USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bristol > Bristol, Connecticut : "in the olden time New Cambridge", which includes Forestville > Part 43
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The Methodist Church referred to is the original Methodist Church erected in 1835, and afterwards sold to the Advent Society and burned to the ground in 1890.
We do not find that many men who have written their names high in the hall of fame have received their education at District No. 2. Per- haps the most prominent are Hon. Chas. E. Mitchell of New Britain, former U. S. Patent commissioner, and Tracy Peck, head of the Latin Department at Yale. But District No. 2 has turned out a goodly num- ber of intelligent American citizens, men who have done and are doing their day's work as their hands find it to do.
The memory of our days in the district school is always with us, and twice happy is he whose memory goes back to the days in the little white schoolhouse behind the church.
Rough, bleak, and hard, our little State Is scant of soil, of limits strait; Her yellow sands are sands alone, Her only mines are ice and stone!
From Autumn frost to April rain, Too long her winter woods complain; From budding flower to falling leaf, Her summer time is all too brief.
Yet on her rocks, and on her sands, And wintry hills, the schoolhouse stands, And what her rugged soil denies, The harvest of the mind supplies.
Nor heeds the sceptic's puny hands,
While near her school the church-spire stands; Nor fears the blinded bigot's rule,
While near the church-spire stands the school. -WHITTIER.'
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BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
THE MOUNT HOPE CHAPEL.
A small Sunday-school was organized in 1884 in the North Chip- pins Hill district near the Burlington line, by Miss Hattie O. Utter, school teacher in that district. Miss Utter organized the school because the chil- dren of her day school were non-attendants of any Sunday-school. She conducted the Sunday-school successfully for a year when her engagement closed and she left the school to return to her home and be married. She was greatly beloved by the people of the district, and only lived about a year after her removal. At her earnest request Mr. William E. Sessions and Mr. B. S. Rideout, who was General Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. in Bristol, continued the school, beginning in June, 1885. The first Sunday only three little girls, sisters, Mary, Sarah and Lizzie Goodsell, were present. Mr. Rideout was only able to continue for a few months. Mr. Sessions conducted the school for four years in the schoolhouse, and has conducted it in the chapel ever since. There was a large and increasing attendance which outgrew the accommodations of the schoolhouse, and in 1889 the Mount Hope Chapel was built by voluntary contributions of the people and friends. -
The chapel was dedicated by the Rev. A. C. Eggleston, who had been the pastor of the Prospect Methodist Episcopal Church in Bristol, but was at that time pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Waterbury.
The school was named Mount Hope by Mr. Rideout, who has been for many years a Congregationalist minister at Norway, Maine. Among the prominent workers and teachers in the early years were Mrs. Louisa Tuttle (deceased), Mrs. W. O. Goodsell, Mrs. Frank H. Perkins and Mr. Charles S. Smith. The Sunday-school has been kept up continuously and frequently sermons have been preached by ministers of different de-
MT. HOPE CHAPEL.
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nominations, some prominent and noted speakers having spoken there, including Bishop McCabe, familiarly known as Chaplain McCabe, Bishop Moore and Bishop Cranston, all of the Methodist Church, President Ray- mond of Wesleyan University, President Spencer of the Women's College, Baltimore and Fanny Crosby, the hymn writer, and others.
The school has always been conducted as a union or non-sectarian Protestant Sunday-school. Mr. Isaac T. Rowe has been assistant su- perintendent for many years. Many of the young people who formerly lived in that neighborhood have removed to Bristol and to other points throughout the country, but often return to visit the school.
In 1906 an arrangement was made with Mr. H. S. Coe to bring an omnibus load of children and young people from the East Church District every Sunday. Since that time Mrs. Coe has been an efficient teacher and worker in the school. For many years the school has supported a missionary native pastor-teacher school in India, called The Mount Hope School, and annual reports are read from the pastor-teacher.
A remarkably large attendance for such a scattered district has been maintained throughout the entire period and many families who live remote from any church enjoy the privileges of the Sunday-school. An- nual excursions are held and the Christmas tree and exercises are always a pleasing feature.
The anniversary of dedication is celebrated every October, and a large number of former members are accustomed to attend. It is esti- mated that at least four hundred to five hundred people have been mem- bers of the school in the 23 years, of its history.
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A THOROUGHBRED MORGAN COLT. OWNED BY DR. G. T. ELLIOTT V. S., 1907
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BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
THE BRADLEYITES
BY MILO LEON NORTON.
There are always dissenters from established opinions, be they political, religious, or commercial, and the world owes much of its prog- ress to this fact. Someone is discovering a shorter route, or a better system, or is advancing a step ahead of his contemporaries, constantly; often persecuted, ridiculed and censured, but eventually gaining follow- ers, and establishing a new standard of faith and practice.
Early in the last century, David Bradley, of Hampden, became dissatisfied with the doctrines of the Congregational church of which he was a member, separated himself from that denomination, and, being a student for the ministry, received baptism and ordination from the Baptists, though he never joined that communion. Gradually gather. ing together a small body of believers, a chapel was built for him at Mount Carmel, where he preached for many years, baptising converts, administering the sacrement, and performing all the functions of the Christian ministry. He attracted to his meetings such as considered the orthodox, or regular denominations, too narrow, or too widely, and who wished to lead a more spiritual life than they thought it possible to do in the churches; besides enlarging the boundaries of their fellow- ship to include every sincere believer in Christ, of whatever name or creed. After his death in the fifties meetings were held at the chapel, but there was a gradual scattering of the little flock, and eventually the meetings were discontinued there, and the chapel converted into a blacksmith shop, about 1870.
Among this little company of people, who were sitgmatized Bradley- ites, agitators of various beliefs labored and secured some converts, notably John Humphrey Noyes, founder of the Oneida Community. The Advent movement of 1843, and subsequently, made some inroads into the membership; but on the whole, the original members remained true to the principles taught by their first and only pastor, for no one succeeded him in the pastoral relation.
During the two decades ending about 1870, occasional protracted meetings were held by this people, who were still called Bradleyites because of the prominence among them of Dr. H. I. Bradley, of New Haven, a physician and druggist, the son of the former pastor. These meetings were held in various places, at private houses, and were con- tinued for from one to three weeks. All were welcome, of whatever religious belief, and perfect liberty was given for the expression of in- dividual views, without opposition. A more heterogeneous body of Christians it would have been difficult to get together. The home of Asahel Mix, who lived in a house now abandoned, at the eastern end of a glacial knoll in the level meadows to the east of Edgewood, was one of the places where these people met on several occasions; also at the home of his son, Judd Mix, on Jerome Avenue; and at Ephraim Maltby's, in Stafford District. Most of the Bristol people who met with them were Millerites, or Second Adventists; and some of them, including the families of Ashael Mix, Mr. Maltby, and S. C. Hancock, the blind preacher, were Seventh-day Adventists, the converts of Mrs. Ellen White, who labored among them in 1848 and 1849, securing a number of adherents, but who never united with the sect of that name which she founded, with headquarters at Battle Creek, Michigan. The Hamden people, for the most part, were not believers in the literal coming of Christ; and there were others from Hartford, including the wife of the Mayor of the city, from New Haven, Southington, Cheshire,
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and other places, having almost as many distinct religious views as there were individuals.
They had one common ground of agreement, however, and that was the opposition to any church organization, or leadership. With the Quakers they believed in the leadership of the "Spirit," under which it was considered proper if one was speaking, and another wished to speak, for the second person to notify the first of his desire, when the first speaker sat down and waited for the second to deliver his message. They believed in the "gifts" mentioned in Scripture, including the "gift of tongues," when one would be "moved" to speak in an unin- telligible gibberish, which, sometimes, another would be moved upon to interpret. Of course cranks of various kinds took advantage of the liberty of speech given in these meetings, and were patiently listened to, and tolerated. If they became violent or abusive, as they sometimes did, they were usually successfully squelched by the united determina- tion of the level-headed persons present, without recourse to force or violent opposition. Sometimes there were heated and uncharitable discussions, but usually there was perfect tolerance, and the utmost patience with discordant elements noticeable. Sometimes there were "'exercises," when persons would be apparently under "control," like a spiritualist medium, and in a semi-conscious state. When in this state personal messages were delivered to those present, believed to emanate directly from God. Admonitions were also given, warnings, and re- bukes to offensive or disturbing elements. There seemed to be much discernment of inharmonious and disturbing influences, and their quick detection and exposure. Some of these instances were truly marvelous, and would almost surpass belief if related.
One of the most notable of these intruders into the little gathering of believers, who called themselves "Come-outers," because they had come out of the various churches to which they formerly belonged, was a Quaker from New Bedford, Mass., name Frederick Howland, He was a dentist by profession, and a remarkably skillful one, considering the crude instruments in use at the time, which was prior to 1860. He first appeared in Bristol as a lecturer, having a chart illustrating prophecy as he understood it. It developed that he regarded the Advent move- ment of 1843, and succeeding years, as applying to himself, finally an- nouncing that he was the Holy Ghost. There is no claim so absurd that will not find acceptance, and in Massachusetts, at Worcester and Athol, he gained adherents who accepted him as the visible manifesta- tion of the Paraclete. But the Bristol people did not take kindly to his pretentions, and when he came to Ashel Mix's house with his follow- ers, half a dozen men and women in 1863, and asserted his power to kill, and to raise the dead, and to work miracles, he was promptly sup- pressed. His desire was to establish a community upon Mr. Mix's broad acres, but the scheme fell through, and he took his departure. One of his peculiarities was the observance of a vow never to perform any manual labor. This he rigidly observed. At Petersham, Mass., he established a community, over which he held absolute sway, until 1874, when he was accidentally killed. The community lingered a few years, dissolved and passed away. At one time it numbered twenty-five members, and was prosperous.
Ashael Mix, one of the most peculiar characters of his time, was a native of the Mine District, where he spent his early life, at the house which stood where H. I. Muzzy's house now stands. At early convern to Millerism he at once became a marked man, and the subject of many false accusations. About the time of the expected coming of the Lord , in 1843, his well-sweep, which was attached to a large pine tree in front of the house, got out of order, and he climbed up into the tree to repair it. Of course that was all that was necessary to start the story, be- lieved to this day, that he climbed the tree, arrayed in "ascension robes," ready to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The old pine was blown down a few years ago, and until that time the iron rod upon
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which the well-sweep was hung, could be seen in the fork of the tree. Afterward Mr. Mix removed to the house before mentioned, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was the owner of a vast amount of real estate in Bristol, Burlington, and other places, mostly woodland, and was a dealer in horses and cattle, Occasionally but not often he was worsted in a trade. He was inclined to take things philosophically, as may be seen by the following incident, which illustrates his shrewd- ness also: He sold a cow to a Southington man, who enquired partic- ularly if the cow was unruly. Mr. Mix replied that she never troubled him. The cow proved to be very unruly, and the purchaser demanded to know why this matter had been misrepresented to him. Mr. Mix replied that he never said the cow was not unruly. He said she never troubled him; he did not let such things trouble him. The purchaser was not satisfied with the explanation, sued for damages, and was beaten, the court sustaining Mr. Mix's philosophical view of the case. The incident was related to the writer by the purchaser, years afterward, who was much amused at the shrewdness of Mr. Mix, notwithstanding the fact that he was the loser by the transaction. There used to be a story current, at Mr. Mix's expense, related by a Bristol man, who pro- fessed that he dreamed one night that he met a well-dressed stranger on Main Street, and got into conversation with him. He said to thestrange ยท gentleman, who appeared to be a man of culture and refinement, "You seem to be a stranger hereabouts; might I enquire your name?" The gentleman addressed replied that he was Satan. The Bristol man was incredulous, believing that the stranger was joking; but when he parted the tails of his long frock coat, there was a forked tail which had been concealed there; when he lifted his tall, silk hat, horns protruded from his brow; and when he extended his foot, lo, it was cloven! When the Bristol man recovered from his surprise, he ventured to ask the stranger where he kept himself. "Up to Asahel Mix's," was the reply. "What on earth are you doing up there?" asked the Bristol man. "Helping the old gentleman trade horses and cattle," replied Satan. "Keeps me so busy that I haven't had time to come up town before in several weeks." Mr. Mix had to deal with all sorts of crooked characters, in his trading business, and it is believed that his unerring judgment, and native shrewdness, made it unnecessary for him to require any assist- ance from His Satanic Majesty.
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FORESTVILLE
BY JOSEPH FRANCIS DUTTON.
W E HAVE still with us an honored few who were young when Forestville commenced to thrive. Much of their hair has gone and what is left is whiter than it used to be. But the old fire of intelligence and energy that was largely responsible for the building up of Forestville remains, and for them we append a few notes of old-time days in Forestville.
What follows is not intended for a chronological history of Forest- ville, but a brief sketch of men and conditions that existed in the bygone days. It is eminently proper that these records be entered upon the history of New Cambridge, for although Forestville is but a village of Bristol, nothing relating to the latter could be considered without reference to the former.
In the early revolutionary days, Forestville was the hunting grounds of the Tunxis tribe of Indians, whose reservation was in old Farmington.
ST. MATHEWS' ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
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Where commodious houses and civilization now exist, here too the Indian hunter pursued the panting deer.
. The section through which Poland Brook runs was also a favorite camping spot for the Indians, and in the layout of the Stafford District in 1721, the white settlers respected the claims of the Indians to the Poland section.
The first settler in Forestville was Nehemiah Manross, who came here from Lebanon, this state, in 1728, and built a small house almost opposite the Felix Holden homestead in East Bristol. Sonn afterwards he migrated eastward, and erected a small home on the edge of what is now known as Spring's Ditch. The exact spot is now unknown, and today nothing remains to mark its existence.
Nehemiah Manross was the great, great-grandfather of Elijah Manross of Garden street, who, today, in his eighty-first year is the oldest man now living, who was born and bred in Forestville. . Nehemiah and his two sons, Elijah and Elisha, were the forerunners of a long-lived family, whose descendants in the years to follow exerted a powerful influence in the building up of the community. Tradition states that a young Nehemiah Manross, was ambushed and eventually put to death by the Indians in Poker Hollow, or near the present day homestead on the back road to Plainville. It is interesting to record that in the stirring days of 1775, Elisha Warren, who at that time lived in a small cabin standing close to the edge of the Merritt's pond in the Stafford District, contracted smallpox while visiting his two sons at the Conti- nental Camp near Boston. Mr. Warren's death followed, and he was buried in the swamp that runs westward towards the Barnard estate. A fragment of a stone marks his resting place, but otherwise this old hero of the early days lies unremembered by the present generation.
The first manufacturing industry was started in the year 1811, when Joseph Ives commenced' making clocks in a little structure where the present Laporte Hubbell shop now stands. This was soon afterwards moved to Bristol, and the first permanent industry began in 1813, when Chauncey Boardman commenced making clocks of a primitive wall pattern in an old building that stood across the street from the Timothy Collins place in the Stafford District. The shop was close to the old Boston and Albany turnpike road that connected Hartford with the Bristol post office which was then under the management of a man named Mitchell.
Soon after this, Elisha Manross, father of the present Elijah, started to make the wood parts for the Boardman Company. The Manross shop stood just north of the present Hubbell factory and the same dam that was used to generate the water power is still doing duty for the present manufacturers. At one time the company had finished up twenty-five clocks in advance of the trade, and it was feared that this large stock order would ruin the concern. A salesman was started out on horseback and eventually succeeded in disposing of the goods. Pros- perity followed and the future of the Company was assured.
In the olden days matches were an unknown luxury, and at the Manross factory an implement was manufactured to produce fire. It consisted of a tin cup fitted to the hand. There were two compart- ments, one full of brimstone, the other of tinder. A wheel on a shaft like an inverted wheelbarrow completed the outfit. A string would be wound around the arbor of the wheel and when a light was needed, the string would be pulled, while a piece of flint would be held close to the flying wheel. This resulted in sparks flying downward to the tinder, which consisted of some slightly burnt cotton cloth. A match saturated with brimstone would be dipped into the tinder and a small blaze created. One can imagine the predicament of some of the present day youths, if they were obliged to do likewise in order to enjoy a fragrant Havanna.
In 1837, Alden Atkins and Elizeur Welton commenced making wooden spools, faucets and inkstands in a little shop that stood on the site of the present burner factory.
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
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Yeah " "will
THE OLD M. E. CHURCH, DESTROYED BY FIRE. PARSONAGE AND PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM. T. HILL.
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At this time the roads of Forestville were few in number. One ran from the Buell house on King street eastward. This was the old turnpike road that entered into Plainville. Another ran north from where Deming's store now stands through the Stafford District to the Boston and Albany division. There was also another old country road leading from the Ralph Terry place down through the Dublin section. This road goes up over the West Mountain and underneath is an old worn-out copper mine.
The buildings were also conspicuous by their absence. The present Cramer house on Stafford Heights marked the beginning in that section. Then came the Uncle Lot Jerome, or Amos Sage place, the Gardner Hall home, then known as the Byran Churchill place, an old saw mill north of the present burner factory, and the Ira Churchill house to the south of the Roland Douglass house. From the west, commencing with the Buell house, then came the Valentine Atkins place, built by the Manrosses, and now occupied by George Doherty, an old shop where Lyman Ashworth afterwards drew wire, the Manross homestead standing on the site of the late Dan A. Miller place; a little red house owned by Mrs. Lafayette Hill, the Thomas Hollister place near the top of Buckley Hill, and the Hendrick place which still marks the turn to the Plainville camp grounds.
A small building afterwards used as a saloon stood just north of the present bridge. It is somewhat singular that intoxicating liquors are still dispensed from a saloon standing practically on the old site.
A small shop stood near where the present Sessions Clock Company present plant is. Eight day movements clocks were made here under a company afterwards known as the Forestvillle Clock Company. The prime movers were Lowrey Waters, William Hills, Jared Goodrich, Chauncey Pomeroy and J. C. Brown. The section where the shop stood was even then known as "Mud Row," a cognomen it enjoys at the present time. There were no roads hereabouts and in order to get across the Pequabuck River, one was obliged to use a boat. Eventually a big tree that stood to the west of the Forest House was felled, and
OIL WELL IN STAFFORD DISTRICT.
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SCHOOL AT STAFFORD DISTRICT.
for many years did duty as a bridge. Even now, when the water is a shallow, the old gnarled tree stump can be seen lying close to the river edge as a vivid reminder of the primeval days.
A small lane, long known as "Hen Coop Alley," ran from "Mud Row" up to a large pine tree that marked the intersection of the Dublin Road.
With the formation of the eight day clock company it was decided to select a name for the rapidly growing community, and it naturally "slid into its name of Forestville" as its sponsors were even then sur- rounded by a great forest that stood forth in all its grandeur.
A few years previous to the War of the Rebellion, the citizens united, and after securing land from Elisha Manross, built the present Church street connecting the upper section with the center. In 1864, the E. N. Welch Company secured control of the Forestville Clock Com- pany which was then owned by J. C. Brown, and only a few years ago, after a long manufacturing career, the Welch interests were absorbed by new people, resulting in the formation of the present successful manufacturing corporation known as the Sessions Clock Company.
Following close upon the panic of 1837 came a feeling that all the energies of Forestville should not be confined to one branch of in- dustry, and this idea in 1850 resulted in the formation of the Bristol Brass and Clock Company, with a small factory located on the site of the old Atkins and Welton toy shop, which was built in 1836. From a small beginning the Bristol Brass and Clock Company has succeeded in building up one of the greatest industries in the town. During recent years a silver department has been added to the large burner factory and the future of the concern is very bright. The original Bristol Brass and Clock Company is now incorporated under the title of the Bristol Brass Company with important branch industries in Bristol and East Bristol, in addition to the plant at Forestville.
In 1902, great excitement prevailed in the usual quiet village due to the alleged discovery of oil at the Taylor farm in the Stafford District.
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Oil could easily be seen working its way through to the surface, and real estate in that section commenced to assume perpendicular prices. Visions of another Standard Oil monopoly with Forestville as the center were seen on the horizon. Oil experts from the various oil fields of the country visited the little hole in the ground, and would quietly depart, leaving behind them an air of mystery.
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