Person:Moses Rowley (13)

“With some perspicacity, the General Assembly, studying the situation, ordered that the land be annexed to the town only with reference to town privileges and without passing the fee thereby.” This measure was passed in 1743. The lands were not surveyed until 1752 when Roger Sherman was appointed surveyor by the General Assembly. He and two chairmen took seventeen days to divide the 11,000 acres into 28 lots. Then an Act of 1853 ordered the sale of these lots at auction. Somehow Moses Rowley’s land was missed in the survey and (his land) was not sold with the rest in 1753-54. / At first Rowley probably used the Algur house, but after the 1748 land purchase, according to later deeds, he built a house and sawmill on the south side of the road on what is now the Preston Mountain Brook. Later in 1788, this was the site of the Converse forge. There’s no record of Rowley having a forge there. / “In 1769 he received an eviction order and petitioned plaintively against it. His memorial to the General Assembly pleads that Watson had purchased the land of the Nodines, April of 1748. He had entered upon and made improvements and built a sawmill supposing he had good title and other buildings.” A committee investigated and satisfied itself that what Rowley alleged was true. They recommended that he receive a grant to include his sawmill. The General Assembly approved and the grant was formalized in 1769. Moses had further trouble. In 1771, it was charged that he had deceived the Assembly and that the land granted him had been represented to be small in comparison to what it really was. After two more investigations, Moses was ordered to appear in New Haven ‘to say why the grant should not be declared void.’ Moses admitted to 900 acres. If this was smaller than the actual land claimed he was really gambling on obscurity. The General Assembly records show no disposition of the case but Kent Records show he became a public charge so that the grant probably had been rescinded. / “Whereas the subscribers, selectmen of the town of Kent have inspected into the affairs of Moses Rowlee of Kent and find he is guilty of poor husbandry and mismanagement in his business and is thereby in great damage of wasting his estate, we do therefor appoint Abraham Fuller to be overseer over said Moses Rowlee to order and direct him in the management of his business until the selectmen of Kent aforesaid shall give further order. Justice of the Peace also Feb. 25, 1771 / Town Clerk’s Office Kent / Just previous to this problem with the Assembly, Moses had sold 150 acres to Peter Pratt, July 2, 1770. This tract included the gorge with the waterpower of Macedonia Brook with extensive acreage up to the top of Fuller Mountain. Pratt held this for three years and apparently started an iron works on the brook. He sold the property to Hendrik Winegar of Amenia Union in Dutchess County, New York in 1773. (Winegar had built the big brick house still standing in Amenia and had a large farm there. The family had originally come from the German Palatinate, expelled by the king and helped by Queen Anne of England to this country, they settled in Northeast and Germantown in New York State. They were millers and ironworkers as well as farmers.)

1. ↑ Moses, son Moses Jr & Martha, b Sept 5, 1713 - Colchester Vital Records from East Haddam, CT - dunhamwilcox.net
2. ↑ Some say he died in Richmond, Massachusetts but there is no death record there for him -- it's possible that he lived in the part that was Lenox The town of Richmond, Berkshire County, was established June 21, 1765, under the name of Richmont, from a new plantation calledd Yokum Town and Mount Ephraim. February 26, 1767, part was established as the district of Lenox. April 24, 1772, certain estates were set off from Lenox to Richmont. March 3, 1785, the name of Richmont was changed to Richmond.
   or
   He may be one of the two Moses Rowleys in the 1790 census in New York -- one in Hillsdale, Columbia, New York, the other in Freehold, Albany, New York although it's hard to tell -- both had a male under 16 living with them but an elderly Moses could have had a grandson living with him.
   NOTE: It seems to me more likely that he stayed in the area of the land he'd fought for so long to keep.
3. ↑ Moses Rowley managed to acquire most of the Macedonia Valley, continuing to add to his holdings on the other side of the river at a rapid rate. The 2,300-acre Macedonia Brook State Park, originated with a 1,552-acre gift from the White Memorial Foundation of Litchfield in 1918.
4. ↑ His younger siblings after that year were all born in East Haddam
5. ↑ November 15, 1737, in Scaticook, New Haven County, on the west side of the great river in Kent, Samuel Algur, of Scaticook, sold a part of his possessions to Moses Rowley of Sharon, Conn., which land Samuel Algur had owned with William Castle. - Kent Land records, Vol. 1, p. 381
   NOTE: This is odd though because Sharon didn't even exist then -- lots weren't put up for sale in the township until October of 1738 and no Rowleys are on the list of the original purchasers. (The only early settler named Rowley was named Jonathan.)
6. ↑ Moses Rowley (or Rowlee) of Sharon must have had some information as to what the land offered [possible beds of iron], for he acquired almost the whole of Macedonia in a fairly legitimate fashion. At least he paid someone for what he acquired.
   also
   . . . for £700 in bills of credit old tenor, Rowley bought from Samuel Algur “1/2 part of the land Samuel Algur and William Castle bought of Joseph and William Hart of Farmington November 17, 1739, before Joseph Hooker, Justice of the Peace.” On the first map of Kent the Algur Grant is shown on the west side of our Kent Bridge. As of 1989, it followed the road northwest and along the ridge of the mountain on the north side of the road about three quarters of the way to Eads corner. - (kenthistoricalsociety.org), excerpts from that society's book, Iron Fever
7. ↑ On February 19, 1743/4, he bought a tract of land from Samuel and Rebecca Algur for £30 containing a small dwelling, called the Algur “home lot” which Obadiah Hawley of Stratford had given to Rebecca Algur (his daughter) by deed executed April 17, 1732, recorded in the first book of Records of Sharon. - (kenthistoricalsociety.org), excerpts from that society's book, Iron Fever
8. ↑ child registered as being born in Kent that day
   NOTE: They might have been one of the early purchasers -- or they bought from someone who was, since lots had begun selling just eight years earlier. (On the first Tuesday in March 1737, at 1 pm -- when land on the east bank of the Housatonic was auctioned off at the Colony courthouse in Windham.
9. ↑ Five years later, May 10, 1748, Rowley added a very large tract purchased from Robert Watson of Stratford. This joined the Algur tract on the south, went to the “York Line on the west, up Fuller Mt. road to the crest of the hill then again west to the York Line.” This covered a large chunk at the beginning of what is Macedonia Park and included the gorge of the Macedonia Brook. This large tract had been acquired by Robert Watson of Stratford (with Benjamin Hollister and Henry Stevenson) the month before, April of 1748, for £200 with a lease for 999 years from Captain Maheu, Keft Sawmill Cokenes, Jobe Mahew, John Anteney, Thomas Suknes, and John Sokenes, Indians of Nodine Hollow. - KentHistoricalSociety.org from that society's book, Iron Fever
   also
   At a General Assembly of the Governor and Company of His Majesty's English Colony of Connecticut in New England in America, Holden at Hartford in Said Colony on the Second Thursday of May, and Continuted by Several Adjournments Until the Eight Day of June Next Following, Annoque Domini 1769 . . . Moses Rowley, of Kent in the county of Litchfield, shewing to this Assembly that the said Rowley on the 10th day of May, 1748, for the consideration of one hundred pounds money of the old tenour, purchased a tract of land of one Robert Watson of the Province of New York, which tract said Watson had purchased of the Indians &c., said tract contains by estimation about nine hundred acres, on which land the said Rowley entered in the year 1748, and hath continued there ever since, paying his rates and other duties arising on his improvements, and ever supposed that he had honestly purchased of the Indian title to said land, and also built a saw-mill on said land, and laid out his whole substance thereone, and always supposed himself safe, until the Assembly at their sessions in October las gave order that the said Rowley should be ejected off from said land, which if insisted on would deprive him of all his estate and subject him to public charge &c.; praying that this Assembly would grant some part of the premises, vis.: his said saw-mill and improvements and buildings &c. as per memorial on file: Resolved by this Assembly, that Majr Bushnel Bostwick and Thomas Russel, Esq. Be a committee to enquire into the circumstances of the affair above set forth, and report the same with their opinion thereon of what they shall think just and equitable to this or the next Assembly. - The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut 1636-1766
10. ↑ The townspeople of Kent began to realize the potential of what was being squirreled away by Rowley and others, and petitioned the General Assembly to annex all the lands into the town. The General Assembly promptly ordered that the land in question be annexed, surveyed, and sold off by lots. Colony Surveyor Roger Sherman arrived in 1752 and divided the acreage into twenty-eight lots, somehow missing Rowley’s land in the process. Initially escaping detection, Rowley managed to tangle with the General Assembly periodically after that, finally petitioning for a grant to the land. The grant was given in 1769, but in 1771 it was charged that Rowley had, like Fuller and Lassell before him, deceived the assembly by understating the actual amount of land in his holdings, and two major investigations ensued. - KentHistoricalSociety.org
11. ↑ Grand list . . . Moses Rowley £39 - History of Kent, Connecticut, Including Biographical Sketches of Many of its Present or Former Inhabitants (OpenLibrary.org), Francis Atwater, The Journal Publishing Co, Meriden, 1897, p 24
12. ↑ Third Company -- Jehosaphat Starr [of Middletown], Major and Captain/ Nationaliel Porter of Mansfield, First Lieutenant / Timohy Heirlehy [of Middletown Second Lieutenant . . . A Muster Roll of Major Jehosaphat Starr's Company with the Time of Their Inlistment Dead Captivated Discharged and Deserted Weeks and Days in Service with the Intire Wages 1756 [list] . . . Moses Rowley [Time of Inslistment] April 7 / May 8 Deserted - Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (Archive.org), by Connecticut Historical Society. 1860, Volume 9, p 115
    NOTE: Two other men from the same Company deserted the same day: Benjamin Strong and John Keeney. There were no other desertions on any other days in this regiment during this enlistment period. It was suggested by one researcher that he deserted because maybe his wife had just died, but the two other desertions seem to undermine that possible explanation unless they deserted to accompany him home..
    NOTE: There are unsubstaintiated claims that he was in the Second Connecticut militia and participated in battles in or near Lake George, Ft. Ticonderoga, Crown Point, New York, and Montreal -- but that may just be assumptions/extrapolation from his other military service.
13. ↑ At a General Assembly of the Governor and Company of His Majesty's English Colony of Connecticut in New England in America, Holden at New Haven in Said Colony on the Second Thursday of October, and Continuted by Several Adjournments Until the Third Day of November Next Following, Annoque Domini 1769 . . . Upon the memorial of Moses Rowley, of Kent in the country of Litchfield, shewing to this Assembly that on the tenth day of May, A.D. 1748, he had purchased a tract of land lying on the west side of Ousatunuck River in said Ken, for a valuable consideration, of one Robert Watson of the Province of New York, which the said Watson had before purchased of the natives, and that he, said Rowley in the year 1748 had entered upon said tract of land and made large improvements thereon and built a saw-mill on the same and paid the rates and taxes arising on such improvements, supposing he had a good title to the same &c. praying to have some part of said tract, at least his improvements together with said buildings, granted and confirmed to him by this Assembly ; upon which memorial a committee was appointed with full power to examine into the premises and their report to make of what thye find therein with their opinion thereon ; which committee having made their report to this Assembly in which they find that said Rowley in the year 1748, as set forth in said memorial, did make a purchase of said tract of land and has lived thereon ever since, and has built a saw-mill on the same, and has constantly paid his rates arising on said improvements, and other things as set forth in said memorial, and also gave their opinion thereon, that the said Moses Rowley ought in justice to have so much of said land as is contained in the following bounds, viz: beginning at the northwest corner of a tract of land called Alger's grant, from thence running due west to the Colony line, from thence running in said Colony line so far north as the highway that comes from New York government, from thence due east twenty rods across the highway that leads to Fullers on the country grant, from thence in a straight line to the northeast corner of said Alger's grant, from thence in the north line of said Alger's grant to the bounds began at, together with his saw-mill and all his other buildings standing on the premises; which report being accepted : Whereupon it is resolved by this Assembly, that the said Moses Rowley have granted and confirmed unto him all the lands contained within the bounds abovementioned together wtih his said saw-mill and all other buildings standing on the same, to be and remain to him and his heirs and assigns forever as their own proper estate of inheritance in fee, and the same is hereby granted and confirmed to him accordingly. - The public records of the colony of Connecticut [1636-1776] ...: transcribed and published, (in accordance with a resolution of the general assembly) by Charles J. Hoadly (Google eBook), Connecticut, Brown & Parsons, 1885, p 270-271
14. ↑ Feb. 25, 1771 / Town Clerk’s Office Kent / Just previous to this problem with the Assembly, Moses had sold 150 acres to Peter Pratt, July 2, 1770. This tract included the gorge with the waterpower of Macedonia Brook with extensive acreage up to the top of Fuller Mountain. Pratt held this for three years and apparently started an iron works on the brook. He sold the property to Hendrik Winegar of Amenia Union in Dutchess County, New York in 1773. (Winegar had built the big brick house still standing in Amenia and had a large farm there. The family had originally come from the German Palatinate, expelled by the king and helped by Queen Anne of England to this country, they settled in Northeast and Germantown in New York State. They were millers and ironworkers as well as farmers.) - kenthistoricalsociety.org citing excerpts from Iron Fever
15. ↑ Finally, he was found by the Selectmen of Kent to be “guilty of poor husbandry and mismanagement in his business and is thereby in great damage of wasting his estate, we therefore appoint Abraham Fuller to be overseer over said Moses Rowley. Justice of the Peace Feb 25, 1771, Town Clerks Office, Kent.” - KentHistoricalSociety.org
16. ↑ At a General Assembly of the Governor and Company of His Majesty's English Colony of Connecticut in New England in America, Holden at Hartford in Said Colony on the Second Thursday of May, Being the Ninth Day of Said Month, and Continued by Several Adjournments Until the Seventh Day of November Next Following, Annoque Domini 1771 . . . Whereas it hath been represented to this Assembly that Moses Rowley, of Kent in the county of Litchfield, obtained a grant of land in the General Assembly in October, 1769, bounded as follows, viz. beginning at the northwest corner of a tract of land called Alger's Grant, from thence running due west to the Colony line, from thence running in said Colony line so far north as the highway that comes from New York government, from thence due east twenty rods across the highway that leads to Fuller's in the country lands, from thence in a straight line to the northeast corner of said Alger's Grant, from thence, in the north line of said Alger's Grant to the bounds began at, together with the saw-mill and all his other buildings standing on the premises, which land was granted to said Rowley in recompence for his having purchased in a large tract of land of one Robert Watson, which said Watson bought of the Indians of Scattacook, and the same lands so granted to the said Rowley was represented to be small in comparison of what it really is, and that the General Assembly was deceived in making their said grant: Whereupon this Assembly appoints and authorizes Mr. John Canfield of Sharon to enquire into the matters of said representation and if it shall appear unto him that this Assembly was deceived and imposed upon in making the grant aforesaid, he is hereby directed to summon the said Rowley to appear before this Assembly in their session to be held at New Haven in October next, to shew cause why the said grant should not be declared void, and that in the mean time no grant or alienation of said lands to be made by said Rowley or any under him be valid in law. - The public records of the colony of Connecticut [1636-1776] ...: transcribed and published, (in accordance with a resolution of the general assembly) by Charles J. Hoadly (Google eBook), Connecticut, Brown & Parsons, 1885, p 480-481
17. ↑ "he is hereby directed to summon the said Rowley to appear before this Assembly in their session to be held at New Haven in October next, to shew cause why the said grant should not be declared void, and that in the mean time no grant or alienation of said lands to be made by said Rowley or any under him be valid in law. " - The public records of the colony of Connecticut [1636-1776] ...: transcribed and published, (in accordance with a resolution of the general assembly) by Charles J. Hoadly (Google eBook), Connecticut, Brown & Parsons, 1885, p 270-271
    also
    Resolved by this Assembly, That the consideration of the following petitions and memorials, now depending before this Assembly, be continued to the next sessions of the same, viz: [list] . . . Moses Rowley's memorial - The public records of the Colony of Connecticut (Archive.org), Trumbull, J. Hammond; Hoadly, Charles J., Connecticut, 1850, p 66 (Records of the session of the General Assembly, October, 1772)
18. ↑ No record of the case appears in any subsequent sessions -- possibly the family gave up on contesting the former ruling after Moses died?