USA > Connecticut > Historic towns of the Connecticut River Valley > Part 12
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In 1789, there being fourteen Episcopal families in Portland, they decided to build a church. It was finished in 1790, when the number of families in the parish had increased to thirty-four. The Rev. Abraham Jarvis, rector of Christ Church, Middletown, was the first rector of the Portland Church, in connection with the one in Middletown.
The famous sandstone of Portland was known and used soon after the settlement of Middletown, in 1650, for building pur- . poses and for grave stones. At first, there was no quarrying. The great pieces that were broken from the cliffs by the frost were broken up and worked down, for a long time before regular and systematic quarrying was attempted. The stone was seen to be of a fine and superior quality and was in demand in Middle- town, and in neighboring hamlets. As the demand exhausted the surface supply the work of digging the stone out of the ground, where it had fallen from the cliffs' to be covered by earth and debris, washed over it by the high water from the river, was begun.
The stone was regarded as common property and was taken by any one, from everywhere. By 1665, the people of Middletown
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(Portland was then East Middletown) began to realize, that the stone was valuable. They decided that no more of it should be removed on flatboats, or otherwise, by strangers. The Town voted that only inhabitants of Middletown should take the stone, and that even they should pay to the Town twelve pence for each ton taken. Eventually, the Town disposed of the ledge to private parties, when systematic quarrying was begun. Another quarry, a few rods south of the original one, was opened in 1783, and from that year the business increased to its present proportions. There was a time when Portland's boat and ship building yards
OLDEST HOUSE IN PORTLAND.
were of much more importance and profit than its quarries, but the advent of railroads materially hurt the business. For a hun- dred years Portland built ships and schooners that had enviable reputations, for their staunchness and seaworthiness. The first vessel launched from the Portland yards was a 90-ton schooner, in October, 1741. Then followed a long line of merchantmen, men-o'war and privateers in Revolutionary days. Among them were; " The Trumbull ", of 700 tons carrying 36 guns ; " The Bourbon ", 900 tons, carrying 40 guns, or rather it was designed for that number but they were never mounted, as peace with Great Britain was declared before the ship was quite finished;
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" The Connecticut ", 514 tons, 20 guns, built at Stevens' Wharf, in 1799. Churchill's yard began operations in 1795, and the fol- lowing vessels were launched; " The Holker ", 350 tons, 18 guns, built in 1813. She was driven ashore by the British at Narra- gansett and wrecked, so another ship of the same name was built, in 1814, of 400 tons and 20 guns. The name seems to have been unlucky for she was wrecked in a storm on Long Island. "The Macedonian.", 400 tons and 20 guns was built in the same year ; " The Saranac ", 373 tons and 16 guns ; and "The Boxer ", 367 tons and 16 guns, were built in 1815. They were the last of the war ships built in Portland. The "Trumbull ", " Bourbon ", "Connecticut ", "Saranac" and "Boxer", were built for the United States Navy.
In the decade ending with 1816, Churchill turned out vessels of a total tonnage of 12,500. In that year the ship building industry declined somewhat in the Portland yards, still, in the thirty-four years succeeding 1816, Elizur Abbey launched thirty-five vessels ranging from 75 to 300 tons, and Gildersleeve launched sixty-nine vessels ranging from 75 to 700 tons. It is interesting, that in Portland originated the line of packets which later became prominent as The New York and Galveston Line. Alexander Keith, Joseph J. and William Hendly, of Middletown; and Gildersleeve, of Portland, built the schooner, William Bryan, in 1836, which was the first regular packet to sail from New York to a Texan port. The Bryan was followed by five ships and two barks for this line, all of which were built in Portland.
The falling off in the ship building industry on the Connecticut River is something to be regretted. It is possible, even probable, that the industries which succeeded that one are more profitable, if vastly less dignified. There is something particularly grand and inspiring in sea-going vessels and the men employed in build- ing them were Yankee mechanics of a high order ; men of in- telligence and broad minds who seemed to put some of their own sterling qualities into vessels they constructed. The men who are employed in the industries of to-day are of another class and almost all, of other nationalities. In this year of 1905, in the few villages and towns of the New England coast, where the princi- pal occupation is ship building, the people are of a superior class, broader-minded and more conversant with the affairs of the world. and the foreign population is, in many instances, entirely lacking.
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WETHERSFIELD.
W HEN the people of Watertown, Massachusetts, moved to the Connecticut Valley they settled at a great bend in the river at a place called by the Indians Pyquag, meaning the dancing place or place for public games, which they named Wethersfield. This was the first permanent settlement in Connecticut. Here the few pioneers built their poor little log- cabins and passed a hard winter of cold and privation, but they were content in the knowledge that they were far from the irk- some conditions in Massachusetts which, to be rid of, they had taken the long, wearying journey to the Connecticut.
Early in the following year the people left behind in Water- town, who were destined for the Connecticut, arrived, the major- ity coming by ship. It is said that they arrived several months earlier than the Hooker party, which made the journey through the forest. After the vessel which bore them to their new home in the west, lay moored by the bank of the river, the honor of being the first to set foot upon the land of hope and promise was hotly contested by the men of the party, each one stating this or that reason why he was entitled to enjoy the privilege. While this dispute was going on a woman, by the name of Bar- ber, seeing an opportunity to wrest the honor and privilege from the men, jumped from the vessel and reaching the shore mnade herself famous, for so long as the history of Connecticut shall exist, by being the first white woman to tread upon Connecticut soil.
The village was built upon a slight, flat elevation, above the rich meadows that lay along the river. Could one of those early settlers come back to Wethersfield now and find the streets and houses just as he knew them in 1635, he would still be at a loss to know where he was. This confusion would be caused by the great change in the appearance and course of the river. It would be difficult to describe the changes which have taken place in the Connecticut at Wethersfield, since 1635. The change in the course of the river at Wethersfield was the cause of at least
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one law suit, for land which had formerly been on the east side of the river was found to be on the west side. An account of the resulting law suit is given under the caption, Glastenbury.
Wethersfield was so situated that it was more harried by the Indians, being nearer to the Pequots' headquarters, than either of the two other settlements, Hartford and Windsor. One of the most atrocious acts of that cruel and bloodthirsty tribe, the Pequots, committed in Wethersfield was one of the chief causes for the Pequot war of 1637. In April, 1637, as the men were going into the fields to begin the work preliminary to planting, they were ambushed by a band of Pequots. Three women and six men were killed and scalped and two girls were taken as prisoners ; twenty cows were killed and considerable other prop- erty was destroyed.
From 1673, to 1693, the Town of Wethersfield included the present Towns of Newington, Glastenbury, Rocky Hill, and por- tions of Berlin and Marlborough. In October 1693, the area of Wethersfield was reduced one half, by cutting off all that part on the east side of the Connecticut River.
Wethersfield was the mother-town of many of the towns in western Connecticut. In 1638, and '39, there was an exodus to Quinnipiac by Lieutenant Robert Seeley and John Evans, to whom the old records gave the title of gentlemen ; Abraham Bell, John Clark, John Gibbs, Richard Gildersleve, Jolin Livermore, and Richard Miles. In 1639, the Rev. Peter Pruden headed a considerable company that settled at Milford - then called Wepo- waug - in 1640, the Rev. Richard Denton and about thirty others, went to Stamford -then called Rippowams - and in 1639, and '40, a small company settled Stratford -then called Cupheag. In 1644, and '45, Branford - then called Totoket - was settled by the Rev. John Sherman, Robert Abbott, Roger Betts, Leslie Bradfield, Robert Foot, John Norton, William Palmer, John Plumb, Sam Richells, Robert Rose. Charles Taintor, John Ward, Thomas Whitway. The Rev. Mr. Shernian went from Wethersfield to Milford in 1639, thence to Branford. He was an ancestor of General W. T. Sherman and Senator John Sherman. By 1660, the number in Branford had been increased by about sixty other settlers. In 1659, the trouble in the Hart- ford Church caused another and considerable exodus, this time
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to Hadley, Massachusetts, under the spiritual leadership of the Rev. John Russell, Jr. This was the last organized company to leave Wethersfield.
Unlike the settlers of Hartford and Windsor, those of Wethers- field had no organized Church when they arrived in the Valley of the Connecticut. The Church was not organized till the spring of 1636. Although there were several ministers in Wethers- field the Church did not have a minister, till the Rev. Henry Smith was settled over the parish, in 1641. Mr. Smith's pas-
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torate was made unpleasant by that still-existing cause of dis- cord - the rich and influential member - who in this instance was the ruling elder, Clement Chaplin. The Rev. John Russell, Jr., who went to Hadley, was the second minister. Unlike the majority of the Connecticut towns, Wethersfield's ministers were constantly changing, their pastorates being brief. The Rev. John Cotton was minister from 1660, to 1663; the Rev. Joseph Haynes, son of Governor Haynes, succeeded Mr. Cotton for about a year ; the Rev. Thomas Buckingham preached for one or two months,
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in 1664; in 1664 and 1665, the Rev. Jonathan Willoughby preached ; the Rev. Samuel Wakeman preached for a few months in 1666; the Rev. Samuel Stone - son of the original Samuel Stone of Hartford - from 1666 to 1669. The Rev. Gershom Bulkeley became minister in 1667, and continued as such till his health failed in 1676. Mr. Bulkeley was a man of broad mind and liberal education. He was a graduate of Harvard and was as well known throughout New England for his skill as a sur- geon and lawyer, as for his ability as a preacher. In the Indian war of 1675, he served in the dual capacity of chaplain and surgeon. His wife was a daughter of President Chauncey of Harvard. The Rev. Joseph Rowlandson was the minister from 1677, to 1678, in which year he died ; the Rev. John Woodbridge, from 1679, till his death in 1691; the Rev. William Partridge from 1691, till his death in 1693.
The first typical New England pastorate began in 1693, when the Rev. Stephen Mix became the minister. Mr. Mix's pastorate continued for forty-four years, ending at his death in 1738. The Rev. Stephen Mix was a son of Thomas Mix, of New Haven. He was graduated from Harvard. His wife was Mary Stoddard, daughter of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, whom he married in 1696. Mr. Mix was succeeded by the Rev. James Lockwood, who was minister from 1738 till his death in 1772. Mr. Lockwood was offered and declined the presidency of Prince- ton and of Yale. The Rev. Dr. John Marsh was settled in 1774. His pastorate continued for forty-six years and ended at his death in 1821. The Rev. Dr. Caleb Jewett Tenney, who was Dr. Marsh's assistant for the last five years of his pastorate, suc- ceeded Dr. Marsh as minister. Dr. Tenney was graduated from Dartmouth in 1801, at the head of the class of which Daniel Webster was a member.
When the first meeting-house was built is uncertain, as the records give no information on that subject. That there was a meeting-house in 1646, which was probably begun in the pre- vious year, is certain, from the records. Authorities differ as to whether this was the first or second church structure. In 1685, a new church was built not far from the site of that of 1646, and in 1761, the present fine specimen of Colonial church-archi- tecture was erected, not far from the sites of its predecessors. It
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is of the same style as the famous Old South Church, on Wash- ington street, in Boston. General Washington, and the elder Adams, attended service there.
The first Baptist Church was organized in 1784, and the first , church edifice was erected in 1816. Although George White- field preached under the great elm on Broad street, in 1740, Methodism cannot be said to have started till 1790, when Jesse Lee, of Virginia, and Freeborn Garrettson preached in Wethers- field, but the first Methodist church was not built till 1824. An attempt was made by the Rev. Samuel Johnson, of Stratford, to establish an Episcopal Church in Wethersfield in 1729, but no parish was organized in the town till 1797, in that portion that is now Newington. It soon ceased to exist. There were schools in the town for many years before 1700. The records show that the first school-house was in such condition that it was unfit for use in 1660.
While Wethersfield of to-day is proud of the fact that it has no hotel nor any place where the weary and hungry traveler may rest and eat, it was well supplied with taverns in the old days. John Saddler was probably the first tavern-keeper, in 1642, on High street. In 1675, Richard Smith, who was the ferryman, kept a tavern on the New London road, at the ferry ; and John Belden was licensed to keep a tavern in the same year, on Broad street. John Devotion kept a tavern in 1713; Benjamin Belden, in 1714; Corporal John Francis in 1717. Stillman's tavern was the house in which Washington consulted with officers of his army, in 1781.
Wethersfield had a library just after peace was declared in 1783. In the Revolution, Wethersfield men took an active and un- selfish part, as in fact they did in all the wars, from the Pequot, soon after the first settlement, down to the Civil War, of 1861. In Colonel John Chester, Colonel Samuel B. Webb, and Captain Ezekiel P. Belden, Wethersfield had the honor of being the home of three original members of the Order Cincinnati.
Ship building was carried on in Wethersfield at a very early date, but it was not of the importance in tonnage or profit that it was in some of the other river towns. In 1648, Thomas Deming built the ship "Tryall ", his yard being on that part of the river that is now the Cove. The " Tryall " was one of the
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first ships built in the Colony. She was in command of Captain Larabee, and Samuel Smith owned the largest share in the ship. Boats were built on the site of Deming's yard for about 200 years. In 1672, there was another yard started, just to the north of the Rocky Hill landing, where a thriving business was carried on and a considerable number of vessels were built. The commerce of Wethersfield was chiefly fur-bearing pelts and pipe- staves; the former were shipped to Europe and the latter to the West Indies. Among the more notable sea-captains were the following : in the Still- man family were, Otis Southmayde, George, Simeon, Francis, Charles, Allyn, and Jo- seph Stillman, who - was the grandfather of Massachusett's fine pa- triot of the Revolu- tionary days, James Otis. Other men who were connected with the sea as captains or merchants, were Wil- liam Griswold, Joseph Webb, Justus Riley and Barnabas Deane.
Some of the great- CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, WETHERSFIELD. est industries of the State of Connecticut, either originated in Wethersfield, or were started by natives of that village. To begin with the most primitive manufacturing interests, it is probable that the dam across Mill Brook - some- times called Sucker Brook - built by Leonard Chester, in 1637, te store water for turning the wheel of his gristmill, was the first dam built in the Connecticut Valley.
The great britannia works of Meriden with its present allied industries, was founded by Ashbel Griswold, who was born in that portion of Wethersfield that is now Rocky Hill. About the year 1785, Captain Thomas Danforth, of Rocky Hill, manufac-
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tured articles of tin and pewter. The greater portion of his goods were sent to the Southern States. Young Griswold, one of Captain Danforth's apprentices, went to Meriden in 1808, and began the manufacture of block-tin, out of which grew the britan- nia works. Griswold died in 1853, leaving a large fortune.
Although the first broom, of broom-corn, was made in Hadley, : in 1797, it was made by Levi Dickenson, a native of Wethers- field, who moved to Hadley. There is a tradition that Dickenson cultivated the first broom-corn in Wethersfield, before he moved to Hadley.
While it is not claimed to be the first of the kind, the leghorn hats made by Miss Sophia Woodhouse - who married Gurdon Welles -- in 1819, should not be passed by. Miss Woodhouse made the hats of red-top and spear-grass which grew about Wethersfield, using the upper portion of the stalks. In 1821, the Society of Arts, in London, awarded her a prize of twenty guineas for a bonnet she had inade of those grasses, which was exhibited at the fair of the Society. She was also granted a patent by the United States, in the same year. The color and fineness of her hats was said to be superior to the best Leghorn.
On December 11, 1782, Wethersfield, and, indeed, the country for many miles around, was greatly excited and shocked by the murder of his entire family by one of Wethersfield's most prominent merchants and respected citizens, and by his suicide. A peculiar fact in connection with the crime is, that horrible as it was, it seems to have been prompted by a combination of love, and selfish cowardice, due to inability to bear loss of property. William Beadle had decided to kill himself rather than bear, what he thought to be, the shame of poverty. At the same time, he thought it would be cruel to leave his wife and children to bear poverty alone, so he killed them too.
Mr. Beadle was born in the village of Essex, near London, and was supposed to be the natural son of an English gentleman, whose social position made him familiar with the court and club- life. He came to America in 1762, and lived for a time in Strat- ford, Derby and in Fairfield, where he was married. About 1773, he moved to Wethersfield and was known to be possessed of considerable property. He started in the retail trade and had one of the best stocked country stores in the state. He did a
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large, and what would have been a prosperous business, had Continental currency not depreciated so greatly. Instead of ac- cepting Continental money at a discount, or charging an ad- vanced price for his goods, as most merchants did, he accepted it at its face value believing that it would in time be at par. Instead of investing his profits he kept the cash in his house. The depreciation resulted in a loss which reduced him from affluence to real poverty. His home had been notable for its hospitality and after his loss of fortune, till he destroyed his family and himself, he continued to entertain his friends gener- ously, even while he was reduced to the greatest straits in his private life.
That a misguided pride caused him to be unable to bear his losses with courage, is shown by an extract from one of his manuscripts, in which he expressed the opinion :
If a man who has once lived well, meant well and done well, falls by unavoidable accident into poverty, and then submits to be laughed at, despised and trampled on, by a set of mean wretches as far below him as the moon is below the sun; I say if such a man submits, he must become meaner than meanness itself, and I sincerely wish he might have ten years added to his natural life to punish him for his folly.
Mr. Beadle fixed upon the night of November 18, 1782, for the destruction of himself and his family, but circumstances pre- vented it. On the evening of December 10, he entertained some friends in his usual pleasant and hospitable manner, and was seemingly calm and undisturbed by the knowledge, that before morning he was to kill his family and himself. Just before dawn of the next morning he killed his wife and then called the house maid, who slept in the room with the children, and sent her on an errand to the doctor, whose house was a quarter of a mile distant. He then killed the four children, a son and three daughters, and finally himself. The people of the village were greatly excited by the deed and demanded that the body of the suicide-murderer should be buried at a cross roads, with a stake driven through its breast, but when the choice of loca- tion was considered, no place could be decided upon, as no one was willing to have it near his house or property. The body was finally buried between high and low water on the river bank, with the bloody knife fastened to its breast, but it was partly washed
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out later and so was again buried secretly. The place being found by some children it was buried a third time, secretly. Mr. Beadle was fifty-two and his wife thirty-two.
It is strange, that for months Mrs. Beadle had experienced horrible dreams in which she saw her children lying dead from violence. These dreams had the effect of convincing Mr. Beadle that his contemplated act was proper and that his wife's dreams were inspired by Heaven to convince him that his and their
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SILAS DEANE HOUSE, WETHERSFIELD. Chair to right once the property of Napoleon.
deaths were justified. Beadle believed that it was evidence of sublime heroism to die by one's own act and that, "The Deity would punish no one who was impatient to visit God and learn his will from his own mouth, face to face". The remnants of the superstition that believed in witches and burned innocent persons for practicing witchcraft, was shown by the people at the time of this tragedy. On December 10, the day before the murders were committed, the weather was fine and there was a
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full moon. The following is quoted from a letter written at the time, by a gentleman to a friend, and shows that superstition existed :
* neither the sun nor moon were visible from the time this horrid deed was done till the body of the man was laid beneath the clods, which redoubled the horror; when suddenly the wind blew from the north-west, dispelled the vapors and discovered a cloudless sky.
Rocky Hill was set off from Wethersfield and incorporated as a separate town in 1843. In 1720, when the inhabitants of Rocky Hill wished to become a separate parish, the people of Wethersfield changed the general order of things, when such a desire was made known, by voting to give the Rocky Hill people that which they desired, instead of opposing it. The petitioners were Joseph Cole, Richard Butler, Samuel Belden, Joseph Butler, Jonathan Curtis, Samuel Collins, Joseph Crowfoot, Elihu Dickin- son ; Thomas, John and Gideon Goodrich; Thomas Williams, Sr., Jonathan Smith, John Stephens, William Nott, Stephen Williams, John Taylor; Jonathan, Jacob and Joseph Riley; Samuel Smith and Abraham Morris.
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In the spring of 1722, the General Court incorporated the parish and Joseph Grimes, Jonathan Curtis and Benjamin Wright were appointed a committee to fix upon the site for the meeting- house. The first name chosen for the parish was Lexington, after the town of that name in Massachusetts, the former home of Mr. Grimes, but he suggested, that it would be better not to have two Lexingtons, so Stepney was fixed upon as the name. This was the name of the parish till 1826, when the Legislature changed it to Rocky Hill, and if the Legislature should change it to the old name, or to a new one, it would be doing a goo:1 thing. Rocky Hill is neither pleasant to the ears, the eyes, nor the imagination.
The original eastern boundary was not at the river, but in 1759, the parish was increased in size by extending the eastern boundary to the Connecticut, and extensions of the western and northern boundaries were made. In 1794, there was a slight contraction of the area of the parish, by adding some of it to the Parish of Worthington, in the Town of Berlin. When the parish was first talked of in 1720, the Town granted to the pros-
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