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In May, 1831, the State granted the college a charter; and in the following autumn its doors were opened to students. Previous to this, Wilbur Fisk, principal of the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, WILBUR FISK, D.D. Mass., had been elected president of the university. Dr. Fisk was a man of rare piety and beautiful character, and his administration of the college was marked by great prudence and ability. At the death of Dr. Fisk, in 1839, Stephen Olin was elected president. Dr. Olin had won a national reputation as a preacher of wonder- ful power and eloquence. Ill health, unfortunately, made it impossible for him to do what he wished for the college ; but he was able to improve its financial condition, and his name and influence were helpful in many ways.1 He was succeeded in 1852 by Augustus W. Smith, who had been connected with the institution since its foundation. ~ At this time the raising
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of an endowment fund of nearly one hundred thousand dol- lars, placed the college upon a stronger financial basis.2
Upon the resignation of Dr. Smith, in 1857, Joseph Cum- mings was elected president. Great material improvements were made under his administration. A substantial and elegant library building was opened in 1868. The beautiful Memorial Chapel, erected in memory of those students and alumni who fell in the war for the Union, was dedicated in 1871. During the same year, the Orange Judd Hall of Nat- ural Science, built at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars, was opened for use. It contains a well-furnished chemical laboratory, and a fine museum of natural history.3
Dr. Cummings was succeeded in 1875 by Cyrus D. Foss, D.D., who filled the office with marked success. Dr. Foss, having been elected one of the bishops of the Methodist Church, resigned his place at the head of the college in 1880 ; and the present incumbent, John Wesley Beach, D.D., was called to the presidency. Wesleyan University has been for- tunate in the character and ability of the men who have filled her chairs of instruction. While the college is vitally con- nected with the Methodist-Episcopal Church, it has never been in spirit or teaching a sectarian institution.
The original intention of the founders to make it a univer- sity in fact as well as name, has not been realized, and has long since been abandoned ; but as a college, it stands in the front rank. The standard of scholarship is high, and the course of instruction is fitted to develop a broad and liberal culture.
1 DR. OLIN, when first elected, was unable to assume the duties of the office on account of ill health. He resigned in 1841; and Nathan Bangs, D.D., was elected to the presidency. Dr. Bangs ac- cepted the position with reluctance, and in the following year (1842), as the health of Dr. Olin had improved, re- signed, that he might take the office.
2 THE productive funds of the college are now about $700,000.
3 THE MUSEUM was arranged under the direction of Professor W. N. Rice. LL.D., whose reputation as a scholar and instructor has brought honor to the institution he has so faithfully served.
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TRINITY COLLEGE.
CHAPTER LI.
TRINITY COLLEGE.
[N 1819 the Rev. T. C. Brownell, D.D., a graduate of, and I for more than ten years a tutor and professor in, Union College, was elected bishop of the Episcopal Church in Con- necticut. The purpose to found a college, to be under the
TRINITY COLLEGE, HARTFORD.
direction of his diocese, ripened early in the mind of Bishop Brownell ; and in May, 1823, Washington, now Trinity, Col- lege, was chartered by the State. The charter provided that an endowment fund of thirty thousand dollars should be secured. Over fifty thousand dollars was immediately sub- scribed ; and, as most of this came from Hartford, it was decided to locate the college in that city. The first buildings were erected on the site now occupied by the State Capitol.
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Dr. Brownell was elected president in May, 1824. The course of study was made somewhat elective ; and those who desired to follow a partial course for not less than two years, were given an English diploma. This new feature proved attractive, and the college had a fair number of students from the time it was opened. During the seven years that Bishop Brownell was at the head of the institution, the endowment fund was increased, and a good library obtained. The pressure of his other duties made it necessary for him to resign, in 1831. Nathaniel S. Wheaton, then rector of Christ Church, Hartford, was elected his successor. He was especially successful in improving the financial condition of the college. With lavish generosity he gave of his own pri- vate means, and his taste and care did much to beautify the college-grounds.
Dr. Wheaton accepted the rectorship of Christ Church, New Orleans, in 1837, and Silas Totten was elected presi- dent. Dr. Totten had been for four years the professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. During his admin- istration of eleven years, a third dormitory building, named Brownell Hall, was erected, a number of scholarships en- dowed, and the name of the institution changed from " Wash- ington " to Trinity College.
In 1848 Dr. Totten resigned, and John Williams was chosen to the presidency. Dr. Williams was in the early prime of a noble manhood, the promise of which has been fulfilled in all the high offices to which he has been called. He was the first graduate of the college chosen to administer its affairs. Under his direction a Theological Department was opened, which led to the establishment of the Berkeley Divinity School, organized in 1854, and located in the city of Middletown.
The election of Dr. Williams as assistant bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut, in 1851, soon made it necessary for the college to seek a new president. Daniel R. Goodwin, a
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graduate of Bowdoin College, was elected to this position, and discharged its duties for seven years. In 1860 Samuel Eliot, professor of history and political science, became the president ; and, after four years of service, he was suc- ceeded by John B. Kerfoot, who within two years resigned, to accept the bishopric of Pittsburg.
During this period of frequent changes, the college was placed upon a stronger financial basis by the gifts of many of its friends. Abner Jackson, a graduate of the college in the class of 1837, was elected president in 1867. Under his administration, the number of students increased, and the college received a legacy of sixty thousand dollars from Mr. Chester Adams of Hartford.
In 1871 the city of Hartford voted to offer a site to the State for the erection of a new Capitol. A proposition to purchase the college-grounds for this purpose met with much opposition, and was twice rejected by the trustees. The sale was finally made, and the city paid six hundred thou- sand dollars for the land. A new site was bought, contain- ing about seventy-eight acres, a mile south of the old campus.
Dr. Jackson died in 1874, and Thomas R. Pynchon was elected to the presidency. Under his direction, the plans were completed for the beautiful buildings now used by the college. He was succeeded in 1883 by the Rev. George Williamson Smith, D.D., who still remains at the head of the institution. Trinity College is a worthy representative of the Episcopal Church, under whose care it has prospered, and gives promise of increasing usefulness.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
CHAPTER LII.
CONNECTICUT IN THE LIFE OF THE NATION.
F ROM its earliest settlement, the history of Connecticut is the history of a republic. The Constitution adopted by the freemen of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor, in 1639, expressed the will of an independent commonwealth. All power proceeded from the people, and they swore alle- giance alone to the government of the State they had founded. No company of men did more in laying the foun- dations upon which the superstructure of our national insti- tutions have arisen, than the Puritan fathers of Connecticut. Patient, faithful, God-fearing, they built even better than they knew. But their work was no accident. They were alert and quick to seize every favorable opportunity to strengthen their position as a free commonwealth. This secured the charter that bestowed upon them such ample privileges and freedom, that it remained the law of the State long after its separation from the mother country.
The wise administration of affairs that gave Connecticut, in the colonial period, her " halcyon days of peace," was marked by able statesmanship. The prosperity that smiled upon the thrift and industry of her people did not make them blind to the law of life that united them to sister colo- nies. In the long struggle of the "French wars," they realized the vital interests which were at stake. They felt that the supremacy of the English race in North America must be secured at all hazards. Their freedom, with the civil and religious privileges they enjoyed, was the birth-
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right of English blood and English history. To preserve this heritage, no sacrifice was too great. It was for this they fought, and not for the glory of England or the enlarge- ment of her bounds.
The victory of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham prepared the way for the birth of a new nation. A stupid king, by his narrow-minded and coercive policy, not only aroused the indignation of the colonies, but opened the eyes of many to the possibilities of an independent national life. The feeling
STATE CAPITOL.1
of attachment for the mother country that had been cher- ished through many generations, was lost in the fervor of patriotic zeal that burst from the hearts of the people. Their allegiance to the English crown was a sentiment ; their love of free institutions strong as life.
The part borne by Connecticut in the war of the Revolu- tion will ever be remembered as a bright chapter in the his- tory of the great Republic that was then started on its career. When peace was declared, and the independent States with their conflicting interests were called upon to face the prob- lem of forming a Union that should make a nation, the
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1
statesmen of Connecticut acted a foremost part. " Her dele- gation to the convention," says Bancroft, "was thrice remarkable : they had precedence in age, in experience from 1776 to 1786 on committees to frame or amend a constitu- tion for the country, and in illustrating the force of religion in human life."
It is safe to say that no two men in the convention that framed the Constitution of the United States, exerted a greater influence than Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth. At a critical juncture, when the debate had fallen into an almost hopeless difference of opinion, these men took the lead, and suggested compromises that were finally adopted, and have proved essential to the very life of the Constitution in its practical working.
In the century that has past since the adoption of the Con- stitution, Connecticut, through her educational institutions and industrial activities, has exerted a marked influence upon the life of the nation. From the ranks of her citizens have arisen men who have been recognized as leaders of opinion and conscience in the great moral conflicts that have agitated the minds of the people. When, in the progress of events, the long and bitter struggle of the slave-power for national supre- macy culminated in rebellion, there was no State in which the issues of the conflict were more clearly recognized than in Connecticut. The feeling that fused the will of men of all parties in a common purpose did not spring from hate or excited passion. They loved their State, and were as jeal- ous of their local rights as the citizens of South Carolina ; but they believed that the life of the State was dependent on the life of the nation. It was this conviction that prompted the sacrifice of life and treasure in the conflict that destroyed slavery, and proved the strength of the underlying princi- ples upon which rests the superstructure of our free institu- tions.
There remains the mention of one other way, of peculiar
CONNECTICUT IN THE LIFE OF THE NATION. 325
interest, in which the life of Connecticut has entered into the life of the nation. Within five years after the first set- tlement of the valley of the Connecticut, the tide of emigra- tion from the mother country to New England almost entirely ceased. Very few came to enlarge the number of the colonists. But they were a hardy race, and the popula- tion for more than a century doubled once in twenty years. From this natural increase, new towns were settled, until, at the period of the Revolution, most of the land within the bounds of the State had been taken up.
According to the charter of King Charles, the limits of the colony extended westward from Narragansett Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It was under this authority that Connecticut pioneers laid claim to the beautiful valley of Wyoming, and commenced a settlement there as early as 1763. Before peace was formally declared, at the close of the Revolution, the State, following the example of other commonwealths, gave up her charter-claim to all land west of New York, with the exception of six million acres in what is now the north- western part of Ohio. It was not long before the stream of emigration began to flow into this new country. The number that left the State, and found homes in this " Western re- serve," was so great that it was known as " New Connecti- cut." The ancestral ties that still connect this portion of the great Commonwealth of Ohio with the "Land of Steady Habits," are strong and vigorous in mutual respect and affection. There are those still living who recall the inci- dents connected with the emigration of parties, usually neighbors and friends, who had decided to settle in what was then known as the " Far West." Nothing illustrates more strikingly the change that has been wrought in modes of conveyance than the picture of the heavy covered wagons of these early emigrants moving slowly along the rough roads, and consuming days and weeks in reaching a destina- tion that is now arrived at within a few hours. The welfare
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
of those who thus went forth from the land of their fathers was tenderly remembered in the public prayers of the village minister, and the farewells of separating friends were spoken as if they were the last.
Connecticut takes a just pride, not only in the record of the families who did so much in the settlement of Ohio and Western New York, but also in the part her sons have acted in the history and development of the States and Territories of the West. The influence she has in this way exerted upon the life of the nation has been incalculable.
A brief reference to the ancestry of the men, who, in the last quarter of a century, have been nominated and elected to fill the highest office in the gift of the people of the United States, well illustrates this influence. In the little company that settled the town of Windsor in 1635, Matthew Grant was an active and prominent citizen. One of his descend- ants, Noah Grant, then living in Coventry, joined the expe- dition against Crown Point in 1755, and was killed in the same year. The Colonial Records preserve the memorial of his distressed widow, who asked the relief of the Assembly in settling the insolvent estate of her husband, that she might secure the small amount that was due him for wages while in the service. This soldier, buried in an unknown grave, left two sons. One of them, named for his father, served with distinction as a captain in the war of the Revolution. He was the grandfather of Ulysses S. Grant, the victorious leader of the Union armies, and for eight years President of the United States.
In the Presidential election of 1864, the Democrats nomi- nated General George B. McClellan, whose grandfather was a prominent citizen and beloved physician in the town of Woodstock. In the story of the Revolution, on page 209, an incident is told of Captain Moses Seymour of Litch- field. It was his grandson, Ex-Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, who was nominated as the candidate of
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CONNECTICUT IN THE LIFE OF THE NATION.
the Democratic party in the Presidential campaign of 1868.
In 1682 George Hayes settled at Windsor. His son Daniel was captured by the Indians about 1712, and taken to Canada, whence he was ransomed by the General Assembly, which appropriated " seven pounds to be paid out of the public treasury " for this purpose. He afterwards made his home in Simsbury. His son Ezekiel removed to New Haven, where the first Rutherford Hayes, grandfather of the future President, was born. In the election of 1876, that was finally decided by an electoral commission, another ex-governor of New York, Samuel J. Tilden, was the nominee of the Demo- crats. His ancestor, Daniel Tilden, a native and resident of Lebanon, raised a company of volunteers on receiving news of the battle of Lexington. At the battle of Trenton he commanded the company in which James Monroe served as lieutenant. Years afterwards, when President Monroe vis- ited Connecticut, he was a guest in the home of his old commander. In 1790 John Tilden, the grandfather of Gov- ernor Tilden, removed to New-York State, and settled in the town which was named New Lebanon in honor of his old Connecticut home. We close this record with the name of Grover Cleveland, now President of the United States, whose grandfather, William Cleveland, was a respected citi- zen of Norwich.
Connecticut has reason to be proud of the character and services of the distinguished men and women who have been born upon her soil, and also of those whose ancestry identify them with her history. This heritage of influence is pleasant to dwell upon, because it is a beautiful tribute to the family and home life of earlier days. That life was based upon Christian instruction and faith. The discipline of toil, with its variety of tasks, developed vigor of body and mind ; and the conditions of society gave room for the exercise and growth of personal character and influence.
·
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
Those who have helped in making the history of Connec- ticut worthy of remembrance, learned the lesson of obedi- ence and faithfulness in youth, and in maturer years walked in the way of God's commandments.
1 HARTFORD has been the sole capital since 1875. The erection of the present Capitol commenced in 1872, and it was completed in 1878, at a cost, including the land, of $3,100,000. Of this amount the city of Hartford contributed $1,100,. 000, and the State $2,000,000. It is built of marble, and for beauty of design, and harmony of proportions, is universally conceded to be one of the finest public buildings in the country. The Honor able A. E. Burr, who was the efficient chairman of the committee who had in charge the erection of the Capitol, has given the following history of the State Houses that preceded it : -
" The first General Court was held in Hartford, in April, 1636. The meeting- house of the First Congregational Society had a court chamber. where the General Court was held In 1720 the first State House was finished. It was a wooden structure, 74 by 30 feet in size, standing on Court-House Square. It had front and side entrances, and was occupied till 1796. That building was partiy burned during the celebration of peace in 1783. Ite cost was £750, the town of Hartford paying £250.
" The next State House in Hartford, and the third built by the State, was the
structure now known as the City Hall on State-House Square, the foundations of which were laid in 1792, the building being occupied by the State in May, 1796. Its cost was $52,480, of which the town of Hartford paid $3,500, and the county of Hartford $1,500. Our present State constitution was adopted in that building in 1818. General Lafayette, and Presi- dents Monroe, Jackson, and Grant, in their visits to Hartford, were received within its walls.
" The second State House was built in New Haven, on the green, fronting Temple Street, in the year 1763. It was of brick, in appearance like a large-sized three story dwelling-house. The first floor was for balls and a dining-hall on great occasions. The Senate and House met on the second floor. It was removed in 1830.
" The fourth State House was built on the New-Haven Green. It was fin. ished in the year 1830, and was of brick and stucco, of the Ionic, or Greek, order. Ithiel Towne was the architect. It cost the State $41,500. When the single capi- tal was adopted, the State presented this building to the city of New Haven. The fast session of the General Assembly held in it was in 1874."
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PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
CHAPTER LIII. BOUNDARY-LINES AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
A GLANCE at the map of Connecticut shows irregulari- ties in the boundary-lines of the south-western part of the State, and a curious oblong notch, about midway on the northern line, that are reminders of some of the boundary- disputes that caused so much trouble in colonial times. The agreement regarding the western boundary, after New York came into the possession of the English in 1664, held until Feb. 23, 1685, when a new one was ratified and signed at Milford by the governors of the two colonies, Thomas Don- gan and Robert Treat. The line then accepted has at different times been rectified and straightened, but other- wise has remained unchanged.
The old claim of New York was recognized, that Connec- ticut was not to come nearer the Hudson than twenty miles. This gave the town of Rye to New York. The Rye people were so displeased at this, that they refused to abide by the decision, until the line was confirmed by the king in 1700. A survey, made in 1725 and 1731, was again carefully rec- tified by New York in 1860. The boundary thus established was accepted by both States in 1878 and 1879, and confirmed by Congress in 1880-81.
When Connecticut was first settled, it was known that the south line of Massachusetts, according to her charter, ran west to the Pacific Ocean, "from a point three miles south of the most southerly branch of Charles River."
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
Where this line would cross the Connecticut River was un- known. When Mr. Pynchon settled Springfield (Agawam), he at first supposed that the land there was within the juris- diction of Connecticut. In 1642 Massachusetts employed two surveyors, Woodward and Saffery, to run a line between the two colonies. Having fixed upon the point of departure on Charles River, they took passage in a sailing-vessel which brought them up the Connecticut. They decided that the line, according to their measurements of latitude, ran a short distance above Windsor. The Connecticut authorities were unwilling to accept the wild guess of the ignorant surveyors, whom they ironically called, "the mathematicians." The settlers of Suffield and Enfield, being under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, were in constant trouble with Windsor and Simsbury over their ill-defined bounds. Connecticut made surveys of the line in 1695 and 1702, which proved beyond a doubt to her people that Massachusetts had en- croached several miles upon her territory. Both colonies appealed to the crown, but finally agreed upon a compro- mise in 1714 that placed the boundary about as it now runs. Enfield, Suffield, and Woodstock were still supposed to be north of the line, and remained under the authority of Mas- sachusetts. Careful surveys showed that these towns were really south of the line, and in 1749 Connecticut granted their request to be received under her care. Massachusetts did not abandon her claim to these towns until 1804. In 1822 and 1826 the line was run as it is at present.
The history of the singular indentation, where the line bounds Granby and Suffield, is given by Barber as follows : " It appears that the bounds of Springfield were not defined with much accuracy in this section : the bounds at the north- west point of the indentation, however, appear to have been clearly defined. The western bounds of Springfield, in which part of Suffield was included, were supposed, but errone- ously, to extend to this point. A Mr. Moore, living on the
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PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
tract in question, was knowing to the facts in the case. Having received a warning to a militia-training, he refused to appear, denying that he was within the jurisdiction of Connecticut." The case was carried to the General Assem- bly, who examined the facts, and, evidently not thinking the land worth disputing over, left it to the control of Massa- chusetts.
During the colonial period, Connecticut and Rhode Island were in a chronic condition of dispute over the eastern boundary. Reference has been made elsewhere to these discussions. It was often the case, as far as the argument of the opposing parties were concerned, that the description given at one time by Rufus Choate was true, that "The commissioners might as well have decided that the line between the States was bounded on the north by a bramble- bush, on the south by a bluejay, on the west by a hive of bees in swarming-time, and on the east by five hundred foxes with firebrands tied to their tails." Happily, the year 1887 has seen a formal settlement of all questions ; and the good people of Rhode Island and Connecticut can afford to smile over discussions that once caused so much hard feeling.
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