USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Suffield > Celebration of the bi-centennial anniversary of the town of Suffield, Conn. : Wednesday, Oct. 12, 1870 > Part 7
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On the twelfth day of October, 1670, the General Court of Massachu- setts, at Boston, authorized the settlement of the " plantation "-a tract of land six miles square-which was afterwards organized as the town- ship of " South Fields," and subsequently changed to the more compact and euphoncous name of Suffield. And it was to aid in properly observ- ing its bi-centennial that the absent sons and daughters of the old town were invited to revisit their ancient home. By a vote of the town the sum of $1,500 was appropriated to defray the expenses of the celebration. In addition to this the good ladies of the entire town vied with each other in providing edibles for the public feast that was to be given to the re- turning wanderers, and in extending their hospitality to all visitors, whether native born or not.
Besides two large church edifices-Congregational and Baptist-in which to conduct the exercises, a large tent capable of covering four or five thousand persons had been procured from Boston and erected upon the beautiful Central Park of the village. Unfortunately for the com- plete success and joyousness of the occasion, a drenching rain set in on the evening of the 11th and continued until afternoon on the day of the celebration. This undoubtedly kept many hundreds of people from neighboring towns from attending. But yet, as stormy as it was, there
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were probably 4,000 people present, among whom were many distinguished men, natives or descendants of former residents of Suffield from distant States, as well as a large number of the dignitaries of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Among the latter were Gov. English and members of his staff, and ex-Governors Hawley and Jewell, of Hartford, and Mayor Smith, of Springfield.
The day was ushered in by a salute of forty guns and the ringing of the church bells of the town. For the first time, to bring in its illustrions guests, the cars ran into the township over its new railroad, a branch of the Hartford, New Haven and Springfield railway, on the auspicious, or rather inauspicious morning. The intended grand cavalcade, procession, and march, owing to the rain, was but a partial success, though the in- vited guests, officers of the day, speakers, &c., were escorted by Colt's Armory Band, of Hartford, from the rendezvous opposite to the Congre .. gational church upon the west side of the Park. Every portion of the large house, including the capacious gallery, was densely packed with an intensely interesting and expectant audience. The church was.finely deco- rated with flowers and evergreens and appropriate mottoes.
The exercises consisted of, first, a voluntary npon the magnificent organ of the church ; second, singing by the choir; third, a statement in regard to settlement of the town and the object of the celebration, by Hon. Daniel W. Norton, of Suffield, president of the day ; fourth, Invocation by Rev. Joel Mann, of New Haven, pastor of the Congregational church of Suf- field nearly fifty years ago ; fifth, reading of the Scriptures and prayer, by Rev. Dr. D. Ives, pastor of the Baptist church of Suffield; sixth, original hymn by the choir; seventh, Address of Welcome by Rev. Walter Bar- ton, pastor of the Congregational church of Suffield; eighth, response to address of welcome, by S. A. Lane, editor of the Akron Daily Beacon, Akron, Ohio; ninth, ode by choir; tenth, address-church history of the town of Suffield-by Rev. J. S. Hodge, D. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y. : eleventh, singing by the choir ; twelfth, historical address of the town of Suffield, by John Lewis, Esq., of Hartford; thirteenth, music by Colt's Armory Band; fourteenth, original poem, by Rev. S. D. Phelps, D. D., of New Haven ; fifteenth, anthem by the choir; sixteenth, benediction, by Rev. Stephen Harris, of West Suffield.
These exercises occupied nearly four hours, eliciting the undivided at- tention of the large audience, and very frequent and very enthusiastic ap- plause. At their close, at 2 o'clock p. m., the audience repaired to the big tent, under which was served one of the finest collations that I have ever scen. At the close of the gustatory exercises, in response to appropriate sentiments, speeches were made by ex-Gov. Hawley and ex-Gov. Jewell, of Hartford; Hon. John Cotton Smith, of Sharon, Con., a great-grand- son of Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, a resident of Suffield up to 1755 ; Rev. Dr. S. D. Phelps, of New Haven ; Francis Rising, Esq,, of Troy, N. Y. : Rev. Dr. Ives, of Suffield; Rev. Dr. Hodge, of New Haven ; Mayor Smith, of 11
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Springfield; Mr. Apollos Phelps, 85 years of age, the oldest native born, life-long resident in Suffield; Hon. Samuel Huntington, of Hartford, and Hon. Willis King, a prominent merchant of St. Louis.
During the after-dinner exercises, the weather came off bright and beau- tiful, and the large throng separated in the best of spirits, each and all feeling that notwithstanding the storm the Suffield bi-centennial had been a magnificent success.
In the evening a large audience assembled at the Baptist church, where the remainder of the sentiments which had been prepared were read and appropriately responded to, and many interesting reminiscences related by visitors, both native and otherwise, the writer of this getting in a few words upon the railroad question, exhorting the people of old Suffield to extend their new branch road through the town, so that visitors can get out of the town upon the north as well as the south.
In the evening, also, the young people of the town had a social dance at the town hall, which is represented as being altogether a lively and pleasant affair, and thus ended one of the most important celebrations and reunions that it has ever been my good fortune to attend.
SUFFIELD, CONN., Oct. 14, 1870.
S. A. L.
yours Thep! A. M. Granger.
Hours Respectfully Israel Harmon
SENTIMENTS AND RESPONSES.
The President of the United States.
By J. R. Hawley.
The Governor of the State of Connectient.
By ex-Gov. Jewell.
The State of Connecticut-the " nutmeg" State-the spice of New England- noted for her industrial, agricultural, and manufacturing interests, its prosperity in banks and insurance companies.
By ex-Gov. Jewell.
The ex Governors of the State of Connecticut. No State can show brighter JEWELS than ours.
By ex-Gov. Jewell ..
The first Settlers of Suffield, Samuel and Joseph Harmon, and their Associates. They came here through the wilderness in faith, they labored here with patience, they rested in hope. What we are to day is the result of their labors.
By Israel Harmon, Esq., a descendant.
MR. PRESIDENT : Americans are a proud people, and justly so. To be able to say our in connection with the world's only republic that has real- ized the hopes of the oppressed and the theories of philanthropists, is a source of pride higher than Roman orator or Athenian philosopher could ever glory in.
Natives of Suffield are a proud people, and to-day as they view its re- ligious and educational institutions, its thrift and prosperity, its patriotic record, who shall say their pride is not justifiable ?
The Harmons are this day proud-proud of this town, planted by their ancestors through toil, suffering, and peril, and which to-day is without a superior in this our favored land. They are proud of their descendants, who have never furnished law-breakers for jails or prisons, but have well filled all positions in the gift of their townsmen, in religious, educational, masonic, and political organizations, and furnished judges and other officers for Ohio and other States.
I, one of the youngest of the Harmons, in the light of legend, tradi- tion, history, look back through centuries to the time when SAMUEL and JOSEPH HARMON, abont one mile west from where we now stand, first formed their rude habitations, laid tribute on the virgin soil, and made a nneleus around which, and from which, originated SrFr.sto, Connecti- cut's brightest jewel. Fellow-citizens, look at your . tile fields. your
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beneficent institutions and happy homes, and be convinced that those first settlers did more for the good of the human race than did the first great Napoleon.
Have we of to-day no duties to perform ? Do not the prayers, toils, perils of our forefathers, the prosperity of the past, the result of their labors, call upon us, with carnest voice, never to prove recre- ant to our great privileges and responsibilities ? Do they not more thrillingly than bugle notes urge us to high resolve and endeavor that Suffield's future history may never put to shame its past, but grow brighter as centuries roll ? May pure religion be the sure foundation of our future greatness ; may our fair women be educated, industrious, pure mothers of noble patriots; may our brave men be refined, enterprising. guided, and guided only, by the great principles of eternal truth, and may the Harmons, wherever on earth's broad surface they may be, do credit to their brave forefathers, and ever turn with fond recollections to the glorious old town of Suffield which their ancestors planted.
The sacred and blessed memory of the first settlers of Suffield.
(This to be received standing, with a dirge from the band.)
The former ministers of Snffield. They were men who gave themselves wholly to their work. Though many of them rest from their labors, their works do fol- low them.
By Rev. Joel Mann-by letter.
NEW HAVEN, Oct. 17, 1870.
REV. AND DEAR SIR : I am unwilling to have the toast respecting the ministers of Suffield to be a blank or remain entirely unnoticed. I send, therefore, what follows as my response, which you may give to the com- mittee, if you think best, that it may go into the record that may be made of the proceedings of your interesting celebration.
The toast is in these words : "The former ministers of Sufield. They were men who gave themselves wholly to their work. Though many of them rest from their labors, their works do follow them."
The sentiment to which I am requested to respond is somewhat delicate and embarrassing, as I have the honor of being one of those who are em- braced in it. Leaving out myself, therefore, I would say a few words re- specting those whom I have known. It was my privilege to be associated in the pastorate with the second Mr. Gay: Though he did not then preach. he prayed ; and it is an important matter to have the prayers of a man of God, and to have the counsels of one who has had a long experience of the duties, labors, and difficulties of a pastor. He had a kind heart, and with his family practiced true Christian hospitality. Faithful in the ser- vice of the master, he sustained a long ministry, and has gone to partici- pate in the blessedness of the just made perfect.
Rev. Mr. Philleo was the pastor of the Baptist church while I was here. He was an earnest, working man, somewhat eccentric and out- spoken. Once he met me in the street, and speaking of the religion-
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state of the people, he said: "I wish that we might preach and labor in such a manner as would make them think we were half crazy." Ilis la- bors were abundant and not without success.
Rev. Daniel Waldo was another of the pastors in this town-a man of genial spirit, a cheerful worker in the Lord's vineyard, a sound theologian, and a faithful preacher. He had a soul for music, an acute and diserim- inating ear, and sensitive nerves. Once at my house he told me how his usual equanimity was disturbed by unharmonious singing in a church. The tune was one he greatly disliked, and the performers of the three parts, treble, tenor, and bass, he said, " took the pitch at right angles, and on they went in that style through the hymn." He added that the effect on his nerves was such that he did not feel that he could preach after such torturing sounds in the name of sacred music. He has passed to the bright world where the redeemed unite in harmonious strains of praise, in the 102d year of his age.
We would gratefully record their virtues, and be thankful for the grace that made them devoted and faithful in the ministry of the Gospel.
May these churches ever be favored with pastors strong in faith, sound in doctrine, earnest and successful in their holy calling.
With truly fraternal regard, I am yours, J. MANN.
The citizens of Suffield to-day. God grant that the virtues and deeds of our ancestry may forever hallow our abodes-that every earthly blessing may distill like the dews of heaven upon them, till Time's last echo shall have ceased to sound, and the governments of the world shall have given place to that of the King Eternal.
By Rev. S. D. Phelps, D. D.
From the Past, with its treasures of honor and story, Wrought out by an ancestry noble and truc, O children of Suffield, the Future's bright glory, In promise and hope, is entrusted to you.
May virtue and happiness, sisters of beauty, E'er dwell in your homes as their gladness and peace, And the sons of the fathers, unshrinking in duty, Make the fame of their heritage ever increase.
May the blessings of earth in the sunshine of Heaven, For every one here in their pentitude rest ; And the far richer grace of the Gospel be given, As the guide of the soul to the home of the blest.
In the long line of centuries down to their ending, May the earliest memories blend with the last ; Through successions of years, benedictions descending, Till millennial splendors be over them cast.
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The Pioneers of Suffield, Conn.
By Rev. Amos B. Cobb, of Chicago, Ill.
MR. PRESIDENT: I feel myself honored to be recognized as one of the guests at the second centennial celebration of the settlement of this town, my once happy home. Suffield is endeared to me by interests most sacred.
And now to respond to a sentiment fraught with so much interest, com- mencing with the pioneers' great hearts of thought and action, which the word signifies. The two Harmons, fired with the idea of progress, re- solved to brave all danger and hardship for interests in the prospective. From this noble standpoint assumed by those worthy men of large hearts and great thoughts, like the rays of the solar orb, have radiated all the interests and honors of this now pleasant and wealthy town. The men of Suffield have been in many points the first to think and then to act, which has won much renown.
Samuel and Joseph Harmon were the men to fell those lofty trees, and began to transform the wilderness into a fruitful field, albeit it was "a very woody place and difficult to winne."
In contemplating those brave men, I imagine I see them as they think, resolve, and act in their daring project. I fancy I hear them say 'tis here we will set up our Ebenezer; then with tinder-box, flint, and steel they kindle a fire by the side of a fallen tree, then sit upon the old oak and regale themselves with the beauty of the surrounding scenery, while eating the first meal in the new town, and then lie down beside the log to sleep and dream of days to come.
This is a synopsis of pioneering ; this presents the toil, and suffering, and danger incident to life in 'a howling wilderness; this the germ of what we now witness in this flourishing, wealthy, and beautiful town. From these noble pioneers has the pioneer spirit emanated and radiated, as from one common centre. I, too, have known something of pioneer life, being born April 22d, 1789, only eight days before the inauguration of Gen. Geo. Washington, as the pioneer President of the United States. I cannot claim this as my birthplace, but the place of my adoption at the age of thirteen. Here I was edneated and raised to manhood, a cotem- porary of the lamented Rev. Aretas Kent, who subsequently entered the ministry and became a pioneer missionary in the far West, and won many souls for his Master as an ambassador of Jesus, now gone to report him- self and receive his reward. Peace to his ashes, and glory to his soul.
I entered the ministry and was licensed in March, 1819, and that year labored in Winsted and its vicinity. I afterwards labored in Simsbury, Granby, and Canton, and succeeded the Rev. J. N. Maflit in the city of Hartford.
In 1825 I removed to Cayuga Co., N. Y., and commenced my labors as a pioneer in the great vineyard of the West. The next year I preached alternately in Homer, Cortland Co., and Locke, Cayuga Co.
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From about the middle of June to the middle of November I preached in the woods in open air, as the school houses and barns were too small to contain the congregations ; and what is remarkable, there were but two rainy Sundays in the time, and that was the first Sunday, when we were driven into the school house, and the last day we were driven into a barn. Many sought the Lord and professed their faith in God as the result of my pioneer labor there.
In the spring of 1831, being more fully imbued with the spirit of the pioneer minister, I resolved to obey the command given to the first pio- neers of the cross, and as the field was, large, to say as did the prophets, here am I, send me. In August I emigrated with my family to the terri- tory of Michigan, and landed at the month of Swan Creek, where the city of Toledo now stands. No white settlement of any great amount, but the ground dotted with tents of Indians, collected there to receive pay from government. I journeyed from there to Monroe City, thence up the river Raisin, about fifty miles, to Tecumseh, where I located and preached for one year in the sparse settlement of that region. I will not detain you to speak of all the interesting incidents of that toilsome journey, part of the way being only the Indian trail.
Soon after my arrival at Tecumseh, I went in search of provision for my family, and all I could get for love or money in three days' time was a borrowed loaf of bread, and six green cucumbers given me.
The next spring the Black Hawk war broke out in the wilds of Wis. consin, and threatened to spread desolation and death through all the pioneer settlements between there and Canada. We were in jeopardy for some months, and once were informed that 1,500 Indim., were close upon us, and we felt all the terror and anxiety incident to the anticipated at- tack. But it was a false alarm : God ordered it otherwise, and we were preserved. God proved himself a God at hand, and restrained the wrath of man, and we received no harm. To God be all the praise.
In August, 1832, I sold my home in the woods of Tecumseh and started for Prairie Ronde, Kalamazoo Co., where I unfurled the banner of the cross, and the winter following the Lord recognized the labor and sanc- tioned it by calling into His kingdom many precious souls. There we had seasons of privation and want ; but God was with us and sustained us through all, and I labored on in connection with others in the pioneer field as embassadors of Jesus, with more or less success, until the begin- ning of the winter '35-6. I was then called to a more extensive field of labor in a circuit of about 400 miles. I'traveled on horseback, which was in fact my study, as there I arranged my sermons, and preached from 21 to 28 times every four weeks. I was with my family but four days out of 28, and for all my toil, labor, and privation, received about $100 a year. My parishioners were all pioneer settlers, and most of them did what they could to support the Gospel, and we lived together and God prospered us in spiritual and temporal things.
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Mr. President, your humble speaker and former townsman has known much of the life of the pioneer, both as a man and a minister, and being honored by the appointment of embassador of Jesus Christ to the revolted world of mankind, I have endeavored not only to teach and warn, but also to " pray them in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God."
Having been raised to manhood from thirteen years of age, and enter- ing upon the affairs of civil life as a freeman, commencing I say here in this town, I claim to be a pioneer of Suffield. Yes, sir, I have been some- what a pioneer Methodist minister in this town; for some time I preached alternately in South street and Feather street, every two weeks, and occa- sionally in other parts of the town.
My ministry in this town was about the last of my labor in New Eng- land, excepting a part of the time I preached in Southwick, Mass., which adds another link of evidence to my claim of being a pioneer of Suffield. Of this I boast. I love to advert to Connecticut -yes, to Suffield-as my native home. Enough of self.
Pardon me, Mr. President ; I have unintentionally passed over the first ministers, the pioneers of the Gospel of the Son of God in this town. I should have named the Rev. John Younglove as the first to think and act- verily a pioneer. Mr. Geo. Philips and Mr. Nathaniel Clapp were also pio- neers, and prepared the way for Mr. Benjamin Ruggles to be ordained the first pastor, making him and the church the pioneer pastor and church of Suffield. But Aretas Kent, myself, and perhaps many others, I know not who, have been pioneers from Suffield. Thanks to God for conferring on us so great an honor.
Mr. President, having first alluded to those great hearts and strong arms, the Harmons, as the first pioneers in Suffield, I have recognized the pioneer spirit that followed, especially in the ministers of Suffield, who have shed a hallowed influence on their successors, of which I think I have had a small share.
But, sir, as I have defined the word pioneer, first to think and then to act, it has been radiating in all its ramifications of business life, so that it has become proverbial that the Yankee enterprise going out from Suffield is found everywhere.
At the present time we have heard boast of the great men who have been raised and gone out from Suffield as men of thought and action, pioneers in literature, in arts, and the sciences. You see, sir, that Suffield is renowned for the good and the great. Thanks for your patience and forbearance.
The South Fields-their sturdy oaks and hard soil. "Difficult to wine," they were fit companions and emblems of the unbending and unyielding integrity of our forefathers.
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The vigorous Trumbull family. Having first planted the noble elm in Suffield, pow extend the branches of their lineal tree o'er many a State, and may their leaves be for the healing of nations.
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Letter from J. Hammond Trumbull.
HARTFORD, Oct. 10th, 1870.
DANIEL W. NORTON, ESQ. : MY DEAR SIR: Till this evening I have been hoping that I might be able to accept your obliging invitation to be present at the celebration on Wednesday of the two hundredth anniver- sary of the settlement of Suffield-the earliest home in Connecticut of the Trumbulls. But at this late hour I find myself under the necessity of sending my regrets.
Even if I could be with you, I am not sure that it would be proper for me to speak, on such an occasion, as a representative of the surname. Though I belong to the clan, I am not of (the) Suffield (sept.) My ances- tors remained in Massachusetts more than a hundred years after their kinsmen, the Trumbles of Suffield, came to Stony Brook.
Yet, although I have no Suffield blood in my veins, I should not the less enjoy meeting with you, to recall memories of the old time, and to look at some of the ancient landmarks that I know only by the mention of them in your early records. I would like to trace the boundaries of the first Trumble homelots, on Feather street, and to see the old eh that the two brothers planted near the first Trumble homestead. It " lives yet," I am told, and is now about twenty-five feet in circumference near the ground, surviving the last representative of the Trumble name in Suffield. The best part of it, perhaps, is under ground, as is often true of ancient families and ancient trees ; but the life has not all gone from the old stock, and if it no longer throws out new branches as vigorously as .in former years, scions from it, transplanted to other States, are growing into goodly trees.
I have mentioned the clan of the Trumbulls, and that word suggests the Scottish origin of the surname and birthplace of the family.
In the course of two or three generations, the descendants of the " raid- ing and rieving " borderers were trained to good citizenship, and by the time Connectient began to be settled, the Trumbles-some of them, at least -- were qualified to become planters in a "land of steady habits," and deacons in puritan churches.
Several families of the name were living in Norcastle-on- Tyne, in the early part of the 17th century. When I was searching the register of All Saints Parish, in that city, several years ago, I found the marriage of John Trumble and Elinor Chandler, July 7th, 1035. These it is nearly certain, were the parents of Judah and Joseph, of Suffickl.
When John and Elinor Trumble came to New England is not precisely ascertained. They were living in Rowley, Mass., in 1641. He had been
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admitted a freeman of Massachusetts the year before. His kinsman, Jolm Trumble, of Cambridge and Charlestown, came over as early, at least, as 1636. Mrs. Elinor, or, as she is called in the Rowley records, Ellen Trum- ble, died in 1649. Her husband married a second wife, who survived him. At his decease, in 1657, he left three sons, John, Judah, and Joseph, all by his first wife. John, the ellest, lived and died in Rowley. About 1600 he was on the point of removal to Suffield, but he had not yet estab- lished himself there at the time of his decease, in the winter of 1690-91.
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