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 31
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VII. JOIIN,2 b. January 27, 1648; bap. April 16, 1648.
VIII. EPHRAIM,2 b. September 26, 1650 ; bap. October 27, 1650.
BARNABAS HINSDALE,2 of Hatfield, Mass., married October 15, 1666, Sarah (White) Taylor, daughter of John and Mary White, and widow of Stephen Taylor. He was slain by the Indians, September 18, 1675.
CHILDREN.
I. BARNABAS,8 b. Hatfield, February 20, 1668.
II. SARA1I,3 b. -; m. January 8, 1691, Deacon Samuel Hall of East Middletown, now Chatham, Conn.
III. ELIZABETHI,3 b. October 29, 1671; d. March 8, 1672.
IV. ISAAC,3 b. September 15, 1673.
V. MARY,3 b. March 27, 1677.
BARNABAS HINSDALE? was admitted au inhabitant of Hartford, Conn., in 1693, and died there January 25, 1725, aged 57. He married, November 9, 1693, Martha Smith of Hartford, who died December -, 1738, aged 68.
CHILDREN.
I. BARNABAS,4 b. August 28, 1694 ; settled in Tolland, Conn.
II. MARTIIA,4 b. February 17, 1696 ; m. November 9, 1736, Thomas Bull of Harwinton, Conn., and d. April 15, 1761.
III. JACOB,4 b. July 14, 1698.
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ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
IV. SARAH,4 b. July 22, 1700; m. Nathaniel White [sce " White Memo- rials," pp. 32-3, and 49].
V. ELIZABETII,4 b. January 9, 1702; m. April 4, 1728, Jacob Benton of Harwinton.
VI. MARY,4 b. July 13, 1704 ; m. March 30, 1738, James Skinner, Jr.
VII. JOIIN,4 b. August 13, 1706.
VIII. DANIEL,4 b. May 15, 1708; m. August 21, 1737, Catharine Curtis of Wethersfield, who was buried April 12, 1788, aged 68. Ile was a deacon ; lived in Hartford ; buried September 13, 1781, aged 73.
IX. AMOS,4 b. August 24, 1710; m. Experience -, who d. May 4, 1781, aged 61.
CAPTAIN JOHN HINSDALE4 married, November 8, 1733, Elizabeth Cole, born March 18, 1711 ; she died July 1, 1784, aged 73. He lived in Kensington, now Berlin, Conn., and died December 2, 1792, aged 86.
CHILDREN.
I. JOIIN,5 b. August 19, 1734; d. October 13, 1743.
II. ELIZABETHI,5 b. June 29, 1736 ; m. David Atkins of Middletown.
III. THEODORE,5 b. November 25, 1738.
IV. LUCY,5 b. July 16, 1741 ; m. Samuel Plumb of Middletown ; d. Feb. -, 1791.
V. ELIJAII,5 b. April 1, 1744; m. Ruth Bidwell ; had a daughter Eliza- beth, who was the mother of Elijah Hinsdale Burritt, the astronomer, and of Elihu Burritt, " the learned blacksmith."
VI. LYDIA,5 b. August 11, 1747 ; m. Samuel Hart of Berlin, and was the mother of Mrs. Emma Willard, and of Mrs. Almira-Lincoln Phelps, each of them widely known as an instructress and authoress. VII. JOIIN,5 b. August 21, 1749.
THEODORE HINSDALE5 graduated Yale College, 1762; was ordained pastor of the church at North Windsor, April 30, 1766 ; married July 14, 1768, Anna Bissell, born March 11, 1748. They removed to Ilins- dale, Mass., which town was named in his honor, where she died, March 14, 1817, in her 69th year. He died December 29, 1818, aged 80 years.
CHILDREN.
I. ANNE (Nancy)6, b. April 16, 1769; d. Troy, N. Y., May 16, 1851.
II. LUCY,6 b. December 31, 1770; d. March 21, 1792.
III. THEODORE,6
b. November 12, 1772; d. October 14, 1855.
IV. JOSIAH BISSELL,6
b. November 15, 1774 ; he discarded the first name " Josiah," and was always known as Bissell.
V. JAMES, 6 b. September 28, 1776; d. September 28, 1777.
VI. JOIN,6 b. November 10, 1778; d. Brooklyn, N. Y., March 13, 1856. VII. LEVI,6 b. November 29, 1780 ; d. February 19, 1830.
VIII. ALTAMIRA,6 b. November 8, 1782; m. - Emmons; she d. at Princeton, N. J., November 11, 1836.
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AND FAMILY RECORDS.
IX. DANIEL, G
b. March 22, 1785; d. at Rising Sun, Ia., May 4,
1837.
X. IIORATIO,G
XI. WILLIAM,6
b. November 3, 1787 ; d. April 9, 1813.
b. March 5, 1790.
JOIN HINSDALE5 married Philomela Hurlbut, daughter of Dr. James Harvey, and - (Hart) Hurlbut. She died in 1790, aged 36 years. He died at Berlin, Conn., December 9, 1795.
CHILDREN.
I. HOSEA,6 b. Berlin, Conn., February 15, 1775. [Sce 1802.]
II. ABIGAIL, G b. -; m. Wm. Benham ; settled in West Hartford.
III: ESTHER,6 b. -; m. Amos Hills of Farmington ; d. at Cabot, Vt.
IV. AMELIA, 6 b. -; m. Anson Cook ; had five children.
V. NANCY,6 b. -; m. Norman Spencer; lived in Winchester, and in Ypsilanti, Mich .; had seven children.
BISSELL HINSDALE6 married Temperance Pitkin, born May 3, 1772, daughter of Rev. Timothy and Temperance (Clap) Pitkin. She died August 13, 1817. He died at Rochester, N. Y., February 6, 1866.
CHILDREN.
I. THEODORE,7 b. Colebrook, Conn., December 27, 1800.
II. ANN,7 b. W., Oct. 16, 1802; m. September 12, 1825, Fred. Whittlesey of Rochester.
III. MARY PITKIN,7 b. January 10, 1806 ; m. September 21, 1829, Sclah Matthews of Rochester.
IV. TIMOTHY PITKIN,7 b. May 5, 1809; d. February 5, 1810.
V. CHARLES,7 b. May 23, 1812; d. March 1, 1814.
THEODORE HINSDALE, EsQ., son of Bissell, graduated at Yale College in 1821, read law for a brief period with Seth P. Staples, Esq., of New Haven, and afterwards studied at Andover for one or two years; and in 1827 went into manufacturing business with his father-in-law, in the firm name of Rockwell & Hinsdale, successors of the Rockwell Brothers, who for nearly fifty years had conducted the same business. After the death of Mr. Rockwell in 1837, he was associated in the same business with the late Elliot Beardsley, deceased, in the firm name of Hinsdale & Beardsley until his death.
As a business man, he manifested great energy and executive ability ; while as "a citizen he was prominent and influential in advocating every good cause, and leading others by his activity and ardor. Gifted with a commanding person, a fascinating manner, and a native oratory, he became widely known and admired, and was sought as presiding officer or prominent speaker in the largest public gatherings in the coun- ty and State.
342
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
In the meridian of his manhood, with a career of distinguished useful- ness and honor in prospect, he was struck down by typhoid fever, and died Nov. 27, 1841, in the fortieth year of his age.
He married, April 26, 1826, Jernsha Rockwell, born March 28, 1803, daughter of Solomon and Sarah (MeEwen) Rockwell. After his death she married (2d), Dec. 10, 1843, John Boyd.
CHILDREN.
I. SARAH MCEWEN,8
b. April 2, 1827 ; d. in New London, Ang. 17, 1833.
II. MARY PITKIN,8
b. Dec. 11, 1828.
III. SOLOMON ROCKWELL,8 b. Aug. 25, 1835 ; m. in Baltimore, Md., Jan. 26, 1864, Julia Merritt Jackson ; b. in N. Y., Aug. 4, 1840, daughter of Samuel and Julia Ann (Brown) Jackson. He has a son, Theodore Rockwell,9 b. in Ellenville, Prince Georges County, Md., Jan. 31, 1865.
PHILEMON KIRKUM, EsQ., attorney at law, came from Norfolk to Winsted in 1800, and built a house on the site of Weed's Blcek, which was burned down March 25, 1853. He soon sold this house to Bissell Hinsdale, and in 1807 he built the original house on the lot next north of the Congregational Chapel, which was taken down by Dr. Welch to make room for his present dwelling. In this house he lived until his re- moval to Norton, Ohio, in 1814. He was a native of Guilford, Conn., - served for four or five years in the revolutionary war, afterwards studied law with Augustus Pettibone, Esq., of Norfolk, and was in due course ad- mitted to the Litchfield bar.
Tall of stature, erect of form, imposing in manner, fluent of speech, imaginative and impetuous, a Jeffersonian of the first water, he was a man of note in Northern Litchfield County. As a lawyer, he was well read, ingenious in argument, and oratorial in manner. The drawback to his professional success, and the blemish of his life, was an excitable and uncontrollable temper, mounting at times to frenzy. His competitors at the bar, when unable to cope with him in argument, not unfrequently con- trived to arouse his passions, thereby upsetting his argumentative facul- ties and destroying his self-control. He eventually withdrew from the bar, and limited his practice to Justice Courts.
He was the sole representative of the Democratic party in the village during its early growth. His neighbors were straight-haired Federalists. He was thoroughly indoctrinated and saturated with the principles of liberty and equality. The Democratic farmers, on the surrounding hills, looked to him as the advocate and defender of their political faith, and the organizer of their party. It was deemed necessary that a Democratic store should be got up in opposition to the Federal store of Mr. Ilins- dale. Some twenty of his friends furnished the capital and made Mr.
343
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
Kirkum the managing partner. The Federals owned or controlled every foot of ground on Main street from George Dudley's down to Clifton Mill bridge, and would not, for love or money, allow the new store to be built on the street - consequently the gambrel-roofed building west of the Lake street bridge was erected and stocked with goods. A large, fanci- ful sign-board on the eastern gable, announced that " Philemon Kirkum & Co.," were prepared to sell goods to their friends and the world at large. It was the first sign-board ever erected in Winsted, and it made a sensation. The twenty partners, as they had spare time, were in atten- dance, to see the working of the new institution, and to discuss the politi- cal issues of the day. Crowds of customers and idlers were attracted to the " free and easy " establishment, and captivated by the principles there inculcated. It was soon decided to expand the business, and the building in the East village, now occupied by Mr. Bird, was erected for a branch store.
A business so auspiciously inaugurated did not fulfill its promise. Clouds began to obsenre its horizon. The partners began to perceive that a free and equal distribution of worldly goods, to customers unable or unwilling to pay for them, brought no percentage of profit, and an inadequate return for meeting the bills payable, and revoked his agency. Mr. Kirkum was found to be too imaginative and unsystematic for a country merchant ; but his integrity was unimpeached. He resumed practice as a lawyer in a small way - talked philosophy, wrote poetry, made political speeches, and rode his old white horse as if he were charging the ranks of Cornwallis at Yorktown. His tall, erect figure and soldierly gait, combined with fluency of speech, rising at times to real eloquence, made him a man to be noted among thousands. In 1814, as before stated, he left our village, with his wife and son and worldly goods, in a covered wagon drawn by a pair of oxen, and wended his weary way to the Western Reserve, where he invested the small avails of his Winsted property in an uncleared but now valuable farm, located in Norton, Ohio, which he occupied, and im- proved during his remaining life, and left to his worthy grandson, Charles Coe, Esq., who was his stay and comfort in his declining years. A change of residence and associations essentially modified his peculiarities and smoothed down his sharp angularity of character. He diversified his farm labor with occasional law practice, and in his later years became a most popular "stump speaker " in the Harrison and subsequent campaigns. Mr. Kirkum failed to square his sharp cut principles of Democracy with slavery propagandism. . Ile saw with loathing the political ascendency of the South and the knuckling of the North, and would none of it. He watched the progress of events with deep sorrow, and predicted the bloody issue which he did not live to see. He died in 1855 at the age of 91 years. Age had not bent his erect form, nor scattered his flowing gray
344
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
locks, which he wore in a revolutionary cue or club until the last years of his life. His teeth, with one exception, continued sound and white as long as he lived. His wife was a Mills, of East Windsor, who died before him. They had a daughter Eliza who married Eben Coe, son of Jonathan2 in the Coe Genealogy ; and a son George who became a highly esteemed member of the bar in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and died not far from 1860, leaving one or more children.
JOSIAHI APLEY, from Torrington, this year bought a house and land on the hill road to Colebrook, north of Nelson Beardsley, where he lived until his return to Torrington in 1804. He married, Feb. 4, 1795, Elizabeth, daughter of Chauncey Mills.
ELIJAH BENEDICT, a blacksmith, came in this year, and worked in a shop on the west side of Lake street, opposite the old lean-to-house, in which he resided. After two or three years he moved out of the town. He returned about 1810, and after remaining about five years, removed to the West.
His first wife died during his second residence here, and he married (2d) Lovina, dau. of Simeon Moore. He had children by his first wife, GERSHOM, HEPZIBAHI, and KETURA, and perhaps others.
NATHANIEL SMITHI is found on the tax list of this year, and in 1801 he purchased land in the vicinity of Everett C. Holmes, on which he lived until his sale of the same in 1806 to Zebina Smith.
SOLOMON LEMLY, a forgeman, came from Colebrook this year, and lived in a house, now torn down, on Lake street, above the parting of the new Winchester road, until about 1815, when he moved to Salisbury. He had a brother, Jacob Lemly, who came here the following year, and lived in a house now torn down, adjacent to Hurlbut's forge dam, until his death, about 1815. They were of Low Dutch extraction, and each had a large family of children, most of whom were named in pairs, - distinguished from each other by taking their patronynim Christian name as a surname. There was a John Solomon and John Jacob, Hannah Solomon and a Hannah Jacob, a Sol. Sol. and a Jake Jake, and a like duplication of Sally and Polly. No descendants of either family remain in the town.
WILLIAM DAVIS first appears on the list of this year. He lived on West Lake street, in a small house then standing in front of the first house west of the lake outlet, until his death in 1805.
His wife was a Hancock, from Southwick, Mass. They had two dau., Lucy and Sally, who m. Timothy and Alpheus Persons, -and a son.
345
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
,
Lyman, who went to Clayville, N. Y., about 1820, and probably died there.
GEDELIAH CHASE, a miller, came from New Hartford to Winsted in 1799 or 1800, and took charge of the Austin Mill, living in the old lean- to Mill House on Lake street, near the lake outlet, until his removal to Old Winchester about 1807, where he afterwards resided most of his remaining life. He was b. Nov. 28, 1761, and d. July 4, 1832. He m. Nov. 11, 1790, Rebecca -, b. July 14, 1768.
CHILDREN.
I. GEORGE, b. Ap. 18, 1792.
V. REUBEN,
b. March 28, 1800.
II. CHARLOTTE,
b. Aug. 15, 1794.
VI. HARRIET,
b. May 8, 1804.
III. DUDLEY,
b. Aug. 30, 1796.
VII. JERUSHA,
b. Junc 20, 1810.
IV. BETSEY,
b. May 22, 1798.
VIII. HORACE,
b. Oct. 24, 1812.
44
CHAPTER XXIV.
ANCIENT AND MODERN WINSTED .- ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
IN tracing the settlement of the Winsted section of the town, we have thus far made no mention of the Ecclesiastical Society of Winsted as an organized body. Its religious services up to this period were mainly held beyond the eastern border of the town. Its first meeting-house was there erected, and the first minister there ordained and settled. Its original members were residents along the old North Country road and its vicinity, a larger portion of them in Winchester and a considerable number in Barkhamsted.
To modern Winsted, its origin and growth, its struggles and dissensions prior to 1801, would seem a myth, did not its quaint old records avouch the reality of its history. These records begin with a society meeting lawfully warned and held March 17, 1778, at the dwelling-house of John Balcom, by a warrant granted by Matthew Gillett, justice of the peace, dated seven days earlier. Of this meeting John Wright was chosen moderator, and Eleazer Kellogg clerk ; and Isaac Kellogg, Josialı Smith and Jolin Balcom were appointed committee men ; and it was voted that the annual meetings of the society should be holden on the second Monday of December annually, and that warnings therefor should be set up at Austin's Mill, Abram Callers' shop, and at the crotch of the road that goes from John Wright's to Lemuel Walters, twelve days before such meeting. Another meeting, held September 15 of the same year, voted that the money paid to Mr. Porter and to Mr. Ausbon for preaching, and also the money due Mr. Balcom for boarding Mr. Ausbon, should be paid out of a tax when collected. At the annual meeting of this year it was voted "that a meeting be warned to see if this society are a mind to be made a distinct town." The same subject was brought up at various sub- sequent meetings, but no definite action appears to have resulted.
At the annual meeting in 1780 the matter of locating and building a meeting-house seems to have been first agitated: and it was voted " that we will git the original plans of Winchester and Barkhamsted, and apply to Cornal Shelding to find the middle of this society, and if he cant by them give us the senter, then to measure the bounds of this society, the said
347
FAMILY RECORDS.
Shelding to measure, and that this society will pay the cost to Cornal Shelding for doing the business for said society, and that Lieut. John Wright to see the Bisness done." The subject was resumed May 24, 1782, when it was voted " that we do try to agree to pitch a stake for a meeting-house," and " that we apply to the next county court for a com- mittee to pitch a stake for our meeting-house," and that we nominate Esq. Asaphı Hall of Goshen, Major Jiles Pettibone of Norfolk, and Esq. En- sign of Hartland." In December, 1792, Col. Sheldon was substituted for Esq. Ensign on this committee, and at a meeting, August 25, 1783, it was voted "to establish the stake for our meeting-house where it now stands pitched by Col. Shelding, Major Pettibone and Esq. Hall, and that Ensign Jesse Doolittle shall go and make returns to the Honorable County Court of our voting the establishment of our meeting-house stake."
This looked like an auspicious beginning of the constructive work of the society, but the appearance was deceptive. A meeting was called, Dec. 22, 1783, "to see if the society will go on to bild our meeting-house where the stake now stands," and the question was decided in the negative. On the 2d of February, 1784, it was voted "that we chuse a comitte to go and view the society and se if we can't pitch a stake for ourselves ;" and December, 1784, it was voted "to go on and build a meting-house at the stake pitched by the committee " the house to be 45 by 35 feet and a suitable height for galleries ; and a tax of sixpence on the pound was laid for defraying expenses. This again looked hopeful ; but at a meeting in January, 1785, the hopeful project was knocked in the head by a vote "that all the bisness voated " in the previous meeting " be holy set aside consarning bilding a meeting house in this society."
On the 9th of May, 1786, another committee, consisting of Capt. Josiah Smith, Nathaniel Russell, Ensign Jesse Doolittle, Othniel Brainart, Capt. Robert Whitford, and Sergt. Reuben Sweet pitched a stake at the West end of Jonathan Sweet's lot, where it was voted by more than two-thirds to build the house. In June following it was decided to build a house 50 by 40 feet with height in proportion, and that an agent be sent to the county court to get the stake established. Again the project was nullified by a vote of Sept. 4, 1786, " that we will not send an agent to the County Court."
Another stake- pitching committee was appointed Sept. 25, 1786, which seems to have performed its duty. In October following it was voted " that this meeting be adjourned to the place where the committee have prefixed for to build a meeting-house ;" and it was there " voted, by more than two-thirds, that we will bild a meeting house where the committe have pitched the stake." Although this vote of more than two-thirds was solemnly taken on the very ground "prefixed by the committe, yet subse-
348
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
quent records show that the stake would not yet stay pitched. But, before tracing these measures to a final result, it is fitting to advert to other occurrences in the history of the Society.
Up to 1786, preaching was had at irregular intervals, and no money raised by taxation for its support. Individuals seem to have 'advanced money, and to have found difficulty in getting it refunded. The Society, in 1780, voted "to make up the sink of money due individuals for ad- vancements, according to Congress scale." In 1782, May 14, it was voted to hire preaching, and " that the committe do advise where to apply for a candidate," and that Lieut. Josiah Smith be appointed to read the Psalm on Sabbath days, and that Eleaser Kellogg read the Psalms when Lieut. Smith is absent.
In 1783 it was voted to have preaching in the summer, and in the fall a tax of seven pounds was voted " to be applied for the youse of supporting singing." A committee was also chosen "to regulate the singing in this society on the Sabbath-day, and to introduce such tunes as they shall think proper to be sung on Sabbath days ; " and it was also voted that preaching should continue during the winter.
It might be inferred, that with preaching summer and winter, and the support and regulation of singing under the supervision of three choristers and a committee to introduce tunes proper to be sung on the Sabbath, harmony and concert of action might have been promoted: but stakes could not be pitched and voted on so often without moral friction. Heart- burning and dissensions prevailed to such a degree that in October, 1785, a mutual council consisting of Rev. Messrs. Taylor of New Milford, Can- field of Roxbury, Huntington of Middlebury, Belden of Newington and Smalley of New Britain, was called to advise with the church and society in regard to the subsisting difficulties. The records fail to show the re- sult, if any was reached. Harmony, in any event, was not restored. Meetings were frequent, and contradictory in action. Votes passed at one stage of a meeting were not infrequently voted down before adjourn- ment, and the doings of one meeting were undone by another. The meetings were often protracted into the night, and unfair advantages taken in carrying measures at a late hour, that could not be accomplished in a full moeting. To correct some of these irregularities a standing rule was adopted about this time, "that no vote should be put after sunset for the futer, except the business so drive them that they find it necessary, and passed a vote to continue the same before sunset." Another vote re- quired " that all accounts against the society shall be brought to the annual meeting yearly, or shall be forfeit for the futer, except it be made to ap- pear that it could not be done."
The following votes illustrate the way of doing business in committee
349
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
of the whole, under the new rule, and show an example of thoroughness worthy of all imitation :
Voted, Elkana Phelps, £1, 11s., 4d. for boarding Mr. Fowler eleven sabbaths.
Voted, Eleanor Kellogg, £9, Gs., Od. for the youse of his house.
Voted, Enoch Palmer for boarding ministers and house room for hold- ing meetings sabbath days, £1, 9s.
Voted, Elisha Mallory for boarding Mr. Beach 1 week, 4 days, 12s.
Voted, Capt. Josiah Smith, for boarding Mr. Hitchcock and other min- isters 32 weeks, and keeping their horses, £1, Gs. 3d.
Voted, Ensign Doolittle for going to Torringford to get Mr. Edmund Mills to preach hear, 3s.
Voted, Samuel Hayden for holding meetings in his house for 28 Sab- baths, £2, 2s.
Voted, That those that board ministers in the summer season, and keep their horses for the futer, be allowed 7s. Gd. a week.
The pitching of stakes for a meeting house having been played out in 1786, it was thought best to defer the building of a meeting house, and to settle a minister ; and accordingly, at the annual meeting of the year, it was "voted, by more than two-thirds, that we give Mr. Parsons a call, in order to a settlement." It was also voted to give him a salary of forty pounds a year, and the use of two hundred pounds as a Settlement. A committee was also appointed to purchase a place or settlement for the use of the minister of the value of about £200, to be holden as the prop- erty of the society.
The church having united with the society in a call to Rev. Stephen Parsons to settle with them in the gospel ministry, his reply was laid before the society on the 12th of March, 1787; whereupon it was voted to settle Mr. Parsons agreeable to his Ritten Answer, which is as fol- lows, viz :
March ye 11th, 1787.
To the Church and Society of Winsted, wishing grace, mercy and peace to be multiplied unto you.
Having taken into consideration the call you gave me to settle with you in the work of the Gospel Ministry, as it appears to me a matter of great importance that I am lead by the Spirit of God in the right way to promote the general cause of God in the world. I thought it my duty to give you some idea of my present profession and principles, respecting Christian fellowship and connection with churches.
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