Norwich bulletin., 1917-05-12
WHEN MlDpLETown LED THE STATE

IN LED THE STATE
dros said that their deeds were. so
indefinite and contradictory as to be
worth no more than the marks OF
cats paw, and that these chiefs, as
| to ownership, were in controversy
among themselves. while the settlers
had gained a variety of titles from
them.
In f7o5, the General Assembly
passed bread healing act confirming
/ the deed of Oweneco to the four pro
| and Birchard, and the deed OF these
proprietors to the fifty-one proprfe-
tors, most of whom were then residing
| in Lebanon. BY this act a degree OF
satisfaction and quiet seems to have
| been established.
II was to this May session of the
| Assembly, f7o5, that William Clark
/ first whom it sent. At the October
| session, Samuel Huntington was
deputy. Lebanon was listed" i. e.
| the property was put into the grand
| list to be taxed for general purposes,
! for the first time in 1904.
In the roll of persons and estates
| presented to the General Assembly IN
| IIUo, embracing -LiliCS IOWiiS,
| Lebanon is rated at e g.. 1876, and is the
| twenty-first in the list 1t has ninety
taxable inhabitants, indicating pop
ulation of about $50. The next year 1t
sons. in this year the town sent two
| deputies, Ensign John Sprague and
William Clark.
That the early settlers had any
special amount of danger or annoyance
fr.rr,7 Tv36i ov7 not
Indians of that section being friendly
to the whites, in league with them and
very much dependent upon them
But though the Indians did not seri-
ously trouble the whites, wild animals
did.
AS late as 1870, the town offered
bounty of e 10 for every full grown
wolf that should be Killed.
Col. James Clark, of Bunker Hill
celebrity, who died Dec. 29th, 1926. at
the age of SO, used to relate to his
grandchildren that, in his boyhood, on
coming from Norwich in the evening,
as he reached the low ground near
where Jeremiah Masons house was
afterwards built, he was obliged to
draw his feet up on the saddle, to
protect them from the wolves, which
he heard at intervals barking and
bowling in the thickets on either side
of the road.
That the town grew and prospered,
is proven by the fact that, in 1870, the
towns list was e1s.972; in 1913 it was
G %. 803 being in amount the eighth
in the colony. In 1740, it was 31,709
and was the fifth among the forty
eight towns in the list, and more than
that of Hartford or New London. By
174S it had reached e $3.50.
From 1880 to 1850, Lebanon evident
Iy gained rapidly in population and
wealth. The colony of Connecticut
had greatly prospered. In 1870, the
number of inhabitants, according to
the census then taken. was $4,000. with
about 700 Indian andNegro slaves and
1900 Indians.
In 1856, twenty six years later, the
populat ton of the Colony consisting
then of seventy nine towns and set
Elements Connecticut now has a total
of 16S towns). had grown to 1862. an
increase of 90,312. Lebanon then had
a population of whites 3171. blacks,
1G3: total of 3274 Only five towns in
the Colony had larger population;
viz. Middlctown, the largest, 1854;
Norwich, $40: New Haven, 5,0S5:
Fairfield. 4,455 and Pennington, 1907.
Hartford had only 1927
In 1774. the year before the battle of
Lexington, there were but seventy-sic>
towns and settlements in the Colony,
some of the smaller settlements having
Colony had increased to 19S,010. The
population of Lebanon was then.
whites 3,S41; blacks. 119; a total of
$3.50; tfa7 largest population the town
has ever had. Only six towns in the
Connecticut Colony then had a larger.
BY 1884, the population of the state
had grown to 208,s00, and Lebanon had
earlier: blacks, 81; twenty-five less
than sixty years before. Total loss,
20. Only eight towns then had a
larger population, New Haven having
the largest, 1850.
T. In ~1775, only eight towns had
larger grand list than Lebanon, it be-
ing them e41.60O, equal to $3.50, 800, the
pound then being 1898 1-S.
During 1904, Columbia, with a pop
ulaton of about 600 was set off from
the town of Lebanon. adding to the
noteworthy diminutfon.
The thirty-five or forty years previ-
Gus to 1874 were not only period of
great prosperity to the town as re-
CARDS population and wealth. but more
important still, in the matter of men
of character and enterprise, who came
in and grew UP there.
Capt. Joseph TrunbuIl migrated to
Lebanon from SufT;efd in 1904. evident
ly without any considerable means. |
since it is recorded that when he |
cupied by Rev. Joseph Parsons, he |
mortga ged it for G $40. However, he |
had vigorous traits. became planter |
and trader, and in due time had a ship |
which carried cargoes of his own, or
belonging to members of his family.
He was democratic through and |
through, as was proven by the fact /
that his business often calling him to |
Boston, he would occa siona1ly meet |
Rev Mr.. Wells, whose paris1ioner he |
had been and who now lived in Bos- |
ton. The parson appeared a bit shy |
of him. evidently avoiding TrumbulI, |
in his homespun and perhaps dusty at
tire as not quite in trim to be famiI- /
iarly- recognized by a Boston gentle
man.
Trurnbull got even, however. when !
Mr. Wells would occasionally visit |
Lebanon, where he still owned proper |
ty, and. meeting Mr.. Trumbul1 ac-
costed him as an old acquaintance.
The latter refused to shake hands |