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 39
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The year 1821 opened with renewed activity, indicating a decided ren- ovation of prosperous business. Debts had been liquidated ; the banks had resumed specie payments, and expanded their issues ; and such branches of manufacturing as could be made remunerative, in competition with foreign fabrics, were resumed and actively prosecuted.
From this time forward our increasing population was largely made up of individuals and families holding only temporary residences among us, while the ranks of leading business men were largely filled by the de- scendants of our pioneers. To enumerate all the new men coming on the stage will no longer be attempted ; and our notices will be confined to those who became permanent or long continued residents.
STEPHEN ROWLEY, farmer and land surveyor, a native of Torrington, this year came to Winsted from Colebrook, and owned the Abijalı Wil- son, Jr., farm, on the old North road, until 1842, when he bought and occupied until his death, in 1856, a house on the east side of North Main street, next south of Lucius Griswold's. He died, childless, leaving a widow, Roxy (Whiting), now (1872) living.
HORACE W. HOUSE, from Windsor, came to Winsted in 1821, and engaged in trade and manufacturing with N. B. Gaylord. He built the brick house on Main street, now owned by Normand Adams, in 1823, which he occupied until his removal back to Windsor in 1828, where he died, childless, about 1870.
1822.
ELISHA A. MORGAN, from New London County, bought in 1822, the William E. Cowles farm, on Colebrook line, which he exchanged for
423
FAMILY RECORDS.
the Higley Tavern in the West village, in 1827, and lived there until his removal out of the State in 1829. He had a wife, but no children.
RILEY SMITH, son of Theodore and Rhoda, this year bought his home- stead on the old north road, above the Woodruff tannery, on which he resided until his death, June 5, 1865, aged 70. He married, Nov. 9, 1826, Emily Cadwell, of W., by whom he had two sons, James R., and Hiram C., now (1872) resident in Riverton. She died Sept. 15, 1855, aged 54, and he married (2d), Dec. 25, 1865, Sarah Loomis, of Windsor, who died childless, Dec. 25, 1865. He died June 14, 1865, aged 68.
1823.
SAMUEL BOYD, son of James and Mary, of Winchester, in 1823 erected the original store on the site of Woodford's brick block, and en- tered into trade in company with his brother-in-law, Lucius Clarke, under the firm name of Clark & Boyd. In 1824 he built the E. S. Woodford homestead. In 1827, Mr. Clarke withdrew, and soon after Samuel W. Coe was associated with him for two or three years, after which E. W. Bronson came into the concern, which turned its attention to the manufacture of hoes, shovels, and other tools. The business was wound up in 1833, and Mr. Boyd removed to New Orleans, where he resided until 1850; soon after which he went into the hardware business in New York, and subse- quently became an Appraiser in the Custom-House, which office he still holds. His family record is given in connection with that of his father.
1824.
ASAPH PEASE, originally from Sandisfield, came to Winsted from Colebrook in 1824, and owned and occupied until 1848 the old Doolittle house, on the east side of North Main street, opposite the clock factory dam. and which was subsequently taken down and re-erected on a new street turning westerly from North Main street. In the latter year he moved to New Britain, where he died Dec. 12, 1856, aged 80, his wife surviving him. He married, Feb. 4, 1805, Clotilda Hoyt, born June 1, 1777.
CHILDREN.
I. LEUMAS, b. Colebrook, May 9, 1806 ; d. aged 2 years.
II. MARY CLOTILDA, b. " Nov. 15, 1808.
III. LEUMAS HOYT, b. " Jan. 20, 1811 ; graduate of Williams Col- lege, 1835 ; minister of the gospel, now (1872) located at New Orleans as Chaplain of Seamen's Friend Society ; unmarried.
424
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
IV. JULIUS WALTER, h. Colebrook, May 19, 1814; m. April 1, 1849, Mary Hotelikiss. Has
CHILDREN.
1. Leumas Hoyt, b. Jan. 20, 1845.
2. Martha Francis, b. Nov. 28, 1845.
3. Julius Hotchkiss, b. July 7, 1849; d. Sept. 13, 1847.
4. Julius Hotchkiss, b. Nov. 22, 1848.
5. William Walter, b. Nov. 3, 1850.
6. Mary Emily, b. Dec. 24, 1854; d. Ang. 28, 1855.
7. Clarence, b. Feb. 24, 1857 ; d. Jan. 6, 1858.
8. Charles Wiard, b. June 18, 1859 ; d. Sept. 28, 1859.
V. LUCY JEMIMA, b. April 10, 1817.
VI. LAURA PERSIS, b. April 22, 1824 ; m. Everett C. Holmes.
HON. WILLIAM S. HOLABIRD, a native of Canaan, Conn., studied law with Hon. W. M. Burrall, attended the law lectures of Judge Gould at Litchfield, was admitted to the bar about 1820, and soon after com- menced practice at Colebrook, Conn., - whence he moved to Winsted in 1824, and soon after secured a large practice and high standing at the bar.
He held the appointment of District Attorney for four years under President Jackson, and was Lieutenant Governor of the State in 1842 and 1844; besides which he held the offices of Postmaster and Assignee in Bankruptcy.
He was a man of commanding person and pleasing address ; as a law- yer he was adroit rather than learned-thorough in preparing his cases, quick to discern the weak points of his adversary, and energetic beyond most men in carrying forward his cases to a final issue. The same quali- ties were prominent in his political career, but his success as a lawyer was more decided than as politician. About 1850 he withdrew from legal practice and devoted himself to financiering with decided success. He died May 22, 1855, at the age of 61. He married, in 1826, Adaline, daughter of Abijah Catlin, of Harwinton, who died Nov. 10, 1859, aged 59. They had
CHILDREN.
I. JOHN CATLIN, who graduated at Wesleyan University, Middletown, and d. in California unmd., May 28, 1853, aged 24 years 4 months.
II. ADALINE, m. Henry B. Horton ; d. April 3, 1856, aged 24 years 3 months, leaving one child, William Holabird.
III. EDWARD, m., Dec. 16, 1860, Sarah A. M. Howe; d. May 26, 1862, aged 28. IV. ANNE, d. July 27, 1859, single, aged 22.
V. LOUISE, d. July 8, 1842, aged 2 years and 9 months.
VI. WILLIAM SWIFT, m. May 6, 1863, Mary I. Bell. He d. Oct. 23, 1866, aged 24. She d. May 5, 1871, aged 28. CHILD. William Swift.
VII. LOUISE, m. Oct. 14, 1868, aged 23, Henry C. Wieker, of Chicago.
WILLIAM O. TALCOTT, M. D., from Killingworth, came here as a med- ical practitioner in 1825, and resided in the widow Marble house, on the
425
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
east side of the East Village park until his death, Oct. 26, 1831, at the age of 37. He was a skillful and faithful physician of pleasing manners, social nature and high-toned character. His death, by hemorrhage of the lungs, was sudden, and deeply lamented. He married Elizabeth M. - , by whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth Olmsted, baptized Nov. 6, 1831.
OLIVER LOOMIS, from Torrington, purchased, in 1827, the farm between the two lakes, on which he lived until 1844, when he removed to his re- cent homestead on Main street, above Dudley's tannery, where he died childless, Feb. 7, 1872, aged 85 years, leaving a property of nearly ten thousand dollars to the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a zealous and exemplary member.
ALANSON LOOMIS, son of Abiel,1 of Winchester, in 1827 bought the tannery and house adjoining it on the west, which had been previously owned by his father, which he occupied until his sale of the same to George Dudley in 1832, when he moved to Sandisfield, Mass., for a few years, and then returned to Winsted and bought and occupied the Ebene- zer Rowley farm in 1845, soon after which he removed to Fulton, Oswego Co., N. Y., where he now (1872) resides. His family record is given in connection with that of his father, Abiel Loomis, Sen.
HENRY L. GAYLORD, originally from Torrington, came here in 1828, and was first associated in trading and hardware manufacturing with his brother, Nathaniel B. Gaylord, and afterwards with Chester Soper in woollen manufacturing. He owned and occupied the brick house on Main street, East Village, now owned by Normand Adams. He removed to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1837, where he died not far from 1850, leaving a widow and one son, now living. He was a man of high-toned character and sterling worth.
LUMAN HUBBELL, son of Silliman, of Winchester, a dyer by trade, and for several years a resident of Massachusetts, purchased in 1828, the tavern property between Camp's block and the Woodford block, and be- came a permanent resident. He first engaged in the manufacture of dye- stuffs ; and in 1831, in company with Samuel W. Coe, he went into the country store and produce business in a building then standing on a part of the site of J. T. Rockwell's tannery on Main street. Here they pros- ccuted a large business until, in 1845, they erected the building known as the Coe store, on Main street, opposite the Beardsley house. The build- ing was nearly completed when Mr. Hubbell was suddenly taken sick and died within a week, on the day that had been fixed for removing their goods and opening their business therein.
Mr. Hubbell was a man of great promptitude and activity, a kind
54
426
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
neighbor and sympathizing friend, who visited the sick and bereaved, and aided the destitute and unfortunate. In all measures of public improve- ment, he was among the foremost. His family record is given in con- nection with that of his father.
The following dwellings and other buildings were erected in Winsted during the decade from 1821 to 1831.
1821.
The Frederick Woodruff tannery on North Main street was erected by Horace Ranney, and was successively owned from 1824 to 1831 by Caleb Lewis, and then by Eli Foster, Ichabod Wood, Miles C. Burt and James Arault, who, in 1841, sold it to Mr. Woodruff, who, in 1869, sold it to George Dudley & Son, the present owners.
A forging and drafting shop was erected by James and James M. Boyd, in 1822, on Lake street, at the joining of the Lake stream and Mad river, which was taken down, and the present brick machine shop was erected on its site by John Boyd in 1853.
1822.
The Normand Adams house was built by Horace W. House.
1823.
A bark mill and tannery was built by Hosea Hinsdale on the site of Jolın T. Rockwell's tannery.
1824.
The brick house on North Main street recently owned by the widow and legatees of Stephen Rowley, deceased, was erected by Joseph B. Lewis, and was occupied by him until he left the town in 1834.
The brick basement wooden house next south of the above was built the same or the following year by Darius Turrill and occupied by him until his removal from the town about 1840.
1825.
The E. S. Woodford house at the corner of Main and High streets was built by Samuel Boyd and occupied by him until his removal to New York in 1834.
Wheelock Thayer built the small brick tenement next south of the Woodford place now occupied by Martin Bradford.
The small brick tenement in front of J. T. Rockwell's tannery on Main
427
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
street was built by Hosea Hinsdale and Ichabod Loomis, and was occupied in part by Col. Hinsdale as a leather store, and in part by Mr. Loomis as a liquor grocery, the first of these establishments in the town. It was burned out in 1827, leaving the walls so little injured, notwithstanding the explosion of a keg of powder, that it was rebuilt without taking down the walls.
The house near the outlet of the lake, recently owned by Benjamin F. Perry, was built by William Dexter, who occupied it until his removal to Illinois in 1836.
1827.
The " Upper Forge," on the site of the Winsted Manufacturing Com- pany's Lake street grinding works, after running thirty three years, was re built in 1827 by James Boyd & Son, and operated until about 1855, when the manufacture of bar iron ceased to be remunerative in the old way of working.
The original house on the site of Edward R. Beardsley's residence on Main street, was built for a tenant house, and now stands within the same enclosure, it having been removed by the late Seth L. Wilder to its present site.
1828.
Samuel Boyd erected the tenant house on Main street, between the residences of Mrs. Parke and Mrs. Eleazer Andrews.
1829.
Horace Higley built the house on the north side of Main street, now owned by Albert N. Beach, which he occupied until his removal to Painesville, Ohio, in 1837. This was the second dwelling erected on the section known as the " Flat " which then intervened between the east and west villages, and is now occupied by nearly a hundred stores and dwell- ings.
1830.
A wooden dwelling and brick blacksmith shop on the south side of Main street, nearly opposite Walnut street, were erected by Martin Dens- low. The blacksmith shop has since been converted into a dwelling; and next east of the wooden dwelling a brick dwelling was erected the same year by Horace Skinner.
The dwelling house on the north side of Main street, and now owned by George Taylor, was erected in 1830 by William Benham; and the next dwelling on the west, was erected the same year by Daniel D. Lamb.
The Samuel Smith house, on the north side of Main street, was also
428
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
erected in 1830 by Orentus Bronson, who, in succeeding years, although a cripple, erected about twenty dwellings in various parts of the village, almost unaided by any assistant help.
The Congregational Church in the East village was remodeled in 1828 by removing the high tub-like pulpit and its pendulous sounding-board, and substituting modern slips for the ancient square, pen-like pews, with high paneled sides. The new pulpit was placed at the east end of the audience room, and the floor had an ascending grade from the east to the west end. The building retained its original position on the green until 1848, when it was removed to its present site, and so remodeled, without and within, as not to retain a single feature of its original construction.
In 1828 the brick store on the corner of Main and North Main streets, now occupied by L. R. Norton & Company, was erected by an association of some fifteen individuals for an Academic School, which was first opened therein by Rev. Sardis B. Morley, a graduate of Williams College, as- sisted by Miss - Treat, of Hartford, who afterwards became his wife. The school was continued as a public academy, under a succession of teachers, until 1830, when the building was purchased by Mr. Henry E. Rockwell, who continued the school as a private enterprise until 1817, when he erected a new and more commodious building on Seminary Hill, north of High street, now occupied as a double dwelling, and recently owned by W. K. Peck, Esq.
Mr. Rockwell discontinued his school in 1850, and soon after removed to Massachusetts, and subsequently engaged in phonetic reporting and various educational pursuits.
He is gratefully remembered by a large portion of our middle aged business men as a faithful and earnest teacher, and by the whole com- munity as a quiet, public spirited citizen. His George Washington head was as cordially greeted as that of any other of the returning pilgrims to our late Centennial Commemoration.
In connection with Mr. Rockwell it is fitting to notice his cotemporary, Elder Miles Grant, who for some four or five years taught the west village district school, with an ability and success never excelled in our annals. To the sincere regret of parents and scholars, and of the whole community, a sense of duty constrained him to leave a calling for which he was eminently fitted, and to devote him-elf to the Master's service in another sphere of labor. Highly esteemed and loved as a minister of the Gospel, he has no more cordial friends than his Winsted pupils, now in the active stage of life, who owe to him a training far beyond what is ordinarily secured in a district school.
In 1830, GEORGE TAYLOR took a lease from JAMES BOYD of the land and water power on which the Elizur Hinsdale Axe Factory had stood, and erected a small machine shop, now constituting a part of the
429
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
present Foundry & Machine Company's building. Mr. Taylor has been connected with the establishment in all its changes, up to the present time. Under the firm of Taylor & Whiting, woollen machinery of superior quality, and in large quantities, was manufactured. The foundry was erected about 1850.
We compile abstracts of the polls and taxable property of the Society on the lists of 1820 and 1830, showing the increase or decrease in the respective items during the decade as follows : -
1820.
1830.
No.
Amount.
No.
Amount.
Houses and two-acre lots,
105
54,524
118
48,264
Acres of land,
8153
149,739
7696
108,266
Manufactories,
10
5,625
18
15,600
Gri-t mills and saw mills,
5
3,475
4
1,650
Stores,
4
2,400
7
2,750
Clocks and watches,
361
142
578
Horses,
64
2,695
118
4,395
Neat catile,
648
8,825
862
10,319
Riding carriages,
13
470
5
210
Bank stocks,
2,800
300
Turnpike stock,
424
424
Money at interest,
3,040
8,034
Sheep,
863
1,120
Polls taxable,
108
192
These abstracts are rendered nearly useless for comparison by the arbitrary changes in the valuation of houses, lands, neat stock, &c., from year to year, according to the wisdom or caprice of the assessors.
In the item of dwelling houses, while the number is increased by the erection of some twenty new buildings, the total amount of assessment is reduced $6,260; whereas, if the standard of valuation had been uniform, the totals would have shown an increase of $6,751. So also in the valu- ation of lands, if the standard had been kept up, and the same number of acres assessed at the beginning and end of the decade, the aggregate would have been the same in the first and last years, instead of showing a diminution of $41,473. So also in the valuation of next stock, the reduction of the value of cows from $13 to $11, and of other cattle in the same proportion made an aggregate reduction of $1,578.
With these equalizations of the two lists, we shall find an increase of the taxable property of the society of $15,925, while the increased num- ber of polls, when brought up to the valuation of 1820, would have added to the list of 1830 an increase of $27,932, thus making the whole increase of the decade $43,807, or an increase of $4,390 per year.
CHAPTER XXIX.
GROWTH OF VILLAGES .- BOROUGH OF CLIFTON .- POST-OFFICES .- NEW BUILDINGS AND FACTORIES.
1831 to 1841.
WE have thus far traced the early growth of Winsted with a minuteness of detail, the further prosecution of which would be equally tiresome to compiler and reader ; and have reached a period when the public records cease to furnish family statistics in an available form for compiling, owing to the neglect of the old, and the imperfection of the new system of reg- istration. We propose, therefore, in the further prosecution of our Annals, to allude only to the origin and growth of public institutions and private enterprises of special public interest.
Up to 1832, the Green Woods turnpike along Mad river, the road along the west side of Still river, and the road along the Lake stream, now re- spectively known as Main street, North Main street, and Lake street, fur- nished nearly all the building ground as yet required, and would have supplied the demand for another decade, had the land owners been dis- posed to meet the requirements of the increasing population.
The first movement for expanding our borders was made by an associ- ation of young men, who, in 1832, purchased a line of fifteen building lots and the land for a highway in front of them, from Lake street to Pratt street, which they named Prospect street. After making and open- ing the road at their own expense, they applied to the town authorities to accept it as a public highway. It was an unprecedented case. Conserv- atism became alarmed. It required some finessing to induce the town to accept the gift; and when accepted, the enterprise had so much fogyism to encounter, that it proved a poor investment. At the end of three years, only three houses had been erected on the street, and it was ten years before the unoccupied lots could be sold at first cost.
During the same year Wheelock Thayer erected the scythe works on Mad river now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Bacheller, and operated by the Thayer Scythe Company ; and Samuel Boyd erected the Clifton Mill works, now owned by the Winsted Hoe Company, in which he manufac- tured shovels, hoes, and carpenters' tools for two or three years, and was
431
AND FAMILY RECORDS.
succeeded by the Clifton Mill Company, who converted the original build- ing into a flouring mill and erected the three-story building for the manu- facture of bolts and nuts. The establishment was sold in 1870 to the Winsted Hoe Company, and is now used for making planters' hoes and carpenters' tools.
In 1833, on application of inhabitants of the West Village, the General Assembly granted a borough charter to comprehend the part of the bor- ough of Winsted lying west of the second tier line. Conservatism again took the alarm, and at the first meeting for choice of officers, a ticket was elected not favorable to the objects contemplated by the charter. A small tax was laid for purchasing a fire engine and organizing a fire company. Payment of the tax was refused by some of the tax payers, and there was not found sufficient vitality in the corporate body to enforce the pay- ment. The bantling had a paralyzed existence of two or three years, and then expired. Its primary object was, to secure an efficient fire organiza- tion ; but, behind this there was a plan for securing a second post-office in place of the original office, which had been recently transferred to the East Village, the two villages being then distinct communities separated from each other by a wide space of land not then obtainable for building purposes.
In this connection a sketch of post-office changes and the almost per- petual dissensions growing out of them, which have given to our commu- nity an evil fame, seems appropriate as an element of our history. In- deed, to ignore them would be like performing the play of Hamlet with Hamlet himself left out.
There was a time, strange as it may seem to the present generation, when the post-office department was conducted without reference to party politics ; when the post-master general was not a cabinet officer ; when the ruling question in the appointment of a deputy post-master was-is he honest, capable, and acceptable to the community ; when the best in- terests of the public and of the department were the sole considerations applied to questions of location of offices. These principles were recog- nized and acted on not only in the days of Washington and Jefferson, but on ward through the administrations of Monroe and the second Adams.
About 1806, the only post-office in Winchester was held by a zealous Democrat in the Widow Hall house, on the turnpike beyond the eastern border of the present borough of Winsted. The West Village had then become a business centre, and also more central to the whole town than any other point on the mail route. On a representation of these and other considerations to Post-master General Granger, a removal of the . office to the West Village was ordered, and a high-toned Federalist was appointed to the place of his democratic predecessor.
432
ANNALS OF WINCHESTER,
It is a rule with scarcely an exception, that when rival villages exist in close vicinity to each other, a feeling of jealous rivalry grows with their growth ; and if they are both within the same post-office delivery, this feeling is liable to become highly intensified. To this rule Winsted has been no exception. Prior to and during the War of 1812, the Federal element predominated in the West Village, and the democratic in the East. Efforts were made from time to time to change the politics of the post- master and the location of the office, without avail, until the resignation of the Federal incumbent in 1830, wlien, on an ex-parte hearing of an application from the East Village, an unexpected appointment was made, and the location of the office transferred to that section. A second-class earthquake could scarcely have produced a greater sensation. The West Village at once sent a deputation to Washington, accompanied by a Hart- ford Times editor, and on a second ex-parte hearing, the department ordered the office to be re opened in the West Village ; but it couldn't be made to stay there. Within six months, on another ex-parte hearing, the department ordered it back to the East Village. Remonstrances flowed in so thickly, that in about a year an oily-tongued official, rejoicing in the name of Barnabas Bates, was sent to investigate the case. Nearly three days were devoted by him to a public hearing of the contending parties. He reported to the department, in substance, that both parties ought to have it; but as they couldn't, it had better be located at an intermediate point, half a mile distant from each village centre, where next to nobody then wanted it, and, as a consequence, it rested in the East Village until after the Harrison campaign, when, under a new po-t-master, it again re- turned to the West Village, leaving a branch office for receiving and de- livering letters in the East. Two years after, under Capt. Tyler's accidental reign, the office went back to the East Village, and the branch office to the West, and so continued through the administration of President Polk.
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