Davenport Ridge, Stamford, Connecticut

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Davenport Ridge,,

STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT.

HISTORICAL SKETCH

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE.

A. B. DAVENPORT,

GARFIELD BUILDING, (ROOiM 44),

BROOKLYN, N.Y.
1892.

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30R1T 1597 DIEl^ .o v

DAVENPORT RIDGE.

STAMFORD, CONN.

HISTORICAL,

rnHE town of Stamford lies in the sonth western
-^ part of Connecticut, about thirty- three miles
from the city of New York, with whicli it lias al-
most hourly connection by railroad, and also
daih^ steamboat communication.

The place was settled in 1641 by people who
had come from Wethersfield, near Hartford, the
previous year, bringing their church organization
with them together with their minister, Rev.
Richard Denton. This was under the advice of
the Rev. John Davenport, who with Theophilus
Eaton had come to New Haven in 1638, and were
the founders of the New Haven Colony. There
were twenty-nine heads of families among the
original Stamford settlers, which number, before
the end of 1642, was increased .to fifty-nine.

In 1640, the New Haven settlers sent one of
their men, Nathaniel Turner, to negotiate with
the Indians for the purchase of their lands at
Rippowams (afterwards Stamford). This was be-
fore the coming of the new settlers. A treaty of

purchase was made and duly signed by Ponus
Sagamore of Toquams, and Wascussee Sagamore
of Shippan, for the purchase of all the lands be-
longing to both the above-named Sagamores,
except a piece of land which the said Ponus
reserved for himself and the rest of said Indians
to plant on. The price agreed on for the land
was twelve coats, twelve hoes, twelve hatchets,
twelve glasses, twelve knives, four kettles, and
four fathoms of white wampum.

A confirmatory deed was executed in 1655, by
said Ponus, and Onax his son, covering all the
land north of the home lots of the village to six-
teen miles north, and of the width of eight miles,
which extended beyond the present limits of
Connecticut into what is now Westchester Co.,
New York, '' and the above said Indians, Ponus
and Onax, with all other Indians that be con-
cerned in it, have surrendered all the said land to
the town of Stamford, as their proper right, for-
ever, and the aforesaid Indians have set their
hands as witnessing the truth hereof, and for and
in consideration hereof the said town of Stamford
is to give the said Indians 4 coats, which the
Indians did accept of, for full satisfaction for the
aforesaid lands, altho' it was paid before, hereby
Ponus' posterity is cut off from making any claim
or having any right to any part of the aforesaid
land, and do hereb}' surrender and make over for
us or any of ours forever, unto the Englishmen
of the town of Stamford and their posterity for-

ever, the land as it is butted and bounded the
bounds above-mentioned. The said Ponus, and
Onax his son, having this day received of Rich-
ard Law 4 coats acknowledging themselves fully
satisfied for tlie aforesaid lands. Witness the
said Indians tlie day and date hereof, Stamford,

August 15, 1655.

Ponus. X

Witnesses : Onax. x

Wm. Newman.

Richard Laws."

The village was located and laid out on a level
plain, but the parts of the town adjoining the
village are composed of hills and eminences of
great beauty, and crowned with fine countr}'
seats. Back of tliese the land lies in ridges, run-
ning north and south, such as Long Ridge, High
Ridge, Davenport Ridge, &c. Some of these rise
to the height of four or five hundred feet above
tide water and afford very picturesque views.

The town is bounded on the nortli by Pound-
ridge and Bedford, and on the south by Long-
Island Sound. The towns of New Canaan and
Darien on the east separate it from Norwalk.
The two former were formed from the townships
of Stamford and Norwalk. On the west lies the
township of Greenwich. The popuhition of the
town is about 17,000. Although there are quite
a number of large manufactories here it is rather
a place of residences for retired merchants and
active business men of New York, as well as a

6

summer resort, for healtli seekers, and those look-
ing for summer rest and recreation. An active
business is^ carried on in the village. Besides
the Congregational there are Episcopal, Baptist,
Methodist, Universalist and Roman Catholic
churches. A large number of well-to-do farmers
are found in the rural districts.

The second minister of the Stamford Church
was Rev. John Bishop. After the death of Mr.
Denton the fame of this young man had reached
the bereaved church, and two of their members
were delegated to go to the neighborhood" of Bos-
ton to see if he could be induced to come and be
their minister. They found him, and he accepted
their invitation, and accompanied them on foot
all the way from Boston, bringing with him under
his arm his Bible. Mr. Bishop's ministry con-
tinued twenty-eight years. Another Bible found
amono- the first settlers belonged to Lt. Francis
Bell, and is still preserved by his descendants.
It has an antiquity of nearly three hundred years.
It contains a record of the first male child born in
Stamford, Jonathan Bell, son of Francis Bell, in
September, 1641. From this ancient relic the
Scriptures were read at the celebration of the two
hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the
town, and it will no doubt be brought into similnr
use at the celebration of the two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary during the present year, 1892.
The third minister was the Rev. John Daven-
port, the grandson of Rev. John Davenport, a

famous clergyman of London, who was born in
the nn(;ienr, city of Coventry, England, in 1597,
and wlio came with a colony of emigrants to
New Haven in 1(538.

Mr. Davenport was settled over the Stamford
Clnirch in 1693, and died in 1731. He was a man
of commanding influence throughout the State
and a member of the corporation of Yale College.
He died in 1731. He had been greatly enriched
b}^ lands inherited from his grandfather in New
Haven, and gained by gift or purchase in Stam-
ford.

His third son was Colonel Abraham Daven-
port, of whom Dr. Dwight, in his Travels, Vol.
III., p. 477, gives the following account :

''In this town [Stamford], lived the Hon. Abra-
ham Davenport, for a long time one of the Coun-
cillors of the State, and before that, of the Colony
of Connecticut. This gentleman was the son of
the Rev. John Davenport, and ihe great-grandson
of the Kev. John Davenport, the father of the
New Haven Colony. Colonel Davenport was pos-
sessed of a vigorous understanding and invinci-
ble firmness of mind of^; integrity and justice,
unquestioned even b}' his enemies ; of veracity
exact in a degree, nearly singular ; and of a
weight of character which for mati}^ years decided
in this County almost every question to which it
was lent. He was early a professor of the Chris-
tian religion ; and adorned its doctrines by an ex-

etnplary conformity to its precepts. He was oft-
en styled a rough diamond ; and the appellation
was, perhaps, never given with more propriety.
His virtues were all of the masculine kind ; less
soft, graceful and alluring, than his friends wish-
ed ; but more extensively productive of real good
to mankind, than those of almost any man who
has been distinguished for gentleness of charac-
ter. It would be happy for this or any other
country, if the magistrate should execute its laws
with the exactness for which he was distinguish-
ed. Colonel Davenport acquired property with
diligence, and preserved it with frugality ; and
hence was b}^ many persons supposed to regard
it with an improper attachment. This, however,
was a very erroneous opinion. Of what was mere-
ly ornamental, he was, I think, too regardless ;
but the poor found nowhere a more liberal bene-
factor, nor the stranger a more hospitable host.
I say this from personal knowledge, acquired by
a long continued and intimate acquaintance with
him and his family. AVhile the war had its prin-
cipal seat in the State of New York, he took the
entire superintendence of the sick soldiers who
were returning home ; filled his own houses with
them ; and devoted to their relief his own time,
and that of his family ; while he provided else-
where the best accommodations for such as he
could not receive. In a season when an expecta-
tion of approaching scarcity had raised the price
of bread-corn to an enormous height, he not only

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sold the produce of his own farms to the poor at
the former customary price, but bought corn ex-
tensively, and sold this also, as he had sold his
own. His alms w^ere at the same time rarely ri-
valled in their extent.

" One instance of Colonel Davenport's firm-
ness deserves to be mentioned. The 19th of May,
1780, was a remarkably dark day. Candles were
lighted in many houses ; the birds were silent
and disappeared ; the fowls retired to roost. The
Legislature of Connec'ticut was then in session at
Hartford. A very general opinion prevailed that
the day of Judgment was at hand. The House of
Representatives being unable to transact their
business, adjoiirned. A proposal to adjourn the
Council was under consideration. When the
opinion of Colonel Davenport was asked, he an-
swered, 'I am against an adjcmrnment. The day
of Judgment is either approaching, or it is not.
If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment :
if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I
wish therefore that candles may be brought.'"

This incident, so characteristic of this noble
man, has been pleasingly rendered in verse by
John Greenleaf Whittier, and is copied, by his
permission, from "The Tent on the Beach," pp.
98-102 :

10

ABRAHAM DAVENPORT.

In the old days (a custom laid aside

AVitli breeches and cocked hats) the people sent

Their wisest men to make the public laws.

And so from a brown homestead, where the Sound

Drinks the small tribute of the Mianas,

Waved over by the woods of Rippowams,

And hallowed by pure lives and tranquil deaths,

Stamford sen: u]) to the councils of the State

Wisdom and grace in Abraham Davenport.

'Twas on a May-day of the far old year
Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell
Over the bloom and sweet life of the Spring,
Over the fresh earth and the heaven of noon,
A horror of great darkness, like the night
In day of which the Norland sagas tell,—
The Twilight of the Gods. The low-hung sky
Was black with ominous clouds, save where its rim
Was fringed with a dull glow, like that which

climbs
The crater's sides from the red hell below.
Birds ceased to sing, and all the barn-yard fowls
Roosted ; the cattle at the pasture bars
Lowed, and looked homeward ; bats on leathern

wings
Flitted abroad ; the sounds of labor died ;
Men prayed, and women wept ; all ears grew

sharp
To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter

11

The black sky, that the dl-eadful face of Christ
Miglit look from the rent-clouds, not as he looked
A loving guest at Bethany, but stern
As Justice and inexorable Law,

Meanwhile in the old State-House, dim as
ghosts,
Sat the lawgivers of Connecticut,
Trembling beneath their legislative robes.
'^ It is tlie Lord's Great Day ! Let us adjoiirn,"
Some said ; and then, as if with one accord,
All eyes were turned to Abraham Davenport.
He rose, slow cleaving with his steady voice
Tli(^ intolerable hush. " This well may be
The Day of Judgment which the world awaits ;
But be it so or not, I only know
My present duty, and my Lord's command
To occupy till he come. So at the post
Where he hath set me in his providence,
I choose, for one, to meet him face to face, —
No faithless servant frightened from my task,
But ready when the Lord of the harvest calls ;
And therefore, with all reverence, I would say.
Let God do his work, we will see to ours.
Bring in the candles." And they brought them in.

Then by the flaring lights the Speaker read.
Albeit with husky voice and shaking hands.
An act to amend an act to regulate
The shad and alewive fisheries. Whereupon
Wisely and well spake Abraham Davenport,
Straight to the question, with no figures of speech

12

Save the ten Arab signs, yet not without

The shrewd dry humor natural to the man :

His awe-struck colleagues listening all the while,

Between the pauses of liis argument,

To hear the thunder of the wrath of God

Break from the hollow trumpet of the cloud.

And there he stands in memor}^ to this day,
Erect, self-poised, a rugged face, half seen
Against the background of unnatural dark,
A witness to the ages as they pass,
That simple duty hath no place for fear.

The eldest son of tlie Stamford minister was
John Davenport, born January 2d, 1698, and
married by his father to Sarah Bishop, Septem-
ber 6th, 1722. He moved to what was then, and
is still, known by the name of "DAVENPORT
RIDGE," a beautiful Pisgah site about five miles
north by east from what is now the centre of
Stamford village, upon lands conveyed to him
by the will of his father. This .will was dated
January 20, 1729.

" Item. — I give and bequeath to my loving and
eldest son, John, two parts of said equal parts of
my dividable estate, and over and above that I
give said son the sum of tliirt3^-one pounds and
ten shillings. Also my mind is that said John
have my land on Davenport Ridge so called, as
may appear by the note of laying out and seized
to me, signed by Deacon Samuel Hoit [Hoyt],
Stephen Bishop and John Holly, and extending

C «H

IS

to Ponasses Path (now called Poniis Street), and
the house and barn thereon ; further, my mean-
ing is that the said house and barn be appraised
according to their value at the said time of ap-
praising, only I would have all my land im-
proved by my son John, by the plough or for
pasture, and inclosed, to be to my said son John,
to him, his heirs and assigns forever."

In Huntington's History of Stamford, appears
the following account of this site, pp. 481-2.

"This structure occupies a most commanding
view from the west slope of Davenport Ridge. It
is about five miles, north by east, from the Stam-
ford Depot. The panorama stretching around it
is, at any season of the year, well wortli a study,
and in summer is very beautiful.

"This locality was voted to the Rev. John Da-
venport, of Stamford, by the proprietors of the
town, in January, 1705-6, in consideration of his
hundred pounds interest in the ' Long Lots,' as
agreed upon at the time of his settlement here in
1693. By his will, January 20, 1728, he gave it to
his eldest son, John, who occupied the house upon
it, and died there in 1742. He was one of the
original members of the Congregational Church,
formed in the parish of Canaan by members from
the Norwalk and Stamford churches, June, 1733.
The township of New Canaan was not organized
till 1802. The j)roperty passed next into the
hands of the third John, who died in 1756, leaving
it to the fourth John, a deacon in the North Stam-

14

ford Church, who died in 1842. A portion of the
land was bought of the heirs by Amzi B. Daven-
port, a grandson of this deacon John, and on it he
built the residence represented in our cut. It oc-
cupies the site of an old residence removed about
eighty years ago." A few rods to the north-east
stands the dwelling formerl}^ occupied b}^ his
grandfather, who erected it with his own hands
in 1775. Davenport Ridge has an elevation of
about 400 feet above tide-water, with a view of
Long Island Sound for a distance of forty miles.
From this point are seen the spires and turrets of
fifteen churches, in the towns of Stamford, Green-
wich, New Canaan, Weston, Greenfield Hill, with
the shores of Long Island on the south, and the
hills of Westchester County, N.Y., on the north.

The present mansion was erected in 1868-5.
It contains twenty rooms, viz.: one large parlor,
one large sitting room, a small bedroom, library,
(extending two stories), dining room, kitchen,
laundry, and milk room ; second storj^, eight
sleeping rooms and bath room, and three bed-
rooms in the attic.

The "Old Homestead" contains ten rooms,
and is in a condition to last fifty years longer.

There are three barns upon the place, with
stable and carriage houses, also four wells of
good water. Distance from railroad station. New
Canaan, three miles, Springdale, two and a half
miles, and Stamford, five miles.

It is a rare occurrence that land secured from

15

the Indians by the first settk^rs of a town, and
conveyed by them to a single individual, should
liave remained in that family without alienation
for nearly two hundred years. Six generations
liave successively owned this native seat.

DAVENPORT RIDGK.

On sunset ridge my lady sleeps.

As nightly sweeps

The shadow-throng from out the east,

All hushing — man and bird and beast —

And stars of night

Begin to light

The gems of that far canopy,

The great, blue, upper-world of sky,

I think their million rays have wrought

Some secret entrance to her thought,

And through it shining.

Each night refining.

Make her so like the light that doth endure.

So fresh, so dear, so bright, so true, so pure !

Even as the heavens seem to gently bend

These homestead acres to their skyey trend.

Curving the fields up to a swelling dome.

Lifting to Eden-views the human home.

So, too, that vault of blue

Invites and moulds more true.

Like to itself, as if it were a part.

Her own unchanging, strong, transparent heart.

On sunset ridge there shines a light.

In day or night

1 shall not look for it in vain ;

Love's beacon braves the wind and rain.

16

Nor is there dark

Can dim that mark

To one storm-driven, homeward bark.

How love can beautify the ground !

Or make the solemn heavens around,

Or hills, or trees, or murmuring sea.

All seem a part of home, of thee !

The sweet, good mother,

And sire, and brother,

And she the friend and sister, sister-friend,

All borrow from the light that thou dost lend.

O long and often may their footsteps tend

Up to those fields where precious memories sleep,

Up to those halls where sons and daughters keep

Old faith, old love, old hope in man's career,

Like old wine, in stout hearts, for others' cheer !

Long may the hill-top light salute the town

With bright reminder of its old renown !

Long may its sons and daughters sleep and wake

While beauteous suns shall daily set or break

On sunset ridge. .

To M. V. D. C. H. C.

(Ponus Street, Oct., 1891).

DAVEr^pORT Ridge

STAMFORD. CONNECTICUT.

HISTORICAL SKETCH

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE.
A. B. DAVENPORT,

(i.ARPlKI.U BUILUINC, (ROOM 44),

HKOOKLYN, N.Y.
1892.