History of Torrington, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1737, with biographies and genealogies, Part 2

Author: Orcutt, Samuel, 1824-1893
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Albany, J. Munsell, printer
Number of Pages: 920

USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Torrington > History of Torrington, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1737, with biographies and genealogies > Part 2

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In the first division there was laid out five acres as a meeting house plot, and one hundred acres as a ministry lot, and these were said to be near the centre of the town.

The lots for the proprietors, when completed, were all laid in thir- teen tiers, except those in the swamp ; one on the south side of the town running east and west, the other twelve running north and south, and with the highways, covering the whole area of the town except the pine timber. The swamp was laid in three tiers of lots running north and south.

The first division was completed in November, 1734, Roger Newberry, Joshua Loomis and Nathaniel Pinney being the committee. The second, voted to be made in March, 1736, was not completed until October, 1742, John Cook, 2d, Joshua Loomis, Roger New- berry and Daniel Bissell, Jr., being the committee.

The third division was voted in October, 1742, and was com- pleted in December, 1750. In this division two hundred and twenty acres were appropriated for the use of schools in the town. Samuel

I In the third division the word " hat" is used.

THE WINDSOR PATENT.

Messenger, surveyor, Thomas Marshall and Aaron Loomis were the committee, and Rev. Nathaniel Roberts drew the numbers for the lots.

THE PINE TIMBER DIVISION.

The first name, given in the records to this part of Torrington was spruce swamp. Afterwards it was called the pine timber ; then the pine timber division, and in 1747 the mast swamp.

The pine timber was of much value and the proprietors found great difficulty in preserving it from the hands of those who had no owner ship in it. They appointed various committees to " sue and prose. cute to final judgment" those who should trespass in cutting it. The trees had grown tall and straight and were very desirable for masts to sailing vessels, and were cut and floated down the river for that pur- pose.

There was other timber which the proprietors found important to be looked after. They directed " that all the pine, whitewood and white ash timber, above fourteen inches in diameter at the stub, stand- ing and growing or fallen down, on those places set out for highways in the third division, be reserved for the use of the proprietors," and the committee appointed was to sell such timber for the advantage of the proprietors.

The expenses of the several surveys were collected by a tax levied from the list of the proprietors.

In the proprietor's meeting of March 6, 1751, it was voted to " lease out the mill place with the convenience thereunto, for nine hundred and ninety-nine years." Ebenezer Lyman, Jr., Jacob Strong and Elijah Gaylord were the committee to lay out the fourth divi- sion, and Jacob Strong and Aaron Loomis were to draw the lots.

They voted to lay a highway through the swamp from north to south twenty feet wide, now main street and one from the mill place east until it should meet the other road.

In laying the lots in the swamp they were to begin at the south end of the tier on the west side of the road and run north to the end of the tier. Then begin at the south end, east of the road running to the north, but the lots extending only to the east branch. The third tier was laid east of the east branch, from the south end run- ning north.

CHAPTER III.

FIRST SETTLERS.

OLD DEEDS.

HE oldest deed recorded of Torrington lands was dated at Windsor, June 14, 1728, given by Daniel Griswold, to his "dutiful and obedient son" Nathan Griswold, for a right in undivided western lands. From this time to the spring of 1735, sixty deeds of rights were recorded in the Windsor Company's book. Soon after the survey was made and the lots located, the sales became more numerous, and were mostly to persons residing in Windsor but in a few cases to per- sons residing in other parts of the state. These sixty deeds include nearly, if not all, the land sales by the Torrington company previous to the rendering of the report of the committee on the first division, in November, 1734.

The first land cleared and cultivated in the town was located ac- cording to the following description :- " At a meeting of the pro- prietors of Torrington held in Windsor, Feb. 10, 1734, voted Lieut. Roger Newberry be a committee, and he is hereby fully em- powered in the name of the proprietors to rent out to Josiah Grant of Litchfield, about four or five acres of land lying in said Torring- ton which is already broken up, as it lieth bounded south on Litch- field, and east on Waterbury river, until such time as said proprie- tors, by their vote shall see cause to call it in."

One deed, given by Joseph Ellsworth of Litchfield, dated March 11, 1734, says lot 77 was a home lot, which meant that it had a dwelling house on it, and had been the home of somebody. This lot joined Goshen on the west and was about one mile north of Litchfield line. Whether Mr. Ellsworth, who was the original owner, had lived there, or some one else, before the first division was made, is not known. This, so far as is known, was the first house put up in the town. In 1738 there was a dwelling on lot 82, half a mile north of lot 77, and hence there may have been two or three families living in that part of the town as early as 1734, who removed into Litchfield or elsewhere before 1737.

FIRST SETTLERS.

FIRST FAMILIES.

EBENEZER LYMAN, JR., was the first permanent resident of the town. In January 1735, his father Ebenezer Lyman, Esquire, of Durham, bought of Job Loomis, lot 108, containing seventy-two acres. This lot constituted a part of the farm known ever since, as the Lyman place, and upon it was built the fort, in the western part of the town. In June of the same year Ebenezer, Jr., bought the half of three acres, lot 109 on the corner, and joining lot 108, on the north, and erected a dwelling, undoubtedly a log house. In this house was born June 16, 1738, so far as known, the first child born in the town, it being a daughter and was named Lydia.

On the fourth day of June, 1737, his father in deeding to him the seventy-two acres, says, this son had lately " moved from Durham into Torrington." Hence it is evident that he came in the month of May, and Mrs. Sarah Lyman was queen of the realm, without a rival except in her little daughter Ruth, about a year and a half old. In this house, assembled with this family, from one to a half dozen young men, on the Sabbath, if not more frequently, during the sum- mer of 1737, while they pursued during the week their toilsome work of clearing the land to make for themselves homes in the wilder- ness.

On the 24th day of June, 1740, Ebenezer Lyman Esq., bought lot 95, west of his son's lot, containing ninety-one acres, giving for it and lot nineteen in the second division and the whole right of Hezekiah Porter, two hundred pounds, and settled on the farm with his son in 1740, or early in 1741.

JONATHAN COE of Durham, married Elizabeth Elmer of Wind- sor, September 23, 1737, and brought his bride to Torrington, the second woman in the town. Mr. Coe had worked in the town two summers. He bought on the 18th of March, 1737, lot 107, which he still owned, upon which he had probably erected a dwelling dur- ing the summer of 1737. This house must have been a log house,' and stood about eighty rods south of Ebenezer Lyman, junior's, their farms joining. Here were two dwellings in the wilderness- wilder- ness in every direction, and almost without end in every direction. The nearest place that looked like civilization was Litchfield, about

I The lumber, for making framed houses in 1740, must have been brought, through the forests, from Litchfield or New Hartford.

HISTORY OF TORRINGTON.

six miles distant and but few houses had been erected in that town before this time, and some of these were at considerable distance from the center of the town ; one or two being near the southern boundary of Torrington. At this time there were no families residing in Goshen ; a few were in Harwinton ; a few in New Hartford ; none in Winchester.

ABEL BEACH of Durham bought land in company with Jonathan Coe, lot 123, containing thirty-one acres, in 1735, where the second church was built, at Torrington green. He purchased Mr. Coe's half, September 6, 1737, and owned by this purchase a thirty-one pound right to all other divisions that might be made. In December, 1737, he bought of Daniel Bissell, the right of Robert Westland with the lot 82, fifty-one acres, a little south of Dea. F. P. Hill's present dwelling, it then being a home lot or having a dwelling house on it. He married Margaret Pickett of Durham, April 5, 1738, and settled in this town. He may have made his home for a year in the house on lot 82, as he sold this lot in June, 1739, or he may have built him a house on lot 123, in the summer of 1737, and settled on it. The place being known unto this day as the Abel Beach place.

In June, 1739, Daniel Stoughton bought of Abel Beach, lot 82, with a dwelling house on it, and made his home in the town, pro- bably in that house. Joel Thrall became a settler during the sum- mer of 1739, probably on lot 91, the old Thrall place on Goshen turnpike, most of which he had purchased of the heirs of John Thrall, and the east half he sold the same year to Ebenezer Coe, then of Middletown.

Thus did the work begin, and go forward, so that in October, 1739, in their petition for religious privileges the petitioners say there "are nine families in the town." It is impossible to say who all these families were. The petition signed by twenty-five names, says, these names represent " inhabitants and proprietors." Some of these pro- prietors were in Windsor, some in Durham, nine families were here. These families lived here and grew healthy and strong, if they did not grow in the refinements of literature and cultivated society. How they arranged the items of the important business of living, will appear somewhat in the following pages, and although it cannot be described fully, yet it will be seen that they did it successfully. Joseph Allyn, who came a little later, worked during the week, rode on horseback to Windsor, Saturday, and returned on Monday morning, and all people may be assured that he did not start on such a journey after

FIRST SETTLERS.

the sun was three hours high in the morning. It is very probable that most of the supplies came from Windsor, and if not by a weekly express (which word they did not know in the sense now used), yet so frequently that with what they obtained in the wilderness, they lived as comfortably, and enjoyed their fare as well as most people of the present day.

CHAPTER IV.

RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES.

THE ECCLESIASTICAL SOCIETY.

INCE the pilgrims came to America for the pur- pose of securing liberty in religious privileges, and their descendants for generations following, regarded these privileges as among the first things to be instituted and maintained in every place, we are not surprised to find the people of Torrington, having effected a settlement of a few families, proceed- ing in the work of securing the preaching of the gospel, knowing that without it their enterprise would not prosper. They sent a memorial to the general assembly, by Daniel Stoughton, in October, 1739, asking to be organized into a society, and that taxes might be imposed for the "support of a gospel ministry." This memorial was signed by the following names :

Jacob Strong, Jr.,

John Cook, 2d,

Ebenezer Lyman, Jr.,

Hezekiah Griswold,

William Grant,

Daniel Stoughton,

Jonathan Coe,

Joshua Loomis,

Daniel Thrall,

Thomas Stoughton, Jr.,

Isaac Higley,

Jacob Strong,

Joseph Beach,

William Bartlett,

Joel Thrall,

Samuel Bartlett,

Abel Beach,

Abraham Dibble, Jr.,

Ebenezer Coe,

Joseph Phelps,

Nathaniel Barber,

Aaron Loomis,

William Cook, Amos Filley,

Samuel Phelps.

Torrington was made a town, with town privileges in Oct., 1740, and thereby become an ecclesiastical society, and a tax of two pence on the pound for the support of preaching, was granted.

In the next spring another tax of two pence was granted, but in the autumn it was changed to three pence on the pound, for the purpose of raising a fund towards building a meeting house.

An extra tax to raise five hundred pounds for the settlement of a

RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES.

minister, was also ordered by the assembly, which was a much larger amount than many ministers received, if the money was any where near par at that time. Another tax was granted in 1744, and one in 1750, for the support of the gospel in the town. These taxes seem burdensome in repetition and amount, but the people were quite willing to pay them. The first petition states that some of the signers lived in Windsor, " but being desirous of having their lands improved as fast as possible, they were willing to be taxed." It was not altogether the gospel that they desired, but with it they could increase the value of their lands ; a kind of thoughtfulness con- cerning the gospel that has been exhibited very often since that day, and as well in cities as in new parts of the country. Men have often admired, and supported the gospel according to the amount of hard cash it would return them in a business point of view. Some of these memorialists loved the gospel for the sake of the gospel, but others were willing to be taxed for the sake of their lands.

No information is given as to the success of this effort to secure the preaching of the gospel before October, 1741, but as Nathaniel Roberts was graduated in 1732, and was probably through his theo- logical studies before 1739, he may have preached here some time before he was settled as pastor.

THE FIRST CHURCH.

The only records of the organization of the church are those written by Mr. Roberts, the first pastor. I

He introduces the matter and gives the record thus : "Here I shall observe some things concerning the church in Torrington in ye county of Hartford.

" Ist. It was first planted October 21, 1741, by Mr. Graham,2 Mr. Humphrey,3 Mr. Leavenworth,4 Mr. Bellamy.5

" 2d. The first deacon that was chosen was Ebenezer Lyman

I These Records are still preserved and have been of much value in fixing dates in this book, but the writing was at first so fine that after 135 years it is extremely difficult to read it, and because of this, several names may not be transcribed correctly.

2 Rev. John Graham, of Southbury.

3 Rev. Daniel Humphrey, of Derby.

4 Rev. Mark Leavenworth, of Waterbury.

5 Rev. Joseph Bellamy, D.D., of Bethlehem.

HISTORY OF TORRINGTON.

(Sen'r.), and was set apart to the office by prayer, and laying on of the hands of the pastor of said church, January 1, 1742.

" 3d. The first sacrament that ever was administered in the church was January 3, 1742, and the communicants who were then members of the said church ; the number was seventeen ; Dea. E. Lyman and his wife, E. Lyman, Junr., and his wife, E. North and his wife, J. Coe and his wife, Jacob Strong and his wife, Abel Beach and his wife, Nathaniel Barber and his wife, John Cook and his wife, Asahel Strong."

Thus far he seems to have written at the first entry, after this he proceeds as follows, drawing a line across the page between each entry.

" The second sacrament was administered March 14, 1742, and Margaret Thrall ye wife of Joel Thrall was admitted a member in full communion with us.

" E. Coe and his wife owned their covenant, and were admitted members in full communion with us, April 4, 1742.

" 3d sacrament was administered May 27, 1742. 4th sacra- ment was administered November 14, 1742, and then Samuel Damon I and his wife, Samuel Damon, Jr., and his wife, John Damon and wife, Noah Wilson and wife were admitted members in full com- munion with us."

In this manner he continued to record the sacraments and admis- sions to the church until a short time before his death ; the last entry being thus :

" 132 sacrament November ye 13, 1775."

The record of marriages he commences in the same straight-forward manner.

" Mr. Nathaniel Roberts, pastor of the church in Torrington, was married November 22, at night, being 3d day of ye week in ye year 1743."

" July 8, 1747, I married Isaac Hosford, of Litchfield, to Mind- well Loomis, of Torrington."

" Margaret Roberts, the wife of Nathaniel Roberts, died October I, 1747, being ye 5 day of ye week." 2

" Mr. Nathaniel Roberts, pastor of ye said church, was married to his second wife November ye 7, 1748."

I This name has been spelled Demon, but the old spelling in the deeds is a instead of e.

2 This death is recorded among the marriages as here given. Mr. Roberts kept no record of deaths.

RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES.

In regard to his own marriages he does not tell what his wives' names were before marriage, nor where they resided, though he gives the number of the day of the week on which the marriage occurred. He calls himself Mr. and not Rev., as he does also Mr. Humphrey and Mr. Bellamy, never using reverend to a minister. Mr. was then the aristocratic class name, applied to persons only in certain stations in life.

According to this record, the first marriage ceremony he performed was July 8, 1747, over six years after he was ordained, and the next one occurred two years and a half afterwards, and therefore, to all appearance, marriages were not numerous in 'Torrington in those days.

The record of baptisms runs in the same style.

" January ye 3, 1741-2, I baptized a child for Isaac Hygly, and her name was Susannah."

" August 29, 1742, I baptized a child for Nathaniel Barber, and his name was Nathaniel." I

" September ye 12, 1742, I baptized a child for William Hosford, on his wife's rights, and his name was William." His wife being a member of a church, though not of the Torrington church, had a right to have her child baptized. If neither father nor mother was a member of a church, the child could not be baptized.

THE FIRST CHURCH in Torrington, therefore, was organized October 2Ist, under the name, and the only name it bore for over thirty years of The Church of Christ in Torrington. It did not have a denominational name until after the death of Mr. Roberts. It was sometimes called Presbyterian, as many like churches in the state were, but it had no connection with a Presbytery, nor the Pres- byterian church.

It was organized at the house of John Cook, the house yet stand- ing and known as deacon John Cook's. Tradition says that Mr. Roberts was ordained in Deacon Cook's house. Mr. Roberts says the church was organized October 21, 1741, and that he, as the pastor of the church, ordained the first deacon, January 1, 1742, or two months after the organization of the church. It is not probable that two meetings of such a nature, one to organize the church and another to ordain the minister, would be held within so short a time and therefore it is quite clear that the ordination took place at the time of the formation of the church, and that the meeting was held

* Following the name is a star, which indicates that the child died soon after.

HISTORY OF TORRINGTON.

in John Cook's house, and the services conducted in a regular form by the ministers named by Mr. Roberts. It is also probable that Mr. Roberts, being unmarried, was residing with John Cook at the time, and remained there until his marriage, two years after- wards.

As to the persons who became members at the organization of the church no intimation is given that they had been members elsewhere, but the appearance is that they covenanted together verbally, in the presence of the ministers named, and were by them declared to be a church of Christ in Torrington.

When this church was organized there was one in Litchfield formed nineteen years before ; one in Harwinton three years old, and they had had preaching three years before its formation ; one in Goshen, organized the previous year ; one in Cornwall one year old ; one in New Hartford two years old.

The ministers in Goshen, New Hartford and Torrington were brothers-in-law ; Mr. Heaton and Mr. Roberts having married the sisters of Mr. Jonathan Marsh, Jr., of New Hartford, and daughters of Rev. Jonathan Marsh, of Windsor.

Although the church was organized just before the great awaken- ing in New England, yet no special religious interest appears to have existed in Torrington at that time, nor at any time during Mr. Roberts's pastorate. The membership increased gradually, and mostly by persons coming into the town. Sometimes a number of persons, in the same family, on settling in the town, united with the church, as indicated in the following records.

" May 6., 1744, was our sacrament, and at the same time, Aaron Loomis, and Deborah, his wife, and Aaron his son, and Mindwell and Esther his daughters, were all received into our church."

This Esther was only fifteen years old, and this indicates that young people were received into the church in those days.

"July 7, 1754, then Ichabod Loomis, and Dorothy his wife, William Filley and Abiah his wife, Joel Loomis, Isabel, the wife of Abraham Loomis, and Jerusha and Isabel, daughters of Abraham Loomis were admitted, members in full communion."

Of most of the persons whom Mr. Roberts recorded, he wrote : " owned the covenant, and were received into full communion," but of a few he wrote " were received into full communion," not saying that they owned the covenant. It is therefore probable that these latter were received by commendation from other churches. In one

RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES.

case only does he speak of a letter from another church and in that case he says the person was commended by the Association of which the church was a member.

The church relation which recognized the right of the baptism of children under the half-way covenant, was accepted by Mr. Roberts and this church, and no difficulty arose from it until after his death in 1776.

THE FIRST MEETING HOUSE.

The first recorded act preparatory to the building of a meeting house, was the increase of the tax from two to three pence on a pound in 1740, the surplus, after paying the minister's salary, was to be placed in the hands of Capt. Joseph Bird, of Litchfield, to be " improved by him as best could be " until the inhabitants should engage in building the house, when it was to be used for that pur- pose.

In May, 1746, the assembly appointed Ebenezer Marsh and Joseph Bird of Litchfield, and Nathaniel Baldwin, of Goshen, a committee to locate a site for a meeting house and report to the next session of that body. Upon that report rendered October, 1746, the assembly resolved " that the place to build a meeting house in said town, shall be about thirty rods northward of the house of Ebenezer Lyman, Esq., in the cross highway, which runs east and west, where said committee have set up a stake with a large heap of stones about it, the sills of said house to enclose said heap of stones."

In the following winter a frame was erected on this site, thirty feet square with eighteen feet posts, under the directions of a com- mittee appointed by the town. At this stage of the house some- body thought the house too high, and this committee was dismissed and another appointed who cut down the posts to eight feet in height. A memorial was then carried to the assembly, which stopped the proceedings of the town, restored the first committee, and ordered the house to be built with eighteen feet posts. An execution was granted against the persons who cut down the posts of the house and a fine of £21 6s. 5d. imposed upon them. These proceedings delayed the building of the house more than a year.

A new memorial was presented in October, 1748, for a change of the site ; a committee was appointed to look into the matter and report, which they did in May, 1749, and the place was established

HISTORY OF TORRINGTON.

at a stake within the south line of a lot belonging to John Whiting, between sixty and seventy rods northward of the place which was heretofore affixed for a meeting house, so as to include the said stake within the sills of the said house."I

The meeting house was built at the place last designated, and was standing there in October, 1751, when the road was laid running northwest from the meeting house.

It was a framed building, eighteen feet posts, and thirty feet square. How it was covered is spoken of as a mystery, as something about the house gave it the name of the Hemlock church. It was built and seated, in the gallery and below, in the simplest manner. It is said that the seats were made of slabs, flat side up, with sticks for legs. This is tradition. Deacon John Whiting's account book, still preserved, tells us that he was engaged at different times for many years, to 1781, in repairing the seats to the meeting house. Therefore it is probable that the seats were not stationary, and from that reason were soon out of repair.

In this house minister Roberts preached to the end of his life, some twenty-five years from the time it was built. Here the early settlers assembled from Sabbath to Sabbath, being seldom absent when service was held, unless really sick. The sermon was given forenoon and afternoon ; none in the evening. No prayer meet- ings during the week, but sometimes preaching service at distant school houses, yet not much of this in Mr. Roberts's day.

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History of Torrington, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1737, with biographies and genealogies, Part 2

Author: Orcutt, Samuel, 1824-1893 Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Albany, J. Munsell, printer Number of Pages: 920

Author: Orcutt, Samuel, 1824-1893
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Albany, J. Munsell, printer
Number of Pages: 920