Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut History
The town of Canterbury occupies the middle of the southern tier of
towns in Windham county. It joins New London county. Adjoining towns are
Brooklyn on the north, Plainfield on the east, Lisbon on the south, and
Scotland and Hampton on the west. Its territory is about eight miles from
north to south, and an average of five miles from east to west, thus
comprising about . forty square miles. The northern part is hilly and
exceedingly picturesque, but the southern part contains a great deal of
low and swampy land. Much good farming land is found in the town, and
agriculture constitutes the principal industrial interest of the people.
The town contains the post offices of Canterbury, South Canterbury,
Westminster and Packerville. Its grand list amounts to $482.166. The
number of school children, between the ages of four and sixteen, has been
at different periods as follows: 1858, 448; 1881, 293; 1887, 209. The
population of the town at different periods has been: In 1756,1,260; in
1775, 2,444; in 1800, 1,812; in 1840,1,791; in 1870, 1,552; in 1880,
1,272. The settlement of this locality commenced about the year 1690, and
it included the land which in 1692 was made a part of the town of Windham,
from Norwich. In 1699, when Plainfield was incorporated, Canterbury fell
within its chartered limits, and so continued until October, 1703, when
that township was divided, and the part of it which lay on the west side
of the Quinebaug river was incorporated with the name of Canterbury. The
distance of this town from Hartford is forty miles; from New Haven,
sixty-four miles. The town is well watered by streams running down from
north through much of the town to join the Quinebaug on the eastern
boundary. But beyond two or three small saw mills and the grist mill of
Messrs. J. & P. Williams, the water privileges which these streams afford
are not improved in this town. Besides these branches, the business
concerns of the town number two or three country stores, and as many
blacksmith shops, carriage and wagon manufactories, and one or two cider
mills. The importance of Canterbury seems to lie mainly in the past and in
the future, not much in the present.
The first inhabitants west of the Quinebaug were... probably the tenants
of Peagscomsuck. Rowland Tones, who purchased in 1691 four hundred acres
of land on what is still Rowland's brook, was one of the first settlers
here. Thomas Brooks and Obadiah Johnson also settled west of the
Quinebaug, but little progress was made till 1697, when Major Fitch, with
his family removed thither, digging the first cellar and erecting the
first permanent habitation in what is now the township of Canterbury. With
hundreds of farms and many thousand acres at his disposal, he selected for
his residence a neck of land partially enclosed by a bend in the Quinebaug
river, below the river island Peagscomsuck, which gave its name to the
settlement. At the time of his removal hither Major Fitch was a little
past middle age, and had been for many years one of the most prominent men
in Connecticut. From early manhood he had been actively employed in civil
and military affairs-helped to re-establish colonial government after the
revolution of 1689; was appointed assistant in 1690; was appointed
sergeant major of New London county in 1696; served as boundary
commissioner and land reviser; led military expeditions, manned forts,
guarded the frontier, and exercised jurisdiction over the Mohegans and all
their lands and interests. After the death of his first wife-a daughter of
Captain John Mason-he married Alice Bradford, widow of Reverend William
Adams, of Dedham, and mother of Mrs. Whiting, of Windham. Nine sons and
daughters accompanied him to his new home here, and soon the Indian " neck
" became an attractive family seat. The social position of Major Fitch,
and his wide business relations, drew many people around him, and his
plantation at once became a place of no small consequence-a rendezvous for
land traders, civil and military officials and hordes of idle Indians.
Here courts were held. military expeditions organized, and many thousand
acres of land bartered away. It was the first, and long the only,
settlement between Norwich and Woodstock, extending its hospitalities and
accommodations to many a weary traveler. The expedition that marched to
thee relief of Woodstock in 1699 passed the night, both in going and
returning, " at Major Fitch's farm in Peagscomsuck." A road was soon laid
out from Windham to this noted establishment, and connecting with
Greenwich path, formed the great thoroughfare to Providence. Kent was the
name given by the major to his plantation, but the Indian appellation
persistently adhered to it.
Other settlers soon followed Major Fitch. Samuel Adams, from Chelmsford;
Elisha Paine, from Eastham; Obadiah and William Johnson, Samuel and Josiah
Cleveland, from Woburn: Thomas Brooks, Rowland Jones and Robert Green, all
settled west of the Quinebaug. To encourage these settlers, Owaneco, in
169S, made over to Major James Fitch, Josiah Cleveland and Jabez Litter,
the land between the Quinebaug and Appaquage rivers, extending eight and a
half miles north of Norwich north line-except those lands formerly granted
to Major Fitch, Solomon and Daniel Tracy and Richard Bushnell in trust for
ye inhabitants now dwelling in the plantation of Quinebaug e. they bearing
their proportion of charge, to wit: Thomas Brooks, Obadiah Johnson, Samuel
Cleveland, Robert Green, Rowland Jones and Major Fitch. The above, are on
the west side of Quinebaug; the intention is to promote plantation work."
This conveyance did not prevent Owaneco's selling the same land to other
settlers at every opportunity. Indeed, some tracts were sold to three or
four purchasers by this " flexible " and unscrupulous chieftain. In 1699
Owaneco sold to Obadiah Johnson and Samuel Adams all the south part of the
tract west of the Quinebaug not previously appropriated. Elisha Paine
bought two thousand acres in the south of the tract from Major Fitch.
Tixhall Ensworth, of Hartford, also settled on land bought of Fitch.
Josiah Cleveland bought land at Wanungatuck, "both sides of Tadneck Hill,"
of Richard Bushnell; Solomon Tracy, Jr., took possession of the land owned
by his father.
A conflict of land claims soon arose between Major Fitch and Fitz John
Winthrop and others. Winthrop having been elected governor of Connecticut
in 1698, secured a patent of confirmation of his title to certain lands
which he had bought of the Indians. The patent to the town of Plainfield
also aroused some opposition, and the ownership of land in this
neighborhood was uncertain until the early part of 1703, when it was
mutually agreed that a new town should be formed on the west side of the
Quinebaug, to be called Canterbury, and the assembly being thus
petitioned, granted a charter for the said new town. The line agreed upon
and observed in the charter, as dividing the towns of Canterbury and
Plainfield, followed the river down from. the northern boundary of the
town "to the center of Peagscomsuck island and from the center of that
island due east a quarter of a mile-thence a line run straight to the
south bounds of town a mile eastward from Quinebaug River." This jog into
Plainfield in the southeast corner of Canterbury was made to allow the
Canterbury people a share of the rich " plain " lands upon which they had
been in the habit of planting in the common cornfields before the town was
divided. The settlers whose names appear to the agreement to make the
described line the division between Canterbury and Plainfield were James
Fitch, Samuel Cleveland, Obadiah Johnson, Robert Green, Josiah Cleveland,
Elisha Paine, Richard Adams, Thomas Brooks, Benjamin Rood and Isaac
Cleveland.
The young town had considerable trouble to maintain its rights against the
town of Plainfield, which obtained a patent covering all the land up to
the Quinebaug, and though the patent was declared by the assembly to be
void, yet the latter town, for a time at least, seemed to exercise
jurisdiction under it. Thus the dividing line between the two towns was
for many years a source of trouble, and an almost constant dispute was
kept up on the subject, the particulars of which are too lengthy to be
inserted here. Though Canterbury, when in October, 1703. it was endowed
with town privileges, had but few inhabitants, their character and
circumstances made amends for the smallness of their number. Most of them
were men of means and position, accustomed to the management of public
affairs and well fitted to initiate and carry on the settlement of the new
township. Most, if not all, of the residences were in the eastern part of
the town, overlooking the Quinebaug valley. The privilege of Rowland's
brook, a short distance northwest from Peagscomsuck, was granted to Samuel
Adams, in 1703, for building and maintaining a corn mill. The same year
Obadiah Johnson was allowed to keep a house of entertainment for the
public, provided he keeps good order," and here town meetings were held
and public business transacted.
No record can now be found of the first organization of the town
government. The first town clerk was probably Elisha Paine, and the first
selectmen William Johnson, Samuel Adams and Eleazer Brown. This absence of
early records makes it difficult to trace the progress of the town at that
period, but it was probably very slow for several years. The tenure of
land was prejudicial to its growth and best interests. Air. Samuel Adams
at that time declared-" Before we were a town, Major Fitch, Richard
Bushnell and the Tracys had swept up all the good land upon the Quinebaug
with all the other good land, wheresoever it lay, and all for a song or a
trifle, so that there was nothing left but poor rocky hills and hungry
land such as no wise man under Heaven would have ventured to settle upon."
Land titles were obscure and conflicting, and some tracts had been sold
and resold by Owaneco till it was impossible to tell who was the rightful
owner, and after subduing and cultivating suck rough lands as were left
them the settlers had often to pay off successive claimants or be sued
from court to court to their cost and damage. With these difficulties in
the way it is not surprising that Canterbury at first made but slow
progress in settlement. Eleazer Brown, of Chelmsford, bought land at
Wanungatuck of the Tracys in 1704. Jonathan Ashley, Benjamin Baldwin and
Henry Smith appear among the inhabitants in 1705. Samuel Butts, of
Dorchester, settled near Wanungatuck in 1706, and John Pelton and Jeremiah
Plympton, Charles and Paul Davenport, of Dorchester, bought land in the
south of Canterbury, "with buildings and fences," of Jeremiah Fitch the
same year.
As soon as practicable the Canterbury people established religious
services and employed a minister, and began to arrange for the erection of
a meeting house. In 1705 Robert Green made over to the town for thirty
shillings three and a half acres on a hill hear his house, for public
purposes. This plot has ever since been so held and is still known as
Canterbury Green.
Disputes concerning boundary lines gave Canterbury much annoyance. The
line between this town and Windham was a matter of protracted controversy.
A gore piece lying between two early surveys of Windham territory on the
side joining Canterbury was claimed by both towns. The first Canterbury
settlers in that part of the town, which received the name Apaquag, were
Stephen Cook, Richard and Benoni Woodward, and Joseph Hide, who purchased
land on Little river in 1708. Jonathan Hide and Stephen Frost settled in
this section soon after. George Lilly purchased land between Nipmuck path
and Little river in 1710. In 1709 the town contained thirty-five male
inhabitants, and the taxable estates amounted to £1,6191.
The building of the first meeting house was perhaps the most absorbing
enterprise with the early settlers of these towns, after they had provided
some sort of comfortable habitations for their individual needs.
Canterbury plead such weakness that the assembly remitted the usual "
country rate " in 1708, on condition that it be used in the construction
of the meeting house. This public edifice and a house for the minister
were provided by 1711, and in that year the town received from the
assembly permission " to gather a church and call a minister to office
amongst them, according to the rules of the gospel and the order of
discipline established by this government." The church was organized under
this privilege, June 13th, 1711, and at the same time Reverend Samuel
Estabrook, who had for several years been preaching here, was installed as
their pastor. The constituent members of the church were Samuel Estabrook,
Eleazer Brown, Elisha Paine, Samuel Cleveland, John Woodward, Richard
Woodward and Stephen Frost. Others who joined the church during the next
-two years were Timothy Backus, James Hyde, Josiah Cleveland, Richard
Adams, Jr., Samuel Butts, Thomas Brown and their wives, and Mrs. Samuel
Adams and one or two others, bringing the membership of the church up to
twenty-five.
After repeated outbreaks of the controversy with Windham concerning the
dividing line an adjustment was made by a committee from the general
assembly in 1713, and the result was a confirmation of the claim of
Canterbury. Another long disputed claim was settled by the assembly in
favor of Canterbury, by which the town secured possession of the land east
of the Quinebaug in the southeast corner of the town, which Plainfield had
tried to hold. This final decision was reached in October, 1714.
Thus Canterbury gained all that she claimed on both eastern and western
borders. Nor did the enlargement of her territory stop here. She was also
enlarged by the annexation of land on the north, by an act of the assembly
in the same year. Richard Adams, John Woodward, Edward Spalding and Daniel
Cady, already residents of this tract, were thus added to the inhabitants
of Canterbury. The settlement of the bounds was followed by an influx of
population. Edward Raynesford, of Cambridge, purchased land of Jeremiah
Plympton, and removed to Canterbury in 1714. James Bradford, of Norwich,
and John Dyer, brother of Thomas, of Windham, settled in Canterbury in
1715.
The first town meeting of which any record is still preserved was that of
December 10th, 1717, more than fourteen years after the organization of
the town. At that meeting John Woodward was chosen moderator; Samuel
Adams, constable; Joseph Adams, town clerk and first selectman; Edward
Spalding, Elisha Paine, Samuel Butts and Henry Smith, other selectmen;
John Woodward and Solomon Tracy, grand jurors; Samuel Spalding and John
Ensworth, fence viewers; John Dyer and Edward Raynsford, listers; Paul
Davenport, surveyor; Deliverance Brown, collector; Robert Green, pound
keeper; Richard Pellett, tavern keeper; and William Baker was made
responsible for the " decency of meeting house." It was then voted " That
the act made for the killing of rattlesnakes, April 24, 1716, should stand
in force the present year."
The chaotic manner in which the settlement of the town had been made
rendered some uniform tenure of land holding desirable, and to reach some
uniform scheme by which the various owners holding under various titles
could be placed on a common basis, especially with regard to the common
lands still held under the town patent in undivided proprietorship. To
settle this, it was agreed at a meeting of proprietary inhabitants,
February 26th, 1723, " That those who were settled inhabitance and paid to
ye building of ye meeting house and minister's home shall. have one share
and one. half-share in said undivided land; those who were settled when
our patent was given and paid rates in ye town to have one share in said
undivided lands, and those who settled since ye patent was given and now
live within y e bounds of our patent to have a half-share. It is to be
understood that none shall accrue any right by this vote but such as are
now settled within ye bounds of our patent, neither those that have
granted these rights to their individual lands to ye town, and also, that
there shall be no advantage taken by this vote to hinder us from granting
any lands in a general way."
In the distribution of common land made under this arrangement, on April
30th, 1723, the following twenty-seven persons received each one and a
half shares as being first settlers and planters: Major Fitch, Elisha
Paine, John Pike, Thomas Brown, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Sr., Samuel
Cleveland, Sr., Samuel Cleveland, Jr., Robert Burwell, Richard Pellet,
Robert Green, Joseph and Obadiah Johnson, Richard Woodward, Stephen Frost,
David Munrow, William and Timothy Backus, Benjamin Baldwin, Tixhall
Ensworth, Samuel and Henry Adams, Jr., Joseph Adams, Solomon Tracy.,
Samuel Butt, Joseph Smith and Joseph Cleveland. The following twenty-three
received one share each as proprietors under the patent: Lieutenant Edward
Spalding, John Welch, Edward Cleveland, Jr., Richard Smith, James
Bradford, Ephraim Davis, David Raynsford, Nathaniel Bond, Henry Adams,
Sr., David Adams, Deliverance Brown, Thomas Adams, Benjamin Fasset,
Abraham Paine, Elisha Paine, Jr., Daniel Fitch, James Hyde, John Port,
John Dyer, Moses Cleveland, John Ensworth, John Cady and John Carter. The
following eighteen persons received one-half share each as later settlers:
David Carver, Thomas Davenport, Joseph Adams, Sr., Solomon Paine, Henry
Cleveland, Theophilus Fitch, John Bacon, Jonathan Davis, Jacob Johnson,
John Baldwin, Isaac Cleveland, Edward Raynsford, Joseph Ensworth, Richard
Gale, Jabez Fitch, Nathaniel Robbins, Aaron Cady and Samuel Cook. The
whole number of land proprietors in the township was thus sixty-eight, of
whom some eight or ten were non-residents. Many of the later proprietors
were sons of the first planters. John Bacon, of Norwich, bought land on
the west side of Rowland's brook, of Timothy Backus in 1720. Samuel
Parish, Sr., bought land and settled in the western part of the town in
1724. By the middle of the century. the land of the town was so well taken
up that but few new settlers. were coming in. The lands and homesteads
were mostly occupied by the descendants of the first settlers. Of the
three branches of the Adams family which had settled in this town, Joseph
Adams, Sr., died in 1748; Henry Adams, Sr., in 1749; the second Samuel
Adams in 1742, and the third of that name in 1760. Numerous scions of
these three branches were now in active life.
The origin of Packerville, which lies in the southeast corner of the town,
partly within the town of Plainfield, was. the manufacturing interest
which attached to the Andrus factory privilege, which in 1818 passed into
the hands of Daniel Packer and Daniel Lester, of Preston. After a few
years of suspension the work was resumed under the management of Mr.
Packer. Buildings were repaired and enlarged, new machinery introduced,
and a village started into life. Captain Packer was pained at sight of the
loose morals and irreligious inclinations of the people, and engaged his
interest and exertions in establishing the church whose history we have
noticed. For a time the village prospered and seemed to promise to become
a center of permanence. A fire engine company was organized here in 1830.
With the drift of manufacturing interests to other centers the growth of
the village has declined, and in later years the industry here has been
abandoned.
Many of the leading men of the county were early connected with the
Masonic Lodge at Hartford. Upon petition of Colonels Gray and Grosvenor,
Moriah Lodge was instituted at Canterbury in 1790, and soon received into
its brotherhood many of the active leading men of the county. Its first
master was Colonel Ebenezer Gray. Among those actively interested in this
lodge were Moses Cleveland, Evan Malbone, Thomas and Lemuel Grosvenor,
Samuel and John McClellan, Daniel Larned, Daniel Putnam, William
Danielson, Lemuel Ingalls, Albigence Waldo, John Brewster and Jared
Warner. Its annual commemoration of St. John's day, in June, was one of
the great festivals of the year, excelled only by the Fourth of July and
general training day. The Masonic brethren from all the adjoining towns in
full regalia marched through the street, with banners, music and open
Bible, to be entertained in hall or grove with a grand oration and a
sumptuous dinner. For many years the lodge took part in festival days and
occasions, and made a prominent factor in the social life of the
community.
Source: History of Windham County, Connecticut,
Bayles, Richard M.; New York: W.W. Preston, 1889 Back to: Windham County, Connecticut
Genealogy |
Windham Townships
Connecticut Resources
Genealogy Resources
|