The Author, or rather Compiler of the following work, publishes it as an act due the State, for the purpose of transmitting to posterity, a correct history of facts and events, which transpired in the early settlement of Connecticut commencing, even before the falling of the first tree in the forest, by any white man in the Colony.
It is a compilation of a correspondence of the Kings and Qeens of England, with the different Governors of the Colony -from the first settlement in Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield, in 1635, for the term of more than one hundred years — embracing letters from the Lords of the Council of trade and foreign plantations; a correct copy of the old patent of Connecticut; letters from the Hon. the Commissioners of his Majesties customs in England; and answers by the Governors, &c. Also letters to apprehend Capt. Kidd, as a pirate, and many other interesting, curious literary communications —among which are twenty-seven questions sent to this Colony by the Lords of the Council of trade in 1679, with the answers of Gov. Leet —which answers are probably as correct early history of this Colony as is extant, and will be highly interesting to all readers. Indeed they are a succinct history of the Colony at that period, as to its navigation, productions, shipping, population, state of society, Indian wars, religion, title of lands, trade and manufactures, &c. And when we contemplate that these answers were written by a Governor of this State, when a Colony, nearly two hundred years since, upon this ground, then occupied by the sturdy trees of the forest, but now covered with stores, banks, public buildings and the splendid private dwellings of the refined population of the City of Hartford —and this, the first publication of most of them, they cannot fail to be interesting to the most inattentive observer of past events.
The orthography of the original letters and documents is strictly and carefully preserved.
The signatures of the Kings and Queens are uniformly placed at the commencement of the communications, and not at the close as is usual for other persons; the large, elegant and expensive seals attached to each letter, are yet in a perfect state of preservation. The idea that the delicate hands of Queen Mary and Anne of England have been upon the same sheets, which I have copied for this book, and nearly two centuries since, satisfies the mind that these events are indeed ancient, and appears rather as a dream, than a reality. The reader will occasionally observe, that answers to letters from England, are some few of them missing, not having been preserved by the writers as they should have been, not only for the benefit of the Colony at the time, but also for the advantage of future historians and the honor of the country.
This work is not published by the compiler expecting even a compensation for his labor, but solely to transmit to posterity, the important historical events which it contains, emanating from the pens of the Kings and Queens of England, and the Governors of this Colony, verified by their own signatures and Seals, the last of whom have been gathered to their fathers nearly a century.
In the year 1730 a letter was sent to this Colony by the Commissioners for trade and plantations, embracing 19 questions, relating to Connecticut, which were answered by Joseph Talcott, then Governor of the Colony, under the inspection of his Council or assistants, giving an account of the rivers and land adjoining —the sound, the soil, the climate, the degrees of latitude and longitude of the Colony, the boundaries, the Constitution and Government, the Courts, trade, the shipping, names of each vessel and Captain, and their tonnage and place where owned; property received in barter, method used to prevent illegal trade, harbours on the sound, produce of the Colony, copper and other ore mines, the population and increase and reasons for it, the number of militia, forts and arms, the number of Indians of all ages and sexes, the five nations of Indians, the French and Western Indians, the Spaniards and their strength, the annual revenues from rates and duties, the expenditures in free schools, constituting the different Courts and their jurisdiction, and the organization and division of the militia; which answers compared with those of 1679 shows the improvement of the Colony and country for the fifty-one years previous. In 1748 the Board of trade forwarded to the Governor of this Colony twenty questions, similar to those before mentioned, which were answered by the Governor in the same manner; which answers compared with those of 1679, and 1730 give to the reader a more perfect history of the Colony from 1635 to 1748, (as to such facts as it contains) than can be found in any other work, because each fact can be relied upon as authentic, having been written at the time, by men of the highest standing and reputation, not only in England, but also in this Colony. Also is found upon the first page of the work a perfect likeness of Charles II, taken by the Messrs, Kellogg, Lithographers of this City, from the Charter of Charles II in this office. Upon the opposite page are found facsimiles of the hand writing of the Kings and Queens, also some of the Gov'rs. of the Colony, whose names are attached to their letters in this book. Also a full list is compiled from the Records of State, of all the Colony and State Officers who have been elected by the people of the Colony and State of Connecticut, from the first settlement in 1635, until 1836 inclusive with the time of holding their several offices. The immense quantity of interesting matter, that has been lying for ages upon the shelves of this office, and annually accumulating; would, if the most interesting' parts should be selected and published, compose a Library that would do honor to the State, and place so valuable public documents beyond the reach of fire and accident, while the present and future generations would become familiar with the early history of their Ancestors, and the Puritan Fathers. Indeed a history of the Revolutionary war, might be gathered from the files and records of this Office, so far as Connecticut was engaged in that bloody struggle for liberty: with which too few of the present age are familiar, evidenced upon facts from the records of the State, which would carry verity upon its face on every page. Several Acts and Resolutions of the Legislature of the Colony, with notes by the compiler will be found in this work, to show the object of the letters to which they related, to be the better understood by the reader.
The labor of collecting the materials and compilation of this work, and copying the numerous documents it contains, has taken much time, and the expense has been considerable. But should it meet a favorable reception and afford instruction to the reader, or amuse him in his leisure hours, it will be an ample compensatian to the compiler. Hartford, September 15th, 1836.
Explanation of Abbreviated Words.
Ye. The.
Yt. That.
Wt. What.
Matie. Majesty.
Acer. According,
Wth. With.
Wch. Which.
Yn. Than.
Or. Our.
Yr. or yor. Your.
Vs. Us.