1726, and was the first framed house in the town.-The first white person born in the town, was Hartman Van Dozen.-The first buried by the Congregational meeting house, was Jehiel Moore.-The first buried on Town Hill, was a Mr. Cory, who was killed at the raising of a house, as nearly as can be known, at the same instant the town established that a public burying ground.

At the time of the first settlement in the town, there was then an Indian settlement at Weatog, consisting of seventy wigwams, all in a cluster. They were friendly and hospitable, especially to the whites, and encouraged their settlement. It is unknown how long they had made a stand at that place. Doubtless, in their most savage state, they had encamped in different places on the river, where they could hunt and fish.-Long before there was any settlement of white people in the town, a Col. Whiting, with his regiment, pursued a band of Indians as far as the north east part of the town, and there, on the banks of the Housatonic, defeated them with a dreadful slaughter. They lay at their ease, sporting and fishing, on both sides of the river. He, becoming acquainted with their situation, came upon them unawares, killed some, and put the rest to flight. About seventy Indian graves are visible there to this day. In the battle but one of the whites was killed. When Col. Whiting drew near the place of battle, he commanded every man to throw away the priming in his gun, and to prime anew. All, except one, obeyed. He boldly declared himself willing to venture his life with the priming he then had. When they came upon the Indians, he levelled at one, snapped, and his gun failed to go off. The Indian instantly clapped up his piece, and shot him dead.*

The following singular occurrences are said to have taken place in this town, near the boundary between Connecticut and Massachusetts. The relation of these circumstances was obtained from Mr. S. Sage and his family, who are still living on the spot, (June, 1836,) and could be corroborated by great numbers of people now living.

"These occurrences commenced Nov. 8th, 1802, at a clothier's shop: A man and two boys were in the shop; the boys had retired to rest, it being between 10 and 11 o'clock at night. A block of wood was thrown through the window; after that, pieces of hard mortar, till the man and boys became alarmed, and went to the house to call Mr. Sage, who arose from bed and went to the shop, and could hear the glass break often, but could not discover from whence it came, notwithstanding the night was very light. He exerted himself to discover the cause without success. It continued constantly till day light, and then ceased till the next evening at 8 o'clock, when it commenced again, and continued till midnight; then ceased till the next evening at dusk, and continued till some time in the evening, and then ceased. The next day it commenced about an hour before sun-down, and continued about an hour, and then it left the shop and began at the dwelling house of Mr. Ezekiel Landon, 100 rods north, in the town of Sheffield. It continued several hours, and ceased till next morning: when the family were at breakfast it began again, and continued two or three hours, and ceased till evening, when it began again and continued several hours, and ceased till the next morning, when it began again and continued all the forenoon, and then ceased altogether. The articles thrown into the shop were pieces of wood, charcoal, stone, but principally pieces of hard mortar, such as could not be found in the neighborhood. Nothing but stones were thrown into the house of Mr. Landon, the first of which were

* Dr. Trumbull thinks there must have been some mistake about the name of the commanding officer in this expedition. He thinks it must have been Major Talcott who pursued and defeated the Indians in this region in 1676. This however is uncertain. The account given by Mr. Crossman is the one which is followed above.

thrown into the door. There were 38 panes of glass broke out of the shop, and 18 out of the dwelling house: in two or three instances persons were hit by the things that were thrown. What was remarkable, nothing could be seen coming till the glass broke, and whatever passed through, fell directly down on the window sill, as if it had been put through with a person's fingers, and many pieces of mortar and coal were thrown through the same hole in the glass in succession. Many hundreds of people assembled to witness the scene, among whom were clergymen and other gentlemen, but none were able to detect the source of the mischief. The more credulous readily believed it to be witchcraft, but it was generally thought to be some slight of hand, effected by a combination of individuals, as the windows were broken on different sides of the buildings nearly at the same time."

The following inscriptions were copied from monuments in the yard in Salisbury Center.

In memory of the Rev. JONATHAN LEE, this stone, the fruit of conjugal affection and filial gratitude, is erected. He was born July 4th, Á. D. 1718; graduated at Yale College, 1742; was a settled minister in this town 45 years; and died Oct. 8th, 1788, in the 71st year of his age. To the faithful discharge of the pastoral office he united the pri vate virtues of the husband, the parent and the friend, and expired in the blessed hope of that Gospel to which he had freely devoted his life.

My flesh shall slumber in the ground

Till the last Trumpet's joyful sound,
Then burst the chains in sweet surprise,
And in my Savior's image rise.

The man is gone!

Mr. SAMUEL MOORE, the eminent Mathematician, died Feb. 20th, 1810, 75. His LIFE and SERVICES!!! these the Monument, this marble but the Tablet. Say then, He liv'd to benefit Mankind. Sway'd not by Trifles, But by Science led, As Land-Surveyor. So like in all things, Like correct, This the best image of the man.

Our Fathers rest from their Toils.

SHARON.

THE township of Sharon was surveyed by a committee appointed by the General Assembly in 1732. The committee were Edmund Lewis, Esq. Capt. Stephen Noble, and Mr. William Gaylord. The sale of the township was ordered in October, 1737, and a committee consisting of Samuel Eels, Esq. Joseph Whiting, Esq. and Capt. Isaac Dickerman, was appointed to give deeds to the purchasers.

The opinion of the committee who laid out the town, of the feasibility and character of the lands in this town, is expressed in the following words. "In the second township we find two pieces which may contain 500 acres. There is laid out in it of county grants 400 acres and a considerable quantity of rough land, yet we find such a quantity of feasible land in it, and not so scattering as in the first township, (Salisbury,) as will in our judgment accommodate a sufficient number of inhabitants for a town.'

Settlements commenced in the year 1739. The first white man who lived in Sharon, was one Daniel Jackson. He was originally from New Milford, and probably came to this town by the way of the Oblong settlements in the state of New York. He purchased of the state about 400 acres of land which lay in the southwesterly part of the town, at a place now called Hitchcock's corner, and for which he ob

tained a patent. He stayed in town but a short time, and in February, 1739, sold his patent to Garritt Winegar, a Dutchman, and himself removed to Great Barrington, Mass. Mr. Winegar built the first grist mill in Sharon. The road which the first settlers travelled when they came to Sharon, crossed the Housatonic river at Chiddester's ferry, near the present site of Lewis' bridge.

The following is a list of the first settlers, and the places from whence they removed.

N. B. Mr. Gay was the man who was sent as an express from Litchfield to Hartford for assistance when Harris was killed by Indians in 1721.

Sharon is bounded N. by Salisbury, E. by the Housatonic river, separating it from Cornwall, S. by Kent, and W. by the state of New York. Its length is about 9 miles, and its breadth nearly six. The surface and soil of the township are strikingly diversified. The eastern part of the town abounds with elevated hills and some mountainous ranges. This district affords good grazing; the soil is a gravelly loam, and considerably stony. The western part of the township, which borders on the state of New York, is part of an extensive valley, having a level or undulating surface, and a rich and fertile soil, and is considered one of the best tracts in the state for raising grain. Agriculture is the principal business of the inhabitants. Raising of sheep is followed to a considerable extent.

The following is a south view of the residence of the Hon. John Cotton Smith, about one mile south of the Congregational church. The village of Sharon which may consist of about 50 or 60 dwelling houses in the vicinity of the churches, is situated principally on one street on the eastern side of a beautiful valley. The central street runs about 1 mile from the boundary line of the state of New York. There is a pleasant and interesting village at "Hitchcock's corner," situated partly in New York and partly in Connecticut, in a beautiful and populous valley, and rich in the resources of agricultural wealth. Ellsworth society, in the south part of the town, was established in 1800.

There were some Indian settlements in the northwestern part of the town, which had been visited by a Moravian missionary. The name of the missionary was David Bruce, who died and was buried on the

South view of Gov. Smith's house, Sharon.

Indian lands in Sharon, in the year 1724. His monument is still remaining. The Indians left the town soon after the settlers came on.*

The town was incorporated in October, 1739. The first town meeting was holden December 11, 1739. Capt. Dunham was Moderator. Lieut. Jabez Crippen, Mr. John Sprague, Capt. Jonathan Dunham, Select Men. James Smith, Constable. George Way, Grand Juror. Nathaniel Skinner, Town Clerk.

The first tavern was kept by Jonathan Dunham. The first minister was Peter Pratt, who was ordained on the last Wednesday of April, 1740: he was dismissed in 1745, for intemperance. The first meeting house was built of logs, in 1741. Another meeting house was commenced in 1742, which stood about 25 years.

"Considerable numbers of the Indians resided in the western and northwestern parts of the town, which are watered by two large ponds, and by the Ten Mile river, which touches the western borders of the town. Their principal village was on the east side of the Indian pond, so called, which is a body of water lying partly in the state of New York, and partly in Connecticut. On a romantic and beautiful plain, lying between this pond on the west and the Indian Mountain, a spur of the Taghhannuck range, on the east, was a numerous village, where the natives continued to reside for many years after the whites came into the town. This tribe was visited by the Moravian missionaries, and one of them died and was buried there. He died in 1749, and a plain stone was placed over his grave, with the following inscription. "David Bruce of Edinburgh in Scotland, Minister of The Brethren's church among the Indians. Depart'd 1749."

N. B. The grave stone is broken into several fragments, and has long since been removed from the grave. By putting the several parts of the stone together, the foregoing inscription can be easily detected.

The letters are Roman characters, and are become nearly illegible. Tradition says very little of the man, and he had probably been in the place but a short time when he died. It is hoped that a more suitable monument may soon be erected to the memory of this self-denying and elevated missionary. The deed from the Indians, by which they sold their lands to Thomas Barnes, was signed by Nequitimaug and Bartholomew, two of the principal men of the tribe."- -For this and other communications respecting the history of Sharon, the author would here express his acknowledgments to Charles F. Sedgwick, Esq. of Sharon.

The second minister was Rev. John Searle. He was from Simsbury, and was ordained on the first Wednesday of August, 1749. He was dismissed in 1754, on account of feeble health. He recovered his health, however, and was afterwards settled at Stoneham, Massachusetts, and lived to a great age. It is said by the late Dr. Dwight, in his travels, that Mr. Searle and the late Judge Noble of Williamstown, Mass., were the first persons who ever went to the top of Saddle Mountain, the highest mountain in Massachusetts. He is represented as a man of mild and unassuming deportment, much given to metaphysical investigation, and he left Sharon, carrying with him the affectionate regards of his people.

The third minister was Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, who was settled in August, 1755. He was from Suffield, and spent a long life in the ministry in Sharon. Probably no minister ever had in a greater degree the confidence and affection of his people than Mr. Smith. He is never spoken of at this day by those who knew him, but with the most unqualified respect and veneration, and the memory of his virtues and his excellence is now, at the distance of more than thirty years from his death, cherished with the most unfeigned satisfaction. He was the father of Hon. J. C. Smith, late governor of this state.

The Episcopal society was established in 1754. Mr. Ebenezer Dibble was the first minister of that order in the town. He was succeeded by a Mr. Davies, who died in early life. For a number of years the worship of this denomination was suspended, but within a few years they have erected a handsome church, and now maintain regular worship.

A new Congregational meeting house was erected in 1767: this was used by the society until 1824, when the present brick church was erected. In the latter part of July, 1770, Rev. Geo. Whitfield passed through this town on a preaching tour. There was considerable opposition to his being admitted into the meeting house, and arrangements had been made to hold the service in an orchard still standing near the meeting house, in case he should be refused. Mr. Smith however invited him into the pulpit, though strongly opposed by a considerable number of influential men. An immense congregation from this and the neighboring towns filled the meeting house to overflowing. His "Marvel not that I said unto you," &c. Having announced his text, he proceeded to discourse on the doctrine of the new birth with astonishing power and eloquence, and the congregation were much moved by the power of the truth and spirit of God. The concluding words of his discourse were a quotation, with a little variation, from the last verse of the 4th chapter of Solomon's Song: "Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south; blow upon this garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into this garden and eat his pleasant fruits." Many of the inhabitants of Sharon followed him for several successive days, to hear the word of life from this devoted minister of the cross.

text was,

The first preaching in this town by clergymen in the Methodist connexion, was in 1787. In the following year a society was formed.