From the Historian’s Desk, May 2025 – Carol Ganz.
May 1725 – 300 years ago – Taking Action
The residents of the northern part of Groton were getting frustrated. The town and church in Groton had no interest in letting them go, but it was a real hardship getting to Sunday services. Maybe it had been easier, seasonally at least, for those along the river, like the Allyns, to cross the water to New London than it was to go cross country to the meetinghouse in Groton. They were determined to do something about it.
There must have been meetings and discussions, although we have no records of just what was said. We have no records from our church at all from that period, nor even an ecclesiastical society. However, from colonial records at the Connecticut State Archives we get a peek into what was going on. The General Court (or General Assembly) met twice a year at the time, once in May and once in October, for a few days each. Their record volumes and collected papers fill in some of the story.
Penning a more dramatic wording to accomplish their goals, Captain Morgan and his neighbors drew up a new petition, this time to the General Assembly, citing the impossibility of attending regularly, “so that our families are in Danger of being Left destitute of the means of Grace and salvation to there utter ruin.” Having asked the town for assistance in this matter, and being rejected, “putt us into Disquiet and sorrow.” They requested that the Assembly “Relive us and Grant us the Liberty and previledges of being a Distinct Society by our selves.”
The town of Groton got wind of this petition and wrote to the Assembly, stating that they thought they had come to an agreement between the north and the south to survey for the center of the entire town, and build a new meetinghouse there. Apparently not everyone saw it the same. The north’s petition was delivered to the assembly, apparently by Capt. John Morgan, but the town wrote, “We their for pray that their petesion may not be herd.”
In spite of Groton’s protest, the General Assembly took the request seriously, and assigned a committee of Capt. Timothy Peirce, Capt. Thomas Noyes and Mr. Joseph Bacchus to “make diligent inquiry into the circumstances of said parish,” set some proposed boundaries, and report back at the October session.