History of Ashford, Connecticut
Source: History of Windham County, Connecticut, Bayles, Richard M.; New York: W.W. Preston, 1889 donated by Jan Harris
In the early period of settlement the territory of
Ashford, which originally included also the present town of Eastford, was a part
of the Wabbaquasset country which was conveyed to Major Fitch by Owaneco in
1684. It was a wild forest region, remote from civilization, but known and
traversed from the early settlement of New England, lying directly in the route
from Boston to Connecticut. The first company of Connecticut colonists encamped,
it is said, on the bill north of the present. village of Ashford, and the old
Connecticut Path crossed what is now Ashford Common. Thus the land here was
exposed to the view of passing adventurers for three-quarters of a century
before any attempt was made at settlement in this vicinity. The first land laid
out within this territory was a tract four miles square, now in the south part
of Eastford, which was made over to Simeon Stoddard of Boston, in 1695, in
satisfaction of a judgment of court. Major Fitch was at the time greatly
embarrassed in business affairs, and his title to the Wabbaquasset country was
questioned. Mr. Stoddard was a resident of another colony, and so neither was
disposed to undertake the settlement of this region.
At this time representations had been made to the general
court of Connecticut upon which that body on the 9th of May, 1706, granted to "
such good people as shall be willing to settle thereon," a township eight miles
square, and appointed a committee of its own members to lay out the township by
actual survey, also to lay out home lots and other divisions of land, to order
and manage the affairs of the town and to admit and settle all such inhabitants
as should be approved, and who should pay their proportionate share of the
expense of surveying and settling the same. This action of the court aroused
Major Fitch to action, and he at once began to push the sale of lands which he
claimed. In 1707, a tract five miles in length and three in width was purchased
for £110, by John Cushing, Samuel Clap and David Jacob, of Scituate, and laid
out on the west of the Stoddard tract, and was called the New Scituate
Plantation. Captain John Chandler soon purchased a large part of this tract and
a strip of land adjacent, and became the chief proprietor of New Scituate. The
whole remaining territory of original Ashford, comprising 21,400 acres, was sold
by Major Fitch to James Corbin, of Woodstock, in 1708, and he conveyed the same
to David Jacob, Job Randall and twelve others, residents of Scituate. Hingham
and Andover, Mr. Corbin retaining an equal share in the land and managing the
affairs of the company. These tracts were laid out as rapidly as possible, and
efforts made to initiate a settlement in advance of the government. The
proprietors had but partial confidence in the validity of their titles. The
first actual settlement upon this land appears to have been by John Mixer, of
Canterbury, who for four pounds purchased a tract of one hundred acres, the deed
to which containing the .stipulation that if the proprietors' right should be
proven invalid the four pounds should be returned to the purchaser. His land lay
on the river at a place called Mount Hope, where the present village of
Warrenville is situated. This was in January, 1710. A few months later, in
April, John Perry, of Marlborough, bought three hundred and fifty acres near the
present site of Eastford village, and settled upon it.
The general court, whose committee had done nothing toward
laying out a town here, now reappointed a committee with more practical
instructions to proceed at once with the project of establishing a town here.
The committee now took possession of .the township and undertook to lay it out
in the name of the colony. The name Ashford was suggested by the great number of
ash trees which grew in the primitive forests. The region was rough, rocky and
unattractive, a great portion of it being covered with dense forests which
abounded in wolves, bears and various species of game. This was a favorite
hunting ground of the remaining Wabbaquassets, who secured large quantities of
furs here, which they furnished in trade to Mr. Corbin, who derived therefrom a
considerable revenue. Only two families of white inhabitants, and they living
five miles apart, were now upon the tract. The impending contest between the
individual proprietors already mentioned and the government of Connecticut was a
serious obstacle in the way of settlement. Both parties appealed to the general
court; the representatives of the Fitch title for confirmation of their title
and liberty to settle, and the committee to show their inability to carry out
their instructions under existing circumstances. While the court was undecided
as to what course to take, the claimants under Fitch pushed forward the work of
settlement. Philip Eastman, of Woodstock, and John Pitts, Benjamin Allen,
Benjamin Russel and William Ward, of Marlborough, bought farms of James Corbin
and settled on them, north of the Stoddard tract, on Still river, in the summer
of 1711. Houses were built, lands broken up, and a highway was laid out by these
settlers. In the following year William Price, senior and junior, David Bishop,
Nathaniel Walker, John Chubb and John Ross bought land of Corbin and joined the
eastern settlement. Daniel James and Nathaniel Fuller, of Windham, Josiah Bugbee,
of Woodstock, and Samuel Rice and Philip Squier, of Concord, purchased farms of
Captain Chandler in New Scituate. The court's committee also sold some land.
Homesteads were purchased of them by Isaac Kendall, William Chapman, Isaac
Farrar and Simon Burton.
In answer to a petition of the settlers, in October, 1714,
the general court granted town privileges, which included the right to elect
officers for carrying on the prudential affairs of the place, building a meeting
house and settling and maintaining a minister. The inhabitants were also
instructed to employ the surveyor of Hartford county to lay out the town eight
miles square, and each claimant of land within its limits should within one year
enter the deed or other record or instrument by which be claimed title in a book
to be provided by the town clerk for the purpose. At the same date a quit-claim
to 10,240 acres of land in Ashford on the Pomfret line was granted by the
general court to Simeon Stoddard and heirs, of Boston. Other non-resident
claimants complied as soon as possible with the requirements of the court
respecting the recording of land evidences.
Under the grant of town privileges the first town meeting was held early in
1715. William Ward acted as moderator; John Mixer was chosen town clerk and
treasurer; John Perry, constable; William Ward and John Perry, selectmen;
William Ward and John Chapman, grand jurors, and William Ward, Philip Eastman,
Nathaniel Fuller, John Pitt, Benjamin Russel, James Corbin and Isaac Kendall
were chosen to lay out highways. The town now determined, if possible, to secure
possession of the large tracts of wild and unoccupied land which lay within its
limits and were claimed under the Fitch title by nonresidents who were holding
it, though by a very precarious tenure of ownership, for purposes of
speculation, without any expense for highways or improvements upon it. Though
the town was divided upon this subject, the majority prevailed, and after
considerable conflicting proceedings, the people became nearly unanimous in
agreement to proceed in exercising jurisdiction and ownership of the lands
claimed by non-residents before mentioned. As several of --the inhabitants
opposed these proceedings of the town lest it should invalidate their titles
obtained from Corbin or Chandler and compel them to pay twice for their
homesteads, it was granted by the town that all such as had lands purchased in
that way should be allowed to hold them free, and should have an equal share in
the undivided lands in addition thereto.
The town now set about the work of confirming their
individual titles. January 11th, 1718, it was voted, " That the town doth grant
all those lands that have been already granted to be free and clear according to
the most free tenure of East Greenwich, in county of Kings in the Realm of
England-provided these persons give sufficient bonds, with sureties, to John
Perry and Philip Eastman, who are appointed to furnish the committee with money
to build the meeting house." Under the new system the first general distribution
of undivided lands was ordered by vote of the town, March 5th, 1718. This was a
division of two hundred acres to each proprietor. Each farm was to be laid out
in regular form, to begin at the west end of the town and extend east to a
common line, so placed as to allow two hundred acre plots of uniform size and
shape. These were allotted to the proprietors by drawing. The following are the
names of the forty-five persons who, having given bonds, drew lots in this
division, and were thus admitted to be proprietors of Ashford: John Follet,
Caleb Jackson, James Fuller, Joshua Kendall, Nathaniel Abbot, Joshua Beckman,
Isaac Farrar, Nathaniel Gary, Thomas Corbin, Peter Aldrich, William Ward, Sr.,
Thomas Tiffany, William Ward, Jr., Joseph Ross, John Perry, Nathaniel Walker,
John Mixer, Isaac Magoon, Nehemiah Watkins, Philip Squier, E. Orcutt, Nathaniel
Fuller, Jacob Parker, William Price, Obadiah Abbe, Josiah Bugbee, Benjamin
Miller, William Fisk, John Pitts, William Price, 2d, John Chapman, John Follet,
2d, Philip Eastman, Jacob Ward, Daniel Fuller, Widow Dimick, Jeremiah Allen,
William Farnum, William Watkins, Thomas Tiffany, 2d, James Tiffany, Joseph Cook,
Matthew Fuller, Isaac Kendall, Antony Goffe. A few of these proprietors were
residents of Windham and Pomfret, but the most of them were already residents of
Ashford. In this assumption and division of territory the town, though acting
solely in its own name and authority, undoubtedly had received the sanction and
advice of the committee which the general court had appointed for that purpose.
Messrs. Chandler and Cushing, in behalf of themselves and
others, as claimants under the Fitch title, appealed to the general court May
8th, 1718, for a confirmation of their title. That body also, about a year
later, heard the representation of the Ashford proprietors in defense of their
action, they also asking for confirmation. The general court then appointed a
committee, composed of James Wadsworth, John Hooker, Captain John Hall and
Hezekiah Brainard to investigate the matter. They met for that purpose at
Ashford, September 9th, 1719. The question of the rights of the adjoining towns
of Windham and Mansfield, which were claimed to have been encroached upon by the
survey of Ashford, was also involved in the investigation, but to the committee
there appeared in that claim no cause of action. The investigation resulted in a
settlement of the controversy as follows: As to the New Scituate claimants,
Chandler, Cushing, Clapp and others, all persons holding as inhabitants on lands
claimed by them, should within one year pay three pounds per hundred acres for
what they held, except those persons who had purchased lands directly of them,
previous to the assumption of the town inhabitants or proprietors; the Reverend
James Hale was to have free the two hundred acres upon which he had built; sixty
acres near the meeting house were to be sequestered for the support of the
ministry forever; and ten acres where the meeting house then stood were to be
set apart for a green or common; all of which should be free of any claim on the
part of the previous claimants, who in turn were to hold the remaining lands in
their claim without taxation. As to the claim of James Corbin and others a
considerable part of their land was already sold to and occupied by about twenty
inhabitants, amounting to 10.770 acres; it was accordingly agreed that such
sales should stand, and of the 6,000 acres still unappropriated in that tract
2,5C0 acres should be confirmed to Corbin and company, and the remainder was to
be sequestered to the common use of the inhabitants. Of the New Scituate tract,
which contained 9,600 acres, 5.726 acres had already been appropriated by the
inhabitants, and after deducting the reserves for ministers, ministry and
common, there remained 3,374 acres to be occupied or disposed of by the
claimants.
The report of the committee was presented to the general
court, October 20th, 1719, and by that body accepted and confirmed. The
Stoddard-tract was undisturbed by these controversies. The assembly had already
confirmed this land to DIr. Stoddard, and the town recognized his claim, while
he in turn recognized the .jurisdiction of the town by paying his taxes ash/
other proprietors of lands did. fn 1716 l' r, Anthony Stoddard conveyed this
tract to his. sons, Anthony, David and William. The first settler upon it was
John Chapman, who took what was delicately termed "irregular possession," in
1714, but was numbered among the regular inhabitants of the town. William
Chapman, Benjamin Wilson and John Perry bought land in this tract in 1718.
Captain John Chandler bought the strip lying west of the Natchaug and sold it
out to settlers. The remainder -of this land was long left vacant and
unimproved, its owners paying their rates duly and manifesting an interest in
the affairs ,of the town.
An unusual instance of disorder and the subverting of the
ends of government appears in the annals of this town, about the years 1721 and
1722. By the act of 1714 an unusual liberty was allowed in the qualification of
voters. This was on account ,of the few inhabitants then in the town. As long as
everything was harmonious this liberality in suffrage qualifications gave rise
to no difficulty, but at the time spoken of a faction of ignorant and
irresponsible men arose with such power that one Arthur Humphrey, their leader,
was elected a selectman, whereupon the other members of that body refused to
act, and for a time the affairs of the town were at the mercy of this faction,
which opposed all schools, broke up one that had already been established,
warned the schoolmaster out of town, prosecuted the refractory selectmen to
their great cost and trouble, made a scandalously unjust and imperfect rate
list, and by other outrageous acts kept the town in a ferment of agitation. The
matter was at length appealed to the assembly, who confirmed the elections thus
far had, but ordered that after that time the usual qualifications required of
voters in other towns should be required here.
A full military company was formed in Ashford in 1722, with
John Perry for captain, Benjamin Russel for lieutenant and Joshua Kendall for
ensign. During these years the people suffered much from Indian alarms, and
constant fears stimulated watchfulness to be ready for any outbreak of savage
hostility which might appear. Captain Perry proved himself an efficient and
courageous officer, and several times furnished the government important
information. To prevent as much as possible their approaches under false
pretenses Indians were forbidden to hunt in the woods north of the road from
Hartford, through Coventry and Ashford, to New Roxbury.. A military watch was
ordered to be held in Ashford and a scout maintained in the northern part of the
town. By these precautions the settlers were protected in a measure, and no
disastrous attack of the Indians was experienced.
The population of the town now steadily increased. Joseph
Bosworth bought land of Corbin in the eastern part of the town in 1718, and
Elias Keyes followed in 1722. In the latter year Edward Sumner of Roxbury, a
brother of Samuel Sumner of Pomfret, with two associates bought a thousand acres
of land of James Corbin in the eastern part of Ashford. As an inducement to them
to settle upon this wild tract of land Mr. Corbin further offered to cover and
finish a building, the frame of which already stood upon the land, using boards
and shingles, erect a stack of chimneys and finish four rooms within the house
and then to deliver annually to them four barrels of good cider for four years,
they to find barrels and send them to his house in Woodstock. Thomas Eaton of
Woodstock, a brother of Jonathan Eaton of Killingly, settled in Ashford in 1723.
In 1725 Robert Knowlton of Sutton purchased a large tract of land in the
southwest part of Ashford, now included in the Knowlton neighborhood, and at
once settled upon it, laying out a road on the east side of his farm and freely
giving it to the town.
In May, 1725, James Corbin petitioned the general assembly
for a patent of confirmation for certain lands in Ashford in place of lands
which had been taken from him by the annexation of a strip of Ashford land to
the town of Willington. The annexation of that strip to that town had prevented
his taking up the twenty-five hundred acres assigned him in the settlement of
his claim with Ashford. On the other hand the New Scituate tract, which was now
held by Colonel John Chandler, contained 2,476 acres more than the deed called
for. Corbin now petitioned that this surplus might be granted to him. A
committee appointed by the general court found that the New Scituate land was
over measured, and that body on hearing the case decided that the petition of
Corbin should be granted, with the proviso, that all the claimers that have
regulated themselves according to the order of the committee in 1719 shall not
be prejudiced thereby."
With the commotions created by contests and litigations over
the possession of lands and the blighting effects of drouth and other
unfavorable conditions, which discouraged the progress of improvement, the town
made slow headway with the elements of a growing community. But the completion
of the minister's house and the meeting house was persevered in. The assembly
had granted the town repeated exemption for many years from paying colony taxes.
But whatever financial discouragement assailed them, the people were firm in
their determination to maintain the standard of public morals, as far as
providing laws and punishments could effect this. A set of " stocks " was
erected on the green, in front of the meeting house door, and the town was
prompt in prosecuting individuals who neglected their families and thus
threatened to bring charges upon the town. Benjamin Russel and others were
allowed to build a pound on the meeting house green at their own cost and
charge. As foreign cattle continued to trespass upon the commons the town
appointed men to drive them out, and in 1734 it was voted, " That any inhabitant
of Ashford that shall take into possession, care or oversight, any neat cattle
that don't belong to an inhabitant of Ashford, other than his own proper estate,
from the first of April to August, shall forfeit ten shillings to the town for
each and every head of neat kine so taken." A cemetery was laid out in 1734. At
that time James Beekman, Joseph Whiton and Robert Knowlton were appointed a
committee "to lay out a quarter acre of land for a burying place at ye west end
of y e town, where people have beep buried." A burial place was also ordered in
the east of the town. In 1732 the town began to pay colony charges. The rate
list of estates for that year amounted to £4,609, 9s. Captain John Perry and
Philip Eastman were now chosen to represent the town in the general assembly,
and they were continued in that capacity for several years. Up to about this
time for many years the town had been in the habit of paying a bounty of twenty
shillings a head for every wolf killed. It appears that by the year 1735 the
country was so completely rid of these wild animals that the last bounty of this
kind was paid in that year.