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 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96
Accordingly, the sheriff of New Haven county served notice on Samuel Hall (father of Rev. Theophilus) Thomas and Daniel Hall, Ebenezer Prindle, Israel Hall, Jobe Camp, Daniel Baldwin, John Way, Jehiel Baldwin and Rev. Samuel Hall, of Cheshire, to appear in Hartford and make answer to the complaint. Their answer was apparently satisfactory for the petition was refused.
The names of the property owners, however, give a clue as to how much of East Meriden was originally claimed by Middletown until the Assembly de- cided the matter in 1736. Their old west line must have been located as far west as Bee street.
Again, in 1757, Wallingford presented a petition which proved abortive; but in it occurs a clause which gives a glimpse of what had been going on for years: it is as follows: "Since which endless law suits have been and still subsist to the impoverishing and almost total ruin of many persons and families in this day of great and necessary expense against foreign invaders."
In 1771, Wallingford again appeared before the Assembly and stated that Mid- dletown's southwest corner was now in dispute, and prayed that a "committee might be appointed to repair to the spot and ascertain the true location; for adjoining property owners have been in long and expensive quarrels and disputes; courts and juries having been much perplexed with sª disputes, sometimes giving judge- ments in favor of one claim and sometimes in favor of the contrary claim, and still sª disputes continue to the great detriment of the public and also to the preju- dice of particular persons."
Therefore, a committee was sent to the spot which made a report to the Oc- tober, 1773, session of the General Assembly, stating that the cedar tree on top of Besit mountain was now lost, and some now claimed that a rock oak tree marked the corner, and others a heap of stones seventy or eighty rods north of the oak tree. The committee made various measurements, took the statements or depositions of several aged men, and decided that the rock oak marked the original southwest corner of Middletown. Accordingly, the Assembly adopted the report and con-
331
EARLY HISTORY.
firmed the rock oak as standing in the true spot and henceforth no more was heard of Wallingford and Middletown boundary disputes.
The foregoing account is an abridgment of a great quantity of manuscript doc- uments on file in the volumes entitled "Towns and Lands," preserved in the State Library at Hartford.
Many times in this book has occurred the word Beset as applied to the moun- tain lying east of Black Pond and extending south, through Wallingford to Bran- ford. Its northern terminus is the pass through which the turnpike to Middle- town runs : this pass was once known as Royce's Notch. The old records have three forms for this word, viz. Beseck, Besit and Beset, and it is doubtless a short- ening of the word Mattabeset-the Indian name for Middletown.
Mount Lamentation derives its name from a romantic and rather distressing incident in the life of one of the early inhabitants of Wethersfield ; the most plaus- ible version appears in Stiles' History of Ancient Wethersfield,1 and is as follows:
"Mr. Leonard Chester's Adventure-Prominent among the old-time legends with which Wethersfield mothers and nurses were wont to regale their children, was this 'o'er true tale.'" Sometime, presumably in the fall of 1636 he set out alone (as Tradition saith) to seek a suitable site for a grist-mill which he proposed to build, on the stream which flows through the south part of the town." "His exploration took him or would naturally do so, to near the source of the stream, southwest of the village of Griswoldville of the present day. This whole section traversed by the stream, was, of course, then an unbroken wilderness." "Before the young explorer had made much progress on his return journey as to strike upon any well defined trail or path which he might follow in the dark, night had fairly closed upon him, and he entirely lost his bearings for even the north polar star was shut out from his sight by the dense foliage. So, when at last day broke, he was really further away from his home than when he had started to return to it." "In the meantime, his neighbors at Pyquaug [Wethersfield] had become alarmed at his absence, and parties with drums, muskets, pails and pans of tinware, copper or brass-anything, in fact, with which to make noisy sounds and signals-had be- gun to search the woods in all directions. It was not, however, until the third day after he left his home," "that he was found and in fact rescued from starvation by his friends. In his uncertainty as to his whereabouts and place of destination, Ches- ter had dragged himself, with failing strength and in famished condition, to the summit of a mountainous peak or ridge in the extreme southeast part of what is now Berlin2 township. From that place, a distance which measured in a straight line would be very near twelve miles from where he started, he hoped to be able to see, if he might not be able to reach the little settlement which held all that was dear to him. The result was more fortunate than he had expected. From
1 Vol. I, p. 686.
2 The southern half of Mt. Lamentation is in the town of Meriden.
332
A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
that elevation, he was able, for the first time, to hear the noises and calls of his friends, and (what must ever be considered a most remarkable turn of chance) he descended in the direction whence these noises proceeded, and found himself safe and unharmed in the hands of his rescuers. Fortunately, he had met no In- dians, and though he had heard the howls of wolves and the screams of cata- mounts, he had not been followed or attacked by either. It was in memory of this event, which might have proved almost a public calamity, that the elevation in question, received and has ever since retained, the historic name of 'Mount Lam- entation.' "
Another version of Mr. Chester's adventure is found in Rev. Charles A. Good- rich's "Stories of the History of Connecticut," published in 1829: but the story is so embellished with fanciful pictures of Mr. Chester's emotions and prayers, that it is easy to see that it was written for the amusement of very young persons.
In Barber's "Conn. Historical Collections," the story is given in an abridged form, and the statement is made that a unicorn or griffin carved on Mr. Chester's tombstone was believed by some to have been one of the animals seen by him on Mt. Lamentation ; it was, of course, a part of his coat of arms.
Just east of Murdock and Pomeroy avenues in the eastern part of Meriden is quite a high elevation which was once known as Bowing hill. The name seems now to be entirely forgotten.
There are very few, if any, Indian names preserved in this locality with the exception of Beset and Quinnipiac, the latter used to describe the river in the southwestern part of the town. It was formerly known as New Haven East River and sometimes called Wallingford River. In Morse's American Gazetteer published in 1797 the statement is made that the old Indian name for the town- ship of Wallingford was Coginchauge.
333
EARLY HISTORY.
CHAPTER XIX.
1806-THE TOWN OF MERIDEN.
In the year 1730 the total population of the parish of Meriden could not have numbered more than 250 souls, and during many years thereafter the increase was very slow. Few moved into the parish and after the French and Indian war there began that steady drifting into far away communities in the northwestern parts of the colony, into western Massachusets and Vermont and later into New York state, a phenomenon common all through the longer settled parts of New England.
Therefore, the parish did not get the full advantage of its birth rate which was, of course, large ; but after the Revolution a slow but steady growth began which is nowhere better indicated than in the records of real estate transactions on the books of the town of Wallingford.
Even at the close of the Revolution there could not have been a population of more than 500 ; but when the town was incorporated in 1806 the indications point to a community of perhaps 1,100; it was more than half as large as the older parish of Wallingford.
The example of Cheshire, which was set off as a separate town in 1780, was one that the parish of Meriden was eager to emulate, and accordingly, the inhabi- tants came together at the meeting house on April 12, 1786, and appointed Capt. Dan Collins, Samuel Whiting and Capt. John Couch agents to present a memorial to the General Assembly praying that the parish might be constituted a town and annexed to Middlesex county ; this document is as follows :
"The Petition of the Inhabitants of the Parish of Meriden in the Town of Wallingford and County of New Haven, humbly sheweth: That from the Court House in New Haven, the Southern part of Said parish is Distant about Seven- teen Miles, and the Northern part of it Twenty three : and from the Court House in Middletown in the County of Middlesex, the eastern limits of Sd parish is Dis- tant but about five miles and its western limits about eleven and from the Southern part of said Parish to the Town is four miles, and from the northern part about eleven. That the Lists of Said parish is about £8000. And in attending upon the Ordinary Business of the Town, Proxys, Town Meetings &c and upon their Business at the County and Superior Courts, the Inhabitants of Sd parish are sub- jected to great trouble, inconvenience & expence, from which they would be free'd if constituted a Distinct Town, and annexed to the County of Middlesex. . Where-
1
334
A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
fore your petitioners pray your Honours to take their case into your wise and equi- table Consideration & enact, that Sª parish of Meriden be Constituted a Distinct Town by the name of the town of Meriden and included in, and made part of the County of Middlesex, and that the Sd Inhabitants have all the rights and privi- leges usually appertaining to Towns in this State, except the right of Sending two Representatives to the General Assembly instead of which your petitioners request the privilege of but one and your petitioners as in Duty bound will ever pray &c. Dated at Meriden in the Town of Wallingford the 13th day of April A. D. 1786. John Couch, Saml Whiting Dan Collins
Agents in behalf of the Society."
The older parish had no desire to lose the growing society at the north and they met in town meeting on May 9, 1786, and
"Voted that this meeting will oppose the Parish of Meriden being a Town. Chose Col Street Hall agent to remonstrate against the Petition of the Parish of Meriden being made a Town at the next General Assembly."
The petition was not granted, and matters remained quiescent until 1794 when on Sept. 29 at a meeting of the parish it was "voted that the Society be made a town and annexed to Middlesex County. Voted to call a town meeting for the purpose and a committee be appointed to obtain a map of the society and tran- sact any business respecting the society being made a town."
The matter was postponed by a town meeting until the following year, and on Sept. 7, 1795, the parish of Meriden "Voted that the Society wish to be a separate town and belong to Middlesex County. Voted to petition the General Assembly and chose a committee of five persons to present it." A like vote was passed on Sept. 22 the same year, and the matter was finally compromised by agreeing in town meeting that one-third of the Town and Selectmen's meetings should be held in the parish of Meriden.
But this was a mere truce and makeshift, and the inhabitants of Meriden were determined that the parish should be a separate township, and accordingly a peti- tion dated February 14, 1804, was circulated and found ready signers and was presented to the May session of the General Assembly that year. The town of Wallingford at a meeting held, exclusive of the inhabitants of Meriden parish, voted not to approve the petition ; but the following year, as it was seen that it was hopeless to keep up a continual opposition to the desires of Meriden, it was voted to refer the matter to a committee selected from Wallingford or first society and Meriden, and as a result a report was drawn up agreeing to the separation and the following vote was passed at a town meeting held Sept. 18, 1805: "Thereupon it was voted that this Meeting do accept and approve of the same ; and said report be lodged in the Town Clerk's Office."
335
EARLY HISTORY.
Accordingly, it was resolved that Meriden should be a separate town and the following bill was passed :
"At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut holden at Hartford on the second Thursday in May, 1806-
Upon the Petition of Phineas Lyman and others Inhabitants of the Town of Wallingford in the County of Newhaven shewing to this Assembly that the Par- ish of Meriden in said Town constitutes, in extent, population and Property more than one-third part of said Town, and they do not in their present situation enjoy their just rights to which they are entitled in common with their fellow Citizens ; praying that said Parish may be incorporated with the ordinary rights, privileges and immunities which are enjoyed by other Towns in this State as by Petition on File dated February 14th A. D. 1804-This Petition was preferred to this As- sembly at their Session holden at Hartford on the second thursday in May 1804, and was legally served on the Inhabitants of said Town and returned, and by legal continuances came to this Session of said Assembly when the said Inhabitants were three times publicly called and made default of appearance-
The Petitioners were heard and the facts stated in said Petition were fully proved to be true-
Resolved, by this Assembly that the Inhabitants living within the limits of said Parish of Meriden be and they are hereby incorporated into and made a Town by the name of MERIDEN, and that they and their Successors Inhabitants within said limits are and shall forever be and remain a Town and body politic with the ordinary rights privileges and immunities which are enjoyed by other Towns in this State by virtue of their respective incorporations : and the right to elect and send one Representative only to the General Assembly until by Law they shall be entitled to elect and send two; That the dividing line between the first Society in said Wallingford and said Parish of Meriden be and remain the dividing line. That all Persons who shall be resident in said Town including said Parish and supported in whole or in part by said Town and Parish at the rising of this As- sembly, and also all Inhabitants of said Town and Parish who shall then be with- out the limits of said Town and Parish, and afterwards return and become charge- able, with all charges and expences which shall arise by reason of any such person or persons shall be apportioned between said Town of Wallingford and said Town of Meriden according to the amount of their respective Lists for August 20th 1804 as compleated and returned to the Town Clerks Office ; said division and ap- portionment in case said Towns shall not agree, to be made by three disinterested Persons of whom two shall be chosen by said Town of Wallingford and one by said Town of Meriden ; and with a just reference to the number, and expence necessary for the support of such chargeable Persons : That all Debts which shall be due from said Town including said Parish, and all Debts which shall be due to
ad
n. of
en a he n- on ate ly on in be
ere ti- ras of sh, as ted Ind nd on ort
t e 1- 0. st C. 6.
336
A CENTURY OF MERIDEN. .
said Town at said date shall be divided and apportioned between the said Towns according to the Lists and in the manner herein before prescribed relating to. chargeable Persons : That the said Town of Meriden shall repair and when neces- sary build the Bridge of which one-half is within the limits of said Town of Wal- lingford, across Wallingford River so called, known and called by the name of Falls plain bridge, at the cost and expence of said Town of Meriden ; That all Col- lectors of Taxes granted or which shall be granted before said time, shall have power to collect the same as fully as if this Resolve had not passed; That said town of Meriden shall hold their first Town Meeting at the Meetinghouse in said Meriden on the third Monday in June next at one o'clock afternoon, and proceed to the choice of all Town Officers, the Moderator of said Meeting excepted ; by Law allowed and established; which Meeting shall be warned and by Warrant signed by George W. Stanley Esquire a Justice of Peace for New Haven County and Posted on the Public Sign post in said Meriden at least ten days previous to said third Monday, and said George W. Stanley Esquire shall be Moderator of said Meeting ; and in case of the absence of said Justice, Ephraim Cook Esquire a Justice of Peace for said County is hereby impowered to sign such Warrant, and preside in said meeting --
A True Copy of Record. Examined by Samuel Wyllys, Secretary Amos White Town Clerk."
While these struggles of the parish of Meriden to become a separate town were in progress, two portions of her territory at the north had been cut off and added to the town of Berlin.
In the year 1773 those farmers who lived on the northern half of the old Bel- cher or Meriden farm petitioned the General Assembly praying that they might be annexed to the town of Farmington and we accordingly find the following vote on the Wallingford records.
"Special Town meeting May 17 1773 question was put whether the Town would chose an agent or agents to represent said Town at the General Assembly May instant on the memorial of the society of Worthington by their agent Jede- diah Norton Petitioning that the lands called the Belchers Farm in the Society of Meriden and the inhabitants Included therein might belong and be annexed to the County of Hartford and Town of Farmington. Voted in the affirmitive that they would appoint an agent. Chose Macock Ward Esq. to be their agent to represent said Town on said Memorial."
This petition was not granted, but at the October session, 1803, a second one signed by Andrew Norton Samuel Norton and Abraham Wright was presented.
337
EARLY HISTORY.
and a strip of territory about half a mile wide north and south and extending from the eastern boundary of the parish to the ledge west of the Belcher farm was added to the town of Berlin : this left the northern boundary of Meriden about where it is to-day.
At the October session 1798 on the petition of Isaac Botsford, Harvey Parsons, John Parsons, Josiah Hill, Samuel Peck, Titus Bronson, Aaron Parsons and Jon- athan Hills, a portion in the northwestern part of Meriden was annexed to Ber- lin. This is represented on the map by a jog which extends from Botsford's or Corrigan's corner in Berlin to the southern part of Cat Hole mountain.
MINUTES OF THE FIRST TOWN MEETING HELD IN MERIDEN.
At a meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Meriden having been legally warned agreeable to the resolve of the "General Assembly of this State" ordering Sd Town meeting to be held at the meeting house in Meriden on the sixteenth day of June 1806-
George W. Stanley Esq. Moderator of this meeting by order of Gen1 Assembly.
Chose, Amos White Town Clerk.
Chose, Capt. Ezekiel Rice, Ambrose Hough and Stephen Bailey, Selectmen for this Town.
Chose, Jared Benham and Eli Barnes, Constables.
Voted, That any person may wear his hat in Town meeting "Except" when addressing the Moderator.
Chose, Enos Hall 2nd, Giles O. Griswold & Joseph Hall Grand jurors.
Chose, Samuel Yale, Asael Yale, Jehiel Preston, Harvey Andrews, Aaron Mer- riam, Benjamin Merriam 2nd & Levi Hall Surveyors of Highways.
Chose, Nathaniel Yale, Stephen Perkins & Insign Hough Fence viewers.
Chose, Seth D. Plum, Titus Ives & Asahel Merriam Listers for this Town.
Chose, Capt. William Olds Sealer of Leather.
Chose, Samuel Yale Sealer of weights and measures.
Chose, Daniel Yale, Sealer of dry measures.
Chose, Eli Barns, Nathaniel Yale, Levi Foster, Israel Hall and Elisha Merri- man Pound keepers.
Voted, That the keepers of Pounds provide their pounds free of expence to the Town.
Voted, To lay a Tax for the purpose of defraying the debts and expences to which this Town now is or may be liable.
Voted, That a Tax of five mills on the dollar on the List for August 20th, 1805, be granted and collected for the purpose of defraying the debts and expences to which the Town is or may be liable and that the same be collected and paid to the Town Treasurer within thirty days.
22
-
E
S
338
A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
Chose, Abner Griswold Collector of the tax laid this day.
Chose, Samuel Yale Town Treasurer.
Voted, To appoint a committee of four persons to settle and adjust all business between this Town and the Town of Wallingford respecting the Town poor and all other business that shall be found necessary for said Committee to do.
Chose, Capt Ezekiel Rice, Ambrose Hough, Stephen Bailey & Eli Barns a committee for the purpose making the before named setttlement.
Voted, That the Bill in form granted by the Gen1 Assembly for incorporating Meriden into a Town distinct from the Town of Wallingford, be Recorded in the _ beginning of the Town Book for recording deeds of Land &c.
Voted, That no horse kind or neat Cattle shall be allowed to run at large on the highway or Commons in this Town.
Voted, That Sheep shall not be allowed to run at large on the Commons in this Town.
Voted, That if the owners of any Boar shall suffer him to run at large when more than three months old, he shall be liable to pay a fine of one Dollar.
Voted, That Geese shall not be suffered to run at large on the highways un- less they are well Yoaked.
Voted, That the Selectmen of this [town] be allowed to give and take Deeds in behalf of this Town at their discretion.
Voted, That the selectmen shall warn a Town meeting to be holden at the Meetinghouse in Meriden on the second Tuesday of November next.
After choosing the Clerk, and Constables ; the motion was made and tried; Whether Moses Barns shall be allowed to vote in this meeting and Voted in the negative. Amos White, Town Clerk.
Meriden June 16th 1806.
And now at last Meriden was one of that "federation of independent towns en- dowed with all the attributes of sovereignty not expressly granted to the General Court" of the state of Connecticut. The long struggle was ended, and the town could now grow and expand, unhampered by the vexatious conditions, inseparable from its former state of suburban parish of a larger community.
Meriden must have been very primitive in appearance even at as late a date as 1806: it still retained its distinctive feature of a territory parceled out into farms : to be sure, there was the beginning of a village settlement in the vicinity of the Meeting House, for the advantage of locating near the common center had appealed to those who gained their livelihood by other than agricultural pursuits , notably Ambrose Hough the miller, Butler & Olds the tanners; Amos White & Co. and Curtis & Lewis, who were storekeepers and sold everything from a spool of thread to a gallon of rum ; and Seth D. Plum and Dr. Insign Hough, the tav- ern keepers.
339
EARLY HISTORY.
But the real central pivot was the tavern kept by Dr. Insign Hough at the corner of Broad and East Main streets : here were the headquarters of the select- men and other town officers; here the books of the public library were kept and here the farmers met to discuss the events of the day : and, last but not least, here twice a day the stage coaches from Hartford to New Haven and vice versa, stopped to change horses and to give the passengers a chance to sample the bountiful larder provided by the doctor.
In the old days when the tavern was in its prime, and still the center of the quiet little village, many a merrymaking was held around its generous hearth, and hilarious fun flowed fast and free from honest hearts untainted by the guile and sham that often mar conviviality of these modern days.
TIFT
THE OLD CENTRAL TAVERN.
And when the annual town meetings and elections drew near, hot were the wordy battles that resounded through the rooms in the eager attempt to change some wavering vote: for Meriden was so close a town, that one man convinced, sometimes spanned the distance between defeat and victory.
Linus Birdsey, who carries lightly his more than fourscore years, remembers those old days, when, youngster like, he would hover on the fringe of a group of old political Nestors, and listen to words of wisdom and prophecy that unfolded the hideous destiny of the Republic if it wavered from the good old Democratic faith and followed the strange new gods of the renegade Whigs.
Another group he recalls of only five, called the Old Guard ; survivors per- haps of a larger circle ; men of wit and weight who had lived and learned : and
340
A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.