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 37
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IV. ABIGAIL, b. ; m. Daniel Brown.
V. LUCIA, b. ; m. August 16, 1838, Justin Hodge, Captain of Volunteers in Mexican War, and Colonel of Volunteers in War of the Rebellion. Child : Thadeus Kosciusko.
VI. HARRIET, d. Jannary 24, 1821, aged one year.
VII. JULIA ANN, d. December 3, 1821, aged one year.
VIII. HENRY HIRAM, b. September 24, 1822; m. (Ist), October 24, 1848, Marietta T. Coe. She d. Angust 14, 1851. Child : Marietta, b. Aug. 12, 1851 ; (2d), October 12, 1852, Amanda M. Coe. Child : Henrietta, b. December 14, 1853.
IX. SYLVIA, b. May -, 1824 ; m. August 5, 1844, John B. Bishop.
X. EDWARD (twin), b. May -, 1826; m. Laura Andrews ; m. (2d), Mary Wheeler.
XI. EDWIN (twin), b. May -, 1826 ; m. Charlotte Wilbraham.
XII. CHARLOTTE, d. Jannary 31, 1830.
ISAAC JOHNSON from Rhode Island, lived in an old barrack house at the north corner of North Main and Hinsdale streets. He died Novem- ber 6, 1829, aged 50, leaving sons and daughters - among them -
ISAAC, now of Barkhamsted. The wife of Jonas Le Roy of W. LODOISKA, wife of - Scovill of Litchfield.
400
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
SELDEN MITCHELL, son of Joseph, is on the list of this year. He built, and occupied until after 1820, the house on the south side of Main street, now (1872) owned by Sheldon Kinney, Sen., and had a wagon maker's shop in the rear basement. He moved to Colebrook River about 1821. No record of his family is found.
WILLIAM MURRAY, son of David, an early settler, lived in Win- chester from this year to about 1840. He married Ann Hewitt, sister of Joshua, was by trade a shoemaker, and afterwards a carpenter. No record is found of his family.
JOHN ROHRABACHER, an iron refiner, came from Ancram, N. Y., this year, and lived on the north side of Lake street, immediately above the Connecticut Western Railroad bridge, until his removal to Cortland Co., N. Y., about 1820.
CHILDREN.
I. ELECTA, m. Andrew Brusie of Virgil, N. Y.
II. BETSEY, d. August 10, 1817, aged 13.
III. ISAAC, and others.
JOHN STORER, a joiner, married, January 7, 1808, Eunice, daughter of John Church, and had by her,
CHILDREN.
I. SIMEON, b. September 30, 1808, now an inhabitant of this town.
II. DAVID,
b. December 3, 1810.
III. ELIZA, b. November 4, 1812 ; m. July 3, 1834, Samuel D. Sheldon.
About 1820 Mr. Storer joined the Shaker community, at Tyringham, Mass.
RILEY WHITING, son of Christopher, an early settler of the town, this or the preceding year became a resident of Winsted. He is noticed and his family record given in connection with his father, under date of 1799.
1801 TO 1821.
We compile a summary of buildings erected, roads opened, and institu- tions established within the limits of the borough of Winsted from 1800 to 1811, as follows :-
1800.
The original store of Bissell Hinsdale, on the site of Camp's brick block, enlarged about 1812, and removed about 1848. It now constitutes two tenant houses on the west side of Main street, next south of Monroe street bridge.
401
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
1802.
The dwelling house of Deacon Alpha Rockwell was built on the site of the Beardsley house, and was taken down and re-erected on the east corner of High and Union streets, in 1849, by John Westlake. The scythe estab- . lishment of James Boyd, near the corner of Lake and Meadow streets, was erected in 1802, rebuilt about 1833, and in 1853 was converted by Louis R. Boyd into a manufactory of planters' hoes:
1803.
The dwelling house on Main street, now owned and occupied by John T. Rockwell, was erected by James Boyd, and occupied by him and his widow until 1853.
The Woodford homestead, at the corner of Main and Coe streets, was erected by John Sweet.
The Hosea Hinsdale homestead, at the corner of Main and Spencer streets, erected by James Shepard.
The original tavern building, on the site of Hicks' Hotel, east corner of Main and North Main streets, erected by Benjamin Jenkins.
Merritt Bull erected a scythe establishment on the pond stream adjoining Meadow street bridge, which was rebuilt by Rockwell and Hinsdale about 1832, and has recently been purchased by the Winsted Hoe Company for plating of hoes and forging chisels.
Hosea Hinsdale and James Shepard erected a tannery on the site of the fish pond recently excavated by John T. Rockwell, near the parting of Main and Spencer streets. The original building ceased to be used as a tannery about 1851, and was torn down about 1870.
The gambrel-roofed store on Main street, occupied by T. Baird, near the corner of North Main street, was erected by Philemon Kirkum in 1804.
1805.
Joseph Mitchell built a one-story house on or near the site of Joseph H. Norton's dwelling, on the north side of Main street, which was torn down by Henry B. Crowe about 1851.
In the same year, the two-story house on the west side of North Main street, nearly opposite the west wing of the clock factory dam, was built by Samuel Hoadley.
1806.
The house on the north side of Main stret, now owned and occupied by Ezra Baldwin, was built by Joseph 1. Cummings and Benjamin Jenkins.
51
402
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
1807.
Philemon Kirkum built a small house on the east side of Main street, which was torn down by Dr. James Welch to make room for his present residence.
ยท The late homestead of Reuben Cook, on North Main street, was built by Benjamin Hoadley.
The original west village district school was burned down at the close of 1806, and a new one was erected this year on the same ground, and with slight improvement on its predecessor. It continued in use as a school house until about 1840, when it was removed to make room for the long and unsightly building erected in its place, which has recently been superseded by the new graded school edifice on Hinsdale street.
James Boyd and Horace Higley erected a saw mill on the site of the New England Pin Company's Works, near the Naugatuck Depot, and also the bridge communicating therewith from Main street ; and in 1808 they erected an iron forge on Main street, directly opposite the Clarke house. It was kept up as long as the manufacture of refined bar iron continued remunerative, and was sold in 1845 to parties who erected the Pin Company's building.
1808.
The first Methodist meeting house was built on the east side of Spen- cer street, immediately north of the school house, and, within a few years, has been converted into- a double tenement house. Prior to the building of this house, the Methodists had worshiped in the adjoining school-house. Their number, though limited, included a highly respect- able class of our inhabitants.
In those days, the Methodist and Congregational religionists had little more sympathy or intercourse with each other than the old Jews and Samaritans. The circuit-rider came on his rounds and declaimed against steeple meeting houses, pitch-pipe singing, and the doctrine of Election. The membership kneeled on the floor in prayer, and gave vent to their de: votional feelings by the loud " Amens," or the Gloria Patri. The women eschewed ribbons, curled hair, and gay dresses. The old men - and some of the young ones - wore straight-bodied coats ; - and both sexes wore a vinegar aspect.
The " Presbyterians," - as they were termed, - on the other hand looked on the Methodists as interlopers and fanaties, who had come in to disturb the peace of the Standing Order as by Saybrook platform estab- lished. The Methodists were all Democrats ; the Standing Order were mainly bigh-toned Federalists of Pharisaical tendencies. The two had apparently no mutual sympathies, and never inter-communed with each other.
403
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
Time and circumstances have worn away the prejudices and softened the asperities of the two denominations. Intermarriages have led to mutual forbearance. The temperance movement brought the best men and women of the two orders into co-operation; and the anti-slavery movement, fearlessly advocated by the living Christianity of both churches, was the death blow to sectarianism.
1809.
Joseph Miller, Esq., erected his dwelling-house on the northerly side of Main street, now owned and occupied by Mrs. Parke; and Solomon Rockwell and Brothers erected an iron store on the lot next north of the Beardsley House, which was torn down about 1860.
The Rockwell Brothers erected an iron forge on the site of the table cutlery works on the lake stream, immediately below Hulbert's iron works. It was discontinued as a forge about 1850, and converted into a cutlery establishment by the Eagle Cutlery Company.
1811.
Reuben Cook, of Winsted, Russell Bunn & Co., and Charles Seymour, of IIartford, erected an iron forge on Still River, below the Winsted Manufacturing Company's Scythe Works, which subsequently became the sole property of Mr. Cook, and was carried on until the organization of the Cook Axle Company about 1850, where the present brick factory on the premises was erected.
After the burning down of the west village district school-house in 1807, there was a general desire to erect a new building of sufficient capacity for a graded school, to meet the growing wants of the community. Plans were proposed and debated; - jealousies arose, and the project fell through. The house erected was contracted and shabby. The new vil- lagers, with limited outside aid, set about providing better facilities for the education of their growing families, and this year erected the building on Main street, next north of Forbes' furniture establishment, for a gram- mar school. It was arranged with an upper room for the advanced scholars and a lower room for the younger class ; and was opened by Doctor Lyman Strong as principal, and his sister-in-law, Miss Eliza Morse, as assistant teacher. The enterprise was a decided success. The teachers not only attracted the scholars of the village but numbers from adjoining towns. Doctor Strong removed to Guilford in 1810, and was succeeded by Curtis Warner, a graduate of Yale, who continued his faith- ful and acceptable labors until his sickness, which terminated in death in 1813. He was succeeded by our late fellow citizen, Nathaniel B. Gay- lord, who taught one or two seasons with eminent success.
Other teachers followed, of varied qualifications, until the children of most of the projectors of the school had completed their academic edu-
404
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
cation, and several of them had entered college. From 1817 to 1835 the sessions of the school became irregular, and the attendance so limited, that the school was abandoned and the building appropriated to other uses.
Great as were the benefits of this school to those who attended it, the cause of general education would have been far more effectually promoted by combining the energies of the whole community in the organization and support of such a graded school as had been projected and defeated.
The failure of that project at so early a day is not to be wondered at when it is considered that, with the clearer light thrown on the subject by modern educators, and the universal attention directed to it, repeated efforts at reform have, during the past fifteen years, been frustrated ; and that effective measures of improvement' have only been initiated during the last five years.
In 1808 the homestead of the late James H. Alvord, deceased, on the west side of the East village park, was erected, and was finished the fol- lowing year.
Elizur Hinsdale erected the original house on the north side of Main street, now owned by Philo G. Sheldon, which he afterwards enlarged to its present dimensions, and occupied until about 1820.
1809.
In 1809, Selden Mitchell built the house on the south side of Main street, now owned and occupied by Sheldon Kinney, senior, and during the same or following year, Jesse Byington built, on the west side of North Main street, the house subsequently owned by Evart Bevins and Edward G. Whiting, and now the homestead of George B. Owen.
In 1810, Asahel Miller built the house now owned by Thomas F. Davis, on the east side of Main street, above George Dudley's tannery ; and Riley Whiting built, on the east side of Still River, the house recently owned and occupied by Rollin L. Beecher.
The Pratt street road was laid out and opened in 1810. As laid out, it crossed Mad River immediately east of the Foundry and Machine Company's Works, and extended about one mile southward to its present termination, but when made it was found best to cross the river by the depot bridge, then recently erected by Mr. Boyd for the convenience of his iron works, and to run by an easier grade to where the surveyed line crossed Prospect street.
Nearly cotemporaneous with the opening of Pratt street road, the ancient road along the line of Hinsdale street was discontinued, it being considered no longer of public convenience and necessity after the opening of the Green Woods turnpike, and the diversion of travel from the Old Country road over Wallen's Hill. The wisdom of this measure
405
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
proved short-sighted, for about 1835 it was relaid and opened at a heavy expense to the town.
The assessment list of 1810 comprises the following items :
103 Polls between 21 and 70,
at
$60.00
II 18 21, - 30.00
119 Oxen, -
10.00
388 Neat Cattle,
66
7.00
102
3.34
78 Horses,
66
10.00
5
7.00
2
3.34
. 298 Aeres Land,
"
1.67
1046
1.34
51
.84
2226
.34
2123
"
.17
1782 65
.09
2 Chaises,
30.00
6
13 Silver Watches,
"
10.00
36 Wooden
7.00
18 "
66
3.75
64
2.50
69
1.25
2 Stores,
Money at interest,
275.00
Assessments on trades,
1417.00
Net amount after deducting abatements,
13,474.03
Net amount of Old Society,
17,398.32
Total amount of whole town,
$30,872.35
Highway tax, 3 per cent. in labor,
$ 906.17
Town tax, 5 cash, - 1544.72
20.00
2. Brass Cloeks,
20.00
4 Fire-places,
5.00
CHAPTER XXVII.
NEW COMERS .- FAMILY RECORDS .- WAR OF 1812; ITS EFFECT ON BUSINESS, &c.
1811 to 1821.
WE note among the new comers of the year 1811 as follows :
ANDREW BRUSIE, an iron refiner from Ancram, N. Y., first appears on the tax list of this year. He resided in the West Village until his removal to Virgil, Cortland Co., N. Y., about 1830, where he erected and' carried on an iron forge for several years, and is believed to be still living. He married Electa, daughter of John Roherbacher, and had children.
RUSSELL PAGE, a tailor from Cheshire, this year bought the house that stood on the site of James T. Norton's present residence where he lived and worked at his trade until 1814. He had a wife but no children.
CHARLES C. CAUL, an iron refiner, this year came from Ancram, N. Y., and worked mainly for the Rockwell Brothers until his death, about 1830. He had a wife, and children-Aaron, Hiram, Amelia, Andrew, and Nelson. Aaron became a physician and formerly practised in Cort- land Co., N. Y. Amelia married a Schermerhorn.
ELEAZER HAWLEY, from Norfolk, a clock maker, is first on the list of this year. He lived and raised a family in a now-abandoned house at the top of the hill, above the Woodruff tannery, near the crossing of the Old Country and North Main Street roads. He died April 1, 1839, aged 47, leaving, among other children, Romulus and George, none of whom re- main in the town.
JOIIN MALTBIE came into the society a single man, and married, in 1812, Deborah, daughter of Reuben Scovill, and had children whose names are not ascertained. He bought, in 1814, the place, as is believed, now owned by Jonathan Gilbert, on South Street, where he died Aug. 17, 1827, aged 42.
DARIUS TURRELL, a clock maker, lived in the Stephen Rowley house on North Main street until about 1840. He had daughters, Betsey A. and. Ann, and may have had other children. His first wife died in March, 1828, aged 30.
407
FAMILY RECORDS.
SAMUEL WILLIAMS, a forge man from Ancram, N. Y., lived in Win- sted, near Hulbert's forge, from 1811 until about 1840, and raised a fam- ily of children, among them two sons, Samuel and John. He served in the war of 1812.
1812.
DANIEL ALBRO learned the tanner's trade in Winsted, and came of age this year. He lived in the town until about 1836. He married in February, 1811, Nancy Westlake, and had several children-among them, Edward and Henry. He was living at Windsor Locks in 1871.
NATHAN CHAMPION came from Middlesex County this year, and began casting clock bells, to which he afterwards added other castings, and was the only iron founder in the town until after 1833. He owned and occupied during his later life, the dwelling on North Main street, next north of the new graded school building. Ile died at a good old age, early in 1868, after a blameless and exemplary life.
His wife, Mary, died August 28, 1843, aged 60. They had a son, HENRY S., now living in Bridgeport; and daughters, SARAH C., who married September 24, 1840, William R. Richardson of Bristol ; JULIA, who died October 18, 1826; LUCY A., who married, January 20, 1836, Lucius Skinner, and LUCINDA, recently married.
WILLIAM GREEN from Salisbury, a forgeman, came to Winsted this year, and worked during most of his after life in Cook's Iron Works, in the east village. He raised a family, some of whom now reside here, and died in the town.
CHRISTOPHER LYON, a joiner, became a resident this year. He built and occupied until his death, the house on North Main street now occupied by Roswell Pond. He married Clarissa, daughter of Theodore Hoskin. He died August 5, 1844, aged 56, and she died February 22, 1867, aged 77. They had a daughter, ROXANA, married, October 19, 1824, Aaron W. Crane, and another daughter, EUNICE, married October 2, 1839, Benjamin Johnson.
GEORGE SAGE, a mason, this year became an inhabitant of the Society, and lived, until his removal to the. west about 1828, on the east side of South street, now Torrington line. No record of his family is found.
1813.
WILLIAM CAUL, an iron refiner, from Ancram, N. Y., came to Winsted this year, and worked in the different forges most of the intervening time, until his death, at the Insane Retreat, Hartford, in June, 1828.
408 .
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
He married - Culver, and had children : JAMES M., WILLIAM, ANN E., who married, June 2, 1847, Frederick Murray, and another daughter, who married Hervey V. Blake.
DAVID MARBLE, from Sutton, Mass., a mason, came here this year. In 1816 he built the Wm. S. Holabird house, at the north end of the east village park, and there resided some five years, when he deserted his wife, and went to Louisiana, and probably died there. He married, December 15, 1814, Pamela Wheeler, who is now (1872) living. They raised no children.
JOSEPH W. HURLBUT, son of Martin of Winchester, appears on this year's list. He inherited the farm of his father, on the east side of Long Lake, on which he still resides; has been an honored deacon of the Congregational Church since 1836. He married, April 25, 1817, Sarah, daughter of Stephen Merrill of Barkhamsted. She died Oct., 1864.
CHILDREN.
I. JAMES MARTIN, b, January 5, 1818; d. August 14, 1847, unm.
II. JOSEPH MERRILL, Augusta Field.
b. September 28, 1824; m. June 2, 1869, Auna .
III. WARREN PHINEAS,
b. January 4, 1827 ; resident of Winsted.
IV. WILLIAM FLOWERS, b. January 27, 1835; a member of the Litchfield County bar, and now resident in Winsted.
DOCTOR HENRY NOBLE from Vermont, a physician, came here this or the preceding year, as a practitioner. He married the same year, Susan, daughter of Benjamin Jenkins, who died January 14, 1815, aged 22, when he left the state. By his wife he had one son, JAMES DWIGHT, baptized November 6, 1814; supposed to be still living.
GEORGE ROBERTS from Torringford, became a resident this year. He lived during his later years on the east side of the Still River, in the first house north of Green Woods turnpike bridge, where he died in 1867 or 1868, when past seventy years of age. He married - Judd, who died before him. They had a son, EDWARD J., and two or three daughters.
HORACE REYNOLDS, a blacksmith, came here this year, and resided, with his family, mainly in the east village, until his removal to Illinois about 1835. He was for some years a partner with Thomas R. Bull in the old Jenkins Scythe Works, on the site of the Winsted Manufacturing Co.'s Works, and then owned and occupied the Byington house on North Main street. He had a wife and children, of whom we find no record.
1814.
SAMUEL BARTLETT, a native of Cohassett, Mass., came from Malone,
409
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
N. Y., to Winsted, and built and occupied until his removal from the town, the Widow Marble house, on the east side of the east village park. He removed, with his family, to Wayne County, Pennsylvania. His wife was sister to Benjamin Jenkins. His children, resident with him here, were his son, ARAH, and his daughters, RHODA, AMANDA, and others whose names are not remembered.
JAMES C. CLEVELAND, son of Rufus of Barkhamsted, first appears on this year's list. He was for many years a clockmaker in the employ of Riley Whiting. In 1816 he built the house on the east side of the east village park, which he has continued to occupy to the present time (1872). He married (1st), Belinda Miller, by whom he had a son, CHARLES, who died unmarried ; (2d), Sally Taylor, who died childless, December 27, 1819, aged 28; (3d), Lucy Northrup, still living (1872), by whom he had JANE, born July 21, 1821, who married, May 11, 1842, Charles H. Blake.
LEWIS MCDONALD from Waterbury, a shoemaker, lived in Winsted from 1813 to 1818, when he moved westward, and in 1871 was living in Illinois. He married, about 1817, Betsey, daughter of Asher Rowley.
JOEL MILLER, son of Asahel of Winchester, an ingenious mechanic, and an exemplary and earnest Christian, lived in Winsted until his death, about 1820. He married a daughter of Grove Pinney, Esq., of Colebrook ; had no children.
DR. LUMAN WAKEFIELD, born in Colebrook, August 29, 1787, studied medicine with Dr. Aaron Moore, and this or the preceding year commenced practice with his teacher in Winsted. Dr. Moore dying in 1813, he suc- ceeded to an extensive practice, which he retained and enlarged until he became disabled for active professional duties by a slow palsy which ter- minated his life, March 20, 1850, at the age of 63. He owned and lived in a house on the site of Charles B. Hallett's present residence, on the east side of the east village park, which was burned down shortly after his decease. He was a man of equable temperament, and a thorough knowledge of human nature, which gave him a controlling influence in the community, and secured to him the strong attachment of many friends. As a successful practitioner, he was aided by sound judgment and close observation, more than by high scientific attainments. He was a supporter of good order, a decided friend and advocate of the temperance reform, and in later life became a consistent member of the Congregational church. He was born at Colebrook, Aug. 29, 1787 ; m. Betsy, daughter of Elijah Rockwell, Esq., of Colebrook, born Feb. 18, 1789. She died Oct. 23, 1831.
52
410
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
CHILDREN.
I. JULIA W., b. Oct. 1, 1815; m., May 23, 1839, Eli T. Wilder, Esq.
II. ELIZABETH A., b. m., Oct. 1, 1831, Normand Adams.
III. LUCY C., b. March 24, 1820; m., May 28, 1840, Wm. H. Phelps.
IV. JOHN LUMAN, b. May 25, 1823 ; grad. M. D. Yale College, 1847.
V. JAMES BEACH, b. March 21, 1825 ; grad. A. B. Trinity College, Hartford. A judge of supreme court in Minnesota.
VI. MARY H., b. Sept. 7, 1827; m., Sept. 21, 1852, Richard H. Yale; d. at New Orleans, La., Sept. 22, 1858.
He married (2d), March 12, 1840, Ann (Tolbert), widow of Ambrose Fyler; she d. Sept. 24, 1867, aged 75.
LUCIUS CLARKE, son of Captain Lemuel, came with his father from Whately, Mass., in 1807, and appears on this year's tax list. In 1813 or 1814, he formed a partnership with Nathaniel B. Gaylord in mercan- tile business, which was continued until his removal to Monroe Co., N. Y., about 1818, where he went into trade, first at Carthage, at the foot of the Genesee Falls, and then in the village of Rochester. He returned to Winsted in 1824, and in company with Samuel Boyd, opened a new store on the site of Woodford's Block in the West Village. In 1827, he bought the Hinsdale store, on the site of Camp's Block, in which he traded until his removal to Massachusetts, in 1834; whence he returned in 1841, and purchased of the widow of Riley Whiting the clock factory in the East Village with which he was connected in business until 1845, when he purchased real estate on the flat, between the East and West Villages, and thereafter contributed more largely than any other person to the building up of that section of the now consolidated borough. He was the prime mover and one of the most efficient promoters of the measures which se- cured the extension of the Naugatuck Railroad from Waterbury to Win- sted. He was an upright and correct man of business, energetic and hard- working, but versatile to a degree that impeded the complete success of some of his enterprises. As a citizen, he was right minded, public spirited, and deservedly popular. He served as state senator in 1846, and died Dec. 29, 1863, aged 73. His family record is given in connection with that of his father, Capt. Lemuel Clarke.
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