A General History of Connecticut
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A GENERAL H ISTORY O F CONNECTICUT, FROMTS I First Settlement under George Fenwick,' Esq. TO I T t Latest P eriod of Amity with Great Britain- INCLUDING A D ESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, And many curious and interesting Anecdotes. To w hich is added, An A ppendix, wherein new and the true Sources of the present Rebellion in America are pointed out ; together with the particu lar Part taken by the People of Connecticut in Its Promotion. Bv a G entleman of the Province. 4 Plus a pul me ratio <vahbit, quam vulgi opinio. Cic. P arad. i. SECOND E DITION. LONDON: Printed f or the Author ; And sold by J. Bew, No. 28, Pater-Noster-Row, MUCCLXXXII. Ib, . Mw k* PREFACE. THOUGH C onnecticut be the most flourishing, and, pro portionally, the most populous pro vince in North - America, it has hitherto found no writer to intro duce it, in its own fight, to the notice of the world. Slight and cursory mention in the accounts of other provinces, or of America in general, has yet only been made of it. The historians of New- England have constantly endea voured to aggrandize Maflachusets- Bay as the parent of the other co lonies, and as comprehending all that is worthy of attention, in that A 2 country. iv P REFACE. country. T hus Governor Hutch- inson says, in the Preface to his History of that Province, " that " there was no importation of plan- " ters from England to any part " of the continent, northward of " Maryland, except to the Massa- 11 chufets, for more than 50 years " after the colony began;" not knowing, or willing to forget or to conceal, that Saybrook, New- haven, and Long -Island, were settled by emigrants from England within half that period. Another reason for the obscurity in which the Connecticutenfians have hi therto been involved, is to be found among their own sinister views and pur- PREFACE, v purposes. P rudence dictated, that their deficiency in point of right to the foil they occupied, their wanton and barbarous persecutions, illegal practices, daring usurpations, &c. &c. had better be concealed, than exposed to public view. To dissipate this cloud of prejudice and knavery, and to bring to light truths long concealed is the mo tive of my offering the following sheets to the world. I am bold to assert, that Connecticut merits a fuller account than envy or igno rance has yet suffered to be given of it ; and that I have followed the line of truth freely, and un biassed by partiality or prejudice. A 3 The v\ P REFACE. The R eader, therefore, will not be surprised, should I have placed the New-Englanders in a different light from that in which they have yet appeared : their characterizes have not been sufficiently unpreju diced, unawed by power, or un affected by the desire os' obtaining it, always to set them in the true one. Dr. Mather and Mr. Neal were popular writers; but at the time they extolled the prudence and piety of the colonists, they sup pressed what are called in New-Eng land unnecessary truths. Governor Hutchinson, who loved same, and seared giving offence, published a few only os those truths ; which failed PREFACE. v ii sailed n ot to procure him a pro portionate share of popular distrust and odium. For my own part, I believe my readers will give me credit, for having neither the sa vour nor sear of man before me in writing this History of Connecticut. I discard the one ; I court not the other. My sole aim has been to represent the country, the peo ple, and their transactions, in pro per colours. Too m uch, however, must not be expected from me. I am very sensible of many great defects in this performance, wherein very little assistance was to be obtained from the publications of others. Mr. viii P REFACE. Mr. C halmers, indeed, who is writing " Political Annals of the present United Colonies" pursues that task with great pains and ad dress. His researches have been of some use to me ; but, as to the New- England writers, error, disguise, and misrepresentation, too much abound in them to be serviceable in this un dertaking, though they related more to the subject than they do. The good-natured critic, therefore, will excuse the want os a regular and connected detail of facts and events, which it was impossible for me to preserve, having been de prived of papers of my ancestors, which would have given my re lation N PREFACE. i x lation t hat and other advan tages. I hope, therefore, for much indulgence, striking, as I have -done, into a new and dark path, almost wholly without a guide. If I have carried my self through it, though with some digressions, yet without in curring the danger of being ac counted a deceiver, my disordered garb will, I presume, find an apo logy in the ruggedness of the road, and my scripture phraseology be ascribed to the usage of my coun try. For t hree generations my fore fathers were careful observers of the proceedings of the Connecticut co lonists ; x P REFACE. lonists; a nd, if their papers and my self should continue in existence till a return of peace shall restore them to my possession, I trust the Public will not be displeased with the de sign I have os commiting them to the press. In the mean time, lest that event should never take place, I beg their acceptance of the pre sent volume, which, whatever other historical requisite it may. want, must, I think, be allowed to pos sess originality and truth, (rare pro perties in modern publications,) and therefore, I hope, will not be deemed unworthy the public savour. A .. A G ENERAL HISTORY P F CONNECTICUT, jr j ir*;|ir3flpH{ F T E R several unsuccessful FFF ^OO attempts to form settlements Kk. Jd~**i in the southern parts of frkfr'Sy'S North - America, in which little more had been done than giving the name Virginia, in compliment to the Virgin-queen Elizabeth, to the country, a patent was obtained, in 1606, from James I. by Sir Thomas Gates and As sociates, of all lands there between the 34th and 45th degrees of North latitude : and, at the patentees own solicitation, they were divided into two Companies, com monly denominated the London and Ply 2 H ISTORY OF Plymouth C ompanies; to the former of which were granted all the lands between the 34th and 41st degrees of North latitude, and to the latter all those between the 38th and 45th degrees. A part of the coast of the territory last mentioned being explored in 16 14, and a chart presented to the then Prince of. Wales, afterwards Charles I, it re ceived from him the appellation of New* England. In t he mean time, however, notwith standing the claim of the English in gene ral to North America, and the particular grant to Sir Thomas Gates and Associates, above-mentioned, the Dutch got footing on Manahattan or New-York Island, pusiV ed up Hudson's river as high as Al bany, and were beginning to spread on its banks, when, in 16 14, they were compelled by Sir Samuel Argal to acknow ledge themselves subjects of the King of England, and submit to the authority of the Governor of Virginia. For fcONfrECTICUf. * t For t he better enabling them to ac* complish their American undertakings, the Plymouth Company, in 1620^ ob tained a new patent, admitting new mem* bers of rank and fortune. By this they Were styled " The Council, established at " Plymouth, for planting and governing " that country called New- England ;" and to them Were now granted all the lands be* tween the 40th and 48th degrees of N. la titude, and extending East and West from the Atlantic Ocean to the South Sea, except such as were then actually possessed by any christian prince or people. Not long afterwards, the patentees came to the resolution of making a divifion of the country among themselves by lot, which they did irt the presence of James I. The map of New England, &c. published by Purchas in 1625, which is now become scarce, and probably the only memorial extant of the result, has the following names on the following portions of the coast : B E arl HISTORY O F Earlf o Arundel -* Between the rivers Sir F erdinando Gorges I St. Croix and Earlf o Carlisle Penobicot. Lord K eeper "j B etween Penobseot Sir William Belasis and Sagadahoc Sir Robert ManscU r iver. Earl of Holderness Earl of Pembroke Lord Sheffield Sir Henry Spelman Sir William Apfley Between S agada Captain Love hoc and Charles Duke of Buckingham river. Earl of Warwick Duke of Richmond Mr. Jennings Dr. Sutcliffe Lord Gorges Between Charles Sir Samuel Argal river a nd N a r- Dr. Bar. Gooch ! ragansct. In t he above map, no names appear on the coast north of the river St. Croix, i. e. Nova Scotia, which was relinquished by the CONNECTICUT. 3 the p atentees in favour of Sir William Alexander : the coast west of Narra- ganfet is not exhibited by Purchas, so that it is uncertain whether the division above mentioned extended to that or not. Pro bably, it was not then sufficiently explored. However, in 1635, tne patentees, from the exigency of their affairs, thinking a surrender of their patent to the King, with reservation of their several rights in regard to the property of the land, an advifeable measure, a new division of the coast was struck out, consisting of twelve lots, extending to and comprizing land on the west side of Hudson's river, and of course the Dutch settlements at Manahat- tan.