USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield County centennial celebration > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14
Assembled here, now, as we are, from all parts of this great country, most of us strangers heretofore to each other, it is yet our common joy and pride that so many of you return from sta- tions of honor, which are the tokens of your success, appearing among us in names to which you have added weight and luster
128
DISCOURSE.
abroad, and so reflected praise on the home of your nativity and nurture. Our welcome to you is none the less hearty, none the less grateful I am sure to you, that we give you not all the credit of your successes. We distinguish in you still the seeds you car- ried away. We congratulate you, we honor those who made you what you are. Or if we say that we honor you, we bow our heads in reverence to those fathers and mothers less distin- guished in name, it may be, and those virtues of common life and industry which have yielded us both you and all the social honors we rejoice in, on this festive occasion. In this latter sen- timent I think you will join me, wishing, if possible, to escape the remembrance of yourselves, and pay some fit honors to the majesty of worth, in a parentage ennobled in yourselves and sanctified by the silence of the places where they are resting from their labors. It will be strange, too, when your minds are soft- ened by these tender remembrances, if your thoughts do not recur instinctively, to what is the tenderest of all sentiments, that which remembers the lessons and the gentle cares of a faithful mother- hood. Then let this voice of nature speak, and let the inward testimony of our hearts' feeling hail the witness of the concourse here assembled, as a welcome and sublime fulfillment of the word-" Her children arise up and call her blessed." Or if we exult, as we must, in reviewing the honors that have crowned the one century of our simple history as a people, let our joy be a filial sentiment, saying still, in the triumphant words that close our song -- " Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own, works praise her in the gates "!
Men and women of Litchfield County, such has been the past ; a good and honorable past ! We give it over to you-the future is with you. It must, we know, be different, and it will be what you make it. Be faithful to the sacred trust God is this day placing in your hands.
One thing, at least, I hope ; that, in these illustrations I have made some just impression on you all of the dignity of work. How magnificent an honor it is, for the times gone by, that when so many schemes are on foot, as now, to raise the weak ; when the friends of the dejected classes of the world are proposing even to reorganize society itself for their benefit, trying to hu- manize punishments, to kindle hope in disability, and nurse
129
DISCOURSE.
depravity into a condition of comfort-a distinction how mag- nificent !- that our fathers and mothers of the century past had, in truth, no dejected classes, no disability, only here and there a drone of idleness, or a sporadic case of vice and poverty ; excelling, in the picture of social comfort and well-being actually realized, the most romantic visions of our new seers. They want a reorganization of society !- something better than the Christian gospel and the Christian family state !- some commu- nity in hollow-square, to protect them and coax them up into a life of respect, and help them to be men ! No, they did not even so much as want the patronage of a bank of savings, to encourage them and take the wardship of their cause. They knew how to make their money, and how to invest it, and take care of it, and make it productive ; how to build, and plant, and make sterility fruitful, and conquer all the hard weather of life. Their producing process took everything at a disadvantage ; for they had no capital, no machinery, no distribution of labor, noth- ing but wild forest and rock; but they had mettle enough in their character to conquer their defects of outfit and advantage. They sucked honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock. Nay, they even seemed to want something a little harder than nature in her softer moods could yield them. Their ideal of a Goshen they sought out, not in the rich alluvion of some fertile Nile, but upon the crest of the world, somewhere between the second and third heaven where Providence itself grows cold, and there, making warmth by their exercise and their prayers, they prepared a happier state of competence and wealth, than the Goshen of the sunny Nile ever saw. Your condition will hereafter be softened, and your comforts multiplied. Let your culture be as much advanced. But let no delicate spirit that despises work, grow up in your sons and daughters. Make these rocky hills smooth their faces and smile under your indus- ! try. Let no absurd ambition tempt you to imitate the manners of the great world of fashion, and rob you thus of the respect and dignity that pertain to manners properly your own. Maintain, above all, your religious exactness. Think what is true, and then respect yourselves in living exactly what you think. Fear God and keep his commandments, as your godly fathers and mothers
130
DISCOURSE.
did before you, and found, as we have seen, to be the beginning of wisdom. As their graves are with you, so be that faith in God which ennobled their lives and glorified their death, an in- heritance in you, and a legacy transmitted by you to your chil- dren.
LETTERS,
ADDRESSES, SPEECHES, AND
Concluding Crerrises.
LETTERS, & C.
AFTER Music from the Band, the following letters of apology for non-attendance, from gentlemen residing in other States, na- tives of the County, addressed to the Central Committee, were read to the audience by George C. Woodruff, Esq.
From Junius Smith, Esq., LL. D., of Greenville, South Carolina, the original projector of At- lantic Steam Navigation-a native of Plymouth :--
GREENVILLE, S. C., July 22d, 1851.
Gentlemen :-
I received yesterday, the Litchfield Circular of March 22d, you were kind enough to send me. I have not seen a single Con- necticut newspaper since I have resided in South Carolina, and therefore could have no knowledge that any such meeting was in contemplation. It would afford me singular pleasure to be present at the celebration proposed, but my Tea labors, at this season of the year, will not admit of my absence, and I am, with great re- luctance, compelled to forego the gratification.
Pray remember me kindly to those who survive the vicissitudes of nearly half a century.
Your obedient servant,
JUNIUS SMITHI.
Seth P. Beers, Esq., and others of the Central Committee of the Centennial Celebration of the County of Litchfield, Con- necticut.
9
134
LETTERS.
From Ilon. Elisha Whittlesey, Comptroller of the Treasury Department, Washington-a na- tive of Washington in this County.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE, August 7th, 1851.
Gentlemen :-
Your Circular of March 22d, giving notice that a Centennial Celebration of the County of Litchfield would be held at Litch- field, on the 13th and 14th of this month, was duly received.
Until recently, I intended to have been present, and during my visit, to have entered for the last time the house in New Preston, in which I was born ; to have sought for the associates of my childhood, if any survive ; to have visited the graves of my ances- tors and relatives there, at Salisbury, and in other parts of the State ; to have seen again my surviving sister and brother, and other dear relatives and friends ; to have listened to the address of Judge Church, the poem of the Rev. Mr. Pierpont, and the sermon of the Rev. Mr. Bushnell-which will be worthy of the occasion, and of the gentlemen selected. But circumstances, be- yond my control, deny me the enjoyment of my anticipations.
Fidelity-unyielding fidelity in all business, and in every trust, was enjoined upon me by my parents, in early childhood, and by that eminent divine and Christian, Jeremiah Day. I can not leave here, to attend the Centennial Celebration, to which, by your kindness, I am invited, without violating what I deem to be my duty to the public. I say this with the deepest regret, for I had fondly cherished the hope, I should add one to the number of the assemblage.
Most sincerely and respectfully yours,
ELISHA WHITTLESEY.
Messrs. Seth P. Beers, &c.
From Hon. George B. IIolt, late Judge of the Circuit Court of Ohio, and State Senator-for- merly of Norfolk, Connecticut.
DAYTON, OHIO, August 6th, 1851.
Gentlemen :-
I received your letter of invitation to attend your Centennial Celebration, to be held on the 13th and 14th inst. ; and antici- pated, with some hope, until to-day, the pleasure of being with
135
LETTERS.
you on the occasion ; more especially, as I have a venerable father, rising four score and ten years, also brothers, sisters, and other relatives, still living in your County. My desire to visit my native State and County, is strengthened by the super- added invitation of several valued friends, from whom I have re- ceived letters of a complimentary character.
Gentlemen, for any respectability which may have attached to my name, and for any usefulness of which I may have been instru- mental, I am indebted to the institutions of New England, as they exist in Litchfield County ; instruction in childhood by one of the pious mothers of that land, followed by such advantages as were afforded by the common school, and a professional education in the Law School at Litchfield, when under the direction of Judges Reeve and Gould, now deccased.
It may, perhaps, be supposed, that during a period of more than twenty years in public life, eighteen of those years in the Legislative and Judicial departments of the government, followed by a membership in the Convention which formed the constitu- tion of civil government lately adopted in Ohio, I may have " made my mark," as we say in the west-left some impress of New England institutions upon the character, morals, and man- ners of the mixed population with whom I have resided for more than thirty years. So far as I may have done so, I feel that I have done some good in my day and generation.
Gentlemen, I am among the sons of New England, proud of the genuine Yankee character, proud of their industrious habits, their honesty, their intelligence, their enterprise, and that con- trolling sense of religious obligation, which make up the character of New Englanders.
I pray you, gentlemen, to accept, for yourselves and those whom you represent, my sincere thanks for your kind invitation, and let me take leave of you by expressing a wish, deep from the heart, for your prosperity and happiness.
Truly yours, GEO. B. HOLT.
IIon. Seth P. Beers, and others, Committee.
136
LETTERS.
From Hon. Julius Rockwell, of Pittsfield, Mass., late member of Congress-a native of Colebrook.
PITTSFIELD, MASS., August 11th, 1851.
My Dear Sir :-
I have received the Circular of the Committee, informing the. native citizens of the good County of Litchfield, of the prepara- tions for the Centennial Anniversary. I have cherished the hope, until now, of being present, but circumstances which I can not control, will prevent my attendance.
The fact, that I am a native of that County, is a source of an honest pride and gratification to me. It would give me the great- est pleasure to be present on this interesting occasion, to listen to the sentiments of the eminent men who are to address the citi- zens, and emigrants from the County, to enjoy the society of my relatives and friends, and to make new acquaintances.
I can only express a sincere and ardent hope, that every cir- cumstance attending your celebration may be propitious, and that to all present, the occasion may be full of interest and enjoyment.
Those of us, who are compelled to be absent, will look with great interest for the published accounts of the proceedings. We shall be with you in spirit, upon the occasion, and will not fail, as long as we live, to cherish sentiments of affectionate respect for the noble County of our nativity.
With my best respects to yourself and your associates upon the Committee,
I am, very truly yours,
JULIUS ROCKWELL.
William Beebe, Esq., Litchfield, Ct.
From Orsamus Bushnell, of New York-a native of Salisbury.
NEW YORK, August 12th, 1851.
Dear Sir :-
I have received a kind invitation to attend the celebration at Litchfield, on the 13th and 14th inst., and had made my arrange- ments to attend, and am at the last moment sadly disappointed by the occurrence of professional business which will prevent my attendance. I should rejoice to be with you, but as I can not,
137
LETTERS.
permit me to forward a sentiment-to be used, or not, as you may please.
My native State .- If the people do not, may Heaven preserve it from a "Code of Procedure," and its Judiciary from the Polls. Very respectfully and truly yours,
ORSAMUS BUSHNELL.
Hon. Samuel Church.
From Charles J. Hill, Esq., of Rochester, former Mayor of that City-a native of Bethlem.
CITY OF ROCHESTER, Aug. 4th, 1851.
Gentlemen :-
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your invita- tion to attend the Centennial Celebration of Litchfield County. I exceedingly regret that my onerous business engagements must prevent my attendance ; but, although " absent in body, I shall be present in spirit," and when the day arrives, shall find my soul fired with a thousand recollections of the localities and scenes of my childhood.
It is now thirty-five years since I commenced my permanent residence in this city, an adventurer from my native Litchfield County. At that time, this city, now numbering over forty thousand inhabitants, contained three hundred souls. No churches, no public buildings-except one school-house of very diminutive dimensions, in which was the only meeting on the Sabbath-no brick or stone dwellings, nor the luxury of paint yet applied to any of the few crude wooden dwellings. But a few young New Englanders had marked the spot, and their indomitable enterprise gave significant indications of the future importance of Rochester.
Among the early Pioneers of Rochester, the sons of Litch- field County were not only respectable in numbers, but in point of enterprise and moral worth, they were generally men of whom their native County need not be ashamed, and are now enjoying the highest esteem of their fellow citizens.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
CHARLES J. HILL.
Hon. Seth P. Beers, Jonathan Lec, and others, Central Com.
138
LETTERS.
From Augustin Averill, of New York-a native of Washington.
NEW YORK, August 9th, 1851. 1
Gentlemen :-
I have received the Circular forwarded some time since, and it was my intention, had circumstances permitted, to have at- tended the Centennial Celebration at Litchfield, on the 13th and 14th inst., but finding it impossible to do so in person, I will, through your Committee, in writing, join my sympathies and good feelings with my friends, relatives, and other inhabitants of my loved native County, and unite with them in congratulations on the auspicious event ; very much regretting my inability to meet, rejoice, and give thanks with them on this very interesting occasion.
I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, AUGUSTIN AVERILL.
Hon. Seth P. Beers, Jonathan Lee, and others, Central Com.
From Gen. James R. Lawrence, of Syracuse, United States Attorney, for the Northern Dis- trict of New York, a native of Norfolk.
SYRACUSE, N. Y., August 11th, 1851. Dear Sir :-
I received your letter of the 31st July, by due course of mail, and have delayed an answer till this time, in the hope that I should be able to attend the Centennial celebration at Litchfield, to which you, as one of the Committee, have so kindly invited me. I now find that my duties as United States Attorney, for this District, will prevent my attendance, which I very much regret.
It always give me pleasure to visit my native State, and and especially the town (old Norfolk) and County where I was born, but that pleasure would be greatly enhanced could I unite with the sons of that time honor'd County, many of whom are now scattered over the different States of the Union, on the occasion referred to.
I shall be with you in spirit. I can easily imagine the happy state of feeling which such an occasion will call forth among such
139
LETTERS.
a generation of men ; born and brought up in such a place, many of whom, I trust, inherit the sterling virtues of their ancestors. Methinks I can also anticipate some of the topics which will there be discussed. The first emotion should be that of devout thank- fulness, for that preserving mercy which has spared the lives and health of so many, and enabled them, from various parts of the country, to revisit their native County, the land of their fathers' sepulchres, on such an occasion.
Gratitude for the intellectual, moral and physical training, which our fathers gave us in our childhood and youth, will doubt- less be felt by all.
The prominent characteristics of our ancestors, were economy, frugality, industry, and energy ; and these, they taught their children, which laid the foundation, in the first place, for good physical constitutions, without which, little can be accomplished. And most favorably, I apprehend, will the hardy sons of Litch- field County, compare with any other race of men in this respect.
I almost tremble sometimes, when I see so many young men at this day, growing up in luxury, extravagance, and indolence, and as a natural consequence, with impaired health and weak intellects ;- better a thousand fold, go back to the simplicity of former times, when every man lived within his income, and tanght his children that labor was not only necessary, but hon- orable for all.
The interests of our common country, cannot fail to be a sub- ject for serious reflection on the occasion. One hundred years ago, your County was incorporated. What wonderful changes have taken place in that time, and what trying scenes did our ancestors pass through ! Their energy and patriotism, however. were equal to the occasion, and nobly did they sustain the best interests of their country ;- lovers of law and lovers of order : always to be relied upon, under all circumstances.
However much they may have differed as to questions of policy in the administration of the Government, yet ever true to the best interests of the whole country,-ready to sustain the arm of the government in maintaining the rights and honor of the nation. It cannot be disguised that our country, within a short period, has passed a crisis, which, at one time, was full of danger. Questions of a most delicate character, and about which men,
140
LETTERS.
and even wise men, differed in opinion, were discussed with great freedom, and sometimes with much bitterness; yet we may now congratulate ourselves on a settlement of these exciting questions, without impairing our glorious Constitution, and without injustice to any portion of our country : and although we may not all think that every thing has been done as we could wish, yet wc have great reason to rejoice in the restoration of that fraternal feeling among the great mass of our people in all parts of our beloved country, which has resulted from the recent measures of our national government.
Already do we feel their tranquilizing effect, and if faithfully carried out, we may still look for long years of continued pros- perity and happiness as a nation, under our glorious Constitution. I hold it to be the first duty of every good citizen, to obey the laws of the government. Why should he not ? every man is a part of that government in this country, where all power is vested in the people. I think we may rely with confidence upon the staid men of old Litchfield, wherever they are, to maintain the laws-whenever the time shall come, when the laws of the land are set at defiance by the people, we shall have no government at all. All will be anarchy and confusion.
In this connection I cannot refrain from alluding to an honored son of old Litchfield, who will be with you at your Jubilee. I refer to the Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson of this State. I know him well ; have been associated with him in the Legislature of this State ; and although we have always differed politically, yet it gives me pleasure to bear testimony to his integrity, talents, and patriotism : and when I speak of his patriotism, I speak of it in that enlarged sense which embraces the whole Union, and consists in a zealous support and defence of it and its interests. I have seen him on great occasions shake off the shackles of party, and come to the rescue of his country, regardless of all personal considerations. In what I have said of him, I feel that I am only doing simple justice to a political opponent.
I should like to indulge in referring to some of the individuals of other times, who have lived and died in your good old County, but who have now gone to their rest and their reward, not, how- ever, without leaving their impress upon the institutions where they lived, and upon the character of those they left behind ;
141
LETTERS.
this, however, can be better done by those who have had better opportunity to know their worth and excellence than I have.
Old Litchfield, I love thee ! What other County in the whole Union has produced abler divines, lawyers, patriots, or states- men ? What county has produced a hardier or more intelligent race of farmers ? It has indeed been a nursery from which have been scattered broadcast through the Union, men who, carrying with them the energy they inherited, the industry they learned to practice, and the morality of their sires, have been useful citizens and donc honor to the place of their birth. Inhabitants of old Litchfield, you have not yet fulfilled your destiny ; go on in the walks of usefulness, keep steadily in view the example of your ancestors ; let their picty, their intelligence, their energy, their patriotism, their temperance, their sterling virtues, be your guide and example, and when another Centennial Jubilee shall occur, may our posterity have the same reasons for gratitude which we now have, and less to regret. So may it be. Esto perpetua. I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES R. LAWRENCE.
R. Battell, Esq.
From Theron R. Strong, Esq., of Palmyra, New York, late member of Congress-a native of Salisbury.
PALMYRA, August 8th, 1851.
Gentlemen :-
I regret to have to inform you that the severe illness of my children renders it imperative upon me to relinquish my purpose of attending the Centennial Celebration, at Litchfield, on the 13th and 14th inst. Until within a few days past I have con- fidently expected to attend, and had nearly completed my ar- rangements for so doing. No ordinary circumstances would have been allowed to defeat my intention, but I must yield to the Providential interposition named.
The celebration has been looked forward to, by me, with very great interest. I have desired to embrace the opportunity to testify, by my presence and participation in its proceedings, my continued affection for the Town, County, and State of my birth,-
142
LETTERS.
that neither time nor distance nor new attachments have been able to sever my love from the place of my origin and the home of my childhood. I have anticipated, on that occasion, the rich pleasure of meeting again some of my kindred, many of the associates of my early years, many valued friends and acquaint- ances, and reviving and meeting some of the most interesting associations and recollections of my youth. I have also antici- pated, what will no doubt be there afforded, a rich intellectual as well as social entertainment ; one calculated to improve the minds as well as gladden the hearts of all present.
Nothing could be more proper than this celebration. It will be but a just tribute of respect and regard for the County-a suitable acknowledgement for the virtue, intelligence, good order, prosperity and happiness which have there always prevailed. No community has been more largely blessed in those respects, none has ever existed, whose history in those particulars is more bright or honorable. Even in New England, to which our country is so largely indebted for its renown ;- it occupies a proud position and enjoys an honorable fame. It is right to stop at this point in its progress-the termination of the first and the commencement of the second century of its existence, and take a survey of it in the past, to review its leading features and events-to render ap- propriate honors to those who participated in them, and indulge in the congratulations which such a survey is calculated to in- spire.
In such a retrospect, abundant cause for gratitude and praise on the part of those who reside, or were reared there, will at every step be brought to view. Providence has most highly favored the County. Its early settlers were remarkable men. Like their brethren, who, associated with them, founded New England and gave it all the elements of its greatness, they were men of strong moral and religious principle-men of cultivated minds- men of industrious and frugal habits-full of enterprise and per- severance. They established and set in motion and gave direc- tion to a state of society, singularly perfect. Their own charac- ter they impressed upon their descendants. The result has been that the County has long been the happy home of a large popu- lation, intelligent, virtuous, refined, possessing in an unusual degree, pecuniary independence, and all the privileges, social,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.