USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1854 > Part 16
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1 State Papers, Travel, vol. 1, p. 174.
2 Travel, vol. 3, p. 329.
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mediate repair of the bridge on account of the extreme urgency of the public service. By this it seems that our ancient territory has been trod by the feet of the sainted " father of his country," though it was secluded in the wilderness, far removed from most of the Revo- lutionary battle-fields. He probably made his head-quarters during his brief stay, at Hon. Daniel Sherman's, who was that year, one of the council of safety, or at the house of Shadrach Osborn, who was commissary, and actively engaged in meeting the wants of the conti- nental and other troops. How swiftly does the bare allusion to the fact of the long past presence of " him who was first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," send a thrill to evory patriotic heart. This was in the very heat of the contest, in the " days that tried men's souls."
Previous to 1741, by far the larger portion of the burials had been made in the "ancient buryal ground," south of the Episcopal Church, and no action of the town in regard to places of sepulture appears on the records, till the early part of that year, when a vote passed directing
" The committee for the Antient Society in Woodbury, and also for South- bury, to eall for the committee for laying out Land, and lay out the burying Plaee in Each Society, and when the same is Laid out, it is hereby Sequestered for that use, and also to be returned to the town Clerk to be Recorded, and also the Inhabitants in the Destriek of Shepoage have the same Liberty of two burying plaees, and the Inhabitants of the West End of the North Purchase have like Liberty, and the Inhabitants of Bethlehem have the same liberty of one burying place."
At the time of this vote, it is probable that the " ancient" burying ground had been more than once buried over, and interments in it should undoubtedly have ceased at that time ; but it has continued to be used till the present day with more or less frequency, the space of a century and a quarter more. Scarcely a grave is now dug there withont throwing up the remains of some former occupant of the " narrow house" appointed for all the living. No more interments in this locality should be allowed by the authorities of the town. The space of earth occupied by each lonely sleeper, after " life's fitful journey is over," is full small, and it should be " sequestered" to his use forever. The " city of the dead" should be guarded well by the living, free from intrusion-free from unhallowed tread.
With the final resting places of those we loved in life, are many endearing associations and recollections. Besides, we should con- template it as our own home, for it is well to reflect that when
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" A few short years have rolled along, With mingled joy and pain, We all have passed-a broken tone, An echo of a strain."
There is to the contemplative mind a melancholy pleasure in visit- ing the home of the departed, and wandering among the couches of the lowly dead. A grandeur, a sublimity of thought, comes over one at such an hour. A degree of pensiveness, a holy chastening of feeling, is experienced, and the soul, filled with higher aspirations, is brought nearer the throne of the Eternal. Under the influence of such an hour, he is a better being, and resolves to continue such from that time forth. Man, for a brief space, forgets the scenes of vice and misery with which he is surrounded, and contemplates the scenes of that far-off, better land, where, after the toils of this life are over, he may rest in eternal repose. As he wanders from shaft to shaft, and from tomb to tomb, in imagination, he passes in review the joys and sorrows, the various events in the life of each lonely sleeper, and endeavors to look away into that distant land, whither his spirit has winged its way. If some of his friends lie slumbering there, with what tender interest he recalls their familiar countenances ! How vividly the recollection of each little aet of kindness comes up before the mind. And as he muses thus all earnestly, he seems again to enjoy communion with them, and their spirits appear to hover around him, to encourage and chieer him on in the journey of life. He feels sure that they are near him as his guardian angels, and he joyfully exclaims,
" They're with us yet, the holy dead ! By a thousand signs we know ; They're keeping e'er a spirit-watch, O'er those they loved below."
By a vote of the town June 8th, 1702, a " twenty acre accommo- dation round, both upland, meadow and pasture divisions," in addition to what had already been granted to Mr. Walker and Mr. Stoddard, was sequestered for the use of a " future minister, and the ministry forever, established according to the Constitution of the Churches in this Government Established by law, viz: the Presbyterian and Con- gregational, so Called." In 1741, this vote was referred to, and the various divisions, which had been granted on this basis, were again dedicated to the same use and described as
" More particularly the Sixty aeres of Land Laid out att the Bent of the River, Sed to be laid out to the Parsonage ; the 28 acres at horse pound ; the 50 acres
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Laid out to the Westward (at Shepang) Sed to be Laid out for a pious use ; also the ten acres at ye good hill, and the four acres near the North End of Bare hill ; also that piece of Land laid out Near Bottle Swamp ; and the 31 Lott in the Second tier in the North Purchase, Drawn on the parsonage Right ; and also the Divisions belonging to said twenty acre accomodation, not yet laid out."1
In November, 1744, a committee of one in each ecclesiastical soci- ety was appointed by the town to sell these " Parsonage Accommo- dations." The committee consisted of Col. William Preston, Mr. Noah Hinman, Lt. Henry Castle, Capt. Hezekiah Hooker, and Sergt. Abraham Hurd. The land was sold at auction to the highest bidder. The funds were kept at interest by the selectmen for ten or twelve years, the interest being annually divided among the five so- cieties of the town, to be laid out for the support of the ministry, in accordance with the original intention of the proprietors. In 1759, the fund was divided among the several societies, and the amount belonging to the "ancient society" was £112 0s. 5d. In 1763, the last time the records speak about it, there was remaining in the treas- ury of the same society £88 11s. 6d. of this fund.
In May, 1748, previous to the formation of the county of Litch- field, Woodbury took action in relation to a new county. Col. Wil- liam Preston was chosen an agent to attend the General Assembly, and prefer a memorial for a new county to be called the county of Woodbury, having Woodbury for its county seat, and to consist of this town, Waterbury, Newtown, New Milford, Litchfield, New Fair- field, (now Sherman,) and as many of the new northern towns as should choose to join the new county. Col. Preston attended to the duties of his appointment, and Waterbury and Newtown gave their assent to the proposed arrangement, provided they were at no ex- pense for county buildings. The petition, however, was negatived by the Assembly.2
In May, 1751, the subject of a new county having been further agitated, Col. William Preston was chosen special agent, and Deacon Samuel Minor and Deacon Benjamin Hicock were elected represent- atives to the May session of the Assembly at Hartford, that year, with full power to act for the town, to secure the new county, with Woodbury for its shire town. The town also voted to furnish the county buildings free of charge. The object was not attained at that
1 Woodbury Proprietors' Book, p. 39.
2 State Records, Civil Officers, vol. 3, p. 289.
11
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session, and Capt. Increase Moseley and Deacon Samuel Minor were sent to the General Assembly in October following, when a new county was indeed made, but its name was Litchfield, and Woodbury was left quite in its south-east corner.' Great was the dissatisfaction in Woodbury at the new aspect which affairs had taken. A town meeting was immediately called, and a vote passed to take measures to be released from the
" New County of Litchfield, & be continued as heretofore to the County of Fairfield, unless the Upper Towns in Litchfield County will appoint an agent from Every Town dissatisfied, to meet at some proper time & place to Confer about the matter & come to some other Conclusion respecting a County than is yet Determined."
" Mr. Benjamin Stiles & Capt. Elisha Stoddard are chosen agents to appear at the upper Towns, to Confer Respecting what ineasures may be thought Need- full Respecting the New County of Litchfield."
In December following,
" Mr. Noah Hinman was chosen an Agent for the Town of Woodbury, to meet at Kent, with those Gent. from the other Towns, with full Power to act in behalf of the Town, to Endeavor to be Released from the County of Litchfield "
The representatives sent to the next session in May, 1752, were instructed to endeavor to have the town set off again to Fairfield county, and gave them power to act in conjunction with the repre- sentatives of other towns, as should be judged proper, in relation to a " New County or Counties." Nothing having been effected at this session, the same representatives were sent to New Haven, at the October session, and two others were sent as agents, or " lobby mem- bers," to accomplish the desired end. Nothing, however, resulted from all these efforts, and the county remained as at first constituted.
In 1768, a period of twenty years after the first attempt, applica- tion was again made to the General Assembly to make a new coun- ty, consisting of Woodbury, Waterbury, Newtown, New Milford and
1 The tradition is, that the county, consisting of the towns desired by Woodbury, with itself for a county seat, was on the point of being established, and would have been, but for an unaccountable change of mind in Deacon Minor just before the vote was taken. He arose and informed the astonished Assembly, that he, on prayerful reflection, was opposed to making Woodbury into a shire town. If it were made such, a great many idle and profligate young men, and much " vain company," would flock to the center of the county, the morals of the youth would become corrupted, and in a short time there would be a sad departure from the "landmarks of the fathers." In consequence of this the vote failed, and at the same session Litchfield. which had before been faintly talked of, was made the county seat.
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New Fairfield, to be called, as before requested, the county of Wood- bury, with that town for a county seat. Woodbury laid a rate of a penny and a half on the pound, in addition to their regular propor- tion, to be applied toward defraying the expenses of the county buildings, and also granted the use of the town hall for a court house as long as the county should choose to occupy it for that purpose, with liberty to make such additions and alterations as should be judged necessary. This application was no more successful than the former, and all further efforts, on the part of Woodbury, were relinquished for a period of more than thirty years, when in 1791, another move was made for the formation of a new county, to consist of the towns of Woodbury, Bethlem, Southbury, Washington, Waterbury and the parishes of Westbury, Oxford and Farmingbury, with Woodbury for the county town. Hon. Nathaniel Smith, Hezekiah Thompson, Esq., and Nathan Preston, Esq., were appointed a committee to meet like committees from the other towns mentioned, at Washington. After ineffectual efforts, this attempt like both the others, ended in failure, and the county of Litchfield, now on its second century, remains en- tire, with the exception of a parish of Woodbury, now the town of Southbury, which has been set off to New Haven county.
The mine of spathie ore on Mine Hill, in Roxbury, which has been before described, was known as a mine thirty or forty years before Hurlbut and Hawley worked it, but what was the extent of the oper- ations there carried on, is not now known. It was owned by Hon. John Sherman, before 1724, and was by him leased to Thomas Cranne, of Stratford, and others, May 16th, 1721. for a term of years, reserving to himself one-sixteenth part of all the ore which should be there raised. John Crissey and his wife Mary also had some rights in the hill. Still later, Thomas and John Wheeler, Doctor Jonathan Atwood, and Doctor Thomas Leavenworth, acquired rights, by lease or otherwise, to said mine. The mining tract at this date was sup- posed to consist of six acres, and that is the number of acres men- tioned in the varions deeds and mining leases that were then execu- ted. It is thus seen that the most valuable mine of " steel-iron ore" in the United States has been known about a hundred and fifty years, and has not yet been effectively worked for one of the most useful of metals. It is believed that the whole territory for several miles along the Shepaug River, is rich in this iron ore, and perhaps in copper also, and that at no distant day, this will become a prom- inent mining district.
For nearly a hundred years after the first settlement of the town,
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the inhabitants were much troubled with the depredations of wolves and wild-eats. Bounties for their destruction were at various peri- ods offered, both by the General Court, and by the town authorities. As late as 1746, so great was the dread of the public concerning these animals, that it was in open town meeting, solemnly
"Voted, that he that finds a wolf, that by his track is gone into a swamp & there lodged, & brings Intelligence into the town by two of the Clock afternoon on sd Day, or any time before on sd Day, shall have twenty shillings allowed him out of the Town Treasury, provided he be found there, & five pounds to be allowed to the Company, If they shall kill sd wolf,-out of the Town Treas- ury."
A wolf hunt was a common sport for leisure days in the Indian summer during these early times. Sometimes large parties of men with dogs, went for several days in succession, and scoured all the swamps for miles around. On some of these occasions, they met with fierce encounters from the pursued and infuriated beasts. The wolves have long ago disappeared from the territory, but the bounty for killing a wild-cat as late as 1761, was six shillings. And even at the present session of the General Assembly, (1853,) a law has been passed offering a bounty of five dollars apiece for their destruc- tion.
After the dedieation of the second church, in 1747, the "ancient Meeting House" had been used as a town hall till 1754, but the old building had seen many winters and vicissitudes, but no paint. It had, therefore, become considerably dilapidated, and it was voted to build a " House for the Town in the Place where the Old Meeting- House now stands." Afterward there were other opinions, and it was thought by some, that the old house should be repaired rather than a new one erected. As is common in such cases, this difference of opinion resulted in doing nothing for several years. Finally, after holding town meetings much of the time for several years, in the new church, in 1759, a committee was appointed to repair the old house so far as they should think proper, which being accomplished in about two years, it was called the " Town-House," and a regular town meeting held in it January 12th, 1761.
There were, during the period under contemplation, but few casu- alties worthy of notice. There was, however, one afflietive accident at Southbury, about the year 1745. The house of Solomon Johnson took fire in the night, was burned to the ground, and his wife, daugh- ter of Deacon Benjamin Hieock, perished in the flames.
Remember Baker, just before the Revolution, lost his life on Mine
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IIill, from the discharge of a gun in the hands of Abram Hurlbut. Baker had climbed a tree for some purpose, and Hurlbut, who was hunting, getting a glimpse of his head from a distance, and thinking it a wild-turkey, fired and killed him.
Although there are no relies in town, so far as the author has been able to learn, that were brought over in the " Mayflower," that his- torical bark, which was so heavily freighted, if we are to believe that it actually brought over all the articles attributed to it, and which are still preserved ; yet there is still in the possession of Treat Davidson, of Roxbury, an iron kettle, which was brought to this country some forty years later, in 1660, and has descended to the present owner from Nathan Botsford, one of his ancestors, who himself brought it from England. This, doubtless, is the oldest culinary utensil in the territory.
When tea was first introduced into town, during the first half of the eighteenth century, a small quantity was obtained by Parson Stod- dard, for use in " case of sickness," or on occasions when company was invited ; but before either of those contingences had happened, the parson's daughters took it into their heads to have a model tea party on a novel seale, and test the quality of the new article of lux- ury in advance of the "old folks." They accordingly invited their " sweethearts," and conducted the affair with great secrecy. On the evening of the proposed banquet, they admitted the young men whom they had invited, to the old parsonage, by means of a ladder placed at a back window. But a new difficulty presented itself. They did not know how to prepare the "article" for use, and under the " cir- cumstances," they were precluded from seeking advice and enlight- enment, in their accustomed manner, from their parental advisers. After much perplexing thought, and great tribulation, they put a quantity of the tea in an iron kettle, kindled a large fire under it, and kept it boiling violently for a long time, till they thought it sufficiently cooked. They then emptied the entire contents into a large platter, and consumed it in the form of soup, the herb serving as thickening. A Mr. Mitchell, of Southbury society, was one of the "preferred gen- tlemen" on this interesting occasion, and when an old man, for many years before his death, used to tell the story with a keen relish.
After its organization in October, 1719, the Woodbury probate dis- trict comprised ancient Woodbury, Waterbury, in New Haven coun- ty, and all the settled portions of the present county of Litchfield. Indeed its northern and western boundaries were not well ascertained, as will be seen by the following entries on its records :
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"June 9th, 1737. Christopher Dutchers of Weatog, (Salisbury) presented to this Court the will of Ruloof Dutchers, of said Weatog, for approval, which will is hereby approved by said Court."
By this will, among other things, he bequeathed his slaves to sey- eral devisees. In the latter part of the same year appears another entry :
"Oct. 24, 1737 ye Executor of ye above will, viz : Christopher Dutchers came and took ye will and ye business out of this office, his counsel leading him so to do, apprehending it not well consisting with Law to Settle ye Estate in . and by this Probate."
The doubt as to whether this was the right " Probate" or not, arose so far as can now be ascertained, from a doubt in relation to the boundaries between Connecticut and New York. Nothing further appears on our records in regard to the matter, and the estate was probably settled in the other colony.
Umbrellas were introduced into town just before the Revolution, and were at first considered by the sturdy, rural population, as a very effeminate thing. Parasols were not used by the fair damsels till many years later.
When calico was first introduced, it was sold for five or six shil- lings sterling per yard, and the favored woman who was able to have a gown of that fabric, was dressed in the " first fashion." She was the "observed of all observers," and the envied object of all "linsey- woolseydom." The finest and richest fabrics which the perfection of manufactures now creates, could not produce a greater sensation among the bright-eyed damsels of a country village at the present day, than did the article in question, coarse and homely as it was, among the primitive dames of our town.
It may appear doubtful to some whether the absurd belief in witches ever had place in this town. But just as well might one be incredulous whether such a man as Cotton Mather and other cele- brated divines of his day' also believed in witchcraft, and pledged their reputation to the truth of many cases which they said came un- der their own view. That they honestly believed what they related, can not be doubted by one who carefully peruses the original. Be- sides they could gain no advantage by a pretended belief in the su- pernatural developments, as they were afflictive, and that only, to the sons of men, and never subserved any useful public or private pur- pose. The excited state of public feeling existing at that day, con- spired more to keep up this strange belief in supernatural events, than ignorance and all other causes combined. It was difficult for
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the most pious and learned minds to give up the infatuated belief, even after prosecutions had ceased, and the blood of victims no longer drenched the thirsty earth. As proof of the assertion, witness the following extracts from one of the ablest believers :
" Flashy people may burlesque these things, but when hundreds of the most sober people in a country where they have as much mother wit, certainly, as the rest of mankind, know them to be true, nothing but the absurd and froward spirit of Sadueism ean question them. I have not yet mentioned one thing, that will not be justified, if it be required, by the oaths of more considerate per- sous than ean ridicule this od phenomena."
" But the worst part of this astonishing tragedy is yet behind ; wherein Sir William Phips,1 at last being dropt as it were, from the machine of Heaven, was an instrument of easing the distresses of the land, now so darkned by the Lord of Hosts. There were very worthy men upon the Spot where the assault from hel was first made, who apprehended themselves called from the God of Heaven, to sift the business unto the bottom of it; and indeed, the continual impressiveness which the outeries and the havoeks of the afflicted people, that lived nigh unto them, caused on their minds, gave no little edge. They did take it for granted, that there are witches, or wieked children of men, who upon covenanting with and commissioning of evil spirits, are attended by their min- istry to accomplish the things desired of them."
" In fine, the last Courts that sate upon this thorny business, finding that it was impossible to penetrate into the whole meaning of the things that had hap- pened, and that so many unsearchable cheats were interwoven into the conelut- sion of a mysterious business, which perhaps had not erept thereinto at the beginning of it, they cleared the aceused as fast as they tried them ; and within a little while the afflicted were most of them delivered out of their troubles also; and the land had peace restored unto it by the God of peace treading Satan under foot."
Perhaps then, the people of Woodbury will be excused, if some of their number believed, they, at one time, had a veritable witch within their borders. That this belief existed can not be doubted. The name of the notorious personage was Moll Cramer. She was the wife of the elder Adam Cramer, a blacksmith, who lived somewhere in West-Side, about the year 1753. As popular belief goes, he lived with Moll, his wife, and kept her in good temper and spirits as long as he could. He took especial pains not to offend her, for whenever he was so unlucky as to fall under her ire, everything went wrong with him. If he was shoeing a horse, and she came round in wrath- ful mood, no shoe, however well secured to the hoof, no strength of
1 Sir William Phips, at this time (1691) Governor of Massachusetts, was the prin- cipal instrument in overthrowing the ridiculous notions concerning witchcraft.
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nails, was able to withstand her influence. The shoe would begin to loosen, and immediately fell off.
After a while her conduct became so offensive and unendurable, that her character as a witch became established, and it was then necessary for Adam, in order to maintain a good character among his neighbors, and not be suspected as also "holding familiarity with Satan," to dismiss her from his presence, and she was accordingly driven from his house. She took with her a little son, and went to Good Hill, where she constructed a cabin of poles and boards to shel- ter herself and son from the storms of heaven. Here she lived and eked out a scanty subsistence by begging from the much annoyed neighborhood. Her son, who was believed to have been bewitched by her, and could not be separated from her, was her constant com- panion in all her begging peregrinations, as well as in the filthy straw of her cabin. No one of the neighbors dared refuse her anything she asked for. If, for instance, she asked for a piece of pork, and it was denied her, a blight fell upon that man's swine, and like the "lean kine," it was impossible ever to fatten them sufficiently to render them a fit article of consumption. When Moll appeared abroad, she was an object of dread and apprehension. None dared to offend her. The school children on her approach, fled to the school-house, and when they came rushing with fearful countenances into the room, it was always a sufficient answer for the luckless little urchins, when inquired of by the teacher as to the cause of their mad haste, to say, " Moll's coming." If she visited a house where the process of spin- ning was going on, the band of the wheel would fly off, the thread would break, the flyers would become disengaged, or some unpleasant misfortune would continue to occur during her stay.
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