Morning journal and courier., 1889-04-06
NORTH HAVEN ANNALS.

l
 Olden Time PeOple-The old Domt- ] ciles of the AncestOrs-The Indian l Treaties and Compactz-GOOd Faith
 Kept-Old Highways-Old Time Jour- neys-ssTo Mill and to Meeting''-The
 Killers.
 It is to be feared that our homes lying in'
 their beauty on hill and plain 50 much over shadow the tenants and tenements of two
 centuries ago as to make us forgetfuI of
 whom and from what we sprang. The pre- ceding chapters have imperfectly outlined the more prominent of the early settlers of the town, or those who came here previous to 17OO The record would be much more
 incomplete did we through false pride or hu- initiation, fail to record some of their more
 marked manners and customs. First, their domestic condition. Their surroundings
 were rude in the extreme. Says Davis 1n his history of Wallingford, sThe houses at
 first were constructed of logs, with the
 ground, or in some cases if the soil was wet | or the occupants were persons of taste and
 substance, with split logs for floor. They
 were good and substsntial dwellings at least
 eighteen feet in length and sixteen feet wide and nine feet between joints with good
 chimney of stone and clay mortar. In the | course of time framed houses came into use. The sides of the buildings were covered with
 
 smoothed with shaving knife. The roof l was made of rafters larger than the plates. sills and beams of our modern houses and supported split sticks called in the rude ar chitecture of the day ribs that were laid across them at regular distances and to which
 long rent shingles of cedar were fastened ! with tough wrought iron nails."
 Snch, it may be assumed, was the charac- ter of our ancestors dwellings here. In
 northern and eastern Connecticut, and in .1,- -I-- 1a1S
 saded as a protection from the Indians. A
 ditch at 6 convenient distance was dug
 around the houses: logs were placed upright
 in this trench close together, extending per- haps ten or twelve feet from the ground. \ The earth then on being filled in and pressed I around them made substantial defence | against any ordinary attack. There was a | space for gate and loop-holes for observa- tion; often @ sort of narrow staging or plat form was built around in the inside of this | stockade, and in instances where several | houses stood within such enclosures sentry boxes were built on the corners. There is no ! mention made that such defence was built 1 about any of the earlier homes here. There seems to have been no occasion for it, unless \ in lesser manner for the protection of do- ! mestic stock from wild animals, particu- larly wolves. An act of May, 1887, placed I bounty of "twenty shillings on the head of a ! wolf, and for wolf whelp half so much," \ and with fine sense of the proper sphere of l the red man it was "Ordered, if any Iudian shalt in like manner kill or destroy any grown wolf he shall be paid ten shillings per head, and for wolfe whelp half much" Notwithstanding the violence of the savages ! in other parts of New England it must be placed to the credit of the tribes who entered ' into Eaton and Davenport that they faithful 1 ly observed to the end the compact they made, and though their numbers were few yet by influence with their race they stood a wall of protectors around the whites of the coleny. Dr. Trumbul1 speaks of a great 'pow-wow" as once being held near the Humiston place (F. H. Stiles) at which some of the settlers became alarmed, but needlessly, for the braves concerned themselves with their own affairs and retired in good order. There is no reason to think the pioneers of North Haven differed in outward circum- stances from their Wallingford neighbors, or from those in other communities where set~ dement's were undertaken; and the log house often with but single room, here and there rose in the woods. Wagons were not much known at this period, and highways were few in 1700. The main artery of travel betweea New Haven and Hartford pursued about the same course as the plains road does now, al- \ though the ancient highway probably con- tinued on directly south past the present Com gregational church instead of defecting to the left |
 In certain deeds of 1694-5 there is evidence of another highway running parallel with the I latter road mentioned. The smallness of the I areas conveyed, bounded in three or four ! cases Con ye east and west by ye highwayes" | indicates such roads as lying near each other. ! This latter route then could have been none | other than the present "Pool road" which is | really the older of the two, and the "Big | trail' from Reeds Gap in Durham to Sack II ett's Point, as mentioned in a former article. |
 Of other roads on or about this time (16oO ! the following order from the General court | will throw some light: "This court October \ 1699 orders that the people of New Haven and Wallingford shall forthwith build sui fcient hors bridg over Haven River at the \ place where Brockett's bridg formerly, and in case they may see reason to build cart | mayntayned for the future by the two townes in good repsyre-" Now, where was ''Brockett's bridg!" Clearly either st Mansfelds or Quinnipiac bridges. On I this location opinion is divided and the reader is left to his own choice The ar- 9ument in favor of Mansfeld's bridge is the I last will and testament of the Rev. James Pierpont of New Haven in which he gives to the 'neighbors of the north village" in TIA "about so much half division land nigh Wal lingford bridge provided they will set their meeting house there" Also the following: November 27, 1894, Mary Little deeds John Humaston thirteen and one-half acres land "lying and being on ye east side Wallingford l bridge so called, bounded south by said l John Humastons land, west by the river, northward and eastward by Nathaniel | Thorpe"
 On the other hand John Crockett in 17O3 l owned considerable tract of land on Whar- tons brook and exchanged a portion of it Il with Nathaniel Thorpe above mentioned. l This brook is now in part the boundary be- tween North Haven and Wallingford, as is ! also the Quinnipiac river for fifty or more rods north from the mouth of said brook, or until the line crosses the river at the extreme northwest corner of North Haven. At this point, and on this line stands Quinnipiac bridge, structure that has been from time 1 immemorial, and is to-day supported jointly by the two towns in question.
 Thus the evidence stands. The writer I favor the latter point as the true one, con- I struing the Rev. Mir. Pierpont's and the oth- CTS statements to refer more in general terms to this Wallingford bridge than in definite detail, there being no other crossing built on the river at that time. That we have hon. | estly inherited certain delinquencies of our | forefathers concerning highways is made ap | parent by the causes which called forth an act of the General Court passed 1884 stating, ! Whereas there is 8 great neglect found in | of ye highways between towne ! and towne, the waves being incumbred with dirty slowes, bushes, trees, and stones, etc., this court doe therefore erder that each plantation within this colony shall forth | with take sufficient care that ye highwayes stated between townes be well amended ! from such defects and so kept from time to ! time"
 Domestic animals were few among us at this period. Some sheep were kept and fhearded on the comeu by a sheepheard" A good COW was worth from twenty-five to thir- ty pounds and a yoke of oxen.forty pounds ! In 1700 the general assembly fixed the price of wheat Give shillings sixepence bushel, rye three shillings, pease not bugge-eaten | three shillings, corn two shillings and sixe- pence, biefe 40 shillings per barrel, porke three pounds ten shilllngs per barell, &c." For beverages there was neither coffee nor tea. Beer was at first drank until apple trees I matured, when "cyder" became the principal drink. There was but little sugar or nolas- l ses, the latter being often distilled as soon as landed. Corn was the main diet of the set- ! , ter, and bean porridge, nasty pudding, johnny cake and samp were articles of daily oon- sumption. Says Davis in his history of Wal lingford: "They had no potatoes, but l and beans in abundance" After all Wallingford may have been the !