USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Suffield > Celebration of the bi-centennial anniversary of the town of Suffield, Conn. : Wednesday, Oct. 12, 1870 > Part 2
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The honored chairman of your committee, in his kind letter of invitation, expressed the desire that in response to said address, I should give one of my familiar talks in regard to my recollections of Suffield when I was a boy. To this I assented on the sup- position that there were to be several similar responses, and that any formal reply to the address would devolve upon other and abler speakers than myself. Indeed, I had been informed that the names of at least two professional "talkists " had been asso- ciated with my own in the performance of the pleasing task, now by a change in the programme, and by an error of judg- ment on the part of the committee, devolved wholly upon my- self. Fortunately, however, both for myself and for my audi- tors, the limited space of time which I may occupy will render my task comparatively easy, and the infliction upon my hearers correspondingly light.
Forty years ago, Mr. President, I left you, a chubby, round faced, ruddy-checked, dark-haired, black-eyed, and-if tradition speaks truly-a tolerably good looking boy of fifteen years of age. To-day I come back to you a gaunt, sallow. visaged, grizzly- headed, dim-sighted old man of fifty-five.
Forty years! A long period of time, truly, when, with the eyes of youth and hope, gazing forward into the future. But O, how short, when retrospectively considered-but the merest
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fragment of the countless cycles that form the unnumbered cen- turies of the past !
Yet as brief a period of time as it in reality is, what great and important changes have taken place within those forty years ! Events mightier by far, aud of vastly greater significance and influence upon the interests of civilization and human progress, have taken place within that brief period than, with perhaps a single exception, in the entire one hundred and sixty years, bo. sides, of the two centuries whose termination you now celebrate.
Were it proper for me to do so, in this connection, time would not permit me to give even the briefest history of all those great and grand events. Among them, however, I may pause to inen- tion the inauguration of the great and ever extending system of railways which has wrought such a revolution in the modes of travel and transportation in this and other lands; the application of electricity to the purposes of telegraphie communication, by which not only time and distance have been annihilated, both in our own and in foreign countries, but which, spanning and fath- oming the ocean, has drawn the two great continents of the earth so closely together that the mightiest or the minutest event trans- piring in any portion of the one may be known, in detail, through- out the length and breadth of the other within the very hour of its occurence; the application of science to agricultural, manu- facturing and domestic operations, whereby one controlling mind can, with nerves of steel and muscles of iron, accomplish vastly more labor in a given time, than could formerly be done by hun- dreds of the most skillful operatives; but towering high above them all, so far as its influence upon our own development is con- cerned, stands the gigantic moral, social and political revolution by which four millions of bondsmen have been endowed with all the attributes of independent and enfranchised citizens.
But, Mr. President, I may not enlarge upon these and kindred topics so full of interest and of hope to this and the other nations of the earth, and will only say, in conclusion, that during the entire period of my absence from Old Suffield-whether it may seem longer or shorter to my learers-my mind has ever reverted with pleasure to the fond associations of my boyhood, and my early recollections of my native town. In all my wanderings, having visited nearly every State and Territory now embraced
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within the limits of the United States, the British Possessions upon the North, and portionis of Mexico and Central America upon the South, besides a number of prominent Islands of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; and though I have seen many magnificent cities and beautiful towns, and rural paradises with- out number, my boyhood recollections of Suffield overshadow them all in point of loveliness, grandeur and sublimity. And I presume I but speak the sentiments of all present, who, like me having strayed away from their ancestral homes in early life, are' here to-day to participate in these anniversary exercises, when I say that each recurring visit but seems to highten the coloring of those recollections and enhance my reverence for my native town.
Again, Mr. President, both for myself and the large number of Suffield-born visitors present, I sincerely thank you for the opportunity thus afforded us of joining with you in celebrating this important anniversary, and for the very cordial greeting which is being extended to us by our old friends and neighbors, and their worthy descendants and successors, the present intelli- gent and enterprising occupants of the truly "sacred soil" of dear, delightful Old Suffield,
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ODE BY THE CHOIR.
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Thie Ever Jamest. Hoog02.2.
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ADDRESS,
BY THE REV. J. L. HODGE, D. D.
HON. D. W. NORTON : DEAR SIR :- My own personal ac- quaintance with the town of Suffield extends only as far back as forty years, but from a somewhat intimate knowledge of many of its oldest inhabitants, I became familiar with much that has greatly interested me in its history.
Suffield has been largely favored of the Lord, not only in its natural advantages, but also in the character of its people. They may be regarded as an intelligent, thrifty, and religious pop- ulation. With clear and decided convictions in reference to divine and secular truth, as a community, they have always been remarkably tolerant of the views held by those differing from them.
I was ordained as a pastor in one of the churches there about thirty-seven years since." I heard much of the character and excellence of those who had preceded me in the ministry of the town, such as the "Gays," father and son, both eminent in their day. The two Hastings, also father and son, who, like the Gays, did much for the honor and advancement of religion among the people. In a later day, there was Morse and Waldo, t
* First Baptist Church, on Zion's Hill.
t Rev. Daniel Waldo was born in Windham, Conn., Sept. 10th, 1762. He remained at home on the farm until 1778, when at the age of sixteen he was drafted as a soldier for a month's service, during a time of imminent peril at New London, and soon after enlisted as a volunteer in the service of the State. He was captured by the Tories at Horseneck, and carried to New York, where he was confined in the "Sugar House," then the grand depot for prisoners; but after a confinement of two months was exchanged. Subsequently he resumed his labors on the farm, and we next find him, about the age of 21, commencing study, and grad- nated at Yale College in the class of 1788. He studied Theology with Dr. Hart, of Preston, Conn., and was licensed to preach by the association of Windham county. May 23d, 1792, he was ordained and installed as pastor of the Second Congregational Church, (at West Snffield, ) where he remained until 1809. In 1810- Il he preached at Cambridgeport, Mass., after which he served as missionary in Rhode Island till 1820, then preached a while at Harvard, then settled for twelve year- at Exeter, Con. After which he resided in New York, and retired from
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men of might and of mark, whose influence for good is yet felt in a large degree. ..
The Baptists in Connecticut were greatly indebted to Rev. Asahacl Morse for important services rendered to them in se- curing civil advantages, and in the formation of their mission- ary organizations. Elder Morse was a great man in every sense. Ilis mind was not only of the highest order, but he was learned above many of his day, and one of the most elo- quent of preachers.
A master in biblical interpretation, and in a knowledge of divinity he had few equals. When he engaged in debate upon questions relating to civil or religious liberty, he never failed to show the " hiding of his power." I question whether any town in the favored State of Connecticut was ever more blessed with revivals of religion, or ever appreciated such gracious vis- itations, more than yours. I regret that the pressing duties of a large pastorate in this city makes it'difficult for me to give you a full report of my remarks made on the occasion of your Bi-Centennial in October last.
Thine ever,
JAMES L. IIODGE.
any stated charge, occasionally supplying vacant pulpits. In 1856 Mr. Waldo, then 94 years of age, was elected Chaplain of the House of Representatives, dis- charging the duties of that position with general acceptance.
Hle died at Syracuse, N. Y., July 30th, 1864, aged 101 years, 10 months, and 20 days. His mind seemed to operate with a freedom little diminished till the day of his death. He died not from the effects of the decay of his physical powers, but from the effects of a fall-leaving a record bright with patriotism, benevo- lence, and holiness of life .- II. M. S.
SINGING BY THE CHOIR.
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yours truly John Servis
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS,
BY JOHN LEWIS, EsQ.
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- We are gathered here to-day in obedience to the better impulses of our nature. We have come, actuated by the love of kindred; by affection for the land of our ancestors and the spot of our birthi-place; by reverence for the noble, patient, heroic spirits of the past ; by a deep sense of obligation and gratitude to those through whose faithful and devoted lives we are enabled to meet under circum- stances so happy and so propitious. We have come from diverse stations and employments, from multiform and strangely varied experiences, from widely distant localities. But we have come with a common purpose, with hearts stirred by common emotions and united by common ties. Here is the spot of our origin. About this place cluster the recollections of childhood, and the tender affections that center in home and kindred and friends. Here our fathers lived. These places their feet have trod. These hills and valleys their eyes have been wont to behold. These fertile acres their hands reclaimed from the primitive forest, and their brows watered with the sweat of honest toil. Here they planted the school and the church. Here they laid deep and solid the foundations of our present civilization. And here, in the fullness of time, they were gathered, generation after "gen- eration, unto their fathers, and their bones laid to rest in the soil which they had reclaimed from the forest and the savage. And now, standing upon this consecrated ground, with all these hal- lowed associations round about us, and all these tender memories thronging our hearts, can we fail to catch the inspiration of the hour and the place; can we fail to enter with earnest and devoted hearts into the services and festivities of this occasion ?
But the memorial tributes and rejoicings of this anniversary, though prompted by the more tender and pathetic attributes of
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our nature, and responding more especially to the sympathies and affections, are not without their practical bearing. We are met, not simply to give expression to our feelings of honor and gratitude and love, but also to study the lives and characters of those who have filled these places during the last two hundred years. From this study we may derive a fund of historical ex- perience and knowledge, the value of which cannot be questioned. For in the lives of all, in business, in morals, in polities, in all the avocations and walks of life, there arise emergencies when the light of experience is pre-eminently needed; and this expe- rience can be gathered from the study of history. For human nature, though it may appear in different circumstances and under new modifications, is always the same in its essential ele- ments. And all events, of whatever nature or description, are governed by the same undeviating laws of cause and effect. Therefore if we would forecast the issue of any particular enter- prise or combination of circumstances, or if we would predict the course of men in the presence of any particular temptations or in any given emergency, we must study human nature and the social and material laws of all phenomena as revealed in the history of the past. And so the examples of our fathers; their successes, their failures, their errors, if rightly understood and appreciated, will become lamps to our feet in the future that is before us.
Still other benefits that result from occasions like this are of a social and personal nature. Brought together in friendly inter- course, are men and women from different sections of our coun- try, habituated, it may be, to different climates, to different scenes and customs and societies. Representatives of all the various avocations, and of all the contrasts of social position and indi- vidual experience, meet here on common ground to compare past adventures and to revive old memories. Out of this friendly interchange of thoughts and feelings and recollections there comes a better social eulture, and more liberal and more cosmo- politan ideas. And better than all else, these occasions tend to breathe into the soul a new and more earnest life, to inspire higher and nobler purposes, to create more strength and more determi- nation to grapple with the great tasks and problems of life.
This is not, therefore, a mere holiday on which we have met
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to pass the time in idle enjoyment, but an occasion of deep sig- nificance, based on the realities of the past and reaching forward to modify the results of the future, developing influences that should warm and inspire every heart, and involving possibilities of good whose effects may be felt to the end of time.
The historian of Suffield labors under certain intrinsic dis. advantages. Especially is this true in the present age, when we have become so accustomed to grand and startling events. We have witnessed the conflicts of mighty armies joined in battles more terrific than the world has ever seen before. We have witnessed the succesful completion of vast industrial enterprises, enterprises that revolutionize commerce and modify the thoughts of christendom. We have mingled in the discussion of social and political questions of the most vital and absorbing interest. And we have become so familiar with these magnificent displays of power, and with these intense nervous and intellectual excite- ments, that we are in danger of losing our interest in the ordinary affairs of life. It is necessary, therefore, to realize at the outset that the history of Suffield will not lead us through a succession of these grand events; that its history is not that of a great na- tion, controlling millions of men, dealing with vast resources and setting on foot mighty armies, but simply the history of a town, which, however important and exemplary as a town, is yet only one of many thousand similar subdivisions into which our country is distributed, and which can only furnish us events of a common character and a history made up of the ordinary every- day life of the ordinary men and women of their time. But notwithstanding this lack of general interest, the subject possesses one great advantage which to us may well compensate for all others; it is the story of our fathers and the history of our native place.
About ten years after the landing of the Pilgrims, in 1620, reports of the great river Quonnetticut, of its fertile meadows
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and luxuriant scenery, began to reach the settlements on Massa- chusetts Bay. In 1633 some explorations were made in the val- ley, and shortly after the towns of Windsor, Hartford, Spring- field and Wethersfield were founded. Prior to the settlement of Suffield, seventeen towns were thus established in the Connec- ticut Valley, scattered from the mouth of the river to the north- ern part of Massachusetts. These towns were connected by rude pathways, threading their devious routes among the hills and primitive forests. Two of these pathways traversed Suf- field, or Stony Brook, as it was then called. One entered the town in the northeast, and took its course through Crooked Lane and High street to South street, and was known as the Springfield road. The other, entering the town in the north- west, came down across Hastings' Hill, and united with the Springfield road near the north end of South street. From South street the two roads united and passed down through Windsor to Hartford.
A bird's-eye view of Stony Brook at this period would reveal an alinost unbroken forest. The oak and the pine growing unmolested for centuries reared their gigantic forms on every hand, at once evidence of the fertility of the soil and obstacles to its subjugation by the pioneer. Along the border of Muddy and Stony brooks would be seen a narrow border of meadow-land, probably the only open lands visible in the whole landscape. Glimpses might be caught of an occasional traveler or of some emigrant party pursuing their lonely way between the upper and the lower towns on the river. Possibly we might discern the wigwam of the Indian and follow his dusky form as he stole through the forest in pursuit of game, or loitered with his fishing tackle on the banks of our little streams. It is doubtful, however, whether the Indian ever formed a permanent abode within the present limits of our town. The Poquonnoes of Windsor, and the Woronnoes of Westfield, seem to have been the nearest tribes. But the Indians laid claim to this territory as a part of their hunting ground, and this claim was formally extinguished by Mr. Pynchon, of Springfickl, to whom they deeded the twenty-three thousand acres of Stony Brook for the consideration of thirty pounds sterling, or less than one cent per acre. From numerous arrow-heads and other relics found here,
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we know that Stony Brook has been visited by the Indians, but probably they only came to form temporary encampments, or in transient hunting parties, to pursue for a time the pleasures of the chase.
In the intercourse between the upper and lower towns on the river, the territory of Stony Brook was frequently traversed, and its natural advantages, together with the apparent fertility of its soil, became well known in Springfield, and being a part of that town, it was natural that the first movements towards its settlement should originate in that place. The first of these attempts was made in 1660, when a petition was preferred to the General Court at Boston, praying for a grant of land at Stony Brook. This petition received a favorable answer, but for some reason the enterprise was abandoned. In 1669 the selectmen of Springfield assumed authority to form and direct the settlement. They made several grants of land, and among others to Samuel and Joseph Harmon, who, it is thought, in the following sum- mer, took up their abode on the Northampton road, in the vicinity of the Stony Brook. In the fall of the same year (1670), a petition was brought to the October session of the General Court at Boston, by citizens of Springfield, asking for permission to establish a plantation at "a place called by ye name of Stony Riuer." On the 12th day of October, 1670, the General Court took this petition into consideration, and granted to the petitioners permission to settle there a township, six miles square, on condition that in five years they should have twenty families settled there, and should at the close of that period maintain an able minister. At the same time a committee of six, with John Pynchon as chairman, was appointed to manage the affairs of the plantation, and to superintend its settlement. This committee met in January, 1671, and adopted a set of rules, in accordance with which they should proceed in the dis- charge of their functions. It was determined to grant land in parcels of sixty, fifty, and forty acres, according to the condi- tion and rank of the grantee ; and that in all grants there should be one acre of meadow to nine of upland. It was further de- termined to lay out and settle the town in divisions, separated by highways twenty rods wide, and to cut these divisions into
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sections by roads eight rods wide. If this plan was ever carried out, all trace of it is now lost, and there is nothing in the pres- ent aspect of the town to indicate that such a disposition was actually made of the first settlers. At this meeting of the com- mittee, grants of land were made to the following persons : Samuel Harmon, Joseph Harmon, Nathaniel Harmon, Zerub- babel Fyler, and Robert Old. The grants to Samuel and Joseph - Harmon were probably confirmations of the land they had pre- viously taken up on the Northampton road. Unfortunately, no documents have yet been discovered that definitely state the time, place, and circumstances of the first settlement of Suffield. We know when the settlement was authorized, when and to whom lands were first granted, but this is all. While it is quite certain that the Harmons were the pioneers of the town, and that they came here in 1670, the exact date of their settlement is not known.
From 1670 to 1674, inclusive, the committee were active in advancing the interest of the plantation. Grants of land were made to thirty-six persons, the town surveyed, roads laid out, a corn and saw mill erected, a common laid out in High street for public uses, a lot set apart for the use of the minister, and another for educational purposes. In 1674, also, by application to the General Court, the name was changed to Southfield, or Suffield, and in that year alone twenty-one grants of land were made. Everything i. 'icated that the young settlement was prosperous. But the outbreak of King Philip's war, which oc- curred in 1675, put a sudden stop to its progress. Those who had taken up their grants of land were obliged to remove to places of greater security, and Stony Brook was abandoned to the wild beast and the savage. A blank of about two years oc- eurs in the records of the committee, after which, in 1676, they resumed their functions. Probably nearly, if not quite, all of the old settlers returned after the war to re-occupy the lands they had before taken up and improved. An endeavor was now made on the part of the committee to consolidate the inhabi- tants on High and Feather streets, for the convenience of self- protection. This design was in a measure accomplished, but the fears of the Indians which prompted it proved groundless, for there is no evidence and no tradition that they ever in any way
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1779048
molested the young settlement. The committee, up to January, 1682, made a total of one hundred and fourteen grants of land, comprising about six thousand acres, or one-fourth the entire area of the town. In March, 1682, in compliance with an order of the General Court, obtained October 12th of the previous year, the legal voters of the plantation were convened, and the town of Suffield first organized. The committee having ful- filled the office to which they were appointed, were now discharged, and their authority superseded by that of the town. A board of five selectmen was elected, consisting of Anthony Austin, Samuel Kent, Thomas Remington, John Barber, and Joseph Harmon. The organization was com- pleted by the election of other town officers, having essentially the same names and functions as at present. At this time there were about eighty families in the place, and a population of four or five hundred. A list of thirty-four persons comprised the legal voters of the town-a number which included less than half of the male adults. But it is to be remembered that Suffield was at this time a part of the Massachusetts Colony, where there existed both ecclesiastical and civil restrictions on the ballot-restrictions that gave the control of affairs to a small minority. The most numerous settlers were in High street. Here were located the Kings, Hanchets, Remingtons, Grangers, Kents, Nortons, Spencers, and Sikes. A road leading cast from High street connected it with Feat'zer street, where lived the Burbanks, Hollydays, Smiths, Trumbulls, and Palmers. In South street were the Austins, Risings, and Millers. On the western road were the Harmons and Copleys, and in Crooked Lane the Taylors, Hitchcocks, and Coopers.
Would that we might lift the veil of two centuries and catch a glimpse of the pioneer settlement as it was in 1682. There were the primitive highways, whose location I have already in- dicated. But let not the word highways suggest smooth turn- pikes bordered by a few rods of grassy meadow, and enclosed by substantial fences. Think rather of rude pathways winding among the stumps and trees, which still occupied the land set apart for publie travel. Along these pathways were scattered the dwellings of the settlers. These were cabins of the rudest architecture, containing for the most part but a single room,
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