In 1672 a number of inhabitants of that locality complained to the Governor and Council that " a witch had come among them from Hartford, where she had been before imprisoned and condemned."' The woman was removed. A similar complaint was also made in 1673 ; " but the Military Governor, Captain Colve, a son of the ocean, not under this land influence perhaps, treated it as idle or superstitious, and so dismissed the suit." A man and his wife, similarly accused, in 1665, had not got off so easily ; they were tried and found guilty. Belief in witchcraft was nothing uncommon, in those days, in Europe as well as in the colonies.

The husbandry of the pioneers brought forth abundant yields. The soil was adapted to the culture of wheat, corn, rye and other cereals; to peaches, apples, cherries and the various berries ; and to a most prolific pasturage. Every farmer kept sheep, and had his wool spun in his own home. The weaving was done by men, who kept and worked small hand-looms in their houses. Blankets, sheetings and coarse cloths were produced in very considerable quantities. Much flax was raised, and was also spun at the firesides of the people, where the hum of the large and small wheels sounded through the day and evening. The linen was of remarkable excellence. Tablecloths and napkins, woven in diamonds and squares, were as smooth and glossy as satin, while the sheeting was fine, even-threaded and most durable. Every farm had a wood-lot, in which the men-servants exercised their thews in preparing the immense logs for the gaping fire-places that daily swallowed fuel by the cord. They also cut chestnut rails for the zigzag fences that took the place of stone walls in regions where trees were more numerous than boulders.