nohl How do you feel? 
 
 All aceoinits, Indian and English, agree that he was brought to Norwich 
 and interred iu a spot pre\iously known as the burial-place of the Indian 
 sachems. This spot, though not reserved for the Indians in the deed of 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 263 
 
 the town, nor made sure to them afterwards, as far as is known, by any 
 legal instrument, has ever since been used by them as the cemetery of 
 their royal race ; and this right of sepulture has not only been conceded 
 to them by the successive proprietors of the land, but several times ex- 
 pressly recognized by the town. In the first division of the common 
 lands, April, 1661, ^Hhe Indian Graves" was included in the grant to 
 Thomas Tracy ; upon which the town, by way of exchange, gave him 
 eight acres of pasture land in another place. And though the same spot 
 was afterwards granted to Elderkin, it was stipulated that the Indians 
 should always be allowed to pass and repass up the cove and ravine to 
 their burying-place, and to cut wood, if they chose, half-way up the side- 
 hiU. 
 
 The following subsequent grants seem also to admit the Indian priv- 
 ilege: 
 
 Dec. 26, 1679. Given to Richard Bushnell a small piece of laad upon ye little plaine 
 near the land of the Indians where the burying place is, upon a deep valley that goeth 
 down to goodman Elderkin's. 
 
 Granted to Samuel Tracy (1690) six acres on the Little Plain, " by the Indian bury- 
 ing place, abutting west on Indian Land," and running south to the brow of the hill and 
 John Elderkin's land. 
 
 The Plain and the land around the Falls were regarded as peculiarly 
 Indian land, probably on account of the vestiges left behind of former 
 Indian occupation. We have ventured to fix the residence of that old 
 Indian sachem who claimed the territory before the English came to Con- 
 necticut, in this neighborhood. 
 
 The savage loves the waterfall ; it diverts his loneliness. He settles in 
 its neighborhood ; its roar is his music ; the smooth water below is the 
 path for his canoe ; the fish at its feet are his food. Here he lays up his 
 winter store, and the plains above are the fields for his corn.* 
 
 Here then, perchance, stood the wigwams of that ancient tribe, and 
 either by them or their immediate successors, the Mohegans, this spot was 
 set apart for the burial-place of their sachems. Here the father of Uncas, 
 with Uncas himself, and his sons, and his grandson Caesar, and his great- 
 grandsons, those nominal sachems, Ben and Sam Uncas, were gathered. 
 And in later days, from time to time, as the descendants of the old chief 
 have melted away, the earth in this romantic cemetery has opened to 
 receive their remains. 
 
 * About the year 1830, the gardener of Mr. William C. Gilmau, in turning up the 
 soil, struck upon a considerable deposit, half a peck or more, of Indian arrow-heads, 
 not only of quartz, but flint and other hard stones not indigenous to the region. This 
 was on the high bank of the Cove below the Falls. 
 
 On the Plain above, numerous arrow-heads have been gathered from time to time, 
 and are still occasionally turned up by the spade or plough. 
 
264 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 But it has probably received its latest guest, and henceforth it is a 
 sealed tomb. The race of the Sachems is extinct. The last feeble cur- 
 rent of its blood has ceased to flow. No one remains who has any claim 
 to the coveted privilege of sleeping at the feet of Uncas and Owaneco. 
 
 Owaneco died in 1710. The deeds signed by him, on record in Nor- 
 wich, New London, Preston, and some other towns, are numerous and of 
 vast import ; comprising large farms and small farms, towns and districts, 
 estimated often by miles. The condition expressed is frequently of this 
 nature : " To my very good friend John Post, for the love and friendship 
 received from him," 200 acres in 1 685 ; to Israel Lothrop, " for kindnesses 
 received and three coats in hand paid," 150 acres in 1695 ; "to Richard 
 Biishnell, for kind and free entertainment for many years," 400 acres ia 
 1690. 
 
 Attawanhood, alias Joshua, the brother of Owaneco, was another noted 
 land-grantee, but his deeds are less numerous than those of the elder chief. 
 Titles in Colchester, Lebanon and Windham are in most instances derived 
 from Joshua Uncas, who was considered rather as a river chief, his prin- 
 cipal haunts lying towards the Connecticut. 
 
 The signatures or totems of these three sachems, affixed to the various 
 deeds executed by them, display as much uniformity as is usually found in 
 common hand-writing at different periods. The signatures of the deed of 
 Norwich present a fair sample of each. Uncas in that instance drew only 
 the arms and body of a man, with a stroke to represent, perhaps, the heart. 
 He seems always to have subscribed the rude outline of a human figure, 
 or the prominent parts of it. The totem of Owaneco is supposed to rep- 
 resent a turkey. The head is turned to the right. Joshua's sign-manual 
 is a slender four-legged animal, with a conspicuous tail, and the head to 
 the left. It might be taken for a fox, rabbit, or woodchuck, but in all 
 probability was designed by the sachem to represent the familiar chip- 
 muck, or striped squirrel. 
 
 Notwithstanding the title of Sachem, and the lordly idea attached to the 
 disposing of such extensive regions as they were accustomed to convey to 
 their friends, these chieftains were but little elevated, either in their habits 
 or morals, above the common level of savages. Owaneco was in his youth 
 a bold ^^•arrior, and an enterprising partizan. His exploits at the Narra- 
 ganselt fort fight, and through the whole of Philip's war, obtained for him 
 considerable renown. 
 
 But in maturer 3 cars, destitute of the stimulus of war and the chase, 
 he used to wander about with his blanket, metomp and sandals, his gun 
 and his squaw, to beg in the neighboring towns, quartering himself in the 
 kitchens and out-houses of his white acquaintances, and presenting to 
 strangers, or those who could not well understand his imperfect English, 
 a brief which had been written for him by Mr. Richard Bushnell. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 265 
 
 It was as follows : 
 
 Oneco king, his queen doth bring, 
 
 To beg a little food ; 
 As they go along, their friends among. 
 
 To try how kind, how good. 
 
 Some pork, some beef, for their relief. 
 
 And if yon can't spare bread, 
 She'll thank you for pudding, as they go a gooding, 
 
 And carry it on her head. 
 
 The last line alludes to the Indian custom of bearing burdens in a sack 
 upon the shoulders, supported by a bark strap called a metomp, passing 
 across the forehead. 
 
 After the death of Joshua, his son and heir, Abimilech Joshuason, 
 claimed the greater part of what is now Lebanon. In 1693, he gave a 
 power of attorney to Major James Fitch and Lieut. Thomas Leffingwell, 
 to settle the bounds between his land and the towns of Norwich and Wind- 
 ham. Toward the latter he claimed that the Willimantic river was the 
 true boundary. 
 
 In 1716, Csesar, who is styled "the Prince and Sachem of Mohegan," 
 made several conveyances of land to individuals. One was to Capt. Rob- 
 ert Denison ; another to Lieut. Benajah Bushnell, of two parcels, lying 
 between Trading Cove brook and the south line of Norwich. 
 
 Denison's purchase lay "northward of Norwich purchase line and south 
 of the bounds granted by the town to ye Mohegan Sachem." The title 
 was allowed by the town, and aU claim to the land released in 1720. 
 
 Csesar was the youngest son of Owaneco, and died in December, 1722. 
 He was succeeded by Ben Uncas, usually called Major Ben, a descendant 
 of Uncas by an inferior wife. The exact date of the decease of Major 
 Ben is ascertained fi-om a private diary kept at New London. 
 
 Peb. U, 1725. Ben Uncas, the king of the Mohegans, died yesterday. 
 
 His son and successor, Ben Uncas 2d, had been brought up in the fam- 
 ily of Capt. John Mason, and was the first of the sachems who discarded 
 the old Indian customs, and adopted the dress and modes of living current 
 among his neighbors, the English residents. He married Ann Mazzeen, 
 a grand-daughter of Uncas in the female line. 
 
266 HISTOBT OP NOKWICH. 
 
 Mason Conteovbrst. 
 
 It seems to have been generally conceded by the English, that the ulte- 
 rior right to dispose of land in this region belonged to Uncas. The Gov- 
 ernor and Company, however, claimed that he transferred this right to 
 them by a deed of Sept. '28, 1G40. They asserted, moreover, that he had 
 confirmed and ratified the surrender at a subsequent period through the 
 agency of Capt. Mason. 
 
 In 1659, before the settlement of Norwich, Mason had obtained of 
 Uncas and his brother a general deed of all the lands belonging to them, 
 not then actually occupied by the tribe. In this business, it was generally 
 understood that he acted as the agent of the colony, and it was proved by 
 the State Records that he formally surrendered his claim to the General 
 Court, March 14, 1660.* 
 
 The descendants of Mason denied the validity of this transaction, or 
 questioned its design, asserting that the conveyance made to their ancestor 
 was with the intent to secure those lands to the Indians, by putting it out 
 of their own power to convey them to others, that Mason received them 
 as their trustee, and had passed over to the colony merely the right of 
 jurisdiction, not the ownership of the lands. 
 
 The Indian sachems were thus encouraged by the Masons and their 
 party to regard themselves as the rightful owners of all the unsettled lands 
 in this part of Connecticut. Out of these premises a long and troublesome 
 dispute arose ; the case every year becoming more complicated and im- 
 portant. The Masons and Mohegans became closely linked in a claim 
 against the colony for the possession of large tracts of land, occupied by 
 numerous settlers, and comprising the major portion of Colchester, Wind- 
 ham, Mansfield, Hebron, and considerable tracts in some other towns. A 
 vigorous and persevering effort, extending over a period of seventy years, 
 was made by Mason and his descendants to recover the possession of this 
 territory for the Indians. 
 
 The professed object of both parties was the benefit of the Indians, but 
 the real controversy was between two classes of the English inhabitants, 
 each actuated by political (lartizanship or pecuniary interest. The Indians 
 were little more than tools in the hands of their nominal friends, and would 
 have gained but little if the case had been at the outset ostensibly decided 
 in their i'avor. There was a rage among the white residents for specula- 
 ting in Indian lands, and the natives would sell cither drunk or sober, and 
 often sold the same land several times over. Had it not been for the 
 guardian care and restrictive legislation of the colony, they would have 
 disposed of every foot of their inheritance before 1700, and reduced them- 
 selves to the condition of landless, homeless vagrants. 
 
 * Conn. Col. Rec, 1, 359. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 267 
 
 The citizens of Norwich, entered into the Mason controversy with great 
 warmth and zeal, most of them espousing the cause of the Indians, some 
 doubtless from an honest opinion that they had been injured and defrauded, 
 and others from interested motives. The case was often tried without 
 being brought to an issue. Many persons put themselves to great incon- 
 venience and expense in entertaining and clothing the Indians, and for- 
 warding their cause, expecting to be remunerated when they should recover 
 their rights. On the Indians themselves it had a very unhappy effect, 
 puffing them up with hopes never to be realized, and leading them into 
 courses of idleness, itineracy, and extravagance. Norwich suffered se- 
 verely for her indiscretion, her streets and houses being often filled with 
 these exacting and troublesome guests. 
 
 The case was first submitted to Commissioners chosen out of all the 
 New England Colonies, and acting under the immediate authority of 
 Queen Anne. This court was held at Stonington in 1705. Thomas 
 Leffingwell of Norwich, a tried friend of the Indian Sachems, was one of 
 the Commissioners, and from his intimate acquaintance with the affairs of 
 the tribe, had great influence with the other members. The colony pro- 
 tested against the authority of this court, and, refusing to appear before it, 
 no defence was made. The decision, as might be expected, was against 
 her, but no attempt was made by the English Government to enfore the 
 decree. 
 
 A subsequent investigation of this case, under the authority of the 
 General Court, was made at Norwich, in the winter of 1717-18, and was 
 pending at the time of the great snow-storm, famous over all New Eng- 
 land, Feb. 17. The proceedings of the Commissioners, who met in the 
 house of Eichard Bushnell, Esq., were much impeded by the snow. For 
 several days the members were scarcely able to get together.' 
 
 The next October a further committee was appointed by the Assembly, 
 and directed to repair to Mohegan, to hear the grievances of the Indians, 
 and to endeavor to settle all differences between them and their neighbors. 
 These Commissioners, James Wadsworth, Esq., and Capt. John Hall, met 
 at the house of Lieut. Joseph Bradford in Mohegan,. March 16, 1720, for 
 the purpose of marking out the boundary lines between the Indians and 
 the towns of New London and Norwich.* They had another meeting at 
 the same place in February, 1720-21, and were apparently very success- 
 ful in settling the various claims and reconciling all parties. In conclu- 
 
 * Joshua Hempstead of New London attended this meeting of the Commissioners. 
 As he went up, with the aid of two assistants he measured the road from New London 
 to Norwich, through the Mohegan territory, and records the result in his diary. "JFrom 
 the Mill Dam in New London to Trading Cove brook where we ride over at ye end of 
 Norwich plain is 9 mile and a half and 36 rods." The eighth mile, he says, "is in the 
 falling ground a little beyond the Stone Fort." 
 
268 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 sion they laid out and sequestered to the use of the Indians between four 
 and five thousand acres of good land, which was never to be alienated 
 until the tribe became extinct. These proceedings were ratified by act of 
 Assembly, May 11, 1721. 
 
 In 1723, Capt. John Mason, third of that name in regular descent, 
 stated to the General Court that the Commission of 1705 had cost him 
 more than £600, which was a large proportion of his estate, and he asked 
 for indemnification out of the IMohefgan lands that had caused the contro- 
 versy. Had he succeeded in this application, it might have put an end to 
 the contest, but the court decided that he had no claims upon them ft)r 
 redress, and the struggle^was renewed. The Masons again carried their 
 complaints to England, and a Commission of Review was appointed by 
 George 2d, to examine the proceedings of the Court at Stonington in 
 1705, and discarding all intermediate acts and decisions, to confirm or 
 annul the decision of that Court. 
 
 This Commission, consisting of the Lieut. Governor and Council of 
 New York, and the Governor and Assistants of Rhode Island, convened 
 at Norwich, May 24, J 738. The Commissioners not agreeing as to the 
 course to be pursued, the members from New York, at the outset, entered 
 a protest and withdrew. The remainder, after an examination of wit- 
 nesses, reversed the decision of the court, and gave judgment in favor of 
 the colony.* 
 
 John and Samuel Mason, however, would not suffer the matter to rest 
 here ; they presented a memorial to the King, alleging that the proceed- 
 ings of the court were irregular, and in behalf of the Indians praying for 
 a redress of grievances. Orders were therefore issued for a new Com- 
 mission of Review. 
 
 This second Court of Commissioners convened at Norwich, June 28, 
 1743, and the trial lasted seven weeks. The sessions commenced at the 
 hoiise of Simon Lathrop, Esq., but on the third day were adjourned to 
 the meeting-house, where the remainder of the sitting was held. The 
 town at this time literally overflowed with strangers, and no business of 
 any kind was done, except what was connected with the pending contro- 
 versy, and the necessary purposes of life. All the officers of government 
 and distinguished men in the colony were present. The whole tribe of 
 Mohegans was quartered upon the inhabitants, and hundreds of persons 
 in the neighboring towns, who had lands at stake, came in from day to 
 day, to hear the proceedings. The Lathrops, Huntingtons, Lefiingwells, 
 Traeys, and all the principal men in Norwich, were of the Indian party, 
 
 * "Juno 5, 1738. The great Court of Commissioners at Norwich is over and tlie 
 case is gone in favor of the Colony. The New York Counaelloi-s, viz. Coll. Cortland 
 and Mr. Hossmonden, deserted and drew off and the Gov. & Council of Rhode Islimd 
 hath reversed the former judgment." Hempstead's Diary. 
 
HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 269 
 
 and kept open house for John Uncas and his people. Ben Uncas was 
 upheld by the State, and his party was rendered respectable by the notice 
 of all the officers of government. The rival sachems maintained consid- 
 erable pomp and state while the trial continued, which was until the 17th 
 of August. 
 
 The decision was again in favor of the colony ; but the Masons appealed 
 from the judgment to the King in council, and thenceforth all legal action 
 upon the case was transferred to England. The final decision was not 
 until 1767. Sir Fletcher Norton, then prime minister, advised that the 
 English should be conciliated by a decision against the Indians. 
 
 It was the prevalent opinion in England that the Mohegans had right 
 on their side, but that it was not expedient to do them justice, and indeed 
 not equitable, as the English had long possessed and improved the lands 
 in question, and the Indians had dwindled away and did not need them. 
 One of the Masons, however, remained long in England, prosecuting his 
 claiih ; obtained money upon it, sold out rights in it, ran in debt upon it, 
 was at one time a prisoner in the Fleet, and never returned to his native 
 country. The Eevolutionary war soon afterwards broke out, the Mohe- 
 gans found themselves at the mercy of the State, and never afterwards 
 showed any disposition to renew their claims. Occom, the eloquent advo- 
 cate and preacher ot this tribe, on hearing of the termination of this affair> 
 writes thus to a friend : 
 
 "The grand controversy which has subsisted between the colony of Conn, and the 
 Mohegan Indians, above seventy years, is finally decided in favor of the colony. I am 
 afraid the poor Indians will never stand a good chance with the English in their land 
 controversies, because they are very poor, they have no money. Money is almighty 
 now-ardays, and the Indians have no learning, no wit, no cunning : the English have 
 aU." [MS. Letter of Occom.] 
 
 (Autograph.) *• 
 
 In this controversy, our sympathies are very naturally enlisted in favor 
 of the Indians ; nevertheless, it does not appear that they were treated 
 with any unduie severity or injustice by the colony. Most of the settlers 
 on the debatable lands, fairly purchased them, and had obtained deeds 
 though not, perhaps, always of the lawful owners. And there is reason 
 to believe that the Indians themselves would not have complained, had 
 they not been instigated by others. This case may fairly be merged in 
 
270 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 the great question still pending and unsettled, whether a cizilized race has 
 a right, under any circumstances, to take possession of a country inhab- 
 ited by savages, and gradually dispossess the original proprietors.* 
 
 * Materials for the history of the Mason Controversy are to be found in the Book of 
 Proceedings of the several Commission Courts in this case, which was printed in Lon- 
 don for the use of the King and Council in making their final decision, — a copy of which 
 was sent to the Colony, and is preserved among the State Records at Hartford. It 
 contains several interesting documents. Among them is one presented at the great 
 Commission Court hold at Norwich in 1 743, by Ben Uncas 2d, who was then the chief 
 Sachem of Mohegan. Being allowed to offer what he had to communicate, he came 
 forward in person, with a Bible in his hand and a brazen crown in the shape of a hawk 
 upon his head, and presented a writing, of which the following is the first part : 
 
 " I am now in the 48th year of ray age, and after the decease of my father, Ben 
 Uncas, in 1725, was chosen and installed chief Sachem and have ever since remained 
 in actual exercise of power, and as one evidence, I have here in Court, the Bible trans- 
 lated into Indian, which was sent by Charles Second, King of England, unto the then 
 chief Sachem and delivered successively at every instalment, and also a certain brass 
 hawk, taken from a famous great Captain of the Narragausetts, our enemies, by one of 
 my ancestors in a famous battle and victory over said Narragausetts, always dehvered 
 in like manner and kept as a memorial of the great battle and victory." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Town Atpaies. Justices' Couets. 
 
 The annual expenditure of the town during the first century of its 
 existence amounted to a very small sum. The heaviest items, unless on 
 some extraordinary occasion, were for perambulating and stating bounds, 
 laying out highways, plank for bridges, and the bounty on killing birds 
 and snakes. Exclusive of this last item, the annual demands upon the 
 treasury frequently fell below £10. The expenses arising out of the dif- 
 ficulties that existed with neighboring towns, on account of boundaries, 
 added some years greatly to this amount. There was an ever-open quar- 
 rel respecting a tract of land south of the Norwich and north of the New 
 London line, with the Indians or individual settlers. The disputes with 
 Preston were still more perplexing and acrimonious. They commenced 
 in 1695, and continued for nearly a century, being a constant source of 
 litigation, trouble, and expense. Committees were appointed from year to 
 year to settle the boundary-line between the two towns, but it would not 
 remain settled. In the year 1718 there was an access of bitterness and 
 self interest on both sides, and the contention was severe. It is scarcely 
 credible that a contest between friends and neighbors, merely for territo- 
 rial jurisdiction, should have been so often renewed, and so long in wear- 
 ing out. The hostility, however, as in most instances of the kind itl our 
 settlements, was not between individual inhabitants, but the towns in their 
 collective capacity.* 
 
 List of Town Debts. Dec. 30, 1718. 
 
 To John Tracy for killing 4 snakes, 
 Th. Leffingwell Jr. . 6 do - 
 Elisha Waterman 67 birds . . . - 
 
 John Rood 24 do ... 
 
 Jabez Hide 5 snakes - - - . . 
 
 Th. Bingham 4 snakes and drumming 
 
 * In 1723 the disputes respecting the town boundaries were carried to the Legislalure 
 for decision. Benajah Bushnell was the town agent in the business. He was absent 
 tvelve days, and charged the town £2 10s. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 9! 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 8 
 
272 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 Th. Leffingwell Jr. one day to meet New London Committee 5 
 Joseph Reynolds for a plank - - - - 1 
 
 Solomon Tracy one day on Committee - - 5 
 
 Charges about Preston Line - - - - 6 13 10 
 
 Several persons for perambulating at 3s. per day each. 
 
 Occasionally we find a town expenditure for military equipments, and 
 for "ammunition, with the charge of bringing it up from New London." 
 
 In 1720, John and Simon Tracy were appointed by the town "to make 
 search for the Towne Armes, with their magazeans of amunition and other 
 accotrements for war, injoyned by law," who reported as follows : 
 
 At Lieut. Tracy's two Guns and two pair of Snoe shoes. 
 
 At Samuel Fales one gun and at Lieut. Bushnells one Barril of Pouder and one gnn 
 and 77 pound of Ltd.* 
 
 At Lieut. Backuses 344 pound of bullets. 
 
 At Ens. LciBngwells one Barril of Pouder. 
 
 At Deacon Simon Huntingtons one half Barril of Pouder and 31 pound of bullets 
 and 400 flints. 
 
 At Simon Tracys one pair of Snoe shoes, and 4 pair of maugosuns— we were also 
 informed yt there was formerly Lent to Mr. John Leffingwell pr Lieut. Bushnell 71 
 pound of Led which sd Leffingwell was obliged to pay in BuUits ye same quantity. 
 
 All ye Led and Bullits 523 pound. 
 
 T?ie Town's Poor. The earliest instance on record of a poor person 
 supported by the town, is the following from the records of the county 
 court : 
 
 Feb. 9, 1685-6. " The Courte having ordered Katherine Duneffin to be accounted 
 the poore of Norwich and by them to be provided for, orders two shillings pr weeke to 
 be payde by the Town of Norwich for ye bringing up the child lor 2 years from this 
 date." 
 
 Expenses incurred for the poor rarely appear in the early accounts of 
 the town, but occasionally, in the course of years, a few items are found ; 
 such as, "a pair of shoes for Alice Cook, 5s.," "a coat and leather breeches 
 for old Russell, l"2s.," "a sheet to bury John Nickols in, 10s.," "13 watches 
 with Gaylor at 2s. per night, £1 Gs." 
 
 Dec. 19, 1727. To Thomas Blythe for digging Gaylor's Grave, 5s. 
 Dec. 17, 172S. To Jacob Hyde for digging Micah Rood's grave, 4s. 
 
 In 1723, great amazement seems to have been excited in the townsmen 
 by what they designate "the extraordinary charge of Henry Wallbridge Jr. 
 for entcrtayneing Christian Challenge in her late sickness and distraction 
 
 * It was not uncommon for soldiers at this time to run their own bullets : this fact 
 accounts for the quantity of lead on hand. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 273 
 
 at his house." Yet the whole charge for eight weeks "nursing, diet, and 
 strengthening salve," going for doctors, four days waiting and tending, and 
 finally conveying her to Windham, amounts only to £3 5s. &d. Dr. Calib 
 BushneU's bill " tords the cure of Christian Challenge," stands thus, and 
 will show what a physician's fees then were : 
 
 To 3 travells - - - - £0 1 6 
 
 to Lusisalig Bolsum - - - 4 
 
 to 3 times Bleeding - - - 16 
 
 This poor woman appears to have been a traveler, tramper, or transient 
 person, as wandering beggars are indifferently called in New England, 
 who was " rode over by Solomon Story on the Sabbath day, either wil- 
 fully or carelessly," and being very much hurt, was for some time a bur- 
 den on the town. 
 
 TTie Courts. In 1720 the erection of a town-house was proposed. Sub- 
 scriptions for the building were taken up, and a corner of the Plain fixed 
 upon for the site. Norwich was then engaged in a struggle to wrest from 
 New London a share of the county court sessions, and if successful in the 
 contest, a town-house would be necessary for the accommodation of the 
 courts. But the Legislature did not see fit to grant the half-shire privi- 
 lege at that time, and the house was not built. 
 
 Another strenuous effort was made in 1734, the inhabitants petitioning 
 the General Assembly that the Supreme Court in March, and the Supe- 
 rior Court in November, for New London County, might be held in Noi-- 
 wich. The agents for the town in this business were Capt. John Williams, 
 Capt. Joseph Tracy, and Mr. Hezekiah Huntington. The petition was 
 granted, and Norwich became a half-shire town. 
 
 The contest had been long and determined, marked in some instances 
 with bitterness and exasperation ; but Norwich, having grown rapidly in 
 numbers and influence, at length had her claim to a share of the courts 
 sanctioned by equity and the public convenience. 
 
 In connection with this privilege, the town came under the obligation 
 of furnishing convenient accommodations for the courts and county pris- 
 oners. A new jail or prison-house was soon afterward built and ceded 
 to the county, and a town-house erected under the oversight of the se- 
 lectmen, the expense being defrayed by a penny tax on polls and ratable 
 estates. 
 
 The jail stood under the shelter of the hill, upon the parsonage lot, 
 nearly in the rear of the present brick school-house. The town-house 
 was at the south-west corner of the Green, with a whipping-post and 
 pillory near. 
 
 18 
 
274 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The key of the town-house was formally delivered into the custody of 
 Capt." Joseph Tracy, in 1737, and a room ordered to be finished under his 
 direction, in the garret, for the town's stock of ammunition. The follow- 
 ing vote was then passed : 
 
 " It is now ordered and enacted, that if any man shall smoke it, in the time of ses- 
 Bions of any town meeting, within this house, he shall forfeit the sum of 5 shillings." 
 
 In Hempstead's Diary, under date of Dec. 1, 1740, we have the follow- 
 ing brief item : 
 
 " Court held in Norwich ; 550 actions, new and old." 
 
 Capt. .Joseph Tracy was son to John Tracy, one of the thirty-five pro- 
 prietors. He was a very respectable and dignified man, and for a long 
 course of years was uniformly chosen moderator of all public meetings, in 
 alternation with Capt. Jabez Hide. He died in 1765, aged eighty-three. 
 
 In 1745 we find the care of the town-house and arms committed to 
 Capt. Philip Turner, and this is the first time that gentleman's name 
 appears on the records. He came from Scituate, Mass., married Anne, 
 daughter of Daniel Huijtington, and soon acquired an enviable popularity 
 among his new associates, performing the duties of constable, selectman, 
 and captain of the troop of horse, a spirited band of young men, that he 
 took much pride in parading and exercising. Many bright anticipations 
 were destroyed by his death in 1755, at the age of thirty-nine. 
 
 April 28, 1730, all the freemen were enrolled. They amounted to 158; 
 thirteen more were added in September, making 171. The first on the 
 list, and probably so placed in respect to age and dignity, were Joseph 
 Backus, Esq., the three reverend ministers, Lord, Willes, and Bartland, 
 and the two deacons, Simon and Christopher Huntington. After these 
 come Samuel and Israel Lothrop, TVUliam Hide, Esq., Mr. Thomas 
 Adgate, Capt. Jabez Perkins, Capt. Benajah Bushnell, and Capt. John 
 Leffingwell. 
 
 It is worthy of note, that at this time and for many years afterwards, 
 there were but one or two citizens at a time who bore the title of Esq., 
 denoting a Justice of the Peace. 
 
 The most conspicuous points in town, where all public notifications 
 were ordered to be set up, were the sign-post on the Green, Benajah Lef- 
 fingwell's gate-post, and "the parting of the paths at the corner of Ebene- 
 zer Backus's garden." This last position is still a prominent one, consist- 
 ing of an elliptical plot of land, having an elevated platform where the 
 
HISTOEY OF NOBWICH. 275 
 
 house stands, and embraced by highways that run together above and 
 below.* It was the homestead of Joseph Backus Esq., familiarly known 
 for many years as Mr. Justice Backus, and afterwards of his son Ebene- 
 zer, who built the present house, and set out with his own hand the two fine 
 elms before the door. One of the daughters of Ebenezer Backus married 
 the second Governor Trumbull. 
 
 In the town-plot two open squares, or plains, were reserved for public 
 use ; one near the centre, and the other on Bean Hill. Repeated applica- 
 tions to build upon them, by individuals, were refused, and all encroach- 
 ments reprehended. " There shall be no shop, house or barn, or any other 
 private building erected on any part of said plain," was the language of 
 these resolutions. 
 
 In 1729, the proprietors agree, vote, and grant, "that the Plain in the 
 Town Piatt, called the meeting house plain, with all the contents and 
 extents of it," as it now lyeth, shall be and remain, to be, and lye common 
 for public use for the whole town forever, without alteration." 
 
 A similar vote was passed at the same time with respect to " the Plain 
 at the westerly end of the Town Piatt, lying between Richard Egerton's 
 and John Waterman's, Abial Marshall's and the widow Hide's houses." 
 
 In 1743, Messrs. Richard Hide and Ebenezer Hartshorn were appointed 
 to survey the town, and draw a plan of it, embracing the course of the 
 rivers and larger rivulets. The town now comprised eight ecclesiastical 
 societies, viz.: First, West, Newent, East, New Concord, Chelsy, Hano- 
 ver, and Eighth ; but the First or Town Plot society still maintained its 
 pre-eminence, possessing twice the number of inhabitants and three times 
 the amount of influence of any other. 
 
 Schools were maintained by what was called a country rate of forty 
 shillings upon the thousand pounds, and all deficiencies made up by 
 parents and guardians. The schools were distributed over the town, and 
 kept a longer or shorter period, according to the list of each society. In 
 1745 the appointment was as follows: 
 
 School at the Landing Place to be kept, - 3 months and 17 days. 
 
 " two in the Town Plot, one at each end, 5 J months each. 
 
 " at Plain Hills, - - - - 2 months 19 days. 
 
 " Waweekus Hill, - - - 1 " 16 " 
 
 " Great Plain, - - - - 2 " 18 " 
 
 " Wequanuk, - - - - 2 " 15 " 
 
 " on Windham road, - - - 2 " U " 
 
 If any of these schools should be kept by a woman, the time was to be 
 doubled, as the pay of the mistress was but half that to the master. 
 
 * Now the residence of Mr. Samuel Case. 
 
276 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 The following is a sample of simplicity and disinterestedness in making 
 out a bill : 
 
 " Dec. 16 day 1745. The town is Dr. to me Jacob Hide for 208 feet of 2 inch plank 
 improved to make and mend bridges by order of the surveyor of highways. The price 
 of said 208 feet of plank I think must be about 30s. more or less as the town thinks 
 fit." 
 
 Voted, that the selectmen pay Jacob Hide what is just. 
 
 In 1746 Mr. Benedict Arnold was chosen grand-juryman, but refused 
 to serve. 
 
 The town declared that if any one hereafter refuse to serve on the grand 
 jury, he shall pay a fine. 
 
 Town offices in general were not considered very desirable, but those of 
 juror and rate-collector were the only ones so obnoxious as to render fines 
 and compulsion necessary in order to obtain the service. 
 
 Law books and other publications for which the town were subscribers, 
 were generally distributed among the several societies according to their 
 respective lists. Election sermons were also subject to a town order. 
 
 1702. Voted that the Law books belonging to the town shall be sold at 18d. apiece. 
 
 1726. Voted that every Society Clerk shall have a law book and the rest with the 
 Sermon books, sold and the money put into the town treasury. 
 
 17.51 . Eleven law books in possession of the town are ordered to be sold at £5 10s. 
 per book, 0. T : 4 to First Society, 2 to West Society, the same to East Society and 
 Newent, and one to New Concord. 
 
 17 Dec. 1764. Whereas, there are a number of books called the Saybrook Platform 
 now in the town treasury to be disppsed of for the town's use, and also a number of 
 Election Sei-mons, this town do now order the selectmen to distribute said books to, 
 and among the several societies in this town, in proportion to the list of said societies. 
 
 In 1751 the selectmen were empowered to prosecute with vigor all who 
 should sell or convey laud to strangers, and all sales of this kind were 
 declared null and void. Orders were given likewise that no strangers 
 should remain in the town without the public consent, and this consent 
 seems to have been very cautiously dispensed. Applications were fre- 
 quently made for permission to stay in town for a limited time, but this 
 was seldom granted without some condition annexed ; such as, if he then 
 remove,— if he behave himself,— if he do not become chargeable. These 
 votes stretch down to 1769. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 277 
 
 1752. A committee was appointed to treat with the Rev. Benjamin 
 Lord relating to his resigning to the town his right of improvement of the 
 parsonage lands purchased of Mr. Giffords. 
 
 This parsonage land comprised the original home-lot and pasturage of 
 the proprietor, Stephen GiiFord. A portion of it, bordering the north-east 
 side of the Green, was now in request for building purposes. Mr. Lord 
 rehnquished his right, and the land was divided into lots, several of which 
 were rented upon long leases, and in the course of a few years occupied 
 with houses. 
 
 This parsonage land having been sequestered for the ministry when the 
 whole town was but one parish, was the cause of some uneasiness and lit- 
 igation when other societies were formed ; these societies claiming a por- 
 tion of the use and rental. 
 
 1754. "At present the township of Norwich pays the highest tax of any township 
 in the colony."* 
 
 A few examples of cases of trespass brought before justices of the peace 
 for adjudication, will illustrate the condition of society in the first half of 
 the 18th century. 
 
 The penalties at this time were : 
 
 For drunkenness, a fine, (5s. to 10*.,) or to sit in the stocks a couple of 
 hours. 
 
 Not attending public worship when there was no necessary detention, 5s. 
 
 Profane swearing, 10s. 
 
 Sabbath-breaking, by labor or vain recreation, making disturbance, or 
 laughing during the service in the House of God, os. 
 
 Assault and battery, or abusive words, blows and injuries, — fines or 
 imprisonment, at discretion of the justice. 
 
 Incontinence, births out of wedlock, or too soon after marriage, £10. 
 
 These and actions of debt were cases which a justice's court was con- 
 sidered competent to decide, but appeals were allowed to a higher tri- 
 bunal. 
 
 If a judgment may be formed from the number of cases and the appa- 
 rent respectability of some of the delinquents, drunkenness was increas- 
 ing rapidly in the land. Another species of criminality, so prevalent as 
 to excite surprise, was perhaps the natural result of an intercourse too 
 little restrained between the young people of different sexes. 
 
 No justice in the county was more popular than Richard Bushnell. 
 Cases were brought before him from Windham, Plainfield, Canterbury, 
 Ejllingly, Preston, North Groton, and North Stonington. 
 
 Chapter on Connecticut, in Douglass' Summary, printed at Boston in 1754. 
 
278 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 "3rd of June 1708. Joseph Bushnell of Norwich complained against himself to me 
 Richard Bushnell, Justice of the Peace, for y' he had killed a Buck contrary to law. 
 I sentenced him to pay a fine of lOs. one half to y° county treasury and one half to 
 complainant." 
 
 "March 26 1718. Mrs. Sarah Knight, Sa;muel Bliss, Joseph Post, Theophilus Abell 
 and his wife and y" wife of William Hide were brought before me R. B. justice of y' 
 peace upon y° presentment of y' Grand Jurors of our Sovereign Lord y° king for sell- 
 ing strong drink to the Indians last Saturday. 
 
 "Mrs. Knight accused her maid, Ann Clark, of selling the liquor. Refusing to 
 acquit themselves by oath they were each sentenced to pay a fine of 20s. to the County 
 Treasury." 
 
 "July 20, 1720. Samuel Sabiu appeareth before me E. B. Justice of the Peace, 
 and complaineth against himself that the last Sabbath at night, he and John Olmsby 
 went on to Wawwecoas Hill, to visit their relations, and were late home, did no harm, 
 and fears it may be a transgression of y" law and if it be is very sorry for it and dont 
 allow himself in unseasonable night -walking." 
 
 " An inferior Court held at Norwich y" 19. Sept. 1720. Present R. Bushnell Justice 
 of y" Peace. Samuel Fox juror pr. complaint, Lettis Minor and Hannah Minor Pts. 
 for illegally and feloniously about y° 6 of Sepf inst. taking about 30 water-miUons 
 which is contrary to Law and is to his damage he saith y' sum of 20s. and prays for 
 justice. This Court having considered y' evidence dont find matter of fact proved, do 
 therefore acquit the Dts. and order y' Ptf. pay the charge of Presentment." 
 
 "May 6, 1721. A complaint was entered by the constable against Samuel Law, 
 doctor, for profane swearing : he was fined 10s." 
 
 The same year, Henry Holland of Plainfield was proved guilty of a 
 like offence, and adjudged to pay the fine and cost. Not long afterward, 
 Holland was bound over to appear at the next county court, and answer 
 for breaking the peace and the law, by saying "in a tumultuous violent 
 threatening manner, yt he would take the head of Jona'n Tracy off his 
 shoulders." 
 
 "1722, Nov. 16. Complaint made by Mr. Isaac Wheeler of Stonington against 
 William Holdridge of Stonington, for an assault with sword, at the house of said Hol- 
 dridgo in Stonington : he was bound to appear at the County Court, giving £20 secu- 
 rity." 
 
 An Indian being found drunk, was brought before Mr. Justice Bushnell, 
 and sentenced aeeording to the statute, namely, to pay a fine of ten shil- 
 lings, or receive ten lashes on his naked body. The Indian immediately 
 accuses Samuel Bliss of selling him that afternoon that which made him 
 drunk, to wit, two pots of cider. The fine for selling cider or ardent 
 spirits to an Indian was twenty shillings, one-half to go to the complain- 
 ant. The Indian thus obtained just the sum requisite to pay his own 
 mulct, and set his body clear. The record of this affair is as follows: 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 279 
 
 "Feb. ye 7 — 1722-3. Apenanucsnck being drunk was brougbt before me R. Bush- 
 nell, Justice of ye peace. I do sentence ye sd Apeonuchsuck for his transgression of 
 ye law to pay a fine of 10s. or to be whipt ten Lashes on y' naked bedy, and to pay y" 
 cost of his prosecution, and to continue in y' constable's custody till this sentence be 
 performed. 
 
 " Cost allowed is 6s 6. 
 
 "John Waterman promises to pay 6s 4. 
 
 " Apeanuchsuck accused Samuel Bliss y' he sold him 2 pots of cider this afternoon. 
 Mr. Samuel Bliss appeai-ed before me and confessed he let sd Indian have some cider 
 and I do therefore sentence sd Bliss to pay y° fine of 20s. for ye transgression of y' 
 law one half to y° town and one half to complainant. 
 
 R. BusHNELL, Justice." 
 
 Isaac Huntington, Esq., was another noted justice, some of whose min- 
 utes have been preserved.* A few cases will be given in an abridged 
 form. 
 
 In 1738 a charge was brought against Thomas Avery, Ebenezer Bald- 
 win, Abiall Marshall, and David Bingham, single men and boarders or 
 sojourners in the town, that they "did convean and meet in company with 
 sundry others att ye house of William Waterman ye 4th day of June last, 
 it being Sabboth evening." 
 
 No complaint was made of any disturbance or impropriety of conduct ; 
 it was the bare fact of a social meeting on Sunday evening, which was 
 presented as contrary to law.f 
 
 Ebenezer Baldwin pleaded Not guilty, and replied to the charge as 
 follows : 
 
 " True it is we did convean with the company and att ye time and place sett forth in 
 ye Complaint, but he saith, he is not guilty for these reasons, first, he is not a single 
 person, as having an apprentice by indenture, 2dly, he is not a hoarder, having ye care 
 of a family, 3dly, he is not a sojourner as living in ye place where he was born and 
 bred." 
 
 The Court is of opinion he is guilty, and fines him os. and costs. Appeal granted to 
 be heard in ye County Court. 
 
 July 12. John Downer and Solomon Hambleton for profaning the Sabbath day by 
 oystering, fined 5s. and costs. 
 
 2d day of November, 1738. Present Isaac Huntington Justice of Peace. 
 
 Mai-y Lefiingwell daughter of Daniell LeflSngwell of Norwich, single woman, was 
 brought before this Court to answer the complaint of one of ye grand jurors of our 
 Lord the king who upon oath presents that ye said Mary Leffingwell on ye 24th day of 
 September last, it being Saboth or Lord's day (and not being necessarily detained) did 
 not duly attend ye publick worship of God on the said 24th day in any congregation 
 by law allowed' as by the presentment dated October 7th 1738 and the writt dated Oct 
 30. 1738 on file may appear. 
 
 * Original in Otis Library. 
 
 t In County Court, 1715, Paul Davenport of Canterbury appeared and acknowledged 
 himself guilty of a breach of the law by riding from Providence to Canterbury on the 
 Sabbath day, and paid the fine of 203. 
 
280 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The said Mary pleaded not Guilty. Butt not being able to prove to the satisfactioa 
 of this Court that she was necessarily detained ; nor that she did attend the said wor- 
 ship, this Court is of opinion that she is guilty in manner and form. 
 
 And it is therefore considered the said Mary Leffingwell pay as a fine to ye treasury 
 of ye town of Norwich the sum of five shillings and cost of suit. Taxed £0.10.8. 
 Judgment satisiied. 
 
 In 1740, Mr. Huntington's record shows that a person was fined 20s. for 
 playing cards, and another 5s. for laughing in meeting. 
 
 In 17.'JG, three sons of Capt. John Fillmore, Jr., viz., Nathaniel, Com- 
 fort, and Amaziah, were brought before ]Mr. Justice Huntington, charged 
 with driving the rate-collector from their father's house, armed with clubs 
 and making use of threats and abusive language. Being minors, they 
 were released without penalty, but the record intimates that their father 
 was implicated in the misconduct of his sons. The family were probably 
 Separatists, and refused to pay rates for the support of the regular min- 
 istry. 
 
 These lads were between thirteen and seventeen years of age. Na- 
 thaniel, the oldest, was subsequently a soldier in the French war, and 
 also in the war of the Revolution. He settled at Bennington, Yt., and 
 was grandfather of Millard Fillmore, thirteenth President of the United 
 States. 
 
 To show that this rigid supervision of the public morals continued until 
 a late period, a few minutes of cases of trespass will be given from MS. 
 papers of Richard Hide, Esq., Justice of the Peace, between the years 
 1760 and 1780. 
 
 A man presented for profane swearing, having been heard to say at the public house 
 — damn me. Sentenced to pay the -fine of 6s. and the costs, 6s. 3d. 
 
 Another for a similar offence, the culprit using the words Go to the Devil. Fine 6s., 
 costs 8s. lOd. 
 
 A breach of peace by tumultuous behavior, — fine 10s., costs 18s. 8d. 
 
 1771. A young woman presented for laughing, in a meeting for public worship, at 
 Mr. Grover's, Sabbath evening — two females for witnesses — culprit dismissed with » 
 reprimand. 
 
 1774. Eben' Waterman Jr. presented by a grand juror, for profaning the Sabbath 
 in the gallery of the meeting-house in West Society, by talking in the time of divine 
 service in a merry manner, to make sport. Plead guilty — fine 10s. 
 
 " To Kirliard Hide, Esq., of Norwich, one of his majesty's Justices of the Peace for 
 the county of New London, comes Ezra Huntington of said Norwich, one of the grand 
 jurors of said county, and on oath informs and presents, that Asa Fuller, apprentice to 
 said Ezra Huntington, and Ede Trap, son to Thomas Trap, and Lemuel Wentworth, 
 son to James Wentworth, and Hannah Eorsey, and Elizabeth Winship, a minor, and 
 daughter of the widow Winship, all of Norwich aforesaid, did, in Norwich aforesaidr 
 on the evening following the 27th day of May last, it being Sabbath or Lord's Day 
 
HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 281 
 
 evening, meet and convene together, and walk in the street in company, upon no relig- 
 ious occasion, all which is contrary to the statute of this colony in such case made and 
 provided. 
 
 For evidence take Peter Latham and Unice Manning. 
 
 Dated in Norwich, this 11th day of June, 1770." 
 
 Five endorsements are made on the back of this presentment — one for 
 each of the offenders — of the following import : 
 
 "June 13, 1770. Then personally appeared Hannah Forsey, and confessed guilty 
 of the matter within, and sentenced to pay 3s. to the Treasury of the Town and Is. 
 cost. — Before Richard Hide, Justice of Peace. — Judgment satisfied." 
 
 Number of persons admitted as freemen of Norwich, from 1764 to 1777 
 inclusive, of the following family names : 
 
 Abell, 12. Huntington, 22. Perkins, 11. 
 
 Backus, 10. Hyde, 22. Smith, 11. 
 
 Bushnell, 10. Lathi-op, 24. Tracy, 25. 
 
 Edgerton, 10. Leffingwell, 8. Waterman, 14. 
 
 tion 
 
 Other names of early proprietors had not increased in similar propor- 
 
 Adgate, 1. 
 
 Elderkin, 1. 
 
 Mason, 1. 
 
 Baldwin, 4. 
 
 Fitch, 6. 
 
 Post, 3. 
 
 Bingham, 3. 
 
 Gager, 5. 
 
 Eeed, 5. 
 
 Birchard, 2. 
 
 Gifford, 1. 
 
 Keynolds, 1 
 
 Bliss, 3. 
 
 Griswold, 2. 
 
 Eudd, 6. 
 
 Calkins, 4. 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XVni. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Affaiks. Ministers Woodwaed and Lord. 
 
 In 1708, the town was presented with a bell by Capt. Ren6 Grignon, a 
 French Protestant who had recently established himself in the place. 
 This is supposed to have been a Huguenot bell, brought from France by 
 a band of French exiles, who purchased lands at Oxford, Mass., and 
 began a settlement, which the hostile visits of the Indians obhged them 
 soon to abandon. Capt. Grignon was one of this dispersed company, and 
 the bell had doubtless resounded on the shores of France and amid the 
 woods of Oxford, before it came to Norwich. 
 
 A vote of thanks was tendered to the generous captain, and the bell 
 was ordered " to be hung in the hiU between the ends of the town," and to 
 be rung on the Sabbath and " on all public days and at nine o'clock in the 
 evening, as is customary in other places where there are bells." 
 
 The phrase, "m the hill," is a doubtful one, but according to tradition 
 the Grignon bell was suspended from a scaffolding erected upon the ridge 
 of the hill west of the meeting-house, near the path by which foot-people 
 from the upper part of the to^vn came across lots to meeting. Here it 
 remained for many years unconnected with the church, and midway be- 
 tween the east and west ends of the town-plot. The position was grand 
 and imposing. The bell dominated from its lofty site over the wide land- 
 scape from Yantic and Plain Hill to "V\''aweekus HiU at the Landing. 
 
 Capt. Grignon was admitted to the privileges of an inhabitant in 1710, 
 but enjoyed them only for five years before he was removed by death. 
 The town lost in him a liberal and esteemed citizen. His wife preceded 
 him to the grave, and he left no children.* 
 
 Deo. G, 1709, a vote was passed to build a new meeting-house, the di- 
 mensions not to exceed 55 feet by 45, to be modeled by a committee of 
 the church, and completed by IMarch 1, 1712. 
 
 But now a long and vehement dispute arose with respect to its location. 
 One party was for having it stand upon the site of the old one upon the 
 hill ; the other, on the plain. Both sides were exceedingly violent and 
 
 * See note at the end of the chapter. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 283 
 
 obstinate, and for two or three years the whole town was absorbed by the 
 question. At length they agreed to submit it to three impartial gentlemen 
 of Lebanon. Capt. William Clark, Mr. William Halsey, and Mr. Samuel 
 Huntington were designated as umpires. These persons came to Nor- 
 wich, examined the premises with care, heard all that either party had to 
 allege, and after due deliberation recommended that it should be built on 
 the plain. 
 
 The frame was accordingly prepared upon the plain, but the community 
 was not satisfied, and the town refused to concur. Another meeting was 
 called, at which only twenty-eight persons voted, but of these, twenty- 
 seven were for setting the house upon the hill, and this party prevailed.* 
 
 The new building stood near the site of the old one, and was completed 
 for service in December, 1713. A vote was then passed to sell the old 
 edifice, which had lasted forty years. 
 
 John Elderkin, 2d, son of the old church builder, was the architect of 
 this new building. After its completion he presented his petition, stating 
 that he had suffered considerable loss by his agreement, and praying "the 
 worthy gentlemen of the town to make some retaliation." He was accord- 
 ingly relieved by a grant of fifty acres of land. 
 
 The expense of this edifice was mainly defrayed by sales of land. A 
 meeting-house committee was in the first place appointed, who oifered 
 land in lieu of money to be advanced for the work. Capt. Grignon, 
 among others, advanced small sums at several different times, and re- 
 ceived in return portions of land. 
 
 One of the fixtures of this meeting-house was an hour-glass, placed in 
 a frame and made fast to the pulpit ; [cost 2s. 8d.'] This hour-glass, in 
 1729, was placed under the particular charge of Capt. Joseph Tracy, who 
 was requested to see that it was duly turned when it ran out in service 
 time, and that the time was kept between meetings ; the bellman being 
 charged to attend his orders herein. 
 
 Nothing has been found on record that furnishes any hint respecting 
 the architecture of this church. It was probably crowned with a steeple 
 and belfry, but it is doubtful whether the Grignon bell was ever removed 
 to it. 
 
 Among the worshipers in this sanctuary was Mrs. Sarah Knight, a 
 trades-woman from Boston, who resided for a few years in Norwich, and 
 has been identified as the Mrs. Knight whose Diary of a Journey from 
 
 * The place finally decided upon, and the actual building of the house, are not stated 
 in the records ; and the fact that the frame-work was prepared and set up on the plain, 
 led the author, in the first edition of this work, to adopt the opinion that this third 
 meeting-house was'built upon the plain. But further investigation and the uniform 
 testimony of tradition, which show that the hill-top was crowned with a church, where 
 the congregation gathered for worship till 1760, or later, have led to a reverse conclu- 
 sion. 
 
284 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 Boston to New York, made on horseback in 1704, was preserved in man- 
 uscript and first published in 1825. 
 
 The following extract is from the town record, Aug. 12, 1717 : 
 
 " The town grants liberty to Mrs. Sarah Knight to sitt in the pue where she use to 
 sit in ye meeting house." 
 
 This evidently refers to a previous residence in the place. According 
 to tradition, she presented to the church a handsome silver goblet to be 
 used in their communion service. 
 
 Colonel John Livingston of New London, who married Elizabeth, the 
 daughter and only child of Mrs. Knight, died in England, but the inven- 
 tory of his personal effects was taken at the house of Mrs. Sarah Knight, 
 in Norwich, March 10, 1721. She removed afterward with her daughter 
 to the Livingston farm in the Mohegan territory, where she died in 1727, 
 and was buried in the old cemetery at New London.* 
 
 The old meeting-house was sold to Nathaniel Eudd for £12.5.6; but 
 the purchaser afterward representing to the town that he was "sick of his 
 bargain," the price was considerably reduced.f The inhabitants of the 
 West Farms were at that time looking forward to a separate ecclesiastical 
 organization, and the relinquished edifice was designed by Mr. Eudd for 
 their use. The frame was doubtless left behind, but the old pews, pulpit, 
 galleries, &c., afterward performed a second period of service on a com- 
 manding height in the present town of Franklin. 
 
 Ecclesiastical dissensions began to agitate the town immediately after 
 the promulgation of the Saybrook Platform in 1708. The Norwich 
 Church was of the independent Congregational order, firmly planted upon 
 the Cambridge Platform, and jealous of extraneous influences, whether 
 civil or ecclesiastical. The members claimed the right of ordering church 
 affairs in their own way, and denied the jurisdiction of magistrates and 
 presbyteries. 
 
 The Saybrook Platform — a body of rules for the regulation of churches 
 — was drawn up and adopted by a council of delegates from various 
 churches- in Connecticut, at Saybrook, where this instrument was signed, 
 Sept. 9, 1708. The delegates were sixteen in number, twelve ministers 
 and four laymen. It was confirmed by the General Court in October of 
 the same year, and established as a law of the colony. No churches were 
 acknowledged by law, as churches, that did not subscribe to this platform. 
 
 But the Legislature added a proviso to the law, allowing churches and 
 
 * Five (loods, to " Sarah Knight, widow and shop keeper," or to " Mistress Sarah 
 Knight, shop-keeper," are recorded at Norwich from 1716 to 1718. In the inventory 
 of her estate, her property in Norwich was valued at .£210. She had made large pur- 
 chases of Indian land in partnership with Joseph Bradford. 
 
 t The accounts of the West Farms parish show that they gave for it £5 10s. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 285 
 
 societies that dissented, to exercise worship and discipline in their own 
 waj, according to their consciences. 
 
 Mr. Woodward had been one of the delegates, and Secretary of the 
 Synod. He was a warm advocate of the Platform, and strenuous for its 
 adoption by the church of which he was pastor. It is said that when he 
 received the act of the Legislature, accepting and establishing the Plat- 
 form as the ecclesiastical constitution of the colony, he read off the first 
 clause of it to his congregation, but withheld that part of it which allowed 
 dissenters to regulate their worship in their own way ; whereupon the rep- 
 resentatives of the town, Richard Bushnell and Joseph Backus, rose in 
 their seats and laid the whole act before the people. 
 
 Mr. "Woodward appears at this time to have been sustained by a ma- 
 jority of the church, but the rent that had been made widening daily, the 
 two members mentioned above and many others withdrew from the con- 
 gregation and held meetings on the Sabbath by themselves. At the next 
 session of the Legislature, the two representatives from Norwich were 
 called upon to answer for the course they had taken, and expelled from 
 the house with a vote of censure. 
 
 Mr. Woodward made no entry upon the records respecting the dissen- 
 sions that disturbed the community. The registry of baptisms and ad- 
 missions to the church is all that appears under his hand after 1709. The 
 town records are also chary in their allusions to this overshadowing trouble, 
 merely giving results, or referring to papers kept on file, which have not 
 come down to us. 
 
 The difficulties between minister and people were increased by repeated 
 complaints on his part of the insufiiciency of his salary. In 1711, he 
 stated that his family expenses had one year risen to seven-score pounds, 
 and the previous year to six-score. The town, however, voted that they 
 " did not see fit to add to their burdens," and granted only the stipulated 
 sum of £70. Winter wheat was at this time six shillings per bushel, and 
 Indian com half that price. But to every apphcation of Mr. Woodward 
 from year to year for an increase of salary, the town gave a steady neg- 
 ative. 
 
 March 11, 1713-4. A writing was received from Mr. Woodward and twice read 
 and considered. After which the question was put, " Whether it was their mind 
 soberly to dissent from the new Platform of Church discipline ; " — the rote passed in 
 the affirmative. 
 
 Not. 16, 1714. This town grants liberty to those that are dissatisfied with the Rev. 
 Mr. Woodward's management in the work of the ministry to call another minister to 
 preach to them, at their own charge until the difficulties they labor under are removed. 
 
 A protest against this vote was signed by seventeen persons, — Hunting- 
 tons, Lothrops, Tracys, Watermans, and others, — good names and true. 
 
286 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 They were now upon the verge of disunion. Several councils were held, 
 one succeeding another, but the waves of discord rolled too high to be 
 sonthed by such expedients. Mr. Saltonstall, then Governor of the col- 
 ony, and a strenuous advocate of the new platform, visited them and used 
 his influence to restore harmony of opinion, but no reconciliation or com- 
 promise could be effected. 
 
 Mr. Josf'ph Backus, who was one of the leaders of the party opposed 
 to jMr. Woodward, went to Ipswich to consult with the minister of that 
 place, Mr. John Wise, a noted opponent of ecclesiastical platforms, and 
 to Boston, where he visited Dr. Increase Mather, whose opinions in regard 
 to church independency were of a similar stamp. He came back, con- 
 iirmed in determination not to yield the point. 
 
 5 Oct. 1715. "The inhabitants reflecting with great grief and sorrow on ye divis- 
 ions and contentions that is yet continuing and increasing in this town, respecting the 
 management of ecclesiastical affairs and no likelihood of a good agreement to go on 
 together, agree to address ye General Assembly for liberty to be two societies. 
 
 Voted by a full vote." 
 
 Before the above vote was acted upon. Gov. Saltonstall recommended 
 the calling of a council to dismiss Mr. Woodward, as a measure that 
 might possibly prevent an actual rupture of the church. This proposition 
 being laid before the town, resulted in a vote of 44 in his favor against 25 
 opposers.* 
 
 A council consisting of a select number of the most respectable minis- 
 ters of New England was accordingly convened. Mr. Stoddard of North- 
 ampton was appointed moderator. After long deliberation, the council 
 recommended a dissolution of the connection with Mr. Woodward, and he 
 was accordingly dismissed, Sept. 13, 1716. 
 
 The difficulties with Mr. Woodward, and his ultimate dismission, excited 
 a deep interest in the churches of the country. A disruption of the ties 
 between pastor and parish was then an uncommon event, and not easy to 
 be brought about. The state, as well as the church, ecclesiastical coun- 
 cils, minister and people, must all consent to the cancehng of the sacred 
 bond. 
 
 Mr. Woodward and the town parted very ungraciously ; he, demanding 
 arrearages of salary, and they, contending that he had been overpaid his 
 just dues. Each party afterward instituted legal proceedings against the 
 other for debt or damage, and the accounts were not settled till 1721, 
 when Mr. Woodward recovered judgment against the town, and had his 
 just claims satisfied. 
 
 * This was called a paper vote. Those for dismission wrote something on theit 
 papers ; the others brought in clean paper. Capt. Robert Denison was active at this 
 meeting, and assisted the clerk in counting the votes. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 287 
 
 Mr. Woodward was a native of Dedham, Mass. After settling in Nor- 
 wich, ke married in 1703, Sarah Eosewell, and when he left the place in 
 1716, had a family of six children — four daughters and two sons, Eose- 
 well and John. He was never settled again, but lived on a farm in East 
 Haven, where he died in 1746. 
 
 The dismission of Mr. Woodward did not calm the excited minds of the 
 people. To the act itself there was strong opposition, — a protest against 
 it, signed by thirty-four persons, having been presented to the council. 
 The protesters, however, were mostly farmers upon the outlands, not 
 inhabitants of the town-plot. 
 
 On the 19 th of September, only a few days after the act of dismission, 
 the town voted to invite Mr. Willard to preach for them as a candidate. 
 This was probably Mr. Joseph Willard, who graduated at Yale College in 
 1714. He is not again mentioned in the records, and it may be inferred 
 that the invitation was not accepted. The excitement in the church con- 
 tinued, and a rupture seemed inevitable. 
 
 Fortunately, Providence had provided a peace-maier who was ready to 
 step forward and in the temper and spirit of the gospel allay the disturb- 
 ances of the church and bring the members together again as one body. 
 A town vote of Dec. 6, 1716, was the precursor of this better state of 
 affairs. 
 
 " Voted to call Mr. Benjamin Lord on tryal." 
 
 Mr. Lord was a native of Saybrook, and then about twenty-four years 
 of age. He graduated at Tale two years before, and was now just enter- 
 ing into the ministry. He came immediately to Norwich, and made him- 
 self acceptable to all parties. In June, the next year, he was invited by 
 a unanimous vote of the church to become their minister, with the offer 
 of £100 per annum for salary, with the use of the parsonage lands, and 
 wood sufficient for his use, to be dropped at his door, — " provided he set- 
 tle himself without charge to the town." 
 
 He was ordained Nov. 20, 1717; both parties uniting in their esteem 
 for him, so that he was accustomed to say he could never tell which was 
 most friendly to him. At his ordination the church explicitly renounced 
 the Saybrook Platform as their code of faith. 
 
 The following members of Mr. Fitch's church were still alive : 
 
 William Backus, Solomon Tracy, Joseph Reynolds, 
 
 Stephen GifiFord, Samuel Lothrop, Chr. Huntington, 
 
 Th. Leffingwell, Joseph Lothrop, Simon Huntington, 
 
 Joseph Bushnell, John Elderkin, Samuel Griswold, 
 
 Bichard Bushnell, Esq. Caleb Abell, Kathaniel Backus. 
 Josiah Beed, 
 
 These, and fifteen others received into the church by Mr. Woodward, 
 composed at this time the male members of the church. 
 
288 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Mr. Lord merited the praise accorded to him, of being "a Eepairer of 
 breaches and a Restorer of paths to dwell in." For twenty-seven years 
 after his settlement, the pastor, church and congregation acted harmo- 
 niously together, like brethren in unity. " So that [using his own words] 
 from a Massah and a M(;ribah, a place of Temptation and Strife, this in 
 a good measure became a Salem, a place of Peace." 
 
 April 30, 1767. Voted to maintain the ministry not by a rate but by contributions 
 to be taken up by the deacons on the first sabbath of every month. 
 
 The two deacons of Mr. Fitch's church were Thomas Adgate and Hugh 
 Calkins. The latter becoming aged, Simon Huntington appears to have 
 been associated with them, probably about 1680. After this the deacons 
 are presented in pairs, — a- younger pair being chosen for assistants as the 
 elders advance into the vale of years. 
 
 Simon Huntington, the son of Deacon Simon, and Christopher, the son 
 of the proprietor Christopher, constituted the second generation of dea- 
 cons. In 1718, Thomas Adgate, 2d, and Thomas Leffingwell, were cho- 
 sen assistant deacons. ]Mr. Leffingwell died in 1724, Christopher Hunt- 
 ington in 1735, and Simon in 1736, leaving only Deacon Adgate in office. 
 
 On the 18th of January, 1737, a fourth set came into office, viz., Hez- 
 ekiah, son to the late Dea. Christopher Huntington, and Ebenezer, son to 
 the late Dea. Simon Huntington. 
 
 No other deacons were appointed until 1764, when Simon Huntington, 
 son of Deacon Ebenezer, and Simon Tracy. Esq., were chosen and intro- 
 duced into office, with great solemnity. Hands were imposed, and Dr. 
 Lord preached on the occasion from 2 Tim. 3 : 8-10. [Aug. 31.] 
 
 The venerable Deacon Adgate, born in the eighth year of the settle- 
 ment, lived to be ninety-two years of age. His existence nearly covers 
 the whole space from the settlement to the Revolution. 
 
 Note. — Rene Grignon. 
 
 Capt. Grignon was one of the company of protestant exiles, or Huguenots, that settled 
 in the town of Oxford, Mass., about the year 1686. That settlement having been broken 
 up by the Indians in 1696, the exiles wore dispei-sed into various parts of New England. 
 Capt. Grignon came to Norwich, first as master of a trading vessel, but he afterward 
 settled in the town as a goldsmitli, and was received to the privileges of a regular 
 inhabitant in 1710. 
 
 His will is dated Jlarch 20, and proved April 12, 1715. He appointed Richard 
 BushncU executor, and bequeathed to him his "silver-hilted sword, double-barrel gun, 
 and case of pistols." After small legacies to Daniel Deshon, James Barret, and "Jane 
 Jenrson, alias Normandy," ho gives the remainder of his estate "to ray dear and well- 
 belovod friend Mary Ureune." These persons were all probably members of his fam- 
 ily. His wife had deceased a short time before him, and in the inventory of his estate 
 her apparel is estimated at £32. 
 
HISTOEY OP NORWICH, 289 
 
 His house, bam, and interest in mills was set down at £630. 
 A negro woman and her child, £40. 
 Horse, £25. Books, £23. 
 
 Many debts were however to be paid, and the residue was small. 
 This estimable French Captain and his wife were undoubtedly interred in the Hunt- 
 ington burial-ground, but no memorial points out the place. 
 
 Daniel Deshon, afterward a well-known citizen of New London, was a Huguenot 
 youth in the family of Ren6 Grignon, and is thus remembered in his will : 
 
 " I give to Daniel Deshon my goldsmith's tools, and desire that he may learn the 
 trade of some suitable person in Boston, and have ten pounds when he comes of age." 
 
 The youth was accordingly placed with John Gray, a goldsmith of Boston, with 
 whom he removed to New London, where Gray died in 1720. 
 
 To James Barret, an apprentice to Capt. Grignon, the will relinquishes the remain- 
 der of his time. 
 
 19 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Rogbbene Episode. Papee CtmEBNCT. 
 
 The Eogerenes, or followers of John Rogers, were a small religious 
 sect that originated in the vicinity of New London before the year 1700. 
 Their history does not belong to Norwich, and will be no further intro- 
 duced than is necessary to give a clear statement of certain events that 
 took place in the town on the 26th and 27th of July, 1725, — events of 
 minor importance in themselves, but of considerable notoriety at the time. 
 Both parties having made printed statements of the affair, we have the 
 aid, or rather the perplexity, of opposite lights in reviewing the scene. 
 
 The Eogerenes esteemed all days alike in regard to sanctity. To 
 destroy priestcraft and the idolatry of Sunday, were special objects of 
 their leader's mission, and his disciples, at several distinct periods of 
 enhanced zeal, devoted themselves to the same task. To produce any 
 eflfect, aggressive movements were necessary, and they made various 
 attempts to break up the worshiping assemblies of their neighbors. They 
 were accustomed, on the Sabbath, to separate into small bands, and go 
 through the country, entering the meeting-houses in time of divine service, 
 and by various noises and other provocations, interrupting the worship. 
 They made several visits to Dr. Lord's meeting-house, but that excellent 
 man always treated them with great lenity. John Rogers himself, the 
 founder of the sect, beset Dr. Lord one Sunday morning, as he came out 
 of the house, to go to meeting, and followed him thither, inveighing and 
 shouting against priestcraft, as was his usual custom. Just as the venera- 
 ble minister reached the porch of the meeting-house, and taking off his 
 hat displayed an august and graceful white wig, Rogers exclaimed in a 
 loud voice, "Benjamin ! Benjamin ! dost thou think that they wear white 
 wigs in heaven ! "* 
 
 After tlie death of their founder in 1721, there is no account of any 
 Rogerene visit to Norwich, till Sunday, July 26, 1725, when a party of 
 eight persons were arrested and committed to prison for traveling on the 
 
 * One of the Rogerene elders on horseback, passing through Norwich, saw a certain 
 deacon with whom he was acquainted, in a field, mowing. Dismounting and leaning 
 over the wall, he called aloud, "Deacon I will you stop mowing awhile, and argm^" 
 
HISTOBT OF NORWICH. 291 
 
 Sabbath. They were tried the next day. One of them was a woman, 
 Sarah Culver by name, called by them a singing sister. They stated that 
 they were on their way from Groton to Lebanon, to baptize a person, or 
 see him baptized by others, as circumstances should be. One of their 
 party, named Davis, they declared vested with apostolic commission and 
 authority to preach and baptize. Some of this sect had previously been 
 taken up in other parts of the county, and fined five shillings per head for 
 breaking the Sabbath, and they now traveled in defiance of the law and 
 its penalty, boasting that they could buy the idolaters' Sabbaths for five 
 shillings apiece. But on arriving at Norwich, they found, as Mr. Justice 
 Backus observed, that they had risen in price, for, being taken before the 
 said justice, they were sentenced to pay a fine of twenty shilhngs per 
 head, or to be whipped ten or fifteen lashes each. Not being able to pay 
 the fine, they were obliged to submit to the latter punishment. 
 
 According to tradition, sticks of prim were used, and one of the com- 
 pany had warm tar poured over his head and his hat put on in that state, 
 as a reprisal for his contumacy in refusing to take ofi" his hat in court. 
 These are legendary exaggerations. The accounts published at the time 
 say nothing of the tar, and they distinctly state that the strokes were 
 inflicted with a whip-cord.* 
 
 The party being released, proceeded to Lebanon, where the next Sab- 
 bath they were again arrested on a similar plea of desecrating the day, 
 but their fines were paid for them by some compassionate citizens. They 
 then challenged the ministers of Lebanon, Messrs. Piatt and Williams, to 
 a public debate, at which, says Mr. Backus, they were completely foiled. 
 
 The Hon. Joseph Jenks, deputy-governor of Rhode Island, took the 
 part of the despised Eogerenes, and issued a proclamation respecting the 
 arrest at Norwich, which he caused to be posted up in various parts of 
 his own State, in order, as he stated, that the people might see what was 
 to be expected from a Presbyterian government in case Connecticut should 
 succeed in the eflfbrts she was then making to obtain the jurisdiction over 
 Ehode Island and Providence Plantations. In this document the case is 
 briefly stated that a peaceable company of Eogerenes "were going on the 
 First Day of the Week to a religious meeting at Lebanon in order to bap- 
 tize, or see a person baptized and were all apprehended as malefactors 
 and unmercifully whipt." 
 
 * It has been a current tradition that prim hedges were once common in Norwich, but 
 that withs of prim being used to whip the Quakers, they began immediately to decay, 
 and it has since been difficult to make the plants flourish. We can not ascertain, how- 
 ever, that the Quakers were ever arrested and punished in Norwich, except in the 
 instance above related. Nor does it appear from any authentic source that a scene of 
 tarring and feathering, — that odious exhibition of popular indignation, — was ever en- 
 acted within the limits of the town, either against the despised Quakers of old, or the 
 defiant tones of the Bevolation. 
 
292 HISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 Joseph Backus, Esq., the justice that officiated on this occasion, issued a 
 reply to the proclamation, in pamphlet form. He states that the traveling 
 party timed their arrival in town so as to meet the people coming from 
 their morning worship ; that they called out loudly to some of them, and 
 when brought before a magistrate, acknowledged that they knew it to be 
 against the law to travel on that day, but that they did it in defiance of 
 the law. The stripes, he said, did not exceed ten, except in the case of 
 the most obstinate of them, viz., Davis, who received fifteen; that the 
 instrument was a single cord, without a knot in it ; and he adds : 
 
 " By their resolute choice they constrained me to order this punishment or disregard 
 the law." 
 
 " Moreover some of the people freely offered to some of them to pay their fine for 
 them. But they refused the kindness with disdain, and saying in such significativa 
 expressions that they would not take up a pin from the table, or give the dust of their 
 nails to be discharged, and would not miss of the stripes for a great sum." 
 
 John Rogers, son of the founder of the sect, and one of the suffering 
 party at Norwich, published a rejoinder to Mr. Backus. His statement 
 is, that they were passing through Norwich, along the country road, in an 
 orderly manner, and were onward the best part of a mile beyond the 
 meeting-house, when they were arrested and made prisoners by a consta- 
 ble and a rude set of young men, who offered great abuse to some of the 
 company. 
 
 He acknowledges that they traveled in defiance of the law, but it was a 
 law " set up by man to prevent people fi-om serving God according to their 
 consciences." The cord used, he says, was too large to admit of a knot; 
 the wounds it inflicted were terrible, and the marks would remain in the 
 bodies of the sufferers till the grave should hide them. 
 
 " The martyrs chose the flames as much as we chose the whip ; for neither they nor 
 we chose either the flames or the whip, but as we were compelled thereto by our cruel 
 persecutors." 
 
 In reference to their rejection of the proffered kindness of paying their 
 fine, he says : 
 
 " Some at Norwich talked of paying Ihe fine, but did not do it ; but at Lebanon, the 
 next week, under similar circumstances, they actually paid it."* 
 
 * The eight persons of this Rogerene party were John Rogers, John BoUes and Jo- 
 seph Bolles of New Loudon, John Culver, Andrew Davis, James Smith, John Water- 
 house and Sarah Culver from Groton. They were going to Lebanon at the request of 
 Mary Mann of that place, " who sent us word," said John Rogers, " that she desired 
 to be baptized by our Society." She was baptized after they arrived in Lebanon, and 
 a few days later they baptized Elisha Mann. On the 25th of August a public dispute 
 was held at Lebanon, between the Rev. Mr. Whiting and Josiah Gates, a Sabbatarian, 
 respecting the First-day Sabbath. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 293 
 
 Paper Cukkenct. 
 
 Mr. Lord's salary had been fixed at £100 per annum. In 1726 a 
 present was made Mm of £25, and the next year twelve contributions 
 were granted him, to be taken up on the first Sabbath of every month. 
 These gratuities were to compensate for the depreciation of the currency. 
 
 The first paper money, or Bills of credit, emitted in Connecticut, had 
 the date of July 12, 1709. The emissions were repeated in small parcels, 
 at intervals, afterwards. For many years no redundancy of the circulating 
 medium was apparent, and the depreciation of the bills was of course tri- 
 fling. The issues were generally employed to defray the expense of some 
 warlike expedition, and were both a convenience and an advantage to the 
 community. When the bills came back to the treasury in payment of 
 taxes, they were destroyed. 
 
 The greatest difficulty attending the issue of these bills, was the ease 
 with which they could be altered or counterfeited. In 1735, so large an 
 impression of counterfeit bills was in circulation, that the Assembly 
 ordered an issue with a new stamp, to the value of £25,000, to be ex- 
 changed for the old ones. 
 
 In 1740, on account of the war with Spain, bills were emitted to the 
 amount of £45,000, and several smaller sums afterward. These were 
 called Bills of the New Tenor ; all before this took the designation of Old 
 Tenor. 
 
 Until the emission of the New Tenor, the credit of the old bills was 
 tolerably supported. The depreciation now ran on with rapid strides, and 
 confusion in accounts, perplexity and want of confidence in the dealings of 
 man with man, suspension of activity and pecuniary distress were the con 
 sequences. The clashing of old and new tenor rendered the currency 
 mazy and uncertain. Prices were greatly enhanced, but fluctuating ; 
 impositions frequent, and speculation triumphed over honest industry. It 
 was a difficult thing to graduate price to value, with a currency so vague 
 and fluctuating. At this time a bill of twenty shillings would scarcely 
 balance an ounce of coined silver, though professing on the face of it to 
 be equal to three ounces, silver being reckoned at 6s. 8d. per ounce.* 
 
 * The exportation of sterling coin from Great Britain was prohibited by acts of Par. 
 liament, and this coin never became the common currency of New England. The 
 place was supplied by Spanish coinage. Accounts were kept in pounds, shillings, and 
 pence, but Spanish dollars, or pieces-of-eight, as they were then called, though only 
 four shillings and six pence sterling, were valued in the New England colonies at six 
 shillings. In 1683, the General Court of Connecticut ordered that all pieces-of-eight, 
 Mexico and pillar pieces, should pass at six shillings apiece. Pieces-of-eight were 
 identical with the Spanish milled dollar, and received their name from being of tlie 
 value of eight nails, or nine-penny-pieces. Most of the specie currency of New Eng- 
 land consisted of Spanish coins and the Massachusetts pine-tree money of three valua- 
 tions, shilling, six-pence, and three-pence. 
 
294 HISTORT OP NOBWICH. 
 
 In 1741, Mr. Lord had an allowance of £200 in addition to his nominal 
 salary. After 1746, the fixed rate of 0. T. currency was 45s. to a dollar 
 of N. T. 6s. — that is, seven and a half to one. 
 
 It may be interesting to note the prices of a few articles in the early 
 part of the century, when trade was carried on by barter, by specie, and 
 occasionally paper money, but before the latter had lost any of its nominal 
 value. 
 
 Wheat, 5s. per bushel. Cheese, id. per lb. 
 
 Rye, 3s. " Tallow, 5d. 
 
 Indian corn, 3s. " Sugar, 6d. and 6d. 
 
 Oate, Is. 6d. " Molasses, 2s. 4d. per gallon. 
 
 Turnips, Is. " Quire of paper, 2s. 
 
 Milk, lid. per quart. Pane of glass, 2s. 3d. 
 
 Wool, Is. id. per lb. Pair of shoes, .5s. and 5s. 6d. 
 
 Beef, 2d. per lb. Day's work of laborer, 2s. and 3s. 
 
 Pork, 3d. and S^d. Day's work with a team, 6s. 
 
 Butter, 6d. Town Clerk's salary, £1 10s. 
 
 A bowl of toddy, 6d. A bell-rope, 3s. 
 
 A meal of victuals at a tavern, 6d. or 8d. 
 
 A barber's charge for once shaving, 2d. — a year's shaving, £1 . 
 
 "A fals tail," (copied from a barber's actount,) 3s. 
 
 The fluctuation of the currency is strikingly displayed in the varying 
 expenditure of the town. 
 
 In 1736 the town expenses were £84, of which one item was a charge 
 of Dr. Perkins for attendance on the poor, £24 Is. Yet the next year, 
 the whole amount of expenditure, including the doctor's bill, amounted to 
 only £14. 
 
 In 1738 the hitherto unexampled sum of £105 was expended by the 
 town, but nearly half of it was consumed in prosecuting the law-suit with 
 Preston respecting boundaries, which was stiU left undecided. 
 
 Town expenses in 1744, £120. 
 
 In 1750, £187.17.9. 1751, £171.3. 
 
 In 1752, £751. A large proportion of this sum was for laying out 
 highways. 
 
 In 1753, £286. 1754, £351. 
 
 In 1755, £887. This included the sum paid for seventy pounds of 
 powder and twenty hundred-weight of lead to supply the town with 
 ammunition. 
 
 1756, £100. 1757, £51. 1758, £14. 1759, £22. 
 
 Down to 1730, the usual rate levied for town expenses was a half-penny 
 on the pound. In 1740, it was three farthings ; in 1752, four pence; in 
 1754, seven pence. In 1757, it went back to three farthings. 
 
 The burden of a depreciating currency falls unequally upon a commu- 
 nity. Clergymen, orphans, widows, charitable funds, all that depend on 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 295 
 
 annuities and salaries, suffer from the diminution of income. Trade and 
 all kinds of business depending on credit and extension, become confusfed 
 and restricted. Clergymen are peculiarly liable to suffer loss. If there 
 is a disposition to wrong them, they have few means of redress ; but it is 
 evident that in justice they ought not to be compelled to receive in pay- 
 ment of their salary, bills of credit beyond their current value. 
 
 In the case of Dr. Lord, equity prevailed, and an annual compensation 
 was for several years made to him in order to balance the low value of 
 money. In 1753, he received £850 as an equivalent for £100 lawful 
 money. The bellman's salary was then £40 per annum. 
 
 This uncertain currency was not confined to Connecticut. The other 
 New England colonies suffered in like manner. In Boston, besides the 
 Old and New Tenor currency, they had " Land Bank Money," a kind of 
 Old Tenor bill first issued in 1714, "Province bills," and "Last Emission" 
 paper. 
 
 The reimbursement granted the Colonies by Parliament for the capture 
 of Cape Breton, being paid in silver, was the happy occasion of bringing 
 back a silver medium. The colonial authorities called in their bills and 
 exchanged them for silver. In Massachusetts the reimbursement consisted 
 of 635,000 ounces of silver and ten tons of copper, which was received in 
 September, 1749.* This being the largest share, and Massachusetts the 
 earliest to be relieved from the incubus, it obtained for a time the enviable 
 designation of the Hard Money Colony. 
 
 In 1751, Parliament enacted a law prohibiting the American Colonies 
 from issuing BUls of Credit, except for the current expenses of govern- 
 ment, or in case of invasion by an enemy, and these were never to be 
 considered legal tender for debts. This prohibition, with the supply of 
 silver that had been received, soon put an end to the paper money system 
 which had so long perplexed and weakened the country. 
 
 The Connecticut bills disappeared by degrees. Several years elapsed 
 before they were all considered as redeemed. A small amount of interest- 
 bearing bills was issued in 1755, and occasionally afterward; but they 
 suffered no depreciation, and were soon redeemed. 
 
 In 1757, the currency was flowing once more in its old channel. Mr. 
 Lord's salary was reduced to £66 13s. 4id. lawful money, and twelve con- 
 tributions; the bellman's to £3 10s. 
 
 There were no more emissions of paper money in Connecticut until 
 January, 1775, when the Revolution resorted to bills of credit for its sup- 
 port, and the flood of Continental currency began to spread over the land. 
 
 * Great quantities of the old paper bills were burnt by a committee of the Legisla- 
 ture, and the plates destroyed. The reimbursement was in whole and half pistareens, 
 at the value of Hid. the pistareen. 
 
 Felf a Mass. Currency, p. 124. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Anihals. 
 
 In addition to droves of neat cattle and swine, and flocks of steep, the 
 inhabitants at one time turned their attention to the keeping of goats. 
 Herds of these troublesome animals roamed at large, until they became 
 an intolerable nuisance. No law of the colony then existed for their 
 restraint. Joseph Tracy, in 1722, having taken up a herd of fifty-four 
 goats trespassing upon his land, impounded them; whereupon their owner, 
 Joseph Backus, brought a suit against him before Mr. Justice Bushnell, 
 which was decided as follows : 
 
 " This Court having heard and considered the pleas on both sides in this action, and 
 also the law quoted to, and finding in the last paragraph in said law it is said, ' all neat 
 cattle and horses taken &c. shall pay 8d. per head, and swine lid. and sheep Id. per 
 head,' and nothing in said law concerning goats, this Court cannot find any thing al- 
 lowed in the law for impounding of goats, and therefore this Court consider that the 
 plaintiff shall recover of the defendant his cost of prosecution." 
 
 Nothing further appears upon record respecting goats, but the following 
 action of the town, which relates to an act of the Legislature, by which 
 goats had been made impoundable : 
 
 " At a General Court at Hartford May 15, 1725, the representatives of Norwich hav- 
 ing laid before this Court that the act respecting Goats, October last, is very grievous 
 to their town, this Court grants liberty to said town to except themselves out of said 
 act : — This town do now by their vote, except themselves out of said act." 
 
 The lands upon the Yantic, at the time of the settlement, were greatly 
 infested with wolves and foxes. Long after the settlement, bears or 
 wolves were occasionally seen, coming from the woods towards their old 
 haunts, and on finding themselves near the habitations of man, they have 
 rushed forward, terrified and causing terror, till they found a secure refuge 
 in the uncleared swamps that still in some places skirted the river. 
 
 In the curly stages of the settlement, therefore, the craft of the hunter, 
 the trapper and the sportsman was pursued from necessity instead of pas- 
 time. A wolf-hunt was not an uncommon winter sport until after 1700. 
 The report that howls had been heard, issuing from some lonely swamp 
 
HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 297 
 
 or thicket, or that a flock of sheep had been attacked, would soon bring 
 out an intrepid band of sportsmen, eager for adventure. 
 
 Depredations upon the fold and the barn-yard were often made, not 
 only by the animals named, but by another popularly called the Woolla- 
 neag,* or Sampson Fox ; the same animal that figured in the annals of 
 witchcraft under the name of the Black Cat. Naturalists call it the Fisher 
 or Pekan, \_Mustela Canadensis '\ It is still occasionally seen in the wilder 
 parts of New England. But these and all the smaller mischievous quad- 
 rupeds were in a few years either entirely driven away, or reduced so 
 greatly in number as to be seldom troublesome. Birds and snakes were 
 not so readily vanquished, and it was necessary to offer rewards and boun- 
 ties for their destruction. 
 
 A half-penny and at some periods a penny per head was granted for 
 each and every blackbird and crow killed, their heads to be exhibited by 
 the claimant to one of the townsmen ; and two pence apiece for all rattle- 
 snakes killed between the first of April and the fifteenth of May, the tail 
 and a joint of the bone to be received as evidence. The first fifteen days 
 of May was the season generally appropriated to hunting the rattlesnake, 
 and the people turned out for this purpose in large parties. 
 
 Notwithstanding the smallness of the bounty, so many birds and snakes 
 were killed every year that it became a considerable item in the town 
 expenses. Twenty snakes and a hundred birds were at one time brought 
 in by a single person. The bounty for killing a wolf was 10*. M. (f 1.75.) 
 This appears to have been claimed but once after 1700, viz., by Samuel 
 Lothrop. 
 
 No better haunts for rattlesnakes could be found than among the rocks 
 and glens of Norwich. Imagination still associates the idea of these 
 formidable reptiles with many a dark ravine and sunny ledge. There 
 are certain rocks and declivities that even yet are known by sucli names 
 as Rattlesnake-den and Battlesnake-ridge. These serpents grew here to 
 the size of a man's wrist, and to the length of three and four feet. 
 
 Waweekus Hill was famous for these reptiles. It is a popular tale that 
 a cunning player on the violin once went to that hill with his instrument, 
 and enticed a large rattlesnake to follow him into the town street, fascina- 
 ted by his music. 
 
 Another tradition is that an adventurous lover, returning home late one 
 evening from a visit to the lady of his heart, was both snapped at by a 
 wolf' and hissed at by a rattlesnake, just as he passed through a turn-stile 
 near the place since known as Strong's corner. Tliis young man, whose 
 name was Waterman, lived above the meeting-house, and the lady he vis- 
 ited, below the Little Plain. To walk two miles at that period, through 
 
 * Woollaneag is the name given to this animal by the Connecticut Indians. Some 
 tribes call it Warraneag. 
 
298 HISTOBY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 thicket and swamp, to make an evening visit, and back again at midnighti 
 was an undertaking almost equal in heroism to that of swimming over the 
 Hellespont. 
 
 A tremendous host of these baneful reptiles sallied forth every spring 
 from the ravines and clefts of the rocks, to bask on the ledges or glide 
 through the green pastures and meadows below. It is appalling only to 
 read the dry statistical returns made by the serpent-hunters to the select- 
 men, and consider the number of heads and rattles, bones and skins, 
 brought by them for vouchers and cast down for the bounty. How strong 
 then must have been the nerves of those who went forth to do battle with 
 these coiling monsters, attacking them in their nests, or with still more 
 hazard meeting them warm and hissing on the rocky slopes, with their 
 venom at its height and all their lithe articulations exalted to the point of 
 furious attack and desperate encounter. 
 
 Though the rattlesnake is considered a slow-moving animal that seldom 
 bites unless first trodden upon or struck, he is furious in his charge. The 
 power of fascination, currently, but no doubt falsely, ascribed to him, and 
 the extreme virulence of his poison, producing death in some instances, 
 give a terrific interest to the details of the snake-hunter. 
 
 In 1720 the bounty was doubled to 4id. per head, and 76 charged that 
 season to the town; 28 by Moses Woodworth. In 1721 the number 
 slaughtered was 160; the widow Woodworth presenting the spoils of 23, 
 and David Knight, Jr., 28.. The next year 123 were brought in, Stephen 
 "Woodworth claiming the bounty for 48. In 1724, 69 were brought in, 
 and of these David Wentworth was credited 29. 
 
 In 1728 the number was only 46 ; but of these, nine were rattlesnahs, 
 destroyed by widow Smith. 
 
 1730. Voted, that whosoever shall kill a rattlesnake within this township at any 
 time within one year ensuing, except in the three summer months, and produce one 
 joint of the bone and its tail shall have two shillings for each snake so killed. 
 
 This law was the next year declared in force till otherwise ordered. 
 
 Under the stimulus of this premium, many fierce old rattlers were 
 hunted out and slaughtered. In 1731 the number claiming the bounty 
 was nearly 300: in 1732, over 100; in 1733, 174; in 1734, 63; in 
 1735, 54. 
 
 Dec. 15, 1735. Voted to pay four shillings apiece for rattlesnake's next year. No 
 pay to be given unless the snake be shown within 24 hours to the selectmen or to two 
 indifferent neighbors. 
 
 In 1736, 112 snakes were presented, and upwards of £20 paid in 
 bounty. The following is a memorandum of one of the selectmen, of 
 those exhibited to him: 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 299 
 
 May, 1736. An account of rattlesnakes tails brought to me, Joseph Perkins. 
 Jacob Perkins brought 7 tails. 
 Thomas Pettis " 5 " ' 
 
 Samuel Lawrence brought 3 rattles. 
 
 Abijah Fitch 
 
 1 
 
 John Bingham 
 
 3 
 
 Kobert Kinsman 
 
 4 
 
 Joshua Hutchins 
 
 " 23 
 
 Ezra Lothrop 
 
 2 
 
 In 1737, only 21 were destroyed. In 1738, 78 ; of these, 27 were 
 brought in by Jacob Hazen. 
 
 In 1739 the bounty was raised to ten shillings a head for aU killed, 
 except in the months of June, July and August ; provided that the killer 
 took oath that he went out for no other purpose than to destroy them. 
 
 This did not produce any large number of victims ; the reptile race was 
 evidently on the decline. A few were annually brought in, but they 
 diminished in number from year to year. 
 
 "We find no town action on the subject of rattlesnakes after the year 
 1764, at which time the bounty of twenty shillings, old tenor, was com- 
 muted into six shillings lawful mouej'. 
 
 A solitary but noted serpent of this species, that had long been known 
 to haunt a high ridge of land in the central part of the township, and 
 which was prematurely considered at the time the last rattler of Norwich, 
 was destroyed in 1786. His traces had been often observed, and his 
 haunt sought, but without success. He dwelt under a large rock, and his 
 hole had an outlet on both sides, with a branch in another direction to 
 which he could retreat, so that it was a work of some difficulty to outwit 
 him. But he was at last both "scotch'd" and killed. 
 
 Since that period, at considerable intervals of date, here and there, a 
 rattlesnake has been discovered and destroyed. One was killed upon the 
 farm of Mr. Zephaniah Lathrop, May 27, 1801, which measured five feet 
 two inches in length, and had twenty-one rattles ; supposed therefore to be 
 twenty-one years old. 
 
 The genuine rattlesnake is now probably extinct in this neighborhood. 
 
 The red-snake, vulgarly called the rattlesnake's mate, al^o abounded in 
 Norwich, and is still occasionally found. This species of snake is very 
 beautiful in color, being of a chocolate or nut-brown, curiously barred and 
 mottled with changeable hues. In the poison darted from its fangs, it is 
 only second to the rattlesnake. It gives no warning, but when roused, 
 draws up, leaps, and bites, in the space of two seconds, and it is said, will 
 reach the flesh through a thin boot. The wound is followed by immediate 
 pain, swelling, and great inflammation. Instances have occurred in which 
 it has become serious, by neglect, improper treatment, and exposure to 
 
300 HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 
 
 cold and wet, breaking forth afresh every year in the snake season, and 
 causing lameness or other infirmities. 
 
 This species is sometimes called the deaf adder, and is probably identi- 
 cal with the copper-head, [boa contortrix.'] It is still a vivacious inhabit- 
 ant of the rocky woodlands ; its thick head and large yellow eyes being 
 the dreaded image that haunts the sunny ledges in the months of May 
 and June. Several have been killed in the rocky pastures of the town- 
 plot since 1860, and even in 1864 a nest of them was found and destroyed 
 on the rocky highland in the rear of the Free Academy. The largest 
 was nearly three feet in length, and is preserved in the museum of the 
 Academy. 
 
 The black-snake of the present day is comparatively a harmless crea- 
 ture ; but stories are current of these reptiles having attacked children in 
 the whortleberry-fields, or haymakers in the meadows, and wound them- 
 selves about the body and throat, so as to produce suffocation. When 
 Waweekus Hill was first cleared, the workmen were greatly annoyed by 
 them. There is a tradition to the following eflfect : A party of laborers 
 were out on the hill at work, and one of them being employed at some 
 distance from the others, his companions were suddenly alarmed by his 
 cries and shrieks for help. They ran to his assistance, and found him 
 rolling on the ground with several black snakes on his body. He stated 
 after his rescue, that these reptiles came upon him out of a thicket, with 
 such fury as to put it out of his power to defend himself. They wound 
 4ibout his legs, lashed them together, bound up his arms, and were near 
 his throat when his friends came to his assistance. No attempt will be 
 made to prove the truth of this story, but doubtless it is as well founded 
 -as that of Laocoon. Supposing the man to have been asleep when the 
 reptiles swathed his limbs, it is not absolutely incredible. 
 
 One species of black snake, which formerly infested this region, was 
 called ring-snake, or racer, and was known by a white or yellow ring 
 around the neck. They would erect the head seven or eight inches from 
 the ground, and in this attitude, with tongue out and eyes glaring, run 
 with the swiftness of a horse. They were bold, fierce, and dangerous. It 
 was this species that had the credit of swathing the limbs of its victims, 
 'but these stories are now regarded as entirely fabulous. 
 
 In later days, even down to the present generation, black-snakes have 
 been found in the uncultivated or sparsely settled parts of Norwich, and 
 in the more retired towns of the vicinity, in such numbers and of such 
 magnitude as to render almost credible the wildest traditions of the olden 
 time concerning them. In April, 1810, 28 black-snakes were killed at 
 Lisbon, within the space of an acre and a quarter, the total measurement 
 of which was 114 feet. From a single nest or burrow of these animals, 
 at Griswold, in 1844, no less than 63 were extracted, in a half totpid 
 
HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 301 
 
 state, varying in length from three to nearly six feet.* Similar instan- 
 ces occur from time to time, and occasionally find their way into print. 
 The following notice will bring this article down to the latest date : 
 
 " A copperhead snake three feet long was killed by two young men in the woods 
 near this city, May 21, 1865."t 
 
 * Newspaper items. t Norwich Bulletin. 
 
CHAPTER XXL 
 
 Beginnings at the Landing. 
 
 The original Landing-place was below the FaUs, at the head of the 
 Yantic baain or cove, where Elderkin's mOl was situated. As trade in- 
 creased, and positions lower down were occupied for business purposes, 
 the term Landing Place was transferred to the point where the rivers 
 unite, and the upper station — the original Indian canoe-place — was distin- 
 guished as the old Landing-place. 
 
 What is now Norwich City, or Chelsea Society, with its crowded pop- 
 ulation, its work-shops, ware-houses, stores of merchandize, its terraced 
 streets, cupolas, spires, dwelling-houses, rising in tiers, line above line, was 
 at first known only as Weequaw's Hill, Rocky Point, and sometimes Fort 
 Hill, from which it is inferred that an Ladian fort or stone inclosure once 
 crowned its summit. 
 
 For the space of seventy years after the settlement, the greater part of 
 Chelsea was technically a sheep-walk, belonging to the inhabitants of the 
 east end of the town, and used by them for the pasturage of cattle. The 
 reservation extended from No-man's Acre to the mouth of the Shetucket, 
 and was inclosed with a general fence. A cartway through it was allowed, 
 and in 1 680, " a pair of bars " connected with this cartway was maintained 
 by the town, near the Shetucket, and another pair below the house of John 
 Reynolds. The whole space between Yantic cove and the Shetucket was 
 a wilderness of rocks, woods and swamps, with only here and there a cow- 
 path, or a sheep-track ai'ound the hills ; where the trunk of a fallen tree 
 thrown over a brook or chasm served in lieu of bridge. Not only in the 
 spring floods, but in common heavy rains, a great part o^ East Chelsea, 
 and all the lower, or Water sti-eet, up to the ledge of rocks on which the 
 buildings upon the north side of that street are based, were overflowed; 
 and even in the dry season these parts of the town were little better than 
 swamps. What are now only moist places, and slender rills, were then 
 ' ponds, and broad, impetuous brooks. 
 
 In January, 1684, a committee was appointed to lay out and bound for 
 the town's use sufficient land for a public landing-place and a suitable 
 highway connected with it ; after which they passed the following restrict- 
 ive decree : 
 
HI8T0RT0F NORWICH. 303 
 
 April, 1684. "It is agreed and voated that the reBt of the ungranted and nnlayed 
 out land at the mouth of Showtuck shall be and remain for the benefit of cattle water- 
 ing and never to be disposed of without the consent of eight or ten of the familys at 
 the east end of the towne." 
 
 It was not long, however, before this act became a dead letter. Sites 
 at the water's edge were soon in great demand for commercial purposes. 
 These were prudently doled out by the town in plots of three or four rods 
 each. In 1686, Capt. James Fitch, the first of these grantees, was allowed 
 sufficient land near the water side to accommodate a wharf and warehouse. 
 Not long afterward, CapL Caleb Bushnell obtained a similar grant. These 
 facilities were near the mouth of Yantic Cove. It was here that the 
 wharflng, buUding, and commercial enterprise of Norwich Landing began. 
 
 1692. A Committee appointed by the town to go with John Elderkin and to state 
 a highway to the old Landing place, with conyeniency also for a ware-house. 
 
 October, 1694. Mr. Mallat, a French gentleman, desiring liberty of the town that 
 he might build a vessel, or vessels, somewhere upon our river, the town grant the said 
 Mr. Mallat liberty to build and also grant him the liberty of the common on the east 
 side of Showtucket river to cut timber for building. 
 
 Mallat's ship-yard is supposed to have been at the Point. It was not 
 long occupied, and the fee of course reverted to the town. 
 In 1707, a vote was passed of the following emphatic tenor: 
 
 " No more laud to be granted at the salt water and no way shut up that leads to the 
 salt water." 
 
 The first masters of vessels at the Landing, of whom we obtain any 
 knowledge, were Captains Kelley and Norman. These, in 1715, were 
 engaged in the Barbadoes trade. 
 
 May 11, 1715. Capt. Kelley in the Norwich sloop sailed for Barbadoes. 
 Sept. 8. Capt. Kelley sailed for Barbadoes. 
 Dec. 13, 1716. Capt. Norman sailed.* 
 
 Capt. Kelley very soon established a regular ship-yard at the Landing, 
 the town granting him the necessary facilities. 
 
 Jan. 10, 1716-7. Joseph Kelley, shipwright, has free liberty to build vessels on the 
 Point where he is now building, the town to have the use of his wharf. 
 [This grant was not revoked till 1751.] 
 
 The same year Caleb Bushnell applied for a situation by the water-side 
 convenient for building vessels, which was granted by the following vote : 
 
 Dec. 3, 1717. The town grants to Caleb Bushnell 20 feet square upon ye water upon 
 the west side of the rockie Point at ye Landing place. 
 
 * Diary kept at New London. 
 
304 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Between 1721 and 1724, similar grants of "20 feet square on the wes 
 side of Rockie point," were made to Simon Lothrop, Joshua and Jamei 
 Huntington, and Daniel Tracy, a sufficiency for the town's use bein; 
 reserved on which they were not to encroach. These were all enterpris 
 ing young men, just entering into business. Simon Lothrop afterwarc 
 purchased the Elderkin rights on Yantic Cove and at the Falls. 
 
 April 20, 1723. The town grants liberty to Capt. Caleb Bnshnell to set up and 
 maintain two sufficient cart gates across the highway that goeth to the Little fort. 
 
 Feb. 25, 1724. Voted to build a town wharf at the Landing place. 
 Liberty is granted to Lieut. Simon Lothrop to build a wharf at the Landing plact 
 at his own charge provided it shall be free to all mortals. 
 
 1734. Permission granted to Lieut. Simon Lothrop to build a ware-house on the 
 side hill opposite his dwelling-house, 30 feet by 20, to hold the same during the town's 
 pleasure. 
 
 The limited extent of these grants shows that they were highly prized 
 and that but few such privileges could be obtained. A narrow margin of 
 l^vel land, at the base of water-washed cliffs, comprised the whole accom- 
 modation. 
 
 With the exception of these footholds upon the water's edge, the land 
 lay in common. Along the Cove and around the Falls the woods and 
 waters were reeking with rank life, both animal and vegetable. The rook 
 ledges were the haunts of innumerable serpents ; the shores were popu- 
 lous with water-fowl ; the river with shoals of fish. The young people 
 from the farms around Norwich, when haying was over, came in parties 
 to the Landing to wander over the hills, eat oysters, and take a trip down 
 the river in canoes or sail-boats. 
 
 In 1718, there was a division of proprietary lands, called the forty-acre 
 division. In J 726, the undivided lands that remained were mainly com- 
 prised in two sheep-walks. A public meeting was called, in which the 
 names of the proprietors of each were distinctly declared and recorded, in 
 order to prevent, if possible, all future " strifts and law-suits." The EasI 
 Sheep-walk, of 900 acres, more or less, was divided into shares of twenty 
 acres each, and ratified and confirmed to forty-two proprietors, mentioned 
 by name, or to those who claimed under them. The West Sheep-walk, 
 by estimation 700 acres, was in like manner divided and confirmed to 
 thirty-seven proprietors. 
 
 Rev. John Woodward and Rev. Benjamin Lord were admitted on tht 
 footing of original proprietors, as were also the representatives of the 
 earliest class of accepted inhabitants, viz., Bushnell, Elderkin, Roath anc 
 Rood of the east end, Abel and Armstrong of the west. To these were 
 added Moses Fargo of the west and Edward King of the east, eacl 
 allowed a half-share, making 79 in all, who were acknowledged as repre 
 
HISTOEY OF NORWICH. S05 
 
 sentatives' of the original grantees of the town-plot. From this division, 
 it was understood that farmers out of the town-plot, and all persons not 
 claimants under the first grantees, were excluded. 
 
 Israel Lothrop and James Huntington were the town agents in making 
 the division of the East Sheep-walk. The lots extended along the water 
 from the Shetucket ferry to the cove, reserving a highway through them 
 two rods wide. A second tier was laid out in the rear of these ; and so on. 
 Each share was divided into tenths, and the tenths into eighths, and dis- 
 tributed apparently by lot. It is expressed in the records by making a 
 pitch, as thus : " Capt. Bushnell made his pitch for his portion of the 
 sheep-walk" at such a place. 
 
 The titles to land in this part of Norwich are derived from these 42 
 proprietors of the East end, and the dates begin at 1726. After this 
 division, houses and inhabitants increased rapidly, and in the course of a 
 few years Eocky Point became a flourishing hamlet and trading-post, 
 called in common parlance The Landing, but gradually acquiring the 
 name of New Chelsey, or Chelsea Society. 
 
 The earliest householders at the Landing, of whose residence there we 
 find any certain account, were Daniel Tracy, Benajah Bushnell, and Na- 
 thaniel Backus. A little later, Capt. Joseph Tracy and Capt. Benajah 
 Lefflngwell were substantial inhabitants, and Caleb Whitney kept a public 
 house. Boating was brisk in the river, and small vessels were built and 
 sent away for sale. 
 
 Among those who were efiicient in opening avenues of trade and bring- 
 ing business to the new port, none were more conspicuous than Capt. John 
 "Williams and Capt. Joshua Huntington. The former resided with his 
 family at Poquetannock, and the latter in the town-plot, but each had a 
 wharf and ware-house at the Landing, and here was their place of busi- 
 ness. Capt. Huntington occupied the Point, near Kelley's ship-yard. It 
 was by heirship from him that this locality went into the Bill family, — 
 Capt. Ephraim Bill having married his only daughter, Lydia. 
 
 Great are the changes that have been made around the water-line of 
 Norwich port. All the sharp angles and projecting rocks, the trickling 
 streams and gullies, have disappeared. Central wharf spreads out far in 
 advance of the old town wharf and the water-hne where Fitch and Bush- 
 nell had their first conveniences; and the granite ridge at whose base 
 Kelley built his coasting-craft, and the Huntingtons, Bills and others had 
 their warehouses, has been leveled to a platform occupied by the freight- 
 depot and other accommodations of the railroad. 
 
 The division into freeholds gave a powerful impetus to the growth of 
 
 the Landing. Trade became suddenly the presiding genius of the place. 
 
 Those merchants who had been so fortunate as to obtain situations upon 
 
 the water's edge, entered at once into commercial pursuits. From a 
 
 20 
 
306 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 report prepared by authority ia Connecticut, to be laid before the Lords 
 Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, probably befor 1730, we learn 
 that four sloops were at that time owned in Norwich and engaged in the 
 West India and coasting trade, viz. : 
 
 Sip. Martha and Elizabeth, - - - 40 tons. 
 
 " Success, - - - - - 40 " 
 
 " Olive Branch, - - - - 25 " 
 
 " Mary, - - - - - 20 " 
 
 Not long afterward the Norwich traders sent a sloop and a schooner to 
 Ireland. As these we suppose to have been their first adventures across 
 the ocean, every item relating to them is interesting. They probably 
 sailed in company, but the schooner returned without her consort. 
 
 7 Nov. 1732. " The Norwich scooner, Nath: Shaw master, came in from Ireland." 
 [Hempstead's Diary.] 
 
 The sloop was under the charge of Capt. Absalom King, and appears 
 to have been owned by himself and those who sailed with him. They 
 sold the craft in Ireland, probably in accordance with the plan of their 
 voyage, as vessels were then frequently built in the river, where timber 
 was plenty, and sent elsewhere for a market. The crew embarked for 
 home in the schooner with Capt. Shaw, but during the voyage five out of 
 the fifteen persons on board died of the small pox. Among the victims 
 was Capt. King, who died in mid ocean Sept. 3, 1732. 
 
 Capt. Absalom^ King came to Norwich from Southold, Long Island, and 
 had been for several years in the West India trade. His wife was Han- 
 nah, daughter of John Waterman. His youthful widow married, Nov. 8, 
 1733, B^iifdict Arnold. 
 
 This is the eai-liest notice that we find at Norwich of Benedict Arnold, 
 — a Rhode Island emigrant, whose name, when afterwards borne by his 
 son, became synonymous with treason and apostacy. No intimation is 
 given of the causes that brought him to Norwich ; but he appears to have 
 been at first a seaman, and it is not improbable that some connection with 
 Capt. King in that capacity first introduced him to the town and after- 
 wards obtained for him the favorable notice of the bereaved wife. He 
 and liis brother Oliver are both distinguished by the title of Captain. 
 
 In 1740, a memorial was presented to the town by Joshua Abel, John 
 Hutohins, and others, praying for a convenient highway to be opened to 
 
 * Ilinman's Antiquities, p. 352. The date of the document is not given, bat it WM 
 undoubtedly between 1720 and 1730. The whole number of vessels in the colony waJ 
 42, the largest of which was a brigantino of 80 tons, owned at New London. They 
 wore mostly small sloops. New Haven and New Lonilon had each five ; Hartfordand 
 Norwich, four. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 307 
 
 the Landing. This was strenuously opposed by the landholders on the 
 line of the proposed highway, and rejected by the town at that time. But 
 a few years later the object was happily accomplished, and two conven- 
 ient avenues were opened, one on each side of the central hill. The two 
 pent highways that had been previously used, that on the east through 
 land of Col. Hezekiah Huntington, and the one on the west through land 
 of CoL Simon Lothrop, were exchanged for streets laid out through the 
 same lands, but more direct in course, and left open for public use. These 
 improvements were sanctioned by the consent of all tlie parties concerned. 
 
 The eastern avenue thus opened, coincided with Crescent and a part of 
 Union streets, terminating at the house of Nathaniel Backus in Union, not 
 far from the comer of Main street. The western avenue coincided with 
 the greater part of Washington street, and ended at " Capt. Bushnell's old 
 ware-house." The committee for making these improvements consisted of 
 William Morgan, Hezekiah Huntington, Phihp Turner, and Joseph and 
 Simon Tracy. 
 
 In 1750, Daniel Lathrop, Nathan Stedman and Capt. Philip Turner 
 were appointed a committee to open a highway by the water-side, con- 
 necting the above-named streets. This was the first laying out of Water 
 street. 
 
 After this, " the old highway over Waweecos Hill, between the Little 
 Plain and Landing Place," was seldom used, and Capt. Benajah Bushnell 
 obtained permission to enclose it, on condition of maintaining convenient 
 bars for people to pass. 
 
 The Little Plain, — so called in distinction from the Great Plain, in the 
 southern part of the town toward Mohegan, — was at this time private 
 property, included in gi-ants to the early settlers, with no part open to the 
 public except the streets above mentioned leading to the Landing. 
 
 In making these highway improvements and in other works of public 
 interest requiring public spirit and skillful management, Capt. Turner and 
 Nathan Stedman were zealous and persevering agents. These were com- 
 paratively new inhabitants. Stedman was an attorney, son of John Sted- 
 man of Lyme, and not of the Hampton family of Stedmans. After a few 
 years residence in Norwich, he removed to Ashford. Pliilip Turner spent 
 the remainder of his short career in the town, and his dust is mingled with 
 its soil. 
 
 Dec. 1748. It is ordered that warnings for town meetings shall for the future be aet 
 np at the Landing place on some post to be provided by thu inhabitants there. 
 
 A sign-post was accordingly set up at Mr. Peter Lanman's corner, as 
 the most central and conspicuous situation. 
 
 1751. Voted that the district for highways at Chelsea be divided as follows — Begin- 
 ning at the water, south of the westerly corner of Daniel Tracy Jr's house at the Land- 
 
808 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 ing place, thence a straight line to where the highway goes across TVaweecus hill, thence 
 to the N. E. corner of John Bliss's land — thence a straight line to the parting of the 
 paths on the Little Plain, at Oliver Arnold's corner — thence a straight line to the 
 N. W. corner of Joshua Prior's dwelling house.* 
 
 The common lands and flats upon the Cove, extending as far up as 
 "Elijah Lathrop's Grist Mills," were laid out in 1760 or near that perio.d. 
 The shares were divided into tenths, and each tenth into eight several par- 
 cels or lots, as the sheep-walks had been. 
 
 From the General List of 1757, it appears that there were then eighty- 
 seven resident proprietors of rateable estate in "the society of New Chel- 
 sy," and twenty-five non-residents. 
 
 * " Oliver Arnold's corner " was at the head of the plain, just where the streets part 
 at the present day. Joshua Prior's dwelling-house is supposed to hare been near Col. 
 Huntington's oil-niill. 
 
CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 COMMEBCE AND THE FkBNCH WaR. 
 
 The year 1760 may be taken as the era when the commerce of Nor- 
 wich, which at two distinct periods, before and after the war, became 
 important, received its first great impulse. A foresight of this prosperity 
 was obtained by the fathers of the town, in 1761, when they made the 
 following declai'ation : 
 
 "Whereas, the town did formerly grant to Mr. Joseph Kelley, shipwright, to build 
 vessels at the Landing-place, where he is now building, during the town's pleasure, and 
 would give him twelve months notice, do now declare that their will and pleasure, as 
 to his building in said place, is at an end, the place being much wanted for public im- 
 provement, and do now give him notice thereof accordingly, and order the selectmen 
 to notify him by sending him a copy of this act." 
 
 From this period onward, the interest in navigation continued steadily 
 to increase. John Rockwell of Preston, who died in 1 753, refers in his 
 will to "my vessel now at sea," and occasional glimpses are obtained of 
 sloops and freight-boats, with now and then a schooner plying up and 
 down the river. In the "New London Summary," the first newspaper 
 issued in this part of the colony, which began in 1758, advertisements of 
 the Norwich vessels were frequently inserted. As in August, 1760: — 
 "For Menis or Chignecto, the sloop Defiance, Obadiah Ayer, master;" 
 also, "The sloop Ann, Stephen Calkins, master, lying at Norwich Land- 
 ing, ready for freight or passengers." 
 
 Nova Scotia was then open to emigrants, and speculation was busy with 
 its lands. Farms and townships were thrown into the market, and adven- 
 turers were eager to take possession of the vacated seats of the exiled 
 Acadians. 
 
 By the treaty of peace in 1763, this territory was confirmed to the 
 English. The provincial government caused it to be distributed into 
 towns and sections, and lots were offered to actual settlers on easy terms. 
 The inhabitants of the eastern part of Connecticut, and several citizens of 
 Norwich in particular, entered largely into these purchases, as they did 
 also into the purchases, made at the same period, of land on the Delaware 
 river. The proprietors held their meetings at the town-house, in Norwich. 
 
310 HISTOEY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 and many persons of even small means were induced to become subscrib- 
 ers, in the expectation of bettering their fortunes. 
 
 The townships of Dublin, Horton, Falmouth, Cornwallis and Amherst 
 were settled in part by Connecticut emigrants. Sloops were sent from 
 Norwich and New London with provisions and passengers. One of these 
 in a single trip conveyed 137 settlers from New London county. The 
 second Capt. Robert Denison was among the emigrants. 
 
 Norwich, as well as other towns in Connecticut, was taxed with the 
 support of a certain number of the French Neutrals, a harmless and 
 much-abused people, who in the year 1755 were driven from their seats 
 in Acadia or Nova Scotia by their English conquerors, and forced to fake 
 refuge in New England. Many of them subsequetly returned to Canada. 
 Capt. Richard Leffingwell, in the brig Pitt, carried 240 of these French 
 peasants with their priest to Quebec in 1767. 
 
 A back country of some extent made its deposits in Norwich, and its 
 citizens were induced to enter largely into commercial affairs. Chelsea 
 was their port, and instead of exhibiting, as heretofore, nothing but ship- 
 yards and ware-houses, fishermen's cabins and sailors' cottages, it now 
 began to show some respectable buildings. Let us suppose ourselves 
 walking through its streets about this period. We might see lying at the 
 wharves, periiaps departing or entering, the coasting sloops, Defiance and 
 Ann ; the London packet, Ebenezer Fitch, master ; the Norwich packet, 
 Capt. Thomas Fanning ; the brig Two Brothers, Capt. Asa Waterman; 
 sloop Betsey, Capt. William Billings ; the Nancy, Capt. Uriah Rogers ; 
 the Charming Sally, Capt. Matthew Perkins, &c. 
 
 I Here is the mercantile establishment (1765) of Jacob DeWitt, who has 
 just settled in the place ; that of Gershom Breed, (whose shipping-store, 
 then newly-erected, is still extant and now occupied by his grandson) ; that 
 of John Baker Brimmer, who keeps a little of every thing, and gives "cash 
 for ox-horns, old pewter and hopps ;" that of Ebenezer Colburn, iron- 
 monger and cutler, at the sign of the Black Horse; that of Isaiah Tiffany, 
 who keeps " ribbons, fans, calicoes, lawns and china-ware, just imported 
 from London ;" and that of Nathaniel Backus, Jr., at the corner where is 
 now the Norwich Bank. This was the most conspicuous position in Chel- 
 sea. The step-stone at the door, broad and high, served for a horse-block, 
 where females from the country, who came into town for shopping, mounted 
 and dismounted from their horses. 
 
 Some of the merchants, from the first beginnings of their commerce, 
 imported goods directly from Great Britain, either in their own vessels, 
 or in packages landed at Boston and New York and consigned to them. 
 The invoice value ranged only from a few hundred to three or four thou- 
 sand pounds each, annually, but the fact displays a creditable degree of 
 enterprise and commercial aptitude. From 1760, onward to the Eevolu- 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 311 
 
 tion, there were four or five of these importing merchants in the place. 
 During the long wars with France and Spain, the risks at sea from cap- 
 ture were great, and insurance ran high, — varying from five to fifteen 
 guineas per cent. The latter high rate was demanded in 1758, and again 
 in 1762. In ordinary times it was but one and a half or two per cent. 
 After 1770, the importations increased in amount, and the Norwich im- 
 porters usually owned the vessel and paid the insurance themselves. The 
 goods were consigned direct, and the duties paid at New London. 
 
 The invoices comprised many articles that might easily have been man- 
 ufactured at home, but for the parliamentary restraints. Felt hats, for 
 instance, were then a common article of importation, the colonists being 
 forbidden to make them, even for their own use. Nails, paper, loaf sugar, 
 snuff, spices, were all imported from Europe. Eibbons, crapes and laces, 
 though enormously high, were in demand, and we find also upon the 
 invoices such articles of fancy as "Barleycorn necklaces," "London dolls," 
 and " London lettered gartering." Printed linens, chintzes and damasks 
 made a great show upon these old counters. Plain linens were staple 
 articles, imported largely, and occasionally a piece of Holland cotton inti- 
 mates the beginning of a trade in cotton cloth. 
 
 At this period the best assortments were all up town, and the ladies of 
 Chelsea were as much accustomed to go thither to do their shopping, that 
 is, if dry goods or fancy articles were wanted, as the ladies of the town 
 now are to go to Chelsea. 
 
 The goods in the retail stores of that day were somewhat oddly assorted- 
 For instance, one man advertised sheep's-wool, codfish. West India prod- 
 ucts, and an assortment of European dry goods. 
 
 "N. B. As the subscriber has an interest in a still-honse at Chelsea, he expects to 
 have New England rum constantly to sell." 
 
 This was rather a descent from the usual select phraseology which 
 offered for sale, " Choice Geneva just from Amsterdam." 
 
 The nomenclature of dress-goods was as diversified as at the present 
 day. In addition to the general terms of satins, modes, crapes, calicoes, 
 and broadcloth, we find hum-hum, wild-bore, elasticks, moreens, durants, 
 calimancos, tammys, royal-rib, shalloons, erminetts, stockinetis, satinetts, 
 russeletts, German serge, dufiles, taffety. 
 
 William and Peter Lanman, Jeremiah Clement, merchant, and after- 
 ward first deacon of the church, Capt. Thomas Fanning, ship-master and 
 merchant, Jabez Dean, Asa Peabody, Ephraim Bill, Gershom Breed, and 
 Prosper Wetmore, are some of the fresh names engrafted into the history 
 of the town about the middle of the century. 
 
 The Lanman brothers were merchants from Plymouth, Mass. William 
 died in 1756. The business was continued by Peter, and the firm remained 
 
312 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 in his name and that of his son, Peter Lanman, Jr., as partner and suc- 
 cessor, for more than fifty years. 
 
 Prosper Wetmore was from Stafford. He settled at Norwich in 1747, 
 on his marriage with Anne, daughter of Hezekiah Huntington, and from 
 that time till his death, in 1788, took an active part in town and church 
 affairs. For many years he was sheriff of New London county. His 
 wife died in 1754, and he married Keturah Chesebrough of Stonington. 
 Sheriff Wetmore's house was on the bluff near the extreme end of Eocky 
 Point, afterward the residence of Dr. Lemuel Boswell. 
 
 Lieut. Gershom Breed was a descendant of Allen Breed, who emigra- 
 ted to this country about 1630, and settled in Lynn, Mass. John, a grand- 
 son of the first emigrant, removed to Stonington, where he married Mercy, 
 daughter of Gershom Palmer, and united with the Stonington church in 
 1690. Gershom, his tenth and last child, married Dorothy McLarran, a 
 grand-daughter of Dea. Joseph Otis of the North Parish of New London, 
 and settled as a merchant in Norwich about the year 1750. 
 
 " Trumble, Fitch & Trumble,"* was a business firm in Norwich, formed 
 in 1763. The partners were Jonathan Trumbull, his son .Joseph, and Col. 
 Eleazar Fitch, all of Lebanon. The elder branches of the firm had for 
 several years transacted business in Nor\\'ich. The junior partner, Joseph 
 Trumbull, who had been to England and established business relations 
 with several mercantile houses in London, was now the resident acting 
 partner in the concern. This firm had the agency of vessels trading at 
 Barbadoes, Ireland, Liverpool, and London. A series of heavy losses at 
 sea, not only in the mercantile line, but in the whaling business, upon 
 which they had entered, caused the failure of the house in the course of a 
 few years, but the business was continued, though within a narrower com- 
 pass, until the war for liberty broke up all regular commerce and called 
 upon the two Trumbulls to devote their energies to the service of their 
 country. In that conflict Col. Fitch disagreed both in opinion and action 
 with his former partners. He espoused the royal cause, and became a 
 refugee. 
 
 In 1774, the three men who paid the highest tax in Chelsea were Jere- 
 miah Clement, Joseph Howland, and William Coit. Thomas Coit was 
 also for many years engaged in trade. Jedidiah and Andrew Huntington 
 were men of business in the town-plot. Dudley Woodbridge from Ston- 
 ington had opened a store in the same quarter. Hubbards & Greene, 
 commission merchants of Boston, had a branch of their business in Nor- 
 wich. In 176(1, the "London Packet" was advertised to sail from Nor- 
 wich to England. 
 
 * IiivL'stiyations made by Joseph Trumbull while in England, led to a change in tie 
 spelling of the last syllable of the family name. The revised form was adopted about 
 the year 1766, before the elder Trumbull became Governor. 
 
 Stuart's Life of Trumbull, p. 118. 
 
HISTOET OF NORWICH. 313 
 
 Of the French war with respect to its influence upon the town, nothing 
 is found on record but in the way of reference and hint. Between 1755 
 and 1763, in the registry of deaths, in accounts and settlements of estates, 
 occasional allusions may be noticed to one who went to the wars, or died 
 in battle, or of camp-fever. The preamble to the will of Joseph Johnson 
 of Preston, made June, 1757, and proved May, 1758, has this passage : 
 " Being called by Providence to go forth against the common enemy and 
 to jeopard my life upon the high places of the field," &c. We infer at 
 once that such persons were victims of the frontier service. 
 
 Again, sloops and schooners left the port with provisions, bound to 
 Albany, and the evidence is presumptive that they carried supplies to the 
 New England forces in the field. 
 
 It was an exciting period. The whole country resounded with tidings 
 of Indian depredations and rumors of savage cruelty. The few newspa- 
 pers of the day were filled with thick coming reports oi the barbarities 
 practiced in the pioneer settlements. In western and northern New York 
 and through the fertile interior of the Middle States, at that time a vast 
 overshadowed wilderness, hordes of Red men, with or without French 
 instigators or French leaders, came out of their haunts, with a sudden 
 sweep upon villages or single farm-houses, upon men at work or children 
 at play, howling as they came, and marking their path with fire and 
 slaughter. New England has no page of its history so stained with the 
 slaughter of the helpless as this. Philip's war had a more limited sphere, 
 made fewer victims, and displayed less ferocity. 
 
 Norwich, remote from the scenes of strife and danger, sitting amid her 
 hills, could only sympathize with her frontier kindred in their perils, and 
 send her quotas to their defence. This they were often called to do, and 
 we may be sure that prayers and tears were mingled in many families at 
 those times, when such notes as the following were registered in almanacs 
 or private diaries : " Ten stout men drawn for Canada." " Six of our 
 neighbors pressed to go against the Indians." "More soldiers to be 
 raised," &c. 
 
 In 1756, four regiments were raised in Connecticut for frontier service ; 
 and one of these under Col. Nathan "Whiting was drawn chiefly from New 
 London county. In 1758, Col. Samuel Coit commanded a regiment raised 
 in Norwich and its neighborhood, which wintered at Fort Edward. Col. 
 Eleazar Fitch, Col. William Whiting, Capt. Robert Denison and Capt. 
 Samuel Mott served in these campaigns against the French. Dr. Jona- 
 than Marsh was with the northern army as a surgeon in 1756 and 1757, 
 and Dr. Philip Turner in 1758. 
 
 Elijah Huntington (son of Isaac, one of the estimable recorders of 
 Norwich,) served in the frontier army through three campaigns, 1758-60 
 and was in the service when Canada surrendered to General Amherst. 
 
814 HISTOEY OF NORWICH. 
 
 The scanty records of the time leave it out of our power to enter into 
 details, or enlarge this slender list of individuals. 
 
 In 1761, according to a certified list of Joseph Hull, the collector of the 
 royal customs at New London, the whole number of vessels sailing from 
 Connecticut district was forty-five. Only one of these was over 60 tons 
 burden, viz., the brigantine Mermaid, 68 tons. Four were armed. The 
 whole amount of tonnage, 1668; number of men employed, 387; number 
 of guns, 40. 
 
 This comprised at that period the whole shipping of Connecticut. After 
 the peace of 1763, there was a great increase of trade. Fishing and trad- 
 ing vessels of small capacity and light draft, but pliant and sea-worthy, 
 continued to multiply and keep all the northern coas* lively with their 
 enterprise, till suddenly checked by the Revolutionary war. 
 
 Two of the earliest grave-stone memorials within the bounds of Chelsea 
 perpetuate the names of ship-masters. One of these was erected in mem- 
 ory of Capt. John Culver, who died in 1757, at the age of 60, and was 
 interred in the Episcopal Church-yard ; the other is in remembrance of 
 Capt. Daniel Tracy, whose death occurred in 1760, in the 52d year of his 
 age. Capt. Tracy was interred in the Society burial-place, which was 
 opened in J 755. Earlier than this, no interments appear to have been 
 made at the Landing. The oldest grave-stone that has been found in 
 Chelsea, bearing the name of a man of mature age, is one in this ceme- 
 tery that points out the resting-place of William Lanman, the young mer- 
 chant heretofore mentioned, "who," according to the record, "lived a sober, 
 virtuous life, and died in hope of a happy immortality," in the 30th year 
 of his age, 1756. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The New Light Excitement. Separatist Churches. 
 
 De. Lokd was considered an earnest evangelical preacher, and his 
 ministry was eminently useful and successful. His style of delivery was 
 impressive. One of his contemporaries said that "he seemed to have an 
 inexhaustible fund of proper words, pointed sense, and devout affections." 
 When he settled in 1717, there were about thirty male members in the 
 church, and as many females. In the first fifty years of his ministry, 330 
 were admitted. 
 
 "When I first came here," said Dr. Lord, speaking of his congregation, 
 " there was a beautiful sight of venerable aged fathers, and many of them 
 appearing much of the right Puritan stamp, — the hoary head found in the 
 way of righteousness."* 
 
 At the time of his settlement the whole town was but one parish. 
 Long before the end of his pastorate, it comprised eight societies, with 
 each its church and minister, of the Congregational order, also five socie- 
 ties of Separatists, and an Episcopal organization. 
 
 In 1721 there was a revival in his church, coincident with one in Wind- 
 ham, ten miles distant, under the ministry of Mr. Samuel Whiting, who 
 admitted eighty persons to church membership in six months.t The era 
 of revivals had not then commenced, which made the interest manifested 
 in these two churches the more worthy of note. But these examples 
 were not diffusive ; and for many years all New England seemed sunk 
 into worldliness and formality, exhibiting no spiritual growth, and little if 
 any fervent religious emotion. 
 
 In the midst of this general declension, the only hopeful sign of which 
 seemed to be that Christians were aware of it and deplored it as a calam- 
 ity, a wonderful manifestation of spiritual activity was suddenly developed 
 in Northampton, in connection with the preaching of tlie Rev. Jonathan 
 Edwards. It began in 1733, and continued for two or three years. In 
 the spring of 1735 it was estimated that in Northampton alone there were 
 thirty conversions in a week for six weeks in succession. 
 
 * Half-century Sermon. 
 
 1: Backus' Church History. Trumbull's Conn., Vol. 2. 
 
316 HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 
 
 Mr. Lord of Norwich and Mr. Owen of Groton were so deeply inter- 
 ested in the reports of this work, that they made a journey to Northamp- 
 ton in order to witness its effects and obtain from Mr. Edwards himself an 
 account of its beginning and progress. They returned declaring that the 
 half had not been told them. Their report and the increased energy of 
 their subsequent ministrations had an awakening influence upon their own 
 people, which was communicated to other churches in the neighborhood. 
 
 In 1740 the flame burst forth afresh, and the way being in some degree 
 prepared, not a few churches only, but hundreds, were aroused and vivi- 
 fied, brightened as it were with a new light, and awakened to a new life, 
 80 that this period is distinctively called the period of the New Light 
 excitement, or Great Awakening. In the three churches of Norwich the 
 work began early, and soon became deep, strong, and enthusiastic in its 
 exhibitions. Lebanon, Windham, Canterbury, New London, Groton, 
 Stonington, and in fact all the eastern towns of the colony, were pervaded 
 with the new light and exalted into a state of gospel fervor. The Rev. 
 Mr. Tennent, celebrated as an evangelist, Dr. Wheelock of Lebanon, Mr. 
 Parsons of Lyme, Mr. Pomeroy, Mr. Davenport, and other fervid exhort- 
 ers of the day, went from place to place, preaching with great power, and 
 every where breaking up the torpid surface of society with the hammer, 
 fire, and two-edged sword of the gospel. 
 
 The great success of these eminent men led many other ministers into 
 a course of itinerant and often erratic service. In Norwich, as well as in 
 most other places where conversions were numerous, the beauty of the 
 work was marred by gross irregularities. Outcries, ecstacies, and some 
 instances of infuriated zeal were exhibited, which seem to have had an 
 effect in cooling the ardor of Mr. Lord, deadening his sympathy for the 
 enthusiasts, and keeping him in a conservative position. 
 
 The Rev. Isaac Backus, one of the converts of this period, who after- 
 wards seceded from Mr. Lord's church, observes : 
 
 " The work was so powerful, and people in general so ignorant, that they had little 
 government of their passions. Many cried out and fell down in meetings." 
 
 In addition to these shoutings and bodily writhings, which rendered the 
 meetings, to say the least, disorderly, many of the converts displayed in 
 their harangues a self-confident boasting of their own state and a censori- 
 ous judgment of others, that grieved and offended the less excited part of 
 the community. The old meeting-house on the hill, then somewhat dilap- 
 idated, and soon to give way to a successor, witnessed some transcendent 
 exhibitions of that mingling of earth ?.nd heaven, of the fresh regenera- 
 tive power of the gospel with the extravagance of fanaticism, that are too 
 often displayed in times of religious excitement.* 
 
 * Hovey's Life of Backus, p. 37. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 317 
 
 The clergy, as a body, frowned upon all bodily transports and ranting 
 exhortations, and some of them carried their disgust so far as to condemn 
 the revival itself. The Legislature deemed it necessary for the civil au- 
 thority to interfere and take cognizance of these irregularities. An act 
 was passed in May, 1742, restricting ministers to their own pulpits, and 
 interdicting all itinerant preaching, as well as the public teachings of lay- 
 men. These restrictions were regarded by those against whom they were 
 directed as intolerant, and instead of repressing disorders, they roused the 
 enthusiasm of the zealots to a fiercer flame. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the deep spiritual benefits of the 
 revival were perceived by the wise and good, and its purifying, renovating 
 influence acknowledged with devout thanksgiving. In June, 1743, twelve 
 ministers, belonging to the counties of New London and Windham, con- 
 vened at Norwich for the purpose of acknowledging the goodness of God 
 in this revival, and in a public declaration gave their testimony in its 
 favor, "as a great and glorious work of divine grace, and a great reforma- 
 tion of religion." Among the signers to this document were three minis- 
 ters of Norwich, Benjamin Lord, Daniel Kirtland, and Jabez Wight. 
 
 These acknowledgments were not, however, designed to sanction the 
 errors connected with the revival, and the civil authority was generally 
 allowed to take its course in dealing with those who violated the statute, 
 or were transported by excessive zeal beyond the bounds of charity and 
 decorum. Fines, seizures and imprisonments were indeed of frequent 
 occurrence, to be remembered only with grief and condemnation, but in 
 most instances the indictment was made under the old laws against non- 
 payment of rates and non-attendance upon the worship of the Sabbath. 
 It was just a continuation of the old list of actions, with perhaps a sharper 
 look-out and a more rigorous enforcement of the letter of the law on the 
 part of officials. 
 
 It does not appear that any arrests were made or fines imposed in Nor- 
 wich, for lay-preaching, or attendance on Separate meetings, unless those 
 meetings were tumultuous and disorderly and the language used by the 
 exhorters unjustifiable and slanderous. Doubtless, however, both parties 
 were in fault. Men were sometimes prosecuted with great pertinacity for 
 slight oflFences, but on the other hand the language of denunciation was 
 used to a revolting extent, accompanied with great contempt of the legal 
 authorities. 
 
 An instance of this violent fanaticism which occurred in January, 1742, 
 and was established by the testimony of three witnesses, is found recorded 
 among the papers left by Dr. Lord. A fierce exhorter, in the midst of 
 his convulsions, using terms the most baneful and appalling in the lan- 
 guage, expressed the delight it would give him to witness the everlasting 
 destruction of certain persons whom he mentioned by name. At the same 
 
318 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 time he called upon God to witness that he was speaking under the influ- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Lord appends to this evidence the remark 
 that at these meetings " such kind of dreadful expressions " were often 
 used. These performances excuse in some degree the rigors of ecclesi- 
 astical judgment, and almost justify the interference of the magistrate. 
 
 It is well known that the New Lights were all addicted to strange tones 
 and violent gesticulations. "With coats oflf and arms extended, they pre- 
 pared themselves for a word of exhortation ;< not thinking themselves suc- 
 cessful unless they could arouse their audience to shouts, tears, ecstacies, 
 and tremblings, ending in exhaustion. When Mr. Parsons preached in 
 1741, one of his awakening sermons in the parish of New Concord, where 
 Mr. Throop was the minister, it is said, "a great number were in tears, 
 and some cried out ; some fainted away, and one or two raged."* 
 
 The most important point upon which the two parties disagreed related 
 to the qualifications necessary for the admission of church-members. The 
 New Light party insisted on a satisfactory relation of experience, or a 
 declaration of what faith had wrought in the soul. But Mr. Lord and a 
 majority of the church stood by the ancient practice in this respect, and 
 in January, 1745, passed the following vote: 
 
 " Though it is esteemed a desirable thing that persons who come into full commun- 
 ion offer some puliliek relation of their experience ; yet we do not judge or hold it a 
 term of commuaion."t 
 
 This vote expresses the current sentiment of the churches previous to 
 that period, and at the time of its adoption. A relation of internal exer- 
 cises had not generally been required. 
 
 It has been observed that at the time of Mr. Lord's ordination, the 
 church refused to receive the Saybrook Platform, and assumed a position 
 of Congregational independence. After a few years the pastor expressed 
 a wis!) to join the Association of New London county, if it could be done 
 without compromising the independence of the church and expressly con- 
 eenting to the New Plattbrm as a model of discipline. J 
 
 On these "cautionary grounds" the church acceded to his request, and 
 
 * Denisoii's Notes on the Baptists. 
 
 t Ml'. Lord was himself decidedly averse to making a relation of experience a term 
 of coiiiniuniuii. His reasoiiini; was to this effect; 
 
 " 'i'lio ihiueh has no auihorl y to make rules and tei-ms of admission to bind the 
 consciciKC, liut only to follow the plain directions of the word of God ; and if there is 
 »ny scriptural law for such a term of communion to bo imposed upon the conscience, 
 whore is it ? For where tliero is no law there is no transgression, and therefore to ba 
 no imposition." 
 
 X"l have often thought," he said, " that it was a damage to me to live as one alone 
 upon tlie earth, and prevented that improvement I might make by enjoying theit 
 •ociety." 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 319 
 
 a proposition of fellowship, with this reserve, was made to the Associa- 
 tion of New London county, convened at Preston, Nov. 10, 1724, and 
 acted upon as follows : 
 
 " Whereas some have questioned whether a minister's attending upon and consent- 
 ing to be a member of this Association has not been loolced upon by the Association 
 BS his giving his consent to the articles of Church discipline established by this Colony 
 and as binding him and his church to be governed by them : 
 
 "Eesolved that it never has been nor is it now so esteemed by the Association." 
 
 After the year 1741, one of the objections brought against Mr. Lord by 
 the New Light brethren was, that he and his party in the church had gone 
 into fellowship with the Association, and thus abandoned the old platform 
 for the new. This objection does not appear to have been valid, no evi- 
 dence appearing that either pastor or church had ever consented to the 
 Saybrook Platform. The last item on record respecting it is a protest of 
 the church, Fgb. 20, 1744-5, against Mr. Lord's attending the meetings 
 of the Association in future, and a recall of their former consent in this 
 particular, lest his acting and voting with them should be construed into a 
 concurrence with their principles.* At the same time they re-afBrmed 
 their attachment to the old Platform of the Fathers of 1648, "not only 
 in respect to doctrine and truth and form of covenant, but in respect of 
 order and exercise of church discipline." 
 
 Feb. 19, 1745, we first become cognizant that a separation had taken 
 place in Mr. Lord's church. The leaders in this movement were Hugh 
 Calkins and Jedidiah Hide; and the first Separate meetings were held at 
 the house of the former, near Yantic bridge at the west end of the town- 
 plot. A committee was appointed at that date to inquire into the reasons 
 of their separation, and endeavor to bring them back to the church. 
 
 Li July, thirteen members were cited to appear and answer for their 
 continued withdrawal from the regular meetings and communion of the 
 church, and for attending a Separate meeting on the Sabbath. Various 
 committess were appointed, and private conferences held with the seceding 
 members. Some of them declined all discussion, but others frankly stated 
 the grounds of their dissatisfaction. 
 
 "Better edification," or " the gospel better preached elsewhere," was the 
 prevalent reason given. 
 
 "Not making regeneration the only term of communion."t "Opening 
 
 » Backus in his Church History asserts that in 1744 Mr. Lord openly declared hia 
 attachment to the Saybrook Platform, and gives this as the chief cause of the Separa- 
 tion. Id was also stated as one of the reasons of dissent by a suspended member in 
 1758, that the church had gone off from the Old Platform, that is, of 1648. The rec- 
 ords of the church, however, do not afford any evidence of this change. 
 
 + Jedidiah Hyde's objection. 
 
320 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 the door too wide, letting in all sorts of persons, without giving any eyi- 
 dence at all of their faith in Christ and repentance towards God." 
 
 Here lay the strong point of the dissenters. It was in fact the only 
 doctrinal point of any importance at issue. The practice of the church 
 had been lax in the admission of members, and an invigorating change in 
 this respect was in the end a beneficial result of the schism. When this, 
 which seems to have been the special object of their mission, was accom- 
 plished, the Separate churches passed away. 
 
 At a later date, when these seceding societies had been organized and 
 their doctrines and practice had been digested and settled, the causes of 
 dissatisfaction were thus stated : 
 
 1 . Neglect of church discipline. 
 
 2. Coldness and want of application in preaching. 
 
 3. The qualifications necessary to church membership. 
 
 4. Private brethren being debarred the privilege of exhortation and prayer. 
 
 5. The laws of the state. 
 
 JThe complaints specially preferred against Mr. Lord were mostly crude, 
 trifling, and exceptional: "Not speaking up for that which is good;" "not 
 praying for their meetings;" "not a friend to lively preaching and preach- 
 ers."* 
 
 This last objection might be a fault or a virtue, according to the mean- 
 ing attached to the term lively. It is evident that Sir. Lord and his party 
 understood by it that passionate, denunciatory and discursive style of 
 exhortation, accompanied with bodily seizures and excesses, which was 
 common in the New Light meetings ; and entertaining this view of lively 
 preaching, it is not surprising that they were among its opponents.f 
 
 "Oct. 17, 1745. The Church voted all the reasons insufficient, and the Separation 
 uncharitable and unwarrantable ; an ofiFence to Christ the Head of the Church, and a 
 disorderly walking." 
 
 * An error has been circulated to some considerable extent, that Dr. Lord was un- 
 friendly ' ' to lowli/ preaching and preachers," — the word lowly being explained to mean 
 "the preaching of uneducated men and laymen." See Notes on the Baptists of Nor- 
 wich, by Rev. F. Denison, p. 21, and Hovey's Memoir of the Life and Times of Eev. 
 Isaac Backus, p. 43. This has all originated from a mis-reading of the MS. recoid, 
 where the word, however, is lively, and not lowly. The error in this case is not of mo- 
 ment, since doubtless no injustice is done to the reverend pastor, in attributing to him 
 a, want of sympathy with an uncommissioned, unlearned ministry; but it shows the 
 necessity of care and caulion in transcribing MS. documents, as the mistake of a word 
 may cast upon character a stigma wholly unmerited. 
 
 t Rev. Jacob Elliot of Lebanon (Goshen Society) in his Almanac Diary notices a 
 visit that he had from a party of New Lights who came to deal with him for his oppo- 
 sition to the work. The complaints they urged against him were chiefly these : unapt- 
 ness to teach, and opening his eyes in prayer. 
 
■falSTORT OP NORWICH. 821 
 
 The thirteen offending members were subsequently all suspended from 
 the church. They were : 
 
 Hugh Calkins. James Backus. 
 
 Jedidiah Hyde. Isaac Backus. 
 
 William Lathrop. John Leffingwell, Jr. 
 
 Samuel Leffingwell. Daniel ChRpman. 
 
 Joseph Griswold. Phebe, wife of Hugh Calkins. 
 
 John Smith. Lydia, wife of Joseph Kelley. 
 Widow Elizabeth Backus. 
 
 Mary, wife of William Lothrop, and Anne Hough, were subsequently 
 suspended. 
 
 Dea. Hezekiah Huntington was also a disciple of the New Light, but it 
 does not appear that he withdrew from the church, or was under censure. 
 Backus says of him, " Huntington had been greatly engaged in the reform- 
 ation, and continued stedfast therein all his days." 
 
 It was during the first four or five days of August, 1745, that White- 
 field was first in Norwich, tarrying probably but a few hours. He held a 
 great Indian meeting at Mohegan, aad perhaps spent a day with Mr. 
 Jewett of the North Parish, and was at New London Aug. 8th. A reso- 
 lution had been passed by the General Association of Connecticut, the 
 June preceding his visit, advising the clergy not to invite him to their 
 pulpits, and the people not to attend on his ministrations. It is doubtful, 
 therefore, whether he preached at this time in Norwich ; if he did, it was 
 probably in the open air, or among the New Lights. 
 
 The Separatists soon began to gather into churches. At Bean HiU 
 they erected a plain but respectable house of worship. It had no spire, 
 no bell, nor pews, but was furnished with a pulpit and comfortable seats. 
 The church was organized with thirty male members, and Jedidiah Hide 
 ordained their minister, Oct. 30, 1747. 
 
 Thomas Denison was ordained at Norwich Farms, Oct. 29, 1747. A 
 Separate Church was formed at Newent in 1750, with seven members or 
 pillars, and Jeremiah Tracy, one of the seven, chosen to preach and ad- 
 minister the ordinances to them, — a work which the regular Newent 
 church, in their records, solemnly declare that they believe the Lord had 
 not called him to do. Mr. Willoughby was afterwards their minister, but 
 the zeal of the leaders soon declined, and the congregation gradually fell 
 away. 
 
 In Long Society, Jonathan Story was ordained by the Separates, May 
 20, 1752. Meetings were held in that society, but it is not known that a 
 church was organized. 
 
 In the society of New 'Concord, where Mr. Throop was pastor, no 
 church was formed, but a Separate meeting was sustaLaed for several 
 21 
 
322 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 years, which became the seed from whence a Baptist church ultimately 
 originated. 
 
 Thus it appears that the Separatists gathered five distinct meetings or 
 congregations within the nine-miles-square : at Norwich Town, Franklin, 
 Lisbon, Bozrah, and Long Society. The two last were soon extinct, hav- 
 ing probably no church organization. The whole eastern part of Con- 
 necticut shared in the seceding movement, and twenty or thirty churches 
 were organized. 
 
 The following memoranda relating to the Bean Hill Separatists are 
 taken from a paper on file among the records of the First Congregational 
 Church : 
 
 1745. Feb. 10. Began at Hugh Calkins the first Separation. 
 1747. Oct. 30. Mr. Hide was ordained. 
 1757. Sept. 22. Mr. Hide was deposed. 
 1759. Aug. 17. Mr. John Fuller was ordained. 
 1762. Dec. 22. Mr. Reynolds was ordained. 
 
 1766. Not. 8. Mr. Reynolds embraced the Baptist principles and was baptized. 
 1772. June 9. Last time of his Communion. 
 
 Met and had meetings till 15 March, 1788, when they met in the character of Uni- 
 Tersalists. 
 
 Mr. Fuller had been ordained at Lyme, Dec. 25, 1747. The service 
 at Bean Hill in 1759 must therefore have been of the nature of an instal- 
 lation. He was an excellent man and a good preacher, but remained in 
 Norwich only two or three years, and then became pastor of a church in 
 Plainfield, where he died in 1777. Under the changeful teachings of his 
 successor, Mr. Reynolds, the Bean Hill church languished, fainted, and 
 expired. 
 
 Its most flourishing period was from 1750 to 1754 inclusive. The fol- 
 lowing extracts from the journal of Mi. Isaac Backus, one of the thirteen 
 seceders from Dr. Lord's church, refer to this Bean HiU meeting : 
 
 Jan. 17, 1753. I would here review a little what I have seen at Norwich. This last 
 year the enemies have done more at haling the saints to prison for rates, than they have 
 done over before since our Separation ; but it is remarkably evident that, as it was with 
 Israel, so it has been here : " The more they oppressed them, the more they grew." 
 This congregation, I think, is nearly as large again as it was the last time I was here 
 before. 
 
 Sept. 15, 1754. Preached both parts of the day in brother Hide's meetmg-honse, W 
 the lai'gest auditory which I ever saw there.t 
 
 * Bliss Willoughby, one of the Separate Teachers, is supposed to have occupied 
 the pulpit for a short time between Mr. Hide's deposition and Mr. Fuller's service. 
 
 t Memoir of the Life and Times of Rev. Isaac Backus, A. M. By Alvah Eovey, 
 D. D. Boston, 1858. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 323 
 
 As the Separate churches were not recognized by the Legislature, the 
 members were still taxed to support their former ministers, and this led to 
 various instances of petty persecution and private suffering, imprisonment 
 and distraining of goods, the memory of which is still hoarded and per- 
 haps aggravated by tradition. At Norwich the number of Separates was 
 considerable, and their influence still greater, so that at one period they 
 out-voted the standing regular church, and declared that they would not 
 support a minister by a tax. The other party appealed to the Legisla- 
 ture, and obtained an order to enforce the rates. Violent commotions 
 were the consequence, and it is said that no less than forty persons were 
 imprisoned on this account in one season. There was perhaps no town in 
 the colony where the conflict between the standing order, supported by the 
 civil authority, and the enthusiasts, was more vehement and protracted 
 than at Norwich. 
 
 An aggravated case of this kind was that of the widow Elizabeth 
 Backus, one of the first company of seceders, and a zealous partizan of 
 the cause. Her son had previously suffered an imprisonment of twenty 
 days, and herself, on a dark night in October, 1752, about nine o'clock, 
 was seized by the collector, carried to jail, and kept there thirteen days. 
 Her tax was then paid, but without her consent, by her son-in-law, Gen. 
 Jabez Huntington. At a subsequent period, her grandson, Gen. Jedidiah 
 Huntington, pledged himself to pay her rates annually, that the venerable 
 lady might not be disturbed by any solicitations for that purpose. This 
 lady was mother of the Eev. Isaac Backus, of Middleborough, Mass., 
 who, in his Church History, has preserved a letter from her, giving an 
 account of her imprisonment, and the abundant measure of divine support 
 that she received under it. She states that Mr. Griswold, deacon of the 
 Separate Church, and Messrs. Hill, Sabin and Grover, were imprisoned at 
 the same time. Mr. Backus adds, " They went on in such ways for about 
 eight years, until the spiritual weapons of truth and love vanquished those 
 carnal weapons, which have not been so used in Norwich since." 
 
 The last instance of distrainment that is remembered to have taken 
 place, was in the case of Mr. Ezekiel Barrett, who died in 1838, at the 
 age of ninety-five. He had refused to pay the usual rates, and was 
 arrested at the court-house, just at the close of a town meeting. He made 
 an obstinate resistance, and it took the constable and six other men to 
 convey him to jail. He was considerably bruised in the scuffle, and by 
 being dragged upon the frozen ground. After a week's imprisonment, he 
 gave his note for the sum demanded, and was released. Subsequently he 
 refused to pay the note, alleging that it was forced from him by oppres- 
 sion. It was sued at law, and his cow taken and sold at the post to pay 
 the rate and costs. 
 
 It is undoubtedly this instance which has given rise to the reports that 
 
324 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 these taxes were always rigorously exacted, even to tlie seizure of the 
 poor man's cow and his last bushel of grain. The cases above mentioned 
 are believed to be the only ones that occurred in which great severity was 
 exercised. Dr. Lord always treated the Separatists with kindness and 
 respect, and this led the way to the restoration of a considerable number 
 of them to his church. 
 
 Before the final extinction of the Separate church, a small party seceded 
 from these seceders, and embraced the doctrine of the universal salvation 
 of all mankind, or the final restoration of all to a state of happiness. They 
 held their meetings in the large front kitchen of the house then occupied 
 by Mr. Ebenezer Grover, and still known as the old Grover house. Here 
 Mr. Hide used occasionally to hold meetings, and afler him Mr. Gamaliel 
 Reynolds. The latter was a stone-mason by trade, a man of no educa- 
 tion, but of considerable native talent. He was one of that original class 
 of men, — keen, witty, and observing; famed for humorous sallies, and 
 those apt remarks that are treasured up and retailed as sayings, of which 
 the present day seems to exhibit fewer specimens than of yore. Norwich 
 in former days possessed many of these original characters, both of the 
 whimsical and shrewd species. Mr. Reynolds died May 7, 1805, aged 
 eighty-one. 
 
 After the introduction of Universalism into the Separate meetings, a 
 considerable number of the members returned to their old home in the 
 Congregational church, and were received with cordiality. Among these 
 was the venerable Joseph Griswold, deacon of the late Separate church, 
 who had been an early and zealous advocate of the New Light, and before 
 his suspension had interrupted Mr. Lord in the midst of one of his ser- 
 mons, to declare his dissent from something that he said. It was scarcely 
 expected that he would ever re-connect himself with his former associates) 
 and it created considerable emotion in the meeting-house, when, for the 
 fijst time after his secession, his gray locks were seen in the old man's seat 
 As he was somewhat deaf, he soon afterward asked permission of the young 
 pastor to go up the pulpit stairs and lean over the door while he was preach- 
 ing, that he might hear more distinctly. Mr. Strong immediately invited 
 him to take a seat in the pulpit, which he ever afterwards did, when able 
 to attend meeting. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Miscellaneous Gatherings. 
 
 The first person who set up a chaise in Norwich was one Samuel Brown; 
 he was fined for riding in it to meeting. In those simple and severe days, 
 the rolling of wheels through the streets was considered a breach of the 
 Sabbath. It would undoubtedly have a tendency to attract attention, and 
 cause the thoughts to wander from the peculiar duties of the day. If a 
 man at the present time should arrive in town on Saturday night in a bal- 
 loon, and go to meeting in it on Sunday, it would be a similar case. Brown 
 died in 1804, aged ninety. Col. Simon Lathrop also rode in a chaise at a 
 very early period, but his efieminacy in this respect was excused on ac- 
 count of the feeble health of his wife. At the period of the revolution, 
 only six chaises, or as they are now called, gigs, were owned in the place. 
 The owners of these six were, 1st, Gen. Jabez Huntington ; this gig was 
 large, low, square-bodied, and studded with brass nails that had square 
 and flat heads, — it was the first in town that had a top which could be 
 thrown back. 2d, Col. Hezekiah Huntington. 3d, Dr. Daniel Lathrop ; 
 this was regarded as a splendid vehicle, — it had a yellow body, with a red 
 morocco top, and a window upon one side. 4th, Dr. Theophilus Rogers. 
 6th, Elijah Backus, Esq. 6th, Nathaniel Backus, Esq., of Chelsea ; this 
 afterwards belonged to Capt. Seth Harding. Within the same limits, at a 
 later period, between three and four hundred gigs were owned at the same 
 time. Probably no town in the Union, of equal size, could turn out as 
 many. Mechanics, farmers, and in general every thriving, well-to-do 
 householder, owned a horse and chaise. This species of vehicle has since 
 given place to the wagon, buggy, and other four-wheeled carriages. 
 
 The visits of the first Governor Trumbull to Norwich were customarily 
 made in one of these square-bodied, square-topped, two-wheeled, one- 
 horse carriages, almost as substantial in structure as a house. His equi- 
 page was well known to the inhabitants, and there was always a great 
 running to the doors, and bowings and curtseyings as the grand old chaise 
 rolled steadily along, with the Governor and usually one of his family at 
 his side, — Madam Trumbull, or a young daughter, for after 1770 he had 
 two children : Joseph Trumbull, the young merchant, and Faith, the wife 
 
326 HISTOBT OF NOKWICH. 
 
 of Jedldiah Huntington, settled in Norwich. They had also other friends 
 and relatives in the place, with whom visits were often exchanged. 
 
 This Governor Trumbull was the original ^^ Brother Jonathan" — a 
 name casually given by "Washington, but which has become the familiar 
 pass-word abroad for all Americans. 
 
 The first druggist in Norwich, and probably the first in Connecticut who 
 kept any general assortment of medicines for sale, was Dr. Daniel La- 
 throp. This gentleman graduated at Tale in 1733, and soon afterward 
 went to Europe, where he prosecuted his medical studies in London. On 
 his return, after an absence of several years, he brought with him a large 
 quantity of medicines, as well as various other merchantable goods, and 
 established himself in business in his native place. His shop was on the 
 main street, near his family residence. 
 
 Dr. Lathrop furnished a part of the surgical stores to the northern army 
 in the French war. He often received orders from New York. His 
 drugs were always of the best kind, well prepared, packed and forwarded 
 in the neatest manner. This was the only apothecary's establishment on 
 the route from New York to Boston, and of course Dr. Lathrop had a 
 great run of custom, often filling orders sent from the distance of a hund- 
 red miles in various directions. It is related that in 1749, when a malig- 
 nant epidemic was prevailing in several of the western towns of the col- 
 ony, the Rev. Mark Leavenworth, pastor of the church in Waterbury, 
 incited by the suffering condition of many of his people for want of suit- 
 able medicines to arrest the distemper, came to Norwich on horseback to 
 obtain a supply, performing the journey hither and back in three days.* 
 This fact alone is sufficient to show that no drug-store then existed either 
 in New Haven or Hartford, and corroborates the statement often made by 
 aged people in Norwich, that Dr. Lathrop's was the first establishment of 
 the kind in the colony. 
 
 Joshua Lathrop, a younger brother of Dr. Daniel, after graduating at 
 Yale in 1743, became connected with him in business, and no mercantile 
 firm in this vicinity had a more solid reputation than the brothers La- 
 throp.f They imported not only medicines, but fruits, wines, European 
 and India goods, directly from England ; one of the firm, or a skillful 
 agent, often crossing the ocean to select the stock. After a few years 
 
 * Branson's History of Waterbury, p. 325. 
 
 t With Dr. Lathrop commenced the change of orthography in the name, which soon 
 became -universal among the descendants of the proprietor Samuel Lothrop. The new 
 form will bo henceforth used in this work, except when speaking of those early settlers 
 that never wrote their names otherwise than with the o. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 327 
 
 they relinquislied the trade in miscellanous merchandise, and confined 
 themselves in a great measure to the drug business.* 
 
 Benedict Arnold, Jr., and Solomon Smith were apprentices to Dr. La- 
 throp at the same period. Arnold subsequently set up the business in 
 New Haven. Smith went to Hartford and established a drug-store in 
 connection with Dr. Lathrop, who furnished the first stock. This was in 
 1757. 
 
 The following is one of their advertisements : 
 
 "Just imported from London in the last ship, via New York, and to be sold by 
 Lothrop & Smith, at their store in King st. Hartford, Ct. — A large and universal assort- 
 ment of medicines, genuiue and of the best kind ; together with complete sets of Sur- 
 geon's Capital and Pocket instruments ; very neat instruments for drawing teeth, metal 
 mortars, small scales and weights ; all sorts of spice and choice Turkey figs ; a variety 
 of painter's colours and many other artioles."t 
 
 In 1776 the firm in Norwich was changed from Daniel & Joshua La- 
 throp to Lathrops & Coit ; their nephew, Joseph Coit, Jr., having been 
 associated with them in business. The younger partner died in 1779, in 
 the 30th year of his age, and the former title was resumed.^ 
 
 The wife of Dr. Daniel Lathrop was Jerusha, daughter of Governor 
 Talcot of Hartford. They had three promising sons, cut down like flowers 
 of the field, almost at a single sweep of the scythe, before the oldest had 
 attained the age of four years. This was all their offspring, and the blow 
 saddened though it did not embitter the feelings of this benevolent couple. 
 
 Dr. Lathrop died in 1782. Madam Lathrop long survived him, and 
 was regarded with universal esteem and veneration. Her death took 
 place in 1806. The early childhood of a gifted daughter of Norwich, 
 Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, was passed under the roof of this excellent lady. 
 Having lost her own children, in their infancy, she lavished all her mater- 
 nal affection and fostering care on this child of her heart, who repaid her 
 tenderness with filial veneration, and has embalmed her memory in hal- 
 lowed verse.§ 
 
 * The invoice of. drugs imported by them in one vessel was £8000. It is not prob- 
 able however that they had supplies to this amount every year. 
 
 t New London Summary, July 11, 1760. 
 
 Dr. Sylvanus Gardiner of Boston also established a drug-store at Hartford, in con- 
 nection with a junior partner, in May, 1757. The two firms were Lothrop & Smith, 
 King St. ; Gardiner & Jepson, Queen St. They appear to have been eimultaneoua 
 establishments, and neither can claim precedence of the other. 
 
 t He left a wife and infant daughter ; the latter married Nathaniel Rowland. 
 
 § Ezekiel Huntley and Zerviah Wentworth, both of Norwich, were married Nov. 28, 
 1790. Lydia, their daughter and only child, was born Sept. 1, 1791, while hfir parents 
 were living under the same roof with Madam Lathrop. She was married to Charles 
 Sigourney of Hartford, June 16, 1819. 
 
328 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 The will of Dr. Daniel Lathrop contained a bequest of £500 sterling 
 to Yale College, £500 to the town of Norwich for the support of a free 
 Grammar School, and £500 also to the First Ecclesiastical Society of the 
 town to assist in supporting the ministry. 
 
 Daniel and Joshua Lathrop were of the fourth generation of the name 
 in Norwich, — sons of Thomas Lathrop, who died May 25, 1774, aged 
 ninety-three. They had one sister, who married Joseph Coit of New 
 London. 
 
 Joseph and Lydia (Lathrop) Coit were the parents of Dr. Joseph Coit, 
 before mentioned ; of Thomas Coit, merchant of Norwich and Canterbury; 
 of the late Daniel L. Coit of Norwich, and of the Hon. Joshua Coit of 
 New London. They had also three daughters, who in due season were 
 transferred to Norwich as the wives of William Hubbard, Christopher 
 Leffingwell, and Andrew Huntington. 
 
 The removal of these daughters to Norwich, the native place of their 
 mother, and the increasing hazards of the seaboard in those days of alarm 
 and invasion, ultimately drew Mr. Coit and most of the family hither. 
 
 Capt. Joseph Coit, the father, died at Norwich, 27th of April, 1787, in 
 the ninetieth year of his age. Joshua, the youngest son, remained in 
 New London, and was a member of Congress from the year 1793 to his 
 death in 1798. 
 
 Africans. The colored population of Norwich was more numerous 
 than in most northern towns. It consisted partly of free blacks, accruing 
 from previous occasional manumissions, and partly of persons still held in 
 servitude and bought and sold as property. From bills of sale that are 
 extant, and from the valuation made in inventories, we learn that in the 
 early part of the century the price for slaves ranged from 60«. to £30. 
 After this the value increased, and the best were rated at £100. The 
 Rev. William Hart of Saybrook in 1749 purchased a negro boy of Jabez 
 Huntington of Norwich, for whom he paid £290, old tenor ; but this was 
 a depreciated currency, probably not worth more than a fifth of its nom- 
 inal value in silver coin. At a later period the price of a servant was 
 considerably enhanced. 
 
 Captains John and Matthew Perkins, of Hanover Society, had each 
 what was called a house-full of slaves. The former, known as "big Cap- 
 tain John," died in 1761. His inventory enumerates his African servants, 
 Tamar, Zibii, Jehu, Selah, &c., to the number of fifteen, the best valued 
 at £50. Probably no larger number than this could be found in any one 
 family in the county. 
 
 Capt. Alatthew Perkins was a large landholder, a man of energetic 
 character, and like his brother, strong and powerful in frame. " He died 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 329 
 
 [in 1773] from lockjaw caused by a bite on the thumb which he received 
 from a young negro slave whom he was chastising for some fault."* 
 
 It was not until near the era of the Revolution that the reasonableness 
 and equity of holding the African race in durance began to be questioned 
 by the citizens. At length it was whispered about that it was inconsistent 
 to complain of political oppression, and yet withhold from others the privi- 
 leges to which they were entitled ; to fight for liberty, and yet refuse it to 
 a portion of the human family. 
 
 Communications on this subject, bold and even eloquent, appeared in 
 the newspapers, of which one from the Norwich Packet will serve as a 
 specimen : 
 
 July 7, 1774. To all those who call themselves Sons of Liberty in America, Greet- 
 ing : 
 
 My Friends. We know in some good measure the inestimable value of liberty. But 
 were we once deprived of her, she would then appear mnch more valuable than she now 
 appears. We also see her, standing as it were tiptoe on the highest bough ready for 
 flight. Why is she departing? What is it that disturbs her repose 1 Surely some foul 
 monster of hideous shape, and hateful kind, opposite in its nature to hers, with all its 
 frightful appearances and properties, iron hands and leaden feet, formed to gripe and 
 crush, hath intruded itself into her peaceful habitation and ejected her. Surely this 
 inust be the case, for we know oppositions cannot dwell together. Is it not time, high 
 time to search for this Achan ? this disturber of Israel "i High time, I say, to examine 
 for the cause of those dark and gloomy appearances that cast a shade over our glory. 
 And is not this it? Are we not guilty of the same crime we impute to others ? Of 
 the same facts that we say are unjust, cruel, arbitrary, despotic, and without law, in 
 others ? Paul argued in this manner : — " Thou therefore that teachest another, teach- 
 est thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal ? 
 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law, dishonorest thou 
 God? " And may we not use the same mode of argument and say — We that declare 
 (and that with much warmth and zeal) it is unjust, cruel, barbarous, unconstitutional, 
 and without law, to enslave, do we enslave ? — Yes, verily we do ? A black cloud witness- 
 eth against us and our own mouths condemn us I How preposterous our conduct ! How 
 vain and hypocritical our pretences ! Can we expect to be free, so long as we are de- 
 termined to enslave ? Honesty. 
 
 Under the influence of this new phase of public opinion and individual 
 responsibility, several persons voluntarily liberated their slaves and made 
 them some compensation for former services. 
 
 "Dec. 1774. Mr. Samuel Gager, of Norwich, from a conscientious regard to justice, 
 has lately liberated three faithful slaves, and as a compensation for their services, leased 
 them a very valuable farm on very moderate terms. Mr. -Jonathan Avery also eman- 
 cipated an able industrious negro man, from the same noble principle." 
 
 An act of the Legislature, prescribing the rules and regulations under 
 which emancipation should take place, was passed in ] 777, and several 
 
 * Perkins' Genealogy, Hist. & Gen. Eeg., 14, 114. 
 
330 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 instances of liberation in accordance with the provisions of this statute* 
 are on record at Norwich, — such as : 
 
 "Liberty given by the Select men to Jabez Huntington Esq. to emancipate a negro 
 man named Guy, Oct. 2, 1780." 
 
 " Liberty to Col. Joshua Huntington to emancipate his negro servant, Bena, Jane 
 26, 1781." 
 
 In 1784, the State passed an act for the gradual abolition of slavery; 
 declaring all bom after that period free at twenty-five years of age, and 
 allowing masters to emancipate all between twenty-five and forty-five. 
 
 In 1800, forty-seven slaves remained in the State. But in the year 
 1848, slavery had entirely disappeared, and was declared by the Legisla- 
 ture extinct and forever abolished. 
 
 But whether slaves or freemen, the Africans of Norwich have always 
 been treated with forbearance and lenity. They have been particularly 
 indulged in their annual elections and trainings. In former times, the 
 ceremony of a mock election of a negro governor, created no little excite- 
 ment in their ranks. The servants for the time being assumed the relative 
 rank and condition of their masters, and were allowed to use the horses 
 and many of the military trappings of their owners. Provisions, decora- 
 tions, fruits and liquors were liberally surrendered to them. Great elec- 
 tioneering prevailed, parties often ran high, stump harangues were made, 
 and a vast deal of ceremony expended in counting the votes, proclaiming 
 the result, and inducting the candidate into office, — the whole too often 
 terminating in a drunken frolic, if not a fight. 
 
 A very decent grave-stone in the public burial-ground bears this inscrip- 
 tion : 
 
 " In memory of Boston Trowtrow, Governor of the African tribe in this town, who 
 died 1772, aged 66." 
 
 After the death of this person, Sam Huriton was annually elected to 
 this mock dignity for a much greater number of years than his honorable 
 namesake and master, Samuel Huntington, Esq., fiUed the gubernatorial 
 chair. It was amusing to see this sham dignitary after his election, riding 
 
 * Capt. William Browne, a noted loyalist of Salem, Mass., connected with the Win- 
 throp family of New London, was the proprietor of a large tract of land lying south of 
 Colchester, wbich formed almost a parish of itself, and was called by the owner New 
 Salem. It is now in the town of Salem, Ct. A portion of it under cultivation had 
 been leased for a term of years, with nine slaves as laborers upon it. When this land 
 was confiscated in 1779, on account of the toryism of the proprietor, the slaves peti- 
 tioned the Legislature, through Benjamin Huntington, the administrator on confiscated 
 estates, for their liberty. The petition was not granted, but the slaves had the benefit 
 of the new laws regulating emancipation, and it is supposed that they were all set freo 
 sooner or later. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 331 
 
 through the town on one of his master's horses, adorned with plaited gear, 
 his aids on each side, a la militaire, himself puffing and swelling with pom- 
 posity, sitting bolt upright, and moving with a slow, majestic pace, as if 
 the universe was looking on. When he mounted or dismounted, his aWs 
 flew to his assistance, holding his bridle, putting his feet into the stirrup, 
 and bowing to the ground before him. The Great Mogul, in a triumphal 
 procession, never assumed an air of more perfect self-importance than the 
 negro Governor at such a time. 
 
 We must not leave this subject without recording the name of Leb Quy, 
 a native of Africa, and a trusty continental soldier. He served during 
 three years of the war, and was one of the town's quota in 1780 and 
 1781. 
 
 Amusements. Elections, training-days and thanksgivings were the cus- 
 tomary holidays of New England ; and at these times various athletic 
 -exercises gave vent to the restless spirits of an active and energetic race. 
 The sports of men and boys were of a boisterous character. Shooting at 
 marks, horse-racing, wrestling, running, leaping, baU-playing, were favorite 
 amusements. 
 
 The annual Thanksgiving was a day of great hilarity, although its time- 
 honored essential characteristic was a sermon. A peculiar adjunct of this 
 festival in Norwich was a barrel bonfire. A lofty pole was erected, around 
 which a pyramid of old barrels was arranged,^ — large at the platform, but 
 a single barrel well tarred forming the apex. The burning of this pile 
 constituted the revelry or triumphant part of the entertainment, and was 
 considered by the young as indispensable to a finished Thanksgiving. 
 When built upon the plain, the whole valley was lighted up by the blaze, 
 like a regal saloon : and when upon a height, the column of flame sent 
 forth a flood of light over woods and vales, houses and streams below, 
 producing a truly picturesque effect. 
 
 No jovial excursions during the year were so common as sleighing par- 
 ties. The snow-season was expected to bring with it leisure and merri- 
 ment. The sleighs were broad and roomy, with straight, perpendicular 
 sides, and a sharp point ; the driver usually standing erect. Plaid wool- 
 len coverlids performed the part of buffaio-robes. The place of enter- 
 tainment was from five to fifteen miles from home ; several sleighs were 
 often near together on the road ; passing each other, exchanging shouts, 
 and light hilarious greetings, or perchance bandying snow-balls as they 
 passed. 
 
 In ante-revolutionary times, the half-way houses between Norwich and 
 New London, — Raymond's, Bradford's, Haughton's, — were often the ter- 
 minus of these excursions. In later days the Hyde tavern in Franklin 
 
332 HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 
 
 was a chosen resort, and rhymes were made and sung in honor of its 
 festivities. 
 
 * " What pleasure is greatest ? My fancy decides, 
 
 A party select and a sleigh-ride to Hyde's." 
 
 These pastimes were joyous, and often noisy and dashing, but seldom 
 coarse or rude. Our New England towns have had no rowdy period ; no 
 such boorish, half-barbaric season as is almost a necessity to the emigrants 
 who push into the forests of the far West, and begin life as hunters and 
 pioneers. 
 
 In Norwich there was perhaps a tendency to the other extreme, — an 
 epicurean fancy savoring of their English ancestry. Private parties on a 
 hospitable scale were frequent, and references have been found to tripe- 
 suppers and turtle-entertainments where friends and neighbors were splen- 
 didly regaled a hundred years ago.* 
 
 Wedding festivities were usually continued through the day and eve- 
 ning, and not unfrequently prolonged for two or three days. A news- 
 paper has preserved the statistics of one of these hymeneal entertain- 
 ments, and though the scene was not at Norwich, it was so near that we 
 may be quite sure many of its upper class of fashion and distinction par- 
 ticipated in the festival. 
 
 " A great wedding dance took place at New London at the house of Nathaniel Shaw 
 Esq. June 1 2, 1 769, the day after the marriage of his son Daniel Shaw and Grace Coit^ 
 92 gentlemen and ladies attended, and danced 92 jigs, 52 contra-dances, 45 minuets 
 and 17 horn-pipes, and retired at 45 minutes past midnight." 
 
 In that middle period between the strict Puritan times and the Eevolu- 
 tion, dancing was a common diversion of young people. Balls and mid- 
 night revels were interdicted ; but neighborly dances, either with or with- 
 out a fiddler, often a part of the company singing for the others to dance, 
 — contra-dances, reels, or jigs, improvised on some oak floor in kitchen or 
 hall, — ending in a treat of nuts, apples, and cider, — these were allowable 
 pastimes for the winter evenings. 
 
 Dancing also to a greater extent and with more elaborate display was 
 permitted, as we have seen, at weddings and thanksgivings, doubtless also 
 at other large and ceremonious entertainments, but without the objection- 
 able accompaniment, except in very rare instances, of late hours. 
 
 An ordination ball, strange as it may sound, was allowed in some places 
 as a finale to the festivities on the occasion of settling a minister ; but 
 there is no proof that this enormity was ever perpetrated in Norwich. 
 
 * An advertisement of a brown camlet riding-hood lost at a turtle entertainment at 
 Mr. Matthew Leffingwell's, appears in the Norwich Packet, August, 1779. 
 
HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 333 
 
 At the period immediately preceding the Eevolution, social intercourse 
 was on the most easy and delightful footing, in both divisions of the town. 
 Visits were frequent, long, and familiar. The customs, in some respects, 
 were the reverse of the present. The visit was made, and the visitors 
 returned home by daylight. Instead of the lady giving out invitations to 
 her guests, the guests sent word to the lady, (all the neighborhood joining 
 together on such occasions,) that they would come and spend the after- 
 noon with her. 
 
 Fashions. The dress of that middle period can not be eulogized for its 
 simplicity or economy. The wardrobe of the higher circles was rich and 
 extravagant, and among the females of all classes there was a passion for 
 gathering and hoarding articles of attire beyond what was necessary for 
 present use, or even for years ahead. It was an object of ambition to 
 have a chest full of linen, a piUow-bier of stockings, and other articles in 
 proportion laid by. 
 
 In this connection we present a schedule of the wardrobe of "Widow 
 Elizabeth White of Norwich," as contained in the inventory of her eflfects, 
 taken Aug. 16, 1757. She was a daughter of Samuel Bliss, and relict of 
 Daniel White of Middletown. After the death of her husband in 1726 
 she returned to Norwich, and there died, July 2, 1757, aged 71. The 
 items of jewelry, plate and apparel were circumstantially enumerated, but 
 we give them in an abridged form. 
 
 She had gowns of brown duroy, striped stuff, plaid stuff, black silk 
 crape, cahco, and blue camlet ; a scarlet cloak, blue cloak, satin-flowered 
 mantle, and furbelow scarf; a woollen petticoat with calico border; a 
 camlet riding-hood, long silk hood, velvet hood, white hoods trimmed with 
 lace, a silk bonnet, and 19 caps ; a cambrick laced handkerchief, silk do., 
 linen do., 16 handkerchiefs in all; a muslin laced apron, flowered laced 
 apron, green taffety apron, 14 aprons in all; a silver ribband, silver girdle 
 and blue girdle ; 4 pieces of flowered satin ; a parcel of crewel ; a women's 
 fan: 
 
 Turkey-worked chairs : 
 
 A gold necklace ; death's head gold ring ; plain gold ring ; sett of gold 
 sleeve-buttons ; gold locket ; silver hair peg ; silver cloak clasps ; a stone 
 button set in silver : 
 
 A large silver tankard ; a silver cup with two handles, do. with one 
 handle, and a large silver spoon. 
 
 At the period of this inventory there was still a certain homeliness and 
 frugality apparent, even in the fashionable attire of the day. But in the 
 next generation richer goods were imported and more splendor was exhib- 
 ited. The following is an illustrative instance: 
 
834 HISTOBT OF NORWICH. 
 
 The daughters of General Jabez Huntington* were sent successively, 
 at the ages of fourteen or fifteen years, to finish their education at a 
 boarding school in Boston. The lady who kept the establishment was of 
 high social standing, and made it a point of taking her pupils often into 
 company, that their manners might be formed according to the prevailing 
 codes of politeness and etiquette. Of course the wardrobe prepared for 
 the young ladies was rich in articles of ornament and display. One of 
 the daughters, who had been carefully fitted out with twelve silk gowns, 
 had been but a short time in Boston, when her instructress wrote to her 
 parents, requesting that another dress should be procured for her, made of 
 a certain rich fabric that had recently been imported, in order that her 
 appearance in society might be equal to her rank. A thirteenth robe of 
 silk of the requisite pattern was therefore immediately procured and for- 
 warded. 
 
 Before the Revolution, wigs fuU and curled, for clergymen and other 
 dignitaries, white and powdered, red cloaks or roquelaurs, and buckles or 
 bows of ribbon at the knees and in the shoes, were worn by gentlemen. 
 Even young boys were often arrayed in cocked hats, small clothes, and 
 knee-buckles. 
 
 On ceremonious occasions, if wigs were not worn, gentlemen had their 
 hair craped, curled and powdered by barbers. A full dress for gentlemen 
 was mostly made of silk, with trimmings of gold and silver lace, the waist- 
 coat often richly embroidered. 
 
 Ladies wore trains to their gowns, often quite long, and when they 
 walked out they threw the end over the right arm. The foot, when prop- 
 erly dressed, displayed a silk stocking, a sharp-toed slipper, often made of 
 embroidered satin, and with a high heel. 
 
 At one period, sharply-gored gowns and cumbrous hoops were in 
 fashion. 
 
 Cushions stuffed with wool and covered with silk were used in, dressing 
 the head, the hair being neatly combed over the cushion.f This mode of 
 dressing the hair made a cal.ash necessary instead of a bonnet. This was 
 large and wide, a vast receptacle for wind, and an awkward article of 
 
 • Aftorwards Mrs. Col. Chester of Wethersfield, and Mrs. Dr. Strong of Norwich; 
 the former born in 1757, the latter in 1760. 
 t A rhymester of the day, describing his imaginary love as a lady of fashion, says ; 
 I mean she should wear 
 A crape cushion for hair, 
 I wish she might spell 
 And read pretty well. 
 That my billet she may not mistake : 
 And the skin of my dear 
 Be as smooth and as clear 
 As chalk-eating can cleverly make. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 335 
 
 attire, but often shrouding a health-beaming face in its depth, needing no 
 other ornament than its own good-humored smile.* 
 
 Women of mature age wore close linen caps. Parasols and umbrellas 
 were unknown or of rare occurrence, but a fan nearly a foot and a half 
 in length, and spreading like the train of a peacock, was often carried to 
 keep off the sun, as well as to vivify the air. 
 
 At one period, feathers were much worn upon the head, surmounting a 
 high turban of gauze or muslin raised on wire and adorned also with rib- 
 bons. The wits of Norwich called these young fashionists " the feathered 
 race," and accused them of having their heads "martialized and cocka- 
 tooned." 
 
 A lady in fuU dress for great occasions displayed a rich brocade with 
 open skirt and trail ; front skirt trimmed, an embroidered stomacher and 
 fiiU ruffles at the elbows. Hoods and scarfs were of silk. No sumptuary 
 laws restrained the feminine taste for rich attire in this colony. 
 
 The satirists of the day decried the prevailing extravagance in dress, 
 just as they do at present. They adverted to the costly cloaks, the silk 
 gowns, the powder-puffs and cardinals, th'e silk stockings and other expen- 
 sive feet-trappings, and exclaimed, — Great is the prodigality of the times! 
 They recalled the days of greater simplicity, when instead of the rich 
 cloth roquelaur, even the magistrate and the colonel were satisfied with a 
 cloak of brown camlet, lined with green baize, and the greatest lady in 
 the land had her riding-hood also of camlet. 
 
 As the great struggle for hberty gradually overshadowed the land, and 
 the sacrifices necessary to consummate the revolution began to be appre- 
 ciated, a decided change took place in regard to dress, amusements, and 
 display. "Women discarded all imported ornaments, and arrayed them- 
 selves wholly in domestic goods. Fine wool and choice flax were in 
 higher estimation than silks and laces, and the hearts of patriots as well 
 as the laudations of the poet were given to beauty in homespun garments. 
 
 Gentlemen also that had been accustomed to appear in society in the 
 daintiest costume, following the example first set by the women, discarded 
 their shining stocks, their cambric ruffles, silk stockings, silver buckles, and 
 other articles of foreign production, and went back to leather shoe-strings, 
 checked handkerchiefs, and brown homespun cloth. 
 
 * In a Norwich paper of 1780, the Calash and Cushion are thus covertly ridiculed; 
 Hail, great Calash ! o'erwhelming veil. 
 
 By all-indulgent heaven. 
 To sallow nymphs and maidens stale, 
 
 In sportive kindness given. 
 
 Safe hid beneath thy circling sphere, 
 
 Unseen by mortal eyes, 
 The mingled heap of oil and hair 
 
 And wool and powder lies. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 MiNisTEKS. Rev. Dk. Lobd. Rev. Dr. Steono. 
 
 Dk. Lord preached his half-century sermon Nov. 29, 1767, from 2d 
 Peter, 1 : 12-15. He was then seventy-four years of age, and in firm 
 health and strength. In the fifty-fourth year of his ministry, he had 
 begun to express a wish that a colleague should be provided for him, and 
 this request being now reiterated, Mr. Joseph How was procured as an 
 assistant. Mr. How was then a tutor in Tale College, but a licensed 
 preacher, and possessed of very pleasing oratorical powers. He occupied 
 the pulpit alternately with Dr. Lord during a portion of that year and the 
 next. In May, 1773, Mr. How accepted an invitation to settle as pastor 
 of the South Church in Boston, and Dr. Lord was left without any regu- 
 lar assistant until near the close of 1777, when a new effort was made, 
 and Mr. Joseph Strong procured to act as colleague.* 
 
 On the sixty-first anniversary of his ordination, he deKvered a second 
 retrospective discourse, which was printed and entitled : 
 
 " The Aged Minister's Solemn Appeal to Grod and serious address to his people." 
 
 In 1781, he favored the congregation with a sixty-fourth anniversary 
 sermon, but it was not published. After this period, infirmity came fast 
 upon him. In his eighty-seventh year his eye-sight failed him, and he 
 preached ever afterwards extemporaneously. He however continued to 
 write his discourses, keeping his place upon the paper with his left hand, 
 and though the lines could not be very straight, and the words frequently 
 ran over each other, his grand-daughter Caroline used to study it out, and 
 then read it over slowly and repeatedly to him, until it was sufficiently 
 imprinted on his memory to enable him to deliver it with fluency from the 
 pulpit. It was observed by his people that the sermons thus preached 
 were some of his best; for generally Mr. Lord's style was diffuse and 
 somewhat reduplicative, but the diflaculty of writing when he had become 
 blind led him to think longer and to condense his thoughts into as few 
 words as possible. His reasoning powers were even at this age very little 
 
 * Among the disbursements of the society is £3 paid Mr. Russell Hubbard for the 
 expense of hia journey up country to see Mr. Strong. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 337 
 
 impaired, and to use the language of one of his most intimate friends, 
 "his meekness, humility, philanthropy and heavenly-mindedness were 
 apparently increased, and he seemed to 
 
 ' Stand with his starry pinions on, 
 Brest for the flight, and ready to be gone.' "* 
 
 He resumed his pastoral labors, at intervals, and being assisted up the 
 pulpit stairs, graced the public worship, with his venerable presence, by 
 the side of his young associate, almost without interruption until his death, 
 which took place March 31, 1784, almost sixty-seven years after his ordi- 
 nation. He was in the ninetieth year of his age. A contemporary notice 
 of his death observes that his last appearance in the sacred desk "was on 
 the Thanksgiving subsequent to the restoration of peace to America, — 
 seemingly by a special Providence gratified in living to such a memorable 
 period, which he had often expressed his wish to see." 
 
 Dr. I/ord was a small man, and in his latter days stooped much, yet hisi 
 appearance was pleasing and interesting. He had a vivid blue eye, keens 
 yet alluring, and a slow, impressive manner of speaking. His dress was . 
 neat. He wore a white wig, and showed conspicuous silver buckles at his . 
 knees and in his shoes. 
 
 Though he lived to old age, his constitution was far from robust, and iiij 
 his early years he was subject to pain and disease. Age, therefore, per-- 
 gonified in him, looked stUl more aged, and no one could approach him/ 
 without being struck with the reverend antiquity of his appearance. His 
 intercourse with his people was hke that of an affectionate father in his 
 family. "I have lived (said he) in their hearts, and they in mine." 
 
 In addition to a sickly frame, he had almost continual sickness in his 
 family. His first wife, Ann, daughter of the Eev. Edward Taylor of 
 Westfield, to whom he was married in 1720, was confined to the bed six- 
 teen years, and eight years of that time was incapable of feeding herself ; 
 but these dispensations were all sanctified to this good man.f He found 
 time to perform well all the regular duties of his office, and in the course 
 of his life published eighteen pamphlets, mostly single sermons, delivered 
 on special occasions.} One was an election sermon, 1761 ; two were 
 anniversary, three funeral, and four ordination sermons. The others 
 were on various subjects. 
 
 • Funeral Sermon by Eev. James Cogswell of Windham. 
 
 t Not the daughter of Mr. Taylor's first wife, Elizabeth Fitch, to whom the Dovt 
 love-letter was sent, but of Mr. Taylor's second wife, Ruth Wyllis of Hartford. It is 
 inscribed on Mrs. Lord's grave-stone, that she died after an illness of sixteen years 
 July 5, 1748, in the 52d year of her age. Dr. Lord's second wife was Elizabeth, relict : 
 of Henry Tisdale of Newport, E. I. The third, Abigail. Hooker of Hartford, His . 
 children were all by the first wife. 
 
 t See Sprague's Am. Pulpit, Vol. 1, 299: 
 22 
 
338 HISTOBT OF NOEWICH. 
 
 Dr. Lord had some peculiarities, perhaps more distinctive of the miiiis- 
 ters of that age than of him as an individual. His first prayer at morn- 
 ing service on the Sabbath occupied the full run of thfe hour-glass at his 
 side. He followed in his prayers the principal events that had transpired 
 in his parish during the week, — deaths, accidents, storms. — and adverted 
 to all public events of importance. In war time his supplications and 
 thanksgivings were so particular and specific as to give the congregation 
 the best information that had been received of the progress of affairs. 
 Notes were sent up to the pulpit, not only in cases of sickness and death, 
 but by persons departing on a journey or voyage, and also on returning 
 from the same. Every thing in those days, either projected or accom- 
 plished, seems to have been prayed over.* 
 
 On the 18th of March, 1778, Mr. Joseph Strong was ordained as col- 
 league pastor with Dr. Lord. The audience, gathered from all parts of 
 the county, was unexampled in point of numbers, and the services Were 
 unusually solemn. Dr. Lord was eighty-four years of age, venerated and 
 beloved by all, but small and frail in appearance, while his colleague, in 
 the full glow of youth and health, large and stoutly built, stood over him 
 like a sheltering oak. The society committee were a stately gi'oup, hon- 
 orable both for talents and piety. It consisted of Deacons Simon Tracy 
 and Simon Huntington, Captain Christopher Leffingwell, Dudley Wood- 
 bridge, Esq., and Samuel Huntington, President of the Provincial Con- 
 gress. Others who had acted on the committee were Joshua Lathrop, 
 Elijah Backus, and Dr. Elisha Tracy. 
 
 Mr. Strong was the son of the Rev. Nathan Strong of Coventry. By 
 his mother's side, he was descended from the Williams family, who were 
 taken captives by the Indians at Deerfield, in the night of Feb. 28, 1704. 
 The general circumstances of this tragedy are well known. The two 
 little daughters of Mr. "Williams who went into captivity with their father 
 were named Eunice and Esther. The former was never redeemed, but 
 being adopted into the family of a chief, she became attached to the Indian 
 manners and customs, refused to return to her relatives, embraced, the 
 Roman Catholic religion, and married a chief named Roger Toroso, who 
 resided at St. Johns, twenty miles from Montreal. Esther was ransomed 
 and returned home with her father. She mai-ried the Rev. Mr. Meachum 
 of Coventry, and one of her daughters became the wife of the Eev. 
 Nathan Strong, who was ordained pastor of a Second Congregational 
 Church in Coventry, in 1745, and was the father of the Rev. Nathan 
 Strong, D. D., of Hartford, and the Rev. Joseph Strong, D. D., of Nor- 
 wich. At the ordination of the latter, the sermon was preached by his 
 
 * It is Baid that a petition was once sent up to the palpit for public prayer in bctf 
 of a man gone, going, or about to go on a journey to Boston. 
 
HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 339 
 
 brother, and the charge given by his father. The text was from Isaiah, 
 52, 7. " How beautiful," &c. The scene was deeply affecting and im- 
 pressive, particularly when the speaker turned to the young candidate and 
 said: 
 
 " My dear brother, — I may now address yon by that endearing epithet in all its 
 senses. We received our being, under God, from the same parents, were educated by 
 the same nurturing kindness, have professed obedience to the same glorious Father in 
 Heaven, and this day introduces you a brother laborer in the Lord's vineyard. Very 
 pleasant hast thou been unto me, my brother, and never was my pleasure greater in 
 beholding thee, than on this day's solemnities. Long may your feet be beautiful on 
 these mountains of Zion ! The God of heaven bless and preserve thee." 
 
 Nor was the emotion of the audience less intense, when the father of 
 the candidate, in solemn and affecting terms, where deep feeling contended 
 with ministerial gravity, invested him with the priest's office, and address- 
 ing him as a dearly beloved son, charged him to take heed to the ministry 
 which he had received, and to serve with his venerable colleague "as a 
 son with a father, as a Timothy with Paul the aged." 
 
 At the time of Mr. Strong's settlement, there were two seceding con- 
 gregations in the society, considerably numerous, but they soon became 
 extinct, and an uncommon degree of peace and unanimity existed in the 
 society, during the whole of his prolonged ministry. 
 
 Dr. Strong in person was above the middle size and stature, and he had 
 a cahn dignity of address which impressed every one with respect. This 
 dignity, however, was blended with great kindness and courtesy, and his 
 manners, far from inspiring awe, were gentle and attractive. In his latter 
 years especially, it was delightful to hsten to his conversation, flowing as 
 it did in an easy, graceful stream, enhvened with anecdotes and enriched 
 with sketches of character, curious incidents, and all the varied stores col- 
 lected by an observant mind through long years of experience. 
 
 In the pulpit he was remarkable for the fluency and impressive solem- 
 nity of his prayers. The deep tones of his voice, combined with the 
 devout humility of his address and the free flow of adoration and praise 
 with which he approached the Father of spirits, would hush an audience 
 into deep attention, and waft them, as it were, into the immediate presence 
 of the Most High. His sermons were short, and copiously illustrated with 
 quotations from Scripture, but wanting perhaps in vigorous argument. 
 All his ministrations, in fact, were of a soothing and serene nature, not 
 penetrating and awakening. 
 
840 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 Fourth Meeting-House. 
 
 This edifice was so long unfinished, meeting with so many obstructions 
 in its ascent from the foundation to the belfry, that it is difficult to date its 
 beginning. Its history in brief would be — voted for in 1748, begun in 
 1753, completed about 1770, consumed to ashes in 1801. 
 
 The site was at the comer of the Green, under the rocks where the 
 present church stands. The following vote seems to indicate the date 
 when this spot was selected to receive the new structure : 
 
 10 March, 1752. "Voted that all incumbrances be removed from the west side of 
 the Meeting House plain under the site of ye Great Rocks by ye Town street, that 
 said land may be free for public use. 
 
 The clearing was effected, and the street left open from the green to 
 the printing-office. This was public land, and the wall of granite rose up 
 grand and imposing by the side of the road, with shrubs and creepers 
 hanging over and jutting out of the crevices, and with no disfigurations 
 of man around the base, except posts and sheds for the convenience of 
 those who rode to meeting on the Sabbath. 
 
 This fourth meeting-house of the society is said to have been a square 
 building, with a front porch or platform. 
 
 In Society meeting Nov. 2, 1770. 
 
 Voted that a lead weight be attached to the front door of the meeting-honse, that it 
 may be more conveniently kept closed. 
 
 The interior was furnished with pews, a space in front of the pulpit 
 excepted, where were slips for aged people and strangers. Low benches 
 were placed in the aisles for children. The front of the pulpit displayed 
 in large letters the sacred motto :* 
 
 HOLINESS BECOMETH GOD'S HOUSE. 
 
 On the Sabbath, the deacon, or some one of the church appointed in 
 his place, lined the psalm, and the congregation sung in their seats, except 
 a few leaders that stepped out in front of the pulpit and faced the audi- 
 ence. When choirs were first introduced into the Norwich churches, 
 which was not long before the Revolution, many of the older people were 
 disturbed at the innovation, and even shocked at the new tunes adopted, 
 which, being sung with less quaver and drawl than formerly, seemed to 
 them destitute of unction and suited only to the dance or drum-beat. 
 
 A town clock was purchased in 1745, and placed in the belfry. Watts' 
 version of the Psalms was introduced into the service in 1772, and at the 
 
 * In 1790 the house was repaired and painted anew, and this motto omitted, whic|i 
 caused some dissatisfaction. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 341 
 
 same time a large pulpit Bible was purchased. This was saved from the 
 flames when the house was burnt in 1801. It is the London edition of 
 1769, containing the Apochrypha, Historical Index, and the Liturgy of 
 the Church of England. Dwight's edition of the Psalms was adopted in 
 1803. In 1792 the society voted, with only one dissenting voice, to pur- 
 diase an organ. This was soon after an organ had been obtained for the 
 Episcopal Church at the Landing ; but instrumental music in a Congre- 
 gational service was then a rare if not an unknown accompaniment- 
 Some difficulty occurred in procuring the instrument, and the project was 
 dropped. An organ was not actually introduced into the service until 
 1818. 
 
 Sates. The minister's rate was an element of discord in the society. 
 The Separatists sounded loud and long upon this string. When therefore 
 Dr. Daniel Lathrop in 1782 bequeathed the sum of £500, the interest of 
 which was to be expended in the support of the ministry, the society 
 determined to take this opportunity to cast off the odious system of rais- 
 ing the minister's salary by rates, and establish a fund for that purpose, 
 using the Lathrop legacy as a nucleus. A vote to this effect was passed 
 April 10, 1783. A subscription paper was drawn up and committed to 
 Mr. Jacob Witter, who volunteered his services for the occasion, and by 
 personal visits and solicitation he secured the sum of £2,088 from one 
 hundred subscribers. Dr. Joshua Lathrop subscribed £150, Christopher 
 Leffingwell £80, and eight others each £50 and £60. The remainder 
 was in smaller sums, but it was stated that aU gave freely and even joy- 
 fully according to their ability, in the hope of never hearing again of dis- 
 traint and seizure for ministerial rates. 
 
 Another step was to induce the pew-holders to relinquish their rights, 
 so that the pews might be sold annually, and the avails applied to the 
 same object. This was happily accomplished, except in the case of three 
 individuals, who obstinately refused to give up their pews, averring that 
 if they could not sit in the same place where they had hitherto sat, they 
 would not go to meeting. This matter was, however, at length accommo- 
 dated, the pews sold, and the fund advantageously employed ; so that a 
 sum was annually raised sufficient to discharge aU ecclesiastical expenses, 
 and the minister's rate tax happily abolished. 
 
 The first annual sale of pews was in 1791. 
 
 Dr. Strong's salary was never raised above the stipulated sum of $444. 
 except for a very few years, when an annual gratuity was added to it, on 
 account of the high price of provisions. The financial arrangements at 
 his settlement throw some light on the currency of the day. The society 
 agreed to give - him £300 as a settlement, in three annual payments of 
 £100 each; a salary of £100 per annum for the first three years, and 
 
342 HISTOBT OF NORWICH. 
 
 after that term, £133.6.8 per annum. This was to be proportioned t» 
 wheat at 6s. per bushel ; rye at 3s. 6rf. ; Indian corn at 3s. ; pork at 3^d. 
 per lb. ; and the best grass-fed beef at 40s. per cwt. To this salary was 
 added twenty five cords of wood annually, to be delivered at his door. 
 The regulation of prices, in these times of fluctuating currency, was a 
 matter of no small perplexity. For the first payment of Mr. Strong's 
 settlement, he received £1200 in bills of credit, as an equivalent for £100. 
 In 1779, £2.500 in bills was equal to £100 ; and in 1780 he received for 
 his salary £7200 — 72 to 1 — being then the proportion between continental 
 paper and silver money. 
 
 Excise Money and Parsonage Land. A grant of money derived from 
 the Excise duty was made by the Legislature to Chelsea Society in 1764, 
 to assist in building their first meeting-house. This was regarded by the 
 First Society as a species of favoritism. They claimed that a fair pro- 
 portion of the excise tax gathered in the town belonged to them, and 
 therefore in 1767, and again in 1769, they memorialized the Legislature 
 for an appropriation of a sum similar to that which had been awarded to 
 Chelsea for their use. This was not granted. 
 
 Chelsea Society, on the other hand, laid claim to a share of the Parson- 
 age land which had been purchased by the town at an early period for the 
 benefit of the ministry. This was long a subject of dispute and litigation. 
 The parsonage land included the site of the old hiU-top church, the jail, 
 and the whole range of buildings on the north-west side of the Green. 
 The lessees paid a small ground rent to the society. 
 
 In 1799, these lands were adjudicated to the First Society, and the 
 occupants relinquished their claims, accepting In lieu thereof, leases for 
 999 years, at a penny per acre, if demanded. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Beidqes and Feeshets. 
 
 Norwich being sui-rounded and intersected with rivers and brooks, 
 and peculiarly exposed to accidents and injury from heavy rains and ■ 
 spring floods, the subject of bridges becomes unusually prominent in her 
 history. Bridges of considerable magnitude over the Yantic, at the west 
 end of the settlement, and near the plain, must have been coeval with the 
 laying out of the town, and roads could not have been opened and ren- 
 dered safe for traveling in any direction without spanning a multitude of 
 small streams with some kind of stone-work, or with timber and plank, 
 and these perhaps the next spring flood would sweep away. Consequently 
 the work of building and repairing bridges was always beginning, ever 
 going on, and never completed. 
 
 The earlier bridges were built and kept in order by the inhabitants as 
 highway work. In April, 1717, a petition was presented to the General 
 Assembly "for assistance in building a cart bridge over Showtucket at 
 the falls." It does not appear that any assistance was granted by lottery 
 or otherwise, and it is probable that this first bridge over the Shetucket 
 was built in the usual way, by a general turn-out of the inhabitants. 
 
 The site of this bridge was just above the place where the Quinebaug 
 and Shetucket unite. It connected Norwich proper with Newent society, 
 in the crotch of the rivers, and the road leading from it over Ox hill was 
 the path by which the early inhabitants of Newent came on the Sabbath 
 to attend religious services in the town-plot, crossing the river, before the 
 bridge was built, on a scow or ferry-boat. 
 
 A bridge has been maintained at this place or near it, from that time to 
 the present, and known by the name of Lathrop's bridge, taking its desig- 
 nation from the nearest prominent resident and landholder. 
 
 In the freshet of February, 1727, four of the town bridges were swept 
 away, and among them was this which crossed the Shetucket. 
 
 The rebuilding of this bridge in 1728 was marked by a mournful casu- 
 alty. It was the 28th of June. A large party of the inhabitants had 
 assembled to assist in raising the bridge, which was 20 feet high and 
 about 250 feet in length. Just as they were putting together the upper 
 
344 HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 
 
 work, a principal piece of timber whicli lay in the foundation of this upper 
 work, being spliced, gave way at the joint, and falling, tripped up the 
 dependent frame, which with its own weight careened and overset, break- 
 ing down the pillars on which it rested. One hundred feet of the bridge 
 fell, with forty men on it. The water was very low, and the people were 
 precipitated upon the rocks in all directions. No one escaped without 
 bruises and contusions ; twenty were severely wounded, and two kiUed. 
 These two were Jonathan Gale of Canterbury, nineteen years of age, the 
 only son of a widowed mother, who was killed instantly, — " a very hope- 
 ful youth, the darling of the family," — and Mr. Daniel Tracy, son of 
 Lieut. Thomas Tracy, and one of the last survivors of the old stock that 
 came from Saybrook, who died the next day of his mortal wounds. 
 
 An account of this calamity was published in a small pamphlet,* in 
 which the writer compared the appearance of the dead and wounded, 
 after their extrication from the ruins, to the aspect of a battle-field after 
 a hot action. Messengers were sent abroad for aid, who spread through 
 the town imperfect accounts of the sad event. 
 
 Hundreds hastened to the spot with biers and teams, and all necessary 
 appliances for relieving or removing the sufferers, and "men of skill for 
 wounds and broken bones" were not slow in offering aid. 
 
 " The men most considerably wounded [says the pamphlet account] are, 
 
 Lieut. Samuel Butts, Samuel Lawrence, 
 
 Josias Reed, Joseph Safford, 
 
 Ambrose Bltmt, Joseph Knight, 
 
 John Bishop, Benjamin Knight, 
 
 John Elderkin, Samuel Parrish, 
 
 David Lamb, Ebenezer Harris, 
 
 Nathaniel Walton, Josiah Bates, 
 
 Solomon Lothrop, James Longbottom, 
 
 Jacob Perkins, John Longbottom, 
 
 Thomas Gates, Josias Molton. 
 
 Some of these had their ribs, some their arms, and others their legs broken, besides 
 other bones shivered and dislocated ; others had wounds, cuts and bruises in their heads, 
 faces, bodies, arms, legs and feet, and some exceedingly bruised within. Some of them 
 were at first taken out and laid by for dead, and the recovery of some for several days 
 much doubted, but since they are all like to recover." 
 
 * Entitled,— An Account of the Surprizing Events of Providence, which hapned 
 at the Raising of a Bridge in Norwich, June 28th, 1728. 
 
 With some Affecting Remarks wove into the Histokt. As also some practical 
 Improvement thereof. Published at the Desire of some concerned therein, to the End 
 it may be Preserved as a Profitable Remembrancer of the Danger and Deliverance of 
 This Day. 
 
 New London, Printed and Sold by T. Green, August 7th, 1728. 
 
HISTOBT OP NOBWICH 
 
 346 
 
 Many hair-breadth escapes occurred. Solomon Lathrop fell forty feet 
 from the top of a needle post, and was pitched head foremost between two 
 rocks, into a hole of deeper water than ordinary, and yet not killed. This 
 Mr. Lathrop was father to the Rev. Joseph Lathrop of West Springfield, 
 who was born about three years after this narrow escape of his parent. 
 
 " Mr. Tracy [says the cotemporary narrative] was not a person concerned in the 
 affair, only as he was a benefactor to it, and went out that day to carry the people 
 some provision, and happened to be on the bridge, at that juncture of danger : a man 
 that had been always noted for an uncommon care to keep himself and others out of 
 probable danger, and yet now himself insensibly falls into a fatal one. And very 
 remarkable is it, that to keep his son at home this day, and so out of danger by that 
 occasion, he chooseth to go himself on the forenamed errand, and is taken in the snare 
 which he thought more probable to his son." 
 
 THE GEAVE-STONE EECOKD. 
 
 [Head.] 
 
 HERE LIES ye BODY 
 
 OF MR. DANIEL 
 
 TRACY . . . WHO 
 
 DIED JVNE Ye 
 
 29 . . 1728 . .AGED 
 
 76 YEARS. 
 
 [Foot.] 
 
 MR. 
 
 DANIEL TRACY. 
 
 THIS WORTHY IN 
 
 A GOOD OLD AGE 
 
 DIED BY A FALL 
 
 FROM A BRIDGE. 
 
 It would be difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain how many times 
 Lathrop's bridge has been rebuilt, or rather how many bridges have been 
 erected at this point since 1717, when the first timbers were laid over the 
 river. From intimations in the records we learn that a new and substan- 
 tial bridge was built "over the Shetucket near Capt. Lathrop's," in 1764.* 
 Again in 1791 the town action shows that "a bridge was to be built at 
 Mr. Zephaniah Lathrop's between Lisbon and Norwich : the river being 
 there 212 feet wide at high water mark," and a rate was granted to cover 
 the expense. 
 
 Since the present century came in, this bridge was partially destroyed 
 by the ice, Feb. 15, 1805 ; the shock coming so suddenly that a man 
 crossing at that time was carried down the stream, and with difficulty res- 
 cued from the current. Two years later, in the freshet of March 2, 1807, 
 the bridge was entirely swept away. 
 
 * 1768. It was ordered, that when a town meeting was to be warned, a written noti- 
 fication should be set up on the Little Elm before Capt. Ebenezer Lathrop's door. 
 
346 HISTOBY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 A bridge built at this place in 1817, at an expense of $10,000, was 
 destroyed March 6, 1823. At this time the flood lifted it from the abut- 
 ment and piers, and bore it along in position, unbroken, till it came to the 
 rapids near the nlouth of the river. It then separated into three parts, 
 and glided with graceful ease into the Thames. 
 
 In 1836, the Norwich and Worcester Railroad Company in crossing 
 the Shetucket located their bridge upon the site of the old Lathrop bridge, 
 which was then about to be once more rebuilt. An arrangement was 
 made with the town, by which the latter consented to take up a new posi- 
 tion for their bridge, a short distance higher up the river, the company 
 paying all expenses over and above what would have been incurred by 
 retaining the former site. 
 
 The bridge erected at that time lasted weU, wore out in the service, and 
 was finally swept away, Feb. 9, 1857. A new one has since taken its 
 place. 
 
 In 1750, or near that period, the following bridges were maintained by 
 the town : 
 
 1. Over Bradford's or Susquetomscot brook, on the road to Lebanon. 
 
 2. Great Pond brook, on the road to Colchester. 
 
 3. Pease's brook. These were the three branches of the Tantic. 
 
 4. At Bean Hill. 5. Quarter bridge. 6. The Court-House bridge. 
 7. No-man's Acre bridge. These four crossed the Tantic. 
 
 8. Beaver's brook, in West Farms Society. 
 
 9. Trading Cove brook, on the road to New London. 
 
 10. Elderkin's bridge, on the road to Windham. 
 
 11. "Wood's bridge over Showtuckett, north of Pettipaug." This was 
 afterward Lord's bridge, uniting Franklin with Lisbon. 
 
 12. Lovett's bridge. 13. Lathrop's bridge. 
 The last four were over the Shetucket. 
 
 14. Johnson's bridge over the Quinebaug, on the road to Plainfield. 
 
 15. Pachaug bridge, east of the Quinebaug. 
 
 These were all constructed and kept in order by rates and highway 
 labor. Wliiting's bridge, at the mouth of the Shetucket, was extant at 
 this time, but was supported by toll. 
 
 Lovett's bridge, mentioned above, was about three miles above Lathrop'a, 
 on the road from Norwich to Woodstock. In this vicinity, on the west side 
 of the river, were the Leffingwell and Kirtland farms, and on the east the 
 Lovetts were proprietors. These ancient bridges often took the name of 
 the nearest resident landholder, and the large Lovett farm-house near the 
 bridge, serving also as a house of entertainment for wayfarers, with its 
 lofty shade-trees, its swinging sign, its inviting horse-sheds and other 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 347 
 
 dependencies, had the appearance of a small hamlet. The name — Lov- 
 ett's bridge — has since given place to that of Eagleville, a manufacturing 
 establishment which has taken possession of the neighborhood, occupying, 
 like most of our inland mills, a choice position in the midst of romantic 
 scenery. 
 
 The first bridge near the mouth of the Shetucket, uniting Chelsea Land- 
 ing with Preston, was built by Capt. WiUiam Whiting,* who, for this pur- 
 pose, in 1737, obtained a loan of £80 from the town treasury. It was 
 designed to be a free bridge, and in order to enable the contractor to meet 
 the payment of the loan, in December, 1737, a subscription was opened 
 in town meeting, and the sum of £85 15s. pledged for his use. The 
 number of contributors was eighty-three, and the sums varied from 5s. to 
 £5. The highest on the list were Joshua Huntington, John Williams, 
 Samuel and John Story, Isaac Clarke, and Samuel Backus, probably the 
 men doing the most business at the time. 
 
 Subsequent subscriptions raised the amount to £130, but the contractor 
 stating that the bridge had cost £350, he was permitted to remunerate 
 himself by a toll upon travelers. 
 
 In 1744, after six years wear. Whiting's bridge having sagged so much 
 as to be pronounced unsafe, was blocked up for a short period, and then 
 repaired by Lieut. John Edgerton, who was recompensed by the toll for 
 the space of three years. It continued in use till 1748, when it was 
 again condemned. 
 
 In 1751, after discussion of the subject in town meeting, 
 
 " Vot^d, that the town will join with Mr. John Edgerton in a memorial to the Gen- 
 eral Assembly to grant a lottery for the makjng of a Great Bridge over the mouth of 
 Shontuckett, toll free." Joseph Tracy was appointed agent. 
 
 The lottery was granted, and Edgerton's bridge built. It was 200 feet 
 long, cost £4,000, old tenor, and notwithstanding its charter that it should 
 h&free, permission to take toll was granted by the General Assembly. It 
 was swept away by the freshets of 1762. 
 
 * Three persons of the name of Whiting, residents of Norwich, were bridge-builders. 
 Capt. William Whiting, who built the Shetucket bridge in 1737, was a son of the Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting of Windham, and a resident in the north-west part of Norwich, now 
 Bozrah. He was afterwards distinguished for his gallantry in the French wars upon 
 the frontier. Dr. Dwight, in his travels, (Vol. 1, p. 497,) observes that the bridge a( 
 West Boston, erected in 1793, at a cost of $76,000, was built under the direction of 
 "Major Whiting of Norwich." This was Ebenezer Whiting, father of the late Capt. 
 Edward Whiting of Norwich, and a descendant of Col. William Whiting, an early 
 inhabitant of Hartford, who was brother of the Rev. Samuel of Windham. 
 
 Zenas Whiting of Norwich was known extensively as a bridge-builder. In 1794 he 
 went to New Hampshire with a gang of twenty men, and built a bridge over the Pis- 
 cataqua river. 
 
348 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The next bridge at this place is sufficiently described in the following 
 newspaper article : 
 
 June 20, 1764. " LeflSngwell's Bridge orer Shetucket river at Norwich Landing it 
 completed. It is 124 feet in length, and 28 feet above the water. Nothing is placed 
 between the abutments, but the bridge is supported by Geometry work above and cal- 
 culated to bear a weight of .500 tons. The work is by Mr. John Bliss, one of the 
 most curious mechanics of the age. The bridge was raised in two days and no one 
 hurt. The former bridge was 28 days in raising." 
 
 This bridge retained its position, and the proprietor was allowed a por- 
 tion of the toll for fourteen years. But in 1777 it was much injured by 
 floods, and the town having purchased LeffingweU's remaining interest, 
 united with Preston in petitioning the Legislature (May session, 1778,) 
 for leave to raise money by lottery for the erection of a new bridge. The 
 petition was granted. 
 
 The managers of the lottery were Christopher Leffingwell, Jacob De 
 Witt, William and Benjamin Coit, Jeremiah Halsey, and Eoger Sterry — 
 the two last, of Preston. Their advertisement states the lottery to have 
 been granted in order "to prevent the incumbrance of a toll bridge, or a 
 dangerous ferry, with one or other of which the public have been ham- 
 pered for near a century past." The lottery was drawn the first Monday 
 in March, 1779. 
 
 In the meantime the two towns could not agree upon the place where 
 the bridge should stand. Committees were appointed, one after another, 
 but they came to no decision. In 1780 the matter was referred to three 
 well-known citizens, mutually respected and honored by the towns, viz., 
 Hon. Benjamin Huntington, Capt. Ebenezer Baldwin, and Ehjah Lathrop, 
 Esq., who reported that in their opinion the best and only convenient phee 
 for a bridge was where the late one stood, that is, below the ferry and 
 near the mouth of the river. Whereupon it was ordered that the bridge 
 should be forthwith erected at that place. The building committee ap- 
 pointed were John McLarran Breed, John Bliss, and Stephen Culver. 
 
 The bridge, however, does not appear to have been built, and the select- 
 men were charged to keep the ferry over the Shetucket under proper reg- 
 ulation for the public convenience. In May, 1783, the town petitioned 
 the Legislature for another lottery to raise £450, on the same plea as the 
 former, "for building a bridge at the mouth of Shetucket river." The 
 lottery was granted, and the bridge built in 1784. 
 
 From the above data we are led to the conclusion that a bridge at this 
 place was all the time being projected or being built, and lotteries were in 
 progress to pay for it from 1777 to 1784, — or that two bridges were built 
 in seven years, and the first swept away by some sudden, unrecorded 
 calamity. It is most probable that there was but one bridge built. 
 
HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 349 
 
 The abutments of the bridge were much injured by the freshet of 1788, 
 but aft»r being repaired and strengthened, it continued to perform accept- 
 able service till 1793, when it was again thoroughly repaired by Capt. 
 Stephen Culver, who contracted to keep it in repair for four years. At 
 the end of this period it was condemned. 
 
 The stone bridge over Swallow-all brook in East Chelsea was rebuilt 
 in 1795. Destroyed by the freshet of 1807, it was again reconstructed, 
 and now lies beneath the street. 
 
 In October, 1797, a joint committee of Norwich and Preston reported 
 concerning a new bridge over the Shetucket. They had examined differ- 
 ent positions in order to ascertain the most eligible place, and estimated 
 the cost, if built near what was called the riding-way^ at $3,083 ; if built 
 near Eufus Eoath's, at $3,833 ; if near the mouth, where the bridge now 
 stands, not more than $2,000. The bridge was built on the site of the 
 former, and the expense liquidated by the avails of a lottery. This fifth 
 bridge stood for twelve or thirteen years. 
 
 In 1815, the town records allude to the "enormous expenses" to which 
 the town had been for many years subject for the support of bridges. 
 
 In 1813, a committee that had been appointed to decide whether "the 
 Geometiy Bridge at Chelsea" could be repaired, or a new one must be 
 built, reported that the decay of the old structure rendered an entirely 
 new bridge a matter of necessity. This led the way to a change of ope- 
 rations. A petition was presented to the General Assembly for liberty to 
 open a new highway and span the river in a more convenient and safe 
 situation. To accomplish this purpose, the Norwich and Preston Bridge 
 Company was incorporated in 1816, and the next year a toll-bridge 
 erected nearly half a mile above the mouth of the river. A road leading 
 to it — East Main st. — was opened in 1817, and the public travel took this 
 direction. The contractor for the bridge was Capt. John Lathrop of 
 Windham, and the expense $10,000. It was supported by heavy stone 
 piers, and withstood the rush of the spring floods for six years, but was 
 not proof against the destructive freshet of March 6, 1823. All the 
 upper works were then carried away, but the company rebuilt on the same 
 foundation at an expense of $5,000. In 1858 this bridge was sold by the 
 company to the towns of Norwich and Preston for $7,500. 
 
 Giddings' Bridge. This was a structure built in 1757, which crossed 
 the Shetucket below the old riding-way, and about a mile from the mouth 
 of the river. The undertakers were Nathaniel Giddings of Preston and 
 Nathaniel Backus, Jr., of Norwich, who contracted to build "a cart bridge 
 
 * There were two fords or riding-ways over the Shetucket. In 1780, one is called 
 "the upper riding-way in Doctor Perkins's intervale." 
 
350 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 over the river near the dwelling-house of Samuel Roath." The town 
 voted to pay for the plank on condition that no toll should be demanded 
 of the inhabitants of Norwich. These early bridges, being supported 
 mainly by heaps of stone«, and studs driven into the bed of the river, 
 could offer but slight resistance to the crushing piles of ice that came 
 down with the released waters in the time of floods. Giddiogs' bridge 
 had a brief existence, and there is no record found of any other con- 
 structed at that point in the river. 
 
 Laurel Hill Bridge. In the year 1853, John TV. Stedman, Thomas 
 Robinson, John A. Rockwell, Henry Bill, Amos Davis, and others who 
 had become interested in the purchase and settlement of Laurel ffill, 
 subscribed among themselves for the erection of a free bridge over the 
 Shetucket, and obtained an act of incorporation for that purpose. The 
 bridge was built the same year, at an expense of $4,000. It spans the 
 river at the old place, — the precise spot chosen by Whiting in 1737, and 
 occupied by five successive bridges in former times. 
 
 The proprietors also threw open a new road along the bank of the river 
 toward Poquetannock, furnishing a drive of two or three miles with a 
 varied and beautiful landscape spreading before the eye in its whole 
 course. The bridge has since been repaired and covered, and was retained 
 as private property until 1860, when the charter was relinquished and the 
 bridge left to the public care. It was repaired in 1864. 
 
 GreeneviUe Bridge. In 1854, Norwich and Preston united in building 
 a bridge over the Slietucket at GreenevUle, where the river had never 
 been spanned before. It was 375 feet long, and 30 wide. The petition 
 for it was signed by James D. Mo wry and 140 others. Greeneville then 
 contained about 2,000 inhabitants. This bridge became conspicuously the 
 victim of elemental fury. Shaken to pieces by the floods, and recon- 
 structed in 1858, it was destroyed by fire July 29, 1862 ; damage estima- 
 ted at $8,000. 
 
 It has bt'cn rebuilt of iron, at the joint expense of the two towns, and 
 was completed in October, 1863. It is 370 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 
 cost, exclusive of the abutments, $10,000. The contractor was J. E. 
 Truesdell of Springfield. 
 
 In reviewing the history of these short-lived bridges, and observing the 
 tendency of the smaller ones to swing aside at every flood and scatter 
 themselves in fragments over the land, and of the larger ones to embark 
 on desperate voyages to the ocean, hurried onward by thronging blocks oi 
 
HISTOKT OP NORWICH. 351 
 
 ice or furious torrents, we might be tempted to think that Norwich stood 
 pre-eminent, at the summit of misfortune in this respect. But that some 
 of her neighbors share with her in the highest round of the ladder, may 
 be inferred from a communication received by the selectmen of Norwich 
 from the town of Canterbury in 1780, in which they lament the great and 
 unequal expense which they and several towns labor under, above other 
 towns in the State, "by being obliged to build and maintain many great 
 bridges over large rivers;" and they request a committee of conference to 
 be appointed to consider of some mode of relief.* 
 
 A committee was appointed, but there was no help found for the evil ; 
 every town was obliged to attend to its own bridges, and the Legislature 
 gave no rehef but by lotteries. 
 
 Wharf Bridge. The erection of a bridge over the cove, or mouth of 
 the Tantic, so as to connect the point with the west side, was a project of 
 considerable magnitude. It required a longer span than any bridge that 
 had been built in the eastern part of Connecticut. A proposition for such 
 a bridge was brought before the public in 1767, by Mr. Gershom Breed. 
 He seems to have originated the plan, and at last to have made it popular 
 by his influence and exertions. The undertakers were Gershom Breed, 
 Eleazar Waterman, and Jonathan Lester ; the builder, Christopher Reed. 
 
 Objections were made to the erection, on the ground of danger from the 
 high and precipitous hills on each side. The declivity on the east was 
 particularly stony and abrupt, making the descent to the river more like a 
 plunge than a regular progress. The natural features of the place have 
 been so greatly altered by a long course of leveling and filling up, that 
 we find it difficult to reproduce to the mind's eye those beetling cliflPs that 
 were here projected almost to the water's edge. It was argued also that 
 the communication with the west side was not of sufficient importance to 
 justify the undertaking. The town gave liberty for the bridge to be built, 
 but, influenced by these objections, declined contributing to the expense. 
 
 The undertakers nevertheless commenced operations, and the bridge 
 was built in 1771. A small sum for partial indemnification was raised by 
 lottery, the managers being Daniel Lathrop, William Hubbard, and Jedi- 
 diah Huntington. 
 
 * It was while engaged in repairing a bridge over the Quinebaug, between Canter- 
 bury and Plainfield, which had been partially destroyed in a severe freshet, that the 
 first David Nevins of Connecticut lost his life. He was standing on one of the cross 
 beams of the bridge, giving directions to the workmen, and had his watch in his hand, 
 which he had just taken out to see the time, when, losing his balance, he fell into the 
 swollen stream, was swept down by the current, and diowned before he could be rescued. 
 This was in the spring of 1757. 
 
352 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 This bridge, though merely an experimental work, was found to be a 
 great public convenience. A vast quantity of labor remained to be per- 
 formed in the way of grading and preparing the roads that led to it. 
 Numerous meetings were held, and plans discussed, which ended in ~a 
 decision that the bridge should be enlarged, improved, strengthened 
 against floods, and rendered passable for loaded teams. For this purpose, 
 another lottery was granted by the Legislature in October, 1773, to raise 
 £278 or $926 "for Jinishing and completing the great Wharf Bridge at 
 Chelsea in Norwich." Managers, Joshua Lathrop, Eufus Lathrop, and 
 Samuel Tracy. It was drawn in May, 1774.* 
 
 The importance of this bridge has never since admitted of question. 
 It is a thoroughfare which the public good requires to be always kept in 
 a condition fit for service. Therefore the damages it has sustained by 
 flood, fire, or the wear and tear of years, have always been speedily 
 repaired, and it seems rather like one and the same bridge, than as it 
 reaUy is, and as all others of the town have been, — a succession of 
 bridges. 
 
 The highway near this bridge was originally a part of Mr. Breed's 
 house-lot. The building of this bridge led to improvements in all the 
 avenues connected with it. The highway below the Episcopal church 
 was widened ; the road on the west side, running irom. the bridge to Sandy 
 Beach, was improved ; and a new one opened from the Landing to the 
 New London road. 
 
 Freshets. The annual breaking up of the ice in the rivers is so often 
 attended with a destructive overflow of the waters, that it is usually con- 
 templated prospectively with some degree of apprehension. When the 
 rains come, and the ice begins to crack, mUls and bridges perchance may 
 be swept away, meadow lands devastated, fences destroyed, and serioua 
 losses sustained. Some parts of the town are peculiarly exposed to such 
 ravages. The narrow and winding outlet of the Shetucket, and the high 
 banks that restrain it on the south, naturally tend to throw the accumula- 
 ted swell of the river over the flat part of Chelsea. 
 
 Only a few of the most remarkable spring floods can be here chronicled. 
 
 Sept. 4, 1720. " The flood raised Norwich river to a prodigious height; stacks of 
 hay floated down ; it carried away the bi-idge by the meeting house and much fence." 
 [Hempstead's Diary.] 
 
 * This lottery had 2,000 tickets at $2.50 ; highest prize, $3,000. Paper bills wers 
 received and paid out promiscuously with silver. The petition for the lottery wai 
 iigned by eighty of the principal citizens. In looking over the list in 1837, sixty-fivo 
 years after the signing, only one of the eighty was living, viz., Capt. David Nevins. 
 Ho died in January, 1838, aged 91 years. 
 
HISTOKT OP NORWICH. 353 
 
 The Boston News-Letter notices an extraordinary flood of the She- 
 tucket at Norwich, 28th of February, 1729. The warehouses at the 
 Landing were much injured, but the newspaper adds the compensatory 
 information, "thei-e was fine bass-fishing after it," — twenty thousand bass 
 having been taken in the river a little below the point. 
 
 A thaw and freshet of unusual power and rapidity of action occurred 
 Jan. 16, 1737. The Shetucket above its outlet being impeded by a solid 
 bed of ice, the rushing flood was suddenly thrown back, and spreading 
 over the low land, rose to twenty feet in ten minutes, sweeping off three 
 warehouses with all their contents, and injuring several others. Blocks 
 of ice were left in some instances on the roofs of buildings. 
 
 In the spring of 1757, a severe flood committed great havoc with the 
 bridges and other works of man exposed to its fury. 
 
 Jan. 8, 1784, was distinguished by a yet greater and more sweeping 
 freshet, which affected both the Yantic and the Shetucket. Several mills 
 and bridges on the upper courses were swept away, and large quantities 
 of lumber came floating down the streams. Happily there was but little 
 ice in the Thames, to obstruct the downward flow, and Chelsea escaped 
 inundation. A slaughter-house near the wharf bridge was swept off with 
 all its contents, beef, hides, tallow, cooperage, and tools, and not a vestige 
 left. 
 
 The freshet of February, 1788, was destructive to the smaller bridges. 
 Lovett's was entirely demolished, and many others so much injured as to 
 make reconstruction necessary. 
 
 The year 1789 was marked by a June freshet. For two days, the 10th 
 and 11th of the month, the rains were continuous and flood-like, causing 
 a rapid rise in all the streams that feed the Thames. The Shetucket and 
 Yantic, swollen by their impetuous tributaries, sweeping aside bridges, 
 mills and dams, deluging corn-fields, and precipitating large rocks upon 
 the meadows, came rushing down upon Norwich Landing, and lifted the 
 river nearly to a level with its lower tier of roofs. This flood, however, 
 was of brief duration. The waters passed over with a furious swash, and 
 then quietly subsided. 
 
 Jan. 29, 1797, was marked by a peculiar freshet resulting from a Jan- 
 uary thaw. The smaller rivers were broken up, and heavy blocks of ice 
 sweeping downwards committed great havoc in their course. The court- 
 house bridge was so thoroughly broken up that only a heap of fragments 
 remained. It was compared to a wreck made by thousands of hammers. 
 
 After the present century came in, the first great flood was in 1807. 
 The rivers began to break up on Saturday night, Feb. 7th. The cracking 
 of the vast blocks of ice was like the crash of thunder. The Shetucket 
 rose eighteen or twenty feet. Lord's and Lathrop's bridges were swept 
 away. On Sunday morning, fire was cried through the streets, and alarm 
 23 
 
354 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 bells were rung. For many years no such inundation had been kSown. 
 The current swept over East Chelsea, and for a time gave it the appear- 
 ance of a lake, with a few houses lifting their roofs above the waters. 
 
 The flood rose so rapidly that several families were taken by surprise 
 and imprisoned in their houses. They retreated to the upper stories, but 
 when the water came within a few inches of the second floors, it was con- 
 sidered unsafe for them to remain, and they were brought away in boats, 
 into which they dropped from the windows.* From hill to hill, all Frank- 
 lin and East Main street was an expanse of water. 
 
 At the intersection of the streets, from the corner where now stands the 
 Wauregan hotel to the opposite corner, a temporary embankment was 
 raised with great celerity and good effect. It was composed of timbers, 
 spars, rails, and wood, secured by heavy stones, and filled in with hay, 
 straw, canvas, and any thing that would resist leakage ; and though the 
 waters slightly trickled over this breastwork, it kept off the great volume 
 of water until the river subsided, which was in the course of a few 
 hours. 
 
 From subsequent town acts and accounts, we obtain the result of bridge 
 damage from tliis freshet. The stone bridge over Swallow-all brook, and 
 Lathrop's bridge, were rebuilt ; Lovett's repaired ; Geometry bridge, 
 abutments replaced ; Wharf bridge, Court-house and Quarter bridges 
 repaired. 
 
 In September, 1815, at the equinox, a most destructive gale of wind 
 was experienced on the coast of New England. At Chelsea the tide rose 
 to an unprecedented height. Several stores on the wharves were swept 
 entirely away, and others injured. On the wharf bridge the depth of 
 water was five or six feet ; beating over it with such fury as to carry off 
 the market and a store adjoining. The market drifted up the river and 
 lodged on the east side of the cove, thirty or forty yards above the bridge. 
 The brig Mary and several sloops and schooners were driven ashoi-e, 
 knocking in the sides of stores, and lodging almost in the streets. 
 
 A remarkable freshet occurred on the 6th of March, 1823, which was 
 caused by a rain of twenty four hours continuance falling upon a deep 
 snow. Six bridges over the Yantic wei"e carried away, viz., three in 
 Norwich, two in Bozrah, [at Col. Fitch's iron-works and Bozrahville,] 
 and one in Franklin. The oil-mill at Bean Hill was swept off, and the 
 oil-mill and machine-shop near the Falls much injured. On the wharf 
 bridge some of the buildings were shifted in their position, or partly 
 turned round, and the Methodist chapel, which stood on the bridge, was 
 swept away entire, moving off majestically like a ship from her moorings, 
 
 * Capt. Rockwell's family was removed iu this way. By the gradual filling in of tlia 
 street, the site of the ancient Kocltwell house is several feet higher than formeily. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 355 
 
 bowing to the waves and righting herself again, floating a mile down the 
 river before any part of it was broken, and the frame keeping together, 
 according to report, until it passed into the Sound. It had been decorated 
 with evergreens for some previous festive occasion, and these ornaments 
 had not been removed when it sailed so gallantly away. This incident of 
 the wrecked church gave rise to many exaggerative and fanciful stories. 
 The newspapers alleged that it bore oif both pastor and flock, and that 
 they were heard singing as they passed New London. They reported 
 also that it had landed whole on one of the islands, and that services would ^ 
 be performed there in future. A schooner from Providence, then in the 
 Sound, asserted that it came driving by them in the night with lights 
 in it.* 
 
 So great was the force of the water brought down by this flood, that the 
 Tantic was considerably deepened in some places by the removal of large 
 stones. One that weighed more than a ton, and which had been placed 
 in the bed of the river many years before, to support a foot bridge, was 
 raised, carried up into a meadow, and thrown against a large tree. An 
 oil-mill was swept ofl', with a considerable quantity of flax-seed in it. By 
 the middle of May, several meadows adjoining the river were covered 
 with young flax. 
 
 March 1 1, 1835, ushered in a freshet similar to that of 1823, the water 
 rising twelve or fifteen feet. The walls, sheds, and small buildings along 
 the banks of the Shetucket were swept away like chaflT. Lathrop's bridge 
 was broken up ; a shanty used by workmen on the Norwich and Worces- 
 ter Railroad was carried past the city without breaking ; another building 
 ia which some persons were collected was submerged nearly to the roof, 
 and the occupants were taken from it by boats. Two horses which were 
 carried away and were seen passing down the river, helplessly tossed 
 about in the torrent, formed an impressive feature of the scene. 
 
 Feb. 8, 1854, most of the wharves were submerged by the breaking up 
 of the ice, and the basements of buildings near the river filled with water. 
 Central wharf and the Junction railway were overflowed. At the freight 
 depot of the New London and Norwich Eailroad, the rails were covered 
 to the depth of eighteen inches. 
 
 On the 30 th of April, the same year, a violent storm caused another 
 inundation; the currents of the Yantic and Shetucket struggling together, 
 threw the water back, and the wharf bridge was partially destroyed. 
 
 The 9th and 10th of February, 1857, were marked by a freshet which 
 might be called the Half-century Flood, as occurring so near the anniver- 
 sary of that of 1807. The destruction of property was greatest in the 
 
 * This , incident gave rise to a little poem, by Brainerd, called "The Captain." • 
 Though but a fragmentary production, it is very graphic and highly finished. 
 
356 HISTORT OP KORWICH. 
 
 last instance. The heavy timbers from Lord's and Lathrop's bridges 
 came floating down with fearful power. In the flood of 1807 it was EasI 
 Chelsea that was submerged, the rise of water being in the Shetucket and 
 in Stony brook ; but in that of 1857, the water front of the city was swepl 
 over by the raging flood. The river below was blocked up by the ice, 
 and the loosened streams meeting with this obstruction, were thrown back 
 upon the wharves and buildings of "Water street in a sudden deluge, which 
 however performed its mission at once, and having opened a passage below 
 ^ rapidly retreated. 
 
 Census op Norwich, Jan. 1, J 774. 
 
 Persons. Families. Dwelling-houses. 
 
 First Society, 
 West « 
 Newent, - 
 East, - 
 
 New Concord, 
 Chelsea, 
 Hanover, - 
 Eighth, 
 
 Males under 10, 
 Females " - - 
 
 Males between 10 and 20, 
 Females " " 
 
 Males between 20 and 70, 
 Females " " 
 
 Males above 70, 
 Females " - - 
 
 In 1779, number of families in First Society, 367 ; persons, 2184. In 
 Chelsea, 129 ftimihes, 1111 persons. 
 
 In 1775, Norwich ranked as the second town in the Grand List of the 
 Colony : 
 
 New Haven, £73,210.6.2. 
 
 Norwich, £66,678.29.2. 
 
 Ftirmington was third on the list, and only £101 less than Norwich. 
 
 Hartford stood at £48,120.10. 
 
 1978 
 
 317 
 
 283 
 
 875 
 
 133 
 
 111 
 
 641 
 
 98 
 
 92 
 
 1100 
 
 76 
 
 69 
 
 932 
 
 146 
 
 130 
 
 1019 
 
 127 
 
 104 
 
 323 
 
 53 
 
 44 
 
 453 
 
 74 
 
 68 
 
 7321 
 
 1024 
 
 901 
 
 _ 
 
 .. 
 
 1099 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 1054 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 916 
 
 . 
 
 - 
 
 749 
 
 - 
 
 . 
 
 1468 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1574 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 78 
 
 _ 
 
 . 
 
 94 
 
CHAPTER XXVn. 
 
 FiEST Nbwspapek, the Norwich PACttET. 
 
 In 1773, the first Newspaper was established in Norwich. The pro- 
 prietors and printers were Alexander Robertson, James Robertson, and 
 John Trumbull, under the firm of Robertsons & Trumbull. It had a 
 flourishing head-piece inclosing the rude cut of a ship under full sail, and 
 an imposing title, making pretensions to a wide circulation, as represented 
 below in reduced sizie. 
 
 OCTOBER, Mdcclxxih. 
 
 Vol. L Number 3, 
 
 THE 
 
 AND 
 
 CONNECTICUT, 
 NEW-HAMPSHIRE k 
 
 WEEKLY ADVERTISER, 
 
 THE 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS, 
 RHODE-ISLAND- 
 
 From Thursday, Oct. 14, to Thursday, Oct. 21, 1773. 
 
 Price, six shilluigs and eight pence per annum. 
 
 The press was at first set up in an office "at the foot of the Green, 
 near the Court House," but in July, 1775, was removed to a new building, 
 "near the Meeting House," which from that time forth, for fi% years or 
 more, was known as Trumbull's printing-ofiice. 
 
858 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 At that eventful era, when the great struggle for liberty commenced, 
 Norwich might be taken as a fair model of the best class of New England 
 towns. The streets were lively with industry and enterprise, and the 
 society was ahead of most others in educational facilities, literary culture, 
 and the embellishments of domestic life. 
 
 The memory of this period was long kept green in the hearts and 
 minds of those inhabitants who lived into after generations; They looked 
 back to it as to a golden age of hearty social enjoyment, where economy 
 and hospitality went hand in hand, and stateliness harmonized with sim- 
 plicity. It was a period when a moderate degree of prosperity satisfied 
 desire, destroying anxiety for the future, without awakening the greed for 
 superfluous wealth ; when apparel and furniture were gay and glittering, 
 but not extravagant i when few were so rich as not to be kept vigorous 
 and bright by daily attention to business, and few were so poor as not to 
 command a plentiful table ; when thought was expansive and bold in 
 speculations concerning liberty, but had not yet deepened into solemn con- 
 siderations of the rights of man. 
 
 "We are not wholly dependent on tradition for vivid sketches of this 
 great transition period. A community is photographed in its local papers, 
 and a lively impression of the general affairs and domestic pursuits of the 
 town may be gathered from the contemporary numbers of the Norwich 
 Packet. 
 
 As the early files of this paper are now very rare, a few excerpts relat- 
 ing to local affairs may prove interesting. 
 
 [1773.] Oct. 28. The season has been so very mild, that a mess of green peas wa« 
 picked the last week in this town, spontaneously grown from seed produced this year, 
 
 Dec. 13. The officers and soldiers who belonged to Gen. Lyman's regiment of Pro- 
 vincials, and were at the taking of Havannah, are notified to meet at the house of Mr. 
 John Durgie,* Innholder, in Norwich, to enquire why the last dividend of their prize 
 money has not been paid, &c. 
 
 Marriages were notified in such terms as these : 
 
 Nov. 1773. Last Thursday evening, Mr. Mundator Tracy, an accomplished young 
 gentleman, was married to the agreeable Caroline Bushnell, a yonng lady endowed 
 with every qualification to make the connubial state happy. 
 
 John Chester, Esq. of Wethersfiold, to the amiable Miss Elizabeth Huntington, dau' 
 of Col. Jabez Huntington. 
 
 Deaths in this way: 
 
 Feb. 17, 1774. On Friday last, departed this life at Pomechoag, her safifron colored 
 majesty, Ann Queen Dowager, of the Monahegan Indians, and yesterday her remains 
 were interred in a manner suitable to her high rank, in the Indian burying ground at 
 Chelsea. 
 
 • The popular pronunciation of Durkee. 
 
u^< 
 
 '^ 
 
 B.ELA PECK. 
 
HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 359 
 
 Feb. 10, 1774. Yesterday, Mr. James Burnam, of this town, brought to market a 
 sled load of wood, which completes the number of 2,500 loads, which he has drove in 
 himself, 4 miles, and sold since 1754. A great part he cut himself— all bnt 50 loads 
 on his own land — all which he has done without upsetting a cart, breaking a wheel or 
 sled, bruising a finger, or injuring an ox or horse by any wound. He sold his wood 
 for £820 ; — has about 5 times as much more on his land, which he intends leaving for 
 some other person to cart and draw, he having done his full share that way. He has 
 also expended 500 days of labour on 2 acres of land, in subduing and fencing it. 
 
 From another article respecting this Mr. James Burnham, — a large- 
 minded, hard-working farmer, — we learn that in 1760 his house and fur- 
 niture had been consumed by fire ; that he replaced his loss with a com- 
 fortable house neatly furnished ; built 400 rods of stone-wall with his own 
 hands ; gave the public a highway through his land of 100 rods ; built and 
 painted a school-house and gave it to the district, and for several years 
 had chiefly supplied it with fuel. Such an example of unselfish eterprise 
 with limited means, in a secluded sphere, deserves to be perpetuated. 
 
 1774, Feb. 11. By Capt. Holmes who arrived at Stonington last Sunday from the 
 "West Indies, we hear the melancholy news of the death of Capt. William Billings of 
 this town, who died about the beginning of January last of a fever at Dominica. Hig 
 death is universally lamented by all his acquaintance.* 
 
 March 3, 1774. A number of Physicians in the County of New London, taking 
 into consideration the importance of those that enter the practice of Physick being 
 endued with competent knowledge to prosecute the undertaking in such a manner as 
 shall best promote the publick good ; request their brethren of the Faculty in said 
 County to meet at the house of Mr. Azariah Lathrop in Norwich on Thursday the 
 24th inst. at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, to consider upon the matter and prefer a Me- 
 morial to the General Assembly at their next Session, that the Practice of Physick 
 may be put under some better regulation. 
 
 This memorial was signed by Theophilus Rogers and ten other physi- 
 cians. It was the first step toward medical organization in Connecticut.f 
 The Assembly at this time declined acting upon the petition, but after the 
 Revolution several medical associations were incorporated. Of the New 
 London County Medical Society, Dr. John Barker of Franklin, one of 
 the original memorialists, was the first President. 
 
 April, . Dr. Turner has recently extracted the bone of an alewife from the 
 
 throat of Mi'. Ebenezer Lord, where it had been lodged for 25 years, and at various 
 times had given him exquisite pain. It was about the size of a brown thread needle 
 and was barbed from end to end. 
 
 * Capt. Billings was scarcely 40 years of age. His wife (Mary Richards) survived 
 him 30 years. One of their daughters married Captain Bela Peck and was the mother 
 of Mrs. Harriet .Peck Williams. 
 
 t App. to Norwich Jubilee, article Physicians, by A. Woodward, M, D. 
 
860 HISTOSY OP NOBWICH, 
 
 May 2, 1774. A great military parade took place at Woodstock, accompanied by & 
 mock figlit, under the direction of Capt. Samuel M'Clellan. A party dressed as In- 
 dians, seised upon some children who were looking on, and ran off with them, btit 
 were pursued by the troop and the children rescued. 
 
 Oct. 20, 1774. Last Thursday (Oct. 14) between the hours of 7 and 8 o'clock P. M, 
 a smart shock of an earthquake was felt here, and we are since informed it was felt also 
 at Newport in Rhode Island ; but have not heard of any damage done by it.* 
 
 July 10, 1775. This day Mr. Safford of Preston sets off for Crown Point and Ti- 
 conderoga, to open a communication between those fortresses and this town. 
 
 The above article leads to the supposition that a portion of the recruits 
 then in garrison at these posts belonged in this vicinity. Post-riders at 
 that era were important agents, performing the work of the mail, the post- 
 offlce, and the telegraph.f 
 
 Every shop seems to have been a variety store, containing a miscella-. 
 neous assemblage of goods. The advertisements often represented a ludi- 
 crous combination of pursuits. 
 
 Example : 
 
 Ebenezer Freeman, from Boston. 
 
 Blue- Dyer, 
 
 Informs the Public that he carries on the business 
 
 of dyeing of Cottton, Tow and Linen a most 
 
 beautiful blue (in indigo) with the greatest 
 
 despatch. 
 
 Also takes in genteel Boarders. 
 
 Has a Handsome Chaise to let. 
 
 Ladies' Gauze Caps, Flys, Handkerchiefs, Aprons, 
 
 &c. ready made in the newest taste at his house 
 
 leading to the Landing, mostly opposite to Capt. 
 
 Hubbard's j: 
 
 A noted feature of that period was the great number of taverns, and 
 these were connected with a constant stream of dinners, suppers and club 
 meetings that were necessary to support them. On the Plain were two 
 of special note, the Lathrop Inn, and one kept for many years by Joseph 
 Peck. John Whcatlcy was also a landlord in this neighborhood for a 
 
 * Another slight shock of an earthquake, experienced in this part of Connecticut, 
 May 6, 1788, is recorded in the Packet near that date. 
 
 t A curious interest is excited when we observe how large a proportion of advertise- 
 ments in the old newspapers of our country relate to strays. Taken up at such a time; 
 came inta the inctosure of the subscriber; strai/ed away, &c., &c. Innumerable are the 
 spotted heifers, red steers, white-faced yearlings, brindle cows, sorrel mares, roan horses, 
 and other animals, that are advertised as lost or found, — suggeltive at least of loose 
 fencing and a bountiful supply of live-stock. 
 
 t Capt. Wm. Hubbard occupied the house late the residence of Joseph H. Strong. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 361 
 
 slioi't period, but he entered the army in 1775, and fell in the first action 
 in which he took part 
 
 Upon Bean Hill, Major Durkee entertained country travelers and town 
 politicians ; the Lefflngwell tavern near the east end of the town plot was 
 a noted place of resort ; Lathi-op at the Falls and Morgan on the Great 
 Plain were licensed to receive guests and furnish refreshments ; and at 
 the Lauding, public houses were kept by Ebenezer Fitch and Jeremiah 
 Harris, while on all the neighboring roads, wherever ways met, a bridge 
 occurred, or a few houses were clustered together, the traveler was con- 
 fronted by the alluring tavern sign. 
 
 The same year that the Norwich Packet was commenced, [1773,] an- 
 other printing-press was set up on the Plain by Green & Spooner. It is 
 probable that they were on the ground before the Eobertsons, but they 
 published no paper. Judah Paddock Spooner, son of Thomas Spooner 
 of New London, and brother-in-law of Timothy Green, who printed the 
 New London Gazette, was the acting partner of the concern. This office, 
 like that of the Robertsons, issued pamphlets and books of considerable 
 size. The paper used by both firms was manufactured at Leffingwell's 
 mill on the Yantic 
 
 In some instances the two presses were rivals, reprinting the same 
 works, and each endeavoring to forestall the other. Green & Spooner 
 preceded the Robertsons in bringing out an edition of Watts' Psalms, 
 £1773,] and of the Manual Exercise as ordered by his Majesty in 1764. 
 They were competitors also in issuing school-books and almanacs. 
 
 The celebrated Dialogue concerning the Slavery of the Africans, which 
 advocated the doctrine of immediate emancipation, — written by Dr. Hop- 
 kins and addressed to the Continental Congress, — came from the press of 
 Green & Spooner in 1776. They also reprinted and assisted in sowing 
 the country with Paine's Common Sense. This establishment continued 
 its operations about five years. 
 
 In May, 1774, "Nathaniel Patten, Bookbinder and Stationer from 
 Boston," opened a shop '"near the east end of the Plain," not far from 
 Robertson's printing-office. He proposed " to bind, gild and letter books 
 in as splendid a manner as can be done in London;" and at the same 
 time offered for sale the largest assortment of books that had probably 
 ever been displayed in this part of Connecticut. His stock included 
 works of Doddridge, Watts, Owen, Harvey, Rowe, Thomson, Smollett ; 
 Blair's Grave, Pilgrim's Progress, Vicar of Wakefield, Arabian Nights, 
 Milton's Looking-glass for Laity and Clergy, New England's Memorialj 
 King Philip's Bloody War, Lord Somers' Judgment of Kingdoms and- 
 Nations, Hancock's Oration on the bloody 5th of March, 1770, Rev. Mr. 
 Sampson Occum's much-approved Collection of Hymns and Spiritual 
 Songs, and many other standard and popular works, besides school-bookg, 
 
362 HISTOBY OF NOBWICH. 
 
 and works for children. Of stationery he had a great variety, and to this 
 he added articles in the fancy line, which resemble the items of more 
 modern days. 
 
 " A famous tincture for taking out stains. 
 
 Surprising excellent tooth-drops. 
 
 Venitian tooth-powder. 
 
 Imperial lip-salve. 
 
 A most curious eye water. 
 
 A most excellent worm-powder," &c. 
 
 It would probably have been difficult at that day to find in any other 
 place on the continent, out of the range of the great cities, a literary 
 counter presenting greater attractions to the old and young of both sexes, 
 than was furnished by the book-shop of Mr. Patten on Norwich Green. 
 
 It is a striking evidence of an intelligent community, as well as of its 
 prosperity and enterprise, that two printing-offices, with each its assort- 
 ment of books for sale connected with it, and a third large book-binding 
 and book-selling concern, should have been located so near together. 
 During the same year likewise, [1774,] Samuel Loudon from New York 
 opened a shop with a large assortment of books at the Landing, which 
 made four book establishments for the town. This profuse display of lit- 
 erature was not, however, of long continuance. The fiery blast of war, 
 which swept over the land, soon prostrated every species of trade not 
 essential to the preservation of life or defence of liberty. 
 
 Mr. Patten had left Boston on account of the troubles with the mother 
 country in which that town was so deeply involved, and probably returned 
 to it as soon as the British troops were withdrawn. Loudon also in the 
 course of two or three years sold out his stock and removed elsewhere. 
 
 The Robertsons settled in Norwich, apparently with the design of mak- 
 ing it a permanent place of abode. They seemed to have found a home. 
 Their business was on a scale above the ordinary range of the common 
 printing-press of a country town. In addition to their newspaper, they 
 printed a variety of local pamphlets, political tracts, occasional sermons, 
 surprising narratives, manuals of military exercise, school-books and hymn- 
 books. They also issued proposals for reprinting works of history and 
 poetry for more enduring circulation. But the brothers were considered 
 unsound on the vital question of American liberty. They were stigma- 
 tized as tories in mask and Scotch interlopers. 
 
 No cause for this obloquy appears in the columns of the Packet, the 
 editors of which apparently aimed to maintain an honorable impartiality. 
 Communications of the boldest patriotic bearing were freely admitted. 
 The early numbers [1773] contained a series of vigorous essays, entitled 
 "The Alarm," and signed Hampden. They were written by a distin- 
 guished patriot of New York, and were directed against East India 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 863 
 
 laoftopolles, the importation and use of Tea, and the Declaratory and Rev- 
 enue Acts of Parliament. Many other spirited addresses appeared from 
 time to time in this paper, calculated to cherish and inflame the growing 
 desire for political freedom. 
 
 Mr. Aaron Cleveland, a man of talent and a ready writer, contributed 
 many pieces that had the ringing sound of genuine patriotism. One com- 
 munication, which may serve as an illustrative example, was an elaborate 
 article in the form of a sermon, upon the text, "Touch not mine anointed." 
 [Ps. 105 : 15.] The writer's argument was designed to prove that "not 
 kings, but the people are the anointed of God, and kings are forhidden to 
 touch them, thus reversing the interpretation that had been given to the 
 passage by others. It was further maintained that a free people are 
 touched when their laws and civU rights are infringed or violated. The 
 application is apparent. 
 
 As the Revolution advanced, and the great question of independence 
 began to be discussed, the Robertsons avowed their dissent, and ceased to 
 issue the Packet. The prejudice against them was too strong to be 
 resisted. They withdrew from the concern, leaving the press in the hands 
 of their partner, Trumbull, and removed to New York, where they openly 
 espoused the royal cause. 
 
 Mrs. Amy Robertson, the wife of James, the younger of the two 
 brothers, died in Norwich, June 15, 1776, shortly before they bade adieu 
 to the place. A commemorative stone in the First Society burial-ground 
 points out her grave. 
 
 The Robertsons were quite remarkable men. The sons of a printer in 
 Scotland, emigrating to this country with nothing to open the way before 
 them but their own industry and mechanical skill, they established them- 
 selves (between the years 1768 and 1784) successively at New York, 
 Albany, Norwich, Philadelphia, and Shelburne, N. S., publishing a news- 
 paper at each place, of which they were the printers and editors. 
 
 Their first press was at New York, 1768, where for two years they puh- 
 lished the New York Chronicle. In 1770 they opened a| printing-house 
 in Albany, and came from thence to Norwich. After the British army 
 took possession of New York, they published in that city The Royal 
 American Gazette. At a subsequent period of the war, James Robert- 
 son issued at Philadelphia, The Royal Gazette. The following notice of 
 Alexander's death is from the Norwich Packet of Dec. 30, 1784: 
 
 "Died at Port Roseway, [Shelburne, N. S.] in November, Mr. Alexander Robert- 
 eon, printer, in the 42d year of his age : a gentleman of probity, benevolence and phi- 
 lanthropy ; maeh esteemed and now greatly lamented by a very numerous and respect- 
 able acquaintance."* 
 
 * James Robettson, after the death of his brother, returned to Scotland. 
 
864 HISTOBT OP NORWICH, 
 
 The press of Green & Spooner continued in operation till 1778, -whm 
 Mr. Spooner accepted an invitation from the goTernment that had been 
 recently organized in Vermont, to remove to that State and execute the 
 public printing.* 
 
 After the Robertsons left Norwich, the Packet was published by Trum- 
 bull alone, who appears as proprietor, printer and editor from that time to 
 his decease in 1802. The paper was well conducted and a general favor- 
 ite with the community. 
 
 The original title, Norwich Packet, was retained during Trumbull's life, 
 but the heading in other particulars was often changed, sometimes appear- 
 ing in German text, and sometimes in Roman capitals ; now with a cut 
 and a motto, and again in homely simplicity. After Trumbull assumed 
 the whole proprietorship, it was entitled, — "Norwich Packet ahd 
 Country JotrRNAt," with the ship under sail, and the motto, "A free 
 press maintains the majesty of the people." 
 
 The size of the paper varied also, reflecting therein the instability of 
 the times, and illustrating the difficulties and deficiencies of the paper 
 manufactory. The original sheet, 15 inches by 9^, of a pleasing buff 
 tinge, was often superseded by the dingy, dark-blue, limpsy sheet, 13 by 
 8, that could scarcely bear its own weight without breaking. All the 
 newspapers of that day were subject to similar fluctuations. 
 
 Mr. Trumbull was a native of Cambridge or Charlestown, Mass., and' 
 when he entered into partnership with the Robertsons, had but just 
 attained his majority. He was remarkable for his genial humor, and 
 always had a merry turn or witty remark at hand. 
 
 During the Revolutionary war he published a large edition of Hub- 
 bard's Indian Wars, [1778,] various sermons delivered on special occa- 
 sions, almanacs, orations and political papers, the French treaty, narrative' 
 of the Captivity of Col. Ethan Allen, and various other pamphlets, besides 
 school-books and hyran-books in frequent editions. 
 
 * He established himself first at Hanorver, on the east side of Connecticut rirer, that 
 town being then claimed by Vermont, and for a short time published a newspaper there. 
 But when the Vermont claims on the east side of the river were relinquished to New 
 Hampshire, Mr. Spooner removed his press to Westminster, Vt., and in Febrnary, 
 1781, commenced " The Vermont Gazette, or Green Mountain Post-Boy." 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 The Stamp Act and the Call for Liberty. Manupactoees. 
 
 Benjamin Huntington was chosen Town Clerk March 5, 1764. 
 The first recorded town action that alludes to the subjects pending be- 
 tween Great Britain and the Colonies, is the following : 
 
 "Whereas a question arose in the mind of the Clerk of this town soon after he was 
 chosen, whether or no he might with safety proceed in his office on the report of an 
 act of Parliament imposing Stamp papers, &c. — Wherefore it is unanimously agreed 
 to a man in full town meeting and it is hereby desired that the clerk proceed in all 
 matters relating to his office as usual, — And that the town will save him harmless 
 from all damages that he may sustain thereby." 
 
 Soon after this, the citizens organized a watch and guard to prevent 
 any stamps from being admitted into the place. They burned the stamp- 
 master, Ingersoll, in efBgy, and a large company went to New London to 
 take part in the grand demonstration there made against some stamped 
 ship-papers that had been admitted into the custom-house from the "West 
 Indies. No bolder spirit was manifested in Boston than in Norwich. 
 
 The Stamp Act had been passed by Parliament in March, but was not 
 to go into operation until the 1st of November. Thomas Fitch, the Gov- 
 ernor of Connecticut, after mature deliberation, decided to support it, and 
 assembled his Council, to take in their presence the oath to that effect. 
 Seven out of the eleven members present, after vainly remonstrating 
 against his decision, indignantly withdrew, refusing to witness the offen- 
 sive ceremony. Two of these were Norwich men, — Hezekiah and Jabez 
 Huntington, — one a lawyer, the other a prosperous merchant. 
 
 Major John Durkee of Bean Hill was an active and daring leader in 
 these stamp-act commotions. In September, 1765, he took command of 
 a body of liberty men, that were gathered from Norwich and the neigh- 
 boring towns and banded together for the express purpose of preventing 
 the stamps from being distributed in Connecticut. Taking with them 
 eight days' provisions, they set off towards Hartford, and being well 
 mounted, overtook and arrested Mr. Ingersoll at Wethersfield, on his way 
 to the Assembly, and with threats of violent usage in case of refusal, com- 
 
366 HISTOBT OP NOEWICH. 
 
 manded him to resign his office of stamp-master. " The cause is not worth 
 dying for," said IngersoU, and signed his resignation. 
 
 This oppressive act could not be enforced. After hanging portentously 
 over the country for a couple of years, it was repealed by Parliament in 
 March, 1766. The lirst anniversary of the repeal was celebrated in 
 Norwich with peculiar festivity. In a communication to the Hartford 
 Courant,* the proceedings are recorded in these loyal terms: 
 
 "Norwich, March 19, 1767. ■ 
 
 Yesterday, P. M. a number of gentlemen of this town assembled under Liberty Tree 
 to celebrate the day that his Majesty went in his royal robes to the House of Peers and 
 seated on the throne gave his assent to the Repeal of the Stamp Act, for which may 
 he be forever blessed in family and person with all the blessings of heaven." 
 
 Liberty Tree was a lofty pole erected in the center of the Green, decked 
 with standards and appropriate devices, and crowned with a cap. A tent 
 or booth was erected under it, called the Pavilion. Here, almost daily, 
 people assembled to hear the news, make speeches, and encourage each 
 other in the determination to resist all oppression. 
 
 Early in December of that year, the town received the famous Boston 
 Circular from the selectmen, recommending the disuse of certain enume- 
 rated articles of British production. A town meeting was immediately 
 convened to consider the subject, and "the said meeting being full and 
 well-pleased with the important measures offered to their consideration," 
 appointed a committee of the most prominent inhabitants to advise and 
 report at their next meeting. This report was framed "in conformity 
 with the noble example set by Boston," and consisted chiefly of an agree- 
 ment not to import, purchase or make use of certain articles produced or 
 manufactured out of North America ; such as tea, wines and spirituous 
 liquors, superfluities of every kind, and in general all foreign manufac- 
 tures, except linens and broadcloths of a very low price, and felt hdts. 
 
 They recommended also the raising of sheep's wool, flax and hemp, and 
 the establishing of domestic manufactures; and that the citizens should 
 especially promote those new manufactures that had been set up among 
 them, of paper, stone and earthen-ware. The report closes in this man- 
 ner : 
 
 " And it is strongly recommended to the worthy ladies of this town that for the future 
 they would omit tea-drinking in the aftei-noon ; and to commission officers, to be mode- 
 rate and frugal in their acknowledgments to their companies for making choice of them 
 as their officers, which at this distressing time will be more honorable than the usual 
 lavisli and extravagant entertainments heretofore given." — Voted unanimously Dec. 14, 
 1767, and ordered to be printed in the Now London Gazette. 
 
 « No. 44. 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 367 
 
 The names of the committee bringing in this report will show who 
 ■were the leading patriots of the town at that time. 
 
 Hon. Hezekiah Huntington,. Mr. Gershom Breed, 
 
 Hon. Jabez Huntington, Mr. Jeremiah Kinsman, 
 
 Simeon Tracy, Esq., Elisha Fitch, Esq., 
 
 Capt. Richard Hide, Col. Wm. Whiting, 
 
 Capt. Hugh Ledlie, Eben'r Hartshorn, Esq., 
 
 Major John Durkie, Capt. Jabez Perkins, 
 
 Mr. Isaac Tracy, Dr. Daniel Lathrop. 
 
 The idea of Independence had not then become current in the country. 
 
 'A redress of grievances was the extent of the patriot's aim. The above 
 
 report closes with expressing a determination to remain "loyal subjects of 
 
 our Sovereign Lord the King ; holding firm and inviolable our attachment 
 
 to and dependence on our mother country." 
 
 The national song, Rule Britannia, was often sung with a variation of 
 the chorus : 
 
 Rule Britannia ; rule the wares, 
 But never make your children slares. 
 
 Norwich was one of the first towns in the colony to make experiments 
 in manufactures. The manufacture of paper was begun by Christopher 
 Leffingwell in 1766, the Connecticut Gazette being issued on paper from 
 his factory in December of that year. His stocking-looms were set in 
 operation about the same time. 
 
 As the troubles with the mother country took a more serious aspect, 
 iron-works became specially important. The foundry of Elijah Backus 
 at Yantic was serviceable in the casting of cannon and mortars, and there 
 was full employment everywhere for hammer, bellows and furnace. 
 
 The encouragement of home manufactures and the rejection of all 
 imported luxuries were regarded as tests of patriotism. Common dis- 
 course grew eloquent in praise of plain apparel and Labrador Tea. The 
 music of the spinning-wheel was pronounced superior to that of guitar and 
 harpsichord. 
 
 Homespun parties were given, where nothing of foreign importation 
 appeared in the dresses or upon the table. Even wedding festivities were 
 conducted upon patriotic principles. It is related that at the marriage of 
 Miss Dora Flint at Windham, in December, 1767, the numerous guests 
 were all arrayed in garments of domestic manufacture. The ladies ap- 
 peared without silks, ribbons, gauze, or lace. The refreshments, though 
 in great plenty and variety, were all of domestic produce, and the popular 
 beverage was Hyperion, or Labrador Tea.* 
 
 * Ceanothus Americanus. It grows all over New England, and is called also Red- 
 root and New Jersey Tea. Not the green plant, but the leaves properly dried and cured 
 make a tea which is said to be both wholesome and palatable. The aborigines used it. 
 
368 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 In the summer of 1768, a stage-coach was established between Norwich 
 and Providence; leaving Lathrop's tavern every "Wednesday morning, 
 and forming a weekly line. This was the first public conveyance upon 
 this route. 
 
 June 7, 1768, an entertainment was given at Peck's tavern, adjoining 
 Liberty Tree, to celebrate the election of Wilkes to Parliament. The 
 principal citizens, both of town and landing, assembled on this festive 
 occasion. All the furniture of the table, such as plates, bowls, tureens, 
 tumblers and napkins, were marked "No. 45." This was the famous 
 number of the "North Briton," edited by Wilkes, which rendered him so 
 obnoxious to the ministry. The Tree of Liberty was decked with new 
 emblems, among which, and conspicuously surmounting the whole, was a 
 flag emblazoned with "No. 45, Wilkes & Liberty." 
 
 In September of that year, another festival was held at the same place, 
 in mockery of the pompous proceedings of the Commissioners of Customs 
 appointed for the colonies by the British Ministry. These Commissioners 
 had published a list of holidays to be observed by all persons in their 
 employ, and among them was "September 8tk," the anniversary of the 
 date of their commission. The citizens of Norwich were resolved to 
 make it a holiday also. At the conclusion of the banquet, toasts were 
 drank, and at the end of every one was added : 
 
 "And the 8th of September." 
 Thus:— 
 r " The King and the 8th of September." 
 
 " Wilkes and Liberty and the 8th of September." 
 " The famous 92 and the 8th of September." 
 
 Songs were also sung with this chorus; nor did the assembly disperse 
 without indignant speeches made against " British mis-government," and 
 the disgrace of wearing a foreign yoke. 
 
 October 4th, a town meeting was called to consider "the critical and 
 alarming conjuncture of affairs." This was a full assembly, and all hearts 
 were warm and unanimous. There was no need of discussion or debate. 
 The record of the meeting in the town book is inscribed upon the margin 
 with the word 
 
 "Libektt! Liberty! Liberty!" 
 
 three times repeated. This word alone shows the spirit that pervaded the 
 assembly. They passed a vote of cordial approbation of the measures 
 adopted by the Bostonians, on the 12th of September, saying: 
 
 " Wo consider the noble cause they are engaged in as the common cause of our 
 country, and will unite both heart and hand in support thereof, against all enemies 
 whatsoever." ^ 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 369 
 
 It was customary at this period for the town to give a paper of instruct- 
 ive hints to their deputies respecting the points it would be desirable for 
 them to advocate in the assembly. In these instructions we find them 
 repeatedly urging: 
 
 That manufactures be encouraged. 
 
 That debates be open. 
 
 That a close union of the colonies be promoted. 
 
 That measures be taken to lessen the number of lawsuits, or some bet- 
 ter provision be made for their speedy issue. 
 
 In May, 1769, they recommend "that some effectual measures may be 
 concerted to lessen the amazing flood of private business at the Assem- 
 bly." 
 
 Jan. 29, 1770. The margin of the public record is again emblazoned 
 with Liberty ! Liberty ! The following is an extract from the resolu- 
 tions then passed : 
 
 " We give this public testimony of our hearty and unanimous approbation of the 
 agi'eement the merchants have entered into, to stop the importation of British goods ; 
 we will frown upon all who endeavour to frustrate these good designs, and avoid all 
 correspondence and dealings with those merchants who shall dare to violate these obli- 
 gations." 
 
 They proceeded to choose two diligent and discreet persons from each 
 society, in addition to the Merchant's Committee, to make critical inspec- 
 tion into the conduct of all buyers and sellers of goods, who were to pub- 
 lish the names of those that should counteract the intent and meaning of 
 the non-importation agreement, to the intent that such persons might be 
 exposed to the odium and resentment of the people. They also recom- 
 mend to the wealthy persons in town to enter into subscriptions for setting 
 up and carrying on the making of nails, stocking-weaving, and other use- 
 ful branches of manufacture, and every one in his respective sphere of 
 action to encourage and promote industry and frugality. 
 
 In August, repeated meetings were convened for the same purpose ; 
 that is, to devise methods to support the non-importation agreement, which 
 was the leading measure of the day. They declare their fixed opinion of 
 the wisdom and importance of this measure, — that they will "spare no 
 pains to give it a fixed and solid form, by following every breach thereof 
 with the full weight of their indignation, and withholding all commerce 
 from any who dare to violate it;" and that they are "both grieved and 
 incensed at the alarming conduct of New York in violating the same." 
 
 Elijah Backus, Esq., and Capt. Jedidiah Huntington, were selected to 
 represent the mercantile and landed interest, at a meeting proposed to be 
 held in New Haven, the day after the college commencement, to resolve 
 on measures to support this agreement. 
 24 
 
370 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 Let it not be supposed that all this spirit evaporated iii votes and public 
 speeches ; there is abundant evidence that the action was suited to the 
 word, and not a threat returned void. The committees of inspection were 
 exceedingly vigilant ; the lady who continued to indulge in her cup of tea, 
 or the gentleman in his glass of brandy, were obliged to do it by stealth. 
 Any person who was found to have violated the agreement, had his name 
 posted in handbills through the town, and published in the New London 
 Gazette, a proceeding usually followed by insults, at least from the boys 
 and populace. As the citizens were so strenuous upon this subject, it 
 may be gratifying to curiosity to see a list of the articles specifically enu- 
 merated in the pledge not to " import, purchase, or use, if produced or 
 manufactured out of North America." 
 
 Loaf Sugar, Wrought plate, 
 
 Snuff, Gloves, 
 
 Mustard, Shoes, 
 
 Starch, Women's hats, 
 
 Malt liquors, Men's hats, except felts. 
 
 Linseed oil, Muffs, tippets, and ermine, 
 
 Cheese, Lawns and gauze. 
 
 Tea, Sewing silk, 
 
 'Wine, Women's and children's stays. 
 
 Spirituous liquors. Broadcloths above 9s. 6d. per yard. 
 
 Cordage and anchors, Cambrics above 5s. 
 
 Sole-leather, Linens above 2s. 6d. 
 
 Deck nails. Silks of all kinds except taffety, 
 
 Clocks, Silk handkerchiefs, 
 
 Jewelers' ware. Silk and cotton velvets. 
 
 Gold and silver buttons. All sorts of head-dress for women, as caps, 
 Gold and silver lace, ribbons, flowers, feathere, and turbans.* 
 
 Thread lace. 
 
 As an example of the proceedings of the committee, the case of Mr. 
 Ebenezer Punderson may be cited. This person was a man of good 
 manners and education, who kept a school upon the plain ; but whose 
 name was posted through the town, with the charge of having repeatedly 
 drank tea, and being questioned about it, declared that he would continue 
 to do so. He said, moreover, that Congress was an unlawful combina- 
 tion, and their petition to his Majesty haughty, violent, and impertinent, 
 and uttered other words, indicating disregard of the Continental associa- 
 tion. The committee thereupon ordered, " that no trade, commerce, deal- 
 ings, or intercourse whatever be carried on with him, but that he ought to 
 
 * At Woodstock, the non-importation agreement, which was voted by the citizens, 
 (Col. Israel Putnam in the chair,) rejected all imported articles except the following, 
 which wo may take as a list of what were considered positive necessaries, that one could 
 not decently live without : Bibles, pins, needles, gunpowder, lead, flints, German steel, 
 apothecary's drugs, spices, and window-glass. 
 
HISTORT OP NORWICH. 371 
 
 be held as unworthy the rights of freeman, and inimical to the liberties 
 of his country." This had the desired effect. A public recantation was 
 made by Mr. Punderson, who averred that he was sorry for what he had 
 done, and would drink no more tea until the use should be fully approved 
 in North America ; moreover, that he would no more vilify Congress, nor 
 do any thing against the liberties and privileges of America. 
 
 At a later period, however, [August, 1777,] the estate of Mr. Punder- 
 son in Norwich was confiscated, the Commissioners stating that he had 
 left the town and "joined the enemies of America." Certain property 
 owned in town by William Bayard and Charles Ward Apthorp of New 
 York, was confiscated at the same time. The height of land east of the 
 Shetucket, still known as Tory HiU, was a part of this confiscated estate. 
 We are not aware that any other property in Norwich was sequestered on 
 account of toryism. 
 
 Great exertions were made about this time to establish regular posts, 
 and safe transportation lines through the colonies. Norwich was not 
 behindhand in this business. In addition to the regular stage-route to 
 Providence, individuals were engaged to ride weekly to all the larger cities 
 in the vicinity, conveying letters, papers, memorandums, and small bun- 
 dles. No effective system, however, was established in concert with other 
 parts of the country, till March, 1774. At that time, Mr. William God- 
 dard, a distinguished printer of Baltimore, arrived in town, being on a 
 tour through the northern colonies to engage the friends of liberty to 
 abolish "the illegal and oppressive parliamentary post office, and establish 
 a provincial subscription post." Mr. Goddard held a conference with 
 some of the citizens, who entered readily into his plans, and a regular 
 weekly communication was forthwith established between Norwich and 
 Boston, for which £60 per annum was subscribed. The route led through 
 Windham, Pomfret, and Mendon. The post left Norwich on Thursday, 
 reached Boston on Saturday, and started the next Monday for Norwich 
 again. This was the first regular post between the two places. 
 
 New London was at this period the regular place of letter-delivery for 
 the three counties of New London, Windham, and Middlesex. A post- 
 ofiice was not established at Norwich till 1782. 
 
 The manufactures of the place were daily becoming more important. 
 A fulling-mill with a dye-house attached was established by Christopher 
 Lefiingwell in 1770, and' another by Simon Huntington in 1772 ; choco- 
 late mills were put in operation ; pot and pearl ashes were made by the 
 calcination of plants, and a pottery for moulding stone and earthen ware 
 was begun at Bean Hill. Another important enterprise was the manu- 
 facture of cut shingle-nails from old iron hoops, which was commenced in 
 1772, and continued during the war, by Edmund Darrow. This naillery 
 was not large, employing only from four to six hands, but was ^ great 
 
372 HISTOEY OF NORWICH. 
 
 convenience to the community, and merits notice from its being one of the 
 first attempts in this country to make nails in a way less slow and tedious 
 than the old operation of hammering them out of solid iron. 
 
 In 1773, Mr. Thomas Harland, from London, commenced the business 
 of clock and watch-making. His advertisement stated that he made hor- 
 izontal, repeating and plain watches in gold, silver, metal or covered cases; 
 spring, musical and plain clocks ; church clocks and regulators. Watch- 
 wheels and fuzees of all sorts and dimensions, cut and finished upon the 
 shortest notice, neat as in London, and at the same price. 
 
 Mr. Harland taught a number of apprentices, who established them 
 selves in other places, and thus, through his means, the business became 
 extensively spread in the surrounding country. This very ingenious arti- 
 zan also superintended the construction of the first fire-engine owned in 
 Norwich. This was in 1788. 
 
 The comb-making business was established in 1773, by Noah Hidden, 
 p, near the meeting-house. Mr. Alvan Fosdick about the same period un- 
 dertook the manufacture of cards at Bean Hill. In 1780, Nathaniel Niles 
 began to make iron wire at the Falls, connecting also with his works a 
 card-factory, and inventing, it is said, his own peculiar machinery. 
 
 Other artizans who made their appearance at this stirring period were 
 John Page, a gunsmith from Preston, England, who found ready employ- 
 ment ; Zurishaddai Key, a tape-weaver from Manchester, who set up a 
 tape-factory at the Landing ; and Richard Collier, a brazier from Boston, 
 whose foundry and sale-shop was nearly opposite Trumbull's printing- 
 office.* 
 
 * Warming.pans were at that time a conspicuons article in the assortment of a bra- 
 ■ier, and a row of them adorned the front of Collier's shop. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Preparing for Independence. 
 
 Three-pence sterling duty on a pound of tea ! What a mighty fer- 
 ment, leading to what great results, this little tax created ! The Act was 
 passed in 1767, and it included other articles to be taxed, — paper, paints, 
 glass, &c., — ^but these duties were soon repealed, leaving the three-pence 
 on tea, as the assertion of the principle that Parliament had the right to 
 tax the Colonies, and this assumption could not be admitted by a free 
 people. 
 
 On the 8th of December, 1773, the pretended sachem of Narragansett, 
 "Oh-nooker-tunhogog,"* and 70 of his tribe, emptied 342 chests-of tea into 
 Boston Harbor, thousands of spectators manifesting their joyful acquies- 
 cence in the destruction of the Chinese herb, heretofore so highly prized. 
 
 A circular fi-om the Boston Committee of Correspondence, dated May 
 13, 1774, calling for co-operation in resistance to the oppressive laws of the 
 mother country, and directed to the selectmen, or principal citizens of the 
 various towns, met every where a cordial response. In Norwich, a town 
 meeting suggested by this communication was convened by the selectmen, 
 June 6th, 
 
 " To take into consideration the melancholy situation of onr civil, constitutional 
 Liberties, Rights and Privileges which are threatened with destruction by the enemies 
 of his Majesty's happy reign and government over the American Colonies." 
 
 The citizens at first assembled in the court-house, but were obliged to 
 adjourn to the meeting-house in order to accommodate the large concourse 
 of people who came together. The Hon. Jabez Huntington was chosen 
 moderator, and a series of patriotic resolutions drawn up by Capt. Joseph 
 Trumbull and Samuel Huntington, Esq., were passed, almost by acclama- 
 tion. 
 
 In transmitting an account of these proceedings to the Selectmen of 
 Boston, Capt. Trumbull observes : 
 
 " You are called by Providence to stand foremost in the contest for those liberties 
 wherewith God and nature have made us free. Stand firm therefore in your lot, and 
 from the apparent temper of our people we can assure you of every support in the 
 power of this town to afford you in the glorious struggle." 
 
 * See newspapers of 1773. 
 
374 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 A standing Committee of Correspondence was at this time appointed, 
 consisting of 
 
 Capt. Jedidiah Huntington, Capt. William Hubbard, 
 
 Chr. Leffingwell, Esq., Capt. Joseph Trumbull. 
 
 Dr. Theophilus Rogers, 
 
 Col. Barre, in his celebrated speech in Parliament against the Stamp 
 Act, had called the Americans Sons of Liberty, and this was adopted as 
 the title of those associations which were organized through the colonies 
 to resist the oppressive acts of England. In Norwich, however, we find 
 no instance of that almost idolatrous homage to Liberty personified, which 
 was then common in the country. Liberty was cherished as a principle, 
 but not worshiped as a divinity. The highest personification adopted was 
 calling their magnificent pole upon the plain, Liberty Tree.* Neverthe- 
 less, here as elsewhere, patriotism was continually rushing into extremes 
 of speech and action. 
 
 In calmly reconsidering the Revolutionary period, we are astonished at 
 the violent ebullitions of passion which often marked its progress. Per- 
 haps without these deep revulsions and over-actings of popular excite- 
 ment, our independence would not have been so readily secured ; yet the 
 personal animosity and extravagant vituperation of the period can not be 
 defended. 
 
 Speeches, letters, essays, newspapers, were full of obloquy and personal 
 reproach. They were eloquent in railing, calling names, and holding up 
 caricatures to be ridiculed and demolished. The nation was in truth 
 moved to its lowest depths ; the rude and ignorant were aroused to a 
 sturdy and bitter fury, while lowering discontent or gloomy resolution 
 hung upon the brows of the well-instructed and true-hearted. 
 
 No set of men were more generally buffeted with scorn and ridicule 
 than "the sycophant addressers of Governor Hutchinson." In the vilify- 
 ing, clamorous style of the day, they were called "an infamous gang of 
 villains," "groaning court-tools," "myrmidons of despotism," &c. 
 
 July 4, 1774, Mr. Francis Green, a merchant of Boston, who was one 
 of " the addressers of Hutchinson,"t being on a journey into Connecticut, 
 in order, as he stated, to collect debts and transact some private business, 
 put up at a tavern in Windham. This gentleman was a loyalist, and of 
 course obnoxious to the Sons of Liberty, who affected to believe that he 
 
 * Poles were erected in many places, and dedicated " to the Immortal Goddess Lib- 
 erty." Dr. Warren in his oration of March 5, 1 775, addressing his fellow-citizens, uses 
 the expression, "your adored Goddess Liberty." 
 
 t Francis Green, Esq., graduated at Harvard College, 1760. He was at the capture 
 of Havana, 1762; died at Medford, April 21, 1809, aged 67. He was author of an 
 "Essay on imparting Speech to the Deaf and Dumb," printed at London in 17S3. 
 
HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 375 
 
 had some sinister designs in this journey. He had been stigmatized in 
 the patriotic papers as " one of that insidious crew who fabricated and 
 signed the adulatory address to strengthen the hands of that parricidal 
 tool of despotism, Thomas Hutchinson." The patriots of Windham were 
 no sooner aware of his presence, than they proceeded to show their dis- 
 pleasure. Assembling early in the morning, they surrounded the tavern, 
 uttering shouts of insult and threats of exalting him upon a cart, unless 
 he instantly left their precincts. This he did without delay, being fol- 
 lowed with hoots and execrations. An express had been previously des- 
 patched to Norwich, with information that he was bound thither. The 
 whole town was moved with this intelligence, and the sexton was ordered 
 to give notice of his arrival by ringing the bell. Mr. Green's carriage, 
 therefore, no sooner stopped at Lathrop's tavern, than the bell rang an 
 alarm, and the citizens were in an uproar. 
 
 The plain was soon alive with the concourse, and a message was trans- 
 mitted to Mr. Green, giving him his choice, to depart in fifteen minutes, 
 or be driven out on a cart. He was very reluctant to go ; pleaded busi- 
 ness ; that he had debts in town to collect ; and stepping out upon the 
 green, attempted to address the people : whereupon Capt. Simeon Hunt- 
 ington, a very stout man, collared him and called him rascal. By this time 
 a horse and cart, with a high scaffolding in it for a seat, made its appear- 
 ance, and demonstrations of lifting him to this conspicuous station being 
 made, Mr. Green took the most prudent course, entered his carriage, and 
 amid shouts and hissings drove off; a part of the populace following him 
 with drums beating and horns blowing, till he was fairly out of their pre- 
 cincts. On his return to Boston, Mr. Green issued a proclamation and 
 offered a reward for the apprehension of any of the ruffians who had 
 forced him to leave Windham and Norwich. It read as follows : 
 
 One Hundked Dollars Reward. 
 
 Whereas five Ruffians, calling themselves by the names of Hezekiah Bissell, Benja- 
 min Lathrop, Timothy Laraby, Ebenezer Backus, and Nathaniel Warren, aided and 
 assisted by a great number of others, did (in the night of the 4th inst. at Windham, 
 in the Colony of Connecticut, and again in the morning of the 5th inst. ) in a lawless 
 and hostile manner assault the subscriber, surrounding the house in which he was, for- 
 cibly entering the same and intruding themselves into his particular room, endeavoring 
 to intimidate him by threats, from the pursuit of his lawful and necessary business, 
 menacing to seize him, with his papers, baggage, &c. and to carry him off, as well as 
 intimating that his life was in danger, if he did not submit to their illegal demands, of 
 desisting from his business, and of immediately quitting the said town, and did also 
 presumptuously interrupt and insult him, by repeatedly insisting on his departure, and 
 
 Whereas, (it is supposed by their instigation,) a great number of other Villains and 
 Ruffians, one of whom called himself by the name of Simeon Huntington, did also in 
 the morning of the 6lh instant, in the same hostile but more cowardly manner, sur- 
 round, threaten, assault and lay violent hands on the subscriber at Norwich, in said 
 
376 HISTOBY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Colony, and by force compel him to quit his lawful business, and depart that town, 
 thereby not only impeding him in the collecting of debts justly due to him, obstructing 
 him in the settlement of accounts, and other important transactions ; (to his great det- 
 riment and injury) but also putting his life in danger; And 
 
 Whekeas repeated application was made to a magistrate of Nonvich aforesaid, for 
 that protection which every subject in his legal business is entitled to, but no protec- 
 tion being either afforded, offered, or promised, — This is therefore to offer a reward of 
 
 One Hundred Dollars, 
 
 to any person who shall give such information of the above mentioned, high handed, 
 and audacious offenders, as that they may thereby be apprehended within this province, 
 and be held to answer for thei;' infamous conduct, the same to be paid on their convic- 
 tion by Feancis Geeen. 
 Boston, July 13, 1774.* 
 
 The treatment received by Mr. Green was stigmatized by the tories, as 
 a "violent outrage from a petulant mob." The patriots called it "the 
 cool, deliberate remonstrance of the sons of freedom." The advertise- 
 ment was a subject of merriment to the good people of Norwich, who 
 republished it in handbills, and hawked it about town with a running 
 commentary. 
 
 About this time subscriptions were made in various towns in Connecti- 
 cut, for the poor of Boston. Norwich sent on a noble donation of 291 
 sheep, and afterwards a second installment of cash, wheat, corn, and a 
 flock of 100 sheep. This liberality was greatly applauded in the pubhc 
 prints. Samuel Adams, in a letter to the Committee, referring to this 
 generosity, observes : " The part which the Town of Norwich takes in 
 this struggle for American Liberty is truly noble." 
 
 The sympathy felt for the Bostonians was yet further displayed by the 
 spirit manifested in September of this year, on the reception of a piece of 
 intelligence, which proved to be false, of a rupture between them and the 
 royal troops. On Saturday, Sept. 3d, at four P. M., an express arrived 
 from Col. Israel Putnam, that Boston had been attacked the night before, 
 and six of the citizens killed. This was but a rumor, yet it caused the 
 greatest consternation ; the citizens assembled around Liberty Tree, then 
 adjourned to the court-house, and resolved to despatch an express to 
 Providence. Blr. David Nevins volunteered on this service, as he had 
 on many similar occasions, and departed at eight, P. M. On Sunday 
 morning, 464 men, well armed, and the greater part mounted on good 
 horses, started for Boston, under the command of Major John Durkeo, 
 and rendezvoused at Capt. Burnham's inn, seven miles from town. Here 
 at eleven o'clock A. M., they were met by Mr. Nisvins, on his return from 
 Providence, with intelligence that the report was without foundation, — 
 upon which they dispersed. That same morning, two hundred men, well 
 
 * Massachusetts Gazette. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 377 
 
 armed and mounted, left Windham at sunrise, and had proceeded twenty 
 or thirty miles before they learned the falsity of the rumor. The people 
 of Colchester were attending divine service, when a messenger entered 
 and announced the report that Boston had been attacked by the troops. 
 The minister immediately suspended the service, and all the men able to 
 bear arms equipped themselves and marched. It was supposed that up- 
 wards of 20,000 men from this colony alone were on the march to Boston 
 that day. 
 
 This false alarm had for its foundation a real aggressive act. General 
 Gage landed a body of troops and removed the military stores from 
 Charlestown, together with two field-pieces from Cambridge, to Castle 
 William. This excited a tumult in Boston, the news of which, distorted 
 and intensified by rumor, was delivered verbally by a hasty messenger to 
 Col. Putnam at Pomfret. Putnam condensed the intelligence in a des- 
 patch to Capt. Cleveland in Canterbury, who sent it on by express to 
 Major John Durkee in Norwich ; the latter forwarded it to New London, 
 from whence it went to Lyme, Saybrook, and East Haddam, — the same 
 despatch passing on with its various endorsements, and arousing the coun- 
 try to arms. 
 
 A convention of delegates from New London and Windham counties 
 met at Norwich Sept. 8, 1774, in order to consult upon measures for the 
 common welfare. The result of their proceedings was an earnest recom- 
 mendation that the towns should supply themselves with a full stock of 
 ammunition and military stores, — that all officers and soldiers should be 
 well armed and equipped, — that men should be collected and drilled, and 
 • skill in the art of war should be cultivated. Of this meeting the Hon. 
 Gurdon Saltonstall was chairman, and Col. William Williams of Lebanon, 
 clerk. 
 
 In October, the General Court of the Colony ordered that all the militia 
 should be called out for drill twelve half-days before the next May. No 
 regiment of militia had at this time ever been reviewed east of Connecti- 
 cut river ; the trainings had all been by companies. 
 
 There was no regular uniform for the militia of the State at that period, 
 nor for many years afterward. Eifle frocks and overalls were much worn, 
 mostly white with colored fringes. One of the words of command in train- 
 ing was, " Blow off the loose corns ; " and before and after the command 
 to " Poise arms," came " Put your right hand to the firelock," — "Put your 
 left hand to the firelock." An odd kind of aspirate was sometimes used 
 after a command; thus, "Shoulder! hoo!" The great object in the 
 exercises then was to make the soldier familiar with his gun ; that he 
 might charge quick and aim sure. Now the trainings consist much more 
 in maneuvering, wheeling, iflarching, &c. Instead of firelock, arms is 
 used. 
 
378 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 At a field review in May, 1774, Norwicli had four companies, under the 
 following officers : 
 
 1st Company — Jedidiah Huntington, Captain. 
 Jacob Perkins, Jr., Lieutenant. 
 Joseph Carew, Ensign. 
 
 2d Company — Samuel Wheat, Captain. 
 
 Joseph Ellis, Lieutenant. 
 
 Isaac Griswold, Ensi^. 
 3d Company — Isaac Tracy, Jr., Captain. 
 
 Jacob Witter, Lieutenant. 
 
 Andrew Tracy, Ensign. 
 
 4th, or Chelsea Co. — Gershom Breed, Captain. 
 
 Benjamin Dennis, Lieutenant. 
 Thomas Trap, Ensign. 
 
 The militia at that period used the English colors ; displaying the cross 
 of St George (-f ) in a field of red or blue, and sometimes the cross of 
 St. Andrew (X) united with it (-Jf), in reference to the union of England 
 and Scotland. After the troubles with the mother country commenced, 
 objections were made to this standard, and in all probability it was not 
 displayed after 1774. It is said that on a certain training day, the artil- 
 lery company, composed of able men and patriots of the first stamp, had 
 provided themselves with a banner bearing the arms and motto of the 
 State, while the light infantry performed their evolutions as heretofore 
 under the old flag. In the course of the day's exercises, being on a march 
 through the town street, the artillery managed to confront the infantry, 
 and planting their cannon in the way, refused them a passage unless they 
 would surrender their standard. After some parleying, the royal ensign 
 was lowered, rolled up, and never used again. 
 
 In the autumn of 1774, the General Court ordered that Norwich should 
 comprise the 20th regiment of infantry, and appointed Jedidiah Hunting- 
 ton, Colonel ; Samuel Abbott, Lieut. Colonel ; and Zabdiel Eogers, Major. 
 These officers all belonged to Norwich town-plot. Col. Huntington gave 
 notice that a regimental training would be held at Norwich on the first 
 Mond.iy of the next May. But before that time arrived, a great part of 
 the men were in .actual service near Boston, and the review was relin- 
 quished. 
 
 "When the flame of war broke forth in 1775, twenty-two regiments had 
 been organized in Connecticut. In 1776 they were remodeled and twenty- 
 five regiments formed, and of these all but two were in actual service for 
 longer or shorter terms during the summer. 
 
 In October, 1776, Ebenezer Huntington and Jedidiah Hyde of Norwich 
 were commissioned as captains, David Nevins, Simeon Huntington and 
 Jacob DeWitt lieutenants, in the regular army. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 379 
 
 Such was the tinanimity of the citizens, that through the whole Revo- 
 lutionary struggle their proceedings were principally town-wise. They 
 were not obliged to have such continual rscourse to the committees of cor- 
 respondence and safety, nor to invest them with such arbitrary powers as 
 was done in most parts of the country. The public acts were all munici- 
 pal, the dissenting voices few and weak, and very little change took place 
 in laws or officers. The town was an independent community, actuated 
 by a single impulse, swayed only by a Governor whom they loved, and a 
 Congress which they revered. 
 
 March 28, 1775. In full town meeting the following resolution was 
 passed : 
 
 " Whereas numbers of persons are removing from the town of Boston to this place 
 and others may remove : — Voted, that this town request the select-men and committee 
 of inspection to take effectual care that none of the addressers to Gov. Hutchinson or 
 any others who have evidenced themselves to be inimical to the common cause of 
 America, be admitted or suffered to reside in this town, unless they shall produce a 
 proper certificate from the Provincial Congress that they have altered then- conduct In 
 such a manner as to give full satisfaction." 
 
 Among the persons alluded to in the above preamble, who at this time 
 removed their families to Norwich, where they remained till after the 
 evacuation of Boston by the British, and some of them during the greater 
 part of the war, the names of Hubbard, Greene, PhiUips, Quincy, How 
 and Dorr have been preserved. 
 
 Mr. How was the pastor of the South Church in Boston, and had for- 
 merly preached in Norwich. 
 
 Deacon Phillips occupied the Arnold house. He was one of the solid 
 men of Boeton, and his family came on in a coach with out-riders. The 
 family of Josiah Quincy, the Boston Patriot, came with them ; Mr. Quincy 
 himself being then absent on a mission to England.* 
 
 The Hubbards and Greenes had connections in Norwich, and it was 
 natural that they should remove to these well-known and retired scenes. 
 Capt. WiUiam Hubbard took the house that had been long known as that 
 of Col. Hezekiah Huntington, then recently deceased, and several of his 
 Boston relatives, both Greenes and Hubbards, resided with him tiU the 
 siege was raised.f 
 
 * The late Josiah Quincy, President of Harvard College, in conversation with a 
 gentleman irom Norwich, said that he distinctly remembered some of the circumstan- 
 ces connected with this removal, though he was but three years old at the time. 
 
 t It is related that when Mrs. Greene and her young daughter returned to Boston, 
 Zacchary, a faithful Indian runner, made one of the retinue, carrying the child upon 
 his shoulders in a basket which depended from a broad strap around the head in true 
 aboriginal style. This was doubtless the easiest mode in which the child could be con- 
 veyed to such a distance 
 
380 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Major Dorr of Boston, while tarrying at Norwich with his family, was 
 nominated by Washington as one of three commissioners who were ap- 
 pointed to view the harbor of New London, and select the most eligible 
 place for a fortification. 
 
 From other places also, the population of Norwich was augmented in 
 these troubled times. The Malbones came from Newport, the Moore 
 family from New York ; Capt. Joseph Coit and Russell Hubbard from 
 New London ; and doubtless many from other places, that have not been 
 traced. 
 
 The attention of the whole country was at this time turned towards 
 Boston. The Norwich Packet was rife with such remarks as these : 
 
 "Boston is now reduced to an alarming crisis, big witli important events. Like a 
 new piece of ordnance, deeply cliarged for the trial of its strength ; we listen witli 
 attention to hear its convulsed explosion, suspending ourselves in mysterious doubt, 
 whetlier it will burst -with dreadful havock, or recoil upon the engineers to their great 
 confusion." 
 
 " The blocking up of Boston is like turning the tide of a murmuring river upon the 
 whole land, and thereby spreading a dangerous inundation through the continent, for 
 resentment already flows high at New York, Philadelphia, and the southern towns, and 
 if it join with the flux at Boston, it may occasion a sea of troubles." 
 
 The -explosion waited for in such dread suspense, at length broke upon 
 the land. The battle of Lexington commenced early on Wednesday 
 morning, April 19 th. Gov. Trumbull was in Norwich when the news 
 first arrived, which was in the afternoon of the next day.* The facts 
 were greatly exaggerated and the public sympathy highly excited. Mr. 
 Nevins, with his usual promptness, again mounted and proceeded to Prov- 
 idence after correct information, returning on Saturday evening. Hand- 
 bills were immediately struck off and dispersed through the town before 
 daybreak the next morning. 
 
 It is interesting to trace the course of intelligence flying through the 
 country at that period, and in this case we have the means of noting the 
 points accurately.! 
 
 J. Palmer, one of the Committee of Safety at Watertown, at 10 o'clock 
 on that memorable day, April 19 th, sends forward Israel Bissell on a 
 swift horse, with a despatch to Col. Foster at Brookfield, stating that "the 
 British have landed two brigades, have already killed 6 men, and wounded 
 4 others, and are on their march into the country." Bissell is charged to 
 alarm the people as far as the Connecticut line. At Worcester, Nathan 
 Balding, (own clerk, takes a copy of the despatch and forwards it to Daniel 
 Tyler, Jr., of Brooklyn, Ct., who sends it by express to Norwich, where it 
 arrives in the afternoon of the 20th. 
 
 • Stuart's Life of Trumbull, p. 173. 
 
 t Newspaper extras and private d9cunient3. 
 
HISTOBT OF NORWICH. 381 
 
 Early the next morning another express with later news arrives. This 
 is from Ebenezer Williams at Pomfret, to Col. Obadiah Johnson at Can- 
 terbury, who forwards it to Jedidiah Huntington. It contains the startling 
 news that 50 of our people are killed and 150 of the regulars, — that is, 
 "as near as they could determine when the express came away." 
 
 On the 22d, Mr. Nevins returned with more correct accounts by way of 
 Providence. 
 
 On the 23d, (Sunday,) at 9 o'clock in the evening, an express arrived 
 from "Woodstock, with despatches for the Committee of Correspondence, 
 and a certified copy of a letter from General Putnam, dated at Cambridge, 
 April 22d, evidently written under deep excitement, calling for immediate 
 supplies of troops and provisions. The shades grow darker with each 
 account, and Putnam represents the invading enemy as perfectly barba- 
 rian, burning houses, "killing children, and putting the muzzle of the gun 
 into the mouths of sick people not able to move, and blowing their heads 
 to pieces."* 
 
 Volunteers were now almost daily departing for the army at Cambridge, 
 in squads of two, three, and four, and regularly organized companies were 
 not far behind. In April, 1775, the Legislature ordered six regiments to 
 be enlisted and equipped without delay. The term of enlistment was 
 seven months. These regiments were raised by volunteers from the reg- 
 ular militia almost with a rush. In May, a company of 100 from Nor- 
 wich, enlisted and accoutered under the superintendence of the veteran 
 Durkee, left for the scene of action in charge of Lieut. Joshua Hunting- 
 ton. These were annexed to Col. Putnam's regiment. 
 
 This company departed May 23d, and that same night a company from 
 Saybrook arrived and encamped on the plain, marching early on the 24th. 
 On the 25th, Capt. Coit's company from New London passed through the 
 town, hastening forward, impatient to face the foe. 
 
 A company went from Preston nearly at the same time, under officers 
 that all rose during the war to the rank of majors and colonels : Edward 
 Mott, captain ; Benjamin Throop and Jeremiah Halsey, lieutenants ; Na- 
 than Peters, ensign. 
 
 Early in June, a second company, raised and drilled in the town-plot at 
 Norwich, marched for Boston, and was annexed to the 6th regiment, com- 
 manded by Col. Parsons. Samuel Gale, captain; Josiah Baldwin and 
 Elisha Lee, lieutenants ; David Nevins, ensign. 
 
 Two additional regiments were raised in the eastern part of Connecti- 
 cut in July, under Colonels Jonathan Latimer of New London and Jedi- 
 diah Huntington of Norwich. Kev. John Ellis of the West Faims was 
 chaplain of Huntington's regiment, and Philip Turner surgeon. Two 
 
 * These atrocities were then currently reported, but the British oiBcers indignantly 
 denied that any such were perpetrated. 
 
382 HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 
 
 companies went from Norwich, commanded by Asa Kingsbury and Joseph 
 Jewett. 
 
 Phineas Lyman Tracy, son of Dr. Elisha Tracy, was ensign in Kings- 
 bury's company, and a young man of great ability and promise. He died 
 at Koxbury during the siege of Boston, before he had attained the age of 
 twenty-one years. 
 
 Capt. Jewett was son-in-law to Dr. TheophUus Rogers. He was taken 
 prisoner at Flatbush, Aug. 31, 1776, and barbarously slain with his own 
 sword after he had surrendered. 
 
 A part of these recruits fought at Bunker's HUl. Major Durkee's com- 
 pany, in the retreat from thence, according to the commissary's report, lost 
 twenty guns and forty blankets. 
 
 These regiments passed the next winter on Prospect and Cobb's Hill, 
 pressing the siege of Boston. They were transferred to New York in 
 March ; were engaged in the battles at Brooklyn and Haerlem Heights ; 
 endured all the hardships of the retreat through the Jerseys, and fought 
 at Germantown, before their term of service expired. Many of these 
 first volunteers served during the whole war, gradually acquiring an hon- 
 orable rank and reputation in the army. 
 
 The great number of volunteers enlisting into the Continental service, 
 left the militia ranks scanty and ineflScient. In October, 1776, the 20th 
 regiment was ordered to take position at Rye, for the defence of the State. 
 A return of the regimental roll,* the first week after their arrival at Rye, 
 (Oct. 11th,) shows eleven companies present, but no one company with 
 more than 22 privates. Major Zabdiel Rogers was in command of the 
 regiment, and the captains were Jacob and Joseph Perkins, "Wheat, John- 
 son, Stephens, Wight, Waterman, Lathrop, Brewster, Leffingwell, and 
 McCall. Total on duty, 176. 
 
 The following order from Washington to Colonel Rogers, who was then 
 with his regiment at Rye, has been preserved :t 
 
 Oct. 21, 1776. 
 Sir. You are hereby requested to make the best stand you can with the Troops 
 under your command against the Enemy, who I am informed are advanced this morn- 
 ing on Mamaronek, and I will as soon as possible order a party to attack them in flank 
 of which you shall be fully informed in proper time. — Be cautious of mentioning the 
 design. I am your most obedient servant, 
 
 G. WASHINGTON, 
 
 * Preserved in MS. 
 
 t The original is in the possession of Miss Olivia Tyler, a great-grand-danghter of 
 Col. Rogers. Only the signature is in the hand of Washington. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 BiRDS-ETE View of a Scene in Norwich. 1775. 
 
 Suppose it to be that Sunday in June which succeeded the battle of 
 Bunker Hill. It is 10 o'clock, and the second bell has just commenced 
 ringing. The inhabitants are gathering slowly and solemnly to the house 
 of worship. From Bean Hill come a throng of Backuses, Hydes, Eog- 
 erses, Wheats, Tracys, Watermans, Griswolds. Here and there is a one- 
 horse chaise, almost large enough for a bed-room, square-bottomed, and 
 studded with brass nails, looking something like a chest of drawers or an 
 antique book-case on wheels. Doctor Theophilus Rogers and his wife 
 Penelope occupy one of these vehicles. Major Zabdiel Rogers holds in 
 his impatient charger to keep pace with them. The brothers Thomas, 
 with their families, join the downward train. 
 
 Those stout-looking men on horseback, with women and children upon 
 pillions behind, are reputable farmers from Waweekus and Plain Hills. 
 That young man with such erect form and attractive countenance, is Dr. 
 Elihu Marvin, unconscious that he alone of all this population is to be the 
 victim of a future pestilence, that will nearly desolate a neighboring city. 
 That one with the staid demeanor and grave aspect, whose hair is already 
 silvered with age, is Deacon Griswold, destined to live nearly to the con- 
 fines of another century. 
 
 Farther down, the stream is increased by the families of the philan- 
 thropic Dr. Elisha Tracy and Dr. Philip Turner, the surgeon, and Ehsha 
 Hyde, an enthusiastic young attorney, and Mr. Billy Waterman and Mr. 
 Jo. Waterman. Many of the foot-people have turned off by the willow 
 tree, and ascending the rocks, proceed by a rude pathway, once the beaten 
 road that led to the ancient meeting-house upon the hill ; others pursue 
 their way through the town street, winding under the eaves of precipitous 
 rocks till they reach the church. 
 
 But see, from opposite quarters are advancing the Lathrops, Hunting- 
 tons, Leffingwells, Tracys, Adgates, Blisses, Beynoldses, Baldwins, Pecks, 
 Trumbulls, &c. Dudley Woodbridge, clerk of the committee of inspec- 
 tion, is a conspicuous personage. Samuel Tracy is accompanied by his 
 wife SybU, and his young family. Deacon Simon Huntington is here in 
 
384 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 his three-cornered hat and white wig, walking gravely with a staff. You 
 may see other men in white wigs, some five or six in all. Dr. Daniel 
 Lathrop wears one : he rides to meeting in a chaise with a negro driver 
 in front, — his dignified companion, the daughter of Gov. Talcott, sitting 
 by his side. 
 
 There comes the Hon. Samuel Huntington, Judge of the Superior Court 
 and recently elected member of the Continental Congress, with his wife 
 and their adopted children. There too is the patriotic Gen. Jabez Hunt- 
 ington, and those of his sons whom the Lexipgton war-cry has not yet 
 called to the field, and the family of the late Hon. Hezekiah Huntington, 
 and Benjamin Huntington, the worthy patriot and clerk, and other Hunt- 
 ingtons and Lathrops and Tracys innumerable. 
 
 The names of Fanning, Townsend and Carpenter have their represent- 
 atives here. Seth Miner, Jabez Perkins, Silas Goodell, Dr. Jonathan 
 Marsh, Jesse Brown, will be in their customary seats. Aaron Cleveland, 
 a deep thinker ; William Hubbard, with large heart and open hand ; Wil- 
 liam Pitt Turner, the wit and rhymester ; the printers, Robertson, Trum- 
 bull, Spooner ; the Morgans, Bushnells, and Starrs, from the Great Plain, 
 — all assemble at the sound of the church-going bell. 
 
 Around the Plain, every threshold seems to be simultaneously crossed. 
 The two taverns kept by Azariah Lathrop and Joseph Peck pour forth a 
 goodly number. Mr. Ben. Butler and his family and Mr. Joseph Carew 
 are coming up on one side, and Mr. Elly Lord and his two daughters are 
 just passing the court-house. And see, the parsonage door opens, and the 
 venerable pastor comes forth, and slowly walks to the Aurch and up the 
 broad aisle, tottering as he ascends the pulpit stairs. How reverend are 
 the curls of that white wig ! The very wig which he wore some twenty 
 years previous, when the old Rogerene so abusively followed him into 
 meeting, exclaiming : " Benjamin ! Benjamin ! dost thou think that they 
 wear white wigs in heaven ! " And again : " Benjamin ! thou art a sinner I 
 thou wearest a white wig ! " 
 
 Below the pulpit, in the broad aisle, are chairs and cushioned benches, 
 where a few old people sit. The gallery is filled with the young, and with 
 a choir of singers, which, though mainly made up of young people, have 
 several grave inen and women for their leaders. 
 
 The services commence ; the sermon contains many pointed allusions 
 to the critical state of affairs, and eyes sparkle and hearts throb as the 
 pastor sanctifies the cause of liberty by mingling it with the exercises of 
 religion, and justifies resistance to oppression by arguments from scripture. 
 Just as the sermon is finished, a loud shout is heard upon the plain, the 
 trampling of a hurried horse, an outcry of alarm, which brings tlie audi- 
 ence upon their feet : uproar enters the porch, the bell is violently rung, 
 several persons rush into the body of the church, and aniid the confusion 
 
HISTOET OF NORWICH. 385 
 
 nothing can be heard, but "A battle ! a battle has taken place on Bunker 
 Hill ! The British are beat ! Hurrah ! hurrah ! " The meeting is broken 
 up amid noisy shouts of " Huzza for Boston ! Huzza for Liberty ! " The 
 audience rush out upon the plain, and gather round the panting courier ; 
 his despatches are read aloud ; rejoicing and indignation, patriotism and 
 military fire, hatred of British tyranny and defiance of British power, 
 take the place of those quiet, devotional feelings, with which they assem- 
 bled together. 
 
 That night, bells were rung, cannons were fired, bonfires blazed far and 
 wide, and the Tree of Liberty was decked with triumphant devices. En- 
 listments too were begun, arms were burnished, addresses made, and tories 
 insulted ; nor even by these and a hundred other exuberant demonstra- 
 tions of excited_ feeling, could the agitated minds of the people be scarcely 
 appeased. , 
 
 Among the audience that day, was a poor German basket-maker named 
 John Malotte, a deserter from the English army that took Canada, some 
 few years before, who, wandering through the wilderness, had come down 
 into the northern part of Norwich, and there pursued the humble occupa- 
 tion which he followed in his native land, before he had been impressed as 
 a soldier, and sent away to fight the battles of a foreign power. He was 
 at this time but a spectator of the enthusiasm of others, but he, too, loved 
 liberty ; he treasured up the scene, and more than forty years afterwards 
 described it for the amusement of a child, in such vivid colors that the 
 above picture is but a remembered transcript of his recollections. 
 
 Undoubtedly there were some among the audience who did not cordially 
 sympathize with these patriotic proceedings, and would therefore be stig- 
 matized as tories and grumbletonians. The brothers Robertson, printers 
 of the Norwich Packet, were perhaps of this number. We may join with 
 them Mr. Thomas Leffingwell and Mr. Benjamin Butler, both men of 
 taleijrt and respectability, who remained loyal to the king during the whole 
 contest. They were of course exposed to many insults, public and pri- 
 vate, prosecuted, imprisoned, threatened with the skimmerton, and their 
 goods impressed. 
 
 Mr. Butler was arrested and imprisoned in 1776, on a charge of "de- 
 faming the Honorable Continental Congress." His trial came on before 
 the Superior Court at New London, and the fact being proved, he was 
 prohibited from wearing arms, and declared incapable of holding oflBce. 
 
 Mr. Butler regarded this sentence with indifference. He was a man of 
 strong sense and original humor, and his company was much sought after 
 on that account. He died of a lingering disease in the year 1787. A 
 few years before, while in good health, he had selected a sapling, to have 
 his coffin made of it when it should grow large enough ; but finding that 
 it increased too slowly, he had the coffin constructed of other wood, and. 
 25 
 
386 HISTORY OF NOBWICH. 
 
 kept for a long time this affecting memento of his end constantly in Ms 
 chamber. As he pined away, he would frequently put his hands upon his 
 knees and say, " See how the mallets grow ! " He lies interred in the 
 Norwich grave-yard ; his wife Diadema, and his two daughters, Rosamond 
 and Miners' a, repose by his side. "Alas, poor human nature ! " is the ex- 
 pressive motto engraved by his own direction upon his head-stone.* 
 
 Col. Eleazar Fitch, whose home was in Lebanon, but who was inti- 
 mately connected, socially and in the way of business, with Norwich, was 
 also a noted loyalist. He had served in the French war under British 
 officers, and was devotedly attached to the king's service. He therefore 
 resisted the uprising in favor of liberty, and went into exile, settling at 
 St. John's, New Brunswick. The wives of four citizens of Norwich, viz., 
 Ebenezer Backus, Erastus Backus, Ebenezer Whiting, and Hezekiah 
 Perkins, were his daughters. 
 
 A little later in the same season, Norwich Green witnessed another 
 Sabbath excitement growing out of the conflict that had commenced. On 
 the 6th of August, 1775, a courier arrived in the midst of divine service, 
 and proclaimed in the meeting-house porch that three men-of-war and 
 eleven transports had appeared in the Sound, and were plying near Fish- 
 er's Island, just opposite New London harbor. The exercises ceased, the 
 congregation rushed forth, and in the course of an hour a throng of able- 
 bodied men were on their way to New London, prepared to assist in 
 repelling an attack if any should be made. 
 
 It proved to be a foraging expedition sent out by the British, who then 
 occupied Boston. The enemy destroyed all the shipping th^t came in 
 their way, plundered Fisher's Island and the neighboring coast of Long 
 Island of their stock, and departed. 
 
 * Minei-va Denison, the wife of Commodore John Eodgers, was a grand-daughter 
 of Mr. Butler. She was born at Noi-wich in 1784. The present Commodore John 
 Eogers, U. S. N., is her son. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Norwich DtJRiNG the Seven Years War for Liberty. 1775-1783. 
 
 In November, 1775, Dr. Benjamin Churcli was sent by Gen. Wash- 
 ington under a strong guard to Gov. Trumbull at Lebanon, with an order 
 from Congress that he should "be closely confined in some secure gaol in 
 Connecticut, without pen, paper, or ink, and that no person should be 
 allowed to converse with him, except in the presence and hearing of a 
 magistrate or a sheriff of the county where he should be confined, and in 
 the English language, until further orders." 
 
 Gov. Trumbull directed that he should be kept in custody at Norwich, 
 in charge of Prosper Wetmore, sheriff of New London county. Here 
 he was detained during the winter in strict and cheerless seclusion. Mr. 
 Edgerton, the gaoler, was directed to build a high picket fence around the 
 prison, and even within this inclosure Dr. Church was not permitted to 
 walk but once a week, and then with the sheriff at his side. This was 
 harsh discipline to a man accustomed to a luxurious, independent style of 
 living. 
 
 Dr. Church was a Boston physician of considerable literary ability, who 
 had written songs and delivered orations in favor of American liberty, and 
 had been a member of the Provincial Congress in 1774. He was an 
 associate of Warren and other patriots ; but in September, 1775, a letter 
 written by him in cipher to his brother in Boston was intercepted and the 
 contents found to be of a character so questionable that he was arrested 
 and tried for holding a treasonable correspondence with the enemy. The 
 letter, though it contained no positive treason, seemed to emanate from 
 one who was feeling his way to treachery and dishonor. 
 
 Dr. Church was kept in Norwich until the 27th of May, 1776, when 
 by order of Congress he was sent to Watertown, Mass. About the same 
 time he obtained permission to retire to the West Indies, but the vessel in 
 which he embarked was never heard of afterwards. 
 
 Norwich and some other towns in the eastern part of the State, remote 
 from the sea-coast, were often charged with the safe-keeping of tories and 
 other prisoners of war. Items like the following may be gathered from 
 newspapers and public records : 
 
888 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Aug. 26, 1 776. Last Saturday a number of gentlemen tones* were brongfit to JTew 
 London and sent from hence to Norwich. 
 
 — Ten pers9ns arrested at New York and first imprisoned m Litchfield gaol hare beeo 
 transferred to Norwich. 
 
 Feb. 22, 1777. John L. C. Rome Esq. of New York, confined as a tory at Norwich,, 
 was released on his parole to return on request of the Governor and Council. 
 
 In August, 1776, the sheriflT removed from New London to PrestOB 
 twenty persons arrested in Albany for toryisro. They remained at Pres- 
 ton for several months, and were allowed to live as they chose at their own 
 expense, most of them paying for their board by their labor. The tory 
 prisoners at Norwich were often distributed in private families and allowed 
 their liberty within certain limits. 
 
 In March, 1782, a company of sailors, eight or ten in number, that had 
 been taken in an English privateer, and sent up from New London for 
 safe-keeping, broke out of jail in the night, and after lurking three or four 
 days in the woods uncaught, succeeded in reaching New London, and by 
 stealth got possession of a fine new coasting-sloop, just fitted for a voyage 
 and fastened to one of the wharves, with which they escaped. 
 
 The large number of tories arrested during the earlier years of the war 
 suggests one of the great trials that beset the patriot cause : secret enemies, 
 opponents at home, were like thorns in the side, or serpents in the bosom. 
 They were often arrested, but seldom kept long in durance. After the 
 detention of a few days or weeks, they were generally dismissed, on giv- 
 ing bonds to return when called for, or upon taking oath not to bear arms 
 against the country or to aid and comfort the enemy in any way. 
 
 In the summer of 1775, a battery or redoubt was built below the Land- 
 ing on Waterman's Point. Benjamin Huntington and Ephraim Bill were 
 directors of the work, but the labor was mostly performed by Capt. Lyon's 
 company of militia,! that had been sent to Norwich on an alarm of inva- 
 sion from vessels prowling in Long Island Sound. Wlien the work was 
 completed, four six-pounders were brought from New London, and a reg- 
 ular guard and watch kept. For further defence of the place, two wrought 
 iron field-pieces and several other pieces of ordnance were mounted, 
 manned, and placed in the charge of Capt. Jacoli DeWitt. 
 
 William Lax established a manufactory of gun-carriages in town, and 
 succeeded so well as to be employed by the State to furnish apparatus for 
 
 * In the accounts of the State Pay Table there is a startling item of £658 10s. 2d., 
 drawn by J. Huntington of Windham, _/br rum and coffee, furnished to prisoners under 
 his charge in August, 1777. This might lead ns to conclude that either these jcnrfemen 
 tories were very numerous, or ihat they were slightly luxurious in their habits and had 
 nncommonly indulgent wardens. But it is probable that the amount is given in a de» 
 piociated currency. 
 
 1 Capt. Ephraim Lyon of Col. Putnam's regimeot. 
 
HISTOST OF NORWICH. 389 
 
 saucli of the cannon used by them. Elijah Backus, Esq., at his forges 
 «pon the Yantic, manufactured the ship anchors used for the State's armed" 
 -vessels, two of which weighed 1200 lbs. each. He afterwards engaged in 
 the casting of cannon. Samuel Noyes made and repaired guns and bay- 
 onets for the light-infantry. 
 
 Capt. Ephraim Bill, of Norwich, was in the service of the State as a, 
 laaarine agent, and Capt. Jabez Perkins as contractor and dispenser of the 
 public stores. The Grovernor and Council of Safety sometimes held their 
 sessions in town. 
 
 Norwich was admirably situated to serve as a port of refuge to which 
 vessels could retire and discharge their cargoes in safety. In July, 1775, 
 the brig Nancy, owned by Josiah Winslow, a well-known royalist of Bos- 
 ton, having on board eighteen or nineteen thousand gallons of molasses, 
 was forced by stress of weather into Stonington harbor. It was no sooner 
 ■known at Norwich that she had anchored n^ar the coast, than her capture 
 was decreed. Without waiting for the State authority, but with the sanc- 
 tion of the Committee of Inspection, a spirited band of volunteers, in a 
 large sloop commanded by Capt. Robert Niles, proceeded forthwith to 
 Stonington, whei-e they took possession of the vessel, and brought her, 
 ■with the cargo, round to Norwich. They then made report of the affair 
 to the Governor and Council, who «,pproved of their proceedings, and 
 sequestered the prize for the use of the State. 
 
 The tori/ molasses, as it was called, proved a valuable acquisition. It was 
 doled out to hospitals, and used as a medium of exchange for public pur- 
 poses. Molasses was a commodity which could only be obtained by cap- 
 lure, and the want of it was one of thfe home-felt privations of the war.* 
 
 The scarcity of sugar and molasses continued for several years. Va- 
 rious were the substitutes contrived. Corn-stalk molasses is no myth or 
 ■caricature, but a veritable resource of those trying times, and probably the 
 best substitute that was brought into use. The stalks were cut when the 
 ears of corn were just ripe for roasting or boiling, thrown into a mill, the 
 juice pressed out and then boiled down until it became a tolerable syrup. 
 It served at least to satisfy the natural craving of the appetite for sacchar- 
 rine matter^ some portion of which in food seems to be requisite both for 
 nourishment and delight. 
 
 In October, 1775, another merchant vessel was seized under circum- 
 :stances similar -to those of the Nancy. She had a cargo of 8,000 bushels 
 
 * By the side of this fact, an order .of the Governor and Council, May 4, 1777, for 
 4he distillation of 40 hhds. of molasses into Neiv England rum does not appear very- 
 creditable. But spirituous liguors -wei-e then regarded as absolutely necessary to the 
 highest physical efficiency of soldiers and laboring men. Feb. 28, 1777, the Governor 
 and Council ordered 250 hhds. of West India and New England mm to be purchased 
 to supply the troops of the State- Hinmanj 419, 441. 
 
wo HISTOET OF NOEWICH. 
 
 of wheat, shipped at Baltimore for Fahnouth, England, and was steering 
 toward Stonington in distress, having lost her mainmast in a storm, when 
 she was seized by an armed schooner belonging to the colony, and con- 
 ducted to Norwich to secure ber from recapture. She was snbsequently 
 sold for the benefit of the country. 
 
 A very great evil experienced daring the war, was the Mgh price of 
 salt, and the difficulty of procuring it at any price. It was almost im- 
 possible to get a sufficiency to put up provisions for winter's use. The 
 State government was obliged to send abroad for supplies ef this neces- 
 sary article, and distribute it to the various towns. It was then appor- 
 tioned by the selectmen to the cEstricts in proportion to their population^ 
 and a^in dealt out by a committee to individuals. 
 
 "Whenever a quantity of salt was obtained, it was disposed of with great 
 care and consideration. One of the State cruisers having taken 300 
 bushels, it was deposited at Norwich, and in April, 1777, the Govemor 
 and Council directed Jabez Perkins to dispose of it to inhabitants of Con- 
 necticiat only, to allow no family to purchase more than half a bushel, and 
 small families to be supplied with less in proportion.* 
 
 Three years before tbe peace, salt was six dollars per bushel and bohea 
 tea two dollars per pound, and this in fair barter, not continental bills. 
 Common cream-coloped cups and saucers were two dollars per half-dozen. 
 Many persons in comfortable circumstaaces drank theii daily beverage 
 out of glazed earthen mugs. 
 
 The scarcity of wheat was a still greates calamity. Norwich of course 
 shared in the general dearth, but the winter of 1777 appears to have beee 
 her only season of actual deficiency and short allowance. The authorities 
 were obliged to enforce a strict scrutiny into every man's means of sub- 
 sistence, to see that none of the necessaries of life were withheld from a 
 famishing community by monopolizers a^i avaricious engrosses. Each 
 family was visited, and an account of the grain in their possession, com- 
 puted in wheat, was taken. The surplusage, down to the quantity of foui- 
 quarts, was estimated. One hundred and twenty-six £:imilies were at one 
 time reported deficient, viz. : 
 
 " 42 up town, 26 down town, 12 West Farms and Portipaug, 2 Sewent aad Hano- 
 7C1-, 9 East Society, 27 Chelsea, 8 Boaa-ah." 
 
 The following certificate is also upon record, and thoiigh without date, 
 belongs to this season : 
 
 This may certify,, that the whole number ef inhabitaats in the t5>wn of Norwich is 
 hungry ; for the q;uantity of grain computed in wheat is scanty ;. the deficiency amounts 
 to a great many bushels, as pr retam of the selectmen unto my office, agreeable to tha 
 act of assembly. Certified by Galbttia Simpson. 
 
 * Himnan's. Am. Rev., p. 43.1, 441. 
 
HISTOBY OP NORWICH. 391 
 
 These facts in regard to the scant supply of the necessaries of life apply 
 only to the earlier years of the war.* After 1780, the tide turned, and in 
 Norwich, at least, the farms prospered, the mechanic arts flourished, and 
 there was almost a superabundance not merely of the means of Hving, but 
 of articles of luxury and display. 
 
 Those who remained at home, as well as those who went into actual 
 service, were often called on to perform military duty. When most of 
 the able-bodied men were drawn off, a Reformado corps was estabhshed, 
 consisting of those whose age, infirmities, or other circumstances, would 
 not allow them to become regular soldiers, and endure the fatigue of the 
 camp, but who were willing to go forth on a sudden emergency. 
 
 Early in 1776, Capt. McCall and Lieut. Jacob DeWitt enrolled and 
 organized a fine company of Veteran Guards for home service, and defence 
 of the State, should it be invaded. These were well equipped with arms 
 in readiness for sudden emergencies. On the 12th of August, 1776, Gov. 
 Trumbull issued an order to Capt. McCall to convene his company, and 
 enlist as many as were willing, and to make up with others a company, 
 not less than 93, and march immediately to New York, in the most con- 
 venient manner by land or water, and there join the 19th regiment of 
 Connecticut militia. This order was in consequence of a pressing requisi- 
 tion from Gen. Washington for reinforcements. 
 
 The Veteran Guards were subsequently often called out on short tours 
 of duty upon alarms near the sea-coast, at New London, Lyme, or Ston- 
 ington. 
 
 Li 1779, a company under Capt. Ebenezer Lathrop, and another under 
 Capt. Ziba Hunt of Newent, performed tours of duty at New London. 
 
 In 1777, Connecticut raised eleven regiments : nine for Continental 
 service, and two for the defence of the State. Col. Jedidiah Huntington 
 and Col. John Durkee of Norwich commanded two of the Continental 
 regiments. 
 
 The army was in a great measure dependent upon importations from 
 France, for a sufficiency of arms and ammunition. The following vote of 
 the Governor and Council of Connecticut alludes to a fresh supply of these 
 necessary equipments : 
 
 Sept. 26, 1777. It was voted that Maj. Gen. Huntington should be desired to cause 
 to be made up 15,000 musket cartridges fitted to the new French arms provided for the 
 use of the Continental army, and pack them in bunches of 1 8 cartridges each and lodge 
 them in some safe place in the town of Plainfield.t 
 
 * At this very period of greatest scarcity, there was at least one distillery in opera- 
 tion in the town, as we learn from the records of the War Committee, or Council of 
 Safety, Dec. 11, 1777, to wit : 
 
 " The Governor was desired to grant a license to Caleb Huntington of Norwich to 
 distil from rye, the spirit called Geneva, to supply the inhabitants of the State as far as 
 he could, provided he retail the same at a reasonable price, not to exceed 15s. per gal- 
 5,911." t Himnan's Eer. War. 
 
392 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 In the earlier periods of the contest, the town's quota of soldiers was 
 always quickly raised, and the necessary supplies furnished with prompt- 
 ness and liberality. The requisitions of the Governor were responded to 
 from no quarter with more cheerfulness and alacrity. In September, 1777, 
 when extraordinary exertions were made in many parts of New England 
 to procure tents, canteens and clothing for the army, many householders 
 in Norwich voluntarily gave up to the committee of the town all that they 
 could spare from their own family stock, either as donations, or where 
 that could not be afforded, at a very low rate. The ministers of aU the 
 churches, on Thanksgiving day, exhorted the people to remember the poor 
 soldiers and their families. 
 
 Every year while the war continued, persons were appointed by the 
 town to provide for the soldiers and their families at the town expense ; 
 but much also was raised by voluntary contributions. The following 
 items from contemporary newspapers furnish examples : 
 
 " On the last Sabbath of December, 1777, a contribution was taken up in the several 
 parishes of Norwich, for the benefit of the officers and soldiers who belonged to said 
 town : when they collected 
 
 386 pr. of stockings, 208 pr. of mittens, 
 
 227 pr. of shoes, II buff caps, 
 
 118 shirts, 15 pr. of breeches, 
 
 78 jackets, 9 coats, 
 
 48 pr. of OTCralls, 22 rifle frocks, 
 
 19 handkerchiefs and i258 17s. Srf. in money, which was forwarded to the army. Also 
 collected a quantity of pork, cheese, wheat, rye, Indian corn, sugar, rice, flax, wood, 
 &c. to be distributed to the needy families of the officers and soldiers. The whole of 
 which amounted to the sum of £1400." 
 
 Norwich, Feb. 15, 1779. 
 
 Yesterday a contribution was made at the Eev. Dr. Lord's meeting, for the distressed 
 inhabitants of Newport, which have lately arrived from Providence, when the sum of 
 three hundred dollars was collected for their relief. 
 
 March, 1780. 
 
 Mrs. Corning (wife of Mr. Joseph Corning now a prisoner with the enemy) being 
 destitute of necessary clothing for her children, a number of the ladies of Chelsea, of 
 the first character and respectability, appointed a day on which they assembled and 
 spent the same in spinning, after which they presented Mrs. Corning with the yarn to 
 a considerable amount. 
 
 The situation of New London was one of constant alarm, in which all 
 the surrounding towns participated. It was menaced in December, 1776, 
 when the hostile fleet found a rendezvous among the small islands in the 
 Sound, previous to taking possession of Newport. All the mihtia in the 
 eastern part of the State turned out to oppose the expected descent. It 
 was observed, as band after band marched into New London, that "^o 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 393 
 
 company, in order and equipments, equaled the Light Infantry of Nor- 
 wich, under the command of Col. Chr. Leffingwell. Many times during 
 the war, the militia were summoned to New London or Stonington, on 
 the appearance of an armed force, or the rumor of one. If a hostile ves- 
 sel entered the Sound, no one knew its commission, and the alarm was 
 quickly spread from the seaboard into the country. The dreaded foe per- 
 haps hovered near the coast a few hours, made some startling feints, and 
 tlien passed away. Orders were given and countermanded, and the wea- 
 ried mihtia, hastily drawn from their homes, returned again without hav- 
 ing had the satisfaction of seeing, the enemy, or of arriving on the spot 
 before the danger was over. 
 
 Detachments from the Continental army frequently passed through 
 Norwich. In 1778, a body of French troops, on the route from Provi- 
 dence to the south, halted there for ten or fifteen days, on account of sick- 
 ness among them. They had their tents spread upon the plain, while the 
 sick were quartered in the court-house. About twenty died and were 
 buried each side of the lane that led into the old burying-yard. No stones 
 were set up, and the ground was soon smoothed over so as to leave no 
 trace of the narrow tenements below. 
 
 Gen. Washington passed through Norwich in June, 1775, on. his way 
 to Cambridge. It is probable that he came up the river in a packet boat 
 with his horses and attendants. He spent the night at the Landing, and 
 the next day pursued his journey eastward. In April, 1776, after the 
 evacuation of Boston by the enemy, the American troops being ordered 
 to New York, came on in detachments by land, and crossing the Shetucket 
 at the old fording-place below Greeneville, embarked at Norwich and New 
 London, to finish the route by water. Gen. Washington accompanied one 
 of the parties to Norwich, and met Gov. Trumbull by appointment at Col. 
 Jedidiah Huntington's, where they dined together, and the General that 
 evening resumed his route to New York, going down to New London by 
 land. 
 
 The inhabitants also had an opportunity of seeing La Fayette, Steuben, 
 Pulaski, and other distinguished foreigners in our service. There were 
 some who long remembered the appearance of the noble La Fayette, as 
 he passed through the place on his way to Newport. He had been there 
 before, and needed no guide ; his aids and a small body-guard were with 
 him, and he rode up to the door of his friend, Col. Jedidiah Huntington, 
 in a quick gallop. He wore a blue military coat, but no vest and no 
 stockings ; his boots being short, his leg was consequently left bare for a 
 considerable space below the knee. The sp6ed with which he was trav- 
 ehng, and the great heat of the weather, were sufficient excuses for this 
 negligence. He took some refreshment and hastened forward. 
 
 At another period, he passed through with a detachment of 2,000 men 
 
394 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 under his command, and encamped tliem for one night upon the plain. 
 In the morning, before their departure, he invited Mr. Strong, the pastor 
 of the place, to pray with them, which he did, the troops being arranged 
 in three sides of a hollow square. 
 
 Nearly fifty years afterwards, Aug. 21, 1824, the venerable La Fayette 
 again passed through Norwich. Some old people, who remembered him, 
 embraced him and wept ; the General wept also. 
 
 At one time during the war, the Duke de Lauzun's regiment of hussars 
 was quartered in Lebanon, ten miles from Norwich. Col. Jedidiah Hunt- 
 ington invited the officers to visit him, and prepared a handsome entertain- 
 ment for them. Tliey made a superb appearance as they drove into town, 
 being young, tall, vivacious men, with handsome faces and a noble air, 
 mounted upon horses bravely caparisoned. The two Dillons, brothers, 
 one a major and the other a captain in the regiment, were particularly 
 distinguished for their fine forms and expressive features. One or both 
 of these Dillons suffered death from the guillotine during the French 
 Revolution. 
 
 Lauzun was one of the most accomplished but unprincipled noblemen 
 of his time. He was celebrated for his handsome person, his Mberality, 
 wit, bravery ; but more than all for his profligacy. He was born in 1747, 
 inherited great wealth and high titles, and spent all his early years in 
 alternate scenes of dissipation and traveling. He engaged in no public 
 enterprise till he came to America and" took part in the Revolutionary 
 , contest. The motives which actuated this voluptuous nobleman to this 
 undertaking are not understood ; very probably the thirst for adventure, 
 and personal friendship for La Fayette. He had run the career of pleas- 
 ure to such an extent that he was perhaps willing to pause awhile and 
 restore the energy of his satiated taste. Certain it is, that he embarked 
 in the cause of the Americans with ardor, bore privations with good tem- 
 per, and made himself very popular by his hilarity and generous expend- 
 iture. 
 
 After Lauzun returned to Europe, he became intimate with Talleyrand 
 and accompanied him on a mission to England in 1792, where one of his 
 familiar associates was the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV. On 
 the death of his uncle, the Duke de Biron, he succeeded to the title, quar- 
 reled with the court, and became a partizan of the Duke of Orleans, 
 Afterwards he served against the Veudeans, but being accused of secretly 
 favoring tliem, was condemned, and executed the last day of the year 1793. 
 Such was the future stormy career of this celebrated nobleman, who, as 
 already mentioned, in the midst of friends and subordinates, enjoyed the 
 banquet made for him by Col. Huntington. After dinner the whole partj 
 went out into the yard in front of the house, and made the air ring witl 
 huzzas for Liberty ! Numerous loungers had gathered around the fencs 
 
HISTOET OF NORWICH. 895 
 
 to get a sight of these interesting foreigners, with whom they conversed 
 in very good English, and exhorted to live free, or die for Liherty. 
 
 It is well known that during the Eevolutionary war attempts were 
 made to regulate the prices of articles by public statutes, in order to reduce 
 the quantity of the circulating medium. In Connecticut, prices were fixed 
 by the civil authorities of each town, in aU cases not determined by acts 
 of Assembly. 
 
 April 7, 1777. Voted, strictly to adhere to the law of the State regulating the prices 
 of the necessaries of life; and we do resolve with cheerfulness to exert onr best endeay- 
 ours within our sphere, to support the honor of that good and salutary law. 
 
 Dec. 29. Voted, that the town consider the articles of confederation and perpetual 
 union proposed by the Continental Congress wise and salutary. 
 
 1778. Abstract of instructions to the representatives of the town : 
 
 1. To use their influence to hare taxes more equitable. 
 
 2. To have bills of credit called in. 
 
 3. Forfeited estates confiscated. 
 
 4. The yeas and nays on all important questions published. 
 
 5. Profane swearing punished by disability to sustain oiBces. 
 
 Oct. 1. Voted, to present a memorial to the General Assembly, praying for a jast 
 and equitable system of taxation and representation. 
 
 Extract from the memorial : 
 
 " The Poll-tax your memorialists consider at the present day, an insupportable bur- 
 den on the poor, while a great part of the growing'estate of the rich is by law exempt 
 from taxation. The present mode of representation is also objected to by your memo- 
 rialists. They believe all who pay taxes and are of sober life and conversation, ought 
 to have a voice in all public communities, where their monies and properties are dis- 
 posed of for public uses." 
 
 It is not surprising that the subject of taxation should be one of exciting 
 interest in a community who were annually paying Qd., dd. and 12d. on 
 the pound for the use of the army. At one time in Connecticut, when the 
 currency was at par, a rate of even lAd. was necessary to meet the exi- 
 gencies of the treasury. 
 
 The town afterwards presented another petition to the Assembly, the 
 substance of which was, that every kind of property, and tliat only, should 
 be the object of taxation. This general principle, they say, is in their 
 view the only equitable one. Committees were sent to several neighbor- 
 ing towns, to get their minds on the subject, and they at length resolved 
 to publish, at the expense of the town, the prevalent views of the citizens 
 on taxation, in the form of a letter to the freemen of the State, a copy of 
 it to be sent to every town. In this letter the deficiencies of the existing 
 system were ably painted out. 
 
396 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 " By the present system, six of the poorest swine a year old are rated equal to £100 
 in cash at interest, and 30 such swine equal to a house of ^£1000. The meanest horse, 
 even 30 years old, is on a par with the best in his prime. An acre of the best land is 
 rated no higher than the poorest that is arable in the State. 
 
 "Industry, which ought to be encouraged, is doubly taxed and that in a very capri- 
 cious and vaj;ue manner." 
 
 The objections against the poll-tax were these : 
 
 " That it is a personal tax, and ought to be paid in personal service, that is, in de- 
 fending the community ; that it is a double tax, the poor man paying for his poll, 
 which is the substitute for his labor, and for the avails of his labor also; that it is im- 
 politic, as tending to prevent early marriages, which promote industry, frugality, and 
 every social virtue." 
 
 The committee upon this memorial were some of the choice spirits of 
 Norwich, — Benjamin Huntington, Dr. Theophilus Rogers, Dr. Elisha 
 Tracy, Aaron Cleveland, Jonathan Huntington, and Nathaniel Niles. 
 The document has strong points, but it is not known from which of the 
 members it emanated. 
 
 Again, three years later, (1781,) the town made another effort to obtain 
 their favorite measures, — the abrogation of the poll-tax, and the extension 
 of the right of suffrage. The instructions given to the representatives 
 embraced the following measures : 
 
 That polls be struck out of the tax list, or rated low. 
 
 That all who pay taxes be allowed to vote, if of good moral character. 
 
 That debates in the House be open. 
 
 That absentees be fined. 
 
 That a regular constitution be formed. 
 
 In October, 1780, a convention was held at Hartford to consider what 
 measures should be taken in regard to trade and currency. The delegates 
 from Norwich were Daniel Rodman and Solomon Safford ; the committee 
 to draft their instructions, Elisha Lathrop, Christopher LeffingweU, and 
 Aaron Cleveland. They were directed to urge the loaning of money to 
 Congress to defray the public expenses and prevent the necessity of a 
 further emission of paper money. 
 
 In town meeting, June 24, 1780, — 
 
 " Voted, that a committee of fifty able, judicious men be appointed to engage fifty 
 able-bodied, effective men, required of tliis town to fill up our complement of tlie Con- 
 tinental Army for three years, or during the war ; each member of the committee to 
 procure one soldier, and pay him twenty silver dollars bounty, over and above the 
 bounty given by tlie state, and pay him the same annually, as long as he continues in 
 the service ; also 40s. per month in silver money, or Indian corn at 3s. per bushel, fresh 
 poric at 3d. per pound, and wheat at 6s. per bushel." 
 
 The cmnmittee were not able to carry this vote into effect: the term of 
 enlistment was too long ; nor were the men raised until by a subsequent 
 
HISTOET OF NOEWICH, 397 
 
 tote the tei-m of service was restricted to six months. In July of the 
 same year, upon a requisition of the Governor, twenty-seven more meit 
 were enlisted for six months, to whom the same bounty and pay were 
 given. 
 
 The General Assembly had passed an act to arrange all the inhabitants 
 of the State into classes, each class to raise so many recruits and furnish 
 such and such clothing and other supplies. Norwich at first refused to 
 enter upon this system, and remonstrated. With great reluctance, the 
 measure was at last adopted by the inhabitants, and being found to accom- 
 plish the end, was continued through the war, though it was never popular 
 with them. 
 
 After recovering from the first stunning blow of the Eevolution, the 
 inhabitants of Norwich were not only alert in turning their attention to 
 various industrial pursuits, but engaged also in the brilliant chance game 
 of privateering. The war, therefore, while it exhausted the strength and 
 resources of neighboring towns that lay exposed upon the sea-coast, acted 
 like a spur to the enterprise of Norwich. New London at the mouth of 
 the river was depressed in all her interests, kept in continual alarm, and 
 finally, by the blazing torch of the enemy, almost swept from the face of 
 the earth ; but Norwich, securely seated at the head of the river, defended 
 by her hills and nourished by her valleys, planting and reaping without 
 fear of invasion or loss, not only built new shops and dwelling-houses, and 
 engaged with spirit and success in a variety of new manufactures, but 
 entered into ship-building, and boldly sent out her vessels to bring in 
 spoils from the ocean. 
 
 In 1781 and 1782, the town was overflowing with merchandise, both 
 tropical and European.* New mercantile firms were established: Daniel 
 Eodman, Samuel Woodbridge, Lynde McCurdy, and others,— ^and lavish 
 varieties of fancy texture, as well as the substantial products of almost 
 every climate, were offered for sale. The shelves and counters of the 
 fashionable class of shops displayed such articles as superfine broadcloths, 
 men's silk hose, India silks, Damascus sillis, taffetas, satins, Persians, and 
 velvets, blonde lace, gauzes, and chintzes. These goods were mostly ob- 
 tainec^ by successful privateering. 
 
 Another class of merchandise, generally of a cheaper kind, and not 
 dealt in by honorable traders, but covertly offered for sale in various 
 places, or distributed by peddlers, was obtained by secret and unlawful 
 intercourse with the enemy. 
 
 The coast of Connecticut being entirely girdled by Long Island and 
 New York, and the British and tories having these wholly under their 
 
 * In May, 1782, a very large stock and great variety of European goocls, imported 
 in the brigantine Firebrand from Amsterdam, was sold by auction at the store of 
 Messrs. Zabdiel Eogers & Co., Bean Hill. 
 
898 BISTORT OP NORWICH. 
 
 control, it was very difficult to prevent the secret intercourse and traffic of 
 the two parties through the Sound. In the later years of the war espe» 
 cially, a corrupt, underhand, smuggling trade prevailed to a great extent^ 
 which was emboldened by the indifference or connivance of the local 
 authoritien, and stimulated by the readiness of people to purchase cheap 
 goods without asking from whence they came> Remittances for these 
 goods must be made in coin, therefore they were sold only for cash, which, 
 finding its way back to the enemy's lines, impoverished the country. Thus 
 the traffic operated against agriculture and manufactures, against honest 
 labor and lawful trade. Moreover, it nullified the laws and brought them 
 into contempt. 
 
 Against this illicit traffic a strong association was formed at Norwich in 
 July, 1782. The company bound themselves by solemn pledges of life, 
 fortune, and honor, to support the civil authority, to hold no intercourse, 
 social or mercantile, with persons detected in evading the laws ; to furnish 
 men and boats for keeping watch in suspected places, and to search out 
 and break up all deposits of smuggled goods, — such goods to be seized, 
 sold, and the avails devoted to charitable purposes. 
 
 The vigorous manner in which this company began to carry out their 
 principles caused great commotion in the ranks of the guilty parties. 
 Suspected persons suddenly disappeared; sales were postponed; goods 
 which before had been openly exposed, withdrew into cellars and meal- 
 chests, or were concealed in barns under the hay, and in hollow trees, 
 thickets, and ravines. 
 
 Several seizures were made during the season, but the treaty of peace 
 soon put an end to this clandestine traffic, and the association had but a 
 brief existence. 
 
 Its object, however, was creditable to the patriotism and efficiency of 
 the inhabitants, and a list of the signers gives us the names of sixty-eight 
 prominent men who were on the stage of life at the close of the war, and 
 all within the bounds of the present town. 
 
 Members op the Association against Illicit Trade,* alphabetioallt 
 
 arranged. 
 
 Samuel Abbot, Simeon Carew, Joseph Howland, 
 
 Elijah Backus, Thomas Coit, Andrew Huntington, 
 
 Ephraim Bill, William Coit, Eliphalet Huntington, 
 
 Jonathan Boardman, John Ci-ary, Jonathan Huntington, 
 
 John M. Breed, Jacob DeWitt, Joshua Huntington, 
 
 Shubael Breed, Michael Dumont, Levi Huntington, 
 
 Samuel Capron, Thomas Fanning, Simeon Huntington, 
 
 Eliphalet Carcw, Jabez Fitch, William Hubbard, 
 
 Joseph C^arew, Joseph Gale, Kussell Hubbard & Son, 
 
 * Uonn, Gazette, Vol. 19. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH 
 
 399 
 
 Ebenezer Jones, 
 Joshua Lathrop, 
 Rufus Lathrop, 
 Christopher Lefflngwell, 
 Benajah Leffingwell, 
 Jonathan Lester, 
 Elihu Marvin, 
 John McCall, 
 Lynda McCurdy, 
 Seth Miner, 
 Thomas Mumford, 
 Nathaniel Niles, 
 Robert Niles, 
 Timothy Parker, 
 
 Asa Peabody, 
 Nathaniel P. Peabody, 
 Joseph Peck, 
 Andrew Perkins, 
 Jabez Perkins, 
 Jabez Perkins, Jr. 
 Joseph Perkins, 
 Joseph Perkins, Jr. 
 Erastus Perkins, 
 Hezekiah Pei'kins, 
 Levi Perkins, 
 Daniel Rodman, 
 Theophilus Rogers, 
 Zabdiel Rogers, 
 
 Ransford Rose, 
 Andrew Tracy, Jr. 
 Mundator Tracy, 
 Samuel Tracy, 
 Asa Waterman, Jr. 
 Samuel Wheat, 
 Joseph AVhitmarsh, 
 Benajah Williams, 
 Joseph Williams, 
 Jacob Witter, 
 Dudley Woodbridge, 
 Samuel Woodbridge, 
 Alexander Youngs. 
 
 In January, 1781, the inhabitants were divided into forty classes, to 
 raise forty soldiers, which was their quota for the Continental army ; and 
 again, into twenty classes for a State quota to serve at Horseneck and 
 elsewhere. A list of persons in each class was made out, and each taxed 
 in due proportion for the pay and fitting out of one recruit, whom they 
 were to procure ; two shirts, two pairs of woollen stockings, shoes and 
 mittens were requisite for every soldier ; arms and uniforms were fur- 
 nished by the state or country. 
 
 Each soldier's family was in the charge of a committee to see that they 
 were supplied with the necessaries of life, for which the soldier's wages to 
 a certain amount were pledged. The whole number of classes this year 
 to procure clothing was 66. 
 
 In 1782, only 33 classes were required. 
 
 1783. Instructions were given to the representatives to use their influ- 
 ence with the Assembly to obtain a remonstrance against the five years' 
 pay granted by Congress to the officers of the Continental army. The 
 manifesto of the town on this subject was fiery, dictatorial, and extrava- 
 gant. A few paragraphs will show in strong relief the characteristics of 
 the people, — jealous of their rights, quick to take alarm, and sensitively 
 watchful over their cherished liberties. 
 
 " Where is the free son of America that ever had it in idea when adopting the arti- 
 cles of confederation to have pensions bestowed on those characters {if any such there 
 be) whose virtue could not hold them in service without such rewards over and above 
 the contract which first engaged them." 
 
 "For a free people, just rising out of a threatening slavery, into free shining pros- 
 pects of a most glorious peace and independence, now to be taxed without their consent 
 to support and maintain a large number of gentlemen as pensioners, in a time of univer- 
 sal peace, is, in our view, unconstitutional and directly in opposition to the sentiment 
 • of the states at large, and was one great spoke in the wheel which moved at first our 
 late struggle with our imperious and tyrannical foes." 
 
400 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Further instructions were given at the same time to the representatives 
 to urge upon the Assembly the necessity of keeping a watchful eye upon 
 the proceedings of Congress, to see that they did not exceed the powers 
 vested in them, and to appoint a committee at every session to take into 
 consideration the journals of Congress, and approve or disapprove, ap- 
 plaud or censure the conduct of the delegates. 
 
 At no period during the war were the people of Norwich alarmed with 
 llie fear of a direct invasion of the enemy, except at the time of the attack 
 on New London, Sept. 6, 1781. It was then rumored that Arnold, in- 
 flamed with hatred against the country he had betrayed, and cherishing a 
 vengeful spirit loward- his native town, had determined at all hazards to 
 march tliither and spread desolation through the homes of his ancient 
 friends and neighbors. Preparations were therefore made to receive him; 
 goods were packed, and women and children made ready for flight. The 
 liery patriots of Norwich wished for nothing more than that he should 
 attempt to march thither, as it would give them a long coveted, opportunity 
 of wreaking their vengeance on the traitor. But the undertaking was too 
 hazardous ; Arnold, if he had the will, was too prudent to attempt any 
 thing but a sudden and transient attempt upon the sea-board. 
 
 The last time that the militia were called out during the war, was in 
 September, 1782. A detail of the circumstances wUl serve as a specimen 
 of the harrassing alarms which had previously often occurred. 
 
 Benajah Leffingwell was then lieutenant-colonel of the twentieth regi- 
 ment, and at seven o'clock in the morning an express reached him with 
 the following order : 
 
 To Major LcfEngwell : I have certain intelligence that there is a large fleet in the 
 Sound, designed for some part of the Main — would hereby request you without loss 
 of time, to notify the regiment under your command to be ready to march at the short- 
 est notice — also send expresses to New London immediately for further news, and con- 
 tinue expresses as occasion may be. Your humble servant in the greatest haste, 
 
 Samuel M'Clella.nd, Colonel. 
 
 Wednesday morning, six o'cloik. 
 
 I have much more to say if I had time. I am on the road to New London from 
 Windham, where express came to mo in the night. 
 
 Before nine o'clock the whole regiment had been summoned to turn out 
 with one or two days' provisions, and be ready to march on hearing the 
 alarm guns. 
 
 The regiment upon the ground that day, as the returns of the orderly- 
 book show, consisted of one Held officer, thirty-five commissioned officers, 
 and 758 men, in eleven companies, under the following captains : 
 
 Josepli Carow, Mosos Stephens, Jonathan Waterman, 
 
 Samuel Wheat, William Pride, Samuel Lovett, 
 
 Isaac Johnson, Jabcz Deraing, Jacob DeWitt. 
 
 Nathan Watei-man, Abner Ladd, 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 401 
 
 Orders at last came for them to march ; they were just ready to start, 
 when the order was countermanded ; again an express arrived, saying 
 that the fleet appeared to be bound in, and orders were issued to stand 
 ready : one hour they heard that the enemy was making preparations for 
 a descent ; the next, that the fleet was moving up the Sound. Finally, 
 the hostile ships having explored Gardiner's Bay, flitted out of the Sound, 
 and the militia, after two days of harrassing suspense, were dismissed to 
 their homes. 
 
 Concerning the manner in which the inhabitants testified their joy at 
 the grand results of the seven years of war, — independence achieved, and 
 the restoration of peace, — no published accounts have been found. Ac- 
 cording to current reminiscences, the public rejoicings were boisterous and 
 extravagant. The throng of people assembled on the Green was beyond 
 all precedent, and great excesses were committed in the way of rioting 
 and drinking. 
 
 But these were the revelries of an excited multitude. The demonstra- 
 tions of other classes were of a deeper, nobler character. An intelligent 
 lady still living (1865) remembers the celebration as the great event of 
 her childhood. She describes the crowd upon the Green; their joyous 
 greetings and congratulations ; the shaking of hands, waving of flags, 
 firing, drumming, shouting, and the large bonfires at night. 
 
 The following Sabbath the church was filled with a dense crowd, all in 
 their best array, smiling and happy. The choir of singers appeared with 
 brilliant decorations, and sung an ode adapted to the occasion, in the tune 
 of Worcester, of which the following was the opening stanza : 
 
 Behold a radiant light I 
 
 And by divine command, 
 Fair Peace, the child of Heaven, descends 
 
 To this afflicted land. 
 
 26 
 
CHAPTER XXXn. 
 
 Marine Affairs. 1776-1783. 
 
 In 1776, Connecticut ordered four row-galleys to be built. Three only 
 were completed : the Shark, built at Norwich by Capt. Jonathan Lester ; 
 the Crane, at East Haddam ; and the Whiting, at New Haven. 
 
 Capt. Lester went to Philadelphia for the plan of the Shark. Her 
 dimensions were, " sixty feet keel, eighteen feet beam, five feet hold, and 
 four inches dead rising."* These galleys carried two pieces of ordnance, 
 six or nine pounders, and fifty men (including officers), and were furnished 
 with lances, poles, and hatchets. 
 
 They were all sent to New York soon after they were rigged and 
 manned, at the request of General Washington, to be used on the Hud- 
 son river. The Shark was at first commanded by Theophilus Stanton, 
 but while in service at New York, by Capt. Roger Panning. 
 
 Capt. Lester had but just completed the Shark, when he received (July 
 2d) an order from Gov. Trumbull to hasten immediately with twenty-five 
 carpenters to Crown Point, to build batteaux for the Lake, upon a requi- 
 sition of Gen. Schuyler. 
 
 Capt. Robert Niles of Norwich was a ship-master of experience in the 
 merchant service before the war, and one of the earliest band of Revolu- 
 tionary cruisers. In July, 1775, Benjamin Huntington of Norwich and 
 John Deshon of New London were appointed agents of the colony to 
 charter a fast-sailing vessel to go from place to place, carry intelligence, 
 convey stores, and watch the enemy. They purchased the schooner Brit- 
 annia at Stonington for £200, and brought her into the Thames, where 
 she was fitted and furnished with a crew ; her name changed to the Spy, 
 and Capt. Niles appointed her commander. His commission from Gov. 
 Trumbull was dated Aug. 7, 1775. The Spy was about 50 tons burden, 
 carried six 4-pounders, and usually about twenty men, but sometimes 
 thirty.t 
 
 But though small in size, the Spy was invaluable in the amount of 
 service she performed. She conveyed intelligence, and transported stores 
 
 * Ab master-builder, his pay was one Spanish dollar per day. 
 t The pay of a seaman waa from 40s. to 48s. per month. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 403 
 
 along the coast. She was sent to Maryland for flour, and to the West 
 Indies with hoops and staves to barter for island produce. She also took 
 several rich prizes, among which was the Dolphin, a larger vessel than 
 herself and more heavily armed, being of 80 tons burden, and to this 
 Capt. Niles was for a short time transferred. In June, 1778, he was 
 employed by the Government to carry to France an official copy of the 
 ratified treaty with that kingdom, to perform which duty he again took 
 command of the Spy. He arrived at Brest in twenty-one days, having 
 passed undetected through a considerable British fleet that was cruising 
 off the coast of France, in avoiding which he displayed the dexterity and 
 vigilance of a thorough seaman. Six copies of the treaty were dispatched 
 by different vessels, but this is supposed tp have been the only one that 
 reached its destination. Its arrival hastened the departure of recruits 
 and stores that were preparing in France for the aid of the American 
 cause. 
 
 The lieutenant of the Spy was Zebediah Smith, and the last survivor- 
 of her crew was Capt. Benjamin Coit, who died at Norwich in 1841, 
 aged eighty-three. He had enUsted in the naval service at the age of' 
 eighteen. 
 
 Capt. Niles was a native of Groton; born in the year 1734, and dieds 
 at Norwich in 1818.* 
 
 Lieut. Smith was lost at sea in December, 1791. 
 
 In the early part of the war, two other Norwich captains, Seth Hard- 
 ing and Timothy Parker, by their seamanship and success reflected honor 
 upon the Connecticut marine. Capt. Harding was successively in com- 
 mand of the brig Defence, 14 guns, .the Oliver Cromwell, 18, and the 
 Confederacy, 32, all owned by the State. 
 
 The Defence was built in 1776, at Hayden's ship-yard on the Connecti- 
 cut river, under the superintendence of Capt. Harding and Benjamin 
 Huntington. Capt. Ephraim Bill directed her rigging, and Elijah Backus 
 forged her anchors. In her first trip out, 18th or 19th of June, 1776, she 
 captured near the opening of Boston Bay, two British transports, a ship 
 and a brig, the former with 210 soldiers, and the latter 112, belonging to- 
 Frazer's Highland regiment. Col. Campbell was also among the prison- 
 ers. In a subsequent cruise the same year, Capt. Harding took a mer- 
 chant vessel, called the John, of 200 tons burden, with a valuable cargo 
 of West India produce, and also a Guinea ship. 
 
 The Defence was afterward altered into a ship, and seems never again 
 to have been very fortunate. Capt. Harding was transferred to the Oliver 
 Cromwell, and in June, 1777, captured the brig Medway, with stores ; in 
 July, the brigantine Honor, valued at £10,692; and in September, the 
 
 * In 1856, Congress granted a pension to Miss H^nnaU Niles, the only surviviog, 
 child of Capt. Robert Niles. 
 
404 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 packet ship Weymouth, carrying 15 guns and a crew of 50 men. Capt. 
 Parker, who had been Harding's first lieutenant, succeeded him in the 
 command of the Cromwell, and April 13, 1778, after a smart action, took 
 the Admiral Keppel, an English letter-of-marque, mounting 18 sixes. 
 Several of Capt. Parker's men were wounded ; Capt. James Day, of the 
 marines, mortally. The prize was sent into Boston, and sold at anction 
 on the 8th of July for £22,320. 
 
 In May, 1779, the Oliver Cromwell sailed from New London, and 
 though absent only twelve days, took four prizes and brought in sixty 
 prisoners. But running out again, June 1st, she encountered, June 5tb, 
 off Sandy Hook, the British frigate Daphne, and after a sharp engage- 
 ment of two hours, Capt. Parker seeing another vessel coming to the aid 
 of the enemy, surrendered. Pie was soon exchanged, and reached home 
 early in August, with forty-six of his men. 
 
 The Governor Trumbull, a privateer carrying 18 or 20 guns, was built 
 at Willett's ship-yard in 1777, for Howland & Coit. She was considered 
 almost a model ship. Her first commander, Capt. Henry Billings, had 
 been tested both for gallantry and skillful seamanship, as lieutenant of the 
 armed brig Defence, and a career of brilliant success was anticipated for 
 her. She sailed on her first cruise in November, 1778, and made several 
 small captures, but early the next year went out under the command of 
 Capt. Dudley Saltonstall, and meeting with the British frigate Venus, a 
 vessel of greater size and efiSciency, was obliged to surrender. Her cap- 
 tors took her to the West Indies, where she recruited and was sent forth 
 under a changed name and flag to prey upon her former friends. 
 
 Before sailing, she was thus advertised in the Gazette, Nov. 17, 1778: 
 
 " The fine new ship Governor Tnimbull, Henry Billings commander, now lying in 
 the harbor of Now London, mounting 20 carriage guns, will sail in six days, &c. Ap- 
 ply on board, or to Howland & Coit, Nonvich." 
 
 Her capture was announced in the tory paper at New York. 
 
 April 5, 1779. "The rebel frigate Trumbull is taken by the Venus and sent info 
 St. KittB." 
 
 The Venus herself was originally an American sliip called the Bunker 
 Hill, captured by the British, and her name changed. 
 
 The Confederacy, a continental ship of 32 guns, was one of two frigates 
 ordered by Congress to be built in Connecticut, under the direction of the 
 Governor and Council of Safety.* It was constructed at Norwich by 
 Jedediah WUlett, under the superintendence of Major Joshua Hunting- 
 ton, who, as agent of the State, procured materials and workmen. She 
 
 * The other was the Trumbull, 28 gnns, and built at Chatham in Connecticut river. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 405 
 
 was built chiefly oi tory-timber ; the oak for her keel haying been brought 
 from the confiscated land of "William Browne, in Salem, Ct. ; locust trees 
 for her trunnels were felled from a lot in New London, owned by a Bos- 
 ton royalist ; and planks from the confiscated groves of other refugees 
 performed their part in fashioning her hull and laying her deck. She was 
 launched Nov. 8, 1778, and towed down the river on the 30th to be rigged 
 and recruited at New London.* 
 
 Capt. Seth Harding was the first and only American commander of the 
 Confederacy. She was ordered to France, carrying as passengers, Mr. 
 Jay, the American minister, and Count de Gerard, a French envoy, but 
 had not been long out when she encountered a furious gale, in which she 
 roUed over, lost her masts, and though she righted again, was forced to 
 steer for the nearest friendly port in the West Indies, to refit. 
 
 The following notice is from the Martinico Gazette of Dec. 16, 1779: 
 
 " The Continental Frigate Confederacy, 40 guns, Capt. Harding, came into our road. 
 She left Philadelphia Oct. 27, destined for France, met with a gale on the banks of 
 Newfoundland,t lost her masts, had six feet of water in the hold, and arrived in the 
 midst of perils. The Coimt de Gerard, late minister from the Court of France to 
 the United States, and his Excellency John Jay, who goes to represent the States at 
 the Court of Madrid, were on board. 
 
 " They [the ambassadors] sailed from Martinico for France Nov. 28, in the French 
 frigate L'Aurore." 
 
 The Confederacy refitted at Martinico, and returned home. She was 
 next sent to Cape FranQois for clothing and other suppHes for the army, 
 and on the homeward voyage encountered two vessels of the enemy, a 
 ship of the line and a frigate, to which she surrendered June 22, 1781. 
 The British slightly changed her name, calling her the Confederate, and 
 sent her to England as convoy to a fleet of transports, and with nearly 
 100 prisoners on board, consisting chiefly of the crews of two New Lon- 
 don privateers which they had taken. 
 
 The privateering business not only kept the harbor of New London 
 lively with its shifting scenes, but gave animation to all eastern Connecti- 
 cut. Many spirited seamen were gathered from the banks of the Thames 
 and of its branches. Capt. Thomas Parke, Nathan Moore, Nathan Pe- 
 
 *In the accounts of Joshua Huntington, the charges to the ship Confederacy 
 uraounted to £29,369.18.10; commission upon this, il,«3.9.10: total, £30,823,8.8. 
 A number of Indians were a;mong the workmen, who were all paid by the day, though 
 at varying rates. Uncas, Ashpow, Quocheets, Wyox and other Mohcgan names ap- 
 pear among the workmen and crew. "Nick the fiddler" was also one of the " Con- 
 federacy people." 
 
 t Cooper in his Naval History says that this disaster occurred east of Bermuda, — 
 which is probably a mistake. Vol. 1, p. 195. 
 
406 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 ters, Jeremiah Halsey, Ransford Rose, took part in the contest by cruises 
 at sea, as well as by campaigns on land. 
 
 The most extensive shipping firm in Norwich was that of Howland & 
 Coit. Jabez and Ilezckiah Perkins were among the earliest cruisers of 
 the war. The latter made a successful voyage to Holland and France in 
 the letter-of-marque sloop Maria, of six guns, owned by Howland & Coit. 
 Capt. William Wattles performed several gallant exploits in a small pri- 
 vateer sloop belonging to Norwich, called the Phenix. In one of his 
 expeditions he took a brig from Europe, with a valuable cargo, and sold 
 the whole in Carolina before coming home. Unfortunately he was at last 
 taken by the enemy and carried to Halifax, where most of his men lan- 
 guished and died in the terrible Mill-Island prison, victims of close con- 
 finement and starvation. At a later period of the war, Capt. Wattles was 
 in command of the privateer Comet, and in March, 1782, on a retm'n 
 voyage from the West Indies, was captured a second time by the enemy. 
 He was however soon exchanged, and in July of that year sailed for Am- 
 sterdam in "the remarkable fast sailing and everyway complete Letter of 
 Marque brigantine Thetis." This was a prize vessel, fitted out by How- 
 land & Coit, and sent on a trading voyage to the Texel. 
 
 The privateering business was pre-eminently one of uncertainty and 
 hazard ; strikingly varied with quick success and sudden reverse. Most 
 of the adventurers from Norwich and New London were captured, impris- 
 oned and exchanged during the war, and some of them more than once ; 
 for no sooner were they released from bonds than they were ready for 
 another chance, — acting ever upon the obstinate principle of wp and. at 
 them again. 
 
 In the West India trade also, safe and remunerative voyages alternated 
 with loss and capture. This trade resembled the continual running of a 
 blockade. Several of the Norwich ship-masters fell with their craft into 
 the hands of the enemy. Of these we can name Jabez and Hezekiah 
 Perkins, Thomas King, Ebenezer Lester, William Loring, Jabez Lord, 
 and Elisha Lathrop. We get a few gleams of these vicissitudes from old 
 account-books and the weekly newspapers. Capt. Elisha Lathrop was 
 one of those who kept afloat and had a liberal share of both good and bad 
 fortune. In August, 1781, while in the privateer sloop Mercury, he was 
 talcen and carried into New York. In February, 1782, in a trading 
 voyage to Virginia, he was captured and carried to Charleston, which was 
 then in possession of the enemy. His next voyage was to Guadaloupe, 
 which he accomplished during the summer, and returned in safety Sept. 
 6th. On the 18th of October he sailed again, and the next announcement 
 respecting him briefly states : 
 
 " Capt. Elisha Lathrop in a brig fl'oiu Norwich, bound to the West Indies, is cap- 
 .tored and carried to Bermuda." 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 407 
 
 A few other scattered marine items belonging to this period may here 
 find a place. 
 
 Capt. Davison left the river in a small coasting sloop, Nov. 13, 1781, 
 bound to Boston. In rounding Cape Cod, he was blown off by strong 
 northerly winds, driven out to sea, and after thirty-one days arrived at 
 Guadaloupe ; his crew in a famishing state for want of provisions. He 
 encountered upon the ocean neither friend nor foe ; sold his sloop well, 
 and returned in a Boston brig. 
 
 In April, 1782, Capt. Meech of Preston in a galley from Poquetannock 
 slipped into Fire Island inlet on the Long Island coast, and captured three 
 British coasters, one of which he engaged to ransom for £500; £150 being 
 paid upon the spot and divided among the crew. But before the victors 
 could get away with their spoil, several British galleys appeared off the 
 inlet, retook the prizes, and to prevent the capture of their own galley, 
 the Aniericans scuttled and sunk her, escaping themselves by land. 
 
 The privateer brigs Young Cromwell and Favorite were principally 
 owned in Norwich, and for three years, from 1779 to 1781, were very 
 successful in their trips, and brought in numerous prizes. The Cromwell 
 was successively commanded by Captains Wattles, Hillard,.BuddingtoD, 
 Keed, and Cook. She carried ten 3-pounders and thirty-eight men, and 
 with this force captured a tory privateer called the Success, which carried 
 eight 4-pounders, one 12-pounder in the bow, and forty -five men. She 
 brought in her last prize Nov. 1, 1781. In her next cruise she was taken 
 and her crew thrown into the New York fatal prison-ship, where seven- 
 teen of the number died of pestilential fever. In May, Capt. Cook 
 escaped by dropping himself overboard during the night and swimming 
 to the shore, from whence he made his way home in safety. ' A few weeks 
 afterward he embarked in the schooner Turn-of-times on a trading voyage 
 to Demerara, but was again captured, and carried to Bermuda. 
 
 The brig Favorite was captured in September, 1781, by the British 
 frigate Iris, and sent into New York. 
 
 In January, 1782, Capt. Thomas King sailed for the "West Indies in a 
 new sloop. On the voyage a tropical storm and a hostile vessel came 
 bearing down upon him at the same time. In striving to escape the enemy 
 he was upset by the hurricane, and his sloop left a total wreck. He and 
 his men were taken off by the British, and carried prisoners to Antigua. 
 
 Thomas Mumford was the chief owner of the noted brig Hancock, 
 Peter Richards master. This was originally a prize vessel, called by its 
 British owners The Whim. 
 
 The ship Fortune, Henry Billings, commander, was built at Norwich 
 in 1781. She lay at New London, nearly ready to sail "for Hispaniola, 
 France, and a cruise," when the town and shipping were burnt by Arnold. 
 The Fortune and a few other vessels escaped up the river. 
 
408 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The following list of prize vessels sold at Norwich by auction during 
 the latter part of the war, is collected from the newspapers of the day: 
 
 July, 1779. Ship Otter of 200 tons, and sloop Lord Howe, 30 tons, with their ap- 
 purtenances and cargoes. 
 
 .June 12, 1781. Ship Hunter, 200 tons, English built : bought by merchants in Mid- 
 dletown, and immediately fitted at New London for a cruise; she mounted eighteen- 
 six-pounders. Brig Pontus, 90 tons, almost new. 
 
 July 13. Brig Neptune, built in New Hampshire ; recaptured by the Young Crom- 
 well; mounting 14 carriage guns. Brig Society, 150 tons; "well found and a fast 
 sailer." 
 
 Aug. 28. Ship Polly, 250 tons. Schooner Hazzard, 60 tons. Schooner Surprize, 
 70 tons. Schooner Lucy, 40 tons. Schooner Favorite, a Virginia pilot-boat, 20 tonfe 
 Brigantine Despatch, 120 tons. 
 
 Oct. 4. Ship Achilles, British built, 270 tons. Ship Williamson, 300 tons. 
 
 Oct. 30. Brigantine Peggy, captured by the Toung Cromwell and the Samson,— 
 British built. 
 
 Nov. 22. Letter-of marque schooner Betsey, 80 tons, Virginia built, "lately cap- 
 tared by the Young Cromwell." 
 
 1782, May 23. Sloop Polly, Virginia built, 70 tons; brigantine Alligator, 120 tons, 
 and a small sloop, — all captured by the privateer Eandolph. 
 
 June 25. Brigantines "William, copper-bottomed, 100 tons ; Thetis, Virginia built, 
 100 tons ; Catharine and Mary, and a sloop of 30 tons. 
 
 An advertisement from the Norwich Packet may be quoted in verifica- 
 tion of the statement that the direct intercourse of the Norwich merchants 
 with continental Europe was not wholly intermitted during the war. 
 
 " The prime sailing Letter-of-Marque sloop Maria, Bermuda-built, mounting six 
 carriage guns, Hczekiah Perkins master, will sail in about three weeks for France or 
 Holland. Any persons desirous of sending bills of -exchange on France, may depend 
 on having them negotiated in the best manner. Apply to said Perkins, on board his 
 Tes6el at New London, or to Howland & Coit in Norwich." — Jan. 25, 1779. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 ARKOtD, THE Traitor. Soldiers or the Eetolution. 
 
 Benedict Arnold. 
 
 Benedict Aenold was born Jan. 3, 1741. His parents had pre- 
 viously lost a son of tte same name, and of their six children, only Ben- 
 edict and a daughter Hannaii lived to maturity. 
 
 Benedict Arnold, Sen., and his brother Oliver, were natives of Rhode 
 Island, and coopers by trade, but became seamen, and as each had the 
 title of Captain, it is inferred that they rose to the rank of ship-masters. 
 They appear to have been honest, reputable citizens. Benedict took an 
 interest in public affairs, serving occasionally in town oflSces, as collector, 
 lister, surveyor, constable, and selectman. 
 
 Soon after he came to Norwich, he married (Nov. 8, 1733,) the youth- 
 ful widow of Absalom Bang ; a woman of pleasing person and estimable 
 character, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Lathrop) "Waterman. The 
 inscription upon her grave-stone commeniorates his affectionate remem- 
 brance of her worth. 
 
 In Memorj' of 
 
 HANNAH 
 
 the well beloved wife of 
 
 Capt. BENEDICT ARNOLD 
 
 and Daughter of 
 
 Mr. John and Mrs. Elizabeth Waterman. 
 
 She was a Pattern of Piety, Patience and Virtue, 
 
 Who died Aug. 15, 1758, 
 
 sstatis SUS& 52. 
 
 tradition allows that in this case the epitaph does not exaggerate the 
 triith. "Benedict Arnold's mother," said one who had been connected 
 with the family, "was a saint on earth, and is now a saint in heaven." 
 
 The following is a literal copy (except in orthography) of a letter from 
 hei' to her son Benedict, while he was at school in Canterbury : 
 
10 HISTORY OPNORWICH. 
 
 To Mr. Benedict Arnold at Canterbury. 
 NOEWICH, April 12, 1754. 
 
 Dear child. I received yours of the 1st instant, and was glad to hear that you 
 as well ; pray, my dear, let your first concern be to make your peace with God, as it is 
 f all concerns of the greatest importance. 
 
 Keep a steady watch over your thoughts, words and actions. Be dutiful up©- 
 ors, obliging to equals, and affable to inferiors, if any such there be. Always choose 
 lat your companions be your betters, that by their good examples you may learn. 
 From your affectionate mother, 
 
 Hannah Abnold. 
 
 P. S. I have sent you 503. Your father put in 20 more. — use it prudently, as you 
 :e accountable to God and your father. Your father and aunt join with me in love 
 ad service to Mr. Cogswell and lady and yourself. Your sister is from home. 
 
 It is lamentable to think that the son of such a mother, and the recip- 
 ;nt of such wholesome instruction, should have become a proud, obstinate 
 nd unprincipled man ; leaving behind him a name and character infa- 
 lous in the sight of his country, and spotted with violence, corruption 
 nd treason. 
 
 Capt. Benedict Arnold, the father, died in 1761. 
 
 The house in which Benedict was bom stood about half way between 
 le older part of the town and Chelsea society. It was demolished in 
 )ctober, 1853, but a few years before was in a good state of preservation, 
 nd exhibited in many parts, tokens of the mischievous boyhood of Ben- 
 diet, in whittlings, brands and hatchet-cuts upon the beams, planks, and 
 oors. The letters B. A. and B. Arnold were stamped upon it in various 
 laces. This house had a variety of occupants after the Arnolds left it. 
 t was sold March 31, 1764, by Benedict Arnold of New Haven to Capt. 
 lugh Ledlie of Windham, (with the home-lot of five and a half acres,) 
 jr £700. Capt. Ledlie's wife fell into a state of deplorable insanity, 
 ?hich rendered confinement necessary, and this misfortune with its attend- 
 nt circumstances, being probably exaggerated by rumor, obtained for the 
 .ouse a notorious and superstitious reputation. 
 
 In the year 1775, Dea. WilUam Philips, of Boston, the father of Lieut, 
 governor Philips, removed his fiimily to Norwich, and occupied the Ar- 
 old house till after the British retired from Boston. Its next occupant 
 ma Mr. Malbone of Newport, who also came to Norwich to seek a refuge 
 rom the bustle and violence of war. The misfortunes of this family and 
 he seclusion in which they lived, rather added to the fearful character 
 rhich the house had acquired. It was said that seven of the name, and 
 ill nearly connected, had died within the short period of eighteen months, 
 ^.bout ten years before the family removed to Norwich, that is, in 1767, 
 he brig Dolphin, of Newport, owned by one of the Malbones, and com- 
 aanded by another, took fire ofi' Point Judith, as it was returning firom 
 famaica, and was entirely consumed. Such was the violence of the 
 
BISTORT OP NORWICH. 411 
 
 flames, and the rapidity of their work, that all communication was cut off 
 between the deck and cabin, and in the latter three ladies and two child- 
 ren perished. Those on deck escaped in boats. This, and other misfor- 
 tunes connected with the family, had made the name almost ominous of 
 calamity. The house was afterwards occupied by Ccfl. Moore from New 
 York, the father of Richard Channing Moore, the revered Bishop of Vir- 
 ginia. The Moore family was large, and their dwelling had the reputa- 
 tion of being the seat of hospitality and festive enjoyment. Col. Moore 
 died at Norwich, June 19, 1784 ; his remains were removed the next year 
 to New York, and interred in Trinity church-yard. 
 
 Two of the sons, John and Benjamin Moore, remained several years 
 longer in Norwich ; the latter as a practitioner in physic. In 1790, John 
 Moore was living in the Arnold house, and the census returns show that 
 his family consisted of ten persons. He was then a prominent merchant 
 of the place, but removed about 1793. 
 
 The occupants of the Arnold house were so often changed, that public 
 rumor asciubed it to the supernatural sounds and sights with which it was 
 visited. After a short experience, the bewildered residents were glad to 
 escape from the haunted premises. At length it was left tenantless for a 
 short time, and then purchased and repaired by Uriah Tracy, of the firm 
 of Tracy & Coit. The house had now a native occupant : the beams and 
 rafters, the garden and groves, were apparently appeased. The spell was 
 broken. " Mr. Tracy remained in possession for a period of forty years, — 
 not, however, without an alarm from the invisible world, though of a dif- 
 ferent nature from the sights and sounds that had dismayed the former 
 inhabitants. On a warm summer's day, Sept. 2, 1800, a thunderbolt 
 descended upon the house, shattering the windows and the mirrors, and 
 breaking a passage out through the wall. This electric shock was per- 
 haps necessary to purify it thoroughly from the Arnold taint.* 
 
 To return from this digression respecting the Arnold house, to the 
 Arnold family. No one of the name in Norwich seems to have been a 
 common-place character, Benedict, when a boy, was bold, enterprising, 
 ambitious, active as lightning, and with a ready wit always at command. 
 In every kind of sport, especially if mischief was to be perpetrated, he 
 was a dauntless ringleader, and as despotic among the boys as an absolute 
 monarch. On a day of public rejoicing for some success over the French, 
 
 * Mr. Tracy died in 1832, aged 79. His wife was a daughter of Amos Hallam of 
 New London. She was a woman of quiet, amiable manners, and had been a favorite 
 friend of the unfortunate Nathan Hale, but not, as has been reported, betrothed to 
 him. 
 
 The house of Mr. Jamea L. Ripley stands near the site of the Arnold house. The 
 old well and its surroundings have not been altered, but remain as they were in the 
 time of the Arnolds. 
 
12 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 Lrnold, then a mere stripling, took a field-piece, and in a frolic placed it 
 a end, so that the mouth should point upright, poured into it a large 
 uantity of powder, and actually dropped into the muzzle, from Ms hand, 
 blazing firebrand. His activity saved him from a scorching, for though 
 le flash streamed up within an inch of his face, he darted back and 
 louted huzza ! as loud as the best of the company. It is remembered 
 Iso, that having, at the head of a gang of boys, seized and rolled away 
 sme valuable casks from a shop-yard, to aid in making the usual Thanks- 
 iving bonfire, the casks were arrested on their way, by an officer sent by 
 le owner to recover them ; upon which young Arnold was so enraged 
 lat he stripped ofi" his coat upon the spot, and dared the constable, a stout 
 nd grave man, to fight. 
 
 At fourteen years of age he was apprenticed as a druggist to Doctors 
 )aniel and Joshua Lathrop, and here he exhibited the same rash and 
 jarless traits of character. A person who once remained in the shop 
 dth him during a tremendous thunder-storm, related afterwards, that at 
 very peculiarly loud and stunning report, young Arnold would swing his 
 at and shout hurrah ! — adding occasionally some reckless or profane ex- 
 lamation. Once during his apprenticeship he ran away, with the design 
 f enlisting as a soldier in the British army ; but his friends succeeded in 
 aiding him, and induced him to return to his employment.* 
 
 Miss Hannah Arnold, the sister of Benedict, was an accomphshed lady,, 
 leasing in her person, witty and affable. While the family still resided 
 a Norwich, and of course when she was quite young, she became an 
 ibject of interest and attention to a young foreigner, a transient resident 
 f the place. His regard was reciprocated by the young lady ; but Ben- 
 diet disliked the man, and after vainly endeavoring by milder means to 
 ireak off the intimacy, he became outrageous, and vowed vengeance upon 
 dm if he ever again caught him in the house. After this the young peo- 
 ile saw each other only by stealth, the lover timing his visits to the broth- 
 x's absence. One evening, Benedict, who had been to New Haven, came 
 lome unexpectedly, and having entered the house without bustle, ascer- 
 ained that the Frenchman was in the parlor with his sister. He instantly 
 )lanted himself in front of the house with a loaded pistol, and commanded 
 I servant to assail the door of the room in which they were, as if ha. 
 vould break it down. The young man, as Arnold expected, leaped out. 
 )f the window ; the latter fired at him, but it being dark, missed his aim. 
 
 * Some of the biographers of Arnold have asserted that Dr. Lathrop was so well 
 latisfied with his services that at the close of his apprenticeship he presented him with 
 1 bonus of £500. This is a mistake. 
 
 In Sparks' Biography of Arnold, it is said that Dr. Lemuel Hopkins was his fellow 
 ipprentice ; this also is an error. It was Solomon Smith, and not Hopkins, that served 
 inth Arnold in the Lathrop drug-store. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH 
 
 413 
 
 The youth escaped, but the next day left the place, choosing rather to 
 relinquish the lady than to run any further risk of his life. Arnold after- 
 wards met him at the Bay of Honduras, both having gone thither on a 
 trading voyage. A challenge was given by one or the other, and promptly 
 accepted. They fought, and the Frenchman was severely wounded. 
 
 After leaving Dr. Lathrop, Arnold engaged in trade, and made several 
 voyages to the West Indies as supercargo of a vessel in which be was 
 interested. He went also to London, and returning with an assortment 
 of drugs, books, and other goods, established himself in the retail business 
 at New Haven. The sign of his shop was found some years since in the 
 garret of the house where he lived, and has been lodged in the museum 
 of the city. It is painted black, lettered in white, and has both sides 
 alike. 
 
 B. ARNOLD, DEUGGIST, 
 
 Book-Seller &c. 
 
 FROM LONDON. 
 
 Sibi Totique.* 
 
 At New Haven he married a Miss Mansfield, a lady of good family, 
 young, interesting, and accomplished, and as far as is known, his first 
 love. He had, however, been a general favorite of the ladies, fond of 
 their society, and floating in the gayest circles of the day. His wife died 
 before the Revolution broke out, or about that time, leaving three child- 
 ren, all sons. 
 
 His sister, Miss Hannah Arnold, never married. She resided with her 
 brother, and her attachment to him remained unshaken through all his 
 reverses and disgrace. She was doubtless convinced that in breaking off 
 her intercourse with the French stranger, he had been influenced by a 
 regard to her interest and happiness. After the treason and exile of her 
 brother, she had charge of his younger sons, and they found in her a faith- 
 ful guide and friend. She died in 1803, at Montague, in Upper Canada. 
 
 Arnold from his youth was a popular leader in martial exercises. He 
 had attained the rank of captain in the militia, and when the news came of 
 the battle at Lexington, he was one of the first in New Haven to arrange 
 his business, gird on the sword, and hasten to Boston to offer his services 
 to the country. 
 
 * "For himself and for all." The first part, for himself, Is pointedly appropriate 
 The motto has been rendered by a free translation, Wholly for himself. 
 
414 filSTOBT OF NORWICH. 
 
 His character in private life, as sketched by tradition in the place of his 
 birth, — ostentatious, reckless, insincere and self-seeking, impetuous in act, 
 and exaggerative in speech, — is vividly exemplified in a familiar note to 
 Mrs. General Knox, which by some chance has been preserved. It was 
 written befoi-e his second marriage, at a time when his proud aspirations 
 were gratified by the favor with which he was received in fashionable 
 circles. 
 
 Wateetown, 4 March, 1777. 
 Dear Madam : I hare taken the liberty of Inclosing A Letter for the Heavenly Miss 
 Dcblois, which beg the favor of your delivering, with the Trunk of Gowns &c., which 
 Mrs. Colburn promis'd me to Send to your House. I hope she will make no objec- 
 tions against receiveing them. I made no doubt you will soon have the pleasure 
 seeing the Charming Mrs. Emery, and have it in your power to give me some favo^^ 
 able Intelligence. I shall remain Under the most Anxious Suspence untill I have the 
 favour of a line from you, who (if I may Judge) will from your own experience, con- 
 ceive the fond Anxiety, the Glowing hopes, and Chilling fears, that alternately possesj 
 the breast of 
 
 Dear Madame, 
 
 Tour Obed't & most 
 Mrs. Knox, i Humble Serv't, 
 
 Boston. ) B. Aenold. 
 
 It should excite but little surprise that an ambitious, extravagant man, 
 with fiery passions and very little balance of moral principle, should 
 betray his friends and plunge desperately into treason. ' In this case it 
 might almost have been expected and foreseen. Yet the dark shades in 
 Arnold's character have doubtless been exaggerated, and the sum of his 
 misdeeds needlessly enlarged. For instance, it has often been said that 
 at the burning of New London, he accepted the hospitality of a lady, who, 
 trusting to a former friendly acquaintance with him, ventured to remain 
 in the invaded town, and that he ordered the flaming torch to be applied 
 to the premises as he rose from the dinner-table. No such incident ia 
 known to have occurred. Arnold dined that day with some old shipping 
 friends of tory proclivities, no lady being present, and though the house 
 was afterwards burnt, it was by the spread of the flames from other quar- 
 ters, and not by Arnold's order. 
 
 Benedict Arnold died at Brampton, England, June 20, 1801, aged 60. 
 His second wife was Margaret, daughter of Edward Shippen, Chief Jus- 
 tice of Pennsylvania. She survived her husband, and died in London, 
 Aug. 24, 1804, aged 44. 
 
 Gapt. Oliver Arnold, of Norwich, the uncle of Benedict, died in 1781. 
 He had long been an invalid, and left his family with but little for their 
 support. To these relatives Benedict was always liberal, and even after 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 415 
 
 his exile, made them occasional remittances. The oldest son, Freegift, he 
 assisted in obtaining a good classical education, and designed him for 
 one of the professions ; but the young man joined himself to the Sons 
 of Liberty, entered into the naval service, under Paul Jones, and after 
 fighting bravely, came home with a ruined constitution, to languish and 
 die. The other son, Oliver, had a peculiar talent for making extemporar 
 neous rhymes, which seemed to flow from him without premeditation, in 
 all the ease of common speech, so that his casual remarks and answers to 
 questions would often run in a jingling measure. Many of these famiUar 
 rhymes were formerly current in the neighborhood. They were mostly 
 of a local and transient character. An example of more general interest, 
 which has been often quoted, is the following. 
 
 In a bookseller's shop in New Haven, Oliver Arnold was introduced to 
 Joel Barlow, who had. just then acquired considerable notoriety by the 
 publication of an altered edition of Watts' Psalms and Hymns. Barlow 
 asked for a specimen of his talent ; upon which the wandering poet imme- 
 diately repeated the following stanza : 
 
 " You 've proved yourself a sinful cre'tur' ; 
 You Ve murdered "Watts, and spoilt the metre ; 
 You 've tried the Word of God to alter, 
 And for your pains deserve a halter." 
 
 Oliver was also a sailor and a patriot, and cordially despised the course 
 taken by his cousin Benedict, in betraying his country. 
 
 In his habits he was roving and unsettled, absenting himself from home 
 in long and vagrant rambles, from one of which he never returned. Ac- 
 cording to report, he was found dead by the wayside on a road little fre- 
 quented, in the northern part of New York. 
 
 Three daughters of Capt. Oliver Arnold, sisters of Freegift and Oliver 
 the rhymester, died aged, but unmarried, the last of the family in Nor- 
 wich. The brothers Benedict and Oliver, with their wives, and six child- 
 ren of the former and four of the latter, were interred near the center of 
 the old burial-lot, but mostly without inscribed grave-stones. 
 
 Gen. Jabez Huntington. 
 
 The Committee or Council of Safety, appointed to aid the Governor in 
 the recess of the Assembly, entered upon its duties in May, 1775. It 
 consisted at first of nine persons, of whom three were Huntingtons from 
 Norwich viz. Hon. Jabez Huntington, an assistant, or member of the 
 upper house ;. Samuel Huntington, Judge of the Superior Court for New 
 London county ; and Benjamin Huntington, Esq., a prominent lawyer, 
 and then representative from Norwich. At the same time, another Jabea 
 
416 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Huntington was sheriff of Windham county, and another Benjamin Hunt- 
 ington was the town clerk in Norwich. 
 
 Gen. Jabez Huntington was the son of Joshua, who has been heretofore 
 mentioned as the first considerable merchant of Norwich, and the only one 
 of his sons that left any posterity. He was born Aug. 2, 1719. His 
 mother was Hannah, daughter of Jabez Perkins. He graduated at Tale 
 College in 1741, and soon afterward entered largely into commercial pur- 
 suits, securing a handsome fortune, principally by trade with the West 
 Indies. 
 
 He commenced his patriotic career in 1750, when he was chosen to the 
 Colonial Assembly. For several years he presided over the lower house 
 as speaker, and afterwards was a member of the council. On the break- 
 ing out of the Revolutionary war, he lost nearly half of his property, 
 either by capture of his vessels, or from other circumstances connected 
 with that calamitous period. 
 
 In the early part of the war, he was an active member of the Council 
 of Safety, one of the two Major-Generals of the militia, and after the 
 death of General Wooster in May, 1777, he was appointed sole Major- 
 General of the State forces. This was an arduous position, demanding 
 wisdom, integrity, and a mind fertile in expedients and resources. It 
 required his constant attention, and although Gen. Huntington never took 
 the field himself, in actual service, yet the exertions he made for his conn- 
 try, connected with the exciting events of the day, and the pressure of 
 private business, destroyed his health. He was obliged to retire from 
 public affairs in 1779, and the last seven years of his life were passed 
 under the gloomy shadow of real and imaginary suffering, mental and 
 bodUy. He died Oct 5, 1786. 
 
 Gen. Huntington's first wife was Elizabeth Backus, sister of the Kev. 
 Isaac Backus of Middleborough, Mass. His second wife was Hannah, 
 daughter of Rev. Ebenezer Williams of Pomfret. He had five sons and 
 two daughters, — the latter happily connected in marriage with Col. John 
 Chester of Wethersfleld, and Rev. Joseph Strong, colleague and successor 
 of Dr. Jjord in Norwich. His five sons settled around him, establish- 
 ing their homesteads in his immediate vicinity ; though shortly after the 
 death of his father, the oldest of them. Gen. Jedidiah, removed to New 
 London.* 
 
 * The houso built by Jedidiah in 1780, was subsequently the residence of his brother 
 Ebenezer. The other houses of the Huntington group are more ancient. One was 
 the inherited homestead of the family. The next oldest was erected before 1 740. The 
 fine elms in its front were set out by Zachariah Huntington, who died in 1761. Joshns 
 Huntington, his son Zachariah, his grandson Andrew, and the late '^olcott Hunting, 
 ton, comprising four generations, have saccesslvely occupied and died in this house. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 417 
 
 Gen. Jedidiah Huntington 
 
 "Was born at Norwich in 1743, and graduated at Cambridge in 1763, 
 on which occasion he pronounced the first English oratiop delivered in 
 that college at commencement. Settling near his father in his native 
 place, he engaged with him in mercantile pursuits, but soon became noted 
 as one of the Sons of Liberty, and an active captain of the mihtia. He 
 entered with spirit into all the measures of his townsmen in resisting 
 oppression, and soon after the skirmish at Lexington, marched to Boston 
 with seventy men, where he remained for most of the season on duty. 
 He was afterwards appointed Colonel of the 8th Connecticut regiment, 
 which was raised and drilled under his orders. This regiment was the 
 best equipped of any in the colony, and was distinguished by a British 
 uniform, the Governor and Council having appropriated to them a quan- 
 tity of English red-coats taken in a prize vessel. John Douglas of Plain- 
 field was lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 Li the summer of 1776, Col. Huntington's regiment was stationed with 
 the main army in the vicinity of New York. In the battle of Long Island, 
 Aug. 27th, his men fought with desperate bravery. After the action, six 
 captains, six lieutenants, twentj'-one sergeants, two drummers, and 126 
 rank and file, were missing.* Those who were taken prisoners endured 
 great hardships, and few ever returned to their homes, most of them dying 
 in the noted sugar-house and prison-ship at New York, of disease and 
 stai-vation. 
 
 In 1777, Col. Huntington was advanced to the post of Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral, which office he held during the war, and at the close of it received 
 the appointment of Major-General. 
 
 After the war, he was constantly employed in civil affairs. On the 
 decease of Prosper Wetmore, high sheriff of New London county, in 
 1788, he was appointed his successor, and the same year had the office of 
 State Treasurer conferred upon him. The manner in which this latter 
 appointment was announced in the papers, gives a rather pompous list of 
 his honors : 
 
 " Major General Huntington Esq. Vice President of the order of Cincinnati, High 
 Sheriif for the county of New London, Judge of Probate for the district of Norwich, 
 first Alderman of the city of Norwich, one of the Eepresentatires of the town in the 
 State Legislature, and one of the State Electors, is now appointed by the General As- 
 sembly Treasm-er for the State of Connecticut." 
 
 Most of these offices were soon relinquished for a new appointment, 
 Upon the organization of the custom-house system, under the Federal 
 
 » Hinman's Records of Rev. "War, p. 89. 
 27 
 
418 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 government, Connecticut was arranged into three districts, New London, 
 New Haven, and Fairfield. To the first of these districts, which included 
 the commerce of Connecticut river and of the coast from thence eastwardly 
 to Rhode Island, Gen. Huntington was appointed collector. He removed 
 to New London, and entered on the duties of his office August 11, 1789. 
 From that time till his decease, almost thirty years, New London was his 
 home. He held the office under four successive Presidents, and died 
 Sept. 25, 1818, aged 75. Agreeably to a direction contained in his will. 
 Lis remains, which before the will was opened had been deposited in New 
 London, were disinterred, carried to Norwich, and laid in the family 
 tomb. 
 
 Gen. Huntington was a man of small stature and sedate temperament, 
 but of great energy, steadiness, and dignity ; very neat and precise in his 
 personal appearance, and polished, though reserved, in his demeanor. He 
 made a profession of religion at the age of twenty-three, and his conduct 
 through life was that of a consistent Christian. He was a man of prayer, 
 active in the promotion of religious objects, liberal in his charities, and a 
 zealous friend of missions. He was one of the first members of the Amer- 
 ican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and continued active 
 in its concerns till his death. His last wiU commences with these words, 
 "My soul has long been consecrated to my Creator, Redeemer and Com- 
 forter." . 
 
 General Huntington was twice married. His first wife was Faith, the 
 oldest daughter of the first Governor TrumbuU. She died Nov. 24, 1775, 
 leaving an only child, the late Jabez Huntington, Esq., President of the 
 Norwich Bank. By his second wife, Ann, daughter of Thomas Moore, 
 he had seven children. 
 
 Andrew Huntington, the second son of Gen. Jabez, served during the 
 earlier stages of the war as an agent or commissary to provide clothing, 
 arms and food for Connecticut regiments. He was afterwards engaged in 
 merchandise and the manufacture of paper. 
 
 Joshua, the third son of Gen. Jabez, threw himself into the volunteer 
 ranks at the first boom of the Lexington alarm, and served as a soldier at 
 the siege of Boston, and during the campaign of 1776 in New York and 
 New Jersey. He was subsequently employed in the commissary depart- 
 ment. In the later years of the war he was the agent of Wadsworth & 
 Carter of Hartford in supplying the French army at Newport with pro- 
 visions. He luul also the charge of all prizes sent by the French navy to 
 Connecticut, consigned to th<'ir agents, Wadsworth & Carter. His mili- 
 tary rank at the close of the war was that of colonel. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 419 
 
 In 1789, he was appointed county sheriff, and retained the office till his 
 death in 1821. 
 
 Col. Huntington had but one child, a daughter, who married Hon. 
 Frederick Wolcott of Litchfield. 
 
 GrEN. Ebestezbk Huntington. 
 
 Ebenezer, the fourth son of Gren. Jabez, was a member of Yale College, 
 and within two months of completing his course when the battle of Bunker 
 HiU was fought. He and other ardent young patriots of his class asked 
 permission of President Daggett to leave the institution and enlist as vol- 
 unteers in the army that was gathering at Boston. Being refused, they 
 decamped in the night, hastened to Wethersfield, where there was a 
 recruiting station, enrolled their names, and were soon on duty at the 
 heights of Dorchester. 
 
 Mr. Huntington was at first threatened by the College faculty with the 
 loss of his degree, but ultimately, as he was under no previous censure, 
 he was allowed to graduate with his class in 1775. 
 
 In the army he rose by successive promotions to the rank of colonel, 
 and took part in several of the most remarkable contests of the war. 
 After his commission as captain of a company in October, 1776, he lived 
 with the army, and was ever at his post in camp and field, losing no time 
 in long furloughs for- rest and recreation. Subsequent to the evacuation 
 of New York, his regiment was stationed on the Hudson, at Fort Lee, 
 Tarrytown, and Tappan Bay. In 1778 he was sent in command of a 
 battalion to Rhode Island to operate against the British, who then held 
 possession of Newport. He afterwards joined the main army and partici- 
 pated in several severe engagements with the enemy. At the siege of 
 Yorktown, he served a part of the time as volunteer aid to Gen. Lincoln, 
 and in that capacity witnessed the magnificent spectacle of the surrender 
 of Cornwallis to the soldiers of liberty.* He remained on duty with the 
 army till the troops were disbanded, having served through the whole war 
 from April, 1775, to May, 1783. 
 
 General Huntington retired from the army to the peaceful pursuits of 
 merchandize. But his experience and tact in military evolutions and dis- 
 cipline made it desirable that he should be retained in the home service. 
 In 1792 he was appointed Major-General of the militia of the State, an 
 office which he held more than thirty years, under six successive Gov- 
 ernors. 
 
 * lu TrambuU's historical picture of the surrender of Cornwallis, Gen. Huntington 
 is represented in the group of American officers, his portrait having been taken by the 
 artist from life. 
 
420 HISTOBT OF NORWICH. 
 
 In 1799 he was appointed by President Adams, at the recommendation 
 of General Washington, a Brigadier-General in the United States army, 
 raised upon the apprehension of a war with France. In 1810, and again 
 in 1817, he was elected member of Congress. He died June 17, 1834, in 
 the 80th year of his age. 
 
 General Huntington was noted for his fine manly form, and military 
 deportment. He was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Isham of 
 Colchester ; his second, Mary Lucretia, daughter of Gen. Samuel Mc- 
 Clellan of Woodstock. 
 
 Zachariah, the fifth son of Gen. Jabez Huntington, was too young to 
 take part in the ReTolutionary contest, but he attained a high rank in the 
 militia, and was endowed by nature with many soldier-like qualities, — a 
 commanding person, a voice of great compass, firmness of purpose, and 
 habits of great precision and accuracy. 
 
 It is seldom that five such distinguished men as the brothers Hunting- 
 ton appear in one family, all living to an age ranging from seventy to 
 eighty-six years. 
 
 Joseph Trumbull, Commissary. 
 
 When the war commenced, Norwich had on her roll of inhabitants no 
 one of fairer promise or of more zealous devotion to the cause of hberty 
 than Joseph Trumbull. He was the oldest son of Governor Trumbull, 
 and bom at Lebanon, March 11, 1737, but had been for twelve or fifteen 
 years a resident in Norwich, taking an active part in the business, the 
 municipal affairs and patriotic proceedings of the town. In 1775, he was 
 appointed the first Commissary-General of the American army, an im- 
 portant and honorable oflSce, but bringing with it a crushing weight of 
 perplexity, labor, and responsibility. He devoted himself with unremit- 
 ting ardor to his duties, and was soon worn out by them. In July, 1778, 
 he came from Philadelphia with a desponding heart and a broken consti- 
 tution. His father and other friends gathered around him, and after a few 
 days of rest, he was carefully removed from his home in Norwich to his 
 father's house in Lebanon, where he died July 23d, aged 42. 
 
 The hopes of his friends, who expected much from his talents and 
 integrity, and whose aflections were fondly fixed upon his person, were 
 blasted by his untimely death. In the eulogy pronounced at his fnneral, 
 great praise is awarded to his abilities, his patriotism, and his moral worth, 
 and it is added, "In all the winning and agreeable arts of life, he had no 
 superior." These qualities account for the tender attachment of his 
 friends, and the lamentations that were uttered on his death. 
 
history op norwich. 421 
 
 Col. John Duekee. 
 
 Could the life of this able and valiant soldier be written in detail, it 
 would form a work of uncommon interest. Only the outlines can now be 
 recovered, but they are of a nature that indicates a career full of adven- 
 ture and a character deeply imbued with patriotic resolution. He was an 
 actor in the French and Indian wars, in the stamp-act excitement, in the 
 Wyoming settlement and conflict with the Pennamites, and in many of 
 the stirring scenes of the Eevolution. 
 
 John Durkee was a native of Windham, but settled early in life at 
 Norwich. He served upon the frontier, against the French, in several 
 distinct expeditions, and afterwards held the rank of major in the militia. 
 He kept an inn, cultivated a farm, and was often engaged in public busi- 
 ness. After the repeal of the stamp-act, he became interested in the pur- 
 chase made by the Susquehannah Company in Pennsylvania, and was one 
 of the forty pioneers sent out by the company in 1769, to take possession 
 of the Wyoming Valley. Robert Durkee was also of the company, and 
 the first fortress erected by these emigrants was called Fort Durkee. 
 
 Against this scanty band of settlers, the Pennamites or Pennsylvania 
 claimants of the valley soon appeared in considerable force, and an obsti- 
 nate contest for the possession of the territory ensued. Major Durkee 
 was at one time carried to Philadelphia as a prisoner, but when released, 
 returned to the scene of conflict. After a long and stormy experience, 
 the Connecticut party so far prevailed as to keep possession of their set- 
 tlements. 
 
 WUkesbarre — a name compounded from those of John Wilkes and Col. 
 Barr^, EngUsh poKticians who had warmly espoused the American cause 
 in the days of the stamp-act — was one of the towns founded by the Con- 
 necticut emigrants. As Durkee had been a strenuous partizan on the 
 side defended by these English orators, and was a leader of high author- 
 ity in the Connecticut party, it is quite probable that the town is indebted 
 for its name to his suggestion and influence.* 
 
 Major Durkee afterwards returned to Norwich, and the trouble with 
 England deepening and gradually overshadowing the land, he relinquished 
 the idea of removing to the western wilderness. His brother Robert 
 remained at Wyoming,! and was subsequently one of the victims of 
 Indian barbarity in the fearful slaughter of July 3, 1778. His name is 
 on the commemorative monument in the Wyoming Valley. 
 
 Major Durkee was promoted to the command of a regiment, and took 
 part in the battles of Long Island, Harlem Heights, White Plains, Tren- 
 
 * One of the nephews of Major Durkee had the given name of Barre. 
 
 t They were cousins and brothers-in-law. Robert's wife was sister to Col. John. 
 
422 HISTOBT OF NOEWICH. 
 
 ton, and Monmouth. He was also with Gen. Sullivan in the expedition 
 against the Six Nations. But his health gradually failed, and in 1780 he 
 resigned his command, and was succeeded by Lieut. Col. Thomas Grosve- 
 nor of Pomfret. 
 
 He died before the return of peace, May 29, 1782, in his 54th year. 
 One of his sons, a youthful volunteer, aged 17 years, died in 1777, of 
 wounds received in fighting for his country.* 
 
 Qol. Benjamin Thro&p was another gallant officer who served m the 
 regular army. He enlisted as first lieutenant in April, 17T5; was pro- 
 moted by successive steps to the rank of colonel, and continued in the 
 service to the end of the war. 
 
 Gol. Zabdiel Rogers, of the State militia, was often called cut during 
 the war. In 1775, his regiment was sent with others from the State to 
 the city of New York. It was afterwards several times ordered to the 
 western border line of Connecticut. In 1781 he was on duty at Eye and 
 Horseneck. 
 
 The brothers Christopher and Bencgah LeffingweU, belonging to the 
 State militia, were often summoned to the sea-coast upon an alarm of 
 invasion, or to take a turn in manning the forts and batteries. In 177T, 
 Benajah LetRngweU, then-captain of a company ,^ performed a tour of duty 
 in Rhode Island. 
 
 Christopher Leffingwell was an early and active member of the com- 
 mittee of correspondence, and eminently useful in rousing the spirit of 
 the people, and in devising ways and means by which the common cause 
 might be benefited. 
 
 He was a grandson of the second Thomas Lefiingwell (£ Norwich, and 
 died Nov. 27, 1810, aged 76 years. His life through its whole length 
 was active, useful, and prosperous. It falls to the lot of few men in pri- 
 vate life to benclit a community so lai'gely as Norwich was profited by the 
 enterprise of Col. Leffingwell. 
 
 Capt. David Nevim enlisted early in the contest for liberty, and lived 
 long to witness its happy results. He was first employed as the confiden- 
 tial messenger of the Norwich committee of correspondence, one of those 
 voluntary patriotic agencies tliat managed the whole business of the Eev- 
 olution in its earlier stages. His personal activity and daring spirit, com- 
 
 * Out of twenty recruits that eulistcil from Norwich in the company of Capt. Nitr 
 thaniel Webb of Windham, (Durkee's regiment,) from 1776 to 177.8, engaging ta ses«a 
 during the war, only /our wore over 20 years of a^e„ Webb's Orderly Book. 
 
HISTOBT OF NORWICH. 423 
 
 bined witli trustworthiness and ardent participation in the popular cause, 
 peculiarly fitted him for the work. But the battle of Lexington carried 
 him from all minor employments into the axmy. He joined the 8th com- 
 pany, 6th regiment, which was organized on Norwich Green in May, 1775, 
 and was its color-bearer on Dorchester Heights. 
 
 He remained with the army during the siege of Boston, the occupation 
 of New York, and the retreat through the Jerseys, returning home in the 
 winter of 1777. He did not, however, relinquish the service of his coun- 
 try, but was several times again in the field upon various emergencies 
 during the war. 
 
 Capt. Nevins was born at Canterbury, Sept. 12, 1747, and died in New 
 York, Jan. 21, 1838, aged 90. He had twelve children. The late Henry 
 Nevins of Norwich, Eussell H. and Eufus L. Nevins, brokers of New 
 York, Samuel, James and Richard Nevins of Philadelphia, and Eev. 
 Williiun Nevins, installed pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of 
 Baltimore in 1820, were his sons. His wife was Mary, oldest daughter 
 of Eussell Hubbard.* 
 
 Capl. Jedidiah Hyde, son of the Separatist minister, born in 1738, left 
 his farm and family — a wife and eight children — to enlist among the first 
 recruits in the cause of liberty. After the war he removed to Vermont, 
 and about the year 1788 established himself at Hyde Park in that State> 
 which place derives its name from him. He died in 1825. By two wives 
 he had fifteen children, all of whom lived to enter the married state, and 
 became heads of families. 
 
 Oapt. James Hyde, of Bean Hill, who married Martha Nevins, and 
 Capt. James Hyde, of the "West Farms, whose wife was Eunice Backus, 
 were both engaged in the Revolutionary contest ; the former on the land, 
 and the latter on the sea. Capt. Hyde of the army was a man noted for 
 his gentleness and philanthropy, yet he enlisted early, fought bravely, and 
 served to the end of the war. Great must have been the hatred of Brit- 
 ish tyranny, that moved such la spirit to rush into the battle-field. He 
 was afterward a Methodist local preacher. 
 
 * The mother of Capt. Nevins was a daughter of Col. Simon Lathrop, who foijght 
 at Louisburg in 1745. His father, whose name he perpetuated, was supposed to be of 
 Scotch origin, but came from Massachusetts to Connecticut, married Mary Lathrop, 
 and settled in Canterbury on a farm of 300 acres given her by her father. About ten 
 years after his marriage, he was accidentally drowned in the Quinebaug river, as else- 
 where in this work related. 
 
 He left five children : Capt. David, above mentioned ; Samuel and Betsey, who died 
 unmarried ; Mary, who married Nathan Lord of Lord's Bridge, Lisbon ; and Martha, 
 wife of Capt. James Hyde of Norwich. 
 
424 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 Gapt. Jared Tracy served as a commissary during the siege of Boston, 
 and subsequently fought the enemy upon the sea. After the war he went 
 into the West India trade, and died at Demarara in 1790. William G. 
 Tracy, an early and prominent settler at Whitestown, New York, was his 
 son. 
 
 Gapt. Simeon Huntington commanded a company in Col. Huntington's 
 regiment, and served through the first two campaigns of the war. He 
 was a man of bold, adventurous spirit, and had taken a conspicuous part 
 in resistance to the stamp act. He died iu 1817, aged 77. 
 
 Gapt. Elisha Prior, of Norwich, was in the garrison at Fort Griswold 
 when it was stormed by the British, and received a severe wound. He 
 died at Sag Harbor, Long I.sland, in 1817. 
 
 Lieut. Andrew Griswold, of Durkee's regiment, was wounded at the 
 battle of Germantown by a ball in the knee, and made a cripple for hfe. 
 He lay for ten months in the hospital at Reading, Penn., and was after- 
 ward only able to perform light service in camp and fortress. But he still 
 clung to the army, and when the war closed, was at West Point. He died 
 at Norwich in 1827, at the age of 72. 
 
 Gapt. Richard Lamb, a native of Leicester, Mass., served during most 
 of the war in the Connecticut militia, and was stationed at Danbury, and 
 at Fishkill, N. Y. He belonged to a company of artificers, and recruited 
 for this company at Norwich in September, 1777. After the conclusion 
 of the war, he came to Norwich, married the sister of Lieut. Andrew 
 Griswold, and became a permanent inhabitant of the place. He died in 
 1810. 
 
 Gapt. Andrew Lathrop commanded a company in 1776, and was on 
 duty in New York. 
 
 The brothers Asa and Arunah Waterman took an active part in the war 
 as soldiers, agents, and commissaries. 
 
 Captains Asa Kingshury and Ebenezer Hartshorn, John Ellis and Joshua 
 Barker, all of the West Farms, were in the service for longer or shorter 
 periods. 
 
 Ebenezer and Simon Perkins, not brothers, but both of the Newent fam- 
 ily, were Revolutionary captains. 
 
 Lieut. Nathaniel Kirtland, of Newent, was killed in battle Oct. 12, 
 1777. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 425 
 
 Lieut. Gharles Fanning has been already mentioned, but merits a more 
 emphatic notice. He was an ensign of the 4th Connecticut battalion in 
 1776, was often referred to as one of the town's quota during the war, 
 and is on the roll of continental officers that served till the army was dis- 
 banded. 
 
 It would be a pleasing task to register the names and memorials of all 
 those old soldiers and patriots of Norwich to whom later generations are 
 80 much indebted ; but after the most diligent gleaning, only a few indi- 
 viduals can be named. The town covered a large area. It furnished a 
 throng of volunteers at the opening of the war, and its regular quota 
 afterwards. But we have no muster-roll of the men, and respecting many 
 of the officers nothing is recovered beyond a casual reference in the rela- 
 tion of incidental matters, or the record of a death.* 
 
 The highest honor belongs to those who served during the whole war. 
 The following have an undoubted claim to this distinction, as various pub- 
 lic records and returns show that half-pay during life, and bounty lands, 
 were awarded to them by the government on that account. 
 
 Rev. John Ellis, chaplain. 
 Brig. Gen. Jedidiah Huntington. 
 Lieut. Col. Ebenezer Huntington. 
 Major Benjamin Throop. 
 Lieut. Charles Fanning. 
 
 " James Hyde. 
 
 " Andrew Griswold. 
 
 " Silas Goodell. 
 
 " Jacob Kingsbury.f 
 
 Preston was so near to Norwich, and its military companies were so 
 often united with those of the latter, that the names of its prominent offi- 
 cers slide easily into our history. Colonels John Tyler and Samuel Mott, 
 Majors Nathan Peters, Jeremiah Halsey and Edward Mott, Capts. Sam- 
 uel Capron and Jacob Meech, were some of the patriots and soldiers from 
 that town who breasted the first waters of the Revolution, and were often 
 ^terwards in the field during the war. 
 
 Major Peters enlisted as an ensign in the company of Capt. Edward 
 Mott, immediately after the battle of Lexington, and soon rose to the rank 
 of captain. In 1777 he was appointed brigade-major in the Rhode Island 
 campaign under General Tyler, and performed several other tours of 
 detached service during the war. 
 
 * One of the last liugering soldiers of the old war, in the town plot, was Joshua 
 Teomans, who died Aug. 8, 1835, aged 83. 
 
 t Saffel's Kecords of Kev. War. 
 
426 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Happening to be at home on furlough in September, 1781, when the 
 British made a descent upon New London, with characteristic ardor he 
 rushed to the scene of action, and was the first person who entered Groton 
 Fort after it had been deserted and a train laid for its destruction by the 
 British troops. Hovering in the vicinity, he scarcely waited for them to 
 leave the premises before he cautiously entered the fort, and with water 
 from the pump extinguished the train which had been laid to cause an 
 explosion of the magazine. In five minutes more the whole would have 
 been a heap of ruins, under which the dead and dying would have been 
 buried. 
 
 Major Peters died in 1824, aged 79. 
 
 Dr. Philip Turner of Norwich merits an honorable notice, as a surgeon 
 of the Revolutionary period. He entered the Provincial army in 1758, 
 when only twenty years of age, as an assistant surgeon, and served upon 
 the northern frontier, against the French. He lost none of his patriotic 
 ardor in after life, but offered his services to his country in 1775, and waa 
 with the army at Eoxbury and in the arduous campaigns in New York 
 and Pennsylvania. As a hospital surgeon, no man in the country stood 
 before him. Gen. Jedidiah Huntington said of him : 
 
 " Doctor Turner is blessed with a natural insight into wounds and a dexterity in 
 treating them peculiar to himself." 
 
 He retired from the service in 1778. retumuig to his former miscella- 
 neous duties as a druggist, physician and surgeon. His skiU as a surgical 
 operator was so well understood that he was often summoned to manage 
 critical cases, not only from points far back in the counti-y, but from New 
 York and Philadelphia. 
 
 In the year 1800 he removed to New Y'ork, where he had charge of 
 the government hospitals, and there died in 1815. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Inoculation. Division of the Town. Keview op West Farms, Pauti- 
 PAUG, New Concord, Newent, Hanover, and Long Societies. 
 
 The eight societies into which the area of Norwich was divided, in the 
 main drew well together, being usually harmonious in opinion on all the 
 great questions of morality, liberty, and the public good. The violent 
 disputes which at various periods have agitated the town, although some- 
 times sectional, have more frequently resulted from clashing interests in 
 regard to property, privilege, and partizanship. 
 
 In 1760, a conflict was begun with respect to inoculation for the small 
 pox, which came very near being interminable. Individuals had been 
 agitating the question for many years, and it was now .proposed to the 
 town in this form, viz. : WiU the town approve of Dr. Elisha Lord's pro- 
 ceeding to inoculate for the small pox, under any regulations whatever ? 
 The vote was in the negative. The subject was resumed again and again, 
 with the same result. The popular feeling was excited almost to violence 
 whenever the faculty brought up the question. 
 
 In 1773, Dr. Philip Turner and Dr. Jonathan Loomis opened a hos- 
 pital for inoculation on an island in the Sound, off Stonington, but the 
 inhabitants'Vjn the main-land strenuously opposing the system, and the hos- 
 tility deepening, they were obliged to relinquish even this island project. 
 In August, 1774, Dr. Loomis was arrested and committed to prison on 
 the charge of having communicated the infection of small pox by inocula- 
 tion to two persons in Stonington. He escaped from his cell after a few 
 days confinement, and the Norwich jail-keeper, Sims Edgerton, advertised 
 him and offered a reward for his apprehension, as would have been done 
 in the case of a notorious criminal. 
 
 Dr. Elisha Tracy also, though well known in this part of the colony, for 
 an honorable and skillful physician, was presented by the grand-jury as 
 guilty of a cognizable offence in communicating the small pox to certain 
 individuals by inoculation, and held to answer for the same before the 
 county court in a bond of £60. These facts suffice to show the ignorance, 
 prejudice and fierce excitement with which the great discovery of Jenner 
 was greeted in this district. 
 
428 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 Early in 1787, Drs. Elihu Marvin and Philemon Tracy made an effort 
 to obtain permission to open a hospital somewhere in the purlieus of the 
 town, to be under the control of the selectmen, but this was negatived in 
 the ratio of two to one. A second effort was made the same year, with a 
 result overwhelming in discouragement, — eight against them to one in 
 their favor. 
 
 These energetic physicians, though foiled in their appli«ation to the 
 town authorities, persevered in their great object. They secured a beau- 
 tiful and retired situation on the bank of the river, in that part of the 
 Mohegan reservation known as Massapeag, and another on the Adgate 
 farm, both in the town of Montville, and at length brought their theory 
 into successful practice: Jeremiah Rogers and David H. Jewett of Mont- 
 ville being their associates. 
 
 The tide had begun to turn, and in 1702 a special town meeting was 
 warned to consider the subject, under the expectation that a vote would 
 be obtained to permit inoculation within the limits of the town. This 
 hope was disappointed; the opposition was vehement; a majority were in 
 favor of the motion, but the law required two-thirds of the voices present, 
 and it was lost, — yeas 56, nays 35. The conflict continued three years 
 longer. 
 
 At a town meetmg on the 8th of October, 1795, a fuU vote was given, 
 granting liberty to Drs. Tracy and James W. Whiting to open a hospital 
 for inoculation the following April, in such place and subject to such reg- 
 ulations as the civil authority should deem proper. Accordingly, the next 
 year, the house of John Allen, within a mile of the court-house, was occu- 
 pied as a hospital, by permission of the selectmen, and after this there was 
 no controversy on the subject. 
 
 Division of the Town. 
 
 The division of the town took place in 1786. This was accompHshed 
 in the most amicable manner, by mutual consultation and concurrence. 
 
 A town meethig was convened, and drafts of two memorials to the 
 General Assembly were presented : one by Nathaniel Kingsbury, asking 
 tliat the three parishes of "West Farms, New Concord and Pautipaug 
 might be uuulo a distinct town ; and the other by Joseph Perkins, that 
 Nowciit, Hanover and a jiai't of Long Society might be made a distinct 
 town. Aji'Miust the first only one vote was given, and against the other 
 not a single voice >vas raised. The representatives of the town were 
 directed to lay the two memorials before the Assembly, and to state the 
 amicable manner in which the affair had been managed. 
 
 The General Committee appointed on the division consisted of four 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 429 
 
 persons, viz., Capt. Ebenezer Baldwin, Deacon Joseph Bushnell, Samuel 
 Leffingwell, and Capt. Andrew Perkins. The repeated consultations of 
 this committee with committees of the various societies, resulted in the 
 formation of four towns instead of three. First Society and Chelsea, to 
 constitute the town of Norwich ; Hanover and Newent, another town ; 
 West and Eighth Societies, a third ; and New Concord a town by itself. 
 
 East Society was to be annexed to Preston, — the middle waters of the 
 Thames, Shetucket and Quinebaug constituting the eastern boundary-line 
 of Norwich. 
 
 These proceedings were readily sanctioned by the Legislature, and the 
 three new towns incorporated at the May session the same year, under the 
 names of Lisbon, Franklin, and Bozrah. 
 
 The old town continued to convene once a year, to settle accounts and 
 adjust claims, until 1791, when they had their last meeting. 
 
 In 1861, the town of Sprague, comprising a part of Lisbon and Frank- 
 lin, was incorporated, and as the western part of both Preston and Gris- 
 wold originally belonged to Norwich, there are now five whole towns and 
 parts of two others within the limits of the nine-miles-square. 
 
 The division of the town was undoubtedly a wise and salutary measure. 
 But an historian who has hitherto considered the nine-miles-square as a 
 beautiful whole, can not but sigh to see the integrity of his province de- 
 stroyed, and may be allowed to linger awhile over those relinquished soci- 
 eties which vsoll henceforward have a distinct history of their own. 
 
 Second Society : West Farms, or Franklin. 
 
 The settlements in this society were almost coeval with those in the 
 town-plot. Farms were here laid out to the first proprietors, and passed 
 into the hands of their sons, who became actual residents. Hence the 
 names of Lathrop, Hyde, Abel, Birchard, Tracy, Edgerton, Huntington, 
 Waterman, are the earliest in Franklin. 
 
 But with the next generation new names are introduced. Armstrong, 
 Hartshorn, Hazen, Johnson, Kingsbury, Ladd, Marshall, Metcalf, Rudd, 
 and others, appear before 1700, or soon after that period. The enlarged 
 population and thriving condition of this part of the township in a short 
 time rendered a separate ecclesiastical organization both desirable and 
 easy of accomplishment. A plea for it was presented to the town author- 
 ities in 1710, but after conference on the subject it was then deferred. In 
 1716 we find this brief record of the division : 
 
 " The West-farmers are freely allowed to become a. Society." 
 
 The church was organized Jan. 4, 1718, with eight members, viz., 
 
480 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Henry Willes, David Hartshorn, Joseph Kingsbury, Sen., Joseph Kings- 
 bury, Jr., Nathaniel Rudd, Thomas Hazen, Samuel Edgerton, and Samuel 
 Ladd. Mr. Willes was ordained pastor of the church, Oct. 8th of the 
 same year ; David Hartshorn and Joseph Kingsbury, Sen., were chosen 
 deacons. 
 
 Before the ordination took place, a house of worship was erected on 
 Meeting-house Hill, 40 feet by 35, and 18 feet between joints. The frame 
 of the edifice grew upon the hill, but the interior paneling, with " the pul- 
 pit, seats and canopee," were relics of the old church in the town-plot. 
 
 In 1721 this church was favored with a great revival, which raised the 
 number of members to sixty-eight, the whole population of the society not 
 then exceeding 400 persons. A halcyon period followed ; but in 1745 
 the society became involved in a controversy, long and obstinate, which 
 seems to have originated in a difference of opinion with respect to a new 
 house of worship — where it should stand, hovf it should be built, and what 
 should be its form and size. 
 
 The meeting-house was built, square and stately, on the site of the old 
 one, but the troubled waters were not assuaged. A portion of the con- 
 gregation withdrew, and in 1749 Mr. "Willes was dismissed, after a min- 
 istry of thirty-one years. He never settled elsewhere or changed his 
 residence, but still continued to preach occasionally, and died in his old 
 home, Sept. 9, 1758, aged 68.* 
 
 His successor in ofi&ce, Mr. John EUis, a native of Cambridge, Mass., 
 was ordained Sept. 6, 1753, in the face of a strong oppposition, not arising 
 from personal dislike of the candidate, but a deep settled aversion to the 
 ecclesiastical laws of the colony in regard to building meeting-houses and 
 supporting ministers, — a dissent that led to a still further disruption of the 
 society. 
 
 On the first organization of Col. Jedidiah Huntington's patriotic re^- 
 ment in 1776, Mr. EUis was appointed its chaplain, and with the consent 
 of his people went immediately into the army. In 1779, having decided 
 to remain in the field, he asked and obtained a dismission from his charge 
 at home, and continued in the service as chaplain till peace was established 
 and the army disbanded. His name is on the roll of those who were enti- 
 tled to half-pay during life, as having served to the end of the war,t — a 
 rare if not a solitary instance of a chaplain who continued on duty in 
 camp and field through the seven years of conflict. 
 
 No church records are to be found of the ministry of Mr. Ellis, — an 
 
 * Mr. Willes was a native of Windham, and graduated at Tale in 1715. His wife 
 was Martha, daughter of John Kirtland of Saybrook. She survived him, and died in 
 1773. They had nine children. 
 
 t Safrol's Becords of Eev. War, p. 418. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 431 
 
 interval occurring of thirty-three years in wMcli there is neither registry of 
 admissions, baptisms, marriages, or death. 
 
 In 1785, Mr. Ellis was installed over a church at Eehoboth, but at the 
 end of ten years resigned his charge, and returned to Franklin, where he 
 died Oct. 19, 1805, in the 79th year of his age.* 
 
 Rev. Samuel Nott, the third minister of "West Farms, was ordained 
 March 13, 1782. The church then consisted of 72 members : 35 males 
 and 37 females. His pastprate was of seventy years duration, and he 
 performed its duties almost to the end. In him a feeble and sickly youth 
 was gradually hardened into executive health and drawn out into a com- 
 fortable if not vigorous old age. This was in great part due to the hfe- 
 sustaining energy of an ever-active but equable flow of the mental facul- 
 ties, and a natural cheeriness of disposition. 
 
 Dr. Nott was born at Saybrook, Jan. 23, 1754, and died at Franklin, 
 May 26, 1852, wanting four months of being 98. In a sermon preached 
 on the 60th anniversary of his ordination, he stated that he had not dur- 
 ing his pastorate been detained from his duties by indisposition but eleven 
 Sabbaths, and five of these were in consequence of a slight injury upon 
 his right hand. 
 
 "My hand and life (he says) were for some time in great danger. The Eer. Wil- 
 liam Woodbridge, a classmate and very particular friend, preached for me four Sab- 
 baths, and on the fifth lay dead in my honse, being suddenly called to give an account 
 of his stewardship." 
 
 The Rev. Mr. McEwen, in his funeral sermon on the death of Dr. 
 Nott, said of him : 
 
 " Until his 94th year his venerable form was always seen among his assembled 
 brethren, and in their discussions and serTices unto that age he stood manfully in his 
 lot." 
 
 The ministry of the first three pastors of Franklin extended over a 
 period of 134 years, including two vacant intervals of three years each. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Nott of Frankhn, and Rev. Eliphalet Nott, D. D., of 
 Union College, Schenectady, were brothers, and sons of Stephen Nott of 
 Saybrook, who was a descendant of John Nott, one of the first settlers of 
 Wethersfield. Their mother was Deborah Selden of Lyme. 
 
 Rev. George J. Harrison was ordained colleague with Dr. Nott, March 
 13, 1849, and on Dr. Nott's death, became sole pastor. He was dismissed 
 at his own request, in October, 1851. His successor, after a short inter- 
 val, was Rev. Jared E. Avery. 
 
 The present pastor is Rev. Franklin C. Jones, a son of Rev. E. C. Jones 
 of Southbury, Ct. He was ordained Feb. 5, 1863. 
 
 * " Ho has no memorial to tell future generations where his body Hes." Nott's Half 
 Century Sermon. 
 
432 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The meeting-house erected in 1745 stood upon the same elevated site 
 occupied by its predecessor, commanding an extensive prospect of wood- 
 lands and cultivated farms. For a hundred years it crowned and beauti- 
 fied the hill, its altar-fires never going out until a third house of worship 
 was prepared to continue the sacred services at the same place. 
 
 A choice old picture is treasured in the memory of those who can recall 
 to mind this ancient church and its surroundings as it appeared on the 
 Sabbath in the days of the venerable Dr. Nott. Horses and vehicles of 
 various sorts are assembled on the hill-top. Inside of the church all is 
 sombre, plain and antique. The house is square, and the pews are square. 
 There is an entrance in front and at either end, with aisles leading from 
 each and crossing at the center. The pulpit is at the side. The pew- 
 frames and gallery fronts resemble lace bobbins. The sound-board, bearing 
 in large figures the date of 1745, the pulpit and pulpit-window are carved 
 and painted in colors. The pulpit cushions are of gray velvet, with 
 heavy black tassels, and when the wind comes in through the broken 
 casements, they wave like a hearse pall. One must have seen it filled 
 with its varied congregation, and surmounted vrith the thin and pallid face 
 of its venerable pastor, and have heard his tremulous voice uttering the 
 customary strains of exhortation and warning, in order to obtain the most 
 striking impression of a country congregation of the genuine old Puritan 
 stamp. 
 
 But ninety years is an extended date for the old wooden structures of 
 America, and in 1836 this primitive church gave place to a third sacred 
 edifice built on the same site. This also was abandoned and removed in 
 1863, — a fourth church, in the modern style of architecture, having been 
 completed near by, in a less bleak position, somewhat lower upon the hill. 
 It is a neat and graceful building, calculated for an audience of about 300 
 people, and furnished with the first church-bell ever sounded on that 
 ancient hill. A parsonage was the same year erected on the site that had 
 been occupied by three successive sanctuaries of the society. 
 
 Pautipaug, or Eighth Society. 
 
 The small company that broke away from the T7est Farms church 
 between 1745 and 1750, formed a new organization, and in 1758 settled 
 the Re\'. Mr. Ives as their pastor. The society was not incorporated and 
 legally accepted as a society until after the formation of the Seventh or 
 Hanover Society, and llierefore ranked as the Eighth, although a church 
 upon the platform recognized by the government was established here 
 earlier llian at Hanover. These ecclesiastical societies were the districts, 
 or legal subdivisions of towns in Connecticut, in its earlier days, when the 
 
HISTORT OP NORWICH. 433 
 
 people were all of one sect. The existence of other denominations ren- 
 ders them obsolete. 
 
 Mr. Ives removed to Munson, Mass. in 1770, and the history of the 
 church sinks into obli\-ion. It does not appear that they had any other 
 pastor, nor do we find any account of what became of the church or con- 
 gregation. ) 
 
 The Separatists organized a church in this society in 1747, and Thomas 
 Denison was ordained as its pastor. It became extinct in about twelve 
 years. 
 
 In the early part of the present century, a free church was erected here 
 by the voluntary contributions of individuals. Not only were the seats 
 free, but the pulpit was open for all denominations of Christians to occupy. 
 It was, however, generally improved by the Methodists. It is now dis- 
 used, and the bell has been transferred to the Congregational church. 
 
 "When the two societies of West Farms and Pautipaug were united to 
 form a town, the proposition to give it the name of Franklin is believed 
 to have originated with Jacob Kingsbury, Esq. This gentleman was 
 Inspector-General in the army of the United States, and served his coun- 
 try faithfully both in the army and navy for a period of forty years. He 
 was a descendant of Deacon Joseph Kingsbury, one of the first pillars of 
 the West Farms church. At the commencement of the Revolution, he 
 repaired to Eoxbury, and entered the army as a volunteer, being then 
 only eighteen years of age. He continued in the service until the close 
 of the second war with the British, in 1815. He was a member of the 
 old society of the Cincinnati. His death took place at Franklin, in 1837 ; 
 he was then eighty-one years of age.. One of his descendants, Lieut. 
 Charles E. Kingsbury, a youth of eighteen, died at Fort Mellon, in East 
 Florida, eleven days before him. So near together fall the green tree 
 and the dry. 
 
 Franklin was for a long period nearly stationary in its population, — or 
 rather, gradually decreasing from the effects of emigration. It was de- 
 voted to farming, and had no considerable village, and no manufacturing 
 establishment except a woollen factory on Beaver Brook. The extent of 
 the town was about five miles by four. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 1810—1161. 1840—1000. 1860—2358. 
 
 1830—1194. 1850— 895. 
 
 Between 1856 and 1860, the village of Baltic sprung up like magic in 
 
 the eastern part of Franklin, and has expanded into the flourishing town 
 
 of Sprague. This new organization took off the north-eastern part of 
 
 Franklin, assumed one-half of the town debt, and the charge of all the 
 
 28 
 
434 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 poor, save one. A census was taken of the town after the separation, 
 which gave the following result : 763 inhabitants, 178 electors, and 157 
 families. 
 
 New Concord, or Fourth Society. 
 
 The fourth ecclesiastical society was recognized by the Legislature in 
 1733. Permission had been given to the planters to form a parish by 
 themselves in 1715, but being unable to support a minister, they were not 
 regularly organized until eighteen years afterward, when they took' the 
 name of New- Concord, and were released from all obligation to support 
 the ministry of the First Society, on condition of maLataining a gospel 
 minister at least six months in the year. 
 
 The northern part of the present town, — that part which lies in the 
 bend of the Yantic, — was included in the West Farms parish, and the 
 bounds betweeen the two societies were to be : the river, the brook that rum 
 out of it, the Cranberry Pond, the Cranberry Pond brook, the great swamp 
 the dark swamp, and the miry swamp. It might be difficult at the present 
 day to run the line from these data. 
 
 The church was organized and Rev. Benjamin Throop ordained the 
 first pastor, Jan. 3, 1738-9. Mr. Throop was a native of Lebanon, and 
 a graduate of Yale. He died Sept. 16, 1785, after an efficient pastorate 
 of forty-six years, aged seventy-four. He left behind him the reputation 
 of a scholar and a gentleman ; seasoning aU his speech with a divine 
 relish, yet genial, social, always diffusing good-humor, always thirsting for 
 information, and ever ready to impart knowledge from his ample stores to 
 others. Such gems seem to diffuse a brighter lustre when set in sober 
 and secluded scenes. 
 
 When Mr. Throop died, New-Concord was a parish in Norwich, but 
 before another year had revolved it was an incorporated town by the 
 name of Bozrah. 
 
 It is not easy to determine why this quiet rural to\vnship should have 
 been made the namesake of the haughty, woe-denounced and desolate city 
 of Edoni, — a name in singular contrast with its ancient peaceful and 
 friendly cognomen of New-Concord. The Syrian Bozrah lay in the open 
 plain, but this was eminently a woodland district amid the hills. The 
 current story that the name originated in a jocose but irreverent applica- 
 tion of Isaiuh 63 : 1, to the agent of the society, who, when he appeared 
 in the town meeting to plead for the separation, was conspicuous for his 
 parti-colored garments, can not be seriously admitted. A pleasantry 
 might have been thus perpetuated, but not a profanity. 
 
 It is possible that the name was suggested by Mr. Throop on account 
 
HISTOET OP NOBWICH. 435 
 
 of the original meaning of the word, which, according to Hebrician stu- 
 dents, signifies a sheep-fold. This, with some latitude of application, 
 might be given to a farming town, or it might refer spiritually to an eccle- 
 siastical parish. 
 
 In one point of view, the designation was happily chosen. While most 
 of our names, in defiance of taste and utility, have been repeated from 
 county to county, and from state to state, causing embarrassment and con- 
 fusion, and leading to innumerable mistakes, our pleasant Bozrah as yet 
 stands alone in the Gazetteers of the new world. There is scarcely an- 
 other only one to be found in the country, unless it be of Indian origin. 
 
 The committee to manage the separation of the town in 1786 consisted 
 of Benjamin Throop, Nehemiah "Waterman, Esq., Asa Woodworth, and 
 Jabez Hough. Its first representative was Capt. Isaac Huntington. 
 
 Bozrah is four and a half miles long, and about four in breadth. Like 
 other parts of the nine-miles-square, it consists of a succession of hills 
 and valleys, some of them rocky and barren, others fair and fertUe. "The 
 Woody Vales of Bozrah!" has been a famihar phrase in the vicinity, 
 from its having been the chorus of a poem written by one of Bozrah's 
 sentimental daughters. 
 
 The second minister of the church was Rev. Jonathan Murdock, a 
 native of Westbrook, and previously settled at Rye, N. Y. He was 
 installed at Bozrah, Oct. 12, 1786, and died Jan. 16, 1813, aged sixty- 
 eight. 
 
 John Bates Murdock, a son of this excellent clergyman, graduated at 
 Tale College in 1808, but afterward entered the army, and served during 
 the war of 1812-15 ; at the close of which he had the rank of brevet 
 major. He died soon after the conclusion of peace, unmarried. 
 
 Rev. Dr. James Murdock of New Haven, Professor of Ecclesiastical 
 History, and the translator of the Syriac Testament into English, was a 
 nephew of the Bozrah minister. 
 
 The third minister of Bozrah, Rev. David Austin, was installed May 
 9, 1815. The old meeting-house where Throop and Murdock preached 
 was then standing, but that same year a new house of worship was com- 
 pleted.* Mr. Austin's dedication sermon was published. 
 
 Rev. David Austin was a native of New Haven, born in 1760, and 
 fitted by an accompUshed education and foreign travel to become an orna- 
 ment to society, as well as by ardent piety and a lively and florid elo- 
 quence to be useful in the ministry. He married Lydia, daughter of Dr. 
 Joshua Lathrop of Norwich, and settled as pastor of the church in Eliza- 
 
 * The old church stood where is now the house of Eev. N. S. Hunt. The second 
 was built about eight rods distant. The present church, which is the third sacred edi- 
 fice of the parish, owes its erection chiefly to the liberal aid afforded by the late Col 
 Asa Fitch and his family. 
 
436 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 bethtown in 1788. The kindness of his heart and the suavity of his 
 manner endeared him to all who knew him, while his zeal in the perform- 
 aufle of his duties, and his popular pulpit talents, made him successful ia 
 his office, and extensively known as a preacher. It is to him that Gov. 
 Livingston alludes in the following lines of his poem on Philosophic Sol- 
 itude : 
 
 " Dear. A***** too should grace my rural seat. 
 Forever welcome to the green retreat ; 
 Heaven for the cause of righteousness designed 
 His florid genius and capacious mind. 
 Oft have I seen him 'mid the adoring throng. 
 Celestial truths devolving from his tongue ; 
 Oft o'er the listening audience seen him stand, 
 Divinely speak, and graceful wave his hand." 
 
 Mr. Austin was naturally eccentric, and had always something erratic 
 and extravagant in his manner of thinking, speaking, and acting. Unhap- 
 pily his mind was led to investigate, too deeply for its strength, the prophe- 
 cies ; his ardent imagination became inflamed, his benevolent heart dilated 
 to overflowing, and his mental powers became partially deranged. He now 
 appeared as a champion of the Second Advent doctrine, and held that the 
 coming of Christ to commence his personal reign on earth would be on 
 the fourth Sabbath of May, 1796. On the morning of that day he was 
 in a state of great agitation, and one or two reports of distant thunder 
 excited him almost to frenzy. But the day passed over as usual ; yet the 
 disappointment did not cure the delusion of Mr. Austin's mind. He took 
 the vow of a Nazarite, and went round the country announcing the near 
 approach of Christ's coming, and calling upon the Jews to assemble and 
 make preparations to return to their own land. 
 
 In 1797, he was removed by the Presbytery from his pastoral relation 
 to the church at Elizabethtown. He then went to New Haven, where he 
 erected several large houses and a wharf, for the use of the Jews, whom 
 he invited to assemble there, and embark for the Holy Land. Having at 
 last, in this and other plans, expended an ample fortune, he was for a 
 while imprisoned for debt, and after being released from confinement, 
 gradually became calm and sane upon all points except the prophecies. 
 He had no children, and his wife had long before taken refuge in her 
 father's house in Norwich. He also returned to this home, after aU Ms 
 wanderings, like the dove to the ark, and the balance of his mind being 
 in a great measure restored, he began again to preach with acceptance in 
 various churches in Connecticut. After his installation in Bozrah, he 
 performed all the duties of a pastor, faithfully proclaiming the gospel of 
 salvation for a period of fifteen years. He died in Norwich, Feb. 5, 
 1831. 
 

HISTORY OP NORWICH. 437 
 
 For elegance of manners, for brilliancy of conversation, for fervor of 
 worship, for a large heart and a liberal hand, few men could surpass Mr. 
 Austin. The darkness that obscured his intellect on many points, and 
 which was never wholly removed, appeared not to impair in the least 
 those prominent traits, that lay deep and shone through, to illustrate his 
 character, and to win for him the love and admiration of all who came 
 within his sphere. 
 
 Since the decease of Mr. Austin, the following persons have served, 
 each for several years, as pastor of the church : 
 
 Eev. John W. Salter. 
 Eev. William M. Birchard. 
 Eev. N. S. Hunt. 
 
 Mr. Birchard is the only one of these that has been regularly settled. 
 He was installed and continued in office from April, 1842, to October, 
 1848. 
 
 Since April 1, 1858, Mr. Hunt has been retained as the acting pastor 
 of the society. He had previously been settled at Abington and at Pres- 
 ton, officiating about ten years at each place. 
 
 Two other churches within the limits of Bozrah have been organized 
 in part by members from this older church of New-Concord: viz., at 
 BozrahviUe, April 10, 1828; and at Fitchville, Dec. 1, 1854.* The 
 Baptists and Methodists have each also a house for worship and a relig- 
 ious organization in Bozrah, making five worshiping assemblies in the 
 town. 
 
 Population of Bozrah : 
 
 In 1840—1067. 
 1850— 867. 
 1860—1217. 
 
 We can not close this sketch of Bozrah without adverting to the im- 
 provements that have been effected in a portion of the town since 1832, 
 by wealth, energy and perseverance under the control of Asa Fitch, Esq. 
 The taste and efficiency that have converted an ancient seat of iron-works 
 and a rugged farming district into the village of FitchviUe with its large 
 agricultural area, its mansion house beautifully embowered and skirted 
 with landscape beauty, its symmetrical well-built church, its cotton-mill, 
 its lines of heavy stone wall, and its two miles of graded road, prepared 
 for a railway, command our unqualified admiration. 
 
 * The society at BozrahviUe, though destitute of a settled pastor, has kept steadily 
 together and manifested a commendable zeal and perseverance in sustaining the Sab- 
 bath service. For a few years past they have been chiefly dependent on the ministra- 
 tions of Eev. George Cryer, of the Methodist denomination. 
 
438 HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 
 
 Fitchville occupies the site of the old Huntington Iron-works, estab- 
 lished by Nehemiah Huntington and Capt. Joshua Abel in 1750. In its 
 native condition this was a wild and gloomy district, with deep valleys and 
 precipitous ledges ; the pasture-land harsh and stony, and the woodlands 
 rugged and forbidding. 
 
 The mill, the church, the village, the mansion house with its superb 
 floral adornments and umbrageous walks, are now the central treasures 
 of a domain extending two or three miles on all sides. The old farms of 
 Fitch, Huntington, Abel, GiUson, Waterman, Chapman, Baldwin, and 
 others, are consolidated under one proprietor, who devotes his time, his 
 energetic business habits and abundant resources to the improvement of 
 his possessions ; being himself the originator of his plans, the director, 
 overseer and paymaster of the whole. 
 
 No part of the nine-miles-square has a stronger claim to notice in our 
 history, than Fitchville. It is not only a striking example of what may 
 be done by persevering enterprise in softening the sterile and homely fea- 
 tures of nature into productiveness and beauty, but it furnishes a pleasing 
 link to C9nnect our reminiscences with the founders of the town. 
 
 The present proprietor, from whom the village derives its name, is a 
 descendant through both parents from the Rev. ]Mr. Fitch, the first minis- 
 ter of Norwich, of whose parish this was a part. The AbeUs and Hunt- 
 ingtons, the first owners of the land, were members of the church and con- 
 gregation of Norwich town-plot.* 
 
 The house of worship built by Mr. Fitch was dedicated Aug. 4, 1852. 
 A church was organized Dec. 1, 1854, while the Eev. William Aitcheson 
 was the officiating minister. It has had no settled pastor, but temporary 
 ministers have been provided, by the hberality of Mr. Fitch, with an 
 exception during the late war, when, the operations of the mill having 
 ceased, the services were intermitted, and the church closed for three or 
 four years. 
 
 Beneath the church edifice is the Fitch Cemetery, to which place the 
 remains of Col. Asa Fitch and of various members of his family have 
 been removed. 
 
 * Col. Asa Fitch, the proprietor of the old ii-on-works at this place, was a man of 
 marked character, full of energy and decision. In the Revolutionary war, whenever 
 an alarm was sounded that the enemy were threatening the Connecticut coast, he was 
 almost invariably the first of his company to shoulder the musket and start for the 
 scone of action. 
 
 Ho (liod August 19, 1844, aged 89 years and six months. He was a son of Stephen 
 Fitch, of the l-iobanon line of descent from the Rev. James. His wife Susanna was a 
 daughter of Benajah Fitch, of East Norwich, or Long Society. 
 
HISTOBT OP KOEWICH. 439 
 
 New&ni, or Third Society. 
 The ecclesiastical society in this place was organized in 1723, the town 
 having previously appropriated sixty acres of land for the use of the first 
 minister that should settle there. The affairs of the society were entirely 
 under the control of the Perkins family, as appears from the following 
 entry : 
 
 Jan. 17, 1720. In town meeting ordered, that if the Perkinses at their return from 
 Boston, do not bring with them a minister to preach in the crotch of the river, or sat- 
 isfy the selectmen they shall have one speedily, the rate-makers shall put them into the 
 minister's rates. 
 
 The church was constituted and Rev. Daniel Kirtland ordained its min- 
 ister, Dec. 10, 1723. The original members were Daniel Kirtland, the 
 pastor, Samuel Lathrop and Joseph Perkins, who were chosen deacons, 
 John Bishop, Jeremiah Tracy, (son of Thomas Tracy of Preston,) Isaac 
 Lawrence, and Isaac Lawrence, Jr. — the church resting upon seven pil- 
 lars, a favorite number in that day.* 
 
 The church agreed to profess discipline according to the Cambridge 
 Platform. They professed to beUeve "that all ol-ganized church acts pro- 
 ceeded after the manner of a mixed administration, and could not be con- 
 summated without the consent of both elders and brotherhood." In this 
 they agreed with the two older societies of Norwich. 
 
 Before the formation of this church, the inhabitants between the rivers 
 had been accustomed to attend meeting at the town-plot, the distance for 
 some of them being about eight miles. The older people went on horse- 
 back, the women on pillions behind the men, but the young people often 
 traveled the whole distance, going and returning, on foot.f 
 
 Church-going in former days was a serious and earnest duty. None 
 stayed away from the house of worship, that could by extremest effort 
 get there. On horseback or on foot, over wearisome roads, or through 
 lonely by-paths that shortened the distance, they came with their house- 
 holds to obtain a portion of the truth. "Many a time," says Rev. Levi 
 Nelson, " while passing over the society, has my attention been arrested 
 to notice the paths, now given up, where they used to make their rugged 
 way to the house of God, almost as surely as the holy Sabbath returned." 
 
 * Though frequent instances occur in our New England annals, of churches formed 
 with this precise number, showing that there was a kindly leaning towards it, yet it 
 was not invariable, nor held to be of great moment. The smallest number embodied 
 into church estate in this vicinity, was undoubtedly the church of North Groton, now 
 Ledyard, which was organized Dec. 12, 1810, with one main pillar, viz., Capt. Robert 
 Allyn, and four females. Capt. Allyn was then upward of 80 years of age. 
 
 See Half-Century Sermon of Rev. Timothy Tuttle. 
 
 X Half- Century Sermon of Rev. Levi Nelson. 
 
440 HISTOET OP NOEWICH. 
 
 And when there, how intently and with what eagerness to profit they 
 listened. "To this day," says the same reverend author, "I love to think 
 of their appearance in the house of God, of the seats they occupied, and 
 of their significant motions to express their approbation of the truth." 
 
 The new society took the name of Newent, undoubtedly at the sugges- 
 tion of the brothers Perkins, and according to tradition, in remembrance 
 of a place of that name in Gloucestershire, England, from whence the 
 family came. 
 
 The meeting-house was probably built immediately after the church was 
 gathered. 
 
 1723. Sixty acres of land granted by the town to the Society in the crotch of the 
 rivers for the first minister that shall settle there. 
 
 The same to be given to the Society over the Shetucket for their first minister. 
 
 Jan. 4, 1725-6. The proprietors grant that spot of land the Newent meeting house 
 now stands upon and ye common land adjoining to it to that Society for theu: use so 
 long as they shall have occasion for it. 
 
 Joseph Teact, Moderator. 
 
 Lieut. Jabez Hyde. Thomas Adgate. 
 
 Deacon Christopher Huntington. Joseph Backus. 
 
 Capt. Benajah Bushnell. Eichard Hyde. 
 
 The site of this building was about half a mile south of the present 
 sacred edifice, and continued to be used until about 1770.* 
 
 The church has still in good preservation a large folio volume of the 
 works of Baxter, sent as a present in former years from England. It 
 was placed on Sundays upon the desk below the pulpit, and those who 
 stayed between the services gathered around upon the nearest seats, and 
 one of them read aloud for the edification of the others.f 
 
 The inhabitants of Newent, in a petition to the General Court, October 
 session, 1727, state that they had been atfiicted with a distressing sickness 
 for two successive years, especially in summer. In 1726, every family 
 but one was smitten, and about twenty persons died in three months. In 
 the summer of 1727, every family with no exception felt the scourge, and 
 one-sixth of the male heads of families died. The farmers could not 
 secure their crops, and though kindly assisted by people from other par- 
 ishes, they lost some of their grain and much of their hay. 
 
 Rev. Daniel Khkland (or Kirtland) was a native of Saybrook, born in 
 1701, and graduated at Yale College in 1720. His ministry in Newent 
 was of nearly thirty years duration. He was a man of scholastic habits 
 and high aspirations, but of sensitive organization. His failing health led 
 
 * " It stood whore Mr. Daniel Hatch's house now is." Nelson's Half-Century Ser- 
 mon, 1854. 
 t Ibid. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 441 
 
 to his dismission from the pastorate in 1752. Eecovering partially, he 
 was installed at Groton in 1755, but after two years of service he again 
 broke down, and returning to his old home in Norwich, there remained till 
 his death, which occurred in May, 1773. 
 
 Mr. Kirkland had ten or twelve children. His second son, John, bom 
 Nov. 15, 1735, was one of the first settlers of Norwich, Mass. Another 
 son, Samuel, born Dec. 1, 1741, is well known as the Oneida Missionary, 
 one of the most energetic, faithful, and self-denying men born within the 
 limits of the old town of Norwich. 
 
 Mr. Peter Powers was ordained the second minister of Newent, Dec. 
 2, 1756. He remained in charge seven or eight years, and then was dis- 
 missed at his own request, on account of the insufficiency of his salary. 
 Mr. Powers was a man of marked character, earnest and energetic ia 
 action. From Newent he went immediately into the settlements then 
 making in the Coos or Cohos country on Connecticut river, and organized 
 a church in Haverhill, consisting of members from both sides of the river, 
 that is, from Haverhill, N. H., and Newbury, Vt., over which he was 
 installed Feb. 27, 1765, preaching his own installation sermon. Here he 
 was accustomed to meet his appointments and make his parochial visits in 
 a canoe, rowing himself up and down the stream, — an easier mode of 
 traveling, probably, than that of mounting a horse and stumbling over 
 half-cleared pathways, as in his former parish at Newent. 
 
 Mr. Powers died at Deer Island, Maine, in 1799.* 
 
 The church at Newent, being left without a pastor, gradually declined, 
 and for several years gave but feeble signs of life. Something like a 
 reorganization took place in 1770 ; several of the Separatists returned to 
 their old places, and Mr. Joel Benedict, a man of fine classical attain- 
 ments, was ordained pastor of the church Feb. 21, 1771. He continued 
 with them eleven years, when an infirm state of health, and the old diffi- 
 culty, want of adequate support, dissolved the connection, and he was dis- 
 missed April 30, 1782. 
 
 Dr. Benedict afterwards settled in Plainfield, and acquired a distm- 
 guished reputation as a Hebrew scholar. Hebrew, he said, was the lan- 
 guage of angels. He died at Plainfield in 1816. 
 
 In June, 1790, Mr. David Hale of Coventry was ordained. He was 
 the brother of the accomplished and chivalrous Capt. Nathan Hale, who 
 was executed as a spy on Long Island, by order of Sir WiUiam Howe. 
 Mr. Hale was a man of very gentle and winning manners, of exalted 
 piety, and a fine scholar. He carried his idea of disinterested benevo- 
 lence to such an extent, that if acted upon, it would overturn all social 
 institutions. He thought it to be a man's duty to love his neighbor, not 
 
 * Formany interesting particulars respecting Mr. Peter Powers, see History of Coos 
 County, by Rev. Grant Powers. 
 
442 HISTOETOPNOBWICH. 
 
 only as himself, with the same kind of love, but also to the same degree, 
 so that he should not prefer, even in thought, that a contingent calamity, 
 such as the burning of a house, or the loss of a child, should fall on his 
 neighbor rather than on himself. Mr. Hale supplied the deficiencies of 
 his salary by keeping a boarding-school. As an instructor, he was popu- 
 lar ; his house was filled with pupils from all parts of the county, but ill- 
 health and a constitutional depression of spirits obliged him to resign this 
 employment, and eventually his pastoral office. His mind and nerves 
 were of that delicate and sensitive temperament, which can not long 
 endure the rude shock of earthly scenes. He was dismissed in April, 
 1803, returned to Coventry, and there died in 1822. David Hale, so 
 well known as proprietor and editor of the Journal of Commerce, was his 
 son. 
 
 These four ministers of Newent were all men of more than common 
 attainments, and each was distinguished by peculiar and prominent traits 
 of character. Neither of them died as minister of the parish. The four 
 pastorates covered respectively twenty-nine, eight, eleven and thirteen 
 years, with intervals between of four, seven and eight years. 
 
 Eev. Levi Nelson, a native of Milford, Mass., the fifth pastor, ordained 
 Dec. 5, 1804, was a man of great simplicity of character and purity of 
 life. It was often said of him that he never had an enemy. 
 
 He preached his half-century sermon in 1854. Only one* of the thirty- 
 eight members who received him as their pastor in 1804, was then living; 
 but of the ordination choir, four were present and united in singing again 
 the same hymns that formed a part of the original service. The old Kirt- 
 land church was then extant, seated in decaying dignity upon gently rising 
 ground, with its barrack-like row of sheds spread out at the side like 
 wings. The outside of the edifice had been covered and re-covered, as 
 the wear and tear of years demanded, but no tool or painter's brush, under 
 pretence of improvement or repair, had invaded the interior since it was 
 first completed. The impression produced on the mind upon entering, 
 was that of homely, stern solemnity. The pulpit was high and contracted, 
 with a sounding-board frowning over it, and a seat for the deacons in front 
 of it, below. The pews were square, with high partitions ; the galleries 
 spacious, with certain seats more elevated than others for the tything-men 
 or supervisors of beliavior. This venerable structure is believed to be the 
 last specimen of the old New England sanctuary that lingered in the nine- 
 miles-square. It was demolished when about eighty-eight years of age, 
 and its place supplied by a new church, dedicated Sept. 15, 1858. 
 
 In 1843, the Newent church comprised 150 members, spread over a 
 wide range in the southern part of Lisbon, but two Methodist churches 
 
 * Mrs. L. Hommedieii, of Norwich, 
 
HISTOET OP NOEWIOH. 443 
 
 have since been formed in that vicinity, and Congregational influence has 
 dechned. 
 
 Rev. David Breed, Mr. Nelson's successor, was dismissed in 1862, and 
 they have since had no settled pastor. 
 
 Note on the Perkins Family. 
 
 Jacob Perkins, bom in England in 1624, came to this country at seven years of age, 
 with his father John. He died at Ipswich, Jan. 29, 1700. Joseph and Jabez Perkins, 
 so closely connected with the eai-ly history of Norwich, were his sons. They came to 
 the place young and unmarried, and seated themselves for life in a part of the town 
 where the woods were yet un thinned and the soil unmellowed by cultivation. 
 
 Joseph Perkins married May 22, 1700, Martha, daughter of Joseph Morgan of Pres- 
 ton. He died Sept. 6, 1726. Eleven out of the thirteen children recorded to him were 
 then living. The inventory of his estate was £2,787, and included three farms, viz., 
 the homestead of 310 acres, and two othere comprising nearly 1000 acres. This is but 
 a specimen of the large landed estates of early proprietors. Dr. Perkins left a special 
 legacy to his son Joseph, of " money to carry him through college." Tliis Joseph 
 Perkins, 2d, acquired and maintained through life the respect and confidence of the 
 community, as a skillful sm-geon and physician, and an active, judicious citizen. He 
 was also a faithful deacon of the church, as his father had been before him. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Perkins was the first of three generations of M. D.'s of the same name, 
 in direct descent, each an oldest son, and all practicing in their native township. He 
 was the father also of Dr. Elisha Perkins of Plainfield, and of Andrew Perkins, Esq., 
 of Norwich Landing. 
 
 The third Dr. Joseph Perkins, whose wife was Joanna Bumham, was the father of 
 Major Joseph Perkins of Norwich, of Benjamin Perkins of Camden, S. C, and of the 
 twin brothers, Elias and Elijah, the former of New London, and the latter a physician 
 in Philadelphia. 
 
 Dr. Elisha Perkins of Plainfield was the celebrated inventor of the metallic Tractors. 
 This was a method of curing diseases by rubbing the patient in a certain manner with 
 small pointed pieces of metal, steel, or brass, whicb were thought to extract the pain 
 by a kind of magnetism. 
 
 Dr. Perkins was a man of great purity of character, skillful and indefatigable in his 
 profession, with gi'eat kindness of heart, and that winning cordiality of manner which 
 secures the ardent attachment of friends. Such was the vigor of his constitution and 
 his physical activity that he regarded a ride on horseback of sixty miles a day as only 
 pleasurable exercise that gave him no sensible fatigue. 
 
 Hon. Calvin Goddard said of Dr. Perkins, " I believe there are few men in the world 
 more public-spirited, more hospitable, and more free from all guile, than Dr. Perkins. 
 Whether the tractors are valuable or not, I hare never doubted that the doctor fully 
 believed in their efficacy." 
 
 Dr. Perkins conceived that powerful antiseptics, used in the first stages of the yellow 
 fever, would conquer the disease. Impelled by a pi-ofound conviction of duty, he re- 
 solved to go to New York while the disorder was prevailing there, and test the value of 
 the theory. He went, but unfortunately took the infection, and died Sept. 6, 1799. 
 
 Dr. Perkins was the father of the late Henry B. Perkins of Salem, Ct., and of Eev. 
 George Perkins, who died at Norwich in 18.52. 
 
 Dr. Elisha H. Perkins of Baltimore is his grandson. 
 
444 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 Jabez Perkins, the other Perkins founder of Newent, married June 30, 1698, Han- 
 nah, daughter of Samuel Lathrop, who died in 1721, and he was united the next year 
 to Charity Leonard of Middlebury. He had a son Jabez by each wife. His will recog- 
 nizes ten children and the heirs of his oldest son Jabez deceased. He was the ancestor 
 of Capt. Erastus Perkins of Norwich, of Col. Simeon Perkins of Liverpool, Nova 
 Scotia, (the grandfather of J. Newton Perkins of Norwich,) and of the brothers Francis 
 A. and George L. Perkins of Norwich. 
 
 The above-named Simeon Perkins removed to Liverpool, N. S., in May, 1762, and 
 remained thenceforward a loyal subject of the British crown. In the course of a long 
 life he sustained with ability and popularity the various ofiSces of justice, judge of pro- 
 bate, town clerk, chief justice of the county courts, and colonel commandant of the 
 militia. He was also member of the Provincial House of Representatives for nearly 
 thirty years. The inscription on his grave-stone at Liverpool states that he was bom 
 at Norwich, Ct., Feb. 24, 1735, and died at Liverpool May 9, 1812. After his death a 
 tablet was framed and suspended in the court-room where he had presided, containing 
 an inscription of grateful respect, dedicated to his memory 
 "By the Justices in Session." 
 
 Seventh Society, or Hanover. 
 
 This was incorporated as an ecclesiastical society in 1761. It included 
 a small portion of Canterbury and Windham. A fund of £1400 was 
 raised by subscription for the support of the ministry, and a church of 
 fourteen members gathered May 13, 1766, under the temporary ministry 
 of Rev. Timothy Stone. A house for worship was erected about the 
 same time. Rev. Andrew Lee, the first pastor, was ordained October 26, 
 1768, and continued in office, fulfilling its duties without special assistance, 
 for sixty-two years. In 1830, the Rev. Barnabas Phinney became his 
 colleague. Dr. Lee died Aug. 25, 1832, aged 87. Mr. Phinney was 
 dismissed the November following. 
 
 Dr. Lee was a man of generous impulses, candid and liberal in senti- 
 ment. Mr. Nelson, his friend and neighbor, said of him, " He was made 
 originally on a noble scale, and his faculties were finely developed by 
 careful and diligent culture."* He published a volume of sermons, and 
 various separate discourses, which display vigorous thought and nice dis- 
 crimination. He was, however, deficient in pulpit oratory, his delivery 
 being heavy and monotonous. 
 
 He was a son of John Lee, of Lyme, and born in 1745. His mother 
 was Abigail TuUy. Though a graduate of Yale College, he received the 
 degree of S. T. D. from Harvard. 
 
 Since the dismission of Mr. Phinney, the church has had the following 
 pastors : 
 
 Rev. Philo Judson, installed June 6, 1833 ; dismissed in December, 
 1834. 
 
 * Sprague's Am. Pulpit, p. 671. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 445 
 
 Eev. Joseph Ayer, installed in September, 1837 ; dismissed in June, 
 1848. 
 
 Eev. James A. Hazen, installed in December, 1852; died Oct. 29, 
 1862, aged 49. 
 
 POPtri/ATION OF LISBOK. 
 
 1800—1158 1840—1052 
 
 1810—1128 1850— 938 
 
 1830—1161 1860—1262 
 
 The new town of Sprague takes away the north-west part of Lisbon, 
 leaving the old town only one hundred and fifty voters and a grand list of 
 about $200,000. 
 
 Sprague. This town in the rapidity of its growth resembles the changes 
 that often take place in western clearings. Lord's bridge, where the She- 
 tucket was spanned to unite Lisbon and Franklin, and near which the 
 Lord family had dwelt in quiet agricultural pursuits for more than a cen- 
 tury, — father, son and grandson living and dying on the spot, — was a 
 secluded nook, without any foreshadowing of progress, or visible germ of 
 enterprise. A grist-mill, a saw-mill, — coevals of the first planters, — a 
 respectable farm-house, with its sign-post promising entertainment, (the 
 usual appendage of a bridge,) and two or three smaller tenements, consti- 
 tuted the hamlet. Only the casual fioods and the romantic wildness of 
 the river banks interfered with the changeless repose of the scene. 
 
 Suddenly the blasting of rocks and the roar of machinery commenced ; 
 hills were upset, channels were dug, the river tortured out of its willful- 
 ness, and amid mountainous heaps of cotton-bags the rural scene disap- 
 peared, and Baltic vUlage leaped into existence. In the course of five 
 years, more than a hundred buildings, comprising neat and comfortable 
 houses, several shops, a church, and a school-house, grouped around the 
 largest mill on the western continent, had taken possession of the scene : 
 the whole spreading like wings each side of the river, and linking together 
 two distinct towns. 
 
 These changes commenced in July, 1856, when the elder Governor 
 Sprague of Ehode Island purchased 300 acres of land on the Shetucket, 
 and laid the foundation of the great cotton-mill. In October of that year 
 the projector and proprietor of this grand enterprise was removed from 
 his work by sudden death, and it was feared that his magnificent schemes 
 would never be realized. But his son and nephews continued the work 
 without intermission, filling out his plans, and even enlarging the sphere 
 of operation, till Lord's bridge became the site of a mammoth factory and 
 the center of a new town. 
 
446 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The great mill is 954 feet long, 68 feet wide, and five stories high. 
 The motive power is furnished by six water-wheels, each over thirty feet 
 in diameter. In 1864, more than 1800 looms had been put in operation, 
 and 1400 persons were employed by the company.* 
 
 In 1861, the new town was incorporated by the name of Sprague. It 
 comprises about twelve square miles of territory taken from Lisbon and 
 Franklin, the Slietucket running through it from north to south. It is 
 intersected also by the Hartford, Providence and FishkiU Railroad, which 
 gives it the advantage of direct and easy transportation. Within its 
 bounds, besides the villages built up by the Spragues, it includes the 
 greater part of Hanover society and the Eagleville manufacturing village 
 on the east side of Lovett's bridge. At Hanover center, and on Beaver 
 brook, woollen factories have been in operation for many years. Sprague 
 is therefore pre-eminently a collection of mill villages. 
 
 The first town-meeting in Sprague was held June 10, 1861, and this 
 was celebrated as the birth-day of the town. Col. Ethan AUen of Han- 
 over, moderator of the meeting, was chosen the first selectman. The 
 mileage, as fixed by the Legislature, is 62 miles to New Haven, and 38 
 to Hartford. 
 
 Lovett's bridge and Lovett's grist-mills are old familiar names origin- 
 ally belonging to Norwich. After the name of Lovett passed away, the 
 fine mill situation in this neighborhood became the seat of the Tarbox 
 cotton-factory. In 1852, the place was purchased by Jlr. John Batchel- 
 der and his associates, and the old mUl being soon afterward destroyed by 
 fire, a large brick building was erected on the site and devoted to the 
 manufacture of seamless cotton bagging. Before the war, this mill gave 
 employment to seventy or eighty persons, men, women, and children. It 
 has since been purchased by a new company, the building enlarged, the 
 machinery changed, and the whole transformed into a woollen-mill, under 
 the agency of the Messrs. King, late of the firm of "Wm. Elting & Co., 
 Norwich. 
 
 This place is now within the limits of Sprague, and is the seat of the 
 Lisbon post-office, but is currently known as Eagleville.^ 
 
 * At the present time (1865), preparations are mailing for the erection of a new mill 
 by the side of the other, of sufficient capacity for 3000 looms. 
 
 t This name is said to have been suggested by the lighting of an eagle upon the 
 cupola or summit of the belfry, just before the mill was completed, which the work- 
 men hailed as a favorable omen, and named the place in honor of the royal bird. 
 There is, howerer, another factory in the eastern part of the State, called Eagleville, 
 and it is proposed to give to this village the name of Buckingham. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 447 
 
 Fifth or Long Society, sometimes called East Norwich. 
 
 This ecclesiastical society comprised a long and comparatively narrow 
 strip, lying east of the rivers Shetucket and Thames. Well might it be 
 called Long, for it originally extended over the whole eastern border of 
 the nine-miles-square, from Plainfield to Poquetannock, and this line of 
 the original purchase, in its liberal measurement, was probably ten or 
 twelve miles. 
 
 The farmers on this side of the rivers petitioned the town as early as 
 1699, to be released from paying ecclesiastical rates in Norwich, on 
 account of the great inconvenience they found in attending divine wor- 
 ship, by reason of the ferry and their distance from the town-plot. After 
 crossing the river at the old fording-place, it was necessary to traverse a 
 tedious winding path around the Chelsea hills, to get into the town street, 
 and pass on to the meeting-house. The desired permission wag not then 
 granted, but twenty-one years later they were freely allowed to become a 
 distinct parish, and sixty acres of land set apart for their first minister. 
 
 The church was constituted in 1726, under the Rev. Jabez Wight, the 
 first and only pastor ever settled among them. Mr. Wight was a native 
 of Dedham, Mass., and a graduate of Harvard College. His wife was 
 Ruth Swan ; they had four sons, who became worthy members of society. 
 He died in 1782, and the church seems to have died with him. No reg- 
 ular pubhc worship was held, and the meeting-house was allowed to decay 
 and fall to pieces. 
 
 In 1786, Long Society was annexed to Preston, and instead of the 
 designation 5th of Norwich, took that oi 2d of Preston. 
 
 In the year 1817, a fresh attempt was made to establish a worshiping 
 assembly in this old society. A new meeting-house was built upon the 
 ancient site, which was opened to all denominations of Christians. The 
 services were kept up for a time on the system of voluntary contributions, 
 but could not be permanently maintained, and soon ceased altogether. 
 
 In August, 1837, still another effort was made, and at this time a small 
 Congregational church was gathered with the assistance of Rev. Anson 
 Gleason, who had been officiating as a missionary at Mohegan.* The 
 communion plate belonging to the old church of Mr. Wight, which had 
 not been used for forty years, was brought out on this occasion. The 
 attempt to resuscitate the church, however, was not successful. The 
 members soon disbanded, and in 1857 the edifice was sold to the town of 
 Preston for municipal use. 
 
 * Mr. Gleason, for many years a missionary among the Mohegans and Choctaws, is 
 now (1865) performing missionary duty in Brooklyn, N. Y. He was ordained at Mo- 
 hegan, April 1, 1835. 
 
448 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 The ancient burial-ground of Long Society lies around this building. 
 Here we find the names of many of the early inhabitants, — Corning, 
 Fitch, Giddings, Haskell, Harvey, Hillard, Pride, Roath, Truman, Wight, 
 Williams, &c. 
 
 One of the oldest inscribed stones perpetuates the memory of the first 
 deacon of Mr. Wight's church. 
 
 HEEE LAIS THE 
 
 BODY OF DEACON 
 
 BENIAMIN FITCH 
 
 DIED OCTb 19 
 
 1727 in y» S?* YEAR 
 
 OF HIS AGE. 
 
 Inscription on the Gravestone of Rev. Mr. Wight. 
 
 " Sacred to the memory of Eev. Jabez Wight, 
 late Pastor of the Church of Christ in the 2d Society 
 in Preston, who in the 56th year of his ministry and 
 82d. of his age, on the 15th day of Sept., 1782, 
 Entered into the joy of his Lord. 
 
 Zion may in his fall bemoan, 
 A Beauty and a pillar gone." 
 
 An obituary notice of Mr. Wight says of him : 
 
 " Fond of retirement from the bustling world, he was apparently never so happy as 
 when travelling the road of an unnoticed humility." 
 
 Jewett City. In 1816, the northern part of Preston was made an inde- 
 pendent town with the name of Griswold. This new township included a 
 strip of land on the east side of the Quinebaug, south of Plainfield, which 
 was originally a part of the Norwich purchase. The flourishing society 
 of Jewett City lies upon this Norwich strip, and thus comes within our 
 notice as an original part of the nine-miles-square. 
 
 Eliezcr Jewett, to whom this beautiful village is indebted for its origin 
 and its name, was not a man of finished education, or of any peculiar 
 mental power, but active, persevering, and of a genial, kindly tempera- 
 ment, happy in doing good and opening paths of enterprise for the benefit 
 of others, without laboring to enrich himself. Beginning with only a 
 small farm and a mill-seat on the Pachaug river, he lived to see a flour- 
 ishing village spread around him, enriched with miUs, stores, mechanical 
 operations, and farms in an improved state of tillage, to which the pubhc 
 gave the familiar name of Jewett- City, a popular substitute for Jewett-ville 
 or Jewett-farms. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 449 
 
 He had at first a grist-mill, and to this he added a saw-mill, and sold 
 out portions of land to induce others to settle near him. About the year 
 1790, he was joined by John Wilson, a clothier from Massachusetts, whom 
 he encouraged to set up a fulling-mill.* We learn from Wilson's adver- 
 tisement that he was ready at his mill to accommodate the public in De- 
 cember, 1793. 
 
 In 1804, Elisha Rose had an oil-mill in the neighborhood, and the same 
 year John Scholfield, Jr., set a carding-machine in operation upon the 
 same stream, advertising that he had a complete set of machinery for 
 picking, breaking and carding wool; terms, 12 cts. per lb. 
 
 The Scholfield establishment was subsequently purchased by Mr. Wil- 
 son, whose enterprise assisted largely in the growth and prosperity of the 
 village. He was a man of solid sense and dignified deportment ; highly 
 valued as a citizen. By a change of boundaries, and new acts of incor- 
 poration, he became an inhabitant of three difierent towns, and at distinct 
 periods was a selectman of Norwich, of Preston, and of Griswold, with- 
 out changing his abode. 
 
 In 1820, Mr. Wilson sold the woolen-mill to J. G. W. Trumbull and 
 John Breed. It was destroyed by fire in 1827, and not rebuilt by the 
 owners. Slater's magnificent cotton-mill now occupies the site. 
 
 In 1814, the Fanning Manufacturing Company, consisting of four part- 
 ners, Charles Fanning, Christopher Avery, Joseph Stanton and Joseph C 
 Tyler, erected a mill upon the river, not far from Scholfield's, and began 
 the manufacture of cotton yarn and cotton cloth. Christopher Lippitt 
 was their agent. 
 
 A house of worship was erected in the settlement in 1814, and a church 
 gathered on an Episcopal basis, called St. George's Church. Its first and 
 only Episcopal minister was Rev. Ammi Rogers, who proved to be a man 
 of blighted reputation, unworthy to preach the gospel. When this became 
 known, his congregation fell away, and he left the place in 1818.t 
 
 A Congregational society was organized in 1825, and the church was 
 made over to them by the residuary proprietors of the building. This 
 church has had five ministers : 
 
 Kev. Seth Bliss, ordained June 15, 1825. 
 Kev. George Perkins, installed Aug. 8, 1832. 
 Eev. "William Wright, ordained Nov. 8, 1838. 
 Kev. Thomas L. Shipman, installed April 5, 1843. 
 Kev. Henry T. Cheever, installed May 29, 1856. 
 
 Since 1861, they have had no settled pastor. 
 
 * Mr. Wilson married Mr. Jewett's daughter. The late Increase Wilson of New 
 London was one of his sons, 
 t New Year's Sermon by Eev. T. L. Shipman, 1856. 
 29 
 
450 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Of these ministers, the Rev. Mr. Shipman is most familiarly associated 
 with the history of the church. His pastorate of ten years was the long- 
 est, and since his dismission, by residing in the place and officiating as 
 pastor whenever vacancies occurred, he has almost doubled that term of 
 service. 
 
 Jewett City has also a flourishing Baptist church, which of late years 
 has gathered within its sphere of influence a large proportion of the in- 
 habitants of the village. The house of worship was dedicated in 1844. 
 
 Two factories on a grand scale have of late years been added to Jewett 
 City, greatly enhancing the population and importance of the place ; viz., 
 the cotton-mill of John F. & W. Slater, and that of the Ashland Cotton 
 Company. 
 
 These mills, with others that are projected, and the large amount of 
 water-power in the vicinity, yet unexpended, afford presumptive evidence 
 that Jewett City will become one of the largest manufacturing villages in 
 the State. 
 
 In the burial-ground of the village, opened since the year J 800, a slab 
 ■of red sandstone points out the grave of the founder and gives an epitome 
 of his history. 
 
 In Memory of Mr. 
 Eliezer Jewett, who 
 Died Deer. 7, 1817, 
 in the 87th year of his age. 
 
 In April 1771 he began 
 the settlement of this village, 
 and from his persevering industry 
 and active benevolence, it has 
 derived its present importance. 
 
 Its name will perpetuate his memory. 
 
 Mr. Jewett's ancestry has not been clearly ascertained. It is probable, 
 however, that he was a native of Lisbon, and of the third or fourth gen- 
 eration in descent from an ancestor of the same name who was an inhab- 
 itant in 1702, and is supposed to have come from Rowley, Mass. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 The Episcopal Chukch. 
 
 Thadition is the only source from wliich any thing has been ascer- 
 tained respecting the first rise of the Episcopal Church in Norwich. 
 From this authority we learn that the first Church of England men in the 
 place were Thomas Grist and Edmund Gookin, who were "allowed as 
 inhabitants" in 1726. 
 
 Mr. Grist, according to report, was born in England, but came early to 
 this country, settled in Norwich, and married in 1721,- Ann, daughter of 
 Samuel Birchard. 
 
 In 1734, Rev. Ebenezer Punderson, (a graduate of Yale College in 
 1726,) who had been four years settled over a Congregational church in 
 North Groton, avowed his preference for the Church of England, and 
 having obtained a dismission from his charge, crossed the Atlantic to be 
 re-ordained. He returned with a commission from the Society for Prop- 
 agating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and had Norwich, Groton and 
 Hebron assigned to him as a missionary circuit. 
 
 A small church was gathered at Poquetannock about the year 1738 by 
 Mr. Punderson, who also held occasional services in Norwich, at the 
 houses of Messrs. Gookin and Grist, the former living on Bean Hill,* 
 and the latter not far from the Meeting-house Green. Gradually, and at 
 first privately, a little band of ten or a dozen persons assembled on such 
 occasions, to whom the ordinances of the Church were administered. In 
 this part of the town they had no organized society, or house for worship, 
 but the Gookin and Grist families, until their extinction, were faithful and 
 devoted adherents to the Church. 
 
 The society at Chelsea grew out of this beginning. When it came to 
 the question of embodying in church estate and building a house of wor- 
 ship, it was decided that the center should be at Chelsea. There is no 
 
 * The Gookin honse was on the central plat of Bean Hill, " bounded southerly on 
 the main road and easterly on the Green : " (now belonging to C. C. Williams.) The 
 last of the Gookin family in Norwich was an ancient spinster, Miss Anna Gookin, 
 who held a life interest in the house for more than thirty years, and died in 1810, aged 
 about eighty. 
 
452 HISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 record extant of the first organization of either the church or society. A 
 piece of ground for the site of a church edifice was given by Capt. Bena- 
 jah Bushnell, " at the north-east end of Wavveequaw's hill, near the old 
 Landing Place," and on the 7th of .January, 1746-7, a meeting was held 
 at the town-house, to decide matters relative to the erection of an edifice 
 "for the service of Almighty God, according to the Liturgie of the Church 
 of England, as by law established." 
 
 The officers appointed at this meeting were : 
 
 Eev. Mr. Panderson, Moderator. 
 Capt. Benajah Bushnell, Trmsurer. 
 , Capt. Isaac Clarke, j 
 
 Mr. Thomas Grist, > Building Committee. 
 Mr. Elisha Hide, ) 
 
 The funds for building were raised by subscription ; 87 names being 
 enrolled on the subscription list, and the sum obtained £678. The great- 
 est amount by one individual was £50 by Andrew Galloway. The three 
 gentlemen who formed the building committee subscribed £40 each. Mr. 
 Punderson afterwards collected in Rhode Island, £138, and Capt. Bush- 
 nell in Boston, £178. AE this was probably Old Tenor money, or BiEs 
 of Credit, of reduced value. 
 
 The land and the church, when erected, were conveyed by deed to the 
 committee, in trust — 
 
 " For the use of the ' Society for propagating the Gospel in foreign parts/ and their 
 successors forevermore, to be appropriated for an Episcopal church and church-yard 
 for the benefit of an Episcopal minister and members of said church, and for no other 
 use, intent or purpose whatsoever." 
 
 This edifice stood upon the site now occupied by Christ Church. Ac- 
 cording to tradition it was a substantial structure, but plain and unadorned, 
 with neither porch nor spire, and a single granite block at the door for a 
 threshold stone. It was completed in 1749. The number of pew-holders 
 was twenty-eight ; they built their own pews and held them as their proper 
 estate. The first church officers were : 
 
 Capt. Benajah Bushnell, 1 y^^^.^^^ 
 
 Capt. Joseph Tracy, ) 
 
 Capt. Isaac Clarke, ^ 
 
 Capt. Thomas Grist, > Vestrymen. 
 
 Capt. Daniel Hall, ) 
 
 Elisha Hide, Clerk of the Church. 
 
 Phineas Holden, Society Clerk. 
 
 Mr. Punderson had the prime agency in forming this church, and was 
 ita first officiating clergyman ; but in 1751 he was transferred by the soci- 
 ety in England to New Haven, to take charge of an Episcopal society in 
 
HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 453 
 
 that place, and to perform missionary service in the neighboring parishes. 
 He removed about ten years later to Eye, where he died.* His relict, 
 Mrs. Hannah Punderson, died at Poquetannock in Groton, Feb. 23, 1792, 
 in the 80th year of her age. She was interred at Norwich. The table- 
 stone that covers her grave is directly in front of Christ Church, and 
 bears the following record of her husband : 
 
 " Eev. Ebeuezer Punderson, Founder and first minister of this Parish, died in 1771, 
 aged 63." 
 
 After Mr. Punderson's departure, the Norwich church remained eleven 
 years without a pastor, but was kept from extinction by the zeal of its 
 members in holding lay services, and the occasional ministrations of Mr. 
 Seabury of New London, and his successor, Mr. Graves. 
 
 In 1760, a subscription was raised in the society for Mr. John Beards- 
 ley, "towards his inoculation and gomg to England for orders, that he may 
 preach in the churches of England, at Norwich and Groton." An engage- 
 ment was at the same time entered into with him, to pay the annual sum 
 of £33 towards his support, when he should become their minister, which 
 he did in the spring of 1763. The number of male communicants in the 
 Chelsea church was at this time about twenty. 
 
 The Groton church mentioned, is the one already alluded to in the vil- 
 lage of Poquetannock. That village lies at the head of a creek or cove, 
 which runs out of the Thames about four miles below the Landing. It 
 was early settled, being considered a fine location for fishing, building sea- 
 craft, and exporting wood and timber. A part of it hes in Groton, and it 
 was within the bounds of that town that the Episcopal church was built. 
 It has been generally dependent upon the Norwich church for the admin- 
 istration of the ordinances, but has been sustained to the present time, and 
 is the only church at Poquetannock ; no other denomination ever having 
 gathered a church or built a house of worship in that village. 
 
 Mr. Beardsley, after his return from England, officiated as pastor of the 
 Norwich church about five years. He was then transferred by the society 
 under whose auspices he labored, to Pougbkeepsie, N. Y. 
 
 In 1767, a lot of land for a glebe was given by Mrs. Zerviah^ Bushnell, 
 rehct of Capt. Benajah, and conveyed by deed to the Society for Propa- 
 gating the Gospel in Foreign Parts.f On this lot a glebe-house or manse 
 was erected. 
 
 In 1768, an agreement was made with John Tyler, of Wallingford, 
 Conn., by which £60 sterhng money of Great Britain was advanced to 
 
 * He had two sons, born in Groton ; Ebenezer in 1735, Cyrus in 1737. 
 t This deed was annulled by an act of the Legislature in 1835, and the glebe became 
 private property. 
 
454 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 him, to defray the expenses of a voyage to England to receive ordination ; 
 he, on his part, engaging to return and officiate as their priest, at a salary 
 of £30 per annum. The money was raised by subscription, and the list 
 contains eighty names. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, after embracing the doctrines of the Church of England, 
 had been prepared for holy orders under the instruction of Dr. Johnson 
 of Stamford. He was ordained by the Bishop of London in June, 1768,* 
 and the next year entered on his duties at Norwich, officiating also at 
 Poquetannock every fourth Sunday. 
 
 The parish record begun by Mr. Tyler is entitled, "Nofitia ParocMalis 
 of my mission at Norwich." The first child baptized by him was The- 
 ophila, daughter of John and Delight Grist, Sept. 3, 1769. 
 
 Soon after the settlement of Mr. Tyler, the great struggle for Uberty 
 commenced, and all other concerns were affected by it, swept as it were 
 into the majestic current. Public opinion made it necessary for the Epis- 
 copal clergy either to omit that part of their liturgy which contained 
 prayers for the King and Parliament, or suspend their public service. 
 Mr. Tyler and his people chose the latter course. 
 
 Through all the Northern Colonies this was the test offered to Church- 
 men — "Will you drop the prayers for royalty ? But neither clergy nor 
 people were in general prepared to yield the point. Many of the churches 
 had originated under English patronage, and their pastors were on the 
 footing of missionaries deriving their support from England. This bound 
 them with a strong tie to the mother country, and they held out long in 
 their loyalty. 
 
 In the Southern States the Episcopalians almost uniformly took the 
 patriotic side, and this was attributed mainly to the independence of the 
 clergy. They did not, like those at the North, draw their support from 
 the mother country. 
 
 The church at Norwich was closed for three years, no entry being made 
 on the records from April, 1776, to April, 1779. But it is remembered 
 that during a part of this time at least, Mr. Tyler held a service in his 
 own house. Various instances occurred of harsh language, and petty per- 
 secution of churchmen, but no violent exhibitions of displeasure were 
 made.t Mr. Tyler was prudent, quiet, and reserved. A part of his 
 congregation cordially fovored independence, and family influence hke- 
 wise operated in his favor ; his father-in-law, Isaac Tracy, Esq., being 
 deacon of the Congregational church, and an avowed patriot. 
 
 * The original commission to exei-cise his office in America, executed by Eichard 
 (Henick) Lord Bishop of London, June 29, 1768, is preserved by the family. 
 
 t It is said that Mr. Grist, the Englishman, and his neighbor, Eichard Hyde, Esq., 
 had frequent and sharp disputes, but they never v^ent further than a threatening shake 
 of the fist and a final splutter, through fixed teeth, of You ion/ 1 and You rebel 1 
 
^"&^sd lyJ.C.Buttr«Se«rto* ' 
 
 ORDAIblED BT THE BISHOP OF LOWDOU, 1768. 
 Rector of 'CHRIST CHURCH.WorwiciiCDmiJ'cr 54 Years. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 455 
 
 When the church was again opened, the prayers for the King and Par- 
 liament were omitted, but the congregation had dwindled to an audience 
 of about twenty persons. Under the popular ministry of Mr. Tyler, 
 however, the society gradually increased in numbers and influence. In 
 1780 the church was repaired, and a porch, bell and steeple added.* 
 But the location was considered inconvenient, and in 1789 the society 
 decided on removing to a more central position. A lot was proffered by 
 Phineas Holden, near the east end of Main street, "opposite the house of 
 Capt. Stephen Colver," and accepted by the parish. 
 
 To this spot the old edifice, which had stood about forty years, was 
 removed, and there enlarged and remodeled. The former owners of the 
 pews relinquished their rights, the seats were sold, and the money applied 
 to parochial uses. The new purchasers were thirty in number. 
 
 The committee for removing and reconstructing the church were Major 
 Ebenezer Whiting, Barzillaj Davison, Benadam Denison, and James 
 Christie. 
 
 It was dedicated May 19, 1791, by the Eev. Dr. Seabury, Bishop of 
 Connecticut, to the worship of God "according to the liturgy of the 
 Church of England accommodated to the civil constitution of these Amer- 
 ican States." 
 
 Ebenezer Whiting, ) ^p- j 
 
 _ " f Wardens. 
 
 Ebenezer Huntington, ) 
 
 Jabez Huntington, Society Cleric. 
 
 The designation of " Christ's Church in Chelsea" first appears on record 
 in 1785. 
 
 With the exception of the political jealousy during the Revolutionary 
 contest, the Episcopalians and Congregationalists of Norwich have never 
 exhibited any acrimony against each other. On the contrary, social inter- 
 course has been generally maintained, irrespective of denominational 
 bounds, and the two sects have in many instances interchanged civilities, 
 in a truly courteous and Christian spirit. 
 
 At a very early period we find that the Episcopal church employed the 
 Congregational collector to collect Mr. Tyler's rates. Invitations have 
 sometimes been cordially given to the Episcopalians to celebrate their 
 festivals in the larger edifices of the Congregationalists, which have been 
 cheerfully accepted ; and in two instances at least, when the latter have 
 been by sudden disasters deprived for a season of a place of worship, the 
 doors of Christ's Church have been freely opened to them. One instance 
 from the records may be given. 
 
 * In January, 1786, Mr. John Wood, from White Haven, England, was ordained in 
 this church by Et. Rev. Samuel Seabury — first as deacon, and two days later as priest. 
 He was appointed to labor in Hampton, Va. 
 
456 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 " At a legal meeting of the Episcopal Parish of Christ's Church, in Norwich, on 
 Wednesday, Feb. 19, 1794, Thomas Mumford, Moderator, 
 
 " Voted, that this meeting, taking into consideration that the Presbyterian church 
 in this place, of which the Rev. Walter King is Pastor, are destitute of a convenient 
 place in which to attend public worship, their meeting-house having been lately de- 
 stroyed by iire, do consent to accommodate said Presbyterian society until Easter 
 Monday, 1795, as follows : the Rev'' John Tyler, our present pastor, to perform divine 
 service one half the day on each Sabbath, and the Rev. Walter King, pastor of said 
 Presbyterian congregation, to perform divine service the other half of said Sabbath, 
 alternately performing on the first part of the day." 
 
 For this kind and considerate courtesy, the obliged party passed a vote 
 of acknowledgment and thanks, which was inserted upon the records of 
 both societies. The offer was accepted, and this amicable arrangement 
 lasted for three months. 
 
 Mr. Tyler died Jan, 20, 1823, in the 81st year of his age, after a pas- 
 torate of 54 years. He was an interesting preacher ; his voice sweet and 
 solemn, and his eloquence persuasive. The benevolence of his heart was 
 manifested in daily acts of courtesy and charity to those around him. He 
 studied medicine in order to benefit the poor, and to find out remedies for 
 some of those peculiar diseases to which no common specifics seemed to 
 apply. His pills, ointments, extracts and syrups obtained a great local 
 celebrity. During the latter years of his life, he was so infirm as to need 
 assistance in the performance of his functions. 
 
 Eev. Peter J. Clark served as his assistant for two or three years, and 
 was succeeded by the Rev. Seth B. Paddock, who, on the death of the 
 venerable incumbent, became rector of the church. The age and long 
 infirmity of Dr. Tyler had operated against the growth and efiSciency of 
 the parish, and when Mr. Paddock's pastorate commenced, the congrega- 
 tion was small, and the sacred edifice itself in a decaying state. During 
 his rectorship a new church was built and the influence of the society 
 largely increased. 
 
 In his farewell sermon, Mr. Paddock says : 
 
 " Within the twenty-two and a half years of ray ministry there have been connected 
 with the parish 380 families. Of these I found in it less than 40. More than 150 now 
 remain, and about 190 have become extinct or removed to other parts." 
 
 Mr. Paddock resigned the pastorate in 1844, and took charge of an 
 •academy in Cheshire, Ct, at which place he died in 1851. He was a 
 man of great integrity and piety ; amiable in all the relations of life. 
 
 Rectors of Christ Church since Mr. Paddock : 
 
 Rev. William F. Morgan ; in office twelve years and a half, from Sep- 
 tember, 1844, to March, 1857. He then accepted a call to St. Thomas' 
 Church, New York. 
 
 The parish at that time reported 206 families; 210 communicants. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 467 
 
 Rev. J. Treadwell Walden ; in office six years. He resigned in March, 
 1863, in order to take charge of St. Clement's Church, Philadelphia. 
 
 Rev. David F. Banks, the present pastor. 
 
 Two churches, both costly and imposing edifices, vrere erected by this 
 society within the compass of twenty years— from 1828 to 1848. The 
 first was during the rectorship of Mr. Paddock. It stands on a lot extend- 
 ing from Main to Church street, al few rods west of the former church.* 
 The whole cost, including organ and furniture, was about $13,000. It 
 was consecrated by the diocesan Bishop, Rev. Thomas C. Brownell, July 
 29, 1829. This has since changed its designation, and is now Trinity 
 Church. 
 
 In 1846, during the rectorship of Mr. Morgan, the society decided to 
 resume for church service, the old Bushnell site on Washington street, 
 from which the church was removed sixty years previous, and which had 
 since been used as a cemetery. On this spot, over the ashes of the dead, 
 another church edifice, of an antique style of architecture, was erected at 
 a cost of nearly $50,000. A tower separate from the church formed a 
 part of the original plan, but this has never been built. 
 
 The corner-stone was laid by Bishop Lee, of Delaware, Aug. 31, 1846, 
 and the church consecrated in 1848. 
 
 When the society removed to this new edifice, they carried their desig- 
 nation, Christ Church, with them, and the house they left was for a short 
 time closed. It was soon, however, re-opened as a chapel, or dependent 
 upon Christ Church, but this arrangement was of short duration. In 
 1850, a new and independent parish was organized, the edifice purchased, 
 and a second Episcopal church inaugurated, with the title of Trinity 
 Church. 
 
 Rectors: Rev. Edward O. Flagg, from May, 1849, to 1853. 
 
 Rev. Benjamin H. Paddock, (a native of the town, and son of a former 
 rector of Christ Church,) from August, 1853, to 1860. 
 
 Rev. John V. Lewis, from 1860 to August, 1865, when he accepted a 
 call to Washington, D. C. 
 
 Mr. Tyler is the only rector of the Episcopal Church in Norwich who 
 has died while in office. 
 
 After the removal of the old church edifice from the Bushnell lot in 
 1790, the site being wholly appropriated to interments, soon became 
 seeded with the dead. Here the fathers that had founded the church 
 were laid in their last resting-places. Here were gathered the remains 
 
 * The old edifice was talien down and sold to an Episcopal association in Salem, 
 Ct., to which place it was removed and reconstructed about 1 830. Services were held 
 in it for a few years by Episcopalians and Methodists, but the congregation declined, 
 and it was subsequently purchased by the town. The. spire, tower and pews were 
 removed ; the building was appropriated to civil affairs, and is still extant as the town- 
 house on Salem Green. 
 
458 HISTORY OF NOBWICH. 
 
 of Rev. John Tyler and his wife, Mrs. Hannah Tyler, and of Mrs. Han- 
 nah Punderson, relict of the first minister. Here were huried Benajah 
 Bushnell and wife ; Thomas Grist at the age of 82 ; Phineas Holden, 76, 
 and his wife Zerviah, 85 ; the second Capt. Richard Bushnell, 74 ; his 
 relict Prudence, 76, and his maiden daughter Hannah, 87. 
 
 Others brought here at a later date, extinct under a burden of years, 
 were Barzillai Davison, dying in 1828, aged 90; Solomon Hamilton, 
 1798, aged 87; Sarah, relict of Samuel Brown, 1795, in her 95th year; 
 Lemuel Warren, " Clerk of Christ Church," 1812, aged 79, and near him 
 his wife and three maiden daughters. 
 
 As persons of some note resting in this cemetery, we may notice the 
 two Malbones, Capt. Evan and Capt. Solomon, merchants who removed 
 to Norwich from Newport during the Revolutionary war ; the former died 
 in 1781, aged 73, and the latter in 1787, aged 76. The rehct of Evan 
 Malbone, and his only daughter, with her husband, Capt. Samuel Johnson, 
 repose with them. 
 
 The earliest date found is 1757, which appears on the stones commem- 
 orative of Capt. John Culver, aged 60, and Thomas Griste, 25. 
 
 Other names inscribed here, of persons respectable as citizens and heads 
 of families, were these : 
 
 Albertus Siraut Destouches, a native of Bordeaux, died Dec. 17, 1796, aged 59. 
 
 Bentley Faulkner, died in 1776, aged 42. 
 
 Capt. Allen Ingraham, died in 1785, aged 42. 
 
 Capt. William Wattles, died in 1787, aged 48. 
 
 Capt. Solomon Whipple, died in 1787, aged 48. 
 
 Matthew LefRngwell, died in 1797, aged 59. 
 
 Robert Lancaster, died in 1770, aged 76. 
 
 Capt. William Davison, died in 1803, aged 40. 
 
 Doctor Nathan Tisdale, died in 1830, aged 58. 
 
 When the new church was built on the old site, the stones but not the 
 relics of the dead were removed ; the edifice was erected over the sacred 
 repository. The graves of the Rev. Mr. Tyler and his wife were just 
 under the altar. The monumental stone of the former has this inscrip- 
 tion : 
 
 Here lie interred 
 
 The earthly remains of 
 
 The Kov. John Tyler, 
 
 For 54 yeare Rector of Christ's 
 
 Church in this City. Having 
 
 faithfully fulfilled his ministry. 
 
 He was ready to be dissolved 
 
 and to be with Christ. 
 
 His soul took its flight 
 
 from this Vale of Misery 
 
 Jan'y 20, 1823, m the 81st 
 
 year of his age. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 459 
 
 Col. Samuel Tyler, in business at the Landing for more than sixty 
 years, as a druggist, was the only son of Rector Tyler that lived to ma- 
 turity. He died Sept. 20, 1854. 
 
 CHURCHES RECAPITULATED. 
 
 1st. Built in 1749, on the Bushnell lot, at the base of Waweekus Hill, 
 (now Washington street.) 
 
 2d. Reconstructed on the Holden lot, " opposite the house of Capt. Ste- 
 phen Colver," Main street. The frame and other materials of the former 
 church were removed and used in the building, which was therefore both 
 new and old. It was relinquished in 1829, taken down and removed. 
 The Main street Congregational church was built on the site in 1 844, but 
 destroyed by fire in 1854. A free church has since been erected by the 
 Methodists on the same ground, making three successive churches, of 
 three different denominations, on the spot. 
 
 3d. Built of stone, in 1828, on a lot extending from Main to Church 
 street; relinquished to Trinity Church in 1850. 
 
 4th. Built of stone, in 1847, on the old Bushnell site, where the first 
 church stood. 
 
 Half-century ministers, settled fifty years or more over one congrega- 
 tion within the original bounds of Norwich : 
 
 [■ Congregational 
 Episcopalian. 
 
 James Fitch, 
 
 56 years. 
 
 Benjamin Lord, D. D., 
 
 67 " 
 
 Joseph Strong, D. D., 
 
 56 " 
 
 Andrew Lee, D. D., 
 
 64 " 
 
 Levi Nelson, 
 
 51 « 
 
 Jabez Wight, 
 
 56 " 
 
 John Tyler, 
 
 54 " 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Sixth, oe Chelsea Society ; now the Second. 
 
 The Sixth Society was organized Nov. 29, 1751 : Capt. Jabez Dean, 
 moderator of the meeting. 
 
 Daniel Kingsbuiy was chosen Society Clerk. 
 
 Capt. Dean, Eleazar "Waterman, and Nathaniel Backus, Society and 
 School Committee. 
 
 Prosper Wetmore chosen Collector, but excused, and Ebenezer Fitch 
 substituted. 
 
 Capt. Dean was commissioned to procure a minister, and directed to 
 apply first to Mr. Elijah Lathrop of "Windham. A regular service was 
 not, however, commenced until April, 1752, when Mr. John Curtice was 
 the officiating clergyman. He remained with the society to the close of 
 the year, boarding at Mr. John Elderkin's tavern, and receiving for pay 
 what was collected by voluntary contributions. The service was held in 
 private houses, and the people were called together by the tap of the 
 drum. 
 
 Early in 1755, Mr. Ebenezer Cleveland was engaged to preach for a 
 year, and paid by monthly contributions. The same year a funeral pall, 
 bier and burying-ground were purchased. The latter was a well-wooded 
 lot, comprising an acre and a half, and the wood cut from it paid the whole 
 expense. The purchase was made of Jonathan Bushnell, May 24, 1755. 
 It has since been enlarged, and is still used as the society burial-ground. 
 Though now girdled with the habitations of the living, it is a place of 
 unusual interest, beautified with many appropriate monuments, hallowed 
 by the remains of the good, the beautiful, and the beloved, and from the 
 elevation of its site, overlooking in calm repose the turmoil of the city. 
 
 In March, 1756, it was proposed to engage IMr. John Fuller to preach 
 the gospel, "if he may be had;" but there is no evidence that Mr. Fuller 
 or any other minister was obtained, or that for three or four years after- 
 wards they had any regular Sabbath service. 
 
 June 30, 1759. " At a society meeting it was voted to give Rev. Nathaniel Whita- 
 ker a call to settle in the work of the gospel ministry, provided he shall be regularly 
 dismissed from his present charge, and provided he and those who shall form them- 
 selves into a church shall agree in matters of faith and practice." 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 461 
 
 Mr. Whitaker decided to accept this call. The salary was fixed at 
 £100 per annum, with the pledge of a settlement of £100, when the gen- 
 eral list of the society (exclusive of the lists of churchmen and those 
 excused by law from paying ministerial rates) should amount to £6,000. 
 These votes were ratified and confirmed on the last day of the year. Mr. 
 Whitaker arrived with his family and goods, by water, April 12, 1760. 
 A room for preaching had been prepared in the tavern kept by Samuel 
 Trapp, (afterwards the well-known residence of Capt. Benjamin Coit,) 
 and a bell to take the place of the Sabbath drum was suspended in the 
 rear of the house, from a scaffolding erected upon a rock.* 
 
 In organizing the church, some difficulties occurred. As a natural con- 
 sequence of his antecedent connections, Mr. Whitaker was attached to the 
 Presbyterian polity, and urged its adoption as the platform of the church. 
 The articles drawn up by him were thoroughly Presbyterian, agreeing 
 with those of the Church of Scotland, though several of the society vig- 
 orously contended for the Congregational form. 
 
 The church record, which begins with that day, says : 
 
 After many endeavoars the church was gathered and formed by signing a Covenant 
 and articles of faith under the direction of the Rey. Messrs. Jabez Wight and Benjamin 
 Throop on the 24th day of July, 1760. These signed : 
 
 Nathaniel Whitaker, Isaiah TifFany, 
 
 Nathaniel Backus, Nathaniel Shipman, 
 
 John Porter, Seth Alden.f 
 
 Messrs. Backus and Shipman recorded their dissent from some of the 
 articles, and it was mutually agreed to leave the whole matter to the 
 decision of the installing council. This council, composed of ministers 
 and delegates from eight neighboring churches, met the day previous to 
 the installation and recommended that the Presbyterian plan should be 
 laid aside, and no human form adopted at present, but that they should 
 take the word of God for their rule and directory, in discipline and man- 
 ners, as well as faith, and not use any platforms of human composition for 
 their assistance in understanding the word, until God should give them 
 light in a more explicit manner. To this decision the church assented. 
 
 Mr. Whitaker was installed Feb. 25, 1761. Dr. Lord of the First 
 Society preached the sermon. Mr. Wheelock of Lebanon, Mr. Throop 
 
 * Items of the Society expenditure : 
 
 Jan. 1671. To pay the freight of Mr. Whitaker's family and goods from ye Jersies 
 to this place in April last, £12. 
 
 To Capt. Trap for ye use of his house 9 months to hold public worship in, £4 : 10, 
 and 20s. for hanging and ringing the bell. 
 
 Capt. Trapp was afterwards paid for his house £6 per year. 
 
 t Tiffany was from the Lebanon church; Porter from the church in ' Mansfield ; 
 Backus and Shipman from the first and Alden from the fourth church in Norwich. 
 
462 HISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 of the Fourth or New Concord society, and Mr. Hezekiah Lord of Pres- 
 ton, took part in the services. At this time six other persons, previously 
 members of neighboring churches, united with the church, signing the 
 articles in presence of the installing council. 
 
 Jonathan Huntington, Jabez Dean, 
 
 William Capron, Eleazar Waterman, 
 
 Caleb Whitney, Ebenezer Fitch. 
 
 No church at this period had been built, and the installation services 
 were held under the wide canopy of heaven._ From a notice in the printed 
 sermon of Dr. Lord, we learn that some passages were omitted in the 
 delivery,*out of compassion to the audience thus exposed to the wintry 
 air "in the open field." It would be interesting to know the precise gath- 
 ering-place. 
 
 The reverend teacher mildly alludes to the controversy that had so long 
 agitated the people, by expressing a wish that " Christ's little flock, his 
 people in this place," would henceforth "agree to keep together in one 
 Fold, without any more discord, or divided interests." 
 
 The first appointment of church officers on record, is Dec. 30, 1763, 
 when four elders were chosen to office, viz., Messrs. Jabez Dean, Nathan- 
 iel Shipman, Isaiah Tiffany, and Jonathan Huntington. 
 
 The subject of erecting a house of worship was discussed at a society 
 meeting held at the house of William Davison in June, 1757, but no 
 decision was made till Jan. 4, 1760, when two-thirds of all persons quali- 
 fied to vote in the society were present, and the resolution passed to build 
 a meeting-house. 
 
 A lot eligibly situated was found, the county court gave their warranty 
 to set up a stake on the spot, a building committee was appointed, and a 
 plan of the house formed. It was to have sixty pews, which were to be 
 sold at a price that would cover the whole expense of the building. 
 
 But at this stage of the proceeding it was found that the lot was too 
 small for the purpose, and the committee gave notice that the adjoining 
 proprietors, Samuel Bliss and Daniel Tracy, would not sell an inch. The 
 project thereibre, whieli seemed so feasible, fell through. The court 
 ordered the stake to be removed, and Chelsea was left three and a half 
 years longer without a regular house of worship. 
 
 It was not easy to find a convenient site. The streets and buildings 
 were closely packed along the narrow border of the headland, and the 
 high ridges that frowned over them were partly forested, and everywhere 
 ruggfd and precipitous. The perpendicular ascents had not yet been 
 taught to glide into gentle slopes ; people had not begun to build above, 
 and land below was scarce aftd costly. 
 
 In 1763, a lot was purchased of Isaac Huntington at 70s. per square 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWIOH, 463 
 
 rod, and a meeting-house 37 feet by 41 erected on the spot. A memorial 
 was presented to the General Assembly for assistance in the undertaking, 
 and a sum of money (the income of the excise tax) was granted to the 
 society from the public treasury. It appears that Capt. Trapp was paid 
 for the use of his house to the 12th of July, 1764, and it is probable that 
 after that time the meeting-house, though then but a shell, was used for 
 the Sabbath service. The bell was removed from its old position on the 
 rock, and suspended from the limb of a large tree near the door. This 
 church stood on a part of the area now occupied by Mansfield's block of 
 brick buildings. It was completed in 1766, and thirty-three pews marked 
 out, besides one at the right of the pulpit for the minister. The basement 
 was let out for mercantile purposes. The first year, seventeen spaces for 
 pews were sold, each pew being expected to accommodate two families, 
 which could easily be done, as most of the young people, above the age of 
 children, were accustomed to sit in the galleries. 
 
 It may be interesting at the present day to read a list of the pew-hold- 
 ers, particularly to see who were associated in the same pew. 
 
 No. 1. The Minister and his family. 
 
 2. Seth Hardiag and William Eockwell. 
 
 3. Sybile Crocker and Jonathan Lester. 
 
 7. Thomas Trapp, Jr., and Stephen Barker. 
 
 9. Jabez Dean and Elijah Lothrop. 
 
 10. John Tracy and Peter Lanman. 
 
 1 1 . Joseph Trumbull and Jabez Perkins. 
 
 12. Ephraim Bill and Hugh Ledlie. 
 
 13. Ebenezer Fillmore, Jr., and Timothy Herrick. 
 ] 4. William Coit and Simeon Carew. 
 
 18. Nathaniel Backus and Nathaniel Backus, Jr. 
 
 19. Abel Brewster and John Martin. 
 21, David Lamb and Moses Pierce. 
 
 23. Benajah Leffingwell and Ezra Backus. 
 
 25. Benjamin Huntington and Nathaniel Shipman. 
 
 26. Joseph Smith and Isaac Park. 
 
 27. Stephen Eoath and Stephen Eoath, Jr. 
 
 The omitted numbers were allotted to the space which remained unsold, 
 until Mr. Judson's ordination. 
 
 In the meantime, before the completion of the meeting-house, a portion 
 of Mr. Whitaker's church became dissatisfied with his ministry. They 
 accused him of stepping aside from his duty as a clergyman, to engage in 
 trade, and in this hne, of having attempted to monopolize the vending of 
 wine, raisins, &e., in the society. A council was called, before which 
 these charges were laid, but no decision obtained. Whils' the matter was 
 still ao-itated, the Connecticut Board of Correspondence for Indian Affairs 
 nominated Mr. Whitaker to accompany Occom, the Mohegan preacher, on 
 
464 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 a mission to Europe, to solicit benefactions for the endowment of "Moor's 
 Indian Cliarity School " at Lebanon, which was under the charge of the 
 Rev. Mr. "Wheelock. 
 
 When this project was laid before the society, they refused their con- 
 sent to Mr. Whitaker's acceptance of the office. Another meeting was 
 called, and the vote reconsidered, but with the same result. It is evident 
 that while a few members were bent on compelling him to relinquish the 
 pastorate,* the majority were sincerely attached to his ministrations, and 
 unwilling to part with him. Two advisory councils were called, and it 
 was at length proposed that Mr. Whitaker should be allowed to accept the 
 agency without dissolving his relation to the church, but that he should 
 relinquish his salary during his absence ; his people to have the privilege 
 of settling another minister before his return, if they chose ; and if such 
 an event took place, he was to be considered as dismissed. If he should 
 return before the settlement of another minister, a council was to be con- 
 vened to decide whether he should continue with them or be dismissed. 
 This conciliatory proposition, which emanated from Dr. Lord of the First 
 Society, was accepted. 
 
 Jan. 9, 1766. Tire parties present at pablishing this advice manifested their accept- 
 ance thereof, and further signified it by signing, as follows : 
 
 Nathaniel Whitaker, Thomas Trapp, Jr. Nathaniel Shipman, 
 
 Joshua Prior, Abiel Cheney, Gershom Breed, 
 
 Gurdon Huntington, Lemuel Warren, Benjamin Dennis, 
 
 Benajah Lcffingwell, Prosper Wetmore, Nathaniel Backus, Jr. 
 
 Joseph Smith, ■ George Dennis, Jonathan Huntington, 
 
 Nathaniel Backus, William Coit, Caleb Whitney, 
 
 Eleazar Waterman, Ebenezer Fitch, Peter Lanman. 
 
 Jabez Dean, Joseph Trumbull, 
 
 Mr. Whitaker was a man of fine talents and prepossessing appearance. 
 He had manifested great interest in the prosperity of Mr. Wheelock's 
 Indian school at Lebanon, and in the welfare of the Mohegan Indians, his 
 neighbors. On these accounts he had been selected as a proper person to 
 accompany Mr. Occom on his mission. 
 
 They carried with them a printed book containing recommendations, 
 and an exposition of the state of Indian Missions in North America. Mr. 
 Whitaker's recommendation from his church is as follows : 
 
 The Church of Christ at Chclscy, in Norwich, in Conn : in New England, to all the 
 Churches of Christ, and whomsoever it may concern, send greeting : 
 Whereas it has pleased God in his Providence, to call our Reverend and worthy 
 Pastor, Mr. Nathaniel Whitaker, from us for a season, to go to Europe, to solicit char- 
 ities for the Indian Charity School, under the care of the Bev. Mr. Ebenczer^heelock, 
 
 * The six aggrieved members were Nathaniel Backus, Sen. and Jun., Ephraim Bill, 
 Prosper Wetmore, Peter Lanman, and William Coit. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 465 
 
 of Lebanon, and to promote Christian knowledge among the Indians on this conti- 
 nent : 
 
 We do unanimously recommend him, the said Mr. Whitaker and his services, to all 
 the churches and people of God, of whatever denomination, and wheresoever he may 
 come, as a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, whose praise is in the gospel through the 
 churches ; earnestly requesting brotherly kindness and charity may be extended towards 
 him as occasion may require ; and that the grand and important cause in whicli he is 
 engaged, may be forwarded and promoted by all the lovers of truth. 
 
 Wishing grace, mercy and truth may be multiplied to you and the whole Israel of 
 God, and desiring an interest in your prayers, we subscribe 
 Yours in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, 
 
 By order and in behalf ) Jonathan Httntington. 
 
 said Church. ) Isaiah Tiffany. 
 
 NoEwiCH, Oct. 21, 1766. 
 
 The delegates were eminently successful in their mission, both in Eng- 
 land and Scotland, and collected funds amounting nearly to ten thousand 
 pounds sterling.* 
 
 Some disagreement arose between Mr. Whitaker and his Indian asso- 
 ciate before they left England, and the latter in his confidential correspond- 
 ence threw out hints that were calculated to excite suspicions of Mr. 
 "Whitaker's integrity. This distrust was, undoubtedly, without cause, orig- 
 inating probably in misapprehension, or disagreement of opinion. The 
 most inflexible of Mr. Whitaker's opponents at Chelsea never questioned 
 his integrity, and the majority of his congregation adhered to him with 
 strong and unwavering trust. 
 
 During Mr. Whitaker's absence, his pulpit appears to have been most 
 of the time vacant. Mr. Wales was at one time paid £9 for preaching, 
 and Mr. Thatcher £18. No other supplies are recorded. The mission 
 to Europe occupied about a year and a half, Mr. Whitaker's salary was 
 
 * A Bible presented to Occom, while in England, according to tradition, by the king, 
 is in the possession of Mrs. G. B. Eipley of Norwich. 
 
 The following letter, written by Occom from London to his daughters at home, is a 
 curious example of Mohegan ingenuity : 
 
 My dear Mary and Esther— 
 Perhaps you may query whether I am well : I came from home well, was by the 
 way well, got over well, am received at London well, and am treated extremely well, — 
 yea, I am caress'd too well. And do you pray that I may be well ; and that I may do 
 well, and in Time return Home well. And I hope you are well, and wish you well, 
 and as I think you begun well, so keep on well, that you may end well, and then all 
 will be w;ell. 
 
 And so Farewell. 
 
 (Lya^n^^^^H. (yco&'i^x^ 
 
 30 
 
466 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 re-commenced June 2, 1768, which was doubtless the day of his return to 
 Norwich and resumi>tion of his pastoral duties. A society meeting was 
 held to determine if they would call a council of dismission, as agreed 
 upon before his departure, aud the majority decided in the negative. 
 Very soon, however, the old grievances recurred, and at a society meet- 
 ing Jan .J, 1769, it was put to vote — 
 
 " Whctlier yo society will agree with Rev. Nath'l Wliitaker D. D. and ye aggrieved 
 mombcru of the Society, in calling ye Council agreed upon Nov. 6, 1765, to convene 
 at this place on ye 24th inst. 
 
 " Resolved in yo affirmative." 
 
 Before this council the church laid the charges brought by Mr. Whita- 
 kcr against the six aggrieved members, and the council, after considering 
 all the matters of complaint and difficulty, advised dismission. This result 
 Mr. Whitaker laid before the church and society respectively, and after 
 enumerating the embarrassments that threatened his future usefulness, 
 requested to be released from his pastoral office. Both assemblies were 
 reluctant, and voted against his dismission, — the church unanimously, and 
 the society 28 against 9. It was agreed, however, at Mr. Whitaker's 
 request, that another council should be called, with the express under- 
 standhig that all parties would yield to its decision. This council also 
 advised dismission, and accordingly the same day Mr. Whitaker was dis- 
 missed, the church recording their unwilling consent in these terms : 
 
 March 24, 1769. "Voted that the Chh. have always been and still are averse to a 
 dismission of Rev. Dr. Whitaker, as they do not see any sufficient reason for it, and 
 earnestly desire his continuance and by no means desire to be understood to have the 
 least hand in his removal, yet they consent to the same and will submit to the result of 
 Council." 
 
 Mr. Whitaker was no common-place character. He had great quick- 
 ness and force of mind. The ardor of his temperament and bis ceaseless 
 activity may sometimes have drawn him aside from his ministerial func- 
 tions, or led him to take a position slightly antagonistic and controversial, 
 but he had noble traits of character. His name is honorably connected 
 with the foundation of Dartmouth College, and the degree of D. D. con- 
 ferred upon him by the college in New Jersey shows that his abihty and 
 enterprise were appreciated by his cotomporari^s. 
 
 He was subsequently installed at Salem, Mass., and at Norridgewock, 
 Me. ; being dismissed from the latter place in 1790, he went to Virginia, 
 and there died.* 
 
 * Mr. "Wliitaker brought with him to Norwich his wife, Sarah, and two young child- 
 ren, James ami Elizabetli. lie had two daughters born in the place: Sarah, March 
 21, 1761, and Mary, March 27, 1764. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 467 
 
 Mr. Whitaker's publications amount to some eight or ten pamphlets, 
 consisting of occasional sermons and tracts on passing events of a theo- 
 logical type. Perhaps the earliest of these publications is 
 
 " The Tkial of the Spirits : 
 A Sermon on 1 John iv. 1. Preached at Newent, in Norwich, March 17, 1762 ; and 
 published at the Desire of those who heard it." (Printed in Providence : By William. 
 Goddard.) 
 
 This was directed against the New Lights, whose principles were then 
 spreading in the churches, and particularly designed to counteract the 
 teachings of those who "set up the Light within, and their own Spirits 
 and Notions as the standard to which the Scripture must be brought." 
 
 A void of two and a half years succeeded in the pastorate at Chelsea. 
 Mr. Punderson Austin occupied the pulpit for nine months, but declined 
 a settlement. Mr. Joseph Howe was spoken of as a desirable candidate, 
 but his services were not procured. 
 
 In May, 1771, Mr. Ephraim Judson of Woodbury, Conn., came among 
 the people by invitation, and gave such general satisfaction that after a 
 short experience of his ministry, he was called to the pastoral office by a 
 vote entirely unanimous, and ordained Oct. 3d of that year. At this time 
 the meeting-house was freshened and improved. The bell was removed, 
 and erected upon the hiU near the house of Mr. Lemuel Boswell. Ten 
 new pews were built, and assigned as follows : 
 
 No. 4. Hannah Wight and Joseph Kelley. 
 
 5. Jacob De Witt and John M'Larran Breed. 
 
 6. John and Peter Waterman. 
 
 8. Benjamin and George Dennis. 
 
 15. Caleb Whitney and Joshua Norman. 
 
 16. Daniel Kelley and William Capron. 
 
 17. Prosper Wetmore and Ebenezer Pitch. 
 20. David and Samuel Koath. 
 
 22. William Eeed and Zephaniah Jennings. 
 24. Joseph Wight and Lemuel Boswell. 
 
 The society voted to purchase the house and lot of Ezekiel Story at 
 £120 for a settlement for Mr. .Judson. This house was on the hill near 
 the burial-ground. Mr. Judson began to occupy it in 1773. It was 
 secured to him as his personal property, in case he should remain five 
 years with the society. 
 
 Mr. Judson was a man of pleasing aspect and dignified demeanor, tall 
 and stately. He seldom used notes, and though he reasoned well, and 
 often threw out striking remarks, his sermons were usually in the style of 
 common conversation, elucidated with comments that sometimes fell below 
 the level of an intelligent audience and the dignity of the pulpit. For 
 
468 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 instance, in a sermon upon the Brazen Serpent, lie repeatedly called it tte 
 Brass Snake. His expressions were sometimes very quaint and whim- 
 sical. Preaching at one time on the excuses made by the guests who 
 were invited to the wedding feast, he observed that one had bought five 
 yoke of oxen, and civilly entreated to be excused: but the one who had 
 married a wife replied absolutely, he could not come. Hence learn, said 
 the preacher, that one woman can pull harder than Jive yoke of oxen. Mr. 
 Judson once preached in the first society, a sermon particularly addressed 
 to young women, which, contrary to his visual custom, was written out and 
 elaborately finished in the style of Hervey's Meditations. To make it 
 more impressive, he introduced a fictitious character of the name of Clar- 
 inda, expatiated upon her wit and beauty, and the number of her admir- 
 ers, followed her to the ball-room, and other scenes of gaiety, and then 
 laid her upon a death-bed with all the pathos of a romance.* 
 
 But these reminiscences apply to Mr. Judson only as a young man, 
 during the first years of a long ministry. Preachers are generally recalled 
 to mind by those salient points of character and habit that strike the pop- 
 ular observation. Mr. Judson is therefore transmitted to us in the cos- 
 tume of his eccentricities. He was nevertheless esteemed in his day for 
 higher qualities, — faithful performance of ministerial duty, and sincere 
 patriotism. His delivery, usually slow and monotonous, on subjects con- 
 nected with the liberties of the nation, would rise almost to enthusiasm. 
 He took an early and active part in the Revolutionary struggle, and when 
 ofiered a chaplaincy in the army, accepted the appointment with alacrity. 
 This event and the consequent action of the society are thus registered : 
 
 Aug. 14, 1776. Kev. Ephraim Judson having been appointed Chaplain in Col. 
 Ward's regiment in the Continental service, generously proposes to relinquish his sal- 
 ary during his absence, and asks leave to go. 
 
 Permission granted. 
 
 But his health was not equal to the arduous duties that devolved upon 
 him. He was absent several months, and then returned an invalid ; and 
 though he contmued two years longer with his people, he seems never to 
 have recovered his former health. Some of his habits that have been 
 attributed to indolence, may have been forced upon him by physical 
 inflrmil)". He would occasionally deliver his sermons in a sitting posture. 
 He adopted also the Scotch custom of a recess in the middle of the ser- 
 mon, to be occupied by the. choir in singing, and it is said that in warm 
 weather he would give out a psalm of eight or ten stanzas, long meter, 
 and withdraw to a high roek just in the rear of the church, to enjoy the 
 refreshing river-breeze during its performance. 
 
 * For those and lOtlier occasional illustrations of former persons and scenes, tlie 
 author is indebted to the tcnaeioiis memory and conversational amenity of Kov. Dr. 
 Strong of the First Society. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 469 
 
 In October, 1778, lie asked a dismission from office, grounding his 
 motion on these points: 
 
 " Want of competent support, usefulness obstructed by infirm health, inability to 
 study, negligence of the people in attending public worship, — some other minister may 
 be more beneficial." 
 
 The church and society appointed committees to converse witia him and 
 endeavor to smooth over these difficulties. But he remained firm to his 
 purpose, and they at length concurred with Iiim in referring the matter to 
 a council of the neighboring ministers. This council met Dec. 15, and 
 after considering Mr. Judson's pleas, decided unanimously — 
 
 " That there is an unavoidable necessity of Mr. Judson's removal, and [we] do 
 accordingly dismiss him : — especially on account of his weak state of health, which 
 will not admit of a sedentary life or close application to study; together with an un- 
 happy appearance of indifference to his administration. Yet we cannot but express 
 our great satisfaction in finding the measure of mutual love and respect that subsists 
 between Mr. Judson and his people. We are satisfied with Mr. Judson's ministerial 
 character, hope for his better health and future usefulness in the ministry. And may 
 it please God to raise up for this people another able and faithful minister." 
 
 " We also find that the degree of exertion for Mr. Judson's support has been very 
 considerable, considering the present public exigencies." 
 
 IMr. Judson afterward preached for a short time at Canterbury, Conn., 
 and was successively installed at Taunton and at Sheffield, Mass. He 
 died at the latter place, Feb. 23, 1813, in his 76th year.* 
 
 In 1781 a new bell was puTchased, and a belfry built for its reception 
 at the east end of the meeting-house. 
 
 A vacancy in the pastorate, of eight years, followed the dismission of 
 Mr. Judson, during which time the Sabbath service was but partially sus- 
 tained. All public enterprises felt the paralyzing influence of the war, 
 and stood in abeyance, waiting for better times. 
 
 Among the temporary supplies of this period were Mr. Zebulon Ely 
 and Mr. David Austin, both graduates of Yale, of the class of 1779, and 
 then making their first experiments in the pulpit. Mr. Ely was afterward 
 for forty years pastor of the Lebanon church, and Mr. Austin, after many 
 vicissitudes of life and changes of opinion, became in 1815 pastor of the 
 church in Bozrah. Various other names are found, of persons who sup- 
 plied the pulpit during this long vacancy.f 
 
 * Eev. Adoniram Judson, D. D., the celebrated missionary to the Eurman Empire, 
 was a nephew of Mr. Ephraim Judson. 
 
 t Dec. 1782. Voted to pay the bill of Joseph Williams for boarding Messrs. Hide, 
 Ellis, Chase, and other preachers : also the bill of Mr. John M. Breed for boarding 
 Mr. Mills while preaching. 
 
 Sept. 7, 1786. Voted to pay' the Committee for boarding the ministers since De- 
 cember last. Minister's pay, 38s. per Sabbath. 
 
470 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 No single person was probably so serviceable in continuing the minis- 
 trations at this period, as Mr. Nathaniel Niles, who was then a resident of 
 Norwich, — a licensed preacher, but engaged likewise in other pursuits, and 
 not desirous of a settlement. He had married the daughter of Elijah 
 Lathrop, and remained in the town ten or twelve years, taking an active 
 part in the patriotic movements of the day, and in all objects of public 
 interest, and serving as representative to the General Assembly for the 
 spring sessions of 1779, '80, and '81. He was moreover connected with 
 his father-in-law in various manufacturing interests that were beneficial to 
 the country. They had establishments for making chocolate, iron-wire, 
 and cards. Mr. Niles was himself the inventor of a process for making 
 iron-wire out of bar-iron, the machinery for which was here first put into 
 operation. 
 
 Notwithstanding his numerous engagements, he was commonly prepared 
 on the Sunday with a well-studied though generally unwritten discourse, 
 and willing to occupy any vacant pulpit, or to preach without a pulpit, in 
 any school-house, hall, or private room, where his services were required- 
 In Chelsea he oflSciated often during Mr. Judson's absence, and after his 
 dismission, and for several years was the main reliance upon which the 
 society fell back when other applications failed. He had the reputation 
 of a metaphysical preacher, fond of doctrinal points, and shrewd in draw- 
 ing lines of difference. The natural bias of his mind seems to have led 
 in that direction.* He was fearless, however, in denouncing popular sins, 
 and earnest in calling upon all to repent. 
 
 Two discourses delivered in this society, July 12, 1778, and afterwards 
 ^Yi-itten out and published at the request of the hearers, are doubtless fair 
 specimens of the general tone of his preaching.! They are clear and 
 forcible in statement, and fervid in appeal. 
 
 In versatility of talent, !Mr. Niles was one of the most remarkable men 
 of his time. He had studied medicine, given some attention to law, and 
 had taught a grammar school in New Tork, where Lindley Murray, after- 
 ward an author of grammars, was his pupil. In theology he had been a 
 student with Dr. Bellamy. His literary talents were above the common 
 order, but in this line he is chiefly distinguished for a sapphic ode, called 
 The American Hero. This poem first appeared in print in the Connecti- 
 cut Gazclte, Feb. 2, 1776, but dated Norwich, 1775. It had been circu- 
 
 * It is rclatcil that wlicn at College both lie and his brother Samuel were so con- 
 spicuous for keenness and subtlety in argument, as to be familiarly distinguished by 
 the titles of Botheration Primus and Botlieration Secundus. Spraguc's Am. Pulpit. 
 
 t Printed by John Trumbull, 1779. The texts were Luke 8: 18, and 6 : 46. This 
 publication, and ft sermon of Jlr. Niles' entitled The Remembrance of Christ, deliv- 
 ered at Mcdway, Oct. 31, 1773, and printed in Boston, are omitted in Dr. Sprague's 
 list of the publications of Mr. Niles, in his American Pulpit. 
 
HISTOET OF NORWICH. 471 
 
 lated and sung in private and patriotic meetings, before it was printed, the 
 music being composed by one of tlie author's friends* 
 
 After the conclusion of tlie ^var, and the death of his first wife, Mr. 
 Niks removed into a wild part of Vermont, which he lived to see ti-ans- 
 formed into farms and villages, glowing with fertility and comfort. His 
 ministerial vocation was carried with him through life, though he was 
 never settled as a pastor, or even ordained, and refus'ed, according to 
 report, seventeen calls. In the town where he settled, he was the first 
 white inhabitant and the first preacher; holding meetings in his house for 
 twelve years before a church could be built. He was also much employed 
 in civil affairs ; was for many years a Judge of the Supreme Court, and 
 Member of Congress from 1791 to 1795. Not by the title of Reverend, 
 but as Judge Niles, he was commonly known. He died at West Fairlee, 
 Vt., Oct. 31, 1828, aged 88. 
 
 The society had now been eight years without a pastor, when Mr. 
 Walter King, of Wilbraham, Mass., came among them to preach as a 
 candidate. His efficient ministrations aroused the church to a sense of 
 their declension, and revived the dying interests of religion. The record 
 says: 
 
 " The Church by reason of many distressing trials being scattered and reduced ex- 
 ceeding low, determine to renew their corenant and reorganize." 
 
 Jonathan Huntington, Ebenezer Fitch, and twelve sisters, were all that 
 remained of the former members. To these were added Mr. King from 
 the church in New Haven, and seven others by profession of faith, form- 
 ing a church of twenty-two members, of whom seven were men, viz. : 
 
 Jonathan Huntington, Elijah Lathrop, 
 
 Ebenezer Fitch, Grover L'Hommedieu, 
 
 Walter King, Jonathan Erisby. 
 Peter Lanman, 
 
 The vote of the society calling Mr. King to the pastorate, stood thirty- 
 five against one. He was ordained May 24, 1787. Sermon by Rev. 
 Charles Backus. Salary £125 per annum, with 40«. added yearly till it 
 amount to £135 per annum, and at that point to remain fixed. 
 
 On the division of the town in 1786, only two Congregational societies 
 were left in Norwich proper, which made an alteration of title necessary. 
 Mr. King was therefore ordained over the Second Church instead of the 
 Sixth. 
 
 No office seems to have been more irksome than that of collecting the 
 
 * This is supposed to have been Col. Absalom Peters, of Lebanon, who was at that 
 time a young man giving lessons to the choirs in Norwich as a singing master. 
 
472 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 ministerial rates. In 1785, no less than nine persons were successively 
 cliosen to the office of collector, and each refused peremptorily to serve. 
 An incumbent was at last procured by the offer of ten per cent, for col- 
 lecliiig. In 1788, fifteen persons of the first distinction in the society 
 agreed to take their chance by lot for the ofSce, each engaging to serve if 
 his name was drawn. 
 
 Univeesalism. 
 
 In the year 1779, a public debate on the subject of Universalism was 
 held in the Congregational Church at Chelsea, between Mr. Niles and 
 Mr. John Murray, which excited considerable interest at the time. 
 
 The doctrine of universal salvation, connected with belief in the Trinity 
 and a purification from sin by a limited degree of punisliment in another 
 state, ending in actual pardon and a final restoration to the favor of God, 
 had at that period a considerable number of advocates in Norwich. It was 
 introduced into the town in the year 1772. by Mr. John MuiTay, the Eng- 
 lish Universalist, or " Great Promulgator," as he was sometimes styled. 
 He was first invited to preach in Norwich by Mr. Samuel Post, who, 
 having been accidentally present when he delivered an address at Guil- 
 ford, was charmed with his persuasive oratory. He preached first in the 
 academic building at the foot of Bean Hill, and Mr. Gamaliel Eeynolds, 
 the principal exhorter among the Separatists, who held their meetings in 
 that house, became his convert. To accommodate the throngs that came 
 to hear him, the committee of the First Congregational Society permitted 
 their meeting-house to be opened for his use, which Mr. Murray says was 
 never afterward shut against him.* 
 
 His first text in Norwich is said to have been the single word Shiloh — 
 Genesis 49 : 10. But the sermon that excited the most discussion was 
 founded upon the parable of the merchantman seeking goodly pearls. 
 The merchant, he said, represented Christ, and the whole race of mankind 
 were the pearls, whom Christ by the surrender of his life had purchased, 
 and would keep eternally safe. 
 
 After Mr. Murray's departure, the Eev. Dr. Lord, fearing, he said, that 
 
 * Tlio committee of tliis Society appear to have been almost indiscriminately libera 
 in the loan of their church to itinerant preachers. Witness the following newspaper 
 item of Nov. 14, 1793: 
 
 " On E'riihiy evcnin}; last, Mr. John Thayer, Catholic Missionary, delivered to a 
 lar.nc aiulicuco at the Rev. Joseph Strong's raeeting-hoiiso in this City, a learned and 
 ingenious discourse in which lie undertook to prove that the Catholick Churoli was the 
 only true Church of Christ. On Sundiiy evening following at the same place he de- 
 livered n discourse on the propriety and true piety of invoking departed saints and the 
 utility and efHcaey of addressing prayers to them." 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 473 
 
 some of Ills congregation had accepted the mistaken exposition of the 
 "itinerant stranger," took an opportunity to elucidate the same text. The 
 merchant he regarded as the representative of man, seeking happiness, but 
 ignorant of the chief good ; when he finds Christ, the pearl of great price, 
 he gives up the world and all its blandishments, and takes the Saviour for 
 his everlasting portion.* 
 
 Mr. Murray subsequently made several annual visits to Norwich, and 
 was allowed to preach in all the churches, but at the Landing he usually 
 occupied the pulpit of the Episcopal church, and it was popularly reported 
 that the Rev. Mr. Tyler coincided with him in the main point that sepa^ 
 rated him from orthodoxy, — to wit, the final restoration of all mankind to 
 holiness and consequent happiness. Mr. Murray, however, never claimed 
 him as a disciple, but in his notes ranks him with those who had acted 
 toward him the part of Christian friends. 
 
 Mr. Niles, who was then the acting minister of the Congregational 
 society in Chelsea, was disposed to examine and discuss the points at issue 
 with Mr. Murray. A public debate was therefore held by the two cham- 
 pions, but with what result does not appear. The sermon of Mr. Niles on 
 the text, ''Take heed therefore how ye hear," preached in July, 1778, and 
 published by request of the congregation, was doubtless designed to guard 
 his hearers against the alluring, heart-pleasing doctrine that had been pro- 
 claimed among them. 
 
 Mr. Murray was a man of wit and humor, fluent in speaking, wath the 
 manners of a gentleman. He built up no society in Norwich, but he left 
 an abundance of seed sown, the produce of which might be traced through 
 the whole of that generation.! Many of those, however, who were drawn 
 aside for a time by his fascinations, and entangled as it were in his silken 
 net, ultimately regained their former stand-point. He died at Boston, 
 Sept. 3, 1815, aged 74.J 
 
 In the old part of the town, the Separatist meetings gradually took the 
 form of Universalism. They were held at first in the academy, but after- 
 wards at the house of Mr. Ebenezer Grover. Mr. Reynolds, who acted 
 
 * This discourse was delivered Sept. 27, 1772 : printed by Green & Spooner, Nor- 
 wich, 1773. 
 
 t A Universalist Hymn-Book, published by subscription in 1776, has a list of nearly 
 forty subscribers in Norwich. 
 
 J Mr. Murray's wife, a very interesting woman, sometimes accompanied him in his 
 visits to Norwich. Lodging at one time with a friend on Chelsea Plain, at breakfast 
 the next morning the lady visitor was not to be found, and the husband could give no 
 account of her. Soon afterward she came in, flashed with exercise, but with wet feet 
 and dripping with dew. She had risen early, and with a child for a guide, had visited 
 the Indian graves, copied inscriptions, explored the ravine to the falls, and wrought 
 herself into a state of lively entliusiasm. Mrs. Murray was authoress of a serial work 
 called the Gleaner, collected in 1798 and published in three volumes. 
 
474 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 as their minister without having received any regular ordination or ap- 
 pointment to office, was a man of original strong sense, of powerful fratne 
 and imposing appearance, but untaught and illiterate. Mr. Murray said 
 of him, — " He is an honest soul, and we all love him, but he can not yet 
 speak the language of heaven." 
 
 At a later period Mr. Elhanan Winchester, who was born in the vicinity 
 .of Norwich and had many warm personal friends in the place, often came 
 hither in his preaching tours, and was allowed the free use of the pulpits, 
 Congregational and Episcopal. The persuasive eloquence of Mr. Win- 
 chester, his unblemished life, and the affectionate simplicity of his man- 
 ners, all operated in his favor. His knowledge of the Scriptures was so 
 minute, and his memory so retentive and amenable to his will, that his 
 friends were accustomed to say if the Bible were to be struck out of exist- 
 ence, Mr. Winchester could replace it from memory. 
 
 The last time that he preached in Norwich was in the pulpit of the 
 First Socifcty, Sept. 18, 1794. He died at Hartford in 1797. 
 
 Winchester's Lectures on the Prophecies, embodying and explaining 
 the principles he had disseminated in his sermons, were published at Nor- 
 wich in 1794 and '95. The first two lectures were printed by Trumbull, 
 the remainder by Thomas Hubbard. 
 
 Another work of a kindred bias in doctrine was printed at Norwich in 
 1796. This was "Calvinism Improved," by Rev. Joseph Huntington, 
 D. D., a native of Norwich, and minister of Coventry, Ct. The work 
 was not published until after the author's decease, but had then an exten- 
 sive circulation. 
 
 Still another work in the same direction, explanatory and defensive of 
 the doctrine of Universal Salvation, was published at Norwich in the year 
 1815. It was entitled, ''The Law and the Gospel clearly demonstrated in 
 Six Sermons." This work was popularly attributed to the Rev. Mr. 
 Tyler, but not acknowledged by him. 
 
 These early developments of Universalism were of the Trinitarian 
 school, and while agreeing with the current orthodoxy in various articles 
 of belief, diverged from it on one important point. They represented the 
 two doctrines of redemption and salvation as co-extensive and equally uni- 
 versal. The question at issue was, How far the efficacy of divine grace 
 extended ? Were there any limits to it ? Here was the gulf that sepa- 
 rated them. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXVII. 
 
 The West India Trade. 
 
 The Proclamation of Congress announcing a cessation of hostilities be- 
 tween Great Britain and the United States, was published April 11, 1783. 
 
 Christopher Lefflngwell was the first naval officer of the port of Nor- 
 wich, under the United States government. He was appointed in 1784. 
 Thomas Coit, collector of the revenue. 
 
 The commerce of Norwich shared in the general impulse that the 
 peace gave to maritime pursuits. Her merchants and ship-masters hav- 
 ing suffered less by the war than those of more exposed ports, were better 
 prepared for action, and launched at once into the tide of adventure. Yet 
 in reviewing the marine incidents connected with the place, it is not easy 
 to keep the current distinct from the interests and ownerships of other 
 towns that had the same port of entry, and in some instances vessels of 
 similar capacity bearing the same names. 
 
 Moreover, Norwich and New London were actually connected in 
 various mercantile partnerships. The cargo of an incoming vessel was 
 often distributed among the merchants of both places, and masters belong- 
 ing to one port frequently shipped in vessels fitted out from the other. 
 Neither the marine records nor the current newspapers were careful in 
 their discriminations, and it is sometimes very difficult to assign items of 
 intelligence to their right place. 
 
 While gathering up the memorials that relate to Norwich, and giving 
 due honor to her merchants and seamen for their enterprise, we do not 
 design to claim that they engrossed more than an honorable share of the 
 industry and activity of the times.* 
 
 The "West India trade was an alluring path of adventure. The horses, 
 cattle and alimentary produce of a thriving back country converged at 
 Norwich and sought a market abroad. For the first ten or twelve years 
 after the peace, it met with but few obstacles except those arising from 
 tropical storms or tropical diseases. It was prosecuted with vigor, and 
 was rich in its returns. 
 
 * The commercial details of this and the following chapter hare been gathered from 
 the custom house records at New London, newspaper files, and other contemporary 
 docnments. 
 
476 
 
 HISTOET OP NORWICH, 
 
 Most of the voyages of that day were undertaken in vessels of very 
 light burden and small draft. A large proportion of the trade of New 
 England was accorapli-hed in sloops, schooners and brigs, from 35 to 70 
 or 100 tons burden. Ships, — that is, merchant vessels, ship-rigged, with 
 three masts, — were generally from 100 to 200 tons burden, scarce equal- 
 ing an ordinary brig of the present day.* 
 
 Live-stock, provisions and lumber were the articles demanded for the 
 West India market. Even flour was then an article of export rather than 
 of import. Considerable wheat was raised in the eastern part of Con- 
 necticut, where it is now a very uncertain crop, and less profitable than 
 other grains. 
 
 The Norwich vessels seldom took in their live-stock from the wharves. 
 Sheep and swine might however be received directly from the land, or 
 from light craft as they lay in the stream; but horses, oxen and cows 
 were driven to New London, and there taken on board. It was rare for 
 a vessel to carry her deck cargo down the river. 
 
 The following table of the exports and imports of Norwich, from Jan. 
 1, 1788, to March 4, 1789, is taken from the report of the naval officer: 
 
 EXPORTS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £. 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 549 horses, value. 
 
 12 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 6588 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 205 mules, " 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 3075 
 
 
 
 205 homed cattle, " 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 1435 
 
 
 
 321 sheep, " 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 160 
 
 10 
 
 
 566 hogs, " 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 424 
 
 10 
 
 
 1,903 bbls. beef, " 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 3806 
 
 
 
 1,774 " pork, 
 
 
 60 
 
 
 5322 
 
 
 
 25,000 lbs. butter, " 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 625 
 
 
 
 92,120 " cheese. 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 1535 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 6,600 " ham, 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 137 
 
 10 
 
 
 16,000 bu. grain, " 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 2000 
 
 
 
 175 M. hoops, " 
 
 
 70 
 
 
 612 
 
 10 
 
 
 160 M. staves, " 
 
 
 80 
 
 
 640 
 
 
 
 14,600 lbs. hayseed, " 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 365 
 
 
 
 586 bbls. potash, " 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 2880 
 
 
 
 25,000 yds. homemade cloth, 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 2500 
 
 
 
 631 hhds. flaxseed, 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 1264 
 
 
 
 276 tons pressed hay, 
 
 
 60 
 
 
 828 
 
 
 
 4 bbls. gingerbread, 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 £34,218 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 * Six prominent trading vessels, in 1791, owned principally by Joseph Williams, 
 and Uept in the West India trade, were of the following tonnage : 
 
 Ship Josephus, 228 tons. Schooner Nabby, 87 tons. 
 
 Brig Enterpriser, 130 tons. Sloop Prosperity, 70 tons. 
 
 Snow Federal, 110 tons. Sloop Negotiator, 70 tons. 
 
 The Snow was thus described : " This vessel is all Federal ; hull, rigging sails and 
 every material manufactured from the produce of America." 
 
HISTORY OF 
 
 NORWICH. 
 
 
 IMPOETS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. d. 
 
 European goods, value 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 3909 
 
 
 1,500 hides, " 12s. 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 900 
 
 
 7,675 bu. salt, Is. 8d. 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 639 
 
 11 8 
 
 112,625 galls, molasses. Is. Id. 
 
 . 
 
 - 
 
 7540 
 
 
 18,.300 " rum, 2s. 6d. 
 
 - 
 
 ^ 
 
 2287 
 
 10 
 
 1,271 lbs. bobea tea, 2s. 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 127 
 
 2 
 
 20,700 " coffee. Is. - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1045 
 
 
 417,200 " sugar. 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 8344 
 
 
 477 
 
 Total, - - £24,793 3 8 
 
 Shipping belonging to the port at this time : 
 
 Twenty sloops, ----- 940 tons. 
 
 Pive schooners, . - - . . 325 " 
 
 Five brigs, . - . . - 545 " 
 
 One ship, - - - - - - 200 " 
 
 Total, - - - - 2010 " 
 
 No custom-house records of the New London district, prior to the 
 Revolution, are known to be extant. They were either carried away by 
 Duncan Stewart, the last royal collector, in 1776, or more probably de- 
 stroyed in the conflagration of the town in 1781. The first U. S. Col- 
 lector under the Federal Constitution, appointed by General Washington, 
 was 
 
 General Jedidiah Huntington. 
 
 The coast of Connecticut formed two districts, those of New Haven 
 and New London. The New London district extended from Killingworth 
 to Ehode Island, and included the commerce of the two rivers, Connecti- 
 cut and Thames. General Huntington immediately relinquished his mer- 
 cantile concerns in Norwich, and removed to New London, taking posses- 
 sion of his ofEce, as the record states with characteristic accuracy, "August 
 11th, 1789, 7 o'clock, A. M."* 
 
 The appointments made for Norwich were: — Benajah LeffingweU, 
 guager ; Joseph Gale, measurer- and weigher. 
 
 The regular packets at that time running from Norwich to New York 
 were the Juno, Eobert Niles; the Venus, Christopher Vaiil; and the 
 Lady Washington, Stephen Culver. The Norwich Packet, Benjamin 
 Culver, plied regularly to Newport, and the Swallow, Zephaniah Jen- 
 
 * The first vessel entered at the new custom-house was the brig Sally, Capt. Moses 
 Tryon, which arrived that morning from Cape Francois with a cargo of molasses. 
 She was owned by Jeremiah Wadsworth of Hartford. 
 
478 HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 
 
 nings, to Boston. Several other coasting sloops kept the river lively ; 
 among them were the Lark, Jonathan Eoath ; and the Royal Oak, Tim- 
 othy Parker. 
 
 The first clearances from Norwich for a foreign port, under the new 
 collector, August, 1789, were : 
 
 Sloop Sally, Frederick Tracy, for Martinico. 
 Sch. Friendship, Absalom Pride, for St. Martins. 
 Seh. Nabby, Joseph Pierce, for do. 
 
 The earliest entries of note were : 
 
 Aug. Brig Neptune, Hezekiah Perkins, from Hispaniola. 
 
 " Enterprise, Jerahmeel Williams, with 690 tabs of salt. 
 
 The ship Josephus, Elisha Huntington, cleared for Demerara, Sept. 12, 
 1789. A memorandum of her lading will give a good idea of a West 
 India cargo. Her live-stock consisted of 62 horses and mules, a few 
 cows, a yoke of oxen, and a dozen sheep and swine. Of provisions she 
 carried 4500 bunches of onions, 18 hhds. of potatoes, 86 boxes of cheese, 
 18 firkins of butter, nearly 80 hhds. of beef and pork, 30 kegs of crack- 
 ers, 34 bbls. of bread, and 30 bbls. of flour. She had a large amount of 
 brick and lumber, planks, clapboards, staves, joints, and spars ; 115 water 
 hogsheads ; a lot of parlor furniture, such as mahogany tables, green chairs 
 and sofas, and a few saddles and bridles. 
 
 We are struck with astonishment at the quantity of live-stock carried 
 even by the smaller vessels, or sloops, popularly called horse-jockeys, in 
 these voyages. That same season, the Betsey, Jabez Lord, took out 35 
 horses, and the Nancy, John Fanning, 36. These were small sloops.* 
 
 The brig Neptune, which cleared Oct. 1st for Hispaniola, carried 49 
 horses. The Enterpriser, Isaac Williams, sailing for Demarara, Nov. 2d, 
 besides provisions, brick, and lumber, carried 20 horses, 17 cattle, 9 
 mules, 20 sheep, 20 swine, 150 geese, and 100 turkeys.f 
 
 The return cargo consisted of rum, molasses, sugar, wine, pimento, 
 pepper, limes, tamarinds, sweetmeats, aniseed, bags of coffee, bales of 
 cotton, tobacco, indigo, and salt. 
 
 The trade to the northern coast of South America, especially to Dutch 
 Guiana, was lucrative, and the cargoes brought from thence paid a higher 
 duty than others. As an example of the success and spirit with which 
 
 * Capt. Isaac Hull av;\s for many years engaged in the West India trade, sailing from 
 New London in the employ of Norwich and New London merchant?. In one of his 
 voyages in the ship Minerva, (1798,) he carried 98 oxen on his deck. 
 
 t The Enterpriser on her return from this voyage was libeled by the government for 
 importing goods not contained in her manifest, concealing and delivering them at Nor- 
 wich without a permit, viz., 13 hhds. spu-its, 10 bales cotton, 1 bbl. sugar, 1 cask cocoa. 
 
HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 479 
 
 this line of trade was prosecuted, and the risks run, take a horse-jockey 
 sloop of 90 tons burden, called the Prosperity, fittted out by Josephi'Wil- 
 liams. 
 
 We first notice her on a voyage to Essequibo, in March, 1790, with 38 
 horses on her deck ; Jerahmeel Williams, master. From that time she 
 continued the line for eight or nine years, averaging two voyages per year. 
 At her entry in March, 1792, the duties on her cargo amounted to $2,446, 
 and in October of the same year, to $2,747. In one of her trips, (1793,) 
 ehe carried out 40 mules, 12 horses, 190 sheep, and 25 swine, besides the 
 usual variety of other lading. In 1799, she was taken by one of the bel- 
 ligerent cruisers, found to have contraband goods on board, condemned, 
 and forfeited. 
 
 The brig Enterpriser, Hezekiah Freeman, entering from Essequibo in 
 April, 1793, with goods to Joseph Williams and other merchants, paid an 
 import of $3,241 ; the highest of any single Norwich cargo before 1796. 
 
 The ship-masters were generally part owners of vessel and cargo. A 
 large proportion of the merchants had been sea-captains, and it was no 
 uncommon thing for them to alternate between trading at home and trad- 
 ing at sea, — leaving their business with a partner, and taking command of 
 a vessel to the Islands or to Europe. The names of Backus, Coit, Fitch, 
 Perkins, &c., were borne by persons as familiar with the deck as the 
 counter ; with the ports in tropical seas, as with the departments of busi- 
 ness at home. In point of fact, it was necessary that the captain of a 
 merchant vessel should not only be an able mariner, but practiced in 
 trade ; for he generally carried no supercargo, and transacted all the busi- 
 ness of the voyage himself. 
 
 Ships owned and chartered from the New London district, during the 
 year 1791 : 
 
 9 ships, 1 barque, 1 snow, 65 brigantines, 32 schooners, 57 sloops. 
 
 Horses, cattle and mules exported, 7,403. 
 
 During the year preceding, 7,072. 
 
 Wiiat proportion of these were from Norwich, we have not the means 
 of ascertaining. 
 
 American commerce began to meet with its first serious obstructions in 
 1793. Ten years of great prosperity had multiplied the merchant vessels 
 till they literally swarmed in the usual routes of trade. From sixty to 
 eighty American vessels were sometimes reported as lying at once in a 
 single port in the West Indies ; Cape Fran5ois, for instance. The richest 
 part of St. Domingo belonged to the French, with the islands of Martin- 
 ique and Guadaloupe, and the trade to these French colonies was im- 
 mense. In 1793, nearly 1400 American vessels, with a tonnage of 160,- 
 000 tons, were engaged in it. The stern edicts of France and England, 
 the two belligerent powers, fell upon this trade with crushing weight- 
 
480 HISTOET OP NOKWICH. 
 
 American vessels were seized, now by one party and now by the other, 
 carried into port, and there libeled and condemned, the government and 
 tho captors sharing the spoils. By far the greater part of these destruct- 
 ive seizures were made by the British ; they obtained possession of Mar- 
 tinique and Guadaloupe, and preyed upon American commerce without 
 restraint, condemning every vessel from a French port that carried sugar, 
 cotton, or coffee.* 
 
 Capt. John Fanning, of the brig Union, arrived from the West Indies 
 July 10, 1793. He reported that 200 sail of American vessels had en- 
 tered the harbor of Cape Fran9ois between the 19tli and 23d of June. 
 While Capt. Fanning was there, a terrific battle was fought between the 
 races : whites, mulattoes and negroes struggling for the mastery. The 
 town was plundeied and burnt, and it was said that 5000 persons were 
 massacred. Many took refuge in the mountains, and others on board the 
 ships in the harbor. At this period great numbers of refugees from St. 
 Domingo came to the States, seeking an asylum. Norwich had her share 
 of these unfortunate exiles. 
 
 In May, 1794, Congress laid an embargo of thirty days duration. A 
 war with Great Britain was seriously apprehended, and a general spirit 
 of arming in defence of the country prevailed. Public meetings were 
 held in all the larger towns and thriving sea-ports of the Union, and patri- 
 otic resolutions carried by acclamation. At Xew London the public meet- 
 ing was held March 19 th. In Norwich the merchants convened on the 
 18th of April at the house of Elijah Lathrop: Ebenezer Huntington in the 
 chair ; Thomas Fanning, clerk ; and drafted a memorial to Congress, com- 
 plaining of British depredations, and urging immediate retaliatory action. 
 This memorial was forwarded to the House of Representatives. 
 
 But the storm at this time blew over. The difficulties with England 
 were temporarily settled in November, by Jay's treaty, and American 
 commerce resumed its flourishing course. It was still subject to many 
 vexatious impositions, — to the plundering of French privateers and im- 
 pressment by British men-of-war, — yet stiU it prospered. In the West 
 India trade, the most hazardous undertakings were frequently crowned 
 with splendid success. This encouraged enterprise and kept the trade 
 lively with adventures for a second period of ten years. Never was any 
 business more exciting. The gain was alluring, but the hazards were 
 grout. When a vessel left port often a shuddering fear of the deadly 
 fever of the tropics must have swept through the minds of parting 
 friends. 
 
 It is wonderful that in a line of trade attended by such dangers there 
 
 * Jan. 14, 1794. Capt. Moech, arrived from Cape Nicliola Mole, in the schooner 
 Polly, reports that all the West India Islands are in possession of the British, except 
 Capo Erancois and Aux Cares. Norwich Weekly Register. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 481 
 
 should have been no difficulty in obtaining seamen. Young men were 
 eager for the chance ; a crew was always at hand ; the love of adventure 
 was stronger than the fear of shipwreck and death, and one of the great 
 parental trials of the day was that the boys of the family were persever- 
 ingly bent on going to sea. If a vessel was deficient in her crew, it was 
 only necessary to hang out a signal to that effect from mast-head, and 
 applicants would soon appear to fiU the vacancies. 
 
 Two successful voyages in a year appears to have been the climax of 
 good fortune in the West India trade. A few instances have been noticed 
 of three entrances or three clearances during the year, but none of three 
 whole voyages with full cargoes in and out. In 1791, the schooner Chloe, 
 Jabez Lord, entered 7 March, 15 June, and 3 Oct. In 1793, the brig 
 Union, John Fanning, entered 11 March, 11 July, and 7 Dec. The brig 
 Minerva accomphshed fourteen voyages in a Httle more than five years, 
 from Feb., 1801, to the spring of 1806: four under Capt. John French, 
 the last seven under Capt. Sangar. 
 
 ' The sloop Negociator, James Munsell, sailed with a cargo for the West 
 Indies, June 10, 1798, and returned into port July 30th, having completed 
 her voyage in fifty days. This was noticed at the time as an example of 
 a voyage remarkably short and prosperous. The voyage to or from the 
 islands usually occupied from twelve to thirty days; to or from Demerara, 
 from twenty to forty. The sloop Swallow in 1788 was fifty days on her 
 passage from New London to Demerara, having met with opposing winds 
 and heavy storms. 
 
 In 1795, a list of vessels and tonnage belonging to the place was made 
 out in order to favor a petition forwarded to government for the establish- 
 ment of a post-office in Chelsea. The following is a copy of this list^ 
 taken from a draft, in the hand-writing of Joseph Howland, Esq., than 
 whom no man was better acquainted with the maritime affairs of the 
 place. , 
 
 "List of Shipping belonging to the port of Norwich, October 12, 1795. 
 
 Ship Mercury, 
 
 280 
 
 tons. 
 
 Brig i Sally, 
 
 60 
 
 tons, 
 
 " Columbus, 
 
 200 
 
 (f 
 
 " Betsey, 
 
 90 
 
 
 " Modesty, 
 
 240 
 
 u 
 
 Schooner Polly, 
 
 90 
 
 
 " Young Eagle, 
 
 200 
 
 tt 
 
 " , Allen, 
 
 85 
 
 
 " George, 
 
 364 
 
 it 
 
 " Elizabeth, 
 
 75 
 
 
 " Portland, 
 
 220 
 
 tt 
 
 Chloe, 
 
 75 
 
 
 " Charlotte, 
 
 90 
 
 tt 
 
 " Washington 65 
 
 
 Brig Union, 
 
 130 
 
 It 
 
 Schr. Shetucket, 
 
 70 
 
 
 " Endeavor, 
 
 120 
 
 It 
 
 Eobinson Crusoe, 
 
 120 
 
 
 " Friendship, 
 
 120 
 
 •' 
 
 Schooner Beaver, 
 
 60 
 
 
 " Betsey, 
 
 130 
 
 tt 
 
 " Jenny, 
 
 70 
 
 
 " Charlestown, 
 
 60 
 
 " 
 
 Sloop Farmer, 
 
 85 
 
 
 " Polly, 
 
 180 
 
 " 
 
 " Crisis, 
 
 72 
 
 
 " Sally, 
 
 180 
 
 tt 
 
 " Honor, 
 
 65 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 
 
 
 
482 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OP 
 
 NORWICH. 
 
 
 Sloop "William, 
 
 70 tons. 
 
 
 Sloop Mary, 
 
 45 tons. 
 
 " Prosperity, 
 
 90 " 
 
 
 
 Hercules, 
 
 70 " 
 
 " Polly, 
 
 80 " 
 
 
 
 Juno, 
 
 55 " 
 
 " Negotiator, 
 
 90 " 
 
 
 
 Hunter, 
 
 45 " 
 
 " Friendship, 
 
 90 " 
 
 
 
 Patty, 
 
 35 " 
 
 " Bud, 
 
 35 " 
 
 
 
 Nancy, 
 
 70 " 
 
 " § Betsey, 
 
 45 " 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 65 " 
 
 Total seven ships, nine brigs, nine schoonerB, seventeen sloops=forty-two. Total 
 4312 tons, of which only 210 tons is owned in the old Parish, and 4102 is owned in the 
 port or what is called Chelsea. The above does not include a number of river packets, 
 or four New York packets." 
 
 When this list was made out, the shipping interest of the port had not 
 reached its maximum of prosperity. Though it had sufiered from the 
 annoyances of foreign powers, it was in a condition to bear losses without 
 being crippled in its pursuits. For several years after 1795, the importa- 
 tions increased in value, and larger vessels were employed. Heavy car- 
 goes were brought in from Jeremie, Cape Frangois, and Martinique. 
 
 In four successive voyages of the ship Hope, in 1797 and '98, two in 
 each year, three with Elijah Clark, master, and one with Sylvester Bill, 
 bringing rum, molasses, &c., to Rowland & Bill, J. Perkins, and B. 
 Coit, the duties were from $7,000 to nearly $9,000 each. The cargoes 
 of the ship Sally, at this period, were still more valuable, three in succes- 
 sion paying an impost of more than $9,000 each. 
 
 Probably the highest duty ever paid by Norwich merchants on a single 
 cargo was in October, 1798, when the ship Sally, John L. Boswell, enter- 
 ing from St. Domingo, was charged at the custom-house $12,121. 
 
 After 1800 the trade of the port was less flourishing, yet from twenty 
 to thirty brigs, schooners and coasting sloops or packets were generally 
 kept in active service, and West India cargoes continued to arrive. The 
 three-masted schooner Urania, the brigs Antelope, Atalanta, Dove, Hope, 
 and Harriet, made a series of voyages, with varying success, under John 
 and Thomas Backus, Christopher Colver, George Gilbert, Oliver Fitch, 
 Francis Smith, &c., with goods to Jesse Brown & Son, Peter Lanman, 
 Jabez Perkins, Jabez Huntington, Dwight Ripley, Thomas Lathrop, and 
 others. 
 
 The hostile decrees of England and France, though directed mainly 
 against each other, struck heavily upon neutral commerce. From 1803, 
 onward for several years, English ships of war were so numerous in the 
 West Indies that it was scarcely possible for a merchant vessel to enter a 
 port (windward or leeward) without being overhauled. Moreover, French 
 privateers were active ; from sixty to seventy American vessels were taken 
 by them and carried into Cuba during the year 1804. They were lurking 
 in retired places, or traversing the more open seas, and it was equally haz- 
 ardous to seek a market at an island belonging to either of the belh'gerent 
 
HISTORY OF NOBWICH. 483 
 
 powers, or at the Dutcli and Spanish ports on the main. It was a com* 
 mon remark that American commerce was made the prey of all nations. 
 
 The risks were often accepted. The merchants, rather than have their 
 vessels idle at the wharvesj chose the hazardous alternative of keeping 
 them afloat, and continued to send out their ventures. Advertisements 
 like the following were however becoming rare : 
 
 " The beautiful staunch ship Thames, Jonathan Lester, will take a freight of thirty 
 horses, cattle or mules, and 400 barrels inboard. Apply to S. Woodbridge or M. Ben- 
 jamin." Oct. 7, 1806. 
 
 Dr. Dwight, in his travels, written in the early part of the century, 
 says of Norwich : 
 
 '' Within the last twenty years the trade has suffered severely from several causes ; 
 particularly from fires and JFrench depredations. ITrom the latter source no town 
 within my knowledge has experienced greater losses, in proportion to its trading cap. 
 ital. Its commerce, however, is still considerable.'' 
 
 In 1808 the embargo was in force, but during the months of May, June 
 arid July, h/ special permission, vessels Were allowed to depart. Seven 
 brigs and two schooners, belonging to Norwich, took advantage of this 
 license, and cleared, all for Martinico. 
 
 The trade of Norwich from this period rapidly declined. The mer- 
 cantile interest ceased to be productive ; many were impoverished by 
 their risks ; the most sanguine were discouraged, and failures were fre* 
 quent. The following is a sample of an issue less disastrous than that of 
 many of the voyages undertaken at that time. 
 
 Arrived in New York, May, 1810, the brig Sally, Bingley, of Norwich, 
 27 days from Antigua. She had been taken by the French, retaken by 
 the English, carried into Antigua, paid one-eighth for salvage and costs, 
 and was then allowed to return home. 
 
 In 1811, cargoes of considerable value were brought into Norwich from 
 Cayenne, Demerara, St. Michael, and St. Bartholomew ; in all there were 
 eight or ten arrivals that year, but in 1812 only three entries are found. 
 
 26 Feb. arr. sip. Windham, John Doane, from St. Bartholomew with goods to D. 
 Kipley, J. H. Strong, T. M. and Joseph Huntington. 
 
 19 June, arr. sch. Harriet, Alexander Allyn ; goods to D. Lathrop, C. Eells, and 
 Lyman Brewer. 
 
 25 June, arr. brig Park, Joseph Bingley, from Angustura; goods to D. Ripley, Au- 
 gustus Perkins, &c. 
 
 These were the last arrivals before the war, and with these the palmy 
 days of the West India trade terminate. 
 
 During the six or eight years that preceded the war of 1812, more than 
 a thousand merchant vessels had been captured and carried into British 
 
484 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 ports for adjudication, and either wholly confiscated or compelled to pay 
 large sums for salvage or redemption. 
 
 But the greatest indignity offered to Americans was the practice of 
 impressment and search which the British claimed and maintained as a 
 right. Many a fine American sailor Was clutched and forced into invol- 
 untary service on board of a British war vessel in this way. Two instan- 
 ces in which the Norwich marine was compelled to yield a victim to these 
 arrogant demands will be briefly noticed. 
 
 In 1797, Avery Tinker of Norwich was impressed from on board the 
 merchant ship Hope. At a foreign port he contrived to escape, and ulti- 
 mately obtained refuge in an American vessel, but on the passage home 
 was accidentally knocked overboard and drowned. 
 
 In 1798, Charles, son of Stephen Barker of Norwich, enlisted in the 
 armed schooner Galiot, which sailed from New York for some foreign 
 port under Capt. Hudson. On the voyage the schooner was upset in a 
 squall, and the people taken from the wreck by a New York brig bound 
 to Cadiz. They found that port blockaded by an English squadron, the 
 commander of which overhauled the American brig, and impressed the 
 whole of the crew that had been shipwi-ecked, except Capt. Hudson, 
 transferring them to the Edgar, 74. 
 
 Several of these seamen were probably never heard from by their rel- 
 atives. Three years afterward the father of young Barker received a 
 letter from him dated on board the Edgar in the Baltic Sea, June 8, 1801. 
 This was shortly after the terrific battle of Copenhagen, of which the 
 writer gave some details, but the burden of his epistle was, that the doc- 
 uments necessary to procure his release should be sent to him, that he 
 might return to his country and his friends. The papers were forwarded, 
 and repeated appHcations afterward made in his behalf, but in vain. 
 
 The names of vessels are very suggestive. Some of those that we find 
 on the Norwich roll sound well, and are indicative of good taste. Such 
 are, the Eising Sun, the Lady Washington, the Young Eagle, the Minerva, 
 the Ariel, the Lark, the Olive, and the Dove. Others less euphonious, — 
 Chloe, Nabby, Patty, Peggy, Deborah, and the hke, — were doubtless de- 
 signed to commemorate familiar names in the families of the owners. 
 The brig Little Joe, and the sloop Little Nat, refer to two young members 
 of the Howland family. The brig Josephus indicates that Joseph Wil- 
 liams, a large ship-owner, was interested in its success. The brig Esse- 
 quibo Packet, and the ship Stabrreck, point to the commercial intercourse 
 with Dutch ( Uiiana. Negotiator, Enterpriser, Regulator, give an impres- 
 sion of stability in their owners. The ship "Three Friends" probably 
 originated from the amicable relations of three owners, Coit, Lanman and 
 
HISTORY OF NOKWICH. 485 
 
 Huntington. The ship Eleven Sons, of this period, owned in New Lon- 
 don, and the schooner Nine Sisters, belonging to Connecticut river, were 
 probably founded on fact, perpetuating rare instances of household rela- 
 tion. 
 
 The schooner Turn-of-times, built during the Eevolutionary war, indi- 
 cated the desire of the people for the return of peace ; but unfortunately 
 it was captured before that blessed Turn-of-times came. One of the flour- 
 ishing light sloops of New London was aptly named the Nimble-Ninepence. 
 This also fell a prey to the enemy. 
 
 Capt. Christopher Colver is now the oldest ship-master in Norwich, 
 and the only one whose voyages reach back to .the last century. Capt. 
 Sylvester Bill, of nearly equal age, who commanded the armed ship Hope 
 in 1797, died at New York in 1861, aged 91 years. 
 
 Capt. Colver is a native of New London, but came to Norwich in 1790, 
 and became master of a ship in 1802. After the war with Great Britain, 
 he went into the European carrying trade, sailing principally from south- 
 ern ports, and was constantly engaged for nearly thirty years. 
 
 In the course of his voyages he has visited all the noted West Lidia 
 ports, and those on the northern coast of South America ; the Western 
 and Madeira Islands ; Tangier, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Alicant, St. TJbes, Lis- 
 bon, Havre, Bayonne, London, Liverpool ; several Irish ports, and Arch- 
 angel in the Arctic ocean. He now enjoys a green old age, furnishing 
 occasional marine reports for the newspapers, and occupying the same 
 house in Franklin street which he purchased in November, 1800, June 
 8th, 1865, he celebrated his 90th birthday. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 
 
 Edeopean and othbe Foreign Tbade. 
 
 It has been heretofore observed that the merchants before the war had 
 made direct importations from England. Two or three times in a year, a 
 vessel sent out from this western Thames would accomplish its mission 
 and work its way back again with assorted goods and the freshest advices 
 from London. It seems to have been a point of honor to maintain an 
 open communication between these granite hill-sides and the old world. 
 
 After the peace was well established, this trade was renewed, but with 
 diminished enterprise. It never became of much note or importance ; yet 
 a few notices respecting it having been collected, may be worth preserving 
 as personal incidents connected with the history of the times. They wijl 
 be introduced here as an episode from the rushing tide of traffic that after 
 the Revolutionary war set with steady current toward the tropics. 
 
 The small size of the vessels employed in the European trade, and the 
 length of the voyages, contrasted with the majestic march over the deep 
 of an ocean steamer at the present day, exhibits in strong relief the ad- 
 vantage of steam in facilitating intercourse with Europe. 
 
 Memoranda of European Voyages after the Peace of Versailles. 
 
 The brig Hancock, Capt Hezekiah Perkins, sailed for Amsterdam in 
 April, 1783; left that port on her return, August 18, but meeting with a 
 heavy gale, put back to Deal to repair damages, and came from thence in 
 48 days, arriving at New London Nov. 4. 
 
 In 1784, the brig Ranger, Capt. Robert McKown, made a voyage to 
 London, where she arri\ed Sept. 24. Outward passage, 44 days ; return, 
 GO. 
 
 In November of that year, Howland & Coit sent to London "the strong- 
 built double-deek brigantine Little Joe, Gurdon Bill, master." 
 
 In 1785, Capt. Bill made two voyages to Europe in the Centurion, a 
 ship of 1 GO tons, which was afterwards sent to Richmond, and there sold 
 in April, 1786. 
 
 Capt. Timothy Parker made several trips to Europe in the brig Kath- 
 erine. June 19, 1788, he arrived from the Isle of May ; July 22, cleared 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWIOH. 48T 
 
 for Dublin with a cargo of pot and pearl ashes, timber, &c., and arrived 
 again after eight weeks passage, Nov. 15. 
 
 Voyages to Liverpool were also made before the year 1790, by Capt. 
 Robert Mies and Capt. John Howland. In 1791, the sloop Success, I. 
 Glover, went on a trading adventure to Copenhagen. 
 
 A list of several successive voyages made by Captain Pride in the brigs 
 Charlotte and Friendship, will serve as a fair sample of the nature and 
 amount of the Irish trade at this period. 
 
 Beig Charlotte, Absalom Pkide, Jr. 
 
 1791. Entered from Liverpool 3 Nov : duties on the cargo 464.04. 
 
 1792. Cleared for Dublin 10 January, with flax-seed, pearl-ash, timber, trunnels, 3J 
 
 tons sassafras, and 20 lbs. sarsaparilla. 
 Entered, 5 July, with goods to Uriah Tracy, Simeon Thomas, &c. Duties 
 
 1186.87. 
 Cleared 11 Aug. for Dublin. 
 Entered 17 Dec; duties 577.74. 
 
 1793. Cleared for Dublin 21 Jan. with 600 lbs. myrtle wax, 20 cords of wood, pot- 
 
 ash, &c. 
 Entered from Liverpool 1 8 July ; duties 432.57. 
 
 1794. Entered 10 Eeb. after a passage home of 95 days. 
 
 1795. 25 March cleared for Dublin, brig Friendship, A. Pride Jr. with potash, planks, 
 , hides, staves, tmnnels and horn-tips. 
 
 These notices of lading show what articles found a market in Great 
 Britain. One invoice had among its items 419 tierces of sumach. 
 
 In 1796 a small ship was built in Norwich for the Irish trade, called 
 the Ceres. She was commanded by Roswell Roath, and her first voyage 
 was unusually prosperous, being absent only a week over three months, 
 and bringing in a valuable cargo. But in her second or third voyage she 
 was taken 23 days out by a French armed vessel, carried into a French 
 port, and both vessel and cargo condemned. 
 
 The Young Eagle was another small ship employed in this trade. She 
 is first noticed as arriving at New London in November, 1793, from Os- 
 tend, Elias Lord, master. She came in again under the same commander 
 June 2, 1794, in 53 days from Liverpool, and continued for two or three 
 years longer in this line of trade, Jedidiah Perkins, master. 
 
 In 1798 the Irish trade was prosecuted by the brig Neptune, Perkins ; 
 sloop Endeavor, James Hai-lowe ; and schooner Eliza, B. Freeman. The 
 Neptune in a return voyage was boarded, July 17, by a French privateer 
 of 16 gnns, called the Tiger, and plundered of several bales of dry-goods 
 and crates of crockery. Letters were opened, and other enormities com- 
 mitted. She arrived Sept. 2d, 71 days from Liverpool, with nothing left 
 of her cargo but salt. 
 
 In June, 1799, the schooner Victory, Harlowe, from Liverpool, con- 
 BJgned to Thomas Mumford and Jabez Perkins, paid a duty of $2798.46: 
 
488 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 a very large amount, as the charges then ranged on European goods. 
 The schooner Mary, Solomon Stewart, came from Liverpool the same 
 season, with goods to Alpheus Dunham, Lathrop & Eells, Ebenezer and 
 Erastus Huntington, and others. 
 
 July 15, 1800, arrived ship Three Friends, Wm. Coit, Jr., 64 days 
 from Liverpool, with goods to Jabez Huntington, Peter Lanman, and 
 others. Li April, 1801, arrived schooner Eliza, Benajah Leffingwell, in 
 65 days from Liverpool. 
 
 The brig Ceres, so called in remembrance of the lost ship of that name, 
 was built at Norwich in 1804 for the Irish trade, Eoswell Eoath, com- 
 mander. Her first voyage was to Cork, from whence she arrived at New 
 Tork with ten passengers, which was then considered a large company of 
 emigrants, Jan. 2'), 1805. She came a few days later to New London, 
 and reported "a tedious passage of 100 days from Newry." 
 
 Vessels going to Spain and Portugal carried chiefly provisions and sil- 
 ver dollars ; bringing back wines, fruits, brandy, drugs, and silks. 
 
 21 Feb. 1794, arrived sloop Honor, William Pollard, from Cadiz, with goods con- 
 signed to Joseph Howland ; duties 159.06. Left at Cadiz, sch. Patty, Ames, of Nor- 
 wich. 
 
 28 Oct. 1790, arrived brig Recovery, John Webb, from Lisbon with goods to Joseph 
 Williams ; daties 500.07. 
 
 11 March, 1796, entered from the Isle of May, Portngal, ship Mercury, Hezekiah 
 Perkins ; duties 85 1 .40. 
 
 These examples are sufficient to serve as illustrations of this trade. 
 The brigs Neptune, Atalanta and Despatch were engaged in it. Captains 
 "Whiting, Loring and Boswell were popular commanders. 
 
 The experience of Norwich ship-masters was often employed in the 
 service of other ports. In 1801, we find Capt. Eockwell at Amsterdam 
 in the ship Commerce, and Roswell Roath at London in the Juliana, New 
 Tork vessels. Capt. Tracy commanded the ship Eugenia in voyages to 
 Bordeaux. Other instances might be mentioned, and they became more 
 numerous in later years. A New England ship-master, when business at 
 home failed, was sure to find honorable employment either at New York 
 or in some of the southern ports. Moreover the merchants of Norwich, 
 New London, and other ports in Connecticut, were largely interested in 
 New York shipping, and the imports made by them directly were often 
 received via New York. 
 
 In planning a commercial adventure, it was not uncommon to combine 
 a fishing voynge with European trade. It saved the drain of silver to 
 pay for imported goods. A license for fishing and a foreign passport were 
 obtained, and the vessel cleared for the cod-fisheries and a market. Sev- 
 eral Norwich schooners entered into this line of traffic, particulai'ly be- 
 tween 1802 and 1808. 
 
HISTORY OF NOBWIOH. 489 
 
 The schooner Mechanic, Capt. Beny, arrived at , New London March 
 5, 1805, in 92 days from Barcelona, with a cargo of brandy to N. How- 
 land and J. Brown ; duties $2198.14. Capt. Berry sailed the next month 
 for " Green Island and Europe," in the brig Dolphin. 
 
 The Norwich Courier, May 1, 1805, gives notice that a fleet of five 
 brigs and schooners had dropped down the river, bound to the Straits of 
 Bellisle on fishing adventures, and that four others were nearly ready to 
 follow. These were the brigs Hiram, Austin ; Iris, Chr. Stanton ; Dol- 
 phin, Berry ; and the schoonei-s Betsey, Loring ; Amelia, Fitch ; Thetis, 
 Hall ; Chelsea, Doane ; Jane, Berry ; and the Mechanic. These nine 
 vessels were afterward reported safe at Green Island, and a part of them 
 visited the Mediterranean before returning home. 
 
 In 1806, the schooner Jane, Berry, from the Straits of Belleisle, bound 
 up the Mediterranean, was taken byi the English, on pretence of her 
 attempting to go into Cadiz, and sent into Gibraltar, where she was 
 cleared and proceeded on her voyage ; arrived late in the season at Bos- 
 ton, 60 days from Alicant. 
 
 The ship Walter, Lord, was also taken by the British and ordered into 
 Gibraltar, but was retaken by the captain, and went into Cadiz, from 
 whence she returned to New York in safety. 
 
 June 6, 1806, arrived brig Dolphin, Farewell Coit, 60 days from Alge- 
 siras, with goods to Jesse Brown, Jr., Levi Huntington, and E. Coit & Co., 
 paying a duty of $6454.10, which we believe to be the highest duty 
 assessed on any one consignment from Europe to Norwich merchants. 
 
 The Dolphin cleared in May, 1807, Saxton Berry, master, for Green 
 Island and Europe, with license to trade, and came from Alicant in De- 
 cember with goods to Jesse Brown & Son. 
 
 But this peculiar line of business soon declined. Other ports were 
 more favorably situated for engaging in the fisheries, and the New Eng- 
 land vessels were all more or less annoyed by British competitors, and 
 sometimes driven from the ground. 
 
 The commercial interests of Norwich, in their long progress, have been 
 impeded by so many sources of discouragement, that their continued pur- 
 suit displays a more than ordinary spirit of enterprise in the community. 
 Unsuccessful investments of talent and capital seem only to lead the way 
 to greater exertions and a more active perseverance. 
 
 In 1799, a company was formed for prosecuting the sealing and whaling 
 business. They fitted out the ship Susannah, and gave the command to 
 Capt. James Munsell, an enterprising young navigator, who had made 
 several prosperous West India voyages. The Susannah sailed from New 
 London Oct. 15, going out under convoy of the U. S. ship Connecticut. 
 She spent the next summer in sealing upon the coast of Patagonia, but 
 being at last driven out to sea by heavy gales, she went into the river 
 
490 HISTOET OF NOBWICH 
 
 La Plata, and from tbence to Eio Janeiro, where Capt. Munsell died of 
 the small pox. The .ship was subsequently wrecked on the coast of Bra- 
 zil, and vessel and cargo totally lost. Charles Fitch, the supercargo, and 
 most of the crew returned home in safety. 
 
 Tlie schooner Oneco, fitted out by the same company, sailed only a 
 week later than the Susannah. She wintered at the Falkland Islands ; 
 took 5000 skins on the coast of Patagonia, ran up the border of Chili to 
 Valparaiso for supplies, and was there seized and confiscated by the 
 Spanish authorities. 
 
 The same company purchased the ship Miantonomo, and fitted her for 
 whaling. She sailed 5th September, 1800, under Valentine Swain, Jr., 
 clearing for Canton, with the design of whaling upon the north-west coast 
 of North America, and circumnavigating the globe on the voyage home. 
 She was at St. Mary's, Pacific ocean, in April, 1801, but afterward on the 
 coast of Chili became involved in difficulties with the Spanish authorities, 
 from which she was never extricated. The Mars, sent out by the same 
 compan}', and commanded by another Captain Swain, met with a similar 
 fate. 
 
 These vessels, all nearly new, well fitted, and with ofiicers and crews 
 carefully selected, after clearing at the custom-house, never again appear 
 in our records. Most of the seamen returned, working from one point to 
 another in various ways, but enduring many hardships before they reached 
 home. 
 
 In 1798, an attempt was made to establish a direct intercourse with the 
 East Indies. The ship Pacific, Solomon Ingraham, was sent out for the 
 purpose of purchasing goods at Calcutta. She cleared at New London, 
 May 11, "for Madeira and a market," and merely touching at Madeira, 
 arrived at Calcutta in 200 days. She took out no cargo. 
 
 The East India trade was then arranged on a different basis from what 
 it is at present. The homeward cargo, consisting chiefly of cotton goods, 
 was paid for in current money. Spanish dollars were therefore carried 
 out as the medium of exchange. Since that period, bales of cotton and 
 bills on London have been used, and the goods imported are saltpetre, 
 indigo, various gums and dyes, &c. Capt. Ingraham sailed from Calcutta 
 on the homeward voyage, March 14, 1709. A few days out, even before 
 lGa\ing Bengal Bay, he was taken by a French privateer, a prize crew 
 sent on board, and the vessel ordered to the Isle of France. Just before 
 reaching that island, a British man-of-mar discovered her, and pursued so 
 closely that the French commander ran the craft ashore, and escaped with 
 liis crew. The British took the cargo for their prey, and burnt the 
 vessel. 
 
 Capt. Ingraham and John Hamilton, supercargo of the Pacific, with 
 several other Americans that had been taken and carried to Mauritius, 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 491 
 
 left the island in a cartel for Boston to be exchanged. The vessel on 
 nearing the coast encountered a violent gale, and was wrecked upon Cape 
 Cod. Happily no lives were lost, and Capt. Ingraham arrived in Nor- 
 wich Dec. 24, 1799. We find him in 1800 advertising Chinese and India 
 goods,— Madras long cloths, Pekin and sinchew silks, bandannas, santa- 
 foui-s, and Nansouk muslins,— received by the Nancy, another East India 
 ship, in which he had an interest. 
 
 Capt. Ingraham afterwards made two or more voyages to the East in 
 the ship Virginia, sailing from New York. He died at Madras, Aug. 15, 
 1805, in the 4Qth year of his age. 
 
 Two of the sons of Thomas Hubbard, proprietor of the Norwich 
 Courier, were for a considerable period residents in the East Indies. 
 Thomas, the oldest, went to Calcutta in the early part of the century, and 
 obtained a situation as printer, in connection with Dr. Hunter, who was 
 the government printer and director of the Hindostanee press in that city. 
 After his return home, he went into the commission business at Eichmond, 
 A'"a., of the firm of Hubbard & Lyman, but continued his correspondence 
 with the East, and made in all four voyages to Calcutta and two to Batavia. 
 He died at the latter place in 1817, in the 35th year of his age. 
 
 Amos H. Hubbard, at a very early age, followed his brother to Cal- 
 cutta, and arriving there just as the latter left for home, took the place 
 vacated by him in the printing office with Dr. Hunter. When the island 
 of Java was taken by the British in 1811, the government press was 
 removed to Batavia, by order of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the Eng- 
 lish Lieut. Governor. Mr. Hubbard went with it, and Dr. Hunter dying 
 soon afterward, the management of the press devolved upon him. He 
 continued in charge, and printed the "Java Government Gazette," till the 
 island was restored to the Dutch, nearly five years. He returned to this 
 country in 1817, in the ship America, which had been chartered in New 
 York by his order and was furnished by him with its cargo. 
 
 A limited amount of trade with European ports, Lisbon, Bilboa, Liver- 
 pool, &c., was kept up until broken ofi" by the second war with England. 
 A few more items will be given as specimens. 
 
 25 Feb. 1807 : arrived brig Maria, Moses Hillard, 60 days from Lisbon. 
 
 May 9 : cleared for Nantz, brig Traveller, Walter Lester; arrived, on the return 
 voyage, 29 October, 46 days from Bilboa. 
 
 In 1809, the ship Stabroeck, Charles Rockwell, made a voyage to Cork and Liver- 
 pool. 
 
 In Jan. 1810, arrived from Liverpool, brig Fax, John Parker, with salt, coal, crates 
 of crockery, &c., consigned to Roger Huntington and E. & E. Huntington ; duties, 
 
 * Capt. Ingraham married in 1798, Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew Perkins. His 
 house in Norwich was on the Plain, next to that of Rev. Walter King. He left no 
 children. His relict man'ied Capt. John L. Boswell, being his second wife. 
 
492 HISTOET OP NOEWICH. 
 
 $342.73. The Fox cleared for Cadiz the next July, and returned in Noyember, — 42 
 days passage. 
 
 The Chelsea, Chr. Colver, sailed for Alicant in January, 1810, Asa Fitch, passen- 
 ger. On the return voyage, arrived 17 July, 106 days from Alicant, and 87 from Cen- 
 ter, with goods consigned to Peter Lanman, Erastus Coit & Co., and others. The 
 Chelsea sailed again in October, bound to Cadiz, under Farewell Coit. 
 
 Aug. 3, 1811, arrived brig Dove, Colver, 63 days from Liverpool, passenger Roger 
 Huntington. The same year Capt. Walter Lester made a voyage to Lisbon in the 
 schooner Betsey, and in April, 1812, the Chelsea, Jonathan Lester, cleared at the cus- 
 tomhouse for the same port, returning safely in Jnly. 
 
 After Goddard & Williams entered into the flouring business at Nor- 
 wich Falls, their principal correspondence was with Richmond and other 
 southern ports, but they sent one vessel to Europe, viz., the Ann & Mary, 
 Eobert N. Avery, which cleared at Xew London in November, 1812, with 
 a cargo of flour. 
 
 These were the last undertakings before the war. The direct transit to 
 Europe ceased, and no Norwich vessel was again fitted out for that coast 
 till 1833, when the ship Boston was sent to Bremen by Lester & Co. 
 
 It has been already noticed that the vessels employed in this trade were 
 of comparatively small capacity and measurement. But at that period the 
 vessels of the larger ports, New York and Boston, were on the same Mm- 
 ited scale, insignificant in size and equipment, compared with the princely 
 merchantmen of the present day. 
 
 In the advertisements of the old traders, we often find notices of goods 
 received direct from London, Bristol, Dublin, and Liverpool. Examples : 
 
 Feb. 17, 1785. Thomas Fanning has just imported direct from London and now 
 opened for sale at his store opposite his dwelling-house between the Town and Land- 
 ing an assortment of European and India goods. 
 
 1787. John Moore has Irish linens and chintzes just from Dublin for sale. 
 
 1792. Woodbridge & Snow have for sale "teas direct from China; fresh Bohea, 
 Hyson and Hyson-skin." 
 
 1793. Joseph Howlaud has for sale "Manchester goods direct from the manufac- 
 turers." 
 
 1800. Jabez Huntington & Co. advertise "salt, nails, crockery, and hardware, 
 dhect from Liverpool by the ship Three Friends." 
 
 1804. "Peter Lanman Jr. imports from England and keeps for sale, crown glass, 
 hardware, &o." 
 
MbjIokanda oi" DlSASlEaS. 
 
 We have thus far spoken of the trade of Norwich chiefly in respect to 
 Its amount and successi It may not be amiss to review the ground, and 
 tihronicle a feW striking incidents that diversified the scene and gave it a 
 dark side. 
 
 In September, 1783, Capt. Azariali llillard, who sailed from Norwich 
 in August, encountered a liurricane at sea, by which his vessel was over- 
 set, and all on board perished except Joseph Pierce, the matcj who clung 
 to the wreck, and after a fearful experience. Was taken off and returned 
 home in safetyi 
 
 In August, 1785, the sloop Lydiaj Zachariah Bill, was wrecked in a 
 gale near St. Martin's ; the vessel and cargo lost, and one man drowned. 
 In the same gale, two other sloops belonging to Norwich, St. Mark, Capt. 
 Eossiter, and the John, Capt. tVhitej were driven out to sea, and suffered 
 considerable damages 
 
 March 5, l786, Capt. 'B^enrj Billings iU the schooner Humbird was 
 cast away at St. Eustatia ; vessel and most of the cargo lost. 
 
 During the winter of 1787, the schooner Virgin^ Alpheus Billings, out- 
 Ward bound, Was cast away on the coast of Demarara ; vessel and cargo 
 lost. 
 
 In February, 1788, the brig Clarissa came in froni Port«au'Prince j 
 her master, WiUiam Bering, had died on the passage home, just as they 
 Came upon the coast. The Vessel touched at Elizabeth Islands, and 
 buried Capt. Boring at Tarpaulin Cove, " that very cold Tuesday/' Feb- 
 ruary 6th. 
 
 March 24th, Asa Waterman, homeward bound from Port-au-Prince in 
 the brig Fanny, was wrecked in a fog upon Narragansett Beach. In 
 November, the sloop Polly, C. Cook, was lost at Deer Island on the coast 
 of Maine. The people and part of the lumber saved. 
 
 August 22, 1788, the brig Narcissa arrived from the coast of Africa, 
 Zachariah Bill late master. Four days from the African coast, Capt. Bill 
 died, and Capt. Mortimer took command, returning home by Demarara 
 and St. Eustatia. 
 
494 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 In 1789, disasters were numerous. The sloop Nancy, Elias Lord, lost 
 her whole deck-load of stock in a gale. Capt. Hezekiah Perkins, in the 
 brig Neptune, bound to Aux Cajes, lost his mainmast and thirty-six 
 horses. In the same gale the ship Josephus, E. Huntington, lost main 
 and mizzen mast and nearly fifty head of cattle. In December, advices 
 were received that Capt. John Howland of the schooner Modesty (who 
 sailed from New London the last of July) had died at sea, as also his 
 mate, Robert Wattles i Thomas George, a seaman, and Mr. Joshua Pico, 
 merchant of Norwich, who went out with Capt. Howland as a passenger, 
 for his health. During the same season, the whole crew of the sloop 
 Lively, of Norwich, with the exception of the master, Capt. Mortimer, 
 died on the African coast, of the deadly malaria to which that region is 
 subject. 
 
 In January, 1790, the brig Friendship, John Pierce, bound to Aux 
 Cayes, was wrecked on the Isle des Vaches, and totally lost. 
 
 The sloop Negociator, Zebadiah Smith, sailed for Demarara, Dec. 7, 
 1790, and in lat. 37° long. 74° was struck by a heavy sea, which swept 
 the captain, who stood at the helm, overboard. The accident occurred at 
 midnight, while a furious gale was raging, and nothing could be done by 
 the crew to save their unfortunate commander. The voyage was com- 
 pleted under Nathaniel Barker.* 
 
 In March, 1794, the sloop Harmony, of Norwich, was met with at sea, 
 not far from St. Domingo, drifting about, half full of water, with no one 
 on board, her sails gone, and what rigging remained, useless. Apparently 
 her whole crew had perished. 
 
 In March, 1795, the brig Nancy, Capt. John Webb, with a full cargo 
 of rum and sugar from Jamaica, after touching at New London and taking 
 in several passengers, sailed on the 12th for New York, and that same 
 night was cast away on Eaton's Neck, and vessel and cargo lost. The 
 passengers escaped with difficulty ; among them were Dr. Benjamin But- 
 ler, a large owner in the vessel and cargo, and his sister, Mrs. Denison. 
 
 The ship Speculator, J. S. Billings, bound to the West Indies, met with 
 a gale, eighteen days out, in which she broached to, overset, and had all 
 her stock swept away. By cutting away the mizzen mast, she righted and 
 became manageable, but having lost her voyage, she returned into port 
 Nov. 11th. 
 
 In 1796, many licavy losses were sustained, both from hostile elements 
 and foreign belligerents. In ]\Iarch, Park Benjamin, in the brig Nancy, 
 lost forty-five mules overboard in a gale of wind. Moses Benjamin, in 
 the schooner Beaver, lost nineteen horses and two men. On his return 
 
 * In September, 1792, Capt. Isaac B. Durkee, in the sloop Betsey, belonging to 
 Samuel Woodbridge, sailed for Eustatia, and before arriving there, discovered that, two 
 of his crew, whom he had shipped at New London, were females. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 495 
 
 voyage, Capt. Park Benjamin, having a cargo valued at $50,000, was 
 carried into Grenada, where he was obliged to pay largely to get cleared, 
 and during the detention, lost his mate and all his people by putrid fever. 
 
 The schooner Chloe, J. Lord, and the Crisis, Cyprian Cook, were over- 
 hauled and plundered by the French ; the Lucy, Gilbert, carriedjnto Gua- 
 daloupe, and vessel and cargo condemned. 
 
 Jan. 11, 1798, arrived schooner Fair Lady, Moses Benjamin, after a 
 dreary passage of 83 days from Demarara. The schooner Sachem, Jer- 
 emiah Harris, cleared at the custom-house in April, bound to the Mole, 
 but before reaching her port, was stranded on the North Caicus and went 
 to pieces. 
 
 Two very striking disasters, in which not the suffering vessels, but those 
 which came to the rescue, were from Norwich, may be allowed a place in 
 our chronicle. 
 
 April 6, 1795, the sloop Prosperity, Park Benjamin, arrived at New 
 London, 25 days from Essequibo, bringing in also the ship Polly, David 
 Baldwin. The Polly was 90 days from Demarara. In March, during a 
 furious gale, she lost rudder and sails, and was thrown on her beam ends, 
 which shifted her cargo and stove several hogsheads of rum. She was 
 afterwards driven off the coast seven times, till at last she was met and 
 towed in by Capt. Benjamin. 
 
 In November, 1795, the ship Columbus, Capt. Lathrop, sailed for 
 Charleston. On the passage she fell in with a schooner from Port Dau- 
 phin, bound to Boston, with only one living man on board ; the others, 
 five in number, had died of fever, a few days after leaving port. Capt. 
 Lathrop put two of his men on board, and the vessel arrived safely at 
 New London, where she discharged a valuable cargo. 
 
 "When the British obtained possession of the French Islands in 1794, 
 those American vessels that chanced to be in the harbors were seized and 
 many of them condemned and forfeited. The property of American mer- 
 chants on the land was likewise in various instances confiscated. From 
 •the letter of a ship-master, dated at St. Pierre, March 2, 1794, to his fam- 
 ily in Norwich, we give a shbrt extract : 
 
 "I have lost all my property by the siirrendcr of St. Pierre to the English. I have 
 not only lost my vessel and cargo, but my wearing apparel, bedding, books, quadrant, 
 and all the money I had to the amount of 1700 dollars. Our friend and neighbor Capt. 
 IFred. Tracy has shared the same fate." 
 
 At this time the British commanders on the West India station received 
 orders to seize, detain, and bring to legal adjudication all vessels laden 
 with the produce of French colonies or engaged in carrying supplies to 
 said colonies. This decree and the coincident activity of French priva- 
 teers made almost a clean sweep of the shipping then abroad. Congress 
 
496 HISTORY OF NOKWICH. 
 
 at the same time laid an embargo upon vessels in port, and for a short 
 space there was a lull in marine aiFairs. The West India trade, however, 
 soon revived, and was pursued under great hazard and difficulty. Indig- 
 nities were heaped upon American seamen, and often, when not wholly 
 confiscated, the vessels were ransacked from stem to stern, and plundered 
 of many valuable articles. Of the Norwich marine that suffered in this 
 way, we can only notice a few instances. 
 
 Capt. Frederick Tracy, taken by the English and carried into Mont- 
 serrat, lost a valuable cargo by the decree of the Admiralty Court. Capt. 
 Glover was condemned at St. Kilts. Capt. Gilbert, after being deprived 
 of part of his lading, was released. The French privateers, slipping out 
 of the island ports, and waylaying the customary paths of commerce, 
 caught many a rich prize,— the courts before which the captured vessels 
 ^vere carried, being sure to condemn the cargo as contraband. 
 
 Capt. Sangar in the schooner Chloe was captured, and he and his peo- 
 ple stripped of every article of value, even to the clothing on their per- 
 sons. The captain himself was set ashore at Laguira, barefoot. The 
 Vessel was afterward released, but at a later period was again captured, 
 Ebenezer Oooley, master, carried into Guadaloupe, and never appeared m 
 our waters afterward. 
 
 In February, 1797, Capt. Webb, in a voyage to Jeremie, was taken 
 and carried into Petit Guave, where he was detained ninety days, a quar- 
 ter of his cargo taken, and he lost all his crew by sickness, except one 
 man. 
 
 Capt. Isaac Hull, afterward the veteran hero of the frigate Constitution, 
 i)ut then a ship-master in the "West India trade, was repeatedly arrested 
 in his voyages by hostile cruisers. He was taken in May, 1797, in the 
 ship Minerva of New London, and lost both vessel and cargo. He 
 ruturned home, and in July started on another voyage in the schooner 
 Beaver, of Norwich. He was again captured and cai'ried into Porto 
 Rico, where he was once more condemned. 
 
 In March, the' brig Betsey, J. Lord, was taken by the French, carried 
 into Guadaloupe, tried and released ; afterward taken by the EngUsh, car- 
 ried into Tortola, and a second time tried and released. 
 
 The Sally, Capt. Boswell, bound to Jeremie, with nearly ninety head of 
 stock on board, was taken by the armed brig Pandure, of fourteen guns, 
 the privateer firing a broadside before hailing. She took out twenty-one 
 men, nearly the whole crew, and putting eleven Frenchmen in their place, 
 ordered the vessel to a French port. Eight days afterward she was taken 
 by an English brig, carried into a neutral port, and there given up to Capt. 
 Boswell, half her cargo being retained for salvage. 
 
 The brig Hannah, Park Benjamin, was also twice taken in one voyage, 
 and after some loss and detention, released. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 497 
 
 The ship Young Eagle (returning from Liverpool in August) sailed 
 Sept. 19 for the West Indies, under Absalom Pride, with no contraband 
 goods whatever on board. She was however taken by a French priva- 
 teer, carried into port and condemned, solely upon the plea of not being 
 furnished with a role d'equipage, or registry of the crew. The vessel was 
 however redeemed by Capt. Pride. 
 
 The Charlotte, Alexander Morgan, in a homeward passage from Dem- 
 arara, was overhauled by a privateer sloop of four guns from Guadaloupe, 
 and stripped of every thing valuable, even to the charts, books, clothes 
 and cash of the officers. The Lark, Gilbert, was boarded and searched 
 by an English twenty-gun frigate, and released, but was afterward twice 
 chased by French privateers, from whom she barely escaped. 
 
 In March, 1798, the schooner Polly, Smith, was taken by an English 
 vessel near St. Bartholomew, robbed of a negro boy, forty shoats, and 
 $200 in cash, and then released. 
 
 The continuance of these depredations made it imperative for trading 
 vessels either to be furnished with means for self-defence, or to hover 
 under the wing of an armed escort. Early in 1798, the ships Hope, E.. 
 Clark, and Sally, Buswell, were respectively fitted yith an armament of 
 fifteen and twelve guns, for the purpose of protecting themselves and. 
 others. They dropped down to New London in May, and were soon 
 joined by seven brigs and schooners from Norwich, under Captains Ben- 
 jamin, L. P. W. Chester, Cook, Gilbert, Lord, Billings, and Winchester, 
 and several other vessels of the New London district, making a respect- 
 able West India fleet that sailed under their convoy. 
 
 Tropical fevers during this season were intensely virulent. Capt. Bos- 
 well of the Sally lost eight of his crew. Joseph Lanman, second mate of 
 the Hope, died at sea, after leaving the Mole, to return home. These two 
 vessels arrived the 1st of October, crowded with French passengers. The 
 Mole was about to be evacuated, and possession taken by the African Gen- 
 eral Touissant. A fleet of thirty American vessels left the islands, under 
 convoy of the Hope and Sally. 
 
 It was in August and September of the year 1798, that the yellow fever 
 raged with such fatal severity at New London. A^ vessels coming up the 
 river were required to lie at quarantine near Bushnell's Cove, under the 
 direction of the Health Committee, 
 
 In February, 1799, an action took place off St. Kitts between a French 
 and American frigate ; the Constellation, Commodore Truxton, captured 
 L'Insurgente. A regular war with France was now seriously appre- 
 hended, and forcible seizures were made on both sides. 
 
 A few more instances of the loss sustained by Norwich adventurers, 
 will be given, though not always perhaps in the true order of sequence. 
 From the injuries that fell to the share of one small port,, some estimate 
 32 
 
498 BISTORT OP NORWICH. 
 
 may be formed of the ravages perpetrated on the whole American coast, 
 by the belligerent powers, out of fierce indignation at our neutrality. 
 
 Most of the seizures were made upon the plea of having contraband 
 goods on board. Horses, one of the most profitable articles sent to the 
 West India market, were contraband. 
 
 The schooner Commerce, Samuel Freeman, bound to Martinico, was 
 taken by the privateer L'Esperance, within an hour's sail of her port, and 
 a prize-master with four men put on board. Capt. Freeman with a part 
 of his crew were left with them. "Watching his opportunity, he rose upon 
 his captors, and after an obstinate resistance, in which one man was killed 
 and others wounded, succeeded in retaking the vessel. Capt. Freeman in 
 the conflict received three severe flesh-wounds from a cutlass. Unfortu- 
 nately the privateer discovered that the Commerce was altering her 
 course, and gave chase, compelling the captain at last to run the vessel 
 ashore, among the breakers on the east side of Dominique, where she 
 went to pieces. 
 
 In 1799, the West India fleet belonging to Norwich sailed in January. 
 It consisted of the armed ships Hope, B. Coit, and Sally, John McCarty ; 
 the ship General I/incoln, E. Lord, J. Kelly supercargo ; schooners Fair 
 Lady, Benajah LefBngwell, Friendship, J. Williams, Favorite, B. Paine; 
 sloops Negociator, Munsell, and Prosperity, J. W. Brewster. Other ves- 
 sels that had sailed in December, and were then out, were the brig Bay- 
 
 ■ onne, Satterlee ; schooners Lark, Gilbert ; Harriet, Webb ; Jenny and 
 "Hannah, G. Bill ; Chloe, E. Cooley ; and sloops Despatch and Farmer. 
 
 The Hope and Sally were bound to Barbadoes. They came home by 
 Havana, with rich cargoes, and arrived safely, but the Sally had lost half 
 her crew by sickness. The Hope sailed once more, in August, under 
 Sylvester Bill, but on her return voyage was captured by a French pri- 
 vateer. The Hope had fifteen guns, and the privateer only four, but the 
 French conquered by stratagem. They had eighty men in their vessel, 
 and dressing a part of them in women's apparel, decking the ship with 
 garlands, and filling the air with joyous songs and shouts, they deceived 
 
 ■ Capt. Bill, who, as they were neai- the land, took it for a coasting vessel 
 with a pleasure part)(|on board. He was boarded and his deck covered 
 with armed men, before he had opportunity to make any resistance. 
 
 The General Lincoln, only three days out of New London, in a heavy 
 gale, lost her second mate, Elisha Reynolds, overboard, and had 50 head 
 of stock swept away. She however pursued her voyage, and returned 
 in May with goods consigned to G. L'Hommedieu, John Converse, &c. 
 The Fair Lady lost, by sickness, the mate, Oliver Barker, and two sea- 
 men. 
 
 The Favorite was arrested by a privateer on her outward voyage, and 
 plundered of all h^r small stock, cabin stores, furniture, charts, and insti-u- 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 499 
 
 ments, and then released. Capt. G. Bill's schooner and the sloop Pros- 
 perity were both seized, carried into Guadaloupe, condemned, and for- 
 feited. 
 
 1800. The brig Harriot, Francis Smith, in a return voyage from 
 Demarara, was taken and sent into Martinique, but having nothing con- 
 traband on board, was liberated, and proceeded on her voyage. Before 
 reaching the coast, she was taken by an English armed vessel and sent 
 into St. Kitts, where she was tried by the court, released, and came from 
 thence in 27 days. 
 
 The schooner Fair Lady, J. Williams, was taken by a French armed 
 vessel called " Conquest of Italy." A prize crew were put on board, and 
 she was ordered into a French port. Capt. Williams was detained on 
 board the privateer, which was fortunately soon after captured by the 
 Connecticut sloop-of-war, Capt. Tryon. 
 
 The schooner Paragon, Jonathan Lester, captured by the French, was 
 re-captured by the English and taken into an English port. After paying 
 a salvage of one-third of her cargo, and all the costs, she was suffered to 
 proceed on her voyage. 
 
 The brig Caroline, Harvey Winchester, was taken, plundered, scuttled, 
 and sunk. The crew were carried to St. Kitts, and there detained for 
 some time as prisoners. 
 
 Capt. LefHngwell in the ship Patty, while at Jamaica, had most of his 
 crew prostrated with the yellow fever. Jedidiah Kelley, supercargo of 
 the vessel, and Joshua Walworth, died before leaving the port. 
 
 Ship Sally, McCarty, leaving Liverpool with a lading of salt, when 
 just off the harbor, went ashore near the Queen's Dock, and both vessel 
 and cargo were lost, September, 1 800. 
 
 The brig William, Samuel Freeman, foundered at sea, Sept. 10, 1800. 
 Her stock was swept overboard ; she was dismasted, lost her rudder, and 
 in this situation the crew remained ten days, when they were taken off by 
 a Spanish vessel and carried to the South American coast, one man only 
 being lost, viz., William Roath. Capt. Freeman came home from the Bay 
 of Honduras with Capt. Sparrow in the brig Despatch. The wreck was 
 found at sea by one of our vessels, towed into Newport, brought round to 
 the West Chelsea ship-yard, and refitted for new service. 
 
 The same season, Capt. Hezekiah Freeman, in the brig Ann, during a 
 violent gale, had all his stock swept overboard, — in sailor language, sent 
 down as a tribute to Davie Jones. The brig Favorite, Capt. Brumley, 
 was likewise dismasted. 
 
 Capt. Gilbert, in the brig Three Sisters, foundered s,t sea and lost both 
 vessel and cargo ; the crew clinging to the wreck, were at last relieved. 
 . Many such disasters occurred in the terrible hurricane season of Septem- 
 ber, 1800, and similar incidents continue to stream along the current of 
 
500 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 West India trade from year to year. We can not follow the list with con- 
 secutive detail, or anything like exhaustive accuracy. 
 
 1801. The new brig Resolution, Alpheus Billings, bound to Demarara, 
 was taken 27 days out and sent to Guadaloupe. The captain and crew 
 were detained several weeks, most of the time in prison, and then sent in 
 a cartel to St. Kitts. They reached home in July. 
 
 1803. The brig William lost while in the West Indies, Capt. George 
 W. Palmer, master, Samuel Hyers, mate, and three seamen, by sickness. 
 
 In July, 1804, four vessels from Norwich cleared at the New London 
 custom-house nearly at the same time : 
 
 Brig William, John Brown. 
 
 " Dove, John McGowty. 
 
 " Fortune, Charles BUlings. 
 Schooner Betsey, Christopher Colver. 
 
 They all sailed before the first of August, and were often within hailing 
 distance or in sight of each other while on the voyage, and one afternoon 
 three of these vessels, the WUliam, Fortune, and Betsey, whUe sailing in 
 the tropical seas, the air being calm and the ocean smooth, ran along side 
 by side, and the crews called to each other and conversed from the hay- 
 stacks on deck, where they were eating their supper. That very night a 
 tremendous hurricane swept over those seas, and neither the William or 
 the Fortune were ever heard from afterward ; the destruction being so 
 complete that no memento of their fate was found. But of this hurricane, 
 so narrow was its scope, the only influence that reached Capt. Colver was 
 a magnificent billowy swell of the sea, rolUng him on and following him 
 for two days.* 
 
 A monumental inscription in the Chelsea burial-ground shows that the 
 family of Capt. Alpheus BilUngs had a heavy share in the loss of the 
 Fortune. 
 
 This monument is erected to the Memory 
 
 of Capt. Charles Billings 
 
 aged 32 years, 
 
 and James F. Billings 
 
 aged 18 years, 
 
 and Benjamin Billings 
 
 aged 15 years, 
 
 Sons of Capt. Alpheus and Mrs. Elizabeth Billings, 
 
 and also of Mr. David Barber, 
 
 a son-in-law aged 26 years, 
 
 Who were lost at sea in September, 1804, 
 
 in the Brig Fortune. 
 
 * These facts are derived from Capt. Colver, who, at the age of 90, in the possession 
 of a good degree of health and mental vigor, is still to be seen almost daily, taking his 
 accustomed walks and lingering upon the wharfage by the river. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 501 
 
 Jan. 20, 1804, the sloop Ruby, Jonathan Eoath, seven days from Nor- 
 folk, was wrecked on Block Island. A tempestuous snow-storm raging at 
 the time, and the weather extremely cold, the crew escaped with difficulty. 
 The next day the vessel went to pieces. 
 
 Capt. Francis Smith had sailed for several years in the brig Harriot, 
 meeting with all the varieties of good and bad fortune. His arrival from 
 one of these voyages, when some apprehension prevailed that the brig 
 was lost, is thus noticed in the Norwich Courier, April 11, 1804: 
 
 " It is with pleasure we announce the safe arrival of the brig Harriet, Capt. Smith, 
 after a passage of 70 days from Demarara, having experienced very heavy gales of 
 wind on the coast, which drove her off nine times and so much damaged her sails and 
 rigging as to render them useless." 
 
 Capt. Smith sailed again in June, and left Demarara on the return 
 voyage Aug. 21st, but on the 5th of September encountered a heavy gale 
 from the south and east, which increased to a hurricane. The next day, 
 while lying to under bare poles, the brig was knocked on her beam ends, 
 and the bowsprit and foremast swept off. By cutting away the mainmast 
 the vessel righted, and the crew succeeded in rigging a jury foremast and 
 a bowsprit. But the sea running high, the vessel leaking, and the spars 
 and rigging all expended, so that they could make no after sail, and meet- 
 ing for several days only vessels in distress, they abandoned the wreck 
 and took to the boats, and were fortunately relieved by a vessel that landed 
 them in Virginia^ 
 
 The brig Ontario, (Henry Eldridge,) owned by Jesse Brown, Sen., in 
 a homeward voyage from Martinique, was wrecked upon the Elizabeth 
 Islands, March 9, 1805. The crew were saved, but the vessel, with its 
 valuable cargo of sugar, cocoa and coffee, was lost. 
 
 In the loss of men from marine pursuits, Norwich suffered less than 
 New London and some other ports, yet her victims were neither few nor 
 far between, as the following mortuary list of a single year, gathered at 
 this distance of time from the scanty memorials extant, will testify : 
 
 Deaths at Sea during the year 1805. 
 
 Isaac Loring, of the brig Despatch, at Demarara. 
 
 Joseph Brewster, at the same place. 
 
 Capt. Jeremiah Harris, aged 35, at Martinique. 
 
 William, son of Jesse Brown, do. 
 
 William, son of Elkanah Tisdale of Lebanon, do. 
 
 Henry Loring, of brig Iris, drowned at Green Island. 
 
 John Batty, aged 21, of sch. Mechanic, at sea. 
 
 John Wedge, aged 21, at sea. 
 
 John Gary, at sea. 
 
 Hezekiah, son of Capt. Daniel Meech, of Preston, aged 22. 
 
 Charles E. Trumbull, aged 24, at sea. 
 
502 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Connected with the marine intelligence, during the latter part of the 
 18th and beginning of the 19th century, frequent allusions are made to 
 the civil conflicts that convulsed several of the islands, and particularly St. 
 Domingo. The following is an instance : 
 
 April 14, 1804, a ship from Cape Frangois came into Long Island 
 Sound with 300 men, women and children on board, who had escaped with 
 their lives and came as exiles to this country, leaving their homes to de- 
 vastation. Capt. Frederick Tracy of Norwich was also on board. He 
 had been for some years engaged in business at the Cape, and fled with 
 tlie rest at the approach of the ruthless invader. The vessel went into 
 New York. 
 
 The most melancholy marine disasters are those which are shrouded in 
 uncertainty. A vessel disappears, — it is heard from no more, and is sup- 
 posed to have been ingulfed by the ocean, but no one returns to relate how 
 and when the catastrophe happened. The hearts of friends are long ago- 
 nized with alternate hope and dread, while imagination brings up dark 
 pictures of a cruel death from pirates, a wreck upon desert islands, or a 
 wearisome captivity in barbarous lands. 
 
 Capt. Z. P. Burnham was a ship-master of many years experience, 
 beginning with 1790. He had retired from the sea to mercantile pur- 
 suits, but was persuaded to make one more voyage, and left the coast, 
 bound for Teneriffe, March 10, 1810, after which no tidings of vessel or 
 crew were ever received.* His fate seemed a duplicate of that of his 
 uncle, whose name he bore, — Capt. Zebulon Perkins having perished 
 before the Revolutionary war, in a similar way. 
 
 The same darkness rests upon the fate of Capt. Elisha LeiBngwelL 
 He left New London for the Gulf of Mexico in October, 1825, and is 
 supposed to have foundered at sea. He was 47 years of age. His eldest 
 son perished with him, in his 15th year. 
 
 * Capt. Burnham was about 44 years of age. His relict, the oldest daughter of 
 Elisha Hyde, Esq., second Mayor of the City, born Oct. 11, 1776, is still living, and 
 resides with her son, Elisha Hyde Burnham, at Newstead, N. Y. She has been 65 
 vears a widow. 
 
CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Emigration. 
 
 We have already adverted to the emigration from New London county 
 to Nova Scotia. A fair proportion of these settlers went from Norwich, 
 but no list of names or families has been obtained. 
 
 Several of the first proprietors of the townships of Canaan and Leba- 
 non in New Hampshire were from Norwich and its neighborhood. Leb- 
 anon was surveyed in 1761, by a party of seven or eight men who spent 
 the winter there in a temporary hut reared in the wilderness, laying out 
 farms and clearing the way for regular habitations. Lands in this north- 
 ern province were at first purchased on speculation. Andrew Perkins, 
 among others, obtained the title to large tracts in Canaan, Hanover, and 
 Cardigan. These proprietors sold out in smaller sections or farms to 
 actual settlers. Chapman, Harris, Hyde, Lathrop, Post, Tracy, and other 
 names indigenous to the Nine-miles-square, were transplanted to parts of 
 New Hampshire and Vermont at various periods between 1760 and 
 1800. 
 
 Norwich in Vermont owes its name to the retrospective tenderness of 
 some of these emigrants for their former home. Capt. Jedidiah Hyde 
 gave name to Hyde Park in Vermont. 
 
 EUsha Tracy, about the year 1790, was largely interested in the pur- 
 chase and sale of lands in the neighborhood of Chelsea, Vt. Several 
 families from Norwich removed thither, and probably gave the name of 
 Chelsea to the place. 
 
 Norwich in Massachusetts, settled a few years before the Ee volution, 
 also testifies by its name to the original home of some of its most conspic- 
 uous founders. The first Congregational minister was Rev. Stephen 
 Tracy, a native of our Norwich. John Kirtland, a useful and influential 
 member of the young community, went from Newent society. 
 
 The Wyoming valley of Pennsylvania collected a quota of its early 
 inhabitants from Norwich. This fine tract of land, twenty miles in length 
 and three in breadth, with the noble Susquehanna winding through it was 
 in ancient times the favorite seat of the Delaware tribe of Indians. Con- 
 necticut claimed the jurisdiction, as it lay within the bounds of her orig- 
 
504 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 inal charter, and the natives having become few and scattered, two com- 
 panies were formed for the purchase, exploration and settlement of the 
 country. 
 
 The Susquehanna Company, which was organized at Windham in 
 1753,* consisted of several hundred subscribers. This Company made 
 the Wyoming purchase of the Six Nations, at a council held at Albany in 
 1754. The Delaware Company purchased a ti-aot east of this, extending 
 to the Delaware river. 
 
 The first settlements at Wyoming were broken up and a part of the 
 emigrants slaughtered by the Pennamites, or settlers under the claim of 
 Pennsylvania. It is not known that any of these first adventurers were 
 from Norwich. 
 
 In 1768, five townships were laid out, and each granted to forty persons 
 who engaged "to man their rights," that is, make actual settlements upon 
 them. These were afterwards named Wilkesbarre, Hanover, Kingston, 
 (at first called Forty-town,) Plymouth, and Pittston, comprising the heart 
 of the valley. To settle these towns, a large emigration went from Con- 
 necticut. Among the leading men were Zebulon Butler from Lyme, Na- 
 than Denison from Stonington, and John Durkee from Norwich, — each 
 accompanied by a party gathered from his neighborhood. 
 
 These measures, so far as Norwich was interested, were the result of 
 individual enterprise. The only allusion to the western lands, on the town 
 records, is the following : 
 
 Sept. 12, 1769. Voted to apply for a grant of 20 miles square of the Colony lands 
 lying west of, and adjoining to, the Susquehannah Purchase with ample right to pur- 
 chase the native right to said lands. — Samuel Huntington to act as agent. 
 
 The pioneers to these western wilds encountered great obstacles, and 
 were so repeatedly broken up, or harrassed by the Pennamites, that a few 
 were discouraged and returned to their old homes, but the greater part 
 remained firm at their posts, and at length obtained quiet possession of the 
 country. 
 
 The several Connecticut colonies thus established at Wyoming, were 
 organized Mai-ch 2, 1770, into one town, or district, called Westmoreland, 
 and attached to Litchtield county. It remained for eight or nine years 
 under the jurisdiction of Connecticut ; deriving its laws from the colony, 
 and sending representatives to its assembly. Before 1775, it contained 
 2,000 inhabitants. 
 
 On the monument in Wyoming, erected in memory of the victims of 
 Indian and tory cruelty in the fatal attack of July 8, 1778, the names of 
 Durkee, Ransom, Waterman, Avery, Crocker, Hammond, Marshall, 
 
 * Miner's History of Wyoming. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 505 
 
 Palmer, Reynolds, and others, indicate their origin, and remind us of our 
 ancient towns-people.* 
 
 The original proprietors of Warwick and Bedford in Pennsylvania were 
 from Norwich. The former of these towns was surveyed by Zachariah 
 Lathrop in 1773. 
 
 The committee of the first and second Delaware purchases were Eben- 
 ezer Baldwin, Jabez Fitch, Joseph Griswold, Isaac Tracy, Elisha Tracy, 
 Nehemiah Waterman, and Dudley Woodbridge, all of Norwich. Azariah 
 Lathrop was a large proprietor of the township of Huntington, in the first 
 Delaware purchase. 
 
 The Wyoming settlements were devastated and almost destroyed dur- 
 ing the Revolutionary war, and remained for a long period in a disturbed 
 and hazardous condition. Various companies and different races of men 
 struggled for several years with one another and with the wolves, pan- 
 thers, and poisonous serpents, for the possession of this fertile valley. 
 
 From 1795 to 1800, there existed in Connecticut a mania for emigra- 
 tion. The reports of explorers and the letters written home by pioneers, 
 while they spoke of innumerable hardships and privations, only increased 
 the thirst for adventure. Yet emigration at this period was a serious 
 undertaking, and friend bade adieu to friend with almost as much solem- 
 nity as at the gates of another world. To say of one, " He has removed 
 to the Susquehannah country," — " Started for Muskingum," — " Gone to 
 the Genesees," — were vague and mysterious announcements, almost equiv- 
 alent to a departure for another planet. But still the romance of the en- 
 terprise threw a veil over its discomforts. 
 
 Elisha Hyde and Elisha Tracy were largely interested in the Susque- 
 hannah purchase, and made several visits to the country for the sale and 
 survey of lands. Andrew Tracy, secretary of the Delaware Company, 
 sold his farm and his mills and dwelling-house on Bean Hill, and removed 
 in 1798. Other emigrants to Luzerne, of that early period, were Colonel 
 Eleazar Blackman and John Robinson of Lebanon, Jabez Hyde of Frank- 
 lin, and Andrew Beaumont of Bozrah. 
 
 A considerable company went with Col. Ezekiel Hyde in 1799, and 
 established themselves at Rindan on the Wyalusing. Enoch Reynolds 
 opened the first assortment of goods at that place. He was afterward an 
 officer of the Treasury Department at Washington. Lathrops, Birchards 
 and other Norwich families settled upon the Wyalusing and at Ruby. 
 
 Capt. Peleg Tracy and his brother Leonard, and Capt. Joseph Chap- 
 man, a revolutionary patriot and ship-master, were men of note and influ- 
 ence among the emigrants. 
 
 Even the women that belonged to these parties were sustained above 
 fear and discouragement by a spirit of chivalric determination. Lydia 
 
 * Peck's 'Wyoming, p. 385. 
 
506 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Chapman, a daughter of Capt. Joseph, went out in the year 1800, with 
 her younger brothers, to join her father. She was the only female in a 
 considerable party of emigrants, and was sixteen days on the journey, in 
 the variable, damp, restless atmosphere of a February without snow. Not 
 a murmur escaped her, and her noble patience and cheerful hope animated 
 and sustained her companions. She afterwards married a Norwich emi- 
 grant, G. W. Trott, a physician of Wilkesbarre.* Her brothers, Isaac 
 A. and Edward Chapman, were men of more than common talent. Ed- 
 ward, though he died young, had exhibited proofs of poetical genius. He 
 is the author of the well-known song, — 
 
 " Columbia's shores are wild and wide." 
 
 From this brief survey of the Wyoming emigrants the name of Charles 
 Miner must not be omitted. Born under the shadow of Meeting-house 
 Hill, Feb. 1, 1780; the son of a revolutionary soldier, educated at the 
 Lathrop school on the Plain; social in disposition, with a vigorous, inquir- 
 ing mind, he carried with him to Wyoming and ever retained a vivid im- 
 pression of what Norwich was at the beginning of the centurv.t 
 
 He learned the printer's trade with Col. Samuel Green in the Gazette 
 office at New London, and after his settlement in Pennsylvania, united 
 with his brother Asher, who had preceded him in emigrating to the Wy- 
 oming valley, in publishing the "Lucerne County Federalist." This 
 paper, which they established in Wilkesbarre in 1801, was continued for 
 thirteen years. Mr. Chas. Miner was afterward editor of " The Gleaner," 
 and still later of the "Village Eecord," published at Westchester. The 
 Gleaner was enriched wilh a series of discursive essays, " From the Desk 
 of Poor Eobert the Scribe," which came from Mr. Miner's pen. He is 
 also the author of an interesting History of Wyoming, published at Phil- 
 adelphia in 1845, and was a member of Congress from Westchester dis- 
 trict from 1825 to 1829.J 
 
 Several parts of Ohio, even before 1790, were sprinkled over with 
 names familiar to this neighborhood, viz., Adgate, Armstrong, Hartshorn, 
 Kinsman, Kingsbury, Ldfingwell, Perkins, Tracy. Marietta in her be- 
 ginning obtained some of her most efficient settlers from Norwich. Dud- 
 
 * The wife of tlie Hon. G. W. Woodward is their daughter and only child. 
 
 t See Letter of Charles Miner in Appendix to Norwich Jubilee, for a graphic sketch 
 of Norwich up-lown. Mr. Miner visited Norwich in 1839, with his son. The old dwell- 
 ing-houso in which ho had been reai-ed was gone, but he went up the hill on the slope 
 of wliich it had stood, saying he must look for the Brown Thrasher's nest that he left 
 there. 
 
 t While this work has been going through the press, his death has been announced. 
 "Hon. Charles Miner died at Wilkesbarre, Oct. 26th, 1865, in the 86th year of his 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 507 
 
 ley Woodbridge went thither in 1788, and though afterward returning for 
 a season, removed with his family in 1794.* Elijah Backus was another 
 early inhabitant of note and influence, who went from Norwich. 
 
 The beautiful town of Norwich in Chenango county, N. Y., is another 
 place to which our Norwich between the rivers stood sponsor. Preston 
 in the same county joins Norwich, and was originally a part of it, acting 
 over again the old neighborhood of our Norwich and Preston. Oxford, 
 also in Chenango county, derived some of its founders from the same 
 fountain-head. Dr.^Benjamin Butler in the year 1800 advertised twenty 
 farms for sale within two or three miles of Oxford court-house. 
 
 In May, 1798, a vessel sailed from Stonington for Albany, with families 
 gathered from neighboring towns, that were on the way to found new 
 homes in the Unadilla region. 
 
 The pleasure and convenience of keeping up an intercourse between 
 these emigrants to the West and the friends and possessions left behind, 
 led to the inauguration of a peculiar species of vehicle, viz. : 
 
 Hartshorn's Stage-vtagon. 
 
 This was a ponderous house-like machine on wheels, drawn by six 
 horses, which made six or eight regular trips per year to Chemung, Ger- 
 man Flats, &c., carrying passengers, letters, and freight. Its arrival at 
 Franklin and Norwich was hailed with entliusiasm, as it was sure to 
 bring intelligence from distant friends. The letters sent home were filled 
 with interesting narratives of hardships endured and dangers encountered, 
 with many a cheering episode relating to jovial parties and rural pas- 
 times.f 
 
 The Western Reserve, called also New Connecticut, was a territory 
 belonging to the State of Connecticut, which lay on Lake Erie, west of 
 Pennsylvania. It contained three millions of acres. The Fire-Lands, 
 comprising the western portion of 500,000 acres, had been granted by the 
 State to those towns in Connecticut which suffered from the torch of the 
 enemy during the Revolutionary war. In 1786 the General Assembly 
 passed an act to survey and dispose of the remainder of the territory. 
 Hon. Benjamin Huntington of Norwich was one of the three commission- 
 
 * He died at Marietta, in 1823, at the age of 76. His children were all natives of 
 Norwich. Dudley, the oldest son, died at Marietta in 1853. The second son, Hon. 
 Wm. Woodbridge of Detroit, was Governor of Michigan in 1839, and U. S. Senator 
 from 1841 to 1847. 
 
 t The Norwich Packet published an account of a terrific combat between four men 
 and a bear, wiiich took place June 6th, 1797, at Norwich, the \&th township on the Una- 
 dilla river. The four men were Doctor Dan Eoote, Enoch Marvin and his son, and a 
 hired man. Three of them were badly wounded, but the animal was finally conquered, 
 and weighed when dressed, 260 lbs. 
 
508 HISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 ers appointed for this business. In 1795, it was sold to a Land Company 
 organized for this object, and under their management the whole three 
 millions of acres, then an almost unbroken wilderness, was surveyed and 
 distributed into townships and farms, and offered to settlers on easy terms. 
 This territory now forms a tier of counties in the northern part of Ohio. 
 The settlement commenced in 1796. 
 
 General Joseph Williams of Norwich was a prominent member of this 
 Land Company. Daniel L. Coit, another of the original purchasers, 
 devoted time, labor, means and influence to promote the settlement of the 
 country, and made repeated visits thither, undismayed by the long and 
 wearisome journey. Among the new towns founded, WiUiamsfield and 
 Coitsville perpetuate the names of these patrons. 
 
 Wheeler W. Williams, who went from Norwich, built in 1799, with his 
 partner, Major Wyatt, the first grist-mill and saw-mill in the Western 
 Reserve. A greater benefit could scarcely have been conferred upon this 
 new country at that time. The towns of Norwich, Huntington, Kinsman 
 and Kirtland, in this range of territory, indicate by their names the origin 
 of some of their first settlers. Col. Simon Perkins of Lisbon, a Eevolu- 
 tionary ofiicer, removed with his family to Warren, Ohio. 
 
 The Hon. Samuel Huntington, one of the most distinguished of these 
 emigrants to the Western Eeserve, left Norwich with his family in May, 
 1801, and settled first at Cleveland, but afterwards at Painesville, where 
 his children and descendants still reside. The new country found in him 
 a useful and efficient magistrate. He was Colonel of the miUtia, Judge 
 of the Supreme Court, and Grovemor of the State from 1808 to 1810. 
 He held also a great variety of other offices, by which he promoted the 
 public welfare, and merits the honor of being reckoned among the found- 
 ers of Ohio. He died at Painesville, June 8, 1817, aged 49. 
 
 The first settlements upon these wild lands were made by small bodies 
 of emigrants, scattered at considerable distances from each other, some 
 amid dense woods, and others near the Indian borders. Consequently 
 they suffered much from the horrors of the wilderness, as well as for want 
 of food and clothing. Wonderful were the accounts occasionally received 
 concerning their hardships and adventures ; more thrilKng even than the 
 first experience of the early settlers at Wyoming.* Governor Hunting- 
 ton, while riding through the woods, was attacked by a pack of wolves, 
 
 * The following incident was related in a letter sent home by a family that had 
 removed to the banks of the Muskingum. Two young women who had newly arrived 
 in the settlement, were out gathering berries. They had never heard the war-whoop, 
 and a young man who was their companion proposed to amuse them with a sample. 
 Ho had no sooner uttered the terrible cry, than to their great consternation it was an- 
 swered by another whoop, prolonged and loud, from a distant hill, and a moment after- 
 ward by still another from the depth of the forest. The affrighted party hastened back 
 to the protection of their fort. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 609 
 
 from whicli he only escaped by the fleetness of his horse. A party of 
 young people gathering berries near the Muskingum, suddenly alarmed 
 by sounds of the war-whoop rising from the thickets near them, retreated 
 in wild dismay to the protection of their fort. A cabin was buried by the 
 snow, and three days elapsed before the family was extricated. A boy 
 kidnapped by the Indians, had become almost a man before he was re- 
 leased. The tomahawk and scalping-knife, savage beasts and deadly ser- 
 pents, figured largely in these tales. 
 
CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Miscellanies. Bean Hili,. The Town Plot. Biographical Sketches. 
 
 After the Revolutionary war, and onward into the next century, the 
 Town-plot or First Society continued to be the center of influence and 
 activity, resonant with the hum of business and the clamor of mechanical 
 operations. Upon Bean Hill, Witter's and Hyde's taverns displayed their 
 signs, and several flourishing stands of diy-goods and groceries, offered 
 for sale by Daniel Rodman, Col. Rogers, Samuel Woodbridge, &c., kept 
 the platform lively with shopping and social activity. Here also, in a 
 bend of the Yantic, a saw-mill, grist-mill and oil-miU were grouped to- 
 gether and known as Tracy's mills, but sold by the proprietor, Andrew 
 Tracy, upon his removal to Pennsylvania in 1798, to Hyde & Hosmer. 
 Capt. Joseph Hosmer, of this firm, died in 1805. 
 
 Samuel Woodbridge was afterward of the firm of Woodbridge & Snow> 
 at the Landing. The old stand on Bean HiU, where he and bis father-in- 
 law. Col. Rogers, had traded, was advertised for sale several years later, 
 with this brief recommendation, — Money has been made (here, and can be 
 
 Aaron Cleveland, a man of wonderful versatility of talent, was another 
 noted dweller upon the hill. He carried on the hat business, but at the 
 same time wrote poems, essays, lectures and sermons upon all the prom- 
 inent subjects of the day, social, political, and religious. His speeches in 
 public and his private harangues, his exhortations at meetings and his 
 stirring articles in the newspapers, were always thrown in to swell the 
 current in favor of religious truth and human freedom. 
 
 The Hydes and Huntingtons of Bean Hill, with a sprinkling of Water- 
 mans and Tracys, were sufficient of themselves to form a community. 
 Capt. James Hyde, born in 1707, had a family of five sons and one daugh- 
 ter. One of the sons was the Rev. Simeon Hyde, who settled in the min- 
 istry at Deerfield, N. J. The others, Ebenezer, James, Eliab, and Abial, 
 with the daughter Abiah, who married Aaron Cleveland, occupied neigh- 
 boring homesteads, and are all well remembered by many now on the stage 
 of life. The father lived to be 87, with these four sons quietly flourishing 
 around him, — blameless men, and excellent citizens. None of them emi- 
 grated ; all lived into the present century, and all lie buried in Norwich. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 511 
 
 The four Huntington brothers, sons of Dea. Simon, were also dwellers 
 upon the hill, or on neighboring farms, and have a similar history. Far 
 different has it been with the children of these grave householders. As 
 they grew up to manhood, they took wing and flew away to other boweries, 
 and the descendants are scattered from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. 
 Erastus, the youngest of the Huntington brothers, had nine sons ; six of 
 these removed to Cincinnati. 
 
 The descendants of those energetic ship-masters, Jared and Frederick 
 Tracy, in like manner, leaving Norwich in their youth, may be traced to 
 many varied scenes of active business life: to Vermont, Utica, Whites- 
 boro, Boston, New York, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Porto Eico. 
 
 Capt. Arunah Waterman and his three sons, Thomas, Azariah, and 
 Joseph, removed with their families, about the year 1801, to Johnson, 
 Vermont. 
 
 Descendants of Ebenezer Thomas, (who came from Duxbury and set- 
 tled in the town-plot about 1730,) may likewise be traced to far distant 
 homes in the west and south.* 
 
 Before leaving this district, we would notice that Miron Winslow 
 opened a retail store on Bean Hill in June, 1811. This was the Eev. 
 Dr. Winslow, missionary for forty-five years in Ceylon and Madras, who 
 resided in Norwich a few years before entering into the service of the 
 American Board, and was here married to his first vAte, Harriet W. La- 
 throp, a native of the place, Jan. 11, 1819. 
 
 The town green, with its meeting-house, court-house, post-office, jail, 
 flag-staff or liberty-tree, three taverns, and four or five stores, was the 
 center where all the excitements of the town culminated. The principal 
 traders were John Perit,t Gardner Carpenter, and Dudley Woodbridge.| 
 The last-mentioned, — " next door east of the meeting-house," — was suc- 
 ceeded in 1793 by Carew & Huntington, the firm changing in 1800 to 
 Joseph & C. P. Huntington. On or near the green were also two print- 
 ing-offices, each with a book-shop and bindery annexed, and each issuing a 
 weekly newspaper. One of these establishments (Hubbard's) was re- 
 
 * Edward Thomas, a grandson of Ebeuezei-, born at Norwich in 1793, has been for 
 the last forty years a resident in Augusta, Ga. 
 
 t Mr. Perit came to Norwich in 1771, and here his two sons, John W. Perit, for many 
 years a merchant of Philadelphia, engaged in the China trade, and Pelatiah Perit, late 
 President of the New York Chamber of Commerce, were born. Mr. Perit removed 
 to Philadelphia. in 1790. 
 
 i Dudley and Samuel 'Woodbridge were sons of Dr. Dudley Woodbridge of Ston- 
 ington. The two brothers settled in Norwich about 1770, and married into the families 
 of Elijah Backus and Zabdiel Eogers. Their mother, Mrs. Sarah Woodbridge, died 
 on Bean Hill in 1796. Dudley removed to Marietta, and there died in 1823, aged 76. 
 The children of both the brothers, — ^Dudley had six, and Samuel nine, — were born in 
 Norwich. , 
 
512 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 moved to Chelsea in 1798. Simon Carew had also a book-shop and 
 bindery near the green. 
 
 Further east in the town-plot were the firms of Samuel Huntington, 
 nephew of the Governor, who removed to Ohio in 1801 ; of Andrew & 
 Zachariah Huntington, Avery & Tracy, Coit & Lathrop, Lathrop & Eells, 
 Christopher LefRngwell & Son, (succeeded in 1801 by Joseph H. Strong,) 
 Tracy & Coit ;* and near Chelsea Plain, Thomas Fanning. In short, 
 retail stores and workshops dotted the whole way from Bean Hill to Chel- 
 sea. Twenty trades are said to have been in thriving operation on the 
 town street. Leffingwell's Row, built after 1790, originally comprised six 
 or eight tenements, all occupied by mechanics. Harland's watch-factory 
 was a noted establishment. Capt. Timothy Lester, an ingenious mechanic 
 of this neighborhood, possessed a native bent for the mechanic arts, and 
 was skillful in reducing principles to practical tests. He constructed the 
 model of a new machine to be used in the hemp manufacture, which was 
 patented and found to be of great use in its peculiar sphere.f In 1790, 
 Dr. Joshua Lathrop commenced the cotton manufacture in a building near 
 his store, setting in operation six jennies, six looms, and a carding-machine. 
 To use the words of one who was himself a part of what he described, — 
 "Norwich up-town was a bee-hive." J 
 
 Lathrop's tavern on the Green had an assembly-room where public fes- 
 tivities were held, such as anniversaries, balls, and dinners. 
 
 Peck's tavern on the other side of the Green was overshadowed by a 
 large elm tree, among whose central boughs an arbor was formed and 
 seats arranged, to which, on public days, friendly groups resorted and had 
 refreshments served, — a plank gallery being extended from a window of 
 the house to the bower, as a means of access. 
 
 Brown's hotel was famous for good dinners, and was patronized by 
 gentlemen boarders. Merchants from the West Indies came there at 
 intervals, and were always ready for excursions and out-door amLisements.§ 
 
 * This firm began in 1780, and continued without change twenty-five years. The 
 partners were Uriah Tracy and Joseph Coit. No descendants of either of these men 
 now remain. Mr. Coit was never married, and the only son of Mr. Tracy died in 1S34 
 without posterity. 
 
 t Capt. Lester died Aug. 20, 1810, aged 42. 
 
 t Charles Miner of Wilkosbarro. 
 
 ^ Jesse Brown, in the early part of the Revolutionary war, was in the service of the 
 State as an express .igent and confidential messenger. Before the conclusion of the 
 war he built his house on the Plain, next to that of Dudley Woodbridge, and occupied 
 it for many years as a hotel. It is now the residence of Mr. Moses Pierce, but the 
 building has been repeatedly varied and improved, till it retains but a slight resem- 
 blance to the old hotel. 
 
 Mr. Vornott, who married the daughter of Mr. Brown, introduced into the garden 
 of this house, about the year 1809, a species of grape not before cultivated in this 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 613 
 
 Many a gallant hunting-party with hounds and servants started from the 
 town-plot in those days. 
 
 President Adams was accustomed to stop at Norwich on his journeys to 
 and from the seat of government, and his arrival always drew forth some 
 lively exhibition of respect. The Norwich Packet informs us that on 
 Wednesday evening, Aug. 1, 1797, John Adams and lady arrived in town. 
 " The matross company came out to welcome them in full uniform, and 
 fired a federal salute of 16 guns. They proceeded the next day to Prov- 
 idence, a large company on horseback attending them out of town." 
 
 Mr. Brown was also a stage contractor. The communication with Bos- 
 ton was three times a week, the stage arriving on Sunday, Wednesday, 
 and Friday. On Sunday, it came by way of Providence and New Lon- 
 don, leaving the latter place at 8 o'clock A. M., and arriving at Norwich 
 Green about noon, — the stage-horn often sounding just as the audience 
 issued from the church after morning service. This indicates a phase of 
 public opinion different from that of 1720, when the Eogerenes were 
 arrested for traveling on the Sabbath.* 
 
 Several merchants in the town-plot were at this period actively engaged 
 in the purchase of horses, cattle, and country produce. Droves of horses 
 and mules, and aU the bustle of loaded teams and lowing herds, trampling 
 out the grass and blocking up the ways, were spectacles of frequent occur- 
 rence in those streets, which for the last half-century have been distin- 
 guished only for rural beauty and quiet comfort. 
 
 The town-plot was not only the center of business, but also of fashion 
 and gaiety. Bean HiU had its grand society. Lord Bellasize, an English 
 nobleman, rusticated for a season on the hiU, and though mingling but 
 little with the inhabitants, contributed to the spectacles of the town by 
 driving about in a handsome chariot with black servants in livery, and 
 rousing the country echoes by fox-hunting. 
 
 Of the causes which led this nobleman into temporary seclusion in 
 America, his neighbors were ignorant. An advertisement in the Norwich 
 Packet gives us a memento of his residence here. 
 
 region. It was propagated from this yine into other gardens, was highly prized, and 
 popularly called the Vemett grape. It is not known where Mr. Vernett obtained it, 
 but It is supposed to be identical with the Isabella. The original vine planted by Mr. 
 Vemett still flourishes where it was set, and bears well, though upwards of fifty years 
 old. 
 
 Mr. Brown removed with the Vernett family to Wilkesbarre, Penn., where he died 
 in January, 1816, aged 63. 
 
 * The desecration was not however allowed without protest. In June, 1799, Joshua 
 Lathrop and others sent a memorial to the Legislature, asking for a prohibitory act 
 against the running of the stages on the Sabbath ; but the committee to whom the 
 petition was referred, reported that the existing laws, if duly executed, were sufficient 
 to remedy the evil. ' 
 
 33 
 
514 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Ran away from the subscriber a negro servant named Jean Louis. Whoever will 
 take up said Negro and return him to his master shall have one cent reward, but no 
 charges paid. All persons are forbid trusting him on account of the subscriber. 
 
 Belasize. 
 
 Norwich, June 30, 1798. 
 
 These sources of excitement and interest, with the popularity of the 
 schools, the residence of the governor, the frequent visits of public func- 
 tionaries, and the prevalence of social dinners and tea-parties, made Bean 
 Hill, the Meeting-House Green, and Round the Square, the brilliant part 
 of the town.* 
 
 It is remarkable that so much gaiety, excitement and social enjoyment 
 should have existed in conjunction with early hours, industrious habits, 
 moderate expenditure, and strict propriety of manners. The noon-beU 
 and^the evening-bell still retained their authority. Twelve o'clock sum- 
 moned families to the dinner-table, and nine o'clock sent them to repose. 
 
 Samuel Trumbull established a circulating library about the year 1793, 
 which was gradually increased to 42(i volumes, comprising the popular 
 reading of the day, plays, novels, travels, essays, histories, sermons. Mr. 
 Trumbull removed subsequently to Stonington Point, where, in Septem- 
 ber', 1798, he issued the first number of a weekly newspaper called "A 
 Journal of the Times." 
 
 The success of his library led the way to a collection of more solid 
 works. In 1796, a committee of the citizens of the town-plot organized 
 a Library Association. A subscription was taken up, and 250 volumes 
 selected from the choicest stores of English literature, were purchased for 
 a beginning. 
 
 This library continued in operation about forty years, and though never 
 much enlarged beyond the original stock, circulated thoroughly among the 
 steady-habited residents of the old part of the town, contributing to the 
 intellectual culture of the young and the refreshment of more mature 
 minds. 
 
 In 1797, John and Consider Sterry were book-sellers and book-binders. 
 These men were brothers, both of marked intellect and good executive 
 capacity, the one devoting his leisure moments to the duties of a Baptist 
 elder, and the other to the improvement of the method of taking lunar 
 observations. They soon added to their establishment a marble paper 
 manufactory and the publication of a newspaper, viz., -"The True Eepub- 
 lican," first issued in 1804. 
 
 Norwich was at this time favored in her physicians. Dr. Jonathan 
 IVIarsh, who died in 1798, was not only a successful bone-setter, but skill- 
 
 * Ailvertisement in the Norwich Packet, 1791 : 
 
 " The Ladies and Gentlemen of Norwich are informed that the Theatre will be 
 opened at the Court House this evening with the tragedy of Douo-las." 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 515 
 
 fill in other cases of surgery, and according to cotemporary authority, 
 " ever ready to exercise his skill for the relief of the distressed and the 
 destitute." 
 
 Do8tors Philip Turner and Philemon Tracy were men of high profes- 
 sional merit, the one more particularly valued in cases of surgery, and the 
 other in those of disease. They had generally some young student under 
 their instruction, visiting and practising with them. Dr. John Turner was 
 a worthy pupil and successor of his father. Another son, William Pitt 
 Turner, also a surgeon by profession, was one of those sportive and orig- 
 inal characters that give a lively zest to the social circle. The professional 
 circular of Benjamin Butler, M. D., issued in 1787, announces that he 
 had been "regularly educated by the learned Doctor Philip Turner in the 
 sciences of Physick and Surgery." 
 
 The Turner house in Norwich stood against a back-ground of rocks, 
 overshadowed with trees. The office near by was one of the noted local- 
 ities of the place, regarded by chOdren with a kind of sliivering admira- 
 tion, as containing a secret closet, where an anatomy known as old Jock's 
 hones was kept, ajid wiianing the attention of travelers by its sign on which 
 was painted a picture of the Good Samaritan raising up the wounded man 
 while the Priest and Levite passed on with averted eyes.* 
 
 The principal students of Dr. Tracy were Asher and Abel Huntington,, 
 brothers, — the former setthng in Chenango county, N. Y., and the latter 
 at East Hampton, L. I. ; Benajah P. Bailey of Griswold ; Peter Allen, 
 who emigrated to Ohio; and Richard P. Tracy, the son- of the practi- 
 tioner, now and for forty years past a physician in Norwich-town. The 
 professional life of the three Tracys, father, son, and grandson, covers a 
 period of one hundred and twenty-three years, all passed in the same 
 parish : an instance of stability not common among a people so restless 
 and excitable as the Americans. 
 
 The town was indebted for various public improvements to the influence 
 and liberality of Dr. Joshua Lathrop and Capt. William Hubbard. They 
 were particularly instrumental in opening streets and improving the high- 
 ways both of town and landing. The former gave at one time $300 to be 
 laid out on the road around the north side of the central plot, while Capt. 
 Hubbard caused the old pathway through the grove to be widened and 
 cleared of rocks and incumbering trees. 
 
 Tradition depicts the wild beauty of this ancient lane in such vivid 
 colors that we are almost led to regret the improvement. It was a wind- 
 ing cart-path along the river-bank, overarched with lofty trees and crossed 
 by a rapid stream, where the teamsters paused in a hot summer's day to 
 
 * At the bi-centennial gathering in 1859, this old sign was exhibited, and also a 
 powder-horn engraved with figures of beasts and birds and bearing this inscription :. 
 " Doct. Philip Turner. His horn. Fort Edward 1758." 
 
516 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 refresh themselves and their cattle in the shade. The young people were 
 shy of this dark lane in the evening. Yet evenings there, at the proper 
 season, were not without their entertainments : whippoorwills sang in the 
 trees, and wherever a spot of open meadow appeared, the whole air was 
 in a glow with the sparkle of fire-flies. 
 
 A considerable lustre was thrown upon the town-plot by its being the 
 residence of the Hon. Samuel Huntington, Governor of the State. He 
 was not a native of the town, but had early settled in the place as an 
 attorney. His wife was a daughter of the Eev. Ebenezer Devotion, of 
 Windham : a lady without any pretensions to style or fashion, but amiable 
 and discreet. It was long remembered that in a white short gown, stuff 
 petticoat, a clean muslin apron, and nicely starched cap, she would take 
 her knitting and go out by two o'clock in the afternoon to take tea uncere- 
 moniously with some respecta,ble neighbor, perhaps the butcher's or black- 
 smith's wife. But this was early in her married life, before Mr. Hunt- 
 ington was President of Congress, or Grovemor of Connecticut. These 
 ofiices made a higher style of housekeeping appropriate, and in later days 
 the movements of Mrs. Huntington in leaving town or returning home 
 became matters of public notoriety, and she was saluted whenever she 
 appeared in public, with ceremonious courtesy.* After the Revolution, 
 the Governor built a new house, elegant and spacious, and lived in quiet 
 dignity. 
 
 This worthy couple had no children of their own, but children always 
 gathered around them. Though he was wise and sedate, and she quiet 
 and thrifty, yet lurking beneath a grave exterior, both had large hearts 
 and that sunny benevolence of disposition that attracts the young, and 
 delights in the interchange of favors with them, giving care and counsel, 
 for cheer and fervid feeling. 
 
 Before the Revolutionary war, Mr. Huntington had generally some two 
 or three young law-students with him ; his nephew, Nathaniel Hunting- 
 ton, and the beautiful Betsey Devotion,! the belle of "Windham, also 
 
 * Erom the Norwich Packet, Doe. 21, 1779 : 
 
 " On Wednesday last, sot off from this place for the city of Philadelphia, the lady 
 of Samuel Huntington, Esq., Pi-esident of Congress. She was escorted out of town 
 by a number of ladies and gentlemen of the fii-st character." 
 
 t A younger sister of Mrs. Huntington, and not her tiece, as stated in the former 
 history of Norwich. The two young persons mentioned, died young. In a Life of 
 Aaron JBurr, (not Parton's,) Vol. I., a letter is quoted, written from Norwich by Jon- 
 athan Bellamy, one of the young men who studied law with Mr. Huntington, in which 
 the writer alludes to the void made in their pleasant circle by the death of Natty Hunt- 
 ington. The Norwich Packet of Dec. 8, 1774, speaks of him also as a great loss to 
 the community, and adds, " a great concourse of people attended his obsequies." He 
 was in his 24th year. Elizabeth Devotion, Mi-s. Huntington's sister, died March 8, 
 1775, aged 23. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 517 
 
 spent much of their time in his family ; the house therefore naturally 
 became the center of attraction to the young and happy of that joyous 
 neighborhood. 
 
 After the social chat and merry game of the parlor had taken their 
 turn, they would frequently repair to the kitchen, and dance away till the 
 oak floor shone under their feet, and the pewter quivered upon the dres- 
 sers. These pastimes, however, had little in them of the nature of a ball ; 
 there were no expensive dresses, no collations, no late hours. They sel- 
 dom lasted beyond nine o'clock. According to the good old custom of 
 Norwich, the ringing of the bell at that hour broke up all meetings, dis- 
 persed all parties, put an end to all discussions, and sent all visitors quietly 
 to their homes and their beds. 
 
 Governor Huntington was born at Windham, July 3, 1731. His father, 
 Nathaniel Huntington, was by trade both a farmer and a clothier. He 
 gave a liberal education to three of his sons, who devoted themselves to 
 the Christian ministry ; but Samuel, being designed for a mechanic, was 
 apprenticed to a cooper, and fully served out his lime. 
 
 Roger Wolcott, the chief-justice, Samuel Huntington, and Roger Sher- 
 man, three of Connecticut's noblemen, all began life with tilling the soil, 
 or working at some mechanical art. 
 
 Mr. Huntington's mind was naturally acute and investigating, and his 
 thirst for mental improvement so great as to surmount all obstacles. From 
 observation, from men, and from books, he was always collecting informa- 
 tion, and he soon abandoned manual labor for study. He was self-educa- 
 ted, — went to no college, attended no distinguished school, sat at the feet 
 of no great master, but yet acquired a competent knowledge of law, bor- 
 rowing the necessary books of Col. Jedidiah Elderkin, and was readily 
 admitted to the bar. He settled in Norwich in 1760, and soon became 
 useful and eminent in his profession. He frequently represented the town 
 in the colonial assembly, was active in many ways as a citizen, agent for 
 the town in several cases, and forward in promoting public improvements. 
 He was appointed King's Attorney, and afterward Assistant Judge of the 
 Superior Court. In 1775, he was elected a delegate to the Continental 
 Congress, and served as President of that honorable body during the ses- 
 sions of 1779 and 1780. While in Congress, his seat on the bench was 
 kept vacant for him, and he resumed it in 1781. He held various other 
 important offices, such as Chief Justice of the State and Lieutenant Gov- 
 ernor, and in 1786 was elected Governor, and annually re-elected by the 
 freemen, with singular unanimity, until his death, which took place at 
 Norwich, Jan. 5, 1796. 
 
 He was honored with the degree of LL. D. both by Tale and Dart- 
 mouth. 
 
 Mrs. Huntington died June 4, 1794. After the decease of the two 
 
518 HISTORY OP NORWICH, 
 
 interesting relatives before mentioned, they Lad adopted and educated two 
 children of the Governor's brother, the Rev. Joseph Huntington of Cov- 
 entry. These were Samuel and Fanny Huntington, who lived with their 
 revered relatives as children with parents, affectionately and happily. 
 They were present to soothe their last hours, to close their dying eyes, and 
 to place their remains in the tomb. 
 
 The daughter married the Rev. E. D. Griffin, President of Williams- 
 town College : the son removed to Ohio, and served that State in various 
 important offices. 
 
 Governor Huntington preserved to the last those habits of simphcity 
 with which he began life. In the published journal of the Marquis de 
 Chastellux, he speaks of Mr. Huntington, who was then President of 
 Congress, with marked respect. The Marquis was a Major-General in 
 the French army that came to our assistance. While at Philadelphia, in 
 December, 1780, he called upon Mr. Huntington, in company with the 
 French ambassador, and observes, "We found him in his cabinet, lighted 
 by a single candle. Thps simplicity reminded me of Fabricius and the 
 Philopemens." At another time he dined with him, in company with 
 several other French gentlemen of distinction, and adds : "Mrs. Hunting- 
 ton, a good-looking, lusty woman, but not young, did the honors of the 
 table, that is trt say, helped every body, without saying a word." This 
 silence must surely be attributed to ignorance of the language of the gay 
 cavaliers, and not to any deficiency of good manners or conversational 
 power. 
 
 Mr. Huntington was of the middle size, dignified in his manners, even 
 to formality ; reserved in popular intercourse, but in the domestic circle 
 pleasing and communicative ; his complexion swarthy, his eye vivid and 
 penetrating. One who was long an inmate of his family, said: "I never 
 heard a frivolous observation from him ; his conversation ever turned to 
 something of a practical nature ; he was moderate and circumspect in all 
 his movements, and delivered his sentiments in few but weighty words." 
 
 He was eminently a religious man : as ready to officiate at a conference 
 meeting, or to make a prayer and read the Scriptures when called upon 
 in a public assembly, or to breathe counsel and consolation by the bedside 
 of the dying, as to plead before a judge, or to preside in Congress. 
 
 This sketch can not be better concluded, than with the earnest wish 
 breathed by a contemporary panegyrist, — " May Connecticut never want 
 a man of equal worth to preside in her councils, guard her interests, and 
 diflfuse prosperity through her towns." 
 
 Elisha Hyde, Roger Griswold and Asa Spalding were at this time 
 prominent mcu in the community, as attorneys and public officers. Nor- 
 wich never had a trio of barristers more able and more varied in their 
 
HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 519 
 
 characteristics : Griswold, keen and impetuous ; Spalding, cool and plain- 
 spoken even to bluntness ; and Hyde, witty, conciliating, and popular. 
 
 A considerable branch, of the business of the day was the sale and pur- 
 chase of public securities. They were in good demand, and coin was 
 freely offered for them. These securities consisted of bounty lands, mil- 
 itary rights, indents, continental certificates, loan-officd certificates, final 
 settlements, state notes, soldier notes, pay-table orders, and various other 
 pledges that had supplied the place of money during the war. 
 
 Roger Griswold settled in Norwich when first admitted to the bar in 
 1783, and soon acquired distinction as an able advocate and vigilant pub- 
 lic officer, quick and efficient in carrying out the laws, and rigid in exact- " 
 ing obedience. After his marriage, he purchased the dwelling-house on 
 the Green, vacated by Dudley Woodbridge upon his removal to the West, 
 and made it his residence until he left Norwich and returned to his native 
 town, Lyme, which was in 1798.* 
 
 It is an interesting fact that he came back to Norwich to die. He was 
 elected Governor of Connecticut in May, 1811, and reelected the suc- 
 ceeding year. For several years he had been aflfiicted with a disease of 
 the heart, which at intervals caused him great suffering. It increased so 
 rapidly, that in the summer of 1812, he was removed to Norwich, that he 
 might try the effect of a change of air, and at the same time have the 
 benefit of advice from Dr. Tracy, in whose skiU as a physician he had 
 great confidence. But neither air nor medicine could do more for him 
 than alleviate the paroxysms of his distress, and he died Oct. 25, 1812, 
 aged 50. 
 
 Asa Spalding was born in Canterbury in 1757 ; graduated at Yale in 
 1779 ; studied law with Judge Adams of Litchfield, and settled in Nor- 
 wich as an attorney in 1782. He was without patrimony or any special 
 patronage, but by the force of native ability, sound judgment, and integ- 
 rity, he acquired an extensive law practice, sustained various offices of 
 trust and honor, and by diligence, accompanied with strict economy in his 
 domestic affairs, amassed a handsome property. At the time of his death 
 in 1811, he was reckoned one of the richest men in the eastern part of 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Yet it was then no easy matter to grow rich in the practice of the law. 
 The price for managing a case before the common pleas varied only from 
 six to thirty shillings, and before the superior court from six to fifty-four 
 shillings. 
 
 * Gov. Griswold married, Oct. 21, 1788, Fanny, daughter of Col. Zabdiel Sogers. 
 She survived him 51 years, and died at Blackhall, Lyme, Dec. 26, 1863, aged 96 years 
 and 9 months. 
 
520 HISTOEY OP NORWICH. 
 
 His brother, the late Judge Luther Spalding, about ten years the junior 
 of Asa, settled at Norwich in the practice of the law, in 1797. A third 
 brother, Dr. Eufus Spalding, a physician who had been for many years in 
 practice at Nantucket, also removed to Norwich in 1812,* and the three 
 brothers repo.^e in the same burial-ground. 
 
 Br. Joshua Lathrop died in 1807, at the age of 84. He was the last 
 in Norwich of the ancient race of gentlemen that wore a white wig. This, 
 with the three-cornered hat, the glittering buckles at his knees and in his 
 shoes, the spotless ruffles in his bosom, and the gold-headed cane, made 
 him an object of admiring wonder to young eyes from whose vision such 
 a costume was passing away. 
 
 Mrs. Lathrop was a daughter of the Rev. Nathaniel Eells of Stoning- 
 ton. She died July 7, 1833, in her 91st year. Original portraits of this 
 couple, painted in 1774, when one was fifty and the other thirty years of 
 age, are preserved by their descendants. 
 
 The partners and successors of Dr. Lathrop were his nephews and sons, 
 and the nephew of his wife, Gushing Eells : the firm changing from Daniel 
 & Joshua Lathrop, to Lathrop & Coit, Coit & Lathrop, Lathrop & Eells. 
 Under this firm the business was transferred to the Landing. 
 
 Aaron Cleveland was born at East Haddam, Feb. 3, 1744, but spent 
 all the central and most active part of his life in Norwich. It has been 
 claimed for him that he was the first vn-iter in Connecticut to call in ques- 
 tion the lawfulness of slavery and to aj:gue against it, — a distinction to 
 which he seems to have been justly entitled. Several pointed articles on 
 this subject, tliat appeared in the columns of the Norwich Packet, are 
 supposed to have come from his pen. In 1775, he pubUshed a poem 
 against slavery. In 1779, while a representative of the town, he intro- 
 duced into the Legislature a bill for its abolition. He was probably sent 
 to the Assembly for this very purpose, as the popular sentiment was then 
 in favor of immediate emancipation. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland afterward became a Congregational minister, and was 
 settled for a short time at Brampton, Vt., but was dismissed in 1803, and 
 after that time never settled, but was occupied in supplying vacant pulpits. 
 He died at New Haven, Sept. 21, 1815. 
 
 His first wife and two young children were interred at Norwich, His 
 second wife was Elizabeth, relict of David Breed, and daughter of Jere- 
 miah Clement. 
 
 His second son. Deacon William Cleveland, after a residence of some 
 years in New London and New York, returned to Norwich, and was set 
 
 * After the deatli of Dr. Spalding in 1830, most of his family removed to the West. 
 "Riifus P. Spalding, M. C. from Cleveland, Ohio, is his son. 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 521 
 
 apart to the office of deacon of the first Congregational Church, April 30, 
 1812. He was a man of social, amiable temperament, and fervent piety. 
 He died at Black Eock, Aug. 18, 1837, at the residence of his son-in-law, 
 Lewis F. Allen. 
 
 The Eev. Charles Cleveland, for many years the excellent city mission- 
 ary of Boston, is another of the sons of Eev. A. P. Cleveland. He was 
 born at Norwich, June 21, 1772, and though now (1865) 93 years of age, 
 has health and energy sufficient to continue his walks of usefulness and 
 visits of mercy. 
 
 One of the daughters of Mr. Cleveland married David L. Dodge, and 
 a daughter of the second wife, the youngest' of his thirteen children, mar- 
 ried the Eev. Samuel H. Coxe, D. D. 
 
 William Hubbard, son of Daniel and Martha (Coit) Hubbard, was an 
 inhabitant of Norwich for about twenty -five years, in business as a branch 
 of the firm of Hubbards & Greene, Boston. He married Lydia, daugh- 
 ter of Joseph Coit of New London, which brought him into the relation- 
 ship of nephew to Doctors Daniel and Joshua Lathrop, the mother of his 
 wife being their sister. An uncommon mortality seems to have bhghted 
 his domestic relations. A youthful daughter died in 1770 ; his first wife 
 in'1778 ; and soon after his return to Bpston in 1788, his second wife was 
 laid in the grave. His oldest son, William, died Sept. 10, 1789, aged 22, 
 and a month later, the oldest son by the second wife, aged nine years. 
 The death of these half-brothers was bewailed in various elegiac verses 
 printed at the time. They were buried each by the side of his mother, 
 one in Norwich and the other in Boston. Joseph, a third son, died May 
 25, 1790, and was also interred at Norwich in the family group. Before 
 the close of the year, Dec. 28, 1790, Mr. Hubbard's oldest child, Lydia, 
 the young wife of Thomas Lathrop, aged 25 years, was also laid in the 
 grave. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard's third wife was a Miss Copely of Boston. He afterward 
 removed to Colchester, Ct., and there died in 1801, aged 61. 
 
 Daniel L. Coit was one of the sterling men of Norwich : intelligent, 
 refined, and of spotless character. He was a native of New London, but 
 at an early age was placed with his uncles, the brothers Lathrop, eminent 
 druggists of Norwich, and uhimately became their partner. After arriv- 
 ing at mature age, he went to England as agent of the company, to pur- 
 chase goods, and before returning home, made a brief tour upon the con- 
 tinent. He was at Paris when the first successful balloon experiment was 
 made. This was the famous ascent of Messrs. Charles and Eobert, Dec. 
 1, 1783. Mr. Coit was present, and wrote an account of this wonderful 
 event to his father in Norwich, which was published in the weekly news- 
 
522 HIBTOETOPNOEWICH. 
 
 paper, and was the first notice on this side of the Atlantic, of what the 
 writer calls 
 
 "This new art of flying." 
 
 He observes that balloons had been before dispatched into the heavens 
 without navigators, Ijut in this instance, "two men placing themselves in 
 the car ascended to the height of 500 yards and then sailed away on the 
 wings of the wind to the distance of nine leagues." The writer adds, — 
 " The novelty of the thing is so great that it engrosses half the talk and 
 attention of the city." 
 
 Mr. Coit was one of the original purchasers of the Western Eeserve, 
 and made repeated visits to that remote and solitary region, assisting 
 largely in the settlement by his advice, means, and influence. 
 
 He was fond of agriculture, of the natural sciences, and of books. He 
 died Nov. 27, 1833, in the 80th year of his age. 
 
 At the annual election for Governor in 1786, 900 votes were given in 
 Norwich for Gov. Huntington. This is not only a remarkable instance 
 of home popularity, and of harmony of opinion in the eigh^societies, but 
 it shows that the town contained a large proportion of solid men, — a cer- 
 tain amount of property as well as a fair character being then an indis- 
 pensable qualification of a voter. Even in the present day of almost 
 unlimited elective franchise, it is rare to find a much larger proportion of 
 the inhabitants of a town voters. The population of Norwich was then 
 nearly 7000. In 1790, after the division of the town, the census stood 
 thus: 
 
 Norwich, .... 3284 
 
 Franklin, - - - - 1192 
 
 Lisbon, - - . - 1076 
 
 Bozrah, - - - - 926 
 
 East Society, in Preston, - - 1100 
 
 Total, - - - 7578 
 
 This was but a slight viiriation from the number in 1770 ; the war of 
 the Eevolution and repeated emigrations having kept the stream of pop- 
 ulation flowing in nearly a dead level for twenty years. 
 
CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 CousT-HonsE. BLisoNRT. Washington's Death. Prisoners from St. Do- 
 mingo. First Society Affairs. Fires. Turnpikes and Eaileoad. 
 
 In 1759, a vote was passed to build a new court-house, 50 feet by 26 
 or 28. It was to stand near the corner of the Green, in front of the old 
 one, which was then extant, though dilapidated. The building committee 
 were Hezekiah and Jabez Huntington and Dr. Daniel Lathrop, and the 
 expense was to be Hquidated by a penny rate. 
 
 This house was completed in 1761, and placed in charge of Samuel 
 Huntington, Esq., then a popular attorney of the place, afterward Presi- 
 dent of the Continental Congress and Governor of the State. A cham- 
 ber in the building was assigned to him for his oflBce as town agent. 
 
 This is the edifice still known as the old court-house, but used for many 
 years past for a school. In 1793, no repairs having been made since the 
 erection of the house, its ruinous condition was such as to call forth a pro- 
 test from the court. Whereupon the town claimed that they were not 
 obhged to keep a court-house in repair for the courts, and sent a petition 
 to the General Assembly, that the county should be directed to repair the 
 court-house or build a new one. The dissension between the town and 
 county on this subject continued for several years ; but in 1798 the house 
 was thoroughly repaired and painted by the town, and a sum raised by 
 subscription for removing it from its awkward station on the Green. It 
 was carried across the street, and placed in its present position, where it is 
 supposed to stand nearly if not precisely upon the site of Major Mason's 
 original dweUing-house, erected in November, 1659. 
 
 A house for ammunition was also built about the same time as the court- 
 house, 1760. It was a square stone receptacle, standing on the declivity 
 of the hill by the path that led up to the meeting-house. Here a few 
 muskets, a quantity of bullets, and about 3000 lbs. of powder were depos- 
 ited, and the key committed to Mr. Huntington. 
 
 This powder-house was blown up in the year 1784. The train was 
 laid by some unknown incendiary, but being discovered half an hour 
 before the explosion, it might have been easily extinguished, if any one 
 could have been found sufficiently daring to attempt it. The timely dis- 
 
524 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 covery, however, prevented any injury to life or limb, as all in the neigh- 
 borhood were advertised of the danger, and kept out of the way. The 
 concussion was violent; windows were broken, timbers loosened, roofs 
 started, plastering cracked, and furniture thrown down. Where the build- 
 ing stood, the ground was left entirely free of rubbish ; not even a stone 
 of the foundation remained on the site, and only one of them could be 
 identified afterwards, and that descended upon a roof at some distance, 
 and passing through two floors, lodged in the cellar. A bag of cannister 
 shot flew into the chamber window of the parsonage. The meeting-house 
 was much shattered by this explosion. 
 
 Masonry. About 1790, Freemasonry began to be popular in Norwich. 
 In 1794, Somerset Lodge was constituted with great pomp. The services 
 were at the meeting-house in the town-plot. Bishop Seabury preached a 
 sermon in the morning, from Heb. 3:4. A grand procession was then 
 formed, which passed through the town, accompanied by a band of music; 
 dinner was served in a rural bower erected upon the plain, and in the 
 afternoon the lodge again proceeded to the meeting-house, and listened to 
 another sermon, by the Eev. Elhanan Winchester, from Psalm 133 : 1, — 
 " Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together 
 in unity." 
 
 From this spirited beginning, Masonry, though more popular at some 
 periods than others, has never seriously declined. The annual festival of 
 Somerset Lodge was generally graced with a public oration. In 1798, 
 on the festival of St. John the Baptist, the fraternity met at Braman's 
 Hotel on the Chelsea Parade, and marched in procession to the First 
 Society meeting-house, where a discourse was delivered by the Rev. John 
 Tyler, and odes and psalms were sung under the direction of Mr. Rob- 
 erts, a noted chorister of that era. A public dinner and masonic toasts 
 were the usual accompaniment of these festivals. 
 
 A Franklin Chapter of R. A. M. was instituted soon after the forma- 
 tion of Somerset Lodge. This also had its annual celebration. An ora- 
 tion before the Chapter at the Feast of St. Andrew in 1810, by Ulysses 
 Selden, was published. Mr. Selden was a young man of pleasing exte- 
 rior, gay disposition, and eloquent discourse, who settled in Norwich as an 
 attorney. He died after a brief practice of his profession, and was 
 interred at Lyme, his native place. This oration is the chief memorial 
 left of his residence in Norwich. 
 
 The Masons in Norwich have always been creditably distinguished for 
 the liberality with which they dispense their funds to aid impoverished 
 brethren or their families. They have now several chapters, councils and 
 encampments in the town. Uncas Hall, formerly the gathering-place of 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 525 
 
 the Society of Odd Fellows, has recently been remodeled and dedicated to 
 Masonic purposes by the fraternity of Somerset Lodge. 
 
 "Washingf&n's death, Dec. 14, 1790, was commemorated in Norwich 
 with solemn religious services. On the Sabbath following, Dr. Strong 
 delivered a memorial sermon. At the Landing, the Episcopal and Con- 
 gregational churches were both shrouded in black, and the two congrega- 
 tions united in the commemorative services. They assembled at the Epis- 
 copal church, where prayers were read and a solemn dirge performed. A 
 procession was then formed of both sexes, which moved with plaintive 
 fnusic and tolling bells to the Congregational church, where a discourse 
 was delivered by Mr. King, from the text. How are the mighty fallen ! 
 
 Subsequently, on the day recommended by Congress for the national 
 observance, the societies again united ; the Rev. Mr. Tyler delivered an 
 oration, and several original odes, hymns and lamentations were sung or 
 chanted. 
 
 The sermons of Messrs. Strong and King and the eulogy of Mr. Tyler 
 were each separately pubhahed. 
 
 In September, 1800, the U. S. ship Trumbull, Capt. Jewett, returning 
 from a cruise against the •S'rench, came into New London harbor with a 
 prize vessel of ten guns, called La Vengeance, which had been taken near 
 the port of Jacquemel in the West Indies, with 140 persons on board. 
 These were delivered over to the authorities as prisoners of war, and 
 seventeen of them se^ to Norwich, where they remained about six 
 months.* 
 
 The terrific war of the races, French, Spaniards and Africans strug- 
 ghng for dominion, had made fearful havoc in St. Domingo, and at this 
 period Gen. Eigaud was at the head of one party, and the African chief 
 Touissaint of the other. The latter had laid siege to Jacquemel, which 
 was about to surrenderjiand many of the inhabitants, apprehensive that 
 an indiscriminate sack and slaughter would follow, fled with what little 
 property they could cariT- with them, to the vessels in the harbor for 
 safety. It was one of these vessels endeavoring to reach Cuba with its 
 throng of exiles, that was taken by the Trumbull. 
 
 The prisoners were natives of St. Domingo, partly of French origin, 
 but with a large admixture of African blood. They were mostly civil 
 officers, captains of barges, merchants and their servants, and though 
 nominally of Rigaud's party, they had taken no active part in the contest, 
 
 * Eighty-four were sent to Hartford ; the remainder were retained in New London. 
 
526 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 and might reasonably have expected that an American ship would hu- 
 manely favor their flight, rather than plunder them of their goods and 
 carry them into captivity. 
 
 The prisoners sent to Norwich were treated with compassionate kind- 
 ness. They had the privilege of the gaol limits, and were allowed to 
 stroll from house to house. Wholesome food and comfortable winter gar- 
 ments were provided for them. Dr. Philemon Tracy, who attended on 
 them as their physician, apprehending that they would suffer from the 
 rigors of a cold climate, made great exertions to procure their immediate 
 release. It was not however till March, 1801, that the Government vir- 
 tually condemned their capture by ordering their free discharge and fur- 
 nishing them with transportation home. 
 
 Some of these exiles were men of education and ability. One of them 
 had been a justice of the peace ; another, a young mulatto of manly and 
 dignified deportment, was afterward the able and discreet President of the 
 Eepublic of Hayti. He was then about twenty-four years of age, and 
 having already attained considerable rank in the order of Freemasons, 
 he was boarded while in Norwich, at the expense of the Masonic Lodge, 
 in a private family. Most of his leisure time he employed in perfecting 
 himself in the English language, and at his departure he cut from a piece 
 of his linen, his name, marked at full length, Jean Pierre Boyer, and gave 
 it to one of the young members of the family, that had assisted him in his 
 lessons. " Keep this," he said, " and perhaps, some day, you may send it 
 to me in a letter, and I will remember you." 
 
 The lad lost his mark, but nearly twenty years afterward. President 
 Boyer, then at the head of the Haytien Republic, made inquiries of cer- 
 tain Norwich ship-masters respecting his former friends, and sent a hand- 
 some gratuity to the two families in which he had been treated with 
 special kindness.* 
 
 On the 7th of February, 1801, the church in the town-plot (completed 
 in 1770) was consumed to ashes by the torch of some unknown incendiary. 
 A group of contiguous buildings, viz., the retail store of Messrs. Carew & 
 Huntington, an unoccupied dwelling-house, formerly belonging to Dudley 
 Woodbridge, and recently the abode of Roger Griswold, Esq., and several 
 barns, sheds, and out-houses, were destroyed in the same conflagration. 
 The fire was undoubtedly kindled by design, but the perpetrator was never 
 discovered. 
 
 Four years previous, — in February, 1797, — attempts had been made, 
 night after night, to set fire to these same buildings, and two barns near 
 them were successively destroyed. Trains had been repeatedly laid, and 
 
 * To tho widows of Consider Sterry and Diah Manning, each a donation of $400. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 527 
 
 fires kindled, wMcli were discovered and extinguished before much damage 
 was done. Mr. Breed, Mayor of the City, issued a proclamation, (Feb. 
 7th,) offering a reward of $500 for the discovery of the culprit. A vig- 
 ilant watch was also kept for some time in the vicinity of the church, and 
 no further attempt was made at this point, but fires were kindled and 
 barns consumed in diiferent parts of the town. Similar attempts at arson 
 occurred at intervals for three or four years, leading to the suspicion that 
 they were all the work of some brooding, lurking incendiary, till they 
 culminated in the destruction of the church in 1801. The culprit was 
 never discovered. 
 
 It is an old remark, often proving true, that fires are great improvers : 
 they are probably borne with more philosophy on that account. A new 
 church edifice was speedily erected on the old site, the expense being 
 defrayed partly by subscription, and partly by a lottery granted by the 
 Legislature at the May session of 1801. This church stands upon land 
 belonging to the town. 
 
 In town meeting, 12 May, 1801. " The Town grants liberty to the 1st Ecclesiastical 
 Society to erect a Meeting House on the Town Common, west of the highway, near 
 where the last meeting house stood that was destroyed by fire." 
 
 The corner-stone was laid with interesting ceremonies by Gen. Ebene- 
 zer Huntington, on the 18th of June. Only a few words were uttered, 
 but they were of solemn import. "May the house raised on this founda- 
 tion become a temple of the Lord and the dwelhng-place of the Holy 
 Spirit." A throng of spectators murmured their assent, and young people 
 standing above on the rocks waved their green boughs. Dr. Strong, the 
 pastor, then offered prayer. 
 
 In the style of church architecture, this edifice displayed a great advance 
 over all other churches in this part of the State. It had groined arches, 
 massive pillars to support the gallery, and a central dome painted sky- 
 blue ; but it retained the old forms of a high contracted pulpit and square 
 pews.* 
 
 In 1845, the interior was entirely remodeled, and since that period it 
 has been a second time renovated and improved. 
 
 In 1803, the house was surrounded with Lombardy poplars. They 
 flourished about twenty years, and kept their places ten years longer in 
 gradual decay. 
 
 In 1810, stoves were introduced. 
 
 In 1824, the bass-viol gave place to an organ. 
 
 The Sabbath School commenced about 1820, and was long kept in the 
 court-house. The present chapel was erected in 1852, the site being a 
 gift to the society from Mrs. Harriet Peck Williams. It contains a hall 
 
 * Architect, Joseph Terry of Hartford. 
 
528 HISTORY OP NOEWIGH. 
 
 for lectures and Sabbath Schools, and a library and study for the pastor. 
 The library, though not extensive, comprises a number of ancient books 
 and pamphlets of considerable rarity and value. 
 
 In 1820, Dr. Strong applied to the society to settle a colleague with him 
 in the ministry, wisliing, he said, to have the same satisfaction that his 
 venerable predecessor had enjoyed towards the close of his life, in behold- 
 ing tlie church and congregation harmoniously unite in settling a successor. 
 That this object might be accomplished with less inconvenience to his peo- 
 ple, he voluntarily proposed to relinquish his salary after the first year. 
 The society acceded to his request, and the Rev. Cornelius B. Everest, 
 who had been previously settled at Windham, was installed as his col- 
 league the same year. 
 
 Dr. Strong wa< born at Coventry, Ct, Sept. 21, 1753 ; was ordained at 
 Norwich, March 18, 1778; and died Dec. 18, 1834, aged 81. 
 
 The pastorates of Drs. Lord and Strong comprise 117 years, besides 
 six years of joint service. This is an extraordinary instance of ministe- 
 rial longevity, perhaps unequaled in the ecclesiastical annals of New 
 England.* 
 
 Mr. Everest, who, after the decease of Dr. Strong, became the sole 
 pastor of the church, was dismissed in April, 1836,t and succeeded by 
 Rev. Hiram P. Arms, the present pa-tor. 
 
 Mr. Arms is a native of "Windsor, Ct., born in 1799, graduated at Yale 
 College in 1824, and was settled in the ministry successively at Hebron 
 and at Wolcottville, Ct., officiating about three years in each place. He 
 was installed at Norwich Aug. 3, 1836, and is now, in the length of his 
 pastorate, the senior pastor of all denominations in Norwich. 
 
 This church has a fund of §12,000. It numbers over 200 members, 
 and comprises about 125 families. 
 
 The most destructive fires in Norwich have been those in which 
 churches have been consumed. That of February, 1801, which swept 
 away the church of the First Society, has been noticed. Another of stiQ 
 greater extent, in which the Congregational church in Chelsea was de- 
 stroyed, will be more particularly noticed in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 * Install. w^ that como near t» it are the following. The successive ministries of Rev. 
 Anthony Stodanrd and Kcv. Noah Benedict at Woodbury, Ct., amounted to 111 years, 
 from 17112 to 1813. In the first parish in V'ork, Me., two ministers occupied the pulpit 
 from 1700 to 1806. 
 
 t Mr. Everest afterward held the pastoral office successively at Bloomfield and at 
 Windsoi-, but subsequently withdrew from the Congregational ministry. " On the 3d 
 of Juuo, 1860, he received baptism by immersion at the hands of Rev. Dr. Kennard of 
 Philadelphia, being at the time 71 years old." Cong. Quarterly, "Vol. III., p. 264. 
 
■'& 
 
 't^^T^^^T^W^'"/" 
 
 .-/ 
 
 ■J-;V. HIR^M p. APxMS, D.D. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 529 
 
 The second church built by the Congregational Society in Chelsea fell 
 a prey to the flames in 1844, being so far consumed as to render it advisa- 
 ble to build a wholly new edifice. 
 
 The Main Street Congregational Church was destroyed by fire in Sep- 
 tember, 1854, having stood only nine years. 
 
 The Baptist Church at Greeneville was burnt down Feb. 27, 1854. 
 
 Of the other casualties by fire, two have been attended with loss of 
 life, viz.: 
 
 April 12, 1801. A house in the town-plot, between the dwellings of 
 Col. Christopher Leifingwell and Mr. John Bliss, occupied by Jackson 
 Browne, an English gentleman, was wholly and rapidly consumed, with 
 most of its contents. The flames burst forth at midnight, and when first 
 discovered, the whole interior of the lower story was on fire. Several of 
 the family escaped with difficulty, and one of the children perished in the 
 flames. Mr. Browne's card of thanks refers to the strenuous exertions 
 made by the citizens to rescue his lost child. Her funeral service was 
 attended by the Rev. Mr. Tyler, who recorded the fact as follows : 
 
 " Sophia, danghter of Jackson Browne, Esq. of the kingdom of Great Britain, and 
 of Eliza his wife, between 7 and 8 years of age, who perished in the burning of the 
 house eight days before : the interment was of the few bones found in the ashes April 
 21, 1801."* 
 
 The house of Mr. Andrew Griswold of Bean Hill was destroyed by 
 fire Feb. 27, 181 J. The weather was cold; rain was falling; the fire 
 commenced in the lower story, and the members of the family reposing in 
 the chambers were aroused too late to escape by the stairway. Some of 
 them leaped from the windows; Miss Phebe Hunn, an infirm woman, the 
 sister-in-law of Mr. Griswold, perished in the flames. 
 
 The road between Norwich and New London, passing through the Mo- 
 Jiegan fields, was first laid out by order of the Legislature, under the sur- 
 vey and direction of Joshua Raymond, who was remunerated with a tract 
 of land sufficient for a large farm upon the route. This must have been 
 as early as 1670,t but for more than a century the road was little better 
 
 * Mr. Browne had been for several years in this country. The venerable Charles 
 Miner, m sketching some scenes descriptive of that period, observes : 
 
 "Note that dashing gentleman and lady on the fine pair of blacks. They have a 
 foreign air. It is Jackson Brown, supposed to be an agent of the British Commissary 
 department. They do not stop to have a gate opened, but bound over it as if in pur- 
 suit of a fox." Norwich Jubilee, App., 275. 
 
 Mr. Browne's family, after they were burnt out, occupied for a short time the Teel 
 house on the Parade. He soon went himself to Barbadoes, where he died in 1804. 
 
 t Mr. Raymond died in 1676, and his son, the second Joshua, speaks of this tract of 
 land as " my father's homestead farm in the Mohegan fields." 
 34' 
 
530 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 than an Indian trail. Its numerous windings, fords and precipitous hills 
 made it botSh inconvenient and hazardous. The travel was chiefly on 
 horseback, or with ox-carts. 
 
 In 1789, several prominent individuals formed an association to effect 
 an improvement of this road. The Legislature granted them a lottery, 
 the avails of which were to be expended in repairing so much of the road 
 as ran through the Indian land. This lottery was drawn at Norwich in 
 June, 1791. The next May a company was incorporated to make the 
 road a turnpike and erect a toll-gate. By these various exertions the dis- 
 tance was reduced to fourteen miles from the court-house on Norwich 
 Green to the court-house in New London, and the traveling rendered tol- 
 erably safe. The toll commenced in June, 1792 : [4-wheel carriages, 9c?.; 
 2 do., 4^d.; man and horse, Ic?.] 
 
 This was the first turnpike in the United States. Dr. Dwight observes 
 in his travels that this road brought the inhabitants of Norwich and New 
 London more than half a day's journey nearer to each other. "Formerly 
 (he says) few persons attempted to go from one of these places to the 
 other and return the same day ; the journey is now easily performed in 
 little more than two hours." 
 
 This turnpike became almost immediately an important thoroughfare, of 
 great service to Norwich and the towns in her rear for driving cattle and 
 transporting produce to New London for embarkation. In 1806, it was 
 extended to the landing, by a new road that began at the wharf bridge, 
 and fell into the old road south of Trading Cove bridge. In 1812, an- 
 other new piece of road wa.^ annexed to it, which was laid out in a direct 
 line from the court-house to the old Mohegan road. 
 
 The company was dissolved and the toll abolished July 1, 1852. 
 
 The Norwich and Providence post-road was made a turnpike in 1794. 
 
 The Norwich and "Woodstock road, extending from Norwich to the 
 Massachusetts line, was made a turnpike in 1801, and discontinued in 
 1846, the company having made no dividends for six years. 
 
 The turnpike from Norwich through Salem to Essex on the Connecti- 
 cut river, commonly called the Essex turnpike, was established in 1827, 
 and relinquished about 1860. 
 
 The Shetucket Turnpike Company, to maintain a road through Pres- 
 ton, Griswold, ^'oluntown, and Sterliut^-, to the east boundary, was incor- 
 porated in 1820. 
 
 This company continued in operation more than thirty years, paying 
 yearly on its capital of $11,000, a small dividend averaging IJ per cent. 
 In 18C1, the franchise ^vas surrendered to the towns of Preston, Griswold 
 and Voluntown, for the sum of $1375. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 531 
 
 Eaileoads. 
 
 The railroad supersedes and destroys the turnpike. The Norwich and 
 Worcester Railroad Company was formed in 1832 ; the Legislatures of 
 Connecticut and Massachusetts each granting a charter for that portion of 
 the road which lay within their respective States. These two companies 
 were united by the said Legislatures in 1836, the whole capital amounting 
 to $1,700,000. The length from the steamboat landing in Norwich to the 
 depot at Worcester is fifty-eight and nine-tenth miles, eighteen of which 
 is in Massachusetts. 
 
 The first stroke of the spade on this road was at Greeneville, Nov. 18,, 
 1885, and it was completed and the trains ran the whole distance in 
 March, 1840. 
 
 Just beyond GreeneviUe in Norwich, the road forms a curve of 1,000' 
 feet radius along the banks of the Shetucket, affording a fine view of the 
 river, the bridge, and adjacent country. Three miles from the city, at the 
 Quinebaug Falls, the company were met by an immense mass of rock 
 lying across their contemplated route. Here a deep cut was channeled 
 for a considerable distance through a friable rock, but reaching at length a 
 bed of solid granite, a tunnel was excavated 300 feet in length and twenty 
 in width. The height from the bed of the tunnel to the summit of the 
 rock above is about 100 feet. Sitting in the car and gazing upon the 
 scenery, you suddenly find yourself gliding into the bosom of frowning 
 cliffs, and enveloped in subterranean darkness. You come out slowly, 
 grinding along the edge of a precipice, with the ragged, foaming, contracted 
 river below you on one side, and a barrier of cliffs on the other. 
 
 The road for many miles keeps near the Quinebaug, which has every 
 where the same characteristics, chafed and noisy, the banks bold, the bed; 
 rocky, and the edges disfigured by boulders brought down with ice in 
 spring floods, and lodged along the water course. 
 
 The section of the road from Norwich to Jewett City in Preston, was 
 the most laborious and expensive of the route. The course was winding, 
 the radius short, the earth encumbered with rocks ; the contractors lost 
 money, and were obliged to throw themselves upon the company. The 
 tunnel alone cost nearly $30,000. 
 
 A larga^depot or station-house was erected at Norwich, contiguous to 
 the steamboat landing, two stories high, and 200 feet in length. It is sit- 
 uated just at the spot where the Shetucket contracts its course, turns a 
 quarter round, and glides into the Thames. Here the company purchased 
 a small rocky promontory called the Point, pulled down the buildings 
 which covered it, blew up the rocks, filled the shallows, and constructed 
 the station-house, together with a wharf and a solid stone wall. 
 
 During the severe flood in the spring of 184-1, a bar was formed in the 
 
532 HISTOEY OF NORWICH. 
 
 channel of the Thames, by an accumulation of sand brought down the 
 Shetucket, 360 feet in length, which it was found very difficult to excavate 
 so as to leave the channel of its former depth. In consequence of this 
 bar, the steamboats which had before this occasionally grounded in the 
 river, were now frequently delayed two or three hours upon their route. 
 This obstruction, together with the serious inconvenience arising from the 
 ice in the winter season, induced the company to extend their road from 
 Norwich along the bank of the river, seven miles to Allen's Point, near 
 Gale's Ferry. This part of the road was completed in 1843. 
 
 By a subsequent addition to their charter, the company were allowed to 
 extend their road to Long Island Sound, provided it were done before 
 1856, and this term was afterward extended to 1860. But this project 
 was not accomplished, and the portion of the road from Norwich port to 
 Allyn's Point has since been dropped from the regular line of travel. 
 The company, by contract with the N. L. & N. R. R. Co., now make use 
 of their track upon the west side of the river to reach the Sound. 
 
 Public opinion greatly favored the construction of this road, or it could 
 not have been accomplished. Twice the company obtained a loan from 
 the city of $100,000, the Legislature sanctioning the act; the loan in the 
 first instance being secured by 1500 shares of the stock, and in the second 
 by a mortgage on the franchise and income of the road. In 1843, the 
 Assembly authorized the company to issue bonds. 
 
 The junction of the Norwich and Worcester Railroad with the New 
 London, Willimantic and Palmer Railroad, (now New London and North- 
 ern Railroad,) at Norwich City, was effected in 1853. The junction track 
 passes over Yantic cove by a curve, north of the wharf bridge, and from 
 thence under the street leading to the bridge, and across the city wharves 
 and slips to the depot near the mouth of the Shetucket. The cost of the 
 ■right of way was about $40,000. 
 
 A company was incorporated in 1841, for the construction of a railroad 
 from Norwich to the Connecticut river, called the Norwich and Lyme 
 Railroad Company. 
 
 In 1851, the Norwich and Westbrook Railroad Company was incorpo- 
 rated to effect the same object by a different route. 
 
 Nothing was done by either company, beyond the forming of plans and 
 making of surveys. 
 
CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 Chelsea. The Paeade. First Houses and Old Inhabitanis. 
 
 In 1790, Middle or Main street in Chelsea was opened at an expense 
 of £100, which was paid partly by the city and partly by individual sub- 
 scription. About the same time, Crescent street, the ends of which were 
 at the store of Capt. Thomas Fanning and the house of Rev. Walter 
 King, was greatly improved through the liberality and exertions of Capt. 
 William Hubbard. 
 
 The western avenue to Chelsea, now Washington street, was also at 
 this time rectified and a new section thrown open by the adjoining land- 
 holders. 
 
 The broad plateau intersected by these streets was then known as the 
 Little Plain. It seems not to have had any more distinctive name. On 
 the 11th of September, 1793, the 20th regiment of infantry, Joseph Wil- 
 liams, Colonel, was here reviewed, and upon this occasion it was called 
 the Parade. This was probably the first regimental review at this place. 
 The general trainings had previously been held on the Great Plain, near 
 Morgan's tavern, upon the road to New London. 
 
 Very little improvement had heretofore been made in this part of the 
 town, but the period had arrived for bringing it into notice. Several 
 building-lots had been purchased and houses erected upon its borders, but 
 the central part of the plain lay untilled and unfenced, the owners being 
 non-residents, descendants of the original grantees, John Reynolds and 
 Matthew Adgate. The larger portion comprised a single field, popularly 
 called "Adgate's three-square lot." 
 
 It was certainly desirable, both as a matter of taste and convenience, 
 that this area should be kept open to the public, and fortunately men of 
 liberal minds stood ready to bring about this result. 
 
 Joseph Perkins and Thomas Fanning, two of the neighboring land pro- 
 prietors, apparently at their 9wn motion and private expense, undertook 
 to clear this central area of all claims and incumbrances, that it might be 
 made a public square for the use of the town. This they effected, and 
 having obtained quit-claim deeds of the several heirs, conveyed the fee as 
 a free gift to the town. The deed of cession has the following preamble : 
 
534 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 We Thomas Fanning and Joseph Perkins, both of Norwich, for and in consideration 
 of the good will we have and do bear to the inhabitants of the Town of Norwich and 
 in consideration of the desire we have that said inhabitants may continually and at all 
 times be furnished and accommodated with a free, open, unincumbered piece of land 
 or ground, convenient for a public Parade or Walk, do give, gralit, remise, release and 
 forever quit claim unto Doctor Joshua Lathrop, one of the principal inhabitants of said 
 town, and to all the rest of the inhabitants of said Town of Norwich in their corporate 
 capacity, and to their successors forever, for the use and purpose of a Public Parade or 
 open Walk, to be unincumbered with any kind of building or buildings, public or pri- 
 vate, or nuisance whatever, and for no other purpose. 
 
 Dated 5th day of April, 1797. 
 
 All honor to the generosity and enlightened foresight of those men who 
 secured this great privilege to the town. They struck at the right time, 
 just when the spirit of progress had reached the spot. A little later, and 
 in all probability the area would have been carved into building-lots, and 
 the town would never have possessed this her most graceful ornament. 
 Without this central plain, Norwich would seem deprived of half her 
 beauty. 
 
 This public square has hitherto had no established name. The prevail- 
 ing idea in the minds of the grantees seems to have been that of provid- 
 ing an open space for military exercises. Its earliest designation was 
 therefore the Parade. Col. Elisha Edgerton's regiment of cavalry was 
 reviewed on the Parade, Sept. 4, 1798. But of late years it has acquired 
 more of the character of a park, and from the long residence — more than 
 half a century — of Gen. Wm. Williams upon its border, it has obtained 
 the current and acceptable name of Williams Park.* 
 
 In 1801, the rage for setting out Lombardy poplars ran through the 
 town like an epidemic. The quivering, silver-lined poplar, — the slender, 
 quick-growing poplar, — was in high repute for convenience, use, ornament 
 and health. The parade received a full share of the general adornment, 
 and was entirely girdled with poplars. These ItaUan shades are however 
 short-lived in our climate, and the first growth has been seldom renewed. 
 Here, as in most parts of the country, they soon gave place to the more 
 hifrdy and umbrageous natives of the forest. The elms and maples that 
 now gird the park were set out since 1820. 
 
 First Houses and other Improvements. 
 
 1. A house on the border of the Parade, known of late years as the 
 residence of Capt. Walter Lester, was built by Joseph Carpenter, but left 
 unfinished at his death in 1797. 
 
 * In September, 1811, Gen. Wm. Williams, then Lieut. Colonel of the third regi- 
 ment of militia, held '^is regimental review upon this parade. 
 
"^^S'irGeaE.PmneiC'-TS^- 
 
 
 ^ ''' 0-'t>(^\ 
 
 J" r /JZ^^o^. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 535 
 
 2. On the north-east side a dwelling-house was erected about the year 
 1785, by Capt. Henry Billings. It was the first house of any note upon 
 the Plain, and was successively occupied by Capt, Billings, by Ebenezer 
 Backus, and by the relict of the latter, with her second husband, A. vS. 
 Destouches, a French emigrant. In 1799 it was purchased by Major 
 Rogers, a merchant from Southampton, L. I., and very soon afterward we 
 find an assortment of goods advertised for sale by " Uriah Rogers & Son, 
 at their New Store on the pleasant plains of Chelsea, half a mile from 
 Norwich port." 
 
 Major Rogers died in 1814, and this house afterwards became the resi- 
 dence of Rev. Alfred Mitchell, to whose fine taste and devout mind the 
 woodland heights in the rear had a peculiar charm. They were his walk, 
 his study, and his oratory. After Mr. Mitchell's decease, the place was 
 for eight or ten years the seat of Mr. Charles Abbot's Family School for 
 Boys. The house has since been removed to a different part of the town, 
 and the site is occupied by one of the tasteful and costly mansions of 
 modern times. 
 
 3. A house very nearly coeval with that of Capt. Billings, on the 
 south-west side of the Plain, was built by Major Ebenezer Whiting, about 
 1790, and sold in 1795 to Capt. Daniel Dunham. The ground plot 
 included the ancient Indian Cemetery, and sixteen acres of land running 
 down to the neighborhood of Lathrop's Mills, where Major Whiting had 
 a distillery. In preparing for the foundation of this house, a gigantic 
 Indian skeleton was exhumed, and many rude stone tools and arrow-heads 
 thrown up. The place was afterward purchased by Calvin Goddard, and 
 remained for nearly forty years in the possession of the family.* 
 
 4. The brick-house, or Williams mansion, was built in 1789 and '90, 
 by Joseph Teel of Preston, the site being a portion of the original Adgate 
 Jot. It was designed for a hotel, and immediately advertised as 
 
 "The Teel House, sign of General Washington." 
 
 It was noted for its fine hall or assembly-room, where shows were ex- 
 hibited, and balls, lodges and clubs accommodated.! After Mr. Teel's 
 death, the hotel was continued by his son-in-law, Cyrus Bramin, and when 
 offered for sale in 1*797, it was particularly recommended for its position : 
 " on the central plain between the town and Landing, which according to 
 the natural appearance of things bids fair to be the seat of business for 
 the town of Norwich." 
 
 * Now the homestead of John Dunham, Esq., son of the former proprietor. 
 
 t An advertisement of May 29, 1794, announces the arrival at Mr. Teel's assembly. 
 room of a party of Italian rope-dancers and tumblers, and the public are invited to 
 call and see Don Peter and Clumsy the Clown dance a horn-pipe blindfold over fifteen 
 
536 HISTOKY OF NORWICH. 
 
 In June, 1800, the hotel was transformed into a hoarding and day- 
 school under the preceptorship of William Woodbridge. After some 
 other changes, it was purchased in 1806 by Carder Hazard, a retired 
 merchant from Newport, by whom it was sold in 1813 to its present 
 owner. 
 
 5. On the avenue leading from the east side of the Parade to the 
 Landing, Christopher Leffingwell, Joshua Lathrop and Joseph Perkins 
 were considerable landholders, and each contributed toward opening and 
 embellishing the street, freely relinquishing the land necessary for the 
 public convenience. Col. Leffingwell planted the fine elms that now over- 
 shadow Broadway. Here were a tier of houses built before 1800, and 
 occupied at the opening of the century by Rev. Walter King, Capt. Solo- 
 mon Ingraham, and Thomas Coit, (afterward by Jabez Huntington.) 
 Here also were the L'Hommedieu house and rope-walk, and the twin 
 houses of Hezekiah Perkins and Capt. Z. P. Burnham. This row of 
 buildings had the high granite ridge that projects into the center of Chel- 
 sea in their front. The triangular plot between the roads, now inclosed 
 as the Little Park, was formerly called the Everett lot. It belonged to 
 Col. Leffingwell, and after his death, was purchased jointly by Hezekiah 
 Perkins and Jabez Huntington, and in 1811 presented by them to the 
 city, on condition that it should be inclosed and used only as a park. 
 
 6. The residence of Thomas Mumford, embowered by large trees, with 
 a spacious garden and several vacant lots on the south and east, compris- 
 ing in all eight acres, occupied the plot at the head of Union street. Mr. 
 Mumford died Aug. 30, 1799, and the place passed into the possession of 
 Levi Huntington. The street forming a continuation of Broadway was 
 opened in 1800 by Christopher Leffingwell and the heirs of Mumford. 
 
 7. The house which has been for nearly sixty years the residence of 
 Joseph Williams, Esq., was built before 1800, by Capt. Samuel Freeman, 
 and sold six years later to its present owner. 
 
 On leaving the Plain and turning the steep pitch of the hill, in the 
 lower part of Union street, were the dwellings of Jeremiah WUber, Lem- 
 uel Warren, Israel Everit, and Christopher Vaill. 
 
 These comprise all the householders that have been traced in this part 
 of the town, at or near the beginning of the century. From that time 
 forward, improvements ceased for many years. The next houses built in 
 this quarter were those of Major Joseph Perkins and Russell Hubbard. 
 The former, a solid stone mansion, was completed in 1825, Mr. Hubbard's 
 the succeeding year. 
 
 A costly dwelling-house, combining various elements of beauty in 
 structure, sitnation, and prospect, was erected by Charles Rockwell in 
 1833, on the height between Broadway and Washington streets. This 
 was one of the fli-st experiments in gi-ading and cultivating this rugged 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 537 
 
 woodland ridge.* Many other beautiful seats, with choice gardens and 
 groves, have risen since that period to adorn this part of the town. 
 
 A considerable portion of "Washington street was originally opened 
 through land belonging to Col. Simon Lathrop, and here on the river side 
 of the street a house was built in 1780 by Elijah Lathrop. 
 
 In 1795, Samuel "Woodbridge purchased one of the Lathrop lots, and 
 erected a dwelling-house in what was then considered a wild and secluded 
 spot, but exceedingly beautiful in situation. A contemporary notice speaks 
 of it as " an excellent place for rural retirement." This property was 
 purchased in 1811 by Richard Adams, Esq., a gentleman from Esse- 
 quibo, and has been known for the last fifty years as the residence of his 
 family.f 
 
 The next house that made its appearance in this part of Washington 
 street was erected by Theodore Barrell, an Englishman who had been in 
 business at Barbadoes, and had several times visted Norwich for commer- 
 cial purposes. He brought his family to the place ire 1808, purchased a 
 lot of the heirs of Eufus Lathrop, built upon it and continued his inhab- 
 itancy till 1824, when he sold his house and grounds to Wm. P. Greene, 
 and removed to New London. 
 
 In the year 1809, the Lathrop house (built in 1780) was purchased by 
 Mr. John Vernett, who had it removed to a position lower down on the 
 same street, where it now stands. J On the site left vacant by the removed 
 building, Mr. Vernett caused a new dwelling-house to be erected, at a 
 cost and in a style of elegance beyond what had been previously exhibited 
 in Norwich. The area purchased by him consisted of twenty-five acres, 
 comprising six or eight choice building-lots. The land bordering on the 
 Yantic in this, vicinity still retains its native luxuriance, its varied surface 
 and woodland beauty. A scientific or collegiate institution might here 
 have found a well-adapted and beautiful site.§ 
 
 Mr. Vernett was a native of Sarsbourg on the Rhine. Having acquired 
 a handsome fortune by trade at St. Pierre, he designed to withdraw from 
 business and spend the remainder of his life in retired leisure at Norwich, 
 Scarcely were his family settled in their new residence, when he met with 
 sudden embarrassments and losses which entirely deranged his plans, and 
 he sold the place in 1811 to Benjamin Lee of Cambridge. 
 
 * Sold by Mr. Eockwell to Capt. James L. Day, and purchased of the latter in 
 1862, by John F. Slater, Esq., who has in part remodeled the hoase and greatly im- 
 proved the grounds. 
 
 t Mr. Adams had been here at school in his youth, and doubtless pleasant reminis- 
 cences of the place led him to select it as the future home of his family. 
 
 t Eesidence of late Lyman Brewer, Esq. 
 
 § The elegant mansion of Wm. H. Law, Esq., now occupies a choice and prominent 
 position in this valuable Vernett purchase. 
 
538 HISTOET OP NOEWICH. 
 
 These were the first noted houses of "Washington street. They sprang 
 up after a prosperous period of trade, to which the war wiih Great Britain 
 in 1812 gave a crushing blow, and no others were built for twenty years. 
 The next that appeared was that of William C. Gilman, completed in 
 1831. 
 
 Washington street is now skirted on either side with elegant and even 
 princely mansions of more recent origin, exceedingly varied in position 
 and style of architecture, but all indicative of taste, wealth, and home 
 comfort. 
 
 The Breed family residence near the corner of Washington, Main and 
 Church streets, is probably the most ancient house now remaining in 
 Chelsea. It was built by Gershom Breed about the year 1760. 
 
 Church street was at first known as Upper or Third street. It was 
 laid out along the steep side-hill, with the whole rocky height, — the ele- 
 phantine granite back of Chelsea, crowned with woods, — towering in its 
 rear. In 1800, the principal residents on this street were Shubael Breed, 
 collector of U. S. revenue during the administration of the first President 
 Adams, Nathaniel Peabody, Rev. John Tyler, and Dr. Lemuel Boswell. 
 Capt. Benajah LeffingweU occupied the three-story house opposite Breed's 
 corner, and there died Sept. 27, 1804. The next house to the westward 
 was that of Capt. Oliver Fitch. 
 
 The principal householders in West Chelsea were Elijah Herrick, Jed- 
 idiah Willet, Dewey Bromley, Thomas G^vitt, Septimus Clark, Stephen 
 Story, and Luther Edgerton. These men were all engaged in ship-buUd- 
 ing, or in some of the crafts connected with that business. A rope-walk, 
 established by the Howlands in 1797, (owned of late years by John Breed 
 & Co.,) has now been for nearly seventy years a conspicuous object upon 
 the hill-side. 
 
 The Baptist meeting-house was raised in 1801. 
 
 The low brick building at the corner of Main and Union streets has the 
 reputation of being the first brick edifice constructed in Norwich. It is 
 not known when or by whom it was buUt. According to current tradition, 
 it was occupied as a public house before the opening of the Eevolutionary 
 war, and at one time had the honor of entertaining and lodging General 
 Washington and several officers of his staff. This was probably the night 
 of the 30th of June, 1775,* at which time Wixshington was on his way to 
 
 * It is probable that to this particular night spent at Norwich, Blisha Ayers, the 
 wandering school-master from Preston, refen-ed in a brief interview that he had with 
 Washington at Mount Vernon, in 1788. The General was standing by his horse, ^pre- 
 pared to I'ide to another part of his estate, when the traveler arrived. The details of 
 the interview are given by the latter with amusing simplicity : 
 
 " He enquired my name and what part of Connecticut I was from. I told him about 
 seven miles east of Norwich City and near Preston village. I know where Norwich is, 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 539 
 
 assume the command of the American army in the neighborhood of Bos- 
 ton. He arrived at Cambridge July 2d. 
 
 The brick corner was afterwards famous as an auction stand. John 
 Eichards, auctioneer, occupied the premises from 1800 onward for sev- 
 eral years. It is still a low, square, flat-roofed building, as at first, — a 
 cramped and homely structure, compared with its younger neighbors, but 
 respected as one of the antiquities of the city. 
 
 Another old hotel stood in Water street, nearly in the rear of the Mer- 
 chant's Bank, with its upper story on a level with Main street. Reuben 
 Willoughby left the stand in 1804, for a new hotel in Shetucket street, 
 since called the American House. Ralph BoUes was his successor in 
 Water street, but removed in 1809 to the house built by Mr. Levi Hunt- 
 ington, after the fire of 1793, which he opened as the Chelsea Coffee 
 House. This hotel was then situated in a breezy plot, open to the water, 
 a sloping lawn in front graced with a row of poplars, and a garden en- 
 riched with fruit-trees. The house is yet extant, but time-worn, con- 
 tracted, and defaced, its grounds transformed to streets, and high brick 
 buildings overshadowing it on every side. 
 
 The Merchant's Hotel in Main street was built in 1797, by an associa- 
 tion of business men, and in style and accommodation was far superior to 
 any previous hotel in Norwich. Newcomb Kinney, one of the proprie- 
 tors, was for many years the well-known and popular landlord. 
 
 In the early part of the century. East Chelsea, or Swallow-all, was 
 noted as the hive of sea-captains. There was then no road to the river, 
 nor to the present Greeneville ; all the land in that direction lay in rough 
 pasturage. East Main street was narrow and crooked. Wells, fences, 
 gardens, shops and dwelling-houses projected far into the present street. 
 The whole district was rugged with rocks and water-courses, frowned on 
 by circumjacent hills and washed by frequent fioods. Franklin street was 
 the road to Lisbon. Here were the dwellings of Capts. Christopher Cul- 
 ver, Charles Rockwell, James N. Brown, .John Sangar, and Seth Harding, 
 — the latter usually called Commodore Harding. Other inhabitants were 
 Jonathan Frisbie, Seabury Brewster, Judah Hart, Ezra Backus, Joseph 
 Powers, and Timothy FiUmore. 
 
 A few of the old houses of this street, belonging to the last century, 
 
 he said. I told him that I remembered the time when he and his aids staid a night at 
 Norwich when he was on his way to the American army at Boston, and the next morn- 
 ing he went east to Preston village. At Preston village you were joined by Colonel 
 Samuel Mott, a man that helped to conquer Canada from France, and there were two 
 young recruiting captains for the Revolutionary war : one was Capt. Nathan Peters, 
 and the other was Capt. Jeremiah Halse'y. These went with you several miles on your 
 journey to Boston. The General said, I remember something about it. I told him he 
 went in sight of my father's house two miles north of Preston village. Very likely, 
 he said. The General asked if I had been to breakfast," &c. 
 
540 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Still remain, — Capt. Cliristopher Culver still occupies the dwelling that he 
 purchased in 1800, — but the last of its venerable trees, a grand old but- 
 ton-wood, the landmark of a hundred years, was cut down in I860. 
 
 In 1830, a great improvement was effected in East Chelsea by the 
 opening of Franklin Square. In connection with this enterprise, the road 
 was widened and graded, steeps were leveled, hoUows fiUed up, fences and 
 buildings removed. From this time onward, the march of improvement 
 has never paused. 
 
 The streets east of Franklin, known as East Broad street and Boswell 
 avenue, leading towards the old Providence road, have a date scarcely 
 reaching beyond 1850, while the plateau of streets and houses north and 
 east of there is of stiU more recent origin, having grown like a garden 
 from a wilderness during the last six years. Previously it was a rough, 
 unsightly tract, still populous with its native denizens, squirrel and wood- 
 chuck, partridge and rabbit, and on this account the haunt of sportsmen. 
 A slaughter-house and two or three huts stood upon its borders, and a nar- 
 row, break-neck road, the old riding-way to the Shetucket, ran through it. 
 
 In this locality a plot of 55 acres, known as the Boswell farm, and listed 
 for taxation at $4,000, was purchased by Joseph G. Lamb in December, 
 1858. Through his enterprise in the way of clearing, draining, blasting, 
 the rugged surface was graded, streets and building-lots were laid out and 
 offered to purchasers on equitable terms. In 1864 it was divided among 
 nearly fifty owners, mostly artizans and laborers, and contained thirty-two 
 dwelling-houses occupied by forty-four families. 
 
 Lamb's Hill, the highest portion of this plot, is on a higher level than 
 the highest church spire in the city, and offers to the eye a prospect of 
 great beauty and variety. 
 
CHAPTER XLIV. 
 Schools and Academies. 
 
 The schools in Norwich were neither intermitted or neglected during 
 the Revolutionary war. An institution of higher grade than elemeiltary 
 was sustained in the town-plot through all the distractions of the country. 
 It called in many boarders from abroad, and at one period, with Mr. 
 Goodrich for its principal, acquired considerable popularity. This school 
 is endorsed by its committee, Andrew Huntington and Dudley Wood- 
 bridge, in 1783, as furnishing instruction to "young gentlemen and ladies, 
 lads and misses, in every branch of literature, viz., reading, writing, arith- 
 metic, the learned languages, logic, geography, mathematics," &c. Charles 
 White, teacher. 
 
 The exhibitions of the school were commonly enlivened with scenic 
 representations and interludes of music. A taste for such entertainments 
 was prevalent. The young people, even after their emancipation from 
 schools, would sometimes take part in theatrical representations. We 
 learn from the town newspaper that in February, 1792, a select company 
 of young ladies and gentlemen performed the tragedy of Gustavus and 
 the Mistakes of a Night, at the court-house. 
 
 The school-ma'am of former times, with her swarming hive of pupils, 
 was an institution of which no sample remains at the present day. She 
 was a life-long incumbent, never going out of one round of performance : 
 always teaching little girls and boys to sit up straight and treat their elders 
 with respect ; to conquer the spelling-book, repeat the catechism, never 
 throw stones, never tell a lie ; the boys to write copies, and the girls to 
 work samplers. If they sought higher education than this, they passed 
 out of her domain into finishing schools. Almost every neighborhood had 
 its school-ma'am, and the memory is still fresh of Miss Sally Smith at the 
 Landing and Miss Molly Grover of the Town-plot. 
 
 Dancing-schools were peculiarly nomadic in their character; the in- 
 structor (generally a Frenchman) circulating through a wide district and 
 giving lessons for a few weeks at particular points. Reels, jigs and con- 
 tra-dances were most in vogue : the hornpipe and rigadoon were attempted 
 by only a select few ; cotillions were growing in favor ; the minuet much 
 
542 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 admired. In October, 1787, Griffith's dancing-school was opened at the 
 house of Mrs. Billings in the town-plot. He taught five diflFerent minuets, 
 one of them a duo, and another a cotillion-minuet. His lessons were given 
 in the morning, with a scholar's ball once a fortnight. 
 
 Ten years later, J. C. Devereux was a popular teacher of the dance. 
 He had large classes for several seasons at the court-house, and at Kin- 
 ney's hotel in Chelsea. 
 
 In 1799, a school for young ladies was opened in the house of Major 
 Whiting upon the Little Plain, by Mrs. Brooks, who devoted herself 
 especially to feminine accomplishments, such as tambour, embroidery, 
 painting in water-colors, instrumental music, and the French language. 
 She had at first a large number of pupils from this and the neighboring 
 towns, but the attendance soon declined, and the school was rehnquished. 
 In general the young ladies at such schools only remained long enough to 
 practice a few tunes on the guitar, to tambour a muslin shawl and apron, 
 or embroider a scripture scene, and this gave the finishing stroke to their 
 education. 
 
 It was common then, as it is now, for parents with liberal means to send 
 both their sons and daughters from home to obtain greater educational 
 advantages. Young ladies from Norwich often went to Boston to finish 
 their education, and now and then one was placed under the guardian care 
 and instruction of the Moravian sisterhood in their seminary at Bethle- 
 hem, Penn. 
 
 In 1782, an academical association was formed in the western part of 
 the town-plot, consisting of forty-one subscribers and one hundred shares 
 or rights. The old meeting-house of the Separatists was purchased and 
 repaired for the use of this institution. The first principal was Samuel 
 Austin, and the range of studies included Latin and Greek, navigation 
 and the mathematics. Two popular school-books then just issued were 
 introduced by Mr. Austin into this school, — Webster's Grammatical Insti- 
 tutes, and Geography made easy by Jedidiah Morse. Mr. Morse was 
 himself subsequently a teacher in this institution, which was continued 
 with varying degrees of prosperity for thirty years or more. 
 
 Alexander Macdonald, author of a school-book called the Youth's As- 
 sistant, was one of its teachers. He died May 4, 1792, aged 40. New- 
 comb Kinney was at one time the principal, and had for his usher, John 
 lluss of Hartford, afterward member of Congress from 1819 to 1823. 
 In 1800, Sebastian C. Cabot was the chief instructor. This school was 
 kept in operation about thirty years. After it ceased, the lower part of 
 the building was occupied by the public school, and the upper part, being 
 suitably prepared, was in use for nearly twenty years as a Methodist 
 chapel. 
 
 Dr. Daniel Lathrop, who died in 1782, left a legacy of £500 to the 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 643 
 
 town for the support of a free grammar school, upon certain conditions, 
 one of which was that the school should be kept during eleven months of 
 each year.* A school upon this foundation was opened in 1787, and con- 
 tinued for about fifty years. The brick school-house upon the green was 
 built for its accommodation. Its first teacher was Ebenezer Punderson.f 
 But the most noted of its preceptors and the one who longest held his 
 place, was Mr. William Baldwin ; an excellent instructor, faithful and apt 
 to teach, but a rigid disciplinarian, and consequently more respected than 
 beloved by his pupils, until after life led them to reverse the decisions of 
 earlier days. The young have seldom judgment and generosity sufficient 
 to make them love those who control them for their good. 
 
 In 1843, the Lathrop donation was relinquished, with the consent of 
 the Legislature, to the heirs-at-law of Thomas Coit, a nephew of Dr. 
 Lathrop, to whom by the provision of the testator's will, it was in such 
 case to revert. The investment had depreciated in value, and the restric- 
 tions with which the legacy was incumbered made it, in the advanced 
 state of educational institutions, more of a hindrance than a help. The 
 school had been for many years a great advantage to the town, but having 
 accomplished its mission, it quietly ceased to be. 
 
 Evening schools of short duration, devoted to some special study, were 
 not uncommon. The object was usually of a practical nature, and the 
 students above childhood. The evening school of Consider Sterry, in 
 1798, covered, according to his program, the following range of instruc- 
 tion : 
 
 " Book-keeping in the Italian, American and English methods, mathematics, sur- 
 veying and plotting of lands ; price 1«. 6d. per week. 
 
 " Navigation and the method of finding longitude by lunar observations and latitude 
 by the sun's altitude, one doUar for the complete knowledge." 
 
 Few men are gifted by nature with such an aptitude for scientific re- 
 search as Consider Sterry. His attainments were all self-acquired under 
 great disadvantages. Besides a work on lunar observations, he and his 
 brother prepared an arithmetic for schools, and in company with Nathan 
 Daboll, another self-taught scientific genius, he arranged and edited a 
 system of practical navigation, entitled "The Seaman's Universal Daily 
 Assistant," a work of nearly three hundred pages. He also published 
 
 * Dr. Daniel Lathrop left also a legacy of five hundred pounds to Yale College, 
 without any restrictions. 
 
 t If this Ebenezer Punderson, who in 1787 was the accepted teacher of the Lathrop 
 school was, as is most probable, the teacher of that name who in 1776 was arrested 
 for drinking tea and afterward had his property confiscated as a tory, it shows that 
 party prejudices must have died away very soon after the war. 
 
544 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 several small treatises, wrote political articles for the papers, and took a 
 profound interest in freemasonry. 
 
 In June, 1800, a school was inaugurated at the brick house on the Lit- 
 tle Plain, with Mr. William Woodbridge for the principal. The assembly 
 room was fitted up with desks and benches for an academical hall ; both 
 sexes were admitted, and the whole was under the supervision of a board 
 of four citizens, — 
 
 Joseph Howland, Thomas Fanning, 
 
 Samuel Woodbridge, Thomas Lathrop. 
 
 But the situation was too remote from the centers of population, and 
 after a trial of two or three years, this school was relinquished for want 
 of patronage. 
 
 A select school for young persons of both sexes was long sustained in 
 the town-plot, but with varying tides of prosperity and decline. After a 
 void of two or three years, it was revived in 1803 by Pelatiah Perit, who 
 had just then graduated from Yale College, and was only eighteen years 
 of age. Lydia Huntley, afterwards Mrs. Sigourney, was one of his 
 pupils. 
 
 Among other teachers of the town-plot, who were subsequently honor- 
 able and noted in their several callings, the following are well remem- 
 bered : 
 
 Daniel Haskell, President of the Vermont University. 
 
 Henry Strong, LL. D., eminent in the law. 
 
 John Hyde, Judge of County Court, Judge of Probate, &c. 
 
 Dr. Peter Allen, a physician in Ohio. 
 
 Rev. Joshua L. WiUiams, of Middletown. 
 
 J. Bates Murdock, afterwards an officer of the second war with Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Phineas L.. Tracy, who from 1827 to 1833 was M. C. from Genessee 
 county, N. T. 
 
 A proprietary school was estabhshed at the Landing in 1797, by twenty- 
 seven heads of families. The school-house was built on the slope of the 
 hill above Church street, and the school was assembled and organized by 
 the Rev. Walter King. David L. Dodge was the first regular teacher.* 
 
 In 1802, the Rev. Thomas Williams was the preceptor. He was noted 
 for his assiduous attention to the health and morals, as well as the studies 
 of his pupils. He drilled them thoroughly in the Assembly's Catechism, 
 
 * Mr. Dodga was a niitivo of Brooklyn, Ct. He came to Norwich in 1796, and 
 opened a school, boarding in the family of Aaron Cleveland, whose daughter he sub- 
 sequently married. 
 
HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 545 
 
 and used with his younger classes a favorite manual called the Catechism 
 of Nature.* 
 
 Other teachers of this school were Mr. Scarhorough, Ebenezer "Witter, 
 John Lord, (President of Dartmouth College,) George Hill, &c. But no 
 one retained the office for so long a term as Dyar T. Hinckley of Wind- 
 ham, a man of earnest zeal in his profession, who was master of deck and 
 bench in Norwich for twenty years or more, yet never removed his family 
 or obtained a regular home in the place. He was a school-master of the 
 old New England type, devoted to his profession as an ulterior pursuit, 
 and expending his best energies in the performance of its duties. 
 
 Schools at that period consisted uniformly of two sessions a day, of three 
 hours each, with a half-holiday on Saturday. Mr. Hinckley, in addition 
 to this, had sometimes an evening or morning school, or both, of two hours 
 each, for pupils not belonging to the day-school. The morning hours were 
 devoted to young ladies, and from an advertisement of May, 1816, giving 
 notice of a new term, we ascertain the precise time when the class assem- 
 bled. ''Hours fram 5 o'clock to 7 A. M." 
 
 Let no one hastily assume that this early summons would be neglected. 
 Living witnesses remain to testify that it drew in a goodly number of 
 young aspirants, who came out, fresh and vigorous, at sunrise or a little 
 later, to pursue their studies.f 
 
 Another institution that made its mark upon society was the Chelsea 
 Grammar School, organized in 1806, but not incorporated till 1821, when 
 it was impowered to hold real estate to the value of $20,000.|; The 
 school-house was on the side-hill opposite the Little Park, in Union street. 
 This institution continued in operation, with some vacant intervals, about 
 
 * Mr. 'Williams is living in 1865, at Providence, aged 85. He received a part of his 
 early education in Norwich, having attended school in the town-plot about the year 
 1792, — a pupil first of Mr. Baldwin, and afterward of Newcomb Kinney. 
 
 t A similar school was kept by Nathan Hale at New London. In a letter from that 
 place, May 24, 1774, after speaking of his grammar school, he says : "In addition to 
 this, I have kept during the summer, a morning school between the hours of five and 
 seven, of about 20 young ladies ; for which I have received 6s. a scholar, by the quar- 
 ter." Stuart's Life of Hale, p. 25. 
 
 t The original proprietors of this Grammar School, who purchased the land and 
 built the house, were 
 
 Gurdon Bill, James Lanman, 
 
 Z. P. Burnham, Grover L'Hommedieu, 
 
 Benjamin Coit, Andrew Perkins, 
 
 Calvin Goddard, Augustus Perkins, 
 
 William S. Hart, Hezekiah Perkins, 
 
 Jabez Huntington, Dwight Eipley. 
 
 Levi Huntington, Charles Rockwell, 
 
 Walter King, Joseph Williams 
 
 35 
 
546 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 forty years, securing for its patrons the benefits of an academical educa- 
 tion for their children without sending them from home. Many prominent 
 citizens of Norwich here received their first introduction to the classics, — 
 the sons in numerous instances taking possession of seats once occupied by 
 their fathers. 
 
 No complete list of the preceptors has been obtained ; but among the 
 remembered names are several that have since been distinguished in lite- 
 rary and professional pursuits, — Dr. Jonathan Knight of New Haven, 
 Charles Griswold of Lyme, Jonathan Barnes, Wyllis Warner, Eoswell. C. 
 Smith, Rev. Horace Bushnell, D. D., and Rev. "VVm. Adams, D. D. 
 
 These men were all young at the time. The preceptors of most schools, 
 here and elsewhere, at that period, were college graduates, accepting the 
 office for a year, or at most for two or three years, between taking their 
 degree and entering upon some other profession. But teachers to whom 
 the vocation is but a stepping-stone to something beyond on which the 
 mind is fixed, however faithful and earnest in their present duties, can 
 never raise an institution to any permanent standard of excellence. It is 
 well therefore that these temporary undertakings should give way to pub- 
 lic schools more thoroughly systematized and conducted by persons who 
 make teaching a profession. 
 
 In Chelsea, beginning about 1825, a series of expedients for enlarging 
 the bounds of knowledge afford pleasing evidence of the gradual expan- 
 sion of intellect and enterprise. A lyceum, a circulating library, a read- 
 ing club, a society for mutual improvement, and a mechanics' association, 
 were successively started, and though most of them were of brief dura- 
 tion, they were cheering tokens of an advance in the right path. 
 
 The Norwich Female Academy was incorporated in 1828. This institu- 
 tion was greatly indebted for its origin to the persevering exertions of Mr. 
 Thomas Robinson, who was the principal agent of the corporation. The 
 brick hall erected for its accommodation stood on the hill facing the river, 
 higher than any other building then on the declivity. 
 
 Neither court-house nor jail had gained a foothold on the height, which 
 was well forested, and toward the north surmounted by a fine prospect 
 station, overtopping the woods, and known as Rockwell's Tower. The 
 academy had the rugged hill for its back-ground, but on other sides the 
 view was varied and extensive ; and when at recess the fair young pupils 
 spread in joyous freedom over the height, often returning with wild flowers 
 and oak-leaf garlands from the neighboring groves, neither poetry nor 
 romance could exaggerate the interest of the scene. 
 
 The most prosperous year of this academy was 1833, when the number 
 of pupils amounted to nearly ninety, many of them boarders from other 
 places. But the exposed situation of the building, and the rough, steep 
 ascent by which only it could be reached, were adverse to the prosperity 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 647 
 
 of a female academy, and it soon became extinct, — disbanded by wintry 
 blasts and icy foot-paths. 
 
 In the meantime axe and hammer bad begun their steady progress up 
 the declivity. The jail was erected on the summit, and the town house on 
 the slope of the hill. The Rev. Mr. Paddock built his house upon the 
 height in 1835; other dwellings soon made their appearance ; the trees 
 fell, streets were laid out, and before the academy finally ceased, the 
 beautiful retirement of the hill and every shred of romance had passed 
 away.* 
 
 In the mental improvement of females, Norwich, first and last, appears 
 to have taken a more than common interest. Numerous private schools 
 established for their benefit, of an elevating character, though transitory 
 in duration, attest the truth of this remark. In 1812, Misses L. Huntley 
 (afterward L. H. Sigourney) and Nancy Maria Hyde opened in Chelsea 
 a select school for young ladies, which was continued however but little 
 more than a year. 
 
 In later days, Miss Jane Ingersoll of Springfield has gathered here at 
 different periods interesting classes of pupils. The excellent family and 
 day school of Claudius B. Webster, begun in 1845, was sustained for fif- 
 teen years with undiminished favor. But the improvement of the com- 
 mon schools, and the institution of the Free Academy, which is open alike 
 to both sexes and all classes of the community, offering also a wide range 
 for study, supersedes in a great measure all private undertakings, or at 
 least renders their establishment less imperative. 
 
 The common or free schools of former times were mostly of a primary 
 diaracter. The State excise money and the town rates, which were 
 appropriated by law to educational purposes, were not devoted to gram- 
 mar schools, but expended for instruction in the common branches useful 
 to both sexes in every-day life. When the land belonging to Connecticut 
 in the State of Ohio, called the Western Reserve, was sold, the proceeds 
 were set apart by an act of the Legislature for a School Fund, the inter- 
 est to be distributed through all the districts of the State in proportion to 
 the number of children.f 
 
 At Norwich the first school-meeting under this act was held in October, 
 
 * One exception must be made. A plot of three or four acres on the hill, belonging 
 to the late Wm. S. Tyler, has been carefully shielded from change. The old trees, the 
 old paths, the old stone steps, have been allowed to remain. It was part of an original 
 grant to Richard Bushuell, and has never been alienated, — descending from Benajah 
 Bushnell, son of Richard, to his daughter Klizabeth, who married Dea, Isaac Tracy, 
 whose daughter Hannah was the wife of Rev. John Tyler, D. D. 
 
 t Gen. Joseph Williams of Norwich was an influential member of the General As- 
 sembly between 1792 and 1796, and it has been said that the first proposition to devote 
 the proceeds of the western lands for the support of schools, came from him. 
 
648 HISTOBY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 1796. In Chelsea the number of householders warned to attend was 
 
 145* 
 
 The schools established on this basis were at first chiefly of an element- 
 ary character, and gathered in but few pupils from those ranks in society 
 that were able to patronize the select schools. The first in Norwich of 
 which any certain data has been obtained, established on the State Fund 
 foundation and called distinctively the Free School, was begun at Chelsea 
 in June, 1799 ; Rufus Robbins, preceptor. 
 
 For many years these district schools, invaluable as they were in the 
 benefits they conferred, were yet far below the highest attainable standard 
 of usefulness. They were entirely dissociated ; each district managing its 
 own school by a committee. A change of system seemed desirable. The 
 subject was brought up in public meetings and freely discussed. Slany 
 of the citizens took a decided stand in favor of a new organization of the 
 schools. William C. Gilman was one of the prominent advocates of a 
 more complete and energetic course of instruction. 
 
 In 1839, Greeneville took the lead in the march of improvement, con- 
 solidating her two districts and establishing a high school without opposi- 
 tion. This important change was efiected chiefly through the agency of 
 William H. Coit of Greeneville. 
 
 In the other city districts the project met with strenuous opposition. 
 There was a conflict of opinions and of plans, which continued, or was 
 reproduced from year to year, for nearly twelve years. But at last all 
 parties united in favor of reform and progress, and a change of system 
 was efiected.f 
 
 Adjoining districts were consolidated, a system of graded schools inau- 
 gurated, and upwards of S50,000 expended in buildings for their accom- 
 modation. Tliese improvements were made between 1855 and 1858. A 
 high school was left out of the plan, this necessity being supplied by the 
 establishment of the Free Academy. 
 
 The Central School-house, a building of noble dimensions and wise 
 adaptation to its uses, stands on the east side of Broadway, in an eli- 
 gible and airy position. It is built of brick, with free-stone dressings ; is 
 three stories high, and well supplied with furnaces and cisterns. This 
 edifice is considered the finest in appearance, position, and convenience, of 
 any common school-house in Connecticut. 
 
 It was dedieaf cd Sept. 3, 1855 ; cost $40,000. J. W. AUen, a graduate 
 
 * The family names wore 89 : of LcfBngwells seven, which was the largest number of 
 one name. 
 
 t " The erection of this beautiful building [Norwich Central School-house] marks 
 the successful termination of one of tho most protracted and severe educational strug- 
 gles ever witnessed in our State." Report of Supt. of Public Schools of Connecticut, 
 (for 1856. 
 
HISTORY OP NOBWIOH. 549 
 
 of the Wesleyan University, has been the Principal of this institution from 
 its commencement. 
 
 The other school-houses are also on a liberal scale. That of the Falls 
 district, in Sachem street, was completed in 1856, at a cost of $10,000- 
 The older structures of other districts have all been enlarged or refitted 
 to render them convenient and appropriate to the graded system. 
 
 The Free Academt. 
 
 This establishment is a magnificent illustration of what can be accom- 
 plished by enlightened forethought, persevering enterprise, and large- 
 hearted liberality. It was founded, endowed, the building erected, the 
 library commenced, and the apparatus furnished, by private generosity- 
 Three individuals in the first instance gave over $10,000 each, and the 
 whole amount, about $100,000, was subscribed by forty persons. Half of 
 this sum was invested for a permanent endowment. 
 
 The project originated with the Rev. John P. Gulliver, and to his 
 unwearied exertions in collecting and disseminating information, awaken- 
 ing interest, and maturing the plan of operation, owes in great measure 
 its success. The object which the founders had in view was not only to 
 secure a course of instruction in the higher branches, so that young per- 
 sons might here be prepared to enter upon the diiferent callings of life, as 
 mechanics, merchants, navigators, scholars, agriculturists, or professional 
 men, but as the grand result, the Academy was expected to become the 
 means and instrument of elevating the standard of the common schools, 
 and of bringing them into a system of gradation and harmonious co- 
 operation. 
 
 Mr. Gulliver's circular, explaining the objects of the proposed institu- 
 tion and appealing to the citizens for aid and encouragement, was issued 
 in 1853. The academy was incorporated in 1854, upon petition of Rus- 
 sell Hubbard, WilUam P. Greene, William A. Buckingham, Wilham 
 Williams, and other individuals, to the number of thirty-five, who were 
 the original subscribers to the fund.* 
 
 The building stands in a noble position, with the park in front, and ^ 
 picturesque range of hills in the rear. It is in the Norman style of arch- 
 itecture, with a lofty tower, and is constructed of rough brick covered with 
 mastic, and finished with free-stone dressings.f Cost, $35,000. 
 
 * The list of donors was afterward increased to forty. 
 
 t Evan Burdick of Norwich is the architect of the Free Academy, the Central School 
 Hoase, the Broadway Congregational Church, the Wauregan Hotel, and several other 
 public buildings of the city. Many elegant private residences have also been con- 
 structed under his direction. 
 
650 HI8T0BT OP NORWICH. 
 
 The site with its ample surrounding area, about seven acres in all, was 
 the gift of General "Williams. The back-ground is a woodland height, 
 rocky and uncultured, where nature retains its original wild aspect, beau- 
 tifully contrasting with the verdant lawn below. 
 
 The library, with $5,000 funded for its increase, was presented by Mrs. 
 Harriet Peck "Williams, to be called the Peck Library, as a tribute of 
 affectionate respect to the memory of her father, Capt. Bela Peck. The 
 books selected for this library, as far as the purchases have been made, 
 are of lasting value, consisting chiefly of the best English editions of the 
 best authors. It has the Bibliotheca Classica, 145 volumes, and the Ed- 
 inburg and Quarterly Reviews from their beginning. 
 
 The apparatus was furnished by Russell Hubbard and John F. Slater, 
 and several handsome contributions have been made toward the founda- 
 ation of a scientific caljinet. 
 
 In the year 1859, anotlier agreeable and impor,tant addition was made 
 to the facilities of the institution, by the generous gift of a house and 
 grounds for the use of the Principal, by Mrs. "Wm. P. Greene.* 
 
 The Academy was dedicated with appropriate services, Oct. 21, 1856, 
 and the course of instruction commenced soon afterward. 
 
 This institution is entirely independent of popular control, and as an 
 endowed free school, may be considered as combining the promise of per- 
 manence and efficiency. The corporation supplies its own vacancies and 
 elects the trustees, who, during their term of office, have the entire charge 
 of the institution. 
 
 In the course of instruction it forms a link between the college and the 
 common school. But as it receives scholars of either sex from all classes 
 and conditions in life, it is expected to be not only a classical and scien- 
 tific school, but to give attention also to practical principles and polite 
 literature.f 
 
 The first President of the Board of Trustees was Russell Hubbard, 
 who retained the office till his death in 1857, (June 7.) 
 
 The second President was "William P. Greene, who died June 1 8, 1864. 
 
 Third President, William Williams. Ebenezer Learned, Secretary and 
 Treasurer from the beginning. 
 
 The Free Academy went into operation under Mr. Elbridge Smith as 
 Principal, who continued in office to the close of the ninth year, July, 
 1865. Mr. Smith is a native of Wayland, Mass., and a graduate of 
 
 * The various donations to tlie Academy from Wm. P. Greene, and his wife, Mrs. 
 Elizabetli Augusta Greene, amounted to $40,000. 
 
 t For a more definite and complete history of those educational movements in Nor- 
 wich which led to the present organization of the schools and the establishment of the 
 endowed school or Free Academy, see Address of Rev. J. P. Gulliver at the Dedica- 
 tion of the Academy. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 561 
 
 Brown University. He was previously Principal of the High School at 
 Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 He was succeeded in September, 1865, by the Rev. William Hutch- 
 ison, formerly Tutor in Yale College, and recently Principal of the Law- 
 rence Academy at Groton, Mass. Mr. Hutchison was ordained as a 
 missionary in 1858, and went to Constantinople with the expectation of 
 establishing a mission in Turkey, but the failing health of his family 
 obliged him to relinquish the design. 
 
 Mr. Russell Hubbard was an early and efficient patron of the Free 
 Academy, contributing about $11,000 towards its establishment. He was 
 one of the trustees to manage the funds and erect buildings, and the first 
 president of the board. The Hubbard Rhetorical Society, connected with 
 the Academy, perpetuates his name. 
 
 He was a descendant of Capt. Russell Hubbard, a shipping merchant 
 of New London, who removed to Norwich during the Revolutionary war, 
 and died at his residence near the town green in 1785, leaving two sons, 
 Thomas, the well-known proprietor of the Norwich Courier, and Russell, 
 a ship-master, who died at sea in 1800, unmarried.* 
 
 Thomas Hubbard, the printer, married Mary, daughter of Amos Hal- 
 lam of New London. While residing in the town-plot, he occupied what 
 was called the Whiting house, (now owned by William Fitch, Esq.,) and 
 here his three sons, Thomas, Russell, and Amos H., were born. He after- 
 wards removed to the Landing, and there died in J 808. 
 
 Russell Hubbard, as partner and successor of his father, published the 
 Courier for twenty years. He was afterwards engaged with his brother 
 in the manufacture of paper. Years of diligent attention to business led 
 the way to a handsome fortune, which he dispensed with conscientious 
 liberality. 
 
 * The daughters of Capt. Hubbard were, Mary, wife of David Kevins ; Martha, 
 who married David Wright, an attorney of New London ; and Susannah, who mar- 
 ried 1st, Ebenezer Bushnell, and 2d, Robert Manwaring. 
 
CHAPTEE XLV. 
 
 The Laegest Fike. Congregational Societies and Churches. 
 
 Nov. 26, 1793, fifteen buildings were destroyed by fire in Chelsea, viz., 
 the Congregational meeting-house, four dwelling-houses, six stores and 
 shops, and four barns. 
 
 This was the largest fire ever known in Norwich. It raged from six 
 to ten o'clock P. M., wind fresh from the north-west. It broke out in a 
 store belonging to Messrs. Hubbard & Greene, of Boston, and was sup- 
 posed to have been communicated through a fissure in the chimney to 
 some paper-rags piled against it. This building stood on "Water street, 
 nearly in the range of the present post-office, and the fire swept away 
 every thing combustible from thence to the junction of Main street, and 
 crossing that street, consumed the large store of Levi Huntington, full of 
 goods, the Congregational meeting-house,* and every building on that side 
 from thence to the river, except the old Norman house, now Thames hotel. 
 Even the woods over the river caught fire from the fiaming cinders, and 
 added to the splendor of the conflagration. The dwelling-houses of Lynde 
 M'Curdy, Levi Huntington,t and Benadam Denison, and stores occupied 
 by Capt. William Coit, Coit & Lathrop, Andrew & Joseph Perkins, Hez- 
 ekiah Perkins & Co., George Cleveland, and that of Levi Huntington 
 before mentioned, were destroyed. Two persons were badly wounded. 
 
 Most of the buildings were old and comparatively of small value, and 
 a large portion of the goods was saved ; but there was no insurance on 
 any of the property. There was at this time a fire-engine 6f small power 
 in Norwich, which was brought out on this occasion, but the hose broke at 
 the first trial, and little could be done to arrest the flames. Loss estima- 
 ted at £8,000, — a small sum compared with the extent of the fire. 
 
 Mr. King's congregation being thus deprived of a house for public wor- 
 ship, assembled for three successive months in the Episcopal church, which 
 was tendered to them by the trustees. A room was then fitted up for a 
 
 * Rev. Mr. King rushed into tho burning church and brought out the pulpit Bible, 
 a folio edition that had been recently purchased. 
 
 t Mr. Huntington rebuilt liis house over the old cellar : it was afterwards known as 
 the BoUes taYern, and is still extant. 
 
HISTORT OP NORWICH. 553 
 
 temporary place of worship, and immediate measures were taken to build 
 another meeting-house. Mr. Joseph Rowland and Mr. Thomas Fanning, 
 owners of two lots of land on the hill, opposite the dwellings of the Rev. 
 John Tyler and Dr. Lemuel Boswell, offered these lots, together with 
 £17 10s., lawful money, in exchange for the lot on which the old meeting- 
 house stood. This site was approved by the county court, and has ever 
 since been the seat of the Society church. To defray the expense of 
 building, a lottery to raise £850 was granted by the Legislature.* The 
 Society consisted of 49 members. Joseph Williams, Lynde M'Curdy, 
 Joseph Howland, Joseph Perkins and Thomas Coit constituted the build-> 
 ing committee. 
 
 The work was completed during the year 1795, and the dedication ser- 
 mon preached by the pastor on Thanksgiving day, Dec. 24:th. 
 
 The dimensions of this edifice were 42 feet by 62. It was surmounted 
 by a belfry and a short spire, and was painted white outside and green 
 within. The pulpit was partly formed by a recess in the wall,t and the 
 pews were so high that when seated, only tall persons could raise the 
 head and shoulders above the sides. It remained in this style until a con- 
 siderable advance had been made into the present century ; the house was 
 then enlarged, and the pews changed into slips. 
 
 Precautions were taken to secure the building against fire, and among 
 other regulations, the sexton was allowed to demand a quarter of a dollar 
 for every foot-stove left in the house after the meetings were ended. 
 
 This great fire of 1793 quickened public opinion in regard to the ben- 
 efits to be derived from insurance. Within twenty days after the catas- 
 trophe, the inhabitants were invited by a committee, consisting of Ebene- 
 zer Huntington, Joseph Perkins, Joshua Huntington and Roger Griswold, 
 to meet at the court-house and form an association against future calam- 
 itous losses. A company was organized, chartered, and went into opera- 
 tion in 1795, under the title of the "Mutual Assurance Company," for 
 insuring houses and other buildings from losses by fire : the badge. Mutual 
 Assurance, and the policies to run seven years. 
 
 The characteristics of the pastor, Mr. King, were earnest piety and an 
 active, glowing zeal. No personal issues could induce him to defiect a 
 hair's breadth from what he considered duty. In the year 1810, a very 
 serious and unhappy controversy arose in the church respecting marriage 
 with a wife's sister. Were such connections sanctioned or forbidden by 
 Scripture ? The pastor, taking the side of prohibition, disagreed with a 
 
 « Donations from individuals were added to this sum. Thomas Shaw of New Lon- 
 don gave $262, and Joseph Williams of Norwich 131, being their shares of prizes in 
 the lottery. 
 
 t Called in the accounts, " a scooped-out pulpit." 
 
654 HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 
 
 majority of his flock. The subject was discussed and explained, in public 
 and in private, by word of mouth, by pen and by print, till the whole con- 
 gregation shared in the excitement. The harmony and affection that had 
 existed between Mr. King and his people being thus interrupted, a change 
 of relation became desirable. 
 
 The next year, the pastor, church and society united in calling a coun- 
 cil which met July 3d, and consisted of the ministers and delegates of nine 
 churches in different parts of the State. This council sat three days, and 
 voted to dissolve the connection between Mr. King and the people of his 
 charge.* 
 
 The society vote concurring in his dismission stood 32 to 19. Mr. 
 King's farewell discourse was delivered Aug. 18, 1811, from the text, — 
 " We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." He was sub- 
 sequently settled at Williamstown, Mass., and there on thei first day of 
 December, 1815, while in the pulpit, engaged in the services of a sacra- 
 mental lecture, the death-stroke came, and he was suddenly translated to 
 a higher sphere. He was 57 years of age. 
 
 The successor of Mr. King, Rev. Asahel Hooker, was installed Jan. 
 16, 1812 ; sermon by Dr. Nott of Franklin. He was a descendant of the 
 Eev. Thomas Hooker, the first minister of Hartford, and had been pre- 
 viously settled at Goshen, in Litchfield county, from which place, after 
 eighteen years of service, he had been dismissed on account of the utter 
 prostration of his health. In Norwich he had but a brief pastorate of fif- 
 teen months, — a sufficient period, however, for the hearts of his people to 
 become bound to him by strong ties of personal attachment. He died 
 April 19, 1813, aged 49 years. 
 
 Rev. Alfred Mitchell, the fifth minister, was ordained Oct. 27, 1814 
 He was a son of Hon. Stephen Mix Mitchell, of "Wethersfield ; graduated 
 at Yale in 1809, and studied theology at Andover. His pastorate was 
 eminently prosperous. Large accessions were made to the church; 114 
 being added during the last two years of his ministry, of whom 44 were 
 admitted at one time, March 4, 1830. Mr. Mitchell was a man of reti- 
 cent manners, but as a gospel messenger, faithful and fearless. He died 
 at the age of 41, Dec. 19, 1831, uttering in submissive faith as he departed, 
 "The will of the Lord be done." 
 
 The two last-named ministers are interred in the Chelsea burial-ground. 
 
 • The week in which this council met was remarkable for the extreme heat of the 
 weather, and the members, especially the more corpulent dignitaries, suffered severely. 
 Among the members were Eev. Azcl Backus of Bathlehem, Ct., and his delegate, 
 David Bellamy, both men of such uncommon size that they could not sit side by side 
 in the same vehicle, but each came in his onc-horse-chaise, which he entirely filled. 
 Mr. Bellamy was a son of the old divine of Bethlehem, and weighed, it is said, 350 
 lbs. ; Dr. Backus about the same. 
 
Rev Alvan Bond, D . D, 
 
 OT jrORWICM.COim. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 655 
 
 From the graves where they rest, the eye can survey the scene of their 
 labors, and almost count the homes of that attached people who listened 
 with such deep attention to their instructions, and followed them mourning 
 to their tombs. 
 
 Eev. James T. Dickinson, a graduate of Yale College in 1826, was 
 ordained April 4, 1832 : sermon by Dr. Taylor of New Haven, under 
 whose professional tuition the candidate had been prepared for the pulpit. 
 
 Another large accession was made to the church in 1834, which was 
 regarded as the result of a protracted meeting held by the pastor in con- 
 nection with Eev. Horatio N. Foote, a noted revivalist preacher. The 
 wholei number added to the church from 1830 to 1834 inclusive, was 284: 
 229 by profession, — making, in 1835, the number of resident members, 
 325 ; the society consisting at that time of about 130 families, or 600 
 persons. 
 
 After a ministry of little more than two years, Mr. Dickinson requested 
 a dismission in order to prepare himself for a foreign mission, which he 
 considered it his duty to undertake. The church, appreciating his mo- 
 tives, acquiesced in his wishes, and the separation was accomplished with- 
 out any diminution of mutual esteem and affection, May 20, 1834. 
 
 His successor at Norwich, after a considerable interval, was Eev. Alvan 
 Bond, previously Professor of Sacred Literature in the Theological Sem- 
 inary at Bangor, Maine, and at an earlier date, pastor of the Congrega- 
 tional Church at Sturbridge, Ma^s. He was installed May 6, 1835 ; ser- 
 mon by Eev. Dr. Hawes of Hartford. 
 
 Dr. Bond is a native of Sutton, Mass., born April 27, 1793. He grad- 
 uated at Brown University, and has received the degree of D. D. from 
 the same institution. In May, 1860, he preached at Norwich his quarter- 
 centurial sermon, and in July of that year delivered a discourse, historical 
 and commemorative, on the hundredth anniversary of the organization of 
 the church. Near the close of 1864, on account of age and impaired 
 health, he resigned his charge. His pastorate of twenty-nine years is the 
 longest of this church. He still resides in Norwich under the shadow of 
 the vine which has so long been fostered by his care. 
 
 Eev. M. G. W. Dana was installed his successor, Dec. 28, 1864. Ser- 
 mon by Prof. Hitchcock of Union Theological Seminary, New York, 
 
 This society comprises about 200 families, and the church has upwards 
 of 300 members. Since the installation of Mr. Dana, a parsonage has 
 been built, at an expense of $10,000, which amount was raised by sub- 
 scription in sums of $500 and $1000. Mr. Dana is the eighth minister 
 of the society. 
 
 In the spring of 1844, the church (built in 1795) took fire, and though 
 not wholly consumed, was so much injured that the society decided not to 
 attempt a reconstruction. The whole edifice was demolished, and a new 
 
556 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 church erected upon the same site, which was dedicated Jan. 1, 1846,— 
 fifty years after the dedication of its predecessor. The society had occu- 
 pied the Central Baptist Church, by an amicable arrangement with its 
 proprietors, for twenty-two months. 
 
 Two of' the clergymen that assisted in the dedication of the new church 
 excited a more than common interest : the Kev. Eli Smith, of the Syrian 
 mission, who was on his last visit home from his important field of labor ; 
 and the Rev. Dr. Nott of Franklin, then in the 9 2d year of his age. 
 
 The material used in this building was dark blue granite from a neigh- 
 boring quarry, worked rough-hewn in tiers, and the style of architecture, 
 Eoman; expense about $14,000. Ten years afterward it was repaired 
 and improved at an additional expense of $6,000. It is the house now 
 occupied by this worshiping assembly, and will accommodate an audience 
 of 800. The organ was the gift of Joseph Otis, Esq. 
 
 The Second Church was the pioneer of Sabbath Schools in this part of 
 Connecticut, and has well sustained its reputation by persevering efiiciency 
 in this department. The Sabbath School enterprise began in July, 1815, 
 ■with a class of five African boys, who were collected and taught by Chas. 
 F. Harrington, at his house in Franklin street, and by him induced to 
 attend church. The number gradually increased, and Mr. Harrington's 
 success led others to engage in similar plans. 
 
 The next year, in July, a Sabbath School, designed chiefly to benefit 
 the poor, was begun by members of the Congregational and Episcopal 
 societies. The prospect was encouraging, and at a meeting held in the 
 ball-room at Kinney's hotel, Oct. 11, 1816, a Union Sabbath School Society 
 was regularly organized and a constitution adopted. Rev. John Tyler of 
 the Episcopal Church was chosen president; Rev. Messrs. Mitchell, Sterry 
 and Bentley, vice-presidents ; George L. Perkins, secretary. 
 
 This organization comprehended the African school. The superintend- 
 ents were Charles F. Harrington, Asa Roath, and Dyar T. Hinckley. 
 The female department was under the supervision of Miss C. M. Marvin.* 
 Three young men, Charles Rockwell, Asa Hosmer, and Leonard Perkins, 
 were efficient assistants both in gathering the scholars and in teaching 
 classes. 
 
 In January, 1817, a prosperous condition of the schools was reported: 
 girls, 47 ; boys, 48 ; Africans, 41. The last-named were of both sexes, 
 between six and fifty-six years of age, — some of them learning to read, 
 and the average attendance from twenty to thirty. 
 
 We have no further statistics of this Union organization. It seems to 
 have dropped quietly apart, leaving only the Congregationalists to con- 
 
 * This lady was a daughter of Gen. Elihu Marvin. She married Eev. L. F. Dim- 
 mock, D. D., of Newburyport, Mass., wlio, after her death, published a small memo- 
 rial volume in commemoration of her worth. 
 
HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 557 
 
 tinue the school, which being taken under the wing of the Second Church, 
 assumed a permanent and definite form. In 1818, William C. Oilman 
 (who had been one of the Union committee) was chosen superintendent, 
 and the school since that period has been continued without interruption, 
 summer and winter. 
 
 The late Dea. Horace Colton was an early and efficient supporter of 
 the Sabbath School enterprise. Col. Charles Coit was connected with the 
 school for thirty years, and fourteen years its superintendent. These were 
 men of practical piety, faithfully devoting themselves to the advancement 
 of Christian culture.* 
 
 Members of the Second Church have enlisted with commendable zeal 
 in establishing Sabbath Schools in the neighboring districts, where such 
 assistance is timely and important. In a rugged portion of West Chelsea 
 they have erected a neat building for a school-house and mission chapel, 
 (dedicated in December, 1859,) and by their labors and influence have 
 assisted largely in a transformation of the district, which is significantly 
 expressed in the change of name from Hard-scrahble to Mt. Pleasant. 
 
 Pastorates of the first century recapitulated. 
 Church organized July 24, 1760. 
 
 Whitaker, 
 
 8 
 
 yrs, 
 
 .8 
 
 mos. 
 
 Mitchell, 17 yrs. 
 
 2 mos. 
 
 Vacant, 
 
 2 
 
 It 
 
 6 
 
 
 Vacant, 
 
 31 « 
 
 Judson, 
 
 7 
 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 
 Dickinson, 2 " 
 
 4i « 
 
 Vacant, 
 
 8 
 
 a 
 
 5 
 
 
 Vacant, 
 
 8^ « 
 
 King, 
 
 24 
 
 it 
 
 3 
 
 
 Bond, 25 « 
 
 21 « 
 
 Vacant, 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 (to July, 1860.) 
 
 
 Hooker, 
 
 1 
 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
 Total, 100 years. 
 
 
 Vacant, 
 
 1 
 
 it 
 
 6 
 
 it 
 
 
 
 Salaries of Ministers. 
 
 Whitaker and Judson, £100 per annum. 
 
 King, £125, gradually increased to $600. 
 
 Hooker and Mitchell, $700. 
 
 Dickinson, $1,000. 
 
 Bond, $1,000, gradually increased to $2,000. 
 
 Dana, $2,000. 
 
 * Col. Coit died Oct. 26, 1855, aged 62. 
 
 Deacon Colton removed from Hartford to Norwicli in 1811, and was for fifty years 
 in the cabinet-ware business in the place. He died near the close of the year 1862. 
 
558 HIST0B7 OF NOHWICH. 
 
 Sale of Feivs. 
 
 The first sale was in 1796. From tlience to the year 1800, they brought 
 about $500 per annum. 
 
 From 1800 to 1810, the amount ranged between $455 and $688. After 
 this the increase was gradual, and in 1827 it rose to $901. The pews 
 were altered into slips in 1829, and the figures leaped at once over the 
 thousand. In 1838 another thousand was reached, and since the erection 
 of the present church in 1846, the average has been over $3,000. 
 
 A third Congregational Church was foimed within the limits of Chelsea 
 district, Aug. 29, 1827, with ten members, and a small brick edifice erected 
 for its accommodation, near the Park, on what is now Sachem street. It 
 existed only twelve years, but during that time was a well-sustained, effi- 
 cient church, and received 91 members by profession; 66 by letter. 
 
 It had four ministers : 
 
 Rev. Benson C. Baldwin, installed Jan. £1, 1828. 
 Eev. Charles Hyde, " Jan. 2, 1830. 
 
 Eev. Joel W. Newton, " Oct. 29, 1834. 
 
 Eev. Thos. K. Fessenden, ordained Oct. 16, 1839. 
 
 The church was disbanded May 23, 1842, and the members dismissed 
 to other churches. The house of worship was sold to the Methodist 
 society. 
 
 The Greeneville Congregational Church was organized Jan. 1, 1833, 
 with sixteen members, and a meeting-house built the next year. It has 
 the following ministerial record : 
 
 Rev. John Storr.;, installed pastor March 12, 1834; dismissed April 
 17, 1835. 
 
 Rev. Stephen Crosby, elected pastor by unanimous consent early in 
 1837, and officiated as such until his decease in June, 1838, but not in- 
 stalled. 
 
 A. L. Whitman, installed Dec, 1838 ; dismissed March, 1846. 
 
 Charles P. Bush, " " 1846; '• Jan., 1856. 
 
 Robert P. Stanton, present pastor, installed June 11, 1856. 
 
 Mr. Stanton had been previously settled at Cohoes, N. Y., and at Derby, 
 Ct. He is a native of Belchertown, Mass., but in his ancestry connected 
 with Groton, Ct. 
 
 In a manufacturing district like this, a chifrch and congregation are 
 peculiarly liable to changes and fluctuations. The Greeneville church, 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 559 
 
 however, has been sustained with great uniformitj ; the vacancies made 
 by frequent removals being speedily filled by new-comers or by the fruits 
 of revivals. When the whole village contained but 700 inhabitants, the 
 Congregational church, which was then the only one in the place, had 100 
 members. It has had three deacons : Samuel Mowry, chosen at the first 
 organization of the church, and for several years the only one in office ; 
 Oliver Wooiworth, who died Feb. 7, 1865, aged 71 ; Frederick "W. Gary, 
 successor of Mr. Woodworth. Deacon Mowry and WiUiam H. Coit are 
 the veterans of this church, — the first on its list of members, and still 
 upholding its ministrations. 
 
 A fifth Congregational Church, now ranking as the fourth in the order 
 of time, and formed principally by a colony from the second, was organ- 
 ized June 1, 1842, with 112 members, 98 of whom were from the Second 
 Church. It stood forth at once upon a solid foundation, and has ever since 
 been a strong and prosperous church. 
 
 The meetings were held at first in the town-hall ; but a house of wor- 
 ship, erected on Main street, was dedicated Oct. 1, 1845, and the associa- 
 tion took the distinctive title of Main Street Oongregational Church. 
 
 Rev. Willard Child was installed over the church Aug. 31, 1842, but 
 resigned the office at the close of three years. 
 
 Rev. John P. Gulliver was ordained pastor, Oct. 1, 1846, and under 
 his efficient ministry the church has largely increased in numbers and 
 influence. 
 
 The meeting-house of this society, constructed of Chatham free-stone, 
 at an expense of $14,000, was destroyed by fire, Sept. 17, 1854, after it 
 had been occupied about nine years. A more eligible site was then cho- 
 sen, at the corner of Broadway and Bath street, and a new church built 
 of far greater capacity and convenience than the former. The founda- 
 tion stone was laid in July, 1855, and the edifice completed and dedicated 
 in October, 1857. A change of title became necessary, and that of Broad- 
 way Congregational Church was adopted. 
 
 This church, the most costly and complete of any sacred edifice ever 
 erected in Norwich, is 64 feet by 94, and the spire 200 feet high. It is 
 built of brick, with free-stone dressings, in the Roman style of archi- 
 tecture, and in its admirable system of ventilation is regarded as a model 
 church. 
 
 The organ, of great compass and purity of tone, was the gift of Wm. 
 A. Buckingham. The Sabbath School room in the basement will seat 
 450 persons, and the adjoining lecture-room 120. 
 
 This society numbers about 200 families, and the church 300 mem- 
 bers. 
 
560 
 
 HISTOET OP NORWICH. 
 
 After a pastorate of nineteen years, Mr. Gulliver resigned his charge, 
 in order to accept an urgent call from the New England Congregational 
 Church in Chicago, and was dismissed Oct. 24, 1865. He leaves a church 
 prosperous and progressive, attached to his ministry, and reluctantly con- 
 senting to the separation. 
 
 Mr. Gulliver is a native of Boston, and graduated at Yale College in 
 
 184:0. 
 
 The year 1845 was noted for church building. Four out of the five 
 Congregational churches in Norwich erected new buildings, or largely 
 repaired the old ones. Christ Church was built by the Episcopal society 
 two years later. 
 
 The number of Christian ministers of various denominations that look 
 back to Norwich First Society for their birth-place, or at least for the 
 home of their youth, is so large as to be worthy of special enumeration. 
 The twenty-four following names belong to this class : 
 
 William F. Arms. 
 
 David R. Austin. 
 
 Isaac Backus, Baptist. 
 
 Simon Backus, of Newington. 
 
 Henry Case. 
 
 Frederick Charlton, Baptist. 
 
 Ciiarles Cleveland, of Boston. 
 
 Richard F. Cleveland. 
 
 Jabez Fitch, sou of Rev. James. 
 
 Daniel W. Havens. 
 
 Henry Strong Huntington. 
 
 John Huntington, of Salem, 
 
 Edward Hyde, Methodist. 
 
 Charles Hyde. 
 
 Simeon Hyde. 
 
 James T. Hyde. 
 
 Daniel W. Lathrop. 
 
 Z. H. Mansfield, Episcopal. 
 
 William Nevins, D. D. 
 
 Charles Porter. 
 
 Th. S. Shipraan. 
 
 George Strong, Episcopal. 
 
 Erastus Wentivorth, D. D., Methodist. 
 
 David Wright, Baptist. 
 
CHAPTER XLVI. 
 War, and aftee the Wae. 
 
 War with Great Britain was declared by the United States June 19, 
 1812. 
 
 In May, 1813, the frigates United States and Macedonian and the 
 sloop-of-war Hornet, in attempting to pass out of the Sound on a cruise, 
 were driven back by an English squadron that was hovering near the 
 outlet, and were forced to take refuge in New London harbor. Here 
 they were blockaded by the British ships, and being still apprehensive of 
 an attack -from a force far superior to their own, they retired up the river, 
 and on the 10th of June, passing the bar at Gale's ferry, came within 
 three miles of Norwich. Here they were partially dismantled, and laid 
 up till the conclusion of the war. The seamen were sent to the lakes, 
 and were all so fortunate as to pass in boats, or other small craft, safely 
 through the blockading fleet, and arrive at their destination. 
 
 The commerce of the Thames ceased at once. Sails were taken down, 
 hulls packed together like logs, keels left to decay. The blockade of the 
 river continued about two years, and was strictly enforced. It was a 
 period of anxiety, depression, and gloom. The large force displayed by 
 the enemy kept New London and other places on the Sound in constant 
 apprehension of an assault. A British seventy-four, with an accompani- 
 ment of frigates or sloops of war and smaller craft, maintained a strict 
 guard at the mouth of the river, and there being no creeks or side chan- 
 nels by which an entrance could be effected, it was not easy to elude their 
 vigilance. The blockade was adequate and effective. Many valuable 
 prizes were taken by the enemy, and in the course of a few months the 
 coast was swept clean of all American craft. 
 
 Experiments were however occasionally made, of running through the 
 fleet with a fair wind, or of slipping by in the night, which were often 
 successful. In 1813, the schooner 0. H. Perry, 267 tons, built by Sam- 
 uel Story, and just completed when the news came of Perry's victory on 
 Lake Erie, dropped down to New London, and one night in November, 
 passing by the blockading squadron, in nine hours reached New York in 
 safety. But on her first voyage to St. Domingo the next spring, she was 
 captured by the frigate Endymion. 
 36 
 
562 HISTOET OP NOEWICH. 
 
 The privateer schooner Marmion, built by S. Clark, ran out in safetj 
 in March, 1814, and went to sea under Capt. Binglej. Another privateer, 
 launched from Edgerton's ship-yard nearly at the same time, was equally 
 fortunate in eluding the vigilance of the enemy. Escape and capture 
 alternated in this game of running the blockade. Capt. John Doane, in a 
 fishing vessel called The Bee, and Capt. Jonathan Lester in the sloop 
 llichard, were captured during the winter of 1813-14. The sloop Three 
 Brothers, Erastus Davison, in entering New London harbor, Dec. 22, was 
 fired at four times by the British frigate Statira, but came safely up the 
 river with a full cargo. 
 
 The 4 th of July, 1814, brought with it but little festivity. A pleasant 
 incident, however, occurred at Norwich. A house on the river, near 
 Bushnell's Cove, about a mile below the city, was kept as a public house, 
 and called the Thames Hotel.* It was at this time rented by Capt 
 Christopher R. Perry, the father of Commodore Perry. On the day of 
 jubilee, a party of gentlemen from the city had a public dinner at this 
 hotel, and just before sitting down to the table, the heroic Commodore 
 himself unexpectedly arrived from the lakes on a visit to his father. 
 Great was the cheering, and never were cheers bestowed more cordially. 
 The joyous acclamations reached the dismantled squadron below, where 
 the few officers in charge were dining on the deck of the Macedonian, 
 and the river was enlivened with a succession of responsive cheers and 
 salutes. 
 
 In August, 1814, the enemy made a bold but unsuccessful attack upon 
 Stonington. Had they succeeded in gaining possession of this foothold, 
 there is little doubt that the stroke would have been followed by a sudden 
 descent upon Norwich. There was no other place that they could hope 
 to reach, which offered such temptations as this. 
 
 Three ships of war were lying helpless in the river ; the harbor was 
 crowded with dismantled merchant vessels, and the town contained a pub- 
 lic arsenal for the manufacture of gun-carriages, and several valuable mills 
 for the production of paper and cotton and woollen cloth. These were 
 strong inducements for the enemy to make a raid into the country, and 
 sweep over the city in vengeance and destruction. The situation of the 
 town was therefore considered very critical, and the inhabitants were filled 
 with anxiety and fear. 
 
 A petition was forwarded to the commander-in-chief of the State troops 
 for a military force to be stationed in or near the place for its protection, 
 and on the 15th of September the citizens assembled in town meeting for 
 tlie special purpose of considering what should be done in the way of 
 defence against the enemj'. 
 
 « Built by Thomag Bushnell, and after the vrar the residence of Capt. Appleton 
 Mcacli. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 563 
 
 A Committee of Safety was appointed, with discretionary power, the 
 members of which may be taken as representatives of the various inter- 
 ests of the town. 
 
 Theodore Barrell, Capt. Augustus Lathrop, 
 
 John DeWitt, Capt. Jonathan Lester, 
 
 Gen. Zachariah Huntington, Major Joseph Perkins, 
 
 Charles P. Huntington, Capt. Charles Rockwell, 
 
 Ebcnezer Hyde, Jun. Capt. Eleazar Rogers, 
 
 Newcomb Kinney, Capt. Benjamin Snow, 
 
 James Lanman, Col. Samuel Tyler. 
 Ezra Lathrop, 
 
 Under the direction of this committee, several volunteer companies 
 were organized, equipped, and held ready for sudden emergencies. 
 
 A regiment was about the same time drafted in Norwich and the neigh- 
 boring towns, and sent to the coast to take the place of the Third Brigade, 
 which had been on duty at New London and Stonington, and was now 
 discharged. 
 
 Colonel Elisha Tracy of Norwich held the place of deputy-commissary 
 and general agent of the government during the war. 
 
 George L. Perkins was brigade-inspector and paymaster of the Con- 
 necticut and Ehode Island troops, with the rank of major in the regular 
 army. 
 
 J. Bates Murdock of Bozrah, and Joseph Kinney of Norwich, well- 
 educated and promising young men, enlisted early in this war, and were 
 soon promoted to the rank of captains. 
 
 Recruits from Norwich, and other towns in this part of Connecticut, 
 were assigned to the 25th regiment, commanded by Major Jessup. Thia 
 regiment was on the Niagara frontier in the campaign of 1814, and in the 
 hottest part of the fight during the severe engagements at Chippeway and 
 Bridgewater. This last battle, — ^known also as the battle of the Cataract, 
 and of Lundy's Lane, — was then considered the most desperate battle ever 
 fought in North America: the loss on either side amounting to nearly one- 
 fourth of those engaged.* 
 
 Capt. Kinney fell in this battle, — shot through the breast just at the 
 close of the engagement, and died upon the battle-field. He was a gallant 
 officer, with a fine person and soldier-like bearing, popular with the army, 
 and a favorite in society. His sad fate excited a deep sympathy in the 
 community at home. 
 
 * Onoof the survivors of the campaign of 1814, (Asa Manning, drummer, now 
 janitor of the Free Academy,) says : " There were some 45 of us Norwich boys, who 
 fought at Lundy's Lane, some of whom laid down their lives on that bloody field, and 
 all fought with courageous gallantry. We brought off our flag, though it was shot 
 from the staff and riddled with 30 or 40 bullet holes." Mr. Manning's father, Diah 
 Manning, was in the war of the Revolution, and one of Washington's body-guard.. 
 
564 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 The following inscription is on the family monument at Norwich : 
 
 Joseph, son of Newcomb and Sally Kinney, entered the TJ. S. Army as Lieutenant 
 at the commencement of the war with Great Britain in 1812, was engaged in several 
 severe skirmishes, besides six sanguinary battles, the last of which was at Lundy's 
 Lane, BriJmswater, July 25th,/]t6H, where he was killed commanding the 2d division 
 of the 25th regiment of U. S. Infantry, in the 27th year of his age. 
 Buried in Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 Very few reminiscences can be gathered of this war. It was unpopular 
 in New England, and its deeds of heroism were not laid up as treasures 
 of the memory by sympathetic admirers. 
 
 Notwithstanding the inventive genius of our people, and the facility 
 with which they contrive substitutes when deprived of customary comforts 
 and conveniences, the privations consequent upon the war were numerous 
 and perplexing. We had too literally followed the advice of some of our 
 statesmen, to keep our work-shops in Europe. Articles of steel and iron, 
 for instance, were all of English production. Even pins had not then 
 been made to any extent, if at all, in this country, and during the war 
 were upwards of a dollar per paper. Out of many hundred articles which 
 constituted the retail assortment of the largest hardware and furnishing 
 store at that time in Norwich, only four were manufactured in this coun- 
 try, viz., steelyards, cut nails, bed-cords, and screw-augers. These last 
 were an American invention. 
 
 The war gave to the manufacturing interest of Norwich a decided 
 impetus. The following mills in and around the town originated in the 
 exigencies of the time, and went into operation between 1813 and 1816. 
 
 Cotton-mill of Goddard & "Williams, at the Falls : John Gray, agest. 
 
 Fanning cotton-factory at Jewett City ; Christopher Lippitt, agent. 
 
 Bozrahville cotton-factory ; Erastus Hyde, agent. 
 
 Cotton-factory at Lisbon ; LaFayette Tibbitts, agent. 
 
 Nail-factory at the Falls ; Wm. C. Gilman, agent. 
 
 Scholfield's woollen-factory at Jewett City. 
 
 Woollen-factory of Cleveland & Allen, near Lord's Bridge. 
 
 As illustrative of the sudden changes that the tide of war often makes 
 in domestic history, the following incidents merit notice: 
 
 The flag-ship of the blockading squadron at New London was the 
 Ramillies, on board of which was an impressed American seaman named 
 John Carpenter, a native of Norwich. His father, an aged and respect- 
 able man, ascertained this fact, and, provided with suitable vouchers, went 
 off to the squadron with a flag of truce, and applied for his release. Com- 
 modore Hardy, after patiently examinining the case, freely gave the sea- 
 man his discharge, with certificates to show that he had served faithfully 
 for more than five years, and was entitled to $300 wages and $2000 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 565 
 
 prize money. The father met his son, whom he had not seen for more 
 than eight years, on the deck of the Eamillies, and they came home 
 together. 
 
 Capt. Asa Hosmer of Norwich had heen five years separated from his 
 family, engaged in trade upon the coast of South America. He was re- 
 turning home in 1812, a passenger in a merchant vessel, and was within 
 fourteen miles of the coast, when an English man-of-war came in sight, 
 and the vessel was taken as a prize. 
 
 Capt. Hosmer suffered a long detention with the blockading fleet, hov- 
 ering day after day and month after month in sight of his native coast, 
 before he was released. 
 
 The same enterprising mariner and trader was subsequently immured 
 during three years and nine months in a Spanish dungeon at Havana. 
 He returned home from this exile July 25, 1820, and immediately 
 resumed his maritime pursuits, but died on the coast of Honduras in 
 1824. 
 
 The news of peace came so suddenly, that it threw the whole country 
 into transports of joy ; all was enthusiasm and ecstacy, and the rejoicings 
 exceeded any thing ever before witnessed in America. The grateful 
 tidings reached Norwich, Feb. 13, 1815, and the citizens gave vent to 
 their boundless joy in mutual congratulations, shouts, cannonades, and illu- 
 minations ; rockets flew up from the hiUs, salutes were fired from the ships 
 in the river, and these were echoed from the fortresses at New London, 
 and those again were responded to from the British blockading squadron 
 at the mouth of the river, till the whole adjacent country was made glad 
 with the tidings. 
 
 The winter had been distinguished as a season of severe frost ; loaded 
 sleds traveled on the bosom of the Thames in perfect safety ; and for sev- 
 eral weeks persons might skate all the way from Norwich to New London 
 upon the river. But as soon as peace was proclaimed, preparations were 
 made to revive business. 
 
 Admiral Hotham's blockading squadron, which had long been keeping 
 watch at the mouth of the river, put to sea March 11th. 
 
 The dismantled ships in the river made haste to resume their gear ; the 
 Macedonian, the last to leave her moorings, went down to New London 
 April 4th. 
 
 The brig Dove, Walter Lester, was the first merchant vessel to start 
 on a voyage. She cleared the last of April for St. Vincent, with horses 
 and cattle. The Dove was also the first to arrive from a foreign port. 
 She brought in a valuable cargo in August ; duties, $9,832. 
 
 Brig Fame, J. S. Billings, sailed in June for Guadaloupe. Brig Hope, 
 George Gilbert, cleared in December. Very few, however, of the mer- 
 
666 HISTOUT OF NORWICH. 
 
 chants and ship-masters resumed their former correspondence with the 
 Islands.* A voyage was now and then made with fair success, but before 
 1820 the regular West India trade of Norwich seems to have tapered into 
 extinction. Capt. Walter Lester was one of the last engaged in it. 
 
 Norwich had been so thoroughly depressed in its mercantile interests 
 by the war, that the restoration to prosperity could not be otherwise than 
 gi-adual and slow. The general stagnation of business arrested the growth 
 of the city, and kept it for nearly the first quarter of the century without 
 advance or improvement. For twenty years or more, no buildings of any 
 importance, except the dwelling-houses heretofore mentioned in Washing- 
 ton street, were erected in Chelsea. The hotel of Reuben Willoughby, 
 since much altered and enlarged, and now known as the American House, 
 was built in 1803-4. From 1800 to 1820, the population of Norwich 
 increased only 148. Thomas Robinson built on Main street in 1825; 
 Russell Hubbard on Broadway the next year. Mansfield's brick row, 
 erected in 1831, was a decided indication of reviving enterprise. 
 
 In 1806-7, the clearances for foreign ports from the whole New Lon- 
 don district exceeded 100 each year. In 1819, only 24 are recorded; in 
 1820, only 16. These facts are striking evidences of the decline of for- 
 eign trade in this district. 
 
 But the era of steam navigation had now commenced. On the 15th of 
 October, 1816, Capt. Bunker in the steamboat Connecticut ascended the 
 Thames. The Norwich Courier, in its issue of that day, circulated the 
 interesting intelligence through the town. 
 
 2 o'clock P. M. — " We stop the press to announce the arrival at this port of the new 
 Steam Boat Connecticut, Capt. Bunker," &c. 
 
 This was the first steam trip to Norwich, and people from the neigh- 
 borhood rushed to the place to behold the prodigy that science had pro- 
 duced, — a ship wafted safely over the waters by fire. 
 
 A small steamer called the Eagle, 85 tons burden, and raising 38 lbs. 
 to the inch, was soon afterward constructed at Norwich by Gilbert Brews- 
 ter, an ingenious mechanician then living in Norwich. It was furnished 
 with a small engine, and what was called a wooden boiler, but consisting 
 mainly of an iron cylinder cased in wood. It went down the river on its 
 first or trinl trip, July 1, 1817, and met on the way the steamboat Fulton, 
 Capt. Law, with streamers flying and music playing, in honor of James 
 Munroe, President of the United States, who was on board. The Presi- 
 
 • Several of the veteran sea-captains found ready employment in other ports. In 
 1 820, Capt. Colvcr made a voyage to Archangel in the barque Sarah Louisa ; Capt. 
 Whiting wont to Trieste in the ship Garonne, and Capt. Tracy to London in the Lon. 
 don Packet,— all from New York. These ship-masters and several others, though sail- 
 ing for many years from other ports, had their homes in Norwich. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 667 
 
 dent was on a tour through the Northern States, and having arrived that 
 day at New London, Capt. Law was making an excursion on the Thames 
 to give him an opportunity of viewing the river ; and the trip of the Eagle 
 had been undertaken as a pleasure excursion, to meet and salute the Pres- 
 ident of the United States, while at the same time testing the character 
 of the new boat. Capt. John Doane, a well-known packet-master, com- 
 manded, and fifty persons purchased tickets for the occasion. 
 
 The passengers, fifty in number, were in the cabin, in the rear of the 
 boiler, when it was announced that the Fulton was approaching ; upon 
 which they hastened to gain the deck, and just as the last of the company 
 was ascending the stairs of the gangway, a terrific explosion took place. 
 The end of the boiler was forced out, and sweeping through the cabin, 
 went out at the stern, leaving scarcely a wreck of the partitions, furniture, 
 and contents of the cabin behind. Even timbers and heavy planks were 
 wrenched from their places, and scattered in fragments. 
 
 Had the passengers remained but a minute longer in the cabin, all must 
 have perished. Fifty citizens of Norwich came within a minute of being 
 swept together into eternity. 
 
 Some of them were wounded by flying fragments of wood, or bruised 
 by being thrown down by the shock, but one of the crew, who was last 
 upon the stairs, was the only peason scalded, and he but slightly. 
 
 Notwithstanding this first calamity, the Eagle, as an eai-ly specimen of 
 Bteamboat construction, reflected credit upon its ingenious builder. After- 
 wards fitted with a safe boiler, and its name changed to the Hancock, it 
 made a serviceable freight-boat, and was employed for some years on 
 another part of the coast. 
 
 The regular line of steam communication with New York commenced 
 in 1817 ; the Connecticut and the Fulton forming the line, and stopping 
 both at New Haven and New London. The packet system from that 
 time lost its patronage and importance. The old days of uncertainty, in 
 which, when a person started for New York, he ran the risk of being a 
 week on the voyage, gave place to three trips per week comparatively 
 certain. One of the last of the better class of packets, fitted to accommo- 
 date passengers as well as to carry freight, was the Ann Maria, Capt. "W. 
 W. Coit. In 1820, Capt. Coit went into the Sound steamboat line, run- 
 ning at first the General Jackson. Three other steamers on this route, 
 viz., the Norwich, Huntress, and Worcester, were built for him,* and each 
 
 * The early steam navigation of the river was much indebted to the enterprise of 
 Capt. Coit. He has since been interested in the building of several large steamers, to 
 mn on different routes. One of these, named the W. W. Coit, built for him at Mystic 
 in 1864, and immediately chartered by Government, was the vessel from which Gen. 
 Gilmore landed and took possession of Charleston, Feb. 18, 1865,— her ensign being 
 the first Union flag hoisted on Sumter after the surrender. 
 
568 HISTOBY OP NORWICH. 
 
 in succession was for several years under his command. He retired from 
 the line in 1831. 
 
 Other commanders from Norwich, who were early connected with the 
 steamboat line to New York and New Haven, were Charles Davison of 
 the Fanny, and Euclid Elliot of the Maria. 
 
 Notes from the Town Record.* 
 
 Oct. 14, 1800. In Town Meeting — Voted that the Select Men be requested to write 
 to the Representatives of this town at the Greneral Ai-sembly now sitting at New Haven 
 to use their influence in obtaining a resolve or an Act of Assembly prohibiting the mi- 
 gration of negroes and people of color from other states into this state. 
 
 In August, 1818, a convention of deputies from all parts of the State 
 met at Hartford and agreed upon a Constitution for the State. 
 
 Previous to this the laws and government of the State had been based 
 upon the Charter of Charles H., granted in 1662. The new Constitution 
 was submitted to each town separately, and being accepted by the majority, 
 was ratified. 
 
 It was laid before the town of Norwich in October. The votes in favor 
 of it were 194; against it, 74. 
 
 October, 1826. Resolved, to encourage a project of opening a canal from the tide 
 water at Norwich to Worcester Co., Mass., along the Quinabaug river. 
 
 1 835. Voted, that the old book of records of births and marriages be transcribed by 
 the clerk, Alexander Lathrop. 
 
 June 2, 1837. Resolved, That as it is the duty of every good citizen to discounte- 
 nance seditious and incendiary doctrines of every sort, we do deny entirdy the use of 
 the Town Hall or of any other building belonging to the town for any purpose con- 
 nected in any way with the abolition of slavery. 
 
 1 837. Voted to use the interest of the deposite fund of surpltis revenue for schools 
 and other purposes of education. 
 
 Jan. 2, 18+1. Resolved that no license bo granted for selling wine or other spirit- 
 uous liquors, except for medicinal purposes, during the year. 
 
 This was moved by Charles W. Rockwell, Esq., and was reiterated by 
 him and confirmed by tlie town at the beginning of several succeeding 
 years. 
 
 * Nathaniel Shipman, Esq., presided as moderator at a large number of public 
 assomblios. Between 1798 and 1820, he was oftener than any other person called to 
 the chair. 
 
HISTOEY OF NOEWICH. 569 
 
 1842. Voted that measures be taken to have Norwich made a whole shire town, in 
 order that all the Coui'ts of New London County he held here. 
 
 May, 1847. Voted to oppose with the utmost vigor, the petition of New London 
 to bridge the Thames, as such a measure would be very injurious to the interests of 
 this town. 
 
 The sum of $5000 was appropriated to carry out this vote. 
 
 The Norwich Channel Company was incorporated in 1805 "for improv- 
 ing the Channel of the river Thames," and a lottery granted to raise a 
 fund of $10,000 for this object. Three classes were drawn in 1805-6. 
 The managers were Simeon Breed, Joseph Perkins, Dwight Ripley, 
 Peter Lanman, and Jabez Huntington. 
 
 When the company should have succeeded so far that vessels drawing 
 eight and a half feet of water could advance to the head of the river, they 
 were authorized to demand a certain rate of toll. Very little improve- 
 ment was effected by this company, although at one time they reported 
 nine feet of water, at common tide, the whole distance from Norwich to 
 New London. In 1825 the stock was merged in the Thames Bank. 
 
 ' The dredging machine used by the Channel Company was the patent 
 of Stephen Culver, and a suit was brought against the Company for in- 
 fringing his rights, but the patent could not be sustained; It was proved 
 to be a machine formed on the same principle with one that had been used 
 in France, and especially in the harbor of L'Orient, forty years before. 
 
 The patentee was then dead. He had been a packet-master, bridge- 
 builder, and machine-maker, and eo doubt honestly considered himself the 
 originator of the patented' machine. But from eiarly youth he had fol- 
 lowed the seas, and it was shown that in his boyhood he had been carried 
 a prisoner to France; and left for a while at this very harbor of L'Orient, 
 and probably retained some vague idea in his mind of the principle of the 
 machine, which in after life he worked out and put into operation. 
 
CHAPTER XLVn. 
 
 MiSCELLAKIES. 
 
 Controversies. 
 Towns, like nations, have their inward sectional conflicts and their out- 
 ward hostilities, by which society is often moved to its depths and rendered 
 turbulent and dark, though the difficulty may never result in acts of open 
 violence. It is by no means a pleasant task to chronicle outworn disputes, 
 and it might be well to leave all such themes in the oblivion of decaying 
 records, if by suppressing the truth we did not lead to a false estimate of 
 the peace and happiness of past days, compared with the present. We 
 are prone to think that social life in the time of our fathers was not beset 
 by those contending claims and passionate prejudices that now so often 
 disturb the repose of small communities. The unjust inference is there- 
 fore drawn, that the old was better than the new, and that in the virtues 
 of justice, moderation and good neighborhood we have declined from the 
 high standard of our ancestors. But the glass of history often presents 
 us with a view of the past which seems but a reflection of the present, 
 with even an aggravation of the darker tints. Local feuds, interminable 
 lawsuits, abusive language, threatening denunciations, aggressions sectional 
 and municipal, were quite as frequent and apparently more causeless and 
 infuriated in former times than at the present day. 
 
 Location of the Courts. 
 
 A sectional jealousy between the Town-plot or First Society and Chel- 
 sea began to make its appearance soon after the Revolutionary war. As 
 the two societies drew towards a balance in numbers and influence, the 
 points of collision multiplied, and the jar was nearly continuous. Almost 
 every election was marked by high excitement, if not with absolute strife 
 and contention. 
 
 In 1798, after a long and sharp contest, a vote was obtained that the 
 town meetings should thereafter be held alternately in the First and Sec- 
 ond Societies. The first town-meeting in Chelsea was held in 1800, in 
 the Congregational meeting-house, and this marks the period when the 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 571 
 
 two societies were most equally balanced. Yet the predominating influ- 
 ence still remained with the Town-plot. In the year 1800, the Mayor, 
 Elisha Hyde, the four Aldermen, Thomas Fanning, John Turner, Samuel 
 Huntington, and Simeon Thomas, the town-clerk, Benjamin Huntington 
 the city clerk, Charles Lathrop, and half of the common council, were of 
 the First Society. 
 
 The contest for the possession of the court-house and the court sessions 
 was still more acrimonious. The Ancient Town could not resign these 
 privileges without a last struggle to retain them. 
 
 Early in the year 1809, a vote was carried to cede the court-house to 
 the county for the use of the county courts, provided it should be removed 
 to Chelsea Plain at individual expense. The defeated party claimed that 
 this result had been gained by surprise and from partizan motives. Fresh 
 meetings were summoned ; the vote was reconsidered, rescinded, and finally 
 passed a second time. The county accepted the cession, but before the 
 deed of conveyance had been legally confirmed, the storm of opposition 
 grew so intense that it was not executed. Dec. 18th, a second vote of 
 cession was carried, and a new committee appointed to assign the prop- 
 erty. But on the 30th of the same month, another town meeting revoked 
 all former proceedings whatever, relating to the removal of the courts and 
 the conveyance of the house to the county. 
 
 The contention was renewed at times, with alternate periods of brood- 
 ing quiet, for a series of years. It came up again in 1826, with increased 
 heat and determination, and at this time a strong desire was manifested in 
 the old part of the town for a division into two communities. A petition 
 to that effect was sent to the Legislature, praying that Norwich might be 
 restricted to the First Society and relieved from its association with Chel- 
 sea, but it produced no result. 
 
 Jan. 22, 1827, a meeting was held in the Congregational church at 
 Chelsea, at which the two propositions for dividing the town and fixing 
 upon the site for a new town and court-house, were discussed with fiery 
 vehemence. The vote for a separation was lost by a small majority ; after 
 which a conciliatory motion was made and passed, that the new court-house 
 ghould be seated on or near the Central Plain. This vote was, however, 
 BO displeasing to a large party, that a clamorous call for an immediate 
 adjournment was made and carried. 
 
 The next day the freeholders re-assembled at nine o'clock in the morn- 
 ing. It was good sleighing, and every horse and runner from the farms 
 and villages were put in requisition ; the streets were lined with vehicles, 
 and the church was thronged to its utmost capacity.* The vote respecting 
 
 * Before the year 1830, at which time the town-house was completed, the town meet- 
 ings at the Landing were held in the Second Congregational Church. 
 
572 HISTORYOFNORWICH. 
 
 the site of the town and court-house was reconsidered and annulled, and 
 a new resolution carried, that the said house should be erected within the 
 bounds of Chelsea. The vote stood 227 to 219, — ^by far the largest num- 
 ber of voters that had been present at one meeting since the division into 
 four towns in 1786. 
 
 At the electors' meeting in April following, the sectional spirit rose, if 
 possible, to a still higher point. The Chelsea candidates were finally 
 chosen: the first by a majority of only one vote, between 11 and 12 
 o'clock at night, after thirteen ballotings ! 
 
 These proceedings show that Chelsea society had now gained the ascend- 
 ancy over the older part of the town. The latter again petitioned the 
 Legislature for a separate municipal organization, but without success. 
 
 The question with respect to the location of the courts was three times 
 brought before the General Assembly, and fully discussed, and twice tried 
 in the Superior Courts, the decision being each time in favor of their 
 remaining where they were. But in the session of 1833, the Assembly 
 voted to refer the whole subject to the representatives of the county of 
 New London. These met in the town-hall at Chelsea, Sept. 19 th, and 
 ■carried the question of removal, fifteen to eight. All opposition on the 
 other side ceased from this time, and the transfer was made in peace. 
 The struggle had continued about twenty-seven years. 
 
 The northern section of the town petitioned the Legislature to be sepa- 
 rated from "the city," which was granted. The city limits since that 
 period comprise Chelsea, Greeneville, and the Falls, with a section upon 
 the river, extending to Trading Cove Brook, 
 
 The town-house was erected in 1 829, at an expense of $9,000. The 
 upper story was fitted for a court-room, with offices attached, and in 1833 
 was ceded to the county for the use of the courts. The first court in this 
 new building was in March, 1834, since which time the court sessions 
 have been held exclusively at the Landing. The town-meetings contin- 
 ued to be held alternately at the Town and Landing till 1839, when a 
 vote was carried with but little opposition, to restrict them henceforth to 
 the city limits. 
 
 The town and court-house was desh"oyed by fire April 11, 1865. The 
 books and records were saved. 
 
 In the early period of the town's history, the JaU stood upon the east 
 side of the Green, in the town-plot. In the time of the Revolutionary 
 war it was on the west side, under the brow of the hill, in the rear of the 
 present brick school-house, Two buildings were worn out in this place, 
 each having served about thirty years. The prison was then transferred 
 to the south-east border of the Green, near the present post-office, where 
 it continued till the courts were removed to Chelsea. The old building, 
 vacant and worthless, was soon afterward burnt to the ground. 
 
HlSTOBT OF NORWICH. 6T3 
 
 A new prison, with an adjoining house for the keeper, was erected at 
 Chelsea, upon the high ground overlooking the city. These were ceded 
 to the county, but consumed by fire, after a few years occupation, June 9, 
 1838. 
 
 The fire originated in the cell of a prisoner confined for theft, and was 
 kindled by him with a candle which he obtained from his wife. His 
 design was merely to burn out the lock of his cell door, that he might 
 eflfect his escape ; but before he could complete his work, the fire got 
 beyond his control. The light was discovered, the alarm given, and all 
 the inmates rescued ; but from the difficulty of obtaining water, nothing 
 could be done to arrest the destructive element. 
 
 The buildings were reconstructed on an enlarged plan, and though the 
 taste which seated such an establishment in the most conspicuous part of 
 the city may be questioned, yet the buildings themselves are pleasing 
 objects in the perspective. 
 
 Gas Gompanies. 
 
 The introduction of gas as a medium for lighting the city was for sev- 
 eral years embarrassed with conflicts of opinion, lawsuits, and vehement 
 explosions of partizanship. The first company that was formed for this 
 purpose erected their works and obtained from the common council cer- 
 tain exclusive privileges for fifteen years. This company was incorpora- 
 ted by the Legislature in 1853, under the title of the Norwich Gas Light 
 Company ; Frederick W. Treadway, Superintendent. 
 
 Shortly afterward, great complaints were made ; the light was said to 
 be poor, the gas of bad odor, leakages were frequent, shade-trees in some 
 places were destroyed, the company was accused of having violated their 
 charter, and on the whole there was a growing disgust of monopolies. A 
 large number of prominent citizens organized a new gas company under 
 the joint-stock-corporation law, called the Norwich City Gas Company, 
 and a trial for mastery between the two parties commenced. The Gas 
 Light obtained from the Superior Court an injunction against the City 
 Gas, which was set aside by a subsequent decision, and suits, attachments, 
 collisions and tumultuary street assemblages followed in quick succession. 
 
 In April, 1855, a city meeting was held in relation to these gas diffi- 
 culties, which, after some discussion, passed a vote to adjourn without 
 action, 176 to 131. This was regarded as a test vote in favor of the 
 Joint Stock Company, which thereupon went to work with vigor, and on 
 the 10th of May, two conspicuous buildings, the Wauregan Hotel and the 
 Chelsea Paper Mill, at Greeneville, were lighted from the Joint Stock 
 reservoir. This company gradually obtained the patronage of the city. 
 The pubUc excitement subsided. An arrangement satisfactory to both 
 
574 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 parties was made, the old gas-works were purchased by the City Gaa 
 party, and the two companies consolidated in November, 1858. 
 
 Town's Poor. 
 
 For several generations after the settlement of New England, society 
 in point of wealth was without extremes. There were no overgrown for- 
 tunes, neither was there any positive beggary. A transient vagabond and 
 a foreign pauper made their appearance here and there, but poverty was 
 not a grievance of the country, calling for a mendicant system. 
 
 If any of the town's people through age or misfortune became destitute, 
 the selectmen provided for them. For a century after the settlement of 
 Norwich, only two or three in a year required assistance, and generally a 
 few shillings covered the whole expense. 
 
 At a later period, the poor were provided for by contract ; that is, placed 
 under the care of those who would keep them the cheapest. This prac- 
 tice, which is the same as putting them up at auction and selling them to 
 the lowest bidder, is too revolting to be long endured by a benevolent and 
 prosperous community. 
 
 In 1767, a vote was passed to hire a convenient house for the poor, and 
 to place them in it immediately. How soon this was accomplished is 
 uncertain. It is not until after 1790 that we find the Town Alms-house 
 situated upon Long or Ox Hill, and occupying a portion of the Hazen 
 farm. This location was both inconvenient and expensive, and was ulti- 
 mately exchanged for a lot at Chelsea, adjoining the site of the Episcopal 
 Church, where a building was erected to which the town's poor wer« 
 removed in the autumn of 1800. 
 
 In 1795, the Legislature empowered the town to establish a work-house 
 for idle persons and vagrants, to be used as a house of correction, instead 
 of the jail, to which such culprits bad hitherto been consigned. This was 
 not done at that time, but after the alms-house at Chelsea was completed, 
 a work-house was erected by the side of it, and went into operation in 
 1806. 
 
 The first poor-house had been established on a lonely and bleak hill, 
 and the second was even less eligibly situated. It was directly upon the 
 street, allowing its forlorn residents to be the gazing-stock of the public. 
 After a few years a favorable change was made. A third almshouse was 
 erected, in a retired yet easily aceessible position, upon the west side of 
 the cove, and furnished with all the accessories of comfort and conven- 
 ience that considerate benevolence could wish. This was opened for the 
 reception of the poor in ISl'.l. The salary of the keeper was $150, and 
 the physician's fees were not to exceed that amount. For a series of 
 ^ ears, even till the flood of emigration and the war of the rebellion altered 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH, 575 
 
 the circumstances of the country, the number of inmates seldom exceeded 
 thirty. 
 
 A new building of brick, the fourth regular alms-house of the town, 
 with larger and better accommodations, was erected in 1859, on the same 
 lot as the preceding. The number of inmates in 1863 was 66, — two of 
 them over 90 years of age. 
 
 According to the census of 1860, the number of persons, not in the 
 alms-house, assisted by the town for the year ending June 1, 1860, was 
 53 native-born Americans; 210 of foreign bu-th. Since that period the 
 number is more than trebled. 
 
 For the year ending Sept. 1, 1865 : expenses of the alms-house, $6,- 
 217.74; of the poor out of the alms-house, $15,044. 
 
 Laurel HiU. 
 
 Going back to the year 1712, when the spot now covered by Norwich 
 city was a wild, ungraded sheep-walk, we find the east side of the river 
 bordered by high, precipitous banks, overshadowed with straggling trees, 
 and dense with shrubs and vines, described in deeds as "the rockie latid 
 on ye east side of ye great river at the mouth of Showtucket." 
 
 Along the river, running down toward Brewster's Neck, were two farms ; 
 the upper belonging to John Downs, and the lower to Joseph Elderkin. 
 These farms, after several times changing owners, were purchased at dif- 
 ferent periods, the upper by Jabez Perkins, and the lower by Nathaniel 
 Backus. Capt. Perkins bought also the Fitch farm and other lands in the 
 neighborhood. His wife was the daughter of Mr. Backus, and on the 
 decease of the latter in 1787, the Elderkin farm fell to her by inheritance, 
 which brought the eastern bank of the river for a considerable distance 
 into the ownership of Capt. Perkins and his wife. The only child of thi^ 
 couple that lived to maturity was Mary, the wife of Capt. Edward Whit- 
 ing, and the two children of this daughter dying without issue, the estate, 
 agreeably to the will of Capt. Perkins, reverted in fee simple to their 
 father, Capt. Whiting. 
 
 The Indian name of this tract was Shipscattuck. In 1860 the road to 
 Poquetannock was called the Shipscattuck path. The original grantees in 
 this quarter were Robert Roath, Owen Williams, Josiah Rockwell, Ben- 
 jamin Pitch, John Elderkin : these were Shipscattuck proprietors. At a 
 later period the dwellings of Thomas Danforth and Michael Pepper were 
 said to be at Shipscattuck. 
 
 These grants were all in East or Long Society, which in 1786 was dis- 
 severed from Norwich by legislative authority and annexed to Preston. 
 
 Perkins and Whiting were the proprietors on this bank of the river for 
 
676 HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 
 
 more than sixty years. A large proportion of the land was rugged and 
 unproductive ; it was therefore but partially cleared and cultivated. After 
 coming into the possession of Capt. Whiting, the only dwelling was a 
 small farm-house pleasantly situated on the river, but with no road lead- 
 ing to it except a pent-way through the woods. The farm-house has since 
 expanded into the costly and eccentric villa of Sunnyside. 
 
 In 1845, the Norwich and Worcester Railroad Company laid their iron 
 track along the border of the river, purchasing the privilege for a very 
 moderate sum. 
 
 With these exceptions this highland district lay almost in its natural 
 state until 1850. But taste and enterprise were now ready to take pos- 
 session of the hill. The northern portion of the tract, lying nearest the 
 city, which consisted chiefly of rock-bound heights and tangled thickets, 
 was purchased, Oct. 8, 1850, by three partners, John A. Rockwell, Thos. 
 Robinson, and Henry Bill, with the express purpose of bringing it into 
 notice as an eligible position for a suburban village. Under their direc- 
 tion the land was surveyed, a street opened, and house-lots laid out, and 
 the whole thrown open to purchasers. The name of Laurel Hill was 
 bestowed upon it on account of the preponderance of that beautiful ever- 
 green in its woods and on its sunny slopes. Other wild flowers were also 
 abundant. The trailing arbutus, the scarlet columbine, the wild pink, and 
 the purple gentian, were among its noted floral treasures. 
 
 In 1853, two of the partners in the Laurel Hill purchase resigned their 
 interest to the third, and since that period Mr. Bill has been successfully 
 engaged in its improvement. He contributed largely to the construction 
 of the free bridge over the Shetucket, established his own residence upon 
 the hill, and has the satisfaction of seeing other pleasant homes and gar- 
 dens gradually extending along the river-side, and changing the ancient 
 "Rockie Hill at the mouth of Showtucket" into an elegant rural village. 
 Laurel Hill now contains over thirty dwelling-houses ; has forty voters, 
 and seventy-six pupils in the schools, — all the growth of ten or twelve 
 years. 
 
 In 1857, upon the petition of .John W. Stedman, S. T. Holbrook, and 
 others of the inhabitants of Laurel Hill, this district was annexed by a 
 State Act to the city of Norwich. This was only a return to its ancient 
 allegiance, of a part of Long Society. The dividing line with Preston 
 passes over the highest westerly summit of Tory Hill, in the range of 
 Lanman's Chair. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 677 
 
 Otis Librury, incorporated in 1851. 
 
 This institution was founded by Joseph Otis, a retired merchant, who 
 expended for the site, the erection of the building, its furniture, and the 
 first purchase of books, about $10,500, and in his will left $6,500 to be 
 funded for the future use of the library. 
 
 The building was completed in 1850. The lower story contains the 
 library, and the upper is appropriated to a pastor's study, toward the fur- 
 nishing of which Mr. Otis gave $1,000. The library opened with 250 
 volumes and over 1,000 subscribers. 
 
 Hamlin B. Buckingham has been the librarian from the commencement 
 to the present time. The most important new works are purchased, and 
 the best periodicals taken and preserved. In February, 1865, the num- 
 ber of books reported was 6,666. Tickets for the year are one dollar 
 each. 
 
 The original board of trustees, nominated by the founder, were : 
 
 George Perkins, William A. Buckingham, 
 
 Rev. Alvan Bond, D. D., Robert Johnson, 
 
 Worthington Hooker, M. D., Charles Johnson. 
 J. G. W. Trumbull, 
 
 The spare walls of the library are covered with about thirty portraits 
 of citizens who were contemporary with Mr. Otis. These were painted 
 by Alexander H. Emmons for Charles Johnson, Esq., President of the 
 Norwich Bank, who, in ordering the work, had two motives in view, one 
 to preserve the likeness of men honored and respected in the community, 
 and the other to furnish subjects for an artist whom he wished to encour- 
 age. Mr. Emmons is a self-taught portrait-painter, who has exercised his 
 profession for more than forty years in Norwich, and has found constant 
 employment. 
 
 Joseph Otis was a native of Norwich, born in July, 1768, at Yantic, 
 near what was then the Backus iron-works, now the site of the Williams 
 woolen-mill. His parents were from Montville : the name of his mother, 
 Lucy Haughton. He had the common advantages of school education, 
 but at a very early age went into mercantile service at the Landing, and 
 as soon as he reached maturity, entered into trade on his own account. 
 He was successively in business at Charleston, New York, Norwich, 
 Richmond, and again at New York, where by far the greater part of his 
 mercantile career was spent in the commission business. His religious con- 
 nection was with the Duane St. Presbyterian Church, where he officiated 
 for nearly twenty years as an elder. To all works of charity and Chris- 
 tian benevolence he was a generous contributor, — the constant flow of his 
 free-will offerings showing the largeness of his heart. 
 37 
 
578 HISTORY OP NORWICH, 
 
 In 1838, his health being infirm, he withdrew from business and re- 
 moved to Norwich, which was thenceforward his home. His wife, who 
 was a daughter of Levi Huntington, died in 1844, aged 72 years. They 
 had been married 47 years. Mr. Otis died in April, 1854, in the 86th 
 year of his age. He had no children. 
 
 By his will he left about $30,000, which was a large proportion of his 
 estate, to twelve different religious and educational institutions, in sums 
 varying from $1,000 to $7,000. 
 
 Bev. T. H. Skinner of New York, in a letter written after the death of 
 Mr. Otis, says of him : 
 
 " It was always refreshing to look on the face of Mr. Otis. It had a benign, friendly, 
 affectionate aspect, even when his heart was sorrowful and when his sorrow expressed 
 itself in tears. And his natural and gracious amiability was not a wealiness, nor was 
 weakness its associate. He was a man of sharp discrimination between true and false, 
 good and evil, whether in things or persons." 
 
 It was characteristic of Mr. Otis to support with regularity and con- 
 stancy every enterprise to which he had contributed, if it continued to be 
 worthy of patronage. No better illustration of this trait can be given 
 than the fact that he was one of the original subscribers to the New York 
 Commercial Advertiser, and continued to take it till his death, a period of 
 fifty-seven years. 
 
 Centenarians. <■ 
 
 In Dwight's Travels an instance of longevity is recorded, of which we 
 find no other account : 
 
 "Ann Heifer, a widow at Norwich, Conn., died March 22d, 1758, in her I05th 
 year." 
 
 Abigail, the second wife of Samuel Lathrop, is an instance better known. 
 On the completion of her century, Jan. 23, 1732, the Rev. Benjamin Lord 
 preached a sermon in her room at the house of her son. Her death is thus 
 noticed in the Weekly Journal, printed at Boston :* 
 
 "Mrs. Abigail Lothrop died at Norwich Jan. 23, 1735, in her 104th year. Her 
 father John Done and his wife came to Plymouth in 1 630, and there she was bom the 
 ne.\t year. She lived single till 60 years old and then married Mr. John Lothrop 
 [mistake for Samuel Lothrop] of Norwich, who lived ten years and then died. Mr. 
 Lothrop'a descendants at her decease were 365." 
 
 An example of longevity that demands a more extended notice is that 
 of Capt. Erastus Perkins. He was a descendant of Jabez Perkins, one 
 
 * See representation of her grave-stone at p. 218. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 579 
 
 of the brothers that settled early at Newent. His father, the third Jabee 
 in succession, married Anne, daughter of Ebenezer Lathrop, and settled 
 in the town-plot, occupying a house in the street that runs along the side 
 of Sentry Hill. About the year 1754, Mr. Perkins brought home one 
 day from the woods two young elms, of a size that he could conveniently 
 bear upon his shoulder, and set them out in such positions that when 
 grown they would throw their shade over a shop in which he worked. 
 These are now the Coit elms, those broad-winged, stately twins that so 
 majestically overshadow the residence of Daniel W. Coit, Esq. 
 
 Erastus Perkins, the oldest son of Jabez and Anne, was born Feb. 17, 
 1752. He is the only person we can name with certainty, that was bom 
 and passed his life in Norwich, who has attained to the age of a century. 
 Doubtless other instances have occurred, but the names, dates and proofs 
 have not been thoroughly tested and recorded, as in the case of Captain 
 Perkins. 
 
 He died Oct. 18, 1853, aged 101 years and 10 months. He had been 
 three times married, and by his first wife (Anne Glover) had ten children, 
 only two of whom survived him. In his will he leaves a legacy to Eras- 
 tus Perkins Pooler, "the great-grandson of my son Jabez, deceased." 
 
 Capt. Perkins had led a frugal, industrious hfe ; active, but not eager 
 and bustling. He was a man of great equanimity of temper, seldom in 
 the whole course of his life ruffled to anger. Each of his three wivea 
 had been heard to say that she never saw her husband out of temper. 
 He was all his life accustomed to regular hours ; retiring to rest at the 
 sound of the nine o'clock curfew bell, and rising soon after daylight. 
 
 All his schooling was obtained at the Brick School-house on the Town 
 Green, where he began with his speUing-book at five years of age. From 
 the days of childhood to those of maturity he was in the family of Gen. 
 Jabez Huntington, and was employed variously in domestic and mercan- 
 tile concerns. Here the customary breakfast consisted of bean-porridge, 
 hasty-pudding, johnny-cake, brown bread and milk, baked apples and 
 milk, and similar dishes ; the dinner was of meat and vegetables cooked 
 in the simplest manner, but bountiful in supply. The Sunday dinner was 
 an enormous Indian pudding dressed with molasses. The Saturday night 
 supper was the customary baked pork and beans, and the brown loaf of 
 the true mahogany color. 
 
 His reminiscences reached back to the days of stamp-act excitement, 
 from thence meandering down through the Revolution and the war of 
 1812. After the Revolution he was for many years a packet -master, run- 
 ning a sloop with freight and passengers between Norwich and New York ; 
 and hence came his title of captain. For twenty-three years he wag 
 Inspector of Customs, acting under the Collector of the New London 
 district. 
 
580 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 On the day that he rounded his century, he received 165 visitors, con- 
 versed with them all in a quiet and affable manner ; recollected persons, 
 faces, events, very readily ; related anecdotes, when any thing suggested 
 them ; and had the appearance in mind and body of a man of 80 or 85. 
 
 In his history and customary habits there were no marked peculiarities. 
 He was neither abstemious nor luxurious in diet. He never drank tea 
 nor coffee till he was about 18 years of age, but after that period habitu- 
 ally made use of both in moderate quantities. His exercise was just what 
 his business and domestic affairs made necessary, expending no surplusage 
 in gymnastic feats or hilarious sports, though in his younger days joming 
 heartily in the social enjoyments and merry-makings of his friends and 
 neighbors. An equable temper and regular habits seem to have been the 
 tracks over which the wheels of his life glided smoothly into longevity. 
 
 Thus much it seemed desirable to state respecting that truly historical 
 character, the prominent centenarian of the town. 
 
 A sister of Mr. Perkins, Lydia, wife of Shubael Breed, died in April, 
 1861, in the 94th year of her age. 
 
 " Sept. 23, 1800. Died at the Poor House, Jack, one of God's images in ebony, at 
 the advanced age of 104 years." JiTorwich Courier. 
 
 Simon T. Eudd is probably the oldest person now living in Norwich. 
 He was born at Windham, Sept. 1, 1768. His mother was Mary Tracy, 
 daughter of Dea. Simon Tracy of Norwich, whose name he bears. 
 
 Nevjspa'pers. 
 
 I. "The Norwich Packet," the first newspaper of the town, has already 
 been largely noticed in this work. It was commenced in October, 1773, 
 by Robertsons & Trumbull. The Robertsons withdrew in 1776, leaving 
 the paper in the hands of the junior editor and printer, John Trumbull, in 
 whose sole management it continued for twenty-six years. In February, 
 1802, the title was changed, and No. 1455 came out as The Oonnecticut 
 Centinel, — " a name," said the editor, " more appropriate to the times ; the 
 Centinel being designed to do the duty of a good soldier, in giving notice 
 of approaching dangers." The motto indicated the political party to 
 which it gave support: 
 
 " Patrons and friends ; ye men of sterling worth, 
 'Tis you who call our grateful feelings forth : 
 Firmly in Federal paths we still will tread, 
 Nor heed the wasps that buzz around our head." 
 
 Mr. Trumbull died Aug. 1 4, 1 802. The paper was then issued for a 
 year in the name of his widow, Mrs. Lucy Trumbull, and subsequently 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 581 
 
 by his sons, Charles E. and Henry Trumbull. After a few years it was 
 discontinued. 
 
 II. "The Weekly Register" was first issued Nov. 29, 1790, by Eben- 
 ezer Bushnell. Thomas Hubbard, the brother-in-law of Mr. Bushnell, 
 appeared as joint publisher, June 7, 1791. In October, 1793, Bushnell 
 retired from the paper, which was thenceforth conducted by Hubbard 
 alone. The printing-office was '• 24 rods west of the meeting-house," and 
 nearly opposite the press of Trumbull. 
 
 Mr. Bushnell was a man of quick wit and varied information ; fluent 
 with his pen, and ready even at poetical composition.* He was a native 
 of Windham, graduated at Yale in 1777, and settled at Norwich as an 
 attorney. After leaving the Register, he entered into the paper-making 
 business in connection with Andrew Huntington, but a few years later 
 enlisted in the U. S. Navy, and was made purser of the ship Warren. 
 He died while serving in that capacity, at Havana, in July or August, 
 1800, aged 43. 
 
 "The Weekly Register" was continued for seven years. At the close 
 of the year 1797, Mr. Hubbard removed to the Landing, closing up the 
 Register, and proposing to issue a paper more particularly devoted to the 
 commercial part of the town. 
 
 III. This new weekly, "The Chelsea Courier," was first issued in 
 February, 1798, and with slight variations in the title has been continued 
 to the present time — a period of sixty-six years. Thomas Hubbard rehn- 
 quished the concern to his son, Russell Hubbard, Nov. 13, 1805 ; the 
 transfer being accompanied with a change of heading to Norwich Courier, 
 its present title. 
 
 In February, 1817, Theophilus R. Marvin became a partner in the 
 concern, and for a couple of years the paper was issued by Hubbard & 
 Marvin, but it then reverted to Mr. Hubbard, whose last number bears 
 the date of April 3, 1822. [Vol. 26, No. 22.] 
 
 The Courier then passed into the hands of Robinson & Dunham, 
 (Thomas Robinson and John Dunham,) who commenced a new series, 
 April 10, 1822. Robinson retired from the firm in March, 1825, but the 
 paper was continued by Mr. Dunham to September, 1842, — more than 
 twenty years. 
 
 * Several of Mr. Bushnell's poetical effusions were circulated in MS. after his de- 
 cease. One of them, written on the coast of Cuba, was an apology for not joining his 
 brother officers, during their rambles on the shore, in carving the names of dear ones 
 at home on the rinds of trees. The sentiment was tender and refined, showing how 
 his sensitive nature shrunk from the bare possibility that strangers with coarse feelings 
 might u ier their rude jests over " my much loved Susan's name." ' 
 
582 HISTOKY OF NORWICH. 
 
 The next editor of the Courier was Rev. Dorson E. Sykes, who, in 
 March, 1843, added a tri-weekly to the issue, and continued to occupy the 
 position of editor and proprietor for sixteen years and a half. He pub- 
 lished his valedictory March 2, 1859. 
 
 George B. Smith, a young printer from Springfield, having purchased 
 the establishment, enlarged the weekly paper to a folio of eight pages, and 
 instead of a tri-vveekly, issued a handsome Daily Courier, No. 1, Dec. 1, 
 1858. Both papers were well printed, and highly creditable to the taste 
 and enterprise of the editor. But he was met, almost at the outset, by 
 financial embarrassments, and at the end of five months the Courier again 
 reverted to Mr. Sykes, under whose supervision and control it continued 
 till 1861, when the Daily Courier was dropped, and the Weekly Courier 
 published in connection with the Morning Bulletin.* 
 
 The Chelsea Courier being in point of fact a continuation of the "Weekly 
 Pegister, — with the same press, proprietor, and general character, — with 
 nothing to mark the difference except change of name and locality, might 
 be regarded without great impropriety as one individuality, having for its 
 birthday Nov. 29, 1790. In this list, however, we have arranged them as 
 distinct publications. 
 
 IV. "The True Republican" was the fourth newspaper issued in Nor- 
 wich. Consider Sterry, John Sterry and Epaphras Porter were the print- 
 ers, editors and proprietors. It was devoted to the Jeflfersonian system of 
 policy, and was continued about three years, beginning in June, 180.4. 
 
 V. " The Native American " made its first appearance in February, 
 1812. It was published at Norwich Town by Samuel Webb, who had 
 served an apprenticeship with the TrumbuUs, and in 1811 set up a book- 
 store and printing-press on Norwich Green. The press was afterwards 
 removed to Windham, Mr. Webb's native place, and the paper issued 
 from thence. 
 
 VI. "The Norwich Republican" was commenced in September, 1828, 
 by Boardman & Faulkner. The same year, aNpaper called the "Stoning- 
 ton Telegraph" was issued at Stonington, John T. Adams editor.f In 
 
 * Mr. Sykes, who edited the Coui'ier for so long a period, remored to California, 
 where ho still resides. 
 
 t Though entering upon public life as an Editor, and now a State Senator, Mr. 
 Adams has devoted himself more assiduously to literature than to political affairs. He 
 is the author of several tales of American life, published anonymously. One of these, 
 The Lost Hunter, is a story of the last century, the scene of which is placed in Norwich 
 •nd its neighborhood. It embodies some of the rich old legends of the place, and is 
 interspersed with vivid descriptions of its varied scenery. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH, 583 
 
 1829 these two publications were united, and under the double title pub- 
 lished at Norwich by Adams & Faulkner. The double title was soon 
 relinquished, and the paper continued under its original name. 
 
 In September, 1834, it went into the hands of Malzar Gardner, by 
 whom it was published for eighteen months. A new series began April 
 15, 1835, under Whig management; Marcus B. Young publisher, and La 
 Fayette S. Foster editor. It was discontinued in 1838. 
 
 VII. "The Canal of Intelligence," begun in May, 1826, by Levi 
 Huntington Young, was continued about three years. 
 
 Vin. "The Norwich Spectator," first issued in November, 1829,— 
 Park Benjamin editor, and Marcus B. Young publisher. This was of 
 short continuance. It was revived in 1842 by John G. Cooley, but soon 
 ceased. 
 
 IX. The " Norwich Free Press," commenced in February, 1830, by 
 Marcus B. Young, but soon discontinued. 
 
 X. "The Aurora" was first issued May 20, 1835, by J. Holbrook, 
 who had previously published a paper at Brooklyn, (Windham county.) 
 In July, 1838, it passed into the hands of Gad S. Gilbert, by whom it was 
 published under the title of the "Norwich Aurora," which it still retains. 
 Gilbert's connection with it terminated in May, 1842, and it was after- 
 wards successively conducted by William Trench and Trench & Conklin. 
 Since Aug. 8, 1844, it has been issued by John W. Stedman, as editor, 
 proprietor, and printer. 
 
 A Daily Aurora was connected with it for one year, viz., 1860. 
 
 XI. " The Norwich News," published by William Faulkner from 1843 
 to 1848, inclusive. 
 
 XII. "The Ncirwich Gleaner," commenced Jan. 1, 1845, by Benjamin 
 F. Taylor. 
 
 Xni. "The American Patriot," 1848; a temporary enterprise, advo- 
 cating the claims of Gen. Taylor to the presidency. 
 
 XIV. " The Norwich Tribune," a large, well-printed weekly, which 
 began in January, 1852, E. S. Wells editor and proprietor, soon succeeded 
 by Charles B. Piatt and Edmund C. Stedman.* It was discontinued in 
 June, 1853. 
 
 * Mr. Stedman was at this time about twenty years of age. He has since been con- 
 
584 HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 
 
 XV. "The Examiner," published by Andrew Stark i first number 
 issued July 16, 1853. This paper was devoted especially to the advo- 
 cacy of the Maine Law, the observance of the Sabbath, and the improve- 
 ment of the Common Schools, and these subjects were under the editorial 
 supervision of Eevs. H. P. Arms, J. P. Gulliver, and J. A. Goodhue. 
 An agricultural department was attended to by Rev. William Clift. It 
 was continued over two years ; its valedictory was dated Nov. 1 6, 1855. 
 The agricultural department was transferred to "The Homestead," a 
 journal established by Mr. Stark at Hartford, when the Examiner was 
 discontinued. 
 
 XVI. " The State Guard," Andrew Stark publisher, began in January, 
 1855, and ceased in May, 1856. it was an organ of the party called the 
 Native American, or familiarly the Know-Nothing party : advocating a 
 revision of the naturalization laws, and opposing papal and other foreign 
 influence. Its motto was " Liberty, Country, Home." I. H. Bromley 
 was one of its editors. 
 
 XVII. " The "Weekly Reveille," issued by Walter S. Robinson ; only 
 ten or twelve numbei-s printed. No. 1, Oct. 8, 1858. 
 
 XVIII. " The Morning Bulletin," issued by an association formed for 
 the special purpose of furnishing the city with a daily paper that should 
 be enterprising in the collection of local details, and give the latest tele- 
 graphic intelligence. The first number appeared Dec. 15, 1858 ; pub- 
 lished by Manning, Perry & Co. — the Co. being understood to consist of 
 Homer Bliss and the principal editor, I. H. Bromley. 
 
 The Daily Courier and the Morning Bulletin were cotemporaneous, — 
 making two Republican daily papers in the city. In January, 1861, the 
 Weekly Courier and the Morning Bulletin were united, and the Daily 
 Courier was discontinued. 
 
 In 1862, Mr. Bromley, the editor, enlisted in the army, and went into 
 the field as captain in the 18th regiment. He was afterwards detailed to 
 act as provost-marshal, and held this ofiice to the close of the war, but 
 through the whole continued in connection with the Bulletin, though not 
 giving it his personal oversight. In 1865, he resumed his place as chief 
 editor. 
 
 nccted with the Now Yoik Tribune and other city papers. He is the author of "Alice 
 of Monmouth," a fine lyric poem, or " Idyl of the Great War," and various other 
 poems : one of which, a satirical effusion, thrown like a lance at a passing event, and 
 called " The Diamond Wedding," obtained a wide temporary circulation. 
 
HISTOBY OF NORWICH. 585 
 
 Uncos and the Indian Graves. 
 
 The ancient Indian Cemetery, heavily shadowed with a native growth 
 of trees, is now little more than an inclosure for the Uncas Monument. 
 
 During the summer of 1833, General Jackson, President of the United 
 States, with a part of his Cabinet, made a tour through a portion of the 
 Eastern States. The citizens of Norwich had long been desirous of erect- 
 ing some memorial of respect for their " Old Friend" the Mohegan Sa- 
 chem, and they suddenly decided to celebrate the visit of the President 
 by connecting it with the interesting ceremony of laying the corner-stone 
 of an Uncas monument. , 
 
 The Presidential party came from Hartford by land, arriving by the 
 Essex turnpike in open coaches, with a brilliant escort of cavalry that had 
 gone forth to meet them. Vice-President Van Buren, Gov. Edwards of 
 Connecticut, Major Donelson, and Messrs. Cass, Woodbury and Poinsett, 
 Secretaries of War, Navy and State, formed the party. They arrived at 
 3 o'clock P. M., paused a few moments at the Falls, and then advanced 
 to the Cemetery, where a great assemblage of the inhabitants, military 
 companies, bands of children with banners and mottoes, and a few scat- 
 tered Indians from Mohegan, received the visitors with martial salutes 
 and joyful acclamations. 
 
 At the cemetery, where all stood with uncovered heads, N. L. Shipman> 
 Esq., in behalf of the Association, gave a brief skjetch of the family of 
 Uncas and the existing condition of the tribe. The President then moved 
 the foundation-stone to its place. It was an interesting, suggestive cere- 
 mony : a token of respect from the modern warrior to the ancient, — from 
 the emigrant race to the aborigines. General Cass, in a short but elo- 
 quent address to the multitude, observed that the earth afforded but few 
 more striking spectacles than that of one hero doing homage at the tomb 
 of another. 
 
 The ceremony being concluded, the children sang a hymn, and the 
 Presidential party passed away, pausing again at the Landing for refresh- 
 ments, and embarking from thence in a steamer for New London. 
 
 Though the corner-stone was thus auspiciously prepared, no funds had 
 been obtained or plans matured for the erection of the monument. The 
 ladies at length took hold of the work, and brought it to a successful issue. 
 Embracing the opportunity of a political mass-meeting, which assembled 
 at Norwich, Oct. 15, 1840, in honor of Harrison and Tyler, they prepared 
 a refreshment fair, — with generous enthusiasm arrangedi and filled their 
 tables, — took their station as saleswomen, and with the profits paid for the 
 monument. 
 
586 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 It consists of a simple granite obelisk, with no inscription but the 
 name, — 
 
 UNCAS.* 
 
 The raising of the shaft, and fixing it upon the foundation-stone, was 
 the occasion of another festival. This was on the 4:th of July, 1842, at 
 which time William L. Stone of New York delivered an Historical Dis- 
 course on the Life and Times of the Sachem.t 
 
 Among the persons present in the tent where the address was delivered, 
 were ten citizens of the place over 75 years of age : 
 
 Erastus Perkins, 89. Ichabod Ward, 80. 
 
 Samuel Avery, 88. Newcomb Kinney, 80. 
 
 Seabury Brewster, 86. Benjamin Snow, 77. 
 
 Christopher Vail, 82. Nathaniel Shipman, 76. 
 
 Bela Peck, 82. Zachariah Huntington, 75. 
 
 The whole space inclosed as the Uncas Cemetery, and probably the 
 ground for some distance upon its border, is thickly seeded with Indian 
 graves, though but very few inscribed stones or even hillocks remain. 
 The only inscription of any particular interest is on the grave-stone of 
 Samuel Uncas, one of the latest of the Uncas family that bore even the 
 nominal title of Sachem, and who died not long before the Revolutionary 
 war. An exact representation of the stone in its present ruinous state is 
 given on the opposite page. It bears no date. The epitaph, written by 
 Dr. Elisha Tracy, reads thus : 
 
 SAMUEL UNCAS. 
 
 For Beauty, wit, for Sterling sense, 
 
 For temper mild, for Eliquence, 
 
 For Courage Bold, for things wauregan. 
 
 He was the Glory of Moheagon. 
 
 Whose death has Caused great lamentation, 
 
 Both in ye English and ye Indian Nation. 
 
 * The Rev. Mr. Fitch, in 1675, wrote this name Unkas. Before the monument was 
 completed, G. L. Perkins, Esq., who had charge of the undertaking, wrote letters to 
 Noah Webster, the philologist, Thomas Day, Secretary of the State of Connecticut, 
 and Col. Wm. L. Stone, a diligent investigator of Indian history, to inquire what they 
 would consider the most eligible mode of spelling the name to be inscribed on the obe- 
 lisk. They all concurred in recommending the modern orthography, — Uncas. 
 
 t Published afterwards in a small duodecimo volume, entitled " Uncas and Mianto- 
 nomoh." 
 
HISTOEY OP NORWICH, 
 
 587 
 
 WU'i^f >f;-Cl .t> 5' ^l--'^^- ^^'^^^^ i^S^' 
 
 i-^f I.: tut ,1'iKi:^ 
 
 ^.i.i\fEnttUfhi'->l^lM"U':^; 
 
 1-t 
 
 7%e ^-Centennial Celebration. 
 
 The two hundredth anniversary of the town was celebrated by a mag- 
 nificent festival of two days continuance, — occupying Wednesday and 
 Thursday, 7th and 8th of September, 1859. 
 
 The arrangements for this great jubilee had been planned with a wise 
 forecast. A committee of preparation had been for a year in office; 
 invitations had been extensively circulated, and a general enthusiasm pre- 
 vailed among the sons and daughters of Norwich and their descendants, 
 far and near, to honor this interesting birthday. It was aptly termed the 
 great Golden "Wedding of the town, kept in remembrance of the hallowed 
 union of the Puritan emigrant and his wilderness bride, two hundred 
 years before. 
 
 " Here where the tangled thicket grew, 
 
 Where wolf and panther pasaed, 
 An acorn from an English oak 
 
 In the rude soil was cast." 
 
 A vast fraternity, genial intercourse, cordial fellowship, and lavish ex- 
 changes of thought and fact, were confidently expected, and seldom are 
 joyful anticipations and enlarged plans so fully realized. 
 
588 HI8T0BT0PN0EWICH. 
 
 The weather seemed adapted to the occasion. The season in all its 
 hearings harmonized with the festal robes and out-door encampments with 
 which the inhabitants prepared their dear old homestead for the reception 
 of its guests. A general glow of happiness pervaded every countenance. 
 The absentees, the wanderers, the distant relatives, friends and neighbors 
 assembled. It was a mighty gathering, but yet far more orderly and 
 quiet than a customary militia muster, or political convention. It was an 
 ovation, hilarious and triumphant, but not tumultuous. The devotional 
 element was not perhaps sufficiently prevalent to chime with the princi- 
 ples of " two hundred years ago," — but on the other hand, there was no 
 bacchanal accompaniment, no rude disturbance to break the swell of a 
 note of music or the sound of a speaker's voice, and it was said not a sol- 
 itary case of inebriety was observed during the whole festival. 
 
 The most conspicuous features of the celebration were these : 
 
 The decoration of the streets and buildings, and the erection of a wide- 
 winged tent upon the Parade. 
 
 A grand procession, military and civic, half a mile in extent, that made 
 the tour of the town, with banners, bands of music, and exhibitions of 
 trades and prefessions, many of them in active operation. 
 
 Two historical discourses of lasting value and interest. 
 
 Two descriptive addresses of an oratorical character, — impressive and 
 eloquent in a high degree. 
 
 A dinner, with numerous toasts and speeches. 
 
 A closing ball at the great tent on the town park or parade. 
 
 The various exercises were interspersed and enlivened with original 
 poetry and good singing. A descriptive poem by Anson G. Chester of 
 Syracuse, N. Y., was one of the expected entertainments of the festival, 
 but owing to the severe illness of the poet it was not delivered. 
 
 It was estimated that at this celebration 1500 flags were spread upon 
 the wind, — not only those of our own country, but the motley emblems of 
 all nations. Several magnificent arches were erected at prominent points. 
 A very tasteful arch in Franklin street represented two clasped hands, — 
 1659 and 1859, with the motto, "A Hearty Greeting." 
 
 General David Young was the chief marshal of the ceremonies. Gov- 
 ernor Buckingham presided in the assemblies. Ex-President Fillmore 
 was the most distinguished guest. The Bi-Centennial Discourse was by 
 Daniel C. Gilman ; the Discourse on the Life and Times of John Mason, 
 by Hon. John A. Eockwell. The other addresses, or more properly ora- 
 tions, were by Rt. Rev. Alfred Lee, Bishop of Delaware, and Donald G. 
 Mitchell. 
 
 The speakers were all natives of the town, and had the same object in 
 view, gratefully to commemorate the scenes and influences by which they 
 had been nurtured. It was beautiful to see with what variety of touch 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 689 
 
 they struck the key-note, producing with great diversity of tone, entire 
 harmony. The faithful historic record, the biography of the founder, the 
 chastened retrospect, and the graceful survey of the two centuries of the 
 town's life, presented by the orators, each in his own characteristic style, 
 converged Upon the same theme — Norwich, our Home. 
 
 Many interesting incidents were connected with this great festivity. 
 The corner-stone of a monument to the memory of Mason, the Conqueror 
 of the Pequots, was laid in Yantic Cemetery. A dinner was given by 
 General Williams to the Mohegans, of which more than sixty of the 
 remains of that tribe partook. Mrs. "Wm. P. Greene, as a memorial of 
 the celebration, presented a house and grounds to the Free Academy for 
 the residence of the principal, valued at $7,000. Mr. Giles L'Homme- 
 dieu, the oldest native-born American in the town, was then in his last 
 illness, and the procession passed the house where he lay, in reverential 
 silence. He died six days after the celebration, in the ninety-fourth year 
 of his age. 
 
 A history of the celebration, including the preliminary measures and a 
 registry of the various committees, with the addresses, poems, hymns, 
 speeches, and particulars of interest connected with the great festival, was 
 published by John W. Stedman of Norwich, in a well-executed, attractive 
 volume, entitled The Norwich Jubilee. The work was compiled, printed 
 and published by Mr. Stedman ; the paper was manufactured at the Chel- 
 sea Mill, and the whole book in its print, binding and illustrations is a 
 Norwich production. As a memorial volume it is of enduring interest. 
 Its contents are so comprehensive as to render it unnecessary to give in 
 this history any thing more than the foregoing brief outline of the two 
 grand Red Letter Days of the bi-centennial commemoration. 
 
 The year 1859 was the bi-centennial anniversary of the signing of the 
 purchase deed, and of the preliminary steps taken by the proprietors in 
 laying out the town, but the anniversary q^f the actual settlement, when 
 woman arrived upon the ground and homes were constituted, was more 
 definitely the year 1860. 
 
 It is to be regretted that a prominent measure, often referred to by the 
 speakers, and discussed in the committees, — supposed indeed to be deci- 
 sively settled and pledged,— has since the two days of rejoicing been 
 entirely overlooked. This is the erection of a monument to the memory 
 of Major John Mason, which as yet has gone no further than the planting 
 of the corner-stone. 
 
 The Yantic Cemetery, where the corner-stone is laid, does not, however, 
 seem to be the most appropriate place for the proposed monument. The 
 beautiful elevation in the western part of the town, where his remains lie 
 unhonored, unmistakably and imperatively claims the memorial. 
 
590 HISTORY OP NORWICH, 
 
 Missions and Missionaries. 
 
 Norwich is justly entitled to the credit of having manifested a more 
 than ordinary devotion to the cause of missions. This interest commenced 
 with the Rev. Mr. Fitch, and the exertions made by him to teach and 
 Christianizfe the Mohegans. It was coeval with the settlement, and seems 
 never to have died out of the place. 
 
 After Mr. Fitch, the Rev. Samuel Kirkland is doubtless the brightest 
 exponent of this missionary spirit the town has produced. The welfare, 
 temporal and spiritual, of the poor untutored tribes of the wilderness, 
 appears to have been the inspiring object and main pursuit of Mr. Kirk- 
 land's whole life. Having been well prepared for his work by an education 
 at the Indian School of Dr. Wheelock in Lebanon, and the College of New 
 Jersey, where he graduated in 1765, he cast in his lot among the Oneida 
 Indians, and for a period of forty-four years acted as their pastor, teacher, 
 friend, and guardian, — living a part of the time among them, and always 
 spending a large portion of each year with them, or in their immediate 
 neighborhood. He was bom in Newent Society, then a part of Norwich, 
 Dec. 1, 1741, and died on a farm given him by the Oneida tribe, near 
 Clinton, N. Y., Feb. 28, 1808.* 
 
 Rev. John Ellis, of West Farms, if a correct judgment can be formed 
 from the scanty memorials left of him, was a man of energetic action, 
 glowing with Christian enterprise. He took a lively interest in those pio- 
 neer missions to the West that preceded the formation of the Connecticut 
 Missionary Society, and was agent and treasurer of the General Associa- 
 tion in New London county, as the following notice testifies : 
 
 Whereas the General Association at their session in September, 1744, appointed me 
 to receive the Monies that might be collected in the several Churches in New London 
 County for executing a plan proposed of sending Missionaries to the infant settlements 
 north and northwestward : Those therefore are to desire said Monies may be sent in, it 
 being necessary to transmit the same shortly to the Committee intrusted with the over- 
 sight and prosecution of that truly Christian undertaking. 
 
 John Ellis. 
 Norwich, Feb. 2, 1775. 
 
 The Connecticut Missionary Society was formed by the General Asso- 
 ciation in May, 1798. Joshua Lathrop of Norwich, and Jedidiah Hunt- 
 ington of New London, were among the original trustees, and each 
 retained this connection during the remainder of his life. Societies in 
 aid of this institution were formed by ladies both in the Town Plot and 
 Chelsea in ITOO.f 
 
 * Kev. Jolm Thornton Kirkland, D. D., LL. D., President of Harvard College from 
 1800 to 1823, was his son. 
 t "At the collection for the support of missionaries, made in Chelsea, last Sunday, 
 
HISTOHT OF NORWICH. 591 
 
 The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was 
 organized in September, 1810. In the spring of 1812, auxiliaries to this 
 institution were formed in New London and in Norwich. The first pres- 
 ident of the Norwich Society was Rev. Joseph Strong, D. D., and of the 
 New London Society, Gen. Jedidiah Huntington, one of the corporate 
 members of the Board. These two auxiliaries kept on their way with 
 commendable constancy, with no failures or gaps in their annual contribu- 
 tions and reports, to the year 1850, when they were united into one body 
 under the title of the Norwich and New London Foreign Missionary 
 Society. This association includes all the towns in New London county, 
 except Lyme. A semi-centennial anniversary, to commemorate the organ- 
 ization of the two original branches, was held by the United Society at 
 Norwich Town in October, 1862. 
 
 The 23d anniversary of the A. B. C. F. M. was held at Norwich in 
 September, 1842. 
 
 At this meeting, 355 corporate and honorary members were present, 
 with eight returned missionaries, and Mar Yohannan, the Nestorian 
 Bishop, who was then on a visit to this country. The committee of 
 arrangements consisted of Rev. Alvan Bond, D. D., Rev. H. P. Arms, 
 Charles W. Rockwell, William C. Gilman, and F. A. Perkins. It was 
 estimated that 600 persons from abroad attended the meeting, a large pro- 
 portion of them clergymen. 
 
 The number of persons, natives or established residents of the old town 
 of Norwich, who have enlisted, first and last, as missionaries of the cross, 
 either to the Indians of our own country, or to the heathen of foreign 
 lands, is comparatively large. 
 
 The family of Charles Lathrop, Esq., is honorably distinguished in this 
 line.* Four of his daughters were united to missionaries of the Ameri- 
 can Board, and three of them died in the East Indies. The eldest, Mrs. 
 Miron Winslow, (Harriet W. Lathrop,) left this country June 8, 1819, 
 and lived to accomplish thirteen years of useful and interesting service in 
 Ceylon. Mrs. Henry Cherry, (Charlotte H. Lathrop,) of the Madura 
 mission, died in less than a year after her arrival in Hindostan. Rev. 
 John M. S. Perry and his amiable partner, (Harriet J. Lathrop,) in less 
 
 Major Joseph Williams liberally contributed the sum of ten dollars." Norwich Cou- 
 rier, May 7, 1798. The special notice taken of this donation shows that giving for the 
 support of missions was but just beginning to be considered a duty. The contribution 
 of the Ladies' Society of the Town-plot in May, 1801, was $37.37 ; of that of Chel- 
 sea, $22.56. 
 
 * Mr. Lathrop died Jan. 17, 1831, aged 61. He had been Clerk of the Courts in 
 New London County twenty-one years, and was a highly esteemed church officer. 
 
592 HISTORY OP NOBWICH. 
 
 than two years after they reached the field of their labor in Ceylon, fell a 
 sacrifice to the cholera within three days of each other. Rev. Samuel 
 Hutchings and wife, (Elizabeth C. Lathrop,) after ten years of missionary 
 labor in Ceylon, warned by the declining health of Mr. Hutchings to seek 
 a colder climate, returned to this country in 1844. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Nott and his wife, (Roxana Peck,) natives of Franklin, 
 were members of the pioneer band of missionaries sent by the American 
 Board to India in 1812. Meeting with insuperable obstacles to the suc- 
 cess of their mission, arising from the opposition made to it by the British 
 Government, both duty and expediency required them to relinquish the 
 work, and they returned in 1815. 
 
 Rev. James T. Dickinson resigned the ministry of the Second Congre- 
 gational Church for the purpose of devoting himself to missionary service. 
 He sailed for India, Aug. 20, 1835, and was stationed at Singapore, but 
 that mission being relinquished by the American Board, he returned to 
 ' this country after an absence of three or four years. 
 
 Mrs. Eli Smith, (Sarah L. Huntington,) an interesting daughter of 
 Norwich, died in Syria, Sept. 30, 1836, before the close of the third year 
 of her missionary life. 
 
 Rev. William Aitcheson, a youthful member of the Greeneville Con- 
 gregational Church, was ordained as a missionary, Jan. 4, 1854, and sailed 
 the next year for China. He entered with bright promise upon his work 
 in that vast realm of heathenism, but died suddenly at Shanghai, August 
 16, 1859, aged 33. 
 
 Rev. Erastus Wentworth, D. D., another messenger of the Good 
 Tidings to the Chinese, is a native of Norwich, where the first eighteen 
 years of his life were spent. He left the Professorship of Natural Sci- 
 ence in Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penn., and went out in 1854, in con- 
 nection with the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Society. His station 
 was at Foo-chow, a city of half a million inhabitants, capital of the Fokien 
 province. His wife, who was a grand-daughter of Charles Miner, (orig- 
 inally of Norwich, but late of Wilkesbarre,) died soon after his arrival in 
 China. He returned to this country in 1862. 
 
 Rev. Wm. F. Arras, son of Rev. Dr. Arms of the First Church, went 
 out on a mission to the Armenians of Asiatic Turkey, but returned after 
 a short period, the mission having been relinquished by the Board. 
 
 Mrs. Sarah J. Haskell, wife of Dr. Henri B. Haskell, a missionary 
 physician connected with the mission to the Turkish dominions, is a 
 daughter of Patrick Brewster of Norwich Town. The failing health of 
 Dr. Ilask-ill obliged them to leave the mission and return home. He died 
 at Norwich, Feb. 27, 1864, aged 33. 
 
 But the veteran of the Norwich missionary band is Rev. William 
 Tkacy, who embarked for the Madura mission Nov. 28, 1836, and is still 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 593 
 
 a laborer in that wide and rugged field, rooting out Hindoo tares, and 
 sowing the good seed of the Better Land. Mr. Tracy was born at Nor- 
 wich, June 2, 1807. 
 
 The General Association of Congregational Ministers of Connecticut 
 celebrated its 150th anniversary at Norwich, in June, 1859. The meet- 
 ings were held in the Second Church, Chelsea. The historical anniver- 
 sary sermon was by Eev. Leonard Bacon, D. D. It comprised a history 
 of Congregationalism in Connecticut, from the settlement of the State to 
 the present time.* 
 
 Post Office. 
 
 There was no post>office in Norwich before the Eevolution. The New 
 London office was the station for letter-delivery for all the eastern border 
 of Connecticut, to Woodstock and Pomfret north, and from Guilford to 
 Westerly inclusive, on the Sound. Papers and bundles were usually dis- 
 tributed from house to house by post-riders, but letters requiring paymenf 
 of postage often lay long before being claimed.f 
 
 The Norwich postroffice under the Federal Government was established 
 in 1782. Dudley Woodbridge was the postmaster for the first eight years, 
 and the office was "next door to the meeting-house." After him came 
 William and Christopher LeffingweU, who kept the office at Leffingwell's 
 corner. The mails were at this time twice a week by three stage-routes : 
 Hartford by way of Windham, New Haven by way of New London, and 
 Boston by way of Providence. 
 
 The ancient rates of postage appear arbitrary and oppressive, when 
 contrasted with the cheap postage of the present day. Letters advertised 
 as lying in the post-office, about the year 1800, having the mail-charge 
 appended, show that letters from various parts of the United States paid at 
 that time according to distance, and that a single letter was often charged 
 forty or fifty cents. 
 
 Gardner Carpenter, appointed postmaster in January, 1799, held the 
 office fifteen years. He died in 1818, aged 66. 
 
 John Hyde succeeded, and was in office from 1815 to 1836, and at a 
 
 * A fall account of this anniversary, and a collection of materials to which it gave 
 rise, have been embodied in a memorial volume entitled " Contributions to the Eccle- 
 siastical History of Connecticut." 
 
 t A list of letters lying in the New London office, March 19, 1756, published in the 
 Gazette at New Haven, comprises 88, — about half for New London, the others for 
 Groton, Stonington, Norwich, Lebanon, Windham, Ashford, Colchester, East Had. 
 dam, Hebron, Westerly, Lyme, Saybrook, Killingworth, Guilford, Branford, and Long 
 Island. 
 
 38 
 
594 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 subsequent period three years, making his whole term of service twenty- 
 four years.* 
 
 In 1836, the title of the office was changed to Norwich Town, and the 
 original name transferred to the City oflSce. Since that time the post- 
 master has been often changed, — Henry B. Tracy, who held the appoint- 
 ment twelve years, being the longest in office. The present incumbent is 
 George D. Fuller. 
 
 The post-office at the Landing was established in 1803, and was then 
 entitled Chelsea Landing; this style was changed in 1827 to Norwich 
 Oily, and in 1836 to Norwich, the old designation of the town post-office. 
 
 The first incumbents of this office were Jacob DeWitt and his son John. 
 The latter was postmaster from 1809 to 1823. Since that period the 
 changes have been frequent, the office being one of those most liable to 
 be swayed by partizan partiality. William L'Hommedieu, first appointed 
 in 1829, held the office at two periods, in all nearly seventeen years. 
 This is the longest term of office. H. H. Starkweather is the present 
 incumbent.f 
 
 Town Clerks. 
 
 1. John Birchard, 1661 ; no record of appointment; in office eighteen 
 years. 
 
 2. Christopher Huntington, appointed Dec. 30, i 678, and in office till 
 his death, 1691 : thirteen years. 
 
 3. Richard Buslinell, Dec. 21, 1691 ; in office seven years. 
 
 4. Christopher Huntington, son of the former clerk of this name, 1698; 
 in office four years. 
 
 Richard Bushnell, second appointment, Dec. 15, 1702 ; in office twenty- 
 four years. 
 
 5. Isaac Huntington, (son of No. 4,) appointed Dec. 6, 1726, and in 
 office till his death, Feb., 1764. 
 
 6. Benjamin Huntington, March 5, 1764 ; in office nearly two years. 
 
 7. Benjamin Huntington, Jr., (son of No. 5,) Dec. 6, 1765 ; in office 
 thirteen years. 
 
 8. Samuel Tracy, Dec. 21, 1778 ; in office one year. 
 
 Benjamin Huntington, Jr., Dec. 13, 1779 ; nearly twenty-two years, till 
 his death, Sept., 1801. 
 
 * Mr. Hyde was a son of Col. Ezokiel Hydo of Franklin. Besides being postmas- 
 ter, ho was Judge of the County Court and Court of Probate. He is remembered also 
 as a school-teacher, — a friend of the young, and an enemy to all oppression. He died 
 March 16, 1848, aged 74. 
 
 t For an official statement of postal affairs in Norwich, see Norwich Jubilee, page 
 S94. 
 
HI8T0EY OF NORWICH. 595 
 
 9. Philip Huntington, son of Benjamin, Dec. 14, 1801 ; twenty-one 
 to his death, Feb. 4, 1825. 
 
 10. Benjamin Huntmgton, son of Philip, Feb. 14, 1825 ; in office nearly 
 four years. 
 
 11. William L'Hommedieu, Oct. 6, 1828 ; one year. 
 Benjamin Huntington, former clerk, Oct. 5, 1829 ; one year. 
 
 12. Alexander Lathrop, Oct. 4, 1830 ; five years. 
 
 13. John H. Grace, Oct. 3, 1836 ; one year. 
 
 14. Simeon Thomas, Oct. 2, 1837 ; two years. 
 
 15. Othniel Gager, Oct. 1, 1839, and still in office. 
 
 City Clerks since 1826, when the Town-plot was separated from the 
 City: 
 
 1827. John A. Rockwell, four years. 
 
 1831. Alexander Lathrop, who died in July, 1836. 
 
 1836. George Perkins, eight years. 
 
 1844. David Young, seven years. 
 
 1851. Levi Hart Goddard, four years. 
 
 1855. John L. Devotion. 
 
 1856. Charles Bard. 
 
 1857. Othniel Gager. 
 1861. John L. Devotion. 
 
 Ship-Building and Shipping Intelligence. 
 
 Norwich at a very early period was considered a favorable site for ship- 
 building, and many small vessels, — sloops, packets, and boats, — were built 
 in the river and sent abroad for sale, the banks of the Thames affording 
 an abundance of timber. At a later period large vessels have occasionally 
 been constructed in the river. 
 
 The Truxton was launched from Willett's ship-yard, June 6, 1799. 
 This was built on private account, pierced for eighteen guns, and designed 
 both for war and merchandise. She cleared from New London, August 
 20, and proceeded to New York, where she took in a cargo for Spain. 
 
 The brig Suwarrow was built by Willett the same year. 
 
 The Trumbull was a war-vessel constructed by Willett for the Ameri- 
 can Government, which was then anticipating a conflict with France, and 
 desirous of raising a navy in the shortest time possible. Joseph Howland 
 was the agent. The keel was laid in September, and the work plied in 
 such haste that labor was not suspended during the Sabbath, and scarcely 
 through the dead hours of the night. 
 
 Willett, in the year 1777, had constructed the continental ship Trum- 
 
596 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 bull, and now another Trumbull was to be honored with a namesake, and 
 the launch, which took place Nov. 28th, was graced with the Governor's 
 presence. The figure-head displayed his image, with his left foot on a 
 cannon, the American flag furled by his side, and a drawn sword in his 
 right hand. She grounded in going down the river, half a league below 
 the town, and it was two days before she again floated. 
 
 The Trumbull was armed and equipped at New London. She carried 
 eighteen guns, and sailed on her first cruise March 7, 1800, under Capt. 
 David Jewett of Montville.* 
 
 The Oliver Ellsworth, a merchant-ship of nearly 400 tons burden, con- 
 structed by Willett, was owned principally in New London, and was sent 
 the next spring to St. Petersburg, Joseph Skinner master, returning from 
 thence in October, 1801, with a cargo of hemp, duck, and iron. 
 
 The brig Resolution, 325 tons, buUt for Daniel Dunham, was launched 
 Dec. 20, 1800. 
 
 The Patty, another large merchant-vessel, buUt for Hezekiah Kelley, 
 was launched the same year, and sent on her first voyage to Ireland. She 
 was so good a sailer that the distance from Newry to Liverpool, 130 miles, 
 was made in ten hours. 
 
 The brig Neptune was built -by "Willett in 1801 ; the keel laid in April, 
 and the vessel launched the 8th of October. 
 
 The brig Ceres was built in 1804, for Roswell Eoath, and named after 
 the ship Ceres, taken by the French in 1796. 
 
 In 1805, Willett and Gavitt each launched a vessel of 300 tons, and 
 Story one of lighter burden. 
 
 July, 1806, "Dropped down to New London the new ship Stabroeck, 
 Cooley, for Barbadoes." 
 
 The year 1810 was remarkable for activity in the Norwich ship-yards. 
 
 July 9. A brig of 250 tons, called the Dart, and owned by Augustus 
 Perkins, James Gordon, and others, was launched from the lower ship- 
 yard of Thomas Gavitt. 
 
 Sept. 1. A vessel launched, of 200 tons, built by Septimus Clark for 
 J. and Felix A. Huntington. 
 
 Sept. 14. A ship of 400 tons launched by Luther Edgerton. 
 
 In October, a vessel of 350 tons, sent from the ways of Thos. Gavitt. 
 
 Of a fifth vessel built this year, the Norwich Courier of Nov. 25 gives 
 the following notice : 
 
 " Launched by permission on Sunday morning from tlio yard of Jedidiah Willett, a 
 ship of 400 tons, owned by Peter Lanman and others." 
 
 This was at a time when the country was looldng forward apprehen- 
 sively to a war with England. The ship in question was probably the 
 
 » Tke Trumbull was sold by the Government in Blay, 1801, for f26,500. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWIOH. 597 
 
 Rapid, which cleared early in January for Cayenne, and made two or 
 three voyages before the declaration of war. During the war, the 0. H. 
 Perry, 267 tons, the Marmion, and other privateer schooners, were built 
 at West Chelsea. 
 
 After 1820, several whale-ships were built at Norwich: among them 
 were the Connecticut in 1821, and the Chelsea in 1827, ships of 396 tons 
 burden, owned by T. W. Williams of New London. 
 
 From 1832 to 1835, two whale-ships and a sealing-schooner were fitted 
 out from Norwich. The ships were the Boston, 291, and the Atlas, 261 
 tons. After one or two voyages they were transferred, the former to New 
 London, and the latter to Mystic. 
 
 In 1832, Capt. Walter Lester made a voyage to Bremen in the brig 
 Ospray. The next year he chartered the ship Boston for the same port, 
 and went himself in her as passenger, taking a part of his family with 
 him. He sailed from New London March 30th. His return is thus 
 noticed in the marine lists of the day : 
 
 23 Aug. 1833. "Arrived ship Boston, Levi Case, 50 days from Bremen, with iron 
 to Lester & Co., Norwich : passengers, Capt. "Walter Lester, lady and daughter ; Mr. 
 Louis Mangier of Grermauy, and 112 in the steerage." 
 
 The Boston ascended the river without difficulty, and with the tide in 
 her favor, came with her lading to the wharf. It was the first instance of 
 direct intercourse with Europe after the war of 1812. No other mer- 
 chant ship appeared in the port for the next twenty-six years. 
 
 In June, 1859, the barque Samuel Moxley, from Mobile, Capt. Joseph 
 H. Holm master, having discharged a portion of her cargo in New York, 
 came into the Thames, and drawing but five and a half feet of water, 
 ascended easily to the wharfage. Capt. Holm was the son-in-law of Capt. 
 Lester, and it is an interesting incident in this narrative that he was in the 
 Boston in 1833, an emigrant then just arriving in this country, and in the 
 Samuel Moxley in 1859, as its commander and principal owner. 
 
CHAPTER XLVin. 
 
 Eeligious Denominations. 
 
 Baptists. 
 
 The Separatists gathered a small church in that part of the town which 
 was formerly called Norwich Plains, or familiarly LeflSngwell-town, now 
 the south-eastern part of Bozrah. This Separate Meeting, as it was called, 
 had but a brief existence, but out of the society thus collected, a small 
 Baptist church was formed, chiefly through the instrumentality of Elder 
 Zadok Darrow of Waterford. It was recognized by the New London 
 Baptist Association in 1789, and the next year Peter Rogers was ordained 
 its elder. 
 
 This was the first Baptist church regularly organized, and Elder Rogers 
 the first Baptist minister ordained within the bounds of the Nine-miles- 
 square. The elder had been a revolutionary soldier, and was a man of 
 marked character; without culture or refinement, but overflowing with 
 religious zeal. 
 
 This little society held together about twelve years under the ministra- 
 tions of Elder Rogers and his successor Samuel West. After this period, 
 having no stated ministry, it languished and then expired. Its house of 
 worship, of which only the outside had been finished, was left without 
 pews or pulpit for nearly forty years. 
 
 In August, 1831, the present Baptist church of Bozrah was organized 
 at this center, and the old meeting-house retrieved from its ghost-like 
 niin. 
 
 The distinction of being the first regular Baptists within the present 
 limits of Norwich, is awarded to Ephraim Story and Elijah Herrick of 
 West Chelsea. They had been members of neighboring chupphes of 
 Separatists, and soon after 1790 began to hold night meetings'^ at their 
 own houses for mutual edification. Whenever they were visited by the 
 neighboring Baptist elders, and the congregation was too large for a pri- 
 vate room, they assembled in the school-house, or, if the weather was 
 
 * The term night meetings was at first used by way of reproach, as meetings after 
 enndown in the evening were at that time unusual in the regular religious societies. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 599 
 
 suflBciently mild, in a grove upon the hill-side, or in a neighboring rope- 
 walk,* At first they were recognized as a branch of the church at Kings- 
 ton, R. I., but were organized as a church July 12, 1800. 
 
 The origin of the church is thus related in a document emanating from 
 the church itself :t 
 
 "In the year 1800 it pleased the Lord to collect and unite, from a broken and scat- 
 tered condition, a few brethren and sisters, to the number of about 20, who were con- 
 stituted into a church in fellowship with the Groton Union Conference. On the 25th 
 Dec. following, our beloved Elder was ordained and took the pastoral charge of the 
 Church." 
 
 I 
 
 This beloved Elder was John Sterry, who had been for some time pre- 
 vious an acceptable leader in their meetings. Christopher Palmer of 
 Montville had also labored among them, and assisted in their organiza- 
 tion. 
 
 The ordination services were performed in the Congregational church. 
 Elder Silas Burrows of Groton preached the sermon. Dewey Bromley 
 was at the same time ordained as first deacon of the church. 
 
 The frame of a house of worship was raised by the society in 1801, 
 and the building so far completed that services were held in it before the 
 end of the year, but it remained long in an unfinished state. 
 
 This church gathered in most of the inhabitants of the west side : — 
 Bromley, Gavitt, Herrick, Willett, — these are names identified with West 
 Chelsea and with the Baptist church. 
 
 In 1811, Eleazar Hatch left a bequest in his will of three or four thou- 
 sand dollars, the interest of which was to be applied to the support of the 
 Baptist ministry in West Chelsea. 
 
 Elder Sterry died Nov. 5, 1823, in the 23d year of his ministry, and 
 57th of his age. He was a native of Preston, but had resided from his 
 youth in the First Society in Norwich, where he served his apprentice- 
 ship as a printer and book-binder, and subsequently set up the business 
 for himself. In partnership with his brother, Consider Sterry, he pub- 
 lished the newspaper called The True Republican. He was also engaged 
 with Epaphras Porter in the manufacture of marble-paper ; a work which \ 
 he undertook and successfully prosecuted from resources out of his own 
 inventive mind, without any previous instruction in the art. He also kept 
 a book-store, and compUed school-books ; J and being a fluent and forcible 
 speaker, large demands were made upon him in the way of preaching and 
 
 * Denison's Notes on the Baptists of Norwich. 
 
 t Letter to the New London Baptist Association in 1817, from "The Baptized Church 
 in Norwich, under the Pastoral care of John Steny, Elder." Denison's Notes, p. 59. 
 
 X " The American Youth, a new and complete course of Arithmetic and Mathemat- 
 ics : by John Sterry." Norwich, 1812. Of this work he was compiler, printer, and 
 publisher. 
 
600 HISTORY OFNORWICH. 
 
 exhortation. The meritorious self-denial of his pastoral service can not 
 be overrated, as his pecuniary recompense was but a mere pittance. 
 
 His successor as pastor of the church was Elder William Palmer, who 
 commenced his labors April 1, 1824, and continued in charge about ten 
 years. He was a grandson of Elder Christopher Palmer, who has been 
 mentioned as one of the forefathers of the church. In the meantime the 
 congregation outgrew the meeting-house. It was removed in 1832, and a 
 new house of worship reared on the same spot, which was dedicated in 
 July, 1833. 
 
 After the departure of Elder Palmer, the pastoral duties were dis- 
 charged by Messrs. Samuel S. Mallory, Josiah M. Graves, and Eussell 
 Jennings, in succession, neither of them exceeding two years of service. 
 These frequent changes, and other unfavorable circumstances, operating 
 against the prosperity of the church, led the way to a new Baptist enter- 
 prise, which issued at length in the establishment of the present Central 
 Church. At this period the church at West Chelsea almost died out. 
 The meeting-house was closed, and finally sold to cancel a debt of $1500 
 that had been incurred. 
 
 In 1841, Elder Pahner, the former pastor, was prevailed on to resume 
 the office, and the meeting-house, hired for the purpose, was again opened 
 for religious services. He resigned in 1845, but continued to reside in 
 Norwich till his death, which took place Dec. 25, 1853. 
 
 Elder Palmer was one of the eleven ministers who organized the New 
 London Baptist Association in 1817 ; had served from year to year as its 
 sole clerk, and was the last of the eleven originators to leave the earth. 
 
 Mr. Palmer's successor in the pulpit was Miner H. Rising. The church- 
 members at this time were but few in number, as the Bromley family and 
 others who had united with the new church did not return. But in 1845 
 and '46, through the influence of a revival which commenced with a pro- 
 tracted meeting conducted by Rev. J. S. Swan, great accessions were made 
 to the church, and the total membership reported 276. 
 
 The church-edifice was at this time redeemed, and Mr. Rising ordained. 
 The health of the pastor, however, soon faUed, and he was laid aside 
 from ministerial duty. Since 1849, the ministry has been several times 
 changed. 
 
 The Second or Central Baptist Church was gathered Sept. 15, 1840, 
 at the house of Avery Bromley in Union street. It consisted of thirty- 
 seven members, and was recognized by a council of the neighboring 
 churches on the 22d of the same month. Nearly sixty members, from 
 the West-side church, soon afterward united with them. For the first 
 fifteen months they held their services in the town-hall, but during that 
 time erected a house of worship on Union street, which was dedicated 
 
HISTOEY OP NORWICH, 
 
 601 
 
 Dec. 14, 1841. At that time this edifice was probably the best built, the 
 most convenient and substantial, of all the churches in the city, the pres- 
 ent elegant structures of other denominations being of more recent origin. 
 The cost of the site and building was $11,000. Elder E. H. Neale of 
 Boston preached the dedication sermon. 
 
 Rev. Miner G. Clarke was the first minister of this church. His 
 zeal and energy were conspicuous in originating the enterprise, in planting 
 and sustaining the church, and in raising the house of worship. At the 
 dose of 1843, a little more than three years from its organization, the 
 church numbered 433 members. In the spring of 1845, sixty were dis- 
 missed to unite in forming a church at Greeneville. 
 
 Mr. Clarke resigned his situation in March, 1846, after a pastorate of 
 nearly six years. The succession of pastors, since, is as follows : 
 
 Eev. Edward T. Hiscox, from April, 1847, to September, 1852. 
 
 Eev. Joseph A. Goodhue, two years. 
 
 Eev. Frederick Denison,* from November, 1854, to April, 1859. 
 
 Eev. Samuel Graves, the present pastor, entered upon the duties of his 
 office in November, 1859. 
 
 In 1863, the church edifice was enlarged, repaired, and in various par- 
 ticulars remodeled, at an expense of $7000. The organ of the church 
 was purchased in 1849, and cost $800. 
 
 The Central Church commemorated its 25th anniversary Sept. 24th, 
 1865. The number of members reported was 365. An interesting fact 
 was stated by the pastor, that all the officers of the church during this 
 quarter of a century, — its five pastors, nine deacons, two clerks, two treas- 
 urers, and five superintendents of the Sunday School, — were still living.f 
 
 A Baptist church with 100 members was organized at Greeneville in 
 1845, and a house of worship erected the next year. The first pastor, 
 Eev. D. B. Cheney, was succeeded in April, 1847, by Eev. Lawson 
 Muzzy. 
 
 In February, 1854, during the pastorate of Eev. Niles Whiting, the 
 church was consumed by fire. It was replaced by an edifice of brick, at 
 a cost of $5000. The new church was dedicated Dec. 21, 1854; sermon 
 by Eev. J. B. Swan. 
 
 Mr. Whiting, the pastor, to whose perseverance and energy the success 
 of the enterprise was largely indebted, did not Uve to see the new church 
 completed. He died Oct. 13, 1854, in his 43d year. 
 
 The membership of this church has never risen much above or fallen 
 far below its original number, 100. 
 
 * Mr. Denison is author of "Notes on the Baptists of New London County," and of 
 various communications to peiiodical works in the line of historical research, particu- 
 larly in regard to the formation of chm'ches. 
 
 t Historical Discourse, by Ker. Samuel Graves. Norwich, 1S65. 
 
602 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 Methodists. 
 
 A grave-stone in the Chelsea burial-ground records the death of Capt. 
 Moses Pierce, who was drowned May 4, 1781, aged 61 ; and of Mrs. 
 Thankful Pierce, his relict, who died Feb. 3, 1821, aged 92 ; to which is 
 added : 
 
 " She was a mother ia Israel, and the first member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in this town, who, like Lydia, first heard the preachers, and then received them 
 into her house." 
 
 This lady, while on a visit to some relations in Tolland in the year 
 1796, met with the Eev. Jesse Lee, a noted preacher in the Wesleyan 
 connection, and became deeply interested in his preaching. Shortly after- 
 wards, on his way to Boston, Mr. Lee stopped at Norwich, and preached 
 the first Methodist sermon at her house. The ground was well-prepared, 
 advocates and well-wishers of the new doctrine having been for several 
 years looking forward to this result. 
 
 Other preachers followed, and classes were soon formed both at Chelsea 
 and Bean Hill. At the latter place, Capt. James Hyde and Mr. William 
 Lamb were the most noted among the early converts. In Chelsea the 
 society enjoyed for a while the fostering care of Mr. Beatty, a resident of 
 the place, at whose house there was always preaching once a fortnight. 
 But in 1804, Mr. Beatty, with several of his friends and their families, 
 removing to Sandusky, the society seemed to be threatened with utter 
 extinction, — the only members of note that remained being two aged 
 women, Mrs. Pierce and Mrs. Davison. They were however kept to- 
 gether, and their numbers enlarged, principally through the exertions of 
 a young man, who became an exhorter, class-leader, and finally a local 
 preacher in their connection. This was Eev. D. N. Bentley, who for fifty 
 years may be regarded as the main pillar of the Methodist Church in 
 Chelsea. His wife, Mrs. Letitia Bentley, was also devoted to the same 
 cause, assisting in the class-meetings, and welcoming the messengers to 
 her house with Christian hospitality.* 
 
 In 1811, a church was organized at Mr. Bentley's house, consisting of 
 eleven members, and five years later a chapel was built for public services 
 upon Wharf bridge, which was swept off and destroyed by a freshet of 
 the river in the spring of 1823. 
 
 In May, 1825, a small church was dedicated at the Falls village, and 
 for several years the members from the Landing resorted thither for pub- 
 lic worship, forming but one church and society. 
 
 * " Died in this city, Nov. 1st, (1853,) after much suffering, which she endured as 
 " seeing Him who is invisible," Mi-s. Letitia Gardner, wife of Rev. D. N. Bentley." 
 Norwich Courier. 
 
HISTOBT OF NORWICH. 603 
 
 The Methodist church in East Main street was dedicated June 18, 
 1835 ; sermon by Dr. Fisk of the Wesleyan University. This building, 
 in size and convenience, far surpassed the previous accommodations of the 
 society in Norwich. It has since been enlarged and refitted. 
 
 The Methodist society on Bean Hill for many years held their public 
 services in the venerable building which had served successively and 
 alternately for a classical academy, a free school, and a Separatist con- 
 venticle. In this extemporized chapel, many of the early noted itinerants 
 preached in their rounds. Here Lee, Asbury, and other messengers of 
 the church, proclaimed their message. Here Maffit delivered one of the 
 first of his flourishing efiusions on this side of the water. When the 
 eccentric Lorenzo Dow was to preach, the bounds were too narrow, and 
 the audience assembled in the open air, upon the hill, under the great 
 ehn. 
 
 The present Methodist church on the hill was erected in 1833. 
 
 The church belonging to the Third Congregational Society, after the 
 disbanding of that society in 1842, was purchased by the Methodists, and 
 is their present Sachem street church. This is the strongest Methodist 
 society in Norwich, and the only one that numbers a hundred members. 
 They have five churches, and report a membership in aU somewhat above 
 four hundred. 
 
 The Free Methodist Church in Main street stands upon the site once 
 occupied by an Episcopal and afterward by a Congregational church. 
 The trustees are bound to keep the sittings free. This church was gath- 
 ered in 1854, and held its first meetings in a large hall upon central 
 wharf. Its early ministrations were conducted chiefly by the Eev. L. D. 
 Bentley, a son of Elder D. N. Bentley, who follows the footsteps of his 
 father as a preacher in the Wesleyan connection. 
 
 There is still another Methodist society within the bounds of Norwich, 
 viz., at Greeneville, which began about the year 1850, and in the course 
 of a few years reached a membership of more than 100 members. It 
 then declined, and was left without a pastor or a convenient place of wor- 
 ship for six or eight years, until 1864, when the number of members was 
 reduced to twenty. It has since revived ; a new house of worship has 
 been built, which was dedicated April 7, 1864. The membership has 
 largely increased, and the society is active and prosperous. 
 
 Two preachers of considerable note in the Methodist denomination 
 were natives of Norwich : Eev. Edward Hyde and Eev. B. Hibbard. 
 Mr. Hyde was one of those fervent, heavenly-minded men that seem to 
 have been formed after the model of the apostle John. Mr. Hibbard was 
 an enterprising itinerant during the first thirty years of the present cen- 
 tury. A memoir of his ministerial life, written by himself, has been 
 published. 
 
604 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Universalists. 
 
 The doctrine of universal salvation, or the restitution of all things, was 
 successfully introduced into Norwich between 1816 and 1820, through the 
 jjcrsuasive eloquence of Rev. Edward Mitchell and Rev. Hosea BaUou. 
 These preachers made repeated visits to the place, and attracted large 
 audiences. 
 
 Mr. Ballou's first sermon (in August, 1817,) was delivered in the 
 church of the First Society, and at its close the Rev. David Austin rose 
 and in his impassioned manner uttered a protest against the doctrine. 
 His remarks were discursive and flowery, but like all Mr. Austin's public 
 addresses, charming to the ear. Mr. Ballou's subsequent discourses in 
 Norwich were delivered at the Landing, in the Methodist chapel upon the 
 wharf bridge. 
 
 In 1820, "a Universalist society was formed, bearing the title of a "So- 
 ciety of United Christian Friends in the towns of Norwich, Groton, and 
 Preston." The committee that prepared the constitution was composed of 
 one from each of the places named. The preparatory meetings were held 
 in Preston and Poquetannock. 
 
 Under the patronage of this society, a church was erected at Norwich, 
 and dedicated July 12, 1822 ; the services being conducted by the Rev. 
 Edward Mitchell of New York. This edifice stands in a beautiful and 
 conspicuous situation at the corner of Cliff and Main sts.. East Chelsea.* 
 
 No church organization at that time took place, but the pulpit was occu- 
 pied by temporary ministers engaged by the society, the first being the 
 Rev. Charles Hudson, from 1821 to 1823. 
 
 A church consisting of eighteen members was organized Feb. 6, 1838, 
 and the society incorporated in 1842, under the name of First Universal- 
 ist Society in Norwich. About the same time the old church edifice was 
 demolished, and a new one erected on the same site, which has since been 
 much enlarged and improved. 
 
 No house of worship in Norwich has a position so open and command- 
 ing as this. 
 
 This society has had a succession of eight or ten ministers, with short 
 pastorates of two or three years each.f 
 
 * Ml'. Samuel T. Odiorne contributed liberally to the erection of this church, and 
 after his death, in accordance with his expressed wish, a mortgage upon the edifice of 
 $900, which ho held, waa canceled. Mr. Odiorne died in 1824. 
 
 t For further particulars respecting Univcrsalism in Norwich, see the Historical Ser- 
 mon of K. O. Williams, pastor, delivered May 5, 1844. 
 
Summary of Churches. 
 
 4 Congregational. 5 Methodist. 
 
 3 Episcopal. 1 Universalist. 
 
 3 Baptist. 1 Roman Catholic. 
 
 The Episcopal Society at Yantic have hitherto held their services in a 
 hall belonging to the Factory Company, but they are now looking forward 
 to the erection of a handsome church. The number of families reported 
 in this society is fifty-five. The church is now in charge of Rev. E. L. 
 Whitcome. 
 
 Rev. Z. H. Mansfield was rector of this church from 1854 to his de- 
 cease. He was a native of Norwich, graduated at Trinity College in 
 1836, and died April 10, 1858, at the family homestead, in the same room 
 where he was bom. His age was 47. He was deeply interested in the 
 cause of education, and several years of his life were devoted to the 
 instruction of youth. 
 
 The following clergymen of the Episcopal Church are natives of Nor- 
 wich city : 
 
 Rev. Alfred Lee, Bishop of Delaware. 
 
 Rev. Thomas H. Vaill, D. D., Bishop of Kansas. 
 
 Rev. James A. BoUes, D. D. 
 
 Rev. John A. Paddock. 
 
 Revr Benjamin H. Paddock. 
 
 Rev. Alfred L. Brewer. 
 
 The manufacturing establishments at Greeneville have been the means 
 of alluring foreign laborers to the place. St. Mary's Catholic Church 
 was built many years since for the accommodation of the Irish, the most 
 numerous of the foreign emigrants. It originally seated about 800 ; it 
 has been twice enlarged, and now holds more than 3000. Rev. Daniel 
 Kelley, pastor. 
 
 This society is understood to be engaged in collecting funds and making 
 arrangements for erecting a much larger and more magnificent church in 
 the city. 
 
 The large admixture of foreigners in the present population of the city 
 is clearly shown by the registry of marriages. In 1863 the number re- 
 ported was 184; in 1864, 180. 
 
 Both parties American in 1863, 
 
 96 
 
 In 1864, 
 
 89 
 
 " " Foreigners " 
 
 59 
 
 (( 
 
 77 
 
 One of the parties foreign, 
 
 23 
 
 « 
 
 10 
 
 Colored persons, 
 
 6 
 
 » 
 
 4 
 
CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 MANtrrACTURES. 
 
 The enterprise of the inhabitants in the line of manufactures has been 
 frequently mentioned in the course of this history. But the subject will 
 here be retraced, and various undertakings chronicled in their order, as' 
 far as data for this purpose have been obtained. 
 
 Iron-works were established in the parish of New Concord in 1750 by 
 Capt. Joshua Abell and Nehemiah Huntington. They contracted with 
 Robert Martin of Preston, to become the overseer or operator of their 
 works, engaging him to make and refine Iron into Anconie, to he done 
 workmanlike, and binding themselves to remunerate him with 100 lbs. of 
 bar iron for every 200 Anconies he shaH make. 
 
 Ehjah Backus commenced a similar work at Tantic nearly at the same 
 time. These are supposed to have been the first forges erected in New 
 London county. They manufactured blooming and bar iron for anchors, 
 mills, and other uses. 
 
 In the year 1766, cutlery as a business made its appearance, and various 
 implements of husbandry, that had before been imported, were manufac- 
 tured in the town. The Backus iron-works obtained great repute, and 
 during the Revolutionary war all kinds of iron-work necessary for domes- 
 tic use, and various instruments of warfare, were made and repaired at 
 the Yantic forges. 
 
 The same year a pottery for the manufacture of stone-ware was estab- 
 lished at Bean HUl, which continued in operation far into the present cen- 
 tury, seldom, however, employing more than four or five hands. 
 
 The making of linseed oil was commenced at Bean Hill in 1748, by 
 Hezekiah Huntington. In October, 1778, Elijah and Simon Lathrop 
 gave notic(5 in the New London Gazette that they had erected an oil-mill 
 at Norwich Falls, and were ready to exchange a gallon of oil for a bushel 
 of well-cleaned flax-seed. 
 
 In 1786, Silas Goodell set up another oil-mill near the falls. This was 
 probably the same mill that in 1791 was owned by Joshua Huntington. 
 
 Lathrop's mill was destroyed by fire Nov. 9, 1788. The loss was esti- 
 mated at $1500, a considerable quantity of oil and flax-seed being con- 
 sumed. It was rebuilt the nest year. 
 
In these mills flax-seed was used to produce the best kind of oil, but 
 inferior kinds of seed were often substituted. The three mills together 
 produced about 9,000 gallons annually, which sold at three or four shil- 
 lings per gallon. 
 
 During the Revolutionary war, iron-wire and cards were made at the 
 falls, under the supervision of Nathaniel Niles. 
 
 Edmund Darrow established at the same period a naillery, which con- 
 tinued in operation nearly to the close of the century. 
 
 The business of weaving stockings was begun in 1766, under the pat- 
 ronage of Christopher Leffingwell. William Eussell, an Englishman, 
 was the first operator. For many years it was a small concern, Hmited to 
 two or three looms. But in 1791, Leffingwell had nine looms in opera- 
 tion, producing annually from 1200 to 1500 pair of hose, and employing 
 in the manufacture worsted, cotton, linen, and silk. The silk hose ranged 
 in value from 12s. to 20s. per pair. Gloves and purses were also woven 
 at these mills, the whole business employing only five operatives. 
 
 At a later period the business was continued successively by Louis 
 Baral, Leonard Beattie, and William Coxe, all foreigners, and still later 
 by Jeremiah Griffing, a native of New London. 
 
 Stocking-looms were not only employed here, but constructed. Before 
 1790, looms that had been made in Norwich were set up at Hartford and 
 Poughkeepsie, — two at each place. Looms were in operation at that 
 period in New Haven, Litchfield, and WaUingford, and it is not improba- 
 ble that these also were made in Norwich. 
 
 To accommodate his stocking-looms and other utilitarian projects, Col. 
 Leffingwell built, after 1780,* the range of shops called Leffingwell's row. 
 In 1785, wool-cards were made by James Lincoln in Leffingwell's row. 
 
 Paper. In the early manufacture of this article in Norwich, Christo- 
 pher Leffingwell stands pre-eminent. His mill upon the Yantic, near 
 No-man's Acre, was erected in 1766. This was the first paper-mill in 
 Connecticut t Leffingwell's mill, in a short period, produced various 
 kinds of paper for wrapping, writing, printing, cartridges, and sheathing. 
 The quantity annually turned out was estimated at 1300 reams, the prices 
 varying from 4s. 6rf. to 45s. per ream. Ten or twelve hands were em- 
 
 * Not after 1790, as stated ante, page 512, which is an error. 
 
 t Not the first in New England. There was one at Milton, Mass., in 1733, as ap- 
 pears from an advertisement of that date in a Boston paper ; 
 
 " In Milton, near the Paper Mill, 
 A new btiilt house to rent : 
 Ask of the Printer and you will 
 Know further to content." 
 
608 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 ployed.* At the outset of this undertaking, a small bounty was granted 
 by the government, to continue for three years. It was not renewed. 
 
 After the year 1790, Andrew Huntington engaged in the manufacture 
 of paper, and erected a new mill upon the Tantic, either on the site of 
 Leffingwell's old mill, or very near it. Ebenezer BushneU was for a few 
 years his partner. 
 
 Chocolate Mills. Christopher Leffingwell was first in this department 
 also. His chocolate-mill was in operation in 1770. Another was erected 
 in 1779 by Simon Lathrop. They were both moved by water-wheels, and 
 could be tended each by a single workman. The chocolate made was of 
 the best quality, and the quantity produced was estimated at 4,000 and 
 5,000 pounds annually. It sold in considerable quantities at 14c?. per lb.; 
 retailers asked l^d. 
 
 Gloclcs and Watches. This business was commenced in 1773 by Thomas 
 Harland, a mechanician of great skill and efficiency. His watches were 
 pronounced equal to the best EngUsh importations. In 1790 he had ten 
 or twelve hands in constant employ, and it was stated that he made annu- 
 ally two hundred watches and forty clocks. His price for silver watches 
 varied from £4 10s. to £7 10s. As at that period watches were far from 
 being common, and it was even a mark of distinction to wear one, Mr. 
 Harland's establishment was a center of the business for a considerable 
 extent of country. 
 
 BarziUai Davison, 1775, N. Shipman, Sen., 1789, Eliphaz Hart on the 
 Green by the court-house, and Judah Hart at the Landing, in 1812, 
 though not probably to any great extent manufacturers, were yet "work- 
 ers in gold and silver," and offered for sale handsome assortments of jew- 
 elry and time-keepers.t 
 
 Between the years 1773 and 1780, four fulling-mills with clothier's 
 shops and dye-houses went into operation: one in the parish of New ' 
 Concord ; one in Franklin ; a third at the falls, " near Starr and Leffing- 
 well's works adjoining the Paper Mill;" and a fourth on Bean Hill. 
 
 * This paper-mill excited great interest in the community. A private letter written 
 in October, 1767, says of it : • 
 
 " The Paper-mill at Norwich is plentifully supplied with rags, and has full demand 
 for its paper. Jlr. Throop tells me he has Yiew^d it when at work ; that it is a curi- 
 osity ; that they mould and make ready for the Press about ten sheets per minute by 
 the watch." 
 
 t The statistical report of Connecticut for 1SI2 shows that 40 gold watches and 1650 
 of silver were then owned in the State. 
 
In a statement made of the industrial pursuits of the town in 1791, in 
 addition to several establishments already noticed, are the following items: 
 
 Two nailleries, or machines for making nails, employing eight or ten 
 hands. ~ 
 
 Fifteen blacksmiths, who make annually about 50 dozen scythes, 150 
 dozen hoes, 50 dozen axes, and other implements for domestic and agri- 
 cultural use. 
 
 Three distilleries. 
 
 Two tobacconists. 
 
 Two braziers, and a bell-foundry. 
 
 Cotton. In 1790, Dr. Joshua Lathrop established a cotton-factory in 
 the town-plot. He began with five Jennys, one carding-machine, and six 
 looms. This machinery was afterward increased, and a great variety of 
 goods manufactured, probably to the amount of 2000 yards per year while 
 the project was continued. In 1793, the firm was Lathrop & Eells. The 
 following is one of their advertisements, March 19, 1793 : 
 
 "Lathrop & Eells haTe just finished a variety of Cotton Goods, consisting of Royal 
 Bibs, Eibdelures, Ribdurants, Ribdenims, Ribbets, Zebrays, Satinetts, Satin-Stripes, 
 Satin Cords, Thicksetts, Corduroys, Stockinetts, Dimotys, Feathered Stripes, Birds- 
 Eye, Denims, Jeans, Jeanetts, Eustians, Bed Tickings that will hold feathers. 
 
 " The above Goods are well finished, and for durability undoubtedly superior to 
 European manufactured. Gentlemen, merchants and others, who feel disposed to en- 
 courage home manufactures, are invited to call and see for themselves, and may be as- 
 sured they shall be supplied as low as they can furnish themselves from any quarter." 
 
 This business could not be made remunerative, and after a trial of eight 
 or ten years was discontinued.* 
 
 The manufacturing spirit had been called into exercise to meet the exi- 
 gencies of the Revolution. Before that time the coijntry had been depend- 
 ent upon England for all articles that required combination, capital and 
 machinery for their production. When the intercourse with Europe was 
 renewed, and commerce again brought the lavish results of foreign, labor 
 to our shores, the crude manufactures of the country declined, most of the 
 imported articles being cheaper than those made at home. The spinning- 
 wheel and loom stiU kept their place in families, fulling-mills and carding- 
 machines were patronized, ropes and nails were made ; but as a general 
 fact, the work-shops and factories of the country were in Europe. The 
 
 * The two buildings occupied many years by Lathrop & Eells and Coit & Lathrop, 
 one for a factory, and the other for sales of drugs and merchandize, stood near togct'ier 
 on the town street, west of the present residence of Mrs. "W. C. Gilman. They were 
 similar in construction ; each had a projecting roof, and at one time they were painted 
 blue with white trimmings. 
 39 
 
610 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 spirit and enterprise of Norwich had been wholly diverted into the chan- 
 nels of commerce, and future prosperity seemed to be expected only from 
 the ocean. 
 
 At the commencement of the present century, the paper-mill at the falls 
 was the only establishment of any kind in Norwich worthy the name of a 
 factory. 
 
 The Norwich Falls district, now so busy, bustling, and crowded with 
 inhabitants, was then a wild, secluded hamlet, consisting of two or three 
 old mills and the dwelling-house of Elijah Lathrop. Beautiful was the 
 place for all the purposes of romance and lonely meditation, — renowned 
 for echoes and evergreens, the chosen resort of moonlight parties, curious 
 travelers, and wandering lovers, — ^but the Genius of Manufacture had 
 only marked it for his own ; he had not yet erected his standard and mar- 
 shaled his legions in the valley. In relation to manufactures, and in some 
 respects it would apply to the whole business of the town, this was a 
 period when old things passed away, and all things became new. 
 
 Hemp. In the year 1803, Nathaniel Howland & Co. erected a build- 
 ing at the falls for hemp-spinning. Mr. Timothy Lester was engaged as 
 machinist ; the best of hatch eled hemp was used, and the warps were 
 spun by a recently improved machine. Looms were soon introduced, and 
 duck and canvas offered for sale in 1804. 
 
 The Howlands appear to have been stimulated to this undertaking by a 
 visit from Mr. Baxter, a noted hemp-spinner from Great Britain, who 
 was engaged in introducing the manufacture of cordage and duck, by 
 machinery, into this country. He came to Norwich to survey the situa- 
 tion, and was satisfied with its facilities, but was not himself sufficiently 
 encouraged to remain and conduct the experiment.* 
 
 Col. Howland's mill kept on its way for a few years, emplojring from 
 twelve to twenty hands, and throwing a considerable quantity of hempen 
 cloth into the market. He was encouraged in his operations by the gov- 
 ernment. Proffers were made to him to supply the navy upon cash 
 advapces, and a small bounty was granted by Congress for every bolt of 
 duck produced. But the business could not withstand the pressure of the 
 times, and was overwhelmed in the general wreck of mercantile affairs, 
 connected with the embargo and other commercial restrictions of that 
 period. 
 
 Manufactures at tJie Falls. The rise of manufactures after this period 
 is intimately connected with several prominent individuals who removed 
 to the place from other parts of New England. 
 
 * Reminiacences of G. S. Howland, of Brooklyn, N. Y. Norwich Jubilee, p. 298. 
 
?- ■by-A.H.Bitctii^ 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 611 
 
 Calvin Goddard in 1807. William C. Gilman in 1816. 
 
 "William Williams in 1809. William P. Greene in 1824 
 
 These all in their first coming to Norwich were connected with the 
 manufacturing interest at th-e Falls. Though not natives, they are wholly 
 identified with the place, and by their enterprise and their liberal and 
 enlightened course as citizens, have contributed largely to its prosperity. 
 
 Mr. Goddard was a lawyer and statesman, connected wi^h the manu- 
 facturing interest only as a proprietor and patron. Having projected an 
 establishment at the Falls, he purchased in 1809 the old Lathrop house 
 and mill-seats of that district, the saw, grist and oil-mills, with the ancient 
 distillery and tannery lots and privileges, and formed a partnership with 
 William Williams, Sen., of Stonington, and his sons, (Wm. Jr. and Thos. 
 W.,) under the firm of William Williams Jr. & Co., one of the younger 
 partners taking the princi^^al agency in the business. In common par- 
 lance, however, the firm was Goddard & Williams. 
 
 This company set up the machinery necessary for grinding and bolting 
 " Virginia wheat and Southern corn ; " imported their grain, and obtained 
 William Weller, an experienced miller from Pennsylvania, for their fore- 
 man. They kept two or three sloops in their employ, sailing to Norfolk, 
 Petersburg, Fredericksburg, and Eic'i;r.tnd. 
 
 In 1812, they fitted out the schooner Ann and Mary, and sent her to 
 Cadiz with flour. This was their only foreign adventure. The war with 
 Great Britain throwing obstacles in the way of trade with the South, the 
 flour business was broken up, and the company turned their attention to 
 the manufacture of cotton cloth. 
 
 The Howland duck-factory was changed by this company into a cotton- 
 mill, which began to run in December, 1813, preceding by a few months 
 the cotton-factories at Jewett City and Bozrahville. They began with 
 carding and spinning, giving out the yarn from the factory to be woven in 
 hand-looms, but after three or four years the power-loom was introduced, 
 and they turned out mattrasses, nankeens and shirtings in a completed 
 state. 
 
 This mill, though of small account in comparison with the gigantic ope- 
 rations of modern times, and by no means a money -making experiment to 
 the proprietors, merits notice as one of the first cotton-mills successfully 
 established in the county, and as leading the way to undertakings in the 
 same line far more extensive and important. The title of this company 
 was changed in 1819 to Williams Manufacturing Co. It continued only 
 a few years in active operation, but its afiairs were not settled and the 
 partnership dissolved till 1833, when they sold out to Amos Cobb and 
 others, agents of the Norwich and New York Manufacturing Co. 
 
 In May, 1813, William C. Gilman, "late of Boston," purchased a priv- 
 ilege at the Falls, of Goddard & WiUiams, and in connection with the 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 611 
 
 Calvin Goddard in 1807. William C. Gilman in 1816. 
 
 William Williams in 1809. William P. Greene in 1824. 
 
 These all in their first coming to Norwich were connected with the 
 manufacturing interest at th-e Falls. Though not natives, they are wholly- 
 identified with the place, and by their enterprise and their liberal and 
 enlightened course as citizens, have contributed largely to its prosperity. 
 
 Mr. Goddard was a lawyer and statesman, connected wi|h the manu- 
 facturing interest only as a proprietor and patron. Having projected an 
 establishment at the Falls, he purchased in 1809 the old Lathrop house 
 and mill-seats of that district, the saw, grist and oil-mills, with the ancient 
 distillery and tannery lots and privileges, and formed a partnership with 
 William Williams, Sen., of Stonington, and his sons, (Wm. Jr. and Thos. 
 W.,) under the firm of William Williams Jr. & Co., one of the younger 
 partners taking the princi|)al agency in the business. In common par- 
 lance, however, the firm was Goddard & Williams. 
 
 This company set up the machinery necessary for grinding and bolting 
 " Virginia wheat and Southern corn ; " imported their grain, and obtained 
 William Weller, an experienced miller from Pennsylvania, for their fore- 
 man. They kept two or three sloops in their employ, sailing to Norfolk, 
 Petersburg, Fredericksburg, and Ricli.r.cnd. 
 
 In 1812, they fitted out the schooner Ann and Mary, and sent her to 
 Cadiz with flour. This was their only foreign adventure. The war with 
 Great Britain throwing obstacles in the way of trade with the South, the 
 flour business was broken up, and the company turned their attention to 
 the manufacture of cotton cloth. 
 
 The Howland duck-factory was changed by this company into a cotton- 
 mill, which began to run in December, 1813, preceding by a few months 
 the cotton-factories at Jewett City and Bozrahville. They began with 
 carding and spinning, giving out the yarn from the factory to be woven in 
 hand-looms, but after three or four years the power-loom was introduced, 
 and they turned out mattrasses, nankeens and shirtings in a completed 
 state. 
 
 This mill, though of small account in comparison with the gigantic ope- 
 rations of modern times, and by no means a money -making experiment to 
 the proprietors, merits notice as one of the first cotton-mills successfully 
 established in the county, and as leading the way to undertakings in the 
 same line far more extensive and important. The title of this company 
 was changed in 1819 to Williams Manufacturing Co. It continued only 
 a few years in active operation, but its aflTairs were not settled and the 
 partnership dissolved till 1833, when they sold out to Amos Cobb and 
 others, agents of the Norwich and New York Manufacturing Co. 
 
 In May, 1813, William C. Gilman, "late of Boston," purchased a priv- 
 ilege at the Falls, of Goddard & Williams, and in connection with the 
 
612 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Iron and Nail Co. established a naillery, whicli went immediately into 
 successful operation. In this factory the nails were cut by a newly- 
 invented machine, with great rapidity, and while the novelty lasted, vis- 
 itors were attracted to the falls to hear the clink of the machine and view 
 the continual dropping of the nails. 
 
 The next company that was formed commenced business with promis- 
 ing aspects upon a large capital. This was the Thames Manufacturing 
 Co., incorporated in June, 1823. It consisted of six members, viz., Wm. 
 C. Gilman, Samuel, Henry and John Hubbard, Wm. P. and Benjamin 
 Greene. Five of these partners were Boston men, to whose favorable 
 notice the water privileges that lay unemployed at the falls had been forc- 
 ibly presented by Mr. Gilman. 
 
 This company purchased the naillery and several other water privileges 
 at the falls, and erected a large cotton-factory, preparing for a business of 
 considerable extent and value. The corner-stone of the building was laid 
 with interesting ceremonies, and Judge Goddard delivered an address, 
 iwelcoming the new company to that secluded seat. 
 
 William P. Greene, one of tue Boston partners, became a resident in 
 ^Norwich,* and for a few years Mr. Greene and William C. Gilman trans- 
 , acted together the business of the company. Mr. Greene then resigned, 
 and Mr. Gilman was afterward the sole agent of the concern. 
 
 The Quinebaug Co., for the manufacture of cotton and woollen goods, 
 was chartered in 1826. The mill erected by this company on the She- 
 tucket river was purchased by the Thames Co. before it went into ope- 
 ration, and was considered by its new owners as the most valuable of their 
 possessions. This mill was the beginning of Greeneville. 
 
 The Thames Co. purchased likewise the mill at Bozrahville, built by 
 Messrs. Dodge and Hyde in 1815, and in their best days had the three 
 mills, — in Bozrah, at the Falls, and on the Shetucket, — in successful 
 . operation. 
 
 Another company with similar objects and expectations, called the Nor- 
 wich & New York Manufacturing Co., was incorporated in 1829. Some 
 of the partners belonged also to the Thames Co., but they were distinct 
 concerns. To this new incorporation the Thames Co. sold the Falls mOl, 
 This company purchased also the mills and machinery of Huntington and 
 Backus on Bean Hill. 
 
 In 1833, a lai'ge cotton-mill, two paper-mills, an iron-foundry, nail-fac- 
 tory and rolling-mill were reported in successful operation at the Falls. 
 
 But this prosperity wae of short duration. Both the Thames Co. and 
 the Norwich and New York Co. became involved in the mercantile dis- 
 
 * Tho first purchase made by the Boston Company was Jan. 25, 1823. William P. 
 Greene purchased the Barrell property on Washington street, which he made his home 
 for the remainder of his life, May 17, 1824. 
 
HISTOBT OF NOEWIOH. bib 
 
 asters that so widely affected the business of the country, and went down 
 in the financial crash of 1837. The two mills belonging to the Thames 
 Co. were purchased nominally by Mr. Gilman, — the mortgages nearly 
 equaling the value, — and conveyed by him to other parties : the Quine- 
 baug mill to Mr. Oaliph, and the mill at Bozrah to Mr. James Boorman 
 of New York. 
 
 A period of great depression and stagnation of business ensued. 
 
 Fresh undertakings of a more enduring nature arose out of these re- 
 verses. Two new companies were formed under the auspices of Wm. P. 
 Greene, — the Shetucket Co. and the Norwich Falls Co. Both went into 
 prosperous operation between 1838 and 1842. 
 
 The Shetucket Co. purchased the misnamed Quinebaug mill on the 
 Shetucket. The building was burnt down in May, 1842, and the present 
 mill, of far greater capacity, standing on the same spot, is called the She- 
 tucket mill. It is the great cotton-mill of Greeneville. 
 
 The Falls Co. purchased the mill at the Falls, which had formerly 
 belonged to the Thames Co. This has since been enlarged to almost 
 three times its former size and power, and has kept on from that time to 
 the present, without any suspension of its activity or check to its pros- 
 perity. 
 
 These companies were established by Mr. Greene, chiefly upon his own 
 credit, and were kept while he lived under his management and direction. 
 The business has been gradually extending, and for several years each 
 mill has had 15,000 spindles in operation. 
 
 The manufacture of paper at the Falls has of late years been connected 
 exclusively with the name of Hubbard. Amos H. Hubbard entered into 
 the business in 1818. Paper was at that time made in the old way ; not 
 by machinery, but by hand, sheet by sheet. Mr. Hubbard very soon fur- 
 nished his establishment with the modern improvements that diminish the 
 amount of manual labor required. In 1830 he successfully introduced 
 Fourdrinier's machine into his factory. This was the first paper-making 
 machine used in Norwich. 
 
 The brothers Russell and A. H. Hubbard were in partnership in this 
 business for twenty years, but dissolved in 1857. They had two mills, — 
 the old wooden building erected by Messrs. Huntington and Bushnell in 
 1790, and a modern one, built of brick and stone, both of which, with 
 various lots, tenements, and water-privileges, were sold by A. H. Hubbard 
 in 1860 to the Falls Company. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard then removed his establishment to Greeneville on the 
 Shetucket. 
 
 According to the census of 1860, the great cotton-mill at the Falls em- 
 ployed 125 males and 375 females; producing annually six and a half 
 million yards, valued at $450,000. 
 
614 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The Palls Company has from time to time purchased the various priv- 
 ileges in its neighborhood, and now controls nearly the whole water-power 
 at Yantic Falls, and at the old paper-mill above the falls. The naiUeries, 
 foundries, pistol-factories, the paper, flour and oil-mills, have all disap- 
 peared, their seats and privileges passed over to this company, and their 
 various crafts transferred to other localities. In this valley of the roaring 
 waters, in 1860, Cotton reigned the sole and undisputed king. 
 
 This sovereignty has been recently invaded by the occupation of a hith- 
 erto unemployed mill-seat near the railroad bridge. Here a large brick 
 building, erected by C. A. Converse in 1864, furnishes accommodation to 
 a grist-mill and the thriving cork-factory of Messrs. J. H. Adams and 
 James E. Learned. 
 
 The cork-cutting business is one of the specialties of Norwich; this 
 being the place where an ingenious machine for transforming sheets of 
 bark into well-shaped corks was invented and set in operation, and where 
 the business is prosecuted with a success that promises to make it one of 
 the permanent industrial pursuits of the town. 
 
 The corks used in this country had been mostly imported from Europe, 
 where they were all made by hand. Vast quantities were required to 
 supply the market, and a machine that would abridge the labor and 
 cheapen the article was a desideratum. This is furnished by the machines 
 invented and patented by the brothers Crocker of Norwich. 
 
 William R. Crocker, the first inventor, after many experiments, brought 
 his machine into successful operation, and procured a patent for it, bearing 
 the date of Oct. 30, 1855. This machine produced from twenty to thirty 
 finished corks per minute, turning them out in better condition than those 
 made by hand. In 1859 the inventor went to Europe, accompanied by a 
 younger brother, to dispose of rights in his patent. On their return in 
 the steamer Hungarian, they both perished in the wreck of that vessel on 
 the coast of Newfoundland, Feb. 15, 1860. 
 
 But the business of cork-cutting, commenced by them in Norwich, has 
 been continued by Messrs. Barnes & Spalding, the proprietors of their 
 patented machine. 
 
 Another machine of different structure, but for the same purpose, was 
 invented by a third brother, John D. Crocker, and patented in 1862. 
 This patent is the one employed in the factory at Tantic Falls. 
 
 Uncos Mill. In the early part of the century, at Bean Hill, in a turn 
 of the Yantic and on both sides of it, we find a grist-mill of ancient date, 
 the fulling-mill and carding-machine of Erastus Huntington and Eber 
 Backus, the stone-ware factory of Armstrong & Wentworth, and the 
 machine-shop of James Burnham. Mr. Burnham constructed carding- 
 machines, looms, and other kinds of machinery, but died on the island of 
 Madeira in 1813. 
 
The establishment of Huntington & Backus was purchased in 1828 for 
 $9,000, by a company organized that year and called the Norwich Manu- 
 facturing Co. This company established a woolen-mill on the premises, 
 since known as the Uncas Woolen Mill. The ownership has since been 
 several times changed. In 1859, F. B. Loomis, proprietor, the census 
 reported the annual produce 150,000 yards of doeskins, valued at $175,- 
 000. Mr. Loomis sold out in 1860 to Wm. Elting & Co. The Elting 
 Woolen Company has since been organized with a capital of $150,000. 
 
 Another woolen-mill, at a lower point on the river in Norwich-Town, 
 was run for several years by Peter Lanman. The site is now occupied 
 by a mill of larger size and a group of neat tenements built by A. T. 
 Sturtevant. 
 
 Yantic. 
 
 The village of Yantic lies in the western part of the town, close upon 
 the borders of Bozrah and Franklin. At this point, just where the roads 
 from Colchester and Windham meet and run together, a mill-dam and 
 pond, a saw-mill, grist-mill, and carding-machine, with the usual gearing 
 and machinery, had been gradually gathered into a group, and in the early 
 part of the present century were owned by Uriah Tracy. 
 
 These improvements were purchased in different parcels, from 1818 to 
 1822, by John and George TisdaJe, who added a factory and a stone 
 dweUing-house to the premises, and began the manufacture of cotton 
 cloth. The Tisdales were agents, or trustees, in this business, of Robert 
 R. Baker, a native of Scotland, who had spent some time in Norwich, 
 and seems to have formed the design of investing his capital in the busi- 
 ness of the place, and enrolling himself as a regular inhabitant. After a 
 few years, Mr. Barker, while traveling, it is said, in the western part of 
 New York, suddenly disappeared, and his fate was never ascertained. 
 The Yantic mill was subsequently sold, to clear off its mortgages and 
 indebtedness, and purchased by Capt. Erastus Williams, who greatly en- 
 larged the original building, and devoted it wholly to the manufacture of 
 woolen goods. E. Winslow Williams, only son of Capt. Erastus Williams, 
 is the present proprietor. 
 
 The aspect of the country in this neighborhood has been softened by 
 the improvements of modern times. It was naturally a wild and frown- 
 ing district, dark with impending woods, and intersected by a turbulent 
 stream. The village consists at the present day of the Williams flannel 
 factory, with its various tenements, appurtenances, and surroundings ; a 
 fair proportion of mechanics and shops for merchandise, a group of pri- 
 vate houses, a post-offlce, a school-house, an Episcopal organization called 
 Grace Chapel, and about 300 inhabitants. 
 
616 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The census of 1860 reported 110 persons employed in the mill, — 75 
 males and 35 females, and the annual value of products $150,000. This 
 mill, with all its machinery, stock, and engines, and an adjoining house 
 that accommodated eight families, was destroyed by fire, May 26, 1865. 
 The older part of the mill had stood for nearly fifty years, and the flames 
 performed their work with great facility, lighting up the hills and woods 
 like an amphitheatre, and startling the village with showers of flaming 
 cinders. The loss, though very heavy, served only as a stimulus to more 
 enlarged enterprise. The corner-stone of a new structure, far more capa- 
 cious than the former, to be built of stone, four stories high, with towers 
 and wings, and furnished with all the mechanical conveniences and safe- 
 guards invented by modem science, was laid Aug. 16th, less than three 
 months after the conflagration. This mill is designed for twelve sets of 
 machinery. 
 
 The village of Tantic furnished an honorable roll of volunteers in' the 
 war for the Union ; and among them, one, — Capt. John McCall, — who 
 poured out his life on the banks of James river, and by his patriotism, 
 valor, and heroic death, has left a name for his native lulls to cherish. 
 
 JBozrahviUe. 
 
 Pursuing our course along the Yantic, but still keeping within the nine- 
 miles-square, we meet with the manufacturing villages of Bozrahville and 
 Fitchville, both within the present town of Bozrah. 
 
 Bozrahville is one of the oldest manufacturing establishments in the 
 county of New London. It originated with the Bozrah Manufacturing 
 Co., which was formed in 1814 by Frederick DePeyster, Jonathan Little 
 and others of New York, and David L. Dodge, then a resident of Nor- 
 wich.* The capital came from New York, but Mr. Dodge suggested and 
 managed the undertaking. Under his direction a stone factory was built 
 for the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods, several hundred spindles 
 and looms set to work, and a thriving village planted in a waste place. 
 Erastus Hyde of Bean Hill was also a partner and agent in this work. 
 
 In consequence of the great influx of European commodities, which 
 caused the decline of the manufacturing interest all over New England, 
 the Bozrahville Co. was broken up in 1824, and the property passed into 
 the possession of the Thames Co., but the mUl was kept in operation with 
 only the suspension of a few months. 
 
 In 1837 it was sold by the Thames Co. to James Boorman and others 
 
 * " Five of us together (says Mr. Dodge) purchased a site for a cotton manufactory 
 in the north-west corner of Bozrah, in the valley of the Yantic, six miles from Norwich 
 town, obtained a liberal charter," &c. Autobiography of D. L. Dodge. 
 
HI8T0ET OP NORWICH. 617 
 
 of New York, who, under the title of the Kent Manufacturing Co.,* are 
 the present proprietors. B. F. Tompkins, one of the partners, has had 
 the chief agency of the company from its beginning. This mill is de- 
 voted to the production of cotton goods. 
 
 Fitchville. 
 
 Of the village of Fitchville, its mill, its church, and its founder, we 
 have heretofore spoken. Since that notice was written, (page 438,) the 
 plans and labors of Mr. Fitch have been brought to a sudden close. He 
 died Oct. 30, 1865, aged seventy-eight years and a half. 
 
 Few persons have had a more eventful life than Mr. Asa Fitch. As a 
 youth, he was pallid and slender, often prostrated by sickness, and subject 
 to distressing turns of the asthma, — a difficulty that clung to him through 
 life. Sustained by his mental energy, he tried in succession, study at an 
 academy in Lebanon, a clerkship in Norwich, and a mechanical trade, but 
 broke down after each experiment. At the age of eighteen, in the hope 
 of invigorating his constitution by a sea-voyage, he embarked as a passen- 
 ger in the brig Walter, Capt. Brown, of New Haven, bound on a fishing 
 and trading voyage to Green Island, Newfoundland, and Europe. 
 
 He landed from this vessel at Lisbon, just before the news reached that 
 dty of the battle of Trafalgar and the death of Lord Nelson, that is, in 
 October, 1805. Finding the climate of southern Europe favorable to his 
 health, he went from Lisbon to Alicant, and at first obtained employment 
 in the office of the American consul. He remained nearly ten years at 
 Alicant, occupied in mercantile affairs ; coming home on a short visit in 
 1809, to establish some commercial relations, and gradually acquiring the 
 reputation of a substantial merchant. 
 
 In 1814 he removed to Marseilles, and there established a commission 
 and banking house that soon became known and recognized^ as a hnk in 
 the chain of commerce between France and the United States. It was 
 patronized by the French Government at the outset. While at Alicant, 
 Mr. Fitch had accommodated several of the royal exiles in certain mone- 
 tary affairs, and now that they had returned to power, they displayed a 
 commendable appreciation of his courtesy. He was welcomed to the best 
 society in France, and often entertained at his table in Marseilles, nobles, 
 statesmen and literary men of the first reputation in the country. 
 
 Being joined by his brother, Douglas Fitch, and his nephew, William 
 D. Lee, the house took the firm of Fitch, Brothers & Co. Vessels from 
 most of the large ports in the United States were consigned to this house. 
 They were also agents of the U. S. Navy, furnishing supplies and making 
 
 * So called ia remembrance of Kent County, England, of which the chief partners 
 are natives. 
 
618 HISTOET OP NOBWICH. 
 
 payments to the government vessels in the Mediterranean. They exe- 
 cuted orders from America for the purchase of French goods, and had 
 correspondents in the United States to receive consignments of French 
 produce from the merchants and manufacturers in France. In this round 
 of business, important interests were involved. 
 
 In 1828, Mr. Fitch left Marseilles and returned to America, in order to 
 take charge of the affairs of the house on this side of the Atlantic. On 
 the voyage he came near death through the entire prostration caused by 
 continued sea-sickness, and never afterwards could be induced to cross the 
 ocean. In New York, his office, with the sign of Fitch & Co., was in 
 Exchange street. Here he embarked in a large real estate investment, 
 purchasing several lots on Broadway, New and Exchange streets, upon 
 which he subsequently erected stores, the rents of which were like a bank 
 of wealth to the proprietor. 
 
 Withdrawing gradually from personal attention to the details of business, 
 Mr. Fitch at length retired to his native place, and for the last twenty-five 
 years has been assiduously occupied in the laborious improvement of a 
 naturally rough and forbidding country district. Sitting down by the side 
 of the old iron-works where his father and his elder brother had wrought, 
 he built a mansion-house, a cotton-mill, a grist-mill, a church, a village, 
 and purchased farm after farm, until his domain could be measured by 
 miles, expending in these various plans and operations six or seven hund- 
 red thousand dollars. 
 
 A characteristic of Mr. Fitch was his ceaseless activity. In body and 
 mind he was alike energetic and alert. It was owing to this, and to his 
 rigid attention to diet and regimen, that he lived so long, bearing up under 
 complicated infirmities, and accomplishing so much actual labor. He was 
 wonderful in planning, constructing and laying out work. The lives of 
 such persons are full of action and incident ; they make changes and im- 
 provements ; they are benefactors to their race, but undertaking too much, 
 they do not finish as they go, and often leave their most cherished projects 
 incomplete. 
 
 Mr. Fitch was unmarried; of nine brothers and sisters, he was the 
 only one that entered into no matrimonial connection. 
 
 GreeneviUe. 
 
 The "Water Power Company was incorporated in 1828, "for building a 
 dam and canal in order to bring the waters of the Shetucket river into 
 manufacturing use." The sum of $43,000 was first subscribed by twenty- 
 seven persons, Wm. P. Greene being the largest subscriber. The trustees 
 were Calvin Goddard, Jedidiah Perkins, and George Perkins. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 619 
 
 Mr. Greene had previously purchased the land in various parcels of 
 different individuals : on the Quinebaug above the union with the She- 
 tucket, and on the latter river from Sachem's Plain downwards, nearly 
 three miles in extent, on either side of the river, in Norwich and Preston- 
 
 The west side of the river was an old Reynolds farm, — a grant to John 
 Reynolds, one of the first proprietors of the town. It was here, just over 
 the river on the Preston side, that the younger John Reynolds and Josiah 
 Rockwell were killed by the Indians in 1676. A portion of this land 
 was still held as inherited estate, and was purchased by Mr. Greene of 
 Joseph Reynolds of North Kingston, R. I. The Lewis farm, bought by 
 Mr. Greene in June, 1826, had been owned by a Reynolds until 1815.* 
 On the Preston side, the Holden, Spicer, Truman and other lots had been 
 procured. These were all conveyed to the company. 
 
 The Shetucket dam was built of solid masonry, and a canal dug forty- 
 five feet wide, nine feet deep, and seven-eighths of a mile in extent. The 
 village of Greeneville was laid out by this company, and the land sold and 
 leased on advantageous terms. Large factories for the manufacture of 
 cotton goods, paper, flannel and carpets sprang up with great celerity, and 
 this lonely river side started almost at once into a populous and thriving 
 village. 
 
 Various important changes have since taken place in the business of 
 Greeneville. Factories for the production of certain articles have been 
 established, and after a season of prosperity have declined and been relin- 
 quished. But other industrial pursuits have been ready to take their 
 place, and the population and resources of the village have steadily 
 increased. 
 
 The Shetucket mill has been already mentioned. It is now the only 
 cotton-mill at Greeneville. It employs 150 males and 300 females. 
 Annual product valued at $400,000. A dyeing establishment is con- 
 nected with the mill, and the goods produced are mostly colored or stripes. 
 About eighty acres of land belong to this mill. 
 
 Greeneville has been particularly noted for the manufacture of paper. 
 
 The paper-mill of A. H. Hubbard, removed from the Falls in 1860, 
 employs about fifty hands, and is devoted to the production of colored 
 paper. 
 
 The paper-mill of the Chelsea Manufacturing Co., at Greeneville, pro- 
 duces that description of paper which is used for books and newspapers. 
 In 1860, when this mill was in operation to its full extent, it was claimed 
 to be the largest paper-making establishment, not only in the United 
 States, but the largest in the world. 
 
 The principal building is 375 feet in length, and several detached 
 
 * The house on this farm was the only family residence which then occupied the seat 
 of the present Greeneville, which has a population of 3000 or more. 
 
620 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 buildings for various operations are connected with the works. There are 
 twenty-six engines for grinding and cleansing the rags, and six for con- 
 verting the pulp into paper. 
 
 According to the census of 1860, it employed 75 males and 105 female?, 
 and the annual value of product was estimated at $475,000. A large pro- 
 portion of the operatives worked twelve hours on and twelve hours off, that 
 is, from 1 2 A. M. to 1 2 P. M., or vice versa, and the mill was kept in ope- 
 ration from Monday, 1 o'clock A.M., to Saturday, 11 o'clock P. M. 
 
 Messrs. David Smith of Norwich, and J. C. Rives, former publisher of 
 the Congressional Globe at Washington, D. C, were for many years 
 prominent proprietors of the Chelsea paper-mill, and under their control 
 it achieved its greatest results. It was sold in 1862 to E. G. Bartow.* 
 Other changes have since taken place in the ownership, and the mill has 
 declined from its former flourishing condition. Laden with incumbrances 
 and under assignment, it was sold at auction in March, 1865, and the 
 equity of redemption purchased at a price very far below the original cost 
 of the works. 
 
 Occom Oompany. 
 
 The capabilities of the lower valley of the Quinebaug and Shetucket 
 rivers, as they approach tide-water, for manufacturing pursuits, have long 
 been known and acknowledged, but they have hitherto been only partially 
 developed and improved. The tradition is apparently authentic, that the 
 elder Mr. Slater made an exploring visit to this region about the year 
 1805, and was satisfied with its water-power and adaptabiUty to manufac- 
 turing purposes, but meeting with no cordial appreciation or readiness of 
 co-operation from the merchants and capitalists, he turned back to Rhode 
 Island, and fixed upon Slaterville as the site of the second cotton-mill in 
 America. Norwich was then expending her energies in commerce, and 
 had given but little attention to those sources of wealth that were treas- 
 ured among her hUls and along her water-courses. 
 
 Of late years, the demands of the manufacturing interest have stimu- 
 lated enterprise, and led to the development of a large amount of unem- 
 ployed water-power within our bounds. Business, population and ma- 
 chinery are gradually winding their way, guided by noisy streams, into 
 the secluded haunts of the neighborhood, and eating out the heart of our 
 most picturesque scenery. But this is a cause for congratulation, and not 
 for complaint. The dash of falling waters, the songs of birds, and the 
 roar of winds among the trees of the forest, may be more pleasing to the 
 ear and imagination than the thunder and clang of looms and wheels, yet 
 
 * Mr. Eives and Mr. Bartow both died during the year 1 864. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 621 
 
 it is a part of the mission of objects of taste to yield gracefully to those 
 imperative interests that provide occupation for industry, markets for 
 farmers, and comfortable homes for the multitude. 
 
 The Wequonuck Company* was formed in 1845, with a small capital of 
 $8000, by Charles Bliss and others, for the purpose of occupying what 
 has been called the Bliss privilege on the Shetucket river, not far from 
 Eagleville. The rights thus obtained were not used by the company, 
 and the charter lay dormant for nearly twenty years. A great diflSculty, 
 which long obstructed operations in this district, has been removed by the 
 passage of a flowage law by the Legislature in 1864. 
 
 The Occom Company, on a much larger scale than the Wequonuck, 
 was organized Oct. 14, 1864, chietly through the exertions of Messrs. 
 Moses Pierce and L. W. Carroll. The sum of $100,000 was subscribed 
 by twenty individuals, and the charter authorizes an increase of capital to 
 a million. 
 
 To this company the Wequonuck Co. assigned all their rights and priv- 
 ileges. This, with other purchases, gave them about 800 acres of land in 
 Norwich and Lisbon, and the control of the whole water-power — 44 feet — 
 between the Greeneville dam and Sprague. These privileges have been 
 divided into two sections, with the center or seat of water-power in each, 
 two miles apart. 
 
 The upper privilege of fourteen feet is about two miles from Sprague. 
 Here a dam of solid stone-work has been built, 800 feet long, connected 
 with a rollino'-way of 300 feet. Canals are begun each side of the river, 
 and two extensive woolen-mills, with all the necessary appendages of fac- 
 tory villages, are in progress. 
 
 The mill nearest the dam, — that of Joseph H. Converse & Son, — ^is 
 built of stone, three stories high, and designed for six sets of machinery. 
 The other, also of stone, to be four stories high, with seven sets of ma- 
 chinery, is owned by a company of which E. G. Hooper is the general 
 agent. 
 
 The lower privilege of the Occom Co., — 30 feet, — ^has been sold, with 
 550 acres of land, to Messrs. Taft & Co. of Providence, who design to 
 make it the seat of a large cotton-factory. 
 
 When these prospective works are completed, it will make a cordon of 
 mills and mill-villages in the eastern and southern part of Norwich, some 
 of them large enough for independent towns, five in number, and two miles 
 apart, viz.: 
 
 Sprague, GreenevUle, 
 
 Occom, Norwich Falls. 
 
 Tafts, 
 
 * "Wequonuck, (abbreviated by the first settlers to Quonuck,) is the Indian name for 
 the low land on the Shetucket, above and below the junction of the Quinebaug. 
 
622 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Fire-Arms. 
 
 The war of the rebellion, while it depressed some of the industrial 
 interests of the place, gave a great impetus to the manufacture of fire- 
 arms. Attempts had been several times made to establish large factories 
 for pistol-making in Norwich. 
 
 The most considerable undertaking of this kind was that of Messrs. 
 Allen & Tliurber, (Ethan Allen and Charles Thurber,) who set up a 
 pistol-factory at the Falls in 1842. They made revolving pistols, weigh- 
 ing about a pound and a half each, firing six balls in less than six seconds. 
 After a few years this company removed their establishment, with its 
 operatives and their families, to Worcester. 
 
 In 1853, Smith & Weston established a rifle and pistol factory upon 
 Central Wharf, and in 1854 secured a patent for a volcanic repeating 
 pistol, but finding themselves restricted in point of room for their opera- 
 tions, they removed to New Haven, where a company was formed to pur- 
 sue the business on a larger scale. 
 
 The Bacon Manufacturing Co. next made its appearance in the city, 
 adding a considerable number of mechanics to the population. The pis- 
 tols of this company were the only fire-arms made in Norwich when the 
 war commenced ; but mechanical enterprise soon took a sudden turn in 
 that direction. 
 
 In January, 1862, James D. Mowry contracted to furnish the Govern- 
 ment with 30,000 rifle muskets of the latest Springfleld construction. 
 The barrels were made at Cole & Walker's, (Franklin street,) the locks by 
 C. B. Rogers & Co. of West Chelsea, and other pieces at Mowry's factory 
 in Greeneville. 
 
 The Norwich Arms Co. was stimulated into existence by the war, and 
 soon grew to gigantic proportions, filling successive contracts and furnish- 
 ing large supplies of musketry for the Government. This company had 
 two establishments : one on Franklin street, (occupying the premises of 
 Horace Walker,) where the barrels and bayonets were made,) and the 
 other near the Shetucket, for the department of stocks and locks. They 
 made, besides the Springfield musket, a new kind of improved rifle, the 
 invention of Messrs. Armstrong & Taylor of Augusta, Ky. In this pro- 
 cess each gun is composed of forty-nine parts, each part accurately fitting 
 its place in any other of the guns. Any barrel will fill any stock ; any 
 screw will enter any hole for which it is designed ; and out of the heaps 
 of finished parts a musket can he put together with great ease and celer- 
 ity. The completed instrument weighs ten pounds. This company had 
 a wonderful accumulation of machinery for its various operations, and 
 hundreds of artiz.ins were employed, regulating . the machines and attend- 
 ing upon them as they threw out their millions of pieces with rapidity and 
 
HI8T0BY OP NORWICH. 623 
 
 precision* Heavy reports like thunder came from the proving-room, 
 where the barrels were tested. , They were loaded with heavy charges, 
 and fired by a train, discharging the balls into banks of earth prepared to 
 receive them. 
 
 The cessation of the war brought this establishment to a sudden cloge. 
 The company failed, and the usual results of a great failure succeeded. 
 The machinery stopped, the workmen were disbanded, the property was 
 sacrificed at auction, and this great manufactory of warlike instruments, 
 that at one time occupied a large space in the public interest, now belongs 
 wholly to the history of the past. 
 
 Miscellaneous Notices. 
 
 The industrial pursuits of Norwich are continually increasing in num- 
 ber, variety, and value. They are too numerous and variable to be cir- 
 cumstantially described. We can only briefly notice a few which belong 
 to the history of the past, or in which some new and interesting principle 
 is involved. 
 
 Abner T. Pearce was at one time extensively engaged in the manufac- 
 turing business in Norwich. He had a large foundry and car-factory in 
 the place, and was also concerned in a car-factory near the eastern term- 
 inus of the Erie Railroad. In the year 1853, he suddenly failed and 
 absconded. After assigning his property and leaving the place, it was 
 ascertained that he had issued spurious paper to a very large amount, and 
 had pursued his business by means of forged signatures for several years. 
 He fled to California, and afterward to South America, where, according 
 to report, he died in 1864. 
 
 Christopher C. Brand in 1852 obtained a patent for a newly-invented 
 whaling-gun and bomb-lance. A musket three feet long discharges a gun 
 twelve feet in length, which strikes and soon explodes. A spacious brick 
 building to accommodate these works was erected on Franklin street in 
 1860. 
 
 The manufacture of sewing-machines of the Howe patent was com- 
 menced by Greenman & True, on Central Wharf, in 1860. This estab- 
 hshment brought a considerable increase of population to the city. 
 
 A steam flouring mill, having a fifty-horse-power, was established on 
 Central Wharf by Capt. W. W. Coit in 1855. 
 
 The Union Machine Co., Franklin street, and Caleb B. Rogers & Co., 
 machinists, in West Chelsea, are companies organized on the joint-stock 
 principle, with each a capital of $200,000. 
 
 * An interesting description of this Norwich Armory, with illustrations, was pub- 
 lished in Harper's Magazine for March, 1864. 
 
624 HISTORY OF NOBWICH. 
 
 At the southern extremity of the city we find the rolling-mill and other 
 works of the Messrs Mitchell, bearing the company name of the Thames 
 Iron Works. At Greeneville, near the eastern border of the city, is the 
 Norwich Bleaching and Calendering Co., which has been many years in 
 operation, employing many hands, but is now enlarging its works and 
 preparing for a business of greater extent. 
 
 Between these, the City and the Falls are studded with manufacturing 
 establishments of greater or less extent, far too numerous to be described. 
 They spread also into the town-plot. 
 
 In this connection we must not fail to notice a stock company which has 
 its seat on the western border of the town. Though as yet of no product- 
 ive value, as a curious item of history, it must not be overlooked. 
 
 The Waweekus Hill Mining Company was first formed in 1851, and 
 has since been organized with a capital stated at $500,000 ; Jesse Fill- 
 more of Providence, President. This company is based upon the suppo- 
 sition that the rocks where it is located contain gold, silver and nickel, and 
 a lease for 100 years of about 100 acres of land, covering the location, 
 has been obtained. 
 
 The idea of the metalliferous quality of the rocks was first suggested 
 by G. M. Roberts, a young man whose attention was arrested to the sub- 
 ject by what seemed to him a smeU of sulphur when the rock was broken. 
 Reuben Safford, the agent of the company, has dwelt for a considerable 
 time alone upon the premises, and has made repeated essays in digging 
 and exploring the bed of rocks, where the mine is supposed to be situated. 
 The smelting and reclaiming process has not been initiated, and no pure 
 metal has yet been discovered or produced. 
 
CHAPTER L. 
 
 Matoks of the City. 
 
 Norwich was one of the five cities incorporated by the Legislature of 
 Connecticut in May, 1784. It included Bean Hill, the Falls, the Town- 
 plot, and Chelsea. The Mayor was at first chosen for an indefinite term. 
 The succession is as follows : 
 
 1. Benjamin Huntington, LL. D. Elected July, 1784 ; in office twelve 
 years; resigned in 1796. 
 
 This first Mayor of the City was one of the most honored and honor- 
 ible men of that period, — a statesman of incorruptible integrity, conspic- 
 uous for his patriotic service in the town, state, and general government. 
 Ee was a State Counsellor during the Revolutionary war ; member of the 
 Continental Congress in 1784, and of the Constitutional Congress in 1789, 
 md in 1793 was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut, 
 [n every station he was popular and faithful. His family was an attract- 
 ve social center, but the members all removed to other scenes, several of 
 lis children gathering families around them at Rome, N .Y. Judge Hunt- 
 ngton himself removed thither in 1796, and there died Oct. 16, 1800. 
 Sis remains were brought to Norwich and laid by those of his wife, who 
 vas a daughter of Col. Jabez Huntington of Windham. The degree of ' 
 JL. D. was conferred upon him by Yale College, where he graduated in 
 1761. 
 
 2. JohnMcLaran Breed. Elected in April, 1796; two years in oflSce. 
 le died 3Iay 31, 1798, aged 50. 
 
 Mr. Breed was a distinguished lawyer, noted for enterprise, benevo- 
 3nce, and public spirit. In improvements of the city, made in the way 
 f bridges, streets, wharves, and buildings, he took a leading part. His 
 eath in the prime of usefulness and activity was lamented as a public 
 
 3SS. 
 
 3. Elisha Hyde. Elected in June, 1798 ; in office fifteen years ; died 
 )ec. 16, 1813, in the 63d year of his age. 
 
 40 
 
626 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Mayor Hyde was a lawyer of good repute, universally popular in his 
 native town for his urbanity, genial temperament, and overflowing benev- 
 olence of heart. His wife, who was a daughter of Amos Hallam of New 
 London, long survived her husband, and died at Black Eock, N. T., Aug. 
 26, 1841, aged 87. They had two daughters, — the youngest, Ann Maria, 
 died soon after her father, at the age of 24. Of this young person, lovely 
 and beloved, a memoir, written by the companion of her youth, — Miss 
 Huntley, afterward Mrs. Sigourney, — was published. The eldest daugh- 
 ter, Sarah, bom in 1776, married Capt. Z. P. Burnham, and is now (1866) 
 residing with her son at Newstead, Erie Co., N. T. She has been fifty- 
 six years a widow. 
 
 4. Calvin Goddard. Elected in February, 1814; in office seventeen 
 years ; resigned in 1831 ; died May 2, 1842, aged nearly 74 years. 
 
 Judge Goddard was a native of Shrewsbury, Mass., and a graduate of 
 Dartmouth College. He settled at Plainfield in the practice of the law 
 in 1791, and served as member of Congress for two sessions, from 1801 
 to 1805. He removed to Norwich in 1807, where he purchased for his 
 residence the Dunham house, which included in its grounds the burial- 
 place of the Mohegan sachems. In 1815, he was appointed a Judge of 
 the Supreme Court. He was a man of honorable character and high 
 attainments. His wife was a daughter of Rev. Levi Hart of Preston, 
 and a grand-daughter of Dr. Bellamy. Charles, oldest son of Calvin 
 Goddard, removed to ZanesviUe, Ohio, in 1817. 
 
 Since 1831, the Mayor has been elected annually. 
 
 5. James Lanman. Elected June 6, 1831 ; in office three years. 
 Mr. Lanman was born in Norwich, June 14, 1769 ; graduated at Yale 
 
 College in 1788, and chose the law for his profession, in which he soon 
 acquired distinguished rank, and successively filled various important pub- 
 lic offices. He was Senator in Congress from 1819 to 1825, and for three 
 years Judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. He died Aug. 7, 
 1841, aged 72. He was the oldest son of the first Peter Lanman of Nor- 
 wich. His mother was Sarah, daughter of Samuel Coit of Preston. 
 
 6. Francis Asher Perkins : 1834 ; one year. 
 
 Mr. Perkins entered early upon a mercantile life, and experienced its 
 usual vicissitudes of alternate success and disappointment. He was at 
 one period a broker in Boston, and during the latter years of his life, suc- 
 cessively cashier of the Norwich Bank and treasurer of the Savings 
 Society. Through life he was devoted to the interests of religion and 
 humanity. Upright in conduct, with a genial disposition and well-culti- 
 
it U i\ V¥ 1 Vj Jl , Q'^ ( 
 
 vated mind, he kept on fresh and serene to the last, a beloved officer in 
 the church, a diligent student and acceptable teacher of Bible truth. He 
 died March 27, 1863, aged 78. His father, Hezekiah Perkins, died in 
 1822. His mother, Sarah Pitch, was a grand-daughter of Joseph Fitch, 
 the eighth son of the revered founder of the Norwich Church. 
 
 Mr. Perkins was the last Mayor over the old city, whose limits were 
 coincident with those of the town. 
 
 7. Charles "W. Rockwell. Elected in 1835; in office three years; 
 chosen again in 1846. 
 
 8. Charles James Lanman ; 1838, one year. 
 
 Mr. Lanman is a son of Senator Lanman, fifth Mayor of the city. He 
 resided a few years in Norwich, but has since removed. 
 
 9. William C. Gihnan;* 1839, one year. 
 
 Mr. Gilman was a native of Exeter, N. H., and was first initiated into 
 mercantile pursuits in Boston, but nearly thirty years of the most active 
 and energetic portion of his life were spent in Norwich. 
 
 As a man of business he was acute in perceiving capabilities and ardent 
 in the presentation of them to others ; always prompt and persevering in 
 promoting plans and pursuits calculated to develop the resources or ad- 
 vance the moral and religious interests of the community. 
 
 The period of Mr. Gilman's residence in Norwich was marked not only 
 by the stimulus given to manufactures at the Falls and on the Shetucket, 
 and the increase of business in general, but by fresh interest in the cause 
 of temperance, improvements in churches, and the establishment of Sab- 
 bath Schools. All these undertakings were deeply indebted not only to 
 bis forecast, but to his advocacy and personal service. 
 
 Mr. Gilman was also a man of taste and research ; one who delighted 
 in collecting memorials of the past, exploring the antiquities of the coun- 
 try, and commemorating the old heroic Red men of the land. 
 
 The failure of the large manufacturing companies with which he had 
 seen connected, led the way to his removal from Norwich about the year 
 1845. The later years of his life were spent in New York, where he 
 lied June 6, 1863. His remains were brought to Norwich for inter- 
 nent. 
 
 10. John Breed, 1840 ; in office two years, and elected again in 1845. 
 
 * This was an exciting and warmly contested election, — made so hy political parti - 
 anship. Meetings were held on the 3d, 10th and 14th days of June, and successive 
 allotings tried each day without resulting in a choice. The meeting was then ad- 
 jumed to the 24th, when the election was decided by 216 votes out of 378. 
 
628 HISTOET OP NOEWICH. 
 
 11. William P. Greene, 1842 ; one year. 
 
 Mr. Greene was a native of Boston, but an inhabitant of Norwich for 
 more than forty years. He was the second son of Gardiner and Eliza- 
 beth (Hubbard) Greene, and born Sept. 7, 1795. He graduated at Har- 
 vard College in 1814, and afterward studied law, but his health not being 
 equal to the requirements of the legal profession, he removed in 1824 to 
 Norwich, and engaged at once in business, as a partner and agent of the 
 Thames Manufacturing Co., which had invested a large capital in the 
 purchase of mill privileges at the Falls. 
 
 In this city he soon acquired and retained during life the esteem and 
 respect of the community. He was an energetic and a large-hearted 
 man ; literary in his tastes, but with profound sagacity in financial and 
 business concerns. These qualities were united with a pure life and an 
 entire absence of ostentation. As a beautiful result of his unobtrusive 
 life and liberal disposition, he seemed to have no enemies. Slander never 
 made him its mark, and his name was never mentioned with disrespect. 
 
 He was never possessed of robust health, and therefore seldom able to 
 give his personal services in aid of public measures, but all charitable 
 and noble undertakings having for their object the welfare of man and the 
 honor of God were sure of his liberal aid and cordial sympathy. 
 
 In 1825 he was chosen the first President of the Thames Bank, and 
 held the office for sixteen years. With this exception, and that of the 
 single year in which he was Mayor of the city, he steadfastly declined, on 
 account of his health, all appointments to public office. 
 
 He died June 18, 1864, aged 68. Seldom has the death of a citizen 
 excited in the place so deep an interest and such profound regret. It was 
 a loss that was felt in the circles of business and of public improvement : 
 in the departments of education and philanthropy. 
 
 12. Gurdon Chapman. Elected 1843 ; in office two years. 
 
 Mr. Chapman died Jan. 18, 1859, aged 52. He was a native of Pres- 
 ton, — a self-made man, by his own talent and industry acquiring property 
 and influence. 
 
 John Breed; re-elected 1845, one year. 
 
 Mr. Breed was a son of the second Mayor of the city. For more than 
 half a century he has been known as a prominent merchant of Norwich, 
 engaged chiefly in the hardware line, but often entering into other depart- 
 ments of business. The sign of "John Breed S^ Co.," representing the 
 partnership of John Breed and his brother Simeon, was first displayed 
 upon the store in Water street, where his father and grandfather had 
 transacted business, the day that war was declared against Great Britain, 
 June 19, 1812. Mr. Breed entered into several subsequent partnerships, 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 629 
 
 but whether the firm was Trumbull & Breed, John & James Breed, or 
 Breed, Prentice & Co., the old sign of John Breed ^ Go. has been dis- 
 played in conjunction with its successor, for more than fifty-three years, 
 until it is regarded as one of the antiquities of the place. 
 
 Mr. Breed had himself become so identified with the city, that he 
 seemed a part of it, — always present at its public meetings, always inter- 
 ested in the passing discussion, and always firm and downright in his posi- 
 tions. He was a man of strong peculiarities and of impulsive character, 
 with great originality and independence, carrying much of the vivacity of 
 youth into the decline of life. Tall, with white locks, and wearing a white 
 hat, every child knew him, and no face or form was more familiar to the 
 inhabitants at large. 
 
 His name is commemorated in Breed Hall, which was erected by him 
 with the design of furnishing a convenient hall for lectures, concerts, and 
 other large assemblies, and thus supplying a desideratum which the inter- 
 ests of the city required. This building was completed in February, 1860, 
 Mr. Breed died suddenly, Dec. 3, 1865, in his 75th year. 
 
 Charles Tf. Rockwell, re-elected 1846; one year. 
 
 Mr. Rockwell is a native of the town, but a large portion of his mature 
 life has been spent in business at the South and West. While a resident 
 here, — ^from 1830 to 1850, — he entered heartily into the duties of citizen- 
 ship, and was distinguished for liberality and public spirit. All enter- 
 prises calculated to advance the interests of the community in business, 
 mental culture, physical comfort, and religious improvement, found in him 
 a cordial advocate and patron. 
 
 He was one of the original projectors of the Norwich and Worcester 
 railroad ; forecasting its importance and embarking in its construction 
 with an interest that merged his financial resources in the undertaking. 
 This railroad, which has proved so beneficial to Norwich, was constructed 
 at a period of such pecuniary pressure in the country, that those who 
 engaged early in the work sufiered severely in their private fortunes 
 before it was completed. 
 
 It is not often the case in this world, that they who expend their zeal 
 and energies upon a great work, are the persons that reap the most ben- 
 efit from it. They plan, and execute, and toil on with unceasing ardor to 
 complete an undertaking, and then are swept aside, or pass away, while 
 others enter into their labors, and enjoy that which costs them nothing. 
 There is nothing discouraging in this ; it rather ennobles measures which 
 otherwise would be but sordid, — teaching the generous mind to enter upon 
 its beneficial task, whether personal advantage accrue from it or not ; to 
 do good, and pursue noble ends by noble means, without too solicitously 
 expecting a reward, or indulging regret if it be withheld. 
 
630 HISTOET OF NOEWICH. 
 
 13. John Dunham, 1847 ; in office two years. 
 
 14. Wm. A. Buckingham, 1849 ; in office two years. 
 
 15. La Fayette S. Foster, 1851 ; in office two years. ' 
 
 16. Erastus Williams, 1853 ; in office two years. 
 
 17. Wm. L. Brewer, 1855 ; in office one year. 
 
 Wm. A. Buckingham, re-elected 1856 ; in office two years. 
 
 18. Amos W. Prentice, 1858 ;* in office two years. 
 
 19. James S. Carew, 1860 ; in office two years. 
 
 20. James Lloyd Greene, 1862 ; stiU in office. 
 
 This is the third instance in which the father and son have held the 
 office ; the present Mayor being the son of the 11th. 
 
 Of these twenty presiding officers, ten are yet on the stage of life, and 
 the last eight are residents of the city, (January, 1866.) 
 
 LL.D. 
 
 This honorary degree has been conferred upon four citizens of Norwich. 
 
 Governor Samuel Huntington received it from the two colleges of Dart- 
 mouth and Yale. 
 
 Benjamin Huntington, first Mayor of the City, from Yale. 
 
 Henry Strong, also from Yale, " in testimony of his professional emi- 
 nence." 
 
 La Fayette S. Foster, from Brown University. 
 
 Among the members of the legal profession, claimed by the town as 
 natives, Henry Strong stands pre-eminent. As a lawyer and jurist, he 
 was exact in detail, and yet profound and comprehensive ; acute in dis^ 
 cerning the truth amid complicated statements, and persistent in his exer- 
 tions to clear up a doubtful point. It may justly be said that he imparted 
 dignity and respectability to the profession, preserving in his legal busi- 
 ness as counselor, arbiter, and advocate, the same unyielding integrity that 
 marked his private life. Native ability, untiring industry, and adherence 
 to principle, harmoniously wrought together, formed his character. 
 
 * This was an exciting election. On the first day, 714 ballots were cast ; for A. W. 
 Prentice, 351. As this was not a majority, no choice was made. At the second meet- 
 ing, 932 votes wore polled ; for Prentice, 492, which decided the election in his favor. 
 
■"S ? V 0eo.E.Per!n6,-8e»*^"^ 
 
 r> 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 631 
 
 His disposition and habits were so retiring that his reputation was 
 scarcely commensurate with his worth. He refused uniformly to be con- 
 sidered a candidate for public office, otherwise the community would have 
 assigned to him gladly the responsibilities and honors of high official 
 trust. 
 
 Mr. Strong graduated at Yale College in 1806, was for two years tutor 
 in the institution, and at a subsequent period was invited to become a mem- 
 ber of the faculty as professor of law, but declined the appointment. He 
 died Nov. 12, 1852. 
 
 Presidential Electors from Norwich. 
 
 Joshua Huntington, 1805, — 5th presidential election; Thomas Jefferson 
 elected : opposition candidate, C. C. Pinckney. 
 
 Calvin Goddard, 1813, — 7th presidential election; James Madison 
 elected : opposition candidate, DeWitt Clinton. 
 
 Charles W. Eockwell, 1845,— 15th presidential election; James K. 
 Polk elected : opposition candidate, Henry Clay. 
 
 William A. Buckingham, 1857, — 18th presidential election; James 
 Buchanan elected; opposition candidate, J. C. Fremont. 
 
 In these four elections Connecticut gave her whole vote for the minority 
 candidate. 
 
 Members of Congress who were residents and citizens of Norwich, and Rep- 
 resentatives of this -part of Connecticut. 
 
 1. Gov. Samuel Huntington, President of the Continental Congress. 
 
 2. Judge Benjamin Huntington, of the Contmental Congress, and also 
 a member under the Constitution from 1789 to 1791. 
 
 3. Calvin Goddard, M. C. from 1801 to 1805; afterward Judge of the 
 Superior Court of Connecticut. 
 
 4. General Ebenezer Huntington, an officer of the Revolution,— twice 
 elected to Congress, in 1810 and again in 1817. 
 
 5. James Lanman ; U. S. Senator for six years, from 1819 to 1825. 
 
 6. Jabez W. Huntington, M. C. from 1829 to 1834 ; U. S. Senator 
 from 1840 to his death,— six years. Between these two periods of Con- 
 gressional duty, he served as Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors and 
 of the Superior Court of Connecticut. He died Nov. 1, 1847, aged 59. 
 Senator Huntington was widely known and appreciated for his prudence, 
 sagacity and decision as a counselor and judge. 
 
 7. John A. Rockwell, M. C. from 1845 to 1849. Mr. RockweU was 
 for many years a successful practitioner in the Court of Claims at Wash- 
 
632 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 iugton, and in connection witli iMs branch of public business, digested and 
 published a work on Spanish and Mexican law. In political life he was 
 more of a national man than a partizan ; a true lover of his country ; 
 warmly interested in its past history, honoring its founders, and firmly 
 believing in its high mission to expand the boundaries of knowledge and 
 free government. lie died at Washington, Feb. 10, 1861, aged 59. His 
 remains were interred at Norwich. 
 
 8. La Fayette S. Foster, U. S. Senator since 1855. Mr. Foster is a 
 native of Franklin, born Nov. 22, 1806, and a graduate of Brown Uni- 
 A er-^ity. As a lawyer and political orator, he has acquired an honorable 
 reputation, and is particularly noted for the tact, decision and impartiality 
 that are necessary to make a good presiding officer in large assemblies. 
 This has been manifested in his public life, as Mayor of the City, chair- 
 man of many political meetings. Speaker of the Connecticut House of 
 Eepresentatives, and President pro tern, of the U. S. Senate. To this 
 last office he was chosen at the first session of the 39th Congress, March 
 G, 1865. 
 
 The following members of Congress from other States are natives of 
 Norwich, in its present limits : 
 
 Phineas L. Tracy, from New York. "WUHam Woodbridge, from IMich. 
 Albert H. Tracy, " " Charles Miner, " Penn. 
 
 Erastus Corning, " " Thomas L. Harris, " 111. 
 
 Abel Huntington, " '' 
 
 Decease of Persons connected with the Legal Profession. 
 
 1. J. G. W. Trumbull, a native of Lebanon, settled at Norwich in 1815 ; 
 died Sept. 5, 1852, aged 65. 
 
 2. Eoswell Morgan, died July 12, 1853, aged 77. 
 
 3. James Stedman, a native of Hampton, graduated at Yale in 1801> 
 and remained as tutor for two years ; studied law with Theodore Dwight, 
 and entered into practice at Norwich in 1806. He was for many years 
 Clerk of the County Court. In private life he was social and hospitable ; 
 in his profession a wise and safe counselor, and in the church a revered 
 and beloved officer. He died May 18, 1856, aged 76. 
 
 4. George Bliss, County Sheriff, died at the old homestead of his an- 
 cestors, in the town-plot, Sept. 12, 1857, aged 53. 
 
 5. Asa Child, d. May 11, 1858, aged 59. 
 
 6. George B. Eipley, Judge of the Probate Court, d. July 9, 1858. 
 
 7. Levi II. Goddard, d. May 9, 1862, aged 53. 
 
"^""i Vacaitt, t™. iu.**"' 
 
 OF WO-BWIGBiCOWNEOTTaVT 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 633 
 
 8. Edmund Perkins, d. Aug. 2, 1865, aged 46. 
 
 9. Josepli WilKams, d. Nov. 28, 1865, in the 87th year of his age. 
 
 Mr. Williams graduated at Yale College in 1798, in a class of twenty- 
 one, and for several of the last years of his life his name was the only one 
 in the catalogue of the class against which the ominous asterisk was not 
 placed. He studied law in New Haven, and was in the office and family 
 of the Hon. Simeon Baldwin at the time of the sudden decease of his 
 father, Gen. Joseph "Williams, in October, 1800. He soon entered into 
 practice in his native town, and his father having left a young family and 
 an embarrassed estate, he was not only brother, but father, friend and 
 guardian to the remainder of the household, administering to their welfare 
 and success in life with duteous affection and persistent generosity. Dur- 
 ing the sixty years that he had an office in the city, he held a great variety 
 of public offices, and discharged the duties of each with fidelity and dis- 
 cretion. In 1813-14, an exciting period of the war with Great Britain, 
 .Joseph Williams and Nathaniel Shipman were the calm, judicious men 
 that the town sent to represent them in the Legislature. Mr. Williams 
 was for a series of years the State agent for the Mohegans, and in his 
 retentive memory various interesting incidents, gathered in his intercourse 
 with the tribe, were treasured. 
 
 He was justice of the peace forty years ; alderman of the city twenty- 
 two years ; the first secretary and treasurer of the Fire Insurance Com- 
 pany, and held the office nearly fifty years, beginning with 1803 ; cashier 
 of the Merchants' Bank upwards of forty years, and at the time of Ms 
 death, president of the Norwich Savings Society, of which he was one of 
 the original corporators. 
 
 He was a member of the Congregational Church for thirty -five years, 
 and in his conduct and conversation a consistent Christian.* 
 
 Of the living members of the Norwich bar, the oldest on the list is 
 Samuel C. Morgan. He is a native of Lisbon ; commenced practice in 
 Jewett City in 1816, but has been for nearly thirty years a resident in 
 Norwich. 
 
 The whole number in the town, enrolled as attorneys at the present date, 
 is nearly thirty. Those who have been in practice for thirty years or 
 more, are 
 
 George Perkins, John T. Adams, 
 
 La Fayette S. Foster, John T. Wait. 
 
 * Mr. "Williams took a lively interest in the proposals of the author of this work to 
 prepare a complete history of the town, and when the earlier pages went to the press, 
 was stUl on the stage of life. It is a source of painful regret that many aged citizens 
 from whose reminiscences so many interesting facts have been derived, should have 
 passed away without sharing in the pleasure of seeing the finished work. 
 
HISTOET OP NOHWICH. 
 
 Physicians of Norwich. 
 
 John Olmstead, (or Holmstead,) one of the first company of settlers from 
 Saybrook in 1660 ; died in 1686. 
 
 Samuel Alell, oldest son of Caleb and Margaret (Post) Abell; he died 
 Nov. 21, 1731, aged 59. 
 
 Solomon Tracy, a youth at the time of the settlement ; d. July 2, 1732, 
 aged about 80. 
 
 Oaleh Bushnell, a native of the town ; d. Feb. 18, 1725, aged 46. 
 
 Samuel Law, a transient resident, 1718-20. 
 
 Robert Bell, from Ipswich ; father-in-law of Capt. John Fillmore ; died 
 Aug. 23, 1727. 
 
 David Hartshorn, from Reading, Mass., about 1700 ; settled at the West 
 Farms ; d. Nov. 3, 1738, aged 82. 
 
 Elijah Hartshorn, also of the West Farms, practising in 1780 and 
 onward; d. in 1839, aged 85. 
 
 John Sabin, of West Farms ; d. March 2, 1742, aged 46. 
 
 Thomas Warden, d. 1759 ; he had probably been in practice more than 
 thirty years. 
 
 Christopher Huntington, son of that Christopher who was the first-born 
 son of Norwich. He married for his first wife the daughter of Dr. Caleb 
 Abell, and settled in the parish of New Concord. That he was a physi- 
 cian we infer from the title of Doctor which was attached to his name in 
 1718. 
 
 Christopher Huntington, son of the above, born in 1719, died in 1800. 
 A third Dr. Christopher Huntington, son of the last named, though a reg- 
 ular and highly esteemed physician, does not properly belong to our list, as 
 he practised in Bozrah after it became a distinct town. 
 
 Joseph Perkins, of Newent Society ; graduated at Yale College in 1727, 
 and in 1729 was styled the town doctor. He was distinguished for surgical 
 skill as well as for successful treatment of diseases. He died July 7, 1794, 
 aged 90. 
 
 Joseph Perkins, oldest son of the above, bom in 1733, was also a prac- 
 tising physician, studying with his father, but not taking a degree. He 
 was the father of Major Joseph Perkins of Norwich, and died at the age 
 of 37. 
 
 Benjamin Wlieat, from Cambridge, Mass., settled in Norwich as a phy- 
 sician about 1730 ; died in 1758, aged 49. 
 
 John Barker, of Norwich West Farms, forty years in practice, and first 
 President of the County Medical Society. He died June 13, 1791, aged 
 62. A contemporary notice gives him credit for a " peculiar readiness to 
 communicate for general information whatever his penetrating genius, per- 
 severing observation and long experience had brought to view." 
 
HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 635 
 
 Samuel H. Barker, of West Farms ; d. June 11, 1794, in the 30th year 
 of his age. 
 
 " K worth and merit from death's jaws could save, 
 Barker, our Mend, had always shunned the graTO." 
 
 [Obituary verses by one of his pupils. 
 
 Theophilus Sogers, a son of Capt. Ezekiel Eogers of Lynn, Mass., re^ 
 moved to Norwich about 1720 ; d. Sept. 29, 1753, aged 54. 
 
 Ezehiel Rogers, oldest son of the above, was prepared for the medical 
 profession, but died at the age of 22. 
 
 Theophilus Rogers, Jr., like his brother, acquired his professional knowl- 
 edge by study and practice with his father. His name stands first on the 
 list of eleven physicians who in 1773 applied to the Legislature for per- 
 mission to organize a State Medical Society. Dr. Eogers was afterwards 
 President of the New London County Medical Association. He was 
 highly esteemed, not only as a physician, but for pubKc spirit and social 
 amenity. He was nearly fifty years in practice, and died Sept. 29, 1801, 
 aged 70. 
 
 Misha Tracy, graduated at Tale College in 1738, and studied for his 
 profession with the senior Dr. Eogers. He was eminently skillful in med- 
 icine and surgery, and one of the earliest advocates for inoculation as a 
 preventive of small pox. He died May 1, 1783, aged 71. 
 
 Philemon Tracy, son to the above ; fifty-five years in practice, an able 
 physician, faithful in his vocation, respected and beloved in the commu- 
 nity, He was distinguished for his skill in the treatment of chronic dis- 
 eases ; discriminating, thorough and attentive in all his professional duties. 
 He died April 26, 1837, aged 80. 
 
 Elihu Marvin, a native of Lyme ; student and son-in-law of the second 
 Dr. Theophilus Eogers. He had been a lieutenant in the Eevolutionary 
 war, and was appointed brigadier-general of militia in 1793. He died of 
 yellow fever in 1798, aged 45. 
 
 Seth Marvin, a young physician who studied and practised in Norwich, 
 but died at sea in the ship Hope in 1799. 
 
 Jonathan Marsh, practised in Norwich ; joined the expedition against 
 Crown Point as a surgeon in 1755 ; died in 1766. 
 
 Jonathan Marsh, Jr., noted for surgical skill, and particularly in the line 
 of bone-setting. He died April 17, 1798, aged 44. 
 
 Elisha Lord, nephew of the Eev. Dr. Lord of the First Church. He 
 served in the army on the Canadian frontier as a surgeon ; died March 16, 
 1768, aged 40. 
 
 Doctor Lodema, born in Norwich, March 16, 1759; died in Canterbury, 
 Feb. 21, 1855, nearly 96 years of age. 
 
 Richard Tozor, a student with Dr. Benjamin Wheat. He joined the 
 Louisburg expedition in 1745, as surgeon's mate, and never returned. 
 
636 HISTORY OP NORWICH, 
 
 Dominie Touzain. On the grave-stone of Col. John Durkee is the fol- 
 lowing memorial : 
 
 " In memory of Docf Dominie Touzain who was lost in a hurricane in March 1782 
 in 76 31»' year of hig age." 
 
 Benjamin Moore practiced a few years at the Landing. In 1793, he 
 advertised that he was about to leave Norwich. He died in Demarara, 
 not long afterward. 
 
 Azor, son of Eliphalet Garew, a short time in practice, but went abroad 
 for his health, and died on his passage from London to New York, Jan. 
 18, 1800. 
 
 Philip Turner, student and son-in-law of Dr. Elisha Tracy, surgeon- 
 general of the Eastern department in the Revolutionary war. In the line 
 of surgery he stood at the head of the medical faculty in this country. 
 The credit has been awarded to him of being the first surgeon in America 
 that performed the operation of tying the femoral artery. He died at New 
 York in 1815, aged 75. 
 
 John Turner, son of the above, a man of genial disposition and genuine 
 benevolence; as a physician, skillful and popular. He died May 7, 1837, 
 aged 73. 
 
 George W. Trott studied with Dr. Tracy, and was licensed by the Con- 
 necticut Medical Society. His card, offering his services as a physician 
 at Norwich, was dated Jan. 18, 1803. He soon removed to "Wilkesbarre, 
 Penn. 
 
 Benjamin Butler studied with Dr. Turner, practiced a short time in 
 Norwich, and then removed to New York. 
 
 Charles Worthington, in the year 1800, offered his services as a physi- 
 cian, advertising that he had been licensed by the !i\Iedical Society. 
 
 Lemuel BosweU, for many years the principal practicing physician in 
 Chelsea; died Aug. 18, 1804, aged 69. 
 
 Thomas B. BosioeU, died Feb. 3, 1829, aged 49. 
 
 George Tisdale, began practice at Norwich in June, 1799, and died in 
 November, 1824, aged 51. 
 
 Nathan Tisdale, died July 15, 1830, aged 58. These were brothers, 
 and natives of Lebanon.* 
 
 Eufus Spalding, removed from Nantucket to Norwich-town in 1812 ; 
 died Aug. 22, 1830, aged 70. 
 
 Alfred E. Perhins, son of Major Joseph Perkins, graduated at Yale 
 College in 1830 ; acquired the degree of M. D. in 1833, but died Oct. 29, 
 1834, before entering on professional duty. He was a young man of high 
 attainments and fine promise. In his will he bequeathed to the Library 
 
 * George H., only son of Dr. Nathan Tisdale, emigrated to Alabama in 1837, and 
 there died at Selma, Sept. 22, 1865, aged 51. 
 
HISTOETOPNOBWICH. 637 
 
 of Yale College a fund of $10,000, the interest to be used in the purchase 
 of books.* 
 
 Ghauncey Burgess, died Aug. 8, 1850, aged 56. 
 
 John P. Fuller, died May 15, 1861, of scarlet fever. Dr. Fuller was 
 originally from Providence, but had practiced, before removing to Nor- 
 wich, in Salem, Ct. He had a wide-extended popularity, as a skiUful 
 surgeon and successful practitioner, and was often summoned to neighbor- 
 ing towns for operation or advice in critical cases. 
 
 At the present time there are more than twenty surgeons and physi- 
 cians, practitioners of the different systems, in the town. Richard P. 
 Tracy is the veteran of the list, having been nearly fifty years in practice. 
 
 "Worthington Hooker, a native of Springfield, Mass., began to practice 
 in Norwich in 1829. He removed to New Haven in 1852, and has since 
 been connected with the Medical Department of Yale College. 
 
 William P. Eaton, a native of Plainfield, has been for forty-six years 
 a resident in Norwich,— Nov. 19, 1819, being the date of his settlement 
 in the place as a medical practitioner. He withdrew from professional 
 practice after a few years, and has since been engaged in the drug busi- 
 ness ; taking always an active interest in the public improvements, discus- 
 sions, and municipal affairs of the city. 
 
 Elijah Dyer, originally from Canterbury, has been for nearly forty years 
 a resident of the town, ^nd in constant practice. 
 
 Ralph Famsworth, a native of Groton, Mass., began his professional 
 career in Norwich in 1826. 
 
 Ashbel B. Haile, from Otsego Co., N. Y., about the year 1840. 
 
 These are the only physicians in town whose practice extends over 
 twenty years. 
 
 Druggists, 
 
 The following persons, bearing the title of Doctor, were probably drug- 
 gists, and not practicing physicians : 
 
 Dr. McClure, of Norwich, 1791. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Colt, who died Dec. 18, 1799. 
 
 Dr. Gurdon Lathrop, son of Azariah, 1800 ; died 1828. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Thomas, died April 20, 1840, aged 68. 
 
 The most noted druggists of the place, in modern days, whose names 
 now belong to the history of the past, are the following : 
 
 * This was the third considerable donation to Tale College from citizens of Norwich. 
 Major James Fitch endowed it in its infancy with 637 acres of land in the town of Kil- 
 lingly, and Dr. Daniel Lathrop in 1782 left a legacy to the College of £500. 
 
638 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 Dwight Ripley, died Nov. 18, 1835, aged 71.* 
 
 Samuel Tyler, d. Sept., 1854, aged 80 years and 20 days. 
 
 William S. Tyler, d. Sept. 29, 1864, aged 57. 
 
 Charles Lee, d. Oct. 26, 1865, aged 75. 
 
 Dr. Lee, of the firm of Lee & Osgood, entered into the drug business 
 at Norwich in 1831. He was brother to Dr. Samuel Lee of Windham, 
 the original propi:ietor of the Windham Lee's PiUs, (as distinguished from 
 the pills of Dr. S. H. P. Lee of New London,) and succeeded him in 
 making and vending this popular specific.f 
 
 The 59th Annual Meeting of the State Medical Soeiety was held at 
 Norwich, May 9, 1855, by invitation of the City Medical Association. 
 It had never before held its anniversary except at one of the State cap- 
 itals. Dr. Jonathan Knight of New Haven was present, who 47 years 
 before had been the principal of the Proprietors' School in Norwich. 
 
 Business Sketches and Ourrent Events. 
 
 After the Revolution, the growth of Chelsea in buildings, population, 
 and commerce, was rapid, and the tide of prosperity continued without 
 any serious check to the close of the century. 
 
 Thomas Mumford was a thriving merchant, living in handsome style, 
 and was extensively known as a gentleman and a patriot. He died in 
 1799. 
 
 Joseph Howland was in business at Norwich for nearly forty years. He 
 came to the place about the year 1770 ; married Lydia, daughter of Capt. 
 WiUiam Coit, May 27, 1772, and was made a freeman in 1773. He was 
 afterward of the firm of Howland & Coit, Norwich, Howland & Allyn, 
 New Loudon, and at a later period, in connection with his son, Joseph 
 Howland, Jr., and Jesse Brown, Jr., established the firm of Howland, 
 Brown & Co. This concern owned and fitted out the ship Charlotte, and 
 
 * J. T). Ripley, a grandson of Dr. Dwight Ripley, perished in the burning of the 
 steamer Commonwealth at Groton, Ct., Dec. 29, 1865. He was engaged in medical 
 studies when the war commenced, and enlisted in the 18th C. V. as Hospital Steward, 
 but often during his three years' service performed the duties of Assistant Surgeon, 
 particularly at Winchester, where he was left by the enemy in charge of the severely 
 wounded. On retiring from the army, he resumed the study of his profession, and had 
 been attending medical lectures in New York, practicing also in the wards of the hos- 
 pital, and was returning home to spend the holidays, when he met with his untimely 
 fate, — being, as it was supposed, suffocated in his berth. 
 
 t Before Dr. Lee removed to Norwich, he had been in business at 'Willimantic, and 
 was largely instrumental in establishing a Congregational church in that village, of 
 which church he was the first deacon, and superintendent of its first Sabbath School. 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 639 
 
 some fifteen or twenty brigs, schooners and sloops ; often having on hand 
 live stock sufficient for three or four deck-loads to the West Indies, and 
 inboard freight to a proportionate extent. This partnership was dissolved 
 in May, 1806. 
 
 Mr. Howland built the house on Union street, which was afterward for 
 forty years the residence of Dr. Dwight Ripley and his family. Having 
 relinquished business and settled his affairs in Norwich, he removed to 
 New York, where his children, both sons and daughters, had previously 
 settled, and died in that city, March 11, 1836, aged 86.* 
 
 Capt. John Howland, the elder brother of Joseph, was originally con- 
 nected with him in maritime affairs, and was also a practical ship-master, 
 sailing chiefly from New York, and making both West India and Euro- 
 pean voyages. He was at Liverpool in 1785, in command of the brig 
 Slary, and died at sea in 1789, aged forty. After his death, his son, Na- 
 thaniel Howland, born at New York in 1775, came to reside with his rel- 
 atives in Norwich, and was introduced by them into the mercantile and 
 shipping business. In the course of a few years he had a rope-walk in 
 West Chelsea, a duck manufactory at the Falls, and a wharf and store at 
 the Landing. He held also the military rank of colonel, but removed 
 about the year 1814 to Brooklyn, New York, where he died July 7th, 
 1839. 
 
 Gen. JEbenezer Huntington, though a resident in the town-plot, was in 
 business at the Landing more than thirty years, occupying a store in She- 
 tucket street, nearly opposite the bridge. 
 
 Gen. Jedidiah Huntington, also an up-town resident, transacted business 
 in Shetucket street, at the hhie store,t the former premises of TrumbuU, 
 Fitch & Trumbull, and was here engaged in merchandise, when the Rev- 
 olutionary war commenced. Most of the commissary business of Col. 
 Joshua Huntington was executed at this stand. It was afterwards occu- 
 pied for the cutlery and hardware business, by Huntington & Glover, the 
 firm changing to Jabez Huntington & Co. 
 
 Thomas Gait was a merchant in Norwich for about fifteen years. He 
 was burnt out in 1793, but most of his goods were saved, and he contmued 
 in trade till 1798, when he sold out and removed to Canterbury. 
 
 Jacoh and John Be Witt, father and son, together and in succession, were 
 in business for more than seventy years. 
 
 * His oldest son, Joseph Howland, Jr., died young and unmarried. His other sous, 
 Samuel S. and Gardiner G., went to New York at an early age, and in the course of a 
 few years rose to the highest rank as merchants and bankers, founding a large com- 
 mercial hotise from which they retired with overflowing wealth in 1837, leaving the 
 business to their sons and nephews. It is now the firm of Howland & Aspinwall. 
 
 t Tancifnl colors for mercantile buildings seem to have been at one time in vogue. 
 One of the old stores in Chelsea was painted red with yellow trimmings. 
 
640 HISTOBT OF NORWICH. 
 
 The name of Peter Lanman, father and son, was conspicuous in mer- 
 cantile affairs for nearly the same length of time.* 
 
 The Breeds, father, son, and grandsons, have pursued the same business 
 at the same hardware and shipping store in Water street, for more than a 
 hundred years. The building has been enlarged, but the main part re- 
 mains nearly the same as when built by Gershom Breed in 1764.t 
 
 The Tyler drug-store on Water street was built in 1784, and has been 
 occupied by three successive generations of the family. The firm was at 
 first, " Tyler & Tyler," the partners being Samuel Tyler of Norwich, and 
 Pascal P. Tyler of Brooklyn, Conn. Col. Tyler had served seven years 
 with Dr. Joshua Lathrop, and was familiar with those old recipes which 
 the elder Dr. Lathrop had obtained in England, in the efiicacy of which 
 there was a strong traditionary faith. 
 
 Joseph Williams and Z/ynde Mc Curdy, active merchants and esteemed 
 citizens, were taken from their spheres of usefulness in the prime of life. 
 The former died Oct. 23, 1800, at the age of 47 ; the latter in 1803, aged 
 48. Mr. McCurdy was a native of Lyme but his mature years were all 
 spent in Norwich, where he was distinguished for generosity and public 
 spirit. Plis epitaph says, " Short were the admonitions of sickness, and 
 suddenly was the grave his house."J 
 
 In the early part of the present century, Hezekiah Perkins, Andrew 
 and Joseph Perkins, Farewell and Benjamin Coit, and Erastus Coit, were 
 prominent as citizens and merchants. Woodbridge & Snow was a well- 
 known firm. Samuel Rudd, Henry Gordon, Devotion & Storrs, Felix A. 
 Huntington & Co., were dealers both in dry goods and groceries. 
 
 The brief partnership of Raymond ^ Dodge (Joshua Raymond and 
 David L. Dodge) was broken up by Mr. Raymond's decease in 1806. 
 
 Li 1805, we meet with the firm of Pliny Brewer Sf Co. The partner 
 in this instance was Joseph Otis, to whom Norwich is indebted for her 
 public library. 
 
 Of citizens now living, a few that have been long in business, or prom- 
 inently engaged in public affairs, may with propriety be noticed. 
 
 Giles Buckingham, from Saybrook, removed to Norwich in 1808, and 
 for many years was an active dealer in dry goods ; the firm changing in 
 1815 to G. Buckingham & Co. The elder pai-tner died Nov. 7, 1831, 
 
 * The second Petor Lanman died at Norwich, Dec. 29, 1854, aged 83. Commodore 
 Joseph Lanman of the U. S. Navy is one of his sons. 
 
 t Tho river formerly ran directly in the rear of these buildings on Water st. , where 
 the railway connection track is now laid. 
 
 t The residence of Mr. McCurdy, still known by his name, is on the pitch of the hill 
 overlooking Main st, It was built in 1786, by Nathaniel Backus for his son Erastus, 
 who died in 1791. It was then purchased by Mr. McCurdy. 
 
-nS»VG«E;Pm»0'5=' """ 
 
 lEI^ymillEir IPoWHaiLHiiMISc 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 641 
 
 aged 53. The other partner, Hamlin B. Buckingham, is the present libra- 
 rian of the Otis Library. 
 
 Kelationship to these merchants brought William A. Buckingham to 
 Norwich in 1825. He was at first in their employ, but soon became a 
 successful merchant on his own account, and has since been extensively 
 engaged in various manufactures. The town has been greatly indebted 
 to his example and influence. 
 
 He was chosen Governor of Connecticut in 1858, and has been annually 
 re-elected by continually increasing majorities. This position is not the 
 result of political management, or party compromise, but may be consid- 
 ered as a popular tribute to his high character for judgment and integrity. 
 He is a practical man, connected with the manufacturing and industrial 
 interests of the State ; a friend to the poor and unfortunate, and of un- 
 wearied industry in doing good. 
 
 Governor Buckingham is a direct descendant, in the sixth generation, 
 from Eev. Thomas Buckingham of Saybrook, and his wife, Hester Hos- 
 mer of Hartford, who were married in 1666. He was born in Lebanon, 
 May 28, 1804, and has two brothers, Rev. Samuel Buckingham of Spring- 
 field, and J. Matson Buckingham of Norwich. 
 
 Advertisements of the foundry of B. N. Bentley, "at the west end of 
 the wharf bridge," begin in 1805, when he was 21 years of age. The 
 connection of Mr. Bentley with the rise and establishment of the Metho- 
 dist Society in Norwich is noticed elsewhere in this history. 
 
 William Williams, a native of Stonington, born March 12, 1788, be- 
 came a resident of Norwich in 1809. For several years he was the act- 
 ive partner in the firm of Goddard & Williams, flour merchants and man- 
 ufacturers at the Falls, and has since been engaged in other commercial 
 pursuits. In 1829, though still residing in Norwich, he entered into the 
 whaling business at New London, and founded the house of Williams & 
 Barns, a successful whahng company, still pursuing the same business. 
 In this firm his place Was afterward supplied by his son, Thomas W. Wil- 
 liams, 2d, (born at Norwich in 1815,) who accumulated a handsome prop- 
 erty in the business, but died suddenly at New London, Sept. 12, 1855. 
 
 General Williams is well known as a warm friend to the religious, 
 benevolent and educational institutions of the country. But with the 
 schools and school-houses of New London County he is particularly famil- 
 iar; visiting them often, dispensing good advice, and scattering the printed 
 page. Another specialty for which he is noted, is his devotion to the 
 interests of the Mohegan church ; having for many years attended its 
 services, and, aided its ministrations with perseverance and self-denial. 
 
 The Golden Wedding of General and Mrs. H. P. Williams was com- 
 memorated March 13, 1862. It is only within a few years that it has 
 become customary to celebrate as a festival, the fiftieth anniversary of 
 41 
 
642 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 married life, and this was the first instance of the kind in Norwich. Three 
 others have occurred since, celebrated in a similar manner, with festive 
 and religious ceremonies, by the following parties : 
 
 Rev. Comfort D. Fillmore, of the Methodist Church, and Mrs. Annice 
 Fillmore, at the house of R. H. Fillmore on Bean Hill, March 16, 1863. 
 
 Dea. Isaac and Mrs. Mary H. Bromley, Sept. 7, 1864. 
 
 Humphrey Almy and lady, at the residence of their son, William T. 
 Almy, Jan. 15, 1866. 
 
 In connection with General and Mrs. Williams, we may here advert to 
 one of the sterling men of former days, with whom they were connected 
 by filial ties. Capt. Bela Peck was a man of independent and command- 
 ing character ; his frame large and powerful, and in his youth remarkably 
 athletic and of indomitable courage. In his physical and mental charac- 
 teristics he was the impersonation of those qualities which make a staunch 
 and fearless officer, whether civil or military ; and these were exhibited 
 in the various duties he performed as captain of the old matross company 
 in his younger days, and deputy sheriff for a long course of years. 
 
 He gained a large property by diligence and assiduity, preserved his 
 interest in public aflTairs to extreme old age, lived to be the oldest man in 
 the parish, took his daily drive alone in his chaise till he was past ninety, 
 and died at last without any experience of disease, like one falling asleep, 
 in the ninety-third year of his age, Dec. 15, 1850. He was one of those 
 men whose images remain long in the memory, associated with the scenes 
 and events of former days. 
 
 The firm of Dyer ^ Ripley, druggists, first appeared in 1793. Benja- 
 min Dyer and Dwight Ripley, both from Windham, were the partners ; 
 but the connection was soon dissolved. Dr. Ripley was in business forty- 
 five years. Ripley & Waldo, (Dwight Ripley and Horace Waldo,) deal- 
 ers in drugs, dry-goods and groceries, were the first merchants in Norwich 
 to advance out of the old time-sanctioned forms of retail, and sell goods 
 in larger packages by wholesale. 
 
 This example was followed in 1823 by the fictitious house of IFi7ft's Gray 
 8f Co., a name assumed by the partners, Calvin Tyler* and Joseph Backus. 
 This firm launched at once into a business of considerable extent, and pur- 
 sued it successfully while the partnership lasted, which was just four years 
 to a day, closing in February, 18"27, at which time Backus & Norton,! 
 
 * Capt. Tyler was a man of good business talent. Besides engaging in trade, he 
 started a regular line of packets to New York, running one of them himself. The price 
 of a passage in this line was $4 and found. 
 
 t The promises of Willis Gray & Co. are now occupied by the Norton Brothers. 
 Mr. H. B. Norton has been a resident in Norwich since 1824, and was but 19 years of 
 age when he formed the partnership with Mr. Backus. 
 
HISTOET OF NOEWICH. 643 
 
 (Joseph Backus and Henry B. Norton,) entered into partnership and suc- 
 ceeded to the business of the former house. 
 
 March 9, 1809, is the date of an advertisement in the Norwich Courier 
 of merchandise for sale by George L. Perkins. This denotes the first 
 entrance into business of the present treasurer of the Norwich & Worces- 
 ter Railroad. Col. Perkins, when quite a young man, was one of the 
 originators of the Sabbath School enterprise in Norwich. During the 
 war of 1812, he held the office of paymaster, with the rank of brigade- 
 major in the U. S. Army, and has occupied other positions of trust and 
 honor. 
 
 The book-store of Thomas Rohinson has been one of the standing 
 accommodations of Norwich for forty-eight years. Mr. Robinson is a 
 native of Hartwick, Otsego Co., N. Y., and began business at Norwich 
 in 1818. 
 
 Crurdon A. Jones has been a dealer in shoes and leather at the Landing 
 for more than forty years. 
 
 Capt. Win. W. Coif is a native of New London, but an inhabitant of 
 Norwich since 1819, contributing in various departments to the business 
 and improvement of the city. 
 
 Benjamin Huntington, the present treasurer of the Norwich Savings 
 Society, engaged in business on his own account in the Town Plot in 
 1824, and in 1825 was chosen Town Clerk. 
 
 Norwich, at the period of which we now treat, — the end of the first 
 quarter of the present century, — was in a state of depression and inactiv- 
 ity. It had not recovered from the blow given to its commerce by the 
 war of 1812. Many failures had taken place ; people were involved in 
 debt, and everything was beginning to look old and dilapidated. Since 
 then all things seem to have become new. The advance of the city in 
 population and industrial pursuits may receive illustration from the follow- 
 ing fact. In 1824, the population of the town was about 4000. Of these 
 only one person was known to be of Irish birth. This was Edward Mur- 
 phy, at that time the single Exile of Erin within the town limits. The 
 Irish population alone now amounts to 4000. 
 
 In these last forty years, new and flourishing houses have been estab- 
 hshed, new branches of business undertaken, new and honorable names 
 enrolled among the inhabitants. But on these new themes we can not 
 dwell. It is the special province of history to speak of persons and things 
 that have passed away. Yet the present ghdes so rapidly into the past 
 that it is difficult to know where to draw the line. 
 
6-14 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 Since this work has been in the press, several natives of Norwich, of 
 more than ordinary prominence, have been struck from the ranks of the 
 living. Among these is a feminine name of wide celebrity, that has been 
 repeatedly mentioned in this work, and which now claims from us the 
 mournful duty of this additional record. 
 
 Lydia Huntley Sigourney, born at Norwich, Sept. 1, 1791; died at 
 Hartford, June 10, 1865. 
 
 The writings of this lady, beginning with her first volume of "Moral 
 Pieces, in Prose and Verse," published in 1815, have been for fifty years 
 quietly diffusing an influence in favor of the true, the good and the beau- 
 tiful, in literature, morals and religion. To the young especially they 
 have been of incalculable benefit. The large number of Mrs. Sigour- 
 ney's works, their high moral tone, and the good they have accomplished, 
 have gained for her a name and reputation that will long endure. 
 
 A New London County Agricultural Society was formed in the year 
 1818, which continued in operation five or six years, holding its Annual 
 Fair alternately at Norwich and New London. Oct. 30, 1822, the fair 
 was held at Norwich on the Town Green. A book auction was connected 
 with it, and an address by Mr. McCurdy of Lyme. This association 
 declined, and after a few years became extinct. 
 
 A new County Society was organized April 12, 1854, in the Town Hail 
 at Norwich. Eev. William Clift of Stonington was chosen President, and 
 Dr. D. F. GuUiver Corresponding and Eecording Secretary. The first 
 fair was held at Norwich in September, 1855, at which time M. Paulin, 
 the aeronaut, enlivened the show with a balloon ascension, remaining an 
 hour in the air, and descending at South Kingston, R. I. The next year, 
 the same experimenter came down in Griswold, at the end of twenty 
 minutes. 
 
 At the third fair, in 1857, the balloon of Messrs. Allen & King rose 
 10,000 feet, and after an hour's flight, descended in Canterbury, seventeen 
 miles north of the place of departure. 
 
 This society still continues in operation, and holds its annual fair in 
 Norwich. 
 
 At the Paris Exhibition, or World's Fair, in 1855, three natives of 
 Norwich were present as representatives of three provinces: Daniel C. 
 Gilman from Connecticut, Chai-les 11. Rockwell from California, and T. 
 Sterry Hunt from Canada. 
 
 T. S. Hunt is a grandson of Consider Sterry, who has resided for many 
 years in Canada. In 1856, he was honored at Paris with the rank of 
 " Chevalier d' Honor," as a recognition of his merits as a scientific chemist. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 645 
 
 Yantic Cemetery. 
 
 This rural burying-place was consecrated July 12, 1844, all denomina- 
 tions of Christians in the city uniting in the services. The address was 
 delivered by Dr. Bond of the Second Congregational Church, and the 
 consecrating prayer made by Mr. Paddock, the Episcopal Rector. Two 
 original hymns were sung, composed by Mr. Charles Thurber. 
 
 This cemetery is the property of the city, and has been much enlarged 
 since the first purchase. It contains many beautiful and interesting mon- 
 uments, and has recently acquired a new and permanent interest by gath- 
 ering within its bounds the hallowed remains of many of the victims of 
 the late war. Several brave soldiers who fell upon distant battle-fields, 
 and others who perished in dreary prisons, have been brought home, 
 and now rest in peace beneath these quiet shades. 
 
 The Wauregan Hotel. 
 
 This building was erected by an association of gentlemen, with the 
 design of providing a public house that should afford ample accommoda- 
 tion and be an ornament to the city. On the spot where it stands, and in 
 the immediate vicinity, some of the earliest dwelling-houses at the Land- 
 ing were built. Several wooden buildings, denizens of the spot for more 
 than a century, and their foundations sunk below the level of the side- 
 walks, were demolished to make room for the new structure, which was 
 commenced in April, 1853. 
 
 It is built of brick, five stories high, with exterior trimmings of free- 
 stone, and iron balconies, and cost $50,000, exclusive of the basement. 
 
 The situation is unfavorable to a noble and impressive appearance. 
 Higher ground and more room are necessary to give effect to so large a 
 buildmg. It was opened Feb. 20, 1855. 
 
 - Family Meetings. 
 Sept. 13, 1853, a meeting was held at Norwich, of the descendants of 
 Elder William Brewster. It was decided to erect a monument to the 
 memory of Jonathan Brewster and his wife at Brewster's Neck, and to 
 prepare a memoir of the venerated ancestor of the family, Elder William 
 Brewster. The execution of these tasks was committed to Rev. Ashbel 
 Steele of Washington, D. C, by whose instrumentality the meeting was 
 convened. Both objects have since been accomplished. The monument, 
 a shaft of granite ten feet high, was erected at Brewster's Neck in 1855, 
 and a memoir, entitled " Chief of the Pilgrims," published by Mr. Steele 
 
 in 1857. 
 
646 HISTOET OP NOEWICH. 
 
 Sept. 3, 1857, a family gathering of the descendants of Christopher and 
 Simon Huntington was held in Norwich Town. From 300 to 500 de- 
 scendants from other places assembled to interchange greetings, to trace 
 relationship, and rehearse the traditions of their ancestors. Original hynms 
 were sung, original poems repeated, speeches made, and an historical ad- 
 dress delivered by Rev. E. B. Huntington of Stamford, Ct. 
 
 Banldng and Insurance Companies. 
 
 The first banking establishments in Connecticut werg the Hartford 
 Bank and the Union Bank of New London, both chartered at the May 
 session of the Legislature in 1792. 
 
 , Norwich applied for a similar privilege at the same time with New 
 London, but the Legislature declined to authorize more than one bank for 
 the county, and persuaded the applicants from the two towns to unite in 
 one institution to be called the Union Bank, — the directors to be chosen 
 from both places, but the seat of the bank to be at New London. 
 
 This arrangement was accepted. Gen. Jedidiah Huntington was chosen 
 President. The directors were equally divided between the two places, 
 and were chosen alternately from New London and Norwich. The first 
 from the latter place were — 
 
 Joshua Lathrop, Joseph Williams, 
 
 Daniel L. Coit, Samuel Woodbridge, 
 
 Joseph Howland, Joseph Perkins. 
 
 These were afterward varied, but Joseph Perkins continued to be a 
 director till 1830. 
 
 Norwich Bank, incorporated 1796 ; capital, $150,000. In 1864, changed 
 to Norwich National Bank, capital §220,000. 
 
 This bank was organized June 21, 1796, at Braman's Tavern on the 
 Plain, but for several years aflerward the banking-room was the office of 
 the president. Gen. Ebenezer Huntington, in Shetucket street. The first 
 choice of directors gave the following result : 
 
 Ebenezer Huntington. 
 
 Joshua Lathrop, declined, and Uriah Tracy chosen. 
 
 Daniel Dunham, Elias Brown, Joseph Williams. 
 
 David Trumbull, declined, and John Taintor of Colchester chosen. 
 
 Jabez Huntington, Jabez Perkins, Elijah House, 
 
 James Lannian, Luther Payne, Jonathan Devotion. 
 
 The bank has had four presidents and five cashiers. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 647 
 
 Presidents: 1, Ebenezer Huntington, 1796. 3, Jabez Huntington, 1823. 
 
 2, Simeon Breed, 1820. 4, Cliarles Johnson, 1848. 
 
 Cashiers: 1, Hezekiah Perkins, 1796. 3, J. Newton Perldns, 1834. 
 
 2, Francis A. Perkins, 1825. 4, Charles Johnson, 1836. 
 5. Frank Johnson, 1848. 
 Charles Johnson has been an officer of this bank for thirty years. Jed- 
 idiah Huntington has been on the Board of Directors since 1826, — forty 
 years. Of the original stockholders, the one that lingered longest upon 
 earth was Nathaniel McClellan, formerly of Pomfret, but lately of Nor- 
 wich, who died Sept. 28, 1863, aged 86. 
 
 Thames Bank, incorporated 1825 : capital $200,000, increased in 1856 
 to $500,000, and in July, 1865, to $1,000,000. Organized as Thames 
 National Bank, 1864. 
 
 It has had three presidents : 
 
 1, WUliam P. Greene, 1825. 2, Edward Whiting, 1844. 3, Franklin 
 Nichols, elected in July, 1851. 
 
 Cashiers: 1, Lyman Brewer, from 1825 to his death in June, 1857. 
 2, Charles Bard, elected in June, 1857, and still in office. 
 
 Two of the original stockholders of this bank, Henry M. Wait of Lyme, 
 and Adam Larrabee, (then of Groton, but now of Windham,) are still 
 living. Mr. Wait was a director of the bank fifteen years.* Mr. Larra- 
 bee is still a member of the board, having been recently chosen for the 
 forty-first time. 
 
 The rooms of this institution in the new bank building in Shetucket st. 
 are considered superior in style and accommodation to those of any other 
 banking house in the State. They are adorned with admirable life-like 
 portraits of the first President and first Cashier. 
 
 Quinebaug Bank, incorporated 1832 : capital $500,000. 
 
 First meeting of directors June 11, 1833. The first president, Charles 
 W. EockweU, in office three years, was followed successively by Wm. C. 
 Gihnan, John A. Eockwell, and F. A. Perkins, in short terms ; Samuel 
 C. Morgan, 1843—1860; Lucius W. Carroll, to 1862; David Gallup of 
 Plamfield, to 1864. 
 
 In June, 1864, this bank, having purchased the title and privileges of a 
 National Bank that had been organized the preceding year under the gen- 
 eral banking act, dropped the name Quinebaug, and was reorganized as 
 the First National Bank of Norwich. The capital remains the same. 
 
 Lucius W. Carroll, president ; Lewis A. Hyde, cashier. 
 
 Mr. Hyde had been cashier of the Quinebaug since 1832. 
 
 * The Golden "Wedding of Hon. Henry M. "Wait, LL. D., formerly Chief Judge of 
 the Supreme Court of Connecticut, was commemorated at Lyme, Jan. 23, 1866. 
 
648 HISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 Merchants' Bank, incorporated 1833; capital $200,000. Changed in 
 June, 1865, to Merchants' National Bank. 
 
 This bank has had two presidents and three cashiers. 
 
 1st president, William Williams, (25 years,) resigned Sept. 6, 1858; 
 2d, Henry B. Tracy, now in office. 
 
 1st cashier, Joseph Williams; 2d, Joel W. White; 3d, James M. 
 Meech, since 1856. 
 
 Shetucket Bank, organized under the Free Banking Law of 1852; in- 
 corporated 1855 : capital, $100,000. Changed in 1864, to Shetucket 
 National Bank. 
 
 Charles Osgood, president. 
 
 1st cashier, D. 0. Strong; 2d, John L. Devotion, since 1855. 
 
 Uncas Bank, organized under the Free Banking Law of 1852 ; incor- 
 porated 1855; capital, $300,000. Changed in 1864 to Uncas National 
 Bank. 
 
 James A. Hovey, president; Edward H. Learned, cashier. 
 
 In this bank there has been no change of officers. 
 
 Second National Bank, organized under the General Act in July, 1864. 
 Capital, $100,000 ; since increased to $300,000. 
 
 J. Hunt Adams, the first president, resigned in May, 1865, and was 
 succeeded by David Smith. Charles P. Cogswell, cashier. 
 
 The year 1857 was marked by a great financial crisis in American 
 business. Norwich was seriously affected by it. The Pequot Bank, 
 which had been incorporated, relinquished its charter. The Quinebaug 
 and Uncas Banks, failing to redeem their bills, were thrown out by the 
 Sufiblk Bank, Boston. They were however taken at par in trade, and 
 never lost their value as a medium of circulation. At the beginning of 
 the next year, the banks were able to redeem their bills, and regained 
 their former credit. 
 
 The bank building in Shetucket street was erected in 1863, at a cost of 
 $60,000. It stands on a solid ledge of rocks, with the precipitous river 
 bank in its rear. It is built of brick, with a front of Dorchester free- 
 stone, and is over fifty feet in height. It consists of three sections, belong- 
 ing to the Chelsea Savings Bank, Thames National Bank, and Norwich 
 Savings Society. It accommodates also the Quinebaug National Bank 
 and the Thames Insurance and Norwich Fire Insurance Companies, 
 renting also a number of private offices. 
 
 During the years 1864 and 1865, the seven banks of Norwich were all 
 arranged by their directors, under the General Banking Act of Congress, 
 as National Banks. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 649 
 
 JVoi-wich Savings Society. This was incorporated in May, 1824, upon 
 the petition of twenty persons, by whom, according to the terms of the 
 charter, twenty others were chosen, the whole constituting a Board of 
 Trustees. Of these forty trustees, at the close of 1865 only two are on 
 the stage of life, viz., George L. Perkins and David N. Bentley. Three 
 of the first twenty petitioners died during the year 1865, viz., Joseph Wil- 
 liams, John Breed, and Amos H. Hubbard, forty-one years after the char- 
 ter grant. 
 
 The deposits during ihe first year (to Oct. 1, 1826,) amounted to 
 $20,000; in the first ten years, to $160,000; and in twelve years, to 
 $226,000. 
 
 The first president was Charles Rockwell,* who died in June, 1826, 
 and was succeeded by Jabez Huntington. The late Francis A. Perkins 
 was connected with this institution for a much longer time than any other 
 oflacer. He was treasurer for the first ten years; then president four 
 years; and in 1848 again elected treasurer and secretary, which ofiices he 
 retained till his death in March, 1863. He was succeeded by Benjamin 
 Huntington, who is still in office. 
 
 Amount deposited to January, 1866, $4,553,580.40. 
 
 Chelsea Savings Bank, incorporated May, 1858. 
 
 Lorenzo Blackstone, president. 
 
 Charles M. Coit, treasurer ; resigned in 1861, to enter the army. John 
 B. "Ward chosen to supply his place ; four years in ofiice. Chas. M. Coit 
 re-appointed in July, 1865. 
 
 Amount of deposits to January, 1866, $516,780.37. 
 
 A third savings bank, with the title of Farmers and Mechanics' Savings 
 Bank, was organized in 1854, capital $100,000, which was in operation a 
 few years, but is now discontinued. 
 
 Insurance Companies. 
 
 Norwich Mutual Assurance. The charter for this company was granted 
 on petition of Joshua Lathrop and others. The first meeting was held at 
 the old court-house in Norwich Town, Dec. 29, 1794. 
 
 Zachariah Huntington, secretary. 
 
 This company has never had a president. Since 1844, Henry B. Tracy 
 has been secretary and treasurer. 
 
 For a long course of years, the capital announced from year to year was 
 $6,666. The assets at the present time (close of 1865) are $8,979.95. 
 
 * Father of Charles W. and John A. Eockwell. 
 
650 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 The Norwich Marine Insurance Co. was chartered in 1803 ; capital, 
 $50,000. Joseph Howland, president ; Shubael Breed, cashier. 
 
 The Fire Insurance Co. was organized in 1813. Ebenezer Huntington, 
 treasurer ; Joseph Williams, secretary. 
 
 These two companies were consolidated by act of the Legislature in 
 October, 1818, and incorporated as the Norwich Fire Insurance Company. 
 Capital, $100,000 ; increased to $200,000. 
 
 First president, Charles P. Huntington. Joseph Williams, secretary 
 from 1818 to 1855. 
 
 Officers in 1865: Ebenezer Learned, president; J. L. Denison, secre- 
 tary. 
 
 Cash capital, $300,000. Assets, Feb. 1, 1866, $415,571.72. 
 
 New London Co. Mutual Fire Insurance. Chartered in May, 1840 ; 
 organized in July. 
 Joseph Backus, president; John DeWitt, secretary. 
 Assets, Jan. 1, 1866, $32,869.13. 
 Elijah A. BUI, president since 1859. 
 John L. Devotion, secretary since 1853. 
 
 Thames Fire Insurance. Incorporated 1859 ; capital, $200,000. 
 Amos W. Prentice, president ; B. B. Whittemore, secretary. 
 Assets Jan, 1, 1866, $249,747.97. 
 
 Norwich and Worcester R. H. Co. 
 
 Chartered in 1832, with the title of Boston, Norwich and New London 
 E. E. Co. ; capital, $1,000,000. 
 
 In 1836, the corporate name was changed to Norwich and Worcester 
 E. E. Co., and the capital has since been increased to $2,825,000. 
 
 Officers since 1836: presidents — 
 
 William C. Gilman, June, 1836 — 1 year. 
 
 Charles W. Eockwell, « 1837—1 « 
 
 John A. Eockwell, « 1838—3 « 
 
 Charles W. Eockwell, « 1841—2 « 
 
 Dan Tyler, « 1843—2 « 
 
 John C. Holland, " 1845—3 « 
 
 Joel W.White, " 1848—9 « 
 
 Augustus Brewster, « 1857—1866. 
 
 James T. Eichards, secretary and treasurer two years. 
 George L. Perkins, treasurer since 1838, — 28 years. 
 
HISTOET OP NOEWICH. 651 
 
 Annual income of the road from 1840 to January, 1866 :* 
 
 1840, Earnings less than Disbursements. 
 
 1841, Earnings, $151,926.94 1854, Earnings, $322,754.43 
 
 1842, « 126,761.79 1855, " 304,236.33 
 
 1843, « 125,020.49 1856, « 132,745.92 
 
 1844, « 223,465.65 1857, « 287,756.58 
 
 1845, « 204,308.45 1858, « 283,556.27 
 
 1846, « 241,909.55 1859, « 351,689.68 
 
 1847, « 234,895.59 1860, « 358,362.34 
 
 1848, « 218,073.30 1861, " 288,512.22 
 
 1849, « 236,197.61 1862, « 353,664.90 
 
 1850, « 261,259.12 1863, « 432,559.56 
 
 1851, « 270,049.37 1864, « 631,728.19 
 
 1852, « 267,561.70 1865, « 714,059.83 
 
 1853, « 321,046.14 
 
 Steamboat Oompames. 
 
 The communication with New York by a line of steamboats has been 
 sustained with but httle interruption since its first inauguration in 1817. 
 The merchants of Norwich and New London were mutually interested in 
 the earlier boats, and united in forming the first incorporated companies. 
 
 The Norwich and New London Steamboat Co. was organized in 1848, 
 with a capital of $200,000 ; Henry B. Norton, president. This line ran 
 their boats in connection with the Norwich and Worcester Railroad ; the 
 terminus being at AUyn's Point. Among the boats employed were the 
 Cleopatra, Norwich, Worcester, and Connecticut. The Commonwealth 
 was built for them in 1855, and sold in 1860, about which time the com- 
 pany discontinued their operations, wound up their affairs, and was dis- 
 solved. 
 
 The Norwich and New York Transportation Company was organized 
 under the General Act in 1860. Capital, $350,000. Capt. Joseph J. 
 Coinstock of New York was the first president, succeeded in 1863 by 
 David Smith of Norwich. Augustus Brewster treasurer, and P. St. M. 
 Andrews secretary, from the beginning. 
 
 This company was formed for the purpose of facilitating the operations 
 of the Norwich and Worcester Railroad Co. by furnishing an advanta- 
 geous connection with New York. It was indebted for its origin, organi- 
 zation, and subsequent success, chiefly to the president of the railroad, 
 
 * Furnished by G. L. Perkins, Esq., Treasurer of the Eoad. 
 
652 HIBTOET OP NOEWICH. 
 
 Mr. Brewster, who, as treasurer of the company, has been the general 
 agent and efficient manager of the business from that time to March, 1866, 
 when he resigned the office. 
 
 This company have four fine steamers built expressly for their line; and 
 named after the points of communication to which their business extends. 
 The Oity of Boston made her first trip from New York, July 4, 1861 ; the 
 City of New York eighteen days later, July 22. The first trip of the City 
 of Norwich was July 19, 1862; of the City of New London, May 22, 
 1863. 
 
 Gross earnings of the company from July 1861, to 
 
 Nov. 30, 1862, 16 months, - - $466,227 
 
 " 30, 1863, one year, - - - 416,243 
 
 « 30, 1864, " - . - 608,374 
 
 « 30, 1865, « - - - 704,198 
 
 The system of transportation established by this company in connection 
 with the railroads, is the most perfect that has ever been arranged upon 
 this route through the Sound. By contract with the New London North- 
 ern Railroad Co. an interchange of accommodations is effected ; the Rail- 
 road Company using the boats of the Transportation Company for con- 
 veyance to New York, and the latter making use of the advantages 
 afibrded by the commodious wharf and depot landing at New London. 
 
 The Norwich and Worcester Railroad, by contract with the New Lon- 
 don Northern R. R. Co., now run their express and passenger trains over 
 the track of the latter on the west side of the Thames. This arrangement 
 went into effect Oct. 1, 1861, and the terminus of the through business of 
 the Norwich and Worcester R. R. Co. has since been at New London. 
 
 Every year is adding importance to the navigation of the Thames, not 
 only in regard to the interests of Norwich, but as an avenue to the man- 
 ufacturing districts beyond Norwich. During a large part of the year, 
 when the channel is unencumbered with ice, the river and the wharves 
 are lively with business. Sloops and schooners are continually discharg- 
 ing freight. Large quantities of iron, coal, cotton, wool, rags, &c., are 
 required by the manufacturers in and around Norwich, and a still greater 
 quantity is conveyed through the place to be distributed on the northern 
 routes. The article of coal alone is of great importance, an immense 
 amount passing up the river to be transported to Worcester and other 
 points in the interior. 
 
 In 1855, Thomas T. Wetmore, a ship-builder from East Boston, com- 
 menced work at Norwich, in the employ of J. M. Huntington & Co. 
 The first vessels were built near Shetucket bridge, and launched nearly 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 663 
 
 under the bridge* The work was then transferred to a point on the west 
 side of the river, near where the Cold Spring Iron Works were situated. 
 
 These iron-works were established by John Perit Huntington, at whose 
 invitation Thomas Mitchell, an experienced artificer in iron, — originally 
 from Birmingham, England,— came from Wareham, Mass., and took 
 charge of the concern. This was in 1845 ; a rolling-mill was built, and 
 has ever since continued in operation. The firm is now Mitchell, Broth- 
 ers & Co-t 
 
 The rolling-mill and the ship-yard were the beginning of the prosper- 
 ous village of Thamesville, which forms the southern extremity of the 
 city. 
 
 In 1863, another rolling-mill with machinery of a different construction 
 was established near the ship-yard. This belongs to a joint-stock company 
 called the Thames Iron Works. 
 
 Since the year 1860, eight steam-vessels have been launched from the 
 Thamesville ship yard, viz., the Norwich, Trade-wind, Prometheus, Whirl- 
 wind, Perit, Chase, and Hunter, — ranging in capacity from 400 to 700 
 tons. 
 
 Three of these steamers, the Norwich, Prometheus, and Uncas, were 
 sold to the U. S. Government, and were in the public service during the 
 war. The Norwich was altered into a gunboat, and commissioned in Jan- 
 uary, 1862. She carried six 32-pounders an(J 100 men, and was eminently 
 useful in the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 To the same company (J. Monroe Huntington and Theodore Raymond) 
 belongs the credit of reviving the direct trade of the port with the West 
 Indies. Their first undertaking in this line is noticed in the Norwich 
 Courier, April 3, 1859. 
 
 The schooner Ike Marvel, which arrived at this port yesterday morning from Porto 
 Eico, with molasses, sugar, and rum, has brought the first cargo of this description 
 which has been landed here direct from the West Indies for over thirty years. 
 
 This trade has since been pursued by the company with spirit and suc- 
 cess. The exports consist of lumber, assorted articles, and some live-stock. 
 The returns are chiefly sugar and molasses. The high price of these arti- 
 cles has made the business very profitable-J 
 
 * Most of the ship-building at Norwich has been on the west side. Capt. Samuel 
 Story, the master-builder of former days, who built the whale-ships Connecticut and 
 Chelsea, and many other large vessels, died May 3, 1864, aged 84 years. 
 
 t In this mill an unfortunate accident happened May 9, 1864. By some derangement 
 of the machinery, Thomas Mitchell, Jr., was struck by an iron bar in the chest, and 
 instantly killed. He was 42 years of age. 
 
 J On a freight consisting chiefly of molasses and sugar, entered in June, 1865, by the 
 brig John R. Plater, belonging to this firm, the duty assessed at the custom-house, New 
 London, was $6,688.72, — a sura indicative of a valuable cargo. 
 
654 HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 
 
 The schooner Telegraph, Martin L. Rogers captain, was first employed 
 in this trade in 1859, sailing May 9 th of that year, and was kept after- 
 wards constantly upon the line. On the 13th of June, 1864, she arrived 
 from her twenty-fourth voyage, having nearly averaged five voyages per 
 year, and usually bringing from 200 lo 220 hhds. per voyage. This is a 
 great advance over the old rate of navigation, — -when two, or at most, three 
 West India voyages consumed the whole year, — and illustrates in a vivid 
 manner the progress of skill, science and tact in this department of busi- 
 ness. 
 
 This company have recently erected a ware-house at New London for 
 the reception and storage of their West India goods. 
 
 Vote of Norwich at the Presidential election, Nov. 4, 1856, — 
 For Fremont, 1,142 ; Buchanan, 810 ; Fillmore, 23 : total, 1,975. 
 
 Votes cast Nov. 8, 1864,— 
 
 For Lincoln, 1,376; for McClellan, 1,101 : total, 2,477. 
 
 This was probably the largest vote ever cast in Norwich. 
 
 Vote of Norwich in August, 1864, in reference to the amendment of 
 the National Constitution, abolishing slavery, — 
 Yeas, 753. Nays, 196. 
 
 Vote in October, 1865, on the amendment of the State Constitution, so 
 as to allow of negro suffrage, — 
 
 Yeas, 898. Nays, 617. 
 
 Vote for Governor in April, 1863, — 
 
 For Wm. A. Buckingham, 1,235; T. H. Seymour, 936: total, 2,171. 
 In April, 1813, just 50 years before, the vote for Grovemor stood, — 
 For John Cotton Smith, 126; Elijah Boardman, 112: total, 270. 
 
 Vote in April, 1865, — 
 
 For Wm. A. Buckingham, 1,284 ; Origen S. Seymour, 462. 
 
CHAPTER LI. 
 
 NoEWICH IN CONNECTIOK WITH THE WaB POK THE ITnIOIT, 
 
 The fall of Fort Sumter and the call of the President for 75,000 men 
 — events that occurred successively on the 14th and 15th of April, 1861,— 
 have made those days forever memorable in the history of our country 
 From a condition of outward repose, and amid the common routine o: 
 affairs, the whole nation was suddenly roused to a stp.te of wild excitement 
 The startling fact, that we were at war, ran through the country hke th( 
 rush of a whirlwind. The spirited outbreak of the North in favor of th< 
 Union was spontaneous and universal. A strong line was immediatelj 
 drawn between loyalty and secession, but all other party distinctions anc 
 pohtical feuds seemed for the time obliterated. The nation was withou 
 soldiers, without munitions of war or military equipments, but an arm] 
 leaped into existence, armed, equipped, and ready for action. 
 
 A record of what was done in a Single town to support the war for th( 
 Union, will duplicate the history of hundreds of other towns in New Eng 
 land. But there is a local interest in these side details of the great con 
 flict, which makes it an imperative duty that they should be registered 
 Personal incidents and minor details, that might find no place in genera 
 histories of the war, have a deep and enduring interest for towns anc 
 neighborhoods. Honor and grateful regard call upon us to record th( 
 deeds of our volunteers, to perpetuate the names of the valiant, and t< 
 cherish the memory of those among them who fell in the service. A towi 
 history is incomplete without these memorials. 
 
 The Governor of Connecticut when the war broke out was WilKam A 
 Buckingham, a citizen of Norwich, who was then in the fourth year of hii 
 administration. He was well known as an earnest patriot and a stauncl 
 friend both of the Union and the National Government. This undoubt 
 edly quickened the action and added to the energy of the town measures 
 Large and enthusiastic meetings assembled almost spontaneously for th( 
 purpose of encouraging enlistments and pledging the efforts and resourcei 
 of the community in support of the National Flag. The intense excite 
 ment that prevailed sought relief by demonstrations of loyalty in varioui 
 modes. 
 
656 HISTORT OF NORWICH. 
 
 There was no flag-staff or liberty-pole of any note in or around Nor- 
 wich. Suddenly the National Banner was flung to the breeze from every 
 conspicuous point in the landscape. It was swung across Main street, 
 between Apollo Hall and the "Wauregan ; it was displayed from the tower 
 of the First Congregational Church ; it fluttered among the groves of 
 Washington street, rose high over Broadway and the Free Academy, and 
 graced the rope-walk, the engine halls, the numerous factories, the school- 
 houses, and several private residences. It was elevated at Greeneville, 
 at the Falls, on the old Court-house, at the Town-plot, and at Yanticville. 
 As these threw out their folds, other flags from all the surrounding villages 
 and towns of the old Nine-miles-square, — Bozrahville, Fitchville, Frank- 
 lin, Sprague, Hanover, Jewett City, — rose and waved in unison. The 
 highest of these standards was that which surmounted the Tineas engine- 
 house at the Falls, — 182 feet. 
 
 The Governor's call for volunteers to fill the quota of Connecticut was 
 issued April 16 th. In twenty-two days, fifty-four companies were raised 
 in the State, offering their services for the three months, but as only tliree 
 regiments were required, many of them were disbanded. 
 
 The First Regiment C. V. was recruited in Hartford. Two young men 
 of Norwich, E. K. Abbott and S. T. C. Merwin, hastened thither and en- 
 rolled their names as privates in Rifle Co. A. This was the company that 
 in just twelve hours from the opening of the roll, reported to the Adjutant- 
 General, with a full complement of men and its oflSicers chosen. 
 
 Col. Daniel Tyler, a retired officer of the regular army, residing at 
 Norwich, was appointed Colonel of this regiment.* John L. Spalding, 
 also of Norwich, was the Sergeant-Major. 
 
 For the other two regiments, three companies were raised in the town, 
 that went into service under Captains Frank S. Chester, Henry Peale, 
 and Edward Harland. These officers, with their six lieutenants, and 
 Lieut. Col. David Young of the 2d C. X., were all of Norwich. Twelve 
 commissioned officers and 135 enlisted men are credited to the town for 
 the three months service in the State accounts. The enlistments began 
 April 18th. 
 
 Capt. Chester's company left the city for the camp at New Haven, 
 April 22d, and Capt. Peale's the 24th. These were mustered into the 
 2d C. V. as companies A. and B. Capt. Harland's company left for 
 Hartford the 29th, and was received into the 3d C. V. 
 
 The wliole community w:is moved when these first companies departed.v 
 Warfare was a new experience, and the nature of the contest excited 
 
 * Colonel Tyler, now Brigadier-General, is a native of Brooklyn, Ct., and a gradu- 
 ate of West Point. He retired from the U. S. Army in 1832, and had been engaged 
 as a civil engineer in superintending the construction of railroads. At a later period 
 of the war, he commanded a division of the Army of the Mississippi. 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 657 
 
 thrilling emotions. Throngs of citizens, young and old, accompanied them 
 to the place of their embarkation, embracing them, and invoking blessings 
 on them and their cause. The magnitude of the principles involved in 
 the contest seemed to give a deep significance to every measure connected 
 with it. 
 
 In aid of these first enlistments, money was poured out like water. A 
 large sum was raised by private subscription for bounties and equipments. 
 The Thames Bank, following the example of other monied institutions of 
 the State, tendered to the Governor a loan of $100,000 for public use. A 
 throng of ladies met for many successive days to prepare articles of cloth- 
 ing convenient for the departing soldiers. On Saturday evening, April 
 20, a meeting was held at Breed Hall, where eloquent speeches were 
 made and patriotic resolutions carried, while at the same time the galleries 
 and adjoining offices were occupied by women busily employed in making 
 garments for the volunteers. Nor did this work cease upon the Sabbath. 
 Labor and prayer went together through the day. 
 
 The following cotemporaneous notice gives a vivid idea of the scene, 
 and shows the steffting-point of a series of efforts for the health and com- 
 fort of the soldSr in field, camp, and hospital, which, under feminine 
 agency, with the title of the Soldier's Aid Society, knew no intermission 
 from that time to the close of the war. 
 
 A Revolutionakt Sabbath. — The 21st day of April was such a Sunday as the 
 good town of Norwich never before saw. The beating of drums, the marching and 
 drilling of military companies, the display of flags, and fluttering of bunting, the pres-' 
 ence of imusual crowds in all the streets, the hum of labor where the uniforms of vol- 
 unteers were being made, the earnestness and enthusiasm that seemed to animate the 
 multitude, and the eagerness of the people to learn the latest intelligence by telegraph, 
 all combined to make such a Sabbath as will long be remembered. 
 
 All day long the Buckingham Rifles, Capt. Frank S, Chester, were engaged in drill 
 and exercise, preparing themselves for the active duties of the service in which they 
 have enlisted. 
 
 About 350 ladies occupied Breed Hall and the ofiices below, engaged in making up 
 the uniforms for the company. 
 
 At the several churches in the city, sermons appropriate to the times were preached. 
 All the conversation was upon war topics. It was a Sunday such as we may have read 
 of in our Revolutionary history, but have never before seen. [Bulletin.] 
 
 The three regiments left the State on the 10th, 14th and 22d of May. 
 They were at first detained near Washington, and united in one command 
 under Col. Tyler. They were afterward stationed along the outposts in 
 Virginia, where they were engaged in guard duty, enlivened with scout- 
 ing and skirmishing. In July they were ordered to Centerville, and from 
 thence sent forward to meet the enemy,, with whom they had their first 
 encounter in a sharp skirmish at Blackburn's Ford. Three days after- 
 ward, July 21st, they took part in the battle at Bull Run. 
 42 
 
858 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 In this disastrous fight the casualties of the three regiments were six 
 men killed and sixty wounded and missing. Of the Norwich volunteers, 
 only one was killed, — David C. Case, who was struck by a cannon-ball, 
 and died on the field. Corporal John B. Jennings, Charles A. Murray 
 and David Rosenblatt, enlisted men from Norwich, were taken prisoners. 
 
 Austin G. Monroe, a sergeant in Capt. Chester's company, had been 
 previously captured. He was taken while out on a scouting excursion, 
 with one companion, near Falls Church, Va., June 19th, and it was not 
 known whether he was killed or captured till the next October, when his 
 friends received a letter from him, dated in July from a Richmond prison, 
 He endured a year's captivity before he was released. 
 
 The three regiments completed their term of service and were dis- 
 charged in August. Two of the enlisted men from Norwich had died in 
 hospital of disease. The prisoners, Jennings, Monroe, and Murray, were 
 exchanged and came home the next June.* Col. Tyler was commissioned 
 as a Brigadier-General in March, 1862. 
 
 Fresh calls for volunteers were issued by the President, even before 
 the return of the three months men, — May 4th for 300,000, and July 10th 
 for 500,000. The recruiting service was kept lively, and the enlistments 
 as yet were freely tendered. The civil and military authorities, public 
 opinion and the spontaneous zeal of individuals, co-operated in favor of 
 the measures of government. 
 
 In town meeting, Oct. 7, 1861, the following resolutions passed, almost 
 by acclamation : 
 
 Resolved, That we extend our hearty thanks to our brave soldiers who have without 
 distinction of party rallied to the defence of our glorious Union, and to the support of 
 the Government in suppressing this causeless and most unnatural rebellion ; 
 
 That we are proud of the noble position our State has assumed in common with the 
 other loyal States, and we hereby pledge to the Govemmcnt our aid and support, with 
 every energy God has given us, until our flag shall float over, every fort belonging to 
 the Union, and over every State from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico ; 
 
 That we are engaged in a contest as real and vital as the war of the Revolution, &c. 
 
 Resolved, That the Town Clerk be requested to procure a record-book, and make as 
 perfect a Roster as practicable of the companies of Captains Chester, Peale, Harland, 
 Dennis, Ward, Maguire, Sawyer, Daniels, and such other companies from Norwich as 
 have been or shall be hereafter mustered into the service of the Government to aid in 
 sjrppressing this rebellion, &c. 
 
 In 1862, additional calls for troops were made by the Government, — 
 July 2d, 300,000 to serve for three years or the war j and Aug. 4th, 300,- 
 000 for nine months. The quota of the town must be forthwith raised, 
 
 * Monroe and Murray, in a month after thoir return, re-enlisted and went into Capt. 
 Peale's company, 18th C. V., and were again taken prisoners at Winchester in June, 
 1863. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 659 
 
 and to aid the progress of enlistment a grand rally was made in favor of 
 the flag, the Union, the Government, and the vigorous prosecution of the 
 war. The public meetings held at Breed Hall and the mass meetings in 
 Franklin Square were remarkable for the resolute earnestness that pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 Many of the volunteers at this period seem to have entered their names 
 on the roU in a spirit of spontaneous self-dedication, and others with an 
 earnest sobriety indicative of deep-seated principle. It was creditable to 
 human nature to find such fervent love of country and attachment to the 
 Union pervading all classes of society. Clerks came from the stores, 
 laborers from the farms, and operatives from the mills and workshops, 
 with the same hearty alacrity. 
 
 The course of business, as well as of thought and conversation, was 
 turned into the channel of war. The armories and machine-shops of the 
 town developed an astonishing activity and adaptedness to the production 
 of hostile weapons. The sail-makers in their lofts were engaged in mak- 
 ing tents. Many skillful hands assisted by nice machinery were kept at 
 work upon uniforms and other military equipments.* 
 
 The highest point of enthusiasm was reached at a town meeting held 
 on the 30th of August to consider the best means of raising the town's 
 quota of 800,000 men for nine months. This was one of the most excite 
 in" and enthusiastic meetings ever convened in Norwich. The tenders 
 made by individuals were on a noble scale of liberality. One after an- 
 other, in a spirit of emulous zeal, such offers as these were made, — 
 
 One hundred dollars to the first ten that enlist. 
 
 The same to the second ten. 
 
 Ten dollars to the first sixty. 
 
 The same to the next twenty. 
 
 One thousand dollars to the families of those that enlist. 
 
 Five hundred to the same. 
 
 One hundred to the same. 
 
 Another hundred to the same, &c., &c 
 
 Some twenty or thirty offers of this kind were thus spontaneously made, 
 either at the moment, or added afterward by individuals not present at 
 the meeting, raising a sum considerably above $20,000. 
 
 In the public assemblies convened at this interesting period, it was not 
 uncommon for individuals, moved by the stirring appeals of the speakers, 
 or prompted by their own determined purpose, to come forth from the 
 audience, and with deep emotion offer themselves to their country. It was 
 
 * James M. Nelson of Norwich contracted in 1862 to make 1000 military coats per 
 month from January to June. He kept 200 hands and two dozen sewing-machines at 
 work. Daniel Delanoy contracted to make a large number of tents for the Connecticut 
 regiments. 
 
660 EISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 thus that Captains Peale, Selden, Stanton, Huntoon and others volunteered 
 their services. Several of the early companies seemed to be raised with 
 the swell of a flood, sweeping them into the ranks. 
 
 Through the whole contest there was no departure in the action of the 
 town from the spirit of these early measures. But as the war went for- 
 ward, denfanding its hundreds of thousands of recruits, it became more 
 and more difficult in Norwich, as in other towns, to raise the prescribed 
 number. Volunteer enlistments were no longer to be expected. The 
 material was exhausted ; there was no surplus on hand. Even in the 
 peaceful pursuits of trade and agriculture, the incessant demands of the 
 army led to a deficiency of laborers. 
 
 But the draft or conscription authorized conditionally by the Govern- 
 ment was not enforced in Norwich. A few individuals procured substi- 
 tutes, but in general the quotas of the town, to answer the repeated calls 
 of 1863-4, were raised by the selectmen or by war committees, who by 
 large bounties and strenuous exertions procured the requisite number. 
 
 The State in 1863 made the liberal offer of $300 to every person, white 
 or colored, that should enlist before January, 1864. The town about the 
 same time increased their bounty to $150. This being found insufficient, 
 by a vote of Dec. 1, 1864, Ihe whole business was entrusted to a war 
 committee, who were to pay drafted persons, substitutes and volunteers on 
 the quota of the town, such sums as should be considered necessary and 
 expedient. This committee paid in some instances a very high bounty. 
 The glow of enthusiasm had faded away. The war was a settled affair, 
 and recruits were to be raised, as other business was transacted, upon 
 pecuniary principles. 
 
 Most of these later recruits differed widely in character from the early 
 enlisted men. Those were patriots, and these were hirelings. Very few 
 of the latter were town residents. They were procured by agents from 
 other places, and many of them after securing the bounty took the first 
 opportunity to desert. Others among them made good soldiers. But 
 these later enlistments represented the town, only as paid for by its funds 
 and credited to its account in the State calendar. 
 
 A brief sketch of tlie forces raised in Connecticut for the prosecution of 
 the wai-, will give opportunity to point out how far Norwich participated 
 in the great contest. E;ioh town iu this respect has a history of its own. 
 The object in this outline will be to trace the officers and enlisted men 
 from this one community only, in order to show in what lines of service 
 they were engaged as members of the State regiments. 
 
 The volunteers from the State, enlisting in 1861 and 1862, to serve for 
 three years or during the war, were arranged iu seventeen regiments, 
 numbered from 4 to 21 inclusive. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 661 
 
 It was estimated that nearly two-thirds of the three months men re- 
 enlisted in the service. Many who had served as privates became officers 
 in the new levies, the experience they had gained being of great advant- 
 age in drilling the fresh recruits and preparing them for duty. 
 
 The 4th C. V. was mustered at Hartford in June, 1861. The Major, 
 Henry Birge, and Assistant Surgeon, Edwin Bentley, with eighteen or 
 twenty members of different companies, were from Norwich. It was sent 
 to Harrisburg, and associated with Gen. Patterson's troops. In Novem- 
 ber, it was stationed at Fort Richardson, near Washington. In January, 
 1862, this regiment was changed from infantry to artillery, and re-organ- 
 ized as 1st Conn. Heavy Artillery, under the management of Major Birge, 
 who was appointed Colonel of the Artillery, but soon afterward transferred 
 to the l3th Eegiment of Infantry. 
 
 The 5 th C. V. was the regiment which Col. Colt proposed to adopt and 
 equip. A very fine Irish company was raised in Norwich, with the ex- 
 pectation of joining this regiment, called the Jackson Guards. They were 
 thoroughly drilled by Col. Thomas C. Kingsley of Franklin, and chose for 
 their Captain, Thomas Maguire. When Col. Colt threw up his interest 
 in the regiment, the Jackson Guards, 88 in number, disbanded, but were 
 afterward re-organized and accepted into the 1st New York Eegiment of 
 Artillery. Capt. Maguire was subsequently a Major in the New York 
 service. William A. Berry, of this company, was promoted Captain, and 
 after participating in many severe battles, and serving from his first enlist- 
 ment in the three months campaign, full three years, was killed during 
 the siege of Petersburg. He was succeeded by Capt. Thomas Scott, also 
 of the Norwich company. 
 
 In the 5th C. Y., afterward under the command of Col. Warren W. 
 Packer of Mystic, Norwich had no officers, and only a few enlisted men, 
 less than twenty in all. This regiment was mustered in July, 1861, and 
 was sent to Virginia, where they had many sharp conflicts with the enemy. 
 Stonewall Jackson inquired of a prisoner how many 5th Connecticuts there 
 were, since he heard of them on all sides. At the battle of Cedar Mount- 
 ain, they lost 173, killed, wounded, and missing. Nine brave men fell in 
 defending their colors ; among whom was Sergeant Alexander S. Avery, 
 of Norwich, who died upon the battle-field, Aug. 9, 1862. 
 
 In September, 1863, the 5th C. V. was transferred from the Army of 
 the Potomac to that of the Cumberland. It was with Sherman in his 
 long southern march. At the hard-fought battle of Eesaca, Ga., May 15, 
 1864, out of ten men belonging to Norwich, who had re-enlisted as vet- 
 erans, four were reported among the wounded.* 
 
 Of the 6th C. V. William G. Ely of Norwich was appointed Lieut. 
 Colonel, but was soon transferred by promotion to the 18th. The Quar- 
 
 * John G. Blake, Thomas W. Baird, Delano Carpenter, and Stephen Corcoran. 
 
662 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 master, J. V. B. Williams, and twelve enlisted Germans, were from Nor- 
 wich. This regiment obtained honorable notice for its conspicuous gal- 
 lantry in the fierce assaults upon the Morris Island batteries and Fort 
 Wagner, near Charleston. In one of these attacks, its commander, Col. 
 Chatfield, received his death wound. 
 
 Alfred P. Rockwell, of Norwich, was appointed Colonel in June, 1864. 
 He had previously served two years as Captain of the 1st Light Battery, 
 C. v., and had been stationed on James Island and other parts of the 
 Carolinian coast, co-operating in the siege of Charleston. 
 
 The 7th C. V. received the first regular company of three years men 
 that was recruited in Norwich. The Captain, John B. Dennis, and the 
 Lieutenants, Theodore Burdick and Gorham Dennis, were town residents. 
 Of the enlisted men, twenty-three were from Norwich, the remainder of 
 the company from neighboring towns. Lieut. Burdick, subsequently pro- 
 moted to the command of a company, was killed at Fort Wagner, July 
 11, 1863. 
 
 The 7th C. V. was the first Union regiment that landed on the soil of 
 South Carolina. They were in Wright's Brigade under Sherman, in the 
 expedition against Beaufort, and after the bombardment and ruin of Fort 
 Walker, when the troops disembarked, the 7th Connecticut took the lead, 
 landing in twenty-seven boats upon the beach below Hilton Head. 
 
 This regiment afterward performed a vast amount of exhausting work 
 at Tybee Island, preparatory to the reduction of Fort Pulaski. These 
 labors were continued for four months without intermission. During the 
 bombardment, the 7th Connecticut managed five out of the eleven batteries 
 that fired upon the fort, and the flag of the captured fortress was sent to 
 the Governor of Connecticut, as a token of the distinguished part the reg- 
 iment had taken in its reduction.* 
 
 Capt. Dennis of Norwich commanded one of the batteries. His brother, 
 2d Lieut. Gorham Dennis, was obliged to resign and return home, the 
 drifting sands and bright sunshine of the place affecting his eyes, and 
 threatening him with entire loss of sightf 
 
 This regiment in February, 1864, participated in the hazardous and 
 exhausting march upon Olustee, Fla., and was afterward engaged upon 
 the James River and in the trenches before Petersburg. On tlie first of 
 June, while guarding the picket line, the regiment was attacked with great 
 fury, several companies flanked, and 83 prisoners taken by the enemy. 
 Capt. Dennis and 20 of his company were of the number. 
 
 While Capt. Dennis was detained a prisoner, he was one of the Union 
 soldiers sent to Charleston and placed within the range of the U. S. cannon 
 
 * Conn. War Record, p. 32. 
 
 t Tour brothers Dennis, sons of Jared Dennis of Nonvich Falls, were in the army 
 during tlie war. 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH* 663 
 
 in retaliation for the bombardment of the city, which was then in progress 
 under Gen. Gillmore. In a letter published soon after his escape, he 
 says: 
 
 " On the 16tli of August last, [1864,] I was one of 600 V. S. prisouers of war that 
 arrived in the city of Charleston to be placed under fire of the U. S. batteries on Moon's 
 Island ; 600 having arrived a few days before, and 600 a few days after, making in all 
 1800, all confined within one square, viz., Work-house, Marine Hospital, Jail, and 
 Eoper Hospital. Our condition was one of extreme wretchednaSs, very few having 
 any money, and fewer still clothes to cover them." 
 
 Capt. Dennis was afterward transferred to other places of confinement, 
 and during his captivity was a tenant of six different prisons. The last 
 was Richland Jail in Columbus, S. C, from which he attempted to escape 
 with two other officers early in November, 1864. They obtained a small 
 boat, and passing down the Congaree, concealed themselves by day, and 
 pursued their course by night. But the second night, while enveloped in 
 a thick fog, the boat struck a snag, and upset in deep, rapid water. After 
 nearly perishing in the struggle for life, they succeeded in reaching the 
 shore, but were discovered, recaptured, and sent back to Columbus. 
 
 On the 24th of December, Capt. Dennis, with thirteen companions, 
 made another attempt, which proved successful. They obtained a flat-boat 
 through the aid of friendly negroes, and in their passage down the river 
 were guided and fed by others of the colored race, till at length they 
 reached the ocean, where fortunately a gunboat was lying oif shore, to 
 which they made signals, and were taken on board.* 
 
 In the 8th C. V. Norwich had a large interest. Edward Harland, one 
 of the Captains of the three months service, was its Colonel ; Charles M. 
 Coit, Adjutant; DeWitt C. Lathrop, Assistant Surgeon; and John E. 
 Ward, Captain of Co. D, with James R. Moore and Charles A. Breed, 
 Lieutenants. Nearly half of the enlisted men in Capt. "Ward's company 
 belonged in Norwich. 
 
 This regiment was in Burnside's expedition to North Carolina. Col. 
 Harland was soon placed in command of a brigade, and Capt. Ward by 
 rapid promotion became Colonel of the regiment. Two of the Norwich 
 officers, after a few months of efficient service, were numbered with the 
 dead. Dr. DeWitt C. Lathrop died at Newbern in April, 1862, of illness 
 caused by over-exertion in the duties of his office. Lieut. Breed, while 
 engaged in important service on the Signal Corps, took the fever of the 
 country, and expired in July. These men, languishing and perishing 
 from disease, died for their country as truly as others on the battle-field. 
 
 This regiment was in the battle's front at South Mountain and at An- 
 tietam. In the last-named terrible fight they suffijred severely. « We 
 
 * Speech of Hon. L. E. S. Foster in the U. S. Senate, Jan. 25, 1865, published in 
 the Daily Globe at Washington. 
 
664 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 faced the foe until half the regiment were shot down, and retired only 
 when we were ordered."* 
 
 In this battle the regiment was led by Capt. J. E. Ward, Col. Harland 
 having charge of a brigade. It went into action about 400 strong, and 
 lost 194, killed, wounded, and missing. 
 
 Among the slain was Lieut. Marvin Wait of Norwich. His comrades 
 afterward spoke with admiration of the "steadfast and courageous de- 
 meanor" which this young man, scarcely above the age of boyhood, dis- 
 played in the field of battle. When a ball from a rebel battery struck in 
 the midst of his company, killing three, wounding others, covering the 
 lieutenant himself with blood and earth, and creating some confusion in 
 the ranks, he rushed to the front, closed up their lines, and cheered them 
 on to the assault. He stood firm amid a shower of bullets, and when 
 wounded in the arm, refused to retire, nor left his post until he had 
 received three shots and was fainting with the loss of blood. He was 
 then aided to a place considered safe, but received the last fatal shot while 
 lying helpless on the ground. 
 
 He was the first commissioned oflacer from Norwich, that fell in the 
 war for the Union. His remains were tenderly conveyed to his parents, 
 and laid in the quiet cemetery upon the Yantic, where the marble dedi- 
 cated to his memory is inscribed with names that keep fresh the remem- 
 brance of his valor : Roanoke Island, Fort Macon, South Mountain, An- 
 tietam.^ 
 
 In the campaign of 1863, the 8th Conn, was in Eastern Virginia. On 
 the 19th of April, while stationed at Suffolk, Col. Ward, acting under 
 orders from Gen. Getty, with 130 men from his own regiment, and 150 
 of the 89th N. Y. Vols, under Lieut. Col. England, went up the Nanse- 
 mond and made a brUliant charge upon the HiU's Point battery, an annoy- 
 ing post held by the enemy upon the river bank. The first man to leap 
 from the gunboat to the shore and press forward to the attack was Capt. 
 McCall of the 8th C. V.J The post was taken by storm ; the New York 
 and the Connecticut soldiers planted their flags side by side upon the ram- 
 parts ; the garrison was captured, and the cannon turned against their 
 jformer owners in the shortest possible time. The ofiicial report says : 
 
 " We were landed at Hill's Point, in the rear of Fort Huger, a little before sunset, 
 
 * Conn. War Record, p. 11. 
 
 t Forrest Spofford, another of Capt. Ward's company, enlisting at the age of eighteen, 
 lost his left arm in consequence of wounds received at Antietara, but he remained in 
 the service, and at Walthall Junction, in May, 1864, was slightly wounded in his right 
 arm. He was earnestly desirous of re-enlisting as a veteran, but being rejected by the 
 examining surgeon, served out his three years and was honorably discharged. 
 
 % Conn. War Record, p. 12. 
 
HISTOBTOPNOBWICH. 665 
 
 immediately charged upon the works, and after a very short struggle, captured the fort, 
 with five pieces of artillery, a large quantity of ammunition, and about 130 prisoners, 
 including seven officers." 
 
 This gallant exploit was alike honorable to Col. Ward and the brave 
 men of his command. 
 
 In the advance upon the enemy made by a part of Gen. Butler's army, 
 May 7, 1864, the 8th Conn, led the van, as a skirmishing force. A severe 
 engagement took place, near the Walthall junction of the Eichmond and 
 Petersburg R. R., in which the regiment was exposed to a raking fire from 
 artillery in the open field, and was at last compelled to retreat with a list 
 of casualties amounting to 72. 
 
 In this action Col. Ward was severely bruised with a shell, Capt. James 
 E. Moore badly wounded, and Lieut. Alfred M. Goddard struck down by 
 a fatal bullet while advancing in the battle's front and cheering on his 
 men. 
 
 ■ Lieut. Goddard was a young man of noble character. The purest patri- 
 otism, a deep conviction that he owed this service to his country, led him 
 into the field. He had been absent for some time from his regiment, en- 
 gaged on staff duty with Gen. Harland, but hastened to rejoin his com- 
 mand when it was called into action, and fell in his first fight. He was 
 conveyed to Fortress Monroe, and there died two days afterward. 
 
 On the 16th of May, in a battle fought in the midst of an Egyptian fog, 
 at Drury's Bluff, near Fort Darling, where the Union forces were again 
 repulsed, the gallant Capt. John McCall of Norwich was shot through the 
 heart, and died instantly. This young officer possessed all the prominent 
 characteristics of a good soldier ; he was cool, steady, prompt, and skillful. 
 He had enlisted as a private, and obtained promotion by acknowledged 
 merit. 
 
 Lieut. Goddard and Capt. McCall were interred at Norwich, with an 
 interval of one week between the funeral services. The city authorities? 
 the military, and the public generally, vied with personal friends in honor- 
 ing the remains of these heroic young men. They were of equal age, 
 went from the same place, and were slain within ten days of each other, 
 in the sanguinary conflicts upon the James river, martyrs to the same 
 nobility of principle, — love for liberty and the Union. 
 ' In this campaign, the 8th Conn., forming a part of the Army of Vir- 
 ginia, could find of course no season of repose.* It was a crisis requiring 
 incessant watchfulness and action. The actors described it as a daily bat- 
 tle continuing for months, — a constant round of marching, fighting, sieging, 
 doing picket duty, digging trenches and lying in them, unless startled by 
 
 * " The 8th Connecticut, one of the most heroic bands of men that ever marched 
 beneath a battle-flag." Abbott's History of the War, 2:175. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 mines, or called away by sudden attacks to more arduous service.* The 
 regiment was reduced to little more than half its original strength. Col. 
 Ward was placed in command of a brigade, and Capt. Charles M. Coit of 
 Co. B. commanded the regiment through the sanguinary conflicts at Cold 
 Harbor, the successful charge before Petersburg, and the months of heavy 
 siege work that followed, but in an engagement at Fair Oaks, Oct. 28th, 
 while acting as Assistant Adjutant- General, he was severely wounded in 
 the chest, and recovering but slowly, retired from the service in May, 
 1865. 
 
 The 9th C. V. was principally an Irish regiment. A company was 
 recruited for it in Norwich, called the Sarsfield Guards. Silas "W. Saw- 
 yer was Captain, and between 20 and 30 of the enhsted men were resi- 
 dents in the town. The regiment was mustered into service at Lowell, 
 Mass., in November, 1861. The Sarsfield Guards were at first somewhat 
 wild and unruly, and the petty trespasses of the company near Lowell 
 made the warning cry of " Connecticut over the fence ! " a temporary 
 watch-word ; but when well drilled they made excellent soldiers. 
 
 This regiment was sent to New Orleans, and performed its three years 
 of arduous duty in the regions bordering upon the Mississippi. It came 
 home on veteran furlough in April, 1864, and was then sent into Vir- 
 ginia. Capt. Addis E. Payne and Lieut. J. H. Lawler were from Nor- 
 wich.f 
 
 In the 10th regiment, as it went first into the army, Norwich had no 
 representatives. George C. Ripley was afterward appointed Lieutenant, 
 but detached to act upon the staflT of Gen. Ferry. 
 
 The 11th C. V. was mustered into service under Col. Thomas H. C. 
 Kingsbury of Franklin, and was afterward commanded by Col. H. W. 
 Kingsbury, who was killed at Antietam. A fine company called the 
 Harland Eifles, recruited in Norwich and gathering 23 of the enlisted 
 men from the town, went into this regiment, under Captain Daniels of 
 Franklin. 
 
 The 8th, 10th and 11th regiments were in Burnside's expedition against 
 North Carolina. Col. Kingsbury and 500 of his men were on board the 
 Voltigeur when she stranded on Cape Hatteras, and lay there twenty-three 
 days before they could get ashore. 
 
 In the renowned battle of Antietam, so destructive to human life, no 
 single regiment was visited with such fearful slaughter as the lltli Con- 
 
 * Report of Major Pratt. 
 
 t In October, 1865, Lieut. Lawler, late of the 9th C. V., went to Ireland on a visit 
 to his kindred. On arriving in Dublin, he was arrested by the British authorities on 
 Buspicion of being a secret agent of the Fenians. His revolver, army medals, &c., were 
 taken as proofs of his hostile intentions. He was soon, however, released and his pis- 
 tols and documents restored. [Norwich Aurora. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 667 
 
 necticut. Besides losing its Colonel, it was nearly halved. Before the 
 conflict its strength was 440 ; 97 were killed, and 102 wounded.* 
 
 In less than two years this regiment was again deprived of its com- 
 mander by the pitiless stroke of war. Col. Griffin A. Stedman, of Hart- 
 ford, a brave and accomplished officer, was kiUed before Petersburg, Aug. 
 5, 1864. 
 
 The commissioned officers from Norwich in the 11th C. V. were Capt. 
 Joseph H. Nickerson, and Lieuts. G. W. Keables and James E. Fuller. 
 
 In the 12th C. V. Norwich had but a few enlisted men, and only one 
 commissioned officer that remained in the regiment, viz., Lieut. Dwight 
 McCall of Yantic; but in the I3th C. V. the town was largely repre- 
 sented. Henry W. Birge, Colonel ; J. B. Bromley, Quartermaster ; N. 
 A. Fisher, Assistant Surgeon; G. W. Whittlesey, Adjutant; Captains 
 Alfred Mitchell and James McCord ; Lieuts. J. C. Abbott, W. P. Miner, 
 and R. A. Ripley, with nearly half a hundred enlisted men, were from 
 Norwich. 
 
 These two regiments, 12th and 13th, were sent to New Orleans, and 
 employed in the departments of the Gulf and the Mississippi. 
 
 The 13th was quartered at first in the custom-house, and was like a 
 right hand to General Butler in preserving order and sustaining the honor 
 of the Union flag. This regiment was remarkable not only for its fine 
 appearance, neat equipments, and soldier-like regard to manners and eti- 
 quette, but for prompt obedience of orders and faithful performance of 
 duty. 
 
 These regiments in their southern campaigns had a trying experience 
 of battles, sieges, skirmishes, fevers, and long marches. At Georgia 
 Landing their first blood was shed. They were in sharp fights at Thibo- 
 deaux, Labadierville, Camp Bissell, Irish Bend,t and Port Hudson. 
 ~ At Port Hudson, after the Union forced had been twice repulsed, Gen. 
 Banks called upon the army for a storming party of 1,000 volunteers, to 
 take the post or perish in the attempt. Col. Birge was the first officer to 
 respond. He collected a roll of 1,026 volunteers, — 91 officers and 935 
 enlisted men, — and offered himself with them to the commanding General 
 to make the attempt. Of this party, 242 were from the regiment of Col. 
 Birge, (13th C. V.) and 45 from the 12th C. V. The others were gath- 
 ered out of the forty or fifty" regiments at that time composing the Union 
 Army of the Mississippi. While this heroic band were preparing for 
 
 * Four of tte Norwich men in the company of Capt. Daniels were slain : David M. 
 Ford, J. C. Holwell, H. M. Scholfield, and John W. "Wood. 
 
 t Capt. McCord of Norwich was highly commended for bravery at Irish Bend. While 
 the 13th was encamped at Thibodeaux, Lient. Andrew T. Johnson of Montville and 
 Lieut. Wheeler of New Haven were killed by the explosion of a car loaded with am- 
 munition. 
 
668 HISTOBT OF NOEWICH. 
 
 their hazardous task, the post wag unexpectedly surrendered, and the 
 service was not required. This, however, does not detract from the patri- 
 otism and self-sacrifice implied in the offer, which history will record as a 
 special instance of heroism and devotion to the Union cause. When the 
 formal surrender of the fort took place, the storming party, led by Col. 
 Birge and bearing the flag of the 13th C. V., were the first that entered 
 the works, and the garrison grounded their arms before them. 
 
 In the 14th C. V. Norwich had several efficient officers and nearly 40 
 enlisted men. William H. Tubbs and James B. Coit were Captains; 
 Henry P. Goddard and James R. Nickels promoted to the same rank ; 
 Morton F. Hale and Frederick Schalk, Lieutenants. 
 
 This regiment has a martial record that places it high in the ranks of 
 heroism. In the first four battles inscribed upon its banners, it was suc- 
 cessively divided into nearly equal shares between those that suffered and 
 those that escaped injury. The loss at Antietam was 156;* at Freder- 
 icksburg, 120 out of 320 that went into battle; at Chancellorville, 70 out 
 of 220; at Gettysburg, 66 out of 160. Notwithstanding its reduced 
 ranks, this regiment at Gettysburg, in the final terrific charge, when the 
 grand attack of Lee was repulsed, took five regimental battle-flags and 
 over forty prisoners.f 
 
 In the Virginia campaign of 1864, this regiment again met with severe 
 losses, — taking part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold 
 Harbor, Petersburg, and others. Capt. Coit, promoted Major in October, 
 1863, was wounded in five different battles. Lieut. Schalk died of wounds 
 received in the Wilderness. Capt. Nickels, severely wounded in the bat- 
 tle at Ream's Station, languished and died in a hospital at Washington, — 
 one of the purest, bravest spirits that the war numbered among its vic- 
 tims. 
 
 In the next three regiments Norwich had no local interest, but the 18th 
 was regarded as peculiarly her own, or the home regiment. It was the first 
 that was here mustered into service. The Fair Ground near the city was 
 prepared for the camp, and a hickory flag-staff eighty feet high raised as 
 the signal-post. The regiment consisted of five companies from Windham 
 . county, and five from New London county. The latter were all recruited 
 in Norwich, and the costly banners of the regiment. National and State, 
 were a gift from the ladies of the place. 
 
 Of the commissioned officers, eighteen were from Norwicli, viz., Wm. 
 G. Ely, Colonel ; D. W. Hakes, Quartermaster ; C. M. Carleton, Sur- 
 geon ; J. P. Rockwell, Sergeant-Major ; five Captains, — Davis, Bromley, 
 Hakes, Peale, Knapp ; and nine Lieutenants, — 1st, Lindsay, Morrison, 
 Merwin, Palmer, — 2d, Cowles, Francis, Higgins, Lilly, and Tiffany. Of 
 
 * Report of Col. Morris. 
 t Report of Col. Ellis. 
 
HISTOETOPNOEWICH. 669 
 
 the enlisted men, 240 are credited to Norwich on the roUs of the Adjutant- 
 General. 
 
 The regiment left Norwich Aug. 22, 1862. As they marched through 
 the streets to the place of embarkation, flowers and evergreens were 
 showered upon them, prayers and blessings followed them in the way. 
 ^ They were stationed for several months in and near Baltimore ; not 
 indeed idle, but winning no laurels, and chafing somewhat at their inglo- 
 rious ease. Capt. Peale was appointed Major of the regiment ; Capt. 
 Bromley detailed to act as Provost-marshal; Capts. Hakes and Knapp 
 resigned, and were succeeded by their Lieutenants, F. A. Palmer and J. 
 H. Morrison. Dr. Carleton relinquished the post of Surgeon on account 
 of ill health. 
 
 At the opening of the campaign of 1863, the 18th was placed at once 
 in the front of danger, being assigned to Milroy's command in Virginia, 
 and stationed at or near Winchester, which was then an outpost against 
 the inroads of the enemy. 
 
 The three days of June, 1863, (13th, 14th, and 15th,) were a severe 
 ordeal to this regiment. The Confederate forces under Generals Ewell, 
 Early, and Jackson, advanced against Winchester, drove the Union de- 
 tachments back upon the town, made attacks in different directions, and 
 after several sharp contests, came suddenly upon the outworks of the main 
 fort and took them by storm. The fight continuing, and General Milroy, 
 who had previously sent off his artillery and wagons, finding himself in 
 danger of being surrounded, spiked his guns and withdrew during the 
 night with all his command. Four miles from Winchester, he was inter- 
 cepted by a strong force of the enemy planted in the way with artillery, 
 but after a desperate fight of two hours, succeeded in cutting his way 
 through with the greater part of his army. Two regiments, 18th Conn, 
 and 5th Maryland, being dissevered from the main body, after a fruitless 
 resistance, were captured almost entire. 
 
 Of the 18th C. V. 60 were left dead upon the field, 90 more wounded, 
 and 469 taken prisoners. In this last number Col. Ely and Lieut. Col. 
 Nichols were included. Among the slain was the gallant Capt. Edward 
 L. Porter, a fine scholar and an able officer, who enlisted at Norwich, 
 though belonging to New London. He graduated at Yale College in 
 1857, and was both endowed by nature and prepared by culture to embel- 
 lish society, extend the domain of science, and benefit mankind. 
 
 The captured men were immediately sent forward to Richmond, except 
 the wounded, who were left at Winchester in charge of J. D. Ripley, the 
 hospital steward of the 18th, who, though himself wounded, dressed the 
 wounds of thirty-six; others before attending to his own hurt.* That part 
 
 * Mr. Eipley was afterward released by a party of Union soldiers who made a dash- 
 
670 HISTOET OF NORWICH. 
 
 of the regiment which escaped capture, numbering about 200, assembled 
 at Harrisburg under Major Peale. Most of the private soldiers that had 
 been sent to Eichmond, were after a few weeks paroled and exchanged, 
 rejoining the regiment in October ; but the officers were confined for nine 
 months in the Libby and Belle-island prisons, and not exchanged till the 
 next March. Col. Ely was one of a party of Union officers that escaped 
 from Libby in February, 1864, by tunneling, but was recaptured before 
 reaching the Federal lines, and carried back to confinement. 
 
 With its ranks partially restored, the 18th entered upon the campaign 
 of 1864 in the Shenandoah Valley. It took part in the action at New- 
 market, May 15th, and fought with conspicuous gallantry under General 
 Hunter's command, at the severe battle of Piedmont, June 5th. Colonel 
 Ely's report says : 
 
 " The 18th Conn. Volunteers were on the right of Gen. Hunter's line of battle, its 
 colors took the lead in the first charge, and floated defiant till we triumphed. All of 
 the Color Guard were wounded except one, our banner riddled by minie balls and can- 
 non shot, and a loss of 127 in killed and wounded tells our story." 
 
 Among the victims were Adjutant E. P. Culver, a brave and valued 
 officer, Corporal J. T. Bradley, and private William H. Hamilton, young 
 men from Norwich who left good situations to devote themselves to the 
 service of their country. Lieut. J. T. Maginnis of Co. E, after being 
 released from his long captivity in Eichmond, came home on a brief fur- 
 lough, and had rejoined the regiment only a week before the battle. 
 Faithful and gallant to the last, he fell at his post, mortally wounded, and 
 died the next day.* 
 
 The 18th was constantly engaged during this long campaign, either in 
 toilsome journeys or severe battles ; marching upwards of 1,100 miles, 
 and participating in six general engagements, — at Newmarket, Piedmont, 
 Lynchburg, Snicker's Ford, the second battle of Winchester, and Berry- 
 ville, all in Virginia. 
 
 The regiment was finally mustered out of service at Harper's Ferry, 
 June 27, 1865. It was then 550 strong, and had been three years in the 
 field, but its ranks had been several times strengthened by recruits. Col. 
 Ely had previously resigned, and the regiment was under the command 
 of Lieut. Col. Peale, a veteran ofiicer who had been upwards of four 
 
 ing inroad upon the town. Ho rejoined his regiment at Harper's Ferry, and continued 
 in the service to the close of the war, passing through all the dangers of captivity, the 
 march, the camp, and the battle field, to meet death at last in an unexpected moment 
 and in one of its most appalling forms. See ante, p. 638. 
 
 * " In the deaths of Lieut. Maginnis and Adjutant Culver, the regiment lost two 
 valuable officers. In camp they inspired the soldiers to excel in a faithful and cheerful 
 discharge of military duties, and on the battle-field encouraged the command by gallant 
 examples." Col. Ely's report. 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 671 
 
 years almost constantly in the field, having recruited a company imme- 
 diately after the fall of Fort Sumter, and continued in active service till 
 the army began to disband. 
 
 In the 19th regiment, as originally organized, Norwich had no volun- 
 teers, and in the 20th C, V., "the Buckingham Legion," the only name 
 from the place on the original muster-roll is that of Charles J. Arms, 
 Adjutant, who was transferred to the staflF of Brig. Gen. Harland. 
 
 The 21st C. V. was the second regiment that had its rendezvous at 
 Norwich, going into camp at the Fair Ground side by side with the 18th. 
 It left the city Sept. 11, 1862. Hiram B. Crosby, Major; J. H. Lee, 
 Surgeon ; Lieuts. C. A. Brand and James Stanley, with about 30 enlisted 
 men, were gathered from the town. The first commanders of this regi- 
 ment, Col. Dutton and Lieut. Col. Burpee, both died in June, 1864, of 
 wounds received in the hard-fought battles in Virginia, and Major Crosby 
 was appointed to the command. 
 
 The 21st was the last of the seventeen regiments raised on the calls of 
 1861-2, for three years service or during the war. But even before the 
 departure of the 21st, the President's proclamation was out, issued Aug. 
 4, 1862, calling for 300,000 of the militia for nine months service. Con- 
 sequently there was no cessation of the recruiting business. Seven regi- 
 ments were raised in Connecticut in compliance with this demand, and 
 numbered from 22 to 28 inclusive. 
 
 The 26th C. V. was drawn from New London and Windham counties, 
 and had its camp-ground at Norwich, where it was organized in August ; 
 Thomas C. Kingsley of Franklin, Colonel. The terms of the proclama- 
 tion authorized a draft; the quota of Norwich was 189. This number 
 was raised by voluntary enlistment, and there was no necessity for a con- 
 scription. On the rolls of the regiment as it went into service, 141 are 
 credited to Norwich, viz., 16 commissioned officers and 125 enlisted men. 
 The officers from Norwich were Joseph Selden, Lieut. Colonel ; Ste- 
 phen B. Meach, Adjutant; B. F. Tracy, Quartermaster ; Elisha Phinney, 
 Asst. Surgeon ; Capts. Clarke Harrington, Samuel T. Huntoon, Loren A. 
 Gallop, John L, Stanton, and seven 1st and 2d Lieutenants. Eev. N. T. 
 Allen of Jewett City went as Chaplain. 
 
 The regiment mustered 900 strong, and was accepted Nov. 1 0th, leav- 
 ing Norwich the 14th. It was sent immediately to New Orleans, and 
 from thence up the Mississippi, where it joined the army of Gen. Banks 
 at the siege of Port Hudson, and participated in three sharp engagements 
 before that post. May 27th, and June 13th and 14th. 
 
 The first of these assaults upon the stronghold was marked by great 
 daring and fearful slaughter. The attack was made in four lines, of which 
 the 26th Conn, formed one, and it was the first time that the regiment had 
 been under the enemy's fire. The report says : 
 
672 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 "In advancing we encountered three high parallel fences, and in getting over them 
 much confusion ensued, and before we could get into line the enemy opened upon us 
 with shell, shot, grape and canister, mowing down our men by scores." 
 
 The killed and wounded of the 26th amounted to 107. The gallant 
 Captain John Stanton of Norwich was shot dead. Colonel Kingsley was 
 seriously wounded, and the command of the regiment devolved on Lieut. 
 Col. Selden. In the engagement of June 14th, Lieut. Jacobs of Norwich 
 received a mortal wound. 
 
 This regiment, though in the field but nine months, returned with a roll 
 of only 550. It had suffered greatly from sickness ; 27 had died on the 
 battle-field, or of wounds received in battle, but more than thrice that 
 number of disease. Some were left behind in hospitals ; seven were 
 buried in their long route homeward ; and one — Miles Bromley of Jewett 
 City — expired on the boat just before reaching home. The returning 
 soldiers were mustered out of service at the Fair Ground, Dec. 20, 
 1863.* 
 
 Besides these regiments of Infantry, Connecticut raised in the first 
 years of the war a Battalion of Cavalry, two companies of Light Bat- 
 tery, and two regiments of Heavy Artillery. 
 
 In the First Cavalry, Capts. Charles Farnsworth and Joab B. Rogers, 
 with Lieuts. J. H. Kane and H. T. Phillips, were from Norwich. This 
 battalion left the State in January, 1862. During the first year of service 
 it was in the Mountain Department of Virginia, under Schenck, Fremont, 
 and Milroy, continually engaged in reconnoitering and fighting, meeting 
 with the hair-breadth escapes and participating in the dashing conflicts 
 that usually characterize border warfare. 
 
 In April, 1863, Capt. Farnsworth while passing with a small detach- 
 ment along a mountain path, was suddenly attacked by a concealed force, 
 and received a severe shot-wound, the ball passing through his arm and 
 side. At a later period of the war, when but partially recovered, he was 
 taken prisoner near Harper's Ferry, and endured for eight months the 
 dreary seclusion of a Richmond prison. 
 
 The First Cavalry has a stirring and eventful history ; sweeping in its 
 campaigns through Virginia and the Carolinas in many hazardous raids. 
 It was changed from a battalion to a regiment, and out of its 1,650 recruits 
 about 80 were credited to Norwich. 
 
 Capt. Farnsworth, promoted Colonel, resigned in May, 1864. Capt. 
 Rogers, who joined the battalion at its first muster in 1861, was honorably 
 discharged, after nearly four years service, in February, 1865. Lieut. 
 Kane, captured by the enemy in Wilson's raid, experienced for a few 
 
 * Nov. 14, 18G4, nearly 300 members of the 26th Regiment met at a social reunion 
 in Norwich: Col. Kingsley, chairman; Adj. Meech, secretary. An address was deliv- 
 ered by Kev. N. T. Allen, who had been the chaplain of the regiment. 
 
HISTORY OF NOEWICH. 673 
 
 months the discomforts of the Libby prison. Lieut. Phillips, promoted 
 Captain, and J. L. Richardson, Ac^utant, came home with the regiment in 
 August, 1865. 
 
 On the rolls of the Connecticut Light Battery, the only name from Nor- 
 wich is that of Alfred P. Rockwell, Captain of the 1st C. L. B. This 
 company landed at Beaufort in February, 1862, and was stationed for two 
 years at points of hazard and responsibility on the coast, co-operating in 
 the siege of Charleston. It was afterward attached to Butler's command 
 in the advance to Richmond. Capt. Rockwell was then transferred to the 
 infantry service, and appointed Colonel of the 6th C. V. 
 
 The two regiments of Heavy Artillery were organized out of the 4th 
 and 19th regiments of Infantry. The change of the 4th to 1st H. A. 
 was effected in January, 1862. Henry W. Birge, Major of the 4th, was 
 soon transferred to the 13th Infantry as its Colonel. Several of the lieu- 
 tenants of the 1st Artillery were from Norwich. Lieut. Edwin L. Tyler 
 entered this regiment, but was transferred to the staff of General Tyler. 
 Lieut. Bela P. Learned retained his connection with the regiment to the 
 close of the war, having performed likewise for nearly two years various 
 complicated duties as a field officer on the staff of General Abbott. He 
 left the army with the rank of Captain and brevet Major.* 
 
 Of the recruits raised by Norwich during the later years of the war, 
 140 were assigned to the two regiments of Artillery. A fair proportion 
 of these belonged to the town, and were good men and true, but many of 
 the substitutes obtained abroad proved to be adepts in fraud and desperate 
 deserters.f 
 
 The 29th C. V. consisted wholly of colored troops with white commis- 
 sioned officers. This was raised in 1864, and sent to Annapolis, where it 
 was joined to the Ninth Army Corps under General Burnside. Its roll 
 numbered 1,005 officers and men, and it was regarded as a regiment of 
 more than ordinary physical ability and moral excellence. The officers 
 from Norwich were Captains David Torrance and Wm. J. Ross ; Lieuts. 
 M. L. Leonard, Edward P. Rogers, and Ch. H. Carpenter, — ^transferred 
 to this regiment from the 18th, with advanced rank. 
 
 * " To Capt. Learned great credit is due for skillful and energetic performance of 
 perplexing duties." Keport of Gen. Abbott for 1864. 
 
 t The following item illustrative of the golden opportunity offered to a faithful sub- 
 stitute for making money, is from the Norwich Bulletin : 
 
 " On the 6th of August, 1864, James W. Needham, a Canadian, enlisted at the 
 Provost-Marshal's ofiBce in this city, as a substitute. He entered the 14th Regiment, 
 was not absent from duty a single day, and was discharged July 10, 1865. He received 
 as bounty $650, and as pay $192.20. On the 29th of July he arrived in Norwich with 
 the above sum in his pocket, less only $1 .50 paid for rations on the journey from Wash- 
 ington. He left for home a few days afterward." 
 
 43 
 
674 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 The 29th obtained an honorable record for gallant conduct in the 
 trenches before Petersburg, and for bravely facing the foe in several 
 attacks upon the enemy's lines in the campaign of 1864. This regiment 
 having been accepted as a part of the U. S. C. T., the officers were com- 
 missioned by the President. 
 
 A list of commissioned officers from Norwich in service during the war, 
 compiled with care from official sources, gives the following result : 
 General officers, three, viz., Tyler, Birge, and Harland. 
 Colonels, 5 Adjutants, 8 Captains, 45 
 
 Lieut. Colonels, 7 Surgeons, 7 1st Lieutenants, 32 
 
 Majors, 8 Quartermasters, 4 2d " 18 
 
 Total, 137. [Norwich Bulletin, Oct. 31, 1865.] 
 
 The above list is not confined to citizens of Norwich deriving their 
 appointment from the State. It includes several natives of Norwich who 
 have removed to other parts of the Union, and residents of the town who 
 have received appointments from other States ; also several officers in 
 colored regiments, or in other general service, commissioned by the United 
 States. 
 
 It includes Major Thomas Maguire, Capts. Berry and Scott, and Lieut. 
 Brennan, who went from Norwich and joined the 2d N. Y. Artillery ; 
 
 William T. Lusk, Lieut, in 79th N. T. Vols, and A. A. G. on General 
 Tyler's staff; 
 
 Frank S. Bond, Major U. S. V., on Tyler's staff in the Army of the 
 Cumberland, and on the staff of Rosecrans at Stone River, Chickamauga, 
 and in the campaign against Price ; 
 
 Henry Case, Colonel 169th Illinois,* and Grsorge R. Case, Captain La. 
 Colored Troops, — both natives and former residents of Norwich; 
 
 Douglas R. Bushnell, Major 13th Illinois, killed at Chattanooga ; 
 
 J. H. Piatt, of the Ohio Cavalry, Major by brevet U. S. A. ; 
 
 Lieut. Col. Calvin Goddard, of Cleveland, Ohio, aid to General Rose- 
 crans ; 
 
 Captains Charles H. Rockwell and J. M. Huntington, U. S. V. ; 
 
 Capt. John L. Spalding, of the 18th Mass. Vols. ; 
 
 Lieut. P. Ludlow Hyde, 26th Iowa, killed at Arkansas post. 
 
 » Col. Heary Case is a son of Dea. Samuel Case of Norwich Town. He graduated 
 at Yale College in 1846, and has been successively engaged in the three departments 
 of law, divinity, and arms, besides running at one time as a popular candidate for a 
 seat in Congress. He practiced law for several years in Ohio ; was ordained in the 
 First Congregational Church at Norwich, under the charge of Rev. Dr. Arms, July 
 31, 1855, and returned to the West as a Home Missionary; but when the war broke 
 out, entered the army, and was with General Sherman in his grand march through the 
 Confederacy. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 675 
 
 These oflBcers, though natives of the place, or of Norwich parentage, 
 are not technically regarded as Connecticut volunteers. The officers 
 from Norwich commissioned by the State were about 110, but these were 
 not all in the service at the same time. Many of them were appointed as 
 successors to the others. 
 
 It is not easy to determine the exact number of private soldiers or 
 enlisted men that Norwich contributed from her actual population to the 
 service of the country. The town had the raising of the quota under her 
 own management from the commencement of the war to July, 1863, but 
 after that period the recruiting business was conducted by the provost- 
 marshal of the district During the first two years, covering the original 
 organization of the volunteer force of Connecticut, the enlistments were 
 almost wholly of town residents, but after that period they were princi- 
 pally substitutes and hired recruits. 
 
 The following statements are supposed to be nearly accurate : 
 
 For the three months service Norwich furnished 12 commissioned offi- 
 cers and 136 enlisted men. 
 
 For the 1st Cavalry and 1st Artillery regiments, 10 officers and 32 
 enlisted men. 
 
 For the three years Infantry service, in the regiments from the 5th to 
 the 21st inclusive, 528 enlisted men. 
 
 For the 26th regiment, nine months service, 126 enlisted men. 
 
 Ee-enlistment of veterans, 127. 
 
 Hired recruits and substitutes procured in 1863 and '64, probably about 
 280.* 
 
 Colored men, volunteers and substitutes, 60. 
 
 Volunteers, or substitutes for enrolled men, mustered into the navy, from 
 Norwich, 89. 
 
 These 89 seamen were taken up at different places, but credited to the 
 town. Several of them enlisting as volunteers, received honorable appoint- 
 ments as clerks and paymasters, and others as commanding officers. In 
 1863, Warrington D. Koath and Robert B. Smith, volunteer lieutenants 
 from Norwich, were in command, — the former of the Bignonia and the 
 latter of the Nita, armed vessels of the fourth rate. Lewis G. Cook was 
 acting master of the gunboat Octorora, 1 1 guns. 
 
 John W. Bentley, Acting Master U. S. N., died at his residence in 
 Norwich, May 27, 1864. He received an appointment in the navy soon 
 after the war commenced, and had been for three years in active service. 
 At the capture of Port Royal, he was in the Wabash, which was attached 
 
 * Among the recruits enlisted at Norwich, under date of Feb. 1 , 1 864, are the follow- 
 ing singular names : Kannoris Blosopolos and Michael ZamphiropoIoB. These were 
 men from some remote part of Canada. They were assigned to the 13th Regiment, 
 and the last-named appears on the list of wounded at Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1864. 
 
676 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 to Dupont's command. He had just been placed in command of the Ban- 
 shee, a captured blockade-runner, and was preparing to put to sea, when 
 seized with his last illness, which in one week ended in death. 
 
 Commodore Joseph Lanman, of the regular naval service, is a native 
 of Norwich. His original entry has the date of Feb. 1, 1826, which gives 
 him forty years of naval experience. Twenty-four years of this term is 
 credited to him as sea-service ; the remainder occupied in shore duty or 
 unemployed. He is now in command of the Minnesota, screw-steamer, 
 52 guns. 
 
 The Soldiers' Aid Association of Norwich, embodying the gifts and 
 labors of the feminine portion of the community, displayed an amount of 
 volunteer contribution, both of funds and labor, truly munificent. The 
 patriotism and self-denial which prompted these efforts never slackened, 
 but carried them forward from year to year, with persevering energy, 
 while the war continued. It was not so much in the character of Eliza- 
 beth Frys or Florence Nightingales that this zeal was exhibited, — not 
 particularly in visits to battle-fields and hospitals, as inspectors, assistants, 
 and nurses, though instances of such benevolent action were not wholly 
 wanting,* but rather in making garments, preparing grateful food, medi- 
 cines, comforts and delicacies, corresponding and giving judicious coun- 
 sels and cheering words, and in collecting books, papers, and a variety of 
 refreshments to add to the well-being of the soldier. 
 
 Such associations occupy the place of the Angel of Mercy, following 
 the track of the Demon of "War, and repairing in part his ravages. It is 
 thus that families at home co-operate with soldiers in the field, and woman 
 performs her part in sustaining the Union and delivering the oppressed. 
 
 The ladies of the Soldiers' Aid dissolved their Association in January, 
 1866. 
 
 The news of the surrender by General Lee of the grand Confederate 
 Army reached Norwich at an early hour, Monday morning, April 10, 
 1865. At day-break, by order of the Mayor, guns were fired and the 
 bells rung to spread the tidings abroad. It was a day of great rejoicing. 
 People met in the streets with hearty greetings and congratulations. 
 Nothing was left of the Confederacy but the army of Johnston and the 
 
 * During the whole war, Dr. Claudius B. Webster and Mrs. Webster, from Nor- 
 wich, gave their personal serrices to the sick and wounded soldiers of the Union army ; 
 either stationed at hospitals, or following in the rear of a marching army. Dr. Web- 
 ster was an agent of the Sanitary Commission, and a part of the time agent for the 
 Connecticut regiments in the Department of the Cumberland. 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 677 
 
 resistance of Mobile and Texas, and these were involved in the great 
 surrender. The war was therefore suddenly at an end. Victory, union, 
 peace and thanksginng were now the glorious pass-words. 
 
 At 12 o'clock an impromptu jubilee-meeting was held in Breed Hall, 
 and the great event celebrated — not with tumult and noise, but with earn- 
 est expressions of gratitude and praise. Cheering addresses were made, 
 prayers oflfered, and hymns chanted and sung.* It was a day of triumph 
 for the prospect of a restored Union, and of joyful hope for an emancipated 
 race.f 
 
 This exulting scene was destined to be followed by a speedy and terri- 
 ble revulsion. At this period great events are crowded together in the 
 history of our country. On Friday, April 14, the fourth anniversary of 
 the surrender of Fort Sumter to the Confederates, President Lincoln 
 was assassinated. The news was received here, as elsewhere, with 
 amazement, horror, and indignation, succeeded by the bitter agony of 
 grief Business for a time almost ceased, and a scene of universal mourn- 
 ing was exhibited. Governor Buckingham, Senator Foster, and several 
 other citizens immediately repaired to Washington. Mr. Foster, in virtue 
 of his office as President, pro. tern., of the Senate, became the nominal 
 Vice-President of the United States, and in case of the death of Mr. 
 Johnson, President, until another could be chosen. 
 
 Wednesday, the 19th, was the day of the Funeral Services in Wash- 
 ington, and religious solemnities were held in accordance with them 
 through the Union. At Norwich the bells were tolled, and guns fired 
 every half hour ; flags lowered and banded with crape ; many private 
 houses, and all public places, draped in mourning. At 12 o'clock, manu- 
 factories, work-shops, and places of business were closed, and the churches 
 opened for devotional exercises. The next Sunday, discourses adapted to 
 the event were delivered in churches hung with heavy drapery, and 
 listened to with that profound emotion which is usually excited only by 
 personal bereavement. 
 
 At the celebration of the 4th of July, 1865, the returned soldiers were 
 regarded with special interest. They were a distinguishing feature that 
 separated the 89th anniversary from all other commemorations of the day 
 in Norwich. Generals Birge and Harland, natives of the town, were 
 present. Groups of officers and veterans, that had served in various reg- 
 
 * The whole congregation joined in singing "Coronation " and "America." 
 
 t Jan. 2, 1863, by order of the Mayor, 100 guns were fired, and the church bells in 
 
 the city rung for an hour, in honor of the President's Proclamation of Emancipation 
 
 to the slaves in the seceding States. 
 
678 HISTORY OF NOBWICH. 
 
 iments, some of them from other towns, appeared in the procession. The 
 storm-flag that had been used in the a,ssault upon Port Hudson was borne 
 through the streets. The 18th regiment having been recently mustered 
 out of service, the companies belonging to Norwich returned home just in 
 time to take part in these festivities. Lieut. Col. Peale, with about one 
 hundred of his soldiery, arranged under their respective officers, formed 
 an interesting part of the line. They bore with them their regimental 
 standard, but after reaching the Plain, the Mayor of the City presented 
 to Col. Peale the original flag, under which they were mustered three 
 years before. This flag, when more than half the regiment was captured 
 at Winchester, was torn from its staff by the standard-bearer, and con- 
 cealed under his uniform until he was safe from pursuit.* 
 
 In the long procession at this time were several carriages occupied by 
 a band of venerable citizens of the place, aged 70 and upwards — 
 
 Veterans of the War of 1812.t 
 
 Another unique feature of the celebration was the appearance in the 
 line of several Fenian Circles, from this and the neighboring towns. It 
 was the first time that these organized bands had appeared in this vicinity 
 in a public procession with distinctive badges. 
 
 There seemed to be no special point of time at which the war closed. 
 Opposition ceased ; the sounds of strife died away, and the discharged 
 soldiers began to return. They were every where received with acclama- 
 tions, and banquets were spread before them. There was weeping over 
 widows and orphans, but generous applause for the men of a hundred 
 battles. 
 
 It was a pleasant circumstance that the disbanded soldiery returned 
 quietly to their old homes and pursuits, resuming, in most cases, their accus- 
 tomed avocations, as if only a week, or a month, had intervened. The 
 farmer returned to his field, the operative went back to his factory, the 
 mechanic to his trade ; mercantile clerks, agents, and assistants in banks 
 
 * Sergt. George Torrey, of North Woodstock, waS the gallant soldier that saved the 
 State Color of the 18th regiment, at Winchester, by wrapping it around his person, 
 anfescaping to our lines. — Conn. War Bee, p. 23. 
 
 t Names and ages of eighteen veterans of the War of 1812, who were in the proces- 
 sion July i, 1865, and formed themselves into an association to meet annually, choos- 
 ing General Williams for their President : 
 
 Isaac Bromley, 74. Charles Gale, 69. Elisha Mansfield, 70. 
 
 Samuel Case, 74. Lewis Hyde, 72. John Nichols, 80. 
 
 Dr. Eleazar Downing, 78. Capt. Wm. Kelly, 81. John Starkweather, 75. 
 
 Eber Edwards, 74. James Rose Ledyard, 74. Joseph Tyler, 73. 
 
 Benjamin Ford, 73. Frederick Lester, 72. Gen. Wm. Williams, 77. 
 
 Othniol Gager, 71. Asa Manning, 70. Elkanah Williams, 82. 
 
HISTOBT OP NORWICH. 679 
 
 and insurance offices, returned to their desks, and were re-invested with 
 their former responsibUities. In special instances, the General might be 
 seen again busy with his law-books, the Colonel and the Captain again 
 teaching school.* 
 
 When the war commenced, General Birge was one of the Governor's 
 Aids, and was actively engaged in raising and sending forth the three 
 months men. He entered the service in June, 1861, and in September, 
 1863, received the appointment of Brigadier-General of Volunteers, in 
 acknowledgment of his gallantry at the siege of Port Hudson. The 
 next year he was breveted Major-General for services in Sheridan's cam- 
 paign in the Shenandoah VaUey, and in June, 1865, was appointed to the 
 command of the Military District of Savannah. 
 
 Gen. Banks, in his report of the Red River expedition, alluding to the 
 Cane River fight, says — 
 
 " General Birge, as in all actions in which he has been engaged, deserved and re- 
 ceived the highest commendation." 
 
 General Harland entered into the service upon the first call of the 
 country, and rose rapidly through the degrees of Captain and Colonel, to 
 the command of a division at Antietam. He was then appointed Briga- 
 dier-General, and stationed in the Military District of North Carolina. 
 His last fight was at Kinston, in that State, where he commanded a divis- 
 ion under General Scholfield, in the repulse of the Confederate forces 
 under General Bragg, in March, 1865.- 
 
 General Harland, Lieut. Colonels Peale and Hale, Captains Lilly, 
 McCord, Merwin, Moore, Parker, Ross, Tiffany, and other officers and 
 soldiers that were engaged in the first expedition of 1861, have the satis- 
 faction, not only of seeing the war through, but of having been a part of 
 it from the beginning to the end. 
 
 Brig. Gen. Tyler resigned his command in 1864, and about the same 
 time removed from Norwich to Red Bank, in New Jersey. 
 
 Col. Wm. T. Aiken, of Norwich, held the office of Quartermaster Gen- 
 eral of the State troops during the war.f 
 
 *An amusing illustration of this recurrence to former pursuits was furnished by 
 Lieut. Sweet, who, before the war, excited quite a sensation by walking across the 
 Shetucket on a rope, and after returning from service, in August, 1865, advertised that 
 he would repeat the same exploit. 
 
 t Capt. Eleazar H. Eipley, of Windham, enlisted at Norwich in the company of 
 Capt. Harland, in May, 1861 ; went out again in the 8th regiment, and lost his left arm 
 in battle, but was promoted Captain for meritorious service, and continued in the army 
 till it was disbanded. 
 
CHAPTER LII. 
 
 Neceologt of the Wak in belation to Norwich. 
 
 Alphabetical list of soldiers that fell in battle, or died of casualties and 
 disease, consequent upon the war : 
 
 William R. Allyn, aged 18, farmer, enlisted in 14th C. V., July, 1862 ; 
 died March 9, 1863. (8 m. in service.)* 
 
 Alexander S. Avery, sergeant 5th C. V., killed in battle at Cedar Moun- 
 tain, Aug. 9, 1862. (1 y. 18 d.) 
 
 Gourtland C. Avery, corporal in Stanton's company, 26th C. V., died 
 of fever near Port Hudson, June 24, 1863, aged about 30. He was a 
 son of Alfred Avery, of Scotland, Ct., but for many years a resident in 
 Norwich. 
 
 Frederick W. Baker, 1st Conn. Cavalry, enlisted Jan. 12, and died Jan. 
 27, 1864 ; 15 days in the service. 
 
 Charles H. Beckwith, book-binder ; served in the three months cam- 
 paign ; enlisted again in the 18th C. V., and died Dec. 1, 1862, aged 22. 
 (7 m.) 
 
 Henry M. Beckwith, 1st Artillery, died in hospital, near Alexandria, 
 Oct. 10, 1863. (1 y. 5 m.) 
 
 Herbert E. Beckwith, clerk, 18 years of age, son of Elisha V. Beck- 
 with, of Norwich; served 18 months in 10th C. V., and subsequently as 
 corporal in 2d Mass. Heavy ArtUlery. He was taken prisoner at Plym- 
 outh, N. C, confined 8 months at Andersonville, Ga., and Florence, Ala., 
 where he suffered severely from the want of food and clothing — was 
 paroled in an exhausted, dying condition, and landed at Annapolis, where 
 he rallied a little at sight of the Union flag, but died six days afterward, 
 Dec. 30, 1864, aged 21. At Andersonville, in that loathsome abode of 
 lingering torture, this young man wrote in his diary, " At times, I fancy I 
 hear the church bells in Norwich." 
 
 William A. Berry, a young Englishman that had recently settled at 
 Grecneville, aged about 22. He was one of the first to enlist in Capt 
 
 * The terms of service, in this chapter, are not always precisely accurate, but are 
 giren as near estimates of the time. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 681 
 
 Prank Chester's company of the Buckingham Rifles, the first company 
 raised in Norwich, and was commissioned 2d Lieutenant. He joined 
 afterward Capt. Maguire's company of the 2d N. Y. Light Artillery. 
 This regiment was long on garrison duty at Washington, where Lieut. 
 Berry was promoted Captain. He was killed near Petersburg, June 5, 
 1864, and buried on the battle-field ; but his remains were afterward 
 brought to Norwich, in charge of his comrade in arms, Capt. Thomas 
 Scott, and interred in Yantic Cemetery, Nov. 3, 1864. A gaUant soldier, 
 faithful to his adopted country. (3 y. 2 m.) 
 
 John Best, of Greeneville, 2d Conn. Heavy Artillery, enlisted recruit, 
 Dec. 30, 1863 ; killed near Petersburg. 
 
 David Black, aged 38, 13th C. V. ; killed at Georgia Landing, La., 
 Oct 27, 1862. (10 m.) 
 
 Edward Blomley, of Greeneville, 8th C. V. ; captured in an engage- 
 ment upon the Petersburg E. R., May 7, 1864, and died at Anderson- 
 ville, Oct. 3, aged 39. A re-enlisted veteran. 
 
 Lemuel Bolman, farmer, aged 44, 12th C. V., died Aug. 22, 1863. 
 (1 y. 8 m.) 
 
 Henry A. Bottondy, manufacturer at Yantic ; corporal in the company 
 of Capt. Dennis, 7th C. V. He had re-enlisted as a veteran, and died 
 during his veteran furlough, while on a visit with his family near Boston, 
 March 13, 1864, aged 34, — of disease contracted in the service. He was 
 brought to Norwich and interred in Yantic Cemetery. 
 
 John T. Bradley, aged 19, corporal 18th C. V., killed at Piedmont, June 
 5, 1864. (1 y. 10 m.) 
 
 Oharhs A. Breed, Lieutenant in Capt. Ward's company, 8th C. V. He 
 died at Newport News, of typhoid fever, July 30, 1862. At the time of 
 his death he was detailed for duty on the Signal Corps of Burnside's 
 division. His remains were brought home in charge of his friend, Lieut. 
 Wait, and the funeral services were held at the 2d Congregational Church, 
 Aug. 2d. Lieut. Breed had served in the 3d regiment for three months, 
 enlisted again for three years, and had been engaged in battle at Roanoke 
 and Newbern. The Common Council and the City Guards attended his 
 funeral with every mark of respect, and the officers of the 8th regiment 
 bore testimony to his patriotism and social virtues, and sent their condo- 
 lence to " his widowed mother wht) had given two sons to sustain the cause 
 of constitutional liberty." 
 
 Henry Brooks, gardener, aged 44, a native of Three Rivers, Canada 
 East, but for a number of years resident in Norwich ; enlisted in 26th 
 C. v., died July 3, 1863, in hospital, of wounds received in the first charge 
 upon Port Hudson, May 27th. 
 
 Daniel H. Brown, mechanic, aged 43, 9th C. V., died at New Orleans, 
 May 14, 1862. (7 m.) 
 
682 HISTORY OF NOBWICH. 
 
 David H. Brown, farmer, aged 23, 13th C. V., died May 15, 1864. A 
 re-enlisted veteran. 
 
 Charles E. Burdieh, 10th C. V., son of Evan Burdick, architect, died 
 in the hospital at Newbem, N. C, Jan. 16, 1863, aged 19. (1 y. 3 m.) 
 
 Horatio Burdick, of Greeneville, aged 30, 18th C. V., died at Fort 
 McHenry, Baltimore, Oct. 19, 1862. (3 m.) 
 
 Theodore Burdick, 1st Lieutenant 7th C. V. ; commissioned Captain, 
 July 1, 1862; killed in action at Morris Island, July 11, 1863, aged 25. 
 (1 y. 10 m.) 
 
 Albert Burnett, mechanic, aged 24, 18th C. V., killed at Winchester, 
 June 14, 1863. (10 m.) 
 
 Daniel Oamey, operative, of Greeneville, aged 18, 18th C. V., killed 
 at Snicker's Ferry, July 18, 1864. (2 y.) 
 
 Michael Carver, teamster, aged 18, corporal 1st Conn. Cavalry, killed 
 while on picket duty at Stafford Court House, Va., January 3, 1863. 
 (1 y. 2 m.) 
 
 David Ci Case, son of Deacon Samuel Case, of Norwich Town, 3d C. 
 v., killed at Bull Run by a cannon-ball, and died in an hour, July 21, 
 1861, aged 26. He was the first soldier from Norwich killed in the war 
 of the rebeUion. 
 
 Henry F. Champlin, 10th C. V., captured while on picket duty near St. 
 Augustine, Fla., died at Andersonville, Aug. 11, 1864, aged 21. This 
 young man was brought home with the Norwich dead, and interred with 
 them in Yantic Cemetery, but enlisted at Sprague. 
 
 Giles D. Chapman, farmer, aged 41, 26th C. V. He was sick when 
 the regiment left Port Hudson, and died soon after reaching home, Aug. 
 19, 1863. 
 
 Alfred S. ChappeU, 18th C. V., carpenter, aged 37, died Sept. 17, 
 1863. (1 y. 2 m.) 
 
 Michael Corhett, mechanic, aged 25, 13th C. V., died of wounds and 
 disease. May 25, 1863. (1 y. 5 m.) 
 
 John Crawford, of Greeneville, aged 23, 18th C. V., a young man of 
 estimable character, who died of wounds, at Winchester, July 2, 1863. 
 
 (ly-) 
 
 Byron Crocker, aged 18, 13th C. V., son of late Thomas Crocker, of 
 Norwich. He was one of the party that volunteered to storm the fortifi- 
 cations at Port Hudson with Gen. Birge, and died of wounds received, at 
 Georgia Landing, July 15, 1864. (2| y.) 
 
 John Cullen, 21st C. V., died in hospital at Newbem, March 22, 1864, 
 aged 38. (1 y. 8 m.) 
 
 Enoch Benjamin Culver, 18th C. V., a native of New York, but for 
 several years a resident in Norwich. While the regiment was encamped 
 at Baltimore, he was detailed and employed as a clerk at Gen. Schenck's 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 683 
 
 bead-quarters, and was not with the regiment at the time of its defeat and 
 capture at Winchester, but rejoined the remnant that escaped, at Harper's 
 Ferry, and was promoted Lieutenant and Adjutant. He was mortally 
 wounded at Piedmont, June 5, and died the next day, aged 21. His re- 
 mains were subsequently recovered and transmitted to his parents in New 
 York. (2 y. nearly.) 
 
 Alonzo S. Gushman, operative, aged 18, 11th C. V.; chosen corporal; 
 mortally wounded at Swift Creek, Va., May 5, and died May 9, 1864. 
 He had re-enlisted as a veteran. 
 
 William Davis, 1st Conn. Cavalry, captured at Craig's Church, Va., 
 May 5, 1864, and died at Andersonville, Aug. 30, aged 42. (4 m.) 
 
 William L. Davis, carpenter, aged 21, 18th C. V., killed at Piedmont, 
 Va., June 5, 1864. (1 y. 10 m.) 
 
 John Dekmy, of Greeneville, paper-maker, aged 18, 18th C. V., killed 
 at Snicker's Ferry, Va., July 18, 1864. (2 y.) 
 
 Edward Dorey, operative, aged 26, 14th C. V. ; chosen corporal ; died 
 of wounds received at Antietam, Oct. 8, 1862. (3|- m.) 
 
 Sylvanus Downer, 18th C. V. He had been Chief Engineer of the 
 Fire Department in Norwich, was captured at Winchester, exchanged, 
 rejoioed his regiment, and was promoted color-sergeant. Afterward 
 wounded at Piedmont, he was taken prisoner a second time, and died at 
 Andersonville, Nov. 5, 1864, aged 44. (2 y. 3 m.) 
 
 James Dugan, machinist, aged 19, 26th C. V., wounded in the hand at 
 Port Hudson, and died of disease on board the steamer, in returning home, 
 July 28, 1863. 
 
 Thomas Dugan, 21st C. V. ; enlisted in August, 1862, and died at 
 Andersonville. 
 
 George F. Edgerlon, aged 35, 26th C. V., died at Port Hudson, July 
 23, 1863 ; brought home and interred. 
 
 Gharhs Tracy Fanning, clerk, aged 18, 18th C. V., mortally wounded 
 at Piedmont, June 5, 1864. Remauis interred at Norwich, Oct. 18, 1865. 
 (1 y. 10 m.) 
 
 Henry 0. Fanning, aged 18, 8th C. V., died Oct. 28, 1862, of wounds 
 received at Sharpsburg, Md. (13 m.) 
 
 Theodore A. Fanning, painter, aged 24, 8th C. V., died of wounds re- 
 ceived at Sharpsburg, Md., Oct. 19, 1862. 
 
 Thomas Fillbume, stone-layer, aged 25, 7th C. V., killed at Drur/s 
 Blufif, Va., May 16, 1864. (2| y.) 
 
 David M. Ford, of Greeneville, aged 20, 11th C. V., killed at Sharps- 
 burg, Md., Sept. 17, 1862. (10 m.) 
 
 Joseph Forstner, aged 37, corporal in Capt. Peale's company, 18th C. 
 v., died Aug. 9, 1863. (1 y.) 
 
 Walter M. Fox, 2d Artillery, killed at Petersburg, June 22, 1864. 
 (5 m.) 
 
684 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 Henry O. GaskeU, aged 33, son of Benjamin Gaskell, of Greeneville, 
 IStjh C. V. He was wounded at Piedmont, taken prisoner near Winches- 
 ter, and kept long in barbarous captivity. When at length released, he 
 was so reduced by exposure and starvation, that he died while en route to 
 be exchanged at Danville, Va., Feb. 20, 1865. (2 y.) 
 
 Alfred M. Goddard, Lieutenant 8th C. V., son of the late L. H. God- 
 dard, of Norwich, a young man of distinguished enterprise, superior nat- 
 ural endowments, and winning manners. He had been for several years 
 at the Sandwich Islands, engaged as a commercial agent, participating in 
 many varied pursuits, amid different races of men, and diversities of cli- 
 mate. He had traversed the Pacific Ocean from the Arctic to the Antarctic 
 latitudes ; had tarried for months at a time on the desolate island of 
 McKean, with no companions but a few workmen and saUors ; had visited 
 Mauritius, and taken the East Indian route homeward, by the Red Sea 
 and Europe. Having closed his agency at the Islands, he came home for 
 the last time in May, 1863, and entered the army in July. He was em- 
 ployed for several months on the staff of General Harland, but joined his 
 regiment at the siege of Petersburg, and was mortally wounded in the 
 battle of May 7, 1864 This was Lieut. Goddard's first regular engage- 
 ment, but his conduct was that of a veteran. WhUe gallantly leading on 
 his men, near the close of a day of hard fighting, he was struck to the 
 ground, and though carefully taken from the field, and removed the next 
 day to Fortress Monroe, where he received every attention that surgical 
 skill and kindness could bestow, he died May 9th. He was 27 years of age ; 
 a short life in years, but long if measured by personal worth, duties per- 
 formed, and the experience of changing scenes and adventures. His gen- 
 erous disposition, manly bearing, lively and affable manners, had particu- 
 larly endeared him to his friends. Even when a boy, as son and brother, 
 he had acted the part of a man, and the sacrifice of his young life fell like 
 a heavy blow upon the hearts at home. (9| m.) 
 
 William H. Hamilton, student, aged 18, 18th C. V., killed at Piedmont, 
 June 5, 1864, nearly 2 years in service. (1 y. 10 m.) 
 
 WiUiam G. Hayward, mechanic, 18th C. V., captured at Winchester, 
 was exchanged and rejoined his regiment ; captured again at Newmarket, 
 Va., May 15, 1864, and died at Andersonville, Sept. 8, 1864, aged 34. 
 (2 y. 1 m.) 
 
 John G. Holwell, aged 40, 11th C. V., killed at Sharpsburg, Sept. 17, 
 1862. (10 m.) 
 
 Thomas D. Huntington, son of Benjamin Huntington, of Norwich 
 Town, aged 19, 8th C. V. ; enlisted Sept. 21, and went into camp at 
 Hartford, was taken sick, returned home, and died Sept. 29, 1861, 8 days 
 after being mustered into service. 
 
 WiUiam Hutchim, aged 20, 11th C. V., died June 14, 1862. (7 m.) 
 
HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 685 
 
 Hervey F. Jacobs, book-keeper, 2d Lieutenant, 26th C. V. Lieutenant 
 Jacobs had resided about eight years in Norwich, in the family of his 
 relative, L. W. Carroll, Esq. He was well educated, and at the opening 
 of the war was preparing to enter into business with flattering prospects. 
 Patriotism and a high sense of duty carried him into the army. In the 
 second assault upon Port Hudson, June 14, 1863, he was detailed to the 
 command of a company, and while leading on his men, was fatally wound- 
 ed by the explosion of a 12-pounder spherical case shot (or shell) fired 
 by the enemy. The same shot killed four men outright, and wounded 
 sixteen others. He died of his wounds in the hospital at Baton Rouge, 
 La., July 5,* aged 24. 
 
 A companion who was with Lieut. Jacobs on the field of battle, says, 
 " When that dreadful shell came which killed and disabled twenty men, 
 including himself, he was cheering and encouraging his men, and pressing 
 forward with the assurance of success. After he was wounded, the noble 
 spirit that animated him was manifested by his refusing to be taken to the 
 rear, until all the wounded about him had been removed.f 
 
 Marquis L. Johnson, mechanic, aged 39, 13th C. V., enlisted in Janu- 
 ary, 1862, was discharged in July, on account of infirm health, and died at 
 sea, on his way home. (6 m.) 
 
 Stephen T. Johnson, aged 39, 26th C. V., died in the hospital at Mound 
 City, m., Aug. 3, 1863. 
 
 Thomas F. Jones, enlisted recruit, 18th C. V., killed at Winchester, 
 June 15, 1863. (1 m.) 
 
 James Kenndy, 10th C. V. He enlisted as a recruit in January, 1864, 
 and was killed at Petersburg the first of April. (2^ m.) 
 
 John KeUy, aged 18, enHsted recruit, 9th C. V., died July 24,1862. 
 (8 m.) 
 
 John Kerr, of Greeneville, aged 44, 18th C. V., wounded and taken 
 prisoner at Winchester, exchanged, transferred to Invalid Corps, and died 
 of disease contracted in the service. 
 
 Bavid Lacy, 2d Artillery, enlisted recruit, killed at Cold Harbor, Va., 
 June 1, 1864. (4 m.) 
 
 Daniel Laird, student, aged 18, 13th C. V., killed at Winchester, Sept. 
 19, 1864. (2 y. 7 m.) 
 
 DeWitt G. Lathrop, physician, aged 42. Appointed 1st Assistant Sur- 
 geon 8th C. V. Died at Newbem, April 18, 1862, a victim to over exer- 
 
 *In the same hospital, two days later, died hia brother, "Wyman D. Jacobs, of the 
 50th Mass. regiment, aged 21. They were sons of Joseph E. Jacobs, of Thomp- 
 son, Ct. 
 
 t A discourse in memory of Lieut. Jacobs was preached in the Central Baptist 
 Church, after the remains were brought home, Nov. 1, 1863, by Kev. Samuel Graves, 
 pastor of the church. 
 
686 HISTORY OP NORWICH. 
 
 tion and extreme anxiety for the wounded men under his care. He was a 
 man of great moral and professional worth, and his death was a heavy 
 loss to the service, as well as to his family, and the community at home. 
 His remains were interred at Windham, where most of his professional 
 life had been passed, and where a monument, erected by the members of 
 his regiment, testifies to the affectionate esteem in which he was held by 
 his comrades. (6^ m.) 
 
 Patrick Lloyd, iron- worker, aged 25, 14th C.V., killed at Spotsylvania, 
 May 11, 1864. (1 y. 10 m.) 
 
 Henry N. Loomis, seaman, aged 18, 2l8t C. V., mortally wounded Aug. 
 19, 1864. (2 y.) 
 
 Edward P. Manning, Commissary Sergeant and 2d Lieutenant 26th 
 C. v., a young man of unblemished character, a member of the Baptist 
 Church, and one of whom his companions said, " He carried his religion 
 with him into the army, and was as ready to fight under the banner of the 
 Cross, as under the fiag of his country." He served out the time of his 
 enlistment, constantly on duty, acting at different times as Commissary, 
 Quartermaster, Adjutant and Lieutenant, came home with his regiment, 
 and died on the day it was mustered out of service, aged 28. Funeral 
 services were held in Norwich, but the interment was at Putnam, where 
 his parents reside. 
 
 Patrick Maro, mechanic, aged 18, 10th C. V., killed at Newbem, N. C, 
 March 14, 1862. (5^ m.) 
 
 Islay B. Martin, of Greeneville, student, aged 18, 18th C. V., a well- 
 educated, promising youth, died of wounds received at Winchester, July 
 2, 1863. (11 m.) 
 
 Ronald McAllister, Jr., of GreeneviUe, farmer, 11th C. V., killed at 
 Cold Harbor, Va., June 3, 1864. (His father, of the same name, served 
 14 months in the same regiment.) (2 y. 7 m.) 
 
 John Mc Gall, of Yantic village, aged 25, enlisted as a private in 8th C. 
 v., Sept. 21, 1861 ; was chosen sergeant, and in Feb., 1863, promoted to 
 a captaincy. He was in the North Carolina campaign under Burnside ; 
 fought afterward at South Mountain, at Antietam, and in many other 
 sanguinary engagements, always noted for bravery and skillful manage- 
 ment. In his third yeai"'s experience of marchings, fightings, wounds, and 
 captivity, he was killed at Drury's Bluff, May 16, 1864. 
 
 James McGracketi, of Greeneville, boiler-maker, aged 28, 18th C. V., 
 killed at Winchester, June 15, 1863. (10^ m.) 
 
 James S. McDavid, 1st Conn. Cavalry, captured at Ashland station, 
 June 1, 1864, arid died at Anders on viUe, Aug. 21, aged 17 y., 9 m., 20 d. 
 (7i m.) 
 
 William McKnight, 12th C. V., died at Brashear City, La., Aug. 17, 
 1863. (1 y. 8i m.) 
 
HISTOET OP NORWICH. 687 
 
 Thomas McMahon, enlisted recruit, 18th C. V., killed at Piedmont, Va., 
 June 5, 1864. (6^ m.) 
 
 Gillert McMahon, 2d Conn. Artillery, killed at Piedmont, June 5, 
 1864. (5 m.) 
 
 John McSooley, shoe-maker, aged 35, 9th C. V., died April 18, 1863. 
 (1 y. 6 m.) 
 
 James Mc Vay, laborer, aged 43, 14th C. V., fell out of the ranks in the 
 march to Antietam, and died of exhaustion, Sept. 9, 1862. Less than 2 
 months in service. 
 
 John Meany, laborer, aged 35, 9 th C. V., died Nov. 12, 1862. (18^ m.) 
 Charles Meisser, a German, aged 24, 6th C. V., killed at Morris Island, 
 July 18, 1863. (1 y. 9^ m.) 
 
 Jacob W. Miller, Jr., son of J. W. Miller, of Norwich Town, aged 1 6, 
 enhsted soon after the war commenced, in the 51st N. Y. V., which was 
 recruited in New York City. He was with his regiment in the North 
 Carolina campaign under Burnside ; in the army of the Potomac at South 
 Mountain and Antietam ; in Grant's army at Vicksburg, and in the ad- 
 vance to Richmond through the Wilderness. " In the conflict near Spot- 
 sylvania, May 18, 1864, while in front of the fight, he was shot through 
 the heart, and as his commanding officer wrote to his friends, died with his 
 face to the enemy while advancing on their work. He had never been 
 absent an hour from his post during his connection with the army, and was 
 buried on the battle-field."* 
 
 James Morningham, laborer, aged 33, 9th C. V., died July 21, 1862. 
 (10 m.) 
 
 Oramel M. Mott, farmer, aged 18, llth C. V. ; chosen corporal ; re-en- 
 listed veteran in January, 1864, and was killed near Petersburg the fol- 
 lowing May. (2 y. 8 m.) 
 
 Peter Mulligan, operative, aged 44, 26th C. V. He returned with his 
 regiment from Port Hudson, but in a sickly condition, and died before he 
 was mustered out of service. 
 
 James Murphy, laborer, aged 19, 9th C. V., died August 16, 1862. 
 (10 m.) 
 
 Dennis Murphy, laborer, 21st C. V., died March 12, 1864. (1 y. 
 7 m.) 
 
 James R. Nickels, a native of Maine, who had resided several years in 
 Norwich, employed as a clerk. He served in Capt. Harland's company 
 of three months men ; enlisted again as a private in the 14th regiment. 
 May, 1862 ; was chosen sergeant, and by successive promotions, made 
 Captain before he was 21 years of age. He fought at Antietam, at Fred- 
 ericksburg, at Chancellorsville, and in mnumerable other less noted en- 
 
 * Norwich Aurora. 
 
688 HISTORY OF NORWICH. 
 
 gagements ; passed unhurt through the terrible battles of the Wilderness 
 and Spotsylvania ; led the regiment in a brilliant charge at Cold Harbor, 
 for which he was comphmented by the commanding officer, and served in 
 front of Petersburg, till Aug. 27, 1864, when, in the sanguinary struggle 
 at Ream's Station, he was wounded, and left by the retreating army on 
 the field of battle. Here he was stripped by the rebels and left to die, 
 but during the night, the adjutant of his regiment found him, and pro- 
 cured his removal to the lines. He languished for six months, was several 
 times thought out of danger, but his constitution was btoken down, and 
 he died in hospital at Washington, D. C, Feb. 20, 1865, aged 22. A 
 pure-minded patriot, and as a soldier, intrepid and brave. The manly 
 fortitude and cheerfulness with which he bore his long confinement, equaled 
 in heroic endurance his conduct on the battle-field. 
 
 Joseph H. Nickerson, sergeant 11th C. V. ; promoted Captain, Aug. 6, 
 1863. After participating in many hard-fought battles, and coming home 
 with his regiment on their veteran furlough, his health failed, and he 
 resigned in October, 1864. He weis afterward appointed to office in the 
 Provost-Marshal's Department, but died May 15, 1865, aged 23. He 
 was honored with a military funeral, six discharged officers officiating as 
 pall-bearers, and the Common Council attending in a body. (3 y.) 
 
 Charles G. Noyes, student, aged 20, 18th C. V., wounded at Winchester, 
 and died June 15, 1863. A young man of promising talents and correct 
 deportment, the only child of his parents. Such bereavements show the 
 intense cruelty of war. 
 
 William T. V. Osborne, a conscript from Norwich, who died at the 
 Knight Hospital in New Haven, Sept. 2, 1863. Brought home for inter- 
 ment. 
 
 Josiah L. D. Otis, physician, aged 41, enlisted in 14th C. V., company 
 of Capt. J. B. Coit ; wounded at Fredericksburg, and died, after extreme 
 suffering, at a hospital in Washington, Feb. 10, 1863. (6^ m.) 
 
 James Parherson, fireman, aged 27, 26th C. V., mortally wounded at 
 Port Hudson, May 27, and died June 1, 1863. (9 m.) 
 
 Charles H. Potter, machinist, aged 24, 9th C. V., died Aug. 10, 1862, 
 at Baton Rouge, La. (9 m.) 
 
 William Reynolds, aged 18, sergeant 13th C. V., mortally wounded at 
 Cane River Creek, April 23, 1864. A veteran. (2 y. 4 m.) 
 
 Frederick E. Schalk, aged 24. He served as a private soldier in the 
 3d regiment, and as sergeant and lieutenant in the 14th. In one of the 
 sharp engagements in the early part of 1864, when the army was ad- 
 vancing into Virginia, he was severely wounded, and died in the hospital 
 at Fredericksburg, May 6, 1864. The funeral services were held at 
 Norwich, but he was interred at Lebanon, his native place, the Norwich 
 
HISTORY OP NORWICH. 689 
 
 Light Infantry escorting the remains thither, and firing a partmg volley 
 over his grave.* 
 
 Henry M. Scholfield, a promising young man who enlisted in the 1st C. 
 v., April 22, 1861, and afterward entered the 14th regiment. He died 
 of wounds received at Antietam, Sept. 28, 1862. 
 
 John Shea, 13th C. V., died July 18, 1863. (1 y. 6 m.) 
 
 Wittiam M. Sherman, sergeant 26th C. V., died June 28, 1863, in hos- 
 pital at New Orleans, of wounds received at Port Hudson, aged 25 years 
 and 9 months. Funeral services at the Free Church, Norwich. 
 
 John Simpson, sergeant 9th C. V., aged 27, died at New Orleans, Oct. 
 9,1862. (ly.) 
 
 James Souter, of Greeneville, clerk, aged 20, 11th C. V., killed at Cold 
 Harbor, Va., June 3, 1864. (2 y. 7 m.) 
 
 John L. Stanton, Captain Co. G, 26th C. V. A gallant soldier, killed 
 in the first terrific assault upon Port Hudson, May 27, 1863, aged 44. 
 
 Myron W. SterreU, aged 20, 26th C. V., missing after the attack upon 
 Port Hudson, and never heard from afterward. 
 
 Jose-ph Stoles, 2d C. V., died in hospital, July 25, 1861. 
 
 Francis W. Tayhr, manufacturer, aged 55, 18th C. V., severely wound- 
 ed at Piedmont, June 5, 1864, died at Annapolis, Md., March 28, 1865, 
 aged 57. (2 y. 8 m.) 
 
 Nelson C. Thompson, operative, aged 21, 18th C. V., died June 30, 
 1863, of wounds received at Winchester. (11 m.) 
 
 Eugene Tilden, enlisted in 1st Conn. Artillery, March 20, 1862, served 
 through the Peninsula campaign, was discharged on account of disability 
 in January, 1863, returned home, and died at his father's, April 23, 
 aged 20. 
 
 Edward F. Tisdale, aged 15, enlisted Nov., 1861, 9th C. V. ; discharged 
 the next October on account of disability; enhsted in January, 1864, in 
 1st Conn. Cavalry ; was captured after his horse had been shot under him, 
 and died at Anderson ville, Sept. 23, 1864, aged 18. 
 
 Richard Tomlinson, mechanic, aged 40, 26th C. V. Served till the 
 regiment was mustered out, but died soon after reaching home, of disease 
 contracted in the service. 
 
 James Torrance, aged 20, sergeant in the 3d C. V., and also in the 13th, 
 killed in a charge at Port Hudson, May 24, 1863. He was a young n^an 
 of distinguished bravery and moral worth, a native of Scotland, and. 
 brother of David Torrance, Colonel of the 29th (colored) regiment. 
 
 * The Norwich Light Infantry is a volunteer company of home guards, organized; 
 Feb. 17, 1862, consisting at first of 45 men, but increased to 60, S. E. Parlin, Captain.. 
 The company was accepted by the State as the nucleus of the 3d Eegiment of State 
 Militia, and Capt. Parlin commissioned by the Governor. The presence of this com- 
 pany has given additional interest to the mournful observances of many a soldier's- 
 funeral. 
 
 44 
 
690 HISTOBT OF NOBWICH. 
 
 William H. Town, of Greeneville, mechanic, aged 29, 18th C. V., died 
 in hospital at Sandy Hook, Md., March 28, 1864. (1 y. 8 m.) 
 
 Joseph A. Tracy, clerk, aged 18, enlisted as musician 18th C. V., 
 wounded at Snicker's Ferry, July 18, 1864, and died in hospital at Sandy 
 Hook, Md., Aug. 7, having been in the service two years to a day. 
 
 John F. Treadway, corporal 1st Conn. Cavalry, son of F. W. Treadway, 
 of Norwich City. He enlisted at New Haven, Jan. 4, 1864, and died in 
 captivity at Andersonville, Aug. 3. 
 
 Moses Tyler, aged 19, 14th C. V., captured at Morton's Ford, Feb. 7, 
 and died in prison at Richmond, June 27, 1864. (1 y. 11 m.) 
 
 Erastus Vergason, farmer, aged 27, 10th C. V., killed at Eoanoke 
 Island, Feb. 8, 1862. (4 m.) 
 
 Ferdinand Volkner, carpenter, aged 36, 6th C. V., died Oct. 21, 1862. 
 (13^ m.) 
 
 Marvin Wait, son of John T. Wait, Esq., and when the war com- 
 menced, a student in Union College, enlisted in the 8th C. V., Oct. 5, 
 1861. He was soon promoted to a Lieutenancy, and detached for service 
 on the Signal Corps, in which capacity he was on duty in Burnside's flag- 
 ship at the taking of Roanoke Island, and with General Parke at Fort 
 Macon. 
 
 In the reduction of Fort Macon, April 26, 1862, signals were used 
 with such complete success as to afford a vivid illustration of the value of 
 a system of signs in certain contingencies of war. 
 
 Lieut. Andrews, of the 9th N. Y. V., and Lieut. Wait, occupied a sta- 
 tion from which, by the aid of glasses, the movements of the enemy could 
 be distinguished, and by signals from these officers the fire from the Union 
 batteries was directed, rectified, and rendered accurate, with such effect 
 that the fortress was soon surrendered.* Messrs. Andrews and Wait were 
 highly commended for their service on this occasion. Subsequently, by 
 order of Col. Myer, chief officer of the Signal Department, a Signal Bat- 
 tle Flag, awarded to Lieut. Wait for gallantry and efficient service at 
 Fort Macon, was sent to his father. 
 
 Lieut. Wait rejoined his' regiment at Fredericksburg, and at Antietam 
 led his company in the gallant charge over the river upon the fortified 
 posts at Sharpsburg. Here the advancing troops were outflanked and ex- 
 posed to a destructive cross-tiie of cannon and musketry. The first brig- 
 ade was soon swept away ; the second, under Gen. Harland, to which the 
 8th Connecticut was attached, advanced to the rescue, but after fearful 
 slaughter, was obliged also to retreat. 
 
 " Lieut. Wait fell at his post while urging on his men into that terrible 
 storm of shot and shell." 
 
 * " After 12, M., every shot fired from our batteries, fell in or on the fort." At 4 
 P. M., the white flag appeared.— [Report of Lt. Andrews to the signal ofiicer.] 
 
^2/^2rUo> 
 
 a^' 
 
 Lieut. Co. A 8*- Reg* CoiiTi.Tols. 
 
HISTOEYOPNOEWICH. 691 
 
 " Just before he was wounded, he was seen closing up the ranks of hii 
 company and dressing them in line, as deUberately as though on dres 
 parade." 
 
 Such is the testimony of his comrades who were with him in that terri 
 ble fight. Severely wounded and led to the rear, the fire from an advanc 
 ing body of the enemy enfiladed the spot where he lay, and gave him hi 
 death wound. 
 
 Lieut. "Wait wanted four months of being twenty years of age. H 
 was an only son, and the centre of many fond anticipations. His coolnes 
 and self-possession in the midst of battle were remarkable in one so young 
 An oflScer to whose command he was temporarily attached while on th 
 North Carolina coast, said of him, " I had the opportunity of seeing Lieui 
 Wait under three most galling fires of the enemy, and when others oldei 
 both in years and time of service, were shrinking, he stood to his pos 
 like a veteran." General Harland commended him, not only for braver 
 and honor, but for the earnestness and zeal with which he labored to pre 
 pare himself for his various duties as a member of the Signal Corps an 
 as a line officer. 
 
 The fiineral services were held at the 1st Congregational Churcl 
 Governor Buckingham, the Mayor and Common Council of the city, th 
 field and hne officers of the 26th regiment, the Norwich Light Infantrj 
 and a great assemblage of citizens were in attendance.* 
 
 Frederick S, Ward, aged 18, corporal 14th C. V., left mortally wounde 
 on the field of battle at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862, sending by one c 
 his comrades a last message of love and consolation to friends at home 
 This young man enlis'ted from Saybrook, and is credited on the quota c 
 that town, but was a son of John B. Ward, late Treasurer of the Chelse 
 Savings Bank, Norwich. 
 
 George W. Ward, organist and music teacher, aged 26, 18th C. V. H 
 was taken prisoner at Winchester, and confined successively at Bell Isl< 
 Danville, and Andersonville, at which last station he died, Feb. 26, 186' 
 aged 29. His manly fortitude and genial temperament long sustaine 
 him, but continued hunger, confinement, and ill usage at length brougl 
 him to the grave, after he had been 21 months a prisoner. He had fin 
 musical talents, was a steadfast patriot, and had many warm persona 
 friends. 
 
 Patrick Welden, aged 34, sergeant 9th C. V., died at New Orleanf 
 Aug. 14, 1862. (10 m.) 
 
 * The Portrait of Lieut. Wait appears in this work. He was the first commissiouei 
 officer from Norwich that fell in support of the Union cause. He had displayed signs 
 ability and heroism for one so young and unaccustomed to military duty, and we hav 
 therefore given a more extended account of his short but meritorious service. 
 
692 HISTORY OP NOEWICH. 
 
 Frank White, carpenter, aged 28, 6th C. V., missing at Fort Wagner, 
 July 18, 1863, and supposed killed. (1 y. 10 m.) 
 
 Daniel Wilbur, 18th C. V., accidentally shot while on guard duty, 
 at Fort Howard, Md., January 5, 1863, aged 19. Interred at Norwich. 
 (6 m.) 
 
 James Williams, of the Jackson Guards, Capt. Maguire, 2d N. Y. Ar- 
 tillery, died in camp, at Alexandria, of typhoid fever, in Feb., 1862. He 
 was an old resident of Norwich, and one of the first who enlisted for the 
 war. His remains were brought to Norwich and interred Feb. 1 6th. 
 
 Joseph Winship, clerk, aged 21, 18th C. V. He was left at "Winchester 
 after the battle of June 16, 1863, to look after the sick and wounded; was 
 taken prisoner, sent to Richmond ; transferred to AndersonvUle, Ga., and 
 there died, April 5, 1864, aged 23 years and 6 months. He was an only 
 child, and his death left the home of his parents desolate. 
 
 John W. Wood, operative, aged 23, 11th C. V., died from wounds re- 
 ceived at Sharpsburg, Sept., 1862. (9 m.) 
 
 Henry P. Yarrington, aged 25, 14th C. V., died of wounds received at 
 Antietam, Sept. 21, 1862. (3^ m.) 
 
 COLORED SOLDIEKS. 
 
 Jol A. Davis, 29th C. V., enlisted Jan. 2, 1864, died in October, 1865. 
 Funeral services at the Eureka Lodge Room of Colored Free Masons, and 
 the remains taken to Jewett City for interment. 
 
 James GiUson, 31st U. S. C. T., mustered Jan. 22, and died June 5, 
 1864. 
 
 Chester H. HaUam, 24th R. I. Artillery, mustered July 18, 1863, died 
 May 4, 1864.* 
 
 The remains of nine Norwich soldiers, who died in dreary captivity, at 
 Andersonville, Ga., were recovered and brought home in Januai-y, 1866. 
 These were 
 
 Edward Blomley, Sylvanus Downer, Edward F. Tisdale, 
 
 Henry F. Champlin, Wm. G. Hayward, Geo. W. Ward, 
 William Davis, James S. McDavid, J. H. Winship. 
 
 The city authorities awarded to them a public funeral and a burial spot 
 in Yantic Cemetery. The commemorative services were held in Breed 
 Hall. The coffins, placed on a funeral car and covered with the American 
 
 * These were the only victima of the war, among the colored soldiers of the town, 
 iwhose names the author has ascertained. Probably others should be added to the list. 
 
HISTORY OF NORWICH. 693 
 
 flag, were borne in solemn procession, by friends and citizens, societies and 
 soldiery, to the place prepared for their reception. 
 
 The number of fatherless children in town, made such by the war, is 
 ninety-three. Some of them bear the names of Banney, Bresnahen, Col- 
 lins, Ghason, Mc Garry, McNamara, Munroe, ODonnell, and Sanders, 
 showing that nine more names, at least, should be added to the foregoing 
 list of the war's victims. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 In reviewing this work, as the last pages go to press, a few passages 
 are observed that belong to the class of Errata — not printer's errors, but 
 mistakes inadvertently made by the writer. 
 
 Such are the two following, which happily it is not too late to acknowl- 
 edge and amend. P. 77, 18th line from the top, erase the sentence : " now 
 deposited in the archives of the Bible Society." This is an error, the 
 venerable book referred to being still in the possession of the Lathrop 
 family. P. 527, 3d line from the bottom, the date of the Sabbath School 
 should be 1816, and the place where it was first kept, the brick scliool- 
 Jiouse. 
 
 The Memoir of Mrs. Harriet Winslow shows that the Sabbath School 
 of the First Society had an interesting and auspicious commencement. 
 Miss H. W. Lathrop, (afterward Mrs. Winslow, of the Cingalese Mission,) 
 during a visit to New York, in March, 1816, witnessed the operation of 
 the Sunday School institution in that city, and came home with the fire 
 in her heart, which she spread among her friends and neighbors, and in 
 the course of a few weeks, a prosperous school of the same kind was in 
 operation in this Society. 
 
 Miss Lathrop and her friend. Miss M. Coit, were the first teachers. 
 They began with a class of seven ; on the 23d of June, they rejoiced over 
 "two new scholars," and before the close of July, the whole number that 
 had been gathered in was forty-seven. An interesting feature of the 
 school was a class of colored women, under the teaching of Miss 
 Thomas. 
 
 This school, and the one at the Landmg, begun the previous year, had 
 a common origin, — G. L. Perkins, and his associates in the work at 
 Chelsea, having caught the inspiration, as Miss Lathrop did afterward, by 
 visiting the Bethune Sunday Schools in New York. There was only this 
 difference— in Mr. MitcheU's Society the first movers were young men, in 
 that of Dr. Strong, young women. 
 
APPEISTDIX. 
 
 In the foregoing work, (p. 585,) some account is given of the Uncas Monument 
 erected in the old Indian Cemetery, in 1842. The expense of this monument was 
 borne by the ladies of Norwich. It was wrought of Quincy granite, at the Massachu- 
 setts State Prison, Charlestown, and coarsely cut, with the simple name of the Sachem 
 engraved upon it, in large raised letters — the monument harmonizing in its structure 
 with the stem and savage character it commemorated. 
 
 The direction and superintendence of the monument was committed by the ladies 
 to G. L. Perkins, Esq., who addressed a circular letter to several distinguished anti- 
 quarians, requesting an expression of opinion in regard to the best mode of spelling 
 the Sachem's name. Among the answers that he received were the following, which 
 may be deemed worthy of preservation, not only on account of the distinction of the 
 writers, but as exemplifying in one short name the confusion and uncertainty that 
 exists in Indian orthography. 
 
 Haktfoed, August 17th, 1841. 
 G. L. Pekkins, Esq., 
 
 Dear Sir: — Your note of the 14th inst., has been in my hands a day or two. I 
 have, in the meantime, examined some of the old records and documents in the Sec- 
 retary's office. The result is according to your own experience and observation, viz., 
 that the name is spelt variously. In an original letter from the Rev. James Fitch, of 
 Norwich, dated in 1675, it is written Vnhus. In the records, it is generally written 
 Uncass, sometimes Uncasse, and sometimes k is used instead of c. These variations 
 do not materially affect the sound. The question of spdling is to be settled by those 
 who spell. The Indians had nothing to do with it. 
 
 The signature of the origmal Sachem was the outline of a long necked bird, or some- 
 thing like it. Dr. Trumbull and Dr. Holmes both write the name Uncas, and this is 
 probably as good authority as there is. The latter especially, is a remarkably correct 
 antiquarian. The farther you go back, the greker diversity you will find. I am sorry 
 that I can furnish you with nothing more decisive. 
 I am, with great regard. 
 
 Tour friend and ob't serv't, 
 
 THOMAS DAY. 
 
696 APPENDIX. 
 
 New Haven, August 17th, 1841. 
 Deab Sir : 
 
 In reply to your letter of the 14th iast., I should say that the better way for you to 
 adopt in engraving the name of the Indian Sachem on the monument, is to follow Dr. 
 Trumbull, who uniformly wrote Uncos. Dr. Trumbull is our historian, and his orthog- 
 raphy was probably adopted in consequence of the Doctor's finding that to he the 
 most common. 
 
 Please to accept the respects of, \ 
 
 Sir, your ob't serv't, 
 
 NOAH WEBSTEE. 
 G. L. Peekins, Esq. 
 
 New York, August 21st, 1841. 
 Dear Sie : 
 
 Your favor of the 14th was received by me a few days ago, at Saratoga. I embrace 
 the earliest moment after my return to the city, to reply ; and yet I can do you but 
 small service touching the subject of your inquiry. You appear to be in possession 
 of most of the different names which the early writers assigned to Tineas ; and your 
 opinion is as good, if not better, than mine, as to the orthography that ought to be 
 selected for the proposed monumental inscription. 
 
 You refer to a copy of a deed in which the chieftain's name is written, On-kos, 
 It lias been thus printed in several of the early chronicles. 
 
 In the earlier years of his career, after his acquaintance with the English Colonists 
 he was sometimes called Poquim, or Poquiam, as well as Uncas. There were several 
 ways of spelling that first name ; and I have now before me, in print, these variations, 
 viz. : Poquin, Poquim, Poquime, Poquiam, Poquoiam. There is extant a document, or 
 treaty, executed jointly by Uncas and Miantonomoh, on the 2d of September, 1638, to 
 which the signature of the Mohegan Chief was a£5xed thus : — " Poquiam, alias 
 Unkas." This last mode of spelling it — Unkas — was adopted by Gookin, and also by 
 the Rev. Mr. ITitch, the first minister in Norwich, as you may see by a letter from Mr. 
 Fitch to General Gookin, contained in vol. I, Mass. Historical Coll. 
 
 Hubbard, who, as you know, wrote very early, spells It Uncas ; so also does Cotton 
 Mather in the MagnaUa Christi. 
 
 This orthography has been followed by all, or nearly all, the later authors, Trum- 
 bull, Bancroft, and others. 
 
 You refer to the variations of the orthography found among the early writers, histo- 
 rians, journalists, &c., &c., among whom you particularize Winthrop, as having writ- 
 ten the name differently at different times. Such, undoubtedly, was the fact in all the 
 Colonies. The Indians themselves had no written language; and the early writers, 
 having no guides, noted down the names as best they could, from the sounds given by 
 Indian articulation. The names, moreover, were often so long, so crooked, and so 
 uncouth, that the writers wore often puzzled at one time to remember how they had 
 written them at another. Hence the almost inextricable confusion in the matter of 
 spelling Indian names, both of persons and places. la this State, we ai-e worse off 
 than you are in New England, since we have to contend with the outlandish orthogra- 
 phy manufactured by the Dutch, the Erench, and the English ! 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 697 
 
 But I am writing quite too much. Were it in my power to obliterate all the written 
 and printed records in which the name of TJncas appears, and create a simple orthog- 
 raphy for it, I think I should write it On-kos. To my eye and ear, it looks and 
 sounds like better Indian when written thus. 
 
 But under existing circumstances, I should accept the common orthography, and 
 engrave it on the monument Unoas. 
 
 Thus it is written in all our modern, and our best histories, and thus it will descend 
 to posterity. I think it best, therefore, that the proposed inscription should conform 
 to general usage. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 WILLIAM L. STONE. 
 G. L. Peekins, Esq. 
 
 The letter from Mr. Fitch to General Gookin, referred to by Col. Stone, was written 
 from Norwich, Not. 20, 1674, and contains the following interesting passage: 
 
 " Since God hath called me to labour in this work among the Indians near to me, 
 where indeed are the most considerable number of any in this colony, the first of my 
 time was spent upon the Indians at Moheek [Mohegan] where TJnkas and his son and 
 Wanuho are sachems. These at first carried it teachably and tractably ; until at length 
 the sachems did discern that religion would not consist with a mere receiving of the 
 word ; and that practical religion wiU throw down their heathenish idols, and the 
 sachems' tyrannical monarchy, and then the sachems did not only go away but drew 
 off their people, some by flatteries and others by threatenings ; and they would not 
 suffer them to give somuch as an outward attendance to the ministry of the word of 
 God. But at this time some few did show a wUlingness to attend. Therefore I began 
 meetmgs with them about one year and a half since." 
 
 " And he that is chief among them, whose name is Weebax, hath learned so much 
 that he is willing and able in some degree to be helpful in teaching and prayer to the 
 others, on the Lord's day ; and this Weebax is of such a blameless conversation that 
 his worst enemies and haters of religion cannot but speak well of his conversation ; 
 and the same may be said concerning another, whose name is Tuhamon. The number 
 of these Indians is now increased to above thu:ty." 
 
INDEX or S"AMES, 
 
 Aljbott, 378, 98 ; 535, 656, 67, 73. 
 
 Abel, (AbeU,) 66, 83, 4 ; 101, 2, 
 67, 68, 74, 88, 91, 6 ; 205, 9, 36 
 78,81,7; 304, 6; 429, 38; 606, 
 
 AflainB, 139. 61, 70 ; 269, 376, 420, 
 
 613,19, 37,46,82, 3j 614,33, 
 
 48. 
 Adgate, 63, 60, 1, 4, 8, 9 ; 73, 4 : 
 
 84-6; 126,6,9,35,61,5,6,77, 
 
 93; 203, 13, 14,19, 74,81,8 
 
 383,440,500,^. 
 Aiken, 679. 
 Aitcheson, 438, 692. 
 Alden, 461. 
 Allen, 222, 40, 61 ; 364, 428, 46 ; 
 
 615, 21, 44, 8, 64 ; 622, 38, 44, 
 
 71,2. ' > > 
 
 AUerton. 222. 
 Allyn, 58, 9 ; 61, 6 ; 83, 7, 8 ; 114, 
 
 34,5,66,7, 74;207,47,60, 62; 
 
 439,83:638,80. 
 A]m7,642. 
 
 Amea, (Eames,) 162, 222, 45 ; 488. 
 Amherst, Gen., 313. 
 Amos, 86, 97, 244, 54. 
 Andrews, ( Andross,) 166, 96 ; 222, 
 
 3, 41, 3 ; 651, 90. 
 Andross,^ Sir Edmund, 167, 261. 
 Angel, 227, 60. 
 Apthorp, 371. 
 Arms, 160, 628, 60, 84, 91, 2; 
 
 671,4. 
 Armstrong. 136, 223, 35; 304, 
 
 429, 506, 614, 22. 
 Arnold, 59, 93, 207, 23, 76 ; 306, 
 
 8, 27 ; 400, 7, 9, 15. 
 Asbury, 603. 
 Aspinwall, 639. 
 Austin. 436, 6, 7, 67, 9, 89 : 542, 
 
 60- 604. 
 Ayery. 41 ,' 5 ; 89, 110, 12, 67 ; 204, 
 23,36,64,79; 329, 431, 4, 9; 
 492,604.12, 86; 661, 80. 
 Ayer, (Ayers,) 234, 44 ; 309, 445, 
 638. 
 
 Baekus, 21, 63, 61, 2, 4, 6 ; 73, 4 ; 
 84-86,9; 94,7; 120,6, 6, 32, 
 84-3,43,67-62, 6, 8; 204, 36, 
 88, ea, 72, 4, 5, 81, 6-7, 91, 2, 
 6 ; 306, 7, 10, 16, 19, 20-5, 38, 
 47, 9, 69, 75, 83, 6. 9, 98 ; 403, 
 16, 23, 40, 60-4, 71, 9, 82 ; 507, 
 11, 35, 9, 54,60, 75; 606, 12, 
 14, 15, 40, 2, 50. 
 
 Bacon, 223,69; 593,622. 
 
 Bailey, (Bayley,) 158, 515. 
 Baird, 661. 
 
 Baker, 169, 223, 615, 80. 
 Baldwin, (Balding,) 61, 6; 74, 
 83-6 ; 128, 32, 52, 61-4, 72 
 269,79,81; 348, 80; 429, 38 
 95; 606,43,6,58; 633. 
 Ballon, 604. 
 Bangs, 236. 
 Banks, 467, 667, 71, 9. 
 Banney, 693. 
 Baral, 607. 
 Barber, 600. 
 Bard, 596, 647. 
 Baret, 180, 1, 6. 
 Barker, 163, 369, 424, 63, 84, 94, 
 
 8 ; 634, 6. 
 
 Barlow, 78, 416. 
 
 Barnes, (Bams,) 646, 614, 41. 
 
 Barre, 374, 421. 
 
 BarreU, 537, 63; 612. 
 
 Barret, (Barrett,) ISO, 224, 88, 9 ; 
 
 323. 
 Barstow, 224. 
 Barton, 224. 
 Bartow, 620. 
 Batchelder, 446. 
 Batclieler, 232. 
 Bates, 224, 344. 
 Baxter, 440, 610. 
 Bayard, 371. 
 Beardsley, 463. 
 Beatty, 602, 7. 
 Beaumont, 506. 
 Beekwith, 167, 680. 
 Belcher, 245. 
 
 Belden, (Belding,) 178, 224. 
 Bell, 224, 9 ; 634. 
 Bellamy, 161, 470, 616, 54 ; 626. 
 Bellasize, 513, 14. 
 Benedict, 441, 628. 
 Benjamin, 244, 5 ; 483, 494-7 ; 
 
 683. 
 Bentley, 556, 602, 6, 41, 9, 61, 
 
 76. 
 Berry, 489, 661, 74, 80. 
 Beat, 681. 
 Bill, 306, U, 50, 88, 9, 98 : 403, 
 
 63,4,82,6,93,8,9; 645,76; 
 
 650. 
 Billings, 245, 310, 59 ; 404, 7, 93, 
 
 4, 7 ; 600, 36, 42, 66. 
 Bingham, 62, 5 ; 83, 4, 6 ; 136, 
 
 58, 9, 62-6 i 203, 68, n, 9, 81, 
 
 99. 
 Bingiey, 483, 662. 
 Birchard, 53, 61, 6 ; 73, 4 ; 82, 
 
 5,7.92; 128,33-6, 61, 61,6, 
 
 7, 72, 9, 87;2C6, 31, 8, 62, 81; 
 
 429,37,51; 594. 
 Birge, 661, 7, 8, 73, 4, 7, 9. 
 Biron, doke de, 394. 
 
 Bishop, 133, 267, 8, 60 ; 344, 
 
 Biaseli, 153, 375, 80. 
 Black, 681. 
 Blake, 196, 661. 
 Blackman, 506. 
 Blackmore, 224. 
 Blackstone, 649. 
 Blinman, 171, 215. 
 Bliss, 53, 61. 5, 8 ; 73, 4 ; 86, 99 ; 
 132, 69, 67, 8 ; 200, 3, 10, 19, 
 40 ; 278, 9, 81 ; 308, 33, 48 ; 
 449.62; 529,84: 621,32. 
 Blomley, 672, 81, 92. 
 Blosopolis, 676. 
 Blunt, 344. 
 Blythe, 272. 
 
 Boardman, 398, 682, 664. 
 BoUes, 292, 638, 605. 
 Bolman, 681. 
 
 Bond, 556, 7,77,91; 646,74. 
 Boorman, 613, 16. 
 Borden, 206. 
 Boswell, ( Bnswell,) 262, 312, 467, 
 
 82, 8, 91, 6, 7 ; 638, 63 ; 636. 
 Botler, 62. 
 Bottomly, 681. 
 Bourne, 169, 206, 24. 
 Bowers, 58, 61, 6 ; 86, 135, 68. 
 Boyer, 526. 
 Bradford, 62 4 ; 84, 6; 91: 128, 
 
 32, 9, 53, 69, 70, 99 ; 201, 6, 44, 
 
 61, 67, 84. 
 Bradley, 670, 81. 
 Bradstreet, 143, 7. 
 Brainerd, 148, 355. 
 Bramin, 635. 
 Branch, 246,64. 
 Brand, 623, 71. 
 Breed, 310, 11, 12, 48, 60, 2 ; 367, 
 
 78, 98 ; 443, 9, 64, 7, 9 ; 620, 
 
 7, 38, 69, 80 ; 625-9, 40, 7-50, 
 
 63, 91. 
 Brennan, 674. 
 Bresnahenf693, 
 Brewer, 483, 537, 605, 80, 40, 7. 
 Brewster, 41, 4-6 ; 67, 9 ; 84, 6, 
 
 9 ; 96, 106, 34, 5, 61, 69, 74, 82 ; 
 
 211-13, 31, 46, 8, 63,4; 382, 
 
 463, 98; 601, 39, 66, 86, 92; 
 
 645, 50-2. 
 Brimmer, 310. 
 Brockway, 198. 
 Bromley, 499, 638, 84, 99 j 600, 
 
 42, 67-9, 72, 8. 
 Brooks, 542. 681. 
 Brown, 22, 107, 47, 86 ; 224, 45, 
 
 59 : 325, 84 ; 458, 82, 9 ; 600, 
 
 1,12, 13, 39; 617, 38, 46, 81, 2. 
 Browne, 330, 406, 629. 
 
700 
 
 INDEX OF NAMES, 
 
 Brownell, 457. 
 
 Bruen, 74, 87, 196. 
 
 Buchauan, 631, 64. 
 
 Buckingliam, 54, 149, 77; 446, 
 549,59, 77, 88; 630, 1, 40, 1, 
 54, 6, 77, 91. 
 
 BuddiDgtOD, 407. 
 
 Bulkley, 111. 
 
 Bull, 53, 140, 70. 
 
 Bunker, 566. 
 
 Burbeck, 240. 
 
 Burdiok, 549, 662, 82. 
 
 Burgeas, 637. 
 
 Burley, 224. 
 
 Burnett, 682. 
 
 Burnham, 98, 207, 59 ; 369, 78 ; 
 443, 602, 36, 45 ; 614, 26. 
 
 Burpee, 671. 
 
 Burr, Aaron, 516. 
 
 Burrows, 599. 
 
 Bush, 558. 
 
 BushneU, 63, 68, 9 ; 83, 4, 6 ; 
 93-5 ; 101, 26, 33, 61, 5, 86, 8, 
 90, 3; 210, 13-15,22,4,40, 51, 
 8, 63-7, 71-3 ; 274, 7-9, 81,5-8, 
 96; 303-7,68,84; 429,40,52, 
 3,8,60,2,81; 546,7,51,94; 
 608, 34, 74. 
 
 Butler, 384-6, 494, 504, 7, 15 ; 
 636,65,7. 
 
 Butterfieia, 51. 
 
 Butts, 344. 
 
 Cabot, 542. 
 
 Cady, 246. 
 
 Caldwell, 240. 
 
 Caliph, 613. 
 
 Calkms, (Caulkins,) 61, 6 ; 73, 4 ; 
 
 83,4.6; 99,120,32,62,7, 8; 
 
 171-8, 6,9, 87, 99; 211, 38,44, 
 
 51, 81, 8 ; 309, 19, 21, 2. 
 Campbell, 403. 
 Capron, 225, 398, 425, 62, 7. 
 Carew, 196, 225, 378, 84, 98 : 400, 
 
 63; 511.26; 630,6. 
 Carleton, 668, 9. 
 Carney, 682. 
 Carpenter, 225, 84 ; 511, 34, 64, 
 
 93; 661,73. 
 Carrier, 230, 52. 
 Carroll, 621, 47, 85. 
 Carter, 225, 418. 
 Carrer, 682. 
 Cary, 246, 501, 69. 
 Case, 225, 75, 97 ; 560, 97 ; 658, 
 
 74, 8, 82. 
 Cass, 585. 
 Cates, 136. 
 Cathoart, 225. 
 Challenge, 272, 3. 
 Champion, 233. 
 Champlin, 682, 92. 
 Chapman, 53, 92, 177, 225, 321, 
 
 438,503,5, 6; 628,82. 
 Ohappell, 225, 682. 
 Charles, 157, 8 ; 521. 
 Charlton, 660. 
 Chase, 469. 
 Chastellux, 518. 
 Ohatflold, 662. 
 Cheever, 449. 
 Cheney, 464, 601. 
 Cherry, 691. 
 
 Chesebrough, 89, 161,312. 
 Chester, 834, 58; 416, 97; 588, 
 
 666-8, 81. 
 Child, 569, 632. 
 Chilton, 204. 
 Choate, 241. 
 Ohrisiie, 456. 
 Christophers, 192. 
 Church, HI, 887. 
 Clark, 53, 177, 84 ; 246, 53, 78, 
 
 83; 347, 452, 6,82,92,7; 538, 
 
 62,96; 601. 
 Clay, 631. 
 
 Clement, 311, 12 ; 520. 
 Cleveland, 225, 363, 77, 84, 96 ; 
 
 460,510,20,1,44,52,60,4. 
 Clift, 584, 644. 
 Clinton, 631. 
 Cogswell, 337, 410. 648. 
 Coit, 46, 69, 127, 38 ; 312, 13, 27, 
 
 8,32,48; 380, 1,98; 403, 4, 
 
 6, 8, 11, 61, 3, 4, 75, 9 ; 482, 4, 
 
 6, 8,92, 8 ; 608, 12, 20-2, 36, 
 
 43, 5 ; 548, 52, 3, 7, 9, 67, 79 ; 
 
 609, 23, 6, 87-40, 48, 6, 9, 68, 6, 
 
 8,93. 
 Colbame, 310, 414. 
 Cole, 226. 622. 
 Collier, 372. 
 Collins, 693. 
 Colt, 661. 
 Colton, 567. 
 
 Comstock, 167, 216, 651. 
 ConkUn, 633. 
 Converse, 498, 614, 21. 
 Cook, (Cooke,) 138, 246, 63, 72 ; 
 
 407.93,5,7; 676. 
 Cooley, 496, 8 ; 683, 96. 
 Coolidge,225. 
 Copely, 621. 
 Copp, 227. 
 Corbett, 682. 
 Corcoran, 661. 
 Coming, 246, 392, 448, 632. 
 Cortland, 268. 
 Cotterel, 226. 
 Cowles, 668. 
 Coze, 621, 607. 
 Coy, 254, 7, 8. 
 Crane, 73, 136, 58, 77 ; 226. 
 Crary, 398. 
 Crawford, 682. 
 Crosby, 259, 558, 671. 
 Cross, 136, 226. 
 Crocker, 226, 463, 504, 614, 82. 
 Cryer, 437. 
 Cullen, 582. 
 Cullum, 226. 
 Culver, (Colver,) 110, 226, 91, 2 ; 
 
 814, 48, 9 ; 456, 8, 9, 77, 82, 5, 
 
 92; 500, 39, 40, 66,9; 670, 
 
 82 
 CulversweU, 226. 
 Curtice, 460. 
 Cushman, 683. 
 
 DaboU, 543. 
 
 Daggett, 419. 
 
 Dana, 655, 7. 
 
 Dauforth, 246, 575. 
 
 DanielB,658, 666, 7. 
 
 Darby, 226. 
 
 Darrow, 371, 698, 607. 
 
 Dart, 212. 
 
 Davenport, 52, 279, 816. 
 
 Davis, 226, 91, 2 ; 350, 668, 83, 
 
 92 • 
 DaTi'son, 246, 407, 55, 8, 62 ; 562, 
 
 o . gno g 
 
 Day',229,'4i; 404,537,86. 
 
 Daynes, (Deans,) 2Q7. 
 
 Dean, 311, 460, 2, 3, 4. 
 
 Deblois, 414. 
 
 Decatur, 167. 
 
 Decker, 227. 
 
 Delany, 683. 
 
 Delanoy, 659. 
 
 Deming, 400. 
 
 Dennlson, 89, 110, 12, 47, 8, 90 ; 
 227,82-4,66,86; 810, 13, 21, 
 86; 483,66,94; 604, 52; 601, 
 50. 
 
 Denslow, 113. 
 
 Dennis, 227, 378, 464, 7 ; 662, 3, 
 
 81. 
 DePeyster, 616. 
 Deshon, 288, 9 ; 402. 
 Destouches, 458, 635. 
 
 ^CVCFGUX o42' 
 
 Devotion ' 516, 95 ; 640, 6, 8, 50. 
 DeWitt, 810, 48, 78, 88, 91, 8 ; 
 
 400,67; 563,94; 639,60. 
 DeWolfe, 207. 
 Dickinson, 190, 665, 7, 92. 
 DiUon, 394. 
 Dimmock, 556. 
 
 Doane, 217, 483, 9 ; 562, 6, 78. 
 Dodge, 521, 44 ; 612, 16, 40. 
 Donelson, 685. 
 Dorey, 683. 
 Dorr, 379, 80. 
 Douglas, 417. 
 Dow, 603. 
 Dowd, 227. 
 
 Downer, 246, 79 ; 683, 92. 
 Downing, 678. 
 Downs, 246, 53 ; 575. 
 Driesbach, 22. 
 Dugan, 683. 
 Dumont, 398. 
 Duneffln, 272. 
 Dunke, 53. 
 Button, 671. 
 Dunham, 485, 535, 81, 96 ; 630, 
 
 46. 
 Durkie, 358, 61, 5, 7, 76, 7, 81, 2 ; 
 
 391,421,94; 504,636. 
 Dwight, 161, 483, 530, 78 ; 632. 
 Dyer, 637, 42. 
 
 Eaton, 637. 
 
 Edgecomb, 227, 8. 
 
 Bdgenon, 53, 61, 6 ; 73, 4 ; 83-5 ; 
 
 132, 73, 98 ; 275, 81 ; 347, 87 ; 
 
 427, 9, 30 ; 634, 8, 62, 96 ; 683. 
 Edmonds, 97. 
 
 Edwards, 160, 315, 16 ; 585, 678. 
 EeUs, 483, 8 ; 512, 20 ; 609. 
 Elderkin, 60, 8 ; 72, 3 ; 85, 96, 
 
 119, 20, 6, 8, 32, 67, 78, ; 209, 
 
 15, 16, 28, 30, 63, 81, 3, 7 ; 303, 
 
 4, 44 ; 460, 617. 76. 
 Eldridge, 501. 
 
 Elliott, 117, 63, 80 ; 320, 568. 
 Ellis, 87, 102, 378, 81 ; 424, 5, 30, 
 
 1, 69 ; 590. 
 Elmore, 113. 
 Elsingham, 102. 
 Elting, 446, 615. 
 Ely, 469, 661, 8, 9, 70. 
 Emory, 126. 
 Emmons, 577. 
 England, Lt. Col., 664. 
 Ensworth, 241. 
 Everest. 628. 
 Event, 636. 
 
 Fairbanks, 228. 
 
 Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 140. 
 
 Fales, W, 72. 
 
 Fanning, 810, 11, 84, 98 ; 402, 
 
 25,49, 78, 80, 1,2, 92; 512, 33, 
 
 4,44,53,64,71; 683. 
 Fargo, 228, 304. 
 Farley, 257. 
 Farnsworth, 637, 72. 
 Faulkner, 458, 582, 3. 
 Fenwick, 51-8, 141. 
 Ferry, 666. 
 Fessendeu, 558. 
 Field, 228. 
 Filburne, 683. 
 Fillmore, 224, 9, 30, 80 ; 463, 639, 
 
 88 ; 624, 35, 42, 64. 
 Fisk, 603. 
 Fisher, 667. 
 
INDEX OF NAMES. 
 
 701 
 
 Fitch, 20, 1, 8 ; 52-6 ; 60-4, 9 : 
 T4, 6; 81,8-6,8,9; 92, &-9 ; 
 104-6, 9-11, 13-28, 34-9, 42-55 
 62, 6. 70, 6, 93 ,• 207, 11, 40-8, 
 63-60, 5, 81, 7-8, 99 ; 303, 5, 
 10-13, 37, 54, 61, 6, 7, 86, 98 ; 
 435, 7, 8, 48, 59, 60, 2, 4, 7, 71, 
 9,82,9,90,2; 606, 8,75, 86, 
 90, 6, 17, 18, 38, 51, 60 ; 617, 
 27, 37, 9. . ' ' ' 
 
 Flagg, ^7. 
 
 Flint, 126, 6 ; 367. 
 
 Foote. 201, 607, 56. 
 
 Forbes, 83, 174, 85 ; 202, 10, 45, 
 7, 51, 4, 8. 
 
 Ford, 230, 667, 78, 83. 
 
 Forsyth, (Eorsey,) 280, 1. 
 
 Foistner, 683. 
 
 Fosdick,372. 
 
 Foster, 380, 583, 630, 2, 3, 63, 77. 
 
 Fowler, 230. 
 
 Fox, 230, 78 ; 683. 
 
 Francis, 247, 62, 3; 668. 
 
 Frasier, 230. 
 
 Freeman, 246, 7 ; 360, 479, 87, 
 98,9; 636 
 
 Fremont, J. C, 631, 54, 72. 
 
 French, 230, 481. 
 
 Frisby, 471, 539. 
 
 FuUer, 260, 322, 460, 594, 637, 
 67. 
 
 Gage, Gen., 377. 
 
 Gager, 62, 6 ; 74, 83, 130, 1, 66, 
 74, 5, 85 ; 247, 281, 329, 595, 
 
 Gale, '344, 81, 98; 477,678. 
 Gallop, 108. 40, 76 ; 647,71. 
 Galloway, 452. 
 Gardiner, 51, 227. 
 Gardner, 533. 
 Gaskell, 684. 
 Gates, 247, 92 ; 344. 
 Gavitt, 638, 96, 9. 
 ^Gaylord, 216, 30, 72. 
 TJeer, (Geares,) 156, 247, 534. 
 George, 494. 
 Gerard, Count de, 405. 
 Getty, Gen., 664. 
 Gibbons, 230. 
 
 Giddings, 247, 63 ; 349,448. 
 Gifford, 59, 62, 3 : 83,6; 130,6, 
 
 72,5,6,92; 277,81,7. 
 GUbcrt, 482, 95-9 ; 565, 83. 
 GiUson, 438, 692. 
 Oihnan, 26, 38, 68, 263, 538, 48, 
 
 67, 64, 88, 91 ; 609-13, 627, 44, 
 
 7,60. 
 GUmore, 567, 663. 
 Gleason, 447, 693. 
 GloTer, 96, 248, 53 ; 487, 96 ; 579, 
 
 639. 
 Goddard, 228, 371, 443, 67. 92 ; 
 
 635. 45, 64, 95 ; 611^12, 18, 26, 
 
 31, 2, 41, 65, 8, 74, 84. 
 GoodeU, 384, 425, 606. 
 Goodhue, 684, 601. 
 Goodrich. 201. 541. 
 Gookin, 117, 230, 1 ; 451. 
 Gordon, 596, 640. 
 Gorton, 32, 231. 
 Gould, 230. 
 GOTC, 176, 230. 
 Grace, 595. 
 
 Graves, 453, 60O, 1, 85. 
 Gray, 289, 564, 642. 
 Green, 159, 230, 361, 4, 74-6 ; 606. 
 Greene, 26, 312, 79 j 621, 37, 49, 
 
 60, 2, 89 ; 611, 12, 13, 18, 19, 
 
 28, 30, 47. 
 Greemnan, 623. 
 Gtignon, 282, 3, 8, 9. 
 Griffin, 518, 607. 
 
 Griffith, 642. 
 
 Grist, 230, 451, 2, 4, 8. 
 
 Griswold, 63, 61, 6 ; 78, 4 ; 84-6 ; 
 92, 9 ; 132, 61, 60, 76-8, 87, 9, 
 96 ; 202, 26, 81, 7 ; 321, 3, 4 
 78, 83; 424, 5; 605,18,19,26, 
 9, 46, 63. 
 
 GroTor, 231, 80 ; 323, 4 ; 473, 
 541. 
 
 Grosvenor, 422. 
 
 GulliTer, 236, 649, 50, 9, 60, 84 ; 
 644. 
 
 Haggitt, 269. 
 
 HaUe, 637. 
 
 Hakes, 668, 9. 
 
 Hale, 411, 41, 2 ; 645, 668, 79. 
 
 HaU,231, 67; 462,89. 
 
 HaUam, 411, 551, 626, 92. 
 
 Halsey, 283, 348, 81 ; 406, 26 ; 
 
 539. 
 Hamilton, 231, 79 ; 458, 90 ; 670, 
 
 Hammond, 231, 504. 
 
 Handy, (Hendy,) 62, 5 ; 143, 78, 
 
 216. 
 Harding, 138, 325, 403, 4, 5, 63; 
 
 539. 
 Hardy, 664. 
 Harland. 22, 372, 612, 608, 56, 8, 
 
 63, 4, 74, 7, 9, 91. 
 Harlowe, 487. 
 Harrington, 231, 666, 671. 
 Harris, 196, 6 ; 232,3; 344,61; 
 
 496,501,3; 632. 
 Harrison, 431, 535. 
 Hart, 191, m, 539, 45 ; 608, 26. 
 
 Hartshorn, 93, 167, 210, 32, 5, 75 ; 
 
 367, 424, 9, 30; 506, 7; 634. 
 Harvey, 448. 
 Harwood, 236. 
 HaskeU, 248, 448, 544, 92. 
 Haskins, (Hoskins,) ^32. 
 Hatch, 440, 699. 
 Haaghton, 91, 577. 
 Havens, 560. 
 Hawes, 556. 
 Hayward, 684, 92. 
 Hazard, 536. 
 
 Hazen, 232, 44, 99 ; 429,30,45. 
 Heath, 232. 
 Hebard, 141, 643. 
 Heifer, 678. 
 
 Hempstead, 232, 45, 67, 74. 
 Hendrick, 232. 
 Herrick, 454, 63 ; 538, 98, 9. 
 Hewit, 248. 
 Hibbard, 603. 
 Hidden, 241, 372. 
 Higgins, 668. 
 HiU, 147, 232, 323, 645. 
 HiUard, 248, 407, 48, 91, 3. 
 Hinckley. 645, 56. 
 Hiscox, 601. 
 Hitchcock, 655. 
 Hobart, 148. 
 Hodges, 232. 
 Holbrook, 576, 83. 
 Holden, 462, 6, 8 ; 619. 
 Holdridge, 278. 
 Holland, 278, 660. 
 HoUoway, 197, 230. 
 Holm, 597. 
 Holmes, 859. 
 Holwell, 667, 684. 
 Hooker, 123, 48, 9, 61 ; 337, 554, 
 
 7,77; 637. 
 Hooper, 621. 
 Hopkins, 361, 412, 
 Hosmer, 610, 56, 65 i 641. 
 Hossmonden, 268. 
 Hotham, 665. 
 
 Hough, 93, 136, 71, 95 ; 233, 5, 
 
 8,9,69; 821,435.J 
 House, 646. 
 Hovey, 648. 
 How, 836, 79. 
 
 Howard, 62, 6 ; 86, 108, 79 ; 244. 
 Howe, 441, 467, 623. 
 Howland, 312, 27, 98; 404, 6, 8, 
 
 81-9, 92, 4 ; 588, 44, 53, 95 ; 
 
 610, 38, 9, 46, 60. 
 Hubbard, 33, 48, 160, 812, 28, 36, 
 
 51, 60,74, 9, 80, 4,98; 423,74, 
 
 91;511, 15,21,33, 6,49,50,1, 
 
 2. 66, 81 ; 612, 13, 19, 28, 49. 
 Hudson, 484, 604. 
 
 Hull, 314, 478, 96. 
 
 Hunn, 529. 
 
 Hunt, 391, 435, 7 ; 644. 
 
 Huntley, 262, 327, 644, 7 ; 626. 
 
 Hunter, 491, 670. 
 
 Huntington, 25, 63, 60-8 ; 73, 4 ; 
 83, 4^7 ; 96, 101, 20-9, 32-6, 55, 
 7, 9, 62, 5, 9, 70, 4-86 ; 203-6, 
 17, 25, 60-4, 60, 2, 72-4, 9-83, 
 
 7, 8 ; 304, 5-8, 12, 13, 21, 3, 5, 
 
 8, 30, 4, 8, 47, 8, 51, 8, 65-7, 9, 
 71-84, 8, 91-8; 402-5, 15-20, 
 4-6, 9, 30, 5, 8, 40, 55, 62-5, 71, 
 4, 7, 8, 80-94 ; 504, 7, 8, 10-12, 
 15-18, 23, 6, 7, 36, 8, 41, 6, 52, 
 3,60.3,9,71,8,9,81,6,90-6; 
 606, 8, 12-15, 26, 30-2, 4, 9,40, 
 
 3, 6-9, 50, 2, 3, 74, 84. (This 
 name appears on about 180 
 pages.) 
 
 Huntoon, 660, 71. 
 
 Hutohings,592. 
 
 Hutchins, 233, 99 ; 306, 684. 
 
 Hutchinson, 233, 374, 6, 9. 
 
 Hutchison, 661. 
 
 Hyde, 36, 53, 61, 5, 6, 8 ; 73, 84, 
 8;91, 101, 32, 6; 166, 72, 86-9, 
 96, 6 ; 204, 14, 24, 30, 5, 8, 45, 
 71-81 ; 319, 21, 2, 4, 32, 67, 78, 
 83; 423, 5, 9, 40, 52, 4, 69; 502, 
 3,5,10,18,19,44,7,8,52,60, 
 3, 4, 71, 93, 4; 602, 3, 12, 16, 25, 
 6, 47, 74, 8. 
 
 Hyers, 50O. 
 
 Ingersoll, 366, 6; 547. 
 Ingraham, 468, 90, 1 ; 636. 
 Isham, 420. 
 Ives, 432, 3. 
 
 Jacob, 217. 
 
 Jacobs, 685. 
 
 Jackson, Gen., 535. 
 
 Jackson, Stonewall, 661, 9. 
 
 Jay, 405. 
 
 Jearson, 288. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 631. 
 
 Jenks, 291. 
 
 Jenner, 427. 
 
 Jennings, 233, 467, 77; 600, 58. 
 
 Jepson, 327. 
 
 JesBup, 563. 
 
 Jewett, 177, 257, 8 ; 321, 82 ; 428 
 
 48, 60 ; 525, 95. 
 Johnson, 162, 233. 313, 81, 2 ; 400, 
 
 29, 54, 8 ; 577, 647, 67, 77,86. 
 Jones, 2.33, 399, 415, 31 ; 643, 85. 
 Judson, 444, 63, 7-9, 70 ; 557. 
 
 Kane, 672. 
 
 Keables, 667. 
 
 Kelly, 234, 303, 5, 9, 21 ; 467, 98, 
 
 9 ; 596, 605, 78, 85. 
 Kennard, 528. 
 Kennedy, 234. 
 Kennely, 686. 
 Kerr, 685. 
 Key, 872. 
 
702 
 
 INDEX OP NAMES, 
 
 Kimball, 234. 
 
 King, 234, 804, 6; 408, 7, 9, 46, 
 
 66, 71, 91; 625, 33, 6, 44, 6, 
 
 62-4, 7. 
 KiDgabury, 234, 382, 424-9, 30 ; 
 
 433, 60; 506, 666. 
 Kingsley, 661, 71, 2. 
 Kinsman, 259, 99; 867, 506, 8. 
 Kinney, 426, 639, 63, 4, 86. 
 Kirby, 113, 234. 
 Kirtland, (Kirkland,) 274, 317, 
 
 424, 30, 9-11 ; 503, 8, 90. 
 Knapp, 668, 9. 
 Knight, 93, 169, 257, 8, 78, 83, 4, 
 
 98 ; 344, 646, 638. 
 Knowlton, (Nolton,) 234, 41, 63. 
 Knowles, 234, 6. 
 Knox, 414. 
 
 Lacy, 685. 
 
 Ladd, 235, 400, 29, 30. 
 
 LaFayette, 393, 4. 
 
 Laird, 686. 
 
 Lamb, 235, 344, 424, 63; 540, 
 602. 
 
 Lambert, 242, 69. 
 
 Lancaster, 468. 
 
 Lane, 216. 
 
 Lanman, 307, 11, 12, 14, ; 463, 4, 
 71,82,4, 8, 92,7; 545, 63, 9, 
 96 ; 615, 26, 7 ; 631, 40, 6, 76. 
 
 Larrabee, 186, 7; 243, 6, 8, 53; 
 375, 647. 
 
 Latham, 281.' 
 
 Lathrop,(Lothrop,) 68, 73, 7, 83, 
 4,6; 119, 65, 9-3-9; 207, 11, 
 16-21, 41, 57, 68, 74, 81, 7, 97, 
 9; 304-8,21, 6-8, 38; 341,4, 
 5-9,51,2,9,61,7,8,76,82.3, 
 
 4, 91, 6, 9 ; 406, 9, 12, 13, 23 ; 
 424, 9, 35, 9, 44, 60, 3, 70, 1, 
 80,2, S, 8, 95; 603, 6, 11-15, 
 20-3, 34, 6, 7, 42, 3, 4, 62, 60, 
 3, 8, 71, 8, 9, 90, 1, 2, 6 ; 606, 
 8-10, 37, 40, 6, 9, 63, 86, 93. 
 
 Latimer, 381 
 
 Lauzun, duke de, 394. 
 
 Law, 278, 537, 66, 7; 634. 
 
 Lawler, 666. 
 
 Lawrence, 128, 235,99 ; 344, 439. 
 
 Lax, 888. 
 
 Lay, 53, 167, 76, 86, 7. 
 
 Learned, 560, 614, 48, 60, 73. 
 
 Leavenworth, 326. 
 
 Ledlie, 367. 410, 63. 
 
 Ledyard, 678. 
 
 Lee, 73, 166, 86 ; 236, 381, 444, 57, 
 
 9; 637, 88; 602,3,6,17, 38; 
 
 668, 71, 6. 
 Leete, 86. 
 Lefflingwell, 40-4 ; 6S, 7 ; 60, 1, 
 
 5, 8; 83-9; 97, 101,2,7, 10,16, 
 20, 5, 6, 30, 4, 5, 89, 90-2, 8 ; 
 203,4,11,14,4.3,4,9,60,3,6, 
 62, 6, 7, 71, 2. 4, ',1-Sl, 7, S ; 
 805, 10, 21, 8, 32, 8, 41, 8, 61, 
 7, 71, 4, 82, 3, 6, 92, 6, 9 ; 400, 
 22,9,68,63.4, 76,7,88,98,9; 
 502, 6, 12, 29, 36, 8, 48, 93 ; 
 607, 8. 
 
 LenuersoD, 245. 
 Leonard, 444, 673. 
 Lester, SfA, 99 ; W2, 6, 63. 83, 91, 
 2, 9 ; B12, 84, 02-6, 97 ; 610, 
 
 Lewi's, 457, 619. 
 L'nouniie.lk'ii, 442, 71, 98; 686, 
 
 45, 89, 94, 5. 
 Lilly, 668, 79. 
 Linnoln, 419, 607, 64, 77. 
 Lindsay, 668. 
 Lippltt, 449, 664. 
 LitoU, (Little,) 264, 616. 
 
 Livingston, 284, 436. 
 
 Lloyd, 686. 
 
 Lodema, 635. 
 
 Longbottom, 257, 8 ; 344. 
 
 Loomer, 209, 35. 
 
 Loomis, 427, 616, 86. 
 
 Lord, 60, 73, 156, 67, 84, 7, 92, 8 ; 
 
 285, 46, 74, 7, 87, 8, 90, 3-6 ; 
 
 304, 15-20, 4, 36-8, 69, 84, 92 ; 
 
 406, 16, 23,7,45,69,61,2, 4, 
 
 72,8,81, 7, 9, 94-8; 628, 45, 
 
 78; 635. 
 Loring, 406, 88, 9, 93 ; 501. 
 Loudon, 362. 
 Lovett, 259, 346, 400, 46. 
 Low, 236, 634. 
 Lusk, 674. 
 
 Lyman, 198, 358, 491. 
 Lyon, 236, 388. 
 
 Macdonald, 642. 
 
 Madison, 631. 
 
 Maffltt, 603. 
 
 Maginnis, 670. 
 
 Maguire, 658, 661, 74, 81, 92. 
 
 Maincr, 248. 
 
 Malbone, 380, 410, 68. 
 
 Mallat, 303. 
 
 Mallory, 600. 
 
 Malotte, 8&5. 
 
 Mangier, 597. 
 
 Mann, 292. 
 
 Manning, 281, 526, 63, 84 ; 678, 
 
 86. 
 Manongh, 244. 
 Mansfield, 66, 413, 560, 6 ; 605, 
 
 78. 
 Manwaring, 651. 
 Maro, 686. 
 
 Marsh, 116. 313, 84 ; 614, 635. 
 MarshaU, 235, 75, 9 ; 429, 504. 
 Martin, 463, 606, 86. 
 Marvin, 53, 156, 93 ; 207, 13 ; 383, 
 
 99 ; 428, 507, 66, 81 ; 635. 
 Mar Yohannan, 59l. 
 Mason, 20, 2, 8-30, 44, 7, 53-8, 
 
 61-5, 9, 72, 4, 6, 84-90, 2, 6 ; 
 
 106-8 ; 132, 6, 9-63, 65, 70 ; 200, 
 
 6, 24, 31, 64, 6, 7, 62, 6-70, 81 ; 
 
 523, 88, 9. 
 Mather, 160, 286. 
 May, 169. 
 McAUistcr,^686. 
 McCall, 882, 91, 9 ; 616, 64, 5, 7, 
 
 86. 
 McCarty, 498, 9. 
 MoClellan. 360, 400, 20 ; 647, 54. 
 McC!ure,637. 
 McOord, 667, 79. 
 McCracken. 686. 
 McCurdy, 397, 9 ; 552,3 ; 640, 4. 
 McDavid, (iSli, 92. 
 McEwen,4Sl. 
 McUarrv, 693. 
 McGowty, 60O. 
 McKnight, (i.S6. 
 McKown, 486. 
 McLarran, 312. 
 McMahon, (j87. 
 McNamara, 693, 
 MeSorlev, (.^7. 
 McVav,K!7, 
 Meaoh, (SIcoch.) 236, 407, 25, 80; 
 
 501, 02 ; lj4R, 71, 2. 
 Mencbum, 838. 
 Meany, 687. 
 
 Moeks, (Mix,) 153, 248, 53. 
 Mt'issor. 687. 
 
 Morrick, 88, 4, 99, 210, 86. 
 Morwin, 666, 68, 79. 
 Mctoalf, 162, 236, 9 ; 429. 
 Millard, 229. 
 Miller, 198, 687. 
 
 MUroy, 669, 72. 
 
 Mills, 469. 
 
 Minor, 56, 71, 89, 110, 12 ; 212, 
 
 54, 78 ; 384, 99 ; 606, 12, 92 ; 
 
 632, 67. 
 Mitchell, 25, 535, 54, 6, 7, 86 ; 
 
 604, 24, 53, 67, 93. 
 Molton, 344. 
 Monroe, 666, 658, 93. 
 Moore, 136, 79 ; 236, 380, 405, 11, 
 
 18,92; 636,63,5, 79. 
 Morgan, 126, 236, 46, 8, 54, 5 ; 
 
 307, 61, 84; 443, 56, 7, 97; 
 
 632, 3, 47. 
 Momiogham, 687. 
 Morrison, 228, 668, 9. 
 Morse, 542. 
 Mortimer, 493, 4. 
 Moseley, 236, 7. 
 Mott, 313, 81 ; 425, 539, 687. 
 Mowry, 360, 559, 622. 
 Mulligan, 687. 
 Mumford, 399, 407, 56, 87; 536, 
 
 638. 
 Munsell, 237, 481, 9, 90, 8. 
 Munson, 183. 
 Murdock, 435, 544, 63. 
 Murphy, 643, 87. 
 Murray, 470, 2-4 ; 552, 3 ; 600,4, 
 
 58. 
 Muizy, 601. 
 Myer, 690. 
 
 Neale, 601. 
 
 Needham. 673. 
 
 Nelson, 269, 439, 42-4, 59 ; 659. 
 
 Nevins, 351, 2 ; 376, 8, 80, 1 ; 422, 
 
 2; 551,60. 
 Jewell. 193. 
 Newton, 558. 
 Nichols, 272, 647, 69, 78. 
 Nickels, 668, 87. 
 Nickerson, 667. 88. 
 Niles, 470-3, 77 ; 607. 
 Norman, 237, 303, 467, 652. 
 Norton, 269, 642, 3, 61. 
 Nott, 692. 
 Noyes, 389,688. 
 
 Odiome, 604. 
 
 O'Donnell, 693. 
 
 Olmstead, (Holmstead.) 63,60-4, 
 
 84,6.91, 132, 67, 92, 3; 203, 
 
 634. ' 
 Olmsby, (Ormsby,) 237, 378. 
 Orleans, 394. 
 Osborne, 688. 
 Osgood, 638, 48. 
 
 Otis, 21, 312, 666, 77, 8 ; 640, 88. 
 Owen, 316. 
 
 Packer, 601. 
 
 Paddock, 456, 7 ; 547, 605, 45. 
 
 Page, 372. 
 
 Palmer, 269, 312, 80 ; 500, 5, 99 ; 
 
 600, 68, 9. 
 Palmeter, 222, 37. 
 Parish, 249, 344. 
 Parke, (Parks,) 83, 156, 209, 45, 
 
 8,9,51,4,6; 403,63,78; 690. 
 Parker, 58, 399, 403, 4, 78, 86, 91 j 
 
 679. 
 Parkerson, 688. 
 Parlin, 689. 
 Parsons, 316, 18, 81. 
 Pasmore, 237. 
 Paamoth, 103. 
 Patten, 361. 2. 
 Patterson, 661. 
 Paulin, 644. 
 
 Payne, 138, 498, 646, 66. 
 Peabody, 311, 99 ; 638. 
 Peake, 227. 
 
INDEX OP NAMES, 
 
 703 
 
 Pealo, 656, 8, 60, 8-70, 8, 9. 
 Fearce, 623. 
 
 Peiiae,61,6; 72,87,193,4. 
 ■Peck, 92, 146, 237, 359, 60, 8, 83, 
 
 4, 99 ; 512, 50, 86, 92 ; 642. 
 FembeT, 238. 
 Pepper, 575. 
 Percy, 197. 
 Perigo, 199. 
 Pent, 511,44. 
 
 Perkins, 128, 68 ; 209, 21, 57, 8, 
 60,74,81,94,9; 310,28,44,9, 
 67; 378, 82, 4, 6, 9, 90,9; 406, 
 8,16,24,8,9, 39, 40, 3, 4, 9, 
 63, 78, 9, 82, 3, 6-8, 91, 4; 502, 
 3, 6, 8, 33, 4, 6, 46, 52, 3, 6, 63, 
 9, 75-9. 80, 6, 91, 6, 6 ; 618,26, 
 7, 33, 4, 6, 40, 3, 6-51, 93. 
 Perry, 561, 2, 84, 91. 
 Peters, 33, 42, 3, 8 ; 381, 406, 25, 
 
 6, 71 ; 639. 
 Pettis, 238, 99. 
 PhilUps, 102, 229, 38 ; 379, 410, 
 
 672,3. 
 PUnney, 444, 671. 
 Piatt, 674. 
 Pico, 494. 
 Pierce, 97, 238, 463, 78, 93, 4 ; 512, 
 
 602, 21. 
 Pierson, 181. 
 Pike, 238. 
 PinckDey, 631. 
 Pitcher, 238. 
 Piatt, 291, 583. 
 Plnmbe, 254. 
 Poinsett, 585. 
 Pope, 160. 
 Polk, 631. 
 Pollard, 4S8. 
 Polly, 238. 
 Pomeroy, 316. 
 Pooler, 579. 
 
 Porter, 228, 461, 560, 99 ; 669. 
 Post, 53, 60, 1. 5, 6, 66 ; 74, 6 ; 
 83-6 ; 97, 130, 4, 5, 58, 62, 77, 
 86,93,5,6,8; 205, 9 ; 227, 33, 
 9,56, 64, 7, 8,81; 472,503. 
 Potter, 688. 
 Powers, 441, 539. 
 Pratt, 159, 166. 
 Prentice, 629, 30, 50. 
 Pri(le,204,400, 48, 78, 87,97. 
 Prior, 238, 308, 424, 64. 
 Proctor, 241. 
 Pulaski, 393. 
 Punderson, 370, 1, 7; 451-3, 8; 
 
 543 
 Putnam, 370, 6, 7, 81, 8. 
 Pygan, 100. 
 Pyncheon, 106, 7. 
 
 Quincey, 379, 
 Quy, 331. 
 
 , 491. 
 Bansom, 504. 
 KatMone, 2.59. 
 Kaymond, 175, 99 ; 223, 38, 46 ; 
 
 529, 640, 63. 
 Read, (Reed,l 62, 5; 83, 197,257, 
 
 8, 81, 7 : 344, 51 ; 407, 67. 
 Eeynolds,' 61, 5, 8 ; 74, 86, 99, 
 
 101, 9, 35, 68, 73, 96, 7, 8 ; 230, 
 
 43, 72, 81, 7 ; 302, 22, 4. 83 ; 
 
 472,3,98; 605,33,6, 9;' 619, 
 
 Eichards, 114, 60 ; 238, 49, 52 ; 
 
 359, 407, 539, 650. , 
 Richardson, 87, 8; 673. 
 Bigaud, 525. 
 Ripley, 173, 4 ; 411, 65, 82, 3 ; 
 
 545, 69 ; 632, 8, 9, 42, 59, 66, 
 
 7, 9, 79. 
 
 Rising, 600. 
 Riyes, 620. 
 Roath, 223, 43, 9, 58 ; 304, 49, 50 ; 
 
 448,63,7, 78, 87, 8, 99: 601, 
 
 56, 75, 96: 675. 
 Robbins, 548. 
 Roberts, 93, ITi., 238, 9; 524, 
 
 624. 
 Robertson, 367, 61-4, 84, 5 ; 580. 
 Robinson, 249, 350, 505, 46, 66, 
 
 76, 81, 4 ; 643. 
 Rockwell, 73, 97, 109, 68, 81 ; 248, 
 
 4,6,9,50,8; 309,50,4: 463, 
 
 88, 91 ; 536. 7, 9, 46, 56, 63,8, 
 
 75, 6, 88, 91, 5 ; 619, 27, 9, 31, 
 
 44, 7, 9, 60, 62, 8, 73, 4. 
 Rodgers, 386. 
 Rodman, 396. 7, 9 ; 610. 
 Rogers, 125, 239, 90, 2 ; 310, 25, 
 
 69, 74,8, 82, 3, 96, 7,9; m 8, 
 
 49:510, 11, 19, 35, 63, 98; 622, 
 
 3, 85, 54, 7^, 3. 
 Rome, 388. 
 Rood, (Rude,) 102, 239, 45, 50, 4, 
 
 8, 71, 2 ; 304. 
 Rose, 59, 134, 66 ; 250, 4 ; 399, 
 
 406, 49. 
 Rosebrough, 239. 
 Rosevelt, 287. 
 Rosenblatt, 668. 
 Rose, 673, 9. 
 Rossiter, 493. 
 Koyce, 61, 6 ; 73, 4 ; 86, 132, 6, 
 
 72, 99 ; 205, 219. 
 Rudd, 53, 164, 5, 96 ; 209, 39, 40, 
 
 2, 51, 4, 81, 4 ; 429, 30 ; 580, 
 
 640. 
 Russ, 542. 
 RusseU, 272, 607. 
 
 Sabin, 240, 78 ; 823, 634. 
 Safford, 257, 9, 60; 344, 60, 96; 
 
 624. 
 Salter, 437. 
 
 SaltonstaU, 286, 877, 404. 
 ganders, 693. 
 Sangar, 481, 96 ; 539. 
 Satterlee, 498. 
 Sawyer, 666, 668. 
 Saxton, 249. 
 Say & Seal, 51. 
 Scarborough, 549, 
 Schalk, 668, 88. 
 Schenok, 872. 
 
 Scholfleld, 449, 564, 667, 79, 89. 
 Schuyler, 402. 
 Scott, 661, 74, 81. 
 Scudder, 173, 217, 19. 
 Seabury, 463, 6 ; 524. 
 Selden, 431, 624, 660, 71, 2. 
 Seymour, 654. 
 Shaw, 306, 32 ; 553. 
 Shea, 689. 
 
 Sherman, 517, 661, 2, 89. 
 Shipman, 37, 8 ; 190, 449. 50, 
 
 61-4; 560,8,85,6; 608,33. 
 Shippen, 4l4. __ 
 
 Sigourney, 252, 327, 544, 7 ; 626, 
 
 44. 
 Simpson, 390, 689. 
 Skinner, 578, 96. 
 Slater, 449, 50 ; 537, 50 ; 620. 
 Sluman, 83, 168, 72; 203, 9, 10, 
 
 40. 
 Smallbent, 240. 
 Smith, 61, 6 ; 86, 132, 68, 70, 99 ; 
 
 200, 10, 11, 54, 7, 81, 92, 8; 321, 
 
 7; i03,12,63,4, 82,94, 7,9; 
 
 501,41,6,60,6,82,92; 620,2, 
 
 48,51,4,75. 
 Snow, 492, 663, 86; 640. 
 Souter, 689. 
 
 Spalding, 240, 518-20 ; 614, 36, 
 
 66,74. 
 Sparrow, 499. 
 Spoflord, 664. 
 Spencer, 169. 
 Spicer, 251, 619. 
 Spiller, 229. 
 Spooner, 361, 4, 84. 
 Sprague, 445, 6, 70. 
 Standish, 172, 246, 61, 5. 
 Stanley, 671. 
 Stanton, 87, 161, 246, 64, 6 ; 402, 
 
 49, 89 ; 658, 660, 71, 2, 89. 
 Stark, 684. 
 
 Starkweather, 251, 594, 678. 
 Starr, 97, 240, 4 ; 384, 608 
 Stedman, 307, 50; 576, 83, 9; 
 
 632, 67. 
 Steele, 170, 646. 
 Stephens, (Steyens,) 22, 259, 382, 
 
 400. 
 Sterrett, 639. 
 Sterry, 22, 348, 514, 26, 43, 66, 
 
 86, 99 ; 644, 
 Steuben, 393. 
 Stewart, 477, 88. 
 Stickney,240, 
 Stoddard, 137, 74; 201, 40, 86; 
 
 628. 
 Stokes, 689. 
 
 Stone, 123, 48 : 444,686. 
 Storrs. 568, 640. 
 Story,'241, 73; 321, 4, 47; 467, 
 
 638, 96, 8 ; 653, 
 Stoughton,180, 
 Stratford, 225. 
 Strong, 236, 324, 34, 6, 8, 9, 41, 
 
 2,60,94; 416, 37, 59, 68, 72, 
 
 83; 512,25,8,44,60,91; 630' 
 
 1, 48, 93. 
 Styles, 56, 155. 
 Sullivan, 422. 
 Swain, 490. 
 Swan, 447, 601. 
 Sweet, 679. 
 Swetland, 241. 
 Sykes, 682. 
 Sylvester, 173. 
 
 raft, 621. 
 
 Taintor, 646. 
 
 Talcott, 110-12, 16 ; 327, 84. 
 
 Talleyrand, 394. 
 
 Tarbox 446. 
 
 Taylor,' 15l', 3-5 ; 337, 565, 83 ; 
 
 622, 89. 
 Teel,635. 
 Tennant, 316. 
 Tenny, 241. 
 Terry, 527. 
 Thatcher, 465. 
 Thayer, 472. 
 Thomas, 196, 241, 383, 487, 511, 
 
 71, 95 ; 687, 93. 
 Thompson, 57, 089. 
 Throop, 318, 21, 81 ; 422, 5, 34, 6, 
 
 61 ; 608. 
 Thurber, 622, 45. 
 Tibbitts, 504. 
 
 Tiffany, 310, 461, 2, 6 ; 668, 79. 
 Tilden, 689. 
 lilton, 229. 
 Tinker, 484. 
 Tisdale, 337, 458, 501, 615, 36, 89, 
 
 92. 
 Todd, 241. 
 Tomlinson, 689. 
 Tompkins, 617. 
 Torrance; 673, 89. 
 Torrey, 678. 
 Toucey, 196. 
 Touissant, 497, 525. 
 Tousland, 63. 
 
704 
 
 INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 Touzain, 636. 
 
 Town, 690. 
 
 Townsond, 384. 
 
 Tozor, 635. 
 
 Tra(!y.27. 43, 53 8: 61, 2, 4,6! 
 73,83-9; 93, 106,20,6, 32-5, 
 61, 8-60, 9, 72, 7, 85, 91 ; 200-6, 
 236, 40, 43-5, 52, 4-6, 62, 3, 
 71-4, 83, 7, 8, 96; 304, 6, 7, 14, 
 21, 38, 44, 5, 62, 8, 67, 78, 82, 
 3,96,9; 411,24.7; 428,9,39, 
 40.52,4,62, 3.78,87,8,95, 6; 
 B02-6, 10-13, 19, 26, 44, 7, 63, 
 6,80,6, 92, 4; CIS, 32, 4-7, «, 
 8, 9, 71, 90. 
 
 Trapp, 280, 378, 461, 3, 4. 
 
 Treadway, 673, 690. 
 
 Treat, 107-10, 12, 35 ; 249, 54. 
 
 Trencli, 683. 
 
 Trott, 606, 636. 
 
 TniesdoU, 360. 
 
 Truman, 448, 619. 
 
 Trumbull, 31. 5-7 ; 40. 3, 8 ; 60, 
 276, 312, 25, 6, 57, 63, 4, 73, 4, 
 80,8.4, 7, 91. 3; 402, 18-20, 
 49, 63, 4, 74 ; 601, 14, 77, 80, 
 96; 629,32,9,46. 
 
 Truxton, 497. 
 
 Tryon, 477, 99. 
 
 Tubbs, 241, 668. 
 
 Tully, 444. 
 
 Turner, 66, 206, 74 ; 307, 13, 59, 
 81-4 ; 426, 7 ; 616, 71 ; 636. 
 
 Tutae,439. 
 
 Tyler, 252, 380, 2 ; 426, 49, 53-9, 
 78, 4, 624, 5, 9, 38, 47, 53. 6, 
 63, 85 1 638, 40, 2, 60, 6 ; 657, 
 8,73,8,9,90. 
 
 Urenne, 288. 
 
 Vail, 477, 635, 86 ; 605. 
 Van Buren, 585. 
 Tergason, 690. 
 Vemett, 512, 13, 37. 
 Vincent, 196. 
 Volkner, 690. 
 
 Wackley, 206. 
 
 Wade, 61, 6 ; 86, 102, 36 ; 205. 
 
 WadBworth, 169, 267, 418, 77. 
 
 Wait, 633, 47, 64, SI, 90. 
 
 Walden, 457. 
 
 Waldo, 642. 
 
 Walker, 241, 622. 
 
 Wales, 465. 
 
 Wallbridge, 258, 72. 
 
 WaUer, 68. 
 
 Wallis, 62, 5. 
 
 Walton, 344. 
 
 Walworth, 189, 499. 
 
 Ward, 468, 86 ; 649, 58, 63-6, 81, 
 
 91,2. 
 Warham, 40, 1. 
 Warner, 546. 
 Warren, 241, 374, 6, 87 ; 458, 64 ; 
 
 536. 
 Warwick, 51. 
 Washington, 382, 7, 91, 3 ; 402, 
 
 20,77; 526,38. 
 Waterhouse, 292. 
 Waterman, 62, 5 ; 84, 6 ; 95, 100, 
 29, 34, 6, 57, 68 ; 201, 2, 6-8, 
 58,9,71,5,9,80,97; 306,10, 
 51,82,3,99; 400, 9,24,9,35, 
 8, 60, 2, 4, 7, 93 ; 506, 10, 11. 
 Waters, 2.3-5. 
 Wattles, 406, 7, 68, 94. 
 Way, 241. 
 Weaver, 93. 
 
 Webb, m, 88, 94, 6, 8 ; 582. 
 Webster, 547, 86 ; 676. 
 Wedge, fe2, 501. 
 Welden, 691. 
 Weller, 611. 
 Wellman, 179. 
 Wells, 683. 
 Welsh, 241. 
 Wentworth, 230, 52, 80, 98 ; 327, 
 
 560,92; 614. 
 Wetherell, 87, 90,219. 
 Wetmore, 25, 311, 12, 87; 417, 
 
 60,4, 7; 662. 
 West, 698. 
 Weston, 622. 
 
 Wlieat, 378, 82, 3, 99 ; 400, 834, 5. 
 Wheatley, 360. 
 ■\nieeler. 278, 667. 
 Wheelock, 182, 220, 316, 461, 4; 
 
 690, 
 Whipple, 458. 
 Whitaker, 242, 460-7 ; 557. 
 Whitcome, 605. 
 White, 189, 224, 41; 333, 493, 
 
 541, 648, 50, 92. 
 Whitefield, 162, 321. 
 Whiting, 149, 51 ; 292, 313, 15, 
 47, 60. 67, 86 ; 428, 55, 88 ; 535. 
 42; 66, 75, 6; 601, 47. 
 Whitman, 568. 
 
 WMtmarsh, 399. 
 
 Whitney, 305, 462, 4, 7. 
 
 Whittemore, (Whitmore, ) 236, 
 650. 
 
 Whittlesey, 667. 
 
 Wight, 317, 82 ; 447, 8, 59, 61, 7. 
 
 Wightman, 242. 
 
 Wilber, 536, 692. 
 
 Wilkes, 868, 421. 
 
 Willard, 287. 
 
 WiUes, 274, 430. 
 
 WiUett, 404, 638, 95 ; 619. 
 
 WiUiams, 2^ 9, 52, 3, 4, 73, 91, 
 306, 38, 47, 59, 77, 81, 99 ; 416, 
 48,51,69,76.8,9,84,8,92,8, 
 9; 508,27,33-6,44-9, 53, 64, 
 75,89,91,7; 604,11,15,30,3, 
 40-2, 6, 8, 9, 60, 62, 78, 92. 
 
 Williams, Roger, 44, 7-9, 78 ; 145, 
 62. 
 
 Willoughby, 242, 321, 2 ; 539, 
 
 Wilson, 252, 449. 
 Winchester. 474, 97, 9 ; 624. 
 Winship, 280, 692. 
 Winslow, 204, 389. 511, 91 ; 693. 
 Winthrop, 30, 3, 5, 8 ; 41 3, 7, 8 ; 
 
 51, 97, 106, 7, 12, 42, 5, 64, 71, 
 
 4; 211. 
 Wise, 286. 
 WiflwaU, 170. 
 
 Witter, 253, 341, 78, 99 ; 510, 45. 
 Wolcott, 86, 419, 517. 
 Wood, 229, 42 ; 465. 667, 92. 
 Woodbridge, 160. 312. 38, 83, 97, 
 
 9;431, 83, 92,4;505.7,12,19, 
 
 26, 35,7,41,4,93; 632,40,6. 
 Woodbury, 585. 
 Woodward, 128, 62 ; 217, 46, 9, 
 
 63, 8, 9, 86, 6, 7 ; 304, 59 ; 506, 
 
 10, 11. 
 Woodworth, 242, 6, 98 ; 435, 659. 
 Wooster, 416. 
 Worden. 634. 
 Worth, 223. 
 
 Worthington. 2.54, 60 ; 636. 
 Wright, 449, 651, 60. 
 Wyatt, 608. 
 Wyllis, 77, 86, 114, 55 ; 337. 
 
 Tarrington, 692. 
 Teomans, 425. 
 Young, 683, 8, 95 : 666. 
 
 Zamphiropolos, 675. 
 
 NAMES OF INDIANS 
 
 Abimelech, 265. 
 Apenannesuck, 279. 
 Ashpow, 405. 
 Attawanhood, 57, 8 ; 2C4. 
 
 Cffisar, 263, 6. 
 Oanonchet, 110. 
 Oanonicus, 33. 
 CutoUi, 260. 
 
 Mahomet, 260. 
 Maszeon, 265. 
 
 Miantonomoh, 30-42, 8 ; 110, 117, 
 686. 
 
 Nlmrod, 106. 
 Nlnigrot, 142. 
 
 Oocom, (Aukum,)49,260,9; 361, 
 463, 4, 5. 
 
 Oknookertukogog, 873. 
 
 Owaneco, (Oneco,) 49, 67-9, 105, 
 6,15,36,7,51, 66; 227, 43,4, 
 7, 51, 2, 5, 6, 7, 60, 1, 4, 5. 
 
 Pasquatuck, 29. 
 Pauganoek, 260. 
 Ppsisacus, 89, 42, 5. 
 Philip, 63, 6, 6 ; 89, 105-7, U-13, 
 23,90. 
 
 Quooheets, 405. 
 
 S.TPgaous, 30. 
 Sequassen, 31. 
 Sunkesquaw, 111. 
 
 Tantaquiesen, ( Tantaquidgin, ) 
 
 33, 42. 
 Toroso, 388. 
 
 Trowtrow, 330. 
 
 Uncas, 28-46, 9 ; 54-9 ; 73, 81, 
 105, 7, 9, 13-18, 46, 51, 89; 
 248, 56, 60-6 ; 405, 586-7. 
 
 Uncas, Ann, 368; Ben., 260, 3; 
 .John, 256, 69; Joshua, 107, 
 36 ; Josiah, 69, 137 . Samuel, 
 263, 536, 7. 
 
 Waweequaw, (Waweekus, Wee- 
 
 quaw,) 57, 81, 452, 
 Wedemow, 260. 
 Woonanshun, 106. 
 Wyox, 405. 
 
 Zachary, 379. 
 
NORWICH NOTES AND SKETCHES, 
 
 FKOM 1866 TO 1873. 
 SUPPLEMENTARY TO MISS CAIJLKINS', HISTORY. 
 
 Norwich City Water Worhs. 
 
 At the May session of the General Assembly of the State, 1866, the 
 charter of the city was so amended as to give the city the power to sup- 
 ply itself with pure water. This amendment was accepted by the city, 
 and in October of the following year a site was selected for a reservoir 
 and the work commenced. The reservoir is in a natural basin between 
 the Scotland Road and Canterbury Turnpike; one mile east of the Nor- 
 wich Town Green, through which a small tributary stream ran to the 
 Yantic River. On the south end of this basin a heavy embankment wall 
 was built, 33 feet high and 400 feet long which formed a reservoir of 
 about 350,000,000 gallons capacity. The length of the reservoir is one 
 mile and an eighth, the average width 480 feet, the average , depth 16^ 
 fi^et, and the surface measure 66 acres. The level of the overflow is 250 
 feet above tide water, and 19^ feet above the summit of Jail Hill — the 
 highest point of land in the city. This gives a pressure on the water 
 pipes of 108 pounds to the square inch at tide water, and of 95|- pounds 
 on Franklin Square. With this pressure water can be forced through an 
 ordinary engine hose to a vertical height of 140 feet. Its efficiency for 
 the purpose of extinguishing fires, as well as for domestic uses, is thus 
 demonstrated. The present supply of water is equal to forty gallons a 
 . day to about 20,000 people, but by attaching other available streams to 
 the reservoir, the supply can be indefinitely increased. The supply pipe 
 is of iron, lined with cement and laid in a bedding of cement. The cost 
 of the whole work up to January, 1873, including reservoir and piping, 
 and all other necessary expenses, is not far from $350,000. 
 
 New Laurel Hill Bridge. 
 
 For an account of the bridges built at different times on the site of the 
 
 present Laurel Plill Bridge, see pp. 347 to 350. Since the publication of 
 
 Miss Caulbins' History, a Norwich gentleman found in the Royal Library 
 
 in Paris several volumes of letters, written by a French gentleman who 
 
 45 
 
696 
 
 NOTES AND SKETCHES 
 
 visited this country in 1786. This jrriter describes the bridge then 
 standing on this site, and gives a representation of it as a remarkable 
 bridge. 
 
 This is a translation of what he says about the bridge, and a copy of 
 his drawing of it : — 
 
 " Sketch of a bridge 123 feet long, and 52 feet high, lately built over tlie 
 eastern branch of the new Thames, called the river Slietucket, in the 
 vicinity of Norwich, by Mr. Elias Bliss." — Book of St. John de Grier- 
 coque, entitled Lettres d' un eultivateur Americane, addresses a W. S. 
 Eager, vol. 3. jo, 517. 
 
 Length, 123 ft. Height, 52 ft. 
 
 " But what most impressed me in this canton is a very extraordinary 
 bridge, of which I send you an imperfect sketch. It is built on the She- 
 tucket branch, between two rocks, which are in this place 123 feet distant 
 from each other, and raised 52 feet above the surface of the river. It 
 was devised and constructed last year (1785), by Mr. Elias Bliss, a sim- 
 ple carpenter of the neighborhood, gifted with extraordinary natural 
 knowledge of mechanics. It is he who by his genius has contributed 
 greatly to the improvement of the different mills of which I have just 
 spoken." 
 
 In 1867 there was erected at this place a fine iron bridge at an expense 
 of about $25,000. 
 
 Taftville. 
 On page 621 a brief allusion is made to the purchase of the "lower 
 privilege of the Occpm Co." by the Messrs. Taft & Co. of Providence. 
 
NOTES AND SKETCHES. 697 
 
 This privilege was surveyed and laid out into a manufacturing village, 
 and on February 26, 1866, ground was broken for the construction of a 
 dam and mill. The property comprises an area of 600 acres, and is 
 regularly laid out for dwelling houses and buildings for business purposes. 
 The dam has a rollway of 400 feet in length and a fall of 30 feet. The 
 plan contemplates three separate buildings for factories of 760 feet in 
 length, but as yet only one building has been completed. This building 
 is 750 feet long, 75 feet wide, and five stories high. It has an ell 227 by 
 61 feet, and four stories high. It has 7| acres of flooring. The capacity 
 of the mill is 1500 looms, employing 1500 operatives, which would rep 
 resent a population of about 3,000 souls. 
 
 Charles W. Eockwell, (see page 629) after his removal from Norwich 
 engaged in business in the city of New York, and resided at Sing Sing 
 on the Hudson river. There he died on the 13th of December, 1866, 
 and his remains were brought to this city for interment. 
 
 William P. Eaton, (see page 637) who was, it is safe to say, more 
 prominent in public discussions in town and city meetings than any other 
 citizen of Norwich, died at his residence on Broadway on the 5th of Jan- 
 uary, 1867, aged 72 years. His intense local pride, his intimate knowl- 
 edge of local events and men, his strong common sense, ready wit and 
 good command of language supplemented by a voice of Steutor, and 
 almost gigantic figure, made him a power in town and city meetings that 
 will give him a traditional celebrity long after the events in which he took 
 a prominent part have passed out of the minds of men. 
 
 Gen. William Williams. 
 
 Gen. William Williams (portrait page 635) died at his residence (see 
 page 635) on the 28th of October, 1870, and as a prominent citizen of 
 the town for more than sixty years, we give to him more than a passing 
 notice. 
 
 He was the son of William and Mercy (Wheeler) Williams, and was 
 born in Stonington, March 12, 1788. Deprived by death in early life of 
 maternal care, he was placed at school in 1798 with his brother Thomas, 
 in Plainfield, Conn. He remained in the then famous academy of that 
 town, under the'charge of Dr. Benjamin Allen, two years. In 1802, at 
 the early age of fourteen, he went to New York, and became a clerk in 
 the house of WilUam and Sylvester Robinson, on " Murray's Wharf," as 
 
698 NOTES AND SKETCHES. 
 
 it was then called, at the foot of Wall street. He there received a 
 thorough business training, and remained with the firm four or five years, 
 and afterwards made one or more voyages to Labrador and Bordeaux. 
 In 1809 he removed to Norwich, and commenced business in company 
 with his father and the late Calvin Goddard, under the firm of William 
 Williams, Jr., & Co. Their principal business was grinding wheat and 
 corn, and shipping the flour and meal to the West Indies, using the old 
 "Lathrop Mills," at the Fails. In 1813 the same parties established and 
 set in operation the first cotton mill ever run in Norwich, if not in the ' 
 county, under the name of the Norwich Falls Co. This company was 
 unfortunate, like many other pioneers, and when it was reorpanized, under 
 the title of the Williams' Manufacturing Co., General Williams retired 
 from the business, and turned his attention to commercial pursuits, which 
 were decidedly more congenial to his business tastes. He was engaged 
 quite extensively about this time in shipping the agricultural produets of 
 this part of the State to Southern ports, and after the dose of the war he 
 made several voyages to Li>bon, and entered largely into the importation 
 of wool. His brother, Hon. Thomas W. Williams, in the meantime was 
 prosecuting the whale fishery in New London with energy and success, 
 and in 1827, Gen. Williams made his first whaling investment.in the ship 
 Stoningion. The adventure was successful, and in 1829 he formed a 
 partnership with the late Capt. Acors Barns, and commenced the whaling 
 and commission business, sending the Electra, (then withdrawn from the 
 New York and London packet line,) as their first ship to the old " Banks," 
 June 27, 1829. This was the foundation of the celebrated house of 
 Williams & Barns. 
 
 His son Thomas W. WilHams, 2d, who died Sept. 12, 1855, was intro- 
 duced into the firm in 1832. The clear head and enterprising views of 
 the son, soon allowed the father to leave the active management of the 
 business, but he retained his interest to a greater or less extent in the 
 house he had established until the day of his death. 
 
 Gen. Williams married Miss Harriet Peck, May 12, 1812, and probably 
 few were permitted to enjoy so many years of happiness in the dearest 
 ties of domestic life. — 'Tis true that the repeated visits of the angel of 
 death left them childle-s for the last fifteen years of his life, but many 
 young persons found a pleasant home beneath his roof, and the doors of 
 his hospitable mansion opened easily to the servants of God, and friends 
 of humanity who sympathized with him in his benevolent works. 
 
 Most men grow old as ye;irs increase, and spend much time and breath 
 in describing the excellences of the past generation and the sad deteri- 
 oration of the present. — Though naturally of a conservative disposition, 
 with great reverence, for his ancestors and the principles of the pilgrim 
 ounders of New England, yet Gen. Williams cherished to a remarkable 
 
NOTES AND SKETCHES. 699 
 
 degree a warm heart of sympathy with the young. He cho?e a neglected 
 field to manifest specially this sympathy, and one where he was sure to 
 meet with not a single fellow-worker. In this Counly there are more than 
 two hundred District Schools, many of them are on poor cross-roads, seldom 
 visited save by the pupils and their teachers. The heart of our deceased 
 friend was turned especially towards these humble primary schools of 
 learning, and it is believed that there is not a single school-liouse iu the 
 remotest corner of this county which he did not visit and speak to 
 teachers and pupils some kind words of advice as to their studies and 
 moral duties, especially suggesting to them the propriety of each learning 
 one verse of scripture daily. In many of the schools in our country 
 towns he was an annual visitor. He extended these visits occasionally to 
 the remote parts of the State, and many a school among the hills of 
 Litchfteld County has welcomed him beneath its. humble roof. We may 
 safely say, in this line of benevolence and philanthrophy he did a noble 
 work, which no other man ever at'empted. It is probable that he was 
 known per.-onally by sight to more individuals than any other man in 
 the State. Nowhere else will the pleasant face and kind words of Gen. 
 Wm. Williams be remembered longer than in the country school houses 
 of New London county. 
 
 He was long the untiring and faithful friend of the Mohegan Indians, 
 spending for many years his Sabbaths with them and encouraging and 
 sustaining the interests of religion and education in their midst. 
 
 His large hearted benevolence was not limited to his state or country, 
 and every good work for the benefit of his fellow men, and especially for 
 the operations of the Foreign Missionary Society with which he was 
 connected, liad his warm sympathy and co-operation. 
 
 The health of General Williams failed gradually. In the beautiful 
 language of inspiration, " the keepers of the house began to tremble, the 
 silver cord was finally gently loosed, and the golden bowl broken." Well 
 may be said of him as St. Paul said of the man after God's own heart, 
 " After he had served his own generation, by the will of God, he fell on 
 asleep." 
 
 The Norwich Horse Railroad was projected in 1869, and was finished 
 and the first cars passed over it on the 12th of September, 1870, from 
 Bean Hill to Greeneville. In 1873 it exchanged its horse-power for 
 steam, on a part of its line. 
 
 A new iron bridge now spans the river on the site of the old Norwich 
 and Preston toll bridge (see p. 349), which was built during the spring 
 
700 NOTES AND SKETCHES. 
 
 and summer of 1870, and opened to public travel in August of that year. 
 It is the most substantial and expensive bridge in the country. 
 
 The New Court House, City and Town Hall. 
 
 On the 21th of April, 1865, a town meeting was held to discuss the 
 subject of petitioning the Legislature to make Norwich the sole shire 
 town of the county. At the same meeting a committee was appointed to 
 select a suitable site for a new building for county and town purposes, to 
 take the place of the house then recently burnt (see page 572). This 
 committee consisted of John T. Wait, Lorenzo Blackstone, James A. 
 Hovey, James Lloyd Greene, Amos AV. Prentice, John W. Stedman, 
 John T. Brown, .Jeremiah Halsey, Augustus Brewster, H. H. Stark- 
 weather, and Henry Bill. Subsequently the town voted to instruct this 
 committee not to take definite action until the Legislature had decided 
 the shire town question. 
 
 The action of the Legislature was adverse to the petition of the town, 
 and the whole matter of a new building was postponed till the General 
 Assembly of 1869. Then an act was passed giving the town of Norwich, 
 the city of Norwich, and the county of New London, power to combine 
 for the erection of a building for town, city, and county purposes, with no 
 other restriction as to the cost of the same except that the county should 
 not expend to exceed the sum of S20,000. The same act superseded the 
 town committee appointed to select a site for the same, by placing that 
 duty in the hands of the selectmen of the town of Norwich, the mayor of 
 the city of Norwich, and the commissioners of the county of New 
 London. 
 
 Early in 1870 all the parties in interest having agreed to proceed with 
 the work, and fixed upon a site for the building, and plans for the same, 
 the work commenced. It was not till the spring of 1873 that any por- 
 tion of the building was ready for occupancy. The first session of the 
 superior court in it was opened on the 11th day of November of that 
 year. 
 
 The building stands at the junction of Broadway and Union sjtreets, 
 facing Otis square. It is one hundred and ten feet from front to rear, and 
 one hundred and eight feet wide. It is three stories high (including the 
 basement, occupied by the city for police purposes), with a French roof. 
 The main cornice is fifty^ight feet from the ground. The tower rises 
 twenty-nine feet from the roof The basement story is of cut granite ; the 
 other stories are of pressed brick, with granite trimmings. The cornices 
 and tower are of galvanized iron, and the roof is covered with tin. The 
 cellar is the whole size of the building, and contains the steam boilers for 
 heiitinjj; the building, coal bins, &c. The basement floor is occupied by 
 
NOTES AND SKETCHES. 701 
 
 the cells for a lock up, a police court room (30 by 50), and spacious 
 rooms for all the ordinary police business of the city. On the first floor 
 are the offices of the town clerk and other town officers, the county 
 clerk's office, the probate office, the office of the chief engineer of the 
 city fire department, the common council chamber (28 by 45), and the 
 offices of the mayor, the city clerk and water commissioners. On the 
 floor above are the town hall (48 by 62), in the rear, and the court room 
 in front (45 by 50), with ample ante rooms, library rooms, sheriff's 
 office, &c. Each story is supplied with water closets, fire proof vaults of 
 lai'ge dimensions, extending from the ground, and every convenience for 
 the accommodation of business and the personal comfort of the occupants 
 of the building that modern ingenuity has devised. The tower contains a 
 clock with illuminated dials, which are lighted up by night, and a 3,000 
 pounds bell, which is used by the clock, and also as an alarm bell. 
 Water, gas and heat are carried to every room in vthe building. The 
 interior finish is of yellow pine, chestnut, and black walnut. 
 
 The plans of the building were by Burdich and Arnold. Evan 
 Burdich superintended the work. Gilbert L. Congdon executed the 
 wood work, and Joseph H. Smith the masonry. The furniture was made 
 to order by N. S. Gilbei't and Son. In building and furniture the edifice 
 will compare favorably with any public building in the country. Its 
 entire cost was about $350,000. 
 
 Jedediah Huntington. 
 
 Jedediah Huntington (see page 467), after a sudden and brief illness, 
 died at his residence on Washington street, about six o'clock Saturday 
 evening, March 23, 1872. He had been suffering nearly a week under 
 a heavy cold, but there was no apprehension of immediate danger until 
 the morning of Friday, when his illness exhibited symptoms which indi- 
 cated to the members of his family and to his physician that he would 
 probably sink under the disease. 
 
 Mr. Huntington was born in Norwich on the 13th of September, 1791. 
 He was the youngest son of Levi Huntington, also a native of our town 
 who was a leading merchant here for many years, and who is spoken of 
 in the annals of that time as " on.e of the most active and successful of 
 the enterprising men of Norwich, during the period following the 
 Eevolution." 
 
 From the early part of this century until the close of our second war 
 with England, he resided in Troy, N. Y., with his brother-in-law, Guil- 
 ford Young. He then returned to Norwich and embarked in business 
 in the stores that occupied the site of the present freight depot of the 
 
702 NOTES AND SKETCHES. 
 
 Norwich & Worcester Railroad Company, and remained there alone or 
 in company wiih his nephew, the late John G. Huntington, until he 
 entirely retired from business in 1836. In all his business enterprises he 
 was eminently successful; and this .success may well be attributed not only 
 to his energy, enterprise, and constant devotion to his business pursuits, 
 but to the enviable reputation that he enjoyed for his unbending integrity. 
 
 In June, 1819, Mr. Huntington married Eiiza, youngest daughter of 
 the late Judge Marvin Wait, of New London. She was a lady with a 
 warm heai't and an open hand, and the poor and the afflicted were ever 
 drawn toward her by her deep and tender sympathy for them. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Huntington lived together more than fifty year.=, she dying in March, 
 1871. They celebrated their golden weddiug in June, 1869. 
 
 Mr. Huntington has made a deep and lasting impression upon the 
 regard of our community, by the liberality which he has exhibited in his 
 large and frequent donations to religious and benevolent objects, princi- 
 pally connected with the church to which he was attached. 
 
 By his last will and testament, he gave the beautiful place, which was 
 the residence of himself and wife for nearly forty years, as a home for 
 indigent females, and appropriated $35,000 as a fund for its support. It 
 is called the " Eliza Huntington Memorial Home," as a tribute to his 
 wife, who, during her last illness, expressed an earnest desire that a por- 
 tion of his estate, which she would have received had she survived him, 
 should be appropriated to found such an institution. 
 
 This noble charity is now in successful operation, according to the 
 designs of its founder. The directors and managers at the present time 
 (November, 1873), are John T. Wait, James A. Hovey, Jedediah 
 Huntington, Rev. John Binney, Rev. W. W. Silvester, Samuel C. 
 Morgan, Lafayette S. Foster, Jeremiah Halsey, Henry Bill, Rev. Norris 
 G. Lippitt. 
 
 First Congregational Church — Resignation of Reo. Dr. Arms. 
 
 The following extracts from the records of the First Congregational 
 Church of this town give an account of one of the most interesting events 
 connected with its history : 
 
 " At a meeting of the church, regularly called in the chapel, January 20, 
 1S73, the pastor [)i'esented the following communication, addressed to the 
 First Congregational Chureh and Ecclesiastical Society of Norwich : 
 
 "Brktiirkn and Friends — In pursuance of a purpose some time 
 since intimated to you verbally, I hereby tender to you in form the 
 resignation of the active services and responsibilities of my pastorate, 
 
■aved -by J. C.BTittre,'New^°^^ 
 
 C ^ ^A ^ rr tc >l 7^?' j 7c 
 
NOTES AND SKETCHES. 703 
 
 together with the salary which you have hitherto allowed me, to take 
 eifect on the settlement of another pastor. 
 
 " I am moved to this simply by considerations affecting your welfare ; 
 for though, in the kind providence of God, I have all the vigor of body 
 and of mind which could reasonably be expected at seventy-four years of 
 age, yet I am fully conscious that I am no longer able to perform all the 
 ministerial labor which the prosperity of the parish demands. 
 
 " Should you accede to my wishes in this respect, it is my design still to 
 remain among you, if you wish it, nn the relation of pastor emeritus, or if 
 you prefer it, I will demit the office as well as the duties of my pastorate, 
 
 " Whatever my nominal relation to you may be, you will ever " be in 
 my heart, to die and live with you." 
 
 " Truly and affectionately yours, 
 
 " H. P. ARMS. 
 
 " Norwich, January 20, 1873." 
 
 " The above communication was accepted, and referred to the standing 
 committee of the church. 
 
 "Resolutions were offered by the standing committee in response to the 
 communication of the pastor, and action on them postponed till the 
 regular meeting of the church on the first Thursday in February, at 
 half-past seven o'clock, P. M. — Adjourned. 
 
 Februaet 6, '73. — At the monthly meeting of the church, the 
 resolutions presented by the standing committee at the last meeting were 
 called up, and adopted as follows : 
 
 "Whereas Hiram P. Arms, D. D,, after thirty-seven years of faithful 
 and acceptable services as pastor of this church, at the age of seventy- 
 four years, has tendered his resignation, and expressed his desire to retire 
 from the active and responsible duties of such pastorate. 
 
 " Therefore, resolved — That we accept the same in manner and form as 
 expressed in his letter of resignation, to take effect upon the settlement of 
 another pastor. 
 
 " And, whereas, as a testimony of their appreciation of the fidelity and 
 wisdom evinced by Dr. Arms in the discharge of the duties of his oflSce 
 for all those years, and the abundant and beneficent results of his ministry, 
 his parishioners and friends have subscribed six thousand dollars to pur- 
 chase him an annuity, which annuity, it is expected, will be made avail- 
 able in the early part of February. [The annuity yields $1,200.] 
 
 "Therefore, resolved — That we concur in the action of the First 
 Ecclesiastical Society, by which his salary is continued until such annuity 
 is purchased. 
 
 " Resolved That we continue to entertain a very great respect and 
 
 affection for Dr. Arms, and shall accompany him in his retirement with 
 46 
 
704 NOTES END SKETCKES. 
 
 our best wishes and earnest prayers for God's bleising upon him and his 
 household. 
 
 " Resolved — That it is a matter of sincere rejoicing to us all that one ' 
 who has so long gone in and out before us, breakingthe Bread of Life,, 
 has it in his heart to live and die with us, holding to this church thd 
 relation oi pastor emeritus." 
 
 On the 20th of February, 1873, the Rev. William C. Scofield was 
 installed pastor. 
 
 Mr. Scofield was born at Chester Co., N. Y., April 1, 1826 ; graduated 
 at Hamilton College in 1847 ; was ordained pastor of the Second Congre- 
 gational Church in Danbury, Connecticut, in 1852. He has ministered 
 for longer or shorter periods in Danbury, 3Iilford, Janesville, Wis., 
 Ottowa, 111., Newark, N. J., La Porte, Ind., and Fredonia, N. Y. 
 
 On Tuesday, May 17, 1870, Mrs. Reclinta Freeman, a colored woman, 
 died in Norwich town, aged 106 years and 6 months, probably the oldest 
 person that eVer lived in the town. She was born in Southold, L. I., 
 but was brought to New London when a child, and was in that place 
 when it was destroyed by Benedict Arnold. At the time of her death 
 she had resided in Norwich about thirty-four years. 
 
 Rev. D. N. Bentley. 
 
 One of the oldest inhabitants of Norwich at the present time (1873) is 
 Rev. D. N. Bentley (see page 602), who is apparently as vigorous, 
 mentally and bodily, as he was twenty-five years ago. A brief auto- 
 biography of this remarkable man will be, perhaps, more interesting than 
 anything that can be written of him by another : 
 
 Norwich, January 18th, 1873. 
 H. P. Havens, Esq. 
 
 Deak Sir — I was born in the year 1785, and was early impressed 
 with tlie principles of the Christian religion. In boyhood I embraced 
 its saving influences, and joined the M. E. Church, in the year 1800, and 
 very soon commenced holding public religious meetings by approbation 
 of the church officials, and in 180-1 was recognized a local preacher in the 
 M. E. Church. I was consecrated to administer the ordinances of the 
 church in 1818. 
 
 " I have administered the ordinance of baptism to more than four 
 hundred persons — the greatest number of whom by the most common 
 mode of immersion — by dipping or plunging the candidate backwards 
 
NOTES AND SKETCHES. 705 
 
 under the water. Others equally sincere and conscientious were better 
 siitisfied by being plunged face foremost under water; and some others, 
 truly pious persons, to satisfy their conscience chose to kneel in the 
 water while the administrator poured the water from a pitcher on the 
 head of the candidate. Still some other candidate, which preferred to 
 kneel beside the river or stream, and have the administrator take the 
 water with his hands and sprinkle it upon him ; while many others 
 chose to receive the ordinance kneeling at the altar in the house of 
 God. And besides all these differing modes, I have performed this 
 solemn Scriptural ordinance for candidates on a sick and dying bed. 
 After all, " Baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, hut 
 the answering of a good conscience towards God." 
 
 I have attended as oiBciating minister at nearly 2,300 funerals, and at 
 many of them I have been required to preach a Sermon adapted to the 
 occasion and circumstances of the deceased : committing their mortal 
 remains to the ground ; " Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust ; 
 looking unto the general resurrection on the last day, and the life of the 
 world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Many funeral services included in the number 2,300 were performed in 
 other towns besides Norwich, viz. : Preston, Griswold, North Stonington, 
 Voluntown, Lisbon, Franklin, Windham, Bozrah, Lebanon, Colchester, 
 Montville, Salem, Waterford, East Lyme, New London, Groton, Mystic, 
 Ledyard, and others. 
 
 I have preached — including funeral discourses — not far from seven 
 hundred sermons, all of which services have been performed gratuitously ; 
 not one dollar by way of remuneration have I received beyond my travel- 
 ling expenses. I set out on the principle of preaching a free Gospel, and 
 so far as my labors have been performed, the principle h^s been 
 sustained. 
 
 I have already passed my eighty-eighth summer, and still acknowledge 
 myself the poor man's minister. I have attended a regular service at 
 our alms-house every third week for over sixty years, with very few 
 exceptions. 
 
 The foregoing incidents of Christian labor have been hastily sketched, 
 and are now submitted to your disposal, to use wholly or in part, or no 
 part of them, as shall meet your pleasure, and I shall be satisfied. 
 Believe me, most sincerely, 
 
 Your friend and brother in cause of Jesus, 
 
 D. N. BENTLEY. 
 
 In addition to the members of congress, residents of Norwich (see 
 page 631), may now be added Henry H. Starkweather, a native of 
 
706 NOTES AND SKETCHES. 
 
 Preston, but a resident of Norwich from boyhood. He has been elected 
 to each successive congress since 1867. 
 
 Savings Banks and Insurance Companies. 
 
 On page 659 two fire insurance companies nre mentioned, which have 
 since been discontinued, viz., the Morwich Fire Insurance Company and 
 the Thames Fire Insurance Company. 
 
 The amount deposited in the Norwich Savings Society in 1873 is 
 upwards of $7,000,000, and in the Chelsea, $2,600,000. The Dime 
 Savings Bank was chartered in 1869, and has now (December, 1873,) a 
 deposit of $780,000. 
 
 The " Aurora " (see page 583), passed in January, 1867, into the 
 possession of the Norwich Printing Company, who immediately estab- 
 lished a daily paper, under the title of the " Norwich Daily Advertiser," 
 which has since been continued. 
 
 Mayors of the City. 
 To the list of mayors (see page 630), may be added — 
 
 21. Lorenzo Blackstone, 1866 to 1870. 
 
 22. James A. Hovey, 1870 to 1871. 
 
 23. James Lloyd Greene, still in office. 
 
 Presidential Electors, Natives or Residents of Norwich {see page 631). 
 
 John T. Wait, 1864; Abraham Lincoln, re-elected ; opposition candi- 
 date, George B. M'Clellan. 
 
 Henry Bill, 1868 ; Ulysses S. Grant, elected; opposition candidate, 
 Horatio Seymour. 
 
 Henry P. Haven, 1872 ; Ulysses S. Grant re-elected; opposition can- 
 didate, Horace Greeley. 
 
 The Mason Monument. 
 On page 589 it will be seen that there is a protest against placing the 
 Mason Monument on the spot where the corner stone was laid in 1859. 
 That this protest was heeded will be seen by the following account of the 
 subsequent action of the gentlemen haviijg this monument in charge : 
 
NOTES AND SKETCHES. 707 
 
 At the ninth formal meeting of the committee of arrangements for the 
 celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the 
 town of Norwich, it was, on motion of John A. Eocl^well, 
 
 Voted — That the sum of three hundred dollars be appropriated for the 
 purpose of erecting a suitable monument to the memory of Major John 
 Mason. 
 
 And on motion of John T. Wait it was al.-^o 
 
 Voted — That Messrs. John A. Rockwell, Jedediah Huntington, and 
 Gardiner Greene be appointed a committee to expend the money appro- 
 priated for the erection of a monument to Major Mason, to determine the 
 site of the same, and fix upon the inscription which shall be placed 
 thereon, and to do all things proper and necessary in the erection of said 
 monument. . 
 
 John T. Wait, Hiram P. Arms and L. F. S. Foster were subsequently 
 added to this committee. 
 
 The three hundred dollars thus appropriated do not appear to have 
 been placed in the hands of the committee, and at the last meeting of the 
 committee of arrangements, held November 5th, 1859, there was found 
 to be in the hands of the treasurer, after the payment of all the expenses, 
 the sum of one hundred and sixty-four dollars and thirty-one cents 
 (SI 64.31), which it was voted should be placed on deposit in the Nor- 
 tvich Savings Society to the credit of Arthur F. Gilman, treasurer of the 
 aforesaid committee ; and on the 6th of May, 1869, the Hon. Erastus 
 Corning of Albany, a native of Norwich, contributed the sum of one 
 hundred dollars, which was placed to the credit of the same committee. 
 
 On the 9th of November, 1859, a meeting was held of the committee 
 of arrangements for the bi-centennial ball, when it was found that after 
 paying all expenses the sum of two hundred and thirteen dollars and 
 sixty cents ($213.60) was in the hands of the treasurer of said com- 
 mittee, which was appropriated for the purpose of erecting a monument 
 to Major John Mason, and other early settlers of the town, and which 
 was also deposited in the Norwich Savings Society to the credit of James 
 M. Meech, treasurer of said committee, and a committee consisting of 
 James H. Hyde, John L. Devotion, Charles A. Converse, and James M. 
 Meech were appointed to act with the other committee in appropriating 
 the money for that purpose. 
 
 Nothing was done towards caiTying out the object contemplated in the 
 doings of the two committees, until January, 1871, when John T. Wait, 
 James M. Meech, and John L. Devotion were appointed to contract for 
 and superintend the erection of such a monument as they should deem 
 proper. They accordingly contracted with A. B. Young to erect said 
 monument at a cost of six hundred and fifty dollars ($650), on land of 
 
708 NOTES AND SKETCHES. 
 
 Lyman W. Lee, adjacent to the old burying ground, on the street leading 
 
 from Norwich Town to Bean Hill, with the following inscriptions : 
 
 At the base of fhe monument is cut the name Mason, and on the tablet 
 
 in the centre, following Mason's full name and title, are these: 
 
 Rev. James Fitch, John Pease, John Tracy, John Baldwin, Jonathan Royce, John 
 Post, Tliomas Binjjliam, Thomas Waterman, and Robert Allen. 
 
 On the western base is the following inscription : 
 
 Major John Mason, born in England, died in Norwich, January 30th, 1672, aged 73. 
 
 Above this is a tablet bearing the names of 
 
 Sergeant Thomas LefSngwell, Kichard Wallis, Thomas Adgate, John 01mstead> 
 Htt'jjhen Backus, Thomas Bliss, John Reynolds, josiah Reed, Richard Hendys, and 
 Cbri.stopher Huntington. 
 
 On the north face are the names of 
 
 Ensign William Backus, Francis Gviswold, Nch. Smith, Thomas Howard, John 
 Calkins, Richard Ed^a-rion, Thomas Post, and^John Gager. 
 
 The southern face bears the following : 
 
 Samuel Hide, William Hide, Lieut. Thomas Tracy, Morgan Bowers, Robert Wade, 
 John Birchaiil, Simon Haotin;,'ton, Stephen GifFord, and Joha Bradford. 
 
 The balance of the fund — amounting to about one hundred and fifty 
 dollars — at their di.=po.=aI, the committee thought best to reserve for the 
 purpose of keeping the monument in repair, and erecting -in 1959 a larger 
 and more imposing monument on the Green at Norwich Town. With 
 this object in view the following petition was pre.-ented to the General 
 Assembly at its May session, 1871 : 
 To the Honorable General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, next to be 
 
 holden at Hartford, in said state, on the first Wednesday of May, A. D., 
 
 1871. 
 
 The petition of the undersigned citizens of Norwich would respectfully 
 represent, that at the bicentennial celebration of the settlement of the 
 town, held in the year 1859, certain sums of money were collected and 
 appropriated by the members of the different committees having the same 
 in charge, to the erection of a monument to the memory of Major John 
 Mason and the otlier original settlers of the town. 
 
 That the remaining members of the said committees within the past 
 year have caused to be executed an expensive granite monument, on 
 which are inscribed the names of said Mason and said original settlers, 
 and have had the same placed in the ancient cemetery, where the 
 remains of said IMason and said settlers are interred. 
 
 Your petitioners would respectfully ask that your honorable body 
 would pass an act incorporating the members of said committee who still 
 survive, with such other persons as they may associate with them, who 
 shall have perpetual succession, and thus be enabled to take charge of 
 certain funds remaining on hand after the completion of such monument, 
 and al.so to wateh over and keep said monument in proper repair and 
 |]rc.Hi'i'Valitin. 
 
NOTES AND SKETCABS. 709 
 
 Dated at Norwich this first day of May, A. D. 1871. 
 
 H. P. Arms, Jedediah Huntington, John T. Wait, John L. Devotion, 
 J. M. Meech, Charles A. Converse. 
 
 Upon the foregoing petition the General Assembly passed an act 
 incorporating a company in accordance with the petition. 
 
 A meeting of the corporators was lield on the 23d day of September, 
 1871, and the following officers elected: — President, Hiram P. Arms. 
 Secretary, John L. Devotion. Treasurer, John T. Wait. Directors, 
 Jedediah Huntington, L. F. S. Foster, James M. Meech, Charles A. 
 Converse, John Dunham, William A. Buckingham, William L. Brewer, 
 Amos W. Prentice, James S. Carew, James Lloyd Greene, Lorenzo 
 Blackstone, James A. Hovey. 
 
 The site on which the monument stands has been purchased, and the 
 fund deposited to the credit of the association in the Norwich Savings 
 Society now (December, 1873,) amounts to over two hundred dollars, 
 If carefully preserved, and the interest compounded semi-annually, it will 
 amount to a very large sum in 1969. 
 
 The following notes and poems found among the papers of Miss. 
 Caulkins furnish a titting conclusion to this history of the Mason 
 Monument : 
 
 Captain John Mason was one of the boldest champions of New Eng- 
 land, the conqueror of the Pequots and the preserver of the infant 
 colony of Connectictit. He bore a large share in the hardships and 
 dangers of the first settlement of Connecticut ; fought desperately in her 
 first Indian wars, and assisted in her earliest councils. He sustained 
 also for eighteen years the office of magistrate, and for ten years that of 
 deputy-governor of the colony. 
 
 Of the settlement of Norwich he was one of the first movers, and may 
 justly be considered the chief founder of the town. The last twelve years 
 of his life were passed in the infant plantation, and here his death took 
 place January 30, 1 672. 
 
 AcGordino- to tradition Captain Mason was interred upon an undulating 
 hill side, near the Tantic, in a spot reserved by the first settlers for a 
 common place of sepulture. Undoubtedly the greater part of the first 
 proprietors and inhabitants of Norwich repose in the same ground. But 
 they had no inscribed stones ; the hillocks are worn away, and it is long 
 since the grave of even a single individual could be discriminated. The 
 particular spot where Mason was laid cannot be ascertained The whole 
 area, however, covered by the graves, was but eight or ten rods square, 
 and within that space was the sepulchre of the hero. 
 
710 NOTES AND SKETCHES. 
 
 With so many claims to the gratitude and admiration of his country- 
 men, it is surprising that Captain Mason should have Iain so long in an 
 unnoticed grave. For 187 years he has reposed in the very centre of his 
 exploits, v?ithout a stone, or even a hillock of turf to mark the hallowed 
 spot. 
 
 ON LAYING THE CORNER STONE 
 
 OP A 
 
 MONUMENT TO THE I\IE:\I0RY OF CAPTAIN JOHN MASON, 
 
 Or CONNECTICDT, Septembek 7, 1859. 
 
 When Christian patriots die, or heroes brave, 
 Lamenting hosts should bear them to the grave. 
 The loudest trump, the deepest wail of woe. 
 The grand majestic psalm around should flow, ' 
 Till the soothed shade with all its honors rise, 
 Borne up by swelling voices to the skies. 
 
 No generous pomp like this, no requiem bold, 
 Erave Mason here thy country's homage told. 
 No patriot to thy turf his children leads ; 
 No stripling's bosom kindles at thy deeds ; 
 Though stripped of accidents and weighed with thee, 
 Our later veterans would but women be ; 
 And from the bold adventures of thine arm, 
 Champions might shrink and heroes feel alarm. 
 
 In every gleam that breaks those darkened years. 
 Fierce as a rushing wind thy form appears. 
 Our fancy shapes thee girt with martial pride ; 
 Two phantoms. War and Death, are at thy side. 
 A falchion here, and there a blazing brand. 
 For tight or flame, illume thy lifted hand. 
 Now through the deepening woods we see thee go 
 In heat and haste to give the final blow. 
 Hot as a wolf, impatient to engage. 
 Thy very breath seems red with martial rage : 
 Though trained alone for war and warlike hunt, 
 Stern Sassacus declines to meet thy front, 
 And seeks, but seeks in vain, the black retreat 
 Of pathless fens to hide his flying feet. 
 
 Fierce was the strife, and terrible the flame. 
 That swept from earth a people and a name. 
 Nor was the ravage of thine arm restrained, 
 While fort, or tent, or sheaf of corn remained. 
 
 Captain, we honor thee, and to thy grave 
 Wo bring such offerings as may suit the brave ; 
 Though ill we can excuse such barbarous wars, . 
 Or fix the doubtful justice of thy cause; 
 
NOTES AND SKETCHES. 7ll 
 
 Or laud the Christian fury that rushed forth 
 
 To sweep barbarian fury from the earth. 
 
 Yet thou with heartfelt "awe didst worship God, 
 
 And duty seemed to summon where you trod. 
 
 Thy mother bore thee to preserve a state, 
 
 And early danger called thee to be great ; 
 
 But Faith, the prompter, /a/M the pole star bright, 
 
 Allured thee here and armed thee for the fight. 
 
 Faith sent thee forth amid the unchristianed wood. 
 
 And filled thy bounding heart with lion's blood. 
 
 Thee, thee we own, Deliverer of the land. 
 
 The stern Avenger of a trembling band. 
 
 Nor shall a hero's dust unhonored lie, 
 Nor dusty records veil his actions high ; 
 The sunlight falls at last upon thy name ; 
 Time gives a fresh-born lustre to thy fame. 
 Thy glory brightens, breaks from clouds away. 
 And like the earth rolls o'er to meet the day. 
 
 We come, though late, on this fair spot to raise 
 A heap of witness and a scroll of praise. 
 Thy slumbering relics in the wind and rain. 
 Watched only by the angels, long have lain ; 
 This earth that once with crimson life was warm, 
 These hallowed embers of a pilgrim form. 
 The dust that in a hero's visage shone. 
 Shall rest no longer under sods unknown ; 
 But lettered stone, and lofty shaft disclose. 
 The place made sacred by thy long repose. 
 
 To thee we co{isecrate this breezy height. 
 And charm the scene to keep thy glory bright. 
 We plant this stone devoted to thy name; 
 We charge the winds to ijreathe around thy fame ; 
 The cliflFs, the echoes shall the notes prolong. 
 The flowing Yantic mingle in the song. 
 Hark ! how the air resounds, the river strays 
 Harmonious to the music of thy praise. 
 
 A life so grand, a hero so renowned. 
 Heroic makes the hills and streams around ; 
 Lights up the crags, makes rudest nature fair, 
 And fans the trees with more than common air. 
 
 F. M. C. 
 
 MASON'S GRAVE. 
 
 [These lines were written many years since on visiting the most ancient burial- 
 place in Norwich, the Gager Grave Yard, where Major Mason was buried.] 
 Fired by the legends wild that here they tell 
 Of bold adventures that our sires befel, 
 
 47 
 
712 NOTES AND SKETCHES. 
 
 Of great men lowly and of old men brave, 
 I come to seek tlie gallant Mason's grave. 
 Tell me, murmuring Yantic, where they laid 
 The wearied hero, and the last rites paid ! 
 Tradition's finger, sole and solemn guide, 
 Still beckons onward to the rough hill-side, 
 And sadly whispers, — " Here the warrior lies ; 
 Here rests the leader bold, the statesman wise ; 
 His work all done, beside the river's flow, 
 Whose music he had loved, they laid him low. 
 Peaceful he sleeps, and in their chamber nigh, 
 The relics of his bold compatriots lie. " 
 
 Is this the spot, neglected and untrod, 
 With brambles wild, devouring all the sod ? 
 This rugged field the city of the dead f 
 These weeds the garland of our hero's bed ? 
 No column here is raised, no hillock green, 
 ;■ No grove wi th friendly shade embowers the scene ; 
 
 The sunken pits and weedy furrows round, 
 Alone proclaim where sacred dust is found ; 
 And oft the mower comes with earnest toil 
 To wrest the lingering verdure from the soil.* 
 Indignant stream ! well may'st thou murmuring fly 
 While thus dishonored there brave relics lie. 
 Shame on thee, Country ! — blotting from thy heart 
 The sturdy bands that made thee what thou art ! 
 Who such a land would crown with chaplets brave. 
 Would toil to serve, or freely die to save ? 
 A land that grudges to the hero's name 
 The cheap reward of monumental fame, 
 And garners with a miser's sordid lust 
 The wisp of grass that rises from his dust. 
 
 Yet no wreathed urri, no classic statue here, 
 To thee, great Captain ! should our homage rear. 
 Be all thine emblems as thine actions great, 
 And suited be thine honors to thy state. 
 High on the hill, an index to the skies, 
 A pyramid of native rock should rise ; 
 Rough on its side with features fierce and free, 
 Should some bold carver seek to chisel thee ; 
 Half English, and half Native shouldst thou stand. 
 Sword by thy side and war-club in thy hand ; 
 Beneath, down trodden in the yielding stone. 
 The savage Pcquot lying grim and prone — 
 While mountain oaks, by winds and storms embrowned. 
 Should stand in state, like giant guards around. 
 
 F. M. C. 
 
 * TWa was a faithful dosoription of tlio place at that day. It may be interesting to recall it, now 
 that the whole scene is soon to be changed by the erection of a monument on the spot to the memory 
 of the renowned Conqueror of the Foquots. A venerable gentleman, then living in the neighborhood, 
 stated to the writer that he believed the last person interred in this ancient Cemetery, was one of the 
 Mohegan tribe who died suddenly in the vicinity during the Revolutionary War. 
 
NOTES AND SKETCHES. 713 
 
 The Old Burying Ground at Norwich Town. 
 In the year 1859 a committee, consisting of John T. Wait, Peter 
 Lanman, Wolcott Huntington, and Rev. H. P. Arms, was appointed to 
 collect the funds necessary to repair the old burying ground at Norwich 
 town. In this old ground are the remains of the Huntingtons, the 
 Traceys, the Lathrops, the Coits,the Strongs, the Backuses, the Nevinses, 
 and many others who are prominent in the history of the town. The 
 committee was pledged the sum of $1200, largely by those who resided 
 in the Southern States. The war of the Rebellion soon after breaking 
 out, intercourse between the North and South was suspended, and in the 
 troubles of the times the old burying ground was neglected, and the 
 intentions of the committee have been but partially realized. 
 
 A New Congregational Church. 
 On the 10th of July, 1873, the corner stone of a new church edifice 
 was laid, with due ceremony, on the Gen. Williams' lot, near the Great 
 Plain, the lot occupied by the dinner tent on the occasion of the bi-cen- 
 tennial celebration in 1859. The plan of organizing a society and 
 building a church at this place was conceived by the members of the 
 Second Congregational Church residing in the vicinity. The lot was a 
 contribution by Gen. W. Williams. The edifice now (December, 1873,) 
 approaches completion. The style of architecture is the Norman ; the 
 material used a light brown sandstone. Its dimensions are 153 by 89 
 feet, cruciform, with a spire on the Broadway side 144 feet high. The 
 main edifice will seat 900 persons, and the chapel in the south end of the 
 building 400. Its cost will be quite $100,000. 
 
 St. Patrick's Cathedral. 
 On the 13th of July, 1873, the corner stone of St. Patrick's Cathedral, 
 a Roman Catholic church, was laid on a lot on Broadway, near the head 
 of the Little Plain, in the presence of an immense crowd of people, and 
 by the imposing ceremonies of the church. The church is a cruciform 
 structure, of solid granite, in the Gothic style, with colored windows and 
 ornamented slate roof. It will have several towers, from 160 to 214 
 feet high. It will seat at least 1,500 people, and its cost is estimated at 
 $150,000. 
 
 The Norwich Memorial. 
 
 Beyond any other town in New England Norwich has been fortunate 
 in securing a historian of her deeds in the great Rebellion of 1861-'65. 
 
714 , NOTES AND SKETCHES. 
 
 Eev. Malcolm McG. Dana, pastor of the Second Congregational Church, 
 undertook the historian's task, and the result is a large volume of nearly 
 400 pages, embellished with eighteen portraits of the most prominent of 
 the sailors and soldiers who went from this town. The narrative lacks 
 nothing to make the history of the town complete during that eventful 
 period from April, 1861, to April, 1865. 
 
 The Soldiers' Monument. 
 At a meeting of the citizens of Norwich, held at Breed Hall on the 
 14th of January, 1869, it was resolved " that a committee of seven be 
 appointed to solicit and collect funds for the erection of a monument to 
 the Norwich soldiers and seamen who fell in our late war for the pres- 
 ervation of the National Union." The committee consisted of Hon. W. 
 A. Buckingham, Amos W. Prentice, John T. Wait, Rev. M. McG. 
 Dana, Dr. C. B. Webster, James L. Carew, Edwin P. Avery, E. P. 
 Slocum, and Misses Elizabeth Greene and Eliza Perkins. The com- 
 mittee did not make much progress, so at a town meeting on the 3d of 
 October, 1870, the subject was again brought up and disposed of by 
 laying a tax of " iifteen cents on one hundred dollars of the assessment 
 list of the town," and appointing a committee to expend it in the erection 
 of a suitable monument to the memory of the soldiers and seamen of the 
 town in the great Rebellion. William A. Buckingham, John T. Wait, 
 and James A. Hovey were appointed this committee. A contract for a 
 monument was soon made, and in the spring of 1873 it was put in place 
 at the head of the Great Plain. The monument is of a light granite, 
 from Westerly, R. I. Its design is that of a colossal statue of a Union 
 soldier, supported on a massive pedestal. The statue is twelve feet high, 
 and the entire height of the monument is twenty-seven feet six inches. 
 It measures ten feet square at the base. Its cost was about $18,000. 
 The inscriptions on the several sides are — the motto of the state, the 
 names of all those from this town who fell in active service, and these 
 words on the front, " Erected by the town of Norwich in memory of her 
 brave sons, who voluntarily entered the military service of the United 
 States and lost their lives in defence of the national government during 
 the Rebellion." 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Aboriginal History, 28-47, 104-112. 
 Academical Institutions, 541-51. 
 Addressers of Hutchinson, 374, 5. 
 Africans, slaves and free, 328-31 ; Vote 
 
 against ttiem, 568 ; Sabbath School for 
 
 them, 556. 
 Aged citizens in 1842, 586. 
 Agreement between the Town and its old 
 
 friend Uncas, 261. 
 Agricultural Society, 644. 
 Alarm ! on to Boston, 376 ; Battle of 
 
 Buniser Hill, 383. 
 Allyn's Point, 157. 
 Alms-house, 574, 5. 
 Alphabetical list of early Inhabitants, 
 
 222-42. 
 Alphabetical list of early Inhabitants in 
 
 Long Society and Preston, 243-54. 
 Alphabetical list of early Inhabitants in 
 
 Newent, 256-9. 
 "American Hero," — ^its author, 470. 
 Amusements, 331. 
 Ancient fishery in the Thames, 18. 
 Animals, 296-301. 
 Arnold House, — its history, 410. 
 Arnold's Letter to Mrs. Gen. Knox, 414. 
 Association against illicit trade, 398. 
 Attorneys, 518. 
 Autographs; Fitch, 137, 150; Mason, 144; 
 
 Lathrop, 217; Birchard, 166; Brewster, 
 
 212; Elderliin, 216; Occom, 269, 465. 
 
 Balloons, or "New Art of Plying," 521. 
 
 Baltic Village, 433. 
 
 Banlcs, 646-9. 
 
 Baptists, 437, 50; 528, 9, 98-501, 61. 
 
 Bass fishery, 18, 353. 
 
 Bean Hill, 21, 78, 322, 61, 5; 510, 11. 
 
 Beans and puddings, 78. 
 
 Belligerent edicts, 479, 82, 4, 94, 8. 
 
 Bi-centennial celebration, 587-9. 
 
 Biographical Sketches : Mason, 140 ; Pitch, 
 148; other first proprietors, 148-208; 
 second class of proprietors, 208-21 ; 
 Arnold, 409 ; Generals Huntington and 
 other Revolutionary characters, 415-26; 
 Governor Huntington and others after 
 the Revolution, 516-22 ; several recent 
 citizens, 626-33. (See Index of Names.) 
 
 Blockade of the Thames in 1814, 561, 
 
 Blue Law, 101. 
 
 Bomb-lance factory, 623. 
 
 Booksellers, 361, 4 ; 514. 
 
 Boston tea-party, 373. 
 
 Boston circular, 366, 73. 
 
 Boswell farm, 540. 
 
 Bounds desci-ibed, 58, 9. 
 
 Boundary tree, 59, 250, 4. 
 
 Bozrah, 136, 434-8. - 
 
 Bozrahville, 194, 437, 616. 
 
 Brewster's voyages to Conn., 211. 
 
 Brewster's Neck, 44, 2U, 13. 
 
 Brick corner, 538. 
 
 Bride-brook marriage, 164. 
 
 Bridges, 99, 343-52, 4. 
 
 Burial places : Oldest, 128-32, 144, 202; 
 Leffingwell-town, 192; Episcopal church- 
 yard, 458 ; Chelsea Society, 460 ; Long 
 Society, 448 ; Jewett-City, 450 ; Yantic 
 Cemetery, 645; Indian Cemetery, 585. 
 
 Business at the Landing, 305-12, 638-40. 
 (See also Trade, Marine Affairs, &c.) 
 
 Business in the town-plot, 360-3, 511-15. 
 
 Business men of recent date, 638-40. 
 
 Cambridge Platform, 284, 318, 439. 
 Candidates for the Ministry: 1st Society, 
 
 Pitch and Plint, 125; Coit, 127; Wi!- 
 
 lard, 287 ; How, 336. Chelsea Society, 
 
 Curtice and Cleveland, 460 ; Ely and 
 
 Austin, 469. 
 Cannon cast and anchors made, 389. 
 Carding machines, 449. 
 Car factory, 623. 
 
 Casualty at Lathrop's bridge in 1725, 343. 
 Catholics, 472, 605. 
 
 Catholic sermon in Cong. Church, 472. 
 Centenarians, 218, 50; 578-80. 
 Circulating Library, 514. 
 Chair of Uncas, 40. 
 Chaise and carriage ; one-horse chaise of 
 
 Gov. Trumbull, 325. 
 Channel company, 569. 
 Chelsea, East, 25, 302, 539; West, 24, 
 
 263, 538 ; Plain, or Parade, 23, 533-5 ; 
 
 Ecclesiastical Society, formerly 6th, now 
 
 2d, 460-72, 552-60. 
 Chelsea in Vermont, 503. 
 
Till 
 
 GENERAL INDEX, 
 
 Chocolate Mills, 37!, 608. 
 
 Choirs introduced, 340. 
 
 Churches burnt : Chelsea Congregational- 
 jst, .562, 55 ; Town-plot, 526 ; Main 
 Street Congregationalist, 529 ; Greene- 
 ville Baptist, 529. 
 
 C'lasses for raising soldiers, 396, 9. 
 
 Clerks, Town, 82, 133, 594 ; County, 87 ; 
 City, 595. 
 
 Clock and watch-making, 372, 512, 608. 
 
 Comity of Episcopalians and Congrega- 
 tionalists, 455. 
 
 Commerce and trade, 288, 303-14, 97; 
 475. 
 
 Commissioners, or Justices, 86 ; cases be- 
 fore them, 277-81. 
 
 Confiscation of tory property, 371. 
 
 Congregational ordination, 149 ; struggle 
 with Presbyterianism, 461. 
 
 Congregational Churches : 1st Church or- 
 ganized at Saybrook, 55 ; 2d, or Chelsea, 
 460 ; 3d, now extinct, on the Plain, 558 ; 
 4th, now 3d, at Greeneville, 538 ; 5th, 
 or Main Street, vow 4th, or Broadway 
 Congregational, 539. 
 
 Constables for the first 25 years, 83. 
 
 Continental soldiers, 391. 
 
 Contribution for soldiers, 392. 
 
 Contraband trade, 397. 
 
 Controversies : with Preston respecting 
 bounds, 271, 94 ; with Kew London for 
 half-shire, 273 ; Town-plot versus Chel- 
 sea, for the courts, 570 ; Gas Compa- 
 nies, 573. 
 
 Cork-cutting, 614. 
 
 Corn stalk molasses, 389. 
 
 Cotton manufacture, 446, 9, 50 ; 512, 609 
 -16, 19-21. 
 
 Court House, 22, 523. 
 
 Courts, 86, 8 ; 267, 8 ; 273, 4 ; 570 ; trans- 
 ferred to the Landing, 572. 
 
 Crows and blackbirds, 55; bounties for 
 their destruction, 297. 
 
 Cushion and calash, 334, 5. 
 
 Customs of former times, 75, 80, 121, 325, 
 33, 517. 
 
 Date of purchase and the price, 57. 
 
 Deacons, 155, 172, 184, 2S8. 
 
 Death, 73, 336, 58 ; 501 ; by fire, 529. 
 
 Debts of town in 1718, 271. 
 
 Deed of Norwich, 57 ; of Preston, 243, 
 255 ; Indian deeds, 261 ; mortgag^ deed, 
 137. 
 
 Deputies, earliest, 84. 
 
 Descriptive sketch, 17-26. 
 
 Disnstcrs at sea from tempest, wreck, pi- 
 rates, privateers, tropical fevers, and 
 belligerents, 493-502. 
 
 Distrainments, 323, 4. 
 
 Division of the town, 428. 
 
 Divorce case, 205. 
 
 Donation to Boston, 376. 
 
 Druggists, 326, 413, 26 ; 637, 8. 
 
 Diivkee's expedition to Wethersfield, 365 ; 
 start for Boston, 376. 
 
 Eagleville, 446. 
 
 Early mamages, 177. 
 
 Ecclesiastical difficulties, 284, 318, 461, 
 553. 
 
 Elderkin's mills and meeting-houses, 72, 
 117, 216. 
 
 Emancipation, 229, 61 ; 520; proclaimed 
 and honored, 677. 
 
 Emigration, 309, 421, 44 ; 503-9 ; 
 
 Episcopal Church, 451-9 ; at Yantic, 605 ; 
 at Jewett City, 419; Christ's Church, 
 455 ; Trinity, 457 ; at Poquetannock, 
 451. 
 
 Epitaphs : Adgate, 129 ; Mrs. Arnold, 
 409; Backus, 160; Baldwin, 163; Bil- 
 lings, 500 ; Bushnell, 215 ; Calkins, 
 172 ; Pitch, 148, 448; Gager, 131 ; Gif- 
 ford, 176 ; Griswold, 178 ; Huntington, 
 129, 183; Jewett, 450; Kinney, 564; 
 "aged nursing mother," 191 ; " Jenteel 
 woman," 191 ; Lathrop, 218, 221 ; Post, 
 195; Rude, 250; Smith, 200; Tracy, 
 203, 345 ; Governor Trowtrow, 330 ; 
 Tyler, 458 ; Wight, 448 ; Samuel Uncas, 
 587 ; Waterman, 206. 
 
 European trade, 486-92. 
 
 Excise money, 342. 
 
 Exports, 476. 
 
 Extent of the town, 19, 58, 128; of the 
 first parish, 128. 
 
 Extracts from Norwich Packet, 358. 
 
 Extraordinary coincidence, 240. 
 
 Falls, 18, 22 ; plunge over, 34, 610. 
 
 Falls Tillage, 22. 
 
 Family meetings, 645. 
 
 Fast and Covenant extraordinary, 110, 
 
 123. 
 Fashions, 75, 7 ; 121, 325, 33-5, 67 ; 520 ; 
 
 change at the Revolution, 335, 67. 
 Female Academy, 546. 
 Fillmore and the pirate, 229 ; descent of 
 
 Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the 
 
 U. S., 229, 30. 
 Fire-lands, 507. 
 First-comers, 61. 
 First born child and other early births, 73, 
 
 182, 7 ; first bom male, 182. 
 First incident, 47. 
 First houses on the Plain and in Washing- 
 
 ington Street, 532-7. 
 First marriages and deaths, 74. 
 First military organization, 88. 
 First masters of vessels, 303. 
 First steam-boats in the Thames, 566. 
 First turnpike in XJ. S., 530. 
 Fitchville, 437, 617, 18. 
 Fitting out for boarding school, 334. 
 Flag before the Revolution, 378 ; of the 
 
 18th C. v., 678. 
 Flag-raising for the Union, 656. 
 Foreigners, 605. 
 Franklin, 136, 429-33. 
 Franklin-Square, 540. 
 Free Academy, 549-51. 
 Freemen, 85, 6 ; 274, 281. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 IX 
 
 French officers visit Norwich, 393, 4. 
 
 French neutrals, 310. 
 
 Freshets, 352-5. 
 
 Fright of Mrs. Brewster, 46. 
 
 Fulling mills, 98, 371, 608. 
 
 Golden weddings, 641. 
 
 Grants lavish and indefinite, 95. 
 
 Grants at the Landing, 303 ; to Owaneco, 
 
 256. 
 Grave-stone memorials, 314, 458. (See 
 
 epitaphs.) 
 GreeneviUe, 26, 558, 618. 
 Green's proclamation against Norwich and 
 
 Windham, 377. 
 
 Half-centnry Ministers, 459. 
 
 Hanover Society, 444. 
 
 Hemp manufacture, 610, 11. 
 
 High prices, 389. 
 
 Hill-top, or Zion's Meeting-house, 21, 119- 
 
 22, 6-9; 316. 
 Home-lots, 63r-9 ; first alienated, 102 ; 
 
 parts that have not been alienated, 65, 
 
 6, 8; 167. 
 Horse-jockeys and their cargoes, 478. 
 Hour-glass of the pulpit, 283. 
 Huguenot exile, 288 ; Huguenot bell, 282. 
 Hungry march. 111. 
 
 Imports direct from Europe, 310, 477, 92. 
 
 Impressments, 484, 564. 
 
 Indian fugitives ; great meeting to dispose 
 
 of them, 114, 15. 
 Indian deeds, 261 ; forts, 23, 81, 302. 
 Indian graves, 30, 73, 263, 585 ; relics, 
 
 263. 
 Indian plunge into Tantic Falls, 34. 
 Indian raid upon the pioneer settlers, 46 ; 
 
 do. upon Reynolds and Rockwell, 109. 
 Indian totems, 264 ; Attawanhood, 58 ; 
 
 Owaneco, 58, 255, 6 ; TJncas, 58, 262. 
 Indian village at Pawcatuck destroyed, 
 
 145. 
 Inns and Inn-keepers, 100, 331, 360, 512. 
 Inoculation, 427, 8. 
 Installation in the open air, 462. 
 Instruction to deputies, 369, 95, 9. 
 Insurance, 310 ; companies, 649. 
 Invasion apprehended, 400. 
 Inventories, 157, 8, 68, 72, 5, 91 ; 204, 10, 
 
 48, 89 ; 333. 
 Irish population, 643. 
 Iron works, 389, 606, 12, 53. 
 
 Jail, 273, 547, 72. 
 Jewett City, 448. 
 Johnson, Vermont, 207. 
 July 4th, 1865, 677. 
 Justices, 86. 
 
 Killingworth, 176, 8. 
 
 Kinsman, wide range of meanmg, 1 93. 
 
 Labrador tea, 367. 
 LaFayette in Norwich, 393. 
 
 Landing-place, 99 ; original condition, 302, 
 5 ; first grantees, 303, 4. 
 
 Lathrop Bible, 77 ; Lathrop ballad, 220. 
 
 Law-books and election sermons, 276. 
 
 Lawyers, 160, 518, 630,3. 
 
 Laurel Hill, 25, 575, 6. 
 
 Lebanon, 136, 151, 166. 
 
 Lebanon, N. H., 208, 503. 
 
 Leffingwell-town, 192. 
 
 Lcffingwell's staff, 190. 
 
 Letters : Mrs. Arnold to her son Benedict, 
 410 ; Arnold to Mrs. Knox, 414 ; Elder- 
 kin's petition, 120; Col. McLellan to 
 Major Leffingwell, 400 ; Occom's Well 
 and Farewell, 465 ; Washington to CoL 
 Rogers, 382 ; Taylor love letter, 154. 
 
 Liberty Tree, 366, 8, 74, 6. 
 
 Library of a clerical student in 1724, 210. 
 
 Lisbon, 137, 429, 45. 
 
 Litigation, 87. 
 
 Longevity, 188. 
 
 Long Society, 243, 447. 
 
 Lotteries, 347, 50, 2, 63. 
 
 Mackerel, 18. 
 
 Magistrates, 90. 
 
 Manufactures, 367, 9, 71 ; 446, 9 ; 564, 
 
 606-24. 
 Marine Affairs, early, 306, 10 ; during the 
 
 Revolutionary war, 402-8 ; after the war, 
 
 475, 502, 65, 95 ; 652, 3. 
 Mashipaug, or Gardner's Lake, 227. 
 Masonry, 524. 
 Mason controversy, 266-70. 
 Mason versus Richardson, 88. 
 Mayors, 625-30. 
 Medical Society, 359, 638. 
 M. C.'s, 631, 2. 
 Meeting Houses, 21, 63, 119, 126, 216, 82 ; 
 
 340, 527, 60, 88 ; 601, 3 ; at West Farms, 
 
 284, 430, 2 ; at Newent, 440, 2 ; at Paut- 
 
 ipaug, 433, 8 ; at the Landing, 462, 563, 
 
 6, 9. 
 Merchants and merchandise, 100, 310, 14, 
 
 60. 97. 
 Merchant's Hotel, 539. 
 Methodist, 433, 7, 42, 59 ; 602, 3 ; Free 
 
 Church, 603. 
 Methodist Chapel swept down the river, 
 
 354. 
 Mike-apple, 239. 
 Militia, 88, 214, 377, 8, 91 ; 400. 
 Mills, 72, 97, 216. 
 Mining company, 624. 
 Ministers originating in 1st Society, 560. 
 Minister's Rates, 124, 288, 323, 41 ; 471. 
 Mission School, 557. 
 Mission of Occom and Whitaker, 464. 
 Missions and Missionaries, 590-3. 
 Model substitute, 673. 
 Mohegans, their original seat and removal, 
 
 29, 30 ; attempts to Christianize them, 
 
 104, 14. 
 Monuments : Lady Fenwick, 53 ; Mian- 
 
 tonomoh, 31, 8 ; Uncas, 586. 
 
GENERAL INDEX, 
 
 Nailery, 371, 607, 12. 
 
 Names : Indian, 48 ; Puritanical and local, 
 
 80 ; of families, 281 ; of vessels, 485. 
 Narragansett fort fight, 108, 179. 
 Kavy recruits, 675. 
 Necrology of the late war, 680-92. 
 Neweut, between the rivers, first grant, 
 
 120, 197, 256-60, 439-43; its ancient 
 
 Sanctuary, 442. 
 New-light excitement, 316-24 ; Whitaker's 
 
 sermon against it, 467. 
 News from Lexington and the rush to 
 
 arms, 380. 
 Ne«.s from Bunker Hill and the Sunday 
 
 scene, 383-6. 
 Newspapers : NorwicH Packet, 357 ; list 
 
 of 18, 580-4. 
 Nine half-pay officers, 425. 
 Non-importation agreement, 366-70. 
 Norwicli, why thus named, 71 ; link con- 
 necting it with Norwich in England, 180 ; 
 
 towns growing out of it, 136 ; indicted 
 
 liy the Grand Jury for want of a school, 
 
 9.J ; inhabitants hungry, 390. 
 Norwich Packet, 357-64 ; Courier, 582, 4 ; 
 
 Aurora, 583 ; Bulletin, 584. 
 Norwich in Vermont and Massachusetts, 
 
 503 ; in New York, 507. 
 Norwich City, 23, 99, 302, 5 ; its streets, 
 
 buildings, and prominent citizens, 533- 
 
 40 ; incorporated, 625 ; its present limits, 
 
 572. 
 Norviich Light Infantry, 6J9. 
 
 Occom Company, 620. 
 
 Oil mill, 606. 
 
 Old age of Dr. Lord, 336, 7. 
 
 Old customs, 75-80, 121, 267, 325, 31. 
 
 Old fashioned comforts, 75. 
 
 Otis Library, 577. 
 
 waneco's brief for charity, 265 ; quit 
 claim to Preston, 255 ; agreement re- 
 specting Newent, 226. 
 
 Oxford, N. Y., 507. 
 
 Pachaug, 448. 
 
 Paper currency, old and new tenor, 
 
 293-5. 
 Paper-making, 367, 8 ; 607, 13, 19, 20. 
 Parsonage land, 63, 277, 342. 
 Patent of the town, 134. 
 Patriotic and war committees, 367, 74, 96 ; 
 
 563. 
 Paulipaug, or 8th Society, 432. 
 Peace, 401, 475, 565 ; Treaty carried to 
 
 Prance by the Spy, 403. 
 Peculiarity in the foundation of the town, 
 
 70. 
 I\!W-holders at the Landing, 463, 7. 
 Philip's war, lO.'j-lS; only five persons 
 
 killed in Connecticut, 113. 
 Physicians, 193, 203, 359, 426, 514, 634-7. 
 Pliiins: in the town-plot, 63, 119, 275; 
 
 Chelsea, 23, 63, 263, 307, 533-5 ; Great 
 
 Plain, 31 ; Sacliom's, 36, 7. 
 Poll-tax condemned, 395, 6, 
 
 Pomfret, 137. 
 
 Poor of the town, 272, 94 ; 574. 
 
 Population, 26, 356, 522 ; of Franklin, 433 ; 
 
 Bozrah, 437 ; Lisbon, 445. 
 Poquetannock, 44, 211,453. 
 Porto-Rico trade, 653. 
 Post-office, 371, 593. 
 Powder-house blown up, 523. 
 Prayer for rain, 116. 
 President Adams in Norwich, 513 ; do. 
 
 Jackson, 585. 
 Presidential electors, 631. 
 Preston, 243, 55 ; 447 ; Plantation act, 
 
 254. 
 Preston, N. Y., 507. 
 Prisoners from St. Domingo, 525. 
 Proprietors : first class, 61; 2d class, 68 ; 
 
 surviving in 1702, 135; of Chelsea, 
 
 305-8 ; Long Society and Preston, 243- 
 
 54; Newent, 257-60. 
 Pumpkins, 79. 
 
 Quinebaug, 17, 49. 
 
 Railroads, 531, 2 ; 650, 2. 
 
 Rates, 119, 24 ; 341, 455, 472. 
 
 Rattle-snakes : death from their poison, 
 128 ; bounties for their destruction, 298. 
 
 Reason for removal, 55, 6. 
 
 Records imperfect, 60, 82, 3, 95, 6. 
 
 Refugees from Boston, 379. 
 
 Regulations prudential and municipal, 
 95. 
 
 Remonstrance against the five years' pay 
 to officers, 399. 
 
 Revolutionary Sabbath, 657. 
 
 Rivalry between Norwich and New Lon- 
 don in business, versus harmony in so- 
 cial affairs, 79, 90, 273. 
 
 Rogerene episode, 290-2. 
 
 Rolling mill, 612, 24. 
 
 Rustication of an English noblemen, 573. 
 
 Sabbath-day journev, eight miles to meet- 
 ing, 439. 
 
 Sabbath School in 1st Society, 527 ; at 
 the Landing, 566 ; both Societies, 693. 
 
 Sachems succeeding Uncas, 264, 5. 
 
 Salaries, 341, 557. 
 
 Salem Town House, 457. 
 
 Sampson Fox, or WooUaneag, 297. 
 
 Saw-mills, 97. 
 
 Saybrook, its early history, 51-4, 141. 
 
 Saybrook platform, 284, 7 ; 318. 
 
 Scarcity of sugar, molasses, salt and wheat, 
 389, 90. 
 
 Scenery, 19, 69, 515. 
 
 School fund of the State, 547. 
 
 Schools and school-masters, 92-4, 275, 
 541-8 ; consolidated and graded, 548. 
 
 Schooner sent to Ireland in 1732, 306. 
 
 Sealing and whaling, 489. 
 
 Seamen plenty, 481. 
 
 Seating the people and dignifying the seats, 
 126. 
 
 Sentry Hill, 65. 
 
GENEEAL INDEX. 
 
 XI 
 
 Separatists, 318-24; reasons for separa- 
 tion, 320 ; list of their preachers, 322 ; 
 first members, 321. 
 
 Settlements : at Pequot Harbor, now New- 
 London, 41 ; Brewster's Neck, or Po- 
 quetannock, 44, 211-13; Saybrook, 51 ; 
 Lebanon, 151; Windham, 136, 159; 
 Newark, 181 ; Canterbury and Plain- 
 field, 138, 59 ; Preston, 254. 
 
 Seven pillars of the Church, 439, 71. 
 
 Seven expeditious in Philip's war. 112. 
 
 Shad, 17. 
 
 Shautok, 39. 
 
 Sheep-walks, 103, 302-5. 
 
 Shetucket ferry, 97, 204. 
 
 Ships, shipping and ship-building, 303, 
 402-8, 475-502, 505, 95-7 ; 653 ; first 
 ship-masters, 303-14. 
 
 Showtucket Indians, 115, 256. 
 
 Sign-posts, 102, 274, 307. 
 
 Slavery, 328, 61 ; 520. 
 
 Sleighing, 331. 
 
 Smuggling, 397. 
 
 Society before the Eevolution, 333, 58. 
 
 Soldier farm, 170. 
 
 Soldiers' Aid Society, 676. 
 
 Soldiers for frontier service, 313 ; in the 
 war for the Union, 660-80. 
 
 Soldiers and patriots of the Eevolution, 
 333, 58. 
 
 Sons of Liberty, 374 ; address to them, 
 379. 
 
 Sprague, 402, 29, 45 ; 595-7. 
 
 Stage-coach, 368, 507, 13. 
 
 Stamp-act, 365. 
 
 Steam-boats, 566, 7; 651. 
 
 Stocking looms, 607. 
 
 Surface and contents of the town, 19. 
 
 Summary of Churches, 605. 
 
 Summary of forces in the war for the 
 Union, 675. 
 
 Snrrenderers, 97, 257 ; great meeting to 
 dispose of them, 113-15. 
 
 Surrender of Gren. Lee, 676. 
 
 Survey of Bean Hill and Town Plot, with 
 notices of persons and things, 510-22; 
 do. of the Plain and Chelsea, 533-40. 
 
 Swine, 98. 
 
 Sympathy with Boston, 373, 6. 
 
 Tape-making, 372. 
 
 Tarring and feathering, no case in Nor- 
 wich, 291. 
 
 Taxation, 373, 95. 
 
 Tea-drinking, 366. 
 
 Temperance, 568. 
 
 Thames, its fisheries, 18; its name, 19; 
 navigation, 85. 
 
 Thamesville, 25, 653. 
 
 Thanksgiving, 80, 331, 92. 
 
 Tories, 370, 4-6, 9 ; 385-8. 
 
 Tory molasses, 389. 
 
 Tory timber, 405. 
 
 Town House, 273, 4. ,. „, 
 
 Townsmen, or Selectmen, the earliest, 84. 
 
 Town Clock, 340. 
 Town Plot, 21, 62, 3 ; 510-15. 
 Tradition, its uncertainty exemplified, 179. 
 Trade: with "West Indies, 310, 475-85; 
 
 Europe, 486-90 ; East Indies, 490. 
 Trading Cove, 212, 67. 
 Train-bands, 89, 377, 8. 
 Training day, 214, 378. 
 Trespass, cases of, 277, 281. 
 Turnpikes, first in U. S., 550. 
 
 Uncas : besieged at Mohegan, and relieved 
 by Lefiingwell, 41 ; at Niantick, and re- 
 lieved by Brewster, 45 ; at Shantok, 
 " diverse times," 46 ; his death and char- 
 acter, 117,261, 2. 
 
 Uncas Cemetery and Monument, 585-7. 
 
 Universalism, 324, 472-4, 604 ; books in 
 its favor published in Norwich, 474. 
 
 Uprising for the Union, 657-60. 
 
 "Vemett grape, 512. 
 
 Veteran Guards, 391 ; veterans of the war 
 
 of 1812, 674. 
 "Veteran Missionary, 592. 
 "Volunteers for Boston, 381, 2, 91. 
 Votes, 522, 654. 
 
 "Wardrobe of a lady in 1757, 333. 
 
 "War : Mohegans and Narragansetts, 30- 
 47 ; Erench war, 313, 58 ; war of the 
 Revolution, 365-401 ; war of the races 
 in St. Domingo, 480, 525 ; with Great 
 Britain, 561-5, for the Union, 655-692. 
 
 "Warwick Patent, 51. 
 
 "Washington in Norwich, 393 ; his funeral 
 solemnities, 525. 
 
 "Waureegun Hotel, 645. 
 
 "Waweekus, or "Waweequaw's Hill ; two of 
 this name, 50, 103, 115, 297, 300, 624; 
 at the Landing, 23, 81, 452. 
 
 "Wears, 101. 
 
 "Weddings, 332, 67 ; wedding in Court, 
 219; at "Windham, 367 ; at New Lon- 
 don, 332. 
 
 "Wequauock Company, 621. 
 
 West Farms, 136, 188, 429. 
 
 West India trade; its beginnings, 304, 
 310, 475-85. 
 
 Western Reserve, 507, 22, 47. 
 
 Whaling vessels, 490. 
 
 Whitefield in Norwich, 321. 
 
 Wigwams, 62 ; the last in the Town Plot, 
 115. 
 
 Wilkesbarre, 421, 504. 
 
 Wilkes and Liberty, 368. 
 
 Williams Park, or Chelsea Plain, 534. 
 
 Winter of gloom, 108. 
 
 Windham, 136, 159, 205, 33. 
 
 Woolen mills, 614, 16. 
 
 Wyoming, 503-6. 
 
 Yantic Village, 20, 615. 
 Yantic Cemetery, 645.