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 28
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Formerly in the Episcopal church in Wallingford, now in All Saints' church, St. An- drews, N. B.
read the inscription, "In Memory of Capt. Titus Brockett who departed this life July 20 1773 in the 74th year of his age." Near at hand a mouldering and moss- covered stone announces that it was erected "In Memory of Mary Brockett who died May Ist A. D. 1777 in the 64th year of her age."
As was quite customary among people of means in those days of long ago, the opinionated and obstinate old captain had among his goods and chattels, two negro
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slaves, a boy named Esau and a girl called Grace. In his will he directed that so long as his wife should live and remain his widow, the slaves should be her property ; but in the event of her death or remarriage, Esau was to be free.
St. Paul's church was also handsomely endowed and the widow donated £ 50, the income of which was to go to the poor. We note among the personal effects of the captain a silver tankard (from which he doubtless frequently drank the health of King George and death to his enemies), six pairs of breeches, seven coats, seven waistcoats, a sword, wig box, hat case, gold buttons and silver buckles. Truly he must have been a gorgeous individual when parading the streets of Wal- lingford clad in his finery, his sword at his side, and followed by his ebony-hued body servant, Esau.
The sensational attempt to prevent the interment of Captain Brockett's body in the cemetery (which lies about three hundred feet east of the present Walling- ford railroad station) was but one of many evidences of the intensity of feeling in the country generally.
Wallingford was like every other town in New England. Disgust with the acts of the British parliament was fast ripening the people for almost any step ; it needed but a match to fire the pent-up feelings, and the day at Lexington and Concord at last set free all restraint. Then on June 17th, 1775, came the battle of Bunker Hill where the green and raw provincial forces showed a grim deter- mination and bravery that should have warned the British of the seriousness of the conflict which was impending.
Congress in Philadelphia had already appointed George Washington command- er-in-chief of the Continental forces and on the 21st he started for Cambridge with his retinue of officers to take charge of the army which invested Boston. On Sun- day, June 25th, he reached New York and on Wednesday, the 28th, he arrived at New Haven where he passed the night in the tavern of Isaac Beers, which stood near the location of the present New Haven House. Everywhere his progress was a triumphal procession and he was met with joy and acclamation. The next morning he departed from New Haven attended by great numbers of the inhabi- tants of the town. A New Haven paper of the times said: "They were escorted out of town by two companies dressed in their uniforms and by a company of young gentlemen belonging to the seminary in this place." One of this latter company was Noah Webster who marched at the head playing a fife or drum. At the rate they were moving they must have reached Wallingford a little before noon. This was on June 29th. Accompanying Washington was General Charles Lee, soldier of fortune, and also braggart and poltroon, who later went down to everlasting infamy and disgrace at the battle of Monmouth.
Washington with his officers stopped to dine at the tavern and the clergy of the town were asked to dine with him. As he was a Churchman, it was but nat-
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ural that Parson Andrews should be invited also, notwithstanding his suspected Royalist sympathies. The Rev. Mr. Waterman of the Wells Society asked the blessing, and became so voluble and continued the prayer to such a length, that impatient General Lee could restrain his appetite no longer and sat down and began to eat while the prayer was still in progress. Tradition says nothing as to the con- duct of General Washington, but it is safe to assume that, as usual, it was irre- proachable.
After the repast Parson Andrews was asked to give thanks, possibly with the idea that he would make some remark that could be twisted into treason to the commonwealth, but he refused to be drawn into the trap and with a keen sense of humor and with the idea of administering a rebuke to Parson Waterman for his excessively bad taste in boring the guests with so many words, he repeated a verse from Ecclesiastes, v : 2, "Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in Heaven and thou upon earth : therefore let thy words be few," and sat down. To an ardent patriot the courag- eous minister's words must have been like waving a red flag in the face of a bull : but, to a patriot like Dr. Dana, with an abounding sense of the ludicrous and a not too pleasant feeling toward his rival, Mr. Waterman, the situation must have been an enjoyable one; but the occasion was remembered and Parson Andrews' words rankled in the breast of many a patriot.
After the repast General Washington and his retinue moved on to Wethers- field where they arrived in the afternoon and dined; then on to Hartford and Springfield, at which latter place they were met by a committee from the Mas- sachusetts Provincial Assembly who escorted the distinguished party to Cam- bridge.1
In July a day of fasting and humiliation was proclaimed by the General Con- gress in Philadelphia and Parson Andrews chose the opportunity to deliver a ser- mon to his faithful flock. His text was from Amos v : 21, "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies."
Naturally, as soon as the text became generally known there was a profound sensation throughout the community. Some one communicated the text to the Connecticut Gazette and New Haven Postboy and a very acrimonious correspond- ence followed in the same paper. One correspondent stated that since Mr. An- drews had come to Wallingford three fasts had been proclaimed and that at the time of the Stamp Act in 1765 he had preached a sermon in his church on this text : "In those days there was no King in Israel, but every man did that which
1 Washington again visited Wallingford in 1789. His diary, under date of October 19th, after a withering reference to the Inn kept by one Carrington, gives the following interesting information :
"At this place we see the White Mulberry growing, raised from the seed, to feed the silk worm. We also saw samples of lustring (exceedingly good) which had been manufactured from the cocoon raised in this town, and silk thread, very fine. This, except the weaving, is the work of private fam- ilies, without interfering with other business, and is likely to turn out a beneficial amusement."
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was right in his own eyes," which showed his utter lack of sympathy with the motive which inspired the fast. At the time of the fast in 1774 he told his con- gregation on the Sunday previous that he did not think it worth while to read the proclamation, that he should not open his church and that his hearers might go where they wished. He himself was seen riding on his horse in the town street at the time of public worship and some of his people spent the day in fes- tivity. His conduct at that time gave so much umbrage that on the third fast February Ist, 1775, he opened his church for public worship. Mr. Andrews re- plied to his correspondents and followed up the matter by publishing his sermon, to which was attached the following affidavit: "August 12, 1775, The following discourse was examined and found to be a true copy of the original by Street Hall, Caleb Hall." The sermon certainly does not show any sympathy with the cause in which the country was now embarked. He warns his hearers to pause ere it be too late, reminds them of the prodigious strength of England, calls their attention to the fact that it is absurd to prate so much about liberty and equality of all men when so many men are held as slaves in various parts of the country. The sermon is mild in tone but it is anything but encouraging to the cause of . patriotism.
But notwithstanding the mild tone of the sermon the harm had been done, and, added to the disagreeable impression made at the dinner to the generals, caused excitement to reach a white heat. A meeting of the Inspection Committee was held and the parson was put under heavy bonds to keep the peace and he was for- bidden to go anywhere except to and from his church without permission of the committee. The breaking out of hostilities and the Declaration of Independence must, of course, have cut off Mr. Andrews' stipend from England: and during the long and weary years, with some of his flock serving in the army and others deserting to the enemy his life cannot have been a cheerful one. It is probable that he did not continue to hold services in his church after the edict of the In- spection Committee had been issued. There was an extremely bitter feeling in the community against all Churchmen, for this term was generally considered synonymous with Toryism. A very respectable Episcopalian had been shot for being a Tory1 and it was rumored that the wells of several other Tories were to be poisoned. But it is believed that after the order of the bishop of London was sent over in 1778 directing the clergy to open their churches and hold services, omitting the prayer for the king and royal family that the parson called his fright- ened flock together and began once more to minister to his people.
Laban Andrews, who was a staunch patriot, was one of the Inspection Com- mittee and also a selectman and presumably made life as easy for his unhappy
1 Julius Yale, as a boy, heard that a Mr. Tyler, of Tyler's Mills, now Yalesville, a strong Tory, was shot while going from his mill to his house. No one was arrested, and no attention was paid to the body for some time.
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brother as possible. Laban's son Pitt (no doubt named for the great Earl of Chatham, the sturdy friend of America until his death) met a tragic end in the army at the early age of fourteen.
The Wallingford records briefly state: "Pitt, son of Laban and Prudence An- drews, killed in battle at Greenwich: denied quarter by the enemy June 29, 1779." This, no doubt, was but a minor engagement with the British just previous to their descent on New Haven in July, for we learn from some old Revolutionary rolls lately discovered in the town clerk's office at Wallingford, that several companies were detached to go to Greenwich the 15th of June, 1779.
We wonder if the parson was allowed to call on that rank old Tory, Governor William Franklin of New Jersey (son of the immortal Benjamin), who was for some time confined in the old Carrington house on Main street, which stood just north of the present Simpson block.
Franklin was the last royal governor of New Jersey and a natural son. He was a man of fine appearance and on a visit to England with his father made such an impression on the celebrated Earl of Bute, that, on his recommendation, he was appointed governor of New Jersey in 1763. During the first days of the dispute of America with the mother country, he became involved with his as- sembly which soon declared him to be an enemy to his country, and gave orders that he should be sent a prisoner to Connecticut. He was accordingly placed in the custody of a guard commanded by a captain who had orders to take him to Governor Trumbull. The officer in charge halted at Hackensack, and was re- buked by Washington for his delay, as the commander-in-chief believed that the deposed governor was designing to effect his escape; basing his belief on the fact that he had refused to sign the parole and that a letter to Mrs. Franklin had been intercepted.
He arrived in Connecticut July 5, 1776. He was immediately sent to Wal- lingford after he had signed his parole. He was at first placed in the inn, then kept by Captain Johnson. It was crowded with officers, soldiers, travelers and townsmen whose sympathies were all on the patriotic side. Naturally his life was made exceedingly disagreeable. He was insulted and jeered at and even threat- ened with assassination. The Tories of the town who were among the most re- spectable and wealthy families in the community, desiring to assist the governor and relieve him from his sufferings, applied to Mrs. Potter, the wife of Dr. Jared Potter, for a suite of rooms in her spacious, well-furnished house on the other side of the street, promising to see that she was amply reimbursed. Dr. Potter, an ardent and strenuous patriot, was away with the army, and so she agreed to the proposition and Governor Franklin was quietly removed at night to his new abode where he was kept secluded and comparatively secure. No one visited him except a few of his Tory friends and, in the meantime, he amused himself as best
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he could with Mrs. Potter's little girls, with whom he walked in the flower garden back of the house. He made himself as gay a companion as possible, playing, chatting and romping with them, and he would eagerly watch the clock to see the hands indicate the hour when they would return from school. It soon be- came known that the governor was in Mrs. Potter's house and the patriots openly promised to visit personal violence upon him so that both parties became alarmed at what might be the outcome of the situation. Rumors of poisoned wells and personal violence were circulated. The Whigs noticed the frequent visits of the Tories to the prisoner's apartments and believed that a plot was on foot to take him quietly away at night to the seashore and put him on some British boat in the Sound.1 Petitions were sent to Governor Trumbull asking him to re- move the prisoner to a place of greater safety. The Governor agreed to do as he was asked and he was taken to East Windsor where he was quar- tered in the house of Captain Ebenezer Grant. In 1777 he requested liberty to visit his wife who was sick in a house a few miles away. In reply to his request General Washington refused to grant it, although he wrote him a sympathetic letter. Mrs. Franklin continued to pine and finally died in great unhappiness in 1778 and on a monumental tablet erected to her memory in St. Paul's church, New York, we may read: "Compelled by the adverse circumstances of the times to part from the husband she loved and at length despairing of the soothing hope of his speedy return, she sunk under accumulated distresses." In 1778 an exchange of prisoners was effected and Governor Franklin was removed. His course was a source of great mortification to his distinguished father.
Had Dr. Jared Potter been at home it is very doubtful if Governor Franklin would have been able to find refuge in the patriotic doctor's house for his loyalty to the Continental government was so strong that he would hardly have tolerated the idea of harboring a traitor in his house under any conditions.2
We wonder if the Inspection Committee gave the parson permission to condole with and try to comfort his former parishioner, the unhappy Abiathar Camp, who was for a while confined on parole in his own house in Wallingford? Mr. Camp was a resident of New Haven and followed the profession of shipmaster. The ship- ping news column of the weekly gazettes of the period are constantly mentioning the arrival or departure of Captain Abiathar Camp from or to such ports as St.
1 See N. H. Colony Hist. Soc. Col. Vol. 11., pp. 320-1, for the main facts of this account of Franklin's detention in Wallingford.
2 Dr. Potter was a man of importance in the community, and it was he who afterwards introduced silk-worm culture into Wallingford. He corresponded with Benjamin Franklin on the subject, and stocked his farm with mulberry trees, the seed for which he received from Franklin.
In 1805, that Baron Munchausen, the Rev. Samuel Peters, author of that lying book, "A General History of Connecticut," visited Dr. Potter for some weeks, having been referred to him by President Jefferson in his efforts to acquire some lands of which he had procured the title. The asperities of the war were so far forgotten that the clergyman and physician became very good friends, and had many a laugh over the clergyman's effort in historical literature.
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Martins, the Barbadoes or Nova Scotia. He was evidently a man of considerable wealth, owning, besides his residence in New Haven, farms in Eastbury and Wal- lingford. He was a vestryman of Trinity church, New Haven, and a man of very respectable position in the community.
He was eventually allowed to leave Wallingford and return to his home in New Haven, having become what was known as a Recanter, but at the time of the invasion of New Haven by the British in 1779, he left with the enemy when they retired from the town and settled at last in New Brunswick where he died at the age of eighty-four years.
At a town meeting held in 1775, a Committee of Inspection was elected to en- quire into all cases of suspected loyalty and to take such measures as were neces- sary. The committee did not let the grass grow under its feet. The members were as follows: Eliakim Hall, Stephen Andrews, Deacon David Hall, Ensign Caleb Atwater, Isaac Bull, Uriah Collins, Nathaniel Hart for the First society ; Captain Asahel Hall, Major Reuben Atwater, Captain Moses Atwater, David Brooks, Samuel Beach, Esq., Lieutenant Munson Merriman for Cheshire parish, and James Hough, Ensign Divan Berry, Lieutenant Allen Roys, Laban Andrews, Captain Hezekiah Johnson and Miles Johnson for Meriden parish: another com- mittee was appointed Dec. 17, 1776.
In the Connecticut Journal Nov. 22, 1775, appears the following :
"At a meeting of the Committee of Inspection for the town of Wallingford, in the county of New Haven, on the 6th day of Nov 1775 Benjamin Hall,1 the 3rd, of said Wallingford, having been notified to appear before the committee and answer a complaint made against him, for a breach of the Hon. Continental Asso- ciation against his attendance. To the charge exhibited against him pleaded not guilty : whereupon the committee proceeded to hear and examine the evidence and on a full and fair tryal are unanimously of the opinion, that the complaint was fully proved against said Hall, and that he has violated the IIth article of the Continental Association, in employing Asa Austin of said Wallingford, as a schoolmaster who was then considered as an enemy to his country, and as such had been advertised in the Connecticut Journal, and that said Hall has also in- dustriously used his influence and endeavours, to frustrate the designs of the Grand Continental Congress, in representing them to be a hot headed absolute body of men, aiming at the subversion of the English constitution, and exercising a tyrannical dominion over the colonies: In justifying parliamentary measures, and in casting virulent reflections upon the committees acting under the Con- gress : such as being arbitrary in their proceedures-and meanly, and most ridic-
1 In the issue of the Connecticut Journal April 12, 1780, the estate of Benjamin Hall, late of Wal- lingford, politically deceased, by joining the enemies of the U. S. is advertised as in the hands of an administrator.
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uously employed to peep into old womens tea pots and - pots. Strictly adher- ing to the doings of the Congress we now hang up to public view the aforesaid Benjamin Hall, the 3rd as an inveterate enemy to the rights of British America : and most devoutly recommend to all the friends of this once happy but now in- jured and bleeding country, forthwith, upon the publication of this, to withdraw all connections and commercial dealings from said Hall, as directed by the afore- cited Congress in the IIth article of their Association: And the Chairman is de- sired to procure a copy of this judgment to be inserted in the public papers.
Signed by order Caleb Johnson, Chairman."
Asa Austin, the schoolmaster, was also in dire disgrace for rash remarks: after considering the matter carefully he was ready to do penance for his transgres- sion, and accordingly we find in the same newspaper, under date of Dec. 20, 1775, the following :
"I, Asa Austin, of Wallingford, being sensible that I have contemptuously violated the third article of the Honorable Continental Association, and treated the Committee of Inspection with contempt, in refusing to treat with them when duly notified to appear before them: and also in speaking unfavorably to the measures taken by my country in defence of her stipulated rights, whereby I have greatly offended the good people of the United Colonies; which inconsiderate conduct I heartily reflect upon, praying the forgiveness of all whom I have justly offended ; and as I am hearty in my request, I promise that for the future I will stand by my country, in defence of its sacred liberties, and utterly discountenance and disunite from those who are inimical to the rights of British America.
Asa Austin
Voted, that the above confession is accepted upon the signer thereof, forthwith publishing the same in the Gazette. A true copy examined.
Wallingford, Dec II 1775 Per David Brooks, Clerk"
The power of this inspection or vigilance committee must have been great in crushing out all independence of statement.
Parson Andrews' influence among his parishioners in behalf of the cause of the mother country must have been far reaching and thorough. Abraham Blakes- lee, of North Haven, Senior Warden of the parish there and captain of a military company in the Second Regiment, having manifested his disaffection to the gov- ernment by speaking contemptuously of the measures taken by the General As- sembly was broken and cashiered from office and was summoned to appear at the bar of the General Assembly to answer for seditious conduct.
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In 1778 ten members of his parish in North Haven sent the following letter to "John Martin, Commissary General at New York with speed, North Haven, February 12, 1778, We the inhabitants of North Haven whose names are under- written are the king's loyal subjects and well-wishers to his Majesty, George III. We have, therefore, provided a considerable quantity of provisions and tobacco for the use of his army and intend to send at the first opportunity we have to New York or Long Island. We have, likewise, several young men that intends to join the regulars the first chance they have.
We hope the God of Heaven will succor you in your endeavors to subdue the rebels to your subjection, so we must conclude your hearty friends and well- wishers."
Fortunately for the signers of this document it did not become public until long after the war was ended.
Parson Andrews' brothers in Meriden did not escape without a visit from the same authority which was oppressing him. Moses, who lived on the old home farm in Meriden, had been forbidden by the Inspection Committee to leave it under any pretext whatsoever and Denison, another brother, was laboring under a like situation. To Moses the most grievous part of his punishment was in being for- bidden to worship God with his brethren on the Lord's Day and in his parish church. He petitioned for permission to go to church on Sundays in Walling- ford. The request was refused, but he was graciously given liberty to at- tend the Congregational meeting in Meriden. To a Churchman of the An- drews stripe this favor was galling. Finding that he would not be allowed to at- tend the church of his choice he determined to have services in his own house. Immediately his parlor was transformed into a chapel. Slabs and blocks of wood served as benches and the other Churchmen who were his neigh- bors were invited to attend. Moses himself acted as lay reader. This was the beginning of St. Andrew's church, Meriden. The services here so humbly be- gun, were continued in the same house for a quarter of a century.
It should not be forgotten that at the time of the Revolutionary War, Walling- ford was a much larger place relatively than it is to-day. It had almost as many inhabitants as Hartford and a trifle larger tax list. In fact, it was one of the large towns of the state and was generally noted as a stronghold of patriots of which there is evidence in the record of the taxes laid during the different years of the war. In 1775 the tax rate was 2d. on the £, in 1776 Id. in 1777 131/2d, in 1779 39d, and in 1780 it reached the enormous sum of 6s. 4d. on the £, which was practically confiscation, or else it denoted a great depreciation of the circulating medium. While Wallingford did not furnish any noted men to the Revolutionary cause it had a large body of troops in the field officered by able Wallingford men.
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Wallingford served as a place of detention for many others who had been voted inimical to their country. These prisoners were confined in different houses and on January 21, 1777, it was voted that all regular prisoners that shall be sta- tioned in Wallingford and quartered in the houses of different families shall not be allowed to go about or abroad without license from the heads of these families. A large powder house was stationed in the town which seems to have been the cause of much anxiety to the selectmen and citizens generally. Guards were ap- pointed to look after it carefully and see that the hated Tories might not find op- portunity to cause the powder to be exploded. Wallingford was as susceptible as any other part of the country to news of success or hope for the future, and we find in the Connecticut Journal of May 6, 1778, a letter from Wallingford dated May Ist, which reads as follows: "Tuesday last a number of respectable inhabitants assembled towards evening to celebrate in civil demonstration of Joy the late im- portant intelligence from Europe brought by the frigate La Sensible. The re- joicings were introduced with thirteen discharges of cannon, followed by three cheers. To this succeeded the same number of volleys with small arms with the under-mentioned toasts interspersed with the cheers repeated. The whole was conducted with the greatest propriety and regularity and the company dispersed early in the evening." We will not give a complete list of the toasts. Among them were the following which have some interest for us because they show the cause of the rejoicing :
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