USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > History of New London, Connecticut, From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 > Part 59
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We have heard aged people revert to these scenes, the days when they were pupils of the free grammar-school, under the sway of " Master Owen ;" when a house of worship had not given name and beauty to Zion's Hill, and only a cellar and a garden, tokens of the former residence of one of the early settlers of the town, were to be seen on the spot where the Trott mansion now stands.1 Later than this, (about 1796,) General Huntington broke ground upon the hill- side and erected his house, (now Hurlbut's,) in the style called cot- tage ornée. Beyond this, on the present Coit property, was a gush- ing spring, where the eager school-boy slaked his thirst, and cooled his heated brow ; and not a quarter of a century has elapsed since the space now occupied by the Williams mansion and grounds, was an open, irregular hill-side, over whose rugged surface troops of children, as they issued from the school-room, were seen to scatter in their various sports, like flocks of sheep spreading over the hills.
In the year 1795, the old school-house, a low, red building of one room, with a garret above, entered by a flight of stairs and a trap door, where refractory pupils were committed for punishment; and with desks and benches, which, though made of solid oak, were des- perately marred by ink and knife; was abandoned, and the school re- moved to a larger building of brick, erected for its accommodation in the highway, south of the court-house, where it fulfilled another peri- od of its history, of nearly forty years. Here the chair of instruction, or more properly the throne, for the government was despotic, was
1 This is supposed to have been the place where stood the house of Charles Hill, fortified in the time of the Indian war. The present house was built by Samuel Fos- dick, at the head of Niantic River, but taken apart, brought into town, and erected in 1786. It has been occupied by J. P. Trott, its present owner, more than half a cen- tury.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
occupied, after 1800, by Dr. Dow, the number of whose subjects usually amounted to about 150, though sometimes rising to 200.
In 1833, a new and much superior edifice was erected for the grammar-school, on a lot south of the Second Congregational Church, chiefly through the exertions and liberality of Joseph Hurlbut, to whom a vote of thanks was rendered by the town, October 9th, 1833. In this building the Bartlet, or grammar-school is still continued under the care of the town, but the fund is inadequate to its support and the pupils are taxed to supply the deficiency.
The most noted teachers of this school since 1750, those whose office covered the longest term of years, were John Owen1 and Ulys- ses Dow ; both were peculiar characters, and each remained in office nearly forty years. The former died in 1801, aged sixty-five; the latter in 1844, aged seventy-eight.
The Union School was an establishment incorporated by the Gen- eral Assembly, in October, 1774. The petition for the act was signed by twelve proprietors, who state that they had " built a com- modious school-house, and for several years past hired and supported a school-master." The original proprietors were,
Richard Law,
Robinson Mumford,
Jeremiah Miller,
Joseph Christophers,
Duncan Stewart,
Marvin Wait,
Silas Church,
Thomas Mumford,
Thomas Allen,
Nathaniel Shaw, Jr.,
John Richards, Roger Gibson.
This school was intended to furnish facilities for a thorough En- glish education and the classical preparation necessary for entering college. The school-house stood on State Street, and by the subse- quent opening of Union Street, was made a corner lot. This was a noted school in its early days, yielding a larger income than ordinary schools, and the station of preceptor regarded as a post of honor. It has been heretofore stated that Nathan Hale held that office in 1775, and that he left the school to enter the army. He was the first pre- ceptor after the act of incorporation. A few only of his successors can be named. Seth Williston, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and since known as a divine of considerable eminence, was in charge
1 The remains of " Master Owen," were laid in the second burial ground, but no memorial stone marks the spot. If a sufficient number of his old pupils are yet upon the stage of life, to undertake the charge, it would be a creditable enterprise for them to unite and raise some simple but fitting monument to his memory. He was for many years both town and city clerk.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
for two years. Jacob B. Gurley from the same seminary, succeeded Williston in May, 1794, and was the principal for three years.1 Eb- enezer Learned, a native of the town, and a graduate of Yale College,2 filled the chair of instruction in 1799. Knight, of the Medical Col- lege, of New Haven, Olmsted, of Yale, Mitchell, of the University of North Carolina, and many other names of note, are among the teachers after 1800.
The school-house was taken down and the land sold after 1830, and in 1833, a reorganization took place; a new charter was obtained, and a brick school-house or academy built on Huntington Street. Here the school flourished for a few years, but could not be long sus- tained. The Bartlet and common schools gathered in the great mass of pupils ; the number wishing to pursue a more extensive system of education was small, and the Union School, an old and venerated establishment, was discontinued. In 1851, the building was sold to the Bethel Society, by whom it has been converted into a commodi- ous house of worship.
No provision seems to have been made for the education of females in any thing but needle-work, reading, writing, and the first principles of arithmetic, until the year 1799. A female academy was then built by a company of proprietors, in Green Street, and incorporated by the legislature. It continued in operation, with some intervals of recess, about thirty years. The property was sold and the company dissolved in 1834. A new female academy was built the same year on Broad Street, and the system of instruction commenced by Rev. Daniel Huntington. This institution has hitherto met with fair en- couragement. Since 1841, it has been in charge of H. P. Farns- worth, principal. The pupils are arranged in two departments, and for a few years past the average number has been about eighty.
In December, 1849, Leonard Bulkley, the last survivor of the fam- ily of Capt. Charles Bulkley, and a descendant of Rev. Gershom Bulkley, second minister of the town, left the bulk of his estate, to certain trustees, to found a free school for boys. By the provisions of the will, the benefit was to be limited to residents of New London, and to pupils between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one years, and the fund was not to be used until it should amount to $50,000. The actual value at the period of the testator's decease, was less than half this sum.
1 Mr. Gurley is a native of Mansfield, Conn., but since 1794, a resident of New Lon- don, where he began to practice as an attorney in 1797.
2 Mr. Learned was then but nineteen years of age.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
The fire of the 6th of September, 1781, had cleared a considerable space near the central border of the town plot, where the public build- ings had stood. This space had been originally reserved for the use of a fortification, and was called fort land ; but not only the old fort, magazine and barracks had stood thereon, but also the court-house, jail, jail-house and town pump. The jail was rebuilt by the water- side, in 1782;1 but in August, 1785, a city vote was passed to lay out the remainder as highway, that is, all east of a line drawn from the corner of Bradley to the corner of Bank Street, "excepting only the land within said limits belonging to Harvey Piriou and Bath- sheba his wife."2 This space, if left open, would form a public square or parade, with its shortest line on the west, twelve rods in length ; and the subsequent purchase of the church land yet further west, narrowing the slope on that side, would have left a beautiful, open ground, spreading like a fan to the water.
Unfortunately, the next year this vote was reconsidered, and it was decided to lease out certain portions of this old fort land, for the site of shops ; the rent to be applied in the first instance to the build- ing of a sea-wall on the eastern border of the land, to prevent it from washing away. The ground taken up by these leases was that which had been occupied by the ancient prison and the dwelling-house of the keeper, and it is still covered by buildings that pay a ground-rent to the town.3 In 1785, a market-house was built on the public land, and in 1794, a wharf constructed east of it for a ferry wharf. In 1816, the market was removed and built over the water between the wharf and jail; it was burnt down in 1848, and has not been rebuilt.
" At a City meeting holden March 21st, 1793-Voted, that the committee ap- pointed to make enquiry relative to the purchase of a lot for a burying-ground, viz. Messrs, Samuel Wheat, David Manwaring, and Richard W. Parkin, be empowered and directed to purchase Capt. Melally's lot at the price of £120, and to take a deed thereof to the city."
This is now the second burial-ground. The purchase-money was partly raised by a tax of four pence on the pound on the list of polls
1 The jail was removed in 1846, and the land sold; now covered by Holt's brick stores.
2 The Piriou property consisted of a house, and the land of the breadth of the house, directly east of the old prison, now owned by John Dennis.
3 The last lease was to John Brandegee, and to run from May 24th, 1835, to May 24th, 1855.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
and ratable estate of the inhabitants, and the deficiency supplied out of the ground rents of the city. An attempt had been made the pre- vious year to pay for the lot by individual subscription, but the sum raised being wholly inadequate, the subscription was relinquished. The first person interred in this ground was Mary, relict of Thomas Rice, who died May 19th, 1793. The fact is recorded upon her gravestone.
In this ground were originally interred the remains of Bishop Seabury, which have been removed to the vault of the new church ; of Gen. Jedidiah Huntington, removed afterward to the family tomb at Norwich, in accordance with a request contained in his will; of Hon. Richard Law, district judge of Connecticut, and his sons, Capt. Richard Law, and Hon. Lyman Law, member of Congress ; of Brig .- Gen. Burbeck and of Captains Elisha Hinman and Nicoll Fosdick ; all which have been removed since 1851, to the Cedar Grove Ceme- tery.
Many interesting monuments, bearing honored names, still remain in the ground, and a throng of graves with names less known, or nameless, but dear as life-blood to the inhabitants of the place.1 The marble monument to the memory of Anthony Thatcher-a cubic pe- destal, tastefully decorated and surmounted with a fluted circular shaft-is a beautiful production of art. A modest stone by the east- ern wall, which bears the name of Ruth Pomham, an aged Indian woman, known as " the Pequot of a hundred years," is not without a peculiar interest. And near the center of the ground is the hallowed grave of John G. C. Brainard, a man of rich poetic intellect, who is ranked among the undying poets of America. He was a native of New London, and died in the arms of his brothers, in the family homestead, Sept. 26th, 1828, aged thirty-two years. His head-stone has no epitaph but the record of his death, and the beautiful quota- tion, "John xi. 33-Thy brother shall rise again."
The public ground on which the first meeting-house and the first court-house had stood, was in 1794 laid out for a highway, and was then familiarly called " the old meeting-house green." It was re- corded of the following dimensions : south line, twenty-eight rods ; north, twenty-three rods and seventeen links ; east, thirty-three rods
1 In this ground there are forty-two gravestones bearing the name of Coit, and forty that of Rogers.
53
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
and twelve links ; west, thirteen rods and eight links. On this green in the year 1800, the present alms-house was built, the expense of erection being liquidated jointly by the town and by private subscrip- tion. The amount raised by individuals was one thousand dollars, and the number of subscribers one hundred and sixteen, comprising very nearly all the substantial householders of the place. The for- mer alms-house (at the corner of Truman and Blinman Streets) was sold in 1773, and the poor of the town had been afterward supported by contract, at an annual expense varying from £150 to £200. It was then proposed to purchase a house and farm in the country, and place the poor in a situation where they might contribute to their own support. This project was kept in discussion for several years, but ultimately abandoned. The new alms-house was erected under the direction of the selectmen; the material, brick, and the dimensions thirty-six feet by forty-four. It was at first denominated a "Poor and Bettering House," to be, according to the act of incorporation,
" A home for the poor, and also a work-house and place of detention for rogues, vagabonds, sturdy beggars, idle, dissolute and disorderly persons, runa- ways, stubborn children and servants, common drunkards, night-walkers, pil- ferers, and all persons who neglect their callings, misspend what they earn, and do not provide support for themselves and families ; also all persons under dis- traction whose friends or relations do not confine thein."
In the year 1807, a survey of the city was made, and a map of it drawn by Moses Warren, deputy surveyor of the county. The streets were relaid, and all those that were without names in common use, had names affixed to them by the city authorities: A few brief facts that have been collected in regard to the streets, will be here introduced.
1
State Street has been subjected to great fluctuation in regard to its name. The eastern part was first known as Fort Hill, but since the Revolution, has generally borne the name of the Parade. West of this, when the Episcopal church stood here, it was sometimes called Church Street, and sometimes Broad Street. In some deeds of the date of 1777, it is called King Street, and again in deeds ten years later in date, Congress Street. After the court-house was built at the head of it, the common appellation was Court Street. The city government, in 1807, ordered it to be registered as State Street. The continuation of this street at the north-west, (now Broad,) was surveyed in 1753, and was then, between the Hallam
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
and Fosdick lots, to Hempstead Street, only two rods and a half wide.
Bank Street, was in former times, the Bank. An attempt was made about the year 1804, to change its name to Thames Street, but it failed.
Water Street was laid out in 1733, "two rods wide from the fort to the town wharf," and was called Beach Street till 1822, when the name was changed by a city vote.
Shapley Street was opened in 1747, by Daniel Shapley, through his homestead lot, which was then divided into six tenements.
Hill Street was opened in 1752, by Joshua Raymond and John Colfax, through what was called "Hill's north lot ;" that is, a lot that had been owned by Charles Hill, an early settler.
Federal Street was opened in 1784, and called Pleasant Street for the first six years. The western part, from Huntington to Hemp- stead, was opened in 1840, by Hezekiah Goddard and Robert Coit.
Church Street was opened in 1787 to Union, and at first called Wait Street, in compliment to Marvin Wait. In 1801 it was contin- ued to Huntington.
Union Street was opened in 1786, from State Street north, by the side of the Congregational church, through the land of Stephen Bolles ; who opened Masonic Street at the same time. It must be observed that most of the present names of the streets were not con- ferred till 1807. Masonic Street received its name from the Mason's Hotel, built on its north-west corner in 1799, by the trustees of Union Lodge, No. 31, and sold to W. P. Cleveland in 1808.1 Union Street takes its name from the Union school-house, that stood at the corner, on the south side of State Street.
Golden Street, opened after the burning of the town, owes its name to a house of entertainment built by Nathan Douglas at the head of it, and known by the sign of a golden ball. The ascent at this place was abrupt, and the summit called Golden Hill.
Pearl Street was laid out in 1784. At the head of it where it joins Union, lay an irregular mass of outlying rocks, where people resorted for the sake of the prospect, and children to pursue their sports, or to look for the prints of enormous feet, and the wonderful stone cradle, which were said to exist among the rocks. Upon this
1 Now Orrin F. Smith's.
.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
ledge the Baptist church is built.1 Here and along the line of Union Street, the solid rock has been excavated, deep cuts made, the hills split, the neighborhood shaken by concussions, and innumerable loads of stone removed, until the Baptist rocks are nameless, and Golden Hill almost a level.
Methodist Street was originally very precipitous in its descent, and was appropriately called Valley Street. It was extended in 1804, and the present name applied to it ; the Methodist chapel having been built at its commencement on Golden Hill.
Coit Street was formerly Cove Street.
Tilley Street was opened by James Tilley, forty-one feet wide, in 1804, and called by him Union Street, but when accepted by the city, it received its present name.
Brewer Street was opened through the Picket lot, and was intended for Picket Street, but obtained its present name from an old brewery at one corner of it.
Blinman Street is appropriately named, after the first minister of the town.
Green Street, to Golden, was laid out in 1787, principally through the land of Timothy Green.
In 1800, the Erving lot, (owned by George W. Erving,) was divi- ded into thirty building-lots. Two streets through it were laid out, viz., a continuation of Church Street, and Winthrop, now called Me- ridian Street, a name derived from its course, which is due north and south.
John Street was originally a precipitous hill, known at different periods by the names prevalent in its neighborhood, Jeffrey's Hill, Bailey's Hill, &c. Its present name was probably derived from John Woodward and John Wood. The former built a brick house in this street in 1800, which in 1807 was purchased by the latter.
Potter Street was opened in 1798, principally through the land of Mrs. Abigail Potter.
Washington Street was laid out in 1829, by Hezekiah Goddard and Increase Wilson.
Jay Street, which is a continuation of Truman to Huntington, was opened in 1838.
1 We may here notice a fact which was accidentally omitted in treating of the First Baptist Church. The bell of this church was once a convent bell in the island of St. Domingo, and was obtained on the breaking up of a nunnery in 1794, and brought to New London by Capt. Samuel Hurlbut, when it was first purchased by the Episcopal church. It is small, but pleasing in tone.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Ashcraft Street derives its name from a family that resided near the head of it in Cape Ann Street. William Ashcraft, a brave revo- lutionary soldier, died here in 1845, at the age of ninety-four.
Williams Street has had different names for different parts of it ; Post Hill, Pound Street, Manwaring's Hill, &c. As a whole, its name is recent, and bestowed in compliment to T. W. Williams.
Vauxhall Street was formerly the old Colchester road, but derives its present name from a house built by Thaddeus Brooks, and used as a place of resort for refreshments, suppers, clubs and other parties.
The first marked improvements in the streets of the city, commen- ced with Bank Street in 1844.
State Street was graded in 1847, under the limitation of cutting down no more than four feet at the intersection of Union Street, and filling in no more than three feet at any one point.
Main Street was leveled and otherwise repaired, in 1848. These were great and manifest improvements.
November 4th, 1807, Harry Niles was hung for the murder of his wife. The gallows was erected in the highway, at the head of Gran- ite Street, and it was calculated that ten thousand spectators covered the adjacent fields and heights. Sermon by Rev. Abel McEwen, who took the opportunity to preach on the subject of temperance ; the crime for which the unhappy man suffered having been the result of intoxication. Harry was a Narragansett Indian, with a quarter cross of African blood-a large, fine looking fellow, in the prime of life, belonging to the Indian reservation in North Stonington. In his mind and character there was something noble and independent in its stamp. He had been well taught and trained in the family from which he received his name, but unfortunately was not proof against the temptation of the white man's fire water, and in a drunken fight with his wife on their way home from the market where he had ob- tained the pernicious draught, he inflicted blows upon her which caused her death. In his religious views he was independent, wild, and speculative, and during his imprisonment deemed that he had various inspired dreams and revelations, teaching him the right way, and assuring him of his ultimate safety.
This was the fourth and last public execution in the town. The avenging stroke of justice has fallen upon one other criminal, a man by the name of Sherman, who in a state of intoxication barbarously murdered his wife and infant child. The crime was committed in
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Norwich, but the trial took place in New London, and the penalty was inflicted here, but without notoriety, in the shadow of the walls of the old prison that stood by the water-side, south of the market wharf.
Second War with Great Britain.
The second war with Great Britain, occupying the space between the two proclamations of President Madison, June 18th, 1812, declar- ing war, and February 18th, 1815, proclaiming peace, by no means includes the whole period in which the commerce of the United States was interrupted. Perplexity and distress began much earlier. In 1805 and 1806, the belligerent powers of Europe preyed upon Amer- ican vessels. New London, however, suffered less from this source than most other ports, and the tide of a prosperous trade came up to the shores, until suddenly stopped by the embargo act, Dec. 22d, 1807.
In 1812, it was noted that the whole civilized world was in a state of warfare. This had not been the case before for many generations. On the fourth of December, Commodore Decatur, in the frigate Uni- ted States, came into the harbor, followed by his prize, the Macedo- nian, which he had captured Oct. 25th, in latitude 30°, longitude 269.1 The arrival of these ships was like the lifting of a curtain that opened New London to the scene of war. It was her first act of par- ticipation in the conflict. In April, 1813,2 a formidable British fleet made its appearance in the Sound; a pageant once familiar to the eyes of the inhabitants, but which for more than thirty years they had not witnessed. The British standard was erected on Block Island, while Sir Thomas Hardy, in the flag-ship Ramillies, and the Orpheus,3 (Sir Hugh Pigot,) with other vessels, cruised along the coast. Sir Thomas Hardy soon acquired among the inhabitants an enviable reputation for courtesy and humanity. He released some vessels, allowed others to be ransomed, paid kind attentions to pris- oners, and pledged his word that fishermen should not be disturbed.
1 The action lasted seventeen minutes. Americans killed and wounded, twelve. British, one hundred and four.
2 April 13th, arrived in port, the ship Superior, H. I. Champlin, in the short passage of twenty-two days from Cadiz. Off Montauk, was boarded by the Eolus, thirty-two guns, (Lord Townsend,) and permitted to proceed. Gazette.
3 Capt. Hosmer, of Norwich, was taken by the Orpheus, as he was returning from Cuba, after an absence of five years, but was exchanged with about forty others, and landed May 2d.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Liberal payment was made for supplies taken from the coast or isl- ands of the Sound, and parties landing for refreshment, refrained en- tirely from plunder.ª
On the 1st of June, an American squadron consisting of the frigates United States and Macedonian, and the sloop-of-war Hornet, came through the Sound from New York, hoping to slip out to sea by Montauk, the passage at Sandy Hook being narrowly watched by the enemy, but were arrested near the entrance of the Sound by two seventy-fours and a frigate, which gave chase and pursued them into New London harbor. The enemy followed as far as Gull Island, and then anchored so as to command the mouth of the river. This was the commencement of a regular blockade of the port, which was unintermitted during the remainder of the war, nearly twenty-one months.
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