Leading Business Men of Fairfield County

The Reverend Mr. Chauncey was succeeded after a year's interval by the Rev. Samuel Cooke, one of the earliest graduates of Yale College, who carried on with energetic ability the work which had been so successfully inaugurated by his prede- cessor. About this time the first evidences of mercantile activity made their appearance in the shape of sundry papers and agreements, showing that quite a number of mei*- chants had settled here before the first quarter of the Eighteenth Century had been completed. In 1717, the old church having become too small to accommodate the congrega- tion, a new "meeting-house" was erected under the charge of five leading citizens: Major John Burr, Captain David Sherman, Lieutenant Richard Hubbell, Jr., Samuel Sherwood, and Mr. Benjamin Fayerweather. It was voted that the sittings in the new "meeting-house" should be according to "dignity, age, and estate by the pres- ent list." In the following year, 1718, a gallery was built in the church, a rare inno- vation in those days, and one showing that the church must have been one of the best in this part of the State. The great religious controversy which agitated New England from 1740 to 1745, created considerable excitement here. Mr. Cooke sided with the " New Lights," as they were called, who, influenced by the ideas of Whitefield, sought a more liberal 20 BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT. expression of Christian thought, and more liberal methods in church work. Accord- ing to Orcutt, and all reliable sources, he seems to have had the sympathetic and un- failing support of his parishioners, though meeting much opposition in his position as trustee of Yale College. In 1748 the first Protestant Episcopal church edifice was erected in Stratfield and placed under the charge of the Rev. Philo Shelton. Many religious changes were brought about by the " Great Awakening of Whitefield," as it was called, and one of them was the establishment of the Stratfield Baptist church in 1751. The progress of Stratfield during the third quarter of the Eighteenth Century was slow. The repressive measures put upon the trade and manufacturing of the colonies by the English government tended to restrain and crush all attempts in these lines. Although increasing but slowly in numbers and wealth, the progress of thought and education was as marked here as anywhere in the Colony. Most of the people were well-to-do, paupers being almost unknown. Many had received a liberal education, as the early records of Yale College would demonstrate. In the meantime, the moral status of the settlement had been preserved intact amid all the growing tendencies toward a less severe and self-sacrificing manner of life which were beginning to take root among the descendants of the early Puritans. Thus it was that the inhabitants of Stratfield were fully prepared for the great struggle for liberty about to break out in the Amei'ican colonies. The first dark threatenings of the storm were watched with apprehension. The Stamp Act and Boston Port Bill aroused fiery indignation. The noble resistance to acts of oppres- sion throughout the Colony met with hearty sympathy here. The men began to take down their old flint locks and get them ready for active service, while the women were melting down their pewter spoons and other household implements into bullets. A company of minute men was formed ready for an immediate call to arms; societies of the Sons and Daughters of Liberty were the order of the day; eloquent orators passed through the villages from one part of the State to another, arousing the minds of the people to the magnitude of the struggle, and giving the watchword of liberty; all eyes were anxiously directed to the brave little seaport town of Massachusetts, ready for the storm to burst at any minute. BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT. 21 CHAPTER III. FROM REVOLUTION TO REBELLION. When the news of Lexington and Concord reached Stratfield, on the 21st of April, 1775, the village was convulsed with excitement and rose in arms along with the rest of the State. A considerable number of volunteers, not less than forty, marched immediately on Boston, forming a part of the Sixteenth Regiment of the State Militia. These soldiers were engaged in the brilliantly conceived and con- tested engagements around Boston under General Washington. In the expedition into Canada, led by Colonel Benedict Arnold, in the fall and winter of 1775, a company of volunteers from Stratfield participated. There were few more dangerous or more disastrous campaigns made during the war, the way lying mostly through rough, unbroken country, and the attacks against Montreal and Quebec being made under the most discouraging circumstances. The heroism of the volunteers from Stratfield was not surpassed by any of that noble band of Connecticut volunteers. Two military companies were formed in Stratfield during 1776, one composed of the " Householders " of the village, the other called the "Stratfield Train-Band." The former seemed to have been a sort of " Home Guard;" the latter did gallant service in the battle of White Plains, N. Y. Captain David Hawley, of Stratfield, commanded a vessel in the desperately- fought naval engagement on Lake Champlain, October 11, 1776. As the war progressed, the little settlement at the mouth of the Pequonnock began to assume the proportions of a village, and came to be called by the name of New- field. This was part of the old village of Stratfield, but it was not many years before Newfield had surpassed the older part of the village. Here at Newfield several exciting incidents took place during the course of the war. In the early part of 1777, the inhabitants of Newfield discovered that several boats were being rowed across frequently from Stratford to the British on Long Island with provisions for the enemy. Thinking it was the work of traitors, the indignant citizens of Newfield attacked one of the boats and killed two of the men? but the sad fact became evident afterward that the men were spies employed by General Washington to go within the British lines and report the condition of the enemy to himself. A pension was given to the families of these men unwittingly slain by their own countrymen while pursuing their dangerous calling. In the fall of 1779, General Silliman, the Military Commander of this section of the Long Island coast, was kidnapped from his house on the coast near Newfield iiarbor by a party of British soldiers and Tories. They had crossed from Long 22 BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT. Island during the night, and, by a sudden descent, carried off the General before the the surrounding region could be aroused. Enraged at this midnight marauding expedition, and hoping to obtain prisoners who might be exchanged for the General and his son, who had been taken with him,, the citizens of Newfield decided to make a return expedition to Long Island. Cap- tain Daniel Hawley was to lead the party, and the Hon. Mr. Jones, Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, was the person picked out for capture. Taking a crew of picked men in a large whale-boat, Captain Hawley crossed to Hempstead, Long Island, some miles from the home of Judge Jones. When they arrived at his home,, it being about nine o'clock in the evening, a large ball was going on at the houser and the Judge totally ignorant of the danger hanging over his head, was enjoying to the full the gay festivities of the evening. The noise of the music and dancing prevented the approach of the Americans being perceived. Captain Hawley, no attention being paid to his loud knocking, forced his way into the house, and arrested Judge Jones and a Mr. Hewlett in the entry. The two prisoners were rapidly con- ducted to the boat by Captain Hawley, who had to pass within a short distance of a guard of British soldiers. Judge Jones tried to attract the attention of these soldiers by " hemming," but desisted on being told he would receive a pistol shot upon a second attempt. There was a long journey between the mansion of the Judge and the boat where- his companions were waiting for Captain Hawley, but the latter conducted his prisoners with consummate skill. After the arrival of the Judge at Newfield, he was entertained for several days at the house of Mrs. General Silliman. At the expiration of three or four months, an exchange was effected with the British,, whereby General Silliman and his son were restored to their homes, in exchange for Judge Jones and Mr. Hewlett. During the later years of the war the inhabitants of Newfield were much troubled by the communications of their Tory neighbors at Newtown with the British, and a guard of soldiers was stationed here to keep a watch along the coast. The close of the Revolutionary War found the older farming section of Stratfield smaller and poorer than before, but the village of Newfield had made great progress. From a few scattered families it had grown in less than a decade to number about one hundred and ten inhabitants. Many families had moved down from the interior and settled on the shore of the bay. Among these we may note the Nichols, Hawleys, Hubbells, Shermans, Bur- roughs, Sterlings and Summers. A considerable trading and shipping business had sprung up, and from this time the chief interest of the historian of Bridgeport is centered upon Newfield. Under the benign influences of peace and freedom the commerce of the village prospered for a number of years. Wharves began to appear around the upper end of the harbor, and a fleet of ships made their home m the harbor, unsurpassed anywhere on the coast. The borough of Bridgeport, consisting of Newfield and Stratfield, was chartered in 1800, so that the city began its present prosperous career with the century. It was the first local government of its kind in the State, and became a valuable pattern after which many other communities in the State were modeled. The name itself signifies its own derivation, the place having probably come to be called so familiarly on account of the small turnpike bridge at the head of the port. BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT. 23 ^■-.^ )/, . »./ v. , 5# VIEW OF LONG ISLAND SOUND, FROM SEASIDE PARK.