USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 52
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Mr. Hubbard's third wife was a Miss Copely of Boston. He afterward removed to Colchester, Ct., and there died in 1801, aged 61.
Daniel L. Coit was one of the sterling men of Norwich : intelligent, refined, and of spotless character. He was a native of New London, but at an early age was placed with his uncles, the brothers Lathrop, eminent druggists of Norwich, and ultimately became their partner. After arriv- ing at mature age, he went to England as agent of the company, to pur- chase goods, and before returning home, made a brief tour upon the con- tinent. He was at Paris when the first successful balloon experiment was made. This was the famous ascent of Messrs. Charles and Robert, Dec. 1, 1783. Mr. Coit was present, and wrote an account of this wonderful event to his father in Norwich, which was published in the weekly news-
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
paper, and was the first notice on this side of the Atlantic, of what the writer calls
"This new art of flying."
He observes that balloons had been before dispatched into the heavens without navigators, but in this instance, "two men placing themselves in the car ascended to the height of 500 yards and then sailed away on the wings of the wind to the distance of nine leagues." The writer adds,- "The novelty of the thing is so great that it engrosses half the talk and attention of the city."
Mr. Coit was one of the original purchasers of the Western Reserve, and made repeated visits to that remote and solitary region, assisting largely in the settlement by his advice, means, and influence.
He was fond of agriculture, of the natural sciences, and of books. He died Nov. 27, 1833, in the 80th year of his age.
At the annual election for Governor in 1786, 900 votes were given in Norwich for Gov. Huntington. This is not only a remarkable instance of home popularity, and of harmony of opinion in the eight societies, but it shows that the town contained a large proportion of solid men,-a cer- tain amount of property as well as a fair character being then an indis- pensable qualification of a voter. Even in the present day of almost unlimited elective franchise, it is rare to find a much larger proportion of the inhabitants of a town voters. The population of Norwich was then nearly 7000. In 1790, after the division of the town, the census stood thus:
Norwich, -
3284
Franklin,
1192
Lisbon,
1076
Bozralı,
926
East Society, in Preston, - 1100
Total,
- 7578
This was but a slight variation from the number in 1770; the war of the Revolution and repeated emigrations having kept the stream of pop- ulation flowing in nearly a dead level for twenty years.
-
CHAPTER XLII.
COURT-HOUSE. MASONRY. WASHINGTON'S DEATH. PRISONERS FROM ST. DO- MINGO. FIRST SOCIETY AFFAIRS. FIRES. TURNPIKES AND RAILROAD.
IN 1759, a vote was passed to build a new court-house, 50 feet by 26 or 28. It was to stand near the corner of the Green, in front of the old one, which was then extant, though dilapidated. The building committee were Hezekiah and Jabez Huntington and Dr. Daniel Lathrop, and the expense was to be liquidated by a penny rate.
This house was completed in 1761, and placed in charge of Samuel Huntington, Esq., then a popular attorney of the place, afterward Presi- dent of the Continental Congress and Governor of the State. A chiam- ber in the building was assigned to him for his office as town agent.
This is the edifice still known as the old court-house, but used for many years past for a school. In 1793, no repairs having been made since the erection of the house, its ruinous condition was such as to call forth a pro- test from the court. Whereupon the town claimed that they were not obliged to keep a court-house in repair for the courts, and sent a petition to the General Assembly, that the county should be directed to repair the court-house or build a new one. The dissension between the town and county on this subject continued for several years ; but in 1798 the house was thoroughly repaired and painted by the town, and a sum raised by subscription for removing it from its awkward station on the Green. It was carried across the street, and placed in its present position, where it is supposed to stand nearly if not precisely upon the site of Major Mason's original dwelling-house, erected in November, 1659.
A house for ammunition was also built about the same time as the court- house, 1760. It was a square stone receptacle, standing on the declivity of the hill by the path that led up to the meeting-house. Here a few muskets, a quantity of bullets, and about 3000 lbs. of powder were depos- ited, and the key committed to Mr. Huntington.
This powder-house was blown up in the year 1784. The train was laid by some unknown incendiary, but being discovered half an hour before the explosion, it might have been easily extinguished, if any one could have been found sufficiently daring to attempt it. The timely dis-
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
covery, however, prevented any injury to life or limb, as all in the neigh- borhood were advertised of the danger, and kept out of the way. The concussion was violent; windows were broken, timbers loosened, roofs started, plastering cracked, and furniture thrown down. Where the build- ing stood, the ground was left entirely free of rubbish ; not even a stone of the foundation remained on the site, and only one of them could be identified afterwards, and that descended upon a roof at some distance, and passing through two floors, lodged in the cellar. A bag of cannister shot flew into the chamber window of the parsonage. The meeting-house was much shattered by this explosion.
Masonry. About 1790, Freemasonry began to be popular in Norwich. In 1794, Somerset Lodge was constituted with great pomp. The services were at the meeting-house in the town-plot. Bishop Seabury preached a sermon in the morning, from Heb. 3: 4. A grand procession was then formed, which passed through the town, accompanied by a band of music; dinner was served in a rural bower erected upon the plain, and in the afternoon the lodge again proceeded to the meeting-house, and listened to another sermon, by the Rev. Elhanan Winchester, from Psalm 133 : 1,- "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."
From this spirited beginning, Masonry, though more popular at some periods than others, has never seriously declined. The annual festival of Somerset Lodge was generally graced with a publie oration. In 1798, on the festival of St. John the Baptist, the fraternity met at Braman's Hotel on the Chelsea Parade, and marched in procession to the First Society meeting-house, where a discourse was delivered by the Rev. John Tyler, and odes and psalms were sung under the direction of Mr. Rob- erts, a noted chorister of that era. A publie dinner and masonie toasts were the usual accompaniment of these festivals.
A Franklin Chapter of R. A. M. was instituted soon after the forma- tion of Somerset Lodge. This also had its annual celebration. An ora- tion before the Chapter at the Feast of St. Andrew in 1810, by Ulysses Selden, was published. Mr. Selden was a young man of pleasing exte- rior, gay disposition, and eloquent discourse, who settled in Norwich as an attorney. He died after a brief practice of his profession, and was interred at Lyme, his native place. This oration is the chief memorial left of his residence in Norwich.
The Masons in Norwich have always been ereditably distinguished for the liberality with which they dispense their funds to aid impoverished brethren or their families. They have now several chapters, councils and encampments in the town. - Uncas Hall, formerly the gathering-place of
525
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
the Society of Odd Fellows, has recently been remodeled and dedicated to Masonic purposes by the fraternity of Somerset Lodge.
Washington's death, Dec. 14, 1790, was commemorated in Norwich with solemn religious services. On the Sabbath following, Dr. Strong delivered a memorial sermon. At the Landing, the Episcopal and Con- gregational churches were both shrouded in black, and the two congrega- tions united in the commemorative services. They assembled at the Epis- copal church, where prayers were read and a solemn dirge performed. A procession was then formed of both sexes, which moved with plaintive music and tolling bells to the Congregational church, where a discourse was delivered by Mr. King, from the text, How are the mighty fallen !
Subsequently, on the day recommended by Congress for the national observance, the societies again united ; the Rev. Mr. Tyler delivered an oration, and several original odes, hymns and lamentations were sung or chanted.
The sermons of Messrs. Strong and King and the eulogy of Mr. Tyler were each separately published.
In September, 1800, the U. S. ship Trumbull, Capt. Jewett, returning from a cruise against the French, came into New London harbor with a prize vessel of ten guns, called La Vengeance, which had been taken near the port of Jacquemel in the West Indies, with 140 persons on board. These were delivered over to the authorities as prisoners of war, and seventeen of them sent to Norwich, where they remained about six months .*
The terrific war of the races, French, Spaniards and Africans strug- gling for dominion, had made fearful havoc in St. Domingo, and at this period Gen. Rigaud was at the head of one party, and the African chief Touissaint of the other. The latter had laid siege to Jacquemel, which was about to surrender, and many of the inhabitants, apprehensive that an indiscriminate sack and slaughter would follow, fled with what little property they could carry with them, to the vessels in the harbor for safety. It was one of these vessels endeavoring to reach Cuba with its throng of exiles, that was taken by the Trumbull.
The prisoners were natives of St. Domingo, partly of French origin, but with a large admixture of African blood. They were mostly civil officers, captains of barges, merchants and their servants, and though nominally of Rigaud's party, they had taken no active part in the contest,
* Eighty-four were sent to Hartford ; the remainder were retained in New London.
526
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
and might reasonably have expected that an American ship would hu- manely favor their flight, rather than plunder them of their goods and carry them into captivity.
The prisoners sent to Norwich were treated with compassionate kind- ness. They had the privilege of the gaol limits, and were allowed to stroll from house to house. Wholesome food and comfortable winter gar- ments were provided for them. Dr. Philemon Tracy, who attended on them as their physician, apprehending that they would suffer from the rigors of a cold climate, made great exertions to procure their immediate release. It was not however till March, 1801, that the Government vir- tually condemned their capture by ordering their free discharge and fur- nishing them with transportation home.
Some of these exiles were men of education and ability. One of them had been a justice of the peace; another, a young mulatto of manly and dignified deportment, was afterward the able and discreet President of the Republic of Hayti. He was then about twenty-four years of age, and having already attained considerable rank in the order of Freemasons, lie was boarded while in Norwich, at the expense of the Masonic Lodge, in a private family. Most of his leisure time he employed in perfecting himself in the English language, and at his departure he cut from a piece of his linen, his name, marked at full length, Jean Pierre Boyer, and gave it to one of the young members of the family, that had assisted him in his lessons. "Keep this," he said, "and perhaps, some day, you may send it to me in a letter, and I will remember you."
The lad lost his mark, but nearly twenty years afterward, President Boyer, then at the head of the Haytien Republic, made inquiries of cer- tain Norwich ship-masters respecting his former friends, and sent a hand- some gratuity to the two families in which he had been treated with special kindness .*
On the 7th of February, 1801, the church in the town-plot (completed in 1770) was consumed to ashes by the torch of some unknown incendiary. A group of contiguous buildings, viz., the retail store of Messrs. Carew & Huntington, an unoccupied dwelling-house, formerly belonging to Dudley Woodbridge, and recently the abode of Roger Griswold, Esq., and several barns, sheds, and out-houses, were destroyed in the same conflagration. The fire was undoubtedly kindled by design, but the perpetrator was never discovered.
Four years previous,-in February, 1797,-attempts had been made, night after night, to set fire to these same buildings, and two barns near them were successively destroyed. Trains had been repeatedly laid, and
To the widows of Consider Sterry and Diah Manning, each a donation of $400.
527
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
fires kindled, which were discovered and extinguished before much damage was done. Mr. Breed, Mayor of the City, issued a proclamation, (Feb. 7th.) offering a reward of $500 for the discovery of the culprit. A vig- ilant watch was also kept for some time in the vicinity of the church, and no further attempt was made at this point, but fires were kindled and barns consumed in different parts of the town. Similar attempts at arson occurred at intervals for three or four years, leading to the suspicion that they were all the work of some brooding, lurking incendiary, till they culminated in the destruction of the church in 1801. The culprit was never discovered.
It is an old remark, often proving true, that fires are great improvers : they are probably borne with more philosophy on that account. A new church edifice was speedily erected on the old site, the expense being defrayed partly by subscription, and partly by a lottery granted by the Legislature at the May session of 1801. This church stands upon land belonging to the town.
In town meeting, 12 May, 1801. " The Town grants liberty to the 1st Ecclesiastical Society to erect a Meeting House on the Town Common, west of the highway, near where the last meeting house stood that was destroyed by fire."
The corner-stone was laid with interesting ceremonies by Gen. Ebene- zer Huntington, on the 18th of June. Only a few words were uttered, but they were of solemn import. "May the house raised on this founda- tion become a temple of the Lord and the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit." A throng of spectators murmured their assent, and young people standing above on the rocks waved their green boughs. Dr. Strong, the pastor, then offered prayer.
In the style of church architecture, this edifice displayed a great advance over all other churches in this part of the State. It had groined arches, massive pillars to support the gallery, and a central dome painted sky- blue ; but it retained the old forms of a high contracted pulpit and square pews .*
In 1845, the interior was entirely remodeled, and since that period it has been a second time renovated and improved.
In 1803, the house was surrounded with Lombardy poplars. They flourished about twenty years, and kept their places ten years longer in gradual decay.
In 1810, stoves were introduced.
In 1824, the bass-viol gave place to an organ.
The Sabbath School commenced about 1820, and was long kept in the court-house. The present chapel was erected in 1852, the site being a gift to the society from Mrs. Harriet Peck Williams. It contains a hall
* Architect, Joseph Terry of Hartford.
Sea page
528
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
for lectures and Sabbath Schools, and a library and study for the pastor. The library, though not extensive, comprises a number of ancient books and pamphlets of considerable rarity and value.
In 1829, Dr. Strong applied to the society to settle a colleague with him in the ministry, wishing, he said, to have the same satisfaction that his venerable predecessor had enjoyed towards the close of his life, in behold- ing the church and congregation harmoniously unite in settling a successor. That this object might be accomplished with less inconvenience to his peo- ple, he voluntarily proposed to relinquish his salary after the first year. The society acceded to his request, and the Rev. Cornelius B. Everest, who had been previously settled at Windham, was installed as his col- league the same year.
Dr. Strong was born at Coventry, Ct., Sept. 21, 1753 ; was ordained at Norwich, March 18, 1778; and died Dec. 18, 1834, aged 81.
The pastorates of Drs. Lord and Strong comprise 117 years, besides six years of joint service. This is an extraordinary instance of ministe- rial longevity, perhaps unequaled in the ecclesiastical annals of New England .*
Mr. Everest, who, after the decease of Dr. Strong, became the sole pastor of the church, was dismissed in April, 1836,t and succeeded by Rev. Hiram P. Arms, the present pastor.
Mr. Arms is a native of Windsor, Ct., born in 1799, graduated at Yale College in 1824, and was settled in the ministry successively at Hebron and at Wolcottville, Ct., officiating about three years in each place. He was installed at Norwich Aug. 3, 1836, and is now, in the length of his pastorate, the senior pastor of all denominations in Norwich.
This church has a fund of $12,000. It numbers over 200 members, and comprises about 125 families.
The most destructive fires in Norwich have been those in which churches have been consumed. That of February, 1801, which swept away the church of the First Society, has been noticed. Another of still greater extent, in which the Congregational church in Chelsea was de- stroyed, will be more particularly noticed in a subsequent chapter.
* Instances that come near to it are the following. The successive ministries of Rev. Anthony Stoddard and Rev. Noah Benedict at Woodbury, Ct., amounted to 111 years, from 1702 to 1813. In the first parish in York, Me., two ministers occupied the pulpit from 1700 to 1806.
t Mr. Everest afterward held the pastoral office successively at Bloomfield and at Windsor, but subsequently withdrew from the Congregational ministry. "On the 3d of June, 1860, he received baptism by immersion at the hands of Rev. Dr. Kennard of Philadelphia, being at the time 71 years old." Cong. Quarterly, Vol. III., p. 264.
529
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
The second church built by the Congregational Society in Chelsea fell a prey to the flames in 1844, being so far consumed as to render it advisa- ble to build a wholly new edifice.
The Main Street Congregational Church was destroyed by fire in Sep- tember, 1854, having stood only nine years.
The Baptist Church at Greeneville was burnt down Feb. 27, 1854.
Of the other casualties by fire, two have been attended with loss of life, viz .:
April 12, 1801. A house in the town-plot, between the dwellings of Col. Christopher Leffingwell and Mr. John Bliss, occupied by Jackson Browne, an English gentleman, was wholly and rapidly consumed, with most of its contents. The flames burst forth at midnight, and when first discovered, the whole interior of the lower story was on fire. Several of the family escaped with difficulty, and one of the children perished in the flames. Mr. Browne's card of thanks refers to the strenuous exertions made by the citizens to rescue his lost child. Her funeral service was attended by the Rev. Mr. Tyler, who recorded the fact as follows :
" Sophia, daughter of Jackson Browne, Esq. of the kingdom of Great Britain, and of Eliza his wife, between 7 and 8 years of age, who perished in the burning of the house eight days before : the interment was of the few bones found in the ashes April 21,1801."*
The house of Mr. Andrew Griswold of Bean Hill was destroyed by fire Feb. 27, 1811. The weather was cold; rain was falling; the fire commenced in the lower story, and the members of the family reposing in the chambers were aroused too late to escape by the stairway. Some of them leaped from the windows. Miss Phebe Hunn, an infirm woman, the sister-in-law of Mr. Griswold, perished in the flames.
The road between Norwich and New London, passing through the Mo- hegan fields, was first laid out by order of the Legislature, under the sur- vey and direction of Joshua Raymond, who was remunerated with a tract of land sufficient for a large farm upon the route. This must have been as early as 1670,f but for more than a century the road was little better
* Mr. Browne had been for several years in this country. The venerable Charles Miner, in sketching some scenes descriptive of that period, observes :
"Note that dashing gentleman and lady' on the fine pair of blacks. They have a foreign air. It is Jackson Brown, supposed to be an agent of the British Commissary department. They do not stop to have a gate opened, but bonnd over it as if in pur- snit of a fox." Norwich Jubilee, App., 275.
Mr. Browne's family, after they were burnt out, occupied for a short time the Teel house on the Parade. He soon went himself to Barbadoes, where he died in 1804.
t Mr. Raymond died in 1676, and his son, the second Joshua, speaks of this traet of land as "my father's homestead farm in the Mohegan fields." 34
530
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
than an Indian trail. Its numerous windings, fords and precipitous hills made it both inconvenient and hazardous. The travel was chiefly on horseback, or with ox-carts.
In 1789, several prominent individuals formed an association to effect an improvement of this road. The Legislature granted them a lottery, the avails of which were to be expended in repairing so much of the road as ran through the Indian land. This lottery was drawn at Norwich in June, 1791. The next May a company was incorporated to make the road a turnpike and erect a toll-gate. By these various exertions the dis- tance was reduced to fourteen miles from the court-house on Norwich Green to the court-house in New London, and the traveling rendered tol- erably safe. The toll commenced in June, 1792 : [4-wheel carriages, 9d .; 2 do., 42d .; man and horse, 1d.]
This was the first turnpike in the United States. Dr. Dwight observes in his travels that this road brought the inhabitants of Norwich and New London more than half a day's journey nearer to each other. "Formerly (he says) few persons attempted to go from one of these places to the other and return the same day; the journey is now easily performed in little more than two hours."
This turnpike became almost immediately an important thoroughfare, of great service to Norwich and the towns in her rear for driving cattle and transporting produce to New London for embarkation. In 1806, it was extended to the landing, by a new road that began at the wharf bridge, and fell into the old road south of Trading Cove bridge. In 1812, an- other new piece of road was annexed to it, which was laid out in a direct line from the court-house to the old Mohegan road.
The company was dissolved and the toll abolished July 1, 1852.
The Norwich and Providence post-road was made a turnpike in 1794.
The Norwich and Woodstock road, extending from Norwich to the Massachusetts line, was made a turnpike in 1801, and discontinued in 1846, the company having made no dividends for six years.
The turnpike from Norwich through Salem to Essex on the Connecti- cut river, commonly called the Essex turnpike, was established in 1827, and relinquished about 1860.
The Shetucket Turnpike Company, to maintain a road through Pres- ton, Griswold, Voluntown, and Sterling, to the east boundary, was incor- porated in 1829.
This company continued in operation more than thirty years, paying yearly on its capital of $11,000, a small dividend averaging 1} per cent. In 1861, the franchise was surrendered to the towns of Preston, Griswold and Voluntown, for the sum of $1375.
531
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
RAILROADS.
The railroad supersedes and destroys the turnpike. The Norwich and Worcester Railroad Company was formed in 1832; the Legislatures of Connecticut and Massachusetts each granting a charter for that portion of the road which lay within their respective States. These two companies were united by the said Legislatures in 1836, the whole capital amounting to $1,700,000. The length from the steamboat landing in Norwich to the depot at Worcester is fifty-eight and nine-tenth miles, eighteen of which is in Massachusetts.
The first stroke of the spade on this road was at Greeneville, Nov. 18, 1835, and it was completed and the trains ran the whole distance in March, 1840.
Just beyond Greeneville in Norwich, the road forms a curve of 1,000 feet radius along the banks of the Shetucket, affording a fine view of the river, the bridge, and adjacent country. Three miles from the city, at the Quinebaug Falls, the company were met by an immense mass of rock lying across their contemplated route. Here a deep cut was channeled for a considerable distance through a friable rock, but reaching at length a bed of solid granite, a tunnel was excavated 300 feet in length and twenty in width. The height from the bed of the tunnel to the summit of the rock above is about 100 feet. Sitting in the car and gazing upon the scenery, you suddenly find yourself gliding into the bosom of frowning cliffs, and enveloped in subterranean darkness. You come out slowly, grinding along the edge of a precipice, with the ragged, foaming, contracted river below you on one side, and a barrier of cliffs on the other.
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