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NEW towns or cities, of the Old World or below Derby the breadth of the stream is

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beauty of situation, or of environs more replete with the picturesque, than Birmingham. Indeed, to this village must be assigned the most attractive situation of the valley towns. It occupies a bold eminence, as it were the point of a cape, washed on the one side by the waters of the Housatonic, on the other by those of the Naugatuck. Just below the town the two rivers united spread themselves over a considerable extent of surface, affording the appearance of a lake bordered with bold hills, portions of which are wild, and thickly wooded, others under a high state of cultivation. In the midst of the seeming lake an island appears, adding greatly to the beauty of the whole landscape. On the left is the parent town of Derby, with its antique buildings. At a short distance VOL. XI.-29

landscape an opening is seen between the hills through which the river passes onward to the sea. In every direction from the village the views are of the most picturesque and varied description. On the one side, looking up the valley of the Naugatuck, the village of Ansonia appears in the distance, forming a charming feature in the landscape; on the other, the Valley of the Housatonic affords views of great beauty, though perhaps not as varied as those of its lesser but more romantic tributary.

The view of Birmingham which I present was taken near a rock known as the "Lover's Leap," on the east side of the river, about one fourth of a mile south of Derby. Upon the left of the engraving, the opening which appears is the Valley

of the Housatonic; corresponding with this, on the opposite side of the village, is the Naugatuck River.

Derby boasts an antiquity greater than any other town of the Naugatuck Valley. As early as 1653, Governor Goodyear and others in New Haven purchased a considerable tract at this place. The settlement was commenced the following year; this was twenty-three years before the settlement of Waterbury. The original name of Derby was Paugasset.

The year succeeding the settlement the inhabitants presented a petition to the general court of New Haven for the privileges of a distinct town. This petition was granted by the court, and also permission to purchase a considerable additional tract. The inhabitants of Milford were greatly dissatisfied with this procedure, as Paugasset had been a part of that town from its first settlement. Trumbull, in his "History of Connecticut," says:

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They therefore remonstrated against the doings of the court at its next session, and induced that body to reconsider its vote, at least so far as to order that Paugasset should remain a part of Milford, unless the respective parties should mutually consent to have the act of incorporation go into effect.

"In 1657 and 1659 a further purchase was made of the chief sagamores, We-ta-na-mow and Ras-ke-nu-te, and the purchase was afterward confirmed by the chief sachem, Okenuck."

The settlement seems to have continued very small up to the year 1675, when, upon a second application for town privileges, Paugasset was represented as numbering but twelve families, and that about the same number were intending to remove there. The settlers had made at this time a provision for the support of the Gospel, having procured a minister and built a house for him. Upon this renewed application the assembly granted them the privileges of a town, and it was called Derby. Birmingham and Ansonia are parishes of Derby.

The antiquated appearance of the parent town, with its quaint old store-houses and other edifices, presents a striking contrast to its youthful and vigorous offspring. The illustration exhibits the greater part of the village known as Derby proper. The river is navigable to the landing here for vessels of about eighty tons, there being ten feet of water.

merce of Derby was very considerable; at one period it exceeded that of New Haven. The people of Derby date the decline in their commerce to the building of the Washington bridge at Stratford.

In 1824 the first steamboat was placed upon this route, the "General Lafayette," running between Derby and New York. This was before the commencement of steam navigation between Bridgeport and New York. The "General Lafayette" was succeeded by the "Housatonic," which was hauled off on account of the obstructions of the drawbridge. From this period to the present steamboats have from time to time plyed upon these waters.

Returning to the earlier history of the Valley of the Naugatuck, its lower portion, as well as the banks of the Housatonic near its junction with the Naugatuck, were favorite haunts of the aborigines. The relics scattered thickly over this region are, perhaps, of as ancient origin as any to be found in the country. A few years since specimens of pottery were found deeply imbedded in the earth, which showed evidence of skill in manufacture unknown to the Indians who existed here at the period of the settlement of this valley.

Within the bounds of the original settlement of Derby was a mound or hill, which contained a number of graves marked with rude stones placed at the head and feet; some were of ordinary length, others of almost gigantic size. No tradition could be gathered respecting them, except that "Indians were buried there;" and they were supposed to be the remains of some long departed tribe, who, from their method of placing their memorial stones, must have been acquainted in some degree with the customs of the white men.*

Mr. De Forest, in his "History of the Indians of Connecticut," designates the tribe who occupied the northern part of the original town of Derby, as the " Naugatuck Indians." Below the confluence of the Naugatuck River with the Housatonic, the Indians living upon the borders of the stream were known as the Paugussetts or Wepawaugs. The last sachem of this tribe was Konckapotanauh, who died at his home, in Derby, about the year 1731. Mr. De Forest says:

For the facts contained in the last two

From the war of the Revolution to the paragraphs, I am indebted to Dr. T. A. Dutton early part of the present century, the com

and Mrs. E. Stone.

"After this event the nation broke up: some joined the Potatucks; some went to the country of the Six Nations; some perhaps migrated to Scatacook; and of those on the eastern bank of the river very few remained about their ancient seats. In 1774 the Milford part of the tribe was reduced to four persons, who lived on a small reservation at Turkey Hill, now in the township of Derby.

"The Naugatuck Indians, or the band to which I shall give that name, resided at the falls of the Naugatuck, about five miles above

its confluence with the Housatonic."

Jo or Joseph Mauwehu was the son of a Pequot Indian, who was the king or sachem of the Scatacook tribe of Indians in Kent. His father placed him in the family of one of the settlers of Derby, where he lived until he was twenty-one. When Jo arrived at his majority his father presented him with a tract of land in the northern part of the town of Derby, now called Seymour. Here he collected a few followers about him, over whom he exercised the rights of a sachem. Jo was here known by the name of Chuse, tradition stating that he received this nick-name from his peculiar pronunciation of the word choose. Chuse built his wigwam near the falls of the river in the present town of Seymour. The white population at that time was very small, but soon after increased. This settlement was long known by the name of Chusetown. This chief seems to have been a kindly-disposed Indian, and is reported to have lived on the most amicable terms with the whites in his neighborhood, supporting himself mostly by the products of hunting and fishing. Chuse, with all his amiable qualities, had one failing not entirely unknown at the present day among the civilized race who have monopolized the hunting grounds of the sachem; that was a decided preference for strong drink over water. He seems to have been of that class who say, "water is very well in its way; but for a steady drink give me rum." "He used to come, when he was thirsty, to a fine spring, bursting from a solid rock at the foot of a hill; and there he would sit down on the bank by the side of that spring, and drink the sweet water as it gushed from the rock, and praise it, and say that if there was only another spring, just such a spring, of rum, flowing by the side of it, he would ask for nothing more, but should be perfectly happy."

Chuse was a bold hunter, and a large, athletic man. He used to kill, in this vicinity, deer, wild turkeys, and occasionally a

bear. In addition to these means of livelihood Chuse and his followers made an annual excursion to the sea-side. Their mode of living was somewhat different from that of the crowds that now annually go down the same valley for the same purpose. The Indians used to say they were "going down to salt," and the same phraseology has been, to some extent, continued to the present day. Chuse and his companions were in the habit of going down the river in a sail-boat, and when they arrived near the mouth of the stream, they made a tent of the sail of their boat, and enjoyed the sea air and sea food for two or three weeks. They were not probably encumbered with as many packages, extra band-boxes, etc., as the "Flora M'Flimseys" of the present day, who make similar excursions, not with the view of encamping on Milford shore, but to spend a few weeks at that charming resort, the Ansantawae House on Charles Island, nearly opposite the original sea-shore resort of the natives of the Naugatuck Valley. It is highly probable that the early excursionists down the valley, unlike those of the present day, were quite satisfied with "nothing to wear."

That must have been an independent and agreeable sea-side life of Chuse and his party; and besides, the Indians exhibited a degree of tact which made their summer excursions profitable. With all our boasted advancement of the present day, few are able to make a summer trip to any known watering-place a source of revenue. The Indians found in the vicinity of Milford an abundance of oysters and clams; of the latter they collected large quantities, which they boiled, and dried in the sun. These were afterward strung and carried with them on their return home, affording a considerable stock of provisions for the remainder of the year. These clams were also a considerable article of traffic with the natives of the interior, who were glad to exchange their dried venison for the products of the sea-shore. This appears to have been the earliest barter trade known in this valley, and certainly exhibits business tact as inherent to the natives, as well as to their successors. Hence, in more ways than one, the earlier sea-side excursions of the people of the Naugatuck Valley paid a better per centage than those of the present day.

Barber, in his "Historical Collections of Connecticut," traces the origin of the

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name of Naugatuck to Chusetown. says the name was originally Nau-kotunk, which signifies in the Indian language, One Large Tree, and was so named from a large tree which formerly stood near Rock Rimmon, about three fourths of a mile north of the falls of the Naugatuck, in the present town of Seymour.

There was formerly a large Indian burial ground at Seymour; the graves, in accordance with the Indian custom, were covered with small heaps of stones. This land was purchased in the early part of the present century, and every vestige of the Indians has been unfortunately destroyed.

Barber relates an ingenious contrivance of the people here for traveling before there were any roads. The Indians as well as the whites attended "meeting" at Derby. "Those of the whites who died here were conveyed on horse litters to be buried at Derby. These litters were made by having two long poles attached to two horses, one of which was placed before the other; the ends of the poles were fastened, one on each side of the forward horse, and the other ends were fastened to the horse behind. A space was left between the horses, and the poles at this place were fastened together by cross pieces, and on these were placed whatever was to be carried."

Chuse remained at this place fortyeight years, and then removed to Scatacook in Kent, whither most of the Derby Indians went. He died at Scatacook at the age of about eighty. He had ten children, one of whom, his youngest daughter, Eunice Mauwehu, was living at the latter place about ten years since.

An interesting story is related of an Indian having been accidentally killed by a white man about the time of the first settlement of Seymour. Noah Durand, the white man, and John Sunk, the Indian, were hunting deer upon opposite sides of the river. It was in the dusk of a summer's evening, at the hour when the deer were in the habit of going down into the river to cool themselves. The bushes were thick upon the borders of the stream, and Durand, hearing a rustling among them on the opposite side of the river, aimed his gun in that direction and fired. The Indian shrieked, as he received the charge, "You have killed me." Durand instantly rushed across the river to his assistance, and brought water to the dying Indian in his shoe. He drank it and expired. This occurred about one mile below the bridge at Seymour. "A kind of arbitration was afterward held upon this case by the white people and the Indians. One of the Indian witnesses remarked that he never knew of deer wearing red

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stockings before.' The Indians, however, appeared satisfied that their countryman was killed by mistake, and ever afterward made Mr. Durand's house their stopping place."

A lady friend in Derby has at my request kindly furnished me with some recollections of the last of the Indian race in this vicinity, from which I extract the following with the song of Magawiska :

Of the once numerous remnants of the native Indian tribes, who in the olden time frequented the Valley of the Naugatuck, but few remain at the present day. As elsewhere in the frontier and middle states, their glory has departed. A few of mixed descent may be found, but in the stunted and bloated figure, reeling with intemperance, not a vestige of the by-gone "Indian warrior race, Whose light form rose in lofty grace."

About the close of the last century, by the arrangement made by the state government, certain tracts of land in each town were appropriated to the Indians. The reservation in Derby was located in the southern part, at a place called Turkey Hill, near the bank of the Naugatuck River, and at this place were collected nearly all that remained in the town. The only one among them worthy of notice

was the widow of John Hatchet. She died about thirty-five or forty years since, and was about one hundred years old. She was known to have said, many years before her death, that she remembered when the main street of Derby was only a foot path on the river bank. She was nearly six feet in height, and her invariable dress was a blanket worn after the Indian manner, and a black hat, the gift of a neighboring farmer. She alone, of all that remained of her kindred, retained the upright form and stately tread of her race. Though degraded and debased by intemperance, she still retained almost to the close of her centennial life many of the peculiar Indian traits, and these were often strikingly apparent when questioned of early events in the history of her family and tribe. It had been said by an aged woman, who, though younger than herself, remembered her in her youth, that she was the daughter of a chief at Chusetown (Humphreysville,) and that she was seen when young dressed in an Indian blanket, trimmed with silver fringe, and with a head dress of feathers and wampum. This was repeated to her, and she was asked if it was so; with her customary "ugh," she planted her oaken stick upon the ground, and resting her hands upon it, like one of G. P. R. James's heroes of

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