USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Farmington > Farmington town clerks and their times (1645-1940) > Part 7
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Farmington Town Clerks and Their Times
jamin Barnes, Joseph Barnes, Thomas Barnes, Samuel Bird, John Bronson, Amos Cowles, Phineas Cowles, Eleazer Curtis, Sylvanus Curtis, Rezin Gridley, Elisha Hart, John Hart, Stephen Hart, Abraham Hills, Noadiah Hooker, Anthony Hawkins, John Judd, Samuel Judd, Ebenezer Lee, Josiah Lee, Bela Lewis, Ezekial Lewis, William Lewis, Elisha Lord, Elihu Newell, John Newell, Thomas Newell, James North, Nathaniel North, Ashbel Norton, Bethuel Norton, Matthew Norton, Thomas Norton, David Orvis, Ebenezer Orvis, Gershom Orvis, Roger Orvis, Daniel Owen, Daniel Porter, Noah Porter, Thomas Porter, Samuel Richards, Joseph Root, Timothy Root, John Scott, Ebenezer Smith, Jobanna Smith, Reuben Smith, John Stanley, Timothy Stanley, Hezekiah Wadsworth, James Wadsworth, William Wadsworth, John Warner, Elijah Wimpey, John Woodruff, Judah Woodruff, Matthew Woodruff, Solomon Woodruff, Timothy Woodruff, Simon Wrotham.
In 1740 Tabitha Norton, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Galpin) Norton, on the Ioth day of July, was married to Isaac Lee. The wedding was the usual one of the daughter of a rich country merchant and a promising young man of good family. Isaac Norton and his wife were among the pioneers of Great Swamp, prosperous, pious and generally useful citizens. He was a signer of the petition dated October II, 1705, to the General Court for permission to' "set up in this desolate corner of the wilderness" a church in Great Swamp, which would be nearer their homes than the home church in Farmington.
Isaac Lee, who married one of the nine children of this pioneer and courageous couple, was himself from pioneer and cour- ageous parents. His family was among the very first to venture to Farmington, having their first family home in 1643 on the site close to the main house of the present Porter School. They had continued to pioneer in soon going on to the wilderness of the Great Swamp. This trait of moral and physical courage was bred in Isaac Lee and stood him in good stead at the time of his marriage to Tabitha. In the hearty days of that century a rather jovial custom was observed at many weddings of stealing the bride. This could be done with a playful spirit and not too much inconvenience, or it could and did sometimes have
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Joseph Hooker
unhappy results, such as not returning the bride in good time. However, it was a custom for all wise brides to watch and ward against. That it was attempted at this wedding was apparently no exception. But how it was foiled was so aptly told one hun- dred years later by no less a writer than Emma Hart Willard, made of it an event in the history of the town. The poem was read at the two-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the town, after the Historical Address delivered by Dr. Noah Porter.
Isaac Lee was commissioned Captain of the Thirteenth Company of Train Bands in the Sixth Regiment in this colony in May, 1767, and in the same year he was appointed Lieuten- ant Colonel of the Fifteenth Regiment, and in March, 1775, Colonel of the same regiment. He and his wife lived in what is now the center of New Britain on Main Street, then designated as Farmington Road. The Meeting House was on present Stanley Road where it intersects the third road to Farmington, and Colonel Isaac Lee's mother, widow of Stephen Lee, lived at the corner of East Street and the Parade. Noah Porter Jr., in his Historical Address of 1840 says of Colonel Isaac Lee: "After the removal of the greater part of the tribe (Tunxis) to Oneida, they often visited their friends and sepulchres behind, and on such visits would hold dances, at the old burying place, and evening powwows, and give splendid exhibitions of their agility and strength. Colonel Isaac Lee of New Britain, who flourished the latter half of the last century, being once in' Farmington village, encountered a gigantic Indian who had often broken the laws, but had never been punished, through fear. In three attempts at wrestling the Indian was thrown; after the first trial his eye glistened and he desired a second, but after the third he was satisfied. Colonel Lee then went about the street upon the business which had brought him to the village, and the Indian closely followed him. He was sharply questioned as to his object. He respectfully and humbly answered, testifying his reverence, and wished to know what had made his antagonist so strong."
BRIEF EPISODE
Cyprian Phong
1764-1767
IT was given to Ruth Hooker, to be daughter, sister, wife and mother of town clerks in Farmington. Her father John Hooker and her brother, Joseph Hooker, we have read of. She married Captain Asahel Strong January 8, 1729. He was the son of Asahel Strong of Northampton and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Hart of Farmington. Captain Strong was a lawyer and prominent in public and military affairs. Colonel John Strong was uncle, and Pomroy Strong, who bought the red house on Bridge street, cousin of Cyperion.
Captain Asahel and Ruth (Hooker) Strong had eight children and lived in the house given to them by his father, Asahel Strong Sr., which stood on the site of the home of Miss Florence Thomson Gay. It was built early in the settlement of the town, probably by Howkins Hart, where John Andrews had originally lived. Of the eight children, Cyperion, the seventh, was born May 26, 1743, was graduated at Yale in 1763 and at the death of his uncle, Joseph Hooker, in 1764 was elected town clerk, being then twenty-one years of age. He was reelected the following year but was interested in the ministry and in August 1767 removed to Chatham, Connecticut, where he spent the rest of his life as minister of the gospel in the Congrega- tional church there. He married Sarah Bull of Farmington, daughter of Jonathan and Abigail Bull. Eight children were born of this marriage. Sarah Strong died suddenly at Chatham September 14, 1785 and the following March Cyperion married Abigail White, daughter of Ebenezer and Ruth (Wells) White of Hartford. Five children were born to them. In 1795 Abigail died and March 4, 1797, he married Mrs. Abigail (Riley) Hart,
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Reverend Cyperion Strong
widow of Jonathan Hart of Berlin who was killed at St. Clair's defeat in 1791. Cyperion Strong was present as one of the assisting clergymen at the ordination of Noah Porter in 1806, offering the prayer of consecration.
Cyperion Strong died at Chatham November 17, 1811.
Captain Asahel Strong, father of Cyperion, died March 30, 1751, and his widow Ruth (Hooker) Strong married Solomon Whitman, this being also a second marriage for Mr. Whitman. They lived in the Strong homestead on the site of the Gay place. The house was willed by Solomon Whitman to his three grand- sons, Samuel, Solomon and Edward, Solomon Sr. having pur- chased the interest of the Strong children August 10, 1770. When Julius Gay purchased this property in 1872 he demol- ished this old house, similar in construction to the Farmington Museum, and built the present house.
Thus Ruth Hooker was in turn, daughter, sister, mother and wife of four town clerks of Farmington.
It so happened that little of permanent interest occurred during the tenure in office of Cyperion Strong, the business being the routine of elections, and taxes.
PEACE ,
WAR AND PEACE AGAIN
Salomon Whitman Esq?
1766-1790
Two epic events of lasting importance occurred during the term (which was almost a reign) of Solomon Whitman as Town Clerk. The building of the third and present church marked not only an event in the church growth, but stood too, for the coming period of a more cultured, comfortable and prosperous living in all things. Better homes, education, clothing and general ease in living were within reach of all. Another need supplied only by the new church, was that of a larger meeting place. Town meetings still called all inhabitants of the large town and this included the rapidly growing societies of Berlin, New Britain, Bristol, Southington, Northington and West Britain and the meetings lasted from one to three days, with often as many as a thousand men crowded into the new church.
With the additional complications of difficulties in foreign trade and mounting taxation, speeches were being made and resolutions passed in which all were deeply stirred - and the new large church provided the meeting place.
The first record we find of the desire for a new meeting house is dated February 2, 1767, and it was voted in 1769 to build. Solomon Whitman was directed to apply to the county court to fix the site for the new church. Judah Woodruff, architect and master builder, a direct descendant of Matthew Woodruff, one of the first settlers and eighty-four proprietors, who owned and lived on the present site of the Barney homestead, and Colonel Fisher Gay, one of the leading merchants of the town, made the long and difficult journey to the Maine woods to per- sonally select the lumber of the new building. It was built southeast of the church it superseded; therefore, the previous
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church, the second, was at the corner of Main Street and School Street, nearer the road. The new church was dedicated November 25, 1772. It cost (pounds) 1750-12-101/2.
In 1825 the pews in the gallery were replaced by slips, and in 1836, pews in the body of the church likewise; the old pulpit with its hand carving and sounding board canopy by Judah Woodruff were taken away, the aisles carpeted, new windows made and covered with blinds, and after being the subject of both church and town meetings, horse sheds built. The meet- ing house green was leveled and fenced and the entire cost was $4,463.39.
Almost immediately after the dedication in 1772, the building was ringing with resolutions of patriotism for the new order, as well as with lengthy sermons and church music.
Solomon Whitman was one of the chief figures in the political, social and religious life of the town. He and Colonel Noadiah Hooker, son of Joseph Hooker, were on every town committee, whether for social, civic, or religious matters.
Solomon Whitman, who was the son of the beloved Samuel Whitman, was born in Farmington April 20, 1710. He mar- ried Susannah Cole December 17, 1736. They had a son Samuel who died leaving three sons, Samuel, Solomon and Edward. Following the death of his first wife March 19, 1772, he married Mrs. Ruth Strong, widow of Captain Asahel Strong and daughter of John Hooker; and they went to live in her home, formerly the Howkins Hart house, at the north corner of present Porter Road and Main Street. Following the death of Ruth, Mr. Whitman married Mrs. Ruth Wadsworth July 30, 1778. He died in 1803. He had bought the interests of the Strong children in the homestead and left it to his three grandsons.
Solomon Whitman was first to administer the Oath of Fi- delity to the new State of Connecticut, to the citizens, led by their respective pastors, Timothy Pitkin of Farmington and Samuel Newell of Bristol.
Farmington attained its full growth during these trying years. The previous one hundred and twenty years had been for the town similar to the adolescent period of a child, rather awkward, not too attractive, working very hard at getting
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Farmington Town Clerks and Their Times
somewhere, having little or no resources and no definite future, but being possessed of excellent blood, breeding and back- ground. The years from 1766 to 1790 saw full maturity of under- standing, vigor of intellect and action, and a fine appreciation of the art of living when this privilege had been honestly earned.
For the past seventy years and until the turn of the next century, the great, wide highways of the town, as laid out in 1672, were a source of much anxiety and difficulty to the towns- men. In 1700 an acre had been given to Joseph North out of the forty-rod highway to Hartford for a house, he to build and maintain a "Mansion" within four years or forfeit the land. He built a house with two cellars and the house still stands, now the property of Miss Esther Colt. Many other similar grants were made to townspeople. Schoolhouses were "set in the high- way," or an inhabitant was given "liberty to an acre in the high- way during the pleasure of the town," for a shop, garden or apple orchard.
Unnecessarily wide highways were used for burying grounds. This evidently explains why no record can be found of the lay- out of the old burying ground in Southington, although we find the authorization for such a ground; or the erection of the pic- turesque stone schoolhouse in West District. In both of these regions the highways were forty rods wide and offered an ob- vious site for schoolhouse or burying ground. The townspeople were becoming increasingly conscious of the need of these and of planning for the future. The Scott's Swamp burying ground was within very recent years a part of the town highway to Bristol, until the road was modernized and so separated from the cemetery by a strip of turf.
Burying grounds set aside during these years of which we find record are the Old North Burying Ground in Bristol near Lewis' Corner, laid out in the thirty-rod highway. There most of Bristol's first families are buried, many of whom have American flags at their graves. Although this burial place was voted in Town Meeting in April 1772, burials were made there much earlier. The ancient part of Oak Hill Cemetery in Southington was voted in April 1772, Farmingbury, now Wolcott, in April 1772, New Britain's ancient burying ground in April 1772 was
The Congregational Church. Built 1771
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Solomon Whitman
part of the land of Colonel Isaac Lee, and Lovely Town burying ground in December 1773.
Schools too, were being built in these localities as families took up cultivation of their outlying farms and built large homesteads. The school buildings were set in the highway, much to the distress of the modern title searcher for the state highway department, when they modernize and "widen" an old highway which was originally from five to forty rods across, but has a traveled surface of fifty feet. Many a farmer who has built each new fence a few feet nearer the center of the highway has had a rude awakening at being shown his real lines, many feet back from the apparent highway boundary.
Just as frequently as permission was given "at the town's pleasure" so it was withdrawn and a house or shop was found to be a nuisance or encroachment in the highway and ordered removed. Only apple orchards were ordered left untouched and a heavy fine imposed for their destruction. Apples were a fine fruit and a necessary addition to each household's stores. The art of drying them for the winter has passed these many years. They were used for vinegar and every section of the town had, with the town's permission, its cider mill. Committees were appointed at each election to enforce the removal of carts, sleds and wood as well as other nuisances on the Main Street of Farmington.
Among those having shops were Captain Ephraim Treadwell, father of John Treadwell, who prayed the town "for two rods of land between ye Great Rock opposite to his house and ye Brook called Poke Brook for ye purpose of setting up a shop." Captain Ephraim Treadwell lived in a small red house which stood near the great rock on the Barney estate. Here lived and grew to manhood John Treadwell. He was born in this house November 23, 1745, was graduated at Yale College in 1767, and in 1776 was chosen a representative of the town to the General Assembly of which he was a member until 1785. He was elected Lieutenant Governor and was appointed Gov- ernor in 1809, at the death of the second Governor Jonathan Trumbull. He was Judge of Probate twenty years, Judge of the County Court three years, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors
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Farmington Town Clerks and Their Times
twenty years, and for nineteen years a member of the corpora- tion of Yale College. He had an early interest in negotiating the sale of the New Connecticut lands in present Ohio and in having the proceeds of that sale set aside for school funds. He drew the bill for the application of the fund to school purposes and is considered more than any other, the father of the com- mon school system of Connecticut. He was one of the original trustees of the Missionary Society of Connecticut and first president of the American Board of Foreign Missions which was organized in the home of President Noah Porter, in the Porter home, which is still standing on Main Street.
John Hooker wrote in his Reminiscences published in 1899, "Among the old men whom I remember seeing in my boyhood, no one was more notable than Gov. Treadwell. He lived in a red house close by the large rock in the front part of the Norton (now Barney) place. I remember once calling at his house with a line from my father (Edward Hooker) when I saw him at dinner, which he left for a few minutes to attend to me and my message. I could not have been over ten years old. I think he died very soon after."
One of the oftenest quoted passages from the pen of Gov- ernor Treadwell, is his word of warning concerning the trend from work and frugality, toward extravagance and ease. He wrote, in what was intended to be a history of Farmington: "The young ladies are changing their spinning-wheels for forte- pianos, and forming their manners at the dancing school rather than in the school of industry. Of course the people are laying aside their plain apparel manufactured in their houses, and clothing themselves with European and India fabrics. Labor is growing into disrepute, and the time when the independent farmer and reputable citizen could whistle at the tail of his plough with as much serenity as the cobbler over his last, is fast drawing to a close. The present time marks a revolution of taste and of manners of immense importance to society, but while others glory in this as a great advancement in refinement, we cannot help dropping a tear at the close of the golden age of our ancestors, while with a pensive pleasure we reflect on the
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Solomon Whitman
past, and with suspense and apprehension anticipate the future."
Some of Governor Treadwell's favorite subjects of con- versation were on the common origin of mankind, the sudden growth of Farmington opulence, foreign missions or Johnson's Lives of the Poets. When his daughter Dorothy married, he wrote her words of warning also, especially of the hazards of travel between Farmington and Hartford.
That Farmington was untouched by actual disaster in the War of the Revolution did not detract one whit from its fervent and active participation. Rousing declarations and votes were voiced in the newly completed church, large donations of cloth- ing, food and money were sent to Boston and elsewhere, as well as good care taken of those left alone at home, and Farmington men served and died for their new country and its cause.
One of the earliest rumblings presaging the coming revolu- tion was a resolution of the inhabitants assembled in an ad- journed town meeting September 3, 1770. Colonel John Strong was chosen moderator and following the usual procedure of choosing, with several adjournments of an hour or more, their town officers for the coming year, they resolved: .
"Colony of Connecticut ss
"Att a Meeting of Inhabitants of ye Town of Farmington in Hartford County held on ye 30th day of August A.D., 1770
"At ye same Meeting ye Inhabitants of sd Town, Taking into Consideration ye Unhappy Circumstances of ye British Colonies in America, while groaning under the Arbitrary and Unconstitutional Exactions of the Parliment of Great Britain, In passing duties upon Tea Etc., and in particular the Request of the Commitee of Merchants Desiring a Meeting of ye Mer- cantile and Landed Interests of ye Several Towns in this Col- ony, to be Convened at New Haven by the Agents Chosen for that purpose on ye 13th day of Sept Next, They Proceeded to and made Choice of Mr. Jonathan Root, & Fisher Gay, Esq. to represent the Mercantile and Landed Interests of the sd Town, At ye Time & Place aforesd, being Informed and In- structed into the Sentiment of their Constituants as followeth:
"First it is our Ernest wish & desire that ye Gentlemen above
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Farmington Town Clerks and Their Times
Appointed use their best Indeavour to Preserve Inviolate the non-Importation Agreement Entered into by ye Merchants of the Several Colonies in America.
"2nd. that they Strive to persuade Every Inhabitant of this Colony to withdraw all Connections and Commerce from the Importters of this or any Other Colony, and from all & Singu- lar ye Inhabitants of ye City of New York in particular, and that they be Treated as Enimies to their Countrys Cause, Un- till they return to a Sence & Practice of their Duty and Also Countermand their Orders upon the British Marchants for Goods.
"3d that they Encourage and promote to the Utmost of their power the Hope of American Manufacturers in General and of this Colony in Particular.
"4thly that they Labour to Convince Every Inhabitant of this Colony of ye Inexpediency and Danger in purchasing Goods of any Hawker, Pedlar or Petty Chapman, or any other person or persons, that are imported Contrary to Agreement untill ye Revenue Acts imposing duties on ye Americas be fully, Compleatly & Absolutely Repealed
"5th That they Use their Indeavours that Every Inhabitant of this Colony who shall Purchase & bring into ye Same any Goods Wares or Marchandise whatsoever that are Imported Contrary to ye Articles of Agreement be Esteemed & Treated as Betrayers of their Country
"6 it was Resolved by the Inhabitants of sd Town that they would watchfully Inspect Apprehand & Convict if possible all Pedlars, Hawkers & Petty Chapman that offer any Kind of Goods for sale without being previously Lycenced therefor."
At an adjournment of this meeting, held September 3, the inhabitants voted further:
"At ye Same Meeting Messrs William Judd, Noadiah Hooker, Asahel Wadsworth, Joseph Hills, Nathaniel Hart, Asahel Cowles, Stephen Cole Jr. Daniel Lankton, Samll Curtis, Aron Day, Nathan Lewis Jr. Medad Lewis, Asa Upson, James Lee, Dan Hills, William Woodford, Joseph Miller, Ichabod Norton, Noah Stanley, Adonijah Lewis, Gad Stanley and John Lankton & Noahdiah Wadsworth and Simeon Strong were
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Solomon Whitman
appointed a Commttee to Inspect all ye Goods that should be brought into sd Town of Farmington and to prosecute all Ped- lars, Hawkers and Petty Chapman that should offer any kind of Goods to sale without Licence."
In the three years subsequent to this vote the colonists suffered increasingly from the steadily tightening grip of a needy British ruler. At the time in the life of the colonists when all taxes which could be raised from their own land were needed for the promotion of their local interests, schools, roads and general betterment, not only was the British crown taxing them, but was, in addition, restricting their trade to such an extent that both their pride and their pocketbooks were sorely pinched. The colonists had for one hundred and forty years asked only that they might have the inalienable right to ob- serve their religious beliefs as seemed to them right and best, granting to others the same privilege, to govern among them- selves as they might agree and to exchange goods in trade as was fair and equitable. They would not give the products of their hands and brains for the enrichment of any crown or gov- ernment, having through the years learned that a good life could be gained through their own frugality.
To the British the new colony seemed a source of great rev- enue for which they need not work, only demand. Consequently they decreed that the colonial commerce should be restricted to British ports. Charters were annulled, the right to elect some of their principal officers was withdrawn and they were con- tinuously asked to explain the innermost secrets of their manu- factures. It is presumed that the answers were often shrewd in their honesty.
The port of Boston was particularly hard hit in these years as the trading constantly dwindled. The story of Boston and its climactical Tea Party reached Farmington by speedy mes- senger. The Boston Port Bill went into effect June 1, 1774. On the 15th day of June, 1774, it being, incidently, the 134th anniversary of the recorded date of the settlement of the plan- tation of "ffarmington," and just previous to the date on which the bill became effective, a handbill was found posted at various conspicuous places in the Town which read:
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Farmington Town Clerks and Their Times
"To pass through the fire at six o'clock this evening, in honor to the Immortal Goddess of Liberty, the late infamous act of the British Parliament for farther distressing the American Colonies. The place of execution will be the public parade, where all Sons of Liberty are desired to attend."
It is said that "accordingly a very numerous and respectable body were assembled, of near one thousand people, when a huge pole, just forty-five feet high, was erected, and consecrated to the shrine of Liberty; after which the act of Parliament for blocking the Boston harbor was read aloud, sentenced to the flames, and executed by the hands of the common hangman."
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