USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1872, Vol. II > Part 10
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1 May 13, 1706, the town voted a ten acre accommodation, with the accompa- nying interest in all the land divisions, to "Mr. Samuel Bull, of Farmington," provided he should reside in town for the space of six years, and carry on the " trade of a Smith in the town." Mr. Bull was a deacon in the church and a man of note in Farmington, before his removal to Woodbury. He did not exer- cise the functions of a deacon after his removla here. He married Elizabeth, only daughter of Rev. Zechariah Walker, and died without children.
A ten acre accommodation (p. 73) was also granted to Abraham Fulford, in 1700, being " a well accomplished person for carding wool, weaving and fulling cloth."
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conveniences of location, which became the nucleus of towns, that have since been incorporated. It was a wise provision, and brought forth good and abundant fruits.
These articles were made and signed in Stratford. Every thing was prepared and fully agreed upon, before they buried themselves in the depths of the wilderness. It was a great undertaking, in those early days of want and privation. It is difficut to imagine that overwhelming sense of duty which could impel them to this step, when there was room enough and to spare in the beautifully shaded Stratford, on the pleasant shores so gently laved by the ever-murmuring sea waves. Speaking of this removal of the Second church of Stratford, this thought was very eloquently ex- pressed by Rev. William K. Hall, of Stratford, pastor of the First church, in a speech at the Bi-centennial of our church, in May, 1870 :-
" The daughter, with her chosen spiritual leader and guide, left the old homestead, and in choosing her new home wisely turned northward, preferring the clear, bracing air of the north to the damp and fog and malaria of the shore lands. The record of these two hundred years, and these festivities to-day, testify to the wisdom of that separation and of that choice.
That setting forth from the old home was under circumstances, and amid scenes, which, if we could reproduce them in our imagi- nation to-day, would aid us in rising to the full significance of this occasion. The Plantation was only thirty years old. These years had been years of toil, of hard work in subduing the wilderness, and in making for themselves comfortable homes. They had been spent in almost constant fear of the depredations and attacks of the Indians. One generation was about passing away, and a new generation had already begun to take up and , carry on the ever unfinished work. They were just beginning to enjoy the fruits of their hard pioneer toil, were just beginning to realize the benefits of a social life, well ordered, properly systematized as to govern- ment, adequately equipped and adjusted by the experiences of those thirty years. Those years had been years chiefly of prepa- ration. The settlement was now assuming the appearance and the character of a thrifty agricultural town. It must have required a resoluteness of purpose, backed by a firm, conscientious regard for duty, for that little band to go forth at such a time, and strike out an entirely new path for themseles, to begin over again that same laborious work of making new homes in these wild wood-
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lands of the north. The prime motives that led them to take that step were wholly of a religious nature. Their rights as church members they would maintain. Spiritual interests must be held paramount. They felt that they could not remain in the old church home, though it was large enough to contain them, if the course they deemed right and scriptural was not pursued, so they left it. They had pluck, nerve and energy-stood their ground firmly until they were convinced that it was for the good of both parties that they should secede. I apprehend that at the last, the spirit that prevailed was not far different from that exhibited in the Patriarch brother, after variances had arisen in the family : "Let there be no strife, I pray, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee : separate thyself I pray thee from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right, and if thou depart to the right hand then I will go to the left."
" Fortunately there was land enough, and that too not far distant from the old home. Could those bold spirits who planned and achieved that work of settlement, whose names shine out upon these tablets before us to-day, see what we of this generation see, could look upon these well tilled, well fenced farms, this attractive thoroughfare, bordered by this cordon of cottage and homestead, indicative all of such comfort, and plenty, and taste, could behold what would be to them of by far greater value, and in their estimate the largest proofs of their success, and the highest earthly reward of their sacrifices and toil, these marks of church life and church progress which have been commensurate with the growth of the outreaching population, they might well believe that the Lord went up with them and before them, and marked out for them the goodly heritage which was to be theirs, and their children's.
" All honor and praise from us be to that devoted band. The un- flinching fidelity to honest convictions, the uncompromising spirit of attachment to what was to them the truth of God, which they exhibited at the sacrifice of so much they held dear, were the rightful issue of the Puritan blood that flowed in ther veins. Let us emulate their spirit, and prove ourselves worthy of such a godly ancestry."
Our fathers were now fairly embarked in their new enterprise. They quickly placed the open lands under cultivation, securing
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good crops the year of their removal. While building their houses near together for protection against Indian incursions, they pushed ont their working parties in all directions. All the river lands were at once appropriated. East Meadow was esteemed by them as very desirable, and they quickly overrun all meadow land quite to Nonnewaug Falls. These falls have been fully described on pages 92 and 847. They consist of a series of three cascades, making a total fall of about one hundred feet. The artist has given a vivid sketch of the two principal ones.
[Lower Nonnewaug Falls.]
It is one of nature's loveliest nooks retired in the dim solitudes, where the silence is broken only by the roar of the sweetly falling waters and song of solitary bird.
After the settlers had made their first crop, and erected their first rnde cabins, they laid out other divisions of land from their com- mon stock, and cultivated the same, extending their borders mean- while. . But they were thirty miles from the old home. They had neither saw nor grist-mills. They were, in fact, forced to be about as primitive in their habits as the natives of the forests. At the same time there were no roads to connect them with the mother town by the sea-side. The only means of conveyance was on
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horseback, following a bridle-path, guided by "blazed " trees. Trees were "blazed " by scorching their bark with torches, at convenient distances, and these constituted very good guide- boards. But committees were appointed as early as 1675, to lay out a road from Woodbury to Derby, and from Derby to Strat- ford, and provision was also made for a ferry. The committee, however, did not report till 1677, and the road was probably not built till several years later. Meanwhile, the people must have mill privileges. They accordingly procured a set of stones, and transported them on horseback, or, rather, slung them between two horses, and took the weary way of their bridle-path to Wood- bury. They set up their mill-shed on a little brook a short distance ' east of Deacon Eli Summers' house, in Middle Quarter, and though but about a bushel of grain per day could be ground at this mill, yet it was all the accommodation of the kind that the inhabitants had, till 1681. These mill-stones were of small dimen- sions, being not more than thirty inches in diameter. One of these is still pre- served, and has been attached to the base stone of the "Fathers' Monument" in the south, or ancient burial ground, for [First Mill-stones.] preservation, after having done service for more than a hundred years as a door-stone to the house in Middle Quarter lately occupied by Miss Lucy Sherman. Traces of the first mill-dam still exist. The second mill was built in 1681, near the Pomperaug river, about fifty rods westerly from the dwelling-house of Hon. N. B. Smith, immediately under the hill, the water with which to run it being brought from the river, about one hundred rods distant. Faint traces of the old dam still remain. Some of the timbers of this second mill-dam still remain imbedded in the river, in a state of perfect preservation. It was much troubled by the freshets, had to be frequently repaired, or replaced, and the town was obliged to make other arrangements for a stable mill. In 1691, Mr. Samuel Stiles was appointed town miller ; mill accommodations were granted for its "encourage- ment," and the mill located near where the mill of D. Curtiss & Sons now stands, where it has ever since been maintained.
As soon as the pioneers had fairly settled themselves in their new homes, they took measures to build a meeting-house for the worship of God, and a school-hodse, that "learning might not be neglected to children." As we have seen, they had their grant of
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY. 939
the township of Woodbury in 1672, made a small crop the same year, lost it by wild beasts the following winter, and removed their families here in the spring of 1673. In two years they were driven back to Stratford by King Philip's war, and began to re- turn again in 1676, not fully regaining their foothold till the next year.
Previously and subsequently to Philip's war, our fathers wor- shipped, in summer, at Bethel Rock, which has been so often al- luded to in these pages, and in winter they gathered in their own rude houses. But the question may be asked, why did the people at any time of the year leave their homes, and retire from the vil- lage, (for it was almost as much of a village in the early years as now, the houses being built near each other for protection) to the rock for their devotions? The answer is obvious. Their num- bers were, from the beginning, considerable. They came with about twenty families, and their numbers increased rapidly for a new plantation. In contrast with the present generation, they had large families in those days, obeying the divine command- ment, and every household constituted quite a little colony in it- self. It was with them a law of conscience, as well as of the col- ony, that all should attend divine service, and there was no one of their log huts that could contain a tythe of the inhabitants for the purpose of worship. They had no meeting-house. They were never for a moment free from the danger of the incursions of the hostile Mohawks. It was the object of their coming into the wil- derness, that they should not "forget the assembling of them- selves together " to worship the Great Creator. What should they do ? A beautiful dell, secure from hostile attacks and the buffet of storms, in the bosom of the cliffs, of the mountains, fur- nished with sufficient audience room, and a rude stone pulpit, was at hand. It was nature's church, built and fashioned by the Holy One of Israel, as though a miracle had been performed for the ben- efit of this. band of Christians. It was conveniently near, and " guarding rocks," to be picketed by the men of the match, or flint lock, lined the way. Three minuteswalk from the house of their pastor, where Levi S. Douglass now lives, by the south cliff, or five minutes walk from Judson Lane, by the north cliff, brought them to this place of prayer, and of " hopeful security." What more appropriate or pleasing, than to resort to the beautiful fast- nesses of nature, in the holy stillness of the Sabbath morn, to join in adorations of the Giver of all good ?
7
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That they did meet there for this purpose, in the feeble state of their new colony. is proved by the universal voice of the most reli- able tradition from the early fathers, and by much circumstantial evidence. It is a fact to be doubted by none. The sons of the pioneer. Capt. John Minor, who died Sept. 17, 1719, had their home lots on the hill where the family of the late Erastus Minor resides. Capt. Matthew Minor succeeded to the homested of his father, Ephraim, which was identical with that of Capt. John, and lived in a house under the hill south of Erastus Minor's pres- ent dwelling house. This was the pallasaded house of which we have spoken. This son, Ephraim, was born in Stratford, Oct. 24, 1675, after the return from Woodbury to Stratford, at the com- mencement of King Philip's war. He returned to Woodbury with his father, a child of two years, after the war, and of course, as he grew up, knew the history from the beginning. He died Sept. 16, 1762. His son, Capt. Matthew, was born Sept. 2, 1708, and died Nov. 21, 1778. His son, Dea. Matthew, was born Feb. 11, 1753. and died in 1835. His son, Erastus, was born March 27, 1796,-died in 1870. Capt. Matthew Minor was, therefore, eleven years old when his grand-father, Capt. John Minor, died, and fifty- six years old when his father, Ephraim, died. Dea. Matthew Minor, son of Capt. Matthew, was twenty-five years old when his father, died, and the late Erastus Minor was thirty- nine years old when his father, Deacon Matthew, died. This brings us to the present day, and the tradition that Erastus Minor gives us, brings us to the very days of the services at Bethel Rock. There can be no question of a tradition that can trace itself, by sure steps, to its truthful origin. The tradition handed down through this family, as well as others, is very simple and direct. It is that the fathers worshipped at Bethel Rock till the building of the first Church. The Orenaug cliff, near Bethel Rock, is owned by this family, to this day, having descended from father to son, through the Probate Court. The first church was a simple structure. The seats were raised, on each side of the center aisle, so that the sexes could sit on opposite sides. The pulpit was at one end.
[First Church, 1681,]
It had no steeple, and was alto- gether an unpretending building, but it served the purpose of a con- venient place of worship for sixty-
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six years. After the second church was finished, in 1747, it was used as a "Town-House," for the transaction of public business. In 1754, the town voted to build a new town house where the old church stood, but contented itself with repairing the old church. It was used thus a good many years, (p. 156). After the Episco- palians began to get a foothold in the town, they used it for a church. Finally, it was moved, by Mr. Tallman, a little way, and used for a butcher's shop and barn, during some years. It was afterwards used for a barn by Judge N. Smith, and later still, by his son, N. B. Smith, till about ten years ago, when it was pulled down, and passed into the oblivion of past things, that have out- lived the day of their usefulness. Perhaps no other building has had a longer career of usefulness, since the founding of the town.
This meeting-house was located on the site now occupied by N. B. Smith's carriage-house, some six rods from Pomperaug's grave, and twenty from Rev. Mr. Walker's house. A road run by it to the intervale, a short distance below where the second corn-mill was located. The site of the first school-house was immediately opposite the meeting-house, where Mr. George Hitchcock's shop now stands. The meeting-house, the school-house, the minister's house, and the corn-mill-all necessaries of prime importance to a new Settlement-were thus grouped together.
In process of time, a new church edifice became necessary, and, on the usual application to the General Assembly, in May, 1744, a committee was appointed to determine the location, and, on the 26th of September, 1744, the house was located on the site now occupied by the Soldiers' Monument. The location was approved, work upon the building was at once commenced, and pushed as fast as the means of the people would permit. It was completed and dedicated in 1747. This house was a large one for those days, and its " Bigness, Strength and Architecture," (page 139,) was much admired by our fathers, and a number of societies took it for a model in building meeting-houses in their several localities. It had doors for entrance on the west, south and east sides. The pulpit was o. the north side, with a deacon's seat beneath it, in the fashion of those days. It continued to be used as the place of public worship till the dedication of the present church, Janu- ary 13, 1819, a period of seventy-two years. It was then sold at auction in sections. The house now occupied by Ralph N. Betts,
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dentist, was constructed out of the materials of one of the galle- ries. Thus passed away the last "house of the sounding- boards" in this society.
Near the meeting-house, about where the mile-stone now stands, was a long, low Sabbath-day-House, a place in which to take refreshments between the two church services, and for social and religious worship, as the oc- cupants might be inclined. It was built in two divisions, one for males and the other for females. A man made it his dwelling, and had it rent- free, in consideration of hav- ing it well warmed for the use of the owners during the cold weather. One or two individuals had smaller hous- MA CURTIS es of their own, for private [Second Meeting-House.] use, on the east side of the way, running by the church. It will be remembered that these houses were necessary, because the church was not warmed.
It was a custom of the early days, when the pastor entered the meeting-house to conduct divine service, for the people on the lower floor, to rise and remain standing till he had ascended the pulpit, where he made a bow, and the people in the galleries rose, and remained standing till he sat down, when the audience did likewise. Similar respect was shown him, on meeting him in the street or elsewhere. He was always invited to open with prayer all the business and freemen's meetings of the town. These were generally held in the church, and were fully attended. It was, emphatically, the age of respect for seniors and superiors. A tythe of such customs would not hurt us of the present age.
It may surprise us, at the present day, to learn that nearly the whole of Bear Hill and Ragland was laid out by the town, more than a hundred and sixty years ago, as a sheep-pasture, and made
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forever free for the use of all the inhabitants of the town, for the purpose of pasturage. But such is the fact, as will be seen by the following vote :-
" At a lawful town meeting the 8th March, 1705, It was voated and agreed that all the barehill and ragland, from the highway to the westside, through poplar meadow, down to the highway, from whiteoak through the Sawteeth, we say, all that is now common land unlaid out, is and shall be sequestered land for common, for the feed of sheep and other cattle forever, for the use of the inhab - itants in genl." 1
This is a pretty extensive pasture. It must be a tract of land two miles long, by more than a mile in width. How long it was used for this purpose is not now known. Farmers still use the land for this purpose, in their separate enclosures.
We may well imagine that, in the first settlement of the towns, the meeting-houses were without bells. Our first house was also without one. But the second meeting-house was provided with this convenient appendage. The first house of the mother church at Stratford, for some unexplained reason, had a bell, but ours, in common with other early churches, had none. The Stratford Man- uel says :- " This fact in reference to it is of interest, and deserves to be remembered. It possessed a bell, with which the people were summoned to worship. How it came to be thus favored is not known, for it was the only church in all the colonies, where the people were not called together by "drum, the blowing of shell or horn." In the case of many churches, the people built a high sentry-box, and this answered the double purpose of a place of "look-out " for the sentry, who nightly, and sometimes daily, guarded the town against the ineursion of the Indians, and a con- venient place to drum for church on Sunday, for town meeting, and for the assembling of the train-band. Happily, there was no need, in our case, to build either a belfry, which was in the first age deemed rather a "device of Satan," or a sentry-box for the use of the inevitable drummer, for nature, in the convenient bluff, now occupied by the Masonic Lodge, had furnished a most convenient and beautiful substitute-being within a stone's throw of the meeting-house, the parsonage, and the then center of the town. Accordingly, we may well imagine the drummer upon the rock,
1 Woodbury Town Records, 2 vol., page 1.
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vigorously and skillfully plying his enormous drum, by the requi- site beats called for in his triple capacity of civil, ecclesiastical and military official. For this matter was not left to volunteers, or chance, but like all other mat- ters concerning the general inte- rest, the affair, as well as the offi- cer, was " well ordered."
We have seen that the first blacksmith " called " by the town, was Deacon Samuel Bull, of Far- [Drummer on Rock.] mington, and the first clothier here, and the first in the colony, for that matter, was Abraham Fulford, afterwards a leading citizen of the town. The first wheel- wright was Samuel Munn, who had a home-lot granted him by the town in 1681. The first regularly appointed town miller was Ensign Samuel Stiles. Lieut. Joseph Judson, or Henry Hill, was the first ferryman over the Housatonic river. Doct. Butler Bedi- ent was the first physician. But what was the name of the first shoemaker is not now known. Our grand-mothers could make the clothes of our grand-fathers, but they were not skillful enough to fabricate the enormous wooden shoes "of the period." That required a skill of which they could not boast-in fact, it required educated skill to make these enormous wooden affairs, a few of which remain in historical rooms to the present day, as interesting antiquarian debris of our youthful country. It is difficult for us to imagine how they contrived to accomplish the process of loco- motion with such ungainly contri- vances. But a little of the "van- ity of this life " invaded the breasts of some of our stern and sturdy fore-fathers, and they even fell into the sin of indulging in " French falls," and, it is barely possible, they sometimes-the younger ones-even yielded to the seduc- tions of enjoying, on stolen occasions, feats of the "light fantastic toe," very light, as will be seen in the truthful cut, taken from a pair of "French Falls " still in existence.
As the farmis were pushed out into the valleys, and over the hills, beyond convenient walking distance, the proper means of locomotion became a subject of inquiry. Of wagon roads, there
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were none worthy of the name, down to the date of the Revolu- tion. There were no carriages, and with so much else to do, the early fathers were excusable for not giving their attention to arti- cles-to them-of luxury. Locomotion on horseback in the nar- row roads and bridle-paths, was the only mode of passing any distance, except on foot. It is always well to take the best ad- vantage of any conveniences we possess. Our fathers, accord- ingly, used saddles with a pillion or saddle-pad contrivance, hitched behind the saddle, by means of which, while the man bestrode his steed, his wife, or lady-love, sat securely behind, upon the pillion, her arm confidingly and lovingly encircling his waist for protec- tion, and security from falling. In the poverty of the early days, not every family could own a horse and accoutrements, and so two neighboring families availed themselves of the services of one horse. One couple would mount and ride an equitable distance towards the sanctuary, dismount, tie the horse, and proceed on foot. A second couple, on foot, would come up and ride the re- maining, or proportional distance, and so all finally arrived at church in time, and with hearts attuned by the exercise for the service that was to follow. It must have been, or rather would now be, an interesting and suggestive sight to see these devout worship- pers thus hasting to the " hill of the Tabernacle," to unite in the service of God.
While the more remote wor- shippers thus proceeded to the place of devotion, those who re- sided within walking distance of the meeting-house, repaired thither on foot with their families, accompanied by the ever faith- ful musket, while sentinels paced before the church door, and at a specified distance in either direction from it. It must have been a picturesqe sight, to behold armed men with their families repair- ing to church, sentinels at each approach, with arms stacked be- fore the church door. It was because of this danger from sudden incursion and attack, it is supposed, that the custom was initiated, of having the able-bodied men of the household sit, during ser- vice, at the head of the pews. In case of attack, the men could
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