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 11
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EARLY HISTORY.
and thus dates previous to 1741. It was standing when the farm was bought by John Yale.
Here lived the Jonathan Edwards family for many years, and their interests seem to have been more closely identified with Middletown than with Meriden parish. At the end of the eighteenth century the farm was bought by James Avery Hough, and the old house was identified with that family for many years. In the middle of the last century it was the home of Cyrenus Booth. For several years now the house has been abandoned and it is only a question of time before it will follow the way of all the earth.
On Colony street stood, until some ten or fifteen years ago, an old house known as the Eli Way place, which has been mentioned many times as opposite
Photo by R. S. Godfrey. JOSEPH EDWARDS' HOUSE.
the old Kensington road. In the division of the Cole estate a tract of 50 acres was sold to Thomas Miles, blacksmith, in 1713. In every case when the Cole heirs sold a portion of their farm it was necessary for the purchaser to pay toll to Wallingford by buying her Indian right acquired from Adam Puit, so that the Cole title was not considered valid without buying Wallingford's title. Gen- erally this secondary charge was paid by the Cole heirs. Thomas Miles was no exception to the rule and we find him buying or at least acquiring a secondary
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
deed from Wallingford's commissioners. His north line abutted on the Belcher estate and the farm was on the Country road on the east side and the old Way house stood on this tract. That he lived on the farm is not probable for when he disposed of it in 1724 to James Scovill, of Middletown, no house is mentioned in the deed. But when Mr. Scovill sold the farm to Eden Burroughs in 1733, a dwelling house was included. As the Way house was very ancient in appear- ance it is possibly the one built by Mr. Scovill. The farm was sold in 1742 to Asa Yale and by him in 1745 to Samuel Yale. Without stopping to give all the trans- fers we will state that in 1796 it was sold to Elisha Cowles, the father of Major Elisha A. and Roswell Cowles.
Mr. Cowles was a mason by trade and probably made many of the old grave- stones in the Broad street cemetery and doubtless many of the old chimneys and foundations in Meriden were the results of his labors. North of this house on the west side of the road there is a ledge which looks as if much stone had been quarried from it. After his death the house and farm was sold by the heirs to John B. Douglass and it did not become a Way place until sold to Eli by Avery Hough in 1823. To the writer it seems probable that the house was built by Elisha Cowles, the old one having disappeared in the description in one deed.
Just south of the Jonathan Collins farm, now the Samuel Clark place, and north of the strip owned by Josiah Robinson, was a small farm of thirty acres belonging to Jacob Parsons ; it fronted west on Colony street and there was a house on it that disappeared long ago. Parsons bought it of Thomas Andrews in 1722, who at that time was the owner of the farm that he later sold to Jon- athan Collins.
In the northern part of the Burroughs tract of 400 acres on the west side of the Country road, and just south of the Belcher farm, was a small tract of some thirty acres that was about 1720 sold to Timothy Jerome and on which he was living at that time, although the tract was shortly after acquired by the Edwards family.
The first farms and houses on Colony street have now been located and it can be seen that the owners formed a community by themselves. Until 1728 the ter- ritory was not formally made a part of Wallingford, although paying taxes in that town. These farms were far away from Wallingford church and all the conveniences of that community, and the situation must have at times been irk- some. On October 8, 1724, they presented the following petition to the General Court then assembled at New Haven :
"The Humble petition of the Subscribers Humbly Sheweth
That we are under great disadvantages for want of a Pound nere ye Merriden
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or Stone House and are compelled to drive unruly Cattell nere 6 or 9 miles to ye nearest pound which if we had one nere it would save us a Great Deal of troble and we would carry the marks and brands of those Cattell impounded where the Law directs, to the next towns unless the Honorable assembly, would pleas to Constitute a man among us to Despose of Unruly Creatures as the Law directs.
Therefor your Humble Petitioners Pray that there may be order for a Pound near ye Meriden, or Stone House, and an officer to Despose of impounded Cattell and your Petitioners as in duty bound will Ever Pray
N. Merriam
N Merriam Jr
Wm Merriam
J. Merriam Jr.
Timº Foster
B. Foster
J. Robinson Thos. Foster
T. Andrews
D. Rich
T. Jerrum
J. Parsons Eleazer Aspinwall
J. Scofell."
That this petition was granted cannot be learned.
Eleazer Aspinwall was, at this time, a tenant on Meriden or Stone House farm, and it is probable that David Rich was also. Thus we have followed up the grants to the different owners and located all the farms on Colony street and in several instances the titles have been carried to the present day. Meriden was settled in a manner so different from most New England towns that it has seemed to the writer better to locate the different farms in the parish of Meriden, so that when we come to the formation of the church and scan the roll of those faith- ful pioneers who wished a church in their very midst, we may know who they were, where they lived, and have a fair general idea of the topography of the country. To the writer the old houses are of a peculiar interest for they con- nect us with the past as nothing else does. If one of our forefathers could return to his former home and walk about our streets busy with the hum of mod- ern life, how much would he find as he left it? The old highways have changed their courses, or been closed and new ones opened. The whole face or topog- raphy of the country he would find greatly changed. Where was woodland, now lie broad fields, and where he left meadows and pastures, are blocks of houses and factories. With the exception of the eternal hills standing like sentinels on each side of the town, and a few old houses, nothing would be as it was when he closed his eyes forever.
Something of pathos should swell within our breasts as we gaze on these old homes, the only visible reminders of an age that is gone, of names that have
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
vanished and of hands that have been dust these hundred years. They are the only witnesses of a life that we know no more-a life of simple pleasures and primitive conditions. The phantoms of many generations pass before our eyes, generations that were once as we are now, busy with their ceaseless round of joy and sorrow, of marrying and burying, of feasting and mourning, of laughter and weeping and of play and work. And these old houses have seen it all. Through the door of each have passed the husband and wife, newly wed, the first to call it home; and then, children's feet have pattered through, and chil- dren grown to men and women have hastened hence to build them other homes. And so, one generation after another, they have come and gone, and still the old house stands, perhaps sheltering people of an alien race, and sometimes de- scended to uses that are low. And the names of those who built them and first lived within their walls have been entirely forgotten, and all that is left to tell us are a few old musty records, with only a name and a date, as witnesses that they have ever lived. And, as with these old houses, so will ours be soon. Other lives will be passed beneath their roofs; and our names-only a memory, and soon utterly forgot.
1 PORCH OF THE OLD WILLIAM JOHNSON PLACE, ON JOHNSON AVENUE.
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EARLY HISTORY.
CHAPTER IX.
The boundaries of Deputy Governor Jones' large farm have already been de- scribed. Naturally he did not live in Meriden but, nevertheless, he must have made frequent visits of inspection to ascertain the condition of his farm and to see that it was properly cared for. In charge of it he placed Captain Thomas Yale of Wallingford. Just a glimpse of the relations of the two men is given in a deposition made in 1757 by Theophilus Yale, the son of Capt. Thomas.
"About ye year 1740 I went with Mr. Hitchcock ye County Surveyor and Dea- con Robert Roys upon ye Desire of Dan11 Baldwin to Wallingford North West corner bounds and we run from thence eastward along by ye line of Marked Trees which my Honrd father Thomas Yale informed me was Wallingford North Line untill we came to Pilgrims Harbour bridge which my sd father informed me was ye place where people Constantly pased over, and then we came to ye Southwest corner of Mr. Jones'es Farm which farm was Laid out in ye Country Land (So Caled) and then we continued ye same course as far Eastward as ye South East corner of Mr. Streets farm now Dan11 Baldwins * * I remember when I was young yt Mr Jones Desired my father to take care of his sd farm and renew ye bounds, and when my father was old Mr Jones Desired him to take me with him and Shew me ye bounds of ye farm, and I remember I often went with my father to renew ye bounds of sd Jones'es farm. I see all ye bounds thereof and well remember yt ye south bounds of sd farm joyned on Wallingford north line," etc., etc.1 Theophilus was at that time 82 years old.
Of course in this deposition Theophilus was speaking of the Colonial grant. After the death of Mr. Jones the farm remained intact until 1722 when the heirs divided it.
It would be tedious to follow these divisions, so we will take the year 1735 as a convenient date to show the ownership of this great farm.
It requires a good bit of imagination to go back and see in one's mind's eye what it looked like then-a stretch of meadow and woodland, with scarcely a house in all the great tract. All roads and streets must be obliterated from one's mind except the old Liberty street running east from Pilgrims' Harbor bridge ; and Curtis street running in its present course and coming down to Liberty a little east of the course of present Center street and so on to North Colony road. The farm of 30 acres belonging to Captain Nathaniel Merriam has already been de-
1 Colonial Lands, Vol. VIII., p. 170, State Library.
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scribed. It fronted on the north side of Liberty street and extended as far east as the Meriden High school property, his barn probably standing on the site of that building. His land was bounded north and west on Harbor Brook.
The next farm was that of Timothy Jerome. It also fronted on Liberty street on the north side ; it extended as far east as present School street and was bounded on the north by Harbor Brook. His house stood very nearly on the site of the present Walter Hall house, No. 202 Liberty street. How long it continued to stand cannot be told, but shortly after his death in 1750, his son, Samuel, built a house that was standing until ten or twelve years ago and will be remembered by many as the Upson place, just south of the residence of the late Reuben T. Cook, No. 608 Broad street. Before Broad street was opened in 1799, Wall street joined Liberty street near what is now the south end of Hobart street, and passed between the house and barn of Timothy Jerome, as is told in the layout of Wall street, made by the selectmen in 1739.
The Samuel Jerome house formerly faced south on this old extension of Wall street to Liberty, and when Broad street was projected in 1799, there was at first the suggestion that the house would have to be moved farther west, which was. finally avoided by moving the road slightly to the east. When Broad street was widened in 1869, it left this old house jutting into the road eighteen feet, and the common council ordered it moved back. So it was shifted twenty-five feet to the rear and turned at right angles so as to face Broad street, at which time it lost its old stone chimney. It has been impossible to obtain a picture of this old Samuel Jerome place. Timothy, the father, emigrated to America about 1717 and he evi- dently came directly to Meriden. He was probably from the Isle of Wight and the family is believed to have been of Huguenot origin. As already noted, he seems to have lived at first on a tract of land just south of Meriden farm and he bought his portion of the Jones farm in 1722. Timothy was a man of consider- able wealth for at the time of his death in 1750 his inventory included four slaves, named Pomp, Rose, Jenny and Prince.
The valuation placed on these slaves was enormous, viz: £460, £295, £ 190 and £95 respectively. This was because the value of the currency was at that time much depreciated. His wearing apparel included such articles as a straight bodied coat of pale blue, a red vest of bayse, a black vest of callimanco and leath- er breeches ; mixed colored coat and vest, a beaver hat, etc., etc.
Altogether Timothy Jerome must have been very smartly attired when ar- rayed for meeting or expecting guests; and he must have often had friends at his home who were not disinclined to hilarity, if we may judge from the list of seven punch bowls, a case of bottles, large drinking glasses and sixteen pewter tankards mentioned in his inventory.
It should interest all to know that the brilliant district attorney of New York, William Travers Jerome, is a descendant of Timothy in the sixth generation.
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EARLY HISTORY.
Chauncey Jerome, the well known clock manufacturer of New Haven fifty years ago, was also descended from Timothy. Samuel Jerome moved to Stockbridge, Mass., and sold his farm to Abel Curtis in 1771, and Abel later gave a 'consider- able portion of it to his son Levi, who lived in the old house many years. It was bought years ago by Benjamin Upson, and his widow died in it in 1888 at the ripe old age of ninety-six.
That part of the Jones farm that was south of Liberty street became the property of Stephen Atwater from New Haven and Daniel Harris. Atwater's part was bounded west on Colony street, north on Liberty, south on Olive and it extended east as far as Pleasant street. His house stood at the junction of Olive and Colony streets on the south side, on a piece of land bought of Eleazer Peck. This old house disappeared many years ago. His farm extended also across Har- bor brook to the west, probably as far as Cook avenue. This Atwater1 family continued to dwell here until the beginning of the last century.
Daniel Harris came here from Durham and bought the east half of this south- ern portion of the Jones farm as early as 1726. He continued to hold it until 1739 when he sold sixty acres to Rev. Theophilus Hall, together with a house and a barn on it. There is a tradition that the parson built the old house, afterwards known as the Central tavern in 1752 for his son Samuel. As this son was only thirteen years old at that date it cannot be that there is any truth to the tradition. It seems much more probable that this building was the one standing when he bought the farm of Daniel Harris.
Samuel was only twenty-eight years old when his father died in 1767, and the house with adjoining land was left to him in the will, as well as the barn, which stood not far from the site of the Broad street Baptist church. . The house cer- tainly was a very ancient building and as the parson's home was where the Wil- lard Hall house now stands, south of the junction of Curtis and Ann streets, on the southeast corner, there seems to have been no reason for building the old house in 1752. It is probable then that it was the one built by Daniel Harris as early as 1730, at least. Of course, this refers to that part covered by the gam- brel roof only. The rest of the house was evidently a combination of after thoughts, built as the demands of the tavern increased, by Dr. Insign or his son, Dr. Isaac I. Hough.
The house was the scene of many an interesting event in the early history of the town, although its importance as a tavern was not until after 1811 when Robinson's ceased to be mentioned. It stood on the site of the residence of Fran- cis Atwater, No. 510 Broad street.
The eastern boundary of the Harris farm was a line perhaps four hundred
1 This Stephen Atwater was a descendant of the New Haven family of that name very prominent there : One of the name, Jonathan, was one of the richest men of the Colony.
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
THEOPHILUS HALL HOUSE, LATER THE HOUGH OR CENTRAL TAVERN.
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EARLY HISTORY.
feet east of and parallel to the old Curtis street which ran on the western edge of the present Broad street and would, if now in existence, run through the western part of the Center Congregational church.
Aaron Lyman came here from Durham about the year 1732 and bought a portion of the Jones farm both north and south of the old Liberty street. His farm at first consisted of 130 acres and it lay just east of the Harris-Hall tract, and extended south a little beyond the present Charles street and north consid- erably beyond Wall street. It extended on the east to the top of the hill beyond
AARON LYMAN PLACE.
Orient street. His home stood about 200 feet northwest of the house now occu- pied by Benjamin W. Collins, 450 East Main street.
This house was torn down about thirty years ago and much of the timber is now in Mr. Collins' barn. The picture is a reproduction of a crayon drawing and is a faithful representation of this ancient house. Mr. Lyman was an important man in the community and possessed of large wealth for those days. The old probate records bear abundant evidence of the numerous positions of trust he was called on to fill. He was twice married and left only one child at his death who was the wife of Captain Dan Collins and it was thus that the Collins family
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
became identified with this part of Meriden, and all evidence of the former res- idence on North Colony road was forgotten. Esq. Lyman largely increased his land holdings and at one time his farm extended down, east of Meeting House hill, running over on what was then known as Little Success hill, which is east of and just about as high as Meeting House hill. The home of Charles Z. Mur- dock stands on the southern slope of Little Success hill. Esq. Lyman also bought a part of the Jerome estate and his farm extended north as far as the residence of Dexter W. Parker, No. 816 North Broad street. Many acres of the old farm are still in the possession of the Collins family.
Daniel Baldwin, of Milford, came to Meriden about 1725, and bought a farm in the eastern part that was bounded on the south by the old Liberty street that
Photo by R. S. Godfrey: DANIEL BALDWIN, OR JOHN YEAMANS PLACE.
has been described. It was a part of a farm that had been granted to Rev. Sam- uel Street, of Wallingford, in 1680, by the colonial government at the same time that Deputy Governor Jones was given his farm. This Street estate was just east of the Jones tract, from which it was separated by the south branch of Pilgrims' Harbor brook, or Willow Hill brook as it is now sometimes called. Daniel Bald- win immediately built his house, and the old building is still in existence and is still sound and staunch and good for many years more.
Daniel died in 1777 and half the house and a number of acres were given by his will to his daughter, Lois, the wife of John Yeamans, and later Mr. Yeamans bought the remainder of the land adjoining and the other half of the house and
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EARLY HISTORY.
here he and his son and grandson lived many years. The house is still called the Yeamans place. Daniel had a saw mill on the brook west of his home. The old place is now the property of Fred A. Baumann.
The house looks lonesome, standing as it does in the meadow, with scarcely another within view. The old road on which it formerly faced has long been closed, although it can still be traced distinctly in its course to the east ; that part was in use long after the western portion had become private property.
North of the Daniel Baldwin tract was another great farm that was bought by John Way at a date as early as 1725. The house stood on what is now known
DR. ALEXANDER WOLCOTT, NATHANIEL PENFIELD, OR WILLIAM HUBBARD YALE PLACE.
as Baldwin avenue, a little west of Bee street, and not very far from the north- east district school house. It disappeared many years ago and its site is now oc- cupied by a modern dwelling. The Way family continued to own this farm many years.
West of the John Way and Daniel Baldwin farms was another great tract of land that was purchased by Dr. Alexander Wolcott in the year 1735; part of Aaron Lyman and part of the Jones heirs. Dr. Wolcott was of Windsor and was afterwards of New Haven where he was a prominent physician. He apparently lived in Meriden a short time and he built a house that was still standing until a few years ago.
y IS d
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S
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
A curious deed appears on the Wallingford records under date of March 3,. 1739-40, reading as follows: "I Alexander Wolcott1 in consideration of £ 300 paid to me by Lydia Wolcott, lately my wife, and likewise in consideration of said. Lydia Wolcots obtaining a divorce from me at my request and desire," etc., etc. The deed grants to the said Lydia this Meriden property. It certainly was a pe- culiar transaction and is like nothing else that the writer has seen on the Wal- lingford records.
This Lydia must have afterwards married John Elliott, of New Haven, for on December 30, 1747, she and her husband deeded to Nathaniel Penfield this farm of 160 acres that had been granted to her by her former husband. For two or three years previous to the deed to Lydia Wolcott the farm was leased to Da- vid Rich, but when Penfield obtained it he moved here from Guilford and for many years he and his sons continued to live on the farm. Late in the eighteenth century it became the property of Nathaniel Yale and he and his son Jonathan and grandson, 'William Hubbard Yale, were the subsequent occupants of the house. The photograph taken a few years ago shows the rear of the dwelling with its owner, William Hubbard Yale, standing at the well. It stood on Gravel street on the east side, a few hundred feet south of Baldwin avenue. It met the fate of so many of these old landmarks, for it was burned to the ground, per- haps three years ago. ,
Little Success hill has already been described as lying just east of Meeting House hill: north of it was what was called for many years a "town farm,"2 sequestered by Wallingford about 1703 for some purpose unknown. It extended as far north as Liberty and just east of it was the farm of Nathaniel Roys.
He was the "trusty friend" of the Cole family who, with the "beloved breth- ren," had disposed of much of their large farm; and, indeed, he was the "trusty friend" of others for he was several times appointed executor or administrator of different estates at a time when there were very few to care for; he was evi- dently quite a man of affairs. He was five times married, his fourth wife being the widow Abigail Hoyt, in whose life had occurred a gruesome tragedy-a not uncommon event in those days of savage Indians and frontier life.
She had previously been the wife of Deacon David Hoyt, of Deerfield, Mass. Two hours before daybreak on February 29, 1703-4, a party of French and In-
1 Dexter's "Yale Biographies" says, "his wife was compelled to get a divorce from him on account of his irregular habits." He was considerable of a poet, and a contemporary said of him "Very tall, erect as a plane tree, with hair hanging down his shoulders, of silvery whiteness, and with an eye and eye- brow and complexion of a dark hue; his appearance very noble."
2 This town farm must not be confounded with the one north of the river in South Meriden. The description of this one in East Meriden was as follows, taken from the town records, "1703 town farm 80 acres lies above Leatel Success Hill 4 score and 12 rods north and south and 8 score rods east and west bounded on Mr. Jones' farm on ye west (the south portion) on ye town line (Liberty street) on ye north, on Benjamin Roy's farm on ye east and south also and south on Common land; allowance for highway through ye land upward."
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EARLY HISTORY.
dians under the command of M. de Rouville, swooped down on the sleeping town and butchered many and captured a number of others. David Hoyt, his wife Abigail, and four of their children were among the prisoners, and, suffering such tortures as may be imagined on a winter trip under such conditions, they were started on the way to Canada ; one child was killed on the road and David died of starvation at Cowass in N. H., near the mouth of Wells river. She was finally brought back from Canada and married Nathaniel Roys in 1708.1
In the year 1687 he was granted his farm of 207 acres by the town. It was thus described in the records : "lying near upper end Misery Swamp, beginning on ye east side of ye river2 near Middletown mountains to north of his hog sty, then west 11912 rods, then south 160 rods, then east towards ye mountains 94 rods, then north 160 rods." As the only landmarks in the boundary are the hog sty and the river, its location might be termed a trifle indefinite. But as a subsequent deed shows that it joined the town farm on its western side, it is safe to say that it was located between Paddock avenue and Gravel street on the west and Misery Bar road and Bee street on the east. It was probably bounded by the "Walling- ford north bounds" on the north.
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