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 38
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ALPIIA ROWLEY, son of Ebenezer of Winchester, appears on the list of this year. Ile became the owner of his father's farm on South street in 1835, and there resided until his removal to western New York in 1838. He studied law for a time, but was never called to the bar except as a defendant. He died in September, 1872, while an inmate of the Utica Insane Hospital.
Whe to by : MV : ighty
Succino Blake
411
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
1815.
HALSEY BAILEY, a blacksmith from Barkhamsted, lived in Winsted from 1814 to 1829, when he moved to central New York. He married, -, Mira, daughter of Ebenezer Rowley.
SILAS BURTON, son of John of Winchester, first appears on the list of this year. He married Lucia, daughter of Asahel Miller, and lived here until 1818, when he removed to Erie, Pa.
ORRIN CLEVELAND, son of Rufus of Barkhamsted, a school-master, lived in the town, mainly in Winsted, from 1815 to about 1830. He had a wife and family of children, one of whom became the second wife of the late Grant Thorburn.
SHUBAEL CROWE, from New Hartford, this year built, in company with Horatio G. Hale, of Burlington, a carriage maker's shop on the site of John T. Rockwell's tannery, which they carried on about two years, when he left the town.
REUBEN HALL, a shoemaker from New Haven, came to Winsted this year. In company with David Edwards, he built, and for several years occupied the house nearly opposite the old Methodist meeting-house building. He removed to Fayetteville, N. C., about 1825, returning in 1831, and continued his residence here until his removal to Ohio in 1835. If living he now resides in Illinois. He was a man of kindly nature, a pillar and class leader of the Methodist Church, a neighbor of the Good Samaritan order. No record of his family is found. His wife was a Ward from Cornwall. They had a son, Truman B., who married; May 21, 1836, Fanny M. Wood; and one or more daughters.
DAVID MUNSON, from Colebrook, removed to the farm bordering on Colebrook line, lately owned by George A. Marvin, deceased, and occu- pied it until his removal to the West, about 1830.
ANSEL SHATTUCK, abont this time, built a small house on the west side of South street, in which he lived until 1829. No record of his family is found.
1816.
SHELDON KINNEY, from Washington, Conn., this year, or earlier, came to Winsted, and carried on the tailoring trade for ten or fifteen years. He built and occupied, until 1825, the house next north of the East Village meeting-house, after which he removed to Colebrook for a few years ; and on his return bought the house on the south side of Main street in which he now (1872) resides. He has sons, Francis, Sheldon, Jr., of Windsor,
412
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
and George W., who married, Dec. 4, 1849, Betsey C. Brown; and a daughter, Charlotte M., who married, May 19, 1856, Charles H. Knapp.
CAPT. STEPHEN FYLER, son of Stephen of Torrington, this year bought the farm on South street recently owned in part by his son, Albro Fyler, on which he lived until his death on the 21st of April, 1853, at the age of seventy-three. He was descended, in the sixth generation, from Lieut. Walter Fyler, who came from England to Dorchester on the ship Mary and John, in 1630, through his son Zerubabel,2 born Windsor, Dec. 23, 1644, and his son Zerubabel,3 born Windsor, Dec. 25, 1674, and his son Silas,4 born Windsor, -- , 1710, and his son Stephen,5 born May 27, 1755. He (Stephen, Jr.) was born Torrington, March 6, 1780; married, October, 1803, Armira Wilson, of Torrington ; he died April 21, 1853 ; she died Dec. 27, 1866, aged 87.
CHILDREN.
I. HILEMON, b. Aug. 8, 1804; m., April 23, 1850, Charlotte Hamilton.
II. SOPHRONIA, b. Oct. 9, 1806 ; m., July, 1832, William Sanford, who died Nov. 7, 1838. CHILD : Jane, m., Oct. 15, 1860, George M. Wentworth. CHILDREN : 1. George S., b. Feb. 20, 1864; 2. Frank L., b. Sept. 20, 1866 ; 3. Minnie, b. Ang. 12, 1868, d. Sept. 2, 1868 ; 4. Arthur M., b. Sept. 22, 1869, d. Aug. 9, 1870; 5. Alice M., b. Jan. 29, 1871. III. ALBRO, b. m., June 23, 1850, Jane E. Kinney.
IV. MASON WILSON, b. Oct. 7, 1810; m., Munson.
HARRY BISHOP, LEVERITT BISHOP, and SETH BISHOP, brothers, from Litchfield, came to Winsted this season. Harry owned a place on Wal- len's Hill, in which he lived until about 1830, and afterwards moved to Colebrook. Leveritt died here August 1, 1852, aged 67. He had two sons, EDWARD and WILLIAM, formerly residing here, and perhaps other children.
SETH BISHOP married, -- - , Minerva, daughter of Nathan Wheeler, by whom he had a son, SETHI, Jr., now (1872) living at Collins- ville, and a daughter, MINERVA W., who married, April 22, 1841, Wil- liam S. Bunnel, now residing in Winsted. Minerva, wife of Seth, Sen., died July 1, 1826, aged 35. He now (1872) resides in Barkhamsted.
JEHIAL COE, son of Jonathan,3 canie of age this year and first lived on Spencer Hill for a few years, and has since lived on his father's farm on Coe street to the present time (1872). His family record is already given in connection with that of his forefathers.
WILLARD HOLMES, son of Joseph, is on the list of this year. He re- sided with his father (on Spencer street) until his death, and continued to occupy the paternal homestead until the morning of Feb. 22, 1857, when he was burned up with his house while attempting to save his papers from the flames.
-
413
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
He was a man of superior culture, of strong mind and sincere piety. He formed his opinions deliberately and independently, and carried them out with unswerving rectitude. Modest and retiring in his disposition, he would hardly have been known beyond the circle of his immediate neigh- bors, but for his early advocacy of the cause of the slave, and his fearless persistency amid reproach and contumely, in asserting the radical princi- ples of liberty and duty. His family record is given in connection with that of his father.
HENRY B. CROWE, from New Hartford, succeeded his brother Shubael in the part ownership of the carriage shop in the West Village, and after some years became owner of the Joseph Mitchell place in the East Village, where he died after 1856. He married, - --- , Nancy, daughter of Amasa Mallory, Sr., and had a highly respected family of children, of whom we have no record except the baptism of HENRY, LUTHER, JANE, and JAMES on the 4th of July, 1828.
1817.
CHESTER SOPER, from Windsor, a clothier, this year came to Winsted and bought the clothier's works in the East Village, erected by Ansel Wilson, and the house that then stood on the site of James T. Norton's present residence. He converted the clothier's works into a Woolen Mill, which he carried on until about 1838: soon after which he removed to Windsor, and has since died. His wife was a Welles from Wethersfield. They had no children.
1818.
WHEELOCK THAYER came from Vermont this year and commenced work as a scythe maker in the West Village. In 1820, he became con- nected with James Boyd in the scythe business, under the firm name of Boyd & Thayer, which was continued until 1832, when he built the scythe works on Mad river now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Julia A. Bachellor, which he continued to operate until a few years before his death. He bought the "Deacon Rockwell house," then on the site of the Beardsley house in 1830, in which he resided until his purchase of the house now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Julia A. Bachellor, in which he resided until his death. He was a man of sanguine temperament and indomi- table energy. By industry, frugality, and judicious investments, he rap- idly accumulated a large estate. Democratic in politics and a univer- salist in doctrine, he advocated the faith that was in him with untiring zeal, and exerted a powerful influence in the community : an influence that favored the temperance reform and recognized the colored man as a human being endowed with the rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
414
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
With failing health he retired from active business in 1854, and died Sept. 23, 1857, aged 67.
He was born in Northbridge, Mass., May 10, 1790, and married, Nov. 28, 1816, Clarissa Fuller, born at Brookfield, Mass., May 9, 1795, who died Feb. 16, 1829.
CHILDREN.
I. JULIA ANN, b. at Weston, Mass., Aug. 17, 1817 ; m. Aug. 3, 1835, William G. Bachellor, who d. Dec. 15, 1844, aged 33. Children : 1. Wheelock Thayer; 2. William G.
II. CHARLOTTE, b. July 22, 1819 ; d. July 28, 1821.
III. HARRIET, b. July 22, 1822 ; m. Sept. 10, 1840, Seth L. Wilder ; d. childless Sept. 10, 1840.
He died June 23, 1857. He married 2d, Nancy Joslin, who died childless, February 26, 1855, aged 71.
DANIEL G. TUTTLE, from Torringford, this year built the house on South street, bordering on Torrington line, lately owned by his son-in- law, Lucius J. Woodford, - which he occupied until his death, March 4, 1844, at the age of 58. He married, Clarissa, daughter of Daniel C. Hudson of Torrington.
CHILDREN.
I. FANNY M., m. Dec. 31, 1835, Charles Seldon.
II. CATIIARINE, In. Incius J. Woodford ; d. Jan. 5, 1872.
III. GEORGE H.
IV. LAMPHIER B., m. Sept. 14, 1841, Charlotte, daughter of Jehiel Coe.
V. JAMES H., m. May 26, 1841, Cordelia, daughter of Erastus Woodford. VI. RUTH O., d. Nov. 4, 1859, aged 36.
JESSE WILLIAMS, from Colebrook, resided here some three years of his minority, and appears on the list of this year. He purchased the Eben Coe house, on Spencer street, in which he now resides. It may safely be said that no man in the town has exceeded him in hard and diffi- cult labor. If there was an ugly job to be done, he was the man to do it effectually, with a calculating head and a giant's strength. Labor seemed never to weary him, nor age to impair his physical powers, until partial blindness within the past three years has compelled him to hold up and look back on a life well spent, in the enjoyment of health, and a compe- tency of worldly goods. As a Constable and Sheriff's Deputy he was pre- pared for every emergency. For some forty years he has been, and con- tinnes. to be, the honored Tyler of St. Andrew's Lodge.
He married (1st), Sept. 14, 1825, Roxana Hurlbut, who died Sept. 9, 1832, aged 37. He married (2d), May 4, 1833, Mabel Wright, of Cornwall.
CHILDREN BY FIRST WIFE.
I. HENRY, b. Dec. 25, 1826.
II. SYLVIA, b. Jan. 28, 1829 ; m.
III. ANNIE R., b. Jan. - , 1831 ; m.
Rev. Wm. B. Osborn.
Lyman J. Parsons.
Ceth L. Wilder
415
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
IV. JANE,
CHILD BY SECOND WIFE. b. April -, 1835 ; m. Henry Case.
1818.
NISUS KINNEY, a native of Colebrook, was brought up in the family of Grinnell Spencer. He appears on the list of this year and still re- sides in the town. He built the house on the west side of Spencer street, a little north of Amos Pierce, from which he moved after a few years to the old Elihu Rockwell house, still further north, where he resided until about 1860. Ile lived in Torrington from 1864 to 1868, and has since resided here.
He married Sally, daughter of Adin Wakefield, of Colebrook, who died Sept. 28, 1856, aged 57. They had a son, Andrew ; and daughters, Sarah J., who died July 22, 1848, aged 17. Jane E., who married, June 23, 1850, Albro Fyler ; Harriet, who married, Jan. 14, 1851, Lucius L. Culver; and Susan W., married, Dec. 25, 1861, Luther G. Hinsdale ; and they may have had other children.
1819.
SILAS HOSKIN, son of Theodore, appears on the list of this year. He owned and occupied, from 1824 to his death, Sept. 9, 1870, at the age of 72, the Benjamin Whiting place on Coe street. He married, Oet. 13, 1823, Priseilla, daughter of Ransford Bailey, of Groton, Conn.
CHILDREN.
I. RANSFORD BAILEY, b. June 24, 1825; d. Oct. 17, 1828.
II. TRUMAN SILAS, b. March 23, 1827.
III. THEODORE BAILEY, b. April 26, 1829.
IV. THOMAS COE, b. March 15, 1831.
V. ERASTUS,
b. April 9, 1833.
VI. CHAS. SHERMAN, b. Feb. 4, 1835.
VII. GEORGE, b. " 5, 1837.
ELIAS ROWLEY, son of Asher, is on the list of this year. He first occupied his father's homestead on South street, and about 1845 erected his present residence on the Wolcottville road, south of the burying- ground. (See his family record in connection with that of his father.)
NELSON WILSON, son of Abijah, Jr., appears on the list of this year, After marriage he lived until 1830 on Spencer street, and thereafter. while he remained in the State, on Coe street, adjoining the Cole- brook line. After 1845 he removed to Saratoga County, N. Y., where
416
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
he died Nov. 21, 1851. He married,
Jonathan Coe, Esq., by whom he had
Wealthy, daughter of
CHILDREN.
I. GEORGE C., m. Caroline Miles ; d. March
8, 1854, aged 33.
II. CHARLES C., d. May 20, 1847.
III. HARRIET E., m. Alexander C. Thompson ;
d. Jan. 7, 1855, aged 23, childless.
IV. HENRY W., d. Oct 19, 1836.
NORMAN SPENCER, from New Hartford, served his apprenticeship as a tanner with Col. Hosea Hinsdale, and thereafter owned and carried on the tannery built by Horace Ranney, near the Cook Forge, on North Main street, until 1834, when he removed to Michigan, and died there.
He married, about 1820, Nancy Hinsdale, sister of Col. Hosea, by whom he had several children, - among them Richard, who returned to Winsted after his father's removal, and resided here until about 1855.
During this decade our second war with England occurred. The dominant sentiment of our people was opposed to the war, though it had many and ardent supporters among us. Party spirit raged with a bitterness never exceeded in subsequent periods. Singularly enough, the Federalists were the states'-rights party of that period. They loved the English and hated the French. They found unconstitutional encroach- ments in almost every measure of the national administration. They discouraged enlistments into the army, and insisted on the entire control of the drafted militia by state officers, and in order to sustain this asserted right, the governor of this state went to New London when the militia were called to the defence of that place in order to out-rank, as captain- general, the United States officer then and there in command.
The state flag was then the supreme object of Federal worship. Liberty poles, bearing aloft the stars and stripes, were repeatedly cut down by unknown parties. On a training day in 1814, on the east village green, the national flag was unexpectedly hoisted on a newly- erected liberty pole during the parade of a company of recently-organ- ized state troops, and an infantry and a cavalry company of militia. The captains of the three companies ordered the flag to be taken down. The sturdy Democrats rallied around it, with the revived and concen- trated spirit of '76. The three companies were formed in line, and marched up to the pole to disperse its defenders. A melee was brought on by one of the defenders, Eli Marshall by name, seizing with the grip of a bull dog the throat of the axman who was about to cut down the pole. It took some minutes to detach the democratic fingers from the federal throat, and at this crisis, the fence passing near the foot of the
417
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
pole, and loaded with lookers-on, came down with a crash that induced a momentary panic of the contending parties, and a partial breaking of the military ranks. Though no one was hurt by this catastrophe, the white feather became manifest, and the military force becoming essentially disor- ganized, was marched off without the honors of war, and the star- spangled banner continued to wave until sunset.
A review of the dissensions of that period, and the results growing out of them, is highly instructive.
The war, though perhaps unwisely declared, and feebly carried on, until the latest campaigns, was successfully closed. Our navy acquired immortal honor, and our army, long mismanaged and badly officered, finally retrieved its eredit. The final disaster fell on the party which, though perhaps rightly opposed to the declaration of war, not only failed to stand by the government in carrying it on, but arrayed itself against all its measures, and almost paralyzed its energies. It bore a load of popular odium that in a few years so utterly broke it down that no " departure" could retrieve it. The lesson is an instructive one to modern politicians.
The number of soldiers recruited in this town for the regular army was very limited. Most of them entered a regiment that served, without a battle or skirmish, at New London through the whole war. The only two officers commissioned from this town, Colonel Samuel Hoadley and Captain Riley Sweet, belonged to this regiment .*
A few Winsted soldiers were enlisted into the 25th U. S. Regiment, that was cut to pieces on the Niagara frontier, and but few, if any of them, ever returned.
Detachments of militia were from time to time drafted to serve at New London, and Captain Luther Hoadly was called out to command one of the detached companies, and died in the service. One of the ten companies of state troops, as they were called, organized by the state legislature, and composed of about equal numbers of Winchester, Bark- hamsted, and New Hartford men, was also called out for service at New London.
Prior to the war, our manufacturing interests were in a healthy and prosperous condition, and the growth of our two villages, though slow, was healthy. The war stimulated manufacturing to a high degree of activity by its high tariff of duties, and the almost entire exclusion of British manufactured goods. Old establishments were enlarged, and pushed to their utmost capacity, and many new manufacturing enter-
* The late General Edmund Kirby of the U. S. Army received his Ensign's com- mission while a clerk in Winsted, and served on the Canada frontier with distin- guished honor. He belonged in Litchfield.
53
418
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
prises were started and pushed forward without experience or economy. Prices of farm products and manufactured articles were enormously inflated by the suspension of specie payments, and the enormous issues of bank bills. Our community shared largely in the apparent prosperity induced by these causes, and suffered proportionally by the collapse induced by the return of peace, attended as it was by the contraction of bank issues preparatory to a return to specie payments, the paying off of improvident indebtedness, and the flooding of the country with British fabrics, at prices below the cost of the raw materials used by our own . infant establishments.
The results, though less ruinous to Winsted than to many other manu- facturing communities, were seriously felt for many succeeding years. The wire factory in the east village, employing a large number of hands, was at once and forever abandoned. Two establishments for making hand and machine cards soon followed. The cut-nail factory of Mr. Byington, then employing more men than any other establishment in town, soon after went down. The woollen factory of the Rockwell Brothers continued to run, though at a heavy loss, through long years of depression. Only two of the scythe establishments moved forward. The iron works, then the heaviest interest in the place, were saved from utter prostration by a limited sale to the government of iron for gun- making at the Springfield Armory. Cheese, the staple farm product, went down from ten to five cents per pound, and other articles in the same proportion. One " breathing hole of hell," in the form of a whisky distillery, of fungous growth, had just begun its polluting career on the slope of Wallen's Hill, above the clock factory, which, by the mercy of God, was so utterly prostrated that not a trace of its existence is left.
" The cold summer" of 1816 added to the gloom of this period. The spring was cold and backward, and the summer cold and dry. Frosts prevailed in every month of the year. The mowing lands yielded less than half an average crop. Scarcely an ear of corn in the town came to maturity. Potatoes were few and small, and dairy products were as scant in quantity as low in price. Much apprehension prevailed of a famine winter, which was measurably averted by a provident planting of turnips, when it was perceived that other crops were to fail. This crop was large, and thereby the lack of hay was partly made good in winter- ing such stock as was not killed or sold off in the preceding fall.
This cause, combined with the prostration of our manufacturing interest, drove large numbers of farmers and artisans to seek means of support in the new settlements of the west. Not until 1820 did business begin to assume a lively aspect, and prosperou; growth become manifest.
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419
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
The dwellings and other buildings erected within the borough limits during this decade were as follows :-
1811.
The iron forge of Reuben Cook .& Co., on the site of the present works of Charles and John R. Cook, together with two or three forge- men's houses.
The scythe shop built by Mr. Jenkins on the site of the Strong Manufacturing Co.'s Works, east village.
A clothier's shop on the site of the Winsted Carriage Company's buildings, recently burned down.
The Wakefield homestead (burned down), on the site of C. B. Hallett's present residence.
1812.
The Luther Hoadley dwelling, north of the R. L. Beecher house, and nearly opposite the clock factory.
The Jesse Williams homestead, on Spencer street, built by Eben Coe.
1813.
The Bissell Hinsdale house, built on the site of the Second Congrega- tional Church, and about 1855 moved by Dr. James Welch to the adjoining lot on the north.
The Rockwell grist mill and woollen factory buildings on Lake street, burned up in 1835, and not rebuilt.
The grammar schoolhouse on' Main street, next north of Forbes' furniture store.
A wire factory was erected by Samuel and Luther Hoadley and James Boyd, on the west wing of the clock factory dam, one of the first in the United States wherein the wire was broken down from the rod, and reduced to the finest fibre. While the war with England continued it prospered, but it had to be abandoned when peace was restored, and foreign wire began to be again imported.
1814.
The Solomon Rockwell house, corner of Lake and Prospect streets.
The widow Marble house, on east side of east village park, built by Samuel Bartlett.
The Hulsey Burr scythe shop, on the site of works on North Main street, now owned by Frederick Woodruff.
The Oliver Loomis house on Main street, built by Romanta Woodford.
The oil mill on Mad River, near the south wing of Clifton mill dam, torn down about 1830.
420
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
1815.
The James C. Cleveland house, on east side of east village park, built by Mr. Cleveland and Arah Bartlett.
A carriage works, on the site of John T. Rockwell's tannery, built by Shubael Crowe, and converted into a store by Coe & Hubbell, about 18330, and since removed.
The Widow David Coe house, on Spencer street, nearly opposite the old Methodist meeting-house, built by Reuben Hall.
The James Boyd & Son iron store, on Main street, now remodeled as " a furniture store, occupied by S. B. Forbes & Co.
A whisky distillery, on Wallen's Hill road, some eighty rods east of the clock factory.
1816.
The " Holabird House," opposite the Episcopal Church, now owned by Henry Bills, was built by David Marble.
The house of A. L. Weirs, next north of the east village Congrega- tional meeting-house, was built by Sheldon Kinney, sen.
By the return of peace, the reduction of tariff duties, and the renewed importation of foreign fabrics, almost every branch of domestic manufac- ture was prostrated ; and as a consequence, building operations in a great measure ceased during the remainder of this decade. The only building erected in the interval seems to have been a tannery erected by Horace Ranney at the south corner of North Main and Cook streets, which was abandoned as a tannery before 1860, since which the main building has been converted into a double tenement house.
The system of taxation having been radically changed in 1819, we com- pile for comparison abstracts of the Assessment Lists of 1810 and 1818, as follows :
1810.
1820.
ITEMS.
No.
Amount.
No.
Amount.
Polls between 21 and 70, at
$60.00
103
83
Oxen,
66
7.00
388
349
3.34
102
38
Horses,
10.00
78
66
Acres of land,
1.67
298
388
1.34
1,046
1,164
84
51
63
34 2,226
2,716
17 2,123
2,016
09 1,782
11,718!
18 “ 21
30.00
11
10
10.00
119
88
Neat cattle,
7.00
2
2
421
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
Chaises,
at
30.00|
2
2
Silver watches,
66
10.00
13
2
Brass clocks,
20.00
2
1
Wooden clocks,
7.00
36
67
Fire places, or smokes,
60
5.00
4
6
3.75
18
33
. .
2.50
64
81
1.25
69
151
Stores,
20.00
2
3
10.00
0
1
Money at interest,
$ 275.00
250
$ 250.00
Assessments of trades,
1,417.00
1,860.00
Bank stock,
2,500.00
13,474.03
16,292.68
17,398.32
18,057.64
$30,272.35
$34,350.28
Highway tax (in labor), 3 per cent.,
926.17
1,030.51
Town tax (current expenses), 5 per cent., .
1,543.62
1,717.51
$2,469.79
$2,748.02
20.00
6
6
Net amount after deducting abatements, Net Amount of Old Society,
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CHAPTER XVIII.
NEW COMERS-FAMILY RECORDS-GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
1821 TO 1831.
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