Redding:

Founding a Frontier Community

1714 - 2014

The Redding Town Seal commemorates the 1714 deed from Chickens and Nasecro granting Lonetown Manor to John Read, among the first English settlers in lands between Fairfield and Danbury. This deed marked the founding of a multi-cultural community along the Colonial frontier. Redding is celebrating the tercentenary of this deed and the community that followed.

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Know all men by these Crooked Scrawls & Seals yt we Chickens alias Sam: Mohawk & Nasecro do solemnly declare yt we are the Owners of ye tract of Land Called Lonetown fenced Round between Danbury & Fairfield, and Jon Read Govr & Comander in Chief yr-of & of ye dominions yr upon depending, desiring to please us having plaid the fool and given us three pounds in money & promised us an horse next autumn In consideration yrof we we do hereby give and grant him and his heirs the farm Abovementioned cum per- tinentiis , & further of Our free Will, meer motion and soverain pleasure make ye same A manour Indowing ye same with the priv- leges yrof and Create the sd John Read Lord Prince and Soverain Pontiff of the same to him & his heirs forever Witness our Crooked Marks and borrowed seals this seventh day Of May Anno Regin Anne Dei Gratis Magna Brittania & Regina decimo tertio annog domi 1714

Sealed and delivered Chickens alias Sam his in the presence of Mohawk mark

Nasecro his Winham his mark mark The above mentioned Chickens & Liacus his Nasecro Natives personally appeared crook & acknowledged ye above Instrument yr free act and cheerful deed Nathan Gold in Fairfield ye 7th of May 1714 Before me Martha Harvey her N Gold mark Dep Gov

Transcription by Dr. Theodore Dayton, 1967

1714 Deed from Chickens to John Read

Redding Historical Society

Native Americans Redding was along a Native American frontier

from 2,000 to 300 years ago.

East of Redding, Windsor ceramics were made by the Mohegans, Pequots, and allied tribes.

To the north, Point Peninsula-Owasco pottery reflects Mohican and Iroquois influences.

The East River Ceramic Tradition indicates historic Munsee speakers from southern New York and New Jersey.

Adrian Block Map - 1614

By AD 1600, local Aspetuck, Sasqua and Pequonnock villages paid wampum tribute to the powerful Pequot of eastern Connecticut, and to the Mohawk, west of the Hudson River.

At the time of European contact, the Wampano dialect (Munsee) extended from the Connecticut River west to Hudson River and south to Long Island. Wampano shared linguistic elements with northern Micmac from Maine, and southern Powhatan and Nanticoke from Chesapeake Bay, reflecting prolonged regional exchanges.

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A

S

P

A Aspetuck S Sasqua P Pequonnock

Redding

East River Tradition, Bowmans Brook

Vessel Historical Society of Easton

Source:

Cassedy 1998

Source: Ceci 1990

English settlement of Connecticut sought to co-opt the Indian Fur Trade from the Dutch, and break the control of the Pequots. After the English massacre at Mystic Fort in 1637, Pequots fled to their western frontier at Fairfield and sent pleas for sanctuary to the Mohicans and Mohawks, along the Hudson River.

The Pequot were defeated in the Great Swamp Fight near Sasqua Village in Fairfield. The English claimed Connecticut by conquest.

After the Pequot War, English settlements expanded rapidly. New Haven was founded in 1638. In 1639, Fairfield, Stratford, Milford, Branford and Guilford were settled. English towns clung to the coast and major rivers until King Philips War during the 1670s.

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Pequot War, 1636-1637

Early English Settlements

in Connecticut, 1633-1660

X Wethersfield

X

Mystic Fort

Massacre X

Saybrook

Fort Siege

X

Sasqua

“Great Swamp Fight”

X Dover Plains

“Paquiaug”

X Battles Pequot Retreat

Dates of

Town Settlement

Before the Pequot War

A Windsor, 1633

B Wethersfield. 1634

C Hartford, 1635

D Saybrook, 1635

After the Pequot War

E New Haven, 1638

F Fairfield, 1639

G Stratford, 1639

H Milford, 1639

I Branford, 1639

J Guilford, 1639

K Greenwich, 1640

L Farmington, 1640

M Stamford, 1641

N New London, 1646

O Norwalk 1649

P Stonington, 1649

Q Derby, 1651

R Middletown, 1651

S Norwich, 1659

Sources: Spiess, Griswold and Cheney 1930;

McBride, Naumec and Eleazer 2008

Source: Spiess, Griswold and Cheney 1930

Who was Chickens? In Fairfield, local Native Americans were forced to sell land for peace. In 1671, The Aspetuck sold 52,000 acres that extended into southern Redding. This land was divided into “Long Lots.”

The Aspetuck retained land in northern Redding.

Two Sasqua-Aspetuck lineages signed most deeds. Nasecro and his son Young Nasecro signed deeds from 1680 to 1719.

Chickens and his son Mohawk signied Fairfield and Redding deeds from 1679 to 1748.

Linguists have determined that in the local Wampano dialect, “Chickens” means hatchet. “Mohawk” may have similar meanings, such as the Powhatan word “tomahawk,” or the Pequot “mahawg”.

Deeds and other documents suggest that there were at least four generations that adopted the family name of Chickens. Old Chickens was born about 1645, and might have married the sister of Katonah, moving to Westchester or Ridgefield by 1683. His son Chickens, alias Mohawk, signed many Redding deeds, including the 1714 deed with John Read. Grandson Warrups-Chickens died at Lonetown Manor in 1763. Tom Chickens, or Warrups, remained in Redding after the Revolution.

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Chickens’ Family

Was Chickens a Mohawk?

Chickens, alias Sam Mohawk

Fairfield

Indian Deeds

1680 - 1699

Privy Council Order

Received 17 May 1680

B 1680 Sasqua Field Deed **

C 1680 General Land Deed **

1681 Lawsuit filed for

Wampas’ claim

1681 Long Lots Distributed

D 1681 Old Indian Field Deed

1684 Trial of Wampas’ claim*

E 1686 Wolf Pit Neck Deed

F 1686 Umpawaug--Gold Deed *

G 1687 Umpawaug–Burr Deed*

H 1689 Morehouse Deed **

* signed or witnessed by Nasecro

* signed or witnessed by Chickens

Fairfield

Indian Deeds

1700 - 1748

I 1703 Rocky Neck Deed *

J 1709 Hall Deed **

K 1711 Webb Deed **

L 1714 Hull Deed **

M 1714 Clapboard Hill Deed **

N 1714 Read Deed-Lonetown **

O 1717 Osborn Deed **

P 1717 Williams Deed **

Q 1719 Fairweather Deed **

R 1724 Undivided Land Deed *

S 1748 Chickens Reservation *

* signed by Old or Young Nasecro

* signed by Chickens or Mohawk

Wampano: “chekenas” meaning ax or hatchet

Powhatan: “tomahawk” meaning hatchet

Pequot: “mahawg” meaning war-hammer

Sources: Rudes 1997; Mather 1864

King Philip’s War Club, 1675 Bought by Mr. John Checkley

Collections of the Fruitlands Museum

Old Chickens: born ~1645, signed Fairfield deeds from 1672-1684, Westchester and Ridgefield

deeds and documents from 1683-1720

Chickens, alias Mohawk: signed Fairfield and Redding deeds from 1689-1748

Warrups, alias Chickens: signed Redding documents from 1748, died 1763

Tom, alias Chickens or Warrups: born 1739, died after 1789

Born in Fairfield, John Read graduated from Harvard in 1697, and was Congregational minister at Stratford from 1703 to 1707. In a major break from Puritan church and civil governments, he converted to the Church of England. In 1706, Read joined Stratford Anglicans defending an Indian deed for New Milford, and sent his brother-in-law to settle at Weantinock on the Housatonic. After censure by the Puritans, Read moved to New Milford and studied law, rising to the post of Queen’s Attorney by 1712. He was also among the founders of Newtown in 1708, New Fairfield in 1710, and in 1711 moved to Lonetown in the “Undivided Lands” of Redding. In each community, he planted seeds for Anglican parishes to break the Puritan hold on the Colonial government, a conflict that expanded between Loyalists and Patriots during the American Revolution.

Read’s 1714 deed from Chickens expressed his quixotic legal theory that sovereign Native Americans could bestow land titles along with honors and ranks, similar to the Queen of England. Read’s humor was a slap at Puritans, who settled New England to escape bishops of the Church of England, a slap also at his brother-in-law Lieutenant Governor Nathan Gold, Jr., an orthodox Puritan who registered the deed.

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“…Of our free will, meer

motion and Soverain pleasure, make ye same

A manour, Indowing ye same with the privi-

lages Th’r-of And Create the sd John Read

Lord Prince and Soverain Pontiff of the Same”

Hon. John Read “Father of American Law”

1680 - 1749

Chickens’ Deed to John Read May 7, 1714

Addison Museum of American Art

Authenticity Doubtful

1680 Born in Fairfield 1697 Harvard graduate 1703-1707 Puritan minister at Stratford 1706-1710 Defended New Milford Indian deed 1707 Converted to the Church of England 1708 Licensed attorney in Connecticut 1708 Newtown proprietor 1710 New Fairfield proprietor 1711 Settled at Lonetown, Redding 1714 Chickens deed for Lonetown Manor, Redding 1716 Massachusetts Equivalent Lands, 10,000 acres 1719-1726 Boston: prosecuted Rev. Cotton Mather 1721-1736 Elected Attorney General of Massachusetts 1721 With John Checkley, started The New-England Courant, printed by the Franklins 1722 Attorney for Yale during the Anglican Apostacy 1722 Moved to Boston 1724-1739 Kings Chapel, Boston vestry and warden 1741-1742 On Massachusetts Council 1748 Exchanged land at Schaghticoke for Chickens’ Reservation in Redding 1749 Died at Boston, grave unknown

Wampum March 18 October 1720

Conn. State Archives

1 Wampum belt to Chickens at Ridgefield: “Tapaunanawk an Horseneck Indian to make payment to an Indian

Chickens for ye Death of sd Chickens sisters husband a great Sagamore

over the Indians about Hudsons River…”

2 Wampum belts to Chickens, then to Mohawk at Lonetown: “The Wampam came from an Ind’n place called Towattowau, being a great

way southward, and a great people of Indians, sent thence first to

Ammawawgs on East side of Hudsons River a little below the Highlands--

thence to Bear Ridge above Rye--thence to Byfield in Horseneck bounds

by Rauriquoss, who thence delivered it to Tapaunanawk telling him, the

Wampam was sent in token the Indians of Towattowaus would joy’d

Indians to Sett to the English or Indians in those parts, Ordering it to be

sent to Chickens-- thence to Chickens or Mohawk at Lonetown… thence to

Potatuck--thence to Wyantinuck w’ch is the End of the Wampum March.

Then the Belts to be returned to Ammawawgs & then to Towattowaw…

Before us Jos. Bishop Justice, Samuel Couch”

A recently discovered document in the State Archives clarifies the political importance of Chickens and his family within New York and Connecticut native communities, a linguistic, social and trade network stretching back 2,000 years.

In 1720,, a wampum belt was sent to Old Chickens in Ridgefield in condolence for the death of his sister’s husband, “a great Sagamore over the Indians about Hudson’s River.”

Soon afterwards, two other wampum belts were sent by the Tuscarora, who wished to relocate to Connecticut. They were fleeing a bloody war with the English in the Carolinas. The belts were first sent to the Mohican community of Ammawauwgs, in Westchester County. A ceremonial Wampum March then went to Rye, Greenwich, to Chickens at Ridgefield, then to Chickens alias Mohawk at Lonetown. Mohawk took the belts to Weantinock and Potatuck on the Housatonic River, and returned them to Ammawauwgs. At Lonetown, the Indians probably consulted with a really good lawyer---John Read.

This document was submitted by Samuel Couch, and caused a great alarm.

On New Year’s Eve 1720, less then four months after the Wampum March, a Boston shopkeeper named John Checkley blithely wrote to his good friend John Read at Lonetown, asking if Chickens could gather “stone implements used by the Indians before the Europeans came into this Country.”

This letter was discovered in a 1621 religious text in President John Adam’s Library. President Adams praised Read, “as a great genius and became as eminent as any man.” Harvard historians honored John Read as the “Father of American Law.”

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America’s First Archeologist?

Mr. John Checkley, to John Read, Esq., Boston, Massachusetts Lonetown, Connecticut 31 December 1720

“Sr. I should be glad if you could (without much Trouble) procure for me some of the Stone-Instruments &c, which were used by the Indians before the Europeans came in to this Country. It may be Chicken may have, or may give you some Account how to get, some of them… You may possibly wonder what I have to do with them besides the vain & empty Pleasure (as some call it) of ranging them in their several Orders…I have further Use for them (fit Instruments for an airy Architect you’ll say!) in building my Castles in the Air.”

Source: President John Adams Library

In December 1722, Hon. John Read moved to Boston, leaving his Redding lands to the care of his son, John, Jr. The next year, 1723, the Colony took steps against Chickens and against Hon. John Read’s Anglican influences by selling the Redding Undivided Lands at an unannounced auction to Captain Samuel Couch and Lt. Gov. Nathan Gold, both strongly anti-Indian and anti-Anglican. Read and Chickens’ protested to the General Assembly, but to no avail. In 1725, the General Assembly appointed “Mr. John Read” as agent for the Lonetown Indians, and ordered a reservation for Chickens. Chickens retained rights to hunt and fish on Samuel Couch’s lands.

Under increasing pressure from new settlers, Chickens formed a family alliance with the Reads. Chickens sent his son Tom and daughter Cate to live with at Lonetown Manor.

Thomas and Cate were baptized and joined the Congregational Church. Tom died in 1740.

Cate married John Read Jr.’s African slave Andrew. They had 11 children. Tragically, their children grew in slavery, several died, but others were sold.

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Cate and Andrew

Read Family Papers

Col. John Read, Jr. 1701 -1786

Col. John Read, circa 1750 Susanna Hill Collection

Lonetown Manor 1711 - 1937

1750s Manor House Plan – East Façade

demolished ca. 1937

1711 Hon. John Read settled at Lonetown 1714 Deed from Chickens and Nasecro 1722-1786 Col. John Read, Jr. founded Redding Parish, 1753 Col. Read possibly built the second manor house 1786-1804 John Read III sold the manor to his cousin 1805-1851 John Read Hill, Methodist, ran a limekiln 1850-1857 Morris and Joseph Hill 1857-1897 Aaron Treadwell gave land for Putnam Park 1897-1909 Aaron H. Dimond 1907-1937 Albert H. Williams and heirs 1935 Redding designated Lonetown Manor as a landmark 1937 Bromwell Ault from Cincinnati, Ohio demolished the second (1750s) manor house

Lonetown Manor Plat, 1937

1750s

Manor

Historic Landscapes - 1997

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Stone well Old orchard Root cellar

View southwest to

Chickens’ Hill

1940s manor house and

19th-Century stone wall

Colonial bank-barn,

burned by arsonist in 1918

Lowntown Manor Owners

Collection of Scott and Jennifer Estabrook

From 1997 to 2000, the Redding Planning Commission sponsored archeology at Lonetown Manor prior to a proposed subdivision. Archeologists found John Read’s 1711 manor house, perhaps the first English dwelling in Redding.

Lonetown Manor artifacts dated to the founding of Redding: a fork (A), spoon (B), and knife (C), a wife’s setting for the Read’s table.

Buttons were probably lost in the wash: brass (D) and silver (E) from the master’s coat, and a bone button (F) from a servant.

Many ceramics were imported: Dutch Delftware (G), English slipwares (H, I) Rhenish stonewares (J); English stonewares (K, L); a redware tygee communal drinking cup (M), Chinese porcelain (N); and bones, mostly of pig (O) and cow.

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Lonetown Manor

Archeology

Redding Treasures

1711 Manor House

1998 telephone line installation trench to the existing 1940 dwelling

Plan of archeological excavations west of the ca.1750 manor house

Plan and profile of excavations at the 1711 manor house

Cobble foundation of the 1711 manor house Source: Reeve 1999

1940s

1750s

1711

1711 -1750

Reservation Landscapes, 2013

After the Reservation

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Chickens’ Reservation 1725-1748

N New Farm

1712-1729

C Chickens

Reservation

1725-1748

L Lonetown

Manor

1711-1714

L

N

C

C

1723 Fairfield sale of Undivided Lands to Samuel Couch and Hon. Nathan Gold.

1724 Chickens’ deed for Undivided Lands to Samuel Couch, reserving rights to “fish and hunt” and “land by my present house or wigwam.”

1724 Chickens and Read protested that Couch and Rev. Chapman got his land through “grinding oppression.” General Assembly ordered a survey for a reservation.

1725 Mr. Read named overseer of Lonetown Indians.

1736 Family Alliance: Chickens’ daughter Cate married Read’s African slave Andrew.

1737 General Assembly surveyed a 100-acre reservation: “we found ye sd Chicken with himself his Children & Grand Child to be already twenty in Number.”

1738-1739 Read’s Indian “servants” Cate and Thomas admitted to Reading Church. Thomas died in 1740.

1741 Chickens petitioned for land to support his family. Hon. John Read, Indian deed 200 acres Schaghticoke.

1746 General Assembly resurveyed Chickens’ 100 acres in two parts.

1748 Hon. John Read of Boston exchanged 200 acres at Schaghticoke for the 100-acre Redding Reservation, signed by Capt. Chickens and his son Warrups.

1763 Warrups Chickens returned and died at Lonetown.

Early land grants mapped by Highstead

Chickens’ Hill,

Highstead

1771 Zalmon Read farm,

Redding Country Club

1750 John Read III house,

Redding Country Club

Chickens’ Reservation

east wall, Warrups Farm

Chickens’ Reservation at

Warrups Farm

Chickens’ Reservation

south wall, Warrups Farm

At Schaghticoke, old Captain Chickens, alias Mohawk, probably died. Son Warrups and his family were baptized by Moravian missionaries. However, they returned to Redding through the 1750s and 1760s to visit Cate and trade with the Reads. Col. Read’s account books record debts for food, cider and clothing, that were paid with farm labor, baskets and tanning hides. Warrups-Chickens and his son Tom served in the French and Indian War with Col. John Read. In 1763, Warrups-Chickens returned to Lonetown and died. An undiscovered family cemetery is perhaps on the old reservation. Warrups-Chickens’ death was traumatic. Four months later, Cate’s sons Daniel and Titus ran away from Lonetown Manor, probably to join Ramapo relatives in New Jersey. Col. Read placed advertisements in Boston and New York newspapers, offering a reward, or to sell them at a cheep price. Descriptions revealed the boys’ desperate attempts to retain Native American identities, especially in their hair styles. Their uncle Tom Warrups remained in Redding through the Revolution, and served with Capt. Zalmon Read.

Indian Slaves

Sons of Cate (Indian) and

Andrew (African)

fled west across Hudson River Boston Gazette, 25 July 1763

Titus -- Age 22 -- Pale visage -- His hair cut off -- Had a fiddle and played well -- Brown camblet coat, horn buttons -- Blue flannel coat, pewter buttons

Daniel -- Age 16 -- Broad face, high cheek bones -- Long black hair, cut-off on top -- Brown camblet coat, red lining -- Whit linen, colored flannel shirts -- Blue great coat, metal buttons -- Leather breeches

Gallows Hill Site

Since 2000, Prof. Ernest Wiegand and Norwalk Community College students have been excavating the Gallows Hill Site on the Read’s New Farm, near the old reservation. The Town of Redding and The Nature Conservancy saved this land from residential development.

The Gallows Hill Site contains a cabin likely associated with the Warrups family during the 1750s and 1760s. The site was in “William Read’s Park”, forests far from roads. A cellar hole had mid-18th Century artifacts: Dutch Delftware, English slipware and white salt- glazed stoneware, but rare window and bottle glass.

Verifying the ethnicity of Gallows Hill residents is a difficult problem. However, a glass trade bead and stone crucible for melting lead shot were expected at historic Native American dwellings. Gallows Hill is a

very significant discovery.

To test whether this was actually a Warrups cabin, archeologists compared artifacts with those from the Read’s Lonetown Manor.

Identical rare English polychrome slipwares were a material link from the Reads to Warrups and his family.

The Gallows Hill Site sits on a much older Native American campsite.

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Site

1779 New Farm Plat,

“William Read’s Park”,

and the Gallows Hill Site

Gallow Hills Site cellar hole

English Polychrome Slipware

English Polychrome Slipwares

Lonetown Manor Gallows Hill Site

Redding’s Past and Future

In 1935, Redding designated Lonetown Manor as a historic landmark. Two years later, in 1937, this landmark was torn down.

The archeological site remains.

Today, Redding is on the frontier of suburban development, threatened with losing its history and rural character. Since 1997, Redding has supported archeological surveys and historic preservation. The Selectmen sponsored town-wide historical and archeological assessment surveys. The Town adopted subdivision regulations requiring consideration of impacts on Redding’s historic and archeological resources. Before town government became involved, only 5 archeological surveys were conducted in Redding. Since 1997, more than 50 archeological surveys have been completed, identifying more than 120 new archeological sites. These studies provide meaning to the history and places we all share, and add to the joy of living in a small Connecticut town.

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This exhibit is dedicated to the memories of Bob Beecroft, Margaret Wixted, Lawrence Banks, and many others who gave so much for our understanding of Redding’s history.

Redding Archeology, 1982 - 2014

Researched, designed and produced by Stuart A. Reeve and Kathleen von Jena,

in cooperation with First Selectmen Natalie Ketcham and Julia Pemberton,

and the Redding Historical Society. Exhibits provided by the Redding Historical Society,

Geordie Elkins and Jeb Stevens of Highstead, Susanna Hill, Scott and Jennifer Estabrook, and Ernest Wiegand of Norwalk Community College.