A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 46

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

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In 1809 the residents of the western part of Hampton, with those of Mans- field and Windham who would naturally come under the terms of Deacon Chaplin's will were incorporated as "an Ecclesiastic Society by the name of Chaplin." The society was organized, and at its second meeting a woman, a widow and a land owner, was made a member of it, and was allowed to vote and take part in proceedings. A minister was appointed according to the terms of Deacon Chaplin's will, and services were held in the schoolhouse until

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the meeting house could be built. In 1815 the meeting house was ready for occupancy, but it was not until 1820 that a regular minister was secured. Full society privileges were also obtained in that year, inhabitants in one part of the society being restated to Windham.

In 1822 the society became a town, in spite of objections from Windham, and the bounds of the ecclesiastic and school societies were made the same as those of the town had been. The new town had a population of about eight hundred. With the mother town it joined loyally in an effort to secure half- shire priviliges. Business was stimulated by town organization, and a paper mill and tannery were established; boot-making, the culture of silk, the manu- facture of palm-leaf hats, also lumber operations were carried on successfully. The Register of 1826 reports one Congregational minister, two Baptist and two Christ-ians in that year, although apparently no Chaplin churches had been organized other than the Congregational. Chaplin continued its career as an active little town with one river, one village, one church and one minister. Its residents were homogeneous almost like one big family. Manufacturing on a moderate scale still continued, although agriculture was the chief industry. Chaplin is the smallest in area (12,399 acres) but not the youngest town in Windham County, as Eastford, Putnam and Scotland are all of later incorpo- ration.

Fifty years ago, Chaplin had district community centers, or neighborhoods as they were called in those days. To the north was "Natchaug," where a schoolhouse, grist mill, and sawmill served community needs. The schoolhouse' still stands but no longer so used.

East of Chaplin Center is Bare Hill District, where a recent wedding was the first occasion of the kind since 1877.

Requested by the editor to furnish some information as to the Bare Hill District, especially as to the origin of its name, Allen Jewett of Clark's Corner states that "the original owners of the land were non-residents and for a long time after settlements were made in the surrounding country, there was not a house on Bare Hill. This fact probably suggests the very appropriate name. When I first knew the place, about sixty-five years ago, there was a schoolhouse and a good sized school maintained there and perhaps as thickly settled as other outlying districts of the town. Harry Back, the Danielson attorney, is a descendant of the Bare Hill Back family; it has also furnished four repre- sentatives for the town and perhaps more. I remember when there were three cider mills and a distillery in the district. The inhabitants in those days did not always observe the eleventh commandment, but there was eternal feud among them. As an example of the fine neighborhood feeling at one time, two well known residents were sworn enemies. One of these to express his opinion of the other said that 'Connecticut was the meanest state in the Union; Wind- ham County was the meanest county in the state; Chaplin was the meanest town in the county ; Bare Hill the meanest district in the town, and

the meanest man on Bare Hill.' There are only a few residents there now. Many of the old houses have gone to decay and others are going and again the hill will be 'bare.' "

Southwest of Chaplin Center is "Chewink Plains," immortalized and ex- plained in the lines

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Some amorous swain went once to court his dear Returning in the morning, as it doth appear. The birds sang gaily, he could hear distinct These words repeated oft, "Chewink, Chewink, Chewink!"

Here were the first church and cemetery within the limits of the present town. The "little red schoolhouse" disappeared almost exactly fifty years ago, and the still-used cemetery is the only marked suggestion of former days. The southwest section is a part of the Village of North Windham, and to the north of this section is a group of homes still known as "Dublin," because a number of Irish families settled here when the immigration from Ireland began to be numerous, and the older residents still enjoy the memories of Irish wit and industry which gave characteristic spice and color to that part of the town. Still further north, and about a mile south of the Center, on the Natchaug River, was Kennedy's Corners, or South Center, now South Chaplin.

Fifty years ago a prosperous village centered here, with blacksmith shop, a grist mill, later a pulp and paper mill and three stores, which at times included an abundance of "wet goods" in stock. A little way up the river was Lyon's paper mill. Across the west from Kennedy's Corners and reached through a woodsy lane, and a special attraction to the boys of the neighborhood, was Ross's Mill, where spools were made, grain ground and lumber and shingles sawed out. Some of the latter work is still done there. The present school- house there, built fifty years ago, probably conceals in its timbers marks from nails in the cowhide boots of the curious boys who climbed over the piles of lumber awaiting construction, at least so it seems to the present village pastor, Walter E. Lanphear, who vividly recalls the many happy hours which he and his playmates enjoyed when this South Center region was being developed. The chapel standing south of the schoolhouse was built about 1888, and has been a decided factor of good influence.

Then over to the west we come to "Bedlam Four-Corners," why so named tradition does not reveal; and an earlier school record gives the name as "Har- mony District," probably an effort of some sensitive residents to eliminate the ancient name which still sticks, however. Fifty years ago, Bedlam District was a community center of a sort that would rank well in these later days. Its life centered around the schoolhouse, which stood on the southwest corner, but has long since disappeared. Here taught for many winters Origen Ben- nett, Jr., one of the best-known of Windham County residents in his day (1820-1905). His daughter, Evelyn Bennett, now Mrs. Samuel B. Harvey, resides in Willimantic (see sketch in Biographical Volume).

Origen Bennett's home was directly across the street from the schoolhouse to the north, and diagonally opposite the schoolhouse lived for many years George C. Martin, who knew how to make farming pay by brains and hard work, his special products being hay and cattle, with a generous garden for family use. His farm was often the scene of notable trading in cattle.

About a mile north of George Martin's was the farm of Deacon Origen Bennett, Sr., a man of pronounced Baptist religion. When driving his oxen on the fertile meadow east of his home and along Stonehouse Brook, his cheery calls to the cattle could be clearly heard at Chaplin Center, a mile away, as he shouted "Haw, Bright, Gee, Brown," and thus gave a vivid illustration of the line in Gray's Elegy :

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"How jocund did he drive his team afield !"

His body lies buried in Bedlam Cemetery, and on his tombstone one may read today the epitaph placed by his son, Origen, Jr., as a tribute to the con- fident faith in which he lived and died.

"Sailed in the ship Zion" Sept. 8, 1869, AE 85.

At the cemetery that day, the village choir sang words which still linger vividly in the memory of a little nephew who stood by the open grave and was re- ceiving impressions of human mortality-

"He has ploughed his last furrow He has reaped his last grain No morn shall awake him To labor again."

ORIGEN BENNETT, JR.

The Bedlam District School when taught by the junior Origen Bennett, was the scene of man'y a lively "school exhibition," where songs and recitations and "tableaux" by the children, were varied by "remarks" by the "committee men" or well-known citizens, the entire program punctuated by the unique introductions and witty sallies of the teacher.

Two features of one evening's program stand out in memory, not only be- cause so graphically rendered, but because as recalled today they bear out the statement that through the advance of medical science and better sanitation in personal and community life, the average duration of human life is longer than it was fifty years ago, that is, under normal conditions today-and barring war-times! But even war-times reduce the average of human longevity far less than one would think.

One of the program features was a song entitled "For Today I'm Sixty-

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two," sung by Charles Peck of North Windham, with white wig and beard, tottering to the stage front while leaning on a cane, and in a high squeaky voice drawling out the. refrain :

Si-i-i-ix, i-ix, i-ix T-t-t-t-two, 00-00-00-00 For today I'm sixty-two.

There are more men in good vigor at sixty-two today than there were then. Whether there are as many octogenarians and nonogenarians in these days as then may be a question, but it is certain that the average of normal lives is perceptibly higher, and you do not find many men of sixty-two acting like that song.

Another evidence along the same line was a pathetic song also in "Charlie" Peck's repertoire :

"I've wandered to the village, Tom, And sat beneath the tree Upon that self-same playing ground, That sheltered you and me. But none were there to greet me, Tom, And few are left to know Who played with us upon the green Just twenty years ago."

Look around among your playmates today, you who have been out of grammar school twenty years, and see how few of them are gone.

Origen Bennett, Junior, taught school at Bedlam and at South Center for many winter terms, during a period of forty years. He was widely known throughout neighboring towns as an auctioneer and people would come from miles around to hear the wit and wisdom which he would intertwine with his sales art. He was always called upon for "a speech" at neighborhood "parties" and other gatherings. He was born in Bedlam District March 14, 1820, and died January 2, 1905.

Stories are still told of his unique manner of arousing the moral and spir- itual nature of his pupils. Brief reading of the Bible and prayer by the teacher were then customary in opening school. One morning at South Center School, Teacher Bennett said :

"Who have you thanked for your bright and smiling faces this morning, children ? Let us pray !"

A good lady still living in the Central West told the writer only a few years ago that the question stayed with her until it aroused a sense of her own ingrati- tude to God and was the means of her conversion. Another morning, after reading a chapter, the teacher spoke briefly of the real joy of the Christian life, and the life-long advantage of those who made their decision early. Then he said, "If you knew there was to be a beautiful entertainment that you could go to, wouldn't you plan to get there early so as not to miss anything?" A well-known Willimantic business man has said in recent years that this ques- tion stuck to him until he joined the church as a result of it. Scores of men in the towns adjoining Chaplin will tell you now of how much they enjoyed the "human nature" of Origen Bennett's personal and public talks and how his words were always an uplifting influence.

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His youngest sister Marilla was an interesting type of loyal Puritanism at its best. In her early life a habit of reading the Bible through once a year was encouraged among young people. She conceived the idea of reading it through as many times as she was years old, and faithfully followed that plan until mid- dle life, when, foreseeing the possibility that some incapacity might later inter- fere with her ambition, she read ahead, until she had read the Bible through nearly one hundred times. She died at eighty-nine, well ahead.

"Aunt Marilla," as a wide circle of friends knew her, was a type of quiet nobility. She never complained-everything was always "all right," even amidst severe suffering in her later years. She cheerfully gave up her own career in early life because duty seemed to require that she remain at home and take care of her father and mother, which she did for fifty years, until ripe old age took them. One day when they were old and growing feeble, her brother Origen, in characteristic manner, said to her, "Marilla, you've been stealing." She knew Origen, of course, but he seemed so serious that her sensitive soul feared some misunderstanding, and so she said earnestly, "Why, no, I haven't either." "Yes, you have, Marilla, you've been stealing." "I have not, Origen Bennett, and you know it. What do you mean, anyway ?"

But Origen, who was pulling down the old well-sweep to draw water for the stock when he made the charge, vouchsafed no further remark and went towards the barn. Later in the evening he renewed the charge, "Marilla, you've been stealing and I know it." "What on earth do you mean, Origen Bennett ? You know I wouldn't steal. What do you think I've stolen ?" Then the Origen Bennett of it came out, "You've robbed your father and mother of twenty years of heaven, by taking such good care of 'em."

No one could think of Chaplin for the past sixty years at least without thinking of Josephine M. Robbins, who in experience, and especially as poet, has been the personification of the spirit of the town. She was born August 18, 1839 ; attended the village school, and then private school, where she studied Latin, higher mathematics, and English grammar and literature. When she began teaching, she had acquired a knowledge of those subjects practically equivalent to the college graduate of that day, with the advantage also of the intensive training and drill of the schoolmaster. She began teaching when only seventeen years old, in district schools, and taught forty-two years, part of the time in the private school where she had secured her own training. She taught district schools in Eastford, Hampton, Ellington, East Hartford, and for twenty-five years in West Hartford. For some years now she has lived in retirement at Chaplin, and has been the life of many a social occasion, by her genial presence, and her happy faculty in versification. A number of her poems are included in the chapter on Windham County Verse. She sent in verse the greetings of Chaplin to the "mother-town" on the occasion of the Windham Bi-Centennial in 1892.

Leading northwest from Chaplin to Mount Hope is the famous Tower Hill, where half a century ago there were children enough to require a schoolhouse, but today it is not used. There also is a cemetery, the passing of which was a disciplinary experience to many a school boy, as Walter Lanphear recalls in his own case. Probably every country lad remembers how he hated to pass the cemetery.

Fifty years ago, or perhaps a little more than that, Chaplin Center boasted a church, a schoolhouse, a tannery, several shoe shops, a tin and stone store, a

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tavern, a dry-goods store (Davenport), a general merchandise and "barter store," nearly opposite the church; and of these only the general store and the church and the schoolhouse remain, although there is now another store (Phil- lips) at the north end near the cemetery on the Eastford Road. Davenport's dry-goods store is now the Town Hall, and the building formerly occupied by Charles Backus as a store is now the G. A. R. Hall for T. G. Brown Post. The fine memorial building known as the Ross Public Library, of which an account is given in the chapter on libraries, is a distinct and valuable addition of later days.

The Center was about thirty or forty years ago known as "Saints Rest," because of the fact that several retired clergymen found it a desirable place to spend their declining years.

In the South Chaplin District about thirty years ago, evangelistic services were held by two brothers named Pease, from East Haven, Conn. They were unlettered, but zealous and faithful and much religious interest was aroused. At first their efforts were looked upon with little favor by the Center Church people, and in fact most of the community were indifferent. But finally a Sunday school was organized and gradually the need of a place to hold regular religious services was recognized. Under the lead of Mrs. Nancy Lanphear (mother of Walter E. Lanphear) and Miss Sarah Lawton, a chapel was built and "The Christian Mission" organized and incorporated. Cordial sympathy from the Center Church people was soon made manifest and the chapel has proved an important influence for good; the scene of many meetings of joy and power. Largely through this influence Walter E. Lanphear was led to enter the ministry and he has since become one of the leaders of the prohibi- tion movement in Connecticut and in recent years returned to his home town as pastor of the church at the Center.

Another minister whose life was greatly influenced by the chapel move- ment is now the Rev. W. Burton Sandford, D. D., Presbyterian pastor in Des Moines, Iowa, ex-moderator of the State Synod, and president of the Iowa Anti- Saloon League.

The Rev. Francis Williams, pastor of the Center Church for thirty-four years, made an indelible impression on the life of the town, and a large circle of boys and girls whose lives he influenced for good, and who are now scattered widely, many of them holding influential positions, still hold him in grateful remembrance. There are many who for this reason especially will welcome the following letter written by Clinton J. Backus of Minneapolis, and in which he pays deserved and eloquent tribute to the memory of Pastor Williams. Mr. Backus also gives many other interesting reminiscences of the life of Chaplin in days gone by.

RECOLLECTIONS OF CLINTON J. BACKUS

My dear Mr. Lincoln :

Your letter wandered through devious ways until it reached me here in California and I am very glad to respond to your request that I give remi- niscences of my life in Chaplin.

For one supposed to be resting and having nothing in particular to do, I am about the busiest man in this city. I am helping establish two of my sons in business here, which is no easy task even though one of them has the pres-

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tige of having been decorated as an aviator four times by the French and twice by General Pershing.

Though I remained in Chaplin only fifteen years after the close of the Civil war, it would take a volume to record my impressions of my early life there and the life history of its men and women of sterling worth.

Very vivid are the recollections of events during the Civil war. The hor- rors and tragedies of those days are burned into my memory. Many of the older boys in the village school enlisted; many never returned; and those that did come back recited such tales of camp and prison life that even now my memory almost recoils at the thought of them.

Most of my boyhood experiences, however, were pleasant and though I experienced a life of toil in common with all farmer boys, I would not wish a different boyhood even if I were to live my life over again.

"Where e'er I roam, whatever realms I see, My heart untraveled fondly turns to thee."

My training in thrift and in the principles of democracy has been inval- uable to me. Everyone knows who has made a study of the Constitution that the fundamentals of that wonderful document were based upon the New Eng- land town meeting. So important was that day that my father always made it a holiday and my brother and I would hear the sometime "embattled" farmers discuss the affairs of the town in all phases, according to the customs of all deliberative bodies and under parliamentary rules.

Chaplin Center was always proud of its schools, and with reason-most of the teachers were college graduates and many of the young ladies trained under their tutelage went to Mount Holyoke College without further preparation. The training I received there in mathematics was amply sufficient to admit me to Amherst College. The relation between teacher and pupil was most delight- ful. Our regard for our instructor was very much like that of the inhabitants of Goldsmith's "Deserted Village."

"A man he was to all the country dear And passing rich on forty pounds a year."

Second to my father's influence upon me, Rev. Francis Williams did more. to shape my life than that of any other personality. I shall never forget how he opened his library and loaned books when any boy or girl began to hope for a more liberal education than that which their native town afforded and how he directed them in acquiring a taste for the best reading, also aspiring and encouraging them in their ambitions even to the extent of loaning them money to help them through college and denying himself in doing so.

Chaplin, like several other towns in Windham County, located in the rural districts of New England, preserved the characteristics of the early colonial days when the colonies were essentially a theocracy. Our minister was our monitor and advisor in temporal as well as spiritual matters.' In politics, business, education and affairs of the spirit he was chief. A patient and willing ear he always gave his people and no man was turned away without helpful advice and spiritual consolation.

"But Cristes love, and His apostles twelve

He taught ; but first he followed it himselve."

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Although Sunday was a day of rest, it was a busy day. We used to hitch up the old farm horse and start for church at 10 A. M., attend service at 10:30 A. M., then Sunday school at 12 M., then in the afternoon another sermon, seated in the high-back pews with doors that buttoned us in. A very obliging old lady used to use her parasol to awaken neighboring sleepers. In winter another brought her foot-stove, filled with live coals to warm her feet.

In giving pen pictures of those who were prominent characters in Chaplin, I have mentioned one only by name. I will mention a few experiences that came under my observation to illustrate the Yankee thrift, wit and quaint humor.

One day an agent for Louisiana lottery tickets tried to dispose of some of his holdings to Mr. B. After using every art of salesmanship and consuming much time which could have been more profitably employed in the work at hand, Mr. B. broke his silence by saying, "You tell me that Mr. H. and several others drew valuable prizes at the last drawing ?" "Yes," said the agent, with animation. "And that I am quite sure to win?" "You stand a good chance," said the agent. "Well, I'll tell you what I'll do," said Mr. B., "you select several tickets, pay for them and give them to me and I'll divide the profits with you."

A self-important boy was working for Mr. B., one whom in modern par- lance we call a "smart aleck." After he had waxed very eloquent, answering knotty questions that older heads had failed to answer, Mr. B. rested his scythe on the ground, leaned on the handle and looking around said, "Harry, you may live many years and you may see and learn many things, but during your whole life I doubt if you will ever know as much as you do today."

When I was a very small boy some neighboring farmers became much inter- ested in communicating with the spirits of the departed. They wished to hold one of their seances at the house of Mr. B. and convert him to their faith.

One evening he was at the house of Mr. S., a medium, who, thinking it an opportune time to do a little missionary work, asked him if he would like to talk with the spirit of some departed friend. Mr. B. assented and said he would like to speak with the spirit of George Arnold. The spirits were invoked and the rappings began. "Is the spirit of George Arnold present ?" asked the medium. The rappings answered in affirmative.

"Mr. B. are there any questions you would like to ask ?" inquired the medium.

"Yes," said Mr. B., "I wish to know if he is happy in the spirit world."

The answer was "Yes."

After several other questions were asked and satisfactorily answered, the medium said, "Now, Mr. B., are you convinced that we can communicate with those that have gone before ?"

"Yes," said Mr. B., "I am convinced you can talk with the living for George Arnold was alive last week, I saw him and had a nice visit with him."

During the early days of the temperance movement a good old deacon met "Uncle D." in Allen Lincoln's store. Now "Uncle D." was one of the old school and did not think it wrong to take a bracer occasionally. After some conversation the subject of temperance was discussed and ended in the follow- ing argument :

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 46

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