USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of Berlin > Part 11
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A daughter, Leontine, born to Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Root, died in 1853, at the age of nineteen. She was buried up in their lot, easterly from the house, where her broken-hearted mother could see the grave from her sitting room window.
The cousins remember Aunt Delia Ann as sitting by that window, crying.
Cyrus Root died October 2, 1879, aged eighty-one years. As the farm was then to go out of the family, he was carried to Blue Hills for burial, and Leontine was taken there also.
Cyrus Root, son of Cyrus, the only surviving child, is in the Department of the Interior, at Washington. His mother died in his home at High Ridge, Md., February 12, 1897, aged eighty-seven years and four months.
Samuel, son of Asahel and Hannah (Goodrich) Root, was an East India merchant and died on a vessel at sea. Two of his sons, Samuel and William Root, are in business in Buf- falo, N. Y.
Timothy Root, who remained on the homestead, married Eliza Wilcox of Canton, Conn. He was paralyzed by a fall from a tree, and remained an invalid for several years, until his death, January 10, 1864, at the age of fifty-four.
He and his daughter Eliza, who died of consumption in December, 1873, at the age of twenty-one, were buried in the lot at the side of Leontine Root, but when that land was sold they were removed to Christian Lane cemetery.
As has been stated elsewhere, Rebecca Root was the second wife of Samuel Durand. In giving the names of the children
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of Mr. Durand and his first wife. Eloisa \Lewis . that of Mrs. Jennette A. Durand Cox was omitted.
Asahel Root. Sr .. had an elder brother John. and when he married Mary Gilbert, daughter of Ebenezer and Mary ( But- trick Gilbert, a new house was built for them next north of the old place. Their children were Lois. Sarah. Harriet. John. Georze. Mary, and Aman da.
The women of this family as well as the men were call. and of a commanding presence. Asahel was six feet two inches in height. One father of six sons, all measuring six feet. used to speak of his thirty-six feet of | Root) boys.
The inscriptions on the stones of John and Mary (Gilbert Root. in the Christian Lane burying ground. read as follows :
Mr. John Root b. Apr. 4. 1764. d. Ang. 21. 1827 aged 63. [After two years' illness of consumption].
Mrs. Mary, wife cf Mr. John Root. d Sept. Isth. 1:23. aged 54.
John. son of John and Mary ( Gilbert) Root. married Mary Brown and remained on his father's place until 1640. when he removed with his family to Hanover, a little way south ci Buffalo. N. Y. It is said that his son. John. born in Berlin. 1838. was the sixth John Root in succession. He became a lawyer. in practice in Buffalo, where he died of consumption. unmarried.
Elihu Root. Secretary of State, is a descendant of the Ers: John Root. of Farminzwoz.
After 1840. the John Root honse was occupied by Daniel Tuller. a Second Adventist preacher. so many years that it came to be known as the Tuller place.
Mrs. Tuller. who was a fine woman. helped to meet the family expenses by teaching school in her home district. at Erst. it is said, in a school house that stood on the west side of the road. southerly from the Edward Deming house. One night, after the school was dismissed. a teacher, not Mrs. Tuller. deposited on the entry door a pile of coll ashes. The next morning nothing remained of the building out a pile of bot ashes.
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Mrs. Tuller taught as late as in the fifties in the new school house on the corner south of Lardner Deming's, and her pupils, to this day, speak of her with affection.
The Tullers had a son, Baxter, who won the admiration of the school girls by standing on his head. They were very sorry for him because his father, a stern man, used to shut him up in a barrel when he was naughty.
When the Tullers moved away, Edward Deming bought their place. It was rented to Elder Joseph Morse when his son Joseph, who now lives in East Berlin, was six months old.
Stephen Belden, Joseph North, John Y. Wilcox, and others lived there. When Cyrus Root, Jr., was first married, he rented the place and it was made quite attractive with large windows, a porch and fresh paint.
Luke Foiren was the next owner of whom we have record. He lost his health, and his brother-in-law, August Splettstoeszer, came into possession of the property. Soon after that the house was burned and a new one was built in its place.
While Mr. Tuller was in Berlin, he used to hold services in the houses of the neighborhood. Mrs. Cornelia Deming Stowe remembers that he came to her father's house, and that he hung pictures and charts all around the walls to use in illustrating his subject.
By careful study of the prophesies, the Adventists demon- strated that the world was to come to an end in 1843. The month and day were set, some say it was April 23, others give October as the time.
Deacon Charles Webster remembers that when he was a lad, a camp meeting was held, a good three-quarters of a mile away from his father's house and they at home could hear the sing- ing across the hills-words as well as tune so lusty were the voiees. One favorite shouting piece, as well as can be recalled, ran this way :
We'll all go up in a chariot of fire; I long to sing Hosanna .- The devil's mad and I am glad ; I long to sing Hosanna. In 1843 I long to sing Hosanna.
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Cyrus Webster. father of Charles, went over to the camp to hear one of the sermons. in which the preacher declared chut as gare as the Bille was true the world would come to an end in 1843.
This year a brilliant comet with an enormous tail. 200 .- 000.000 miles in length. appeared in the sky. It came within 02.000 miles of the sun. and a slight change in its course would have caused a collision.
The Adventists believed that the comet was sent to destroy the earth of Ere. but that the righteous would be caught up into bearer.
One of the signs of the times had been the wonderful display of shooting stars of November 18. 1803. Now. in 1849. Lights were seen fickering in priveraris and yellow streaks entesed the Tombstones. As the time drew near. great extre wailed. even amoze uabeliovers. Timid momen mere fright- ened neatly out of their semses, and children, who listened to the conversation of their elders. feared do step outside the door after dark
The story is told of ome man who thought he could go up as Eil Elijah. He mounted a pine tree in his yard and in sight ce a crovi, drew try his arms-and came to the groommi mich many a braise.
Miss Fannie Robbins zemembers that in Werkersdeld. when the appointed day came. their next door neighbor. 1 mery excitable man. came pas of his house holding in his hands a family Bille, which Le continued to read as Le pared back and Sorth in his driveway.
A member of this set. am estimable lady. who Lived & Chris- rian Lane, was the willow of a maz 0. prendoms to 1840.
merchant in a nearby day. He became a context ma the new Ecorzine, sold con Mis business, and inežtad " to come and share his home. which they exhausted. Then, redmed to poremy
- -
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girls, to a candy pull. While they were having their fun the father of their young hostess, an Adventist, came into the room and reproved them for their hilarity. He said they ought to be singing hymns.
Children had to suffer persecution for their parents' belief. A boy and girl kept at home from school, to be ready for the eventful day, were confronted on their return by caricatures on the blackboard which represented their ascension, and the girl was teased to wear her robe to school. What wonder that she was deeply hurt and that she cried !
Stephen Belden, when a little fellow, heard his father and mother talk of the great change at hand. One day the child went into a blacksmith shop and said, "Did you know that the world was coming to an end?" The only reply was a stunning oath from the blacksmith.
The year 1843 passed, and a new calculation set the time for the Advent forward to October 22, 1844. Other dates have been made. Not many years since, a lad in this town when told that on a certain day the end would come, let himself down into a well to escape the general doom.
Antoinette Root, or Nettie as she was called, the youngest of the four daughters of Timothy Root, was a skillful organist. She played the large cabinet organ in the Worthington Congre- gational Church for some years, and then accepted a position as organist at the Baptist church in New Britain. She was married to Waldo Curtis and went to Winsted, Conn., where she still lives, a widow, with one daughter, Maud, who was recently married.
Christian Lane road, as at first laid out, ran east of the old church and of the Seth Deming house. Later, its course was changed.
Vol. II of Berlin Land Records contains the following peti- tion :
To the Inhabitants of the Town of Berlin to be convened in Town meeting on Monday the 11th of Instant April (1814) the petition of the Subscribers. Inhabitants of the town of Berlin humbly Shusith (?) that the road leading from John Root to Capt. Seth Deming Is very crooked and lyeth across ground Extreamly Bad to
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pass for a Considerable part of the year and ther on alteration mich: de made with but very hade expense to the town they would be very Beverciel for the Inhabitants to get their Chiliren to School end Es: a Considerable number of the Inhabitants to go to and from meeting as well as to the a joining town. the Subscribers therefore pray sapi town to dires their Selevanen de gren a nud hva ness Soft roots Ewelling house In Worthington to Capa. Sech Demine's Dwelling house and compensate for the same by Exchanging of any publick Lands to Said School district or any other way they shall cif: ige best for said Town.
(Signed) Samuel Postes. Seth Deming. Themes Gilbe ::. Moses Gilles :. Thomas Booth. Asahel Blin. Joseph Wright, Aciel Bolden. Vorasa Porter. John Goodrich. Je .. Abel North. Hezekiah Stanley. Thomas Hart 2.
The Root family have some traditions of the Indians.
The red man was fond of the white man's cider, and often. when the door was opened in response to a soft knock, an Indian would appear and say in a low voice. "Got any cider!" The people used to give them a little because, if offended, the Indians would stand off and rua full tilt at the door and try to break it in. Those doors were double planked, double barred. and sometimes driven full of spikes. Dwight Roos remembers hearing that once a company of Indians came along and asked his grandfather Asahel for some eider. He told them they could have it if they would not fight. They promised not to, drank the cider and went away quietly, but fell to fighting before they were out of sight of the house.
It was a common devurrence to see an Indian peeking around the corner of the Root barn.
Cyrus Root. Jr., now of Washington, D. C., gives by letter the following incidents : "About that Indian story. As I heard it. there were in Connecticut two tribes who were at enmity. One of these Indians was helping my ancestor. I think it was my great-grandfather. John Root, with his annual spring clean- ing of the barn yard, when he saw in the distance one of his foes approaching. Instantly he dropped down in the filth of the yard and told the man to cover him up with the litter. No sooner was this done than the other Indian came to the
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yard and asked if they had seen a man of such a tribe, men- tioning the name, pass by. He was answered in the negative, for he had not 'passed by.'
During my father's boyhood days, the early days of the nineteenth century, Indians frequently came to his father's house begging for eider. Window shades and blinds were little used in those days. My father related to me that one night his parents were away and he was left at home to care for the younger children. They were sitting in darkness because they were afraid to have a light. Suddenly a man with a dusky face appeared at the window and said : 'I see you, you are at home.' Happily, the Indian turned and went away, much to my father's relief.
People were careful not to offend the Indians, for with their long memories and revengeful dispositions, one never knew when the blow might fall."
Mr. Root in his letter gives other reminiscences of interest as related to him by his father, Cyrus Root.
Referring to the Rev. Mr. Johns he says : "Ile was a Welsh- man and an exceedingly arbitrary man. In those days every- one was expected to attend divine service, and no ordinary exeuse would answer for absence from 'meeting.' He was accustomed to go among his parishioners and scold them for not 'going to meeting.' A clergyman's word was accepted without protest. It would never do to have any back talk with a minister of the gospel.
Children meeting the Rev. Johns on the highway had to stop; the girls to make a low courtesy, and the boys to remove the hat and reverently bow. He considered himself too dignitied to return the salutation, but woe be to the boy or girl who failed to give him the proper salutation. The offense was duly reported to the parents and an application of the rod would follow. Sometimes boys, rather than meet him, would make a circuit through the fields."
Mr. Root brings to mind an incident of the sixties, which illustrates the strong character of Josiah Robbins, father of Miss Fannie Robbins.
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It was the first Monday in April, and Mr. Robbins was driving over to Kensington to cast his vote for State officers who were then, and up to 1876, elected in the spring. Near where the driving park now is, he overtook an old man plod- ding along with a cane through the mud, which in those days was knee-deep in places. Mr. Robbins halted and asked the man to ride. The conversation turned at once to politics and the passenger began to rant about Lincoln. Mr. Robbins stopped his horse and said: "Mr. , get right out of my carriage, I will not carry to the polls a man who talks as you have done about so good a man as Abraham Lincoln."
Opposite the Timothy Root house, on the east side of the way, was a "Lee house," long since gone to decay, and the piece of land next south of the schoolhouse, on this street, was known as the "Lee lot."
John Lee, emigrant, settler in Farmington, married in 1658, Mary, daughter of Stephen Hart of Farmington. John Lee and Stephen Hart both owned land in Great Swamp, and Stephen Lee, son of John, with his nephew Jonathan Lee, came over this side of the mountain to improve the property.
Captain Stephen Lee married October 1, 1690, Elizabeth Royce of Wallingford, and they had ten children. His name stands first after the minister as one of the seven male members, and Elizabeth was one of the three women who were organized into the Christian Lane church December 10, 1712.
Stephen Lee was captain of the militia, and was one of the most influential men in the society.
His inscription in the Christian Lane cemetery reads as follows :
Stephen Lee, one of ye first settlers of ye society and church of Christ in Kensington, etc. d. June 7, 1753, in the 87th year of his age. ,
Elizabeth, his wife, died May 3, 1760.
Jonathan Lee, son of John, grandson of John the emigrant, received from his father a tract of land in Great Swamp,
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which was known as "the Island" for the reason that it was higher than the surrounding land. He was chosen rate-maker and lister of the parish in 1714, and was made deacon of the church. In 1716 he was seated in the "3d pue" of the meet- ing house. By trade he was a blacksmith. He married June 4, 1713, Mary Root. Their six children were named Mary, Elizabeth, Lucy, Ruth, John, and Eunice.
The gravestones of Jonathan Lee and Mary, his wife, in the Christian Lane cemetery, bear the following inscriptions :
Deacon Jonathan Lee, b. Mar. 20, 1686, d. Jan. 16th, 1758.
Mary Root, widow of Dea. Jonathan Lee d. Sep. 14th, 1764.
Ensign John Lee, only son of Jonathan and Mary Root Lec, born April 20, 1725, married May 7, 1752, Sarah Cole. They were members of the first Kensington church, of which he was one of the deacons. They came into the Worthington church at the time of its organization in 1775, and he was chosen a member of the church committee, May 1, 1776. Deacon John Lee died January 21, 1796, aged seventy. Sarah, his wife, died April 5, 1800, at the age of seventy. Their graves are in the Bridge Cemetery. Three of their sons, Jonathan, Orrin, and Samuel, were soldiers in the Revolutionary War.
Jonathan, born October 3, 1755, died in the service.
Orrin, born October 13, 1757, was a drummer. By occupa- tion he was a blacksmith. He married December 2, 1784, Charlotte, daughter of Captain Samuel Hart, sister of Mrs. Emma Hart Willard. He represented the town of Berlin in the State legislature in 1805. It is said that he removed to Granby, Conn.
Samuel was taken prisoner and confined in one of the prison ships in New York Harbor, where he was so nearly starved that when he had the good fortune to catch a rat, he declared it to be the sweetest meat he ever tasted.
Lieutenant John, the youngest son of Deacon John Lee, mar- ried November 6, 1789, Mary Hart, another sister of Mrs. Wil- lard. They lived in Blue Hills, Kensington. Their daughter Lucy was the wife of Albert Norton.
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On the way through Christian Lane one place was not men- tioned. Down the street that now ends at the river, east of the schoolhouse, on the south side of the way, there stands a house now occupied by George H. Ripple, which was built by Linsley Austin. He bought the lot for twenty-five dollars, March 3, 1846, from Cyrus Root, who stipulated in the deed that if Mr. Austin should wish to sell, he, Mr. Root, should have an opportunity to take the place at a fair price.
George Austin, brother of Linsley, lived there afterward, and John Hudson Webber, whose first wife, Laura Lucretia, was a sister of the Austins, owned the place for five years previous to 1858.
The Mattabesett at that point, in summer time, was about twenty feet wide, and two or three feet deep.
John H. Webber, Jr., who was three years old when the family moved there, relates the following thrilling incident: One day his sister, Mary, started to go across the lots to visit Uncle George, who then lived up on the Hartford turnpike. As she was going over the water on the plank that served as a footbridge, a furious woodchuck came out of his hole in the bank and chased her. The child was terribly frightened and ran screaming back to the house. Her father, with an old-fashioned pitchfork, came to her rescue, ran it through the animal, pinned him to the ground, and told Mary to go on her way.
CHAPTER VII.
The Deming Family .- John Deming, the Settler.
There were other families in Christian Lane, to whom we must now turn.
The Demings were early on that ground. John Deming, settler at Wethersfield, in 1635, was a prominent and influential man. He married about 1637, Honor Treat, daughter of Richard Treat, brother of Governor Robert Treat.
Their ten children were: John (Sergeant), Jonathan (Sergeant), Samuel, David, Ebenezer, Rachel, Frances, Mary, Hannah, and Sarah.
John Deming, by his will, proven November 21, 1705, gives to his son Jonathan his fifty-acre lot at the west side of the bounds.
Sergeant Jonathan Deming, born 1639, married first, Novem- ber 21, 1660, Sarah Graves, who died June 5, 1668, the day of the birth of her fourth child.
The baby, a girl, was named "Comfort." She became the wife of Nathaniel Beckley, son of Richard, of Beckley Quar- ter, and they-Comfort and Nathaniel Beckley-were the ancestors of many Berlin families.
Jonathan Deming married second, December 25, 1673, Elizabeth Gilbert, and they had eight children. The names of the twelve were: Jonathan ; Sarah, married Jonathan Riley, unele of Squire Roger Riley; Mary, married Joseph Smith ; Comfort, married Nathaniel Beckley. By second marriage: Elusia, shortened to "Luce," married John Edwards; Eliza- beth, married Richard Beckley, grandson of Richard the settler ; Thomas, Charles, Benjamin, Jacob, Mary, and Anna.
Sergeant Jonathan Deming's home lot of one and one-half acres was on Broad Street, Wethersfield. He died January S, 1699-1700. Elizabeth, his wife, died September 3, 1714.
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According to Wethersfield land records, Thomas Morton bought of Jacob Deming, March 12, 1712-13, a tract of land at Rocky Hill "formerly Jonathan Deming's (father of Jacob, and who had removed back to Far)." We are coming near home now. According to Stiles, Jacob Deming (Jonathan, John), born December 20, 1689, married November 3, 1709, Dinah (daugh- ter of Josiah) Churchill, who died October 3, 1751, aged sixty- nine.
In the Christian Lane burying ground is this inscription :
Mrs. Dinah wife of Mr. Jacob Deming, died Oct. 3, 1751, Æ 69.
When the meeting house at Great Swamp was seated, in 1716-17, Jacob Deming was given a place in the second seat, along with Samuel Peeke, Steven Cellsey, and Caleb Couls.
At a meeting of the Society of Kensington December 7, 1730, Jacob Deming was appointed one of "a committee to order the prudentials for a school for this Society for the year ensuing."
On the minister's rate bill for 1720, Jacob Deming received credit for "11/5 bush corn & 11/2 pt a 1s. 21/2d."
There was another Jacob Deming-Ensign Jacob, born 1713, who, with his wife, Lucy, joined the Worthington church in 1775. This Jacob died July 29, 1791, aged seventy-seven years. His wife, Lucy, died March 7, 1802, aged eighty-one. Their graves are in the Beckley cemetery. The births of two of the children of the first Jacob and his wife, Dinalı, are recorded in Wethersfield; that of their son Moses, born Sep- tember 8, 1720, is recorded at Farmington.
Moses Deming and his wife, Sarah (Cole), were members in 1756 of the first church of Kensington and they joined the Worthington church February, 1775.
Sarah (Cole) Deming died December 25, 1802, aged eighty- four. "Mr. Moses Deming, died January 16, 1795, aged seventy-four years and four months." Their graves are in Christian Lane.
Of the children of Moses Deming and Sarah Cole, his wife: Seth, born 1749, married Hannah Gilbert; Sarah, born 1753, was the second wife of Lieutenant Roger Riley; Anna, born
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1755, was the second wife of Landlord Elijah Loveland; Lardner, born 1765, married first, Mary (daughter Solomon) Dunham, who died February 5, 1815, aged forty-six. He married second, Sarah Griswold (Williams), who died October 29, 1852, aged seventy-three years. Their graves are in the Bridge Cemetery at Worthington.
There were two other sons, Moses and John.
Land records show that Moses Deming, Sr., deeded land in Christian Lane to his son Moses, January 4, 1792; to his son Seth, 1784-1792, and to his son Lardner, 1789, 1792, and 1794.
(Thus far, this Deming line, with the help of Miss Julia Roys and Miss Ruth Galpin, has been constructed from many sources, a little here and a little there, without the help of a local family history. We believe it to be correct. )
Moses Deming, son of Jacob, conveyed in 1789, to his son, Moses, Jr., thirty-six acres of land with dwelling house thereon, bounded east on Samuel North, west and south on highway, north on Charles Nott, reserving to himself use and improve- ment of north lot which was his father's.
We do not know anything more of this Moses Deming, Jr. From the description of the property conveyed to him it is inferred to be that long known as the Edward Deming corner, where the meeting house formerly stood, and it is probable that Seth Deming, grandfather of Edward A., came into possession of his brother's place.
Right here is a good opportunity to say that the memorial tablet placed near this corner, which has been credited to the Berlin chapter, D. A. R., was the gift of members of the Ruth Hart chapter of Meriden, Conn.
A statement has been made that Roger Riley, elected town clerk in 1798, continued in office, with the exception of one year, until 1814. It has been found that the last year of Squire Riley's service was in 1816, and that in the meantime, Sylvester Wells and Seth Deming served, each one year.
The town meeting reports for 1804 were signed by Seth Deming, Town Clerk. It may be of interest to know what were some of the exciting questions discussed at those early town
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meetings. Roads were uppermost, then came the use of the "commons."
At a meeting held January 25, 1803, it was voted :
1st, that the town will do something in restraining Creatures from running at large in the Highway. Voted, that all horses and mules shall be Restrained from running on the Highways at large.
Voted 2nd, The selectmen with Ezra Scovell, James North Esq., and Jedediah Sage, are appointed a committee whose duty it shall be to designate the poor people that shall have liberty to have one cow Each in the Highway.
Voted, further that every man who is not a voter in any of our meetings But pays taxes and does Military duty shall have liberty to have one Cow go at large on the Highway in the day time only.
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