USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > Colonial history of Hartford, Connecticut > Part 25
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The school in Hartford, so far as we are aware, as before in their arsenal school-house, with such i ments as could be afforded. Mr. William Andr teaching it in 1648. On February 1, 1649-50, Mr Fitch, who was a son of Joseph Fitch and a nephew James Fitch of Saybrook and Norwich, presumab an engagement for three years, "to teach such ch shall be thought fitt to be taught by him." To al ances, he fell out by the wayside, for, on November it was ordered that Mr. Andrews should keep scho "present year," beginning the 29th of the previ tember. In 1651, Mr. Fitch married Susanna, tl
1 Conn. Col. Rec., I: 521. Cf. Mass. Col. Rec., II: 6, 9. 2 Conn. Col. Rec., I: 112, 139.
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of Mr. William Whiting. He died in 1659, and was a friend of the school to the last. Meanwhile the town, in furtherance of its project, granted a rate of £20 "towards the erection of the schoole howse," and, on January 12, 1651-2, it voted to raise £40 to be put in the hands of Elder William Goodwin for the same purpose, he being desired to take the care of the work. A year later the town was in debt to him for thirty shillings "wch hee payd for ye scoole house." Then the town votes disclose no more of the matter for several years. We know, however, that Mr. Goodwin and some others were endeavoring meanwhile to secure a certain lot upon which to erect a school-house, and that the interest of Governor Hopkins had been suffi- ciently engaged to express a decided preference for this particular lot as a desirable location. It was the original home-lot of Samuel Greenhill, situated west of our present Main Street, between the Little River and Buckingham Street, and, if it had been secured, the Hopkins Gram- mar School, amply endowed, might now be located there. Samuel Greenhill died soon after his removal to Hartford, leaving a son Thomas, and a daughter Rebecca, who married John Shepard of Cambridge. His widow, Rebecca Green- hill, married Jeremy Adams, by whom she had six children. In this home the family lived until Adams bought the Steele lot, as elsewhere stated. Thomas Greenhill died in 1653, and the rights of the heirs involved this lot in litigation for many years.1 It had advantages as a location for a school- house intended to serve both divisions of the town. It was on a highway, which was fast increasing in importance, and was just south of the bridge across the riveret. That Governor Hopkins had favored this selection, is certain, for, in 1664, Mr. Goodwin wrote as follows: "We do also desire and request that the school house may be set upon the house lot which was lately in the occupation of Jeremy Adams, where our worthy friend did much desire that a school might be set." In 1653, Mr. Goodwin, still intent upon carrying out the earlier votes of the town, sought to purchase this lot, then valued at £30, from Edward Stebbins, his fellow ex-
1 State Archives: Private Controversies; I: 1-18; Manwaring's Hartford Probate Records, I: 119-121.
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ecutor of Thomas Greenhill's will. He encountered strong opposition from Jeremy Adams, whose wife had an interest in it. John Talcott, Samuel Fitch, John White and others, knowing the purpose and probably Governor Hopkins's intentions, urged him to sell. He refused. Delay ensued, and a law suit. Then on December 18, 1655, the town ap- pointed a committee, whose members had been approved by Mr. Goodwin, to take account of the money that he had received from the town for building a school-house, and, on January 23rd, following, they received authority "to end the Biusenes Between mr Goodwin and the Town about a Schole Hovs and order it as they see cause." 1 Deacon Stebbins testified in 1660 that, after Jeremy Adams had refused in 1654 to end the business, the town called back the money out of Mr. Goodwin's hands, "which they had left with him for the building of a school," and "he being frus- trated of a convenient place to sett upon resigned it into their hands." 2 At the same time, John Webster made a similar statement, saying that the town "called upon Mr Goodwin either to have a fchool houfe built or to make return of the money of theirs that he had in his hands, [and] he being not able peaceably to enjoy the place wch he intended to gett his fchool houfe in, made his return of his money to the town." 3 Thus a project, in which Mr. Goodwin was doubt- less acting to accomplish a purpose of Governor Edward Hopkins to found a grammar school in Hartford, failed of accomplishment. In view of the sequel, no one can meas- ure the detriment it probably was to the town of Hartford.
During this period, also, the division in the church oc- curred over the candidacy of Rev. Michael Wigglesworth. Elder Goodwin became the leader of one party, in opposition to Rev. Samuel Stone. That this controversy affected their school, is not doubted. If not otherwise, the employment of Mr. Davis as a teacher in 1655, must have done so. John Davis, son of William Davis of New Haven, had been a college classmate of Mr. Wigglesworth. Gookin calls him - "one of the best accomplished persons for learning as ever
1 Hartford Town Votes, I: 107, 109.
2 State Archives: Private Controversies, II: 3 a.
3 Ibid., II: 4.
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was bred at Harvard College." " 1 He met an untimely death, when Captain James Garrett's ship was lost at sea in the autumn of 1657. In 1655, an engagement was made with him at Hartford for "preaching and schooling," which is not recorded in the town votes. In 1656, the balance of £10, due him for this service to February 7th preceding, was appropriated by the town. The townsmen's account, also, shows that this sum was "appointed to Mr Dauis in the year 1655." Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull has called attention to the fact that it "was contributed or advanced before Janu- ary 20, 1655-6, by six individuals - John Richards, John White, Samuel Fitch, James Steele, Francis Barnard, and the widow of William Gibbons - all of the South-side of Hartford, and three or four of whom were among the 'with- drawers' from the first church in 1669-70." 2 The situa- tion in 1655 evidently was that Mr. Davis found his support largely if not wholly, on the South-side, among the followers of Elder Goodwin. After the fulfillment of the engagement with Mr. Davis, we have no evidence that a grammar school was kept for several years. The church controversy was at its height, and their school interests were submerged. On February 15, 1655-6, a new committee had been appointed, consisting of two from each "Side," to act for the town, "either In Byinge or Bilding a Hoose for a schole Hovse." If they built, they were not to exceed the sum of money due from Mr. Goodwin. It does not appear that anything was done by this committee. It is believed that the school was entirely discontinued, for, as already stated, the towns- men were ordered, in 1658, to care for the town-house and, soon afterwards, to sell it. This view is confirmed by the fact that, on August 12, 1659, when John Talcott made his will, he bequeathed £5 "towards the mayntayning a latin skoll at Hartford, if any be kept here." This was the second legacy the town had received for that purpose, the former being of land at Pennywise from William Gibbons. On March 28, 1660, liberty was granted to Mr. William Pitkin to teach school in Hartford. He was a lawyer, about twenty-four
1 Gookin's "Historical Collections," in 1 Ser. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., I: 202; Sibley's Harvard Graduates, I: 300, 301; Winthrop's History, I: 401 n.
2 Conn. Hist. Soc. Coll., II: 54; Hartford Town Votes, I: 114.
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years of age. There is no record of a grant then made for
his support. Tuition was probably paid that season by
the parents. Most likely his school was kept from the first in some private house. In November following, the towns- men were empowered to hire the house of John Church for a school-house; and to "Incourage mr pitkin to teach such Schollers as shall be sent to him." This house was that of Richard Church on North Main Street, which he had bought from William Spencer. It was probably then vacant be- cause of the removal of the owner, with the "withdrawers," to Hadley. It is another instance proving that early schools were kept in private houses. Such was their arrangement for the next four or five years. Mr. Pitkin was the school- master and he was paid in part by the town.1 Thus we are brought to the end of what may be termed the pioneer period of Hartford's school life. We have the authority of John Trumbull, Esq., who prepared the memorial of 1798, hereafter cited, for stating that, during the first thirty years, there was no school in Hartford, except the grammar school, where the masters taught some Greek and Latin and much a. b. c. Such is the writer's conclusion, after a study of the records.
Governor Edward Hopkins, the son of Edward Hopkins, and Katherine, the sister of Sir Henry Lello, Warden of the Fleet and Keeper of the Palace of Westminster, was born in Shrewsbury, England in 1600. After his education, which was conducted there at the Royal Free Grammar School, he became a merchant in London. He came to New England in 1637, with Theophilus Eaton, whose wife was the mother of Ann Yale, whom Governor Hopkins had married. In 1653, he returned to England, and, upon the death of his brother soon afterwards, he inherited the honors of his uncle as Warden of the Fleet. He lived only a few years. His will, dated March 7, 1656-7, was proved in London on April 30th following. It was found to contain the . following bequest:
"And the residue of any estate there [New England] I do hereby give and bequeath to my father Theophilus Eaton, Esq., Mr. John Davenport, Mr. John Cullick and Mr. 1 Hartford Town Votes, I: 132, 136, 137, 141.
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William Goodwin, in full assurance of their trust and faith- fulness in disposing of it according to the true intent and purpose of me the said Edward Hopkins, which is, to give some encouragement in those foreign plantations for the breeding up of hopeful youths, both at the grammar school and college, for the publick service of the country in future times." "
In a later clause he added to this bequest, in the following provision :
"My farther mind and will is, that, within six months after the decease of my wife £500 be made over into New England, according to the advice of my loving friends Major Robert Thomson and Mr. Francis Willoughby, and conveyed into the hands of the trustees before mentioned, in further prosecution of the aforesaid public ends, which, in the simplicity of my heart, are for the upholding and promoting the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in those parts of the earth." 1
It seems to have been Governor Hopkins's intention to encourage the education of youth, both in grammar school and college. His early allegiance had been to Harvard College. He was President of the Commissioners of the United Colonies in 1644, when Rev. Thomas Shepard pre- sented his memorial asking for contributions to that institu- tion. He was Governor of Connecticut the following month, when that recommendation was adopted by the General Court. After his return to England, Rev. John Davenport of New Haven, probably with a knowledge of the difficulties encountered at Hartford, had solicited, by correspondence, his interest in establishing a college in New Haven. In a reply, dated April 30, 1656, Mr. Hopkins had given the pro- ject encouragement.2 What his mind was in this respect is, perhaps, open to a difference of opinion. As to his intention
1 Winthrop's History, I, 273-275; The Hopkins Fund in Hadley, 1657-1890; Bowditch's The Hopkins Trust, 1889; Bacon's Historical Discourse on the Hopkins Grammar School; Catalogue of the Trustees, etc., of the Hopkins Grammar School of New Haven, 1660-1902; Historical Discourse pronounced at the 250th Anniversary of the Hopkins Grammar School of New Haven, 1910, by Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin; Address by Dr. Henry Parks Wright in Commemorative Exercises upon the 250th Anniversary of the Hopkins Grammar School of New Haven, 1910; Barnard's American Journal of Education, IV: 657 ff.
2 New Haven Col. Rec., II: 370.
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THE COLONIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD
to assist in founding a grammar school in Hartford, there can be no doubt. This purpose, as above disclosed in a study of the records, must have been known to his friends William Goodwin and John Cullick, and probably, also, to some of the inhabitants in Hartford, before his return to England. In view of this knowledge, the town interpreted his will as a provision for the accomplishment of his pur- pose. This accounts for the apparently stupid and stubborn course pursued by the General Court in reference to the ad- ministration of his estate. It was unfortunate that the terms of his will were not more specific; but the uncertainty of conditions in Hartford at the time of his death may, in part, explain this omission. He therefore appointed four trustees, equally divided between Hartford and New Haven, and left them to carry out his purposes, according to their judg- ment. Of these trustees, Governor Eaton died soon after the testator, and Mr. Cullick on January 2, 1662-3, before any settlement was made. The decision was left, therefore, to Messrs. Davenport and Goodwin.
It is a plain matter of record that the General Court of Connecticut used every means within its power to prevent the trustees from the performance of their trust as they interpreted it.1 Feeling in the church controversy was rife, and both Cullick and Goodwin were among the "with- drawers." The very Court before which they were pleaders in 1658, inaugurated this hostile course. That this was just after Cullick and Goodwin had petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for leave to remove up the river, and that the restraint on the estate was temporarily removed in 1659, when it was thought their project had been abandoned, is a sufficient disclosure of the animus of the Connecticut authorities. They desired to secure the estate for the bene- fit of their own Colony, which many may have considered the testator's intentions.2 The Court conceded only one point to the wishes of the trustees - the appointment of Deacon Edward Stebbins and Lieutenant Thomas Bull, in 1661, to manage the estate.3 It then had from Mr. Goodwin,
1 Conn. Col. Rec., I: 322, 338, 341, 345, 350, 361, 37.
2 The Hopkins Fund in Hadley, p. 19.
3 Conn. Col. Rec., I: 374.
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who had removed meanwhile to Hadley, a written tender of £350 to the Colony. This was not accepted; but a com- mittee was named to treat with the trustees, which was refused.1 So the contention went on until March 10, 1663-4, when the General Court removed the sequestration, with some very lame excuses. It was influenced, no doubt, by the advice of Governor Winthrop, who had recently re- turned with their Charter, but more, perhaps, by Mr. Good- win's intimation of "freeing the estate elsewhere," meaning by an appeal to the Chancery Court in England.2
The inventory of this estate, made by the townsmen of Hartford in 1660 and returned to the General Court, amounted to £1382 3s. 6d. Governor Hopkins's Hartford lands were valued at £545.3 The trustees had then decided that one-half of the estate should be given "to further the Colledge at Newhaven," and the other half should be im- proved where they had "power to perform their trust, wch because they could not expect to have [it] at Hartford they concluded it would be best done by them in that new plan- tation vnto wch sundry of Hartford were to remove and [were] even now gone, yet they agreed that out of the whole an 100 li should be given to the Colledge at Cambridg in the Bay." 4 On April 30, 1664, however, Messrs. Davenport and Goodwin agreed to give £400 to Hartford, and divide the balance including the £500 contingent upon the death of Mrs. Hopkins, "between the towns of Newhaven and Hadley," £100 being paid to Harvard College out of Had- ley's share. The provision respecting Hartford was ex- pressed in the following terms:
"The debts and legacie being paid, we do give to the town of Hartford the sum of 400£, of which Hills his farm shall be a part, at the price at which it was sold by us, and pay- ment ready to be delivered if there had been no interrup- tion, the rest of the 400£ in such debts or goods as we or
1 Ibid., I: 578, 579.
2 Ibid., I: 412, 418; XV: 543.
3 The Hopkins Fund in Hadley, p. 19.
4 Ibid., pp. 21, 22. Mrs. Hopkins died Dec. 17, 1698. Harvard College and the Cambridge Grammar School received the contingent bequest of £500, through the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel," by an act of the English Court of Chancery, dated March 19, 1712-13. It amounted to £771 13 s. 7d.
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THE COLONIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD
our agents see meet, provided that this gift be improved according to the true intent of the donor, viz. for or towards the erecting and promoting of a grammar school at Hartford. Provided also that the General Court at Connecticut do grant and give to us, the said Trustees, a writing, legally confirmed, so that neither themselves will, nor any, by, from, or under them shall, disturb or hinder us in our dis- pose, or executing our dispose of the rest of the estate, which, being done this gift is in all respects valid." 1
Following the above, is the request of the trustees as above quoted, with reference to the building of a school- house upon the lot where Governor Hopkins had in his life time desired it. This, therefore, connects the Hopkins bequest with the movement for better educational facilities begun in 1649, of which Elder William Goodwin was sponsor.
On January 18, 1664-5, the Council agreed that the estate should not be further "molested by sequestering," and Messrs. Stebbins and Bull promised to pay the £400 in the spring.2 Meanwhile the town had appointed, December 3, 1664, Samuel Wyllys, James Richards and William Wads- worth a committee to receive the above sum, and employ it, "with whatsoever elce is allredy giuen or shall bee raised to that intent" "for the promoteing of Learning." This committee, profiting by the experience of Mr. Goodwin, sought another location. They settled upon the original home lot of Deacon Andrew Warner, who had removed to Hadley. It was the second lot west of that where their first school-house had stood. In 1659, Mr. Warner had sold it to William Loveridge, a hatter, who agreed to pay for it and an upland lot £130, in wheat, peas and "suteable hats." 3 Perhaps he was disinclined to dispose of his prop- erty; but the Council, on January 4, 1664-5, offered to remit certain fines due from him, if he would sell "for the use of the towne" and remove from the Colony. Accordingly he conveyed his two tracts to the committee. They also received at that time four tracts at Hockanum, comprising fifty-six acres, known as the Hopkins farm, then in the im- provement of William Hills, together with Hopkins's rights
1 The Hopkins Fund in Hadley, p. 26.
2 Conn. Col. Rec., XV: 542, 543.
3 Original Distribution, pp. 58, 490.
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in all future distributions.1 These lands were recorded to the town, January 18, 1665-6, for the "maintenance of the Latin school." Their value could not have been £400, but, how much the committee received in "debts and goods," is unknown. John Trumbull, Esq., who was the treasurer of the fund in 1789, gave the value of these lands as £200.
There were some inhabitants who still considered the Main Street location as preferable. For this reason, or because they wished the entire fund devoted to erecting the building, the town voted, January 30, 1665-6, "that the committee for the schoole should have liberty to build a schoole house in the most convenient place between Wil- liam Warrens & Nath: Willetts house lot, which was Thomas Greenhills." This meant in the broad highway running southward from the bridge. The school-house would then be in Main Street, abreast of the Adams lot. Here it was afterwards erected. On the Loveridge lot, however, there were a house and other buildings, as good and probably better than the school had ever enjoyed. The committee decided, therefore, to use them until better could be afforded. The house was repaired, at an expense of £48, and their school was again in permanent quarters. In 1668, this lot was said to be "now in the possession and improvement of the Town of Hartford," and in a deed of 1673 it is called "The schoole house lot." 2
The school here conducted for many years was variously termed a "Grammar School," "Latin School," or "Free School." The Hopkins arms were hung upon its walls. A frame for them was made in 1678, by Nicholas Desborough, for which Captain John Talcott paid 2s. 6d.2 It was in this school-house that the Indians were confined in 1675, as elsewhere related. The school's affairs were managed by a committee appointed by the town. John Allyn and John Talcott, the Secretary and Treasurer respectively of the Colony, had been added in 1668 to that above-named.
1 Ibid., pp. 421-423; Hartford Land Records, 2: 139. Cf. Orig. Dist., pp. 5 ff.
2 Original Distribution, pp. 175, 444.
$ John Talcott's Account Book, State Library, p. 53. For the arms of Governor Hopkins, impaled with the Lello arms, and used by him on a seal, see 4 Ser. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. VI, plates.
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The names of its early teachers are unknown. In 1673, Rev. Caleb Watson was engaged. His salary was £60 a year. Toward this the town granted a sum not to exceed £30, the inhabitants to send their children free of expense.1 Mr. Watson was a son of John Watson of Roxbury, and was born in 1641. After his graduation at Harvard College in the class of 1661, he began teaching, and, from 1666 to 1673, is said to have been at Hadley. In 1687, the town of Hartford annulled its agreement with him, but perhaps thought better of it, for he continued as teacher until 1705. The town then voted that he be no longer master, and the committee were authorized to provide a successor "to manage that work in Convenient Time." He was then sixty-four years old. His property was encumbered and he was in debt. The town repeatedly abated his interest. In 1681, the General Court granted him two hundred acres of land. He was freed from his taxes in 1708, in "consideration of his good service." A memorial was presented to the As- sembly in 1725 for his relief, he having been "for a multi- tude of years last past in ye office of school master and a great benefactor to the Colony." He died within a year, "an old man much respected." 2
This school had meanwhile become, says Dr. Barnard, "The main reliance of the town for the education of all its children, old and young." Its usefulness in higher education was thus impaired, and the purpose of the Hopkins be- quest was lost to view. After King Philip's War, an opinion more favorable to schools of a lower grade prevailed. Every town of thirty instead of fifty families, was ordered, in 1678, to teach its children to read and write. In 1690, there being still "many persons unable to read the English tongue," provision was made to compel such instruction. It was also enacted that there should be two free schools in the Colony, one at Hartford and the other at New Haven. These schools were to teach "reading, writeing, arithmetick, the Lattin and Greek tongues." The master was to be paid jointly by the school's revenue, the town and the Colony. All
1 Hartford Town Votes, I: 170, 171, 173, 175, 184, 195, 203, 222, 223.
2 Sibley's Harvard Graduates, II: 95-98; Hartford Town Votes, I: 291, 294. 309; Conn. Col. Rec., III: 93; IV: 305, 323, 429; V: 72; State Archives: College and School, I: 57.
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elementary town schools, "as disstinct from the free schoole," were to be kept six months each year. The only qualifica- tion for admittance to the free school was an ability to "read the psalter." 1 Under these conditions, such instruction in Hartford was given at home or under a school-dame. Good- wife Kake was the teacher of Captain Talcott's children in 1675; and this primary teaching was doubtless the rule for years.
Thus, one of the Colony's free schools was located in Hartford. It was accomplished by transforming the old Grammar School. New interest was awakened, without any marked improvement. Its buildings were then old. The time had come for an edifice erected especially for a school-house. Again they turned to the site formerly se- lected, and decided to use the privilege granted by the town to build in Main Street, abreast of it. The location of the Second Church, and the enterprise that had gathered in that neighborhood, had augmented the importance of the bridge as a public center. Dr. Barnard says of this school-house that, in 1760, it had stood there for "seventy years," just south of Linden Place. The town votes make no mention of its erection. Perhaps such action was taken at the annual town meeting in 1691, the record of which is omitted. In 1692, the rate rose for some special reason from £45 to £121. The school committee was authorized in 1698 to ascertain the town's rights in the old property and "to dispose of said house & lot cald ye Town house" to the best advantage of the school and the town. Probably it was rented for a time. In 1710, they were empowered to exchange it for meadow or other land of greater benefit to the school, which they did, two years later.2
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