History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 60

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

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Northern Star Lodge, No. 58, F. and A. M., now located in New Hartford (Pine Meadow), was organ- ized in the town of Barkhamsted in the autumn of 1820. Its charter, which is signed by Oliver Wolcott, then Grand Master, as well as Governor, of the State of Connecticut, is dated May 10, 1820, and bears the names of twenty-seven (27) charter members. Its first W. M., or presiding offieer, was Dr. Amos Beccher. Alvin Squier and Drayton Jones were its first Senior and Jn- nior Wardens respectively. The lodge in its early days held its meetings at the public-house of George Mer- rills, at the Centre, near the old meeting-house. In those days the meetings were held in the daytime, usually in the afternoon. Sometimes the meetings were held in Riverton and New Hartford, for the con- venience of its members who lived in those villages. The declaration of the Masons of Connecticut, which was issued in 1832, against the Anti-Masonic warfare was signed by sixty-six of the members of Northern Star Lodge. The lodge then had jurisdiction over Barkhamsted, Hartland, and New Hartford. It was removed to New Hartford in 1850, Its present pre- siding officer is Martin Wilcox. Application was made by the writer to the present secretary of the lodge for the date of its organization and the names of its charter members. The secretary replied that the lodge would not authorize him to give the desired data. The information was therefore obtained else- where. On the rolls of this lodge for the past sixty years are the names of some of the most honored men within the limits of its jurisdiction.

Dr. Amos Beecher, who was born in the town of Wolcott, Dec. 3, 1772, studied his profession in South- ington, and from that place, where he married his wife, Mary Lewis, came to Barkhamsted in 1798. Here he remained in the practice of medicine until ! Jan. 4, 1849, when he died. He is buried in the old

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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

Centre burying-ground. Dr. Beecher was a promi- nent man in this town, aside from his prominence as the only physician. At one time he was tax collector for four towns. For a short time before Dr. Beecher settled in Barkhamsted there was a Dr. Kincade located there.

In Riverton the first physician was Dr. Thaddeus K. De Wolf. He was succeeded hy Dr. F. B. Gra- ham, from Canton. The latter died in 1854, since which time there was no physician in the village until 1878, when Dr. L. M. Crosier located there and has established a successful practice.

The two principal streams, which flow entirely through Barkhamsted, from north to south, are known as the East Branch and West Branch. They come together in New Hartford, something less than two miles south of its northern boundary near its eastern boundary, and form the Tunxis River, sometimes called the Farmington. Kettle Brook flows down Washington Hill, and empties into East Branch some- what south of the middle of the town. This brook takes its name from a rock about half-way up the hill, which resembles a kettle. This rock is supposed to have been used by the Indians in pounding or pulver- izing their corn. Roaring Brook, which empties into East Branch a little below Munson's mill, takes its name from the sound it makes coming down among the rocks. Morgan River finds its head at the outlet, at the extreme northern end, of Lake Wonksunk- munk, or West Hill Pond. How it obtained its name is unknown. The Centre and Centre Hill are so named from the fact of their being centrally lo- cated in the town. A line drawn from the northeast to the southwest and another from the northwest to the southeast corner of the town will cross each other at or very near the old Centre burying-ground.

Washington Hill was formerly known as Horse Hill. The name was changed, it is said, about the time the brick church (Methodist Episcopal) was built, at the suggestion of Rev. Mr. Coe of Winsted, who first preached in that church. Wallen's Hill was named after Daniel Wallen, of New Hartford, who owned a large tract of land in that locality. The Bourbon District comprised the southwest corner of the town, near Lake Wonksunkmunk. How it de- rived its name is not known. Ratlan comprises the southeastern corner of the town, and extends into North Canton. The roads in that locality are hilly and stony. The origin of its name is uncertain. Beach Rock is an imposing object some distance to the left or west of the South Hollow Road. Its peak appears inaccessible from the road, but it is said the early settlers of the town used its level, broad top as a threshing-floor, upon which, with horses and cattle, they trampled out their grain. Two brothers by the name of Beach are said to have settled near this rock, hence its name. The rocky ridge running north from Pleasant Valley to Riverton, on the east side of West Branch, is called Ragged Mountain.

Winsted was named from the first syllable of Win- chester and the last syllable of Barkhamsted, the old Winsted ecclesiastical society being made up from portions of the two towns. The island in the upper portion of Pleasant Valley was formerly called Sugar Meadow, it being heavily timbered with sugar maples. The Connecticut Western Railroad, which has about three miles of track in Barkhamsted but no station, was built in 1871. No other railroad touches the town. There are at the present time four post-offices in Barkhamsted, viz., Barkhamsted, Riverton, Pleas- ant Valley, and Centre Hill.

In the earliest days of the town the freemen held their town-meetings in barns, houses, or other con- venient places. After the meeting-house was built, for many years freemen's meetings and town-meet- ings were held within its sacred walls, until the Centre school-house was erected, when the "upper room" was used for such purposes. Not until 1867 did Bark- hamsted have a town-house. In that year the small town building, a few feet west of the new Centre church, was erected.

In the year 1867 the General Assembly passed an act dividing Barkhamsted into three electoral districts, to accommodate the electors of the town in voting at electors' meetings. By this act the electors within the first district are required to vote at Barkhamsted Hollow or Centre, the electors within the limits of district number two to vote at Pleasant Valley, and those of district number three at Riverton.

This arrangement, of course, does not affect the voting at town-meetings, where the inhabitants all meet at the town-house, and choose officers and pass such votes as are deemed necessary to the welfare of the town for the ensuing year.

At the first census of the colony of Connecticut, which was taken in 1756, Barkhamsted is enumerated at 18. As this was the year in which the first white persons made permanent settlement, these 18 must have included either Indians or trespassers, probably both. In the census of 1774 the town is credited with a pop- ulation of 250.

Emigration to the West from this town commenced years ago. As early as 1810, Barkhamsted had a pop- ulation of 1500, and continued to increase until 1850, when there were more than 1700 inhabitants. The census of 1860 gives the town a population of 1272, and that of 1870, 1440. The enumeration of 1880 showed the following facts : Whole number of persons, 1300, of whom 26 were colored ; 651 were males, and 649 females ; 21 were over eighty years of age. The town had 7 ministers, and 1 lawyer and I doctor, 21 manufacturing establishments, 292 dwellings, 318 families ; tilled land, 1287 acres; meadow and pasturing, 11,883 acres ; woodland, 4868 acres; unim- proved land, 1576 acres ; hay ent previous year, 3442 tons ; shelled corn raised, 6824 bushels; oats, 2064 bushels; rye, 1030 bushels ; potatoes, 13,882 bushels ; apples, 24,105 bushels ; tobacco, 24,725 pounds ; wood

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cut, 5252 cords; lumber sawed in the six saw-mills, 500,000 feet.

The first bridge across the West Branch was di- rectly in the rear of the Henry Lee place, half a mile above Pleasant Valley. This bridge was carried off by a freshet about 1800. The site was then abandoned, and a new bridge was built just north of where the Pleasant Valley bridge now stands. The first bridge across East Branch was a few rods above the present one, near the Beecher dam. The iron bridge at Riv- erton was built in 1875, carried away by the great flood of Dec. 10, 1878, and rebuilt during the summer and fall of 1879. Bridges have always been a source of great expense to the inhabitants of Barkham- sted.

Sept. 10, 1879, the town of Barkhamsted celebrated its one hundredth anniversary. An immense throng of its sons and daughters and friends assembled to take part in this centennial. The services were held at the Centre meeting-house. Hon. Hiram Goodwin was president of the day. Mr. William Wallace Lee, of Meriden, a native of the town, delivered the historical address, and Judge Monroe E. Merrill, of Hartford (also a native), delivered the oration. Mrs. Emma C. (Carter) Lee wrote a poem, which was read by her husband, Prof. S. H. Lee, of Oberlin College, Ohio. A poem was also read by Elisha W. Jones, of Winsted (a native). Addresses were delivered by Revs. L. II. Barbour and Lemuel Richardson, and Walter S. Carter, Esq., of New York (a native). The opening address was delivered by lliram C. Brown, Esq., of Riverton. A bountiful collation was spread under the trees between the church and town-house, at which the entire throng was regaled. The chief marshal of the occasion was Mr. Frank A. Case. A mounted escort of fifty men, commanded by George T. Carter, led the procession, which consisted of eiti- zens on horseback, in carriages, earts, and every va- riety of vehicle, ancient and modern. Letters were read from many natives of the town who were in remote localities, among whom was Mr. Samuel Jones, a grandson of Capt. Israel, who was born in Barkham- sted, June 29, 1781. He was then living in Wayne, Ashtabula Co., Ohio. The celebration was admirably arranged, and successfully carried out in every par- ticular. It was a day long to be remembered with pride by the citizens of Barkhamsted.

Before closing this sketch the author desires to ex- press thanks to all who have so kindly aided him in procuring facts, among whom are the following, who have put themselves to a considerable trouble to help the work along: Hon. Hiram Goodwin and Hon. Daniel Youngs, of Barkhamsted; Mr. William Wal- lace Lee, of Meriden, to whom the people of the town owe so much for his unselfish, unremunerated labor in preparing the first connected record of the town's his- tory, and from whose admirable historical address many of the facts and frequent quotations in this sketch ure taken ; Rev. J. B. Clark, und Messrs. Shel-

don Merrill, William E. Howd, Alfred Alford, and John F. Simmons, Miss Harriet Atwell, Mrs. Lyman Hart and daughter, Miss Mary L. Hart, of Barkham- sted; Mr. Charles J. Hoadley, State librarian at Hartford, through whose courtesy much information has been obtained from the State archives; and to Mr. Addison Van Name, librarian of Yale College.

The writer is conscious that the sketch is imperfect and incomplete, and regrets that he could not have had more time and space in which to have prepared a more finished prodnetion.

CHAPTER XXV.

BETHLEHEM.

Geographical-Topographical-The First Grant-The Indian Purchase -The Survey-The First Settlements-The Pioneers-Petitions for " Winter Privileges"-Incidents-Prices of Provisions in 1747-Ec- clesiastical History-Congregational Church-Christ Church-Meth- odist Episcopal Church-Bethlehem Library Associations-Physicians -The "Great Sickness" of 1760-Civil and Military History-Organi- zation of Town-Officers Elected-Town Clerks-Selectmen from 1787 to 1881-Representatives from 1787 to 1881-Present (1881) Town Offi- cers-Military Record.

THIS town is located in the southern part of the county, and is bounded as follows : on the north by Morris, on the east by Watertown, on the south by Woodbury, and on the west by Washington. The town is hilly, but the soil is fertile and well adapted to agricultural pursuits.

The grant of lands in this town was made in 1703, purchased of the Indians in 1710, and surveyed in 1723, but was not divided among the proprietors until 1734. The pioneers of the town located on the road extending east and west, a short distance north of the present centre of the town.

Prominent among the first settlers was Capt. Hez- ekiah Ilooker, of Kensington, Conn., a descendant of the celebrated Rev. Thomas Hooker, of Hartford. He was accompanied by his sons, Hezekiah, Jr., and James. From what is now the town of Woodbury came Renben and Josiah Avered, Francis and Joshua Guiteau, Caleb and Ebenezer Lewis, Isaae Ilill, Jr., Isaac Hotchkiss, Nathaniel Porter, and Samuel Steele. John Steck came from Farmington, and Thomas and Ebenezer Thompson from Litchfield, and Ephraim Tyler from New Cheshire.

The settlement of the town did not increase rap- idly. Four years after the first settlement the number of families numbered only fourteen.

In October, 1738, the inhabitants petitioned for "winter privileges," and asked that they might be relieved from paying taxes for the repairing the meet- ing-honse in the old town ; in 1839, from parish taxes, and that they might be set off' as a distinct society, etc. These petitions were signed by Hezekiah Hooker, John Steel, Nathaniel Porter, Francis Guitean, Caleb Lewis, Joseph Clark, Josiah Avered, Ebenezer Lewis,

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C. Gibbs, Jonathan Seley, Edmund Tomkins, Isaac Hill, John Parkis, Reuben Avered, Ephraim Tyler, Caleb Wheeler, Ebenezer Thompson, Beriah Dudley, and Seth Avered. The prayer of the petition was granted, and the town was incorporated and named Bethlehem. .

The first settlers were hardy, enterprising, self-de- nying men, well qualified to endure the hardships of pioneer life. The women, as well as the men, went on foot, or on horseback, through a trackless wilder- ness, guided by marked trees. In the midst of the first dreary winter their provisions gave out, and the inhabitants were obliged to thread their way through the pathless forest to the old settlement (Woodbury) for food. It is related that Samuel and John Steele went to Farmington with a hand-sled for corn to sus- tain the little settlement. The prices of provisions in 1747 were twelve shillings per bushel for wheat, nine shillings for rye, and seven shillings for Indian corn.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CONGREGATIONAL CIIURCII.

As stated above, "winter privileges" were granted in October, 1738. On the 2d of the following month Rev. Joseph Bellamy commenced his labors among this people, and he doubtless preached the first sermon ever delivered in this society. The society was or- ganized in October, 1739, and March 27, 1740, the church was organized with the following members : Joseph Bellamy, Jonathan Filley and wife, John Steele and wife, Joseph Clark and wife, Jonathan Munger and wife, Ephraim Tyler and wife, Thomas Thompson and wife, Ebenezer Thompson, Caleb Lewis and wife, Nathaniel Porter and wife, Francis Guiteau and wife, Ebenezer Lewis and wife, Isaac Hotchkiss and wife, Josiah Avered and wife, Reuben Avered and wife, Hezekiah Hooker, Jr., and wife, James Hooker, Samuel Steele and wife, Isaac Hill and wife, Joshua Guiteau and wife, and five females.

In 1740 the society voted to build a meeting-house, which was completed in 1744. The first services held by Dr. Bellamy were in a barn. In 1764 the little settlement had increased to about one hundred tax- payers, and on the 4th of January of that year it was voted to build a new house of worship. February 28th it was voted "to begin, and go on moderately, and little by little." May 24th, Samuel Jackson, Archibald Kasson, and Lieut. John Steele were ap- pointed a building committee. The church was to be " sixty by forty-three feet, and just as high as ye Meeting-House in ye old Society." Three years later the society voted "to have the meeting-house raised, and to give each man four shillings per day that shall raise ye Meeting-House, they find all but Rhum, and their wages shall go towards their Meeting-House Rates." Among the votes of the society we find one to "seat the new Meeting-House and dignify its Pues ;" one to purchase a "good decent bell and a Lightning-rod;" also, "that the singers may sit up

Gallery all day if they please, but to keep to their own seat, the men not to infringe on the women's pues."

The third and present church edifice was built in 1836.

List of Pastors .- Josephi Bellamy, from 1740-90; Azel Backus, 1791-1813; John Langdon, 1816-25; Benjamin F. Stanton, 1825-29; Paul Couch, 1829-34; Fosdic Harrison, 1835-50 ; Aretus G. Loomis, 1850- 59; Ephraim Wright, 1861-65; George Banks, 1866- 74; S. Fuller Palmer, 1875-79; William E. Bassett, 1879, present incumbent.

The present deaeons are Joshua Bird, William R. Harrison, and Theodore Bird.

CHRIST CHURCH.

Christ Church parish, Bethlehem, was organized in 1806, at the house of Mr. George Bloss, Carmel Hill, by the Rev. Daniel Burham, D.D. The members were Christopher Prentis, Benjamin Hawley, John Speney, Leverett Judd, Abel Hard, Glover Skidmore, Ebenezer L. Thompson, Samuel Bloss, Reuben Tin- ker, Samuel Blackman, Daniel Skidmore, Henry Jack- son, Amos Lake, David Polford, and B. T. Lake. Services were holden in the district school-house in Bethlehem Centre until the erection of the present church edifice, which was built in 1829, and conse- erated by the Right Rev. Bishop Brownell, Sept. 23, 1835.

List of Rectors .- Revs. Russell Wheeler, J. D. Wel- ton, Isaac Jones, Joseph Scott, John Dowdney, Wil- liam Watson, F. W. Snow, Isaac H. Tuttle, Jonathan Coe, William H. Frisbie, J. S. Covell, J. D. Berry, N. W. Munroe, James R. Coe, John N. Marvin, F. D. Holcomb, D.D., A. N. Lewis, J. A. Welton, J. B. Robinson, present pastor.

The present officers (1880) are as follows : Wardens, G. G. Smith, George S. Guild ; Vestrymen, Samuel L. Bloss, James Allen, Amos C. Lake; Clerk, Leman A. Guild.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The first act to permanently establish Methodism in Bethlehem was the forming of a class of thirteen persons, Sept. 1, 1858, at the house of James Rudman, by L. W. Abbott, then preaching at Watertown, Conn. L. W. Abbott was appointed to Bethlehem at the Conference of 1859, holding services at the town- house. Over ninety children were gathered into the Sunday-school, and the membership increased to thirty-eight in full and twenty probationers. July 4, 1859, the first meeting for the appointment of a board of trustees was held, and Ralph Munson, George Guernsey, Harlow Judson, and Bernard Brisie were appointed. Sept. 19, 1859, it was voted to build a house of worship and provide a parsonage property. May 15, 1860, the church was raised, and was dedi- cated November 14th of the same year.

The following is a list of the pastors : S. W. Ab- bott, D. Osborn, Spencer Bray, W. Goodsell, E. L.

RESIDENCE OF JAMES ALLEN, BETHLEHEM CONN.

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BETHLEHEM.

Bray, Ira Abbott, J. H. Crofoot, C. S. Dikeman, A. McNichol, J. S. Haugh, and S. Kristeller.

The present officers are as follows : Pastor, S. Kris- teller ; Trustees, James Wheeler, John D. Waldron, Ralph Munson, David Doolittle, Jonathan Wooten, W. H. Taylor ; Superintendent of the Sabbath-school, Samuel Allen.

Present church membership, 87 in full; proba- tioners, 13.

THIE BETIILEHEM LIBRARY ASSOCIATION#

was organized March 16, 1857, with fifty-four mem- bers, each of whom paid the sum of two dollars as a condition of membership. Upon the subsequent pay- ment by others of a like sum, it has now a member- ship of one hundred and thirty-two. Its meetings are held in the town-hall monthly, for the drawing of books, the reading of which, for one month, is offered at auction at two cents each volume, subject to higher bids.

At the first meeting for drawing books it had eighty- six volumes ; at the close of its first year, one hun- dred and forty ; at the close of its twenty-third year, -March, 1880,-it had on its catalogue eleven hun- dred and seven volumes. Since its organization it has received for membership, biddings, fines, and lectures the sum of fourteen hundred and thirty dol- lars and three cents. All moneys received are de- voted to the purchase of new books, and the biddings at the monthly meetings-which have averaged abont fifty dollars per year-are its main reliance.

The only compensation given any official is to the secretary, who during his term of office has his books free, if not bid for above two cents.

The first officers of the association were Theodore Bird, President; Joshua Bird, Secretary and Libra- rian, Henry W. Peck, Treasurer; Rev. A. G. Loomis, John C. Ambler, Abraham Beecher, Executive Com- mittee. The first members were Arvil Morris, Maria T. Humphrey, Henry W. Peck, George S. Guild, Lewis U. Guild, John Towne, Jerome B. Strong, Henry Davis, Rev. A. G. Loomis, Theodore Bird, Abraham Beecher, E. O. Hubbard, George M. Kar- son, Joshua Bird, D. B. Jackson, Samuel L. Blois, F. D. Prentice, John C. Ambler, Leman A. Guild, Benjamin T. Lake, Frederick Jackson, P. M. Crane, H. C. Hill, M. S. Todd, Martha P. Karson, Adam C. Karson, Samuel Wellman, W. R. Harrison, Samuel Allen, D. L. Thompson, Stephen Ilayes, William B. Ames, Gideon Allen, Emily Bloss, C. C. Parmelee, James W. Thomas, James Allen, Jr., Leverett P. Judd, William Munson, W. F. Carpenter, A. S. Jud- son, II. N. Lake, Norman Lake, Edward Cowles, Ralph Munson, Harry Jackson, E. E. Prentice, Hermon Skidmore, Sheldon Jackson, Sidney Peck, D. E. Doolittle, Henry C. Spencer, Francis E. Jud- son, and Horace Fenn.

By the sale and transfer of rights, nearly every family in the town is now supplied, at small cost, with good reading of every kind, and in such abund- ance as may be desired, from the Bethlehem Library Association, and it is believed that the plan is the best ever devised for the use of small communities.

PHYSICIANS.

Probably the first physician in this town was Dr. Zephaniah Hull, a native of Cheshire, Conn. He came here about the year 1750, and died in 1760, the same day with his wife, during the " great sickness."

Titus Hull, son of the above, was also a practicing physician in this town for a time. In 1805 he re- moved to Danbury, and subsequently to New York State.

Benjamin Hawley commenced the practice of his profession in this town some time prior to the Revo- lution. He died in 1813.

Physicians since Dr. Hawley have been as follows : Parlemon Fowler, Conant Catlin, Lyman Catlin, Al- gernon S. Lewis, Loomis North, Gaylord Bissell, Henry Davis, Seth Hill, M. V. B. Dunham, Franklin Booth, Henry Kurrmann, S. H. Huntington, and Ed- ward Kurrmann.

Dr. D. B. Hurd, a native of this town, a former practitioner in Montgomery, Ala., who for the past thirty years has resided here, died in 1881.

Dr. E. Osborn, a botanical physician, located here in 1860, and continued until 1879.

THE "GREAT SICKNESS."

During the month of November, 1760, a fatal sick- ness prevailed in this town. Thirty-four persons died. They were first taken with a cold, and then a malignant pleurisy set in and carried them off. Among others who died were Dr. Hull, his wife, and two children, and n young man,-all out of the same house. The doctor and his wife were buried in one grave. Soon after these deathis, and while others were sick in the house, one Deacon Strong, going by, raised a flock of eleven quail, which flew over the house and dropped in the garden. Immediately after three rose and flew into the bushes, but the other eight were picked up dead, and in one hour after be- came putrid, and were buried. The air in the parish was said by doctors and others of judgment to have been different from the air in towns and parishes round about it. Some were inclined to call it the plague, or something of that kind.

Bethlehem is a small town, with an average length of four and one-half miles, and a breadth of four miles. Its inhabitants are mostly engaged in agri- eultural pursuits. There is one carringe manufactory, one woolen-mill, one store, and blacksmith-shops and saw-mills to accommodate the public. The land is rolling but fertile, being very suitable for fruit-grow- I ing. There is a library in the town of nearly twelve

* Contributed by Henry W. Peck.

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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

hundred volumes, which is well patronized, making an intelligent community. In the southeast part of the town is Nonneway Falls, a beautiful cascade in a romantic glen, deriving its name from an Indian chief of that name whom tradition claims had his wigwam on the banks of the stream below the falls. It is now quite a place of resort. A female boarding-school has recently been established there, which bids fair to become a success. There have been in times past schools which have gained quite a notoriety. At one time John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, was a pupil in this town. Rev. Benjamin Meigs, a native of this town, was a missionary to Ceylon for forty years. Mr. Burton, for many years connected with the mis- sion in Liberia, was also a native.

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History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 60

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