wow brent many thanxxx
& please see my comments below
--- brent colley <
bcolley@...> wrote:
> Hi Mike,
>
> This is the information Kathleen von Jena sent:
>
> [Redding Land Records vol. 1 pgs 205 &206. It's a
> survey of the town bounds
> done in 1768. ".....No. 29 S.W. Corner of Redding
> and N.W. Corner of
> Fairfield and Joining to Norwalk Heap of stones laid
> on a Rock on the Edge
> of the River 6 rods above the Bound tree N.E. side
> of the Rock marked R
> S.E. marked F and west marked N" How cool is that!
> I'm sure the rock dates
> earlier because the survey refers to this as the
> "Ancient bounds". ]
>
> John Copp info. I shortened it for email but can
> send you his full bio if
> you'd like:
>
> Copp had been trained in surveying by his father,
> and probably had
> accompanied him on some of his field work, and from
> time to time engaged in
> surveying when called upon. When as early as 1697
> Norwalk residents began to
> become interested in land to the north of their
> community which was owned by
> Indians, Copp frequently was called upon to survey
> for members of the
> community. The land was high and rocky, but the soil
> was fertile and there
> were more than sixty miles of streams that could
> serve future mills. In 1706
> and again two years later, he was asked with others
> to survey land in the
> region, but various difficulties arose and the
> expeditions resulted in
> failure.
>
> The First Purchase of Ridgefield
> Finally, working alone in the summer of 1708, Copp
> managed to draw up
> boundaries for a tract of land of 20,000 acres,
> roughly in the southern half
> of the present town of Ridgefield. He reported back
> to the Norwalk residents
> that we went up to view said tract of land and upon
> our diligent endeavour
> for a discovery, we find it to be accomodated with
> upland considerably good
> and for quantity sufficient for thirty families, and
> as for meadow land it
> surpasses both in quantity as well as in quality
> what is common to be found
> in larger plantations. In September, Copp and two
> others from Norwalk
> representing the first 26 settlers of new community
> to be named Ridgfield
> (later changed to Ridgefield) paid the Indians
> £100 sterling for what was
> called the first purchase of which there were to
> be seven more. The
> purchase having been made, the General Assembly in
> session at Hartford in
> May 1709 appointed Major Peter Burr of Fairfield,
> John Copp of Norwalk, and
> Josiah Starr of Danbury, to serve as a committee to
> make a survey of the
> tract of land and to lay it out for a town plat, and
> to make return to the
> General Assembly at New Haven in the following
> October of their doings
> therein, and of their opinion how many inhabitants
> the said tract of land
> may admit and contain. After this was done, a grant
> was made by the General
> Assembly in session at New Haven on October 13,
> 1709.
>
> What Kathleen and I are currently working on is a
> report to ensure the rock
> is on record at the State Historic Preservation
> Office. We'd definately
> welcome any information you are able to come up
> with...it's very exciting to
> think that it may be even more significant than we
> already think it is.
>
> Fairfield's historical society web address is:
> www.fairfieldhistoricalsociety.org
>
> Look forward to hearing from you.
> Brent
again extreme thanxxx
for both filling me in & saving me a lot of steps
my hardest questions now are
even assuming ridgefield began at this rock in 1709
wouldnt the fact that the chiseled letter r faces the
northeast rather than the northwest make the birth of
redding in 1767 at least as likely a cause &
approximate date for the addition of these 3 letters
or at least of the letter r
in other words
arent these rather the field notes of the very guy who
actually chiseled the last or all 3 of these letters
into this already old thorofare landmark
which he rightly revered
as the ancient bounds
knowing it was the original nw corner of fairfield
circa 1645 if not earlier
etc
& let me add
i surmise from an amazing old map i have seen
a prehistoric point too on the siwanog paugusset
boundary circa 1625
which fully prefigured the long fairfield 1639 &
norwalk 1651 line
that still runs straight thru boundary rock from
westport to ridgefield
& then too
perhaps an easier question
how could redding have flaked off of fairfield in 1767
if boundary rock was the original nw corner of
fairfield
or in other words
was fairfield extended into what is now redding
at some time between 1639 & 1767
in order to have thus become truncated back to
boundary rock in 1767
but in any case
whether the 3 letters were chiseled in 1767 or 1709
or even earlier in the cases of the f & the n
which i could also easily believe
the documentation i still need to seek
in order to proclaim this the oldest known working
boundary marker in america
is
some early or preferably contemporary description of
it & or its covering heap of stones
serving as the original nw corner of fairfield from
1645
or whatever the date of that original survey may have
been
btw
the year i believe we actually need to beat is
probably 1657 or 1656
i am also interested in anything that can be learned
about the companion boundary tree
located some 99 feet south of boundary rock
i think it was
tho i cant even recall now where i saw it mentioned
anyway
so many questions
but it is really all a single pursuit
& i much appreciate your help & kindness in any case
sincerely
m
mike donner
& a mere sidelight curiosity worthy only of a footnote
did ridgefield still extend as far as boundary rock in
1767 when redding arrived there
to make it for a time a quadripoint marker
& if so
when did ridgefield retreat north to leave it a
tripoint marker again
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