The History of Redding
Chapter I. Preliminary Settlement
The history of the early settlement of Redding differs radically from that of any of the neighboring towns. A new settlement was generally formed by a company of men, who purchased of the Indians a tract of land in the wilderness, had it secured to them by a charter from the General Assembly, and also surveyed and regularly laid out, and then removed to it with their wives and families. Danbury, Newtown and Ridgefield were settled in this manner; but Redding at the time of its first settlement was a part of the town of Fairfield, and so continued for nearly forty years, a fact which makes it much more difficult to collect the fragments of its early history and to accurately define its original metes and bounds. Fairfield formerly extended to the cross highway leading from the Center to Redding Ridge, and the entire southerly portion of Redding was given by that town on the erection of the former into a parish in 1729. This portion of Redding was probably surveyed as early as 1640, being included in the purchase made by the proprietors of Fairfield in 1639. Between Fairfield north bounds and the towns of Ridgefield, Danbury and Newtown, was an oblong tract of unoccupied land, whose bounds were about the same as those that now exist between Redding and the towns above named; this tract was variously called, in the early records, the "oblong," the "peculiar," and the "common lands." It was claimed by a petty tribe of Indians, whose fortified village was on the high ridge a short distance south-west of the present residence of Mr. John Read. This tribe consisted of disaffected members of the Potatucks of Newtown, and the Paugussetts of Milford, with a few stragglers from the Mohawks on the west. Their chief was Chickens Warrups or Sam Mohawk, as he was sometimes called. President Stiles says in his "Itinerary" that he was a Mohawk sagamore, or under-chief, who fled from his tribe and settled first at Greenfield Hill, but having killed an Indian there he was again obliged to flee, and then settled in Redding. All the Indian deeds to the early settlers were given by Chickens, and Naseco, who seems to have been a sort of sub-chief. The chief, Chickens, figures quite prominently in the early history of Redding; he seems to have been a strange mixture of Indian shrewdness, rescality, and cunning, and was in continual difficulty with the settlers concerning the deeds which he gave them. In 1720 he was suspected by the colonists of an attempt to bring the Mohawks and other western tribes down upon them, as is proved by the following curious extract from the records of a meeting of the governor and council held at New Haven, September 15th, 1720:
"It having been represented to this board that an Indian living near Danbury, called Chickens, has lately received two belts of wampumpem from certain remote Indians--as it is said, to the west of Hudson River --with a message expressing their desire to come and live in this colony, which said messenger is to be conducted by aforesaid Chickens to the Indians at Potatuck, and Wiantenuck, and Poquannuck, in order to obtain their consent for their coming and inhabiting among them; and that hereupon our frontier towns are under considerable apprehensions of danger from Indians, fearing that the belts have been sent on some bad design:
It is Resolved, That Captain John Sherman, of Woodbury, and Major John Burr, of Fairfield, taking with them Thomas Minor, of Woodbury, or such other interpreter as they shall judge meet, do repair immediately to said Indians at Potatuck and Wiantenuck, and cause the said Chickens, to whom the belts and messengers were sent, to attend them, and to make the best inquiry they can into the truth of said story, and what may be the danger of said message, and as they shall see cause, take proper order that the said Indian with the belts, and the principal or chief of the Potatuck and Wiantenuck Indians, attend the General Court at its next session, to receive such orders as may be useful to direct them in their behavior in relation thereunto; and that Major Burr return home by way of Danbury, that the inhabitants there and in those western parts may be quieted as to their apprehensions of danger from the Indians, if upon inquiry they find there is no just ground for them.
The first deed or grant of land in the "oblong" within my knowledge was given to Mr. Cyprian Nichols in 1687. This grant, in Secretary Wylly's handwriting, reads as follows:
"At a General Court held at Hartford, October 13, 1687.
"This Court grants Mr. Cyprian Nichols two hundred acres of land where he can find it, provided he take it up where it may not prejudice any former grant to any particular person or plantation; and the surveyors of the next plantation are hereby appointed to lay out the same, he paying for it.
Caleb Stanley.
Captain Nichols "took up" his grant in that part of the "oblong" which is now Lonetown, as is shown by the following document:
March 1, A. D. 1711.
"Then laid out ye Grant of two hundred acres of land granted by ye General Court to Capt. Cyprian Nichols, Oct. 13, 1687, as follows, viz., beginning at a great Chestnut tree marked on ye south and west side, and J. R. set upon it, standing at ye south end of Woolf Ridge, a little below Danbury bounds, thence running west one hundred rods to a Walnut tree marked on two sides, then running south one mile to a red oak tree marked, then running east one hundred rods to a black oak tree marked, then running north one mile to the Chestnut tree first mentioned. An heap of stones lying at ye root of each of ye trees. We say then thus laid out by us,
Thomas Hoyt,
Daniel Taylor,
Surveyors of ye Town of Danbury.
"Entered in ye public books of Entrys for Surveys of Land, folio 14, per Hezekiah Wyllys, Secretary, March 21, 1711."
The next two grants in this tract of which we have any record were made, the first, May 7th, 1700, to Mr. Daniel Hilton, and the second October 10th, 1706, to Mr. Richard Hubbell. They were laid out nearly at the same time, and side by side, with the preceding grant, as follows:
"March 3rd, A. D. 1711
"Then laid out ye Grant of two hundred acres of land made by ye General Court to Mr. Daniel Hilton, May 7, 1700, and ye Grant of one hundred acres, granted October 10th, 1706, by ye General Court to Mr. Richard Hubbell, all in one piece as followeth, viz., Beginning at a Walnut tree marked, and J. R. upon it, standing a little way North East from ye Hog Ridge, between Danbury and Fairfield, thence running two hundred and eighty rods northerly to a Red Oak tree marked, on ye West side of Stadly Ridge, thence running easterly one hundred and eighty-four rods to the Little River at two Elm Staddles and a Red Oak, marked, thence running Southerly, west of ye river, and bounded upon it, two hundred and eighty rods to a bitter Walnut tree, marked, thence running one hundred and sixty rods westerly to the Walnut tree first mentioned, thus and then laid out by us,
Thomas Hoyt,
Daniel Taylor,
Surveyors of the Town of Danbury."
These grants were purchased, probably before they were laid out, by Mr. John Read, one of the earliest actual settlers of Redding. Mr. Read was a gentleman of education, and later became an eminent lawyer in Boston. He was withal something of a wag, as is proven by an Indian deed given him about this time, which he drew up, and which was--what rarely happens--a humorous as well as a legal production.* It reads as follows:
"Know all men by these crooked Scrawls & Seals, yt. we Chickens, alias Sam Mohawk, & Naseco, do solemnly declare yt. we are owners of yt. tract of land called Lonetown, fenced round between Danbury and Fairfield, and Jno. Read, Govr. & Commander in Chief there of, & of the Dominions yr-upon depending, desiring to please us, having plied the foot, and given us three pounds in money, & promised us an house next autumn. In consideration yr'of, we do hereby give and grant to him and his heirs the farm above mentioned, corn appertaining, & further of our free will--motion & soverain pleasure make ye land a manour, Indowing ye land with ye privileges yr of, and create the sd. John Read, Lord Justice and Soverain Pontiff of the same to him and his heirs forever: Witness our crooked marks and borrowed Seals, this seventh day of May, Anno Regni, Anno Dei, Gratia Magna Brittannia, and Regina Decimo Tertio, Anno Dom'r, 1714.
"Chickens, alias Sam Mohawk,
Naseco
Sealed and delivered in presence of:
Winham,
Liacus,
Nathan Gold.
Martha Harney
"The above mentioned Chickens & Naseco--personally appeared & acknowledged ye above Instrument yr free act and chearful deed in Fairfield, ye 7th of May, 1714, before me, N. Gold, Dept. Govr." About 1723 Captain Samuel Couch of Fairfield appears as a large landholder in Redding, and his operations there seem to have caused the settlers no little uneasiness. The General Court of 1712 had ordered that all the lands lying between Danbury and Fairfield, not taken up by actual settlers, should be sold in Fairfield at public vendue. The land, however, was not sold until the August of 1722, when it was bid off by Captain Couch for himself and Nathan Gold, Esq. No notice of the vendue was given to the settlers at Redding, and when news of the sale reached them they became very much excited and indignant, and Mr. Read at once drew up the following protest and petition, which was signed by the farmers and presented to the next General Court at New Haven. It is noteworthy from the fact that the Quaker system of dates is used.
"At a General Court held at New Haven, 8th, 10th, 1723.
"To the Honor'ble the General Court:
"John Read in behalf of himself and the rest of the farmers or proprietors of farms between Danbury and Fairfield, humbly sheweth,
"That the Hon'ble Nathan Gold, Esq., late deceased, and Peter Burr, Esq., as Agents for ye Colony, held a Vandue lately at Fairfield about ye time of ye Superior Courts sitting yr in August last, and sold to Capt. Samuel Couch, who bid for himself and for s'd Nathan Gold, Esq., all ye land between Fairfield and Danbury not before disposed of for the sum of - -. Yr humble pet'rs conceive the same ought not to be ratified: because ye same was done so unexpectedly, and without sufficient notice, none of us most nearly concerned knew any thing of it: if ye order of ye General Court had been freshly passed, ye less notice was need full, but lying ten or twelve years, sufficient notice was not given, and well considered it cant be good. The inconveniences are intolerable; the place is now growing to be a village apace. Ye lands purchased are but ye - - over and over for farms.
"The remaining Scraps will be a very lean and scanty allowance for a common, and (are) absolutely necessary to accommodate the place with hiways, and some strips left on purpose for ye use and ye surveying of the farms--Several farms interfere through mistakes and such interfers must be supplied elsewhere; now in such circumstances it was never the hard fate of any poor place to have ye shady Rock at their door, and ye path out of town or about town sold away from them by ye General Court. Therefore, humbly praying ye Hon'ble Court to grant ye same to ye proprietors of farms there in proportion for a common and hiways, or if the same seem too much, since some persons have bid a sum for our hiways we pray to buy them at first hands, and will pay this Hon'ble Court for the same as much as ye Court shall sett upon, and remain your honor's most obedient servants.
"Jno. Read."
When the matter came before the Court, Mr. Read produced several witnesses to show that the vendue was conducted in an unseemly and illegal manner; among them Mr. Jonathan Sturges, who deposed as follows:
"Some of the Company began to bid for s'd land, and some of the Company desired that Mr. Stone who was there present, would pull out his watch and that the time for bidding should be but ten minutes, and the watch was laid down on the table; for a little time the people bid but slowly; but when they perceived the ten minutes to be near out, they began to bid very briskly, and when it come to the last minute, the people bid more quickly, and at the last they bid so quick after one another that it was hard to distinguish whose bid it was; at the very minute the tenth minute ended; but I, standing near the watch, spoke and said, 'the time is out, and it's Capt. Couch's bid,' but I am certain Thomas Hill bid twenty shillings more.' "
Mr. Read did not succeed in his attempt to have the sale set aside, and the lands were adjudged to the purchasers. Captain Couch seems to have disposed of an interest in a part of his purchase to Thomas Nash, of Fairfield, and in 1723, the two received a joint patent for the same; this patent is a curious and valuable document and is given entire:
"Whereas, the Governor and Company of the English Colony of Connecticut, in General Court assembled at Hartford, the 8th day of May, Anno Domini 1712, did order and enact that all those lands (lying within the said Colony) between Danbury on the north, and the towns of Fairfield and Norwalk on the south, should be sold at Public Vendue, and by said act did fully authorize and empower the Hon'ble Nathan Gold and Peter Burr, Esq., both of the town of Fairfield aforesaid, to make sale and dispose of the s'd same lands accordingly, and whereas the s'd Nathan Gold and Peter Burr in pursuance and by force and virtue of the aforesaid act, did by their deed in writing, executed in due form bearing date this first day of May, Anno Domini, 1723, for a valuable sum of money paid by Samuel Couch and Thomas Nash, both of the town afores'd, Grant, sell, and convey unto them the s'd Samuel Couch and Thomas Nash, one hundred acres of s'd land bounded and butted as follows, that is to say, lying within six rods of the north bounds line of the townships afores'd, and on both sides of the road that leads from Norwalk to Danbury, and lying the whole length of the one hundred acres formerly laid out to s'd Thomas Nash and bounded westerly by the s'd Thomas Nash, and from the north east corner of s'd Nash, his bound being a black oak stump, that stands on the land, and a small box wood tree marked in course, running northerly, sixty-eight degrees, eastwardly thirty two rods to a white oak staddle, thence South forty three degrees and thirty minutes, eastwardly fifty rods to a rock, and stone on the same, that stands on the eastward side of a brook that runs by the southerly end of Umpawaug Hill, between the s'd brook and Danbury road, and from s'd Rock to run North sixty eight degrees, Eastwardly eighty six rods to a mass of stones, then South twenty-two degrees, Eastwardly, one hundred and thirteen rods to a white oak sappling, marked, standing on the aforementioned North bounds line of Fairfield, then by s'd line one hundred and forty rods up to the South East corner of s'd Nash, his one hundred acres, Danbury road being allowed in above measure of six rods wide, and the hiway by the Township's line of six rods wide, and whereas the s'd Samuel Couch, and Thomas Nash, have humbly desired that they may have a particular grant of s'd Governor and Company made (by Patent) unto them, their heirs and assigns for the same land bounded, butted and described, under the seal of the s'd Colony, know ye therefore, that the Governor and Company of the s'd Colony, in pursuance, and by virtue of the powers granted unto them by our late Sovereign Lord, King Charles the Second of blessed memory, in, and by his Majestie's letters patent under the great seal of England bearing date the three and twentieth day of April, in the fourteenth year of his s'd Majestie's Reign, have given and granted, and by these presents, for them their heirs and successors do give, grant, ratifie, and confirm unto them the s'd Samuel Couch and Thomas Nash, their heirs and assigns forever, all the s'd piece or parcell of land containing one hundred acres be the same more or less, butted and bounded as afores'd, and all and singular, the woods, timber, under woods, lands, waters, brooks, ponds, fishings, fowlings, mines, minerals and precious stones, upon or within the s'd piece or parcell of land, or every or any part thereof. To have and to hold the as afores'd, and all and singular, the rights, members, hereditaments and appurtenances of the same, and the reversion or reversions, remainder or remainders,--profits, privileges whatsoever, of and in the s'd piece or parcell of land or every or any part thereof. To have and to hold the s'd one hundred acres of land hereby granted with all and singular, its appurtenances unto them the s'd Samuel Couch and Thomas Nash, their heirs and assigns to and for their own proper use, benefit, and behoof from the day of the date hereof, and from time to time, and at all times forever here after, as a good, sure, lawful, absolute, indefeasible estate of Inheritance in Fee simple, without any condition, limitation, use, or other thing to alter, change, or make void the same. To be holden of our Sovereign Lord, King George, his heirs and successors, as of his Majestie's Manor of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in the Kingdom of England, in free and common soccage and not in cappitee, nor by Knight service; they yielding and paying therefor to our Sovereign Lord the King, his heirs and successors forever, only the fifth part of all the oar of Gold and Silver, which from time to time, and at all times hereafter shall be gotten, had or otherwise obtained; in lieu of all rents, services, duties and demands whatsoever according to charter. In witness whereof, we the s'd Governor and Company have caused the Seal of the s'd Colony to be hereunto affixed, the fourteenth day of May, Anno George, Magna Brittanni', &c., Annoque Domini, 1723.
G. Saltonstall, Governor.
"By order of the Governor, Hezekiah Wyllys, Secretary."
Subsequently Captain Couch purchased of the Indians a tract of land lying in Lonetown, contiguous to the estate of Mr. John Read, and which a few years later he sold to that gentleman. The deed was given by Chickens, and some of its provisions caused considerable trouble to the colonists in later years. This deed is as follows:
"Know all men whom it may concern that I, Chicken an Indian Saggamore living between Fairfield, Danbury, Ridgefield and Newtown, at a place called Lonetown in the county of Fairfield in the Colony of Connecticut, in New England, for and in consideration of twelve pounds, six shillings, already paid unto me by Samuel Couch of Fairfield, husbandman, have given, granted, bargained, sold, confirmed, and firmly made over unto said Samuel Couch, his heirs and assigns forever, all the lands, lying, being and situate between the aforesaid towns of Danbury, Fairfield, Newtown, and Ridgefield, except what has been by letters patent from the Governor and Company of this Colony of Connecticut made over unto any person or persons or for any particular or public use. To have and to hold unto the said Samuel Couch, and to his heirs and assigns forever the aforesaid granted and described lands or unpatented premises, with all the privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or any manner of way appertaining, affirming myself to be the true owner, and sole proprietor of said land and have just, firm, and only right to dispose of the same. Reserving in the whole of the same, liberty for myself and my heirs to hunt, fish and fowl upon the land and in the waters, and further reserving for myself, my children, and grand children and their posterity the use of so much land by my present dwelling house or wigwam as the General Assembly of the Colony by themselves or a Committee indifferently appointed shall judge necessary for my or their personal improvement, that is to say my Children, children's children and posterity, furthermore, I, the said Chickens do covenant, promise, and agree, to and with the said Samuel Couch, that I the said Chickens, my heirs, executors, and administrators, the said described lands and bargained premises, unto the said Samuel Couch his heirs etc. against the claims and demands of all manner of persons whatever, to warrant and forever by these presents defend. In confirmation of the above premises I the said Chickens set to my hand and seal this 18th day of February Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and twenty four five Annoque Regis, etc."
Chickens, Saggamore.
But the proprietors of Redding could not long rest satisfied with the sale that had placed in the hands of two men nearly all the unoccupied lands lying in the "peculiar," and in 1725 made a second and, so far as appears, unsuccessful attempt to reverse the former decision of the Court. This attempt took the shape of a petition, and was as follows:
"To the Honorable the General Court to be holden at Hartford on the Second Thursday of May, 1725.
The Earnest Prayer
Of the inhabitants, and of those that have farms in a certain tract of land lying between Fairfield and Danbury, Newtown and Richfield, with whom the Proprietory of a certain division of Land in Fairfield importunately joins--
"Whereas the Honorable General Assembly of this Colony hath in several of their Sessions, been pleased out of their great goodness & generosity to give unto some of your humble Petitioners & to others of them to sell certain Parcells of Land between the aforesaid towns & many of your Petitioners that they might get a comfortable maintenance & thereby be better able to serve their country have removed from their former habitations with great families of Children unto sd Land where we by ye blessing of God on our Industry have (passed) through (the) many difficulties that generally attend such new & Wooden Habitations and have now yet to go through, which are by us insuperable, but reflecting upon your Honor's accustomed Goodness, ready protection, and willing encouragement towards all such that have been under ye like circumstances as we now are, makes us far from despairing of Living like rational Creatures and Christians in a very few years, and under our present Circumstances we have often the neighboring Ministers preaching ye word of God to us, and when your Honors shall be pleased to grant this our earnest & necessary request our number of Inhabitants will immediately be greatly renewed & we soon able to obtain a Minister & give him an honorable support--and that is to grant the vacant land that lies in slips and pieces between ye Land already given and sold to your Petitioners to lye for a perpetual Comon for ye good of ye Parish: otherwise your poor Petitioners living at a great distance from any place where the public worship of God is attended, must be obliged and their Posterity after them to be soon as the Hathen are--without the outward and ordinary means of Salvation, the Thought of which makes us now most importunately address your Honors with this our Request making no doubt but yt ye desire your Honors have & the great care you have always taken to promote & encourage Religion--will also now be moved to grant your poor Petitioners their Request, it being no more than your Honors have often done even unto every new Plantation, many of which are not nor never will be comparable unto this. Your Honors, granting us this our Request, and it will be as we humbly conceive the most profitable way for ye good of this Colony to dispose of ye land for a perpetual comon, for ye good of a Parish than any other way whatsoever: for a flourishing and large Parish such as we are assured this will make will soon pay more into ye Public Treasury than the whole of the Land would do if it were now to be sold: and not only so, but your poor Petitioners & their Posterity preserved from Heathenism & Infidelity: for if your Honors should not grant the Land for a common for the good of a Parish your poor Petitioners--the most of us at least, must be shut within the compass of our own land, & cant possibly get off unless we trespass, or gain the shift yt the birds of the air have, neither to market nor meeting & we & our Posterity forever unable to have a settled Minister & your Honors may easily conceive how greatly disadvantageous to our Temporal Interest, which is so great an act of cruelty and hardship that never yet was experienced from your Honors & your Petitioners humbly beg they may not: but yt they may be sharers with their neighbors in your Honor's thoughtful care and regard for them--
"And if your Honors in their Prudence and Wisdom shall think it best to sell the aforesaid Land your Petitioners humbly beg they may have the first offer of it, who are always ready to give as much as any shall or will let it lye for a perpetual Common, & your humble Petitioners beg and most earnestly desire the Land may not be sold from their doors or confirmed to any yt pretend they have bought it: for whatever pretended sale there has been made thereof already we humbly conceive that it was not with the proper Power & Legality that it ought to be confirmed: and as for its being purchased of the Indian (who both English and Indian acknowledge has a good Indian title to it viz. Chicken), is by what we can learn by the Indian himself & ye circumstances of, a sligh peice of policy & we fear Deceit, ye latter of which the Indian constantly affirms it to be, for his design as he saith, and being well acquainted with him, living many of us near him have great reason to believe him, was to sell but a small Quantity, about two or three hundred acres, but in ye deed ye whole of the land is comprehended, which when the Indian heard of it he was greatly enraged, and your Petitioners humbly beg yt such a sale may not be confirmed, lest it prove greatly disadvantageous to this Colony & Cause much bloodshed, as instances of ye like nature have in all Probability in our neighboring Provinces.
"Your Petitioners most earnestly & heartily beg that your Honors would think on them & grant them their request, & your Petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray. John Read, Thomas Williams, Stephen Morehouse, Benjamin Hambleton, Benjamin Franklin, Moses Knapp, Nathan Lyon, Benajah Hall, Will'm Hill, Dan'll Crofoot, Ebenezer Hull, Asa Hall, Joseph Meeker, Dan'l Lyon, Thomas Hill, George Hull.
"And we. ye Proprietors of a certain Division of Land in Fairfield called ye Longlots most heartily join with your Honor's above Petitioners in their needful request to you, & as we your humble petitioners being well acquainted with the circumstances of them--they being our Children Friends & Neighbors & concerned greatly for their welfare do earnestly beg that your Honors would consider how melancholy a thing it is, that these poor people should live destitute of the means of grace for want only of your small encouragement which to give them would not only be most certainly very pleasing to Almighty God but would likewise enrich this Colony if a large & Rich Parish will any ways contribute thereto, & as your Petitioners Land runs to & adjoyns to ye aforesaid Vacant Land, We for the good of a Parish, thereby to advantage your above poor Petitioners are willing & very ready to give in Two miles of our land adjoining to the afores'd Vacant Land to be within the Parish; & we are assured if your Honors would grant the afores'd Land to be for a Comon there soon would be a Flourishing Parish; & being so well acquainted with the Circumstances of the above Petitioners that we cant but earnestly & Pathetically entreat your Honors to grant their Request, "and your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever Pray":
Moses Dimon, John Hide, Theo. Hill, Cornelius Hull, Elizabeth Burr, Jona Sturgis,Joseph Wilson, John Wheeler, John Sturges, Joseph Wheeler, Thomas Sanford, John Morehouse,John Smith, Thad's Burr, Andrew Burr, Samuel Wakeman, Samuel Squires, Ezekiel Sanford, Robert Turney, Jr., Joseph Rowland, William Hill, Nathan Gold, John Gold, Robert Silliman, Daniel Morehouse.
The settlement of Georgetown seems to have been begun at about the same time as the other portions of the town, though the present village has had but a short existence. The first settlers in that section seem to have been Benjamin and Isaac Rumsey, one of whom lived in a house that stood in the old orchard east of the late Aaron Osborne's, and the other near the site of the homestead formerly owned by Mr. S. M. Main. As early as 1721, Robert Rumsey, of Fairfield, bought of John Applegate a large tract of land located in what is now the village of Georgetown. In 1724 he willed this land to his three sons, Benjamin, Isaac, and Robert Benjamin and Isaac were actual settlers on this tract, and the former's estate was inventoried and distributed in 1744. The earliest settlers located their houses on the three fertile ridges that now form the most striking as well as beautiful features of our landscape. The valleys were avoided, as being literally in the shadow of death from the miasms which they engendered; the hills, according to the early writers, were open, dry, and fertile and being comparatively healthful, were in almost all cases selected as sites for the infant settlements. At that day they were covered, like the valleys, with continuous forests of oak, chestnut, hickory, and other native woods, from which every autumn the Indians removed the underbrush by burning, so that they assumed the appearance of natural parks: Indian paths wound through the forest, often selected with so much engineering skill as to be followed later by the highways of the settlers. There were long-drawn aisles and fretted vaults in these verdant temples, nooks of outlook,and open, sunny glades which were covered with tufts of long coarse grass; groves of chestnut and hickory afforded shelter to whole colonies of squirrels--black, gray, and red. Other game was abundant. Deer, wild turkeys, water fowl, quail, partridges, an occasional bear, and, in the autumn, immense flocks of wild pigeons darkened the air with their numbers. Panthers were seen rarely; wolves were abundant, and the otter and beaver fished and builded in the rivers. Both tradition and the written accounts agree in ascribing to the rivers an abundance of fish; Little River is especially mentioned as being the favorite home of the trout, and tradition asserts that scarcely four generations ago they were so abundant in that stream that the Indian boys would scoop them up in the shallows with their hands.
According to tradition, the three first houses in the town were built nearly at the same time. One was in Boston district, where the late Noah Lee's house now stands, the second in the centre, on the site of John Nickerson's present residence, and the third in Lonetown, built by Mr. John Read, and which occupied the site of Mr. Henry Dimon's present residence. It is related of the lady of the house in the Boston district, that, becoming frightened one day at the conduct of a party of Indians who entered her house bearing an animal unmentionable to ears polite, which they ordered her to cook, she seized her babe, and fled with it two miles through the forest path to her nearest neighbor at the Centre, arriving there safely, though breathless and exhausted. It is fair to assume, however, that erelong neighbors were nearer. Settlers began to flock in from Stratford, Fairfield, and Norwalk; several families moved here from Ridgefield and Danbury, and the settlement began to assume quite the appearance of a populous community. It is not, however, until 1723 that we get any authentic record of the names of the inhabitants or of their entire number. In that year a petition was presented to the General Court praying that the settlement might be constituted a parish; and which bears the signatures of twenty-five of the planters or settlers of Redding. This invaluable paper has been preserved in the State Archives at Hartford, and is as follows:"May 9th, 1723. At a General Court in Hartford.
"To the Hon'ble the Gov'nr, Assistants and Deputies in Gen'll Court Assembled.
"To this Hon'ble Court yr hon'rs most humble pet'rs hereunto subscribing, settlers and well wishers to the settlement of a plantation between Fairfield and Danbury, Humbly Shew, That there is a Tract of land lying between Fairfield and Danbury, ridgefield and Newtown and without all ye claims of the largest pretenders of those towns, containing about two miles wide, north and south, and six miles long, East and West, mostly laid out in particular farms, so that when the farms that casually interfere on others are made up, there will not be one hundred acres of any value left in the whole. "On these farms are one half dozen housen set up, and many more going to be set up, and therefore we humbly conceive it is of great necessity for ye use of them, that are come and coming, and for ye incouragement of others to come, to take some prudent care for the establishment of Divine service in that place. That forasmuch as the distance from this land to Fairfield church measures about fourteen miles or better, that is the part on which will certainly be most of the inlargement made, and on that side the bounds of those lands uncertain; for the grant of 12 miles from the sea given to Fairfield, as far as we can learn has never yet been measured, as it ought long since to have been done. Your hon'rs pet'rs therefore humbly pray that a com'tee may be appointed to measure out the twelve miles granted to Fairfield from the - and put the vacant land, if any shall then appear into the hands of a Com'tee of ye Court to be dealt out to such as will settle on and improve the same, at such price as will bear ye charge of ye Com'tee therein, first laying out a farm of 200 acres for ye ministry, 200 for a school, and as much for the first minister that shall settle there, and annex the whole to the town of Fairfield. Settling the bounds of the parish to comprehend so much of the west end of ye long lots of Fairfield as may make it near square at ye discretion of ye Com'tee upon ye view of it when ye proprietors of the long lots shall settle their end they may pay their dues there (if they will not be so good as to fling up the west end to a public use, which would doubtless be their private advantage also.)
"Yr hon'rs most humble pet'rs,
Nathan Picket, Gershom Morehouse, John Hall, Francis Hall, Robert Chauncey, Wolcott Chauncey, Daniel -* William Hill, Jr., Phillip Judd, Nathan Adams, Stephen Morehouse, Benjamin Fayerweather, Thomas Bailey, Thomas Williams, Asa Hall, Joshua Hull, David Crofut, Jno. Read, Isaiah Hull, Moses Knapp, Benjamin Sturges, Sam'l Hall, John Read, II, Burgess Hall, Isaac Hall.
Fairfield, as was to be expected, opposed the petition, and her potent influence defeated the measure, and although it was agitated year by year it was not until 1729 that the petitioners effected their object, and the little settlement blossomed into the dignity of a parish.
The action of the General Court constituting it a Parish is thus recorded in the Colonial Records, vol. vii, pp. 231-2:
"Upon the memorial of John Read, in behalf of himself and the rest of the inhabitants of Lonetown, Chestnutt Ridge, and the peculiar between Fairfield and Danbury, shewing to this Assembly, the great difficulty they labor under in attending on the publick worship of God, and the forwardness of the town of Fairfield to encourage them to set up the publick worship of God among themselves, by conceding that two miles of the rear end of their long lots be added to them, in order to the making them a parish, and praying this Assembly that they may be allowed to be a society for the worship of God, with the privileges usually granted to such societies or parishes, and that said society or parish may comprize those lands that lie encirculed betwixt the townships of Fairfield, Danbury, Newtown and Ridgefield, together with the aforesaid two miles of Fairfield long lots; and that they may have remitted to them their country rate during the pleasure of this Assembly; and that all the lands aforesaid may be taxed by the order of said Assembly, and that said parish may be annexed to Fairfield, and that it be named Redding. This Assembly grants that the said Lonetown, Chestnutt Ridge and the peculiar thereof, be a society or parish by themselves, and to have all the privileges usually granted to societies or parishes, and that said society or parish shall comprize all those lands that lie encirculed betwixt the townships of Fairfield, Danbury, Newtown, and Ridgefield, together with two miles of the rear end of Fairfield long lots. Furthermore this Assembly doth remit to them their country rate for four years, excluding those only who decline to joyn with them for what is prayed for, of being released of country tax; and that all the laid out, unimproved lands within the limits of said parish be taxed at six shillings a hundred acres per year for four years, and that the money raised thereby be improved for the defraying the ministerial charges among them in that place; and that said parish be named Redding."