USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928, Volume II > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
Land obtained by Thomas Burnham-and still in the pos- session of his descendants-is a case in point. After the Po- dunks had shown a disposition to migrate, following the affair between Tantinomo and Uncas, chief of the Mohegans, Burn- ham and Jacob Mygatt in 1658 obtained from Tantinomo rights to land set off from the town's common for the Podunks near the mouth of the Podunk River at the northwest corner of the pres- ent town. Dispute arising, the court regarded this merely as a lease and, foreseeing misunderstandings, decreed in 1660 that individuals thereafter must not buy or lease of the natives. Six
1250
Podunk Fort 1' miles. worth.
Levi Goodwin Tavern, 1780.
Timothy Cowles, 1695.
Joseph Pitkin 1750.
0 Col. George Pitkin, 1775.
Governor William Pitkin. 1710-
William and Persius Olmsted, 1740. Dea. Joseph Olmsted, 1609.
PROSPECT STREET.
Nathaniel Stanley, 1720
Pitkin Fort, 1689.
BANK.
W'm. Pitkin, 1659.
. Lieut. John Hurlbut, 1720.
N. Y., N. H.
& H. H. R. R.
STREET
William Pitkin, Jr., 1685
John Benjamin, 1700
Win Bigelow, 1773.
ORCHARD STREET.
East Hartford Academy, 1833. Now Wells Hall.
0 Wood bridge, later Wells Tavern, 1750.
2
WELLS AVENUE.
Capt. Gid Olmsted, 1775
1
0 Timothy l'itkin, 1720.
Lieut. John Meakins, 1669
A
Dr. Samuel Flagg, 1770.
Thomas Spencer. 176:
S
GOVERNOR STREET.
Richard Goodwin Tavern, 1784
John Goodwin, 1700.
* Indian Tort.
€ Brida HARTFORD AVENUE.
First Congregational Church, 1836
Col. Giles Olmsted. 1816.
Thomas Trill. 1650
Raymond Library.
GARVAN STREET.
CENTRAL AVENUE.
James Forbes, 1660.
William Roberts, 1668.
Maj. Samuel Pitkin, 1,80
Rev. Eliphalet Williams, 1748.
John Crow. If40 Fortified House, 1675.
Elisha Pitkin Esq.
Meeting House Green. (Re-laimed and marked by Martha Pitk ... Wolcott Chapter D. A. R., May 27, 1902.)
Capt. Ozias Roberts,
SITES OF HOMES OF SOME OF EAST HARTFORD'S EARLY SETTLERS
STREET
BURNSIDE AVENUE.
PROSPECT
MEADOW
Entrance to Cemetery, 1710.
Capt. Aaron Olmsted, 1775
1253
HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
years later, when the reservation was divided among the Hart- ford proprietors (of whom Burnham was not one), Burnham and Mygatt were required to pay the grantees. Meantime the lease had been recognized by the court but with proviso that Burnham should yield it if the Indians returned. Immediately thereafter the court had learned that Tantinomo had returned and also that part of the land in question in reality had belonged to Sachem Foxem who had given it to "his allies." The prompt decision had been that Burnham could bargain only for Tanti- nomo's part. The "allies" were Sachem Arramamet and five others and to them Burnham gave "divers good considerations and five coats." And Burnham's descendants have later deeds from individual Indians of the Podunk reservation; Thomas Burnham, 2nd, in 1711 bought upland directly of two squaws- for "one coat and six shillings six-pence." This throws more light upon the Indian traits; they would forsake their land after disposing of it; later squaws or others would roam back and get what further compensation they could. Altogether the incident is one of the best illustrations recorded of the General Court's desire to do equal and exact justice by the red men-a method which, had it been followed in all particulars by the Bay Colony's court, might have prevented King Philip's war.
There was an after-clap to the incident when Mygatt sold his portion of the property and there was dispute over the divi- sion of it which went to the court in 1668. Burnham was de- feated. Thereupon he bought or "leased" all of the Indian land. Then when East Hartford and Windsor disagreed over their boundary line, part of Burnham's land had to go to Windsor; for this his heirs were recompensed later by a grant from the town in "Five Miles," or Manchester. Burnham was a constable and appeared as attorney in the courts. In one instance he de- fended a woman school teacher accused of blasphemy. After she had been condemned to sit on the gallows with a rope around her neck, Burnham was suspended from law practice for three years.
When the common land was divided among the Hartford proprietors, each was allowed a section according to his means for assuming responsibility and expense for the real estate, the leaders being John Haynes 200, William Pantry 85 or 80, John Crow 40 or 20, Hooker, Hopkins, Whiting, Hosmer and Thomas
38-VOL. 2
1254
HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
Bull. As later settlers were voted in they were given an inter- est, those on the list ranging from 13 to 3. A few had interest "at the town's courtesy, with liberty to fetch wood and keep swine and cows-by proportion on the common," which was south of the present Congregational Church. The southern boundary was due east three miles from the mouth of Pewter Pot Brook (the Wethersfield triangle is described in the Weth- ersfield chapter), and Windsor on the north was to come to the mouth of the Podunk, the line to run east indefinitely. The main interest was in the meadowland; the wooded upland, beyond a bog, was designated the "bog wall." There were a north and a south side, marked by the Hockanum River which is about half- way between the Podunk and Pewter Pot Brook, while Willow Brook, tributary to the Hockanum, drains the territory between the Hockanum and the Pewter Pot. The original division of the upland "to the three-mile land" was made in 1640. On the list are a number of names that have been familiar in East Hartford ever since, like Olmsted, Pitkin, Grant, Bidwell and Burr. "Mr." John Crow, with 590 acres, one of the Hooker party, was the husband of Elder William Goodwin's only child, was the largest land holder in Hartford, his East Hartford land running along the north side of the Hockanum to the limits, was surveyor of highways, went to Hadley with Elder Goodwin when he seceded from the Hartford Church, returned in 1675 and joined the South Church and died three years later. Crow Hill in East Hartford is named after him. He was the father of Mrs. Phineas Wilson, the leading banker for Hartford and the other towns, who left a large estate at her death in 1727. Bidwell, like most of the others, retained his residence and interests west of the river. On the Hockanum he built a sawmill. Burnside Avenue was originally Bidwell's Lane and his descendants still live in that locality.
Main Street, or County Road, was laid out six rods wide in 1670. The first bridge over the Hockanum, where this road crossed, was built in 1700. Twenty-four years after the road was laid out the inhabitants requested that they be allowed their own society and pastor. The two Hartford churches demurring, the General Assembly in 1699 granted a society on condition the church tax be paid to the Hartford churches. Organization was effected in 1702 when it was voted that the east-siders should
1255
HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
pay to their own church. Rev. John Rood was the minister. On the committee for building a church was William Pitkin, an Episcopalian who had complained to the Assembly that he had been shut out of religious worship and who had been permitted to enjoy all privileges except participation in the sacrament. There will be more about him and his remarkable family further on. The building-slow in erection-was on the "green," a slight elevation near the junction of Main Street and South Meadow Road, now appropriately marked by a boulder and tab- let placed in 1902 by Nathan Hale Lyceum and Martha Pitkin Wolcott Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution. Mr. Rood having decided not to remain, Rev. Samuel Woodbridge, of a family of ministers and himself recently out of Harvard Col- lege, was installed. He immediately endeared himself to his people but when in his later years infirmities beset him and he would not furnish a "supply" at his own expense, his salary was withheld till the Assembly ordered it paid. He died a short time later, in 1746. Then came Rev. Stephen Williams. A new church on the same site had been built in 1735, but there was no heating till 1817-and the records show that the first Sunday after the stoves were put in came complaints of headaches, warped back-combs and other untoward results, despite the gen- erally unknown fact that there had been no fire in the stoves.
Of the subsequent pastors the one who left probably the strongest impression was Rev. Eliphalet ("Priest") Williams who preached from 1748 to 1801, when his age necessitated the employing of a colleague, Prof. Andrew Yates of Union College. "Priest" Williams died eighteen months later, in 1803. With his large white wig and stiff-brimmed hat surmounting his stalwart frame, he was not adored by the children and often was consid- ered domineering by adults. But he came of a long line of learned ministers and ranked high among the scholars. As pre- siding fellow of the corporation of Yale, from which institution he had graduated in 1743, he delivered the Latin oration at the induction of Ezra Stiles into the presidency of the college in 1778. His house, on the east side of Main Street, for generations was looked upon as an exceptional specimen of colonial architecture. Professor Yates in 1814 returned to Union College. Rev. Dr. Samuel Spring, coming from the First Church in Hartford in
1256
HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
1833, was another remarkable pastor. After his graduation at Yale in 1811 he had had a thrilling career in commercial life and on the ocean. He resigned in 1860 because of physical condition but continued as a power in the community for many years. It was in the third year of his incumbency that the present church was built, on the corner of Main Street and the present Connecti- cut Boulevard. It was practically rebuilt, though preserving the original type, after a fire in 1876. A town clock and a new bell were given by Albert C. Raymond. Rev. Theodore J. Holmes, who succeeded Doctor Spring, went to the war as chaplain of the First Connecticut Cavalry ; on his return he resumed the pas- torate and continued till 1873.
A separate society was formed in the Hockanum district the year of the fire, with meetings in the schoolhouses till the church building was erected in 1877.
"Priest" Williams' intolerance, in sermons and pamphlets, rather aided the other sects which were gaining a foothold throughout the colony in the latter part of the century. The home of Elisha Pitkin, so hospitable that it was known as the "ministers' hotel," became a center for the Baptists in 1795 and services were held later in the schoolhouses in "Scotland" dis- trict. Most of the attendants returned to the old church after Mr. Williams' death. The origin of the first Methodist church is told in the Manchester section of the history. The Burnside church was built in 1837. There are now the four Methodist churches,-the Burnside, the Hockanum, the East Hartford and the Center. Grace Episcopal Church, now St. John's, had its origin with men like Thomas H. Harding, George Hills, Agis Easton and Moses Chandler, meeting in the small chapel near Mr. Easton's house in Burnside and later in Elm Hall on Main Street. Rev. John J. McCook of Trinity College devoted himself to the reorganized church of which he was rector for many years, till his death in 1927. The stone structure on Main Street was consecrated in 1869.
The Roman Catholics went zealously about their work, assembling parishioners from South Windsor as well, and after utilizing Elm Hall built their own edifice in 1876, St. Mary's at the corner of Main and Woodbridge streets. In 1920 St. Rose's on Church Street in Burnside was consecrated.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, EAST HARTFORD
CENTER DISTRICT SCHOOL, MAIN STREET, EAST HARTFORD
--- -
1259
HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
The inconvenience of being really a part of Hartford had to be overcome to considerable extent early in history. Thomas Cadwell was given ferry privileges across the Connecticut in 1681, renewed each seven years. In 1728 and 1737 Hartford asked for a charter. The income was given by the town to the schools and in 1756 to the maintenance of Hartford's Little River bridge. East Hartford secured half of this income and leased its share of the privilege. In 1805 there was a ferry to State Street and one to Ferry Street, Hartford (later one to Colt's factory). The account of the conflicts between toll-bridge and ferries after 1808 is given in the general history. Because of the bridge expenses, no compensation was allowed the towns when the ferries were suppressed. It was East Hartford's objec- tion which caused the Legislature in 1836 to permit the reestab- lishment of a ferry, at the same time releasing the bridge com- pany from maintaining three boats. The franchise was with- drawn in 1841 and the bridge tolls fixed on a basis to run till 1879. Nevertheless East Hartford continued its protests and petitions till in 1842 the ferry-to be conducted by the town- again won. Litigation over this went up to the Supreme Court of the United States and the town lost. The town resolved to hold "this aggressive monopoly to a rigid compliance with its charter" when it paid the bridge company the $12,363 damages fixed by the courts. The matter of the bridge in all its phases became an interesting part of the county general history, as has been seen.
Schools developed after the manner in other towns. In 1779 the two districts north of the Hockanum were made three and the Center District house stood in front of the Center Burying- Ground. A two-story brick building replaced it in 1819. Another new building was built in 1848 opposite the head of Bridge Road. In the North District, the first house was replaced in 1812 by a brick one, and still another in 1856, on Pirate Hill, near the site of the present building. The Meadow District was formed in 1795, west of Meadow Hill. Long Hill District was set off from the North District in 1819 and in 1830 Mill District (Burnside) was set off from that, to be made in 1831 a union district with Number 6 of present South Windsor. The lines were changed
1260
HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
again and the name Burnside given in 1878, a name that had been used since 1865. There also were the Hockanum, South Middle, Southeast and Long Hill districts before the present con- solidation was brought about in 1910. For higher education, the English and Classical School Association was formed in 1833 which built an academy on the Wells tavern land on Main Street. The trustees were Col. Solomon Olmsted, Dr. Pardon Brownell and Erastus Woodruff and the manager was Theodore L. Wright. Edgar Perkins was principal in 1836 and for several years before the school was discontinued. It was the era when high schools were taking the place of "academies," bringing higher education within the reach of all. The high school here took shape but never enjoyed the space and facilities essential till the new building on Chapman Street was opened in 1917.
Academy Hall was used for general town purposes when Jonathan T. Wells, its owner, bequeathed it with the grounds around it to the town on condition that it always be held for public use and be known as Wells Hall; in addition he left $500 toward expense of changes. This was accepted in town meeting, October 8, 1883; the front part was added by the town in 1885, the committee in charge being Joseph Marvin, William H. Olm- sted and George W. Pratt. The appropriation of $3,500 was in- creased $800 in order that the roof might be mansard and that proper furnishings be supplied and the grounds graded. The estimated expense of a proposed new hall today is $265,000.
The Hockanum, which flows from the beautiful Lake Snipsic in Rockville through the plains of Vernon, Talcottville and Man- chester, was a boon from the outset. Elder William Goodwin and his son-in-law John Crow at Burnside were the first to utilize it, receiving a bonus in land for setting up a sawmill. The Pitkin family at Pitkins Falls eventually took in this plant. The modern Spar Swamp and the ancient Saw Mill River (the Hockanum) were mentioned in the grant of 100 acres to John Allyn, one-time secretary of the colony, for a mill near where the first power mill later was developed, and in 1673 Corporal John Gilbert had rights on Hop Brook. John Bidwell's sawmill of the 1660s was a short distance below the modern Burnside bridge, Joseph Bull sharing with him and later Thomas Harris,
-
1261
HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
their territory extending to the east of Burnside. Bidwell had privileges in Hartford also, including a tan-yard on an island in Little River.
The Pitkin family were the pioneers in the wool industry, William, 2nd, having the fulling mill near the Burnside bridge, his sons William (later governor) and Colonel Joseph carrying on a clothiers' establishment. Gen. Shubael Griswold, for years a prosperous merchant, a representative in the Legislature and selectmen, with Amariah Mills in 1784 had this site for a paper mill and a fulling mill till Hudson & Goodwin bought it in 1811, along with a sawmill. Boswell, Keeney & Company utilized the property wholly for paper from 1851 to 1864 when Hanmer & Forbes came in and then, in 1865, the East Hartford Manufac- turing Company. The firm of Hanmer & Forbes consisted of Francis Hanmer and Charles Forbes. They first made powder near Laurel Park and sold the plant to Colonel Hazard of En- field. Thereupon they bought the three paper mills in Burnside. The middle mill they gave to their sons, William Hanmer and Randolph Forbes. Francis Hanmer bought out Charles Forbes; at his death the lower mill went to Charles Hanmer and is now owned by the prosperous Taylor-Atkins Company. It was the middle mill which was known until recently as the East Hart- ford Manufacturing Company. Charles F. Taylor of New York, an envelope inventor, bought one of the mills in 1898, applied some of his inventions and conducted the mill as secretary and treasurer of the Taylor-Atkins Paper Company till his death. The East Hartford Manufacturing Company was conducted by Lawrence S. and Robert S. Forbes and James J. Brigham.
Watson & Ledyard, under the direction of Thomas Greene, editor of the Courant, defied the British orders and set up the paper mill just before the Revolution which furnished the sup- ply for the Courant (save when rags were unobtainable as de- scribed in the general history) for many years, and the worth of the product as compared with the modern wood-pulp paper is well attested by the files of that publication. The Pitkins-Wil- liam and George-at their powder mill in the Revolution, were hard pressed to meet the demands. At the beginning there was only one other mill of the sort in New England. How the pow- der mills eventually passed under the control of Colonel Hazard
1262
HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
in 1860 and later under that of the Duponts is narrated in the Enfield chapter. After William Pitkin had dropped the manufac- ture of tobacco he took up snuff-making, first securing a tax-free colonial privilege for fourteen years. The plant was estab- lished by himself and George and Elisha Pitkin, Jr., in Manches- ter. The powder mills had been preceded, in 1747, by the iron- slitting mill of Col. Joseph Pitkin, under a fourteen years' privi- lege from the Assembly but, like other attempted industries, it was stopped by England. The mill was reopened in 1782; in 1797 it cast guns for the local artillery battery and in 1812 sup- plied powder for the state.
Connecticut's first cotton mill was put in operation by the re- sourceful Samuel Pitkin as Samuel Pitkin & Company in 1794 in what is now Buckland. In proportion to population, East Hartford was in the front rank of American industry in 1819 when it had seven paper mills, eight powder mills, two cotton mills and one woollen mill, two glass works, a hat factory, four carding machines and several grist- and sawmills. In the list of enterprises demanding high-class workmanship should be in- cluded the earlydays clock-making of Benjamin Cheney, else- where referred to.
Henry and James F. Pitkin in 1834 began making the Amer- ican "lever watch" by hand and two brothers had silver-ware shops near by. The four combined and their products were sold at the Pitkin store in Hartford "near Exchange Corner." This was the second attempt to establish watch-making in America. The business was moved to New York and Nelson Pitkin Strat- ton, once connected with the concern, became one of the organ- izers of the Waltham Watch Company. William L. Pitkin (1830-1895), one of the earliest silversmiths in this country and the first to combine that art with silver-plating, learned his trade of Walter Pitkin in East Hartford. In 1856 he bought the busi- ness of O. D. Seymour in the old jail building in Hartford and also that of H. I. Sawyer in the same building. In 1863 he was joined by his brother, H. E. Pitkin, and the business was con- tinued over thirty-one years. When that building was torn down they set up in the Jewell building on Hicks Street whence they removed to Pearl Street. In 1894 they sold their machinery to the Eagle Sterling Company of Glastonbury and removed there.
--
1263
HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
But the town was not predestined to be a manufacturing or mercantile center. In this it would appear to be in strong con- trast with Manchester-the organization and the setting-off of which in 1823 are recounted in the next chapter. The condi- tions were materially different. Aside from its being a suburb of Hartford where many of its people are in business and with whose industries it is closely connected, its location on the Boston side of the two bridges, one for the railroad and one for vehicu- lar traffic, on the main thoroughfare from New York to Boston, its railroad branch to Springfield, its network of trolleys and improved roads into the richest agricultural section of the state, it being the point of convergence for what represents many mil- lions of capital, altogether has had effect strikingly obvious in the material changes now taking place. Above all, for the period immediately preceding the World war, was the more expert utili- zation of the well-adapted soil for tobacco, corn and garden produce. The history of this agriculture has been marked by a few setbacks but in general it has proved most lucrative. Signs indicate that, in addition to its tobacco plantations, it will be a great produce-supply market, fed from a fertile wide-spreading territory. History with relation to the Hartford of 1640 would then be repeating itself.
Each distinct change in the town has followed a war. Up to the date of incorporation in 1783 the east side's martial activi- ties were specifically a part of Hartford's, and in general the war history herein has been given as that of the whole county. By the census of 1761 nearly one-half of the 1,588 population of Hartford was east of the river, and in 1774, when the petition was made for a separate township, East Hartford had 2,000 of the total 5,000-with a property list of £1,900. The muster-roll of Col. John Pitkin's company in the First Regiment raised for the reduction of Crown Point in 1755 is enough to show that on every occasion the East-siders were ready. The colonel was also captain of this company and the other specifically designated officers were Lemuel Hull, James Jones and William Stanton. Lieut .- Col. George Pitkin, Timothy Olmsted and George Burn- ham were among those of familiar name on the roll at the Lex- ington Alarm. Gideon Olmsted, captain of a French privateer, was captured and put on a sloop to be taken to the prison ships.
1264
HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT
Olmsted and his few companions got control of the sloop after a fierce encounter, the fight continuing till an American brig- toward which Olmsted had steered-came up, and the rich prize was taken into port. In all phases of the war East Hartford did its share. Jonathan Wells of Burnside was a colonel. Capt. Lemuel White was one of the few survivors of the prison ships. Stephen Olmsted died in the service. Capt. Stephen Buckland died on a prison ship.
The march of Rochambeau's army through East Hartford in 1781 and 1782 is detailed in the general history of the county. The site of the camp on Silver Lane where the soldiers were paid in the first silver the people had seen in some time was fittingly marked this year (1928) by a boulder with bronze tablet by Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth Branch of the Sons of the American Revo- lution. All the patriotic organizations and the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts joined in the parade. Near the tablet, which is about a mile east of Main Street on the lane whose name commemo- rates the soldiers' silver, on the Warren farm, is the old well and sweep which the soldiers used. Rochambeau came ahead of his troops and he and his officers were elaborately entertained by the citizens. His regiments, keeping a distance apart of one day's march, were the Sparkling Regiment of Bourbonnois, the Nine- teenth Regiment Royal Deux Ponts, the Twentieth Regiment of Soissonnois and the Regiment of Saintonge.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.