Excerpt from A History of the Plantation of Menunkatuck and of the Original Town of Guilford, Connecticut: Comprising the Present Towns of Guilford and Madison, Written Largely From the Manuscripts of the Hon. Ralph Dunning Smyth

Among my grandfather's papers were considerable collections Of materials he had intended to use for a history Of the town of Guilford. Among these was a fragment of a complete history of the town, written by Mr. Smyth shortly before his death. This forms, with some changes, the first four chapters Of the present work and a part of the fifth. It is probable that I should have written part Of it somewhat differently, but it seemed best to permit this record Of his ripened knowledge of Guilford history to remain without essential change. The rest of the book was prepared from Mr. Smyth's manuscript col lections, the Town Records, and other available sources. Owing to the extensive materials at hand, it is believed the work is, to a consider able degree, exhaustive and complete.

I desire to return thanks to Mr. Chas. H. Post for courtesies shown while examining the Town Records, and to the Rev. W. G. Andrews for generous sympathy. Among those who have rendered especial assistance in the compilation of this work are Rev. Frederick E. Snow, Dr. Ellsworth Eliot, Mr. Samuel H. Chittenden, Mr. Frederick C. Norton.

This history of Guilford has had three predecessors. The Rev. Thomas Ruggles, Jr., prepared a sketch of the history of the town over a century ago, which has been twice published. In 1827 Dr. David Dudley Field prepared a sketch of the history of Guilford and Madison for the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, using Mr. Ruggles' work as a basis. In 1832 he revised it. About 1840 this sketch was revised and enlarged by R. D. Smyth. After Mr. Smyth's death this manuscript was found among his papers by his son-in-law, the Hon. Lewis H. Steiner, edited by him and published by Munsell in 1877. All the important statements therein are embodied in this work.

For to collect all that is to be known, to put the discourse in order, and curiously to discuss every particular point, is the duty of the author of a his tory. - II Maccabees 11. 31.

The inhabitants of this town, more than most others in this State, have retained the ancient manners of the New England colonists. Parents are regarded by their children with a peculiar respect derived not only from their domestic government and personal character, but in a considerable degree from the general state of manners. Old people are in a similar degree revered by the young, and laws and magistrates at large. Private contentions have heretofore been rarely known, and lawsuits so rare that no lawyer till lately has ever been able to acquire a living in town. The weight of public Opinion has been strongly felt, and diffused a general dread of vice. - Dwight's Travels.

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