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THAT YOU MAY FAIRLY STREETS AND BUILDINGS TRACE,
AND ALL THAT GIVES DISTINCTION TO A PLACE?
THIS CANNOT BE; YET MOVED BY YOUR REQUEST,
A PART I PAINT-LET FANCY FORM THE REST."

Crabbe.

The first Record of the division of lands in Windsor was undoubtedly a simple designation of lots, by figures. The General Court, however, in September, 1639, enacted that every town in the colony, should choose a town clerk or register, "who shall, before the General Court in April next, record every man's house and land already granted and measured out to him, with the bounds and quantity of the same," and "the like to be done for all land hereafter granted and measured to any, and all bargains or mortgages of land whatsoever shall be accounted of no value until they be recorded." To this order, the first volume of Windsor Land Records owes its origin, and the earliest entry on its pages, is under date of October 10th, 1640. Under this and subsequent dates are entered and fully described the home-lots and other lands belonging to the various inhabitants. Indeed, it is almost certain that it comprises the names of all

1 Col. Rec., 1, 37.

persons having dwelling houses in the town at that time, and therefore forms our fullest and most reliable source of information as to the first settlers of Windsor.

In addition to the Land Records, we have availed ourselves of an ancient little volume in the town clerk's office, entitled A Book of Records of Town Ways in Windsor. This was compiled in August, 1654, by Matthew Grant, who prefaces it with these words: "Forasmuch as it hath been desired that I should enter upon record several highways that have been formerly laid out, to express what their several breadths were appointed to be, and so to continue for Public use." This little record, besides preserving several interesting items not contained in the Land Records, affords considerable explanatory and elucidative assistance in tracing out the plan of Ancient Windsor.

Tradition, also, has been listened to with a cautious ear, and in some instances has helped us to a clue, which subsequent investigation has corroborated. Such are the sources and aids of the present chapter; now let us consider a few of the hindrances and obstacles with which we have had to contend.

Aside from the great changes which time, and the march of improvement have wrought in the face of the country and the appearance of the town; we have to regret the loss of many local names, and once familiar expressions, which have gradually lost their significance, and have therefore become almost. obsolete and unmeaning in the present day. Salisbury Plain and Tilton's Marsh may perhaps be cited as examples of many local names, once familiar as household words, now scarce to be discovered or identified by the most pains-taking antiquary.

A well known proverb intimates that it is not polite to "look a gift horse in the mouth," and it may perhaps be rather ungracious in us to find any fault with the old Land Records, to which we are so much (or solely) indebted for all that we know about the locale of Ancient Windsor. Yet we have felt, in many instances during our investigation, that there were some very bad gaps in those records, which we could not but wish had been filled up. Often have we felt as if- could we have invoked that most excellent and conscientious of all town clerks and surveyors, Matthew Grant, from his grave in the old cemetery

that we would cheerfully pay him better "day's wages," for "running" a few lines over again, than ever he received for similar services in his lifetime. Had we been believers in spiritualism, we should have promptly put ourselves en rapport with his spirit, and questioned him earnestly about many items of needed information. But as it was, we were obliged to trust to our own unaided efforts; and in truth, if honest Matthew had as much trouble in "running lines" for the first settlers through the virginal forests and tangled undergrowth of old Windsor, as we had in "running" them over again, after the lapse of two centuries, through his crabbed handwriting on the crumbling pages of the old books- he must have had a hard life of it. We are now fully prepared to believe the tradition that old Matthew was wont to say, as he returned at sunset, wearied and jaded, from his day's labor at surveying, that he "wouldn't accept all the land he had bounded that day, as pay for his labor."1

But to return to our subject the deficiencies in the records themselves. We find that some lands are bounded by those of persons who had previously removed from Windsor; which lands subsequently reverted to the town. Or, we find that others have their lands bounded by neighbors whose lands are not recorded. Or, again, lands seem to have passed from a first owner to a subsequent one, through two or three intermediate owners, whose names do not appear on record, and are only accidentally found in some other connection.

Now these are great obstacles-but not insuperable and before patient investigation, the mist of doubt is gradually dispelled, and "the crooked paths made straight." Mainly, then, through the perseverance of our coadjutor, Mr. JABEZ H. HAYDEN, whose familiarity, from boyhood, with the topography as well as the local history of his native town, and its records, abundantly qualify him for this "labor of love" - we are able to present our readers with a map of Ancient Windsor. And although, from obvious reasons, we have not attempted to point out the exact spot whercon each house stood, yet we are

1 He might "change his tune" somewhat in these days, if he could see those same lands under tobacco.

reasonably confident that we have correctly located each man's home-lot. It may be taken then as a fair picture not of all we wish to know, but of all we do know - of the "distribution and plan of Windsor," two hundred years ago.

Presumptive evidence leads us to the conclusion that the Dorchester party first settled on the north side of the Rivulet or Farmington River. Saltonstall's party under Mr. Francis Stiles, evidently made their beginning (from which they were shortly after driven off by the Massachusetts men) near the present Ellsworth place. And, aside from the prudential motives which would have induced the first comers to settle, as much as possible near together; it is natural to suppose that their settlement on the north side of the stream would afford less cause of complaint on the part of the Plymouth Company, with whom they were at that time endeavoring to effect a compromise.

Matthew Grant, also, in describing the origin of the ancient palisado, which was erected at the beginning of the Pequot war, on the northern bank of the Rivulet, states that it was built by "our inhabitants on Sandy Bank" who gathered themselves nearer together from their remote dwellings, to provide for their safety." Sandy Bank, as it was anciently named, is synonymous with the Meadow Bank, which overlooks the Connecticut River Meadows; and "their remote dwellings," extended northward along this bank, in the line of the present street. There is also, to our mind, a significance in the use of the word our (which we have italicised) as applied to the Dorchester settlers, in contradiction to the Plymouth Company. The dispute between the two parties was not adjusted until after the beginning of the Pequot war, and we find no evidence whatever of any settlement south of the Rivulet, by the Dorchester party until after the close of the war. When that event brought safety to the English homes, they were not slow to improve the rich lands to which their Plymouth neighbors had reluctantly yielded their right.

And now, with map in hand, and the old records in our pockets for convenient reference, we are prepared to accompany the reader in his walks about Ancient Windsor. We stand upon the Palisado Green, the veritable shrine of Windsor history and

romance. Very pleasant it is, as we see it now, in the warm sunset light of a summer day, lined with noble trees, behind whose waving tracery neat and elegant dwellings assert the presence of happy homes. On this spot, more than two centuries ago, our fathers dwelt; here, protected by the rude log defence which their own hands had thrown up, they slept secure from savage foe; here stood the meeting house, wherein the gentle Warham and the earnest Huit preached and prayed; here, too, was the little village graveyard, close under the palisado wall, where-one by one-they put off life's toils and cares, and laid them down to an eternal rest.

"Their winter past,

Fair spring at last

Receives them on her flow'ry shore;
Where pleasure's rose

Immortal blows,

And sin and sorrow are no more!"

The history of this interesting locality is as follows: Upon the breaking out of the Pequot war in 1637, the Windsor People, as a precaution against surprisal by the Indians, surrounded their dwellings at this spot, with a fortification or palisado. This consisted of strong high stakes or posts, set close together, and suitably strengthened on the inside, while on the outside a wide ditch was dug, the dirt from which was thrown up against the palisades, and the whole formed a tolerably. strong defence against any slender resources which the uncivilized Indian could bring to bear against it. It was of course necessary to keep a constant guard within the enclosure, to prevent the enemy from climbing over, or setting fire to the palisades. It was the fatigue of supplying these watches, that so exhausted the men (as Mr. Ludlow sorrowfully wrote to Mr. Pynchon during the absence of the Pequot expedition), "that they could scarce stand upon their legs."

The whole length of this line of palisades was more than three fourths of a mile, enclosing an irregular parallelogram of considerable extent. From the southwest corner of the burying ground, it extended along the brow of the hill overlooking the Farmington eastward to the Meadow hill. This south line was

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