USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > Colonial history of Hartford, Connecticut > Part 31
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was precisely like that in Mr. Stone's house, only the teacher used the second floor.
The records furnish little information concerning the size of these early houses. The report sent to the Com- mittee for Trade, in 1680, states that their buildings were generally of wood, though there were some of stone and brick, "many of them of good strength and comelynesse" for a wilderness. The following added words were crossed out in the record: "many 40 foot long and 20 foot broad, and some larger: three and four stories high." These dimensions were not far from those of the town's larger houses at that date. A journal speaks of the removal of one in 1775, exactly that size. Messrs Isham and Brown, who have made a thorough and interesting study of Early Connecticut Houses, have given us the measurements of some that have remained to recent years. The dimensions of the Robert Webster or Dorus Barnard house, erected in 1660 and standing until 1899, on Retreat Avenue, were about 40 by 20 feet. The Captain John Barnard house, erected near it about 1680 and surviving to recent years, was 40 feet 4 inches long and 32 feet 7 inches wide, includ- ing the leanto. These represent the larger mansions. The majority were smaller. We should expect this of one story houses, but some of two stories, in which large families dwelt, were of small proportions. The leanto, if it extended the entire length in the rear, and was from ten to fourteen feet wide, added considerably to the size, both in capacity and appearance. In houses that had only a hall and a par- lor on the first floor, the rooms were sufficiently spacious to display no little dignity, notwithstanding their low ceilings.
It is sufficient for our purpose to deal in a general way with the materials of these early houses, and the manner in which they were constructed. The volume above cited is an admirable text-book for further study. The red sandstone quarried along the Little River was a desirable material especially for underpinning and their large chimneys. The ease with which it could be obtained, and its convenient flat surfaces, rather than a scarcity of brick, accounts for its general use in early Hartford. From the beginning, bricks
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were put into chimneys. In 1639, John Gennings was allowed for sweeping "6d for bricke & 3d for Clay." Their framing timbers were hewn, often in the woods and hauled by oxen to their house-lots. Plank and boards were prepared at the saw-pit. William Goodwin established the first sawmill on the Hockanum River. He early acquired land there, but, at what date his mill was in operation, is un- certain. In 1654, he was granted liberty by the General Court to take timber from waste land, "to keep his sawe mill in imployment." The property passed to his son-in- law, John Crow; but it is doubtful if this mill was of large assistance in early building operations. John Allyn had a saw-mill on the same river, in 1672. The framing of these colonial houses has always won admiration. It demanded great labor, and was well done. For the average settler, it was the most difficult part of house-building. Surviving examples represent, however, the better class of dwellings. All early houses were not so well built, and, in comparison, did not stand long, as the records prove. The house frame being set up, most of the work on the walls could have been done by the settler himself. Between the studs or posts, they filled in with bricks plastered on the sides, or, when the walls were boarded, with clay. In New London, they sometimes used seaweed, and other materials were doubtless utilized in Hartford. Wide horizontal weather-boards, set close with bevelled edges, are thought to have been the rule in the outside finish of early framed houses. Clapboards were used on better buildings, nailed directly to the studs. Their roofs were steep and shingled. The floors were of wide and thick oak, or hard pine boards. Doors were usually plain. The windows were small. At first, wooden shutters were generally used, probably protecting an inside window of cloth or oiled paper, which admitted the light. For the better houses, window-frames were provided, leaded with small diamond-shaped panes of glass. These frames were at first brought from England. Early houses must have varied greatly in their inside finish. The poor had always plenty of our red clay, mixed with a wiry meadow grass. This was skillfully used in those times, and gave an interior the appearance of a plastered house. Uncovered beams and
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THE COLONIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD
studs - into which they drove wooden pegs on which to hang their arms, hats or garments - were a relief to the interior. Houses of the wealthier inhabitants, especially their halls and parlors, were sometimes lined with unpainted wainscoting. Such a hall might have been very attractive, with walls to which the escaping smoke of a blazing fire had given the hues of age, and furnishings of antique pattern, which many of them contained.
It is well known that the prevailing plan of colonial houses changed with the advance of years. The view that the land and probate records reveal connects these changes very closely with the internal prosperity and social conditions of New England during certain periods. As the conquest of the Pequots in 1637 awakened new life in the Colony, so did their later wars. Large and costly houses built before King Philip's War were few, and were owned by the wealthier families. The leanto was an addition. One who needed more room sometimes erected an extension to his house. After that war there was a revival of interest in house-building. Many early houses disappeared. Most of the original settlers, who had been content with pioneer conditions, had died. Their children had entered into the rewards of economy and thrift. The houses of the new era were much the same in interior arrangement, but they were generally larger, and the division of rooms was more com- mon. In the rear we have the long, sloping roof covering the leanto, which had become an integral part of the house. The middle of the eighteenth century witnessed another revival of building interest. Homestead lots within the town were divided up. On outlying farms, new and better houses were built. The increase of wealth and trade also exerted an influence. Commercial intercourse between the river towns and other colonies introduced new fashions. The gambrel-roof house then found favor. It had a central hall-way, with rooms on each side and end chimneys. An ell for a kitchen was often added. This plan continued in vogue for years after the Revolutionary War, and until the introduction of those classic features that have been attributed incorrectly to colonial times. Throughout these changes, their houses preserved, as a rule, that plain and
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unpainted exterior, which was in harmony with their Puri- tan taste and fashion.
The inventories of colonial times show that housekeepers differed in the use they made of similar rooms and hence in their furnishings. In small houses without a leanto, the hall was their kitchen and dining-room. Richard Seymour had such a house, the "out room" being used as a kitchen and dining-room and the "inner room" as a chamber. The house of John Maynard, afterwards owned by the Day family, had two stories. At the former's death in 1657, the kitchen and hall occupied the first floor. Above each, there was a chamber. In the hall he had "one long Table, one short table, 6 Joynd stooles, Two cubberds wth Iroware and othr implements wth one Mufket and sword, 3 books." Additions made for cooking purposes altered the interior of their halls. The parlor was usually provided with a bed, presumably the best one, as it was assigned to guests; but the mention of other articles indicates that this room was put to general uses. Their most valuable furniture is often found in it, with their best clothes, linen, dishes and personal treasures. The contents of second floor chambers was limited, and much the same in all houses. In Rev. Samuel Stone's parlor chamber the furnishings were "a liuery Cub- board, Andirons, Bedsted, 2 Chests, cushions, Curtaines & Valions, Boulsters and Pillowes, Brushes, blancketts, Goods, Broadcloth searge, earthen ware, Two sadles, Nap- kins, Table Cloath, sheets, pillow Beers, Towels, glasses, a wheel & reale, and a press." The chamber over Rev. Thomas Hooker's old parlor contained "a featherbed and boulster, 2 pillowes, a strawbed, 2 blankitts, a rugg, and couerlitt, darnix hangings in 7 peeces, window curtaines, curtaines and valence to the bed, a bedstead, 2 chaires, and 3 stooles, andirons &c in the chimny, & a courte cubberd, curtaines and valence to the same bed of green say, and a rugg of the same, with window curtaines." Trundle-beds were common in such apartments, and greatly needed where there were large families of children. Such beds continued in New England homes to recent times.
The furnishings of these houses, at least in early years, were very plain and not so costly as some have thought.
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THE COLONIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD
From England they brought chests filled with sheets, pillow-biers, blankets, rugs, table-cloths, napkins, towels, curtains, cushions and the like. Most every family had one or more chests. Wealthier settlers unquestionably brought some furniture. All of them came provided with certain kitchen utensils, kettles, pewter dishes and implements necessary in their simple culinary service. It is evident, however, that some of their early furniture was of home manufacture. The inventory value of such articles varies greatly, in comparing the poor with the rich. We know, also, that there were skilled cabinet-makers among them, who could never have made a living on their lands. It was not long before these and other artisans supplied some of their needs. Most of their stools and forms were home- made. These were commonly their seats, according to the custom in England. In the inventories of seventy-five householders from 1641 to 1659, Dr. Irving W. Lyon found only one hundred and fifty chairs. Some poorer families had none. Such rare specimens as he shows in his volume on the Colonial Furniture of New England, were the posses- sions of the wealthy. The average family may have had a few treasures brought from an ancestral home; but, for the most part, the settlers of the first generation were content with the simple furniture that could be readily secured, or was made in their cabinet shops. Nor is any marked in- crease of luxury in their interior furnishings apparent throughout most of the colonial period. The Haynes family will suffice for illustration. Governor John Haynes died in 1653. His home-lot was on the northwest corner of Arch and Front streets. At his death, he had a spacious "Mansion House," "with Outhouses, Barns, Stables, Or- chards & Gardens." He had expended, of his own fortune, several thousand pounds in establishing the Colony, and his character and public services deserve a lasting memorial. Of the interior of his house, the hall is the best index. It was probably a room the size of a small double parlor. Often it must have been put to public uses. The furnish- ings were, "5 leather Chaires, 4 flagg bottome Chaires, one table, 3 Joined stooles, one tinn hanging Candelftick, 7 Cufhins, fire lock mufkett, 1 Carbine, 1 match-lock mufkett,
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one rapier, 1 pare Cobirons, 1 Iron Back, 1 gilded looking glafe, 1 greate bible, 1 fmothing Iron." It has been thought that Governor John Winthrop lived in this house, after he was chosen to office in 1657. He was then invited to "come & liue in Hartford, wth his family, while hee gou'nes," and the General Court then offered him the yearly use of the "housing & lands in Hartford belonging to Mr. John Haynes." At his death in 1676, he had considerable house- hold property in Hartford, valued at £73 1 s. 4 d. Perhaps Rev. Joseph Haynes lived in the same house. When he died in 1679, the hall contained, "one Cupboard wth Cup- board cloths wth some earthen ware standing upon it, two tables & chairs, 3 chishens, 2 Andirons, 1 brafs candlestick." In due time this home was occupied by his son, Judge John Haynes, who died in 1713. At that time the hall's furnish- ings were, "a great Table, Carpet, Lefser Table, 9 Leathr Chairs, Seven Lefser Chairs, a Looking glafs, hour glafs, pa. Iron doggs, fire slice, pa. Tongs, gridiron, Trevitt, Lamp, a Toafting Iron, Earthen Ware, drinking glafses and Small Vialls, Knives and forks, chaffing difh."
The arms of those times were usually kept in the hall. Every home was provided with some weapon of defense, and certain warlike individuals seemed to have a small armory. The inventory of Richard Lord, 1711, exhibits an exceptional collection of arms -"A short new fuzee, Do. longer, a Carbine, a small peice, long peice, round barrel, 1 Do, Old Carbine, a long gun, Cafe piftolls and holsters, hoosing and caps, A plate belt Sword, Another Sword, two old blads, An old Sholder belt, Cane wth plate head, do ivory, An hunting whip, a musquet." Sometimes a saddle and riding bridle were apparently kept in the hall, but they are found in the parlor, a chamber, or a closet. In the hall we would naturally look for the family clock; but time-pieces of any kind were scarce. George Wyllys, at his death in 1644, bequeathed a watch to his son Samuel. The inventory of Captain Richard Lord, 1662, mentions a watch, which, perhaps, descended to his grandson, Richard Lord, and is valued at his death, in 1711, at £12. In the estate of Elisha Lord, 1725, a watch is noted. Rev. Samuel Stone, 1663, Lt. Col. John Talcott, 1688, Judge Nathaniel Stanley, 1712,
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and others, had hour-glasses. The inventory of Rev. Thomas Hooker, 1649, is the earliest to mention a clock. It was kept in his new parlor, the entire furnishings of which were valued at only £5. It was probably a small brass clock, hung high on the wall, with its weight exposed. A clock in the estate of Governor Thomas Welles, 1659, was valued at £1. Major James Richards, 1680, had one valued at £3. About the middle of the eighteenth century, a "clock reall" is common. Among the possessions of Rev. Nathaniel Hooker of Hartford, who died in 1770, there was "A Clock and Cafe" valued at £5. This was doubtless a tall, cased eight-day clock, of the pattern introduced into New England late in the seventeenth century, but rarely found in towns like Hartford until after the Revolu- tionary War.1 Isaac Sheldon, who died in 1786, had a "Mohogony Clock" valued at £12. It is interesting to see in some early inventories pieces of furniture that were highly valued, such as livery-cupboards, inlaid tables and the like. To many an inhabitant, these were doubtless the cherished reminders of an English home. There were many, however, especially young men without families, the circumstances of whose departure from England did not permit them to bring such articles. Occasionally, some one like Major Richards had a piece of armor. Many, doubt- less, had swords, which they had carried in England. Nathaniel Hooker's inventory in 1763, mentions a "Coat of Arms of the family." In 1796, John Haynes Lord's estate included a "cote of arms." Captain Joseph Talcott, in 1799, had a "Family Seal." Others had the like, and they were used in sealing documents.
The ancient houses of Hartford that have survived to recent times have become generally known. Those that still remain are interesting to some, as representatives of the architecture of a by-gone age. To others, their great charm is in the fact that they are memorials of colonial life. They have been stripped of those verdant beauties with which they were once surrounded, and mutilated by those who have adapted them to modern service; but they were once the homes of honored generations that have passed
1 The Hartford Courant, June 26, 1906.
THE AMOS BULL AND JOSEPH WHITING HOUSES
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away and left their habitations desolate. If we can, in some measure, restore their environment by the use of the records, the reader's imagination may be assisted in picturing some of Hartford's colonial homes.
The youngest son of Major William Whiting, the mer- chant, was Joseph, born in 1645. He married, first, Mary, the daughter of Hon. John and Amy (Wyllys) Pynchon of Springfield, and, second, Anna, the daughter of Colonel John Allyn. He settled in Westfield, but returned in 1676 to Hartford. His father's old home was on Governor Street. Rev. John Whiting, his brother, was then pastor of the Second Church, and lived on the former home-lot of Nathan- iel Ward, on Sheldon Street. Joseph Whiting purchased, in 1682, from Zachary Sandford, one-half acre on the corner of Main and Charter Oak streets, with a tenement stand- ing thereon. It was, perhaps, the same house, which the grantor had bought from Francis Barnard in 1667, and can not be older, for the house of the original owner, Andrew Bacon, stood on the north end of his lot. In this house, or in another which he built, Joseph Whiting lived during his remaining years, being the Treasurer of Connecticut from 1678 to his death, in 1717. The house has been fully de- scribed by Mr. Isham in Early Connecticut Houses. It stood a short distance from the corner, with its gable toward the street and was demolished in May 1914. Most of the early houses of Hartford faced either east or south. There were trees about it and an orchard on the east, beyond which was the South-side pound. In Joseph Whiting's day, there were not more than three or four houses and the Second Church meeting-house between this corner and the Little River. The surroundings were those of a country village. Joseph Whiting left an estate of £2546 5 s. 5 d. "The Mantion Houfe and homestead" were valued at £155. After his widow's death in 1735, the estate was divided, the surviving children being Susanna, the wife of Thomas Warren, Anna, the wife of Nathaniel Stanley, Margaret, the wife of Rev. Jonathan Marsh of Windsor, and Colonel John Whiting, who married Jerusha, daughter of Richard Lord. The son succeeded his father as Treasurer of Connecticut, and died in 1766. In 1749, Nathaniel Stanley and his wife sold this
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THE COLONIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD
property to Captain Aaron Bull, and it was for many years the latter's homestead. It comprised when purchased three- fourths of an acre, with a dwelling-house and other buildings. A passway on the north separated it from the Freeman Gross homestead. Captain Bull looked out of his west windows, upon the building of the second meeting-house of the South Church. The Whiting, Stanley, Bull and Warren families were its staunch supporters. In this house the Ecclesiastical Council convened in 1784, and marched in procession across the street, to install Rev. Benjamin Board- man. In 1788 the owner sold the north part of his home- stead to Amos Bull, who erected upon it a brick house, now known as the Spencer house. Captain Bull died in 1793, aged 82 years. The rooms mentioned identify the old house. The property was divided among the widow and her daugh- ters. A grandson, Aaron Bull, inherited eventually the house and a portion of the lot, which he sold in 1809 to George Burr. After a few years, other buildings began to crowd in around it, and this homestead disappeared into modern life. To how much of Hartford's South-side his- tory this ancient house has been a witness, will never be known. Its history covers most of the life of the church to which it has always been a neighbor. Many public men must have crossed its threshold. Prominent Hartford families have been its tenants. All are gone. Still, if the builder of it could return, he would recognize in this struc- ture the work of his hand. So, many a man has builded better than he knew.
On the east side of Governor Street, near the corner of Sheldon, there stood until recently an ancient mansion- house, with which none in Hartford could compare as a memorial of early days. It was known in the last century as the Sheldon Woodbridge house. Mr. Isham has dis- cussed its architectural features. This interest may be enhanced by the family history that gathers about this house or its predecessor. The land upon which it stood was originally a part of John White's home-lot. Governor Hopkins acquired three lots east of it before 1639, and also exchanged a strip of his own land for the north portion of White's lot. The original Hopkins house stood some dis-
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tance east of this, probably on his own allotment. In 1639, he had outhouses, yards and gardens adjoining it. The Hopkins trustees sold this property in 1665, to Mr. James Richards, a son of Thomas of Plymouth and a brother of Major John Richards of Boston. The new owner had lived in Hartford several years, and had married Sarah, the daugh- ter of William Gibbons. It is said that "in calling he was a merchant, and traded extensively in real estate." This family lived in the Hopkins mansion. Four daughters and a son Thomas, were the children of this circle.1 In the autumn of 1675, Major James Richards's warehouse and barn were destroyed by fire. The Hopkins mansion must then have been nearly forty years old. The owner, appar- ently, considered the loss of his buildings an opportune time for a change of location. He had, in 1665, secured land from the town, "at ye North end of his home lott wch was Mr Edward Hopkins," and had probably then erected the buildings that had been burned. In 1676, he petitioned for "a smale parcell of land on the North of his Home lott between it & the riuer to set a Barn." 2 His request was granted. The land was laid out February 5, 1676-7.3 It was west of his former grant and along the river. This would have been northerly from the corner tract secured from Elder John White, who then lived south of it. Major Richards was probably then establishing his new home in this location. In 1679, he recorded this property as a tract of nearly twenty acres. It was that "on which his now dwelling houfe standes" - an expression that meant, in some instances at least, the owner's present dwelling house. This house faced the main highway on the west; but it would doubtless have had, like others, a side exposure toward the south, with the garden usually found near such homesteads. On June 11, 1680, Major Richards died - a man highly respected, who had served as a magistrate six- teen years. His gravestone in the ancient burying-ground
1 Sarah Richards married Captain Benjamin Davis; Mary married Mr. Benja- min Alford; Jerusha married Rev. and Governor Gurdon Saltonstall; and Eliza- beth married Rev. John Davie of Groton, later Sir John Davie of Creedy, Co. Devon, England.
2 Hartford Town Votes, I: 149, 176.
3 Original Distribution, p. 543.
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bears the coat of arms of his family. The inventory of his estate amounted to £7931 1s., which he had acquired by inheritance, marriage and trade. It was the largest estate that had been probated in Hartford. About one-third of it consisted of lands in England. He had also some estate and housing in Boston. His real estate in Hartford was valued at £1753. In his house there were the following rooms: parlor, hall, space-room, kitchen, green chamber, parlor chamber, porch chamber, space chamber, kitchen chamber, little parlor chamber and garret chamber.1 Widow Sarah Richards married, as his second or third wife, Hum- phrey Davie Esq. of Boston, the father of her son-in-law. He died at Hartford in 1688, and his inventory mentions the same rooms above noted. Mrs. Sarah Davie married, in 1706, Colonel Jonathan Tyng of Dunstable. Meanwhile the son, Thomas Richards, born in 1670, had become of age and married Joanna Dodd. In 1694, by the death of his uncle Major John Richards, he inherited property in Boston. Thus, in 1704, he leased to Thomas Seymour, for one-half the revenue, "all that Cappitall Mefuage or Tenement wherein the said Thomas Richards now dwelleth," the same to run seven years from April 1, 1705.2 If the above expres- sion may be taken as equivalent to "capital manse," the dignity of a manor-house was claimed for this residence.3 Mr. Thomas Richards died at Boston in 1714. His widow Joanna Richards, and her daughters Joanna and Mary, were
1 The obsolete terms "space-room" and "space-chamber" determine the plan of this house. The passage or "middle pace" dividing a house was anciently called a "space way." The space-room was at the end of this passage and the space- chamber was above that room. The front room on the second floor was the porch - chamber. We have met with no mention of space rooms in other contemporary Hartford inventories. The contents of this space-room in 1680 were as follows: "Armour & small artillery, musket, pike, pistolls, small guns with carriages, ammu- nition, 4 leather & 1 flag chair, small table, two chests, 2 saddles, sword, lanthorn, curry comb & spinning wheel."
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