USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Meriden > An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it > Part 10
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1 A pan with feet and long handle.
2 Wooden dipper.
3 Implement in fireplace on which to hang culinary vessels.
4 Eighteen gallon barrel.
5 For carding wool.
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
"Wethersfield Jan ye 23 1687
Whereas there is a certaine estate in land & other personal estate formerly of Right belonging unto our honderd father Henry Cole sometyme since decd at Wallingford in ye late1 colony of Connecticut in New England left in pt in ye possession of our honrd mother lately alsoe deceased at Saybrook wch sd estate had never yet orderly distribution between theire children. We therefore 'ye children of ye sd Henry Cole & his wife decd whose names are hereunto subscribed in order to a loving yssue of ye matter have mutually & unanimously agreed that ye sd estate shall be divided between all ye sd children in equall proportions. And to yt end have alsoe agreed to desire & Impower two of our Beloved Brethren with our trusty & beloved friend Nath1 Royse of Wallingford aforesd to settle & distribute the same accordingly. And alsoe to make sale of a certaine parcell lying within ye Bounds of Middletown belonging to us containing by estimation twenty acres be it more or less. And having soe don to distribute ye effects unto us ye sd children
In wittness hereof that this is our unanimous agreement we have hereunto set or hands or marks this 23rd day of January Anº Dom one thousand six hun- dred eighty & seven
Samuell Cole Aron Goofe
Hannah Coie
the mark of
his mark
James Cole
Rebekah Cole her mark John Stevens
Wm Cole
Samuel Taylor
Richd Goodale"
The husbands signed this document in place of those daughters who were married.
The two Beloved Brethren mentioned in the above document were James and William Cole, who continued to reside in this locality, James for a while in the homestead, while William took a farm on Clapboard Hill, south of the present residence of J. Hobart Yale on Yale avenue. John became a school teacher in Boston and Samuel lived in Wethersfield.
A curious question arises when considering the southern boundary of the Cole or Higbee farm. The colonial grant to Edward Higbee, which is recorded on the Middletown land records, says, "257 acres more or less abutting on Pillgrims Harbour River south till it comes to the way which goeth to New Haven & from
1 The word late refers of course to the usurpation of the Colonial government by Sir Edmond Andross at this time.
.
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EARLY HISTORY.
thence straight to a river at the end of the mountain which lyeth west." This would naturally lead one to believe that one side of the boundary was positively determined. On the other hand, when the General Court or Assembly granted a farm to James Bishop the following year his southern boundary was on a line running west from where "Pillgrims Harbor River comes to the way which goeth to. New Haven." The natural inference would seem that James Bishop had bought up Higbee's claim to that particular tract, at least, for the southern boun- daries cannot be the same for two distinct farms. But, unfortunately for this theory, we find that when Higbee sells his farm to Cole in 1673, he gives iden- tically the same boundaries that are mentioned in his grant from the colony. Were there two crossings that might each be considered the "way that goeth to New Haven?" There were, if the following records can be interpreted in that way, and there seems to be no alternative. As already mentioned, the reason for staking the old north bounds of Wallingford in 1744 was because disputes had arisen between the farmers relative to land divisions. These contentions lasted some time, and in the year 1748 it was found necessary to take the deposition of Robert Royce who lived in what is now known as the Dr. Archer place in South Farms, then called Milking Yard or Royce's Farms. The fight had been carried to the General Assembly and Deacon Royce was either summoned to appear or else a special agent was sent to see him. The deposition now in the State Library at Hartford reads as follows :
"Robert Royce of Wallingford in ye county of New Haven of full age Testi- fies and Says that he is now and hath been well acquainted for sixty years last past with the north line of the town of Wallingford as it was shown to him sev- erall Times by Old Mr. Yale who Informed him he was with ye Committee that Laid out the Township of Wallingford and that he hath been Severall Times appointed with old Capt Yale to Perambulate the line or lines of ye Township, that the North West Corner, Something in Farmington, Bounds the line [* *
* *] down to Pilgrims Harbour to a white wood stubb near where the Bridge now Stands which Stubb is the South West Corner of Jones's farm and so continues down to ye South East Corner of Streets farm where Daniel Balding now Lives1 and the Town farms were always laid south, up to the Said Described Line and that ye Country farms that lay north of said Line were all bounded South on Said Line and that he is well knowing to ye Improvement & Bounds of the farms both Country & Town Bounding on Said Line, and hath had Severall of them ye Said Farms Committed to his Watch & Care and that the other sup .. posed Road over the Harbour was nothing otherwise than a Road laid out by
1 John Yeamans place on Bee Lane.
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
Old Capt. Yale to accommodate Mr. Cole to go to Meeting and went by the name of Cole's path and this I often heard old. Capt. Yale say, and further the Said Royce Saith not
Taken in Perpetuam rei Memoriam
Wallingford Feby 23rd 1747-48
ROBERT ROYS
Robert Roys personally appeared and made oath to the truth of the foregoing evidence before me
Nathal Stanly Assistant"
This document shows that there was another road that was considered by some as the "Way that Goeth to New Haven." James Cole is probably referred to and his home ,was at the corner of Colony street and Kensington avenue. To go to meeting for him meant to go to Wallingford for there was no church in Meriden until long after that early date. If he was looking for a short cut or a way to avoid the swamp and muck and mire that formerly existed at the Colony street cross- ing of Harbor Brook and to escape the sand flats beyond Yalesville, the natural way to go would lie somewhere near the present line of Center street, and after the summit of the hill was gained then down Broad1 and Curtis streets, and so on to Wallingford. When what is now called Curtis street was laid out in 1721, the records state that it "goes as the road now goes up Pole Hill"2 and is 6 rods wide, and runs north to the end of the bounds, or "Wallingford North bounds." In other words the selectmen were following an ancient road and were merely adopt- ing it as one of the town highways; and when Rev. Theophilus Hall laid out Broad street from Curtis street to the new meeting house in 1752, which he was then building, he simply sequestered this same path or road that led just west of the church and then down to Liberty street-the Wallingford north bounds. Could this path from North Colony street down Center, Broad and Curtis streets have been in existence before Capt. Yale marked it out for Mr. Cole to go to meeting ? If he laid it out, he was laying out in the Center street part a path in ter- ritory that did not belong to Wallingford until nearly fifty years later.3 If he was marking out a highway that had already been in existence he was merely performing the part of a surveyor, which position he held. Now there was a road other than Colony street, evidently at an earlier date, that is mentioned in the ancient records.
1 Broad Street south of the junction with Curtis Street was not laid out then.
2 The hill down which the southern parts of Curtis and Broad Streets descend was called Pole Hill.
3 Laying out a rcad or path in those early days in many locations meant simply to "blaze" and cut out a few trees and bushes. One could not easily follow such a path through the trackless forests with- out some one constantly renewed these marks and "blazes."
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EARLY HISTORY.
At a General Court for New Haven March 12, 1654-55, "Mr. Goodyear was desired when he goes to Conecticote to go the new way & take notice of it and let the Court understand how he finds it & that if they see cause they may send forty men to mark it out." The southern boundary of the Cole farm was cer- tainly almost, if not quite, on a line drawn due west from Center street bridge. It is a problem that is not now possible to solve. But certainly the evidence looks as if Mr. Higbee thought that about where Center street bridge is now located was where the "way that goeth to New Haven" was located.
The beloved brethren and trusty friend, Nathaniel Royce, did not soon find customers or purchasers for the Cole farm. The power of attorney authorizing them to sell the farm was executed in 1687 and not until January 29, 1707-8 did they sell a rood. On that date they sold to Bartholomew Foster, of Wethersfield, ship carpenter, "2-10 of that howle farm known as Cools Farme set on Country road near South side of Belcher's Farme." Mr. Foster was originally from Gloucester, Mass., where he was born about 1649, and where he remained until 1696: he was engaged in the ship building business. Then he came to Wethersfield and made a purchase of John Curtis of a piece of land with a "Man- sion house" on it. There he probably made the acquaintance of some of the Cole family and was persuaded to buy a part of the farm in Meriden.1 He bought more during the two or three years following. Bartholomew Foster came to Mer- iden with his two sons, Thomas and Timothy, and the family has always been prominent and influential. When the church was formed Bartholomew was ac- tive and conspicuous in the negotiations and served on various committees, such as purchasing a farm for the new minister, etc. When considering these two ad- joining farms of the Fosters and Merriams and their neighbors the thought strikes one that the name of a prominent manufacturing company of to-day applies with peculiar descriptive force to the community on Colony or Country road in those early days, viz. Foster, Merriam & Co.
Meantime, an agreement appeared on the Wallingford records under date of March 12, 1708, whereby the Cole heirs divided the farm into ten parts, five parts on each side of the Country road. It would be tedious to follow up the different transfers but we will notice one or two items relating to the farm that are curious : One of the heirs was Samuel Taylor, of Wethersfield, who had mar- ried a daughter of Mr. Cole. His share of I-10 was 80 acres and it lay in the southern part adjoining the Merriam farm on the south. Mr. Taylor died in February, 1711-12, and his portion of the Cole farm was inventoried as "Farm
1 None of these ancient Foster houses are now in existence. Thomas, by the terms of his father's will, got the house standing at the corner of Colony Street and Kensington Avenue previous to 1848, while the house of Timothy stood probably on what is now the property of the State School for Boys where it fronts on Colony Street.
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
in the woods called Cole's farm, 80 acres, £20." It is on file in the records of the court of probate, Hartford, and there is no location given other than that quoted. Aaron Goffe, of Wethersfield, who had married another of Mr. Cole's daughters, had an inventory which mentioned his 100 acres near Pilgrims' Harbor as worth four shillings.
For nearly a hundred years if there was a transfer of any part of this great farm of Henry Cole's the deed always mentioned that the land was a part of Cole farm. By the year 1725, after two or three transfers, that part of the Cole farm that had belonged to Samuel Taylor became the property of Josiah Robinson.
CAPT. JOSIAH ROBINSON'S HOUSE FROM S. W.
Note condition of Colony Street in 1876.
He bought some adjoining land until he had a farm of more than 100 acres. It fronted along Colony street, beginning at about where the Meriden Silver Plate Co. factory now stands and running up to, perhaps, where the residence of Arthur S. Lane is located, No. 341. Mr. Robinson's house was located where now stands the home of Mr. E. J. Doolittle, No. 285. The farm stretched off towards the east across Harbor Brook and nearly to Hobart street line. There is evidence that he built his home shortly after he bought the farm, and it continued to stand there until 1876, when Mr. Doolittle bought the house and lot and demolished the building. From its enormous chimney, which was a regular quarry, he was
.
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EARLY HISTORY.
able to build the whole foundation of his present house and wall up the brook on both sides, that flows in the rear, and had a quantity of stone left to sell. Of all the ancient houses in Meriden, it was the largest so far as we know.
Mr. Robinson1 was an important man in the community and for those times had considerable wealth. He was captain of the train band and was always called Capt. Robinson, and in 1750 was one of the delegates to the General As- sembly for the town of Wallingford. For many years his house was the tavern of the parish.2 He had five slaves at the time of his death named Phoebe, Lemmon, Rose, Primus and Jennie, who probably helped take care of the farm or waited on guests in the inn. The house in its day must have been a fine one and its size made it imposing even in age. The addition in the rear was perhaps made by General Walter Booth who owned and lived in the house from 1816 to 1843. It was doubtless a tin shop as he, in his younger days, was engaged in that business.
CAPT. JOSIAH ROBINSON'S HOUSE FROM N. W.
The first notice we find that Capt. Josiah Robinson's house was an inn appears in the records of New Haven county court in 1751. At the April session each year licenses were issued and duly recorded. In 1763 Ames' Almanac began to give a list of the different post roads and towns between New York and Boston with the names of the best taverns.
Robinson's is the only name given for Meriden and it continues so until the year 18II. It is the only one mentioned in Meriden by Green's "State
1 Captain Robinson probably came here from Dorchester, Mass., perhaps through the influence of Bartholomew Foster.
2 There is a tradition that General Washington stopped at this inn. Perhaps he did; but if we are to believe all the traditions relating to the houses in New England, that are said to have been honored by the presence of General Washington at one time or another, we are forced to the conclusion that instead of attending to the military affairs of the Colonies and later assuming the duties of Chief Mag- istrate of the Nation he was spending his time in haunting the hostelries and was better fitted to
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
Register," an accurate and reliable publication full of statistics relat- ing to Connecticut. Capt. Robinson died in 1766 and left an estate valued at £1636. He owned 261 acres of land, but not in a connected tract. He had a law library containing eleven volumes, so that he probably occupied somewhat the position of a legal luminary among his neighbors. Back of the house, which was valued at £ 165, stood a barn, a horse house, a Dutch barn2 and a malt house. The inn was continued by his son, Josiah, until 1771 when he died also. He had evidently lived a rapid pace or been unfortunate in his in- vestments, for his estate was found to be insolvent and a list of his creditors contained the name of almost every man in the parish. The two widows (the elder being the daughter of John Merriam) continued the tavern for some time. It then went into a succession of hands who all ran it under the name of "Robinson's ;" among them Caleb Bull, Seth D'Wolf and Giles Foster. Finally Jotham Mitchell owned and lived in it until his son- in-law, General Walter Booth, bought it in 1816. Then its fame as an inn ceased and it was used by General Booth only as a residence until 1843, when he sold it to Deacon Elah Camp. He sold it and one acre of land to Keyes S. Hathaway in 1852. Mr. Hathaway lived there until 1876 and then sold it to E. J. Doolittle, who pulled it down. North of Capt. Robinson's farm was a strip of land belonging to Bartholomew Foster, which ran up to the road that is now called Britannia street. North of this was a tract of some 140 acres which was taken by Aaron Goffe, of Wethersfield, in the settlement of the Cole estate. Nothing was done with the land until Solomon Goffe bought his brothers' interest in the property in 171I after his father's death. The deed, re- corded only in Wethersfield, reads that the farm is in the woods and bounds west on the Country road and extends north, east and south. Truly a somewhat indefinite description. Mr. Goffe moved to Meriden and built his house in 171I, that is still on the east side of Colony street a little north of the Griswold street junction and is now known as the Samuel Clark place. It is undoubtedly the oldest house in Meriden and certainly has a venerable appearance. We know noth- ing about Mr. Goffe except that he lived here ten years, married a Wallingford girl, Mary Doolittle, and the birth of one child is recorded. In 1721 he sold the place to Thomas Andrews, of Wallingford, who, apparently, lived there until 1729, when he sold it to Jonathan Collins, of Middletown. The old house was enlarged, perhaps soon after Mr. Collins bought it, for the addition looks as old as the rest, but
write a guide book to New England, giving the names of the best taverns than to be called the father of his country. He may have stopped here to get a bite or quench his thirst but there is no record of the fact, notwithstanding that an itinerary of his travels has been published. When journeying to Boston in 1775 to take charge of the armies (his first trip through New England) he left New Haven in the morning and reached Springfield that night. The larger towns of Hartford and New Haven were so near that it is very doubtful if he ever stopped at Robinson's.
2 A hay house with no sides, but with a roof supported by four corner posts.
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EARLY HISTORY.
that there has been an addition is plain to be seen. The dormer windows in the old gambrel roof are probably a later addition, and there have been apparently some changes in the interior. That the house is the one built by Solomon Goffe will be apparent to any one who will examine the old rafters and the huge floor Deams. The chimneys in the cellar are enormous and the stones were cemented with clay mixed with straw as were the foundation walls, a sure sign of an early house ; another indication of age is the split laths, used in very early houses. The Collins family continued to own the house until 1796 when a son, Jonathan,
Photo by R. S. Godfrey. JONATHAN COLLINS' HOUSE.
Jr.,1 sold it to Samuel Taylor of Chatham. Mr. Taylor doubtless lived in it until 1806 when he sold it to his son-in-law, Partrick Clark. The Clark family own the house and farm to this day although they no longer live in it. It is now rented to a German named Charles Hackbarth.
Jonathan Collins was the son of Robert, of Middletown, and the father came to Meriden two years earlier than the son.
1 This Jonathan Collins removed to Turin, N. Y., where he became very prominent 7
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
In the settlement of Henry Cole's estate the son, John, who was a school teach- er in Boston, took 350 acres on the west side of Country road just opposite the Solomon Goffe farm. It had a frontage on the road of 2,270 feet, and extended south nearly to the Meriden Firearms plant and ran north quite a ways be- yond the Waterbury railroad crossing. It extended in the west quite to Cat Hole mountain. In 1721 Mr. Cole sold the farm to Samuel Butler and Dr. Eben- ezer Cooper, and these gentlemen apparently built a house on it and probably lived in it. Dr. Cooper was so far as we can learn the first physician to live in Meriden. The deed calls him a "phititian." He afterwards lived in the south- eastern part of Meriden and on December 30, 1739, Rev. Theophilus Hall bap- tized his son Thomas. Beyond these three entries we know nothing about him. In 1727 Butler and Cooper sold the farm to Robert Collins,1 of Middletown. He came here with his two younger sons, Robert and Edward. The house he bought with the farm was late in the century sold to Joseph Twiss, of Cheshire, the ancestor of the Twiss family in Meriden. It stood near the northern limits of the farm close to the Country road and this part of the farm was some years since the links of the Meriden Golf Club. The old house was destroyed by fire a great many years ago.
In 1737 Robert Collins gave to his son, Edward, a tract of land containing 100 acres, in the southern part of the farm, and probably very soon after Edward built his house, for on Aug. 29, 1738, he married Susannah Peck, of Walling- ford, and his home was in the house now occupied by Junius S. Norton, at 596 Colony street.
The house is a very ancient one, unquestionably, although it has been greatly altered. The picture shows it as it was some twenty years ago. Even then it had been greatly changed from its original condition. The front door was at first in the middle of the street side, but at the date of the picture was on the south side. The old house is in somewhat the condition of the boy's jack knife : : a new blade and a new handle, but still the same old knife. The great chimney, cemented by clay mortar, and the old split laths still to be seen in the attic, are unquestionable evidences of its age. Here was born on February 16, 1741, Dan Collins, afterwards known as Capt. Dan, who was a very prominent figure in Meriden early in the last century. He married in 1774 Susannah, the daughter of Esq. Aaron Lyman, and lived in the old Lyman home that stood on East Main street, east of Broad street, and was pulled down many years ago. That farm is still Collins property. The Edward Collins house had a number of own- ers before it came into the possession of Mr. Norton. It was sold late in the eighteenth century to Reuben Stocking and by him in a few years to Ira Yale.
1 He was born in Branford in 1668.
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EARLY HISTORY.
It later became the home of a Mr. Tennant and Mr. Norton bought it of the late Eli Butler. North of the Collins farm on the same side of the road was another large tract of land reaching to the road or laneway that runs west from the resi- dence of Edward Higginson, already described as the southern boundary of the Belcher or Meriden Farm. It contained 400 acres and extended west 400 rods, or 6,600 feet, and had a frontage on Colony street of 150 rods or 2,475 feet.
The Cole heirs sold it in 1710 to John Burroughs, of Stratfield, a grandson of Edward Higbee, a previous owner. Burroughs' son, Edward, sold to Richard Hubbell 120 acres of this land-the south part-and he to John
EDWARD COLLINS' HOUSE.
Dennie, a rich Boston merchant in 1734, and Mr. Dennie immediately built a house that is still standing, once called the Stephen Bailey place, but by many known as the Grimes house. It stands about a quarter of a mile north of the Waterbury railroad crossing on the west side of Colony street on a high bank with a stone wall in front, and is shaded by several large maple trees. That Mr. Dennie never lived here is certain, and he must have leased the farm to some one in Meriden. The house does not look as old as it is, for it has been newly clap- boarded and painted. But let any one examine it from cellar to attic as the writer has done, and he will soon be convinced of its age.
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
In some respects it is the oldest appearing house in Meriden. It is very prim- itive in its construction, and on the second floor only one room has been done off and that is on the south side. On the north side an addition has been built, very roughly, in such a way that the ancient oak clapboards are part of the inside finish. The inside walls are mostly boarded over and around the mantels there is some paneling. There was originally no ventilation in the cellar and as a re- sult the huge oak sills and many of the floor beams decayed and have had to be replaced by new ones. Late in the eighteenth century the farm was bought by Stephen Bailey (1795), and remained in that family for many years. It is now the property of William Nelson and is occupied by a Dane named James Rasmersson.
Photo by R. S. Godfrey.
STEPHEN BAILEY'S HOUSE.
The northern part of this 400 acre tract, belonging to John Burroughs origi- nally, eventually became the property of the Yales and was by them sold to the Edwards family of Middletown. On the old road described as running west from the old Eli Way, or now Edward Higginson farm, stands a poor, forlorn old house, bereft of its sides and looking the picture of desolation. It stands about three hundred feet west from Colony road and is on the north side of the old road or laneway. It is shaded by large maple trees and has a forbidding and sinister aspect, as if its old walls had once hidden some mystery. It is a very old house and was built by one of the Belchers, probably by the governor,
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