Morning journal and courier., 1889-03-15
HISTORIC NORTH HAVEN.
It's First Settlers and Their Domains. Interesting "Reminiscences of th
 Early Fathers-The Old North Society

Interesting Reminfscences of the
 Early Fathers-The Old N orth Society. It is Prof. Charles H. Levermore in his unique volume entitled "The Republic of New Haven," who says, moralizing upon the policy of Davenport and Eaton, as displayed in the government of the New Haven colony, s'The New Haven that they knew and mould. ed apparently vanished with the expiring 1 breath of it's founders, yet city, like mus ical instrument possesses tone of it's own, and the city at the Red Hills has never lost the calm conservative habit of Eaton or the scholastic zeal of Davenport" The earliest settlers of North Haven were men familiar I with the methods of Eaton and Davenport | The names of Yale, Futile, Cooper, Thorp are found on the Planters Schedule of 1641 | Their sons as they swarmed north from I the parent hive carried with them their train l ing. The formative stage of villages and | towns is as impossible as the period of youth \ and as good or evil influences surround I either, so either is shaped for years in the l conditions of morality, government and re ! ligiop. According to the colonial records l one William Bradley 8 reputed officer of 1 Cromweli's army appears to have been the I first settler within our town limits. That he l located on the west side of "East River | (Quinnipiac) between 1640 and 1850 is ad- | 1nitted by all. Gov. Eaton, the families of Attwater, Turner, Potter, Brewster, Mans 1 field, had allotments at "East Farms" above Cedar Hill, and their territory stretched north considerable distance. Bradley's do- main came next doubtless, and perhaps con- tiguous to Brewster's, for we learn he soon possessed himself of the latter's one hundred eighty-seven acres in addition to his own. If not strictly over the line he was so near to ! it as evidently to become the first landholder of the village. Of his subsequent career we know nothing.
 I Thomas and Nathanael Yale came in 1860, Johnathan Futile in 1870, followed by Ma thanel Tharp, Ebenezer Blakeslee, John Humiston, Daniel and Thomas Barnes, Moses Crockett, Thomas Jacobs. Later came the Coopers, Clarks. Todds, and Bishops: Truly by the old New Haven colony records, these were all good men and true for these family are abundant to this day among us, and stand for worth and integrity with any in the land.
 Of Thomas and Nathaniel Yale we do not know where they lived, died, or were buried unless in the latter instance in New Haven. That Nathaniel, who was moderator of the little meeting of Eye north society" on that historical day in Nov 1716 was Nathaniel the settler, there is no doubt. If he was 8 "chip of the old block" then God be praised that the old block was made of such sturdy ma terial for of such as him and his was the foundation of church and town laid. The Yale family must have been small; their names are infrequent. Of Thomas nothing is said whatever and in three generations from their coming here they fade out altogether. It was not intended at first to come within the zone of church formation in North Haven until all the surrounding circumstance had been cons sidsred and the way thoroughly prepared, but
 the history of the Yale family is so brief that 1t will be presented at once and then dismiss
 ed without further allusion.
 Nathaniel Yale was not only the presiding officer of Eye north society meeting" in 1716, but he was made chairman of the "Com'tee to make their application to ye Rev. MT. An> drews for his advice in order to having a minister among them" In 1717 he was
 chairman of 'Com'tee to take care of ye society affaires, which, as they were about to
 build their first meeting house, needed no in
 considerable attention" In 171S he was
 chairman of the "Com'tee on ye minister's
 rate and settlement" This included the or
 dination of the Rev. MT. Wetmore. Not
 content with thus burdening this aging ser
 vant of theirs, he was further appointed on
 the ''Comtee to receive ye money which ye south society CNew Haven) promised to re- fund back" In 1919 he was again elected on Eye societies. com'tee." There came now seemingly two years respite from office
 bearing, but troublous times were ahead. The Rev. MT. Wetmore was becoming alarmingly frisky in his week day if not in his sabbatic utterances. Their common enemy in some
 
 exactions they fondly hoped they had fled, hung now and then in the person of their minister banner on the outer walls whose Haunting they could i'll brook. The sequence was but natural. They no longer as in 1717 voted "that they sit very easie under MT. Wetmores ministry" but they hurled that memorable white hot Protest" (which will such force that no council of ministers or messengers under heaven could repair the blow. Wetmore retired and Nathaniel Yale preserved intact as he and his associates un- derstood it, the faith once delivered to the saints. No sooner had Wetmore and his prospective churchly robes disappeared be- hind the western horizon, than Yale was again appointed on a 'fcomtee in order to having 8 minister among them" From this point .the records, silence is ominous. A year more or less was spent in securing minister and when at last the Rev. Isaac Stiles "sor we'll satisfied" the lit tie struggling society that he was settled over it, it is not improbable but that Nathaniel Yale had passed from the church militant to the church triumphant. His memorial is his there is no other of him, nay, his name even does not appear on the church of his generation. Contemporary with him was David Yale one of the first two 1eacons of the church in 171S. He was also treasurer of the church building rate 1721. | Of his further work no mention is made. He died about 1730. No stone marks his resting place. Mrs. Rebecca Yale (whose wife or of ! what lineage we wot not) died at the age of A in 1734. Mrs. Ann Yale whose record Is alike obscure died in 1744. Nathaniel, prob able son of the hero mentioned above, fol- lowed in 1746. David died in 1759 and Mar tha his wife in 1759 thus extinguishing the | name to this day so far as 1t appears among I us.
 Jonathan Futile began a settlement in | &ho nnfn ,,Sa ;v, E. now the southern part of the town of North | Haven," says the Futile genealogy. Un- he was the first conner of his Il name. He built bridge across the river I and by decree of the "Generall Court" was | allowed to charge two pence cash or pence n trade for each person crossing. The loca- | ion of this bridge is not altogether clear. | It was at one of the two points used at pres- snt, Manfeld's or Sacketts Point. The writer l nclines to the latter as the true location; he reasons therefor seem cogent. The tide | 'f settlement worked slowly north from the ay in the suburbs. Here had been Gov. l saton's brickyard, said the first on the oon- inent, and the plots of Atwster, Potter, Bradley, Mansfield and perhaps few others | ying along the narrow strip between the | hills and the river north and east of East Rock. Mr. Davenport's farm lay on
 
 Herbert Barnes might indicate its general position. The tides and the extensive marshes on either side of the river effsctually barred communication between these two ocations and for the same reasons precluded II bridge building until some point where ! he upland neared the river could be found. his condition was fulfilled at Sacketts 'oint. Solid land came to the eastern bank f the river, and on the western side TOSS igh wooded bluff. C'Moeking Hill'D then oted Indian rendezvous if not an extended amp as attested by the large deposit of hells to this day. Moreover if tradition lay be credited (and present conditions sem to corroborate it) two important Indian rails intersected at or near this point. One them beginning at or even beyond the ome of the Mattabesetts near Middletown assed southward through "Reeds Gap" thence in almost direct line to lew Haven and down the western coast to lew York. The lines of this old route as videnced by certain portions of highways ztant in East Wallingford and north ast North Haven confirms this idea. likewise beginning high up in 1e valley of the Farming ton river, possibly i ]