Connecticut Historical Collections

About the beginning of December, provisions generally Aiiled in the settlements on the river, and famine and death looked the inhabitants in the face. In their distress, some of them in this severe season attempt- ed to go through the wilderness, to the nearest settlement in ]Massachu- setts. A company of thirteen, who made the attempt, lost one of their number, who, in passing a river, fell through the ice and was drowned. The other twelve were ten days on their journey, and had they not re- ceived assistance from the Indians, would all have perished. Such was the general distress by the 3d and 4th of December, that a considerable part of the settlers were obliged to leave their habitations. Seventy persons, men, women and children, were obliged in the severity of win- ter, to go down to the mouth of the river to meet their provisions, as the only expedient to preserve their lives. Not meeting the vessels which they expected, they all went on board of the Rebecca, a vessel of about 00 tons. This vessel, two days before, was frozen in, twenty miles up the river; but by the falling of a sinall rain, and the influence of the tide, the ice became so broktni, that she made a shift to get out. She however ran upon the bar, and the peojile were forced to unlade her to get her off. She was reladed, and in five days reached Boston. Had it not been for these providential circumstances, the people must have perished from famine. The people who remained and kept their stations on the river, suf- fered in an extreme degree. After all the help they were able to ob- tain, by hunting and from the Indians, they were obliged to subsist on acorns, malt and gi'ains. The cattle, which couUl not be got over the river before winter, lived by browsing in the woods and meadows. They wintered as well, or better, than those that were brouglit over, and for which all the provision was made, and care taken, of which the settlers were capable. A great number of the cattle, however, perished. The Dorchester or Windsor people lost, in this species of property, about two hundred pounds sterling. Upon the breaking up of winter, and during the summer following, the settlers came in large companies, and the settlements at Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield were firmly es- tablished. -WINDSOR. 1-27 The original boundaries of the town of Windsor were very extensive, being about forty six miles in circumference, lying on both sides of Connecticut river. W^ithin the limits of the town, there were ten dis- tinct tribes or sovereignties. About the year 1G70, it was estimated that there were in the town nineteen Indians to one Englishman. They had a large fort, a little north of the plat on which the first meeting house was erected ; but, in the language of Ossian, " The chiefs of otlier limes are deparled. They have gone without tlieir fame." Another race has arisen. "The people are like the waves of the ocean : like the leaves of woody Morven, they pass away lu the rustling blast, and other leaves lift iheir green heads on liigh." " For several years after the settlement of Windsor, the people were harassed with wars. Such was the fear which agitated the minds of the inhabitants, that they repaired to a fortress nights, and slept with their arms by their side, and used to go to labor in the fields in compa- nies, prepared for battle. It was the common practice on the Lord's day to go to meeting armed." The following is a list of the names of the settlers of Windsor, which appear on the records of the town in 1640. Henry Wokott, Emj. George Phelps, Juhn Taylor, Jolm Hillyer, William Pheljis, Thomas Funl, F.liwed Pomeroy, Thomas Harher, John Whitefiel.l, Edward Gnswold, William Hosford, Nicolas Palmer, Humphrey Pinney, John Bissell, Aaron Cook, Thomas Buckland, Deacon John Moore, Tht>mas llolconih, Klias Paikman, Isaac Shelden, Deac. Win. Gaylord, Daniel Clark, Thomas Stoughton, Robert Watson, Lieut. Walter Filer, Peter Tilton, Owen Tudor, .Stephen Terry, Matthew Giant, Alessrs. — Newberry, Ca[)t. John ISIa.^on, Bray Uosseier, Thomas Oiblile, Roger Ludlow, Fm|. Malihew .Allen, Thomas Dewey, ►Samuel Phelps, Joseph Loomis, Rk hnid Oldage, William Ifurlburt, Nathan GilUt, John Loomis, IJenry Stiles, Roger Williams, Richard Vore, John Porter, William Mayden, Thomas Baseomb, Abraliam P.andall, William Hill, George PliiJi'ps, Nicolas Denslow, Bigot Eglestone, James Marshall, Return Strong, Thomas Thornton. The Rev. John Wareham, the first minister at Windsor, died April 1st, 1670. " He was about forty years minister in New England; 6 at I)orchestcr, and 31 at Windsor. He was distinguished for his piety, and the strictest morals ; yet at times was subject to great gloominess and religious melancholy. Such were his doubts and fears, at some tiines, that when he administered the Lord's supper to his brethren, he did not participate with them, fearing tliat the seals of the covenant did not belong to him. It is said that he was the first minister in New England who used notes in j)reacl)ing, yet he was applauded by his hearers, as one of the most animated and energetic preacliers of his day. He was considered as one of the principal fathers and pillars of the church of Connecticut." — In 1639, the Rev. Ephraim Iluit was in- stalled as Teacher to the church at Windsor, over which Mr. Wareham was pastor. At this period, it was the opinion of the principal divines in New England, that in every church completely organized, there should be a pastor, teacher, ruling elder, and deacons. It was the general opin- 128 U'INDSOK. ion, that the pastor's work consisted principally In exhortation ; but the teacher's business was to teach, explain and defend the doctrines of Christianity. Roger fVolcott, governor of Connecticut, was born in this town^ January 4th, 1679. " His parents lived in a part of the country which suffered much from the Indians, and in the town there waa neither a schoolmaster nor minister, so that INIr. Wolcott was not a member of a common school for a single day in his life. AVlien he was twelve years of age, he was bound as an apprentice to a mechanic. At the age of twenty one, when the laws permitted him to enjoy the fruits of his la- bors, he established himself on the east side of Connecticut river, in the' same town in which he was born, where, by the blessings of God upon his industry and frugality, he acquired what was considered as a plenti- ful fortune. lie is an eminent proof of the power of talents and integ- rity, in a free country, in raising one to distinction, notwithstanding the disadvantages of education and of birth. lie lose by degrees to the highest military and civil honors. In the expedition against Canada, in 1711, he was commissary of the Connecticut forces, and at tlie capture of Louisbourg, in 1745, he bore the conunission of major general. He was successively a member of the assembly and of the council, judge of the county court, deputy governor, chief judge of the superior court, and from 1751 to 1754, governor. He died May 17th, 1767, in the eighty ninth year of his age. In all his exaltation above his neighboi-s, he exhibited no haughtiness of deportment, but was easy of access, free and affable, of ready wit and great humor. His literary attainments were such, that in conversation with the learned upon most subjects he secured respect. He was much attached to the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, and was for many years a member of a Christian church.. From the year 1754, when his life was more retired, he de\'oted him- self particularly to reading, meditation and j)rayer. He was very care-, fill in searching into himself, that he might perceive his own character, and know whether he was rescued from that depravity, to which previ- ously to the renewing agency of the divine Spirit the human mind is subjected, and whether he was interested in the salvation of the gospel. In his last moments he was supported by the hopes of the Christian, and he entered into his rest. He published poetical meditations, with a preface by Mr. Bulkley of Colchester, in 1725 ; and a letter to Mr. Hobart in 1761, entitled the new English Congregational chuiches are and always have been consociated churches, and their liberties greater and better founded in their platform, agreed upon at Cambridge in 1648, than in the agreement at Saybrook in 1708. Along poem, written by Governor Wolcott, entitled, A brief Account of the Agency of John Winthrop in the Court of Charles 11. in 1662, in procuring the Charter of Connecticut, is preserved in the Collections of the Historical Society.. It describes with considerable minuteness the Pequot war."* Alten's American Biographical and Historical Dictionary. I WINDSOR, 1-29 S. Jf. view of Judge KUsworiJis House, fVhi'hor. The above is a soiulnvcstein view of Judge Ellswoifh'.s house, near tlie spot where he was horn, ahout a mile north of thu Con^fregaiional chmch. The ehiis appearing in JVont of the house were set out by his hand. An ancient cedar, about seven feet in girth, which was standing In the forest at the time AViiidsor was llrst setik.'d, is still stand- ing a few feet north of the house.