Morning journal and courier., 1889-03-23
NORTH HAVEN ANNALS.


 fn New HAven-The Old Church Days
 John HumastOn.
 The Puritan planter was not much given to rowing, but when the visionary schemes Of the mighty commercial metropolis he ardent ly believed would rise on the shores Of New Haven bay, faded away like 8 dream, he was forced to turn his attention to mat- ters more earthly. Wharves gave way to shops, storehouses to barns, ships to cattle and the "gilded youth" who erstwhile dream ed ot counting rooms and fine apparel and bills of lsding and possible voyages to far of lands as super cargo suddenly found himself thrust out on the border of his existence dependent upon what the untried earth would yield up to him. The failure of Lambert's expedition of 1646 was a sad blow to the ex- pectations of the colonists, and yet it wss their ultimate salvation. It taught them the angel of Jehovah stood at the gateway of the new world. even barring the entrance to any Eden which might be found there.
 Unpalatable truth! but the Divine hand foreseeipg the splendid surprise one day to arise on the narrow foundation laid along the New England coast from New Haven to Bos- ton, would have no incomplete substructure
 
 the colonists to agriculture and trade within their own borders rather than commerce. Hence also went out those migrations to Mil ford, Branford, Guilford, Wallingford and other places.
 Following Jonathan Futile, as last de- scribed, came Nathaniel Thorpe, Ebenezer Blakeslee and John Humaston. Of the Thorpe family, tradition hath it, there were three brothers, but with only William, whose name appears on the New Haven colony planters schedule of 1641, does North Haven have any concern. His "house lot' was within the town lines on the northeast corner of what is now Elm and York streets. There were but three persons in his family and his estate set at only e10 in the grand list of the colony, consequently the homestead allotted him was small one. His additional territory was made up of eight acres in the "First Divi- sion" (west of what is now Prospect street), one and half acres in the "Neck" (bstween Mill and Quinnipiac rivers), two acres of salt meadow and eight acres of wild land in the Second division, tract surveyed still further out in the suburbs, In this fashion were his and his neighbours possessions and yet it was ''soe every free planter should have some land in ye neck, some in ye meadows ard some in ye upland of two miles square," Himself, his 'tgood wife, and son Nathaniel comprised his family. The latter grew to mans estate under the colony training and came to North Haven about 1870. Dr. Trum-
 
 dred and thirty years later says: Nathaniel Thorpe, Ebenezer Blakslee and John Humas- ton soon after 1670) settled on the eastern bank of the river near the center of the town" Humsston located between or be- yond the "country road" Cat present Wash ington avenue), and East river (Quinnipiac.) His farm covered 8 large tract lying mostly south of what is now Broadway, with its northern limit not far from this present thoroughfare, in fact the building of his house Enaasr, on the site s.I1o now quite likely determined it's direction. It should be called Humaston street. Next came Nathaniel Thorpe, also between or be- yond the road and the river, and then Eben- ezer Blakeslee, northermost of the three, and bounded east and west as were his associates. These lsyouts admit of no question, for in 1737 Nathaniel Thorpe (son of the settler) conveyed to Moses and Hannah Thorpe "the homestead bounded west by New Haven East river, north by Ebenezer Blakeslee's land, south by John Humaston's land, and east by the country road"
 It is more than probable these three farms at first extended eastward far beyond the ! present Washington avenue line, for "Bog- mine Swamp" remained in the Thorpe fami- I ly's possession for several genera tions. Thus lay these three plantations houses builded upon them were in fact the initial points of North Haven. They made in a measure a colony by themselves. Let the reader mentally photograph their ! surroundings. Small rude dwellings, per- haps of logs, were theirs; very little open high grass; dense forests in every di- I rection; not road, fence, school, | store, church or physician nearer than the parent colony, struggling settle ! ment. just beginning five miles north at Wal lingford, rowing bands of Indians on all ! sides, such was the North Haven of 1870. Says Trumbull in his century sermon: "The settlement was very slow, and it seems that ! for nearly forty years some of the first plant I CTS attended public worship and buried their I dead at New Haven. The women usually | went on foot to New Haven on the Lords | day, attended two long exercises and re- l turned. In some instances they did this | with child in their arms." And then the | reverend historian adds in a foot note: "The tradition is that Mrs. Blakeslee (wife | of Ebenezer) the great-grandmother of the present Captain Blakeslee (Abraham 1727- 17S5) would take her child in her arms on l Sabbath day morning, travel to New Haven | and hear Mir. Pierpont preach, and return | again after meeting. The same is reported | concerning Mrs. Thorpe (Elizabeth), wife of l Nathaniel Thorpe. The people who settled I this town were brought up in the strict | Puritanic religion of those exellent men, MT. Davenport and MT. Pierpont, and were, numbers of them, truly of tho excellent in | the earth"
 It was the same Ebenezer Blakeslee, of whom it is written in 1716-17 "Agreed on by ye society that they will except of ye house ot Ebenezer Blakeslee to meet in at ye publik | worship of God till ye major part of ye so- ciety shall see cause to lay it aside." Wheth- | CT it was so "laid aside" very early after the passage of this vote and another substituted for it will be difficult to determine, for (quot ing TrumbulD "Joseph Ives built on the ] road twenty rods north of the house erected | at the corner by Isaac Thorpe. In this the | people met for public worship until they ! were able to build them meeting house." l Now Isaac Thorpe mentioned here was the grandson of Nathaniel, the settler. He built ! large two story dwelling on the corner now owned by Rev. W. T. Reynolds. which | building stood within the memory of some | now living. If Joseph Ives then builded | twenty rods north of this corner he may have | been very near Ebenezer Blakeslee's, and so the sacred services at times may have been held in each, or, what is more probable, con- ! sidering the written evidence" the doctor l might have been mistaken.
 Of John Humaston there is no accessible | record worthy of mention, but that he was ! staunch and God-fearing man we are we'll ! able to judge. He was buried at New Ha- | ven. His son John, born in 1885, succeeded ! to the paternal acres and died in 1767, leav- | ing Ephraim, who from 1757 to 1791 cortin- | uously held important churchly trusts to | which he was elected by his brethren. | Ephraim died in 1906, leaving Joel to uphold l the family name here. Joel died, leaving l Lydia, born in 1900 (now Widow Peck.) The 1 second John and Ephraim were buried in the l "old cemetery" There were other sons and | this family by fewer generations than any other in the town is the North Haven of 1870 | linked with that of to-day.
 SHELDON B. THORPE