USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > Colonial history of Hartford, Connecticut > Part 22
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2 See "The Connecticut Gore Land Company," by Albert C. Bates, in Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1898, pp. 141 ff .; The Hartford Times, Oct. 20, 1908.
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quently they received assistance from the State. The build- ing is said to have cost $52,480. A Hartford builder - Joseph Woodbridge - was in charge of the construction.
That this State House was erected after a design by Charles Bulfinch, cannot be doubted. It is unnecessary to produce drawings by this architect to prove this claim. Experts attribute the design to no other. There is, however, in the Comptroller's office at the State Capitol, a bill ren- dered by John Chester, chairman of the committee, for his expenses in September 1792 to Boston, then the archi- tect's home. It reads: "To Journey & expences to Boston for a plan of faid State House, $31.60." He was probably moved to this because of the advice of his associate, John Trumbull of Hartford. On September 30th, Trumbull wrote a letter to Hon. Oliver Wolcott at Philadelphia, in which he says: "A new State House is to be built here next year upon a Design of Mr. Bulfinch, which I think is worth executing in the best materials." 1 The writer then specifies certain particulars and gives details of the building, on which he desired to secure an estimate in marble. These could only have been given after an acquaintance with a design. It would seem that Mr. Chester's visit to Boston was suc- cessful, and that John Trumbull had examined the design, and possibly had it before him when he wrote.
This building was first occupied by the General Assembly in May 1796. It was then practically completed. The balustrade around the roof was added in 1815. In 1822, the cupola was ordered. It is said to have been copied from that of New York's old City Hall. John Stanwood put it up in 1827. The Common Council of Hartford appropriated $150. in 1848 for a clock. The balance was paid by private subscription. The bell was cast in 1830, by Enos Doolittle for Ward, Bartholomew and Brainard of Hartford. While all that has been said or written of the architectural excel- lence of this historic edifice is true, it must ever be regretted that it can no longer be seen, as originally intended, from the eastward slope at the head of State Street. Its front en- trance was on that side, and distance is necessary to reveal its stately elegance. This view was obstructed by the gov-
1 Wolcott Papers, VIII: 64, in collections of the Conn. Hist. Soc.
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ernment building, occupied in 1882. Pictures alone can disclose the State House and its surroundings in earlier days. As seen in them, with its esplanade planted with trees; a broad paved walk leading up to its steps; its three arches below closed by iron gates, and lofty windows above, through which one formerly looked from its portico, the whole surrounded by an iron fence, each post of which was a lictor's fasces - this public building was worthy of the honor that has been awarded to it by many a visitor.1 This is the only edifice in Hartford that makes good claim to be historic. Here, the Hartford Convention met Decem- ber 15, 1814, and the Constitutional Convention in 1818. More than thirty of Connecticut's governors have been inaugurated within its walls, where most of the State's public men for more than a century have been assembled. The chronicler for President Monroe, who visited Hartford June 23, 1817, mentioned it first, after stating that "the public buildings, considering the size of the place, are not exceeded by any town in the Union." Other Presidents of the United States have been the city's guests - President Jackson, June 17, 1833; President Polk, June 28, 1847; President Johnson, June 20, 1866; President Grant, July 2, 1870 - and, if they have not entered its doors, they must have looked with admiration upon the Capitol, as they passed. On September 4, 1824, the Marquis de La Fayette received from Hartford the most enthusiastic welcome ever given by her citizens to a visitor from abroad. Escorted by the military, and attended by his son, George Washington La Fayette, he rode through the city's streets in Daniel Wadsworth's carriage drawn by four white horses, and, along the way, the multitude rent the air with shouts - "Welcome to La Fayette " "Welcome to La Fayette." On the east front of the State House he was greeted by eight hundred school children, whose badges bore in French the sentiment "We love you, La Fayette." They presented the hero with a gold medal inscribed "Presented by the
1 The esplanade was early surrounded with a wooden fence with turned posts and bars. Inside of it a row of Lombardy poplars was planted. In 1834 the Legis- lature ordered an iron fence, for which $8000 was appropriated. In 1882 it was removed to the Old People's Home on Jefferson Street. Later it was secured to enclose the grounds of the West Middle School.
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Children of Hartford, Sept. 4th 1824." In the senate cham- ber, which had been elaborately decorated, he was introduced to many of the ladies of the city. There was an evergreen arch on the west side of the State House, bearing on the right and left the words "Monmouth" and "Yorktown." Here he reviewed the procession. In the line, there was a com- pany of eighty Revolutionary Veterans, under the command of Judge Hillyer. Many were old, and some were maimed. As they passed La Fayette, he stretched out his hand, and they all drew near to shake it, with much feeling - a moment that was never forgotten in after years by those heroes of American Independence.
The Connecticut Legislature held its last session in the State House in March, 1878. Its alteration for municipal purposes was then determined, and the city took possession March 13, 1879. The famous spiral staircase, with its graceful hand rail, which had been the work of Asher Benja- min, was then removed. The senate chamber was refitted for the Board of Aldermen, and the hall of representatives for the Councilmen. The building was dedicated to city uses October 22, 1879.
The City Hall of Hartford, previous to the occupation of the State House, was located on Market Street. This building was projected partly because a new market was needed. An auditorium was also desired for promiscuous public uses. Town meetings, after the erection of the old Court House, had usually been held in that building, though occasionally the inhabitants met in one or the other of the meeting-houses. There had been, however, a growing senti- ment against the secular use of places of worship. On the other hand, amusements of various kinds had increased in popularity.1 A commodious hall had thus come to be a public necessity. The matter was presented to the Council November 1, 1827, by Mayor Nathaniel Terry. It was favorably received, and a committee was appointed to inquire as to sites. The report recommended the purchase of the Lee homestead on Market Street. This lot had been under consideration by the parish of Christ Church as a
1 See Dr. Parker's chapter on "Social Life after the Revolution" in Mem. Hist. of Hartford County, I: 578 ff.
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location for their new edifice. It was deeded to the city November 9, 1827. At the time, some favored a site on Trumbull Street, and others the use of State House Square, where stores underneath the hall could be rented. Plans were presented on January 28th, following. The dimensions of the building as erected, were sixty by one hundred and ten feet. The market on the ground floor provided about twenty stalls, those on the east side being entered by wide doors. A broad aisle ran north and south. The floor was of flagging. A "Watch House" for the four night watch- men, who then constituted the city's police force, was built in the southwest corner. At the north end were two rooms, one with cells where disturbers of the peace were confined. On the second floor, there were rooms for military and vari- ous other purposes. Those at the north end were for the Common Council. The hall itself, with an anteroom at the entrance, was on the third floor. A gallery at the south end was built in 1829. There are many living who remember this building and scenes within it, such as town meetings of the old sort, political gatherings, military occasions, gradu- ating exercises, lectures, fairs, dramatic performances and balls. Here Daniel Webster was heard in 1837, and Abra- ham Lincoln in 1860. There was a time in Hartford's his- tory when this City Hall was the center of a large social life, now scattered in many places; but the story pertains to more recent times.1
To return to the town's earlier history, it should be said that some buildings, now considered essential to public interests, were wholly unknown in early New England life. The system of town government was very simple. The selectmen were the high local officials. Of all their officers, the town clerk usually had the longest term of service. This was generally due to the natural fitness of certain men for such work, in communities where few had the time for it or were familiar with records. Prior to the Revolution, Hartford had only six town clerks. These were: John Steele, chosen November 16, 1639, served twelve years; William Andrews, January 12, 1651-2, eight years; John Allyn, April 11, 1659, thirty-seven years; Richard Lord,
1 The Hartford Post, May 27, 1893.
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December 23, 1696, nine years; Hezekiah Wyllys, Decem- ber 25, 1705, twenty-seven years; and George Wyllys, December 12, 1732, fifty years. The deeds of this entire period filled only sixteen volumes. About the same time has elapsed since, and the deeds have filled more than three hundred and sixty volumes. Such has been the develop- ment of Hartford. The early town clerks, having only a few books in their care, kept them where it was convenient - in their homes, stores or offices. It is the town's good fortune that none have been lost or burned. This fact shows why there was no demand for a public record office. The present Halls of Record building was not erected until 1853.1 It was preceded by a small building, which stood on the south side of Pearl Street, where the State Savings Bank is now located. It was used for town clerk and probate purposes. The land was bought, in 1835, from Robert Watkinson, and the building was erected the next year.2
One of the public places that would soon be inquired for today by a visitor to any town, is the post-office. Buildings devoted solely to this service, were unknown in colonial times. A consideration of their early custom of dispatching letters, and its development into a postal system is pertinent, however, and very important to an acquaintance with their life. In earliest times messengers came and went at inter- vals, mostly on public business. Letters were committed to them, and also to neighbors and friends, for delivery. Even the stranger considered this a matter of politeness. Places were naturally appointed by convenience or authority where letters were received or dispatched. At Boston in 1639, Richard Fairbanks's place was so named. There was a monthly mail between New York and Boston in 1672. Connecticut, and especially Hartford, New Haven and New London, profited by their location on the route of through travel. Sir Edmund Andros proposed to have "John Perry the post" go from Boston to Hartford monthly, during the winter of 1687-8, and "oftener in the spring"; but his project failed.3 A new era in this service began with
1 Hartford Land Records, 84: 474; 91: 67, 68.
2 Ibid., 57: 29; Mem. Hist. of Hartford County, I: 372.
3 Conn. Col. Rec., III: 393, 398, 442.
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the issue of letters patent by King William and Queen Mary, February 17, 1691-2, to Thomas Neale, Esq., providing for a postmaster-general of all the American Colonies.1 Andrew Hamilton was then appointed manager; and the post be- tween New York and Boston was continuous thereafter. In 1693, a general office was established in Boston. The rate to Connecticut was nine pence. John Campbell was later made postmaster at Boston. In 1704, he began pub- lishing The Boston News-Letter. His successor, Ellis Huske, also established a newspaper - The Boston Weekly Post- Boy. There was an obvious connection between the post- master's office and the printed dissemination of news. Thomas Short, the first printer of Connecticut, engaged with the General Assembly, in 1708, to dispatch with speed the acts and proclamations that he printed.2 John Campbell early announced in his paper a fortnightly service between Boston and New York, by which Hartford and Saybrook were alternately the points where the post-riders met. In 1708, he proposed to the General Assembly "to settle a constant post between the towns of Hartford and Saybrook," and asked some allowance therefor.3 It seems probable, therefore, that some convenient place in Hartford was early made a depository, where a letter could be left for the first traveller or post-rider going to its destination. Inns were often so used. Still we are unable to identify any such place during the first half of the eighteenth century. On January 1, 1755, James Parker and Company began to publish in New Haven The Connecticut Gazette. It was printed "at the Post Office, near the sign of the White- Horfe." In 1761, the "Printing and Post Offices" there were at the house formerly occupied by Captain Hatch. To further the circulation of his paper, Parker employed a post-rider in 1755. He went weekly from New Haven to Hartford, via Wallingford and Middletown. Parker's ad- vertisement on October 18th says, "My good cuftomers at or near Hartford are defired to pay their Arrears to Mr. John McKnight." This gentleman, who then lived on Wethersfield Avenue, was a Hartford merchant. He prob-
1 Acts and Resolves of Mass., I: 115; VII: 50, 430, 434.
2 Conn. Col. Rec., V: 69. 3 Ibid., V: 69.
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ably received and delivered copies of Parker's newspaper, and possibly had some further connection with this early post service. At that time, letters and papers were received and delivered at Hon. Jonathan Trumbull's store in Lebanon, Hugh Ledlie's in Windham and Daniel and Joshua Lothrop's in Norwich. The Connecticut Gazette was suspended in 1764, and, on October 29th of that year, the prospectus of The Connecticut Courant was issued. In 1764, also, John Walker was appointed postmaster of Hartford. He was the son-in- law of Dr. Normand Morrison, who had died in 1761. The postmaster was living on the Morrison estate, the house and shop being on the east side of Main Street, a few rods north of the square. Here he kept the post-office. It was adver- tised as a place "well accommodated for a merchant or tradesman." In 1767, there was some irregularity about Walker's accounts, and he was displaced and lodged in Hartford gaol. The case did not come to an issue in the courts, much to the disappointment of James Parker, who had become, meanwhile, secretary to the postmaster-general in New York.1 On October 22, 1767, William Ellery, maternal grandfather of Governor Thomas H. Seymour, was commissioned postmaster by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Foxcroft, joint postmasters-general. He kept the post-office at his store, "near the Great Bridge." The post- riders were then Isaac Tucker and John Bunce. Andrew Hurd was engaged in 1769. Their route was between New York and Boston, via Hartford, which had one post day a week. This service did not pay, and it was proposed to discontinue it. Secretary Parker thought the riders carried more letters for themselves than they did for the service. They were allowed to deliver packages at their own rates; and certain persons evaded the postage by enclosing letters. An order was issued in 1771, requiring the receiving post- master to open these packages. Mr. Ellery resigned in 1770, and a commission was issued to Mr. Knight Sexton, but the former postmaster soon resumed office. He served until 1777, being recommissioned by Franklin, September 22, 1775. For a time in 1771, the office was removed to the
1 "Seymour Papers" in Boardman Collection, State Library, No. 5479 to No. 5499.
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house of John Ledyard, Esq., on Arch Street. James Parker died in 1770, and Alexander Colden succeeded him. The latter was followed by R. N. Colden. In 1774, the secretary sent Mr. Ellery "a set of Stamps" for the Hartford office. The postmaster was required to mark each letter as it came into his office, with the name of the town, month and day of the month. The Connecticut Courant of April 7, 1777, announced the resignation of William Ellery and the suc- cession of Thomas Hilldrup, who settled in Hartford about 1772. He was a watch maker and repairer. His shop was located "a few rods north of the State House," where Dr. Jepson had been. Here he kept the post-office for several years, removing thence to another shop, "a few rods south- west of the State House." His frequent change of location afterwards made the post-office a jest among the towns- people. In 1790, the national postal system was established, and Thomas Hilldrup was its first Hartford postmaster, being appointed February 16, 1790. He was succeeded, on January 1, 1795, by Ezekiel Williams, who served until 1803.1 One can easily imagine what this post-office in Hart- ford was in colonial times - a mere depository for the con- tents of the postboy's saddle-bags. The conditions during the Revolutionary War augmented the importance of it and increased its use, but they did not tend toward its reg- ulation as a business enterprise. After the town became a convenient connection in stage travel, and prominent through river trade and its own enterprise, the post-office began to assume a new function in commercial life.
1 Hartford Sunday Journal, June 25, 1882.
CHAPTER XV SOCIAL RESORTS AND LIFE
THE man some students of Hartford's early history would most like to interview, is the traveller who has thoroughly seen the town and is about to resume his journey. If the ferryman had only kept a record of the gossip he heard, and had passed his notebook on to his successors, it would have told an interesting story. His passenger would have had little to say about the houses, churches, mills, shops or highways of the town, for they were like others throughout New England; but he would have given us some inside information concerning the resorts, occasions, customs and dress of the town's society. Now and then, some one did visit our fathers, even from abroad, and print a few of his observations. A Frenchman, who came in 1788, wrote of the town: "It is confidered as one of the moft agreeable in Connecticut on account of its society." 1 To another visitor, we are indebted for a description of the doings on election day. If others had only told us in detail what they saw and heard during the fair week in May or September, on a market or training-day, or about some good dame's tea-table, we would become acquainted with the town's social life. There were no novels written in that day, nor society journals. They took no photographs. Very few wrote letters on the common affairs of life. Occasionally some one made a deposition in court, and then the plain truth was told. The fact is, that the antiquary's most difficult task is to picture, with proper drawing and color, the life of colonial times that every one would now find most interesting. Records, genealogies, furniture, portraits and grave-yards, while they are valuable, are apt to make our ancestors appear too much like mummies in a museum. Perhaps there are some reasons for gratitude in the dis- closures made concerning a few, of those days, who lied,
1 New Travels in America, by J. P. Brissot de Warville, p. 72.
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stole, slandered their neighbors and became drunk at the taverns, just like modern folks, for that is unmistakable evidence that their daily life was such as our own. At first, social life in New England was quite like that of the Puritan class in the mother country. Here, however, it had another environment and, as time passed, it came into its own - a type of society that could be found nowhere else. It is impossible here to trace minutely the development of this social life. Let it suffice that we introduce the reader to some places in early Hartford to which it habitually resorted, and to those special occasions when, in its best attire, it displayed itself in public.
The reason for the law of 1644, establishing inns, was, the need of entertainment for "passengers and strayngers." These innkeepers were to be nominated by the inhabitants of each town, and to be approved by two magistrates. We have no record of early nominations in Hartford. Perhaps Thomas Ford, Jeremy Adams and Zachary Sandford may be considered as innkeepers, by the appointment of the General Court. Naturally, these inns soon became widely known. There, all travellers or distinguished guests sought entertainment. Few prominent planters of that time were not, on occasion, attendants at court and, probably, guests at the inn. Jeremy Adams was doubtless a typical landlord. He was a man of some standing in the town, had been a constable, and, in 1638, was twice appointed to attend Captain Mason in trading with the Indians for corn. On some public matters he seems to have been considered an authority. He certainly had a mind of his own, and was not always backward in expressing it. On one occasion, he encouraged Thomas Hosmer to resist an officer, and was guilty of "passionat distempered speches, lowd languadge & vnmannerly cariedge" before the court. He was careless in his financial management; a man, too, it is thought, who had some personal idiosyncrasies. And yet he was apparently the inhabitants' or court's choice to succeed Thomas Ford as innkeeper. Probably he had some affable and generous characteristics, which made him a good entertainer with wit and wisdom, as well as in the culinary department. At least his inn was a popular resort for social life. It stood
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some rods back from the roadway. In front of it there was a well. A garden and outbuildings were conveniently placed in the rear. It was just such an inn as a man, who was nearly thirty years old when he left England, would have established in a new country - as much like the old inn of his native town as it could be. The same scenes transpired within it as are recorded of famous hostelries across the sea. There, its habitués discussed political issues, named their candidates for the next town meeting or the Colonial government, and by unanimous consent drank to their military heroes. Sometimes, commissioners of great dignity spent many days there. Officials of fame in other colonies arrived, creating a flutter of excitement throughout the community, and, in due time, departed. If an Indian war was raging, military officers held important councils there. One can easily imagine the arrival of expected scouts. Ministers sometimes met there. It was then as proper for them to drink rum as it was for their parishioners. That old inn probably witnessed many a festive scene about Landlord Jeremy's hospitable board. Alas, courts were held there, when stories, criminal or scandalous were re- hearsed, and the condemned went forth to the pillory, stocks, whipping-post or gallows. These were the sensa- tions of the community. Any day, the landlord might have expected at nightfall the coming of the young emigrant family on their way westward; or the visit of the frontier farmer, for some news to carry back to his solitude and some- thing to cheer him on his way homeward; or the arrival of the captain, whose ship had anchored in the river off the landing-place with a cargo from the West Indies or Eng- land; or the summons of the mud-covered rider, who had certain packets of important papers for the Colonial Gover- nor, and perhaps letters for delivery to the inmates of Hart- ford's homes. All these were welcome visitors. They had news from the border settlements, from the Bay, or from the great outside world and the home government, upon which so much of their prosperity and happiness depended. The landlord could then replenish his wasted stock of news, for that, rather than rum, was the important commodity in maintaining an ancient inn. It was that which gathered
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his customers. In the course of time, the post-rider arrived at such inns with some regularity. Then many awaited the disclosure of his treasures. It was toward the close of the colonial era, we must remember, that newspapers came into circulation. One reason why they were so barren of local items was, that the inhabitants had this other method of disseminating news. It was carried by travellers from inn to inn. That custom helped to make the New Englanders of those times a race of newsmongers. Thus the ancient inn had a useful mission, notwithstanding some incidental harm. It quickened the intelligence of society, disseminated much necessary information, furthered the moral advan- tages of publicity, helped to restrain and detect crime, served the people for a post-office, often sent abroad warn- ings of danger, and dispatched many a message of courage, cheer and affection. Jeremy Adams and his successors were important factors in all this. He must have had some quali- ties that made him the man for the place, to have held such sway until his death in 1683. At all events, his demise was properly mourned, for John Talcott, treasurer of the Colony, notes in his accounts, that he paid for "3 Gallons and 3 quarts of wine for Jer: Adams funerall."
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