A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 48

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

USA > Connecticut > Windham County > A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I > Part 48

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"The young men and women leave for the city as fast as they grow up, and at present there are but very few young people in town. Farm lands are selling at higher prices than ever before. I think that the condition in Chaplin is like that in other remote towns of New England. Only a small number make much headway farming and after a short time farming either leave for the city or sell their places. A few make good farmers."

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.

Eastford was originally a part of Ashford. In 1695 the first land was laid out in the east section of Ashford (that being a part of the Wabbaquasset Coun- try) now the south part of Eastford. The first settler in what is now Eastford was John Perry, who came there in 1710. As the east settlement grew it took its part in all town affairs, the first town meeting of Ashford being held in 1715. By 1719 the east and west settlements were so distinct and so separated by distance that it was found necessary to have town officers for both sections. In 1734 the east section first had its own school teacher and soon after 1739 its own school, when it also assumed management of its school affairs. In 1753 the town consented to the request of the east section for society privileges, but the petition to the Assembly was refused; then both east and west societies peti- tioned the Assembly that they be made into separate religious societies, because of the distance between them, and the roughness of the roads, but this action was deferred by the selectmen of the town. By 1760 Ashford held a prominent place among Windham towns, the east part of the town contributing her share to the general welfare. David Bolles of New London set up a tannery in that part of the town where he also made shoes.

Until 1777 the east section shared the trials of the town with regard to religious affairs, but in that year it became a distinct society, and the next year secured a minister of its own. In 1779 the frame of the meeting house was raised. Eastford still continued to contribute to the prominence of Ashford. The church in Eastford attained a high standing, but for five years was obliged to be without a pastor, during the period of the pastor's ill health, and for some time after his death. By 1820 Eastford was anxious to become a town, but any action to attain this privilege was arrested by leading citizens of the town. The society was prosperous, business good, and villages growing up in the immediate vicinity of the town. There was a cotton factory in Eastford, there were mills in Phenixville. Tannery works and wagon making were carried on, and gave employment to many young men. There was a gay, social life in the parish and balls, parties and sleighrides were popular with the inhabitants. However, education was not neglected, the school being kept year after year by the same schoolmaster, who is reported to have taught over fifty terms in Ashford and surrounding towns, and to have had 3,000 pupils. The temperance movement was felt in Eastford and attained a firm footing. A new church was built in 1829, after considerable effort. The Methodists increased in such number in the parish that in 1831 they were able to erect a chapel of their own, which was used by the Universalists as well.

In 1847 Eastford was organized as a town. The basement of the Methodist

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Church was used for town meetings. There were at that time several mills in the new town and in Phenixville, and business was good. The cotton factory was destroyed by fire, but a factory for the manufacture of woolen stocking yarn flourished. Twine and cotton batting were manufactured in Phenixville. The tannery works still continued in business, and mattresses, palm-leaf hats, boots, shoes, stockings, shoe-pegs and lasts were made in the town. A law- office was opened, and the town had its own postoffice. It was a decidedly wide- awake place and many of its young people stayed there instead of going to the larger towns to engage in business. To Eastford belongs the honor of claiming General Lyon as a citizen; many others from Eastford have distinguished themselves in public service and reflected glory on their home town. Hon. Elisha S. Carpenter was a judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut, and Galusha A. Grow, born in the Eastford District of Ashford in 1823, was con- gressman from Pennsylvania, and at one time speaker of the national House of Representatives.

THE STORY OF EASTFORD IN MY OWN DAY AND RECOLLECTION By John Philo Trowbridge

Eastford, the place of my birth and boyhood, was incorporated as a town- ship so short a time before my own life began that I consider her rather as my elder sister than as my "dear old Mother." That honor must be bestowed upon Ashford, from which its eastern portion was taken in 1847 and naturally called Eastford.

The separation did not take place without complaints and remonstrances on the good parent's part. The older town was quite unwilling to lose so pros- perous and ambitious a child-one that had grown to have at least six factories, three or four gristmills, and as many sawmills, a large tannery, seven or more thriving stores of general merchandise, a drugstore, a ladies' millinery estab- lishment, as well as various other industrial concerns. These were all small, of course, as measured by the standards of today, but each was the busy center of a blithe and happy industry, like a hive of my father's bees in June.

There stood, till recent years, on the Boston and Hartford Turnpike, and near the boundary-line between the two towns, a mansion-the home of Doctor Palmer, and subsequently of his son, also a physician. The doctor was an able man of his generation, known far and near on account of his medical and surgical skill. The son did not remain long at the old homestead after his father's death, but removed, I think, to Providence, R. I., where with success he followed his profession. Other doctors have succeeded the Palmers and upheld the high reputation which they had borne. Of these, two may here be briefly referred to. Dr. Elisha K. Robbins lived many years in the Village of Eastford, and served the community both as a physician and a dentist. He was a surgeon in one of the Connecticut regiments during the Civil war, and was always a prominent Grand Army man. In later years, and till his recent death, Dr. Harvy Converse, also a soldier in the Civil war, practiced medicine with success in Eastford. What he lacked in the thorough training of the schools was largely made up for by his natural gifts as a healer, and his sympathy as a friend.

The "Doctor Palmer Place" was burned more than two score years ago, but before its destruction it was the abode of an English clergyman and his family. While they were there, they made it a country-seat of distinction; and

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the good dominie, being a fine type of an English Lord, in our estimation, was often seen in the community on horseback accompanied by members of his family and a pack of dogs. His frequent rides were to Pomfret Street, to which place he eventually removed, and where he was rector of the then infant Church of the Episcopal order. I presume he was the founder of that thriving organi- zation.

At the junction of two roads on the hillside below the Doctor Palmer house there stands a simple dwelling once occupied by Andrew Lamphier. The first telegraph line constructed in the town passed by this house, which was made a testing station for the wires; Mr. Lamphier and others who succeeded him, received and transmitted messages. The first news of some of the early battles of the Civil war thus reached us. Here that sad message of the death in battle of Eastford's greatest son and hero, Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, was first received by the unprofessional operator, and by him rapidly spread through all the countryside, making that early August day in 1861, a time never to be forgotten. So it was, also, with other messages announcing to anxious hearts the sickness, wounding, or death of men in the army.

Going eastward on the "Providence Pike" down into the steep and nar- row valley of the Bigelow, we come to a fine old dwelling, standing near the roadside. In my boyhood it was the home of a family of colonial date,- the Spauldings. Augustus Spaulding, whom I still see in my mind's eye, was a tall, staunch, and large hearted man, one who might well represent the sentiments of Sam Walter Foss's poem :

"Let me live in my house by the side of the road Where the race of men go by- The men who are good, and the men who are bad, As good and as bad as I. I would not sit in the scorner's seat Or hurl the cynic's ban- Let me live in the house by the side of the road And be a friend to man."

From his farm, as well as from some other parts of the town a large quan- tity of ship-timber was transported to the Charlestown navy yard in the Civil war time. A half mile northeast of Mr. Spaulding's dwelling a rude cabin was constructed where during the whole of one winter a gang of men from the city were engaged shaving ship-pins, made from the best of white-oak timber. The drawing of them to the railroad and of other supplies of a naval char- acter, furnished a good season's business for some of the townspeople.

Phoenixville, the village to which we are now approaching, once held a much more important place than it has since retained : but its popularity is now slowly returning since the state road has been completed. Here formerly dwelt a number of the town's most enterprising and well-to-do people. Two, at least, of the foremost political leaders, Mr. Wheaton and Mr. Latham lived and died in houses still remaining in the village.

Joseph B. Latham, or "Square Latham," as he was generally called, was one of the most prominent citizens of Eastford. He held town offices of the first importance, was a member of the State Legislature, served on some of the more important juries, both in the county and in the state courts, was a justice of the peace, and an able member of the school board, conspicuous for his calm and accurate judgment. He was a wheelwright by trade. He

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built and maintained the principal gristmill, sawmill, and shingle mill in the south part of the town. In later life he constructed a valuable clover-mill where farmers throughout a wide region prepared their clover seed for use or for the market. His reading took a scientific turn, and many a time would he propound to the younger people of his vicinity some intricate and yet prac- tical problem for their solution.

Mr. Latham had six or seven sons, all of whom grew up under his own wise management, and they all became men distinguished in local and public affairs. One son, Eugene, was killed in a factory at Windsor Locks where he held a responsible position as a master-mechanic. A second son, Henry, was an unusually successful teacher in the common schools of the county, and afterwards a trusted officer in one of the banks in Providence, R. I., where his later years were spent. He was an exceedingly affable person, a lover of books, an admirer of good poetry, large portions of which in the course of his life he committed to memory. He was in youth athletic in his habits. Closing school one winter's afternoon in District No. 2, he started on a run to his own home more than two miles distant, and covered the journey with- out slackening his pace. Capt. "Jack" Latham was another son. In early years he became enamored of the sea, in what way, may not now be known, for Eastford is many miles from the ocean, and the youth of those days did not venture far from home. The history of the case is probably this :

Capt. Perry Bowers and his son, bearing the same name, were Pomfret men who won fame and fortune as sea-faring men. Their good fortune, and the stories they told of their life on the "rolling deep" elicited a desire in the minds of young men to enter upon the same manner of life. They gen- erally went first voyages in Captain Bowers' ships, and then advanced to more experienced stations on ship-board. Captain Latham, in his long life, saw ports in every clime, and told stories of every people. At last, when his life as a sailor was closed, he gave the flag of his ship, which he had carried into all oceans, to be displayed on the little schoolhouse of his native village, an emblem of personal affection, as well as of national honor. He himself, superintended its first unfurling above the heads of a cluster of happy school children and their admiring elders.

Munroe Latham, the youngest of this family, always lived on the old home- stead in Phoenixville. He was,-when one came to know and understand him well,-an exceedingly interesting person. Unpretentious in manner, speech, and dress, he was however, a charming companion. When he was once in the fields or woods, or, especially, tramping with fishing rod in hand, along the margin of his favorite brooks, he was Nature's true nobleman. To him, more than to any other resident of the town in his day (except the Rev. C. M. Jones), were Bryant's lines most applicable :

"To him who in the love of Nature, holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language ; for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness, and a smile, And eloquence of beauty ; and she glides Into his darker musings with a mild And gentle sympathy, that steals away Their sharpness, ere he is aware."

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"Munroe," as every one loved to call him, was for many years the first selectman of the town, and he held many other public positions, all of which he filled with honor and integrity.

The only store of much consequence in Phoenixville was that famous store of general merchandise managed by Simeon A. Wheaton. Mr. Wheaton died only two or three years since, much advanced in life. He was born in Rhode Island, but came in early boyhood to a farm located on Ragged Hill in Pom- fret. Leaving that under the care of his brother, James, he began business as a merchant in Phoenixville, where, for more than half a century, he con- tinued a diligent tradesman and a reliable citizen. He was well versed in the law, and the statutes, and legal decisions of the state, and could maintain his side of a case in court against more pretentious lawyers. His manner was forceful. He always held firm convictions, was faithful to them, and to his friends or political sympathizers. He was sure to be heard in every town meeting. Each question that came up for discussion received his decided favor or condemnation, as the case might be. It was proverbial that Mr. Wheaton would oppose all new methods, or enlarged appropriations of money, for edu- cation. His motto was: "What has been good enough for me is good enough for the school children of today."

It is now pleasing to remember, after the strife of former days has died away, and the school question has a firmer place in the public regard, that Mr. Wheaton's granddaughter, Miss Edith Wheaton, has beeen one of the most successful and progressive teachers of the present generation. Her noble life and work form a striking commentary on her grandfather's philosophy concerning schools and schooling. When Eastford arrives, as we hope she speedily may, at the honor of possessing all modern, well equipped, and liberally maintained schools (a result she greatly needs) we might fondly wish that Mr. Wheaton, and some others of the town's former leaders, could return to see the vast improvements that half a century may produce.

We cannot quit this little hamlet in the valley without giving some tribute to the beautiful character of one of the noblest and choicest women whom the town has ever produced,-Miss Elizabeth Smith. If Whittier, our New Eng- land poet, had known her, as many humbler people did, he could well have had her in mind, when he penned those immortal verses:

"She kept her line of rectitude With love's unconscious ease : Her kindly instincts understood All gentle courtesies.

"The dear Lord's best interpreters Are humble human souls ; The Gospel of a life like hers Is more than books or scrolls.

"From scheme and creed the light goes out, The saintly fact survives ; The blessed Master none can doubt Revealed in holy lives."

"Lizzy" Smith, as she grew to be familiarly and lovingly known far be- yond her humble birthplace, was unfortunately treated in sickness, when she

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was twelve years old, by the administration of an over-dose of calomel. The result was that she became a crippled girl. Her body never grew beyond that of a child's. She was rendered entirely helpless, not being able to lift her food to her mouth. Her subsequent years,-and she lived to be over forty,- were spent lying on a little bed, which in the course of time became familiar in a score of dwellings, as well as in the village church on almost every summer Sabbath, and in numerous camp-meetings of the Methodist denomination, where her religious connection belonged. Her physical infirmity, great beyond all ordinary experience, only seemed to make her a happier being in spirit, and in mental alertness. Her cheerfulness was such as nothing could dim or abate. A Boston newspaper once printed this item: "The day was dark and gloomy, but Phillips Brooks walked down Washington Street, and all was bright." Whenever, as was often the case, the little white cot on which Lizzie Smith lay, was brought in a country wagon to some lonely or saddened farmhouse, there sunshine and serenity came in at the door as a peaceful benediction, and remained while the beloved sufferer tarried for a week's visit in that home. Many a strong sister, with no infirmity of the flesh, but a heavy ache at the heart, learned from the gentle presence of this girlish form, where the hiding of our strength must ever lie. Even yet, her words, and prayers and little well-worn Bible remain among the most familiar memories of some who are now old and infirm in years, but who half a century ago knew this wonder- ful woman, and came under the charm of her bouyant personality.

[The latter portion of Lizzie O. Smith's life was spent in Willimantic where she was taken chiefly through the efforts of Warren Atwood, to be cared for by friends. She resided in a cottage on West Main Street, and because of the wide interest in her case, her name was placed on a sign just beneath the peak of the house and there remained until her death. Mrs. Robert Brown (Helen Battey) well remembers her, and writes: "Her bed was like a child's crib. She was a Methodist, and during camp-meeeting week, she would be taken to the grounds and she found intense joy in the meetings. Her cot would be carried to the altar service, and knowledge of her high faith was a marked influence. After service people would pass by her cot and greet her and bring her gifts." -- EDITOR. ]

But to pass to another extreme. A little distance from the home of Elizabeth there lived in those days the famous infidel of Eastford,-Timothy Backus. How much of an infidel at heart he really was it is no matter now to deter- mine. It is certain, however, that he enjoyed debating spitefully with any one and especially with a clergyman, some question about the Bible. He was the "Mr. Talkative" of our little Pilgrim's Progress, the Bob Ingersoll of our neighborhood. I do not remember that he ever converted anyone to his way of thinking, and no one ever turned his mind to a better and higher destination. His life and influence contrast very sharply, even at this distance of time, with that of the sainted woman who lived and died as his neighbor, and of whom we have just spoken. It seemed useless to argue with him, for he exemplified the old saying, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."

Lorenzo Lyon, a brother of the general, lived in this vicinity; and the spot where the old home, the birthplace of a large family of boys and girls including the general-all Lyons by name and lions by nature-can still be seen by the roadside. Lorenzo Lyon was the first man to introduce the modern horse-power and threshing machine into the town, and for many years he

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used the outfit in the northern parts of the county. His son who is still living, follows the same occupation.

There were famous teachers in the district schools of half a century ago. None was more revered and loved than "Master John Griggs." He taught fifty winters in succession in different localities. When he was a very old man, he did not cease to maintain his interest in the education of the young. His advice in such matters was much sought for. At his funeral, his former pastor, the Rev. Mr. Williams of Chaplin, preached an appropriate sermon from the text: "I thank thee, O Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight."

Andrew F. Keyes, whose father, Flagg Keyes, secured the appointment of Nathaniel Lyon as a cadet at West Point, was another teacher of note, though not for so long a period. He received also the appointment of deputy-sheriff of Windham County, at the time when Prescott May of Putnam was the high sheriff. Eventually, he and his brother, Andrew, left the town to take up their residence in the West. One found his way to Southern California. They each amassed a considerable fortune.

Still another teacher of interest to many now in middle life was Mrs. Clin- ton M. Jones, wife of the Rev. Clinton M. Jones who was pastor of the Con- gregational Church at Eastford Center for nearly twenty years. Mrs. Jones brought her school in District No. 1 up to a high level of efficiency. She was much beloved by her pupils, and also respected as a minister's wife in the entire community. She now resides in West Woodstock. Her daughter, Miss Mildred, was for some time the organist of the church, and a teacher of in- strumental music, a position which in recent years she has held in connection with the public schools of Greater Boston.

One teacher, although not an Eastford man by residence, deserves notice here, George Bugbee, whose home was over the town-line in Woodstock. His schoolroom was a model of behavior and instruction. He rarely struck a pupil in punishment, but every unruly boy knew full well that the blow would certainly follow if his command was not instantly obeyed. He was the em- bodiment of the familiar fable, often before the scholar's eyes in Webster's spelling-book, of the old man who said to the two "sauceboxes" in his apple tree, "If kind words will not do we will see what virtue there is in stones." There are not a few men and women, now well advanced in public esteem, who remember their old instructor. Such a company are scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In addition to these, grateful mention can only here be made of Nelson Hammond and his son, Albert, Miss Juliaette Chapman, Nancy Maria Latham, and John Sherman. The last mentioned of these entered the Christian ministry in the Methodist Church where his parents were prominent members. He finally settled in the State of Minnesota where he did good work for a long period of years. He married Miss Grace Spencer of Pomfret, a younger sister of Mrs. Stephen O. Bowen.

Eastford is one of those towns in the state where the center of population nearly coincides with the geographical center of the township. Miss Ellen Larned, in her valuable History of Windham County, tells us that "the first inhabitant was John Perry from Marlborough, Mass .; who bought 350 acres of land on both sides of Still River and settled upon it near the site of the present Eastford Village." The grave of this rude forefather of the hamlet

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may be seen, if I am not mistaken, in the old grave-yard back of the Congre- gational Church. From the beginning the chief settlement has gathered around this original spot. The village is favorably located, with a healthful environ- ment, a fine outlook, and excellent water power. There are six roads which unite at the village green in front of the Methodist Church; and now that the state road is constructed the facilities for travel are all that can be desired. A fresh hope for the place can be confidently indulged in. The old-time say- ing of one of its people is fast coming more true than ever before: "East- ford is the biggest place of its size on earth."

Here for a time in the '70s a bank was maintained. The tannery of Deacon Joseph D. Barrows was a thriving industry. The lumber mill of the Arnold Brothers did a large business. The carding and spinning factory of Merrill Kieth and his son, the blacksmithing establishment of Zenas Chapman with the unusual feature of a big trip-hammer for very heavy forging, the wagon-shops of Warren Whitney, who could "tree" a wagon as no one else could, and of William Cheany who knew all the virtues of "paint and putty," the busy stage routes under the management of Whitman Chamberlin, the widely- known ability of Calvin Whitney, Esq., and of John W. Trowbridge, as land surveyors, the stockinet company of Benson and Mumford-whose factory near the new dam was burned years since on a snowy winter's afternoon, the East- ford Creamery which in later times was a progressive feature of the town's attempts at profitable local industry-these have all played their part worthily as institutions and individuals almost within the limits of the 350 acres which the original settler once called his own. They prove this: what is more inter- esting or impressive than the historical development of a Connecticut village where every sort of merchandise, from buttons to steam boilers, were made for the world's market !- but, alas, are now made no more in the same localities. We are tempted to call them, "the good old days." They were so; but the years will roll on and the people of a future age, however prosperous that age may be, will look wistfully back and call what is now our day "the good old days."

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 48

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