A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 29

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 930

USA > Connecticut > Windham County > A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I > Part 29

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In 1760 Ashford held a place of prominence among the Windham County towns. It was located on one of the great thoroughfares, where communica- tion with Boston, Hartford and other centers was easy; it was noted for mil- itary spirit and a live interest in public affairs; and was ready to speak and act in matters whenever necessary. Three young physicians practiced in the town. Several taverns were open for public entertainment; there were mills, a tannery, which also manufactured shoes; and hemp was grown. The town, however, still had droughts and frosts and was hampered by land disputes and religious disturbances.

The inhabitants of the eastern part of Willington (which part had formerly belonged to Ashford) joined with the northwestern part of Ashford in request-

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ing that they be made a society, and in 1765 the request was granted and they were established as Westford Society. Steps were at once taken by them to procure a minister and build a meeting house. The inhabitants of the eastern part of the town encountered more difficulties in the church, but in 1769 called a minister who brought peace and inspired his people with trust. Meantime the Baptists were again in the ascendancy, and in 1775 a Baptist Church was built, and a clergyman called. In 1777 society privileges were granted to the eastern part of the town, which became known as Eastford, a minister was obtained and later a church built. In Ashford the old Corbin claim was again intro- duced and Ashford was at that time forced to give up her commons.

Ashford still continued to hold its prominent place in the county, and to bear its share of public responsibilities. When the emigration movement set in, Ashford lost many valued citizens, some going to New York, Vermont, and . to places further west. In 1780 a Baptist Church was formed in Westford. In 1789 General Washington, then on a presidential tour, spent a Sunday in Ashford, making it a red-letter day for the town. New turnpikes were built and Ashford willingly paid her share, in order that she might benefit by the increased facilities and the added amount of travel. In 1803 a postoffice was established. In 1793 a Baptist Society was established in the northeastern part of Ashford, known as Northford. Methodists formed a society and about 1800 built a church.

The War of 1812 stimulated travel over Ashford's turnpikes, much activity being due also to increased manufacture. Taverns were well patronized. Manufactures in Ashford were stimulated also, four carding machines being set up, and cotton, wool and a woolen factory established, and tinware manu- factured. In 1818 there were reported to be eight mercantile stores, six grain mills, nine sawmills, and five tanneries. The "seven churches" of Ashford were quite prosperous. The Ashford Baptist Association was organized in 1824. A Sunday school was organized in the North Ashford Baptist Church. A pro- bate office was established in 1830. The Methodists erected a chapel in East- ford in 1831, which was used alternately by Methodists and Universalists. In Eastford parish there were mills and a tannery and wagon making was done.

After the loss of Eastford parish, and the abandoning of travel by road, Ashford lost her prestige, with the loss of her population and industries. Its churches declined, though a Baptist Church was built in Warrenville in 1846, and that town had also some manufacturing and business interests at that time. The manufacture of coarse glass bottles and willow coverings in Westford was abandoned.

WESTFORD COMMUNITY

By Emily J. Chism

Although Ashford was on the direct line from Boston to Hartford and crossed by the "Old Connecticut Path," which connected those two places, as well as by the "Bridle Path" or "Cut-off" which shortened the distance by several miles, the town was not settled until 1710.

There were several reasons for this delay. The land was forest-covered . and required much labor to fit it for plowing, while the valley of the Connecti- eut was comparatively clear, and far more attractive to those seeking farms to

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cultivate; and the place was reached by no navigable river, which made pro- duction less profitable, owing to cost of transportation. At first, too, the Con- necticut Path was the only outlet-an east and west road-and as the hill ranges of this section run north and south, any east and west road crosses all these, and is a continuous series of up and down. Thus the road, following the track of this old path which looks so straight on the map, is characterized by the people who travel it as "straight ?- yes, straight up and down, most of the way."

Another reason why Ashford was not settled earlier was the difficulty in getting a clear title to the land. Many speculators were following the example of John Winthrop, Jr., and buying large tracts, some from the Indians and some from the council at Hartford. These claims naturally conflicted, and much uneasiness was felt by those holding claims. In 1684 Major Fitch obtained from Owaneco, son of Uncas, chief of the Mohegans, title to a large tract of the "Wabbaquasset Country," as this region was called, and became the first proprietor of Ashford. The next year Sir Edmund Andros came to be gov- ernor of New England, and as he recognized no rights given by Indians, the prudent course was to "lie low" until he was recalled.

In 1695, the Stoddard Tract was laid out in the southeast part of the town, and in 1707 the New Scituate Plantation was sold to three men from Scituate, Cushing, Clap and Jacob. The former tract was in the south part of Eastford; the latter west of it. The northwest corner of New Scituate was marked by an old oak tree on "Throop's Hill," but as no hill bears that name at present, the tree cannot positively be identified.

Major Fitch sold the rest of his land to James Corbin of Woodstock, and the settlement really began in 1710, John Mixer of Canterbury being the first settler. Having first choice, he selected the site of Warrenville for his prop- erty, to be near the Connecticut Path and to control one of the best water powers on the Mount Hope River. Others of the early settlers chose places further up the river where water power could be used. The first nine houses in Westford, the sites of which may still be found, were along the river, and mills were built near several of them. Some of these early settlers were Hunt- ington, Brooks and Carr.

Ashford received its name in October, 1710. Some say that the name was chosen because of the great number of ash trees in the vicinity, and others, that it was named for Ashford in Kent, England. It is very possible that both ideas are correct. There is no doubt that those who chose the name were familiar with Ashford, Kent, but also it is fair to suppose that they considered the appropriateness of the name to the place.

Windham had already been settled and a road to connect Ashford with that place was built. This gave an outlet to the tide water at Norwich, and that city became the market town of Ashford, ox-teams making the round trip in about three days.

Ashford, as first laid out, comprised a tract eight miles square, but encroach- ments on the part of the Connecticut Valley towns pushed Tolland east to the Willimantic River and a tract a mile wide was taken from Ashford to make good Willington's loss, but Ashford was given a strip of Union, which gives a length of nine miles, and after losing Eastford in 1847, Ashford contained 21,610 acres. .

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

THE INDIANS

The Wabbaquasset Indians were not a warlike tribe. They acknowledged the rule of either Maintonomo of the Narragansetts or Uncas of the Mohegans, according to the fortunes of the war perpetually waged between those two great chiefs; or they even paid tribute to the Nipmucks at the north when that - tribe had a temporary ascendancy. Ashford was a part of the Indian hunting ground, and no permanent village seems to have been nearer than Woodstock; that is, no place where the trees were destroyed in order to plant corn. But a winter camp of clam-eating Indians from the shores of the Sound is said to have been located at the south end of Boston Hollow.

The records give no account of any Indian warfare in the town; but tradi- tion states that when one early settler, Capt. Jedediah Amidon, was building the chimney of his house, an Indian shot an arrow at him. It missed, went into the mortar and was built into the chimney. In 1914 the chimney was torn down and the arrowhead recovered.

INDUSTRIES AND INVENTIONS

The chief industries of Ashford in the early days were lumbering, farming and grazing. Lumbering easily came first among these, owing to the large tracts of woodland and the natural waterpower furnished by the streams among the hills. At least seven sawmills were in existence at one time, five of which were located on the west branch of the Mount Hope River-one at Warrenville, owned and operated by Deacon Mathewson; another farther up the stream, then known as the Isaac Loomis mill, but later as Buck's mill ; next the Chism's mill, operated by the owners, William D. and Charles D. Chism; at Westford . Village, the mill of Smith and Son; and still farther up, near the William Taylor place, another mill, which has changed hands so often that it is difficult to assign any name, and as the mill itself is entirely gone, its history can be briefly summed up, "Here once stood a mill!" The Barlow mill on the Bige- low River in the northeastern part of the town, and the Walker mill at West Ashford, completed the list of seven.

Gristmills were connected with some of these sawmills; one at Warrenville, still used. The sawmill at the same place gets out some lumber, but the steam mills get most of the work as they can be moved to the wood lot and used at any season. Other mills of former days were the old carding mill on the brook that runs through Ward meadow in the northwestern part of the town, the upper and lower dams now partly fallen, but showing some solid stonework- laid, it is said, by a man named Russell, who lived just over the Willington line : the tannery, now fallen, on the branch of the Mount Hope known as Lincoln's Brook; and the Chapman mill on the east branch near Boston Hollow.

These Chapmans are said to have been a race of giants and some of the walls still standing on their place show both strength and skill in handling stones. The walls and foundations of the mill and buildings near were laid by Stephen Chapman. With the help of his wife, he brought the timber for the house and barn from the woods not far off, oak timber, some twelve or sixteen inch, and built his house with two-story front. This Stephen Chapman used to say that when he felt strong he would go down under the corner of his barn (one of the few barns then having cellars) and try to lift the corner. He said he could never lift it, but could make the joints snap. Benjamin Chapman,

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somewhere in the same family, was a stone cutter, and his name can be seen at the bottom of many gravestones in the neighboring cemeteries.

The Chapman mill is fallen now and the town has built a road over the dams, but stories are still told of the work done there. A famous lathe was invented here, which turned out oblong shapes; it was afterward patented by Blanchard of Monson, who came by on the road across the dam and saw Chap- man turning out lasts for Michael Richmond's shoe shop. Some of the lasts are still in existence and the lathe is now in the armory museum at Springfield. This style of lathe is used to turn out gun stocks now. Stephen Chapman also made an ox-wagon weighing only 450 pounds, which made many trips to Norwich, carrying a load of 400 pounds. John Chism sold this wagon to Wil- liam Richards, and when the Richards' barn fell down, the wagon was under it.

There was a fine trip hammer at the mill, the anvil and its setting still being in place. At this place some guns were made which, if still in existence, would hold the world's record for hard shooting. Stephen Chapman made the first percussion guns around here; he also changed guns from flint-lock to percussion.

Michael Richmond, saddler by trade, with some means and business push, started a factory for the manufacture of gun caps where there is now a pit for a large overshot wheel, near the Amasa Chapman place. He was doing a large shoe business at this time and shipping shoes to New York City. He also operated the Smith mill, turning out the wooden dishes still found in this section. In 1840, with Chester Scripture, Ashby Hyde and others, he took an active interest in the pike through Westford. Later he turned his attention to making axes, one of his shops being at the end of Boston Hollow, still known as "the axe factory," and where shoepegs had formerly been made. In 1854, in company with others, he organized the Westford Glass Works, first company. Michael Richmond, or "Squire Richmond," as he was called, was a son'of Abner Richmond from Woodstock. Westford Village, where they lived, was called Richmondville for many years.

The early sawmills used a sash, or up-and-down saw, and were run by Ferguson or Rose wheels, both of which had direct communication with the crank, and the pitman was kept cool by dipping in the water at every revolu- tion. Belt mills were viewed with suspicion as being liable to heat, for the belt had to run dry. In the early part of the nineteenth century Fredus Pres- ton rebuilt the old Carr and Brooks mill which had been washed away in "The June Flood." Sometime before the Civil war the Chism Brothers bought this mill of William Storrs. About this time the mill owners along the river built reservoirs in the north part of the town near the head waters of the Mt. Hope, and this prolonged the season of sawing. One of the Chism Brothers, Charles D. Chism, while in the army, had a comrade who had run a sawmill in Pennsylvania, and learned from him a trick of filing a saw so that it would act as a planer while sawing. Coming home at the end of the war, he experi- mented with their own saw until it worked satisfactorily and thereafter the Chism Brothers took great pride in turning out the smoothest lumber on the river. Soon after this, William H. Griggs came to be known as able to do any- thing with a mill. Some very tall timber was still found in this section, and in one case he had to lengthen his carriage till he said it looked more like a train of cars coming back than a carriage. In the latter part of the '60s he brought into town and perfected the rotary sawmill for sawing logs. Newton Hiscock operated one of these for Nathan Kinney and for Mr. Sessions in 1864. Mr.

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

Griggs bought the axe factory mill and installed a Lane mill; then bought the Barlow mill, installing a Lane wheel and mill, and in 1874 a Lane outfit for clapboards and matcher. Thus at the time of the Stafford flood he was equipped for the rush demand for finished lumber. In 1876 Mr. Griggs attended the Centennial at Philadelphia and saw the test of J. C. Hoadley's automatic engine. This led to bringing the first Hoadley here.

In 1877 George Adams and Wm. Griggs bought the Grandy's steam saw and grist mill at Stafford Springs. Mr. Griggs had the machinery. This engine was a George Bird make, it was taken to Amidon's shop at Staffordville and made over into a portable engine, ten by twenty cylinder, for eighty or ninety pounds pressure. It worked fine until an accident in 1878, then the new Hoad- ley 101/2 by 18 was brought to fill its place.

Mr. Griggs was agent and installed a number of sawmills for the Lane Company. He was an expert long range rifle shot, having all the modern makes, and after all his tests and ammunition tests, he takes his muzzle-loader to a turkey shoot in Woodstock, shoots five times, at 25 cents a shot and gets a turkey every shot. They would not let him shoot any more. The range was one-half mile from one knoll to another, with a cross wind; he having provided a wind gauge sight for his rifle, a cross level, etc.

The mills under Mr. Griggs' management prospered and everyone tried to help. The wood working or manufacturing really owes its existence to him. When he died, it died and rotted down.

There was considerable activity at a shop north of Westford with Andrew S. Smith at the head, making wagon wheels and cider.

Lyman Lillibridge had a sawmill the next above Smith's but it was destroyed by fire in 1886.

The glass works was the largest, measured by its elbow room, capital, and the size of its failure, that Westford ever had.

WASHINGTON AND MARK TWAIN

Visitors to Ashford have not always been favorably impressed. In "Con- necticut River Towns" we read that the Nott family moved out of the Connecti- cut Valley into Ashford "where the barren wastes resemble those of the moon."

In an account of the walking trip of Mark Twain and Rev. Joseph Twichell, from Hartford to Boston, we read that they reached Westford the first night and put up at the Inn there, where the hostler, Mark Twain assures us, was the most profane man he ever met. And remembering his experience as a river pilot on the Mississippi, as a miner in the early gold days of California, and as a reporter all over the world, we realize that it was much to say.

The story of Washington's historic visit to Ashford, too, is always accom- panied by a statement written in his diary on the occasion, that the tavern was not a good one. It is said he stayed over the Sabbath, went to church, and heard a sermon by Rev. Mr. Pond. As no criticism appears to have been made in regard to the sermon, we may conclude either that it was a good one or that the Father of his country was not as particular about his sermons as about his inns.

OLD-TIME FARMING

Owing to "physical deformities," Ashford has never been an ideal farming section, although there are many small tracts of very fertile soil. The story

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is told of two men of Ashford, named Clark and Phillips, who once had a corn contest. In those days there were no commercial fertilizers, but Mr. Clark won the contest with 100 bushels of shelled corn to the acre.

Nearly every family owned a farm in the days gone by. Many of these farms contained swamps and woodland, with only a small proportion of till- able land. Farming was diversified, no one crop predominating; but nearly every farm produced some corn, potatoes and buckwheat; mostly for home consumption. Some hay was occasionally sold, but more generally sold on the place for nearby consumption. Raising beef cattle and training steers were important lines of work with nearly every farmer, and as late as 1850 many loads and droves of fat cattle went down the road to Providence. Peleg Childs, Eben James, John Moore, Flagg Chapman, Edwin Lewis, Asa Tourtelotte, were active men of these times. Besides such stock as was raised on the farms, many droves of cattle were brought in and fattened for market.

Foremost in this line of business was Capt. John Dean of Westford Village, whose old home is now the summer residence of Lawyer Willis Reed of Staf- ford Springs. Captain Dean would drive through the Brighton market and bring home a drove of cattle containing from forty to sixty head. Chester Loomis was another cattle dealer. He sometimes went as far as Albany, N. Y., for his cattle, shipped them to Palmer and drove them home from there.

Flocks of sheep were common sights in those days, there being many small flocks of ten or twenty, and some larger ones of one or two hundred. Most of the wool was sold to the small mills around home, Southbridge, Stafford Springs, Rockville and Willimantic, a small part being reserved for home use. This reserve was for knitting stockings and mittens, which continued to be a home industry long after the mills wove all the cloth. The wool for knitting was either sent to a carding machine or carded by hand with two implements like curry combs, made into rolls as large as a candle and twice as long. These were ready for spinning into yarn. The spinning was done by the large wheels where one stood, or rather walked back and forth, as the roll of wool lengthened out into yarn and then was wound on the spindle, leaving a short end of roll to which the next roll would be attached with a dexterous twist of the thumb and finger just as the wheel was again started so that the twist would be con- tinuous and smooth. After spinning the yarn was reeled off, dyed blue or possibly some other color, wound in balls and knit. (The small wheels were used to spin flax. Spinning was not given up entirely as late as 1880.)

Among the farmers of those days might be mentioned Joseph Phillips, Chester Loomis, David White, Bezaleel White, Sumner Stowell, John Sharp, Gilbert Amidon, Genl. Palmer Palmer Smith, Edwin A. Buck and Frank Dawley.

Piece work was given out from the many shoe shops, and everyone in the family worked at sewing shoes, knitting, or braiding palm leaf for hats. Some- times the hat was braided or woven as a basket might be, and sometimes long braids were made. The latter could be done by even small children, one old lady saying that when she was three years old her "stent" was an inch a day. This would have been about 1830. Raising silk worms was another home in- dustry, and good account of that time is given in a book written by Theron Brown ("Under the Mulberry Tree"), who spent his early life in Ashford and put scenes from this place into many of his books and poems.

In 1863 Archibald Babcock left $6,000 to the Town of Ashford to endow a library and a band. The Babcock Library was opened in 1866 with about

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one hundred books. Since then over five thousand have been added. The library was placed as near the center of the town as possible and has done its part toward making life pleasant for several generations. Although not pri- marily intended for school use, many of its histories, biographies and nature books furnish valuable supplementary reading for upper grade pupils.

The Babcock band was organized about the same time that the library was established and the town has reason to be grateful to Mr. Babcock on both accounts. The people of the town have come to rely on its band to furnish music on all its celebrations and Memorial Day exercises, and the bordering towns frequently have sought its services. Several of its members went over- seas in the war but in 1919 most of them were back again. A new leader, A. E. Lyman of Columbia, was secured, some excellent new music was learned and the band became more popular than ever.

THE GRANGE

In 1888 the first Ashford Grange was organized with twenty-two charter members. For some time Eastford had had a flourishing grange, and some of the influential men of this town decided that it would be a good thing for Ashford, too. The grange was accordingly organized with the assistance of State Lecturer George Austin Bowen of Eastford and State Secretary Lewis Wells of Woodstock. Nelson Hammond opened his home for the meeting place for a year and a half, after which the meetings were held in the Academy Hall.

The first grange-master elected was Alfred Shegogue; other officers were Jared Lamphere, John A. Brown, John T. Greene, George Brown, Albert Ham- mond, Bert Gardner, Mrs. John Greene, Mrs. John Kennison, Mrs. Charles Gallup and Miss Nellie Greene. The purpose of the grange being to study better methods of agriculture and education, the meetings consisted mostly of debates and talks along these lines, with household economics for the sisters. The meetings were enlivened by social periods, and occasionally open meetings were held. Several plays were given by the grange in Mathewson's Hall, since known as Baker's Hall.

In 1902 so few members were left that the charter was surrendered and the grange was dormant until 1907 when, with fifteen members, it was reorganized, chiefly by the efforts of Ashford's representatives in the legislature, Albert Squire and Oscar Baker who were ably assisted by Alex M. Bassett, E. F. Bas- sett, Frank Bennett, George Lipps and others. They secured some of the prom- inent members of the State Grange, Leonard H. Healey and Charles Potter of Woodstock and Will Barrow of Danielson, who came and made an address on grange principles. This aroused interest and the Grange of Ashford was again on the live list. The first master after reorganization was Bert Gardner, one of the former grange members, with Alex Bassett as secretary. Some of the masters since have been B. H. Gardner, Frank Bennett, Alex M. Bassett, George Lipps, Robert Balch, Addie Bassett and Leon Gardner. At the time of the reorganization the place of meeting was changed from Ashford Center to Baker's Hall, Warrenville.

ASHFORD BIBLE SOCIETY

Ashford Bible Society was an outgrowth of a feeling that the local churches could accomplish much by working together. On November 8, 1869, pastors and delegates met at Warrenville and organized the Ashford Union Bible Society.

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 29

Author: Lincoln, Allen B Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 930