History

On October 19, 1687, the Connecticut Colonial General Court granted Captain William Blackwell a patent for a separate township laid out south of Mashamoquet Brook, six miles east to west and seven miles north to south, to be called Mortlake. Captain Blackwell chose that name to honor Mortlake

Mortlake

Mortlake is a district of London, England and part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes with East Sheen inland to the south. Mortlake was part of Surrey until 1965.-History:...

 in Surrey, England (now part of greater London).

Geographically, the northbound followed Mashamoquet Brook, the eastbound followed the Quinebaug. The western boundary was approximately half mile west of and parallel to today’s Connecticut State Route 169

Route 169 (Connecticut)

Route 169 is a state highway in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Massachusetts. It begins in the city of Norwich and runs through Northeastern Connecticut, continuing across the state line into Southbridge, Massachusetts. The route ends in Charlton after another nine miles...

, while the southern boundary laid approximately half mile north of today’s U.S. Route 6

U.S. Route 6

U.S. Route 6 , also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, a name that honors an American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system, running east-northeast from Bishop, California to Provincetown, Massachusetts. Until 1964, it continued south from Bishop to...

 – looking at a map, it roughly aligned with Herrick Road and the part of Brown Road that runs more or less straight east-west.

This patent was in the form of a Manor

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

, a form of tenure restricted to certain Proprietary colonies, a large estate with hereditary rights granted by Royal Charter

Royal Charter

A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

, – a legal anomaly in Connecticut, where it was outside of the power and authority of any Town. Jurisdiction in Mortlake did not rest in an elected town government, but as property right that could be bought and sold. Falling outside the legal framework that Connecticut organized Towns, Mortlake’s residents found themselves without responsibilities, but also without normal rights (such as to levy taxes to pay for roads and general welfare of its inhabitants). Indeed, once Windham County

Windham County, Connecticut

Windham County is a county located in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of 2010, the population was 118,428.The entire county is within the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor, as designated by the National Park Service.-History:Windham...

 was established the very first case heard in its courts was a lawsuit by the Town of Norwich

Norwich, Connecticut

Regular steamship service between New York and Boston helped Norwich to prosper as a shipping center through the early part of the 20th century. During the Civil War, Norwich once again rallied and saw the growth of its textile, armaments, and specialty item manufacturing...

 to force Mortlake to pay for the care of “the poor, witless Peter Davison” who resided originally in Mortlake. Massachusetts Governor Johnathan Belcher, who had purchased Mortlake from Captain Blackwell, was successfully defended by his attorney with the argument that Mortlake as a Manor did not have the same responsibilities to the poor as a Town would.

The Town of Pomfret

Pomfret, Connecticut

Pomfret is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,798 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....

 bordered Mortlake to the North, West, and after Pomfret was expanded southward taking a portion of Canterbury, on the South as well. This southern most part of Pomfret being the area today known as Brooklyn Center

Brooklyn, Connecticut

Brooklyn is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,173 at the 2000 census. The town center village is listed by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place...

.

In 1731, an ecclesiastical society was formed to establish a Congregational Church for the benefit of the residents of the area – consisting of the southern half of Mortlake (the present Brooklyn / Pomfret town line), the southern most parts of Pomfret, and the northern section of Canterbury.

It would take four years, but in 1735 the society was formally named the odd construct, “The Society taken out of Pomfret, Canterbury, and Mortlake.” The area was referred to as Mortlake Parish, with the church referred to as the Second Church of Pomfret.

In 1739, Governor Belcher sold portions of Mortlake to Israel Putnam

Israel Putnam

Israel Putnam was an American army general and Freemason who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War...

 and John Pope of Salem, Massachusetts. Putnam would settle in Mortlake, and later buy out Pope. The remaining portions of Mortlake were sold to Godfrey Malbone of Newport, Rhode Island by Governor Belcher the following year.

The lack of town status continued to be a problem – residents of the southern village of Pomfret had to cross for some seven miles through Mortlake before re-entering Pomfret again. Further, at the time Town taxes were levied to support the Church – but the portions of Mortlake Parish within Mortlake Manor laid outside of either Pomfret or Canterbury, and thus couldn’t be taxed to support the Church it’s residents where expected to attend.

Finally in May 1752, the General Court decided, “that this tract of Mortlake shall be accounted, taken, and doomed to belong to Pomfret.” At the same time, they also replaced the lengthy name of the ecclesiastical society with the much simpler, “Society of Brooklyn” known as Brooklyn Parish.

In 1775, Israel Putnam, who held a commission from the Colony of Connecticut as a Major General, was plowing a field in Brooklyn Center (near where the library is today) when word reached him of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Leaving his plow in the field, he rode a relay of horses to reach Boston in only 18 hours, taking command of the rebel forces and at Breed’s Hill uttering the famous, “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!”

Brooklyn Parish in 1786 would be set off from Pomfret and Canterbury to become a Town in its own right.

In the 1920s and 30s, Edith Kermit Carow, wife of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

, operated an old family property as Mortlake House – a country inn for vacationing city visitors. Mrs. Roosevelt was a descendant of the Tyler family, and the Tylers where related by marriage to the Putnams.

Mortlake House was demolished in the late 1960s. Today, the Post Office stands on that spot, with a large equestrian statute of General Putnam adjacent to it, and the Daniel Tyler Law Office, which serves as the small museum of the Brooklyn Historical Society, at the rear of the property. The Tyler family continues to maintain the family homestead, Putnam Elms, on Church Street in Brooklyn as a historical site that is occasionally open to the general public.

In 1927 the citizens of Brooklyn Center established a volunteer fire department, and as a nod to both the history of the area being known as Mortlake and to Mrs. Roosevelt and her establishment named the organization, “The Mortlake Fire Company of Brooklyn, Connecticut, Inc.” – which carries that name until this day.