CHAPTER IX.

CIVIL HISTORY CONTINUED FROM CHAPTER VI.

MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS FROM 1712 to 1775; LAND DIVISIONS; SCHOOL-HOUSES; ⚫CIDER-MILLS; GREAT SICKNESS OF 1727, 1749 AND 1760; GREAT EARTHQUAKE; AURORA BOREALIS, 1719; POOTATUCK FERRY, 1730; HINMAN'S FERRY, 1752; BRIDGE BUILT NEAR HINMAN'S FERRY BY GEN. WASHINGTON, 1778; CARLTON'S BRIDGE LOTTERY, 1780; SEQUESTRATION OF BURIAL GROUNDS, 1741; PARSONAGE LANDS LOCATED, 1741; PARSONAGE LANDS SOLD, 1744; EFFORTS TO FORM A NEW County called WOODBURY, IN 1748, 1751, 1768 AND 1791; MINE HILL, 1724; WOLVES AND WILD-CATS; TOWNHOUSE REPAIRed; Casualties; Relics; Tea-party at PARSON STODDARD's; RULOOF DUTCHERS' ESTATE; UMBRELLAS AND CALICO FIRST INTRODUCED; WITCHCRAFT-MOLL CRAMER; LIST OF ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS IN 1751; WAR WITH SPAIN; FRENCH Neutrals, 1756; LOUISBURG TAKEN, 1745; WAR WITH FRANCE-EXPEDITIONS of 1755, 1756 and 1757; Alarm for the RELIEF OF FORT WILLIAM Henry, 1757; EXPEDITIONS of 1758 and 1759; Louisburg, FORTS FRONTENac, Duquesne and Niagara, CROWN POINT, TICONDEROGA AND QUEBEC TAKEN.

AGAIN We betake ourselves to the task of gathering up the fragments that remain of the civil history of the town, "that nothing may be lost." The limits assigned this work give warning, that each subject must be briefly touched, and it is proposed to take heed to it.

It has been before stated that all divisions made in the public lands of the town to the original proprietors, or their representatives, were proportioned to the home-lot, which was from two to five acres in size. The former divisions of land having been brought sufficiently under cultivation, new allotments were occasionally made, as necessity required. Accordingly in 1720,

"The town grants a Division of thirty acres to each ten acre accommodation, and so proportionably according to articles, in the old township, half a mile from the town."

In February, 1729, the town voted to lay out seventy-five acres to each "ten acre accommodation," making no allowance for waste land, and proportionally for the five acre, or "Bachelor's" accommodations.

Previous to this date, in all the divisions of land, an account of waste or bad land had been taken, and more in quantity was given him to whom it fell, in the survey, or more land was given elsewhere to make his proportion equal to others. In 1734, the North Purchase, which had been granted to the town in 1703, purchased of the Indians in 1710, and surveyed in 1724, was laid out into lots for the purpose of division among the original proprietors. Col. Joseph Minor, Rev. Anthony Stoddard and Dea. Noah Hinman were appointed a committee to draw the lots for the proprietors, according to a scheme previously agreed upon,

"To begin att Waterbury bounds in the first or South Tier, and number west, and when the Lotts in that tier are finished, to begin in the second tier and so number West untill that be also finished, and so sucksessively untill the whole Six tiers be finished."

The lots were drawn by the committee appointed for this purpose January 14th, 1733. In 1733, the South Purchase was acquired of the Indians by a committee of the town. In 1738, the town voted to lay out

"The South Purchase in the Southwest part of Woodbury bounds into Equal lots, and as many lots as there are original proprietors in Woodbury Records,"

leaving necessary highways and lands to be appropriated for commons. Mr. Noah Hinman, Capt. Thomas Knowles, Capt. Richard Brownson, Mr. Knell Mitchell and Mr. Cornelius Brownson were appointed a committee to carry this vote into effect. They "judged convenient" to lay out highways 200 rods apart, over hill and dale, without regard to "circumstances." This committee also established the north line of the South Purchase, or the line between the old proprietors and the land to be divided, there being no dispute between the whites and Indians with regard to the lines between them. This line was to

"Run from New Milford bounds Eastward cross the falls att Shepoag River, and from thence Easterly up the brook that runs westerly into Shepoag River near the falls till we come against the head of Mine-Hill brook, and then Easterly down to the head of said brook, to a beach-tree marked, and down said brook to a Certain white oak tree marked, which tree stands on the South side of said brook."

The committee reported that they had accomplished the object of their appointment in June, 1742, and their report was accepted. In November of the same year, the lots were drawn for the proprietors

by a committee appointed for the purpose, in proportion to the interest of each proprietor, who was also to pay his proportion of the expenses of the survey. In 1754, four acres were granted to each accommodation. In April, 1758, Joseph Pierce, Samuel Wheeler and David Boland were appointed a committee to purchase the Indians' land at Pootatuck. This they immediately accomplished, with the exception of a small tract of land where the "wigwams" stood, and even this narrow foothold was purchased of them the next year. In the early part of this year, a committee was appointed to lay out the Pootatuck purchase into lots, in the same manner as had been done in the case of the South Purchase, which comprehended the north and west three-fourths of the ancient Indian Reservation. In March, 1760, this committee made a report of their doings, which was accepted by the proprietors, and another committee appointed to prepare drafts for the drawing of lots, to be so contrived, that each original proprietor, or his legal representatives, should have a lot in the Purchase, and so that the representatives of two or more original proprietorships could have their lots in one body. In 1771, a new division of five acres to each original proprietor, or his representatives, was granted, and the next year all the sequestered lands in the old township were in like manner divided between them. In December, 1782, the last division among the proprietors was granted in open meeting, and consisted of one acre to each "accommodation." Thus the original proprietors had been over one hundred years in dividing their surplus land, and there were yet remaining considerable tracts sequestered for various purposes, besides land in the South and Pootatuck Purchases. This might well be considered getting rich by degrees from "mother earth."

Great attention was paid to the education of youth, and the founding of schools, from the very first settlement of the town. It is believed that the people of this town were more particular in this respect than in many other towns in the Colony, or in New England generally, careful as they invariably were in these matters. Nearly all were educated in the first rudiments of knowledge. Few could be found who could not read and write. It is confidently asserted that an inspection of our early records will compare favorably with those of the present day, as evidencing the dissemination of common education among the people. Rare indeed was the instance of a person signing a deed, or other document with his mark. And yet there was but one school in the ancient territory for the first fifty years. The scholars had to come from all distances, from a fourth of a mile

to six or eight miles, and return daily. Previous to the division of the town into societies, which commenced in 1730, a vote had been passed to build "Several School Houses," in various parts of the town, for the accommodation of the children. But in 1735, the former vote not having been carried into effect, it was rescinded, and it was by " ye Town Commended to y° Several Societies, to proceed amongst themselves in y' best manner as may be for their Respective Conveniences."

Accordingly, as each ecclesiastical society was incorporated, the first thing in order was to establish a school.

One of the few luxuries of the early fathers, was the fruit of the orchard, and the beverage made from it. The apple-tree was the constant attendant of all the early founders of towns, and followed them in all their wanderings. If the early patriarchs could not, like their eastern prototypes, " sit under their own vine and fig-tree," they⚫ made haste that they might as soon as possible, with equal satisfaction, sit under their own apple-trees. Nor does it appear that they had the fear of the "Maine Law" before their eyes, for they freely granted the privilege of erecting "Cyder Mills," to the inhabitants even in the highways, the place of greatest temptation. Accordingly, we find in the doings of a town meeting held May 31st, 1739, liberty granted to Matthew Minor "to set up a Cyder Mill in the Highway," and a like privilege granted to Ebenezer Strong. The same boon was granted to others in succeeding years. It seems, however, that they were in some sense "restrictionists," having the germ of "prohibition," as they did not allow "unlimited free trade" in the article.

There have been several seasons of remarkable and alarming mortality in the town, when men seemed to die as if fated, without the power of cure or restoration. One of these seasons was in the year 1727, when disease seemed to make the burial places of the town, garner-houses for the dead. It is not now known what was the nature of this disease, which swept off the inhabitants of the new town like chaff. The records show forty-four deaths, which is probably not more than half the actual number, taking into consideration the defective state of the records, and the unusual neglect in causing deaths to be recorded, in such a time of calamity and alarm. The number of deaths entered for several years previous to, and succeeding this date, had been only from four to six each year. This was a sad decimation for a community that had struggled for years with all the wants and deprivations of the wilderness, together with the continual alarms and attacks in the Indian wars, growing out of their

frontier, exposed situation. The inhabitants, with the notions of that early day, had another cause of alarm in the mighty earthquake that shook the earth throughout this great continent, October 29th, 1727. In deed and ir. truth could the people of Woodbury cry out in terror, "The Lord is wroth; He is swallowing up His people in His fierce anger."

In 1749, the town was again visited by the devouring scourge, as was also Waterbury. It was a very malignant disease, a sort of a nervous fever, called by some the yellow fever, as the bodies of some of the patients turned yellow. The crisis of the disease was the ninth day, and if the patient survived that day, he had a fair chance of recovery. From the imperfection of the records, as before stated, the exact number of deaths can not be known. They show sixty-one, and there were doubtless many more in the extended limits of the town at this time. A similar disease had existed in Albany some three years before this date. The colony taxes were, for this reason, abated to the town of Waterbury, but though Woodbury only applied for a postponement in the time of payment, for some reason, it was not granted.

In 1760, another malignant fever severely afflicted Woodbury and some other places in this vicinity. The disease was extremely violent, terminating on the third or fourth day. Medical aid seemed to be of little avail, but the disease finally disappeared with the appearance of frost. In the society of Bethlehem, thirty-four persons died, and at least as many more in the other parts of the ancient town must have perished. Mr. Canfield, in Roxbury parish, at the close of an entry of seven deaths, remarks in a note, "A very sickly, dying time in Bethlehem." There were not enough well persons to attend upon the sick, and great terror existed among the inhabitants. Almost every house wore the badges of mourning, and orphans walked about the streets. Notwithstanding these seasons of extraordinary calamity, the ancient territory justly enjoys the reputation of possessing a healthy climate. From its location, its latitude, its breezy hills, its numerous fountains of cool, sweet, gushing waters, and a multitude of other circumstances, it would be wonderful if it were otherwise. The first appearance of northern lights in this county, after its first settlement, was December 11th, 1719;

"When they were remarkably bright, and as people in general had never heard of such a phenomenon, they were extremely alarmed with the apprehension of the final judgment. All anfusements, all business and even sleep was interrupted, for want of a little knowledge of history."