USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Torrington > History of Torrington, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1737, with biographies and genealogies > Part 61
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It was during Mr. Seymour's investigations of the manufacturing interests in Wolcottville, and in consequence of them that the attention of Mr. L. W. Coe was turned to, and his purchase of the brass mill property finally made ; the consequences of which, because of the success of that enterprise, have been very advantageous to the community.
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Mr. Seymour has been actively engaged in business during a notable period in the history of the development of manufacturing enterprises in this country, and has made many improvements in metals and appliances for working metals, among the most notable is the improved machine for spining metals ; nearly all sheet metal shell work used in this country for chandeliers and lamps being made upon these machines, nearly forty being now in use. He has secured many patents on improvements, some of them having been used with success, others superseded by later inventions ; and of the study of these improvements there seems to be no end.
REV. HENRY MARTYN SHERMAN,
Son of Charles H. and Lydia (Crowfoot) Sherman of Bridgeport, was born June 26, 1838. He prepared for college at West Port academy, a classical school of South Port, Ct. He then took a theological course of study at the Berkeley Divinity school at Mid- dletown, Ct., and was ordained deacon in the Episcopal church, May 25, 1864, and priest March 8, 1865. His first charge was in Colchester, Conn., where he organized a parish and built a church. After laboring there six years he became rector of Trinity church at Tariffville where he remained also six years and built a church. He became rector of Trinity church in Wolcottville September 1, 1876, and is successfully and energetically prosecuting the work for which he was ordained.
ELISHA SMITH, ESQ.,
Was born in Farmington, Ct., August 14, 1751, and came to Tor- rington when about twenty-one years of age. He married Lucy, daughter of Aaron Loomis Jr., Nov. 25, 1773, and made his home with his father-in-law ; his wife, probably, inheriting most of the homestead ; the house standing on the east side of the road. He afterwards built, on the west side of the road, the house still standing ; it being the present town house. It was a commodious, and ample farmer's house, and still proclaims somewhat the dignity it possessed when its builder and first occupant resided in it.
Probably no man has enjoyed higher honors and had them con- tinued longer to him, in this town, than Elisha Smith Esquire. He was elected representative the first time in 1786, and the last time in 1812, one year before his decease, and he was continued in that honor a large proportion of the intervening years, twenty-six in number.
It is said that when his name was left off the ticket in 1813, tears expressed the sadness of his heart at the inevitable decline of his sun
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of honor and association, which so long had been at its noon, with so clear a sky.
He was town clerk eighteen years, to the time of his decease. He was justice of the peace about the same number of years as town clerk, and served in many other positions of public trust, during the last thirty-seven years of his life, beginning particularly in the revo- lutionary war.
During the time of the laying out and constructing of the turnpikes through the territory, the town was in litigation with the turnpike companies, and against other road projects, and Elisha Smith was the chosen agent of the town in nearly if not quite all those cases, showing that in such matters no man was re- garded as well qualified as he to defend, and secure the rights of the town. This was a great compliment to his knowledge of legal matters as well as the command he had of the confidence of the people. Nor was it because squire Smith was so conservative that he was chosen as the fit agent to keep the town from spending a dollar towards improvements, that he was thus selected, for he is said to have been one of the most enterprising and spirited men of his day, and this is corroborated by the style and appearance of his own dwelling and farm.
Taken as a whole he was one of the most intelligent, reliable, and service- able men the town ever had, and in return it did well in bestowing upon him its confidence and honor to a greater length of time than any other citizen in the territory.
His useful and honored life closed January 9th, 1813, at the age of sixty-two years.
His widow, Lucy (Loomis) Smith survived him thirty-four years, dying in 1847, at the house of her son-in-law in Wolcottville, General Abernethy, aged ninety-one years. She was a remarkable woman ; noble in character, benevo- lent in her disposition, possessing a great memory, even to the close of life, and an agreeable personal appearance. General Abernethy called her his Dictionary for if he failed to remember, or wanted to know of things in the past history of the town or country, he went to her, and with such unfailing success as to merit the appropriated name. She was the youngest of those four daughters of Aaron Loomis Jr., who married so remarkably well ; their husbands all being honored with public office, and possessed reliable, distinguished characters, and whose names were Caleb Lyman, Wait Beach, Rial Brace and Elisha Smith. And of these daughters it may properly be said there was not " a black sheep in that flock," neither as to character, nor as to " luck" in marriage.
CHARLES B. SMITH,
Son of Nathaniel and Harriet (Winchell) Smith, was born in 1810; and educated, and trained in his father's store to be a merchant. He possessed well balanced and noble qualities of mind, and a fine per- sonal appearance. He also possessed musical talent and during many years, as a young man, presided at the organ in the old Torringford meeting house and a few years in the new house, and thereby greatly
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aided the Rev. Mr. Goodman in the Sabbath services of the house of the Lord. About 1840, to '42, Mr. Smith came to Wolcottville and engaged in mercantile business for himself, in the old store on the south side of the bridge ; now the Coe furniture building, where he continued in business.
He also devoted much attention to raising of sheep on his farm in the edge of New Hartford, and also considerable attention to cattle. He or his father purchased of a Winsted farmer one of the first or the first Devonshire cow that was brought to this part of the country ; and this cow, after remaining on this farm a few years was purchased by John Brown (the hero of Harper's Ferry) and taken to western or northern New York, to improve the stock of that region. After the death of Mr. Smith's father, he also continued that farm for the purpose of raising sheep and cattle. (Capt. John Brown purchased many sheep and cattle) of Mr. Smith. On the post in the barn now standing in the rear of Mr. Nathaniel Smith's brick house, now owned by Stanley Griswold, is the following record made by Capt. Brown of the sheep he bought probably at one time ; 35 rams, 104, 50 ewes, 128 ; 80 ewes (pro- bably of another sort) 158 ; the whole amounting to $385. On another post there is another column of figures amounting to 762, but whether these mean animals or dollars is not shown ; in either case the sum was considerable ; and reveals somewhat the extent of farming done by Mr. Smith.
He was also employed as agent to buy wool in the United States for a manu- facturing company in Rhode Island. This business took him from home some two or three months in a year, and thereby he became familiar with the wool growing business throughout this country and Europe. Hence he im- ported sheep from Europe, and was constantly improving the quality and quantity of wool on his own farm, and selling sheep to wool growers in many parts of the country, specially the southern and western states.
In consequence of this, John Brown, while engaged in the wool business, was accustomed to call on Mr. Smith, once, twice and sometimes thrice in a year, to buy wool and sheep for the west and other markets. These visits are well remembered by Mrs. Smith, who says the old captain was a marvelously " persevering man, always on the go, never still, never idle. He would be up at four o'clock in the morning or earlier, and off to the lot to examine sheep ; be out all day in rain or fair weather ; never stopping for anything, scarcely his meals, and frequently not even those." Three or four hours of sleep seemed sufficient for him, and he was ready for a marvelous amount of "go and come" or nervous endurance.
Charles B. Smith was a man of good business ability, of unusual enterprise as a farmer, and of noble and honorable character.
He died March 31, 1861, leaving a widow and three daughters, but one of the daughters is still living.
JEREMIAH SPENCER
Was born in Bolton, Ct., Feb. 5, 1770, and died in Torrington Oct. 22, 1863, and was consequently 93 years 8 months and 17 days old. In the winter of 1775 and 6, his father removed to Wyoming, taking with him six of his eight children, Jeremiah among the rest, there
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being but one younger than he. In the summer after their removal the father died of small pox.
On the 3d of July 1778, occurred the terrible battle and massacre of Wyoming, in which the two eldest sons were killed, leaving the widow with four children, who left the house at midnight, when the alarm reached them, hastened to the river, and, with many others, made the best possible speed for Harrisburg, where the eldest daughter was taken sick, by which they were delayed about two weeks, after which they started on foot for their old home in Bolton, crossing the Delaware at Easton, the Hudson at Newburg, and on the fifth of September reached the Connecticut at Higley's ferry, having been over five weeks on the journey, the whole of which Jeremiah per- formed without hat, coat, or shoes.
Mr. Spencer was in his ninth year when they were driven from Wyoming, and though not in the battle, nor a witness of it, he was old enough to retain a vivid recollection of the trying scenes through which he passed, and during the more than sixty years which he spent in Torrington, he loved to repeat to interested listeners the tale of his sufferings on that long and dismal journey, though his lot was pleasant compared with that of the people who came directly through the wilderness, or "shades of death," as it was emphatically called for many years.
He joined the church in Torringford on the fourth day of July 1858, just eighty years from the day he left Wyoming. He was kind and affectionate in his family, pleasant and affable in his intercourse with the world, upright in his dealings ; in short an humble, sincere Christian, and an honest man.
DR. BELA ST. JOHN,
Was born in Wilton, Fairfield county, Conn., May 19, 1827. His ancestors were among the first settlers of Norwalk, Ct., are traced back to William the Conqueror. As a family they have been noted for their firmness to their convictions of what was right, even though the right was with the minority. It is said of the doctor's father that when criticised at a church meeting because he alone advocated and voted for some measure, he replied, if I am wrong I ought to be alone, if right I am not ashamed to be alone.
The doctor early manifested a pleasure in taking care of the sick and relieving human suffering, but from circumstances over which he had no control, he was, in 1851, compelled to relinquish the study
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of medicine and enter upon the practice of dentistry, with the late Doctor . H. V. Porter. In 1857, in Danbury, Ct., he made the first set of teeth on a rubber plate ever made in Fairfield county, and in 1860, he made the first set made in Litchfield county. He has lately secured a patent for a new plate and tooth, said by all dentists to be the best thing yet invented, and for which patent he is offered a liberal price.
In 1856, he entered the office of the late Dr. William E. Buckley in Danbury and began the study of homeopathic medicine, and after- wards attended lectures at the New York Homeopathic Medical college. When he came to Wolcottville homeopathy was a big word, and only a thing to be laughed at, there being only two persons in the village who used strictly homeopathic medicines. So much prejudice existed in the community that during the first year or two, persons on different occasions refused to go for the doctor when re- quested to do so by their sick neighbors. Others said, if he came into their yards or houses they would kick him out, and various ex- pressions of the kind ; all indicating only the opposition to that system of practice. It was a frequent occurrence for persons to go to the sick and inform them and their friends of the dangerous course they were pursuing in trusting to a homeopathic physician, and in one case the doctor was dismissed by a neighbor without the knowledge of the patient or his family.
But quietly and devotedly the doctor has pursued his profession until he has a large proportion of the practice throughout the region, and the general sentiment in regard to this system of practice is greatly changed from that of ten years ago.
REV. JACOB HURD STRONG,
Was born December 26, 1828, in the town of Haddam, Ct., in the ecclesiastical society of Middle Haddam, and was the son of Dea. Anson and Clarissa (Hurd) Strong. His paternal grand father was David Strong of East Hampton, Ct., and his maternal grandfather was Jacob Hurd of Middle Haddam.
In his sixteenth year he was received to the communion of the Congregational church of his native place, and at seventeen, he com- menced his preparatory course, fitting for college at Brainard academy in his native town. He commenced this course having the purpose of becoming a minister of the gospel, and completed this preparation at Monson academy, Mass., in the summer of 1851, and in the
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autumn following entered the Freshman class in Williams college. Here he was graduated in 1854. In the following autumn he be- came connected with the Theological Institute of Connecticut, then located at East Windsor hill, where he was graduated in July 1857.
Mr. Strong was licensed to preach the gospel by the Franklin association at West Hawley, Mass., May 14, 1856, a little more than a year before completing his theological course. In September, following his graduation at the seminary, he was invited to preach at New Preston, in the village society, where he was ordained pastor December 23, 1857. Soon after, an unusual religious interest pre- vailed in the community, and as the result twenty-seven were re- ceived to the church on profession during the year, of all ages from fourteen to fifty.
He continued pastor of this church until May 1862, when this relation was dissolved by the consociation. In August following he received an invitation to preach at Oxford, where he was installed February 11, 1863, where he con- tinued until 1865 ; it being during the war of the rebellion. He preached his first sermon in Torrington November i2, 1865, where he was not installed but continued as acting pastor until 1869. During his labors here, on the week of fourth of July, Rev. J. D. Potter held meetings with him and his church five days, and considerable religious interest followed ; and as the result, twelve united with the church. Mr. Strong succeeded in raising by subscription two thousand dollars, to replace that amount, which had been used of the perma- nent fund of the society.
As the result of mutual advice, the incipient steps were taken, during his labors here, for removing the church edifice to Torrington hollow, where it is now located. On the last week in September, 1869, Mr. Strong left his parish accompanied by his wife and youngest child, to go to California, not knowing but that he might return, and resume his labors. During the next six months he resided in Oakland, Cal., and preached as he had opportunity in different places. In March the next, was invited to preach in Soquel, Santa Cruz Co., located on Monterey bay. Here he was installed over the Congregational church, August 7, 1870, where he remained until the first of July, 1875. Having resigned this relation, he removed to Santa Cruz, a distance of three miles where he conducted a classical school until the next spring In April 1876, he went to Ferndale, Humboldt county, and organized in that place a Congregational church and society, and engaged in earnest labor in a rapidly increasing community. The health of his wife has very much improved, and he thinks it a kindly divine Providence that guided him and his family to that climate, and the good work which he is enjoying in that land far away from the home of his early days.
JOSEPH TAYLOR,
Son of Ebenezer Taylor of Litchfield, came to Torrington a short time before his marriage in 1775. His father-in-law Noah Wilson gave him and his wife five acres of land near the river, on the west
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side, a little distance above the old saw mill ; the site now occupied by an old barn, at the foot of Allyn, and corner of High streets. Mr. Taylor was an active, energetic, successful farmer and business man, and made himself well known throughout the town, as such, in regard to all public matters. He identified himself with the Tor- rington church about the time of the building of the second meeting house ; was elected to office in the military company after the Revo- lution. He purchased a share in the Wilson's mill, and engaged more specially in the lumber business and clearing the pine swamp, and probably had an interest in the first and second carding machines on the river. He and his wife owned considerable land in the pine swamp at the time of his decease, some of which was partially cleared in the neighborhood of the bridge on Main street, and he had made some preparations for building a tavern on the site of the Allen House, and most likely had made preparations for building the house occu- pied by his son-in-law Rockwell about 1805 or 6.
When the Torrington turnpike was surveyed in 1800, he was, pro- bably, the most thorough, and capable business man in the vicinity of what is now Wolcottville, and for this reason was sought for and employed by the turnpike company to build that road. It was while engaged on this road, blasting rocks that he was killed by a blast, which closed his energetic and useful life. Great energy and per- severance seem to have characterized his father's family. Two of his brothers and one sister went to Wyoming before the Revolution, and one, Benjamin, enlisted in that war. The original certificate of dismission of Benjamin Taylor from that service, signed by George Washington is in the possession of Charles F. Brooker of Wolcott- ville, and reads as follows :
" By his excellency, George Washington, Esq., general and commander-in- chief of the forces of the United States of America : These are to certify that the bearer hereof Benjamin Taylor, soldier in the second Continental regiment, having faithfully served the United States from Jure, 1777, to June 1783, and being enlisted for the war only, is, hereby diseharged from the American army. Given at head quarters, the 9th of June, 1783.
Go. WASHINGTON.
By his excellency's command ; J. Trumbull, Jun., Sy. registered in the books of the regiment, G. Curtiss, adjutant.
The above B. Taylor has been honored with the badge of merit, for six years faithful service.
H. SWIFT COLO."
That was a sad day for the community around the old pine swamp when Joseph Taylor was killed. The mantle of business fell on Ann Wilson Taylor, and she was equal to the work which became
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a necessity. Enterprising, energetic and of a business turn of mind, she took the work where Mr. Taylor left it; bought the John Brooker tavern and kept it as such, several years, then she and her son Uri, resumed the work her husband had commenced, and built a tavern, the first that stood on the site of the present Allen House, and made it their permanent home.
MRS. ANN TAYLOR,
Daughter of Noah Wilson, was born in 1751, and married Joseph Taylor in 1775, and was a woman of very decided intellectual ability, and moral character. She inherited from her father, that steady, straight forward, persevering character, that so definitely marked his whole life, and having been trained in the puritanic ideas of religion she continued in them to her latest day. The keeping of the Sab- bath was a law never to be broken by her, and some of her grand- children can tell of her requirements of them in this direction. Her memory was very tenacious and correct as she often demonstrated by acting as a concordance to the Bible, as she could direct where to find almost any passage in that book, and she could tell, it is said, most of the public occurrences that had transpired in the town from its first settlement, remembering what she had heard as well as what she had seen. She related many times to her daughter who is still living, in the possession of very excellent memory, also, when the Methodist ministers first began to preach at her brother's house, Abijah Wilson's, about 1787 or 8, and when the Baptists began still earlier to preach in the pine grove below Wolcottville, coming from Litchfield for this purpose.
Her brother William died very suddenly and she suspicioned that he had been taking mercury, as the cause of some peculiarity in his illness in the last twenty-four hours. Upon this she obtained the doctor's prescription, which being in characters she could not read, and then rode to Litchfield where she found a druggist that read it, and her suspicions were fully verified. He did rot know that he was taking such medicine, and accidentally, or thoughtlessly, sat in a carriage while making a call a little time on a very damp day, and took cold in consequence, and his tongue swelled greatly, and he lived only about twenty-four hours after it.
Her husband had bought a yoke of oxen about a year before he died, and she knew that but a short time before his decease he went to pay the note. Some few months after his death the note was pre-
CAPT. URI TAYLOR.
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sented, without even any endorsement on it, and she refused to pay it, giving as a reason that there must be something wrong about it. In those days it was necessary to have witnesses to a note to make it legal, and upon examining this note carefully she judged that one witness's name had been cut off, upon which suspicion she made in- quiry as to who signed the note, and after some weeks ascertained that the name of one witness was cut off; and this was probably done in order to cut off the indorsement. She then employed a lawyer who advised her to let the note come into court. The holder of the note surmised what the plan was and that the witness could be found whose name was cut off, and he abandoned the case and left the country. Such was the business ability and persevering energy of this woman.
When therefore her husband was departed the responsibility of the care of a considerable property, and business enterprises fell to her effort, and she was equal to the work placed before her. She did not stand in amazement repeating the forlorn expression, " What can a woman do under such circumstances ?" but took the work where her husband left it, and went through with it for a number of years, and then her son Uri became the leader, being qualified by the practical education received both by father and mother, and thus a name of honor and benevolences is theirs and will be for generations to come.
As to the disastrous consequences to physical life and moral char- acter, of so much effort of mind and physical endurance the only answer necessary to be given is that she lived to be nearly eighty- seven years of age, possessed a quiet, contented spirit, and clear and valuable intellectual powers to the last. She died in 1838.
CAPT. URI TAYLOR,
Son of Joseph and Ann (Wilson) Taylor, was born July 22, 1786, and was sixteen years of age when his father was killed by accident. His only brother was two years younger than himself, and hence much care and responsibility fell upon him, as to his mother's family, and the business enterprises his father was engaged in at the time of his decease. Under the direction of his mother the plans of his father were carried forward with decided energy and success, and when he became of age, he moved forward in the same line of progress and improvement for the village and the town. From 1812 to 1830, there was probably no man that did as much directly for the improve-
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ment of the village as he, both as to work and cheerful good will, and also the use or giving of money. He was one of the first officers, if not the first one, of the village school district, and it is most pro- bable that the first school house was built mostly at his expense, about 1814. He built several dwelling houses and sold them as pur- chasers came into the place, and also put up buildings at the require- ment of others. About 1819, he with his mother erected the hotel called, the Taylor House ; now the Allen House ; and in it conduct- ed the hotel many years. His mother and he had kept the tavern at the John Brooker house south of the bridge from about 1806, until the erection of the new one, and therefore were not new hands at the business.
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