History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 57

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532

USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > History of Litchfield county, Connecticut > Part 57

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EARLY SETTLERS.

It has been the received opinion that Pelatiah Al- lyn was the first white settler in Barkhamsted, and the date of his settlement has been fixed at 1746. Careful study of the records of Barkhamsted and New Hartford proves that this must be accepted with some modifications. Pelatiah Allyn, of Windsor, deeded to his son Pelatiah lands in Barkhamsted as early as 1739, but the first mention of Pelatiah Allyn as being "of Barkhamsted" is in 1751, when he is so designated in an appointment from the proprietors at Windsor. The records of New Hartford show that Pelatiah Al- lyn was a payer of poll and land taxes in that town from 1743 to 1755. Hle married, in 1750, Sarah Moody, . of New llartford, and his first child was born and baptized in that town. The probabilities seem to be that he came from Windsor to view his new estates soon after they were deeded him by his father, but,

* By Capt, Henry R. Jones, United States army, retired.

+ There has been much question as to the origin of the name. The old spelling was " Berkhempsted," and the theory has been advanced that some of the Windsor proprietors niny have come from the English town of that nanie.

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IHISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

thinking it a lonely outlook for a home, settled him- self in New Hartford, and cleared his plantation in Barkhamsted, just across the line, at his leisure, build- ing himself å hut for occasional shelter, not removing thither with his family until 1756, when his name disappears from the New Hartford lists. He owned several hundred acres, extending from the East to the West Branches of the Tnnxis, mueh of which he re- ceived as compensation for attending to the Barkham- sted interests of the proprietors at Windsor. He lived just across the line from New Hartford, on the farm now owned by the heirs of John Cruess; he died in 1783, aged seventy. His son Pelatiah, born in New Hartford in 1755, died in 1815, and is buried in the Centre bnrying-ground.

Stephen Chub purchased lands in Barkhamsted in 1743, and soon after occupied them, as his name is : mentioned in 1747 as being " of Barkhamsted," pre- vious to that of Pelatiah Allyn. He removed to New Hartford in 1755, when he purchased lands on Town Hill, and worked at his trade of a blacksmith.

Israel Jones, from Enfield, is credited with having settled in the northeast part of the town in 1759, where his descendant, Deacon Edwin P. Jones, now lives. Stephen Chub having previously removed to New Hartford, the historic claim may with propriety be sustained,-that Israel Jones was the second per- manent white settler.

There seems to have heen some flaw in the early titles and leases given to settlers, as in 1788 a com- mittee were especially appointed to adjust claims and proprietors' accounts. Israel Jones' earliest deed and lease on record bear date of 1771, twelve years after his accredited settlement in the town, where he must have made immediate purchases or lease of land, as he was a man of comfortable means, and an excellent citizen, identified with promoting the interests of the town until his death, in December, 1798. He was buried in the East Hartland graveyard.

Prominent among other early settlers were William Austin, Jonathan King, and John Norton, from Snf- field ; Amos Case, from Simsbury ; John Ives, from Hamden ; Daniel, William, and Gad Rexford, from New Haven ; Joseph Shepherd, from Hartford; and Joseph Wilder, from East Haddam.

Most of these settled on Centre Hill; those who followed came from various places throughont the State, and were thinly scattered over the different portions of the town.

Much of the unhappy spirit of discord which pre- vailed in church and town affairs in after-years was doubtless due to this fact,-that the first settlers were linked together by no ties of blood or association.

Simon Baxter, who bonght and sold large tracts of land in the town, was a resident of Barkhamsted for a few years ; he was a Tory, and during the Revolu- tionary war joined the the army of Burgoyne.

Thomas Goss, who was executed at Litchfield for the murder of his wife in 1785, was a resident of

Barkhamsted, where he purchased land as early as 1762.

In 1771 there were but twenty families in town. In 1774 the inhabitants, who had increased to about forty families, besides " sundry young men who were frecholders," petitioned the General Assembly that they might be incorporated and granted town privi- leges, that they might give better encouragement to the interests of religion, education, and good order, and have authority to suppress vice and immorality in their midst. This petition was negatived, and the town was not incorporated until 1779.

In 1780 the following memorial was presented to the General Assembly, which so graphically sets forth the poverty of the struggling town that it is given 'herewith, having been copied from the State archives at Hartford :

" To ye honorable General Assembly now sitting :

"The memorialists of ye inhabitants of Barkhampstead humbly showeth, That your memorialists have been called upon by order of your honors to make return of their lists,

" Wherens they beg leave to observe that said Towo has been but lately and is now but thinly settled, that ye inhabitants are in general very poor and low, and many of them bave neither land or stock of their own, but live entirely npon hire, both as to land and cattle, which yet they are obliged to put into ye list. That said land is very rough and heavy tim- bered; that ye whole amount of their list is but small, R very consider- able part of which arises from wild land. That said town (with a small part of Winchester) is constituted into two distinct societies, in which, by reason of ye poverty of the inhabitants, there is neither minister, meeting-house, nor school-house. That they are now abont to build meeting-houses, etc., and settling ministers. That they have been, and still are, at great expense in purchasing and making necessary high ways. That most of said inhabitants are in ye younger part of life, and have numerous families of small children, which is as much as they can possibly do to support. That there is not more than one man io said Town who can be said with truth to be aforehand, and he is greatly burdened by liberally relieving ye necessities of ye needy and distressed. That the circumstances of said inhabitants are such that they are not only unable to bear a part of ye public taxes, but even to pay their own internal taxes, without distressing their families, and especially as there is not, nor ever has been, a sufficient quantity of graio raised in said Towo for ye use of ye inhabitants. Wherefore they humbly pray your honors to excuse thiem from ye payment of any State taxes for ye preseot, or in some other way grant them relief, and they, as in duty bonod, shall pray, etc.

"Dated Rt Hartford this 24th day of October, 1780. " JOSEPH WILDER, Agent. " In the Lower House-The prayer of this memorial is granted RDd liberty of a bill in form, etc.

" Test-W. WILLIAMS, Clerk.

"Concurred in the Upper House.

" Test-GEORGE WYLLYS, Sec."

Accompanying this was a true list of the polls and estate of the inhabitants of the town :

8. d.

- Total of residents

£ 3100 1 7

" non-residents 250 2 0

Sum total of foregoing list 3351 0 7

" Test " JAMES WEED, JR., } Listers." LELI HOLCOMB,

Resolution excusing them passed both honses, Oc- tober, 1780.

DESCRIPTIVE.

Barkhamsted is bounded north by Hartland, east by Canton and Granby, south by New Hartford, and west by Winchester. It is five miles in extent from

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north to south, and about eight miles from east to west, as surveyed for Clark's map of Litchfield County in 1859. The surface of the town is rugged and mountainous, intersected by two high granite moun- tain ranges, some of the steeps and declivities of which are inaccessible. Much of the soil is stony and unfit for tillage, but along the streams are fertile meadows, and some excellent farms have been by enterprise cleared on plateaus and elevated ground. There are no mineral productions of any note; small quantities of iron ore and strata of limestone have been discov- ered within the town. The forests were the primeval wealth of the town.

Wild animals-wolves, bears, panthers, and eata- mounts-found coverts and lurking-places on the un- frequented mountain-sides. Rev. Osias Eels, the first minister in town, in a letter to Rev. Benjamin Trum- bull, the historian (dated 1805), from which some val- uable information has been gathered for this sketch, mentions a stone hunting-lodge in the northeast part of the town, built by huntsmen to protect them in the night from wolves and bears. Panthers and cata- mounts have been killed in the town at a comparatively recent date.

INDIANS.

There was never any permanent settlement of the Tunxis Indians in Barkhamsted, though there is no doubt that occasional raids were made upon the early settlers in the southern part of the town by those res- ident in New Hartford. Apocryphal stories have been told of Pelatiah Allyn's early adventures with Indians, and of bloody contests between hostile tribes within the town, which will not bear investigation, and have an extremely thin foundation even in tradi- tion. About a mile south of the present village of Riverton was formerly a small settlement of the Nar- ragansett Indians. They are said to have gone thither about 1779, and purchased two hundred acres of land. Here was the famous Barkhamsted light-house, con- cerning which much that is purely imaginary has been said and written. Perhaps the most authentic account of the origin of the " light-house" is found in the following extract from the centennial address of Mr. William Wallace Lee, a native of Barkhamsterl, who has devoted much study to historical matters, and has had the best of opportunity for such study :

"James Chaugham was n Narragansett Indian, n native of Block Island. While yot n young man ho adopted the manners and customs of the whitea, and camo to Wethorsfield, where he married a white woman, Molly Burker by namo, who had been disappointed by parental nuthority intorforing to prevent a unioo with the man of her choice. She gave out that sho wonld marry the first innn that offored, white or black. .

. I auppoao they were married about 1740; they left Wethersfield, came ovor to Farmington, followed up the Tunxis River until they found a resting-place on the flat about a mile south of Riverton, on the cast, or rathor northeast, elde of the river, and thero made n clearing and rearod quito a family. . . . Chaughum died about 1800, and his wife in 1820, tho latter being understood to be ooe hundred and five years old. Chnug- ham'a children moved from thia vicinity ot an early ago." He was a good

citizen, and lived an honest life. The talk about his being an Indian chief in paint, with plumes, tomahawk, and scalping-knife, is all bosh.

" A poor road, as were most of them then, led past Chaugham's dwel- ling; the river was forded below his house, at the south end of the plot, and again at the north end. When the Farmington River turnpike was laid out, it went past his log house. New Hartford was the end of the ronte, and the stopping-place for the night. Coming from the north, the stages would pass by bis door along in the evening, especially in the fall of the year. The drivers would recognize it at once, and so, knowing how much farther they had to go, fell into the habit of using the terms, "We are within four miles of port,-there is the light-house.' This phrase was taken np by the traveling public, as well as the townspeople, and carried far and wide."

From a letter of Mr. Lee is gathered an account of the Indian burying-ground in Barkhamsted :

" Just a little to the south of the old light-house site, where the turn- pike makes a sharp bend, on the left hand ahove the road, is a small plateau or table-land, where is buried Chaugham. with sowie forty or fifty of what were known as the ' Light-bonse' tribe. There are no monuments, but a few rongh stones to mark the graves. It was quite heavily over- grown with young pines, but within the past few years they linve been cut off, and the Indian burying-ground now looks hare and desolate."

CHAPTER XXI.

BARKHAMSTED (Continued).

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.

THE first mill-privilege utilized in Barkhamsted seems to have been on Morgan River, near Pleasant Valley. In the old proprietors' book it is recorded that a meeting was called in May, 1761, among other purposes, "To see if the Proprietors will give liberty to any of the Proprietors to set up a saw-mill upon Morgan River, either by sale of the place or by a lease for any certain number of years." At this meeting it was voted to lease out this mill-place " for the space of eleven years from the time of leasing, which must be accomplished within six weeks." Capt. Benjamin Griswold and Henry Allyn were ap- pointed a committee to lease out said mill-place for said term. When this mill-place was actually leased and the mill built does not appear, but a saw-mill has been in operation there since the memory of man. Somewhat earlier than the year 1800 a saw-mill upon this site was owned by Pelatiah Allyn and Asa Gilbert, of Barkhamsted, and Jonathan Marsh, of New Ilart- ford. Whether this was the mill built under the original lease is not certain. It is probable that it was n second mill. Years later it was rebuilt by Capt. Alanson Merrell, Uriel Spencer, and Edward Marsh, but it is said the wheel and power were never as good as the previous one. This mill was formerly used to a great extent by New Hartford people. To the above Elias Root succeeded in the ownership. The property is now owned and occupied by E. A. Rogers, who came from Tyringham, Mass., in 1877, purchased tho property, and immediately commenced the manu- facture of hay-rakes. This industry is carried on in nd- dition to the general saw-mill business, which is con- 1 tinned. Mr. Rogers employs five hands, and turns

. We do not think Mr. Loo meuut that all of Chaugham's eight chil- dron removed, for their descondanta, by the names of Wilson, Elwell, and Jacklin, were long residonta of this vicinity.

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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

off three thousand rakes per annum, which he exports to different portions of Europe and Australia. This is still considered an excellent water-power.

But a few rods below this establishment is Cannon's forge, the hammers of which are now kept tripping by the fourth generation from the original founder. About the year 1812, Elijah Cannon came from South- wick, Mass., and built the house that is now, with its surroundings, called the Cannon homestead. In 1814 he built a trip-hammer shop, located near the mouth of Morgan River, for the manufacturing of axes, scythes, and edge-tools of every description. In 1836 his son, Elijah C. Cannon, became interested in the business, which partnership continued until 1850, when they dissolved, the son purchasing the forge property, and continuing the business solely upon his own account. In 1843 he built himself the house now standing near the old site. This house is still owned and occupied by his widow.

At the time of the dissolution of partnership be- tween Elijah Cannon and his son, Mr. Cannon the elder built another dam and shop about twenty rods above on the same stream, and near the house built by him in 1812. Here he continued the old business until he died.

At the lower forge Elijah C. Cannon was succeeded by his son, E. Dwight Cannon, who had been em- ployed by his father in the trade. In 1869 the latter purchased the upper forge property and homestead, and now continues, assisted by his son, the manufac- ture of crow-bars, sleigh-shoes, light bar iron, and steel. The lower shop and privilege have been pur- chased by the Greenwoods Company of New Hart- ford. The property having been rendered nearly valueless as a water-power by the raising of the dam of the latter company, a mile and a quarter below, the shop has been abandoned, and has gone to ruin.

About a mile above the mouth of Morgan River, on the West Branch of the Farmington River, a saw-mill was built by Eben Woodruff in 1814. Mr. Woodruff, who came to Pleasant Valley about this time, was a religious man, and has been called the father of Meth- odism in that locality. He was a very long-bodied man, and people used to say he was taller when he sat down than when he stood up. He continued the saw-mill for many years, and then sold out to Julius C. Pratt.

This saw-mill and property was purchased by Al- bert Baker, of Canaan, in 1852. Mr. Baker imme- diately added to the saw-mill a large shop, and com- menced the manufacture of doors, sash, and blinds. The old saw-mill was continued about three years after Mr. Baker purchased the property, when it was taken down, and in its place has been built another shop, rendered necessary by the continual increase of business. In 1867, Mr. Baker took into partnership his two sons, George A. and John I., and continued the business under the firm-name of A. Baker & Sons. They now employ from six to eight men. Nov. 29,

1880, in the shop, John I. Baker was instantly killed. While engaged in turning out an oval moulding, the rapidly-revolving block upon which he was at work flew into pieces, a section of it striking him in the face. His death was a sad blow to his family and the community.

About a mile farther up the river is situated the little hamlet of Youngsdale. In the year 1800, Joshua Youngs, of Farmington, purchased a tract of timber-land on both sides of the Farmington River, about midway between the north and south bounda- ries of the town ; adjoining lands were bought by him and his heirs until the tract contained some six hun- dred and fifty acres. His three sons, Thomas, Con- stant, and John, came into possession upon the de- cease of their father, holding it in common and undi- vided, and receiving very little income from it, until 1836, at which time Daniel and Constant Youngs, sons of Constant, then deceased, and grandsons of the first-named purchaser, removed from Farmington and located upon the tract, about one mile north of the bridge at Pleasant Valley. Here they constructed a dam across the river, and built a saw-mill and shop, for the purpose of preparing the timber for market, making, among other things, shingles, bedsteads, chair stock, stock for plate-locks, clothes-pins, etc., employ- ing several men. In 1848, their brother, Edward J., commenced the manufacture of saw-handles in a part of the shop, employing six to eight men. In 1851 Constant sold his interest in the business to his brother Daniel, and afterwards removed to Norfolk, where he died (drowned) in 1879. In 1858, Daniel and Edward J. Youngs put their businesses together under the firm- name of D. & E. J. Youngs, and have occupied the premises until the present time, having extended their business, using not only timber from their own land, but buying largely from others.

Seth H., Hart, and Cornwall Doolittle, natives of Wallingford, came to Pleasant Valley from Middle- town in November, 1830, and built the carriage-factory in that village. They were mechanics themselves, one being a blacksmith, one a painter, and the other a wagon-maker, and knew how to do every branch of the business. At first they employed but five or six men, yet these, with themselves, and all working fif- teen hours for a day's labor, were able to turn off a large amount of work.

April 6, 1860, the buildings of this establishment were destroyed by fire, but immediately rebuilt on a larger scale, and business continued. Business was now driving, and more than twenty men were em- ployed. A large amount of the product of this manu- factory was sent West and South. Seth H. having died in 1853, the remaining brothers continued the business thereafter, under the firm-name of H. & C. Doolittle, until early in 1869, when they sold out to John H. Markham, of New Hartford.

Mr. Markham continued the business three or four I years, when he made an assignment, and the business

Doughty, Photographer, Winsted, Conn.

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BARKHAMSTED.

has never been revived. The property is now owned by the Greenwoods Company of New Hartford, and remains unoccupied. By raising the dam of the latter company, in 1878, the power became very much im- paired, and may be considered of no great value as a water privilege.

The village of Riverton until the year 1866 was known as Hitchcocksville, deriving the latter name from Lambert Hitchcock, who came from Cheshire in 1818. Before this time the locality had been known as "the forks of the river." Mr. Hitchcock first started a turning-lathe in a saw-mill where Ward's paper-mill now stands. At this latter he turned out chair materials, which he took to Charleston, S. C., put together, and sold them. The next year he re- turned, built a two-story shop twenty-five by thirty- six feet, and a dam about thirty rods above the present dam. Near the dam he built a small turning- shop, where he turned and sawed chair materials, which were put together, finished, and painted in a two-story shop which stood near the main street. He now employed from ten to fifteen hands, and the place began to be called " Hitchcock's Mill," the name by natural habit becoming Hitchcocksville. Busi- ness increased continually until 1825 and 1826, when he built the large brick shop now occupied by Ste- phens & Co., and employed from ninety to one lun- dred men, women, and children. In 1829, Mr. Hitch- cock made an assignment of his property, but com- promised with his creditors, and, with Arba Alford, continued the business under the firm-name of Hitch- cock & Alford. Afterwards, Josiah H. Sage having taken an interest, "Co." was added to the firm-name.

April 1, 1843, Alfred Alford and Sage bought out the business, Mr. Sage selling out in 1845 to Mr. Alford, who continued as sole proprietor until 1848, when the whole establishment was destroyed by fire.

The brothers Arba and Alfred Alford immediately rebuilt, and formed a joint stock company known as "The Alford Company," and continued manufacturing chairs until Jan. 1, 1853, when the "Phoenix Com- pany" was formed, and the property. was converted into a plane manufactory. Oct. 23, 1861, Alfred Al- ford bought out the Phoenix Company, and continued the business alone until 1864, when he sold out the entire establishment to Stephens & Co., rule manu- facturers, of New Hartford.

This business was started in 1854 by L. C. Stephens and his son, D. H. Stephens, at Pine Meadow, Conn. Five years later, in 1859, the business was removed to New Hartford, Conn., where it was conducted suc- cessfully until 1864, when it was taken to Riverton, Conn., where it has since been carried on and largely extended. The old firm of L. C. Stephens & Co. made first-class goods from the start. Both parties were thorough mechanics and inventors, and introduced a variety of labor-saving machines that displaced hand labor, and their goods took a leading position in the market at once, which they have sinee maintained.

For many years the senior Mr. Stephens divided his time between the factory and the markets, and, being an able man of pleasing address, as well as of strict integrity, influenced large sales, and made hosts of lifelong friends among the business men of the country. His death occurred in 1871.

L. C. Stephens was the inventor and patentee of the useful rule called the "Combination Rule," which embraces a substantial brass-bound foot-rule, a square, plumb, bevel, inclinometer, and drafting scale. This rule is necessarily costly, but has met with a good sale. An old man, now eighty-three years old, has derived from the sale of this instrument support for himself and wife for fifteen years. He was one of the old dry-goods jobbers of Boston forty years ago, but misfortune overtook him, and, having no relatives to aid him in his old age, he has, as he says, " been kept from suffering for the necessaries of life by the sale of this instrument, which he believed was designed by Providence to sustain him in his declining years."

The present proprietor, Mr. D. H. Stephens, became sole owner of the business in 1861, since which time he has designed a great number of labor-saving machines, many of which are models of elegance and utility. Much of his machinery is complicated and costly, and is, almost without an exception, the product of his brain. He has done what can hardly be said of any other manufacturer, for, in addition to manag- ing the details of a constantly-increasing business at home and abroad, he has, as already said, not only designed but made all drafts and patterns for the fine machines that are at work in the various depart- ments of the factory with his own hand, and had them constructed under his personal supervision on the premises. Many of them are patented.

Boxwood, of which rules are made, is imported from Turkey, Russia, Persia, and India.

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History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 57

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1532

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532