USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1854 > Part 36
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With a mind completely balanced and harmonized, shaped in its very structure to the finest proportions, he had an uncommonly marked and strong character. With none of those eccentricities which give brillianey and notoriety by their extravagance, there was a depth, and tone, and fullness, pervading the whole man, giving strength without contrast, and proportion without weakness ; consti-
1 This invitation was signed by some twenty-five or thirty of the principal inhab- . itants of the town.
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tuting, in a word, one of the noblest characters, and one which is fit- ted to strengthen our conviction, that man was formed in the image of his Maker. A stranger would at once mark him in the crowd ; not merely from the upright position, the manly proportions, and the polite, dignified bearing of his form, but from the intellectual cast, and the earnest, benignant aspect of his countenance, and the elevated and commanding appearance of his whole person. It would be diffi- cult to tell which trait in him was most prominent ; and it would be quite as difficult to tell in which he was defective, according to human standard. The essential qualities which belong to native strength of mind, and true nobility of character, were found in him.
His intellect fitted him especially for reasoning and reflection. though he was not wanting in the power of observation. By the natural gifts of his mind, together with his habits of assiduous appli- cation, he placed himself, without the advantages of a collegiate edu- cation, or even of a professional school, in a position far above that of multitudes who have enjoyed both. He loved and faithfully studied his profession. Well read in its theory, keeping up with the discoveries and improvements of progressive science, he was also skillful and patient in the details of practice. A characteristic pru- dence and caution ever kept him from trifling with the life of a pa- tient by rash experiment ; and a sense of responsibility, and the gen- eral seriousness of his character, prompted a faithfulness and a pa- tient self-denial in the examination and treatment of his cases, which a mere love of professional reputation would have failed to secure." With great delicacy and refinement of feeling, and habitual conscien- tiousness, he studied both the health and the feelings of his patient. His dignified, gentle and courteous bearing, was a part of the man. It was never put on for an object or an occasion ; and it was never put off. None, who intrusted him with a secret, as a physician or as a man, ever had occasion to regret a confidence misplaced.
But while he was faithful and laborious in his profession, his thoughts took a wider range. By his habit of general and well- selected reading, he took an intelligent survey of the topics discussed by the press, and of the general movements in society. Subjects especially of permanent interest to the citizen, to the philanthropist, to the Christian, he investigated with rare thoroughness and ability. Questions of a theological and biblical nature, which are fundamental, engaged his most earnest attention ; and the results of his inquiries upon these subjects he often committed to paper. Though he did not hold a ready or a prolific pen, his literary productions, notwithistand-
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ing his want of early discipline, exhibit a command of the best language, the power of full and accurate expression, method, ele- gance, precision, perspicuity, and force. The qualities of his mind were impressed upon his style, as well as upon his general demeanor and action.
His judgment was sound and discriminating. He investigated with candor, and when he arrived at a satisfactory conclusion, he was neither fickle in abandoning it, nor obstinate in retaining it. But his mind was settled. He was clear and firm in his convictions. They took a strong hold upon his nature. He was decided. Once planted, you always knew where to find him ; because you knew that his opinions were above the reach of caprice, or favor, or interest. And yet, with all his firmness and decision, he was open to truth, liberal-minded, generous and kind, as an opponent. He accorded to others what he claimed for himself, an independent judgment. He loved agreement, but he loved truth more. He loved peace ; but he held fast to right and justice. Hence with all his gentleness, his amiable and courteous bearing, he was stable, conservative, inflex- ible.
The delicacy of his feelings, and his wise sense of propriety, would have made him sensitive to ridicule, had not those qualities been joined to a kindness of feeling, and a noble bearing, which never exposed him to its power. It is difficult to attack, with any weapons whatever, an unobtrusive modesty, or a manly dignity which commands respect. He possessed both ; and was thus doubly guarded, by both his inoffensiveness and his strength, against many social evils to which most men are exposed.
Hence, in social life, he was fitted for enjoyment and usefulness. Ilis habits of study and reflection did not disqualify him from ming- ling with lively and cheerful pleasure in the intercourse of social life. He loved the circle of friends ; and with all his dignity, every one felt at home in his presence. Never distant, nor overbearing ; easy of access, familiar ; interesting himself in the welfare of others, careful of their feelings, attentive to their wants, he was everywhere welcome. Uniting definite and varied information with good conver- sational powers ; and a peculiar blandness and urbanity of manner with genuine refinement and a high-toned moral sentiment, his socie- ty was always instructive, pleasing and elevating. In his attach- ments there were strength and constancy, and into all pure, social enjoyments he entered with a warm zest. Though not incapable of discerning the faults of others, he did not seem to think of them.
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At least, he was unsuspicious-he never delighted to search them ont-and if they came in his way, he had no tongue to speak of them, and no heart to remember them. No malicious or unguarded word from him ever tarnished a good name, or wounded the peace of a family. Though frank and judicious in giving counsel where it was asked, he never intruded. Unambitious of notoriety, or of pre- ferment, he seemed only to covet esteem and usefulness ; and there was such evident sincerity and truthfulness in his bearing, he was so conscientious, open and manly in all his conduct, so far above every species of artifice and management, that you knew him by in- tuition to be as incapable of a mean action, as he was of injustice and fraud. To the poor he was kind and generous. In his profes- sional practice he often gave them, not only an unrewarded service as physician, but friendly assistance as a neighbor and a man. Many a poor family, as well as the various objects of Christian be- nevolence at home and abroad, could bear testimony to the substan- tial tokens of his sympathy, and of his unostentatious, but liberal charity. In the family circle, as husband and father, with the ten- derness of an affectionate nature, the gentleness of a kind spirit, and the unclouded light of a cheerful disposition, reflected from his noble countenance in a smile so beaming and benignant, he threw a pleas- ant sunshine around his home, and made it ever attractive and genial. In his general intercourse with men, he was the Christian gentleman, uniting the high bearing and humble spirit of the school of Wash- ington and the school of Christ.
But his religious character was as strongly marked as his intellect- ual and social. IIe made a profession of his faith in 1805, at the age of thirty-one, by uniting with the Congregational church in his native town; and when he removed to Woodbury, he transferred his relations to this church. Here for a quarter of a century, the con- sistency of his daily walk and the growing elevation of his Christian character were witnessed by all. The duties of an arduous profes- sion seldom furnished him an excuse for absence from the public worship of the Sabbath, or from the weekly meeting for prayer and conference. "He loved the house of God, and the place where His honor dwelleth." Devout and reverential in his piety, he loved all those doctrines, which exalt God as a righteous sovereign " upon the throne of his holiness." He had an enlarged and consistent view of the divine attributes, and he loved to contemplate the divine per- feetions in their purity and majesty. Religious truth opened to him a field in which his mind and heart loved to range. His text-book
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· was his Bible. Next to this, he loved those books, which unfolded its meaning with clearness, and enforced its truth with an evangeli- cal and devout spirit. The pleasure which he found in Bible truth was superior to every other. Very few, who are not themselves religious teachers, become so thoroughly indoctrinated into the truths of the Scriptures as a system, or so deeply imbued with their spirit. IIe rested in them with unshaken convictions, with perfect satisfac- tion, and with that conscious security which reposes in immutable truth.
Dr. Abernethy died September 24th, 1851, aged seventy-seven years. He left a widow and three children. John J., a surgeon in the U. S. Navy, Charles, a merchant in New York, and Anna, wife of' Alvin Bradley, Esq., of Whitestown, N. Y. In 1825, the liono- rary degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred on him by the cor- poration of Yale College.
DOCT. JONATHAN ATWOOD.
The subject of this sketch came early to Woodbury. His name appears in the list of settlers as early as 1701. He is the father of all of the name in this part of the state, and many other places-a numerous and extended posterity. He was an emigrant from En- gland. His house stood not far from the old "Town House," and he owned land on both sides of the highway, so that the present Doct. Atwood, his descendant in the fifth generation, has his home- stead on land that belonged to the first doctor of the name. We have no printed accounts of his standing as a physician oras a man. By the book of town acts it appears that he was frequently interest- ed with the management of the various interests of his fellow-towns- men. It seems also that they were satisfied with his services as a physician, as he remained for some years the only physician beside Parson Stoddard in that part of the ancient town, after the first Doc- tor Warner's removal to Roxbury. The state of medical science was, however, very low at this date, and men owed their recovery from disease more to the blessing of sound constitutions, than to any aid from the physician. We can gain some idea of the state of medical science as exemplified in Woodbury, from the inventory of Doctor Atwood's case of medicine and medical library, which fol- lows :
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" A sett of lancetts 48. 6d., Physical Drugs 5s. Sd., 25 glass viols 4s. 6d., 5 vials Os. 10d., 5 small glass bottles, 1s. d., 2 glass bottles, 2s. 0d., 5 gallypots, 1s. Sd., quicksilver, 6 oz., 10d., aloes, 2oz. 2d., Salve, diackylon, Sd., a Physick book- Salmon £1, 5s. Do .- Hartman, 6s."
To us of the present day, who swallow whole drug stores as a matter of course, five shillings eight pence worth of "Physical Drugs," with two ounces of aloes, and eight pence worth of salve, would seem rather a limited allowance, for nearly a whole town, es- pecially, when we consider, that on account of bad roads and defec- tive modes of conveyance, the practitioner could not easily replenish his " stock in trade," in an emergency. Doct. Atwood died January 1st, 1732-3, leaving a widow and four children, of whom informa- tion will be found in the genealogies.
GARWOOD H. ATWOOD, M. D.,
Son of Harvey Atwood, was born in Woodbury, December 4th, 1818, graduated at Yale College in 1840, and in the medical depart- ment of the same college in 1844. He commenced the practice of his profession in his native town in 1842, where he has continued to re- side in full practice till the present. On the 1st of May, 1848, he was united in marriage to Henrietta E. Judson of Woodbury. They have two children.
JABEZ BACON, THE RICH MERCHANT.
Persons of distinguished, useful characteristics have a right to be signally named for the benefit of posterity. One such was Jabez Bacon, Esq., without qualification the most eminent and successful merchant that this town or portion of the state had ever known, or lias known, down to this day. Some of the facts, indeed, that exhibit his remarkable business characteristics, are almost beyond credence.
He was born at Middlefield, a parish of Middletown, July 16, 1731. Ile was a direct descendant (a great-grandson) of Nathaniel Bacon, who was evidently the ancestor of all, or nearly all, of the Bacons of this state. This Nathaniel was the son of William Bacon, of the town of Stretton, Rutland county, England, and the nephew of Andrew Bacon, who was one of the leading men of the colony
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that settled Hartford under Haynes and Hooker, but who died at Hadley without male issue.
The subject of this notice was the son of Nathaniel, who was the third child of Andrew, who was the sixth child of Nathaniel. He seems to have been very poor, as was doubtless his father before him ; for that father came in later life to visit his son in his after- wards great prosperity at Woodbury, where he died and was buried. A plain red sand-stone slab marks the place of his deposit.
Jabez in early life exhibited the qualities that afterwards secured his great prosperity. He was first apprenticed to a tanner and cur- rier,-there is no evidence however, that he continued at this voca- tion beyond his apprenticeship, but he early betook himself to the business of selling needles, pins, tapes, &c., &c .- in short, all the paraphernalia of a pedlar's box ; from which, by his indomitable per- severance and business ability, he soon stepped into a lucrative posi- tion, and became the very first man in business, mercantile credit and wealth, in this section of the state. ROYAL R. HINMAN, Esq., in his valuable statistical work compiled from the colonial records at Hartford, says he died worth nine hundred thousand dollars. This is a mistake, his estate having been inventoried at about one-half that sum.
As a man he was one to make an impression on every one that came near him. The energy of the man was amazing, and, this directing all his powers to the single business of accumulation, wealth flowed into his coffers on every side. He was for years the sole merchant of this town and all the neighboring towns ; and so large at times was his stock in trade, that, it is credibly reported, merchants from New Haven sometimes visited Woodbury, and purchased from Jabez Bacon goods to retail afterwards in that city.
His way of doing business was often rash, apparently, and seem- ingly no safe rule for others. An aged merchant of New York told the writer of this many years ago, that he (Mr. Bacon) would some- times visit his store, make him a bid for a whole tier of shelf goods from floor to ceiling, amounting in value to thousands of dollars, and have the whole boxed and shipped in an hour to the sloop at the foot of Peck Slip bound for Derby. His vast wealth also, together with his business skill, sometimes gave him the command of the New York market so that, to a degree moderns can hardly credit, he could, with a turn of his hand, " put the screws" on an article, and make
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its price in the great metropolis rise and fall like a barometer. An anecdote, an unquestionable fact, illustrates this. He was a large dealer in pork, this being the " circulating medium," it would seem, for this region, judging from the vast quantities of it that found their way to " the old red store in the hollow," as it was called, thence down to " Darby Narrors," where it was shipped to New York. The old gentleman had once shipped an exceedingly fine lot of this arti- cle for the city, but when he arrived there he found his purchasers indisposed to his price, as two immense ship loads were that day ex- pected from Maine. The old gentleman merely set his teeth firm, an ominous trick of his in a bargain, and left the store. He in- stantly took a horse, rode some six miles up the East River shore, to about what is now Blackwell's Island, boarded the sloops as they came along, and purchased every pound of their cargoes, staking his whole fortune for it. This at that day put the whole New York market in his hands, and tradition says he cleared forty thousand dollars by this single operation.
Ile was kind-hearted, open and generous, though in a bargain close to a fault. His hospitality was unbounded. A long table was kept set forth in the west parlor of what is now the residence of DANIEL CURTISS, Esq., the whole year round. This might have been poliey, but it was also a part of a large heart, that took pleas- ure in giving in this form. As a citizen he was public-spirited and useful for his day. As a husband and father his affections were en- dearing and indulgent, and he was the centre of a large cirele of relatives and friends. But it was as a business man where he de- serves to be noted ; where he deserves signal mention for posterity. Ile was the centre of a great commotion ; the main-spring of a miglity watch, such as we in this day almost consider apocryphal ; and with him has passed away a business era, such as shall not soon be seen in this valley again.
The old store, in which his vast wealth was accumulated, still stands. And if a man has nothing else to do, it may be instructive to pass into it, look up at its old beams, its huge, old-fashioned door, and wind through its passages up and down, thinking of the great past that once existed there, and feel it impressed on his whole na- ture-" what shadows we all be."
He died September 10th, 1806.
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HON. DANIEL N. BRINSMADE
Was the son of Rev. Daniel Brinsmade, second pastor of the church in Judea society, and graduated at Yale College, in 1772. He read law with Samuel Canfield, Esq., of Sharon, and settled in the practice of his profession in his native place, which had now become the town of Washington, where he continued to reside till his death in 1826, at the age of seventy-five. He was justice of the quorum, an assistant judge of the county court for sixteen years from 1802, ten of which he sat on the bench. He was longer in public life than any other man in that part of the ancient territory of Woodbury. Gen. Daniel B. Brinsmade of Washington is his son.
REV. WILLIAM THOMPSON BACON.1
Wm. T. Bacon was born at Woodbury, in Litchfield county, August 24th, 1814. At the age of twelve he was sent to the "Epis- copal Academy," at Cheshire, to be fitted for college, but, after two years, he determined to engage in a mercantile life, and became a clerk in the city of New York. After three years, at the age of seventeen, he established himself in business in New Haven, Conn. In a short time, however, he withdrew from his mercantile connec- tion, and devoted himself to study. He entered Yale College, in 1833, where he was regularly graduated in 1837, and was appointed by his class to deliver the valedictory poem, at the time of leaving the institution. During the following autumn, he entered the divin- ity school at New Haven, and, after the usual term of study, was licensed as a minister in the Congregational denomination. On leav- ing that institution, he was married to a daughter of Prof. Jonathan Knight, of the medical department of Yale College, and, in 1842, was settled over the Congregational church and society in the town of Trumbull, where he remained till 1845, when ill health compelled him to ask a dismission. He subsequently became one of the edit- ors of the " New Englander," a quarterly magazine of great ability. He was also for a few years the editor and proprietor of the New Haven daily and weekly " Journal and Courier," which he conducted with marked ability and success. He subsequently supplied the pul-
1 This sketch is taken principally from Kilbourne's Litchfield Biographies.
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pit in South Britain for a time, and is now engaged in his ministe- rial labors in his old church at Trumbull. But he is not settled there. He resides in the old " Bacon Homestead," in his native town, having repaired and greatly improved it.
Soon after leaving college, Mr. Bacon published a vohunne of poems from a Boston press, which, in 1840, passed into a third edi- tion, revised and enlarged. In 1848, a new volume of poems from his pen, was published by Mr. Putnam of New York, containing two hundred and seventy-five pages. Ilis lighter poems possess much simplicity and grace. IIe has a fine perception of natural beauty, and his graver productions are pervaded by a current of deeply reflective, moral and religious sentiment. They have received the examination, and elicited the general commendation of severe critics. It would be pleasing to introduce some specimens of his poetry, but the limits of this work forbid.
HON. JOSEPII II. BELLAMY.
Joseph Hart Bellamy was the only child of David Bellamy, Esq., and grandson of Dr. Joseph Bellamy, the first pastor of the Congre- gational church in Bethlehem.
He was born in Bethlehem, graduated at Yale College in 1808, was admitted to the bar of Litchfield County about 1812, after which, in connection with the superintendence of a farm, he prac- ticed law in his native town till the time of his deecase.
Mr. Bellamy possessed qualities, and sustained a character, which secured the confidence and respect of all who knew him, and the warm affection of his chosen friends. Although his political princi- ples were often opposed to those of the majority in the town, yet such, in the view of all, was the integrity and uprightness of his character, that he was permitted uniformly to retain some of the most important and responsible offices in the gift of the town, and was repeatedly called to represent it in the legislature of the state. IIe was also honored with a seat in the senate, in 1841, and had been county com- missioner for Litchfield county, two years earlier.
In his profession he was esteemed a wise, judicious counselor, and held a fair standing as an advocate. A distinguished member of the bar affirmed, that " had Bellamy been exclusively devoted to the law, he might have gained a position in the first class of lawyers."
He possessed a fund of knowledge of men and things, and a strik-
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ing originality in his illustrations and anecdotes, which rendered his society and conversation peculiarly interesting and instructive.
His general character is briefly given in the following, extracted from an address at his funeral.
" Much as I loved and respected Mr. Bellamy," said the speaker, "I am not about to claim for him perfection : he did not claim it for himself. No man knew his imperfections and infirmities better than himself. He made no pub- lie profession of piety, and I suppose doubted whether he possessed and en- joyed it.
" Notwithstanding his own views on the subject, we think those who knew him best, might find some evidence of its existence. Favored from early life with the best literary and religious advantages, among other things he studied the Bible. He also read intelligently the works of the best theological writers, and was an habitual, attentive and intelligent hearer of the gospel. Ile was a firm believer in what are distinctively known as the doctrines of graee. The great doctrine of the reformation, justification by faith in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, was with him (as we well know) a favorite, a cardinal topic, and one of the last topies which in broken accents escaped his lips, while they were yet quivering in the agonies of death. That he was a man of strict moral hon- esty and integrity, has never, we believe, been for a moment doubted. Nay, it has been fully demonstrated in the unlimited confidence reposed in him by individuals and public bodies.
" He was a firm friend of good morals; 'a terror to evil doers, and a praise to such as do well.'
" He ever maintained a firm and unyielding adherence to that which he was convinced was right ; and no motives of personal or selfish interest, of party or political favor, could divert him from his course.
" He was preeminently a patriot, a lover of his country, and ever manifested a deep, absorbing interest in her peace, purity and prosperity And we fear not to ask, were not the blessings of the peace-maker his ? When irritated and contending parties sought his aid, while he was ready to administer relief to the injured and oppressed, he was not willing to embark even as a professional man, in the unrighteous cause, for the sake of personal, party or pecuniary in- terest. Rather would he strive to allay the unruly passions, to suggest and rec- ommend the ' things which make for peace,' which tend to secure harmony and right.
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