Connecticut Historical Collections

In Sir Fernando Gorges' " Wonder-working Providence," he. a' re- lation of the planting of the New Haven colony is given. Speaking of IMr. Davenport, it mentions the judicious and godly Mr. John Daven- port, of whom the author is bold to say as follovveib : WhiM) men and Devils '.i,'airisi Christ's llock conspire, I'or ihfii) prepni'it a deadly iraiipint,'- net; Then Cluist to make all men his wuik admire, Davcnpnrt, he dolh ihee IVum ihy coaniry let To sit in Synod, and his; folk as.sisi: The flllhy \'omit uf Hels Dragon, deepe In Earth's womb drawn, blest they this poison mist, And blest the meanes doth us from error keep. Thy f^rave advice and arj<nments of sirenj^th Did much prevail, the errorist confound. Well hast thou warr'd, Christ draws thy dayes in length, That ihou in learn'd experience niays't abound: What though thou leave a city stor'd with pleasure, Spend ihy prime days in heailien desert land. Thy joy's iii Chi ist, and not in earthly treasure, 'v Dnrcn/iorl rejoice, Christ's kiuKdoine is at hand ; Didst ever deem lo see such t,'l(;rions itayesl Though thou decrease with age and earth's content, Tliiiii liv'st ill Christ, needs then must thy joy raise; His kiiigdoiue's thine, and that ne'er be sjienl. RET H A N Y . Brthany was incorporated as a town in 1832. It was previously a parish in the town of Woodbridge, by the jiame of Bethany. It is up- wards of five miles in length and four iti breadth, bounded n. by Pros- pect and Waterbury, w. by Oxford, s. by Woodbridge, and e. by Ham- den. The central part of the town is ten miles from New Haven. The inhabitants are principally farmers, and the population of the town has not perhaps varied much during the last twenty or thirty years. The township is hilly and in some parts mountainotis, and some portions of the town arc not calculated for cultivation, and have been suffered to re- main for wood and timber, which is of an excellent quality. About 14 miles from New Haven, the main road to Waterbury pass- es by Beacon mountain, a rude ridge of almost naked rock, stretching southwest; at this place is "Collins' tavern," long known as an excel- lent public house, and the " Straitsville post office." About half a mile south of Mr. Collins', the road passes through a narrow defile, formed by a gap in the mountain, and is barely sufficient in width for a road and a small but sprightly brook, which winds through the narrow pas- 186 BETHANY. sage. On both sides, the clifTs are lol'ty, particularly on the west ; on the east, at a little distance from the road, they overhang in a threaten- ing manner. — " The ridges of the Beacon mountain juesent fjne geo- logical and picturesque features, and are much more abrupt and grand than most of the mica slate rei^ions of Connecticut." On the night following the Mth of JNIarch, 1780, the house of Capt. Ebenezer Dayton, then residing in this place, was broken into and rob- bed by seven men, who were tories, and headed by a British officer, from Long Island. Mr. Dayton's house was situated nearly opposite where the first meeting house in Bethany was erected, about half a mile south of the present Congregational church, and about ten miles n. w. of IN'ew Haven. The particulars of this robbery were obtained from the Rev. Mr. Dayton, son of Capt. Dayton mentioned above. ]\lr. Dayton, who belonged to Long Island, was, on account of his attach- ment to the American cause, obliged to leave that ishuid, and bring his elfects with him to iJethany. A number of men, some of his neigh- bors, were obliged to leave the island Jbr the same cause, and brought a considerable quantity of money with them, and for a while resided in Mr. Dayton's bouse. With these facts, the robbers appear to have be- come acquainted. At the time of the robbery, jMr. Dayton was absent on business at Boston, and the men who had been staying in the house, had left the day before, so that there was no one in llie house but his wife, Mrs. Phebe Dayton, three small children and two servant color- ed children. About midnight, while they were all asleep, the window in the bedroom where Mrs. Dayton was sleeping, was burst in at once ; seven armed men rushed in, passed through tlie room, and immediately rushed into the chambers, expecting (it is supposed) to find tlie men who had left the day before. While they were uj) stairs. Mis. Dayton ' went to the front part of the house, raised the window, and endeavored to alarm the neighbors. Mr. Uawley, the minister of the parish, and Dr. Hooker, the physician of the place, hoih lived within 20 rods dis- tance, both had lights in their houses at the lime, and both heard the alarm, but did not know from whence it proceeded. The robbers, iiear- ing Mrs. Dayton, came down, and tearing a sheet into strips, tied her bands behind her, made her sit in a chair, and j)laced her infant, (about six months old,) in her lap, while one of the robbers, placing the muz- zle of his gun near her head, kept her in this position for about two hours, while the house was thoroughly ransacked fiom top to bottom. Tiiey found about 450 pounds in gold and silver, whicli belonged to Mr. Dayton, besides other valuable articles; what they could not con- veniently carry off they wantonly destroyed, breaking in pieces all the crockery, furniture, &tc. The whole amount of property carried off and destroyed, including bonds, notes, &.c. amounted to five thousand pounds. The robbers left the house about 2 o'clock, and went to a place in Middlebury called Gunn-toxon, where they were secreted in a cellar by a family who were friendly to the British cause. While they were on their way to Gunn-town, they met a young man by the name of Chauncey Judd, of Watcrbury, on a bridge, who had been to sec B E T H A N r . 1 87 the young hdy he afterwards married. Fearing he niight discover them, they took him along with them. In the cellar Uitciicn where they were all secreted, there was a well. Into this well ihey talked of putting Mr. Judd ; hut the old lady of the house begged they would not think of it, as it would spoil the water. They stayed in this house a number of days : afterwards they went to Oxfo'rd, where they wero secreted for several days longer in a barn ; from thence they went to Stratford, took a whale boat, and crossed over to Long Island. The people at Derby, having received information of their passing through that place, two whale boats and crews, commanded by Capt. William Clarke and Capt. James Harvey, pursued them tothe Island, and were fortunate enough to catch them all but one, just within the British lines. They were brought back, tried, condetnned, and sent to Newgate; they however broke prison, and finally lied to Nova Scotia. It was customary in this, as in many others places, in ancient times, to have nicknames for many of the inhabitants. Tliese names originated from various circumstances. The following may answer as specmiens : Teachim, Hiccups, 'road-mounter, Satan's kingdom, ^'C. were names by which some of the most respectable inhabitants of Bethany were de- signated. Teachum was the schoolmaster of the place, — he derived his name from his occupation : Hiccups was the name of an Indian, — it was apjjlied to a person of VGvy dark complexion. 7'oad-mounter de- rived iiis name from the following occurrence — this person, to show what could be done, took a jjiece of board and placed the central part on a stick of timber ; he then put a toad on one end, and struck the other with considerable force, with an axe or club, — the consequence was, that the toad was mounted to a considerable height; in allusion to this feat, he ever afterwards went by the name of Toud-mouiiter. The person who went by the name of Satan's kingdom was a deacon and jUbtice of the peace. This ungracious name was given in consequence of an unfortunate mistake. The minister of the place being sick, the deacon was called upon to officiate in bis stead, it being the"custom in liiose days, in the absence of the minister, for the deacon or some other principal person to make a prayer in the pulpit and read some approved sermon. The time, place, and occasion, all probably tended to disturb that collection of thought in the mind of the deacon, which would be desirable on such occasions. Instead, therefore, of praying that Satan's kmgdom might be destroyed, as he intended, he prayed that Satan's kingdom might be estaldis/ied. A mistake of this kind, and on such an occasion, of course could not be easily forgotten. The following account of the industry of a Bear, (copied from the Connecticut Journal of July 5th, 176G,) was taken from a nian who was an active and eye witness to part of the scene, which happened at Bethany, about twelve miles from this town, [New Haven.] He says that on the morning of the 8ih of April (17CG) Inst, his brother missed a three weeks old calf, which was housed the night before, in a small biiikiing. Jt ap- peared that the Hear tried to get under the sill of the door by removing two oi ihreo 188 13 U A N F O U D .