USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Danbury > History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896 > Part 2
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NATHAN SEELEY AND SEVEN SONS. 531
ORRIS FERRY-LAURENS P. HICKOK-JULIUS SEELEY 534
OLD BETHEL-P. T. BARNUM-HOMESTEAD DANIEL HICKOK-OLD FIRE ENGINE 543
JAMES MONTGOMERY BAILEY.
JAMES MONTGOMERY BAILEY, the son of James and Sarah (Magee) Bailey, was born in Albany, N. Y., on September 25th, 1841.
In 1843 his father died suddenly from injuries received by a fall, and a few weeks later a sister was born, who died in infancy.
In 1846 Mrs. Bailey married Daniel Smith, of Rome, N. Y. Of this marriage were born three sons and three daughters. In 1860 the family moved to Danbury, Conn., and within a week after their arrival the New York Sunday Mercury printed the first article from the pen of Mr. Bailey, and continued to publish his writings for a year or more. Those who remember Mr. Bailey at this time describe him as bubbling over with fun and frolic and a universal favorite.
On August 18th, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteers ; August 28th he was mustered into the United States service, and September 3d the regiment left the State for the front.
Mr. Bailey remained in the army for three years, and his experiences during this time were material for many witticisms in after years. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Gettys- burg, and confined for two months on Belle Isle.
Prostrated by malaria, and worn with starvation, he must soon have succumbed to these hardships had he not been ex- changed. Of his trip on the transport boat he wrote : "How blessed that word, 'Free !' I kept repeating it to myself, with my eyes bent down on the water and my thoughts lifted to God." In September, 1865, Messrs. Bailey and Donovan pur- chased the Danbury Times, and first conducted it as a Demo-
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JAMES MONTGOMERY BAILEY.
cratic paper. In March, 1870, Mr. Bailey, who " loved fun and success better than politics," made an arrangement for the con- solidation of the Times and the Jeffersonian-a Republican sheet-and thus was started the Danbury News.
On October 4th, 1866, Mr. Bailey married Miss Catharine Douglass Stewart, of Danbury. Three children were born to them, but all died in infancy.
In 1873 Mr. Bailey visited California, and while absent wrote a series of articles for the News, headed with the letters "T. B. T. G. G." These were a subject of much curious comment, until the explanation came that they were the initial character, of "Tight Boots through Golden Gate."
In 1874 he made the tour of Europe, visiting England, Scot- land, Ireland, France, and other countries. A year before this his first book, "Life in Danbury," had appeared, and before leaving for Europe the "Danbury News Man's Almanac" was completed.
This trip abroad was for the purpose of gathering material for a third volume, happily titled " England from a Back Window." One of the charms of this record of travel is that while the writer is seldom more than half in earnest, he is frequently not more than half in jest. While he lightly banters our British brethren on their national weaknesses, he has for their sterling personal qualities and national physique only words of unstinted praise.
Within four years after the appearance of this book Mr. Bailey published "Mr. Phillips' Goneness," the "Danbury Boom," and " They All Do It."
In the fall of 1876 he appeared upon the lecture platform, under the management of the Redpath Lyceum Bureau.
In 1878 the firm of Bailey & Donovan was dissolved, and from that time until his death Mr. Bailey was sole editor and propri- etor of the Danbury News.
His love for Danbury, his faith in her future, and his efforts to build up her interests were unbounded. When the Board of Trade was established he became an active member, and was soon elected its president.
As one of the founders of the Danbury Hospital, a member of the Board of Trustees, and its President, he was deeply inter- ested in the welfare of this institution. He was also a warm
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JAMES MONTGOMERY BAILEY.
friend and practical helper of the Children's Home and of the Relief Society.
While resident in Albany Mr. Bailey united with the Baptist Church under the pastoral charge of Dr. E. L. Magoun. Upon his arrival in this city he joined by letter the Second Baptist Church, where he was constant in his attendance, zealous in all Christian work, and devoted to the Sunday-school, in which he was a beloved teacher until the time of his death.
It was a peculiar phase of his character that he was subject to seasons of deep depression. Years ago, in the very height of his world-wide popularity, his sunny soul would pass at times into profound darkness, when he would pray for death, while yet he would confess that there was no external cause for such despondency.
His love for children was deep and intense, and it was a sad grief to him that his own died in infancy. Every Sunday and holiday saw the tiny graves in Wooster Cemetery covered with flowers, placed there by his loving hands.
The humor of Mr. Bailey was so entirely original that he may truthfully be called the pioneer of that school which is now so familiar to all readers. While peculiar and original, Mr. Bailey was marvellously natural in his humor, and his readers often found themselves pondering upon the sportive mixture of grave circumstances and ludicrous events in every-day life. He em- bellished the commonest events, the simplest subjects with the cap and bells of royal humor.
Pure and wholesome, his wit never wounded ; it was "the lambent flame of mirth that lit, but never burned," humor that has brightened many a life and sent sunshine into many a home.
His great heart brimmed over with love for animals, made man- ifest in his daily life and through the columns of his paper. His friendship was loyal and intense, and his relations with his em- ployés of the most cordial kind. Unbounded was his generosity, and the memory of his kind deeds is warm and bright in count- less hearts. Had he valued money for its own sake, he might have been a millionaire, but money flowed as steadily and pro- fusely from his hands as did wit from his lips. No appeal to him for help was ever made in vain.
Mr. Bailey died on March 4th, 1894, after a short illness, leav- ing a " city of mourners." He had no enemies !
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JAMES MONTGOMERY BAILEY.
" What pen can write for him a tribute, delicate, sympathetic and tender, such as he was wont to write for others ? Who can analyze that great soul, with its intense love for the beautiful in nature and art ; its sympathy with dumb creatures, so that the very dogs loved him with an almost deeper than human affec- tion ? Who can set in true light and perspective that strange blending of deep religious sensibility, profound melancholy, and sparkling humor ?''
All who ever touched his life have lost a friend.
HISTORY OF DANBURY.
CHAPTER I.
THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT.
DANBURY was settled in 1684. It is interesting to note the con- dition of the colony of Connecticut at that time. Its study is a help to the right understanding of matters ecclesiastical, mer- cantile, legal, political, and social as they existed in this State when the planters of this city plodded hither through the wilder- ness. The particulars presented below are gathered from a re- port made by the General Court of Connecticut to a British com- mission in 1680, forty years after the settlement of the colony :
" There were two General Courts, and only four counties. They had only one troop of sixty horse, but were raising more. There were twenty-one churches : the ministerial stipend was from £50 to £100. The train bands of militia were of the follow- ing strength :
Hartford County 835
New London " 509
New Haven 623
Fairfield 66 540
"There was one fort at the mouth of the Connecticut. The principal towns were the large places of Hartford, New London, New Haven, and Fairfield. Their buildings were generally of wood, but some of stone and brick, and were comely for a wilder- ness. The commodities of the country were provisions, lumber, and horses, which were mostly transported to Boston and bar- tered for clothing.
" Some small quantities were sent to the Carribee Islands and bartered for products and money. At rare intervals vessels were sent to Madeira, and the cargoes bartered for wines. They had
4
HISTORY OF DANBURY.
sometimes led to the formation of new settlements, as, by a division in the church of Stratford, Rev. Mr. Walker with his adherents was granted in May, 1672, " liberty to erect a planta- tion at Pomperoage." In 1674 this town received the name of Woodbury.
The first churches were mostly of small numbers, but this was due to the promptness of the first settlers in organizing their churches, for " the church began with the settlement."
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CHAPTER II.
NAME AND TOPOGRAPHY - SURROUNDING DISTRICTS - EARLY RECORDS AND WARS.
THE name Danbury is taken from a town in England, which was originally Danebury, a camp or town of the Danes, and where traces of the original earthworks when it was a fortified military post still remain.
In the United States there are six towns bearing this name- viz., Danbury, Fairfield County, Conn .; Danbury, Woodbury County, Ia .; Danbury, Redwillow County, Neb .; Danbury, Merrimack County, N. H .; Danbury, Stokes County, N. C .; Danbury, Ottawa County, O.
Danbury in Connecticut, of which we write, lies in the north- ern part of Fairfield County, and is bounded on the north by New Fairfield ; east, by Brookfield and Bethel ; south, by Bethel, Redding, and Ridgefield, and west, by Ridgefield and New York State. It is pleasantly diversified with hills and valleys, and has several small lakes within its bounds ; Moun- tain Pond, Neversink, Marjorie, Boggs, and Kenosha are all pretty sheets of water with well-wooded banks.
The highest mountain in Danbury is that north of Boggs Pond, which is 1025 feet in height. The mountain west of Sugar Hollow ranks next, being 1020 feet high. Moses Mountain has a height of 1000 feet, Thomas Mountain, 960 feet, and Town Mountain, 900.
The main street of the city runs through a valley lying between two ridges of land running north and south. When the first settlers came they chose the southern end of this valley for their new homes. Gradually as the years went on, and the little settlement increased in strength and numbers, the main street- then known as Town Street-extended its length and took on new houses and homes, until it stretched for nearly two miles from north to south.
6
HISTORY OF DANBURY.
To-day it is brimful of life and activity, and lined with resi- dences and fine business blocks. Handsome churches and public buildings are scattered along through its centre, and many fine old homesteads stand beneath the great trees of upper and lower Main Street. The business portion of the city has grown up around other homesteads, but many of the beautiful old trees that once shaded them have fallen in the march of modern im- provement.
Danbury has spread over the hills and across the dales, has blossomed out in streets and pleasant homes unto her very bor- ders, and nestles under her wings her surrounding little settle- ments.
King Street, lying at the northwest of the city, has two churches, the First Baptist and a Christian church. It lies along a slope of the hill, and is purely an agricultural dis- trict.
Middle River* lies south of King Street and directly west of the Centre District of Danbury, while west of that lies the settle- ment formerly known as the Boggs, but now called Westville.
Mill Plain, lying next south, derived its name, according to tradition, from a mill that was a little east of the present Fair Grounds, which had so high a dam that it flooded the swamps by Mill Plain Pond. This sheet of water is now known as Lake Kenosia, and is quite a pleasure resort.
* From Mrs. Mary Depew, of Elkhart, Ind., a daughter of Elind Comes, and now in her eighty-third year, we have the following regarding the " Comes Meeting House" at Middle River.
In the winter of 1824 revival meetings were conducted in Middle River District by Orlando Starr and Moses Hill, of Danbury, both of whom became afterward ministers in the Methodist Episcopal Church. These meetings were held at the school-house, and the young people of the neighborhood continued thein until William Stone objected to the use of the school building for such purposes, and the girls would take off their shawls and hang them before the windows to hide the light, as his house was in sight of the school-house.
To avoid further trouble, the meetings were held at a private house, and Mr. Comes resolved to build a church, which he did, furnishing the land, the material, and doing the work himself. When completed, he had it dedicated, and it was thrown open to the public with the distinct understanding that it should be a Union church, free to all denominations, Universalists not excepted.
Mr. Comes afterward bought the land for the burial-ground that adjoins the church, and enclosed it with a fence. The graveyard as well as the church was free to all, and here is buried Elind Comes, with Dinah, his wife, and several of his children and grandchildren.
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HISTORY OF DANBURY.
The first house built in Mill Plain was erected probably about 1720, and belonged to Nathaniel Stevens. It is not in existence now. Thomas Stevens, a brother of Nathaniel, built a house in 1725, which was rebuilt in 1825, and is still standing. "Bur- chard's Store," at the western boundary of old-time Mill Plain, was its commercial centre, and had quite a wide reputation. It was one of the first to put out shirts for making, and the women would come from far and near for the work, taking in payment goods from the store.
There were several shoe shops, where, besides custom work, shoes were made for a firm in New Canaan. Most of the energy of the people was directed to farming.
Lake Kenosia, now a popular summer resort for the people of Danbury and its vicinity, was known in the old days as Mill Plain Pond, and many of the older residents can remember boat- ing upon the lake in moonlit evenings, or enjoying picnics under the shade of the trees along its banks.
In 1860, George Hallock, who saw a future for the lake as a pleasure resort, built the Kenosia Hotel, which was opened on August 16th of that year. The hotel was short-lived, as it was destroyed by fire on November 23d of the same year. Soon after the opening of the house its landlord, as an especial attrac- tion, arranged " a race between the noted trotters Flora Temple and Widow McChree at Kenosia Trotting Park, on November 15th." The race was won by Flora Temple in three heats. Time : 2.39, 2.37, and 2.33.
How much of an event this was, the following extract from the Danbury Times of the week previous will show : "To accom- modate those who it is expected will come to see the trot, the evening train of cars will be, on that day, delayed until 6.30 P.M."
South of Mill Plain is Miry Brook (in some old deeds spelled Miery), a little agricultural settlement lying upon level ground with low meadows, where in spring the cowslips bloom and the birds sing.
Early in the present century there was a saw-mill in this settle- ment, just opposite the homestead of the late Rev. Mr. Burton. On the side of the mountain in Miry Brook is the site of what was a silversmith's shop, where Samuel Scribner made watches and silverware and cast sleigh-bells. On a corner of the road running from Mill Plain through Miry Brook to Ridgefield was
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HISTORY OF DANBURY.
a cabinet-maker's shop, where were manufactured chairs, tables, spinning-wheels, and various household furnishings, but the name of its proprietor is not known.
Sweeping around to the southward lies Starr's Plain, a little village diversified with hills, valleys, and watercourses, a good farming district. The little church here has quite a history, which will be found in another chapter.
Long Ridge lies east of Starr's Plain and south of the South Centre District of Danbury. This is also an agricultural settle- ment, which boasts of pleasant farmhouses and fertile acres. It has one church.
On the east of Danbury is Beaver Brook, where is the McArthur paper mill. This is a farming settlement, and has a pretty little chapel. Beaver Brook has a bit of Indian history which may be interesting if not edifying. Long years ago an Indian family lived in a cave under Beaver Brook Mountain, and one was killed by his brother. The murderer was captured in the hills of New Fairfield by Philo Chase and William B. Hoyt, of Great Plain, tried and sentenced to State's prison for life.
North of Beaver Brook, on the east side of the city, lies Great Plain, a broad and level expanse, as its name denotes, with fruit- ful fields and prosperous farmers. Here is a neat little chapel called " The Gift of God," which is used by all orthodox per- suasions.
Early in this century an Indian family lived near Forty-Acre Mountain, in Great Plain, and there are traditions of a previous settlement and of an Indian burial-ground in this vicinity.
Pembroke lies north of Danbury and adjoins King Street ; it is on high rolling ground, and, like its neighbors, agricultural. Some years ago brick-making was carried on in the southern part of the settlement.
Like the "mother State," Danbury believes in good educa- tional privileges, and each of these outlying settlements has its own school-house.
The old deeds in the Record Office of the town show many curious names given to places in and about Danbury, such as Stubble-lot Road, Eunice Ground, Shorthills, Noonhills, Saw- mill Brook, Red-root Ridge, Stadley Ruff Ridge, Siah's Gutter on the west side of Moses' Mountain, Flatt Rock, Mashing-tub Swamp, Wolf Ridge, Millstone Swamp, Cripple Bush Swamp,
LAKE KENOSHA.
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HISTORY OF DANBURY.
Franks' Hill, Cat-tail Mountain, Hearthstone Hill, and many others.
Newtown rejoiced in the ownership of "Jangling Plains." Jakin's Ridge belonged to the McLean estate, and was a part of Stony Hill.
Tradition has said that the name Kohanza grew out of " cow- handy pasture ;" but in the inventory of estate of John Vidito, in 1745, we find this item, " Land at Cohansey."
In 1767, in inventory of estate of Joseph Boughton, we find " Cohansa," and in estate inventory of Francis Knapp, in 1776, is mentioned " Cowhansy pasture ;" in 1780, in the will of Rev. Ebenezer White, among other real estate is " Cohanzy orchard." In the inventory of estate of Zadock Benedict, in 1798, we find written " Cowshandy Lot." In 1809, in inventory of estate of Noble Benedict, it is written Cohanzy, and in 1839, in the will of Colonel Russell White, we find " orchard at Cohansy."
Spruce Mountain Road, Brushy Hill, Walnut-tree Hill, Chest- nut Ridge Hill, and Whortleberry Hills, thus named by our ancestors, are proofs that they appreciated their hill surround- ings. Tamarack Road appeals to the older generation of to- day as a charming drive. Thomas, Moses, and Town moun- tains stand as they have done for centuries, pleasant in as- pect, well wooded, and beautiful with wild flowers in their season.
The Indians about here were not at any time within the knowl- edge of history numerous. De Forest, in his history of Connec- ticut, says that " with the exception of the Paugussetts, Wepa- waugh, and an insignificant class known as the Potatucks, the latter inhabiting the limits of Newtown, Southbury, Woodbury, and some other townships, the whole country now known as Litchfield County, together with the northern part of Fairfield and the western part of Hartford counties, presented an uninhab- ited wilderness. The birds built their nests in the forests undis- turbed by the smoke of a single wigwam, and the wild beasts who made it their home were startled by no fires save those of a transient war party or a wandering hunter. It is well under- stood that the natives were in the habit of passing down the line of the Housatonic and up Still River during the summer season, and planting in the valleys."
It is said that the Schaticoke Indians were divided into north
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HISTORY OF DANBURY.
and south tribes, of which the former were of Kent, Conn., and the latter of Beaver Brook.
Among the records of the first church, we find the following entry in the list of marriages performed by Rev. Timothy Lang- don : " November 11th, 1787, John Lucas to Hannah Griswould -Indians."
There was a family of Indians living near the bridge at Never- sink Pond as late as 1850. Indian arrowheads and other relics are still found in the fields and about the ponds and creeks of Danbury, but those who fashioned them have been for long years in the " happy hunting-grounds."
ROUTE OF "ORIGINAL EIGHT'' FROM NORWALK TO DANBURY.
In 1879 the writer made the following statement in the News :
" It is reasonable to suppose that the original eight families came to Danbury by what was since the turnpike between here and Norwalk. It is the most direct route, and presents less obstacles in the matter of high ground than any other way. So long ago there could not have been more than a trail, if as much, to direct and aid them. What must have been their thoughts as they forced their way we cannot know. Judging the aspect of nature to be then considerably more forbidding than it is now, we must admire the courage of the original eight, even if we cannot respect their judgment."
Whereupon a correspondent of the News offered the following :
" To the Editor of the News :
" I have a word to say in regard to the route taken by the first settlers of Danbury in coming from Norwalk. It was not, as stated in your paper, over the present travelled road. With all due deference to your authority, I beg leave to say that the pond, mountain, and region now known as Sympaug was in my boyhood days known only as Milking Yard. And first my grandfather, afterward my uncles and father, said that the name originated from the following circumstance : that the earliest settlers of Danbury built a fence from the south end of the pond across the neck of level land to the mountain to prevent their cattle, especially their cows, from taking the back track to Nor- walk, from whence they had been driven ; and that the citizen owners of said cows were in the habit of riding on horseback to
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HISTORY OF DANBURY.
this fence or barrier to milk their cows ; and also that during the last part of the last century the mail was carried on horse- back through the same territory. The market wagons of those old times also pursued the same course or road on the west side of the pond."
We incline to believe our correspondent is correct ; that the trail pursued by the original eight ran on the west and not on the east side of the pond ; but we are still persuaded that the course was largely what has since become the turnpike between Norwalk and Danbury. There is no doubt there was a trail of some kind between the two points, as the Indians occupying this ground must often have visited the Sound at its nearest point, which is Norwalk.
Presuming there was a trail, its location through here must have been the present Main Street, and would naturally present to the newcomers a place of residence, principally because it defined something.
According to Mr. Robbins's account, they located close to- gether, four on one side and four on the opposite side. Their object was to start a village. This, with a view to sociability and protection, would demand concentration. The lands on whose cultivation they depended they sought here and there, as the richness of the soil made necessary, and these locations varied so much that to reside upon the tracts would have so scattered the settlers as to have made the nucleus of a village " a barren ideality," and to have put social intercourse and mutual protec- tion beyond the pale of possibility. It is likely enough that the eight families' homesteads did not cover more than the ground between South Street and the Court House.
By a careful wrench of the imagination we can see Danbury something as it existed then. We know from the quality of the land that the eminences were full of fir-trees. We deduct, also, from the lay of the land that along the streams alders grew in profusion, and that in that portion east of Main Street and west of the Town Hill Ridge there was a rather considerable swamp.
We are pretty confident that the swamp must have been a prominent feature in the topography, from the fact that the first settlers set their heart upon calling their town Swampfield, and
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HISTORY OF DANBURY.
were only deterred therefrom by the arbitrary action of the general court, which substituted the name Danbury.
Thus were we saved from becoming Swampfielders.
Pahquioque or Paquaige was the name given to this valley by the Indians. It is still preserved in the sub-name of one of our national banks, and in one of our business buildings. The hat factory of Crofut & White in its early days was thus called, and almost wholly known by that name for many years. One of the streets of Danbury bears the old Indian name, which signifies an open plain. This feature of the wilderness here may have in- duced the original eight, to drop down where they did.
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