Scotland

SCOTLAND In 1700 Isaac Magune purchased several hundred acres of hilly terrain in the town of Windham and soon named it after his native land. By 1726 about eighty families of English Puritan, Scotch, and Huguenot descent had settled in the area. Society, or parish, privileges were granted by the General Assembly in 1732. The first Society meeting was held at the home of Nathaniel Huntington. In the preceding year Samuel Huntington had been born. This native son devoted his entire life to our state and to the young and emerging nation. He was a member of the Continental Congress, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a judge, and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut and third Governor of the state. In 1733 the first meetinghouse was erected. The parish secured a minister, the Reverend Ebenezer Devotion of Suffield, in 1735. (Continued on other side) SCOTLAND (Continued from other side) The Revolutionary era was well supported by the Scotland Parish. Nearly every able-bodied man from sixteen to sixty volunteered and went to war. Many became leaders in the struggle for freedom. After a thirty-seven year effort to free the parish from Windham, Scotland became incorporated and held its first town meeting on July 4th, 1857. Small industries once flourished along Merrick's Brook, which provided the necessary water power. Agriculture has always been the predominant occupation since early settlement. An attitude of rugged individualism, personal industry, and independence has pervaded the hills and valleys of Scotland from the time of Isaac Magune to the present day.