USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Goshen > History of the town of Goshen, Connecticut, with genealogies and biographies based upon the records of Deacon Lewis Mills Norton, 1897 > Part 1
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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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History of the town of Goshen, Connectic
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1865
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Cornell University Library
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HISTORY
OF THE
Town of Goshen, Connecticut
WITH
GENEALOGIES. AND BIOGRAPHIES
BASED UPON
The Records of Deacon LEWIS MILLS NORTON
BY REV. A. G. HIBBARD, A.M. 11 GOSHEN
1897
HARTFORD, CONN. Press of The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company 1897 KG.
-
CONTENTS.
DEACON LEWIS MILLS NORTON, . 7
CHAPTER I. Events prior to the settlement, 15
II. Meeting of the Proprietors and Beginning of the Town, 30
III. First Birth, Death, Oldest House, Original Sur- veys, etc., . 42
IV. Topography, Scenery, Climate, Lakes, etc., . .
49
V. Residences and Roads in 1745, 55
VI. French and Indian War, . .
65
VII. The Story of Elizabeth (Carter) Oviatt, 68
VIII. The Congregational Churches, .
72
IX. The War of the Revolution, . .
117
X. The Episcopal Church ; Methodist Church, . 158
XI. Among the First Things, 172
XII. The Hudson Colony, 190
XIII. Ministers born in Goshen ; Ministers' Wives, 198
XIV. Men to be Remembered, 228
XV. Mails and Post-offices; War of 1812 ; Ordination of Missionaries, etc., . 249
XVI. Schools, Young Ladies' Seminary, Academy, 266
XVII. A Christian Home in Goshen, Sixty Years ago, 285
XVIII. Pastors of the First Church, . 304
XIX. Physicians, Lawyers, and Teachers, 338
xx. Merchants and the Cheese Trade, 356
XXI. Manufactures, Mills, etc., · 367
XXII. The War of the Rebellion, 372
XXIII. The Centennial Celebration, 393
XXIV. Representatives, Assessments, Population, 401
XXV. The Goshen of To-day, 405
Genealogies, . . . . Marriages, . ·
.
. 407
.
.
. 573
ILLUSTRATIONS.
A. G. HIBBARD,
Opposite title page
DEACON LEWIS MILLS NORTON, .
7
ADINO HALE PLACE - The Oldest House, . 44 . .
DOG POND-Looking North, . .
.
49
MARSHAPAUG POND - Looking East,
.
52
TIPPING ROCK, 54
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, SCHOOLHOUSE, PARSONAGE, 92 .
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AS REBUILT IN 1894, 94
RESIDENCE HENRY G. WRIGHT,
160
METHODIST CHURCH - West Goshen,
.
166
LICENSE TO USE CHAISE,
. 239
GOSHEN CENTER, 1836, 264 .
NANCY (THOMPSON) HUNT,
268
GOSHEN ACADEMY,
.
273
CERTIFICATE ACADEMY STOCK,
274
CENTER STREET - Looking North,
284
LAVALETTE PERRIN, D.D.,
327
RESIDENCE REV. LAVALETTE PERRIN,
332
CENTER STREET - Looking South,
. 364 TOWN HALL -Erected 1895, . 405 .
FRANKLIN BURTON'S RESIDENCE,
.
.
443
COAT OF ARMS, ARTHUR C. THOMPSON,
.
.
. 548
OLD WADHAMS HOMESTEAD, .
.
. 555
.
PREFACE.
Ir is not expected tliat this book will afford literary enter- tainment. On its pages will be found very little of thrilling adventure or of great achievement. It is not a record of enter- prise rewarded by wealth or of valor that has won renown. No one can be more conscious of its many imperfections than the writer, who commenced the preparation of its pages four years ago. He may be permitted to state that inability to refer to records of which he had made upwards of two hundred refer- ences in his notes will account for many deficiencies both in matter and form.
To any who may think that an undue proportion of the book is devoted to churches and members of the ministerial profession it can be said, and the fact will be noted by thought- ful and candid readers that, taking into account the situation of the town and its small population, its record in these particu- lars is not only remarkable but almost unprecedented. The history of the town in the War of the Revolution and the Civil War should fill the hearts of its citizens with pride.
Many of the old households now dispersed over our broad land who have no access to the originals, will appreciate the labor bestowed upon the genealogies. They not only contain the record made by Deacon Norton, but that record corrected and enlarged by the correspondence and personal investiga- tions of the writer.
The Rev. Augustus C. Thompson, D. D., of Boston, Mass., has rendered assistance in this work, without which it would have been of far less value, and acknowledgments are also
6
PREFACE.
duc to Mr. A. C. Bates, librarian of the Connecticut Historical Society; Prof. Percival Hall, Washington, D. C .; Rollin H. Cooke, Esq., Pittsfield, Mass .; Rev. A. H. Plumb, D.D., Bos- ton, Mass .; Prof. William Henry Bishop, Yale University, New Haven, Conn .; C. T. Harvey, C. E., New York City; Rev. William Durant, D.D., Saratoga Springs, N. Y .; Rev. L. B. Curtis, South Windsor, Conn .; Mrs. Elizabeth A. Forbes, Smyrna, Turkey; Mr. Arthur C. Thomson, Brookline, Mass .; Rev. Joseph W. Backus, D.D., Farmington, Conn .; Benj. W. Pettibone, Esq., Winchester, Conn .; Hon. Isaac W. Brooks and Miss Mary E. Brooks, Torrington, Conn., and Deacon Edward Norton, Miss Maria Norton, Elbert S. Richards, Esq., and Mrs. Adeline Hart, all of Goshen. The correctness of the record of Goshen in the Civil War is largely due to the Hon. F. A. Lucas, who was prevented by illness from preparing a chapter of incidents and engagements in which Goshen men had a part, which would have added greatly to the interest of the work.
It is proper to state that the Hon. John M. Wadhams, re- cently deceased, made a bequest towards the payment of the expense of this publication.
August, 1897.
DEACON LEWIS MILLS NORTON.
-
DEACON LEWIS MILLS NORTON.
IF there is a place in this book, which, more than any other, is a place of honor, it should be occupied with mention of the man whose investigations and records have made the book possible. Had his work been delayed a single decade, but few of the facts could have been gathered. He commenced at a time when he could converse with the children of the first settlers, with soldiers of the Revolution, with those who knew the first minister and whose parents had founded all the churches. For years before his death, he was accustomed to carry pencil and paper wherever he went, and he recognized in every man and woman he met a possible source of wished for information, for which he was not slow to ask, nor negligent to record.
During these later years, and especially since the organiza- tion of both sexes into patriotic societies, letters have poured in to his children, the custodians of his records, requesting particulars as to the ancestry of the writers, and many a heart has beat more proudly as the information received has enabled the recipient to say, " I am a Son " or " Daughter of the Revo- lution."
He traveled hundreds of miles, wrote hundreds of letters, examined records of probate courts, of towns, and of families, was often on his knees to read the inscription upon some an- cient gravestone, deciphered old accounts and private journals, - over which the present writer has spent hours with magni- fying-glass, in vain attempts to read - and he did all this without appreciation, except from a very few. The appre-
8
HISTORY OF GOSHEN.
ciation is ample at the present time, and has made this publica- tion possible.
The noble Christian character of Deacon Norton makes it certain that in the world for which we here prepare ourselves to enter, his name will be in everlasting remembrance, and these records are already winning him a grateful remembrance in the minds of the many who have an interest in the begin- nings of things.
It may be described, as a little work, made up of little de- tails, relating to persons and events in a little "hill-town," in one of the smallest states in the Nation. But remembering that it was written by a man in humble life, with very few ed- ucational advantages, as incidental labor in a life of daily toil, that it occupied hours stolen from sleep, and at a time when but very little attention was paid to, or the necessity recognized of such investigation, it becomes a very magnum opus and is viewed with constantly increasing interest by the sons and daughters of those whose histories have been preserved.
LEWIS MILLS NORTON, the son of Ebenezer N., and the grandson of Colonel Ebenezer Norton,-an early settler of Goshen - was born December 22, 1783. He was exposed to the smallpox in the summer of 1793, from having picked up a handkerchief in the field not far from his home. He was taken to the home of the family physician, Doctor Carrington, and inoculated for the disease, as was then the custom, and carried to the pest house, near Whist Pond, and about a mile from his home, where he remained until it was considered safe for him to return. His father died in the summer of 1795, from malarial fever, contracted in western New York, where he had journeyed in company with Cyprian Collins and his brothers, Miles and Birdsey Norton. The brothers, Miles and Ebenezer, died within fifteen days after reaching home. In the distribution of his father's estate he received 172 pounds, 10 shillings and 10 pence. In May, 1800, his mother
9
HISTORY OF GOSHEN.
having hired a boy to attend to the farm, he left home to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner of his brother Theodore. During the four years of his apprenticeship, they built the houses of Giles Griswold (now the Congregational parsonage), Abram Wadhams, Samuel Miles, Ambrose Collins, Isaac Wad- hams, Oliver Stanley, framed the house of Erastus Lyman, and the two houses for Daniel Wadhams and David Thompson, (built alike), and now (1897) occupied by Moses Gray and Albert Sperry. They also built the steeple of the meeting- house. His school privileges had been limited, and finding him- self unable to compute interest, when asked to do so for a friend, he began a course of study and reading, and this, with a few weeks of night school, while an apprentice, comprised his entire educational advantages, except that he was learning as long as he lived. He married, October 10, 1805, Miss Laura Foote, of Canton, Conn., who came to Goshen to reside in January, 1806. They united with the Congregational church in 1807.
His studies had prepared him for the duties of county sur- vevor, and he filled that office for forty years, during the latter part of this time having associated with him his son Henry, who continued to hold the office until his death, a period of more than fifty years. The Theodolite, surveying and leveling in- struments, are still (1897) in existence and in perfect preserva- tion. He not only made these brass instruments, but made the tools used in their construction.
In 1808 he commenced experiments in making pineapple cheese, a sample of which his uncle had brought from the city of New York. This sample came from Holland. With no other help in inventing he soon contrived the appliances neces- sary and commenced their manufacture in 1809, which has been continued on the same spot for 88 years.
In 1812 he collected statistics showing that the merchants of Goshen had sold in the year 1811 52 hogsheads of alcoholic
10
HISTORY OF GOSHEN.
liquor, and he determined that it should not be used on his premises, and adhered to his resolution although assured that he could not get his haying done without it. His haying was done as usual and without the rum.
In 1814 he became a partner in the firm of Walter, Cobb & Co., who manufactured woolen cloths. Their broadcloths sold in Philadelphia at $12 per yard. He remained in the firmi until 1826. During this time he walked, morning and evening of each day, three miles to and from the factory, and it was said by one conversant with the facts, that he ran the entire distance, except when ascending the hills. The com- pany failed, his losses in the failure amounting to $5,700. He mortgaged his entire property and gave himself little time for rest until every dollar of his indebtedness was paid. Dur- ing the years of this partnership he invented a power loom with which was woven 170 yards of broadcloth for the factory at Wolcottville. This loom had many imperfections, but was a great improvement on any method of weaving then in use, and the weavers in the employ of the company were so angry with him for the invention that he had reason to fear that his life was in danger. He was interested in inventing some new ma- chine which would lessen labor, or discovering a use for some- thing regarded as useless, and during this time he started the raising of teasels, used for dressing cloth; the making of pyro- ligneous acid, for curing hams, by distilling seasoned hard wood, many barrels of which he sold in market; the raising of woad, a fermentative addition to indigo in the pastel vat. He started the factory for making cheese in 1844. This was the first one of the kind in the country and, probably, in the world. The raising of teasels and the making of acid was not continued many years, but woad was raised to the amount of $1,000 an- nually, during part of the years between 1819 and 1844. In the latter vear he commenced the buying of curd, and the year following he built the factory, still standing. The pineapple
11
HISTORY OF GOSHEN.
cheese were made from the curd purchased from ten to twenty- five farmers' dairies until 1883, when the buildings and pro- cess of manufacture were changed and adapted to the buying of milk instead of curd and at the same time the amount manu- factured was largely increased. The business was conducted by him and his sons, Edward and Robert, under the firm name of Lewis M. Norton & Sons, from 1847 to 1850. In 1850 Robert moved to western New York, carrying on the same business there, Edward remaining a partner until his father's death in 1860.
During the latter part of his life he copied and arranged so much of the records of the Congregational church as could be obtained by extended correspondence with aged members who had removed, neighboring ministers, the records of con- sociations and associations, and the testimony of the oldest in- habitants. The work was done with a neatness, accuracy, and ingenuity that are remarkable. He was a deacon in this church for twenty-five years. For upwards of forty years the work of foreign missions was very near his heart. His faithful labor is described in another place, but it may here be noted that the ordination of Messrs. Bingham and Thurston, at Go- shen, as the first missionaries to the Sandwich Islands, was an event from which he was accustomed to date subsequent oc- currences.
In 1855, his devoted wife was taken from his side. She was a helpmeet indeed and truly a " Mother in Israel."
In 1842 he commenced, what has proved to be his greatest work, and a work without which nothing like a complete his- tory of this town would be possible; entitling his manuscript, " Goshen Statistics and Family History." It is now bound in two volumes of 600 pages each. The writing is fine but easily read, as it is so plainly written. He had correct ideas as to its value, but could hardly have realized the extent to which it would be consulted and appealed to after the passage of a few years.
1
12
HISTORY OF GOSHEN.
His health was not good during the last twenty years of his life, but he was usually able to attend church twice on the Sabbath. He did so the day previous to his death, and those who loved him saw him stand in his pew and sing heartily, as the service was about to close, "Jesus lover' of my soul." That evening he was cheerful and appeared to be quite well, but early the next morning he was in great pain, which was soon relieved, however. For an hour he talked of the church which seemed to fill his thoughts. Pausing, he repeated in a clear voice,-
" For her my tears shall fall, For her my prayers ascend, To her, my toils and cares be given, Till cares and toils shall end."
A moment later he had ceased to breathe.
On Thursday, May 3, 1860, he was borne from his home to the cemetery, to the extension and improvement of which he had devoted much time and thought during the ten years pre- ceding, and on the western slope of the hillside, he was lowered to his last resting-place by his four sons - John, Henry, Ed- ward, and Robert - by the side of the wife of his youth.
A generation has come and gone since his departure, and we can best allude to the influence he exerted in the church and community by noting some marked traits of his character. A worthy descendant of Puritan ancestry, he held firmly to their beliefs and possessed the same faith which led and sustained them through their struggles to make themselves a home and find " freedom to worship God," and this was the key-note of his long and busy life. Stern and unyielding when assured that he was in the right, he was feared by selfish, mercenary, and dishonest men. Sympathetic and kind to those who were in trouble, ready and generous to relieve them, they regarded him as their friend, and gave him both honor and affection. He was unswerving in the performance of his duties to the
13
HISTORY OF GOSHEN.
State, as well as to the church. He never neglected or per- mitted his sons or inen in his employ to neglect their duty at the polls. Just as invariable was his attendance upon the wor- ship of the sanctuary on the Lord's Day and at the mid-week prayer-meeting and all meetings of the church and society. He was greatly interested in the education of the young and con- tributed largely, in proportion to his means, for the erection of Goshen Academy and its permanent establishment. Particu- larly dear to him was the church in Goshen, and his desire for its welfare and its spiritual growth was his ever present thought and daily prayer.
Reminiscences by the Hon. Noah Humphrey Osborne, of McGrawville, N. Y., March 31, 1876. Published in the Win- sted Herald.
" Of all the citizens with whom I became acquainted while residing in Goshen, no one is so indelibly stamped on my mem- ory as that Christian philosopher, the late Deacon Lewis M. Norton, in whose family I was for many months permitted to enjoy a home; a period which I have always esteemed as the most profitable of my early life. I there saw a family which I now know was a model family, controlled on Christian princi- ples by a father and mother, all loving, but firm in the right. I now remember the father as active in business, and of un- flinching integrity, with habits as exact as science. While la- boring for posterity he suffered nothing to escape his notice worthy of regard. To him the people of Goshen are under obligations as lasting as time for his patience and persevering labor in searching out and recording the genealogy of the early families of Goshen. In like manner he recorded all the im- portant facts in its history, so that I think a thousand pages could not contain them. I have not learned that his history of Goshen has been published. It should be at an early day, and it would be a book that would sell in every state in the Union, for Goshen men and their descendants are spread all
.
14
HISTORY OF GOSHEN.
over the States from Maine to the Pacific coast. Such were some of the characteristics of Lewis M. Norton, and his wife, Miss Laura Foote of Canton, was worthy of such a husband.
" Goshen has sent many eminent men from her bosom into the states and territories of the West and South. Her Bald- wins, Oviatts, Humphreys, Nortons, Newtons, Beaches, Dick- insons, Hales, Griswolds, Buels, Ives, Weltons, Collins, Miles, Kelloggs, Carters, Norths, and many others, have filled sta- tions of honor and responsibility in the several states of their adoption."
-
15
HISTORY OF GOSHEN.
CHAPTER I.
EVENTS PRIOR TO THE SETTLEMENT.
NEARLY a century had elapsed since the building of the first trading-house, at the mouth of the Tunxis river, in Wind- sor, before the settlement of the northwestern part of Connec- ticut was commenced. It was the day of large families, immi- grants were constantly arriving from the mother country, more land was needed and rash enthusiasts were predicting that the day would come when the country would be filled with inhabitants as far west as fifty miles beyond the Hudson river. Litchfield was the town first settled - the settlement commencing in 1720, and incorporated in 1724. The coun- try north of Litchfield, with very indifferent and uncertain boundaries, was called New Bantam, and a part of this un- known country came to be known as Goshen, when the town was incorporated.
It has been said that this town commenced to be settled in 1720, but no evidence of this is obtainable and it seems to have been inferred from statements in Trumbull's History, which will follow. The inference is not necessary, and the fact that the first known settlers make no allusion to any who had preceded them, it seems to be uncalled for. There is no mention of any dwelling or any signs of pre-occupation by any of those who are placed on record as the first settlers.
James II became the King of Great Britain February 6, 1685, and immediately took measures to deprive the Colonies of New England of their chartered rights. The excitement throughout the entire country seems to have been intense. Robert Treat was the Governor of Connecticut at that time, and called a special session of the assembly to consider and de-
16
HISTORY OF GOSHEN.
vise measures for their protection. Among other objects of dread was the fear that the colony would be deprived of its rights in the unoccupied " western lands," so called. In order to guard their rights they passed the following bill, conveying the rights of the colony in these lands to two towns.
(Colonial Records, January 26, 1686.)
"This court grants the plantations of Hartford and Windsor those lands on the north of Woodbury and Mattattock and on the west of Farmington and Simsbury to the Massachusetts line north, and to run west to Housatunock or Stratford river, (provided it be not, or part of it, formerly granted to any particular persons,) to make a plantation or villages thereon."
The results of this grant,- which can be characterized as Yankee shrewdness, rather than wise statesmanship,- are narrated in the following account found in Trumbull's His- tory of Connecticut, Book V, page 95.
" While people were effecting the settlement of these towns, there arose au unhappy controversy between the legislature and the towns of Hartford and Windsor. In the troublesome times of Sir Edmond Andrus's administration, to save the lands of the Colony from his grasp and prevent his enriching himself and his minions by the sale of them, the legislature, in a hasty manner, made a conveyance to the above named towns, January 26, 1686.
" The design of this couveyance was that these towns should hold the land thus granted, for the Governour and Company, until those times of danger and trouble should be passed; but not as their property. They had never purchased nor given the least valuable consideration for them, and had no deeds nor patents of them. Nevertheless, by virtue of this grant, they laid claim to all the lands within the limits expressed. So tenacious were they of their claim, that, in contravention of the most expressed laws of the Colony, they proceeded to locate and vend the lands in the con- troversy.
" The Governour and Company claimed the lands as fully as though no grant of any kind had been made to these towns. And as the town of Litchfield had been settled by the Hartford and Windsor people, and they persisted in their claims, and in locat- ing and vending the land in controversy, some of the principal de-
17
HISTORY OF GOSHEN.
linquents it seems were arrested and punished by the Superior Court; some were committed to the Common Prison in Hartford. The people of Hartford and Windsor determined, nevertheless, to oppose the legislature, and by force of arms liberate their neigh- bors. On the 11th of October, 1722. the Assembly having informa- tion, that a number of disorderly persons, in the county of Hartford, were about to appear in armus, in a rlotons manner, against the authority of the government, and to oppose the execution of the laws, resolved, that Colonel William Whiting, Sheriff of the County of Hartford, be authorized to call out the whole militia of the county to his assistance: and the legislature enjoined it upon all the officers and privates on the penalty of five pounds, to assist him as occa- siou should require in suppressing all riot and disorder, and in guarding any delinquents who might be taken, and in committing them to confinement, untill such time as they could be legally pro- ceeded against, and punished.
"Notwithstanding this precautionary act of the Assembly, there was a riot at Hartford; the common gaol was broken open, and the delinquents were set at liberty; even while the Assembly were in session. A further resolution was therefore passed, to the follow- ing effect: That as the common gaol and County of Hartford, had, in the present session, been broken open, with a tumultuous and strong hand, and a number of persons, committed for the non-pay- ment of certain charges, arising upon their prosecution before the County Court, in and for the County of Hartford, were delivered out of the custody of the law, and many high misdemeanors and breaches of the peace, and other crimes were committed, the legislature, by a special right, authorized the judges of the Superior Court, or any three of them, by jury or otherwise, according to law, to enquire into, hear and determine all crimes committed in the transaction. and all things relating thereunto; and to award execution thereon according to law. The chief judge, or any of the three judges, or any assistant, was authorized to issue writs for apprehending, se- curing and bringing the rioters to justice; and for bringing every person before them whom they should judge proper to examine. It was also resolved, that every person who should be taken, should be bound to make his appearance before the Court, and to his good behavior, iu a bond of one hundred pounds, or be committed to the common gaol. It was further resolved, that if jurors should be called to judge in the affair, they should be taken from such parts of the county as should be judged to have been the least privy to the transaction, and in which there had been the fewest offenders. It was further enacted, that unless the persons who had made their escape, should, before the 6th of November, then next ensuing, pay the charges for which they were committed, or deliver themselves up 2
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