An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it, Part 27

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1252

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 27

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Jehiel Peck, Sergt. Art.,

Enoch Merriman, Sergt,

Jesse Peck

Josiah Merriman

Samuel Parsons

Asaph Merriam

John Perkins

Edmund Merriam

Samuel Perkins

Ephraim Merriam

Eldad Porter

James Miles, Sergt.,

Medad Potter

Barnabas Mitchell

John Prince, Sergt,

Enos Mix Amos Mix

James Prout William Prout

Thomas Mix, Jr.

Benjamin Rexford

Andrew Moor

Benjamin Rexford, Jr.

Benoni Moss

Jotham Rice

Isiah Moss

Levi Robinson

Reuben Moss

Elmer Russell

Almond Munson

Job Sanderson

Lent Munson

John Sled

Orange Munson

Hull Shepherd

*Toney, negro, *Lemon Cumber, negro, *Boston, negro, *Chatham Freeman, negro,

Daniel Smith

Seth Smith

Samuel Spencer

Samuel Spellman

Selah Stedman

*Samson, negro, *Prince Hotchkiss, negro,

David Stone

* Probably slaves.

*Job Hull, negro, *Dick Freedom, negro, *Sharp Yale, negro, * Adam Molatto * Buel, Affrica,

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CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

Abel Thorp Amasa Thorp Amos Thorp Thaddeus Todd

James Tibbels Peter Tibbels

Levi Tyler Nathaniel Tyler

Job Tyrrell

Jesse Vose

Gideon Webb, Cheshire Joel Willmot

Lemuel Willcox

Joseph Wolcott, Jr.

Samuel Wright

Nash Yale

Waitstill Yale

Total 169 men.

In the expedition to Lakes George and Champlain in 1775 were several Meri- den men in Captain Cook's company. Many of the soldiers were taken sick and the following bills were paid by the state for medical attendance to Meriden men.

Dr. Insign Hough presented a bill for going after Benjamin Austin to Still- water, N. Y., on October 30, 1775 :

To Horse hire 130 miles at 2ª per mile £ I-I-8 To my time 8 days at 3/8 per Day £ I-4-0

To cash paid expenses on said Journey . 18-5

Simeon Perkins presented a bill for bringing home his apprentice Jared Ben- ham from beyond Albany.

Lieutenant Joseph Shaylor was taken sick at Putney, Vt., after the northern campaign and "was tended 16 days" at an expense of £1-10-0 and then was obliged to hire a man and a horse to bring him home, a distance of 190 miles at an expense of £6-16-18.

John Stanley, of Wallingford, presented a bill for going to Fort George for his sick brother, Salmon, in Captain Cook's company.

Dr. Aaron Andrews, of Wallingford, presented a bill for doctoring Charles Hall and Ephraim Chamberlain, two sick soldiers in Captain Cook's company.

John Austin, of Wallingford, presented a bill for going for his sick son, Amos, six miles this side of Albany.

A soldier on his way home from the campaign was taken sick at Edward Col- lins' home in Meriden and could go no further, so there he stayed helpless for six weeks, with Doctors Insign Hough and Isaac Hall attending him and Mr. Collins furnishing nurses and watchers. The quantity of rum and brandy ad- ministered to this sick man was prodigious during the two weeks when he was "worst." He finally recovered and went on his way, but his name is not given in the bill.

The Wallingford records give a few particulars relative to mortalities in the service, viz. :

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EARLY HISTORY.

Archable McLean, soldier, belonging to company of Col. Street Hall, died in camp near Boston, Nov. II, 1775.

Jas. Frazer, a soldier, a regular, died Jan. 25, 1777.

Eliah, son Capt. Benjamin and Mary Hall, died in camp at New York Aug. 4, 1776.

Abraham, son Abraham and Barbary Ives, died in army July 29, 1776.

Ambrose, son Abraham and Barbary Ives, died in army Sept. 4, 1776.

William, son Samuel and Elizabeth Merriam, died at New York in battle with the enemy Sept. 16, 1776.

Pitt, son Laban and Prudence Andrews, killed in battle at Greenwich, denied quarter by the enemy June 29, 1779.

Butler, son Charles and Sarah Ives, died a prisoner in New York with the enemy Aug. 15, 1779.

As there was no manufacture of salt in this country, the question of supply was an important one. A quantity was finally imported at Boston, and the state dis- tributed it pro rata to the different towns.1 Its division among the inhabitants of Wallingford was a burning issue for some time and during 1777 there were many votes passed at town meetings relative to the matter. At a meeting held Dec. 4, 1777, a committee to distribute it was appointed and it was voted "that the committee set off the quantity of salt for every thousand pounds in the list, which they shall class, and appoint some meet person head of said class to receive the salt that belongs to said class.

"Voted that the head of every class of a thousand pounds that receives the salt that belongs to every class respectively shall pay to the selectmen of said town the cost of bringing said salt from Boston."

At the same meeting they chose a committee to take care of the families of those in the Continental service.

On Dec. 16, 1777, they "voted a tax of three pence on the pound for the ben- efit of the soldiers and their families that are now in the Continental army."

On April 12, 1779 "voted relative to keeping the powder and stores belong- ing to said town, that the selectmen view the old Powder house and if they think proper, to repair the same, or otherwise to build a new one to put the town stores in."

On June 26, 1780, a committee was appointed "to concert some measure for raising soldiers to fill up the Continental army."

Lebanon, Council of Safety Oct. 2 1776

1 "Whereas the great cry and want of the necessary article of salt threatens to disturb the publick . peace and safety of the state, that it makes it absolutely necessary in order to supply both the pub- lick and private necessities of the people and that in the most private and speedy method, therefore voted and resolved that a suitable number of vessels be provided at publick expense to be sent under convoy in order to get a speedy supply of that article and Capt. John Deshon [of New London and ancestor of the late Rev. Dr. Deshon of this city] is appointed as an agent to carry this resolve into execution." Capt. Deshon got the salt.

288

CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

"Voted that whosoever demands more for any merchandize, labour or any other article than he or they shall demand in Hard Money, or shall refuse to receive or pass the money lately emitted by the General Assembly of this state for any greater discount than he or they would for hard money ; he or they shall be deemed as trampling on the Public Faith, and we will withdraw our commerce from him and esteem him unfriendly to his country."

The struggle for independence was long, arduous, and discouraging, and the amount of money raised by taxation was an almost crushing burden for the dif- ferent towns.

But at last the dawn came, and the glorious news of independence and peace was trumpeted the length and breadth of the land.

NOTE-Although not printed in chronological sequence this extract from the Connecticut Gazette supplements the town vote appearing on page 267.

"At a meeting of the true sons of Liberty in Wallingford, in New Haven County, on the evening of the 13th day of January, 1766, after duly formed by choosing a moderator and a clerk, the following resolves were come into, viz.

Resolved I That the late act of Parliament called the Stamp act is unconstitutional, and intended to enslave the true subjects of America.

Resolved 2 That we will oppose the same to the last extremity, even to take the field.

Resolved 3 That we will meet at the Court House in New Haven, on the third Tues- day of February next; and we desire all the sons of liberty in each town in the county would meet there by themselves or representatives; there to consult what is the best to be done in order to defend our liberties and properties and break up the stop to public affairs.

Resolved 4 That this meeting be adjourned to the first Tuesday of February next, there to choose our representatives to attend the aforesaid meeting.

A true copy, examined

P. P. CLARK."

WAR OF 1812.

With the exception of scattered Indian wars the American people were to dwell in peace until the second war with Great Britain in 1812. In one of these Indian wars, that of General St. Clair's unhappy expedition to the Northwest Ter- ritory in 1791, a few Meriden men were engaged. On the records of the First Congregational church are entered the following notices:

Sept. 1791, Mr. Hotchkiss died in the army.

Nov. 1791, Mr. Goodrich killed in the army.

Nov. 1791, George Hall died in the army.

Feb. 11, 1791, Joseph Shaylor, Jr., slain by Indians at Fort Jefferson.1 Beyond these facts nothing has been learned.

The war with England in 1812 was not popular in New England for one of the results was the embargo of the port of Boston and the effect was disastrous on the business interests of this section of the country.

1 This item from tombstone in Broad street cemetery.

EARLY HISTORY. 289

Nevertheless, Meriden men did military service in this war and a goodly num- ber enlisted, but the writer has not been able to learn that they were ever engaged with the enemy. The records seem to show that they were stationed either at New Haven or New London for the period of a few weeks, viz .: from Sept. 5 to Oct. 20, 1814.

In the old Merriam house on Johnson hill in the west part of the town, is preserved a little blank book in which is recorded the roll of a company. It is that of the Second company in the Second regiment, commanded by Col. Elihu Sandford. In it are found the following names that were certainly of Meriden :

Capt. John Butler

Lemuel Butler

Lieut. Elisha A. Cowles

Elah Camp, 2d,

Sergt. Matthew Foster

William Merriam

Darius Benham

William Merriam, 2d,

Salmon Hall

Arba Merriam

Asahel Curtis

Stephen Morse

Samuel Curtis

Benjamin Buel

Ira Merriman

Florus Cook

James Wright

David Clark

Abel Peck

Theophilus Hough

John Collins

Hervey Johnson

Levi Allen

Sylvester Merriam

John E. Bradley

Simon H. Smith

William Andrews

Solomon Smith, Jr.

This roll corresponds with the published records of the state.

In the Mexican War of 1847 there is evidence of but one Meriden man who served, and that was Lemuel O. Anthony, who enlisted in Co. F, 4th Inf., on April 8, 1847, and died July 14, 1847.

The account of the Civil war of 1861-65, from the pen of Colonel Charles L. Upham, appears in Part II.

290

A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

CHAPTER XVII.

According to an eminent authority "in Connecticut the Tories were probably more numerous than in any other New England Colony." The same authority says this was on account of its proximity to New York: but this reason does not seem satisfactory. A more probable cause was the strength of the Church of England among the people. The growth of this communion was remarkable from about the year 1740. It began at a time when religion was at a low ebb in all the New England colonies : and when the attempt to arouse the people to a realization of their low spiritual condition resulted in the movement known as the "Great Awakening." A revulsion from such methods caused many of conservative ideas to fly to the bosom of that church which had previously been so detested by the colonists. But the question may be asked why should a member of the Church of England necessarily have been a Tory. The terms were certainly not synony- mous for many of the greatest patriots and leaders in the Revolution were Episco- palians, viz .: Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Madison, Robert Morris, Rufus King and many others. In the south, in several instances, Church of England clergymen went directly from the pulpit into the field to fight on the side of pa- triotism, and the chaplain of Congress during the war, was William White, after- wards bishop of Pennsylvania ; why should it have been otherwise in Connecticut ? Why did the clergy here to a man maintain their loyalty to the British crown? Unquestionably, on account of the oath of allegiance they took at the time of their ordination and their constant communication with England as agents of the So- ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and to some extent be- cause their stipends were almost wholly derived from the same organization. An- other phase of the situation which was singular to say the least is the fact that the persecution of Loyalists in Connecticut was not nearly so virulent as in other col- onies. Patriotism was as strong but it did not go to such extremes. From Mas- sachusetts and New York large numbers of Tories emigrated to Canada and England during and at the close of the war but the number from Connecticut was extremely small and the lists of confiscations of property were limited to a few cases. Connecticut thus early laid claim to her title of "the land of steady habits." Her patriots barked as loudly as in other colonies but they confined their efforts to intimidation and seldom resorted to extreme measures. An amusing illustra- · tion of this attempt to intimidate was the baptismal adventure of Dr. Leaming, the Episcopal missionary at Norwalk, who was called in April, 1776, to Stratford

29I

EARLY HISTORY.

to christen a child in the church under the name of Thomas Gage, in honor of the British commander at Boston. Immediately the Committee of Inspection sum- moned the doctor to give an explanation of why he should have baptized a child with the name of such a monster of iniquity as General Gage. The poor man stated that he had no discretion in the matter but was obliged by the rubric to give the name in baptism which the godfathers and godmothers desired. Of course, the clergyman's position and reply were unanswerable and the Committee of In- spection were powerless to punish him, much as they desired to ; so they contented themselves with publishing the facts in the Weekly Gazette, in order that the Friends of Liberty may pass judgment on the attempt of the clergyman "to insult and ridicule the Continental struggle in the defence of their just rights which are most wickedly and injuriously invaded." How soon all the bitterness and enmity of the war were forgotten may be judged from the fact that William Samuel John- son, son of the first Episcopal clergyman in Connecticut, and a sympathizer with the British cause was one of the three delegates from this state to the convention in 1787, which formed our national constitution, and he was afterwards elected as our first United States senator.

The Revolution found few Tories in Meriden, judging from the records. On June 18, 1781, the state sold to Jonathan Meigs, of Middletown, sixty-four acres1 known as the Rexford farm, lately the property of James Jauncey, of New York, who had joined the enemies of the United States and whose estate had been con- fiscated. This farm is bounded west by Country road, south by Holt's Hill road, and north by Curtis Home property. On February 8, 1785, the state sold the Stone House2 farm, part of the same confiscated estate.

We have already noted that when the pioneers of Meriden chose their farms and built their homes, Samuel Andrews and his good wife, Abigail, selected a tract of land about a mile west of the present railroad station, on what is now West Main street. Here, almost under the shadow of the grim and rugged Hang- ing Hills, their children, eight sons, were born and reared to manhood, and when the pioneers erected their primitive little church on the slope of Meeting House hill, just above that oak-shaded spot whence a bountiful and never-failing spring gushes forth into a brook that forms a trout-lovers' paradise, Samuel Andrews and his wife were enrolled among the faithful members of Parson Hall's flock.

It was nearly three miles from their home to this little meeting house, and each Sunday, doubtless, the family wended their way through the forest and up the hill to this pioneer sanctuary, and no suspicion existed in their minds or in those of their neighbors concerning their orthodoxy or loyalty to :the Puritan faith.

Y Land Records of Wallingford, Vol. XXII., p. 205.

2 Idem, Vol. XXIV., p. 146.

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CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

In the course of time it became necessary for one of the sons, Laban by name, to go away from home to learn a trade ; so he was apprenticed to Captain Macock Ward, who lived on Pond Hill, in the southern part of Wallingford, almost on the North Haven line. Here the captain lived, respected by his neighbors and prominent in the affairs of the town ; for he was many times deputy to the Gen- eral Court, and served with distinction in campaigns against the French and Span- ish. Governor Talcott, of Hartford, in 1740, writing to the Duke of Newcastle, mentions that he has commissioned Macock Ward, a lieutenant, and we also learn that he was a captain in the Crown Point campaign of 1755. Captain Ward was evidently a man with an inventive turn of mind, for the fact has come down to us that the first pleasure carriage to be used in Wallingford, was owned by him about the year 1755. To it he had attached a sort of cyclometer arrangement. The carriage was a one-horse chaise and the diameter of each wheel was about five feet. By means of machinery and a bell attached to one of the wheels and put in motion by the progress of the vehicle, each revolution was recorded and the driver was notified when a mile had been traveled by the striking of the bell.1 One can imagine the sensation created by the doughty captain when riding about the streets of the town in his strange and wonderful vehicle. He carried on the manufacture of reeds used in hand looms and it is probable that it was to this trade Laban Andrews was bound as an apprentice. The only cause of complaint that the town could urge against the captain was that he was a Churchman or mem- ber of the Church of England, an organization that was decidedly not in general favor at this time in New England. Indeed, the Ward family generally seems to have been identified with this church, for his grandfather, Andrew, was on the register of members of the Episcopal church in Stratford and his brother, Am- brose, was a vestryman of Trinity church, New Haven, during the years 1774- 1776, and 1778-1780. But these facts cannot have much oppressed the captain or he would not have occupied so prominent a position in the community and been so largely the recipient of the favors of his fellow townsmen. Young An- drews, as was the custom in those days, was made one of the family, and forth- with proceeded to fall in love with one of the captain's daughters, and was so successful in his suit that he was soon the affianced lover of the young woman. For some reason this engagement did not terminate in a marriage, but during the brief heyday of bliss the young woman, mindful of the welfare of the soul of her lover, succeeded in converting him to the faith of her father; and the result was so lasting and thorough that the broken troth did not cause Laban to desert the altar from which he had hoped to lead Miss Content Ward as his blushing bride, but rather led him to cling more closely to it, and to become such a missionary in

1 From a manuscript History of Wallingford, by Geo. W. Stanley, and now in the possession of the Conn. Hist. Soc. The sketch was prepared a hundred years ago.

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EARLY HISTORY.

its behalf that it was not long before his parents and brothers had all become members of the Church of England.1 Miss Content eventually married the Rev. Ichabod Camp, who was missionary in charge at Middletown and Wallingford. Their home was in the former place and here she died some five years after her marriage. Mr. Camp soon moved to the West and settled in old Kaskaskia, where he met a terrible fate, being killed by an infuriated son-in-law while trying to protect his daughter.

Samuel Andrews now determined that his youngest son, Samuel by name, born April 27, 1737, should become a clergyman and to this end he and his sons united their means and Samuel was sent to Yale College. He graduated in the class of 1759, one of his classmates being Benjamin Trumbull, who became the or- thodox minister at North Haven and the famous historian of Connecticut. Tra- dition says that these two godly men hated each other as the devil is said to hate holy water and it is probable that in this connection tradition is correct. Samuel, after acting as a lay REV. SAMUEL ANDREWS. From an oil portrait now in England. reader for a short time in Wallingford,

was sent to England in 1761, and in Au- gust he was ordain- ed to the ministry by the Bishop of Lon- don, and in January, 1762, he returned to America. He was now a missionary regularly licensed by the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," an organiza- tion formed in Eng- land in 1701 to en- courage the growth of the church in the colonies. The so- ciety directed him to take charge of the work in Walling- ford, Cheshire and North Haven ; and there for a number of years he quietly labored in his appointed field.

His personality was charming, for in him were united not only a handsome presence and delightful manners, but keen wit and humor, and affability and good nature. He won the respect and warmest affection, not only of his parishioners,

1 The main facts of the story of the conversion of the Andrews family to the Church of England and the Washington dinner in Wallingford are taken from a sketch published in The Calendar of March 30th and April 6, 1850, by Rev. Hillard Bryant. He was rector of St. Paul's church, Wal- lingford, 1841-50, and at that time there were many still alive who would have been eye-witnesses of the dinner and only one generation removed from contemporaries of the Andrews conversion.

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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

but also of the whole community. The rectory which stood a little to the east of North Main street in Wallingford rested on the same foundation which supports the house until lately forming the home of the Choate School for Boys. He was well provided for by the income of fourteen acres of glebe land, a stipend from the Missionary Society and the contributions of his faithful parishioners. He mar- ried on September 13, 1764, Hannah Shelton, of Stratford, and was blessed by a family of six children and the manner of his living is indicated by the fact that he had two negro slaves. St. Paul's church stood at the corner of Main and Christian streets on the same lot on which the public school now stands, not far from the parson's home. His life was a happy one, although laborious, for his work extended over a large amount of territory.

The church was prosperous and growing and reflected much credit on the zeal and faithfulness of the efficient minister. He was rewarded by the warm regard of his flock, by the kind words of the venerable society in England, and lastly by a present of a gilded and much carved royal coat of arms which occupied a conspicuous place in the little parish church of Wallingford. The rapid growth of the church under his care was probably largely assisted by the bitter contro- versy which for some time had divided the Congregationalists in Wallingford into two hostile camps; a controversy so bitter that all New England was exercised by it and the noise of the warfare had even penetrated to remote colonies. For reasons too tedious to enumerate and which it is doubtful if we should understand if related, the schism had become permanent, and henceforth for a number of years there were two Congregational churches in Wallingford.1 Dr. James Dana was the pastor of the old society and the new or Wells society had called the Rev. Mr. Waterman to minister to them. Tradition says that a warm personal friend- ship sprang up between Dr. Dana and the Rev. Mr. Andrews: a friendship which was doubtless much tested and tried by their radically different religious and po- litical views, but which lasted until the death of Dr. Dana in 1812.

Most of the years of Mr. Andrews' ministry were uneventful until we ap- proach the time when the American Revolution broke out. His brother, Laban, for a number of years, was one of his church wardens, and his work was also as- sisted and supplemented by two strong and influential men who were a tower of strength to him in seasons of doubt and distress. These two men were our friend, Captain Macock Ward, and Captain Titus Brockett, a man of considerable means, . and with very pronounced and not popular views on the relations which he thought ought to exist between the king and the colonists. Captain Brockett was so staunch a Tory that when he died in July, 1773, a tradition exists that it was only after strong effort that his widow and friends were permitted to bury his body in the old cemetery, and then, only in the easterly portion of the graveyard, where

J A whole chapter in Dr. Trumbull's History of Conn. is devoted to this controversy.

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EARLY HISTORY.

the ground was so soft and swampy, that the coffin could only be firmly fixed in the bottom of the grave by the aid of two strong fence rails bound together where they crossed each other diagonally just above the earth. As proof of the truth of this tradition it may be stated that the gravestone of the old Tory is in a neglected and lonesome spot in the extreme eastern part of the cemetery, just south of the tool house, and it is necessary to pull aside the hedge before one can comfortably

ROYAL COAT OF ARMS.

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An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it, Part 27

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co. Number of Pages: 1252

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1252