USA > Connecticut > Tolland County > Vernon > A century of Vernon, Connecticut, 1808-1908 > Part 1
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Gc 974.602 V59 v 1390185
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01150 7461
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/centuryofvernonc00smit_0
A CENTURY OF
Vernon, Connecticut 1808 -1908
SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY, EARLY AND MODERN. LITER- ARY EXERCISES AT HISTORIC CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AT VERNON CENTER.
INCEPTION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE MOVEMENT. REPORT OF THE PROCEED- INGS AND PROGRAM FOR THE WEEK'S CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
June 28 to July 4, Inclusive, 1908
PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF SPECIAL HISTORICAL COMMITTEE.
ROCKVILLE, CONN. PRESS OF T. F. RADY & COMPANY JAN. 1911
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COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION JOSEPH C. HAMMOND, JR., THOMAS F. NOONE, PARLEY B. LEONARD.
EDITED AND COMPILED BY HARRY CONKLIN SMITH.
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but Sincece god Wishes Harry Coulline Smith.
PART I. SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY, EARLY AND MODERN.
1390185
SUMMARY -of the- EARLY HISTORY OF VERNON
-by- C. DENISON TALCOTT.
The Pilgrim Fathers who founded the colony of Plymouth, and their successors who established the colony upon Massachusetts Bay, were the bearers of a new and more excellent order of life. They constituted the vanguard of a new civilization based upon freedom of spirit which aspired to religious liberty, and upon freedom of mind and of body which is the civil liberty of our modern state. From the leaders of these two colonies, with vigor of manhood and nobility of ideal, there migrated in the year 1635, the pioneer settlers of our three original towns- Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield. In 1726 from one of these original towns, Windsor, there journeyed into the territory of North Bolton, Samuel Grant, the first permanent settler. In 1808, by reason of the large increase of these pioneers, this northern part of the Mother Town, Bolton, was set off and incor- porated as a separate town. Thus it was that Vernon was not only descended from the foremost pioneers of the nation, but inherited the motives and impulses of a new era.
The original towns were founded upon a distinct principle of government. Shortly after the migration, a legislative council was convened, under the name of the "Corte," afterward called the General Court, our General Assembly. The powers of this "Corte" were delegated by the towns. The central authority was regarded as dependent finally for its claim to power upon the townships themselves. They were the creators of the state, were therefore the source of authority and finally supreme. Such has been the governing principle of all the successive towns of the commonwealth. Imbued, in her turn, with this principle of her natural autocracy, Vernon entered upon existence.
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SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY EARLY AND MODERN
Vernon, as a beneficiary of Nature, has been kindly treated. The town is divided, north and south, by a range of hills, which mark the limit of the broad valley of the Connecticut River. As a result, the western portion of the town is a gently undulating territory, of fair soil, and well watered by the prin- cipal streams, the Hockanum and the Tankaroosan. The eastern portion, of a variegated rock formation, precipitous and severe, possesses at its northern extremity, the outlet of a marvelous watershed. Formerly this outlet was not under the control of a high and massive dam of stone, but was bound by a low combination of logs and gravel from which there passed a rivulet, so small, that a well-known townsman, Peter Dobson, expressed considerable surprise that Colonel McLean should think of con- structing a mill upon the Hockanum instead of the Tankaroosan. Mr. Dobson, on other occasions, was an unusually able and close student of nature. While excavating for the foundation of his cotton factory, he was greatly impressed with the abraded con- dition of many of the bowlders. This unique condition, Mr. Dobson attributed to their being suspended and carried in ice over rocks and earth under water. Eminent scientists in Europe and America confirmed this original theory of the glacial for- mation, and Mr. Dobson was honored with well-merited prestige. Nature was kind to Vernon, therefore, in the diversity of her gifts, as well as in providing successful interpreters of her laws.
As the new town had an inland location and manufacturers were still in the experimental stage, the inhabitants by nature and by necessity gave themselves universally to the pursuit of agriculture. The conditions of farming within the territory of a single township led to a limited and somewhat isolated population. At this early time, the town government, while essentially the same as that of today, possessed and exercised a much wider range of authority, an influence indeed which to the eye of the settler was complete and supreme. The average citizen of 1808 looked upon his town as upon a small republic, and knew little and cared less for the larger commonwealth to which he owed his allegiance. The reason for this was because the interest of every individual was bounded by the rule of the town
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SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY EARLY AND MODERN
of his residence. To secure legal residence he must either be a native, be admitted by vote of the town meeting, by the approval of the selectmen, or by election to some town office. Having acquired a legal residence, to become a voter there was a property qualification, the usual testimonial as to character, and the freeman's oath. These powers over residence and the right to vote were greatly modified in the formation and adoption of the new state constitution in 1818. The property qualification disappeared by an amendment of 1845, one more step in the evolution of the suffrage to a more simple and universal form.
The problems of our fathers, in 1808, were primarily problems of construction rather than of maintenance as at present. Sim- ilarity of occupation brought about an identity in private inter- est, which naturally found expression in public affairs. At the earliest town meeting, presided over by the first town clerk and treasurer, Oliver King, it was voted to divide the districts and assess the labor on highways. For a long period of years the laying out of new highways was the principal subject for action at town meeting. Many acts of these early meetings have refer- ence, also, to the protection of property in ways quite unusual today. The definition of property was a matter which claimed much careful attention, as is evidenced by the office of fence- viewer. Again, men were so few, and animals so common, that the haywards and pound-keeper were as ordained as the regular constable. Horses, mules, sheep, cattle, geese were restrained by special acts from running at large. A notable exception occurred in the case of swine which were allowed to run at large with a ring in the nose. With these various additional town offices and a comparatively small list of citizens, opportunities for public service were open at one time or another to nearly every one.
Considering that the population was eager to exercise itself in this regard, it is not to be wondered at that a great amount of sound political training was accomplished. The tax, in those early days, was seldom paid in money, the greater part was work- ed out. Town meetings were held at Vernon Center up to 1856, when they were held alternately at Rockville, and in 1865 alto- gether in the latter place.
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SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY EARLY AND MODERN
The ideal of religion was as widespread and profound in its spiritual effect as the ideal of government was stimulating in its intellectual effect. The established church being Congrega- tional, possessed the same democratic principle as the civil au- thority. In fact the relation of the church to the civil power was peculiarly unique. Taxes were by law collected for the support of the church as regularly as for town expenses. The church society used the civil tax list, and if there was difficulty in collecting, the town authority enforced the collection. Re- strictions over voting in the society meetings were as rigid, indeed were the same as in the civil town meeting. The activity of the tithing-man was clearly in behalf of the church society, yet he was a regularly appointed town officer. He constituted a sort of moral police, who on the occasion of divine service, quelled the restlessness of the youth and disturbed the slumbers of the aged. While the church society had direct control in all matters per- taining to local religion, the General Assembly held jurisdiction over the church body as a whole. This close relationship between church and state was ended in 1818 by the provisions of the new constitution.
In 1749, upon petition of eighteen residents of North Bolton, the General Assembly granted the privileges of a winter parish. These privileges were allowed on account of the unusual distance from the ordained church in Bolton. They consisted of special services in the schoolhouses or individual houses as convenience allowed. In 1760, upon further petition, a separate parish was established under the name of the Ecclesiastical Society of North Bolton. The first pastor of this Society was Rev. Ebenezer Kellogg and his salary during the fifty-five years of his pastorate, did not exceed £70. (Colonial currency $233.33). A church build- ing was erected in 1762 and was located a half mile east of the present edifice at Vernon Center. The spot being elevated according to custom, became familiarly known as "Old Meeting House Hill." It was not until 1770 that square straight-back- ed pews were installed, nor until 1774 that the building was finally plastered. The age of our ancestors was pervaded by the ideal of the spirit. They labored for the meat that perisheth,
FIRST CHURCH ERECTED IN TOWN OF VERNON May 6, 1762. (From Pen and Ink Drawing by Special Artist from description furnished by Allyn Stanley Kellogg in historical address on "The Church of Christ," Vernon, Ct.)
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SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY EARLY AND MODERN
but only in the sense that by a renewed vigor and a more ample fortune they might erect some new symbol of their faith in the spirit of man. In 1837, members of the parish living in the village of Rockville, organized a second church. The church had, as its first preacher, Rev. Diodate Brockway, and the church building, constructed at a heavy expense ($4,500) was located on the site of our present Memorial Town Hall. This church remained the Second Church in Vernon up to 1848, when the growth of the village became so pronounced that the parish was divided and a new church organized. The new edifice was erected on the site of the present Union Church and the first pastor was Rev. Andrew Sharpe. The two churches became known respectively as the First and Second Churches in Rockville.
Of the other denominations the first to make its appearance was that of the Methodists. Services were held by itinerant preachers as early as 1833. It was not until 1840, however, that Vernon was placed upon the regular list of appointments. The first appointees were Revs. Benj. M. Walker and Caleb D. Rogers. Meetings were conducted in the old schoolhouse on West Street until 1847, when a church building was erected. The location was in the same vicinity, on West Street, not far from Windsor Avenue.
For professions other than clergymen, there was in the Puritan regime comparatively little room. The lawyer was, according to the Scriptures, decried and regarded as a maker rather than a settler of disputes. Vernon was fortunate in that her first lawyer not only easily dispelled the prejudice of the age, but achieved a distinction far beyond the confines of his adopted town. Hon. Dwight Loomis was born a judge, and to that rare temperament was added a profound devotion to the public wel- fare, and to the principles of a far-seeing and high-minded justice.
A new country, consecrated to the idealism of a theocracy, had little thought for the advancement of science. Although physicians, as a profession, were prominent much earlier than lawyers, the efficacy of their cures lay fully as much in the common sense of a strong personality as in the consequences of
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SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY EARLY AND MODERN
a huge cathartic. The list of rates for general practice, adopted in 1828, by the Tolland County Medical Society, is a significant commentary on the times-regular visits twenty-five cents, night visits fifty cents, consultations one dollar. One of the ear- liest physicians in North Bolton, and the first in Vernon was Dr. Scottoway Hinckley. Dr. Hinckley joined the Medical Society in 1803, and read a disser- tation before that body in 1807. He was particularly interested in school matters, and served many years on the visiting and district committees, (1799-1815). We recall Dr. Hinckley also for his experiments, in 1812, along with Delano Abbott, in the first weaving of cloth. Altogether Vernon may feel well satis- fied with the public spirit of her first regular physician.
A school society was established in North Bolton, October 31, 1796. The formation of a society was the method prevailing at that time in the promotion and regulation of all school matters. In the early days of the three original towns, the common educa- tion was a subject for action at town meeting. In those days there was usually but one parish or ecclesiastical society in each town. As the population increased, a division became necessary, and two or more parishes began to occupy the same general terri- tory. With this division into parishes came the gradual transfer of school supervision from the town authorities to the leaders in each parish. The school society was a self-appointed repre- sentative committee of the parish interested in school matters. The first meetings of the society in North Bolton were held in the old meeting house. The parish was immediately divided into districts, and the erection of the small but historic schoolhouses soon followed. In 1798 the first school visiting committee was appointed. The visiting committee appointed in 1808, when North Bolton became Vernon, consisted of Scottoway Hinckley, Oliver H. King, Benjamin Talcott, Jr., and Thomas W. Kellogg. It is clear, therefore, that the school system was in working order at the beginning of our history as a town .. As the southern part of the town was the earliest to develop, the Center, Dobson, Phoenix and Valley Falls Districts became the first of impor- tance. The old schoolhouse near Valley Falls, long since out of
*
PETER DOBSON, Founder of First Cotton Mill in Vernon and one of the first in America, Co-worker with Samuel Slater, Father of Cotton Manufacturing in this Country. (Courtesy of Rockville Journal).
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SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY EARLY AND MODERN
commission, still stands the relic of a stern and somber past. In the vicinity of Rockville, the West District became the first of importance. The schoolhouse stood near the old Grant Mill. In the East District there was no schoolhouse until 1836. To meet the rapid development of the new village, schools were held in private houses. In the same year, 1836, the society voted that school should be kept four months in the year, the first reference we have to the length of the term of instruction. While an opportunity for instruction was made possible for every child in the township, we can not regard the resultant education other than purely elementary. Up to 1839 there was but one grade. The pursuit of agriculture without modern implements and in the midst of a primitive wildness afforded slight opportunities for self-culture. The foremost problem of the community was the hard practical end of gaining a livelihood. Nature was the task-master and applied mechanics was the general course of study. The field of advanced learning was reserved for the clergymen, and the effect even here was dogmatic and limited. It must be borne in mind, however, that profundity of knowl- edge was not the first essential of a community based upon free institutions. We glorify our fathers because they recognized that a diffusion of knowledge, a high average intelligence, was the real foundation of a free democracy. In 1848, the first regular school building for both the lower and higher grades was completed at a cost of about $10,000. This marked the beginning of our modern system of education. A state law, in 1856, abolished the school societies and transferred the school jurisdiction from the parish back to the town. It was some time later, however, (1866) before the various school districts were made uniformly responsible to the town authority, as we have it today.
Agriculture, which in 1808 occupied a foremost position in industry, was destined to be superseded, and in a comparatively short time become second in importance to the mechanical arts. In the early days the lord of the farm looked down upon the mechanic as upon a vulgar and inferior being. Not until the constitution of 1818 were both placed upon the same level as
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SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY EARLY AND MODERN
citizens. Manufacturing at once felt the impetus of the new equality in industry. Soon after, in 1821, appeared the first real factory in the town, built by Colonel Francis McLean, and called the Rock. Other manufactories in their order of develop- ment were-the Frank (1831) ; New Rock (1832) ; afterward the Leeds (1837) ; Hockanum (1833), formerly Twin Mills (1814) ; Springville (1833) ; Saxony (1836) ; Panola or Stone Mill (1836) ; and New England (1837). These various enterpris- es so rapidly succeeded that by 1841, when a post office was estab- lished and Rockville entered upon history, the mechanic had passed the agriculturist, and not only in Vernon but through- out Connecticut as a whole. We became a manufacturing town, and we arrived at this condition by reason of the intuitive faculty which has given us the name of "Yankee."
War has made its summons upon Vernon in the most memor- able conflict of history. Three hundred enlisted men responded to the great moral call of the Civil War, Company F of the Fifth Connecticut, Company D of the Fourteenth Connecticut, and a detachment in Company B of the Seventh Connecticut, and one German company of the New York military, beside many individuals to various other regi- ments. Upon the record of the town, as well, is the heavy expenditure of money which was none other than the labor of those who fulfilled their duty at home. At the town meeting of August 19, 1862, the sum of $25,000 was appropriated for the general expenses. By the close of the war, other appropriations brought the total to over $46,000. In addition the estimated amount paid by individuals for bounties to volunteers and sub- stitutes was $15,000. When we remember that the population was less than half of our present numbers, the measure of the sacrifices, both in men and in money, appears in a truer and more powerful light. The days of the Rebellion are gone. Only those who lived them through can know of the anguish of soul upon the field and the terrible uncertainty of mind at home.
Vernon, in 1824, by the advantage of her location on the Boston Turnpike, enjoyed an event of considerable historic inter- est. Upon this turnpike Colonel King erected a substantial
FRANCIS McLEAN, uilder of the first woolen mill of importance and pioneer of the indus- try.
PHINEAS TALCOTT, Delegate to Constitutional Convention in 1818. Agent of the Rock Manu- facturing Company. Organizer of The American Mills.
CAPTAIN ALLEN HAMMOND. The history of Rockville has been in- separably connected with name of Hammond since 1837.
DR. ALDEN SKINNER, One of the last of the old-time phy- sicians. Father of Town Clerk Skinner-Alden Skinner Camp Sons of Veterans is named in his honor,
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SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY EARLY AND MODERN
hostelry, our present town farm, known in those days as King's Tavern. At the tavern many men of national fame from time to time regaled themselves. Finally, one of international repute, General Lafayette, on his revisit to America, had occasion to make the journey from Boston to Hartford. Vernon, to render the illustrious guest appropriate homage, called out her military for a royal salute. The general, however, was so late in arriving that the soldiers and royal salute betook themselves home. Nevertheless the historic sojourn at the old tavern took place, and many veterans of the Revolution greeted the gallant French- man. This event has been honorably commemorated by one of our patriotic societies, the D. A. R.
The achievements of early Vernon must needs be to the many a tradition, to the few, only a memory. The work of our Puritan ancestry was essentially constructive. They were the precursors and guardians of a new manhood, and as such, were builders of mind, of body, and of soul. The final effect was not perfect, nor always pleasing, but citizenship was ennobled in every de- partment and life was made richer for the generation to come.
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SUMMARY OF VERNON'S HISTORY EARLY AND MODERN
SUMMARY of the MODERN HISTORY OF VERNON by HARRY CONKLIN SMITH.
History is a record of what man has done, a narrative of past events. A town history treats of the rise and growth of the town, of the deeds of the town's citizens, the manners and customs of her people, from which it gains its color and inspiration. It also shows the part the town has taken in that mighty forward and onward movement, called progress. Town history is distinguished as early and modern. Usually it is the task of the historian to trace the progress of the town from its rude beginnings to its present strength and wealth. It should be a labor of love, and to be properly done, it must be the work of years. The history of the town of Vernon has been divided into two parts. The first part, or a summary of the early history of the town, has been admirably presented to the reader in the preceding pages.
No generation in the strictest sense can begin its own work. It reaps fields that have been sown by others. To understand what we are today we need to go back to the toils and hardships of our ancestors, the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers. It was their rude schoolhouses that prepared the way for our splendid present-day system of education. It was their struggle for political and religious freedom that gave us the greatest republic on which the sun ever shone, and our New England town and New England town meeting, institutions that typify freedom and democracy. It was their intense conviction of their accountability to God that fruited in the rugged virtues of New England character. While we of the present day, in veneration of that loyalty to God, home and country, which made our ancestors industrious, honest, self reliant and honored, strive to maintain the splendid character of our New England civilization, the
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