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Year Established
County
Villages
Historical Society
  
 
1708
Middlesex
-
Durham Historical Society
P.O. Box 345
Durham, Connecticut 06422
Brief History:
The tract of land comprising Durham was formerly supposed to be included in the limits of the neighboring towns, until they were surveyed, when a tract was found to be left. This was considered small for a distinct plantation or town, and does not appear to have been contemplated with that view for a long period. The Legislature however granted many lots or farms in it to persons who had performed important services to the colony. In this way more than 5,000 acres became the property of individuals widely dispersed in the state, before any settlement was made.

"In 1698, however, David Seward, from Guilford, moved into the town, and some of his neighbors contemplated following him. The next spring, therefore, a petition was presented to the Legislature, signed by thirty one inhabitants of that town, that there might be a plantation at Coginchaug, the Indian name of Durham. This was urged on the ground that Coginchaug was so far from other settlements that the people could not go to them for public worship. The petition was granted, and -soon after a site was selected for a meeting house, on a hill in the southern part of the town, which from that circumstance is called Meeting-house hill.... But very few of the petitioners left Guilford, and no plantation was immediately formed."

In May, 1704, the proprietors of farms at Coginchaug petitioned the Assembly for some act, which would encourage a settlement at that place. The Assembly proposed that the proprietors should give up one fourth part of their farms, and that the part thus given up, with the common lands, should be laid out into lots, for such persons as should offer themselves as inhabitants. Their proposal was accepted, and settlers came in from various places, who, in May, 1708, were invested with town privileges. The number of adult male inhabitants, at that time, was thiry four, most of whom were heads of families. As early as 1723, John and Nathaniel Sutliff, and probably some others from Durham, settled on Haddam quarter. These had the consent of the people of Haddam, that they niight attend public worship in Durham, and in 1773 the quarter was annexed to Durham.

"There is no evidence that the Indians ever dwelt in Durham in any considerable numbers, or for long periods; but they resorted to it occasionally for the purposes of hunting. They were, however, regarded as the rightful owners of the soil, and their title was purchased by Samuel Wyllys and others, on the 24th of January, 1672, at the same time that a purchase was made of the lands in Middletown."

Durham is bounded North by Middletown, West by Wallingford, East by Haddam, and South by Guilford, Madison and Killingworth. It is about six miles in length from east to west, and nearly four in width. The central part of the town is 20 miles south from Hartford, and 18 northeast from New Haven. The prevailing surface of the town is a diversity- of moderate hills and gentle declivities and dales. The eastern and western parts are somewhat broken and mountainous. The soil is generally fertile and productive, and the inhabitants are mostly employed in the cultivation of the earth.

The principal settlement is on the road running north and south, on ground moderately elevated, bounded on the east by a considerable range of hills, on the west with a large tract of low land, and then a tract of higher land, extending to the Wallingford mountains. The tract of low land lying westward of the village was called Coginchaug, or the long swamp, and from this the name was applied to the township. This is generally cleared, and yields a large quantity of coarse grass. "This town has been distinguished many years for a very line breed of cattle. Two oxen, presented by some of the inhabitants to General Washington, furnished a dinner for all the officers of the American army at Valley Forge, and all their servants. These oxen were driven almost five hundred miles, through a country nearly exhausted of its forage, yet one of them, a steer five years old, weighed two thousand two hundred and seventy pounds."

Durham From the Connecticut Historical Collection BY John Warner Barbour Published 1836.
-Edited for grammer and content.

 
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