Morning journal and courier., 1883-12-24


 pork. Tradition says it was full of cobble- stones, and so boggy that in places it was dltched. Near the southeast corner arose small rivulet or run which, going out just where she town pump now is, crossed south erly to the Cutler corner, ran through that square and the next square and crossing State street, about two hundred feet easterly from the corner of George, emptied just be yond into East creek, which was on the line of the railroad. On the Green around the sources of this rivulet the aIders grew pro- fHsely, which the Indians, wanting straight sticks for arrows, were wont to gather. TAere is tradition that in very early times small sloop boats occasionally came up this run to the corner Of the Green, but this is doubtful
 The surveyor who laid out our original nine squares was, as we have mentioned. John Crockett. A center shot from Cupid's bow was the original cause of his being the man to perform this duty. He was the eld- est son of an English baronet, forsook his prospects for rank and fortune at home and crossed a broad ocean in some little cookie shell of a vessel to this then wilderness, drawn thither by the dimpiing eyelids of a Puritan girl. He was married about 1642, was the p-ogenitor of the Connecticut Brock cts and of the eminent Pennington family of New Jersey. The genealogy of the Tut tie family just published states that he was the eldest son and heir apparent of Sir John Crockett of Brockett's hall and manor, ooun- ty Hertfordshire, Baronst. The manor and hali is now in the possession of the Temple family, and was the county seat of the late Lord Palmerston. John Crockett was prom inent in public affairs, especially in the oa- pacity of surveyor. He died March. 1890, aged eighty. Whether he married the lady whose attractions drew him to these shores is unknown.
 In laying out our nine squares Crockett probably had no better instrument than common surveyors compass, and the diff culty was increased by the thickness of the underbrush. Running his lines through the woods perfect accuracy was not practicable nor probably sought for; and as 8 cons:- quence there is not single corner in our original city plot that is an exact right angle The half mile square is 8 little in excess Each side, taking the inner lines of the bor dering streets, averages about ffty-one feet over that distance. The map in the city surveyors office ss measured for us by Mir. Kelly, gives the distance around the four sides as 10, 763 feet, or POS feet in excess of two miles The measurements are State street 2,678 feet, and it's opposites, York street 2,69O, or 12 feet the longest; Grove street 2,691, and it's opposite, George street, Z, 704, or 13 feet the longest With the i'm proved methods in use by the city surveyors of our time such plot could be so laid that each side Of 6 half-mile would not vary the tenth part of an inch ill length from any other If, however, in the laying out of 8 town they come within foot Il would be regarded Gs sufficiently accurate,
 Our ancestors reserved the Green for market place, though we haze no evidence that it wss used for this purpose until 17S5, when 8 market-house WAS built upon the southeast corner, which stood some years Up to 179S the Green WAS not enclosed, but was travelled in ali directions by OK teams and vehicles. In July, 1799, 1t was voted that, 's9hereas. 1t would add to the convenience of the citizens and to the orna- ment of the city, that the Green or public square of the city should be leyeled and the upper and lower sections rallied in. and suit able fences erected to preserve the same from tho passing of carriages end teams, and that water courses should be prepared for conducting of the water " At the eams tinle Pierpont Edwards (lawyer). James Hillhouse (college treas1rer), and Isaac Beers Bookseller near the college and brother of Nathan Bsers), were authorized to super intend and accomplish the same, provided the sams be done without exneuse to the city" A subscription was then taken up for the purpose, and tho grass sold yearly to pay part of the expense and keep the fence in repair In September, 1863, 1t was yo5ed that James Hilihouse. Isaac Beers and Thaddeus Beecher bs a committee to examine and al - ascertain what he expended in railing and ornamenting ths Green (ssttips out einls, We presume. and make report of anything, and if anything, what sum is legally and equit ably due to him from the city on account of moneys so expended From the above recol d it is evident that the city fiaslig paid sma amount toward the expense of enclosing the Green.
 The fence was likewise built through ths Green on both sides of Temple street. mak ing two inclosures, the upper aud lower Green. It neat post and rail feEce, painted white, with two rails, the upper rali Gffordipg convepient seat. We have un- de.steod tbat the fence whsu removed iD 1840 was taken to Milford and put around their green. It was succeeded by the present iron fenca at 8 cost of trif1s less than seven thousand collars.
 The above items are mainly from Barber's History of New Haven, and in the edition published about 5 1 is 8 handsome view of the Green engraved On copper and colored. It was taken near the site of the City Hail, and shows the Green as seen there from that point This picture appears also Tn Over the World Travels, " 8 work just published and by the writer of these chapters. The elms in this picture ars shown es small trees not over foot through aad ct but little more than half of thsir present height Everything i5 in
 
 of greenery to conceal anything-the old wood fence, simple and neat, around the Green and through Temple street on both sides, the fnll fronts and spires of the three sentinel churches. the State House, then in it's pristine days of marble-like white, and in the rear, half concealed and half disclosed, the blushing dormitory and early-morning- pray yer-calling chapel of old Yale. The elms of the campus were compa atively small trees and the entire city had only about elev- en thousand people. We had just got over the reception and absorption of our first great wave of Irish emigration. The Irish had come and dug out for us the Farming ton canal, where the railroad line now is. on the line of East creek. There the writer, when small boy, say them at work digging in the mud and water on the site of the market, Their odd costumes, queer faces, and Celtic speech, which was to us as so muoh gibberlsh, togeth- CT with their yolubility, made an enduring impression, it wa3 so odd Some spoke of them as ssthe wild Irish" and '' bog trotters. Centuries, of horrible oppression and grind ing aFerice had left their marks upon that unhappy people We had broken away from the same arrogant olgarchy through blood, they through exile They enriched our land by their labors and now their children are largely in it's places of emolument. Years after, when youth, the writer had 6 personal experience Nith these people while in the engineer corps that laid out and over saw the construction of our railroad to Hart ford that taught us their good qualities They were digging in the deep cut this si de of Meriden when an axe having been driv en into his foot Pat. all sympathy. spraDg to bis relief and tearing eff the sleeve of his shirt bound it around the bleeding foot.
 Leonard Bacon was settled over the Center church on the last day of January, 1895. This was just at the beginning of the Irish waves. Speaking of this period in his forty years' sermon, he says: ''The population here was of purely English descent, and I nay say that, with the exception of few ,olored people, there were not twenty fam lies here whose ancestors did not come over | with the first settlers of New England D
 Chrfszznas Memories.