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 35
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For the edification of the antiquary of nineteen hundred and three, - in the event of a copy of these annals reaching his hands - we here note the date of transplantation of some of the trees now standing on Main and Lake streets, as follows :
The elms around the East village Park, as already stated, in 1803 ; - and those in the vicinity on Main street perhaps a year later ; - the maples around the Solomon Rockwell place on Lake street, and in front of the Congregational Church, about 1818. The elms in front of the E. S. Woodford place about 1825, and those fronting Moses Camp's place about 1830 ; those in front of the Winsted Savings Bank and the S. W. Coe store, in 1832.
Of the seedling elms along the bank of Mad River, which may be known by their irregular positions, probably not one had sprung up be- fore the opening of the Green Woods turnpike, in 1799.
In recalling Winsted as it was in its infancy, memories of the West village school house and its occupants crowd upon us. It was there that we this year began to ascend the hill of science, seated on one of the slab benches, supported by four rough-hewn legs, - without backs, - and a little too high for our feet to touch the floor. The building was erected in
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ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
the last century, - how early no one now living can tell, and no record in- forms. It was of mature age, - had once been painted red, but then had a dirty, brindle look, neither venerable nor picturesque. It had a large stone fire-place at the north end, with the entry from the outer doors on one side and " the dungeon," - a dark closet, - on the other.
A smaller fire-place and chimney of later construction stood at the south end. Writing desks, fronting inwards, stood near the east and west walls. In front of these were the hemlock slabs in two tiers for torment- ing the young children, - and teaching them at the outset, the rugged- ness of the path of learning they were to ascend. The teacher's table, a small platform of boards, fastened on top of an over-grown saw-horse, and a splint-bottom chair, were the only other articles of furniture or adorn- ment, save that sundry hieroglyphics and portraits were frescoed on the walls, by using the end of a tallow dip for a pencil or brush, and bringing out the figures in relief by the vigorous application of a black felt hat. New inscriptions and new pictures would from time to time appear, as some new genius in the school developed his talents.
In the rear of the school house ran a little brook, well stocked with striped dace, on whom the sporting boys tried their first experiments with a crooked pin attached to a linen thread, and baited with a grub.
It is hard to realize, that before there were half a dozen dwellings along the Mad River, this school house was filled to overflowing with strapping boys and girls from the surrounding hills. There were the Spencers, the Loomises, the Cooks, the Douglasses, the Harts, the Wal- ters, Millers, Burtons, Osborns, Apleys, Butrixes, and Wrights, from Spencer strect ; the Sweets, Coes, Whitings, Hoskins, and Russells, from Coe street; the Chases, Holmeses, Elwells, De Wolfs, Westlakes, Phillipses, Lemleys, Munsons, and Davises, from the upper part of Lake street.
The butternut coats of the larger boys were all too small of girth to button round their bodies, and leather straps, from three to six inches long, with button holes at each end, were used to hold them together. High peaked, woolen caps of mitre shape, made of alternate perpendicu- lar stripes of " white, red, and blue," or other fancy colors, were in gen- eral vogue for winter wear. Long leggins, of mixed sheep's wool, tied close to the cowskin shoes with tow-strings, were chiefly used instead of boot-legs to keep out the snow from the feet. The girls had winter dresses of cam-wood colored cloth, or red flannel, for winter wear, and calico or home-made gingham petticoats and short gowns for summer, with pockets, fastened outside, around the waist.
There were no puny children in those days. The big boys were bullies, and the small ones game cocks. One strapping girl I remember who could flax out any boy in school. She was called " Bonaparte's
-
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AND FAMILY RECORDS.
wife." There was a big boy, Miles Munson by name, who was proud of his strength and prowess, and had curious ways of showing himself off to the smaller boys. One day he laid himself down on the descending ground between a large, half rotten saw-mill log and the brook, and told the boys they might roll the log over him, - not dreaming that the little imps could move it. They laid hold of the log with a will, and it yielded to their united strength. Before Miles could get out of the way it had flattened him down and gone over him, into the brook. Strange to say, it didn't kill him, nor break his bones. It was pitiable and laughable to see the poor fellow gather up his scattered senses and limbs, and straighten himself up; - and to hear him with mouth full of dirt, stream- ing eyes and flattened drooling nose, pour forth, with Yankee drawl, his emphatic " Gaul darn you, boys ! what on airth did you du that for?"
Snow-balling was a science in those days; and so was sliding down the hill above the school house. A dozen boys would come down on their sleds at locomotive speed. Another dozen would form a gauntlet near the foot of the hill, with each a pole to place before the sled runners, and overturn the rider. The boy who could run the whole gauntlet, right side up, was a trump. One of the indoor games was gambling for pins. Two boys would each place a pin parallel to that of his opponent on the crown of a hat. One would strike the side of the hat with his hand so as to jostle the pins, and then the other would follow, until one of them had thrown one of the pins across the other, when the two became his, and then a new stake commenced. The most successful gamblers in this line were distinguished by the long rows of pins dis- played on their coats sleeves. This game gave rise to a brisk manufac- ture of pin-boxes, by pealing the bark from an elder stick, punching out the pith, fitting a plug into one end and a stopper at the other. The price of these varied from two to six pins, according to quality.
The school-masters and " school-marms" of this model school come up before us. The good Deacon Lorrin Loomis, lately gone to heaven at nearly a hundred years old, first appears on the vista of memory, - a kind, loving, cheerful-spirited man, - who impressed his Christ-like character on more of the children of Winchester than any other, - priest or layman. Then comes the hated vision of Doctor Pratt, - a tyrant of the hyena sort, who brought in his whips from the woods by the armful, - ran them through the hot embers to make them tough and supple, and was never without one in his hand. His amateur diversion was to switch the small boys into a bolt upright position on their slabs, and to wallop the bigger ones with or without cause, until his savage nature was soothed into com- placency. The classes were marshaled for reading or spelling with the whip. Its hissing sound, as he swung it around his head at the door of the school house, was the signal to come in from play ; and woe to the
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ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
urchin who was among the last half of the in-gathering procession. A worthy resident of the Western Reserve, who went from this seminary with his parents to the West, remarked in mature life that he was at peace with all the world except Dr. Pratt ; and that if he should ever see him again he would thrash him if he died for it.
Next come the two Haydens, Seth and Moses. Seth was a mild, kind-hearted man, who ruled by love more effectually than any tyrant of the rod could do by force.
Moses was a crack teacher, a good disciplinarian, and skilled in show- ing off his school to the visitors at the end of his term. We remember on one of these occasions his calling up his youngest geography class, remarking that time would only permit of his asking each of them a single question. He then began with the question, " What is geography ?" to the first; to the second, "How is the earth divided ?"; to the third, " What portion of the earth is land?" and so on. The third question had been previously given out to our sister, and she had learned to answer, " About three fists (fifths) of the whole," and this was her whole stock of geographical knowledge. Each of the other members of the class had been drilled in the same way to one question and answer, and knew nothing more of the science. The pitiful farce worked to a charm, and added a new laurel to the brow of the pedagogue.
Giles Russell was a flippant, sarcastic teacher, who could work con- siderable learning into a blockhead in the course of a winter.
Our first teacher in this school wore a female garb, but possessed mas- culine powers. Miss Roxy F- was the name of this semiramis. She was large-boned, corpulent, loud and sharp-voiced, choleric, and at the meridian of single blessedness. She had a ferule that she carried in her capacious pocket, something like a watchman's billy, only that it had a round head two and a half inches in diameter, beveled down on one side, so as to make a flat surface, fitting the palm of an urchin's hand. This was freely applied, secundum artem, to the hands of delinquents within her reach, and thrown with unerring aim at any disorderly boy in a distant part of the room, who brought it back for application to his own hand. Miss F. had her predilections and antipathies. She hated the itch, and rapturously kissed the children that came to school with a strong smell of brimstone.
In striking contrast with this virago was Miss Sally Sherman, after- wards wife of Joseph Miller, Esq., a young lady of exquisite refinement and cultivated intellect, adorned with grace of manner and a loving heart. No unkind word ever escaped her lips. If she ever used a ferule, it was so mildly applied as to give no pain, and to escape remem- brance. The tired and sleepy child on the hemlock slabs, instead of having its ears cuffed for falling to the floor in pure exhaustion, was
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AND FAMILY RECORDS.
gently laid on a blanket in the center of the room and allowed to sleep away its fatigue and petulance. It was not uncommon for half a dozen of these wearied sleepers to occupy the blanket during a warm afternoon.
Other teachers, male and female, might be named-some of them love- able and some of them hateful-but the specimens given must suffice. The punishments of those days inflicted on such of the children as inherited dispositions too sprightly for puritanic decorum were various. The birch was in use to some extent, but the beech was the more favored implement, as being tougher and more durable. The "dungeon " in the old school house was a dark, unwholesome cell, unventilated and un- lighted. It was the imaginary habitation of she bears, snakes, and vermin, and cruel was the shock to children of sensitive natures con- signed to its darkness. Various amateur punishments would be intro- duced by different teachers. One master would make the delinquents crawl under and between the cross legs of the school table; another would fasten a split stick to their tongues; another would make them stoop over with unbent knees, and place the forefinger of the right hand on a nail head in the floor.
.The saturnian "school marms " were generally powerful with the ferule, and effective in the cuffing of ears, and some of them in pulling hair. Fine sewing, working muslin, and especially making " samplers " of block lettering, were an important part of the teaching of the female scholars in the summer months.
The catechism tasks, and the reading of the New Testament as a school book, in all the drawling tones and halting utterances of unsophis- ticated Yankee children, were ill calculated to impress the mind with a favorable view of Calvinistic doctrines, or of the divine teachings of the Saviour.
1803.
SAMUEL and LUTHER HOADLEY (brothers) from Waterbury, became residents of the town during this or the preceding year. The Doolittle mill had been swept away previously, and they became the owners of the dam, water privilege, and the land adjoining on both sides of the river. They built a saw mill on the old corn mill site, and soon after erected a new grist mill on the east side of the stream, on the site of the brick clock factory, recently burned down. They also built for the town the wooden bridge crossing the chasm where the stone arched-bridge has been, within a few years, erected. The original bridge crossed the river above the dam, nearly opposite the Rollin L. Beecher's late residence, and was abandoned on the erection of the wooden bridge before . mentioned. About 1807 they erected a small wooden clock factory adjoining the east wing of the bridge on the south side of the road, in which they did a large and prosperous business in connection with Riley Whiting, who married their sister.
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ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
They were for ten years prominent and highly esteemed business men, and by their ingenuity and enterprise contributed largely to the growth and prosperity of the village .*
SAMUEL HOADLEY retired from business on his appointment as Major of Volunteers in the war of 1812. He was promoted to a colonelcy, and served through the war, mainly at New London. He continued his residence in Winsted until his removal to Ohio about 1825. He built and resided in the two story house west of and nearly opposite the stone bridge. He married, about 1801, Content Barnes, from near New Ilaven.
CHILDREN.
I. SARAH ANNA,
b. Jannary 1, 1802; m. Bennett Blakeslee of Medina, Ohio.
II. AMELIA, b. October 25, 1803 ; m. Dr. Deming of Aslıland, O., and (2d) - Du Bois.
III. HARRIET,
b. August 6, 1805 ; d. November 27, 1817.
IV. SOPHRONIA, b. May 2, 1808 ; m. Wm. P. McCrary of Paris, O.
V. SAMUEL BUCKLEY,
b. April 20, 1810 ; m. Jemima Ilickox.
VI. JULIETTE, b. March 3, 1812.
VII. CHARLOTTE, b.
VIII. LUCIUS,
(twin).
IX. LUCIEN,
(twin).
X. CHARLES, died when six years old.
LUTHER HOADLEY, son of Lemuel and brother of Samuel, built and lived in the first house south of the Wallen's Hill road, near the clock factory. In 1813 he went to New London as captain of drafted militia, and died there Sept. 8, 1813, aged 31 years. He married, in 1810, Sophia Dexter of Windsor.
CHILDREN.
I. SOPINIA DEXTER, b. Feb. 1, 1812 ; m., at Harwinton, -- Cone, of Pe- oria, Ill.
II. LUTHIER J.,, b. March 6, 1814; after his father's decease, m. (Ist), at Harwinton, Jane, daughter of Truman Kellogg, Esq .; (2d), Hannah Wood; (3d), Hannah Abby Wood. He settled at Brownsville, Nebraska.
* They were sons of Lemuel and Urania (Mallory) Hoadley, whose children were as follows :-
I. MARY, m. Asahel Osborne, Esq., of Columbia, Lorrain Co., O.
II. DAVID, the builder of many churches in Conn.
III. SALLY, m. Zaphni Potter of Columbia, O.
IV. CALVIN, settled and died in Columbia, O.
V. SAMUEL, see text.
VI. LUTHER,
see text.
VII. URANIA,
b. May 5, 1788; m. February 9, 1806, Riley Whiting. She m. (2d) December -, 1841, Erasmus Darwin Calloway.
VIII. LEMUEL,
d. Olmsted, or Concord, Ohio.
IX. MARSHALL, was drowned when about twelve years old.
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AND FAMILY RECORDS.
HAWLEY OAKLEY, lived on West branch of Spencer street above Nelson Beardsley's from this date for five or six years, and then moved to Canaan, Conn. He married Lydia, daughter of Luke Hart, and had
CHILDREN.
I. ALVA, b. Hartland, Oct. 13, 1799, now a resident of Winsted, and WILLIAM, now of Norfolk, and may have had other children.
ALVA OAKLEY, son of Hawley above named, came from Canaan to Winsted, not far from 1830, and has since resided in the Hoskin home- stead on Coe street. He married, May 25, 1826, Roxana, daughter of Theodore Hoskin.
CHILDREN.
I. HENRY, b. Canaan, April 13, 1827 ; d. W., Oct. 27, 1846.
II. HELEN, b. C., April 13, 1827; m. Thomas Atkins.
III. JUNIUS SILAS, b. C., June 12, 1829 ; m. Mary A. Atkins.
IV. MARIA ELIZABETH, b. C., April 23, 1831 ; d. W., Sept. 6, 1834.
V. JENNETT ALMA, b. W., Jan. 18, 1833; d.
VI. SARAH ELIZABETH, b. Jan. 1, 1839.
1804.
ERASTUS BURR, son of Jehiel and Mabel, appears on the list of this year. He learned the scythe maker's trade of Jenkins & Boyd, and in 1806 bought their original scythe works of Mr. Jenkins, which he operated until 1810 when he sold out to Thos. R. Bull, and soon after moved to Western New York. He married, about 1806, Polly, daughter of Judah West of Winchester.
ROSWELL BURR, younger brother of Erastus above, lived on the east side of North Main street, half a mile north of the Woodruff tannery until 1833, when he moved to Ohio. He married -- Nancy, daughter of Judah West, and had a son DAVID, who married a daughter of Reuben Rowley, and lived in the same house with his father until his removal to Ohio in 1846; and had other children, Luther, Halsey, and Roswell.
HALSEY BURR, younger brother of Erastus and Roswell, learned scythe making of Benjamin Jenkins, and in 1814 built a scythe shop on North Main street, which he operated until about 1853, when he sold his shop to B. & E. Woodall, who erected the long factory building now standing on. the premises. He lived on the West side of the road, opposite the shop, until his death, Jan. 15, 1861. He married Lucy, daughter of Oliver White, Sen., by whom he had
CHILDREN.
I. ELIZA, b. July 19, 1819.
II. DENCY, b. April 10, 1821; d. May 26, 1848.
III. MATILDA, b. July 28, 1822.
49
1
386
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
IV. JEIIIEL, b. Aug. 24, 1824.
V. LUCY,
b. July 5, 1827.
VI. MARY,
b. June 13, 1829.
VII. JANE A.,
b. June 27, 1831.
VIII. NANCY, b. July 7, 1833.
IX. GEORGE H., b. Aug. 7, 1837.
X. ABBY M.,
b. June 2, 1839.
XI. CARLOS,
b. Dec. 29, 1841.
LUKE HAYDEN, from Torringford, this year bought the John Wright farm, on the Old Country road near Rowley pond, on which he lived until his removal to Ilartland, in 1814.
1805.
REUBEN BALDWIN, from Derby, a joiner, came to Winsted this or the preceding year, and superintended the finishing of the meeting-house in the east village. He continued his residence in the Society until his death, Dec. 15, 1855, at the age of 71. His residence was in the one-and-a-half- story house near the Lake outlet. He married, July 13, 1807, Nancy, daughter of Nathan Wheeler. She died Feb. 7, 1854, aged 65.
CHILDREN.
I. EMELINE, b. Sept. 20, 1808; m. Sept. 27, 1832, William F. Hatch ; d. Sept. 22, 1870.
II. LYMAN, b. March 12, 1810; m., Nov. 30, 1837, Rebecca C. Mather, of Middletown : CHILD : Sarah Gray, b. July 16, 1852.
III. MATILDA, b. Feb. 15, 1816; m., Dec. 3, 1839, Miles Smith, who d. July 27, 1851. CHILD: Martha Benham, b. May, 1848; m., April 23, 1872, King T. Sheldon.
ELIAB BUNNELL this year bought the lot east of the Park, on which the James T. Norton house now stands. In company with Reuben Bald- win, he built thereon, for a work shop, the house since owned by Chester Soper, and afterwards removed to the south side of Main street, east of Hiram Perkins, in which they made patent washing machines until about 1810, when Mr. Bunnell removed to Vernon, N. Y.
ANDREW WALTER, son of John, of Winchester, this year returned from Vermont, and spent his remaining life in the town. He was born Dec. 5, 1779 ; married, - -- - , Abigail, daughter of Samuel Westlake, of W., and had several children, of whom Charlotte, the oldest, married Sylvester Hart, of W.
1806.
REV. JAMES BEACH was ordained pastor of the First Congregational Church on the first of January of this year. He was a native of the town, but resided from infancy to early manhood in Torrington. He was graduated with honor at Williams College, studied divinity with Rev.
387
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
Asahel Hooker, D. D., of Goshen, and after a brief candidacy, was called to and settled over this church on a cash salary of $350 a year, with an advance of funds to purchase a dwelling, repayable in yearly installments. No record is found of the ordaining exercises.
He was sound, dignified, and conservative; faithful in his parochial duties, - especially in his pastoral visits and his supervision of the schools. The faithfulness of his ministry was attested by repeated re- vivals and the exemplary lives of most of the converts. He was dis- missed from his charge, at his own request, January 26, 1842, but con- tinued his residence until his death on the 10th day of June, 1850, at the age of 70 years.
His character and standing in the ministry is happily portrayed in the following sketch by Rev. Doctor Eldridge of Norfolk.
" Rev. Mr. Beach had been settled in the ministry at Winsted many years when I came to reside in Norfolk. I immediately formed his ac- quaintance, and soon came to look to him with filial affection and confi- dence, feelings that I continued to entertain towards him to the end of his life.
" Mr. Beach was endowed with strong intellectual powers. His bias was more towards the practical than the merely speculative. This ten- dency, combined with a calm temperament, fitted him to be a wise coun- selor, and a most useful member of our ecclesiastical associations.
" His disposition was social and genial. He was a pleasant man to meet. He had a considerate regard for his ministerial brethren, in re- spect to their feelings and reputations; rejoiced in their success and in their usefulness. I never saw him out of temper, never heard him utter a harsh or censorious remark ; he never thrust himself forward, was more disposed to stand back and make room for others.
" I heard him preach but a few times. His sermons were full of truth, clearly and plainly expressed. In their delivery he was earnest, but never impassioned ; - perhaps more of emotion would have improved them. His prayers in public, especially those on special occasions, such as ordinations and the like, were very remarkable for their ease, their felicitous adaptation in all respects to the circumstances of the case, and the happy introduction of scriptural quotations ; and at the same time re- markable for their exemption from everything of the nature of effort at display, and for their simple tone and humble earnestness.
" My recollection of Father Beach, as I used to call him, are very dear to me. I loved him in life, and lamented him in death, and feel that I owe it to his kindness and his encouragement and advice in no small de- gree, that I have so long remained where I am."
He married, Oct. 28, 1806, Hannah Clarissa Baldwin, born in Goshen,
388
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
Conn., March 10, 1784, daughter of Isaac and Lucy (Lewis) Baldwin. He died June 10, 1850 ; she died May 7, 1752.
CHILDREN.
I. LUCY BALDWIN,2 b. Aug. 20, 1807 ; m. Dec. 16, 1830, Henry Hazen Hyde, b. in Catskill, N. Y., July 1, 1805, son of Wilkes and Sarah Hazen Hyde. She d. Feb. 7, 1846; and he m. (2d), Feb. 14, 1856, Sarah B. Shepard, of Boston.
CHILDREN.
1. James Beach,3 b. Nov. 14, 1831; d. Jan. 8, 1850, while in Col- lege, an undergraduate.
2. Henry Baldwin,3 b. Feb. 15, 1834; m. March 20, 1864, Annie Fitch, of New York; is Vice-President of the Equitable Life As- surance Company of New York ; has children : 1. Annie Baldwin,4 b. Jan. 15, 1865; d. Sept. 2, 1865. 2. Mary Baldwin,4 b. Nov. 9, 1867.
3. Mary,3 b. Sept. 4, 1839; d. Jan. 4, 1840.
4. Lucy Baldwin,3 b. Aug. 20, 1841. II. HANNAH CLARISSA,2 b. March 20, 1809 ; d. Oct. 26, 1815.
III. MARY,2 b. Dec. 16, 1814 ; m. Caleb J. Camp. (Their chil-
dren noted in connection with the family record of Samuel Camp.)
CAPTAIN EZEKIEL WOODFORD, from Avon or Bloomfield, this year purchased of Jolin Sweet the house and land at the corner of Main and Coe streets, and there resided during his remaining life. During most of this period he kept a tavern, and managed a saw-mill nearly opposite his house. He died May 10, 1820, aged 71 ; his wife, Anne (Bishop), died December 23, 1831, aged 77.
CHILDREN.
I. LUCY, m. Wadsworth of West Hartford.
II. ERASTUS, late of Winsted.
III. JEREMIAH, late of Bloomfield.
IV. NANCY,
V. ROMANTA,
VI. EZEKIEL, late of Winsted, b. June 30, 1790.
VII. MARY,
VIII. HARRIET, m. Shepard. IX. LESTER, b. June 19, 1797.
ERASTUS WOODFORD, son of Ezekiel, came to Winsted soon after his father, and owned and occupied the Green Woods Hotel property, on the Green Woods turnpike, near Colebrook line, until soon after 1820, when he removed to his father's late homestead, where he resided until his death, April 20, 1855, at the age of 74. He was Town Clerk from Octo- ber 1826, to October 1829, and filled other town offices from time to time. He married, November 14, 1805, Ruth Barber, born October 27, 1780, daughter of Benjamin and Ruth (Bolles) Barber.
389
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
CHILDREN.
I. BENJAMIN BARBER, b. Jan. 22, 1807.
II. ERASTUS STERLING,
b. Sept. 20, 1808.
III. JULIA ANN,
b. Feb. 14, 1811 ; m. Willard S. Wetmore.
IV. LUCIUS JONAH, b. May 16, 1814.
V. CORDELIA RUTHY, b. June 2, 1818 ; m. James H. Tuttle.
ROMANTA WOODFORD, son of Ezekiel, came into the town a few years after his father, and built and occupied the house on Main street, next his father's homestead, carrying on the tinning business until his removal to Bennington, Greene County, New York, in 1818.
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