The Romance of Norwalk

Giving the Norwalk fathers the benefit of the doubt, we will say that they were not quite as bad as might at first appear. When one stops to consider there would seem to have been little room for sentiment in the harsh life with which our ancestors battled. Be that as it may, courting and quite romantic courting existed in Norwalk, even as in other corners of the earth. What is more, the early settlers here even flirted ! There is more than one law on the old books advocating fines and imprisonment for those who did “inveigle the affections” of some maid or mistress; more than one notice in early records of irate fathers who had youths hailed into court for besieging their daughters with -offers of marriage without first obtaining parental consent! When the early Norwalk mother was not busy keeping house, playing nursemaid or tending to the garden, she could always get another meal ready, for her men folk were con¬ tinual and hearty eaters. The men were very busy. In ad¬ dition to building the homes, finding the firewood, hunting and fishing for food and working in the fields, they had their town meetings to manage. These meetings took up no small part of their time; in fact they were often five hours in length. Sometimes they commenced in the afternoon, especially during the winter when the weather was bad and little work could be done out of doors. Besides, in the winter, it was more economical to hold meetings in the daylight, because the short cold days demanded so much of the precious tallow and oil for lighting purposes. One would have thought that these early town meetings were of - such vast importance that their records 56 ROMANCE OF NORWALK would have been kept intact down through the years. On the contrary, many of them have been lost and of those which remain with us, parts have long since been effaced. FIRST TOWN RECORD The first of the town records of Norwalk saved for pos¬ terity, concerned itself with the problem of swine in the planting field and read as follows: “At a meetinge, 9th of May, 1653, it is agreed and or¬ dered, that if there shall be found any swine in the . and planting field without youkes on, such . have been agreed upon formally, that it shall . lawful for any inhabitant to kill any of such aforesaid swine being found in the above said woods, after the date hereof, provided the person killing any such swine shall immediately endeavor to informe the owners of such swine, that they may take them and make meate of them; and this order to continue untill the companie shall repeale it.” The dots stand for portions of the records long since obliterated. There are no records of other town meetings during the year 1653 until December 18, when the villagers evidently had a great deal of business to discuss and decide. The first item on the calendar was the Rev. Thomas Hanford’s house. That there was some argument and disagreement in town meeting over the size of the house to be built in the early Norwalk settlement for the Rev. Thomas Hanford, is evi¬ dent from the fact that the length and breadth of the build¬ ing was changed from 26 by 16 feet at the beginning of the meeting record, to 31 by 18, at the close. Perhaps the nat¬ urally big hearts of the settlers got the better of their neces¬ sary frugality. Rev. Hanford was formally ordained in Norwalk in 1654, about two years after he arrived here, though it is presumed he did a good deal of preaching before his ordination. In addition, he taught the children of the little settlement. There EARLY PROBLEMS 57 was no regular school or teacher in Norwalk when he ar¬ rived, in fact, no mention of either is made in the town rec¬ ords, until 27 years after the colonists came here. Since the Rev. Hanford had done some school teaching before coming to Connecticut, he was probably more capable than anyone else in Norwalk to take over the task of training the young minds. Whether or not he labored without pay, for the good of humanity for the first four years after his arrival is not known. The first mention of any sort of salary is contained in a town record dated 1656, at which time it was agreed that: “Mr. Hanford shall have three score pounds allowed for the yere insuing, by them for his rate, and he is to be paid as followeth: 30 pounds in wheat, and pease, and barley, at the prices, 4 shillings per bushell for wheat and barley, and for pease, 3 shilling per bushell. The other 30 pounds is to be payed, 8 pounds in . and the other 22 pounds is to be payed in beefe and pork at the common currint prise that it brings, when it is dew.” In the second town meeting record, which concerned the new home of the Rev. Hanford, other matters were taken up, including the erection of a cattle pound, the felling of the town timber, and the burning of the woods. The towns¬ men were to decide on the place for the “good and sufficient pound or pinnefold erected and sett up as soon as the season will permitt,” and the pound was to be 30 feet square, six feet high with six rails in every length, the said rails to be 1 1 feet long and the posts about 10 inches square. Nathaniel and Matthew Camfield, Nathaniel Richards and Thomas Fitch finally agreed to do the work for the sum of two pounds. In this enclosure, the settlement’s first cattle were kept. On the 13th of April, 1654, Thomas Fitch and Goodman Moore were chosen as “townsmen” for the “insuen yere.” Nathaniel Ely was named constable. Now the position of constable was a very important one. Of him it was said: “He was the arm of the law and the embodiment of His 58 ROMANCE OF NORWALK Majesty. From the date of his appearance, the town be¬ came a valid incorporation subject to taxation and entitled to representation.” At each session of the General Court, and once every year, in some public meeting, constables were required to read or cause to be read, all such laws as were then in force. Many duties had the constable, duties of great dignity and consequence, among them being that in case of court trials he always led in the jury. In addition, he was required on all public occasions, to appear before the court with his long pole, surmounted with the British emblems of royalty. There is no record of brass buttons or a night stick; on the other hand, much pomp attended every appearance of the con¬ stable. He was an important man in the community. No wonder then that the settlers considered long and carefully before making the appointment. And they made good choice in Ely for he was a man of experience, having been a con¬ stable in Hartford, before coming to Norwalk. LUDLOW LEAVES NORWALK It was about this time in the little town’s history, that Roger Ludlow, founder, gave up all his Norwalk holdings, took unhappy leave of Connecticut, went to Virginia and later fled the country. When the home plots here were first laid out, Ludlow reserved a choice lot in Norwalk property for his sons, which it is thought was on the east side of Town st., and in the rear of what are now the Oscar W. Raymond and the Mary G. Rider homesteads on East ave. The settlers called it the 200 pound lot, as that was its sup¬ posed value. This would seem a very high rating in view of the fact that Ludlow sold his original holdings to the planters for fifteen pounds. But, the latter price may have been merely a nominal one. In the year 1654, in Fairfield where he was then living, Ludlow, headstrong as always, took up arms against the Dutch. There was a reason. For some time there had been EARLY PROBLEMS 59 rumors of trouble from the Dutch and the Indians. The Fairfield residents appealed to the General Court at Hart¬ ford for aid, which was promptly refused. This refusal may seem very unreasonable on the face of it, but the Court at that time had its hands full with one Thomas Baxter and his associates who were traveling about the country inciting the settlers to insurrection against the Dutch and the Indians. The General Court wished no more warfare, so it took the attitude of shutting its eyes to Fairfield’s trouble, rather than give permission for the arming of soldiers, to the pos¬ sible antagonism of the Dutch. Of course, Ludlow had nothing to do with this band of insurgents but he did have something to do with the events which followed. There suddenly appeared off the shores of Fairfield one afternoon, an armed vessel from the “Man- hadoes.” It contained about ioo Dutchmen. Now Ludlow who had been made commander in chief of the militia by the freemen in Fairfield, immediately headed his troops and made preparations to protect the town. There was nothing wrong in the fact that the free¬ men named Ludlow commander; they had the right to name their own officers. There was nothing wrong in the fact that Ludlow prepared to defend his town; that was his business. But his warlike attitude antagonized the General Court and he was reprimanded, not very severely, but enough to hurt his feelings. This was the second time that the General Court had seen fit to criticize Ludlow’s actions, for it will be remembered that he had been quite severely reprimanded a few years before, for founding a settlement at Fairfield, when he was ordered to form one in what is now Bridgeport. Ludlow keenly felt his humiliation. He also was plainly disgusted over the attitude of the General Court in the Fair- field trouble. To add to his distress of mind, he was at that time being sued by one Thomas Staples of Fairfield, for call¬ ing Mrs. Staples a witch and averring that she lied. It is felt now, that there was no foundation for the censuring of Lud¬ low. However, the great lawyer was unhappy. With two 6o ROMANCE OF NORWALK reprimands from the General Court, and a slander suit hanging over his head, he felt that he had incurred the dis¬ pleasure of the colony, that he had passed the meridian of his popularity and was losing prestige. In other words, he was “done for” in Connecticut. So he decided to quit the place before permanent disgrace blackened his name and his sons’ names.