USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Torrington > History of Torrington, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1737, with biographies and genealogies > Part 22
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In 1780, the treasurer received fines as follows : By Col. Sheldon, from Ulyses Fyler, Samuel Clark, Clement Tuttle, William Wilson, and James Ferguson $216. By Maj. Strong, a fine from Stephen , $240.
In 1781, the following moneys were received. By several notes given for fines by those who were detached £5 each, ££35. Also by Ebenezer Bissell as fine £10. Sundry other notes, £5, 17s.
In 1781, the treasurer of the town paid the following for services in the army.
£. s. d.
" To Jesse Whiting for three months tour, . 10, 8, 0
" George Baldwin for cloth blankets, pork, etc., . 4, 9, 6
" Nehemiah Gaylord, Jr., for hiring Brigadore Loomis a tour, 34,10, 0
Elisha Kelsey for six months tour, 34,10, 0 Eliphalet Hough, six months tour for Sam. Cummings, . 29, 5, 6
Roger Marshall for six months tour, . IO, 8, 0
Timothy Loomis for hiring a man six months tour, 20, 0, 0
Andrew Ely for six months tour, 37, 4, 0
Benjamin Gaylord for a six months tour, 20, 0, 0
Asahel Strong conductor of teams, 18, 0, 0
Stanley Griswold for part of three months tour, 10, 0, 0
Capt. Noah Wilson for wheat for the soldiers, 2, 5, 0
John Ellsworth for service as a soldier, 5,14, 0
Nathan Sanders for his apprentice in service one summer, 37, 4, 0
Barber Moore for a six months tour, 30,12, 0
Elijah Bissell for six months tour, · 36, 0, 0
Ebenezer North for one iron pot for service, . 1, 8, 0
" Nathaniel Kelsey, Jr., for part of three months tour, . 10, 0, 0
" Elisha Smith and Samuel Austin, receivers and packers of beef and other provisions, 38, 2, 0
" Zachariah Mather, Wait Beach and Abijah Wilson for clothing and trans- porting to New Milford, 25, 3, 6
" John Standcliff for a six months tour, . 20, 0, 0
" John Ellsworth for part of a six months tour, 20, 0, 0
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TORRINGTON IN WAR TIMES.
£. s. d.
To Jared Palmer for part of a three months tour,
5,14, 8
" Noah North for hiring a six months tour, . 20, 0, 0
" Ensign [Benj. ] Whiting for part of three months tour, . 8, 8, 0
" Daniel Benedict was voted, 20,00, 0
The following are some of the actions taken in town meeting in support of the Revolution ;
Dec., 1777. " Voted that Abner Marshall, Capt. Noah Wilson, Mr. Ebenezer Coe, Sargt. Aaron Austin, and Capt. Shubael Griswold shall be a committee to look into the matter, in respect to fines and to do justice and equity to them that were fined."
" Voted that Capt. Abel Beach, Capt. Ebenezer Coe, Capt. Noah Wilson, Mr. Aaron Austin, Capt. Benjamin Bissell and Lieut. Nehemiah Gaylord, shall be a committee to get clothing for the Continental soldiers according to an act of Assembly, and that the committee give prizes as they judge just and reasonable."
At a meeting of the town held Jan. 6, 1778, " to try the minds of the town, whether they would approve and adopt the articles of confederation." " Voted article by article and adopted the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th articles, and approved the same by a very clear majority.
" Voted the 8th article upon condition that if that article is to be understood only to mean that our lands and buildings, etc., are to be estimated according to their value for a rule to proportion the United States by and to find what each state ought to pay and then left with each state legislature to have liberty to tax the people in their own way to raise such sums of money as may be ordered from time to time by congress, then we are in the affirmative, but if it is to be understood that our taxes are to be raised by lands and buildings and improvements only and that must be the mode, then we are in the negative by a clear majority."
This point of objection was well taken and indicates the sensitive- ness of the fathers, as to the authority of the general government to levy taxes directly upon the people. This was one cause of the war in England under Cromwell, and was one great cause of the Ame- rican Revolution, and the people were too thoroughly educated on the subject to take this authority from one party (the king of England) and put it into the hands of another (the American congress). Poli- tics, in those days meant something. They were not mere party squabbles, but questions of law, government and freedom. .
" Articles, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth, are approved by a very clear majority."
" Voted that the selectmen let those families, whose husbands are in the service, have what salt they judge reasonable." " That the widow Preston have given to her gratis one bushel of salt, when it comes, as a free gift from the town."
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HISTORY OF TORRINGTON.
" Voted that Nathaniel Barber jv, Samuel Kelsey Jr., Clerk Roberts, Am- bros Fyler, Ebenezer Scovill, Ebenezer Leach, who are now in our service to fill our quota, and all those nien who will enlist or are detached, have given them twenty shillings a month for each month they are in the service, until the first day of January next, except those who take the benchit by law provided to support their families "
" Voted that Lieut. Ebenezer Miller and Ensign Elijah Gaylord, Capt. Abel Beach, and Mr. Caleb Lyman be a committee to divide to each family the town salt according to the number of inhabitants in the town "
In March 1778, they " voted that Capt. Noah Wilson, Capt. Abel Beach, Capt. Ebenezer Coe, Capt. Benjamin Bissell, Mr. Aaron Austin and Lieut. Nehemiah Gaylord, shall be a committee to provide for those families that are left and whose husbands are in the army, as the law directs." " Voted to appoint a committee to provide the clothing for our quota, and that the committee divide into six districts, and that each district provide their equal proportion, and that Lieut. Ebenezer Miller, Mr. Daniel Hudson, Mr. Asahel Strong, Mr. Abner Loomis, Ensign Daniel Grant and Mr. Ashbel North be a committee to divide and procure their equal proportions of clothing."
In December, 1778, another committee was appointed to procure clothing, consisting of George Baldwin, Dr. Elkanah Hodges, Ens. Benjamin Whiting, John Wetmore, Ezekiel Bissell Jr., and John Birge.
In September, 1779, a special town meeting was called for the purpose and they directed the select men with the committee, to borrow money if necessary, to provide clothing and provisions for soldiers' families.
In the next December, at the regular meeting they decided that " Daniel Dibble, Reuben Burr, Noah Wilson, Jr., and Ens. Wait Beach, be a committee to take care of the soldiers' families the year ensuing." And at the same time they appointed Nehemiah Gaylord, Jr., Michael Loomis, Elisha Smith, Caleb Lyman, Hewit Hills, Eli Richards, a committee to procure clothing for the soldiers for the year ensuing.
On December 4th, 1780, when war matters were looking gloomy, and further call had been made for soldiers, the town appointed Lieut. Jesse Cook, Ens. Daniel Grant, Lieut. John Burr, Sergeant Benjamin Beach, Mr. David Soper, and Mr. Ashbel North, a com mittee to procure men for three years, or during the war to fill one quota of the Continental army ; and to leave the matter with the committee now appointed, to get the men as reasonable as they can
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TORRINGTON IN WAR TIMES.
and for whatever they do the town will be responsible, and will satisfy their contract with those they hire, and satisfy all reasonable expenses."
In this year and in 1781, it required a great effort to procure the number of men required of the town, and the votes passed were of a very stringent and thorough character so as to meet the demands made ; extra taxes were levied; authority to borrow money given ; Daniel Grant was kept in the saddle collecting taxes almost the year round ; I three special town meetings were held in 1781 ; the town was divided into classes or districts and every district must furnish the men adjudged to be its proportion ; and the very language in which the acts are expressed indicate the extremity to which they were driven. Their town meetings were like councils of war rather than any thing else ; and on one occasion continued (June 2), in the old Torrington meeting house until after dark and they adjourned to the house of Ephraim Bancroft to have light to see to record the transactions. The great question was how to get men without op- pression and injustice, for they say to the committee, " to make out the town quota, in the most equitable way and manner as they possi- bly can, to do equal justice," for the drafts fell so heavy that there was danger of rebellion, and if not who could be found to arrest a man ; take him from his already suffering family and drag him into the army. One resolution has the ring of defiance ! " voted that if the militia officers neglect to detach three weeks (against the order) the town will defend from cost that may arise therefrom." That is, they must and would have a little time to do the work assigned. This was not all ; when the men were procured, the demands for provisions must be met. "Voted that the civil authority and select- men, divide the town into four equal classes by the lists and draw lots which class shall pay the first month's beef, and so on for the four months." This means that the authorities took a man's ox or cow, whether he would or not, and sent it to the army, that those sons and fathers already there might not starve. For any such thing taken, the town always paid a full price, but every ox and cow was wanted in the town and were not for sale.
The year 1782 came, and with it another call for men from this town the number being eleven.
" Voted that the four classes as set out last year be assigned to procure eleven men for one year as follows, viz : that the first class be divided into three
* See Biographical sketch.
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HISTORY OF TORRINGTON.
classes, each to procure one man ; the second class remain as they were last year, to procure two men ; the third class to be divided into three classes, each to procure one man ; the fourth class to remain together to procure three men ; and that the selectmen first divide and set out by the list of 1781, into four classes or equal parts, as set out last year, and then divide as aforesaid."
These eleven, were state men, and others must be procured.
" Voted that the committee above mentioned be a committee to hire what men are wanted to fill our quota aforesaid of the Continental army as well as the state men."
This was the last draft they had to meet and well it was, for they could not have procured many more soldiers, unless the women had volunteered.
In all the votes of the town there appeared no hesitancy, but great cheerfulness in meeting all requirements, as to the army and the care of the soldier's families at home, in hope of final and lasting success in freedom.
Not an intimation is given on the town records of any person be- ing disloyal to the American cause, and as far as can now be judged those who took the oath of fidelity to this cause, beginning in 1777, include all the voters in the town at that time, and onward as they became of age or came into the town. That list is a noble showing for the town.
Epaphras Sheldon, as colonel, entered complaint against Mat- thew Grant Sen., in May 1777, as an officer in the militia, that he neglected and hindered in the exercising of the militia, and he was summoned before the assembly, but he took the oath in the next September.
TAXES DURING THE REVOLUTION.
They were very high, and on account of the scarcity of money extremely difficult to pay ; and the actual suffering, consequent, was very considerable.
The town tax in 1775 amounted to &27, Is, 72d for the west side, and £14, 35, 2d, for the east side, or both, £41, 45, 92d. In 1777, the two assessments made amounted to ££181, 12s, IOd ; or more than four times that of 1775. In 1779, they amounted to £308, 45, 3d. In 1780, the amount in figures was £3054, Is, 10d, which they could not have paid if the figures represented hard money, but they meant Con- tinental money, which was abundant, but worth very little. In 1781, the two assessments amounted to £506, 55, 33d, in state money, which
233
TORRINGTON IN WAR TIMES.
money was then becoming the reliable currency, gold and silver being almost unknown, practically.
In the collection of these taxes, Daniel Grant became a celebrated, and almost indispensable man, because of his success in obtaining the money, and also in making it as easy as possible for the people. In many cases the persons could not raise the money, it being entirely beyond their ability. Mr. Grant would take a cow, sell it according to law, buy it himself ; leave the cow with the family, taking a note for three years, at the expiration of which time he was to receive the cow with the first calf. This was a great favor to these helpless families. Mr. Grant is said to have made some money in this mat- ter, and if so it was well earned. He was the banker of the town. He accepted wheat and clothing for the army, and attended to the exchange, by which the claims for money were satisfied by other articles, and when others could not raise the money needed, he did it, and took such property (lands or goods) as could be spared ; and did the work with such remarkable equity, that the town by vote in town meeting, committed almost the whole matter to him during the last four years of the war. No higher praise could be bestowed on one man under like circumstances. At the first there were other collectors appointed, especially one for the east side ; toward the last he was the only one appointed, and in the collection of money levied by congress, through the state, he was chosen "grand col- lector " showing the confidence placed in him and his ability to man- age the matter to the satisfaction, and as far as could be, to the comfort of all.
And finally, many of the notes he took for property were never collected, and in his last will he gave a farm to the town for the pur- pose of schooling (see his biography).
THE WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION.
They stayed at home. Ah, did not their hearts go with their sons and husbands to the battlefield, for seven long years ? Did they not suffer more in their anxieties, sympathies and privations at home than the men in the field ? What meant the gathering of the women once a week at the taverns of Col. Epaphras Sheldon and Capt. Ben- jamin Bissell to get some news from the war, but that, there was much suffering and hard fare at home ? But this was not all. In 1776, when the two militia companies were called away in August, who gathered the crops during the next two months ? The women
30
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HISTORY OF TORRINGTON.
and the children, for the men were nearly all gone ; one aged lady who heard much of these times said lately, " every body went." Who was it that did without tea, and cooked the dinners without salt, and made pies without sugar, or even molasses, except they themselves obtained it from the maple trees of the forest, but the women whose hearts were growing sadder every year, and many of them, were those whose eyes were dim already, because they should see no more those sons, some of them were mere children in years, who had gone to the war never to return? Who was it but the mother of Noah Beach's children who for weeks during the war had no bread in the house for herself and children, but griddle cakes made of buckwheat bran, of which her son said years after, "if they were baked from morning until four o'clock in the afternoon they would be so sticky that he could not swallow them ? "
Who spun the wool and wove the cloth, made into the blankets, for which the town was credited nine and ten pounds each, in money by the state, but the wives of Deacon Miller, Jabez Gillett, Daniel Dibble, and many others of the same noble heart and courage ? Who pulled the flax, beat off the seed, spun the linen and wove the cloth to make the soldiers' tents but such women as widow Mary Birge and fifty others who were as patriotic as any general in the army. ?
In the early part of 1781, the French army passed through this town on their way to join Washington's army near New York, and encamped on Torringford street.1
There was a company of troopers or soldiers on horses, formed in this town in 1779 or 80, who took active part in the revolutionary service, as the records show that they received pay for such service in the same proportion as the other militia companies. Two horse pistols are still preserved, and are in the hands of Mr. George Allyn, that were a part of the equipment of this company. They were made by Medad Hills, and bear his inscription.
1 Jeremiah Spencer, born in Bolton, Ct., February 5, 1770, was taken by his parents with five other children to Wyoming. In the summer of 1776, the father died of small pox. The two older sons were killed in the battle of Wyoming July 3, 1778, and the mother and four surviving children fled from the scene of desolation, on foot for Bolton, where they arrived at the end of five weeks, Jeremiah then in his ninth year, making the whole journey on foot, without hat, coat or shoes. He removed to Torringford about 1803, where he lived until his death. He joined the church on profession, July 4, 1858, in his eighty-ninth year, and died Oct. 22, 1863, in his ninety-fourth year.
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TORRINGTON IN WAR TIMES.
OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS.
Gen. EPAPHRAS SHELDON was lieutenant under Col. Oliver Wolcott and afterwards was made major, colonel and general after the war.
Capt. SHUBAEL GRISWOLD was lieutenant in two campaigns in the French war in 1758 and 9, and was captain in two campaigns in the Revolution.
Capt. JOHN STRONG was captain of the militia and was probably in two or three campaigns.
Capt. AMOS WILSON enlisted a company, went to the war but was taken ill by sun stroke and returned home.
Capt. EPAPHRAS LOOMIS, probably, was elected to Capt. Amos Wilson's position, in the commencement of the war, and as captain of the Torrington company was in several campaigns with the militia, and was afterwards appointed captain of an enlisted company.
Capt. NOAH WILSON was the first captain of a military company in the town, and he resigned and his brother Amos was elected in his place, and as near as can be ascertained, Amos resigned soon after the commencement of the war, and was not in the service long.
NOAH WILSON may have gone in the call for the militia in 1775.
DAVID LYMAN served in the army some time, was honorably dis- charged to run a grist mill in New Hartford for the supply of the re- volutionary troops ; resided in Torringford a number of years before his death. He is said to have been known by the name of General Lyman.
Capt. JABEZ GILLETT was in the service.
Dr. ISAAC DAY, of Torringford, was appointed surgeon's mate in the regiment of Col. Webb, in 1777.
Dr. OLIVER BANCROFT was in the army.
Dr. ELKANAH HODGES was probably in the army with the militia two or three terms when they were called out, as he received pay as others.
Dr. SAMUEL WOODWARD was in the army, but probably with the militia.
Capt. SETH COE was a soldier in the Revolution, enlisting when but seventeen, and remaining through the war, and was probably made captain in the war.
LEVI WATSON was at Danbury when it was burned by the British.
THOMAS WATSON was in the state service, which he entered at
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HISTORY OF TORRINGTON.
the age of fifteen, and joined the Continental army when but nine- teen.
SHUBAEL GRISWOLD JR., was an officer in his father's company in the Revolution, and afterwards became general of the militia at East Hartford.
PARDON ABBOTT, from Rhode Island, was a soldier in the Revolu- tion ; drew a pension many years ; lived in the old house on the little hill below the nickel furnace in Torrington hollow.
ASAHEL STRONG was conductor of teams.
The following persons are known to have been in the Revolution for various lengths of time ; some in the militia and some of them in the regular army :
Oliver Coe,
Ambrose Fyler,
Epaphras Loomis Jr.,
Oliver Coe Jr.,
Benjamin Whiting,
Wait Loomis,
Dr. Oliver Bancroft,
Benjamin Gaylord,
Elijah Loomis,
Nathaniel Barber jr.,
Jesse Whiting,
Richard Leach,
Bushniel Benedict,
Stanley Griswold,
Ebenezer Leach,
Daniel Benedict,
Henry Whiting,
Roger Marshall,
Simeon Birge.
Shubael Griswold Jr.,
Barber Moore,
Elijah Bissell,
Eliphalet Hough,
Jared Palmer,
John Dear,
Joseph Hoskins Sen.,
Abel Roberts,
Noah Drake Sen.,
Samuel Kelsey,
Samuel Roberts,
Andrew Ely,
Elisha Kelsey,
Clerk Roberts,
John Standcliff,
Nathaniel Kelsey,
William Williams,
John Ellsworth,.
Samuel Kelsey Jr.,
Stephen Rowley,
Ebenezer Scoville,
David Lyman,
John Williams.
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
The flag of the Union was fired on at Fort Sumter, April 14, 1861, and on the 21st of the same month this town issued a call for a special meeting to be held on the 27th following, " for the purpose of making an appropriation from the treasury of the town to furnish arms and clothing to those who might volunteer and be mustered in at the call of the president of the United States." At the appointed time the meeting voted the sum of four thousand and five hundred dollars, to be drawn and appropriated to the designated end by a committee, the following named persons being that committee : Bradley R. Agard, Francis N. Holly, William R. Slade, Thomas A. Miller, and Harvey L. Rood.
Such was the prompt, decided and substantial manifestation of the town in favor of sustaining the Union of the United States, and the principles of national freedom. At the annual meeting in the next
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TORRINGTON IN WAR TIMES.
October, they made further provisions for soldiers' families, and for any persons who should enlist ; and on Monday July 28, 1862, at a special meeting the town voted one hundred dollars bounty to each soldier accepted in the service from the town, before the twentieth of the next August. Before that time expired another meeting was called and the sum of one hundred dollars continued ; and an addi- tional fifty dollars offered to those who should enlist, under the call for 300,000 men for nine months. On the thirtieth of August, of the same year, after a draft had been ordered the town offered two hundred dollars bounty to those who should enlist from the town to obviate the necessity of carrying the draft into effect, and $7,000 were appropriated for this end.
On the 27th day of July, 1863, a meeting was held, called for the purpose of voting three hundred dollars bounty to " such of the citi- zens of this town who may be drafted," but no vote to this effect was passed, and two subsequent meetings were held before a final decision was reached in regard to certain matters of interest, when the vote passed to pay every man who should be drafted two hundred dollars, and every man who should be drafted and furnish a substitute, one hundred and fifty dollars, and the selectmen directed to hire so much money as should be necessary to execute the vote.
When five hundred thousand men were called for in July, 1864, the town voted five thousand dollars to fill the required number of soldiers, and in the next month the town gave authority for the select- men to borrow so much money as might be necessary for the purpose of filling the quota of the town, and gave them power to " use said money in such measures as they shall deem best for the object." Therefore the selectmen were entrusted with nearly the whole matter, which indicates the very great confidence of the town in them, and the great pressure the drafts were making upon the people of the land.
All of this may be thought to be well enough and that when men are trying to get out of the fight themselves they can afford to sur- render a little money to accomplish that end, but this town showed its true spirit of honor when, after the war closed, they voted one hundred dollars to those soldiers who had not received a bounty, or the wives and widows of such soldiers who had been taken prisoners or who had died in the service.
Such is an outline of the acts of the town for the purpose of sus- taining the nation's honor in the hour of severe and very great trial, in the hope of perpetuating to the generations to follow the great boon
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HISTORY OF TORRINGTON.
of liberty for which the fathers in the Revolution struggled so marvel- ously and successfully, but, to portray the real character of the late war as it affected the people of this town as well as others, and follow the desolations, privations and sorrows consequent upon the mis- fortune of those who by the calamities of war "crossed the dead line," would require a book of itself, and such a book, even, would be only a faint echo of the past. Were it proper and consistent with the circumstances of the author of this book, he would most gladly give a month's time, to secure some significant memorial to the noble men of this town, who left all, risked all, suffered much, and espe- cially those who laid down their lives, for their homes, their friends, and their country ; but he is compelled to leave the matter in the one effort of trying to make the catalogue of names as complete as it is in his power of doing.
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