Topics related to Burnt Hill Park
1. The Land and the Glacier
The story of Burnt Hill begins about 600 million years ago. You are standing at the bottom of the Iapetus Ocean, a vast shallow sea that is home to a variety of soft-bodied organisms. These were the first complex life forms on Earth, many anchored to the ocean floor, others resembling sponges, jellyfish and worms. Between 230 million and 160 million years ago the super continent of Pangea was formed, squeezing the Iapetus Ocean and compressing the ocean floor. All the organic material, mud and stone were pushed about five miles below the surface, creating a distinctive metamorphic bed rock called Hebron Gneiss. As Pangea slowly expanded again, Dinosaurs ruled the land, ending with their dramatic extinction about 65 million years ago. When the continents drifted apart, the Atlantic Ocean came into existence and Hebron Gneiss bedrock rose back to the surface. Perhaps most importantly to the landscape we see today, a series of Ice Ages gripped the planet about 2.4 million years ago. Through at least 17 different events, glaciers expanded and contracted from the north. The Last Glaciation Period began about 100,000 years ago and the Laurentide Ice Sheet pushed across Canada, New York and New England. By 25,000 years ago the area where you are standing was covered with over a mile of glacial ice. Burnt Hill would have been much taller before the glaciers arrived, but was reduced to its current height as the glacier moved south to Long Island Sound. As the Ice Sheet receded it left behind evidence of its presence, sand, gravel, loose stones, and clay. Over millennia each spring brought forth new plant life. While each fall this plant life died back and became rich soil.
2 A new animal species arrives
About 9,500 years ago, the area we now call Burnt Hill witnessed the arrival of a new species—humans. These early visitors to Hebron are now called Paleoindians and may have first arrived at a time when the last glaciers were melting and mastodons roamed the land. These Indigenous groups lived in small, mobile groups hunting both small and large animals including caribou, fish, fowl, and reptiles. Wetland plant tubers supplemented their diet. The earliest evidence that Paleoindians visited Hebron comes from a spear point found on Burnt Hill dating to about 9, 500 years ago -4900 years before the Great Pyramids at Giza, Egypt were built. Interestingly, this spear point is not made of local stone. It was fashioned chert coming from the Hudson River Valley about 130 miles away. Burnt Hill has had a continuous human presence for over 9,500 years making it unique in Connecticut.
As the climate began to warm, the megafauna disappeared and were replaced moose, muskrats, and beavers. Nut trees began to appear in the forest that covered Hebron and provided a steady source of food. Deer, turkey and bears appeared as the climate continued to warm. Burnt Hill became a seasonal habitation site where a small group would return to it each year. Given its high elevation Burnt Hill may have been Burnt Hill may have served at this time as a common meeting place for other small groups to trade, celebrate, and exchange information.
By 2700 years ago, when ancient Greece was at its height, Hebron was heavily wooded. To allow for ease in hunting, the forest floor was burned over yearly, giving rise to the name Burnt Hill. About 1000 years ago, at the time of the Middle Ages in Europe, the bow and arrow were invented, as well as simple agriculture based on corn, beans, and squash, traditionally known as the “Three Sisters”.
At the time English settlers arrived in Connecticut, Indigenous people were engaged in wide scale trade networks for raw material for stone tools. This network was refocused on beaver skins for European hats as the English and Dutch traded along the Connecticut River. European diseases greatly reduced the Indigenous population. Hostilities between Europeans and Indigenous People resulted in the devastating Pequot War (1636-1638). Indigenous People did survive war, disease, and slavery. Settlement on Burnt Hill was relatively late taking place in the 1760’s probably due to Indigenous People continuing to use some of the land for seasonal planting.
3 War leads to Slavery in Early Connecticut
Slavery was deeply rooted in Connecticut’s past. Connecticut was one of the first New England colonies to institute slavery and the last to abolish it. Throughout the colonial period Connecticut’s economy was based on slavery.
Just 4 years after Wethersfield, Hartford and Windsor were settled, in 1637 war with the Pequot nation provided Connecticut settlers with more slaves than the economy could bear. As a result, Indigenous slaves were shipped to the West Indies. Opening the door to a lucrative exchange that brought sugar, molasses from which rum was distilled, and eventually African slaves to coastal Connecticut. After King Phillips War in 1675 which pitted the Wampanoag, Nipmuc, and Narragansett tribes against the settlers and Mohegan, the balance of trade with the West Indies shifted to Connecticut colony supply timber, firewood, foodstuffs and livestock to the West Indies in return for sugar products and African slaves. By the 18th century New London County had one of the highest populations of enslaved people in New England. One out of every two horses in the West Indies originated in Connecticut.
Hebron was settled in the early 1700’s. Settlers purchased farm land and work it themselves. However, clearing the landscape of trees for fields had a detrimental effect upon the land. Over the centuries, fallen leaves, branches and other vegetation turned into rich soil on the forest floor. Cutting down trees and plowing the newly created fields resulted in erosion of the soil during the winter. As a result, by the mid 1700’s, stones that had been buried under the rich carpet of top soil were exposed and had to be removed. This caused many Hebron families to emigrate from Hebron to virgin farmland in northern New England and New York. Wealthy individuals like the Gilbert and Peters family used this as an opportunity to create larger farms or plantations. Slave labor provided a relatively inexpensive way to remove stones and export crops and livestock. In 1774, Hebron had 52 African Americans, mostly likely enslaved, in a town with 2225 residents.
By 1800, Hebron was the most prosperous town in Tolland County, much of this wealth created by African American labor. Although the new state of Connecticut would not abolish slavery until 1848, just 13 years before the Civil War, many slave holders manumitted their slaves after the Revolutionary War. In 1800, Hebron only recorded 4 enslaved people with 68 free African Americans. African Americans living close to Hebron Center, found ready employment by prosperous gentlemen farmers. Earning a living wage, they were able to live in a middle-class lifestyle. However, free African American labor was generally viewed as a threat to White laborers in Connecticut. Although previously some African Americans had been able to vote, Connecticut’s new constitution limited voting rights to White males, making free African Americans second class citizens.
John Thompson Peters who lived at Burnt Hill Park was instrumental in trying to alleviate White prejudice by considering creating a modern country inhabited only by African Americans. His efforts were part of the American Colonization Society, a plan to relocate formerly enslaved people back to Africa. Although the plan was supported by Presidents Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson and Lincoln, the initiative met with little success. John Thompson Peters and his cousin Governor John S. Peters were influential in establishing the American Colonization Society in Connecticut. One of Governor Peters’ medical students Ezekiel Skinner of Marlborough established the African nation of Liberia. Unfortunately, not all Connecticut voters were as supportive of emancipation. Connecticut voters were not strong supporters of Lincoln and the Civil War, in part because cotton mills dominated its economy and was reluctant to ratify the 13th Amendment that ended slavery.
Although Hebron had the largest free African American population in 1850, the development of railroads after the Civil War impoverished New England with cheap produce and livestock being shipped from the American West. In the years after the Civil War, Hebron’s Black and White farmer population dwindled. By the early 20th century only one or two African Americans lived in town. WWII brought greater prosperity and the advent of affordable automobiles turned Hebron from a farming town into a suburban community. Although the GI Bill benefit more Whites than African Americans, by the latter 20th century African Americans whose ancestors had emigrated from the American South during the Great Migration began to settle in Hebron’s suburbs creating a new role for African Americans in Hebron’s history.
4 The attempted sale of Cesar Peters’ Family
The ink was hardly dry on the newly written American Constitution with the American Bill of Rights yet to be added when on September 27, 1787 a band of armed men including two of Hebron’s leading citizens John Mann and his son Dr. Nathaniel Mann, entered the home of Cesar Peters determined to apprehend and sell his entire family to retire their personal debts to their relative Rev. Samuel Peters. Cesar Peters’ owner, the Rev Samuel Peters, had been attacked by several mobs of the patriotic Sons of Liberty in 1774, eight months before shots were fired at Lexington and Concord. Rev. Peters was forced to abandon his sizeable plantation in Hebron and flee. He would spend the rest of his life trying to regain payment for what he had abandoned. Meanwhile those he left behind would feel the ramifications of the “shot heard round the world”.
Connecticut government passed from being a colony to becoming a state in the new United States under the leadership of Governor Jonathan Trumbull, a remarkable feat of political acumen and manipulation. Both Governor Trumbull, and John Hancock, offered a cash reward for apprehending Rev Peters as an enemy of freedom. Rev. Peters arrival in London caused a political stir in the months before July 4, 1776. In 1777, Rev. Peters’ real estate was confiscated and rented out by the newly established State of Connecticut. Yet, despite the cause of liberty being advocated by the former American colonies, the State of Connecticut refused to free the slaves of Rev. Peters. Other Connecticut Loyalist had their slaves freed, but not in the case of Rev. Peters’ slaves. Instead, the State of Connecticut chose to turn Cesar Peters and Pomp Mundo’s families off of the farms on which they worked with no provisions for their welfare. Out of charity widow Abigail Peters, wife of Rev. Peters’ brother Jonathan, allowed Cesar Peters family to live in an abandoned blacksmith shop on her property in 1783, now Burnt Hill Park. After the end of the American Revolution Cesar Peters continued to tend to improve his owner’s property in Hebron.
However, in the mean-time, Rev. Peters’ nephew Dr. Nathaniel Mann traveled to Great Britain in 1786 to finish his medical studies and to borrow using Rev. Peters’ London credit to set himself up as a merchant in the newly formed United States. Rampant inflation soon caused his mercantile venture to fail, but having his uncle’s power of attorney, Dr. Nathaniel Mann and his father John Mann chose to break the law and sell Cesar Peters’ family to retire their debts, even though at least two of the children had been born free.
Cesar Peters’ family was rescued by his Burnt Hill neighbors who created an illegal bill of sale for mended clothing that Cesar Peters had left behind. Thus, preventing the family from being separated on the auction block. The Selectmen of Hebron returned to Hebron with Cesar Peters’ family, but took no legal action to free them. Instead, Cesar Peters’ family was indentured to Elijah Graves for two years
This is usually where the narrative of Cesar Peters’ family ends. Yet in many ways it is only the beginning. Cesar Peters made an impression upon the people he met.
Cesar Peters account of the attempted abduction
From Kenneth Cameron The Correspondence of Loyalist Samuel Peters: An Inventory of Additions. Hartford; Transcendental Books, 1985 ( source cited by Bruce Clouette in 2007 Report!
Ceasar and Lois (Samuel Peters’s Negro Servants) Nov. 5, 1787 at Hebron, Conn
To Samuel Peters, London
“Cesar begs forgiveness for importuning Samuel Peters, but he must report the barbarous treatment accorded him by Samuel Peters’ agents and wishes to defend his conduct. Says Nathaniel Mann was the principal agent in the affair, for several weeks negotiating with a David Prior, of South Carolina, who made large profits from buying up Northern servants and selling them as Southern slaves. “Nathaniel Mann & …Prior came to the house where I live towards the evening … in September Last bringing with them a Wagon and Horses and nine or Ten Men that were Ruffians armed with clubs and staves … to take me and my family and Carry us off” Says while engaged in his daily labor and innocent of them, they were suddenly seized and overpowered – and bound in irons. The cries of the children rose while they were tossed into the wagon with some household furniture and driven southward in a great hurry all that night, suffering from both the cold air, the unkind treatment, and the thought of the auction block in South Carolina – the separation of the family and the lashes of the taskmasters. Then Providence interposed, a number of Hebron (SP’s friends and well wishers), organizing themselves in the dead of night, set out in pursuit, overtaking the wagon at daybreak, rescuing the victims, and returning them to their house in Hebron. If Samuel Peters ordered such a procedure, says he is sorry, but hopes to the contrary. Says he has not grown evil in his morals (as some enemies might report) but continues to serve Samuel Peters’ interest. Says he would rejoice to hear from Samuel Peters.
5 The narrative after the attempted abduction of Cesar Peters’ family
According to his neighbors Cesar Peters was intelligent, trustworthy, diligent and resourceful. After September of 1787, he was able to put these talents to work for himself rather than for his owner. Through the intervention of his Burnt Hill neighbors, he had been able to keep his family together – one of the biggest threats of considering African Americans as property rather than as people. Cesar Peters was resilient and with his new found freedom, he was not content to let matters lie. While under the protective custody of Elijah Graves, he recruited the help of Hebron’s educated elite to bring legal charges against his abductors. Receiving his freedom in 1789, he moved to Colchester where he brought a legal suit against those most responsible for trying to separate and sell his family. Both Dr. Nathaniel Mann and his father John Mann expressed their fears in a letter to Rev. Peters that Cesar Peters would ruin them when he won his case for 1000 pounds against them. They clearly realized how illegally they had acted.
Cesar Peters withdrew his case at the last moment. History does not record if a settlement was made with the Manns out of court. Cesar Peters moved to Tolland where the last of his children were born and where his wife Lois died in childbirth. Although Cesar and his sons worked diligently to earn money, Cesar needed a domestic partner and while living in Tolland he married a widow named Sim. The family then moved to Coventry.
In 1806, Cesar Peters with $186 in hand purchased the two-story home of his former abductor John Mann. This daring act of retribution met with no complaint from his Hebron neighbors. In fact, Cesar Peters live peacefully side by side with the brother of John Mann until the end of his life.
In 1806, Hebron center was developing as lawyers, doctors and members of the clergy built houses around the Green which was transformed from public waste land to a more gentrified appearance. Cesar Peters and his family found work by farming and providing domestic assistance for the families living around the Green. In this economic niche, Cesar Peters and other African American families from other towns who joined him in Hebron prospered. By July 4th, 1814 when Cesar Peters died, his house was furnished with same goods as his Yankee neighbors – a set of chairs, 8 wine glasses, tea equipment and a set of china. Upon his death, Cesar Peters’ estate was inventoried and his debts paid. Unlike many of his fellow Yankee neighbors, Cesar Peters’ estate was far from insolvent. He left behind enough financial resources to care for his widow.
6 The Legacy of Cesar Peters
What then can we say about the life of Cesar Peters?
Clearly, he was a victim of racial prejudice and the institution of slavery which was legal in all colonies of North and South America in the 1700’s whereby the color of one’s mother’s skin determined whether one was free or enslaved.
He was separated from his mother at an early age (8-10 years old). However, in his own life he was able to keep his own family from being separated and sold.
Cesar Peters possessed the charismatic skills of intelligence, diligence, and honesty, but as indicated by his decision to marry Lois was willing to test the boundaries of the society around him.
While well- respected by his owners and neighbors, he was a victim of state and national government. The Hebron Selectmen who had refused to free Cesar Peters’ fellow slave Pomp Mundo in 1775, only acted on Cesar Peters’ behalf under pressure from Burnt Hill neighbors.
Cesar Peters had a sense of equity and was not content to let either John Mann or Dr. Nathaniel Mann sell his family for their own gain. Cesar Peters recruited the help of Hebron’s legal elite to help him challenge his abductors in court once he was manumitted by the Connecticut Assembly.
Had Cesar Peters continued his court action in 1790 as Elizabeth Freeman (Mum bett) had in Massachusetts in 1780, Connecticut probably would have abolished slavery much sooner than 1848.
Once freed from the stigma of slavery, Cesar Peters’ story reads like a Horatio Alger tale. Despite the prejudice of his day, despite the fact that neither he nor his family had political rights, Cesar Peters prospered, was accepted by his neighbors and won a spot in the hearts of those who knew him best. Cesar Peters’ family would continue to have a role and connection with Hebron over the next two centuries.
7 Cesar Peters’ Family Tree
Children of Cesar and Lois Peters -- 2nd Generation
James born 1771
Theodorus born 1773 m Roxanna _____
Ira born 1776 m____Marietta Peters
Sally born 1778 m_________Morgan
Susannah born 1780 m _________Fitch
Ziba born 1783 m Hosea Worthington
Lois born 1785 m _Williams or --__Freeman
Cesar born 1787 m Lucinda ____
Henry born 1788 m Lydia Adams
Louisa born 1793 m _Williams or __Freeman
8 Ira Peters (perhaps the son of James Peters) Family
3rd Generation
C 1808-1868
Married Marietta Peters 1833
Their children
George S. born 1833 m 1 Sarah Hempstead d 1905
2 Lucinda Browm
John O. born c1837 m Mary L. Deming d 1879
Laura born c1840 m George Phillips
Olivia born c1843 m Daniel Patterson
Antoinette born c1852 m ___Bell
9 George Sylvester Peters Family
3rd Generation
?-- 1905
Married 1) Sarah Hempstead 2) Lucinda Brown
Their children
Martha born 1872 m 1) Frederick Carter
2)Ernest Keuswill
Mary born 1874 m Frederick Taylor
Joseph W born 1876 d 1879
Arthur N born 1878 m Maria Thompson
George S born 1880 d 1890
Bertha born 1882
Edith born 1885 m Edgar Freeman d 1890
Carrie born 1888 m 1) Franklin Peters d 1919
2) Alpheus Morgan
Carl born 1888 m Rose Litchfield d 1931
Mary born 1896
10 John O. Peters, son of Ira and Marietta Peters Family
3rd Generation
C 1837-1879
Married Mary L. Deming 1863
Their children
Mary Ann born 1864 m Lyman Barber Jr
Amelia M born 1866
Frederick A born 1871
Lucy W. born c 1875 d 1879
11 Cesar Peters, son of Cesar and Lois Peters Family
3rd Generation
1787- ?
Married Lucinda ____
Their children
George ?
Wilson ? m Marie Williams
Leverett born 1822
Sidney born 1826 d 1861
Melissa born 1828
12 Leverett Peters, son of Cesar Jr and Lucinda Peters Family 4th Generation
1822—1888
Married 1) Maria Miranda /Morandus
2) Jane Brown
Their children
George born 1844 d 1864
Henry born 1846 d 1862
Franklin born 1848 m Letitia _____ d 1893
Sarah Ann born 1850 d 1870
Adeline born 1852 d 1870
Allen born 1855
Edwin S. born 1858
Albert born 1860
13 Edwin S. Peters, son of Leverett and Maria Peters Family
5 Generation
1858-1927
Married Anna Maria Whitfield 1876
Their children
Bertha born 1877
Walter born 1878
Franklin born 1880 m Carrie Peters
Malcolm born 1882
Female child born 1885
Edwin F. born 1889 m Bessie Spellman d 1924
Male child born 1892
14 Henry Peters, son of Cesar and Lois Peters Family
2nd Generation
1788-1886
Married Lydia Adams 1813
Their children
Horace born c1815 m Almira Russell d 1881
Henry born c1818 m Emily Russell d 1893
Marietta born c1818 m Edward Soto d 1883
Caroline born c1818 m Lyman Barber
John born c1832 m 1) Ann ___
2) Lillian ___
Emily A. born c1833 m Arthur Dingle d 1888
Child born 1834
15 Henry Peters, son of Henry and Lydia Adams Peters Family
3rd Generation
C1818-1893
Married Emily Russell 1843
Their children
Mary Jane born c 1847
Horace born 1849 m Almira Russell d 1873
Frances A. born 1852 d 1867
Female child born 1855 d 1855
Clarissa born c1855 d 1904
Daniel born 1858
16 Horace Peters, son of Henry and Emily Russell Peters Family
4th
1849-1873
Married Almira Russell
Their child
Sylvester G. born c 1864
17 Pomp Mundo’s narrative
The narrative of Pomp Mundo is all too familiar in the narratives of enslaved African Americans in New England. New Englanders preferred to acquire young African Americans who they raised in their own households. After a lifetime of work, elderly African Americans were given their freedom. Laws required former owners to provide support for manumitted African Americans, causing some African Americans to spend their entire lives in servitude.
Pomp Mundo or Mendo or Edgerton was purchased by Hezekiah Edgerton of Norwich when he was 15 years old. He remained enslaved to Edgerton until he was 34 years old. Working jobs outside of his servitude, Pomp Mundo saved up 68 pounds to purchase his freedom, but Edgerton refused to post security for Pomp Mundo if he could not support himself. Edgerton sold Pomp Mundo to Ozias Hawkins of Coventry in 1768. Hawkins was to received Pomp Mundo’s savings and manumit him, but refused to take responsibility for Pomp Mundo’s support if he could not support himself. Pomp Mundo was sold to the Rev. Samuel Peters of Hebron for 12 shillings who attempted to manumit him, but the Selectmen of Hebron including Rev. Peters’ older brother John Peters refused to recognize his manumission. Enslaved to Rev. Peters, Pomp Mundo married a woman named Rachel around 1774. The first of their 8 children was born in August of 1775.
When the Sons of Liberty drove Rev. Peters from Hebron in 1774 and subsequently rented out Rev. Peters holding, the new state government turned peters slaves off the property, but did not emancipate them. It is not known how or where Pomp Mundo’s family lived during the Revolutionary War. In 1783 Pomp Mundo rented some of Rev. Peters’ property, but could not pay the rent on it. When the Connecticut General Assembly emancipated Cesar peters’ family they also emancipated Pomp Mundo and presumably his family. The family moved to nearby Lebanon in 1790, but the Selectmen of Lebanon sent the family back to Hebron in 1792 when they could not support themselves. Rachel Mundo died in 1795. By 1796, Pomp Mundo was reported as working for Jedidiah P. Buckingham in Thetford, Vermont. And often spoke of Rev. Samuel peters “with tears in his eyes”. Pomp Mundo died in poverty sometime in the early 1820’s.
Pomp and Rachel Mundo’s children were
i. Hannah—b. 27 Oct 1775 (Hebron)
ii. Violet—b. 16 Mar. 1777 (Hebron)
iii. Eli—b. 24 Jan. 1779 (Hebron) infant death
iiia Ely—b. Jan 24, 1779 (Hebron)
iv. Rachel—b. 10 Nov. 1781 (Hebron)
v. George—b. ca 1782; d. 4 Feb. 1790 Lebanon; servant of Capt. N. Huntington (William Williams, Death Records)
vi. Eunice – b. Oct. 1783 (Hebron)
vii. Lucy—b. 10 Aug. 1785 (Hebron)
18 History of the Peters’ House
During the Revolutionary War Period, the Burnt Hill section of Hebron was widely divided on loyalty to the American cause. The property where Burnt Hill Park is located was the farm of Jonathan Peters which he sold to his brother Rev. Samuel Peters shortly before the Revolutionary War began. To the north of Burnt Hill Park was the farm of Bemslee Peters, brother to Jonathan and Rev. Samuel Peters. This farm was also purchased by Rev. Peters. Further north was the plantation of Samuel Gilbert, the largest slave owner in Hebron. His wife Deborah Champion Gilbert came from a Colchester family which supplied cattle to the starving American Troops at Valley Forge. To the east were two farms owned by Amos and Roger Phelps. Lieutenant Roger Phelps along with his 13 year old son marched to the siege of Boston after the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
Today, Burnt Hill Park is located in the center of Rev. Samuel Peters sizeable plantation that in 1774 included 7 houses, 9 barns, 5 cowhouses, Household furniture valued at 1298 pounds, Farming utensils valued at 378 pounds, Provisions at 1141 pounds and 2 enslaved families and livestock valued at 1316 pounds. As an Anglican minister, Samuel Peters offered prayers each Sunday for the British royal Family and supported the law and order of the British Empire, for which he was driven from Hebron by the Sons of Liberty in 1774.21 months before the Declaration of Independence was signed! With the men off to war, Rev. Peters’ mother and two sisters-in-law ran the plantation until it was rented out by the newly formed State of Connecticut.
Rev. Peters’ oldest brother John Peters was a colonel in the American Army, but his son, also named John, was a Lieutenant-colonel in the Queen’s own Loyal Rangers and died in London in 1798
It is not known how the wives and mothers of these men got along on Burnt Hill during the War.
What is known is unlike the Phelps family who returned to their farms after the war, none of the Peters who were Loyalists did. Rev. Peters spent the rest of his life trying to recoup a small part of his forfeited 28,000 pound property. Bemslee Peters remained estranged from his wife in Hebron and died in Kingston, Upper Canada in 1798. Jonathan Peters died behind British lines in 1778, having previously destroyed with his mother Rev. Peters’ deed to his property thus saving the property at Burnt Hill part from being confiscated as enemy property.
The Peters’ House that stands at Burnt Hill Park was greatly remodeled by Joseph Trumbull Burnham in 1804 as evidenced by Hebron tax records and records of Hebron Historian Charlotte Morgan Mann Phelps. At its core is the fact that not all American colonists supported taking up arms against Great Britain – an act they viewed as treasonous worthy of the death penalty.
19 Did Rev. Samuel Peters ever own the Burnt Hill Park Peters House?
Undated letter from Rev. Samuel Peters, Pimlico, London to Nathaniel Mann Hebron
Transcripts F.C. B (Bissell) 1907 in Archives of Bishops Room 46 Church Missions House , 281 Fourth Avenue, New York City
“N.B. One thing I find possible as my sealed letter and keys for Mr. Birdseye were seized and opened – I suspect my deed from Jonathan Peters of his House and Land adjoin to Bemslee’s dated in 1773 acknowledged before David Barber and Witnesses Silas Owen and Bemslee Peters is lost and gone with other important papers between Jonathan and Mother Peters and myself – this purchase was made to procure money for his lawsuits against Horton and I advanced it to keep Capt. Gilbert from it. Keepe this matter close till further orders and find out what you can. I borrowed money from Uncle Josiah Man for Jonathan and left him the money to pay it --… if my deed is lost I shall bring forward a petition to the General Assembly by and by”
20 Evidence of an early 19th century renovation of an earlier structure
Fireplace analysis with Extracts from Hebron, Ct Tax Records
Town Office Building, Hebron, CT
Note 150 East Street currently has 4 fireplaces in main block (front section) of house and 2 fireplaces in the ell contrary
1789 -- Earliest Hebron Tax list with fireplaces listed
Jonathan Peters –Smoaks – o at 11/3: 1 at 7/6: 2 at 3/9
1790 0 at first rate, 1 at second rate, 2 at 3rd rate
1791 3 at the 3rd rate
1794 0 at 11/3 2 at 7/6 1 at 3/9
1795 0 at 11/3 : 3 at 7/6: 0 at 3/9
1796 3 fireplaces at 3/9
1797 3 fireplaces at 3rd rate
1800 3 fireplaces at 3rd rate
1801 3 fireplaces at 3rd rate
1802 3 fireplaces at 3rd rate
1803 3 fireplaces at 4th rate total assessment $ 239.03
1804 1 fireplace at 4th rate total assessment $236.02
1805 5 fireplaces at 2nd rate total assessment 184.44
1806 5 fireplaces at 2nd rate total assessment 213.31
1807 5 fireplaces at 2nd rate total assessment $230.89
1808 5 fireplaces at 2nd rate total assessment $236.50
1809 4 fireplaces at 2nd rate total assessment $210.58
1810 5 fireplaces at 2nd rate total assessment $221.63
1811 5 fireplaces at 2nd rate total assessment $310.90
Nota Bene – the house at Burnt Hill Park is listed from 1789-1803 as having 3 fireplaces and does so consistently until 1804 where there is only 1 fireplace listed at the 4th rate strongly suggesting that there were major revisions on the structure in that year, but that the structure dating from as early as 1789 was remodeled, but not torn down.
Issue – was the ell an earlier separate building attached to the main body of the house.
The north west corner post that supports the ell is a two story post rather than one story high which would be expected if the ell had ever been an earlier separate single-story structure.
Issue – who built the Jonathan Peter’s house?
New Information from the Notes of Charlotte Morgan Mann Phelps of Burnt Hill (c 1890-1920)
Charlotte Morgan Mann Phelps interview with her neighbor Griswold Burnham Jan 13, 1900
“Joseph T(rumbull) Burnham, father of Griswold (Burnham) built many of the large houses in Coventry, Colchester, Westchester, and Hebron as far as Ellington. He kept 18 – 22 apprentices. He built the George Peters house in Hebron (150 East St) and the Abbott House in Ellington.”
“Capt Joe Burnham built Ward Porter’s house and Judge Gilbert and the woodwork on Gov. Peter’s house”
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