The English Settlement of Black Rock: Puritans, Pequonnocks, Uncoways

Most if not all were Puritans, who left Concord due to the high tax imposed for providing two ministers, and the favorable accounts they had heard from other pioneers who had earlier gone westward to the colony known as Connecticut. Almost one-eighth of the population of the Concord settlement came, led by the Reverend John Jones, who soon became Fairfield’s first minister. Among the dozen or so families who came were Wheelers, Turneys, Bennetts, Middlebrooks and Odells, families whose names are scattered throughout early history books and remain a part of many area Fairfield area towns to this day. Thomas Wheeler Sr., who may have come to Fairfield earlier, settled alone with his family on “Shipharbour Creeke”, near the cove now known as Brewster Cove and Burr Creek in Black Rock Harbor. Others in the group settled across the Shipharbour in Greenlea, Pequonnock, Stratfield and in the village of Fairfield, especially on the west side of Ash Creek. Living in crudely built shelters called cellars - until able to build their first homes, the colonists relied on the sea for food and early trading. They went about clearing land for homelots and farms, settling into life under a strict code of law in a puritan settlement, living in sometimes constant fear of attack by the Dutch or various tribes of Native Americans, while under the rule of an English king.

  
Farming was a challenge with the long hard winters and short growing season, but the early farmers soon prospered with land grants of acres to be improved. They set about raising livestock and soon had plentiful crops to trade as the early Shipharbour port of the Wheeler’s slowly grew into a major trading port for both coastal and West Indies markets, as well as a shipbuilding center. 

In 1644 a group of Concord, Massachusetts Puritans, seeking favorable new lands and lower taxes, arrived at the 5-year-old settlement of Fairfield. Led by the Rev. John Jones, who became their first minister, the group included roughly a dozen families -- Wheelers, Turneys, Bennetts, Middlebrooks, and Odells -- whose names pepper early history books and whose descendants still live in the area today. One sole family, headed by Thomas Wheeler Sr., chose to build their home on isolated "Shipharbour Creeke," which eventually became known as Black Rock harbor. The rest settled further east, in Greenlea or Pequonnock, or further north in Stratfield, or in Fairfield center itself. Living in crudely built shelters until they could erect proper homes, the newcomers relied on the sea for food and early trading while clearing land for home lots and farms. They lived under the strict code of Puritan law, in fear of God and the Indian nations whose land they soon coveted.  

1644-1681 LIVING AMONG THE PEQUONNOCKS AND THE UNCOWAYS 

Long before the English arrived, the Pequonnocks and Uncoways called Black Rock home. Coexistence was sometimes peaceful, with Indians occasionally working for the English settlers for wages. At other times, colonists lived in fear, with troopers, guards, and local militia offering protection until as late as 1724. The Indians' disgruntlement was understandable -- they'd lost much of their land in 1638 when Hartford's General Court granted it to the English. Settlers said the Indians sold them additional land later, but no deeds were ever recorded before 1656, and the thorniest land disputes generally involved fields the Indians had long ago cleared and still used for planting. The last of the Indian land in Black Rock was the "Old Fort" -- near today's intersection of Fairfield Avenue and Ellsworth Street -- which local Indians built for protection against more warlike tribes. In 1681 the Indians abandoned the fort in exchange for an 80-acre reservation on Golden Hill, near today's Bridgeport City Hall. 

1649 BLACK ROCK'S FIRST SETTLER BUILDS ON "SHIPHARBOUR CREEKE" 

Five years after arriving, Thomas Wheeler Sr. built a fortified stone house on a rise of ground overlooking what eventually became the nucleus of Fairfield's deep-water port, Black Rock. The house was surrounded on three sides by water, on the point of land next to what is now called Brewster Cove. A cautious man, Wheeler mounted two cannons on his sturdy plank roof, one pointed down the harbor toward the Sound, to protect against an imagined invasion by the Dutch, the other pointed north toward the Indian fort at the head of Shipharbour Creeke. For three generations the English settlers there consisted almost exclusively of Wheelers and their extended families. His descendants farmed, built and captained ships, traded along the coast and with the West Indies. They were soldiers, military officers, land developers, politicians, and owners of local industries.  

1653 GOODWIFE KNAPP HANGED FOR WITCHCRAFT  

Few people are aware that the Connecticut Colony's witch panic -- the first in the New World -- was fierce and remarkably deadly. Connecticut hanged the New World's first convicted witch in 1647, and six of the first seven people charged with witchcraft in the colony were convicted. The victims included Fairfield's Goodwife Knapp, who was publicly hanged as a witch at Try's Field in Black Rock, near today's intersection of Fairfield Avenue and Ellsworth Street. Among Knapp's judges were two leading citizens, Roger Ludlow, a deputy governor and one of the founders of the state, and the Rev. John Davenport, a founder of New Haven. Accused on the basis of hearsay, Goody Knapp refused her judges' demands that she accuse others of witchcraft: "I must not render evil for evil... I have sins enough already."   

1676 HOW BLACK ROCK GOT ITS NAME 

The first use of the name Black Rock is found in 1676 town records, when Sgt. John Wheeler was given permission to build a "wharfe at the blacke rocke." The name is said to come from the heavy dark ledge of rock that runs through much of the land and shoreline, with evidence still visible in many cellars of the oldest buildings. 

1676 FIRST WHARF BUILT ON SHIPHARBOR CREEK BY JOHN WHEELER 

Sgt. John Wheeler owned most of Grover's Hill and the original family homestead and port through inheritance from his father, Thomas. Sgt. John added to his holdings until he owned well over 1,000 acres. Sgt. John, his son Lt. John, and his grandson Capt. Ichabod -- the first shipwright of Black Rock -- were responsible for developing the seaport harbor into a lively trading port. Black Rock was one of the few Connecticut villages established as a trading center, where the residents were primarily seafaring families for more than two centuries. Wheelers eventually owned all of Black Rock and beyond, to the harbor of Bridgeport. 

EARLIEST WEST INDIES TRADE BEGINS 

British Navigation Acts enacted in the mid-17th century led directly to trade between Black Rock and the West Indies. The acts enabled England to collect extensive duties in the colonies to fill English coffers. Banned from direct trade with European markets, the colonists worked around the law by trading with the colonies of the British West Indies. Black Rock took full advantage of the loophole, and the harbor became the chief port for all Fairfield vessels trading there. This trade opened a market where local farmers could sell their crops and livestock, and shipbuilders and harbor workers could flourish. It ensured wealth not only for Black Rock village but for Fairfield and surrounding towns.