Connecticut Historical Society J
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c J c J, cr y(L^ COLLECTIONS OF THE Connecticut Historical Society_j Volume XIV HARTFORD PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 1912 T INTRODUCTION. The English settlement of Hartford, Conn.,, was made by settlers from "the New Towne," now Cambridge, Mass. As early as 1633 the region was visited by a few adventurers and traders from the Bay. In 1635 ^ settlement was begun at "Newtowne," the name being changed to Hartford two years later. The great exodus hither was in the spring of 1636, when the settlement was firmly established by the coming of the. Rev. Thomas Hooker and his party. About that time the lands were purchased by the settlers from the Indians. A confirmatory deed given in 1670, the original deed having been lost, states that it was given to" Mr. Samuel Stone and Mr. William Goodwin, in the behalfe of the present pro prietors and owners of the lands belonging to the township of Hartford." The proportional ownership of these lands, as stated at a meeting of the Proprietors in February 1671/2, was" accord ing to the^ate for diuifsion of lands agreed upon & entered In the Town book dated 3^ Janu"" 1639" [i.e. 1639/40], "according to which proportion they payd for the purchafs of the Sayd lands." The proportions of these Proprietors varied from one hundred sixty acres for John Haynes down to six for William Pratt and others. In addition to these were a number of settlers who were "Granted lotts to haue onely at The Townes Courtesie," sometimes spoken of as proprietors by courtesy, whose proportions were from six to three acres each. The township was divided into two parts by the" riveret " which flowed eastward and emptied into the Connecticut river. vii INTRODUCTION IX Vlll INTRODUCTION days, more or less distinct from the other, and to have main lymitts bounded out by the Court, the libertyes of the great River excepted, . tained to some extent a separate organization for the first "The Townes aforesayd shall each of them p''vide a few years after the settlement began. Separate meetings of Ledger Booke, with an Index or alphabett vnto the same: tiie two" sides " were held. There was a" north side book," Also shall choose one who shall be a Towne Clerke or Regis in which matters pertaining to that "side" were entered; ter, who shall before the Generall Court in Aprill next, record and, by inference, a similar south side book. Divisions or every man's house and land already graunted and measured out to him, with the bounds & quantity of the same, and grants of lands were made separately by the inhabitants of whosoever shall neglect 3 monthes after notice given to bring either" side " up to January 7, 1639/40, when such action for into the sayd Towne Clerke or Register a note of his house the future was forbidden by vote of the town. It seems more and land, with the bounds and quantity of the same, by the (Iian probable that some record of these divisions was entered nearest estimacon, shall forfeit ids. and soe los. a month in the respective "side " books at the time of making the for every month he shall soe neglect. The like to be done for all land hereafter graunted and measured to any;* and grants. Neither of the two "side " record books are now all bargaines or mortgages of land whatsoever shall be ac known to be in existence. counted of noe value vntill they- be recorded, for w®"* entry Upon coming into the New England wilderness the Eng the Register shall receaue 6d.. for every parcell, delivering lish settlers were obliged to devise and establish for themselves every owner a coppy of the same vnder his hand, whereof a new system of land records, from the fact that they were 4d. shall be for himselfe and 2d. for the Secretary of the Court. And the sayd Register shall every Generall Court, the first and original owners to parcel out the land from the in Aprill and September, deliver into the same a transcript great undivided tract of which it formed a part. fayrely written of all such graunts, bargaines or ingagements Each person who received individual parcels of land when recorded by him in the Towne Booke, and the Secretary of a division or allotment was made wished to assure himself of the Court shall record it in a booke fayrely written p'vided his title to ownership. This could not be done by the passing for that purpose, and shall preserve the coppy brought in vnder the hand of the Towne Clerke. Also the sayd Towne of a deed, as would have been the case in his native England, Clerke shall haue for every serch of a parcell id. and for for, as he had not received or purchased the parcels allotted every coppy of a jQ^rcell ijd; and a coppy of the same vnder to him in a division from any individual, there was no person the hands of the sayd Register or Towne Clerke and two of from whom he could receive a deed. In consequence came the men chosen to governe the Towne, shall be a sufficient the law that individual owners should make public record of lii evidence to all that haue the same".' the land owned by them, a proceeding practically unknown Similar provisions are found in the Code of 1650, with in the ownership and transfer of lands in England at that slightly different wording, with the substitution of "Septem time. ber" for "April," and with the insertion where reference is The General Court of Connecticut, at its session in Octo made to" ye printed books" of the following: ber, 1639, passed the following in regard to the recording of I "And if any such Graunter, being required by the I land: Grauntee, his Heires or Assignes, to make an Acknowledgm' of any Graunt, Sale, Bargaine or Morgage by him made, "The Townes of Hartford, Windsore and Wethersfield, m shall refuse so to doe, it shall bee in the power of any Magis- or any other of the Townes within this jurisdiction, shall each of them haue power to dispose of their own lands vndis- '[In margin:] "Here insert so much ye printed booke fol : 24 : from A : to i»—not—now-knowih 'Colonial Records of Connecticut, I, 37, 38. INTRODUCTION XI INTRODUCTION X John Allyn. Reversing the volume, the vital records begin trate to send for the partye so refusing and comniitt him to ning at the other end of the book cover pages 1-33, which have prison without Bayle or Maineprise, vntil hee shall acknowl edge the same: And the Grauntee is to Enter his Caution with been numbered in a modern hand. Then comes the record the Recorder, and this shall saue his interest in the meane of strays filling the next two unnumbered pages (34, 35) and time.'" extending onto the two succeeding pages (36, 37), which are It is of interest to note the gradual changes in the method identical with pages 592, 593. The vital records and other of recording a transfer of land as they appear in this volume. records at that end of the volume were entered by the re At first there was the simple entry of a parcel of land when spective town clerks, from John Steele down to a time later it was brought in for record; and if later it was sold, a memo than the entries of land records in the volume. As each entry randum to that effect made on the margin of the page where contains a date, it has not seemed that any advantage would the land had been recorded was the only public record of the accrue by noting in the printed book in whose handwriting transfer. But later came a paragraph entry stating, perhaps the different entries of vital records appeared. over the hands of an Assistant, a Townsman and the Register, The records of lands in the volume are entered in seven (hat a certain parcel of land had been sold by one person to different handwritings, including those of the first five regis another and that a deed of sale had been given. And still ters or town clerks in Hartford, whose terms of service are later came the custom, continued to the present time, of en included within the period of time covered by the volume. tering the deed in full on the record book. These registers, with the dates when each was chosen or The volume herewith printed consists of, or rather should elected to the office, are as follows: consist of, 292 folios which now measure 11^ inches in John^Steele, chosen November 16, 1639. height by 7yz inches in width. Long usage has worn a small William Andrewes, chosen January 12, 1651/2. fraction of an inch from the exposed edges of these folios. John Allyn, chosen April 11, 1659. At the time the volume was treated by the Emery Patent Silk Richard Lord, chosen December 23, 1696. or Tissue Process and rebound a few years since, the first Hezekiah Willis, chosen December 25, 1705. five and the last original folios were missing and their place Although lohn St^le was the official register of lands is supplied by a copy in the handwriting of the late Nathaniel from 1639 to 1652, less than half of the entries made during Goodwin; probably made about 1839. Since the work of pre those years are in his distinctive and rather cramped hand paring the copy for the printer was begun these six missing writing.