Person:James Scovill (3)

James resided in Middletown until 1723, when he moved to Meriden, Wallingford. He built a house in Meriden at the foot of Mount Lamentation.

"On Colony street stood, until some ten or fifteen years ago, an old house known as the Eli Way place, which has been mentioned many times as opposite the Kensington Road. In the division of the Cole estate a tract of 50 acres was sold to Thomas Miles, blacksmith, in 1713. In every case when the Cole heirs sold a portion of their farm it was necessary for the purchaser to pay toll to Wallingford by buying her Indian right acquired from Adam Puit, so that the Cole title was not considered valid without buying Wallingford's title. Generally this secondary charge was paid by the Cole heirs. Thomas Miles was no exception to the rule and we find him buying or at least acquiring a secondary deed from Wallingford's commissioners. His north line abutted on the Belcher estate and the farm was on the Country road on the east side and the old Way house stood on this tract. That he lived on the farm is not probable for when he disposed of it in 1724 to James Scovill, of Middletown, no house is mentioned in the deed. But when Mr. Scovill sold the farm to Eden Burroughs in 1733, a dwelling house was included. As the Way house was very ancient in appearance it is possibly the one built by Mr. Scovill...

The first farms and houses on Colony street have now been located and it can be seen that the owners formed a community by themselves. Until 1728 the territory was not formally made a part of Wallingford, although paying taxes in that town. These farms were far away from Wallingford church and all the conveniences in that community, and the situation must have at times been irksome. On October 8, 1724, they presented the following petition to the General Court then assembled at New Haven:

The Humble petition of the Subscribers Humbly Sheweth

That we are under great disadvantages for want of a Pound nere ye Merriden or Stone House and are compelled to drive unruly Cattell nere 6 or 9 miles to ye nearest pound which if we had one nere it would save us a Great Deal of troble and we would carry the marks and brands of those Cattell impounded where the Law directs, to the next towns unless the Honorable assembly, would pleas to Constitute a man among us to Despose of Unruly Creatures as the Law directs.

Therefor your Humble Petitioners Pray that there may be order for a Pound near ye Meriden, or Stone House, and an officer to Despose of impounded Cattell and your Petitioners as in duty bound will Ever Pray

N. MerriamJ. Parsons N Merriam jrEleazer Aspinwall Wm MerriamJ. Merriam Jr. Timo FosterB. Foster J. RobinsonT. Andrews Thos. FosterD. Rich T. JerrumJ. Scofell

That this petition was granted cannot be learned.

North and east of the Hough property was the large farm of James Scovill. He came to Meriden as early as 1721 from Middletown, and for several generations the Scovill family was prominent and well known in Meriden, but the name has become extinct in this vicinity. The late Henry S. Wilcox and his son, Albert H. [clerk of the First Congregational Society], are descendants of this family. The Scovill houses have all disapeared, one or two of them by fire.

The highway leading to these Hough and Scovill farms, known now as Britannia street and Westfield road, was laid out in 1739. Wall street, which was also laid out in the same year, led from Liberty street to Hough's or Baldwin's Mill; both roads when laid out or adopted by the selectmen followed ancient paths."^[4]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Scovill, in Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1974)
   1599.

   "James (Scovill), b 25 Mar 1700 (Middletown), d 27 Mar 1788 æ. 88 (church record, First Congregational Society, Meriden); …"

2. ↑ Volume 070 Part 2 Middletown, in Connecticut, United States. Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920. (Ancestry.com (database on-line), 2013)
   502.

   "Scoville, … James, s. Hanna[h] (Summers) Scofield & James, bp. Aug. 3, 1701; his grandmother and grandfather Summers being mem. full communion at Stratford [1:25]"
   "Scoville, … James, [bp. or adm. com.] 3-6-1701 [August 3, 1701] [1:116]"

3. ↑ Gillespie, C. B. (Charles Bancroft), and George Munson Curtis. An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it: From earliest settlement to close of its first century of incorporation. A century of Meriden "The Silver city." Issued as the official souvenir history by authority of the general committee at the centennial celebration, June 10 to 16, 1906. (Meriden, Connecticut: Journal Publishing Co., 1906)
   p. 102, 103, 137, 139, 428.
4. ↑