Connecticut Historical Collections

About the time of the first settlement at Humphrcysville, a white man by the name of Noah Durand, killed an Indian named John Sunk, by mistake. They were hunting deer on opposite sides of the river — Durand on the west side, ant! the Indian on the east; it was in the dusk of the evening, in ihe warm season, at the lime the deer went into the river to cool tliemselves. DurantI ]KM'ceived something moving among the bushes on the east side, and supjjosing it to be a deer, aimed his gun at the place and fired. Sunk, mortally wounded, immediately cried out, " you have killed me," Durand sprang through the river to the assistance of the dying Indian, who begged for water; Durand took off bis shoe, filled it from the river, and gave it to Sunk, who after drinking, died immediately. This took place perhaps twenty or thirty rods be- low the bridge at Ilimiphreysville, just below where Henry Wooster lived. A kind of arbitration was afterwards held upon this case by the white people and the Indians. One of the Indian witnesses remarked, that he never knew of deer wearing red stockings before, alluding to the conmion Indian dress. The Indians, however, aj^peared satisfied that their countryman was killed by mistake, and ever afterwards made Mr. Durand's house tlieir stopping place. * Eunice Mawwchw, ajjed 7-2 yours, the youngest daughter of Chuse, is still living (1836) at Scatacook, in Kent, ;uid it i.s from her tliat luo^st of the jiarliculurs resjiect- ing Chuse and the Indians are derived. X) K 11 IJ Y . 201 ^S. E. view of Ilumphnysville, in Derby. The above cut shows the appearance of Ilumphreysville, as it is en- tereJ upon the New Haven roatl. The llumphieysville Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1810. Tlie viHa^e is sluiated in a small valley on the Naugatuc. four and a half miles from its junction with the Housatonic river at Derby Landini;. It is surrounded with lofty hills, excepting the narrow valley through which the ISaugaiuc passes. The heights south of the village, on the western side of the river, are lofty, rocky and precipitous. The building seen in the central part of the engraving is the ilunipbreysville CoticMi Manufactory ; it is four stories in height, and about 100 feet long. On the left of the print, on eleva- ted ground, is seen the Episcopal church : there are two other houses of worship in this place, one lor Congregationalisls, and one for Meth- odists; the last two are situated on the heights a few rods s. K. from the central part of the village. Directly underneath the Episcopal church is seen, in the engraving, a part of Naugaiuc river, with the falls. At this place a ledge of rocks, about twenty feet in height, crosses the river, and forms a perfect dam about two thirds the distance: the remaining third is closed by an artificial dam. This place was for- merly known by the name of Jihiunnii Falls. There are about 50 or 60 dwelling houses in the vicinity of the factories, 3 or 4 mercantile stores, &ic. Most of the dwelling houses are south of the cotton fac- tory; only a few of them appear in the engraving. A small but beau- tiful grove of pines is situated at the southern extremity of the village, through which the buildings, which are mostly painted white, appear uncommonly beautiful, as the village is approached from the south upon the river roads. "Gen. David Humphreys was a native of this town. He was a son of the Rev. Daniel Humphreys, and was born in .July, 1752. la 1767 he entered Yale College, and received his first degree in 1771. 202 DERBY. Whilst In college, lie cultivated an attachment to the muses, and dis- closed early evidences of poetical talent. During the Revolutionary war, he entered the army as a captain ; but at what tinie we are not informed. "In 1778, however, lie was aid lo Gen. Pulnain, wiili llie rank of major. Two years afterlhis, he was a|ipointed aid to Ihe coniniander in eliief; iiavinj,' been the .suceess- Ail candidate of loiii wlio soliciied tiie oliiee. Mis coinpeiiiois were Col. Tallmadge, Gen. William Hull, and Iloger Alden. lie continued in ihis situation during' the war, having the ranlc of colonel, and vyas paiiicnlarly disiingiiished at the memorable siege of York; and Congress as a re.spectable testimony of liicir high estimation of his valor, fidelity, and signal .services on this occasion, "voted hiin an elegant sword. At the close of the war, he accompanied Gen. Washington to Virginia. In 178-1, he embarked for France, in company with the brave, but unfortunate Kosciusko; hav- ing, on the appointment of Mr. JefTerson as ambassador to France, been nominated as his secretary. In 1786, he returned to America and revisited the scenes of his youth in his native town. Soon after his rciiiin, he was elected by his fellow citizens to be their represenlalive in the lLgi-,lature of the State, and continued lo be elected lor two years, when he was ajipoinleil lo the command of a regiment raised for the western service. During Ihe peimd thai he held his ofhce, he remained most of tiie time in Hartford; and, with Moi.kins, Bailow aiul Trumbull, assisted in the publica- tion of the Anaichiad. Gn the reduction of his re-inirut, he repaired lo Mount "Ver- non, and continued w iiii Cien. Washiiigiou uiiiil 17:iU, m hen he received an appoint- ment to the court of Portugal. In 17II-1, he visiied America, but soon returncil to Lis- bon. Soon afterlhis, he received an appoiniinent lo the court (jf S|)ain, where he continued until IHOJ, when he again returned to his native counliy. This was the end of his public life. After his relurn to Amerii a, he was, unlil his death, exten- sively engaged ill various obj.'cls of public uiiliiy, particularly mannlaeiures ;ind agri- culture. He is well known to hare been one of'ihe liist who'inlrodiiectl nieiino sheep into this country, which has greatly improved the (jiiality of wool, and given a strong impetus to dorncslic manufaeiuies. Tne extensive woolen and cotton factory, which he established in this town has already been not iced. He also did much for ihe pro- motion of agriculture; and just previous to his death M'as making exertions to I'oim a society for the purpose of procuring a laini for agiieiiltuial experiments. "Gen. Humphreys possessed consideralde lileiuiy acipiircmenis, although he pnl> lished no work of magnitude; his writings consist i)rincipally of various poetical pio- puctions. Of these, the most important are an address to the armies of the United States; a poem on the hajipiness of America; a jKiem on the I'ulure glory of the Uni- ted States; a poem on the industry of the Ignited Slates; a poem on the love of coun- try; and a poem on the death of General ^Vashinglon. He wrote also a memoir of Gen. Putnam, various political tiacts, &c. He died in New Haven, 21st Feb. 1818, aged 66 years."* Isaac Hull is a native of this town, and was born near Derby land- ing. It was to this oflicer that the (iist Uritish ilag was struck on the ocean, during the last war with Great i>iitain. Commodore Hull, in early life, adojUed the profession of a seaman, and soon became master of a vessel. He was in this situation at the fust establishment of the navy, and at that time received the appointment of a lieutenant. The first exploit wliich brought him into notice, was the admirable seaman- ship displayed in his escape in Jtdy, 1812, when in conimand of the Constitution of 44 guns, from a British squadron, consisting of one ship of the line, four fiigates, a brig and a schooner. The chase continued for sixty hours. On the 19tli of August, 1812, Capt. Hull, with the same vessel and crew, fell in with a large frigate, wliich struck to him after a close action of thirty itiinutes. She proved to be his majesty's ship the Gurriere, rated at thirty eight guns, and carrying fifty ; com- manded by Capt. J. R. Dacres. At the time the Gurriere surrendered she had not a spar standing, and her hull below and above water was • Pease and Niles's Gazetteer. n E R R Y . 203 so shattered, that a few more broadsides must have carried her down. The Constitution had six killed and seven wounded. The loss of the Gurriere was 15 killed, 02 wounded, and twenty-four missing. [Fi-Lnn thr Connect kill Gazcdc] Derby, Feb. \Qtk, 1764. On tlie evening,' of the seventh of this instant, Feb. 17C1, there was a violent storm of hail and rain ; the next mornin^^ after wa.s observed a large breach in a hill on the west side of the old river,* sufiposed to be occ;isioned by some subterraneous wind or fire; the breach is about twenty feel deep, though much caved in, in length one hun- dred and thirteen feel; about .s'i.Kty rods of land\vas covered with the gravel and sand cast out of the caviiv, some of which was carried two hundied and lilly nine feet to the brink of the river; four trees of about a fool diameter were carried one hundred and seventy three feet distance, and 'tis supposed by their situation that they must have been forced up forty feet higli ; some small stones about the bigness of walnuts, ■were carried with such velocity that they stuck fast in a green iiee that stooti near the cavity ; a large dry log belter than two leet iliameicr was carried up so far in the air, that by the force of the fall one end of it stuck so fast in the ground that it kept the other end up. The narrowest part of the breach is about thirty feet at the surlace of the ground, and the bottom of the breach is crooking, winding much like the streaks of lighlning.t The above account was taken by exact rule by us. Silas Baldwin, Nkiikmiah Fisher, David Wooster. The ancient burying ground in Derby is upon a small and beautiful knoll, which rises a ^q\v rotis north of the Episcopal church in Derby- proper. The following inscription is on the monument of one of the ancient ministers of the place. Here lyes interrM yc body t)f y« Rev. Mr. Joseph Moss, yc faithful and alfectionate Pastor of ye dock in this town, '25 years; a learned man, a good Christian, who de- parted this Life Jany. i2:Jd, Anno llum. 17:!1, A:i:iii> Su.e oJ. Wiih holy ardur of Seraphic Love He drupi his clay and sullied to Christ above.