The Middler, Fall 2013

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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. 13, No. 2 www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctsmfsd/Index.html Fall 2013 GENEALOGY…and GEOGRAPHY Connecticut Path project energizes researchers to get out of the library and explore fields & forests Descendants can explore the 17th-century route from Boston to Hartford By R.W. Bacon Editor, The Middler Over the past year, the fabulous Internet-based initiative that invites At left is a section of the original exploration of the “Old Connecticut Old Connecticut Path as it Path,” the 17th-century Boston-to- branches off the road across Hartford overland route, has private property in Woodstock, received extensive publicity in New Conn. Above is a bronze plaque England genealogy circles – and well- located where the path emerges from the woods about a mile away. deserved acclaim from those who Rev. Thomas Hooker & followers have consulted the web site online or may have traveled along this explored the route in person. Native American path in 1635. Jason Newton, a retired educator and psychologist with multiple family Tribulations of Middletown’s Joshua Stow roots in the “Nutmeg State,” began the project in earnest in 2009, shed light on change in early-19th-century pursuing his interest in discovering how his many central Connecticut By R.W. Bacon most of it to his activities beginning Editor, The Middler ancestors made the trek from the in 1796 as a pioneer, land surveyor, outskirts of Boston to Hartford, The spring 2008 issue of The founder, and investor of the Ohio Wethersfield, and Windsor. Today the Middler featured an article on the town that bears his name. comprehensive web site includes the westward migration of Middletown But there is so much more to the history and geography of the route story of Joshua Stow that will families to Stow, Ohio, in continued on page 6 Connecticut’s “Western Reserve.” enhance understanding of the The article included a profile of political and social atmosphere in In this issue . . . Middletown in the early 19th century Joshua Stow (1762-1842), devoting The Old Connecticut Path...... 1 – a period when so many descendants Joshua Stow & 1820s Middletown ...... 1 ~ DUES are DUE! ~ of the early settler families were Member Notes & SMFSD News ...... 2 deciding to “get out of town.” Early Middletown Church Record Index Annual Membership dues ($20) are due Joshua Stow’s story is (1) a story of Available to ‘Godfrey Scholars’ ...... 2 January 1, 2014 for the 2014 calendar year. The Barbarous Years by Bernard Bailyn. . . . 3 Please send payment to: an introspective youth in the post- Connecticut Town Meeting Records Mike Campbell Revolutionary era of independent in the American Revolution by J.R. Mullen. . 3 ‘Due’ it Thank SMFSD Treasurer thinking; (2) a story of an adventurer Early Families of Middletown wins award . 10 Today You 3570 Willow Street who relished his expeditions to Ohio Membership Information ...... 11 !!! Bonita, CA 91902-1226 !!! continued on page 4 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA SMFSD NEWS • Facebook presence helps SMFSD visibility. Although your SMFSD welcomes five new members; editor neither twitters nor chatters, is neither linked-in or spaced-out, and is proposed bylaw change approved so overbooked that there is no time for Facebook, such conditions do not rule • Welcome new members. was passed by a unanimous vote of out rave reviews in this space for SMFSD welcomes five new members the membership. The vote changes SMFSD’s relatively new Facebook since the last issue of The Middler: the Section 7 of the SMFSD bylaws presence. About one year ago after the Kathryn S. Maxon, AM-336, to read: “Dues and fees shall be a set SMFSD Triennial Meeting, our Andrews AFB Md. (1st settler by the Officers and are payable secretary Cindy Nicewarner built a George Hubbard); Gary Stephen annually to be effective from January public Facebook page as an additional Petersmeyer, AM-337, Los Altos, to the end of the calendar year. A way for people to discover the organi- Calif. (1st settler John Savage); member who has not paid dues by zation. Even your editor must admit Kimberly DePrimo Holstrom, February 28 of the then current year that the site offers great potential for AM-338, Sturbridge, Mass. (1st shall be in arrears and ineligible to member networking. If you have not settler John Blake); John Grant vote.” This change will simplify yet checked it out, you can do so at Cornwell, AM-339, Upperco, Md. financial record-keeping. Thank you https://www.facebook.com/Societyof (1st settler William Cornwell); and to all members who voted by e-mail MiddletownFirstSettlersDescendants. William Howe, LM-340, San Diego, and postal mail. Calif. (1st settler William Cornwell). • SMFSD bylaw change approved by membership. The GODFREY LIBRARY NEWS proposed bylaw change detailed on the ballot in the spring 2013 Middler Early Middletown church records added to Godfrey Scholar database offerings N FIRST S OW ETT T LE By R.W. Bacon LE R Current Godfrey Scholar members D S D I D Editor, The Middler E can access the Middletown church M

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S O page and clicking on the “Church S Middletown, Conn. recently added Records” link in the category list. 1650-1700 202 years worth of searchable Middletown church records to its This will lead to a page with separate popular Godfrey Scholar database. links to the database and the page e The records, which are from the viewer. The databases are broken out Mid by category (baptisms & confessions, he handwritten record books of NEWSLETTER of the marriages, deaths, and members), SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN Middletown’s First Congregational FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS Church, comprise 4146 baptisms, and indicate the date, name, relation- 1650-1700 – Middletown, Connecticut, U.S.A. 1957 marriages, 2941 deaths, and ship, notes, and page number. Digital www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctsmfsd/Index.html 6207 membership listings. The images of the record book are then accessed via the page viewer. Vol. 13, No. 2 records span between 1668 and 1870. Fall 2013 In 2008, Godfrey provided access to Also available to Godfrey Scholar members online are the records of Please send articles, letters, news items, the digitized page images – about and corrections to: 1500 pages and 12,000 names – but the First Congregational Church of The Middler the recently-completed searchable North Middletown (Cromwell), c/o R.W. Bacon, Editor beginning in 1715. (These records P. O. Box 489 index greatly improves access. Newburyport, MA 01950 Godfrey Memorial Library, a are page images in PDF format.) (E-mail: [email protected]) dedicated genealogy library con- As SMFSD’s nominal headquar- ters, Godfrey Memorial Library holds SMFSD OFFICERS ceived by librarian and genealogist the organization’s genealogical and President ...... Margery Piersen Fremont Rider, and opened in 1951, Vice President ...... Sue Welles offers two levels of online Godfrey organizational records. To read more Secretary ...... Cynthia Nicewarner Scholar membership. Basic member- about library founder Fremont Rider Treasurer ...... Mike Campbell ship is $45 per year; Premium (1885-1962) and the beginnings of Historian...... Don Brock the library, see the feature biographi- Registrar...... Hal Whitmore membership is $80 per year. To Middler Editor ...... R.W. Bacon compare the two levels, visit cal article in the fall 2010 issue of www.Godfrey.org. The Middler.

2 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA BOOKS OF INTEREST Bernard Bailyn’s life of study yields masterwork on 17th-century America: “The Barbarous Years” By R.W. Bacon century dynamics in the new At right, the Editor, The Middler latest work American settlements, this book will by Bernard As a later-in-life graduate student be a treasure. This should not be the Bailyn, is a several years ago, browsing in a only book on the 17th-century shelf, masterful 614-page Harvard Square bookstore after a however, as it falls short in the tome, with night class, a little book with a coverage of Native Americans and 64 pages of momentous title drew me like a African-Americans in that era. But endnotes to savor! magnet – The Peopling of British the author’s insights, gained from a North America, by Bernard Bailyn, lifetime of scholarship, and delivered the distinguished scholar and with such grace and clarity, far historian. I wondered how such a outweigh the shortcomings. slim book could possibly cover such For those interested in New an enormous topic. I bought the England, Connecticut, and book, first published in 1986, and Middletown genealogy, Chapter 12, then learned that it was merely the “The New-English Sionists: Fault At left, Bailyn’s 1986 introduction is a slim introduction for the series to come. Lines, Diversity, and Persecution,” volume of 192 pages. In 1987 Bailyn won the Pulitzer provides cogent analysis of the Prize (his second) for Voyagers to the Puritan-led “Great Migration” to social control, were set free to work West: A Passage in the Peopling of New England, as well as the shifting themselves out, to exfoliate, almost America on the Eve of the Revolution. of the British population throughout without restraint,” Bailyn writes. This year, Bailyn, now 91-years-old, the 17th century. “The fractious history of Puritan has another masterwork on the “In this new English world of New England in its early years … market, The Barbarous Years: The farms and small villages, the divisive was the product of many conditions Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675. forces that in earlier life, which had and forces – the geopolitical and For those who desire to expand been confined by long-established cultural diversity of the population’s their understanding of the 17th institutions and deep structures of origins, the personalities of the religious and secular leaders, the trauma of displacement and resettle- Two-volume set extracts Connecticut’s ment – but above all it was the result of the basic instability and the inner Revolutionary War town meeting records turbulence of Puritanism itself.” Middletown genealogy enthusiasts town meetings from all of the state’s Pages are devoted to John Cotton can thank Jolene Roberts Mullen for extant towns between 1775 and (1585-1652) (and his “radical spiritu- making life easier after the publica- 1783. Volume I in the series includes ality”) and Thomas Hooker (1586- tion of Connecticut Town Meeting Ashford to Milford; Volume II 1647) (and his “temperate Records During the American includes New Fairfield to Woodstock. preparationism”), two major figures Revolution Vols. 1 & 2. continued on page 12 in the Puritan migration. Neither In 2012, her monumental effort of Connecticut one represented a Puritan orthodoxy, extracting the Revolutionary War Town Meeting writes Bailyn, but rather “a broad town meeting records for all of Records During field of force, within which there the American Connecticut’s towns – resulting in a Revolution, were many uncoordinated impulses.” two-volume 1500-page set – was Vols. I & II, by Bailyn describes the loosely recognized with an award from the Jolene Roberts associated “companies” drawn to the Mullen, is migration by the magnetism of Connecticut Society of Genealogists destined to be a as the outstanding genealogical prize reference particular ministers, but notes that resource publication in its literary with a long “the fabric of the Great Migration awards competition. “shelf life.” was more than a patchwork of The two books Connecticut Town Meeting Records total over 1500 ministerial-led clusters.” Many group During the American Revolution pages, and hold associations were based more on Vols. 1 & 2 collects the minutes of 75,000 records. continued on page 12

3 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Joshua Stow’s tribulations … and real trials … In early 1784, Joshua Stow decided to leave Middlefield, joining a group shed light on early 19th-century Middletown hired for land surveying in western continued from page 1 New York. By 1785 he was back in and back; (3) a story of a dedicated Middlefield, courting Ruth Coe public servant in many capacities; (4) (1760-1852), daughter of Capt. David a story of a man caught in the middle Coe (1715-1807) and Hannah of the Jeffersonian vs. Federalist Parsons Camp (1720-1808). Joshua animosity, who was persecuted for and Ruth married on January 28, his belief in religious freedom; and 1786. They had three children: Julia (5) a story of a banking crisis fraught Stow (1786-1845), Laura Stow (1790- with political vengeance that shook 1834), and Albert Gallatin Stow Middletown in the uncertain after- (1801-1830). In addition to farming math of the Panic of 1819. and working as a land surveyor, Fortunately the life of Joshua Stow Joshua began his public service as is well-documented, not least by the Constable of Middlefield from 1789 number of scholarly research papers to 1792. In this period he also served held by the Special Collections & as collector of state and town taxes. Archives at Wesleyan University in In 1800 he opened a sawmill at the Middletown. This article draws upon JOSHUA STOW falls of the West River, which he sources cited in those papers, plus (1762-1842) operated for eight years, and other publications and court records retained ownership until his death. of the 1820s. school sat down and looked over this In 1795 he began his association Joshua Stow was born in Middlefield journal. Had many melancholy with the Connecticut Western on April 22, 1762, the son of Elihu reflections … So many hours mis- Reserve Land Co., of which he was Stow (1736-1812) and Jemima (Payne) spent. Consider for the future to one of the original 48 investors. In Stow (1738-1805). Joshua was the amend. At a loss as to which way to 1796 he was one of six surveyors in a third generation of his family born in spend the rest of my days; whether party of 50 that went to Ohio to map Middlefield. His grandfather, Eliakim among books or in seeking after the Western Reserve into a grid of Stow (1708-1797), married Lydia honors and worldly interests … 25-square-mile townships. The Miller (1711-1761), daughter of one of Many are the temptations of this surveying team established the route the earliest settlers in Middlefield, world and many are the troubles.” from Connecticut to Ohio that would Benjamin Miller (1672-1747). Elihu In contrast, the diary also notes be used for years to come: Overland Stow was a farmer and part-owner of Joshua’s dinner parties, hunting through western Connecticut to the a grist mill and sawmill, so as a youth, trips, weddings, dances, huckleberry Hudson River, up the Hudson River Joshua worked with his father and picking, and sending valentine to Schenectady, N.Y., up the Mohawk brother, learning the entire range of greetings to two different ladies. He River to Oneida Lake, down the farm and mill operations. Elihu and was also close friends with Rev. Oswego River to Lake Ontario, then son Joshua both served in the Abner Benedict, Middlefield’s along the shore of Lake Ontario by Revolutionary War, Joshua as a Congregationalist minister, and the boat and on land, then a seven-mile private in Capt. Hopkins’ Company, two engaged in many long discus- portage to get around Niagara Falls, 3rd Regiment, from 1781 to 1783. sions about religion. then by land and along the shore of From age 23 to 26, Joshua Stow Lake Erie to the mouth of the kept a diary, which is now held by the Cuyahoga River in Ohio. Joshua Middlesex County Historical Society. “At a loss as to which way to would make this journey, a month From this diary we know that he “spend the rest of my days; long each way, 13 more times over studied mathematics, trigonometry, “whether among books the next 35 years. One particular township stood out algebra, geometry, navigation, “or in seeking after honors surveying, and philosophy, and that to Joshua, in Town 3, Range 10, he made special note of an important “and worldly interests … north of Akron, Ohio. It was heavily purchase: a pocket dictionary. During “Many are the temptations forested, with navigable waterways, the winter he was a schoolteacher, “of this world and many abundant wildlife, a moderate climate, and rich soil. He purchased but his diary indicates some youthful “are the troubles.” restlessness about his future, as in the five-mile square tract, which was this excerpt from December 6, 1783: – Joshua Stow subsequently named after him, and it “Kept school in the forenoon, after continued on page 5 4 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Joshua Stow … the Congregational Church in 1818. Party, which opposed support of the continued from page 4 The second was related to a banking Congregational Church by the state later became the new home to many scandal at the Middletown branch of government, and that year the party families from Middletown. Over the the Bank of the United States – of successfully seated its candidates as decades Joshua Stow spent a great which Stow was a director. Governor (Oliver Wolcott, Jr.) and Lt. deal of money to develop the settle- Joshua Stow’s interest in freedom Governor (Jonathan Ingersoll) in ment, but never actually lived there of religion extended back to his statewide elections. The time was himself, instead hiring his cousin, youth, and to his philosophical right for change, and in 1818 Stow William Wetmore (1771-1827), to discussions with Rev. Abner was elected as a delegate to the state serve as land agent. Judging from the Benedict. In 1789 Stow joined the Constitutional Convention (111 of value of his estate upon his death in Ethosian Society, basically a lending 201 delegates were from the 1842, Joshua Stow never saw a great library and debating club made up of Toleration Party). His express return on his Ohio land investments. the intelligent young men of purpose was to do away with state When in Middletown, Joshua served Middlefield and Durham, Conn. The support of any church and make a as a local and state tax collector club was in existence from 1787 to statement for religious freedom. (1790-1814), U.S. tax collector for 1793, and its members freely dis- Explaining the procedural rules and Middlesex County (1814-1819), and cussed politics, philosophy, and regulations of the process – and postmaster (1815-1818, 1821-1841). religion. During this period Stow describing all the roadblocks along As a leading figure of the Jeffersonian began his interest in Universalism, the way – would consume several party that continually challenged and and at the same time studied his copy more pages of The Middler. Suffice it chipped away at Middletown’s of Statutes of Connecticut. According to say here that Stow’s tenacity entrenched Federalist hierarchy, he to statute, the Congregational drove the changes through, and the was elected by voters as a representa- Church was to be supported by taxes revised Constitution was adopted on tive to the Connecticut General collected by magistrates, and no September 15, 1818. It was the Assembly (1805), as a Middletown other church could be organized Federalist smear tactics in the delegate to the state Constitutional without consent of the legislature. aftermath that led to the court case. Convention (1818), and as a State Stow was a member of the On March 16, 1819, an article in Senator (1819-1822). He served Congregational Church in the Connecticut Constitution newspa- appointments as Associate Judge Middlefield, and as its clerk, often per accused Joshua Stow of “spread- (1818-1822) and Chief Justice (1822- engaged ministers of other denomi- ing (anti-Christian) infidelity” and of 1826) of the Middlesex County Court. nations to preach there. In 1817 he extortion. The newspaper’s pub- If one looks at the big picture of was the leader of the Toleration lisher, Sherman Converse, was also Joshua Stow’s life and activities, it the reporter who covered the becomes clear that at least some of Constitutional Convention proceed- his appointments were related to ings and wrote the article. Joshua longtime political alliances with Stow sued the newspaper and fellow Jeffersonians who were united Converse for libel, and after two against the status quo Federalists. lengthy trials, the case was decided Stow supported Thomas Jefferson in in Stow’s favor in July 1821. the presidential election of 1800, in The trials, however, dragged Stow which Jefferson defeated John through the mud, with the lawyers Adams. Stow’s contemporaries for Converse calling upon a succes- described him as being an outspoken sion of witnesses, political enemies of individual who believed in expressing the Jeffersonians, to testify about his opinions. So as the Federalists in Stow’s “free-thinking” involvement Middletown lost ground to the with the Ethosian Society decades forward-thinking Jeffersonians, before. The jury in the second trial Joshua Stow stood out as a well- decided in favor of Stow, but being composed of Federalists, awarded known target for the Federalists to ENOCH PARSONS only minimal damages. One histori- try and bring down. Two episodes (1769-1846) stand out, both of which took years cal irony is that Stow himself to be resolved in the courts, ulti- In 1820, after the cashier of the Bank of insisted on the publication of all the mately in Stow’s favor. The first was the U.S. in Middletown dipped into the testimony that revealed the despera- funds and engaged in shady lending tion of his adversaries in A Report of related to Stow’s successful initiative practices, bank president Enoch Parsons, in favor of religious freedom, which an arch-Federalist, sued the bank direc- the Case of Joshua Stow vs. Sherman brought an end to state support of tors, who happened to be Jeffersonians. continued on page 10 5 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA The Old Connecticut Path the Great Trail or Connecticut Path. continued from page 1 The Old Connecticut The premise of Jason Newton and from Cambridge, Mass. to Hartford, Path is relevant to the others is that Rev. Thomas Hooker Conn., plus photos, videos, maps, and his 100 followers, along with 160 suggested driving tours, suggested 17th-century settlers head of cattle, plus pigs, chickens, hiking segments, and the sources of Middletown because and goats, very likely trekked the that are the basis for his interpreta- so many of the early Connecticut Path in the spring of tion. Newton relies heavily on the families made the 1636 en route to establishing the scholar who devoted the most study settlement at Hartford. It is impor- to the topic, Harral B. Ayres (1867- journey from the tant to note, however, that Jason 1959), author of The Great Trail of Boston area before Newton and others acknowledge that New England (1940), and other arriving in Middletown. a firm conclusion about Rev. Hooker's articles on the subject. The easiest 1636 route cannot be substantiated. way to get to the web site is to Rev. Hooker kept no journal of the Google-search “Old Connecticut already set for North Grosvenordale, two-week journey, and it is equally Path.” (The URL is https://sites. Conn. (March 19); Ellington, Conn. possible, according to other scholars google.com/site/oldconnecticutpath/) (April 24); and Hopkinton, Mass. and historians, that his group The site is so content-rich that the (April 27). Details are posted on the followed the “Bay Path” from Boston informative welcome page is best Old Connecticut Path web site. west to Springfield, and then south followed by clicking on the link to the The Old Connecticut Path is along the Connecticut River, as this helpful “Guide to the Old relevant to the 17th-century settlers was the preferred route to central Connecticut Path Web Site.” of Middletown because so many of the Connecticut at the time. (See the map Readers who live relatively close to early families made the journey from on page 7 that indicates the route of the route of the Old Connecticut the Boston area before arriving in the Bay Path and Connecticut Path, Path may wish to be on the alert for Middletown. By the mid-17th century, and lists the towns through which the Jason Newton’s presentations on his the connected Native American paths two routes passed.) project. Area libraries and historical that cleverly wound through wetlands William DeLoss Love, in The societies hosted several presentations and around hills formed a route that Colonial History of Hartford (1914), in 2013, and 2014 engagements are was in regular use and referred to as continued on page 8

At left is the Old Connecticut Path plaque placed by the Woostock (Conn.) Historical Society in 1991. At center is the view up a private driveway – formerly a section of the Path. At right is the view across the road from the plaque, where the Path heads west into the woods. (Photos by R.W. Bacon)

6 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Feature Graphic #17 – The Bay Path and The Old Connecticut Path The custom graphic showing the 17th-century routes from Boston to central Connecticut is based on the following sources: (1) Jason Newton’s Old Connecticut Path web site (https://sites.google.com/site/oldconnecticutpath/); (2) the Woodward & Saffrey Map of 1642; (3) the Philip Lea Map of New England (1685); (4) the unpublished “History Notes” of Charles Leavens; (5) The Old Connecticut Path, Woodstock, Conn. – National Register of Historic Places Form; and (6) Historical Journeys of Pioneer Years – Southern New England Trails & Activities, by Harral Ayres, in the Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeology Society, October 1944. (Graphic by R.W. Bacon for the SMFSD Middler, Fall 2013)

Mid-17th-Century Routes from Boston to Central Connecticut

VERMONT NEW HAMPSHIRE

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CONNECTICUT BA MASSACHUSETTS BAY SPRINGFIELD

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CONNECTICUT NARRAGANSET NEW Y TRAIL PROVIDENCE HARTFORD RHODE ISLAND

N NEW LONDON NEW SAYBROOK Bay Path HAVEN Old Connecticut Path Narraganset Trail TO 50 miles Shore Route NEW YORK

Towns Traversed by Grafton, Mass. Towns Traversed by the Old Connecticut Path Sutton, Mass. the Bay Path to Springfield (94 miles) (+/- 120 miles) Oxford-Webster-Dudley, Mass. Thompson, Conn. Boston, Mass. Marlborough, Mass. Cambridge, Mass. Woodstock, Conn. Roxbury, Mass. Westborough, Mass. Watertown, Mass. Eastford, Conn. Watertown, Mass. Shrewsbury, Mass. Waltham, Mass. Ashford, Conn. Weston, Mass. Worcester, Mass. Weston, Mass. Willington, Conn. Sudbury/Wayland, Mass. Leicester, Mass. Sudbury/Wayland, Mass. Tolland, Conn. (Conn. Path branches off Brookfield, Mass. (Bay Path branches off west) Coventry, Conn. to the southwest) Springfield, Mass. Framingham, Mass. Bolton, Conn. South Framingham, Mass. Manchester, Conn. Hopkinton, Mass. East Hartford, Conn. Westborough, Mass. (Or Tolland to Vernon, (Custom graphic by R.W. Bacon for the SMFSD Middler, Fall 2013.) South Windsor, & Windsor)

7 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA The Old Connecticut Path Regardless of Rev. Hooker’s route continued from page 6 in 1636, there is clear evidence that An exploration of the devotes a 17-page chapter to this very the Connecticut Path was in use as a subject, “The Pilgrimage of Thomas route to Boston just a few years later, Old Connecticut Path Hooker,” and suggests that Rev. and is included on the Woodward & web site will be an Hooker’s group followed the “Bay Saffrey map of 1642. So, for Middler intellectual treat, and Path” route taken many times readers with central Connecticut previously by John Oldham. Love’s ancestors who made their way an in-person, boots-on- view was that (1) the romanticized somehow from the Massachusetts the-ground visit to account of the trek published by Gov. Bay Colony in the 17th century, an the route itself will be Thomas Hutchinson in 1764, and (2) exploration of the Old Connecticut the confusion over the changing Path web site will be an intellectual a sensory one. names of the various paths, combined treat, and an in-person, boots-on-the- to blur the already scant evidence of ground visit to the route itself will be Rev. Hooker’s overland adventure. a sensory one. as it might have appeared to the The Connecticut Path and the Bay At the web site, Jason Newton earliest travelers. The most evocative Path followed the same route west writes of his efforts to trace the 17th- places are found between Sutton, from Boston, through Cambridge, century Connecticut Path that Mass., and Tolland, Conn.” Watertown, Waltham, and Weston to serviced the early settlers for over a Newton writes that his study of the Sudbury/Wayland, where the two century, but then fell into disuse, Old Connecticut Path continues to be routes diverged. The Bay Path superseded first by nearly parallel guided by three questions: (1) Can proceeded west to Springfield, stagecoach routes, and in the 20th the route of the Old Connecticut passing through Worcester, while the century, by roadways suitable for Path be reconnected all the way from Connecticut Path took a more automobiles. “Although the Old Cambridge to Hartford?; (2) After southwest course, crossing into the Connecticut Path served as an 375 years of human settlement and northwest corner of Connecticut important route for almost a century, modern development, are there still after navigating the lowlands around it has now largely vanished from view. wild places along the Path where it is Lake Chaubunagungamaug in In some places, the Path is hidden in possible to experience the wilderness Webster, Mass. plain sight; in other areas, only dim as it might have been seen during the In case anyone needs more confu- traces remain. Rediscovering the Old of the migration of the earliest sion: Even if Rev. Hooker’s group did Connecticut Path has required travelers?; and (3) Are there artifacts follow the Connecticut Path, the jury exploring woods and forgotten byways left by the earliest travelers and is still out on exactly where he crossed to find traces of the Path and confirm settlers that mark their passage the Connecticut River. The Old the markers described in histories,” along the Path? The voluminous Connecticut Path web site includes he writes. “After 375 years of human content assembled at the Old maps of three possible routes that settlement and development, places Connecticut Path web site begins to local historians have been jockeying still exist along the Path where it is answer these questions. over for a few hundred years. possible to experience the wilderness Through his own investigative experience, Jason Newton has been able to clarify the value of rediscovering the Old Connecticut Path. He notes that finding and experiencing the Path (1) renews a connection with the Native peoples who created the Path; (2) connects us with the settlements that grew along the Path; (3) allows us to walk in the footsteps of ancestor families who were among those who took the first steps in our country’s westward At left, this section of the Old Connecticut Path has been beset with evidence of our 21st-century expansion; (4) reveals the changes civilization. Farther along the same road, but still that man has made to the environ- on the route of ancestors on the Old Connecticut ment over 375 years; (5) provides the Path, your editor could not help but wonder if opportunity to renew ourselves by some 17th-century Pollyanna once blurted out “It’s all downhill from here!” getting outdoors to travel through continued on page 9

8 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA At left is a meandering section of the Old Connecticut Path that is now a private driveway. At right, just across the road, is the site of a former stagecoach stop and inn. The 18th- century coach road route passes nearby.

The Old Connecticut Path driving through torrential down- layers of human-built changes to the continued from page 8 pours en route, it was a relief to see environment on, around, and over time as we drive, walk, or bicycle the clouds give way to an open blue the Old Connecticut Path. One irony along the way; (6) provides incentive sky upon my crossing into the “Quiet is that a section of the Path in to preserve the Path for the enjoy- Corner” of northeast Connecticut. I Woodstock that was built by Native ment of future generations. was fully prepared with maps printed Americans along the top of an This fall, your Middler editor from the Old Connecticut Path web extended beaver dam in order to consulted the Old Connecticut Path site, plus the crystal-clear step-by- bridge wetlands is still in place after web site, and after reading some step text directions. The map and over 350 years, while another section maps and watching some video clips, directions were thorough, although of the Path, built over modern decided to take a one-day solo jaunt SmartPhone users will be able to concrete drainage culverts, graded to explore the Path between take advantage of more web site smooth, and paved with gravel to Woodstock and Eastford, Conn. This features that amount to interactive make a private driveway, now washes is one of the driving tours that plots guidance. The deficiencies of my old out a few times every year. an auto route that parallels the Old "dumb-phone," however, did not The web site and all of its features Connecticut Path as closely as prevent me from hopping out of the are highly recommended – from afar possible, and notes all the places truck many times along the route to one can enjoy dozens of video tours where the Path intersects. Even take photos. There was just one of the Path delivered in Jason though almost all of the Old period of odd discomfort: As a rare Newton’s low-key and informative Connecticut Path is on private and unlikely pedestrian briskly style. But if the northeast quadrant property in this Woodstock-to- walking along the gravelly shoulder of Connecticut is within reach, the Eastford section, my goal was to get of a high-speed road through the driving and walking tours of the Path out of the truck and tramp around boondocks (on my way to an Old will be enjoyable boots-on-the-ground (without trespassing, of course) as Connecticut Path photo-op some history/genealogy activities for those much as possible. distance from my truck), I must have with central Connecticut ancestors. Woodstock, Conn. is about a appeared to the drivers whizzing by two-hour drive from home in like a wandering escapee from either Newburyport, Mass., and after a prison yard or psych ward. If the northeast quadrant For your editor, a museum profes- of Connecticut is within sional who has always advocated for reach, the driving and The map and directions experiencing history with the five senses, this driving tour, with stops walking tours of the Path were thorough, although at all the Old Connecticut Path will be enjoyable boots- SmartPhone users will intersections, was excellent. For this be able to take advantage grizzled researcher, so often buried in on-the-ground history/ of more web site features books and papers, it was still moving genealogy activities for to tramp around the geography that those with central that amount to interactive was traversed by early Connecticut guidance. settlers in the 17th century. Perhaps Connecticut ancestors. most interesting was observing the

9 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Joshua Stow … law, Elihu Townsend, came to the continued from page 5 rescue and purchased the Starr Arms Converse, for a Libel: Containing a factory and 58 acres on Staddle Hill, History of Two Trials Before the and sold it back to him for a dollar.) Superior Court, and Some Account of Joshua Stow came out of all this the Proceedings Before the Supreme unscathed, save for the political Court of Errors. The author: Joshua harassment. Eventually settlements Stow. The publisher … on his own were received from Magill in 1831 – dime: Sherman Converse. after getting out of jail he set out for The second episode involved a western New York and it took years number of prominent early for authorities to catch up to him. He Middletown industrialists in a bank died in Illinois in 1855. As for Parsons, scandal. In 1817, Joshua Stow was the Federalist bank president, he is appointed to a directorship of the remembered in the collections of the Middletown branch of the Bank of the Middlesex County Historical Society: United States, with responsibility for On the back of a missive from Parsons the Office of Discount & Deposit. His NATHAN STARR, JR. in the Starr family collection, are the fellow directors included Henry (1784-1852) handwritten notations, “Satan,” and Carrington (1781-1871), Elisha Coe “Old Splitfoot’s Letter.” (1763-1831), Arthur W. Magill (1783- vengeance on the directors who In the 1830s Joshua Stow remained 1855), Simeon North (1765-1852), happened to be Jeffersonians. Parsons politically active, supporting Andrew and Nathan Starr, Jr. (1784-1852). sued Magill, Starr, Coe, and Stow, as Jackson in the 1831 presidential Arthur Magill was appointed cashier, equally responsible bondsmen, for campaign. In 1838 Stow was listed and in 1820 it was discovered that he mismanagement of bank funds. among the members of the newly- had engaged in reckless and illegal Nathan Starr, Jr. was an ardent formed Universalist Church in lending policies. Apparently Nathan Jeffersonian, and had served in the Middletown. Starr, Jr. and some of Magill’s friends state legislature a few years before, Joshua Stow died at age 80 at his were extended enormous credit, and but now he was caught in an obvious home in Middlefield on October 11, Magill himself was dipping into the breach of ethics, if not a violation of 1842. Almost all of his estate was bank funds. Magill was suspended law. Starr immediately paid back his spent paying debts he owed, the immediately, and later served a share of the debt, but the others largest sum to the School Fund, i.e. sentence in the New Haven jail. His defaulted. Since Starr was a co-signer proceeds due to the fund from the transgressions, however, created an for his deadbeat friends, Parsons sale of lands in the Western Reserve. opening for the bank president, seized the opportunity to bring Starr His wife, Ruth, was provided for with Enoch Parsons (1769-1846), a to his knees, eventually seizing his the 75-acre farm (with buildings, staunch Federalist, to exact political property in 1827. (Starr’s brother-in- continued on page 11

but also to reproductions of land grant Early Families of Middletown, Conn. - Vol. I maps, a history of Middletown, and multiple time lines. This is a must-read receives 2013 Peck Award for Family History for anyone interested in a city and its Early Families of Middletown, “The author has outdone himself … the inception.” Conn. - Vol. I: 1650-1654, published in book is replete with scores of photographs, The reviewer’s enthusiasm, for which late 2012, was recognized with the 2013 charts, graphs and drawings. Not only is the author is grateful, nearly precludes a Brainerd T. Peck Award from the the reader treated to early settler profiles, more dispassionate description, which Connecticut Society of Genealogists. can be found along with several excerpts The CSG’s literary award for excel- CSG 2013 at www.VarietyArtsPress.com. Brainerd T. Peck lence in family history was announced in Early Families Early Families of Middletown, Conn. - Award recipient. of May 2013. The award certificate – and Middletown, Connecticut Vol. I: 1650-1654 (8.5 x 11, softcover, 194 Volume I: 1650 - 1654 cash prize – were presented to the author By pages, 2012) is available from Variety Reginald W. Bacon at the CSG annual meeting May 17, 2013 Early Settler Profiles – Land Grant Maps – Timelines Arts Press, P. O. Box 489, Newburyport, Compiled Research & Analysis

Thomas Allen / Mistress Allen • Nathaniel Bacon / Ann (Miller) Bacon MA 01950. Order directly from the in Glastonbury, Conn. William Blumfield / Isabel (Pearce)(Sackett) Blumfield • William Cornwell / Mary Cornwell John Hall • John Hall, Jr. / Ann (Wilcox) Hall • Richard Hall / Mary (Anthony) Hall Samuel Hall / Elizabeth (Cook) Hall • Giles Hamlin / Hester/Esther (Crow) Hamlin Daniel Harris / Mary (Weld) Harris • William Harris / Edith Harris George Hubbard / Elizabeth (Watts) Hubbard • • John Kirby / Elizabeth (Hinds) Kirby publisher at the above address or via the “This all-encompassing book is a wealth John Martin / Mistress Martin • • Thomas Miller / Isabel Miller John Savage / Elizabeth (Dubbin) Savage • • William Smith / Elizabeth (Stanley) Smith Samuel Stocking / Bethia (Hopkins) Stocking • • Samuel Stow / Hope (Fletcher) Stow Matthias Treat / Mary (Smith) Treat • Robert Webster / Susanna (Treat) Webster of information for any researcher Thomas Wetmore / Sarah (Hall) Wetmore • Nathaniel White / Elizabeth White web site at www.VarietyArtsPress.com.

PLUS interested in treading the grounds of this Historical/Cultural Context Cost is $50.00 postpaid in the U.S. including A Concise History of Middletown 1650-2000 English Origins of Middletown’s Early Settlers Puritanism in Middletown • Burying Grounds of Early Middletown very early settlement,” wrote Russell A. Domestic Architecture of 17th-Century Connecticut Editor’s note: As a fine-print point of Community & Public Services in 17th-Century Middletown DeGrafft in his book review for the spring Native Americans & African-Americans in Early Middletown information, the author of the above 2013 issue of Connecticut Genealogy News. book is your Middler editor, R.W. Bacon.

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 (B) A new member may elect to pay lifetime dues (instead of annual dues) based on age: Age 0-50, (every three years) in Middletown that include $300; Age 51-70, $200; Age 70+, $100. Life Members receive a certificate suitable for framing. genealogy research, cemetery tours, library/ Friends of SMFSD. Are you a history enthusiast? Would you like to receive The Middler? Join museum visits, networking, and social events. us at $20 per year! • The opportunity to participate in the Please send membership inquiries & lineage information to: Hal Whitmore, Registrar, organization, suggest/plan meeting activities, Society of Middletown First Settlers Descendants, 1301 N. Harrison St., Apt. 201, Wilmington, and vote on SMFSD business. DE 19806; or via e-mail to: [email protected].

Joshua Stow … continued from page 10 SOURCES: Stow, Joshua. Report of the Case of Joshua Stow Vs. livestock, carriages, sleighs, tools, furniture, etc.), plus modest yearly bank Sherman Converse, for a Libel: Containing a History dividends. She lived comfortably for another 10 years until her death at age 92. of Two Trials Before the Superior Court, and Some Account of the Proceedings Before the Supreme Court Joshua Stow is buried in Middlefield Cemetery. Upon his gravestone is the of Errors. Middletown, Conn.: S. Converse, 1822. following inscription: U.S. District Court of Connecticut. United States Author of the article securing Bank vs. Magill, Stow, and Others. Hartford, Conn.: Religous freedom in the U.S. District Court of Conn., 1823) Constitution of his native state. Schulz, Carol D. “Joshua Stow: A 19th Century Rebel” To every species of tyranny and domination (1980). Wesleyan University Middletown Papers. #96. Norwood, Dael. “A Constant and Formidable Foe: A constant and formidable foe. Joshua Stow and the Fight for Religious Freedom in Now first in peace, for the impartial page Connecticut” (2001). Wesleyan University Shall greet thee as an honor to our age. Middletown Papers. #77. Barry, John. “The Starr Family of Middletown, Conn.: Long in these climes thy memory shall remain A Study in Social Mobility ands Social Experience” And still new tributes from new ages gain. (1979). Wesleyan University Middletown Papers. #9. 11 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Revolutionary era The Middletown section has entries The set was published by Heritage town meeting records … from 114 separate dates spread over Books, Westminster, Md. (www. continued from page 3 32 pages of fine print, and hundreds HeritageBooks.com), although oddly, The work has culled the names of all of familiar Middletown surnames. the books do not show up on the individuals mentioned in the meeting Taken in total, the mundane records company’s web site. The books are records in the Revolutionary War of appointing fence-viewers and listed on www.Amazon.com, however, period: those elected or appointed to a horse-branders, interspersed with and it appears the purchase is directed town office, those warned out of town, references to the war effort, paint a through the “back door” at Heritage those who freed a slave or became a clearer picture of ongoing real life in Books. The books can be purchased freed slave, those who required town the Revolutionary era. separately, in hardback or paperback. support, those who financially supported the Revolutionary cause, and Bailyn’s masterwork represent one-third of all emigrants those who left town for military on 17th century America … from that region of southeastern service. Also included are the lists of continued from page 3 England. individuals who took the freeman’s Those who like to dig deeper will oath and those who took the oath of kinship, friendship, or geographical appreciate the 64 pages of annotated fidelity/allegiance. In all, the books proximity. “In genealogical terms, endnotes – over 10% of Bailyn’s 614- hold 75,000 record entries. much of the emigration, especially page tome. Both volumes include a map of from greater East Anglia, the West The book is likely to be found at Connecticut towns, a reference to Country, and eastern Yorkshire, can most public libraries, and also parent towns, and a full-name index. be conceived of as tangles of available from your favorite book- (The index to Volume I takes up 158 extended kinship groups,” he writes, seller in both hardback and paper- of the 742 pages!) citing 55 identified networks that back editions.

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