USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Greens Farms > Greens Farms, Connecticut, the old West parish of Fairfield historical sketches and reminiscences > Part 8
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[ 135 ]
Greens Farms, Connecticut
Many of the deacons took short naps during the long prayers by the saintly ministers who served in this church, while the young men and maidens looked over the high backs of the old square pews and cast those significant glances that resulted in future mutual happiness.
The centre of the church had long seats or "slips" as they were familiarly called; the galleries were also similarly arranged. The tything man had his seat in the front gallery, while the negro slaves occupied a portion in the rear. This entry of 1776 is of interest: "Paid to Cæsar (negro) for ringing ye bell £2 10s."
In 1781 action was taken toward the location of the third meeting-house. The committee of the General Court on location caused the parish to be measured diagonally; the intersecting point was on a clump of rocks a short distance south of the present site on the east side of West Parish Road. There arose dissatis- faction over this site. Then Thomas Nash gave to the parish the present site known as "meeting-house green" extending easterly to the church burying ground, also the land for a highway leading up from the west side. Moses Sherwood the same day gave the land for a highway leading up from the southeast. These highways were to be four rods wide their entire length. This Thomas Nash was a direct descendant of Thomas Nash, the first blacksmith.
In 1850 action was taken relating to the building of
[ 136 ]
The Four Meeting-Houses
this fourth meeting-house and a committee was ap- pointed to circulate a paper to be binding when $4000 was subscribed. Early in the morning of April 21, 1852, the old third meeting-house was burned to the ground. Plans having been procured, the society on June 22, 1852, voted John Goodsell, Talcott B. Wakeman, John S. Hyde, William J. Jen- nings, Henry B. Wakeman, and Hezekiah Lockwood as the building committee. Additional lands were bought in the rear from Daniel Burr for the purpose of setting the meeting-house back. The dedication of this new meeting-house (the present one) occurred on the 8th day of February, 1853.
[ 137]
The Sherwoods of Sherwood Island
T HE name of Sherwood can be traced to the great Sherwood Forest in England; in 1643 Thomas Sherwood sailed with his family from Ipswich on the good ship Frances and eventually settled in Fairfield.
Daniel, of the fifth generation, a soldier in the Revo- lution, lived in Greenfield Hill; his son Daniel married Catherine Burr of Fairfield. They built the first house on Sherwood Island on two acres of land, said to be a wedding present to the bride. This was the start of the Sherwood dynasty, and in a little time the whole island was taken over by them, in name as well as possession. We have already learned that it was first called "Fox Island," "Big Island," and "Farm- ers' Island." By its present designation it will prob- ably be known to posterity.
The Sherwoods were a prolific race; of the ten chil- dren born to Catherine Burr and Daniel Sherwood, seven were sons. Ebenezer and Daniel built and oper- ated the mill at Compo; Abram was captain of the market boats plying between Westport and New York; the son of Silas became the noted Judge Silas Burr Sherwood of Westport. The three youngest sons were triplets-Francis, Franklin, Frederick. They were born in 1810 and when sixteen years old, all three
[ 138 ]
FIREPLACE IN THE HOUSE OF DAN'L SHERWOOD Built about 1816 on Hills Point Road By the courtesy of Edith Very Sherwood
The Sherwoods of Sherwood Island
shipped to sea. Those were the days of the clipper ships, schooners, and brigs-days of adventure on un- charted seas to ports where a ship from the United States was a rare sight. After successful years of ad- venture these three sons rose to the position of cap- tain and became owners of their own vessels. They were engaged largely in coast trade, carrying both passengers and freight between New York and south- ern ports. In 1842 Captain Francis was shipwrecked on the brig Ashley; in 1847 he bore General Scott's dispatches to New Orleans on the ship Carolina, an- nouncing the capitulation of the City of Mexico and the surrender of the Mexican forces under Santa Anna.
Captain Franklin from 1835-1838 was engaged in plying between New York, Havana, New Orleans, and Texas ports. There is a record of eighty-six voyages. Later he sailed to China and other eastern lands, then to Havre, Liverpool, and European ports. Captain Frederick was also engaged in coast trading in the South. He commanded the ship Skylight which made six notable voyages to California by way of Cape Horn.
These three captains lived to celebrate their seven- tieth birthday; always hale and hearty, they enjoyed meeting in the same port, as frequently happened. They looked so much alike when young that it was their pleasure to play many a joke. All three in suc- cession often went to the same barber, ordered one dinner after another, or sat in succession for their por-
[139]
Greens Farms, Connecticut
traits to the astonishment of all those who served them. They were men of sterling character, modest and un- assuming. They followed the sea respectively thirty- five, thirty-three, and thirty years, and it is to be re- gretted that they left no records of their travels.
Just west of Sherwood Island is "Little Island," famous as a rendezvous of that pirate of all pirates, Captain Kidd. For many years tradition had it that much of his gold was buried there. Captain Kidd was executed in England in 1701, a full century before the advent of the first Sherwood to the island, but any gold he might have left there is of little worth com- pared to the lives and accomplishments of those other captains of Bankside-the Sherwoods.
[ 140 ]
THE BARQUE CAROLINA Owned and commanded by Captain Franklin Sherwood, about 1840 From a pen drawing in a ship's account book now in the possession of his daughter, Fanny Sherwood Elwood
Schools
FTER 1660 the General Court of Connecticut au- thorized the extension of public schools. Any town of 50 families had to provide such a school. In 1703 old records mention a vote allowing a schoolhouse to be built on the common; this school stood beside the meeting-house. After this date John Andrews in his record of the West Parish of Fairfield mentions schools kept here and later at Compo and then at Long Lots, and also in private homes in the remote districts. A teacher went from school to school and taught several months at each. A night school is mentioned here as early as 1715.
Following is a copy of the original vote in the parish records which shows that even in 1717 the people were making provision for the education of the children:
"October the 23d 1717
"a parrish meetting in the west parrish in fairfield first voat that the remainder of the charg that shall arise upon the skol that the cuntry mony gifen for that youse Doth no Defraye shall be paid by parerents and Masters of Such Children to go to Chool for the Year insuing
"2-voat Cap. Samuel Couch Ens. Banjamin Rum- sey and Ens. John Andrews Chosen Committey for the School for the Year Ensuing
[ 14] ]
Greens Farms, Connecticut
"3-voat that this meating should be Adjourned untill the 31 of instant October Sun one hour high at night"
So apparently the parents or guardians of the chil- dren had to pay what the county money did not sup- ply. This plan seemed to have been continued down to my boyhood days, when I remember coming home from school with a little bill for so many days' school- ing at two cents a day.
In a deed executed the 28th day of October, 1837, Thomas F. Davies, Daniel Burr, and David Coley quit-claimed to Ebenezer B. Adams "a certain piece or tract of Land situated in the Parish of Greens farms in said Fairfield; Bounded as follows: South on Land of Chas. Fairfield and all other sides on Highway in quantity one Acre and Twenty two Rods the same be more or less-together with the Academy thereon standing." This building was erected several years before and Reverend Mr. Davies had been the prin- cipal.
Mr. Ebenezer B. Adams, A.M., was born on De- cember 3, 1810, in Greens Farms, the son of Captain and Mrs. Joseph Adams. His father was interested in education and early resolved to give his only son the best educational advantages the state afforded. He was prepared for college by Doctor Hawley Olmstead at the Wilton Academy, and received his degree from Yale in 1831. Soon after his graduation he became a
[ 142 ]
Schools
teacher in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum in Hartford, Conn., where he remained nearly three years; he finally was compelled to resign because of ill health. After resting for a time, he entered upon his life work as principal of Maple Grove Academy, more familiarly known as the Adams Academy, and here for thirty years, sixty consecutive terms of twenty-two weeks each, he toiled for the interest and welfare of the young. His roster of pupils enumerates 653; students came from nearly every state in the Union, and several foreign countries. This community was very fortunate in this school, for Mr. Adams prepared our fathers and mothers with an education second to none, and of those who were prepared for college, all entered with- out condition, and no one was ever rejected. As a teacher he had few superiors; yet he was modest and unassuming, commanding the respect and regard of all his pupils.
I am informed that the original seating arrange- ment in the old Adams Academy was as follows: on two sides and at one end the seats faced the wall; then the next row of seats faced the centre of the room, thus bringing the two rows back to back. The stu- dents paid their own tuition. The building was used for religious evening services during the fifties of the last century, for there is an entry in the account book of the society for candles to light the schoolroom.
After Mr. Adams's time, the people of Greens Farms
[ 143 ]
Greens Farms, Connecticut
formed an association and conducted The Greens Farms Academy for a dozen years or so. Robert For- syth, A.M., succeeded Mr. Adams for about eight years; then for a few years students from Yale College conducted the academy until it was discontinued, the building finally becoming the West Long Lots School House. Horace Staples of Westport, who had received his education at the Staples Free Academy in Easton, was in close sympathy with Greens Farms, and con- ceived the plan of building and endowing the Staples High School in Westport.
The singing school brought together the young peo- ple for mutual improvement in singing. These schools were presided over by some capable instructor, as Doctor M. V. B. Dunham, of Greenfield Hill; and it is known that many romances were commenced and consummated during the hours of these singing- schools.
The district schools were generally kept in two terms -the winter and the summer term. The former term was generally presided over by a man teacher, while the latter term was delegated to a woman. Among the teachers who grew up in the West Parish whom I remember was Thomas D. Elwood, a lay reader in the Methodist Church and sometimes a preacher. He was a cripple but he would walk to and from West- port every day, teaching the school which was held in the schoolhouse back of the Saugatuck Congrega-
[ 144 ]
Schools
tional Church on the Post Road. Ebenezer Beers and Maurice B. Wakeman taught in the old Greens Farms School; Daniel Burr Bradley and Edward C. Birge taught in the East Long Lots School; while Lewis P. Wakeman and James Sherwood had charge of the Compo School. Among the lady teachers who were prominent were M. Cornelia Elwood, Bessie R. Taylor, Della Bradley, Grace H. Relyea, and Lucy Elwood. All of these teachers gave a good account of themselves.
The West Long Lots School was a small affair and was long known as the "hut," and was situated at the intersection of Church Street and Morningside Drive, now the home site of Horatio P. Mills. After the clos- ing of the Greens Farms Academy and the merging of the East and West Long Lots Schools the combined school was held in the academy building. This was made possible by Robert Martin who bought and do- nated the property to the district.
[ 145 ]
Men of Distinction
T HE following is a quotation from the Histor- ical Discourse delivered at the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the formation of the Church in Greens Farms, Conn., held October 26, 1865, by Reverend B. J. Relyea, pastor of the church: Her (Greens Farms) children, bearing with them the results of pious training here, have nobly done their part in moulding society, and shaping its institutions in almost every State of the Union, even on the far-off shores of the Pacific.
"Thirty-four of her sons have been graduates of col- leges, most of them at Yale. Twelve have gone forth from these homes to preach the Gospel, while, of those who derived their maternal ancestry here, one was the celebrated Moses Stuart, professor of Biblical Theology at Andover, Mass., whose learning and scholarship have given him a name which shall not die, and whose influence has continued to be a blessing to the churches of our land. One, distinguished for his learning, adorns a professor's chair in Yale College, and an- other occupies one of the most important pulpits of the State of New York.
"Of those whose childhood home was among these hills and by these firesides, and who received here the rudiments of future greatness, eight have entered upon
[ 146 ]
Men of Distinction
the profession of law; one of them was James Kent, the celebrated Chancellor of the State of New York, whose opinions are still received with deference at the American Bar, and whose writings will go down as a rich legacy to the legal profession in future genera- tions; two have been members of Congress; one rep- resents the government of the United States at the court of Denmark; two have been judges in the State of Ohio, one occupying a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court in that State. The rising State of Minnesota received as her first judge a native of this parish, Judge Meeker, one distinguished in his pro- fession, and whose maternal relation to Greens Farms gives him a place among her descendants. (His final resting place is in the Greens Farms Cemetery.) Eight have been, or are, eminent in the medical pro- fession. Several are among the most enterprising mer- chants of New York. Fifteen have been navigators in distant seas. The first American merchant vessel that ever entered the ports of Japan was commanded by a native of Greens Farms (Captain Henry Pierson Burr). Several, occupying important military posi- tions, distinguished themselves for bravery in the Revolutionary War. One acquired a world-wide fame in the War of 1812, as well as the Civil War."
[ 147 ]
In Retrospect
T HE community and the Church of Christ at Greens Farms, true to its long history of Puritan patriotism, united on April 17, 1932, in celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of George Washington's birth. On the old common, a maple tree was planted and dedicated as the Washing- ton-Ripley tree, and on the triangle of the common, the Machamux boulder was dedicated in memory of the friendly relations between the Indians and the early settlers.
The Compo Hill Chapter of the D. A. R. of West- port placed a tablet on this boulder on October 16, 1932. Following is the inscription:
Ye Indian name-Machamux
Ye Bankside Farmers 1648
Ye First School House 1703
Ye First Meeting House 17II
Ye Name Greens Farms 1732
Rev. Hezekiah Ripley, D.D., Chaplain in the Continental Army, escorted General George Washington along the highway 1775
Ye Burning by the British 1779
Erected by the Compo Hill Chapter D. A. R. and Friends
1932 [ 148 ]
In Retrospect
History relates that Doctor Hezekiah Ripley met General Washington at the Norwalk line and escorted him through Greens Farms following "the country road" through to the Stratford ferry at the Housa- tonic. As they came to the colonial meeting-house, which then stood opposite the Colonial Burying Ground, they stopped. It is reported to me that some one in the cavalcade wrote the following to a friend: "Our beloved commander stood on the step of our little meeting house and remarked, 'This is a comely little church.'" Unfortunately this letter only re- cently was lost.
The party stopped at Bulkley's Inn, in Fairfield, and probably dined there. After passing from the house, and while standing in front of it waiting for horses, Washington continued his conversation on public affairs; he passed his finger through the button- hole of the doctor's coat, and said that if the Ameri- cans could prolong the contest for one year they would ultimately succeed, because by that time arms and ammunition could be obtained, and they would be invincible.
The Minute Men were the home guard during the Revolutionary War, and were recruited from the plow-man, bay-man, doctors, schoolmasters, preach- ers, and scholars. They thought quickly, shot straight, their muscles tense and sleeves rolled up ready for ac- tion when and where duty called. The homes and
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Greens Farms, Connecticut
firesides of West Parish of Fairfield, Greens Farms, were protected by these patriotic men. They gave a good account of themselves in the battle of Compo Hill, and the monument at the intersection of Compo Road and Hill's Point Road was placed there in their honor.
The Civil War tried men's souls. Many young men volunteered; others were drafted. The North and the South both had sincere friends in the parish. Rev- erend B. J. Relyea, pastor at that time, led the people of this church and community through these trying times without serious family frictions, and it is to the honor of the church that some of the endowment funds were loaned to our Federal Government during those stressful years, when the union of the states was being fought for, and the maintenance of one central gov- ernment.
Public worship has been maintained all down through these years without a break in the Church of Christ in the old West Parish by capable and edu- cated ministers. Plain farmer folk continued to ad- minister the invested funds of the Church Society, and the records show that not one penny has ever been appropriated for personal use.
Centennial Year, 1876, two hundred and twenty- eight years from the first settlement at Bankside, seems to mark the beginning of the close of the Puritan in- dependency of the old West Parish of Fairfield. Onion
[ 150]
-
In Retrospect
growing, which up to this time had been increasing, began to decline, and by the close of the century had disappeared. It is to the credit of this community that each farmer's onions sold on its own merit in the New York market. Co-operative marketing did not prevail. The period of onion growing brought to Greens Farms the greatest financial prosperity and de- velopment of lands and improvement in homes. Dur- ing these years many sons and daughters went away into commercial and professional life to other cities, yet many of these families had a freehold in the lands hereabouts, notably William C. and James Stewart as well as Arthur Curtis James of New York City, who came into possession of land around the old green through their forebears connected with the Couch family. Many members of the Andrews family, scat- tered far and wide, are brought back for final resting place in the Colonial Cemetery.
Many changes have taken place among the people of Greens Farms since my boyhood. Then and for years afterwards I knew every person, visited in every home, and many were kindred. They were farmers, independent citizens, and members of the Parish Church. Some were Democrats, others were Repub- licans, but all good neighbors. Greens Farms has been my home all these years, except some dozen years in Wisconsin. My farming days are past, Old Jerry, the farm horse, is no more, no pig in the pen, and the
[ 15] ]
Greens Farms, Connecticut
family cow and chickens are cared for on shares by a neighbor. The farm wagons, surrey, the phaeton, and the model "T" Ford are quietly resting in the barn.
" .. . And where can America look with higher hope for a continuance of cherished American ideals than in the parish of Greens Farms with its long centuries of American history behind it? ... "
[ 152 ]
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State St
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Acte Lane
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Riverside
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Greens
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compo Creek
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Compo
Narrow Rock Rd
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Compo
Compo Tide
old Mill Fy Mill
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Minute Man
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Compo Burial Place
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Saugatuc
Old Saugatuck
Great
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Saugatuck River
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John Hide (Henry Birge)
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Joseph Hide, 2nd
Joseph Hide, Ist
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Seo.P.Jennings (Bedford Homestead)-+
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Thos. Newton
Henry Gray
Dan'l Frost
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Francis Andrews
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