USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Sharon > General history of the town of Sharon, Litchfield County, Conn. from its first settlement, 3rd ed. > Part 7
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CLOCK TOWER ( Opposite Inn.)
CHAPTER IX.
INCIDENTAL EVENTS-DISASTROUS FIRE IN SHARON VALLEY- SMALL POX-CASUALTIES-SHAYS' REBELLION-EXCISE DUTIES.
ON the night of January 27, 1775, a disastrous incendiary fire occurred on the premises of Joel Hervey, in Sharon Valley, which destroyed two barns and a threshing mill with a large quantity of grain and hay, with seven good horses. Suspicion attached to one John Thomas, a transient person, as the perpetra- tor of the offence, and at the February term of the Superior Court, 1776, sufficient proof had been brought to light to bring him to trial. He was convicted, and the following warrant for the execution of the sentence passed upon him by the court, will show the particulars of the crime laid to his charge, and the form of prosecution in those early days. Independence not having been then declared the proceedings were in the name of the King. To Litchfield County Sherif or his Deputy Greeting
WHEREAS the Grandjurors of our Soverign Lord the King for the County of Litchfield upon their oath present that one John Thomas a Transient person now Confined in the Common Goal in said Litchfield not having the fear of God before his eyes but being moved and seduced by the Instigation of the Devil did at Sharon in said County in the night season next after the 27th day of January 1775 Voluntaryly feloniously and of his malice forethought with force and arms carry a Quantity of Fire into and therewith inkindle and set on fire two Certain Barns and one Threshing Mill in which there was then and there Contained Seven good horses and a large quantity Wheat Rye and Hay
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
all being in said Sharon to the Value of four Hundred pounds lawfull money, all being the property of Joel Hervey of said Sharon, and that by means of said Johns Siting fire as aforesaid the said Buildings, Horses Wheat Rye and Hay were consumed and utterly destroyed contrary to the Law of this Colony and the Rights of mankind, and Said John Thomas being brought before this Court and araigned for Tryal and by a Verdict of the Jury was found Guilty. Whereupon this Court gave judgment that the said John Thomas sit upon a Gallows for the space of one hour with a Rope round his neck, and Tyed to a Cart and be whipt on the naked body in four of the most public places in the Town of Litchfield to the number of Thirty nine Stripes and find sure- ties for his good behavior with one Surety in the penal Sum of one Hundred pound lawfull money for his future good behavior and pay the cost of prosecution Taxed at, £26,15,8 and stand committed till this judgment is fullfilled Whereof execution re- mains to be done.
These are therefore in his majesty's name to command you that you have the sd. John Thomas forth from the Common Goal to the place of Execution and cause him to set upon a Gallows for the space of one hour and also cause him to be whipt on the naked body Thirty nine stripes at four publick places in the Town of Litchfield at the Tail of a Cart and then commit him to said Goal and him there safely keep until the whole of said Judg- ment be fulfilled, fail but make due Return with your doings thereon according to Law.
Dated Litchfield February the 18th 1776.
per Order of Court WM. PITKIN, Clerk P. T.
LITCHFIELD 21st February 1776.
Then by virtue of the within execution I caused the within named John Thomas to be taken from the common Goal in Litchfield to the place of Execution and there set upon a Gallows with a Rope Round his neck for the full term of one hour and Then tied to the Tail of a cart and Transported to four of the most public places in the town of Litchfield and there whipped on his naked body Thirty nine stripes in the whole according to the witliin Direc- tions.
Fees 40s.
Test LYNDE LORD, Sheriff.
In the winter season of 1770, Isaac Corbee and his wife, two aged, indigent people, were supported by the town and were boarded in the family of John Randall, who lived where William E. Marsh now lives. They retired to bed of an evening, in apparent good health, the weather being very cold, and in the morning both were found dead in their bed, the current of life in both having ceased to flow at the same time.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
From the Connecticut Journal published at New Haven
SHARON, Feb. 15, 1781.
This morning the wife of William Hendrick Levo was found dead in the street, a sucking child about three months old, lying dead by her side. Being under straightened circumstances, she went to town, about three miles, in order to procure something for the comfort of her family, and carried her little infant in her arms. On her return, the evening before, she went into a house to warm ; the weather being extreme cold, she was prevailed on to tarry, though very much against her inclination, being greatly exercised for her children she had left at home. the eldest not being above ten years, her husband gone to mill, and she was doubtful of his return. In the night she arose unbeknown to any of the family. She had travelled homeward about three-quarters of a mile, and was found dead in the manner described. within about ten rods of an house. Some were ready to conclude she had made too free use of strong drink, which occasioned her per- ishing in this manner ; but upon a careful enquiry it appears to be without foundation, and that her death was occasioned by the extremity of the season.
The place where the body of the woman referred to was found was within about ten rods of the house of Merills McLean, on the highway leading west from his house over the hill to Sharon Street.
In the month of November, 1784, the wife of Joseph Mar- chant, who lived where George Gay now lives, visited some friends in the state of Massachusetts. Soon after her return she was taken sick, and died after a short illness. The physicians differed as to the nature of the disorder. There is a tradition that the first person to pronounce the case to be one of small pox was Mrs. Cynthia Deming, the mother of Doctor Ralph Deming, who had seen several patients while suffering under that malady, and who gave kind ministries to Mrs. Marchant during her illness, but the attending physician decided that it was a severe case of fever. Her funeral was attended on the Sabbath, and a large number of the inhabitants were present. It was soon rumored that one of the physicians had intimated an opinion that she ha:l died of the small pox, and the most intense anxiety was felt on the subject. All doubt, however, was soon dissipated by the breaking out of the disorder in various parts of the town. A time of great and overwhelming distress followed, and nearly thirty persons died within a month or two. Such a scene of dis- tress and mortality had never before been experienced in the town, and the terrors which the pestilence excited were long remembered.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
The following are the names of some of the victims of that terrible scourge. In the up-town neighborhood, Amos Mar- chant, Perez Gay, Lydia Waldo, Mr. David Elmer, Eunice Jennings and her sister. On the mountain Mrs. Nathaniel Hamlin, Betsey Downs, and Erastus Downs. In the down- town neighborhood, Samuel Doty and wife, and John Bates and wife, and besides these there were a large number of children who died of the disorder.
The spirit of dissatisfaction with the existing state of things which prevailed through a portion of New England, soon after the close of the revolutionary war, and which finally resulted in open resistance to the constituted authorities in the western part of Massachusetts, affected, in some degree, the public mind in Sharon. Many things conspired to produce discontent and uneasiness, and the records of the town give a clue to some of the causes which agitated the community.
At a town meeting legally warned and held in Sharon, on the 9th day of October, 1786, for the purpose of instructing the representatives, it was voted :- 1. That it is the mind of the town that a paper currency be struck. 2. That the table of fees be reduced to the old standard. 3. That there be no deputy sheriff's in the state.
At a town meeting legally warned and held in Sharon on the 22d day of February, 1787, for the purpose of presenting a petition to the General Assembly for the emission of a paper currency, voted-1. Whether they would do anything about it ? Voted in the affirmative. 2. Voted that the draught laid before the town relating to the premises, is accepted and approved, as the mind of the town, and that the same be put in the public prints.
In the spring of 1787, during the existence of the insurrec- tion under Shays, in Massachusetts, Doctor John Hulbert, who resided in the town of Alford, Berkshire county, Mass., and who was an active partisan of Shays, came to Sharon for the purpose of awakening a similar spirit in this vicinity, and of producing an efficient co-operation. Having received his medical education here, and possessing qualities calculated to give effect to his representations, Hulbert soon succeeded in organizing a considerable number of men under the guidance of one William Mitchell, who was constituted their captain, and who, in as private a manner as possible, and chiefly in the night season, trained and drilled them for service.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
Dr. Hulbert was the father of the late Hola John W. Hul- bert, a counsellor of much eminence, and a distinguished member of congress from the Berkshire district, Mass., and who, after a splendid professional and political career, died suddenly, in 1931, at Auburn, N. Y., where he then resided. Capt. Mitchell was a clothier by trade. He came to Sharon from Farmington, now Bristol, in the spring of 1783. He owned and improved the clothier's works lately owned by Capt. James Gay, one mile southeast of the meeting house in the first society.
The rebellion had been thoroughly suppressed in the eastern part of Massachusetts, in 1786, but early in 1787, the spirit of insubordination was very prevalent in Berkshire county. It does not appear that it was very prevalent in Connecticut except here in Sharon. The Hon Theodore Sedgwick, of Stockbridge. then a member of the Continental Congress, was a firm friend of the government, and watched with constant vigilance the move- ments of the rebels. Being made aware of the movements of Dr. Hulbert, in Sharon, he sent the following letter by express to his brother, the late General John Sedgwick, of Cornwall, who then commanded the Fourteenth Regiment of Connecticut Militia :--
GREAT BARRINGTON, 13 May 1787.
My Dear Sir :-
I am here this morning in consequence of the desire of Col. Newell. The scoundrels, confiding in the strength which they possess in the States of Connecticut. N. York and Vermont, are meditating an invasion of this county, and publickly threaten ruin and desolation to the friends of Government. They boast much of the aid they expect from your quarter. Mr. Bliss is dispatched, he can relate to you our circumstances and the information we have received, and the means of procuring it. Our situation is critical and we must be greatly distressed if the other governments permit the rebels to machinate, while they are idle spectators of their practices.
We are here informed that men are openly enlisting in your county particularly in Sharon. This is beyond a doubt the case in the state of New York.
Is there no means of calling such daring aggressors to ae- count? Is Government indeed incapable of making resistance or indifferent to the ruin and distress of their neighbors? I know you will do everything in your power, let me know what is so.
* 11
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
I should have wrote to General Wolcott, but suppose him in Hartford. I pray you to take such measures as your prudence will dictate-make my duty to my mother and love to the family-Mrs. S. is pretty well.
I am dear Br. your affec. THEODORE SEDGWICK.
JOHN SEDGWICK, Esq., Cornwall.
On the receipt of the foregoing on the day of its date, Colonel Sedgwick issued the following order :
REGIMENTAL ORDERS.
CORNWALL, May, 13, 1787.
To the Commanding Officers of Companies of the 14th Militia, Regiment, State of Connecticut.
GENTLEMEN :- I have this moment rec'd by express from Great Barrington that Parsons & Day, two principals under Shays, are returned and now publickly inlisting men in the State of New York, where, with the states of Vermont and Con- necticut, their dependence lies-and that they are now inlisting men for the same purpose in Sharon in this County.
We must not be tame spectators of introducing civil discord into this State, which must be the case if we suffer our citizens to assist the rebels there : Should any attempt to march, you and every citizen of this State will be justified both in the sight of God and man to repel with force any such attempts by seizing and securing the perpetrators thereof and any who may be assisting therein. You will also hold yourselves and men in readiness to march well equipt, on the shortest notice. Should any considerable number march from this state to join the Rebels in Massachusetts, I shall undoubtedly soon have orders in a short time to march the Regiment to the support of government there. You must be determined in this matter, suppress the first eruption. In this perhaps Massachusetts has failed more than anything else.
I will be answerable for any consequences in executing this order. If anything material transpires pray give me notice. JOHN SEDGWICK, Lt-Col. Comdt.
The Legislature being then in session, and being advised of these proceedings, immediately took measures to suppress the rebellion as appears by the following record of its proceedings :
WHEREAS this Assembly has received information that one Mitchell of Sharon and one Tanner of the State of New York have been and now are attempting to stir up and excite the people in some parts of the county of Litchfield to join the Insurgents in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and have actually enlisted a number of men for that purpose in the town of Sharon, and that said Mitchell receives his advice and orders
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON
from a Doct. Hurlbutt and Doct. Barnes late inhabitants bt -d commonwealth now resident in sd. Sharon, and that sundry persons in sd. Sharon and also in the town of Norfolk are en- devouring to raise insurrections and disturbance among the people : Thereupon, Resolved by this Assembly, That Col. Sam'l Canfield be and he is hereby appointed and directed immediately to repair to the county of Litchfield and confer with Gen'l Swift and such other gentlemen as he shall judge proper, and having gained such information and advice as may be in his power, thereupon to cause to be apprehended and brought before proper authority to be examined in the premises and dealt with according to law the aforesaid Mitchell, Tanner, Hurlbutt and Barnes, and such other persons as shall be thought necessary ; and also to take every other legal and prudent measure as may be judged expedient to quiet the disorders that appear to be pre valent among the people, and for the establishment of govern ment and good order in the most effectual manner.
And it is further resolved, That his Excellency the governor be and he is hereby requested to issue orders to Brigadier Gen'l Swift to call forth the whole or part of the military force under his command (in case the same shall be necessary) in order to stop or prevent any insurrections of the people and also prevent their joining said insurgents.
The committee on their way hither called on the State's Attorney, at Litchfield, took warrants grounded on his official information, and with the Sheriff of the county, made their appearance here before any one was apprized of their mission, much less of their approach. Hulbert, Mitchell, and two others were arrested and taken to Litchfield, for examination. Hulbert was prosecuted under the act against "vagrants, vagabonds, and common beggars," but on his solemn promise to leave the state forthwith, he was suffered to depart. The others being charged with treasonable practices were bound over to the next term of the superior court. Thus, by the seasonable measure of the government, the spirit of insubordination was effectually quelled, and as the suppression of the insurrection in Massachusetts followed not long after, the prosecutions against Mitchell and others were discontinued.
The following account of these proceedings is copied from a Litchfield paper of May 21, 1788.
"Last Thursday evening arrived in this town from Hart ford, Colonel Samuel Canfieldl and Uriah Tracy, Esq., with orders from the General Assembly to repair to the town of Sharon, and put a stop to the insurrection that appeared to be raising in that town. The same evening they set off. accompanied by the sheriff and one of his deputies, and arrived at Sharon about daybreak,
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
and soon after arrested five persons who were supposed to be the principal actors and abettors in the insurrection. They were conducted to and safely lodged in our goal on Saturday last, in order for examination. It is hoped the early and spirited exertion of our Assembly will prevent any further disturbance in that town. Much praise is due to the gentlemen employed on that occasion for their prudence, humanity and judicious proceedings."
There was a decided majority of the voters in this town who were opposed to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. Josiah Coleman and Jonathan Gillett were the delegates from this town to the convention which was called to pass upon the question of its ratification in January, 1788. Those gentlemen voted against its adoption and when it was acted upon in a subsequent town meeting, the majority was large against it.
From July 1, 1786, to January 1, 1787, Sharon paid excise duties to Abraham Bradley, Collector, £ 40.16.1}
From January 1, 1887, to July 1, 1787, 38. 4.7
From January 1, 1788, to July 1, 1788, 20. 3.4
George King paid the largest amount of any one person at any one time being. 19. 9.4
Nathaniel Hamlin paid . 19. 4.2
At a regimental training in Sharon, on the 20th day of Sep- tember, A. D. 1805, an altercation occured betweed Zenas Beebe, of Sharon, and Aner Ives, of Kent, which was consummated by the stabbing of Ives by Beebe with a bayonet, inflicting a mortal wound, of which Ives died at the end of a week. There were mitigating circumstances in the case which relieved Beebe from the charge of willful murder, but it was a clear case of man- slaughter. By a singular blunder of the foreman of the jury, he was pronounced not guilty of any offence. The jury had agreed upon the verdict to be recorded to be-"Not guilty of murder ; but guilty of manslaughter." The foreman rendered the first part of the verdict, but stopped there. The subsequent pro- ceedings in the matter are copied from the Records of the Court.
" After the verdict was rendered the foreman informed the court that the verdict which the jury had intended to return and had agreed on was-that that the said Beebe was not guilty of murder, but by mistake he had omitted to return and state the whole finding of the jury and desired to be directed by the court, whether the verdict and whole finding of the jury as agreed upon
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
by them, and as he designed at first to have stated the same. would then be made and returned.
On consideration it was adjudged by the court, that the verdiet of the jury as returned and recorded by them could not be explained or altered."
Beebe was defended by two of the ablest lawyers in the state. Nathaniel Smith, of Woodbury, and David Daggett, of New Haven.
At the term of the Superior Court holden February, A. D. 1820, Beebe was tried for an assault, with intent to kill Amasa Maxam, and found guilty. He was sentenced to confinement in the old Newgate prison for two years, but died before the expiration of his sentence.
CHAPTER X.
METHODIST SOCIETY IN SHARON.
THE first preaching in Sharon by clergymen of the Methodist connection was in 1788. A Mr. Cook, an Englishman, preached once or twice at Samuel Hitchcock's, in the south part of the town, and attracted considerable attention by his bold and stir- ring appeals to the conscience of his hearers. He also preached once or twice in the ball-room in Gallow's tavern, which stood on the lot now owned by Robert S. Noyes, Esq. It was said that some of the authorities of the town intimated to the tavern-keeper that another license would not be granted to him, if he opened his doors again to the preacher. Very soon Freeborn Garrettson, who was the Presiding Elder in an adjoining district in the state of New York, was invited by Mr. Sylvanus Hanchett, who then lived where Alden Bryan now lives, to hold meetings at his house. An interesting discussion took place, at one of these meetings, between Parson Smith and Mr Garretson, which excit- ed much attention at the time. It related to the disputed points which divided the two denominations of which they were minis- ters. It is not supposed, however, that any good results followed the controversy.
The Rev. Fitch Reed collected some facts and published the result of his investigations many years ago, relating to the intro- duction of Methodism into Sharon, which are undoubtedly
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
authentic, as they were obtained from living witnesses, and which are of much interest to the present generation of that denomination in the town. The following is copied from Mr. Reed's statements :
"Mr. Alpheus Jewett, father of the late Rev. William Jewett, of the New York Conference, and the late Hon. Judge Jewett, of Skaneatles, New York, and his wife were the first persons who joined the Methodist church in Connecticut. Freeborn Garretson was the first Methodist preacher who visited that section. Jesse Lee soon after formed a Society in the south part of the State. These facts I learned from Rev. William Jewett, and they were afterwards confirmed to me by his father and mother.
The young Society in Sharon was supplied with preaching once in two weeks, in the afternoon of a week day. Mr. Jewett was a farmer, and in the season of haying and harvest employed a number of extra laborers. He always invited his workmen to accompany him to preaching, and they usually went. One day a Mr. Maxam, a poor man, declined thus going for the reason that he was poor and could not afford to lose the time. On Mr. Jewett's offering to pay him for the time thus spent, he went, was awakened and converted and lived to extreme old age, a faithful and useful member of the church.
A colored man, Black Harry, as he was called, a local preach- er, often accompanied Mr. Garretson in his travels. Harry once spent two or three weeks in Sharon, and made himself very useful in preaching. Some unprincipled person invented and circulated an infamous story about him, and as it involved an alleged crime against the peace and good order of society, he was arrested and brought to trial before the civil authorities. The crowd assembled to witness the proceedings was so great that the court was held in the Congregational Church on the public green. The result was that not a shadow of criminality was prored against him, and he was honorably discharged. Andrew Harpending, a traveling preacher of some note, happened to be present, and as the people began to leave the church, he procured a table and taking his stand upon it in the open air, preached one of his characteristic sermons, loud, fearless and earnest. A young lady, living half a mile south, not being permitted to attend the meetings, stood at an open upper window and there distinctly heard the preaching, and under its influence was brought to a saving knowledge of God. So God often works in unexpected ways and " makes the wrath of man to praise him."
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
As the Methodist Society in Sharon is located contiguous to the State of New York, it has always been connected with circuits and districts in that State. The circuits for many years extended into the counties of Dutchess and Columbia, and rendered nec- essary a tri-weekly travel of some two hundred miles for the preachers. As the preachers increased in numbers, and the means of their support were multiplied, the circuits were diminished in extent, and the appointments for preaching were more frequent. Meetings were held at private houses, and the preaching place in Sharon was at Mr. Jewett's. The old gentleman used to speak with great satisfaction of the large numbers of Methodist minis- ters, including Bishop Asbury, whom he had entertained at his house. The society has never been destitute of regular preaching since its formation.
The first camp meeting in Connecticut was holden in the summer of 1805, in a grove near the road leading north from Austin Cartwright's, and such a success attended the proceedings that another was holden the next year near the house of Mr. Jewett. The exercises on both occasions were marked by the intensely earnest preaching, the fervent prayers, and the loud and lofty singing of God's praise, which characterized the early worship of that most remarkable body of Christians. Mr. Gar- retson had the charge of both meetings as Presiding Elder of the district. The camp meetings for the two succeeding years were held in Goshen .
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