USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Torrington > History of Torrington, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1737, with biographies and genealogies > Part 60
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After deliberate investigation, he became a partner in a cotton manufactory, Bloomvale, Dutchess county, and on the death of his partner, a few years subsequent, sole proprietor of the business.
While in Bloomvale, he married Miss Carrie, daughter of Mr. Henry Frost of Poughkeepsie.
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A favorable opportunity at length presenting, he sold his property in Bloomvale and has become an active proprietor in a stock com- pany, denominated the " Pond Manufacturing Company," Tenafly, New Jersey ; which has become a lucrative enterprise. The child- ren of Capt. and Mrs. Pond are two daughters and a son and they have been afflicted by the loss of a son and daughter.
Harriet Lemira, only daughter of Dr. Jas. O. Pond, was born in Connecticut and removed to New York city, with her parents in childhood. Her education therefore, which was liberal, was almost wholly received in the city. She married her third cousin Samuel Metcalf Pond, son of Hon. Samuel Metcalf Pond of Maine. He was industrious and persevering in business, until he fell a victim to that ruthless disease, the consumption of the lungs, which annually consigns so large a portion of our race to the land of silence. He died April, 1875, and was buried in Woodlawn cemetery, leaving two sons and a daughter.
Capt. Elijah Pond, some account of whose children, and other de- scendants, has been given in this sketch, was a man whose domestic proclivities and retiring disposition did not incline him to seek that notoriety which is so common a trait in town and hamlet in our land. His kindhearted, simple disposition prepared him to expect and receive more happiness in the bosom of his large family, than from all other sources. Mr. Pond did not make open profession of experimental religion, yet such were the influence of religious train- ing and the Puritan atmosphere from which he emigrated, that the truths of Christianity were indelibly impressed upon his mind. He imbibed them as principles, by which, to some good extent, his course in life was guided. Hence may be seen why he inculcated upon the minds of his family, lessons from the shorter catechism, and the habit of attending public worship on the Sabbath, and why, also, he en- joined the commitment to memory, by his children, of the Decalogue by Moses.
Mr. Pond, according to town records of Wrentham (now Franklin), was born 1738, but from domestic records 1740. He died at Tor- rington, June, 1831.
His trust for salvation was in the atoning righteousness of a crucified Saviour, appropriated by faith, as we firmly believe.
Mr. Pond's physical formation and development were excellent, such as with temperance and regular habits (and these he invariably observed) to secure good health and longevity.
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His thorax was capacious, his shoulders broad, his height over five feet and ten inches, his countenance florid and clear.
REV. NATHANIEL ROBERTS,
Was born in 1704, in Simsbury, and was graduated at Yale college in 1732 ; and it is most probable that he studied theology with Rev. Jonathan Marsh of Windsor. He was ordained October 21, 1741, pastor of the Torrington church, having preached here, probably, nearly a year previous to being installed, and it is very likely he was the first and only candidate the new church had, as quite a number of the settlers were from his part of ancient Windsor. It is said also that Moses Loomis married his sister or near relative. He married Margaret, daughter of Rev. Jonathan Marsh of Windsor, and pur- chased and settled on the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. Alonzo Whiting about half a mile north of the site of the first church, the house of worship where Mr. Roberts preached as long as he lived. By this marriage he was brother-in-law to Rev. Mr. Marsh of New Hartford and Rev. Mr. Heaton of Goshen. His wife Margaret died Oct. 1, 1747, and he married Esther, probably, daughter of Aaron Loomis, Nov. 7, 1748. Her father was one of the first settlers of the town on the farm next north of Mr. Roberts, now owned by Mr. Willard H. Barber. The Rev. Mr. Marsh of Windsor died Sept. 8, 1747; his daughter Mrs. Roberts died Oct. I, same year, and her mother died Dec. 8, of the same year ; which seems a little remarkable. When the church was organized, and Mr. Roberts ordained it consisted of seventeen persons, but others soon united and it gradually increased in membership and importance until some years after his decease, and was a church of considerable importance and strength at his death. There were no revivals under his ministry, and in 1741 and 2, when there was considerable religious awakening throughout New England, this society was too small to be affected by it.
Mr. Roberts was an eccentric man, characterized in the general by sincerity, honesty, and uprightness, and a little humor peculiar to himself. He was not an intellectual preacher, nor a great scholar, but sought by more practical lessons to guide the people in the way of shunning evil and doing some good. His religious life and teach- ing consisted more in avoiding and escaping evil, or as he would put it, "the devil," than in doing positive good, and this was the type of religion in that age, and was of great value so far as it went ; a revival
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of this kind at the present age would be hailed with joy. He believed in harmony with his age, in a personal devil, who went about not always as a roaring lion ; and a burning hell, and the wrath of a holy God, and hence to avoid the last and keep out of the power of the two former he gave his counsels as a minister,
His preaching so much against the devil and his works was ob- served by the young who made some sport about it. On one Sabbath Joel Loomis, a young man sitting in the gallery at the side, and near the pulpit, scratched with a pin every time Priest Roberts said devil in his sermon, and reported the number of times, as being very large. This fact reached Mr. Roberts's ears before the next Sabbath and he guarded himself accordingly while preaching the next sermons, and as he closed, he turned and looking direct at the young man who was sitting in the same seat as the Sabbath before and said ; "There, young man, I have preached two sermons to-day and have not men- tioned the name of your father once."
His motto was, " have nothing to do with the works of the devil," which would be advantageous to many besides ministers if well followed. On a certain spring Mr. Roberts had tapped his maple trees, but the weather proved unfavorable for several days until Sabbath morning when it became warm and very pleasant and the sap filled nearly all the troughs beyond all ordinary days. On Mon- day morning Mr. Roberts was seen going from tree to tree turning the sap out on the ground, with great vigor and decision, when the neighbor inquired ; " Parson Roberts, what are you doing? why do you throw away your sap so ? Ah ! said he, " I'll have nothing to do with the works of the devil ; nothing but sap, sap all day Sunday ! I'll have nothing to do with the works of the devil," and on he went pouring out the sap, supposing that the devil made the sap run abundantly on the Sabbath for the purpose of tempting him, and he was so wary of his snares that he purposed not to be caught in that trap even though it was a sugar one.
It may be proper in this connection to relate an occurrence that took place in connection with the Torrington church, which illustrates the doctrines and opinions held on the subject of the human person- ality of the devil, and his real appearance on earth. A man by the name of Culver, while engaged in the field for Caleb Lyman, was addressed by a stranger, a colored man who came along the road, with the inquiry, if he was satisfied with his employer and the wages he was then receiving ? To which he replied that he was quite well
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pleased but that if he could do better he should be glad to do it. Upon this the stranger promised to obtain work for him with much better wages, if Culver would write his name in a book which the stranger carried ; and advised him as he had no ink to prick his arm with a pin and write his name with the blood. This Culver did, and the stranger fixed a day, at a future time, when he would call for him and take him to his new work, and urged it upon his mind to be sure and be ready at the day specified. The stranger then went on his way, and Culver after reflecting on the subject became much exer- cised as to the transaction ; left his work and followed the man to find if possible where he went to, and if others had been engaged as himself for work. After diligent search for several days, and nothing could be heard of the man, neither as to where he came from nor whither he went, Culver gave the report that he had sold himself to the devil and on a certain day he must be ready to go with him without fail.
The church became interested in the matter ; much talk was had on the subject ; a day of fasting and prayer was appointed to be held on the day that was set for Mr. Culver's departure with the stranger, and at the appointed time the church assembled with the unfortunate man who seemed to think his last day of happiness had come. Mr. Culver was placed in the gallery of the church and a very strong man at the head of the stairs, armed with a heavy club, and another man of equal ability and armor at the foot of the stairs, to de- fend the innocent and beat off the devil, if he should come according to agreement.' The fast was held, and when the sun had set, and therefore the day gone, the two strong men accom- panied Mr. Culver to his home and left him safe and delivered from the devil. From that day to this Torrington people have neither heard nor seen anything of Culver. No one ever knew what be- came of him. This story is well authenticated by the oldest people in such number as to preclude any doubt, and it was published in a Litchfield paper about forty years since, when there were many liv- ing witnesses to the occurrence.
This personality of the devil, with ability to appear in all forms and shapes and for any and all purposes under the sun, to do that which
I Jacob Strong is said to have been one of the men who stood at the stairs. He died in 1776, and therefore the occurrence took place in Mr. Roberts's pastorate and in the old church.
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was both good and bad, was most fully received in the early history of the colonies, as is attested by many court records still preserved in the Connecticut State Library ; a considerable number of which are by far too immodest to be written in a book.
There was a very dry season during Mr. Roberts's pastorate and a day of fasting was appointed and the people were to assemble at the church to pray for rain. At the appointed time minister Roberts took his over coat on his arm and started for the church. Some one asked him why he took his overcoat. " I tell you I shall fetch her !" " I tell you I shall fetch'er," and before he reached home it did rain heavily.
On a Sabbath Parson Roberts was returning from church, and when about half way from home he came upon three large bears which climbed a tree by the side of the road. He hastened home, obtained his gun ; returned and shot two of them, the other escaping into the woods.
After the parson was married, there came an alarm of the coming of the Indians, and his wife being a slight woman with poor health, he took her on his back and carried her to the fort, a distance of over a mile, with ease and safety.
Parson Roberts was quite a farmer, but his peculiarities were seen as well on the farm as in the pulpit. He had one lot of about three acres that he devoted year after year to the raising of geese ; keep- ing large numbers of them most of the time, and the lot held its name, the goose lot, until a few years since, when tobacco took the place of the geese.
In his later days Mr. Roberts had a spell for doing some import - ant work and quietly said to some one, " don't invite grandpa Hills, he'll eat mor'n he'll arn." Mr. Hills (Benoni) heard of it and went but took his dinner, and at the close of the work, he said, " well Mr. Roberts I didn't eat more than I earned "
He had one daughter, and Doctor Bellamy's son came to see her having on his father's boots. When Mr. Roberts met him he said "who be you," and he replied, " I am Doctor Bellamy's son." " Ah," said Mr. Roberts, " I thought I knew the boots."
It is said that he had a troublesome case of discipline in his church and the man was generally believed to be guilty, but after repeated trials the testimony was insufficient to convict him, and at the closing prayer he made this remarkable reference of the case to a higher tribunal. " We believe O Lord, this man is verily guilty,
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but we fail to detect his wickedness. If, as we fear, he is guilty, we pray thou wilt bring him to repentance, or permit him to sin more, that we may be able to deal with him according to his deserts."
In the scenes introductory to the American Revolution, he was a conspicuous patriot, and was very much dissatisfied with the premier of Great Britain. In one of his public prayers, he is reported to have offered this prayer : "Great God, we pray thee remove that Lord North from office, by death or otherwise." He did not, however, live to see the great triumph of his country, for his ministry and life were terminated in 1776.
REV. WARREN H. ROBERTS,
Was the son of Pelatiah and Sarah Roberts, born in the town of Torrington, Litchfield county, Conn., in 1826. At an early age he manifested a strong desire to obtain a thorough education and prepare for a professional life, but being entirely dependent on his own un- aided effort, was not able to enter upon this course at so early an age as he desired.
He prepared for college at the Wesleyan academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and graduated at Kenyon college, Ohio, in 1856. Was ordained a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church by Bishop McIlvaine of Ohio, at the time of graduation.
Was ordained to the priesthood by the same bishop in 1857. Was made a Bachelor in Divinity by Kenyon college.
The ministry of Mr. Roberts embraces a period of a little over twenty years, most of which has been spent in the principal cities of Illinois and Indiana. For a short time he was rector of one of the churches in the city of Pittsburgh, Pa.
More than five hundred persons have been brought into the church through his ministry. He has held many prominent and responsible offices in the church, having represented the diocese of Illinois three times, and the diocese of Indiana once in the Triennial conventions of the Episcopal church in the United States. He is now a member and president of the standing committee of the church in the diocese of Indiana, and rector of St. John's church in the city of La Fayette in the same diocese.
He married Irene Sophia, daughter of Ralzamon Loomis of Charlestown, Ohio, Oct. 28, 1853. She has been a great help to him in his ministry, being a woman preeminently fitted for the posi- tion of the wife of a clergyman.
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NELSON ROBERTS,
Son of Henry and Chloe (Bunn) Roberts, was born Sept. 22, 1814 ; and worked on his father's farm in Torringford until twenty years of age. He then taught a district school one term and then attended the seminary at Amenia, Dutchess county, N. Y., three terms. On returning to Torringford he taught school in the north district, where he had resided all his life. Proving himself a good disciplinarian, a quality sometimes needed, he continued to teach with success that school nine consecutive winter terms. The school then numbered from sixty to eighty scholars, and many of them grown to manhood. Of his remembrance of this school Mr. Roberts says : "Since then my fellow citizens have shown their confidence in me by appointing me to positions of trust, but this is not as satisfying to me as to know that many of those boys who attended school at the old school house in " Green Woods street" have made successful and honora- ble men. In 1841, he married Charlotte daughter of Ralzamon Lomis of Charlestown, Ohio, but formerly of Torringford. He continued as a farmer until 1849, when he engaged in the grocery and dry goods trade at Burrville and remained there fourteen years. During the war, he was engaged two years in the milk condensing business in Penn. At the close of the war he returned to Conn., residing about one year in Wolcottville and three in Winsted, and in 1870, he removed to Vineland, N. J., and has been engaged mostly in raising fruits for the New York market.
In 1846, he was elected representative to the legislature from Tor- rington, and was reelected in 1847 and in 1855. In 1866, he was elected state senator for the 15th senatorial district.
Soon after going to Vineland, in 1871, he was elected a member of the county board of " Chosen Freeholders " a board having charge of much county business, and has been elected to this office every year since.
In 1872, he was made chairman of the township committee (Select- men) and has been reelected to that office every year since.
While in Burrville his first wife died in 1858, and in 1859, he married her sister Chloe A. Loomis, a graduate of the Granville Episcopal Female Seminary, of Ohio.
Mr. Roberts has two sons, children by his first wife, who reside in Winsted. Harvey L., was chosen representative from that town to the legislature in 1871, and in 1873, was elected state senator for the 15th district.
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JESSE B. ROSE,
Son of Bela and Mary (Brockett) Rose, was born in the town of Wolcott, Ct., on Pike's hill, afterward more familiarly known as Rose hill, Jan. 10, 1821 ; the place being one of those so numerous in the state from which a most interesting and charming view is had in every direction. The grandfather of Mr. Rose was from Bran- ford, Ct., and his ancestors from Massachusetts, where they were among the early settlers and influential people. Mr. Rose's father was a farmer of moderate means, all obtained by his own exertions in unremitting toil ; and in this toil the young Jesse B., had shared to a large extent before he reached the age of sixteen years, at which age his advantages for education in the public schools closed.
At this time upon the direction of his father he went to Water- bury and engaged in the employ of Mark Leavenworth, in work about the home and what time could be spared he worked in Mr. Leavenworth's button shop. To indicate how small an occurrence changes the life path of an individual, whether for weal or woe, un- known, it is proper to relate why Mr. Rose did not continue in the button shop. It was in the hard times of 1837, and Mr. Leaven- worth was in straitened relations as to his business, and in arranging some money matters which were troublesome, he sent Jesse to Litchfield with horse and carriage, directing on his return to drive the horse to the shop where he (Mr. Leavenworth) could use him. The journey was performed ; the horse driven to the post at the shop and tied according to orders, and Jesse went in and having delivered his message stood waiting for further orders while Mr. Leavenworth ex- amined the papers brought to him. In a little time Mr. Leavenworth said : " What did you drive the horse here for ?" "Because you directed me to." "I told you to leave him at the house, its a lie," said Mr. Leavenworth. Quietly Mr. Rose replied, " Mr. Leaven- worth, you told me to drive the horse down here so that you could use him," and then retired from the room, but did not go to Mr. Leavenworth's house to do the work that evening as had been his custom on other days. Mr. Leavenworth sent his men after Mr. Rose in various directions but he was not to be found. The next day he went home, and before night seeing Mr. Leavenworth's carriage coming he fled to the woods where he remained until even- ing and then returned home. His mother said, " where have you been, we have been looking for you all round. Mr. Leavenworth's
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man has been to prevail with you to return." He said " I'll never work where they say I tell a lie." The next day his father said rather sternly, " Jesse, if you will not work for Mr. Leavenworth, you must find some other place ; whereupon Jesse B. tied all his goods in a pocket handkerchief and leaving home, never to return as a resi- dent, directed his steps to Bristol which was about five miles distant. What he should do, what kind of employment he might find, or where he might find lodgings even for a night, he knew not, but the world was before him, he loved, and felt ambitious to work and secure his own living and therefore was neither discouraged nor gloomy although he felt lonely in the world. At Bristol he applied at the woolen mill, and engaged himself as an apprentice until he should become twenty-one years of age.
Immediately after he became twenty-one, he was employed in a woolen mill at Naugatuck as foreman of the carding room, where he remained nearly two years, and was afterwards employed in Terry- ville, Bristol and Plymouth Hollow, in the same department. He came to Wolcottville under the employ of W. R. Slade, in the Union Manufacturing company, and after working here about six months the mill was consumed by fire, but was soon rebuilt. He occupied the position of foreman of the carding room until 1859, when he became a stock owner, and superintendent of the manufac- turing work, on the mill. In 1873, he was chosen president of the company, still having supervision of the work. He was elected repre- sentative to the legislature in 1877. He has now been in Wolcott- ville nearly thirty years, and is one of the principal stock owners in the woolen mill, and it is doubtful if all his goods could be tied up in a pocket handkerchief as when he first went to Bristol. So much for steady persevering industry.
FREDERICK J. SEYMOUR,
Son of Samuel and Lucy (Taylor) Seymour, was born Oct. 14, 1825, in Wolcottville, where he still resides, and where he has been inti- mately connected with manufacturing enterprises which have given to Wolcottville some of its impulses to prosperity. He has been in- terested thirty years in the manufacture and production of metals and metal goods, as a specialty connected with the production of brass and german silver wares. He was engaged with the Waterbury brass company, continuously from the year 1847 to 1862, and during the later years of that time held the position as superintendent.
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Early in 1862, under President Lincoln's call for 300,000 volun- teers, he gave up this position for the purpose of raising a company of men for the service in the fourteenth regiment, C. V. ; was elected first lieutenant, and in August of the same year the regiment to which his company belonged was ordered to the front as part of the Morris brigade of French's division of Sumner's corps, of the army of the Potomac, and participated in nearly all the engagements of that event- ful year. He was promoted to be captain of Company G, of the same regiment for good conduct at the battle of Antietam, his com- mission bearing date of the anniversary of that celebrated battle. In December of 1862, and after the battle of Fredericksburg, he was attacked by typhus fever, which after partial recovery, was followed by fever and ague, and was recommended for discharge by the medi- cal director of the division to which his regiment belonged, and on the 24th of December, was honorably discharged for disability.
After returning home, and after recovering his health to a consid- erable extent he began to look about for some business enterprise in which to engage, and although he had a standing invitation to return to the Waterbury company, yet he concluded to enter upon some enterprise for himself, or where he should have a more special interest. Hence in the spring of 1863, he became the pioneer of certain manu- facturing enterprises in Wolcottville, which have been followed by great advantage and prosperity to the place as well as to individuals. At that time Wolcottville was in a state of almost unbroken sleep, if not approaching decay, property of every description being at its lowest mark. Almost every manufacturing enterprise in and around the village had closed, and several had closed in bankruptcy ; the woolen mill and brass mill held on, but the latter held by doing almost nothing.
The Wadhams manufacturing property was purchased in April by Mr. Seymour, and the Seymour Manufacturing Company organized, and the manu facture of upholstery, hardware, and other metal goods of a similar character was commenced. In 1866, this company was consolidated with the company then known as the Turner and Clark Company, and later and during the same year consolidated with and absorbed the Judd Manufacturing Company of New Haven, and the name of the company became the Turner, Seymour and Judd Company, and this again in 1873 was changed to the Turner and Seymour Company.
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