USA > Connecticut > Historic towns of the Connecticut River Valley > Part 6
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FRANKLIN MILE STONE, LYME.
Britain, than anything else that had taken place. Soon after, he received a commission as colonel of a regiment with which he marched to Roxbury, Massachusetts, where they remained till the British evacuated Boston. He was in the battle of Long Island, in August, 1776 and was promoted to the rank of Brig- adier General. As such he took an active, intelligent, and courageous part in many important military events near New York City, the Hudson River, and in the western portion of Connecticut, under General Washington and General Putnam. In 1780, he was promoted to the rank of Major General and was 5
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one of the judges who tried that fine gentleman and brilliant soldier, Major Andre, whose necessary death as a British spy caused the great-hearted Washington such keen sorrow. General Parsons' brilliant and successful attack, in 1781, upon the British at Morrisania, caused Congress to direct Washington to express the thanks of that body to General Parsons. Toward the end of 1781, the Governor, and Council of Safety, turned the com- mand of the state troops and the Coast-guards over to General Parsons, with full power to do with them as he thought necessary in protecting the people of Connecticut against attack by the British.
When peace was declared, General Parsons opened a law office in Middletown. He represented Middletown in the Legislature and was the life of the bill for the formation of Middlesex County, in 1785. That same year he went to Ohio and in January, 1786, he, with General George R. Clark and General Richard Butler, represented the Government in a treaty with the Indians, near the mouth of the Great Miami river, that resulted in the ceding of a large tract of territory by the Indians to the United States. General Parsons returned to his home early in 1787, and in October of that year, Congress appointed him Governor of the North West Territory, but he delayed his going so that he could take part in the State Convention for the endorsement and adop- tion of a National Constitution, in January, 1788. In 1789, he served with Oliver Wolcott, of Litchfield, (who was later Gover- nor of Connecticut) and, James Davenport, Jr., of Stamford, on a committee for a treaty with the Indians who claimed lands in Ohio. While returning to his home in Marietta, Ohio, he was drowned in the Rapids of Great Beaver Creek, on November 17, 1789, in the fifty-third year of his age.
CLINTON.
1 N OCTOBER, 1663, the Legislature at Hartford, passed an act for forming a plantation at Hammonassett (this being the Indian name for Clinton) with certain definite, manda- tory provisions, to the number of nine. It was but natural that one of the two most important should be, to quote :
They shall settle an able, orthodox, godly minister free from scandal etc. etc.
There is a suggestiveness about the last three words which is somewhat misleading, since it implies that ministers were fre- quently - not free from scandal. It is more than probable that the word scandal, does not refer in any way to the personal, private lives of those heroic priests of God, who did even more than their full share to make New England what it is, but to their faithfulness to the Congregational Church, or to the Say- brook platform. Too great liberality, or too little strenuousness in adhering to the platform, being considered scandalous.
The other of the two prominent provisions was, that the plantation on the east side of the Hammonassett River, still so called, should consist of at least thirty families. The planta- tion began its existence with but twenty planters, or heads of families, and not long after their settlement, ten of the twenty left for other parts. So the plantation continued to exist with but ten families, till two years later, in December, 1655, when the required number was actually present as settlers.
To the Yankee of 250 years ago, the same as it is to the Yankee of to-day, the next most important matter to the Church and worship was the School and education. As early as Novem- ber 15, 1703, the little Town voted to build a schoolhouse to be sixteen feet square -"with room for a chimnie "-and to be situated upon meeting-house hill. The school was in session for one half of the time in the winter and the other half in the summer as required by law. Atenry Crane, Sr., was chosen for the schoolmaster for one year, at a salary of eleven shillings weekly.
The early history of religious worship in Clinton is meagre
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and indefinite. According to the Rev. J. D. Moore's Historical Sketches, John Colton preached to the people before the Church was organized, but where John Colton came from or where he went, seems not to be known.
As was frequently the case in those very early days, the people were called to worship by the drum. In 1666, the Town agreed with Nathan Parmlee to beat the drum on Sundays for the sum of forty shillings a year, and he was to maintain the drum at his own expense. Two years later, Samuel Griswold was the Sunday-drummer, with a salary increased to one pound and ten shillings a year, and eight months later the Town voted to buy
THE HOME OF DR. BENJAMIN GALE, WHO DIED IN 1790. He expected to re-occupy it after the day of judgment.
a new drum, the supposition being, that brother Griswold's strong arms had made such a purchase necessary
The little settlement was known as Hammonassett till May, 1667, when it was called after the famous Warwickshire town, Kenilworth, whence a number of the settlers came to the Colony. Through a lack of education, or carelessness, or both, the spell- ing was changed to Kenelwort and Kenelmeworth to Killing- worth, as a portion of the town is still called.
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The Rev. John Woodbridge, the first of that fine family to be born in America, was called as the first pastor of the Church, in his twenty-third year, in 1667. This young divine's grand- father, the Rev. John Woodbridge, was a distinguished dissent- ing minister in England, and his grandmother was the daughter of the Rev. Robert Parker, a writer of note on religious subjects and a friend of non-conformity. His father, also John Wood- bridge, was born in Stanton, Wiltshire in 1613. He went to Oxford University but when the oath of conformity was required of him, he refused and so had to obtain his education elsewhere. Being a strong and consistent dissenter, he came to the Colonies, with his uncle, the Rev. Thomas Parker, in 1634, and in 1641, he married a daughter of the Hon. Thomas Dudley. Mr. Wood- bridge was ordained and be- came the first minister of the Church, in Andover, Massa- chusetts. It was in Andover that the John Woodbridge who became the first minister of the Killingworth Church, was born, in 1644. He was graduated from Harvard at the age of twenty, in 1664, and REV. JONATHAN PIERSON'S SILVER CIDER MUG. spent the following three years in the study of theology and, in 1667, became the minister of the Killingworth Church. His home lot, of eight acres, was on Main and South streets. Early in the second year of his pastorate he was given, by vote of the Town, £60 toward the building of a parsonage. His salary, the usual combination salary, was f60 and fifty loads of fire wood. The Rev. John Wood- bridge's first home was near the Elias Wellman place and later he lived on the corner known as the "Stanton place ". Mr. Woodbridge resigned after twelve years of faithful service, much against the wishes of his parish, and went to the Church in Wethersfield, where he remained as minister till his death, in 1690, in the forty-sixth year of his age. Woodbridge, the charming hill town a few miles northwest of New Haven, was named in honor of the Rev. Benjamin Woodbridge, of the same
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family, the first minister of the Church in that place, where his faithful service extended over forty-three years. The Rev. Benjamin was a grandson of the Rev. John of Killingworth.
After Mr. Woodbridge left Killingworth for Wethersfield, the Church in Killingworth was in a state of discord and disagree- ment for fifteen years, and no successor to Mr. Woodbridge was secured till 1694, when the Rev. Abraham Pierson, who will be famous in America for all time as being one of the original founding-trustees of Yale and its first Rector, was called as the second minister. He was a son of the Rev. Abraham and was born, some authorities say, in Southampton, Long Island, and others in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1646, and was graduated from Harvard in the class of 1668. Mr. Pierson succeeded in restor- ing the old harmony and peace that obtained under the pastorate of Mr. Woodbridge.
It was at about the time Mr. Pierson became minister of the Killingworth Church, that the people of Connecticut recognized the need of a college in which the youth of the Colony could be educated for the Church and for public office in the Colony. In 1700, Mr. Pierson was one of the several ministers chosen by the people to found the Collegiate School at Saybrook, by giving a number of books with the statement:
With these books I lay the foundation of a college in this Colony.
Had nothing further taken place in Mr. Pierson's life than this act, he would still be famous among the educators of this country, and especially among Yale men, but a greater privilege was in store for him, for the people selected him for the first Rector of this noble institution, which began its long life of usefulness with a faculty of one and an undergraduate member- ship of one.
The choice was well made, after careful consideration, for Mr. Pierson was a man of scholarly attainments and was greatly interested in educational matters. He had already written a work on Natural Philosophy, which, was used as a text book in the School for many years. When the people in Saybrook be- came desirous that the School and its Rector should be removed to that town, Mr. Pierson's parishioners strongly objected to permitting their loved minister to leave them, and before the
CLINTON.
STANTON HOUSE.
A massive carved oak timber from Rector Pierson's house, which was on the same lot, forms part of the support of the chimney.
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matter had been finally decided, Mr. Pierson died at the age of 61, in 1707.
Although the good people of those early days were intensely earnest in their desire for schools and for the liberal education of their children, there is nothing which so strongly emphasizes the primitive simplicity of that which they considered a liberal education, as the Town records. There being no politics in those days, as we understand it, public officers were chosen for their prominence and ability, so it would be but natural to sup- pose that the Town clerk was chosen for his education, as well as for his prominence in the Church. The Town records show that the men who wrote them were often entirely unable to express themselves in a simple, straightforward manner. Some of the records, not only of Clinton, but of many other towns, require long and careful study before any accurate idea of the meaning which they wished to convey can be arrived at.
Mr. Woodbridge's successor was the Rev. Jared Eliot, D. D., M. D., a combination of professions which made the man prac- ticing both an unusual blessing to the community. It was not an unusual thing for the minister, of the earliest days, to be a healer of sick bodies, as well as a healer of sick souls.
Dr. Eliot was the son of the Rev. Joseph Eliot, of Guilford, in which place Dr. Eliot was born on November 7, 1685. His grandfather was that famous man known as "Apostle" Eliot. Dr. Eliot was one of the early graduates of Yale, his class being 1706. He married Elizabeth Smithson, of Guilford, on October 26, 1710. The Rev. Thomas Ruggles described Dr. Eliot as follows :
His person was well proportioned; he was favored with an excellent bodily constitution. Idleness was his abhorrence, every moment of his time was filled with action; perhaps no man slept so little, in hvis day, and did so much in so great a variety. Always active, bright and pleasant ; his mind was especially adapted for conversation and happily accommo- dated to the pleasures of social life. He abhorred narrowness and the mean contractedness of party spirit. As he claimed the right to think and act for himself, so was he more than free to accord the same privi- lege to others. As a physician, he was quick to determine the nature of the disease and to apply the proper remedy.
The Rev. Dr. Eliot's medical reputation became so great that he was called to attend patients whose homes were many miles
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distant from his. That no moment of his life might be lost or wasted Dr. Eliot was accustomed to read on horseback, as he was going to the home of one or another of his people who needed his skill as a physician. So absorbed would he become in the book he was reading or studying, that his wise old horse would take advantage of the fact to crop the grass along the path, or on more than one occasion, to wander into a field for a more hearty meal, before the good friend on his back would discover that little progress was being made toward his destina-
YALE MONUMENT, CLINTON.
tion. An amusing anecdote, illustrative of his disregard for small matters, is to the effect, that one Sunday morning, just as he was setting out for the church, he discovered a rip in his black silk stocking. This he mended with his quill pen, by applying ink to the white skin which the rent exposed. The idea of asking his wife to mend the rip properly, with needle and thread, never occurring to him.
As a scientific investigator he was notable. The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, of London, England, gave him a gold medal for discovering "that
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black sand could be made into iron." Dr. Eliot was liberal with the contents of his purse and with his profession, a large portion of his practice being given, but at the same time he possessed excellent business qualities and so left his family well off in this world's goods. He was a member of the Corporation of Yale for thirty-two years. His death occurred in his seventy-eighth year, on April 22, 1763.
A writer who evidently regretted the change in the spelling of the original English name of the town from Kenilworth to Killingworth, has made an ingenious, if highly imaginary, attempt to prove that Kenilworth and Clinton are the same. He says:
There are two interesting facts connected with the original and the present names of this place. One is, that Killingworth is a corruption of the first true name; the other is, that Clinton is the same name slightly varied. When the south part of the original Killingworth was con- stituted into a new town, the name Clinton was chosen in honor of Gov- ernor DeWitt Clinton. It is unfortunate that the original name, Kenil- worth, had not been selected, but as it was not, the name Clinton is the next best that could possibly have been adopted. It is, In fact, the same name.
This enthusiast then shows ( ?) that Clin is but a slight change of the first corruption of Kenilworth to Kelinworth, that is, that Clin and Kelin are the same. Granting that there is anyone with sufficient imagination to hear a similarity of sound when Clin and Kelin are pronounced, it is difficult to see the connec- tion, for he says that Kelin is a corruption of Kenil. He then shows that the old Saxon endings ton and worth signify an in- closure, so it is but reasonable to suppose that he would say Clinworth and Kelinton look and sound alike to him and that they are exactly the same words, "slightly varied." This enthusiastic gentleman then goes on with his proof as follows :
Nor does the identity of the names rest only upon etymology. It is also proved by historic fact. Kenilworth, England, was the barony of Sir Goeffrey de Clinton. * * * It is most probable, therefore, that the name of the place was Clinton, or Kenilton, as these barons took title from the name of their barony.
Just where Governor De Witt Clinton comes in requires even more imagination.
HADDAM.
T HE settlement of Haddam was made in 1662, by twenty- eight young men who settled on the east shore of the Connecticut River, in the neighborhood of Walkley Hill and Mill Creek. Others, who came a little later, settled to the south of Mill Creek, in the vicinity of the present hamlet of Haddam. The names of the first settlers, near Walkley Hill, were - Nicholas Ackley, Joseph Arnold, John Bailey, James Bates, Daniel Brainard, Thomas Brooks, Samuel Butler, William Clarke, Daniel Cone, William Corbee, Abraham Dibble, Samuel Ganes, George Gates, John Hannison, Richard Jones, Stephen Luxford, John Parents, Richard Piper, Thomas Shayler, Simon Smith, Thomas Smith, Gerrard Spencer, Joseph Stannard, William Ventres, James Wells, John Spencer, John Webb, and John Wiat. The majority of them were married but a short time.
In October, 1668, the Town was formed and given the name of Haddam. In those days township lines were loosely granted and carelessly laid out. Disputes were therefore natural and not infrequent. Such a dispute arose between the Town of Haddam and the Towns of Saybrook and Lyme. The north boundary of Saybrook, on the west side of the Connecticut River, was fixed at eight miles north from the Sound, and the north boundary of Lyme on the east side of the Connecticut, was six miles from the Sound. Sometime later, an additional grant was made to Saybrook and Lyme of four miles further north, and a part of this four miles encroached upon the land obtained by the people of Haddam from the Indians. A heated dispute arose, but it was finally settled by a proposal from Saybrook, that the four- mile grant should be divided into a half and two quarters ; one half going to Haddam and a quarter each to Lyme and Saybrook. This plan was approved by the General Court in 1669. In 1734, Haddam Township was divided into two parts, the dividing lines being the Connecticut and Salmon Rivers. The town on the west remained Haddam ; that on the east became East Haddam.
For the first thirty years the principal settlement in this town
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was just back from the western bank of the Connecticut River, at the edge of the long, narrow strip of meadow land. Then, individual families began to move back farther from the river, toward the western portion of the town, among them being the Dickinsons, Hubbards, and Rays, who settled there in 1700, or soon after that year. Later, they were joined by the Lewises, Hazeltons, Tylers, Higginses, Thomases, Knowleses, and Burrs. In 1712, that portion of Haddam called Haddam Neck was settled by Thomas Selden, of Lyme, formerly of Hadley, Massachusetts ; and two families of Brainards.
When the Indians sold the land comprising Haddam to the English, they reserved Thirty-mile-Island (now Haddam Island) and forty acres at Pattaquoenk, where they lived for many years, fishing and hunting where they pleased so long as they did not interfere with the settlers. A favorite resort of theirs was a deep ravine, or hollow, on Haddam Neck, in the north-eastern portion, which was for many years known as Indian Hollow, and the small stream running through it was called Indian Brook. The Indians had no name for the whole territory comprising the Town of Haddam, but different parts of the town were given different names. The little settlement in the center of the town called Ponset, by the settlers, was called Cockaponset by the Indians ; Higganum, in the northern part of the town on the Connecticut, was Higganumpus, the fishing-place.
As early as 1762, a granite quarry was opened by Deacon Ezera Brainard on Haddam Neck. This was followed by other open- ings in the same neighborhood and in 1794, a quarry was started on the west side of the river. All of the quarries did a large business, chiefly in curbing and flagstones. The principal market was New York, but Boston, Albany and Baltimore also bought considerable quantities. Early in 1800, wood was a profitable article of commerce in Haddam, three thousand cords being shipped in 1807, of which 2000 were shipped from Higganum Landing. In 1813, Haddam had a ."ginnery " in which 250 hogsheads of gin were distilled yearly.
For the first eleven years the people worshipped in the different homes of the settlement. In 1673, they built a little meeting- house, twenty-four by twenty-eight feet on the ground, in which they " feared the Lord " every Sunday and all day Sunday, till
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1721, when a new and larger building was erected. As there are no Church records earlier than 1756, it is not possible to give the date of the organization of the Church, but it was probably in 1700. The first minister mentioned in the old records was the Rev. Jonathan Willaube, who was in charge of the Church but a short time.
In 1668, Nicholas Noyes, " an improved candidate ", preached to the people for thirteen or fourteen years, but there is reason to believe that he was not ordained. The Noyes family came to the Colonies from Wiltshire, England, and was a family of ministers. An uncle of Nicholas, the Rev. James Noyes, was the first minister of Newbury, Massachusetts ; and his cousins, the Revs. Moses Noyes and James Noyes were the first minis- ters of Lyme and Stonington, Connecticut, respectively.
The Rev. Nicholas Noyes was a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1667. After he left Haddam he was ordained as the minister at Salem, Massachusetts, on November 16, 1683. This was the time of the persecutions for witchcraft, in which gentle pastime Mr. Noyes took an active and prominent part. He was honest enough later to acknowledge his error and to repent of it. An obituary of him was published in a Boston newspaper of 1707. Many people complain that the newspapers of the twentieth cen- tury go to unreasonable excesses in praising the dead; that a twentieth century obituary is made up of adjectives, adverbs and superlatives, but journalism in that respect, is not different to-day from what it was then, as will be seen from the following quo- tation from that Boston newspaper of 1707.
Salem, Dec. 13, 1707, died the very reverend and famous Mr. Nicholas Noyes near 70 years of age, and in the 35th of his ordained ministry at Salem. He was extraordinarily accomplished for the work of the ministry whereunto he was called, and wherein he found mercy to be faithful, and was made a rich, extensive and long continued blessing. Considering his superior genius, his pregnant wit, strong memory, solid judgment, his great acquaintance in human learning and knowledge; his conversation among his friends, so very entertaining and profitable; his uncommon attainments in the study of divinity, his eminent sanctity, gravity and virtue, his serious. learned and pious performances in the pulpit, his more than ordinary skill in the prophetical parts of scripture, his wisdom and usefulness in human affairs, and his constant solicitude for the public good; it is no wonder that Salem, and adjacent parts of the country, as also the churches, university and people of New England, justly esteem
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him as a principal part of their glory. He was born at Newbury, Decem- ber 22d, 1647 and died a bachelor.
There may be a possible significance in the last four words, as the witches of Salem were nearly all women.
Sometime between 1682, and 1690, the Rev. John James preached in Haddam, but just when and how long is not knowt :. He was a good man and an excellent preacher, but was notable for his eccentricities.
In August, 1691, the Rev. Jeremiah Hobart became the min- ister, but he was never regularly installed. Later, there was a misunderstanding betwen him and the parish which was settled amicably in June, 1700, when he was formally installed as the minister, in the seventieth year of his age. On November 6, 1715, he attended service, received the sacrament and in the inter- mission died in his chair.
The next minister was the Rev. Phineas Fiske, son of Dr. John Fiske, of Milford. He studied at Yale, under Rector Pierson, in Killingworth. The year before Rector Pierson's death, Mr. Fiske became a tutor in the College. After his death, the senior class was removed to Milford, in 1707, and Mr. Fiske took charge of the other classes in Saybrook, till Commencement. For several years thereafter, Mr. Fiske and another tutor instructed all the classes in Saybrook. Mr. Fiske was thoughtful and scholarly and was regarded as a great success as an instructor. At that time Connecticut was looking to Yale, or the Collegiate School, as it was then called, for its ministers and many of the most notable were instructed there under the direction and personal attention of Mr. Fiske. As a preacher, Mr. Fiske was a man who appealed to the minds of his auditors rather than to their emotions.
Then followed in the pulpit of the Haddam Church, the Rev. Aaron Cleveland, from 1739 to 1746. Mr. Cleveland died in the home of his friend Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia ; the Rev. Joshua Elderkin, from 1749, to 1753; the Rev. Eleazer May was minister for forty-seven years, from 1756, to 1803; the Rev. David Dudley Field, from 1804, to 1818.
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