Читать книгу The Life of Henry Bradley Plant - G. Hutchinson Smyth - Страница 8

Table of Contents

Branford, Connecticut, Purchased by the New Haven Colonists from the Totokett Indians in 1638—First Settlements were Made 1644—First Church of Logs Surrounded by Stockade to Protect from Indians—Guards at the Gate during Service—Church and Town Records Preserved at Branford—John Plum the First Town Clerk—Style of the Second Church Building and Character of its Services—Rev. Timothy Gillett its Pastor—He Taught an Academy in Addition to his Pastoral Work—Prominent Families of Branford—Intelligent Character of the People—De Tocqueville’s High Estimate of this “Leetle State”—Branford in 1779.

SOON after New Haven was settled, the people negotiated with the Indians for an additional tract of land, some ten miles in length from north to south. It extended eight or ten miles east of the Quinnipiac River. The purchase of this land occurred in December, 1638. It was bought from an Indian sachem named Sorsheog of Mattabeseck. The territory included the land on which the town of Branford was built, and its Indian name was Totokett. It was several years before the purchasers went to live at Totokett. It was early in the year 1644 when the first settlers located upon their lands at Branford. By the first of October of that year, the society was so far organized that their minister could gather them for regular service. The people soon built him a house and a meeting-house, or church. This latter stood in the front of the old burying-ground; it was built of logs and had a thatched roof, and was surrounded by a cedar-wood stockade twelve feet high. A cedar-wood vase made from the wood of this stockade is still in the possession of Mrs. Samuel O. Plant.

During the hours of worship, one or more of the men stood guard near the entrance of the stockade. All carried firearms to church, or when going any distance from home. They were not afraid of the Totokett Indians, but of raiding bands of other Indian tribes who attacked both the whites and Indians. The fierce Mohawks from the neighborhood of the Hudson were often the assailants. The first thing that appears on the ancient records of Branford is the division of lands among the first settlers in the month of June, 1645. It has been said, and often repeated, that in 1666, when so many people went from Branford to settle at Newark, New Jersey, they took the records of Branford with them. These in some way were burned, and thus much valuable history was lost. But such was not the fact.

The town and church records have always