A BRIEF HISTORY of SUFFIELD, CONNECTICUT In 1660, the place was called Stony River from its principal stream. In 1670, when first settled (and for many years afterwards), it was called Southfield, both by the inhabitants and in the Provine laws. The town was first a part of Massachusetts and remained so until 1749. On 20 May 1674, the committee for settling the town petitioned that the honored Court would please to grant this Plantation seven years freedom from Country Rates (taxes), as an encouragement for the planters, being a woody place and difficult to winne; also, that the name of the place may be Suffield (an abbreviation of southfield), it being the southernmost town that either at present is, or like to be in that Countrey, and neer adjoining to the border of our Patent in these parts. On 3 June 1674, the Court granted the petition and the place since that time has been written “Suffield” or “Suffeild” in all its town records. On 1 Jan 1740, West Suffield was set off a separate and distinct precinct by the Massachusetts General Court. Jonathan Sheldon (and others) were instrumental in effecting this, having petitioned the General Court. They complained that they had for “a long time paid Rates to the School without ever Receiving any Benefit thereby except £10.” See Documentary History of Suffield, by Hezekiah Spencer Sheldon (1888). ANOTHER HISTORY OF SUFFIELD Each spring, before the dogwood blooms and fiddleheads are ready for harvest, the Connecticut River banks are laced by shadblow trees, and fishermen converge along its shores to test their skill and luck during the shad run. Today’s anglers have replaced the Indians of long ago who named the Quinnehtukquet: “beside the long, tidal river.” Modern Suffield retains its sense of nature and open space, including many of the characteristics which originally attracted Indians and settlers. Besides providing shad and salmon, the river made boat-building possible. Yellow pine was used for building, fuel, naval stores and fine furniture. Deer, moose, bear, fox, and other wild animals and game provided hides, furs and food. Tobacco was a productive crop from the beginning. Brooks were harnessed for grist, cotton, and paper mills; there were even three iron works. Settlement started in 1670, after Major John Pynchon, a fur merchant from Springfield, paid the Indians thirty pounds for a six-mile tract of land known as Stony Brooke Plantation. A thickly wooded area between Springfield and Windsor with a narrow meadow provided a land route connecting Springfield and Windsor. This route was called the Hampton Path (usually thought to include Hill Street, Remington Street, South Street , and possibly other roads). The local Indians used this land primarily as a hunting ground and preferred camping by the Congamond Lake and Manatuck Mountain areas to the west. The Massachusetts General Court authorized Pynchon's committee of Springfield men to settle a town on the “West sid of ye Ryver Connecticott towards Windsor.” They stipulated that in five years twenty families were to settle there and that a minister be maintained. (By a surveying error in 1642, the Suffield region was thought to be included in the Massachusetts colony.) The town was carefully planned, reserving land for a common area in the center and space for a meeting house, school, and land for a minister. The first land was sold at four pence per acre. By 1675 three dozen families had settled, but they were forced to flee to Springfield during King Philip’s War. Returning and rebuilding after the settlement was burned, they were ready to retain their first minister in 1679. For its first twelve years the town's affairs were conducted by a Committee of Proprietors (land owners), who held the first town meeting on March 9, 1682. Attendance was compulsory for every property owner, and a two shillings and sixpence fine was imposed for unexcused absences or tardiness. This first town meeting chose five selectmen, a town clerk, two highway surveyors, a land measurer, and a sealer of leather. No treasurer was elected because town tax was paid in grain. About that time a meeting house was built: the site is denoted today by a plaque on a large rock on the town green. By 1674 the town had taken the name Suffield, a corruption of Southfield. The period between 1670 and 1740 was one of hard work, primitive living, and self-government regulated by the Fundamental Orders of the Congregational Church. Church and town government were one, with no deviation allowed until more liberal changes were demanded and the Second Congregational Church was organized in 1743. Soon after, Hartford County's first Baptist Church was founded on Hastings Hill. Religious liberty and complete separation of church and state were finally guaranteed by the Connecticut Constitutional Convention in 1818. Between 1840 and 1890, Methodists, Roman Catholics, and Episcopalians established town churches. After settling border disputes with neighboring towns, Suffield, which had been part of Massachusetts for 79 years, was granted admittance to Connecticut in 1749. Source: Town of Suffield, History Our Suffield Sheldons The first Sheldon to settle in Suffield was JOSEPH SHELDON*, who came in 1689 from Northampton, Massachusetts, with his wife Mary (Whiting) Sheldon and daughters Amy and Mary, to settle on the east side of Main Street, just north of Bridge Street, within the limits of what is now Suffield Center. This land, which originally was laid out to Rev. Pelatiah Glover, was sold in 1689 by Victory Sykes to Joseph Sheldon with a mansion house on it. Here three more children were born to the young family: Joseph 1700, Rachel 1703, and Benjamin 1705. From here the father traveled often to Boston where, as a member of the Massachusetts General Court, he was in attendance during the summer of 1708, when he died suddenly on 2 July at age of 40. Shortly after, the sad procession of moving wagons was seen wending its way from Suffield to Westfield, Massachusetts, returning the widow and her young family to her childhood home. Other Sheldon “cousins” have lived in Suffield in the 1720s-1760s. Had it been possible for us to visit in, say, 1760, we might have seen an ancestor in his linen shirt, blue hose, small-striped breeches, vest and blue coat stride his black riding mare on his way home from the town center. His wife would have been up early seeing to the spare room with its inviting birds-eye rug, blue at one corner, laid near the feather bed with its linen sheets, blankets and feather bolsters. Yes, all was in good order. So, on downstairs to the kitchen where water was already warming in the brass kettle, pewter plates, mugs and a platter cast a warm glow against the soft diaper cloth laid on the large table. A quick glance then at the looking glass for a final inspection might have found our hostess smoothing down stray wisps of hair on her way to answer our knock at the front door. “Won’t you please step in? We’ve been expecting you,” she might say. From The Sheldon Family Newsletter 2/2 (February 1988). * Our ancestor, S0040 Joseph Sheldon in the Sheldon numbering system. Other Suffield Ancestors Click your Back button to return to the page you just left to get here.