USA > Connecticut > New London County > A modern history of New London County, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 24
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86. Iron Works. The first iron works were established at Yantic in 1750 by Elijah Backus. He manufactured bloom and bar iron for anchors, mills and other uses. The Backus Iron Works obtained great repute and during the Revolutionary War all kinds of iron work for domestic uses and warfare were made and repaired here.
87. Pottery. A pottery was established in 1766 at Bean Hill and con- tinued in operation far into the 19th century. Specimens of this pottery are among the treasured possessions of some of the old residents of Norwich.
88. Linseed Oil Mills. The first linseed oil mill was established at Bean Hill, in 1748, by Hezekiah Huntington, and at a later period the manufacture was carried on extensively at the Falls.
89. Cotton Mill. A cotton mill was established by Joshua Lathrop in 1790 on Lowthorpe Meadows with one carding machine, five jennies and six looms. This machinery was gradually increased and a great variety of goods manufactured. In 1703 the firm was Lathrop & Eells.
90. Chocolate Mill. The first chocolate mill was established in 1770 by Christopher Leffingwell on the Yantic flats below the Falls. In 1772 Simon Lathrop erected another. This industry was of considerable importance.
91. Paper Mill. In 1766 Christopher Leffingwell began to manufacture paper at his mill on the west side of the Yantic above the Falls, near what are now called Paper Mill rocks. This was the first paper mill in Connecticut. The annual output was about 1,300 reams.
92. Clocks and Watches. Clocks and watches were manufactured by Thomas Harland in 1773. He employed ten or twelve hands and made an- nually two hundred watches and forty clocks, which were pronounced equal to any imported from England.
93. Fulling Mill. A fulling mill with clothier's shop and dye house went into operation near the present site of the Falls mill in 1773.
TAVERNS
94. Caleb Abel, the third innkeeper of Norwich, probably came from Dedham; he bought the Wade lot in 1677; was constable in 1684, townsman in 1689, and often thereafter; enrolled among the dignitaries with title of Sergeant in 1702, married Margaret, daughter of John Post, 1669, and after her death married Mary Loomer; died August 7, 1731. He was appointed
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innkeeper under the date of December 18, 1694, as follows: "The towne makes choise of caleb abell to keep ordinari or a house of entertainment for this yeare or till another be choosen."
95. Deacon Simon Huntington, the first of four successive generations of deacons was the second innkeeper of Norwich. He was married to Sarah, daughter of Joseph Clarke, of Saybrook, in October, 1653; appointed innkeeper 1690; died 1706, leaving an estate valued at £275, including a library of fourteen or fifteen volumes, of the value of about 30 shillings, which we are told was probably a fair library for a layman at that time.
96. Joseph Reynolds, son of John Reynolds, the Founder, kept the ordinary in 1709. He was born in Norwich, March, 1660; married Sarah Edgerton, 1688.
97. Thomas Waterman, born 1644, came to Norwich in 1659 with John Bradford, whose wife's nephew he was; only townsman in 1675, '81, '84; made a freeman in 1681 ; died June 1, 1708; buried in Society Burial Ground. He was appointed innkeeper in 1679. "Agreed and voted by ye town yt Thomas Waterman is desired to keep the ordinary. And for his encouragement he is granted four akers of paster land where he can conveniently find it ny about the valley going from his house to the woods."
98. Eleazer Lord's tavern on the corner of Town street and the New London turnpike was built about 1770 and for many years was frequented by the lawyers who came to Norwich to attend court.
99. Joseph Peck's tavern on the east side of the Green, overshadowed by a large elm tree, among whose central boughs an arbor was formed and seats arranged, to which on public days friendly groups resorted and had refreshments served -- a plank gallery being extended from a window of the house to the bower as a means of access.
100. Thomas Leffingwell, the fourth innkeeper of Norwich, was given liberty to keep a "publique house of entertainment of strangers" in 1700. This tavern was continued for more than one hundred years, and was at the east end of the town plot, and was a noted place of resort in war times. Married Mary Bushnell, September, 1672; died March 5, 1723-24, leaving an estate of nearly £10,000. The interesting features of this quaint old house. within and without, are remarkably well preserved.
IOI. On the site of the present "Johnson home" was located Lathrop's tavern. Built in 1737 by Nathaniel Lathrop, its prosperity was maintained by his son, Azariah. From here was started the first stage coach to Provi- dence in 1768. In 1829 the property was sold to the Union Hotel Company, who erected the present building, which was later used for a boarding school.
102. Jesse Brown's tavern was erected in 1790 and its proprietor estab- lished a stage route from Boston to New York via Norwich. On August I, 1797, President John Adams and wife stopped over night here. In 1855 the property was purchased by Moses Pierce, who later gave it to the United Workers for the Rocknook Children's Home.
103. It is said that Capt. Samuel Bailey was jailor about 1800, and the accommodations for the jail were on the second floor, and that on the first floor the captain kept what was called "Cross Keys Tavern."
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
104. Millard Fillmore. Capt. John Fillmore, son of John Fillmore, "Mari- ner," of Ipswich, Mass., born Morch 18, 1702. He married, November 24, 1724, Mary Spiller, and removed to Norwich West Farms; died there February 22, 1777. Captain John's grandson was Nathaniel, whose eldest son was Mil- lard, born January 7, 1800, in Summer Hill, N. Y.
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105. Ulysses S. Grant. On the site of the house of Herbert L. Yerrington stood the original Christopher Huntington homestead. After the death of the first Christopher this was inherited by his son, John (born 1666), who mar- ried, in 1686, Abigail, daughter of Samuel Lathrop. John had three daughters and two sons. One daughter, Martha, was married to Noah Grant, of Tolland, and became the ancestress of Ulysses S. Grant.
Martha Huntington married, June 12, 1717, Noah Grant, born December 16, 1693. Their son, Noah, Jr., born July 12, 1718, married Susannah Delano, November 5, 1746. Their son, Noah, 3rd, born June 20, 1748, married Rachel Kelly, March 4, 1792. Their son, Jesse, born January 23, 1794, married Hannah Simpson, June 24, 1821. Ulysses S. Grant was born April 27, 1822.
106. Rutherford B. Hayes. George Hayes left Scotland in 1690 and set- tled at Windsor, Connecticut, 1682. His great-great-great-grandson, Ruther- ford Hayes, settled at Brattleboro, Vt., and married, in September, 1813, Sophia Birchard. Her ancestry on the male line is traced to John Birchard, one of the thirty-five founders of Norwich. Both of her grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Rutherford Hayes removed in 1817 to Delaware, Ohio, where he died five years later, leaving two children. On October 4, 1822, Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born three months after his father's death.
107. James A. Garfield. Was the descendant of Major John Mason and Reverend James Fitch, who are recorded among the founders of Norwich (see Nos. 14 and 23).
108. Grover Cleveland. William Hyde. Samuel Hyde married Jane Lee. John Hyde married Experience Abel. James Hyde married Sarah Marshall. Abiah Hyde married Rev. Aaron Cleveland. William Cleveland married Margaret Falley. Richard Falley Cleveland, born at Norwich, 19 June, 1805. He married Anne Neale, 10 September, 1820, of Baltimore. They removed to Holland Patent, New York, where he died I October, 1853. Grover Cleve- land was born at Holland Patent, 31 July, 1853 (see Nos. 48, 49, 78 and 79).
109. Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt. Edith Kermit Carow, born New York, August 6, 1862, daughter of Charles and Gertrude Elizabeth (Tyler) Carow. She was married at St. George's Church, Hanover square, London, England, 1886, to Theodore Roosevelt. Her grandfather was General Daniel Tyler of Norwich.
OTHER MEN OF DISTINCTION
IIO. Rev. Hiram P. Arms, D.D., pastor and pastor emeritus First Congre- gational Church, 1836-82. Born in Sunderland, Mass., 1799. Died at Nor- wich, 1882.
III. Major-General Henry Warner Birge, born in Hartford, August 25, 1825. Died in New York, July 1, 1888. In the War for the Union he passed through the successive ranks from major to brevet major-general. He ren- dered distinguished services at Irish Bend, in the Red River campaign, and led the forlorn hope at Port Hudson, and was actively engaged in battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek.
112. Isaac Hill Bromley, born in Norwich, March 6, 1833. Captain 18th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers; provost marshal. First editor "Norwich Bulletin"; journalist ; humorist ; chief editor New York "Tribune," 1891-98. Died at Norwich, August 11, 1898.
113. Hon. William Alfred Buckingham, born in Lebanon, Connecticut, May 28, 1804; died in 1875. Mayor of Norwich 1849-50, 1856-57. Presidential elector, 1856. Governor of Connecticut, 1858-66. U. S. Senator, 1869-75.
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Merchant, manufacturer, philanthropist, generous benefactor of Yale Uni- versity, the Broadway Church and Norwich Free Academy.
114. Thomas Fanning, born at Norwich, Conn., July 18, 1750; died May 24, 1812. Soldier in the Revolution. Merchant. One of the donors of Chelsea Parade, 1791.
115. Lafayette Sabin Foster, LL.D., born in Franklin, Conn., November 22, 1806; died in 1880. Graduated Brown University 1828. Mayor of Nor- wich, 1851-53. Speaker Connecticut House Representatives, 1847. United States Senator, 1854-66. After death of President Lincoln, acting Vice- President of the United States. Professor of Law at Yale 1868; judge Supreme Court of Connecticut 1870-76. Benefactor of Yale University, Free Academy and Otis Library. "Great citizen, incorruptible senator, wise coun- sellor, eloquent advocate, righteous judge."
116. Daniel Coit Gilman, LL.D., born in Norwich, July 6, 1831 ; died in Norwich, October 13, 1908. Graduated Yale 1852. Professor Yale College 1856-72; president University of California 1872-75 ; president Johns Hopkins University 1875-1901 ; president Carnegie Institution 1901-04. Delivered his- torical address at Norwich bi-centennial celebration in 1859.
117. William Charles Gilman, born in Exeter, N. H., 1795; died in New York 1863. Came to Norwich 1816. Established nail factory at the Falls. Extended cotton manufacture from the Falls to Greeneville and Bozralı. Identified for thirty years with the most important manufacturing, financial, educational and religious enterprises in the town. First president Norwich & Worcester railroad. Mayor in 1839.
118. Hon. Calvin Goddard, born at Shrewsbury, Mass., 1768. Mayor of Norwich 1814-31. Judge Supreme Court, 1816. Member of Congress 1801-05. Died in 1842. He lived on the corner of Washington and Sachem streets and owned several acres of land, including the Indian burying place, and mill property at the Falls.
119. William Parkinson Greene, born in Boston, 1795; died in Norwich, 1864. He was graduated at Harvard in 1814; removed to Norwich in 1824; became largely interested in manufactures at the Falls and Greeneville and in the Norwich Water Power Co. He was mayor in 1842; first president of Thames Bank; original corporator Norwich & Worcester railroad; second president and liberal benefactor of Norwich Free Academy.
120. Rev. John Putnam Gulliver, D.D., born in Boston in 1819; died at Andover, Mass., 1894. Yale University 1840; D.D. Iowa University. Presi- dent Knox College; Professor Andover Theological Seminary. Twenty years pastor Broadway Congregational Church. Held in honored remembrance as chief promoter of the Norwich Free Academy.
121. Russell Hubbard, born in Norwich, 1785; died 1857. Proprietor of Norwich "Courier." Paper manufacturer at Norwich Falls and Greeneville. A founder and vice-president of Norwich Savings Society. First president and generous benefactor of Norwich Free Academy.
122. Thomas Sterry Hunt, LL.D., born at Norwich in 1826; died Feb- ruary 12, 1892. Professor of chemistry at McGill University, 1862-68; pro- fessor of geology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1872-78. Pre- sented with Cross of the Legion of Honor at Paris, 1855. Honorary member Royal Society of London, 1859. He invented a permanent green ink, first used for "greenbacks."
123. Deacon Jabez Huntington, born in Lebanon, Connecticut, 1767; died in Norwich, 1848. He was president of the Norwich Bank and of the Nor- wich Savings Society. He and Hezekiah Perkins bought the land, now known
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as the "Little Plain," on Broadway in 1811, and gave it to the city for a park. His house is now Mrs. H. H. Osgood's.
124. Charles James Lanman, born in Norwich, June 14, 1795. Yale graduate, 1814. Receiver of public money for Michigan, 1823-1831. Founder of Tecumseh, Michigan. Mayor of Norwich, 1838. Died in New London, July 25, 1870.
125. James Lanman, born in Norwich, June 14, 1769; died August 7, 1841. Yale graduate, 1788. United States Senator, 1819-25. Judge Supreme Court of Connecticut.
126. Doctor Daniel Lathrop, born in Norwich, 1712; died in Norwich, 1782. Yale College, 1733; St. Thomas' Hospital, London, 1737. As an im- porter of drugs he and his brother Joshua built up a wide reputation and large estates for their day. He left £500 to Yale College, £500 to the First Church of Norwich, and £500 to establish a school on the Norwich Town Green. "Many were the amiables that composed his character."
127. Daniel Lathrop, born in Norwich, 1769; died 1825. Yale College, 1787. Was engaged in the drug business in Norwich. Son of Dr. Joshua Lathrop.
128. Doctor Joshua Lathrop, born in Norwich, 1723; died Norwich, 1807. Yale College, 1743. Merchant; cotton manufacturer ; public-spirited citizen ; one of the donors of the Chelsea Parade to the inhabitants of Norwich, and contributed generously for improvement of highways. "He devised liberal things and did them."
129. Donald Grant Mitchell (Ik Marvel), born in Norwich, in 1822, near present residence of the principal of the Norwich Free Academy. Died in New Haven, in 1908. Yale graduate and valedictorian, 1841. Distinguished author and landscape gardener. He delivered an oration at the bi-centennial celebration in 1859.
130. Col. George L. Perkins, born in Norwich, August 5, 1788; died Sep- tember 5, 1888. Paymaster United States army, War of 1812. For fifty years treasurer of Norwich & Worcester railroad. A well-known and prominent citizen of Norwich. In his great age, one hundred years and one month, "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated."
131. Capt. Hezekiah Perkins, born in Norwich, 1751 ; died 1822. He and Jabez Huntington gave to the city in 1811 the land now known as the "Little Plain" for a park. He lived in the house now owned by Mrs. Charles Coit.
132. Major Joseph Perkins. A soldier of the Revolution ; member of the Committee of Safety in 1814. Prominent merchant; public-spirited citizen. He with Thomas Fanning and Joshua Lathrop gave Chelsea Parade to the inhabitants of Norwich for a park. He built the stone-house on Rockwell street in 1825.
133. Dr. Dwight Ripley, born in Windham, Connecticut, in 1767; died in Norwich, 1835. A descendant of Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth. He was actively engaged in business in Norwich for over forty years, and built up a large wholesale drug trade on present site of Lee & Osgood's store. He did much for the advancement of Norwich, and left a large family of sons and daughters who are held in honored remembrance.
134. General Alfred Perkins Rockwell, born in Norwich, 1834; died in Boston. 1903. Yale College, 1855. Professor mining in Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology. Rendered distinguished services in the War for the Union, rising from the rank of captain to brevet brigadier-general, and serv- ing at James Island, Fort Darling, Bermuda Hundreds and Fort Fisher.
135. Charles W. Rockwell, born in Norwich, 1799; died in 1866. During
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his residence in Norwich he was distinguished for his liberality and public spirit. In 1833 he built the mansion on Broadway afterwards owned by John F. Slater. He was interested in manufactures at Norwich Town; was four years mayor of the city; was three times elected to the State Legislature, and was for several years United States Commissioner of Customs at Wash- ington.
The following description of Norwich by Henry Ward Beecher, published in "Star Papers" in 1851, and reprinted for the 250th anniversary of the set- tlement, is given entire :
There are hundreds of villages in Connecticut that are beautiful in various degrees and by different methods; some by the width of prospect, some by their mountain scenery, some by their position on the water, and some, nestled away from all the world, find their chief attractions in their deep tranquility. But in every place the chief beauty must be in what nature has done, or in what man has done ntaurally. The rocks, hills, mountains; the innumerable forms of water in springs, rills, rivulets, streams, estuaries, lakes or ocean ; but above all the trees-these create beauty if it exist at all. It is rare that any place combines to a great degree the several specialties mentioned. A place that is inland, and yet on the seaboard-that has bold, precipitous rocks close at hand, and at the same time is spread out upon a champaign -- that unites the refinements belonging to society in large towns with the freshness and quiet of a secluded village, imbosomed in trees, full of shaded yards and gardens, broad, park-like streets, soon opening out into romantic rural roads among pine woods along the rocky edges of dark streams-such a place, especially if its society is good, if its ministers, teach- ers, civilians, and principal citizens are intelligent and refined, and its his- torical associations abundant and rich-must be regarded as of all others the most desirable for residence. And such a place is Norwich, Connecticut.
The river Thames is formed by the junction of the Yantic and the Shetucket. Upon the angle of these three streams stands the town. The Shetucket is a black water in all its course, and near to Norwich it has a bed hewed out of rocks, and cliffs for banks. The Yantic is a smaller stream, rolling also over a rocky channel, with a beautiful plunge, just above the town, of seventy-five feet. The Thames is not so much of a river as a narrow arm of the sea, thrust far up inland as if to search for tributary streams. These ribbon-like bays mark the whole northern coast of Long Island Sound. The Thames is navigable for large steamers to its point of formation. The conformation of the ground on which Norwich stands is entirely peculiar. Along the water it is comparatively low, affording a business plane and a space for railroad necessities. The whole ground then rises with sudden slope, lifting the residences far up out of the dust and noise of business into an altitude of quiet. But what is the most remarkable is, that a huge broad- backed granite cliff of rocks bulges up in the very midst of the city, cutting it in two, extending backward half a mile, and leaving the streets to sweep around on either side of it. This masterly old monarch looks down a hundred feet perpendicular, on the eastern side, upon the streets below, its bare rocks and massive ledges here and there half hid by evergreens, and in spots matted with grass and fringed with shrubs. On the western side the slope is gradual, and it is cut half way down to the Yantic by a broad street, nobly shaded with stalwart elms and filled with fine family residences. As one winds his way from the landing up the curving street, about the base of the rock on the
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eastern side, at evening especially, in twilight, or with a tender moonlight, this wild, uplifted cliff-in the very heart of a city, with forest trees rooted almost plumb above his head-has a strange and changeable uncertainty, at one moment shining out distinctly, and at the next dim and shadowy ; now easily compassed by the eye, and then glancing away, if we have imagination enough, into vast mountain spaces. This singular rocky ridge trends toward the north, and gradually loses itself in the plain on which stands Norwich Old Town. There is thus brought together, within the space of a mile, the city, the country, and the wilderness. The residences are so separated from the business part of the town that one who comes first into the upper part of the city, and wanders about under its avenues of mighty elms, and among its simple old houses or its modern mansions, would take it to be a place of elegant repose, without life or business. But if he first lands below, amid stores and manufacturing shops, as for several years we did, he might go away thinking Norwich to be a mere hammering, rumbling place of business. Indeed, there are three towns in one.
The streets skirting the water form a city of business; the streets upon the hill, a city of residences, a mile or two back is the old town, a veritable life-like picture of a secluded country village of the old New England days. What could one want better for a place of retirement? An hour's ride brings you to the seaside; to boats, fishing, lounging, and looking, whether in storm or calm. You may go by cars to old New London, or by boat to Stonington, and then by yacht or other craft to Block Island, or anywhere else you please. There are places for fish-black fish, blue fish, speckled bass, porgies, weak- fish. etc .; there are places for surf-bathing, with waves tempered to all degrees of violence and to every tone from whispering to thunder. If your mood does not take you seaward, half an hour will suffice to bear you inland, among bold and rocky hills, cleft with streams, full of precipitous ravines, and shaded with oaks and evergreens. Or, if you do not wish to roam, you may ascend the intra-urban mountain -- the Tarpeian Rock of Norwich, or Mount Zion, whichever your associations prefer to call it-and from its pinnacle overlook the wide, circumajacent country. If you happily own a house upon the western side of Washington street, or, better yet, if you own a friend who owns the house and feels lonesome without you, then you can have the joys of the breezy wilderness at home. For, if you will go back through the garden, and then through a little pet orchard, you shall find the forest-covered bank plunging one hundred feet down toward the Yantic; and there, hidden among shrubs and wild flowers, oaks and elms, you hear no din of wheels or clink of shops, but only the waving of leaves and the sport of birds.
But if there were none of these rare conjunctions of hill, rock, and plain, river and sea, Norwich would still be a beautiful place by virtue of its trees, and especially of those incomparably most magnificent of all earthly trees, elms! A village shaded by thoroughly grown elms cannot but be handsome. Its houses may be huts; its streets may be ribbed with rocks or channelled with ruts; it may be as dirty as New York and as frigid as Philadelphia ; and yet these vast, majestic tabernacles of the air would redeem it to beauty. These are temples indeed, living temples, neither waxing old nor shattered by Time, that cracks and shatters stone, but rooting wider with every genera- tion and casting a vaster round of grateful shadow with every summer. We had rather walk beneath an avenue of elms than inspect the noblest cathedral that art ever accomplished. What is it that brings one into such immediate personal and exhilarating sympathy with venerable trees! One instinctively uncovers as he comes beneath them ; he looks up with proud veneration into
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the receding and twilight recesses; he breathes a thanksgiving to God every time his cool foot falls along their shadows. They waken the imagination and mingle the olden time with the present. Did any man of contemplative mood ever stand under an old oak or elm without thinking of other days- imagining the scenes that had transpired in their presence? These leaf- mountains seem to connect the past and the present to us as mountain ridges attract clouds from both sides of themselves. Norwich is remarkably enriched by these columnar glories, these mysterious domes of leaf and interlacing bough. No considerable street is destitute of them, and several streets are prolonged avenues of elms which might give a twinge of jealousy to old New Haven herself-elm-famous !
Norwich Old Town, however, clearly has the pre-eminence. Its green is surrounded by old Revolutionary elms of the vastest stature and of every shape and delineation of grandeur. How a man can live there and ever get his eyes to the ground, I cannot imagine. One must needs walk with up- turned face, exploring these most substantial of all air castles. And when pausing underneath some monumental tree he looks afar up and sees the bird-population, that appears scarcely larger than humming-birds, dimly flit- ting about their secure heritage and sending down a chirp that loses itself half way down to a thin whistle. it seems as though there were two worlds- he in one and they in another. Nearly before the fine old-fashioned mansion where Lydia Huntley (Mrs. Sigourney) was brought up are two gigantic elms-very patriarchs, measuring at the base more than eighteen feet in circumference. An old man of a hundred years, a member of Dr. Bond's society, relates that his father selected these trees from the forest, and backed them into town and planted them here. His name should be written on a tablet and hung upon their breasts!
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