History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 37

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506

USA > Connecticut > Windham County > History of Windham County, Connecticut > Part 37

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W. W. Preston & CON.Y.

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

Eagle Warp Company, and the Dunham Manufacturing Com- pany. He conducted the affairs of these companies until 1870, when the former two were merged into the Dunham Manufact- uring Company, of which he continued treasurer and agent un- til 1876. In 1865 he established the Hop River Warp Company, to which his attention is now largely confined ; not, however, to the exclusion of an interest in other important business projects. He was one of the incorporators and is the first president of the First National Bank of Willimantic, president of the Merchants' Loan and Trust Company, and vice-president of the Dime Sav- ings Bank, both of the above town. He is also vice-president of the Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Company, and was formerly a director of the Second National Bank of Norwich. The Hop River Warp Company embraces a warp factory and a tape mill, both of which are owned by Mr. Jillson, who has greatly improved the hamlet, afforded it many advantages in the way of postal and telegraph service, aided greatly in the erection of a new school house, and given much thoughtful con- sideration to the welfare of his employees. In politics Mr. Jill- son is an ardent republican. He was chosen on a very close vote to represent the town of Windham in the Connecticut legisla- ture in 1879, and was for thirteen years committee of the Second school district, during which period the schools attained high rank and the pupils exceptional scholarship. He is in his reli- gious belief a Congregationalist, and has been chairman of the Congregational Ecclesiastical Society of Willimantic for a period of sixteen years, until the present time. William C. Jillson was married May 3d, 1859, to Maria A. Bingham, of Greenville, Con- necticut. Their children are a daughter, Josephine Curtis, born May 22d, 1860, and a son, William Huntington, whose birth oc- curred July 18th, 1869.

WILLIAM CLITUS WITTER, son of Doctor William Witter and Emily Bingham, his wife, was born at Willimantic, Conn., No- vember 13th, 1842, in the substantial brick house now standing at the corner of Main and Witter (now called High) streets. His ancestry, both on the father's and the mother's side, is given with some detail in the sketch of Doctor William Witter at pages 201- 203 of this volume, where it is seen that he comes from some of the best and oldest New England families, the Witter, the Waldo and the Bingham. The mother of Mr. Witter died when he was five years old and the father when he was eight, leaving the

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family in the care of a step-mother, who subsequently became the wife of Rev. Samuel G. Willard, the village pastor at Willimantic. For some years the subject of this sketch lived in the family of this educated, wise and good man. It was under the personal instruction and training of Mr. Willard, now recognized as one of the most admirable characters of modern Connecticut, that the early student years of Mr. Witter were spent-the years when good habits, good breeding and high aims are most read- ily implanted in the character. After leaving the family of Mr. Willard, he enjoyed for a time the advantages of classical study under Reverend Daniel Dorchester, a New England educator of high repute. He completed his academical studies at Bacon Academy, Colchester, Conn., and at Marion, Wayne County, New York, under the thorough instruction of Reverend Philo J. Wil- liams, himself a native of Windham County. At the age of fif- teen he was ready to enter college, but for nearly three years he devoted himself to general reading and to the acquisition of business habits in connection with the leading merchants of Providence, R. I., Messrs. G. & D. Taylor, living in the family of the senior member of that house. On entering Brown Univer- sity in 1861, at the age of eighteen, he competed for the Way- land premium for best examination in the Latin language and literature, and gained the first prize. He remained at Brown Uni- versity, ranking first in his class, till the end of the second col- lege year, when he entered the Union army and served during the summer college vacation as private and non-commissioned offi- cer in the Tenth Rhode Island regiment. Returning from the war and resuming his studies, he entered the junior class at Yale University and graduated in 1865. Deciding to embrace the pro- fession of the law, he entered the Columbia College Law School in New York City, was vice-president of his class, graduated in 1867, and in order to learn the practical side of the profession of the law, he at once entered the law office of Evarts, Southmayd & Choate upon the invitation of Hon. William M. Evarts.

In 1869, at the solicitation of George Gifford, Esq., then the foremost lawyer of the country in those branches of the law which deal with patents for invention, copyright and trade- marks, he became a student of those branches of legal learning, and during ten years remained with Mr. Gifford and in charge under him of a very large patent law practice. On the sugges- tion of the late Senator Roscoe Conkling he at this time received

W.W. Preston & CON.Y.

W & Wetter

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the appointment by Hon. Alexander S. Johnson of United States Examiner in Equity. In 1879 he severed his connection with Mr. Gifford and became law partner in New York City of Caus- ten Browne, Esq., under the firm name of Browne & Witter, afterwards Browne, Witter & Kenyon, and now Witter & Ken- yon, appearing only in the United States Circuit and Supreme Courts, and only in causes dealing with the law of patents, trade- marks and copyrights. He has attained eminence in his profes- sion and numbers among his clients many of the largest manu- facturing concerns of the country, such as The Brush Electric Company, of Cleveland, Ohio; The De Lamater Iron Works, of New York City; the great thread making companies at Willi- mantic, Conn., and Holyoke, Mass .; The Hartford Carpet Com- pany, The North American Phonograph Company and many others. His only literary undertaking has been the writing of a small book intended as an aid to the acquisition of the French language, which was printed for private circulation only. He is a member of the Union League Club, the Nineteenth Century Club and of several other clubs of New York City, has been a life long republican, but too much engrossed in his profession to take a very active interest in the politics of the country.

On October 30th, 1871, he married Florence Wellington, of Cam- bridge, Mass., daughter of Doctor Jedediah Wellington, mem- ber of an old and highly cultured Cambridge family, earlier an- cestors of whom shared in the Lexington conflict. Florence Wellington was educated with the children of Longfellow and of other Cambridge families at the school of the late Professor Louis Agassiz. There has been only one child of this union, a daughter, Florence Waldo Witter, born in New York City Janu- ary 17th, 1887. Although Mr. Witter's business, city residence and citizenship are in New York City, his country seat and home are in the mountain county of his native state, at Lakeville, in the picturesque old town of Salisbury.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE TOWN OF HAMPTON.

Beautiful Scenery .- Location and Description .- Settlement .- A Part of Wind- ham .- Organized as Canada Parish .- Its Historic Hills .- As Windham Vil- lage .- Constituted a Town .- Facts and Figures .- Bridges .- Pound .- Poor Dependents .- Town Business .- Heroic Women of the Revolution .- Military Matters .- Business Activity .- Manufacturing Projects .- The Railroad .- School Matters .- The Town Church .- Baptists .- Abbe-ites .- Christ-ians .-. Roman Catholic Church .- Library. - Little River Grange .- Mills and Manu- factories .- Biographical Sketches.

O NE of the beautiful towns of this beautiful rural county is the town of Hampton. The territory covers about four miles in width from east to west and about seven miles in length from north to south. It lies in the southwest central part of the county, with Eastford and Pomfret on the north; Pomfret, Brooklyn and Canterbury on the east; Scotland on the south, and Chaplin on the west. The surface in most parts is hilly, in many places elevations rising in curious, ma- jestic and commanding forms, giving ever changing scenes of quiet rural landscape to entrance the beholder who may for the first time be spell-bound upon their inviting summits. No vil- lage of any considerable magnitude exists in the town, but the central village on Hampton Hill makes up in the surpassing at- tractiveness of its scenery for any lack of busy life that it may show. The New York & New England railroad passes diagon- ally through the town, entering near the southwest corner and leaving near the northeast corner. Goshen, or Clark's Corners, and Hampton Station are the two depots on that line within this town. A line of high hills runs through nearly the central line of the town from north to south. Between and along the eastern foot of these hills Little river runs the length of the town, furnishing on its course water power for two or three mills, which are, however, mostly falling into disuse. Some farming is pursued in the town, but in a business point of view it may be

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said that the town is declining. But it cannot be that a section of country possessing such loveliness of scenery and health in- spiring properties can long remain in obscure decay. Already the tide has turned in the direction of the coming uses. Whilst the old methods of farming must decline, the new methods and the summer delights which are here offered to the overheated and weary citizen of the great centers of population and busi- ness, are laying the foundations of a new system of culture, im- provement and profitable use.

The territory of this town was once included in the bounds of Windham. The good quality of its soil and the cheapness of land in this neighborhood induced settlement in the early years of the history of this county. By a land distribution in 1712, Hampton Hill was opened to purchasers. Nathaniel Hovey bought land in this vicinity in 1713, and soon settled upon it. A hundred acres were soon after sold to Timothy Pearl, by one Jennings. The locality was known by the Indian name of Ap- paquage hill. Another lot, with land on Little river were pur- chased by John Durkee of Gloucester, in 1715. Other settlers on or near this hill were Abiel and Robert Holt of Andover ; Nathaniel Kingsbury of Massachusetts; Thomas Fuller, John Button, George Allen and others. The settlement here was then known as Windham Village. A few sons of old Windham fam- ilies like Ebenezer Abbe and Stephen Howard, joined in the settlement, but the greater part of the settlers were new-comers from Massachusetts.

In December, 1716, the town, in answer to a petition of the people, consented " that the northeast part be a parish," receiv- ing one-fourth part of John Cates' legacy, and having two hun- dred pounds returned to them as rebate on what they had paid toward the new meeting house at Windham. The town then petitioned the general assembly to grant a charter to the new parish. This petition was dated May 9th, 1717. The petition was at once granted and the new society described in boundaries as follows : "Beginning at Canterbury line, to run westerly in the south line of Thomas Lasell's lot, and so in direct course to Merrick's brook, and then the said brook to be the line until it intersects the present road that leads from said town to the Burnt Cedar swamp, and from thence a straight line to the brook that empties itself into Nauchaug river about the middle of Six- Mile Meadow, at the place where Mansfield line crosseth the

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said brook." The new parish comprised all of Windham that lay north of this line. The name given to it was Canada par- ish, from the name of David Canada, who, it is believed, built the first house in this section and kept the first tavern. As his name does not appear on early records it is supposed that he died com- paratively young. David and Isaac Canada, whose names ap- pear among the inhabitants at a later date, were probably his sons.

After surviving the trials of its infancy this parish became thriving and prosperous, many families settling in the village and along the adjacent valleys. Thomas Marsh, Benjamin Chap- lin and Samuel Kimball, of the south part of Pomfret, were an- nexed to this society. A new road laid out from Windham Vil- lage to Pomfret in 1730, facilitated communication between these settlements. In 1723 a trio of neighbors from Ipswich, Mass., one Grow, one Fuller and Samuel Kimball settled on three hills in the northern part of the society. Each gave name to the hill on which he located, and those names are still preserved. Among the descendants of the Grow family was the Hon. Galusha Grow, of national fame, who was born here, on Grow hill, but at an early age removed to Pennsylvania where he rose to promi- nence in the councils of the nation. The Kimball place still remains in the family of the original settler. From Samuel Kimball it descended to his son Daniel, then to his son Asa, from whom it passed to his son Asa, who, with his son George, still occupies the ancestral homestead. This is now located on what is known as the Turnpike, once a part of the great thoroughfare between New York and Boston. The house, which is large, was formerly used as a tavern, and many are the scenes of life and festivity which have been witnessed here. The house was built about the year 1764.

Thomas Stedman, of Brookline, purchased a hundred and fifty acres of Nathaniel Kingsbury, and settled in Windham Village in 1732. Ebenezer Griffin of Newton, in 1733 settled a mile northwest of the meeting house, on land bought of William Durkèe. The first store in this neighborhood is believed to have been kept by Benjamin Bidlack. Nathaniel Hovey kept an early tavern, and a full military company was formed here in 1730, with Nathaniel Kingsbury for captain and James Utley for lieu- tenant.

In the years that followed the first settlement Canada parish

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kept pace with other sections of the town in thrift and activity, and Windham Village, on its fair hill top, was hardly less a power than Windham Green in the southwest corner. Captain James Stedman owned much land and carried on extensive farming operations. His brother Thomas was a skillful builder of meet- ing houses. Ebenezer Griffin, John Howard, Jacob Simmonds and others were actively engaged in business and public affairs. Jeremiah, the fifth son of John Clark, was a trader as well as a farmer, and bought up such produce as he could take to New- port or Providence on horseback to dispose of. Thus a tide of prosperity flowed into them for a long term of years.

In 1767 an effort was made to secure greater privileges to the society without becoming a distinct town. This plan failing, the society appointed Captain Jonathan Kingsbury to apply to the general assembly for a grant to allow them the rights of a distinct town. This effort was for the time also fruitless. And in this condition things remained until the end of the revolu- tion, which of course absorbed the attention of the people to the exclusion of all minor topics. But in 1785 the people again urged their case, and the town voting by a majority of one " not to oppose the memorial," the general assembly passed the act, October 2d, 1786, " That the inhabitants of the Second Society of Windham, and those of Pomfret, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Mans- field and First Society in Windham be constituted a town by the name of Hampton. The bounds prescribed are identical with the present north, east and south bounds of the town, but on the west it extended to the Natchaug river, taking in a section now included in the town of Chaplin. About twelve hundred acres were taken from Brooklyn, a generous slice from Mansfield, and narrow strips from Canterbury and Pomfret. The first town meeting of the new town was held November 13th, 1786, at which Captain James Stedman acted as moderator. Officers were chosen as follows: Thomas Stedman, clerk ; Captain Sted- man, Deacon Bennet, Jeduthan Rogers, selectmen ; Andrew Durkee, Joseph Fuller and William Martin, Jr., constables; and a committee was also appointed to view and adjust the propor- tion of bridges belonging to the old town that should fall to the new. This important committee consisted of Philip Pearl, Ebe- nezer Hovey, Josiah Kingsley, Silas Cleveland, Andrew Durkee, Amos Utley, Thomas Fuller and Colonel Moseley.

In 1790 the census showed that Hampton had a population of

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1,332 whites and one slave. The greater part of its inhabitants were engaged in agriculture. Colonel Moseley after the war opened a store and engaged successfully in various business en- terprises and public affairs. Captain James Howard was early interested in manufactures, running grist, saw and fulling mills in the valley that bore his name.

The settlement of the question in regard to several bridges was a matter of much concern between Hampton and the mother town of Windham. The committee appointed at the first town meeting was joined by a committee from the old town in appeal- ing to the general assembly, which body appointed a commis- sion to investigate the matter. This commission met at Widow Cary's at Windham Green, in May, 1787, and after hearing testi- mony decided that Hampton should pay £10 a year toward the maintenance of the three bridges which Windham had to keep in repair over the Shetucket. Hampton now replied that it had to maintain two bridges over the Natchaug, and in consideration of this fact the assembly reduced the award to £5 a year toward the Shetucket bridges.

One of the first achievements of the town was a pound, which was ordered to be built with a stone wall for foundation, six feet high, four feet thick at the bottom and two feet at the top. Three feet from the ground it was bound by a tier of flat stones, and it had a similar tier upon the top, and was finished by four sticks of hewed timber ten inches thick, linked together, with a good gate four feet wide. The erection of this structure was awarded to Amos Utley, who accomplished the work in a most workmanlike and satisfactory manner.

The disposition of the poor of the town was another perplex- ing question which arose between the new town and the old. It was, however, amicably adjusted. Hampton then decided to farm out its poor to those who would keep them for the lowest price. A single man was accordingly "bid off " by Jonathan Hovey at five shillings nine pence a week, an aged couple by Amos Utley at five shillings, and a widow woman by another bidder at two shillings. The town was particularly careful to avoid, as far as lay in their power to do, the possibilities of in- curring needless burdens in dependent persons. Transient per- sons were looked upon with a jealous eye, and about 1792 Philip Pearl was appointed an agent to prosecute those who harbored transient persons. In 1788 the town voted that those who took

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the poor to keep at a certain price should keep them whether in sickness or in health, and should furnish them with all necessary spirits, and on the other hand should be entitled to the benefit of whatever work they were able to do. As these poor people were mostly aged or ailing, the small price at which they were " bid off " was often found too small to pay their doctor's bills, and so a special sum was allowed for that purpose. Medical at- tendance for the poor was thus " bid off " in the same manner as their support. The prices ranged from £2, 16s. to £22. The bidder in some cases was to employ what doctor he pleased, and in other cases the poor were gratified with their choice of a phy- sician.

It is evident that in its corporate capacity this little town was decidedly ambitious, both as to its standing among other towns of the county and in regard to its own internal dignity. It took active part in general deliberations, and for many years about the close of the last century strongly urged its claim to the distinction of the county seat. The regulations for the orderly conduct of town meetings, passed by the town meet- ing September 15th, 1300, are so unique that we must be par- doned for inserting them here. They are as follows:

"1. Choose a moderator. 2. Annual meeting to be opened by prayer. 3. Every member be seated with his hat on, and no member to leave his seat unnecessarily, and if necessary, to 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."

The patriotic spirit of this town has been a subject of com- mon remark. The days of the revolution witnessed it. Even among the women, it was fired to the height of heroic devo- tion. Elsewhere in this volume the reader is told of the reso- lute spirit with which the women of this town carried forward with their own hands the erection of a building, when the able- bodied men of the town were all away in their country's service. After the war, the military spirit that had so characterized the

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residents of this vicinity was not suffered to decline. Hampton took especial pride in her company of grenadiers, which was formed soon after the close of the war and sustained with great spirit for many years. The roster of this company contained the names of many revolutionary veterans. Strength and large size were essential qualifications for admission to this honored band, and many of them were worthy of a place in Frederick William's Tall Regiment. It played an important part on many public occasions, and took the first and highest places in the great regimental musterings for which Hampton hill was espe- cially famous. Successive captains of it were Thomas Stedman, Jr., Thomas Williams, who had removed from Plainfield to Hampton, Roger Clark and Philip Pearl, Jr. The militia com- panies of the town were also well sustained. Ebenezer Moseley was appointed colonel of the Fifth regiment in 1789; Elijah Simons served several years as its lieutenant-colonel, and Lem- uel Dorrance, one of Hampton's young physicians, as its surgeon.

For many years this interest in military matters was kept up. Its regular trainings and occasional musters were observed as gala days by the whole population. One of the great days of this kind, long remembered by those who witnessed it, was the semi-centennial celebration of the declaration of independence, which was duly commemorated here July 4th, 1826. Hampton's celebration of this auspicious day was almost as preternaturally impressive as the " Midnight Review " of Napoleon's grand army, portrayed by an imaginative poet. Not the phantoms here, but the material, living men themselves, who had marched to Lex- ington and braved the carnage of many battles, to the number . of forty-two gray-haired veterans, appeared in their old-time cos- tume and marched up and down the length of the village street to the music and the drums of "'76." At. their head was their old leader, Abijah Fuller, and Nathaniel Farnham as drum- major, and Joseph Foster and Lucius Faville as fifers. Other military companies present did homage to the veteran band, who were treated by their admiring fellow citizens to a free dinner, and throughout the day they were the most conspicuous objects of attention. At that time Samuel Moseley served as lieutenant colonel of the Fifth regiment, and Chauncey F. Cleveland was captain of the Hampton company. The military bearing of the latter, together with his affable manner, gave him great popu-

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larity as an officer, and he was rapidly promoted, rising from the ranks to the highest military office in the state.

In the early years of the present century business was quite active, and various enterprises were prosecuted with vigor. Shubael Simons obtained liberty to erect a dam on Little river for the benefit of a grist mill, and potash works were carried on in the same vicinity. Edmond Hughes made and repaired clocks and watches. Colonel Simons engaged in trade. Roger and Solomon Taintor, who removed to Hampton about 1804, en- gaged extensively in exchanging domestic produce for foreign goods. In town affairs Colonel Ebenezer Moseley succeeded Thomas Stedman as town clerk in 1797, and retained the office many years. He was often sent as deputy to the general assem- bly. Other deputies during the successive years of that period were Deacon Isaac Bennett, Philip Pearl, Jonathan Kingsbury, Doctor John Brewster and William Huntington. The justices about that time were Colonel Moseley, Deacon Bennett, James Burnett and Philip Pearl. A public library was instituted in the town in 1807, which soon contained over a hundred volumes. In the census year 1800 Hampton had a population of one thousand three hundred and seventy-nine, and its grand list then footed up to $38,231.01.

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History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 37

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: New York, Preston Number of Pages: 1506

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506