History: Trail of Tears Begins in Cornwall

Cornwall was considered to be one of the last frontiers of Connecticut, the last phase of colonial settlement. The township was divided into 50 proprietary rights to be auctioned off between 1737 and 1738. Bids were accepted from men who were British Subjects and Connecticut Colony residents, who would build a home and reside there for three consecutive years, as well as clear and fence at least six of their acres. Additionally, owners were expected to perform all duties of citizenry and pay all taxes. The Township was recognized on April, 1741. Settlers were drawn to Cornwall for graphite and iron where deposits, some the size of boulders, were found there. Initially, the iron was used for tools. Later, during the Revolutionary years, both the graphite and iron were mined to make guns and munitions.
In 1817, a two story Foreign Mission School was built, sponsored by Gov. John Treadwell, Daniel Brinsmade of the General Assembly, Yale’s Timothy Dwight, and theologian, Lyman Beecher of New Haven. The school was meant to be an offshoot of the Brainerd Mission School, located on the Georgia-Tennessee border, housing primarily Polynesians and American Indians with the intent of educating them as missionaries, schoolmasters, interpreters and physicians that might return to better their own peoples. John Ridge and, Elias Boudinet, (a name adopted from the President of the American Bible Society) two handsome, well mannered, athletic Cherokee cousins, were sent up from Georgia. They exhibited, ”inordinate curiosity, a love of knowledge, and a great capacity to learn.” Two young Cornwall ladies, Sarah Northrup and Harriet Gold, fell in love with these brothers. This created an uproar in town, horrifying their families. They were dismissed from their Church as wayward, by Rev. Timothy Stone with accusations of miscegenation.
Isiah Bunce , editor of Litchfield’s American Eagle added more fuel to the fire, as the community continued to oppose the betrothals. Sarah had married John Ridge and was immediately whisked off to his father’s Georgia plantation, located within the Cherokee nation. Elias Boudinet left to continue his education at the Andover (Mass.) Theology Seminary, culminating in his ordination. During this time Harriet had fallen ill, but finally won her parent’s consent. Harriet was married to Elias Boudinet on March 28th 1826, by a preacher from Goshen. The townspeople were unforgiving. They found the couple hiding at a friend’s home and set it afire. Deacon Gold, Harriet’s father, rescued the couple driving them out of town to Washington, CT. where they were able to arrange transportation to Georgia, rejoining the Cherokee nation.
Elias and Harriet moved to New Echota, capitol of the Cherokee nation where they built a formidable home and settled for some fifteen years. He became the editor of the Phoenix, a Cherokee Newspaper, written in Cherokee using Sequoya’s 86 character alphabet. He was instrumental in creating the Constitution of the Cherokee Nation, based on our US Constitution with delegated representation, a bicameral house, a set of laws and a Supreme Court.
Georgia settlers, hungry for new land, threatened and pushed the Cherokee back to Arkansas, and continued their attacks. Ridge and Boutinet negotiated unsuccessfully with president Andrew Jackson. The Cherokee interpreted their failings as traitorous. Harriet died giving birth of their 6th th child. Shortly thereafter, Elias and Ridge were killed by an uprising of the Cherokee Nation when orders came, sending the nation on the Trail of Tears.