USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of Berlin, Connecticut > Part 3
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To Samuel Seamore, half of the homested with ye house on it, valued at £60; also his part in the land that lies on the west of Mr. Gilbert, being 12 acres, and valued at £35-03-00.
To Ebenezer Gilbert, land on the east side of Mr. Gilbert valued at £18-01-03.
To Hannah Seamore, out of the moveable estate, which is £32 10.
To Mercy Seamore, her part in the dist. out of the moveable estate, which is £32-10.
HANNAH (X) SEAMORE, LS SAMUEL SEAMORE, LS JONATHAN SEAMORE, LS EBENEZER SEAMORE, LS JOSEPH POMEROY, LS MERCY (X) SEAMORE, LS
19
THE EARLIEST SETTLERS
Page 24, 1st January 1710-11: Hannah Seamore of Farmington, widow, and Samuel Seamore, Jonathan Seamore and Ebenezer Sea- more, sons of the sd. deceased, and Mercy Seamore and Jonathan Pomeroy in behalf of Hannah his wife, daughters of sd. decd., appeared before this court and exhibited a writing under their hands and seals, made for the dist. or division of the greatest part of the estate of the sd. decd. amongst themselves. And each acknowledged the sd. writing or agreement to be their act and deed.
Wherefore this court allow and approve the sd. writing
See File: Paper attached to agreement; November 7th, 1712. Then reckoned with and received of Samuel Seymour ye whole of ye legacy yt was due to my wife from Father Seymour's estate I say received in full
PR. JOSEPH PUMRY
Hannah Seymour was a daughter of Matthew Woodruff of Farmington.
Hannah the widow did not long survive her husband. A statement recorded on page 193 of Early Connecticut Probate Records reads as follows :
Seamore, Hannah, Farmington, late wife of Richard Seamore.
Know all men by these presents: That we whose names are under- written do agree that for the third of our mother's state, decd. that the two sisters are to have all the moveables, and the three brothers are to have all the lands.
Signed 7 November, 1712.
SAMUEL SEAMORE, LS RICHARD SEAMORE, LS JONATHAN SEAMORE, LS JOSEPH POMEROY, LS GEORGE HUBBARD, LS
Witness EBENEZER GILBERT GERSHAM HOLLISTER
George Hubbard was the husband of Marcy Seymour, daugh- ter of Captain Richard.
Richard Seymour, father of Captain Richard, came from Chelmsford, County Essex, England, in 1639. He was chimney viewer in Hartford in 1647, was in Norwalk with the early planters soon after 1650, and died 1655, leaving wife, Mercy, and four sons. Thomas, the eldest, remained in Norwalk, had
20
HISTORY OF BERLIN
three sons and seven daughters. The mother, Mercy, married, second, Mr. John Steele of Farmington, where she brought her three boys, John, Zachary and Richard, who were under age and had been placed in her guardianship.
As Richard was made a freeman in Farmington in 1669, the inference is that he was seven when his mother was left a widow, that he was forty-eight when he came to Great Swamp, and seventy-two at the time of his death. From Richard's brother John, who married Mary Watson, and settled in Hart- ford, were descended Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, Judge Origen Seymour of Litchfield, Major Gen. Truman Sey- mour, U. S. A., and Rt. Rev. George F. Seymour of Springfield.
Samuel Seymour, son of Captain Richard, inherited the home- stead. He married, May 10, 1706, Hannah North, daughter of Thomas North, Sr., of Farmington. Their daughter Hannah was the second wife of Allyn Goodrich. John Goodrich, son of Allyn, with his son John-"Uncle John"-and Uncle John's children, made six generations who abode on that spot.
Allyn Goodrich, son of John Goodrich and Rebecca Allyn his wife, of Wethersfield, born November 13, 1690, married Decem- ber 29, 1709, Elizabeth, the second of seventeen children of Colonel David Goodrich of Wethersfield. She was eighteen and he nineteen when married. They came to "Little Farmington Village," where she died August 25, 1726, one week after the birth of her sixth child. He married, second, December 10, 1729, Hannah Seymour of Kensington, and they had two sons, John and Asahel. At a society meeting held December 6, 1738, Allyn Goodrich was granted 7s. 6d. for framing a bier to carry the dead. He died April 8, 1764.
John Goodrich, son of Allyn Goodrich and Hannah Seymour, born March 28, 1737, married April 7, 1757, Hannah Dewey, born March 9, 1740, daughter of Lieut. Daniel Dewey, son of Daniel.
The Deweys, who were active in the affairs of Great Swamp Society, lived within the present limits of New Britain, it is
21
THE EARLIEST SETTLERS
said on the Enoch Kelsey place, southeasterly from the Martin Ellis corner. Vermont claims Admiral Dewey as one of her sons. A branch of the Dewey family moved from Connecticut to Berlin, Vt., in 1789.
Mrs. Orpha North Edwards, born in Berlin, Conn., in 1810, now living at Derby, Conn., is a granddaughter of Hannah (Dewey) Goodrich. She writes that she remembers an uncle David Dewey, who lived in Vermont, and that "they" go back five generations to a common ancestor with the Admiral.
John Goodrich and his wife lie in the Christian Lane ceme- tery. He died April 26, 1816, aged 79. She died September 15, 1812, aged 72. Their six children were Seth, Zenas, Han- nah, Leonard, John, and Rebecca. Zenas married Lois, daugh- ter of Pete Gapin. He was a blacksmith and learned, it is said, his trade from his father. Hannah was the wife of Asahel Root, and Rebecca, mother of Mrs. Edwards, was the wife of Lemuel North.
It was the fashion in early New England days to marry while young. John Goodrich was twenty-one and Hannah Dewey was only seventeen when she promised to "love, honor and obey" him.
Their dwelling house stood a little way in front and north of the old fort. Mrs. Edwards says the house was built by her great-grandfather Goodrich. The outside doors were double and were fastened at the top and again at the base. A loaded gun hung on the wall. The logs for the great fireplace were attached to a chain and dragged into the house by oxen.
Mrs. Edwards remembers hearing that some Indians had a wigwam out in the cow pasture, west of the house, where they made baskets on a large white stone. She saw the stone when a child and thinks it must be there now, as it was so large that fifty men could not have moved it. Every two weeks the Indians carried their baskets to Hartford, where they sold them and bought rum. They had a "high old time" as long as the rum lasted, and the squaw used to come over and stay with Mrs. Edwards' grandmother until they were sober again.
John Goodrich, Jr., born May 19, 1776, remained on the homestead. He married January 1, 1798, Ruth, daughter of
22
HISTORY OF BERLIN
Jonathan Beckley of Beckley Quarter. Their children, six in number, were Darius, Nathan, Lydia, Mary, Hannah, and Martha.
"Uncle John Goodrich," as he was called, was a tinner by occupation, and his shop, where he busied himself to his last days, stood easterly from his house near the front fence. He was extremely fond of music. He was fifteen years old when, in 1791, the wonderful new organ was set up in the church, and he is said to have been the first to play it. He practiced at home on a painted key-board, and "made his own music," what- ever that might mean.
John Goodrich, Jr., died May, 6, 1858, aged 82; Ruth Beck- ley, his wife, died January 16, 1849, aged 71.
Hannah Dewey, their daughter, born September 5, 1814, remained at home and cared faithfully for the old people as long as they lived. Afterward she was twice married, the second time to Aaron Dutton of Clairmont, N. H., where she died October 30, 1893.
Mr. Goodrich and his daughter, Miss Hannah, were always present at church services. On a chilly May Sunday, in church, he took a cold that resulted in his last sickness, pneumonia. She was fond of little children, and was always trying to induce them to come to Sunday school. Miss Root remembers how they used to bring her over to the village on Sunday, sitting between them in a little chair, which they had in the wagon.
The old Goodrich house was built early in the eighteenth century, probably by Allyn Goodrich. The style was like that of the Root house, at the south end of Christian Lane, except that the front rooms had only one window in front. It was set well back from the road, and great lilac bushes grew each side of the front door. The place was sold about 1870 to Noah Rawlings, father of W. J. Rawlings, New Britain's Chief of Police. The house had become so dilapidated as to be scarcely habitable, and Mr. Rawlings tore it down, much to the grief of Mrs. Dutton, who as long as she was able to do so, made a yearly pilgrimage to her old home, but after the new house was built she would never set her foot inside, except to go into the wood-
THE OLD BECKLEY MILL
23
THE EARLIEST SETTLERS
house, which was all that remained of the ancient dwelling of her fathers. She always wanted to take away a bottle of water from the well, to use for bathing her head when it ached. Then she would get a boy to go down into the well and bring up for her a certain medicinal herb that grew on the stones.
That well, now over two hundred years old, dug by the first settlers, a few feet outside of the fort, still affords excellent water. It is said that when the well was dug the earth was thrown out, for a depth of sixteen feet, by hand, without rope or windlass, and that it caved in and buried a man up to his neck.
BECKLEY QUARTER AND THE BECKLEY MILL 0 (Notes discovered among Miss North's papers)
In October, 1668, The General Assembly at Hartford granted to Sergeant Richard Beckley "300 acres of land lying by Mattabesett half a mile wide on both sides of the River and to run up from New Haven path so far till it doth contain 300 acres."* In 1670, when the town of Wethersfield confirmed the grant, Mr. Beckley had already built a house and barn upon his farm. It is said that he lived here sixteen years before any other white person came.
A business wagon may be seen daily passing through our streets, bearing the sign "Ed. Slater, Beckley Mills." For a time these mills were conducted by Giles London. The one on the east side of the road has been used for grinding plaster and fertilizers.
Without doubt this water privilege was the first utilized in this vicinity. The old records at New Britain and Wethersfield show that the grist mill changed hands many times, with few exceptions
* This is undoubtedly the same piece of land which he is said to have purchased from the Indian Chief Tarramuggus, and the "grant" from the General Assembly at Hartford was merely an official confirmation of this purchase. Cf. the following: "Of the Indian Chief Tarramuggus he (Sergeant Beckley) purchased 300 acres of land lying on both sides of the Mattabesett river." See Emily S. Brandegee: The Early History of Berlin, Connecticut, an Historical Paper delivered before The Emma Hart Willard Chapter D. A. R., January 17, 1913 (printed privately), p. 1.
Sergeant Beckley was really the first settler in Berlin and "came from New Haven to Beckley Quarter, which was then a part of Wethersfield, in 1660." As we have seen, however, he did not obtain an official title to his land as early as Jonathan Gilbert.
24
HISTORY OF BERLIN
passing from one member of the Beckley family to another. Four rooms on the southeast corner of the building were done off and plastered to be used by the miller and his family for a dwelling.
In 1752 Benjamin Beckley deeded to John Beckley "1/5 part of a Grist-Mill situate(d) on Beckley River with 1/2 of said River." In 1765 "1/4 part of one certain Grist Mill, known as Beckley Mill," in consideration of twenty pounds, was deeded by Daniel Andrews to David Webster, who conveyed the same to John Beckley the following year.
The property was described as being in Wethersfield near the dwelling of Benjamin Beckley and the date was given as "April 4th in the fifth year of our Sovereign Lord George the III and 6th King. Anno Domini 1765."
John Beckley died in 1776, leaving two sons, Asahel and John, besides a wife, Ruth, who seems to have married again, as, in 1793, Asahel transferred 1/9 of the Mill to Theodore Beckley, reserving that part which was to come to him after the death of his mother "Widow Ruth Presley" who occupied it as dower right during her natural life. John, the brother of Asahel, also sold his right to Theodore Beckley. In 1810 Asahel sold for 28 dollars the right described as being "1/8 part of the Mill Place" to Jesse Hart and Elias Beckley, Jr.
Nov. 13, 1806, the Selectmen of Berlin purchased from Oliver and Luman Beckley, Joseph Crofoot and Hannah, his wife, for the consideration of three pounds, sixteen shillings, the road leading to Beckley Mill, the same to be a highway forever.
Up in Beckley, in the rear of Cyrus Webster's house, was a tannery. The tan bark was ground in a stone mill and the two stones that were used are now the front step stones of the house. A mill oppo- site Beckley Mill was used for grinding plaster and bone for ferti- lizer. Prior to 1844 Elijah Smith had a shoemaker's shop at the base of the hill where the elder Siebert now lives. At the site of Beckley station Mr. Beckley once made tinners' shears. Elias Beck- ley had a gun shop at the Lotan Porter place, northeast of his house, in the southwest corner, now the garden. He had also a blacksmith's shop. He built the house and made all the iron work, nails, latches, and hinges.
One day a stranger came around the corner at the instant they were testing a new gun. He received the charge and was instantly killed. Down the hill toward the Grist Mill there was a cider mill. One day Rufus Goodrich of Rocky Hill came along and stopped to refresh himself with cider. He said he had sold himself to the devil, and he said there would be thousands at his funeral. As he
THE BECKLEY TAVERN. (BUILT IN 1688)
25
THE EARLIEST SETTLERS
went on his way, he invited all to be present. A few days afterward it was noticed that something was wrong in the barn of a neighbor. Swarms of flies were buzzing in and out. Investigation discovered the body of the poor man, wedged between two upright posts back of the hay-mow.
The Grist Mill on Beckley farm is said to be the second oldest in the colony. Mr. William Bulkeley said that the first tinners' tools were made in Beckley Quarter.
CHAPTER II.
The North Family, Its Ancestors, Descendants, Industries and Neighbors .- Simeon North, the First Official Pistol Maker in the United States.
In the year 1635, John North* at the age of twenty, sailed from London in the Susan and Ellen and landed at Boston. He
* Since the death of Miss North, it has been established that John North was a descendant of Robert North, who is known to have lived in England in 1471; and since Catharine M. North is a direct descendant of John North of Colonial fame, we obtain an interesting genealogical line as follows :
ANCESTRY OF MISS CATHARINE M. NORTH (Contributed by Mrs. F. A. North)
Born
Died
Robert North A. D. 1471
Thomas North
Roger North, Esq. Died 1495
Roger North, Esq. ("A London citizen")
Edward, Ist Lord North
. about
1551
1597
Dudley, 3rd Lord North
1581
1666
John North ( America )
1615
1691
Thomas
1649
1712
Thomas, Jr.
1673
1725
Isaac
1703
1788
Jedediah
1734
1816
Simeon
1765
1852
Reuben
1786
1853
Alfred
1811
1894
Catharine M.
1840
1914
The maternal ancestry of Miss North may be given here also:
Born
Died
John Wilcox, Sr., came from England
1636
1651
John Wilcox, 2nd, came from England
1636
1676
Israel
1656
1689
Samuel
1685
1727
Daniel
1715
1789
Samuel
1753
1832
Richard
1780
1839
Mary Olive Wilcox
1812
1882
Catharine M. North
1840
1914
. about
1496
1564
Roger, 2nd Lord North
1530
1600
Sir John North
27
THE NORTH FAMILY
came to Farmington, where land was entered to him in 1653. He was one of the eighty-four original proprietors among whom the unoccupied lands of the town were divided in 1672. His house-lot of three-quarters of an acre, purchased from John Steele, was near the north end of Farmington Street. It is now occupied by two houses, one recently owned by Sarah Shiels the other by Dorothy Palmer.
John North and his wife Hannah, daughter of Thomas Bird of Farmington, were members of the Farmington church. She joined in 1656. Of their six sons, Thomas, born 1649, was a soldier in the Indian wars and received a grant of land for his services. His son Thomas, born 1673, was one of the pioneer settlers in Great Swamp, where he owned much land, possibly a part of the grant made to his father.
By deed of date January 24, 1709, Thomas North, son of Thomas, conveyed to William Burnham two parcels of land, one of eighteen acres, and one of twenty-two acres, described as being in Great Swamp.
As shown by deed dated February 1, 1709, he sold land in Beech Swamp, Great Swamp, to Samuel Seamore, who had mar- ried his sister, Hannah North.
When the church in Christian Lane was formed, Thomas North was one of the "seven pillars," as the original members were called. He was described as a man of wealth and influ- ence, but strange to say we have failed to find his dwelling place. Records give it as Kensington or Farmington, but now we know that he lived near the Seymour stockade, and not far from the church. He married, December 1, 1698, Martha, daughter of Isaac Roys of Wallingford.
It is estimated that their posterity number one-eighth of the Norths of this country. Their eight children were Martha, Isaac, Thomas, James, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph and Hannah.
Thomas North, Jr., died March 2, 1725, when his youngest child was three years old. James, who was ten when his father died, was the ancestor of the New Britain Norths. Further reference will be made to Isaac and his descendants when we come to the old houses where they lived.
28
HISTORY OF BERLIN
Martha, eldest child of Thomas North, born June 30, 1700, was married August 6, 1719, to Daniel Beckley, grandson of Richard Beckley of Wethersfield, now Beckley Quarter. Their daughter, Martha, born October 27, 1720, was married August 4, 1742, to John Savage of Middletown, now East Berlin. Their daughter, Huldah, born March 25, 1752, became, in 1779, the second wife of Josiah Wilcox, and they reared a large family of children in the house occupied by the late Sherman Wilcox. Their descendants are scattered far and wide over this land.
Occasionally letters come from them seeking information relating to the genealogy of the family. Some want to know if they are eligible to the patriotic societies. Related to the Norths ! Absurd! Never heard of such a thing! But here is the line back to Thomas and a soldier in the Indian wars, and we might as well take this occasion to say that there is sufficient evidence that Josiah Wilcox was a soldier in the War of the Revolution to satisfy the authorities at Washington.
Lois, another daughter of Daniel Beckley and his wife Martha North, was married November 15, 1753, to Pete Galpin. They had lived in an old house that stood on the site of the large house now owned by Luther S. Webster on Worthington Street, Berlin, and they had nine children, from whom not a soul remains to represent the family.
The mystery connected with an old well out in the lot, south of the Gilbert place, has been solved by the discovery of a mortgage deed signed by hand of Thomas Gilbert, April 17, 1794, by which he gives, as security for a debt to Sylvester Wells, his home lot and house where he lives, described as bounded north by Hooker Gilbert, east on highway, south on burying ground and Asahel Root. Thomas Gilbert married Mary North, granddaughter of Thomas North, and it is possible that this was the original North homestead.
Simeon North was a son of Jedediah North, who lived at the. north end of Berlin village. He married in 1786, at the age of twenty-one, Lucy Savage, daughter of Jonathan Savage and
29
THE NORTH FAMILY
Elizabeth Ranney. We have seen that he bought, in 1795, one- ninth of a sawmill privilege, on Spruce Brook, and that, in 1796, he was living in the house he purchased of the heirs of David Sage.
By deed of date March 6, 1795, he bought from Eben and Isaac Dudley of Middletown, seventeen and one-half acres of land, with house and barn thereon, described as situated in Westfield; bounded east on the foot of the first ledge and Asahel Dudley's land, west on Capt. David Sage, and northerly on highway leading from Berlin to Middletown. The deed was executed before Amos Churchill, justice of the peace, and was witnessed by him and his wife, Lydia Churchill, who were the great-grandparents of the Misses Catharine and Sarah Churchill. Although the buildings conveyed by this deed were said to be in Westfield, they were on the top of the hill, on the south side, next east of Spruce Brook. Why the Norths did not occupy this place at once is not known. It was improved and a large addition was made to the house. Possibly the family took refuge at the Sage house while the plastering was left to dry.
On February 15, 1797, Daniel Willcox of Sandersfield, Mass., deeded to Jacob Wilcox, for the price of £12 10s. the sawmill standing on Spruce Brook, which was set to him in the distribu- tion of the estate of his father, Daniel Willcox, deceased.
At a town meeting held in Berlin September 5, 1797, it was voted :-
On motion of Mr. Hosford that a committe to consist of Gen. Selah Hart, Amos Hosford Esq. and Col. Gad Stanley be appointed to repair as many of the bridges and abutments as were injured by the late flood, as they shall judge proper at the expense of the town.
Voted-That this committee is empowered to agree with the owners of a mill on Spruce brook to rebuild the bridge lately removed therefrom in such manner as shall answer for a mill-dam and a . bridge.
On June 3, 1805, Jacob Wilcox sold to Simeon North, for twenty-four dollars, the Mill site of forty-eight rods and three links "where sd Norths blacksmith shop now stands."
The children of Simeon North and Lucy Savage, his wife, were Reuben, born 1786; James, born 1788; Alvan, born 1790;
·
30
HISTORY OF BERLIN
Selah, born 1791; Elizabeth, born 1796; Lucetta, born 1799, Simeon, born 1802; Nancy, born 1804, all born in Berlin. Nancy died at the age of two years and three months, and the mother, Lucy, died February 24, 1811, in her forty-fifth year. They were laid in the burying ground east of the Roberts farm. A lease of that ground may be found on page 4301/2, volume 13, of Berlin Land Records, at New Britain. It reads as follows :
Know all men by these presents that we John Roberts and Eleazer Roberts both of Berlin, . for the consideration of Ten Dollars received to our full satisfaction of Col. Simeon North of Middletown in the County of Middlesex, have leased and try these presents do lease unto the said Simeon North and to his Heirs forever, for the sole purpose of a Burying Ground, the following Lot of Land lying in said Berlin, containing about four rods of ground, bounded North on highway, East, South and West on our own Land, being the same Ground which is enclosed and limited by a fence, and has been occupied heretofore for a Buryingplace-to have and to occupy the premises unto him and said Lesse & his heirs forever for the purpose of a Burying Ground only reserving to ourselves our heirs and Assigns the right of cutting & carrying away the Grass which shall grow thereon, in such a manner as to do no Injury to the monuments or Enclosure of the Premises.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set out hands & Seals this 4th day of January A. D. 1818,
DANIEL DUNBAR, Justice of the Peace.
Daniel Dunbar, John Roberts seal
Ephraim Crofoot Eleazer M. Roberts seal
This yard was used by all the neighborhood for many years. In the eighties the Norths were removed to Maple Cemetery. The Wards, Twitchells, and some others were removed also. The inscriptions on the stones which remain are as follows :
Benjamin Cheney, Died May 15th 1815 Æ 90.
Deborah Wife of Benjamin Cheney Died Nov. 3d, 1817 ÆE 80. (Both on one stone.)
Allen Son of Benjamin Cheney d. in New York Mar. 17, 1815 aged 40.
Infant son of Olcott and Maria Cheney.
Mary E Daughter of Olcott and Maria Cheney aged 10 mos.
Stephen Brewer died Sept. 23rd 1825 aged 23.
31
THE NORTH FAMILY
Harriet Deming died July 12th 1875 aged 79.
James F. son of David and Elizabeth Stevenson d March 18th 1847, aged 7 yrs.
James F. son of David and Elizabeth Stevenson died May 1st, 1848, aged 11 mos.
John Roberts died June 19th 1837, aged 92 yrs.
Sarah Merrils wife of John Roberts, died May 25th 1830 aged 82 yrs.
Mr. Samuel Guy died August 4, 1811 aged 34 yrs. 3 mos.
(Stephen Brewer worked for the Norths and boarded in their family. He died there of spotted fever, or "Berlin fever," as it was called. In the delirium of his sickness his screams were fearful to hear, and it required the strength of several men to hold him in bed.)
There were other burials here, but graves are unmarked.
Lilies of the valley, planted on the North graves, have spread all over the yard and out into the adjoining field. The spring after the Bensons came to the Hulbert place they saw a man, with a big market basket on his arm, tramping all around in the grass, picking the flowers. When they ordered him away he said he came there every year, all the way from Hartford, to gather those lilies of the valley to sell, and he thought they were mighty mean to object.
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