A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 38

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

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to have their sections annexed to Pomfret. In 1752 Mortlake was merged with the town. "The society taken out of Pomfret, Canterbury and Mortlake" could then levy taxes throughout its territory, as Mortlake resigned its man- orial privileges in 1752. By special act of Assembly the society was given the name of Brooklyn. Population increased, and school facilities improved. After the addition of Mortlake the society was divided into five school districts. Prosperity was hampered for a time by illness and many deaths. The Saybrook Platform was adopted by the church upon the installation of a new minister.

In 1762 the school districts were changed, the central school moved, and school houses provided for the districts as soon as possible. The return of Colonel Putnam to Pomfret in 1765 provided fresh stimulus to town improve- ments, as the town delighted to do him honor. Later Colonel Putnam moved to Brooklyn Green, where he opened a tavern which at once became popular, and during the Revolution was one of the most notable gathering places in Eastern Connecticut. Another distinguished citizen of Pomfret was Col. Godfrey Mal- bone, a devoted loyalist, who owned considerable property in Pomfret. He did not mingle with the townspeople and had nothing in common with them. Brooklyn was anxious to build a new church, and made plans to that effect, the expenses of which could be defrayed by the taxes to be obtained from Colonel Malbone's property. However, when Colonel Malbone heard of this plan, he strenuously objected. His opposition probably added to the deter- mination of those desiring a new church edifice, and the only course open to Colonel Malbone was to become affiliated with another church. He decided to establish an Episcopal Church, and enlisted the interest of the tories of the surrounding country in the project. The money was raised for a new Congre- gational Church and both the Congregational and Episcopal churches were completed in 1771, and a minister secured in that year for the Episcopal Church. Colonel Putnam took a prominent part in the affairs of the Congre- gational Church. In 1771 a meeting was held at Colonel Putnam's home "to consult in regard to some new bound for the county." There were delegates present from Woodstock, Killingly, Thompson Parish, Plainfield, Canterbury, Ashford and Union. As both Woodstock and Pomfret desired the shireship, and as it was not thought wise to make any important changes at that time, no action was taken.

Brooklyn's first town meeting was held in 1786. The bounds of the town were at first identical with those of the society but very shortly 2,400 acres were released to Hampton. Public schools at once received the attention of the new town. In 1783 Brooklyn had attempted to establish an academy, and as that had failed of accomplishment more care was given to public education. Brooklyn took a decided interest in agriculture, and its dames were said to be "not exceeded in the state." At that period of its history there were but seven dwelling houses in the village as the population was scattered throughout the town. The gristmill was operated successfully until the dam. was carried away by a freshet. Individuals took up various trades such as the manufacture of pottery and potash, the making of silver and linseed oil. Colonel Putnam, Brooklyn's distinguished citizen, died in 1790, and was buried with military honors. The death of Colonel Malbone some years later greatly weakened the Episcopal Church, but two or three influential new members helped to rebuild it. The Congregational Society continued to prosper under Mr. Whitney, and in 1802 a doctor's degree was conferred upon him by Harvard. Toward the

PUTNAM'S ESCAPE AT. HORSE NECK

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latter part of the eighteenth century many new citizens came to the town and added to its energies, so that many new enterprises started. However, the gains of the town were more than offset by the losses, as the census of 1800 showed a loss of over one hundred.

With the increase of business and influence, Brooklyn again tried to obtain the privileges of the county seat, after her effort in 1784 had failed; and in 1794 a meeting was held in Brooklyn of all towns dissatisfied with the location of the county seat. The views and desires of those towns were presented to the Assembly, which made a decided impression upon the lower house, but failed in the council. In 1803 a petition was made to have the county divided into two shires, but that also failed.

Many public improvements were accomplished, however-new roads and turnpikes were laid out, bridges were maintained at the expense of the town, the town poor were taken care of. Brooklyn was interested in both public and home affairs. In 1810 a health committee came into existence. The military companies were maintained, and in 1812 there was held a brigade review in which five regiments of infantry and one of cavalry took part. Brooklyn was affected by the manufacturing excitement only to the extent that it furnished a nearer market for her dairy produce, cheese and pork figuring as the chief products. There were reported to be in the town two tanneries, a carding machine, three grain and two sawmills. A postoffice was established. Two attorneys took care of the legal practice. Two noted taverns catered to the public. In spite of the prosperity and energy displayed, emigration continued, and Brooklyn lost many of her citizens, in that way. Trinity Church pros- pered, but owing to the Unitarian views of the pastor of the Congregational Church and Society, who had been ordained in 1813, there was serious division in that church, so serious in fact, that in 1819 orthodox members withdrew entirely from the church and procured a meeting place of their own.

. Soon after the adoption of the new constitution giving religious freedom, another question was agitated which vitally interested Brooklyn. This was the proposed change of county seat. In December, 1817, a committee met at Hampton to consider the situation. Hampton, as the geographical center of the county, was anxious to have the county seat there, but did not succeed in securing it. After other meetings, the committee reported in favor of Brook- lyn, and in May, 1819, the Assembly accepted the report, and made provision for the change. Brooklyn at once hastened to take advantage of the enactment. A committee reported that $6,000 would be needed, of which Brooklyn guar- anteed $2,500. A thousand dollars was pledged from the town treasury for a court house and jail. It was difficult to raise the remainder, but was some- how accomplished and the buildings were put up promptly. There were at that period several attorneys in Brooklyn.

In 1820 the Independent Observer and County Advertiser, published the first newspaper. The Windham County Agricultural Society was incorporated in that year, and its meetings later were held in Brooklyn. Two years later the Windham County Bank was incorporated, and in 1826 the Windham County Mutual Fire Insurance Company. All of these institutions encouraged business and manufacturing enterprises, and stores were opened, a silversmith established himself in Brooklyn, experiments in tinware and furniture were made. A large cotton factory was started on the Quinebaug in East Brooklyn. Friction between Unitarians and Trinitarians hindered the plans for public

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improvements, but larger interests gradually overcame religious differences. In 1826 the Brooklyn and Windham Turnpike was built. A Sabbath school class was formed, and a children's library procured. Through the efforts of the Unitarian pastor, Mr. Samuel J. May, the Windham County Peace Society was organized in 1826. He also became much interested in the temperance movement and investigated conditions in Brooklyn and a temperance society was formed, and temperance in the towns made great gains. Mr. May also took great interest in public education, investigated the conditions of the local schools, which were found to be deficient, and did much to improve them. Through his efforts delegates from all over the state met in Brooklyn in 1827 for the purpose of considering the character and condition of the schools, and led to the improvement of the schools. Windham organized a Society of the Friends of Education for Windham County. Mr. May also worked earnestly for the downfall of slavery. He also edited the Liberal Christian and later the Christian Monitor. He joined in establishing a village lyceum, and lectured there, and also held religious meetings in school houses all over the country. A Baptist Church was formed in 1828, and the members secured a chapel for services in 1833. The Observer was succeeded in 1826 by the Windham County Advertiser and that in turn in 1835 by the Windham County Gazette. Several other newspapers were published, owing to political and slavery conditions. A high school was maintained at intervals and in 1829 an academy was incor- porated.

By the removal to other towns of the newspapers, business interests and county affairs, Brooklyn lost much of her former prosperity. Her societies also declined, with the exception of the Windham County Agricultural Society, which, in 1840, was given fresh impetus. The bank and the Windham County Insurance Company continued in sound condition. Reforms were instituted in prison discipline. Spectacles, pens and watchcases were made, and silk factories were established. A Brooklyn store boasted the largest assortment of stringed instruments in the county. Great interest was taken in horticulture and many fine residences were to be seen in Brooklyn. A new Episcopal Church was built in 1866. Business interests and population, however, gradually removed to localities connected with the railroad.

PRESIDENT LUTHER'S RECOLLECTIONS By Flavel S. Luther

I am requested to write some reminiscences of Brooklyn, covering the period from about 1855 to 1867. I do this gladly because my recollections are vivid, even if not accurate, and I have a sincere and abiding affection for the town.

I was born in 1850 in the house occupied for so many years by the late John Palmer and his family. My very earliest childish recollections have to do with the house now occupied by Vine R. Franklin, Esquire, ther owned by his father, John Franklin. We were living there at some time before 1854. I remember a red horse and a white horse, and that Mrs. Franklin used to give me delectable things to eat; but practically all my Brooklyn life was spent at the house in the west village which my father bought and to which he held the title until, shortly before his death, it was sold. The appearance of the west village in those early days was not greatly different, and yet it was different, to what it is now. The large house next west of ours had not been built. The

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two-family house opposite it was a small, unpainted structure occupied by an old gentleman named Adams. On the lot later owned by the Sharpe family stood the village store which was owned by Olney Tyler. This store was later moved up next to my father's lot and was kept by B. C. Grant for many years. It was he who built the large house alluded to above. Just to the west was Mr. Baxter's wheelwright shop with a paint shop above. It was here that he and John Baker, with others, built carriages and wagons of various sorts. There men gathered and discussed grave problems in politics and religion-especially the latter-for the Baptists and the Congregationalists and the Unitarians and the Episcopalians disapproved of each other most cordially; a state of things which I fear has not yet absolutely disappeared from the town. Next east of our house lived Erastus P. Harris, a strange character, full of humor and good sense, much the richest man in the immediate neighborhood, though no one would think it to look at him. The most beautiful place in the village, and it still has that distinction, was occupied by Lewis Searls, facing the Common. This Common was a triangular patch of ground, and as I first remember it it had on it no trees and not even a liberty pole. . It was sacred to the boys. The trees were planted, however, at an early date, and are now large and thriving. A liberty pole was erected at the outbreak of the war, but has disappeared, alas.

Of course a boy's memories have to do first of all with contemporaries. John Kendall, Frank Baker and I constituted a triumvirate. At this distance of time I suppose it will not be considered conceited if I say that we three ran the affairs of the boy world in that part of the town. We quarreled with each other a good deal, but always presented a united front to the underlings for whom we felt responsible. Ed Harris, who lived across the fields and whose father ran one of the gristmills, would have been a member of the governing body except for his distance from the center. He was easily the leader of us all in woodcraft. He knew more about birds and beasts than any of the rest of us, as we freely acknowledged. I think his reputation as a sort of embryo Daniel Boone grew partly out of the fact that his very-much-older brother owned a particularly fine rifle. Charlie Clark and his brother, Adelbert, and Charlie Fuller, were admitted to the society of their elders, but were distinctly in the subordinate class, due to their lack of years. Boys from the adjacent farms were with us from time to time. Erastus Harris, above alluded to, owned the blacksmith shop. A rival establishment was expected by Mr. Baxter somewhat later. Both I believe are now closed.

I recall one beautiful morning-when my father took me by the hand and we "walked up to the village." The village meant the Green, and there was certainly a social distinction separating the two neighborhoods. The people up at the Green thought themselves rather better than the dwellers in the west village. We knew they were not, but we could never convince them, though we convinced several of the boys whom we knew and caught. Well, we walked up to the village. I remember as if it were yesterday, picking a little bunch of wild strawberries from the bank in front of the lot where a house was later erected by Mr. Baxter, so I suppose this trip must have been in early June. We passed the jail where John Searles presided-John Searles, of whom I was more afraid than I have been of any human being since. I walked, my father holding my hand, on the wall just east of the jail and then on the high wall just before we reached the school house. . We went on to the postoffice which was then in the house of Benjamin Palmer, two doors north of what was at that

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time the Brooklyn Hotel, kept by C. C. Burdick. And let me not forget that on the way we met a tall black-clad figure that impressed me tremendously. It was Mr. Tillinghast, the Congregational minister. But reaching the post- office, which then seemed to me some fifty miles from home, I found myself opposite a stack of red boxes, I thought about seven hundred of them. My father's number was 71. (Being older now, I cheerfully knock off 625 of those boxes). This reminiscence of mine cannot be of interest to anybody but myself, and yet I am rather glad to write it out as my earliest definite remembrance of a specific incident in my early boyhood life.

A little later I began to know something about the town beyond the range of our immediate neighbors. The Village Green appeared much as it does now although there have been of course some changes. The most conspicuous ones to me were the building of the house opposite the residence of the late James Bard, the erection of the Episcopal Church, and the transformation of the house that belonged to the late Mr. Hatch. The Unitarian Church was always spoken of as the old meeting house. I wonder if it is still. Its bell was rung by Mr. Harding at noon and at 9 in the evening. It was tolled also as, one after another, Brooklyn men, women and children passed over into the other world. The Congregational Church was called the new meeting house. I wonder how old it was. Where the brick Baptist Church now stands was a wooden structure where the Rev. Mr. Barrows officiated. This building is now, I believe, the carriage house in the yard of the old Brooklyn Hotel. Somehow the new and fine Baptist Church standing behind the trees had not modified the general appearance of the village as much as might have been expected. It is a great improvement of course, but it fits in very naturally with one's ancient mem- ories. And how the trees have grown !

Speaking of the hotels: there was the Putnam House, still in service, and the Brooklyn Hotel, mentioned above.

Who were the men that filled the public eye at that time? I shall make mistakes, no doubt, in cataloging them. The richest man of the place seemed to be Apollos Richmond. I haven't the slightest idea of the size of his fortune, but he built the handsomest house and had the fastest horses of anybody in the village. Daniel P. Tyler, a lawyer, and one of the best stump-speakers of his time, bar none, was a conspicuous figure. Richard King, who lived to an ad- vanced age, was sure to attend the daily meetings at the postoffice. Mr. Wiley I remember very well. Mr. Fisher was cashier of the bank. E. L. Preston, who later asked that the name of the river so conspicuous in the Civil war pro- nounced Potomac' and not Poto'mac. (I am now inclined to think he was right.) Deacon Newberry seldom missed anything of interest. Then there were the Robinsons, the Bards, and Adams White, the last a striking and ven- erable figure. He had been president of the bank and perhaps was when I knew him. How vividly the figures of these men come back to me!

The industries of the town were a good deal more numerous than they are now, and I think they were prosperous up to and during the Civil war. Some little distance west of the west village was the "orchard." It was a collection of red houses, and there was a red mill called the Sash and Blind Shop, where various kinds of woodwork were carried on, the power taken from Rocky Brook. Above, Francis Clark ran a tannery. Just a little below, near the west village, was a pen shop. Here the Bard Brothers carried on the manufacture of gold pens for many years, and one of the sights of my boyhood was to see the pro-

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cession of men coming back at night from their work in this factory. South of the Green one might find Deacon Newberry's spectacle shop, where they shaped and put in frames the spectacle lenses; and to the north Mr. Preston carried on a thriving business in the making of watchcases (I think only the silver cases, but I may be wrong). There were four gristmills on Blackwell's Brook-Martin's, Spalding's and, more closely connected with the village, Bas- sett's and Harris'. These two mills ground corn and bolted wheat, rye and buckwheat. To each was attached a sawmill, and Bassett had a carding mill to which the farmers brought their wool, taking away the rolls to be spun by the older members of the family.

After all, though, agriculture gave employment to a greater part of the population. Among the great farmers of that day, William H. Putnam, I think, was easily first. His farm won a premium offered by the state for the best all-round farm in the commonwealth. Albert and William Day, Mr. Wood- ward, the Scarboroughs, Percival Witter, and others were fortunate enough to own farms in the valley and led that laborious, but beautiful and healthful life which largely disappeared from Connecticut shortly after the Civil war. Men like these seemed to have few crops that brought them money, except their pork, their cheese, and their butter, yet they were distinctly well-to-do. There were books and papers and magazines in the houses. They supported the churches and the schools. If there were a bright boy in the family, he got his chance at college. Altogether, these men represented a fine phase of the noblest life of our country.

Speaking of churches: In these early days there was undoubtedly a great deal more interest in theological matters than there is now. Many a discussion have I listened to which would do credit to a divinity school. My family were Episcopals, and for years we attended the quaint old wooden church half way between Brooklyn and Danielsonville. It is a most interesting building, dedi- cated in 1771, and erected by Godfrey Malbone, who said he would be something unpleasanted if he would pay taxes to build a Puritan church; so he built one of his own. Surrounded by its graveyard it appeals to one's tender emotions, and I am glad that there are ample funds for its maintenance and perpetuity. In my day the Rev. Riverius Camp, later a Doctor of Divinity, was its rector. The Unitarian pastor whom I best remember was Doctor Stone, one of the most learned men of his time. Mr. Barrows, previously mentioned, was pastor of the Baptist Church, and the Rev. Mr. Seymour was pastor of the Congrega- tional Church. How well I remember his boy Frank, of about my own age! He was the handsomest, brightest, and most accomplished in all boy sports of all my companions, and his death at the age of sixteen was a sorrow which still comes back to me at times after the lapse of more than half a century.

In a sense the Civil war is the background of life for men of my time. I was just eleven years old when Fort Sumter was fired upon. The young men of Brooklyn enlisted in large numbers and presently their bodies began to come back for burial, or we heard of their death and interment on the battlefield. · The village saw its women walking about with hard-set faces and that look in their eyes which we are beginning to see now in these dreadful days of 1917. We boys, of course, could not feel the horror and tragedy of it, but we watched the newspapers and we formed juvenile home guards, of one of which I suppose I am still a second lieutenant. George Pond was my captain, he who later enlisted in the last campaign of the war. Afterwards he went to West Point

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and served with distinction in the regular army. He died some few years ago. That the war greatly modified the conditions of life in the small New England towns is now clearly manifest, though the change did not take place immediately nor did people understand what was going forward.

These years from 1861 to 1865 covered the best school days for my particular generation. . A well-known and distinguished teacher of these times was a cer- tain Mr. Foster. I do not recall his initials positively. He was greatly admired by all the children I knew, and indeed by the children of pretty nearly the whole of Windham County. He was living but a short time ago and received a most affectionate greeting from a small army of earlier pupils, of whom I was not fortunate enough to be one. I think it was in 1862 that Egbert Byron Bingham, then a student in Yale College, opened a sort of high school in the conference room of the Unitarian Church. It was in a sense a private school, though I imagine that it was subsidized by some of the wealthier men of the town. It was in every way an admirable institution. During Mr. Bingham's first term I attended a school in the old schoolhouse taught by "Ned" Brown, later the Rev. Edward Rutledge Brown. He was a most excellent teacher, and I am sure all his boys and girls of that time remember him most pleasantly and gratefully. In the winter Mr. Bingham went back to college and his school was taught by Mr. George C. Tingley. This school was a perfect God-send to Brooklyn boys and girls from thirteen to eighteen years of age. I can think now of seven boys from our little group who were, through this opportunity, enabled to go to college. Mr. Tingley kept the school until the early summer of 1863, and then Mr. Bingham came back and we went on with our high school work. I doubt if any teacher was ever loved and admired more than Bingham. The boys particularly thought him a model of all that manhood has to offer- scholar, an athlete and a gentleman. I cannot recall that he ever assigned the smallest punishment to any one of his pupils. A word was enough. How he did kindle our aspirations! How much we all owe him! To this day I can recall vividly the tones of his voice as at the opening of school he read some favorite chapter of his own from the Bible-quite frequently the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians. Certainly he was unrivaled as a teacher, and if I, who have been following his profession for nearly fifty years, have ever had any success, it has been when I have been most fortunate in my attempted imitation of E. B. Bingham.

I have said very little about the Brooklyn girls. Many of them are still living and I do not like to mention names. They are mighty nice girls. There are at least half a dozen grandmothers that I know of whom at one time or another, before I was fifteen, I fully intended to marry. But I never mentioned it to them and they probably had different views.

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 38

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