African-Americans in Middletown 1661-1850: Enslaved Africans Contributed to Town’S Growth by R.W

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S M O S id NEWSLETTER of hethe SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. 1650-1700 Vol. 11, No. 2 www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctsmfsd/Index.html Fall 2011 A SUMMARY OF RESEARCH African-Americans in Middletown 1661-1850: Enslaved Africans contributed to town’s growth By R.W. Bacon Americans and African-Americans Editor, The Middler documented in Middletown before By 1770, Since its inception in 2000, SMFSD 1700. Previous issues of The Middler has encouraged the study of the included articles on Native Americans there people and events of 17th and 18th- in early Middletown. This issue were century Middletown, Conn. From the explores the African-American two outset it has never been a secret that presence in Middletown from the 17th slave (1) enslaved Africans were on the century to the early 19th century. The scene with the early settlers since the aim is to provide a baseline of infor- dealers 1660s, and that (2) enslaved Africans mation useful to those who wish to on Main contributed labor to Middletown’s explore the subject further. Street. growth into the 19th century. A general view of slavery in In 2009, two changes to SMFSD Connecticut. For over a century, the bylaws were unanimously approved sanitized view of slavery in Connecticut however, there has been increased by member vote. These changes was that it had minimal impact in awareness of slavery in early New redefined SMFSD’s pre-1700 qualify- comparison to plantation slavery of the England, and of how the labor of ing ancestors to include any Native southern states. In the past decade, enslaved Africans in the South sup- ported the economy of the North. This increased awareness in SMFSD’s Triennial Meeting in 2012 Connecticut was spurred by articles in to coincide with CSG’s October Seminar Northeast, the Sunday magazine of the Hartford (Conn.) Courant. The series By R.W. Bacon coincide with the annual one-day was expanded into a book in 2005, Editor, The Middler genealogy seminar presented by the Complicity: How the North Promoted, Planning began in spring 2011 for Connecticut Society of Genealogists. Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery. SMFSD’s 2012 Triennial Meeting, and Scheduled for October 2012, the The attention garnered by Complicity in an effort to offer attendees an even multi-day Triennial Meeting will offer was followed by news coverage of the richer experience, the dates will the research opportunities and social Documenting Venture Smith Project, events of past gatherings, but with the which continues its research into the added option of the CGS seminar – life of this remarkable man. Venture In this issue . . . and the experience of the fall season in Smith (1727-1805) was brought to New African-Americans in Early Middletown . . 1 New England. (Prior meetings in continued on page 6 2012 Triennial Meeting Plans ...... 1 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2009 were held Member Notes & SMFSD News ...... 2 in late August or early September.) Meet Marge Piersen, SMFSD Secretary . . . 3 The dates of the 2012 Triennial ~ DUES are DUE! ~ New Book by SMFSD’s Donald Sage...... 4 Meeting are not set at this writing, Annual Membership dues ($20) are due Middletown’s Bustling Seaport Era ...... 5 November 1, 2011. Please send payment to: but details will be posted on the Feature Graphic: Mike Campbell 18th-Century Slave Notices ...... 9 SMFSD web site as soon as they are Do it SMFSD Treasurer Thank Membership Information...... 11 known. Look for information in the Today 3570 Willow Street You spring 2012 Middler. !!! Bonita, CA 91902-1226 !!! MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA SMFSD NEWS a few months, another Nathaniel Bacon – an adolescent from nearby Bramford SMFSD welcomes three new members; and possibly the Bacons’ son, fled England for Connecticut, never to answers a variety of genealogy inquiries return.” However, the scholar’s footnote references only a very sketchy genealogy • Welcome new members. SMFSD prospective members can document web site with no source documentation! extends an enthusiastic welcome to their descent from early Middletown Your persnickety editor informed the three new members since the last issue settlers for his review. Middler editor curious that Gaskill’s slip from scholarly of The Middler: Barbara Walls R.W. Bacon – also the compiler of rigor into barely plausible conjecture Hanson, AM-294, Scottsdale, Ariz. (1st SMFSD web site content – fields some was unfortunate, and that the most settler George Hubbard); Mary Jane membership inquiries, but mostly current findings on the origin of McLaney Jones, LM-295, Savage, Md. responds to occasional questions about Middletown first-settler Nathaniel (1st settler George Hubbard); and individuals or family lines. Most Bacon (1630-1705) in Bramford, Suffolk, Martha John McLaney Wiseman, interesting recently were inquiries about England, are on the SMFSD web site. LM-296, Westminster, Md. (1st settler the veracity of a tidbit in a 2005 book by • Changes at Godfrey Library. George Hubbard). British scholar Malcolm Gaskill entitled Beth Mariotti is the new director at • SMFSD volunteers answer Witchfinders: A 17th Century English Godfrey Memorial Library, SMFSD’s genealogy inquiries. One service that Tragedy (Harvard University Press). archives repository. She replaces SMFSD volunteer board members The book is a 384-page scholarly look at James R. Benn, who served in the render is answering genealogy inquiries the 1640s witchcraft craze in East position for one year. Ms. Mariotti, of that come our way from time-to-time via Anglia, and its most notorious Branford, Conn., is a professional our web site. Or registrar, Don Brock, “witchfinder,” Matthew Hopkins. On genealogist with experience research- receives the bulk of membership page 100 the author refers to an accused ing New England, Italian, and inquiries, and dispenses tips on how Bacon family and surmises that “within Jewish family history.

N FIRST S OW ETT T LE For more of Liz Warner’s local history, LE R D S D I D E M

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S O It is impossible to research rian and National Register specialist

S Middletown, Conn. history and with Cunningham Preservation 1650-1700 genealogy without encountering Associates. Her book, A Pictorial along the way the masterful book History of Middletown, carries a e originally published in 1990, A modest and misleading title, since it is he Mid Pictorial History of Middletown by so much more – a thoughtful, broad, NEWSLETTER of the Elizabeth A. Warner. and flowing narrative summary of SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS For a decade Ms. Warner wrote a Middletown’s history. 1650-1700 – Middletown, Connecticut, U.S.A. column, “Middletown in the Past,” for The Middletown Patch site is part of www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctsmfsd/Index.html the Middletown Press. Now, for those a growing ‘Patch’ network of local eager for more of her insights into news and information sites designed Vol. 11, No. 2 Fall 2011 Middletown history, there is the local for communities deemed underserved news web site, Middletown Patch, by existing local media. The sites are Please send articles, letters, news items, and corrections to: which features new articles online edited and managed by professional The Middler (www.middletown-ct.patch.com). editors, writers, and photographers c/o R.W. Bacon, Editor Recent topics of Ms. Warner’s local who live in the respective communi- P. O. Box 489 Newburyport, MA 01950 history articles include schools, dairy ties, in consultation with an advisory (E-mail: [email protected]) farming, manufacturing, storms, fires, board of community members. The cemeteries, geographical features, editor of Middletown Patch is SMFSD OFFICERS neighborhoods, public buildings, and Cassandra Day, a veteran reporter and President ...... Barbara Stenberg Vice President...... Rita Urquhart architectural preservation. editor for newspapers in Connecticut, Secretary ...... Margery Piersen A native and still a resident of including the Middletown Press. Treasurer ...... Mike Campbell Middletown, Liz Warner has taught Historian ...... history at the Independent Day School Registrar ...... Donald Brock Middler Editor ...... R.W. Bacon in Middlefield for over 25 years. She Visit www.middletown-ct.patch.com, then also works as an architectural histo- search “Liz Warner” to read her articles.

2 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Meet Marge Piersen, SMFSD secretary since 2006, and avid genealogist with multiple areas of study By R.W. Bacon Marge: My background is mostly Editor, The Middler one of two basic stories no matter This is the third in a series of which way I trace my family tree. So, profiles that give our members across aside from reading history to better the U.S. an opportunity to get to know understand my Puritan ancestors’ more about the “cousins” and fellow experiences, I like to study the few genealogy enthusiasts who keep exceptions. SMFSD going. This fall The Middler Peter Grant (c. 1631-1713) was one interviews Marge Piersen of Deerfield, of the 400 Scotsmen captured by Ill., who has been secretary of SMFSD Cromwell at the Battle of Dunbar who since 2006. Marge volunteers behind survived the forced march to London the scenes managing the membership and were sent to America to be database and planning our Triennial indentured. He was indentured to the Meetings, and front-and-center Iron Works at Saugus, Mass., and later representing the organization at became a prominent citizen in genealogy conferences. Berwick, Maine. The Saugus Iron The Middler: When did you first Works operated from 1646 to1668 and “A woman of many hats.” In addition to get the “genealogy bug?” Did others in behind-the-scenes work on the membership is now a reconstructed National the family do prior research? roster, SMFSD secretary Marge Piersen Historic Site well worth a visit for Marge Piersen: Around 1976 I represents the organization at the biennial anyone interested in early American New England Regional Genealogical history – general or technical. started corresponding with two of my Conference. Marge also leads the planning father’s cousins. The correspondence of SMFSD’s Triennial Meetings. Rev. John Wheelwright (1592-1679) continued with numerous tidbits and Rev. John Hull (1594-1665) were jotted down for me on the insides of The Godfrey Library in Middletown, maverick preachers who disagreed recycled used envelopes. One told me Conn. is a treasure trove, with a more with the Puritans and therefore left of wonderful reunions of the Doolittle peaceful environment than is found at for Maine. John Wheelwright was the Society of America and of her DAR the comprehensive Connecticut State brother-in-law of the dissident Anne and Mayflower Society memberships. Library in Hartford. It also has some Hutchinson who helped found Rhode My mother passed away unexpect- evening hours. Island. Of course the story of Thomas edly in 1981 just as she was beginning The Middler: What geographical Hooker is similar, and the founding of to dig more deeply into her family’s areas do you focus on the most? Hartford continues to fascinate me. past, but we had 19 more years to Marge: On my mother’s side, Maine As far as Middletown ancestors go, I learn from my father about his family. and Massachusetts. Most of my am probably most intrigued by Samuel In retrospect, it is obvious that my mother’s ancestors lived in Maine Doolittle, the ancestor through whom interest began in childhood. One year, since at least 1800, their families I first discovered SMFSD. I would like we visited upcountry Maine where my arriving in Massachusetts during the to know more about the motivation mother’s ancestors lived from after Great Migration (1620-1643). and experiences of those including the Revolutionary War until my On my father’s side, Michigan, New Samuel and his wife who left grandmother moved to Portland, York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Middletown to found Whitestown, N.Y. Maine. My paternal grandmother with My father was raised in Illinois, his (The Middler, Fall 2007). whom we lived in Chicago often told parents in Michigan, and their parents continued on page 10 me stories about her childhood. all in New York. All these families The Middler: What’s your favorite moved to New York from Connecticut library or archives for research? or Massachusetts soon after the “The best thing about our Marge: I love any genealogy library Revolution. Most had a connection to “society is the camaraderie Middletown, Hartford, Wethersfield, with a pertinent collection and open “and sharing experienced stacks. I have been fortunate enough Farmington, or Wallingford/Cheshire, to visit many of the finest libraries and and were also descendants of Great “when we gather every archives in the country. I have never Migration immigrants. “three years.” researched at the renowned Newberry The Middler: Who is your favorite Library near my home in Chicago, ancestor? How about your favorite – Marge Piersen because I don’t like closed stacks. Middletown ancestor?

3 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA The passion for family history shines through in a new book by SMFSD member Donald A. Sage By R.W. Bacon sive book on your large branch of the Editor, The Middler Sage family? The newest published work on Donald A. Sage: My daughter, descendants of Middletown first-settler Nancy, and I talked of this in March of David Sage (1639-1703) comes from 1996, and we purchased the Reunion SMFSD member Donald A. Sage and Family Tree Software. We started out his grandson, Caleb Sage Hendrickson. very naively, not really knowing what The Sage Family Kith and Kin - we were doing, but with her back- Descendants of David Sage, b. 1639 ground and some elementary school- was privately published in Andover, ing via the libraries, we were led Minn. in September 2011. The 266- down the family history path. Like page hardbound book – large-format, most of us in this family history printed on coated paper and copiously business, it became an obsession with illustrated with color photos, maps, me and I became addicted to it. and diagrams – is already in the My business experience also collections of several of the largest contributed to my zealous nature in finding answers, and once I had a clue genealogy libraries. The Sage Family Kith and Kin - You editor had the privilege of getting Descendants of David Sage, b. 1639, by I put on my Sherlock Holmes hat and Donald Atkinson Sage and Caleb Sage didn’t want to quit until I found the pleasantly lost within the pages of Hendrickson. (Published Sept. 2011) family narrative, and wandering answer. After many years, my daugh- through the past centuries of the Middletown, Conn. - 1652, the 1878 ter’s son, Caleb Sage Hendrickson, author’s own Sage family line. genealogy by Elisha L. Sage (1809- volunteered to help me when it came Your editor’s impression?: The 1883). With this family tree as a to putting what I had been able to author’s passion for the subject of starting point, Donald Sage embarked compile into a printed product. He family history, his extended family, and on a 10-year project to verify all the was the one who came up with the life itself comes shining through information using today’s resources, idea of using the family’s western brightly in this project. The book is not add all subsequent descendants born migration as a central theme. a comprehensive genealogy of all since 1970, gather information for To add a little “flesh to the bones,” descendants of the Middletown progeni- narrative biographical sketches, and and to recognize my father’s commit- tor, but is an excellent genealogy of a round up hundreds of photos, maps, ment to his family and our country – particular family line – a monumental and diagrams. The author credits his and his hidden artistic talents and his gift to the present and future genera- grandson, Caleb Sage Hendrickson, as influence on my life and generations tions of the author’s large family. co-author and editor, for wrangling the to follow – I included several appendi- The editorial and design oversights massive amount of information and ces which are an integral part of this that crop up these days in such do-it- shaping the project into book form. family history. yourself publishing projects are more Donald Sage kindly responded to The Middler: What was the most than outweighed by the author’s your editor’s e-mail interview: difficult challenge of the book project? passion, spark, and upbeat tone that The Middler: When did you D.A.S.: I wanted to be sure that the make the book so much more than a conceive of the idea of a comprehen- information that I had gathered was dry collection of names-and-dates. as verifiable as possible, and therefore I spent many hours proving the Donald Sage, who lives in Andover, “The professionals in this Minn. with his wife, Joyce, details his sources to the best of my ability. I journey leading up to and through the “field have established think that fact-finding and proving project in his author’s preface. In “very good guidelines for the source – primary if at all possible 1970, his father, Venning Lee Sage “continuity and validity, – is really where it begins. I had to go back and research again what I had (1895-1980), drew by hand a family “and I wanted this book to tree, with the earliest generations originally found to be factual and then based on his copy of Genealogical “qualify as acceptable in present it in the proper form. The Record of the Descendants of David “every respect.” professionals in this field have established very good guidelines for Sage, a Native of Wales, Born 1639, – Donald Atkinson Sage and One of the First Settlers of continuity and validity, and I wanted continued on page 12 4 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Middletown’s ‘Vanished Port’ explored by historian for Wesleyan Magazine article … and a future book By R.W. Bacon also a contributor to the Middletown owners in the maritime district at one Editor, The Middler Patch web site, mentioned elsewhere time, he notes that most of the In the late 18th and early 19th in this issue of The Middler. merchants who drove Middletown’s centuries, descendants of Middletown The author chronicles the growth growth were relatively new arrivals: first-settler families saw more than of Middletown’s shipping trade to the Matthew Talcott and Samuel Bull their share of economic, political, and Caribbean which began in the late from Hartford, Lemuel Storrs from social change. Some found a way to 17th century. Middletown-based Colchester, John & Richard Alsop prosper and remained in Middletown, traders shipped lumber, cattle, fish, from New York, the Henshaw family but many eagerly sought opportunity and grain to supply slave plantations from Boston, Benjamin Williams from to prosper elsewhere, moving on to in the West Indies, and returned to Bermuda, and Philip Mortimer and New York, Ohio, and points north Middletown with sugar, salt, coffee, Arthur Magill from Scotland. In the and west. An article in Wesleyan fruit, spices, molasses, and rum. This early 19th century there were several Magazine (2011 Issue 1) by historian fertile market fueled the develop- hundred homes in the waterfront and journalist Erik Hesselberg, ment of shipbuilding along the area, including numerous elegant “Vanished Port: Middletown and the Connecticut River. mansions of merchants and sea Great Era of the West Indies Trade,” By the late 18th century, captains. All but a few are gone today. provides insight into this period of Middletown was the busiest port A notable survivor, visible from Rte. 9, growth and change in Middletown. between New York and Boston, and is the DeKoven House, the former Erik Hesselberg has been a news- the richest colony in Connecticut. home of Capt. Benjamin Williams. paper and magazine editor, and is Although the author mentions the As an indication of prosperity in this working on a book about the history early-settler Southmayd family of era, when Richard Alsop (1727-1776) of the lower Connecticut River. He is shipmasters as the largest property died in 1776, his estate was valued at more than 35,000 pounds – equivalent This section of to over $6 million in 2011 depressed

CONNECTICUT H.L. Barnum’s dollars, according to consumer price GREEN STREET 1825 map of index calculations (www.measuring Middletown worth.com). shows the numerous wharves At the peak of the West Indies trade, along Water Street a typical cargo from Middletown FIRST STREET – long before the included horses, cattle, lumber, bricks, incursion of the railroad (1868), vegetables, pork, and beef. Ships Route 9 (1950s), would head first to Barbados so that STREET Y and urban renewal RIVER on the return trip they would have

CHERR (1950s) that limited access to the favorable winds en route to other Connecticut River. Caribbean ports. The primary cargo WASHINGTON STREET brought back to Middletown was STREET Map of the City

of Middletown sugar, molasses, and rum. Slaves were UMBER UMBER L surveyed and also brought to Middletown – in 1756 STREET delineated by Middletown’s population included 218 H.L. Barnum, STREET STREET slaves. (See the feature article in this

TER TER Topographer

ELM A (1825), is held by issue of The Middler.) W the Connecticut MAIN MAIN The Embargo Act of 1807 and the Historical Society. War of 1812 had a permanent nega- STREET The map can be COURT viewed in its tive impact on American ports, and in entirety at the the case of Middletown, its later University of fortunes would be based on its new CENTRE STREET Connecticut’s Digital Mosaic manufacturing economy. web site To read the entire article online, (http://images.lib.uc STREET visit Wesleyan Magazine: PARSONAGE onn.edu/index.php) and searching http://www.wesleyan.edu/magazine/ 300 Ft. N “Barnum map magazine/mag_archives/#2011i. Middletown.” continued on page 11

5 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA African-Americans in Ten years later, in 1784, slavery was Newspaper advertisements also identify abolished in Connecticut, but the law, unlike participants in the slave trade. The above- Middletown 1661-1850 those in other New England states, specified mentioned “D. Walker” was Dr. Thomas continued from page 1 gradual emancipation. The Gradual Abolition Walker, identified in a 1762 advertisement in Act of 1784 freed no slaves at the time, but the New London Summary and Weekly England from what is now Ghana about rather promised freedom to future-born Advertiser for “A parcel of likely young 1739, was sold to a series of owners, and with children of slaves, who would be free upon negroes” to be sold in Middletown. In a 1761 money earned through outside labor, bought reaching age 25. Slaves born before 1784 advertisement in the same publication, one his family’s freedom by 1773. Along the way, remained enslaved for life. The last slaves in Timothy Miller, captain of the Speedwell, he purchased 160 acres of land, making his Connecticut became free in 1848. announced “a parcel of likely young home on Haddam Neck, a few miles south of Documented evidence of enslaved windward slaves” to be sold at the house of Middletown. In 1798 he dictated his life story, Africans in Middletown. Secondary Capt. Samuel Wells. The above “Capt. which was published by the New London Bee. sources about Middletown history refer to Gleason” was sea-captain Joseph Gleason. The 2009 publication of Making Freedom: enslaved Africans on the scene as early as Today’s researchers have the benefit of The Extraordinary Life of Venture Smith, by 1661, when sea captains brought a few slaves consulting the work of Milo D. Wilcox, Jr. Chandler B. Saint and George A. Krimsky, from Barbados and sold them at auction. By (1919-1995), held at the Middlesex County details recent research. the middle of the next century, Middletown Historical Society in Middletown. A first- So, there is plenty of information about the was the busiest port in Connecticut. To settler descendant himself, Milo Wilcox was a big picture of slavery in Connecticut, as well describe Middletown, Historian William retired Middletown city planner when he set as a first-person narrative. But the details of Chauncey Fowler (1793-1881), in The to work on documenting the history and African-Americans in the earliest decades of Historical Status of the Negro in Connecticut genealogy of African-Americans in Middletown are more difficult to uncover, (1875), quoted a newspaper article by Edwin Middletown. Today a seven-foot high shelf since enslaved Africans were seldom Stearns (1804-1867), a 19th-century public holds binders packed with genealogies of individually documented in official records. In servant and civic activist: families that lived in Middletown in the early the 1790 federal census, members of the few “Upon a cursory examination of an old map and mid-19th century. More relevant to the free African-American households in of the Village of Middletown, about the date subject of this article is the Wilcox bibliogra- Middletown were not counted as males or of the Revolution, it is estimated that there phy, The Origins of Negroes in Middletown, females, but rather as “other.” Names of were nearly 100 families in what now Connecticut (1985). African-Americans do show up in “runaway comprises the city limits. The names of all the Two unpublished papers clarify African- slave” ads, in court records, in criminal cases, householders are given, with their occupa- American presence in early Middletown: (1) and in probate records as property. tions, as well as their localities. Among these, A Black Profile of Middletown, Connecticut, A timeline of Connecticut slave laws. are noted twenty-two persons denominated by Leta Pittman (1976), and (2) The Black Bernard C. Steiner, in The History of Slavery ‘Sea-Captains.’ There are, also, three persons Experience in Middletown, Connecticut 1650- in Connecticut (1893), notes that slavery was denominated sea-captains engaged in the 1850, by Melissa Roberts (1976). Both papers never established by statute, but rather was slave-trade. There are, also, three notables run into the same impasse faced by Milo “indirectly sanctioned by courts.” The first living in the village, designated ‘Slave- Wilcox … and your editor: Almost nonexis- reference to enslaved Africans in state records Dealers.’ These were, D. Walker, Captain tent documentation of individual African- was in 1660; their number was estimated at Gleason, Captain Easton, or Eason. Americans. only 30 in 1680. By 1690, however, the “A large and profitable trade, in livestock, Ms. Roberts discussed the difference number of slaves had increased to the point was carried on between Middletown and the between Connecticut slave owners and the that Connecticut passed regulatory legisla- West Indies; the outward bound cargo would plantation owners of the South, noting that tion. The “Black Code” of 1690 dictated that consist of horses, on deck, with hoops, staves, in New England, for the most part, slaves “a negro, mulatto, or Indian servant” found and cornmeal, in the hold; and a full load of lived with families in their homes, in many wandering outside the town of his residence Guinea negroes, in return. Captain Easton, cases forming the bond of an extended family, without a pass be counted as a runaway. The who was one of the most successful of these and worked alongside their masters in the runaway could be seized by anyone and Yankee ship-masters and slave dealers, would fields, in the shop, or in the household. She brought before the nearest authority, and the take droves of negroes to New Hampshire advanced her belief that the Puritan attitude master was fined. Added to the code in 1703 and Vermont, when the market here was dull, toward slavery was an outgrowth of their was a law that prohibited tavern-keepers and exchange them for horses and hoop-poles. understanding of slavery in the Old from serving strong drink to “sons, appren- D. Walker was, probably, a speculator in Testament, and consequently slaves were tices, servants, or negroes” unless they had slaves; and may have sold them to the fathers always referred to as “servants.” As members special orders from parents or masters. Added of the present race of philanthropists.” of the family, the “servants” were expected to in 1708 was a law that prohibited slaves from conform and assimilate the customs and selling any goods or property without an Riverside Cemetery: manners of their owner. “Marriages were (left) Sambo (1700- order from their masters. Added in 1723 was ritualized and recorded,” wrote Roberts, “and a law that prohibited a slave from being 1776); (right) Fillis (d. 1766). once married, slaves as well as free persons outdoors after 9 p.m. without an order from were expected to honor the sanctity of the his master. The penalty for any of the above nuptial tie.” However, Ms. Roberts, who was some combination of lashes for the slave, combed Middletown the church records of and/or fine to the master. 1668-1871, does note that “judging from the In 1774 the General Court passed number of mulatto children in the records of legislation that “no Indian, negro, or mulatto only one Middletown church, one would slave shall at any time hereafter be brought guess extra-legal intercourse between men of or imported into this State, by sea or land, the master class and slave women was not from any place or places whatsoever, to be uncommon.” disposed of, left, or sold within the state.” continued on page 7

6 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA African-Americans in By 1756, 218 African-Americans lived in the Revolutionary War period, the number of Middletown, out of a population of 5,664. At African-Americans in Middletown declined, Middletown 1661-1850 this time, despite the constraints of servitude, as many slaves were freed for their service to continued from page 6 enslaved Africans in Middletown were better the cause and moved elsewhere. The figure of off than their brethren in the South. 218 in 1756 declined to 167 in the 1790 Ms. Roberts also addresses the myth of the “Particularly in Connecticut,” writes Ms. census, with 110 still enslaved, and 57 free. docile “servant” in New England, noting that Pittman, “the system of apprenticeship Your editor undertook an analysis of the enslaved Africans seized opportunities to prevailed over the institution of slavery. Just first federal census of Middletown in 1790 strike back at the ruling class. The prevailing as masters freed their indentured servants, (total population 5,375), and counted 57 offense was running away, often with they would manumit Black slaves. In households (out of 947) with slaves (6%). clothing or property from the master’s Connecticut, white servants, Black and Indian Eight households had three or more slaves; household. Stealing, breach of peace, and slaves, and masters all worked together.” 49 households had one or two slaves. The arson, were also known to occur. The most In the two decades approaching the individual with the most slaves was Philip extreme – and depraved – case occurred in Revolutionary War, as the number of Mortimer, with 11, most of whom likely 1743, when 16-year-old “Negro Barney” enslaved Africans in Middletown reached its worked braiding rope in his 1200-foot maliciously maimed (i.e. emasculated) peak, various sources indicate that some ropewalk structure that extended westward Thomas Allyn, the six-year-old son of slave owners began to question the morality from the downtown through what is now Jonathan Allyn (1704-1780). Barney of owning fellow human beings. Some Mortimer Cemetery. Those with more than admitted the crime, pleaded guilty, and was liberated their slaves after six years. Some three slaves in 1790 were Jabez Hamlin (5), jailed in Hartford, but the court could find no specified in their wills that upon their death, Jabez Hall (5), Mary Alsop, widow of Richard appropriate statute on the books upon which their slaves be freed. Elisha L. Sage (1809- Alsop III (1726-1776) (5), and Comfort Sage to base a sentence. This prompted a special 1883), author of an 1878 genealogy of the (4). Of the 57 slave-holding households in act by the General Assembly, which opened Sage family, noted that Gen. Comfort Sage 1790, 25 were pre-1700 Middletown settler the way to two months of torture for Barney, (1731-1799) and Ebenezer Sage (1754-1834) surnames, while 32 slave-holding households culminating with punishment of “biblical” made a point to record the births of their carried surnames of more recent post-1700 proportion (i.e. “an eye-for-an-eye,” etc.). slaves’ children with the surname “Sage.” arrivals. Eight of the 57 slave-holding Barney did not survive. Thomas Allyn did Two notable pieces of material evidence from households in 1790 were headed by women. survive, and died in Middletown in 1777 at this period at Middletown’s Riverside There were five African-American heads-of- age 40. (Legal Executions in New England, A Cemetery indicate the close relationship household in Middletown in the 1790 census, Comprehensive Reference 1623-1960, by between some slaves and masters. The each with members of the household David A. Hearn, 1999) carved headstone of “Sambo, Negro servant designated as “other”: Cuff (4), Florah (2), Ms. Pittman, in her paper, includes the to Thomas Hulbert” (d. 1776), still stands at Thainer (3), Ackraw (2), and Peter (4). facts enumerated by Edwin Stearns nearly a the southeast corner of the cemetery. Inches The free African-Americans in Middletown century before. “In addition, merchants from away is the gravestone of “Fillis, wife of Cuff, in the late 18th century mostly worked as other parts of Connecticut would bring their Negro” (d. 1766). Given the expense of laborers or house servants. There were a few trade to Middletown,” she wrote. “In 1752, carved headstones, it is likely that both African-American entrepreneurs, however, John Bannister, a Newport slave dealer, was Sambo and Fillis were valued members of who worked on the fringes of the larger known to bring to Middletown ‘a fine parcel their respective masters’ households. But it Middletown economy. Hammet Achmet, who of negro men, women, boys, and girls, was also in this period that newspapers had been a Revolutionary War drummer and a imported directly from the Gold Coast, and reported conflict between African-American servant to George Washington, made his living they are esteemed to be the finest cargo of slaves and the ruling class. Advertisements at odd-jobs when he came to Middletown, but slaves ever brought into New England.’” offering rewards for runaway slaves reached was also engaged as a drummer to attract In early Middletown, there are a few their peak in the late 18th century. notice to local estate auctions. From this he references to African-Americans in diaries Evidence of one particular Middletown progressed to making and selling his own line and probate records. In 1687, Noadiah slave-and-master bond is in the 1779 of drums. Russell (1659-1713), minister in Middletown manumission document of Mimbo (or An advertisement in the Middlesex Gazette (and also a slave-owner), noted in his diary Membo) (c.1744-1828), a slave of Judge Seth on April 14, 1797 announced “The business of that “at night, Mr. Hamling’s negro woman Wetmore (1700-1788). Mimbo was very likely dying cotton and linen yarn blue will be delivered a boy.” A survey of probate records born in Africa, came to live and work in the carried on this season at the house of Mr. reveals a number of enslaved Africans by Wetmore household as a child, and grew up Abraham Doolittle, by Cuff Boston.” name and their owners (presented chronolog- with the Wetmore’s daughter, Lucy (1748- According to a 1998 Hartford Courant article ically): “my servant Joan” willed by Giles 1826). When Mimbo became blind and infirm by Diana Ross McCain, currently director of Hamlin (1622-1689) to his wife, Ester (will about 1815, Lucy (Wetmore) Whittelsey came continued on page 8 proved 1690); “my negro Mengo,” willed by to her friend’s aid. In her will, Lucy directed Capt. Daniel Harris (1618-1701) to his son, her children to care for Mimbo. But as was At right is the Thomas (will proved 1711); “my negro most common the custom of the time, both Lucy and her stock art used in Sampson” willed by Daniel Markham (1652- children billed the town for their expenses. newspaper 1713) to his wife, Patience (will contested Mimbo received a pauper’s burial from the advertisements 1714); “my negro man called Peter,” willed town in 1828. offering reward for runaway by Thomas Ward (1660-1728) to his wife, African-Americans from Middletown who Elizabeth (will proved 1728); “my negro girl slaves in the served in the Revolutionary War are listed in 18th century. Rose,” willed by John Stocking (1707-1750) the compiled volumes of Connecticut Military On page 9 is a to his mother (will proved 1750); and “my Records. They include Kay Cambridge, Cuff selection of negro boy Cesar and mulatto girl Else” willed Liberty, Philemon Freeman, Peter Tomina, Middletown- related slave by Giles Hall (1680-1750) to his wife Esther Exeter Freeman, Peter Middletown, Dick (will proved 1750). sale ads and Freeman, and Jesse Caples. During and after runaway notices.

7 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA African-Americans in cotton from the South, Baldwin persevered, groups to Middletown leap-frogged over using his schooners to transport runaway African-Americans in competition for Middletown 1661-1850 slaves, and using his house to hide them. unskilled jobs. In the late 19th century, more continued from page 7 The African Methodist Episcopal Zion African-Americans departed Middletown for Church was organized in Middletown in greater opportunity in larger cities. the research center at the Connecticut 1828, and in 1831, the Rev. Jehiel C. Beman Stated at the outset, the aim of this article is Historical Society, Cuff Boston (c. 1765-1823) (1789-1858) arrived from Colchester, Conn. to to provide a baseline of information for further lived in the Staddle Hill area, and eventually be its minister. His wife and sons became research into African-Americans in owned 25 acres in Middletown. Newspaper leaders in the African-American abolitionist Middletown from the mid-17th to the mid-19th ads for his dyeing business appeared in the movement. Jehiel Beman built a house near century. However, for the curious reader, here Middlesex Gazette for over a decade. His the church, and an African-American is a brief recap from the late 19th century to estate, left to his wife and four children, was neighborhood grew around it. In 1847, his the present: valued at $3,000 – a tidy sum for 1823. son, Leverett Beman (1810-1883), purchased The 20th century. By 1900 the population Between 1790 and 1800 the number of the five-acre triangle bound by Cross Street, of Middletown swelled to 9,589, but the slaves in Connecticut declined dramatically, Vine Street, and Knowles Avenue. The land number of African-Americans declined to 127. from 2764 to 951. But while the laws and was originally part of the Samuel Savage In 1910 the number dwindled to 73; in 1920 policies had changed, life changed little for farm sold in 1832. Leverett Beman divided the census counted 57. In Ms. Pittman’s paper, aging slaves still held in servitude, and even the land, and modest wood-frame homes she noted that the first African-American free African-Americans had few options. A were built and sold to African-American families from the South moved to Middletown book previously reviewed in The Middler families. Many residents were dockworkers in 1923 from North Carolina, and that through offers a context-rich glimpse of slavery in this and seamen at the port of Middletown. the 1920s-30s there were just a few African- period, A Century of Captivity: The Life and The 2002 publication, Experiment in American families in residence. During WWII Trials of Prince Mortimer, A Connecticut Community: An African-American in the 1940s, there were more factory jobs to Slave, by Denis C. Caron (2006). Horatio Neighborhood, Middletown, Connecticut, be filled, and by 1950 the African-American Strother, author of The Underground 1847-1930, by Janice P. Cunningham and population in Middletown increased to 544 of Railroad in Connecticut (1962), noted that in Elizabeth A. Warner, chronicles this 29,411. In the 1960s, a survey indicated that Middletown, for decades after the Revolution neighborhood, known today as the Leverett 68% of African-American families were from a “the temper of the city was predominantly Beman Historic District. The Middlesex cluster of towns in North and South Carolina. sympathetic to slavery and opposed to County Historical Society holds genealogical In 1970 African-Americans made up 6.7% of abolition or anything that smacked of it.” research of Milo Wilcox on the African- Middletown’s population; in 2010, the figure African-Americans in 19th-century American families that lived there. was 12.8% of 47,648. Middletown. In 1820 Middletown, there Also about 1830, Wilbur Fisk (1792-1839), Today it is improbable that anyone were just three remaining slaves among a minister, theologian, and first president of included in those recent percentages above total of 211 African-Americans. In the 1820s Wesleyan University, began advocating for the has African-American ancestors who lived in and 1830s, the reconstituted population of re-colonization movement as the best way to pre-1700 Middletown. For those searching for African-Americans in Middletown, many of solve the “social evil” of slavery. He favored the identity of Middletown’s earliest enslaved whom were new arrivals, saw three signifi- voluntary emigration back to Africa because Africans – or for evidence of slaveholding cant developments: (1) the beginnings of the he believed that abolition, if successful, would ancestors – your editor advises beginning abolitionist movement, (2) the establishment cause a split in the church. He formed the with the sources cited following this article, of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Middletown Colonization Society, but response and then visiting the Milo D. Wilcox, Jr. Church, and (3) the advocacy of “back to was lukewarm: By 1850 just 10 individuals collection at the Middlesex County Historical Africa” re-colonization. departed Connecticut for Liberia. Society. It will be a grain-by-grain dig for The leader of the abolitionist movement in Those interested in identifying individual scant evidence, so make sure you bring the Middletown was Jesse C. Baldwin (1804- African-Americans in Middletown in the early tenacity of an obsessed archaeologist! 1887), a man of humble beginnings who 19th century can also search cemetery records. (Thanks to Debbie Shapiro at the Middlesex prospered in manufacturing, shipping, Your editor identified seven African-Americans County Historical Society and Denise Mackey- banking, and insurance. In 1834 he orga- born before 1800 who are buried in marked Russo at Russell Library for their assistance nized, with a few others, the Middletown graves at Washington Street Cemetery and in locating relevant sources for this article.) Anti-Slavery Society. Meetings were Mortimer Cemetery. One can conclude that sometimes disturbed by angry mobs, and by most African-Americans in the earliest days of At right is Leverett Beman (1810-1883), who purchased 1843 the organization had just five dues- Middletown were buried in unmarked graves, paying members: Jesse Baldwin, Chauncey land in 1847 to build an or with markers that did not survive. African-American neighbor- Wetmore, Gardiner Griswold, Daniel At mid-century, in the presidential election hood. Below is one of the Benham, and R.S. Rust. But while abolition of 1856, Middlesex County was the only cluster of modest homes. fizzled as a movement in Middletown because county in Connecticut won by pro-slavery so many businesses were dependent on candidate James Buchanan. After the Civil War, with full emancipation in theory, in Middletown economic opportunity for African-Americans was still limited, and political power was negligible. In Connecticut, voting rights were extended to African-Americans in 1870, but were bundled with literacy and property requirements. In Above is a Middletown Gazette advertisement (4/14/1797) for the dyeing business 1870, there were 152 African-Americans in conducted by Cuff Boston (1765-1823), a free Middletown’s total of 6,923. For decades to African-American entrepreneur. come, the succession of new immigrant

8 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Feature Graphic #15: Selected slave notices from Middletown, Conn.

Middletown, northwest part, March 27 day, 1769. UN-away about two months ago, from his master, a negro man named BRISTO, a good RFiddler and has a Fiddle with him, a short thick negro, about 30 years old, and had on a mix’d

Middlesex Gazette, Nov. 18, 1813 colored coat, blue and black, a black waistcoat and breaches, and can talk good English, and read well, and once had five fingers on each hand, one on each hand were cut off, and a small scar to be seen Conn. Journal, New Haven, April 26, 1771 and holes in each ear, and can tell a simple story for being from home, if any person will take up Conn. Courant, Hartford, Dec. 30, 1776 said negro and bring him to said master, shall have TWO DOLLARS reward, and all necessary charges paid, by me. DANIEL WILCOX. Connecticut Courant, Hartford, April 3, 1769 (typographic facsimile) Conn. Courant, Hartford, Dec. 24, 1774

The Middlesex Gazette (Middletown) began publishing in 1785. The Connecticut Courant (Hartford) Middlesex Gazette, May 15, 1786 was first published in 1764.

Connecticut Courant, Hartford, Sept. 22, 1776

New London Summary, October 8, 1762 American Mercury, Hartford, Sept. 2, 1793

SOURCES … and further reading: Hearn, David Allen. Legal Executions in New England, Saint, Chandler B., and Krimsky, George A. Making In lieu of numbered endnotes, the sources in African- A Comprehensive Reference 1623-1960. McFarland & Freedom: The Extraordinary Life of Venture Smith. Americans in Middletown are referenced within the text. Co., Jefferson, N.C., 1999. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Conn., 2009. Kennedy, Walter D. Myths of American Slavery. Pelican Sage, Elisha L. Genealogical Record if the Descendants Caron, Denis C. A Century of Captivity: The Life and Publishing Co., New York, N.Y., 2003. of David Sage. Pelton & King, Middletown, Conn., 1878. Trials of Prince Mortimer, A Connecticut Slave. Manwaring, Charles W., ed. A Digest of the Early Smith, Venture, (as told to Elisha Niles). A Narrative of University Press of New England, Hanover, N.H., 2006. Connecticut Probate Records. R.S. Peck & Co., Hartford, the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: Connecticut Courant, 1764-1837, Hartford, Conn. Conn., 1904-06. But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of Mars, James. Life of James Mars, a Slave, Born and America, Related by Himself. New London Bee, New Connecticut General Assembly. Connecticut Military London, Conn., 1798. Record 1775-1848: Records of Service of Connecticut Sold in Connecticut, Written by Himself. Case & Men Who Served in (I) War of the Revolution, (II) War of Lockwood, Hartford, Conn., 1868. Stedman, Emilie T. Hammet Achmet: A Servant of 1812, and (III) Mexican War. Case, Lockwood, & McCain, Diana Ross. “Cuff Boston, an 18th-Century George Washington. Privately published, Middletown, Brainard, Hartford, Conn., 1889. Enterpreneurial African-American,” Hartford Courant, Conn., 1900. Cunningham, Janice P., and Warner, Elizabeth A., Hartford, Conn., October 21, 1998. Steiner, Bernard C. History of Slavery in Connecticut. Experiment in Community: An African-American Menschel, David. Abolition Without Deliverance: The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Md., 1893. Neighborhood. Middletown, Connecticut, 1847-1930, Law of Connecticut Slavery 1784-1848. Yale Law Strother, Horatio. The Underground Railroad in Connecticut Historical Commission, Hartford, Conn., Journal, New Haven, Conn., 2001. Connecticut. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, 2002. Middlesex Gazette, 1785-1834, Middletown, Conn. Conn., 1962. Farrow, Anne, et. al. Complicity: How the North Nasta, Jesse. Their Own Guardians and Protectors: United States Census Bureau, The Negro Population of Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery. African-American Community in Middletown, the United States, 1790-1915. Department of Commerce, Ballantine Books, New York, N.Y., 2005 Connecticut 1822-1860. Unpublished thesis, Wesleyan Washington, D.C., 1918. Fiske, John. Story of a New England Town: Address University, Middletown, Conn., 2007. Wetmore, James Carnahan. The Wetmore Family of delivered Oct. 10, 1900 at 250th Anniversary of the Pittman, Lena. “A Black Profile of Middletown, America, and Its Collateral Branches, With Founding of Middletown. Published in the Atlantic Connecticut,” in Black Perspectives on Middletown: A Genealogical, Biographical, and Historical Notices. Monthly, Boston, Mass., Dec. 1900. Collection of Writings About the Black Experience in Munsell & Rowland, Albany, N.Y., 1861. Fowler, William Chauncey. The Historical Status of the Middletown, Connecticut, ed. the Black Women's League White, David O. Connecticut’s Black Soldiers 1775-1783. Negro in Connecticut. New Haven Colony Historical of Middletown, Middletown, Conn., 1976. Pequot Press, Chester, Conn. 1973. Society, New Haven, Conn., 1875. Roberts, Melissa. The Black Experience in Middletown, Wilcox, Milo D., Jr. The Origins of Negroes in Greene, Lorenzo J. The Negro in Colonial New England. Connecticut 1650-1850. Unpublished paper, Wesleyan Middletown, Connecticut (bibliography). Middlesex Columbia University Press, New York, N.Y., 1942. University, Middletown, Conn., 1976. Community College, Middletown, Conn., 1985.

9 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Meet Marge Piersen … North Western Railroad Historical The Middler: You have been continued from page 3 Society, and gives presentations to tireless in managing the SMFSD local groups about Midwest railroad member roster and mailing list – and The Middler: Do you have multiple history. He has produced many books, you have also been an essential point- connections to pre-1700 Middletown among them The Chicago & North person in planning the SMFSD settlers? Western Final Freight Car Roster, Triennial Meeting. What goals do you Marge: I have documented my Chicago Great Western Depots Along have for SMFSD and its events? descent from William and Mary the Corn Belt Route, and The Chicago Marge: My committee and I aim for Cornwell, Samuel Doolittle, George & North Western Business Train. In a memorable event that will attract Hubbard and Elizabeth Watts progress is Frost & Granger: Depots even more members and friends. We Hubbard, and Thomas Ranney. I and Buildings, a book about the noted are seeking the right balance between believe I also descend from Nathaniel 19th-century architectural firm. socializing and learning about the and Ann Miller Bacon, Thomas and Joe is also on the board of our local Middletown area today and in the Sarah Hall Wetmore, John Hall and Deerfield Area Historical Society. past. We know some will attend for the Ann Wilcox Hall, John Kirby, Daniel The Middler: Do you belong to opportunity to do research, but if we Markham, Thomas Miller, and John other genealogical organizations? lean toward group activities, members Wilcox. Three of my paternal great- Marge: Yes. I serve as one of three can always elect research instead or grandparents descended from16 co-historians for the Society of come early or stay late. I think it is founders of Hartford. Mayflower Descendants in the State of important that each Triennial Meeting The Middler: Have you spread the Illinois, and as registrar for the North is unique, offering some new experi- genealogy bug to others in the family? Shore Chapter, National Society of the ences and insights for past attendees. Marge: A younger first cousin once Daughters of the American The Middler: What would you say removed is greatly interested and Revolution. I also hold memberships to new or prospective members to get appreciates my help. Our two daugh- in the First Families of Maine, First them enthused about membership? ters are only mildly interested at this Families of New Hampshire, Sons & Marge: The best thing about our time, but we are hopeful for the Daughters of the Pilgrims, the society is the camaraderie and sharing future. People tend to develop this Doolittle Society of America, and the experienced when we gather every interest around age 50. Sykes Family Association. I belong to three years. Our publication (The So far, our efforts to interest our several local genealogical societies. Middler) and the first settler profiles grandchildren in history have appar- The Middler: How does your published on our website are simply ently failed. We are called upon educational and career background outstanding. Some of us also meet at whenever there is a homework relate to your genealogical research? the biennial New England Regional assignment touching on family history. Marge: It really doesn’t, except for Genealogical Conferences, making We took two to Washington, D.C. and research done for my undergraduate those events more fun. Williamsburg several years ago, so major in American Studies. I was Our society also contributes to the hopefully some of our interest in the employed as a grade school teacher, Middletown community by making past has been absorbed. Comments day care provider, and an assistant in donations to area historical museums over the years: “I know how you spend a hospital development office before and to Godfrey Memorial Library. your time. You collect dead relatives,” working for 23 years as a computer Hopefully our 2012 Triennial Meeting and “Why do you help your friends systems programmer analyst. programming will allow us to connect learn about people on ‘the Flower?’” with more people in the community. It The Middler: Your husband, Joe, is “Hopefully our Triennial is partly with this in mind that we also a researcher and writer. Does decided to hold our 2012 meeting in your research ever intersect with his? “Meeting programming October rather than in August. Marge: Joe and I dated at Grinnell “will allow us to connect The Middler: Aside from genealogy College at Grinnell, Iowa, where he “with more people in the – and SMFSD database management – majored in history and I majored in “Middletown community. what keeps you busy these days? American Studies. Whenever we travel Marge: Enjoying our grandchildren, we focus on historic sites and muse- “It is partly with this in visiting our daughter in Wisconsin, ums, trains, and gardens. We seldom “mind that we decided to flower gardening, square dancing, book go to a research library together. I do “hold our 2012 meeting clubs, socializing with friends, and most of the research on Joe’s family. “in October rather than planning one or two vacations a year. I Joe’s great love aside from his family like to read historical fiction and non- is the Chicago & North Western “in August.” fiction, especially early American Railroad and all things related. He is – Marge Piersen history, and have collaborated on Archive Chairman for the Chicago & historical presentations to the DAR.

10 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA SMFSD Membership Information If you descend from a pre-1700 settler, we welcome you to join us The following are individuals (and presumably spouses & families) said to have settled in Middletown, Conn. before 1700. The list is from The History of Middlesex County (Henry Whittemore, Beers Co., 1884), derived in part from the List of Householders & Proprietors, Middletown, March 22, 1670. Names in boldface are the original 1650-54 settlers. N.B.!: This list is known to be incomplete! If you descend from a pre-1700 settler not on this list, including a Native American or African-American ancestor, please contact our Registrar about submitting lineage and references. Not a descendant? Join us in the Friends category! Josiah Adkins . . . . . 1673 Samuel Cotton. . . . . 1697 Edward Higby . . . . . 1667 Daniel Pryor ...... 1696 Samuel Stow . . . . 1651 Obadiah Allyn . . . . . 1670 Samuel Doolittle . . . 1693 Thomas Hill...... 1678 Thomas Ranney . . . 1660 Thomas Stow...... 1669 Thomas Allen. . . . 1650 George Durant. . . . . 1663 Thomas Hopewell . . 1662 William Roberts. . . . 1680 William Sumner . . . 1687 Nathaniel Bacon . 1650 Samuel Eggleston . . 1663 George Hubbard . 1650 Joseph Rockwell . . . 1693 James Tappin . . . . . 1662 William Briggs . . . . . 1677 John Elton ...... 1677 John Hulbert ...... 1669 Alexander Rollo . . . . 1697 Matthias Treat . . 1659 John Blake...... 1677 Thomas Ferman . . . 1679 Isaac Johnson . . . . . 1670 Noadiah Russell. . . . 1696 Edward Turner . . . . 1665 William Blumfield1650 Edward Foster . . . . . 1670 Francis Jones...... 1672 David Sage ...... 1662 John Ward ...... 1664 John Boarn ...... 1677 Jonathan Gilbert. . . 1672 John Jordan...... 1678 John Savage . . . . 1650 William Ward...... 1659 Alexander Bow . . . . 1660 John Gill ...... 1676 John Kirby...... 1653 Arthur Scovill . . . . . 1671 Andrew Warner . . . . 1667 Nathaniel Brown. . . 1655 Richard Goodale . . . 1671 Isaac Lane ...... 1664 Edward Shepard . . . 1687 Robert Warner. . . . . 1655 Thomas Burk...... 1670 George Graves . . . . 1650? Thomas Lewis . . . . . 1687 Joseph Smith ...... 1675 Robert Webster . . 1650 William Cheney . . . . 1655 John Hall ...... 1650 William Lucas . . . . . 1667 William Smith . . . 1650 Benjamin West. . . . . 1698 Samuel Clark...... 1676 Richard Hall . . . . 1650 Daniel Markham . . . 1677 William Southmayd. 1674 Thomas Wetmore 1650 Jasper Clements . . . 1670 Samuel Hall . . . . . 1650 Anthony Martin. . . . 1661 Comfort Starr . . . . . 1673 Nathaniel White . 1650 Henry Cole ...... 1650? Giles Hamlin . . . . 1650 John Martin. . . . . 1650 James Stanclift . . . . 1686 Francis Whitmore . . 1674 Nathaniel Collins . . 1664 Benjamin Hands . . . 1678 Thomas Miller . . . 1650 Samuel Stocking . 1650 John Wilcox ...... 1654 Samuel Collins. . . . . 1665 Daniel Harris. . . . 1653 John Payne ...... 1676 John Stow ...... 1667 James Wright...... 1690 William Cornwell 1650 William Harris. . . 1650 George Phillips . . . . 1680 Nathaniel Stow . . . . 1676 Membership benefits . . . Membership is a simple 1-2-3 procedure . . . When you join the Society of Middletown First If you are a descendant of any pre-1700 Middletown settler, and would like to join SMFSD, here is Settlers Descendants, you will receive: the easy procedure: • Two issues per year of The Middler, the (1) Send an outline/worksheet of your lineage to the Registrar. The applicant shall do their own SMFSD newsletter full of information useful genealogical research, and the resulting lineage should be accompanied by copies of reference for research about Middletown’s first settler material by generation. The Registrar seeks to verify submitted information, but does not families and local history. research family lines. • Access to the SMFSD web site which includes (2) Send a check payable to the Society of Middletown First Settlers Descendants (1650-1700) for first settler profiles, genealogy resources, local the non-refundable $10.00 application handling fee. history articles, a custom-prepared annotated (3) The Registrar will review the application for approval. Documentation is required only bibliography for Middletown research, and an through the line of descent from the 1650-1700 settler. If needed, guidelines will be sent that help archive of past Middler issues. document descent by generation. (The Society will return an application if more documentation • The annual membership roster enabling you to is needed. It is the applicant’s responsibility to complete any gaps in the records.) When network with Middletown “cousins” and approved, the new member can choose to pay annual or lifetime dues: researchers across the country. (A) Annual dues (Nov. 1 to Oct. 31) are $20.00 (in addition to the initial $10.00 handling fee). • The opportunity to attend SMFSD meetings (every three years) in Middletown that include (B) A new member may elect to pay lifetime dues (instead of annual dues) based on age: Age 0-50, genealogy research, cemetery tours, library/ $300; Age 51-70, $200; Age 70+, $100. Life Members receive a certificate suitable for framing. museum visits, networking, and social events. Friends of SMFSD. Are you a history enthusiast? Would you like to receive The Middler? Join • The opportunity to participate in the us at $20 per year! organization, suggest/plan meeting activities, Please send membership inquiries & lineage information to: Donald H. Brock, Registrar, and vote on SMFSD business. Society of Middletown First Settlers Descendants, 10 Windy Hill Rd., Glen Arm, MD 21057.

Vanished Port … history in essays published on the early-settler families whose biggest continued from from page 5 SMFSD web site. With the growth of asset was their exhausted farmland. Middletown as a port in the mid-18th Further, with each successive Today there is scant evidence along century, there was an uncomfortable generation, acreage available for each the riverfront of Middletown’s port disconnect between new arrivals new household grew smaller. Among era. The Connecticut Valley Railroad looking to profit, and descendants of other forces, this led to the exodus of connected Saybrook and Hartford with many people from Middletown in the tracks along the river’s edge in 1868. late 18th and early 19th centuries. In the 1950s, construction of Acheson There was a disconnect Full disclosure: Five generations Drive (Rte. 9) and urban renewal led between the new arrivals of your editor’s family were sea to the demolition of buildings along looking to profit, and captains in Middletown – from 18th the waterfront formerly associated descendants of early settlers century West Indies trade to early with the maritime trade. whose biggest asset was 20th-century steamboat days. Today, Editor’s note: Your editor has their exhausted farmland. the only boat in the household is my explored this period of Middletown’s wife’s one-seater kayak.

11 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA A new Sage genealogy … David Sage. My grandson Kristoff author, currently a graduate student at continued from page 4 Hendrickson and his wife, Katie, have Yale University, will deliver a copy in this book to qualify as acceptable in also visited Middletown. person to Godfrey Memorial Library in every respect. I have been blessed with on-site help Middletown. The Minnesota Historical The Middler: In this age of from volunteers, and I am indebted to Society will also receive a copy. The elevated privacy concerns, did you their professionalism. Someday I would NEHGS will review the book in the encounter any resistance when like to attend the triennial meeting of next issue of American Ancestors, and gathering information? SMFSD and get lost in the history and the NGS will review it in a future D.A.S.: Only one family member riches at Middletown and Cromwell. issue of NGS Magazine. refused to give me the details of his The Middler: Will the book be The Middler: Finally, what are you life. I advised him that I would respect available at genealogy libraries? doing with those 100-hours-a-week his wishes. I found some skeletons in D.A.S.: We have distributed the now that the project is complete?! the closets. In those cases I verified book to the Library of Congress, D.A.S.: If my eyes and overall the information that differed from Washington, D.C.; the New England health hold up another 10 years (My that handed down to the descendants, Historic Genealogical Society Library, life expectancy number is what? Don’t and recorded what I found to be true. Boston, Mass.; the Connecticut Society tell me!), I want to put in print as The Middler: Have you had the of Genealogists Library, Glastonbury, much as I can of my wife’s family pleasure of visiting the libraries and Conn.; the Allen County (Ind.) Public history. Job-one right now is to clean archives in Middletown and Hartford? Library; and the National Genealogical out superfluous information – and D.A.S.: Unfortunately I was unable Society Library, Washington, D.C. make room for more. I don’t think I to research in person in Middletown. SMFSD Registrar Donald Brock will will ever quit until I can’t see the My brother, Robert Earl Sage, visited give his copy to the Russell Library in keyboard. Isn’t that about it for all of Middletown and saw the burial site of Middletown. My grandson and co- us addicted to this cause/purpose?

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