USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Oxford > History of the town of Oxford, Connecticut > Part 16
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Miss Harriet Miles
Junior Vice President
Mrs. Mary Moselle, Sergeant at Arms
Miss Rose Rzesutek, Secretary
The Charter Members of the Auxiliary, as listed in the records of the unit are, -
Mrs. June Behuniak
Miss Eleanor Miles
Mrs. Charlotte Cassidy
Miss Harriet Miles
Mrs. Florence Dains
Mrs. Susannah Miles
Mrs. Dorothy Draugelis
Mrs. Louise Paradise
Mrs. Sabina Hoyt
Mrs. Frances Samoker
Mrs. Isabell Hubbell
Mrs. Marion Samoker
Mrs. Henrietta Hummel
Mrs. Elizabeth Smith
Mrs. Jeanette Larson
Mrs. Anna Tilquist
Mrs. Ruth Larson
Mrs. Leila Treat
Mrs. Stephanie Larson
Mrs. Louise von Wettberg
Mrs. Charlotte Lyons
Mrs. Olive von Wettberg
Mrs. Viola Martin
Miss Rose Rzesutek.
Mrs. Mary Moselle (not included in the recorded list, but apparent- ly should have been, as she was installed as Sergeant at Arms, May 24, 1948)
The purposes and aims of the Auxiliary are much the same as those of the Post, acting to assist its work. It participates in social events, care of veteran's families, sponsors Laurel Girls State, Thanksgiving baskets for needy veterans, etc. An interesting part of the Auxiliary's work is in connection with the Scholarships granted annually by the State organization to boys and girls in memory of de- ceased past commanders. The Auxiliary takes care of selecting Ox- ford Boys and Girls, who by virtue of their scholastic stand and char- acter are eligible to apply for a scholarship, and are children of veterans. The Auxiliary then notifies them that they are eligible and furnishes them with blank applications to fill out. The completed forms are then forwarded by the Auxiliary to the State Department for con- sideration, along with similar applications from boys and girls of other towns.
There are now fifty-six members.
CHAPTER 30
POST OFFICES, STORES, AND STAGES IN OXFORD
According to the records of the United States Post Office Depart- ment in Washington D.C., the Oxford Post Office (in Oxford Center) was established shortly before Jan. 1, 1807. A tradition, quoted by Judge Wilcoxson in his 1876 Centennial Address, names Daniel Candee as the first postmaster, but the U. S. Postoffice Department records say that it was Walker Wilmot, he being appointed on Jan. 1, 1807 and that he held the office until April 25, 1810. He was a brother-in-law of Daniel Candee.
The location of the first post office is uncertain. Judge Wilcoxson says that it was kept in the hotel building, known later as "Oxford house" on Oxford Road. Another tradition, held by some present older residents, is that it was held in the old John Twitchell House on the north side of Academy Road just west of Jack's Brook. It is known that on Dec. 11, 1807, Thomas Riggs sold the Twitchell house to Daniel, Job, Benjamin and Amos Candee, and Walker Wilmot. This, of course was nearly a year later than Wilmot's appointment as post- master, and it is entirely possible that for this short period the post- office was in the hotel building and that on Dec. 11, 1807 it was moved to the store which was attached to Riggs' house. An argument has been voiced that the Post office could not have been located in the hotel building, because of a postal regulation prohibiting a post office from being held in a place where intoxicating liquors were sold. But the Government records in Washington show that that this regulation did not come into effect until 1873. So it would have been entirely possible for the post office to have been in the hotel building.
Still another tradition is held by members of old Oxford families that the first post office was located in what is now the old parish house of the Oxford Congregational Church, but there seems to be no evi- dence to sustain this idea, as in 1807, when the Oxford Post Office was instituted, this building was still the Masonic Hall and did not become the Parish House until much later.
The second postmaster was David Candee who was appointed April 25, 1810. He was the second operator of the hotel and Judge Wilcoxson says he had the postoffice there and held the postmastership for nearly twentythree years.
The third postmaster was George Candee, (son of David), he being appointed March 1, 1833. Judge Wilcoxson says he moved the
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postoffice "to a merchant store". He held the position only about one year; then eight different postmasters followed until the appointment of Samuel P. Sanford Dec. 19, 1862, who is said to have held the post- office in his house on the east side of Oxford Road about one quarter mile north of Academy Road until he built the store on the east side of Oxford Road about two hundred fifty yards north of Academy Road, some time prior to 1868, at which date it is shown on the Oxford map. The store was burned down in 1870 and was not rebuilt until 1875. No record has been found of the location of the post office during this five year period, but it is very likely that it was in the old Masonic Temple, later the parish house of the Congregational Church where it was later known to be.
S. P. Sanford was succeeded as Postmaster by Nathan J. Wilcoxson Oct. 2, 1867 who served until Aug. 4, 1869. He was followed by Charles H. Butler and Kate E. Butler for varying terms until Sep. 8, 1898. In the Premium list of the Oxford Agricultural Fair of 1881, Butler had an advertisement of his store "in the Post Office Building." The latter was the old Masonic Temple.
On Sep. 8, 1898, Thomas S. Osborn was appointed post master and held the post until March 10, 1903, when John Birdsey Sanford suc- ceeded him and continued until the Oxford Post Office was discontinued July 14, 1903, because of the establishment of Rural Free Delivery.
The present Oxford Substation post office was opened Feb 2, 1959 in the store of Joseph J. Steinecker, on the west side of Oxford Road, just north of "Oxford House" with Mrs. Steinecker as Postmistress.
The Quaker Farms Postoffice was not established until eighty-four years after the Oxford Post Office, namely on May 1st, 1891. It was located in the house of Mr. Wallace G. Tomlinson, on Quaker Farms Road, at the north-west corner of that road and O'Neill Road, and Mrs. Tomlinson was the Postmistress. A man drove over to Southford once a day and got the mail, presumably from the New England Railway station there. One wonders what prompted the establishment of the Quaker Farms Post Office, probably because the road to Southford was level, compared to the hilly road to Oxford Center. This postoffice was discontinued Sep. 30, 1902 (some six months before the abandon- ment of the post office in Oxford Center), because of the establishment of Rural Free Delivery routes, one from Seymour and the other from Southbury.
The "Oxford" Rural Free Delivery Routes of 1959
On Saturday June 27, 1959, the Rural Free Delivery Routes in Oxford were rearranged, service from Southbury being discontinued, and the routes were renamed as follows, -
The former "R.F.D. 1 Seymour" became "R.F.D. 1 Oxford" The former "R.F.D. 2 Seymour" and "R. F.D. 2 Southbury" were
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consolidated into one route, named "R. F.D. 2 Oxford" Both of the new routes operate out of the Seymour Post Office.
Zoar Bridge Post Office
In the locality of Oxford, then known as "Punkups", a post office was established at Zoar Bridge, April 6, 1827, (some twenty years after the opening of the Oxford post office). It was located in a little store at the east end of Zoar Bridge (over the Housatonic River) and the post office operated under the name "Zoar Bridge Post Office" until Aug. 31, 1863, when R. S. Hinman, proprietor of the "Pleasant Vale" Boarding School for boys, about one mile south of the bridge, removed the post office to the school and changed the name of the post office to "Pleasant Vale." There is a tradition that the removal of the post office from Zoar Bridge to the school was caused by an order of the U.S. Post Office Department prohibiting the location of a post office in a building where liquor was sold, (the same tradition as at Oxford), but as has been already pointed out, the Post Office Department's Regulation to that effect was not issued until 1873, so there may have been some other reason for the change, or it may have been the result of popular sentiment being against the combination of the post office and the store where liquor was sold.
On Feb. 13, 1866, the name was changed to "Riverside", because the Post Office Department felt that the name "Pleasant Vale" was so nearly like "Pleasant Valley", in Litchfield County, as to cause con- fusion. Then on July 7, 1875, the name was again changed to Zoar Bridge "because there were some who preferred the old name". Finally the old post office on the east bank of the river known at vari- ous times as Zoar Bridge, Pleasant Vale, and Riverside was discon- tinued, Sept. 4, 1889 its place being taken by the Stevenson post office near the Housatonic Rail Road on the west bank of the river. Sharpe erroneously credits the building of the railroad with having caused the abandonment of the Zoar Bridge post office, an obvious error, for the railroad was built many years before, namely in 1840.
Southford Post Office
A post office was established in Southford about 1840 "located on the line of the New Haven and Litchfield Road" ( Presumably Oxford Road), "John Peck being the first postmaster, and the mail was car- ried in a four horse coach, three trips a week."
Stores
The earliest known record of a store in Oxford indicates that it was located in the John Twitchell house on the north side of Academy Road just west of Jack's Brook. This house was later the rectory of St.
The Village Store of Sanford and Pope, - Now of J. J. Steinecker, and Oxford Rural P.O.
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Peter's Episcopal Church. The store is mentioned in the deed by which John Twitchell sold the place to Enos Candee March 26, 1804, so that the store was in operation at that date, and may have been for many years before. John Twitchell was living in the house in 1741, and as he was then sixty seven years old it seems reasonable to sup- pose that he built it around 1720 or 1725 when he was forty five or fifty years old. If this is correct, then the store may be considered as being started at that time.
Enos Candee sold the house and store to Thomas Riggs in 1805, who sold them in 1807 to Daniel, Job, Benjamin and Amos Candee, and Walker Wilmot. In 1811, Job Candee bought the house and store from Daniel Candee and in 1812 sold them to Walker Wilmot. Wilmot sold them to Nathaniel Bacon in 1822 who in turn sold the house to Cyrus Humphrey, without any mention of the store, so it seems that the store was demolished by Bacon.
The Rev. Theodore Peck, Rector of St. Peter's Church, who lived in the house in 1903, wrote "The carpenters, (in making over the old house for use as a rectory) in taking off the clapboards from the west end found the opening of a door and plaster marks on the planks, show- ing that there was once a building attached to the west end of the main house, and which may have been the store.
From 1822 to 1851, the location of the village store is uncertain, but it seems likely that until 1833 it was in the hotel. In that year George Candee succeeded his father as postmaster and "moved the post-office to a merchant store".
David Candee died in 1851. His son, Frederic, Candee (brother of George Candee) "succeeded his father in the store business and ran it until December of 1857 when he became ill of consumption and was followed by Samuel P. Sanford who had been Frederick's clerk." Sanford's store is shown on the 1868 Oxford map on the east side of the Oxford road, about two hundred fifty feet north of Academy Road. The inference is that in 1833 there was a merchant store somewhere else than in the hotel and that the post office was moved to it in that year. Just where this store was is not definitely known, but it may have been the store which in 1857 became the property of Samuel P. Sanford. It is said to have burned down in 1870 and not rebuilt until 1875. S. P. Sanford ran the store from 1857 to about 1890 when his son Robert Irving Sanford took over. In 1911 or 1912, Mr. Charles P. Pope and J. Birdsey Sanford bought the business from R. I. Sanford. The building, which belonged to Miss Ruth Sanford, burned down in 1914, and Pope and J. B. Sanford bought the present store building. It
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had formerly stood on the West side of Oxford Road about one hundred yards north of its present location, and had been used as a harness shop with an apartment overhead. It was owned by S. P. Sanford who moved it to its present location and used it as a horse stable and car- riage house; as did also his son R. I. Sanford. Charles P. Pope and J. B. Sanford bought the building from R. I. Sanford, and remodelled it as a store. They sold it later to Albert K. Pope who in turn sold it to J. J. Steinecker in 1921.
There was also a store at one time located in what had been the Masonic Temple building which later became the parish house of the Oxford Congregational church. The Masons gave up the building in 1847. Charles H. Butler became the post master Aug. 4, 1869 and he and Kate Butler held that post until Sep. 8, 1898, the postoffice being located in the old Masonic Temple. In the Premium list of the Oxford Agricultural Fair of 1881, there is an advertisement of his store as dealer in Dry goods, Groceries, Boots and Shoes, "in the Post Office Building".
Another store and tavern are said to have been operated "in the upper part of the village of Oxford" by Daniel Tucker.
In Quaker Farms there was a store located on the west side of Quaker Farms Road, a short distance north of and across the road from Christ Church. It was started by David Tomlinson who came to Quaker Farms about 1780. "He was a merchant, and as such, an ex- tensive operator. He began in a small way and enlarged as he ad- vanced, first occupying in the chamber of his dwelling as a sales room. He was remarkably successful as a merchant, his business being extensive beyond that of any other for many miles around." After his death in 1822, the store was operated by members of the Meigs family. Samuel Meigs married a daughter of David Tomlinson and had two sons, David T. and Charles A. Meigs who, says Judge Wilcoxson in 1876, "are merchants, occupying what was the stand of their grandfather."
The store burned down about 1887 or earlier, it being then operated by a man named Dexter.
The Stage Line
In 1883, one could go from Oxford to Seymour by the "Southford and Seymour Mail Wagon", which was advertised in the "Seymour Record", Dec. 14th of that year, -
"Will leave Southford Post Office at 7.30- Oxford at 8.10, arriv- ing at Seymour in time for the 9 o'clock train. Will leave Seymour on the arrival of the 10.36 train, arriving in Southford in time for either the east or west bound train, on the New York and New England R.R. All orders left at either of the named post offices
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will be promptly attended to. Fares from Southford to Seymour 25c; Oxford to Seymour 15c."
(Signed)
H. T. Edwards.
In the same issue of the "Seymour Record", Dec. 14, 1883 there was advertised also, "Church's Seymour and New Haven Stage", -
"Leaves Seymour at 7.45 A.M.,
arriving at New Haven at 9.45 Returning, leaves Down's Corner of Church and Court Streets (formerly Lockwood's City Hall Din- ing Rooms) at 2 o'clock.
Signed, Sheldon Church.
In 1901, a city dweller who had purchased a house in Oxford for a summer residence writes of the stage as follows, -
"I had feared at first to have to spend half my time hurrying to the market-town to provision my family. But quite to the con- trary, the housekeeping has proved easier than in town. This is much due to the daily stage. Though a lumbering, slow convey- ance for travel or for bringing one's friends out to the farm, it is a capital resource for procuring supplies. We signal it by a blue placard swung out of the window, and it stops under our maple tree by seven in the morning. The amiable driver takes a prepared list, and he is back again before noon, bringing say, meat from the butcher's, fruit and confectionery, a new broom and some cotton cloth, embroidery thread, light lumber and cans of paint, and a drum for the son of the house. For such miscel- laneous shopping, his own charge is about ten cents."
The writer then begins to comment on the transportation facilities, which in 1896 made it possible for him to spend his summers in Oxford. This was the bicycle. Before its coming "you would have to hire a conveyance, which is expensive and not always feasible at any price, or you would have to buy a horse of your own. But with a bi- cycle, distance from the railway station was practically abolished. Our own station at Seymour, Conn. is something less than five miles from the farm. I make that in forty minutes going up, as it is a steady rising grade, but I come flying down in twenty five minutes." He ends by saying, - "We won our home, so to express it, by the bicycle, but we rather expect to have to hold it by the automobile, unless it be by
the trolley, for already they talk of a link to connect the two systems, above and below us (presumably Southbury and Seymour ).
He then asks a prophetic question, - "why will not some one bring out a motor carriage for two persons, costing not much above two
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hundred dollars ? Such a conveyance is bound to come sooner or later. Why not give it to us sooner and not later ?" Little did he realize that as he wrote, in 1901, the Ford Motor Company was being organized to produce the "Model T." at a price not far above his price.
CHAPTER 31 THE OXFORD CHURCHES
The Oxford Congregational Church
We have already told of the formation of the new parish of Oxford, separate from that of Derby, in 1741. In May of that year "The Eccle - siastical Society of Oxford" was established by an act of the General Assembly. The first meeting of the society was held on June 30th, 1741, when it was voted "to hire a minister for the present year". For several years thereafter, until the meeting house was built, ministers were hired for one year periods "on probation". On Oct. 6, 1741, a society meeting was held to arrange for the erection of a meeting house, and on Oct. 20th. it was voted to build a meeting house 38 X 32 ft., with 19 ft. posts. A tax of twelve pence on the pound was levied for that purpose. But the new society was not strong financially and a lack of means prevented the beginning of building operations, and on Sep. 14, 1742, it was voted to apply to the General Assembly for a tax on the unimproved lands in the parish, both of residents and non-residents of sixpence on the pound for a space of four years, "that we may go on with building a meeting house and settling a minister".
"Encouraged by the prospect of financial help from the tax on unimproved lands-which the Assembly granted, it would appear that active work on this first meeting house was begun in the spring of 1743. That the frame had been raised and covered by summer is evident from the fact that the records for June 21, 1743 show that a meeting of the society was held "at the meeting house". Until that time, all society meetings had been held at the house of Samuel Twitchell. In September of 1743 it was voted to give to the meetinghouse committee the money of the first year's land tax for carrying on the building of the meeting house. But some fourteen years were to elapse before the structure could be brought to completion, it appearing probable that this first meet- ing house was finished in 1757, since in January of that year, a tax of one penny on the pound was levied "to finish the meeting house."
The dimensions given of this first meeting house, finished in 1757, namely 38 ft. X 32 ft. with 19 ft. posts, indicate that it was not of the very early style of New England meeting houses, which were generally square, and smaller and lower. It belonged rather to the second order,
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Oxford Congregational Church, Academy Rd.
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Carriage Sheds and Well at Congregational Church.
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which looked like a two story dwelling house with a door on the wide side, a gable roof, and two rows of windows, one above the other. Con- spicuously missing also, was a chimney, for no heat was provided in meeting houses until the 1800's. The second meeting house in Derby was like this. It had no tower nor steeple. Directly opposite the door, in the other long wall was a window, fairly high up, and in front of this was the pulpit, so that when the preacher stood in it light shone upon him from out of doors, so that he "stood in God's clear light of day." Access to the pulpit was by a flight of steps, and so, such a pulpit was known as a "staircase pulpit". And the records of the Oxford Society show that in 1748 it was voted "to build a pulpit."
"Votes concerning the building of additional pews appear on the records for the years 1784 and 1786, indicating a growing lack of room in the meeting house. This condition, no doubt led to a vote of the Society on Jan. 3, 1793, "to take into consideration the pro- posals for building a new meeting house." It was agreed that such a step was necessary. `At a meeting later that same month it was voted to build a steeple (on the new house). Nearly a year elapsed, when on Dec. 23d. 1793, it was voted that the new structure should be 56 ft. long and. 40 ft. wide. It is generally believed that this second meeting house was built in 1795, and that date is cut into one of the foundation stones."
The new meeting house was to be located on "the meeting house acre", very near the site of the old building. Thomas Clark, Esq., Capt. John Riggs, and Mr. Josiah Strong were appointed a committee to the Honorable County Court to establish a place for the same. Mr. Timothy Candee was appointed to build the meeting house for six hundred and seventy five pounds.
The new (and present) meeting house apparently was built originally with a square tower, springing from the ground, (and not from the roof as it does now). In the upper part of the tower was a belfry and bell, the whole topped by a steeple. This is evidenced by the following records of the Society, -
1. In January 1797 a committee was appointed "to inspect the re- pairing of the deck floor to the steeple", which proved to be a source of trouble for many years to come.
2. In December 1797, two men were appointed to purchase a bell and a year later, mention of ringing it appears in the records.
3. In November 1834 it was decided to remove the upper part of the steeple, due to decay in its timbers.
4. In 1835 the Society voted "to take down the four squares of the steeple to the ground, lower the pitch of the roof, and erect a cupola on the roof of the house." Although the vote was rescinded in February 1836, nevertheless the record gives a good picture of what the tower was like. In the same month it was voted to adopt
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a plan "which is nearly in imitation of the House of the Methodist Society of Hamden Plains which was erected last summer". The tower and steeple were undoubtedly taken down at that time, and certainly no trace of them remains.
The interior of the building has also been changed, the old square pews being removed in April 1870 and the present "slips" installed. It is not clear just when the staircase pulpit was removed, but gone it is.
In his book, 'Early Connecticut Meeting Houses", J. Frederick Kelly* wrote of the present church, "The front of the building has been entirely remodeled in the Greek Revival style. The belfry has been entirely rebuilt and arises from the roof of the building and consists of three stages, the first a square tower, the second a square belfry, and the third a very short and hopelessly inadequate spire surmounted by a weather vane." He continues, "The interior of the building has had repeated and radical alterations, and not a single item of the or- iginal work remains".
To return now from the church building to the organization as a Congregational Society, a surprising action is recorded in 1742. It was voted that the meeting house (the first one of course) "shall be devoted to the Presbyterian ministry for ever". And at a subsequent meeting in the same year, it was voted "to go to Hartford to obtain liberty of settling a church according to the Presbyterian Constitution". By this action, one is tempted to conclude that the Oxford church was started as a Presbyterian Church in the modern sense of the word, rather than Congregational, but this is doubtful. This is borne out by the writers of the "History of the Old Town of Derby" who comment on a call made by the church in that town in 1733 to a minister. This call read "that he shall preach with us as our dissenting Presbyterian minister". The comment of the writers of the history is that "The word Congrega- tional as applied to a denomination was then unknown, or so little known as to be unfamiliar in that sense". "And the common name of the old Puritan church was "The Church of Christ".
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