History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 106

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317

USA > Connecticut > New London County > History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 106

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Timothy Tuttle at the close of the exercises. A meet- ing of citizens on that day

" Resolved, That a monument be erected on Groton Heights, commemorative," etc., and Governor Oliver Wolcott was put at the head of a committee having it in charge. The Groton members of this committee were William Williams, Ebenezer Avery, Jr., Noyes Barber, James Mitchell, Adam Larrabee, and Jona- than Brewster.

At the May session of the Legislature, 1826, a lot- tery was granted for the erection of a monument. It was no new idea, for the General Assembly had once granted a lottery to build a meeting-house in Groton, and another in Stonington. The propriety of that method of aid was then nnquestioned. The object was patriotic, and the tickets sold like indulgences among the mediavals. The managers named by the Legislature were David Coit, Samuel F. Denison, Erastus F. Smith, Thomas P. Trott, and William H. Law, Groton being represented by Mr. Smith. The scheme gave three thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine prizes, the highest being five thousand dollars. The object of the grant, as expressed in the legislative act, was "to erect a monument on Groton Heights in memory of the brave men who fell at Fort Griswold on the 6th of September, 1781." The man- agers add: "The noble purpose for which the lottery is granted ought of itself to secure to it the counte- nance and support of the public; but, in addition to a motive of patriotism, adventurers have in this scheme a favorable opportunity to enrich themselves, while they contribute to the object for which the lot- tery was granted." Before the first drawing another grand celebration was to occur, and the corner-stone of the monument was to be laid amid enthusiastic thousands. The original committee, headed by Charles Bulkeley, with Lyman Law, James Mitchell, Adam Larrabee, and Charles Griswold, gave out the notices, procured one of their number to deliver the oration, and invited "the Masonic brethren and others" to attend the laying of the corner-stone.

On the 6th of September, 1826, the programme was fully carried out. The company convened near the house of Capt. Elijah Bailey (now occupied by the Hon. J. G. Harris, the president of the Centennial Committee, 1881), under the direction of Grand Mar- shal Thomas S. Perkins, Esq., of New London, as- sisted by Messrs. Erastus T. Smith, Stephen Haley, Albert Latham, James Mitchell, of Groton, and others.

1. The military, consisting of the Hartford Foot- Guards, under Maj. Wells; Capt. Stanton's artillery company, from Stonington borough; Capt. Child's rifle company, of Norwich ; Capt. Allyn's flank com- pany, of New London; the United States officers in the vicinity, naval and military; the artillery company stationed at Fort Trumbull, Capt. Green. 2, Officers of the Grand Lodge. 3. Officers of subordinate lodges. 4, Masonic brethren. 5, Citizens. Being formed, at a signal-gun fired from Fort Griswold the procession

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moved to the Heights, where, resting under a canopy eighty feet square, tastefully adorned with flowers and evergreens, in festoons and arches, in the centre of which, and at the northeast corner of the foundation designated for the monument, was suspended by a windlass the corner-stone, which was lowered and laid by the Grand Lodge, Lyman Law, Esq., acting as Grand Master, in the presence of eight thousand people. A Sapphic ode, sung to the tune of "Old Hundred," succeeded; then an oration was pro- nounced by Charles Griswold, Esq., of Lyme. At the dinner which followed an original song was sung to the tune of "Scots wha ha'e wi' Wallace bled."

The presence in the harbor on the evening before of the steamer "McDonough," from Hartford, that " leviathan afloat," as the Gazette described her, with her emblems of military and Masonic display, and her appearance during the day of celebration, very much enlivened the scene. The affair was a success, and it was soon after succeeded by the first drawing of the monument lottery. The organization of the Groton Monument Association dates from June 29, 1826. The act of incorporation appointed Charles Bulkeley its first president; Noyes Barber, James Mitchell, Daniel Burrows, William Williams, Adam Larrabee, etc., vice-presidents. The corporators chose Maj. Thomas P. Trott, secretary, and Hon. Noyes Barber, treasurer. A sub-committee, consisting of the president and Messrs. Mitchell, Larrabee, Gris- wold, and Law, made the first contracts for a granite monument.

The monument itself, henceforth to be under the management of this association, was finished in 1831. Every year, on the 6th of September, the members met to choose officers and perpetuate the memory of the heroic deeds of their fathers. Sometimes an ad- dress or a company parade would enliven the anni- versary. Capt. Jonathan Brooks, of New London, a patriotic but eccentric citizen, was there conspicuously so long as he lived and was able, dressed in full regi- mentals to harangue the assemblage.

In 1833 the town was again deeply agitated with the old vexed question of a new town in the North So- ciety, but the vote in town-meeting was adverse to it. This was followed the next year by a similar vote, but in 1836 the vote stood 76 for and 63 against the division, which was soon after effected, and henceforth Ledyard constituted a separate town. In the spring of 1838 it was voted to ask the Legisla- ture to constitute Groton into a separate probate dis- trict. The town had been well served while united with Stonington, but party spirit, and possibly the itch for offices, prevailed; and so, in 1839, Groton and Ledyard were each made a separate probate district. (See list of probate officers.) Groton voted in 1850, 142 to 9, in favor of the constitutional amendment of electing judges of probate and justices of the peace by the people.

It was about this time the river road was asked be-

tween Groton Bank and Gale's Ferry. It was violently opposed, and at length, wearied with the persistence of certain leaders, the selectmen were forbidden to call any more meetings on the subject. But after fighting it for years at great cost before the Superior Court and the Supreme Court of Errors, the petitioners triumphed, and the town laid the foundation of a debt that has been augmented by the cost of other expensive roads and bridges in all parts of the town, some of which have proved very useful to the public. That leading from Mystic River to Mystic, on the west bank of the Mystic River, was built in 1853, and that along the east bank of the Thames, from Groton vil- lage to the Sound, at a later period, are noticeable. Unexpectedly to some, this town gave in 1855 a ma- jority of thirty-two against the amendment to the con- stitution requiring the reading qualification for all new electors.

The same year the Mystic River bridge was made free by an appropriation of the adjoining towns, a contribution of the citizens purchasing the franchise. The Mystic Bridge corporation had been created by an act of the Legislature nearly forty years before, and had been till that time a toll-bridge, having a draw. About this time the fever for road-building ran high, producing the short O. T. Braman (river) road, made necessary, as it was supposed, by the completion of the railroad across the lower part of the town (1857). These were followed by the Alden Fish road, the Giles Haley road, the Solomon Chapman (north) road, and the Gore Lane Street. This brings us to the great Rebellion.

The part which the town of Groton bore in the war for the Union was in accordance with its patriotic record in 1776 and 1812. When the call for seventy- five thousand came, Hiram Appelman, with others from this and adjoining towns, enlisted in the Second Regiment, and took part in the Bull Run fight. The town had not then fully awakened to its duty to en- courage the patriotic impulses of her sons, and so the families of soldiers were at first unprovided for, and no bounties were offered. Before the close of the war, however, the town had spent about eighty thousand dollars for bounties, premiums, and support of fami- lies, which was more than any other town in the county had furnished except Norwich ; and, outside of our cities, only two towns in the State excelled it ; or, taking the amount paid by individuals in this town at twenty-two thousand dollars, as given by Chaplain Morris in his valuable book, there was only the single town of Stonington excelled her in liberal- ity to the soldier, though there were as many as fifteen towns that had a larger grand list. The town, by an act of the Legislature, in 1863 issued bonds to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, in 1865 another thirty thousand dollars, and in 1868 twenty thousand dollars more; so that the debt of Groton, including other indebtedness, so late as 1873 amounted to the large sum of $101,207.96. The Fifth Regiment had

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in it Company G, Capt. Warren W. Packer, who partly recruited his company from Groton. Capt. Packer was promoted to be colonel, and led his regi- ment through the well-fought battles of Winchester and Cedar Mountain, where he was wounded, and came home on a furlough while his wound was heal- ing, but soon returned to the front, where his regiment afterwards distinguished itself at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Resaca, Cassville, Peach Creek, Atlanta, and through Georgia to the sea. Capt. Alfred L. Packer, a brother of the colonel, took command of the company made vacant by the promotion of his brother, and went through the war. The Eighth Regiment had also a company that was partly re- cruited from Groton, viz., Company G, Capt. Hiram Appelman. This regiment fought at Newbern, Fort Macon, and Antietam, where Appelman, who was now a lieutenant-colonel, was severely wounded. First Lieut. J. A. Rathbun was also of Company G, having risen from the ranks. He was also wounded severely in the same battle. Amos Clift, being transferred from the same company, became second lieutenant of cav- alry. The regiment distinguished itself at Fred- ericksburg, Suffolk, Drury's Bluff, Bermuda Hundred, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Chapin's Bluff, and Rich- mond. Company C, Twenty-first Connecticut Vol- unteers, enlisted ninety-two men in Groton, and chose Rev. John E. Wood captain, and afterwards chaplain. Capt. James H. Latham, of Noank, in the same town, succeeded him in the captaincy. John F. Randall rose to be second lieutenant; and Captain William W. Latham was also from this company. The regiment followed much the same fortune with the Eighth, commencing with Fredericksburg and closing with Richmond.

The Twenty-sixth Regiment had Company K, Capt. Jedediah Randall, from Groton. Capt. Randall, a gallant leader, was fatally wounded before Port Hud- son, when Jabez S. Smith was promoted to be captain in his place; Simeon G. Fish, first lieutenant; and Herbert E. Maxson, second lieutenant.

There were fatally wounded or killed outright of Groton soldiers during the war : Orrin D. Backer, Elias W. Watrous, Horatio N. Fish, Wm. Johnson, Wm. N. Mulkey, Cyrus J. Pease, Edmund F. Smith, Abner N. Spencer, Samuel Vanauken, John Signeous, Wm. P. Latham, George A. Fish, and Thomas Fisher.

These died of disease, viz. : Augustus E. Maynard, Julius A. Perkins, John F. Putnam, Wm. H. Watrous, Chauncey E. Wilcox, Samuel Rathbun, Adam C. Bentley, Wm. A. Colegrove, Wm. C. Fellows, Thomas Manace, Thomas H. Shirley, James Tinker, Wm. H. Watrous (2), John Brown, John Callahan, Directus F. Belden, John Maynard, George Freeman, Wm. C. Jones, Charles H. Evans, Raymond Otis, and Jesse Woodson. Many more have passed away since the close of the war. The memory of these martyrs will never perish. A post of the Grand Army, called Harris Post, after the name of a fallen comrade, was

established, after the close of the war, in the Mystic Valley to decorate the graves and honor the memory of their fallen comrades, both those who fell during the war and those who have died since. The post has passed into a voluntary association of veterans which has taken its place. Noank and Groton Bank have similar organizations. Sometimes an oration follows the procession and floral decoration.

The iron bridge across Mystic River, built at the close of the war, is a fine structure, and is another of the canses which helped to swell the town debt alluded to, which debt has been diminished to fifty-two thou- sand dollars, or nearly one-half, under the prudent administrations of successive boards of selectmen. Their best efforts are sometimes thwarted by the ex- pense of new highways, which is only relieved by the possibility that there is so much added to the wealth and convenience of the town. And so the road from the Poquonoc Meeting-house to the railroad station, and thence to the Dark Hollow road, was provided for. The West Mystic Avenue street (before the war) and the Eastern Point and the Bindloss cross- road followed. Two short roads at Noank, the Pequot Hill road, and the erection of a brick lock-up at Mystic River came next. The Walker cross-road at Groton Bank, the Forsyth ship-yard piece, the Bank Street road at Mystic River, and two short roads at Groton Bank soon followed. The short connection link from Town Clerk Avery's, south and the ice-house and Daniel C. Brown road, in 1878, have been followed by Monument and Centennial Streets at Groton Bank. The Raymond Lamb road by and over Stark's Hill, and the short, ready-made Asa A. Avery road, com- plete the chapter on highways.

The business of Groton is diversified. The old farms are still cultivated, and in many instances have been greatly improved, yielding double the products which the fathers obtained with greater toil. This is owing in part to improved methods and implements, but more to a soil constantly enriched by cultivation and fertilizers, instead of the old process of annual exhaustion. Unfortunately, perhaps, the lands have been absorbed by large farmers, while the smaller land- holders have sold out and moved West, or settled in the neighboring villages which skirt the borders of the town.

Groton, at the Bank, is still a flourishing, steadily improving village. Its site for summer residences is unsurpassed, and new cottages arise yearly to adorn its heights and river-slopes. Its chief source of in- dustry is the quarries of granite which underlie its surface and are worked with great skill, and their products, being superior in quality, are everywhere sought for public works, costly structures, and ceme- tery-work. The polish which can be given to its surface would surprise the stone-cutters of the past, equaling that of the finest marble. . The daily pay- roll of the quarries is one hundred dollars or more.

Mystic River, on the Groton side of the Mystic, the

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choice residence of the haughty Pequots in their day, is still a favorite place of residence and resort. Ship- ping and ship-building did much to give it prosperity.

These have declined, but sufficient manufacturing of iron and of wood have come in to make it still a prosperous community. Its public schools are well graded, provided with excellent teachers, and are the pride of the village. It is connected with Mystic Bridge, on the Stonington side, by an iron draw- bridge, and has good railroad facilities. The well- known Whipple Home School for the Education of Deaf Mutes, a beneficiary of the State, is here.

Noank, two miles below, is another busy village, excelling all others in the town at this time (1881) in business enterprise ; and if its ship-building and re- pairs continue, it bids fair to become ere many years the largest and most prosperous village in the town. It has been noted for its fishing-smacks, but that in- dustry has been less profitable of late years.

Poquonnoc Bridge, though a small village, cluster- ing on the plain around the Poquonnoc River, is an industrious community. Its fields, formerly consid- ered of little value, have become by the use of fish- guano, manufactured on its border, and other im- proved modes of culture, among the most fertile in the town. Oysters are successfully grown in the river, and may yet prove a source of considerable profit.

The fish-works on Pine Island below are on an extensive scale, making large catches of bony fish for the sake of the oil, and then the debris of fish-pumice is made the basis of an important manufacture of fer- tilizers by greatly-improved machinery.

Centre Groton, once designed to be the metrop- olis of the town, the site of its first meeting-house and its Central School, is still a farming region. Mystic, at the head of the Mystic River, is partly in Groton, but has most of its business facilities on the Stonington side. The tanning business has been a profitable employment in years past. ' Here is located the house of worship of the oldest Baptist Church in the State, on which edifice is the village clock. The church, as an organization, will form a separate sketch.

It should not be forgotten that some of the farms of Groton are distinguished for raising greatly-improved breeds and grades of cattle, others for the variety and excellent quality of the timber for ship-building and railroad purposes. The population of Groton is about 5200, and its grand list about $2,100,000.

Groton has always been a no-license town by a large majority, independent of party politics. Its churches form separate sketches, and its divines, some of whom have not been undistinguished, will there be noticed. Charity Lodge of F. and A. M., No. 68, originated at the public-house of the late Gurdon Bill, Esq., in the North Society (now Ledyard), in 1825. It was removed to Mystic River, where is its present lodge-room. It is regarded as a very flourish- ing body of Masons. The names of the present officers

are as follows: Nathan P. Nobles, W. M .; Thomas B. Hazard, S. W .; William W. Crandall, J. W .; Thomas W. Noyes, Treas. ; Allen Avery, Sec. ; B. Walter Morgan, S. D .; Frank Mabbitt, J. D .; Henry P. Chipman, S. S .; Frank Darling, J. S .; W. W. Kel- log, Chaplain ; John E. Williams, Marshal ; George S. Burrows, Tyler.

A few words remain to be said of our great centen- nial, which occurred Sept. 6th and 7th, 1881. It be- longed not to Groton but to the whole country, and well did the heart of the people respond to it. There were, however, certain features of the original battle that rendered it peculiarly local. It was fought on Groton soil, and three-fourths of its victims were well- known citizens of the town. Its forty widows in this one town, and the weeping of so many families for the loss of fathers and sons, some falling side by side, made it ever memorable and sorrowful ; but the losses in New London and the desolate homes in other towns made the calamity more wide-spread and not to be overlooked. Two years before the centennial, the Groton Monument Association and the New London County Historical Society initiated proceedings. A centennial committee was appointed, which was from time to time enlarged by adding members from adjoin- ing towns. Sub-committees were appointed to pre- pare details of work to be done. They seem to have anticipated everything, and were ready for the great occasion. The sum of three thousand dollars was ap- propriated by the State Legislature for the centennial celebration. Five thousand dollars was given by Con- gress for the celebration itself, and another five thou- sand for the Monument Association to expend in car- rying the lofty shaft up to a symmetrical height, in repairing the column inside and out, and in beautify- ing the grounds. Private contributions were also solicited. Hon. J. George Harris, president, J. J. Copp, secretary, and Christopher L. Avery, treasurer of the centennial committee, and all its members were indefatigable. Hon. Richard A. Wheeler was presi- dent of the Groton Monument Association, A. F. Crumb, secretary, and Philo Little, treasurer. A committee of ladies did most efficient service, es- pecially in preparing "the Centennial Loan Exhibi- tion," wherein were shown the relies and specimens of art, industry, costumes, implements of war and peace, books and curiosities that belonged to the eighteenth century, and some to the first settlers.

The centennial committee decided to celebrate both September 6th and September 7th, the latter day hav- ing some reference to Capt. Nathan Hale, the martyr- spy, who was of New London when the Revolution- ary call to arms reached him, before the Bunker Hill fight. It was a grand and successful rally from all parts of the country, and especially Connecticut. Some good judges of numbers estimated the assen- blage from forty to sixty thousand. The 6th was a peculiar day. There were no clouds, but the sun was obscured by a yellow mist or smoke, which tinged

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everything. The presence of a large fleet of United States men-of-war, and of all the military of the State, with the Governor and his staff at the head, of Gen. Sherman and his staff of the United States army, and of the chief justice of the United States, with other distinguished guests, gave éclat to the scene ; but the absence of President Garfield, who was dying from the bullet of the assassin, was deeply felt. A sham-fight, in imitation of the massacre, which en- gaged all the militia and volunteer corps from abroad, the parade of the Knights Templar of the State, the oration of Gen. Joseph R. Hawley, and the remarks of Congressman John T. Wait, and of Gen. Sherman, the poems of Mrs. Rose Terry Cooke and Rev. L. W. Bacon, D.D., of Norwich, the first day, and the oration of Hon. Edward Everett Hale, of Boston, on his kins- man, Nathan Hale, and of Dr. Bacon again, the second day, are familiar to the thousands assembled, and need only be alluded to. Col. J. W. Barlow, of the United States army, was chief marshal.

CHAPTER XLII.

GROTON-(Continued).

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

Congregational Church,1 Groton .- Thirty-nine years after Mason's victory a remnant of the Pequots were led in the war against King Philip by Capt. James Avery, of Groton. The death of King Philip made the lives of white people more secure in Eastern Connecticut. Settlers began to multiply on the east bank of the Thames, and to extend their habitations towards the Mystic and into North Groton. As they were still within the town of New London, many of them belonged to the church on the West Side, and all were taxed to support the ministry and worship there. No house of worship was yet provided for on this side, but from an early date religions meetings were frequent, generally held in private dwellings. In 1684 a new house of worship had been erected in New London, and the old one, after standing about twenty- five years, was sold for six pounds to Capt. James Avery. Having separated it into parts, he floated it by river, sound, and river to his farm in Poquonnoc, where, with additions and improvements, it was re- built into a dwelling for his family. When his family moved into it we can easily imagine that Capt. Avery, speaking for himself and his posterity, might have said, " I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." As he was an active member of the church, doubtless the old audience-room was again often opened for the social prayer-meeting, and sometimes for a preach- ing service.

In 1687 it was voted in town-meeting that the peo- ple on the East Side should have " liberty to invite the

minister of the town to preach for them on every third Sabbath during the most inclement months of the year." In 1700 a separate organization was asked for, and this was allowed in 1702, viz. : to build a meeting-house thirty-five feet square, to organize a church, to hire a minister, and to pay him a salary of seventy pounds, the whole expense to be paid by the town. According to the records, the meeting-house was built at Centre Groton in 1703, and it was ordered by the town on March 25th of that year that three hundred acres of land be sold to pay the expense of the building. Perhaps the house was not finished until the next year, since the town voted, April 20, 1704, " that eight acres of land be sold to Rev. Mr. Ephraim Woodbridge, the proceeds to be applied to finishing the meeting-house." The land sold to Mr. Woodbridge is described as lying " to the west of the meeting-house," and must have included the plat upon which the ancient building known as the Barber house now stands, and this proves that the first and fourth pastors lived nearly on the same spot.

While the town of Groton became legally distinct from New London in 1705, there is strong evidence that the Congregational Church of Groton was organ- ized with full powers in 1704. On the 8th of Novem- ber, 1704, Rev. Ephraim Woodbridge, a graduate of Harvard College, was ordained the first pastor of this church, and there is no intimation that he was made a colleague of Mr. Saltonstall, the pastor of New London.

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History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 106

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1317

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317