History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 43

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

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

About twenty persons died in the town within a few months, including some of its first and leading citizens, viz .: John Hall, Samuel Shepard, James Deane, Benjamin Palmer, Matthias But- ton, Ephraim Wheeler, Philip Bump and Samuel Howe. The Aboriginals were now rapidly passing away, not so much from disease as from their change of habits, and especially from the excessive use of liquor, from which it seemed impossible to re- strain them.

The Separate movement in Plainfield drew away from the standing church a number of followers, but the breach was not as wide, nor the opposition between the two religious factions as bitter as it was in some towns. The Separatists, who had built a church and were supporting the Gospel themselves, in their own way, objected strongly to paying additional taxes for the support of the standing minister, as the law required them to do. At a town meeting, April 7th, 1760, it was voted to have two dis- tinct societies. A committee was appointed to present the case to the assembly and ask the approval of that body. The assem- bly granted the request, dividing the town into two societies, not by geographical lines but by ecclesiastical preferences of the people, both societies occupying the same territory, the First to have two-thirds and the Second one-third of the ministerial rate of the town. The adjustment of ecclesiastical matters by the town seemed to occupy so much attention about this period that but little consideration was given to schools, roads and other public improvements.

In 1756 certain French prisoners of war were billeted upon the town. These were some of the neutral French inhabitants of Acadia, who had been torn from their homes and native coun- try after the conquest of Nova Scotia by the English, and were now distributed among the towns of New England. Forty-three of these unhappy Acadians were assigned to Wind- ham county by act of assembly, but Plainfield appears to have been the only town that officially and publicly made provision for them. By such records loads of wood were allowed to Frenchmen ; money was paid for going to Norwich for French- men's beef, for doctoring the "Neutral French," and for keep- ing Pierre Meron's cow. Thus we see that whatever their sufferings elsewhere, in Plainfield they were not uncared for.

At the town meeting in 1765, Elisha Paine was moderator. The following officers were elected: Isaac Coit, James Brad-

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

ford, James Howe, Joseph Eaton, Elisha Paine, selectmen ; Major Ezekiel Pierce, town clerk; John Pierce, Elisha Paine, Lieutenant John Douglas, Doctor Robinson, Azariah Spalding, Jedidiah Spalding, Ebenezer Kingsbury, Stephen Warren, Wil- liam Cady, Timothy Parkhurst, highway surveyors; Reuben Shepard, David Shepard, D: Perkins, Nathaniel Deane, Simeon Burgess, listers ; Captains Eaton and Coit, fence viewers; Wil- liam Park and Azariah Spalding, leather sealers; William Robinson and Joshua Dunlap, grand jurors; Samuel Hall, Joseph Spalding, Philip Spalding and Simon Shepard, tithing men; Hezekiah Spalding, sealer of weights and measures; Captain Cady, toller and brander of horses. The engrossing subject of this time was the adjusting of ecclesiastical affairs. The majority of the town adhered to the Separate church, while by law the two-thirds of ministerial rates belonged to the First church. The remnant of the latter had not sufficient vitality to supply their church with a minister. The Separate church was a respectable and orderly body, differing little from the orthodox churches of the time except in opposing the sup- port of the ministry by taxation. An effort was made in 1766 to unite the two societies. The town voted that the old town meeting house should be used, that being larger and more con- venient for the people to reach, and that Mr. Miller, the Sepa- ratist minister, should preach in it. This arrangement was unsatisfactory to a few who clung to the First church and dis- tinctively opposed the Separatists, thus shutting themselves out from the house of worship. But a conciliatory settlement of dif- ficulties was effected in 1769, by which the town was again united in its worship in the old church, certain orthodox forms being observed, while the ministerial tax levy, which was so objection- able to the Separatists, was forever abolished and church ex- penses met by voluntary contributions.

In 1763 a project was set on foot for the improvement of the Quinebaug river from Danielson's Falls to Norwich, by digging it out. It was estimated that such improvement could be made for four hundred pounds, and the assembly was petitioned for authority to operate a lottery in behalf of the scheme, but the request was not granted, and so the improvement scheme was abandoned. In the summer of 1768 a weekly stage-coach was run over the road from Providence to Norwich through this town. A spacious tavern house for the accommodation of travelers over

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HISTORY OF , WINDHAM COUNTY.

this road was built and opened in Plainfield village, by Captain Eaton, which became a very noted and popular resort. Taverns were also kept in other parts of the town by Thomas Stevens, Israel Underwood and others.

The old Eaton house or tavern has historic honors connected with it. At different times it had Washington and Lafayette for its guests. It stands on the thoroughfare mentioned and is now kept by David K. Douglas. On the front stoop stands an antique chair, in which, tradition says, Lafayette sat and wrote a letter. The editor of this History takes the liberty here to quote from his own note book the following paragraph, verbatim et literatim.

"On the front stoop of the old Douglass or Eaton house stands the historic chair. I am writing these notes on the same arm on which it is said Lafayette wrote a letter. It is an antiquated chair, the back and side arms of which are formed of swelled rounds. On the right arm is an oval board about 1 ft. wide and 2 ft. long, forming a very convenient writing desk. The old house and all its surroundings are wonderfully suggestive of the customs of a generation long since passed away. Massive elms of a century's growth shade the airy lawn and green and street. The swinging tavern sign of a former period still hangs out upon the highway."

In 1771 the town voted to provide a house for the poor and a proper overseer. The few Indians at that time left in the town were properly cared for by the town authorities or benevolent individuals. The provision made by Mr. Joshua Whitney for his negro servants at his decease in 1761 shows the conscientious regard with which some good men of that day fulfilled the re- sponsibility of ownership. Not only did he make Sandy, Cæsar and Judith, with their children, absolutely free, but bequeathed to each household six acres of land, stock and farming tools ; gave to one his " oldest little Bible," and to another several good books; enjoined Sandy to take care of Bess, his wife, and give her a decent burial ; and directed Cæsar and Judith "to see that their chil- dren were in no ways left to perish."

The great exodus to the new countries took from Plainfield some valued citizens. A number of respectable families joined the first emigrants to Oblong and Nine Partners. Major Ez- ekiel Pierce and Captain Simon Spalding were prominent among the bold men who took possession of Wyoming. Elisha Paine, so active in professional and public affairs, removed in 1767 to

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

Lebanon, New Hampshire. The township of Sharon, Vermont, was purchased and settled by a Plainfield colony. Isaac Marsh, Willard Shepard and others went on in advance, selected land, built huts, sowed grass and prepared for the main body of immi- grants. William, son of Captain John Douglas, though but a lad of sixteen, served valiantly in the French war, and after the return of peace took command of a merchant ship sailing be- tween New Haven and the West Indies, making his residence in Northford. These losses were in some degree made up by oc- casional new settlers. Timothy Lester, of Shepard hill, and Isaac Knight, of Black hill, were among its acquisitions. John Aplin, an Englishman, who had gained a handsome estate by the practice of law in Providence, removed hither about 1766. John Pierce succeeded to the position of town clerk for a few years, and was succeeded by William Robinson in 1772.

During the trying revolutionary period, Plainfield maintained its character for patriotism and constancy. In the summer of 1774 the town, by its vote, expressed its willingness to contribute to the help of Boston, then suffering in the common cause. A committee was appointed to receive subscriptions for that pur- pose, which committee consisted of Captain Joseph Eaton, James Bradford, Robert Kinsman, Andrew Backus, Abraham Shepard, Ebenezer Robinson, Joshua Dunlap, Perry Clark and Curtis Spalding. A committee of correspondence was also appointed, which was composed of James Bradford, Isaac Coit, Major John Douglas, Doctor Elisha Perkins and William Robinson. In 1775 Plainfield approved of the methods proposed by congress for resisting the oppressive acts of parliament, and pledged a strict adherence to them. The town also voted, with but one dissent- ing voice, "That we will not in future purchase for ourselves or families any East India tea until the port of Boston is opened, and until the unreasonable Acts of the British Parliament are repealed." In 1777 Plainfield encouraged enlistments by voting that the families of those who should enlist for three years or during the war should be supplied with the common necessaries of life at the price stated by the general assembly, and also offered a bounty of $30 above that offered by the state. During that year Captain Daniel Clark, of Plainfield, was killed in battle at Saratoga, September 19th, and the town also lost its minister, Reverend John Fuller, who died in the service as a chaplain in the army. The women of this town were not to be left in the

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shade of others in their acts of devotion to the common cause. They engaged in making thousands of cartridges with which to replenish the military stores at their depot. The following list of men who were killed or died in the service, from Plainfield, has been preserved :

"Samuel Gary, Roxbury; Roswell Spaulding, Asa Chapman, 1775; William Dunlap, 1776; John Kingsbury, New York-ward, 1777; Samuel Cole, Zerniah Shurtleff, New York-ward, 1776; four negroes by sickness; William Farnham, captivity; Captain Dan- iel Clark, Paul Adams, killed at Stillwater, Sept. 19, 1777; Asa Kingsbury's son, killed at Fort Mifflin, nigh Philadelphia; Dr. Nathaniel Spalding, died at Halifax a prisoner, last of 1777; Dr. Phinehas Parkhurst, surgeon of brig Resistance, died at Portland, May, 1778; Daniel Parish died at Newport a prisoner; Samuel Spalding at Martinique after being wounded; Enos Tew, New York, captivity; Dr. Ebenezer Robinson, Jr., at New York, pris- oner, July, 1779."

After the revolution Plainfield resumed, with other towns, the business of a community and time of peace. Agriculture and other industrial arts were promoted and a degree of prosperity was soon acquired. The selectmen in 1801 were directed to pro- vide a suitable and convenient house for the reception of the poor. What provision was made we are not informed, but later on, in 1832, the house formerly belonging to Amos Witter was established for a work-house and house of correction. Military matters excited some attention. In 1799 the town voted to ex- empt from certain taxation all non-commissioned officers, musi- cians and privates who should equip themselves as to arms, clothing and accoutrements, and do military duty. Abel Andrus was at this time lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment; Shubael Hutchins, first major; Reverend Joel Benedict, chaplain; Sessions Lester, quartermaster; George Middleton, paymaster; Doctor Johnson, of Westminster, surgeon; Daniel Gordon, sur- geon's mate; Frederick Andrus, Aaron Crary, Samuel Douglas and Asa Burgess, captains of companies in the light infantry; Thomas and Daniel Wheeler and John Gordon, lieutenants and ensigns; Doctor Josiah Fuller, surgeon's mate of the cavalry reg- iment.

The easy communication with Providence and Norwich, the stages now running daily to and from, stimulated traffic and ag- ricultural enterprise. Captains Lester, Dunlap and others gave

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

much attention to wool growing and stock raising. Luther Smith, John and William Douglas and William Olmstead en- gaged in trade. George Middleton opened a harness shop, mak- ing a specialty of manufacturing pocket-books and portmanteaus of leather. Doctor Daniel Gordon kept an apothecary's shop. Potash works, tanning and hat manufacturing were carried on in the valleys east and south of the village. A post office, the third office established in Windham county, was opened here in 1797 by Captain Ebenezer Eaton, whose popular stage tavern main- tained its former reputation. Nathan Angell, of Providence, purchased of Doctor Welles, in 1777, a fine farm on the Moosup, with large mansion house, store house, cheese house, milk house, young orchard, and various conveniences. Much other land was purchased by Mr. Angell, who ran saw and grist mills and car- ' ried on extensive farming operations as well. At a later period the town favored manufacturing industries by repealing its former regulations for the protection of fishing interests in the Quinebaug, thus allowing the water privileges to be utilized. It also took into consideration the canal proposed from tide water to Worcester, and gave expressions of confidence in its tendency to benefit the agricultural, commercial and manufacturing in- terests of the town, and requested its representatives to further the same.

During the early years of the present century, manufacturing interests began to develop in Plainfield, and through their influ- ence the town has maintained its position and growth with a healthy degree of progress. About the year 1807 several manu- facturing companies embarked in the enterprise of establishing cotton spinning upon the streams of this town. The American Cotton Manufacturing Company was composed of Thomas Rhodes of Providence, Peter B. Remington of Warwick, Messrs. Holden & Lawton of Rehoboth, and Obed Brown, Dyer Ames and others of Sterling. This company secured a privilege " near Ransom Perkins' fulling mill on Quandunk River." The Plain- field Union Manufacturing Company was organized for the pur- pose of carrying on the manufacture of cotton, and bought val- uable privileges and land on the Moosup. This company was composed of Rufus Waterman, S. G. Arnold, Joseph S. Martin, David and Joseph Anthony, of Providence; Peter Cushman, of North Providence; David King, of Newport; and Anthony Bradford, Henry Dow, John Dunlap, Walter Palmer, Christo-

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

pher Deane, Jonathan Gallup, Joseph Parkhurst, Edward Hill, John Lester, Jeremiah Kinsman, James Gordon, Jr., Nathaniel Medbury, James Goff, John Freeman, Elias Deane and Edward Clark, of Plainfield; and Calvin Hibbard and Lemuel Dorrance, of Sterling. Joseph K. Angell, with Nathan Burgess, Hum- phrey Almy and other non-residents, arranged to occupy the privilege long owned by Nathan Angell, under the name of the Moosup Manufacturing Company. The Plainfield Union Company was ready for work in 1809, and the others within a year or two from that time. The Andrus Factory Company, composed of Abel and Benjamin Andrus, Thomas and Andrew Gibbs, Levi Robinson and Joseph Hutchins, of Plainfield; Charles Townsend, of Norwich; Titus Adams, John Baldwin and Joseph Farnham, of Canterbury, began operations in 1811. They bought land in Plainfield and Canterbury, on the brook south of the grist mill, and put up a small mill, thus begin- ning the settlement which has since been known as Packer- ville. Adjoining residents in both towns were much interested in this manufacturing experiment, and freely gave their aid in clearing up land and digging the cellar. Woolen factories were also set in motion in the town by Darius Lawton, of Newport, and Joseph Eaton. Carding machines and fulling mills were run by John Kennedy and others. Mr. John Lester and Doctor Fuller engaged largely in wool raising. The period of depression in the manufacturing industry which followed the war of 1812 occasioned much embarrassment in Plainfield. Several companies were obliged to suspend operations, and many changes took place. The Moosup Company lost its fac- tory by fire, and the company was dissolved. The Central Manufacturing Company in 1827 passed into the hands of Rich- ard and Arnold Fenner, of Cumberland, and Holden Borden, of Smithfield. Buildings, machinery, privileges of land and water, occupied in woolen manufacture by Joseph Eaton, Darius Law- ton and company, in 1826 fell into the hands of a Rhode Island Quaker, William Almy. A large new factory building was erected the following year, improved machinery introduced, tenement houses built, adjoining land purchased and brought under cultivation, and soon one of the largest woolen manufac- tories in Connecticut was under full headway. Another smaller factory, eastward on the Moosup, was built and run by Joseph S. Gladding. The Union Factory, owned mostly in Plainfield,

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

was also flourishing, Henry A. Rogers acting as its agent in Providence. Four little manufacturing villages, known as Almy- ville, Unionville, Centreville and Packerville, were thus grow- ing up in the town. All were managed by good men, ready to promote order and improvement. The first was made the charge of Sampson Almy, nephew of its chief proprietor. A small set- tlement also grew up around Kennedy's mill, near the mouth of the Moosup.

Public improvements in the way of traveling facilities were imperative and the demand was promply met by the early set- tlers of the town. In 1705 the town directed a committee to lay out leading ways into the General Field and a way to Canterbury. A road was also marked out from the mill which had been built on Mill brook to the north part of the town. A highway six rods wide was laid out from the Preston line to the north bounds of the town, with two crossings at Moosup's river. A highway was laid out from this road, through the General Field, between John Spalding's and Thomas Pierce's and " so over the brook on the west side of Moosup's hill to Moosup's river and so down the river." The people felt the need of more convenient highways and bridges over the Quinebaug, fording places being at first used, but this practice was dangerous and sometimes impossible when the river ran high. The town was too young and unset- tled to cope with the task of bridge building, but a bridge was built, probably by private contributions, in 1709. By direction of the assembly this town was required to lay out a road through its territory to meet the road which Rhode Island had ordered to be laid out from Providence to this town. The enactment was made in October, 1712. The assembly directed the selectmen of Plainfield to continue the road eastward beyond the town bounds to the point where it was to meet the road from Rhode Island. This part of the road through territory as yet unoccupied by any town was to be paid for by the government. In crossing this town the road ran through the lands of Joshua Whitney, Benjamin Spalding, Nathaniel Jewell, Daniel Lawrence, John Hall and John Smith, all of whom gave the right of way free of charge. The road was laid out four rods wide, and in some parts of Egunk hill this was increased to eight rods for the conven- ience of loaded carts. The road was completed and opened for use in 1714, the colony paying the cost of a bridge over the Moosup which lay on the road just beyond the east bounds of

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the town. The bridge which had been built over the Quinebaug was carried away by a freshet after it had been there but a few years. Following this, Samuel Shepard, who lived on the public road near a convenient place for crossing, provided a ferry boat large enough to carry a horse and a man over. In order to com- pensate him for the outlay he had made, the assembly in May, 1772, allowed him "to keep said ferry for the space of five years next coming ; and the fees thereof are stated to be fourpence for horse and man." No other public ferry was allowed between the towns, and Shepard was to keep suitable boats for the pur- pose and attend to its service.

The following petition tells so much of its own story, and also gives so much of incidental information concerning the river and the enterprise of bridging it, that we insert it entire :

"To the general assembly sitting in Hartford. May 9, 1728. The petition of the subscribers showeth to your Honors, the many attempts that have been made by many of the inhabitants of the towns of Plainfield and Canterbury for the making a good and sufficient cart-bridge over the river Quinebaug, between said towns; it being so extraordinarily difficult and hazardous, for near half the year almost every year, and many travelers have escaped of their lives to admiration. The same river can't be paralleled in this Colony. It descends near fifty or sixty miles, out of the wilderness, and many other rivers entering into it, cause it to be extremely furious and hazardous. And also the road through said towns, over said river, being as great as al- most any road in the Government, for travelers. And now your petitioners, with the encouragement of divers persons (£98 €s.) have assumed to build a good cart-bridge, twenty-seven feet high from the bottom of said river-which is four feet higher than any flood known these thirty years-and sixteen and a half rods long ; have carefully kept account of the cost, be- side trouble which is great (cost amounting to £424), and ask for a grant of ungranted lands."

The assembly ordered, " That said bridge be kept a toll-bridge for ten years, receiving for each man, horse and load, fourpence; single man, twopence ; each horse and all neat cattle, twopence per head ; sheep and swine, two shillings per score ; always pro- vided, that those who have contributed toward said bridge be free till reimbursed what they have paid." Two years later, cn account of the great expense incurred in building this bridge,

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

it was further resolved, " That no person shall keep any boat or ferry on said Quinebaug river for the transportation of trav- elers within one mile of said bridge, on the penalty of the law."

A bridge over Moosup river, by Kingsbury's mill, was built by Samuel Spalding in 1729. In 1737 a committee was appointed to act in conjunction with Canterbury in rebuilding the broken down bridge between the two towns. Canterbury preferring to build a new one rather than repair the damaged one, Plainfield ordered a new road laid out to reach the new site, which was nearly opposite to Captain Butts' place. William Deane was granted permission to make a dam across Moosup river about 1716, for the purpose of setting up mills near his house. A bridge over this stream on the road to Deane's house and mill was built by the town in 1740.

In 1767 the bridge over the Quinebaug was again swept away by a freshet. Widow Williams saved twenty of the planks, by heroic efforts, and the town voted her a reward for the action. The bridge was at once rebuilt and men appointed to have the care of it and cut away ice when it formed upon the abutments. This bridge being situated on a great thoroughfare of inter- colonial travel, was at that time a very important one. Special orders relative to the renewal and maintenance of this road were from time to time made by the governments of Connecticut and Rhode Island. A road laid out from this highway to Butts' bridge accommodated Norwich travel. In 1784 the town voted to join with Brooklyn in building a bridge over the Quinebaug at Parkhurst's fordway. The work was delayed several years, but was accomplished in 1790. In 1788 the town joined Canter- bury in rebuilding Nevins' bridge, "with three stone pillars in the river and suitable timber and planks for the upper works."

Turnpike companies began to come into existence about the close of the last century. In 1795 the " New London and Wind- ham County Society for establishing a turnpike road from Nor- wich to Rhode Island line, direct through Norwich, Lisbon, Preston, Plainfield and Sterling," was incorporated. A toll-gate was allowed in Sterling, and another "within half a mile of Plainfield meeting house." The old traveled country road from Plainfield meeting house westward to Hartford was turned over to the Windham Turnpike Company in 1799, and liberty granted to erect a toll-gate near the dividing line between Plainfield and Canterbury. General James Gordon was a member of several

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History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 43

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