The Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe (Bridgeport Public Library History Center)
Bankside Farmers, 1648-1711 (Westport Museum for History and Culture)
Remembered: The History of African Americans in Westport (Westport Museum for History and Culture)
Couch Family Papers, 1713-1858 (Fairfield Museum and History Center)
Westport's unique character can be traced to the town's roots in the Native American tribes who frequented the area, the five original "Bankside Farmers" who settled what is now known as Green's Farms in 1648, and another group of settlers who followed -- the Coleys, the Wheelers, the Bennetts, the Jennings, the Burrs, the enslaved and free African Americans who labored on the farms, in various trades and on the harbor front, and many more who came after them to shape this nationally-known town. Continue reading from About Westport
The Paugussett nation occupied a sizable portion of western Connecticut, generally defined as that section of coast between West Haven and Norwalk and inland up the valleys of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers as far as they were navigable by canoe. The tribe was divided into four main bands, all closely related through frequent intermarriage and communal activities: the Pequannock, who occupies what is now Bridgeport, Fairfield, Stratford and Westport, with adjoining inland areas; the "Paugussett Proper", who resided mainly in Milford, Derby and Shelton; the Pootatuck, who occupied Woodbury, Southbury and Newton; and the Weantinock, whose main village was at New Milford. Continue reading from Brilvitch, A History of Connecticut's Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe, 13
The first three farmers were Thomas Newton, Henry Gray, and John Green. They were soon followed by Daniel Frost, who occupied land now called Frost Point, and Francis Andrews, who lived near what is now called Sherwood Island. These early settlers took one look at the beautiful stretch of fertile fields on the banks of the Long Island Sound and staked out of their claims along the Indian path that is now Beachside Avenue.
For nearly two decades, these five proprietors - variously known as the Bankside Farmers because they were located on the banks of Long Island Sound, "the West Parish Farmers", or "the Maximus Farmers" - were the only settlers in Machamux. Their land acquisition was recognized by an agreement [...] drafted in November 1648, under which the "Town of Fairfield and Thomas Newton, Henry Gray and John Green shall have Liberty to sit down and inhabit Machamux" to each own 20 acres of upland, and to build fences around their planting fields. Continue reading from Klein, Westport Connecticut: The Story of a New England Town's Rise to Prominence, 36
Enslaved people lived in the areas of Fairfield and Norwalk that would eventually become Westport. Over 240 men, women, and children were bound in the parish of Greens Farms alone in the eighty-year period from 1742 to 1822.
They were from the households of prominent families like the Jennings, Jesups, Nash’s, Sherwoods, and Coleys. Their labor – from farming to shipping to retail – produced wealth for those who enslaved them and prosperity in the community at large. Continue reading from Westport Museum for History and Culture
