USA > Connecticut > Windham County > History of Windham County, Connecticut > Part 25
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Another of the unterrified was a resident of one of the north- ern towns of the county, a woman who was noted for her fond- ness for litigation. Scarcely a term of court that her name was not on the docket, and her readiness to assist her counsel and browbeat witnesses so exasperated the judge on one occasion as to make him forget his judicial dignity and exclaim : " There is brass enough in your face, madam, to make a five-pailful ket- tle." "And sap enough in your honor's head to fill it," was the quick retort that set the house in an uproar. The judge had to confess himself beaten.
THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE.
When the first steam engine thundered along the valley of the Willimantic, an untraveled laborer was chopping in the North Windham woods. Hearing the distant rumble, he listened with awe, thinking of thunder and earthquakes, until the sud- den scream of the locomotive froze him with terror. To use
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his own words-" I then braced myself square against a big tree, lifted up my axe ready to strike, and stood with hair on end till the sounds died away. I thought it was a worrin-cag."*
Very different was the impression on the mind of a venerable clergyman of Thompson, who, gazing from his study window one evening, saw the first lighted train speeding along the Quinebaug.
" Those are none other than the 'chariots of fire' foretold by the ancient prophet," he exclaimed with enthusiasm, " which are to waft the news of salvation to the uttermost ends of the earth."
WINDHAM WAGS.
The Windham boys were never weary of practical jokes. It was their annual custom to go to the Shetucket for shad, and re- turn for a night supper and a little carousal at Staniford's. On one occasion two or three of the young men played off, promis- ing to help on the preparations during the absence of their com- panions. The piscatorial party set out with their seine and plenty of liquid warmth, which they used ostensibly to prevent taking cold.
No sooner had the sound of their wheels and the sound of their voices died out in the distance, than the delinquents with another team followed as noiselessly as possible to the well known fishing ground. The evening was quite dusky, and they succeeded in planting their wagon at a convenient distance un- observed by their noisy comrades, who had imbibed too freely to be keenly observant. With shouts and jokes the great fish were deposited in their cart by the unsuspecting youth, and just as silently, one by one, they were transferred to the other vehicle by the wicked marauders, until only a few of inferior size remained to the indefatigable toilers. Then, as noiselessly as they came, the plunderers returned to town, and the luscious shad were on the broilers when their companions came with loud demonstrations of success and drew their cart up before the kitchen door. The boys were on the watch and did not re- veal themselves until their crest-fallen comrades, looking in vain for their spoils, asserted that the tail-board of their cart must have slipped and let out the greatest quantity of fish ever hauled from the Shetucket. Then their ears were greeted with, " What
* Worrin-eag, a monster often named by old people; did they mean warriangle?
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SHAD-oh's we are, and what SHAD-oh's we pursue!" The joke was comprehended, and the injured party agreed "to pay the shot " for their stupidity if no more were said about it. This story was told me by a lady whose brother was one of the mar- auders.
One of these same Windham boys was an impromptu rhymer, who frequently surprised his listeners with a happy doggerel. A man from the outskirts of the town was often seen on the street, mounted on a sorrel mare and followed by a colt, the very miniature of its dam. The man wore a butternut colored coat, corresponding in hue with his sandy hair and whiskers. One day as he was riding past a group of hotel loungers, the wag arose and said solemnly-
" Colt and mare, coat and hair, All compare, I swear !"
OLD TIME PEDAGOGUES.
The school teachers of Connecticut were not exactly life in- cumbents like the clergy, but in many instances they held their offices until quite superannuated. One of these had long pre- sided over the centre district of Hampton. Never perhaps over- learned, he became dogmatic with years, brooking no contradic- tion. One of his pupils, a daughter of the parish minister, was reading with her class in the New Testament, as was the morn- ing custom. She came to the passage, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick," which was rendered correctly. " Read that over, and read it right," growled the old man. The verse was read again as before. "Didn't I tell you to read it right?" persisted the teacher. The girl was bewild- ered and stood silent, while her sapient instructor read, much to the amusement of the school, " They that are whole need not a physic-in, but they that are sick !" "My father taught me to read it the other way," she ventured to say. "Humph !" responded the old man, savagely ; " Did your father ever keep school ?"
That was the old gentleman's last term, the district voting Mr. H- no longer fitted for his office.
Another of the old regime, who held sway in the South district of Windham village, had a very novel mode of punishing his youthful charges for minor offenses, such as whispering, tardi- ness, imperfect lessons, etc. He kept a basin of thoroughwort steeping on the stove, and forced a draught of it upon little
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offenders, probably considering it more salutary than the rod or ferule. When relieved of his office, the old man's great amuse- ment was attending funerals in his own and all the neighboring towns. On one occasion his grief was great because two such ceremonies were to take place at the same hour, as he could necessarily attend but one. A lady who had often tasted his bitter tea when a pupil at the Old South, told of a visit he made to her sick room while she was suffering from typhoid fever. Weak and exhausted, she had lain for hours speechless, while at the same time she was entirely conscious of all around her. After gazing on her for awhile he turned to her mother and said : "Harriet cannot get well, and I want you to be sure and let me know when the funeral is, as I don't want to miss it."
Another case of discipline-the best on record-occurred in the south district of Scotland, usually known as the Bakertown district. There were many ludicrous names appended to the school districts of Windham county. We had in our small par- ish a Bakertown, a Brunswick, a Pudding Hill and a Pinch Gut, which last obtained a small share of the "means of grace " from the manifest aversion of ministers to making the appoint- ments. These districts are all picturesquely rugged, like the character of the English Puritan Carvers and Fullers and Rob- insons, or of the French Huguenot Waldos, Devotions, La Salles and Luces, whose pilgrim feet found their way to the hills of eastern Connecticut.
The Bakertown school house stood in a secluded spot, a spot too barren for the culture of anything save country lads and lasses. But these flourished well here under birchen rule, and have gone forth noble men and women to the remotest ends of the world, with a farewell to Bakertown on their lips and rich memories of many a Bakertown frolic in their hearts.
Our school house, like the gospel house, was "founded on a rock." Behind it rose a lofty ledge of granite, a natural forti- fication of the little seat of learning below. Every winter, bas- tions and block houses of snow were ranged along the summit of this ledge, and youths with martial airs, armed with strange looking weapons, were seen going hither and thither, as though the Bakertown district were threatened with some foreign in- vasion.
At last, as neither Brunswickers, Pudding Hillers nor Pinch Gutters came to meet them in battle array, they began to seek a
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home field for action. Their weapons, which have not yet been described, became instruments of offense, and led to their de- struction.
Never in any locality has the elder shrub (sambucus caprifolia) grown in greater luxuriance than in Bakertown. Its hedge-rows, crowned with myriads of white, umbrella-looking clusters, were the summer fragrance of the fields. From some person-it must have been from the parish minister, I suppose, since no one else knew anything about Hebrew-we learned that that nation form- erly made a musical instrument of the elder, called a sambuca, whence its botanical name. It was too learned a name for the Bakertown boys, however; plain elder or popgun-wood suited them better and was a deal more significant. "The oldest Jew," they used to say boastingly, " never began to see anything made of elder half equal to a Bakertown popgun ;" and these were the weapons of the Bakertown militia. Every boy in school had a gun suited to his size and capacity. Some of them were pro- digious and carried a double charge, and that, too, before the days of Colt's revolvers ; not of fire and death, however, but only of tow wads. Some of our readers may have heard of the wag's logical way of showing the true ruler of a Connecticut commun- ity to be the Yankee schoolmaster, "who ruled the boys, who ruled their mothers, who ruled the men, who ruled the roost." One winter our time-honored ruler went to seek his fortune else- where, and we had a new teacher-a gentle, book-loving young man, reared in the neighborhood, and consequently, prophet- like, without honor. The old master had long been absolute. Insubordination never prevailed in his realm, for every symptom of disobedience was most effectively crushed in the bud.
But another order of things came in with the new regime. Was not the pale, stripling-looking youth the crazy old huckleberry woman's son, whom the children all laughed at, while listening to her strange stories? Everybody in the district knew " Granny Woodban." She was one of the appurtenances of the locality, living in the berry fields all summer, and wandering off, no one knew where, in winter. Her son was a scholar and a genius, who had fitted himself for college behind the plow and in the chimney corner of the farmer's kitchen to whom he was bound.
Such was the young man who presumed to ask the district fathers for the privilege of guiding their sons and daughters a little way along the path of science, and for the consideration
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of ten dollars a month to fit him for the university. For which act of presumption the martial youths voted him a suitable butt for popgun aim.
The new teacher commenced his work with a fixed determin- ation to overcome, by faithful, persevering kindness, the rebel- lious dispositions of his young subjects, and bring them to friendly allegiance. Night after night, and day after day, he racked his aching head for some mild means of bringing them to obedience. New books awoke no enthusiasm ; evening spell- ing schools were fully attended, sides were chosen, and every- one praised ; but then in the very face and eyes of their in- structor, the victorious side would fire a popgun volley at its own success. In all this the young master discovered more of mischief than of malice, and acted accordingly when counseled to chastise the offenders.
"Flog my boys soundly as they deserve," said one and another of the honest farmers to the patient preceptor, " and if that don't supple them, we'll take 'em in hand ourselves." It was friendly advice, and well meant, but the stripling teacher had no thought of matching his strength with the sturdy young yeomen.
".They have been driven with too tight a check rein already, and will fall into a natural pace by-and-by," was the pleasant re- joinder of the master.
" Mebbe so! But mind, Charlie, and not let 'em run away with you fust. Solomon's law was a middlin' good one-' A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back.' The lads are full on't and no mistake !"
"Full on't " they were, indeed, but the long suffering teacher determined not to lose his temper, though their popguns were the plague of his life. They greeted his morning advent into the school room and his evening departure. More than this, sometimes in the very midst of a lesson, a pop-pop told that some- how one of the big guns had discharged its twin wads.
One day they went a step beyond the teacher's patience and forbearance, and a crisis was the result. It was "Committee Day," the day when the elected officers came to visit and exam- ine the school, for the first time that season. It proved a com- mittee of one, that afternoon, as only the parish minister made his appearance. According to custom, all rose at his entrance ; but following no precedent whatever, the boys greeted his rev-
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erence with one of their tallest salutes, every one of them push- ing his ramrod vigorously at the same moment.
A flush of mortification overspread the pale face of the master, who for a full hour had been prescribing tasks and exhorting to good behavior ; then his pale face became paler than before.
There was a merry twinkle in the parson's black eyes, and he received the salutation with a pleasant smile, as though it had been given by order of their teacher, and not by a band of young rebels. It was very kind in the old man; the boys saw it so, and did their best at the lessons, and kept unusually quiet dur- ing the "remarks" and in prayer time. Moreover, when going home from school that night, they declared they would make Parson Fisher their chaplain, as he knew how to appreciate an honor. But the days of the Bakertown militia were numbered. The next morning the teacher appeared with a countenance as serenely calm as ever, though some of the rogues afterward affirmed they saw " a tiger in his eye " from the first.
"We will omit the usual exercises this morning," he said pleasantly, "and have a drill! Captain Tracy, call out your company !"
Teacher and pupil exchanged glances. There was no mistak- ing the word of command. The captain was chief no longer, and prepared to obey the order of his superior. The roll call was made and responded to with military precision; then the young soldiers were ordered to fall into line in front of the school house, where a drill began such as the little company had never before undergone. All night the poor teacher had been study- ing his lesson from an old manual of arms which he found in the farmer's garret.
The command "Right !" was given in a clear, full voice, and every urchin did his best, although two or three of the younger ones turned heads to the left instead, and had to be regulated. Then came the second order, "Front!" and every face was turned forward. "Attention !" and all eyes were fixed on the master. "Right face!" and the movement was performed ac- curately. "About face !" was the next command, and there was some blundering, the right feet getting too near the left heels, which the master would by no means allow.
Captain Tracy stood manfully by the young teacher's side, watching with surprise and interest his instructions, and learn- ing more of military tactics than he had ever known before.
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After the "facings" were gone through with efficiently, the. principles of the " ordinary step " were explained, and the mode of executing it. This was followed by "Forward-march !" when the twenty boys were all in motion, and kept in motion until the order " Halt !" arrested their steps.
Four in rank. elbow to elbow, the young rascals were then drilled in the " Practice of Arms," and the way the popguns were handled for the next hour was amusing to the girlish spectators, but too tedious to detail. Enough that they "drew ramrods," " rammed cartridges " " made ready," "took aim," and " fired," until but one charge of tow remained. Then, at the master's command, they marched back into the school room for a last gun. It was done, and but one more order was given.
"Captain Tracy, I am much pleased with your company. In- struct your soldiers now to 'Deposit arms !' " and he pointed sig- nificantly to the open Franklin stove.
There was no shrinking nor hesitation. With a proud gesture the gallant young leader advanced and laid his own weapon first on the blazing fire ; every lad followed, and in five minutes the popguns were reduced to ashes.
" We are your boys for the winter, sir," said the captain, a great, noble hearted fellow in spite of his mischief, as he bowed to the now recognized sovereign of the school room. "We only wanted to know our master, and have found him quite to our liking."
The drill ended with the kindest feelings on all sides. At noon the popgun company was disbanded by mutual consent. A debating club arose out of its ruins, and before spring these martial students were discussing questions of national policy and moral justice, to the great satisfaction of the district fathers, and of the old parish minister, also, who never to his dying day forgot the salute of the Bakertown militia.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE TOWN OF WINDHAM.
Geographical Description .- Settlement .- Town Charter and Organization .- The Early Settlers .- Laying out the Land .- County Relations .- Early Town Officers .- Enlargement of Territory .- Settlement of the Eastern Quarter .- Mechanical and Commercial Trades Introduced .- Division of Town and Formation of Mansfield .- Various Phases of Public Interest .- Growth of the Northeast Section, called Canada Parish .- Society Organi- zation .- Probate Court Established .- Some Prominent Families .- Windham made Shiretown .- Attempts at Manufacturing .- Scotland Society Organ- ized .- Town Action .- Schools .- Early Taverns .- Prosperity of the Town .- Industries .- Under the War Clouds .- Removal of the Courts .- Reduction of Territory .- Through the Revolution .- Material Prosperity .- Social Innova- tions .- Roads and Bridges.
T HE town of Windham, one of the smallest in geographical size, but the largest in population, wealth and business im- portance, occupies the extreme southwest corner of Wind- ham county. Its area is about two and three-fourths square miles. The beautiful valley of the Willimantic river extends along the southern part, entering at the extreme western point and leaving at the southeastern corner. This river affords abundant water power for many factories, and to this circum- stance is due the building up and prosperity of the town. The Natchaug, a considerable stream, joins it a short distance east of the borough limits of Willimantic. Back from the river the town is broken into successive ridges of hills, rising about two hundred feet above the general level of the intervening valleys. Besides the borough of Willimantic, in the southwest part, the smaller villages of North Windham in the northern part, South Windham in the southern part and Windham in the central part, are in this town. Otherwise the surface of the town is mostly covered with forest growth which affords some valuable timber. The agricultural interests of the town are not prominent. The New York & New England railroad extends through the west- ern and northern parts and the Providence Division and the
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New London Northern run along the Willimantic valley in the southern part. The geographical size of the original town of Windham has been greatly diminished by the formation of the towns of Scotland, Hampton and Chaplin.
The acquisition of the Indian title to the territory occupied by Windham has been set forth in a previous chapter so fully that it will only be necessary here to repeat that the territory in ques- tion was a gift by will of the Indian Joshua to sixteen gentlemen of Norwich, who were intrusted with the business of settling a plantation upon it. The first settlement upon it is said to have been made by one John Cates, an English refugee, in the au- tumn of 1688. From that, settlement progressed slowly for three years, when there were upon the tract about thirty settlers. None of the men named in the bequest, however, became actual settlers. In the autumn of 1691 application was made for a town charter, but the grant was not immediately made. In the fol- lowing spring, however, the petition was granted, the general court of Connecticut on the 12th of May, 1692, enacting that township privileges be granted to the petitioners, and that the town should be called Windham. These petitioners were Joshua Ripley, John Cates, Jeremiah Ripley, Jonathan Crane, Joseph Huntington, William Backus, Jonathan Ginnings, Thomas Hun- tington, Richard Hendee, John Backus and John Larrabee.
Under the new charter the first public town meeting was held June 12th, 1692. By this time four more had been added to the eleven just named. These were John Fitch, who had recently removed to the Hither-place, and Jonathan Hough, Samuel Hide and John Royce, who had established a settlement in the distant Ponde-place. At the first town meeting Joshua Ripley was chosen town clerk; Jeremiah Ripley, Jonathan Crane and Jonathan Hough, townsmen ; Thomas Huntington and John Royce, sur- veyors ; Joseph Huntington, Jonathan Hough, Samuel Hide and John Fitch, to lay out highways. A committee was also ap- pointed to carry on negotiations with a minister in regard to settlement among them.
Previous to the settlement of a minister Mr. Jabez Fitch offici- ated as religious leader. The house of Mr. John Fitch, the latest and probably the best built house in the settlement, was selected to be the meeting house until other provision should be made. The town ordered that it be fortified and a lean-to built, " every man doing his share of the fortification." During the summer
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of 1692 several new inhabitants removed to the Ponde-place, and considerable progress was made in that settlement, and alto- gether the growth of the settlement was such that at its town meeting May 30th, 1693, the list of approved inhabitants num- bered twenty-two. Their names were: Joshua Ripley, Jonathan Crane, Jonathan Ginnings (or Jennings), Joseph Huntington, Thomas Huntington, William Backus, John Backus, John Lar- rabee, Thomas Bingham, John Rudd, Jeremiah Ripley, John Cates, Richard Hendee, James Birchard, Jonathan Hough, Sam- uel Hide, John Royce, Samuel Birchard, Robert Wade, Peter Crosse, Samuel Linkon and John Arnold.
Of these twenty-two inhabitants the last eight had settled at the Ponde-place, all others except John Larrabee (who kept the ferry between the two settlements) being residents of the Hither- place or southeast quarter. Thomas Bingham, who had removed from Norwich with a large family of sons and daughters, was an important acquisition to Windham. He purchased, in March, 1693, Captain John Mason's first lot at the southeast quarter, being then about fifty years old. His oldest daughter, Mary, had mar- ried John Backus the previous summer. John Arnold had been a schoolmaster in Norwich, and was one of the most intelligent and influential of the Ponde-place settlers. Samuel and James Birchard were the sons of John Birchard, one of the Norwich legatees. Improvements and accommodations kept pace with the increase of population. Great care was taken to provide for the Ponde-place people. Sign posts were ordered against Wil- liam Backus' house at the Hither-place, and Samuel Hide's at the Ponde-place. A public pound was provided and burying grounds were laid out, one at each settlement. Jonathan Ginnings and the Ripleys were granted the privilege of setting up a saw mill at " No-man's-acre Brook."
During that summer (1693) it was determined that the dividing line between the settlers in the wilderness from Hartford and from Norwich should be the Willimantic river, the Norwich people holding on the east of it and the Hartford people holding on the west of it. In December the town passed regulations in regard to fences, cattle, swine, timber and the warning of town meetings. In.the following spring we have the first record of the lay-out of a highway. This was ordered through Peter Crosse's division, extending from the Ponde-place to the Willi- mantic river near the falls. The meadows in this vicinity fur-
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nished the Windham settlers with a great part of their hay, and to facilitate its conveyance this highway was ordered " four rods wide from the hill to the river, seven rods wide down to the meadow and four rods wide between meadow and fence." Twelve acres below the falls were allowed to Mr. Crosse in compensation for land taken up by this highway.
The home lots laid out at Willimantic were not as yet taken up by the proprietors, and in April, 1694, they received permis- sion from the town to exchange them for allotments "at or about the Crotch of the river "-that remarkable curve in the Natchaug near its junction with the Willimantic, also known as the Horseshoe. Seven lots were now laid out in this vicinity. Joshua Ripley, Samuel Hide, Joseph Huntington, Peter Crosse and Thomas Bingham were appointed a committee to select two lots at the "Crotch of the River," one for the minister and one for the ministry. The remaining home lots were sold to settlers, who soon took possession. Goodman William More, of Nor- wich, purchased a lot laid out to William Backus; Benjamin Millard, also from Norwich, bought of Thomas Leffingwell a thousand-acre allotment at the Horseshoe, a part of which is still held by his descendants. Benjamin Howard and Joseph Cary, of Norwich, and John Broughton, of Northampton, soon settled in this vicinity. This new settlement was also called " The Centre," from its position between the older ones, and seemed destined for a time to become the most important. The seventh lot was chosen for the minister and the sixth for the ministry, and great efforts were made to have the meeting house built upon it.
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