USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928, Volume II > Part 18
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After the Roman Catholics had bought the Episcopal Church in 1865, they conducted their services there, led by clergy from Windsor Locks, till the new edifice was built in front of that site. Rev. J. F. Quinn is now the pastor.
A portion of the separatists from the Congregational Church became Baptists but the organization did not flourish. The church was on the Poquonock Road. It was moved to Wilson Station and is still used for Community Church purposes.
Windsor furnished both men and leaders of men in the colonial wars. Benjamin Newberry was the first of a distinguished fam- ily. On his father's death he was brought from Dorchester by his
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OLDEST TOMBSTONE IN CONNECTICUT Located in Windsor
TO MOD LYETH THE BODY OF HERE
FAT 17
HENRY WOLCOTT TOMBSTONE, WINDSOR
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step-mother, the wife of Pastor Warham. He was major of the Hartford County regiment, served in King Philip's war and for many years was in public life. His son Benjamin died in the Canadian campaign. The latter's son Roger met death as has been told when returning by ship in 1741 from the West Indian campaign. Capt. Roger Newberry's son Thomas, living in East Windsor, participated in the French-Indian wars and was a Min- ute Man in the Revolution. Capt. Amasa Newberry, living in South Windsor, a descendant of Major Newberry, was a soldier in the Revolution. Brig .- Gen. Roger Newberry of the Revolution was another son of Capt. Roger Newberry. He was surpassed in importance of public service only by Oliver Ellsworth and Gen. Erastus Wolcott. A successful lawyer, he was in his prime when the Revolution came. From captain in the militia he was imme- diately commissioned major and was given command of the First Regiment on the call for the defense of New York. He took part in driving Tryon back from Danbury and was promoted to be colonel and in 1781 brigadier-general. Many years he served in both branches of the General Assembly. Also he was judge of probate of the Hartford district and of the County Court, rising to be chief justice. He was a member of the boundary commission in 1793 and a fellow of the corporation at Yale which institution gave him the degree of A. M. On the disposal of the Western Reserve in Ohio, he was one of the directors of the Connecticut Land Company. His last days were spent in his ancestral home- stead, where he died in 1814.
When New England alone of all the colonies came forward willing to participate in the Louisburg campaign in 1744, Roger Wolcott, lieutenant-governor, was appointed commissary for the Connecticut contingent of 500 men out of the total of 4,000; the supplies were raised and Connecticut won glory in that brilliant campaign. Wolcott was commissioned by Governors Shirley and Law, major-general of the army. Ten years later he was one of the three Connecticut delegates to Franklin's Albany convention of the colonies to devise a form of union and joined with his col- leagues in opposing the plan which would have placed the soldiery under royal command. He was representative in the council, judge of County and Superior courts and was chief judge when called upon to serve as governor from 1751 to 1754. After his
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retirement he devoted himself to religion and to literature as else- where related. Son of Simon Wolcott who went to the east side of the river as a pioneer in 1680 and later returned, the youth had no educational advantages; in his boyhood he had to help support a large family after his father's death.
Erastus Wolcott was a worthy son of his father Roger. Hav- ing removed to the east side of the river, he presided at the first meeting of East Windsor as a town, represented it in the General Court, was made speaker, was judge of probate and chief judge of the County Court, congressman and judge of the Superior Court. Through the Revolution he was general commanding the First Brigade of the Connecticut militia.
Roger Wolcott, Jr., born in 1704, probably would have been governor but he died at the age of fifty. He had served as repre- sentative, major in the Connecticut troops, member of the Council and judge of the Superior Court. His son Alexander was an eminent physician in New Haven and Windsor and was surgeon on the Louisburg expedition.
Oliver Wolcott also was a son of Roger, born on the east side of the river in 1726. He was graduated at Yale in 1747-LL. D. in 1792. He led a company in the French and Indian war, com- missioned by Governor Clinton of New York. He studied med- icine with his elder brother Alexander of Litchfield till he was appointed sheriff, from which time he made his home in Litchfield. After holding minor judgeships he was chosen a member of the Continental Congress and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He successfully arranged the compromise in the Wyoming controversy and the dispute between New York and Vermont. He sent to Litchfield the lead statue of George III that had stood in New York, to be made into bullets by his daugh- ters. Congress appointed him to command the fourteen Con- necticut regiments that responded for the New York alarm and he commanded a brigade in the Burgoyne campaign. He was lieutenant-governor for ten years from 1786 and then governor till his death in 1797. His son, Governor Oliver, was born in Litchfield.
Lieut .- Col. Roger Enos who withdrew from Arnold's Quebec expedition later commanded a regiment on duty in the southwest part of the state. Windsor diaries and letters produce many
GENERAL ROGER NEWBERRY
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items of interest. Hezekiah Hayden, one of the most impassioned patriots, was among the many who starved on the prison ships. The hardships of those at home at times were almost unbearable. When they came to using the lead in clock weights to make bul- lets of, Eliakim Mather swore that his clock should remain silent till the arbitrary power that took the weights should return them. For the remaining forty years of his life his clock stood dumb, pointing at the hour when he took that oath. At the age of 84, Daniel Phelps was among the volunteers who hurried toward Danbury at the time of Tryon's raid. He expressed deep regret at not being able to get a shot at the "Redcoats" and died a few days later of fatigue. Mrs. Azuba (Griswold) Perkins was one of the few who escaped through the wilderness from the scene of the Wyoming massacre. She lived in Poquonock till her death.
The general hospital stores and medicines of the Eastern De- partment were kept in Windsor under guard. A memorial to the General Assembly recited that a troop of horses had been quar- tered on the town for two months; the people cheerfully had given their hay but if the horses were to remain, cattle would have to be turned loose and become worthless. A committee of investiga- tion was appointed by the General Assembly when a memorial came in saying that Windsor people had received no pay for the cattle they had furnished, that they were unable to buy more and that they were berated by those who sat about and criticised patriotic people for being imprudent, thereby putting a premium on disloyalty. The town was near the breaking point when Corn- wallis surrendered. Its treasury in 1784 showed amount on hand £228 Continental currency, £71 state and £356 legal, after spending since 1775 over £3,500 of Continental, state and legal money.
One of the most romantic stories was that of Sergt. Daniel Bissell. In 1781 while having the record of being one of the most efficient soldiers, he was proclaimed in orders as a deserter and his name was execrated. In reality he had been selected as a spy and had gained much information, including Arnold's plan to raid New London, when he fell sick. On his recovery he made his way back to the American lines. Washington would have commissioned him had it not been that supernumerary appoint- ments had been forbidden, so he was assigned to light duty for
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the rest of the war. A certificate of merit, with honor chevrons, was awarded him. Washington in his first administration sug- gested that he petition for reimbursement for extra service and for equipment that was stolen while he had been away from. quarters. Two petitions of that nature failed to bring relief. His certificate with all his belongings was burned while he was living in Richmond six years before his death. A large family of children all brought credit to the family name. A boulder and tablet, placed by the Sons of the American Revolution, now mark his birthplace.
Windsor's fine John Fitch High School is a unique and enviable memorial of the character of the humblest and of the spirit of all in the earliest war days. About as the other towns, Windsor had complied with the code Townsman Ludlow had drafted and by 1667 there was a schoolhouse. But five years later the town was fined £5 for not having a grammar school, which sum went to the Hartford school. The grammar school was forthcoming in 1674. The following year occurred King Philip's war. John Fitch was among those who responded to the call. On the eve of departure he made the will now displayed in the high school build- ing, along with the portrait of him painted by Ruel Tuttle. Com- mitting himself to God, he said briefly :
As for that smal estat God have given me I dispose as followeth first that my Just debt be paid out of it The rest both land and goods I give to the promoting of a scoole heere in Windsor to be dispose of in the best way as the County Court and select men of the Town shall see meet for the end aforesd
President George E. Crosby of the Windsor Historical Society made the minute that thus John Fitch was the originator of the system of free public schools in Windsor and of the Union School Fund "which fostered the system in its infancy and youth." Fitch was wounded in the Swamp Fight and died the following August, 1676. Fitch's estate netted £33, to which the town added £30. Later the fund was increased by bequests from Lieut. Joseph Stiles whose betrothed was drowned, from Sergt. Abraham
JOHN FITCH, 1675
Decorative Portrait of Founder of the Union School Fund, Windsor, by Ruel Compton Tuttle
JOHN FITCH HIGH SCHOOL, WINDSOR
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Phelps in 1728 and from Benoni Bissell in 1761. For a time, the town school was held in Fitch's house.
Arrangements were made for a school on the east side and on each side of the Farmington in 1698. Rev. Samuel Mather was one of the ten ministers who took part in forming Yale ("Collegi- ate School") at Branford in 1701. The local school interests in 1702 began to vest in the church societies and parishes; they were made school districts in 1712. Ebenezer Fitch was the chief teacher then. John Brancker had been the first teacher (in 1657), followed by James Cornish and John Loomis as his assistant. The North and South districts were created in 1723. Sarah Stiles was the first school mistress, in 1717. When Samuel Wolcott was engaged to teach the grammar school in its earliest days, he was to take only those who were "entered in spelling." An "academy" building on the south-side green, as previously said, was erected in 1798-at the north end of Broad Street. A fine building was erected in 1853 and among the subscribers who had been pupils at the old academy were such men as E. D. Morgan, Gen. F. E. Mather and H. B. Loomis of New York, Hon. James C. Loomis of Bridgeport, Hon. James Hooker of Poughkeepsie and Gen. William S. Pierson of Sandusky.
This the ecclesiastical Fourth Society became the First School District, comprising the first six of the present districts. When in 1893, the Roger Ludlow School was built on Bloomfield Avenue, the high school pupils were given rooms there, the old building was sold and the land was given for the present Congregational parish house. This action raised a question of law: when the subscriptions were made in the '50s, it was stipulated that should ever the property not be used for school purposes, it should revert to the subscribers. Moreover the fund was specifically for the First District. The Second Ecclesiastical Society (Poquonock) had become the Second School District (the present seventh to tenth districts). This district closed the high school it had pro- vided, sending the pupils to the First District. The Legislature, when appealed to relative to the subscription difficulty, could do nothing that would seem to violate a contract. Accordingly friendly suit was brought, all subscribers or their heirs being named therein, for permission to use the funds for these modern purposes, and naturally there was no contest. Walter W. Loomis
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was the last surviving subscriber. The Fitch High School was opened in 1922, a worthy memorial to its hero founder.
George E. Crosby (1877-1928), chairman of School Commit- tee when this first high school building was designed, proposed making it a memorial to Fitch. He was of Hartford birth and held an important position in the office of the Aetna (fire) Insur- ance Company, but through the best of his years his home was in this town where he devoted much of his time to school inter- ests and to collating and preserving ancient history. He was on the Advisory Board of this History of Hartford County. At his sudden death in October, his noble work for the town was reviewed in the resolutions adopted by the historical society, of which he had been president from its beginning.
Besides the Fitch School and the Roger Ludlow School there are the Center Grammar School at Hayden, the John M. Niles School at Poquonock and the Roger Wolcott School at Wilson.
H. Sydney Hayden established a private school near Broad Street Green for young ladies. It was conducted by Julia S. Williams and Elizabeth Francis. Later it was the Misses Wil- liams School and in more recent times and till it was discontinued Campbell Hall, conducted by Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Campbell.
Loomis Institute, located on the "island," eminent among the schools of the country, has a history all its own, yet perfectly in keeping with that of the town, as appears in the section of the general history devoted to private schools of the county.
Thrift in everything had to be a main principle in the earlier days. A license granted to Alexander Allyn to sell strong drink was conditioned on the agreement that he sell "cheaper than others that have licenses." Liberty to work iron (probably at Tilton's marsh) was given any man who would undertake to sell to the townspeople one-fourth under the market price. Ore found on the commons might be taken to Stony Brook (Suffield) to be worked, as there was no stream nearer that would suffice. Ore was smelted in the present Rainbow section opposite what became Rainbow Park. This was probably bog iron. The "mine" was "under the mountain near Massaco." It was covered over to hide it from the British during the Revolution and the exact loca- tion was lost, no one much caring, since there were more profitable
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things to think of. The site was known as "Black Face." Copper ore also was smelted, doubtless brought from the Simsbury section. Turpentine was the source of considerable income in the first years. It led to the founding of Simsbury. Permission to tap trees east of the river was given on condition that one-fourth of the product be for the town's use.
Shipping of turpentine, other ship material and staves for rum hogsheads gave most of the river towns their commercial start. The traffic was with England and the Barbadoes. In 1671 Henry Wolcott was one of the chief shippers and his product was apples. Up to 1639 there had been no apple or pear trees but Wolcott imported some and by 1649 was selling young trees throughout the colony. In the '70s he was marketing 500 hogs- heads of cider a year at a rate of 10 shillings a hogshead. Pelt always was a profitable export. Lieut. Walter Fyler built his historic house on his income from that trade.
In the Revolutionary period, James and Horace Hooker, sons of Nathan Hooker of Hartford, started a branch of their father's commercial business and soon had built up one of the best known establishments in these parts. The war and French spoliations ruined them. Windsor was made a port of entry through the efforts of James Hayden in 1799. There was no bridge to obstruct navigation till the one at Hartford was built in 1809. After that commerce fell away, but the European wars were largely respon- sible for this, say nothing of the river's shifting channel, nor yet of the coming of the railroad.
In the War of 1812 William Howard was lieutenant-colonel of the First Infantry, U. S. A. In Captain Blanchard's company of seventy men who did duty at Fort Trumbull for a short time, James R. Halsey and Samuel White were lieutenants.
Preeminently a rural community of great natural beauty, and with fertile fields, manufacturing never was extensively promoted here. Most of the concerns have been in the outlying villages of the town. Brick-making has been successful with a product that has stood against competition with that in several other towns. In 1836 there were forty brick-yards. The number now is con- siderably less but the quality much better. Yarns, knitting, paper and electric appliances have been the chief products. The first "mill" was Col. James Loomis' grist mill, one of the first in the
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colony. The scene of greatest industrial activity has been near the station of the railroad whose coming in the 1840s was an epoch in the general history. It was there that the Windsor Knitting and Manufacturing Company began operating in 1853. Manufacture of stockinet not proving successful, the Sequassen Woolen Company secured the plant in 1855 and furnished a high grade of cloth till the plant was burned in 1872. H. Sydney Hay- den, whose activities along all lines of good citizenship, history- making and history-preserving, cause his name to be revered, rebuilt the factory and C. M. Spencer, inventor of the repeating rifle as described in the general history, in 1882 began making his sporting rifles there. Mr. Spencer moved and in 1885 the Eddy Electric Company took its place. This company had been formed by Arthur H. Eddy of Hayden Avenue and others, Mr. Eddy the president. It won national distinction in the manu- facture of motors and generators and had to double the size of its plant. Meeting with reverses at a time when the General Electric was extending into many places, the property was sold to that great corporation in 1902 which most substantially redoubled the plant in 1920. At that time J. Allan Dalzell, the superin- tendent, was sent to another branch of the company and was suc- ceeded by Arthur A. Bailey, who had been cashier and agent. Mr. Bailey, son of William Bailey, is one of the town's most public- spirited men. He has been representative, state senator and chairman of the fire board. Others of the two hundred in the General Electric had come to fill important places in the life of the community when in 1927 that company, having adopted a plan of centralization at Lynn, Mass., closed its works here. Mr. Bailey remained to look after the local interests. It was in this estab- lishment that Governor Trumbull worked as an apprentice. Through his influence, in December of 1927 the company sold the plant to the P. Lorillard Company-the largest real estate trans- action in the town's history. This great tobacco company already owned the tobacco stemmery in Pierson Lane where 250 hands are employed and has sorting warehouses in many of the towns of the valley where the news of the plans was most welcome.
In this same industrial section, the Windsor Company, of which John Luddy is president, is building up a large business in the manufacture of household goods. Near here also C. H.
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Cook and Neal Stalker leased a factory after Mr. Cook had been the first one successfully to apply ball bearings for vehicles.
One can but wonder why a concern like Lorillard's has not before this taken the step now taken, for Windsor is the heart of the richest tobacco-growing territory in the country. Fred H. Thrall, descendant of an original settler, was the first to give name to one large section, Thralltown. It is a tract of 400 acres and furnishes a New England reproduction of the old-town plan- tation of the South, but with neat village houses, community inter- ests and modern appliances. Mr. Thrall is especially devoted to horseflesh and owns the famous Sage Park to which has come new glory with its contests between celebrated fast-steppers. Orig- inally this was Moore Park, on land donated to the Road Drivers Club by Orson B. Moore of Windsor. Throughout this section there are a number of large tobacco plantations.
Windsor proper lost somewhat in population till in 1870 it had but 2,800, but since 1900 it has increased till now it is about 7,000. One reason for this is its attractiveness for suburbanites and they are developing beautiful homes. In 1926 Hugh Ballantyne founded the weekly Windsor Herald of which Rev. Victor L. Greenwood of the Poquonock Community Church is editor. George E. Crosby published the monthly Town Crier till his World war activities necessitated suspension. Broad Street Green is the center of activities. The elms that add to its beauty were set out in 1755. On it is the Loomis memorial fountain, and the World war memorial, designed by Evelyn B. Longman Batch- elder, will soon be in place at the south end. Mrs. Batchelder, the wife of the headmaster of Loomis Institute, holds a position among the first of American sculptors. To the west of the green is the brick Town Hall, a number of stores and the building of the Wind- sor Trust Company. The trust company was organized in 1913 and, on the principle of "banking at home," has over 4,000 depos- itors. George R. Ford is the president. Over the bank is the hall of Washington Lodge of Masons. The Odd Fellows have a building on Maple Avenue. To the south of the green, in the old General Mather homestead, which was purchased by subscrip- tions and a $4,000 gift from Olivia Pierson, in 1901, to commem- orate both the settlers and the soldiers in the early wars, is the
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free public library which was opened in 1888. The president is Rev. Roscoe Nelson and the librarian Miss Kate Putnam Safford. The town's present grand list is over $13,000,000.
Windsor's water supply comes from springs west of the center, established through the enterprise of Judge H. Sydney Hayden. There had been no organized public improvements till, through the activities of Albert H. House, legislation was put through and a fire district was organized in 1915. The district bought the Windsor Water Company which formerly had been owned by Nathaniel Hayden. The district's new building on Union Street houses the Fire Department and the offices. In 1917 a Town Plan Commission was created, one of the functions of which is to decide on street lines outside of the Fire District. Residents of Palisado Avenue have a village improvement society. The Chamber of Commerce, of which Oliver J. Thrall is president and F. G. Vengs- ton secretary, is finding that the interests of Ancient Windsor are coming to demand as much attention as they did from the earliest settlers.
Ancient Windsor, in population but 4,000, had its full part in the remarkable record of the county during the Civil war, as told in the general history. The enlistments numbered 188, of whom ten never returned. All the officers and many of the men of Company A of the Twenty-second Regiment were from here. The officers were Allen D. French, captain; Thomas H. Thilkell and E. P. Ellsworth, lieutenants. Among the monuments in the ceme- tery is that of Gen. William S. Pierson, Yale '36, son of Dr. W. S. Pierson. He commanded the prison post at Sandusky, Ohio, and after the war was prominent in manufacturing and banking, making his home here.
In the World war Windsor was well represented in the organi- zations that went out from Hartford and in the National Army, while the people at home were constant in their endeavors to pro- mote the cause. Financially and otherwise the town encouraged the large Company L of the First Infantry, Connecticut State Guard. Capt. Henry A. Grimm was promoted to be major and was succeeded by George R. Reed. Other officers were George J. Merwin, battalion adjutant, and Lieutenants Edward S. McGrath, Alexander W. Norrie, and Howard F. King.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, WINDSOR Erected in 1794 by the Society or- ganized in England in 1630
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