USA > Connecticut > Windham County > A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I > Part 3
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At her funeral (February 2, 1912), after the discourse of the officiating clergyman, the writer of this article, at the request of the family, made a brief address. Although it was prepared upon very short notice and delivered extemporaneously, the conviction which it expressed as to her work and worth still abides with him after the full consideration which the preparation of this article has necessitated. Therefore he ventures to close this review by quoting that address as it was published in the next issue of the neighboring local newspaper, The Putnam Patriot:
"Friends, old time neighbors, and the successors of those whose faces I saw here a quarter of a century ago when last I attended service in this house, but now sadly miss, I beg you to believe that I came here with no thought of speaking, and that my only purpose was to pay, by my presence, my respect to the memory of the deceased. Indeed, according to my boyhood standards, I would have deemed it almost a sacrilege, at least an intrusion, for a layman's voice to be heard within these revered walls. If, however, it may be thought by those here in charge, as it seems to be, that any service of mine may aid to properly honor her memory, it is not for me to refuse to render it.
"Ellen D. Larned was a great woman, all things considered; I think the greatest person who ever lived and died upon this historic hilltop. No mere wealth, however great, can weigh, in the balance of my judgment, for a moment, against her work and fame.
"By the right of inheritance, as well as by the right of her great personal faculties, she belonged to that aristocracy of brains and conscience, which has rendered New England so famous and so forceful and all controlling in the making and the maintenance of this republic. As evidence of her just title to this characterization, you need only glance at her face here before us, set in the embrace of death-at the broad and high forehead, the finely chiseled nostrils and lips, and each delicate line of the features.
"She was great in intellect, great in study, great in industry, great in honesty and great in the art of expression by the written word. With instinctive or rather intuitive sense, she followed unerringly the trail of historic truth through the musty, ill-kept and theretofore ill-digested local records of the past and through the fast fading traditions of family lore. Her writings, illuminated by her keen though kindly wit, had the rare quality of carrying the reader through successive pages untired and untiring. She chose for the field and topic of her life work the County of Windham and its several towns. Had she chosen some subject of world-wide interest and given to it the same research, zeal and
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY
ability, her work would have been as famous as Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic," or Baird's "History of the Huguenots in France." But she chose to give her life's service to our people, our race and our blood. You may find today the sons and daughters of Wind- ham County in every state of the Union, and indeed in wellnigh every county of every state. In their youth, forth from the old towns they went without money or scrip, but well armed and equipped with the intellect, the integrity, the industry and the courage of their an- cestry ; and, with few exceptions, they have made creditable records. Every man and woman in any part of this great nation, who is of Windham county descent, owes to Ellen D. Larned today a debt which can never be fully paid. She has redeemed from fast gath- ering oblivion the annals of their ancestry here in this old country. She has told in im- perishable prose their story,-of how that ancestry, the original settlers, came here from the old towns about Boston, reclaimed these farms from the wilderness and settled them, not as great manors, but as small holdings of a hundred acres or less to serve as the homes of independent freemen; of how, as soon as they had raised a sheltering roof over wife and children, they, from their scanty means, reared upon these hilltops temples for the worship of the living God according to the faith of their fathers, the first settlers of the old Bay Colony-this house, indeed, being the legitimate and lineal successor of one of those temples-of how they toiled, clearing the fields and harnessing, to run the wheels of their mills, the power of the torrential streams theretofore unconquered and even unchecked by human hands; of how they builded the schoolhouse in each sparsely settled community, bridged the rivers and opened for travel these highways along which we still ride or walk; of how they lived, how they loved, how they married, how they reared their children in the fear of God and His commandments, and in the fear of nothing else upon this earth; of how they bore life's fortunes, ill or good, its disappointments, sorrows, sufferings and de- feats, its joys and successes, and how at last, for the most part in the fullness of years, they died serene and triumphant in the confident hope of a blessed immortality. I repeat, every man and woman in all these United States, who is of Windham County ancestry, owes to Ellen D. Larned a debt which can never be fully paid.
"Much as I admired her as the Historian, I knew her as well in her ordinary life, especially in my earlier years, and respected her most highly. She was my first Sunday school teacher, and that, too, here in this church. Those of you who are of my generation may remember, perhaps, that my own mother died when I was a little less than three years old, and that I remained a motherless boy until some four or five years later, when my father married again. It was during that interval that I first came under Miss Larned's teach- ing in the Sunday school. As I look back today upon that period, it seems to me that she may have been somewhat more tender of me because of my motherless condition. She was, indeed, kind and tender to all the boys in her class, which was of boys alone. I love to re- member that it was from her lips that I learned the great precepts of morality and religion. She never forgot one of her Sunday school boys; wherever he went, her interest and affec- tion went with him. Whenever, in my career, whether at school, college or in professional life, there was anything which to her partial fancy seemed to be a success, her kindly words of congratulation were never wanting; whoever else in the old town might forget, she remembered. A year ago last summer, after an absence of twenty years, I came back to Thompson upon a quest of old records to aid in the preparation of a family history. I called upon her, and, though her eyesight was then failing, she knew me at once. I had recently delivered an address upon a historical occasion of some interest in my adopted state, and sent a copy of it to her. She at once, of her own accord, spoke of it and said, with a gleam of her old-time humor, that she had had it read to her by a young kinswoman of mine; and she was pleased to commend my effort, no doubt far beyond its deserts. Doubtless the fact that I had engaged in some work along historical lines appealed to her. Her mind was then as keen and her memory as perfect as ever before. From the abundant store-house of her materials she made valuable contributions to my researches.
"I saw her last in life one Sunday morning about the first of last August (1911). The evening before I had come to Putnam to meet a cousin, a lady of about my own age, in a matter of family consultation. That morning my cousin proposed that we drive to Thompson Hill so that she might once more enter this old church and sit in the pew where her mother and she used to sit long years ago. It was a beautiful morning, about half an hour before church-time, when we drove up this street here, which to me at least is always quaint and charming beyond expression. The peace of the Sabbath day was in the air- not the Sabbath day of the great city or its noisy suburbs, but the New England Sabbath
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY
day of my boyhood and of my father's time. As we passed slowly by Miss Larned's house, I saw her sitting on the porch, upon one of those side, board benches or seats; and in her lap lay a book, which looked very like and which it pleased my fancy to believe was the identical copy of the Bible from which, more than half a century before, she had taught me. As we passed I raised my hat to her almost in reverence, but her failing sight was not sufficient to enable her to notice my salute or passage. I looked full in her face, and as long as consciousness shall last I shall remember her as she then appeared. The peace of that New England Sabbath day was upon her face, illuminating it with that light of sanctification which such peace may bring to such a nature of the old Puritan stock.
"She was one of the last of the living links which bound me to the Thompson of my childhood; and so, as best I may, from out the fullness of my heart, I pay this tribute, albeit inadequate, to her memory-to her, my teacher, my mentor, my friend, and the his- torian of my race."
HOME OF MISS ELLEN D. LARNED
Vol. I- 2
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CONTENTS
VOLUME ONE
A TRIBUTE TO MISS LARNED. 2
HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT AND PATRIOTISM. 3
INTRODUCTORY 25
CHAPTER I CORPORATE ORGANIZATION
EARLY ATTEMPTS TO FRAME WINDHAM COUNTY-ACT OF INCORPORATION-THE ORIGINAL BOUNDS-EARLY APPOINTMENTS-FUNCTIONS OF THE COUNTY .. 34
CHAPTER II
THE BEGINNINGS OF WINDHAM COUNTY-THE OLD LIFE AND THE NEW. 37
CHAPTER III COMMUNITY LIFE, 1850-60
BUSY NEW ENGLAND AND ITS WATER POWER-MANY LOCAL INDUSTRIES-COMING OF THE IRISH AND FRENCH-CANADIANS-QUIET SUNDAYS-OCCUPATIONAL DRESS- AMUSEMENTS-PEDESTRIAN TRAVEL POPULAR-SOLID READING-POLITICAL DISCUS- SION-THE RAILROADS-OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR, ETC. 47
CHAPTER IV
GENERAL HISTORY 54
CHAPTER V TOWN OF WOODSTOCK
NOTABLE CELEBRATIONS-THE LAST OF THE WABBAQUASSETS-THE SWEDES OF WOODSTOCK-A JOURNEY THROUGH WOODSTOCK WITH NOTES ALONG THE WAY- WOODSTOCK SCHOOLS-WOODSTOCK TERCENTENARY-WOODSTOCK IN PUBLIC LIFE 56
CHAPTER VI TOWN OF WINDHAM
EARLY HISTORY OF WINDHAM-BRIEF REVIEW OF WINDHAM'S HISTORY-THE IRISH IN WINDHAM-NORTH WINDHAM-HISTORY OF WILLIMANTIC- WILLIMANTIC AS A FACTORY VILLAGE-A NOTABLE GROUP OF PHOTOGRAPHS-OUTLINE SKETCH
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20
CONTENTS
OF WILLIMANTIC-PERSONAL SKETCH OF ALLEN B. BURLESON-SOME
OF THE FUN WE HAD-TOM WEAVER AND FAMILY-WINDHAM IN PUBLIC LIFE-THE WILLIMANTIC WOMAN'S CLUB-ANNE WOOD ELDERKIN CHAPTER D. A. R .- A REMI- NISCENT GLANCE-THE STATE NORMAL-TRAINING SCHOOL-ST. JOSEPH'S HOS- PITAL-THE MATERNITY HOSPITAL-HOW THE BLIND SEE-WINDHAM SCHOOLS
82
CHAPTER VII TOWN OF PLAINFIELD
EARLY HISTORY OF PLAINFIELD-CHURCH AND COMMUNITY LIFE IN OLD PLAINFIELD -PLAINFIELD IN PUBLIC LIFE-BEGINNINGS OF WOOLEN INDUSTRY IN THE TOWN OF PLAINFIELD-PLAINFIELD ACADEMY-PLAINFIELD'S BI-CENTENNIAL 164
CHAPTER VIII TOWN OF CANTERBURY
EARLY HISTORY OF CANTERBURY-THE TOWN OF CANTERBURY-WESTMINSTER · SOCIETY-CANTERBURY INDUSTRIES-CANTERBURY IN PUBLIC LIFE-REMINIS- CENCES OF CANTERBURY AND PLAINFIELD 186
CHAPTER IX TOWN OF KILLINGLY
EARLY HISTORY OF KILLINGLY-THE MILLS OF CHESTNUT HILL; THE STORY OF A CONNECTICUT VILLAGE-THE PHYSICIANS OF KILLINGLY FIFTY YEARS AGO. . 202
CHAPTER X TOWN OF ASHFORD
EARLY HISTORY OF ASHFORD-WESTFORD COMMUNITY-ASHFORD HOMES-ASHFORD SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL TEACHERS-ASHFORD WELFARE ASSOCIATION-ASHFORD IN PUBLIC LIFE. 232
CHAPTER XI TOWN OF POMFRET
EARLY HISTORY OF POMFRET-ABINGTON SOCIETY BY MARY M. OSGOOD-POMFRET IN 1920-A NEW WORLD PAGEANT-POMFRET STATION-POMFRET IN PUBLIC LIFE 252
CHAPTER XII TOWN OF THOMPSON
EARLY HISTORY OF THOMPSON-NORTH GROSVENORDALE IN 1872-1873-THOMPSON COMMUNITY-THOMPSON HILL REMINISCENCES-THE THAYER FAMILY-MEN AND EVENTS OF LATER DAYS. 283
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER XIII TOWN OF BROOKLYN
EARLY HISTORY OF BROOKLYN-PRESIDENT LUTHER'S RECOLLECTIONS-BROOKLYN AT THE TURNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY-DEACON BENJAMIN BROWN-THE THREE HISTORICAL AND FAMILY SOCIETIES, ETC .- OLD CHURCH STREET-BROOK- LYN IN PUBLIC LIFE. 307
CHAPTER XIV TOWN OF HAMPTON
EARLY HISTORY OF HAMPTON-PROMINENT MEN OF HAMPTON, VILLAGE OF HAMP- TON, CLARK'S CORNER, COMMUNITY LIFE, HISTORICAL PLACES, OLD FAMILIES IN HAMPTON-HAMPTON IN PUBLIC LIFE-HAMPTON INDUSTRIES-THE C. C. FOSTER HIGH SCHOOL-HAMPTON SKETCHES-ALLEN JEWETT'S RELICS-THE HAUNTED HOUSE-HAMPTON HAPPENINGS-HAMPTON ANECDOTES. 342
CHAPTER XV TOWN OF STERLING
EARLY HISTORY OF STERLING-STERLING EKONK GRANGE-HENRY M. SAYLES- STERLING IN PUBLIC LIFE-, ONECO VILLAGE-AN INTERESTING CAREER. 360
CHAPTER XVI TOWN OF CHAPLIN
EARLY HISTORY OF CHAPLIN- RECOLLECTIONS OF CLINTON J. BACKUS-RECOLLECTIONS OF NELLIE GRIGGS BEARDSLEY-SEVENTY YEARS OF HAPPY WEDLOCK-CHAPLIN IN PUBLIC LIFE-CHANGES IN POPULATION 373
CHAPTER XVII TOWN OF EASTFORD
EARLY HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF EASTFORD-THE STORY OF EASTFORD-THE CASTLE- GENERAL LYON MEMORIAL-EASTFORD IN PUBLIC LIFE. 391
CHAPTER XVIII THE TOWN OF PUTNAM
EARLY HISTORY-PUTNAM HEIGHTS-CITY OF PUTNAM-PHYSICIANS-WINDHAM COUNTY TEMPORARY HOME-PUTNAM IN PUBLIC LIFE. 404
CHAPTER XIX TOWN OF SCOTLAND
EARLY HISTORY OF SCOTLAND-SCOTLAND COMMUNITY-SCHOOLS-T. K. PECK- DAVID L. FULLER-THE FULLER BOYS-MEN AND EVENTS IN LATER DAYS-SCOT- LAND IN PUBLIC LIFE-DOCTOR AYER'S RECOLLECTIONS. 424
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER WINDHAM COUNTY CHURCHES
GENERAL INTRODUCTION-CONGREGATIONAL-MINISTRY OF THE BEARDS-METHODIST -BAPTIST-ROMAN CATHOLIC-EPISCOPALIAN-MISCELLANEOUS .. .. 450
CHAPTER XXI WORLD WAR RECORD
LISTS OF THOSE FROM WINDHAM COUNTY TOWNS WHO SERVED IN THE WORLD WAR, WITH INDICATION OF RANK AND PLACE AND NATURE OF SERVICE-ALSO SOME RECORD OF CIVILIAN ACTIVITIES-ABUNDANT EVIDENCE THAT WINDHAM COUNTY DID ITS FULL SHARE-AMERICA'S PART IN THE VICTORY-COMING CO-OPERATION FOR WORLD PEACE. 667
CHAPTER XXII WORLD WAR STORIES
EXPERIENCES OF A WINDHAM COUNTY BOY IN FRENCH AMBULANCE SERVICE-A WIND- HAM COUNTY GIRL IN THE NEAR EAST. . .. 713
·
CHAPTER XXIII CIVIL WAR RECOLLECTIONS, 1861-1865
WINDHAM IN THE CIVIL WAR-ROLL OF ENLISTMENTS OF WINDHAM-ROSTER FRANCIS S. LONG POST-SCOTLAND-CHAPLIN-CANTERBURY-WINDHAM COUNTY OFFICERS-LEWIS SMITH'S STORY-GEN. NATHANIEL LYON-SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR: CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEERS, WINDHAM COUNTY. 748
CHAPTER XXIV FARMS, OLD AND NEW
OLD AND NEW METHODS IN FARMING-WOMEN ON THE FARM, THEN AND NOW- PROGRESSION IN FARMING-THE FOOD SUPPLY OF LARGE TOWNS. 760
CHAPTER XXV BENCH AND BAR
LIFE OF GOVERNOR CLEVELAND-SEARLS' REMINISCENCES-SKETCHES OF CLEVELAND, PENROSE AND PHILLIPS-WILLIMANTIC LAWYERS. . 769
CHAPTER XXVI WINDHAM COUNTY NEWSPAPERS
WINDHAM COUNTY TRANSCRIPT-J. Q. A. STONE-ALEXANDER MACDONALD-
HENRY L. HALL-JOHN A. MC DONALD 780
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXVII FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES
POMFRET-PLAINFIELD-WILLIMANTIC-DANIELSON-NEW BOSTON-EAST WOOD- STOCK-HAMPTON-ASHFORD, THE BABCOCK LIBRARY-PUTNAM-EASTFORD- WINDHAM-CHAPLIN-THOMPSON-ALDRICH FREE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION- SCOTLAND TOWN LIBRARY. 790
CHAPTER XXVIII EQUAL SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT
EARLY HISTORY IN WINDHAM COUNTY-SOME OF THE EARLIER LEADERS-EDUCA- .
TIONAL INFLUENCES-TENNESSEE THE THIRTY-SIXTH STATE TO RATIFY .... 809
CHAPTER XXIX ABOUT THE WEATHER
MISERY LOVES COMPANY-THE WINTER OF 1919-1920-THE BLIZZARD OF FEBRUARY, 1920-THE STORM OF FEBRUARY 26, 1920-NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS. 812
CHAPTER X WINDHAM COUNTY PICTURESQUE
OUR FORESTS, PAST AND PRESENT-THE STREAMS OF WINDHAM COUNTY-BEAUTY SPOTS OF WOODSTOCK-BEAUTY SPOTS OF ASHFORD-PLAINFIELD-BROOKLYN- CANTERBURY - CHAPLIN - EASTFORD - HAMPTON - SCOTLAND - STERLING -WINDHAM-NOTES OF INTEREST. 823
CHAPTER XXXI THE VENERABLE CLUB OF WINDHAM
THE VENERABLE CLUB OF WINDHAM-SOME OF WINDHAM COUNTY'S OLD PEOPLE- OCTOGENARIAN ACTIVITIES 847
CHAPTER XXXII WINDHAM COUNTY VERSE
THERON BROWN, THE EPIC OF WINDHAM-" OBWEBETUCK"-LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON-JANE GAY FULLER-WILLIAM HENRY BURLEIGH, "SUGAR BROOK"- JOHN PHILO TROWBRIDGE-" THE KHAKI AND BLUE"-B. F. BROWN-JOSEPHINE ROBBINS-C. B. MONTGOMERY-LEVI ALLEN-EVERETT O. WOOD-ELIZABETH JEWETT-MRS. C. H. N. THOMAS. 864
VOLUME TWO
CHAPTER XXXIII MY NEIGHBOR-WINDHAM COUNTY
AS SEEN FROM WILLINGTON HILL-AN EXCUSE FOR SUNDAY CALLING-A DEFENSE OF ASHFORD-MEMORABLE BIBLE-DAY GATHERINGS-MENTION OF SOME NOTEWORTHY
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CONTENTS
MINISTERS AND CHRISTIAN WORKERS-WELCOMING THE STRANGERS WITHIN OUR .. GATES-EXTEND A FRIENDLY HAND TO THE FOREIGNERS 921
CHAPTER XXXIV
WINDHAM COUNTY'S BIGGEST CELEBRATION
OLD SCHOOL AND OLD HOME WEEK IN WILLIMANTIC IN 1915-OLD SCHOOL, OLD HOME AND OLD CHURCH WEEK PROPOSED FOR 1925, AND EVERY TEN YEARS THEREAFTER 945
CHAPTER XXXV POPULAR AMUSEMENTS
ENTERTAINMENT ARTISTS-FIRST BRASS BAND IN WILLIMANTIC-THE NATIONAL AND WILLIMANTIC BAND-WHITE EAGLE'S POLISH AMERICAN BAND-FIFE AND DRUM CORPS-ORCHESTRAS-BILLY FORAN AND DUNN'S MASTODON MINSTRELS-MOV- ING PICTURE HOUSES-WILLIMANTIC FIRST BASEBALL TEAM-RUNNING, WALKING, GO-AS-YOU-PLEASE MATCHES-HISTORY OF THE OLD FAIR GROUND-REMINIS- CENCES OF HORSE RACING. 954
CHAPTER XXXVI SPECIAL STORIES
NATHANIEL WALES- COMMUNITY LIFE IN EARLIER AND LATER DAYS-NEW ENGLAND RAILROADS IN THE '50S-THANKSGIVING DAY-OLD DARN COAT-OLD-TIME SING- ING MASTERS-OLD-TIME DANCING MASTERS-THE COUNTRY DANCE IN
996 1920
CHAPTER XXXVII THE MEANING OF AMERICA
MANNER AND SPIRIT OF APPROACH-THE NEW CITIZEN'S PLEDGE : ENGLISH VERSION- ITALIAN VERSION-POLISH VERSION-SLAVISH VERSION-GERMAN VERSION. . . 1033
CHAPTER XXXVIII
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES
1040
ADDENDA
SOME OF OUR CONTRIBUTORS.
1084
BIOGRAPHICAL
1089
A MODERN HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
INTRODUCTORY
Driving one summer day through the remoter districts of Windham County, ten or twelve miles from any steam railway or even trolley line, where dwellings were humble and few and far between, the fields stony and but little cultivated, the Editor and a companion called at a home from which, at our knock, a smil- ing-faced man came to the door and greeted us inquiringly. We were in search of a fresh chicken or two for a meal, and were supplied.
In conversation one of us asked the dweller there: "How do you like it, living way back here, so far off from anybody?" "Where do you folks come from ?" said he, "I'm from New Haven and he's from Hartford," was the reply of one, indicating the other. "Well," responded he whom we looked upon as a dweller in very remote parts, "You're the fellows who are way off; we're right here, and very comfortable, thank you." We spoke of it afterwards, and agreed that he was right; that the true place to live was where contentment dwells also; the poets and philosophers have ever proclaimed that !
From the wide-world standpoint, and especially as viewed from the so-called "centers of civilization," Windham County is certainly a remote dwelling place. Yet there are many reasons why they who are interested in human progress look to this same Windham County for inspiration. Those reasons may be stated in a general way as three-fold : natural, historic, industrial.
The natural beauty of the rolling hills is unsurpassed, with a quality all its own. There are sharper contrasts, even among Litchfield County hills of Con- necticut; and, of course, no comparison is possible with Northern New England ; and yet Windham County's natural quality is distinctive.
Some years ago an Indiana girl who had met at Oberlin a student about to enter the Methodist ministry, came east as a happy bride; and as they drove over the Windham County hills to their first parish, she exclaimed, "Oh, this is the place for me. I love my native prairies, but oh, these hills! I have found my place, and hope always to stay near them .? ' And so she has remained, even unto this day, within easy distances; although, as Methodist pastors' fam- ilies do, she has lived in various places, in larger fields, but often returning to her first-loved hills in Windham County.
Another has said-a Windham County lad who has been called by life's activities to the largest American city, and is now in the later years of life- "I never come back to Windham County but I am reminded of that scriptural inspiration : 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, whence cometh my strength.' I have seen many hills of greater grandeur, but none which give me such a feel- ing of comfortable security, such a restful feeling; a sort of intimate relation with outer life, too; because somehow, as you look over these rolling hills, as the eye follows one beyond the other, you do not get that abrupt and shut-off
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY
feeling that goes with the sharper angles of more rugged and loftier peaks. Your thought runs gently along towards the outer world; you can feel a con- nection with it if you wish to, or you can feel retired and away from it, as suits your mood. At least that is the way these dear old Windham County hills impress me, and that is why I love them so."
The patriotic inspiration found amid the Windham County hills is indi- cated in the article preceding this, entitled "Historic Environment." The civilized beginnings of the county run back to the old "Connecticut Path," when the first settlers in and near Roxbury, Mass., began in the earlier years after 1620 to travel "across the trackless wilderness" to the Connecticut River; and some of them spied out along the way, not too far from Roxbury, promising places to establish themselves. Hence New Roxbury was settled and named in 1686; re-named Woodstock in 1690, as namesake of same in Oxfordshire, Eng- land, and not annexed to Connecticut until 1749.
It is not the intention here to repeat the earlier history so fully recorded by Miss Larned, but a brief summary of the earlier history of each town has been gleaned from her work. It will be interesting and valuable to set forth here the list of the fifteen towns of the county in the order of their establishment, incorporation and naming, as compiled for the Connecticut State Register by Mr. Joel N. Eno, A. M. The numbers at the left indicate the order of estab- lishment, that is, Woodstock, the first town in Windham County to be settled, was the thirty-first town to be established in Connecticut, etc. The area of each town is also given.
Mansfield was set off from Windham in October, 1702; but Voluntown, named in 1708 as a grant to "volunteers" in the Narragansett war, and settled in 1719, remained a part of Windham County until 1881. The record of the towns now composing Windham County is given herewith.
WINDHAM COUNTY TOWNS IN THE ORDER OF THEIR ESTABLISHMENT WITH THE ORIGIN OF THEIR NAMES, AND THE PRESENT AREA OF EACH
(As Compiled by Joel N. Eno, A. M., for Connecticut State Register)
1. (31) Woodstock, settled as New Roxbury, Mass., 1686; named 1690 from Woodstock in Oxfordshire; annexed to Connecticut, May, 1749; area 39,011 acres.
2. (32) Windham, settled 1686; granted to be a township, May, 1692; named from Windham in Sussex ; area, 16,268 acres.
3. (35) Plainfield, settled 1689; name descriptive; authorized October, 1700; area, 27,119 acres.
4. (38) Canterbury, settled 1690; set off from Plainfield, October, 1703; named from Canterbury in Kent ; area, 27,882 acres.
5. (42) Killingly, township grant, May, 1708, and named from Killingly Manor near Pontefract, Yorkshire; area, 33,965 acres.
6. (44) Ashford, named October, 1710, probably from Ashford in Kent, Eng- land; area, 21,610 acres.
7. (48) Pomfret, settled in 1705, named May, 1713, from Pontefract in York- shire ; area, 27,206 acres.
8. (85) Thompson, named 1730, from its chief owner, Sir Robert Thompson ; incorporated from Killingly, May, 1785 ; area, 31,129 acres.
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY
9. (87) Brooklyn, named 1752, brook line (the Quinebaug) ; a society, 1754; incorporated from Canterbury and Pomfret, May, 1786; area, 18,379 acres.
10. (94) Hampton, incorporated from Brooklyn, Canterbury, Mansfield, Pomfret and Windham, October, 1786; named from Hampton in Middlesex; area, 16,001 acres.
11. (102) Sterling, incorporated from Voluntown, May, 1794, and named from Dr. John Sterling, a resident ; area, 17,504 acres.
12. (124) Chaplin, society, named 1809 from its deacon, Benjamin Chaplin ; incorporated from Mansfield and Hampton, May, 1822; area, 12,399 acres.
13. (145) Eastford, named as East parish of Ashford, 1777; incorporated from Ashford, May, 1847; area, 18,269 acres.
14. (156) Putnam, incorporated from Pomfret, Thompson and Killingly, May, 1855; named from Israel Putnam ; area, 12,662 acres.
15. (158) Scotland, parish named by first settler, Magoon, a Scot, 1706; incor- porated from Windham, May, 1857; area, 12,002 acres.
It will be noted that Woodstock, Windham, Plainfield, Canterbury, Killingly, Ashford and Pomfret have passed the bi-centennial mark in that order. Thomp- son is next in line, but will not reach that point until 1930; while Putnam and Scotland only passed the half-century time-post in 1905 and 1907 respectively ; that is, as incorporated towns, although each of these two, as formerly part of another town, has its own interesting history as a district or parish of earlier days.
The first hundred years is a fascinating story of struggles with the Indians; the greater struggles with the rugged wilderness; the squabbles over the lands and boundaries as between towns and between individuals and against the speculative land grabbers-the most vexatious "profiteers" of those earlier days; how the community life revolved about the "meeting house" and the minister, and the taxation in pounds and produce necessary to maintain these ; the intense religious conviction which prevailed, with the occasional reaction among "scoffers" and "unbelievers"; and yet amid all these interesting but really minor "throes" of an expanding life, a steady growth into strong and prosperous communities ; all this interesting history may be followed by the reader of Miss Larned's two volumes.
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