NEW FAIRFIELD
In October 1707, the Connecticut General Assembly granted to Nathan Gold and Peter Burr, of Fairfield, and their associates, a certain tract of land for a township, located on the western border of the state. A group of twelve men from Fairfield came to purchase this land from Chief Squantz. They made a verbal contract with Chief Squantz and they returned to Fairfield to have the necessary papers drawn.
Colonial Towns of Connecticut LinksWhen they returned in the spring of 1725, they found that Squantz had died during the winter, and his sons refused to sign the deed. In spite of all efforts, it was not until 1729 that the Indians finally deeded the property to the white men. The land was sold for sixty-five pounds sterling. The tract consisted of 49.9 square miles or about 30,000 acres of wooded, hilly ground.
The twelve men who purchased the land from the Indians where Capt. Nathan Gold, Gideon Allin, Samuel Wolson, Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Jennings, John Barlow, Capt. John Walkeman, Ebenezer Burr, Jonathan Sturges, Moses Dimon, Joseph Wakeman and Thomas Edwards. They were know as the "proprietors."
The cutting off of the "the Oblong" in settlement of the boundary dispute between Connecticut and New York had contracted the original area, which disappointed the proprietors, as it narrowed the town several miles as to its western extent. The boundary disputes were very long, tedious, and bitter, and were not settled until ratified by the legislature of both states and confirmed by Congress during the sessions of 1880-1881.
In May 1737, permission was given by the General Assembly to the grantees to carry on the affairs of government, and in 1740, the proprietors incorporated the area and named it New Fairfield. They managed all of its affairs until the formation of the Fist Congregational Church in 1742. Some of the earliest deeds show the spelling to be Newfairfield, all one word, named, no doubt, from Fairfield, Connecticut.
