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 29
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"France and Spain."
"The American Ambassador at the Court of France."
"General Gates and his brave army who gave the last deadly blow to the pride of Britain."
"General Stark and the brave militia who fought the battle of Bennington."
"May monopolizers and withholders, Tories and Tyrants, meet with the confu- sion they so justly deserve."
"May the internal Foes of America never taste the Sweets of Liberty."
"May the Union of the American States be perpetual and their Prize Free- dom until time shall be no more."
Wallingford was intensely democratic in its sympathies and opposed bitterly the attempt to retire officers with five years full pay ; and the idea of a Society of the Cincinnati was too odious to contemplate. At a town meeting held in Sep- tember, 1783, the local representatives to the legislature were instructed to oppose all encroachments of the American Congress upon the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the separate states and to pursue a strict and thorough investigation of the great and interesting question whether Congress was authorized by the Federal consti- tution to grant half-pay for life to the officers of the army.
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EARLY HISTORY.
But all things have an end and at last the weary war was brought to a close and the country began to resume a normal condition. And yet this was a time which has been well-called "The Critical Period of American History." For in some places anarchy stalked abroad and it began to look as if the liberty for which so much blood had been shed was but a mockery and a delusion.
Finally Mr. Andrews recognized the inevitable, that the separation from the mother country was irrevocable and complete, and in April, 1785, signed the oath of fidelity to the state of Connecticut.
With many of his flock gone and the rest impoverished and discouraged, the outlook was not cheering. Broken in spirit and in health, he decided to leave the country and settle under the British crown in New Brunswick. In spite of prayers and entreaties thither he went in the spring of 1786 and chose as his asy- lum the town of St. Andrews, where, from his home he could look across the St. Croix river and see the shores of Maine. He returned to Wallingford in the fall, but in the spring of 1787 he bade farewell to his parishioners and with his family made the journey to St. Andrews, taking with him the royal coat of arms which for so long a time had been a conspicuous object in St. Paul's church. Doubtless during the war of the Revolution it was safely hidden in some cellar or garret secure from the prying eyes of meddlesome patriots. But shortly after the ad- vent of Parson Andrews in St. Andrews it was hung on the walls of All Saints' church, which was built about 1792, and although the old church is gone, still it hangs on the walls of the new sanctuary to this day, brilliant with paint and gold.
Mr. Andrews bought at first a home lot in St. Andrews, but on March 15, 1791, "Samuel Osborn Esq. late commander of his Majesty's ship the Ariadne and now of London, for £ 150," sold to Samuel Andrews, clerk and missionary of S. P. G., an island called Chamcook, containing 500 acres. On this island, over- looking St. Andrews, Mr. Andrews built his house and here he passed the re- mainder of his life. A large part of the island is now owned by Sir William Van Horne, of Canada, and on it he has built a beautiful country seat. The island is now called Minister's Island.
Mention has been made of the friendship existing between Dr. Dana and Mr. Andrews. On Christmas day, 1788, an event occurred which is strong evidence of this fact, and considering the feeling of hostility at that time between the Con- gregational and Episcopalian bodies it is evidence of a kind we would not expect to find. On this festival day Dr. Dana preached a sermon in St. Paul's church on "The Nativity of Christ," and after the discourse delivered the following prayer, "May grace and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied to the flock of God who usually worship in this sanctuary. May they remember how they have received the messages of salvation from their late worthy pastor and hold fast and repent. We commend him and his family to the grace of God. Grant him more perfect and confirmed health. Protect his 20
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life and usefulness. May the wilderness and the solitary place be glad for the good tidings he may bring and welcome him saying: Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
Some time after his arrival in St. Andrews the good parson was stricken with a paralytic stroke which for a while incapacitated him for work in his new field. During the winter of 1792-1793 he made a visit to Wallingford. How much of sadness must have mingled with the pleasure of revisiting the old familiar places. His friend, Captain Macock Ward, had passed away an unrepentant Tory to the 'ast. He never received an office from his fellow-townsmen after being elected to the Colonial Court in 1774 and he sturdily refused to the end to sign the oath of fidelity to the state of Connecticut. Dr. Dana had been called to the First church in New Haven. Mr. Andrews' father, Samuel, and brother, Laban, had been gathered to their fathers. Death had been busy in many places among his friends. But his brothers, Denison and Moses, were still living in Meriden and doubtless many of his hours were passed with them. He officiated to some ex- tent in the churches in Wallingford, North Haven and Cheshire and performed the marriage ceremony for children of his former parishioners.
And now the time had come to return to his home in New Brunswick; the farewells were said and the sloop "Prosperity," Isaac Kirtland, of Wallingford, master, was lying in New Haven harbor at Tomlinson's Wharf. In the Connec- ticut Journal for several weeks there appeared the following advertisement: "For St. Andrews, New Brunswick, the Sloop Prosperity will sail early in April. For freight or passage apply to the Master in Wallingford or to Mr. Isaac Tomlinson in New Haven." The first week in April the anchor was raised, the prow was headed towards St. Andrews; on board were the Rev. Samuel Andrews and his wife, and his son and wife. The voyage was prosperous until they reached a ledge of rocks a few miles off the coast of Mt. Desert. Unfortunately the boat ran full head on this ledge although the sea was smooth and it was soon apparent that the boat was to be a total loss. The passengers and crew were with difficulty saved but they were finally landed on the shore in safety, and eventually they were transported to St. Andrews.1 Evidently the memory of this shipwreck al- ways stayed with the good parson for he never again came back to Wallingford to revisit the scenes of his childhood and early ministry. He continued to labor in St. Andrews until his death September 26, 1818, at the ripe old age of eighty- one years. The local Canadian paper contained the following obituary notice :
"Died at St. Andrews on the 26th ulto. in the 82d year of his age the Rev. Sam'l Andrews, a venerable missionary from the S. P. G. and Rector of St. Andrews. This pious and amiable character has retired from the world full of years and full of the admiration and esteem of all who knew him-to his family and friends an irreparable loss-and while memory holds its seat the recollection
1 From a New Haven newspaper of that period.
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of his virtues and of his worth will be consecrated in the hearts of all his Par- ishioners. He was interred on Tuesday the 29th ult. after a sermon preached upon the occasion and his funeral was attended by the whole parish, the military and a most respectable body of clergy and gentry from the neighborhood, and of the American shores, amidst the tears and griefs of a grateful people."
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CHAPTER XVIII.
If one takes the electric car line and rides to the end of the track in East Mer- iden, nearly to the Middletown boundary, one is in Bangall. There are no precise limits to the district, and one hardly knows when Bangall is reached or when it is left ; but still the name is there and has been for a long time, and people joke about it and try to explain its origin in various ways. The writer has heard sev- eral theories that attempt to account for it.
Dr. Davis gives this story in his history: "Capt. Benjamin Hall had a tavern at the Noah Pomeroy place, which in those days was a place of great resort by parties who came from Middletown, Durham and Wallingford. One night in particular, a large party came from Middletown and kept up their frolics all night : in the words of Captain Hall, 'they banged all creation': from which circumstance came the name of Bangall."
Here is one yarn that was told by its narrator to the writer as a veracious ac- count of the origin of the name: Years ago a man in the Bangall country named Samuel Baldwin was an eccentric character who, instead of bursting into profanity when stirred by excitement, always exclaimed, "bang it all, bang it all." Thus were his emotions relieved, and thus he gave a name to the neighborhood.
Another explanation which the writer heard from an old man who has always lived in the vicinity, is that the young men who worked in the Pomeroy tin shops in that locality were so noisy and boisterous and full of horse play, that the name arose in that way. In fact, one can hear various yarns from the older inhabitants, but they all agree in this particular, viz. that there was a great deal of "banging" in the vicinity.
If this were the only instance of the use of the word Bangall the writer would not be at all sceptical, and would be inclined to believe this derivation. But, un- fortunately for these various explanations, there are six other Bangalls, all located in New York state. The following is the list :
Bangall P. O., Dutchess Co.
Bangall (Guildersleeve P. O.), Albany Co.
Bangall (East Venice P. O.), Cayuga Co.
Bangall (Taylor P. O.), Cortland Co.
Bangall ( Parish P. O.), Oswego Co.
Bangall (Easton P. O.), Washington Co.
In every case, except the first, they are all hamlets in townships.
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EARLY HISTORY.
The writer has no theory to offer but he can hardly believe that the Meriden story is a satisfactory reason: if it is, then we must assume that the "banging" habit was a general one in various parts of the country at some time in the past. It seems more likely that it is an old place name, and that the various yarns offered to account for its origin, are simply developments of the same in- genuity which would explain the origin of the word Meriden by saying that it was once a Merry-den.
Mr. Berthold Fernow, the official translator of the early Dutch records of New
OLD BRENTON, OR CASPAR HALL PLACE.
York, and a man of profound knowledge of early colonial Dutch and English, suggested to the writer that perhaps the word is a corruption of the old English place name of Bagnall.
But whatever the origin of the word, it is certain that if the early inhabitants of the east part of Meriden were seeking a name for that locality which would be descriptive, they could not have done better than to select that of Hall Farms. A hundred years ago it would have been perfectly safe to address any man one met in Bangall as Mr. Hall. Although the Baldwin family had secured an entering wedge on the west side of the locality, their presence but served to
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emphasize the predominance of the name of Hall. And they were all scions of the ancient Hall stock of Wallingford.
Perhaps the most prominent man in Meriden and certainly of his name, when the town was incorporated in 1806, was Brenton Hall. The Hon. Brenton Hall he was called and he was a worthy representative of the stock.
He was born in Cheshire April 2, 1738, and was a son of Rev. Samuel of that parish, and his wife, Ann, the daughter of Jonathan Law, governor of Con- „ necticut. . He was a great-great-grandson of Governor Brenton of Rhode Island. Hence his name. His father, Rev. Samuel, had, at an early date, received a grant of two hundred acres in Meriden parish, in the extreme eastern part, fronting on the north on old Liberty street. The farm ran down to Black Pond on the south and adjoined the Middletown line on the east. There is evidence that Brenton was in Meriden as early as 1760, and on February 18, 1762, he married Lament, the daughter of Jonathan Collins, whose old house has already been pictured, now known as the Samuel Clark place. In 1767 his father presented to Bren- ton the farm of 200 acres which then included a dwelling and other buildings.
The house is said to have been built by Rev. Samuel for his son at about the date of his marriage, viz. 1762. A year or two ago, this dwelling, which was fast going to decay, was pulled down. It has already been described as fronting on old Liberty street, several hundred feet east of Preston avenue, at the top of the hill. This picture is a reproduction of one that appeared in the Hall Genealogy.
According to the "Hall Ancestry," Brenton Hall was a man of dignified bear- ing, a clear, dark complexion, bright intelligent eyes, and dark brown hair. He was Meriden's first representative to the General Assembly, and had acted in like capacity for the town of Wallingford previously, and was largely instrumental in having Meriden set off as a separate township. Brenton was first cousin of Col. Street Hall of Revolutionary fame and first cousin of Lyman Hall, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and during the Tryon Invasion of New Haven in 1779, Brenton as ensign, marched with a company of Meriden men to the scene of action. He was twice married, his second wife being Widow Abigail Guy, of Branford.
He died Nov. 25, 1820, and his body lies buried in the old Broad street ceme- tery. His son, Caspar, inherited the homestead and many acres of the farm and Mrs. Joseph Morse, of Meriden, is one of his children. Collins Hall, the second son of Brenton, married in 1795 and, doubtless, built his home at that time. It is still standing on the east side of Pomeroy avenue, at its junction with East Main street or Middletown turnpike.
On Nov. 9, 1796, his father gave him a farm of sixty acres "on which he now dwells," showing that the house was then built. The northwest corner of the farm is stated to be near Constant Miller's mill dam. Collins died in 1849. When the house was built the turnpike was not in existence.
3IF
EARLY HISTORY.
Another son of Brenton, Augustus, was given a farm by his father that fronted west on Preston avenue, and the house he built is still standing and is located on that avenue on the east side, about 160 rods north of East Main street. Walter Hall, the son of Augustus, lives in the old Ambrose Hough place, at the corner of Liberty and Broad streets.
At the junction of Pomeroy and Murdock avenues formerly stood a very old house which was bought and lived in by Noah Pomeroy when he came to Meri- iden about 1816. It was that in which Captain Benjamin A. Hall was supposed to have kept the tavern that gave the section the name of Bangall. Many years
Photo by R. S. Godfrey.
COLLINS HALL PLACE.
ago the Pomeroy family moved the old dwelling a few hundred feet east of its former location and there it stands to-day. A modern house occupies the old site.
It has lost the dignified aspect it presented when it stood on its former site shaded by lordly old maples. Its ancient lines, however, are still apparent, al- though it has lost its great chimney. The first mention the writer has been able to find relating to this house is dated March 25, 1751, when Israel Hall and his wife, Abigail, deeded it and sixty acres of land to Phineas Hall. The land ex- tended north to Black Pond Brook and it was surrounded on three sides by the land of Enos and Abraham Hall and on the east also by a highway. The descrip-
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tion is the same very nearly of the farm afterwards bought by Noah Pomeroy, and without much doubt the house is the same.
This Israel Hall was a son of Thomas and the brother of Daniel whose farm was further down Murdock avenue and whose house has already been described. It is probable, therefore, that it is a very old one and the date of erection was con- siderably earlier than that of the transfer in 1751. Captain Benjamin A. was cer- tainly a son of a Phineas-probably the grantee in this deed. Here Noah Pomeroy lived for many years.
If now we retrace our steps to East Main street and then follow Preston ave- nue towards the north, we pass, at the corner of old Liberty street, another old Hall homestead site: the house was known for many years during the last cen-
BENJAMIN A. HALL, OR NOAH POMEROY PLACE.
tury as the Captain Booth place and it stood just south of the present home of William H. Booth. Before the days of Captain Booth it was the dwelling of an- other Phineas Hall. The house was a very old one, and when and by whom it was built the writer has been unable to learn from either records or tradition.
After passing the former home of Augustus Hall, we come within less than a half mile to the Nelson Hall homestead on the left, and then just before Baldwin avenue is reached, we pass the George L. Hall house on the east, now occupied by his widow and two sons, George A. and Clayton F. From what has been written it can readily be seen that a large portion of the eastern part of Meriden was the
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EARLY HISTORY.
domain of the Hall family. It is a strange fact that not one of all the roads in this section bears the name of Hall.
But before we leave this interesting family neighborhood, there is another Hall homestead to be seen. Just as we reach Baldwin avenue, on the west side of the street, is the wreck of an old house that is in a most pitiable condition. All its dig- nity has gone, and it is now used as a wood house.
As in the case of so many of these old houses, it seems to have grown on its site ; the old builders, now and then, combined the happy faculties of harmony of environment and utility. They frequently nestled their houses into some nook or sheltered spot, in a way that is pleasing to the artistic sense.
MOSES HALL HOUSE.
It was once known as the Moses Hall place, built by Phineas for his son, but just when, it has been impossible to learn. Moses was doubtless the soldier in the Revolution of that name, so that it is safe to assume that the house has a flavor of very respectable antiquity. In the early part of the last century it was known as the Loyal Booth place.
If now we go west on Baldwin avenue, we come within half a mile to the homestead of Nathan S. Baldwin, located on a gentle knoll, where a sweep of the eye takes in the broad meadows to the south, flanked on the east by the bold ranges of Higby and Beset mountains. To the north lie Mt. Lamentation and the Notch leading to Westfield parish. Here Mr. Baldwin has passed his life. tilling the meadows of the farm bought by his father, Moses, about the year 1815, of
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Timothy Ives. Timothy was a carpenter and built the house in the year 1798. Moses was a son of James who came from Cheshire in 1796 and bought an interest in Hough's Mills in that year. James was a soldier in the war of the Revolution.
If now, after leaving Mr. Baldwin's house, we turn north on Bee street until we come to the Westfield road and then turn west, passing the mill site known as Hough's or Baldwin's, we soon come to Broad street. A little south of the junc- tion stands a house, No. 1065, known as the Asahel Curtis place. In it were born the late Geo. R. Curtis, Mrs. Robert A. Hallam and Asahel Curtis, Jr. The house was built probably by Joel Yale in the year 1807, and was his homestead for a num- ber of years, until he moved to another part of the town. It was originally a story
K
NATHAN BALDWIN PLACE.
and a half structure, and was bought with four acres of ground in 1813 by Isaac Lewis (father of the late Isaac C. Lewis) and Asahel Curtis. In a building ad- joining the firm of Lewis & Curtis for a number of years manufactured metal buttons, but in 1818 the firm was dissolved and Mr. Curtis became the sole owner, and shortly after moved from his father's (Benjamin) homestead on Curtis street, with his wife and daughter (Mrs. Jennett Clark) and here passed the remainder of his life.
Now going down Britannia to Colony street, and then turning up Kensing- ton avenue, we come within a few hundred feet of the junction to an old house, No. 67, on the north side of the street and known as the Comfort Butler place.
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EARLY HISTORY.
He came to Meriden from Middletown in the year 1770, having married in 1765, Mary, the daughter of Divan Berry, whose home was on Miller avenue, as already described. Comfort in the year 1770 bought of Josiah Robinson, Jr., a tract of seventeen acres, on which the present house stands.
The southeastern corner of the farm, according to the deed, began at a "place. known as Wolf Swamp pasture bars." The swamp north of the tract was then known by that name. Although there have been several additions built, still the old house erected in 1770 has changed very little. Comfort was a shoemaker, and probably pursued that calling in Meriden, and carried on the tanning business as well. He was a rival of Moses Mitchell, who ran a tanning industry in the hollow just east of Meeting House hill.
ASAHEL CURTIS PLACE.
Comfort's son, John, was afterwards engaged in the same line of business, and many will remember his tanyards and vats that were once located on Liberty street, a little west of the homestead of Walter Hall. As has been told, land in this locality was once a part of the old Jerome farm, bought by Abel Curtis in 1771. On March 15, 1796, Abel sold to John Butler and William Olds a piece of real estate containing thirty rods, and these men immediately began a partnership on the property, of tanning and dressing leather. They continued together until 1804 when Butler bought out Olds' interest and carried on the business alone until well into the last century, and was a successful and shrewd man.
Comfort Butler's family and descendants were numerous and prominent, and
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the roll call embraced such names as Henry C., Joel I., Eli C., Hiram, Lemuel and others.
There is one of the Yale houses still standing that is a dignified and substantial dwelling, and carries lightly its 118 years of service. It was built in the year 1788 by John, a grandson of that John Yale, who, in company with Jedediah Norton, bought the Belcher or Meriden farm in 174I.
The Yales had bought and sold much of the land in that locality, and, although they originally began with the west half of the old farm, by 1788 they had sold considerable on the west side and bought much on the east, and the family had been successful and stood high in the community as this old dwelling would in-
Photo by R. S. Godfrey. COMFORT BUTLER PLACE.
dicate ; the homestead continued in the Yale family until a number of years ago when John Yale, a great grandson of him who built it, sold the property to Wil- liam H. Warnock, of Meriden, and removed to West Worthington, Mass.
A little more than a hundred years ago that country north of Cat Hole pass as far as the road leading to the Meriden reservoir, that is, Merimere, was included in the township of Wallingford and was a part of the parish of Meriden ; in fact, the road mentioned was the county line. On that corner known now as Botsford's or Corrigan's stood a farm house that was long since replaced by the present modern one. This house and six hundred acres adjoining were for a number of
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EARLY HISTORY.
years owned by James Hillhouse of New Haven, very prominent in that town and the state, and for a while United States senator from Connecticut. He acquired the property in 1790 and it extended from just west of the Belcher farm and that of Joseph Edwards, over the mountain to a point fully a quarter of a mile west of Botsford's or Corrigan's corner. Evidently Mr. Hillhouse engaged in lum- bering to some extent for he erected a sawmill on the brook west of the corner, and the pond which supplied the water power is still in existence and can be seen
Photo by R. S. Godfrey.
JOHN YALE HOUSE.
close to the road. He also owned the inevitable cider mill. There is a tradi- tion in Meriden that Senator Hillhouse procured in Meriden the elms with which he beautified the streets of New Haven, and if the tradition is true it must have been on this farm that the young saplings grew.
The farm was sold on November 14, 1797, to Isaac Botsford, and a map of the district made by Mr. Botsford more than a century ago is before the writer as he pens these lines and it shows that there were many more houses in that locality
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nel
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
than exist to-day. It indicates the old road that formerly lumbered over the moun- tain, coming out just west of the trotting park in Meriden. Cat Hole Pass road was not built until 1803 and this same Mr. Botsford was the builder.
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