USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Sharon > A history of the town of Sharon, Litchfield County, Conn., from its first settlement. > Part 5
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* The following is the record of an adjourned church meeting holden on the 23d of September, 1777. " Met according to ad- journment, but by reason of a great number being call'd off into ye service of their country and but a few members met, adjourned to the 4th Tuesday of November next ensuing."
5*
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HISTORY OF TIIE
watchman saith the morning cometh." The discourse was entirely adapted to the condition of public affairs. He dwelt much upon the indications, which the deal- ings of Providence afforded, that a bright and glorious morning was about to dawn upon a long night of de- feat and disaster. He told the congregation that he believed they would soon hear of a signal victory crowning the arms of America, and exhorted them to trust with an unshaken and fearless confidence in that God who he doubted not, would soon appear for the deliverance of his people, and crown with success the efforts of the friends of liberty in this country. Before the congregation was dismissed a messenger arrived, bringing the intelligence of the surrender of Bur -. goyne's army. Parson Smith read the letter from the pulpit, and a flood of joy burst upon the assembly.
During the next year a large part of Burgoyne's: army was marched through this town on their way to the south. They were met here by a regiment of continental troops under the command of Lieut. Colonel Jameson, who was afterwards somewhat con- spicuous in the affairs connected with the capture of Major Andre, and who here took charge of the pris- oners .* One of Burgoyne's soldiers, by the name of Robert Gibbs, a Scotchman, from Dundee, who was wounded and taken in the battle immediately prece- ding Burgoyne's surrender, was here left by his com- rades. He died recently, at the age of 94.
After the campaign of 1777, the seat of the war. was removed to so great a distance that no further call
* A large proportion of the prisoners of this detachment were Hessians. They were subjected to the most severe discipline, and were entirely inoffensive. Each regiment was furnished with a chaplain and divine service was frequently performed. They encamped here over night, and when they started in the morning, the whole body sang devotional music on the march. Governor Smith informed the author that he, then a lad, followed them two or three miles to hear their singing.
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TOWN OF SHARON.
was made for the militia of the town, except for the purpose of keeping guard on the sea coast. The bur- dens and privations of a pecuniary kind, however, which are incident to a state of war, were borne by the people of this town without a murmur, and the unanimous feeling in favor of the cause which marked the commencement of the war, continued with unaba- ted ardor to the close of it.
CHAPTER IX.
Small-Pox-Shay's Rebellion-Methodist Society formed-Death of Parson Smith-Settlement of Mr. Perry.
SOON after the close of the war, the town was visited with the small-pox. In the month of November, 1784, the wife of Joseph Marchant, who lived where Esq. Gay now lives, visited some friends in the state of Massachusetts. Soon after her return she was taken sick, and died after a short illness. The phy- sicians differed as to the nature of the disorder. Dr.
Smith believing it to be the small-pox, and Dr. Ham- ilton thinking otherwise. Her funeral was attended on the Sabbath, and a large number of the inhabitants were present. It was soon rumored that Dr. Smith had intimated an opinion that she had died of the small-pox, and the most intense anxiety was felt on the subject. All doubt, however, was soon dissipated by the breaking out of the disorder in various parts of the town. A time of great and overwhelming distress followed, and nearly thirty persons died within a month or two. Such a scene of distress and mortali- ty had never before been experienced in the town, and
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the terrors which the pestilence excited are remem- bered by many at this day with the most intense in- terest .*
The spirit of dissatisfaction with the existing state of things which prevailed through a portion of New England, soon after the close of the revolutionary war, and which finally resulted in open resistance to the constituted authorities, in the western part of Massa- chusetts, affected, in some degree, the public mind in Sharon. Many things conspired to produce discon- tent and uneasiness, and the records of the town give a clue to some of the causes which agitated the com- munity.+
In the spring of 1787, during the existence of the insurrection under Shays, in Massachusetts, Doctor John Hulbert, who resided in the town of Alford, Berkshire county, Mass. and who was an active parti- zan of Shays, came to Sharon for the purpose of awakening a similar spirit in this vicinity, and of pro- ducing an efficient co-operation. Having received his
* The following are the names of some of the victims of that terrible scourge. In the up-town neighborhood, Amos Marchant, Perez Gay, Lydia Waldo, Mr. David Elmer, Eunice Jennings, and her sister. On the mountain, Mrs. Nathaniel Hamlin, Betsey Downs and Erastus Downs. In the down-town neighborhood, Samuel Doty and wife and John Bates and wife, and besides these there was a large number of children who died of the disorder.
t At atown meeting legally warned and held in Sharon, on the 9th day of October, 1786, for the purpose of instructing the repre- sentatives, it was voted, 1. that it is the mind of the town that a paper currency be struck. 2. That the table of fees be reduced to the old standard. 3. That there be no deputy sheriff's in the state.
At a town meeting legally warned and held in Sharon on the 22d day of February, 1787, for the purpose of presenting a petition to the General Assembly for the emission of a paper currency, voted, 1. whether they would do any thing about it ? voted in the affirmative. 2. Voted that the draught laid before the town rela- ting to the premises, is accepted and approved, as the mind of the town, and that the same be put in the public prints.
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TOWN OF SHARON.
medical education here, and possessing qualities cal- culated to give effect to his representations, Hulbert soon succeeded in organizing a considerable number of men under the guidance of one William Mitchell, who was constituted their captain, and who, in as pri- vate a manner as possible, and chiefly in the night season, trained and drilled them for service .* As this occurred in the month of May, and intelligence of these movements reached Hartford where the General Assembly were then in session, that body made no delay in despatching a member of the council, and two members of the house of representatives, with instructions to put down the insurrectionary spirit by ordinary process of law, if practicable, otherwise by military force. The committee on their way hither called on the State's attorney, at Litchfield, took war- rants grounded on his official information, and with the sheriff of the county made their appearance here before any one was apprized of their mission, much
less of their approach. Hulbert, Mitchell, and two others were arrested and taken to Litchfield, for ex- amination. Hulbert was prosecuted under the act against " vagrants, vagabonds and common beggars," but on his solemn promise to leave the state forthwith, he was suffered to depart. The others, being charged with treasonable practices, were bound over to the next term of the superior court. Thus, by the season- able measure of the government, the spirit of insubor- dination was effectually quelled, and as the suppression
* Dr. Hulbert was the father of the late Hon. John W. Hulbert, a counsellor of much eminence, and a distinguished member of con- gress from the Berkshire district, Mass. and who, after a splendid professional and political career, died suddenly, a few years since, at Auburn, N. Y. where he then resided. Capt. Mitchell was a clothier by trade. He came to Sharon from Farmington, now Bristol, in the spring of 1783. He owned and improved the clothier's works lately owned by Capt. James Gay, one mile south-east of the meeting house in the first society.
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of the insurrection in Massachusetts followed not long after, the prosecutions against Mitchell and others were discontinued .*
There was a decided majority of the voters in this town who were opposed to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. Josiah Coleman and Jonathan Gillet, were the delegates from this town to the convention which was called to pass upon the question of its rati- fication in January, 1788. Those gentlemen voted against its adoption and when it was acted upon in a subsequent town meeting, the majority was large against it.
The first preaching by clergymen of the Methodist connexion was in 1788. A Mr. Cook, an English- man, preached once or twice at Samuel Hitchcock's, in the south part of the town, and attracted considera- ble attention by his bold and stirring appeals to the consciences of his hearers. He also preached once or twice in the ball-room in Gallow's tavern, which was kept where Dr. John W. Smith now lives. It is said that some of the authority of the town hinted to the tavern keeper that another license would not be granted to him if he opened his doors again to the preacher. Very soon after this, however, Freeborn Garretson,
* The following account of these proceedings is copied from a Litchfield paper of May 21, 1783.
" Last Thursday evening arrived in this town from Hartford Colonel Samuel Canfield and Uriah Tracy, Esq. with orders from the General Assembly, to repair to the town of Sharon, and put a stop to the insurrection that appeared to be raising in that town. The same evening they set off, accompanied by the sherif and one of his deputies, and arrived at Sharon about day-break and soon arrested five persons who were supposed to be the prin cipal actors and abettors in the insurrection. They were con ducted to and safely lodged in our gaol, on Saturday last, in orde for examination. It is hoped the early and spirited exertion o our Assembly will prevent any further disturbance in that town Much praise is due to the gentlemen employed on that occasion for their prudence, humanity and judicious proceedings.
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TOWN OF SHARON.
who was then laboring in Duchess county, N. Y. and who was very early distinguished by his labors and his zeal in the cause of Methodism, was invited by Mr. Sylvanus Hanchet, to preach at his house .* The Methodist society was organized soon afterwards, and some of its first members are yet in the land of the living. Those venerable fathers in the ministy, Free- born Garretson, Peter Moriarty, and others of equal notoriety, supplied the society with preaching for many years, and up to this time the Methodist church has never been destitute of regular stated preaching. A camp-meeting was holden in the month of Septem- ber, 1805, in a grove near George W. Peck's, and another in the following year near Alpheus Jewett's. The first meeting house was erected in 1808, in Calkinstown, so called, and there the society met for worship for nearly thirty years. In 1836, this house was given up as a place of worship, and a neat and beautiful brick edifice was erected at the north end of the town street, which is now the meeting house of the society.
The Rev. Mr. Smith continued in the ministry in Sharon until the 27th day of November, 1806, when he venerable and beloved pastor went down to the grave. About two years before his decease, on ac- count of the infirmities of age which were then upon im, he requested the assistance of a colleague, and he society with great unanimity invited the Rev. David L. Perry, to become their minister in con- nexion with Mr. Smith. Mr. Perry was ordained on he 6th day of June, 1804, and from that time Mr.
* An interesting discussion took place between Parson Smith nd Mr. Garretson at one of these meetings at Mr. Hanchet's, which excited much attention at the time. It related to the dispu- ed points which then and now divide the two Christian sects of which they were the respective ministers. It is not supposed, owever, that any good results followed the controversy.
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Smith preached but seldom. He however delivered a sermon on the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination, which made the occasion one of most tender and affecting interest. The character of this excellent man is well and very truly summed up in the epitaph inscribed upon his monument, which is as follows :
The Rev. COTTON MATHER SMITH, Born in Suffield, Oct. 16, 1731, ordained in Sharon, August 28, 1755, died Nov. 27, 1806, in the 76th year of his age and 52d of his ministry.
Sound in the faith, in life and conversation as becometh the Gospel ; in doctrine incorrupt ; in manner forcible and persuasive ; A fond husband; a tender father ; an unvarying friend ; Having for more than fifty years, earnestly contended for the faith once delivered to the saints, he is gone to render his final account to the great captain of his salvation. People of his charge, he still speaks to you in a voice awful as death, solemn as the grave, Prepare to meet your God,
The Rev. David L. Perry was born at Harwinton, Conn. on the 21st day of June, 1777. He was the son of the Rev. David Perry, who was then the minis- ter of Harwinton, but who was afterwards and for many years settled at Richmond, Mass. He was a graduate of Williams College, of the class of 1798, and for three years commencing in October, 1800, was a tutor in that institution. He studied divinity with the Rev. Dr. Backus, of Somers, Conn. and upon the unanimous invitation of the church and soci- ety in this town, he settled here in the ministry as before stated. Soon after his settlement, he married the only daughter of the Rev. Dr. Strong, minister of the first church in Hartford, by whom he had ten children. He continued in the ministry here until his death on the 25th day of October, 1835, having been suddenly cut off by a stroke of apoplexy. He was a man of very pure character, and of respectable talents, and he died, much lamented by the people of
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TOWN OF SHARON.
his charge, and by his brethren in the ministry. His wife survived him about five years.
CHAPTER X.
Biographical notices-Family sketches, genealogies, &c.
Abel, David was from Lebanon, and came to Sharon in 1760. He purchased of John Roberts the lot of land on which his son, the late Mr. Sluman Abel lived. He had five sons, Sluman, David, William, John and Andrew. William was a soldier in the rev- olutionary army and a pensioner. Mr. Abel died June 23, 1781, at the age of 60. The name of the neighborhood called Abel street, was derived from him.
Ackley, Thomas from Chatham, came to Sharon in 1768. He purchased of Phineas Post, of Lebanon, the thirty-second lot in the first hundred acre divis- ion. He lived on the Ellsworth turnpike, where Uriah Tucker now lives. He had three sons Thomas, David and Abraham. Thomas entered the revolu- tionary army in 1776, and was taken prisoner at the capture of Fort Washington. He died during his captivity. Mr. Ackley the father, died Nov. 6th, 1792, at the age of 67.
Atherton, James was an early settler from Coven- try. He lived near the place now owned by Rev. Aaron Hunt. south of Hitchcock's Corner. He had sons John, David, James, Simon and Moses. The family removed from the town in the course of a few years, to Newtown, N. J.
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THE HISTORY OF
Avery, William was from Lyme, in 1777. He was a hatter by trade, and lived in Ellsworth, on the Per- kins place, so called. He married a sister of Capt. Isaiah Everett. He removed to Duanesburgh, N. Y. early in the present century, where he died.
Bacon, Jacob, was from Canaan, in 1741, and lived where George White now lives. He was a large land-holder. He removed to Salisbury, in 1748.
Badcock, Zebulon was from Coventry, and came to Sharon, in 1745. He settled near where Lovel W. Chapman now lives, but in 1747 he bought the seven- teenth home-lot, known as the Patchen place, and lived there nearly forty years. He afterwards return- ed to Coventry.
Bailey, Joseph was from Lebanon, and came to Sharon, in 1774. He purchased of Samuel Chapman, the farm on which his son, the late Deacon Joseph Bailey resided, in Ellsworth. He died Sept. 15, 1802, at the age of 69. He had three sons, Joseph, Pelatiah and Benjamin, who resided in the town and died here.
Barnes, Thomas was an early settler in the north- west part of the town, and lived near the present resi- dence of Alanson Wheeler, Esq. He came into the town in 1750. He had three sons, Thomas, Dan and Jonah. He died in 1760. Thomas, the oldest son, lived on the same place until his death, March 7, 1807, at the age of 74. Dan lived in the town of Amenia, N. Y. Jonah, the youngest son, was a phy- sician, and a man of great wit and shrewdness. He lived at what is now called the Evertson place, west of Governor Smith's.
Barrows, David came from Mansfield before the revolutionary war. He lived where Adonijah Maxam now lives. He had no children. He died on the 6th day of January, 1815, at the age of 83.
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TOWN OF SHARON.
Barrows, Amos was a brother of the preceding, and lived many years where Stephen White lately lived, in the Great Hollow. He kept a tavern, and was acci- dentally killed, by falling from the hay-loft in his barn, on the 5th day of December, 1779, at the age of 50 years.
Barstow, Seth was from Rochester, Mass. in 1771. He lived at the lower end of Abel street, where his grandson, Seth B. St. John now lives. He had five sons, Allen, Samuel, Seth, Gamaliel and Charles. Samuel was a physician, who formerly lived in Great Barrington, Mass. and who died there in 1813. Ga- maliel is also a physician, now residing in Broome county, N. Y. He has been a member of Congress, and a member of the Senate and Treasurer of the State of New York. Mr. Barstow, the father, died in 1822.
Bates, John was one of the first settlers of the town. He lived a little below Joel Beecher's present resi- dence. His daughter, Sarah, who was born on the 25th day of February, 1739, was the first white child born in Sharon, except Jehiel Jackson. She was afterwards the wife of John Randall. Mr. Bates and his wife both died of the small-pox, when it prevailed in the town in December, 1784.
Beard, Nathan was from Milton, in Litchfield. He came to Sharon, in 1779. He purchased of the administrators of Charles Gillet, the farm on which the late John Jackson lived, and there resided. He for several years carried on the forge in Hutchinson Hollow. He died in 1792. He had a large family, of whom James Beard, now residing in town was the youngest son.
Beardslee, John was from Newtown, in 1760. He married a daughter of Cornelius Knickerbacker, and
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lived many years at the Sprague place, where the late Charles Prindle resided.
Bennett, Capt. Edmund was from the parish of Co- lumbia, in Lebanon, and came to Sharon soon after the revolutionary war. He was a blacksmith by trade, and by his industry and economy accumulated a hand- some estate. He lived on the mountain, two miles east of the meeting-house. His wife was a daughter of Charles Gillet, who was killed in Canada, in the revolutionary war. He was for many years town treasurer and held many important offices in the town. He died on the Ist of December, 1829, at the age of seventy-four. One of his sons, Hon. Milo L. Bennett, is a judge of the supreme court of Vermont.
Betts, James was from Norwalk and came to Sharon at an early day. He lived near the Sprague place, in the Gay district. He died in 1758. He had two sons, Ezekiel and Zophar, the latter of whom officia- ted for many years as chorister in Mr. Smith's con- gregation. Zophar Betts died the 2d day of May, 1778, at the age of forty-four.
Blackman, Dr. Simcon was from Newtown, and came to Sharon in 1789, and settled on the mountain, where Dr. Sears now lives. He studied medicine with Dr. Shepherd, of Newtown, and here acquired emi- nence and distinction in his professional career. He enjoyed a large share of the public confidence, and represented the town in the legislature at five sessions. He was an Episcopalian by religious profession, and in his last will bequeathed to the society in Sharon, of which he was a member, the sum of two hundred dol- lars as a fund for the support of preaching. He died of dropsy on the 16th of August, 1812, at the age of fifty-three. He left no children.
Boardman, Benjamin came to Sharon in 1742, and settled where Benjamin Hollister, Esq. now lives. He
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TOWN OF SHARON.
sold that place to James Warren, in 1748, and built on the spot where the late Calvin Noyes lived. He had one son, Thaddeus Boardman, who lived on the west border of Mudge Pond. In 1786, the elder and younger Boardman sold their real estate to Frederick Lord, of Hartford, and removed to the west.
Bogardus, Jacob merchant, came to Sharon from Amenia, N. Y. in 1764. He lived in the old brick house, known as the Taylor house, a little north of Gov. Smith's. He was a Dutchman, and built the large Dutch barn, which within a few years stood in such close contiguity with the town street, near his dwelling-house. He sold his place in 1775, to Eben- ezer Dibble, and again returned to the state of New York. He built the large brick house, one mile west of the village, now owned by Mr. Morehouse.
Boland, Dvaid was from Woodbury, in 1767. He was a Scotchman by birth and purchased of Sam- uel Dunham, the tenth home-lot, originally Samuel Hutchinson's, being the same on which the old stone house now owned by Anson Boland stands. He had two sons, William and David, both of whom were officers in the revolutionary army. He was possessed of a valuable real estate, which, by his last will he gave to his grandsons, Reuben and John Boland, during their lives, remainder to their eldest male heirs.
His Epitaph. In memory of DAVID BOLAND, who died Aug. 31, 1789, aged seventy-nine. The stage of life when once pass'd o'er, Fixes our state to change no more, Our work is great and must be done, An heaven to win, an hell to shun, Then seize the promise while you may, Nor lose one moment by delay.
Botsford, Ephraim was from Newtown, and came to Sharon, in 1765. He purchased of Daniel Bald-
6*
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HISTORY OF THE
win, a tract of land in the north part of the town, op- posite Homer Pardee's, and lived there until his death in 1795. He had two sons, Elnathan and Ephraim, the former of whom died in 1782 and the latter in 1821.
His Epitaph. In memory of Mr. Ephraim Botsford, Who departed this life Dec. 5, 1795, aged seventy-four. When you, my friends, this tomb draw near, Bedew my urn with one kind tear; Then look by faith to realms above,
Where all is harmony and love.
Epitaphon Wolcott, son of Ephraim Botsford, who died Sept. 1, 1785, aged eleven. The youth who late with vigor shone, Now lies interred beneath this stone,
From death's arrest no age is free, Prepare, my friends, to follow me.
Bouton, Daniel was from Stamford, and was the first settler on the lot owned by the late Cyrus Swan, Esq. He died Nov. 14, 1740, at an early age. His widow, Elizabeth, afterwards married Abel Munn, who died in 175S. She continued to occupy the house of her first husband long after she became a widow the second time. She is often spoken of by aged people as old mother Munn.
Brockway, Walston the first of the Brockway fam- ily in Sharon, came from Branford in 1752. He set- tled in the south-west part of the town, near the line of Kent, and died there in 1813, at the age of ninety. His son, the late Asa Brockway, was a soldier of the revolution and a pensioner.
Buel, Eliphalet was from Salisbury, and was brother of the late Col. Nathaniel Buel, of that town. He came to Sharon in 1767, and settled where Homer Pardee now lives. He died of the small-pox, on the 5th of February, 1777, aged forty-nine. His only son Nathaniel, died a prisoner in New York, a short time
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TOWN OF SHARON.
before, and his wife soon after, of the same disease. Their common fate is commemorated in the following
Epitaph.
The only son is gone but twenty days,
The indulgent father follows him to ye grave
Where we must all repair; alas, how soon Our morning sun goes down at noon.
The son and husband both are gone,
The mother and the wife, how soon
Must yield to death, and here to lie
To tell the living they must die.
Burr, Walter was from Fairfield. He lived at what is called the Burr place, in the valley, and owned a very valuable farm, a great portion of which is in the state of New York. He died in 1802.
Calkin, Lieut. Stephen was from Lebanon, and was an original proprietor of the town. He drew the thirty-first home-lot and lived where Abraham Weed now lives. He had seven sons, Stephen, Joseph, Eli- jah, Timothy, Amos, Justus and David, all of whom settled in the town, and most of them in the same neighborhood with their father. The neighborhood which is called Calkinstown, perpetuates their name. Mr. Calkin died in 1781. He was the grand-father of the late James Calkin, and of Justus Calkin, now living.
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