A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 40

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

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The Putnam buildings stood in the Town of Brooklyn, the larger part of the land in the Town of Pomfret, the Pomfret line being only a short distance

ISRAEL PUTNAM MONUMENT, BROOKLYN

HOUSE IN BROOKLYN WHERE GEN. PUTNAM DIED MAY 29, 1790

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

north of the house. The house had two rooms below, and two above, the ascent being made by ladder. This house was torn down about 1814.

Deacon Brown loved to recall some of the original qualities of a favorite school teacher, the late Isaac T. Hutchins of Killingly. He once complimented Benjamin for being "quick at figures," but, he added, "you mustn't be proud of it, for it's no sign you've got common sense."

Benjamin later attended Mr. Hutchins' private school at Westfield which ended his schooling, but not his study. He took a short course of private les- sons under the late Uriel Fuller, a graduate of Middleborough (Vt.) College, and who is remembered for many years' service as clerk of the Superior Court for this county. Mr. Fuller was for many years a prominent resident of Brook- lyn. This was the only approach to anything like a college education Mr. Brown ever enjoyed and yet so diligent and constant were his studies that he was able, while teaching a select school in Providence, in the later '30s, to prepare some of his pupils for Brown University. He made two brief visits to Charleston, S. C., in 1824 and 1825, and while there saw LaFayette, the famous French general who came to the aid of America. When asked for personal recollections of LaFayette, Deacon Brown said : "He was at that time (1824) about sixty-eight years old; as far as I can remember he was rather a large man, above the average size, light complexion, sandy or red hair."

Mr. Brown returned to Brooklyn and resumed teaching there; also taught in Pomfret, Eastford, Killingly; also in Attleboro, Mass., where the late Presi- dent E. G. Robinson of Brown University was one of his pupils. Many of the most prominent and useful citizens of Providence today remember gratefully the inspiration they received from Benjamin Brown's select school in that city.

In his early life he took an active interest in the anti-slavery and temper- ance causes, often outspoken for his principles when some of his friends looked askance or even shunned him.

He was life-long attendant of the Brooklyn Baptist Church; deacon there from May 2, 1858, until his death; and church clerk for forty-four years. The beautiful Baptist Church is practically a monument to his memory, as it was chiefly by his energy and influence that the funds were raised and the structure built. An appreciative friend wrote of him at the time of his death: "A few of the traits of this noble man we mention: abounding trust in God, in many sorrows and afflications, and intense charity for all; always seeking to do good; a great humility, with consciousness of unworthiness; standing for right con- duct in business, public or private."

The last two years of the life of this remarkable centenarian were spent in the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. K. Potter, under whose faithful and tender care he enjoyed every comfort. The editor has been privileged to see a letter from Mrs. Potter in which she spoke of her beloved father's last days, and liberty is taken hereby to quote from that letter without permission, lest the faithful daughter's modesty might refuse the portrayal of an intimate pen pic- ture which is too valuable to lose from this record :

"His last two years were spent with me in my home, and I cared for him, I have very pleasant memories of those years. He was able to be about the house and walk out doors short distances; could ride to church, about a mile ® (where he loved to go) with my son, on pleasant Sundays. He went all but the last two or three years of his life. In those two years, he was up and dressed every day, and sat in his arm chair by the window. He was confined to his

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

bed at the last less than twenty-four hours. He was a great reader; had what was called his second eye sight; could read without glasses. He took a semi- weekly paper (Connecticut Courant, I think) and a large religious paper, The Watchman. We had the Windham County Transcript and other papers. He read them all and a great many books including a number of volumes of Eng- lish history. I had a small book-case in his room. He read all the books of interest to him. He was very fond of history, cared nothing for light stories, unless the story had some connection with history. Admiral Charles Pond, a brother of Theodore Dwight Pond, visited his brother in Brooklyn occasionally and came twice to see my father while here. The admiral delighted to talk with him; said he was posted on any subject you might talk on in his own country or in others. I gave him the pleasantest room in my house, a large front room with four windows in it. He wanted all his own furnishings, which included two arm-chairs, a good sized bookcase, an old-fashioned, home-made, covered couch, where, when he was tired of reading, he could lie down and rest. His Morris chair stood by the side of the east window, and in front of his bookcase, where he sat many hours a day reading.

"During those two years he related many interesting incidents of his younger days, and it was this time that he told me about the Putnam house where he was born, and the two rooms below and two above. He also told me of his school boy days when on any occasion out of the ordinary, rum was always plenty even with the school boys. Any holiday, a celebration of any kind, public or otherwise, there was always rum. As he grew older, he saw the evil and sad effects of this and even when a young man, made many temperance addresses, and in later life was a strong prohibitionist. *

* * He passed away October . 14, 1906, on a beautiful Sabbath morning, and I was with him, together with my oldest brother, and my son, when he breathed his last."

THE THREE HISTORICAL AND FAMILY SOCIETIES PERPETUATING THE LIFE OF "CHURCH STREET," BROOKLYN

By George Israel Browne

It was a unique combination of accidents that produced the peculiar atmos- phere and significance of "The Church Street Neighborhood." First of all that a graduate of Oxford, and a typical Tory, whose father was not only a Colonial colonel, from Old Virginia, but a warden of the historic Trinity Church, Newport, should have chosen this beautiful ridge overlooking the valley of the Quinebaug, and the distant Killingly Hills as the seat of his "Manor of Kings-Wood" to which to bring his slaves, his flock, his church of England ways and thoughts, on what is now "Church Street."

It was strange that he and Israel Putnam should have liked each other so well, though their politics and religion were as far apart as East from West. It was an interesting accident that Putnam's youngest son should have mar- ried the daughter of the warden of King's Chapel, Boston, and a cousin of the last Royal Governor of Massachusetts and thus become an Episcopalian and a warden of the church which Godfrey Malbone built. It was almost queer that her mother was a sister of this builder and also a daughter of Colonel Malbone the first, and came to own and live on part of Malbone's land. It added to the complication that Colonel Putnam's daughter, Catharine, should

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have married George Brinley, a grandnephew of Shrimpton Hutchinson's mother.

The Brinleys were not only from Newport but also from Boston, where they were among the founders of King's Chapel and the Ancient and Honorable Ar- tillery Company, sending their sons back to Eton, England, to be educated, so of course always deeply loyal to the Church of England. That the Brinleys became one of the old families of Hartford, the capitol of Connecticut, and earnest Episcopalians developed further the background of life on Church Street; tied the two states together and both widened and deepened the scope of associations. It was George Brinley of Hartford who collected the most valuable body of American historical documents ever amassed. Most of the inhabitants were descended from or connected with all these personages, so visits multiplied back and forth from the various places, the stage was set, and the story developed. It connected and made intimate all the choicest ele- ments which entered into our history. Patriot and Tory were welded into a common interest and a common loyalty to the new nation growing so rapidly to might and power.

The bond which tied all together centered around the significance which the "Old Church" gave the "Old Grave Yard," with its memories and tradi- tions of Colonel Malbone, Colonel Putnam, the first rector, the Rev. Daniel Fogg, and all the way to Dr. Riverius Camp, the last to live in the "Glebe" on Church Street, and all the rest of the names associated with the sacred spot. Ever since the notable celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the "Old Church" in 1871, it had grown to be the annual custom, to have a reunion of the scattered children of the old building at the All Saints Day Service. They came from far and near, Boston, Hartford, New York and else- where, and decorated the graves with autumn flowers. A few people have still a collection of clippings from the Windham County Transcript which year by year were contributed by Mr. Luther (the father of ex-President Luther) in his reports of these services in the Brooklyn letter; they were some- times illustrated, were full of names and facts, and were written in the highest literary form of true sentiment.

The following extract from a sermon by Bishop Williams at the consecra- tion of the New Trinity Church in Brooklyn Village, well explains the feeling many cherish for "the Old Church."

"Still let that honored Sanctuary stand, not indeed like the Tabernacle to crumble to decay. Pious provision has been made against that sad contingency. There in its own quiet nook let it stand-all alive with memories and associa- tions for you all. There let it stand, mellowed and mellowing in the passing years, a testimony to the older day of weakness and struggle.

"There let it stand, the Mother Church of all this region, to tell the story to other days and other men.

"From time to time you will let the voice of prayer and praise go up from its usually silent walls, and ever will you carry from the shade and stillness your dead, to their long homes around it. And thus, if not by connection with your busy lives, yet even more by its connection with death and the homes of the departed, it will keep an ever strengthening hold upon your hearts."

And indeed it has! thus Miss Emily M. Morgan wrote of it in the Con- necticut Churchman for 1909. "It would be hard for many to understand

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the immortal touch and impressions of these All Saints Days left upon the heart of a child, making it seem the great white day of the year. One can never forget the arriving at the church yard gate to find it wide open and the graves, 'the little hills' as some one once spoke of them, 'that do rejoice on every side,' gay with flowers, so that the whole enclosure in the grey November sunshine looked like one great garden. Then the sound of many footsteps in the rustling autumn leaves, the passing into great-grandfather's pew, the triumphant hymns that were sung, Jerusalem the Golden, and in later years For All thy Saints,-and On the Resurrection Morning; the beginning of the lesson from Wisdom, 'But the souls of the Righteous are in the hands of God, and there shall no torment touch them'; and then the yearly sermon on the Communion of Saints; then the greeting of kindred afterward, when nearly every house on Church Street had a welcome, the warmth of the handshake, sometimes the silence by a new made grave; and people broken up into little groups talking quietly perhaps of the Resurrection morning 'when father, sister, child and mother will meet once more.' And last not least, the glowing memory of the old hospitality and the fireside gatherings as the grey November twilight closed. To some who go back to Brooklyn for All Saints Day now, the churchyard is more home than any place in the world, for all their family are sleeping there, and their deepest consolation lies in the thought that

" 'Though the tide of Time pass and find us Far apart and severed more and more, Yet the farewell always lies behind us, And the welcome always lies before.' "

Fortunately there still exists the last volume of the diary of Col. Daniel Putnam, in the possession of Mrs. Paul Wilcox of Durham, Conn., which gives a charming picture of the life of those old days. It tells of his daughter's love affairs, of journeys to Boston and Hartford, of many visits to the old homestead on Church Street from their numerous relatives and connections. Many of his letters are in the possession of Miss Emily M. Morgan. The love letters of his daughter, Emily, and James Browne, his son-in-law, are in the possession of Miss Elizabeth Brinley Bigelow of Colchester. These ought all some day to be published. They would be valuable documents revealing the inner life of an important and little studied period of American history, with a literary style perhaps unmatched today, at least in ordinary correspondence.

It is a matter of the deepest regret that Daniel Putnam destroyed all the other volumes of the diary which he faithfully kept from the opening of the Revolutionary war onwards. To them, apparently, he confided the most secret musings of his soul. He had intended to destroy this last remaining volume as he says distinctly in this little book. What an intimate picture of stirring days and what an invaluable commentary on the war itself all those volumes would have been ! He also burned all the letters of his father, "Old Put," be- cause he was ashamed of their spelling !. He need not have been! Rightly viewed he could even have been proud of that particular failing of the old hero! At any rate he came to regret this last irretrievable act. Tarbox's Life of Israel Putnam preserved some of the letters of both father and son.

In the first number of the Connecticut Magazine for 1906, in an article called "A Pilgrimage to Canterbury," there is woven into one story some

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

of the facts which give interest to "Church Street." In later days the scat- tered children of the old neighborhood loved, if possible, to spend part of their vacation near the much loved spot. The Putnam Inn in the "Village," so called in distinction from "The Street," gave a refuge to some of these from time to time, and because the "New Church" had become the center of their worship, their interest widened to include "The Village" also. "The Village" had formerly come to "The Street." Now "The Street" came to "The Village."

On August 20, 1906, a little group met in the parlor of the Putnam Inn and organized "The Colonel Daniel Putnam Association," drawing up a con- stitution with ten articles and electing officers. It was intended to provide a means whereby the coming generations of their descendants, and the younger members of their families might keep up the old associations, memories and traditions. The Preamble reads :

"To all those who know and love Eastern Connecticut, or who have done anything to promote its welfare, or perpetuate its landmarks, This Association extends a greeting of cordial fellowship-"

"Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit." (Virgil.)

In Art. III, the objects were stated as follows:

"The objects of the Association shall be the realization of the olden times, the perpetuation of the memory and spirit of our forefathers, and the con- tinuation among the branching generations of attachment to and knowledge of the home scenes of the life of General Israel Putnam and his family-more particularly of his younger son, Colonel Daniel Putnam, who remained in this old Home Town."

The first officers elected were: The Rev. George Israel Browne of Harris- burg, Pa., president ; Miss Carolyn W. Browne of Stafford Springs, secretary ; Miss Annie E. Day of Danielson, treasurer ; Mr. Henry Waite Bigelow of Hart- ford, registrar. ..

Vice presidents-Miss Emily M. Morgan, Miss Mary P. Fogg, William H. Putnam, Miss Gertrude E. Brown, Mrs. Emily Day Twitchell, Mrs. Katharine Huntington Morgan, Mrs. Lizzie Scarborough, Mrs. James Perkins, Guy Miller, James Bigelow, Mrs. T. N. Hill, Edward Brinley.

The second meeting the following year was a most successful one, a number of new members being elected, and an interesting paper read by Miss Mary Fogg, to be found printed in the Windham County Transcript for August 22, 1907. She read another at the meeting August 18, 1909, "Anecdotes on the Malbones and Brinleys." At the meeting in 1908, Mr. Flavel S. Luther, Sr., read a most entertaining paper, "Memories of the Old Church," to which his son contributed. Both of these were printed in the Transcript.

While most of the Browns were descended from "Old Put," there were some who were not. Some persons it will be noticed, even in the same family, used the final "e"-others omitted it, as their ancestors had from time to time employed both usages.

On August 27, 1908, a little group of people met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Myron H. Bridgman at 45 Huntington Street, Hartford, Conn., and formed "The Captain Deliverance Browne Association," adopting a consti- tution and electing officers as follows:

President, Mrs. Elizabeth Browne Montgomery, Silver Creek, N. Y .; vice

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presidents, Charles H. Brown, of Buffalo, N. Y .; Miss Emily Scarborough, Hartford; Rev. George Israel Browne, Lancaster, Pa .; Miss Annie E. Day, Danielson, Conn., secretary ; and treasurer, Mrs. Myron H. Bridgman; registrar, Henry W. Bigelow.

At the next meeting in Brooklyn, Conn., in the Unitarian Hall, Mr. Henry W. Bigelow was elected president to succeed Mrs. Montgomery, who had died soon after election the previous year, and a paper was read, "Some memories and traditions of the Brownes of Canterbury and Brooklyn," to be found in the Transcript for August 19, 1909.

On August 16, 1910, the Rev. George Israel Browne was elected president, and the new society grew steadily. A paper was read by Mr. William B. Browne of Blackinton, Mass., on "Points of Contact between the Chad, Abra- ham, Peter, and Deliverance Browne families." A pilgrimage was made to the Congregational Church in Canterbury, and a service was held there with addresses by the pastor and others.

The two societies met on consecutive days of the same years. The Col. Daniel Putnam Association met in the Town Hall, August 17, 1910, Mrs. Wilcox reading portions of the precious diary of Colonel Putnam, to be found printed in The Windham County Transcript for August 25, 1910. Miss Emily M. Morgan was elected president. Miss Ellen Larned was present at this meeting, and made a wonderful address on traditions in Connecticut history which would have been invaluable if it could have been preserved. It was now de- cided to hold both these meetings bi-ennially; August 20, 1912, was the date decided upon for the two reunions, and a new society was born, the third of the trio.

There were so many connections and friends who were not eligible by descent to either of the two former societies that "The Church Street Friends Auxiliary to The Captain Deliverance Browne Association" was organized to provide for the fellowship of all who took an interest in our mutual objects. The officers elected were :

President, The Rev. Flavel S. Luther, Trinity College, Hartford; vice presi- dents, John Day, New Orleans ; Flavel S. Luther, Sr., James D. Bigelow, Terre Haute, Ind .; Mrs. John M. Brown, Mrs. S. F. Jarvis, Mrs. Edward R. Brown, Mrs. Sprague Bard.

On August 20, 1912, after this preliminary organization, the two societies, the C. S. F. A. and the C. D. B. A. met conjointly, the two presidents, Miss Carolyn W. Brown and Doctor Luther sitting side by side. A paper was read by Miss Lucy C. Jarvis on, "The Village and the Street," a loving apprecia- tion of the romance of the days now gone. On the following day, August 21, 1912, the "C. D. P. A." met in the Town Hall in Brooklyn. Ernest Bradford Ellsworth, Esq., of Hartford was elected president and Miss Emily Malbone Morgan was made honorary president. A paper was read by Miss Mary P. Fogg on "Old Church Street," which may be found in full in the Transcript for August 29, 1912.

At all these meetings year by year new members were elected, parents tak- ing pride in presenting the names of the recently born or near relatives. Each year a service was held in the "Old Church." and a pilgrimage made to Putnam Elms, which had now come into the possession of Miss Emily M. Morgan; and the C. D. P. A. became finally an incorporated society. Miss Sarah W. Bigelow became the treasurer.

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The meetings in 1914 were of unusual importance. On August 13, state librarian, George S. Godard, was present at the C. D. P. A. meeting and $100 was voted towards the publication of the Vital Statistics of Brooklyn in col- laboration with the State Library. The day before, the two societies, "The Captain Deliverance Browne Association" and "The Church Street Friends Auxiliary" after a notable service in "the Old Church" unveiled a handsome tablet to all the rectors of the parish. There were three rectorships which added together covered 115 years of the life of the old parish. Descendants of all three were present and assisted in the unveiling. Miss Mary Putnam Fogg, representing the first rector, and Mrs. Lucy Jarvis Waghorn, representing her father, the last rector, together drew the veil from the tablet. The Rev. George Israel Browne, representing the eighth rector who built the new church in the village, offered the prayer of dedication. President Flavel S. Luther preached the sermon, full of treasured recollections of the old days. It was his father who for long years led the music in the old building. The inscription on the tablet follows:

IN NOMINE

SANCTISSIMAE TRINITATIS

TRINITY CHURCH, BROOKLYN

FORMERLY MORTLAKE DISTRICT, TOWN OF POMFRET, CONNECTICUT COLONY BUILT IN 1771

HERE IN HIS "MANOR OF KINGSWOOD" by COLONEL GODFREY MALBONE 1724-1785

Of Queens College, Oxford

A son of Colonel GODFREY MALBONE, SENIOR

Warden of TRINITY CHURCH, NEWPORT, R. I.

Originally from Princess Anne County, Virginia, who was the father of Mrs. Shrimpton Hutchinson of KINGS CHAPEL, Boston, and grandfather of Mrs. Daniel Putnam, so an ancestor of many later members of this PARISH.

This Church was modeled after both TRINITY CHURCH, NEWPORT and KINGS CHAPEL, BOSTON

ROLL of RECTORS

1. THE REV. DANIEL FOGG, A. M. (HARVARD) FIRST RECTOR, whose letters give only record of election of Bishop Seabury (43 years) .1772-1815 JOSEPH RUSSELL, Faithful Lay Reader who kept the Church open. . 1815-1818

2. THE REV. GEORGE S. WHITE. . 1818-1820

3. THE REV. LEMUEL B. HULL. . 1823-1825

4. THE REV. ASBEL STEELE 1825-1826

5. THE REV. THOMAS K. PECK. .1827-1828

6. THE REV. EZRA B. KELLOGG (7 years) . 1828-1835

7. THE REV. JOSIAH M. BARTLET. 1835-1837

8. THE REV. RIVERIUS CAMP, S. T. D. (TRINITY) 1837-1874

(Rector 37 years). Built New Stone Church in Village 1866, descendant of Rev. Richard Mather, Dorchester, Mass.

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

9. THE REV. SAMUEL FERMOR JARVIS, D. D. (TRINITY) 1874-1909 (Rector 35 years). Grandson of Rt. Rev. Abraham Jarvis, D. D., second Bishop of Connecticut, and son of Rev. Samuel Fermor Jarvis.

10. THE REV. ISAAC PECK. 1910-1911

11. THE REV. FREDERICK SANFORD 1911-1913

12. THE REV. ALVIN P. KNELL. 1913-

THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED

THIS TABLET WAS PLACED BY

THE CAPTAIN DELIVERANCE BROWNE ASSOCIATION AND THE CHURCH STREET FRIENDS AUXILIARY 1914

At the morning session of the two societies, a paper was read on "Captain Deliverance Browne" by his great-great-great-grandson, the Rev. George Israel Browne. It may be found printed in full in the Transcript for August 20, 1914.

In 1916, on August 16, Mr. Henry W. Bigelow was elected president of the C. D. P. A., and Ernest B. Ellsworth, Esq., read a scholarly paper on Col. Godfrey Malbone, printed in the Transcript. Miss Sarah W. Bigelow had become treasurer. The society voted an additional $200 toward publishing the Vital Statistics of Brooklyn.

On the previous day, August 15, the twin societies, C. D. B. A. and C. S. F. A., held some most successful meetings, at which the Rev. Sherrod Soule of Hartford made two addresses and Miss Elizabeth Brinley Bigelow gave an exceedingly choice address on "The Life and Times of Captain Shubael Brown," whose son married the daughter of General Putnam and who was the grandson of Capt. Deliverance Browne. An evening session was held in the Town Hall, to which the towns folk generally were invited, and in addition to Mr. Soule's address, Miss Cornelia K. Browne gave an account of her life as a missionary among the Bontoc natives in the Philippine Islands.

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 40

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