USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Canton > Canton sesquicentennial, 1806-1956; a short illustrated history of Canton > Part 8
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To the owners of these old houses and to all who have helped me, I express my sincere gratitude.
Many times the dates have conflicted and it is impossible to know all the names and dates from the primitive houses to the more modern ones of 1869.
All of them have been remodeled and fixed over through the years.
I hope the readers will have the kindness to make allowances for all mistakes or correct them in their books.
BERTHA CASE BRISTOL.
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PART II Old Houses -Canton Center, North Canton and Breezy Hill INTRODUCTION
Oldest houses in Canton Center, North Canton, and Breezy Hill
When I was a girl, it was my delight to hear my grandmother tell stories of old times. Though repeated over and over again, they never lost their charm. To me they were entertainment as fascinating as any makebelieve, and not until my grandmother was gone did I realize the greater gift she had given me - the ability to see the people, their homes, their everyday doings, as described in those simple tales. One story was of an old woman called Lizy Elkey. She made baskets and often came around peddling them. One day she stopped in, just in time for dinner. That day they had a favorite dish of my grandfather's, lamprey eels. As Lizy passed up her plate for a second helping, my grandfather asked her if she wouldn't like a little of the salt pork, too. Quick as a flash she answered, "I don't eat pork when I can get eels." Her reply became a family by-word.
It is with the hope of linking the past to the present that we have undertaken this work. Over two hundred years have passed since the first settlers came here. Not much remains to remind us of those early days but the houses, and many of them have been changed, but through a study of them you may get a glimpse of the past that we hope will prove rewarding.
The first log cabins were soon replaced with frame buildings, with hand hewed beams and sawed clapboards. The smaller houses had one story with a loft overhead and one window in each gable end. A later development had the roof raised slightly higher to allow low or "eye- brow" windows across the front. This style was called a story and a half, and went into the tax list at a lower rate than the two story house. The next style was the salt box. This was two full stories, but the roof in back cut down across in a long slant to cover a leanto. Two full stories, two rooms deep, was the next development, with an ell at right angles. This was the colonial or Early American style, with the ridge parallel to the road.
Until about 1830 this style was the one most often used. It had a large central chimney, with a small hall and stairway in front, and a fireplace on each of the other three sides. There were two large front rooms, with the space back of them divided into three rooms- a large middle room and a small room at each end. The fireplace in the middle room usually had a brick oven, the earliest being in the back wall of the fireplace. Later ones were built at the side, with a separate flue. Sometimes a fireplace was put in an upstairs room. The attic was large,
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and used for storing dried herbs, vegetables, nuts, pop corn, cured meat, and many other things. Often a large carpet loom was built here. Kitchens were large to accommodate the large families and the work that had to be done there. (It is recorded that four of the forefathers had forty sons, thirty-nine of whom grew to manhood and married. In twenty-five of the early families there were two hundred and eighteen children.) Pantries were large, also, and often there were two, the buttery being used to set the pans of milk to let the cream rise, this being the first step in making butter. These pantries have sometimes been changed into bathrooms, while the small bedroom has had parti- tions removed to make a larger living room. Sleeping rooms were called chambers, the name of the room corresponding to the room underneath, as kitchen chamber, or parlor chamber.
The houses in this town were mostly made of wood, though a few were of brick or stone. Partitions were often of oak plank, with lath nailed over them. The first lath were made of thin boards split from hemlock, then hacked in separate cuts with the grain, and stretched as they were nailed on to make cracks for the plaster to adhere to. Some foundation walls, door sills, and steps were of cut red sandstone, brought probably from quarries in Simsbury. Chimneys and flues were stone, often changing to brick from the attic floor up through the roof. They started in the cellar and were very large at the base to allow for several separate flues. A place to smoke hams and bacon was often built into the chimney, sometimes in the cellar and sometimes upstairs. Up and down saws were in use soon after Canton was settled, but sills and other large beams were hand hewed with a broad axe. Joists were framed into the sills, and wooden pegs of oak held the whole frame together. Plain or elaborate, houses were built to last.
In 1953 the D.A.R. Past Regents Club undertook to gather informa- tion about Canton's oldest houses. Some years ago, in 1940, the Phoebe Humphrey Chapter of the N.S.D.A.R. had marked about seventy-five houses with the date of building. Now we have attempted to find addi- tional dates, and some information about the houses and the people who lived in them, hoping that many who live in these houses will be inter- ested in these "facts and fancies" of the bygone days.
Approximate dates can sometimes be determined by the panelling, exposed beams, wide floor boards, split lath, hand forged nails, etc., but it is not an easy job. These words from "Old American Houses" by Henry L. and Ottalie K. Williams well describe it. "Dates are specific things, definite and unequivocal. And ancient houses too often seem more loath to reveal their year of origin than any coy lady on the down- hill side of forty."
Although the Georgian type of architecture was being used when the early settlers came here, it was not so suitable for farmhouses. Greek Revival influence is found in several houses built around 1830 and 1840, and that was followed by Victorian, with its dormer windows
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and fancy trimmings. Some houses show a mixture of several different periods, as additions or changes were made from time to time.
The section of Canton that it has been my privilege to cover includes houses along the Cherry Brook road from Route 44 to Barkhamsted and Granby lines, a few side roads, Barbertown, and Breezy Hill. I am deeply indebted to all who have so generously helped me. I cannot list them all, but among them are Mrs. Ruth Gracy, Mrs. Hortense French, and Mr. Lewis Mills. I also was greatly helped in 1940 by Mrs. Eugene Case, and largely through her memory of people who used to live in these houses have I been able to make my list of occupants. This long but enjoyable task has brought a deeper understanding and admiration of these early pioneers. Large families and hard work developed a thrift, resourcefulness, and endurance not equalled and not needed nowadays, but with the refinements and luxuries of modern living, may we all hold fast those qualities of honesty, courage, and faith in God that these early ancestors bequeathed to us.
HELEN HUMPHREY SWEETON.
February 17, 1956.
Note: Parenthesis around owner's name indicates the name is on the 1855 map. An italic name shows ownership, but not occupancy.
CHERRY BROOK ROAD
The Anson W. Bristol, Jr. house is of colonial style, like many many others in town that were built around 1800. It is said that the carpenters who built the Bristol house came there from finishing the Canton Center Church, which would date the house 1815. The ell has the appearance of being older, and may have been added from the original house built by Isaac Tuller who settled here about 1749. The veranda was probably added later.
This house has had some alterations inside, and now accommodates two families, one upstairs and one down.
William Squires, Mrs. Vera Boyd - A. W. Bristol, Jr. - Cyrus Harvey - (Augustus Carrier) - Rufus Tuller - Isaac Tuller.
The house recently the home of Fay E. Downer is built partly of brick and partly of wood. Some years ago the town poor were kept here, and the ell on the south was added to accommodate them. The house and grounds have been much improved in recent years.
Mrs. Daniel Gutman - Fay E. Downer - Howard Edgerton - August Freytag-Edward Edgerton-L. D. Dowd-Richard Wagner - (D. P. Ackart) .
The home of Mrs. Hortense French and Miss Ruth Case was en- larged by William Case in 1893. The north part was built in 1835. Mrs. French says that the northwest ell was brought down from the Simeon
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Mills' place and added on. There is an old hearth in this part where Dr. Chauncey Griswold made his salve, and it is said that he once spilled a kettle of salve on the hearth that was worth $500.00.
Ruth Case and Mrs. Hortense French - William Case - Lloyd Sturgeon - Fred Brown - (George Merrill) - Chauncey Griswold - Daniel Lewis.
The exact date of the Stevens' house is not known, but it was prob- ably around 1800. It is of the colonial type, the veranda and room on the north being later additions. Rev. Charles H. Stevens spent several sum- mers in Canton during his college years, and liked the place so well that in the early nineties he bought this farm and made it his home for the rest of his life. Here he carried out his ideas of farming, raising Jersey cows, and planting apple orchards. He was one of the first around here to set out small pine trees in quantity. The large maples around the house were set by him. During these years he preached in Canton Center and in nearby communities.
South of the house and opposite the house where Samuel Leete lived there used to stand an old cooper shop. This was used by Noah Bristol. It was moved later to the north where it is now part of the barn used as a garage.
This house has a fine Crusader door in the south front room and the usual fireplaces. The large one in the dining room that had been closed up before the Stevens' family came was not discovered until the soot pushed out the boards covering it. In cleaning it out they found an old English coin with George the Third stamped on it. The large room on the north was added to accommodate a very high four poster bed and wardrobe that Mrs. Stevens had received from her southern ancestors.
Richard B. Stevens and Clarence Fox - Rev. C. H. Stevens - Anson W. Bristol, Sr. - (Noah R. L. Bristol) .
The Delbert Allen house stands on the site of a former one occupied by several Bristol families. It burned down some years ago, and the present house was built by Delbert Allen in 1915.
Delbert Allen - Carl Adams - Lyman Bristol - Philo Bristol - (L. H. Healy) .
The house owned by W. S. Kistler is on the 1869 map. At one time some of the men who ran the gristmill at the foot of the lane lived here. The house has had many changes and improvements in the last few years.
Wilson S. Kistler - William B. Andrus - Milton Quick - Harvey Seger-Burton Humphrey-William Reynolds-John Allen-Luke Hadsill - R. Hughes.
The Roswell Bill house, built in 1859, has been remodeled. The north part was a story and a half, and had split lath. The south part was raised and enlarged when Henry Humphrey lived here; the north part
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was changed and the porch added by the Roaches. The cow barn burned when Henry Humphrey was in it, and he narrowly escaped with his life. He built the present barn. Down the lane on Cherry Brook there used to be a gristmill, operated by Irving Case at one time.
Roswell W. Bill - William C. Roach - Omar and Alice Humphrey Pouliot - Dea. Henry Humphrey - (Irving Case) .
The home of Mrs. Ella W. Crowley and her son Lisle was the site of the home of Serg. Daniel Case, 2nd., who came to the valley in 1747. He built the first gristmill in town near the dam by Mrs. R. C. Bristol's. The present house was built by Titus Case in 1840. West of the house stood an old mill run by a huge water wheel fifty feet in diameter. A part of the building still remains. Calvin Case carried on a large busi- ness here and in shops nearby.
The present house shows a later style, having some Georgian fea- tures. The cupola is said to have been added after the Civil War. The descendants of Calvin Case lived here, using it as a summer home. The historical cabinet in the church was given in memory of his daughter, Kate Minerva Marsh. There were many shrubs and trees in the yard not common in other dooryards, some of which still remain.
Jeremiah Crowley was a butter maker, working in the first cream- ery which stood opposite the home of Hewat Davis, and later in the one built in 1893 which stands north of the Crowley home.
Lisle and Mrs. Ella Crowley - Jeremiah Crowley - Sherman Brown - Dwight Porter - Calvin Case, Sr. - Capt. Titus Case - Serg. Daniel Case, 2nd.
(The following lines were given to me by Mrs. Kate Brown Case. They were written by her mother when they lived on this place, and refer to a Hallowe'en prank played on her father.)
Listen, my friends, while I unfold A little tale of four boys bold.
These smart boys planned one moon- light night,
To give their neighbors quite a fright. With thread and spike and leather string,
They soon invented "just the thing."
With stealthy steps they came, and well
Secured it to the front door bell.
Across the road they quickly sped, Carrying one end of the thread.
They hide behind a neighboring fence, And soon to pull the thread commence. Tic tac, tic tock, tic tock, tic tacket, Was ever such a curious racket! They chuckle to themselves in glee, "This is rare fun," "Tee hee, tee hee." But suddenly a sound they hear That fills them with a mighty fear.
"He's coming, hurry, cut and run," And now begins some different fun.
George quickly hurried o'er the wall, Mid rocks and stones he took a fall.
But still he clung to his oil can As swifty down the street he ran, With hat in hand, oft looking back To see his pursurer on his track.
But how fared Howard, Pliny, Ed, As up the road they quickly sped ? A big dog heard the noise, and he Barking, soon drove them up a tree. And there while clinging to a limb, By turns they coaxed and threatened him.
Till he, ashamed of such small game,
Withdrew, and down the tree they came.
And walking homeward were o'er taken
(And ought to have been soundly shaken)
By him whom they set out to scare.
But who proved too much for them there.
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The new house of Mrs. Elizabeth Bristol Wagner replaces the colo- nial house that stood on the same site for many years. Amos Kursden built the house in 1822 for Luther Barber, who sold it to Hosea Case, an ancestor of Mrs. Wagner. The old house burned to the ground in 1953, causing the death of Mrs. Wagner's brother, Russell Bristol, and her son and husband, Gerald, Jr. and Sr. The sympathetic townspeople raised a fund that was added to from far and near, and the present house was built the next summer (1953), most of the work being done by local people.
North of the Wagner home and across the brook, there used to be a building where powder kegs were made. This was used later as a house, but has been gone for fifty years or more. East of this house there were two dams. The water was used to run the mill which stood west of the Jerry Crowley place. At one time there was a sawmill near one of these dams.
The Carroll Crowley house is said to have been built in 1858 by Hosea Case. He rented it to different people for some years. The story is told that two men, walking home from prayer meeting one evening, saw a bright light in an upstairs window of this house. They rushed in and succeeded in putting out a fire which had all the appearance of be- ing set, as the house was vacant at the time.
Carroll Crowley - George Dewey - Mrs. Kimberly - Adam Brucker - Herbert Sturgeon - Howard Bristol - Willis Case - Dennis Murphy - Mrs. Sarah Olds - Beeman - William Case - Her- bert Ingalls - Hosea Case.
The William Goodhue place, now the home of Emily and Irene Good- hue, is so far undated. It is not the colonial style, having instead the gable end toward the road, and the ell running to the south. In 1873 this place was deeded to the Ecclesiastical Society of Canton Center by Titus Case for a parsonage. Only one minister lived here, however, as the Society decided to sell this place to help pay for building the pres- ent parsonage, that property having also come into the possession of the church at about this same time.
Another minister, Rev. Francis Hiram Case, lived here for a time, but not as pastor of the church. Eugene Case, Mrs. Howard Bristol's father, was born here, his father renting part of the house. He remem- bered Priest Case's wife. When he was three or four years old, he locked Mrs. Case in the hog house, and when he heard her "holler" he ran way up the hill, he was so scared, and stayed there until after noon. When he came back, someone had let her out. One day he put the cat down the well. His folks wondered where the kitty was, and finally saw her down the well.
Emily and Irene Goodhue - William Goodhue - John Allen - William Sperry - Mrs. Azubah Shepard and Mr. and Mrs. Horace
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Gridley - Rev. David B. Hubbard - Sidney Case - (Rev. Francis H. Case) - Titus Case.
The Walter S. Case house, now occupied by three of his children, Gordon, Byron, and Beatrice, was built by Norman Case about 1830. The house is colonial in type, but has had many changes which alter the lines and change the rooms inside. The ell has been enlarged and raised, the central stone chimney removed, thus making a large hall with an open stairway. A porch has been added on the front. In each of the attic gables there are two small windows, and there is a block trim across the front under the eaves.
Norman Case had a shop back of the present store in which he made wagons and coffins. The water power came from Cherry Brook, flowing through a canal leading from a dam back of the church. One Sunday morning the people in church heard an unusual sound for Sunday, a continued pounding. Later they heard that Mr. Case was making a coffin for his young married daughter, who had died suddenly. Previous to this time an up and down sawmill and shingle mill business had been carried on here, and a carding and fulling mill was here at one time. The barn still standing was a blacksmith shop. A flood in 1870 de- stroyed the two dams to the north, and they were never rebuilt. One of the shops was moved to the east, and was made into a store with a hall upstairs. Austin and Myron Skinner were the first to open a store and Austin was appointed postmaster. Both store and post office opened in 1875. After several changes in ownership, Walter Case came here in 1893 and ran the store for nearly fifty years. After his death Gordon Case became postmaster, and an addition was made for the post office. The store was sold and is now run by Thomas Leahy.
W. S. Case-George W. Lamphier, Sr .- Austin Skinner-George Case - Norman Case. (These people owned the house, but many others have lived there.)
The Sturgeon house was built by Caleb Case about 1785. His second wife was the widow of Pliny Case, and their first child was born in 1787. He removed to New York state after his wife's death in 1792. This house has had many changes. Mr. Walter Case, when he owned it, had dormer windows put in, and new floors and a porch added. Many different families have lived here, renting from the various owners. Since 1923 it has been the Sturgeon property. Mr. Sturgeon, after his retirement from more active work as a carpenter, carried on an antique and refinishing furniture business in his "Twixt the Hills" shop.
Herbert E. Sturgeon - Rev. James W. Moulton - Walter S. Case - Pliny Case - Pliny Case - (Pliny Case) - Caleb Case.
The Parish House of the First Congregational Church, Canton Center, has had an interesting history. It was built by a group of about twenty men to provide a warm place for their families to eat lunch between the services in the unheated church across the way. The room
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was on a level with the road and had a fireplace at each end. In 1862 the owners deeded the building to the Ecclesiastical Society "to use for Select Schools and Public Meetings." The town set up voting booths there at election time. In the nineties when the town consolidated some of the one room schools, it was used for the four upper grades, the first four being in the schoolhouse next door.
About 1900 the building was raised and a basement put in, provid- ing space for a kitchen and dining room. Upstairs the entrance was changed from the south front corner to the north, and a stage built across the south end of the room. In 1914 the building was again re- modelled, an addition on the east providing space for a stage, with a new and larger kitchen downstairs. A wood furnace was installed to heat the whole building. One more addition has been made, enlarging the kitchen on the south.
Mrs. Herman Melzer's house was built by Alonzo Barber in 1843. He ran a general store in the back part of the house until his death in 1853, and the business was carried on by his family until 1862 when the place was sold to Warren Humphrey, who continued the store, later moving across the street into a building that he had bought and made into a store, post office, and an apartment. Mr. Humphrey had become postmaster after the death of Simeon Mills.
Mrs. Melzer's house shows the Greek Revival influence, with the wide eaves, and moldings. She has some interesting souvenirs of old time thrift. Apparently when the brownstone and marble shafts were placed in the cemetery, the former headstones were removed and taken by the owners to use at home. We find them placed in cellars to keep the butter, milk, etc. cold, and often used in walks, where they were usually laid with the inscriptions down. Mrs. Melzer's walk to the pig sty is laid with such stones.
Mrs. Herman Melzer - Mrs. Elizabeth Robens - Thomas Dunn - William West - Frederick A. Bidwell - Thomas S. Bidwell - War- ren Humphrey - (Alonzo Barber) .
The William Beckwith house was built in 1812 by Simeon Mills. The house was not quite finished when he and his bride moved in, and it is said she was not too pleased over the delay. Mr. Mills was married three times and there are many of his descendants living around here. He was the first postmaster for Canton Center, appointed in 1841, and he continued until his death in 1867, except for a short period when he was removed for political reasons. The office was in his kitchen, and consisted of a small cupboard divided into niches for letters, the papers being put on the table where the cupboard stood. He went to Collinsville to get the mail, sorted it, and delivered it on his way back to families living along the Star route. Others came to the house for their mail, and had to wait their turn, as "Uncle Sim" allowed no one to "grab." The pay was very small, but he was very faithful in the discharge of his duties, and made up and sorted the mail until the evening of his death,
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although he had been unable to drive to Collinsville for a few days previous. (The cupboard used for the mail is in the museum in Collins- ville)
William H. Beckwith - Miss Smith - Howard Brown - Lory Bliss - Mrs. Polly Case - Horatio Rust - John Burdick - (Simeon Mills) .
The Hector Prud'homme place was first settled by Ephraim Mills, Sr., son of Dea. Joseph Mills, one of the first settlers. Ephraim was active in the church, giving the land to the society for the church and helping to plan the present church building. West of the Mills' place on Indian Hill there was a settlement of friendly Indians. One of them liked to come over the mountain and visit the Mills family. He was very much afraid of their dog, however, so would stop on the side of the hill and call, "Ephraim, Ephraim, is the dog in ?" When he was told that the dog was secure he would come down and seat himself by the fireplace. Here he would sit for a long, long time, not saying a word. Once when the children were laughing he said, "Humph, sign of fool, laugh a great deal."
Church services were an all day affair in those days, and some of the people brought their lunch over to Epraim Mills' house where they could sit by the fire and get warm. One Sunday when they were sitting around the fireplace a big fat ham fell out of the chimney and rolled across the floor. It had been hung in the chimney to smoke. No one said a word for a moment, then someone said, "Looks like Ephraim is a good provider !" Ruth, his daughter, in telling the story used to say she was not so pleased at their laughing when she saw the greasy trail the ham made across her clean sanded floor.
This same Ruth once went to Newgate Prison with a party of young people. When they were ready to go down into the tunnels where the prisoners were kept, no one wanted to go first. Finally she volunteered, saying that the rest must come right behind her. As she neared the bottom of the ladder she could hear and see the prisoners below her. "Oh, do hurry up," she cried, "I'm right amongst the prisoners." "Don't be frightened, Miss, we won't hurt you," said one of the men. This reassured her, and soon the whole party was down in the prison.
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