USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. I > Part 42
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
Since then, things have happened to "The Steps," as tradition still ealls the spot. The makers of the Farmington Canal, of which we have already learned, came along in 1825 or a little earlier, and blasted a waterway through. This was not sufficient, however, for the New Haven & Northampton Railroad Company, for its "eut" through the ledge in 1882 is the best evidence we have today of what a real obstacle it was. Still later, in 1902, and again when the cement state highway was built in 1914, it was found necessary to smooth fur- ther this rough place. The result is that today there is no evidence that the average traveler notices of the ancient hurdle.
The turnpike remained a "toll line" up to 1850, despite the almost constant struggles of Mount Carmel citizens, in the half century previons, to get it re- moved. Meanwhile the canal had had its brief day and ceased to be. There was a period of over twenty years after that when they needed a free highway, for it was the only means of travel through Mount Carmel northward. The railroad came about 1849-that railroad which will be known as "the Canal road" to the end of the chapter, no doubt. Its passenger carrying function, as concerned Mount Carmel and Cheshire, largely passed with the opening of the New Haven- Waterbury trolley about 1904, and in 1917 the road became almost exclusively a freight line.
Two churches serve the religious needs of Mount Carmel in these days. The first is of that type which came with the foundations of most of our New England communities. The Congregational Church was established in 1757, and gave being to the Mount Carmel parish. It has pursued the even tenor of its way in the centuries since, being served by men of devotion and power. Some of the more notable of its later pastors are the Rev. Jason Noble Pierce, who went from it to the Davenport Church of New Haven, thence to Oberlin, Ohio, and is now pastor of the Second Congregational Church of Dorehester, Mass. ; the Rev. Harris E. Starr, who was called from Mount Carmel to Pilgrim Church of New Haven, and is now exalting the service and salvation of the Cross "somewhere in France"; the Rev. Frederick T. Persons, who, called from the Woodbridge Church in 1911, went after three years' pastorate at Mount Carmel to be librarian at the Bangor Theological Seminary; and the Rev. William G. Lathrop, who suc- ceeded Mr. Persons, coming from Shelton, Conn., and still serves the church, an inspiring pastor and teacher. The church edifice stands on a historie spot in the pleasantest part of the village, substantially where there has been a church
352
A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN
building from the first. Next to it on the south is the oldest house now standing in Mount Carmel or llamden, built by the Rev. Nathaniel Sherman. Ile was pastor of the church from 1769 to 1772, and the building of the house oceupied nearly all of his pastorate. It has not been used as a parsonage for many years, though it is in an excellent state of preservation. The present ehureh edifice was completed about 1835. In 1912, in the pastorate of the Rev. Harris E. Starr, and largely through his well directed efforts, the commodions and well equipped parish house was built adjoining the church on the north.
The other ehureh is St. Joseph's Roman Catholic, founded in 1852, and con- dneted, up to 1878, by priests from Wallingford. The present building was completed in 1890, and in the following year the Rev. John T. Winters was its pastor. The building is a dignified and attractive one, and the church serves the people of its faith and order in all Mount Carmel and its borders. It has had devoted and beloved leaders, but for the past eight years one who has won the respeet and confidence not only of his people but of those of all faiths in the community has been its pastor. The Rev. Edward Downes, native of New Haven, first edneated as a lawyer, was consul to Amsterdam in the days of President. Grover Cleveland. Returning at the end of his term, he entered the ministry, and after a pastorate of nine years at Milford, went to Mount Carmel in 1910. He occupies a position of peculiar influence in all the affairs of the community, and is performing a work of unusual value even for a pastor.
Mount Carmel, from the first the abode of people of intelligent inclination to study and refinement, has been blessed with some peeuliarly good schools. Besides participating in the good school system of the town in which it is in- eluded, it has in its time had the advantage of some excellent private schools. Just above Ivesville, a pathway formed by silver birches runs up the hill west- ward at right angles to Whitney Avenue to what is now the Mount Carmel Chil- dren's Home, a semi-private institution for orphan or dependent children. Before the building was used for this purpose it was the residence of James Ives, in his day a successful inventor and manufacturer. But it was built for a school for girls, and was christened "The Young Ladies' Female Seminary." In spite, however, of the redundaney of femininity in its name, it admitted boys at one stage in its career. It had such excellent teachers as Miss Elizabeth Diekerman and her sisters, who gave efficient instruction in the higher as well as the com- mon branches of learning. Then for some years the house, converted into a private residenee, served Mr. Ives as a home. It was after his death about thirty years ago that it became the Children's Home. It is controlled by a board of trustees of which Rev. William G. Lathrop is at present the head, and Miss Cor- nelia A. Blake is matron. It furnishes comfort and instruction to about twenty- five Protestant children of the State of Connectient who might under other eireumstanees be deemed unfortunate.
Miss Emma E. Diekerman has for years conducted a private school for younger children at her home on Whitney Avenue. A lady of rare breeding and
mm
ST. MARY'S CHURCHL. MOUNT CARMEL
---
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND PARISH HOUSE, MOUNT CARMEL
353
AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY
culture, her contribution to the better education of youth of her community has been notable.
In 1915 the school known as the Phelps school, conducted at Wallingford by Miss Florence M. Peek, was removed to Hillfield farm in Mount Carmel, a modern and superior building having been erected for it. Located on a command- ing site, combining the advantages of country air, country fare and the best of instruction on the modern plan, with a competent corps of teachers, this school honors Mount Carmel as one of the notable educational institutions of the vicinity.
The workers in such schools as this are only a few of the men and women who have made and make Mount Carmel a notable community. Their names are not in the familiar works of biography and reference, as a rule. Some, the most of them, are native born, descendants of the founders. Others, whom the com- munity honors no less sincerely, came from without, and in their coming testi- fied to their appreciation of a rare place of dwelling. One of these latter, whose memory Mount Carmel prizes, and of whom it speaks with pride, was the Rev. Joseph Brewster, who from 1853 to 1881 was rector of Christ Church in New Haven. In 1865 he purehased the farm which he named "Edgehill," situated where, about a quarter of a mile to the east of the Congregational Church, one may look up to the fine old mountain or down to the lake that lies in beautiful quiet at his feet. There he spent as much of his time as his duties in New Haven, and later for two periods as rector of Grace Church in Centerville. would per- mit. He began the beautifying of the farm and its surroundings, a work taken up and carried to a most attractive point by his distinguished sons, the right Rev. Chauneey B. Brewster, bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Connecticut. the Rev. Benjamin Brewster and the Rev. William J. Brewster. The property has now passed out of the Brewster hands to those of the New Haven Water Com- pany, but Eli Whitney, its president, keeps a personal watch over it and main- tains it as nearly as possible in the condition which its former owners loved. It is one of the delightful places of Mount Carmel, commanding a view of moun- tain, lake and plain such as is obtainable at very few points in the seetion.
The whole region of Hamden abounds in the name of Dickerman. But espe- eially is it notable in Mount Carmel. It appears as Jonathan Diekerman among the pioneers, and is repeated in his descendants. It comes all the way down with names like Isaac, Allen, Samuel and Enos Dickerman. It has been honored in this generation by Leverett A. Diekerman, for close to a century a sterling resi- dent of Mount Carmel, a long and faithful member and for many years a deacon in the Congregational church ; and his daughters, Miss Emma E., teacher, and Miss Laura L., librarian : by the Rev. George Sherwood Dickerman, beloved and distinguished as a writer and pastor in New Haven and elsewhere; by the late .John H. Diekerman, historian of Hamden and Mount Carmel, and his daughters. Augusta E., wife of Homer B. Tuttle, and Carolyn G., now a teacher in the Priory school at Honolulu.
The name of Woodruff may not be counted among the pioneers of Mount Vol. I-23
354
A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN
Carmel, though it is historie in the New Haven section. It has distinction today in connection with Mount Carmel's principal surviving industrial establishment, W. W. Woodruff & Sons, for over eighty years makers of fine carriage trimmings and hardware. Arthur E. Woodruff, the leading resident member of the firm, is one of the most substantial and honored citizens of the community.
The name of Ives touches Mount Carmel at many points. James Ives in particular contributed greatly to the material welfare of the place, and even more to the spiritual. Ile was one of the founders of what is now the Woodruff industry. He was practically the founder of the Mount Carmel Bolt Works. To him Mount Carmel largely owes its Children's Home. The Ives name remains in Mount Carmel through such representatives as Wilbur C. and Clarence G. Ives.
Tuttle is one of the honored old names of the village, continuons since the time of Nathaniel Tuttle, whose record is found as early as 1730. He had eight children, most of whom seem to have settled in Mount Carmel and remained through their descendants. Some of them in this time are Dwight Tuttle, ad- mitted to the Connectient bar in 1867 ; Dennis Tuttle, also a lawyer, who removed to Madison, and was long a prominent and honored citizen of that town; and Homer B. Tuttle, for many years past one of the leading citizens of Mount Carmel.
The "community physician" of the present time in Mount Carmel is Dr. George H. Jocelyn, a man of a skill and eminence in his profession which would fit him for practice in a much larger community. He has preferred, however, that service to the scattered in the country which is one of the highest missions of the true physician.
These are but a few, to be sure, of the names of those who, either deseendants of the founders or no less sterling citizens of later origin, make Mount Carmel a goodly place. To them might be added Bassett, Peck, Brockett, Kimberly, Mun- son, Todd, Bradley and a host of others, who have contributed in their time or ours to the sterling character, to the civic permanence of to the architectural dig- nity of the delectable land of Mount Carmel.
The Mount Carmel of today is, as has been said, an agricultural community. New Haven has grown ont to meet it. Whitney Avenne, one of the most im- portant highways of New Haven, is now almost continuous from the Green to the northern limits of Mount Carmel, and the nearness of the city makes a growing demand for the products of the market gardener and the dairyman. There are still manufacturing industries, but Mount Carmel's great manufacturing time is of the past. It serves rather now as a comfortable home retreat for workers in the city, who are in increasing numbers finding the delightful place, most of which is accessible by a half hour's ride from the city.
But there are others, and their number grows, who seek its coolness, its qniet,
355
AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY
its rest and its inspiration in summer's heat or relaxation. Off to the southeast of the mountain itself there is a settlement which calls itself "'the Colony, " after the manner of Bohemia. Some are artists, some are litterateurs, some are edu- cators. All are lovers of nature and her beauties, and they have chosen a rare spot for the indulgence of their passion. From their eminence they view at their feet Carmel Lake and its winding river, with its setting of green woods. And ever looming up before them, their companion in sunshine or in storm, their faithful guardian though in his sleep, their inspiration always, is the reclining old man of the mountain. A little farther away to the westward is wooded York mountain, while blue in the distance is the range that, coming down from far beyond the confines of the town of Hamden, finds its terminus in West Rock.
That eminence which is Mount Carmel's center, from which it takes its name, always repays closer exploration. He is a poor devotee of the mountain who has not climbed it many times. It does not lose in grandeur on closer acquaintance, though one who views it from the top loses some of his delusions as to the straight line of the old Giant. He finds rather a somewhat loosely jointed range of hills, clustered in approximate eirenlar formation. The "head, " which is nearest Whit- ney Avenue, is not the highest point, though it seems so on first approach. Only the hardiest climber attempts the mountain by way of that first peak. There is a fairly easy path up the "second mountain," as it is called. and the expe- rienced take that. It leads gradually up to a height which lies just a little to the south of the "head." But not yet has the climber reached the highest point. That is the summit of the "third mountain," which is somewhat to the north of the first two. One descends a little from the second mountain to reach it, finding, to his surprise, something like a highland swamp between the two. The passage to the third height is easy, however, and on its summit one is 741 feet above the level of the Sound, whose blue waters he sees plainly on a clear day, more than eight miles distant. The highest point was once marked by a govern- ment eoast signal station. There is now a tower more than thirty feet high at the tip-top, and from the platform which surmounts it the climber is rewarded, on a day when the air is clear, with a wondrous view.
The coast is clear in every direction. This is the highest point short of the heights of Meriden, which loom up, gray or bhie more distinct, to the north. Wallingford is spread out at the nearer northeast. North Haven lies just below. The winding Quinnipiac glints through the trees and between the meadows. New Haven seems far away, but it is there, though the town of Hamden intervenes in the nearer distance. Whitney Avenne, with passing trolley cars that look like toys, and fleeting motor cars that look smaller still. is a straight line of white cement in the flashing sun. Off to the west is the West Rock range, with the red cliff at its point. To the southeast is East Rock raising aloft its memorial shaft, and beyond that is East Haven. On a day of especial clearness, one with or with- out a glass may pick out Branford. Guilford and oven Madison, with their shore points. Cheshire and the Woodbridge hills are not far away. It is a point of vantage for viewing all of New Haven and the eastern part of the county.
356
A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN
But most fascinating of all is the broad sweep of the Sound that is brought into view. There go the "ships" of all the varieties that the Sound affords. Beyond that strip of blue, which at this its wildest point runs almost to thirty miles across, lie the sand cliffs of Long Island, always a reminder of the geologi- eal theory that this long, thin island is a rim that once broke off from the main- land of Connecticut.
The thoughtful nature lover, especially if the view is new to him, may dwell long and lingeringly on it. But there are heights beyond to tempt him at this or a subsequent visit. There is a fourth and even a fifth mountain, not so high, to be sure, but giving a different angle of vision. Or the adventurous may visit what is called "the cave" on this same third mountain. It is a hole in the rocks leading, by a tortuous path destructive of clothing and not devoid of danger, to a subterranean chamber fairly deserving of the name. Or, as a last hazard, the adventurer may achieve the "Devil's Pulpit. " a basaltic shaft that stands out by itself from the edge of this highest mountain.
Nor is the mountain all, though it is all that the many have discovered. That modest lake nestling at the mountain's foot well repays closer serutiny. Here, on a day of summer heat that would make climbing unwelcome, one may find a soothing shade and usually a breeze across the water. Here, in many a nook secure from interruption or sight of passers by, the strife of life and the war of works may be forgotten, and genuine recuperation be gained. And close by is another charm which only the nature lover will discover and appreciate. South of the lake, with its bridges, its murmuring or its dashing falls, runs a woodland road along the river, shaded deep with spruces. It is "Spruce Bank." Mosses and ferns conserve the coolness of the air and the fragrance of the trees. Through them in summer the sun penetrates but slightly, and the continuing shade and the flowing water combine to make relief from the most trying heat. It is a place to cool the body and rest the soul, and be healed by the medicine of the balsams.
But always one returns to the mountain. The faithful spirit of the Sleeping Giant, unresting while he sleeps, broods over all. That recumbent form, seen at many angles and in many phases, is always in view from all parts of Mount Carmel. It never loses its fascination. It becomes beloved of all who dwell near or far. It is the good genius of the place, a place whose blessing never grows old.
CHAPTER XXXIX
CHESHIRE
THE FARMING AND INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY THAT WAS CARVED OUT OF WALLINGFORD IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Two hundred and twenty-four years ago, though there were dots of settle- ment all over the colony of Connecticut, there was a most hazy notion of the measure of distances that lay between. So when the pioneers from New Haven went up and pre-empted the "New Haven village" claim to the north of the New Haven region, they had vague ideas as to its boundaries. They centered their original Wallingford settlement, as we have seen, somewhat toward the southern edge of what is now the town of Wallingford. Probably that consider- able region to the west and northwest, bounded by the rough heights of what is lower down the West Rock range, seemed to them the distant wilderness. They did not realize that Waterbury, already becoming a substantial village, was only five miles beyond it.
So there is the romanee of a real pioneer in the beginnings of Cheshire. Among the New Haven settlers of Wallingford were John Ives and his brother. The adventurer was the son of the former. Young Joseph Ives was not content to settle down on his father's farm and never wander. With the real "westward ho" spirit, he used to take his gun and perhaps his dog and prospect off toward the setting sun and the challenging mountains. Less than four miles from where his father and the neighbors were living, he found a goodly plain. With the natural zest of youth. he located a "claim," and there, about 1694, he hewed out of the unbroken woods the stuff for a log cabin. "Cheshire" was founded then.
But Joseph Ives was not a solitary adventurer. He found a kindred spirit in young John Hotchkiss, also from the parent colony. They went out together to that cabin in the woods. We find them with wives soon after-perhaps they had them before they started. Anyway, settlement followed hard npon their move. Within twenty-six years there were thirteen settlers at least, cach with his claim or farm, in the region which Joseph Ives and his friend Hotchkiss opened up. In the order of their following of the pioneers, and dating at, intervals from 1697 to 1720, there is record of Ebenezer Doolittle, Thomas Ives, Thomas Brooks, Timothy Tuttle, Matthew Bellamy, Nathaniel Bunnell, Abra-
357
358
A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN
ham Doolittle, Mathias Hitchcock, John and Joseph Thompson, Thomas Cur- tiss, Edward Parker and Elnathan Beach.
These are only a part, for by 1718, we are told, there were forty-five families of these pioneers, and they felt their importance. So much so, that they asked the General Assembly of that year to be set off from Wallingford as a town. The General Assembly duly investigated, and found that forty-five was the out- side number of the "planters," and that they had no more than $2,000 worth of property between them. It was decided that they had not the strength to stand by themselves as a town. They might, however, become a parish of the town of Wallingford, and such they remained until Cheshire was incorporated in 1780. By that time it had over 2,000 people. It got its name, plainly enough, from the English Cheshire. The people had not waited until then to have a dis- tinetive name. As early as 1724 what Wallingford had been calling "West Farms" was named by its people "New Cheshire." At the time of the incorpo- ration the newness had worn off, and the town stood as Cheshire.
As elsewhere, that early history was a history of the church. When it became a parish as New Cheshire the people, who had been traveling four or five miles to worship in Wallingford, established their own church, and its history has been their record since. For a quarter of a century and more it ruled alone, and in those parishes, as we know, church rule took the place of town rule elsewhere. In 1723 the people "joined works" and erected the first erude, bare, steepleless, forty-by-thirty building, and in the following year Rev. Samuel Hall took up the spiritual leadership of the community. Ile remained for forty-three years, and during his pastorate, in 1738, the first building was replaced by a more adequate one on the green. It was sixty-four by forty-five feet, higher, rejoicing in a steeple, and having the delightful old raised pulpit and sounding board.
Rev. John Foot, who came to the assistance of Pastor Hall in his deelining years, succeeded him. His was another long pastorate, continuing from 1767 to his death in 1812. In the next eighty years there were sixteen pastorates. In the recent period Rev. J. P. Hoyt has been with the church from 1890 to 1900. Rev. R. W. Newlands until 1906, Rev. Carl Staekman from then until 1910, and Rev. Von Ogden Vogt from 1910 to 1916. The present pastor is Rev. Chalmers Holbrook.
It has almost been forgotten that there was at one time a second Congrega- tional church in Cheshire, for the reason that it has also been forgotten that the distriet which contained it was ever a part of the town. It is the common impres- sion that the western boundary of Cheshire, or Wallingford, as it was, was iden- tieal with the present line, but such was not exactly the case. The westering planters had found their way beyond the "Cheshire Mountains." or West Rock range as we know it. By 1770 there was a goodly little community on the "West Rocks. " They seem to have had a neighborhood quality. moreover. that gave them the spirit of independence. So it came about that by 1775 they insisted on having their own church. It was partly because they wanted a dif- ferent church. Some among them were Separatists, or "strict Congregation-
-
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CHESHIRE
R
CHESHIRE SCHOOL AND CHAPEL, CHESHIRE
359
AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY
alists," and their leaven leavened the whole lump. So they, since it was out of the question for them to establish a separate town, formed the parish or society of "Columbia," and established a church of Columbia. In 1778 they erected a crude church building in their "mountains, " of which Rev. John Lewis was the first pastor. Ile was followed by Rev. Benjamin Beach, who remained until 1798. Meanwhile their strietness had relaxed somewhat, so that they adopted the Saybrook Platform in 1800. This was near the close of their chapter, for soon afterward the beginning of another town started farther to the westward. Waterbury was making its contribution to that, and the New Haven and Water- bury settlements were meeting. In 1827 territory, partly from Waterbury and partly from Cheshire, was set off for a new town, and to it was given the appro- priate name of Prospect.
Meanwhile, the church in the center of Cheshire had progressed, and in 1827 its present worthy building was erected, and since then has been altered and enlarged as the needs of the people required. It is a fine example of the older New England type. The church still serves, as at the first, in large measure as a community center and a leader in the life of the town.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.