USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 32
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The wife of Dr. Daniel Lathrop was Jerusha, daughter of Governor Talcot of Hartford. They had three promising sons, cut down like flowers of the field, almost at a single sweep of the scythe, before the oldest had attained the age of four years. This was all their offspring, and the blow saddened though it did not embitter the feelings of this benevolent couple.
Dr. Lathrop died in 1782. Madam Lathrop long survived him, and was regarded with universal esteem and veneration. Her death took place in 1806. The early childhood of a gifted daughter of Norwich, Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, was passed under the roof of this excellent lady. Having lost her own children, in their infancy, she lavished all her mater- nal affection and fostering care on this child of her heart, who repaid her tenderness with filial veneration, and has embalmed her memory in hal- lowed verse.§
* The invoice of drugs imported by them in one vessel was £8000. It is not prob- able however that they had supplies to this amount every year.
t New London Summary, July 11, 1760.
Dr. Sylvanus Gardiner of Boston also established a drug-store at Hartford, in con- nection with a junior partner, in May, 1757. The two firms were Lothrop & Smith, King st .; Gardiner & Jepson, Queen st. They appear to have been simultaneous establishments, and neither can claim precedence of the other.
# He left a wife and infant daughter ; the latter married Nathaniel Howland.
§ Ezekiel Huntley and Zerviah Wentworth, both of Norwich, were married Nov. 28, 1790. Lydia, their daughter and only child, was born Sept. 1, 1791, while her parents were living under the same roof with Madam Lathrop. She was married to Charles Sigourney of Hartford, June 16, 1819.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
The will of Dr. Daniel Lathrop contained a bequest of £500 sterling to Yale College, £500 to the town of Norwich for the support of a free Grammar School, and £500 also to the First Ecclesiastical Society of the town to assist in supporting the ministry.
Daniel and Joshua Lathrop were of the fourth generation of the name in Norwich,-sons of Thomas Lathrop, who died May 25, 1774, aged ninety-three. They had one sister, who married Joseph Coit of New London.
Joseph and Lydia (Lathrop) Coit were the parents of Dr. Joseph Coit, before mentioned ; of Thomas Coit, merchant of Norwich and Canterbury; of the late Daniel L. Coit of Norwich, and of the Hon. Joshua Coit of New London. They had also three daughters, who in due season were transferred to Norwich as the wives of William Hubbard, Christopher Leffingwell, and Andrew Huntington.
The removal of these daughters to Norwich, the native place of their mother, and the increasing hazards of the seaboard in those days of alarm and invasion, ultimately drew Mr. Coit and most of the family hither.
Capt. Joseph Coit, the father, died at Norwich, 27th of April, 1787, in the ninetieth year of his age. Joshua, the youngest son, remained in New London, and was a member of Congress from the year 1793 to his death in 1798.
Africans. The colored population of Norwich was more numerous than in most northern towns. It consisted partly of free blacks, accruing from previous occasional manumissions, and partly of persons still held in servitude and bought and sold as property. From bills of sale that are extant, and from the valuation made in inventories, we learn that in the early part of the century the price for slaves ranged from 60s. to £30. After this the value increased, and the best were rated at £100. The Rev. William Hart of Saybrook in 1749 purchased a negro boy of Jabez Huntington of Norwich, for whom he paid £290, old tenor; but this was a depreciated currency, probably not worth more than a fifth of its nom- inal value in silver coin. At a later period the price of a servant was considerably enhanced.
Captains John and Matthew Perkins, of Hanover Society, had each what was called a house-full of slaves. The former, known as "big Cap- tain John," died in 1761. His inventory enumerates his African servants, Tamar, Ziba, Jehu, Selah, &c., to the number of fifteen, the best value at £50. Probably no larger number than this could be found in any on family in the county.
Capt. Matthew Perkins was a large landholder, a man of energetic character, and like his brother, strong and powerful in frame. "He died
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[in 1773] from lockjaw caused by a bite on the thumb which he received from a young negro slave whom he was chastising for some fault."*
It was not until near the era of the Revolution that the reasonableness and equity of holding the African race in durance began to be questioned by the citizens. At length it was whispered about that it was inconsistent to complain of political oppression, and yet withhold from others the privi- leges to which they were entitled ; to fight for liberty, and yet refuse it to a portion of the human family.
Communications on this subject, bold and even eloquent, appeared in the newspapers, of which one from the Norwich Packet will serve as a specimen :
July 7, 1774. To all those who call themselves Sons of Liberty in America, Greet- ing :
My Friends. We know in some good measure the inestimable value of liberty. But were we once deprived of her, she would then appear much more valuable than she now appears. We also see her, standing as it were tiptoe on the highest bough ready for flight. Why is she departing ? What is it that disturbs her repose ? Surely some foul monster of hideous shape, and hateful kind, opposite in its nature to hers, with all its frightful appearances and properties, iron hands and leaden feet, formed to gripe and crush, hath intruded itself into her peaceful habitation and ejected her. Surely this must be the case, for we know oppositions cannot dwell together. Is it not time, high time to search for this Achan ? this disturber of Israel ? High time, I say, to examine for the cause of those dark and gloomy appearances that cast a shade over our glory. And is not this it? Are we not guilty of the same crime we impute to others ? Of the same facts that we say are unjust, cruel, arbitrary, despotic, and without law, in others ? Paul argued in this manner :- " Thou therefore that teachest another, teach- est thou not thyself ? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thon steal ? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law, dishonorest thou God ?" And may we not use the same mode of argument and say-We that declare (and that with much warmth and zeal) it is unjust, cruel, barbarous, unconstitutional, and without law, to enslave, do we enslave ?- Yes, verily we do ? A black cloud witness- eth against us and our own mouths condemn us ! How preposterous our conduct ! How vain and hypocritical our pretences ! Can we expect to be free, so long as we are de- termined to enslave ? HONESTY.
Under the influence of this new phase of public opinion and individual responsibility, several persons voluntarily liberated their slaves and made them some compensation for former services.
"Dec. 1774. Mr. Samuel Gager, of Norwich, from a conscientions regard to justice, has lately liberated three faithful slaves, and as a compensation for their services, leased them a very valuable farm on very moderate terms. Mr. Jonathan Avery also eman- cipated an able industrious negro man, from the same noble principle."
An act of the Legislature, prescribing the rules and regulations under which emancipation should take place, was passed in 1777, and several
* Perkins' Genealogy, Hist. & Gen. Reg., 14, 114.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
instances of liberation in accordance with the provisions of this statute* are on record at Norwich,-such as:
"Liberty given by the Select men to Jabez Huntington Esq. to emancipate a negro man named Guy, Oct. 2, 1780."
"Liberty to Col. Joshua Huntington to emancipate his negro servant, Bena, June 26, 1781."
In 1784, the State passed an act for the gradual abolition of slavery ; declaring all born after that period free at twenty-five years of age, and allowing masters to emancipate all between twenty five and forty-five.
In 1800, forty-seven slaves remained in the State. But in the year 1848, slavery had entirely disappeared, and was declared by the Legisla- ture extinct and forever abolished.
But whether slaves or freemen, the Africans of Norwich have always been treated with forbearance and lenity. They have been particularly indulged in their annual elections and trainings. In former times, the ceremony of a mock election of a negro governor, created no little excite- ment in their ranks. The servants for the time being assumed the relative rank and condition of their masters, and were allowed to use the horses and many of the military trappings of their owners. Provisions, decora- tions, fruits and liquors were liberally surrendered to them. Great elec- tioneering prevailed, parties often ran high, stump harangues were made, and a vast deal of ceremony expended in counting the votes, proclaiming the result, and inducting the candidate into office,-the whole too often terminating in a drunken frolie, if not a fight.
A very decent grave-stone in the public burial-ground bears this inscrip- tion :
"In memory of Boston Trowtrow, Governor of the African tribe in this town, who died 1772, aged 66."
After the death of this person, Sam Hun'ton was annually elected to this mock dignity for a much greater number of years than his honorable namesake and master, Samuel Huntington, Esq., filled the gubernatorial chair. It was amusing to see this sham dignitary after his election, riding
* Capt. William Browne, a noted loyalist of Salem, Mass., connected with the Win- throp family of New London, was the proprietor of a large tract of land lying south of Colchester, which formed almost a parish of itself, and was called by the owner New Salem. It is now in the town of Salem, Ct. A portion of it under cultivation had been leased for a term of years, with nine slaves as laborers upon it. When this land was confiscated in 1779, on account of the toryism of the proprietor, the slaves peti- tioned the Legislature, through Benjamin Huntington, the administrator on confiscated estates, for their liberty. The petition was not granted, but the slaves had the benefit of the new laws regulating emancipation, and it is supposed that they were all set free sooner or later.
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through the town on one of his master's horses, adorned with plaited gear, his aids on each side, a la militaire, himself puffing and swelling with pom- posity, sitting bolt upright, and moving with a slow, majestic pace, as if the universe was looking on. When he mounted or dismounted, his aids flew to his assistance, holding his bridle, putting his feet into the stirrup, and bowing to the ground before him. The Great Mogul, in a triumphal procession, never assumed an air of more perfect self-importance than the negro Governor at such a time.
We must not leave this subject without recording the name of Leb Quy, a native of Africa, and a trusty continental soldier. He served during three years of the war, and was one of the town's quota in 1780 and 1781.
Amusements. Elections, training-days and thanksgivings were the cus- tomary holidays of New England ; and at these times various athletic exercises gave vent to the restless spirits of an active and energetic race. The sports of men and boys were of a boisterous character. Shooting at marks, horse-racing, wrestling, running, leaping, ball-playing, were favorite amusements.
The annual Thanksgiving was a day of great hilarity, although its time- honored essential characteristic was a sermon. A peculiar adjunct of this festival in Norwich was a barrel bonfire. A lofty pole was erected, around which a pyramid of old barrels was arranged,-large at the platform, but a single barrel well tarred forming the apex. The burning of this pile constituted the revelry or triumphant part of the entertainment, and was considered by the young as indispensable to a finished Thanksgiving. When built upon the plain, the whole valley was lighted up by the blaze, like a regal saloon : and when upon a height, the column of flame sent forth a flood of light over woods and vales, houses and streams below, producing a truly picturesque effect.
No jovial excursions during the year were so common as sleighing par- ties. The snow-season was expected to bring with it leisure and merri- ment. The sleighs were broad and roomy, with straight, perpendicular sides, and a sharp point ; the driver usually standing erect. Plaid wool- len coverlids performed the part of buffalo-robes. The place of enter- tainment was from five to fifteen miles from home ; several sleighs were often near together on the road ; passing each other, exchanging shouts, and light hilarious greetings, or perchance bandying snow-balls as they passed.
In ante-revolutionary times, the half-way houses between Norwich and New London,-Raymond's, Bradford's, Haughton's,-were often the ter- minus of these excursions. In later days the Hyde tavern in Franklin
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was a chosen resort, and rhymes were made and sung in honor of its festivities.
" What pleasure is greatest ? My fancy decides, A party select and a sleigh-ride to Hyde's."
These pastimes were joyous, and often noisy and dashing, but seldom coarse or rude. Our New England towns have had no rowdy period; no such boorish, half-barbaric season as is almost a necessity to the emigrants who push into the forests of the far West, and begin life as hunters and pioneers.
In Norwich there was perhaps a tendency to the other extreme,-an epicurean fancy savoring of their English ancestry. Private parties on a hospitable scale were frequent, and references have been found to tripe- suppers and turtle-entertainments where friends and neighbors were splen- didly regaled a hundred years ago .*
Wedding festivities were usually continued through the day and eve- ning, and not unfrequently prolonged for two or three days. A news- paper has preserved the statistics of one of these hymeneal entertain- ments, and though the scene was not at Norwich, it was so near that we may be quite sure many of its upper class of fashion and distinction par- ticipated in the festival.
" A great wedding dance took place at New London at the house of Nathaniel Shaw Esq. June 12, 1769, the day after the marriage of his son Daniel Shaw and Grace Coit; 92 gentlemen and ladies attended, and danced 92 jigs, 52 contra-dances, 45 minuets and 17 horn-pipes, and retired at 45 minutes past midnight."
In that middle period between the strict Puritan times and the Revolu- tion, dancing was a common diversion of young people. Balls and mid- night revels were interdicted ; but neighborly dances, either with or with- out a fiddler, often a part of the company singing for the others to dance, -contra-dances, reels, or jigs, improvised on some oak floor in kitchen or hall,-ending in a treat of nuts, apples, and cider,-these were allowable pastimes for the winter evenings.
Dancing also to a greater extent and with more elaborate display was permitted, as we have seen, at weddings and thanksgivings, doubtless also at other large and ceremonious entertainments, but without the objection- able accompaniment, except in very rare instances, of late hours.
An ordination ball, strange as it may sound, was allowed in some places as a finale to the festivities on the occasion of settling a minister; but there is no proof that this enormity was ever perpetrated in Norwich.
* An advertisement of a brown camlet riding-hood lost at a turtle entertainment at Mr. Matthew Leffingwell's, appears in the Norwich Packet, August, 1779.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
At the period immediately preceding the Revolution, social intercourse was on the most easy and delightful footing, in both divisions of the town. Visits were frequent, long, and familiar. The customs, in some respects, were the reverse of the present. The visit was made, and the visitors returned home by daylight. Instead of the lady giving out invitations to her guests, the guests sent word to the lady, (all the neighborhood joining together on such occasions,) that they would come and spend the after- noon with her.
Fashions. The dress of that middle period can not be eulogized for its simplicity or economy. The wardrobe of the higher circles was rich and extravagant, and among the females of all classes there was a passion for gathering and hoarding articles of attire beyond what was necessary for present use, or even for years ahead. It was an object of ambition to have a chest full of linen, a pillow-bier of stockings, and other articles in proportion laid by.
In this connection we present a schedule of the wardrobe of "Widow Elizabeth White of Norwich," as contained in the inventory of her effects, taken Aug. 16, 1757. She was a daughter of Samuel Bliss, and relict of Daniel White of Middletown. After the death of her husband in 1726 she returned to Norwich, and there died, July 2, 1757, aged 71. The items of jewelry, plate and apparel were circumstantially enumerated, but we give them in an abridged form.
She had gowns of brown duroy, striped stuff, plaid stuff, black silk crape, calico, and blue camlet ; a scarlet cloak, blue cloak, satin-flowered mantle, and furbelow scarf ; a woollen petticoat with calico border; a camlet riding-hood, long silk hood, velvet hood, white hoods trimmed with lace, a silk bonnet, and 19 caps; a cambrick laced handkerchief, silk do., linen do., 16 handkerchiefs in all; a muslin laced apron, flowered laced apron, green taffety apron, 14 aprons in all; a silver ribband, silver girdle and blue girdle ; 4 pieces of flowered satin ; a parcel of crewel ; a women's fan :
Turkey-worked chairs :
A gold necklace; death's head gold ring ; plain gold ring; sett of gold sleeve-buttons ; gold locket; silver hair peg; silver cloak clasps ; a stone button set in silver :
A large silver tankard ; a silver cup with two handles, do. with one handle, and a large silver spoon.
At the period of this inventory there was still a certain homeliness and frugality apparent, even in the fashionable attire of the day. But in the next generation richer goods were imported and more splendor was exhib- ited. The following is an illustrative instance:
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
The daughters of General Jabez Huntington* were sent successively, at the ages of fourteen or fifteen years, to finish their education at a boarding school in Boston. The lady who kept the establishment was of high social standing, and made it a point of taking her pupils often into company, that their manners might be formed according to the prevailing eodes of politeness and etiquette. Of course the wardrobe prepared for the young ladies was rich in articles of ornament and display. One of the daughters, who had been carefully fitted out with twelve silk gowns, had been but a short time in Boston, when her instructress wrote to her parents, requesting that another dress should be procured for her, made of a certain rich fabric that had recently been imported, in order that her appearance in society might be equal to her rank. A thirteenth robe of silk of the requisite pattern was therefore immediately procured and for- warded.
Before the Revolution, wigs full and curled, for clergymen and other dignitaries, white and powdered, red cloaks or roquelaurs, and buckles or bows of ribbon at the knees and in the shoes, were worn by gentlemen. Even young boys were often arrayed in cocked hats, small clothes, and knee-buckles.
On ceremonious occasions, if wigs were not worn, gentlemen had their hair craped, curled and powdered by barbers. A full dress for gentlemen was mostly made of silk, with trimmings of gold and silver lace, the waist- coat often richly embroidered.
Ladies wore trains to their gowns, often quite long, and when they walked out they threw the end over the right arm. The foot, when prop- erly dressed, displayed a silk stocking, a sharp-toed slipper, often made of embroidered satin, and with a high heel.
At one period, sharply-gored gowns and cumbrous hoops were in fashion.
Cushions stuffed with wool and covered with silk were used in dressing the head, the hair being neatly combed over the cushion .; This mode of dressing the hair made a calash necessary instead of a bonnet. This was large and wide, a vast receptacle for wind, and an awkward article of
* Afterwards Mrs. Col. Chester of Wethersfield, and Mrs. Dr. Strong of Norwich ; the former born in 1757, the latter in 1760.
t A rhymester of the day, describing his imaginary love as a lady of fashion, says : I mean she should wear A erape cushion for hair, I wish she might spell And read pretty well, That my billet she may not mistake : And the skin of my dear
Be as smooth and as clear
As chalk-eating can cleverly make.
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attire, but often shrouding a health-beaming face in its depth, needing no other ornament than its own good-humored smile .*
Women of mature age wore close linen caps. Parasols and umbrellas were unknown or of rare occurrence, but a fan nearly a foot and a half in length, and spreading like the train of a peacock, was often carried to keep off the sun, as well as to vivify the air.
At one period, feathers were much worn upon the head, surmounting a high turban of gauze or muslin raised on wire and adorned also with rib- bons. The wits of Norwich called these young fashionists "the feathered race," and accused them of having their heads "martialized and cocka- tooned."
A lady in full dress for great occasions displayed a rich brocade with open skirt and trail; front skirt trimmed, an embroidered stomacher and full ruffles at the elbows. Hoods and scarfs were of silk. No sumptuary laws restrained the feminine taste for rich attire in this colony.
The satirists of the day decried the prevailing extravagance in dress, just as they do at present. They adverted to the costly cloaks, the silk gowns, the powder-puffs and cardinals, the silk stockings and other expen- sive feet-trappings, and exclaimed,-Great is the prodigality of the times! They recalled the days of greater simplicity, when instead of the rich cloth roquelaur, even the magistrate and the colonel were satisfied with a cloak of brown camlet, lined with green baize, and the greatest lady in the land had her riding-hood also of camlet.
As the great struggle for liberty gradually overshadowed the land, and the sacrifices necessary to consummate the revolution began to be appre- ciated, a decided change took place in regard to dress, amusements, and display. Women discarded all imported ornaments, and arrayed them- selves wholly in domestic goods. Fine wool and choice flax were in higher estimation than silks and laces, and the hearts of patriots as well as the laudations of the poet were given to beauty in homespun garments.
Gentlemen also that had been accustomed to appear in society in the daintiest costume, following the example first set by the women, discarded their shining stocks, their cambric ruffles, silk stockings, silver buckles, and other articles of foreign production, and went back to leather shoe-strings, checked handkerchiefs, and brown homespun cloth.
* In a Norwich paper of 1780, the Calash and Cushion are thus covertly ridiculed :
Hail, great Calash ! o'erwhelming veil, By all-indulgent heaven, To sallow nymphs and maidens stale, In sportive kindness given.
Safe hid beneath thy circling sphere, Unseen by mortal eyes, The mingled heap of oil and hair And wool and powder lies.
CHAPTER XXV.
MINISTERS. REV. DR. LORD. REV. DR. STRONG.
DR. LORD preached his half-century sermon Nov. 29, 1767, from 2d Peter, 1 : 12-15. He was then seventy-four years of age, and in firm health and strength. In the fifty-fourth year of his ministry, he had begun to express a wish that a colleague should be provided for him, and this request being now reiterated, Mr. Joseph How was procured as an assistant. Mr. How was then a tutor in Yale College, but a licensed preacher, and possessed of very pleasing oratorical powers. He occupied the pulpit alternately with Dr. Lord during a portion of that year and the next. In May, 1773, Mr. How accepted an invitation to settle as pastor of the South Church in Boston, and Dr. Lord was left without any regu- lar assistant until near the close of 1777, when a new effort was made, and Mr. Joseph Strong procured to act as colleague .*
On the sixty-first anniversary of his ordination, he delivered a second retrospective discourse, which was printed and entitled :
" The Aged Minister's Solemn Appeal to God and serious address to his people."
In 1781, he favored the congregation with a sixty-fourth anniversary sermon, but it was not published. After this period, infirmity came fast upon him. In his eighty-seventh year his eye-sight failed him, and he preached ever afterwards extemporaneously. He however continued to write his discourses, keeping his place upon the paper with his left hand, and though the lines could not be very straight, and the words frequently ran over each other, his grand-daughter Caroline used to study it out, and then read it over slowly and repeatedly to him, until it was sufficiently imprinted on his memory to enable him to deliver it with fluency from the pulpit. It was observed by his people that the sermons thus preached were some of his best; for generally Mr. Lord's style was diffuse and somewhat reduplicative, but the difficulty of writing when he had become blind led him to think longer and to condense his thoughts into as few words as possible. His reasoning powers were even at this age very little
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