USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bristol > Bristol, Connecticut : "in the olden time New Cambridge", which includes Forestville > Part 29
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recent records. . The Ladies' Aid Society has always been a most important factor in the life of the church; and for many years has helped to lift the burdens of a struggling Parish.
Of the usual "church troubles" Trinity has had only its allotted share; but until all men are so constituted that all think alike there must be that difference of opinion, which, in the end is all good, for it spells progress, after all.
Since 1860 the record shows year by year, the name of the beloved
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and venerated Bishop Williams, side by side with the Confirmation Lists. Following him comes our Bishop Brewster and twice only does the name of Bishop, other than these, appear: Bp. Seabury and Bp. Niles of New Hampshire. Partial lists of marriages and bap- tisms appear elsewhere-tho seemingly very incomplete. . . The Clerks of the Parish were: H. A. Mitchell, 1834; Elijah Shelton, 1835- 1842; H. J. Potter, 1842-1871; A. H. Barnum (supply), 1871; S. M. Sutliffe, 1872-1880; A. J. Muzzy, 1880-1895; Geo. T. Waterhouse, 1895-1897; A. J. Muzzy, 1897 to date, 1907. It would be of great interest had these records all been writ fuller-personal relations of pastor and people-the life of those who made the Church; but as each entry is complete or lacking according to the whim of the Clerk who recorded, it is only left for the student of human nature to read between the lines, and then shrewdly guess the history of those old days-the toil of those bygone people-their self-denial, service, and weary struggles, all for conscience sake.
SO
LLEV.
1
6.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE OLD NORTH CEMETERY.
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NOTES ABOUT THE FIRST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
THE BURNING OF THE FIRST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND SOME OTEMS ITEMS OF EARLY HISTORY.
BY MRS. ELLEN LEWIS PECK.
T HE First Episcopal Church stood on the Federal Hill Green on the spot where is now a boulder placed by Mr. George D. Seymour to mark the site. Its adjacent burial ground was directly east of the building, where it still remains.
Mr. Abel Lewis, my grandfather, who had built a house in 1793, on the corner and kept an inn, bought the Church after it had ceased to be used for religious purposes and used it as a barn. One day, Mr. Lewis's brother, who lived near the north burying ground saw a steady line of smoke rising from the back end of the barn and mounting his horse rode down to see what it meant. There had been blasting near there and it was supposed a spark of fire went through a knot hole into the hay. The windows and contents of the barn excepting the hay were removed, but the heavy oak timbers and hay burned constantly for over three weeks. Water was impossible to be got on the Hill, but finally a long rain came and nearly put it out, but it smouldered for some time longer.
The windows were afterwards put into a gambrel roofed house, which Mr. Lewis built as a dwelling-house and store for Mr. George Mitchell, who had been a clerk for Mr. Thomas Barnes in a store near his dwelling-house opposite the Bristol House. Mr. Mitchell lived in the east part of the building and the store was in the west end. After his removal the store was continued by Mr. Lewis till he removed to the foot of the Hill at the end of Maple street, after the Hartford and Danbury Turnpike, now North street and Farmington avenue, was opened. The south half of the second story of his house on the Hill had a nice ball room, where numerous balls and dances were held and he furnished suppers and also sold beer and other liquors and cakes.
On public occasions, as training days, etc., the Green was the center of festivities. One Fourth of July, tables were set on the Green for 500 guests at once, who had a generous dinner of turkeys, chicken pies and all accompanying "fixin's." The tables were screened by a row of trees set as an arbor by the young men of the town. The church bells were rung in the early morning and an oration and address delivered.
There was no road running east and west between Lewis and Federal streets till the turnpike was cut through, when Mr. Hinman built a rival tavern at the foot of Maple street. Mr. Lewis bought him out and moved into that house in order to keep the stage passengers and horses which he did until his death in 1820. After his death his daughter ran the tavern for a while and the store on a small scale till her death in 1853. The store and house were known as Aunt Roxa's for many years.
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Old Episcopal Cemetery
1 HE accompanying material was kindly furnished by Judge Epaphroditus Peck, and his letter of October 14, 1897 to the Bristol Press, will prove of great value in supplementing the information obtained by the Rev. Charles N. Shepard.
Editor of the Bristol Press:
"Mr. George Dudley Seymour, who had lately cleaned up the old Epis- copal Cemetery on the hill, has handed me the following copy of the in- scription on the stones made by Rev. Charles N. Shepard in 1891:
The fragments last mentioned are shown by a list of stones made by Miss Kezia A. Peck in 1851, to belong together, and to be a stone to the memory of Lent Price, who died 1809, aged 42."
Perhaps here it will not be out of place to express the earnest hope that in the immediate future, steps will be taken to permanently pre- serve this historic old burying place. A simple iron fence would afford the needed protection, and future generations will point to this spot as the most historic place in the town. To the editor, it seems almost a sacrilege that it is left in its present unprotected condition. Who will do this little labor of love!
Inscriptions from the remaining tombs in the burying ground of the Pre-Revolution Episcopal Church of New Cambridge, copied by Mr. Charles N. Shepard of Bristol, April 20, 1891.
In Memory of Mr Jarard Alling Hoo Departed This Life September The 12 1794 in the 24 year of His Age you yong companians all of the dere youth That by his deth are cold read this truth That suddin you may die AWay your soul may fly Into eternity Which hath no end.
(This stone appears to be the first work of a youthful amateur.)
Here lies ye Body of Mrs. Phebe Wife of Mr. Thomas Beach she died Aprl ye: 30th 1758 in ye: 91st year of her Age.
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
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12
7
10
6
:: 10th.180
The graves chown in the illustration are numbered, and are as follows:
No. 1. Mrs. Athildred Carrington.
No. 2. A. B. Carrington.
No. 3. Salmon Mathews.
No. 4.
No. 5. Mrs. Hannah Hill.
No. 6. Mrs. Ruth Mathews.
No. 7. Rhoda Royce.
No. 8. Maurice Mathews.
No. 9. Mrs. Nehemiah Royce.
No. 10. Stephen Brooks.
No. 11. Jarard Alling. No. 12. John Hickox.
No. 13. Abel Roys.
1
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Here Lieth Interr'd the Body of Mr Stephen Brooks Who Departed this Life May ye 16th AD 1773 in the 71st year of his Age
Behold & see as you Pass by As you are now so once was I. As I are now so you must be Prepare For death & follow me.
A. B. Carrington departed this life June 2, 1824 AE 29.
(Footstone, marked A. B. C.) In Memory of Mrs. Athildred wife of Mr. Lemuel Carrington, who died Dec. 10th, 1811 In the 58th year of her age.
A pleasing form, a generous gentle heart, A good companion, honest without art, Just in her dealings, faithful to her friend, Belov'd in life, lamented in the end.
Hear Lies the Body of Mr JOSEPH GAYLORD Who Departed This Life Octr ye 20th AD 1791 In the 70th year of His Age.
In Memory of Mr Cornelius Graves Junr who Departed this life October the 7th 1781 in the 25 Year of his Age.
(Footstone marked Cornelius Graves.) Probably the father of the noted Stephen Graves of the Tory Den.
Here lies ye Body of Hannah wife of Cornelius Graves She died Novmr ye 17, 1759 :in ye 34 year of her Age.
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In Memory of Mr John Hickox he died Febry 14th 1765 in ye: 68th year of his Age. (Footstone marked J. H.)
In Memory of Mrs Hannah Hill ye: Wife of Mr Dan Hill She Died Febry ye 13th 1766 in ye: 29th year of her Age. (Footstone marked Hannah Hill.)
In Memory of Capt Caleb Mathews Who Departed this life April ye 7th 1786 In the 83d year of his Age. (Footstone marked Caleb Mathews.)
In Memory of Mrs Ruth Consort of Capt Caleb Mathews. Who Departed this life November 3d 1785 In the 73d year of her Age. (Footstone marked Ruth Mathews.)
In Memory of Mamre Daugtr of Capt Caleb & Mrs Ruth Mathews She died April ye 25th 1759 in ye 14th year of her Age.
(This stone is almost illegible, but I think I have deciphered it correctly. The grave is short and the footstone marked M. M.)
Iu Memory of Mr. NATHANIEL MATHEWS who died Feb. 15, 1806 aged 78 years "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. (Footstone marked N. M.)
In Memory of Mr. Salmon Mathews, Son of Mr Nathaniel & Mrs. Martha Mathews, who died Dec. 27th 1803 aged 35 years.
.
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Death is a debt to nature due, Which I have paid and so must you.
In Memory of Mr Abel Roys he Died Septr ye 6th 1769 in ye 69th year of his Age. Behold and se as you pass by as you are now so once was I (Footstone marked A. R.)
Here Lies the Body of Mr NEHEMIAH ROY CE Who Departed This Life Feb (?)- AD 1791 In the 69th Year of His Age
Behold and see, as you pass by As you are now, so once was I. As I am now so you must be, Prepare for death and follow me.
(The inscription on this stone is in very poor condition; the latter part of the fourth line is wholly gone and the figures of the year and age (except the 6) are very indistinct, and I may have read them wrongly. The footstone is marked Nehemiah Royce.)
Here Lies Buried, the Body of Mrs RHODA ROYCE the Wife of Mr Nehemiah Ro Royce, Who Died August 29th AD 1786: in the 61st year of her Age. (Footstone marked Rhoda Royce.)
The top of a marble slab in two pieces inscribed : In Memory of NT RICE
Another marble fragment possibly of the same slab marked: AE 42 Ten tender plants To mourn my dear O may we meet When Christ from dea
Oct. 27, 1899, Rev. Alfred Lee Royce identifies this fragment as belonging to the above stone, by the age and the mention of ten children.
It appears from record of inscriptions in the old yard made by Miss K. A. Peck in 1851, that this stone is to Lent Rice, who died 1809, ae 42.
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Brightwood Hall* <
BY FRED. CALVIN NORTON
Passengers on the Highland Division, passing through Bristol, notice as they look out of the car windows an imposing castle of granite on the hill west of the town, within sound of the busy hum of Bristol's industries. It stands as a sort of sentinel over the thriving town of commerce much as did the old English castles over the more peaceful towns of England and Scotland 500 years ago.
Brightwood Hall, the name of the castle, is more interesting to the traveler when he is told that the owner, Mrs. Helen Atkins-McKay, daughter of Bristol's millionaire clock manufacturer is deterred from finishing the structure on account of ill health and that the finishing touches will probably be made after her death.
For years she planned, worked and thought over the erection of this magnificent country seat and its completion was one of the great aspirations of her life; but the erection of castles of this sort entail much arduous study and planning. Mrs. Atkins-Mckay is now well along in
BRIGHTWOOD HALL
* Published in Hartford Courant, May 27, 1904
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years, her health is poor and she will probably be an invalid the re- mainder of her days, so that the completion of the granite pile, the aim and thought of her life will have to be left for others. She has spent on the estate to date at least $150,000 and its completion means that $75,000 more will have to be spent.
Brightwood Hall, had it been completed, would have been a sort of monument to the Welch family of Bristol, of which Mrs. Atkins- McKay is a member. Her father was the late ex-Senator Elisha N. Welch, who commenced his business life here wheeling iron in a small foundry on North Main street but ended as the millionaire clock manu- facturer of Connecticut. He was born in East Hampton and came to Bristol when a young man and bought out the old Brown' clock factory in Forestville. He did not know anything more about clock making then than any other shrewd Yankee did; but he built up a business that was not equalled in the state during his life. His clocks were known all over the world and he died in Bristol not so many years ago, possessed of an estate estimated at $3,000,000.
He left several children, the oldest of whom was Mrs. Atkins-McKay the castle builder. Her old home was for many years on West street in Bristol and there she was born in what is now known as the Gaylord house. Her father lived there when a young man and in that neighbor- hood he saw the first early successes of his busy life. When Mrs. Atkins- McKay became older she gained the idea that she wanted a fine country seat in the neighborhood of her youthful home and with this in mind she planned for years towards its realization. A woman of more than ordinary ability, of wide reading and scholarly inclinations, she travelled in all parts of the world. Fourteen times she crossed the Atlantic Ocean. She visited the art galleries of Venice, Milan, Rome and other cities, studied their treasures and gained much information about her scheme of erecting a castle in her native town.
She visited Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, studied the medieval castles in both England and Scotland and was a student of classical architecture for many years before she consulted an architect about the building of her house.
At length she decided on what she wanted to do and coming to her old home here purchased from the Tracy Peck estate about six- teen acres of land which was directly across the street from where she lived as a girl. The tract of land is on a hill west of the town and is one of the best locations for a country seat that one will find short of the Berkshires. It is on an elevation of 500 feet from the sea level and from the grassy slopes in front of the castle, can be seen all but the low- land district of the busy town. To the north and south stretch the ranges of green hills that make Bristol so beautiful. To the southeast can be seen Meriden Mountain and South Mountain in Bristol which divides New Haven and Hartford Counties.
About eighteen years ago the owner first commenced the work of transforming her purchase into a baronial estate and it has gone for- ward each year until within a short period when ill health compelled her to desist from further effort. First she caused to be erected a granite wall four feet high around the front portion of her estate. A lodge for the superintendent was erected at one corner, after the English fashion and at the top of the grassy slope the foundations for the castle were laid. The architect who drew the plans was H. Neil Wilson of Pittsfield, Mass., but Mrs. Atkins-McKay's was the real planning mind of the whole structure. The granite for the noble pile was taken from the town much of it was quarried on the estate she bought and it is of particularly fine color and effect. And the stone was cut and fitted on the grounds.
A Frenchman, Adrian Taillion, who had come from Canada a few years previous, built the castle. Without any training except what he gave himself, he started the work and carried it on until it was stopped
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RESIDENCE MRS. ATKINS-MCKAY-BRIGHTWOOD. 1
a few years ago. He had a big gang of experienced masons at work on the castle but it is said of him that he always laid more stone than any two of the men laboring for him. The work of constructing the mammoth structure was slow and only a small portion was done each year. It is now completed so far as the outside is concerned and the interior is partitioned off so that one can get an idea of the grand pro- portions of the hall.
The main building is of Gothic design, principally, although Mrs. Atkins-KcMay told the writer that it belonged to no particular school of architecture but that it was a combination of several. It is about 150 feet long and 50 feet wide, is really three stories high and has an ell part erected in the rear which is 40 by 30 feet. The whole building is of granite which is of a light color. The illustration accompanying this article shows the castle facing the east and the main entrance to the hall is shown in the center.
At the left of the illustration is the tower with the English battle- ments from which one obtains a fine view. Below this is the porte cochere, where the visitor alights from his carriage to enter the hall. At the left hand corner under the tower is the entrance, a grand affair of massive granite. The interior is divided into three rooms of large dimensions, each being at least forty by thirty feet in size. The recep- tion hall is the first room as one enters and this is designed for a drawing room also as was the custom in the baronial castles of England. At the further end is a great fire place and in the south end of the reception hall is an alcove twenty by twenty feet which is designed for the library of the hall. The ceiling of paneled oak is very high and the windows of modern size. Two large doors lead to the hall proper as was the case in the old castles of England. This baronial hall is one of the most impressive rooms in the whole building.
Over the main entrance to the hall is the coat of arms of the family,
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the Latin inscription on which is "Auspice Numinee." The tablet which is of granite and cleverly executed was made in England and brought to Bristol by Mrs. Atkins-McKay. The hall reaches across the castle and overhead to the extreme top of the big building. It is modeled after the old style so that the ceiling of the hall is the roof of the castle. This admits of a fine effect inside, with a grand staircase winding up to each side of the broad galleries surrounding the hall. This reminds one of the pen pictures of the galleries in the baron's hall of old Eng- land, and of the festal occasions which so often took place around them.
+ The hall is large enough to hold a troop of horsemen and an assem- blage of people numbering several hundreds, could find easy accom- modation inside. One Bristol contractor said not a great while ago that the completion of this hall alone meant an outlay of at least $10,000. The whole building is on a grand scale and no expense has been spared thus far to make it a thing of beauty and of massive elegance.
From the hall the visitor walks through another great portal into the banquet hall of the castle which is a huge room with high ceiling, as large as the reception hall at the left of the illustration. Doors open from the banquet hall to the quarters of the maids and butlers and in the rear of the castle is the servants quarters. The kitchen is back of the banquet hall. The floor is of cement and tile was to have been laid in it. A great oven large enough for a New York hotel occupies a prominent place.
After seeing the first floor one ascends to the second by the great staircase which is a work of art so far as stair-building is concerned. A wide hallway extends across the rear of the chambers which are six in number and all of such size as castle chambers should be. The tower chamber is one of the pleasantest in the castle and there is still one
LOG CABIN ON FALL MOUNTAIN. ( Photograph by Milo Leon Norton.)
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THE OLD SAMUEL LADD HOME-PEACEABLE STREET. Since destroyed by fire. Photo loaned by Mrs. Bassett.
above this which makes that portion of the building three stories high. The attic is so arranged that one may go there and walk out on the battlements to enjoy the view. The whole structure impresses one as European and makes one realize more than ever the grand homes of old England.
The stable is of similar construction to the castle and is not far from the main building. There are quarters for the stablemen and coachmen and the ceiling of the stable is finished in quartered oak, representing a large outlay of money. In a large chest in the harness- room is a fine bear skin rug which Mrs. Atkins-McKay purchased in Stockholm a few years ago. This is said to be worth at least $1.000 and was originally designed to decorate the hall of the castle.
Mrs. Atkins-McKay erected in the summer of 1888 about the time work was commenced on her castle, a cottage in the rear of the big structure which she intended for a summer residence during the time her great house was building. She has occupied this at different periods since but most of her time has been spent in traveling abroad. She is now and has been for some time at her cottage which she calls Bright- wood cottage and will probably always remain there. In the south range of mountains a few miles away stands a log cabin that was erected by her a few years ago and this is on an elevation of nearly 1,000 feet above the sound. From this place the views are grand and are probably not exceeded in the state.
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CSBIRSE CO
THE TOWN BUILDING, NORTH MAIN STREET.
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Bristol's Early Industries
BY HON. NOBLE E. PIERCE.
The following is a compilation of Roswell Atkins' Notes on the early industries of Bristol, other than the clock business, by Hon. Noble E. Pierce. One or two unimportant changes are placed in brackets.
T HE early history of the manufacturing enterprises of the town is for the most part extremely vague as to location and dates. The earliest ventures in that line seem to have been confined to the immediate necessities of the people-the grist mill to fit the grain for consumption, the spinning wheel and loom, the fulling mill, the tannery and the shoe shop, the tin shop in which was made the ovens, sometimes called Dutch ovens, to set before the large fire- place to bake meat and bread, at the same time the potatoes and other vegetables were boiling over the fire or roasting in the ashes beneath.
Previous to the incorporation of the town (1785) only tradition and the assessment rolls give any clues to the occupations of the in- habitants. This is indicated by the imposition of what was called a faculty tax, apparently because certain men were able to command more compensation than from farming alone. Thus we find in 1760, in addition to the farms and stock assessed to Benjamin Churchill, twenty- four pounds faculty tax. He had a saw-mill but what beside that is not known. Abel Lewis 1775, fifteen pounds, he was a merchant; 1765, Samuel Deming twenty pounds, and in 1775, thirty pounds-this was for a grist mill; Zebulon Frisbie and Thomas Hungerford ten pounds,
F
E
ETFT
VIEWS OF TERRY & ANDREWS CLOCK FACTORY, 1856. Factory was built on ruins of old Terry Factory, burned about 1840. From Ambertypes taken by William A. Terry.
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they had tanneries; Josiah Holt, 1776, fifteen pounds, he was a doctor; James Lee eighteen to twenty pounds, his business was blacksmithing; James Stoddard 1760, thirty-five pounds, business unknown; Seth Roberts twenty-five pounds, probably for a store; Gideon Roberts twelve pounds, probably for the manufacture of clocks. In 1779, Abel Lewis was assessed seventy-five pounds, innkeeper and merchant. These taxes were not always the same for different years, nor does the list state the ground on which the faculty tax was laid, and the amounts vary from one to thirty-five pounds.
These taxes were continued in a similar form, giving the occupa- tion and substituting the decimal system for the pounds up to about 1849. In. 1823 there were forty-nine persons assessed from five to seventy-five dollars; in 1810 doctors were assessed thirty-four to one hundred dollars; taverners twenty dollars, blacksmiths seventeen dollars; grist millers thirty to forty dollars; sawmills ten to thirty dollars, car- penters and joiners ten to thirty dollars; clothiers forty dollars; tinners fifteen to fifty dollars; tanners and shoe makers seventeen dollars; silversmiths seventeen dollars; attorney-at-law one hundred and sixty- seven dollars.
The first gristmill built within the parish limits was, as far as can be known, owned by Joseph Plumb in 1741 on the south side of the river from the Pierce homestead, followed soon after by the sawmill on the north side opposite where a clothing shop was also built, about the same time Samuel Deming owned the gristmill called the Langdon or Downs mill, which was erected soon after the other.
Tanneries and shoe shops were also located in different sections soon after the middle of the century. Jabez Roberts in 1750 tanned leather by the old English processes until it would withstand attacks of water for any reasonable time, the local forests furnishing the ma- terial from which to extract tannin suitable for the different uses, hem- lock for the sole leather, oak for the uppers, and sumac for the linings and finer soft leathers.
Wood turning was also established, the forests furnishing abund- ance of the best materials for making articles for household use, trenchers or plates, clothes pins, rolling pins, mortars and pestles, faucets for the cider and vinegar barrels, awl handles, pin boxes, lather boxes, which were made of different woods to suit the fancies of the customers, and a lookingglass was inserted in the cover of the box. combs were manufactured quite extensively made from wood or the horns of cattle and there were several shops for their manufacture; numerous spinning- wheels required in order to furnish clothing, demanded a supply which was made by the mechanical skill of our fathers, and the whole outfit from the growing of the wool upon the body of the sheep and the pulling of the flax in the field to the finished cloth or stocking was provided for by local manufacture; and specimens of this handiwork are still numerous in the garrets of our farm houses with the initials of the makers' name branded on them -- J.B. for Joel Baldwin, who made a foot lathe for turning the several parts'; he lived at what is now called the "Crit- tenden place" in Stafford district. . (Joseph Byington, also made spin- ning wheels on Fall Mountain, and some of the "J. B.'s" are his initials.)
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