Indians of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Valleys

A careful review of the territory drained by the Housatonic and Naugatuck rivers will be advantaageous both to the Indian as well as the English hisstory, especially, since in the account of the company which gathered at Weantinock, now New Milford, for a time, and then passed on westward, it will be maintained that that settlement consisted of remnants of all the tribes who originally inhabited the State, westtward of the Connecticut river. It is also important in order to an understanding of the movements of the Indian tribes within this territory,-their gradual extinction, and the complete acquisition of the territory by the incoming English.

The chief river of western Connecticut is the Housatonic (more properly the Howsatunnuck,' and known in former times as the Stratford, Potatuck, or Great river). It enters the State from the north, about seven miles east of its western boundary, and flows in a direction somewhat west of south for about thirty miles, when, having almost touched the New York State line, just before entering New Milfor~ territory, it bends toward the east, and for a distance of thirty-five miles flows in a southheasterly direction, when it turns again and flows nearly due south for nine or ten miles, and empties into Long Island Sound between Stratford and Milford. Between the two bends (in that part of its course wherein it flows to the southeast) it receives several tributaries; prominent among them from. the west are the Ten Mile brook, which rises in Sharon, flows southward into New York, and then eastward into the Housatonic at Bull's Bridge; the Wiminam (old name Whomesage or Wimmisink) runs northeast, and empties into the Housatonic at Gaylords-

For a careful examination of this name see chapter on New Milford Indians.

ville; the Naromiyocknowhusunkatankshunk brook, which rises in Sherman runs north, and enters the Housatonic a little disstance below Gaylordsville; the Rocky river, which rises in Sherman, runs south through New Fairfield into Neversink Pond, in Danbury, then turns directly north, where for some miles it is called Wood Creek, and empties into the Housatonic a mile above New Milford village, but for a little distance before it empties, it is again called Rocky river; the Still river which rises in the western part of Danbury in several ponds, runs easterly to Danbury village, then directly north and empties into the Housatonic just above Falls Mountain; and the Potatuck brook in Newtown that flows north into the Housatonic.

Also prominent among those entering from the north are: the Womenshenuck river, that flows southerly into the Housaatonic, at Gaylordsville; the Aspetuck, which drains Wauramaug lake, flows southward and enters the Housatonic a little distance above New Milford; the Shepaug river, which drains Bantam lake in Litchfield and smaller lakes in Goshen; the Pomperaug, which flows through Woodbury and Southbury; and Eight Mile brook, which drains Lake Quassapaug. Just ~t the second bend where it turns to go southward, and nine or ten miles from the mouth, it receives the Naugatuck river. Thus constructed the Housatonic becomes a river of considerable dimensions, and the scenery along its vaHey is among the most beautiful and picturresque in the state, while in its valley, thirty-five miles from Bridgeport on the Sound, is located the village of New Milford.

The Naugatuck belongs to this group of southward flowing tributaries, but is much the largest and constitutes the main branch of the Housatonic. Its general course from Torrington to Birmingham is southward and parallel to the other tributaries. Its length, running between these two points, is .thirty-eight and a half miles. The river is formed by the union of the east and west branches at Torrington, near the southern boundary of the town of Torrington. The west branch rises in Norfolk, and flows through the northeast corner of Goshen, and through Torrington in a southeasterly direction; the east branch rises in Winchester and flows more nearly southward. Between the two branches there is a range of hills which terminates abruptly at its southern extremity in a height known as'Red Mountain.

At Torrington village, the hills on opposite sides of the stream are about a mile apart, hut just above Litchfield Station, they come close down to the river, and the valley for many miles below is narrow, and flanked by precipitous heights. All along its course there are alluvial lands, curiously arranged for the most part in triangular pieces on the east side of the stream ; and between Waterville and Naugatuck, these lands broaden out into extensive meadows-the" interval, (or inter-vale) lands" of Mattatuck-which attracted the first settlers to this part of the state. In the neighborhood of Waterbury, not only are the meadows wide, but the hills which overlook them are low, and partake of the character of bluffs, while on the eastern side there is an opening in the hills large enough to afford room for a thrivving little city. Below Naugatuck, the water-shed becomes narrrow again, and the hillsides precipitous. This is especially true of the section below Beacon Hill brook, where the hills are not only steep, but high and rocky, and the valley is gorge.like. The "dug-road," on the eastern bank., and the railroad on the western, are cut into the foundations of the mountains, and at the same time overhang the rushing waters. From Beaver brook to the mouth of the river at Birmingham, about two miles, there is a fine tract of meadow-land, about half a mile in width, which attracted the first settlers to that locality. In the upper part of the valley (for example, just above Waterville) there is much that is wild and picturesque; but the entire section beetween Beacon Hill brook and Seymour, is of quite exceptional beauty and grandeur.

The Naugatuck has many tributaries, for instance, Spruce brook, which flows through East Litchfield, and empties near Campville; Lead River, which rises in New Hartford, and flows through Harwinton; the West Branch, which rises in Moms and Litchfield, and divides Thomaston from Watertown, and empties at Reynold's Bridge; Hancock's brook, which rises in the northeast part of Plymouth, and empties at Waterville; Steele's brook, which flows through Watertown, and empties at the northwest boundary of the City of Waterbury; Mad river, which rises in the northern part of Wolcott, and flows through the City of Waterbury; Smug brook, which empties at Hopeeville; Fulling-Mill brook, which flows westward and empties at Union City; Hop Brook. which comeS from Middlebury and empties at Naugatuck; Longmeadow brook, which rises in MidddleblP"Y, drains Longmeadow pond, receives a tributary from Toantuck pond, and empties at Naugatuck; Beacon Hill river (anciently the boundary between Waterbury and Derby) one branch of which rises ~n the north of Prospect. the other in Bethany; Sherman's brook, which tumbles through High Rock Glen; Lebanon brook, which rises in the south of Bethany and empties at Beacon Falls; Chestnut Tree Hill brook. which comes from the west, and empties at Pine's Bridge; Bladen's brook, which rises in Bethany and Woodbridge, and empties at Seyymour; Little River, which rises in Middlebury, drains Oxford, and empties at Seymour; and Beaver brook. which empties a little below Ansonia. These are all rapid streams, plunging downward into the deep valIey of the Naugatuck, and compared with the great western rivers, it has but an insignificant waterrshed; yet there are eighteen or twenty towns .embraced in it. Those which border upon the river are Torrington, Litchfield, Harwinton, Plymouth, Thomaston, Watertown, Waterbury, Nauugatuck, Beacon Falls, Seymour, Derby. Those which, although lying back from the river, are drained in part by its tributaaries, are Morris, Middlebury, Wolcott, Prospect, Bethany, and Oxford.

Ii may be seen from this rapid sketch, that this region of country is but a narrow valley drained by a tributary river of very moderate size, is of limited extent. and has a decided geographical unity. Besides this, it has come to possess in modem times a unity of another kind. The township divisions and the centers of population are numerous, but industrially the valley is one. The district extending from Winsted, just beyond the headwaters of the river and in the same valley, to Birmingham at its mouth, has become the seat of one of the greatest manufacturing industries of the country. As in other valleys of New England, the populations once seated on the hills have crowded to the water courses, drawn by opportunities of lucrative employment; and, at the magic touch of the finger of trade, have sprung up or risen into a larger life such busy centers as Torrington, Thomaston, Waterbury, Naugatuck, Seymour, Ansonia, Birmingham, and Derby. If we take railway connections into account, the thrifty village of Watertown. should be included in the list.

To dwell upon the physical features of the Housatonic and Naugatuck vaUeys is important, because the Indian history commences at a period when these characteristics were almost the only ones to be noticed, and when the habitations of the natives were mostly confined to the localities at the outlets of these riv~rs. To obtain a clear understanding of that history, the reader must rid himself, so far as possible, of modem assoociations, must lose sight of all political divisions of the territory, must forget the existence of these business centers which have just been enumerated, must suppose this dense population, and these dwellings and shops and streets and highways and bridges, and these extensive manufactories, and the railroads with their stations and rolling equipments, all swept away,-in fact, aU the multitudinous products of modem civilization, and go back to the primitive period in the history of New England. The rivers were here, and the brooks flowing into them. The hills were here, . and the occasional patches of meadow land; and the entire region, the meadows excepted, was covered with stately forests. The woods abounded with game, and the streams in fish, but the country was a pathless wilderness, the heritage and possession of the Red man. It was not divided as it now is among individual owners, but it belonged to the natives who roamed through its woods and established their camping grounds upon its streams. The statement in the Histo~ of Waterbury, that, "at the time of its discovery by white men there was no Indian settlement within the limits of the ancient town," might safely be applied to the entire valley, if the places near the outlets of the'two rivers were excepted-Stratford and Derby. But what was true .two hundred years ago may not have been always true; and besides, although there may not have been settlements in these valleys, it does not follow that they were totally unoccupied. The Indians not only claimed them-they roamed over them as well-tried hunting-grounds. The lands in the upper part of the valleys were especially attractive in this respect, for it is said that in the section which is now known as Litchfield, "many of the hills were nearly cleared of trees by fires" which Indian hunters had kindled in order to secure game, the same having been true of several hills also in New Milford.

It is to the traces of Indian occupancy in the territory thus described, that attention is directed, in order to a better knowlledge of the clans which dwelt at Milford, Stratford, and Derby, from just before the settlement of the English to the final dissappearance of the natives of this whole territory. These traces might be pursued in the light of three sources of information: the land records, the traditions and place-names, and the relics discovered, the arrow-heads, spear-heads and knives, the larger ground-stone implements and the soapstone dishes; but the first of these (the land records) will afford the largest source of innformation in this brief account of the departing footsteps of the Red man.

The primitive condition of things in these valleys continued until' the middle of the seventeenth century, but previous to which a number of settlements had been made within the tertorial area now embraced in the State of Connecticut. It was in 1635 that parties of emigrants from the neighborhood of Boston pursued their way through the wilderness to the Con- . necticut river and -settled at Windsor, Hartford, and Wetherssfield. After the Indian war of 1637, those who pursu~d the fleeing Pequots toward the west, saw for the first time the lands on Long Island Sound lying westward of the mouth of the Connecticut, and as a consequence, their value soon became known, and in 1638 a colony we~.t from Boston and established its headquarters on New Haven Bay. One of the New Haven companies went still further and settled at Milford, in 1639. In the same year lands were purchased at Stratford, and a setttlement was begun, but by a different company of emigrants. All these plantations were upon the sea coast or on navigable waters, but in 1640 some of the Hartford settlers, attracted by the meadow-lands of the Farmington river, removed westward and established a settlement at Farmington.

Now, how were the aboriginal inhabitants situated at the time when these settlements were made, that is, from 1635 to 1640, and for some years afterward?

It must be remembered that they all belonged alike to the great Algonkin stock-a division of the Indian race which at the discovery extended along the Atlantic coast all the way from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Peedee river. Of this extensive family, the most important branch were the Delawares. The Abnakis, far to the northeast, were also important. But in New England the native population was broken into numerous petty tribes, speaking divergent dialects of the one stock lannguage. On the western bank of the Connecticut, an Algonkin people is found' extending for some distance up and down the river, constituting a group of tribes or a confederacy, ruled by a sachem named Sequassen. The precise nature of the bond which held them together it is impossible to ascertain, but it is certain that when the English first came among them Sequassen claimed jurisdiction over territory occupied by other chiefs, and sold land to the magistrates of Hartford extending as far west as the country of the Mohawks. His dominion embraced *ereefore the tribes of the Farmington river, some of whom had their principal seat at Poquonnoc, five or six miles from its mouth, and othez:s at. the bend in the river, eight or ten miles west of the Connecticut, where Farmington was afterwards settled. The first Poquonnoc chief knoWIt to the English was named Sehat. He was succeeded by one whose name is familiar to Waterbury people under the form of Nosahogon, but whose true name was Nassahegon or Nesaheagun.

The Indians of Farmington are known as the Tunxis tribe. They had a camping-ground also at Simsbury, and claimed all the territory west of that place as far as the Housatonic river. They are spoken of by Mr. ]. W. Barber in his ., Historical Collections," as a numerous and warlike tribe; but Mr. ]. W. DeForest, in his" History of the Indians of Connecticut," estiimates their number at " eighty to one hundred warriors, or about four hundred individuals." Whatever other chiefs tbey may have had, the authority of Nassahegon seems to have been reccognized, and also the necessity of securing his consent in the disposal of lands.

If now attention is directed from the center of the state to the shore along the sound, the country of the Quiripi (or Long Waater) Indians comes into view, a people known around New Haven harbor as Quinnipiacs. They claimed quite a large tract of land, although their numbers were few. The New Haven company entered into an agreement, Nov. 14, 1638, with Moomauguin, sachem of that part of the country, and his counselors, respecting the lands, and the treatment of the Indians.

lors, respecting the lands, and the treatment of the Indians. The articles are to this effect. That Momauguin is the sole sachem of Quinnipiac, and had absolute power to aliene and disspose of the same j that in consequence of the protection he had tasted, by the English, from the Pequots and Mohawks,2 he yielded up all his right, title, and interest to all the land, rivers, ponds, and trees, with all the liberties and purtenances belonging to the same, unto Theophilus Eaton, John Davenport, and others, their heirs and assigns forever. He covenanted that neither he nor his Indians would terrify or disturb the English, or injure them in any of their interests j but that, inï¿½ every respect, they would keep true faith with them.

The English pledged to protect Momauguin and his Indians, when unreasonably molested by the other Indians; and that they should always have a sufficient quantity of land to plant, on the east side of the harbor between tl1at and Saybrook Fort. In this agreement they gave unto the chief, his council and commpany, twelve coats of Engli~ cloth, twelve alchymy spoons, twelve hatchets, twelve hoes, two dozen knives, twelve porrinngers, and four cases of French knives and scissors.

Thomas Stanton, being the interpreter on the occasion, deeclared in the presence of God, that he had faithfully acquainted the Indians with the articles, and returned their answers.

In the December following, they purchased a tract of land ten miles in length, north and south, and thirteen in breadth, lying north of the former one. It extended eight miles east of the river Quinnipiac, and five miles west of it towards Hudson's river. It included all the lands within the ancient limits of the old towns of New Haven, Branford, and Wallingford, and almost the whole contained in the present limits of those towns, and the towns of East Haven, North Branford, Meriden, Cheshire,Hamden, North Haven, Bethany, Woodbridge, and a part of Orange. The deed was signed 'by Montowese, son of the great sachem at Mattabeseck (Middletown), and Sawsounck, an Indian who came with him to New Haven! It appears that this land descended to Montowese from his deceased mother. His tribe or company consisted of but ten men, with their women and children.

The Quinnipiacs dwelt in summer upon the shore, for the connvenience of fishing; and in the winter in the forests, for the convenience of fuel.

They had a place in East Haven for pow-wowing, about threeequarters of a mile east of the harbor bridge.

It is said that they had neither marriages' nor divorces; and that they caught round clams with their feet, and taught the same art to the English. The Indian arrow-heads, found here frequently, are like some which were brought from Cape Horn. At Fort Hill there was an Indian fort, and an Indian buryinggplace on the eastern side of the hill; the name of the location was at first Indian Hill.

Charles, the last sachem of this tribe,. is said to have been froozen to death, near a spring about one mile north of the Congreegational church in East Haven, about one hundred and forty years ago.6

On the territory ceded by the second New Haven deed, in North Haven, the Indians (says Dr. Trumbull) were sometimes very numerous, giving much alarm to the inhabitants, especially to the women and children. The Indians at Mattabeseck (Midddletown), were connected with the Indians in this part of the state, and the extent of the river into the northern part of Farrmington, and the fine fishing and fowling upon it formed a connnection with the Farmington Indians. The combination of these circumstances sometimes filled the parish with Indians. At parrticular times they seemed to swann the river, and the groves and swamps appeared to be alive with them. After the settlement commenced, they held a grand pow-wow, on the road between the comer of the market-place and John Humiston's; the peopIe were in great fear that their fields of corn would be ruined by them, but by the influence of the chief sachem they were reestrained from doing any damage.

In Wallingford the inhabitants suffered repeatedly in their apprehensions from the incursions of the Indians. On the 27th of August, 1675, upon the breaking out of King Philip's war, the houses of Mr. Street and Lieut. Merriman were ordered to be fortified, and the whole town engaged in the work until it was completed j and every man was required to bring arms and ammunition on the Sabbath. In the following October, Sergt. Doolittle's, house at the lower end of the' town was fortified. and persons were appointed to keep garrison at each of these fortified places! In February, 1690, when the inhabitants numbered four hundred, there was an order of the town" to fort in the meeting-house." Again in 1702, the apprehensions from the fury of the savages were revived and the inhabitants brought arms on the Lord's day.

There were Indians at Guilford from whom the land was purrchased in 1639, and one condition made with them was that they should remove from the place, which they did soon after, and "the tradition is. that they removed westward to Branford or East Haven," and possibly some of them went further and united their fortunes with their race at Milford or Stratford.

Some Specific Records.

June 4, 1646, Pawquash a Quillipiock (Quinnipiac) Indian was first complained of for leaving open the oyster shell field gate, and damage being done thereby refused to give any satisfaction.

Secondly, be about four yeus since came into Mr. Crayncs banse when they were blessing God in the name of Jesus Christ; and that he did then blasphemously say that Jesus Christ was matta,moy and naught, and his bones rotten, and spake of an Indian in Montoises (Montowese's) plantation, ascended into Heaven, which was witnessed by Mr. Crayne. MIS. Crayne. MllI. Lmg, Wm. Holt, Goodie Camp.

The sentence of the court was, that he should be severely whipped for thus scorning at our worshiping God and blaspheming the name of our Lord Jesus, and iDforming him that if he should do so hereafter, it would be against the light he now has, and it would hauard his life.

And for damage by means of the gate being left open, he was to pay five shillings to Thomas Kuowles.

It is ordered that Wequash shall have a sute of clothes made at the towns charge. Nov., 1641.

6 Ibid. 241.

7 Dr. Dana's century sermon.

One Wequash Cook, an Indian living about Connecticut river's mouth, and keeping much at Saybrook with Mr. :renwick, attained to good knowledge of things of God and salvation by Christ, so as he became a preacher to the Indians, and labored much to convert them, but without effect, for within a ahort time he fell sick, not without suspicion of poison from them, and died very comfortably.

The Indians of Quinnipiac, in this treaty, declared that they still remember the heavy taxes of the Pequots and Mohawks; and that, by reason of the fear of them, they could not stay in their own country, but "had been obliged to flee. By these powerful enemies they had been reduced to forty men.

8 New Haven Deed, Nov. 14, 1638.

Momauguin, Sugcogisin, Quosaquasb,

CarrolJgbood, W ODSaUTuck.

The mark of Shumpishuh, the sister of Momauguin, called in the agreement Squaw Sachem, who had some interest in a part of the land.

ï¿½ New Haven Deed, Dec., 1638.

Montowese,

6 J. W. Barber's Historical Col., IJ4.

Chapter II

MILFORD, STRATFORD, AND DERBY.

WEST of the territory of the Quinnipiacs we enter the country of the Wepawaugs, which tribe was a large one, and at the time of the coming of the English, were settled at three localities,-Milford, Stratford, and Derby,-thus occupying considerable territory on both sides of the Housatonic. It extended, prohably, from the West river, which separates New Haven from Orange, all the way to Fairfield. On the west of the Housatonic tbey claimed all the territory now comprised in the towns of Stratford, Bridgeport, Trumbull, Huntington, and Monroe; and on the east side, as far north as Beacon Hill brook, east of the Naugatuck, including the town of Milford, and the western part of Orange, Woodbridge, and Bethhany, and, as we shall see, still further,--overlapping the hunting grounds of the Tunxis j and north and east of the Housatonic above Birmingham Point, they claimed the territory nearly to the Massachusetts line, certainly into the town of Norfolk, whither their deeds extend.

This large tribe at the coming of the English was under the dominion of the well-known chief Ansantaway, whose" big wiggwarn" is said to have been on Charles Island, at Milford, and the wigwams of whose people scarcely extended beyond" The Neck " above the present village of Birmingham, in Derby.

The first purchase of land at Milford was made of the Indians, Feh. 12, 1639, and comprehended about two miles of what is now the center of the town. The deed was given to Mr. William Fowler, Edmund Tapp, Zechariah Whitman, and Alexander Bryan, in trust for the body of the planters; the consideration being,six coats, ten blankets, one kettle, besides hoes, knives, hatchets and glasses." The instrument was signed by Ansantaaway and others.

Milford deed, Feb. 12, 1639.

Ansantaway, sagamore, Anshuta.

Arracowset, Manamatque.

Afterwards other purchases were made until the Wepawaugs had sold themselves out of house and home, at Milford, in very deed. The tract lying west of the settlement, on the Housatonic river, was bought in 1656, for the sum of twenty-six pounds to be paid in goods.2 The Indian N eelt, lying between the East River' and the Sound, was purchased in 1660.8 A reservation of twenty acres was made by the Indians in this last tract, for planting ground, which reservation they sold, Dec. 12, 1661, for six coats, two blankets, and two pair of breeches. By this last agreement Ansantaway and wife and his sons Tountonemoe and Ankeaanach, in case of danger" were granted f( liberty to sit down for shelter in some place near the town where the townsmen (selecttmen) should think fit." In accordance with this agreement the town sometime afterwards appointed a tract of land on its northhern bOrder, adjoining the Derby line and made it a reservation for them.

Turkey Hill Reservation.

Aug.17, 1680. We whose names are hereunto subscribed being appointed by the General Court to layout in Milford bounds, one hundred acres of land for the Indians' improvement, we have this present day laid the camp;aid hundred settled on the east side of Stratford River, being bounded on the west with Stratford River. north with the brook caned the Two Mille brook and divided between Milford-and Derby, and south with another brook called Turkey Hill brook; and near the north we run not far from the Two Mile brook;' from the river called Stratford River, easteJ:ly, one hundred and sixty rods, and there marked a white oak and set a straight range which is to run to the Two Mile brook northerly, and a straight range southerly to the brook called the Turkey brook; meet highways allowed.

Jehu Burr, Joseph Hawley, in the behalf of Milford, Robert Treat, Sen., William Fowler conaenting.

The place more recently known as Turkey Hill is a little way up the river from the mouth of Two Mile brook, in which place there was an Indian burying place, a few graves, and where is still the sight of the last home of Molly Hatchet, the last of the tribe there, so far as known.

Milford Deed, Dec. 20, 1656.

Ansantaway, Toutonomac, Akenash

ï¿½ Milford Deed, Jan. 2, 1660.

Ansantaway, Toutonomac, Akenash

ï¿½ Milford Deed, Dec. 20, 1661.

Ansantaway, Toutonomae, Akenash

If at this time there were other remnants of the Weepawaug

Indians remaining east of the Housatonic, they were, probably, absorbed in this settlement at Turkey Hill.

This reservation was set apart by the town of Milford as the horne of the Milford Indians who had remained in the south part of that town when Ansantaway removed into Derby, at or near the Narrows on the east side of the Housatonic. And since Annsantaway removed thither nearly twenty years before Milford apppropriated tbis one hundred acres, it is doubtful if the Indians ever resided on any part of the one hundred acres;-they reesided north of it in the town of Derby upon land owned by Maj. Ebenezer Johnson, who appears never to have disturbed them. Upon this land they continued about one hundred and eighty years until the last of Molly Hatchet's children disapppeared.

About forty years after the date of the first Indian deed given at Milford, the claims of some of the Derby Indians were purchased by the town of Milford.6 ï¿½

From the time of the giving of the first deed at Milford (1639) to his death in 166S Ansantaway's name seems to have been imï¿½ portant when attached to deeds in the sale of any lands belongging to the tribe. His son Okenuck was sachem at Stratford, and after the sale of the land at that place, to the English, he reemoved to the settlement already commenced by his people, at Potatuck, where the village of Shelton is now located, in the town of Huntington. Towtonamow was sachem at Derby and as such signed the deeds given in 1657,' 1659/ 1660,8 and in 1661,' but

Milford quit claim deed, Oct. :ii, 1682.

Conquepotana, Mucbi1in,

Nanshoota, Sowehoux,

Abenach, Chipoanke,

Assowas,

u Derby deed, May, 1657.

Towtanamow, Raskcnute,

r Derby deed, April, 1659-

Towtanamow, Pagasite James,

Pagahab, Munsock,

" Derby deed, Mac. :ii, (660. .

Towtanamoe, James, Chub,

8 Derby deed, Sept. 6, 1661.

Towtanimoe,

Wampegon, Manomp,

Succuscoge, Secochanneege,

Teunque, Rashinoot, Roucheage.

Sassaughsough, Wauwumpecum.

seems to have died soon after the last date, since in signing a deed in 1664." Okenuck says he is "Sachem of Pagassett," yet Ansantaway's name is attached to this last named deed. In the same year Ansantaway is said to be "living at l'agassett," and the deed says" I, Okenuck, sachem," but at the bottom his name is written Akenauts."

The next year a deed, confirmatory of all pre~eding ones, was made in which it is said" I, Okenuck sole and only sagamOTe of Pagassett, do sell unto Richard Baldwin and his company;" givving the information that Towtanamow and Ansantaway were both dead.'ï¿½

It may be enquired whether Okenuck retained his position of sachem over the Potatuck or Stratford Indians, while thus he became sole Sagamore at Paugassett.

On May 26, 1663, an "agreement of friendship and loving correspondence agreed upon between us and the town of Strattford" was made, by which the Indians pledged "we will no more plant on the south side of the great River Pugusett [Potatuck] to prevent a ground of future variance betweenï¿½ us in order to [avoid] any damage that might be done to corn." The first ï¿½name on the deed is . Okenunge," ". thus denoting his standing over the Indians on that side of the river, but he may have signed it as Sagamore while they had another sachem. It also reveals a benevolent feature in the character of these Indians. Much complaint by the Indians had been made that the white men's hogs, which pastured in the woods, destroyed the Indians' corn, and the matter being brought into Court an effort was put forth to lead the Indians to make fences around their corn, but this they could not or would not do; and hence resolved, in order to end the difficulty, not to plant on that side of the great river,"ï¿½ but to remove further up the river, or on the north side of the

10 Derby deed, April 4> 1664-

Okenuck, Ansantaway,

\I Derby deed, June 27,1661.

Akenauts. Ansantaway.

\I Derby deed, Sept. IS, 1665.

Ochenuuge,

18 Deed May :z6, 16633Okenunge, Nansantaway, Amantanegu,

Munsuck, Aaynetmogu, Nompunck,

]emiogu, Ahuntaway, Ronuckous.

river, which they did by going to Potatuck, at the mouth of a stream by that name in Newtown, not long afterwards, and to Wesqnantuck, and. Pomperaug. A deed of land, ~'lying on theï¿½ west of land already deeded to Stratford," was given in I66S,1f with Okenonge's name first as sachem, and witnessed by Ansanntaway and Chipps; which also shows that Ansantaway died between April 22, 1665. and Sept. IS. 1665. Okenunck.'s wiggwam, and hence the headquarters of the nation, was probably at this tjme on the" Neck" about a mile north of Birmingham Point.

It is important to view this region of country (the Naugatuck valley) in what may be called its ethnographical relations, in ord.er to bring to view the significance and bearings of the various purchases made by the first settlers. The territory was claimed by the Paugasucks on the south, the Potatucks on the west, and the Tunxis Indians on the east. With one or other of these tribes the white man had to deal, and in Waterbury the settlers found it expedient to purchase the same lands from different tribes, without attempting to decide between their rival claims.

The first sale of land north of Milford made by the Indians was previous to 1646, and was the land on which Mr. Wakeeman's men of New Haven were employed in 1642, which was on what is now Birmingham Point. 15 The then Governor of New Haven is authority for the statement that this land was purchased of the Indians,I' but no deed of that sale has been found. The next purchase was made in 1653, by Mr. Goodyear and others of New Haven. It consisted of a tract of land at Paugasuck which was sold to Richard Baldwin and nine other men of Milford in the spring of 1654. and a settlement was made at that time of three or four families: and the name of . the place established by the General Court the next spring was Paugassett. All this land' lay east of the N:augatuck., but no deed of the sale of it has been seen. .

In May, 1657, a deed of land on what is now Birmingham

" Deed April :22, (665-

Okenonge, Ansantaway, Chipps

15 Hist. Derby, 2-4-

15 New Haven Col. Rec., I, 265.

INDIAN FIELD AT DERBY. 17

Point was given to Lieut. Thomas Wheeler of Stratford, if he would settle upon it, which he did, and remained there until 1664. This deed was re-affirmed in 1659> and in 1665, when Okenuck had become" sole and only Sagamore;" he confirmed the Gooddyear purchase and this land given to Wheeler, making the western boundary of the plantation the great river (Housatonic) instead of the Naugatuck as at first. From this time forward the Paugasuck Indians sold land piece by piece, northward, to the Derby people, until the town bounds reached Waterbury and Woodbury; there being twenty-five or more deeds recorded, with one hundred or more different Indian names attached; the last deed, except of reservations, being given in 1742.

"May 1680. As to Ackenack, sachem of Milford and Paugaasuck who complains that he wants land, . . . no provision being made for planting land for those Indians, we do grant that they shall have a hundred acres of land laid out to them upon Coram Hill, in some convenient place, by Capt. William Fowler and Mr. John Burr; and this court also do grant the said Indians liberty to hunt, fowl and fish in Stratford bounds, MiJiord and Derby, any clause in the deed to the contrary notwithstanding, they doing them no damage. Also Mr. Hawley is to layout a hundred acres of land on the other side of the river in Milford bounds, to the said Indians."

The chief seat of the Paugasucks was for .many years at the /I Great Neck" between the Housatonic and the Naugatuck in the vicinity of what is now Baldwin's corners. Here they had a fort, mentioned several times in the records as the "Old Inndian Fort," which was built most probably some years before the English came to the place. There was a large field at this place frequently called the" Indian Field," containing about sixty acres, and was once sold for that number of acres. These Indians built a fort on the east bank of the Housatonic, neaTly half a mile above the present dam, which was established, traadition says, to keep the English from sailing up the river, and which is referred to several times in the records as the "New Indian Fort." The Indians of the Neck collected about this fort along the river bank for some years, and then removed to

17 Col. Rec., III, 55-

Wesquantook, where quite .many appear to have been living in 1680, and which territory they sold in 1687 and removed westtward, many of them probably to Potatuck, and some of them to Weantinock, now New MiIford.

Wesquantook appears to have been the last place of residence of the Sachem Okenuck, yet he may have removed with Cockaapatana to Potatuck at the mouth of the Pomperaug, where the latter chief remained probably until his death, which Lambert says occurred at his home in Derby in 1731. If his home was in Derby at his death it is difficult to surmise where it was located, unless at the mouth of Eight Mile brook, now in Oxford, at Turkey Hill, or at Wesquantook.

It is a curious fact, possibly connected with the fate of this chief, that some years ago-that is within the memory of perrsons now livi1?-g-there resided in Goshen a white man who was habitually called "Old Kunkerpot; "-the naDJe having been given him because he reported that while engaged in some war, he had killed an Indian by the name of Kunkerpot. It is said, however; that in later years there Was an Indian in Stockbridge, Mass., named Cockapatana. .

Of this Sachem, Conkapatana, there is given some account of his former life, but nothing that indicates who his father was. In ï¿½a deed of land in Derby, dated in 167l,u to which. are attached the names of both Potatuck and Paugasuck Indians, that of Atrechanasett occurs, and in another dated Feb. 19, 1678,1' is the sallle person, allowing the customary variety of spelling in the form of Chetrenasut; and yet another two months later with Chettrenasuckï¿½ at the commencement of the deed who signs his name, at the bottom, Cockapatana, but not as Sachem, for Okenuck still holds that position. In the earlier of these two deeds, three Indians make the sale, they say, " with

18 Derby deed, 16']1.

Chubbs, Coshoshemack, Kee Ke Sumun,

I' Derby deed. Feb. 19> 1678.

Ahuntaway.

'0 Deed dated April 2:1, 16]8.

Okenung, Sagamore.

Ahuntaway. .

Jack.

Mataquenock, Wasawas, Atrechanasett,

Johns, Sasaoso.

Cockapatana, [Chetrenuuck.]

Sanquett, Tom.

Tom's Squaw.

approbation of Okenuck Sagamore," indicating as do several other deeds that certain parcels of land were sold for the benefit of individuals, and not for the whole tribe. In the second, Tom and Tom's Squaw are signers. Tom was son of Cockapatana and was married, hence if the latter was at this time forty years of ege, and died in 1731, as stated, he must have been ninetyythree years of age at his death, but the probability is that he was more than forty at this signing, and hence nearly or quite one hundred at his death.

In a deed nine years later, Cockapatana is the third name, and as said in another deed, only a "gentleman Indian" and not sachem,'t but in 1793 it is said "we Cockapatana and Huntawa [Ahuntaway], Sachems of Paugasset," ft thus showing their official position, probably, soon after the death of Okenuck. The last deed "that Okenuck signed was April 22, 1678, and since neither Cockapatana nor Ahuntaway signed the deed in 168] as sachems, it may be supposed that Okenuck was still living, but an aged man and not able to go abroad far, especially if, as is probable, he was then residing at Potatuck some distance further up the river, and delegated others in his place.

It may therefore be properly concluded that Okenuck died about 1690, aged about seventy years. There can be but little doubt, upon careful study, that Cockapatana belonged either to the family of Okenuck, or that of one of the.Potatuck Sachems, Atterosse of 1668, or 'Chushamack of 1673. It will be necesssary, however, to refer to these families again in the further proogress of this westward Indian migration.

In 16)8,ï¿½ another deed was given covering the same territory

.1 Deed in Derby, dated Aug. 6, 1687.

Cockapatonce, Sunkaquene,

John Bank., Pussecokes,

Cockapatany, Nanawaug,

Mellkilling, TackamoTe,

Stastockham. Chebrook,

j2 De~by Deed, dated Sept. 7, 1693-

CockapataDa, Wequaeuck,

Indian Jaw, Punwon,

Indian Toto, Indian Shot,

18 Deed dated Aug. IS, 1698.

N eigbbor Putt, Cockapatouch, Nonawauk,

Waukacun, Wetupaco, Nanoques, Curex.

Will Maahok, Huntaway.

Gyouson, KeWtou, Raretoon,

Tazchun, Rashkoinoot, Thomasseet.

as that of 1687, namely, that including Wesquantuck Indian villlage, called by the people of Derby the "Quaker's Farm purrchase," and signed by ten new names, these added to those of the former deed gives the sum of twenty-five prominent men at that time in the tribe, with the headquarters of the tribe at Pootatuck, just above the mouth of the Pomperaug river. After the sale of Wesquantook the only land owned by the Indians along the Housatonic on the north side was their reservation at Potaatuck, the northern boundary of which extended from the bend in the river Pomperaug, west to the Shepaug FaUs, but they still held considerable territory in the northern part of Derby, the sales of which were affected by several deeds, the first being given in 16<)3,2. and the last, except an island and reservations in 171 I.

In the deed of 1793, Cockapatana and Ahuntawayare called Sachems, but in the deed of 1702, Cockapatana is called Saga-'

Deed dated Sept. 7, 16933Cockapa'tana,

Indian Jacks,

Indian Toto,

Deed dated May 6, 1798.

Cockapatana, Ahuntaway,

Two deeds dated April 16, 1700, each signed by the same.

Cockapatana, Huntaway.

Deed dated 1702.

Cockapatani, sagamore, Ahuntaway, sachem, Will Doctor, Rowaugasuck,

Deed dated June 18, 1707, sixth year of Queen Anne.

Cockapatows, Rawneton,

Chops, Maahekea,

Deed dated April I, 1709.

Cockapatana, Chipps, Mamook,

Waskawakes, Coc:kapatouch, Jack..

John Minor, Justice said" Cockapatana and his son Waakawakes, alias Tom." Deed dated March, 17100Cockapatana,

Will Doctor.

Deed dated Jan. 31, 1710.

Nanawaug, Jack, Charles, Tackamore,

Wequacuck, Punwon, Indian Shot,

Waerashgonoot, Tiaachomo, Will Toto.

Si80Wecum, Powheag,

Meskilling, Mackwash, Durgen,

Will Mashok, Huntawa.

John Toto, Arkumi, Artownhood.

Ackcutrout Curens, Watakis.

more, and Ahuntaway the. next name below, is said to be Sachem, which distinction is indicated elsewhere by the manner of affixing these official terms in deeds of different date. Tl\is distinction

has not been noted by writers in this part of the country,-the t~o

terms having been used indiscriminately, as indicating the same

office, and this may have been the case, but the above looks otherwise.

This is illustrated in the early deeds, Okenuck of Stratford,

when the first Potatuck is designated as Sachem, and his brother

Towtanemowas Sachem, and the father of the two, Ansantaway

as Sagamore at Milford or the chief ruler of the three clans; but

as soon as Towtanemow and Ansantaway were dead, Okenuck

says: .< I, the sole Sagamore of all the Paugasuck Indians," and

immediately we find Wompegan,2i sachem at Paugassett and

Acquiomp, Sachem of the Potatucks.'1' How a sachem arrived

to the position of Sagamore is not definitely revealed, but,

the indications are, that it was by seniority of all the sachems

within a certain jurisdiction or tribal combination, and if so, it

may be concluded quite certainly that the Indians of Millord.

Stratford, Paugasuck, and afterwards those all along the Housatonic

valley in Connecticut, and up the Naugatuck to Waterbu:

rY, were under the same government as one distinct tribe,

composed of a number of families governed by the sachems.

The Woodbury Indian deeds next attract attention. The second

chapter of the" Woodbury History,"-it being that on the

" History of the Indian Purchases," is an unfortunate production.

The work that author has done for Woodbury is a magnificent

monument of honor, but the Indian history part must have been

the least studied although the first written. The deed given in

that work as the first of Woodbury Territory, had nothing to do

with that township. The author says it comprised ï¿½ï¿½a territory

in Litchfield and New Haven counties, nearly as large as Litch-

Statement made by Sisowecum, alias Warouth, Pequet, Will Doctor, Daupauks

alias Will Toto, John Tota, Tom Toto, dated Feb. r, 1711.

Nauawaug, Moc:kwash, .

Jacob, CureD,

Jack, Watakia,

Skilling,

26 Deed of Stratford, dated Sept. 9>1661.

Wompegan, Sachem.

211 Deed May 18, .662.

Acquiomp, aachem.

Charles,

Chips.

Durgen.

field county itself, and it seems to have been the last sale of

lands made by the Derby Ind~ in this direction, and, no doubt,

covered all the territory claimed by them at the north." The

deed by which Lieut. Thomas Wheeler sold this same land,

bounded in the precise words of the Indian deed of 1659, says:

" by estimation forty-five acres." This was land to this amount

on what is now Birmingham Point, the southern part of Birmingham

village. It was not the last sale by the Paugasuck Indians,

since they continued to sell for fifty years, and gave over twenty

deeds after this one. It was not" all the territory claimed by

them at the north," since they claimed it with the Potatucks,

aU the way -up the Housatonic river to the northern boundary

of Kent. The great mystery is how this deed, the second oner

from the Indians recorded in Derby, should have been copied

into the Woodbury records, and the little mystery is, that the

author referred to, did not look up this matter a -little further,

when he hOnted up such a mammoth amount of history for that

good old town.

The first deed of Woodbury bears the name of the Sagamore

OkenucksT of Derby, in this form" Kenonge," the difference being

that it was written by another speller than the Derby scriPe

The following are some of the spellings of this name on the

Derby records; Okenuck, Ochenunge, Akenants, Okenug, Okenung.

As given in the" Woodbury History," the spellings are:

Akenotch, Kenonge. The other names attached to this deed,

(allowing for different spelling,) may represent Paugasuck Indians,

and the probability is that the deed was given wholly by

persons of that clan, and hence the fact as-noticed in the Woodbury

History, that" this grant seems never to have ~een regarded

by the Potatucks, or the settlers." This was not an unusual

occurrence, for many of the deeds were given by different

individuals in a tribe with consent of the sachem or sagamore,

and the deeds so given represented the claims of the individuals

and not the tribes. And further, the planters may have understood

that they were buying only the claims of the Paugasuck

Indians. In this manner several deeds of Derby lands contained

n Deed dated July J4, J67J.

Avomockomge,

Kenonge,

Wecuppemee,

Yocomge.

the names of Potatuck Indians, and two or three of these deeds

were never afterwards regarded by the Paugasuck Indians, nor

the inhabitants of Derby. The real fact is, that the Indians instituted

claims for land in different places over and over, just as

often repeated as there was any hope of b.eing bought off with a

consideration of any amount whatever. One deed in Derby was

given and recorded of quite a tract of land where a part of the

village of Seymour is now located, for the "consideration of one

shilling."

By a careful examination of the names attached to the other

five Woodbury deeds, and a comparison of them with the

Indians of both tribes heretofore residing down the river, the

mingling of their tribal claims will be further seen.IS The

Woodbury lands were purchased in the same way, by pieces,

only fewer in number; and of the forty-five names of Indians

attached to those deeds as given in the Woodbury History, onehalf

are names found on Derby deeds, but the former deeds are'

later in date and indicate that some of the Derby Indians had

removed and' joined the Potatucks, or that they signed the

lIIl Woodbury Deed dated March 17, 1685-6.

Waramaukeag, Cbuhabaux [Chawbrook,] Nemoumbam,

Womoqw, YOUDgamous~ Poquanow,

Keshooshamaug, Nuccaddamo. Punnahun, interpreter,

(Sachem ChushumackJ Papenau, John Banks,

It is said "many otbers or more botb of English and Indians were present at the

same time."

Woodbury Deed dated Oct. 30, 1687.

Kes08hamaug,Sagamore,Tantamobob, Youngstockum,

Nanawauk, Cbevoramange, Cbohees.

Wonokequambomb, Punhone.

Woodbury Deed dated May 18, 1700.

Wambummaug, Sea_eag.

Nucquollozomaug, Umbouge, Nannawake,

Mashagasse, John Banks, Wombummaug,his squaw,

Cacapattanees Son, Momanchewaug,alias Cush, Wunnuntcone.

Woodbury Deed dated Oct. 25,17ï¿½5,

Tomsect, Cotsure, [afterwards Cotshure, and then Corkscrew.]

Chyiondge, Wapumbom.

Woodbury Deed dated May 28, 1706,confirmatory of the others.

Nunnawaoke, Wussebucome, Kehore,

Tummaaeet, Aocomy, Noeg08hemy,

Chesquaneag, Wirasquancot, Munmenepoosqua,

Mauquash, Wussockaununckqueen, Muttanumace.

24 THE INDIA.N HISTOR Y.

Woodbury deeds in behalf of the Paugasucks. When the five

deeds were executed there remained a small tract of land in the

southwest comer of Woodbury as a reservation to the Indians.

That part of it in the southwest comer, west of the Shepaug.

river below the falls, ,.,as sold Mar. 6, 1728-<), the deed being

executed by Mauquash, Cockshure, and Conkararum, in presence

of Chob, John Chob, Passacoran and their English witnesses.

On the 18th of June, 1733, the Indians conveyed to a

committee of Woodbury about one-half of the reservation, and

on the 3d of January, next year, about one-half of the remainder;

both of the deeds being signed by Quiump (a recurrence of the

Sachem's name of seventy years before), Cock shure, Maucheere,

and Naucathora. Here on the remaining little portion of land,

on which was situated their last village, called the Potatuck

wigwams, they dwelt being visited here by the Moravian missionaries,

in 1742 or 3; until in 1758, when they parted with

'their muchï¿½ cherished Potatuck, and took their march westward.

CHAPTER III.

r~"<'"_~u :~~ ...ï¿½ , INDIAN DEEDS OF THE NAUPATUCK VALLEY .

~l 1,'oMlllllli ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ ,jHE same year that Lieut. Wheeler received his ~U l . ;c~"/1. ',:deed of land on Birmingham. Point (1657), a

\ '- ~\..~ '.. transfer of land took place in the upper part of the

,,) ~ valley, ~hich found record in a curi~us deed pre-

~r. <;';.'. served m the town records of Farmington. Two

,( ~',. .:{; of the Farmington settlers, Stanley and Andrews

by name,in their excursions to the West had discovered

somewhere a deposit of plumbago or something which they

mistook for that valuable mineral. Their discovery attracted

some attention, and doubtless led to the purchase just referred

to, the deed being made on the eighth of February, ( O. 5.,) by

Repaquamp, Querrimus, and Mataneage, and the land was sold

to William Lewis and Samuel Steele. The document is as follows:

II This witnesseth that we, Repaquamp and Querrimus and

Mataneage, have sold to William Lewis and Samuel Steele of

Farmington. a parcel or tract of land called Matecacoke, that is

to say, the hill from whence John Stanley and John Andrews

brought the black-lead, and all the land within eight miles of that

hill on every side,-to dig and carry away what they will, and to

build on it for the use of them that Jabor there, and not otherwise

to improve the land. In witness whereof we have hereunto

set our hands; and these Indians above mentioned must

free the purchasers from all claims by any other Indians."

This piece of territory sixteen miles in diameter, was purchased

by Lewis and Steele in behalf of themselves and a company

composed of other inhabitants of Farmington. For what

ï¿½ï¿½consideration" it was disposed of is not known. ï¿½ï¿½Precisely

where the hill referred to was situated," says Mr. George C.

Woodruff in his II History of the town of Litchfield," ï¿½ï¿½I have

been unable to discover; but from the subsequent claims of the

grantees, from tradition and from the deed itself, it would seem

that it was in the southern part of Harwinton," The name of

Mattatuck still survives in that part of the valley. From a supplementary

deed given some years afterwards, it appears that" a

considerable part ï¿½ï¿½of this tract was comprised within the bounds

of ancient Woodbury; but the Waterbury planters, as will be

seen, paid no regard to this early transaction, nor do they seem

to have been any way hampered by it

The deed of Lewis and Steele was made, as bas been observed,

in 1657. At that date Farmington had been settled

seventeen years, and the forests to the westward' had become

familiar ground to the Farmington hunters. From year to year

they continued their excursions, and in course of time the Naugatuck

river became well known to them. Their attention was

particularly attracted to the so-called ï¿½ï¿½interval lands" which

now' constitute the meadows of Waterbury. For obvious reason,

such lands were specially valuable in a forest-clad region.

Their discovery was duly reported and was enough to arouse the

spirit of enterprise. A committee was sent to examine the

place, and their report being favorable, the Farmington people

petitioned the General Court for permission to make a settlement,

" at a place called by the Indians, Matitacoocke." This was in

1673, nineteen years after the first settlers took up their residence

at Derby.

After due investigation the petition was granted, and a committee

of prominent men of the Colony was appointed ï¿½ï¿½to regulate

and order the settling of a plantation at Mattatuck." One

of their first duties was to procure the extinguishment of any

title to the land on the part of the native proprietors, which

they did by honest purchase. A copy of the deed given to this

committee by the Indians is preserved in the land records of

Waterbury (voL II.) and is dated August 26, 1674-

It was to this purchase the first settlers came in 1674, and

again, after a serious interruption, in 1677. The dimensions of

the town remained as indicated until 1684, when they were

greatly extended by the purchase from the native proprietors of

a large piece of territory on the north.

By this purchase, which cost the proprietors nine pounds, the

area of the town was nearly doubled. But it seems to have become

necessary at the same time, to buy again from the natives

the tract already bought by the committee of the General Court

of 1674- The original owners may have claimed that they did

not comprehend the significance of their act, and were not adequately

paid j but for whatever reason, Messrs. Judd and Stanley,

on the second of December,. 1684. purchased again the land

lying between Mount Taylor on the north and Beacon Hill

brook on the south, extending eastward to Farmington bounds,

and westward three miles towards Woodbury. The amount paid

this time was nine pounds.

These deeds have been examined carefully, to obtain if possible

some items of knowledge concerning the aboriginal owners,

who are described in one of the deeds as "Indians now belonging

to Farmington." The earliest deed (tbat of 1674), contains

the names of fourteen Indians, eleven of whom (if the copy has

been correctly made) affixed to it their mark. The first name is

that of Nesaheagon, the Sachem at Poquonnock, whose jurisdiction

has already been described. The occurrence of his signature

here indicates what position he held in relation to the Tunxis

tribe. The second name is John Compound, which, if not

of English origin, has been forced into a strange resemblance to

English. He has been handed down to immortality as the original

proprietor of Compound's (Compounce) Pond. The third

name is Queramoush, which has already been met with, in the

deed of 1657; for it was Querrimus with two other Indians, whoï¿½

deeded to Lewis and Steele the land around the" hill where

John Stanley found the black-lead." The other names in the

order in which they occur are as follows: Spinning Squaw, Taphow,

Chery, Aupkt, Caranchaquo, Patucko, Atumtako, James,

Uncowate, Nenapush Squaw, and Alwaush. To those who hear

them, these names are a meaningless jargon j but it is pleasant

to think that originally everyone of them meant something,

and that some of the meanings may have been beautiful. In

studying them upon the time-stained pages where they are preserved,

one or two points of interest have been discovered. One

of the prominent naIIles in the list is Patucko, who ï¿½will be referred

to again. Next to this follows Atumtucko. A relation

between the two was suspected and this was afterward confirmed

by finding in another deed that Patucko's Squaw was

Atumtucko's mother. In signing this first deed Patucko first

promises for James, and then for himself; whence it may safely be

inferred that between Patucko and James, who seems to haveï¿½

been well known by his English name, there was some kind of

family relationship. It is possible that Caranchaquo may have

been a member of the same family.

Between this first deed and that by which the northern half of

the town was disposed of, nearly ten years elapsed, so that it

would hardly be expected to 'find precisely the same signatures

attached to both, even if Indian society had been more stable

than it was. In the second deed Patucko's name stands first

and Atumtucko's second; then Taphow, then Wawowus. This

fourth name sounds like a new one, but making due allowance

for inaccurate hearing and spelling on the part of the early

scribes, it may be easily identified with Alwaush in the former

list. The rest of the signers are new: Judas (another English

name), Mantow, Momantow's Squaw, Mercy (Sepuses's Squaw)

and Quatowquecbuck, who is described as Taphow's son.

Between. this second deed and the third, by which the southern

half of the town was sold the second time to the settlers, a

few months only elapsed, but the names for the most part are

different. Patucko has disappeared, but we have in his stead

Patucko's squaw, who is here described as Atumtucko's mother.

John a-Compound appears again, and Warm Compound appears,

who is described as Nesaheag's son. This fact suggests that

John a-Compound, whose name stands next to Nesabeagon's in

the first deed, may have been an elder son of the same chief.

Spinning Squaw also appears, and Aupkt under the form of

Abuckt; and besides these, there is Mantow, who signed not

the first deed, but the second. In addition the following appear :

Hachetowsock (and squaw, Sebockett,) the sisters of Cocoesen,

whoever he may be, and a daughter of one of them. It is probable

that Cocoesen's sisters were the daughters of James; apparently

the same James. for whom Patucko promised in the first

deed. As one of them was Patucko's squaw and Atumtucko's

mother, a connection between the two families is established; a

connection' which becomes especially interesting when it is

known who James was.

But as already intimated; the TUDxis Indians were not the

only claimants. The Paugasucks on the south roamed over the

same hunting grounds, and considered their right to them as

valid as that of their neighbors on the east. Messrs. Judd and

Stanley, without inquiring particularly into the justice of the

claim, deemed it expedient to extinguish it by purchase. A deed

was accordingly drawn, dated February 28, 1685, and signed by

sixteen Paugasuck Indians, by which in consideration of If six

pound in hand received" twenty parcels of land,' named and

described in the. deed, aU of them apparently embraced in the

first and third purchases from the Farmington Indians, were

conveyed to the settlers of Mattatuck.

. The deed which is contained in the volume of land records referred

to, is peculiarly interesting because the ,twenty parcels of

land are designated each by its Indian name. Nine of these

were on the east side of the river, the others on the west side.

The grantors were sixteen in number. Prominent in the list is

the name of Conquepatana, (Konkapatanauh,) who signs himself

Sagamore, the same already spoken of as Sachem at the

mouth of the river, until 1731, when he died. In the body of

1 Deed from the Paugasuck Indians.

" Twenty parcels of land, by their names distinguished as follows:

Wecobemeus, that land upon the brook, or small river that comes througk the

straight [Straitsville] northward of Lebanon, and runs into Naugatuck river at the

south end of Mattatuck bounds, called by the English Beacon Hill Brook, and

Packawackuck, or Agawacomuck, and Watapeck, Pacaquarock, Meqanhattacke,

Musquauke, Mamusqunke, Squapmasutte, Wachu, which nine parcels of (and lie on

the east side of Naugatuck River southward from Mattatuck town. which comprises

all the land below, betwixt the forementioned river, Beacon Hill Brook and the

hither end of Judd's meadows,called by the name Squontk, and from Naugatuck

River eastward to Wallingford and New Haven bounds. with all the lowlands upon

the two brooks forementioned.

And eleven parcels on the west side; the first parcel called, Suracasko; the rest

as follows: Petowtucki, Wequarunsb, Capage, Cocllmpasuck, Megenhuttack, Panooctan,

Mattucklwtt, Cocacoko, Gawuskesucko, Tow.mtuck, [the only name that

has survived], and half the cedar swamp, with the land adjacent from it eastward;

which land lies southward of Quasapaug pond; we say to run an east line from

there to Naugatuck river; all of which parcels of land forementioned lying southward

from said line. and extend or are comprised within the butments following;

from the forementioned swamp, a strait line to be run to the middle of Towantuck

Pond or the cedar swamp, a south line which is the west bounds towards Woodï¿½

bury, and an east line from Towantuck pond, to be the butment south, and Naugatuck

river the east butment, till we come to Achetaqupag, or Maruscopag, and

then to bu~ upon the east side of the river upon the forementioned lands,-these

parcels of land lying and being within the township of Mattatuck, bounded as af0resaid,

situate on each side of Naugatuck and Mattatuck rivers."

the deed, however, his name is preceded by that of Awowas.

Already among the signers of"the second deed an Awowas has'

appeared, apparently identified with Alwaush, who signed the

first. It might naturally be supposed that the name occurring

among the Paugasucks, designated a different person, but there

are facts which establish a connection between the two tribes.

For among the signers of this Paugassett deed there is found the

mime Cocoesen, and not only so but Cocoesen's sisters also, who

signed the third deed given by the Tunxis tribe. Their names

are Wechamunk and Werumcaske, and in the Tunxis deed they

are described as the daughters of James. In the deed given to

Lieut. Wheeler at Paugassett in 1757, occurs the name Pagassett

James. It is almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that

Cocoesen was his son, and Cocoesen's sisters his daughters, that

one of these was Patucko's squaw, that a connection by marriage

between the two tribes was thus established, and that this relationship

was recognized in the various sales of lands. Besides the

names thus far mentioned, there are the following: Curan, Cocapadous

(Konkapot-oos, perhaps little Konkapot), Tataracum,

. Cacasahum, Wenuntacum, Arumpiske, described as Cut'an's

squaw, Notanumke, Curan's sister.

To this instrument the following note is attached: "Milford

February, 1684- Awowas, the Indian proprietor, appeared at

my house and owned this deed above mentioned to be his free

act, and that he has signed and sealed to it. Robert Treat govenor."

On the 18th of April, Conquepatana made a similar acknowledgment

of the deed before the govenor "and said he

knew what was in it." Several years afterward Gune 28, 171I),

the same Sagamore and ï¿½Tom Indian" his son, for twenty-five

shillings. deeded to the proprietors of Waterbury, ï¿½a small piece

of land" north of Derby bounds, west of the Naugatuck river,

and south of Toantuck brook.

The original owners of aU the land in the Naugatuck valley,

above the old Derby line, (and those below partially,) have thus

far been traced, except of what lies in Harwinton and Litchfield.

This territory has a history of its own. On January 25, 1687,

the General Court of Connecticut, for the purpose of saving the

so-called ï¿½ï¿½western lands" from the grasp of Sir Edmund Andros,

conveyed to the towns of Hartford and Windsor as follows:

" Those lands on the north of W~bury and Mattatu~k, and on

. the west of Farmington and Simsbury, to the Massachusetts line

north, and to run west to the Housatunock or Stratford river."1

As has already been seen, a portion of this territory, sixteen

miles in diameter, had been conveyed in 1657 to William Lewis

and Samuel Steele of Farmington. Toe General Court in its

action in 1686, paid no regard to this old conveyance, and on the

other hand the Famiington company, represented by Lewis and

Steele, insisted on their claim. On the eleventh of August,

1714, they obtained from the successors of the original grantors

a deed by which the title to this whole tract was conveyed, in

consideration of the sum of eight pounds received from Lieut.

John Stanley about the year 1687, and other gratuities lately received,"

to Stanley Lewis, Ebenezer Steele, and their associates

and successors. To Lieut Stanley, in especial, fifty acres were

laid out and confirmed, near the hill where he found the black-

.lead, " and fifty acres more where he shall see cause to take it up,

or his heirs." This deed was signed by Pethuzo and Toxcronuck,

who claimed to be the successors of Kepaquamp, Querrimus,

and Mattaneag, and in the following October it was signed by

Taphow the younger, and his squaw, by Awowas, whose name

(written also in this same deed Wowowis) has been previously

noticed, and Petasas, a female grand child, probably of Awowas

By the action of the General Court, the title to all this land had

been vested in the towns of Hartford and Windsor, and these

towns therefore claimed the exclusive right to purchase the Indian

title and to survey and sell the lands. S In the final settlement

of the matter, however, the claim of the Farmington company

was to some extent recognized. In 1718 they received

from the two towns a grant of one-sixtb of the townsbip of

Litchfield, in consideration .of their making over to said towns

their interest in the disputed territory.

'Conn. Col. Ree., IlL, 2ZSI

These lands were claimed by Connecticut under its then existing charter, and

fearing lest Andros might wrest them from the state and sell them to others, or

another Colony, the General Court gave them to the towns of Hartford and Windï¿½

sor, to hold until the danger should be past, with the private understanding that the

lands should revert to the state as soon as the danger should be past. When the danger

was past these towns would not surrender the lands, but claimed them as their

property. It was one of the clearest cases of betrayal of trust that ever occurred in

the settlement 9f the country, and will be a luting disgrace to the actors.

The management of these western lands was entrusted to a

joint committee appointed by the towns. In 1715 this committee

entered upon an exploration of the region lying west of the Naugatuck

River, and appointed as their agent Mr. John Marsh, one

of their number, who in May of that year undertook what was

then a perilous journey into a pathless wilderness. When the

committee had concluded to commence a settlement, they proceeded

to purchase the Indian title to the lands. But they did

not recognize any claim to these lands on the part of the Tunxis

tribe, but applied instead to the Potatucks, from whom the settlers

of Woodbury had made their various purchases, who had

their chief village, at that time on the Housatonic, at the mouth

of the Pomperaug. Mr. Thomas Seymour, a member of the

joint committee of the towns, visited Woodbury in January, 1716,

and again in May, and obtained the necessary deed. co In consideration

of the sum of fifteen pounds money in hand received,"

the Potatucks sold a tract of land lying north of the Waterbury

and Woodbury limits, bounded on the east by the Naugatuck

River, on the west by the Shepaug and its east branch, and on

the north by a line running from the north end of Shepaug

Pond easterly to the Naugat~ck. It comprised nearly 45,000

acres.4

The witnesses were Weroamaug (whose name is familiar to

many as connected with a beautiful lake in New Preston and

Warren), Wagnaeng and Tonhocks. Among the names of signers

appears the name Corkscrew, which has a very civilized s.ound.

It was originally Cocksure or Cotsure. Comparing these names

with the names attached to the Woodbury purchase of May 28.

1706. it appears that although that deed precedes this by ten

years, yet several of the names are the same in both. Chusqunnoag

appears in the earlier deeds as Chesquaneag (or Cheshconeag

of Pagassett); Magnash is evidently an error of the copy-

4 This deed, dated May 2, 1716,was signed by twelve Indians, and witnessed by

three others.

Wihusses.

Weroamaug,

waguacug,

Tonhocks.

Signers.

Chusquunoag, Pon;,

Quiump, Wonposet,

Maqoash, Suckquunockqueen,

Kehow. Tawseume,

Sepunkum, Mansumpaush,

Corkscrew, Norquotonckquy.

ist for Maquash6 (or Mauquash of Pagassett); Kehow appears

as Kehore, Sepunkum as Wusebucome, Suckquunockqueen, as

Wussockanunckqueen, and in a still earlier deed, Corkscrew as

Cotsure. It appears that Quiump, under the form of Aquiomp,

was also the name of the sachem of the Potatucks in 1661, at

Pomperaug. As that was fifty-fiveyears before this, it was probably

not the same person, although possibly a relative. Such identifications

as these are of but little account to the world to-day, but

to the explorer of ancient records, preparing the way for the

more stately historian, they are as interesting, and perhaps as

valuable as the discoveries of the modern genealogist or the devotee

of heraldry. .

It thus appears that the aboriginal ownership of the Naugatuck valley was divided among three quite distinct tribes, and that the claims of these tribes were recognized by the early settlers. It would be interesting to consider the nature of this' primitive proprietorship, for it has decided bearings upon the

great modern question of the origin of property, and the significance of that" institution" in the history of civilization. It was said by Sir Edmund Andros that Indians deeds were" no better than the scratch of a bear's paw," and there are those at the present day who, for different reasons from those which shaped

the opinions of Andros, would deny that the aboriginal ownership of the soil was of any account whatever. Because their system was a kind of communism, their rights amount to nothing

in the eyes of these modern thinkers. The early settlers,

however, either from a sense of justice, or out of regard to expediency,

and possibly somewhat of both, made it a rule to

extinguish the titles of the natives by actual purchase; and now,

in their recorded deeds with signatures, is treasured up a large

part of the only history the world will ever have of the Red

man of the forest. And when the value of the money of that

day is considered, the unimproved condition of the lands, and

the fact that in almost all cases the grantors reserved either

large sections as hunting grounds, or else the right to hunt

everywhere, as before the sale, it can hardly be said that the Indians

were dealt with unfairly .. The late Chief-Justice Church

6Mauquash, the last sachem of the Potatucks, died about 1758, says Woodbury

History. Gideon Mawwehu had them removed to Kent.

34 THE INDIAN HISTORY.

of litChfield, in his centennial address in 185I. commented

severely upon the action of the early settlers in this respect,

but he seems to have looked at the subject in an unjudicial way.

The other side is strongly presented in Doct. Bronson's" History

of Waterbury :'&

The Indian usually reserved, or supposed he reserved, the

right to hunt and fish everywhere, the same as before the lands

were sold. In most of the towns he remained harmless and unmolested

in the neighborhood of the settlements, from generation

to generation. The relations of the aboriginal inhabitants to the

whites are well illustrated in the statements of an aged citizen of

Farmington. who died within the present century. and who was

born about 1730ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ that within his recollection the Indian children

in the district schools were not much fewer than those of

the whites. In their s~ow-balling parties the former took one

side and the latter the other. when they would be so equally

balanced in numbers and prowess as to render the battle a very tough one and the result doubtful." But however good the intentions of the white man may have been, the transformation of the wilderness into a fruitful field must go steadily on, and the Red man must inevitably fall back, seeking new hunting grounds.ï¿½ For example. the Paugasucks of the sea-coast removed inland, as we have seen. and made their principal seat at the lower end of the Naugatuck valley. which thus became practically a new settlement, which was their headquarters from about 1660 to about 1680,when they began to collect at Wesquantuck and to join the Potatucks at Pomperaug. After the death of their Sachem.

Konkapatana, who resided some years at Wesquantuck or Pomperaug, or at both places, the local tribe broke up, and as such became extinct, except those who settled at Chusetown .

ï¿½ï¿½Some joined the Potatucks," it is said. Quite a number must have done so, since nearly half the. names given in the Woodbury History as being Pot;ltucks were Paugasuck Indians and signers of the Derby deeds. Those who collected at the Falls on the Naugatuck, were there earlier as well as in greater

numbers than has usually been supposed, as indicated by the extent of their burying-grounds and the remnants that were left some time after 1800. ï¿½ï¿½Some went to the country of the six

nations." This is quite probable, for, "in the spring of 1831, company of Indians, consisting of about thirty, men, women, and children, from the shores of Lake Champlain, came to the Point at Milford and encamped for a number of days, perhaps fifteen. They were led by an old patriarch or chieftain of ï¿½eighty summers' whom they appeared to obey and reverence. They conversed in the Indian tongue, and some of them knew but little English. They had a tradition that some of their ancestors lived at Poconic Point, and said they had come for the last time to the hunting ground of their fathers."7 These were no doubt descendants of the Paugasuck tribe, whose ancestors had removed from Milford to Turkey Hill, Paugassett, and Potatuck, and who went back yearly from these places to Milford to catch and dry oysters, ï¿½ï¿½spending a summer at a watering place." Again," some went to Weantinock and Scattacook." Not only some or a few,but the large body of the surviving natives, from the south and east

as we shall see, gathered at Weantinock, now New Mi1ï¿½ord,before 1703, and then moved on weStward, first to Scatacook, then still westward. At Turkey Hill a few remained, their number growing less year by year until about 1829 when Molly Hatchet only was left, and in that year she passed to the far away hunting ground of the Indian. There are indications, indeed it is very probable that some of them removed to Stockbridge, Massachusetts.The last deed of Derby lands that Cockapatana signed was given in 1710, but his son, Waskawakes (alias Tom), signed a deed given by the Potatucks in 1706, indicating thereby his active part in the business transactions of that tribe, and it would not be surprising if Waskawakes was Wauramaug of New Milford. In 1724. the Stockbridge Indians gave a deed of land which was signed by Konkapot and twenty other Indians. In

1734. Konkapot received a Captain's commission from the Massachusetts government; in 1735, he was baptized in the Christian faith, and he died previous to 1770, one of the first fruits of the

Housatonic Mission, of which the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, born in Waterbury, was the founder. Konkapot's name became celebrated through the northern part of Litchfield county, and is perpetuated, after a fashion, in connection with one. of the streams of Stockbridge, which was originally called Konkapot's

brook. It was afterwards known as Konk's brook, and afterwards went down ingloriously to "Skunk's brook."Lambert" p. 30

CHAPTER IV.

FURTHER AUTHENTIC RECORDS.

ï¿½

ROGRESS in disintegration and decay in the native , ,~_ tribes may be traced a little further by the examina-

.: tion of documents and records. Mr.]. W. DeForest,

M in his ï¿½ï¿½ History of the Indians of Connecticut," a '-:.. \-~ book which, after all deductions are made, is a ree"-{. ~/~, I markable production for a youth of one-and-twenty

. . L years, makes the following remarks upon the retire-

ment of the Red men before the aggressive race that had landed on their shores:

Knowing little of European modes of life, and judging of the colonists greatly by themselves, they supposed that the latter would cultivate but a little land, and support themselves for tbe rest by trading, fishing, and hunting. Little did they think that in the course of years the white population would increase from scores to hundreds. and Crom hundreds to thousands; that the deep forests would be cut down; that the wild animals would disappear; that the fish would grow few In the riven; and that a poor remnant would eventvally leave the graves of the;l' fathers and wander away into another land. Could they have anticipated that a change so wonderful, and in their history so unprecedented, would of necessity follow the coming of the white man, they would have preferred the wampum tributes of the Pequots and the scalping-parties of the Five Nations to the vicinity of a people so kind, so peaceable, and yet so destructive}

Of course the natives knew not that they were parting with their homes forever; neither did the new settlers know how swiftly their predecessors upon the soil would melt away before the glow and heat of a Christian civilization. But the process was inevitable, and in New England, at least, however it may have been elsewhere, it was as painless and as Uttle marked by cruelty as it well could be.

Indian Slaves.

Through severai documents still preserved there come before us certain Derby Indians in the peculiar character of Slaves.

To students of colonial history it is a known fact that not only negroes but Indians were held as slaves in New England. That

slavery should have existed in the colonies was almost a matter of course, in view of its recognition by the mother country. The Massachusetts code, adopted in 1641, known as the" Body of Liberties#" recognized it# and provided for its regulation and restriction; and Connecticut, in its code of 1650, followed in the same path. The ninety-first article of the Massachusetts code is as follows: II There shall never be any bond-slavery, vil~nage, or captivity among us, unless it be lawful captives taken in just wars, or such strangers as willingly sell themselves or are sold to us. ï¿½ . . . This exempts none from servitude who shall be judged thereto by authority." According to this, persons might be sold into slavery for crime; might be purrchased in the regular course of trade; or might be enslaved as captives taken in war; and it will be observed that no limitation is made in reference to color or race. Probably, however, the English distinction was tacitly recognized, which allowed the enslavement of infidels and heathen, but not of Christians. The Massachusetts Court did decide that certain persons, for giving shelter to certain Quakers, should be sold into slavery, and sent out of the colony, but among English people. Of the fact that Indians became slaves in the different ways here mentioned, there is abundant evidence. In Sandwich, Mas'sachusetts, three Indians were sold in 1678 for having broken into a house and stolen; they being unable to make recompense to the owner, the General Court authorized him to sell them. In 1660 the Genneral Court of Connecticut was empowered by the United Coloonies to send a company of men to obtain satisfaction of the Narragansetts, for an act of insolence they had committed upon

. the settlers. Four of the malefactors were to be dema~ded; and in case the persons were delivered, they were to be sent to Barrbadoes and sold as slaves. In 1677 it was enacted by the Genneral Court that if any Indian servant captured in war and placed in service by the authorities should be taken when trying to run away, it should be " in the power of his master to dispose of him as a captive, by transportation out of the country." That the regular slave trade included traffic in Indians as well as negroes appears from several enactments of the General Court. For instance, it was ordered in May, 171 I, "that all slaves set at liberty by their owners, and all negro, mulatto, or Spanish Indians who are serv-

ants to masters for time, in case they come to want after they be so set at liberty, or the time of their said service be expired, shall be relieved by such owners or masters respectively." At a meeting of the Council in July, 1715, it was resolved "that a prohibition should be published against the importation of any Indian slaves whatsoever." The occasion of this was the introoduction of a number of such slaves from South Carolina, and the prospect that many more were coming. In the October following, the General Court adopted an act in relation to this matter, which was a copy of a Massachusetts act of 1712, proohibiting the importation into the colony of Indian servants or slaves, on the ground of the numerous outrages committed by such persons. Of Indians captured in war, a considerable nummber were sold into slavery, but what proportion it would be immpossible to say. It was a defensive measure, to which the coloonists were impelled by the fact that they were "contending with a foe who recognized none of the laws of civilized warfare." It was resorted' to in the war with the Pequots, and again in the war with King Philip.

In a manuscript, sold with the library of the late George Brinnley of Hartford, namely, the account-book of Major John Talcott (1674-1688), which includes his accounts as treasurer of the colony during King Philip's war, there are some curious entries, indicating how the enslavement of Indians in certain cases origiinated. The following account stands on opposite pages of the ledger (pp. 54. 55) :

1676. Capt. John Stanton of Stonington, Dr., To Sundry commissions gave Capt. Stanton to proceed against the Indians, by which he gained much on the sales of captives.

Contra. 16'77, April 30. Per received an Indian girl of him, about Seven years old, which he gave me for commission on the other side, or, at best, out of goodï¿½ will for my kindness to him.

Further light is thrown on this matter by the following docuuments, which are interesting also in themselves.2 The first is a deed drawn in Stratford, June 8, 1722:

Know all men by these presents, that I, Joseph Gorham of Stratford, in the county of Fairfield, in the colony of Connecticut, for and in consideration of sixty pound money in hand received, and well and truly paid by Col. Ebenezer Johnson of Derby, in the county of New Haven and colony aforesaid, to my full satisfaction

'They are the property of the Hon. C:W. Gillett of Waterbury.

and content, have sold and made over to the said Ebenezer Johnaon and to his heirs, executors, and assigns forever, one Indian woman named Dinah, of about twentyï¿½ six years of age, for him, the said Johnson, his heirs, executors, and assigns, to have, hold, and enjoy the said Indian woman Dinah as his and their own proper estate from henceforth forever, during the said Dinah's life; affirming the said Dinah to be my own proper estate, and that I ha" in myself full po_r and lawful authority to sell and dispose of the said Dinah in manner as aforesaid, and that free and clear of all incumbrances whatsoever. In witness I set to my hand and seal in Stratford, this eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord God, 1722.

SAMUEL FRENCH, AttD1'1fl)' flW' Capt. Gorham.

Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of .s, JOHN CURTIss,

JOHN LEAVENWORTH.

The second document traces Dinah's history a little funher.

It is dated at Derby, November 22, 1728. Before this date CoL Johnson had died, and this is the deed by which his widow dissposes of a part of the estate to her son Timothy:

Know all men by these presents, that I, Hannah Johnson, widow of the late deeceased Colonel Ebenezer Johnson of Derby, in the county of New Haven, in the colony of Connecticut, in New England, for the parental love and good-will which I have towards my beloved SOD, Timothy Johnson of Derby, in the county and colony aforesaid, and for divers other good and well-advised considerations me thereunto moving, have given and do by these presents fully, freely, and absolutely give, graut, and confirm unto my beloved SOD, Timothy Johnson, him, his heirs and assigns forever: that is to say, one Indian woman called Dinah, and also a feather bed tbat he hath now in possession, and by these presents I, the said Hannah Johnnson, do give, grant, and con1irm and firmly make over the above named Dinah and fether bed, with all their privileges and profits; and unto him the said Timothy Johnson, his heirs and assigns forever, to have and to hold; to occupy, use, andimmprove, as he, the said Timothy Johnson, his heirs and assigns, shall think fit, without any interruption, trouble, or molestation any manner of way given by me, the said Hannah Johnson, or any of my heirs, executors, or administrators, or any other per. son or persons from, by, or under me. And furthermore, I, the said Hannah Johnï¿½ son, do by these presents, for myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators, coveï¿½ nant and promise to and with the said Timothy Johnson, his heirs and assigns, that we will forever warrant and defend him, the said Timothy Johnson, his heirs and assigns, in the peaceable and quiet possession and enjoyment of the above named Dinah and feather bed against the lawful claims and demands of all persons whom. soever. In confirmation of all the above mentioned particulars, I, the said Hannah Johnson, have hereunto set my hand and seal this zzrl day of November, in the second year of the reign of our sovereign Lord, King George the Second, and in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty-cight.

Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of JOSEPH HULLS,

CHARLES JOHNSON.

Derby, Noyember 32, 1728. This day Hannah JoImson, the subscriber of the above written instrument, personally appeared and acknowledged this to be her own free act and deed, before me.

JOSBPH HULLS, Justice of the Peace.

At no time in the history of American slavery has the recognition qf human beings as chattels been more complete than it is in this old document, in which "the Indian woman Dinah" and "the fether bed "are classed together in so unceremonious a way.

That the purchase of Dinah in 1722 was not Col. Johnson's first experience in" slaveholding, is evidenced by another docuument pertaining to the Indian literature of the Naugatuck valley, also in the possession of Judge Gillett. It is a brief paper from the hand of Colonel Johnson, relating to an Indian named Tobe,"3 and certifying to his manumission. It is given just as recorded :

these may certifi whome it may eonsam that tobee a logan that lived with me I had of a Moheg Indian at new london 307 years agoo he lived with me 13 year and is now and has bin a free man ever sene. october the 6 1713. Ebenezer

Johnson. '

This paper informs us that thirty-seven years before the date of it, Co\. Johnson obtained this Indian, that is in 1676; kept him as a slave twelve years, and then made him a free man.

There is a deed given by Cockapatana and Ahuntaway, as sa~ cherns, and six other Indians. of land at the place still known as Toby's Rock, deeded to this same Toby, in which he is said to be a Narragansett Indian, formerly servant unto Capt. Ebeneezer Johnson of Derby." The deed is dated September 7, 16<)3.

The whole record therefore shows that Toby was taken in the time of King Philip's war, l676; that he was held as a slave twelve years, and made free in 1688; received the tract of land in 16<)3 from the Naugatuck Indians, "in consideration of ten pounds and a barrel of cider," and in 1713 the certificate was given. What circumstances called for such a paper as that, is very uncertain, but possibly the fact that he had petitioned or was about to petition the legislature for a patent of his land, in the same manner as the town had petitioned for one. In such a matter proof that he was a. free man was of importance. And

what reason the town had for opposing Toby's petition, as it did, is not manifest.

The traditional account of Toby is, that, Capt.4 Ebenezer Johnson being sent in command of a squad of soldiers to subdue some Indians, did his work so thoroughly, as was his custom, that not an Indian was left except the dead on the battlefield. The fight, it is said, ended at dusk, and the Captain and his commpany slept that night on the field where the conflict had taken place during the day. Early the next morning he walked out upon the battlefield and while he stood viewing the scene he felt something clinging to his feet, and looking down he saw a little Indian boy looking up in a most pitiful manner. This was Toby. and the Captain took him and kept him as his slave.

The deed says he was a Moheagan Indian, and Capt. Johnnson says he obtained him of a" Moheg Indian." The Captain was probably sent in the Indian war to New London or its vicinnity, and there obtained the boy, who grew to be an honor to himmself, his tribe, his benefactor, and his adopted town.

But Toby did not tarry long in the land of the living.although long enough to engrave his name high on what is called" Toby's Rock." on the west side of Naugatuck River, near II High Rock Grove." His kindred were, no doubt, lost to him on some battleefield, and the time of his orphan sojourn was filled with honor and manly work, when he went forward to the unknown counntry to find those who had gone before him; and he gave his land, which was divided according to his will, in 17340 to Timmothy Wooster, Peter Johnson, Ebeneze,r Johnson, and Timothy Johnson; all but Wooster being sons of Capt. Ebenezer Johnnson. These were to him as kindred. 1there be no future awards, what a world of injustice, inequality and unrequited sufffering the present one is.

The will of Toby was contested by the selectmen of the town, which seems very strange, since if the Indian deeds given to the town were good, the one given to Toby was just as good.

In 1709, Major Johnnson sold another Indian girl. placing her in a vastly more satisfactory relation, according to modern ideas, than either of the other sales effected. The Indians in

ï¿½ He was Captain at that time. 6 He was Major then.

. 6

deeding a certain tract of land, say: "On account of a Squaw Sarah, sold 'unto said Chetrenasut and three pounds, ten shillings in hand received of Mayor Johnson of Derby." This tract of land was "lying in a place called Nayumps, bounded northerly with Beacon Hill River, easterly with Milford, westerly with Naugatuck River, south with Lebanon River." This was a happy sale, probably, because the Indian Chetcenasut obtained a bride. The estimated value of this squaw was seven pounds, which was not a third part of the value of an ordinary slave woman at that time, and hence the transaction may be generrously supposed to have partaken somewhat of benevolence in making her free.

The deed given to the Indian Toby is the link which connects him with High Bock, at the foot of which is High Rock Grove, a place of great resort for summer visitors and parties on pic-nic excursions. This deed is dated September 7th, 1693, and sets forth that Cockapatana and Huntaway, sachems of Paugasuck (the original name of Derby), and certain others" in the name of all the Indians of Paugasuck, for and in consideration of ten pounds and a barrel of cider, paid and secured, with which we do acknowledge ourselves fully satisfied,"

sell unto Toby a Narragansett Indian formerly servant unto Capt. Ebenezer Johnson of Derby, ... a certain tract of land, bounded north with Chestnut-tree Hill. and Lopus rocks, east with Naugatuck River against Beacon Hill, west with the Little River against Thomas Wooster's land, and southward with Rimmmon Hill and Rimmon Hill rocks, pointing into the Little River, and from the upper end of Rimmon Hill through Lopus plain, running between two ponds in Lopus plain. through the hill swamp, and so to Naugatuck River, unto the said Toby his heirs and assigns forever.-

This piece of territory is mentioned afterward in the records of the town (for example, in 1700 and 1708) as "Toby's land," or "Toby Indian's purchase." It seems to have contained a swamp called Squantuck Swamp, which was deeded to Toby a

"Derby Deed dated Sept. 7, I69Jo Cockapatana,

Indiansï¿½ Jacks,

Indian Toto,

Wequacak, Punwan, Indian Shot,

Will Mashok, Huntawa.

second time in 1707. This deed speaks of him as U an Indian that lives with the English, brought up by Mayor Johnson from a boy."

It might not be impossible to establish certain points in the subsequent history of this friendly Indian; but the important fact to be noticed here is that his (English) name has survived to the present time, in connection with the. towering rock whichhrises to the south of High Rock Glen. For a hundred and fifty years past, when people in the vicinity have spoken of Toby's Rock, they have paid their unconscious tribute to the memory of a man who represented the Red face in contact with the White, and represented it in its most marked vicissitudes, a man who was almost from the first the white man's captive and slave, and to the last the white man's friend.

The region of country where Toby's Rock is located is wild, romantic, picturesque, and attractive to travelers. It lies on the Naugatuck River, between the villages of Seymour and Naugaatuck. The Rock spoken of is on the west side of the river, the foot of it crowding down, steep to the river, scarcely leaving room for the railroad as appears in the accompanying engraving. Between the southern end of High Rock is a deep gorge called some years since, it Sherman's Gorge," but now" High Rock Glen," through which Bows quite a brook and from the scenery of which several views, herewith presented, are taken. qn ~he east side of the river the hill is abrupt and rises to a considerable height. along the foot of which there is space only for a highway, which is cut into the side of the hill and rock, and is therefore called the " dug road."

While ascending the river by railroad from Ansonia, the first prominent height seen is Castle Rock on the west side of the river just before reaching the village of Seymour, where it stands in all the grandeur of its ancient days, looking down upon the Falls of the Naugatuck, as it did when the Red man of the vallley made that his chief fishing-place. This rock is about two hunndred feet in height and without trees or shrubbery, although some years ago it was covered with forest Passing above the village of Seymour, Rock Rimmon rises in sight on the east side of the river, jutting out in the middle of the vaIley from the north, and rising to the height of four hundred feet, as if it were the fore-

most tower in an embattlement of hills, to defy the northward progress of an army of railroads. When this rock is seen from Great Hill several miles at the south, it appears to be on the confines of a boundless wilderness and this appearance, perhaps, suggested the name it bears, as brought to mind in a very anncient historical declaration, upon the defeat of a great army. " And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the Rock of Rimmon." 1 On the west side of the river from Seymour, northward for two miles the scenery is wild and hilly, but after this the hills disappear- so as to allow the coming of two brooks into the Naugatuck, and some little valley land at the place called Pines Bridge. At the upper end of this little openning of the hills is Beacon Falls village, just above which at the Beacon Falls Dam, the hills close in, leaving little more than space for the river and the roads, and then again the scenery becomes wild and rocky. On the west side of the river the hills rise very abruptly to the height of three and four hundred feet. the rocks standing out in promontories successively, in a curve until they reach High Rock, which bas an elevation above the river of four hundred and seventy-five feet, and from which northward the hills gradually dimini~h in height to the village of Naugatuck. The most elevated point ill this rocky rampart, just south of the Glen, has in recent times been named" High Rock" but in more ancient times was known as "Squaw Rock." Just below the mouth of the Glen, between the railroad which runs close to the base of the Rock, and the river, lies a strip of level land formerly covered with a thick growth of trees but now cleared up in a fine manner, which constitutes the now famous

"High Rock Grove:' .

At the northern end of the Grove is the entrance to the ravine or Glen. already spoken of. which is of considerable width at the railroad track, but is narrower further up the brook; from the opposite bank of the river, the little valley looks like the halffcircle of an amphitheater. The observer standing with his face toward the west, has on his right the high crag known in history as Toby's Rock, and on his left Squaw Rock, the highest summmit in the entire ledge. The name" High Rock JI which has of late years been connected with this last-named height, was for-

7 Judges :zo, 45.

merJy attached to a third summit which rises to the northwest, on the other side of the ravine. Through this ravine, a beautiiful mountain stream comes plunging down, winding around the huge boulders which 'ie in its path; leaping over rocky ledges as if in sport with the roughness of the way, fonns a series of charming cascades, some of them hidden under the dense shaddows of the woods.

To one who follows the path cut in this steep side of the rock, a series of picturesque views is represented in rapid succession. For a short distance the path is the same as that which leads to the summit of High Rock, but it soon diverges and strikes into the wildwood close to the brook, and then ascends by a series of irregular terraces until it reaches a height of a hundred feet above the rushing waters. At this point an almost vertical wall towers on the left, and beyond the torrent rises another wall, less precipitous but no less grand, its ruggedness relieved by hemlocks and clinging vines. Thenceforward the path is easier, although continually ascending. and after a little it crosses the brook, winds up the hillside through a kind of clearing, becomes merged in a cart-road for some distance, and so reaches the

ï¿½

Gorge." This is perhaps eighteen rods in extent; the channel

is twenty feet wide, and is shut in on either side by vertical walls of granite. Here the foaming waters leap from rock to rock, throwing clouds of spray high in the air. But the scenery here is not more impressive than at the cataract below, fifty rods from the mouth of the Glen, which has been pictured as

follows:- .

From rushing through a narrow defile the stream suddenly spreads out upon the level surface of an overhanging table-like roc:k, and falls in a broad, thin sheet into a deep basin below. Along the upper edge of the basin wall is a ledge of sufficient size for one to walk, with due caution, close up to the fall. Then, by ducking the head and stepping adroitly sidewise, one may pass directly under the cliff, and be. hind the sheet of water. The slight sprinltling necessarily attendant upon this fcat, is more than compensated for by the delightful coolness of the treat, and the rainnbow-hued landscape visible through the limpid camera. The view from the path at this point is charming. The Glen is narrow and steep. Overhead gigantic hemmlocks intertwine their branches in a fanciful net-work extending from wall to wall. Above, the brook rushes in a frothy torI'ent, forming & multitude of cucades, and disturbing the solemn silence of the rocky fastnesses with its weird, strange music. To one standing here alone, shut in from the world by these walls of adamant, the silence unbroken by any sound save that of the splashint: waters, tbe cares and duties of daily life aink into insigniiicance, and the primitive simplicity and majesty of 1IlIt' ture reveal themselves to the mind.

If instead of keeping close by the brook., the visitor takes the path to the top of the Rock, he is there rewarded with a view of considerable extent and remarkable beauty. The ascent is gradual and not difficult, but continuing until the summit, which . is four hundred and seventy-five feet high, is reached, when the river is seen' far below sweeping through the woods ~ a stream of silver, and the winding railroad close along its banks. Liftting his eyes, he finds himself surrounded with great crags, some of them clothed with forests, some of them bare precipices of shrubless granite. To the southward the valley widens a little, making room for a few narrow farms, and the village of Beacon Falls. Beyond the village rises the lofty ridge whose southern promontory is the bold and frowning rocky height called "Rimmmon." To the southwest the view opens more widely, extendding almost to Long Island Sound; and in different directions may be seen the centers or some part of the towns of Seymour, Oxford, Southbury, Middlebury,' Huntington, Waterbury, Wollcott, Meriden, Southington, Prospect, Naugatuck and Bethany.

It has been well said, "here is a mixture of verdure and sternnness, of romantic gorge and wild tumultuous billows of hill and

. .

rock., that brings a feeling of solitude, yet of strength to the soul

of man."

Whether the summit of Squaw Rock served as "an old heaconnlight station during the Revolutionary War," as some have claimed, is more improbable than that it was put to that use by the Inndians, long before the English saw the shores of Connecticut. Sentinel Hill in the southern part of Derby, and Beacon Hill on the original northern boundary of it were names, apparently, found here as used by the natives before the English came. The same thing is true, according to legends and records, of several hills along the Housatonic River. Again, it is not known how the Glen came to bear the name of " Jonah's Gorge."

It was not until the summer of 1876, that the establishment of a picnic ground at this place, with all the modem conveniences, was attempted by the Railroad Company. Early in July, the new Grove was ready for use, and on the 12th of that month the first picnic was held there, and from that time to the present, it has been a resort for tens of thousands of visitors almost yearly, there having been as high as 80,000 visitors in a single season.

bael Griswold, some time after the Revolutionary war. Another family had their wigwam within the present century in the field west of the Brass-mill in Wolcottville, where they had resided some years. In the edge of the town of Goshen, a little north of Hart's Hollow, is a cave which used to be the recruiting staation for the Indians while on their hunting excursions through that region. Many arrow-heads and other implements have been picked up at that place, indicating considerable occupation of it by these hunters. Another like place is found in the northwest corner of the town of Wolcott, near the boundary between it and Bristol, where implements have been found, and which tradition as well claims to have been a resort of the Red man. The place is called Jack's Cave, because an Indian by that name was the last, or among the last, to make it his home. In the forepart of the present century it was occupied by four or five adult Indians and two or three children, for which purpose the shelving rock formed quite a secure and comfortable retreat. Wist Pond, in the western part of the town of Torrington, was so called from an Indian by that name, who, it is said, was drowned in its waters. There lived, some time since, an Indian family in a cave in the town of Harwinton, nearly opposite the mouth of Spruce Brook, and another on the tract of land called the Wigwam, lying along" West Branch," not far back from Raynold's Bridge. In 1850, Mr. DeForest spoke of "one miserable creature, a man named Mossock," as living in Litchfield, perhaps the sole remmnant of the Tunxis tribe." There may be other similar traces of the departing Red man, which by a little effort would be disscovered, and, if it were worth the while, recorded.

It is important to take a further look at the Potatucks, from whom the extensive Litchfield purchase .was made. As to their numbers, it is difficult to determine anything to a certainty, but some conclusions may be drawn by comparison, from the number of different individuals who signed the Indian deeds in Derby. From 1657 to 1678, or to the close of the Sachem rule of Okenuck, a spaceï¿½ of twenty-one years, there were of the Paugasuck Indians over fifty different signers to those deeds. Sometimes only Okenuck's name is attached; at other times two, five, seven, and ten are recorded. The fact (which is demonstrated) that only a few signed when there were others

who might properly have signed, indicates that it was necessary for- but a few to sign at a time. Hence, if during that time one in three of the men in the tribe signed, then the tribe consisteddof one hundred and fifty men; and, making allowance for deaths and removals, the tribe may have numbered one hundred men, or, on a small estimate, between three and four hundred persons at any time during the twenty-one years. It is quite apparent, nay, almost demonstrable, that the Indians increased in numbers from 1657 to 1700, and afterward. Many of the Paugasucks united with the Potatucks from 1680 to 1730.

It is probable that the chief seat of the Potatucks in 1660 was at the" Old Fort" opposite Birmingham Point, on the west side of the Housatonic, and the settlement of the places called Potatuck, twelve miles further up the river, and Pomperaug, was effected mostly afterwards. In 1671, when this tribe deeded to Henry Tomlinson land on both sides of the river at what is now- New Milford, fifteen names were placed on the deed,s and in the next month to a quitclaim deed in confirmation of the territory of the town of Stratford, four others were added, and in 1684. to another deed of the same character eleven more were recorded. Here, then, in the space of thirteen years, there are thirty men ascertained; and on the computations as in the case of the Paugasucks as before noted, we estimate, making due allowance, that there were about seventy men in the Potatuck tribe, and from two hundred to two hundred and fifty persons. When, then, this tribe had increased, as -most probably it did,_of its own numbers and by accessions from the Paugasucks up to [700, it very probably numbered over one hundred men. Hence, when President Stiles of Yale College, in his "Itinerary" in 1;60, estimated the number of warriors of this tribe to have been fifty half a century before, he was not far out of the way.

The same writer preserves the account of a great" powwow," which tOOk place at the village of the Potatucks, somewhere from 1720 to [725. The ceremonies lasted three days, and were attended by fiye or six hundred Indians, many of ~hom came from distant places, as Farmingto.n and Hartford. While the Indians were standing in a dense mass. excited by dancing and other wild rites, a little Indian girl was brought forward, gaily

dressed and covered with ornaments. She was led in among them by two squaws, her mother, and her aunt; and as she enntered the crowd they set up a great yelling and howling, threw themselves into strange postures, and made hideous grimaces. After a while the squaws, stripped of their ornaments, emerged alone from the crowd and walked away, shedding tears and utterring mournful cries. Many white people stood around gazing at the scene, but the savages were so excited that none of them dared to interfere. A little white girl, who afterwards related the incident. ran .to the squaws and asked anxiously what they had done with the child, but the only reply was that they should never see her again. It was generally believed by the whites that the Indians bad sacrificed her, and that this was an occaasional custom.

In 1742, the Potatucks petitioned the legistature for a school and a preacher, so that, as they expressed it (or some white friend in their behalf) our souls need not perish for want of vision in this land of light," and their petition was granted. At this time they numbered forty persons. Previous to this, howwever (in 1733), they had sold about three-fourths of their reservaation in Southbury, and many of them had joined the Weanteenocks of New Milford, whither they had been emigrating for more than fifty years. To the fragment of land and the Indian village which remained, known as the Potatuck Wigwams, they reetained a title for a quarter of a century longer; but in 1758, they parted with it and took up their abode with other tribes. A clan of the Potatucks resided alternately at Bethlehem, Litchfield, and Nonawaug, and have been sometimes designated as Bantam Indians. In 1761, the Potatucks who remained in the vicinity of their old reservation consisted of one man and two or three broken families.

One year previous to the presentation of the petition just reeferred to, asking for a school and a preacher (that is, in May, 1741,) a petition had been presented by a member of the Potaatuck tribe asking the legislature, first, to allow something toward the schooling and supporting of his children; secondly, to help him to a division of the Indian lands at Potatuck. This docuument, which is reproduced from Cothren's" History of Wooddbury," is a very curious one; but it demands our attention just

now because of the name of the petitioner, who speaks of himmself as a poor Indian native, Hatchett Tousey by name." Hatchett Tousey, notwithstanding its English sound, is obviously the same name which appears repeatedly in the Woodbury and Litchfield records as Atchetouset ;" and it is all the more innteresting to us because we meet with it under the form ï¿½ï¿½ Hatchhatowsuck" among the Tunxis and Paugasuck names affixed to the Waterbury deed of December, 1684, and again as connnected with the Hatchett family of Derby. It would not be safe to consider the petitioner of 1741 identical with the signer of 1684, but we can certainly trace him in another quarrter,-in the town records of Litchfield. On the third day of August, f 732, John Catlin sold to a certain Indian resident of Litchfield, commonly known as Hatchatousset, for eight pounds lawful money, one acre more or less of land in the crotch of Banntam River; and on the 14th of May, 1736, Hatchatousset sold this land to John Sutliff for ten pounds, making, as probably he supposed, a fair profit. The idea of individual ownership had evidently taken hold of this native of the soil, for in his petition, as we have seen, he prayed the legislature to help him to a diviision of the Indian land at Potatuck-" that I might have my right and just part set out to me, so that they might not quarrel with me, for they say if I am a Christian, then I shall not have my land." He had learned, too, that being a Christian does not by any means take away the desire to have land; and that being a Christian secures sometimes the opposition of nearest kindred.

Another personage comes before us, whose name is already

. inscribed in history among the noble and honored defenders of our country. The name of one of the Indians who sold to the Litchfield settlers was written Corkscrew, apparently an immpromptu joke of the clerk at the time, who should have written Cotsure or Cocksure. On a deed of land in New Milford, this name was written in 1739 Cockshure," a still better spelling than the others. This name within a generation or two became Cogswell; a worthy member of the family which it represents is still living at New Milford, and another, William H. Cogswell, won a Lieutenant's commission in a Connecticut ArtiJIery Com-

53 The Cornwall History speaks thus of

pany, in the late war. this honored soldier: 9

Lieut. William H. Cogswell died Sept. 22, 186.4, aged 25 years 2 months and 23 days. He 'enlisted 1UI a private in the Fifth Regiment, C. V., June 2, 1861, and WlUl promoted to the Second Connecticut Artillery, for gall~t servir.es, Sept. II, 1862. He was in the battles of Peaked Mountain, Winchester, Cedar Mountain, Cold Harbor, and Opequan, and died from wounda I'l!ccived in the llUIt battle.

A handsome freestone monument, with the above inscription, erected by his fellow-townsmen, stands as a tribute to his memmory. As a valiant, faithful soldier be bad no superiors, while in power to endure fatigue, agility, strength and never-failing spirits, he had few equals. The writer remarked to his Colonel (Wessells) that William was one of a thousand soldiers. He reeplied, "You might well say, one of ten thousand."

It is related of him, that when on the march many were falling out of the ranks from fatigue, he grasped. the muskets of three or four, carried them for miles. showwing his men what strong and willing arms could do.

He WlUl the eldest son of Nathan Cogswell, to whose skilled hands Cornwall farï¿½ mers are indebted for many of their fine stone walls, and grandson of Jeremiah Cogswell. a member of the Scatacook tribe.

This grandfather was probably Jeremiah Cockshure. who, reemoving with the remnant of the tribe from Potatuck, became one of Gideon Mauweehu's principal men. He was one of the converts of the Moravian missionaries, and his name often apppears in their lists.

When we consider the Indian's character, the stage of development he had reached, and the ordeal necessarily involved in his being brought suddenly into contact with an aggressive civvilization, his behavior in this trying period of his history seems worthy of high commendation. However cruel and bloodthirsty he may have been by 'nature, in his intercourse with peaceable "white men he was peaceable; if they showed themselves friendly, he was their friend. Much is said of the Indian's treachery, but it was mostly reserved for enemies, and does not differ essenntially from the deception and stratagems which in all ages civilized people have considered legitimate in war; and, before th~ coming of the white man, who was anything but an enemy to the Indian of New England, all the tribes seem to have been ready to devour each other, and the Five Nations ready to

-- ---- -- . - --- -_. ---- ---- - - ---

a By T. S. Gold, p. 223.

stroy all others. The great law of self-defence appears to have been the rendering of terrible sufferings to captives taken in wars.

As a rule the conduct of the Indians was peaceable and friendly, but there were exceptions,-most of them traceable. it is presumed, to the intemperate use of spirituous liquors. Among these exceptions may be mentioned a murder which was perpetrated in the town of Litchfield, in. February, 1768. The murderer was an htdian named John Jacob, and his victim was also an Indian. The guilty man was tried and executed the same year. Mention should also be made of Moses Cook of Waterbury, whose residence was on the north-east corner of Cook and Grove streets, where another branch of the family still resides. The crime was committed in the town of Bethany, on the 7th of December, 1771, by an Indian named Moses Paul. It appears that Paul was born in Barnstable, Mass., about 1742, and resided at Windham, Connecticut, until twenty years of age, when he enlisted in the Provincial service in the regiment of Co1. Putnam. After the campaignï¿½ was ended, he became a sailor and followed the sea for several years, becoming confirmed in bad habits which he had contracted while in the army. After returning to Connecticut, he lived in a very unsteady way for three or four years, staying but a little while in a place, and often becoming intoxicated. On the evening of December 7, 1771, at the house of Mr. Clark of Bethany, while under the influence of liquor, he quarrelled with the proprietor. He seized a flat-iron weighing four and a half pounds (Paul himself testified that it was a club), and aiming a blow at Mr. Clark, missed him. and struck Mr. Cook who was standing near. The wound terminaated fatally five days afterward. Paul was pursued and arrested the same evening; tried in February, and after a fair and imparrtial hearing, which lasted a whole day, was found guilty of murrder, and sentenced to be hanged in June. The General Assemmbly, however, on petition, granteJ a reprieve for three months. At Paul's execution, which took place at New Haven, Sept. 2, 1772, a sermon was preached" at the desire of said Paul," by Samson Occum, a well known Indian preacher and missionary ; the author, by the way, of the once popular hymn, A large assembly of whites and lndians had come together to witness the execution, and Occum taking for his text the words, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." delivered a quite elaborate and impressive discourse, in which there were some characterisstic specimens of Indian eloquence. The sermon was subseequently published in several editions, and republished in Eng~ land in connection with the treatise of the younger Jonathan Edwards upon the grammar of the Muhhekaneew (Mohegan) Inndians. Mr. Occum' in his preface says, it was a stormy and very uncomfortable day when the discourse was delivered:" and hopes that it may be serviceable to his poor kindred, the Indians, and that people may be induced to read it because it comes from an uncommon quarter."

It is said that before the settlement of Torrington, a white man hunting on the hill which rises between the two branches of the Naugatuck River, just above Wolcottville, saw an Indian and shot him, and from this instance the hill was named Red Mountain. The reason the man gave for his deed, so closely similar to many committed on OUT western frontier, was, that he "knew if he did not shoot the Indian, the Indian would shoot him, so he shot first and killed him." But the white man's logic was at fault, unless be bad good reason to believe that the Indian belonged to some remote and hostile tribe. Indians knew, as well as white men, who were friends and who were enemies, and there was no period subsequent to King Philip's war when any . of the Indians of Connecticut would have been likely to shoot a white man at sight, or without the utmost provocation. The shooting of this Indian was, therefore, without excuse, and the name Red Mountain is a standing reproach to the white man's treatment of the Indian.

The consideration of King Philip's war, and, the other Ind,ian

10 It is a fact worth mentioning in this connection. that the skull of Moses Cook was not buried with his body. It was probably prepared for examination and exxhibited at the trial of Paul, and was afterward returned to the family. It ,was for many years in the posession of Mr. Cook's daughter, the wife of Titus Bronson, and mother of the late Dca. Leonard Bronson of Middlebury. This strange souvenir was kept by Mrs. Bronson in a little cloth bag (being in several pieces), and at her request buried with her in 1841. Her grandson. Edward L. Bronson, remembers having seen it repeatedly in his boyhood.

wars of the colonial period. in their relations to the Naugatuck valley, is worthy of a passing notice. Thus far we have been tracing the foot-steps of a departing friend; we may also trace the coming and going of a wily and cruel enemy. The first war in Connecticut was that waged against the Pequots, in the beginning of its history as a colony. The Pequots were of the Algonkin stock, but by some it is said did not belong to the same family as the other Connecticut tribes. "The Pequots and Moohegans were, apparently, of the same race with the Mohicans, Mohegans, Mohicanders, who lived on the banks of the Huddson." II The Moravian missionaries, however, recognized all the Western Connecticut Indians as of the same stock as the Huddson River Indians. The Pequots were, therefore, without allies in that war, and were not only defeated, but practically extinnguished. This was in 1636, and King Philip's war did not begin until forty years later. In the interval, which was a period of undisturbed peace, the settlement of Farmington took place, on the one side, and Milford on the other. The settlement of Derrby, as we have seen, was begun as early as 1654 and in 1657 -the deed was given in which Mattatuck is first mentioned-the land around the hill where the black-lead was found. It was during this era of peace that the meadow lands of the Naugatuck were discovered. Preparations had been begun for the settlement of Waterbury, when the colony was startled by the cry of war. The first intimation of a misunderstanding between Philip, who was the chief of the Wampanoags in southeastern Massachuusetts, and the colonists, was in April, 1671. From this time, if not before. this, Philip skillfully planned to unite all the New Enggland tribes against the whites in a war of extermination. The want of friendship among the tribes rendered this a difficult unndertaking, but he succeeded so far as to extend his operations from the St. Croix river to the Housatonic. An Indian league

. was formed, and the result was the most formidable war the colonists ever had to sustain. Hostilities actually commenced on the 24th of June, 1675, and were terminated by the defeat and death of Philip fourteen months afterward.

In this bloody conflict the colonists lost six hundred men.

Thirteen town~ were totally. and eleven nartiallv. destroved.

While the eastern part of Connecticut, being nearer the centre of the conflict, suffered more seriously than the western, yet the vaHey of the Naugatuck was by no means exempt from anxiety, danger and trouble. If there had been no other sou~ces of harddship, the enactments passed by the General Court and the Counncil-which have been correctly characterized as" equivalent to putting the whole colony under martial law,"-must have come heavily upon such new settlements as Derby. At a meeting of the Council, held on the 1St of September, 1675, it was reported, "that the Indians were in a hostile manner prepared, with their arms, near Paugasuck;" and this, with other similar reports, led the Council to pass a stringent law in reference to carrying of arms by Indians:

The Council sees cause to order that whatsoever Indian or Indians with arms shall be espied traveling without an Englishman be with them, if they do not call to such English traveling as they may see, and al60 lay down their arms, with pr~ fessing themselves friends, it shall be lawful for the said English to shoot at them and destroy them for their own safety; which it is our duty to provide for thus in time of war.

Two days afterward it was ordered by the Council that in each plantation a sufficient watch should be kept" from the shutting

. in of the evening till the sun rise," and that one-fourth part of each town should be in arms every day by turns. U It is also ordered that during these present commotions with the Indians, such persons as have occasion to work in the fields shall work in companies; if they be half a mile from the town, not less than six in company, with their arms and ammunition well fixed and fitted for service." In October, the General Court, in view of " great combinations and threatening of the Indians against the English," ordered that sixty soldiers should be raised in each county, "well fitted with horse, arms, and ammunition, as draagoons;" that places of refuge should be fortified in every settleement, to be defended by such persons as the chief militia officer in each town should appoint to that work; and in case of an asssalllt by an enemy or an alarm, anyone who should willfully negglect the duty to which he had been appointed should be punished with death, or such other punishment as a court-martial should adjudge him to. The" places of refuge" were fortifications connstructed of timbers placed vertically in the ground so close to-

gether that no one could pass between them. Such a wooden wall, with doors properly secured, afforded go~ protection ~nst hostile Indians, and to a house thus defended the popuulation could resort with safety at night, and return in the mornning to their own houses. In the following March, it was further ordered by the Council-4Cin regard to the present troubles"that are upon us, and the heathen still continuing their hostilities against the English, and. assaulting the plantations,"-that the watch in the several settlements, an hour at least before day, should call" up the several inhabitants within their respective wards, who should forthwith rise and arm themselves and march to their several quarter~ there to stand upon their guard to deefend the town against any assault of the enemy until the sun he half an hour high. Mounted scouts, also, were to be sent out from every town to watch the enemy, u going so far into the woods as they may return the same day, to give an account of what they shall discover:'

" It was und~r such circumstances as these that the inhabitants of Derby and Woodbury sought the advice and aid of the Genneral Court. In answer, the Court advised them to secure their grain and remove to more populous villages for protection. A number did remove, but a few evidently remained in Derby, with the Indians close at hand.

. .

ï¿½ -;:r .ï¿½.. ,.)

>,:1'..,(' ~. THE LAST FAMIUES IN DERBY.

".k~,,,,

.-: 1{1"" CHUSE was the last Sachem in Derby, and this his name gave rise to the name of the village known for more than fifty years as Chusetown, now Seymour, on the' Naugatuck. Considerable has been written as to who th~ m~n was: and most witers have followed what IS said of hIm by

Jr~ Mr. J. W. Barber in his "Historical Collections;" which is that he was a Pequot (or Mohegan); but Mr. DeForest' says that while "various connections might be traced between the N arragansetts and the tribes of western Connecticut," "both united in holding the Pequots in abhorrence and seldom bore any other relations to them than those of enemies, or of unwillling subjects." Hence it would have been almost impossible for a Pequot to come among the Paugasuck or Potatuck Indians, after the English began to settle there, and become a chief.

The office ~f Sachem, Sagamore or chief was one .of inherittance among the Indians, and the direct line of descendants from Ansantaway were numerous among both the Paugasucks and Potatucks, and they held the right of inheritance and were leaders in their tribes, that is before they became chiefs. The names of persons who are distinctly declared to be Sachems and Sagamores, are Ansantaway, Tow-Tanemow, Ockenuck, Atteerosse, Ahuntaway, Nanawaug, Cockapatana,andï¿½ Chushumack~ besides several others, the position of whose names on the deeds indicate the office of Sachem. Chushumack succeeded Towtanemow as Sachem at Potatuck on the west side of the Housatonic, at Derby, for he signed a deed as such, in 1671. His son, one of several, signed the same deed, and also a grandson, which would indicate that Chushumack was about

seventy years of age, and hence born long before the English came to the shores of Long Island. It is possible for Chushuumack to have been a Pequot, but, if not, then Gideon Mauweehu and his son Joseph were not Pequots, for it is inferentially cerrtain that they were introduced to theseï¿½ tribes no other way. if introduced at all from another tribe. Chushumack signed three deeds given to the Derby settlers, dated respec::tively 1670, 1671, and 1673, thus clearly showing his ownership with .the Paugaasucks; and there are many more evidences of this dose relation

between these tribes. .

Another fact must be remembered. that the Indians' land at the Falls (or Chusetown) was a reservation made by Okenuck, in 1678, when the land at that place was sold to the town. It was reserved in the following words: /{ Only the said Indians do ree~erve the fishing place at Naugatuck, and the hill next the river at the fishing place; further the Indians do grant to the inhabittants, all the grass and feed and timber on the plain against the Rock Rimmon. and do engage to sell it to theItl if they sell it." This reservation comprised about thirty acres and belonged to the Paugasuck Indians, and how could Gideon Mauweehu give this land to his son Joseph unless he was inheritor of it through the Paugasuck tribe as well as the Pootatuck; and especially so when there were probably more than a hundred men eager to claim it if he had not been the legitimate chief? He did it only as a chief ï¿½relinquishes his claim to his son to be the chief of those who should reside on the Jand, or hold it as a possession. How did he possess any claim over this land, unless by ancestral right, running back to a time anterior to the date of the reserrvation? And, how did Gideon Mauweehu become Sachem of this land before 1730, as some have claimed, when the rightful Sachem, Cockapatana, was living, and his son with him, until 1731 ?

Mauweehu is said to have been the name of these chiefs. The name Gideon was given to the elder of the two when he was baptized at Scatacook, in 1742, by the Moravian missionary. The missionary, Christian Henry Rauch, records his name before baptism as" Mauweseman." The names Mawee and Maweehu are found on Indian deeds given at Setauket, Long Island. in 1655 to 1660. Joseph was the son of. Gideon, and received his English name probably at his birth, about J 710. . Joseph is said to have been brought up or educated at the home of Agur Tommlinson of Derby, but the first man of that name, resident in the town-and quite a spirited business man-was first married in 1734. ahout fourteen years after Joseph's reported settlement at the Falls, wherefore, and also because of other facts, it is prohaable that he did not settle at the Falls until after 1735. The land did not, probably, fall into the hands of his father until after the death of Cockapatana in 1731, and therefore the settlement must be some years later. An item iri the town records connfirms this opinion. It was customary, when a man became an inhabitant of the town, to record the mark he was to pnt on the ears of his sheep, swine, and cattle, and therefore the following entry has force, for the reason that if Joseph was brought up among the English, which is most probable, he would not have remained many years settled at the Falls before being in possesssion of animals upon which he would need an ear-mark .

"Joseph Mauwee, I his ear-mark is two-halfpennies of the foreeside of the right ear, and a half tenant the underside the left ear. June 27, 1759."

It is said, however, that his youngest child, Eunice, was born in 1755, and that he had ten children, which might seem that his marriage took place before he could have lived with Agur Tommlinson. But Eunice had no records, only memory, she being at the time about seventy years of age. His wife's name was Ann, whom Mr. J. W. Barber says was" a woman of the East Haven tribe!, but the" History of Seymour" says she was" of the Farrmington Indians ;"-and when we remember that the East Haaven Indians were but few, at first, and were dispersed nearly one hundred years before Joseph married anyone, the Farmington story seems the most probable.

The" striking statement" reported to have been made by Eu ï¿½. nice Mauweehu, that she" had seen an old Indian who had seen King Philip," would require the age of the old Indian to have been about one hundred and twenty years. It was from this Eunice that Mr. J. W. Barber received most of his information about the Indians of Derby,3 and, making some allowances for

, His name was alwayil written on the town records" Mauwee." a His. Col., p. 200.

the memory of an Indian woman seventy-two years of age, the source of information is neady as reliable as any except actual records. When opinions, interpretations or legendary stories are in question, then the story is all there is of value. The story that Chuse's name resulted from the peculiar manner of his pronoun;. dng the word choose is not credited by the author of this war work any more than those concerning several other things which were told to Mr. Barber, but which the town records of Derby prove to be erroneous.

The story that" Sentinel Hill" in Derby was so named from the fact of building sentinel fires on it during the Revolutionary war, when the same name of that hill is found on many deeds one hundred years before the Revolution, is like several other stories; the story or legend has a foundation in reality, but the date makes the story entirely too young-as is the case sometimes with people.

It is more probable that the name" Chuse" originated from the abbreviation of some Indian name, or in the English method of remembering some ancestor, as '! Chushumack," or " Cush," rather than some minor occurrence, especially when we find a growing tendency among the Indians, or rather among the Engglish concerning Indian names, to perpetuate the name. Indian names were not hereditary in early times, but after a hundred years of mingling with the English, the paternal name was used in designating families, and hence we have Joseph Mauwehu, after his father Mauwehu; and as early as. 1702, Will Toto, John Toto, Jack Toto.

Chuse settled at the "Falls," a place originally called by the Indians and English "Naugatuck," which name was afterrwards applied to the river; the latter being called many years Paugasuck or Paugasset. In the Indian deed of this place it is said: Only the said Indians do reserve the fishing place at Naugatuck," and in the report of a committee in Derby, dated in 1676, this name is used in the same manner: Plum meadow and the adjacent land is by estimation about twenty acres, lying on the east side of tbe river tbat cometh from Nau tuck." Mr. John W. Barber was told4 that" the original nar of this place was Nan-ko-tunk, which signified in the Jndi? language.

one large tree, so narned from a large tree which formerly stood near Rock Rimmon, about three-fourths of a mile north of the falls." The name, so far as th~ town records show, never was Naukotunk, but was at first Naugatuck; the difference beingg\Ink means a standing tree; tuck means a tidal or broad river,' or winding river. The river at this place flows first in a direcction a little east of south, then turns short to a southwesterly direction, then south, and at the falls turns almost directly east for about one hundred roos. then turns directly south. It is sufficient to say th,at this remarkable winding of the river, with the falls, would originate the name rather than a mythical tree, the reality of which is warranted by no records whatever. In the II History of Derby" another idea was maintained with but little research, the author believing that the name grew out of the peculiar characteristics at the place rather than from a tree three-quarters of a mile a~y, and is still decidedly of that opinion.

It may be said further in'regard to the time that Chuse setttled at this place, that in 1731, the town purchased all that tract of land known by the name of the Indian hill in Derby, situate on the east side of the Naugatuck river, near the place called the Falls; all that land that lieth eastward, northward, and southward, except the plain that lieth near the Falls up to the foot of the hill." The deed of this land was not given by Chuse, but by John Cookson, John Rowd, and other Indians, which fact is proof that Chuse was not there, nor in possession of this land at that time.

Mr. J. W. Barber's account of Chuse and the Indians at the Falls is worthy of record in this place. and is as follows:

"For a long period after the settlement of this place, it was called Chusetown, so named from Chuse the last Sachem of the Derby Indians, who is said to have derived his name from his manner of pronouncing the word choose.' His proper name was Joe Mau-we-hu; he was the son of Gideon Mauwehu, a Pequot Indian, who was the king or sachem of the Scatacook tribe of Indians in Kent, lived in the vicinity of Derby, and wishing to have his son brought up among the white people, sent Joe to Agur Tomlinson of Derby, with whom he lived during his minority. Chuse preferring to live at Derby, his

father gave him a tract of land at the Falls, called the Iridian Field. Here he erected his wigwam about six or eight rods north of where the cotton factory now [1836] stands, on the south side of the llat. It was beautifully situated among the white-oak trees, and faced the south. He married an Indian woman of the East Haven tribe. At the time Chuse removed here there were but one or two white families in the place, who had settled on Indian hill, the height of land east of the river and southeast of the cotton factory, in the vicinity of the Methodist and Congre-

. gational churches. These settlers wishing Chuse for a neighbor, persuaded him to remove to the place where the house of the late Mrs. Phebe Stiles now stands, a few rods north of the Conngregational church. When Mr. Whitimore built on the spot, Chuse removed back to the Falls, where a considerable number of the Indians collected and built' their wigwams in a row, a few rods east of the factory on the top of the bank extending to Indian hill. Near the river, in the Indian field, was a large Indian burying:ground; each grave was covered with a small heap of stones. Mr. Stiles of this place purchased this field' about fortyï¿½ six years since of the Indian proprietors, and in plowing it over, destroyed these relics of antiquity. The land on the west side of the river from this place, where the Episcopal church stands, was formerly called Shrub Oak. Both the Indians and the whites went to meeting on foot to Derby. Those of the whites who died here were conveyed on horse-litters to be buried at Derby. These litters were made by having two long poles attached to two horses, one of which was placed before the other; the ends of the poles were fastened, one on each side of the forward horse, and the other ends were fastened to the horse behind. A space was left between the horses, and the poles at this place were fastened together by cross pieces, and on- these was placed whatever was to be earned.

"Chuse lived at this place forty-eight years, and then removed with most of the Derby Indians to Scatacook, in Kent, where he died, at the age of about eighty years. He was a large, athletic man, a'bd a very spry and active hunter. He had ten children. Eunice, aged seventy-two years, the youngest daughter of Chuse, is still living [1836] at Scatacook, and it is from her that most of the particulars respecting Chuse and the Indians are

derived. .

Chuse and his family were in the habit of going down once a year to Milford' to salt,' as it was termed. They usually went down in a boat from Derby Narrows; when they arrived at Millford beach they set up a tent made of the sail of their boat, and stayed about a fortnight, living upon oysters and clams. They also collected a considerable quantity of clams, which they boiled, then dried them in the sun, and strung them in the same mannner as we do apples which are to be dried. Clams cured in this . way were formerly "quite an article of traffic.

II The Indians in the interior used to bring down dried veniison, which they exchanged with the Indians who lived on the the sea-coast for their dried dams. Chuse used to kill many a deer while watching the wheat fields; also great numbers of wild turkeys and occasionally a bear. Some of the whites also were great hunters. The most famous were Gideon Washborn . and Alexander Johnson. Rattlesnakes were formerly very numerous about Niumph, near Rock Rimmon, and occasionally have been known to crawl into the houses in the vicinity. About the time of the first settlement of Humphreysville, a white man by the name of Noah Durand, killed an Indian named John Sunk, by mistake. They were hunting deer on opposite sides of the river, Durand on the west side and the Indian on the east; it was in the dusk of the evening, in the warm season, at the time the deer went into the river to cool themselves. Duurand perceiving something moving in the bushes on the east side and supposing it to be a deer, aimed his gun at the place and fired. Sunk, mortally wounded,. immediately cried out, 'You have killed me.' 6 Durand sprang through the river to the assisttance of the dying Indian, who begged for water. Durand took his shoe, filled it with water and gave it to Sunk. who, after drinking, immediately died This took place perhaps twenty or thirty rods south of Humphreysville, just below where Henry Wooster lived. A kind of arbitration was afterward held upon this case by the white people and the Indians. One of the Inï¿½ dian witnesses remarked that he never knew of deer wearing red stockings before-alluding to the common Indian dress. The Indians, however, appeared satisfied that their countryman was

6 The gun used by Durand on this occasion ia owned by Mr. John Whitlock, of Birmingham, Conn.

killed by mistake, aJ;ld ever afterwcf.rds made Mr. Durand's house their stopping-place." 7

Anecdotes are preserved of Chuse, which show that he was somewhat addicted to the use of ardent liquors and considered rum or whisky essentially superior as a beverage to cold water. He used to come, when thirsty, to a fine spring bursting from a hollow rock at the foot of the hill, and there sit on the bank by the side of the spring and drink the sweet water as it gushed from the rock, and praise it and say that if there was only annother spring, of rum, flowing by the side of it, he would ask for nothing more, but should be perfectly happy.

In 1760, he sold an acre and a half of land on the east side of the Falls, including the water privilege, to Thomas Perkins of Enfield, and Ebenezer Keeney,.Joseph Hull, and John Wooster of Derby, who had formed a company for the purpose of putting up some iron works. After living at Humphreysville forty-eight years, Chuse removed to Scatacook, where, a few years afterrward, he died at the age of eighty. His land was not disposed of until 1792, when it still amounted to thirty-three acres; and only a part was sold at this time, the rest being sold in 1812."8

Chuse's wife's name was Anna, concerning whom the Rev.

Daniel Humphreys made the following record: "September 12, 1779, then Ann Chuse was admitted to communion with the Church of Christ." The Rev. Martin Tuller of Derby, recorded her name in 1787, "Anna Mawheu," and at the same ti01e he recorded Chuse's name, "Joseph Mawheu," as having been a member of the church to the time of his removal, but when he

. first joined is not known. It is probable, therefore, that he reemoved to Kent about the time of the date of his dismissal fro.m the church at Derby, and if he resided at Chusetown forty-eight years, as stated, tben he settled there in I739.

In 178o, the town appointed Capt. Bradford Steele, and Mr.

Gideon Johnson, a . committee with full power c. to take care of the Indian lands in Derby, and let out the same to the best addvantage for the support of said Indians, and to take care that

. there be no waste made on said land, and to render an account of their doings to the town." .

When Chuse removed, it is said, he took with him a large pro-

portion of his people, but some were left, and for these the town and State took particular care many years. John Howd appears to have been the successor in office to Chuse, for a time, as indiicated by the signing of deeds, and the following record:

"Whereas the Assembly held on the zd of May, 1810, authorrized Joseph Riggs of Derby, to sell certain lands, the property of Philip, Moses, Hester, Frank, and Mary Seymour, Indians; lands which descended to them from John Howd an Indian," thereefore the lands were sold by Lewis Prindle and Betsey Prindle, agents in place of Joseph Rigg!i, in behalf of these Indians, and two years later some part of this land was sold to Col. David Humphreys, and another piece, at the same time, to Mrs. Phebe Stiles. This John Howd, Indian, should not be taken for the prominent white citizen of the same town some years before, by the same name, and after whom, most probably, this Indian was named.

On the day-book of theï¿½ selectmen of Derby are found . the following items:

"1809. Abigail Short, credit, by keeping Frederick Fronk, one of the proprietors of the Indian land at Rock Rimmon Falls, and attending him in his illness, '6.50. By horse and carriage . to move Frederick Fronk, one of the proprietors," etc., II '0.67."

"Sep.4. 180g. Isaac Pease, credit, by making a coffin for Frederick Fronk, one of the proprietors, etc., '4-50."

Abraham Harger, credit, by digging Frederick Fronk's grave, $1.24."

. Daniel Todd, credit, by tending on Lydia French and Fredderick Fronk's funeral, '1.00."

co 1808. Augustus Baden, credit, by keeping his mother, Hesster, one of the proprietors of the Indian land at the Falls, pequot;

The Mack Family.

The last remnants of the Indians at Chusetown, were the memmbers of. the Mack family who, in their last days, dwelt in the borders of Bethany, just out of the town of Derby. The selecttmen of that town, fearing that these Indians would become pauupers, purchased a small tract of land in Deerfield, within the limits of Derby, placed them upon it, and assisted them in building

some huts, in which they dwelt while securing a living by hunting and making baskets. James and Eunice Mack lived by themselves near the turnpike that leads from Seymour to New Haven, and Jerry Mack and four other Indian men, two squaws and three children, dwelt over the hill south of James Mack's, about eighty rods. For a long time the place was called the Indian settlement.

In 1833, a squaw from Milford became the guest of James,,was taken ill, and at once removed back to Milford, where she died of small-pox. Soon after these. nine Indians became ill with the same disease and all died, but the three children being

. Vaccina.ted by Doct. Kendall, and removed, were sa.ved from the terrible scourge. The Indians were buried in the garden near their huts, by Samuel Bassett and others who had had the small-pox. Great fear prevailed as to the disease. and to secure the community the selectmen ordered the huts to be burned in the night, by which the pestilence was exterminated.

Of these Deerfield Indians, Mr. DeForest wrote in 1852: " One of the women, old Eunice, as she was commonly called, died a number of years since. Her two children, Jim and Ruby, I have often seen coming into my native village to sell parti-colored baskets, and buy provisions and rum. Ruby was short and . thick, and her face was coarse and stupid. Jim's huge form was bloated with liquor, his voice was coarse and hollow, and his steps, even wben he was not intoxicated, were unsteady from the evil effects of ardent spirits. At present I believe they are all in their graves."

Molly Hatchett.

This woman and her children were for some years the last reppresentatives of the Indians at Turkey Hill, and the vicinity of Derby Landing. Her last dwelling stood on Two-Mile Brook, near the Housatonic, over a cellar place that is still to be seen. This house was built by Leman Stone, agent for the Indians in Derby,-the workmen being Truman Gilbert, boss carpenter, and his apprentices, David Bradley and Agur Gilbert.8 The buildding was only twelve feet square. She had previously lived for some time with her daughter, a married woman, a little distance

up the brook, near the highway. In this hut she lived some years, and was visited here by thoughtful neighboring women, to see that she should not be neglected in her last days, and here she died. She was a wanderer upon the earth for many years, but wherever she went she always received a cheerful welcome, and was never turned away with an empty basket, nor with unkind words. She was looked upon with sympathy as the last of a race who would never more return. She visited many families regUlarly each year, selling her fancy baskets, and bee!;towing upon every new baby a basket-rattle, in which she put six kernels of com, but if the mother had more than six chilo dren, she made the number of kernels correspond to them.

In her old age, when she could no longer go her rounds, the Derby people at the Narrows visited her frequently; administerring relief and comfort as they were able, and when parting with ber one day, a neighboring woman said: ï¿½It is too bad, Molly, that you should die in such a hut as this." 0 no," she replied, I shall soon have a better home in heaven, where I shall meet the pale faces with the Great Spirit." Her funeral was decently attended, Leman Stone arranging the ceremonies, his workmen acting as pall-bearers. In the parish record of St. James's Church, in the hand-writing of the Rev. Stephen Jewett, appears the following:

" 1829, January 17, died Molly Hatchett, Indian, aged nearly one hundred, buried by Rev. W. Swift."

She was the wife of John Hatchett, who died at an early age, and is said to have been a descendant of old Chuse, who lived at H umphreysville. Molly had four children. She lived some years with her son Joseph, then with her daughter who was married, and finally alone in her hut, overlooking the beautiful ~ousatonic. Most of her descendants are said to have settled at Scatacook in Kent.

Molly Hatchett possessed a tall, erect, muscular personage, with piercing black eyes, and long black hair falling over her shoulders, and as such was a good illustration of the race she represented. She usually wore a white blanket shawl and a man's hat, and nearly always carried a hatchet, from which last fact, it has been stated, she derived her name. Being quick in intellectual qualities, she was seldom overreached in witticisms-hav-

ing but one particular failing, that of the love of ï¿½ï¿½ uncupe," as she called rum.

She often corrected the white man's .pronunciation of Indian. names. You must call them as did the old ï¿½ Ingins,' Nautuck, Hou-sa-to-nuck." When she received a gift her reply was, "Arumskemoke," thank you. Now you must say tuputney, you are welcome." Her real name was Hatchett. a fact which is surprising, but she was often called" Magawiska."

Of her the following lines were written by Doct. J. Hardyer, .a native of Derby, who removed to Stratford, where he died at the early age of twenty-nine years ;

Deserted and drear Is the place

Where huts of my fathers arose ;

Alone, and the last of my race,

1 watch where their ashes repose.

The calumet now is no more, No longer the hatchet is red.

The wampum our warriors once wore No";' slumbers along with the dead.

The day of our glory is gone,

The night of our sorrow ill here; No more will our dayï¿½star arise, No more our snnlight t.ppear.

Once we listened to the war-song,

Once sailed on the Naugatuck's wave; The arm of the hunter was strong,

The soul of the warrior was brave.

Now lonely and drear is the place Where huts of my kindred arose ; Alone I and the last of my race,

I watch where their ashes repose.

Indian Burying-Places in Derby.

The first of these was doubtless just above the Narrows, which was commenced before the English settled at Derby, and where more .skeletons have been disturbed than at any other place. A few years since, while Mr.' Lewis Hotchkiss was putting up some buildings near the Hallock mills, at the Derby Station, a large quantity of bones was discovered, and the probbabilities are that the Indians continued to bury here until Revoolutionary times, or about one hundred years after the first settlement of the whites.

The burying-place at Turkey Hill was commenced, probably,

when they ceased to bury at the old place above the Narrows, and there were but few buried here.

Another place was used after the beginning of the English settlement, at the New Fort, on the east side of the Housatonic, a little above the present dam.

At Chusetown there were two places, one on each side of the river, and the numerous graves at this place indicate a longer occupancy of the place by the Indians, or a larger number in the tribe while settled here, than has usually been supposed to be the facts .

. Another burying-place is still to be noticed on Horse Hill, directly east of Ansonia-the place called in the very early records, ï¿½ï¿½ White Mare Hill."

As the Farmington Indians have been included in this survey of the ancient tribes, the monument erected at that place in 1840 may be referred to. On the bank of the river, looking out upon Farmington Valley and Indian Neck, stands a block of coarse sandstone, bearing the following inscription, which is beecoming rapidly obliterated :

In memory of the Indian race, especially of the Tunxis tribe, the ancient tenants . . of these grounds.

The many human skeletons here discovned coaIinn the tradition that this spot was formerly an Indian burial-place. Tradition further declares it to be the pound on which a sanguinary battle was fought between the Tunm and the Stockbridge tribes. Some of their scattered remains have been reinterred beneath this stone.

Chieftains of a vanished race, In yoor ancient burial-place, By your fathers' ashes blest, Now in peace securely rest.

Since on life you looked your last. Changes o'er your land have passed ; Strangers came with iton sway,

And your tribes have passed away. But your fate shall cherished be

In the stranger's memory ;

VIrtue long her watch shall bep, Where the Red man's ashes sleep.

Some few marks or foot-prints of the Red man still remain in Derby. Close by the New Haven and Derby Railroad, a little below the Narrows, is an Indian corn-mill, or mortar, sunk in the

bed rock, a little south of the ravine called the" Devil's Jump," and near this place are said to be two other mortars, likewise made in the bed rock. Here for many years the Indians ground

their corn for daily bread. .

Lover's Leap is a little way up the river from these mortars, consisting of a high rock, almost overhanging the river.

Several Indian axes are preserved in the community, two of which have been seen-one being made of blue stone, and is the size of an ordinary English axe, or a little larger.

t--- .... Pc 'I! ~

"'). ,

'11'-1' E have been tracing, thus far, the footsteps of a

""c ~ . departing friend; we have also to trace the coming

~'>'d'" and going tracks of a wily and cruel enemy .

.... " The first war in Connecticut was that waged

- / f: against the Pequots, in the very beginning of its '_ j.'...:.i i history as a colony. The Pequots were of the

;' _.f \.~., Algonkin stock, but did not belong to the same family as the other Connecticut tribes. "The Pequots and Mohegans were, apparently, of the same race with the Mohicans, Mohegans' or Mohicanders, who lived on the banks of tbe H udson.1 They were therefore without allies in the war, and were not only defeated, but practically extinguished by it. This was in 1636,and King Philip's war did not begin until forty years later. In the interval, which was a period of undisturbed peace, the settlement

, of Farmington took place on the one side, and of Milford and Stratford on the other. The settlement of Derby, as we have seen, was begun as early as 1654, and in 1657 the deed was given in which Mattatuck is mentioned-the land around the hill where the black lead was found.

It was during this era of peace that the meadow lands of Nauugatuck were discovered. Preparations had been begun for the settlement of Waterbury, when the colony was startled by the cry of war, The first intimation of a misunderstanding between Philip, who was the chief of the Wampanoags in southeastern Massachusetts, and the colonists, was in April, 1671. From this time, if not before this; Philip skillfully planned to unite all the New England tribes against the whites in a war of extermination. The want.of friendship among the tribes rendered this a difficult undertaking, but he succeeded so far as to extend his operations

from the St. Croix river to the Housatonic. An Indian league was formed, and the result was the most formidable war the colonists had ever sustained. Hostilities actually commenced on the 24th of June, 1675, and were terminated by the defeat and death of Philip fourteen months afterward.

In this bloody conflict the colonists lost six hundred men, while thirteen towns were totally, and eleven partially, destroyed. The eastern part of Connecticut, being nearer the centre of the conflict, suffered more seriously than the western; but the valley of Naugatuck was by no means exempt from anxiety, danger, and trouble. If there had been no other sources of hardship, the enacttments passed by the General Court and Council-which have been correctly characterized as equivalent to the putting of the whole colony under martial law "-must have come heavily upon such new settlements as Derby. At a meeting of the Council, held on the 1st of September. 1675, it was reported that the Indians were in a hostile manner prepared with their arms near Paugasuck ;" and this, with other similar reports (which seem now to have been almost wholly without foundation), led the Council to pass a stringent law in reference to the carrying of arms by Indians:

" The Council sees cause to order that whatsoever Indian or Inndians with arms shan be espied traveling in any of the precincts of our township without an Englishman be with bim, if tbey do not call to such English traveling as they may see. and alEO lay down their arms, with professing themseIveSc friends. it ScfF,n be lawful for the said English to shoot at them and destroy them for their own 52.fety; which it i~ eOill'dnty to pro"ide for thus bTl

This ï¿½r~ a ï¿½!Qvisi<:;u wholly on the side of the white man a..'ld at the peril of the Indian, as nearly all hW3 an the subject have been. Two days afterward it was <;.':l::-d ::7 th.~ Cc:::::dl that in each plantation a sufficient watch should be kept [rem the shnttinIr in of the el,i~,ing til the sun nSE.u and that one-

.. ~ ~ - - ... ~ ---- -- ------ ~ ---

well fixed and fitted for service." In October the General Court, in view of to great combinations and threatenings of the Indians against the English:' ordered that sixty soldiers should be raised in each county, "well titted with horse, arms,. and ammunition, as dragoons;" that places of refuge should be fortified in every settlement, to be defended by such persons as the chief military officer in each town should appoint to that work; and in case of an assault by an enemy, or an alarm, anyone who should willlingly neglect the duty to which he had been appointed should be punished with death or such other punishment as a court martial should adjudge to him. The to places of refuge" were fortifications constructed of timbers placed vertically in the ground, so close together that no one could pass between. Such a wooden wall, with doors properly secured, afforded good prootection against hostile Indians; and to a house thus defended the population could resort with safety at night, and return in the morning to their own houses. In the following March it was further ordered by the Council, to in regard of the present troubles that are upon us, and the heathen still continuing their hostilities against the English, and assaulting the plantations." that the watch in the several settlements, an hour at least before day, should call up the several inhabitants within their respective wards, who should forthwith rise and arm themselves and march to their several quarters, there to stand upon their guard to deefend the town against any assault of the enemy, until the sun be half an hour high. Mounted scouts, also, were to be sent out from every town to watch for the enemy, "going so far into the woods as they may return the same day, to give an account of what they shall discover."

At the same time it was ordered that "whosoever shall shoot off a gun without command from some military commander, until further order be given by authority, he shall forfeit for every such transgression the sum of five. shillings."

It was under such circumstances that Derby asked advice of the Court what they should do to secure themselves from harm, and received this answer:

October 14, 1675. The Court return that they judge it the best and safest way to remove their best goods and their corn, what thoy can of it, with their wives and children, to some bigger

town, who, in a way of Providence, may be in a better capacity to defend it, and those that stay in the town do well fortify . themselves and stand upon their guard, and hasten their removal of their corn, as aforesaid, what they may; and all inhabitants belonging to the place may be compelled by warrant from any Assistant to reside there until this be done. The like advice is by this Court given to all small places and farms throughout this colony, to be observed."

It will be seen by this that all were to remain until the corn was mostly gathered, which would be about a month, but it soon became apparent that the Mohegan and Pequot Indians, and the Indians west of the Connecticut river, were not in the league against the English, and could be trusted as friends and allies in defending the colonies. And the first fright of the people on the Housatonic having passed away, and the fact that the Indians of Milford had appealed to the court for protection, gave strong asssurances that the western planters were compar...tive1y ~e. For the Indians had complained to the Caunell about tJU!! time of severe treatment from the English, and the Council wisely and

In the autumn of 1675, the Rev . Mr.Bowers of Derby and the Rev. Mr. Walker of Woodbury with several families from each plantation, removed to Milford, and remained about one year, for in October, 1676, in a letter addressed to the General Court, they say: ï¿½We make bold before our return, to request this honored Court to resolve us in one important inquiry namely: In case of war with the Indians should be again renewed, what may we expect and trust to, from the authority of this colony, in order to our protectionit is quite certain also that all the families did not remove from these localities, but, probably, fortified some place for a resort if occasion shold require, and were not harmed, but the rather protected by the neighboring Indians.We learn from President Stiles History of the Judges, that the house of Edward Riggs of Derby was fortified in the years of early settlement, and if so, was probably again made as a fort for the protection or the people during this war of 1675.

King Philipï¿½s war and its influence upon the fortunes of Waterbury, we should naturally suppose, must have been slight, for the simple reason that Waterbury was not yet settled, but it is probably a link to that war that Waterbury is where it is; it would not be unreasonable to connect the course of its later history as a manufacturing center, and therefore its modern prosperity with the same event.As we have seen, the first purchase of land around Waterbury centre was made and August, 1674.It was during the same season that a site was selected for the content plated village, and there seems to have been no thought of first of any other site than elevated plucked out on the west side of the river, overlooking the Mattos and the amphitheater amidst the hills with the city is now situated. The land on the site was slow and swampy, and full of springs; on the Westside was a live aid in the area; and (known ever since as the Town Plot) roads were laid out, the one which ran north and south being 16 rods wide.The home l lot measuring eight acres each, arranged along this road are street, 16 on each side.This was accomplished in the autumn of 1674, and apparently nothing more than this was accomplished that year.So far as can now be seen the settlers would have returned in the following year to resume their work and erect filings on the town plot, had it not been that in june, 1675, the war with King Philip began, place in the whole country and to create excitement confusion; when Ali was all thought of establishing new settlements abandoned, but some of those already commenced for broken up.There was no assured until latter part of 1676, and meanwhile the war to bury proprietors (of Las indeed some of them went forth to the war) remained in their formative homes. In the spring of 1677, tranquility been restored throat the colony, they began again to make plans for new settlements; but in the meantime they had learned to think of the dangers which surrounded them. For several reasons they had become dissatisfied with the site they have chosen on the Westside; but the chief reason, the imperative argument against it, was the increased exposure it in involved to attacks from hostile savages.At the best, Farmington was 20 miles away-the only place to which the cookbook for succor or refuge in case of attack-and they did not deem it best to place between them and their friends, in addition to the broad expanse of wilderness, a fickle and sometimes destructive river.A meeting of proprietorï¿½s was accordingly called in Farmington, in a committee was appointed to the own consider whether it will not be more for the benefit of the proprietor's in general to set the town on the side of the river, contenting themselves with less home lots. On the side of the river it was set, and the committee of the channel core, in October following, order that the inhabitants of the New Plantation ït should settle near together, for the benefit of Christian duties and defense against enemies.It thus appears that the present position of the city of Waterbury, the industrial and vital center of the Naugatuck valley, is itself a memorial of the Red man; a reminder of the perils of war, and the cruelty of the Indian as an enemy.

It was natural that the colonists, knowing the character of the Indian and his molds of warfare, should live in a state of chronic anxiety.But from this time forward the people of Connecticut had no trouble with the Connecticut Indians.The league with King Phillip was an episode in the history of these tribe; their normal relation to white man was one of friendship, and, in real fact, of large dependence.They were the more anxious to be on terms of friendship with the Sellers, especially in the western part of the colony, because they compel look to them as their Allies and defenders when exposed to attacks from their relentless foes, the Mohawks.As already pointed out, the Indians of Connecticut, the Pequots included, belong to the great algonkin family of theRed race.The Mohawks belong to an entirely different stock: they were one of the nations of the creek confederacy which occupied the territory no compromise and the state of New York west of the Hudson, any part of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and represented the air court family of the red man.So totally distinct worthies to family's or stocks, the between the one group of languages and the other-the Algonquin languages and that you're quite-no verbal resemblances can be traced.There I, of course, are resemblance is an grammatical structure, for all the Indian languages seem to be formed a plot on the one planned of thought, but the vocabularies are totally different.As indicated by the state of development they have reached, the Iroquois with the four most people in aboriginal America north of Mexico, in the Mohawks were the first of the Iroquois.At the time of the discovery they were waging mores of conquests, it ïs not of extermination, upon their neighbours on every side, and the tribes of Connecticut, west of Connecticut River, weretributary to them paying an annual tax, and groaning under the capriciousï¿½ cruelties metedto them.But, at the white man to the Connecticut shores was there for a welcome relief to these feeble tribes, it was, of course, desirable in their eyes to have the white man for friend.

The Connecticut, less had nothing to fear from the Connecticut tribes on the one hand, more from the Mohawks on the other, because the confederacy of the five nations was on terms of friendship with the English, and after 1684 at a treaty with them; but trouble came to frequently from another quarter.The Indians of Canadaï¿½hostile alike to the Mohawks and the New England tribesï¿½were the constant Allies and subjects of the French garment and employed by it in war.ï¿½ Whenever, therefore, war raged between France and England, the French let loose their Indian Allies upon the New England settlements, and terror reigned among the columnist.The condition of the settlements under such such circumstances may be partially conceived when we are reminded that from 1689, the year when William and Mary ascended the throne of England, to 1713, one piece was proclaimed at Utrecht, with the exception of three or four years, France and England for continually at war, and the colony's continually involved in the hostilities.The French name to expel the English from the northern and middle provinces, if not for the continent; and the English, on their part, made repeated attempts to dislodge the French for Canada; a result which they finally effected a later period. As the French avail themselves of the services of their Indian Allies, they capped the frontiers of the state of continual alarm.The savages from canon up off and penetrated into the heart of the Colonies, spreading terror and desolation in every quarter they destroyed crops, drove off cattle, burned dwellings, and murdered the inhabitants are carried them away into captivity.

During this later war period the town of Derby, in the lower part of the valley, could hardly be considered a frontier settlement, but Waterbury was decidedly so, at least until the settlement of Litchfield in 1620, and Sheridan all the alarms, dangerous, disasters, and burdens of the times.Through a large part of the periodunder consideration,, and, with the other frontier towns (Simsbury, Woodbury, and Danbury), was required to keep two men employed as scalps.The business of these memos to keep a good look out to discover the designs of the enemy, and to give intelligent should they make their appearance.The citizens performed this duty in rotation, taking their stand on elevated places overlooking the village and meadows where men were at work. In 1690 the danger of envision an attack was considered so imminent that the General Court established a military watch throughout the colony, upon which all male persons whatsoever (except Negros and Indians), upwards of 16 years of age, were compelled to do duty.Widows and aged or disabled persons, whose estates for value to 50 pounds, were to serve by proxy, and those absent at sea or elsewhere were to provide substitutes.At the same time (April, 1690) it was ordered ï¿½that the fortifications in each town appointed to be made forthwith, be finished according to the appointment of the authority and commission officers and selects men in each town. Several years after ward, in march, 1704, another word was issued in regard to fortifications: ïthe inhabitants of every town in this colony shall be called together with as convenient speed as may be, to consider what houses shall be fortified. But already the town of Waterbury had move in this direction; for, on the night of April, 1700, they voted to fortify the house of Ens.ï¿½ Timothy Stanley, and if it should prove troublesome times, and the town see they have need, two more, should they be able. It was voted also to go about it forthwithall men and boys and teams that are able to work, and to begin tomorrow. Four years later thatï¿½not long after the order of the general court concerning fortifications was issued they voted to build another fort, and selected for this purpose the house of their pastor, the Rev.John Southmayd.In the meantime they have provided other means of defense.On the 15^th of April, 7 to 03, the town instructed the selectman to provide a town stock of ammunition according to law lot which required that each town should keep a barrel of good powder, 200 weight of bullets, and 300 flints, for every 60 listed soldiers, and after the proportion. The stock was duly purchased, and Timothy Stanley, who was by this time with lieutenant and commander of the train band, was made keeper of ammunition for the town.The order of the general court in respect to fourth occasions was followed up, at the regular session in may, by other enactments affecting the town of Waterbury.Eight towns, one of which was Waterbury, were designated as frontier towns, and was ordered that the should not be broken up are voluntarily deserted without permission from the general court. It was as follows:

that 10 men shall be put in garrison in each of these towns Danbury, Woodbury, Waterbury, Simsbury; and that the rest of the men to be raised out of the county ïs of new haven in Fairfield, was such Indians as can be procured.Shall have the chief headquarters at Westfield; periodïCompany of English and Indian shall, from time to time, at the discretion of their commander, arrange the woods to endeavour the discovery of any approach an enemy, and in especial manner from Westfield to Ousatunnuckï [that is Stockbridge].

As already stated, the whole period now under view was a time of anxiety and alarms.But rarely in 1707, the colony was aroused to special diligence and preparations for defense, by the intelligence that the French an enemy Indians for preparing to make a decent upon the frontier towns of New England. There was alsoreason to suppose that the Pootatuck and Weantanuck Indians (the Woodbury and New Milford tribes) had been invited to join the enemy, and that measures must be taken to secure their fidelity and to preserve the small frontier towns. It was further ïresolved, that the inhabitants of Waterbury fortify their houses sufficiently for their safety; and in view of their gray lasses which the town had recently sustained tour extraordinary floods, it was agreed to recommend to the general assembly and abatement of the colony taxes of the town. At the same session was resolved still further, that the inhabitants of Woodbury, Waterbury, and Danbury to every one of them maintain a good scout, Al everyday, from the respective towns, of two faithful and trustee men, to observe the motions of the enemy. These resolutions were passed in council, in February, 1707.In the same month the town of Waterbury responded, by voting to build a fort that is at lieutenant stanley strong, and build a new four at the east end of the town. These defenses were lapped for a time incomplete; but in june, aroused perhaps by some new alarm, it was voted, considering your troubles and fear of an enemy, to lay aside cutting bushes(according to a log and enforce for the purpose of making pasture in the sparsely-timbered portions of the vicinity), in this day forthwith to go about finishing and repairing the forts, and to finish them by Wednesday next at night. That they were duly finished and the defences of the settlement made satisfactory to the general assembly, appears from the fact that at the October session the assembly allowed to the town of Waterbury 15 pounds of the country rate, in view of the expense they had incurred and fortifying.A year afterwards, in an act for the encouragement of military skill and good discipline, it was ordered by the assembly that the committee of war in Harford county should establish garrisons in several towns, one of which was Waterbury, that the church of the colony war of the respective towns as the committee should order.Two garrisoned forts were established at Waterbury at the expense of the colony, and a third at the expense of the town.One of these forts was at the west end of the town, around Mr. Southmayds house, when it will tinent stanleys, and the third of the house of john Hopkins, the grandfather of the Rev. Samuel Hopkins D.D.The famous theologian.This house, in which Dr. Hopkins was born in 1721, stood a short distance east from the center of the city, on the corner of East Main and Brook streets.The forts, it will be seen, was situated so as to accommodate the scattered population.

All these defences were prepared with preference to attacks coming from the hostile savages of the north, the Allies of the French.The Connecticut Indians for habitually employed by the colonial government as reliable soldiers.An act was passed by the general court in may, 1704, in the following terms;

in his order by this court that as many of our friend Indians as orphan for work, and can be prevailed and furnished with all things to double, shall go with their forces against the common enemy; and majorEbenezer Johnson [who has already been mentioned as the owner of Indians slaves] is hereby empowered and ordered to employ suitable persons to quit the Indians and the counties of new haven in Fairfield of this conclusion concerning them, and to furnish such of said Indians a shell offer themselves for the service as a foresaid with arms and ammunition and what else maybe needful to fit them out for war, and cause them forthwith to repair to derby, to march with our English forces under the command of the chief officer for the said serviceIn this court allows the same wages to such Indian volunteers as those have that have gone to the eastwardïAnd for the encouragement of our forces gone or going against the enemy, this Court will allow out of the public treasury the sum of 5 pounds for every man scalp of the enemy [Canada Indians in the French] killed in this colony, to be paid to the persons that doth that service, over and above his are their wages in the plunder taken by them.

This last mentioned provision shows that the general court not only recognize the Indian taste for scalping, but encouraged a very directly, and when, in 1710, an Indian scout was established, the same encouragement was hel held out.The scouting company was promise, for each Indians scalp of the enemy brought to the committee of war, the sum of 10 pounds, to be divided equally among them.In 1724, the award was 50 pounds for every scalp.Another order, passed at the October session of the general court, in 1704, shows that the colonial authorities were familiar with the difficulties of the Indian war fare and considered it necessary that the settlers should adopt the Indians method,--not, indeed, as regards scalping only, but to the extent the warring moccasins and snow shoes.It was ordered;

ï¿½that every time plantation in this colony shall be provided with a number of snow shoes and the Indian shoes, no less than one pair of snowshoes with two peer of Indian shoes for every 1000 pounds in the list of the estate of such town, which snowshoes and Indian shoes shall be provided at or before the 10^th day of November next, by the selectmen in every town, at the charge of the colony, and shall be capped by them in good repair and fit for service when there may be OK shun to make use of them.

Another method of terror which might be designated the bloodhound system, was adopted in the October session of 1708, in which was enacted that there should be allowed and paid out of the public treasury of this colony the sum of 50 pounds, and pay for the bringing up to maintaining the dogs in the northern frontier towns in this colony, to one after the Indian enemy.It was also ordered, that no person whatsoever should furnish lead, or sell, even to friendly Indians, any gun for any time, longer or shorter; and that those who had lent guns to friendly Indians, should recover them as soon as possible.

From all this it is evident that the towns and the general government understood the situation of affairs, and were determined to be thoroughly prepared for emergencies. If the defense of the frontiers had been neglected disasters might have come which would have overwhelmed the settlements, as was the case in sections further north in after years.As a was, the one frontier town of the Naugatuck Valley suffered but little, and none others in the colony except Litch field, some years later. The only Indian raids upon Waterbury were in 1710, when a party of savages came throughSimsbury into what is now the southern part of Thomaston, and killed a man named Holt,--probably a hunter from another town.The place where the deed was committed was named Mount Holt, a spur of Mount Tobe.Another party from Canada, having made their way into the upper part of the town, a sender the hel on the Westside of the Naugatuck, opposite Mount Taylor, to reconnoiter.To the south, in hancock's meadow, they saw Jonathan Scott, one of the Waterbury settlers, and his two sons, one of them 14 years of age, the other 11.Scott was seated under a large oak tree, eating his dinner; the boys were little distance from him.The Indians approached stealthily, taken such a course that the treated them from his view; reached him without being discovered, and made him prisoner.The boys took to their heels and would have escaped, but their father was given to understand that will cost him his life if he refused to recall them, therefore he reluctantly called them back.To prevent him from offering resistance, they cut off his right thumb, and the three were taken to Canada, where they remained until after the proclamation of peace and 1713, when Scott and his eldest son, Jonathan, returned to Waterbury, but the younger son, John, having become accustomed to savage life, preferred to remain among the Indians, and never came home.

It is an interesting fact that the wife of Jonathan Scott, whose name was Hannah Hawks, was the daughter of john Hawks of Deerfield, and that her mother was killed in the Indian attack upon the town, on the 29^th of February, 1704.Her only sister was taken prisoner and was put to death on her way to Canada, and her only brother, his wife and his three children were also killed.Mrs. Scott was the sole surviving child, and her father spent his last days with her in Waterbury.After his return from captivity, Scott continue to reside in Waterbury until about 1720, when he removed to Wooster Swamp, in the northern part of Watertown, near scotts mountain, where he built the sawmill, and live with his sons. There is a tradition that he died in violence, at the hands of the Indians, while on his way to the north, but it seems to have no foundation in fact.The other tradition is more probable that he was buried on scott's mountain, where his supposed grave as pointed out.

The capture of Scott and his sons very naturally produced great excitement in Waterbury and the whole region of country. The settlement was very weak, foreign 1713 and numbered only 35 families, and not more than 200 souls; and the greatness of the impending danger could not be known, you can disaster be completely guarded against by the utmost vigilance.The news of the calamity fled as on wings that afternoon, and the scattered families from every direction fled for Waterbury as the only hope of life for safety.Just at dusk a citizen living on Buckï¿½s Hill, about 4 miles from Waterbury, reached his home, having been in the region of Waterville, not far from the place where the scouts were taken, and in the greatest confusion he gathered his family of several children, put his wife and some of them on his horse, and taking others in his arms, he sent with them to Waterbury, leaving everything at home, to be found in all probability, as he supposed, if you should ever return to it, in ashes and ruins.Nearly 170 years have passed since that they have great excitement, in yet, at the narration a mention of the sad day, the countenances of some of the elderly people of that part of the country, will light up with great excitement the remembrance of this story which has been so often repeated when they were young, by the older inhabitants of that community.

In July following the capture of Scott, the town appointed a committee, consisting of the Rev. john Southmayd and three others, ï¿½to drop in writing the circumstances of the town and this time of war, and to present the memorial to the general court in new haven, in August. That body, in response, made special provision for the protection of the town, by appointing a committee of war, with full power upon the application of the inhabitants of the same town of Waterbury, and in case of danger on the approach of the enemy, to raise and send men thither from the county of new haven for their relief, by scouting or lying in garrison their, as occasion may require.

There was no further trouble, however, in a proclamation of peace and 1713 for relief from apprehension, but the upper part of the valley was visited was similar calamities some years later. Before war broke out again, a settlement had been effected at Litch Field, and one Indian raids from the north were renewed, Litch Field was the frontier town and exposed to the same perils which derby and Waterbury had previously experienced. Between 1720 and 1730, five houses in different parts of that town were surrounded with fortifications, that is, with Palisades somewhere to those already described.Soldiers were stationed in the town to guard the inhabitants while in the fields, and also while the public worship on the Sabbath.For a number of years seats for particularly appropriated for the guards in the old meeting house in derby. Notwithstanding these precautions, attacks were made by northern savages, and settlers were taken captive.In may, 1721, Captain Jacob Griswold, wallet work alone in the field about a mile to the west of the present courthouse, was suddenly seized by two Indians who have rushed upon him from the woods, who pinioned his arms, carried him away, traveling in a northerly direction, and reached by night a spot within the limits of what is now the town of Canaan. They kindled a fire, and having bound captain Griswold hand and foot, laid down to sleep.In the night Griswold succeeded in disengaging his hands and feet, and although his arms were still pinioned he sees their guns and escaped.After traveling a short distance to the dark woods, he sat down and waited for the dawn, when he resumed his journey, still carrying the two guns.When the savages found in the morning there captive gone they pursued and soon over took him.During the greater part of the day they kept inside of him, but when they came too near he pointed one of the guns of them, and this kept them at bay.In this manner he traveled until near sunset, when, on reaching a high place in an open field about a mile north of where he was captured, he discharged one of the guns, which immediately summoned his townsmen to his assistants.The Indians fled and Griswold was restored in safety to his family.

After this occurrence the settlers were more cautious; but their watchfulness did not last long, four in the following August a more serious misfortune came upon them.The victim this time was Joseph Harris, who was a work alone in the woods, not for from the spot where Griswold was captured, when it was attacked by party of Indians.Attempting to escape, the Indians pursued him, and finding that he was likely to outstrip them they shot him dead and scalped him.As Harris did not return home of the usual time, the inhabitants became alarmed about him.This search for him as long as they could see, and again in the morning, when his body was found near the north end of the plane, where the road turns toward Milton. From that time forward the plain was called harris plain.He was buried in the west burying-ground, youre the church; his grave remaining unmarked for more than a century, when, in 1830, a suitable monument was a wrecked in over his dust, which bears the following inscription, in which will be observed there is no reference to his attempt to escape:

in memory of Joseph terrace, who was murdered by the Indians in the year 1721.While plowing in the field, about a mile northwest of the graveyard, he was shot by the Indians concealed in the ambush.He was found dead, sitting on the ground, his head and body reclining against the trunk of a tree.To record the first death among the original settlers, to perpetuate the memory of a worthy but unfortunate citizen, this monument is erected, 1830, by the voluntary benefactions of individual subscribers.

The war between the French and the English was not ended until sometime after this, and the attacks of the northern Indians upon the frontier settlements was still continue.In August, 17^th 23, tidings were brought to the governor and council of an attack upon Rutland in the massacre of several persons by the hostile Indians.They were also advised that about 300 French and Indians were come over lake Champlain to ward Connecticut, probably with evil designs.It was therefore resolved that Simsbury and Litchfield are frontier towns of this colony, westward of Connecticut River, which are most exposed to danger by these parties of Indians; and in view of the impending dangers, it was decided that the commissioned officers of these towns should immediately called together the householders and the respective towns, should immediately called together the householders in the respective towns, agree on suitable places for garrisons, and encourage the inhabitants to establish such fortifications with speed; also, that the sachems of the several bodies of Indians in the colony should forthwith call in all their Indians that were out a hunting in the woods to one north of the road that goes from Farmington through Waterbury and Woodbury to New Milford, without leave from the council; also, that two scouting parties, consisting each of three English and six Indians, should range the woods above Simsbury, westward to Stock bridge, to be so ordered that they should me each other about midway between the two places; and finally, the military watch should be kept in the towns of Simsbury, Waterbury, Woodbury, Litchfield, in New Milford.In may following, the rule in relation to the Indians hunting was enacted as a lot by the general court; and in July, in view of the danger of giving false alarms, the same rule was extended by the council to English and Indians a like.The spring and summer of 1724 was a period of special alarm and excitement.In that year, the assembly gave Waterbury authority to employ six men to guard the men in their outfields, at the discretion of the commission officers of said town.The authority thus given was exercised about a month. In Litchfield a small party of Indians was discovered lurking about the town on the night of the 19^th of May.Were been set a media link to the council at Hartford, it was ordered that a company of 32 men be immediately raised in Hartford, Wethersfield, and Farmington, and marched to the threatened town without delay, to serve as a scouting party.On the 21^st and june, it was ordered that 10 men be impressed, armed and he quipped, and sent to Litchfield for the defense of that town against the enemy.As some of the proprietors of home lots and Litchfield tried to escape from serving on a military watch, captain john marsh was instructed to see that the lot was duly executed upon all such persons.A line of scalps was established, extending from Litchfield to Turkey hills, curving around the most northerly and westerly settlements in Simsbury. Captain Richard case, of the latter town, was directed to employ ten men on his scouting party, to rendezvous will Litchfield.These men continued in this service until October. So serious for the apprehensions of attack, and so threatening the danger, that some of them were attended of the Litchfield settlers deserted their new homes and saut refuge falls work, and as the inhabitants felt themselves greatly crippled by these desertions that petition the assembly for a aid, it was ordered October 11, 1724 that whoever had left the town because of difficulties which had arisen there on account of the enemy, and should fail within a month to the close of that session of the assembly to return to the town to abide their, or else to send its all men in his stead to perform military duties, should forfeit all his right in the state in the lands of the town.At the same session of the assembly, it was ordered that the garrison soldiers at Litch Field be withdrawn and disbanded.But, in the following April, tidings were brought from Phillip Schuyler of Albany, that the enemies were all com over the lake, and thereupon the soldiers in the several frontier towns, including Litchfield in warder bury, were ordered to be in perpetual readiness to defend themselves and offend the enemy a company of 21 man was also raised in set to Litchfield, to be improved in scouting, watching, and awarding for the safety of said town. In May, 1725, the assembly, taking into consideration the difficulties of the town of Litchfield in this time of trouble with the Indians ordered that nonresident proprietors should pay and forfeit for defraying the cost of defending the town the sum of 30 pounds each per annum, and pro rata for any time they should be absent without permission; provided, however, that the right of Joseph Harris is saved for many forfeiture by force of this act.

The stringency of these enactments shows that the general court not only appreciated the great importance of defending the frontier rather than abandoning it, but he anticipated a prolonged in severe conflict up.To settle trace, however, there is little trace, however, of further troubles until many years afterward.A quarter of a century passed away before another French and Indian war broke out, and, a further troubles until many years after wards and that was last of the series.In 1752, the old Allied enemies of the colony were making encroachments on the northern and western frontiers; those frontiers not having yet advanced beyond the present bounds of the country.In a historical sketch of the churches and ministers of that region is the following;

The times, circumstances, and duties of these pastors were in some respects peculiar.Their location was in the frontier settlements in open to the incursions of savages.Instead of directing theirattention to instead of Christianizingthe heathen, they had, in common with others, to exert all their influence to prevent their coming under the dominion of a persecuting roman catholic govï.In the former part of this period, the great question was, shall we continue to enjoy the blessings of civil and religious liberty, or fall under the dominion of a colossal anti Christian power?

In 1750 secs, war was formally declared by England.The capture of four William Henry, in 1757, by the French and Indians under Montes com, and the Indian atrocities connected therewith, arouse the Colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and a force was raised which was meant to arrest the further progress of the French.In 1759 the invasion of Canada was undertaken, and on the 18^th of September, as everybody knows, Quebec was captured, the dominion of the French on the Saint Lawrence was broken, and the New England Colonies were delivered from further incursions of the hostile tribes of the north.

In this war the towns of the Naugatuck and Housatonic valleys were well represented.Waterbury set a company of 35 men, under the command of captain Eldad Lewis, and besides these 35, eight team worked 20 others are mentioned in the history of that town as having been engaged, at one time or another, and the war including the Rev. mark Leavenworth, when as chaplain.Another Waterbury man, is real called vans, played a part not altogether on important in shaping the course of events.When fort William Henry, situated at the head of late George, was besieged, the English general, wed, was an army of 4000 men, was a fort Edward, 40 miles away.Instead of marching to the relief of the imperiled fort, General Webb row a letter to Colonel Monroe advising him to capitulate.The messenger was interrupted by the Indian Allies of a Montcalm. But the French commander thinking that the delivery of the letter to Colonel Monroe would promote his own interest, for warded it to its own destination, and the surrender of the fort quickly followed.Now the messenger who carried the letter of General Webbwas Israel Calkins of Waterbury .After the surrender of the fort he remained in the hands of his Indians captors, and was taken by them to Canada.Here he was redeemed by a French gentleman, sent to France as a prisoner of war, and finally sent in a cartel ship to England to be exchanged.He landed a Boston on the 6^th of October, 1758, in immediately petition the legislature of Connecticut for an allowance of wages during his captivity, and also a gratuity, in consideration of the severe calamities he had suffered, which he affirmed, where more than words can express and were imagination paint.He speaks of his property as having been dissipated during his absence, and of this family as extremely destitute, in implores the pity and compassion of the honorable assembly.His prayer was heard in 30 pounds were granted him.

There is one more story belonging to the relief history of Litchfield, which it is proper to record here.It illustrates, like other incidents which have been mentioned, the Indian mode of warfare, but the same time brings to view some of the better traits of the Indian nature.It is taken, in a somewhat abridged form, from the Travels in New England in New York of President Dwight of Yale college, who vouches for its authenticity.

Not many years after the settlement of Litchfield, stranger Indian came one day to a tavern in the town, in the dusk of the evening, and asked the hostess for someand drink and a supper.He told her he could pay for neither, as he had had no success in hunting, but promised payment at some future time.The hostess refused him, called them a lazy, good for nothing fellow, and told him she did not work Ord to throw away her earnings upon such creatures as he.A white man was sapped by, sought in the Indians face that he was suffering severely from want and weariness, and directing the woman of the house to see him at his expense.

When the Indian had finished his supper, he turned to his benefactor, thanked him, and assured him he would remember his kindness, and if possible repay him for it.For the present you could only room reward him with a story. it is all very good.He made light, and took him and looked on him and say, Itïs all very good. Then he made dryly and then mortar, and sun, and known, and grass, and trees, and took them and looked on him, and say, ïs all very good.Then he made woman, and took him and looked on him; and he no dare say one such word.

Having told his story, the Indian withdrew, with a slight glance at the landlady.

Some years after, the man who had befriended him, having occasion to go some distance into the wilderness between Litchfield in Albany, was taken prisoner by an Indian scout hurried away to Canada.

When he arrived at the principal seat of the tribe, on the southern bank of the Saint Lawrence, it was proposed that he should be put to death; but an old Indian woman demanded that he should be given to her, that she might adopt him in place of a son whom she had lost in the war.He was given to her, and spent the succeeding winter in her family. The next summer, while at work alone in the forests, an unknown Indian came to him and asked him to meet him in a place which he pointed out, on a given day.The captive agreed to the proposal; but before the day arrived, his apprehensions of intended mischief had increased to such a degree, that he determined not to keep the engagement.Soon after, the Indian found him at his work again, reproved him for breaking his promise, and made on other appointment with them for on other day.This time the white man was true to his word.When he breached the spot he found the Indian provided with two muskets, two knapsacks and the ammunition for both. The Indian ordered him to follow him, and set off toward the south.Within a short time the white mans fears subsided, although his companion preserved a profound silence concerning the object of their expedition.In the daytime they shot such game as came in their way, and at night kindled a fire and slapped by it. After a tedious journey of many days through the wilderness, they came one morning to an eminence whence they be held a cleared and partially cultivated country, and a number of houses.ï¿½ The man knew his home; it was Litchfield.ï¿½ His guide reminded him that the some years before.ï¿½ He had relieved the wants of a famished Indian and a tavern in that town, and said, ï¿½ I that Indian now I pay you! go home. Without another word he bade him farewell, and the white man he sends joyfully to his own house.

The Indian looks out no more from any hilltop upon the cultivated fields of Litchfield, or any part of the valley which was once his own hunting ground.He is gone, and the succeeding race is glad to be well rid of him.The only remains, except that titled deeds in traditions to which reference has been made, are the fuel names of places which at go on the white mans lips, this strange tones of their language, and this stone implements which are turned up by the plow in our fields.He is gone.But it is pleasant think of him, the on to other day trial of the woods, and to reflect that he had much that was good in him, and not a little that is worthy of remembrance.It may be hoped that what is seared the event will serve to interest costs in his character, and render us wiser and kinder in our estimate of those who bear the name name, who in the far west are still carrying on the same hopeless fight with the relentless forces of the Anglo-Saxon civilization.

In 16718 names were attached to a deed, most of them being Potaatuck men, if not all, which absent the head of the list, but he is not said to be sachem, and Coshoshemack (Chushumack) stands second. Then, in 1671,Chushumack is said to be sachem, and also in another deed, in 1673.

In the deed of 1671, the name "Whimta," which occurs at the head of the paper, is left off at the bottom, were changed to some other. Two other deeds were given in 1671, in confirmation of Stratford lands, which lands had been a occupied, much of them, 20 years or more, but the signers were other than sachems; and still another in 1684, having Levin names, only one of them being the same as in 1671.

in the several deeds, from 1668 to 1684 --16 years --nearly 50 different men are found, most of them, if not all, Potatucks, although some of these deeds were for Derby land, and a few of them are on the other deeds that Paugasucks. Upon the estimate heretofore followed, of three men to one signer, the tribe must have numbered 150 men, making the whole tribe three or four hundred. Their chief locations during this period were Potaatuck and Huntington, Potaatuck in Newtown, Pomperaug in Woodbury, and Weantinock in New Milford. At their old town, now the village of Shelton, they had a fort when the English first began to settle and derby, called the old fort, and another soon after called the new fort, which did on what is now called for a hill, near the present Housatonic the dam. They also had a burial-place, near the old fort, from which have been taken, recently, in excavations for foundations for buildings, several skeletons,< and a number of stone implements.

some conveyances of land in Stratford and later years should be noticed. But it the first was given in 1702, was confirmatory of a proceeding deed, and the names at the beginning differ from those at the bottom of the paper so much, that both are here given;" know all men that we, Pocono, Wemett, Mamameco, Stupon, Paquahon, Cook, and Huest, Indian proprietors at Ouantenock, do sell, etc..

The second of these deeds states that,"We, Tom, son of Cockapatana, Winham, Curen, Puckwamp, Rauwston, Pequot, chips,Meskillin, Aukomi, and Robin, all the Indians of Milford,... For nine pounds current money do sell ... Land in Stratford, near a place called the Narrows, bounded eastward with Stratford River, etc.. To Abraham Harger, by way of exchange" --the deed being and acknowledged in derby by Tom and others, June 5, 1714."

the third deed makes Revelations peculiar;" whereas certain Turkey Hill Indians upon Stratford River did about May last, and before, steal sundry sheep from Stratford side, out of Quoram Plain, and being convicted thereof before the authority,viz.: Montegue, Tom, will,Chashomon, Mojons, Chipunck, Nonoco, Peiwenut, Tom Sachem, Tom Tonee, or Manshanges, engaging to pay 11 pounds, 10 shillings in money, and not having money to pay, the said Tom-Tonee, sagamore, in behalf of all the other Indians hath made over two parcels of land."

this land was taken from the Indian reservation in Stratford, and the deed shows that Tom King, who was Mashages, Manshanges, Tom Tonee, and sagamore, was chief over the Potaatuck Indians on the reservation in Stratford. His being said to be of the Turkey Hill Indians, means that he belonged to the Paugasucks and resided at Turkey Hill, while his father was probably residing further up the Housatonic. We shall have occasion to call on time came here after, to know whether he became the far famed Waramaug of New Milford. For more than 50 years the Indians had been gradually moving up the river, to Newtown, and what is now Southbury, until but few were left below these places. Newtown was finally deserted, but some remained at Potaatuck, in Southbury, until but few were left below these places. Newtown was finally deserted, but some remained at Potaatuck, in Southbury, until 1758, when that was for sickened by them, and they found a home at Scatacook. The Indians in Fairfield in Stratford were not numerous when the English purchase the lands in those townships, and it is probable that some of them retired to the interior of the country enjoying their destinies with the different tribes or clans in the valley of the Housatonic; for the names attached to deeds in those localities not only indicated kindred dialect, but some of them seem to have represented persons afterwards known in the valley of the Housatonic. To illustrate this unity in names and language, a few -the most important deeds -are referred to and the Indian names given. The first deed in Norwalk was made to Rodger Ludlow in 1640, in which it is agreed " that the Indians of Norwalk, foreign and in consideration of eight fathom of wampum, six coats, ten hatchets, ten hoes, ten knives, 10 scissors, 10 Jew-harps, 10 fathom tobackoe, three kettles of six hands about, ten looking glasses, have granted all the lands, meadows, pasturing, trees, whatsoever there is, and grounds between the two Rivers, the one called Norwalk, the other Sockatuck, to the middle of said river's, from the sea a day's walk into the country, to the said roger Ludlow, and his heirs and assigns forever." Two months later Daniel Patrick bought another tract on the west side of the Norwalk River: " an agreement betwixt Mahackem, and Naramake and Pemenate Hewnompom Indians of Norwalk and Makentouh, the said Daniel Patrick hath a lot of the said three Indians, the ground called Sacunyte napUicke, allias Meeanworth. thirdly Asumsoowis, fourthly aU tbe lama adjoining to the aforementioned, as far up in the cuntry as an indian ca.n goe in a day, from sunrisingto sunsettinge; and twoe Islands neer adj oining to the sayde caranntenaqueck, all bounded on the west side with noewanton, on the east side to the middle of the River of Norwake, and all trees., meadows, waters, and naturell adjuncts thereunto belonginge, for him and his forever; for which La.nds. the said indians are to receive of the sayed Daniell P.atrkke~ of wampum tenn fathoms, hatchetts three, howes three, when shipps come; six glasses, twelfe toobackoe pipes, three knifes, tenn drills, tenn needles." . . . . ~o Another deed was received in 1650, in confirmation of that reeceived by Daniel Patrick, given by Annanupp. alias Parrott, .ï¿½ by order and Appointment of the Ashowshake and Chachoamer, received of Ms tf. Stephetl Goodier of New Ha\1en, marchai'lt, the sayed two coatesj and fowre fathom of wampum, and doe by their order and in their names, hereby acquit Mr. Stephen Goodier of all dues or demands." 11 A deed of land lying \Vest of that bought by Mr.Patrick was given to Richard Webb and bis company in 165 I by II Runckin- ~Norwalk deed, Feb. 26, J64o. omakergo, Tobneke, 10 Norwalk deed, April 20., J601.0. Mamechom, Pomenat~i 11 Norwalk deed, July J, J6so. Annanuppo, Anthitunn. Prose womenos. Adam. heage, Piam ikin, and Magise. and Towntom, an Winnapucke. and Magushetowes, and Concuskenow.> and Wampasum, a.nd Sasseakun, and Runckenunnett, and Pokessake. and Shoakecum, and Soanam.atum. and Proday, and Matum pun, and CockenoeeDe-Long-Island~ Indiat'~s of the one part, .... in .cot'lsideratiofi of Thirtie Fathum of Wampuml Tenn Kettlesl Fifteen Coatesj Tenn payr of Stockings, Term Knifes, Tenn Hookes, Twenty Pipes, Tenn Muckes, Tenn needles, to them in 71. Pocono. Mattaret., the Sachem's eldest son, Ringo, TOile; the second son ()f Matlarct, Quoconoco, Toto, (;heshushama.ck, Sachem, . Molhemat, ï¿½Wookpenos, Chethemhehu, \Vesonco, Oshoron, POM'l1f\tOCk, PapiscofiOS. THE TRADlNG-HOUSE. 107 New Milford in the name of Chicken H ill, as arisi ng from the Indian" Chickins," whc> created some commotion in the Colony through the Weantinock Indians in 1720, as will hereafter be seen. II Pinehgut Plain" is most probably abbreviated, or a change {LOrn some Indian name~ as Paugasset, or Pequ usset, changed in one case in Massachusetts to Pigsgusset, and from this the slide is easy to "Pinchgut." Pawgasuck or Pagassett, means wnere .the narrows open out," which is the case most emphatically as we come up the river to the falls aboOve Falls Mountain~ Goodyea!s Island. This is a small isla"nd in the Housatonic below FaIls Mounntain, and below the Fishing Place now overgrown with alders and o~her small tre"es. ]t was probably made by the washing out of the gorge througb the mountain. In 1642, Mt. Goodyear of New Haven, with Mr. Wakeman, established a trading~house on wh.at is now Birmingham Point, in De"rhy., Ct., and in addition must have built one about the same time on this island at what was then Mehchawon, for there was no other person by that name engaged in trade with the I ndians, so far as known, before the deed of 167 I, which informs us that tbis was" Goodyear's Island,"' and he once had a trading-house on it. In 1646, the Governor of New York commplained to the Governor of New Haven that he or his men had determined to fasten your foot near Mauritius RiveT in this Province, and there not only to disturb OUT trade, of no man hitherto questioned, and to draw it to yourselves, but u.tterly to destroy it," 13 and the New Haven Governor replied a little sharply that his pec>ple had established a trading-house Of upon Paugassett River," but that he knew of no such stream as Mauuritius River. In the suit conducted by Mr. John Read for Mr. Zachariah Ferriss, as given in the first chapter of the English history part of this book, we are told where this Goodyear Island is, and the fact is also revealed in one New Milford deed, if not more. This island being so much nearer the New York line than Paugassett. we can see why the New York Governor should fear the men were trespassing on the rights of his Province, and the Indian name of the place being Metichawon, the Dutch governor did quite well and writing the name so nearly correct when he called it Mauritius River. In the fact of the trading-house on this island sorely we find the assurance that the Indians were so numerous here that it was thought advantageous to establish the trading post; that it is, as early as 1646, that latest, probably in 1642, and if so, then the place must have been an Indian Town or village a long time before. The Housatonic This river was called the great river in all the deeds of New Milford from more than 50 of the first 50 years of the settlement. Afterrwards it was called "Oweantinock," or "Oweanrenoque," a few times, and later Housatonic and Ousatonic. In the colonial records in the state land records the two forms occur are about equal number of times. It has been claimed that in pure Indian pronunciation the h is never sounded before a vowel, especially O, but such a claim would not be mentioned by one for mille year with the Indian language or words, since there are so many to work Indian words to the contrary ---as: Hammonasset,Higanum, Hoccanum, Hokonkamonk. It was at first the name of the locality now called Stockbridge Massachusetts in the most thorough research which has been saying concerning this name is in the American church review for July in August, 1880, by Rev. WG Andrews; the following is an extract. "Weantenhuck (or Westenhook) is the Dutch form of Housatonic. The latter is spelled Hooesrennue by President Dwight, and the Indians accented the first syllable. Algonquin scholars cannot trace the word in any aboriginal Tongue, it can and it is probable that this musical Indian name is the product of an effort of the Indians to speak Dutch, succeeded by an effort of the Yankees to speak what they thought was Muhhekanneew (Smith's history of Pittsfield). " the proper Indian name of Stockbridge was Wnahtukook, that while the name of Westenhook as a territorial designation, was given very early to a tract of land lying on the disputed boundary between Massachusetts and New York. But the name had a more extended application. Not only does Hopkins say that it include Stockbridge, but the Morovians identify the two, using Westenhook as equivalent to Wanachquatagoch,i.e. Wnahtukook. This much with a dozen authorities referred to seems quite sufficient, especially when in common use, and historically the name is Housatonic. Chapter VIII Indians of New Milford-continued Metichawon This Indian name connotes an obstruction or turning back, and hence was applied to the great falls in the Housatonic of falls mountain, where the fish were turned back are prevented from going further up the river. In Dr. Trumbull history of Connecticut,II, 83, it is said of these falls;" these stop the progress of the large fish, and made of formally one of the best fishing places for shad, herring, etc., In the colony. The name properly originate in from the falls, and not from the fact of the fishing place. These falls are now in the north side of the mountain, just below which is the gorge througb the mountain, cut or worn there by the natural flow into the waters during incalculable ages of time. Thousands of years ago the bally's of the Housatonic and still Rivers constituted one vastly, and the only place for the owl that of this lake was over this mountain, where gradually it began to wear for itself a passage to the mountain instead of going over it, and continuing steadily at its work the bed of the river settled lower and lower, age after age, until it had during the entire valleys and there remains only the falls of about 10 or 15 feet in height at the upper edge of the mountain. The rapids continual all the way through the mountain, a distance of perhaps 150 rods,--not quite ï¿½ mile. At the southern end of the gorge the rocky bluff is almost perpendicular to the height of nearly 150 feet. Each way from the gorge, northeast and southwest, the mountain rises still higher, and just below the gorge, or at its outlet, the river widens out, forming what has been familiarly called the cold for many years, but what has been the nominated the fishing place ever since the settlement of the town, at the lower end of which is goodyear's island. The width of the gorge of Bis 0.2 the rocks maybe 80 feet, or a little more, at the surface of the water half is great, the western side being in the whole blank nearly bare, perpendicular rock, the eastern side rising more gradually and covered with trees and shrubs. From the gorge to the northeast the mound rises gradually for some distance and then of abruptly another 150 feet, forming a kind of of oblong haystacks sort of a mountain, to be seen as a high point for many parts of the town. Which height particularly is called falls mountain, although the name is applied in general to the mountain the gorge. On this mountain, where a rises gradually Torrance the northeast, Eddie distance of about 80 rods from the gorge, is located Wauramaug's monument--a rude pile of small fields stones, circular informed, of 2 1/2 feet in diameter, cone shape, with a single stones standing up a right at the top-all of it nearly 6 feet in height. Here Wauramaug was buried(of which fact there can scarcely be a doubt, since the Rev. Daniel boardman, probably, attended his funeral, and at the least new where he was buried), he had been requested, as it is said, but to be buried here, that he might look abroad upon the beautiful country of his people, and not feel lonely in the future like to which she was going. Here was he laid to rest about the year 1735, and the monument was the director, for as it now is, so it was 70 years ago, has testified to by the oldest inhabitants, and so it has been, said their fathers, from the first. It is said that the Indians had a custom that whenever they passed this monument they brought a small stone and threw it down at the base of the pile in honor of the departing chief, and hence, scattered about within 3 feet of it or a bushel, perhaps, of such stones, indicating by the small amount that not many years after his burial his brother and the red men ceased to pass that way, have and remove to a distance, and that the white brethren have scarcely disturb a stone of that monumental pile. And since it is lost, we urge that the white brother and as they pass this already highly honored to own shall, in obedience to the noble custom, leave an additional stone to the perpetuation of the memory of the four famed along since departed chief Wauramaug. Immediately he east of a height called falls mou ntain is a deep hollow, beyond which, rising of brightly to a still higher elevation and falls mou ntain, is wolf pit mountain, so steep and rocky that is left for no purpose only to grow trees, and to be a bird cage for owls and bats. Upon the eastern side of this mountain, upon land owned by Mr. Henry Stanford, have been found many arrow-heads, several press Los, another Indian implements, indicating that the locality was a occupied somewhat as a camping ground by the Indians, and in a field near the center of Bridgewater was found recently with some persons call an Indian gouge, and others, a pick acts; but the letter named as I will describe the instrument. It was evidently made to be used by the hand, but could be used by having a handle attached. Besides this, other artificially shapes stones have been found in this locallity, particularly as a part of the next we spearhead, and many arrow-heads. When the township was first purchase, the line of hills immediately north of Bridgewater center, and the highest part of seconds hill, still further north, or without forests (D timber having been destroyed by fires set by the Indians), and were covered largely with grass, to which the gear came to feed. Zerubabel Canfield was one of the first settlers in the southwest part of what is now the village of Bridgewater, and his widow, who lived to be quite aged, told often of having looked from her window north and frequently seeing the Indians running over the tops of these hills and pursued of game, and on hunting excursions. Directly west of the gorge, were fishing place, on the mountain running south west from the gorge, is an Indian burying place, or a few graves were made, but all of them probably after the whites began to settle New Milford Village, and an Indian Spring, which celebrated for the clueless and purity of its waters. But this mountain, or region of land, a little further south from the Indian Spring, is a known as Punkin Hill, and has a pundits and find farms. Lover's leap The highest point of rocks at the lower end of the gorgr, on the side of the river, is called lover's leap, and from and maybe had an interesting view of the out spread waters of the river, of goodyear's island, and the mountains and country to the southeast. The Far-Famed Waraumaug Which is been remnant various times concerning this sachem are chief, especially in local papers, a large proportion of which, except the conjecture of different individuals, was founded on what Dr. Trumbull in this istory of Connecticut had written, which is as follows; The seat of the chief sachem was near the great falls. His name was Wehononague, a man of long, powers of mind, sober and regular in his life, who took much pains to suppress the vices of the Indians. When the English were first acquainted with him, he was supposed to command about 200 warriors. The whole number of Indians might be one 1000. The other clans of Indians in the county, and Woodbury, bantam, Litchfield, Scatacook, Kent, weatauge, Salisbury, and the adjacent parts, were supposed to be in the strip this league of friendship with the Indians at Wyantenock. The palace of the chief sachem, where he resided, was at the great falls. The tradition is, that it was constructed of bork's, with the smooth side in words, but which were pictures of all known species of beasts, birds, fish is, and insects, drawn by an artist sent to him by a friendly prince, from a great distance. The first minister was the Rev. Daniel boardman, ordained November 20 first, 1716.