Menu for just this file folder: The Settling of New England

Page 2. Reverend John White. Chief Founder of the Colony of Massachusetts

Page 4 WindsorConnecticut’s Heritage and note on William Hayden

Page 7 Life, Health, Marriage and children in New England Families.

Page 9 The Mayflower Compact of 1620

Page 10 The Old Burial Ground in Windsor, Connecticut with 28 Haydens

Page 11 Excerpt from Mass. Historical Society, Wm Hayden Sword photo

Page 12 The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

Page 16 The First Thanksgiving Proclamation

Page 17 The Puritans Weren’t Puritanical

The Reverend John White (Dec.25, 1575-1648)

Fellow of New College Oxford

Chief Founder of the Colony of Massachusetts

New England

The son of a farmer, John White was educated at Winchester and NewCollege and became an M.A. in 1601. In 1606 (age 31) he became a Fellow of New College and in the same year, he was appointed Rector of Holy Trinity Dorchester, Dorset; (Vicar of St. Peter's Church, Dorchester.)

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In 1613, after the Great Fire of Dorchester (England) when 170 houses were destroyed, Rev. White took a major role in finding relief for the victims. He was a popular preacher and church attendance increased rapidly. He was said to have perfect control of two things, his own passions and his parishioners ‘purses’. With the help of these parishioners he took part in establishing the ‘Nappers Mite’ almshouses and a church brewery to help maintain them. (Well, you didn't dare to drink unclean water!) Work was found for all the fit poor of the parish and the profits from the brewery looked after the aged and disabled. It was said that he was a masterful man who enriched Dorchester spiritually so that not a beggar was to be seen in the town. He was very zealous to provide his parishioners with work and he earned the name of, "The Patriarch of Dorchester."

Rev. White became worried by the authoritarian trends in the Church of England during the reigns of James I and Charles I. He lived and died within the Church of England, but still being a moderate Puritan, his sympathies were strongly with those who sought a fuller freedom of religion. (Church regulations were really severe and they were still in control.) He therefore organized the Pilgrims to leave England in their courageous move to seek religious freedom. After hearing of a colony founded at New Plymouth in North America, he pressed for the planting of another settlement there. As a result a party was sent ashore at Cape Ann, north of Boston, New England in 1623. The next year saw the founding of The Dorchester Company, which established another settlement and dispatched a vessel, loaded with cattle.

It was from Dorset that he interested himself in sending out a colony to settle in Massachusetts. Through his exertions in 1628 The Massachusetts Bay Company was formed to help the settlers and he generally presided over the developments of the new colony. He sent out a Dorchester man, John Endicott in the ship "Abigail" from Weymouth as the 1st Governor who founded his colony at Salem, 60 miles north of the Plymouth Colony that had already been founded in 1620. The first church of his new colony was called "Daughter of John White" as it is still known to this day.

More ships went out in 1629, including the ‘Lyon’s Whelp’ (the Lion’s Cub) whose occupants were entirely from Dorchester and Weymouth

In March of 1630 a group of approximately 140 Puritans (with William Haydon/Hayden & possibly John Haydon/Hayden) left their homeland in England’s West Country (Dorset, Somerset and Devon) and boarded a vessel named the “Mary and John” departing from Plymouth. Arriving 10 weeks later, they settled at Dorchester in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A Puritan church was built there so the settlers were able to worship freely

Five years later, in 1635, many of the Dorchester Company people moved west to found a community along the Connecticut River now known as Windsor.

In 1642, Civil War broke out in England and Rev. White was on the side of Parliament and against the King. Rev. White was called to attend the Westminster Assembly by the Long Parliament to consider the new liturgy, discipline and government of the Church and he offered the opening prayer for divine guidance "at the length of a full hour."

Dorchester, England was seized by (the King's) Royalist troops. White’s rectory in Colliton Street was ransacked by the troops and his library of books taken away. Rev. White took temporary refuge in London and became Rector of Lambeth but later returned to Dorchester when peace was restored and his library of books was returned to him. He died there in 1648 after 43 years of service. He was buried in the “porch” of this church, (the huge entryway and place of honor) where there is a commemorative plaque as well as a plaque on the wall of the Colliton St rectory.

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WINDSORCONNECTICUT’S HERITAGE

AND OUR NEW BEGINNINGS

WINDSOR COLONY MOTTO:

SUSTINET QUI TRANSTULIT

"HE WHO TRANSPORTED US SUSTAINS US."

Grace Hubbard Loomis, Regent, Abigail Wolcott Ellsworth Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution wrote most of the following for the Windsor Historical Society and references many Historical Documents including some from our old Hayden documents. Items in italics are from others.

"On Sept 26, 1633, in Connecticut, old records show that a Captain William Holmes along with 14 other pioneer traders had built a trading post in a location he referred to as "The Island" but which the local Indians called Matianuck.

In 1635 a 60-member band of Puritan church people, struggled through the wilderness to Matianuck, Conn. after having left Dorchester in Massachusetts. They settled here and renamed it also Dorchester. (now Windsor). Roger Ludlow was one of the leaders of this Puritan church group, which had originally left Plymouth, England, in 1630. At virtually the same time, a party of 27 pioneers settlers led by Francis Stiles reached this place, with orders to develop a tract of land for Sir Richard Saltonstall, patentee. They located on or near the Ellsworth property in the north end of town.

William Hayden did not join the “Mary and John” group on their overland trek from Dorchester, Mass. to Dorchester, Conn. (Windsor) in the fall of 1635. He journeyed first to Hartford with the Rev. Thomas Hooker in 1636 and then proceeded to Dorchester, (Windsor) Connecticut in 1640.

It is remarkable that some semblance of organized government should have existed in town, almost from the first. However, the 1635 population of around 100 souls needed safeguards against the unpredictable, even warlike, Indians. There was need to set up rules for the whites,too. Despite the far-flung forest, all three groups of pioneers contested for possession of the Great Meadow. It was the only arable land immediately available. The Indians who had originally cleared it for planting corn had been so wiped out by a smallpox epidemic (brought in by the Europeans) that they could no longer work the land. The Trading Post claimed to have purchased the meadow from the Indians; Francis Stiles thought it was included in his patent; but the church group, having increased by 100 or more members, managed to hold possession by sheer weight of numbers. Later, they bought out the interests of the Trading Post.

Understandably, the earliest government in town was vested in the leaders of these three groups, Rev.John Warham, who had arrived on the Mary and John in1630, pastor of the first church, Francis Stiles, and Captain William Holmes. But as time went on, Roger Ludlow, an Oxford graduate trained in the law, assumed the duties of magistrate, largely under a directive from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Meanwhile, the Rev Thomas Hooker and his church group had reached HartfordConn; and there were now also settlers in Wethersfield. (In Rev. Hooker’s day, men and women sat in separate sections of the meetinghouse.)

By 1639 the leaders of the three colonies had met to form a General Court. One of its acts was to adopt the names of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield for the separate towns. Another act of the General Court was to order Captain John Mason, Windsor’s military trainer and leader, to gather a force to proceed against the Pequots (Pequot=Destroyers; Indian tribe and, also note that our Sgt. William Haydenin this battle saved CaptainMason’s life. The Pequot Indian War story is enclosed in this genealogy.) Meanwhile, Rev. Thomas Hooker of Hartford had preached his famous sermon of May 31, 1638 on “The Fundamental Principles of Civil Government and the

Oxford scholar Roger Ludlow had been chosen to frame the principles of that sermon into legal terms. Ludlow, Hooker, Haynes, Warham and others spent seven months drafting what became known as the Fundamental Orders. Adopted on January 14, 1639, this was the first written constitution that created a new government. The Ludlow Code of 1650 supplements the Orders. Not even the Charter of 1662, of Charter Oak fame, granted by King Charles II of England could do any more than affirm and ratify the freedoms inherent in the Orders.

By decree of the General Court, the individual towns set up their local governments. Called Townsmen, and later, Selectmen, Windsor’s first governing body consisted of Messrs. Phelps, Gaylord, Moore, Wilton and Strong. Haynes of Hartford was governor of the colony; Roger Ludlow served as deputy governor for three years. Five or seven Townsmen were chosen to govern Windsor until 1657; In 1697 they were then called Selectmen; and after 1831 only three Selectmen were chosen at each election.

As the church leaders were also the heads of the civil government, their places for transacting town affairs were in the meetinghouses. In fact, though Windsor had a so-called Town House within the Palisade in 1654, the town refused to make necessary repairs on it and it was taken over by the church as a home for the Rev. Samuel Mather. This was Windsor’s first Town Hall, but their first meetinghouse was already in the center of Palisade Green about where the Pilgrim monument is now.

(Various notes on building construction and types and meetings have not been recopied,) "----and every man was required to attend those first meetings or pay a penalty unless he had a good excuse." Meetings were to publish orders of the General Court, read Capital Laws, etc. Meetings were held after lectures or on training days, when Capt., John Mason put his recruits through their drills. Capt. Mason’s home was also within the Palisade.

Any person who wished to become settlers in these early towns were carefully scrutinized for a good, moral character. Rules for the conduct of the young men of the town were very strict. The Town Court regulated their lives; no two could set up living quarters together without Court permission. (For prevention of homosexual activities.)

Also,” the General Court framed an Oath of Fidelity in 1640, which was to be administered by 2 or 3 magistrates to all males over age 16, who could present a certificate of good behavior, writes historian Dr. Henry Stiles. The oath commenced:

“I,- - -, being by the Providence of God within the jurisdiction of Connecticut, doe acknowledge myself to be subject to the Government thereof, and doe sweare by the great and dreadfull name of the everlasting God to be true and faithful unto the same.” It was designed to impress upon the young men their duties as responsible citizens.

The influence of the early church carried forward into town affairs, especially as the church building was used for town meetings, court meetings and other assemblies."

Additional information in this document pertains to 1700 through 1800 and I have not included it as it regards taxing, building costs, etc.

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-Additional undated notes taken from the publication of the Windsor Historical Society, Inc. 96 Palisado Ave. Windsor, Conn.06095

-The Hayden History documents are housed at:

-FYLER HOUSE AND WILSONMUSEUM IN WINDSORCONN

-Phone 860-688-3813

LIFE, HEALTH, MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN IN NEW ENGLAND FAMILIES

For about 200 years after the Colonists left England in the mid-seventeenth century, families were very large. People in New England were generally healthier than in England, lived longer, and more of their babies survived and New England was more bountiful with richer soil. Eight children were the average in a family, but twelve to eighteen was not uncommon. The Colonists did not marry young; the men were usually 24 years old and the women about 20.

A family often included children from several marriages. Proper sanitation was unknown and no one had ever heard of germs or viruses) When either spouse died, the surviving partner married again very soon, sometimes within a few weeks. Having both parents in the household was an absolute necessity for all the hand labor required to maintain both the livestock and crops and the household with the children plus the clothes were all hand made as well. All the children of the couple were gathered into the new household. The absolute survival of the Colonial families depended on all the skills and labors of all family members to even the smallest children, hence the earliest possible remarriages.

Women and children oversaw the cooling, gardening, food preservation, tending smaller animals and poultry, spinning, weaving, making clothes and blankets and teaching children. The men plowed, cut down trees, tended the larger animals built the homes and community buildings, roads, bridges, fences, and constantly were called to fight Indians.

At some places the “tithing man” walked around the town at dawn to make sure everyone was up and busy working. Slackers (lazy people) would be punished with a fine or time spent in the stocks

The Colonists generally gave their children family names or ones taken from the Bible. Sometimes a baby was named for a deceased spouse from a previous marriage. If a child died, it was very common for the next born child of the same sex to be given the same identical name. Sometimes the name would be given to two or three infants before a child survived to carry the name.

Names from the Bible often had heartfelt meaning to the parents. Names like Perseverence, Hopestill, Truelove, Mercy, Godsgift, Deliverance and Providence held special meaning to those parents.

When a person became an adult, the individual might have the use of “Mr.” Or “Mistress” before their name. These honors or dignities were not hereditary, but they were given to an individual by peers and were taken very seriously. No one was to use them unless he was entitled. "Squire” or “Esquire” was also used in later Colonial days and even well up into the mid 1900’s. “Goodman” or “Goodlady” were also forms of address to a person.

Status and names, and good manners were quite important here in this New World as it was also in England.

The Mayflower Compact

1620

"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&.

Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."

Partial Inscriptions copied from the Old Burial Ground, Windsor, CT,
Transcribed by Samuel H. Parsons;
New England Historical & Genealogical Register,
Vol. 5, July 1851, p. 366; Oct 1851, p 457 & subsequent.

I am listing Haydens only as the transcriber's entire cemetery list is 14 pages long.