USA > Connecticut > Windham County > History of Windham County, Connecticut, Volume II, 1760-1880 > Part 30
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In all public questions the town was ready to express its interest. Col. Mosely as representative was directed in 1792, "to use his influ- ence to prevent the western lands being sold." Philip Pearl, Thomas Stedman, Jr., and James Howard, attended a meeting at John Jefferd's tavern, " to have the Courts at a more central place." Delegates were sent to Mansfield, in 1797, to confer upon county matters, the town voting thereafter that the inhabitants of this town are desirons and wish to have the Courts of the County of Windham, moved to this town. A committee for this purpose was kept up year after year, and any effort to procure a half-shire town vigorously opposed. Rules for the better regulation of town meetings were adopted, September 15, 1800, viz. :-
" 1. Choose a moderator. 2. Annual meeting be opened by prayer. 3. Every member be seated with his hat on, and no member to leave his seat unneces- sarily, and if necessary do it with as little noise as possible. 5. Members while speaking shall address the moderator and him only, and speak with the hat off. 6. No member to speak more than twice upon one subject without leave of the meeting, and but once until each member has had opportunity to speak. 7. As soon as a member has done speaking he will take his seat and not speak after he is seated. 8. Every member must speak directly to the question before the meeting. 10. No persons have any right to do private business in any part of the house."
Upon the reception of Pierpont Edwards' circular, calling for a convention to disenss Connecticut's constitution, the question was put in town meeting :- " Is this town satisfied with the present constitu- tion of Connecticut ?" Eighty-three answered in the affirmative ; thirty-eight in the negative.
The military spirit that had so characterized the residents of this vicinity was not suffered to decline with occasion for its exercise. Hampton took especial pride in her company of grenadiers, formed soon after the close of the war, and sustained with great spirit for many years. Thomas Stedman, Jr., Thomas Williams (removed from Plainfield to Hampton), Roger Clark and Philip Pearl, Jr., were
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GRENADIER COMPANY, GROW CHURCH, ETC.
successively captains of this famous company which inscribed on its roll the names of many noted Revolutionary veterans. Strength and size were indispensable qualifications for admission to this honored band, and many of the Hampton Grenadiers were worthy of a place in Friedrich Williams' Tall Regiment. It played an important part on many public occasions and took the first and highest places in the great regimental innsterings for which Hampton Hill was especially famous. Its spacious common afforded convenient space for military exercise and display, and ample accommodations for the great throngs who came to witness it. The militia companies of the town were also well sustained. Ebenezer Mosely was appointed colonel of the Fifth Regiment in 1789 ; Elijah Simons served several years as its lieutenant colonel, and Lemuel Dorrance, one of Hampton's young physicians, as its surgeon.
In all parts of the town there was life and business enterprise. Shubael Simons received liberty to erect a dam on Little River for the benefit of his grist-mill, and potash-works were carried on in the same vicinity. Edmond Hughes made and repaired clocks and watches. Col. Simons engaged in trade. Roger and Solomon Taintor, who removed to Hampton about 1804, carried on an extensive traffic, exchanging domestic produce for the foreign goods that were becom- ing so cheap and plentiful. With these gains there were many losses of useful citizens emigrating to new countries Capt. John Howard who removed to Western New York, was drowned in Lake Otsego. Hampton's first practicing lawyer, Thomas Stedman, Jr., "one of the most urbane, genteel, intelligent and obliging men of the day." already mentioned as a candidate for public honors and even the governorship of the State, was induced to remove to Massena, New York, where he quickly won publie confidence and respect, and acquired a large landed property. Younger men from Hampton were also going out into the world. Ebenezer Mosely, Jr., was graduated from Yale College in 18)2, studied law and secured an extensive practice in Newburyport. Elisha, son of Nathaniel Mosely, was graduated from Dartmouth at an earlier date, and studied for the ministry. Thomas Ashley, a Dart- mouth graduate of 1791, studied law and settled among the wilds of Michigan.
Col. Ebenezer Mosely had succeeded Thomas Stedman, as town clerk, in 1797, and retained the office many years. He was often sent as deputy to the General Assembly, and agent for many important affairs. Other deputies during these years were Deacon Isaac Bennett, Philip Pearl, Jonathan Kingsbury, Dr. John Brewster and William Hunting- ton. Col. Mosely, Deacon Bennett, James Burnett and Philip Pearl, also served as justices. In postal facilities Hampton was still deficient,
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
depending upon its established post-riders. The first of these useful officials was Ebenezer Hovey, who brought papers and letters from New London and Norwich. After the opening of the post-office in Windham, Thomas and Samuel Farnham came into office, taking the Windham Herald to its numerous subscribers. A public library was instituted in 1807, which soon numbered over a hundred volumes.
The Baptist church organized in the eastern part of Hampton in 1776, gained in numbers and influence including some forty families among its resident attendants. A great scandal was occasioned by the immoral conduct of its first pastor, who was forced to resign his office and remove to Vermont. Jordan Dodge, Dyer Hebard, and other zealous exhorters were accustomed to preach to this flock in their own house of worship and adjoining neighborhoods, to the great annoyance of the old ministers, Messrs. Cogswell and Mosely, but they undoubtedly reached a class which would have been impervious to more formal and orthodox ministrations. Mr. Abel Palmer of Col- chester, a brilliant young Baptist, supplied the pulpit for a time to great satisfaction. In 1794, Peter Rogers was called and settled as pastor, and remained in charge for a number of years. The patriarch of this church was its worthy deacon, Thomas Grow, whose name was affixed to the meeting-house on Grow Hill, built mainly by his efforts. He was a man of strong faith and large heart, whose fatherly care embraced the whole church as well as his own fourteen children. It is said that he was accustomed to furnish dinner at inter- mission hour to all who came to worship.
The northwest part of Hampton was very sparsely settled, having remained for many years in the hands of non-residents. Its first permanent settler was Benjamin, son of Deacon Benjamin Chaplin of southwest Pomfret, who upon coming of age went out into the wilder- ness, took up land on the Nachauge and cleared himself a homestead. Ile lived some time single and having little money supported himself by making baskets and wooden trays. In 1747, he married the Widow Mary Ross, daughter of Seth Paine, Esq., of Brooklyn, and ere long built a large and handsome mansion still known as the old Chaplin House, where he reared a numerous family. Mrs. Chaplin equalled her husband in thrift and economy and they soon accumulated property. Like his father-in-law, Mr. Chaplin was a skillful surveyor and became very familiar with all the land in his vicinity, buying large tracts at a low figure. Tradition represents him as taking advantage of the ignorance of non-resident owners, maligning the land as swampy, overgrown with alders and deficient in water, and paying for it with prospective wheat, a bushel for an acre, or in wooden shovels to be made from its timber. In 1756, Mr. Chaplin purchased of William
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DEACON BENJAMIN CHAPLIN, ETC.
and Martha Brattle of Cambridge, in consideration of £1,647, seventeen hundred and sixty-five acres of land mostly east of the Nachauge and crossing it in nine places-which with other acquisi- tions gave him a princely domain. Some eligible sites were sokl to settlers from Windham and adjoining towns but the greater part was retained in his own possession. He laid out farms, built houses and barns, and ruled as lord of the manor. He was a man of marked character, shrewd and far-sighted, a friend of mankind, the church and the State, and was very much respected through- out his section of country. He was very fond of reading and delighted greatly in books of divinity and religion. Ile attended church in South Mansfield, a Sabbath-day journey of six miles, riding on horseback over the rough path, with saddle-bags full of bread and cheese for luncheon, and a daughter on the pillion behind him to jump down and open the bars and gateways. In 1765, he united with the First Church of Mansfield, and ten years afterward was chosen one of its deacons. Though his residence was in Mansfield he owned much land in Hampton, and was actively interested in all its affairs. Ilis daughter Sarah had married James Howard ; Ennice was the wife of Zebediah Tracy, Esq., of Scotland Parish ; Tamasin, of Isaac Perkins, Esq., of Ashford ; Hannah, of Rev. David Avery. In 1789, Deacon Chaplin was greatly afflicted in the loss of his only son, Benjamin, a young man of much promise. Dr. Cogswell laments him as "a growing character, heir to a great estate," and reports the father " very tender about his son's death," but he hopes resigned. He was married to a granddaughter of President Edwards, and left three sons, Benjamin, Timothy and Jonathan Edwards. Deacon Chaplin died March 25, 1795, in the 76th year of his age. His funeral was con- ducted with all the ceremony befitting his means and position-a great assemblage of people with dinner and liquor for all, and so much time was needed for these preliminary exercises that it was nearly night before entering upon the ordinary services. The funeral sermon delivered by Rev. Moses C. Welch was highly eulogistic according to the fashion of the period. An elaborate epitaph also testified to the virtnes of the deceased, as follows :-
" Deacon Benjamin Chaplin, that Friend of Man, that supporter of the State, that ornament of the Church, who, having witnessed a good Confession for the doctrines of grace, for the purity and prosperity of public worship, a faithful steward of his Lord's goods, provided liberally in his last will and testament towards a permanent fund for the maintenance of the Gospel ministry, and after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, March 25, 1795, in the 76th year of his age."
Deaeon Chaplin's estate was valued at nearly £8,500, including over two thousand acres of land, four houses and eight barns. After pro-
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
viding liberally for his wife, daughters and the education of his son's children, he gave three hundred pounds for a permanent fund. the interest of which was to be applied to the support of a minister pro- fessing and preaching the doctrines of the Gospel, according as they are explained in the Westminster Confession of Faith, in a society to be formed before January 1, 1812, within a mile and a quarter of his dwelling house. A number of families had now gathered in this vicinity, very "desirous of bettering their circumstances for attending the publie worship of God." In their remoteness from the meeting- houses of Windham, Mansfield and Hampton, some of these families had hitherto worshipped with the church in North Windham formed during the Revolutionary war. One of its members, Mr. Ames, had given land for a house of worship on Chewink Plain, about two and a half miles southeast from the present Chaplin Village, and the Rev. John Storrs of Mansfield acted as its pastor. The small number of worshippers and the failing strength of its pastor made its continuance doubtful, and a movement was made in 1796, for taking advantage of Deacon Chaplin's bequest. " A number of subscribers in the eastern part of Mansfield and parts adjacent," i. e., Ames, Abbe, Hovey, Barton, Balch, Sessions, Hunt, Stowell, Ward, Clark, Cary, Russ, Ross, Wales, Geer, agreed to give a certain amount for a fund, pro- vided that enough could be guaranteed to add fifty pounds yearly to the interest of Deacon Chaplin's legacy, but did not succeed in carry- ing out their object. Organization was deferred for some years and the Nachauge residents attended worship where it best suited their convenience. The church in North Windham became extinct- thirteen of its members returning to the First Church of that town. Its only pastor, Rev. John Storrs, died in 1799. A feeble church, searce gaining name or footing, it is memorable for its connection with a distinguished ministerial succession. Its pastor was the father of Rev. Richard S. Storrs, D. D., of Braintree, and he the father of the present Rev. Richard S. Storrs, D. D., of Brooklyn, L. I. "An old burying ground long unused, grown up to brush and trees, the gravestones well nigh illegible," now marks the site of the extinct church and " Ames meeting-house."
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ORGANIZATION OF BROOKLYN TOWNSHIP.
V.
ORGANIZATION OF BROOKLYN TOWNSHIP. GENERAL TOWN AFFAIRS. ADAMS' DISTRICT. CLOSING YEARS OF GEN. PUTNAM. COL. MALBONE. CAPT. TYLER. GROWTH AND PROSPERITY.
B ROOKLYN, like its youthful neighbor, was wide awake and
stirring. Erected the same year, they seemed inclined to healthful emulation in enterprise and public spirit. Brooklyn's first town meeting, warned by Joseph Baker, Esq., was held in its much- esteemed meeting-house, June 26, 1786. Colonel Israel Putnam was called to the chair. Seth Paine was chosen town clerk, treasurer, and first selectman ; Andrew Murdock, Asa Pike, Daniel Tyler, Jr. and Joseph Scarborough, selectmen : Peter Pike, constable; Ebenezer Scarborough, Abner Adams, Joshua Miles, Jedidiah Ashcraft, Jun., Salter Searls, Nathan Witter, Joseph Davison, Samuel Williams, Stephen Frost, James Dorrance, Elisha Brown, Reuben Harris, sur- veyors : John Jefferds, Eleazer Gilbert, fence-viewers ; Abijah Goodell, Isaac Cushman, tithing-men. The bounds of the town were at first identical with those of the previous society, but twenty-four hundred acres were soon released to Hampton. Seth Paine was appointed to agree with the agents of Canada Parish on a straight line between Brooklyn and the new town, and consent that they may have as much land as prayed for if they will maintain the poor. The Quinebaug formed the eastern bound. North and south lines remained as pre- viously settled. Pomfret was allowed to retain a projection on the southwest, now Jericho, on the supposition that it would never be able to pay its own expenses. It was voted that the town line should be also the society line, and the pound already built near Dr. Baker's be a town pound.
Appropriation bills were next in order. It was voted to raise a tax of a penny a pound to defray the expenses till the time of annual meeting, and two-pence for next year ; also, to mend highways by a tax. Ilighway districts were speedily laid out, the town agreeing that each man and team have three shillings for a day's work in the spring and two in the fall. An amendment allowed two-and-sixpence a day in September. A half-penny rate was voted for the support of schools. The committee for settling with Pomfret was ordered to make a tax on the inhabitants of Brooklyn, originally of Pomfret ( provided Pomfret will not do it ), for the purpose of paying up the arrearage
32
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
due to Pomfret. The latter town apparently not doing it, a list* was made out and tax levied. This list includes some 237 rate payers with estates valued at £9,338, 10s. 2d. Jabez Allen, John Malbone, Andrew Murdock, William Smith, Daniel Tyler, Jun., the Putnams, Scarboroughs and Williams's, paid the heaviest assessments. Special taxes were levied upon John Jefferds, Eleazer Gilbert, as "Taverners and traders :" Peter Schuyler Putnam, Reuben Harris, taverners ; Erastus Baker, trader ; Joseph Baker. physician : William Baker, as proprietor of a grist-mill ; Stephen Baker, of a saw-mill : Daniel Clark,
* A true list of the Polls and Ratable Estate of the Town of Brooklyn for August the 20th, A. D. 1788 :
Adams, Samuel, William, Asaph, Lewis, Ephraim, Philemon, Shubael, Abner, Noah, Willard, Peter, Ephraim, Jun. : Allyn, Jabez, John, Joseph; Allen, Parker; Ashcraft, Jedidiah, John, Jedidiah, Jun. ; Alworth, James, William ; Aborn, James ; Baker, William, Doct. Joseph, Joel, Stephen, John, Erastus, Joseph, Jun. ; Brindley, Nathaniel ; Butt, Samuel : Brown, Shubael, Alpheus, Jedidiah, John; Bowman, Elisha, Walter; Barrett. William ; Bacon, Joseph, Asa, Nehemiah ; Benjamin, Barzillai; Cushman, William, William, Jun., Isaac ; Clark, Moses, Daniel, Caleb; Cleveland, Davis, Joseph, Elijah, Phillips, Phinehas; Cady, Gideon, Ezra, Jonathan, Uriah, John, Phinehas, Ebenezer, Benjamin, Asahel, Nahum, Nathan, Daniel, Widow Lydia, Eliakim ; Copeland, William, Asa, Joseph, Jonathan, James; Chaffee, Ebenezer; Coller, Jonathan, Asa; Cogswell, Nathaniel; Cloud, Norman; Chapman, Amaziah ; Darbe, Ashael, William, Alpheus; Downing, Jedidiah, David, Ichabod, James; Denison, David; Davison, Joseph, Joseph, Jun., Peter; Dorrance, James; Davis, Samuel; Davidson, William; Eldredge, James, Gurdon ; Eaton, Ezekiel : Fasset, Elijah, Josiah, Joab, John; Foster, Daniel ; Fling, Lemuel; Frost, Stephen; Fuller, John, Josiah; Fillmore, William; Goodell, Abijah, Alvan; Gilbert, Rachel, Joseph, Eleazer, Benjamin, Jedidiah, John ; Geer, John; Herrick, Benjamin, Rufus; Howard, Charles; Hubbard, Ebenezer, William, Benjamin, Juu. ; Hutchins, Isaac; Hewitt, Stephen, Inerease ; Harris, Samuel, Reuben, Paul, Amos, Ebenezer; Hancock, John; Hide, Jabesh; Holmes, Nathaniel; Jefferds, John; Joslin, David; Ingalls, Samuel; Kendall, Peter, John, David; Litehfield, Eleazer, John, Israel, Uriah ; Mumford, Thomas; Miles, Jesse, Joshua, Thomas ; Murdock, Andrew; Malbone, John; Merrett, Charles, Thomas; Morgan, Roswell; Mason, Shubael ; Medcalf, Hannah ; More, Daniel; Putnam, Daniel, Peter Schuyler, Israel. Jun., Reuben ; Pike, Jolin, Joseph, Peter, Jonathan, Asa, Willard; Paine, Simeon, Seth, Jun., Delano, Seth, Daniel, Benjamin ; Prince, Timothy, Timothy, Jun., Abel; Pierce, Benjamin; Preston, Jacob; Palmer, Elihu, Thaddeus ; Pettis, Joseph; Pellet, Jonathan; Pooles, Amasa; Rowe, Isaac; Smith, William, Thomas; Stanton, Thomas; Stevens, John; Storrs, Dinah; Scott, William; Searls, Daniel, Salter; Scarborough, Ebenezer, JJeremiah, Joseph, Samuel; Stowel, Calvin ; Shepard, Josiah, Benjamin ; Spalding, Abel, Ebenezer, Caleb, Rufus, Ebenezer, Jun. ; Shumway, Ebenezer; Staples, Abel ; Traey, Zebediah : Tilley, James; Tyler, Asa, Daniel, Daniel, Jun., Oliver; Thayer, Elijah ; Wheeler, Timothy, Job; White, Joseph ; Weaver, Remington, John; Wilson, Samuel, Ignatius; Williams, Stephen, Samuel, Jun., Roger Wolcot, Asa, Martha, Marian, Job, Joseph, Samuel, Samuel, 2d; Witter, Nathan, Jun., Nathan, Josiah; Withy, James, Hazael, Eunice; Weeks, Ebenezer, Anna; Wood, Benjamin; Woodward, Ward, Peter.
DANIEL TYLER, JUN., ANDREW MURDOCK, JAMES ELDREDGE, NATHAN WITTER, ISAAC CUSIIMAN, Listers.
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GENERAL TOWN AFFAIRS.
of saw and grist-mills. The multiplication of taverns was a sore annoyance to sober men, and had called out a vigorous remonstrance from. Gen. Putnam to the Honorable County Court in session at Windham, viz .:-
"GENTLEMEN :
Being an enemy to Idleness, Dissipation and Intemperance, I would object against any measures which may be conducive thereto : and, the multiplying of publie houses, when the public good does not require it, has a direct tendency to ruin the morals of youth, and promote idleness and intemperance among all ranks of people, especially as the grand object of the candidates for licenses is money ; and, when that is the case, men are not over apt to be tender of people's morals or purses. The authorities of this town, I think, have run into a great error. in approbating an additional number of public houses, especially in this parish. They have approbated two houses in the centre, where there was never custom ( I mean traveling custom ) enough for one. The other custom (the domestic ) I have been informed, has of late years increased; and the licensing another house I fear would increase it more. As I kept a public house here myself a number of years before the war, I had an opportunity of knowing, and certainly do know, that the traveling custom is too trifling for a man to lay himself out so as to keep such a house as travelers have a right to expect. Therefore, I hope your Honors will consult the good of this parish, so as to license only one of the two houses. I shall not undertake to say which ought to be lecensed. Your Honors will act according to your best information.
I am, with esteem,
Your Honors' humble servant, ISRAEL PUTNAM.
Brooklyn, Feb. 18, 1782."
Public schools received immediate attention. In emulation of Plainfield, Brooklyn had already attempted to establish an academy. The Providence Gazette of 1783 informs its patrons that "for the promotion of Literature a number of inhabitence in the parish of Brooklyn have procured a gentleman to begin a Grammar school. The public may be assured that the character of the teacher both in regard to his scholarship and disposition comes vouched in the best manner from the Governors of Cambridge College, where he had his education. He will teach the Greek and Latin tongues and any other branch of literature taught at any private school in the State. Daniel Tyler, Jun., John Jefferds, Joseph Baker, Eleazer Gilbert, Jabez Allen, committee." Failing to succeed in this effort the town gave more care to public education. Andrew Murdock, Daniel Tyler and James Eldredge were appointed to take charge of the school money; Daniel Putnam, David Denison, John Brown, Roger Williams, Joseph Scar- borough, Salter Searls, Nathan Witter, James Dorrance, to hire school- masters each for the district in which he lives; Delano and Timeus Pierce, Jonathan Copeland, James Dorrance, Samuel Butt, Jonathan Pike, Daniel, Peter and Jonathan Kendall, were made a separate district for schooling. Captain Ebenezer Spalding and other neigh- bors were allowed their part of the money, if they lay out the same
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
in schooling. Town and society in 1795 expressed their approval of the proposed act of the General Assembly respecting the Western lands with these alterations-that the avails of the land be paid into the town treasury of the respective towns of the State, and the interest be appropriated solely to the support of religion of all denominations, and schools.
Brooklyn was much interested in agricultural affairs, and its dairies were reported as " not exceeded in the State." Putnam's example and precept had a beneficial and stimulating influence in this direction. His various farms were now in charge of his sons. Daniel Tyler, Jun., the Williams's, Searboroughs, Litchfields and other leading families, had fine farms under good cultivation. Population was very generally diffused throughout the town-the village as yet boasting bnt seven dwelling-houses. Captain Andrew Murdock, who had married a daughter of Major Holland, and added to her patrimony land purchased of Widow Isaac Allyn, was a very enterprising and successful farmer. His "farms and accommodations were truly curious and wonderful-all the product of his own industry and economy." Allyn's grist-mill was carried on successfully till the dam was carried off' by a freshet and publie opposition delayed its rebuild- ing. Allen Hill, though owned and occupied by descendants of Richard Adams, received its name from vicinity to this much fre- quented grist-mill. Four sons of Peter Adams after fighting through the Revolutionary war removed to new countries. The oldest son, Philemon, with younger brothers, engaged in various industries, running a linseed oil mill and manufacturing pottery and potash. One son acquired the art of working in silver and fabricated family teaspoons, while a daughter gifted with æsthetic taste transformed ride homespun into a thing of beauty. With wooden stamps cut out by her brothers and dyes extracted from native plants, she achieved a most successful imitation of the rich flowered brocades then in fashion, making dress patterns, vests and furniture coverings that were the admiration of all beholders. Living remote from neighbors on so large a tract of land, this family long retained primitive characteristics and habits. a patriarchal community almost independent of the busy world beyond them. A few Indian families still ocenpied their wig- wains in the depths of the uncleared woodland, and while gradually acquiring the arts of civilized life imparted forest secrets in return, teaching the children the nature and use of herbs, the best methods of hunting and snaring, with many an aboriginal tradition. Peter Adams, the patriarch of this little community, was still hale and hearty. A mighty hunter from his youth he pursued the practice even down to old age and had the honor of killing the last beur reported in
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