Annals and family records of Winchester, Conn.: with exercises of the centennial celebration, on the 16th and 17th days of August, 1871, Part 10

Author: Boyd, John
Publication date: 1873
Publisher: Hartford : Press of Case, Lockwood & Brainard
Number of Pages: 724


USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Winchester > Annals and family records of Winchester, Conn.: with exercises of the centennial celebration, on the 16th and 17th days of August, 1871 > Part 10


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).


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CHILDREN.


I. CAROLINE,7 b. May 20, 1811; m. October 24, 1832, John Rutherford, of Macon, Ga.


II. ELIZABETH ANN,7 b. December 13, 1813 ; m. June 23, 1838, Dr. John H. T. Cockey, of Frederick Co., Md.


III. LEMUEL,7 b March 8, 1816 ; m. Florania, daughter of John Westlake.


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ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,


IV. SAMUEL,7 b. January 12, 1818.


V. JEREMIAH PHELPS,7 b. January 16, 1821 ; d. January 27, 1821.


VI. REBECCA,7 b. March 9, 1826; m. June 7, 1848, Henry P. Chapman of Brooklyn, N. Y.


STEPHEN HURLBUT,5 born December 12, 1760; half brother of Samuel,5 from Wethersfield, Newington Society, came into the town about 1782; he bought and settled on a lot of land south of, and near, Rufus M. Eggleton's. At the time of his death, April 14, 1807, aged 46, he resided in the farm house of Mrs. Boyd, on East Lake Street. He married Abigail Meeker ; she was born August 14, 1768, and died in 1856.


CHILDREN.


I. SARAH,6 b. July 11, 178"; m. Walter Dickinson ; d. 1855.


II. EUNICE,6 b. " 29, 1789 ; m. David Hubbard, of W. Hartford.


III. AMOS,6 b. February 13, 1792; m. Eleanor Elmore.


IV. LUCY,6 b. April 21, 1794 ; m. Daniel Phelps, Jr.


V. MARY,G


b. August 27, 1796 ; m. Charles Clark.


VI. SAMUEL,6 b. October 31, 1798; is known as Samuel Hurlbut, 2d; m. March 19, 1822, Lavinia Blake; she d. May 26, 1864, aged 63; he d. in the spring of 1872.


VII. HULDAI,6 b. February 15, 1801 ; d. unm. October 31, 1830.


VIII. SILAS,6 b. March 27, 1803 ; m. Ruth Goodwin.


IX. CLARISSA,6 b. August 18, 1806; m. Sherman Goodwin.


MARTIN HURLBUT,5 from Wethersfield, came, when a boy, to live with his half-brother, Captain Samuel," and continued to reside in the town until his death, April 5, 1810, at the age of 47. He built and lived in the old part of the house, on the height of land a mile south of the Win- sted depot, known as the Pratt House, and now owned by James W. Ward, which he sold to Andrew Pratt in 1801 : after which he lived on South Street, in Winsted, until 1808, when he bought and occupied the farm on the easterly shore of Long Lake, now owned by his son and only child, Deacon Joseph W. Hurlbut. He married, September 10 1787, Elizabeth Wheeler; she died May 27, 1849, aged 85. They had one child,


JOSEPH WHEELER HURLBUT,6 born July 20, 1793; m. April 25, 1817, Sarah Merrill, born June 18, 1794; daughter of Stephen. She died October 29, 1864, aged 70 years.


CHILDREN.


I. JAMES MARTIN,7 b. January 5, 1818; d. August 14, 1847, unmarried.


II. JOSEPH MERRILL,7 b. September 28, 1824 ; m. June 2, 1869, Anne Augusta Field.


III. WARREN PHINEAS,7 b. January 4, 1827.


VI. WM. FLOWERS,7 b. 27,1835.


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AND FAMILY RECORDS.


DEACON LEVI BRONSON, from Berlin, married, October 25, 1769, Hannah Hurlbut, sister of Samuel, and came with him to Winchester. He built the Artemas Rowley house, in which he lived until about 1795, when he moved to Cattskill, New York. A cotemporary says of him : " Mr. Bronson was a large and prosperous farmer, and withal a mer- chant. His goods for trade he mainly bought of Sheldon Leavitt, of Bethlem. He made a large amount of potash. He was a prudent, straight-forward man in all his business. His store was in his dwelling- house, - the first, and for many years, the only store in the town. Up- right, kind, generous, and exemplary, he made his life adorn his religious profession. After he settled in Cattskill he engaged somewhat in navi- gation ; - and by it, lost money ; and afterwards, with property dimin- ished, he removed to Vernon, Oneida County, New York, where he spent his remaining days." He married, October 25, 1769, Hannah Hurlbut.


CHILDREN.


I. LEVI, b. July 30, 1770; d. April 18, 1775.


II. LEMUEL, b. Oct. 23, 1772; d. March 6, 1775.


III. DAVID, b. Dec. 23, 1774.


IV. LEVI,


b. May 15, 1777.


V. HANNAH,


b. July 21, 1784.


VI. LUCY,


b. Dec. 9, 1786.


VII. SARAH,


b. Nov. 28, 1789.


CAPTAIN ROSWELL COE came from Torrington and bought a farm in the southwest part of the town, which he occupied until his sale of the same to John Lucas in 1789, when he returned to Torrington.


ELISHA SMITH, EsQ., from Torrington, bought of Enoch Palmer, the Noble J. Everitt place, about a hundred rods south of Winchester center, which he occupied until 1776, when he sold to Martin North and returned to Torrington, where he spent his remaining life as a farmer and trader, occupying a high position as a magistrate and representative of the town. He was born in the ancient town of Farmington, August 14, 1751 ; mar- ried in Torrington, November 25, 1773, Lucy Loomis. He died Jan- uary 9, 1813.


CHILDREN.


I. ELISHA, b. July 19, 1775 ; d. in Tor., August 9, 1776.


II. ORREL, b. in Tor., Jan. 30, 1778 ; m. Russell C. Abernethy.


III. ALMIRA, b. 12, 1780; d. April 20, 1780.


REUBEN THRALL, from Torrington, bought and occupied until his death, May 23, 1777, a farm immediately north of Roswell Coe's, in the


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ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,


southwest part of the town, afterward a part of the Wade farm ; he died May 20, 1777, and his widow married William Barbour, September 26, 1778; and about 1798, removed with him to Burke, Caledonia County, Vermont.


CHILDREN OF REUBEN AND RUTH THRALL.


I. ALEXANDER, d. Oct. 27, 1786.


II. ERASTUS, b. Feb. 14, 1773.


1773.


The town records of 1773 show that the customary town officers were chosen, and a committee appointed to straighten the line between Winches- ter and Torrington ; a vote was passed to restrain swine from running at large, and another directing the Proprietor's committee to lay out the road from the Dugway, to Colebrook, already mentioned.


The Society records show that the usual officers were chosen, including three choristers and two readers of the psalms. It was provided that the psalms should be read before singing for four months, and that thereafter they should be sung without reading. It was also voted to raise two pence on the pound of the rateable estate for the support of schools; and the society was divided into three School Districts, which were to receive their rateable portious of the money raised; but an adjourned meeting in January of the following year reconsidered all the votes concerning schools.


The last vote of the year was, " that we desire Mr. Farrand and Mr. Newell and Marsh, shall come out and give their advise concerning some difficulty in this place." The difficulty referred to grew out of a disa- greement of the church and society, in respect to the privileges of half- way covenant members of the church. Prior to the ordination of Mr. Knapp, the church had voted, " That upon persons owning the covenant, they may have their children baptized, while they cannot see yr. way clear to come to ye Lord's table."


About a month after Mr. Knapp's ordination (Dec. 16) a series of standing rules were adopted by the church ;- the seventh of which was, "that all persons who in other places have owned what is called the half- way covenant, in order to be admitted to special privileges in this church, shall renewedly and explicitly own ye Gospel Covenant." After the adoption of this rule, Joseph Ho skin and Jonathan Coe applied for admis- sion to membership on letters from Mr. Robert's church in Torrington. This application brought the disputed question to a practical issue. The church passed an explanatory vote " that the vote of the church which allowed baptism to ye children of persons owning the covenant, was in our view, and as we account, to be understood a whole covenant, without any clause left out ; " and thereupon refused to receive the applicants.


103


AND FAMILY RECORDS.


Upon this state of the question, the counsel of Messrs. Farrand, Newell, and Marsh was asked by the concurrent vote of the church and society. The council met, on the 25th day of January, 1774, and came to a divided result. Messrs. Marsh and Newell were of opinion that the church rules above quoted were not consistent. They further say "that certain persons also applying to us. and complaining of injury done them by ye church in not accepting of ye letters of recommendation from ye Rev. Mr. Roberts, and claiming privileges by virtue of their recommend- ation. It is our opinion, y* letters ought to be read to this chh. and ye persons recommended be admitted to ye privileges of baptism for yr. children, agreeable to ye vote of sd. ch. before ordination of Mr Knapp."


Mr. Farrand dissented from the opinion of his colleagues, for the fol- lowing reasons :


" 1. As the church declares they never meant to have any other but a gospel covenant, and 'twould be strange if a chh. of Jesus Christ, cove- nanting to walk together in his holy ordinances, should have only a po- litical covenant, or a mere legal covenant, which they must have, if not a gospel one, or no covenant at all.


" 2d. The Chh. had a covenant written and assented to at their incor- poration by ye members of ye Chh., which they say they agreed that all future members should own; and ye same covenant is what they now call a Gospel Covenant.


"3d. They say that they never meant to divide ye covenant but only to indulge tender consciences 'til they could receive further light, wh. they are willing to do now ; but ye judgment (of the majority) was that ye covenant must be divided, and this clause left out, that obliged them to walk in all ye ordinances of ye Lord, so that such may come into cov- enant, who will not promise to walk in all ye ordinances of ye Lord, but only such as they pick out and chuse.


" 4th. The first vote says that all that have their children baptized shall own their covenant, wh. must mean either a Gospel covenant or ye cove - nant yt ye Chh. of Winchester had adopted; but if their vote meant a Gospel covenant, they require no more of 'em now, but if they meant to distinguish ye covenant which ye Chh. had then, from a Gospel covenant, they require no more of them but to adopt the same covenant they then had, and are ready to indulge tender consciences ; whereupon I conclude they have not broken covenant, nor gone off from their first plan in their 2d vote."


This divided counsel, of course, satisfied neither party, and in no way tended to heal the dissention. At a subsequent meeting, May 3, the so- ciety voted " to choose four men to treat with Mr. Knap concerning the difficulty among us, and to see if he will join with the society in chusing a mutual council." The church on May 9, unanimously voted " that it is


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ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,


our opinion that ye association to which we belong is ye proper board for us to be tried by, and by them we are ready to be tried at any suitable time."


Whether the matter was carried before the Association (or Consocia- tion ?) does not appear, but it may be inferred that under some new ad- vice or counsel, a new gloss was added to the church covenant, at a meet- ing Dec. 14, by inserting the clause " only, in case you may labor under any scruples of conscience with respect to immediate attendance upon ye Lord's supper, you may be indulged in your absenting until you have had proper light for conviction " It was also voted " that we understand ye import of ye covenant entered into by this Chh. to be consistent with indulging per-ons that have any scruples of conscience about coming im- mediately to ye Lord's Supper, in absenting themselves from that ordi- nance until they have had sufficient light to convince them that it is their indispensable duty to attend upon it agreeable to the vote of ye Chh. re- lating to persons owning yr. covenant being allowed to have ye children baptized, tho. they cannot see their way clear to come to ye Lord's table." It was also voted "that persons bringing letters from other churches, previous to their being admitted into this Chh. shall explicitly renew ye covenant with us."


This controversy in our infant church might well remain in the obscur- ity of our imperfect and scattered records, and consigned to oblivion, were it not for the results of good and evil that flowed from it in all the subsequent history of the parish and town. Good men became dis- affected towards the standing order, and arrayed themselves in hostility to the pastor, who set his face determinedly against the compromise of principle involved in a half-way consecration to the Lord, and may have displayed more of arbitrary zeal than of wise consideration in his efforts to annul the unholy compact.


Luther Lee,* or some other early apostle of Methodism, came into this region about that period ; and the new evangel was welcomed by the op- ponents of the standing order. A number of the patriarchs of this town received it gladly, and left it as a legacy to their children. A church was organized at "Noppit " in Torrington, near the border of this town, where the opponents of Mr. Knapp found refuge. Another was organ- ized at an early day in Winsted, which has grown into a large and influ- ential body. The asperities of early years have died away. Sectarian- ism has yielded to Christian love, and the members of the two commun- ions differ little but in name from each other. Their combined influence in advancing and extending the cause of religion is far greater than could be effected by one united body.


* The compiler has recently learned that the two earliest Methodist ministers preaching in the town were named Covill and Stoneman.


105


AND FAMILY RECORDS.


1773.


The new comers of the year 1773, were Abram Andrews and his sons, Theophilus, Abram, Jr., Daniel and Eli, John Austin, Rev. Joshua Knapp, Hawkins Woodruff, Reuben Miner, and Gideon Wilcoxson.


CAPT. ABRAM ANDREWS, SENIOR, from Danbury, bought a farm of eighty acres, lying north of the old Everitt house, in the Danbury Quarter, now in part belonging to Mr. Tibball's farm, a part of which he occupied until his death. Out of his eighty-acre lot he successively apportioned as advancements to his four sons, ten acres each, and to two of his daughters five acres each, in parallel strips running north and south through the farm, and eventually sold out the remainder in driblets, and died landless October 29, 1805, aged 84. Over his grave in the Danbury Quarter is a marble slab " erected by his daughter Laurana." He was born about 1721, at Grassy Plain, in Danbury, son of Robert and Anna (Olmsted) An- drews, grandson of Abraham and Sarah (Porter) Andrews, and great- grandson of John and Mary Andrews, who were among the first settlers of Farmington. He married Sarah Taylor, of Bethel ; from whence she brought a letter of dismission to the church in W., November , 1774.


CHILDREN.


I. THEOPHILUS,2 m. October 4, 1764, Phebe Benedict.


II. ABRAM,2 m. April 24, 1773, Sarah Young.


III. ENSIGN DANIEL,2 b. 1749, m. Sarah Hall; she d. October 3d, 1822.


IV. ELI,2 m. August 29, 1787, Ruth Rockwell.


V. CHLOE,2 m. May 22, 1768, Noah Benedict.


VI. LAURANA,2 m. September, 1804, Israel White, of Sharon.


THEOPHILUS ANDREWS, son of the foregoing, is described by a cotem- porary as "a Yankee, dyed in the wool ; by profession a tinker, he trav- ersed the northern part of the county, with his kit of tools in a pair of leather saddle-bags swung over his shoulders, mending brass kettles and molding pewter spoons and buttons." He continued his peregrinations as late as 1810, and afterwards went to live with a son in central New York. None of his descendants remain in the town. He married October 4th, 1764, Phebe Benedict.


CHILDREN.


I. ELIAKIM, b. April 17, 1765.


II. JAMES,


b. January 17, 1767.


III. THEOPHILUS, b March 18, 1768; d. March 19, 1768.


IV. NAOMI, b. April 30, 1769.


V. P'HEBE, b. February 20, 1772; d. May 29, 1775.


VI. BETSEY,


b. April 28, 1774.


VII. PHEBE, b May 9, 1776 ; d. February 14, 1777


VIII. LUCY, b January 1, 1778.


IX. ROSWELL, b. October 8, 1779.


14


106


ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,


ABRAM ANDREWS, JR, is described by the same cotemporary as "a Yankee diverse from 'Theof.,' but of equal doodle. Both were wise-acres, but neither of them added more than a cubit to his ten acre patrimony." He removed to central New York after 1805. He married April 24, 1773, Sarah Young.


CHILDREN.


I. LEVI, b. January 21, 1777.


II. ABRAHAM,


b. August 15, 1779.


III. SARAH,


b. April 4, 1782.


IV. JOHN SPRAGUE,


b. May 22, 1784.


V. CHLOE, b. January 10, 1788.


VI. SYLVESTER, b. November 26, 1795.


ENSIGN DANIEL ANDREWS, third son of Abram, Senior, " was a man of sense, energy, industry and uprightness." He built, and occupied until his death, July 20th, 1828, aged 79, the lean-to house a little east of the Danbury school house, now owned by Lyman H. Gilbert. He married April 2d, 1771, Sarah Hall; she died October 3d, 1822, aged 69.


CHILDREN.


I. RHODA, b. June 24, 1771 ; m. Levi Grant, of Norfolk.


II. DANIEL, b. October 25, 1772.


III. ANNA, b. April 3, 1774.


IV. HULDAH, b. October 14, 1775.


V. SARAH, b. February 16, 1777.


VI. EZRA, b. September 13, 1778 ; had wife, Paulina. Children : Paulina Louisa, b. June 22, 1804 ; Huldah Emeline, b. May 17, 1806 ; and Jerusha Fidelia, b. October 15, 1807.


ELI ANDREWS, fourth son of Abram, Senior, lived on a part of his father's original farm until his removal to central New York, after 1801. He married August 29, 1787, Ruth Rockwell.


CHILDREN.


I. JOEL, b. December 29, 1787. II. CLARA, b. June 4, 1789. III. ABIGAIL, b. March 27, 1792.


IV. POLLY, b. August 15, 1793.


DANIEL ANDREWS, son of Ensign Daniel, married Sarah Platt; she died December 16, 1848, aged 72; he died October 4, 1854, aged 82.


CHILDREN.


I. PLATT, b. March 6, 1799; m. March 6, 1828, Nancy Gilbert ; she d. June 25, 1850; he m. (2d) the widow of Ira Hull. He d. June 16, 1860, s. p.


II. AMOS, b. July 15, 1801 ; d. September 20, 1845.


107


AND FAMILY RECORDS.


III. AUGUSTUS, b. January 23, 1806; d. August 2, 1853, at Council Bluff, Iowa.


IV. MARIA, b. November 15, 1808; m. Willard Hart.


V. HIRAM,


b. May 12, 1813.


VI. LEWIS,


b. December 10, 1814 ; m. October 5, 1840, Caroline P. Culver.


VII. HULDAH, b. September 1, 1817; m. Mdlo M. Wadsworth.


VIII. HARRIET, b. November 4, 1819; m. (Ist) Albert Jaqua; (2d) Correl, Manchester.


JOHN AUSTIN bought this year of David Austin, thirty-five acres of land within the present village of Winsted, and sold the same to John Walter in 1779, and is described in the deeds as of Winchester. Whence he came and where he went is not ascertained.


REV. JOSHUA KNAPP, from Danbury, the recently ordained Pastor, purchased and lived on a lot next South of the homestead of Eliphaz Alvord, Esq., at the north-west corner made by the parting of the east and west road to Winchester Centre, from the north and south Dug-way road. His dwelling-house was demolished early in this century.


CHILDREN OF THE REV. JOSHUA AND MRS. MARY KNAPP.


I. MARY, b. December 8, 1772.


II. ABIGAIL BRACY,


b. August 16, 1774.


III. ELIZABETH,


b. October 11, 1776 ; d. June 29, 1777.


IV. JOSHUA,


b. July 2, 1778.


V. ELIZABETH, b. January 28, 1781.


VI. CALEB BUSHNELL, b. June 16, 1783.


VII. MARTHA,


b. October 21, 1785.


VIII. FLORILLA,


b. May 12, 1787 ; d. June 1, 1787.


IX. FLORILLA,


b. July 23, 1788.


HAWKINS WOODRUFF bought, and lived a few years on the farm now owned by Frederick Murray, on the old road from Winsted to Winchester Centre. He sold out to Samuel Clark in 1777. Whence he came and where he went is not ascertained. He married June 4, 1773, Lois Hills.


CHILD. CLARA, b. March 24, 1774.


REUBEN MINER came from New London, was a blacksmith by trade, and first built a house and shop near the original meeting house, from whence he removed in 1775 to the centre of the township, and built and occupied until his death the old hou-e now owned and occupied by Joel G. Griswold, on the old road from Winsted to Winchester. He was a man of earnest piety and zeal and an estimable citizen. He married Mrs. Sanderforth .* He died February 15, 1826, aged 85, leaving no record of


* The marriage of this worthy couple was said to be of the Enoch Arden order. They were both residents of New London. Mrs. Sanderforth's first husband was a sea captain, who was shipwrecked on a distant voyage, and not being heard from for


108


ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,


his family. He had two daughters, Esther and Lucy. Lucy lived and died single. Esther married David Strong.


JONATHAN SWEET is described on the land records of this year as of Winchester, and subsequently as of Goshen, and then again as of Win- chester. He first owned the B. B. Rockwell farm, between the two ponds, and afterwards a tract of land on Blue street, adjoining Goshen line. He may have temporarily resided on both places. He sold out his land in 1781, and probably then left the town. He married August 29, 1773, Esther Lewis.


CHILDREN.


I. SARAH,


b. May 16, 1774.


II. LORRAIN, b. February 16, 1776; d. March 24, 1778.


III. JONATHAN LEWIS, b. June 26, 1778.


IV. LUCY, b. June 30, 1780.


GIDEON WILCOXSON, from Stratford, owned and is supposed to have lived on land lying uorth and northeast of the Little Pond, probably the Daniel Beckley place. He served in the Revolutionary War, and died, while a prisoner, in the Sugar House in New York. His estate was administered in the Simsbury Probate Court, and distribution made to his brothers Elisha, David, and John, and his sisters Elizabeth Lake, Ruth Hubbell, Martha Beach, Huldah Coe, and Abia McCune.


1774.


We find the following votes of 1774, which reflect no credit on the infant town :-


" It was put to vote whether Lent Mott should be an inhabitant of this town, and it was voted in the negative."


" It was put to vote whether Widow Sarah Preston should be an inhabitant of this town, and it was voted in the negative."


" It was put to vote whether Benjamin Preston should be an inhabitant of this town, and it was voted in the negative."


When it is considered that each of these parties was a pioneer settler, that the first was one of the original members of the Church, still in good


several years, was believed to be lost. Mrs. Sanderforth, after some years of supposed widowhood, married Mr. Minor; and soon afterwards, Capt. Sanderforth re appeared and claimed his wife. The two husbands finally agreed that the wife should decide to which of them she would adhere; and that she and her selected husband should move out of New London county. She adhered to Mr. Minor, and they forthwith moved to Winehester. Their marriage was in some way legalized, and their lives were ex- emplary, affectionate, and pions. She was a refined woman, and highly esteemed. Some of her Sanderforth children followed her to this town, one of whom, a daughter, married William, son of John Miner.


109


AND FAMILY RECORDS.


standing, and that the other two were admitted to membership in 1775, it is hard to assign any other cause than poverty for these disfranchising votes.


The new comers of this year were Ozias Brownson and his sons, Ozias, Junior, Levi (second), Salmon, Asahel, Abijah P., and Isaac; Joseph Frisbee, Phineas Griswold, Ambrose Palmer, Joel Roberts, Peter Corbin, and his sons, Peter, Junior, and Daniel ; John Videto and his son, John, Junior ; Stephen Wade and his son, Amasa ; Ichabod Loomis, William Castel, Benjamin Preston, and Gideon Smith.


COL. OZIAS BROWNSON lived on the farm now owned by Reuben Chase, about a mile and a half southerly from the center. He was a blacksmith and farmer, and is described by a cotemporary as a " professor of religion, somewhat fierce and overbearing, industrious and thrifty, abounding in horses. He had children, one daughter and six sons. These sons were of gigantic strength, and the Colonel worked the five oldest to a great profit." He served as a Lieutenant and Captain of Militia in several tours of duty during the Revolution. He died March 12, 1810, aged 68. His wife, Abigail (Peck), died August 21, 1831, aged 78. His youngest son, Isaac, Esq., was born in Winchester, January 22, 1776.


OZIAS BROWNSON, Junior, built the house at Winchester Center now owned by Rev. Frederick Marsh, in which he lived until 1802, when he sold out to Rev. Archibald Bassett, and soon after removed to Amsterdam, N. Y. He married, January 12, 1792, a daughter (Grace) of Daniel Coe Hudson of Torrington,* and called his eldest son George Washington Jefferson, a name which somewhat dumb-founded Parson Robbins at the


* The compiler heard Mr. B. relate an incident of his marriage, illustrating the customs of that day. On the morning after the wedding he started from Torringford to Winchester in a sleigh, with his bride and a two-gallon bottle of rum, and on his way home found the road fenced up in three successive places, with gatherings of neighbors at each fence, prepared to salute his wife, or bottle, before allowing him a passage homeward.


* * * Another Winchester man, about this time married a wife in North Goshen, and was rather select in his invitations to the wedding. The roystering boys of Goshen Center were " left out in the cold." The marriage ceremony having been performed, and the " cushion dance" or some other kissing game commenced, a gang of the uninvited " he ones," who had secreted themselves around the open outside door, suddenly sprung upon the bride as she was passing, and rushed her into their sleigh. The horses were put to their full speed, the bride was taken to a tavern in the south part of Norfolk, and treated to flip, music, and dancing until the early hours of the morning, before the frantic husband could rescue her. He resorted to law instead of pistols for redress, but settled the suit before trial, so that it was never ascertained what a Litchfield county jury would award in dollars and cents for "stealing a bride."




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