USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartland > History of Hartland, the 69th town in the Colony of Connecticut > Part 9
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IN WITNESS hereof, we have hereunto set our hand and seal the 7th day of January Anno Domini 1811.
Signed, sealed and delivered in
presence of Cepas Selden, Isaac Olmsted, Jr.
(Signed) Samuel Blakelee, George F. Miller."
For nearly 130 years, the rich and the poor of Hartland Hollow, and some on either mountain, were buried within the confines of the white picket fence which eventually surrounded this graveyard. Near the front gate could be found the marble monuments of those who had prospered on their earthly pilgrimage, and at the back in unmarked graves lay those whose final destination was by fate decreed to be the potter's field.
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The Cemeteries
The entire cemetery was removed by the Metropolitan District Commission in 1941. Most of the removals were to the new cemetery in West Hartland purchased for that purpose. Some, however, were re- moved to East Hartland Cemetery and other places, as selected by the next of kin. Thirty-six whose names were unknown were transferred to the West Hartland location.
"Full Fathom Five" now covers the area which many considered for a time to be their final resting place.
FAMILY CEMETERIES PETERS' FAMILY CEMETERY
In the triangle made by the West Road, Old Forge Road, and Whisker Hollow Road on the West Mountain is a small family ceme- tery originally belonging to William Peters, who built and occupied the house now the property of Rev. Charles W. and Nelda Stipek. The cemetery is located in deep woods and access is only by an old wood road.
In later years the farm was owned by Gaylord, Griffin, and Gillet. They acquired the use of the cemetery with the property, and used it for that purpose.
As there are but a few graves in this cemetery, we are listing the names appearing on the headstones for the benefit of future generations:
Darwin Griffin-born Jan. 15, 1806-died Dec. 17, 1894
Harriette, wife of D. Griffin, died Oct. 5, 1866, age 59
Hattie E., daughter of Edward A. & Fidelia H. Gaylord, age 9 yrs. 7 mos.
William Peters, died May 11, 1852, age 78
Roger S. Hungerford, died June 27, 1871
Fayette Byinton, died 1884, age 64-"In Life respected, In death, lamented."
Fred S. Peters, died Mar. 8, 1834, age 39 years
Nathaniel M. Gillet-Born May 1, 1818, died June 26, 1904
Almira E. Peters, wife-born Sept. 8, 1816, died .... Nov. 23, 1893 Lucy Ann, daughter-born Mar. 18, 1853, died July 14, 1854 L.N.G .- (just a small marker)
James Peters, died July 3, 1871
Mrs. Roxey Ives-The amiable consort of Mr. Levi Ives died Mar. 24, 1849, age 47 yrs.
Mr. Levi Ives, died May 3, 1854, age 55 yrs.
The walls of this cemetery are of cut stone. When first established, it must have been in an open field, but today it is surrounded by young trees and tangled underbrush.
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History of Hartland
NEWTON FAMILY CEMETERY
The Newton family carly settled along the Milo Coe Road. One of the houses which they occupied was in possession of the Newton family for over 150 years. They established a family cemetery in the field which now lies between the houses of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Cottle and Mr. and Mrs. Harold Groth, both of these houses being in the Newton family for generations.
In the early 1900's the cemetery was moved and combined with the Newton plot in the old West Hartland Cemetery.
ANSON B. TIFFANY BURIAL LOT
This was located on the Anson B. Tiffany farm on Center Hill, and was maintained for some years. When property was purchased by the Metropolitan District Commission, this family cemetery was removed to the new Barkhamsted Cemetery.
WRIGHT FAMILY CEMETERY
Location of this cemetery was in East Hartland in the vicinity of the property now or formerly owned by Mr. and Mrs. Ommund Peder- sen. This is the only record extant of a family cemetery on the East Mountain, but doubtless there were others.
MONUMENT IN THE LONELY WOODS
A traveler making the journey from West Hartland to West Gran- ville is confronted with the necessity of traversing a lonely stretch of wooded road. The branches of the trees on either side interlace at the top and shut out most of the sunlight even on a bright mid-summer day.
If a pedestrian, a stranger, and observant in nature, he is startled when midway in the sylvan gloom to behold a conventional cemetery monu- ment by the roadside on which the following inscription appears:
"Milo B., son of Harlow and Mary Coe,
died October 18, 1851, age 11 years.
He was found dead in front of this monument supposed to have fallen from a cart in which he was riding and instantly killed."
Here is the story: Milo B. Coe lived in the first house over the State line in Granville, Massachusetts. As was the custom in those days, boys of what would now be considered the tender age of 11 years were en- trusted with jobs out of proportion to their ages.
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The Cemeteries
It was in the fall of the year, October 18, 1851, to be exact, and con- sequently was the time for making apple cider. Milo was sent with a load of cider apples to a farm about two miles distant from his home where a cider mill was located. He was driving a pair of oxen hitched to one of those old-style two-wheeled ox-carts filled to the brim with loose apples, and riding on the top of the cart in a standing position with only the usual whip to control the oxen. In addition he was all alone, and the road at that time, as it still is today, was through a long stretch of woods.
Just how it happened has never been definitely established. Some say that neighboring farm boys hid in the woods and threw stones at the oxen causing them to jump and throw Milo from the cart. Others say that some animal may have been the cause of the oxen becoming frightened. The first that was known of the tragedy was when the oxen returned home without their driver and a search was started for the boy. He was found dead in front of the place where the present marker now stands. Death was due to a concussion, his head having come in contact with a large stone by the side of the road as he fell from the cart. He is buried in the Old West Hartland Cemetery in the Coe family plot and not by the marker as some erroneously conclude.
Milo attended what was then the little red schoolhouse in West Hartland. A short time after his untimely death, his schoolmates raised some $35. (a sizeable sum in those days), and erected this monument at the scene of his death. For over 100 years it has been a familiar land- mark to all who have lived in this neighborhood.
On the day of Milo's death his mother had company in the person of a neighbor who was making her a visit. All through the day Mrs. Coe remarked to her at frequent intervals, "I have a feeling that some- thing dreadful will happen today." It was only a short time later that the men came bringing the body of Milo and laid him on the couch in the sitting-room.
This section of the road has recently been named the Milo Coe Road, in memory of the boy whose death was so tragic and untimely.
(Key #EH-132) Tragedy seems to have been the lot of the Coe families on both the East and West Mountains. In the notebook of David N. Gaines we find the following paragraph :
"This Hill is called Monument Hill because Elijah Coe, aged 10 years, when going home from school, jumped off the fence and fell onto a stick which pierced his body and he lived but 4 days. He was a son of Elijah and Rhoda Coe, and they erected a small marble slab to mark the spot, Dec. 23, 1803.'
As near as we can determine, this Hill was located on the present "Old Town Road" somewhat to the north of the present residence of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight G. Stone, in East Hartland.
CHAPTER VII
The Schools
(IN GENERAL)
In the beginning the Ecclesiastical Societies were charged with the responsibility of educating the young and raising the necessary tax money to maintain a school system. This continued until the amend- ment of Connecticut's Constitution in 1818, commonly called "The Sep- aration of Church and State" Act, removed their authority and respon- sibility. The Districts which the Societies had originally set up, how- ever, continued to function as separate entities within their own bound- aries, responsible only to the inhabitant taxpayers within their borders.
The First Ecclesiastical Society was organized in 1763, 17 years before the Second Society in 1780. The First Society, therefore, in con- junction with the selectmen, set off the first Districts. On December 17, 1764, "Simon Crosby, Jason Millard, Joshua Giddings, and Joseph Gil- bert were chosen a committee to set the site and build 2 school-houses, 1 on each mountain." The Districts were often referred to as "Parishes" in the Ecclesiastical Records, and the description lingered on until long after the Ecclesiastical Societies had relinquished control.
At first there were only three Districts or Parishes in East Hartland. These were designated as the North East, the Southeast and the Center Districts. Around 1820 an additional District called the Southwest or "Westwoods" was added.
West Hartland also had three original Districts called the West Hartland Centre Parish, the Center Hill or Southwest District, the Mill District; and around 1820 the Northwest District was added.
Two additional Districts in Hartland Hollow, the North Hollow District and the South Hollow District made ten in all. There seems to be no record of when the Hartland Hollow Districts were set off. Around 1820, however, the entire school system seems to have been re- vised and revamped and no doubt the two in Hartland Hollow added at that time.
No descriptions of the first structures are extant. We picture them as small barn-like buildings furnished with the bare essentials necessary to teach the catechismns and ABC's of the day. If they followed the pat- tern of the times, the Master's Desk was on an elevated platform in the front of the room and recitation benches ran along the side walls. The desks would be of the double type (each seating two pupils) ; made of
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History of Hartland
heavy native oak, and although mutilated and scarred with the initials of many occupants, some of them survived the ravages of time and chil- dren to be still in use as late as 1880. The "Horn Books" had disappeared and paper was a luxury few schools could afford. The slate was coming into common use with blackboards some years later. And, of course, the ever present "birch-rod" standing in the corner-one item of equip- ment Hartland could produce quickly and in abundance. The curricu- lums may have been limited-but discipline and order stood high on the list.
The oldest Hartland school-houses now in existence give no evi- dence of ever having had a fireplace as a means of heat. By 1820 stoves had become the accepted means of heating but it is hard to imagine the first school-houses without some means of providing warmth for the long "Winter Terms."
Whenever a District was set off by the Ecclesiastical Societies or the Selectmen, the boundaries were clearly defined and attempts made to locate the school-house as near the population center of each as was practical or possible. The residents of each district were taxed for the support of their individual district only, but, in addition were required to furnish board and lodging for the School Master, the length of his stay at any one place being determined by the number of children attending school from any one family.
The rapid increase in population and growth of the Town of Hart- land from its incorporation in 1761 to the year 1800 must have posed a problem of great weight for those in charge of its school system. The census of 1800 lists Hartland's population at that time as 1318-the highest in its history. Large families being the order of the day, it is safe to assume that one-half of the 1318 were under eighteen years of age and that between three and four hundred between the ages of six and eighteen were attending school at some period of the year. The schools were for well over one hundred years operated on a two term basis. The boys, sometimes 18 or over, as well as their younger brothers, attended the "Winter Term" always taught by a man whose physical qualifications usually outweighed his scholastic ability. This system made the boys available for the arduous tasks of farm and home and the increased activities of summer. The "Summer Term" was for the girls and young ladies. In later years, women taught the summer terms, but men in the beginning. Many a young man who later made his "mark" in the world, began his career as a "pedagogue" or country school-teacher.
The history of each of Hartland's 10 Districts falls, more or less, into a set pattern governed in some degree by the varying fortunes of the families and inhabitants residing within its borders. Some years would find only few pupils in attendance and other years overcrowded conditions-a situation Hartland has had to contend with for 200 years. Because of the fact that records of the other Districts are, in many cases, unavailable, and also because we have in our possession the original Record Book, dating from the year 1828, of the "West Hartland Center
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The Schools
Parish," we are using this as a typical example to show the manner and form in which all Districts were conducted. The others will be dealt with separately but in a limited way.
THE WEST HARTLAND CENTRE PARISH SCHOOL
The first School in the West Hartland Centre Parish was located on the north slope of Williams' Hill about one-quarter mile north of the present location of the State Fire Tower. The site is now covered with thick laurel bushes and undergrowth and is part of the State Forest.
Up until the early 1900's, the land was open and used for pasture, and the old foundation stones were readily discernible. One may wonder why this location was chosen so far from what later became West Hart- land Center. The reason for this seems to be that the school must have been built around 1765 as the vote at the Annual Meeting of December 17, 1764, previously mentioned, indicates that schools had been estab- lished on both mountains by that date. It must be remembered that the year 1765 was fifteen years prior to the formation of the Second Ecclesiastical Society in West Hartland. At that time all the schools were under the jurisdiction of the First Ecclesiastical Society and its committees located on the East Mountain. The location of the school building was at the junction of the road running from West Granville to West Hartland, and a bridle-path leading up from Hart- land Hollow past Morrison Hill and passing the school-house on its way West to connect with other roads in the western part of West Hartland. This bridle-path never developed into more than that, and was never made a part of the Town road system. Some of the early settlers, how- ever, located along this trail which no doubt induced the committee to build the school at this site.
There is, of course, no record as to what this building may have looked alike. Even the old-timers of our generation had no recollection of it-but it served the Center Parish for school purposes from the ap- proximate dates of 1765 to 1839, a total of 74 years. By 1839, as we shall see later, it did have a stove as part of its equipment. The first one-room school buildings, and in fact most of those built before 1900, seldom exceeded dimensions of 20' x 30' and many were even smaller in size. Within its walls, however, many who were to later become some of Hartland's leading citizens received their total scholastic education. (This can be said of all the other schools in the several districts of Hart- land at that time.)
The Second Ecclesiastical Society was organized in West Hartland in May 1780 and from that time on was charged with the responsibility for the conduct of the schools in the several districts on the West Moun- tain. This continued until the amendment of Connecticut's Constitution in 1818 when the "Separation of Church and State" placed the schools under the jurisdiction of the civil authorities of each town. It was at this time that the two additional districts were added, as previously recorded, making a total of ten in all. Each district elected its own
88
History of Hartland
-Courtesy Lewis S. Mills
West Hartland Center District School as it appeared in 1930.
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The Schools
School Committee which functioned, with apparently little interfer- ence by the Selectmen, as a sovereign power in its own bailiwick. Notices of Annual Meetings were given by posted "Warnings" on the public sign-boards. At that time they selected the teachers, determined the amount of tax to be levied and appointed a collector. The wood was "let" to the lowest bidder and in later years inspectors were appointed to see that the logs were of the correct length and of the specifications required.
The early records speak of Winter and Summer terms but do not specify the number of weeks in any one term. Male teachers usually taught the winter terms as the pupils consisted of boys in winter, and the girls in summer were taught by females. Physical fitness as well as erudition became one of the essential qualifications of the male in- structors for some of the boys continued in school well into early man- hood and physical force was sometimes the only means of maintaining order and discipline.
The fly-leaf of the "Treasurer's Book For the Centre School Dis- trict" of West Hartland is dated A.D. 1828. The first entry :
"To money paid to G. W. Sanford for winter school $ 48.00 To money paid to Jerusha Cowdery for summer school 15.84
To abatement on Committee's bill and his repair-
ing schoolhouse 2.54
$ 66.38
65.72
Due District Committee-Paid $ .66
CONTRA CR.
To Public Money Received $ 49.01
To tax bills in I. J. Newton's hands 16.71
$ 65.72
From 1828 to 1839 the yearly entries consist of scarcely more than four lines on the Debit side and two on the Contra or credit page. The amount paid the teachers for the winter terms varies from $48. to a maximum of $60. paid E. S. Cornish for the winter term in 1839. The female teachers did not fare as well for their salaries ranged from a low of $15.84 in 1828 to a maximum of $25. paid to a Miss Boston for the summer term in 1835. No mention is made of board for the teachers, and it is assumed they boarded with each family for a few weeks in proportion to the number of pupils attending from the families involved.
For the benefit of those interested in the names of early participants in the Hartland scene, we are listing the names of the teachers men- tioned and those who are referred to in connection with the school committees. These are for the years between 1828 and 1839.
Year Teacher
Winter Term X
Summer Term
1828 G. W. Sanford
Jerusha Cowdery
1829 A. Higley
Hannah Bosworth
X
×
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History of Hartland
1830 No name given
Elisabeth Booth
X
1831 Asa Higley, Jr.
X
No name given
1832
Mr. Wilson X
No name given
Anna T. Williams
X
Clarissa Bougg (The first record of a woman teacher for the winter term)
1834
Names not given
X 1835 Joseph Barber Miss Boston X
There is a lapse of three years in the record book with no explana- tion given. There is a possibility that the school was in a sad state of disrepair and the pupils sent to another district on a temporary basis. Under the date of 1839 there is one entry "To money paid to E. S. Corn- ish for winter school $60. but no mention is made of a summer school for that year.
Arnold Oatman, I. J. Newton and Lester Newton are the only names mentioned in connection with school committees and collectors for this early period. Arnold Oatman conducted "Oatınan's Hotel" which was situated on what is now the corner of Center Street and West Road; more recently the home of the late Mr. and Mrs. Edward Ransom. Isaac J. Newton built and lived in the house next north of the first Centre Parish School, now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Cottle. Lester Newton lived in the house next north of Isaac Newton's, on the site of the one now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Harold T. Groth.
The year 1840 saw a number of changes in the Centre Parish Dis- trict on the West Mountain. With the formation of the Second Ecclesi- astical Society in 1780 and the subsequent building of the Meeting House about one mile south of the original school house, the center of popula- tion had changed until the school was far removed from the center of the District. The old school building must have been in a sorry condi- tion for, according to the Treasurer's Book, only $12.13 had been spent for repairs from 1828 to 1840. The committee, influenced by these fac- tors, apparently decided that it would be cheaper to build a new build- ing than repair the old one. A new building would also permit moving the site to a more convenient and satisfactory location. After much de- liberation (and probably to the dissatisfaction of many inhabitants of the district) a site was selected about three-fourths of a mile south of the original school-house, it still being about one-half mile north of the Meeting House, which was considered to be the approximate center of the District.
The land, consisting of an area about four rods square, was obtained from Nathaniel Gaylord, Jr., it being the Northeast corner of a meadow belonging to his farm, located on the West side of the road from West Granville to West Hartland. Some two hundred feet to the north was the house built and still occupied at that time by the Rev. Nathaniel Gaylord, pastor of the Second Society. In that day and for many years
X 1833
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The Schools
to come no thought was given by school committees to provide recrea- tional activities or a space for them. Land sufficient for a school build- ing, wood-house and the necessary privies fulfilled all essential require- ments.
Here is the record of the building of the new school building and its cost of construction as it appears in the Treasurer's Record Book:
1839 - 1840
To an order to Benson Coe for building the School House and for furnishing a lock for said House: $200.50 To an order to Nathaniel Gaylord, Jr. for damages assessed or awarded him for a site for the School house 17.00
To an order to Henry Robinson for money paid Committee measuring road, etc. 4.25
To an order to Lester H. Treat for collecting two tax bills 4.53
To an order to George C. Gilman for measuring road
0.75
To abatement on Tax Bills
3.15
To an order to Levi Ives for measuring road
0.75
$230.91
A. Oatman has $1.75 for his services as Building Committee & Dinner for the Committee 1.75
$232.66
To One Box Stove
7.00
To 2334 lbs. pipe at 10¢
2.38
$242.04
CONTRA CREDIT
By Tax Bill
$205.52
By Tax Bill
24.13
By Cash for Table
.15
A. Oatman by Cash for old School House and Stove 8.83
Due from A. Oatman on the old school house or turn as his services-Dinner for the Committee, etc. 1.75
$240.38
The record does not state who supplied the lumber and other material for the building but it hardly seems possible that it was in- cluded in the amount paid Benson Coe for the building of the structure. (Benson Coe, incidentally, was one of the outstanding carpenters of his day. It was he who hewed most of the timbers for the present Second Congregational Church building and supervised the construction in 1844. Many other houses built in West Hartland in the early 1800's are the product of his skill. From 1841 until his death on March 1, 1862, age 69, he lived in the first house South of the State Line on the West Granville-West Hartland road, built by his father, Captain Timothy Coe in 1782. In later years this house was the home of Joseph Gibbs but was torn down in 1930 after it had fallen to decay.)
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History of Hartland
Whether or not Benson Coe made a profit on the building is beside the point. The fact that this building with a few minor changes and re- pairs served the Centre Parish District as a School-House for the en- suing 97 years and is still in use as a component part of a private home, attests to the fact that it was well-built. Whether or not it was painted is not known for the records are silent on this point. Most of the school- houses of this period were painted in the traditional red, not so much because the color was a favorite of the committee in charge, but more important to them was the fact that it was the cheapest form of outside paint and the most durable to be had at that time. Consisting for the most part of red clay and a little oil or sometimes buttermilk, it could be procured at little expense. By 1875, however, white paint was avail- able at reasonable prices, and it was painted by H. H. Griswold for $30.69. No one now living can remember when the School House in the Centre Parish of West Hartland was not white in color.
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