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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION -
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01151 3998
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FARMINGTON PAPERS
Julius Gay
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FARMINGTON VILLAGE LIBRARY ERECTED 1917 (Finished May, 1919) by D. Newton Barney in memory of his mother
F 84618 .33
Gay, Julius, 1834-1918.
Farmington papers (by] Julius Gay. (Hartford, Priv. print. [The Case, Lockwood & Brainard co., 1929.
4 p. 1., 5-338 p. front., Illus., plates, port., facsims. 21}em. "Limited edition."
"The papers in this volume were read by the author ... ut annual meetings of the Village library company of Farmington, with the ex- · ception of one address, which was delivered before the Connecticut historical society. All of these essays were printed in pamphlet form, from time to time ... Miss Allce K. O'Connor ... undertook the arrange- SHELF CARD ment and publication of the collected essays."-Foreword.
1. Farmington, Conn. I. O'Connor, Alice Keats, d. 1928, ed. .
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20-16000
A 3823
Library of Congress
F101.F4G276
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Copyright : A 11481:
1
F84618.33
Limited Edition of which this is Number r 135.
COPYRIGHT 1929 BY D. N. BARNEY
PRINTED IN U. S. A. BY THE CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD CO. HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT
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Foreword
The papers in this volume were read by the author, Mr. Julius Gay, at annual meetings of the Village Library Company of Farmington, with the exception of one address, which was delivered before the Connecticut Historical So- ciety. All of these essays were printed in pamphlet form, from time to time.
As the years went on these pamphlets naturally became scattered and complete collections were difficult to procure. In the summer of 1928, the late Miss Alice K. O'Connor, Librarian of the Farmington Village Library, originated the idea of publishing all of these papers in one volume. To the friends whom she consulted this seemed an admir- able thought, and encouraged by their approval she under- took the arrangement and publication of the collected essays. At this time she was facing a serious ordeal, from the cause of which she never recovered, but nevertheless she attended to all the details of seeing the book to press. Later when she was courageously confronting a desperate situation she read the proofs. It would have been a great satisfaction to her and to her many devoted friends could she have lived to see the completed work issued.
It is hoped that this little book will serve not infre- quently to recall bright memories of her unselfish life.
OrtenTon Barney)
Farmington, January 2d, 1929
A 3823
C
CONTENTS
The Libraries of Farmington
5-20
Church Music
23-42
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Schools and Schoolmasters 45-76
Farmington in the Revolution 79-104
Old Houses .
107-126
Soldiers in the Colonial Wars
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129-150
Early Industries · 153-171
The Canal
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175-193
Library of a Village Blacksmith
197-214
The Tunxis Indians
217-237
The Swarming of the Hive
241-264
Farmington Two Hundred Years Ago
267-286
John Blackleach
289-304
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Social Life
307-338
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AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS DELIVERED AT
THE OPENING of the
VILLAGE LIBRARY
OF FARMINGTON, CONNECTICUT
September 30th, 1890
by Julius Gay
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THE LIBRARIES OF FARMINGTON
delivered at the opening of . the Village Library Sept. 30, 1890
WE have met this evening to open, to the use of the public, the library which the generosity of the citizens and friends of this village has instituted. By way of intro- duction, a brief account has been thought fitting of an older library founded here a century ago, of the men who organized it, and of the literary taste of their times.
There have been other libraries in this town also well- deserving consideration, if time permitted. Seven were in active operation, in the year 1802, with an aggregate of 1,041 volumes on their shelves, costing $1,241. The most recent library is too well-known to you all to need any eulogy or description from me. If the Tunxis Library had not attained its remarkable prosperity, there is little reason to suppose we should have been here this evening.
In the year 1795, when the Revolutionary War had been a thing of the past for twelve years, the people of this village found time to turn their energies to peaceful pursuits. The long and bitter contentions in the church had just given place to peace and good-will by the settle- ment of the beloved pastor, the Rev. Joseph Washburn, in May of that year. The Hon. John Treadwell of this town, afterward Gov. Treadwell, was at this time a mem- ber of the upper house of the State Legislature, and John Mix, Esq., had just begun to represent the town in the
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FARMINGTON PAPERS
lower house twice each year as certainly as the months of May and October came around. These worthy and public- spirited men, with such assistance as their fellow towns- men were ready to offer them, founded, in that year, the first library in this village of which we have any extended record. They called it " The Library in the First Society in Farmington," and this library, with sundry changes in name and organization, has survived to the present time.
The first librarian was Elijah Porter, a soldier of the Revolution, who served three years with the Connecticut troops on the Hudson, and was for many years a deacon in the Congregational Church. The members of the first committee were Martin Bull, John Mix, and Isaac Cowles. Martin Bull, also a deacon of the church, was a man of versatile powers and occupations, - a goldsmith and maker of silver spoons and silver buttons, a manufacturer of salt- petre when it was needed in making gunpowder for the army, a conductor of the church music with Gov. Tread- well for assistant, the treasurer of the town for eight years, and clerk of probate for thirty-nine years, and until the office passed out of the control of the old Federal party. He was one of the seventy signers of an agree- ment to march to Boston, in September, 1774, to the assistance of our besieged countrymen, if needed. Of all his numerous occupations, perhaps none pleased the worthy deacon more than writing long and formal letters to his friends. One series of fifteen to a student in college, full of kindly feeling and pious exhortation, has come down to us, but whose appalling solemnity would tend to drive the modern college youth into any dissipation for relief.
John Mix, the second member of the committee, was a graduate of Yale College, and an officer in the Revo- lutionary War, serving first as ensign along the Hudson,
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The LIBRARIES of FARMINGTON
and afterward as lieutenant and quartermaster in the High- lands until the close of the war. Then, when the return of peace dismissed the officers of the army to their homes, and the strong friendships formed around the camp-fire and on the battlefield led to the founding of the Society of the Cincinnati, John Mix became the Secretary of the Connecticut branch until that society was dissolved, in 1804, to appease the insane clamors of the politicians of the day. He then served the town ten years as judge of probate, thirty-two as town clerk, and twenty-six as a representative to the General Assembly. Those were the good old days when the magistrate and his duties were looked up to with veneration, and rotation in office had not become a political necessity. This old town was then a power in the land.
Isaac Cowles, the third member of the committee, was a farmer, a tavern keeper, a colonel in the State Militia, and a man of wealth.
The library company numbered thirty-seven members, who contributed 380 volumes, valued at $644.29, which amount was six-sevenths of one per cent. of the assessed value of all the property in the First Society of Farming- ton. The books were in part the remains of a former library formed August 1, 1785, of which no record, except this date and the amount of money collected, has come down to us. The first book on the list was Dean Swift's Tale of a Tub. Other works of fiction were his Gulliver's Travels, The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves of Smollett, The Sentimental Journey of Sterne; Henry Brookes' Fool of Quality; Fielding's Tom Jones; Miss Fanny Burney's Evelina and Cecilia; Dr. Moore's Zeluco; and Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. There were transla- tions of Gil Blas, and of several French novels; The Tales
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FARMINGTON PAPERS
of the Castle and the Adelaide, and Theodore of Madame De Genlis, and others of a more ephemeral nature.
Of poetry, they had, of course, the Paradise Lost, Pope's version of the Iliad, Young's Night Thoughts, and Goldsmith's Poems. There were, too, McPherson's Ossian, The Task and Olney Hymns of Cowper, Thomson's Seasons, and the poems of Akenside.
The list is not a long one, for the New England mind did not take kindly to works of the imagination. Being appealed to on their patriotic side they bought with alac- rity The Conquest of Canaan by President Dwight, and the Vision of Columbus by Joel Barlow, - those two epic poems which were thought to be so inspired by the Genius of American Liberty as to put to shame all the works of effete monarchies and empires. To these they added the poems of General David Humphreys, revolutionary soldier and diplomatist, and a volume of miscellaneous American poetry, which completed the list, nor did they see occasion to make any additions until twenty years after, in 1817, they bought Thomas Moore's Lalla Rookh pub- lished that year.
History fared a little better. Robertson was repre- sented by his Histories of America, Scotland, and India, and his Reign of Charles the Fifth. Even Voltaire was admitted with his Charles the Twelfth and his Age of Louis the Fifteenth. Rollin's Ancient History appears in ten volumes, and Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews in four volumes. Hume's History of England, Watson's Philip the Second, and Winthrop's Journal. were there, - the latter now a valuable prize when found in the edition of that day. There were histories in many volumes of almost all the then known countries of the world, - Europe, Greece, Rome, England, Spain, America, Switzerland, and
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The LIBRARIES of FARMINGTON
Hindostan, but by whom written we can only conjecture. The volumes have long since disappeared, and the cata- logue is silent.
Of biographies, there were those of Mahomet, Crom- well, Frederick the Great, Eugene, Newton, Doddridge, Boyle, Franklin, and Putnam. Of books of travel, there were Anson's Voyage around the World, Cook's Voyages, Wraxall's Tour through Europe, Volney's Travels in Egypt and Syria, Niebuhr's Travels in Arabia, Cox's Travels in Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, and Young's Travels in France, which latter has been recently reprinted, and is one of the notable books of the day.
Any one could make a list of the essay literature on the shelves without much danger of going astray. The Tattler, The Spectator, and the Citizen of the World con- stituted pretty much the whole of it.
Of dramatic literature there is not much to say. The first copy of Shakespeare waited twenty years for admis- sion to the library. Our forefathers did not love the theater or its literature.
Theological books were more to their taste. I will not weary you with a list of those which formed a large part of their first library. . The most famous were Butler's Analogy, Edwards " On the Freedom of the Will," " On Justification by Faith Alone," his "Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections," and his "History of the Re- demption "; Hopkins' Divinity; Paley's Evidences and His Hora Paulinæ; Newton, on the Prophecies; West, on the Resurrection; Strong, on Baptism; and Sherlock's Prac- tical Discourses on Providence. There were also sermons by Blair, Newton, Edwards, and other divines.
Such were the 380 volumes with which the first library was opened to the public. For a quarter of a century
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FARMINGTON PAPERS
thereafter the books added were, with few exceptions, of a theological character. With the exception of "Don Quixote " and "Sir Charles Grandison," added in 1799, no more novels were bought until Miss Hannah More's " Coelebs in Search of a Wife " found favor in 1809, prob- ably owing to the religious character of its authoress ; and so matters continued until the Waverly Novels knocked too hard at the doors to be denied admission.
Why did the intelligent men and women of this village restrict themselves to such a literary diet ?
Certainly not in a sanctimonious spirit, or because they thought it pleasing in the sight of Heaven, but simply and wholly because they liked it. Not the religious and moral only, but all classes alike discussed the subtle dis- tinctions of their theology with an excitement and too often with a bitterness unknown even to the modern politician. They held stormy debates on these high themes by the way- side, at the country store, and over their flip and New Eng- land rum at the tavern. They thoroughly believed their creed - believed that the slightest deviation from the narrow path they had marked out for their steps would consign them to the eternal agonies of a material hell. Such was their belief and such the literature that pleased them.
Even the young ladies of the day read the works of Jonathan Edwards, as the records show. But let no one picture them only as Priscilla singing the Hundredth Psalm at her spinning wheel, or waste unnecessary compassion on their gloomy puritan surroundings. The same ladies danced with the French officers of the army of Rocham- beau by the light of their camp-fires, down on the Great Plain, with the approbation and attendance of their fathers,
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The LIBRARIES of FARMINGTON
and even, as tradition says, of the courtly minister of the church.
We know from old letters, carefully treasured, how Farmington society spent its evenings, at what houses the young ladies were wont to gather, what they did, and what young men, with more money than brains, were frowned upon for stopping on the way at too many of the numerous taverns then lining our street. We know how Gov. Treadwell fined the society ladies of his day because, as the indictment read, "They were convened in company with others at the house of Nehemiah Street, in said town, and refused to disperse until after nine o'clock at night." The nine o'clock bell meant something in those days.
Only a few years later, the Governor writes in a strain worthy of John Ruskin, " The young ladies are changing their spinning wheels for forte-pianos and forming their manners at the dancing school rather than in the school of industry. Of course, the people are laying aside their plain apparel, manufactured in their houses, and clothing themselves with European and India fabrics. Labor is growing into disrepute, and the time when the independent farmer and reputable citizen could whistle at the tail of his plough with as much serenity as the cobbler over his last, is fast drawing to a close. The present time marks a revolution of taste and of manners of immense import to society, but while others glory in this as a great ad- vancement in refinement, we cannot help dropping a tear at the close of the golden age of our ancestors, while with a pensive pleasure we reflect on the past, and with suspense and apprehension anticipate the future."
Such was social life then. Much hearty enjoyment of the increasing good things around them, tempered and
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FARMINGTON PAPERS
always overshadowed by their ever present belief in the stern doctrines of Calvin -" fixed fate, free-will, fore- · knowledge absolute."
The meetings for the drawing. of books were held on the first Sunday evening of each month, not because the eminently religious character of the library became that day, but because our ancestors read on the first page of Holy Writ that the evening and the morning were the first day, and when they saw the last rays of the setting sun disappear behind the western mountains, the Sabbath with all its restraints was ended. The boys might resume, though somewhat quietly, the sports of the week. Those of older growth were expected to present themselves in all the bravery of their Sunday attire wherever their youth- ful affections called them, and they, both young men and maidens, doubtless blessed the new library as a most suit- able place of resort for their elders. Hither they came from far and near, not simply for books, but to exchange friendly greetings, to discuss the affairs of the State and the Church, the health of their families, the labors of their farms, and all the details of their everyday life. It was a true literary club made up of the most intelligent and worthy members of the community.
When all were assembled and had accounted for the books charged them, the new books, or any old ones de- sired by two persons, were put up at auction, and the right to the next month's reading was struck off for a few pennies, adding on the average $2.50 to the annual income of the company.
Deacon Porter kept the library in excellent order. Every volume, though originally bound, as books then were, in full leather, had a stout cover of sheepskin sewed around it. The reader who turned down a leaf to keep his place
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This Book belongs
Monthly Library
IN FARMINGTON
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LAWOS
Juopence " day for retaining" Of Book more than one. non it "Onepenny frefolding down a "Lený 3 3/ For lending a look lou lou re prieton. 4. Cher Damages appraisal ly a Committee SCNo Person allowed a Bout white indultat . fora fine :
The youth who. Led by HISDO IS Sinding Tona. Seeks VIRTUE'S Temple, und her Lui Revers: He he alone in Honour's Dome hall, Stand. Crown'd with Beurerds Strandabove his Preis.
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Two pence PI Day for retaining a Book more than one Month
One Penny for folding down a Leaf . Three fhillings for lending a Book to a I Nonproprietor . No Memberto retain a Book after S o clock on drawing Evenings 5 hani.
The Youth who ted by wisdom's quiding Sechs Virtues Temple ther Law revere He, he alone in Honors Dome shall stan Crown'd with Rewards Vrais'd above his Peers
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The LIBRARIES of FARMINGTON
while reading was fined a penny, and a strict record was kept of every grease spot or other blemish, giving the volume and page where it occurred, so that any new dam- age could be charged upon the offender with unerring cer- tainty. Two pence a day was the cost of forgetting to return books on time. It made no sort of difference who the unlucky offender was, be he of high degree or other- wise, he had to pay. Major Hooker pays his sixpence, Col. Noadiah Hooker his shilling, and even Gov. Tread- - well is reminded that it has cost him five shillings and six- pence for forgetting his books a whole month. Solomon Whitman, Esq., reading the fourth volume of Rollin, prob- ably with a tallow dip in one hand, sets fire to the book and comes so near bringing the wars of the Persians and Grecians to an abrupt termination that he has to pay one dollar. Dr. Todd is fined one-half as much for having his mind so occupied with his patients as to forget his books for six days. The fines for ten years amounted to £1 3 6. .
On the first day of January, 1801, the first day of the new century, the name of the library was changed from The Library in the First Society in Farmington to The Monthly Library in Farmington, probably to distinguish it from some other library. Deacon Martin Bull, still the chairman of the committee, engraved for it a new book plate in the highest style of his art. It contains the by-laws of the company and this motto:
" The youth who led by Wisdom's guiding hand Seeks Virtue's temple and her law reveres, He, he alone in Honour's dome shall stand Crowned with rewards and raised above his peers."
Wisdom is represented in the central picture in the form of the god Mercury leading a very small boy up to a book-shelf of ponderous folios. The boy is dressed in
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FARMINGTON PAPERS
the fashionable court costume of the period, and with uncovered head contemplates a personification of virtue crowned with Masonic insignia. By her side stands a nude figure of wondrous anatomy, perhaps a siren against whose allurements the youth is being warned.
The books were kept in the house of the librarian, which stood on the east side of the main street, next north of the graveyard, and here sat Deacon Porter, the village tailor, in this solemn neighborhood and among these serious books ready to minister to the literary taste of the com- munity. In the meantime the beloved pastor, Joseph Wash- burn, died on the voyage from Norfolk to Charleston, whither he had gone in the vain hope of restoring his health, and on the 23d day of August, eight years afterward, Deacon Porter married the widow and moved into her house opposite, now occupied by Chauncey Rowe, Esq. He relinquished his care of the library, and Captain Luther Seymour succeeded him for the year 1813. At the end of the year the Monthly Library Company came to an end. The furniture was sold and the cash on hand to the amount of $54.93 was divided among the proprietors. A few weeks later, on the 12th of February, 1814, Deacon Porter was reinstated in office, the books set up in the kitchen of his new abode, and, as was the fashion of the times when any dead institution started into new life, after the manner of the fabled bird of mythology, which is supposed to arise from its own ashes, they called the new institution the Phoenix Library. Nine years after, it was incorporated under that name, January 28, 1823, by leaving a copy of its articles of association with the Secretary of State.
Contemporaneously with this, another library called the Village Library, also holding its meetings on the first Sun- day evening of each month, had existed for many years.
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The LIBRARIES of FARMINGTON
The leading spirits of the company were Capt. Selah Porter at the center of the village, Capt. Pomeroy Strong at the north end, and John Hurlburt Cooke at White Oak. Its records date back to January, 1817, but I was told some thirty years ago by Capt. Erastus Scott, then one of the most prominent men of the town, that he and his fellow school-mates were the real founders. They met on a Sat- urday afternoon under the church horse-sheds, and each contributing ten cents, began the purchase of the little - volumes entitled " The World Displayed." This selection seems to indicate a reliance on the literary taste of the schoolmaster; but when the next purchase was made, the true boy's instinct asserted itself, and Robinson Crusoe was the result. These and some subsequent purchases were the nucleus, he said, of the Village Library. The accuracy of Capt. Scott's recollection seems to be sustained by the list of books bought from the Village Library at its dis- solution in 1826. Two of the twenty volumes of "The World Displayed," the boys' first purchase, are still in existence bearing the book plate of the Village Library, a work of art probably beyond the skill of Deacon Bull. It substitutes for his awkward boy a self-possessed young lady seated in an arm chair in the most approved position taught by the boarding schools of the day. She is ab- sorbed in a book taken from the library shelves at her side, and through the window of the room has before her the inspiring vision of the Temple of Fame crowning the sum- mit of a distant mountain. Beneath is the motto -
"Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll, Charms strike the sense, but merit wins the soul."
Thus early did the Village Library recognize the value of female education.
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FARMINGTON PAPERS
In March, 1826, the Village Library was merged with the Phoenix, and Capt. Selah Porter, who since 1817, and perhaps longer, had been its librarian, now took the place of Deacon Elijah Porter. He held the office until he re- signed April 4, 1835, and Simeon Hart, Jr., was appointed in his stead, and it was voted that the books be removed to the house of the latter. The affix of Jr. sounds strangely to those who remember the venerable and beloved instruc- tor of our youth better as Deacon Hart, - a name which brings back to many hundreds of men scattered all over the world the recollections of the wise teacher, the kindly director of their sports as well as studies, the high minded man trusting the honor of his pupils and worthy of all honor in return. Deacon Hart had just finished his twelfth year as principal of the Farmington Academy, and one month after his appointment as librarian " Commenced," as he wrote, " a Boarding School in my own house, May 1, 1835." This new departure of his so occupied his time that on the 6th of March he felt it necessary to resign, and Rufus Cowles was appointed in his place, filling the office until the company came to an end and was reorganized on the 18th day of February, 1839, under the name of the Farmington Library Company. The library was given a room in what was then the northeast corner of the lower floor of the old Academy building, and Rev. William S. Porter was installed as librarian, which office he filled until March 1, 1840, when he was succeeded by Mr. Abner Bidwell.
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