History of Norwich, Connecticut, from its settlement in 1660, to January 1845

Front matter

NORWICH TOWN, FROM THE EAST, HISTORY or NORWICH, CONNECTICUT, FROM ITS SETTLEMENT IN 1000, TO JANUARY 1845. BY MISS F. M. CAULKINS. 11 Many of these little things which we speak of are little only in size and name, They are full of rich meaning. They illustrate classes of men, and ages of time. ;' NORWICH. PUBLISHED BY THOMAS ROBINSON. 1815. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1815, by THOMAS ROBINSON, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. riUNTED BY CASE, TIFFANY AND BURNHAM, HAB.TFOHD, CONN, TO THE CITIZENS OF NORWICH, INHABITANTS OF A BEAUTIFUL AND VARIED TOWN, INTERESTING FROM ITS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS, AND ALWAYS DISTINGUISHED TOR HOSPITALITY, ENTERPRISE, AND A MANLY SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE, THIS HISTORY IS GRATEFULLY AND RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, EY THE AUTHOR. J

Preface

The sources from which the following history has been drawn, as far as regards the facts, are I. The Town Records : these are ample and in a good state of pres ervation. II. Files of the New London Gazette and Norwich Packet, from which many of the incidents related in the Revolutionary period are derived. III. Private documents : such as letters, account-books, bills, memorandums, deeds, and justices' papers IV. Tradition and conversation with aged persons. Tradition, it is acknowledged, is but an uncertain guide, — a glimmering light that often leads astray ; for it rests wholly on memory, and memory is fre quently treacherous, — an officious imagination sometimes getting firmly seated in its place. But when tradition contradicts no authentic record, and when records fail, even history may be permitted to receive its aid.

To an historical work references are generally considered invalu able, — stamping it with authenticity, and enabling the reader to vejify each particular incident. But from the nature of the materials from which this work is composed, references would be almost entirely use less. It is not a compilation from published documents, is not founded on previous histories, — it has no predecessor, and therefore cannot appeal to works which are generally accessible. As a History of Nor wich, it is an independent, original work ; but it makes no claim beyond that of a faithful purpose to give a more enduring form to a mass of local information, that would be lost if left much longer in the charge of mouldering paper, fading ink, and fast dropping age. The limits of a single volume are too narrow for the publication of original documents, which are usually technical, occupying a large space. The plan pursued is to give the results of inquiries, and con- VI

PREFACE.

. densed statements of facts, without tracing the intermediate steps, and spreading out at large the materials from which they were drawn. Neither is it practicable within these limits to enter so largely into the genealogy of families, as would otherwise have been desirable. On this point the aim has been confined to the furnishing of a few data, the earliest that could be ascertained, to assist those who may wish, to pursue the subject, and trace the line of their descent from the first settlers of the town. The great point kept in view through the whole composition of the work, was accuracy. It was the aim of the author to be minutely accurate. Not a fact, name, or date has been given without careful inquiry and examination. Even those sketches which may seem most like fancy pictures, are faithful copies of scenes, as they were depicted by eye-witnesses.

But the information on many points was scanty, and doubtless in some cases incorrect; mistakes, therefore, will prob ably be discovered. The author cannot dismiss her work without giving utterance to a deep feeling of regret, that several of those aged persons from whom many of its minuter details have been derived, and who regarded with lively interest this attempt to retrieve the events of other days from oblivion, are now no more. Among those who have passed away during the progress of the work, and are not here to welcome its pub lication or be cheered with its details, sentiments of personal esteem and veneration lead her to record the names of Rev. Joseph Strong, D. D., Capt. David Nevins, and Dr. Philemon Tracy, Deacon Caleb Huntington. January, 1845. CONTENTS. CHAPTER. page. I. Introduction, ....... 9 II.

Events prior to the settlement, .... 13 III. Preparations for a settlement, .... 32 IV. The settlement and settlers, 38 V. Houses. Books. Schools. Food, . . . .50 VI. Grants of Land. Highways. Fences. Boundaries. Selectmen. Innkeepers. Town Clerk, . . 57 VII. Mohegans. Enlistments. Aboriginal relics, . 06 VIII. Ecclesiastical affairs. Ministers. Meeting-houses, 70 IX. The Patent. Major Fitch. Number of Inhabitants, 79 X. The Thirty-five, 84 XI Other Early Settlers. Settlers east, of the Shetucket Richard and Joseph Bushnell. Cases of Trespass, 115 XII. Prices current. Town expenses, .... 124 XIII. Animals, 129 XIV. Bell. Meeting-House. Ecclesiastical Dissensions. Councils. Ministers Woodward and Lord. Deacons 135 XV. Chelsea or the Landing. Bridges over the Shetucket, 142 XVI. Rogerenes, 148 XVII.

Currency, 151 XVIII. Sheep-walks. Names, 154 XIX. Mason Controversy, 158 XX. Indian Deeds. Sachems, 165 XXI. Freemen. Justices. Physicians. Sign-Posts. Town- House. Mohegan Road. Societies. Population. Schools. Saybrook Platform. Treasurer. Constable, 171 XXII. Civil affairs. Cases of Trespass, Chaises. Biographical Sketches. Africans, 177 XXIII. Chelsea. Highways. Warnings. The Cove. Commerce. Deleware Purchase. French Neutrals. Trade, CONTENTS. chapter page. XXIV. Ecclesiastical Affairs, 193 XXV. Ministers. Rev. Dr. Lord. Rev. Dr. Strong, . 201 XXVI. The Revolutionary Period, . . " . . . .207 XXVII. Bird's-eye View of a scene in Norwich, 1775, . 228 XXVIII. Continuation of Revolutionary Events, . . . 233 XXIX. Biographical Sketches, 248 XXX. Episcopal Church and Society, 201 XXXI. Population.

Inoculation. Division of the Ancient Town. Franklin. Newent. Bozrah. Long Society. Hanover. Portipaug, .... 270 XXXII. Chelsea Society, 28S XXXIII. Schools. Books. Amusements. Gov. Huntington, 301 XXXIV. Commerce, Shipping. Men of business. Lawyers. Bridges. Highways. Turnpikes. Somerset Lodge. Murray. Winchester, . . . 307 XXXV. Greatest Fire. New Meeting-House. Second Congregational Society. Falls Church. Greeneville Church. Fifth Congregational Church. Baptists. Methodists. Universalists. Roman Catholics, 316 Norwich City, 324 Incorporated Manufacturing Companies, .... 330 Banks, &c 331 Population, 330 Newspapers, ........ 332 Missionaries, ......... 333 Railroad, ......... 335 Health, Longevity, Death, 337 Freshets, 346 Descriptive Sketch, 3.30 Statistics of Manufactures, ...... 35'j HISTORY OP NORWICH.

Chapter I

Introduction. As you ascend the river Thames, in the eastern part of Connecticut, and approach towards its head, a sud den opening of its banks, presents yon with a distant glimpse of a few fine buildings, crowning the hill-top, or scattered along the slope of a headland that seems to project directly into the bosom of the river in your front. Another turn in the river, hides the scene from your view, and when it again opens, you are near enough to see that a picturesque town is before you, built around the base, and on the declivity of a hill, which is embraced by the two branches of the stream that come winding down through the distant hills. Around this declivity the streets rise, one above an other, displaying several handsome churches and other public buildings, some of which ascend to the summit of the hill.

The very narrowness of the view, being circumscribed on all sides by hills, except the open space afforded by the river in front, gives it the charm of unity and distinctness. This is Norwich : — but from the river you see only a section of the place ; for the buildings are extended on each side along the arms of the river farther than your eye can reach, and on the other side of that obtrusive hill is a lovely and varied landscape, exhib iting avenues of venerable trees, elegant dwelling houses and numerous gardens, scattered around the plains and extending far onward over the hills, each group crowned with its spire, and relieved by a back ground of rocky heights or dark bosomed forests. If you land on the west side, just below the bounds of the town, where Trading Cove, an arm of the river almost as broad and deep as the main stream, extends a short distance into the country, and ascend the Mohegan highlands, — the line of vision will stretch far to the north and west, and you will obtain a good general idea of the situation and varied surface of the town.

You will perhaps imagine, and with good rea son, that the first English explorers beheld it from this point, and that they were struck with admiration, not only at the romantic scenery, but at the various ad vantages presented for commerce, manufactures and agriculture. Here they beheld a navigable river and an easy access to the ocean ; hills that would make excellent pastures for their herds and flocks ; plains and meadows that industry might soon convert into mowing lands and cornfields ; rapid streams and cat aracts, affording innumerable mill-seats and sites for future manufactories. We can almost fancy that we hear them exclaim, " What a noble place for a settlement!" Nearer the city, on each side of the river, are lofty eminences, from which the prospect is still more ex tensive and variegated.

The eastern summit bearing the name of Tory Hill, from its having been the con fiscated property of a royalist during the Revolutionary war, affords a fine view of the harbor, the city, and the valley of the Shetucket. From Windmill and Baptist Hills on the west, the eye surveys almost the whole area of the town, and observes the situation of its distinct villages, the course of the streams, the rude clumps of rocks interspersed, and the circumjacent hills. The short and rapid Yantic, spreads out into a broad cove, with romantic banks beneath you, and seems to be the principal tributary to the Thames, while the Shetucket, a much longer river, of consider able magnitude and power, comes almost unnoticed into its bosom, stealing through a narrow channel, round a projecting cliff. It is not strange, that a place possessed of such ad vantages by nature, when once known to the English, should have been highly prized by them ; or that when obtained from the natives, it should be speedily settled ; or that since its settlement, it should have grown and prospered more uniformly and extensively, than any other town in the eastern pait of the state.

Its increase has been gradual, but sure. It has never known any serious decline, either in numbers, or prop erty, and though at times, laboring under disadvan tages, in common with the rest of New England, it has generally been upon the advance. The spirit of enterprize has shifted from one part of the town to another, but has never wholly left its precincts. It has been greatly dismembered, for the original bounds of Norwich comprise at present nearly five towns, but the nucleus has not been injured by the division. Norwich may be considered a beautiful type of the second class of New England towns, embodying a bright portion of the genuine old English character, and rich in traditionary lore. In some respects, it has always been a prominent place. The Mohegan tribe of Indians resided upon its immediate borders, and its early history is intimately connected with that noted race.

Many remarkable individuals have, first and last, emanated from the community ; — the inhabitants took a bold and determined attitude in the revolutionary war, and are famous for their early attention to manufactures, as well as for their present deep interest in them. The scenery of the town is also remarkably picturesque : it is emphatically a place of hills and springs of water. Copse, dingle and glen are scattered about in lavish abundance and wild variety. These and other circumstances, have thrown a more than common degree of splendor upon the place, and ren dered it more conspicuous than many others of greater numerical importance. In its present dimensions, Norwich covers an area of twenty-six square miles, in which are six considerable sections, mainly distinct, though gradually melting into each other.

The greatest extent is from Trading Cove to Plain Hills, which measures about seven miles ; its medium breadth is about three miles. Almost all its boundaries are rivers and brooks. The Thames and Shetucket wash its eastern border, and the little stream called Yantic, divides it into nearly equal parts from the N. W. to the S. E. By the old stage route it is one hundred and twenty eight miles E. of New York, and eighty S. W. of Bos ton. By steamboat to Greenport and thence by the Long Island railroad, New York is now reached in seven hours and a half, and by the Norwich and Wor cester railroad, Boston in four hours and a quaiter. Lat. 41° 34' N. Long. 72° 29' W.

Chapter II

Events prior to the Settlement. The earliest notice that we gain of the tract of land now called Norwich, either from history or tradition, is from some incidents of Indian border warfare that took place in the year 1643. It was at that period, in the possession of the Mohegan tribe of Indians, and had originally been included in the extensive domain claimed by the Pequots. The Mohegans and Narra gansetts had long been engaged in a rancorous and predatory war with each other. The early history of Connecticut is perplexed with accounts of their petty quarrels. Among the rocks and ravines of Norwich, the scouting parties of the Narragansetts often laid their snares, or found shelter when pursued; and here also was the lookout port of the Mohegans when ex pecting an attack from their foe. All the accounts of this contest are written with an evident bias to the side of the Mohegans, whom the English were bound by treaty to defend from aggression.

Nevertheless, they made many attempts to reconcile the two tribes, and endeavored to act the part of an impartial umpire. A compact was made at Hartford, in 1638, by which it was stipulated, that the hostile sachems should not make war on each other without anappeal to the English. A spirit of rivalry and of personal hatred seems, however, to have existed between Miantino- 2* moh* and Uncas, which was easily inflamed into open war, and neither party, when roused to the conflict, waited for the sanction of the English. The origin of this rupture is thus related by Gov. Winthrop : " Onkus, being provoked by Sequasson, a Sachem of Connecticut, made war upon him, and slew divers of his men and burnt bis wigwams ; whereupon Miantun nomoh 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 historians, and among them Trumbull, in his History of Connecticut, 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, how ever, no proof was ever adduced. Miantinomoh indig nantly 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 igni tion, the materials had long been gathering, and the flame broke forth in the summer of 1643. The following 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. Miantinomoh having secretly raised an aimed force, * This name is variously spelt and accented.

The text gives, not the most popular, but probably the most correct form. Miantinomoh, or Miantimomy, with the accent on the penultimate, is said to come nearest to the Indian pronunciation, and is sanctioned by the authority of Roger Williams. amounting probably to 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. The tradition is that the Narragansetts were first discovered as they were crossing the Shetucket at a fording place, near the junction of the Quinnebaug.

The Mohegans had a look-out post on Wawekus Hill, [in Noiwich City,] which hill was long afterwards known as Fort Hill, and it is not unlikely that the spies who discovered the approach of the invaders, might have belonged to a scouting party stationed here. A path, afterwards widened to a road by the English settlers, led from this hill to the Little Plain, where was the burial ground of the Mohegan Sachems. A cleft or ravine from this spot, once the bed of a rivulet, came out directly by the Indian Landing Place at the foot of Yantic Falls, from whence a canoe could glide in a few minutes to Shantok Point, five miles below, where Uncas had a fort. In this way the intelligence may have been communicated to the Sachem with great rapidity. Uncas assembled his warriors to the number of three or four hunched, and boldly advanced to meet the foe. ♦ Nine hundred or one thousand, says Trumbull, and the warriors of Uncas four or five hundred.

This is doubtless an over estimate, as an enquiry into the resources of the two tribes will show. The Narra gansetts perhaps numbered one thousand warriors in all; but it is absurd to suppose that every man of all their tribes was engaged in this expedition. The Mohegans at no time had much over four hun dred warriors, and it is not probable that all could be collected on a sudden emergency. 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 Narragansetts had crossed the fords of the Yantic, [at Noman's acre,] and were pouring down upon him. He immediately halted, arranged his men on a rising ground, and made them acquainted with a stratagem, the effect of which he was about to prove.

He had scarcely given his warriors instructions how to act, be fore the Narragansetts appeared on an opposite declivity. Uncas sent forward a messenger, desiring a parley with Miantinomoh, which was granted, and the two chiefs met on the plain, between their respective armies. Uncas then proposed that the fortune of the day should be decided by themselves in single com bat, and the lives of their warriors spared. His proposition was thus expressed : " Let us two fight it out: if you kill me, my men shall be yours ; but if I kill you, your men shall be mine." Miantinomoh, who seems to have suspected some crafty manœuvre, in this unusual proposition, replied disdainfully, " My men came to fight, and they shall fight." Uncas immediately gave a pre-concerted sig nal to his followers, by falling flat upon his face to the ground.

They, being all prepared with bent bows, instantly discharged a shower of arrows upon the enemy, and raising the battle yell, rushed forward with their tomahawks, their chieftain starting up and leading the onset. The Narragansetts who were care lessly awaiting the result of the conference, and not expecting that the Mohegans would venture to fight at all with such inferior force, were taken by surprise ; and after a short and confused attempt at resistance, were put to flight. The fugitives and their pursuers, with despairing cries and triumphant shouts, crossed the liver at the shallows, and swept like a whirlwind over the hills, regardless of tangled forests, rushing tor rents, and precipitous ledges of rock, directing their course to the well known fords of the Shetucket. Two of the Mohegan captains, who were very swift of foot, singled out Miantinomoh, and pursued him with relentless pertinacity.

He had nearly reached the river when they overtook him, he being encum bered and retaided, it is said, by a coat, or corslet of mail. Throwing themselves against him they impe ded his motion, and when the chief recovered himself repeated the act, continuing thus to obstruct his slight, but not attempting to seize him, that Uncas might come up and have the honor of his capture. The moment that Uncas touched his shoulder, Miantinomoh stopped, and without the least resistance, sat down, calm and silent. Uncas immediately gave the Indian whoop of victory, which collected all his men around him, and the strife ceased : the whole conflict and pursuit having occupied, according to tradition, not more than twenty minutes. About thirty Narragansetts were slain. Among the prisoners, besides the great Captain himself, were his brother, and two of the sons of Canonicus, his uncle.

Some of the early historians say, that the two cap tains who assisted in the capture of Miantinomoh, were his own men, who by this treachery hoped to make their peace with Uncas, whose subjects they had for merly been. From Gov. Winthrop's account it is not clear whether it was the chief himself, or his brother, whose flight was thus treacherously obstructed. Sav age, in his notes to Winthrop, understands it to be the former : Trumbull, in the History of Connecticut, the latter. In a letter written by Thomas Peters, of Pe quot Harbor, now New London, in 1645, just after a visit made to Uncas at Mohegan, he speaks of " Tan taquieson, a Mohegan Captain, who first fingered Mian tinomoh."* This agrees with Mohegan tradition : the family of Tantaquieson, or Tantaquidjin, is a noble one among them, and the descendants to this day have scarcely ceased to boast of the above-mentioned exploit of one of their ancestors.

After the battle, Uncas returned in triumph to his fortress, carrying his illustrious captive with him, whom he treated with generous kindness and respect. But he soon conducted him to Hartford, and surrendered him to the custody of the English. He probably feared some desperate attempt on the part of the Narragan setts to recapture their prince ; and he was moreover incited to this course by an urgent message from Mr. Gorton, of Rhode Island, who supposed the life of Miantinomoh would be safe if he could but get him into the hands of the English. Roger Williams, the warm and constant friend of the Sachem, was then in England, and there seems to have been no other person of any influence in the country to take his part. He was imprisoned at Hartford, and Uncas consented to be governed in his future conduct towards his captive, entirely by the advice of the English.

The whole affair was laid before the Commissioners of the United Colonies, at their meeting at Boston in September, and the question was there debated whether it was just and lawful to put Miantinomoh to death. The execution of a Pequot who had given his testimony against him ; his repeated attempts upon the life of Uncas by assas sination, poison and sorcery ; his turbulence in making war against the Mohegans without a previous appeal to the English ; and his inveterate hostility to the * See Appendix to Savage's Winthrop. 1st whites, to exterminate whom he was accused of endea voring 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. Never theless, the court still hesitated whether it would be just to put him to death, and in this dilemma referred the matter to ecclesiastical counsellors.

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. It was determined, how ever, that the deed should be committed by Uncas, in his own jurisdiction, and without torture. The Mohegan Sachem was soon ordered to repair to Hartford, with a trusty band of followers, and there the decision of the Commissioners was made known to him, and Miantinomoh delivered into his hands. A band of twelve or fourteen soldiers was also sent with him from Hartford, to protect him from any sudden burst of revenge on the part of the Narragansetts, and to show that the deed was sanctioned by the English. These were to remain a while in the Mohegan country.

Two Englishmen were also directed to remain with the prisoner, and to see that the sentence was executed in conformity to the decision. Uncas, having received the captive king, promptly obeyed the directions given. He conducted him to the very spot where he had been taken prisoner. At the instant they arrived on the ground, the brother of Uncas, who marched behind Miantinomoh, at a signal from his chief, struck him on the head with a hatchet and killed him at a single stroke. Uncas cut a piece of flesh from his shoulder and ate it, saying, it was the sweetest meat he ever ate, — it made his heart strong. Revenge was doubtless the sweetness that he tasted. The above account coincides mainly with that of Trumbull, who derived his information from Richard Hide, Esq., of Norwich, a gentleman who through his whole life was in the habit of frequent intercourse with the Mohegans, and whose house was one of the favorite resorts of wanderers from that tribe.

He related the story as it was current among them, and there is no reason to doubt the correctness of even the cannibal part of the statement. Many of the Indian tribes had a custom of tasting the flesh or blood of a slaughtered foe, believing that thereby the strength and valor of the deceased was infused into their own souls. The unfortunate sachem was buried on the spot of his capture and execution, on the western bank of the Shetucket, a little north of where the village of Greeneville now stands. The place, from these events, took the name of Sachem's Plain, which it still bears. A heap of stones was raised over the grave, and addi tions made to it from time to time, by all true-hearted Narragansetts, who passed that way. For several years afterwards, a paity of that nation came to the spot every September, and renewed their lamentations over the heap, casting a few more stones upon it, and consecrating them with doleful cries and frantic ges tures.

A citizen of Norwich still living, N. L. Shipman, Esq., remembers this tumulus in his youth, a conspicuous object, standing large and high, between two soli tary white oak trees, about sixteen rods east of the old Providence road, and nearly in a line with that part of the river where the great dam has since been built. At length the owner of the land, probably being ignorant of the design of these stones, removed them to use in the undersetting of a barn he was erecting in the neighborhood. In process of time the old oak trees also disappeared, and nothing was left to designate the spot where the fallen chieftain lay. While making excavations for the water works, on the banks of the Shetucket, about the year 1830, an Indian grave was opened, containing a kettle, a spoon, and a box, all of copper, a glass bottle, and some other utensils, together with the bones of a person, apparently of enormous size.

Some have supposed that these were the remains of the Narragansett Sachem, as tradition affirms that his stature was almost gigantic, but the best authorities agree in placing the tomb of that prince a least half a mile from this spot. Before dismissing this subject it is proper to state that Gov. Winthrop, from whom we have the oldest written account of this affair, designates an entirely different spot as the place of Miantinomoh's execution. He says, " Onkus, taking Miantunomoh along with him, in the way between Hartford and Windsor, where Onkus hath some men dwell, Onkus' brother, following after Miantunomoh, clave his head with an hatchet, some English being present." Mr. Savage also, in his notes upon Winthrop, alluding to the variance of his account with that of Trumbull, gives a decided prefer ence to the former, and deems it much more probable that he was slain between Hartfoid and Windsor than in Norwich.* There is in truth nothing opposed to Winthrop's account but tradition ; but this testimony is so minute, circumstantial and uniform, that it amounts to almost conclusive evidence that Winthrop is wrong and Trumbull is right.

The sentence of Miantinomoh is one of the most fla grant acts of injustice and ingratitude, that stands re- * The records of the Commissioners of the United Colonies also agree in designating this place. corded 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 mag nanimous spirit ; had been the uniform friend and as sistant 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 sol diers from Hartford, and greatly assisted them in their conquest of the Pequods. The Narragansetts were determined to avenge the death of their chief. They were particularly exaspe rated 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 as a ransom for him.