USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bristol > Bristol, Connecticut : "in the olden time New Cambridge", which includes Forestville > Part 18
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
JOSIAH LEWIS.
Among the last to arrive, in the period preceding the founding of a church, was Josiah Lewis. He came from Southington, and tradition says he was a week on the way, cutting a passage through the forest for himself and family, which consisted of twelve children. Nine sons grew up and married, to each of whom he gave a farm of a hundred acres, a house, a barn, a cow, a hive of bees, and a Waterbury sweet apple tree. Five of these houses, including his own, were built on the Farming- ton road, three near the cemetery and two beyond the woods of Poker Hole. Four of the Lewis houses are still standing, built much after the same plan, all large, spacious houses, such as those early settlers used to build, when the heating of a house was not an important item in the yearly expenses. They were built before the Revolution and for years formed an uninterrupted row of Lewis possessions.
THE DEACONS.
Active in the spiritual life of the church during the first period were Hezekiah Rew and David Gaylord, both of whom, in 1747, were appointed deacons.
David Gaylord was thirty-one years old, and served twenty-eight years, outliving his brother in office and two successors and serving ten years with the third.
His home was an isolated one, built in the clearing on the slope
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PEACEABLE ST
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(37) August Mann R; (38) Adam Budosky R, Frank Sinks R; (39) Fred Bush R; (40) Adolph Sonstrom O; (41) E. A. Conlon O; (42) John J. Brennan R, John Johnson R; (43) J. J. Sullivan R, Arthur Wieonnet R; (44) Mrs. Philip Boos O, Oscar Thomas R; (45) John Henebry R, Mrs. Susan B. Holden O.
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of the hill north of the Pequabuck, the house lot lying in the corner of East street and Riverside Avenue, and extending to the river, across which was the Indian trail to Waterbury, Deacon Gaylord's highway into the outside world.
Hezekiah Rew's name stands first on the church list. He was an older man than his brother deacon, and had served in the various offices of the society from sexton to moderator. He deserves special recognition for the service he rendered for ten years as society's clerk. Judging from his clerical work, he was a fair scholar-a man of good judgment too, appointed to the task of "dignifying the meeting-house," according to a custom by which the members were seated with reference to their age, position, and wealth. Four years later, he declined to act in this delicate business. His name appears no more. His burial place is not known, nor the date of his death. He lived on Peaceable street near Parson Newell, and his wife Abigail died in 1764.
Two early deacons, Stephen Barnes and Elisha Manross, were sons of the first settlers. Stephen Barnes was appointed in the place of Hezekiah Rew and, after a short term of service, died in his forty-fifth year. In his home on South street for several years previous to 1747, the settlers assembled for divine service, in which Hezekiah Rew and . Stephen Barnes were appointed to lead.
Elnathan Ives succeeded Stephen Barnes in 1757, when his name appears for the first time, although he had been living here for ten years. He came from Farmington, and was the oldest son of Ensign Gideon Ives, "The Mighty Hunter," tales of whose hunts in these forests are a part of our history. Elnathan Ives lived to be seventy-one years old, but resigned his office of deacon thirteen years before his death. His house was on the Southington road near its union, at the bridge, with the Queen's Road. His son and grandson became members of this church, and two nephews followed him and settled here, Enos, father o Deacon Charles Ives, and Amasa, the father of the clock makers, Chauncey and Joseph Ives.
Elisha Manross, when only thirty-eight years old, followed Deacon Ives, and served forty-five years, the second longest diaconate. He is the best known of our early deacons, whose piety, dignity, and charity, belong to our church history.
REV. SAMUEL NEWELL'S FAMILY.
Reverend Samuel Newell, two years after his installation, married Mary Hart Root, widow of Timothy Root, and daughter of Deacon John Hart, all of Farmington.
Mr. Newell was thirty-five years old, and his bride thirty-two, the mother of three children, Timothy, Theodore, and Esther Root, who were nine, seven, and five years old, respectively.
Their father, Lieut. Timothy Root, had died three years before at Cape Breton, soon after the siege of Louisburg. (His father of the same name also died at Cape Breton, having been in the expedition which, thirty-three years earlier, set out for the conquest of Canada.) The children inherited the Root homestead property in Farmington, and did not come empty-handed into the home of their step-father.
Mr. Newell owned land here by inheritance from his grandfather, Thomas Newell, an original proprietor, and by the bequest of his brother Solomon who bequeathed to Samuel, Josiah and Mary Newell, several tracts of land, including the Indian reservation of Bohemia, valued at £807 or $4,000.
To this bequest we owe, perhaps, the arrival of the Upson family, between whom and the Newell family there was a double marriage. (Josiah Newell married Mary Upson of Farmington, and Mary Newell became the wife of Asa Upson.) Some time after Mr. Newell's settle- ment, Asa Upson and his wife Mary Newell took up residence on Peaceable street, between their brother the parson and the Royces, who had with- drawn from the Congregational church, because of their opposition to
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(1) No. 160, North, Miss' Lucy Beckwith O, James Geegan R; (2) No. 177, North, Leon C. LaCourse O, Wallace Calkins R, George Fortin R; (3) No. 189, North, Arthur T. Woodford R; (4) No. 179, Maple street, A. Croze R, P. J. Reddy R, J. Hassett R; (5) No. 183, Maple, W. H. W. Burns R; (6) No. 188 Maple, Rudolf Zhanke R, A. Schinman R, P. Tessman R; (7) Flag House, George P. Lyons, Tender; (S) No. 230, Peaceable, Chas. Sandstrom R, Emil Grotze R; (9) No. 235, Peaceable, Dennis O'Brien O.
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Mr. Newell's settlement. In the bitterness of feeling which outlasted the century, the not unfriendly relations of these families may have given the name to the street they lived on, the goodly name of Peaceable street.
The new minister, in his contract with the parish, took care, not only that his salary should be paid but that the society should build him a house. (Mrs. Mary Root, who afterward became his wife, was then a recent widow, living in a substantial home left by her husband.)
The specifications for the house were drawn up with great precision even to cupboards and ovens, and, like the contract, show a knowledge of legal forms, which indicates that the Rev. Mr. Newell may have been a lawyer and architect as well as a minister and landowner.
For the detail of an interior of an early settler's home, we have a picture of the parsonage as found in the specifications drawn up by Mr. Newell.
The specifications follow the contract for settlement, and are as follows: "The condition of this obligation is such that if the above said Ebeneezer Hamblin, Mr. Samll Gaylord, Edward Gaylord shall within the space of one year and two months from the day above * * in good workmanship like manner erect build and set up one * dwelling house for the said Mr. Samuel Newell upon his land in New Cambridge as he shall direct of thirty-eight feet long and twenty-three feet wide, and sixteen feet and one-half between joints with a lintow (leanto) adjoining the backside 20 feet long and sixteen feet wide, containing five rooms below, and shall workmanlike finish the lower rooms in the manner following, namely, well ceil the dwelling room and make suitable cobard (suitable cupboard) and shelves for such rooms and lath, plaster and whitewash the parlor and bedrooms, side and overhead, making all sutiable covenant (convenient) good and work- manlike doors and partions (partitions) * * stock and dig and
stone * * a proper cellar at least seven feet deep from the lower floor, and the bignes of one end of the house from the chimney, and in good and workmanlike build * * a stack of chimneys consisting of three tunnels from the bottom and two more beginning at the chambers. Making at least two brick ovens of a sutiable bigness, and in a workmanlike manner make the window frames * * and glass the whole house, namely, nine windows, consisting of twenty-four squares of glass six and eight size, and one of eighteen square, and seven with twelve of the same size, all this to be done by the latter end of Sept., A. D. 1749.
And that the said Ebenezer Hamblin, Samuel Gaylord, Edward Gaylord, their exers and admid (executors and administrators) and assigns shall find and provide at their own cost and charge all and all manner of timber, stone, brick, laths, nails, iron, glass, lime, clay, sand, and all other materials whatsoever [as] shall be fit and necessary to be used in and about said building, and they, so doing, shall be quit of the above said written bond, obligation, etc., etc.
Signed and delivered this 20th day of July, A. D. 1747.
A parsonage was built on the knoll known as the Dr. Pardee place, and, during the first eleven years of the pastorate, five children were born, two daughters and three sons. Mary became a member of this church, and at twenty married Jacob Hungerford. Anna married Elnathan Hooker. The oldest son Samuel died when four years old. Two younger sons, Lott and Samuel, were sent to Yale college and the former died there; the latter, a graduate, was the only son to marry and perpetuate the name of his father.
Of Mrs. Newell's children, Esther Root died at fifteen. Timothy married, and settled on the homestead property in Farmington. Theo- dore married, united with this church, and settled here near his mother. Seven daughters were born in his family.
He appears in the records in various appointments, first when he. is appointed to "git Mr. Newell's wood" and is allowed six pounds for the same. To supply Mr. Newell with wood seems always to have
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(1) No. 47, W. H. Gladding R, Mrs. R. J. Jerrolds R, F. R. Parsons R; (2) No. 38, Burdette A. Peck O; (3) No. 38, Ernest C. Smith R; (4) No. 32, Edward L. Dunbar O; (5) No. 26, Hiram C. Thompson O; (6) No. 29, Mrs. Fanny W. Gowdy R, Mrs. M. Wilcox R, Mrs. C. Parsons R; (7) No. 23, Wilbur F. Brainard O; (8) No. 20, Cornelius T. Olcott O, R. C. Pease R; (9) No. 15, Hobart Booth R.
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been an unpleasant task, no man in the parish undertaking it twice, young men being appointed to the place, as a kind of stepping stone into public life! And in 1767 the minister's stepson takes his turn with the rest.
Other houses scattered here and there were the homes of Joseph Benton, David Rich, Ebenezer Norton, the Tuttles, the Warrens and Daniel Rowe.
These are the glimpses we get of the little company, who, one hun- dred and fifty years ago, established this church in the wilderness, with its forty members, twenty men and twenty women. There were seventeen men with their wives; one old man, William Merriman, living in the family of his son-in-law, Caleb Matthews; two bachelors (Ebenezer Hamblin and Samuel Gaylord); the widow Sarah Bushnell; Miss Deborah Buck, whose brother Stephen married a daughter of Ebenezer Barnes; and Jacob Deming's wife, Abigail, who by her first husband, Timothy Jerome, was the mother of the Jerome families in Bristol, a distinguished member of which was Chauncey Jerome, the clock maker and autobiographer.
The congregation, however, included a larger number, men active in affairs but not church members, and many young people and children. . Ebenezer Barnes brought fifteen grown up sons and daughters, and Josiah Lewis, twelve.
The year 1747 witnessed the fulfillment of their long cherished hopes, the establishment of an independent church. With this event, the first period of our history closes.
CHAPTER II.
The next period presents a different view. It is the period pre- ceding the Revolution, a critical time in the history of the colonies, during which occurred the French and Indian war, 1755-1760, giving to the English race and Protestantism the destinies of a new world.
In Europe, the avaric or ambition of a king was sufficient to draw the nations into war. A fierce jealousy existed between George II. and Louis XV. of France, and, when France united with Spain to rob England of her commerce with her American colonies, New England was drawn in too. His majesty George II. forthwith fitted out an expedition for the conquest of the Spanish West Indies, and called on the colonies for men, money, and ships. The Connecticut assembly responded with cheerfulness to his majesty's demand, and lost nearly a thousand men in the expedition, which resulted in a total failure.
When France, a few years later, proclaimed war against Great Britain, the New England colonies, nothing daunted by their recent losses in the Spanish seas, cried out that Louisburg must be taken. At their own expense, they fitted out an expedition which captured that most important stronghold of France in the New World, in which expe- dition Connecticut played an important part. The town of Farmington contributed its quota of men, among whom were probably men from the parish of New Cambridge.
It remains to be proved that men of this society took part in the colonial wars, but it is noteworthy the number of names which appear with military titles attached.
The first militia company was formed about 1748, and, as the titles appear after 1760, it is possible that they indicate not merely. militia rank, but rank in the colonial army.
Soon after the church was established, a second influx of settlers occurred. The following years witnessed many arrivals until the twenty houses of the first period had increased, in the next period, to fifty.
In the meantime, the early founders had retired from the stage and the new company appears whose character is distinctly military.
The Captains. Edward Gaylord, Caleb Matthews. Zebulon Peck, Zebulon Frisbie, Asa Upson, John Hungerford.
The Lieutenants, Josiah Lewis, Amos Barnes, Samuel Gaylord.
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RESIDENCE ALBERT L. SESSIONS, BELLEVUE AVENUE.
Ensign Gersham Tuttle.
Sergt. Zebulon Frisbie, Jr., and Luke Gridley, a soldier in the French and Indian wars, whose diary recording his experiences in the war is still in the possession of his descendants.
Other new names which appear are, Jerome, Atkins, Churchill, Roberts, Byington, Mix, Stone, Andrus, Shepard, Clark, Smith, Rogers, Pearson, Cole. Lastly Hezekiah Gridley, father and son, both men of distinction in civil and military affairs.
The men of the second period took up not only the work laid down by the founders. They assumed other burdens, the miantenance of the church, a share in the colonial wars, the building of schoolhouses and roads.
THE VILLAGE ROADS.
When the church was built, there were four roads in the parish. The church on the hill was the only building in sight, except Joseph Benton's house in the lot southeast. Roads, connecting the church with the four corners of the parish, were soon opened. Peaccable street was extended up the hill to the church door, for the convenience of Parson Newell, Deacon Rew, and Josiah Lewis.
The Queen's Road people came over the ridge by a road running west and passing north of the Episcopal church property, a road unused for a century, but never closed up, which is today a grass-grown passage- way guarded by stone walls, whose name of Lovers' Lane suggests its present use. Midway, and at right angles with this, was another leading south and coming out at the mill.
Center street connected the church with West street, which is our most interesting early road, on account of its origin. West street is two hundred and eleven years old, and the only one in the village which lies in the highway of the original layout, its generous width alone bearing evidence of its descent from the colonial assembly.
There is one other street which conforms with the highway of the original layout, the one running north and south on Chippin's Hill,
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which outrivals West street, being nearly twice as long and preserving, throughout its whole extent, the same generous width and having, in addition, magnificent views from the mountain.
THE EARLY ARCHITECTURE.,
Of the twenty homes built during the first period, two still remain, Ebenezer Barnes's and Moses Lyman's. Of the former, the central portion with its stone chimney is the original house. The two ends, each with a brick chimney, which have been added, changed the dwelling house of the early settler into a commodious tavern. The wide roof, the three chimneys, the windows in long double rows, and the three front doors, give it a grave appearance, characteristic of early New England architecture.
The second oldest house in town, the home of Moses Lyman on Fall Mountain retains, except for the ell on the west, its original shape. It is one hundred and sixty years old, but shows no sign of age or infirmity, and will, probably, outlast many of its youthful neighbors. In its interior and exterior, it is a good example of a simple colonial house. The second story projects over the first, but there are no projections on the roof, no canopy over the door, no ornamentation, and hence no shadows, producing a severe expression, common alike to the homes and to the people of this early period.
Another interesting specimen of early architecture and the best of the kind known as the "leanter," is a Lewis house on Lewis corner. It belongs to the second period of our history and was built in 1766. It has a somewhat decrepit appearance, owing to the fact that, for several years, no one has lived in it, but, for picturesqueness in color, outline, and setting, nothing in Bristol surpasses it. The old well sweep in front, the long slope of the "leanto" roof, the double arched sheds, bordered by grape vines, like carved decorations of Italian arcades, and the jagged stone chimney, compose a picture perfect of its kind.
These represent the homes of the living. In the old cemeteries,
PROSPECT STREET, FROM R. R. BRIDGE.
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we find the founders and their successors in their last resting places- homes of the dead, we say.
With few exceptions all are here, the minister and his wife, the deacons and their wives, the moderators and clerks, the captains and lieutenants, an honorable and venerable company in our old cemeteries.
But the spirit of the founders lives on, as this anniversary gives witness. The sacrifices they made, the labors they endured, bear per- petual fruit, for the healing our souls, like the tree of life in the garden. They worked out the problems of their day and they hand down to us the result. With every generation come new problems, to solve which we gain inspiration from the founders, and from the memories of those eventful early years.
[For their friendly interest, and for their most valued assistance in obtaining certain statistics and genealogical material used in this paper, grateful acknowledgments are due and are herewith tendered to Dea. F. O. Lewis, Bristol; James Shepard, Esq., New Britain; and Miss Sarah F. Pritchard, Waterbury.]
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THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
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The Baptist Church Compiled Largely from a Sketch Prepared by Roswell Atkins in 1880
O N April 13, 1791, in the town of Plymouth, a small company of Christian people effected the organization which is now known as the Bristol Baptist Church. In exactly what building the organization took place is not now known. The first ordination of a minister occurred in the building afterwards occupied as a dwelling by Lyman Tuttle. When and by whom the building was erected is not now certainly known. In 1798, the church reported at the meeting of the Danbury Association that its membership list numbered sixty- six. Whether this is accurate or not is open to question. The mem- bership roll of that date shows only twenty-six names. The additions for that year were reported to be twenty-one. The record, however, shows only eight. This confusion of numbers was not at all infrequent in those days when church bookkeeping did not receive as much atten- tion as now.
In 1802, the membership of the church is given as one hundred and seven. Rev. Daniel Wildman was the minister. How long Mr. Wildman remained pastor of the church we do not know, but it must have been for a number of years, probably until 1817.
For twenty-six years, from 1791 to 1817, the records of the church are very scanty. Three pages in one book and six in another tell all that is now known of those years. Of the Ecclesiastical Society there are no records until 1814. The first entry in these records tells us that there was "A meeting for hiring a preacher and other necessaries." In the same month, November, it was voted "that we have preaching half of the time and that a committee be appointed to secure it; and that Austin Bishop, Ichabod Wright, and Samuel Atkins be the com- mittee."
The first record of a preacher receiving a salary in this church is in 1816, when it was voted that the preacher be paid three hundred dollars per year. For a short time previous, five dollars a Sunday had been paid, but it is not positively known whether it was paid to a singing teacher or to the preacher.
In 1801, Rev. Daniel Wildman bought from his father, Captain Daniel Wildman, the land on the corner of West and School streets which for about eighty years held the meeting house of the Bristol Baptists. In 1809 this property was deeded to the Baptist Society. The meeting house had been built upon it some time before. In 1830, this house of worship was moved from its first site and was used for a clock shop. We cannot determine when the meetings were first held in the vicinity where this church stood, but previous to the building of the house, they were held in a hall standing where the parsonage after- wards stood. The evening meetings were held in a house a little south of this hall, afterwards owned by Theron Sandford. During these twenty- six years, from 1791 to 1817, the record gives one hundred and twenty- two to the roll of membership. There is reason, however, to believe that this is not a complete list. Fifty-two of this number were received
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REV. HENRY CLARKE.
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between October, 1815, and October, 1816. Elder Wildman was the preacher and he was assisted at times during this year by Elder David Wright and probably by Orra Martin. One of those received during this period was Asa Bronson, Jr., who afterwards entered the ministry and was a very successful preacher and pastor.
In 1817, Orra Martin was called from Wisconsin to be the pastor of the church. He continued in this pastorate until August, 1820, and maintained membership with the church for nearly a year later. In September of that same year, Elder Isaac Merriam was invited to preach for the church. He accepted the invitation and continued the regular supply until March, 1823, when he was settled as pastor, and he and his wife brought letters from the Baptist Church in Brandon, Vermont. He remained with the church until April, 1825, and continued a member of the church until October, 1826. During his ministry there were added to the church thirty-five by baptism. One of the number was Rollin H. Neale, D. D., who was licensed to preach, February 12, 1826. Two of those who until during this pastorate were Deacon George Welch and his wife, who came to the church by letter. The only ordination of a deacon that has occurred in the history of the church was in this period, when, on May 7, 1826, Irenus Atkins was ordained,
In January, 1827, the Rev. Henry Stanwood was invited to supply the church, and on May 2, 1828, he accepted the call to the pastorate and continued with the church as pastor until March, 1834. During his ministry seventy-six were added by baptism. Among them were B. F. Hawley and E. N. Welch. During Elder Stanwood's ministry, another house of worship was built. This occurred in 1830. The only record that has been found with regard to it is the following: "Septem- ber, 1829, special meeting to take into consideration the expediency of building a new meetinghouse. George Mitchell, Truman Prince, and Daniel B. Hinman were appointed a committee to obtain subscriptions for building a new house for public worship, and also to ascertain the difference in expense of wood or brick and report at the next meeting. Adjourned to the 17th." Another record shows that the new house of worship was used for the first time about the last of December, 1830.
In 1832, a conference house was built. Sherman Johnson, Miles Norton, and Rollin Atkins were the building committee. In the same year occurs the first record of expenses being met by the rental of pews. Previous to this most of the money had been raised by subscription or property assessment.
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